Hallelujahs

Thinking back on today, I started to think of a song by Chris Rice. I thought I'd quote a bit of it here:

The pulse of life within my wrist
A fallen snow, a rising mist
There is no higher praise than this
And my soul wells up
O my soul wells up
Yes my soul wells up with hallelujahs

Oh praise Him all His mighty works
There is no language where you can't be heard
Your song goes out to all the Earth
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah!

Considering all that God does for me, and especially what He did for me this week almost 2,000 years ago, that song ought to be my song every night.

Speaking Out

I'm a written word kind of guy. Now, I can give a decent presentation (although I'll never be an orator), but I'm much better writing stuff down and pouring over it and then publishing it in some form than spontaneous speaking. I seem to just put my foot in my mouth all the time when I'm speaking to people. While I enjoy trying to be witty, too often I'm not quick witted enough to ask the right questions when I should. Despite all this, I talk too much and must check myself in that regard (something I fail at too often).

It is true that I do not always edit blog posts very carefully; however one can choose present a carefully crafted statement when writing should one decided to. I rather wish I could figure out how to edit what I was verbalizing as well.

You know, I see a trend brewing in my posts lately. I don't seem to have any conclusions. I have been staring at this post for a bit now, wondering exactly where I was going to go with it, but I don't think I can think of anything all that good. Perhaps I'll return to our friend Jacques whom I quoted last night:

O worthy fool! One that hath been a courtier,
And says, if ladies be but young and fair,
They have the gift to know it: and in his brain,
Which is as dry as the remainder biscuit
After a voyage, he hath strange places cramm'd
With observation, the which he vents
In mangled forms. O that I were a fool!
I am ambitious for a motley coat.

Yes, indeed. To be as one of Shakespeare's fools; to perceive things and state them without irritating people… that would be good.

Sticking to a Project

I'm pretty good about getting stuff that needs to be done completed. Projects for clients, church stuff, school assignments, and so on. But, I've always had a hard time getting stuff I do on the side complete. Take SAFARI — I've been developing this CMS for six years now. But I've taken several multi-year breaks along the way.

Then there is what I'm writing for amusement. I've started writing a play, a novel and, most recently, an epic poem. Oh, and a sonnet sequence. The novel was started earliest, and is the one I'll probably finish first, but I find myself always starting new projects instead of working on it. If I focused all of my energy on one of these things, I might actually finish it. Instead, I keep working on them all.

It's not so much that I get bored with a project. It's that there are so many things I'd like to do, and I find I can't resist working on all of those things (well, not all). Since the aforementioned stuff has primarily existed in the realm of hobby, I guess it isn't a bit deal, but I still feel like I should focus myself a bit better.

Right now, I'm thinking I should shift the epic and play to the background and keep fiddling with the novel and sonnet sequence. The former because it might actually become a body of work I can do something with (e.g. publish), the latter because it is a good mental exercise and is an enjoyable way to capture present experiences.

Not one of "those" days

Update: I switched to HTML entities for the following Greek characters, per Ed's suggestion.

Well, if yesterday was a bad day, today was its inverse. Despite feeling slightly under the weather, the day just seemed to go right from the beginning until now. I had a Koine Greek midterm and was able to pull off a 97% on it (kudos to an instructor kind enough to grade it as soon as I turned it in), which as a major relief. I'd been worrying about this exam for some time, but in the end it turned out good. My big mistake was making the vocative case second declension noun ending ε into ει and the imperfect middle/passive verb ending ομηι instead of ομην. As a whole though, it turned out well.

Since Tuesdays/Thursdays contain several classes, I usually grab lunch on campus, since I only have 45 minutes to do so. Today, I walked into the cafeteria a bit early after finishing the aforementioned test, and found, for the first time in memorable history, cream of potato soup (my favorite) available. It was quite good too.

The next class, Religion in America, turned into a debate forum on the topic of the First Amendment and the meaning of the phrase “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” I'm sure you can guess which interpretation I have on that issue.

