Barbara's Random Thoughts

Haven't you always wondered which Animaniac is most like you? Now you can find out!!


Which Animaniacs Character are You?

Talkative, huh? Perhaps sing-ative would be more appropriate, actually. When people don't understand something, it usually drives you to cutting, sarcastic remarks. Your other extreme is bursting into song with almost no prompting, often to explain complex ideas. No one knows quite what you are, exactly. You have made many "special" friends, and there's baloney in your slacks.

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This morning it came home to me just how large of a company I work for. I got a request from a publisher in Portugal to publish some of our books there. I forwarded the request to a contact in our Foreign Rights office in London. He let me know that Portuguese rights are handled through our Brazil office, and sent my email on to a contact in our Mexico City office, who might be able to tell me who I need to contact next. By the time this gets handled, I wonder how many countries my email will have traveled to?

Today, somebody posted on bubbs in the Bookworms folder asking for suggestions of "secular books that can promote Christian thought in the reader." Immediately a few titles came to mind, and then I began looking at my bookshelves for others. As I did this, it occurred to me that pretty much ANY book I read should "promote Christian thought." Right? Shouldn't every book "promote Christian thought in the reader" if the reader is a Christian? Shouldn't we as Christians be thinking "Christianly" about whatever it is that we read? Ok, so maybe some books are more apt to tie in with Christian themes, and some just don't offer any real "meat" to think about.

But really, I was a little frustrated with myself that I couldn't come up with more titles that I could list...books that I had thought about in terms of what they meant in relation to my own faith. And yet that's (ostensibly) one of the main reasons for why I read. I'm thinking back to a discussion in a lit class I had at Biola, where Todd Pickett's main conclusion for why he reads was "to be a better Christian." I think that should be my goal in reading, too. There is a place for escapist reading, but ultimately, my grand purpose in reading should be to prompt greater thought about my faith. Especially if I believe that "all truth is God's truth" and that faith applies to all areas of life. I simply don't read like this most of the time. And I should.

Right now, I'm reading The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman, the first book in the "His Dark Materials" trilogy. I've heard a lot about these books, and have been debating with myself over whether to read this particular trilogy or not. It's been praised as an excellent fantasy trilogy. I've also heard Christian critics call it "atheism for kids." Reviewers I respect have noted that if Christians are going to protest a fantasy series, their time would be better spent being critical about Pullman's books rather than something as harmless as Harry Potter. (Visit this link...)

I finally decided to pick up the first one, read it myself, and see what I think. I must say that I'm really enjoying the story, and haven't found anything so far that makes me cry "Heresy!" Not that I'm one to do so. But there are two more books, and I'm not finished with this one yet, so the underlying worldview/agenda remains to be seen. I'll probably post more about this later, when I actually finish the book. Has anyone else read these?

Elvish


To which race of Middle Earth do you belong?
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Hmm. Even though I said I'd prefer to serve under Eomer. So, what are you?

The things I learn from my Publisher's Weekly emails. Today is National Clean-Off-Your-Desk Day, as well as National Thank God it's Monday Day. Thank God it's Monday so you can get to work to clean off your desk, presumably.

Also, today is the birthday of Rush Limbaugh and--wait for it--Howard Stern. Who knew they shared a birthday? They have more in common than we thought, apparently.

Ok, you know what totally made my weekend? I found Return of the King valentine cards at Wal-Mart. How pathetic am I. These things are SO cheesy. They're hilarious! There's actually one that says "Have a Happy Valentine's Day--Orc else!" I love it.

Personal triumph for the weekend: I changed my windshield wiper blades all by myself. Woo hoo!

And, Alias is back to showing new episodes. I LOVE that show!! Life is good...

I just read that Joan Aiken, one of my favorite authors when I was little, died on Sunday, January 4th. It's odd how it made me feel. It made me remember the books of hers that I loved as a child: The Wolves of Willoughby Chase (probably her most famous children's book), and my favorites, the Arabel and Mortimer books. It made me want to go out and read all the books she's written that I never discovered: she wrote 92 novels in her lifetime, 65 of them for children. How is it that I didn't know she wrote so many books? That she was still writing? These are things I never thought about until I heard of her death. It also made me remember how I felt when Roald Dahl died...very sad that there will be no more books written by this author that I loved.

I heard someone say that when a person dies, it's like a library has burned down. All their experiences, memories, and stories are gone. Seems an especially fitting description today.

First item of business: I've been thinking about a name for this blog. I haven't hit upon what I want just yet. Suggestions? I'm realizing that I don't have a cool internet "handle" to use. Kristy's got Sugar Girl and the word ubiquitous. Heather's got joyfrog. Jude's got about fifty different ones to pick from...barbie rocks, gelding, Judi-Helen...

Me? I've got boring email addresses with just my name. A select few call me Babs, David calls me Barbara J, Eric even calls me Elf Witch from time to time...but none of these are quite it. Am I just a boring person destined to be without a clever web name or description? Hey, at least I make boring sexy. Perhaps that's what I should call this: boringsexy.

For now, I'm stealing the title Veronica and I had for our short-lived radio show at Biola. Only I'm deleting Veronica's name. Sorry, V. Better ideas? Anyone? And do I have a comments feature yet? No, not yet...I'll be working on that...