How to make Yodabeth angry

Who does that?

I guess the good news is that finishing my probe suddenly sounds more appealing than continuing to procrastinate now.

paulpaulpaulpaulpaul

Today was Paul day. The Galatians course started this morning (went about as expected, which is to say fine), followed closely by a lecture on Romans and Philippians in NT II, after which came more Galatians in reading group. Don't get me wrong, it was a great day. I just think I'm going to wait until tomorrow to put the finishing touches on my research probe on 1 Corinthians. On the other hand, tomorrow has very little homework, so in lieu of finishing my probe tonight I'm reading about Colossians and Philemon. I feel a little like I used to at the end of my first day in a new dance schedule (except without the enormous sense of physical accomplishment and exhaustion) - like today's dose of Paul was a little much, but in a good way, and like something I could get used to.

Wish me luck

I'm beginning to remember why I never took any Five-College courses when I was at Smith. I justified it to myself on the basis that I took a year's worth of courses off-campus when I was in Germany, but it was really just that I didn't want to face being the new kid.

Tomorrow, I head off to my semester course. The combination of getting up early, driving to (and parking at) a new place, in the city, to enter a new social situation (where the rest of the class is likely to know each other), for a course where I don't know what will be expected of me... well, basically it terrifies me. I've packed my bag (except the computer), made sure I have everything I need for all three of tomorrow's classes (right in a row), all that. I'm still scared.

I know this is what I need to be doing. I know it will be fine once I've been through the routine once. I know experiences like this are good for my pride. But right now, I'm just ready for Day One to be over.

Eek.

Friday Five: Winter Reading

1.If you received books as holiday presents, how many and what were they?
Let me see... Julia sent me an autographed copy of Texts of Terror (Trible); my grandmother gave me the New International Greek Testament Commentary volume on Mark; my parents gave me Engaging Scripture (Fowl) and America's Women (Collins); my aunt and uncle gave me The Ordering of Love (L'Engle). I guess that's a total of five books.

2. Did you buy any for yourself, and if so what are the titles?
Well, I bought a copy of Apostle of the Crucified Lord (Gorman) in the same batch as a few Christmas presents, but that was for class.

3.Have you read any of them yet? What's next on your list?
I've started the Gorman, since class has been in session for three weeks. I keep meaning to open Ordering of Love, since it's poetry and easier to pick up and put down, but I haven't yet.

4. Do you have a favorite place to read a new book? And does the weather have an impact on that choice?
Mostly I read on the loveseat, right under the good lamp. In radiator-winter, under a throw; in radiator-summer, without the throw. I imagine when there's more daylight I'll probably go back to reading more in the recliner, because who knows when I'll have a recliner after I leave here.

5. Does reading in bed make you sleepy?
Not sleeping makes me sleepy, so if I'm reading in bed after my bedtime, I do get sleepy. But the reading itself doesn't, really.

Observations

Chocolate and hazelnuts tastes like Germany.

That quality does not translate into helping me find a sermon.

I envy people who have the combined courage and body mass to take out the trash at 10 pm.

My rooms smell like vinegar, and I don't know why.

I have no more homework due until Monday.

Envelope, please...

The judges have handed down their decision, and have ruled in my team's favor: Suicide violates a fundamental Christian tenet, and those who assist someone to commit suicide are morally culpable of murder.

Props to Kirsteen and Raisin: that was about the best-written judgment I've heard yet.

Disputatio: check.

The disputatio is finished, and I think it was reasonably successful. The judges will render their decision on Thursday, and I'll be sure to report back in, unless Judge Raisin beats me to it on her blog.

Ready or not...

