So my Religion professor was lecturing today about the Great Schism, and midsentence, a guys walks into class and interupts him, says he needs to talk to him. At the time I thought this was kind of rude. Literally, he was in the middle of a sentence. So they talk out in the hall for a moment. My professor then walks back into the classroom and starts to quickly gather his things together, saying he has to go and that this guy "Scott" will pick up where he left off. No explanation, he just leaves. And so "Scott," who never tells us his name, finishes up Mr. Lane's talk on the Great Schism and dismisses us an hour early.
So we still don't know what's going on. I hope everything is ok. Mr Lane has a two-year-old adopted son and a beautiful wife (I know this because he showed us pictures on the first day of class.) and I hope they're ok. He also wasn't here last Thursday. This guy filled in for him, Will Williams (I know, who gives their kid the same first and last name? His middle name better be good. Sorry if you're Will Williams and you're reading this.) who kept us a couple minutes late, but had on an awesome blue bow tie with white polka dots.
It was a curious turn of events. And now it's 10:24 and class is over for me for the day. Since I dropped my 3D Design class, I have only one class on Tuesday/Thursdays. I'm in the SUB (student union building) now, waiting to eat lunch with Molly.
Anytime someone says the word "Religion" (outside of my religion class) the line of a song plays in my head. It's from We're All In This Together by Ben Lee and goes "And then Relgion, it's a big decision." Really, every time. I always wanna sing it out loud, but I know no one would know what I'm talking about. I'm not saying that to be a music snob "Oh, I'm so cool because no one knows that song and I do," but it's just a fact. Do you know that song? I didn't think so.
Speaking of religion, I was reading my religion book yesterday for my aforementioned religion class and came across a few interesting sentences that jumped out at from from the otherwise boring text, like, "The frightened cardinals soon withdrew from Rome, declared Urban's election invalid, and denounced him as a demon and antichrist." And, "The townspeople outside the cathedral gleefully burned them in effigy." I thought those were some pretty exciting sentences. I underlined them, so the next student who has my textbook will take note of them. They probably will think I underlined them for their scholastic value, but really, it was entertainment value.
I like the use of the word "gleefully."
Sing Alliance made PigSkin! Yay! For those of you who don't know what that means, let me break it down for you: Sing consists of19 7-minute kind of mini-musicals. It's a pretty big deal at Baylor. I was in one of them with the organization Sing Alliance (it's the only non-Greek organization in it). It's two weekends long, six performances in all with different judges every night. The judges score the performances based on things like entertainment value, vocals, choreography, etc. The top eight go on to PigSkin next fall. And we're in the top eight. Yeehaa! And we got People's Choice for Best Backdrop and Best Theme Development. So that's pretty freakin awesome.
It's been a really good weekend. And now Sing is over and I'll have so much free time I won't know what to do with myself.
Someone put our performance up on YouTube. I'm debating whether to put it here or not so you can know what I'm talking about . . . but watching it on YouTube is nothing compared to real life . . . and I don't know If you'll know exactly what's going on. . .eh, what the heck, here it is. I'm a lost kid by the way. And the theme is Peter Pan.
I'm reading through the newest issue of Relevant and wanna share some of this stuff. So here are some random, thoughtful, insighful, interesting blurbs...
from "Jesus Wrecked My Life" by Shane Claiborne:
"I know there are people out there who say, 'My life was such a mess. I was drinking, partying, sleeping around . . .then I met Jesus, and my whole life came together.' God bless those people. But me I had it together. I used to be cool. And then I met Jesus, and He wrecked my life. The more I read the Gospel, the more it messed me up, turning everything I believed in, valued and hoped for upside down."
from "7 Big Questions," which was an interview with "seven core leaders of faith."
This first one is Lauren Winner's response to the question "What is a negative tendency of this generation as it relates to the faith?":
"Our failure to tithe. I hear it all the time: 'I just can't afford to give right now.' I hear that from my middle-class American peers. I wonder, if we 'can't afford' to give now, why not? And if we 'can't afford' to give now, when will we be able to afford to give? I know of nothing that will transform someone's spiritual life more abruptly than beginning to tithe. If we want to learn about dependence on God, tithe. If we want to have our treasure in heaven, tithe. If we want to have any hope of having solidarity with the poor, tithe." (This struck me hard because of the financial state of my church in Waco, UBC. Every Sunday they put in the bulliten how much money is needed to keep the place running and how much money was recieved in the offering the last Sunday. The numbers are embarassing. Like this past week "tithe: $4873.50, needed weekly: $6600." And that's actually more tithe than I've seen in the last couple weeks. Rarely every does it hit the amount that's needed weekly.)
