Update.

I couldn't think of a good title for this posting, so it's just "update."

I'm currently taking a break from reading Paradise Lost. I have to get through 4 more books tonight. Sheesh. It's a lot. I didn't go to my Chaucer seminar today because I needed to finish the research for my exegesis and read for Milton. I finished the research and now I'm working on the Milton. Woowoo. Still haven't written the Chaucer paper. The research is done and ready to go, but I have an exegesis due on Friday that is more pressing, and then I have to get cracking on Milton. Chaucer's deadline got moved to May 12 so I have some time on that one. I guess I'll write it during reading week.

Things have been kind of crazy lately. I found a place to live next year, which is exciting. I'll be living with 3 other women in a house not too far from campus. They're a cool bunch o ladies so that will be fun. And the rent is the cheapest I've ever had in New England. So cool people and the price is right. I also have a job for next year...I'm going to be a Berkeley chapel minister. I won't know what it fully entails until I start doing it, but I'm excited. It should be a good learning experience. I also have an interview for a job on Friday. I'll say more about it once I know if I get it or not. It looks cool, though.

Mom was sick recently, which was a huge bummer. I wish I could have been home. Warren (the priest at St. Luke's) said "well yeah but what are you going to do?" And I said "Be there." Which is a very CPE-esque answer but it's true. Half the time the best thing you can do for someone is just be there...even if they're asleep. But she's doing much better now and went home yesterday! Thanks to everyone here at school that has kept her in their prayers...they really paid off! Then this weekend I got food poisoning/a stomach virus. We went to cracker barrel, got free meals because they messed up our orders (we didn't cause a fuss and didn't even ask to see a manager or get a discount...it was really no biggie) and 10 minutes after we left I was winning the vomit olympics INSIDE RICK'S VAN!!!!! Thank God he loves me so much. He was a real sport about the whole thing, and now the van is cleaner than ever, after he cleaned it out on Saturday. I was a blob that day and pretty much just slept most of the day. Then yesterday we de-winterized our cars and I came back to New Haven. But now Rick is sick, which is why I think it was a virus. I wish I had known that and I would have made him stay 20 feet away from me! But we both thought it was food poisoning. Go figure. I just feel bad because I can't be there to take care of him...I could have driven up there this afternoon, but to be honest gas is just too expensive right now. It's 3.49 a gallon at the station near my apartment. Crazy. But last I talked to him he was feeling better. I'm calling him in a few minutes to check up on him again.

And speaking of Rick, he wrote the sweetest blog post. Just wanted to let you know he's awesome. :)

On a bummer note, I think my external hard drive has crapped out on me. It has all of my pictures on it, as well as my music and documents from college. I'm going to have to take it to a data recovery place and probably have to pay a bajillion dollars. Ew. Makes me feel queasy just thinking about it.

Other than that...I'm just working on papers. I got my new Keens today. They're bright "emerald" (it's really more teal) and super comfy and waterproof. I'm totally wearing them tomorrow. I've been looking for new capris, since mine ripped in June. I have a pair from Penny's, but you can only get them online and I really don't want to pay the shipping on them again (I got a pair with a gift card), and old navy didn't have anything. Wal mart didn't either. I guess maybe I'll check Target and fashion bug next time I'm in Worcester.

This weekend we're off to Jersey for spring show n' go. It's the first show of the season, and there's usually an awesome selection of air-cooled vehicles to look at (they're the older VW's), so that will be fun. I hope it doesn't rain, because that would NOT be fun. But whatever. I'm just ready for Westies, because that means it will be summer! (it's the campout we go to that's a bunch of VW vans camping out. It's awesome!)

Until then, I'm just waiting for the trees to become green. It's really spring at home. It's only kind of here, and even less so in Worcester. Maybe soon we'll hit 60 degrees. One can hope.

The Heat Is On

Well, as the title to this blog says, the heat is on. Metaphorically speaking, of course. It's New England and 50 degrees feels like 65, but I'm not complaining. I'll take what I can get. What I am referring to above is that paper crunch time is upon me. Here's the rundown of due dates:

April 11 Old Testament Exegesis (8-10 pp)
April 15 Berkeley short paper (it's only 2 pp so no biggie)
April 28 Reformation Europe Paper (5-6 pp)
ISM project proposal and bibliography (this is important!)
Chaucer seminar paper (20-30 pp)
April 29 Milton seminar paper (20-25 pp)

So there you have it. The big ones are all due basically on the same day. As it stands, the research for Chaucer is done. I'm going to write the outline tomorrow between OT and Chaucer and then start writing the paper tomorrow night with plans to finish by Tuesday night. Why so quick? Well, the OT paper is due NEXT WEEK. I have a passage and a topic, I just haven't start researching it yet. And then two weeks and Milton is due. And Reformation. And ISM. I may ask for an extension on the Reformation paper by a couple of days. It's a comparison of two historiographical views based on two monographs, which isn't a big deal, I just need the time to sit down and read the books. So I figure I can use a weekend to do that. And hopefully my TA will let me turn it in the Monday of reading week. I'm just not sure how I could get it done (well) otherwise, and it's a topic I'm interested in so I want to do the paper justice. Milton is the paper I'm most looking forward to, so hopefully I can get Chaucer and this OT thing out of the way and get started on it. I'm building off of my other paper for that class that was due in Feb., which the professor seemed really to like, so I have some basic stuff already done for that one, and 4.5 pages written already. Woohoo!

Other than that, I've just been enjoying the spring weather. My friend Sean was confirmed yesterday, so Rick and I went to the service. Before that we went to the mall, which felt very teenager-ish, because I wanted to look at Penny's for a pair of capris. They only have them online, it turns out, but we ate a tasty lunch at B-dubs (which I didn't know they had up here!!!). And we got a nice coffee treat and I tried on some Keens. I ended up buying a pair online for a good price...these will be PERFECT for the summer, and they're so supportive! So I'm excited about that.

Rick and I went for a bike ride today. I found where that trail picks up, so we did a 20 mile ride. It felt good but I was starving by the end and "bonked" as Rick says (which means my blood sugar dropped). But all in all it wasn't a bad start to the season. Hopefully we'll have even better weather next weekend and I can put similar miles on the Trek. Woohoo for warmer weather! Alrighty well I should go. I have to do my homework for the week tonight so I can write tomorrow night.

And I should find out if I got the chapel minister job early this week. Hopefully tomorrow. Hopefully.

And I'm teaching clarinet lessons now to a friend of mine's daughter. It's pretty fun helping a newbie learn the ropes, and she's better than she thinks she is (before we played she claimed she couldn't make a sound, but oh was she wrong...). Ha.

Hope it's spring-y where you are. The daffodils and crocuses (crocii?) are starting to bloom here. As Dr. Zoidberg would say... Hooray!

PS I've decided instead of saying I'm going to be a priest, I'm going to start telling people that I am going to be a "Christian enthusiast." It's a Family Guy reference, but I think it works.

Anne Rice

One more thing...

The above here is an Anne Rice article about her faith. It's a pretty beautiful expression, I think, and once that may surprise a lot of people, coming from her. But it's interesting, and I thought given the Easter season it would be appropriate. Apparently her new book is really good (I heard this from a reliable source who is ordained and is smart and understands the importance of Biblical scholarship...).

He is Risen! But my job prospects are not...

ALLELUIA!!! Sorry this comes a bit late, but Easter has come at last! I had a great holy week, and ended it up with a wonderful weekend of services at St. Luke's Worcester and a great steak dinner with Rick. Awesome. We went to the Easter Vigil at St. Luke's on Saturday night. Having attended the vigil at Copley Square for two years running, I was afraid this one might seem to be a let down. Never fear, though, because it was AWESOME. Warren had us reading different translations of the different scripture readings (whatever the translation of Genesis 1:1-2:2 was is fantastic) and the music team did an excellent job. I love the traditional exsultet, but the one they did was amazing...and the congregation was able to participate in the singing, which was very appreciated on my part. Overall, the service was great! Rick read part of the prayers of the people. I have to say I'm so thankful that they asked him to read. Talking with friends here at YDS, it seems that partners and spouses sometimes get left out of the mix, and are consistently identified with the seminarian. But the people of St. Luke's asking Rick to read felt, to me at least, like they were affirming him apart from his connection to me, and I think that's incredibly important! Also, I've come to realize that the older I get, the more the Easter Vigil becomes my favorite service of the year. I literally get goose bumps every time. I used to think Christmas Eve midnight mass was my favorite, but living in New England...Easter seems to herald the spring and bring renewal right when I need it. That and I realize more and more how much we need to be an incarnational easter people. I think some year I'm going to preach Easter at Christmas (reminding people of why this child was born) and preach Christmas at Easter (reminding people of the sacrifice and miracle that is involved because of the incarnation). 'Tis a good thing.

In other news, I didn't get the job at the Food Project, and I have no clue why. I didn't even get an interview. I feel that I'm incredibly qualified for that job, but oh well. What are you going to do? It's a bummer though, and now I'm looking around for another summer job (which is the last thing I need to add to my already overfilled plate right now). I did interview for the Berkeley chapel minister job today. There are 4 positions and 6 people applying. I would like the job, but if I don't get it I guess I'll just deal, you know? No sense dwelling on it, because all of the people applying are top notch and I have no clue how they're going to decide who to pick. We'll see, though. They said today they would let us know early next week. Woowoo.

