Tarkovsky

About a year ago, a lot of people from a certain Torrey class became obsessed with the Russian filmmaker Tarkovsky. I was not one of them; I have to date only seen one of his films (Andrei Rublyev, which I loved). However, on faith, I purchased the book he wrote about his films and art in general. It is fantastic. He has quite a few really excellent things to say. He maintains that art cannot be simply about self-expression, because art is empty if it elicts no response in the viewer. Can't wait to read the rest!

 

Now I'm going to Netflix to add all of his films to my queue.

Dad's vacation

As most of my readers know, my dad took a vacation and came out to visit me: his account of it is here: http://tuliacoc.livejournal.com/

 

And he's right; we see the LA area through totally different eyes. Even after 7 years, I love it out here as much as ever. I love being able to hop on the freeway and see a show in LA. I love being able to hang out at Forest Lawn. I love being so near to all this movie history. I love being in the midst of university life, and being able to participate in the dialectic. I hated being stuck in a small town; while I grant that they are good places to be, I will leave it to others to live there. I love having the freedom to be who I am, and not have to fit some mold (I am so glad to not have to pretend to care about football games anymore! And to be free to care very much about books) Give me the city skyline, the palm trees, even the freeways. Give me the ocean, and the long slow rains that drizzle for three days. Give me the long golden sunset light, and the milky whiteness of the eucalyptus trees. Give me the hot asphalt, the crumbling concrete, and even the earthquakes.

 

I love this City.

 

(But then, ya'll knew that already.)

Last night was weird

Yesterday was not a great day for me. I was tired, and somewhat depressed (note: this is very normal for me, just annoying) and by the time I got to Bible study, I was not in any mood to be around large groups of people.

 

I was too shy to share my struggle in the time for prayer requests (maybe next week), but prayed anyway that God would get me out of myself (oh dang that sounds so weird after the discussion last night....) and let me be present with the Plato group in a meaningful way.

 

I didn't notice that I cheered up, but I had one of the best discussions I've ever had. I was able to follow the discussion (mostly) and contribute a few significant things, I think. Maybe.

 

So thanks be to the God who understands bipolar introverts!

MMMMmmmmmm...

*munches* liquor-filled chocolate cake......yummy.....

 

Good thing I brought the leftovers of the cake to work. If it stayed in my house I'd eat it all!

Anyone like Frankie Valli?

Jersey Boys is going to the OC Performing Arts center, and the nosebleed seats are only about $30! Anyone want to go with me???

 

(what do you mean, you don't know who Frankie Valli is?  Everybody knows who Frankie Valli is!)

you know...

...that you are a geek and your friends are all geeks when:

 

you go to the store to get fish to make fish and chips, and all three of you stand in front of the frozen fish freezer, reciting Lewis Carroll's "Lobster Quadrille":

 

"Will you walk a little faster?" said a whiting to a snail.
"There's a porpoise close behind us, and he's treading on my tail.
See how eagerly the lobsters and the turtles all advance!
They are waiting on the shingle - will you come and join the dance?
  Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, will you join the dance?
  Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, won't you join the dance?

Black Russian Cake...

..is exactly what it sounds like. It's yellow cake mix, with chocolate pudding mix stirred in, 1/4 cup each of Kahlua and vodka, and a glaze made of butter, sugar, and rum.

 

It's delicious.

 

(the recipe is in the Red Hat Society cookbook. The cookbook is almost worth it just for this cake alone)

Today is September 11

I'm sure you remember where you were. You may even remember the time. I do. My roommate's mother called her to tell her to turn on the TV: I rolled over sleepily, and looked at the clock. 7:32 am. We turn on the tv, just in time to see the second tower fall. No-one knew what was happening, only that it hadn't been an accident. My roommate calls her boyfriend: he is panicked because his mother is an airline attendant with American Airlines. He knew she was on an international flight that day, and it's usually international flights that are hijacked.

 

We watch the tv for a long time, stunned. We watch people jump from the towers, people crying, blood and ash and smoke everywhere. We wonder if LA will be hit, or Disneyland. The whole day is a little fuzzy: I remember a prayer meeting being held in the chapel. I think I wore all black for a few days--I'm not good at mourning, and that was the only thing I could figure out to do. I remember classes being somewhat optional for a few days, or given over just to discussing the events. I remember how quiet it was, with no airplanes flying overhead. I remember when the airplanes did start flying again, how nervous you get now when one sounds too low to the ground, too close to the buildings.

 

Sometimes it feels odd to hear sound clips from that day, and feel the cold terror in the pit of my stomach again. Is it odd or morbid to remember that fear, the horror of all the death and injury and anguish? I don't know. I just remember. Every year.

Madeleine L'Engle is dead

I'd been expecting this for a while; I knew her health hadn't been good. But I'm still sad. It's hard to accept that someone who taught me so much about life is dead.

 

I think I picked up Wrinkle In Time when I was 10 or 11. I knew I'd never read anything like it before, and read straight through the whole Time series. Some of her books, I had to grow into (An Acceptable Time, and Many Waters, both of which are now favorites). Others, like Swiftly Tilting Planet, made an immediate impact.

 

A few years after reading Wrinkle, I discovered that L'Engle wrote non-fiction books based on her journals. I read the Crosswicks journals shortly after, of which The Irrational Season is possibly my favorite.

 

In late high school, I stumbled upon Walking On Water, her mediation on faith and art. To say that this revolutionized my view of the interaction between faith and art would be to damn the book with faint praise. It "baptized my imagination," to use Lewis' powerful phrase. I have read it regularly, at least once a year, ever since.

 

In college, when I was living with my grandmother for a short time, I checked out A Live Coal In the Sea from the library: I started it at 9pm, and finished at 2am, in tears. It remains one of the most powerful portrayals of human sin and God's mercy that I have yet seen in a modern novel.

 

Madeleine L'Engle was my introduction to sacramental thinking, and a constant reminder of the wonder in the everyday world. She was realistic, but never glum. She was able to see the wonders of science, without losing sight of God. She taught me to love beauty in all its forms, and to be willing to go into darkness if that is where God lead.

 

She wrote poetry that moved me past myself and towards God. "Farewell to all I thought was me, that I may find what these were meant to be."

