Thursday, February 28, 2008

Midterms

Hello everyone. Midterms are just around the corner, so needless to say I'm pretty swamped school-wise. But luckily after next week I have two weeks off for spring break (that's one of the great things about Yale). I'm just going to be working on papers during that time, but that's OK. It will focused study time, which is a hot commodity as the semester rolls on. So school is going well, but busy. I was home last week for my brother's senior BM recital and the convention for my diocese. Nathan did an absolutely phenomenal job, both at his recital and at the club where his combo plays. I'm so proud of him! And convention went well too. It was good to see people. Most of all it was good to see my family. While I don't feel I got to spend much time with them, due to convention, it was great to see everyone. Blaine is getting so big! And he's hilarious--such a great kid. Anyway I have to go. I have more reading to do (it never ends!) and studying, etc. Hope you're all staying warm!

Oh and go to www.proposition317.com and sign the petition to get St. Patrick's Day made an official holiday!!! Why? you might ask. Why not?!

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Yo.

Howdy folks. There's really not too much happening at the moment, I just thought I would sign in to say hello. Things up here in New England are going well. The weather is weird, but what are you gonna do? School is going OK. I had a paper due last Friday that I turned in Thursday (got that mom? THURSDAY! Ha.) I'm hopefully meeting with my history professor next week to talk about applying to some history PhD programs. The more I think about, the better of an idea I think it is. It may involve writing a much more extensive paper than is required for class this semester, but I will need a writing sample so I'm willing to do it. Hopefully the prof will work with me. I'll let you all know how it goes. Valentine's day was good, although we didn't celebrate until last night. We went to dinner at our favorite Thai place here in New Haven, and then went to the opera to see Die Fledermaus, which was fantastic. I love comedic opera--it's got music, acting, and comedy. This one was hilarious, and the cast was superb. So that was great. Oh and we got some ice cream before the show from Cold Stone, which is always a treat. Rick has tomorrow off so he is staying here an extra night. Huzzah! Although I'm going to be doing homework most of today. I'm almost done with my Chaucer reading for the week but I have a TON of reading for Milton, and this is primarily non-fiction and prose, so it will take a little longer. But it has to do with his positions on the Anglican church, so that will be especially interesting. I'm still trying to get through my OT bible readings. I have a couple of thoughts about an exegesis topic, one possible from Amos. I'm going to talk to my TA and see what he says about the topic and if it will be possible to find anything about it. We shall see. Other than that I'm just doing the school thing. Looking for a summer job as well--I applied at one place already, but they said they'll contact me in mid-March about an interview. Not sure if I'm going to apply to the NPS job I found--I really like this other one better. So keep your fingers crossed (I'll tell you more about it if I get the job). Oh and I'm not going to El Salvador for spring break. The trip went way up in cost and I'm broke, as is most of the group, so they're postponing the trip. If they go in May I won't be able to go, as I'll be in southeastern Europe with ISM, but I hope someone at least gets to make the trip.

Well, it's time to get dressed (I know...lazy Sunday and all that), and then go to the grocery. Woohoo! Hope you all are staying warm!

Monday, February 11, 2008

The Quarter Century

That's right folks. As of last Tuesday, I am now a quarter of a century old. Woohoo! This is one of those birthdays where I didn't really feel any different...in fact there are only a few of those that I can remember, 22 being the most recent. But there are a few things that come with 25, namely: I can't ride the insurance gravy train anymore (aka be on the rent's health insurance) and I can rent a car without having to pay the extra charge, which I guess is a good thing. Oh and I could be an American Camping Association camp director (you're supposed to be at least 25). 24 was a good year, and I have no doubts that 25 will be great as well. Rick and I celebrated this weekend with dinner at this nice and tasty hibachi place we found in Worcester. We were going to go bowling as well but we had some mega snow so we put off the bowling until further notice. Which is OK, as I'm bringing my mom's old bowling ball back from KY with me next time I go home.

On other fronts, after a really crappy beginning to the semester (hurting my back and then getting really sick) I think things have finally (knock on wood) calmed down and I can get in the swing of things. I have a paper due for Milton on Friday. It's only 4-6 pages, but I have no clue what I'm going to write about. There's a particular passage from "Lycidas" that I find to be extraordinarily beautiful, and I think there's some wonderful resurrection imagery in it, but I'm not sure I could get 4-6 pages out of it. We'll see. Milton is my favorite class, though, so I want to do really well on this paper. I also have ideas for my Chaucer paper, which is good. And I'm hoping to pick out an exegesis passage for OT this week so I can get started on it.

