The community's founder was murdered yesterday during a prayer service.

Goodness, brenda. That's horrible.

This is uplifting! An excellent typo.

Nutty, thank you for noticing! The best laughter I had all day.

I'm gonna go with Kevin Spacey because I like to think I'm complicated.

I'm so totally imagining you with his face from now on.

I have no answer to any of my questions, by the way, other than the first movie one - an animated tv version of "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe".

what are you having/did you have for lunch?

Um, now that I think about it, I didn't have lunch today. I didn't skip it, I just never got a chance to it. Oops.

What is your ideal workday lunch?

I'm going to cheat. My ideal lunch is when a friend comes and steals me away from my computer so that I have to go and have a proper lunch, not a sandwich or something near my desk. It's more about the company than the food. But if I have to go with food, there's a traditional Tunisian food that my mom rarely makes (because it's a lot of work and mess), sort of fried buns with lots of good stuff inside, called frikasse. This description doesn't do them justice, I'm afraid.

Now I want to go have sushi with ita (there are kosher ones, really) for the lunch I didn't have.

Allyson, besides hearing the same on the radio this morning, [link]

What would I want for lunch? Something I didn't have to prepare. I've gotten so lazy about food lately. Not finding much interesting. I think this is due to the heat, the cold, the cold drugs and the stupid scratch on the underside of my tongue that makes eating painful. Bah.

I have just eaten a tupperware of cold tortellini, with my fingers. I have a somewhat mealy peach that I may or may not eat. And I filched two chocolates from the HR office. This is not my ideal lunch.

My normal lunch is two peanut butter sandwiches on Pep Farm German dark wheat bread, plus carrot sticks or an apple. Because actually I am all about the "lunch at work is for putting fuel into your body and not for epicurian pleasures."

what are you having/did you have for lunch?

Turkey sandwich and a minneola tangerine.

What is your ideal workday lunch?

Turkey sandwich and two minneola tangerines. Followed by taking the rest of the day off.

Katie, that sounds yummy. Could you post the recipe??

I'm at work right now, but I'll be home for lunch--I'll send an e-mail reminding myself to do it then.

Epicurean pleasures should be for every time!

Everything moving too slow today. Too slow.

He sounds like an amazing person. I'd never heard of his community before.

He was and they are. I know a number of people who've spent time there and found it life-changing. Fourth Pres here in Chicago, where an old friend is one of the ministers) does a Taize-style service on Tuesday Friday nights. Not that I've ever been. [Obviously]

Here's what 4th P has to say about Taize:

Taizé is an ecumenical community located near the small town of Taizé, France. Founded in 1940 by Brother Roger, who brought together brothers from all over the world, the community has long been committed to promoting and praying for reconciliation, peace, and unity. Each week it welcomes up to 6000 people, mostly young adults, from around the globe. They spend time in prayer, song, Bible study, workshops, discussion, and fellowship.

This community has developed a style of worship that reflects its lifestyle commitment. The worship is simple, beautiful, and more about praying and listening with the whole self than with the mind only. It is inclusive of all who wish to participate. By singing together simple chants that are short, easy to learn, and repeated many times, those worshiping in the style of Taizé are able to let go with their mind and to pray and listen to God with their heart. The chant becomes the prayer, and the chant becomes lost in the prayer. Brother Roger writes,

Nothing is more conducive to a communion with the living God than a meditative common prayer with, as its high point, singing that never ends and that continues in the silence of one’s heart when one is alone again. When the mystery of God becomes tangible through the simple beauty of symbols, when it is not smothered by too many words, then a common prayer awakens us to heaven’s joy on earth. Prayer is a serene force at work within human beings, stirring them up, transforming them, never allowing them to close their eyes in the face of evil, of wars, of all that threatens the weak of this world. From it we draw the energy to wage other struggles—to enable our loved ones to survive, to transform the human condition, to make the earth a place fit to live in.

Taizé has become a model for the formation of community all over the world. Many think that we need to come together as Christians and indeed as people of any faith. Joining in prayer together, as in the style of Taizé, is one small step we can take to begin the work of reconciliation, peace, and unity here in our community, even in our own lives.To learn more about Taizé, visit [link]

Is a toad blocker a kind of bojangler, do you think?

Character = Huck Finn, or that kid in My Side Of The Mountain, or Tip in Oz
First Movie = Mary Poppins
Actor Playing Me = Michael Keaton?

Lunch = So many options! The cuban sandwich at Birley's is unfuckingbelievable. I get the chicken tikka masala pretty often. Love the meatloaf sandwich smothered in mushroom gravy at the Ferry Building meat market. It has a core of molten cheese in the meatloaf. Roast pork at the Provencale place. Steak burrito at the fancy burrito place with the avocado salsa.

what's for lunch?

Today, it will be a portobello mushroom and turkey sausage. Unless I get inspired (and I might) to have something else.

My ideal workday lunch is a mixed greens salad with candied pecans and blue cheese crumbles with grilled chicken on top. A vinagrette would be nice as would bacon, but is not necessary.