Schoolwise things are going ok. I got a 97 on my OT midterm and a 93 on my history midterm (which, considering the average was a B/B- I'm pleased with). So those went well. I thought I did fine on OT but I didn't expect a 97. It was a pleasant surprise. I'm also making some headway on the Chaucer paper. The research is done, now I need to write. I was going to do some of that tonight but I had such a crappy evening and a headache that it didn't happen. But I don't feel guilty about it. It is what it is. Hopefully I'll at least get a good outline and introduction done tomorrow morning before I have to go to work.

Rick is coming down here this weekend. My friend Sean is getting confirmed, so I think we're going to go to that. We're also going to try to get some bike riding in. I've been trying to find where the East Coast Greenway path picks up near my place...I've been following these little white painted trees on the pavement at every intersection. It's kind of fun, as I don't know where they will lead me next. Anyway I'm hoping we can find the pick up this weekend, because then we can ride off the roads and not worry about anything other than foot/bike traffic. And I think the weather is supposed to be nice.

Other than that...spring is here. I took the interior windows out of my bedroom (they act as insulation during the winter...hard to explain how they look but just believe me) which is a sign of spring, and I put away my sweaters. Even if it gets cold again I'm not wearing cords or sweaters. It is officially spring. Take THAT New England (but please don't retaliate with winter weather!)

WKU is playing UCLA right now. UL is playing UT right now. Can I watch the games? Nope. Oh well. They'd probably lose if I watched anyway. I think I'll go to bed instead.

Hope you all are having a good week. And once more, just because...

ALLELUIA!!!!!!!!!

It's Good Friday

It's Good Friday today, and I'm not doing anything Good Friday-ey. I was going to go to the services at St. Luke's, but Rick and I are meeting Matt and Emily for dinner tonight. I haven't seen them in a while, and Matt was my first friend at Harvard so I think it's more important to celebrate that friendship than sit in church thinking about how I would rather be eating dinner with them. So there.

Anywho I'm sitting at Starbucks right now working on some homework. I got a reading room privileges card at the main Harvard library, but I couldn't get my computer to log onto the wireless network there for some reason, so i came here and had to pay 10 bucks to use the internet. Normally I'd just deal, but there are about five online books I'm using for my Chaucer paper and I have to connect to the internet and then Yale's network in order to look at them off campus. I feel very yuppie-ish sitting here in Starbucks working on my Mac, though, and yuppie is not something I ever want to be. Oh well.

Maundy Thursday services were pretty good. Rick said it was one of the saddest things he'd ever seen, which I thought was big. I didn't know it would affect him that much, and it was just interesting to see the reaction of new eyes to the whole service. I guess I'm so used to the service (not that it doesn't affect me) that I don't approach things at church in the same way he does. Needless to say, he provides refreshing (and often hilarious) insight into the church world.

I'm hopefully getting a new bike soon (maybe even tonight!). My ankle injury is putting me out of running for a while, and now that both of my ankles are prone to twisting easily, I need to put running behind me mostly. However, I LOVE biking and always have, and Rick's life used to be biking, basically. So I'm going to get a good bike, either a Trek or a Specialized, and we're going to start biking hardcore. Our first ride of the season is planned for tomorrow, and we're hoping to do a century (100 miles in a day) but the end of the summer. Woohoo! There are some really great biking resources around here, as well as awesome places to bike, so that will be good. I also found a website that has women's sizes (as opposed to misses') in bike clothing, so I can get a jersey and a pair of shorts. Then hopefully I'll lose enough weight by the end of the summer that they won't fit anymore :) But regardless, it will be good to get back into shape and there's no way I'd rather do it than cycling with Rick.

Other than that, it's cold and windy here. It snowed last night...on the first day of spring. Damn you Jack Frost! But it's supposed to be 43 tomorrow, and sunny, so that's all good. It had better be. I hope.

I should get back to studying. Just thought I'd take a break and update this thing.

Spring, etc.

Happy first day of spring! I think. At least, Rick told me today is the first day of spring, and as we both hate winter I'm willing to believe him. And the weather channel website had changed the banner to a more spring-like flower, so sure. Happy first day of spring. Too bad it looks nothing like spring outside! It's cloudy, windy, and about 40 degrees right now. It could be worse, but it could most definitely be better. I've noticed buds on trees earlier this year than last year, which is a good sign. March in New England is a hard month for me, but hopefully the blooming will happen at a more normal time! (although I recently read an article about how spring has been coming earlier and earlier due to global warming). My allergies have switched into spring mode, but the weather hasn't. Oh well.

My ankle is still swollen and sore, both on the inside and the outside. Luckily biking shouldn't be a problem (I tested myself on the exercise bike and I was fine). It's just walking and therefore running that are problematic, which is a bummer because I was hoping to get back on a running schedule now that spring is here. Hopefully within a couple of weeks I'll be good to go. I think I'm going to get ankle braces for both ankles, however, as I sprained the left a few years ago and the right is now turn-prone as well. Just for a precautionary measure, but still.

I still haven't heard back from the Food Project. I don't know if they've called anyone or if I just didn't get an interview. I did however find another job I might apply for...it's basically being the camp director for this 8 week music camp in Waltham. shouldn't be too bad, from the looks of it, and it's a daytime thing. I'll just have to find time to fit in studying for the GRE (which I HAVE to do this summer). Speaking of grad school, I spoke with an old prof of mine from HDS and she seemed pretty excited about the possibility of me applying to the ThD there in history of Christianity. That's exciting, too, because I'm really trying to create relationships with potential PhD advisors and everything. I'm going to start emailing people this spring, and then hopefully meet with them in the fall right before I send in my applications.

On another note, today is Maundy Thursday. I am perpetually asked what "maundy" means, so I looked it up in the OED, and there are several definitions: One is the ritual of footwashing, originally where royalty would wash the feet of the poor to commemorate Jesus washing the feet of the apostles. This is the meaning we have now. Almsgiving is an obsolete definition of the word. It can also refer to the money that the monarch would distribute at the Maundy Thursday ceremony. There are also several more obsolete definitions: to take part in the Last Supper, the Lord's Supper or Eucharist, and also to feast or take part in a feast. There are also several compounds, but I thought my loyal readers would be interested in the general meanings of the term.

I'll be going to Maundy Thursday services at St. Luke's tonight. The past couple of years I've gone to Trinity, but now that I've found a new church home I'll be going there. Rick doesn't get home until about the time the service starts, so he's not coming. Oh well. It's funny--I was telling him about the first Maundy Thursday service I remember and he drove home to me how much of a church nerd I am. I was probably 7 or 8...old enough to remember the service even now but young enough that I didn't remember the service from the year before. Anyway, when it came time for the altar to be stripped, everyone was kneeling and reading Psalm 22 while church members stripped the altar. I had no idea what was going on, and was getting really upset because I thought they were closing my church and I had no idea why and no one had warned me about it! I don't remember being visibly upset, but I do remember this inner anguish at the prospect of St. Peter's closing, and I thought the stripping of the altar was some sort of liturgical way of doing this (yes, I am a nerd). Well, when you leave the service you're not supposed to talk so I had to wait until we got in the car to figure out what was going on. Rick's reaction to this story: How old were you? You were really that upset?

Yes, I am a church nerd. Go figure.

Spring Break

Hello everyone. It's week number 2 of spring break (yes, Yale gets 2 weeks!) and I'm sitting here at the kitchen table in Worcester working on a paper. It's been a relaxing break so far. I had some more asthma trouble last week and then on Friday sprained my ankle really badly. It's still swollen but the doctors say it's not broken, so that's good. But it is about five different colors, which is fun I guess. Monday was St. Patrick's Day and Rick and I met up with his old roommate Felipe for dinner, which was fun. We were supposed to meet up with Matt and Emily, but Matt is sick so hopefully he'll get better and we can meet on Friday instead.

I've pretty much just worked on this Chaucer paper over the break. I have two 20-30 page papers due on April 28, a 10 pg. on Apr 11 and a 5 page on the 28th. So I'm just trying to get a jump on this one. On top of it all, I'm presenting on my paper topic on Monday in Chaucer, so this gave me a reason to get a bunch of the research done. I'm about halfway done with researching the topic I think. I'm just a little nervous because I'm not sure I completely have a thesis for the paper yet, but hopefully one will come to me as I study. I just want to get this paper and the two shorter ones done so that I can work on my Milton paper, about which I'm pretty excited. I'm also hoping the Milton paper will be good enough to be my PhD writing sample, so I want to make sure it's extra good. I just need to get this other stuff done first so that I can work on it!

Other than that, there's not much going on here. The weather sucks--it's cold and rainy. The past month has had cold and rainy weekends. Needless to say Rick and I are both ready for some sun. It's also Holy Week. I'm reading at the vigil on Saturday night, specifically the flood story, which given the current weather situation seems fitting. Rick and I watch Jesus Christ Superstar last night, which he had never seen. His take: "Wow, my Lord and Savior has got soul!" Ha. I love him.

