- You Are The Outlaw

"Sure, I'll do it. My
way."


Just because you do not conform to the same laws
and rules as everyone else does not mean that
you are a bad guy. You travel your own path,
separate from those around you, with your own
reasons for doing what you do. Because of this
and your own nature, it goes without saying
that you are generally misunderstood. That does
not matter much, though, as people love you for
being who you are. You are pretty well set in
your ways and have no real intention of
changing. This can come across as a flicker of
arrogance if your not careful. You do what is
right for you, and God help anyone who stands
in your way.


Which Classic Story Role Do You Play?
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It's Friday night, and I'm better for knowing more about SURINAME. My pal Evan says his blog tells him that he lives there, so we looked it up on the CIA factbook. I, for one, didn't know there was a city named Longview, in a state called Texas, in a country called ESTONIA.

Amy and Ben are watching Troy. Ben and I watched The Island last night. Good show. Ewan McGregor is the man, beyond being the venerable and slightly pony-tailed Obi-Wan Kenobi.

We're still in Texas. We had our Christmas celebration this morning, since tomorrow will have much packing and visiting with friends. Then we drive to Indiana. I have a link for the current weather on the side bar... should be rather frozen and snowy.

My one hope is that a fresh clean snow falls so I can enjoy more than the dirty snow that's a few weeks old.

Apparently, Antarctica has no natural vegetation, to speak of. That seems rather obvious, until you start wondering what DO all those animals live from. Mosses and rock-growing lichens of varying colors apparently.

Antarctica also has the same number of radio stations as Suriname. That fact should substantially better your wellbeing, though I won't trouble you with the exact number.

Yesterday I bought a plane ticket to Johannesburg.

Currently, the game plan is to fly out of Indianapolis, fly transatlantic to Heathrow a la Chicago, spend several hours seeing London in an all day layover, then fly direct to South Africa. Then bus to Makhado and four weeks of varied archaeological work. Should amount to just under three solid days of travel.

The preparation and packing has gone on all week, so I will enjoy Indiana as essentially closing the door on major packing and just chilling for 3 weeks. I cancelled my beloved Rhapsody account and cell phone service. And for when I return in the fall... check this. I will very likely go The Way of The Penguin this fall. Rhapsody's new web-based service means I can get to it online in Linux. Yessssss. Makes me happy.

And now for a picture.

School's over, finals are over, and people are gone from school back to their homes for a couple of weeks. I have so much junk... I hope never to carry half of it around again.

Said bye to friends. Andrew, Pebble and I had one last fling during Andrew's final night here... we went down to the Glaske pond, into the drainage pipe and explored way back up into the pipes. There was some really cool spray paint graffitti down there... freshman initiation next year... oh yeah.

We kept poking our heads up in the man holes at the storm drains, peering through them at the street to find out where we were. We worked our way up between Solheim and Glaske, then followed the loop east, exiting through a man hole between Glaske and the Student Services building. I was surprised just how clean they were, and not many creepy things except for some spider webs.

One... last... paper... must... keep... typing...

(american foreign policy take home final... sigh)

I want a banana. The inner monkey is crying out... for bananas.

Today, Andrew Spencer and I decided that each of us has an inner monkey, which occasionally demands things of us, most often bananas. Freud came up with all that psycho-babble about id, ego and superego, but actually, we know the id to be the inner monkey. Nevermind that Freud came first.

God always is, but we are reminded of it in special ways every so often.

Happiness, I think, is vagrant, but nothing can strip us of our HOPE.

Think about hope, it's a good word.

You'll doubtless get an earful of this from other blogs, but I'm the first, so hah. Geoff, Bubbles, Spork, Fjord, Courtney, Michaela, Andrew and myself went to Dallas for a day trip. We walked all over the Galleria (which for those not Dallas-savvy, is a huge ritzy mall).

It was cool just to be there, surrounded by noise and movement, which for me at least are welcome changes from my dorm room. There was a truly impressive Christmas tree in the middle of a small skating rink.

I bought a new pair of shoes. They're EXACTLY the same as Spork's, just different size, so if you see him, be sure to compliment him on his fine shoes.

We went to Bolt's apartment and he cooked a stupendous breakfast meal. What can't he do? Autonomously fly, I guess. Anyway, it was good to just talk to him and see him in his natural habitat, which is something he would say of birds.

And then, like the fine people we are, Miki, Spork, Bubbles and I ditched the others to go ice skating. We had wanted to see the new Narnia movie with them, but upon seeing this cool and cheap ice rink in a mall, we couldn't pass it up.

So much fun! My last and only experience with skating had been a miserable, crowded, tiny rink where I fell down repeatedly and got all wet. This time, I just stepped out and found it much much more similar to roller blading than I had thought. I only fell twice, and once was intentional.

I certainly prefer it to roller blading now. Something to keep in mind for all those frozen lakes I pass everday.

So yeah, finals week is coming up and it was nice to chill. I also played acousticafe last night. Went well. Kinda sad to think I won't see the campus and a lot of these people for eight months or so. But yeah, it's nearly 2:30 in the morning and we mustn't get sentimental!

So, a joke to BRIGHTEN your day.

Where does a turtle get his gas?

At the SHELL station.

If you are not laughing uncontrollably right now, then you can credit your incredulity to a clique of gaga-brained Venezuelan girls.

AND it's really hard to think of the right word to say at 2:30 in the morning, so I'll stop trying. Goodnight to you!

Merry Christmas

So today I was playing guitar, and I hit record again. This time, two singing songs I like.

The first is an Iron & Wine song. Not sure *exactly* what the words mean in some places, but it's a gorgeous gorgeous bit of poetry. I shortened it somewhat from the original 10-minute version.

And then, Soul Meets Body, by good ol' death cab. I expanded the song with an instrumental intro.

I've decided to store recordings over on the sidebar, which I might use for other purposes, someday.

As always, the recording is terrible because I can't get the time to drag tons of equipment down to a soundproof room and record it properly. 'Nuf excuses; hope you like it.

Had to take this for American Foreign Policy. Grrr. ::shakes fist::

You are a Social Liberal (60% permissive) and an... Economic Conservative (61% permissive) You are best described as a: Centrist Link: The Politics Test on OkCupid Free Online Dating Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

YESSSS! Ladies and gentlemen, we have officially crossed over the ten page mark on my intellectual history paper. This is news of extraordinary proportions; it's all downhill from here!

Ahem, yes, I know, big deal, small paper but when something is this annoying and slow, even the little milestones are great.

My boss (Ms. Weatherall) once did something considerate so that I wouldn't "tear my hair out and run screaming into the night." The expression stuck, and aptly describes how I know feel about this intellectual history paper.

::runs, paniced, into the night::

I nearly called him Squinky to his face.

I wrote on my intellectual history paper

I happily put up with cousins CRAWLING on me

I watched a random cel-shaded Japanese flick I'd been wanting to see since last year

I learned two favorite songs on guitar

I practiced them over and over

I walked into town and mailed my korean college app

I went to bed before 11 PM. TWICE. And still managed to sleep 10 or 12 hours

I wrote my last newspaper story of the semester

I did random chores in the rain, and it wasn't freezing

Amazing.. that list makes the weekend sound productive.

Courtesy of Bungee. I scored Indy! Yesssss. But I could've been Captain Jack Sparrow, which would also have pwned.

You scored as Indiana Jones. Indiana Jones is an archaeologist/adventurer with an unquenchable love for danger and excitement. He travels the globe in search of historical relics. He loves travel, excitement, and a good archaeological discovery. He hates Nazis and snakes, perhaps to the same degree. He always brings along his trusty whip and fedora. He's tough, cool, and dedicated. He relies on both brains and brawn to get him out of trouble and into it. Indiana Jones 75% Captain Jack Sparrow 71% Batman, the Dark Knight 71% Neo, the "One" 67% Lara Croft 63% William Wallace 63% The Terminator 54% The Amazing Spider-Man 50% Maximus 50% El Zorro 46% James Bond, Agent 007 42% Which Action Hero Would You Be? v. 2.0 created with QuizFarm.com

Things I'm thankful for

1.Jesus Christ
2.Kleenex
3.Thumb drives
4.Family
5.Hope
6.Cinnamon rolls
7.Autumn leaves
8.Changing of the seasons
9.CHOCOLATE
10.Relient K

So, this morning I woke up with Anna Nalick's "In the Rough" stuck in my head. This brought to mind two interesting notes.