Later in the afternoon while walking to my car, I happened to run into a good friend that I hadn't had a chance to talk to more than in passing for some weeks. Given that I was not in any rush, nor was the friend, it was a nice opportunity to chat (as in talk, not type) for a bit. The said friend has a mind for wit, and the exercise of quick thinking is always refreshing and a good way to wrap up a good afternoon.

This evening has not presented anything terribly exciting, but it did not need to, given the day. So, how was your day?

One of "those" days...

…you know what I mean?

Christopher Questions...

…but I took too long writing up my answers to get them posted tonight. Expect 'em up sometime tomorrow.

Blank

My mind is blank right now. I sat down with some ideas to post and they vanished. Oh well.

I did realize something tonight. I can now say that I am now just two months away from completing my first pass through my One Year Bible. Assuming I stay on track, that will mean I'm just about four months behind (or eight months ahead). I really like the One Year Bible. While I've tried other reading plans, the fact that I can just flip it open and have that day's reading organized right there in front of me, rather than having to look at a schedule and then flip to the passages. Despite being behind, all I need to do is use a bookmark and I can easily keep track of what the next reading should be.

Now, just to stay on track for the next two months.

Shedding the Last Shred of Anonymity?

My face has never appeared on the Internet. Or, actually, it did once when I wrote for an online trade publication, but only in the members area. For an article I wrote awhile back in a print publication, I had to submit a head shot to the editor. I sent it via e-mail and I have the file now sitting on my desktop.

Tonight it dawned on me that maybe it is time I add a face to this text. Or maybe it is more amusing to stay behind the cloak of the asisaid and OfB logos. Decisions, decisions. Maybe I should make something in the photo a Challenge question and “appear” on the Internet for the first time if someone can answer the question. Ah, the possibilities!

Pet Peeve

Why do people go to church when they are in the middle of a terrible, uncontrollable coughing and sneezing virus? Two weeks ago, I was at church and totally surrounded. There was so much coughing and sneezing, I had a hard time concentrating on the sermon. After hearing reports of even more people being sick over that week, I decided not to go this past Sunday, not wanting to catch the stuff. But, apparently, all the under-the-weather folks did go, because now I'm aware of even more people sick with the same bug in the congregation. So I either go and let the semi-hypochondriac in me take over and imagine the viruses going into my system as I get “surround sound sneezing” (and likely get more than an imaginary dose of the virus, for that matter) or I don't go and miss church again.

I was there (obviously) on Wednesday, albeit up in the balcony running the projector, and it sounded horrible down below. If the few people who initially had something had stayed home, maybe there would be less people coming down with the whatever this bug is. Every winter I watch a few people appear at church with some kind of virus and by the end of the month, it seems like it has made the rounds among everyone; maybe some get it elsewhere, but I know that often does not seem to be the case. Since everyone shakes hands right after the opening hymn, germs spread like wildfire, and even without that, the close quarters don't help.

Anyway, that's my pet peeve for the day. I'm not usually for keeping people out of a church, but I think we should do like hospitals. At least the ones I've visited this winter have signs up asking people with flu or cold like symptoms to please not enter the facility. That makes sense in the long run for everyone.

Anticipation

For the last week, I've had a sense of anticipation. While I have reasons to feel that way, I've surprised myself — none of the things I am anticipating seem that likely to occur this week. But, who knows, it would be a pleasant surprise if they did.

In other news, I ran the projector for our pre-service Ash Wednesday prayer time tonight. It was the first time we tried a pre-service prayer time (it was 30 minutes before the beginning of the service), and I'd say it went pretty well. The projector needs some adjustments — it's color seems to be getting worse — but it was still legible. I setup the slides to loop through twice, that way people coming in after 7:00 PM would get a second chance to see see the slides ten minutes later.

I was hoping to drive the projector directly from my PowerBook, and therefore take advantage of the nicer look of PowerPoint:mac 2004, but couldn't get the video feed switch to take a guest computer input for some reason. So, I loaded it up on PowerPoint 2002 on the projector's PC and it still looked OK. What a relief. At 7:26, the prelude started and the screen went up so as to not upset those who aren't fond of the screen blocking the stained glass windows.

I love the Lenten season vesper services. I'm curious, my readers, do your churches have Lenten services?