Happy Halloween

Too Tempting

Playground Rules
Slow School

Ancient Gender Calculator

Well, it didn't work for me. Nice to know I'm in the 7% minority.

Now This Is Good

As As the Apple Turns reports today, Microsoft just got in a lot of trouble. Apparantly last week it tried to advertise the release of MSN 8.0 by slapping giant 12-20 inch butterfly stickers all over New York City. According to the New York Times and The Register, that's a no-no. These stickers were on public property ... on subway signs and handicapped access ramps and the like.

Here's the catch ... Microsoft was fined $50. That's all. Not fifty bucks per sticker, but fifty smackeroos total. I'm tempted to go stick a million webeldotnet stickers around the Big Apple. And people wonder if Microsloth will ever actually suffer any consequences from the Department of Justice's United States v. Microsoft case ...

Timeline of Educational Technology

"Students today can't prepare bark to calculate their problems. They depend on their slates which are more expensive. What will they do when the slate is dropped and it breaks? They will be unable to write!"
-Teacher's Conference, 1703

"Students today depend on paper too much. They don't know how to write on a slate without getting chalk dust all over themselves. They can't clean a slate properly. What will they do when they run out of paper?"
-Principal's Association, 1815

"Students today depend too much upon ink. They don't know how to use a pen knife to sharpen a pencil. Pen and ink will never replace the pencil."
-National Association of Teachers, 1907

Students today depend upon store bought ink. They don't know how to make their own. When they run out of ink they will be unable to write words or ciphers until their next trip to the settlement. This is a sad commentary on modern education."
-The Rural American Teacher, 1928

"Students today depend on these expensive fountain pens. They can no longer write with a straight pen and nib. We parents must not allow them to wallow in such luxury to the detriment of learning how to cope in the real business world which is not so extravagant."
-PTA Gazette, 1941

"Ball-point pens will be the ruin of education in our country. Students use these devices and then throw them away. The American virtues of thrift and frugality are being discarded. Businesses and banks will never allow such expensive luxuries."
-Federal Teachers, 1950

"Common sense tells us that if calculators are approved and made available too early, many capable students will resist doing the arduous paper and pencil practice that is necessary to develop the mental skills of arithmetic."
-Los Angeles Times, 1991

"Blah blah blah blah blahblahblah blah blahblah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah yadda yadda yadda blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah homina homina homina blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah Polish sausage blah blah blah blah blah Ditka blah."
-Old People, 2002

Surfing with Gloves

Here's a very interesting article by David Thornburg. It explores the idea of keyboard-and-mouse-driven computers. It's completely right ... now that computers are so graphical and not text-based, it doesn't make any sense to have to drive the thing with a keyboard or mouse. That is so 1984. Check out this paragraph:

Many educators complain about video games, especially the omnipresent Gameboys. But rather than complain about these devices, we should take the time to understand the thinking that allowed Nintendo to create a device in 1988 that is still on the market and that sold more units than any other game console in history. The fact is that Nintendo took the time to understand its audience before designing the game hardware. The Gameboy screen is graphical, and the input device has no alphabetic keys, only a series of active verb-based buttons that control game play. Because there is no disconnect between the input device and the game play shown on the screen, Gameboy users are free to enter a state of flow as they play their games. Some educators who complain about these games are actually jealous that students find the world of the game console to be more compelling than anything the teacher is offering

I wouldn't mind a remote touchscreen-type-thing, used to navigate through a dynamic three dimensional space (see my 10/22 entry for more on this) ... or perhaps even a glove where I can reach for things and simulate typing and carrying and grabbing and such. That would make sense.

Happy Halloween!

More thoughts on Halloween will surely follow later this week ...

Solid Salad

This is awesome! I woke up this morning, feeling totally rested from my sabbathday yesterday. I was running a little late, but I still ended up making it to church (at the Vineyard) by 10:05 (for the 10am service). It was weird ... the parking lot was really empty, and I was trying to figure out what was happenning that would leave the usually packed parking lot empty. When I got in, even though it was only 5 minutes late, all of the announcements and extended worship were already over and the sermon had begun. Midway through the service, I checked my phone for the time, and realized that it was only 9:30am! I guess the time changed occurred last night, eh? So now I'm not only rested, but also enjoying an hour of padding in my day. This is totally yonker!