This is Mark Driscoll's response to the question "What do you see as the greatest challenge for young Christians in the next 10 years?":
"There is a strong drift toward the hard theological left. Some emergent types [want] to recast Jesus as a limp-wrist hippie in a dress with a lot of product in His hair, who drank decaf and made pithy Zen statements about life while shopping for the perfect pair of shoes. In Revelation, Jesus is a pride fighter with a tatto down His leg, a sword in His hand and the commitment to make someone bleed. That is a guy I can worship. I cannot worship the hippie, diaper, halo Christ because I cannot worship a guy I can bet up. I fear some are becoming more cultural than Christian, and without a big Jesus who has authority and hates sin as revealed in the Bible, we will have less and less Christians, and more and more confused, spiritually self-righteous blogger critics of Christianity." (I agree in the danger of being a "cultural Christian," because I feel the tendency to do it myself. But at the same time, I know a lot of people who find it easier to worship a "hippie" Jesus making "pithy Zen statments about life" than one with a "commitment to make people bleed")
Relevant is amazing. And they also had a feature article on Ben Folds this issue. That was pretty sweet.
'Tis Valentine's Day. There has never been so many flowers and sweets and baked goods in our apartment at one time. I feel like this is the semester when we will all gain like, ten pounds. (which reminds me of a line in an Alanis Morrisette song "..that I would be good, even if I gained ten pounds..." it's a good song) But then there's Sing, to offset that. It opens tomorrow by the way. Eeee! We had our dress rehearsal tonight and preformed in front of actual people. It was fun, but pretty nerve-wracking. We're always being told to be sharper and happier and "Sing faces!" and how much we have to prove ourselves to everyone and make Pigskin (sorry for you non Baylor people who don't know what I'm talking about. There's like 20-something acts in Sing in the spring and then the best of them, about seven, go on to PigSkin in the fall. It's pretty intense. A big deal) Really, I'm less concerned with making Pigskin and more with just having fun and entertaining the audience. I wish everyone would just stop freaking out and ENJOY IT.
This week is going by s o s l o w by the way. I think it's all the Sing practices. Oh, and I have exciting news (for myself anyway)...I can sleep in tomorrow! My only class is cancelled and I am NOT setting my alarm. Ooooh yeeaah. I haven't been able to do that in so long.
Life is good though. I like life.
Claire got a fondue pot thing (I don't know what they're called) for her birthday which was last weekend (on MY half birthday, the 11th). And we heated up some chocolate and dipped various foods in it and it was GLORIOUS.
Oh man oh man. I'm so full of Rosa's tacos and rice and beans and tortillas with honey and diet coke. So...full. I think I just ate much too quickly. I find when I eat with only boys I eat faster, because they just stuff their faces, and I follow suit. Oh man oh man.
It was worth it though. So good.
So the weather has been absolutely marvelous outside these last few days. Today, I actually ate lunch outside and I actually got hot and the sun was actually in my eyes. It sounds annoying, but really it was great. And I've been riding my bike to class. That's nice. Except when you almost die. But don't worry, I'm ok and it was totally my fault.
Man, I wish I had something incredibly cool and insightfult to say, but I don't, and I usually don't. But then if I did I'd just feel like I was being pretentious. Like "oo, read my blog. I'm so insightful. Look at me."
Whatevs.
This year has been fun, you know? As in sophomore year. It's been fun getting to know these girls I'm living with. It's fun to really get to know a person--all their quirks and idiosyncrasies. What kind of food they like, their sleeping habits, how they act when they like a boy, how they deal with messes, their laugh--little things. The idea of living alone appeals to me, and later I think I'd enjoy it, but right now I can't imagine not being with people. So much happens when everyone is just sitting around studying or getting ready for bed or doing laundry. It's fun.
We're cute.
So my hair caught on fire yesterday. I was eating dinner in my loft with some of my roomies and we lit a candle because the light bulb directly over the table had gone out. Claire had made herself some yummy-looking chocolate-chip pancakes and I was offered a bite. As I was leaning over the table to procure said bite, I began to smell burnt hair. I then looked down and saw the my hair was directly on top of a open flame and that was the source of the awful stench. So I screamed and jumped back. I didn't actually see my hair catch flame, just smelled the smell and afterwards saw the curled, charred ends of a small section of my hair. I spent some time last night going through my hair and cutting the ends that had burned.