 

How do you say goodbye to someone you never know, who meant so much, and who impacted you so deeply?

 

Goodbye Madeleine; I know you were not afraid of death, and I am sure that you are with God now, delighting in Him as you always did. You did so much to keep my heart soft when I would have hardened it, and to strengthen my faith when I would have lost it.

 

I will miss you.

Grey hairs and henna

I colored my hair with henna a few months ago; I'm a big fan of henna body art, and had heart it does marvelous things for the hair. It did make my hair very shiny, along with intensifying the red tones in my hair.

 

Also, I wanted to cover up a few grey hairs that I had recently found.

 

Of course, the problem with coloring to cover up grey is obvious: you have to keep doing it regularly; if you don't, it will appear that you've aged overnight! Granted, it's not that I have very many grey hairs, just one or two at the moment, but the question is still pertinent.

 

I finally decided not to color my hair again: it's too much trouble, and at the end of the day, I'm ok with the grey beginning to come through. I'm not out to impress anyone, and I've always looked older than I am anyway.

 

But it's still a struggle not to rush to the bathroom and yank out every silver hair!

Back from a Long(ish) Absence

Sorry for not blogging much lately; my dad has been visiting, and I haven't gotten on-line much. Hope to be blogging vacation photos sometime soon! Although come to think of it, I think my dad has most of the pictures...

 

Anyhow. Dad got here on Wednesday, so we didn't do much that day: I took half the day off work, picked dad up at the airport, then stopped back by work to show him the office. Plus, my co-worker Latrice wanted to meet the person responsible for my wacky sense of humor. That night, we ate out at Lucille's Smokehouse BBQ, a place I'd always smelled when I went to my bank. I have to say, it lived up to the deliscious smell: that was probably the best brisket I've ever had, and the ribs were just amazing! Pricey, but nothing out of the ordinary for a ribs place. It's nice to know that someone in California knows what barbeque really is!

 

I went to work on Thursday, so dad could have lunch with a friend and get over jetlag. We watched movies that night, since my dad player could hook up with dad's hotel tv. I had Friday through Wednesay off, so Friday we went out to the beach. It was so much cooler out there! I think it was the best weather I've ever seen on the beach: warm, but not particularly hot, with a good breeze, but not blowing sand in our faces. The surf was really rough, and gave us several good tumbles, but it was fun.

 

Saturday we went to the swap meet at Goldenwest College: I bought a lovely cheap pink sunhat, some books (did you know that there were two books after My Father's Dragon?? Me neither! I bought them, and they were fun, but not as good as the original), some honey sticks, and some pineapple. Oh, and a Paul Simon CD, to replace the one that the art department stole. I love Paul Simon's music, especially songs like Kodachrome, Hearts and Bones, Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes, and Slip-Slidin' Away.

 

Sunday we went to church, then headed out to Upland to visit a distant relative, Irene. If I have this straight, she's my dad's grandmother's sister. So she's his second cousin, and my third cousin. I think. Anyway, she's 93, but still very alert and active, not to mention cheerful! She really seemed delighted to see us, and kept telling funny stories and jokes. My favorite was when she talked about her marriage: I'm going to retell it here, but you should hear her talk about it!

 

She said: "When I was a young girl, and Harold was courting me, we'd gotten engaged, and I had ordered my wedding dress from the Sears and Roebuck catalog for $2.50! Well, I was always half-crazy, and started seeing this other boy for awhile. He told me that if I'd marry him, he'd take me to California! I thought, 'Ooh, Califnoria!'. Well, this boy went up to Harold and said, 'You think you're going to marry Irene, but you're not! She's going to marry me, and we're going to California!'. Well, Harold got someone to take his shift at the factory that day, and he came and found me, and said, 'Get packed, I'm coming for you tonight!" So went off that night and got married!"

 

She also told stories about a flodding cellar during a tornado, and travelling by covered wagon, when her sister fell out of the wagon! It was really neat to listen to her. I'd be happy to be half that alert, active, and cheerful when I'm her age!

 

Monday was a nice slow day. We really didn't do much except lunch (The Olde Shippe, my favorite pub) and a movie (Death At A Funeral, which was hilarious! Alan Tudyk as a drugged up Englishman. Frank Oz directing. Obviously going to be funny).

 

Tuesday was the trip into LA. Our first stop was the Music Box staircase, on Vendome st. This is where Laurel and Hardy filmed their movie, The Music Box, eighty years ago (for those who don't know, that's the one where they try to move a piano up a huge flight of stairs outside a house). After getting very lost, we finally managed to make it to Forest Lawn Glendale, where we saw the graves of the Hortons (founders of Biola), L. Frank Baum, Jay T. Ward (creator of Rocky and Bullwinkle), and Jimmy Stewart. From there, we headed out to Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills, to see the graves of Buster Keaton, Stan Laurel, and Bill Peet (artist, Disney animator, and children's author). We stopped for lunch at Bob's Big Boy; dad used to take me out for breakfast at the Big Boy in Fort Worth, and there are hardly any left. From there, we went to Graumann's Chinese Theater, and walked around Hollywood a little.

 

All in all, a very fun week!

Is she not the CUTEST BABY EVER??

ZIM!

And the award for most disturbing, odd, over-the-top, hysterical cartoon goes to....Invader Zim!

 

I got the first disk from Netflix yesterday...so funny!

 

Miss Bitters: "Zim, there's a pigeon on your head. You have head pigeons. Go see the nurse."

Fidgety

My wo-workers think I'm funny today, because I'm so fidgedty (how DO you spell that word?). Can't wait till 1, when I get off work and go pick up my dad from the airport, yay! Stupid time, doesn't go by fast enough....*fidget fidget*

It must be getting close to November...

...little plot and world creation things keep popping into my head.

 

For instance, I've realized that my evil historian will have names for ages, but since he is so far in the future, his names for different ages will probably be different from ours. For instance, we call our current age the Information Age. He will refer to it, and several hundred years after now, as "The Age of Isolation."

 

Eeeeeeeeehehehehehehehehehehe! I love plot bunnies!

Continuing with my random thoughts...

