During the night it snowed a two-inch quilt over all the maple trees and train tracks and traffic lights. When it snows it feels warmer. I’ve said this over the years when people would gawk at my bare feet in flip-flops; it feels warmer with snow on the ground. It’s worse the several weeks before it snows hard (almost like feet need to become acclimated). But I think there really is something that changes, at least at the ground level, when it snows. I’ve told those who think I’m crazy for wearing sandals in the winter that my feet melt the snow into water, and water is a great conductor for heat.

The steeping warmth that thaws numb fingers and toes after coming in from several hours in the cold, like after skiing or snow shoveling, is better than wet roses and whiskered kittens. Going from a ball of layers to socks and long johns, (a little wet around the ankles and red around the cheeks), thighs a little itchy, and plastered hair… I’m not saying I wouldn’t enjoy living on a tropical island, but with what we got here in Minnesota and her four seasons, I’m content.

Well, I a total of 2 hours sleep Friday night after coming home from work and finishing my unit (still a work in progress). I went to class from 9 AM to 12 PM, came home at around 2 PM and listened to my messages. My finger was heavy on the play button, but when I heard the message I suddenly was rushed with adrenaline. Amy’s cousin Erica’s fiance Peter invited me to his bachelor party. The party involved paint (but no stripper! HA!) and pain.

I bought my own paintball gun this summer and have fruitlessly tried to find a group of guys to play. Finally I got my chance. I took an hour nap, got up to test the site on my gun down by an old abandoned Mississippi bridge and headed to Peter’s house.

When I arrived we left to pick up some other guys, ate some pizza and headed to an indoor arena. The huge warehouse building had two rooms: one with huge inflated, yellow bubbles and cones and one that was like a large room with walls with windows, random couches and inner tubes, and a ton of this weird saw-dust stuff on the floor (kinda like with what you soak up puke).

We spent most of our time in the latter room broken into teams of four. I got some pretty good hits and liked to think I use more skill in my shooting than the “let’s see how much paint I can shoot out of this gun before I get shot” guys. I was usually one of the last to survive, and sometimes the last, but once it was just me and one other guy left. We were having this great volley, then somebody yelled, “Hey! You guys are on the same team!”

My favorite room was the one with the blow up obstacles. It was like a combination of Running Man and The Matrix. Nearing the end of our paint, our teams got smaller as guys ran out. I had a lot of balls left and ended up sharing some with Peter and a couple other guys. We went 2 on 2 and I got hit in the crown of my head. It didn’t hurt much, but I still have a little bump from it. In this particular game if you get hit you just have to go to the back of the room and touch the wall. I did so and came back with a vengence. I didn’t even go for cover. I just came out, pointed my gun, shot and marked both of them. It felt pretty cool.

I do have to say that the most fun was afterward at one of Peter’s friend’s house where we showed our wounds and told what was going on in our heads and finding out who shot us. We laughed a lot realizing that everybody really didn’t know what they were doing. But I think that’s what made it fun.

Anyway, as for war wounds, I only have that bump on my head and a little red circle on my stomach (which was from my own team member). Would I do it again? Of course, that’s why I bought the gun. But I probably won’t in the winter as it ended up costing me $36 dollars to rent the space and pay for balls. It would have been cheaper but two guys backed out. Although now I have a couple new contacts for next summer when I’m feeling a little trigger happy. One of the guys had his own gun too and has a big wooded back yard.

Even though I am lacking in sleep and down $36 dollars, I am still glad that I went. I was starting to go a little nutty behind my computer screen and needed a little ventilation. Nothing like getting wacked with several rounds of paintballs to get one’s sense of reality back in check.

So the semester is winding down and final projects are piling up like a Porta-Potty reserve. The next project sliding down off that heap is a teaching unit incorporating media and technology. I am planning to make it practical and hope to use it during my student teaching, so I have decided on building it around the texts my cooperating teacher gave me. One of the classes I will teach will be 10th graders with a Nature/Science focus. I am excited about that because, Mmmmm, you put English and Nature together and you get Art and adventure. Well, I’ve chosen to use Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild . Have any of you read it? If you have I could use your help. As you may or may not know, it is the story of Kris McCandless, a college graduate who abandoned all the comforts of his well-to-do family and toured the American West ending up in Alaska on the Stampede Trail in Denali National Park. That is where he died. (Sidenote: in the book it almost seems he turns to God at the end, which is queer considering he is a devout atheist throughout the previous chapters of the book.)