Hope you are all staying dry wherever you are, and having a blessed Holy Week. Spring and Easter are almost here!!!

Democratic Primaries

I'm poking my head out of 16th century Germany to make a comment on the Democratic primaries. At first I was stoked about all of the choices. I mean, this wasn't going to be about voting AGAINST anyone! It was going to be about voting FOR someone. And then my guy (John Edwards) dropped out of the race and I've been at a last about who to vote for. However, given recent events and a news article I just read about how Obama is now going to criticize Clinton even more and raise MORE doubts about her ability to lead, I wonder what kind of benefit this is going to have in November. What if Hillary wins? Will voters in the fall just remember what Obama said about her? I understand each one is trying to win the nomination, but there's so much mudslinging going on that I feel both Democrats will be stained by the time it's most important to be squeaky clean! Especially considering that the Republican nominee is going to be McCain, and last time there were many Democrats who were willing to vote for him. I don't know if that is still the case now, but I wish the Dems would LAY OFF IT. I don't want to know why you're better than she is, or why he is less prepared than you. I want to know things like: what are you going to do about the rising problem of debt in this country? How about the war that's draining our budget, draining Iraq of lives, and draining our military of soldiers and confidence? What are you going to do about the rising costs of higher ed and the rising problems of debt among young people? And what about all of those under 30 without health care? And what about education in poor sections of the country where all sorts of kids are being left behind through no fault of their own? And what about social security? If it's not going to be around when I'm old, what are you going to do to help me out, especially since retirement is becoming more and more costly while less and less people are able to afford it? And then there's the issue of a job...what about all of these great educated people I know who can't get a job? What are you going to do about that?

So, Obama and Hillary, get over it. I don't care what you think about the other person. I care what YOU think. Let me make my decision based on that.

Oh and Obama--plagiarism IS a big deal.

One down one to go.

Well the OT midterm is done. Not too bad, at least that's how I felt coming out of it. I felt that I wrote all I could on the first question but only got three pages out of it (in my tiny handwriting) and the second I did five. So hopefully that will be good. I was going to start studying for Reformation right after but I'm realistic and knew my brain wouldn't be in retention mode quite yet, so I'll probably start studying after section. Woowoo.

Found an awful website. It's called Gradcafe. Some people love it. Right now I hate it. I've just been reading and all of these people are getting rejected from PhD programs--and many of them have applied to the same schools to which I'm applying AND they're applying for a second round. It's a bummer. A good friend of mine who is brilliant hasn't gotten in anywhere yet, and everywhere else has rejected him (again). Sheesh. It's very very disheartening. Needless to say, it's gotten to the point that when I think I'm going to stop studying for the night I say "PhD" to myself to keep myself going. Everyone around me seems so confident that I'll get in somewhere, but I guess I'm more realistic? Hmm. I'm not bashing myself here, I just know that next year hopefully by this time I'll know something.

I had a meeting with my history prof last week to talk about PhD stuff, which is good. My languages will be out of the way when I apply (I've done French and will do German next year) which is apparently a big thing for history programs. At this point I think I've decided that if I get in to any history programs I'll go for those over religion, mostly because I have a better chance of getting a job AND I could teach in either religion or history. So we'll see. I have to get in first. At this point I'm thinking my top choice is Brown, but all of the schools I'm looking at (History-Harvard, Yale, Brown, BC Religion--Harvard Div, BC, BU) are good schools. I'd just like to get in to one of them. Luckily I've already figured out professors, and am hoping to read some of their work this summer and meet with them in the early fall. I'm also hoping to have a writing sample from one of my lit classes this semester. I think the Milton one would be most applicable, as it's a combination of lit, religion, and history, which is my interest, but we'll see. I'm hopefully meeting with the prof tomorrow.

Anyway I have a meeting about my exegesis so I'm gonna peace out. One more midterm left and then spring break. Woohoo!

Still Here.

Just wanted to let you all know I'm still here. One midterm tomorrow, and another on Thursday. After that I'll (hopefully) get an opportunity to write more. Right now all I can think about are Old Testament prophets and German and Swiss reformers...

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?!

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!

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 :)

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.

Ridiculousity

This is ridiculous. It is now about 5 am. I went to bed at 11 pm, woke up at 11:53 pm coughing and have been up ever since. It won't stop! And all I want to do is sleep. That's it. Get a good night's sleep, which I haven't had since last Tuesday night. I thought tonight was going to be the night...I was nice and relaxed and fell asleep pretty quickly. Little did I know it would be yet another sleepless night. The doctors have told me just to take Tussin DM, which I've been doing, use my inhaler, which I've been doing, and take some sudafed, which I've been doing. BUT IT'S NOT WORKING. So I'm going to call down there this morning and see if I can get an appointment or if they can tell me anything else that might work. I have to wait for the Tussin to wear off (even though it's not working, it's in the system) before I can do anything else. I'm just tired. Tired and frustrated. This sucks.

A Poem for Pondering

I was doing some reading for my Milton seminar tonight, and one of the assigned readings was this poem. I read it, and had to reread it a couple of times because I loved it so much. So I thought I would share. The last four lines are my particular favorites. This particular version uses modern spelling, instead of the original Milton spelling. Hopefully that will make it easier for everyone to read. :) Enjoy!

"At a Solemn Music" by John Milton

Blest pair of sirens, pledges of Heav'n's joy,
Sphere-borne harmonious sisters, Voice and Verse,
Wed your divine sounds, and mixed power employ
Dead things with inbreathed sense able to pierce,
And to our high-raised fantasy present
That undisturbed song of pure concent,
Ay sung before the sapphire-colored throne
To him that sits thereon
With saintly shout, and solemn jubilee,
Where the bright Seraphim in burning row
Their loud uplifted angel trumpets blow,
And the Cherubic host in thousand choirs
Touch their immortal harps of golden wires,
With those just spirits that wear victorious palms,
Hymns devout and holy psalms
Singing everlastingly;
That we on earth with undiscording noise;
As once we did, till disproportioned sin
Jarred against nature's chime, and with harsh din
Broke the fair music that all creatures made
To their great Lord, whose love their motion swayed
In perfect diapason [complete harmony], whilst they stood
In first obedience and their state of good.
O may we soon again renew that song,
And keep in tune with Heav'n, till God ere long
To his celestial consort us unite,
To live with him, and sing in endless morn of light.

Awesome, isn't it?

Asthma and Academics

The point of the title is that the two don't mix. Wednesday afternoon I had to run to sign for a package and run back to class (it had my textbooks for a class, thus it was important!) and ever since then I've had this constant asthma attack that won't go away. Seriously. I went to the doc on Thursday and they just said to use my inhaler regularly until it ends and take the 3 steroid tablets she gave me. Woo. Yesterday I was better most of the day, until I got to work. Thing I learned: I'm allergic to books. You see, on top of the wheezing, my throat and ears have been constantly itching from some allergy I'm sure, and the moldy and dusty books just exacerbated it. That and night time. The past three nights I've only slept about 2.5-3 hours, as I spend the rest of the night coughing. It's awful. I just want to be able to breathe and sleep!!! I guess if this still hasn't gone away by Sunday I'll call the doctor again and see what the hell to do. I just want my bronchial tubes back to normal. Sheesh.

Crappy Week

What a crap week. Monday started out OK, with my two classes going well and everything. But then on Tuesday everything started to go downhill. I went to my two classes (which were great), but when I got up from history I'd pulled something in my back and could hardly walk. I've been having back pain since November, but this was unlike anything I'd ever experienced. So I made my way (slowly) over to the health center, where they told me they thought I had a herniated disc and gave me some painkillers. I took the naproxen twice but never touched the perkiset (sp?). Anyway, that night was horrible. I couldn't move, I was all alone, and nothing seemed to go right. I could barely get off the couch. This sort of thing always seems to happen to me when I'm alone. LAME. So then yesterday was OK I guess. Still back pain, but nothing particularly bad. However, Tuesday has put me behind in a couple of classes and it's only the first week! I still have more Chaucer reading to do when I'm done writing this, and then OT. Have to have Amos read by tomorrow. And the Book of the Duchess in Chaucer. Sheesh. Then today I found out that my boss forgot to submit my timesheet, so I don't get paid this week. On top of that I got in trouble at work for "noticing people's books." Apparently it's a violation of some kind of confidentiality if I "notice" what people check out. What happened was this: a guy who has been getting tons of stuff on reserve about a particular topic came in to check them out. Having "noticed" these books, I asked him what he was researching, and then we got into a really good conversation and I met a really interesting person. All because I had "noticed" his books. I notice things. It's just part of who I am. I feel like I'm being asked to turn that part of me off. Too bad I need the money. I like the people I work with, but it's going to be hard not to ask people how they liked a certain book or what they're working on. That's how you start conversations and get to know people! God forbid I do that. So that was really really tough. It just felt so...personal. It wouldn't if I weren't the sort of observant person I am, but there it is.

