On Friday and Saturday I helped my high school move from the building that I went to my last 2.5 years that is only 5 minutes away to a different school 35 minutes away. I helped out when faith first moved from the small church not to far away during my sophomore year, but now it’ll be in a place that I’ve got no familiarity with. I’ve always known that faith wouldn’t stay in the old Hawthorn building forever, but it is still a little sad and nostalgic for me and the other alum to see it go. Maybe I’m just an old fart, but too bad. The new location will cost more for the school to maintain, but it does offer more potential for recruiting students based on its central location in the county. Though for us and the other Marengo families it’s a big increase in commuting time, not that it matters for me at all. I just really hope that the positives of the move will outweight the negatives and it’ll work out for the school to keep holding on and the nine trillion pounds of furniture I lifted the past couple days won’t have been wasted.
Yesterday I saw a movie called Red Violin about, well a red violin. It chronicles the instrument from its creation in 1681 to modern times through so many people’s hands. At the end it is the star of an auction and worth millions of dollars mostly because it was used by a famous violinist in the 1800s, but it was also used by gypsies and orphan students and underground Chinese musicians and many other people during its time.
The movie got me thinking about the things around us that we don’t think of as having much of a story. If you look in your pocket or purse or nearest piggy bank and pick out a coin just look at the date and try to imagine the place and people that the coin has encountered. I’m still young enough that most coins I see are older than I am, but that won’t last forever. There’s a show on TV that I’ve only seen a couple times called If Walls Could Talk and they talk to homeowners about what they found about the history of the house, but there’s always more mysteries. So do you think the gold in your necklace was once part of Cortez’s treasure? Did the wood in your cabinets come from trees planted by your great-great-great grandfather? Where did you get some of your favorite recipies? Asking these sort of questions just opens up a huge world of more questions, but where there is mystery there is also imagination. My question to you: what sort of things do you have that seem to have a real sense of history to them?
Ok, so I’m not all goo-goo over Harry Potter, but I do like it quite a bit. Today my family went to a private showing of the latest movie organized by a friend for a bunch of families at church. Some people (mom and Goose included) dressed up, but I decided to go as a muggle (not magical person). If you haven’t read the HP series then I highly recommend it. I’m not amongst the group that thinks that because it deals with witchcraft means we should quarantine it or we’d have to stop all literature for some stupid reason or another. Anyway, I think the series gets a lot more popular acclaim then the critical acclaim that it probably deserves. Whenever I’ve read or re-read one of the books I just am more impressed by JK Rowling’s writing.
Anywho I thought that the movie was quite excellent in that it keeps the important essence of the book while not being obnoxious to people that haven’t read it. But in watching the movies it can be hard to keep them separate from the books. It’s really easy to say “the book was better” but there really isn’t much need to do so if you just realize that they’re very separate and need to be taken for their own unique qualities.
Anywho.2 I’ve been thinking a bunch lately about the future (such a scary and exciting thing) and I’m just never certain of what I should do, want to do, or will do in the future however distant or near. I’ve never been one to rush into decisions, but sometimes I think (or maybe just feel, I don’t know which is better) the desire to drop the world around me and scidaddle to somewhere or something else. No, there’s nothing really around me that I fear that I want to run away from, it’s just my crazy wanderlust personality maybe.
Here’s a spoof of some old music video that practically got me crying from loling.
A couple weeks ago I was at the library trying to find some cds to put on my laptop but the library I was at doesn’t have such a great collection. One I did pick up is the soundtrack to the movie The Piano which I’ve never seen or heard about. But I saw that the music was by Michael Nyman who I know is a great composer. It turned out ot be quite an excellent find and I’ve been listening to it a bunch.
On another note, today the family went up to Geneva Lake in Wisconsin for a good 6 mile walk. The area is sort of the Hamptons of the Midwest with rich Chicago families buying houses around the lake since the 1800s. There is a trail around the edge of the lake that all the way is about 21 miles, but with Susannah there was no way we were going that far. It was quite strange just walking in people’s backyards though. Some peeps had made a good trail for us to walk through and others kind of neglected the path. You could really feel a little bit of a class difference with these huge million-plus dollar homes on the lake. Some were extremely ostentatious, but others were more subtle. I kind of wonder if someday that’ll be me, but then I hope I wouldn’t leave more important things behind for it all.
yep that’s right, I’m starting to miss some things about school.
