Trudging through slush

Haha! I love this Zits comic (grin). Only one more week of classes to go! I want the time to zoom by, but then I realize just how much I'm supposed to do before then, and I try to coax it to go more slowly. Lately I've been feeling kind of tired--and I don't mean just physically (that's a permanent characteristic). I feel like spiritually I'm trudging through slush. I've started to realize just how much pressure living "in the world" puts on a Christian. It's not outright attacks: those would almost be easier to deal with. It's the pressure that builds up slowly: dealing with the divorce of science and religion in class, trying to argue for Biblical inerrancy on the Tolkien listserve, attempting to answer skeptical friends about how Christianity makes sense. It's all so. . .constant.

Not that I'm giving up or anything; I'm just starting to realize what a special haven the Christian community really is. I've also been thinking a lot about two different things I've read in the last semester that talk about this. One is a column by Joel Belz (published in World last fall),
Uphill all the way
I like the column especially because it reminded me of the other thing, a poem by Christina Rossetti (also called “Uphill”).

Does the road wind uphill all the way?

Yes, to the very end.

Will the day's journey take the whole long day?
From morn to night, my friend.

But is there for the night a resting-place?

A roof for when the slow dark hours begin.

May not the darkness hide it from my face?

You cannot miss that inn.

Shall I meet other wayfarers at night?

Those who have gone before.

Then must I knock, or call when just in sight?

They will not keep you standing at that door.

Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak?

Of labor you shall find the sum.

Will there be beds for me and all who seek?

Yea, beds for all who come.


This poem is most meaningful, though, when you have it’s opposite as well. I wasn’t planning on posting it too, but it’s so good; from the title to the last sentence, it makes me shiver. This one is called “Amor Mundi”

'Oh where are you going with your lovelocks flowing,
on the west wind blowing along this valley track?'
'The downhill path is easy, come with me an it please ye,
We shall escape the uphill by never turning back.'

So they two went together in glowing August weather,
The honey-breathing heather lay to their left and right;
And dear she was to dote on, her swift feet seemed to float on
The air like soft twin pigeons, too sportive to alight.

'Oh what is that in heaven where grey cloud-flakes are seven,
Where blackest clouds hang even just at the rainy skirt?'
'Oh that's a meteor sent us, a message dumb, portentous,
An undeciphered solemn signal of help or hurt.'

'Oh what is that glides quickly where velvet flowers grow thickly,
Their scent comes rich and sickly?' 'A scaled and hooded worm.'
'Oh what's that in the hollow, so pale I quake to follow?'
'Oh that's a thin dead body which waits the eternal term.'

'Turn again, O my sweetest, - turn again, false and fleetest;
This beaten way thou beatest, I fear, is hell's own track.'
'Nay, too steep for hill mounting; nay, too late for cost counting;
This downhill path is easy, but there's no turning back.'

Too Funny (Well, if you've read the Silmarillion)

Oh my, I love this illustrator so much! She has a whole series of comics about Boromir as a kid (they're in a Calvin & Hobbes style too). These are some of my (many) favorites. (To check out the rest, here's a link) LOL, the problems with little boys having early Middle Earth role models.
Well, I just spend the past weekend looking at Tolkien illustrations online. It was for school--honestly! So maybe I got a little too into it. But the presentation did give me a chance to use some of those many comics I've been storing up. Hmm, maybe I'll have to start posting some more of them (evil grin). I'll try not to overwhelm everyone with my very-avid- LotRfan-sense-of-humor.

The Craziest Bible Study Ever

This past Wednesday my Bible study met as usual at Plaza 900 (the "suave" dining hall) for dinner. It was such a nice evening that we decided to have Bible study on the Quad. On the way over, four of the six of us decide to take a detour through Conservation to visit the restroom. In the typical misadventuring spirit, we entered through a door that led either up, down, or through a locked office. So we decided to risk the ascent to the second level. Of course, this being a science building, all the doors had red "Warning: Hazardous Materials" signs. Such a fun place to be after hours. (One door even had a sign saying "Beware of Attack Butterfly." Brrr. Gives me shivers just thinking about it.) After this side trip (and looking suitably impressed by one members lobster red sunburn), we tramped off towards the Quad.
But the quickest way around Jesse hall was barred by some weird circus/play people, so rather than barge through the middle of whatever it was they were doing, we meandered around and cut through Jesse. We realized afterwards that just going around the other side would have been a lot faster. Oh well.
Finally arriving at the Quad (and skirting the typical guys playing football), we caught up with the other two girls and sat down. For a while, we focused on study (apart from the normal distractions: me tying grass stalks into a string, another girl slapping at a mosquito, etc.) All of a sudden, a girl stops her bike and comes to talk to us. She introducers herself, and after a bit of conversation, told us that she is a new Christian, but is intent on starting a huge revival at Mizzou, and were we interested in joining people in prayer. We all talked a bit more, and she left. Well, I for one raised my eyebrows, and we started discussing revival. Most of us were skeptical, but also felt a bit chastened that she, a younger Christian, was being so active. I'm still not sure that you can just start a revival that saves half the campus, but I suppose I should be the last one to say that's "impossible."