...this song has been running through my head a lot lately. I like the song a lot, but it took a while for me to like it at all. I'm no huge fan of Michael W. Smith, but I do think his music of late is a lot better than the songs that built his career (for instance, the song Friends Are Friends Forever should be taken out and shot. And burned.)

 

But this one...this one is good...My favorite sections are in bold.

 

"I have been unfaithful,
I have been unworthy;
I have been unrighteous,
and I have been unmerciful.

I have been unreachable,
I have been unteachable;
I have been unwilling,
and I have been undesirable.

And sometimes, I have been unwise,
I've been undone by what I'm unsure of -
But because of You
and all that you went through,
I know that I have never been unloved.

I have been unbroken,
I have been unmended;
I have been uneasy,
and I have been unapproachable.

I have been unemotional,
I have been unexceptional;
I have been undecided,
and I have been unqualified.

Unaware - I have been unfair,
I've been unfit for blessings from above.
But even I can see
The sacrifice You made for me, to show me 
that I have never been unloved.
It's because of you
and all that you went through,
I know that I have never been unloved."

 

It's hard to face up to shortcomings in your own life, and oddly difficult to face up to the things you had no control over (we human beings love our control). Can I control the fact that I am, at the end of the day, pretty mediocre? Not really. I try to make myself better, but I'll never be a great musician, a great artist, a great scholar, or a great writer. There's only so much you can do with what you've got. And that's ok.

 

It's hard to face up to the fact that I am a prickly person. I don't think I was prickly as a child, though I certainly was shy. I hate that I've made myself this way.

 

It's hard to realize that I am so often unreachable. I've always been stubborn, but I do remember a time when I was able to let people know what I was feeling and thinking without playing little mind games or withdrawing into myself.

 

It's hard to admit that I've been undesireable. I can't remember anyone ever telling me that I was beautiful. That I looked nice, yes. That I was interesting, yes. That I had a wacky sense of fashion, definately. But beautiful? Never. And what's hard to admit about that is, there's no reason anyone should have ever told me that. I'm not beautiful, and looking at pictures of myself, I'm fairly sure I never have been (except when I was 6 months old. I was adorable at 6 months!). It's hard to admit that.

 

In John, Christ says  "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."

 

Pray for me that I continue in Him, and learn to see myself as He sees me. The truth would destroy me apart from Him.

If I ever had a daugher....

...I'd be sorely tempted to make her middle name Mevrian.

 

The lady Mevrian is one of the most noble women I have ever encountered in the lovely land of fiction.

Who'da thunk it?

About 2 years ago, I read a book that really impacted me: Wendy Shalit's controversial A Return to Modesty. Now, many people think that this book is why i started wearing long skirts and growing my hair out: Not true! I started growing my hair about 6 years ago, and started wearing my skirts a good 6 months before reading Shalit's book (which, incidentally, does not necessarily proscribe long skirts). But it did make clear to me why I'd made those choices.

 

What's odd is, I have never had much interest in the field of "Women's Studies." The topic bored me. However, after reading RTM and Shalit's new book, Girls Gone Mild, my interest in the subject is beginning to grow. It's an interesting subject, and very relevant. I just got a copy of Ariel Levy's Female Chauvinst Pigs; it's good reading, but I wonder if she goes far enough. Kudos to her, though, for coming out and talking about the prevalence of "raunch culture."

 

So....any book recommendations on this subject are welcome!

Faith like a child

Odd things have been happening with me lately. I've been more nervous, more unsure about my relationships with others, less sure about when my company was actually desired and when it was merely tolerated, etc.

 

This made no sense to me. I haven't been like this since I was about 11 or 12. I've got a job I generally love, I'm in a great house, with a lovely private room, and a church that I can't imagine being without. This should make me more secure than I've been before, but I'm not. It made no sense to me, until yesterday.

 

But now I think I know what's going on. Ever since I came out here (here meaning Biola, SoCal, and Blessed Sacrament), I've been somewhat at war with myself. During my teen years, I'd become angry, cynical, and very closed off to others. Thinking back to when I was a child, I don't think this is a normal state of affairs for me. I've always had a temper, but generally didn't spend a lot of time being angry. I was pretty sensitive, but not depressed. I don't think I was ever cynical as a child, I generally remember taking joy in very small things. I don't remember being closed off to others, though I've always been very shy.

 

What I think has happened is that the cynicism, anger, and isolation have finally fallen away. All the walls, the crud, the scales that I've built around myself since I was about 11 have fallen away. Which leaves me as confused, sensitive, and unsure as I was at that time, but maybe this time around, I can make better choices. Instead of becoming a cynic, I can choose to see goodness, truth, and beauty. Instead of becoming angry, I can let go. Instead of closing myself off, I can open myself to others, in all their strengths and weaknesses, and finally learn to love.

 

 

Lord, I believe. Help Thou my unbelief. I am not worthy that Thou shouldst come under my roof, but speak the word only and my soul shall be healed.

You might be a geek...

If you think the Mythbusters team is cooler than any set of actors in Hollywood.....you might be a geek.

 

If you can watch ads for new shows on the Science channel and think "OOh, I need to watch that!".....you might be a geek.

 

If you get excited over documentaries....you might be a geek.

 

If you can have an entire conversation consisting of nothing but movie quotes.....you might be a geek.

 

If the TV show with your favorite romance story is Babylon 5.....you might be a geek.

 

If you have ever been sad because you couldn't stay up till 4am to watch a particular episode of The Twilight Zone....you might be a geek.

 

If you actually laugh at XKCD comics......you might be a geek

 

If you know who shot first....you might be a geek.

 

If you get really ticked when people give the Special Edition answer to "Who shot first?".....you are DEFINATELY a geek.

 

If you have any idea what the last two questions are about....you might be a geek.

 

If you ever wanted Bene Gesserit training....you might be a geek.

 

If you ever wanted to meet a fictional character.....you might be a geek

 

If you understand the song " '39" by Queen.....you might be a geek.

 

If you have strong feelings about Library of Congress vs. Dewey Decimal....you might be a geek.

 

If you have strong feelings about Firefox vs. Explorer.......you might be a geek.

 

If you have strong feelings about astronauts vs. cavemen.......you might be a geek.

 

MMMMmmmmm....

Alpine Vanilla non-fat frozen yogurt. It does a body good.