When a new album comes out from an artist I like, I play a game with myself. I go down the track listing and try and pick out what I think the next single will be, before it is even announced. I haven't officially done this as often as I would like, but I did nail Maroon 5's "She Will Be Loved" back in the day.

All that to say, "In the Rough" will be Nalick's next single. Yessssssss.

::does the Napoleon Dynamite victory move::

AND

as I said, the song was randomly stuck in my head this morning. I rolled out of bed, stepped in the shower and suddenly remembered that I had been dreaming...

Andrew was driving this van, and Brent and I were sitting in the bench behind him, and there were more people in the van, but I can't remember who. And "In the Rough" came on the radio and I was sitting there in my dream humming and singing it.

So I finishd my shower wondering how often my "stuck-in-the-head song of the day" is decided by some random dream I forget when I wake up.

They dare insult great literature with leet speak and cutesy cell phone shortcuts. Worse, they hire English professors to write it. Meh!

Blasphemy

Okra + mocha coffee = A HOT CUP OF MOKRA

This was extremely funny this afternoon. Today was a better day.

Huzzah! At long last, I have the CD I had ordered so I have some decent pictures to show all the folks at home who weren't on campus for the craziness known as Fall Fest. The pictures ended up smaller and worse quality than I would have liked. But Flickr is somewhat cool. At least cooler than Blogger images.

Let the madness begin.

Huzzah. Andrew, Brent and I went to try calamari. It was OK. But I won't be eating at Red Lobster again. Too expensive for bad seafood.

(ring ring ring)

Girl) Thank you for calling Red Lobster. What can I do for you today?

Me) Hi. Do you serve squid?

Girl) What?

Me) Squid.

Girl) Uhm... we have calamari.

Me) Uhhh k... what's that

Girl) It's, well, it's like baby squid. That's what I always call them.

Me) Well you see, my friend and... uhm, ok. Yeah. That's all I needed.

Girl) (giggle)

Me) Thanks!

Today that I have had this blog. huh.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1291497

For the historical society, I volunteered for this dinner theater drama on Friday night. Basically, people pay to come to this dinner we set up at the Gregg County Historical Museum and ate a multi-coures meal while some actors and I played out this murdery mystery.

It consisted of a few acts, and the people discussed who they thought killed Uncle Earle between acts. My part was Richard Methvin, this son of an old couple who had an oil well. Somebody killed Uncle Earle looking for the deed to the well, and my Pa (played by Geoff Barbour) finds out "who dun it."

After it was over, the actors were starving, so much to our delight we found dinner leftovers: great trays of awesome, catered fried catfish, chicken, shrimp, hushuppies and fries. It was... wonderful.

So that was my Friday evening. Yesterday, I chilled, and wrote my newspaper stories.

Today, I want to make a little progress on my intellectual history... my ideal goal for today would be finishing two pages on Bob Dylan. Been watching a documentary about him and I have a couple books.

Big papers are so daunting. Even if I've divided up the paper into little doable chunks (like writing 2 pages on classic Dylan), it's still hard just to take a little bite from something so big. And yet, this isn't one of those crazy 15 page papers the freshmen do the night before it's due.

And then there's Spanish. I'm convinced the way to learn it is to speak it all the time... this classroom stuff just doesn't get it in my head enough. Ah well, push through to the end.

Fall Fest pictures are coming soon, honest. I stopped being a slacker and figured how to get one of the photo club CDs, which is what I've been waiting on. Soon...

Meh hehe. Touche, mi amigo.

That'll teach you not to put your random shirt and underwear in my clean clothes dryer.

I'm blogging your boxers.

Grrrrrrr. Very frustrated grrrrrr.

Nothing final, so don't people go freaking out just yet, but I am kinda trying to see if I can't spend next semester at Handong Global University, in South Korea.

I have this paper... front and back, maybe space for a dozen signatures... of all the people who have to sign off on this escapade. And the bureaucratic "someone should approve this" and "I don't know what's going on" is absolutely maddening.

Today for instance. I see my academic advisor Dr. Johnson, who before signing anything, wants me to see Dr. Jarfster, who referred me to Hummel and Kubricht and Ms. Shank in the registrar's office, who pointed me to Dr. Coppinger where this whole mess started in the first place. So much walking back and forth across campus multiple times to different offices! Rawr.

I just feel that unless I spend 5 minutes explaining myself to people who don't care, that they will then assume by my conciseness that I haven't done my work and haven't the foggiest clue what I'm about.

Hooray!

Now, rants rarely do anything for the writer, and the only thing keeping them from boring the reader to tears is that readers never get through them anyway.

SO

how to make this post happy

Well... I didn't go to karate. Which means I had TIME to run around cutting red tape, and eat lunch too, which is good. Guitar is still nice... I tried singing "Beautiful Love" by The Afters and that was cool. Some songs just work well right out and others... you need to look up online and that's one of them. :D

Hooray! After symphony, Andrew, Brent and I grabbed a few groceries from Wal-Mart ("uhm, will we need that? I don't know... let's get it... ok"), drove to Andrew's house ("you know, three guys with Mexican glass Cokes crammed into a tiny truck reminds me of CANADA... and we'd look real funny if we got pulled over"), spent the night at the Spencer's house ("uhm, so yeah... symphony was good" ::uncontrolled laughter::), got up and went to the lake.


The western end of Caddo Lake is very swamp-like, with lots of lily pads, "sea weed," Spanish moss and cypress trees.


Gotta stop for the necessary picture at 41.

We arrive at our campsite on Big Sandy Island, a little wooded thing just inside the Louisiana border near the lake's north shore.


Andrew found some old forgotten chair and gives it a try.


Defeat the dark side, yo.


Andrew pulls alongside us under a bridge, in his sleek and speedy one-man canoe.


Brent and I exploring a mid-lake oil pump. Note the whitecaps on the waves... it was pretty choppy on that part of that lake. Brent said on a river, they'd be the equivalent of class-2 rapids. The larger canoe had her prow underneath a wave lots of times, yet made it through alright. Wish we could say the same of Andrew's little canoe...


Yup, he tipped over in all the waves. We got aboard ours and tried emptying his out but it was too heavy for us to do it safely without risking everyone going overboard. The waves were just too bad. This is the only good pic we got of the whole thing because all three of us were laughing so hard we likely couldn't have had much hope for the little boat anyway...

So we let it go and tied it onto the big canoe, hoping we could tow it back to shore. It quickly filled and flipped over; as we pulled we noted it looked like...


A dead whale. Hooray


Pull hard, me scalliwags! We've blubber to be had! Arrrrr....


Ahhh, fire.


A very sus-Spence-full picture.


Andrew and Brent preparing dinner.


Our campsite looks much spookier here than it actually was. There were lots of random noises on the island from the creatures living on it, so we explained them all away by saying an ax murderer lived on the island.


Pretty pretty sunrise on the island shore.


The Caddo Lake drawbridge. We passed beneath it (although it didn't raise for us, meh) on our way to the dam at the eastern end of the lake.


Brent and I near... A 17.


Mmmmm.... foooooood


The happy Spork picture.


Andrew trying to carve up the sausage with a Kukri, the official knife of the Philippine military. It's a big curved thing designed for whacking small trees or butchering large animals, not cutting sausages...


The Caddo Lake dam. Here begins the Sabine River, which is where we were eating on the previous picture.


On the way back, we pulled in to rest where the shore was nice -- very nice. Warm sand beneath the feet. :)

So on Monday we did the entire length of the lake, western to eastern shore, 1.5 times. We were exhausted and very sunburnt when the affair was over, and Brent even gave it his official Spork Certified Pansy-Free approval, signifying it was a sufficiently excruciating wilderness experience. Much fun with good pals.

Andrew, Brent and I at symphony. Fear the red eyes!

Romans 8:15 & 16:

For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba Father." The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.

So apparently God is still dealing with me on this issue of being content as a child of God. I was worrying a bit ago with some decisions and choices, wondering what I should do.

One of my favorite verses came to mind, and it happens to be R.G. LeTourneau's life verse: "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

The command to "seek" is not a directive for the future, nor a reflection on the past, though I certainly hope we did seek God in the past, or intend to do so in the future.

The sentence simply says seek God now.

