Mín Englisc Blog

Because of matters such as Christmas and driving both ways to Lafayette twice, Dad decided to take a week of vacation. Although we're still in Belle Center, Dad got to sit with us in the pews :-) Mr Bump, our ruling elder, preached both services on the Feast of Weeks. Attendance was just 32, which I think is pretty much full attendance anymore.
Hope you've had a good year in 2006!

Not much happened today. I tried to watch a library-borrowed DVD of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, but the disc is damaged. Much of my time today was spent on constructing a 1000piece puzzle that we got in Ireland, featuring castles in Northern Ireland.
Isaac returned from the CYPU Winter Conference, having had a great time. I must say, it was odd being at home with him gone — it's usually the other way around. It also was odd not going, since this was the first time in six years that I'd neither attended nor visited. I suppose that, now that I'm a sophomore in college, most of my friends are graduated; the only people who were there whom I would like to have seen were Nathan Hart and Grace Hanson. There are far more people now, male and female, whom I am ready to see at the college conference over Martin Luther King weekend. It's hard to believe that's just two weeks away, and that I'll be in Beaver Falls again in less than a week.
By the way, for any of you who have not heard but know them, Ryan Cerbus and Laura Zimmovan are now betrothed!
Lately, I've been wondering about my joints. I know that everything is in God's hands, but it's still bothering me. Since I began school, my neck and knees have become far easier to pop out (like one cracking knuckles), and therefore far more frequent. Just today, as I was sitting on the floor working the puzzle, I couldn't sit cross-legged for very long before my knees began to hurt. It's been especially bad since the beginning of the semester; Mom's wondering if my joints still aren't recovered from my weightlifting class. I sure hope so. What a blessing to be cared for by God whatever happens!

Last night, as I was getting into bed, I realised, "I didn't post today!"
Much of yesterday was taken up with travelling, as we went to Columbus for a bookstore and a mall. Other than a quick visit to the in-a-mall Bass Pro Shop (for Isaac) in Cincinnati last week, in which we never left the store itself, I don't think I'd been in a mall since January or February, with the Scout troop in Beaver Falls.

Gerald Rudolph Ford, former President of the United States of America, passed away late in the evening of 26 December 2006, age 93.

Happy Christmas!

About to leave for the house of one of Dad's brothers and his wife; my uncle and aunt are hosting our family Christmas celebration tomorrow.

Since it's been a full week since Grumps' funeral, I decided tonight to remove the mourning and restore the blog to its normal condition.
Much of my day I spent reading my newly-purchased biography of Tsar Aleksandr II of Russia, who freed Russia's serfs (analogous to creating a 13th Amendment autocratically) in the 1860s and began paving the way for representative democracy, only to be assassinated on the day that he approved a parliament.
Before lunch, all of us drove to the county nursing home to visit a member at church who lives there. Except for Dad, none of us had seen the impressive new facility that was opened recently; modern design with wide open areas ad panelled flooring makes it far better than older brick buildings with plain, uninteresting simple hallways with little room.
This evening, we finally decorated the Christmas tree, less than 36 hours before Christmas and a full day after getting it.
Instead of continuing the biography as planned, I spent much of my time after the tree watching much of the classic movie version of The Sound of Music on television. I've not seen that movie in quite a while, and I'm glad to have seen it. It's truly a sad yet joyful story, as someone watching it can understand that all will eventually turn out fine, yet all pass through such hardships. While the baronness may not be most pleasant-seeming person, and while she certainly uses her wiles to her best advantage, it still must be crushing to discover Maria returned from the abbey. How could one ever experience that scene? I cannot but think that it would be extremely difficult for the captain: having had his new love disappear securely, he has just pledged his troth when the other one shows up. As he says, how can you marry someone when you're in love with someone else? But how can you give up on someone like that so fast, give up for nothing the other person has done? I pray that I might never be placed in a situation where this is even a possibility. Good it is for them that all works out, and that the baronness is not so enraged or disappointed that she begins attacking them, but the film still brings out a sad mood. It reminds me strongly of the loneliness I remember from before going to college, being isolated from many people whom then and now I would see far more often. I rejoice that God places me among friends during the schoolyear!

Well, I finally got around to signing up for a new Blogger account, the Google accounts. But now it appears that I have to create a new profile, add the new user to this blog, etc. That will wait.
This morning, we got our Christmas tree. Wait until tomorrow to decorate it. Could be worse: when Mom was young, Grandpa once bought a Christmas tree on Christmas Eve for just 50¢ :-)
I had a haircut this afternoon. I'm thankful not to be able to see my hair for the first time in a few weeks.
As well, I visited the dentist this afternoon. He says that I have one good wisdom tooth, one coming in somewhat crooked (the first one's mate), and two that haven't broken the surface yet. We'll see what happens.

Little more has happened today. I finished reading Oliver Twist and have begun on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. I may end up spending much of the rest of this break just reading classics :-)

Our trip to visit Grandmother went rather well. I'd post more, but I'm sleepy.