Yesterday I watched Fahrenheit 451, the movie based on Ray Bradbury's famous novel. I remember having to read this book in high school ... and I really didn't understand it at all. It's actually laced with some pretty sophisticated themes. Overall, I'd describe the movie using one word ... awkward. Set it a pre-seventies contrived environment, it explores the future possibility (or present reality?) of the numbed masses. In the movie, the government and central mind strips all personality and choice away from the people, encouraging them to addict themselves to television (known as their "family") and drugs. Books are illegal and condemned, and firefighters' job is actually to set fires, to burn books. The awkwardness comes from the fact that all of these details are presented in a context where everybody forgets how it used to be (or how it presently is in today's life). Even the credits are awkwardly spoken out loud, because writing is obviously disallowed. I definitely wouldn't reccommend watching it with anything but an artist's or philosopher's mindset. But it'll make you think, if you let it.

I'm watching the Power Rangers right now. It's absolutely hilarious. I cannot believe that kids actually get into things this corny. All of the voices are horribly dubbed over and the editing is horrendously impish. It kinda makes you wonder ... do the creators realize this as they're making it? Are they intentionally making it bad? They almost have to be ... because they're so good at making it bad. It's solid liquid.

Speaking of which ... isn't it ironic that "solid" and "salad" sound the same?

Dyslexics of the World, Untie!

I never understood why Hooked on Phonics used the phone number 1-800-ABCDEFG to advertise for its business. How can someone who can't read call a phone number identified by a series of letters?

They finally got smart (kind of) and changed their phone number to 1-888-748-8715 dept. 394. The only thing that translates to is 1-888-SIT-UP-1-JEW-4. Whatever that is.

Huh?

What is up with the latest Google header? Is that supposed to be Picasso-esque?

1,025 Free CD's! (in 45 days)

Well, the cd-wallpaper is starting to come together. There are about 700 CD's up there right now, most of them brought in by alert students, most of them free AOL cd's. I knew those were good for something. It's starting to look really neat ... you can see your reflection, sort of morphed, in the cd's (if you're tall enough). I'm almost tempted to continue doing the whole room ... maybe I'll at least do a border. Or maybe I'll do the ceiling. We'll see ...

This Looks Familiar

Anyone Have A Handcuff Key?

I am not making this up. I'm a criminal, I'm going to be arrested and sent to jail and I won't even get to taste pulp in my orange juice for 5-10 years. Here's what happened ...

I was at Miami visiting a few friends and going to MCF on a Thursday night ... when time just simply slipped away, and I found myself leaving Oxford at 1:30am. I was a good hour away from home, so I was looking at a 2:30 bedtime. That combined with a 6am alarmtime convinced me that it was time to speed up a little.

I didn't overdo it too much ... I was on a deserted highway (rt. 27S) in the middle of the night, all by myself, so I was going 73 (in a 55). Sure, it was way faster than the limit, but I was completely safe.

You can guess the rest ... flashing lights in the rearview mirror, a cop asking me three (yes, 3) times if I was drunk, the ticket writeup, the placement of the ticket on the seat next to me, and the slow path home afterwards. Here's the catch, though. I left the ticket there on the seat when I got home ... and it promptly decided to disappear! I didn't see i the next morning, and amid the hub-bub of a busy week, I completely forgot about the incident. Until last week.

Then, on a road trip to visit Steph up at Indiana Weslyan, I suddenly remember that I had gotten a speeding ticket that I never paid! I totally freaked out. I knew that there were major penalties for skipping a court date and disregarding fines. When I returned home, I found the above letter.

Needless to say, I have since cleared my account and cleared my name. There no longer is a warrant out for my arrest and my driving privileges are not blocked. Bummer ... that was kind of exciting!

Hey, if you happen to know anyone that is in the market for a new computer ... I have 5 of these coupons that can only be used this month. Just let me know if you know anyone!

Mike and Charles

I just couldn't help but post this picture of Dunfee and Chuck E. Cheese. Boy was that a fun Sunday afternoon. You should see their animatronic band. But make sure to watch out for their high prices ... I think we got genuinely ripped off with our collector's edition Fireman Chuck cups ...

The Visual Thesaurus

You absolutely have to check out the Plumb Visual Thesaurus. I don't know if I have ever seen a cooler website. At the simplest level, it's just a thesaurus, allowing you to find synonyms for a word. But it goes way beyond that, letting you experience the word through a three-dimensional orientation. You can work through several layers of a word, jump back to previous histories, and find unknown links between words. And it transcends paper and even the relatively two-dimensional format of language to present a world that you can move through!