Kinda funny, how we can get so wrapped up in the future, worrying over things we can't change, wondering where on Earth to go and what to do with this or that... when God has us by the shoulder, pointing exactly where we should be headed right now.

Seek the kingdom of God.

That is indescribably more practical than it sounds.

I was very blessed this morning -- two psalms and the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew. God is so good and mysterious for opening His Word up sometimes.

I was particularly struck by the Beatitudes:

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

Jesus did not say, "Blessed are the strong," or "Blessed are the achievers," or "Blessed are those who have good GPA's and feel productive all the time."

He said, blessed are the people who are humble, blessed are those who desire God, blessed are the pursuers of peace -- blessed are those who, without vindictiveness or fighting back, quietly persevere in trials of all kinds, waiting for the day they can be with God.

Lord, how easily I forget this simple lesson. Quiet my heart today and show me what it means to be your child.

I really should be writing a paper on Henry Adams, but I just had to stop and write this down.

The best writing just happens.

Forcing it drains it of all its originality and shine. Isn't it a pity that so often, we students have to write so-and-so many words on such-and-such a subject, to be turned in by this-and-this date. Without this framework, most of us wouldn't get anything done, which is necessarily a desirable result in the working world.

Why, or how, these little moments of inspiration come, I cannot say. I'm rather frightened that they come more often than I think, and I let them slip by rather than dropping everything and writing what is trying to get out of my head and on paper.

I know my own writing very well. It's boring -- needs editing, which it (unfortunately) rarely gets -- it doesn't get to the point because it wonders what really is the point.

I also know that sometimes I start scribbling away, or typing, and suddenly lean back and realize that something better has come. Calculably how, I can't say. But there it is, and by golly, it will have my name on it.

This has to be plagiarism, of a sort my mind steals from wherever better writing comes.

It was cool. Joss Whedon done himself good.

Now I sit, writing a diplomatic memorandum for President Woodrow Wilson. Well, he's dead, but if he were alive and I were one of his state department advisors... this might be what I give him. Not a boring assignment, if I ever just get around to doing it rather than blogging.

I have decided on a topic for my Lit Crit paper. I wrote an abstract saying I would write on Heart of Darkness, but in the end I found a poem that fits what I'd like to do with a Marxist analysis much better:

More About People
by Ogden Nash

When people aren't asking question
They're making suggestions
And when they're not doing one of those
They're either looking over your shoulder or stepping on your toes
And then as if that weren't enough to annoy you
They employ you.
Anybody at leisure
Incurs everybody's displeasure.
It seems to be very irking
To people at work to see other people not working,
So they tell you that work is wonderful medicine,
Just look at Firestone and Ford and Edison,
And they lecture you till they're out of breath or something
And then if you don't succumb they starve you to death or something.
All of which results in a nasty quirk:
That if you don't want to work you have to work to earn enough money so that you won't have to work.

Nash was a funny and brilliant guy, or at least I get that impression from his poems.

And now I have this unaccoutable desire to have a coffee machine in here so I can brew up something. I've tried long and hard to like tea, and as much as I enjoy it sometimes, it doesn't do for me what coffee regularly can. And I don't even drink coffee all that regularly.

This next week is AcoustiCafe and tryouts for the upcoming Talent Show. Hope to be singing in both.

And now I have to go back to being productive, as there is a party tonight I want to go to. Not sure what movies they'll show, but food is good.

With our lives getting the winning vote!

On a brighter note, I have decided not to go to karate camp this weekend because I have 2 5-page papers due next week, in addition to the normal other things. As well as a test and a major paper abstract due tomorrow.

That wasn't much brighter.

Uhm... I'm reading a book called Heart of Darkness for Lit Crit! It's great! So far it has shown the insufficiencies of British colonialism: ravaging, stripping and enslaving the continent of Africa...


What else...

I'm going to go see Serenity tomorrow night. Ahh, now there's a happy thought!

Rings of Power were formed.

These are small group Bible studies on 41, of which I will lead one.

I will have two other juniors: Sonic and Doodlez.

I reflected that our floor nicks: Ludwhig, Sonic, Doodlez... form an acronym for LSD.

This should be great.

Today, I deactivated my facebook account. It's kinda stupid. Its uselessness was becoming more apparent, and then I started getting found by dozens of people and getting lots of invites to little virtual cliques that don't do anything, so I quit.

A hurricane is coming! Panic in the streets! Power outages! Floods! Storms! Wombats!

Absolutely all the hotels are filled up with evacuees. Which concerns me not at all, not needing a hotel myself.

Hurricane Rita should be greatly diminished by the time it reaches Longview, though I have heard predictions that the storm may well stall directly on us. Dr. Kubricht started class yesterday saying he'd heard the eye of the storm would pass very near Longview. We shall see.

Symphony was cancelled. :( Postponed, I should say. We'll still go. Pebble, Dex and I... we have to convince Geoff to go.

I am constantly amazed how my schedule can be packed with something I have to be doing, literally without pause for the majority of a day. I look forward to 4 PM. That is when I won't be *having* to do anything.

But, you say, you are not doing anything right now.

Well, that's because I should be doing the reading for Lit Crit which is in half an hour, but at this point, I am going very A.D.D., having had a test in American Foreign Policy just a while ago.

No further progress has been made on my songs. Perhaps, very much perhaps, this weekend.

I detect some very small rays of lyrical inspiration.

Hurricanes aren't what I call fun, but I must say I wouldn't mind a long, unrelenting, drenching rain of mediocre intensity. Perhaps a thunderclap here or there just for effect.

Finding a quiet, cool place alone, with a jacket and cup of hot hot coffee, watching the rain, and writing about something... that sounds like the ideal use of this weekend.

I finally gave in and signed up for facebook. It started out hilariously entertaining, and then got annoyingly addicting. Now that I've clicked around and seen it, I don't anticipate it ever sucking a half hour of my time again.

I have a symphony ticket.

Guitar... alas guitar. I like it a lot. You'd think a person would get tired of six little strings tightened on a hollow wooden box, but I think I could be genuinely content for a week on a jungle island somewhere with just a hammock and a guitar.

Ahhh, now that's a pleasant thought.

::tries to hold it while going back to homework::

Good morning.

Well...

I just woke up. 3 AM, yeah, it was a late night, but it was Friday, and I wanted to actually enjoy some time without pressing responsibilities. Saturday, even Sunday afternoon, are both sacrificed to the homework god, who does demand rather a large portion of time these days. I figured the metaphor wasn't overkill, when one actually considers the time students spend on homework. It's more than a job... it's some sick way of life. For a while.

I'm in the mood to write, which isn't often. Mostly I write what is necessary when I have to, but now I'm fishing around for something to write about. Apart from this musing on my own mood, I suppose I could put the mood to work on school. Perhaps one of these... I penned a list.

Item 1). study for span./finish hw
Item 2). study for Mid. East Map Quiz
Item 3). read lit crit passages
Item 4). write intellectual history abstract

All in all a rather easy list, now that I see it. Not something I could hope to finish today, but perhaps if I can do half of those, and some of the reading I have to do for one of these fuzzy reading classes, then it will be a good and productive weekend.

Wow, that's, just, that list makes me feel nicer inside. This last week must've been killer -- raised my standards, or at least my tolerance, for academic diligence. Last week was newspaper which made everything take longer. Silly stories. Does anyone actually read them? I suppose, like this blog, that's not the point.

Peaches. Raspeberry-flavored, specifically. In a small can -- they're a good snack.

The intellectual history abstract shouldn't be hard. But it's just so darned significant. Well, in the grand scheme of things, it isn't, but, nonetheless... less than a page, for me to concretely explain the course of my research and writing for the next few months, to culminate in a paper of no less than 20 pages. Due Wednesday. It's not that the mechanics of this abstract are hard... it's that I am committing myself, to a small extent, to what I write. Sounds like fun.

My topic for American intellectual history? Music of the '60s and '70s, particularly music as the voice of various social and intellectual movements, as well as its effect on these movements. I think I'm the one person in the class writing on a time period and even subject with which the professor has direct personal experience. Fun times trying to get it right.

My phone is beeping at me. I neglected to turn it on last night.

I've had this desire to sit down and write music for some time. Last night, I realized for the first time all week that I had the opportunity to do it, so I did.