Now, this unit is more of a focus on the the themes of wildness and nature in literature, so I am also planning on using the documentary on Shackleton’s expedition and even incorporating Hemingway’s “Big, Two-Hearted River.” What I would like is to add is some kind of supplementary technology or media based projects to inculde into this unit. For example, a guided web-site exploration on any of the above topics (for this I am lacking any real interesting sites from which to start). I have found some helpful site such as this and this and this, but not much else for my students to explore.

So, any ideas? Did I mention this is due on Saturday?

Worst analogies ever written in a high school essay

Recently it has been brought to my attention that Amy has been seen with another man. After several hours of grilling, she confessed that apparently what she finds attractive in him is “his sensituality and his charming good looks.” I am horrorfied and ashamed that I have led her to these actions. Deservingly, I will brunt the fullness of this burden on my guilty shoulders and pray that I can compete with him. I fear him. I loathe him.

Incriminating Evidence: released 11/20/2003.

Two nights ago I was driving home from Wednesday night church. Being very tired, I was kind of in a dream-like state (I fell asleep at 9 that night, which is unheard of). Yeah, so I driving south on 35E toward the 52/I94 intersection when was slowed by a couple of huge trucks. At first I thought the trucks were carrying pillows because I kept on seeing these little white feathers hitting my windshield (although I wondered why a semi trailer carrying pillows would be transporting them in steel cages). As I got closer I thought, ” Are those chickens?” I slipped out my glasses and looked again. They were turkeys.

The cages held about six large turkeys per 2ft x 4ft x 2ft cell; not much leg room to say the least. There were two of these trucks carrying an estimation of 200 turkeys each. They continued with me on Highway 52 where I passed them. I looked at the scrunched turkeys and felt a little bad for them, but I thought, “Well, it was nice of them to pick one of the warmest nights in November to transport these guys.” It was around 40 degrees.

How ironic was it that these turkeys were going South? It would have been more appropriate if they were headed West (which is the more tradtional and romantic direction of death). I had just finished a three day teaching experience at Crosswinds Middle School focusing on migration and I let out a “Hmph,” at the coincidence.

As I pulled on ahead I thought, “I’ll have to write about this in my blog.”

Well, Josh spurred me on in his blog to read an article about the whole Jackson fiasco. As a kid my brother and I used to argue over who loved Michael more. We hung the “Thriller” poster exactly in the middle of our room. But now for the second round there is little in me that believes in his innocence. Anyway, as I was reading the article from Fox News I read something that was kind of funny.

MJ’s lawyer, Geragos, said outside the jail, ” He understands the people who are outraged, because if these charges were true, I assure you Michael would be the first to be outraged.” But at another time he says (and I’ve heard this several times on the radio), “He [MJ] is greatly outraged by the bringing of these charges. He considers this to be a big lie.” So, it seems MJ’s lawyer feels that he must admit Michael’s guilt too!

It is sad that, likely, most people weren’t too surprised when they heard the news of another molestation accusation toward MJ. I guess I am coming to the conclusion that he should have been locked up the first time. Apparently he still has believers though. I heard that on the latest Britney Spears interview when asked if she believed if the allegations were true she responded, ” I choose not to believe;” clearly a product of Neverland.

Amy’s dad, Vaughn Ekbom, is teaching a Bible study at his house on Sunday nights. It’s a sweet deal. We get a great meal and then dive into scripture. Last night we were continuing our study in Colossians (We started a month and a half ago and we are still in chapter 1. It’s great!). We read 1:11b – 18:

11b joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has
qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.
13For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness
and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,

14in whom we have redemption,[2] the forgiveness of sins.
15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over
all creation. 16For by him all things were created: things in
heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones
or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by
him and for him. 17He is before all things, and in him all
things hold together. 18And he is the head of the body, the
church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the
dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.