If only a computer company could be this bold in making an operating system. I know there is potential there. The GUI (Graphical User Interface, the desktop and associated items) is way too two-dimensional and vertical. There have to be more intuitive and common-sense ways to organize digital information and needs. We need to move past analogy (the desktop and windows, for example) and move into a new realm, unattached to reality and taking advantage of the strengths of technology. Check out this article for a similar (but very different) perspective on this idea.

That's my soapbox. If only I were smart enough to create something like this ...

just a thought

the following is from an email i sent last week, but i thought this excerpt was worth posting here.

i've been thinking about something ... i think that the "academic" side of christianity and 20-something life is vastly overrated. we learn, in our churches and organized groups, how to study scripture intensely, philosophise about theological ideas, understand everything before we encounter it, and make up our minds about ideas. but living in the real world, dealing with real situations, is very different. there is absolutely nothing wrong with simply being a cog in the wheel, a bystander who silently fills his role and gives what he can without learning or becoming grander or wiser. without knowing it, i've accepted this "pressure" from the christian world to do what i'm "supposed" to do, namely "christian disciplines". but i soundly renounce that concept ... when i'm living at pvm, serving those kids 17 hours per day with my HANDS, i should not feel guilty about fellowship or bible study or growing or even contemplating how it's "changing my life". it's ok to just be His.

Totally Yonker

I just found this great photo from college. Don't ask me what we're doing ... but you gotta love those chops.

Just a Day

I'm still in bed, hesitant to get out from under these warm covers. It's kinda crazy how exhausted I have been getting on the weekends. It's not very long ago that I could just go forever, into the wee hours of the night, day after day. But I'm starting to get old. I figured out some math (Mike Dunfee would be proud). I think I've been trying to give 110% every day at school, so by the end of the week I'm about 50% short. Which means that I need at least half of a day of nothing on the weekend ... half of a day to totally veg, to do nothing worthwhile. That maintains sanity.

Yesterday I was up at camp for the Open House/Staff Reunion. It was really fun, seeing some faces that I haven't seen in a while, seeing who some of the invaluable supporters of that ministry are. I finished the PVM Photo CD-ROM, a collection of over 1,000 pictures for sale for $5. And we went to UDF afterward, where James, Steph, Amanda, Ryan, and I had a lot of fun. I'm sure I'll be posting some pictures from our experience later on. :)

I just found something rare and awesome in a suit jacket that I hadn't worn in awhile (don't you love that? I also found $15 in my closet the other day) ... they're STRETCH ROBOTS! I'm trying to think who gave them to me ... it was at Adam and Susan Jablonski's wedding ... I think Rachel gave them to me. But they're so much fun. I remember borrowing Dunfee's camera to take some pictures of them in their space coasters ... maybe I can dig those pics up sometime too. Wow, you should see these guys stretch ...

In other news, I think I tore something in my knee. This absolutely petrifies me, as I know exactly what is involved. I've already had two major knee surguries on this knee, arthroscopic and ACL replacement, along with years of therapy and recovery. For the past two years I've been 100% healthy, not even needing to wear a brace or anything, but last Thursday I think I just twisted weird and tore something else. It feels like cartilage damage to me ... medial meniscus is my guess. But to be quite honest, I'm really scared. I'll be visiting a new orthopedic surgeon on Monday, but I don't know what to expect ... I've had bad experiences in this area before. I guess it's kinda silly, how something as small and seemingly unimportant as a knee can just take over a great part of your life and functionality. Que sera sera, eh?

Ok, I'm going to go get a tall glass of orange juice and read the paper. Enjoy your day!

Awww ...

Here's a picture of my nephew Jakob. Ain't he precious?

No Way.

Could it really be true? I don't believe it. It must be a Photoshop job. There's no way that someone caught a picture of this.

Doubletake

I like this website.

Trust Me On This

Whatever you do, just don't click here. I'm serious.

Anagrams of the Day

webeldotnet
=
went to bleed
lent to dweeb
wetted nobel
netted bowel
blonde tweet

Oh Yeah.

I just found this picture of Beth, Rebekah, and I that was printed in the Miami Student when I was at college. Take a look at those chops ...

Switching Their Story?

Did Microsoft truly think that they could get away with this? A "mistake in judgement" ... hmm, last time I checked, publishing something usually is pretty intentional.