I scurried around my dorm for a few minutes, procuring the necessaries: laptop, ear buds, microphone, guitar, pick, chair. I installed Audacity, a very nice open source sound editor, on the laptop and went in for some experimentation. A few hours later, I gave up, satisfied, with the beginnings of six songs. And by beginning, I mean most of the songs have all the parts there, including the bridge, and are only in need of lyrics and some little bits of fleshing out here or there.

I can't yet vouch for the quality of any of these songs, but I was rather pleased that distinct musical ideas came out, rather than the same old song just reinventing itself in my head six times.

Lyrics. Lyrics are hard, even if it's writing. It's an entirely different sort of writing, but one that exemplifies what we strive for in prose. Song lyrics have to be extremely compact, good ones always put a picture in the listener's head, always use lots of verbs to stay vigorous. Good lyrics take the attention off the music and drop the listener in the land of my own creating, where the music is no longer the end, but merely the soundtrack that moves them through the story.

Would that not be a lovely description to tell someone about their newspaper writing? But it just can't it be that way.

Yesterday was my first time to try multi-track recording. I put my headphones around my thigh, just below the guitar, microphone up near my hand. I had an idea of strumming an E minor chord over and over while doing something higher up the fret, so I recorded the low strumming part, trying to imagine what the higher part would be.

Then, I put on my ear buds, replayed the strumming part through them while I recorded another more melodic part. I did this again, and then again, until I had 4 separate guitar parts going at once. It actually sounded half nice.

Now that I have rough recordings of these songs, I won't lose them, and can revise them, write lyrics for them. And once they're the way I like them, I'll go find a good microphone, record them at the best quality I can, and mix them in Audacity to sound as good as I can get them.

I won't hesitate to use as many guitar parts, loops, vocal tracks as I need in the composition process. How would I ever play these live? That's not the concern right now. Build the song into some overblown studio production if that's what sounds good, and figure out how to strip it back down to a live version later on.

First priority is lyrics for the songs I have now, but next time I go in to write more songs, I want to have a piano nearby. Doubtless I'll put piano in most of the songs I already have, but I expect I can get something kinda nice by starting off trying to compose with piano rather than just guitar as I did yesterday.

Hmm, I'll need staff paper.

I'm excited! Can you tell I like music? Yesterday, I finally made some -- something beyond, more concrete than improvisation. I'm humming them. If no one but me ever enjoys these, it's worth it.

But before I go off getting too excited, I want to write more. Anybody can put out a few songs here or there -- I want to write more and I need lots of practice.

People rarely remember a musician's very first writings, whether they're Mozart or Mary Timony. So that's a nice thought -- I haven't even conceived my best song yet. I'm in quest for that song... I wonder if I'll realize it when I find it.

Augh. Have you ever spent five minutes squeezing your head, just *trying* to get that perfect word you need for a piece of writing that just won't come from the tip of your tongue? I know there is such a word because several times I was *this* close to remembering it. And a thesaurus only got me distracted off on another meaning I didn't want.

I am still convinced that a thesaurus is a type of dinosaur.


EDIT: exploratory. The word is exploratory.

It took me twenty minutes to come up with that. It's weird... I knew the word must begin with an E, so I kept coming back to experimental. But that's isn't really what I wanted... about ten minutes later I had this revelation that the second letter must indeed be an X... I tried to continue the sentence without the word after finally giving up and it suddenly came to me. Brains are funny things sometimes. We know more than we give credit for -- the trick is just getting it out.

First things first -- why, you ask, do I have a picture of a kitten with a sniper rifle? Well, here's the story:

I decided one day, not long ago, that I wanted to learn karate, merely for the value of knowing self-defense. I had seen the LETU karate, but figured it wasn't of much value beyond being a quaint dance form of some type. As it turns out, a good 41 alum friend of mine (Gizmo!) is a brown belt and says it's actually quite useful for self-defense. And my roomie Pebble is in the class.

So I figured hey why not.

THEN

I signed up for it, and remarked to myself that this event warranted a change in my blog decor. So, in my quest for an interesting picture relating somehow to karate, I happened upon this AWESOME picture of a cat with a sniper rifle.

Completely off topic, yes, but oh so cool.

There you have it.

I'm now up to 17 hours of classes and finding myself precious low on time for my job. There's just no big blocks of time in my week any more.

And now a snippet from Literary Criticism.

Dr Watson> So, every bump on that graph represents a verifiable point in the plot? You can articulate, in MLA format, what every squiggle on that line means in an essay?

Me> Yes. Every bit of the graph means SOMETHING... we intend to trademark it.

Well, freshmen "extended orientation" has been going well. I think we have a good group of fellers this year with some people I really want to meet better. Watermelon football a few nights back was a hoot. Hopefully I can get my hands on pictures of this very soon.

Tonight we do two fun things. First, there's a Counter Strike match where lots of freshlings play and they get some of our upperclassmen signatures. It's something of a joke... my roomie has put his time into this game (and me to a far, far lesser extent) so we expect to mop them up. Knifing people to death who are trying desperately to kill you with a pistol is one of the most hilarious gaming experiences out there. Schmorgan and I have played this on and off for a couple years and we still die laughing.

And after that we have Sere Na Ding. That's referencing a sign I wish I could take a picture of. I made it. Anyway, serenading is where we get all our freshlings and as many upperclassmen as we can, and go sing three romantic songs to each of the girls' floors on campus. It's a lot of fun and I get to lead it. And we make the freshlings get down on one knee and sing part of one song right to a special girl.

Awwwwww...

Too bad they'll never get to hold her hand again! Welcome to LETU, freshlings! Bwahahaha. And no I'm not bitter. :D

I am loving my classes. I actually genuinely enjoy each one. This is awesome.

I was playing around on my lovely acoustic guitar at my desk, and my microphone was right there, so I just decided to hit record and see what came out.

The usual disclaimer: I forgot to tune my guitar before playing this, and the strings BADLY need replacing, blah blah blah.

First, I started playing before my roommate knew that I was recording, so you can hear him banging around at the end, which is why I cut it short at 50-some seconds. (YEAH THANKS A LOT PEBBLE!!!!!!)

Improvisation 1 0:52 (1 megabyte)

And this next one, Pebble actually respected the mike and kept quiet very well. But then another fellow on 41 (my college floor) named Mortimer walked in. So while I was playing, I tried to make the "shhh!" signal, except with no hands since I was playing.

And so, in honor of him and his uninvited but always welcome intrusions into my room, I entitle this song Mortimer Be Quiet. Because it actually has the length and structure to be a song and not a whatever that first recording was.

Mortimer Be Quiet 2:18 (2.8 megabytes)

Enjoy. :)

If you want a nap, it is usually -- not always, but quite often -- a sign that you need one.

And have you noticed how much clearer you can think when you aren't tired?

Back from the IMPACT retreat. It was good. That's all I'll say. I didn't get to ride a jet ski though. The lines were too long. But on the upside, I played Slope's guitar, and sang, and Coda played the piano, and Slope played his new harmonica, and Smee banged on a chair, and we had good times.

And like the genuine ding-dong I am, I brought my camera and neglected to take ANY pictures. Tsk tsk on me.

And I'm back on campus! It's good. Got to have good times moving in and catching up with some people. And my computer actually works! The airline and Greyhound didn't bust it, for which I am very thankful.

Last night was my first back on an LETU bed, which was comfy. For some reason, though, I had the most horrible nightmare I've had in years. I used to dream a lot, but not so much anymore, so it's rather a special occasion when I can wake up remembering one. Unfortunately, I don't like dreaming anyway because all mine are usually bad... either long, drawn-out vaguely troubling things where *something* just isn't right the whole way through... or progressively scarier dreams that wake you up at the worst part. That was the kind I just had.

I'll spare you all the grizzly details, but it was just strange how this dream had no completely bizarre elements. It was like a horror movie... it built up the suspense, and at just the right moment I learned the truth about where I was and the shock of it woke me up. And the annoying thing, is most dreams fade very quickly when you wake up. This one replayed itself in my head for 15 minutes while I laid there trying to forget it.

So anyway, yes, blogging about it has helped forget about it a little bit. And now, to continue that effort, my list of things to do today:

1) Clean up the room for an hour and a half.
2) Show up to volunteer for the IMPACT retreat.

There is actually a ton of work that goes into this by volunteers. I had no idea how much work until I saw the scheduled list of things I'll be doing all weekend. It should be fun, though busy.

And now I think I'm going to go dig up my Bible because I hear those help with bad mornings too.

