Mín Englisc Blog

Micah preached today from the first six verses of I John 4, discussing the importance of "testing the spirits" by considering the teaching that we receive, whether from preachers (especially on TV) or from others. He used an interesting image: when he was in art school, he asked and was allowed to eat from some food next to a foreign student; when he asked what it was, the other student said that he didn't know, and only later Micah realised that the other student was not joking. Instead, the food had simply been sitting, wrapped in aluminium foil, in the corner of a room. Similar to this was his point: we shouldn't take in any teaching any more than he should take in any food like that.
Attendance was great again today, 61: Luke's family was visiting him for the weekend, and Mrs Adams' birthday yesterday caused all of her sons and many of their family members to attend today.

Tonight, the RA of floor 2 told Luke and me that he had several handfuls of pistachios that we might eat or take, as many as we wanted; it's nice to have pistachios for the first time in a long time!

All papers for this week are now turned in, and I'm about done studying for my test early tomorrow morning. The only specific thing that I'm really fearing is the discussion of the literary aspects of the psalms: the book that we're using analyses the psalms rather differently from the approach followed in my textbook last semester, and the principles in that book became well-engrained in me; I hope I don't get confused. It doesn't help that, for some reason, the author of this book says that lament psalms always have a statement of confidence in God; would Psalm 88 not be considered a lament in this psalm? I just hope that I don't answer in accord with what I had last semester, such as by noting that a psalm is a thanksgiving psalm when this book would classify it apparently as a praise psalm.

On Monday, my English professor announced that today's class at 8:00 would be cancelled. Combine that with getting to bed a little earlier, and I'm feeling absolutely great this morning. It's so nice to have a little break, not have to get up quite so early for once :-)


Lakeview, a village near Belle Center

This morning, I had a big test for my Late Antiquity class. I know the material, but of course a written test is always subject to the professor's interpretation...hopefully he finds my answers highly satisfactory.
As I type this post, I'm attending the Roommate Game event of Homecoming Week in Skye Lounge. I'd hoped to participate, especially because Luke had been talking about coming as well, but he's not here...I wonder if I misheard him earlier?

First round of The Roommate Game, five minutes ago

While I was studying outside this afternoon, a wedding party came along to have pictures taken. I took the opportunity to take pictures of the picture-taking.

This evening is Geneva's first home football game, against Bethel College of West Virginia. As I was walking to the Student Center about an hour ago, I passed the percussion section, fully dressed for the game and practising their cadences at full speed and quality. I couldn't help looking at the female snare drummers and imagining Mom in their spots...I would like to go back in time and watch her in the Geneva band. I have many friends in the band; I guess I've gotten to see them at a time that their children will wish to have seen them.

First post in two days. I wanted to post yesterday, but Geneva's server wouldn't let me log in for some reason.
I've been busy with plenty of stuff lately: my first test (CHM100) on Tuesday morning, another test (BIB300) tomorrow, two more next week — HIS300 on Monday and ENG266 on Friday — and several papers, including one completed just tonight. I must say, it's weird how my classes work this semester, with a huge number of smaller assignments.
During the last two nights, I didn't sleep the best. I was so glad that I had a little spare time today, allowing me to take a nap...it feels so much better!


Lilium orientale, the Stargazer Lily

I'm up late, probably later than any other time this semester. However, I needed to get my paper done, and I should be able to sleep longer tomorrow night.

"It's only a flesh wound!

Tonight at dinner, I was eating with Rocco Palmerine (my floor last year), his girlfriend, and the girlfriend's roommate. As the four of us are chatting, Rocco is jokingly threatening me, so when he leans back in the chair, I push the chair's legs, and he falls over. Hilarious laughter from all four of us :-)

This morning was my first test in CHM100, my superbasic chemistry course; I knew that I missed some stuff, but I thought I did well. Since the test was simply multiplechoice, matching, and a few word problems with only one possible answer, the professor promised us that he'd post the results on his home page (given in the syllabus) by midday. Just now, I logged in and found that I had over 100 points — how did I do that, since there weren't any bonus? It was only after some moments of perplexity that I realised that the total possible score was also a bit over 100 points :-)

Finally back to posting after several days of drought! I had a great birthday weekend with my family coming as expected — and an uncle and aunt coming as a surprise. The most interesting event of the weekend was Saturday afternoon, when Dad took me on a trip into some areas of eastern Ohio that I'd never visited. I'm now on par with Isaac, as we've each visited 68 of the 88 counties in Ohio. Mom's ahead with 72, and Dad has fully 82. Hopefully I can surpass them in years to come...
Tonight, I've been preparing for my CHM100 exam in the morning. There's a ton of information; the only reason I'm not really afraid is that it's a 100-level course, and the impression I get from the professor is that the exam isn't that hard. Once that's done, it's on to writing a philosophy paper, after which I write a short history paper and prepare for my Bible exam...most of my courses this semester have two midterms instead of one, and this week is approaching the end of the first third of the semester.