Spring break looks like it will be exciting--I'll be traveling to El Salvador with 4 other Berkeley students. We're going to visit a BDS grad and see how missions are done in El Salvador, and what the church is doing with the MDGs, etc. I'm excited about it, and as I want to do young adult ministry I hope that this will be a good opportunity to make connections and see what the theological and logistical side of mission is about. I went to Honduras on a mission trip when I was 16, but I'm excited to go as an adult. And the group going is really great, so huzzah! I need to start brushing up on my spanish. No recuerdo mucho!

Ummm...what else? I've been reading lots of Martin Luther for my Reformation class, and I'm loving every bit of it. His anti-semitism and demonizing of the RCs is obviously problematic, but there is so much wonderful stuff in his writing! This particular quote is from Alistair McGrath (who wrote the Reformation thought textbook we're using) where he says that one of the things Luther was saying is "faith isn't the same thing as certainty." WHOA. Why has no one ever put it like that before????? It was like the heavens opened up and angels were singing when I read that line. Not that I've ever felt faith IS certainty, but I think there was always a nagging feeling. But putting it like this is pretty amazing, for me anyway. And Luther's "The Freedom of a Christian" is a wonderfuul text: Christians are servants to no one and servants to everyone both at the same time. There are some wonderful paradoxes (plural?) in Luther, and I wish everyone could read his stuff. I'm only scratching the surface, but I can see why the Reformation really got moving with him.

I'm trying to think of what else has happened recently...mostly school. My last couple of weekends with Rick have been really fantastic. They're always wonderful, but I've come out of these past two weekends feeling really really refreshed, which is great. He's awesome :)

I hope you all are doing well and getting a blessed start to your lenten season. And hopefully staying warm. It's friggin' cold here!!!

Oh and GO CARDS! Way to beat Georgetown :)

Friday, February 01, 2008

The Coolest Kid in the World



Here are some pictures of the little guy (from October). I can't seem to get the bottom two to rotate on blogger, so oh well. you can just turn your head. Anyway this kid kept me smiling these past couple of days when no one was around (this is not meant to guilt anyone out...I just mean when I was lonely, thinking about Blaine could make me smile). Thanks, Blaine.

On another note

On another note...
I just bought my plane ticket home for convention. Woohoo!

And somewhat relating to my last post, it's amazing how much thinking about a wee child can make you smile, even if you're in really bad shape...I swear one of the things that got me through this ordeal was thinking about Blaine. Crazy how great that kid is. I can't wait to see him (and the rest of the fam) in a couple of weeks.

Also, it's raining. Alot. But I bought rain boots from Wal Mart a few weeks ago and now I'm getting to break them in. Hopefully they won't leak, but for 15.00 I can't ask for too much, I guess.

Update

I thought I would give you all an update, but most of you probably already know this stuff, as I think only my family reads this thing. But for those out there who read it who aren't family...After the night of 1/30.early morning of 1/31, I just couldn't handle it anymore, so I went back to urgent care. They gave me two more treatments, a few inhalers and an antibiotic and sent me home. An hour later I was wheezing badly again, so I went back. The doctor, who was the most sympathetic I'd had and who I felt really understood that something wasn't right, send me upstairs to the little "student hospital," where I was admitted. There they were giving me steroids through an IV and nebulizer treatments every few hours. Needless to say I'm doing MUCH better (knock on wood). The coughing has started to go down, and when I do cough it's more productive, so to speak. I was also about to get some sleep last night, and hopefully I'll get some tonight as well. Delfin and Debbie came by yesterday, which was super nice. Delfin, Jason, and Debbie really stepped up to the plate on this one, and I am truly blessed to have such wonderful friends! I spent most of this morning reading at the hospital, which was good because it was homework I was doing, and now I just got home. I'm going to hit the showers, and then it's off to Panera with Delfin and Jason to get some real food.

Hope you all are having a happy February. It seems half the people I know (including myself) were born within the next 5 days. Crazy.