Woohoo!

Had a lot of fun travels recently, and more to come tomorrow.

I could either reflect on it here, gladly forseeing the time when I can stop and rest awhile. Or I could put on a straight-jacket, find the nearest rocking chair and mutter incessantly, "The earth... won't stop spinning... still moving... still moving..."

Rice, was a great visit, though sadly the weather didn't cooperate and the didn't have the program I was interested in. Still, a good school. I got to walk about with a map, scratching my head every so often mid-sidewalk to find my way -- looking not altogether unlike the freshmen moving in that day. Ahh, good times.

In retrospect, I was impressed that though UT gets tons more money than Rice, Rice without doubt does a better job of using the money and especially getting it to students. Very commendable.

And of course seeing Nadine and Chris and Celeste and Keith was wonderful. Aunt Celeste made the most wonderful chocolate fondue and strawberry shortcake the next night. Yummm!

On Sunday I got to see the traveling exhibit of Lord of the Rings, put on by some New Zealand museum with permission, of course, from New Line Cinema and all those over-worked souls at WETA.

It was so cool! I got to *see* the original props of suits and swords for Aragorn (his suit from the Two Towers), Gandalf, Frodo, Legolas and 2 of Arwen's dresses. I got to see the original "bigature" model of Frodo's vision in Galadriel's pool?

Remember when he looks in the pool of water and see the Hobbiton mill taken over by orcs and hobbitts enslaved there? I got to see that set. It was awesome, incredibly detailed, truly large for a model and yet the plaque said it was only shown on screen for about 2 seconds. TWO SECONDS!

And the fleeting, shimmering shots filtered through Frodo's conscience did the model no justice at all. I can feel a bit of the pain of those fellows, who worked so hard on the shading of a beam or something just to have it never show up at all.

The props were amazing. Elrond's crown was so light and elegant. And his telescope was awesome. It was so astronomical-*looking*... and very Elvish.

Probably my favorite suit was Haldir's. It was leather and light and elegant... and it just looked so wearable. I thought, upon looking at it, "Now there's a suit I could wear in the woods for a good while." And his dagger, and his bow, and his quiver of arrows.... ::sigh::

So a delightful bus ride later (Texas scenery + uncrowded bus + iPod + apple pie = awesome!) I landed in Austin and there Uncle Keith the Other (no offense, but had to clarify) and Aunt Stephanie were there to get me.

UT was way cool. I did get to talk to Dr. Creel, as I mentioned, and despite being a busy and important person, he was extremely nice in talking with an undergrad, for which I was greatly relieved and grateful. I also spoke with a grad admissions counselor and the coordinator for grad anthropology studies. All in all a good day.

And Freddy and Steph and Keith did the nicest job of showing me around Austin. A cool town, I thought.

But, after all that, I am ready to come back to quiet, hicky little Longview. And I don't mean that in a bad way at all. :)

And so I have to wake up in less than 7 hours and get a bus again, for Dallas, then Longview, then Alto, then back to Longview, and then off to whatever missions await me under the painful whip of Chad Melton. ;)

See you around, and remember, bananas are good, ice cream is good, but don't mix them into a banana split.

So tomorrow I fly away. I can't say whether I'll be posting here often. I may find myself on the campus of UT or Rice, quite bored and wanting to vent, or I may not be back here for several days. So, until then, have fun, and try not to eat *too* many tacos.

It's raining.

I asked an eBay member about whether a certain item worked out of the box. This eBay member happens to be in Asia. Quem responded thusly:

"Hello, it can use already.

Nice regards"

OK so maybe that is typical from second-language users. But you have no idea how funny that was at 2 in the morning. :D

But the week after next will have so much of it, I get tired just thinking about it. If I can get tired after a day in cars and airports, I suppose I should be glad I don't have to walk or go places on horseback or a covered wagon. Now *that* was travel.

Anywho, it's fun to set up. I'm happy because I just got an email back from Dr. Creel at UT saying he can actually visit with me! I was kinda surprised since that week before students start arriving is filled with meetings and such.

Still no word from the Rice people. UT gets +2 bonus points for answering their emails fast.

I was thinking hard of what else noteworthy has been happening and couldn't come up with anything... noteworthy. So, I shall now regale you with my Top 10 Reasons Why Napoleon Dynamite Is A Cool Movie.

10) It has tons of quotes that work almost *anywhere*. ("Like fifty of 'em. GAWSH!")
9) It has provided inspiration for some of the best skits I've seen.
8) It has a llama in it.
7) It has inspired kids everywhere with positive self-esteem about their moon-boots, high pants, and '80s glasses. Nerds can be loved too!
6) It educates us on the important SKILLS in life: numchuk skills, bowstaff skills, computer hacking skills.
5) Napoleon's "sweet jumps" teach us to never trust Hollywood's overdone motorcycle jump special effects.
4) Pedro makes a pinata of Summer, his school president opponent.
3) It proves that chickens do, in fact, have large talons.
2) It proves that the way to any girl's heart is to draw her picture, "or bake her a cake, or something." :D

And the number one reason Napoleon Dynamite is a cool movie?

1) The farmer guy shoots the cow in front of the school children!!!

That is all.

I went to bed at 11 PM last night with the intention of getting lots of sleep so that I could wake up actually refreshed for some early morning work. Something that really gets under my skin... is going to bed and lying there alone in the dark for TWO HOURS before finally falling asleep... sooooooo boring. Perhaps I should try reading. But that isn't going to bed is it. Enough of this sleeping rant.

Anyway, I'm doing surprisingly well on 5 hours of sleep. That's actually a decent night's sleep, come to think of it. I got up bright and early at 5:40 and walked out the door with Candace to go help some friends stack hay into their barn.

The sights and sounds of an early morning are something I haven't experienced in some time. I can't remember the last time I've watched a sunrise, or heard bird's chirping that excitedly, or smelled that moist, fresh scent in the air. Saying that sounds terrible I know, but it was true and I enjoyed this morning. The sun coming up was beautiful.

And I was very surprised when a decent half-hour of hay throwing didn't give me the sniffles. A family of friends at the RP church kindly provided gloves and a breakfast to all their volunteers. We unloaded 150 square bales into their barn, and got it done fast with all the manpower one could have asked for. Not a bad way to start off the day actually.

So that's all for the life of Ludwhig. And now for the mindless, comment-generating dribble! ;D

Today's Dilbert was hysterical...

I love the IT guy's suspenders AND belt. And the pointed ears. He's obviously some maligned otherworldly creature.

::gets evil ideas::

In other news, a slightly more scholarly approach to the pop/soda/coke controversy. I love the little streak of Dixie Rebels up there in Alaska. You go!

And here's this doctoral study of dialects, proving once again that Texans are the most enlightened people on earth. 'Nuff said, y'all.

Finished Voyage of the Dawn Treader today. Now I remember why it was my favorite Narnia book -- there was so much I had forgotten. It's just a good adventure story, espeically so because Lewis keeps the fantastic elements from seeming distant and antiquated.

Now to finish The Silver Chair and The Last Battle with enough time to make some headway in The Education of Henry Adams. It's for school (see Wilson's blog for more explanation).

Slowly but surely, work begins to come to a close. This was an unusually busy week: some VIPs came (had to set up a very troublesome digital projector), items coming and going on the eBay store, end of the month financial reports, etc.

My last batch of items to go up were kinda cool... a set of Madame Alexander dolls, a surprisingly popular piggy bank, a vintage sewing machine, a bunch of Star Trek episodes... even a cool retro washer/dryer. Going out of this job with a $500 bang on that spindrier would sure be nice. :)

http://stores.ebay.com/rescuekokomo

All in all, this has been a very cool job. As jobs go, this has certainly been the best paying one I've ever had, and little perks like a car and an office were nice firsts. Soon I shall return to LETU, to grind out a few hours a week under the whip of Ms. Weatherall, carrying boxes, without so much as a golf cart. ;D

I made a few doortags for 41, and have been talking with some of the guys about plans for the fall. I'm excited to go back and start a whole new year, fresh, without any necessity of repeating the things I didn't like about last year. It's cool.

In other news, I was looking at LETU's AHM blog and noticed the link to the Longview Symphony website. Seems they redesigned their website -- and wow, what a lineup. I count 4 concerts this year that I can actually go to without season tickets. Too bad getting them from YAC is still cheaper. ;)

That's what today is. Blah, people have tired days, happy days, bad hair days... I had a clumsy day.

