We have been immersed in fog here for just about a week. Sometimes, it is so thick you cannot see half a block. At the moment, I can tress about a block away, but after that, all is consumed. Out of the fog though, the haunting sound of fog horns sounding in the bay is almost continuous. I know of no sound that arouses such a longing for the sea and it induces such a wanderlust that I can hardly concentrate on my work.

My work. I have been reading through "Origin of Species" as well as through Darwin's correspondence with a Harvard biologist named Asa Gray. I am now into my 75th letter between them. It is a strange thing to read into their close friendship. These were often personal letters, not meant to be shared. But now I have been involved in Darwin's life and contacts sufficiently that even personal references are familiar and I don't have to go looking to see who "so and so" is. Maybe all this reading of England the descriptions of Cambridge are adding to the feelings of wanderlust. I had such a wonderful time there this summer, and could easily return. And now that I am studying Darwin there is so much more I would ask! All these questions come to mind, and the only reason I did not entirely miss out on what was happening was because Denis Lamoureux had prepared me and told me what to watch for.

Oh wow! I think I've just felt my first earthquake here! Suddenly everything was subtly vibrating, like a big truck was going by. But I am in a quiet neighbourhood, and that does not really happen here. It lasted about 15 seconds. And then everything is back to normal - fog horns, and traffic. I'll check later and let you know - I think it is too early to tell for sure and nothing will be on the web yet.

Until next time!

A Christmas Visitation!

Well, I was studying, and found myself staring at the roof. And no sooner did I do that, than I saw a fantastic vision! Yes, right here in Regent College, we have had a miraculous appearance in the water damage in some roof tiles! It's true! In fact, as soon as I saw it, I flipped my computer around and took a picture...


Can you see him there, in the top left corner? I admit that he does look like he's had a bit of a fight, and has a nice bruiser growing right on top, but otherwise, it is a pretty impressive resemblance.

But resemblance of who?

I'm going to post a couple of ideas, and you need to help. Either vote for one of my options, or post your own! And if you are really enthusiastic, send some friends over to vote too!


Choice 1: The beatific vision of Martin Luther
Martin Luther once saw the devil. So he threw his inkpot at him. (What would you do?). The inkpot broke against the wall and you can still see the stain to this day.
Luther was the great reformer who in 1517 nailed his 95 thesis to the church door in Wittenberg on Halloween night. He is remembered for his love of food, and especially beer. In fact, one of his mottos is "He who loves not women, wine, and song, remains a fool his whole life long". Another was "sin greatly then repent greatly". Needless to say, he'd be a great person to have around at Christmas, with his wife Katherina von Bora who was also a great brewer.







Choice 2: The reverend Saint Thomas Aquinas
Thomas was a dedicated monk. He was also a great scholastic. In fact, he single handedly brought Aristotle into the western world, and created a synthesis between Aristotelian thought and Christian doctrine that would dominate until the enlightenment (and in fact, is still with us in many ways). His family didn't want to have him be a boring monk and scholar. They wanted him to take up the family buisness. So they hired a prostitute to tempt him out, but unfortunately, Aquinas grabbed a fire brand from the open grate and drove her out. Determined guy wasn't he? So determined that he would insist on a Regent visitation in December? That is up to you to find out!


So vote now, and let me know who you think our Christmas visit is from!

Hello!

Hello, Dear Readers!

I know you may think that I have forgotten about you. It's not true. In fact, I think of you often, but just don't get around to posting very often. At the moment though, I am in the ecstatic throes of post-paper-hand-in joy. Well, that and a mixture of denial about the several papers due next week. One at a time I always say! (I usually also say "always a week early", but that fell to the wayside this semester. More like "start within a week", but that's the way it goes.)

I've been getting as much mileage as possible out of the "I'm sick" line to justify my procrastination, but since I'm not really sick anymore, I won't ask for a deadline. Suppose I should get back to work.

I'm writing a paper on a fascinating book called "The Book of Job as Sceptical Literature" by Katherine Dell. It is the best treatment of Job that I have read so far, and it makes so much sense of things by treating Job as a parody/satire in the same way that Jonah is a satire of prophetic leadership in Israel.

Well, take care!

There are some things...

... you should never do. Sitting down, listening to 3 hours of online Hebrew lectures is one of them. Another is to eat a whole pomegranate during those three hours. The first leads to a foggy brain and unedited blog posts. The second leads to a really sore stomach and soggy fingers. But the one advantage is that one might be tempted to gnaw a hand off during lectures from the interminable boredom, and the pomegranate provides a safe and viable alternative. It also takes enough time and effort that it keeps you busy for the whole three hours. (There are, after all 840 seeds in every pomegranate!) Actually, I feel kinda bad now for eating the whole thing. Hmmm...

My parents were in town this last week. It was great to see them here, and spend time with them. We also ate well. Really well. I probably doubled my usual food intake. Either way, I discovered some neat new places, and enjoyed my parent's company since I don't see them everyday anymore.

Sorry!