Published...and I didn't even know!

So as many of you know, Wendy Shalit, author of Return to Modesty, is one of my very favorite authors. I read her blog, and sometimes comment on it. I was FINALLY able to locate a copy of her latest book, Girls Gone Mild, and settled down to read it on Saturday. Lo and behold, when I reached chapter 5, and began reading the quote at the top of the page, I realized it was mine! That just made my entire day!

 

Wendy Shalit's blog: www.blogs.modestlyyours.net

Do these results suprise ANYbody?? :) No, I NEVER would have guessed that I'm a complete introvert!

Learning Latin

So I've been studying Wheelock's Latin lately. It's really tough; people who know me know that I am no great shakes at languages, though I do ok with the written word. Also, my last real language training (A Beka grammar) was probably 8 or 9 years ago; it takes me a while to remember how an indirect object functions in the sentence. So yeah, it's pretty tough for me.

 

It's also an amazing amount of fun. It feels good to get my mind in gear again, and stretch it a bit. I've even started taking my Latin books to work with me, and getting some studying done during lunch. My co-workers think I'm a bit odd, but they've always thought I'm odd, so that's nothing new.

 

Vale, amici!

Update

So we found out what happened to the dog food...

Last week, when our air conditioning went out, the heat must have caused the dog food to eplode. All over the inside of a cabinet. We're not sure when the maggots moved in.

Oh someone please tell me it's Friday already...

(on the plus side, at least my X-files DVD is coming from Netflix today. On to season 2!)

Some days I hate this job.

There's been an odd icky smell in the office for the past few days. No-one could figure out what it was.

 

Well, today we found it.

 

Maggoty dog food.

 

So now we have the door to our call center closed, and we're all smearing scented lotion on our hands and faces to try to block the smell.

 

SIGH

Co-worker: *setting her purse on her desk during her lunch break* I'm gonna leave this in here; the table's crowded, and I don't want to put it on the floor of the lunchroom in case there's a mouse.

 

Supervisor: What? There's a mouse in there??

 

Co-worker: I don't know, I just don't want to chance it.

 

                    Later....

 

Me, to coworker: So, no mouse attacks during lunch?

 

Supervisor: Oh my gosh, so there was a mouse??

 

Coworker: No, I just thought there might be.

 

Boss: what's going on?

 

Coworker: I thought there might be a mouse in the lunch room, so...

 

Boss: Oh my gosh, there's a mouse?

 

Supervisor: It's a rat!

 

 

 

 

 

Gotta love working with all women.....  (and no, there's no mouse or rat or anything)

 

"So, what did you learn in school?"

Most people who were in Torrey HATE this question. We have no list of things to recite, because the method and content of our education is not conducive to it. When a classical education works, it sinks in deeply, and becomes a part of the person, not just a compartment in his mind.

 

But, I finally found a decent answer to the question! I ran across a quote in an excellent fantasy book called The Worm Ouroborous. The villains are described as those who "did not know the ancient loyalties."

 

That's what I learned at college: I learned the ancient loyalties. I learned loyalty to goodness, truth, and beauty. I learned loyalty to family, hearth, home, and country. I learned loyalty to the faith and to God. I learned loyalty to the human race.

 

The rain in the office stays mainly....in the office

So, it finally stopped raining in the office.

Turns out that someone had left the ancient air conditioner running overnight, and it froze up. We couldn’t turn it down, it kept blowing cool air, and letting water seep into the floor tiles.

Oh, and the fridge and water cooler had leaks too. “Water, water, everywhere, and not a drop to drink.”

So we shut off the power to the A/C, and set up as many fans as we could find.

The ceiling guy came yesterday, said that the ceiling wouldn’t collapse, then left. He finally came back today to fix the darn thing. Afterwards, the A/C repairman came, claimed that he’d fixed it, but we still can’t seem to get any cool air.

I’m hoping that my lovely Latin books will be there when I get home. I want to go bury myself in a dead language for a few hours.

On the plus side, after this week, I have drunk at least 5 glasses of water a day, 5 days a week, for 6 SOLID WEEKS. I am now incapable of finishing a can of Dr. Pepper or Coke, though I do still like Mountain Dew and Sprite. That is still a huge improvement. Now if I can just start eating better stuff.

Still at a different computer at work. The ceiling is repaired, but we still can't turn on the a/c. So to face the heat today I wore a fancy tank top and jeans.

I've never worn jeans or pants to work before.

My co-workers were slightly shocked, and made me stand up so they could see. :)

It was funny. How many other girls get such a reaction from wearing jeans? Hehehehe.

---

Be a better Heartthrob. Get better relationship answers from someone who knows.
Yahoo! Answers - Check it out.

Update

    So the rain in our office made us turn off the a/c, and move the computers away from the rain.

So, I don't have my work email, don't know for how long. Please send all emails to tinidril_of_perelandra@yahoo.com for now. Thank you!

---

Yahoo! oneSearch: Finally, mobile search that gives answers, not web links.

Woo-hoo!

Our office is leaking everywhere! The fridge, the watercooler, and now, the ceiling. something went wacky with the a/c, and the ceiling is dripping in two places. Just got a mini-downpour from one place, though it's stopped now.

 

Yay, rain in the office! (seriously, it's funny!)

 

Good book

A friend lent me The Tale of Despereaux the other day. People have been trying to get me to read this for ages, but I never have (probably because people have been trying to get me to read it! Silly stubborn Joi...)

 

Anyhow, I just started it, I'm only about 20 pages in, and it is delightful! I can't wait for my lunch break when I get to read more. It reminds me, in these first pages, a little of Frederick, by Leo Lionni. Frederick is a little mouse who doesn't gather corn or wheat or any food for the winter. The other mice make fun of him when he says he is storing up colors, or stories, or sounds.

 

When winter comes, the mice are happy and well-fed for a while. But as winter drags on, the food stores are running low, everyone is tired and grumpy, and there is no sun. So Frederick begins to tell stories, and talk about the warm light of the sun, and everyone realizes the importance of his work. I loved the Frederick book when I was a kid, and identified very heavily with the odd little mouse.

A fun way to pass the time at work while your email server is down:

 

Tell a co-worker elephant jokes until she laughs so hard she gets a crick in her neck.