I dropped a laptop and a box, tipped a cup of water at lunch (which I rarely do), and this muscle in my knee WILL NOT STOP TWITCHING. Why am I so jittery.

Thought: does lack of caffeine do this to you?

See this article for the news on stylish hearing aids. Why didn't someone think of this long ago.

Of course, my idea of a stylish hearing aid is one of those hearing horns you put to your ear.



In any case, a few paragraphs down, the article reads thusly:

The ideas on display include a remote control to block out irritating sounds, a device to enable people to have a clear conversation in a noisy bar, and hearing aids designed as fashionable jewellery or must-have gadgets.

Another concept, known as the Goldfish, instantly replays the previous 10 seconds of sound to the wearer in case they have failed to catch someone's name.

It is based on the idea that goldfish only have 10 seconds of memory.

^^ I'M GETTING ONE

BOO!

And I don't mean the grammatical types either.

This man will end up with 4 life sentences in jail. Too bad he'll only live to pay for one of them. :|

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4696985.stm

And this fellow gets to serve 40 years of prison in 20 years, because it's two sentences that the judge says he can serve concurrently. And the point of this is what?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4695353.stm

I'm sure there's a reason, but it's still kinda funny.

Saw War of the Worlds last night. Not a lot of plot, but it just had that trademark Steven Spielburg feel to it, which was basically the only thing making me want to see a film with this rather tired premise. I would recommend seeing it once in theaters, if only for the scope of these catastrophic images being worth a big screen ticket.

As for the actors... all I will say is that 11-year old Dakota Fanning thoroughly out-acted Tom Cruise. It's most painfully obvious in their scenes together, which are many. If Spielburg had given the same camera time and attention to her as Cruise, there could be no doubt.

My favorite day of the week. And a week since I've posted. Ooooooo

Since last Saturday, I was at Covfamikoi, which is a yearly conference for our presbytery of the Reformed Presbyterian church. The conference speaker had many good things to say, and being a West Point graduate certainly helped him to hammer home some of his points. Sadly, my ADD-spanned brain had trouble maintaining consciousness even with coffee and Twix. ;)

I mostly hanged with another college junior, a fellow also named Joshua. We played a lot of sports throughout the week, and I don't think I've spent so much time on the guitar in a single week in my life. It was fun though!

I don't have any pictures right now. Hopefully this one guy (who took 500 photos over the course of the conference!) will send me a few.

The "college group" of people there didn't have a counselor over them, as did the high schoolers, nor did we have a set schedule really. So other than the speaker and general events, we did whatever we liked. Candace taught us all some of her games like "Swat" and we played board games like Balderdash. It was much fun.

Probably the best time was the last night there. We had pizza delivered and stayed up until after 4 AM. I spent a good few hours with two fellows who were really good at the guitar. One of them in particular was just amazing.

He was trying to explain to the other fellow how to just randomly come up with cool sounding acoustic guitar solos, and actually there is a lot of music theory behind it.

To explain, he wrote the five patterns of the E minor pentatonic scale, from memory, on a sheet of notebook paper. I suppose when you know the pattern it isn't that hard, but on paper it looked kinda complicated. I ran through one of the first patterns clumsily, and then cranked up a few simple chord progressions I knew.

I just played each one a few times over and this fellow improvised a really awesome sounding tune, explaining that he had done it by working within just one of the patterns on the paper.

"Learn a few licks," he said, "And switch around the patterns, and you can do about anything."

You can take these same five patterns, once you learn them, and put them in any key you like, so there is remarkably little to memorize considering the astounding range of things this would allow you to play. Yeah, this is the next thing I'm working on for guitar. :D

Anyway... less guitar and more conference. I *did* do other things. The above mentioned guitar wizard actually had a really awesome testimony. He spent several years in prison for armed robbery (he committed the crime at about my age) and was later converted in prison. A kind Christian lady befriended him and had a job lined up for him at her husband's work before he was released.

Since that time, he got an associate's degree that qualifies him to work on air conditioning units. It was cool to hear him talk about it -- such a big turnaround.

People came from mostly Indiana and the surrounding area, but there were others from farther, such as Michigan, Florida and Georgia.

And I must say... that 350 people singing a psalm in harmony sounds really cool in a fine auditorium.

Yes, my good pal Jordan selected five friends to fill this out. I made the list. ::sigh::

1] Favorite scent: Wow, this is a hard one. I guess, I like the smell of being in the mountains in the morning. Like, when you wake up after a night camping. The air is cool and moist, and if there's evergreens nearby, so much the better.
2] Favorite way to relax: Eat chocolate and listen to loud music, hands down.
3] Favorite movie you own: Spiderman 2 (the only movie I own!)
4] Favorite movie you don't already own: I want to own the Napoleon Dynamite DVD. :D
5] Favorite male movie star: Tom Hanks
6] Favorite female movie star: Yeah, I'm having problems with this one as well. I suppose... can I pick Ingrid Bergman? Is that allowed?
7] Favorite book genre: Historical novel
8] Favorite clothing store: (some!!!) things from American Eagle
9] Favorite non-clothing store: GameStop. I like talking to the clerks there, because we usually play the same games. :D
10] Favorite cartoon character: This one's easy. Dilbert.
11] Favorite CD you own(?): "Two" by The Calling
12] Favorite CD you don't already own: "Two Lefts Don't Make a Right... But Three Do" by Relient K
13] Pass the torch and tag five of your blogger/lj friends: No!

Hahahaha... the BBC's rather haughty report on the Spanish and French response to the recent 2012 Olympics decision.

I particularly laughed at this...

This nation [France] wanted a project that would unite it in these times of high unemployment, with France feeling it no longer quite knows how to deal with globalisation or its diminished place on the world stage.

This decision will exacerbate that general sense of malaise, especially as the winner is Paris' greatest rival, London. President Jacques Chirac had wanted to arrive for the G8 summit a winner.

Instead he comes as a three-time loser whose nation was pipped at the post by a victorious Britain.

A three-time loser? A general sense of malaise? Those are hardly courteous words from a chivalrous winner. Can't you just see a wild group of Brits yelling, "We pipped them at the post! Heheheh"


A different reporter for the BBC had this to say about New York's response to losing the Olympic bid:

In the end, New Yorkers will shrug their shoulders, knowing that other great things will be coming their way soon. The 2012 Olympics is just another stale-bagel of an idea now, and by lunchtime the rejection will be forgotten.

Stale bagel? Reporters are allowed to call something -- anything -- a stale-bagel of an idea? He must've just been hungry.

These heady Brits need journalism lessons, or better, a smack with a giant green noodle.

I won't deny that some of these reactions from the losers are funny, but such opinionated language should be reserved for quotes, and not the voice of the BBC. ;)

********************
Too bad that the celebratory mood is largely gone after this morning's bombings. Hats off to the deceased and the families.

Or is it just the Fourth of July in Kokomo, Indiana?

There is a constant barrage of explosive noises coming through this open window, advising me to avoid almost any activity but cranking some music in my headphones.

In other news, I just bought a plane ticket for the fall! Chicago was so much fun, that my parents started thinking about it and we decided I could hit a visit with Rice and the University of Texas when I fly back in August. Hahaha.

So I'll get driven around by my aunts, who live in each of those cities, just before grabbing my things from Alto and taking them up to Longview.

And the flight takes me to Atlanta, Georgia before Houston... talk about a week of *travel*.

What... on earth...

::goes to the window, trying to understand why this *constant* thunder of fireworks is really happening::

There has *got* to be laws about this.

And now... chocolate donut time.

Wow, can I say that LETU suddenly feels very small and very quiet?

OK... maybe most places do compared with the University of Chicago, but still, this is the summer after all. And there was just a lot of people there.

My initial impressions? The campus is... old. It's clean, very distinguished looking, and the architecture is simply wow, but there just aren't any new buildings on campus. That's not a bad thing, but it's a very different feel. LeTourneau is a growing college, but Chicago is very content with where it is.



Nearly all of the buildings look like that. It would certainly be a very inspiring place to do graduate work. So much would change though, as apartment life and cooking for yourself and a graduate schedule are all so different than undergrad living in Longview. But that's OK too.

So, they usually takes on a grand total of five or so new PhD candidates for the archaeology program every year. Ouch. That kinda does limit my chance of success. I still think I could probably get in at this point, but I'm glad I went so that I have the next two years at LETU to really focus on shooting that way.