So I'm glad tomorrow's Friday. I just want Rick to be here and to veg a bit and forget about this stupid week.

On a different note, I checked out Jesus Camp from the library today. I heard it was a very balanced look at the born again movement among young children, but I never saw it (I didn't want to if it demonized these people, but apparently it really doesn't). So I'm hoping to watch it some time this weekend, if not when Rick is here then on Monday night. I'll let you all know how it is.

Classes for the semester: OT Interpretation 2 (prof is hilarious), Reformation Europe (the historical area I want to specialize in with a good prof), Milton (also great prof and a grad seminar with only 8 people in it so far), and Chaucer (with another great prof and also a grad seminar with about 18 in it). 3 of the classes meet downtown which is different but I like it. It's nice to get off the hill and study in the Bass library (it's underground!!!). And the grad seminars, while they may be a lot of work, look like they're going to be great. FINALLY! Small classes! Woohoo! I'll let you know about potential paper topics as well, once I finally settle on them.

Alright now I must go. It's 8:15 and I still have 14 large pages of Chaucer's middle English to get through. And the book of Amos.

Later.

Back in the Swing O' Things

Hey everyone. Sorry it's been a while since I updated this. I was home for a couple of weeks for Christmas and New Year's, and then I was working last week. Today was the first day of the semester, so now that I'm back into the swing of things I figured I would write.

Christmas was a blast. It was so great being home and having NO HOMEWORK for the first time in two years. I got to hang out with the fam and just relax. So woohoo! there. Then Rick came down for New Year's. We went out with Erin and Chase to Wick's (which was crowded, overpriced, and loud) and bowling (which was great). Then it was back up to New Haven for a few days of working and a long weekend with Rick. Now I'm back into the school routine. Well, kind of. I have to wait for my loan money to come so I can buy books, but once that happens I'll be more in the swing of things.

My classes for the semester look like they will be pretty good. I'm taking OT 2, Reformation Europe, and two grad seminars in the English dept. (assuming I can get into both): Chaucer and Milton. Everything's a go for Chaucer, and Milton meets tomorrow morning so I should know something by then. I was surprised by the number of people in Chaucer, but I guess Medieval studies is a big thing so people want to take it. It will be interesting to see how many people show up for Milton. But anyway three of my classes are downtown, which means a ton of walking for me. But oh well, it hopefully won't be too bad.

Other than that, I don't know much. I"m hopefully going to start my gym routine tonight. I actually got up at 6 am to work out this morning (exercise bike!) and then tonight I'll try to run and swim. Yay for exercise.

Hope you are all having a good 2008 thus far!

Home for Christmas

Howdy Everyone
Well, I'm home for Christmas. Woohoo! The semester is done and now it's time to relax. My Christmas shopping is done, the tree is up, and tomorrow is Christmas Eve, one of my favorite days of the year. The anticipation is I think what does it...that combined with midnight mass, which is hands down my favorite service of the year. This year I'll be at the Cathedral with my parents, so it should be a good service. I really like their new rector, and it will be interesting to hear his sermon. Other than that, I've been catching up on some sleep. I had to get up at 4 am to get to Providence for my flight on Friday, so I was pretty much dead on my feet by that night. It's been nice sleeping in...now to the reading. I may take a break from the Natural History of Make Believe and move on to some Toni Morrison. We'll see. I'd just like to finish this one, but I'm on a chapter that seems to go on forever. Oh well. We took Blaine to see Santa today, which was great. He's such an awesome kid! Other than that, not too much to report. Hope everyone has a merry Christmas!!!!!

Insurance

I hate hate HATE insurance companies. Here are my unfolding dramas:

1. On august 14th, I got back to MA after visiting home and had a sore throat and couldn't swallow anymore. Not knowing who on earth in MA would see me, as my insurance company isn't very common up here, I went to a clinic where I waited for two hours only to be told that they couldn't see me because I had insurance but it was the wrong kind. So if I had no insurance or the right kind, they would see me. The receptionist told me to go to the ER.
So, I went to the ER. There I waited another 2-3 hours (not having eaten at all, as my throat was so sore) only to find out I had tonsillitis. They sent me home on antibiotics.
Then the bills started to come. The physician's bill was paid, but the hospital bill is almost 600.00 . I called the insurance company today and they won't cover it because it "Wasn't an emergency." WHAT????!!! But the fact that the physician's bill was covered might help...the lady is sending it back down for review and then I can appeal if necessary. However, turns out there ARE doctors in MA who would have seen me, I just didn't know of any. So it's now MY fault that I strayed "out of network." You've got to be kidding me. All I know is that I was miserable and needed medical attention, but apparently it wasn't an emergency. So that's saga number 1.

2. Saga number 2 is dealing with my school insurance policy. In September I had to go for an intake evaluation for the mental hygiene clinic, and the doctor ordered some bloodwork. I went downstairs, had it done, and left. Then I started getting bills. After the second bill I called the company (which is provided independently through the school) and they told me just to mail them the bill. OK. I did that. Then I got a third bill. I called them today, and there are apaprently two problems. 1. the ordering physician is not covered by the plan. WHAT? HE'S A DOCTOR AT THE UNIVERSITY HEALTH CENTER FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. Sheesh. And they also say there is no record of my appointment that day. So what, am I just making this up? I have the bill with the ordering physician's name and the date of service on it. Why would I make it up and the billing folks from the lab make it up? And furthermore, it was a doctor at our health center! I KNOW he's approved!

This is ridiculous. The worst thing about all of this is a. it makes me sound like an unhealthy person when I'm not (one was allergy related and the other routine) and b. what the hell would happen in a major emergency? Thank God I didn't have these problems at Harvard. I'm thinking about getting my own insurance policy next year. Hopefully I can afford it.

Snow, Finals, and Books

Well I have one final done, and now only one left to go. OT was this morning...it wasn't too bad, although I don't think I did that hot on the Bible IDs...they were selections totally different from the ones I had studied, but I think I did fine on the essays. I'm not too worried about it, really, and it's over so that's good. Now on to Patristics, for which I'm going to have to study hardcore over the next couple of days. I would study at the library tomorrow, but I work tomorrow night and would prefer not to spend from 9 am to 11pm there. It might drive me crazy, especially considering that I'm working there on Wednesday morning as well. Crazy.

Things are snowy here. Worcester got a ton of snow on Sunday, and New Haven got snow and ice. There was already a bunch of snow on the ground, and now it's covered in an icy layer so that when you step on the snow you don't sink. In fact, you're more likely to fall on your ass than anything else. It looks like everything has been coated in cake frosting. I felt really bad earlier--there was an older gentleman holding himself up with a crutch trying to get his van out of the ice and snow that had plowed him in. Unfortunately I've been having back problems and I don't own a good shovel (don't really need one), so there wasn't much I could do.

Christmas shopping is done, which is good. Well, except for the thing Rick and I are getting Blaine, but I think he's going to pick that up and bring it down with him when he comes for New Years.

I've got quite a reading list for Christmas break. Aside from the summer, it's the one time of year when I can sit and read whatever I want whenever I want and I don't have to read for retention. So I've come up with a list of a few books I'd like to read over break, all of which I've already ordered from the library and will probably pick up tomorrow. Here they are:
Bluest Eye and Beloved, both my Toni Morrison
The Natural History of Make-Believe by Goldthwaite (I'm working on this one now)
My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok
Blood of the Fold by Terry Goodkind
and, if I can get to it, A Brief History of Time by Steven Hawking
Oh and Candide by Molliere (the last two are some of Rick's favorites, so I thought I'd give em a read and see what I thought).

I have no idea how many of these I will actually get through, but I'm planning to enjoy thoroughly my first real Christmas break since I graduated from WKU (Harvard had finals after Christmas, so there were always papers to write and finals to study for during the holidays). On Demand cable and books and family and friends are my plans for the break. Oh and New Year's with Rick. Woohoo!

Now I just have to get that final out of the way....I wish it were take home. Oh well. C'est la vie.

Post 100

I almost have all of my Christmas shopping done. Woohoo! I bought something for Rick he already had, so once it gets here from Amazon I have to return it. LAME. But it's my own fault for guessing on that one. I only have to get stuff for my siblings, but I already know what I'm getting them so it's just a matter of waiting to get paid on Thursday and then going to get the presents. Umm...what else? Bought Harry Potter 5 today...I didn't get a fancy version, mostly because the simple version is so much cheaper. So that's what I got. Other than that I'm just studying.
And I miss Rick.

Papers are DONE.

That's right--I'm done writing papers for the semester. Wahoo! And for all of you naysayers out there who claim I'm always procrastinating, I would like you to note the following statistics:
History Paper: Due 12.12, Turned in 12.5
Ethics Paper: Due 12.21, Turned in 12.10
Colloquium Paper: Due 12.21, Turned in 12.10
That's right, they were all done early. Sweet. Now it's on to studying for finals. On the one hand I'm glad that I have time to study for these finals hard core (we never got that at WKU aside from one half of a day), but on the other hand I'm not looking forward to studying a very few things all day every day for the next week and a half. Oh well. As of 12.20 I am done with the semester.
Just thought I'd keep you updated.