Geeks and Cool

I was thinking the other day. People say that geeks don't care about cool things, or about being cool.

 

 

This is a bald-faced lie.

 

 

Geeks care about cool as much as anybody. We just define it differently.

 

 

 

Science is cool; celeb gossip is not.

 

Neil Gaiman is cool; Janet Ivanovich is boring

 

ComiCon is cool; the latest runway show is dull.

 

Weird Al is cool; Justin Timberlake is entirely made of FAIL and LOSE

 

Joss Whedon is cool; Jerry Bruckheimer needs to go away, preferably using the Boots of Escaping

 

Reading is cool; sitcoms need to be fed to the Sarlaac

 

 

 

Other cool things include: Corellian blood stripes, email, mythology, Gaelic, esperanto, l33t, lolcats, MST3K, Jim Henson, roleplaying games, the internet, and Macs.

sometimes I love my job

My boss just walked through, modeling a feathery showgirl headdress.

 

I love this place.

Do you use Netflix?

  http://www.netflix.com/BeMyFriend/P7iU6dPhDFDSRzYih9I9 

 

 

If you do, join as one of my friends. I like the idea of sharing movie reviews/recommendations, etc.

I knew this would happen

I want more Harry Potter.

 

I just finished re-reading the whole series, including book 7....and I want more. I'm reading all the interviews with JK Rowling that I can find.

 

Dang it.

 

Heh. Last night I was talking about chapter 34, The Forest Again, and teared up just talking about it. Sigh.

This cat is a Level 12 Paladin. It is also wearing the Boots of Escaping. (Once again, picture courtesy of www.icanhascheezburger.com)

Happy Dance Time!

We're(Rachel, Tim, Marcy, me, whoever else wants to come) starting a Latin class!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I miss doing that kind of hard work (not the classrooms or the modern school structure), I miss learning difficult things with cool people.

 

But now we're starting Latin!!

 

*happy dance, to distant strains of Gaudeamus Igitur*

 

Proud to be Norweigian(as least in blood, if not nationality)

Check out this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Haakon_VII

 

Read the section about Resistance during WWII.

 

God bless King Haakon VII!

 

We miss you, Frank Capra

As most readers of this blog know, I am a big fan of filmmaker Frank Capra. Not only was he an excellent writer and director, but he was a good man.

 

I have recently been watching his famed Why We Fight films. He made these with the Signal Corps in WWII; they were considered so good that instead of being shown only to the troops as originally intended, Roosevelt insisted that they be shown in American theaters, as well.

 

The films are good. They are propagandistic, but they do intend to unite proper emotion to proper action, and are very well done (heck, I was tearing up over France at the end of one film).

 

Ironically, when I got the films through Netflix, the movie advertised on the inside of the envelope was "No End in Sight; The American Occupation of Iraq." In theatres this fall.

 

Who will stand up now and remind us why we are fighting? Who will remind us what is worth dying for? Who will remind us of the price of freedom?

 

Frank Capra, we miss you.

 

So I went out with Liz last night. We ended up going along Birch St. and had dinner at Fresca's, then wandered around for a while before catching the 9:40 showing of Transformers. The movie was really fun, especially with Liz geeking out every few minutes beside me (much more enjoyable to see movies with a fan!) (granted, I did my own geeking out when Tom Lenk appeared on screen for a few minutes...Too bad he didn't have a bigger part! And too bad Danny Strong wasn't there as well) And that was a LOT of fun...but I got to sleep at 1...got up at 7...Need a nap......zzz........

This is how Joi feels this week.

Classics

I love classic movies. Two of my all-time favorite actors are Jimmy Stewart and Audrey Hepburn (classy, both of them). And now, thanks to Netflix, my access to classic films is exponentially increased. Most video stores around here don't have Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, but I go onto Netflix, and not only get the movie I want, but recommendations about similar movies that I might be interested in. I can get recommendations by genre, director, or actor (yay, Vincent Price movies! not enough of them, but still..)

 

Recently seen classics:

 

Gaslight (the 1944? version, with Ingrid Bergman): Definately worthy of its reputation as a classic. Creepy, interesting, and holy smokes can Bergman act.

 

The Blob: Campy, weird, and starring Steve McQueen. Doesn't get better than that. Except that the theme music will get stuck in your head very very quickly.

 

The Day the Earth Stood Still: Again, a classic. Interesting, well-acted (remembering that the 1950's preferred a different acting style), if perhaps a little formulaic. But still, quite good.

 

Dial M for Murder: Classic Hitchcock. The viewer knows what happened, and who tried to have the ingenue killed, but we all wonder how in the world the detective will piece it all together.

 

Laura: Very weird movie, this one. But Gene Tierny is quite possibly the most beautiful woman I've ever seen, and plays her part well.

 

The Manchurian Candidate: Ok, so it's been a few years since I've seen this one. But this is completely deserving of its stature as a classic thriller. Very creepy film, particularly the scenes near the beginning when the men think they are in a garden club meeting.

 

All the President's Men: Good film. They manage to keep the tension high, even though it's just a story about a newspaper story! Excellently done.

 

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town: I never understood why Gary Cooper was supposed to be so good-looking, until I saw this movie. A Capra classic! Especially the "pixellated" scene.

 

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington: Another Capra classic. While the movie may seem naive by today's standards, Capra's instinct, that goodness and honesty will ultimately triumph over corruption, is dead-on.

 

Rope: Another classic by Htichcock. This one is a bit more cerebral, but very worth watching. Two students murder a classmate, simply to prove that they can, and hide his body in their apartment while they throw a dinner party for his parents and fiancee. Their former teacher, played by Jimmy Stewart, is also present; he realizes that his classroom talk about nihilism and being above morality has inspired these two to committ their crime. Excellent film.

 

Creature From the Black Lagoon: Interesting, but not great. Probably was better in the original 3-D, but still interesting. The underwater shots are great.

 

Invasion of the Body Snatchers: fun, but with plot holes you can put your fist through. Great performance from Kevin McCarthy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of life's greatest joys....

...having friends over for dinner at your house.