Ohio counties that I've visited:

It's hard to believe that I'm about to turn 20...it's been seven years since I so anticipated becoming a teenager, and those years are now nearly done.

Today was very busy, as will be usual for Wednesdays: two classes, chapel, one free period, class, one free period, class, go to church for the children's program, and get back hopefully in time for dinner. Tonight, Mrs Schaefer brought me back as soon as we were done, as the history faculty were hosting a pizza party for history majors :-)
Since I began at Geneva, I've worked with "Treasure Diggers", our children's program. Treasure Diggers is no more: it's been merged into the College Hill RPC children's program, "Frontier Club", which has been moved to our building. It's going to take a bit of adjustment to their methods and standards that are replacing ours.



In the Owyhee Mountains of Idaho, fifty miles southwest of Boise.

A view of the Himalayas from the International Space Station

Micah preached today from I John 3. We had 61 people there for worship: plenty of visitors, but it's great to see many visitors (for the second straight week, six visiting Geneva students), and it's good that God is building the congregation itself.


Bird's eye view of Atlanta, Idaho.

Riggins, Idaho, from above

I just got out of a most annoying quiz in my chemistry class. It was altogether basic: given a chart of part of the periodic table (about forty elements), fill in the chemical symbols. I know this stuff, yet I only got half of them. And the professor even told us last time that there would be a quiz! I couldn't have asked for a simpler-to-understand quiz, one with less possibility for arbitrariness, and I still didn't do well. Hopefully I'll do better next time.

Luciano Pavarotti has died.

Nepal Airline Sacrifices Two Goats to Sky God in Face of Aircraft Problems Talk about an unusual strategy for maintaining airplanes!

My paper is nearly done: its discussion of the subject matter is complete, and only my required commentary remains. I've finished a quick typescript for my biblical literature class, and am mostly done with the reading for my history class. If only all of college work were as enjoyable as reading this history text...It's amazing, reading about the development of society in the last century before the final fall of the Western Empire, just to think about how long the Empire really endured, even in the West: for example, reading about a fourth-century palace that was built upon the ruins of a second-century apartment block. Think: this is two hundred years after the apartments, which in turn is at least one hundred more years after Christ, and the palace is more than a thousand years after the legendary date of the founding of Rome in the middle of the eighth century BC.
I found out something rather unhappy today: Javon Moody, a junior business major who is a tailback on the football team (perhaps a starter; I'm not sure) twisted his knee at last week's game, so that he'll likely no be playing the next few games. I didn't notice until today, since I'm living on the other side of campus from him, unlike last year when were literally across the hall.
Work today took longer, as I was supposed to end just as a rush of people came in, so I had perhaps fifteen minutes of extra work. I'm going to get paid well this week :-)

Today has been busy. I have four classes on Mondays anyway, and instead of sitting down to a relaxing or useful evening, I ended up working three hours because someone at the Brig had failed to show up. It brings more money, of course, but it means that I have a bit less time. Now, I'm beginning on my first paper of the schoolyear — it's so hard to get going! I only have two classes tomorrow (including my Harry Potter discussion), along with just 2½ hours of work, so it shouldn't be too hard to get a 3-page-maximum paper completed, even for my somewhat confusing philosophy course. Thinking on that...I spoke with the professor today, a short talk that rather energised me.
I must be in a Warner Brothers moment; the song Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms has been stuck in my head all day, minus the off-key note that Bugs Bunny plays to avoid blowing up.

As I'm reading for my biblical literature class, I'm reminded of something the professor said in class a few days ago: while the Bible isn't too deep for someone with only a fifth-grade education, it's never too shallow for someone with a Ph.D. We never have a reason to grow weary of the Bible!
Not much happened today. I got my laundry done for the first time (!), and read somewhat for several classes. Much of the afternoon was occupied down at the stadium, as I played in an ultimate frisbee game (which we won :-) for two hours. It was my first time on the new artificial turf, and I enjoyed its softness and everything else about it, except for the way in which the little rubber bits tended to work their way into my shoes. Ah well, it doesn't matter :-)
I'm looking forward to church tomorrow: the first time that the Rev. Micah Ramsey will preach, unlike Lic. Micah Ramsey :-)