Beer+shaving=bad idea

It's Friday, and it's Advent, and it's been snowing. And it was the day of the Friday fellowship where we decorated the tree in the YDS common room, accompanied by a keg of Sam Adam's Winter Lager, of course. Being a good div student, after work I ewnt upstairs to do my part in finishing the keg (after all, we don't want it to go to waste!!!!). I had a nice time, and my friends were all there so revelry was abounding at YDS (one of the reasons I love the place...great community!!!!). Then I braved the snow, played some guitar hero with Julie, and decided to come to my room to do laundry. After I'd put the lclothes in the dryer, I decided a hot bath would be nice. After three bottles of liquid plumber I had managed to get my drain to work and cleaned my bath tub last night. So tonight was perfect for a bath and my book (I'm starting to understand why Mom used to take baths and read...there's nothing more relaxing!). Anyway tomorrow is the ISM fancy shmancy Christmas party so I have to wear a skirt and decided to shave. So I did, not connecting the fact that a. I'm a clutz and b. I'd had the equivalent of 2.5-3 beers. I proceeded to shave and on my left knee took a generous chunk of skin away with the razor. And then I proceeded to bleed. And bleed. And bleed. Luckily it's tapered off a bit, but geez. Lesson: Don't shave your legs after drinking beer. It's not a good idea, no matter how little you think it hurts.

In other news, the semester is winding down. All I have left is one 5-7 page ethics paper, and OT final and a patristics final. Not too bad. I don't really have classes anymore so I'll spend the next week studying OT and Patristics, and the next week spending Tuesday and Wednesday doing more patristics. Joy. But I do have my schedule worked out for next semester, assuming there's no problems getting into the seminars: OT interpretation 2, Canterbury Tales (grad seminar in the English dept.), Milton (grad seminar in the English dept.), and Reformation Europe. Not too bad, really. Two seminars and two classes with sections. It could be worse, but I think it will be a good balance. Fingers crossed it works out that way.

It snowed today and it's so quiet outside. It's that quiet that only comes after snow...even in Boston it got this quiet when it would snow alot. I like snow, as long as I don't have to drive or go out in it. Luckily I live on campus so there wasn't far to go. But it definitely means winter is here.

Hope you are all having a blessed Advent.

Peace

Checklist, etc.

Here's what's coming up:
12/5- History Exam
History Paper, 8-10 pp (technically now due 12/12 but I'm making myself turn it in by 12.5)
12/7- Coll. paper. Not too bad. 300 words. Whatever.
12/10- Ethics Section
Ethics paper 5-7 pp (not due until 12/21, but again I'm making myself do it early)
12/17- OT final. It shouldn't be too bad. 3 hours, though, which sucks, but she gives out good guidance beforehand.
12/20- Patristics final. This is going to be a beast. A real beast. Tons of stuff on there, tons to review, from 33-451 CE are up for grabs. Sheesh.

So the semester doesn't look too bad from here on out, actually. My bigger papers are turned in, except for history, and the research for that is going well (I'm looking at the historicity of the "Archbishop" episode of Blackadder 1, specifically church-state relations at the end of the 15th century. Really really interesting stuff, actually). The patristics final is the only thing that makes me the slightest bit edgy, and that's only because of the amount of preparation it will take.

On another note, I'm surprised how many people actually care about this writers strike. I watch 3 shows on TV ona regular basis, and really my life wouldn't be over without them. Get over it and stop writing crap. That's my message (not that anyone cares...).

Other than that...I'm trying to get through The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis. It's good reading but not the kind of thing you want to "get through" for a class. Oh well. And then it's on to Erasmus for next week. And Augustine for Patristics. And I need to catch up on OT reading (but that can really wait until the 12th, when reading period officially starts).

Just thought I would say hey. Now it's back to reading.

Thanksgiving.

I'm back from Thanksgiving. It was good, albeit very very busy. My grandmother was visiting so the whole time home seemed very whirlwind-ish. I'm looking forward to when I can go home and actually relax. I didn't get anything done on the exegesis, but no worries. I'm taking a break from it at the moment, and in the first hour I got 3 pages of 8 done, so I think it's going pretty well. Now that I'm sitting down writing it it's turning out to be much better than I anticipated. Hopefully the finished product will be good as well, but I think using the method from this article we read in class is turning out to be a good way of structuring my argument about the Akedah. Woowoo! I like it when papers come together. It makes them actually somewhat enjoyable to write.

Rick came in this weekend. It was so so so good to see him. I know it had only been 7 days, but it felt like a long time. We went out to Sleeping Giant State Park today and went on a hike. It was beautiful and there were tons of people out, but that's a good thing. We got a nice workout. I took him out for his birthday (which was on Thanksgiving) yesterday. We saw Beowulf, which was actually pretty good, and then went to a Japanese Hibachi restaurant here in town. It was good, and we had fun. We then proceeded to watch Charlie and the Chocolate Factory here at home and drink some beer, and then we slept for 12 hours (I had to be up at 4 yesterday morning because I flew back). So that was good. And we went to Friday's after our hike today. Now I'm just doing some homework.

On another note, I got the Sufjan Stevens Christmas album on iTunes and it's amazing! I'm glad it's the season for Christmas music. I can't fit a tree in here (we're putting up Rick's on Saturday) but I got some Christmas lights and a reindeer doorhanger from Walgreens, so that should Christmas up the place a bit. and I have an Advent calendar that start on 12/1, so yay for that. Other than that...my bathtub is backed up and didn't drain from showers today, so I'll have to skip my shower tomorrow morning I guess and call maintenance. LAME.

I'm off to study again. Buy the Sufjan Stevens if you can. It's really awesome.

Oh and only 12 days left of class. And less than 2 weeks until the Golden Compass movie comes out. Yeehaw!!!

It's freakin' cold.

...

Just thought I would say hello. I'm in the midst of writing my patristics paper. It's not going too badly, and I hope it will continue that way. I would be nice to finish this today and finisht he ethics paper (I'm halfway through that one) tomorrow. Bad news on the exegesis front though, in that I'm going to have to do some research at home as well. But it will really only be a couple of hours a day, and I can do that once people are settling down for the night. I have actual work to do for school this week too, though, including reading a couple of books for classes, so that AND researching a paper probably won't be possible, unfortunately. Luckily the exegesis is only 8-10 pages, though, and I know the method I'm going to use. I just have to figure out what the hell I'm going to say, and hope I don't get home and realize I need certain books. But I've been going over my sources and hopefully I should have everything by Monday (I had to get a couple more books from the library delivered to the Div school, so that should solve that). Other than that...it didn't snow today, like they said it would. But it was friggin' cold last night and it's supposed to be friggin' cold again tonight! (26!!!!). I may have to bust out with the flannel sheets soon, if these keeps up. Last year we didn't even turn the heat on until December, but I guess this year winter may be a little colder. Who knows. Other than that, I should get back to my paper. I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving/reading week. A whole week with the fam, no classes, and I can actually get some work done on that paper without having regular school work in the way. Woohoo!

Swamped

I haven't posted recently as I'm swamped with school. Here's the rundown:
History exam today
Write ethics paper tomorrow
Write patristics paper Saturday
research exegesis next week
write exegesis over Thanksgiving
Research/write history paper week after Thanksgiving
History final and paper due 12/5
After that I only have one 5-7 page ethics paper and two finals left, so that shouldn't be too bad. Write now I'm just trying to crank out writing like a machine. Woowoo.
Other than school, I'm just trying to maintain my sanity. Rick and I went to see Sweeney Todd last weekend in Boston, which was cool. Our 1 year anniversary is the 15th, so we're both taking the 16th off to have some fun. I think we'll probably go somewhere in MA and spend the day looking around. Then it's off to KY for Thanksgiving, which will be nice. I wish I didn't have to work on the paper that week, but oh well. There's nothing I can really do about it. I don't think I can get it researched and written next week, since I'm really only at school for 3.5 days. But I should hopefully get the research done, and then the writing part shouldn't be too bad really. Anywho class starts in about 20 minutes, so I'm going to do some last minute reading. Hope you're not as swamped as I am!!!

I'm running out of title ideas...

GO SOX!!!!!!
I wish I were still in Boston today. Damn. Oh well.

Anyway, lots has been going on here. After much discernment I decided to drop out of the ordination process and switch to an MAR. I realized that I'm called to teach, and that the sacramental offices of an ordained person (which are the only things that set them apart from the laity) don't really play into my calling. So why do it? It felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of my shoulders when I came to this conclusion. Now I'm actually kind of excited about school, starting next semester (ha), in that I can take classes that really interest me and will help me towards my goal (ie religion and literature classes). I'll have to go to the academic dean and switch everything next semester, but it shouldn't be too bad.

