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.

I'm positive! Again! Except not like last time...

So I realize I was whinging a lot the last post. But it turns out I have mono. So at least it was partially justified. Strep and mono? What kind of luck do I have? None at all it seems... that, or God is mocking me again. Mockery is one of my love languages, so I wouldn't mind if He was, after all, I certainly see the humour in the situation - I just wish it didn't interfere quite so much with my studying ability. That's really a bummer.

So, if you remember, do lift up a prayer or two. I'd certainly appreciate it! Otherwise, keep on rocking in the free world!

In other news, Walter Bruggeman of biblical theology fame is coming to Regent in about a week. I am unbelievably excited. He's talking about the Exodus and joyous celebration or something. At any rate, it should be more understandable than last year's on love by Nicholas Wolterstorff. Not that W. was bad, just incomprehensibly philosophical, with all that that entails.

Doctor! Doctor!

Well, faithful reader, I've been sick. I don't think I mentioned this before, because it is kinda boring to hear people whinge about health. But today was rather exciting.

I went for a check up because since the last time I went to the Dr. here in Van in my first week, I haven't gotten better. That time, I was diagnosed with Strep C, which they don't treat, so I was sent home. Fair enough, right? But the main problem - the fevers - have not gone away, and I've added quite a nice cough to it. You know the type - you start coughing, double up in a ball, and emerge 20 seconds later with your eyes watering like crazy and everybody in the room inching away from you.

Well this morning, I had an appointment. I though 8:15am would be a good time because the clinic would not be busy - nor would any of the labs. Good thing. If you count every test I've ever had in my whole life, I think I've doubled them today. Chest X-Ray, ECG, urine, blood... I just kept running around the hospital to different units. And even more fun is that the things that came back right away - x-ray, ECG, and white blood count - were perfectly normal. So, now I get to talk to the infectious disease specialist. Woohoo mystery disease!

So, if you think of me, please send up a little prayer.

Regent Retreat!

Hey fine folks!

Well, I just got back from the Regent Retreat, which was super duper, but pretty crazy too. I've had very little sleep and lots of long talks, so this may not be coherent.

We went to Warm Beach Camp, which is neither warm nor a beach. We also had to cross the border, which meant that 200 km took over 4 hours (and that was quick, since we went to an out-of-the-way border crossing... some waited 4 hours just in line). And then it poured rain all weekend until the drive home. Despite these drawbacks, it was a great weekend.

Especially fun were the talent show and the ceilidh dancing (taught by real Scots!). The talent show had everything from a professor dance-off to poetry recitals, from men in tights (literally) to a michael jackson's "Beat It!", but my favorite was the U2 cover band. One professor, one staff, and two students got together. Now, that sounds just "OK" until you realize that one of the students is OBSESSED with U2 and has pretty much all the same gear as them, including guitars, pedals, amps, etc... and knew every song off by heart. And the lead singer was absolutely hilarious - played Bono perfectly. Here is a video of the guitarist, Patrick.

Other than that, we came up with a couple new phrases. Instead of the usual "Ring by Spring, or your money back" Bible College guarantee, the new Regent phrase is "Consummate by reading break!" or, because of the wave of pregnancies, we are renaming ourselves from the "unseminary" to the "inseminary". Har har! (Also, Friday, the first day of the retreat was International Talk Like a Pirate Day! Huzzah! Grog all around!)

This morning we had my top highlight of the retreat. They have a communion service where they take time (sometimes 5 minutes or more) to pray over each person individually as they recieve communion. With over 400 people at the retreat, and about 20 stations, this can take quite a while but it is really worth it. I ended up at Polly and Phil Long's station (also known as my Greek and Hebrew teachers from Tennessee!). It was really a neat time. If you have a church where you can do something like that, I'd certainly suggest trying it.

Otherwise, I had a whole bunch of really great talks. And I finally met Rick Watts properly - I'm pretty sure he'll remember me. I think we ended up at 3 meals sitting beside each other. And the last conversation we had was great, covering my absolute favorite topic of the moment - evolution! Lots of fun.

Well, take care folks! Until next time!

Reflections on Gardens

As I sit looking down on my japanese garden, I'm studying about the cosmic fall and the garden of Eden. I've been trying to convince some people at the American Scientific Affiliation that the Garden of Eden really was a paradise. Of course, the Septuagint uses the word paradieson to describe the garden, so the case is an easy one to make.

Now, the one thing I am discovering about my garden here is the inordinate amount of spiders. There are hundreds of massively large spiders, all sitting in the middle of their geometrically perfect sails of silk. The sway back and forth in the breeze, glistening in the sunlight. I hate spiders. They keep making these small wonders of engineering right across my walking path, and especially at night, it creeps me out to get a full web in the face. This garden is a mini paradise - a centre of calm and serenity in the midst of a busy city. But if gardens mean spiders, I'll have to rethink my estimation of Eden.

I'm positive!

... positive with Strep Throat that is...

I just got my test results back today. And even better, they are not going to treat me! Why? I'm not bad enough. Of course, the fact that I live with a 95 year old lady, whose mother actually died of Strep throat, doesn't seem to matter. Nope, no penicillin for you!

I'm a little annoyed. Even more annoyed because they had the results in yesterday and didn't bother to look at them until I harassed them today - even though they came back positive. I could be dying dammit! (ok, well, not really. Not yet. But it is annoying all the same.) (And, while the bracketal voice of reason is speaking, I should also add that strep C is not very severe, and the side effects of antibiotics are more risky, and they never treat non-severe strep C). But still!

In other news, school is great. I love Regent just as much as ever, and Hebrew is maybe not quite as much of a suicide-thought-invoking course as I thought it would be. Of course, talk to my friend Diana and you might get a different perspective.

But either way, being back and having lots of interesting discussions is everything it should be. Except that I'm contagious with strep throat.

Thanks for reading. Here is another picture from my room. It looks better in real life, I promise. The mac cam just doens't do it justice.