My throat is all scratchy, I've been sneezing a lot, and I woke up this morning with a runny nose. I don't want to be sick dag-nab-it.
edit:
And just so you know, the yummy-looking chocolate-chip pancake was delicious.
I got a pleasant surprise today--my 10 o'clock English class is canceled. Well, that's what the class assumes anyway. There was a sign on the door informing the general public that Makowsky's 9am class was canceled, but since Makowsky doesn't have a 9am class...we assumed the sign was refering to us so we stuck around until aproximately 10:04--just to be sure--and then left.
So now I'm at the Student Union Building, wasting time. I didn't anticipate this hour of free time and so didn't come prepared with my Religion book which I should to be reading. Ah well. I'll probably spend some time skipping about the internet (I couldn't think of a better work, so yes, I will be skipping), maybe read the Lariat, The Waco Tribune Herald, write in my blog (check), go to the bathroom. Fun stuff.
I'm was studying for my Italian test today and came across a sentence in my book that reads "Laura non e una cuoca esperta pero se la cava." In English, "Laura isn't an experienced cook but she gets by." And I was like "Wow! That's true! My Italian book knows me so well." The meals I prepare for myself consist of Ramen Noodles, quesadillas, and Lean Cuisines. I like them. I get by.
I always feel like a real art student when I have paint on my hands. I have splotches of grey primer on my hands right now from priming my monolithic ovaloid for 3D Design (I know, its a mouthful). I like to pretend that I'm a hardcore studio art major, when really I'm just a simple art history major who feels more comfortable reading about art than producing it. But today I actually kind of enjoyed Design class nonetheless. I think I'll like 3D better than 2D
This is going to be a long week, I can already tell. It's only Tuesday.
That sculpture is our art teacher's inspiration for the monolithic ovaloid project, just to give you an idea. The only difference is, while his sculpture represents something-a person's head-our don't. They're just designs. Oh, and the sculpture is by Constantine Brancusi.
"WEATHER ALERT - Baylor Closed Wednesday Due to Weather
Jan. 17, 2007
•Posted at 7:54 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 17
Due to the icy road conditions, Baylor University officials have closed the university on Wednesday, Jan. 17. No classes will be held."
Snow Day!!
This is such a cozy day. I'm loving it (not McDonalds). I'm at Common Grounds right now with Molly, sipping on a hot chocolate. When we got here there was only one other patron. It amazing, some might say a phenomenon. We got pretty excited because we had out choice of seats. I'm in the best seat right now, one of the tall cushioned benched in the back. I like knowing what's going on, watching people, being aware of my surroundings, and this is the optimum seat for just that. I can see both the front and back doors and into every room. And I'm in a corner, so I can lean up against the wall and put up my feet. It's wonderful.
I love this weather, until I start to think about the homeless population in Waco. When we got here, there were two homeless guys that always hang around Common Ground sitting in the back room on a couch. Once more people started coming in, they got kicked out, because more seats were needed for paying customers. So now they're outside in the cold. And they were really nice. One of them told me he heard a girl saying they might cancel class tomorrow. I told him that was exciting news. He doesn't go to class, obviously, yet he still seemed excited for us. And the thing is, when I'm in Common Grounds, I'm not usually a paying customer either. A lot of times I just sit and read without buying a drink. I guess it just makes people uncomfortable when they share a couch with a homeless person. I would too, to be honest. It's just a sad reality, poverty. It's easy not to think about. That reminds me of a Derek Webb song, Rich Young Ruler, "Poverty is so hard to see when it's only on your TV or 20 miles across town. We're all living so good. Did we move out of Jesus' neighborhood? Where he's lonely and not feeling so good, going through our trash."
I just realized I put two lids on my hot chocolate. I've been drinking it for like 15 minutes.
edit:
I just read this one this guy's blog:
"For several years I've had this nagging thought, and it's one that many of my friends have shared. If the generations before us believed they were so right about something, even to the point of using biblical texts to justify their hate, then what evils do I, and those like me, hold to that I have no clue about.
If I may take a slightly Catholic (big "C") turn to end this post, I'll just say that as we take this day to honor Martin Luther King, I can only pray that he has compassion on whatever wretchedness is within me that I am blind to, and that, as one of the host of witnesses talked about in Hebrews, will see fit to intercede for me."