Other than that, Rick and I were in Jersey this past weekend for the last VW show of the season. This is one his club puts on, and it's called Dubs of the Dead. People dress up their VWs and then have a costume contest, basically. It was fun, albeit cold. We'd woken up to disgusting weather (although the rain was badly needed) and then it stopped for the show, but slowly got colder. I couldn't feel my nose by the time it ended. Then we hung out with Frank and the guys, as Rick calls them. Watched Disney's 1979 movie The Black Hole. Weird. I find it hard to believe Disney made that movie! And then we watched the Kiss movie special Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park or something like that. I fell asleep during bits of it, but it's a strange strange movie. I love how it makes Kiss out to be this wholesome family fun band.

Anywho I should get going. I have class in about 20 minutes and then studying and lunch and then more class and then I have to hit the books hard. This is the beginning of the end of the semester (I think we only have 5 weeks of classes left, maybe 6) so things are starting to be due. Yikes.

I hope you're all enjoying the fall weather. It seems that it's finally arrived. We had a hard freeze last night (It was only 30 something) and up in Worcester it got down to 29! So stay warm. :)

Nice.

My boyfriend is amazing. Just thought I'd let you all know.

Dumbledore

So apparently Dumbledore was gay and in love with Gellert Grindenwald. Go to www.mugglenet.com to read the story. I'm not sure how I feel about this particular piece of information. Personally, I couldn't really care less if Dumbledore was gay or not, as his sexuality never seemed (to me) to play that big of a role in the text. Also I wonder whether this was interesting information for the kids in the audience. While I realize there's a huge adult following (of which I am most definitely one), they're still kid's books. I feel that with this revelation, conservatives who are ALREADY fighting Harry Potter are going to add this fact to the long list of reasons why the books shouldn't be read. And as we have seen in our society, especially from 2004's election on, issues of homosexuality can make or break an argument (or so it seems to me). Anywho, I guess what I'm trying to say is, why on earth did she reveal this piece of information or even talk about Dumbledore's sexuality? He was over 100. That would be like talking about your grandpa's sex life with the 10 year old grandkid. Weird, JK, weird.

PS For those reading, don't take this as an anti-homosexuality rant, because IT'S NOT. I'm just wondering why JK Rowling felt this was even pertinent information for the audience. It's food for thought, maybe.

Bag

I bought the bag! It's a Timbuk2 custom messenger bag. It cost me a pretty penny, but it should last forever and now all of my stuff won't get SOAKED every time it rains (which also means no more carrying around tons of shopping bags in my backpack in case of the odd rainstorm). I debated for a while on getting it, but decided to go for it. It should last me for a good while, and thus I'll be able to use it here and wherever I do the PhD, and then wherever I work. Yahoo. I'll let you know how it is when I get it...I picked the custom made one. The colors for the already designed bags were ok, but I really like the color scheme I picked out (slate blue, charcoal, and navy, with an orange logo and a black waterproof liner) so I decided to splurge and go for that. not to mention that it will also make the bag easier to pick out if for whatever reason it's left in a big group of Timbuk2 bags. And I like blue. Woohoo.

I overslept today and didn't make it to my morning class. Oh well. I got a really good amount of sleep. And now I'm going to start reviewing for my exam tonight. I went to a group study session last night, which wasn't too bad. I don't do well studying in groups, so at times it was frustrating but I made it through. I'm pretty confident about the terms and the passage ids, I just want to go over my material for the essay (some topic having to do with matter and spirit) before I actually have to write it. The exam is at 6:30 tonight and the professor still hasn't told us where it is. Should be interesting...

Hope you're all having a nice day. It's almost the weekend!!!

Books and Other Stuff

I have my very own copy of the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church now. It was $109.00 after my discounts, which were many. It's normally $150.00. I know all of you math and science people out there are thinking "that's nothing!" but for religion folk, it's a chunk of change. However, I've already used it in preparing for a history exam, so at least it's started to be fruitful. The thing is awesome; it tells you basically what you need to know about almost anything in the history of Christianity. SWEET. I like it. It's on my bookshelf smiling at me right now. Woohoo!

I must admit that there are many things I wish I could be reading right now but can't as I don't have the time. For example, I want to read Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth, which is sitting on my shelf, but it has to be either bedtime or Christmas reading. Over Thanksgiving I've got to polish up (hopefully they'll already be written) two papers and read a book. I'm also doing a paper on the Mists of Avalon, so I'll have to reread that as well as any other school stuff I have. But once Christmas break hits, I will most definitely be taking advantage of the massive amounts of reading time I plan on having (especially since I get a real break this year with no finals or Greek or papers to worry about!!!!!!!!!)

I'm debating on buying a new bag for school. I'm finding that the backpack just isn't very handy: it makes my back all sweaty any time I have to go downtown (which may be trivial but I HATE walking around with visible back sweat on my t-shirt...it makes me feel like a 50 year old man at a gym), and next semester I plan on taking at least one if not two classes downtown. Also, my wallett, keys, etc. don't feel as secure because they're on my back as opposed to by my side. And it's not waterproof, which the bag I'm looking at is. I'll let you know if I get it. It's kind of expensive, but I should hopefully be getting a deposit check soon. Maybe with some of that money I'll buy the bag. We shall see.

Other than that...I have a history exam tomorrow, an OT exam Monday, a paper due the next Tuesday (the 30th) and an OT midterm on Halloween. Needless to say, it's crunch time. Luckily the OT midterm shouldn't be too bad...we got questions beforehand AND it's open-note, so I can prepare for it however I want really. The paper also hopefully shouldn't be too horrific, but I haven't read the books yet. Guess I should get on that.

On that note, I'm going to read some Hauerwas now. Peace.

OMG

Oh my God, for those who don't know internet speak. Which, when said in a valley-girl tone, is what I think several people in my history class are saying when they think of the upcoming exam. I personally am not too worried about it. This doesn't mean that I'm not studying for it--I most definitely am. However, having majored in history in college, the format of this test is just about like every OTHER history test I took at WKU, and therefore I'm not too worried about it. It's 50 minutes. He's given us the list of terms AND the essay topic. We just don't know the two text ID's, but as long as you've read the texts you should be find. What are people freaking out about? He's practically given us the test already!

Here's where I got miffed today. The exam was actually last Monday, but because of Div school reading week about 14 Div students were out of town. So the professor agreed to set up another exam date. Well, we met today after class to pick a date, and one person (who has driven me nuts before with her anti-young clergy comments) said "Oh it has to be during the day on Friday." Well, myself and another member work on Fridays. So then a bunch of us were pulling for Wednesday. But everyone complained because Wednesday is a long day for all of us. I'll admit, it's a long day for me too but the exam is only 50 minutes! It's not like I'm sitting some 2 or 3 hour language exam. But this is the kicker. This same person protested to Wednesday night because it would be during Berkeley's Wednesday night Eucharist. I muttered to my friend "We have Eucharist every day, God forbid we go one day without it." THEN, on Thursday afternoon we have BDS colloquium, which is hands down the most pointless class I've ever taken, intro to geology included (as well as all of the 3rd grade). And she said "we CAN'T miss colloquium!" I again said to my friend "An exam would be more productive." He agreed. Anyway it's going to be Thursday evening. A few of us are going to dinner afterwards to celebrate (or, as a friend said, to mourn).

Sometimes I think too many ministers and minister-to-be's have sticks in places they shouldn't be. I sure as hell hope that I don't turn out to be one of them.

Sheesh.

On an unrelated note, I think I may have found part of the reason my left foot goes numb at the end of my runs. It felt today like there's a nerve on the ball of my foot that by the end of the run I'm putting pressure on and it's losing feeling. Hopefully when I get some new running shoes this problem will be solved.

Reading

Hi All
I'm back in classes now. Last week was reading week (a wonderful invention of Yale in which we have a whole week on in October to...read?), so I didn't have class. Rick and I traveled to KY for a few days and had a wonderful time. I'm just sad the trip couldn't have been longer. We were really busy the whole time, and didn't really get a chance just to chill with the fam. Hopefully the next trip (with Rick) will be more low key. I'm looking forward to my next trip home for the same reason. Speaking of which, the US Airways website sucks. I bought my plane ticket last night, thinking I was buying it for a flight out of Boston, and when the confirmation page came up AFTER I had paid, it had sold me a Providence flight I'd been looking at earlier that's 40 dollars more! So I'm not going to use that airline again out of principle. LAME.

As far as productivity this last week goes, I wasn't productive. At all. But that's OK. I needed the break. Now I'm studying for a history exam this week (which, in all honesty, I'm not overly stressed about) and reading like a maniac for classes, my two other exams this month, and a paper due on October 30th. Woohoo.

This weekend I read a book completely for pleasure, though, and it was awesome. I bought Into The Wild, about Chris McCandless (there's a movie by the same name that just came out). The first I'd ever heard of this kid was in an Eddie from Ohio song called "Sahara." Anyway, because of the movie Barnes and Noble as a gillion copies of the book, so I bought one and read it this weekend. It's basically about this 24 year old kid who goes off into the Alaskan wilderness and starves to death. There's obviously more to it than that--he hitched around the US after he graduated from Emory--but it was an intriguing read. It's only 200 pages so I got through it in a couple of days of intermittent reading. I also bought Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. It's supposed to be really good. Once I finish Little Women I'll start on it as my bedtime reading and let you know how it is. Or maybe I'll read the traveling funeral book first (on recommendation from my mom). Needless to say, I can't wait until Christmas break when I can sit around and read whatever I want, and they can all be fiction books that take very little brain power. Sweet.