Microsoft promptly removed the article from its website, but not before Slashdot caught it and Google cached it. I love Google. Hmm ... but that picture on the cached page sure looks like a stock photo, doesn't it?

Red River Gorgeous

Yesterday Amber and I left Cincinnati bright and early (she left Oxford at about 5:40!) to head down to the Red River Gorge in Kentucky. We were joining Therese and her friend Dave there to do some traditional rock climbing, just for the day. I had never actually climbed a mountain before, even though I've done quite a bit of artificial climbing. So I didn't really know what to expect.

Here's a taste of what I found (on Bedtime for Bonzo, a 5.6*** climb):



It was interesting to climb with some of the other people we were with. They were predominantly males, yet Therese and Amber were far better climbers than most of them. I'm not kidding. The funny thing is, those guys often talked like they were the best climbers out there ... bragging about climbs and challenging each other and talking about "conquering" the mountain. But Therese had often talked to me about her reasons for climbing ... mostly about being awed by the views and beauty atop the climbs ... and I really started to understand what she was talking about. I wasn't impressed by a group of guys trying to be macho (locker talk has never impressed me) ... but boy was I humbled by the massive creation around me.

Yes, let me just say that I was in no way prepared for the utter majesty of being on a natural tower, surrounded by 360 degrees of huge canyons and mountains. I walked away completely awed by the creation around me. Here's a picture of the three of us on top of Fortress:



How blessed I am to have friends like Amber and Therese. What amazingly kind, gentle, and childlike people. Truly, they display God's majesty and splendor more impressively than any mountain view I could ever behold ... and they even put up with me!

hmm ...

So I just got home from work, delighted to find that the latest copy of WIRED has arrived. As I'm doing the usual perusal, removing the annoying subscription cards and ripping out all cardstock advertisements, I noticed (in the cardstock advertiser index) that Apple didn't put any ads in this issue. Bummer, they usually run sweet ads in WIRED. Then, as I flip a little further, I see the following two page ad:



It's an iMac playing chess with a peecee. And the ad is run by none other than Microsoft. Here is what it says below:

Macs and PCs have never been so compatible.

Microsoft Office v.X makes Macs and PCs more friendly. It lets Mac users effortlessly open, store, edit, and save any Office file, to make working with PCs a breeze. Complete with easy-to-use, exclusive Mac tools that simplify complex tasks. And it's built specifically for Mac OS X, so it's the most reliable, stable, easygoing Office yet. Go to www.officeformac.com to download a free 30-day trial of Office v.X today.

Crazy, isn't it? We just started a promotion at the Apple Store where someone can get Office v.X for only $199 with the purchase of a Mac (it's normally $499). So Microsoft is basically advertising for Apple. According to this article, there are two other ads that started running today by Microsoft, sporting computers that are fishing and eating chinese food together. Go figure.

Quotation of the Day

"I was provided with additional input that was radically different from the truth. I assisted in furthering that version."

--Colonel Oliver North, from his Iran-Contra testimony

Louie Louie

Yesterday I filled Louie up, got his oil changed, and had his tires rotated. If it weren't raining I would've actually gotten a car wash too ... it was like pampering him for the day.

Then I saw a commercial for the Mazda Protege5 (that's Louie), claiming that it is the only car that Car and Driver had given a perfect 10 to in the category "Fun To Drive". I looked up the study online (here it is) and noticed that the Protege5 cleaned up, wiping out the Chrystler PT Cruiser, Ford Focus ZX5, Pontic Vibe, Suzuki Aerio SX, and Toyota Matrix XRS in almost every category. Here's the chart (shrunken down to fit):



Note that the overall rating is an independent score, not the total of all of the other scores. If you total up all the other scores, the Protege5's margin of victory is even bigger.

Oh, and I'd like to mention one other thing. I've noticed that whenever I see another PR5 on the road, I get this weird little grin on my face ... and I've noticed that the other driver always has the same grin. Sometimes a scary little chuckle accompanies it, but it's as if we both share a moment, frozen in the midst of so many ordinary vehicles, in on a secret that so few others have experienced. Sometimes I even find myself slowing down or speeding up on the highway just to stay next to another PR5. It's as if we're letting our cars communicate, letting them socialize with each other. Inevitably we part ways at a familiar exit or instinctual merge ... but we both leave enriched.

Yes, I've officially lost it.

Is This True?