During everything that had happened, we had also noticed some other interesting characters wandering around on the Quad. This guy wearing a red polyester outfit was filming stuff while balancing on a Segway (one of those electric scooter things). The guy he was filming was ambling around, strumming his guitar. Not long after our first visitor left, they come up to us and say hi. He asks if he can sing a song for us, and we kind of dampened his hopes by replying that we're having Bible study. So he asks if he can sing a Christian song. "umm, okay" we tell him. 'Do you know 'By the River of Babylon" by Sublime?" he asks. We all just kind of stare at him, with a few chuckled mutters at "sublime" (I've never heard of that group before). We told him we didn't know that song, and there is this long silence. He walks back to the guy filming, and says to the camera in a dejected voice "they don't want to hear anything." By this point we're all kind of laughing quietly, but we can't really explain that we aren't laughing at him; we're laughing at his friend in the red suit. We look at each other, and decide that we can't be that mean; besides, we might not be showing good Christian behavior. So we say "Oh come on. you can play a song for us." We listen dutifully, and clap at the end of the song. Then they ask us, "hey can we have your permission to use you in our movie?" We give our consent, and they walk off to the other side of the quad.
Then Andrea looks at us, and says "You know, we have no clue what kind of movie they're making." This starts to sink in, and we have another discussion, where our imaginations jump to all kinds of horrible conclusions (rolls eyes).

A bit later, they are leaving and walk past us again. So we work up our courage, and flag the guy over. "So. . what's your movie about?" we ask slightly nervously. He graciously takes time to tell us about it. It's an independent film called "Homecoming," about 3 guys who graduate from Mizzou and come back five years later. "I play the failed musician" he tells us with a grin "So your reactions were great." Happy to oblige, we tell him. The rest of our time is spend talking about how we'll have to see it when it's shown on campus next year ( a big possibility).

I wonder if this happens to all Bible studies on the quad?

Over the river and through the woods

Well, I just got back from my last science field trip. ("Just" meaning I returned almost an hour ago, promptly got a shower, and have been posting messages for my Tolkien listserve.) We were taken out to a "Mystery Spot," so that they could dump us there and have us put all the Lovely Things we've been learning into action by coming up with a history (geological, topographical, etc) of the area. Actually, the spot was only two minutes away from campus (last time it was 20 minutes away plus a 12 minute hike in the woods to get there).

First off, we had presentations this morning in science. Our group (group #3) was. . .you guessed it! going to go third. Unfortunately we weren't the only ones who decided that Global Warming would be the easiest topic. So we sat through the first two presentations, and watched as they used our facts, our evidence, even some of the same diagrams and slides. Go figure. But here's the worst of it: each presentation was supposed to be 7 min long. Which means, with a 50 minute class period, there should be more than enough time for all five of the groups to go, even assuming the normal technological breakdown at the beginning. Both groups in front of us took 20 minutes. ARRGG! What do these people not get about a 7 MIN PRESENTATION???? Okay, so a little of that time was the tech problems, and questions after, etc., but each one was still like 17 minutes. I'm sorry, but that's way off. So we had to rush through ours, which, yes, did end up being around ten minutes with questions (NOT my fault, as any of you who have heard me present no doubt know. And this time I was trying to fly through the material). I hope the teachers don't blame us for lack of depth just because we stayed within the time limit. What a mess.

Anyway, back to our lab fieldtrip. Most of it was pretty normal; tripping on rocks, ducking under branches, trying to look intelligent while saying things like "Definitely looks like it was formed by karst" or "These crinoids point to the mississipian period" or "Oh look at the pretty flowers." And, of course, trying to cross a wide stream by hopping on rocks and waving one's arms wildly. But two moments stood out (well, besides the "yes, that IS poison ivy")

Sarah (one of my lab partners) and I had crossed the stream, when out from the woods comes. . .a yellow lab/golden something kind of dog. And it looked just like Walt's dog from LOST. Woah! This trip began to gain back my interest. Off it went racing into the woods (hmm, maybe we should follow it), but then there were two other dogs with it, and a minute later a woman walking past on the path higher up in the woods. Oh well. (Ooooh, wait, maybe she's an other! :0)

Second crazy happening was on our way down the cliff we were on top of back to the vans. No, nobody fell off, though goodness knows we probably deserved to. We weren't supposed to go near the edge (ha!) unless we were lying on our stomach. I sat quite a safe distance away, and I wished I was bold enough to pull out my fiction book. Okay, so I did get close to the edge (lying down, of course!) to take pictures, but it was for a good cause. Anyhow, we were at the edge of the dirt parking lot, when some girls see a snake and shrink back. Our teacher comes and blithely picks it up. It is, of course, dead. Well, we here a shriek behind us, and we find an even bigger snake, which one of the girls, in her haste to back away from the first one, stepped on. (Isn't that so like the way things work?) Unfortunately there is no moral behind this story; this snake was dead as well. Which leaves only the question of how they died. . .they didn't seem hurt at all. Then again, I was keeping a safe distance. But I bet the others did it.

