Strawberry Trees

An owl hooted twice, somewhere behind him, and Tuon sighed.
"Is there an omen in that?" Mat asked, just for something to say.
"I'm glad you are finally taking an interest. Perhaps I will be able to educate you yet. An owl hooting twice means someone will die soon." Well, that put a bloody end to conversation.
-Knife of Dreams

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Back home for Thanksgiving break, and the first thing I wanted to figure out: What on earth is this fruit?

From Campus Sights

After a lot of guesswork and research, my dad and I found the answer. It's called a Strawberry Tree. Yep, that's right. Those things you spent your early childhood being convinced didn't exist? It does. Talk about a smack in the face. The fruit has a yellow, pulpy center, with reddish spines around it. The spines aren't sharp, though they are a little stiff. While it is edible, the latin name for the tree and its fruit, unedo, is interpreted "I eat one". You figure out the rest.

Just because it's not very palatable doesn't mean it has no purpose; Spain and Portugal, especially, uses a close relative of the Pacific Northwest's Strawberry Tree to make brandy and jam. Even though it's a Northwest native, I've never seen it before I came to UW. It's a relative to the Madrona, though, which is definitely found around here, so I guess it's no surprise.

Another random thing I've found around campus is The Dreaded Overpass. I have to cross it to go back and forth between my dorm and campus almost every day, so I'm pretty familiar with it. And I'll tell you right now: it's downright frightening wearing clothes while crossing the thing! The wind gusts straight across those streets, coming in from the ocean. And the overpass lies right in the biggest cross-section of wind it could possibly be. Several times, now, it has tried to tug the coat, shirt, belt, pants, and sometimes even shoes right off of me. Truly a scary place to be. It would do you well to be over it as quickly as possible, lest it drag you onto the streets below in its apparel-flinging terror.

On a more serious edge, I've noticed a dismaying trend beginning to develop. The media's portrayal of the marital dishonesty of those it follows is becoming increasingly horrifying. As some of you may know, one of the big things to report on in the news right now is the Tiger Woods affair. While this in and of itself is nothing unusual, what's truly saddening is the manner in which Woods himself is dealing with the issue. It's a pattern we've seen before this year, and one we're likely to see again: he apologized to the people he's let down, apologized to family... but carefully skirted the issue that what he did was, in fact, wrong. Is it the media skewing it, or is he really that unrepentant?
While this may not be such a blatant case, there was another, similar event this year that sticks out clearly: South Carolina Governor Sanford's affair. When questioned about it by the media, he was shown to regret being caught, but it was disgustingly obvious that he was proud over what he did. That, really is what was so scary. Is this the pattern we're moving towards? "Everyone's human, so things like this happen to everyone, just grin, shrug, and keep going as if nothing ever happened." Or, worse yet, "You're such a man, look at all your conquests." Very concerning, indeed.

Anyway. What do you think? Am I over-analyzing the current situation?

Cell Phones, Pizza Grease, and a couple Strokes of the Pen

Prince Raoden of Arelon awoke early that morning, completely unaware that he had been damned for all eternity.
-Opening line to 'Elantris'

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Monday morning, I had a 4-minute persuasive presentation for my technical communication class.  Not exactly the definition of a fun morning.  It was a tense wait; I was only the fifth person to present that day, but I still had almost half an hour of gut-wrenching, chair-gripping, nostril-widening waiting.

Finally, my turn to give a presentation arrived.  I think I blacked out during the presentation the guy before me gave, because I don't remember any of his presentation.  Come to think of it, I don't remember much of any of the presentations from that day.  Maybe I was in a zombie-like state.  Either way, I was up next, walking dead or not.  I shambl

ed up front, accessed the virtual drop-box, and managed to find my name in the list.  Opening up the PowerPoint slides, I checked the remote, smashing random buttons with decaying undead fingers until I found the ones that worked.  And then I waited more.

For those of you who have given many presentations before, there's nothing more awkward and silly than standing up front, slides ready to go, and waiting for the people in charge to give you the green light.  So I just stood there, grinning nervously at the people in the classroom, who were surprisingly willing to keep their eyes on my horrifying zombie form.  Then the professor looked up from his note-taking, and gave me... the nod.

And, at almost the same time, my cellphone started ringing.  Out loud.  Up front.  When I was about to be graded.  My slick zombie fingers almost dropped the phone as a sly grin edged its way onto my face.

"Yeah, this is a bad time, I'm about to make my presentation on..."

ILLEGALLY FORMATTED DATA, BACKTRACKING TO PREVIOUSLY CORRECTED DATA

The class was about to start, but I had a couple minutes.  Time enough to put the plan into action.  I leaned over to the student closest to me, three chairs to my left.

"Hey, do you think you could call my cell phone? Like, right as I'm ready to start presenting?"

DATA REFORMATTED, RETURNING  TO ORIGINAL POSITION

"...ringing cell phones! As you can see, cell phone ringtones are a major distraction..."

Bingo! The hook worked just as planned.  And just like that, I went from being a zombie back to a normal human being.  And I was eager, instead of lethargic.  Probably a little too eager: I went over the time limit, which earned me some docked points.  But it was still went really well: the hook was well-received, and it kept their attention from the start.  That was one of the more fun things I've done this quarter!

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One of the events I've been looking forward to took place tonight.  A bit of research, my trench coat, and a hefty book, and I was out the door toward the University Bookstore.  The Gathering Storm's big book tour was here at last.

While it wasn't too big or bombastic, there were plenty of people there for Brandon Sanderson's signing.  And quite a lot of random posters, bumper stickers, and other goodies to pick up.  I grabbed Elantris while I was there, the first paperback I've actually found.  Brandon was gracious enough to sign both my copy of The Gathering Storm and Elantris, so I came away happy.  Soaked from the rain, but happy.  Good thing that trench coat keeps the rain off.

Brandon Sanderson Book Signing

Local Cuisine

Musical Motifs: Villainry

One of the most powerful tools in music is the leitmotif, a simple melody or line that ties to a concrete idea.  Think of the Jeopardy theme.  What do you think of when you hear it? Tapping your foot while waiting for something?

The true power of leitmotifs, however, is seen through the relatively recent media of movies and games.  The soundtracks made for these are often made up of a set of themes, describing situations, places, or people integral to the story.  The strength of these themes, and how much they are varied within the soundtrack, is what makes them so powerful.

Today, I'm going to look at a few different themes, tied with one of the primary features of any story: the villain.  There are a several kinds of villains that are seen frequently.

1. The Insane (or totally evil) Villain

This kind of villain is seen more frequently recently, thought there are several good examples in older literature, as well.  The themes tend to follow the same thought process as the villain: chaotic, unpredictable, or simply crazy.  Their insanity, however, is a direct result of their evil hearts.

• Final Fantasy VI: Kefka, Dancing Mad (4th Tier) 
• Listen carefully for the common theme.  One carries his sense of madness and cruelty, the other his desire to destroy.
  