Opening statement: check.
Copies for judges and professor:
Rebuttal notes printed: check.
Books sorted into "taking with us" and "leaving here": check.
Gustafson article in folder: check.
Footnotes finished: check.
Works cited list:
Works consulted list: check.
Cassock:

And we're listening to the Indigo Girls eponymous album. I think we're almost ready....

rain soaked and voice choked
like silent screaming in a dream
i search for our absolute distinction
not content to bow and bend
to the whims of culture that swoop like vultures
eating us away, eating us away
eating us away to our extinction
oh how i wish i were a trinity
so if i lost a part of me
i'd still have two of the same to live
but nobody gets a lifetime rehearsal
as specks of dust we're universal
to let this love survive
would be the greatest gift that we could give

Pre-disputatio meme

As seen at Preacher Mom's place:

1) When you looked in the mirror first thing this morning, what was the first thing you thought?
Where did I put my glasses?

2) How much cash do you have on you?
On me? I'm in my pajamas - none.

3) What's a word that rhymes with TEST?
Nest

4) Planet?
What? A word that rhymes with planet? (Janet) Name a planet? (Earth) What's my favorite planet? (Earth)

5) Who is the fourth person on your missed calls?
The fourth one I can identify is Milner.

6) What is your favourite ring on your phone?
N/A - one of my least favorite features is that no matter what I set the ringtone to be, the phone changes it to the automatic one at will.

7) What shirt are you wearing?
Purple flannel leopard print pj top

8) What do you label youself as?
Where? When? Why?

9) Name the brand of shoes you've recently worn.
Bass

10) Bright room or dark room?
Well, I'm about to go to sleep, so I'll want a dark room for that.

11) What were you doing at midnight last night?
Sleeping

12) What did the last text message on your phone say?
I don't have any saved - I think the last one might have been "Happy Turkey Day" from V.

13) Where is your nearest 7-11?
I don't think I've seen a 7-11 up here.

14) What's a saying you say a lot?
"Can I just say..."

15) Who told you they loved you last?
My mommy, who might come visit in March!

16) Last furry thing you touched?
Furry? Umm... oh, Maggie, yesterday when I was borrowing Raisin's books.

17) How many drugs have you done in the past three days?
Um, well, I had a cup of tea earlier...

18) How many rolls of film do you need to get developed?
One, if it's still developable. Now I have a digital, hurray!

19) Favourite age you've been so far?
22 was pretty darn good. So was three.

20) Your worst enemy?
Satan, the forces of evil, whatever you want to call it. Cliched? Perhaps. True? Yes.

21) What is your current desktop picture?
A picture of the Indigo Girls on a carousel horse

22) What was the last thing you said to someone?
Does iChat count? If so, then "nope." If not... I haven't spoken out loud in hours, I don't remember. Probably "bye"

23) If you had to choose between a millions bucks and being able to fly, which would you choose?
I'm not sure how useful or fun flying would really be if no one else could fly with me. I think I'd take the money.

24) Do you like someone?
I like many people. :)

25) The last song you listened to?
Galileo

Coronation bling-bling?

In order not to be working on my disputatio just yet, I was playing with iTunes' beta of "Just for You" - a feature I've enjoyed mightily on Netflix and Amazon, and now on iTunes too. In my list of recommended songs, I noticed "K.17 'Coronation'" - a Mozart mass I sang in high school. I scrolled right, because I was curious how much an entire mass would cost, even as one track - still just $.99, but it turns out this was just the Agnus Dei, part of a Christmas CD. Anyway, "genre" caught my eye - because, as I read it, they had Mozart classed as hip-hop!

Of course, they didn't really; they had a Black-Eyed Peas song listed as hip-hop on the next line, and the Agnus Dei listed as holiday. But it sure turned me upside down for a second.

If playing with iTunes is this dangerous (ok, it's dangerous other ways too), maybe I'd better go edit our opening statement after all.

Public Service Announcement

Please advise: the following theological terms have been temporarily redefined:


Adversity: Working with Microsoft Word. (Well, ok. Working with Microsoft, period.)

Charity: That instinct which prevents my killing anyone.

Grace: The promise that, in two days, this disputatio will be over.

