HPVIIb, Scary Stories, and Schaumburg

So, yesterday on facebook I posted about getting goosebumps while watching the trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2. On a side note, here it is:

Amazing, right? Anyway, a friend of mine read the update and at first thought I was referring to the Goosebumps series. Now, I was not allowed to read the Goosebump series as a child, and for good reason: I would have had many a sleepless night. Well, that's not quite true; I did read some at school, and they weren't really all that scary. But do you know what books are burned into my mind: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Now, the stories were scary enough, but the illustrations were terrifying. I google imaged them, and I still think they're pretty scary. Here's a few of the best:

This last one is from a story I particularly remember. In it, a bride and groom throw a great feast after their wedding. As a part of it, they decide to play hide-and-seek. The bride went up to the rarely used attic and hid in a trunk. When the trunk latched close, she found that she was locked in the trunk. She waited patiently for the party to find her, but no one ever found her or heard her muffled screams. The party figured she had ran away, and she was not found until years later, when someone opened the trunk to find a skeleton wearing a wedding dress. I just imagined being stuck in that trunk, wasting away. Now, that will give you some goosebumps as a young impressionable child!

I'm currently sitting in the hotel lobby of O'Hare Hyatt Woodfield waiting to go out to eat with my dad. He's in town (I use town loosely since he's up in Schaumburg) for his denomination's (or association) annual conference. So, I'm reading some feminist liturgical theology while I wait in the lobby. I should put it between the pages of a different book on Christian leadership or something so I don't get in trouble. I'm looking forward to some Giordano's with Deano and his compatriots!

The big weekend will begin shortly: thesis defense and marathon! I'm nervous/excited/ready for all of it. Now, I'm going to go walk around the hotel because I'm feeling a little sleepy at the moment. Later.

Baked Goods and Glenn Gould

If you ever need to get rid of perishable food items, put them on the seminary kitchen counter with a sign inviting people to eat. I brought two plates of cookies/baked goods left over from Easter at church (I told people I had been baking all weekend, which no one believed) and after my class (1 hour 20 minutes) the plates were nearly cleaned of their contents. It's like dropping a bloody small animal into a piranha pool and watching the ensuing feeding frenzy. Plus, it feels ethically better than tossing a bunch of food (I mean, you could probably make a counter-argument that people don't need a bunch of cookies and baked goods; point taken.).

Speaking of baked goods, HuffPost is running a headline right now entitled, "Rent or Food?" While it's a fascinating and worthwhile topic, it is undercut by the picture of an older gentleman debating whether to buy a brownie or cookie at a local bakery.

At least show someone in a department that does not consist almost exclusively of items on the top of the food pyramid with the corresponding recommendation, "use sparingly." Just sayin'.

I'm almost finished with a documentary on Glenn Gould, a eccentric and amazing classical pianist from the 1960s-1980s best known for his mastering of Bach (and reinterpretation). He was a hypochondriac, sat so low in relation to the piano that his father built him a special chair, and he gave up performing live rather early in his career. The only problem with his recording career was that he could not keep himself from humming and singing along as he played. Here's a clip:

So, I've been listening to a lot of his playing recently, hums and all. Also, watching it helped me put some of my own idiosyncrasies in proper perspective.

Well, I'm going to get ready for our class forum tonight. Later.

Easter Services, Lyrical Mishaps, and Trump

I don't know whether to laugh or cry when I get home after a Good Friday service (before our Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday service) and I have an email from my pastor with an idea for Advent (actually, being the liturgical nerd I am, I loved it, but I still thought it was pretty great/funny timing).

Well, the Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday went pretty well. Thanks to all who helped out! We did a pretty fun version of "This Is the Day" (Yep, that "This is the Day") with some gospel piano and alto sax (thanks, AJ!). The only problem was trying to avoid a train wreck when people tried to clap; it wasn't pretty. It's hard for a congregation of non-clappers to clap on the 2 and 4 of a faster song. However, I think it inspired me to have a gospel/jazz Sunday for Pentecost Sunday this week. I feel like the improvisational nature of gospel/jazz fits well with the coming of the Holy Spirit.

One kind of funny thing happened yesterday morning during the singing of "In Christ Alone" (yes, with "love of God exemplified" instead of "wrath of God was satisfied"). So, we got to the last few stanzas of the last verse:

No power of hell, no scheme or plan (alt. from "scheme of man" although, as one of my female friends notes, maybe this is a time when we can keep gender exclusion because it's usually the men who are scheming.)

can ever pluck me from his hand.

Till he returns or calls me home,

here in the power of Christ I'll stand.

And I had planned to return again vocally to "No power of hell," but I could not find the right lyric on my sheet. All I could think of was "hell," and I wasn't about to prompt the audience with the lone word, "hell." So, I kind of made some noises, looked up at the screen, and found my place. I'm Imagining it sounded like this: "baa maa daaa hell, No scheme or plan."

