‘Pay it forward’ stories that will inspire you:  http://a.msn.com/01/en-us/AAwsaPX?ocid=st
​I love the 378 in a row that occurred over coffee. Now, that is good old American pay-it-forward - our favorite hot drink, one at a time. The string actually stretched from early morning to dinner time. I wonder what I can do to #payitforward today?

​Since this is finals weekend at school (I graduate with a BA in English tomorrow!), I probably won't leave the house, but will stay hunched over my computer, typing furiously - or furiously typing, at least. Therefore, I think I will add the price of a bag of coffee to this week's support for the JCRS school in Uganda. I think educational pay it forward is the very best kind, next to spiritual pay it forward, which has even longer-lasting benefits. 
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​I took a Jung personality test for school today and it says I am an INTJ (Introversion, Intuition, Thinking, Judgment) Apparently, only 2% of the population are INTJ, and only 0.8% of women. Soooo, I DO march to the beat of a different drummer, which everyone who knows me knows. 

​I took the Jung Personality along with a series of other tests in an exercise to see what job they would think most suitable for me. The two highest recommendations they diagnosed for my personality and skill set were sociologist and historian, both of which require a good deal of research. It sounds interesting to me. 

​Try it yourself. From the website: How do you deal with people, process information and make decisions? What is your Jung personality type? Take the free Jung personality test, with the option to upgrade to an extended report afterwards. Test yourself at https://www.123test.com/jung-personality-test/

​I am just sitting here working on my website and look who popped up outside the window. Dana and I raked this little bird sanctuary yesterday, filled the birdbath with water, and added seed to this one. And here's the payoff. This is why I like to write in my room. It's sad that I own cats...

​I was working on a posting about Gilgamesh writing to Enkidu from Hell. I wrote it in the style of Saint Augustine. Thus, it is filled with quotes, as Gilgamesh makes his case to try and get out of Hades. However, I had a hard time figuring out how to post the story to my webpage with the embedded links to the numerous quotes. Finally, I simply posted it as a letter, no links. It is still a fun topic (if pleading for your life from Hell is fun) and one I enjoyed writing. You can read the letter/story here. If you want to read it with the quotes, shoot me an email and I will send you the Word document with embedded links. 

​If you like the topic, read a much more light-hearted one and see what happens to others who inadvertently escape that fiery place. Or, read another ominous, yet hopeful one in which the levels of Hell are based on that which you have done wrong on earth. Like Gilgamesh, the last one is based on the classics. In this case, the writings of Dante. Why do I write about Heaven and Hell? Because it's all part of the spiritual realm, which is the final frontier and the most fascinating of all. 

So, today is the first day of my new site. I opened the website to post stories and books and ruminations from my writing life. I included some of my academic papers because they are interesting to me. I think the readership for something like that would be pretty small. However, if anyone would like to discuss my commentary or challenge my viewpoint, I would be delighted. What we read, what we observe in the world around us, all becomes part of our worldview. This is why I am interested in getting a masters in the liberal arts. Reading the classics shifts my worldview with each read, and this in turn is incorporated in my stories. Of course the Bible and my relationship with God have had the largest influence on me. Reading about the gods in early Greek literature only causes my imagination to soar and starts me questioning and comparing the beliefs and philosophies of those who lived so long ago with what I believe and what Yahweh says to me, or what angels (some formerly fallen, and some not) say to me. Why wait for Heaven to get all the answers when he speaks now? My writing generally has a spiritual background and even the simplest stories are normally allegories. But then, aren't everyone's?