Back to School

Number 2 pencils are sharpened and a little notebook is packed away ready for day one of classroom sitting. I'm auditing this first Monday night class to get a sense of what is expected timewise (and brainwise!) before I jump into taking courses for credit and making any other kinds of commitments.

I hope the "freshman fifteen" aren't true the second time around!

'The Prague that I not only love but also fear'

One year ago Franz Kafka and his colleagues in the Czech Foreigners' Police deemed a certain Vanessa L Lake a suspicious character and issued papers to send her packing.

It was not a good day or following month.

Today, I smile knowingly at Kafka and feel he's a familiar character if not a sometimes unwelcome friend, as I may have just a bit more insight into this writings, his thoughts and his questions. Or maybe not.

Nonetheless I'm dressed, fed and up out the door to live in Abraham Lincoln's world today.

"We are as forlorn as children lost in the wood. When you stand in front of me and look at me, what do you know of the grief's that are in me and what do I know of yours. And if I were to cast myself down before you and tell you, what more would you know about me that you know about Hell when someone tells you it is hot and dreadful? For that reason alone we human beings ought to stand before one another as reverently, as reflectively, as lovingly, as we would before the entrance to Hell."

Franz Kafka written at 20 years of age-

Academic Afterthought

"Something else an academic education will do for you. If you go along with it any considerable distance, it'll begin to give you an idea what size mind you have. What it'll fit and, maybe, what it won't. After a while, you'll have an idea what kind of thoughts your particular size mind should be wearing. For one thing, it may save you an extraordinary amount of time trying on ideas that don't suit you, aren't becoming to you. You'll begin to know your true measurements and dress your mind accordingly."

Text: J D Salinger
Illustration: Norman Rockwell

What did you see this Christmas?

Santa visit 2010

Got my annual Santa visit in this year!
This time with some friends from school - elementary school!

He didn't remember me from last year, but that's understandable as I didn't get quite a good one-on-one in 2009.
Here's hoping for a good memory for Mr Claus for this year!

Santa's surprise

Santa made a little present for our Calvin Seminary folk!

Enjoy!

(Yes, there is an extremely long story both before, during and after Santa sent this out to our seminarians. Too long for a blog, so just enjoy the music! And actually 'no' I did not create this. Click on the Christmas hues in the text above.)

Sleighbell Shuffle

I'm not ecstatic about it, but knowingly and unknowingly I've gotten on a number of e-mail distribution lists. It's easy to delete the unwanted ones (98%), so I remain subscribed and appreciate the helpful 2% which do come along.

One of these e-mails was announcing the "Sleighbell Shuffle" a 5k run through the wintry streets of Grandville in subzero temperatures at night. Tell me, who WOULDN'T jump at this opportunity?!

I convinced an equally crazy colleague of mine to join, so we planned to

1. meet up at the start of the race
2. obtain our free jingle bells to tie on our laces
3. donate old winter coats for the local woman's shelter, thus obtaining raffle tickets
4. run 5k
5. feast on eggnog and cookies following the race
6. possibly win something at the raffle

We are quite a team. I accomplished numbers 2, 3 and 6. She accomplished 4 and 5. A very important step is number 1 and this you will be quick to notice both my running partner and I bypassed. Through a series of humourous (to me at least!) events, she ended up running the 5k and I was left behind inside the warm school.

Thirty minutes or so later as the runners came through the school doors, winded and cold, I was shocked to see her. She equally to see me. We shared our stories, which made sense as to how we missed each other when notes were compared and I thought was simply hilarious - my partner, not quite as much.

In the end we did jog about half a mile following her run to sing a Christmas carol to another colleague (and kin) who lives on the route and had kept an eye out for us amidst those who ran, but texted to say they didn't see us for some reason... hmm.

Oh yeah, number 6! This was my prize, which is perhaps a bit unfair since I was the only one present who didn't run...

It's a heart rate monitor - for serious athletes - those who actually do things to make their heart rates go above sedentary.