• The Dark Knight: Why So Serious? 
• While this theme wasn't varied much in the movie, everything about it carries the Joker's broken mind: skittering and jumping, screeching and discordant.

2. The Melancholy Villain

These villains are generally evil, but with a past or motivation that usually makes the reader/watcher want to sympathize with them, despite their deeds.  Their themes are quieter, and saddening, though they can change to a more menacing one with a slight touch of the reins.

• Full Metal Alchemist: Homunculus, Transient Life, Thread of Life 
• The homunculi were undoubtedly evil: they destroyed thousands of lives, just because of their desire to be human.  But that same desire, and the sadness of having the memories of their lives before being homunculi make them sad characters, as well.
  

• Phantom of the Opera: Why So Silent
• His selfish desire for Christine overshadows everything he does, but his sad past, his mocked face, and his forced seclusion make you pity him however slightly.  His theme is not, however, the classic one you've heard.  The middle of this song is his true theme, though I can't find any other examples.  This one also fits somewhat in the insane category, due to its edgy quality (and the character's obvious insanity).

3. The Selfish Villain


Whereas the insane villain is simply evil for evil's sake, the selfish villain often has a personal goal or motivation for the evil they do.  Their themes are more structured than those of the insane villains, reflecting the often ordered way with which they attempt to reach their goals.

• Full Metal Alchemist: Deep Forest, Dante, Warning, Dancing, Revelation 
• Dante was the ultimate extension of the motivations of the homunculi.  She discovered an alchemic method that would allow her to live forever, by body-jumping; however, the cost of each jump was thousands of human lives.  She lived for 400 years this way.  There are several versions of her theme, each becoming more threatening as more is revealed about her past and who she really is.

• Final Fantasy IX: Kuja, Fall of Neo-Kuja, Annihilation of Brahne's Fleet, Recalling Bahamut, etc.
• Kuja's role is too complex to flesh out here; suffice it to say he was jealous of the main character's task, and most of the outcomes of the story stem from his reaction to that jealousy.  His themes vary from brooding, to threatening, to outright rage.  There's more than I can list here!

These are all the representative themes I can think of for today.  The strength of all (or most) of these is their frequent use and variation.  Try listening for these kinds of themes next time you watch a movie.  Lord of the Rings, for example, has a fascinating score, filled with all sorts of themes, each tied to a person, nation, concept, and the list goes on.  Pick out each one as you listen, try to follow the thread each motif weaves.  It's a fascinating way to look at music, and it can deepen your appreciation for a set of pieces.
(And for those of you too lazy, this site dissects it for you.  Incredible work!)


Motifs also affects the way we view the movie or game: whether we realize it or not, the themes tie us emotionally to people.  As the themes change along with the character's circumstances, our emotions are swept along with it.  This is one of the most potent tools in music: the ability to affect people emotionally.  I'll talk more about this in later posts.


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Picture of the day:

From Dorm Mini-Tour: Lander

Birthday Tour

Just watch me, L.  I'll solve equations with my right hand, and write names with my left! I'll take a potato chip... and I'll eat it!

-Death Note

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Been awhile since I posted.  There hasn't been much to speak of going on, besides midterm fun.  But, since my birthday was this Friday, I thought I'd put a little effort into a post.  But just a little.  After all, I still need a couple brain cells for the second part of this quarter.

Went home to hang out with friends for the aforementioned birthday.  And pounded down so much sugar, I'm surprised I didn't wipe out completely the next day.  As it was, we still managed to go camera hunting.  The family all went; we brought our decoys (my dad's big camera lenses), scents (battery acid), and rifles (a loaded debit card; Visa, I think).  We hunted in a couple locations for a decently sized one, so we would be sure to be able to fit it on the car.  We finally spotted a couple herds, but nothing small as we were looking for.  One of the big males told us about a second herd to the south; I guess someone else got his girlfriend, or something.

We ended up getting a Canon PowerShot A1100 IS.  Nothing incredibly fancy, but it should be plenty for taking decent pictures around campus.  I even took the time to make a mini-tour of Lander! Keep an eye out on updates.  I'll probably be doing more building tours, and who knows, you may even see the infamous garbage squirrels of UW.

Irredeemable Evil in Fantasy

His last invention was an Evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.

-Igor

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Fantasy writers should be especially familiar with the concepts of irredeemable evil.  It provides a way out for a bigger moral dilemma many authors have probably faced: how can I create conflict in a story, have it be morally upright, and yet still have any decent measure of action scenes? I think part of this problem lies in the killing of any being who has a soul, and our view on how pure, evil, or redeemable the soul is.

Those with a Biblical worldview, like myself, believe that the heart of every man is, inherently, 'deceitful, and desperately wicked' (Jeremiah 17:9).  However, due to Christ's work on the Cross, and the open call to repentance provided by the Gospel, we have no right to simply kill the unsaved.  We can never assume a person cannot be saved, no matter how depraved or sickening their sin is.  Paul considered himself the worst of sinners, and yet Christ chose him to be an apostle.  No man is beyond God's reach; his glory cannot be dimmed by our depravity.  God still demands justice for sins, but it is not our place to deal this justice.  Under this view, the killing of any man is inexcusable.  But this is where the concept of irredeemability comes in.

1 John 5:16-17: 16 - If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life -- to those who commit sins that do not lead to death.  There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that.  All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.

This verse tells us that it is possible for a person to sin in such a way that they become totally, irreparably spiritually dead.  However, as finite human beings, we can make no assumptions about the state of another person's soul.  It is not our place to judge any person based on their deeds, as we know that no sin is too grievous for God to forgive (if you need examples, look at Paul/Saul!).  We must hold all men as redeemable.  This is what lies at the focus of who we directly witness to, and the manner in which we treat others.

Now, in a fantasy or sci-fi world, people expect a lot of action.  That's generally the case with these genres.  But, if you wanted to work within a Biblical (or moral) view, the natural question comes: is it ever right to kill any person, or other fully sentient being (sentient here meaning having a soul)? Even killing someone who is considered evil by most others in the world could not be justified, especially with a vindictive intent in the killer's heart.  Irredeemability makes its point here.  The best equivalencies I can make here are tied to Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, so I will demonstrate with that frame of reference in mind.

1. Redeemable Beings - Gollum and humankind
Gollum was an absolutely foul and pitiful creature by the time he appears in Lord of the Rings.  The bitterness and malice of the ring has all but consumed him.  Yet Frodo, when he is attacked by Gollum, chooses not to kill him, as he very well could, given his past deeds.  He instead allowed him to live, earning Gollum's partial loyalty.  Frodo truly believed Gollum could be redeemed, and through his kind treatment, he almost was.  Frodo, also feeling the corruption of the ring, could pity and empathize with Gollum, much as we, too, are lost sinners, and know how fallen we are.