We talked about the Jesus being the “firstborn” and what that means (vs. 15). We talked about our God who’s the “Alphred and the Omegan” (a quote from Vaughn’s dad) (vs. 18). We talked about Jesus being the “image of the invisible God” (vs. 15) We talked about God’s grace, His “qualification” (vs. 12); we can do nothing without Him. Those were excellent parts of discussion, but these parts stuck out to me most:

Verse 17 says, “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” We talked about how God has total control over every single atom in our bodies and that all he’d have to do is say the Word and we’d evaporate. This led me to think of Psalm 139: 5, “You hem me in-behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.” And 139:13, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” I have loved this Psalm since I first read it, but then thinking about the correlation with Colossians 1:17 gave it even more depth. Jesus is that thread that is knitted throughout our selves. He is what “hems me in, behind and before.” We are made through Him and we are in Him, and he is in us, running in our blood.

Later, Vaughn expanded on how Christ qualified us. Vaughn told a story about when he was younger he used to think that he had to make sure to ask forgiveness for all his sins. Obviously he became overwhelmed because he was sure he wasn’t remembering them all. He was in this unrest until he realized that God had already forgiven him all his sins. He still should ask for forgiveness for the sins that come to his mind, but his salvation wasn’t dependent on his memory. Vaughn, and I’m sure many others, backed this belief up with verses like 1 John 1:9 (Vaughn gave this example). It says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Well, doesn’t that makes forgiveness conditional and where the heck does Grace fit into that? It doesn’t, so there must be another way to look at it. Amy pointed out that in context it is stating that we must humble oureselves before God. Verse 8 says, “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.” And verse 10 says, “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.” Repentance always follows when we realize his Grace, it is a reaction to it. Off of this I checked out the reference that was listed for verse 9 in my Bible. It offered Psalm 32:5, but I read a few verses before it:

3 When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away
Through my groaning all day long.

5 I acknowledged my sin to You,
And my iniquity I (10) did not hide;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”;
And You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah.

With reading this I immediately thought, “Even though it seems like we have to ‘do’ something to get forgiveness, this ‘doing’ is really only letting go, releasing our hold from our sin. It takes more work, we have to “do” more, to hold onto it than it takes to just relax in His hands. Accompanying this thought, but keeping it to myself, came the metaphor of a guy having to take a crap really, really badly, like diarrhea or something, and doing all he can to hold it in while he’s already on the toilet. It hurts and is foolish. But that’s the way we can be sometimes! We are that guy holding in all that angst from our sins until we just let it out and confess to our God that we have, in fact, lost control.

Now, at about this time I found that I actually had to go to the bathroom very badly myself. Perhaps this may have been a mere coincidence, or a result of reading the word “groaning”, but I tend to think it was Divine Revelation.

Actually, it’s really a compilation of previous stuff I’ve done in a package that’s a little more directed for say, finding a teaching job. Anyway, you’ll see mostly old, so don’t expect too much; I’ve only changed the wrapping.

Unwrap

(I was recently informed by my girlfriend that my blog was naked. I thought I’d give it a little cover.)

I must retell this event in my blog, even though some of you may have heard it already.

Anyway, Amy and I went to see Shakespeare’s “The Twelfth Night” at the Guthrie last Thursday. The Globe Theatre actors were here on their tour and were performing it in the original way, an all male cast. Well, I dropped Amy off and found parking. I walked back and through the green house(taking a pit-stop at the green house fertilizer sifter – i.e. the toilet). When I finally met up with Amy she told me a confused mix of information that the lady at the counter gave her. Something about only having seats with obstructed views, but if we waited for an hour and a half we might be able to get better tickets, but we might not get any at all if while we were waiting all the obstructed view tickets were bought, and if we did get tickets we might not be sitting next to each other… you know, something like that. Well, we stood in line to take our chances.

Continue reading The Twelfth Night →