Musica

Unfortunately, David (a.k.a. anonymous in the December 5, 5:55 comment) is right.  The Rube Goldberg idea does take a lot more time than I expected it to, so I’m going to make this post quick, but there are two things I wanted to mention. First, if you missed the Christmas concert (David) it’s been posted in the conservatory archives now http://www.wheaton.edu/wetn/conservarchive.htm. I also thought you might be interested to know that every night at midnight, a group of friends of mine goes outside to Fischer lawn (in front of my dorm) stands in a circle and sings. We start with a song that they sing at HoneyRock called “Let Us Adore” then we sing whatever song we feel like, and we end with the doxology. I join them whenever I happen to be up at midnight (which is pretty often). It’s really simple but very good way to end the day.

“Looking A Lot Like Christmas”

     On Monday, as soon as I arrived back from Thanksgiving break, I walked straight from the train station to my microeconomics class with my suitcase and arrived just as the class was starting.  After class, I went to the Wade Center Christmas party.  We decorated cookies like Wade authors, ate good food, including an unbelieveably chocolatey “bomb.”  We also played Catchphrase as you can see.  Before I arrived, they set up a beautiful Christmas tree near the front desk.  I may have told some of you that the day I flew home, there were just a few falling flakes of snow.  Well, the last few days, the snow has actually been sticking.
    Last night after the Christmas festival, the snow started falling and by midnight there was a nice layer of snow all over the ground.  By the way in a few hours, I’ll be singing in the second night of the Christmas fest, which you can watch live tonight at 6:30 AZ time at www.wheaton.edu/WETN. just click on the “watch live” or “listen live” link. Today everyone has been throwing snowballs and making snowmen and I’ve been playing my Amy Grant, Nat King Cole, and Relient K’s Let It Snow Baby, Let it Reindeer all day.  All that to say, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.  Just so you know, the picture below is of Sam Cortez, the guy who played Reepicheep in our floor C.S. Lewis raid (which reminds me how excited I am about The Voyage of The Dawn Treader coming out on Friday!) All that to say, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
P.S. It’s also looking like finals week.  I’m sure a lot of you have that feeling right now too. One thing I'm working on this week is finishing up my final project for Physics class.  Maybe I will give you more details some other time, but until then, here's a quick video of our basic setup:

Rube Goldberg project

A Long Time

It’s been a long time, or at least a relatively long time… How long is a long time? If you mean the time since I’ve written, considering the fact that I intended to write almost every day, and it’s been almost a month since I last posted then yes it has been a long time. If you mean the time since I’ve been home and seen you all, three months and twelve days, I would also consider that a long time. Well, I can now reset both of those counters, because I’m posting now, and I’ll be home late Wednesday night!

Since I last posted, I have had one major Physics test, one major Microeconomics test and two papers for my Gospel, Church and Culture class. On the 18th, Glee Club had its first practice for Brahm’s Requiem with Maestro John Nelson, who is a conductor who graduated from Wheaton and Juilliard http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Nelson_(conductor). He’s really a great conductor in just about every way. He has a great ear, and a great personality. Last week we had two two hour practices and three three hour practices, plus the performance. It was a ton of time, and by the end my voice was gone, and I was pretty tired and a little behind on my homework, but it was well worth it. You may know that a Requiem is a song traditionally performed at a funeral. Brahm’s wrote this requiem with some really fitting scripture references and the way he ties it in with the music is really incredible. I do not think I could have appreciated it nearly as much if I had not needed to perform it (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahms_Requiem).

There have been several other concerts on campus as well. Keith and Kristyn Getty performed here a few weeks ago. Not only did I get to go to their concert, I also visited a class where Keith Getty talked about how he writes songs. In case you do not recognize the names, the Getty’d wrote “In Christ Alone” and several other “modern hymns.”

As for academics, my Physics class has started studying relativity. If you want a brief overview of what I’m studying the rest of the semester, take a look at this: http://www.onestick.com/relativity/. I showed it to a few guys on my floor the other day and it blew their minds. In my microeconomics class, we have been going back and forth between using a textbook and two other books, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger and Godly Materialism. Then discussing them in class. They are both very interesting books with very different perspectives. To summarize briefly, the first says that American Christians have too much wealth, considering how extremely impoverished people across the world are and that we need to give more of our money away. The second talks about how God wants people to enjoy wealth and that a constant sense of guilt for any excessive material possessions takes away some of the pleasure God wants us to take in the wealth he has blessed us with. I think I would agree with both of those summary statements, but there are some really thought provoking, subtle issues involved.

Once again, I am sorry for not posting for such a long time. I hope you all have a marvelous Thanksgiving, and I hope to see you soon!