Ignorance: See bliss.

Temptation: The idea of going to bed at a reasonable hour.


To hell with that last one, I'm going to bed anyway.

Three days

A week or so ago, one of my books for Research Methods pointed out that you really ought to pick a research topic you're passionate about, because who wants to spend 60 hours (they assume 60 hours to a 20 page paper) working on something you don't even care about?

I begin to see the point.

Turns out, I really care very little about insisting that assisted suicide be morally equal to murder or that suicide violates a fundamental Christian tenet. I'm at T minus 65 hours or so, and instead of thinking about nothing else, I'm ready to be thinking about anything else. Not because I'm so wildly overprepared there's nothing left to do, just because I really don't care that much.

I've got a stack of books and articles on 1 Corinthians 6:13c, and I'd love nothing better right now than to plunge into those. I wouldn't mind reading through other NT books looking for the topic for my second probe/paper. I'd be perfectly happy to give my undivided attention to reading about 2 Corinthians or Romans for class or translating Galatians 5. I'd gladly switch for another early church history disputatio - maybe the world needs defending against Donatism. Heck, I'd even rather be prepping my next ethics disputatio. (Coming soon: Yodabeth argues against the just wage! At least I've done a fair bit of opposition research already - thank you, Biblical Theology case study).

Instead, I'm writing what amount to medical ethics memos, trying to put together an airtight argument on a topic I'd just as soon leave alone.

Three days, and I can turn my attention to the Bible for awhile....

Friday Feast

Via Tripp

Appetizer
About how many times per day do you check your email?

Um. Hmm. Probably... yeah, don't know. Something over 10 - and more if I'm writing that day.

Soup
If you had the money to collect something really valuable, what would it be?

Probably icons, or maybe books.

Salad
Write a sentence using the letters of your favorite beverage. (Example: The egret admires.)

Why isn't Nana eating?

Main Course
If you could be on a game show, which one would you want it to be?

Being on a game show doesn't really sound like much fun, although when I was a kid my brother and I wanted to be on "I'm Telling!"

Dessert
Name 3 computer programs or web sites you would hate to be without.

Firefox, iChat, iTunes

In lieu of a concert:

I'm having a blast this afternoon, relaxing at Panera with my computer and iTunes. What makes it so much fun? Well, I'm researching, and I'm in the early stages. I'm not sure if it's a good sign or a bad one that bopping around catalogs and indices looking for sources for my New Testament research probe feels like "play" for me right now, but it does. I can justify not working on my disputatio (which is probably what I should be doing), because I'm doing homework. But it doesn't feel like homework - it feels like play.* Hooray for leisurely (virtual) strolls through the BS catalog!

*Admittedly, what I'd really like to do tonight is go see One of the Girls. But since I really can't justify taking the time to go to a concert right now, this is a decent way to spend a couple of hours. If you're looking for something to do tonight, though, you should definitely go. They rock (and folk, and bluegrass, etc).

Um. Stuff. And Things.

Disputatios and research probes, mostly. Two of each, this quarter, and three of the four at once right now. Disputatios make me want to obsess only about that topic, only on that assignment, and I don't have that opportunity right now, which makes me a wee bit uneasy. The probes are scheduled not to overlap, but because I'm writing the second one as a paper and using it for my research methods class, the topic and research question for that one are due next Thursday, before the first probe is actually due to the professor. Hurray for multi-tasking!

At the moment, though, I think I ought to see what I'm meant to be learning about 1 Corinthians generally, so that I can go to class unashamed tomorrow.

I'll try to think of something more interesting to talk about soon, I promise.

Tired, tired, tired

I'd like to come on here and tell you about all the exciting things I did this weekend that kept me from posting.

Unfortunately, there weren't any. Last week left me thoroughly exhausted - so my weekend consisted of varying between bone-tired, zombie-tired, dead-asleep-tired, normal-person-tired, and now grumpy-tired-of-being-tired-tired. I did go to church yesterday, and did laundry on Saturday, but other than that I just slept, stared, and tried to do what little homework I could manage.