Well, speaking of reading I have heaps of it to do. I'm on to reading Origen now for patristics, then some Hauerwas, and maybe some more stuff after history.

Oh and happy fall everyone. It actually feels like it now.

Yo.

Wow. I didn't realize it had been so long since my last post. Sorry about that, Mom (as you're the only one who reads this). Things are going well. School is, well, school. I have a paper due next week so I'm kind of scrambling to get it done. Topic: anything you want to write about the patristic period. So I'm doing mine about patristic approaches to what we today consider classical literature. Hopefully. I think I got a lead on material this morning when I was looking some things up in the library, so I hope they pan out. Unfortunately I have to work tonight and tomorrow night from 6-11, but maybe I can get some homework done then so I can work on the paper during the day. Then this weekend Rick and I are off to Ocean City, MD for H2O international. It's supposed to be a blast. I'll just be glad for a weekend at the beach. Woohoo!

On random notes, apparently there were some tornadoes in England last night. Being from a place where tornadoes are pretty frequent, I thought the BBC article was rather amusing. Scared Britons worried by the 60mph (don't they use the metric system?) winds. I guess when you're not used to those sorts of occurrences, it can be crazy. Don't get me wrong, there was some damage and everything, and I'm not downplaying that. I just find the outcries of "Holy cricket! 60 mph? Don't worry, stiff upper lip and all that!" to be somewhat amusing. But maybe that's just me.

And UL lost again this weekend. I'm hoping to make it to the UConn game, but I'm not sure I want to go if we're just going to suffer another embarassing loss. And what will I do if we lose to Rutgers? (that's where Rick went...) I'll never get over the shame. Well, yes I will. I'm a Cardinals fan, so that comes with the territory, I think.

Other than that...I have an Ember Day letter to write sometime soon. I don't know what I'm going to say. Chapel's ok, but not great. Classes are ok, but I feel rather intellectually stifled. It's not that their easy or that they're bad, I just don't have any avenue in which to engage with the material other than my own mind. That's fine, but I'm in a university. One would think I could do that sort of thing in classes. But when there are 100 people in your class, it's rather impossible. Bleh. Hopefully I'll be taking more seminars than anything after this semester, and that should make things a bit better. For now I'll just keep on trucking along.

That's all I can think of for the moment. I just got back from my run, so I'm going to change and cook dinner. Then it's off to work. Exciting, no?

Oh and the leaves are starting to change up here. I think I'll miss peak leaf season as I'll be in MD and then KY, but there are some really gorgeous trees right now.

Anywho, that's all for now.

First Aid

I think I helped save a guy's life today...well, only if there had been no one around and everyone was injured when it happened. Anywho here is what went down...

YDS is on a huge hill, and as I was walking up the hill a friend and I saw a biker going down the hill out of control. We turned to watch him, and his bicycle ran smack into the middle of a mini van, leaving a huge dent and breaking the side window. The guy ended up on the ground bleeding and in really bad shape. Being a lifeguard, I ran over to him, called 911, told whom who I was and started helping. An EMT who saw it came over too. The guy had about a 3 inch gash down the middle of his forehead/head, and the back of his head had a big flap of skin hanging down. Some other guy had a first aid kit so we put on gloves, stabilized his head, and started to clean up some of the blood out of his eyes. While the others were talking to each other, I talked to the guy to see how he was. Luckily, he was conscious and knew who he was, where he was, and wasn't really confused. He also had feeling everywhere, which is another good sign. It was a major head injury, but hopefully he avoided brain trauma. So the ambulances came and got him, and I answered some questions for the cops and that was that. I was shaky all afternoon though, as the adrenaline hit my system and then crashed. It was insane to watch, but I'm glad I was there to help. The firefighters only said thanks to the EMT guy (not that it matters) but the cop did say thanks to me. I mean, hell I was on the scene first. But that's not important. The guy was taken to a hospital and hopefully is recovering.

Lessons learned: Keep First Aid and CPR current, because you'll never know when you need them.
Keep a set of gloves in my backpack, for the same above reason.
And, most importantly,
ALWAYS WEAR A BIKE HELMET. This guy's injuries would not have been so bad (probably) if he'd had one on. I think breaking the window actually helped absorb some of the impact, but sheesh. His head cracked open like a melon.

Keep him in your prayers...

Prayer Before Study

My friend Noel here at YDS sent this prayer to me (apparently Prof. Volf used it at the beginning of Systematics--a class I'm not taking--one day). Anywho, it really is a beautiful prayer, and I think I shall incorporate it into my being, especially now.

Ineffable Creator...

Who, from the treasures of Your wisdom, has established three hierarchies of angels, has arrayed them in marvelous order above the fiery heavens,
and has marshaled the regions of the universe with such artful skill,

You are proclaimed the true font of light and wisdom, and the primal origin raised high beyond all things.

Pour forth a ray of Your brightness into the darkened places of my mind; disperse from my soul the twofold darkness into which I was born: sin and ignorance.

You make eloquent the tongues of infants. Refine my speech and pour forth upon my lips the goodness of Your blessing.

Grant to me keenness of mind, capacity to remember, skill in learning, subtlety to interpret, and eloquence in speech.

May You guide the beginning of my work, direct its progress, and bring it to completion.

You Who are true God and true Man, Who live and reign, world without end.

Amen

Grrr...

I am quite miffed with the KY DMV. WHY on earth does my registration form need a notary????? No other state requires it...this is getting ridiculous.

Weird?

Classes have started, and started well. I had two good classes on Wednesday (OT and History), and the profs were pretty amazing. One of them plays evangelical praise music at the end of every class to remind us that there are many ways of interpreting the Hebrew scriptures. The other was talking about symbols and he ripped up a dollar in front of us. That would normally be ok, if it hadn't been for the fact that I went and paid $260 for his books that afternoon. Sheesh. And then today I had my other two classes and one colloquia (the ISM doesn't meet until next Wednesday). Those were also good. So it looks as though the semester will be pretty intense but full of really interesting stuff, and I should be able to work with my interest in religion and literature in a couple of my course papers. Also, and I may be singing another tune later, almost all of my papers are due before December 1, which at this point in the semester I think will be nice. I have one due on October 4, but because of the Maryland trip the weekend before I'm going to try and get it done a little early. And I don't have any paper longer than 10 pages!!!!!! I don't think I've had that happen since college. Pretty amazing.

So this is weird...my patristics professor lives in the apartment across the hall. The normal prof. is on sabbatical this year, so he's a visiting professor from Notre Dame. And he and his wife live across the hall. I guess this means I'll have to stay on my toes especially in that class, so as not to have to deal with increased awkwardness when I pass him in the hallway...

Clifford is sold as well (finally). Now I can bring Beethoven (my blue 1993 Subaru Legacy AWD wagon) down from Worcester, hopefully on Saturday. The guy who bought it was a total hippie, which was pretty funny. I hope he gets some good use out of the truck, though (he's a painter).

Other than that, it's basically just homework time here. I had to dive right in as I have 130 pages of reading due tomorrow--which I would like to point out I've already finished. But there's other reading to be done so I'm going to try and stay on top of it. I won't get to see Rick this weekend (SAD!!!) because he's in New York state on a business trip; thus I'm hoping to be extra productive this weekend so I can start thinking about the paper that's due in three weeks. Woohoo!

First Day of School

Today is the first day of class here at Yale. The Daily Office for today includes the passage from Mark in which the people elect to free Barabbas instead of Jesus. The student who preached this morning called her sermon "Barabbas and the first day of school." Ha. Not sure what this particular passage means for the coming school year, though. I thought about that as I went in to chapel this morning--how the readings from Mark this week have all been leading up to Jesus's crucifixion (granted, one could claim that his whole life led up to that moment, but in this case I mean that it's the passion scenes that are being read). An interesting juxtaposition, to say the least. I have a meeting with my advisor this afternoon, at which point I will know for sure what I'm taking. But, if he gives the go ahead on the schedule I drew up, I'll be taking Old Testament Interpretation 1, Christian Social Ethics, Christian Theology to 451 (Patristics, basically), and History of Christianity 800-1300. It looks like it will be an alright schedule. Now I just need my loan money to hurry up and be deposited in my bank account so that I can buy books. I think I have about 150 pages of reading due on Friday, so I need the books soon. I'm glad to have homework, though. I've gotten bored just sitting around, and it makes me miss Rick even more. But hopefully with the homework I'll be able to distract myself and knuckle down for school. Anywho, here's to the first day of classes.

