The Planetarium

At the Academy of Sciences, they have this theater where you sit in half-reclined seats and stare at the dome-shaped screen, across which they plaster images of the solar system, of the galaxies, of the universe.

http://tourinord.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/across-the-universe.jpg

(I googled "the universe" for that image. 

The first few pictures that popped up looked like this. 

Then there was a picture of people in zero-G, 

with a fairy creature floating around them. I picked this one.)

It's all digitized and theoretical, but it still makes me wonder why all of that would be out there.

When the Un-created created us--humans with a beginning from a Being without-- why did He make the rest of it? Where did he get that idea? And are we the only ones He made?

What if He made a bunch of others like us, scattered across the universe's expanse? Why not? Why can't there be hundreds of thousands of humanoid creatures in other galaxies? I don't know if He would have made those other galaxies just because he thought they would be pretty.

And what would it be like to be without origin? To just always have been? To be the very essence of the word "always"?

How does something just always exist? I suppose that, being a Created being, I am supposed to find it incomprehensible. Maybe it's because my existence relies on a moment of creation.

I still wish I could get my head around it.

Paso Robles?

We're in Paso Robles right now, staying at a Travelodge. I didn't know there was anything in Paso Robles. I didn't know the "s" was silent. It's not 'Robe-less'? We also almost didn't know how to get here because of the thick accent of the woman at the desk. I though she told me she was going to kill me when she asked if I had a reservation. "We're booked" sounded an awful like "I kill you."

But now we are here, and we did have a reservation: miracle number one of the weekend. We're waiting for the morning to come so we can drive the rest of the way to Goleta/Santa Barbara. Tomorrow begins "Summer in the Arts" at Saint Athanasius: a three-day theatre/writing workshop for students, led by Z and me.

Oh, and San Francisco: we found the sun. Dilly Dilly.

You know you're Orthodox when...

It's 10:14 on the Saturday night before Easter and you're about to start curling your hair and doing your face so you can get in the car and go to church. All night. So then you can feast. At 4 in the morning.

Common Threads; you have none

I wish I had blogged during Lent. And I wish I could say that I did not blog during Lent on some principal related to fasting and keeping computer use to a minimum.

Unfortunately, it had nothing to do with this. It is more a reflection of my laziness. Besides, what would I say? I'm beginning to feel as if I should either A. Delete my blog or B. Stop following everyone else's blogs. Everyone--and I use everyone to imply the world, so no, I am not exaggerating--is more interesting than me.

I was thinking, it may have something to do with the fact that my life does not have a common thread. Of course, these people just pretend their lives have one common thread, don't they?

"Hello. I am vegan. All I am is vegan. I write about is vegan things. Like cheeze."

"Hello. I am crafty all the time. Read my blog to see how crafty I am."

"Hello. This is my kid. Look at my million pictures of him at slightly different angles."

"I like Jesus."

"I take trips. Everywhere."

"I crochet."

"Cats."





Common Threads. If I picked a common thread, what would it be? I can tell you for certain, it would not be anything anyone would read. This is a story about. I am trying to say. Literature. Teaching Art. Church is. Wife.


I would not read that.