CDs and Crepes

I have a strange system for making CDs (yes, I still prefer CDs). I make mix CDs with exactly ten songs in three-CD cycles. However, my most recent CD had 15. So now my next two must have 15 songs as well. I try to buy songs that I listen to a lot about once a season and not spend any money on music except for these times. (I am working my way towards the entire Beauty and the Beast on Broadway album very slowly.) Mostly I like my system because it keeps me from spending "just 99 cents" every other day on music that I never listen to because I become obsessed with my CD for a long time and listen to almost nothing else. Then I spend a period of time listening to my older CDs. It helps me remember what I have because of the organizing system and also provides a neat record of the type of music that I enjoyed during certain years. Eventually, I find myself listening almost exclusively to grooveshark and youtube. Then I buy more. I usually end up with three CDs a year (I usually get a broadway musical from my cousin for Christmas, so I don't need one during winter). Anyway, all that goes to say that I am trying to pick out 15 songs for my new CD. So far I have Disney, broadway, Chameleon Circuit (Doctor Who fan music), the Hush Sound (probably my favorite group), Matthew West, Vienna Teng and Standing in the Way from Buffy the Vampire Slayer: One More Time with Feeling. I feel completely over-priviledged. 

This was the last (and, to some extent, first) true week of summer: only worked two days, no scripts to write/props to gather/phone calls to field/camp to run/problems to solve, and no other responsibilities. I have been working on my Mandarin, writing, reading, cooking, baking, sleeping (finally!) and just enjoying having no true pulls on my time. I have been listening to the Screwtape Letters again and they convict me every time. I love the part where he points out that our time is not actually our time. This should be obvious, and yet, every time, it gets me. All of my time, all of "my" everything, was given to me. It is a gift, not a right. I use maybe an hour a day truly for my Lord. And this is a reasonably new development. At first, I scoff to think that I should truly use every single moment of my day for God. Am I supposed to never do anything but pray and read my Bible? What about reading books that I want to read or talking with friends about the latest movie or something other than what I have read in scripture recently? Those things are not out of God's will, are they? I think the answer is no.... but that is the wrong attitude. Christianity should define me. I should be a Christian first, everything else comes second or not at all. God should not be set aside as part of my schedule; he should be my schedule. Time being silly with friends and watching movies and writing and reading should be seen as a joy granted to me by my Father, not as a right and not as separate from Him. My life is not like that, but I pray that as I continue to be drawn closer to God, my life will closer reflect this, although I did not explain it well. 

Today has been very quiet. Crepes for lunch, sweet potato surprise for dinner and rice bars for dessert. It has been slow and gentle and filled with a lot of thought and not much physical activity. I have felt kind of sleepy all day. Must WAKE UP! Disney songs would be perfect (I just can't wait to be king!) but is that what I am listening to? No. I am listening to Fairy Dance from Peter Pan (the latest live-action version). It is beautiful and un-motivating in the extreme. Today was the pale yellow of sidewalk chalk after a rainstorm.