one down

Last night I gave my first presentation and it went really well. Ironically, I presented on the simplicity of St. Francis and his lifelong shedding of material things, on my brand new computer -- hmmm... I was able to find hymn 400 on CD yesterday afternoon and used that at the end of the presentation. It was a pretty good recording but it had a brass section intro that was kind of cheesy and I don't know how to put just a portion of a sound file in the program. My solution was to put the sound file on the frame before I needed it and I spoke over it. The intro music playing very softly in the background actually worked well as a lead up to the final frame. I dig presentations. I'd rather do them than write papers.

These last couple weeks have something due in every class -- two papers, one more presentation-format project, one quiz, and a serrmon. I think that's everything. That's enough. The good news is I've hit my plateau. It took all reading week, but I'm totally energized. I think it's lack of sleep. I can go, like, 4 hours a night and be jazzed all day. I know I'll crash later -- hard. But until then I'm keepin' it real.

order up!

The reading week marathon continues. This should be an Olympic event.

I'm halfway through the next assignment and I have to say:

I




block quotes!

Unlike the stigmata I'm writing about, I actually need to eat at some point. And I still have one more paper to go after this one. Go team me!

beast of a reading week

I've spent the lion's share of this week trying to complete a class project. It took a few weeks of planning and most of this week to implement, but I think it's finished. My new computer paid for itself in the middle of troubleshooting the program when our section of power grid went down. Had I been working n the desktop, I would have lost a ton of work, and the scream would have been heard all the way back to Maine. The laptop flickered as it switched to its battery power, but I was still in business. I packed up my stuff and headed to the Ev'tn public library where I could plug in and continue virtually uninterruptedly.

It took multiple trips to the special collections library, but I finally got to check out two CDs that treat the subject of my project. The Deering Library simply does not want anyone touching their stuff. I can't say that I blame them, but gee wiz, all I needed was two tracks. Anyways I got the tracks imbedded into the program, which I think is just the coolest thing. All you technophiles out there might think this mundane, but I totally impressed myself.

I have a couple people stopping by to check it out before I burn it onto a CD. Hopefully their critiques will be minimal. I think I worked out all the bugs.

Now it's on to yet another presentation. This next one will be a lot shorter, thankfully. I'll be presenting to a whole class rather than to an audience of one, and I have to keep it to 15-20 minutes. This will be a kitten by comparison.

here we go again

I went to the first of my discernment meetings at St. M's. this afternoon. I had to rehash my experience with the Dio of MA. They had the typical response. Then they asked me why I was still pursuing this after being told basically no. I hear the last person who went to the postulancy meeting had a difficult time. She got postulancy, but isn't going into detail about the weekend. Look, it's been a long and trying term, and the thought of going through in Chicago, what I went through in MA, is tiring just to think about.

"get up and do the first reading"

Sometimes I stop and look around and wonder to myself, how the heck did I get here? Today was one of those days. It just seems surreal, like a dream, sometimes. I wonder if it's really me in here.

I haven't been given a specific role as a member of the altar party, so I figured I'd continue to take copious mental notes about who does what, when. It didn't last long. There was an acolyte that didn't show up so I was put in as a torch bearer for the processionals. During the Opening Acclamation, I was waiting in the sacristy with the other acloytes for a break in the liturgy to re-enter the worship space to sit down without being a distraction. My butt was just inches from the seat when J. looked over and told me to get up and do the first reading. The scheduled reader was a no-show. Without missing a beat I did what I was told (I'm really good at that). Now, you should know I find cold readings very daunting, and scripture all the moreso. But I learned in that moment that I'm more afraid of J. than my dyslexia transposing a few words. I flubbed a couple words, but I think I pulled it off. When communion time came I stepped up to the altar just like I did last Sunday. Last Sunday, S., another assistant, was scheduled to take communion to our shut-ins, and today was my turn. Last Sunday S. took communion and then stepped off to the side until it was time to take the communion boxes. I planned to do the same thing. Just as I was waiting for a break in the traffic to get over to the other side of the altar, J. looked at me, holding a chalice. One of the chalice bearers didn't come to church today. I took the chalice and tried not to screw it up. I can't help but have the feeling I'm being set up. I hope this dispells any concern about my reliability and flexibility.

Newland's ark

I guess food is on my mind lately. I dreamed last night that I was in a cooking contest. There were five courses with different themes. You could cook anything you wanted as long as it addressed the theme. There were ribbons for best taste, most creative, best presentation, and best overall. My first course was the theme Noah's Ark.

I decided to bake a bunch of cakes and sculpt them. One cake was a marble that I used for the ark's wooden exterior. Rather than a door, the whole side of the ship dropped open to become the gangway. The interior was slightly hollowed out and I put chocolate wafers in for the decks. The ark was small and in the background -- forced perspective. I used a 2" white sheetcake for the base. There was a huge palette of different coloured buttercream frostings for landscape features.