Dayzed

Phew, Mondays are long. I woke up at 7:00 this morning, went to breakfast, went to Physics at 8:00, worked on Physics homework until chapel, then went to Calculus, Microeconomics, and Gospel, Church and Culture class all in a row. After those classes I went back to my room to finish my Physics homework and mark my Brahm’s music for Glee Club. By the time I dropped my Physics homework off at the science building I was late for Glee Club. After Glee Club, I went to dinner, and after dinner I came back to my room, sat down at my computer and started typing, which I will probably do until 7:50, when I will leave for the discussion group for my Gospel, Church, and Culture class.
Most of my days aren’t this hectic, and if I had not done so many fun things over the weekend, I would have had a few normal breaks instead of study breaks, but that’s my Monday schedule B-quad. In case you didn’t know, Wheaton has a quad schedule, where some of their classes are semester long and some of their classes are half a semester long, so some classes start and end at fall break. By the way, chapel today was really cool. http://www.wheaton.edu/wetn/chapelfall10.htm. The link might not be up yet, but once you follow this link, just click on The Sons of Korah, November 1st.
So, a lot of you said you wanted stories. So I guess I will put off my Wade Center post for a few more days, sigh. Anyway, last Thursday I went to a performance of Great Expectations, which, thanks to Rylan, I read over the summer. It was performed by Arena Theater, the more official acting group here on campus. I thought it was very well done. If you have seen Our Town performed, you might have a pretty good idea of how this play was performed. Just imagine the entire cast as the stage manager. The actors very rarely left the stage, most of the time they stayed on the stage and narrated. I think almost all the lines came straight out of the book, which didn’t bother me at all, but was really quite impressive considering how long the original book is. I don’t know if I’ve seen a more complete, accurate condensation of such a long book before.
Friday night I went to an improv show which was really fun to watch. Apparently, they have weekly workshops where they teach and practice improv comedy. I think I might try to join one in the spring. Saturday, my Passage group (you remember the camp I went to at Honey Rock) was supposed to go to the biggest corn maze in the world. Unfortunately, only four of us ended up going. Dr. Thorne, Matt (our leader) Ben (from Dr. Thorne’s group last year) and me. We had fun anyway though. The farm with the corn maze had a zip line that went over part of the maze, and also a huge double balloon of sorts where you could get in the inner balloon and roll down a hill inside the giant ball, kind of like a hamster. It cost twenty dollars, so we didn’t do it, but we did have some fun it the corn maze, and we went out to a big patch of pine trees behind the maze and played sardines and capture the flag. Really, I think capture the flag is more fun when you have to dodge Christmas trees every step of the way, there are only two people on your team, and if you get tagged you just go back to your side. It makes for a really fun, quick game.
Last night, some of my friends went out trick or treating, but I went to a small party at Laura’s apartment (Laura is the archivist/my boss at the Wade Center). We had some great snacks and watched It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, The Garfield Halloween Movie, Walt Disney’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and a somewhat spooky fairy tale from Jim Henson’s The Storyteller. I had a great time, but my GC&C class starts in ten minutes, so I will click publish, and say “goodbye.”

Lewis raid

    So picking up somewhere around where I left off, I’ll describe our raid. Here’s the general idea: each floor does one raid a semester. Since my floor has two sister floors, so each of our three floors (4 east, 4 south and 4 west) all raid two floors at once and they get raided twice during the semester. So our floor decided to have a C.S. Lewis themed raid. Those of you who know me may be surprised to know that it wasn’t even my idea, but this is Wheaton. Some people here joke about C.S. Lewis being the patron saint of Wheaton. So we decided on the theme near the beginning of the semester and we’ve been working on it ever since. So Bryce and Sam and I were put in charge of decorations. So Bryce and I made a few trips to pick up pillows and a comforter that we took the stuffing out of for snow, some curtain rods that he turned into swords, and some aluminum trays that we made into shields. He also got a lamp and taped a vase to the top of it to get the classic lamppost look. A sophomore on our floor named Ethan wrote a lot of the script with Jared and a few other guys.  We had a video of a bunch of us listening to Dr. Root give a lecture on C.S. Lewis in his basement (which happened to have a sign that hung in the Eagle and Child) and one of the guys on our floor nodding off, then falling asleep. The idea is that the rest of the raid was his dream. Next was an Inklings scene with Lewis (me), Tolkien (Alec) and Owen Barfield (Jeff). It started with a joke about no one knowing who Owen Barfield was, which I felt a little guilty about the next day when I was pulling articles for a researcher who was studying Owen Barfield at the Wade Center. Supposedly, the Inklings used to try to read awful poetry to each other without laughing, so we wrote the most awful, nonsensical poem we (mainly Jeff) could come up with and had Jeff read it. We named it “emoetry” although apparently we weren’t the first to invent that term. Then we played an autotuned song of the poem, which was somewhat Owl City-esque. A youtube version of the song is below. Anyway, there was also a C.S. Lewis Joepardy scene, which transitioned into a game show for the girls on our sister floor, a Screwtape Letters scene and we also had a hot-cold competition between the floors where they were given a certain task, then one of the guys dressed up as a faun came in and they had to get him to do the task by clapping when he was “warmer”. Then the other floor had to try to do it faster. Then we wrapped up with another Inklings scene and then a video of Stephen waking up in Dr. Root’s class and getting an assignment about looking up emoetry.

     I wanted to talk about the Wade Center here since it’s kind of on topic with the raid, but it’s late again, so I’ll tell you about the Wade Center and the Glee Club tour some other time…

Autotuned emoetry!