Labor Day Weekend

Howdy Folks
It's Labor Day weekend, and I'm in Worcester for the weekend before school starts up. We start on Wednesday, although there's registration and such on Tuesday. I'm not really sure what all that entails, but I don't think it's too complicated. I have to be in chapel that day at 8 AM, so I'm going back to New Haven on Monday night. I was hoping to stay up here and go back on Tuesday, as I won't get to see Rick next weekend since he'll be on a work trip, but oh well. I can't miss the first full chapel of the year, so what are you gonna do? I'm hoping like hell to sell the truck this weekend. The Subaru has just been sitting in Rick's garage because I still haven't been able to get the truck sold. I even dropped the price to 1800! It's not a bad vehicle, and it works, so you can't beat that. I thought I had a buyer this past week, but the guy never got back to me. So now I've got a couple of people who might be interested today, but one of them is also looking at a car with less miles on it that is 1000 but is a '91. That makes me think he'll be less likely to buy my truck, which has more miles and is more expensive. We'll see though. I would just like to get it sold so I can start driving Beethoven (the name for the new Subaru). I don't think I wrote anything about him...He's a blue 1993 AWD Subaru Legacy wagon with 180,000 miles. Automatic transmission, power windows and locks, etc. Hopefully it will be a good car in the snow. Rick swears by them, and he's the car guy so I'm willing to take his advice.

I can't believe school starts this week. Where did the summer go? The leaves up here are already starting to change, which seems a bit early to me. But it has been a little cooler I guess, albeit dry. The grass everywhere is brown and brittle, much like it was in Kentucky when I was home. But fall is definitely on its way. And with that comes school. I'm ready for classes to start, as I hate the waiting around stuff. I think I'm going to be taking Old Testament Interpretation 1, Christian Theology to 451 (Patristics), History of Christianity to 1300, and Christian Social Ethics. They all look to be interesting classes, although the history course has 19 books and a course pack, which frankly I think is ridiculous. And those books aren't at th Div school, they're downtown at the bookstore, so I'll have to make a special trip down there to pick them up once I get my loan money. Oh well, 'Tis the life of a student.

That's about all I've got for now. Just waiting for classes to start and enjoying my long weekend with Rick. Hope everyone has a good Labor Day!

Peace

Orientation

It's BTFO time here at YDS, or Before the Fall Orientation (thank about that theologically, eh?). I'd been told that it was the most awesome orientation ever, but it's really been like every other orientation I've ever been to. It's basically lots and lots of panels discussing things. So I've just basically stopped attending those sessions, and just go to the free meals :). Other than that...I'm hoping to sell the truck soon. I have a Subaru Legacy just waiting for me to drive it. His name is Beethoven. More to come later, but I'm going to watch some Family Guy now. Just wanted to say I'm here in New Haven now waiting for classes to start. Woop woop.

Tool-less Furniture

So. I've been moving in slowly to my apartment in New Haven, and in case you didn't know setting yourself up in a new place is friggin' expensive. Boo. Anywho, I've been on the hunt for a desk. My desk from Cambridge worked ok, but I really needed to upgrade to something bigger as I have a tendency to spread out when I study. Then I thought I'd found a table to use, but it was already spoken for. Thus I have been on the hunt for a good wooden table/desk for 50 dollars or less. The other day I found one for 49.99 at office depot, so I thought hey why not. I bought the desk, and yesterday I moved it into my apartment.

My new friend Julie and I discovered the joy (pysch) of tool free furniture. I have to tell you, as someone who loves putting things together (I spent hours with Legos, Capsella, and K'Nex as a kid) I found this to be the most ridiculous process EVER. You basically just push stuff together and hope it doesn't break. I put together the tv cart today (which required one No. 2 Phillips Screwdriver) and it was much easier and less physically painful than the desk. Seriously, folks. WTF? Julie and I decided that the furniture folks must think if you can only afford a 50 dollar desk, you must not be able to afford tools. It's apparently just one step above not being able to afford food. So anywho we got it together and it was still in one piece when I went to move some stuff in today. Keep your fingers crossed that it doesn't collapse under the immense weight of my homework.

Other than that escapade, I've just been moving things in (and having to buy immense amounts of stuff). I got a new bed, which is SUPER EXCITING! And I got an amazing deal...it's a 1000 dollar mattress and I got it for 300. Hell yeah. The apartment is nice. I haven't spent the night yet (I'm moving officially on Saturday) but it's coming along. The best features are the ginormous windows and the one wall that is floor to ceiling shelving. All of my books in one place! Well, all of my school books, at least. The rest I'm putting on my bookshelves. That's about all that's going on for now. I hope the beginning of everyone's school years are going well!

Sorry for the Delay

Hello everyone! I realize that it's been a month and a half since I last wrote anything. Sorry about that! This summer has been very busy, so I haven't really gotten a chance to write anything. Today is really the beginning of my summer break, as my CPE program ended last Friday. For those who don't know what that is, CPE stands for Clinical Pastoral Education. You work in a hospital and go visit patients and meet with your peers (I was in a group of 6), where you basically discuss your ministry and figure out how you bring yourself, assumptions, prejudices, histories, etc., to what you're doing. It was a really really good experience. I had heard horror stories about it, but I had a really great supervisor and my group was great too. (There was only one person who drove me nuts, but for the sake of confidentiality, etc., I won't say anymore here). But CPE was a 40 hour a week job, for which I didn't get paid, so I haven't had time to sit down and write. I've also been working on my reading list for Yale. Luckily I'm on the last book, although admittedly it is a little boring. I'm trying to keep my motivation for reading it up. Almost done!
I'm heading to KY tomorrow to visit with the fam for a week. That will be really good, and definitely a nice way to end up the summer. When I get back I'll be moving into my apartment in New Haven and then just hanging out between Worcester and there until August 28th, which marks the start of orientation. I've been trying to figure out which classes I'm going to take. One of the classes I had planned on was cancelled, so now I'm not really sure. And another class that could be interesting (and is an elective, albeit one that is in the religion and literature field) conflicts with another class that I have to take at some point. So who knows. I'll let you know what I've got it figured out, which probably won't be until the first week of classes.
Anywho, I've got to get moving. Time to do laundry, run some errands, and get packing for tomorrow!

JCPS and the Supreme Court

So I just read that the Supreme Court struck down Louisville's school desegregation policy. As one of the more segregated cities in the US (if not one of the most), I daresay this will lead to a resegregation of our school system. Now all of the rick white kids can stay safely within their own neighborhoods and never have to talk to anyone who is different from them in any way. Sheesh. I went to elementary school downtown and had an EXCELLENT education. I was always around kids who were different. So a kid was denied his first choice school. Big deal. Whatever happened to the greatest good for the greatest number? I'm sure this kid found another school where he's doing quite well. I didn't get to go to my first choice of college, but I didn't sue. And I had am amazing experience. I have three words for him and his mom: get over it. You don't always get what you want in life, and if you can't learn to live with some situations you'll be awfully unhappy. Grrr. Needless to say I'm a bit annoyed.

Heat and Harry Potter

Howdy everyone. I realized that it's been a while since my last post! Everything here in MA is good, although hot. The heat wouldn't be so bad if people had pools...but oh well. At least it's not 67 degrees. This summer has been going well. Rick and I went to the beach a couple of weeks ago. I tried to post a pic but my camera is being weird, so oh well. Maybe I'll try again. If there's a picture below, it's from the beach. I'm hoping maybe to go back this weekend with a friend while Rick works on his car. CPE is going well. This week marks the halfway point, which is kind of hard to believe but then again not too hard to believe. My truck is acting up again, and no one has offered to buy it and I have no money. So I don't know what I'm going to do there. I had a long talk with my supervisor today about the whole situation. i thought I had a part time job working as a dog-walker but they haven't really contacted me back. I did get an email from them today, though, that said they were trying to work everything out. But if my truck is starting to act up...and I have to go to Boston Monday night for a CPR recert course, so I'll need the truck then as well. It's just kind of a mess. And no one form ISM has gotten back to me about loans. So I'll have to keep calling them. Anyway, that's about all. Rick introduced me to an AWESOME show called Black Adder. It's a Britcom that is basically an historical comedy. My dad apparently has never seen it, which I find odd, but I told him he would love it. It's hysterical! So if you've never seen it, watch it. Rick just got the first season on DVD. We'll probably start watching it tonight. Ummm....Evan Almighty is out now, we're just waiting for it to show up at the drive in, which hopefully will be soon. We were going to go last week to see Pirates 3 but we had gone out to dinner the night before so we opted to stay in, due to money (aka it's cheaper). I heard Pirates 3 isn't all that great, but I would still like to see it. I loved the first 2.
Harry Potter is fast approaching. My thoughts on who will die? Voldemort. Granted, I wouldn't put it past JKR to kill Harry off, but if these books are about the triumph of good over evil, then Voldemort has to be defeated. And Harry has to do it. But I think some of our favorites will die, and in my opinion it's going to be Neville. I think the trio will stick together (and the three of them will find the horcruxes, etc.) but Neville has something in store for him, I think. But who knows. Apparently Kreacher is going to play an important role, so they had to keep him in the 5th movie on Jo's recommendation. As for Snape...I've gone back and forth on this position. When I first read HBP, I thought maybe he was ok, but there was something else going on. However, on a second read I feel he is on Voldemort's side. That may be too simplistic a reading for HP, but he killed Dumbledore. He was willing to save his own skin to kill the man who would have helped Harry most. How can that make him a friend of the Order? Anywho, those are my musings. I hope you're all doing well!
Peace