After the service, I headed up to the Phelan residence for a great Easter lunch. It was a pretty great time. Now I'm planning on lounging around on this day off, finishing a book, and maybe watching a movie. Oh, and I need to go for a run. Marathon on Saturday! I probably should read through my thesis as well. Thesis defense on Friday!

I also enjoyed this electoral map of the US showing how Donald Trump could possibly obtain the needed electoral votes in the election:

Now let reading/watching/running commence!

Second Day of Triduum, Mitt Romney, and Empty Brain Space

Well, two days into the Triduum. Both the Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services are over and now we wait out the night for the Easter Vigil. When the Christ candle is extinguished, I just want to race to the Easter vigil service when you can light it again, but we wait in the darkness for another day.

This might be my favorite The Onion headline of all time: "Mitt Romney Haunted By Past of Trying to Help Uninsured Sick People." See the whole article here. It's a shame that it is a liability in a party to try and get all people insured and cared for, but alas. The money paragraph of the article:

"'Every day I am haunted by the fact that I gave impoverished Massachusetts citizens a chance to receive health care,' Romney told reporters Wednesday, adding that he feels ashamed whenever he looks back at how he forged bipartisan support to help uninsured Americans afford medicine to cure their illnesses. 'I'm only human, and I've made mistakes. None bigger, of course, than helping cancer patients receive chemotherapy treatments and making sure that suffering from pediatric AIDS could obtain medications, but that's my cross to bear.'"

It's just a shame that level-headedness (word?) and bipartisanship must be avoided at all costs in the upcoming Republican primaries in order to pander to the Tea Party who are staking their claim in the far-right nether regions.

I want Billy back; Franklin's also going off the deep end.

Really? You listen to Donald Trump and think, "You know, maybe this guy's right?" When I listen to Donald Trump, I think the exact same thing, except I replace "right" with "crazy."

Well, except for a good proofread and bibliography, the covenant history paper is done! It's definitely a weird feeling to have no more tests or papers hanging over my head between now and the end of the year. I feel like that part of my brain is still firing neurons of anxiety and now must retrain itself for other neurological work. Right now I'm filling the void by bouncing between By One Spirit and Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections. Franzen's character development is holding my attention a bit more than Karl Olsson's lists of monies given to different international missions each year between 1895-1910. While informative, it just doesn't have quite the story arc that holds one's attention for long periods of time.

Okay, I'm going to bed. Come to the Easter Vigil at 7:30 tomorrow at Resurrection Covenant Church!

Poor Preposition Choice, Vegetarian Angst, and Seminary Dessert

So, I just heard a Nestle's commercial, and the ending tag line asserted, "Summers are better in the Nestle's freezer." Really? In the freezer? To me, that sounds like the worst summer ever...unless you are a snowman or an ice carving.

I had my first real vegetarian Lenten test on Monday when the seminary had a lunch and served italian beef sandwiches. The other options were salad, chips, coleslaw, and potato salad. Italian beef is one of my favorites, and they even had the giardiniera, which, if you are a faithful reader, is one of my favorite Chicago food items. Amazingly, due to some special dispensation of will power from on high I resisted. Vegetarianism has suited me pretty well on the whole. While I probably won't keep it up altogether, I'm going to reduce my meat intake when it is reintroduced into my post-Easter diet.

You know your team lost pretty bad (11-0 against the Orioles) when the highlights on the team's website include the infield turning a routine double play.

Tonight we had the graduating seniors' dessert with the president of the Evangelical Covenant Church, Gary Walter. Upon leaving, all seniors receive a Covenant hymnal and Covenant book of worship with their names inscribed. While I have both already, I think it's such an appropriate gift to give seminary grads because it reminds them that their call is rooted in the worship of the Triune God and gives them resources for that specific purpose. Plus, we got to sing some hymns, which I'm always in favor of.

Listening to Leonard Cohen's version of "Hallelujah" (the original) and trying to figure out what makes it such a great song. I love most of the versions I've heard: K.D. Lang, Rufus Wainwright, Jeff Buckley, Brandi Carlile, even Justin Timberlake and Matt Morris's version at the concert for Haiti. No doubt the words are amazing, but maybe it's because they fit so well with the melody's rise and falls. However, I think all of the covers leave out the best verse:

I did my best, it wasn't much;

I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch.

I've told the truth; I didn't come to fool you.

And even though it all went wrong,

I'll stand before the Lord of song

with nothing on my tongue but "hallelujah."

Those last three lines may be some of my favorite lyrics in all music. Here's a link to Cohen singing it himself a few years ago. Note he's about 73 in this video. I think he's still doing pretty well for himself, and he's got top notch musicians. Listen to that organ solo if you don't believe me!

