The end of the month, and new month goals

Ages ago I used to set goals every month. I don't tend to stick with a piece for too long, but they're not bad for guidance to keep me sorta on track. So I'll post them in a minute...but first - haikus!

Ok, what do haikus have to do with anything? Well, not much. But a bunch of us on one of my Orthodox forums started writing haiku (is that the plural?) about the forum named Desert Calling, or about anything really.

Here are a few of mine:

a home for oddballs
who live, love, laugh, sharing life
the aim: theosis

this is addictive
writing these important things
in a few short lines

trying to do math
to make silliness seem like
most profound wisdom

my priest says desert
is where a monk is praying
so in my church then?

monks are nice people
but they challenge us young ones
to do harder things

desert on the net
a place to come relax and
to find my soul food

my kitten Koukla
is an Orthodox kitten
she likes lentil soup

the aim - theosis
but the journey is harder
than i ever thought.

dormition fast now
eat a lot of chilli beans
and ignore the steak

(for us, the fast for the Dormition of the Theotokos begins today, August 1, and goes until the 15th, the feast of the Dormition)

One poster, Reader John, made me laugh:

I thought to myself
I forgot my umbrella
I'm Friedrich Nietzsche

God is dead, said I
Then, Nietzsche is dead, said God
I guess I was wrong

The desert is a
Really, really big sandbox
With cacti and snakes

The days are quite hot
The nights are so cold and dark
At least it's quiet

--

That was wonderfully off topic. Tonight's study was beautiful - on Mark 9, how good is that for Father matching the text with the feasts (next Wednesday is the feast of the Transfiguration, and that's the topic of the first section of Mark 9) without meaning to - he comments that we are probably doing the slowest study of a Gospel ever since we started it in February, though we've had a few weeks off for other topics (Lent will do that, as will the Great Feasts). We did Compline after and I was felt...peaceful. Light. Joyful, I suppose. As I joined the line to kiss Father's hand and say goodnight Dmitri said to me that he always wanted to see the smile on my face that I had then. And then we went home...and Troy and I really shouldn't be put in the same car without Jeremy to keep an eye on us. Even then I hate it, but without Jeremy we end up like cat and dog and it's not good. I didn't kill him, or tip something over him. I am somewhat proud of this. *sighs* I'm feeling...uncomfortable because of that I suppose. Life is still good and without struggle we wouldn't grow but some things are avoidable. This is. It won't happen again soon if I can help it.

I'm home now, with a bright candle lit in front of the icons and I'm going to take some solace in the Psalms, God-willing. They help, a lot - the prayers are universal, yet they fit my life. Doxa to Theo.

So, goals?

Apparently I totally forgot to make them last month. So, as usual, I'll start the month with the new ones, under headings.

Stitching

• finish row 15 of A Restful Night
• reach 7.5% on St Nicholas
• enjoy stitching
• work on something else at least once

Other craft

• get the dress that's half-made finished
• do a row on Moonshadow quilt

Religious stuff

• get my icons in the mail and set them up by my bed
• fix my memorisation of Psalm 50/51 (is memorising it in OSB text too much to ask of myself? hmm)
• memorise at least one other Psalm
• get to the Paraklesis service at least twice during the Dormition fast
• learn to cook something new during the fast
• try to remember to thank God for good and bad alike

School stuff

• finish and send in assignment 3 for S.o.s. by the end of week 4 (15th)
• get something done on assignment 2 or figure out a way to make it not have to be done
• at least one open book one closed book summative for History
• get my history notes up to date and keep them up to date for Comparative Study
• try and do some noting for Depth Study (good revision for ^)
• maths DI by the end of week 3 (8th)
• maths test sometime soon after

Hoo boy. To meet these, I think these are this week's goals (week end 8th August):

• Maths DI
• KAI 2 notes
  
• closed book essay on KAI 2
• write the survey for S3 and send it out
• write history notes for week 1, and this week
  
• work on Psalm 50/51
• attend the Paraklesis on Thursday and maybe Wednesday if I'm hanging around after the DL long enough (and I go)
  
• finish row 14 of ARN during the the UFO SAL and Wednesday
• stitch on St Nicholas on other days
• attempt some work on the dress