Uh oh ...

The Word of the Lord:

"Hear, my child, and be wise.
and direct your mind in the way.
Do not be among winebibbers,
or among gluttonous eaters of meat;
for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty,
and drowsiness will clothe them with rags."
-Proverbs 23:19-21

Thanks be to God.

Well, given my last entry - apparently partially about winebibbers - and given my addiction to buffalo wings (and the way I inhaled them last night), the outlook is grim. Yet on the other hand, maybe it all makes sense, because no one goes into ministry for the money ... well, I mean I could probably name a few ...

Pictures for fun:
I forgot to mention a Hodge Hall tradition - we have a painting at the base of the stairs that is re-done each year, themed for the girls from our floor, and painted in community. Hooray for floor art!
Hello fall! Miller Chapel from the inside and out. Apparently it made Martha Stewart's top 10 places to get married ...? I don't think she realizes half the congregation won't be able to see anything ... but it is gorgeous!

I just don't understand these phenomenons ...

1. Karaoke - カラオケ
What is it about our age bracket that screams 'let's sing in front of strangers!'?!? In perusing facebook photo albums of my peers, and seeing the culture first hand (yes I went, but I have yet to sing ... apparently it's only a matter of time) it just seems that the 'just graduated college' crowd through to probably 'I'm gonna have kids soon' age have a fascination with Karaoke. It's just strange. Especially since whoever made up the books for Karaoke should have been edited, by the 'these songs should NEVER be sung at karaoke because they are too long and slow and long' editor. But that apparently did not happen. Most of the time it feels like that bad dj you experienced at a wedding once. Playing somebody's classic song of romance that no one wants to dance to, or can even remember the words too.

2. Beer, Beer, and more Beer,
I can understand a beer. Maybe a couple beers. But when it becomes a 'necessity' for having fun, or rather the phrase turns into, 'I haven't had enough beer to party yet' --- What is that about? If you like the taste of beer, you shouldn't be abusing the amount of it. And at parties, people delude themselves into thinking a party isn't a party unless you have alcohol. What? Are you sure? Have you ever tried that before? Because they can still be pretty awesome. I mean heck, we could all just pretend like we're drunk and probably have just a good a time, and not be regretting it in the morning. If I were in psychology, I would say that most of these people use it as an excuse to act a little crazy. But what if we all just decided to act a little crazy anyway ... boost up the confidence level a bit, be more comfortable with our awkwardness because we're all a little awkward. Worried that you don't dance well? I'm pretty sure majority of people don't dance well. With the right amount of creativity and excellent facial expressions I'm pretty sure people won't care if you're even in time with the music.

3. Girls Who ...
My suitemate and I have begun a list. It's more of a list of attributes we find rather destructive that we would not like to emulate, and feel are unhealthy for other girls to form. That being for themselves, for guys, and for the girls they leave in their wake. For example, girls who overtly flirt with many, many, many boys, and have very, very, very few close girl friends. It's probably obvious how the former effects the latter, and I could probably go on forever about how I think it's affected society. Yet I feel that throughout history women probably have used the same tactics, so this isn't anything new ...

4. Gunshots in songs? Who thought this was a good idea?!?
Paper Planes. I am morally opposed to this song. I don't even know what the point of it is, after reading the lyrics - which also makes me wonder what the younger generation even does with lyrics, but that's probably an age old question as well. But seriously, gun shots - like we don't desensitize our culture enough? I was at a party, of seminarians mind you, and the song comes one, the hand-shaped-like-a-gun goes in the air, and everyone has a good time. REALLY!?? All I could think was, if this was on in a club, and someone got shot outside, no one would know ... I just really, really do not like where this is going.

Words words words ...

My days have turned into something like this:
Wake up, go eat meal, read, go eat meal, read, go eat meal, read/realize I won't be able to focus on more reading so watch movie with friends. That is a lot of reading. And the hard part is most of the time I don't know if I actually understand it, and am dreading the idea of having to read it again. This usually has to happen as I go fishing for quotes to use in my paper.

It always makes you wonder as well, if you wrote like the authors you are forced to read, what kind of grade you would receive. I'm convinced that if I wrote a paper like Tillich writes, I would get an automatic rewrite. Not to mention he's used 'concupiscence' at least 5 times ...

e.g. from Michael Crichton's (RIP) history (via wikipedia):
Crichton admitted to having once, during his undergraduate study, plagiarized a work by George Orwell and submitted it as his own. According to Crichton, the paper was received by his professor with a mark of "B−". Crichton claimed that the plagiarism was not intended to defraud the school, but rather as an experiment. Crichton believed that the professor in question had been intentionally giving him abnormally low marks, and so as an experiment Crichton informed another professor of his idea and submitted Orwell's paper as his own work. ^[7] His issues with the English Department led Crichton to switch concentrations from English to anthropology.

And lastly, try to keep a straight face when your prof uses this in lecture:

de⋅my⋅thol⋅o⋅gize (demythologization)

/ˌdimɪˈθɒləˌdʒaɪz/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [dee-mi-thol-uh-jahyz] verb, -gized, -giz⋅ing. –verb (used with object)

1. to divest of mythological or legendary attributes or forms, as in order to permit clearer appraisal and understanding: to demythologize the music dramas of Richard Wagner for modern listeners

2.to make less mysterious or mythical so as to give a more human character to: to demythologize the presidency.

–verb (used without object)
3.to separate mythological, legendary, or apocryphal elements from a writing, work of art, historical figure, etc.

New Shoe New York

You may think I have an addiction to traveling to New York by now, but I tell you it is not ...

I visited yesterday to check out a church that I would like to do my field education at, called West End Presbyterian Church, just next to Columbia and Central Park. I met with the pastor earlier this year, as well as the current intern, and am pretty excited about the opportunity. It's very different from home/UPC: the congregation is very small and very diverse. But it almost makes it feel like a family! I am more or less excited simply for the opportunity to adventure into new territory and see what I can learn. And Spanish might be on that list ...

Bianca and I also got to see Atsuko, a friend we know from our summer travels/UPC as she and her husband Pat were in town for the NY marathon. I canNOt imagine running all over the city, let alone longer than 5 blocks ... kudos to all that do. I really only run away from things. I ALSO bought some sweet new kicks for $10!! unbelievable, please see below:
And lastly, a few highlights from this week:
In speech class yesterday we were each to read a piece of scripture, and mine was a part of the sermon on the mount. I would like to say that preaching is one of those things that I may be a little to critical about, because I feel like people should be both engaging with the text as well as real with the people they are speaking to. And this often doesn't happen. Too much theatrics makes it unrealistic and too human/buddy buddy removes the pure wisdom that the scripture can have. You know what I mean? So I'm hoping that the way I choose to read my piece falls in the good balance. Reaction? Let's just say that one peer of mine said that if I were to start a cult, he would join.

Oh, and I joined a contemporary worship group on campus called 'The Well' and I get to lead worship next tuesday! I've just realized that this is kind of a dream of mine ... getting to be on a worship team, and then actually getting to lead one night! Woohoo! I've got to go practice then ...

...should I have mentioned something about the elections and this momentous time in history? Because Obama is great, that is all acknowledged, but I'm ready to see what the next 4 years actually have to offer. And I'm a little pissed with Washington's voters on other issues.