People have congratulated me today on how rested I must be. But really, I'm still just tired.

apparently I picked wrong

You scored as Dance. You should be a Dance major! Like a lithe ballerina, you dance because you believe there is beauty in expressing the physical form. English 92% Dance 92% Linguistics 83% Philosophy 75% Sociology 75% Theater 67% Art 67% Psychology 67% Mathematics 58% Journalism 58% Engineering 50% Biology 33% Anthropology 33% Chemistry 0% What is your Perfect Major? (PLEASE RATE ME!!<3) created with QuizFarm.com

I should have learned to spot

When I was dancing, I was never much good at turns, because I was never much good at spotting, so I got dizzier than I should have. Right now, I'm remembering that I should have learned to spot - this week is making me dizzy:

~I'm co-MCing Boar's Head. I'm also co-proprietor of Ye Olde Costume Shoppe, and a cantor.

~I'm subbing for winter quarter as coordinator of both Seabury and Western style services. Wednesday, the day before Boar's Head, is the first Western style (read: high church) service of the quarter.

~Since somehow we're having a crisis of liturgical participation, I'm doing a lot liturgically this week: canting an evensong and Boar's Head, LEMing once, intercessing once, officiating at a service I'd never done before, sac'ing once (at the aforementioned Western service).

~Oh. Right. There's also those pesky, marvelous, time-consuming things called classes. Those are back in session, which means both class time and homework.


I think I'm also supposed to eat, sleep, and breathe this week, though I'm not sure. It's all great stuff, really great, but if we keep the Seabury and Western services next year, I'm recommending we not have a Western service the day before Boar's Head. Even if they're radically different in style, they're both complicated, and they both require many people to participate in them - a challenge even if next year the S/W coordinator is smart enough not to double as Boar's Head MC.

Winter Quarter Gender Balance Award

Admittedly, my spring semester class hasn't started, and that's technically on my winter quarter schedule. But for Seabury classes, here's this term's gender breakdown of assigned authors:

Ethics II: Two books from last term - both edited by men, authored by both men and women (though not as well balanced as I'd like). Three new books - one by a woman, two by men. Rating: Acceptable, if unimpressive.

New Testament II: One book from NT I - by a man. Three new books - one by a woman, two by men. Rating: Again, acceptable.

Research Methods: Three books - one by a woman, two by men. Rating: Also acceptable.

Preaching B: Three books from last term - one by a man, one by a woman, one by a man and a woman. (Incidentally, that's also one by a black man, one by a white woman, and one by a Latin American man and woman.)

Clearly, Preaching B wins hands down. Again. But since there are no new books, we'll also give each of the other classes an honorable mention - happily, there are no unacceptable classes this term.

To Do

~Deliver pointed Sarum preface for Boar's Head
~Figure out cantors for Boar's Head
~Find Charles Palmerston Anderson, His Propers
~Ponder the replacement of watch batteries
~Return library books/cds
~Put away more of the books that came back with me at Christmas
~Read for NT and ethics
~Start pondering first research probe
~See Narnia.
~Acquire food
~Actually eat, preferably more than once today.
~Change sheets and towels
~Go to Vogue and get trimmings for Boar's Head dress (unless I do that tomorrow... thinking tomorrow sounds good right now)
~Read about postmodernism
~Go to Borders; decide whether to exchange one or two Christmas gifts.
~A nap would be nice...

Guess I'd better stop blogging and get going....

Glad this year isn't last year

I have signed up for health insurance. I have paid for health insurance. I have been assured that I am in fact covered under Seabury's health insurance. I still have no insurance card. I still can't get through to the provider to ask for a card.

Really glad that, so far (knock on wood), I haven't needed the card.