 

The Motte family (Tim, Rachel, and Lucy) came over for dinner yesterday. Lucy was a little over-excited, but had fun, so that was good. It was SO NICE to have a place that I can invite people to! And so wonderful to have friends to invite over!

OSC does it again

Again, Orson Scott Card hits the nail on the head. Note: this is pretty much a spoiler-fest here, but if you've read the book, go read hs article:

 

http://blog.beliefnet.com/blogalogue/2007/07/what-civilization-does-harry-p.html

 

I tend to agree with him. I'd much rather live in a world surrounded by people who grew up informed by the Potter books, rather than one where the main literary influence was, say, Sweet Valley High, Goosebumps, or the Babysitters' Club.

 

Harry Potter not only allows for heros (a rare thing in YA literature these days, believe me!), but also for sacrifice, mercy, remorse and forgiveness (oh, how remorse/forgiveness plays out in book 7! a major theme, and well done, Ms. Rowling!), justice, compassion, and....well, I won't say the last one. But the epilogue will give you an idea of the other values.

Sin and Soda

Most of those who read this blog will remember my hospital trip last year. Due to the shameful amount of soda I was drinking daily, I had several kidney stones that were making their painful exit from my body.

 

After the experience, I vowed to drink more water. Finally, to judge my progress, I printed up a sheet with twenty-five glasses of water marked on it. 5 glasses a day, 5 days a week (I don't keep track when I'm at home, but I try to drink a few glasses there, too) When I drink a glass, I color in the glass on my sheet. Right now I've completely filled three sheets, and am on the last row of the current one, meaning that if I drink all my water today, I will have fulfilled my goal all month long, a first!

 

I have realized that I am losing my taste for soda, at least for the dark syrupy kind. I still like Mountain Dew, Sprite, and ginger ale, but they no longer quench my thirst. I drink them for fun, not for nourishment. I have also discovered that if I do make myself drink a whole dark soda, I will start craving them again, and have a harder time drinking water.

 

I think virute and sin work this way. You start acting virtuously because you know you need to, even though you don't want to. After a while, you begin to want virtue. But I at least end up thinking "Well, I'm doing ok, this one little indulgence won't hurt." What I forget is that that one little slip will reawaken that thirst for evil, that desire for sin. If I don't keep drinking the water and refusing the soda, I will end up with another kidney stone, or worse.

 

So, am I equating sin with Coke?

 

No, sin is obviously Dr. Pepper. :)

Reading Intelligent Books

Argh, I'm not smart enough to understand the books I read! I just picked up a sci-fi classic, van Vogt's The World of Null-A, and while it's fascinating, I know I'm missing a lot of the main stuff because I don't understand enough Aristotle. SIGH. I guess I get some credit for attempting the book, then? I think I'm about average among Torrey students; I have to keep reminding myself that I'm actually smart. I almost never feel that way.

good reviews on HP book 7

Orson Scott Card: http://greensboro.rhinotimes.com/1editorialbody.lasso?-token.folder=2007-07-19&-token.story=159616.112113&-token.subpub=  only the last half of this has spoilers.

 

Orson Scott Card and Patrick Rothfuss--dialogue: http://blog.beliefnet.com/blogalogue/harry_potter/  go back to the

 

John C. Wright: http://johncwright.livejournal.com/105503.html   warning: Here there be spoilers!

 

Dang it

I want my Harry Potter book back. Wanna re-read it. Maybe twice.

 

This is what happens when you spend your downtime at work reading the excellent reviews by John C. Wright and Orson Scott Card.

 

Grrrrr.....want book....

 

Rich Mullins pt 2

As I mentioned in my previous post, Rich Mullins wrote numerous articles for Release Magzine. These are online at http://www.kidbrothers.net/index-lo-res.html; I am putting key quotes from my favorite articles here, along with the date and title so you can read the whole thing on the COYN website (see link above). Please do read them; it's good stuff.

 

Summer 1992: Washing at Dusk (my favorite of the articles:  "Right now it is dusk and far in the east the sky is already being inked with the shadow that our earth makes of itself and some nearer stars are waking there. I am in a park in Indianapolis, Indiana and right now these great trees are casting no shadows; the greens of their leaves are holding the last rays of sun already set and the sky in the west is bright and turquoise and it shines like a semi-precious stone - as if any stone could be "semi-precious". And over all that I can see, over my motorcycle and the trunks and limbs of these hardwood giants, over this close cut lawn and the now abandoned tennis courts and baseball diamonds, over the sky (still fading, still and newly exquisite) and over me, a great peace washes. It comes up from the ground and down from the heavens - a deep peace breathed out by a universe that surrounds itself again to the embrace of its Creator - its God, who is to be sought by His saints in the hours of early mornings but condescends to seek out even sinners at dusk and washes them at evening in the peace of His presence and throws round their shoulders the cloak of His acceptance and puts on their fingers the ring of His pleasure - the pleasure He takes in them when He meets them here on the road even before they could get home, when He echoes in the evening the hymn He sang for them at dawn."

 

Fall 1992: Making/Being Made: "Of course, what we make of the Bible will never be as great a thing as what the Bible will - if we let it - make of us."

 

Spring 1993: The Way We Were: "And if the cross is more than a symbol (and it is), and if grace is more than a sentiment (and, thank God, it is), if Jesus Christ is really God's revelation of Himself and not the product of human imagination (and He is), then we will become the children we once were and must become again. Stables will be temples, stars will be guarantees,'the trees of the fields will clap their hands and the mountains and the hills will break forth in singing...' We will pray and run and work and give ourselves over to faith. And God will be our Father and His Kingdom will be our home, for we will be those children we once were, and 'of such is the Kingdom of Heaven...' "

 

Summer 1993: The Flight of the Philistine: "We walk by faith and not by sight - not because we are blind, but because faith gives us the courage to face our fears and puts those fears in a context that makes them less frightful. We walk by faith and not by sight because there are places to go that cannot be seen and the scope of our vision is too small for our strides. Faith is not a denial of facts - it is a broadening of focus. It does not deny the hardness of guitar strings, it plucks them into a sweetness of sound."

