Another Year Already?

No resolutions, no predictions — it’s not my style and certainly not my calling.

But there are changes, little things. I packed up my desktop and gave it to my brother. I’m using my laptop. I put it on the lapboard and lean back in my office chair because I can’t make it fit properly on that little table I had built for the desktop next to my bed. I’m trying to get used to making the laptop my whole office, as it were.

And if that’s too heavy to schlep around, I have my little tablet. I got a folding keyboard and a bluetooth mouse. If you’ve ever tried to use your fat finger to scroll on some websites, you can’t avoid hitting some kind of active link and wasting time chasing the browser back from some shitty advertising site. Yes, the people who do the site layout know that’s what happens and they aren’t nice if you complain about it.

By the way, if you use Firefox Mobile, you can get advertising blockers for Android, too. It’s the only browser I know of that ports their extensions to Android.

I’d be more comfortable working from my recliner but as soon as the girls come back from Texas, that will be impossible. Granddaughters can be pretty noisy and they love the TV, unfortunately. I can’t focus in that kind of noise. But that’s the advantage of using a laptop, because it’s pretty mobile and compact, so I can hide out in my bedroom or go to the library — our local has very fast wifi.

We are having a few frosty days here in Oklahoma. Might see some snow, maybe some freezing rain sometime over the next week or so. I’m going stir-crazy, but I’ll just have to handle it best I can. I’ve cut enough firewood, if my brother would just find a way to get here with something big enough to haul it off. So despite the cold, I’ll probably go back and work on my trail some more.

Then again, I’m still convinced I’ll be working at some kind of job soon, and I won’t be around the house too much. I’m not sure I can explain this, but I’ll try: My future employment is directly linked to some kind of social and/or economic breakdown. No, I have no idea how that is, or what it means, only that I’ve felt for some years now that I am God’s arrow in the quiver. When the times comes, I’ll be shot into battle. That time hinges on significant changes in our current political and economic context. That such changes are already on the way is not much of a prediction, just noting the obvious.

Right now, the one thing I want more than words can tell is a chance to demonstrate this faith to folks who’ve never seen it. Churches have already run me off enough times, and most of the jobs open around here require me to be on my feet way more than my bad knees can handle. I suppose I could pull out my “disabled veteran” whine and make them accommodate me, but I find that repugnant. Having played that card in the past, it feels dirty. I’ve prayed about that too often to have any doubts that such is not the path God has for me. My heart says it’s wrong and there’s no future in it. So I’m praying for peace to await the job that can only arise from trouble.

Happy New Year.