I would say I'm probably more excited about it at this point, at least until I get any major red lights.

Which means, after talking to a grad student and their department admin, that I need some kind of fieldwork next summer. Yup, archaeology school, onsite at some dig.

Sounds like a blast. :D There are like a jillion opportunities for it at the American archaeology institute's website. It's just a matter of money and where do I want to go.

Got an email back from a guy in France about a dig there. I have the qualifications (there wasn't much to them) but plane tickets to Europe are sooooo expensive. And that doesn't even cover a bus ride from Paris to this little bitty French village.

So back to Chicago. We talked to those two people basically, and just kinda walked around and looked at stuff.

Another example of the coolness of U of C... here's walking into their library.



Yeah. That's the library.

I stopped gawking at the roof and looked at some books, and found myself surrounded by one of the coolest collection of history books I had ever seen. The only downside is the building wasn't really designed for air conditioning, or else it was down for repairs... if it had not been for that, I might have wanted to spend a loooooooong time in there.

Archaeology seems to involve more math and computer skills than I had thought, which is fine by me. I suppose a lot more opinions on it will have to wait until I've gone and actually gotten my hands dirty doing some of it. Where to go, where to go...

The weather was delightfully warm but not crushingly humid for our visit to Chicago. I liked it, but I rather disliked the thought of how cold it would all get in the winter. Brrrrr. That made me really start thinking hard about some warmer place... maybe Rice or U of Texas. I have family in both of those towns, which is another plus.

We also got to try Chicago pizza! It was pan banked, so it was smaller and had a thicker crust. The ingredients were certainly finer and fresher than typical pizza, so it tasted awesome. But it was hard to eat without a fork and lots of napkins, and I can see why you wouldn't it every day for your Super Bowl party or something. Like you would Pizza Hut. :D

Well, it's been nearly a week since I posted. The life of Ludwhig rolls on as usual. This really developed into three separate posts, but I'm semi-typing them together, so thus the lines of asterisks. I do it more often than I've noticed anyway.

**************************
Manana, mi madre, hermana Candace, y yo vamos a Chicago porque queremos visitar la universidad.

How's my Spanish holding up? Candace and I listened to this Spanish review CD on the way to a college Bible study. So I started typing a few words of that sentence in Spanish, and finally decided to try and do the whole thing.

Regardless of my grammar, the sentence really means that tomorrow, my mom, Candace and I will be visiting the University of Chicago. I'm considering it for graduate school and so we figured might as well visit it.

I set up a meeting with the anthropology department administrator, as well as one of their archaeology students. Take a wild guess what I'm interested in at this time...



Yeah, well, in the total absence of any further direction, I just picked that and off we go. Odds are I'll change it before grad school time comes.

Since I can't really say where I want to go with this whole academic thing after LETU, why not just chill for a bit before grad school? I might, but it seems the one thing I truly am interested in is grad school. The mere question is... what to study?

There are a jillion fine options, and not really one that sticks out.

But maybe I'll get a little clue to that tomorrow. Chicago will be one more big city to check off of my list of big cities in the US to see... all that remain are San Francisco and New York City, I think.

So, grab your fedora and whip, it's off to the U of Chicago we go!

**************************
C.S. Lewis most earns my respect in the Chronicles of Narnia for an entirely different, uncommon and scintillating take on the things of God. He doesn't bring out any new truth; he just takes the dusty, jaded truth we've grown accustomed to and shows it for the wonderful thing it really is.

I suppose this is common in a lot of his writing, which is brilliant. But in the Chronicles of Narnia, it comes out most in his depiction of Aslan.

I'm in Prince Caspian, and in it Aslan appears to Lucy but not to the other three children. He asks her to follow him, and even to make the others follow him, though they cannot initially see him.

Lucy's transformation from a pouting girl to a dedicated follower of Aslan constitutes probably the finest allegorical picture of the book.

Aslan is wild. Always different, always kind, always wise, but never what you expect. That is a part of God I have experienced in a special way recently.

Obviously, we can always expect God to remain true to His attributes, but when I say He is never what we expect... I mean that He has higher and better plans than we do, and they are never what we expect.

I'll be specific. I was a chaplain on my college floor last year and the entire process has seemed to be *not* what I wanted. Let me explain.

My freshman year, a lot of the upperclassmen had me tagged as IMPACT material. I appreciate their trust, though I hardly deserved it. I remember Shroud taking me to the IMPACT informational meet at FastTrac, racing Go-Karts and wondering if this whole chaplain thing was really me.

I certainly didn't *feel* like a chaplain, and while I knew chaplains don't walk about *feeling* holy all the time, I thought I should be different. They should be examples to others, shouldn't they?

Gump and a few others gave me a few gentle nudges, and at last I applied. I didn't get it, and for a few days was actually disappointed.

Then, one of the chaplains decided that though he wanted to, he just couldn't put in the time for it, and so he resigned. I suddenly had the position.

I was humbled, that was for sure. But God was far from through.

Throughout the year, I put far too little time into the job as I should have. Sure, I showed up to devos every week and led the singing and put up signs (very late, I might add.)

But I became discouraged with the apathy on the floor, something a lot of LETU chaplains deal with. Many people don't show up and just don't care.

The IMPACT selection process for this year came, and I let it slide by. I figured I'd had it with being chaplain, and I didn't want to be one of those IMPACT people, one of those people with the administration's tags on them.

Then, less than two months before the end of the semester, something finally broke though in my brain and I started caring again. God used several people at school to make me see this, Bolt being probably the most prominent, since he was the other chaplain on my floor.

Discipling myself to the level I would truly expect was still far off, but at least I felt that my efforts were worth something, even if it didn't seem that way on Wednesday nights.

Alas, I had already passed the opportunity by to be a chaplain for this upcoming year, but I think God has a purpose here to.

I wouldn't give of my time and my prayers willingly, to help the guys on my floor by being truly and totally faithful in devos. Instead, I just got by, doing what the title of Floor Chaplain made me do.

Now that I've learned my lesson, and at least have a heart to do something about it, God has seen fit to give the job to two other very capable men this next year.

What is He saying to me in this?

"Perhaps, Josh, you've learned your lesson now. But now I'm asking you to live it out, without the exterior title and trappings of a chaplain. I want you to be a chaplain without the name. Can you do that for me?"

And so, I ask that you pray for my struggles to set up habits and attitudes that lend themselves to being a servant, which is a much higher calling than LETU Floor Chaplain.

**************************
In other news, I suppose I mentioned that Bible study Candace and I went to. We go to Indianapolis once a week for a Bible study down there with the college crew of that reformed presbyterian church.

Last night we were in the downstairs area, which consisted of a kitchen that let out into a large, cleared fellowship hall. There was lots of floor space, uncluttered but for one Steinway grand piano.

I don't know if the girls started square/ballroom dancing first, or I started playing first, but somehow both happened and it was a fun 20 minutes or so.

I was maddened that 2 full years of inactivity on the piano had dulled my memory of all but my most fundamental repertoire, so I ended up improvising something close to Pachelbel's Canon in D.

For someone who studied and loved piano for the time I did, I should be able to sit down and play something other than the Moonlight Sonata from beginning to end! It was truly annoying.

But guitar is much fun and improvising just sounds better on it. ;)

I'm scared. Very scared.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0354309/

Today's Dictionary.com Word of the Day is exigent!

The only people who would think that is funny don't need any explanation anyway, so I won't bother. ;)

Just trust me, if I had to explain it, it wouldn't be funny any more. :D






*********************

A Story about Pink Fluffies

Call me Fluffy.

I am a packing pallet, and proud of it. It is a high, if not lonely, calling. Just because there are thousands of us doesn't mean we're not each special. And just because we can't communicate in the confines of your vocal world, doesn't mean we don't have feelings too.

This box I live in is not a cage. I do not consider it a prison from the world outside. Rather, it is my vessel -- a portal to higher experiences than the factory where I was first created.

I am a light blue fluffy in a box of light blue fluffies. Our mission, where I lie now, is to pad Something wrapped in brown paper. We have been traveling via postal mail for a few days now.

I hear one of my fluffy friends next to me speak up.

"Say, Fluffy, what *do* you figure we're padding? I mean, it's not very heavy."