Sleep, or _____? Probably _____. Sorry Doc. Walters.

It has been a while since I last posted. These last two weeks have been a bit chaotic. Remember how I ended my last post by mentioning that I was going to try to get to bed earlier? Well, I think I have gotten fewer hours of sleep per week than ever before. I'll try to pick up where I left off last time. If you're interested in seeing the homecoming concert, go to http://www.wheaton.edu/wetn/conservarchive.htm then click on "Homecoming Concert October 22 2010." The orchestra plays for the first half, and about an hour in, the choir comes out and sings the first and fourth movements of Brahm's requiem along with the orchestra.
Monday was my first low sleep night. I can't remember exactly how late I stayed up working on my paper, but I think it was around 2:00 AM which doesn't sound so bad until you know that I wake up at 7:00 every morning, and that I usually get at least 8 hours of sleep. Tuesday morning I turned my wellness research project in. I think after that I spent a long time working on my paper for Introduction to Spiritual Formation a.k.a. the Honey Rock class. At 10:30 I had a practice for my part in our floor's raid (if you don't know what that is, keep reading). Then I think I did my Physics reading. The next day was a regular Wednesday: Physics, Chapel, Microecon and work. I don't remember what I did that evening, but I know I was either memorizing my lines for the raid, studying for Physics, writing my Honey Rock paper, or studying for wellness until after 1 AM, Thursday I went to Wellness class. Of course, Dr. Walters, who is a really great wellness teacher, talked about the importance of sleep and rest... good timing. After that I went straight to a study session for Physics class, which I left early so I could take my pants from Amazon to CPO (College Post Office) to return them. Unfortunately, I needed to print a label for it and get my own packing tape, so I left that task unfinished and ate lunch, then I went to my Physics lab, in which I took too long, and was late for Glee Club (again). After that, I went to dinner, then back to my floor, printed my label, got some packing tape from Bryce, who was working on stuff for the raid, and then finished my task at CPO. After that I went to my room, picked up my guitar and went to a practice for Physics department chapel the next morning. Then I went straight from there to a lecture on the history of antievolutionism in America, from which I went straight to our team's last IM Ultimate Frisbee game. After that, I went back to my floor with just enough time to shower and go to a full run through for our raid... and now it is 11:00 and I actually have a chance to get a reasonable amount of sleep before my Wellness final tomorrow. So I will have to end with a to be continued...

<------ Vote

First off, we had a high in the fifties today. It was cold and windy. I think I will miss the sun. I recently realized that my three biggest projects of the quad (half semester) are due next week: a wellness research paper on the effects of extraversion on happiness is due Tuesday, my first big Physics test is Friday and my paper for the Honey Rock Passage / Intro to Spiritual Formation class is due Saturday, so I might not have time to post next week. The last few days have been pretty exciting. Homecoming was this weekend, so there have been a lot of alumni and their families on campus. Friday, after Physics and chapel I spent some time on Fischer’s lawn for chill day. The weather was great yesterday, and everyone just played volleyball and read and played with Legos. I couldn’t stay for very long though because I had to go directly from lunch to Microecon to the Wade Center to a reception for Dr. Hopper (the Glee Club director) who received the 2010 award for alumni who have contributed to Wheaton. Today (Saturday) I sang the  national anthem with the Glee Club at the homecoming football game against Illinois Wesleyan (we won). Then at 7:00 I got dressed in a tuxedo for the first time and went over to Edman chapel for the homecoming concert. During the first half, the orchestra played a Haydn symphony and two other pieces. After intermission, the choirs came out and sang two movements of Brahm’s requiem. I don’t know if they are going to post the video online. I’ll let you know if they do.

About the poll on the left side, I reset it because I wanted to change a few things. For one thing it looked like everyone was voting for all but three, which really doesn’t help me decide what kinds of things to write. But I do want to know what you all want to know about. Otherwise I’ll just keep rambling about anything. So I would appreciate it if you just take a quick look at the poll and tell me what you think would be interesting to see.

I thought it might be good to let you know about some of the people I spend my time with.The guys in these pictures are Bryce and Drew. The second day I was here they asked me for some help setting up their bunks and desks. Ever since I’ve just ended up hanging out with them a lot. I can’t say that there’s any particular reason except that they’re both really friendly and their room is perfect for hanging out in. You can see why. I eat breakfast and occasionally other meals with them. Drew is knitting. Bryce is wearing glasses. Notice the couch and the posters on the wall. Those are Bryce’s. In their room they have that couch, a big black chair, a little green folding chair that is used for a footstool, a “ghetto” chair, which is the most comfortable, and a thick wooden table with Taj Mahal like shapes around the outside. Bryce got them all for forty five dollars. The couch they’re on in the picture was forty dollars. You can do the math. The posters all over the wall were free. If you couldn’t tell already, Bryce is a bargain hunter. He is from California, a little south of L.A. I think.