Back Again. . .

I'd like to pretend that I have a good reason for not updating this in so long. But I don't really. I mean, I could mention lab reports, papers, extra credit assignments, Spanish homework, Tolkien presentations, etc (but I won't). I suppose the real reason is that nothing particularly hilarious/exciting/extremely crazy has happened to me lately. There's all the normal stuff, the fiction book read every two days or so, the afternoon nap, but nothing worth blogging about. Hmm, except for. . .


~This weekend I lost control of the Roman World to my brother, but my ally (Julia) and I consoled ourselves by remembering that chances are our descendants would no doubt steal it back at some later date.


~I had 17 books ready to be picked up at the library; the librarian asked me if I "wanted to check them all out at once." Huh? I requested them all, didn't I? I mean, I know some people must request a bunch, and then take a few at a time, but surely, surely, I do not look like one of the those people. I really need to make myself more known at the Sachs branch. Maybe I should go for the world record of books requested at one time. . .


~Some people I know are playing a really awesome game (I didn't look at the facebook group until too late). They're called the "MizzouMercenaries." I figured it would just be a paintball group or something, but what it really is is everyone playing gets a secret code name and a list of the real names of everyone else playing. Your goal is to tag people to learn their secret name. Once they get your name, you're out; but you can't tag people in class or in the residence halls. (wicked grin) It seems awesome.

Drama, Drama, LOST (to be chanted in the style of Duck, Duck, Goose)

Well, I'm back at college after Spring break, and I don't really know where to start. Maybe I should explain why my alarm didn't go off this morning, or why I missed my classes, or why I have four science group projects in as many weeks (not to mention two more lab reports), or why I have empty Dr. Pepper cans in my room or why. . . Or maybe I should start at the beginning. [Imagine swirly computer screens, or the whoosh! you hear in a LOST back-story. . . enough! You get the picture.]

It all started one pleasant spring day when my mother said to me,
"Lee Anne, how do you feel about giving Clara your room and sharing a room with Julia?"
Now, this did not elicit the response you might have expected; that is, screaming and sobbing as loudly as possible. Actually, I found the idea intriguing. The again, I'm an idealist and I find most ideas intriguing. Until I realize their practical implications. In any case, I consented, and decided the next step would be to convince Clara that this was all her own idea. So I promptly went to work (oh, reverse psychology is a beautiful thing!). It really didn't take much at all to convince her; after all, before I even left for college she came to me and, very seriously, told me that when I left she'd get my room and would probably take all my Aragorn posters down. Oh, the ingratitude! We set the date of the move for Spring Break.

Back to the present. Hurley comes running through the jungle. “Dude! An army of tree frogs are attacking Sawyer!” Oh wait. Wrong reality (though that wouldn’t be any weirder than anything else on LOST. . .) [Okay, you hear the whoosh! thing again. . .]

Spring break arrived, and we sat down to make our plans. One of our first actions (after Clara dumping all my stuff in the hall) was to go pick out wallpaper borders. My mom graciously drove us to an outlet, but I worried that she had ulterior motives. (Last time it took us six months to get her out of the wallpaper store. I had good reason to be scared). Thankfully, things went fairly smoothly, and we even got cherry slushies on the way home. Julia and I had picked out some awesome fantasy prints which we decided to structure the room around. (If you want to see the artist’s site, it’s http://www.dreamflierstudios.com) My dad suggested putting up a line of shelves for books all the way across the wall.

At this point Julia, Clara and I decided that we were smart enough to put up the wallpaper border in my (new) room by ourselves. Ha! Actually, it went pretty well, if you count loosing an exacto knife, knocking over a lamp, and falling through a folding chair as the minor events that they were. Not to mention decoding the directions, matching ends, finding out the exacto knife wouldn’t cut (before it got lost), dealing with corners (we didn’t cut the corners in a literal sense, though we probably did figuratively. . .), etc. Quite the experience. Still, I think we were done in less than 2 hours. For all of our fine workmanship, I think I’ve found another profession to cut off of my list.

Whew! Enough of the drama (though I can assure that their was plenty more that week). Julia and I now have a very awesome room with very amazing fantasy prints and a super long bookshelf, while Clara has wasted no time with her new room in turning it pink. Bound to happen, I suppose.

Now, I’m back at college, and not so happy to be here. After all, I should be at home playing Conquest of the Empire and beating out my family for control of the Roman world. And you ask me to study microbial evolution? Fat chance. Maybe I’ll just put on another LOST episode. . .