Sam, on the other hand, saw only the faults of Gollum, and believed he should be killed immediately, before he betrayed them to their deaths.  Sam's harsh treatment of Gollum, and the three's eventual capture on the outskirts of Gondor and Mordor, eventually lead to Gollum's hatred and betrayal.  However, everything would likely have ended differently if it were not for Gollum's decisions.  This is an excellent depiction of the state of man, really, and even though Gollum was never redeemed, it is shown that he was able to be, and that is key.  This theme really runs throughout much of Lord of the Rings: Aragorn and his lineage, and Boromir's struggle in trying to use the ring are both excellent examples as well.

2. Irredeemable Beings - Orcs and demons
When you see the orcs, goblins, and other foul beings in Lord of the Rings, you see only monsters filled with malice, hatred, selfishness, covetousness, murder... the list goes on.  And there is never a sign that they would want anything but what they already desire: the death of all other beings, men, elves, and dwarves.  You never see one acting in a remotely kind, generous, or selfless manner.  They are completely and irreparably evil, and their influence on the world corrupts it.

Unlike killing redeemable beings, the destruction of the irredeemable carries with it no consequence, as long as the killer has the correct mindset in doing so.  It would be one thing to defend the people of your homeland; it would be another to kill simply for the sake of killing, to sate ones bloodlust.  While the killing itself would carry no consequence, the heart may corrupt itself in doing so.  This still allows for strong moral problems to be presented and confronted by characters, while still allowing the action scenes to take place.  It allows for a two-fold battle to take place, as well: while a force of irredeemable darkness can simply be dispatched, a redeemable people can not be dealt with so simply, not without violent repercussions to one's soul.

3. Breaking Point Beings - Ringwraiths
While redeemable Beings are always redeemable, as seen with Gollum, Tolkien also brings with him another type, which I've labeled the Breaking Point Being.  Nine men were given rings of power when they were first formed, but as Sauron corrupted them with the One Ring, the mens' hearts grew corrupted, too, until they reached the breaking point, becoming the Ringwraiths.  At this point, they turn from redeemable, to permanently irredeemable.

In Tolkien's world, men are all Breaking Point beings.  Elves, I believe, have more of a resistance to the corruption; I'm not sure how affected they would be.  Dwarves lost their rings, clumsy things.  And Hobbits show a natural resistance to the ring, as well: look at Gollum.  While not much is seen of the mechanism behind the ring's corruption, it can be safely assumed that there are actually no redeemable beings in Lord of the Rings, only Breaking Point beings.  This allows for some interesting possibilities, though it should be noted that once a person has crossed that line, the effects are tangible.  There is no guesswork: you know a wraith has crossed from being redeemable to irredeemable.  And this is what separates a fantasy world from reality.  We do not have the luxury of seeing these effects; we can only assume that any man is still savable.

So, in conclusion, keep an eye for this in fiction.  Be aware of the difference between killing evil in a fantasy world, and dealing justice in the real one.  Also use these ideas to weigh a character's actions in dealing his own judgment on others: is the person redeemable, or not?

Also keep in mind that the God-given judicial system (albeit corrupted by us) allows us to make impartial judgments based on a person's past behavior.  This is, really, a way to give punishment for one's deeds here on Earth.  And, really, it gives the person a chance to repent, even if sentenced to death.  Prisoners have time to consider their decisions, and though they will still suffer the consequences, they can still be redeemed.  And that should always be considered before simply killing someone for the murder of a family.

My life is rearranging (and my dorm is too)

No, that's not how it works. Some traits are more dominant, so there is the possibility that if you cross A with B, it could resemble A more. Moment of truth: does she look like her dad or her mom? Either way, she's a monster, but if she's gotta be a potato or a tomato, please let her be a tomato!
-Lieutenant Havoc, Full Metal Alchemist

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Chris had a flash of inspiration today, involving the juggling of furniture. Over the weekend, while I was back at home, he brought in a TV set and his old Nintendo 64 console. Problem was, there was no way to sit comfortably in a group to play with his friends. So he decided that, since he didn't use his desk much, he would toss it into one of the study rooms on our floor, and replace it with a couch, which, incidentally, came from the 8th floor lounge. From what I can tell, the 8th floor doesn't use their couches. They just stack them into giant games of Jenga, and Chris figured they wouldn't miss one couch. So down came the desk, down came the sofa, and down came all the stuff on the shelves. At this point, he realized he'd have to rearrange the whole room to get the sofa into place. Joyous.

(Incidentally, someone was trying to play Jenga.  On the ferry.  On a rocking boat.  And I think she was blonde, too.)

The next hour or so was spent rearranging food items, refrigerators, closets, beds, stacks of cardboard boxes, books, TV sets, cabinets, chess boards, laptops, wires, chairs, and various other small items. Finally, the fridge was moved to the opposite corner, with the TV taking its place. The sofa is positioned where the desk used to be, right behind me. Nice to know people can sit there and stare at my dandruff-flaked back. Almost like watching the snow fall outside, I guess. How nostalgic.

Halloween is coming near. I'm really not sure if I'm going to want to be in the dorms when it rolls around, though. People do strange things around this time. And no, it's not the ghosts' fault. Whatever happens, I'm hoping to be away from the dorms. Maybe I'm overreacting or guessing. Maybe not. Guess I'll find out pretty quick. In the meanwhile, it hasn't affected school, thankfully.

Homework's in full swing now for all four classes, so I'm going to get back to work. Good times!

P R O J E C T   R E A L I T Y

Craig Alder – Hero, Security Technician for ElemenTech

Now that the world has settled into using the AtomWall system, hackers seem to be a nonexistent issue.  But when things start going wrong with firewalls, ElemenTech hires a team of hacking experts (known as the High Five), trains them in the use of the special NetHack software, and gives them the task of repairing dysfunctional AtomWalls.

When the problems get worse, the corporation begins to hire regular individuals for the Security Technician team.  Craig Alder is one of these special men.  He’s rather nervous about having a new job, but he quickly picks up the pace.  A co-worker, Brent, is one of the High Five.  He helps Craig along, and makes sure he understands the core ideas behind the system.

Brent – One of the High Five, the top Hackers in the ST team.

Early on in Craig’s new job, a consistent defect in the firewalls begins to grow.  He’s been able to repair the effects of these damaged systems, but although he does not realize it, he is only cutting off the tail of the worm: the defects continue to grow.

It was finally discovered that someone had broken into the developer’s department at ElemenTech and corrupted an important file for the next firewall patch, leaving the AtomWall with a gaping back-door.  After some investigation, Brent was found to be the perpetrator, and was promptly fired, and a warrant released for his arrest.  However, he was nowhere to be found.  Most employees thought he corrupted the file to achieve the all-important quota: if more firewalls broke, there would be more for him to fix.