Drew started knitting yesterday. One of the first few weeks he bought a big bag of balloons just because they are fun. I think it had a hundred balloons. We didn’t really know what to do with them. One of them was used for the spoons game I told you about to hid the last spoon in. Bryce was actually the runner up in that game. We filled the elevator with them and then threw some in the air and shot them with Nerf darts that had thumb tacks in the end for a sort of slow motion skeet shooting (I feel like I should put some sort of “kids don’t try this at home” disclaimer here…) Drew and I are in the same Wellness class, so when I lost my backpack he was the one who helped me study for the test, and he ran with me to Glen Ellyn once. He also plays guitar and piano and both Drew and Bryce are on our floor’s Ultimate Frisbee team. They live across the hall and two doors down.

It is late now, and I found out this morning that my internal clock does not like me sleeping past 7 AM now. That along with some advice from Dr. Walters has convinced me that I need to go to bed early if I want to sleep, so on that note, farewell.

Short

It may come as a surprise to some of you that I am capable of writing a short blog post. Here’s a quick update, like I promised. If you want to take a look at some videos from President Ryken’s inauguration, here’s a link www.wheaton.edu/wetn then click on inauguration. There are two videos that have the whole ceremony. The music starts about 20 minutes into the first video. I hope you enjoy it.

It’s been a bit of a crazy day. Physics lab was a little long and the power went out this morning. Just a weird day in general. Chill day is tomorrow which means everyone from my floor hangs out on the lawn and just has fun all day. And I need to go to my small group meeting.

Backup

The inauguration of Wheaton’s 8th president, Dr. Philip Ryken was Friday. It was a great ceremony, not to mention historical. Dr. Litfin gave Dr. Ryken a medallion, that the president wears and a baton. There are a lot  of visitors on campus this week and Billy Graham wrote a letter saying that he wished he could come, but he couldn’t. I got the opportunity to sing at the event with Glee Club, Women’s Chorale, and the Concert Choir.

Tuesday night I walked into my room and realized that my backpack was not there. After pausing for just a few moments to search my room (there were not that many places to look), I rushed back to the cafeteria because I realized that I must have set it down to eat, and then left without it. The maintenance men who were there said they hadn’t seen it and when I checked the lost and found, the office was closed and the only person in the office couldn’t open it for me. After that I really felt like I had failed. I had no idea  what I was going to do without my backpack. At first I just hoped that it would turn up at the lost and found early the next morning and that I would be just fine. Then I realized that that was a small chance and that the office opened at 8:30 and my Physics class was at 8:00. I really did not know what I could do. I felt helpless. There was nothing I could do to get my backpack back. If you have read my second blog post, you know that the one thing I consistently worry about is being unprepared, usually because I forgot or lost something, so realizing that I actually was unprepared and there was nothing I could do about it made me feel very vulnerable. It is hard to really remember my emotions vividly in retrospect. I know that I was really struggling to get a good perspective. I was trying to really think about what the consequences were to losing all my homework, notes, textbooks and even my “clicker” a device that Wheaton uses in its science classes for practice questions and to track attendance. I had other notebooks that I could take notes with, and I could borrow someone else’s textbook for the readings so short term I could make things work except for the clicker. I needed that in order to get points for attendance. Then I started thinking along the same lines as when I wrote that earlier post (Goodbye, Aug. 9), “I need to rely on God. I’m supposed to be able to trust God especially when I can’t rely on my own resources.” All these verses came into my head like Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord… and lean not on your own understanding.” or Romans 8:28. I was trying to see how God might be using the situation to be teaching me a lesson, that I needed to depend on him rather than the things I do and own. I tried to think through the worst case scenario of what would happen if I did have to learn this lesson the hard way. If I worked really hard, or spent a lot of money replacing everything, I could get through the semester. If not, I could end up just failing all my classes. I really did feel like I had just made an unfixable error. There didn’t seem to be many good options. The best one seemed to be leaving school and going home. I thought through every option I could, but the only one that seemed appealing was someone coming to me in the next few hours and saying, “Hey I found your name in this backpack. Is it yours?” Anything short of that would have been a big annoyance at the least, and probably somewhat embarrassing.

When I got back to my room, I found my other backpack, which I brought with me so I didn’t ruin my new backpack at camp. Soon, I realized that I also had my Physics notebook and textbook because I had been working on some homework problems earlier. That was a big relief because I had spent at least an hour on that homework already and I only had one or two questions left. My TI-84 Plus graphing calculator was in my backpack, but fortunately, my TI-36X solar scientific calculator was still in my desk drawer. My new, convenient, thinline ESV which was a recent gift from my parents was in my backpack, but I still had my 15 lb. hardcover MacArthur NASB study Bible. I think you can see where this is going. I felt like the astronauts on Apollo 13 returning to earth after all their primary systems had failed them, but it looked like I just might survive. In fact, the only things I could not find replacements for were my syllabi, my “clicker” and my notebook with all my past notes in it. I later remembered that I had taken my textbooks out so that my backpack would be lighter for Glee Club, which I hardly ever do.

