Mother definitely doesn't know best.

Today I had an email from my mother. Someone forwarded her my LinkedIn profile and she wrote to tell me how disappointed she is in me and my career.

Isn't that nice?

She actually said that she wouldn't have paid for Film School if she would have known that I would become a Financial Analyst (after working in the movie business for 17 years).

I'm just wondering. If she paid for my education, why do I still have student loan debt? Must be nice to be Bi-Polar and have selective memory.

Thankfully, my mother is not my only relative and I have pretty much cut her out of my life. I guess I am going to have to cut her all the way out. The rest of the family has, but I have been holding on to a few strands because, well, she's my mother.

OK - I'm done venting.

Ash Wednesday

Today is Ash Wednesday and I have been toying with what I might do in observance of Lent (which I believe begins as soon as I go to my church's Ash Wednesday service so I still have some time).

In the past, I have given up (among other things):
TV - not too hard really
cussing - a disaster - I think I cussed more
chocolate - pretty hard
alcohol - really easy
sweets - too broad of a category.

I have also done something instead of given something up and that worked better for me. One year, our church had a calendar of activities and each cost something and I put the money in a jar and on Easter Vigil the money was donated to Lutheran World Relief. That was really fulfilling. Another year, I made a point to think one positive thought each day about my mother (you have to know me to understand this one).

This year, I am thinking of spending one hour each day in Lent going through the things I never use, books I never read, and clothes I never wear and donating them to charity. I am holding on to a lot of things. And what are they really? They're just things. I think by spending time each day physically putting aside these things, I can reflect on how much more important God is to me than all of these things.

Besides, I can't give up alcohol. I'm going to Ireland. Though I am probably going to participate in the Great American Meat Out on March 20th.

I'll let you know how it goes...