I used a Gummy Bear for Noah standing atop the ark. The animals were made from all sorts of things and got bigger as they came closer to the forground. I remember the giraffes were made from Twizzlers and their necks intertwined.

The ark was beached and the tide was ebbing out on the right. The water was clear blue Jello that was almost the full 2" on the right edge and shallowed up along the beach line. I think I suspended fish in it, too. I made sugarnests and flattened them out for the breakers and dusted with powdered sugar for the froth. It looked really cool.

The rainbow was a translucent hard candy, like Jolly Ranchers. One end was hidden bahind the ark. It arched up and over to the left and stopped at the "frame" of the picture.

There were lots of other people there that I didn't know except for Seabury-Western's librarian. He kept appearing at different times. I didn't know if he was a judge or an advisor or a spectator. He kept comming around and smiling as he does, mumbling something and nodding approvingly. Then he'd disappear again.

I woke up before the judging.

downeaster

I had some very special guests fly in from Maine Saturday night. Too bad they couldn't stay too long. They brought fifty of their smaller friends with them.















Blogging friends, meet Thurston.





















Thurston brought friends.





















Bye Thurston.

Menu: Clam chowda, steamers, lobster, blueberry pie; Sea Dog Wheat Ale from Portland.

I transformed the refectory into Lobster Cove for the night. I put out gingham table cloths, a little candle light, music by a variety of artists including Schooner Fare. I had to instruct some of my guests on how to eat a lobster, and the proper etiquette. Yummy sounds aren't expected at many meals. What fun. A great time was had by all.

altar call

I was listed as "seminarian assistant" on the annual report at last Sunday's annual meeting. Starting next Sunday I'll be vesting and processing with altar party. This is very exciting. Rector J. doesn't have anything for me to do yet, but she's got a place for me to sit and she said she'd find something for me to do. I'll be taking over the acolyte training from one of the other seminarian assistants in a few weeks. We're meeting tonight to go over the things they already do, and what kind of latitude I've got to add/change anything. Holy Week should be interesting.

Oh also, (different topic) I got the okay to buy a new laptop from K. last night. So along with going over acolyte stuff, my seminarian assistant friend and I will be shopping. Weee! He helped me buy the desktop I'm using at this very moment. I've got a buyer for the Toshibasaurus, and that money will off-set the cost. Another friend has a new laptop, the kind I have in mind, and she's not paying interest until June 2007. She'll totally have it paid off by then. She's got way more stuff on hers than I need on my model, so it shouldn't be nearly as expensive. I'm all a quiver.

Two pieces of really good news. How 'bout that.

"are you ready for some church?"

In honor of my Mum-in-law's birthday, we went to the House of Blues for their Gospel Brunch today. It was very, very cool. I've been trying to learn about praise music and worship music for the past few weeks, and that's all been very educational, but gospel is where it's at, baby. Of all the music available to us for our ECUSA services, I really like the African-American Hymnal the best. It just makes you want to 'hmm- mm- mm. They asked for all the people celebrating birthdays to come up on stage. Mum-in-law got a special treat from the choir after the curtain went down. She was in there for a while, too. For a minute we thought we'd lost her. But no, she emerged with a CD from today's act. I got a gift too: I can easily see myself bringing up a lively church in the Spirit of Jesus, singing and hollering (at the appropriate places, of course), and making a joyful noise unto the Lord. Maybe I can get a church on the South Side. 'Hmm-mm-mm.

weekend guests

The in-laws arrived safely yesterday afternoon. They will stay here at the seminary until Monday afternoon. Today Mother and I spent the morning making her amazing twice-baked potatos. I've now got 5lbs in the freezer ready to go. Tomorrow I'm making the latest, greatest beans & rice recipe for the Superbowl party at St.M's., and Mother will help. Not a bad recipe exchange. The three of them are going off to shop leaving me time to go to the library. But the rest of the weekend is filled up with family, together things -- lots and lots of family, together things.

the verdict is in

The judges for Tuesday's "Dispistachio" gave their decision today in our Ethics II class. Their response was very thoughtful, and well presented. Basically it comes down to: make the pastoral decision you're going to make, but remember that the canons are what they are. Granted. BUT... I still think my side made a better argument. As I understand it, that's the criteria for winning these things. We had statistics, solid logical thinking, professional assessments of the overall issue, a plan of action, and clear parameters from which to make the decision to break the silence. They had something to the effect of, if you break the seal of confession for this case, where do you draw the line? And of course they had the air-tight law. A disputatio, though is the classroom argument, not the realities of the canons. The decisions of a mock trial in a classroom are not going to change canon law, so have at it. The judges verdict sounded like it was favoring my side for quite a while, then it wasn't clear. The judges didn't conclude with words like, "we the judges find in favor of ...," which left the class wondering which side won. Somebody has to ask. One of the judges gestured to the other side. This is such a sticky issue that it would have been a more satisfying verdict if they just came out and plainly said who won. At any rate, I salute my honorable opponents, the judges, and especially my partner, for their hard work on this difficult issue.