Really frustrated that even as a paying customer it's this difficult just to get the card. I can't even imagine how people who are less privileged than I negotiate the health care system at all.

One more thing

Why is it that my weather pixie has her coat unbuttoned for 30 degree weather?

Short

No, I don't mean me (that's not news), nor this post (unlikely to happen). I mean my patience today.

That's had its upside:

~I finally stopped ignoring my confusion about postmodernism. (That sounds more confessional in tone than I intended, but I'm not fixing it.) Since I got to seminary, it seems every other class and every other reading assignment mention postmodernism, but some mean it more narrowly than others, and they often contradict each other, so that I don't know anymore what counts in a reasonably restricted definition (i.e., not just anything said/written/thought in the last 20 years). I'm hoping to fix that now.

~I've been more efficient than usual, thereby accomplishing more than usual during the day.

~I've been impatient even with my usual lack of motivation to do things, also contributing to a productive day.


But it's also had its downside:

~When I get impatient in the way I was today, I engage poorly in discussions about oppression, especially when it gets to feeling personal. That meant that in today's ethics class discussion about feminist theology, liberation theology, dynamics of oppression, difference and otherness, etc., I alternated between wanting to crawl in a hole and never deal with any of it again or wanting to rip heads off.

~It's usually less than helpful when I get impatient with my own feelings - particularly when I get impatient with my own impatience.


I think we're itching for a fit of honesty soon. Be ye warned.

Well, duh....

Gender equality is decades away

Twitch. Grumble. Groan.

Books that propose to teach their readers how to write good research papers (or write anything, really) ought themselves to be properly edited. I understand that the most conscientious writers and copy editors will occasionally miss a typo, but the errors shouldn't be so consistent as to draw my attention away from the author's efforts to teach me better writing.

(It would make me very happy if all books were properly edited, really, but a book on better writing? Come on.)

Hi, folks!

We're back! We told you we would be!

(Points for correctly identifying the movie from which that dialogue comes.)

I'm back on campus and therefore online. I'm also wearing a brand-new Ohio State t-shirt - in triumph, as the Buckeyes tromped the Fighting Irish 34-20 this afternoon.

I've got a revolving door of roommates, this week - Barb is still in the process of moving out, Hannah Scheid is staying across the hall on her winter break from college, Jennifer and Shana will be using the rooms across the hall for GOEs this week during the day, and while they're testing over there, Andrew will be day camping over on this side of the hall so that Hope can write her exams in peace at their apartment. This despite technically being the only resident in this part of Seabury - oh, and speaking of isolated Seabury residents, Jim is likely to be stopping through more often, now that we're both roommate-less. ;) Seriously, I think it will be good to have friends around more again for a while.

This week should ease into classes a little (though there's always the chance that I'll rue jinxing myself with that statement). One class is canceled this week, though there's work to be done for it; another won't start until the end of the month. My mornings and late afternoons show every indication of filling quickly for the quarter, but for this week they're still remarkably open. (Don't get any ideas, folks - I've already got a variety of things in mind to do that filling. It's just a matter of pushing them around properly, like one of those little plastic puzzles where you only have one open space to work with.) I hope to get well situated (i.e., not behind) with schoolwork, hit the ground running with liturgical responsibilities (which seem to be more numerous this quarter than usual - glad I'm not preaching in chapel yet), and hold on to enough of the calm from last quarter and break that this quarter's pace doesn't shock my system. That's enough of a load for any week to bear, really.

To close this lengthy post (hey, I've been off a week), I'd like to congratulate my professors for this term. I went to the bookstore today and bought a grand total of six books. Admittedly, I don't yet know what I'll have to buy for my Greek class, but I have a remarkable number of return customers this quarter - New Testament II, Ethics II, and Preaching B all repeat at least one major text from their predecessors, and Preaching has no new ones at all. An impressive feat! Your students thank you.


[Later: Note to self - don't forget you also have to finish your candidacy questions by Friday.]