Well, I'm going to read and go to bed. Later.

Snowver Exaggeration, Cubs Game, And Hailing Busses

Well, like everyone else in the Chicagoland area, I wasn't too excited to wake up and find snow on the ground. Yet, upon checking facebook, I do think some may be overreacting to it. We woke up with snow on the ground - not rivers of lava, nuclear waste in our water table, or wild boars tearing the city apart. This shouldn't make us question the notion of a loving God or why bad things happen to good people. Also, we know snow's days are numbered; spring is coming. So, I've decided at the snow and live in hope of the coming Spring. Man, this will preach! It has Easter themes written all over it!

That reminds me, someone once said it would take a lot more faith to be a Christian during Easter in Australia. It's not difficult to believe in resurrection as trees are blooming and colors are coming to life all around you; it takes faith to celebrate the resurrection as leaves are falling and things are growing progressively more brown.

I just got home from the Cubs game with Dominique. It was a great game with a walk-off triple in the bottom of the 10th. It was fun to watch Zambrano pitch a great game in person. "Hey Chicago, what d0 you say?/The Cubs are gonna win today." In better news, the Twins also won! I did wear my Mauer jersey to the game in a show of support, not that you could see it under the jacket and blanket. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that it was very cold. It brought back memories of past cold sporting memories: playing football in the snow in International Falls, playing tennis with cap and gloves on - a cold wind so strong you had to throw your serve up sideways and let the wind bring it back to you, bundling up at Anna's softball games and making sure you brought a blanket to set on the cold metal bleachers. Now that I think about it, those are all fond memories for me. Begin psychoanalysis....NOW!

One of the things that amuses/confuses me is when people standing at bus stops hail the bus down like they're an oversized taxi. First, you're at a bus stop; they're going to stop. Second, if they are off-duty or not on your route, they are not going to see you raise your hand up and think, "You know what? I was going to pass them by, but now that they hailed me, I'll pick them up and just see where they're going." And if for some reason they were to stop regardless of being off-duty or not on your route, I would advise you not to get on that bus. That's how horror movies/children's fantasy novels start, and you wouldn't know which until it was too late. You'd end up either laughing with Tumnus in Narnia or screaming in Hannibal Lecter's basement while he cooks the fava beans and pours a nice chianti. It's 50/5o, but I still wouldn't take that bet.

The end of my Covenant history paper (aka my last seminary paper!) is fast approaching. Stay tuned for updates.

Tomorrow I get to sleep in. It's the little things in life. Speaking of the little things, I'm going to do a bit of reading in my bed. Later.

Long Stretches, Loudon Concert, and Plans

It's interesting that in any longer regular route one takes - whether in the car or on foot - there always seems to be part of the route in which you enter into some time warp and the distance seems to double or triple. For instance, on my drive from Chicago to Duluth the stretch of interstate between Tomah and Eau Claire just goes on forever. On my regular trips between Mason City and Duluth it was the stretch between the Iowa border and Owatonna. When I run to the lake, the stretch between Broadway and Clark along the cemetery feels similarly elongated (maybe it's because I'm holding my breath). Similarly, the stretch between the outdoor theater on Fullerton and North Beach has some similar hold over me and runs me down.

Today, I knew it was going to be a long run when about a mile in to a longer run I stepped in a watery mess of a sink hole. The last mile was endured only by blasting "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "Somebody to Love." Queen can get you through a lot in life.

The Loudon Wainwright III concert last night was awesome. First, he had a great opening act: Kim Richey. She had such a beautiful voice that you could listen to for hours. Here's a clip from 15 years ago on Austin City Limits. She looks a little older now, things are stripped back, but she still sounds wonderful:

Then Loudon came on. He's really funny in and out of songs. He was telling a story about living in London and riding his bike in a park near Primrose Hill. He mentioned, "Primrose Hill was in a park, and in England you're not allowed to ride your bikes in parks. (taking on a fake arrogance) But I'm an American, so I do what I d--n well please!" He had many other funny one-liners that aren't appropriate for a blog such as this.

What's great about Loudon Wainwright is that he can write both extremely funny songs and amazingly poignant songs and sing them one after the other without losing continuity. One of the funny songs is off his new album 10 Songs for the New Depression (he quipped, "I'm going to cash in on these hard times.") entitled "Krugman Blues."

An example of the poignancy from last night's show was his performance of "The Picture."

Although he didn't do this one last night, he can also go from funny to poignant in the same song, like "White Winos."

The only problem with the concert was that it started at 10. By the time Loudon came out, I was getting pretty tired. I ended up waking up early to run, so now I'm going to take a nap, practice my sermon, and hopefully knock out a few pages on the Covenant History paper and figure out something fun to do tonight. Later.