Lianna – Craig’s girlfriend, inexperienced hacker

Craig confides much about his job with his girlfriend, Lianna.  He is careful to hide the security-sensitive information restricted by the Corporation, but things slip out.  One night, after work, Craig tells Lianna about a critical factor: Morris’ plans for Project Reality.

Lianna does more research, and discovers the ultimate purpose of the project: The project is a framework for a human ‘utopia’, a means by which the planet could be controlled.  Once created, Project Reality would allow a human to rest in a form of stasis, keep them nourished through elemental energy-absorption techniques, and allow the new ‘plants’ to view the world as it could be through virtual-reality machines.  Essentially, the world would be comatose, living only in a non-existent reality.

Lianna realizes what this would mean for the world if this occurs, and begins trying to get Craig to help.  Craig thinks she’s getting too emotional about it, and vaguely ignores her.  Desperate, she turns elsewhere, and eventually finds someone who agrees with her cause: Kroger Lindstrom.  It was he who had enlisted Brent’s help to try and create a back-door to the firewalls, trying to destroy the corporation.  Craig, however, had destroyed that plan, and Kroger is looking for another way to attack ElemenTech.  Aided by Lianna, they begin initiating several plans to take it down.

.Elementa - Project Reality (Escapism, Ends Justifying Means)

I've always wondered why there aren't more games based on hacking.  Not that I condone illegal hacking as a beneficial activity, but rather the use of hacking in a security-based setting.  Hackers are able to find leaks in systems other people would be hard-pressed to even think of, and then help fix said problems, so other, more malicious hackers can't take advantage of the holes.  I made a game system awhile back, when me and some friends were trying to make our own playing card games.  While the card games epically failed, the system concept I came up with stuck with me.  I began making a basic storyline, and over time, it has grown into a large project.  Thought this will probably never come to fruition, and the storyline definitely has flaws, I designed it to confront two problems:

1. Escapism
I wasn't sure what to call this at first, but I recently saw this term used, and realized that's the problem I'd been thinking about the whole time.  Escapism is just what it sounds like: trying to escape from problems or routine in life through entertainment, or by literally escaping.  Nowadays, this is accomplished through games, television, and books.  We are quite good at using escapism as a way to remove ourselves from anything we don't want to approach or confront in our lives.  We instead turn to something that cannot ultimately comfort, and only leaves problems to fester.  The story in Project Reality turns to something even more sinister: what would a fake reality be, one where one wouldn't have to worry about working, eating, or other essentials of living?

2. Ends Justifying the Means
When you want to get something done, how you accomplish your goal does matter.  In fact, often, it matters just as much as the goal itself.  If a pacifist decides to destroy the military to gain world peace, do the ends justify the means? Or is the person really a hypocrite, looking for an outlet for rebellion? If we manage to save someone's life by lying, is our testimony left unstained? Does the Bible ever say we can lie if someone's life is on the line? The ends do not justify the means.  Just because we feel that we will accomplish some greater good does not mean we can do anything to get there.  The second antagonist deals with this in some very strong ways.

These two are the chief problems I confront, though there are also elements of jealousy, sibling rivalry taken to extreme measures, and the ethical quality of hacking present throughout, as well.  Without further adieu, I present the first part of...

Project Reality

The Elementa Network

In the .Elementa world, the very principles of nature itself can be altered through the modern marvel of electronics.  The entire world is beginning to discover the possibilities: Security systems guarded by liquid barriers; military bases surround by shrouds of darkness; air traffic directed along newly-made wind currents…

The ElemenTech Corporation was formed to effect all these changes.  Both inside and out, technology reflects the six elements inherent worldwide.  There are even checks and balances built into the systems, preventing an over-load of any one element to cause chaos to both the internal data and the external surroundings.  The AtomWall security system transforms binary computer data into an elemental fortress, prepared to take on any intruder.  In essence, the more data a system contains, the stronger the wall will be.

Morris Lindstrom – President of the ElemenTech Corporation

The president of the corporation, Morris Lindstrom, was the inventor and mastermind of the project as well.  It was rumored that his younger brother, Kroger Lindstrom, helped with the creation of the system; however, no one had ever seen any proof that he had ever aided the project, aside from a secretive lawsuit soon after the Corporation started.

Morris is known to have excellent business sense.  He ensures the Corporation’s success by paying all his employees a generous salary, while complementing it with a very strict quota.  If you fail to meet the quota, you’re cut from the Corporation, no questions asked.

Morris is at last satisfied with the progress of the AtomWall system, and is now prepared to move on to the next step of the master plan: Project Reality.

Kroger Lindstrom – Engineering Genius,  Inventor of the Elementa network

Morris Lindstrom not only had a good head for business, he also had an incredible sense of back-stabbing politics.  He had worked on the system with his brother, Kroger, who was the genius behind the system.  When the product was nearly complete, Morris went behind Kroger’s back and started the ElemenTech Corporation, stealing all the research and technology at the latest possible moment.  When Kroger discovered what happened, he attempted to shut down the Corporation with a lawsuit; Morris, however, was able to take down the lawsuit by buying out Kroger’s lawyer.  Kroger, furious at being fooled so easily, vanished without a trace to seek his revenge.

Sticks and Stones and Stitches

May you have a happy birthday;
And wherever your head may now lay,
May it be cushioned by spam and jellay!

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Poor Jesse! This morning, he was feeling pretty bad, so he went over to Hall Health.  They told him he had strep throat, and that they'd have to do surgery in his throat to remove fluid from his flooding tonsils.  He was understandably scared; however, after having a few more doctors inspect his throat, they concluded he only had a nasty case of tonsilitis.  So he's in bed now, feeling pretty blech.  Hope he's feeling better soon.

So, there's a birthday boy among the readers, if I understand it correctly.  When I first learned the lockpicking skills at 4 years of age, I tested it on his head with a bunch of Hot Wheels cars.  While those are understandably not the best picks, it certainly opened up his poor little 2-year-old forehead.  He got better, though.

Then there was the red wagon we had in California.  One of us would sit, while the other would pull in circles around the tree in our backyard.  He decided it was his turn, so I began running with the wagon behind.  For the fun of it, I decided to take him through the best part of the ride really fast: the rocky, rooty section underneath the tree swing.  I easily dodged the wooden swing base.  He, however, didn't.  The corner of the swing caught him right on the top of his noggin.  Stitches!

This was also the kid who loved to eat.  He found his way into the kitchen one day, and saw some pudding sitting in the open dishwasher door, which he rapidly consumed.  He had to go to the hospital to have the detergent pumped out of his stomach.

Ever since he learned his Basic Weaponry skill, he's collected various sticks, named them, patched them up, and beautified them in various ways.  He then uses one or two select special ones to beat on various opponents, whether they be trees, people, ghosts, or the latest threat to the peace of the tree fort.

Ethan, here's to another year.  Happy 17th birthday!

It Pours because It Rains

Beef? I am lacking in beef. Fawful is beefless.