Isaac has been telling some funny stories tonight, copied from the public discussion forums for the new Flight Simulator. Some of these are ineptness, like the guy who switched his video and sound cards. Some of these are design errors, like the air traffic control that instructs you to descend to 6000 feet when the mountain is 6200 feet high (remember to use the secret tunnel!) or the runway with the highway running across it. Some of these are human error, like the guy whose rudder pedals wouldn't work because his son unplugged them. I most like the tree in the middle of the runway, the instructor that says that a 90º bank (i.e. exactly halfway between right-side-up and upside-down) is not steep enough, and the messed-up ATC :-)

Little has happened for me today. I've not gone outside, I've not done any heavy work, I've not chatted with anyone on AIM, and I've not even eaten much. I'm mostly recovered now from the illness (thank God that it was so quick and easy!), but it still makes me rather tired and slow. At least I have done two things: (1) rearranged many books in my room and done a little cleaning otherwise, and (2) slept until 10AM :-)
Tomorrow, we're to go down to visit Grandmother. As Dad remarked with tears, it will be unusual and sad to visit Grandmother in the Breeze building without having anyone to visit in the Bodmann building.

Today is Grandmother's birthday.
On Saturday, the funeral was well-conducted. Grumps (until his mind was mostly gone) was always one to be joking, and the service included many notes about that, but central to the funeral service was the rôle of Christianity in Grumps' life. Apparently, while looking through Grumps' papers, two of Dad's siblings found a miniature hymnal of selections Grumps considered his favorite hymns. As the church's associate pastor noted, it was appropriate for a structural engineer that many of these hymns had to do with foundations :-)
So often when I think of a funeral for a long-married man, I imagine a widow bowed with grief, sometimes unable to do much of anything. I was so thankful to see how well Grandmother was taking it, at least on the outside. Although she carried a cane, she used it no more than she usually does, and I once saw her even rising onto the balls of her feet. She cried relatively little, maintaining a calm face a large portion of the time, and she was able to laugh at several times throughout the day. This is an example of the importance of assurance in Christ: although Grandmother has lost someone to whom she'd been girlfriend, fiancée, and wife for over 60 years, she is able to rest in Christ's care and trust in Christ's care for Grumps. As I told Grandmother, what I really appreciated about the service was its emphasis on the centrality of Christ combined with a celebration of the joy of life in Christ.
There were eight pallbearers: Dad, his two brothers and his brother-in-law, Isaac, me, and our two male cousins.

Since Saturday, I've done relatively little. The "highlight" of the past day, which hasn't been very high, is that I've developed somewhat of a stomach bug, which caused me to vomit a few times overnight, and which kept my parents and me up much of the night. I'm glad to be doing a good deal by evening :-)

Well, I'm back at home. The trip was largely uneventful, and it's good to be home.
Grumps' funeral is to be tomorrow at 1100 at Northminster Presbyterian Church, where Dad and his siblings grew up, and where my grandparents have been members since the late 1950s. The visitation is to be 0930-1100, although we the family are planning to be there at 0900 to have half an hour for ourselves.
This morning, I turned in my final assignment for the semester. Because of Grumps' death, Dad called the professor (Werthmuller) before he was able to contact me, and the professor told him (and then repeated it to me when I went to see him) that I could have until Monday to complete the assignment if necessary. I didn't need to; I figured that if I could turn in work on time that I had typed in Allegheny General Hospital, I could do this.
Thanks so much to Professor Werthmuller for another great class! I truly enjoyed HIS 270 with him, studying his specialty of the Middle East: it was my favorite class this semester. I so appreciate how he's always seeking to help if possible (as he said, he's our professor whenever we need help, not only when we have a class with him), such as by reminding us that he understands that family emergencies are more important than immediate turn-in of schoolwork. I just think back to watching Wit in HUM 103 last fall: the professor has a flashback to her days of teaching, when she completely rejected a request for a small extension from a student whose grandparent had just died. I'm thankful I don't have a professor like that!

Laurence Malvin Pockras: 12 August 1927-14 December 2006

Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?

I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.

Sorry for no posts for two days and such weak posts before that! I have to get work done (actually, sleep) for my test in the morning, but I hope to post more soon. Please bear in mind that I have a test (speech class) at 1010 today and that I have my big paper (finished over a day ago! :-) due tomorrow afternoon and another (much shorter) essay due on Friday. I should tell you that I think the US history final went well, and today's humanities test (according to my professor) went very well indeed.

HIS 252 test at 8:00.

Augusto Pinochet, the former Chilean dictator, has died.

Nine hours of sleep I find to be a fine night of sleep.
As I write the long paper for HIS 221, I am so glad that I took extensive notes! Although tons of what I noted I already knew, it saves tons of time with attribution: according to the paper's instructions, "You do not need to cite notes from class since class lecture/material is considered 'universal' information."

Except the LORD shall build the house The builders lose their pain; Except the LORD the city keep The watchmen watch in vain.
'Tis vain for you to rise betimes, Or late from rest to keep, To eat the bread of toil; for so He gives His loved ones sleep.
Lo, children are the LORD's good gift; Rich payment are men's sons. The sons of youth as arrows are In hands of mighty ones.
Who has his quiver filled with these, O happy shall he be; When foes they greet within the gate They shall from shame be free.