In general things worked out, but it was a rough week. I had some extra events in my schedule due to the inauguration and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra concert on campus, especially since I helped direct traffic for the CSO concert and had to practice singing for the inauguration. I also had a high school student who is considering attending Wheaton staying in my room Thursday night.  However, we had an unusual collaboration day in Physics on Wednesday, so I didn’t need my notes or clicker, and a good friend on my floor let me study for a wellness test on Thursday from his notes. I was really worried about Friday. I kept telling myself, as long as I have my backpack back by Friday, I’ll be fine. But it didn’t turn up. By the way, for you fans of “La Robe” it is still alive and well on the Wheaton campus. The picture is of Andrew’s birthday last Saturday, and it also turned up on Thursday, to the awkward surprise of the highschool student who was visiting. By the way, thank you for all your birthday wishes. You have no idea how great it was to hear from all of you during a time that was really rough for multiple reasons. I know the picture is terrible. If you really want a good picture, I’m sure you can find one on Facebook, this one is from my phone. Actually, while I’m at it, the picture at the top really has nothing to do with this post, it’s from when I went downtown with Andrew’s friends for the Jazz fest, but it’s a good picture.

So, back to the backpack. Friday morning, I still did not have my backpack. I had to tell Dr. Craig that I lost my clicker (again, I lost it after the first class as well. That time it was hiding behind my textbooks) Right before class, I was still frustrated. During class I could barely focus and stop thinking about whether it would be better to have to explain why I was missing my clicker again or whether I should just lose my points for being absent. I was disappointed, but after I checked the lost and found again, I had pretty much given it up for lost. I should mention that there was a full backpack there, and I was jealous of the person who had probably made the same mistake I had made, but their backpack ended up in the lost and found. After that passed, I had gotten to the point where I realized I could live without it. I was disappointed, and I really wished I could do something to get it back, but I didn’t see anything I could do. So I just decided that I needed to do whatever I could without my backpack, thank God that I had not lost more and do my best with what I still had. Afterwards I went to microeconomics class, and borrowed a syllabus from a friend, then I ate and changed clothes and went to the inauguration. After the inauguration I actually had my first opportunity to rest since Tuesday. I finally felt somewhat peaceful, like I didn’t have to worry about it, and that I might have to work harder, but everything would work out. After dinner, I left the cafeteria with a friend, then remembered that earlier someone had told me that sometimes when people find things in the cafeteria, they put them on the coat rack. So I stopped, and went back in, thinking that after all the places I checked, that was the least likely. I glanced at the rack, and there was a backpack. After a sort of double take I realized that it was a backpack that looked just like mine. It really was a fantastic surprise. I picked it up and spun around to tell my friend who was behind me. After a moment I realized I should look inside to make sure it was actually my backpack and it was. I have to say, I don’t think I really understood the parable of the woman with the lost coins before. Now I do. I really did feel like throwing a party.

One more thing, Wednesday is Bilbo and Frodo Baggins’ birthday. If you get a chance, wish your friends’ toe hair long life.