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The rain really was flowing today.  A simple 15-minute walk across campus turned into a drench-fest.  Even with my rain jacket on, both I and my bag got soaked.  But it was nothing to worry about; the soggy results of each trek I made always dried off before I went to my next destination.  And it's better raining than having no clouds and freezing.

The rain also kind of fit today's start.  The audition on Tuesday may have gone well, but the results... I got an e-mail this morning from Kaplan, saying they cannot offer me a position.  It could be they just didn't need any more SAT teachers, and needed more for other tests instead; or the audition really wasn't as good as I though.  It's a bummer, especially since I kind of threw all my eggs in one basket, instead of delivering a boatload of résumés before the quarter started.  Now I'll have to print out a bunch of résumés and cover letters, and hit the streets to see what other jobs are available nearby.  A surprising amount of students here don't work, so there'll likely be somewhere that has positions open.  Until then, keep praying! Well, you can keep praying after, too.  But especially for now!

Rockets, Rain, and Relative Chaos

Real numbers commute.  And so do some real people, I hear.

--------

Today was it.  This was the time to wrap up the Kaplan audition planning.  Former jobs, rockets, resumes, pressure, references, gunpowder... it's all kind of muddled now.  The important thing is, with a little last-minute help from people back home, I got the application together, and had a sort of plan for the audition: "How to launch a rocket".

But first I had to tidy up.  This involved a business casual shirt (PLEASE tell me there's a standard definition for that oxymoron), a damp washcloth, and a trip to the shower.  What made the shower unusual was the haircut session going on.  Someone was giving a free haircut, and there was clippings everywhere on the bathroom floor.  And people kept dropping in to see how it was going.  Kind of eerie.

Then there was the actual process of printing out the cover letter and resume.  I made some editing changes with some advice from the Technical Communication peer review session we had yesterday.  I copied the files over to my thumb drive, and left it sitting while I took that shower.  I came back and took the drive out, and dashed over to the library to print it out.  I opened the resume, printed a couple copies.  Then I went to open the cover letter... and the file was corrupted.

It didn't transfer fully.  For some reason or other, Windows decided to delay the file's write, so when I pulled the drive out, it didn't have time to store it all.  I ended up having to make the resume without the letter, unfortunately.  I'll have to print another one early tomorrow morning for class.  Stinky.

The audition itself went fine, though.  Nothing helps energy-level in a presentation like having a high-energy topic like rockets.

All-in-all, an interesting day.  I'll find out within the next few days what the results were, though.  Here's praying it was worth the time! And what do you know, it looks like the fall rains have started in earnest this time.

The Wheels on the Bus go SCREEECH!

Oh, drat.  I left my coat at the lab.

--------

I guess this is what they call procrastination.  It has all the same symptoms, and I'm pretty sure it's highly contagious.  I don't want to give it to roomies, but... only time will tell.

The Washington State tranpsortation system is interesting, at the very least.  I daresay it's kind of illogical that Google has more information on the bus routes than the Washington Department of Transportation does.  It also helps more with route planning.  I only had to take one bus down to the ferry terminal on Friday, hopped onto the ferry, and one more bus to my house.  Hooray for homecoming, however temporary.

Then there's the computer troubles.  The hard drive's replaced now, with the tools I had available on Saturday.  The files are all back, but a lot of programs lost data and settings.  So now I have to reset a lot of things from scratch: not easy, especially when you have short-term memory loss like I do.  But it's slowly building its way back up.  Carbonite did an okay job.

Getting back was another issue altogether.  Finding the right bus was no trouble; finding the right stop was.  Bus 66 travels in one big loop, from what I saw when I got on it the first time on Friday.  So when it crossed the bridge, I assumed it would take a couple quick turns and head the other way, where it would drop me off before it crossed again.  But we passed right through 42nd Avenue.  And 43rd.  And 72nd.  And 90th.

I realized too late that the bus did go in a loop; one LONG loop headed north.  It finally dropped me off at a transit station, where I had to call home and figure out how to get back.  Turns out I got on the same bus, headed back... towards the bridge like I thought it was going to.

I made it back to the dorms without being mugged, even though I was an hour later than I thought I was going to be.  But at least I had time enough to work on that cover letter.  Back to the ol' grind, eh?

Men, gods, and the unnaturalness of sin

The Hero will have the power to save the world.  But he will also have the power to destroy it.
We never understood.  He wouldn't simply bear the power of Preservation.  He needed the power of Ruin as well.
The powers were opposites.  As he drew them in, they threatened to annihilate each other.  And yet, because he was of one mind on how to use them, he could keep them separate.  They could touch without destroying each other, if he willed it.  For these two powers had been used to create all things.  If they fought, they destroyed.  If they were used together, they created.
-Mistborn - The Hero of Ages

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The Mistborn trilogy was quite excellent.  Strong character development, a grandiose storyline that all fit in the end, and plenty of action to tie it up.  But Sazed's search still remains one of the most depressingly blinded statements the books make.

Near the end of his study of all three-hundred religions he had in his copperminds, Sazed began to know there was no hope in any of them.  They all contradicted themselves, throwing logic aside, demanding faith in something he couldn't see.  Something he couldn't accept, not when it couldn't answer his questions.  Not when it couldn't tell him where Tindwyl went when she died.

But he realized there was one religion left.  One that had survived for a thousand years, though no Terrisman had ever recovered it: the Terris religion.

Through a long and complex series of circumstances you don't want to know about, he finally finds the one group that still knows his people's long-lost religion.  And he finds that it, like the others, demands faith, instead of giving logical, scientific reasons for its prophecies and teachings.  And looking around him, he saw that's what made followers of the Survivor different from these long-dead religions.

They had faith.  And they had hope through it.

While this is all well and good, I'd have something to add.  Ironically enough, while Christianity does require faith, just as any religion does, it also is able to back itself up logically, scientifically, and through personal testimonies of the saints who have come before us.  Sanderson had it close, I think.  But he's missing a lot of the argument.  Sazed could have placed his hope in any of the other religions... and would have been misled.  Faith and hope aren't the reasons religion exists.  But more on that later.

Now to deal with the second big topic: today's quote.  In the books' mythology, Preservation is the power of... well, preserving.  And Ruin is the... power of ruin.  Pretty straightforward.  A classic concept - order and chaos, age-old rivals.  But in the ending, he notes that all of the world was created using both the power of Preservation and the power of Ruin working together in a bargain, in order to prevent a stalemate, where each would block the other's touch on the world.  This would infer that chaos, and therefore the power of destruction, death, and sin, are a natural part of the world.  And this is what disturbs me most.

I wish I had a book I could look this up in, to get more specific references.  But looking at Genesis 1 will suffice.

The finished creation.  No death.  No decay.  No destruction.  And what did God say?

