Overheard

Yes, that was a very crude remark that Bonnie made about her boyfriend. If I had known ahead of time that she was going to emit this auditory vomit perhaps I could have arranged to be away from my desk for an extended time, but anyway she was not talking to me. She might have been talking to Cathy, an editor, who if I remember rightly was sitting at the desk to the left of me although Cathy seemed to float around. Bonnie's desk faced mine which makes Bonnie and Cathy catty-corner to each other. It is hard for me not to overhear everything that Bonnie says when our desks face each other and only our computers being at an angles avoids us from having to sit eye to eye. Yes, sometimes it did get sort of annoying having to listen to Bonnie vomiting all over the place, ditto to Cathy. That is the problem with working in a secular workplace. One cannot choose one's co-workers. Even Christian workplaces can be not that great. I have some stories about that, too. But anyway these co-workers are just there vomiting all over the place and then one day they are gone. In Bonnie's case she got a great job writing public relations at Food For The Poor, a Christian charity organization, so one assumes that she was fairly good at what she does at her job even if not kept as a personal friend. As for Cathy, one has to wonder how someone who moonlights writing pornography could ever have much credibility in the world of journalism. Cathy mentioned that she moonlights writing pornography but I did not ask her any questions about that. The information just came out of her mouth without any prompting from me.

Lamberts (Revised)

I remember Wanda Lambert as maybe a third grader when I was in eighth grade at San Salvador Christian Academy in El Salvador. Mrs. Lambert sometimes served as our substitute teacher, once even for a whole week which required reading aloud a few pages from a book during the half-hour storytime after lunch. Mrs. Lambert wore glasses with very dark, thick frames that covered her eyebrows. Her solution was to paint cartoonish eyebrows on her forehead, just in case you were worried about her eyebrows getting covered by the dark-framed glasses. I mean really, did she think that we students could not figure out that those were not her real eyebrows? But I digress. It is vaguely interesting that our paths did cross with persons of the surname Lambert, not to be confused with Lambeth, a former boss. The Lamberts that I knew were American missionaries in El Salvador. However, the Lamberts listed in the annals of the British peerage are the children of honorable Elizabeth, actually Camden-Elizabeth MacLellan, the one and only daughter and heir of Camden-Gray MacLellan, the 10th and last Lord Kirkcudbright. The title became dormant at his death in 1832 because he had no male heir but he did have one daughter who married James Staunton Lambert and they apparently lived in Galway, Ireland. I suppose that the Lamberts, if any survivors of that branch of the Lambert family still survive, could apply for the title of Lord Kirkcudbright, except that there is no Kirkcudbright in Galway, which is located in Galloway, so it would not make a lot of sense, now would it? How can you call yourself Lord Kirkcudbright when you have never lived in that town, not even in Scotland, but actually are from Northern Ireland? And anyway, your surname is not even anything close to MacLellan or McClellan or McClelland, etc., so there is no way that you could hope to be approved as clan chief. No McClellan is going to vote for an Irish Lambert, Is suspect. So the title just would not mean anything, now would it?

Puerto Rico

Oh, yes, I had completely forgotten about Eva, the reporter who was fired for being an extremely bad writer, barely able to write a coherent sentence, producing pathetically bad stories. That is what someone said but I really don't know in any kind of personal way. I only know what someone said, maybe Bonnie. Bonnie or someone, maybe Kathy, heard that Eva went home to Puerto Rico where she easily got a great job at Associated Press even though she could not cut the mustard at our small operation. One tends to assume from what Bonnie said that these Latin reporters are hired for their ethnic categorization rather than any English language talent they may or actually may not have.

Argentina

Ha ha ha! I well remember that obnoxious Sergio Scataglini, Jeff Campbell's friend from Argentina. One day in the cafeteria he struck up this long conversation with me and then finally he got around to the point of the conversation. Do I have a car so that I can take him somewhere? He really needs a ride and, well, I just happened to be the person available in the cafeteria at that moment. Umm.. No, actually I do not have a car, I told him. Suddenly, his manner toward me turned from kind to contemptous. These Latino guys have no use for a white girl who is not going to deliver the world to them on a silver platter, obviously. But I cannot be someone I am not. I cannot be a senior who owns a car when I am only a junior who does not own a car. Sorry but, well, the people from Argentina should not imagine that we are Evita who will deliver whatever the people want. No, we are not sitting here eagerly waiting for some smarmy guy to pretend to be my friend only because it is suddenly convenient for him and he needs something from me. No, it does not work that way. It is a two-way street as you will find out sooner or later, not that I would know anything about this.

Nepotism

I do remember that when I was about maybe six or seven years old I sang a solo in church. I also remember that some other girls in the church were jealous because obviously the only reason I would be selected was that my father was the assistant pastor. It is not like there would be any other reason in their minds. And yet they have no problem committing nepotism freely and all over the place. Something is wrong with this picture but I have no power to argue with nepotists. The nepotists, who could be construed as incestuous in some sense, have all the power in the world to turn it all around and make it seem like it is my problem so there is nothing anyone can do about it, and I'm not even the person who was complaining about nepotism. But I am available for nepotists to beat up on me as usual.

Yes, nepotism is not really a problem if the son is a mature adult. It is only a problem when the son is a vile disgusting pig like the Bueno-Hoskins brats.

Lost In Space

It boggles the mind that anyone could think that I would have known in high school anything at all about the Stricklands left in England. I don't even know very much about my Strickland relatives in Texas, let alone anything at all about the England branch of the Strickland family, if it be true that we are attached somehow to the inhabitants of Sizergh Castle located as it is in the region of Cumbria, England, four miles south of Kendal. The property at first belonged to the Deincourt family but passed into possession of the Stricklands upon the marriage of the Deincourt's daugher to Sir William de Strikeland in 1239 A.D. It looks beautiful in the photographs but, well, I am not sure whether I will ever have a chance to see it in my lifetime. It is very expensive traveling across the pond.

Interpretation (revised)

Now isn't that funny, wicked Robbie Hoskins pretending to be Pentecostal? We all know that he has the Westminster Confession stamped all over his resume. There is not necessarily anything wrong with that. The Westminster Confession of faith has its place in the history books about the Protestant Reformation, especially in Scotland and also England. Tulips have their place in the writings of John Calvin. However, the riches of God are infinite. Tulips are beautiful in their place but I don't see any tulips growing around our house. We all know that if you are a Presbyterian who obsesses on tulips you will develop a closed system that tends to repel unbelievers, a country club mentality, and that is just not what makes Pentecostals tick. We never did give any preference to Presbyterians as compared to Methodists, Baptists, Nazarenes, etc. We are not interested in applying to the Hoskins Country Club because, well, we don't live in Michigan or Iowa anyway, never did. We are quite capable of interpreting the Bible for ourselves with help from those who represent what we believe which would not include the Hoskins Clan. Yes, Robbie never speaks to us but we really don't care. What use are words when you are a compulsive liar? It would just be a huge waste of time to try to communicate with someone who just bounces lies and actually has nothing to say to me. I try to make a point of ignoring their signals because they are not really talking to me.