So often I find it hard to trust God when I prepare for difficulty. How will I ever get through POL 352 when I take it several semesters from now? But now I am thankful for God's care: despite having this large paper with little warning, and despite having spent two days without doing any work on it (due to working on another paper due sooner), yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.
I have slept very little recently, getting a maximum of six hours nightly for the last week. First it was my group speech, and then it was the humanities paper. Now it's the history paper. I figure that I've written two pages of the history paper so far in perhaps two hours or even less, so I can write a good deal more tomorrow. Therefore, I'm going to go to bed and trust God, who loves me, to give me sleep.

Rejoice: for classes are done!

By the way: here on campus we don't have any geese wandering around.

O LORD, keep me through this last week of classes. Thank you so much for allowing me yet to be here, not resting with my fathers under a stone. What blessing it is to be able to run, which I once could not some months ago. Let me never forget that the hardships I endure are the signs of your grace in putting me where I am.

Nú wé sculon herian /// heofonríčes Weard,
Meotodes meahte /// and his módģeþanc,
weorc Wuldor-Fæder, /// swá hé wundra ģehwæs,
éče Dryhten, /// ór onstealde.
Hé ǽrest scóp /// ielda bearnum
heofon to hrófe, /// háliģ Scieppend;
þá middanģeard /// manncynnes Weard,
éče Dryhten, /// æfter téode,
fírum foldan, /// Fréa eallmihtiģ.

I believe that I finally have my finals schedule worked out. It's changed so much that I've had quite a hard time keeping track of it!
• PED 101: no final — :-) to be done with the class as of this morning!
• COM 101: a final exam on Thursday morning — rescheduled from Wednesday morning. Seven days until final.
• HUM 303: a final exam on Wednesday morning along with a paper (nearly done) that's occupied most of my time over the last couple of days. Six days until final.
• HIS 221: a final paper (not yet begun) due Thursday afternoon, assigned yesterday, with a minimum length of ten pages and greater length welcome. Seven days until final.
• HIS 252: a final exam on Tuesday. Five days until final.
• HIS 270: a take-home exam due on Friday afternoon. Eight days until final.
Today was our first real snowfall of the year. I just wonder what it's like for the freshman on second floor who is from Lusaka, Zambia.

Today's speech went mostly well, but I've been busy on other matters the rest of the day. This morning, I got the assignment for the first of my three final papers, for my humanities class on the subject of modernism/postmodernism. Ug. I guess this is what I get with a professor who says she likes postmodernism in art :-)

Major speech tomorrow.

Dr. Robson preached this morning from the Song of Mary in Luke 1. This evening, I attended College Hill to hear Zach Kail preach, for which he used as his source text the part of Matthew 14 in which Jesus walks on the water.

Well, despite plans, I'm still on campus tonight. I was supposed to stay overnight with my friend Josh Kail (with whom I stayed overnight several weeks ago) in south Pittsburgh and worship at the nearby Providence RPC tomorrow morning. However, his schedule didn't work out: at College Hill, where he's a member, Pastor Selvaggio is finishing a series on exclusive psalmody that Josh wants to hear, and Josh's brother (currently under care of the Presbytery of the Alleghenies) is preaching tomorrow night at College Hill. Therefore, it's been postponed to next week, the last weekend of the semester.
This evening, I attended the annual Genevans Christmas Concert at First Presbyterian Church downtown, which was very similar to the Genevans' concert last Christmas. Michael Fulk was responsible for my being able to attend: since the church is downtown (a place where I will not walk at night) and maybe two miles from here, I would have had a hard time attending if he'd not picked me up on his way in from Gibsonia on Pittsburgh's north side. I was amazed to see how many people I know that are in the choir: of its fifty-three members, I know twenty, plus nine others whose names I know. It doesn't hurt that a disproportionately-large number of RPs are in it :-)
After returning from the concert, I rearranged my room slightly. We'll see how it works to have the bookshelf and bed reversed. At least this way I have more space around the window; I may end up moving my desk as a result. I've never liked having my desk directly in front of the window, but the previous layout permitted nothing else.

Last night I discovered something interesting about Mike Minor, a sophomore who lives on the other side of my hallway. Apparently, he will be changing his major (to what, I'm not sure) and transferring to a school in Arizona (again, not sure) that has whatever his major will be. I've never been close with Minor, but it won't be nice to see him leave after knowing him for a year and a half (he lived in Pearce basement last year). Minor, by the way, is the guy inside the ninja outfit in the picture I posted some time ago.
In exchange for Minor, we're getting another of last year's PB residents: Christian Ericsson. Christian, who is currently on studyabroad in Lithuania, is known by virtually everyone who was on campus last year. Besides his friendly and outgoing personality, he has an amazing memory for names, helping him to fit into any group and get to know any person much easier than most people can.
After hearing of Minor's transfer, I mentioned it to Scott, who also lived in Pearce basement last year. His reply: "I heard about that last spring." I guess that's what happens when I don't live on the same floor :-) Further illustrating this is that the guy across the hall from me, who was on Pearce1 with me last year, didn't find out until last night either!