It was very good.  Not "it's not right, there needs to be a counter-balance", but "it's good as it is".  The whole concept of sin being a natural part of the world was probably dragged in from Taoism's Yin-Yang, or some similar ideal.  And do I even have to note that the fact that the Hero became God is ludicrous? An imperfect man as God would be no God at all.

Aside from that, I must say, excellent story.  Most of his other moral issues were dealt with very well, though sticking very closely to a classic world standpoint.  What I think made the moral conflicts worthwhile was each character having to struggle through whether they were doing the right thing at any given time.  And eventually coming to the right decision, for the most part.

But enough ranting for now.  I need my sleep to kick this stupid cold.

In Sickness.. and I'm too sick to remember the rest.

"Well, if I were said force of doom, then I certainly wouldn't have used my powers to turn the land black. It just lacks flair. Red. Now, that would be an interesting color. Think of the possibilities--if the ash were red, the rivers would run like blood. Black is so monotonous that you can forget about it, but red--you'd always be thinking, 'Why, look at that. That hill is red. That evil force of doom trying to destroy me certainly has style.'"
-Mistborn - Hero of Ages

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So, it's definitely been an interesting time the past few days.

Friday, I got back from classes and started working on the Java homework.  Yes, I had other homework, I could do, but why put off the most fun 'til last? It took me a good couple hours to get the kinks out of the program, but I think it's up to shape now.  That was only the beginning of the fiasco, though.

I put my laptop on 'Stand By' mode while I went to do something else.  I came back to turn it on, and heard something I've heard only once before from my computer.  It was ominous.  If sounds could stab, the laptop should have gone into the acupuncture field.

CLICK.  CLICK.  CLICK.

That was it.  No screen turning on, no familiar happy Windows "HELLO!!!" chime.

As previously mentioned, this has only happened once before.  Turning off the computer didn't help last time, until I waited for a few hours.  It was worse this time.  I waited a couple hours, and tried again.  Nothing.  No blog post that night.

Saturday, I was feeling a liiiittle on the icky side.  I had a bit of head congestion, and felt really chilly.  But our room's windows were open, so that didn't surprise me much.  And the computer still wouldn't turn on.  And I had no way to find Dell Support's phone number without using a library computer.  My little brother and mom came and brought home-made pizza (MMMM!) and Settlers of Catan.  That was an exciting game.  Especially since I won.  But they played well, and we laughed pretty hard the whole time.  And the other people in the cafe lounge were cheering us on! (Don't listen to what they tell you about the Huskies game on the TV; they were celebrating that awesome one-sheep-for-two-brick trade.)

Fortunately, I was able to call back home to get the support number from my other brother, who was sick with a cold.  I called in, and after half-an-hour of reading while placed on hold, someone picked up, and I soon got a verdict.  The hard-drive was faulty, and would need to be replaced.  And that meant having to get data recovery for the faulty one.  I tried turning it on again while he was filling out forms, and wouldn't you know it, the thing turned on just fine.  I'll still have to replace the drive, since it's already done it twice, and there doesn't seem to be rhyme or reason behind it.  I really don't feel like losing all my stuff because the drive has a bad head.

Last night, I was definitely feeling feverish, and very congested.  I took some Tylenol, and some Sudafed; the Tylenol seemed to help the fever for awhile; the Sudafed, not so much.  I ended up feeling to yucky to write a post.

And today, I was feeling even ickier.  I laid around until eleven, then demolished an orange mom brought.  The fever seemed to slack off during the afternoon, thought the congestion continued to stick with all day.  I still managed to wrap up homework, and write up this post.  Now you know where I've been the last few days: sick as a dawg.

Religions, Truth, and the Gospel

The skaa called Sazed holy, but at that moment he realized that he was the most profane of men.  He knew three hundred religions, yet had faith in none of them.
So, when his tears fell -- and nearly began to freeze to his face -- they gave him as little comfort as his religions.  He moaned, leaning over the frozen corpse.
My life, he thought, has been a sham.
-Mistborn - The Well of Ascension

--------

Hello, October!

Finally finished the book.  It's quite fantastic, really, and quite free of inappropriate scenes.  But the line of thought culminating in today's quote was very thought-provoking.

Sazed is one of the main characters in these books.  As a Terrisman Ferruchemist, he has a role as one of the Keepers among his people.  Ferruchemists use pieces of metal, called metalminds, to store attributes at the cost of a temporary weakening of that attribute.  Some store physical traits, such as senses, strength, and weight.  Copper is very interesting, in that it stores memories.  Keepers store vast amounts of information in their copperminds: books, biographies, events... and religions.  Sazed is notable for knowing over three hundred religions, all long dead, crushed by the Lord Ruler during his thousand-year reign.  Yet he insists on trying to match every person he meets with a religion that would best suit that person.

The hypocrisy in this is incredibly obvious from the start.  Sazed himself claims to hold all religions equally, as each contain 'portions of truth'.  But in doing so, he refutes the truth of all, since all of them would necessarily conflict with each other.  Here, as he finds the dead body of a fellow Keeper he had just fallen in love with (eunuch or not), he realizes the true futility of his life's work.

That's one thing this book tends to probe a lot: what, exactly makes a 'divinity'? The Lord Ruler was considered one, because, for all practical purposes, he was immortal, and was incredibly powerful.  But he was killed when it was discovered he had a simple trick he used to make himself a 'god'.  Kelsier, who had led the skaa rebellion against the Final Empire, let himself be martyred, and throughout the second book, he is considered a 'god' by the skaa people, making a religion to unite an oppressed people.

None of these come as any surprise, given the author's background in the mormon church.  While this does accurately depict the futility of trying to hold on to multiple, conflicting religions, it does not truly confront what would, then, be the source of truth and morality.  Perhaps he'll resolve this in the third book; I'm not sure.  It will be interesting to see how he draws his conclusions.

Back to Galatians!

Paul's statement in the first verse continues.  He notes, as I said in the last post, that he received the gospel from Jesus Christ, not from man.  He also notes another component: God the Father, who raised Christ from the dead.  That act of raising Christ is, in itself, the gospel given to Paul; and, if Christ had not been raised, He could not have given the gospel to Paul anyway.  It's kind of difficult to say you were risen from the dead if you are, in fact, dead.  More evidence for Paul's case, and another blow for those claiming Jesus Christ is not God.

Paul sends this letter, also, with a greeting from 'all the brothers who are with me'.  Either he is, again, in prison, or he is with another church (which seems more likely).  He obviously has the support of those around him in writing this letter.  I'll head back into the thick of the chapter again tomorrow, if I have time.  Which I can make a little of, under the right circumstances.  Just add a little tin to bronze, and mix it with about half again as much aluminum...

...In Which Nathan Discovers an Unfortunate Reaction to Bagels

Quesadilla makers.  I can see no use for such a contraption, except in a situation much like our own.  For untold decades, quesadillas have been fried on a pan.  But now, a miniature griddle? Just for the cheese-n-tortilla loving college going crowd? Go get yourself a Foreman Grill, people.