Routine Running

Three weeks sounds like a pretty long time to me. You would think that after having the same schedule for three weeks, a person could feel like they were actually starting to get used to a routine. I am feeling a bit more comfortable with my schedule and classes now, but I still have trouble with some really simple things like being on time. I have been on time for work and for all my classes so far, but I have not been quite as punctual for some other things. Over Labor Day weekend, Andrew and I bought weekend train passes and we ended up going downtown three different times. The first time, Andrew and David (who was visiting for the weekend) went downtown and saw the sights, but I had practice that morning with Glee Club and the other choirs (we practiced with Women’s Chorale and the concert Choir) so I went downtown with a friend and met them for dinner. It turned out that the line at Giordano’s was longer than we thought it would be and by the time we finished eating it was only twenty minutes before the time that our train was supposed to leave. We started walking back to the train station, then David suggested running. About one block later my shoe lace snapped. I don’t know how to describe running in practically laceless shoes. The hardest part is keeping your foot flat instead of lifting your heel first. If you have run for a long distance in flip-flops you probably have a pretty good idea of what I’m talking about. I think I just realized why a certain muscle in my right leg was particularly sore when we were walking downtown the next day. In any case, we made it to the station out of breath, and saw the train still in the station, but the guard wouldn’t let us get on because the doors were already closed. So we ended up sitting in the station’s food court working on a crossword puzzle and reading for two hours until the 10:40 train came. Since then, I think I have run to catch three trains at College Ave. I have caught all of them so far, but I’d rather not get into the habit of it, if it isn’t already too late. I think I know what my problem is. The first full day I was here I timed my walk from my room to the cafeteria: six minutes. So ever since, I think I have been subconsciously assuming that it only takes six minutes to walk anywhere on campus, which just is not true. I now know that it takes about six minutes to run to the train station. And about ten minutes to power walk to the conservatory building or the Wade Center. Fortunately, except for Thursdays, when my Physics lab ends at 4:05 (unless my group takes longer, like the last two weeks) to get to Glee Club at 4:15, I’m usually not far from where I need to be. My microeconomics class is right in the middle of campus so it is easy to get to the Wade Center, and my science classes and labs are right next to the student center/cafeteria, so it only takes about three minutes (and two flights of stairs) to get to my Physics class from breakfast.
Last Sunday (the day after the failed train run), Andrew, David, some of Andrew’s friends and I went downtown. We tossed a Frisbee at the park and hung out at the Jazz Fest, then we went to Navy Pier, then the beach (yes there is a beach in downtown Chicago). It’s kind of funny, I remember a certain muscle in my right leg being really sore that day, and I could not understand why. It just occurred to me that it may have had something to do with the awkward way that I ran to the train station the day before. Since then I have been hanging out with a certain group of Andrew’s friends quite a bit and it turns out one of them is in my Physics class and another is the T.A. for that Physics lab and is in Women’s Chorale, and I tend to run into them around campus. It’s a bit confusing when they call Andrew, “Flavin” but to make things easier they call me “little Flavin”, which I think is funny because not very many people call me little anymore. It was really fun hanging out with them. We had a lot of fun.
In my Wellness class, one assignment is to exercise for at least half an hour five days a week. It doesn’t sound very hard, and it really should not be very hard. Nevertheless, it’s been a struggle for me. It has been a little easier since I joined an intermural Ultimate Frisbee team, and there is a swing dancing club that meets on Tuesdays, but the other three days are hard for me. I think it’s mainly because I don’t really know what to do. Half an hour is not really that long, and I do generally enjoy exercise, but the only sport really played at home was racquetball, and they don’t have racquetball courts here. I might take up tennis, but until then, my primary alternatives are running and weight lifting, neither of which are particularly thrilling to me. A few days ago I went running with someone on my floor named Drew. We ran for about fifteen minutes until we got to the Glen Ellyn library, spent a few minutes there and ran back. I enjoyed that, but mainly just because it was something new. Last night, I was starting to get worried because it was late, and I had not gotten my exercise in yet. It was during open floors so a few guys from our floor went to the lobby on our sister floor and started playing spoons with some of the girls there. After we started kept thinking, “I should really get going, I still need to get in my half an hour of exercise.” But then we started playing Ultimate Spoons. In case you haven’t played spoons before, it’s pretty simple, all you need to do is pass cards around in a circle, keeping four cards in your hand at a time, until someone has four of the same number, then they can grab a spoon. There is one less spoon than people playing, so one person ends up without a spoon and that person is out. Ultimate Spoons is more like an extreme Easter egg hunt. Instead of placing the spoons in the middle of the circle, we put the spoons all over our floor and our sister floor. So, as soon as someone got a set of four, everyone bolted for the door and sprinted down the hall. Of course, the lobby door was facing the other direction, so to get out of the lobby we had to turn 180 degrees and sprint the other direction, then we had to turn 90 degrees and sprint past the stairwell and down our floor. Near the end of the game, when there were only a few people left, other people started hiding the spoons all over the place. In one round, I ran from one end of the hall to the other three times, and another time up and down four flights of stairs a few times, once someone gave us a hint about the last two spoons. For the last round, on a hunch I popped a balloon lying on the ground and found the last spoon. Since I lasted all the way to the end, I counted that for my exercise yesterday. I’m not sure what my professor will think when he sees “extreme spoons” on my workout log, but I underlined “extreme” three times, so hopefully he’ll get the idea.
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Adjustment

Update: I am currently taking Physics, Microeconomics and Wellness. I was accepted into Wheaton’s Men’s Glee Club, which I am really excited about. I will also be working at the Marion E. Wade center, which I am also really excited about. If you’re curious: www.wheaton.edu/wadecenter Those of you who know I am planning on majoring in engineering may be surprised that I am not taking any math classes. It’s a bit complicated, but for blog purposes, I’ll just say that I am reviewing Calc I this semester to make sure I’m ready for Calc II in the spring. I think in a future post I will have to post some pictures of the new science building where my Physics class is. It really isn’t totally complete yet. The museum in the basement is still being organized, the pendulum is in place, but its display is still being assembled, and a few of Perry’s (the mastodon) skeletal components are not quite in their proper places yet. In any case, the classrooms and labs are just fine and it’s a really nice building, with lots of room and natural lighting. I haven’t decided yet how much detail I want to go into on this blog, but I’d love to e-mail you about any questions you have, or if you want to know more about something.
I’m still trying to get into the routine of things. It’s a little weird just being on campus and being a student here. It’s especially strange (and in a way less strange) because I have visited here a few times as a non-student. It really is different. I remember sitting in the library by myself when I was visiting Andrew here before. I had this sort of feeling like I was in a place I did not belong. I remember going into the basement of the library and finding David Copperfield (which I had been reading at home). For those of you in book club, this should give you a hint as to how long it took me to finish it. I found my place in the different edition, which sounds easy, but remember David Copperfield is a big book, and I had not read it in a week or so. Then I sat down at a table. I remember the whole time, having this guilty feeling like I was doing something wrong. I don’t think I would have felt much different if there had been a sign right next to me reading, “Students only”. I hoped that I blended in, and that everyone would think I was a student, but everyone else I saw had a backpack (and a heavy looking one at that). I had no backpack. So I sat and read and hoped no one asked me any questions.
A few days ago, it must have been Friday, I went into the library. I had to print a worksheet. So I sat down at a computer and tried to login. I did something wrong, so I went to the desk and asked for help. He showed me some little thing I had missed, and of course he asked if I was a freshman. Maybe he was trying to be polite, because it seems obvious that only a freshman would not know how to log into the library computer system. After I finished printing, I went downstairs to the basement, and I went to the same table, right by the Shakespeare section. This time I didn’t have to try to look like I had something to do. I pulled some textbooks out of my backpack and started reading. While I was there I began thinking about how perfect this contrast would be for a blog post. I think you can see the contrast. For one thing, the basement was empty because it was too early in the year for any tests or research assignments. Beyond that, I actually belonged there. I had my student I.D. card in my wallet and I was actually a part of the community. About one quarter of the people I saw (upstairs) looked vaguely familiar. And I knew the names of one or two of them. It was an interesting experience. I’ll leave it at that.