 

May/June 1994: Playing Second Fiddle:

 

"Now, although a fiddle may never be fooled by the folly of human thinking, very much like us, they have pain. Their necks are stiff and their nerves, their strings, are stretched. They feel the friction of the bow and inside their beautiful brown little bodies they have only a little stick called a soundpost and an emptiness that seizes every inch of space - top to bottom, side to side. Their emptiness is for them (as it is for us) a nearly unbearable ache - an ache that is fitted to the shape that makes its tone. And sometimes a fiddle is tempted to fill that void with rags or glass or gold, even knowing that, if it should do that, it would never again resonate the intentions of its fiddler. It would never again be alive with his music. It would dull itself to the exquisite heat of the fiddler's will, the deliberate tenderness of his fingers.

And so, they resist. They resist so that they can respond.

Some fiddles have lived without eyes or ears or innards for a couple hundred years. They would die, though, if they were denied a fiddler."

 

 

Go read the articles.

 

 

For further reading:

 

Reflections of a Ragamuffin, by Rich Mullins

 

The Ragamuffin Gospel, by Brennan Manning

 

An Arrow Pointing to Heaven, by James Bryan Smith (bio of Rich Mullins, quite good)

 

The Music and Words of Rich Mullins

So, as most of you know, I love listening to Rich Mullins' music. For those who don't know who he is, he was a contemporary Christian singer/songwriter, who died in a car accident in 1997. Some of his better known songs (though not my personal favorites) are Sing Your Praise to the Lord (first recorded by Amy Grant), Awesome God, and Sometimes By Step (you know, the one with the chorus: "And step by step You lead me, and I will follow You all of my days."

 

I don't remember when I first started listening to him. I think it was sometime in junior high. I remember reading an article about Rich Mullins in Release magazine, along with an essay by him, that was oddly moving. I remember borrowing a cd of his from the Amarillo public library, and falling in love with the music. The cd was The World As Best As I Remember It, vol 2. I especially loved the songs Everyman, Growing Young, and The Maker of Noses. Over time, I grew to love The Just Shall Live, Sometimes by Step (the whole thing, not the badly overused chorus), and Hello Old Friends.

 

I remember hearing about his death in 1997. It was sad, but I remember feeling that he himself was not sad, but happy beyond any happiness in this life.

 

Over the years, I got more of his albums (Songs, Canticle of the Plains, and A Lturgy, a Legacy, and a Ragamuffin Band) and read the essays he'd written for Release magazine. I think his music and writings have influenced me more than any other music, with the exception of the hymns I heard growing up.

 

His music was deeply influenced by folk songs and Appalachian hymnody (there's a phrase for you, Anne!).

 

Here are some of my favorite quotes from his songs. Some of these hit me right away, and some got into my blood quietly, laying dormant for years before the profound insights really hit home. They will not have the same impact without the music; if you like the quotes, I encourage you to listen to the whole song. There are quite a few on Yahoo's Launch, and I'm sure they are available for download on iTunes.

 

Please note: I do not have special permission to use these quotes, but they are all online at http://www.kidbrothers.net/index-lo-res.html  Please visit the site, it's a great reference.

 

Calling Out Your Name:  Well the moon moved past Nebraska
And spilled laughter on them cold Dakota Hills
And angels danced on Jacob's stairs
Yeah, they danced on Jacob's stairs
There is this silence in the Badlands
And over Kansas the whole universe was stilled
By the whisper of a prayer
The whisper of a prayer

And the single hawk bursts into flight
And in the east the whole horizon is in flames
I feel thunder in the sky
I see the sky about to rain
And I hear the prairies calling out Your name

I can feel the earth tremble
Beneath the rumbling of the buffalo hooves
And the fury in the pheasant's wings
And there's fury in a pheasant's wings
It tells me the Lord is in His temple
And there is still a faith that can make the mountains move
And a love that can make the heavens ring
And I've seen love make heaven ring

Where the sacred rivers meet
Beneath the shadow of the Keeper of the plains
I feel thunder in the sky
I see the sky about to rain
And I hear the prairies calling out Your name

From the place where morning gathers
You can look sometimes forever 'til you see
What time may never know
What time may never know
How the Lord takes by its corners this old world
And shakes us forward and shakes us free
To run wild with the hope
To run wild with the hope

The hope that this thirst will not last long
That it will soon drown in the song not sung in vain
And I feel thunder in the sky
I see the sky about to rain
And with the prairies I am calling out Your name

 

Sorry, that's the whole song, but there's no way to take selections from that. It's too good.

 

From Elijah: This life has shown me how we're mended and how we're torn
How it's okay to be lonely as long as you're free
Sometimes my ground was stoney
And sometimes covered up with thorns
And only You could make it what it had to be
And now that it's done
Well if they dressed me like a pauper
Or if they dined me like a prince
If they lay me with my fathers
Or if my ashes scatter on the wind
I don't care

But when I leave I want to go out like Elijah
With a whirlwind to fuel my chariot of fire
And when I look back on the stars
It'll be like a candlelight in Central Park
And it won't break my heart to say goodbye.

 

 

Growing Young (another full song, this is one of the best songs I have ever heard.)

 

 I've gone so far from my home
Seen the world and I have known
So many secrets
I wish now I did not know
'Cause they have crept into my heart
They have left it cold and dark
And bleeding,
Bleeding and falling apart

And everybody used to tell me big boys don't cry
But I've been around enough to know that that was the lie
That held back the tears in the eyes of a thousand prodigal sons
We are children no more, we have sinned and grown old
And our Father still waits and He watches down the road
To see His crying boys come running back to His arms
And be growing young
Growing young

I've seen silver turn to dross
Seen the very best there ever was
And I'll tell you, it ain't worth what it costs
I remember my Father's house
What I wouldn't give right now
To see Him and hear Him tell me that He loves me so much

Everybody used to tell me big boys don't cry
But I've been around enough to know that that was the lie
That held back the tears in the eyes of a thousand prodigal sons
Well we are children no more, we have sinned and grown old
And our Father still waits and He watches down the road
To see His crying boys come running back to His arms

And when I thought that I was all alone
It was Your voice I heard calling me back home
And I wonder now
What it was that made me wait so long
And what kept You waiting for me all that time
Is Your love stronger than my foolish pride?
Will You take me back now, take me back and let me be Your child

'Cause I've been broken down, I've been saved
Learned to cry, and I've learned how to pray
And I'm learning, I'm learning even I can be changed
Everybody used to tell me big boys don't cry
But I've been around enough to know that that was the lie
That held back the tears in the eyes of a thousand prodigal sons
Well we are children no more, we have sinned and grown old
And our Father still waits and He watches down the road
To see His crying boys come running back to His arms
And be growing young
Growing young

 

 

From Hard To Get (this one made me cry the first few times I heard it)

 

Is if You who live in eternity
Hear the prayers of those of us who live in time
We can't see what's ahead
And we can not get free from what we've left behind
I'm reeling from these voices that keep screaming in my ears
All these words of shame and doubt, blame and regret

I can't see how You're leading me unless You've led me here
To where I'm lost enough to let myself be led
And so You've been here all along I guess
It's just Your ways and You are just plain hard to get

From Here in America (the first time I heard this song, I didn't get it. Now I think it's beautiful.)