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Bagels can kill.  If you don't believe me, rewind the clock back to 8:45 this morning.  Here, I'll retrieve the events as they occured from the UW Big Brother database:

SQL:QUERY> SELECT Time,Event FROM UW_BB_Student_Events_Sep_30_09 WHERE StudentName='Nathan Armstrong' AND Time>0845 AND Time<0900

0845 - Nathan Armstrong is leaving Lander Hall, heading towards Red Square
0852 - Nathan Armstrong has reached Red Square, heading towards Free Bagel tent on far side
0853 - Nathan Armstrong has reached Free Bagel tent and is picking up a cinnamon raisin bagel.
0853 - Nathan Armstrong is consuming a cinnamon raisin bagel.
0854 - Nathan Armstrong is leaving Red Square, heading back to Lander Hall while consuming bagel.
0854 - Nathan Armstrong is realizing that the bagel is dry without cream cheese or other similar toppings.
0856 - Nathan Armstrong is gagging on the bagel, having put too much in his mouth at once.
0859 - Nathan Armstrong is arriving at the dorm, with half the bagel gone.

The bagel industry is hazardous! We must bring it down before it wrecks our environment and destroys the local pigeon population.  My esophagus is at least five times the size of a pigeon's, and look what it did to me! This must END NOW!

But besides the choking, it was a very good bagel.

Classes all began relatively well.  This looks like it will actually be a relative light quarter, even though it's a 16-credit load, and Linear Analysis is going to be a royal pain.  But I kind of expected that.  And having met three people from OC today, I'm really quite happy.  Cameron Webster, who I mentioned earlier, is in the Linear Analysis class as well; I took Differential Equations, the prequel to Linear Analysis, with him as well, so we may end up working together on some projects.

Route planning... all went out the window.  On my way from the Fishery Sciences building to Mueller Hall, I had planned on crossing a bridge right in front of the Medical Center.  I got to the bridge, only to find out the only way to get there was to go into the hospital.  I didn't want to get more hopelessly lost than I was at the moment, so I glanced at the map.  I crossed the street at a nearby fork-intersection, ran down a couple dirt paths, and made it just as class starts.  Lesson learned: scope out bridges before crossing them.  You never know when one of those things will crumble on your head.

I decided to return to the beginning of Galatians, which I skipped last time due to over-excitement.  Paul makes a very interesting note right off the bat: he is an apostle, "not from men nor through man".  This seems a little vague, until we look at verse 11, which extends that claim: "For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel."  He's emphasizing the fact that the Gospel was not given by men; this wasn't an invention of the apostles.  He had received it directly from Christ: Acts 9 and Galatians 1:12 make this very clear.  He's trying to defend against those who claim that Paul invented the Gospel he's preaching, or that he is following a man.  This would match the 'different gospel' he mentions later, one that perhaps tries to downplay Christ as fully God, and tries to push the idea that Paul found the gospel through simple, deceitful men.  He certainly comes into this book with, if I may use this term, 'fists flying'.

The Storm is Coming...

Bring it on! Let the lightning flash; let the thunder roll; let the storm winds blow.
Bring it on! Let the trouble come; let the hard rain fall, let it make me strong.
Bring it on!   -Stephen Curtis Chapman

--------

And as a write, it has already come.  The black clouds stretching over the nearby buildings finally covered the rest of the sky as well, and with a single, dull roar of thunder, the rain began pouring.  The people with table-duty by Lander's front door were able to pack up and move out on time, but several meandering students found themselves running for cover.  I'm safe and sound in my room, however.  Which makes watching others get drenched slightly more... entertaining.

I've already started work on one of my classes.  Professor Pflughoeft assigned reading material for the Advanced Technical Writing and Oral Presentation class.  I can see why he's the one teaching this class: both his name and the class' title are mouthfuls.  Fortunately, I've already taken Technical Writing, so I'm very familiar with the formats of letters and memos and e-mails.  This made for a solid, quick review.  I must say, the supplementary book for the class, the Handbook of Technical Writing, actually seems to be a handy tool I might want to keep on hand for future reference.  Yet another actually useful textbook.  Shocking!

There was supposed to be a "Religious Community Info Fair".  I decided to look and see if there was any info on Campus Crusades for Christ, or for CBC's Arise college group, but neither were to be found.  I did, however, find one booth I'd seen yesterday at the tech fair, demonstrating an ITouch application for MyUW.  And a display by... Sprint? I can't remember, I'm pretty sure it was a phone company.  I never realized those two businesses had entered the "Religious Community"! I'll have to see what their doctrinal statements are.  Probably something about 6-month or yearly contracts, with limited messaging.

Now it's just about preparing for the first day of actual classes.  Looking outside, I can see that the water level's now creating mini-rivers down the side of the road.  Fall weather for Fall quarter.  How appropriate.

Bring it on.

Up and then Down

She exulted in the victory, spinning in the air above the wall walk.  Then she noticed something: several faint lines of blue disappearing into the distance.  Zane had pushed all of their coins away.  Disoriented, she hit the stone wall walk, tumbling amid her mistcloak until she came to a halt beside the wall's stone railing.

-Mistborn - The Well of Ascension

--------

Not much happened today.  A few good meals, an interesting technology fair (represented mostly by Microsoft, Google, and Apple, of course).  They did have a demo of Microsoft Surface.  Look it up.  It's cool.  Except they reaaallly need to work out some frame-rate issues.

They had free rock-climbing at the IMA center, so I went for a try.  I made it up the wall in... 5 minutes? Enough to get adrenaline pumping.  That was exciting.

And no, as much as I would have loved to go, I didn't attend the Queer Bingo session.  But there IS a Queer Social and Movie tomorrow night!
Sarcasm.End("now")

Of Saducees and ...Sarah? Susan? Susette? Suzello?...

"I'm... not certain what I think of this experience, Mistress," a voice whispered beside her.  Vin paused, looking down as she realized she had begun idly scratching OreSeur's ears.

She pulled her hand back with a start.  "Sorry," she said.

OreSeur shrugged, resting his head back on his paws.

Mistborn - The Well of Ascension

--------

I got my Mini-Wheats today! I got there at 10, and there was still a couple of mini milk cartons left.   That made me happy, and that's all I have to say about that.

As I munched, I listened to John MacArthur's message on an interesting 'final spar' in the gospel of Luke, chapter 20.  The last time Luke records of anyone trying to trick Jesus by posing a question, the Sadducees were on the offensive.  Since they believed more strongly in Moses and the Mosaic law than in God, and denied both the existence of angels and the eventual resurrection of the dead, they came up with a startlingly bizarre scenario: a woman gets married to the eldest of seven brothers.  Her husband dies before they have children, so the next oldest marries her, as Jewish law dictated.  He, too, died before she could bear children, and so the next married her, and so on until all the men were dead.  Then, she 'mercifully' died as well.