Arrival

I spent the 10th through the 18th at Honey Rock. It was a really great camp. All the guys in my cabin spent a lot of time together and we got to know each other really well. We were always the last group to go to bed because almost every night we spent time around a campfire talking and stargazing. When the moon set, the stars were incredible. I don’t have a lot of pictures, mainly because I didn’t want to take a digital camera to a lake or bog or to play basketball. I did get a few pictures at my cabin though. Here I’ve posted two pictures of Roz, our cabin night guard. The first is a picture of her with a can of her favorite soda, and in the second she is carrying a picture of our faculty member, Dr. Mark Thorne in front of the wailing wall in Jerusalem. He teaches Greek and Latin.  Dr. Thorne came for the second half of the week and did almost everything with us. Our group will be meeting together with him later in the year. I should also add that we had a really great group leader named Matt who is a Junior at Wheaton. He led 9th graders on wilderness trips at Honey Rock for most of the summer. He reminded me a little bit of Wooton Basset.

We did some pretty exciting things at Honey Rock. It really is a great camp. They have horseback riding (which our whole group did), mountain biking (which I did with Phillip, Jay and David and was really sore afterwards), sailing, archery, riflery and a lot of other activities. There were also challenge courses which our team had to work on together. In one we were strapped into a harness and climbed up a tall pole. Then we had to jump off the top of the pole and grab a handkerchief hanging in front of us, while the rest of our team stood below and held the ropes that kept us from falling. We also had to get our whole team over a twelve foot wall while some of us were given temporary disabilities.

Wednesday night we arrived at Wheaton. I moved all my stuff from camp into my dorm room. Mom and Dad and Andrew met me on Thursday and we spent some time moving everything into my room and doing laundry and getting things set up. Since then I have gone to a lot of floor meetings and events, and some speeches about what Wheaton is about and rules for residence halls. Fortunately, I was already somewhat familiar with the rules and with the layout of campus, so that has not been too overwhelming. Now I an just trying to make sure my room and my books are organized and that I am ready for classes to start Wednesday. I’m looking forward to classes starting, but I feel like if I don’t have everything organized before they start, I’m going to have trouble keeping up. I still do not know what clubs or groups I will be involved in or what kind of job I am going to get. There is an organization fair tomorrow, and a part time job fair Wednesday. I would appreciate it if you pray for me to make decisions about how to spend my time. I have a feeling it will be really easy to overwhelm myself.

I look forward to hearing from you all.

Goodbye

I am leaving early tomorrow morning to fly to Illinois where I will get on a bus which will take me to a camp in Wisconsin. I will be spending a week there, and then I will go back to Wheaton’s campus where I will begin orientation. Classes start after orientation. While I am at the camp I will not have access to the internet or a phone, so this will be my last blog post for a little while.
If you have worked with me in plays or TeenPact or book club you know that I have a tendency to be a little worried that I am not prepared for whatever I need to do. I tend to think that I did not spend enough time working on my lines, or that I should have printed extra copies of a certain paper, or that I was not very clear when I explained to another person what they were supposed to do. By the front door I have a duffel bag, a large suitcase and a backpack. All three are filled with various items that I think I will need with me when I leave. There are probably some things that are already packed that I will not really need, and there are other things that I have not packed yet that I really should pack (I think I would miss my toothbrush a lot). If I know myself, even after I am on the plane I will still be wondering about what I left behind that would have come in handy. Maybe I’m right to worry. After all, in all probability, I will not see anything that I leave behind for several months. I know that I am capable of forgetting important things and I would not be a bit surprised if I did forget something important and shockingly obvious. It really is not an unreasonable fear.
There is just one problem, in the last few days, I think there have been three different times that I have either read or heard in a song or heard someone say that “God is all I need.” I said it myself along with the song. Then, I thought about it. If someone asked me what I need, I would give them a long list. It would be pretty similar to the list of things by my front door right now, and it would include a few other things like air, water, food and people. The idea that God would take care of me even if I boarded the plane tomorrow with only the clothes on my back seems ridiculous. However, it really comes down to a question of which I trust more, God or my duffel bag. Maybe that sounds like a dumb question, but when I really think about it, that question really bothers me because I know I put a lot of faith in my duffel bag’s ability to get me through the week.
I know all the answers. God wants me to do more than get through the week. He wants me to know him better next week than I did this week, and He is way more than able to make it happen. He also can give me everything I need to survive next week, even the things I might forget to put in my duffel bag. There is still something in me that doubts. It wants to worry about packing my duffel bag until it is overflowing with things I do not need. It makes me want to reach in my pocket to make sure my wallet is still there every few minutes. It makes me want to put my duffel bag at my feet where I can see that no one else with a similar bag will carry it off the plane. My head is on track, I do not know where the rest of me is. I can only hope that something in my head finds a chink in the armor of that other something in me.
There is one more thing I need to say. When I leave for the next few months, I will be leaving behind more than my house. I will also be leaving most of my friends here. I have had some great friends over the years. Some have come and gone, others I still see at least once a week. I can’t say how each of them has impacted me. I just know God has blessed me far beyond what I deserve. This blog is meant mainly for you. So I thank you and I thank God for you. I guess it is time to say goodbye now. I will be back, but until then, stay in touch. I would love your comments, mail, e-mail, etc. sorry, tweets and profile pics do not count. May you all farewell.
Romans 15:13.

