DStilled

Earthquakes and Gambling

This past week I wrote my first seminary paper, I found some mind-blowing bass, went gambling, had a naked day, and went to a birthday party.

My paper was on the language of God and how male imagery (really all names/pronouns in general) limit our understanding of the mystery of God. Inclusive/expansive language annoys me at times because it feels like I’m being forced to tithe. Yeah, it’s a good thing that I need to do, but I want to be able to do it because I WANT to. So far everything I have read in my classes this semester has been by blatant feminists and it gets really old hearing about how oppressed everyone that’s not me is. The subtle ways they get me to agree with them reminds me of how mind-controlling the far right is. If you don’t agree with me, then you’re a horrible person/Christian/academic. It’s amazing to me how derogatory the left is towards the right. (I spent my youth hearing the other side) For once I wish I wasn’t in the middle: I end up being a whipping boy for nearly anyone’s arguments. It’s been tough but I refuse to just suck it up and move on without learning anything. If anyone has any real evidence for the inerrancy of the scriptures, I’d like to hear it. Leave a comment!

My neighbor Jonathan showed me an album called Lux Vivens (The music of Hildegard) by David Lynch. It’s a really sweet album but the first “song” is the most unique. It is called Flame and Vision and the first minute of it is a pulsating, bassy, wispy hum. Then the hum dies down and a moment of silence settles in. All of a sudden the “flame” you’ve been listening to erupts not in an explosion but a rushing torrent of fire. Yes, I had the stereo up but 20 dBs softer than I took it at Ann’s. Even still the bass was SO great during the eruption that one of my speakers jumped off the wall on the other side of the room. Some of the particle board broke on the inside. I went next door to see if he heard the ruckus and sure enough it was quite obvious to him even through concrete and plumbing. I REALLY want to try it even louder but I have to wait until none of my neighbors are here.

Friday night some of my friends here wanted to go to Ceasars for a nice buffet with wonderful crab legs. This is a hotel/resort place that has a four story riverboat casino. I have never been even in a casino so I convinced them to let me wander. I was going to take a picture of my friends inside but they thought it might not be a good idea.  Sure  enough, I asked one of the MANY security guards if I could take a pic and she vehemently said no.  We walked down to the bottom where the cheap gambling was and I put a dollar in a nickel slot machine. I gave it a couple of tries (not pulls, cuz they don’t use those kind anymore - all electronic) and nearly doubled my money. I figured that was good enough for me and cashed out at $1.85! I’m not sure how I feel about gambling other than the fact that it’s so unsafe, you have to really understand odds.

Some of you may be asking yourself, “Self, what’s a naked day?” Then your self would say, “It’s when you allow me to be unencumbered by these silly clothes for long periods of time.” Yesterday was such a day. I didn’t shower, didn’t get dressed, didn’t ever open the door or blinds to the outside world, didn’t do the dishes, NOTHING productive. I slept, watched a few movies on my laptop, cooked food, and ate it. The most strenuous thing I did was play darts. It was fantastic.

Today was Eric’s birthday. He’s the one at the head of the table. To his right is Ryan who I play racquetball with and to his right is Jonathan my neighbor. We went to Hard Rock Cafe and ate well. I didn’t even know Louisville had one. Anyway, I have neglected my unending studies to write this. Oh and like many of you, I’m surprised and proud of UK right now. It is very possible we’ll go 11-2 this year!

Finally!

I have now completed my first full week of classes! I had my last first class this afternoon and I can go ahead and tell you that it’s going to be fun and hard. If I get my way, which is still being debated, I’ll be taking 15 hours (normal 11). Which generally means I have around 4,000 pages to read this semester. I won’t but that’s because UVa taught me well how to read what I needed to and not the fluff. So I have around 2,500 instead. Doesn’t that sound much better? Right…the great thing about it is I get to read stuff that energizes me for the most part. But phone calls from you fine people would be welcome study breaks. I probably take too many as is, but people are very important. A couple of cool things happened that I figured I’d tell you about.

I went to a Rubix Cube party last weekend. As you can see from the picture, the object was for people to wear different colored clothing at the start of the night and by the end, have only one color on. I was weary of the idea at first but soon embraced it. My color of choice was orange due to my shorts being that color. It turns out alcohol is kind of a big thing with these folks so once again, I get to DD for friends. They ARE the most respectful drunks I’ve ever met though. I’ve been apologized to like 5 times for people bad mouthing conservatives like southern baptists and then realizing I was one. It’s odd representing a culture that I don’t really embrace. Anyway they also like playing games. Let’s see what else. I got to lead part of our first student led chapel of the year on Wed.  There’s a person here with a Nov 4th birthday and then another that’s only 10 days younger than me. Almost EVERYONE in my building has dogs and I think they are starting to get worse. Howling and excessive barking are wonderful things. We ALL know how much I LOVE the noises dogs make. But the most unexpected good news I had this week was that I know the Bible well enough to pastor. Not really, I just passed this Bible content exam we take coming in. Almost nobody passes (70) and I got a 77. I didn’t get the highest grade but it turns out that baptists generally do well. PLUS I READ THE BIBLE THIS SUMMER!! It’s amazing how well that works! So not only did it change my theology and, you know, LIFE, but it helped me pass a superfluous test. The weather yesterday suddenly changed to fall and it was FANTASTIC! Today I went driving for the first time since I got here. I don’t have a star-gazing place yet, but rest assured I will find one.

Not-So Laborious Days

Last week was my last of pre-classes orientation. I think I can only take so many greetings and welcomes before I get annoyed. I think that day is a while off but I could sense myself tense up when the basics were explained for the 42nd time. This class was just more of that. It was the first exposure the MFT students had to counseling. I’m glad the class is required because it allows everyone to get sort of on the some playing field. Thanks to my parents and a good deal of psychology I think I was ahead of the game for this remedial class. They actually taught us how to nod and say uh huh. Sheesh. The best part of that little class was understanding how much more of a commitment seminary is going to be because I’m in the counseling program. I’m not sure how much I’m even going to get to work now.

I with permission skipped Friday’s class in order to come home to Lex early and see my dad who was off to Ridgecrest for the weekend. (There were 8 parts to that unpunctuated, grammatically correct sentence!) Friday I went to Sam’s Club with my mom and we found chairs for my new place. They are sweet and fit just about perfectly in the table I have. Thank you! Saturday I went to London with peeps and I got to cliff jump for the first time. The cliff was about 25 ft above the water with the water being only 10ish ft deep. I was especially proud of Ryan who jumped as well! Then on Sunday I got to go to Immanuel and see everyone. It was interesting going to IBC in the middle of my church shopping here in Louisville. Even more so because many people didn’t recognize me with my longer hair. Craig was preaching on the final chapter in Revelation and was really trying to get us into it. I forget how talented of a preacher he is. I followed well enough but was distracted in my thoughts.

On Monday I left Lex and headed back. After putting everything up and organized that I acquired from home, I went to the zoo where William was. We were scheduled to meet a friend who got us in the VIP elephant area. We then proceeded to play with the 6 month old 500 lbs baby Scottie. His mom was cool as well but he was crazy! William really enjoyed it as well. We walked around some more and then came back to my place to eat. After he left, I went to hang out with some fellow seminarians. We played Trivial Pursuit after a while and my team came in second. I really enjoyed it. I hope there will be more game nights in the future. Well, now orientation is over and I’ve purchased half my books. I know my schedule for the most part and look forward to this REALLY starting. My only question is whether or not to take Hebrew. I might just audit the class but I just wonder if I’ll get much more of what I want with the accountability that comes with actually taking the class for a grade. I’ll decide after the first class.