{"id":6218,"date":"2018-03-15T08:00:07","date_gmt":"2018-03-15T12:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/?p=6218"},"modified":"2018-03-20T19:51:52","modified_gmt":"2018-03-20T23:51:52","slug":"lets-chat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/?p=6218","title":{"rendered":"Let’s Chat"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are days when inspiration just spills out of my brain, and witty and engaging posts practically write themselves, complete with illustrations. I love those days, and sometimes I’ll write several posts at once and schedule them for the following weeks.<\/p>\n

And then there are weeks like this one. I think and I think, and sentences refuse to form in my head. My imagination is a desolate desert, all wit flees, inspiration dries up, and I sit like a lump on a log, wondering what I’ll write about. I compose drafts, and upon rereading them I see they are stilted and dull. Writer’s block, I believe that’s the technical term. I’m telling you guys, February’s month of posts really just drained the well dry.<\/p>\n

So, since I have major writer’s block, (I guess that means I’m a real writer, right?) do you mind if I just chat with you a bit instead? If you mind, just go away, and the witty Striped Pineapple will be back someday soon, full of interesting things to say. Maybe. But for now I’m just going to pretend that I’m emailing a friend, because that’s my favorite kind of writing anyhow.<\/p>\n

It has been quite a week. For some reason all my acquaintances seem to have taken it upon themselves to buy houses and have babies and get married in one fell swoop. What that means for me is a long weekend of packing and cleaning house for one sister who is on bed rest, cleaning up late into the night after a large and jolly wedding, celebrating a particular brother’s turning twenty-one (everyone tell Philip happy birthday!), getting up at an ungodly hour to practice music for church while trying to adjust to the time change, babysitting, psyching myself up for a whole week of evenings socializing at the youth conference, and a very lengthy Sunday afternoon nap. I’ll let you guess which was my favorite part. Yawn. Did you know that working an office job has made an absolute wimp of me? It’s true. My blistered hands and sore muscles after a few days of manual labor can attest. Blush. And now, to top it all off, it snowed this week. In March. In North Carolina. Snow on top of cherry blossoms. Is this what that “March Madness” I keep hearing about means?<\/p>\n

Although my writing can’t keep up, my mind has been spinning as I overthink everything according to my normal tendencies. What has been on my mind lately? Well, I’m so glad you asked. I have been contemplating…<\/p>\n

…The quandary of growing too old for the “youth group” and wondering what niche exactly I’m supposed to fit into. In the same way that I never\u00a0ever<\/em> thought I’d grow too old for dolls, I didn’t really foresee growing too old for the youth group, and yet, suddenly it hits me in the face. Last year I attended the youth conference at church and felt practically crippled with rheumatism among the herd of sixteen-year-olds.\u00a0I know, I’m not that old yet. But I feeeel old- doesn’t that count for something? So this year I’m lending my services part time and not taking off work for it. Next thing you know I’ll be moving into my retirement home. Creak.<\/p>\n

…The way Mennonites interact with people from “The Outside World”. Maybe someday I’ll write a post about it. Or maybe it will sit in the graveyard of my drafts along with my other ideas I can’t manage to flesh out.<\/p>\n

…Calvinism and arminianism. I think the two sides have more in common than they think, and that because God’s sovereignty and our free will is a paradox, our brains can’t quite wrap around it.<\/p>\n

…Being a blogger. More specifically, I’m terribly curious to know if the real life me matches the Striped Pineapple me. Last weekend I met someone who only knew about me from my blog, which brings on the question, what was it like? Being inside my own head, this is not something I can answer myself. Help?<\/p>\n

…What makes somebody married. As in, at what exact moment does the becoming married happen? What happens when the preacher forgets to pronounce the couple man and wife? What happens when somebody drunkenly gets married in Vegas and then splits the next day? And what about common law marriages? It’s all very confusing.<\/p>\n

…Mere Christianity<\/em>. I am Finally reading this C.S. Lewis gem, thanks to my resolution to read all the books I own. Don’t tell Lewis I said this, but I expected it to be dull for some reason, however, it has surprised me by its approachability. It almost makes me wish to be an atheist so I could be persuaded of Christianity.<\/p>\n

…Isaac. How is it possible that it’s been ten years since the Lempa River took his adventurous soul from us? I still miss him. Melissa writes a beautiful tribute to her brother, which you probably want to read. Find it\u00a0here.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

What have you been thinking about? What have you been eating and reading? Is your March mad as well? Tell me, and let’s\u00a0 chat.<\/p>\n

Till next week,<\/p>\n

Rachel<\/p>\n

A Year Ago:\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Dirge In An Airplane Aisle<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are days when inspiration just spills out of my brain, and witty and engaging posts practically write themselves, complete with illustrations. I love those days, and sometimes I’ll write several posts at once and schedule them for the following weeks. And then there are weeks like this one. I think and I think, and sentences refuse to form in my head. My imagination is a desolate desert, all wit flees, inspiration dries up, and I sit like a lump…<\/p>\n

Read More Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6223,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[345],"class_list":["post-6218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-writers-block"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/img_3259.jpg?fit=1656%2C1242","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8A8kG-1Ci","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7065,"url":"http:\/\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/?p=7065","url_meta":{"origin":6218,"position":0},"title":"What Writer’s Block Is Like","author":"Rachel","date":"January 10, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"It feels like sitting in front of a screen, wondering about the meaning of life, and not being able to put any of it into words. 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It's been such a long time since we've chatted about books, so let's fix that. I enjoy doing a recap of what I've been reading every year, rejoicing over my favorites and occasionally warning you of lemons so you can avoid them if you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"http:\/\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/?cat=83"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/img_5929.jpg?fit=500%2C750&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8346,"url":"http:\/\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/?p=8346","url_meta":{"origin":6218,"position":2},"title":"Three Years Down, Thirty To Go","author":"Rachel","date":"June 21, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Have I mentioned that I moved to New York City for one year? When I packed up my small-town life and came up here on a hope and a prayer, I always thought I'd stick it out for at least one year, because anything less just isn't giving it a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Brooklyn Tabernacle"","block_context":{"text":"Brooklyn Tabernacle","link":"http:\/\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/?cat=511"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/DSF2593.jpg?fit=951%2C634&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/DSF2593.jpg?fit=951%2C634&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/DSF2593.jpg?fit=951%2C634&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/DSF2593.jpg?fit=951%2C634&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7335,"url":"http:\/\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/?p=7335","url_meta":{"origin":6218,"position":3},"title":"Catching Up","author":"Rachel","date":"June 7, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Contrary to appearances, I am alive and not dead. When I planned to move here, I thought, I'll have so many adventures and stories to tell, and since I won't have any friends, I'll have all the time in the world to write them! I planned to write voraciously, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life in NYC"","block_context":{"text":"Life in NYC","link":"http:\/\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/?cat=462"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/IMG_8743.jpeg?fit=900%2C1200&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/IMG_8743.jpeg?fit=900%2C1200&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/IMG_8743.jpeg?fit=900%2C1200&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/IMG_8743.jpeg?fit=900%2C1200&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8615,"url":"http:\/\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/?p=8615","url_meta":{"origin":6218,"position":4},"title":"Mid-Engagement Thoughts","author":"Rachel","date":"September 25, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, it's not exactly mid-engagement. It's 262 days since getting engaged, and 30 days till the wedding. You do the math. But who's counting? (Me, I'm counting months and days and weeks and seconds, don't mind me, and today it's one month away!) 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Probably not. 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