I did it guys. Yesterday, along with two of my roommates and some friends, I conquered the rock in the SLC. I made it to the top! It was fun, a little scarey, but fun. It's not that big of a deal, lots of people do it, but it's something I've been meaning to do for awhile but have been too scared to attempt. So I'm proud of myself.
p.s.
I love this weather! Everywhere is so cozy
I'm at Common Grounds right now for the first time since I've been back. It feels so good, like sitting back into an old couch that has your signiture butt groove in it. Like that. It feels so comfortable. And the music is so nice. And everyone is reading or writing or talking. I'm in a really grand frame of mind right now. I feel like this semester will be a good one.
I actually enjoyed my design class today, which I was kind of wary about. It's because I'm not particularly comfortable in studio art classes. I think that I'm capable, but I'm just not as comfortable with everything as say, a studio art major is. These people have been taking art classes like this since high school and are also in drawing and painting and photography and blah blah blah and know the professors and other art students and here I am, a little Art History student, not knowing what's going on. Oh well.
But anyway, back to what I was saying. I'm in a good frame of mind. It's cloudy right now, which I like. Good weather for sitting in Common Grounds and studying (which is what I came here to do, but still haven't done.) I played raquetball (is that one word or two?) for the first time yesterday. That was fun. I'm not so good at it though. And I've decided that I'm going to climb that rock in the SLC. I've never climbed anything, and I've wanted to, but have been afraid of making a fool of myself. Well, I got over that in the last 24 hours and have decided that I will conquer that rock. It is mine! I just have to find someone to climb it with me. I don't want to go there by myself. That's too scarey. Also, Sing Alliance practice is going splendidly. I'm having fun.
Now I guess I'll do some of that studying I mentioned.
So apparently, " In Middle English the word was ekename (from the verb to eke, "enlarge"; compare Swedish öknamn). Later, an ekename developed into a nickname when the "n" shifted through junctural metanalysis." (according to wikipedia) Whatever. I liked my version better.
I also like Baked Barbecue chips.
Well, nothing essentially bad happened yesterday, the first day of classes. No wallets were lost, no bike crashes had. I think this semester will be alright. Nothing exceptionally exciting. Some moderately exciting things, but nothing exceptional. It feels like I never left.
And Sing Alliance practices are in full swing. They're fun. I'm glad I'm enjoying it because it's 2 hours a day, four days a week.
And you will be pleased to hear that my keep-up-with-the-news resolution is in full swing. I've started both today and yesterday with a look at the news. Go me.
I wonder if the first nickname was "Nick" and that is why they are called nicknames. Or maybe Nick was the first guy to make up nicknames for people. "Hey, what did Nick name you?" and Nick knew everybody and was giving everyone little personalized names and so people would just cut out the middle man and ask. "Hey, what's your nickname?"
I'm watching Friends right now. It reminds me of Waco. I'm looking forward to getting back but not looking forward to the studying and busyness.
I bought a Regina Spektor CD the other day with a Sam Goody gift card I got from Santa. I'm really enjoying it. Here's a music video of one of her songs, "Fidelity," for your viewing and hearing pleasure..
In other news, I've decided on a New Years resolution: to be more informed about what's going on in the world, to keep up with the news. Perhaps I should subscribe to some sort of news publication, such as Time or USA today. Any suggestions? I also made the obligatory resolution of getting into shape. I'm really going to do it though and in fact already started a month ago to develop the habit of working out everyday (that was a really awkward sentence). But once I get back to Baylor and become busy again, it will be harder to keep up with it. Wish me luck!
Oh yeah, and happy new year!!
I'm leaving in a few moments for Plano to attend a New Year's gathering with some friends.
Lots has happened since last we talked.
Well, I'll be seeing you. Perhaps I'll come back with some New Year's Resolutions I've decided on. Perhaps I'll tell you what they are.
I got a quesadilla maker from my mom for Christmas. It's like a waffle maker but....for quesadillas. So today, instead of my usual half a turkey sandwich with Baked Nacho Cheese Doritos, I made myself a quesadilla for lunch. For lack of other ingredients, I just grated myself some cheese and had myself a pretty tasty cheese quesadilla. And, not being able to find salsa, I dipped it in ranch (because, like a wise man once said, everything is better with ranch). And I'm satisfied. So far today has been quite an adventure.
Later today I got to MidWinter and will be gone until Friday. Just so you know.
