Confessions

I have a cat perched on my shoulder. I'm propped on the couch with various pillows carefully placed, trying to make my back feel bearable, and a large hot cat has come and draped himself on me so as to keep me from getting cool.

I have a deep dark confession to make. Last week I was so tired and stressed that whenever I was home and trying to have some peace and quiet, I got Drudge up and read the latest about Paris Hilton. It was the perfect distraction. For those of you who haven't been up on the latest, Paris Hilton is a socialite of some sort, and from what I've gathered up, she was caught driving a car after having drunk much too much, and then violated her parole and made the judge so angry that he sent her to jail. Paris dutifully checked in at the jail and it was fairly easy to find minute by minute speculations and updates about how she was doing. She was going to keep a journal. She was doing fine. She was doing horribly. And then after 3 days in jail the Sheriff released her due to "overcrowding" and some medical condition. Forthwith the angry judge got her back in court and sent her back to jail, where she now remains.

Wonderfully, after following this ridiculous story all week, I was able to continue to read article after article on my cell phone on the floor of the Events Center while waiting for the music and festivities to rev up during the Festival. Surprisingly, it is perfectly culturally acceptable to read stuff on your cell phone, even junk, but had I pulled out a book (which I did once but then put awkwardly away), it invites conversation and speculation about what you are reading and why. Of course, Of Course I could have been reading my bible, and ought to have been. But with the volume and the number of people and the level of exhaustion, I must say, Paris Hilton was just the ticket.

All that said, I feel very bad for Paris. This poor girl has been given everything she could possibly ask for and more, and the poor creature is resultingly unable to deal with adversity of any kind, let alone normal consequences for bad behavior. I've been praying that a capable, forthright and fairly pushy female chaplain will get a hold of her and tell her about Jesus. Don't know what the chances of that are, legally, but I'm going to pray for it anyway.