Here's the catch: they asked Jesus who would then be her husband in Heaven, since, after all, all seven brothers had been legally married to her.  Obviously, they were trying to disprove the Scripture's promise of resurrection by reducing it to absurdity.

Jesus, however, tactfully flips their argument on its head.  He points out that, as resurrected beings, we will be 'sons of the resurrection', meaning our life is defined by that pertaining to our resurrected bodies.  As such, he says, there will be no marriage, much as the angels are.  Since there will be no more death, there will be no more need for creation of life.  He also points out to them that the man who they followed had referred to God at the burning bush as 'the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob'; all three long since dead.  He could not refer to God as being the God of a dead corpse; a corpse has no God, it has no soul, nothing to allow it to think.  God is a God of the living, and Moses referred to Him as the God of those who continued to live with Him as their God.  He basically set out undeniable evidence that the resurrection is, indeed, real as promised.  The Sadducees, after that, "no longer dared to ask him any questions", so good was His case.  Jesus had absolute knowledge of the Scriptures (He was, after all, the one who wrote them), and knew the meaning that was intended, instead of what the Pharisees and Sadducees tried to infuse into the words for their own purposes.

The main event of the afternoon was the Dawg Daze kickoff.  It was pretty much a giant social event that took place in the Husky Stadium field.  I never realized how cooshy football grass is until now.  Anyway, after running down a line of cheering first-year-program helpers, we got dragged around Kajabi-Can-Can style across the field and back.  Then we were shuffled into groups, broken up, shuffled again, and again, and again, and again...

Oh, and did I mention we met a whole bunch of people during that process that I won't EVER remember the names to after an hour? Honestly, how do you expect me to remember or make friends with people who I've only spoken to for all of ten seconds?  Aaaaanyway.  Finally, we did something really interesting.  We had broken up into groups of two, and we were told to start a rock-paper-scissors competition.  I lost my first round to... Lisa? Or was it Leia? I can't remember.  Then I followed her, cheering her on as she tackled another champion.  Having squarely beat him, he and his followers joined our entourage cheering for Liseia.  Leisa.  Bah.  And so on, and so forth.  Our group eventually got completely lost as our leaders were swallowed in the crowd.  Finally, after the champions realized they weren't getting much done when they couldn't even see each other, each got up on their group's shoulders, holding long-distance bouts with each other, leaving the crowd more confused about who to cheer for than before.

Soon, the remaining four champions were called up to the stage to hold the last four rounds.  Everyone picked sides.  I decided to cheer for Cameron Webster; I knew him from OC.  After all, I did take Physics all last year, with him as a lab partner in Spring! He finished in third, which was kind of a bummer, since the winner got an HDTV to put in their dorms.  Quite the prize! (I doubt we'd need nor want that in ours, though.)

To wrap it all up, we made the 'W' picture.  I'll see if I can get it up when it comes out on Thursday (or later, that's just the paper-date).

All-in-all, quite an interesting afternoon.  Tomorrow's when all the fun stuff starts, it seems.  If I'm feeling better, I could go to the 'Queer Bingo' session if I want to return to feeling nauseated.

A Morning's Meal

Samwise Gamgee was a veritable genius of the Third Age.  His commentaries on the necessity and various usages of rope were some of the most consequential pieces of literature in his time.  However, he neglected one very important tool in all his talks, which I feel must be mentioned: a good, sturdy rope should always be complemented by a heavy-duty, wide-handled pair of scissors.

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It's kind of hard to get sleep on your first night in a new place.  But having only gotten three hours of sleep, plus a couple small naps during the previous day, certainly helped me: I managed to pull off nine hours of solid snooze-time.  Until the sirens drove by, that is.  Those things are loud! They were going on and off all night, but when a few passed the street just outside, I doubt anyone in the building could stay asleep.  But hey, well-rested isn't all that bad.

I started morning devotions in I Timothy, for now.  However, I'm considering choosing Galatians instead; its content may be more applicable to me here.  Nonetheless, I Timothy had a very strong opening.  It starts with one of Paul's openings, similar to the one found in Romans.  But what caught my eye was the part after that.  Yes, I skipped ahead.  Bad study habits come back to bite, eh?

Paul warned Timothy, who was at Ephesus, to charge 'certain persons' not to teach different doctrine.  Obviously, as was the case in many of the early churches (not to mention our own), false teachers were spreading around false doctrine.  An interesting thing to note is Paul's wording: 'different' doctrine.  Is this implying that anything but the doctrine taught by Paul, the Apostles, and Christ himself is false, even if it adds some good ideas? Well, given the infallibility of the Bible, and the non-multiplicity of its interpretation, each passage has only one possible meaning, but multiple applications.  So any other ideas coming from man's 'wisdom' would, indeed, be false, unless backed up with Scripture itself.

Paul moves on to point out two specific areas that are bothering him: myths, and endless genealogies.  This sounds to me like trouble being stirred up by the Jewish peoples, as they paid very special and detailed attention as to their family lines.  They likely dragged out lists of family trees, simply to disprove or degrade Christ's claim to the line of David.  Similar attacks to Christ's credibility occur today.  I expect to be bombarded with them during school.  That's why this caught my eye pretty quickly, I think.

Physical nourishment was also a good idea, at that point.  I headed down to the food store, to see if they had any mini-wheats.  They had both boxes and little cups; however, there wasn't a spot of milk left.  I wasn't about to start drinking soy milk, so I got yogurt and a donut, and added yet another mental note: if you want the good stuff, get up EARLIER.  Not that I'm complaining: I mean, c'mon, I had a DONUT!!

...Well, at least I had one good meal this morning.

Making Connections

"You'll cry. You're gonna cry. You always cry, see? You're crying." - Jecht, FFX

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It's my biggest link to the outside world, to friends and family at home.

And I can't open the box.

The dorm rooms at Lander Hall (and the rest of the dorms at the University of Washington) don't have wireless internet; you have to bring it in using ethernet cables and a hub. Unfortunately for me, the scissors I bought yesterday are nowhere to be found, and both my room-mates are out to breakfast, meaning I have to pull the cable out of a clamshell with my bare hands. Whoohoo.

Seriously, these things should be banned! They're dangerous. After trying to weaken the plastic by bending the casing in several different directions, I tried filing at it with a dinner knife. Still no good -- wait, there's a chip in the top, now! I pulled at it, and it began to tear... in a small semicircle. So much for that.

I start looking around the edges, turning it over to see if there's any way to get this open. Then I see the label. "Perforated for easy opening".

As usual, I'm blind to the obvious.

Not that it was easy, but at least I didn't have to pull out the dreaded chainsaw. The plastic shredded and ripped, usually not with the perforation, but it eventually gave way. I came out of it with a little plastic cut on my right hand, and a lightly punctured thumb on the left.

Problem solved! Next one to solve: what on earth do I do for lunch?

-Nathan Armstrong