 

And once I went to Appalachia for my father he was born there
And I saw the mountains waking with the innocence of children
And my soul is still there with them wrapped in the songs they brought
And the Holy King of Israel loves me here in America

From Hold Me Jesus

 

Surrender don't come natural to me
I'd rather fight You for something I don't really want
Than to take what You give that I need
And I've beat my head against so many walls
I'm falling down, I'm falling on my knees

And this Salvation Army band is playing this hymn
And Your grace rings out so deep
It makes my resistance seem so thin

Oh, hold me Jesus, I'm shaking like a leaf
You have been King of my glory
Won't You be my Prince of Peace

 

From If I Stand:

 

So if I stand let me stand on the promise
That you will pull me through
And if I can't, let me fall on the grace
That first brought me to You
And if I sing let me sing for the joy
That has born in me these songs
And if I weep let it be as a man
Who is longing for his home

 

From The Love of God:

 

Joy and sorrow are this ocean
And in their every ebb and flow
Now the Lord a door has opened
That all Hell could never close
Here I'm tested and made worthy
Tossed about but lifted up
In the reckless raging fury
That they call the love of God

 

From The Maker of Noses (I get some laughs when I mention the song name, but it's beautiful)

 

And oh, I hear the voice of a million dreams
Then I wake in the world that I'm partly made of
And the world that is partly my homemaking
And oh, I hear the song of a heart set free
That will not be kept down
By the fury and sound
Of a world that is wasting away

 

Boy you just follow your heart
But my heart just led me into my chest
They said follow your nose
But the direction changed every time I went and turned my head
And they said boy you just follow your dreams
But my dreams were only misty notions
But the Father of hearts and the Maker of noses
And the Giver of dreams He's the one I have chosen

 

From Sometimes By Step:

 

Sometimes I think of Abraham
How one star he saw had been lit for me
He was a stranger in this land
And I am that, no less than he
And on this road to righteousness
Sometimes the climb can be so steep
I may falter in my steps
But never beyond Your reach

Oh God, You are my God
And I will ever praise You
Oh God, You are my God
And I will ever praise You
I will seek You in the morning
And I will learn to walk in Your ways
And step by step You'll lead me
And I will follow You all of my days

 

From While the Nations Rage:

 

Where are the nails that pierced His hands?
Well the nails have turned to rust
But behold the Man
He is risen
And He reigns
In the hearts of the children
Rising up in His name
Where are the thorns that drew His blood?
Well, the thorns have turned to dust
But not so the love
He has given
No, it remains
In the hearts of the children
Who will love while the nations rage

 

 

Coming later today: excerpts from Rich Mullins' magazine articles.

You’re St. Theodora!

Theodora was the wife of the ninth-century emperor Theophilus and mother of the future emperor Michael III. Theodora ruled the lands after her iconoclastic husband died. She labored to overturn his heretical policies, chiefly by summoning a council that upheld the veneration of images of Christ and the saints. For this, she is herself honored as a saint by the Orthodox Church. Her feast day is February 11.

Find out which Byzantine ruler you are at The Way of the Fathers!

Harry Potter

So I read the last book. Here's some thoughts. No spoilers--I am passionately anti-spoiler. But gosh darn it, one of my friends had best finish the book soon so I can talk about it with someone!!!!!!!

 

 

1. I thought I'd be sad that the story was over. And I kind of am...but not really. She ended it so well, and so completely, that I am really ok with no more Harry Potter stories.

 

2. Harry finally becomes a man. Not a "grown-up", not a "guy," but a real man. No more whining, excues, or procrastination (no, this isn't a spoiler, you can see it in the end of the 6th book). This book really brings home the fact that these characters are of age now. They have chosen their side, and are paying the price, but they are adults now. Very well done, Ms. Rowling, it's been so long since we've seen real men and women in young adult fiction!

 

3. The themes. Oh my goodness! Such wonderful themes! This is the payoff of all the other books, and all the other great conversations. The famous "it's our choices, not our talents" conversation from book 2? This is the payoff. The great scene between Dumbledore and Harry at the end of Book 5? This is the payoff. The excellent part in book 6, when Harry realizes that walking into the battle of his own accord is a greater, more noble thing than being forced into it by a prophecy? This is the payoff. The loyalty of the friends, the bravery of the Order, the sacrifice made by loved ones, all those themes that Rowling's been playing with come to fruition here.

 

4. Kleenex. You will need it. Lots of it.

A Bloomin' Success

I checked my flowers last night, and the jasmine bloomed!!!! Yay!!! I haven't killed it yet! And the bougainvallia (which I cna pronounce but not spell) has a few more blossoms on it. Still waiting for the gardenia, but it looks nice and healthy, so no worries there.

 

I love my plants.

 

 

Halva

I have been wanting to try this stuff for a while. It is a crumbly Greek sweet, amde with honey, chocolate, and sesame seeds, and other stuff that is not printed on this label. My roommate and I got some at our local farmer's market, and I think I am addicted. Like the other Greek sweet, baclava, it starts off a little odd, but the more you eat, the better it gets. This stuff is slightly squishy, and sort of crumbly, and it's got this wispy crispy stuff in it that I can't identify, and it is GOOD! Yum. Maybe I'll try the vanilla kind next week; the guy who was selling it said it's also good on flatbread. Hmm.....