I haven't blogged for a while, because, I've been procrastinating too much to consciously procrastinate by blogging. I know that probably does not make sense, but that's how it goes.

Nonetheless, in the last 40 hours or so I have been working my butt off. No, really. Other than a Thanksgiving dinner at Regent, I have spent the rest of the time working like crazy. Why? Well, deadlines on application, deadlines on assignments, and a huge standardized exam on Friday. I found out I don't know anything. Which is an issue. It turns out that the GRE exam I need for my applications tests MATH. I haven't done any math since high school. What is worse is that we can't use a calculator, so even basic things (like reducing fractions) takes me forever. With only about 2 min/per question I'm going to be in trouble. The verbal stuff will be fine, I'm sure, and the writing should be fine as well. But the math is going to kick my bum. So think of me, feverishly working away at trying to recall how to figure out how much time it will take Tom, Joe, and Shelly to paint the house if it takes Tom 2 hours by himself, Joe 6 hours, and Shelly 3 hours and a half.

Be merciful. Shoot me now.

This Beautiful City...

Despite everything that has been going on this semester - sickness, doctor visits, lack of energy, etc. the beauty of this city is once again wooing me. We had a beautifully clear day today. The sun was shining and it was warm. After church, I was walking down Granville to the bus station, and just kept going down to Granville Island. I didn't mean to, it just happened.

So I wandered around for a bit, looking at overly-expensive pieces of handcrafted jewelry and strange sculpture art. I then found out that the Granville Island Brewery has just come out with their famous Winter Ale, but since that doesn't mix with antibiotics too well, I held off and made a vow to come back.

Then, since it was about noonish, I went looking for a fish and chips shop I'd heard about. All I knew was that it was "a shack, somewhere near Granville Island, and they sell fish caught by local fisherman, and even close on Mondays to go fish themselves". I was also informed "get there early, because they only sell what the locals caught that morning, and when they run out, the close.

I walked everywhere on the island looking for the place, and then saw that on the entirely other side of the wharf and marina there was a crowd of people in isolation. I walked over, and there it was! Not only do they serve fresh, locally supported fish, they also use dim sum bamboo containers as plates. I loved it.

Being alone, and with the crowd, I was soon asked by some nice folks if they could sit down with me. I was happy to have the company, and when we started talking it turned out they were from Edmonton, and the man is actually one of my dad's patients! Such a small world!

It is so pretty here, and fall lasts forever. I went down to the beach last night after dark, armed with my binoculars, and spent about an hour looking at the stars. You can see infinitely more stars with even the least magnification. And down on the beach, it is nice and dark, but busy enough not to be scary at night.

I can't believe where I am living. The last thing I'd like to do is get a membership to the local UBC sailing club. I've never sailed before, but as I now live only 3-4 blocks from the boat sheds, it seems silly not to. Well, except for the money and the time. It won't do to waste many thousands of dollars on tuition because I'm spending hundreds on sailing. Concentrate Beth, concentrate!

Last, but not least, I took a left brain/right brain test the other day (I'm 66% left brained). It had several great lines in the review, but these were my favorites:

"Preferentially you learn by listening and maintaining significant internal dialogues with yourself. " Yup, I talk to myself. Thanks. Just what I needed to know. I already walk down the street and talk to myself without noticing it. Thanks for the justification.

"For the most part, you will be considered objective without being cold and goal-oriented while retaining the capacity to listen to others." Well, that's nice. At least I won't be considered cold. Does that just mean I can act well?

"To the extent that you are even implicitly aware of your hemispheric dominance and sensory style, you will feel most comfortable in those arenas which emphasize verbal skills and logic. Teaching, law, and science are those that stand out among the professions, along with technical sales and management." This definitely justifies my lack of productivity in the real world. I make nothing but words. It's been bugging me lately, because I am surrounded by all these people who are talented at everything. Oh well, blame it on the brain!

The difference between Canada and America...

Ok, so I didn't want to post on politics, but I just couldn't help it.
I've just watched McCain defending Obama at his own rally, saying he was a good, family man who is not to be feared. He goes on to defend Obama's past, and says he'd make a decent president.

This is at his own rally.

Then we have Canadian politics. I recently watched the leaders debate, where it was a 4-on-1 for two hours. My favorite line was when Jack Layton was talking about the economy and Stephen Harper's non-action, and said "Either you don't care, or you are incompetent. Which is it?" Ouch! Hard hitting Canadian action! What happened to the "nice" Canadians? I'm still waiting for one of them to take off their skates and go for Harper's neck.

In other news, we had Walter Brueggemann in at Regent for the annual Laing lectures. He was absolutely fabulous. Edgy, hard hitting, imaginative. His first lecture was amazing. Written 4-5 weeks ago, it was about Pharoah's politics of debt slavery, and how to move from the fear that underscores that system into the neighbourliness and abundance of God's economy. It could not have been more appropriate, and sounded like it had been written Thursday afternoon, instead of before the crash. Really amazing. My favorite line "can I say this here?... Why bust your ass for the empire?"

Sweet.