new running shoes from garry gribble's. they always treat me right. so far the 1/2 training is going fine. ran 3.5 up some major hills in the west bottoms & the westside. i've noticed that my ankle stops throbbing after a 0.5 mile or so. i have yet to decide if that's a good thing.

hoping that the new kicks provide a bit more cushion & thus a bit more comfort.
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after garry gribble's, i went to the lawrence library to pick up a couple books. i saw my favorite librarian (after 2 visits), but i'd already figured out the system & didnt really need her help. but her bookish enthusiasm still made me smile from afar!

i'm realizing that i'm not certain how i feel about this whole library idea. on one hand, it's amazing... you get to borrow books, for free, to read. upon finishing, you promptly return it & pick up another one or two (apparently, my limit is 50... how can someone check out FIFTY items from the library? i'd lose stuff... or start all at the same time. either way, not a good idea for me). it's sharing at its finest!

but my tension is that i love books. and the way i read books is by underlining stuff & scribling down my thoughts in the margins. in that way i really engage. i also have a tendency of remembering certain quotes & being able to visualize both where on the page that quote came from as well as the general area of the book. when i remember those quotes, i always want to go back to the book so that i can re-read it again or share it with someone else.

you can't underline library books. you can't write in the margins of the library books. and when i remember the quotes, the book isn't on my shelf... it's in the library.

does it defeat the purpose, if you just own the library?
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out of a conversation with my friend Sarah on Sunday evening about dissonance & its role in both of our lives, she recommended a book by Frederick Buechner (who im pretty sure is my favorite author) & a couple by John Steinbeck. tonight, I picked up "Now & Then" by Buechner and "Travels with Charlie: in search of america" by Steinbeck.

i'm really excited to begin each. already thumbing through them i know im going to be tempted to underline/note/put on my bookshelf for later quoting. crap.
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i also am excited to read the Summer 2009 edition of the quarterly, "Image: Art * Faith * Mystery." My painter-friend, Rachel, read an interview with Eugene Peterson, theologian, scholar & author of the Message Bible translation, and she thought i would enjoy it.

the one part that she shared with me, that makes me want to read the article this very second, is his thoughts on the role that the poet has in the life of the church: that the poet reminds us that language is dynamic & ever changing, and therefore they call us to embrace the conversational part of our faith... the working out of our beliefs through story, metaphor & ideas.

i'll let you know what i think once it's read...