"Can't say for sure, Fluffo. Do you... do you get the feeling it's rather soft? I almost suppose it doesn't need us."

"I know. What if... what if it's a stack of papers? Or a pillow? Wouldn't that be funny?"

"Only if you think it's funny that we are padding something that doesn't *need* us."

I interrupt the narrative to ask your pardon for my cynicism. In a world where discarded newspapers are vying for your job, you can't luxuriate in a lot of self esteem.

There was a thump, a terrible slicing sound, and suddenly there was light. I could feel a lot of shifting and suddenly, we fluffies were alone in our box, open, and above I could see a middle-aged man holding the Something.

Fluffo trembled next to me.

"Here it is! Our first packing job -- I wonder if we packed it well enough!"

The man nonchalantly tore off the brown paper, and inside was a long row of personalized styrofoam cups.

Fluffo gasped, as only fluffies can. "Styrofoam? We were packing *Styrofoam?*"

The irony of the situation was less than amusing, that is until we had some guests. We were dumped into a larger box and into this was also dumped other packing fluffies as well as a few sheets of those ridiculously hollow air bubble sheets. One was right next to me, but luckily I was spared having to converse with him, because something else caught my attention.

Her name was Fluffetta.

She also was a packing fluffy in case you couldn't tell. Pink, and yes, very cute.

I am sure the conversation hasn't the least interest to you, but suffice to say, it was the best night of my life. Fluffetta understood me as no fluffy ever had. I hoped we'd stay in the same box forever.

But I am already speaking in the past tense. Why is it that all too often, the best things cannot possibly last?

The next morning we were able to see more of our surroundings. The styrofoam cups were only one article of many. It was a party. There were streamers, cake crumbs and deflated balloons all over the deserted room. It was some consolation to see that our cups had provided a dozen kids at a birthday celebration with drinks. And besides, now I had Fluffetta.

Clean-up began soon, and we watched as the man came back with his son.

"Hey Johnny, why don't you go throw that box of packing pallets away? Won't be needing those, I think."

Johnny passed his hands through the box, and for a moment I couldn't hear Fluffetta any more.

"Awww Dad... do I have to?"

The man paused his sweeping for a moment.

"I suppose you could play with them, if you liked."

The boy frowned crossly and then looked back down at us. An idea suddenly dawned in his head, and a not entirely innocent smile played around his lips.

"Could I Dad? I'll play with them after we're done cleaning."

"Sure Son. Now, go pick up those balloons." He then added, more quietly to himself, "And to think that box of pallets would provide as much enjoyment as the remote control Hummer I got him. Ah well, I was just the same."

We were closed up tightly in our box and kept that way over night. I was a little farther from Fluffetta, but we were still able to talk to each other. I couldn't remember being happier.

The next morning, light streamed in again. We were somewhere else, I could judge, by the large tossing we'd endured on the way out. We were in a field by a lake and 2 small boys were nearby, playing with matches.

"Playing with matches?!" flashed through my mind and instantly I thought of Fluffetta. I would protect her as best I could. Fluffo was nearby again.

"Don't worry Fluffy, they're just young kids. They don't possibly have the patience to torch us one by one with matches!"

That was when I saw the gasoline.

The boys came back to the box, and Johnny picked up one of the fluffies I wasn't acquainted with. They lit him on fire and giggled when they had to drop him, so their fingers wouldn't be burned. I scowled in anger, though I doubt they noticed.

"Alright Bobby, set up the catapult!"

Though I would never condone burning packing pallets, I must admit their system was ingenious and rather theatrical. A metal box was tied to a long pole, which rested on a brick fulcrum. Gasoline was already sloshing in the bottom of the box.

I rolled as close to Fluffetta as I could.

"Listen to me. I think there's gasoline in the bottom of that container. If the worst should happen, I just wanted you to know..."

We were poured inside and suddenly I was swimming in gasoline. It was the most sickly feeling, as I know anything styrofoam tends to break down in this despicable liquid.

They were already reaching for the matches. Fluffetta was somewhere near the top.

The realization suddenly hit me. I knew Johnny's plan. He would light the top fluffies, wait for a few to begin burning, and then launch the entire box out into the lake. The rush of the gasoline would ignite and turn us all into a flying puddle of napalm, which would burn for a few minutes on the surface of the lake, much to the enjoyment of Johnny and Bobby.

I could not, I would not let this happen.

"Hey Johnny, look, they stick to your hair!" Bobby had gotten a few spare fluffies and the static made them stick.

"That's stupid Bobby. Let's burn 'em!" Johnny lit a match and dangled it over the box. I gave a cry of determination and just as his hand lowered towards Fluffetta, I let loose the static attraction between myself and Johnny.

This electric force was shared with more than me. Suddenly there were dozens of us in his hair.

Johnny stood stunned for a moment, holding his match. Bobby was open-jawed and could only point at the little curl of smoke rising from Johnny's hair.

"AHAHHHAHHHHH YAYAIAIAIAIAIAIAAAAAAAAAEEE!!!" Johnny screamed.

He threw the match in the air and waved his arms for a second, before Bobby grabbed him by the arm and threw both of them into the lake. They scrubbed their hair vigorously for a few minutes and then dashed breathlessly over the hill away from the lake.

I floated for what seemed forever on the lake. I hadn't been burned and though I was deformed from the gasoline, I knew Fluffetta was safe somewhere out there. It was enough for me.

Perhaps someday I'll find her. So if you ever see a pink fluffy and wonder where she's been, think of me. Fluffies have feelings too.

Booyah.

Do that, Texas.

"Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."

The next batch of eBay items sold today, so I had to go grab them all and start boxing some of them up.

It's kinda funny. They used to be junk, or so I thought, and now after checking them online everyday, they get this "far away celebrity" status and suddenly it's weird actually holding them again. And they're not "mine" anymore, they're someone else' who has already paid for them. Bwahahaha.

I just poured a box of packing pallets or whatever you call them into another box and they spilled everywhere. Thus the title of the post.

One of my coworkers brought in a donated item for me to sell on eBay. It's a hunting bow, with 4 sights and 2 wicked looking arrows attached. I wish I had pegs to hang it up while its auction was going on.

I feel 10 times more manly because I have a longbow in my office.

And my little brother (Benny) will be assisting Denny here at the Mission, volunteering a few times a week to assist with computer maintenance. (Yes, yes, it's Benny & Denny, stop giggling you silly.)

The padawan has entered Nerd Training[c]. May the Skillz be with him.

******************
I apologize for the lack of anything outside of random work happenings to post on here. I shall think of something more enlightened to post. As always, ideas are welcome.

So I'm at work, and I get this question from an eBay inquirer, regarding the contents of an antique Sears catalogue I'm trying to sell...

"Please tell me how many corsets (women's only) are illustrated. Thank you."

There are corsets not meant for women? I'm scared now.

::sighs::

eBay is a *weird* place.

In other news, I catalogued item #41 today, which is always a happy, rambunctious, memorable event.

I know many of you have probably already seen my little eBay store, but if you haven't, try it again tomorrow, as that may be the biggest it ever gets.

http://stores.ebay.com/rescuekokomo

***************
I also love scams...

Dear ebay_sales@rescuekokomo.org ,

Your bank has contacted us regarding some suspicious activity, including unauthorized charges of your credit card via the eBay system. We have reasons to believe that you changed your registration information or that someone else has unauthorized access to your eBay account. Please use the link below to sign in to eBay, check and if necessary update your information we have on file. Once you have updated your account records your session will not be interrupted and will continue as normal. Failure to update will result in cancellation of service, Terms of Service (TOS) violations or future billing problems.

To update your record please click here:
It is highly recommended that you right click on the link and select "Open in new window" option
as some mail clients will not allow you to proceed!
https://signin.ebay.com/aw-cgi/ddf.dll?OneTimePayment&ssPageName=h:h:sin:US

We apologize in advance for any inconvenience this may cause you and we would like to thank you for your cooperation as we review this matter.

I responded to the email thusly...

Why do you want my username and password if you already have it?

In the words of Julius Caesar… “I came, I saw, I laughed at ridiculous scam attempts.”

Cry more, noobs.

Yours truly,
Josh Jones

It didn't help their case much that they forgot to update the copyright year at the bottom of the email.

Ahh, it feels so nice to say "cry more, noobs" in a non-Dark Age of Camelot context. ;D

In other news, today's Dilbert was brilliant. I like his thinking.