Spring Break is here!

Currently Reading Monstrous Regiment (Discworld) By Terry Pratchett see related

Having finished Christmas reading, David was nice enough to lend me yet another one of his Discworld novels for the bus ride home (that's how I get a lot of fun reading done these days). Thanks, David. Fun, enjoyable book.

Ah, it's great to be home. I'm already starting to miss my friends a little bit, but I'd really missed my family, so it's nice to be back. Seeing my family is a nice change, and the home-cooked meal thing is absolutely wonderful.

My sister has a new cat, Jingle Belle, who was just placed on top of my head as I was writing this. She likes to climb up people's clothes while she's still too young to be de-clawed. She's intolerably cute.

Despite the twelve-hour bus ride, Friday was a good day. I finished cleaning our living room (hopefully, Jon and Brett got their stuff moved to clean spots in their own rooms; if not, it's all stacked up and labelled "Jon's" and "Brett's"), got everything packed, and then got to go to a really good student-led worship service in the chapel (Andy Pettigrew had asked me to read Scripture, so I read John 20:1-8, 19, 20). Right after chapel, Kyle gave me a ride to the bus station, and then I was on my way home (equipped with an iPod mini, a good book, and a tendency to doze off, which made it a fairly quick 12 hours).

Then came yesterday, which was wonderfully uneventful.

More news from school: Wednesday, we had auditions for the next theater production, a Commedia dell'Arte play called "Battle of Dimwits." Because we'll have to start rehearsing AS SOON as we get back from Spring Break, the cast list was up with 18 hours, and I'll be playing an old man called Dottore Gratiano, who likes to quote random Latin phrases and pretend he knows what he's doing. The REALLY fun part of that is the nature of the play: Everyone gets a stock character with a set schtick, and we use that to actually go into the audience and improv with them, or even do advertising for the play by getting into character OUTSIDE the theater when the actors see each other.

This is going to be fun. ;-)

Here's a random quiz I found online, and I enjoyed the result...

You're Ireland!

Mystical and rain-soaked, you remain mysterious to many people, and this makes you intriguing.  You also like a good night at the pub, though many are just as worried that you will blow up the pub as drink your beverage of choice. You're good with words, remarkably lucky, and know and enjoy at least fifteen ways of eating a potato. You really don't like snakes.
Take the Country Quiz at the Blue Pyramid

Farewell to Shadow-lands

Yes, this post takes its title from the same place this blog does: a chapter title in Lewis's The Last Battle. I couldn't resist looking it up because of the inspiration for this post...

Unionites: If you've not yet seen Shadowlands, see it now, before it's too late.

Thus spake the guy with the laugh.

This, I think, is the most magnificent performance I've seen here at Union, and counting the one-acts, I've seen seven and been in one. I'm actually glad now not to have been cast in it just for the pleasure of sitting in the audience.

As if the story wasn't good enough on its own, they've set it off with an absolutely gorgeous set, well done tech work, and good casting (Jeremy Parker makes an excellent Warnie, and Nic Pfost and Ashley Mitchell are superb as Lewis and Joy, respectively).

It's funny, and it's deep, and it's sad and moving, and... just see it, okay?

In Written Comp on Monday, Robert Jacks told me that C.S. Lewis as portrayed by Nic Pfost reminded him of myself and David Kartzinel. A weird little comment, maybe, but I'm rather flattered by all three associations, so thanks, Robert.

Random Quote of the Day

"It's like the love of God on a bun."
--Josh McCoy, on a spicy chicken sandwich

Good Times All Around

Currently Reading Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality By Donald Miller see related

Currently Re-reading The Abolition of Man By C. S. Lewis see related

Okay, now that it's my second semester, I can officially join "Rounders," small book discussion groups here on campus led by students, faculty or staff. They meet once a week, and I signed up for two of them, one which I had read before and one that was a really quick read.

We've already had out first meeting for the "Blue Like Jazz" group, which is led by Andy Pettigrew in Campus Ministries. That should be a really good discussion; we've got a good group. The "Abolition of Man" group meets tomorrow evening, so I'll go straight from Rounders to Production Night.

Things are still going well. Over the weekend, I got to hang out with several of my friends. David and I watched "Waking Ned Devine," which cracked him up (thank you again, Amanda, for introducing me to that movie). Yesterday morning, I went with Ryan McFadden and Bob Cali to their church in Humboldt, where Ryan's father is the pastor. It was a good service, and they fed us afterward, which was nice.

Otherwise, things are quiet here in my life at Union. I enjoy it; it's good for keeping up with friends and homework.

Oh, and I may have a really cool opportunity this summer for an internship. It's not a sure thing, but some people are trying to pull some strings for me. Kristen Nicole has interned before at World Mission Magazine, and seems to think they would love to have me. I'll be talking to Dr. Chute about it.

I'm trying to remain positive about the fact that somebody borrowed my X-Files season DVDs... They'll be fine, right? ;-)

Okay, that's all for now. I'm going to go get a little supper.

Proof that my friends are the coolest people in the world

Anonymous: I'm doing pretty well, thanks. (Hmmm... trying to throw me off-guard by not giving a name?)

I've come to the conclusion that my friends are the coolest people in the world.

Now, I realize that there are several people who actually can say that, since it's a very subjective distinction. But I also know that there are people who would not say that. I think my friends here really all just about the greatest people one could ever hope to meet.

Case in point: Yesterday, Abby Carpenter baked a white chocolate mousse cake. She decided that if she had a cake, she needed a reason to party. She looked up March 1 online, then invited several people, myself included, down to the McAfee Commons to celebrate the 138th anniversary of the statehood of Nebraska. We've decided to celebrate every year.

Okay, that's really a random example, but I just really enjoyed that.

Oh, yes, and Abby and I are both going to try to find a book often quoted by Dr. Poe, entitled How the Irish Saved Civilization.

Classes continue to go well; last week, I got back the quiz in history and a paper I wrote on Catherine the Great, both the quizzes I've taken in New Testament, and the English exam, with A's all around. Ms. Alexander hadn't graded my Great Books paper on Monday, since she started doing the comments alphabetically, but she said "I thought it was quite good," which is high praise on a Brenda-Alexandrian scale, so I'm looking forward to getting that back, too.

The conference in Fort Worth was a lot of fun, and very informative. Some really impressive photojournalists spoke, and there were portions that will be useful to everybody, from the photojournalists in our group, like Kyle Kurlick, to the writing journalists, like Nic Pfost and myself, and the non-journalistic photographers, like Tyler Malone or Brad Moore. Mr. Veneman hosted the whole thing, and he did a really good job.

One aspect of the conference was the "Shoot-out," in which a Nikon vendor randomly selected 25 names, gave each person a CoolPix digital camera, and then gave a topic: Corners. The photographers then had an hour to go out and get a good picture fitting the theme and return the camera (only one chosen picture on the memory card). The winner actually won a CoolPix camera. I was randomly chosen to compete, and that was a lot of fun. I got a cool picture, too (though, needless to say, I didn't win).

However, Gypsy won a random drawing for a Canon ballcap, and, with a sigh of "I won a hat. I don't wear hats. Do you wear hats?" she gave me a hat.

The trip back was fun, too. When the guy driving pulls out a mixed CD and introduces you to a mock-rock-opera and then explains the inside jokes that went into it, you can't help but enjoy it. (Thanks again for that, Kyle. Some of those songs are still stuck in my head.)

Oh, and speaking of photography, I'm pretty sure I took the picture that's right now on Sarah Santiago's Xanga, though I guess it depends on whose camera actually had the shot she used. :-)