Ladies and Gentlemen . . .

Prepare for the apocalypse; hell WILL freeze over today.
After years and years of suspecting--but never really believing--it would happen, the unthinkable, impossible, unfathomable has occurred . . .


I am sick of listening to Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite



I'm not sure what to do with myself: this realization is quite crippling.

The Rhythm of the Seas

I went to a party last night with a couple of boys who sounded remarkably like ancient Greek philosophers. I learned, for instance, that our purpose as humans beings is to try and understand three things in life:

A. the rhythm of the seas

B. The essence of rock (in the geological sense), including all precious and semi-precious stones and geological processes

C. Other human beings

Another young gentleman proposed that “the essence of wetness is water,” not the other way around, as has been the popular belief among philosophy scholars. Also, I learned that male falsetto, when properly executed, approximates the sound of an opening orchid in spring as it releases its energy into the universe. Or, if the performer’s voice is hoarse from smoking too many cigars, it shares instead in the energy of an early morning fog rising off the bayou in August (or maybe a prairie bog).

Compare this with the thought of some ancient philospshers:

Anaximenes of Miletus: “As our soul, being air, holds us together, so do breath and sir surround the whole universe”

Empedocles of Acgragas: “the sea is the sweat of the earth”

Epicharmus of Syracuse: “The fire of the soul is derived from the sun”

And they were coming up with this stuff with apparently no relation to these ancient philosopher guys. Haha

A wise person was heard saying the following today:

"Jesus always talked about fruitfulness, not productivity"

An important distinction to make, I think.

I think I'm a tree-dweller at heart.

This is pretty funny . . .

For those of you out there who haven't discovered Deviantart yet, its worth checking out. I thought that this was funny:
This chick seems to have a fascination with writing cartoons where Alice From Alice in Wonderland, and the Mad Hatter get together . . .

I suppose its not much different than writing slash about drugged-out members of British rock bands.

Not to mention any names, of course.

Fuzzy in the brain

I have a major cold. Ever since last year, I seem to be ill every two or three weeks.
I had to take the day off today.

Anyways, this is my new blog. Welcome.

The purpose of this post was to talk about Gerard Manley Hopkins. I am taking a Hopkins seminar, and it has been one of the most intense and personally challenging classes in my university experience. Last night our professor (who is my ALL TIME FAVOURITE) had all eight of us over to his house for supper and class. He cooked us a pork roast on the rotisserie and his wife made wild rice salad and mashed potatoes with fresh dill and caramel-apple crunch pie. We sat around drinking tea and wine and talking about Hopkins' love for Heraclitus and the other ancient philososphers. I was in heaven.

As a Catholic, my love for my faith is rooted in its intensity. Such a faith allows me to be intense myself; passionate, creative, idealistic, full of hope and painfully human. But my idea of this intensity cannot hold a candle to Hopkins'.

I have had a more volatile relationship with this poet than I have ever had with any writer. Apparently I am not alone. A classmate has described his experience of this poet as a roller-coaster ride that plummets and soars between love and hate. I have only ever felt this way a few times in my life.

Among other things, this dialogue with Hopkins has raised a personal challenge in my life. I believed before that there are times when God throws something or someone in one's path to stir the pot and catalyze something--whether it be a drastic re-dedication of one's life or a simple mood alteration--, but now I am sure. My experience of Hopkins seems to call for both a re-dedication and a mood change.

Or perhaps I am feeling melodramatic this semester.


But what we have not done yet we can do now, what we have done badly hitherto we can do well henceforward, we can repent our sins and BEGIN TO GIVE GOD GLORY. The moment we do this we reach the end of our being, we do and are what we were made for, we make it worth God's while to have created us [. . .]. This is something to live for. Then make haste so to live.

--Gerard Manley Hopkins, from An Address on the 'Spiritual Exercises' of St. Ignatius Loyola

I Have a New Blog

obviously.

More to come.