- The First

This is an introduction. My purposes for beginning this blog are twofold. In the first place, I would like to address all of my friends who have said that I “need to get a Facebook so I can keep up with everyone while I’m gone.” I think it will be sufficient to say that I see advantages and disadvantages to having a Facebook account, and I am not yet convinced that the benefits outweigh the costs. My first reason for beginning this blog is to prove that I am interested in keeping up with all my friends from home and that I am merely embargoing Facebook, not all online communication. I do hope to stay in touch with all of the friends I have made in high-school and previous years, and I hope it is not too narcissistic of me to hope that if anyone is actually curious about how I am faring at college they will be willing to type in my blog’s address rather than watch updates scroll down their walls. I will try to keep a few pictures and quick updates near the top of the page. However, for anyone who still believes in paragraphs, I plan to have some of those for you as well, which brings me to my second purpose.

You may be wondering about the title of my blog. After searching for a good name for several days, it occurred to me to look through books by authors such as Lewis, Chesterton and Shakespeare for a metaphor, name or idea that might inspire a title. In How to Read Slowly by James Sire, I ran across a quote from Hamlet: Polonius asks what Hamlet is reading. Hamlet replies, “Slanders, sir; for the satirical rogue says here that old men have grey beards, that their faces are wrinkled, their eyes purging thick amber and plum-tree gum, and that they have a plentiful lack of wit, together with most weak hams; all which sir, though I most powerfully and potently believe, yet I hold it not honesty to have it thus set down; for you yourself, sir, should be as old as I am, if like a crab you could go backward.” Polonius responds, -aside, so as not to offend- “Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.” This may be a long introduction, but it’s hard to go wrong when quoting Shakespeare.

Polonius may have been the first to point out the idea of a method in madness, but Hamlet was not the first to fain madness to ease a king’s suspicions. King David did it (before he was a king: 1 Samuel 21:13-15). Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland is an fascinating example of a mixture of method and madness. I have heard people say that Lewis Carroll’s work is meaningless and that it is merely the product of brain fever, narcotics and alcohol, but there always seemed to be some sort of pattern or message or rhythm behind it that made me wonder. Surely, Wonderland is nonsense, but maybe there was a method. To the best of my knowledge, madness and method are contradictory. Can two contradictory things exist simultaneously? They say oil and water do not mix, but the human body and the Gulf Coast both seem to have sufficient amounts of both right now. Oil and water may not mix, but surely they mingle. If method and madness truly contradict each other, methodical madness must be either method disguised as madness or madness disguised as method or little pieces of both thrown incomprehensibly together.

The Man who Was Thursday describes certain adventures of a man named Gabriel Syme. Throughout the book, Syme encounters character after character and situation after situation that are downright perplexing. The most perplexing of which is Sunday who seems to have planned every event that occurred throughout the book. All the madness in the entire book was merely his method of working his plan out. In the end, some things make sense, others do not. I think this earth is like that. Chaos and order dance and flow through our lives, combining then parting. One disappears altogether then wrestles and emerges the stronger of the two. Finally, one realizes it is all a matter of perspective. Most of the little pieces make sense. Then we try to step back and see the real picture, but then all our reasoning turns into madness. We see a pattern here and a pattern there, but the two patterns do not fit together like they should. Our perspective is not big enough to see the universal pattern. So all we see is madness.

Jesus Christ and Paul his apostle, also used methodical madness. Most people were bewildered by Jesus’ teaching. They did not understand what he meant by water that would quench thirst forever or how a kingdom could be like a mustard seed. Paul talked about how “God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise” and said that Christ crucified was foolishness to Gentiles. I would be very impressed if someone could explain to me in a literal, logical, comprehensible manner why one innocent man died and how that saved thousands of guilty people. I believe it. I do not understand it.

I know this is long and unorganized, but I think that way sometimes. This blog will not normally be like this. But this is an introduction.