I haven't written here in a while, O reader, because finals have crept up on me, I've made an unsuccessful pact to cease my time-wasting activities, re-read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, written 12 encouragement notes, and I was stressing over my Fall '13 course registration.
In reverse order,
1. I got 3 of the 4 classes I tentatively laid out for myself. The fourth was labeled "Major-only," and, being an introductory Statistics course, would have probably bored me to tears. No, not tears; despairing sleep. I instead picked up an introductory Linguistics course which fulfills the same G.E. requirement, Math ("quantitative, symbolic, and computational reasoning"), of all things. I'm very pleased with God's plan and my stupid oversight in my first tentative schedule.
1b. This also means I PROBABLY HAVE A JOB. TEACHING. KIDS. What? I've resolved to follow Mr. Manzo's advice and play the bad cop first, and gradually show my soft and fluffy side. Hah. Right. I've also resolved that I will develop and encourage healthy work ethics, to show the kids that all the exercise is beneficial, and thus doubly exciting. Lastly, I've resolved to participate in any physical punishment I dole.
2. I might get the chance to serve on Inreach next year. This is exciting, because it is exhausting work to be a good friend.
3. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone read much like a foggy memory a senior Harry Potter would recall for his grandchildren: very systematic and thesis-driven, with only selective events recorded to provide background. It was very simple, yet profound. I like it.
4. I'm not a very disciplined person. I think that having Mondays off in the Fall quarter will be a trial, but I am determined to succeed in purposeful productivity.
5. Finals. Yes.
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The short prefacing tangent: Whenever I type the VERY LONG name of this blog into my link bar thingy, I need only type "streamsof" before Google Chrome says "ENOUGH. I know what you're thinking!" Anyways, this makes me always start singing the melody of the second line of the first verse of "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing" in a low voice.
Streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise.
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In my LSD Psych class today, we covered Pride and Shame as functions of human self-awareness and personality and development and all sorts of other fancy fun words. Here's the specific quote I'd like to biblically analyze:
"Triumph is acceptable after winning a tennis match, but not after winning an argument."
"Hmm," says I. "Shouldn't winning an argument be more worthy of triumph? After all, (individual) physical sports are won by mastery of skill through intentional practice, mastery of self through training, and sheer luck which compensates and causes upsets. An argument, debate-style, is won by mastery of subject knowledge through study and.... Oh." I realized then that logical arguments are not "won," for subjective material has only relative value (thus superiority or inferiority) to an objective standard.
[I would not start mocking and jeering at a "defeated" evangelee (for, if all but the stupid stubbornness of a sin-filled heart is accounted for, the gospel is the most logical, reasonable, and truthful account of all things), for I would not have "won" by my own merit. Rather, I would triumph with the angels that another lost lamb was restored by God, that another coin bearing God's likeness was redeemed, and that a dead son has refreshed his senses by God's Spirit.]
An argument is not "won" based on extrinsic things, such as a charismatic voice, ad hominem attacks, debating skill, or extensive personal knowledge of one's side; an argument is won based on the intrinsic value of its truth. There is a correct side to many "hot-topic" debates today. Abortion? Gay Marriage? Taxes? Education? War? Or how about baptism? Church membership/discipline? Eschatology?
Unfortunately, even if I had ample time, I couldn't answer all of these completely or thoroughly. I ought to study, knowing that these debates do have winners and losers, and most importantly that Jesus is the winner.
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Ah! I just remembered. I had a weird dream.
I was beginning to evangelize to someone in Aldrich Park in UCI, but as I was prefacing my presentation of the gospel with an apologetic based on the history of the world and on my own intentions, I found my words becoming more jumbled and gargled. Soon I couldn't hardly speak. I reached into my mouth and pulled out my retainers, and then I woke up. Bah.
------------------------
In reverse order,
1. I got 3 of the 4 classes I tentatively laid out for myself. The fourth was labeled "Major-only," and, being an introductory Statistics course, would have probably bored me to tears. No, not tears; despairing sleep. I instead picked up an introductory Linguistics course which fulfills the same G.E. requirement, Math ("quantitative, symbolic, and computational reasoning"), of all things. I'm very pleased with God's plan and my stupid oversight in my first tentative schedule.
1b. This also means I PROBABLY HAVE A JOB. TEACHING. KIDS. What? I've resolved to follow Mr. Manzo's advice and play the bad cop first, and gradually show my soft and fluffy side. Hah. Right. I've also resolved that I will develop and encourage healthy work ethics, to show the kids that all the exercise is beneficial, and thus doubly exciting. Lastly, I've resolved to participate in any physical punishment I dole.
2. I might get the chance to serve on Inreach next year. This is exciting, because it is exhausting work to be a good friend.
3. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone read much like a foggy memory a senior Harry Potter would recall for his grandchildren: very systematic and thesis-driven, with only selective events recorded to provide background. It was very simple, yet profound. I like it.
4. I'm not a very disciplined person. I think that having Mondays off in the Fall quarter will be a trial, but I am determined to succeed in purposeful productivity.
5. Finals. Yes.
----------------------
The short prefacing tangent: Whenever I type the VERY LONG name of this blog into my link bar thingy, I need only type "streamsof" before Google Chrome says "ENOUGH. I know what you're thinking!" Anyways, this makes me always start singing the melody of the second line of the first verse of "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing" in a low voice.
Streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise.
----------------------
In my LSD Psych class today, we covered Pride and Shame as functions of human self-awareness and personality and development and all sorts of other fancy fun words. Here's the specific quote I'd like to biblically analyze:
"Triumph is acceptable after winning a tennis match, but not after winning an argument."
"Hmm," says I. "Shouldn't winning an argument be more worthy of triumph? After all, (individual) physical sports are won by mastery of skill through intentional practice, mastery of self through training, and sheer luck which compensates and causes upsets. An argument, debate-style, is won by mastery of subject knowledge through study and.... Oh." I realized then that logical arguments are not "won," for subjective material has only relative value (thus superiority or inferiority) to an objective standard.
[I would not start mocking and jeering at a "defeated" evangelee (for, if all but the stupid stubbornness of a sin-filled heart is accounted for, the gospel is the most logical, reasonable, and truthful account of all things), for I would not have "won" by my own merit. Rather, I would triumph with the angels that another lost lamb was restored by God, that another coin bearing God's likeness was redeemed, and that a dead son has refreshed his senses by God's Spirit.]
An argument is not "won" based on extrinsic things, such as a charismatic voice, ad hominem attacks, debating skill, or extensive personal knowledge of one's side; an argument is won based on the intrinsic value of its truth. There is a correct side to many "hot-topic" debates today. Abortion? Gay Marriage? Taxes? Education? War? Or how about baptism? Church membership/discipline? Eschatology?
Unfortunately, even if I had ample time, I couldn't answer all of these completely or thoroughly. I ought to study, knowing that these debates do have winners and losers, and most importantly that Jesus is the winner.
------------------------
Ah! I just remembered. I had a weird dream.
I was beginning to evangelize to someone in Aldrich Park in UCI, but as I was prefacing my presentation of the gospel with an apologetic based on the history of the world and on my own intentions, I found my words becoming more jumbled and gargled. Soon I couldn't hardly speak. I reached into my mouth and pulled out my retainers, and then I woke up. Bah.
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This post made me chuckle, thank you. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd congratulations on the job, that's so exciting!
It really is interesting how Rowling's style developed so drastically throughout the series; it's always weird going back and reading Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone, it's so...back to the basics.