- Seeing my friends anytime
- Talking to profs, lunchladies, other various people
- Not having to make my own food
- Chapel
- Political/religious debates with my own generation
- Fast (though limited) internet
- Volleyball, tennis, soccer, etc anyone?
- No annoying siblings!
- I don’t have to mow or do other chores
On another note we went to a friend’s wedding yesterday and had a pretty good time. Yesterday, after finishing Homer’s Odyssey I got to the halfway point in the 100 books list. Here are some of my finds (in no particular order) thus far:
- Favorites
- Pride and Prejudice
- Silas Marner
- Othello
- Animal Farm
- Oliver Twist
- Least Favorite
- David Copperfield
- A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
- Billy Budd
- The Glass Menagerie
- Heart of Darkness
- Difficult to Determine
- Madame Bovary
- The Scarlet Letter
- The Old Man and the Sea
- Jane Eyre
- Diary of a Young Girl
What more do you need?
AWESOME!
grrrr, I’m pretty annoyed right now since the US mens national soccer team just lost 2-3 to Brazil in the Confederation Cup. We totally rocked the first half against the football powerhouse with two goals but in the second it was all depression. This is the best that the US has done in an official tournament. It was a big surprise that we even got here especially since we beat Spain who were undefeated since November 2006. Soccer in the US isn’t nearly as big as everywhere else, but peeps are trying and the national team sure is helping through this tournament to gain popularity. Next year at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa (where this Confed Cup was held) may provide just the opportunity that the US can use to spring to the top, let’s just hope they will.
On another note Joe and Dana surprised the family today by turning up late last night. Joe had told me they were coming last night but for mom getting up this morning and and finding them here it was pretty funny to see. The little kids were staying at a friend’s house and were pretty surprised at church. Don’t you just love being in on a secret?
Well here I am on my new computer! On another note. . .
If you haven’t heard yet, the word on the street is that Michael Jackson died today at age 50. 25 years ago he released the best selling album of all time here it is.
Over the web and around the house i hear some people’s sadness for the musical icon. Sure his pop music is alright, but I honestly don’t care for it too much. Many more peeps, at least in my circle, seem to be rejoicing in MJ’s death. Society in general seems to hate the idea of hatred. Sure “tolerance” is important, though I think it’s better to not be bias (positively or negatively) for any reason. But that doesn’t stop hatred from happening. The other night I watched the movie Seven Pounds a nice movie about a man that feels that he should give up his wealth, power, body, and even life to help those he deems worthy. I find this strange though that he helps those that are “good” (as judged by him) rather than the “bad” ones. A few months ago a friend was saying she wanted such and such bad things to happen to some person that annoyed her and I asked how it is possible to desire harm and detain help from somebody that you hate. Sure Michael Jackson might be a child mollestor (I don’t care if the court didn’t think so) and Will Smith’s character had a decent reason for not aiding a corrupt man and my friend may have had decent reasons for wishing harm on somebody. . . but that doesn’t make any of it excusable.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
Sound familiar? (Matthew 5:2-11). Looking at God’s words and example he didn’t destroy the evil, or we’re so screwed, but he purified instead. So should we wish harm on those that differ from us or do we endure instead? For me it is harder to tell somebody that I was wrong then it is to be wrong and know it. Although it might be easier to be, or at least have the conviction that you are right and have the other person continue to be wrong. Wouldn’t it ultimately be best for the other person to not continue living in thier incorrection but to convert to that which is right?
For example if you were talking to a child and they asked you what 2+2 is and you said it is “4″ and they said “nah-ah it’s 5″. You could just walk away with the excuse that you tried to tell them but they didn’t believe you. Or you could continue to state your argument (using much reasoning hopefully). Which is ultimately better? Sure you might waste some of your precious time and they may never fully understand but unchecked incorrection is more lamentable then loss of good. I would much rather a Christian die then and non-Christian because one has a mansion waiting the other still needs to hear the infite love of God.
I think this is why it really bothers me when I hear somebody say “damn you”. Sure people probably don’t know or at least think much about what it really means, but honestly you’re asking God to sever himself from them for eternity, what sort or demon in you would want that for somebody else?