I just received this forward from an old friend in Akron. Honestly, I'm not sure about the veracity of what it says, but it's an interesting read. I try not to get caught up in the finger-pointing villifying that die-hard Republicans and Democrats go crazy over, but all of this is just rather interesting:

At a lecture the other day they were playing an old news video of Lt. Col. Oliver North testifying at the Iran-Contra hearings during the Reagan Administration (in 1987). There was Ollie in front of God and country getting the third degree, but what he said was stunning. He was being drilled by a senator; "Did you not recently spend close To $60,000 for a home security system?" Ollie replied, "Yes, I did, Sir." The senator continued, trying to get a laugh out of the audience, "Isn't that just a little excessive?" "No, sir," continued Ollie. "No? And why not?" the senator asked. "Because the lives of my family and I were threatened, sir." "Threatened? By whom?" the senator questioned. "By a terrorist, sir" Ollie answered. "Terrorist? What terrorist could possibly scare you that much?" "His name is Osama bin Laden, sir" Ollie replied. At this point the senator tried to repeat the name, but couldn't pronounce it, which most people back then probably couldn't. A couple of people laughed at the attempt. Then the senator continued. "Why are you so afraid of this man?" the senator asked. "Because, sir, he is the most evil person alive that I know of" Ollie answered. "And what do you recommend we do about him?" asked the senator. "Well, sir, if it was up to me, I would recommend that an assassin team be formed to eliminate him and his men from the face of the earth." The senator disagreed with this approach, and that was all that was shown of the clip. By the way, that senator was Al Gore.

Also, terrorist pilot Mohammad Atta blew up a bus in Israel in 1986. The Israelis captured, tried and imprisoned him. As part of the Oslo agreement with the Palestinians in 1993, Israel had to agree to release so-called "political prisoners". However, the Israelis would not release any with blood on their hands. The American President at the time, Bill Clinton, and his Secretary of State, Warren Christopher, "insisted" that all prisoners be released. Thus Mohammad Atta was freed and eventually thanked the US by flying an airplane into Tower One of the World Trade Center. This was reported by many of the American TV networks at the time that the terrorists were first identified. It was censored in the US from all later reports.

The Best Seat in the House

According to As the Apple Turns, the Kenwood Apple Store just won "Best Novelty Children's Sitting Devices" for the spherical bouncy chairs we have.

Not really, he was joking. But the SoHo Apple Store did win Best Staircase. Indeed, it rocks ... check out some pictures here.

Grinn and Barrett

Believe it or not, I took this picture when I was motoring around (that's the British term for it) with Ricky after a cross country meet last week. I promise that there's no picture doctoring involved.

This is great.

We don't have school today or tomorrow, so I'm beginning a four day weekend today. And, as of right now, I officially have no plans for today. Not one single itty bitty plan. Amen to that.

I decided to buy five more years of webel.net, so it looks like this thing you're reading right now will be around for a while. I also just registered for my free .Mac account and installed Mac OS 10.2 (Jaguar) on my iBook (yes, there are definate perks of being an Apple employee). Today's going to be a lot of fun.

Quotation of the Day

"Don't let anyone know who you are right now."

-- Linda Webel (my mom)

Long Jons

When I was in Indy this weekend, I saw the biggest Portapotties ever:

Oh no.

Now this is totally getting out of control.

Corrupt Comics

I just found that Vince made a website called Corrupt Comics in direct response to one of my earlier posts.

What creativity. What ingenuity. And what a great computer teacher he must've had in middle school ... giving credit to the original authors, creating an interactive website ... so wheat. :)

Weekend in Indy

This past weekend was really fun. After relaxing at home Saturday morning, I went into Apple and worked until 5. Then I took off for Indianapolis, where I met a few other PVM counselors at the Spaghetti Warehouse for a fun little evening. It was really good to catch up with them and just walk around the city a little. I love that city ...

Saturday night I spent the night up at Illinois Wesleyan University in Marion, visiting Steph and Esther. We had an interesting Sunday morning experience at her church, then I headed back to Indy to visit my sister's family. Unfortunately I ran over my brother-in-law in the driveway.



Oh well. Other than that, it was a great visit. We had tacos for dinner and played some games and I got a tour of their brand new house. And their kids are as cute as can be. Here's Drew sporting his chalk-outline:



Don't worry, he's not really dead. Here are Grace and Rachel ... adorable, aren't they?

Thinking For Themselves

Check out Sony's new iBook lookalike that they're selling in Japan. How absolutely lame. Will it ever end?

Quotation of the Day

"I don't feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from them. There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves."

--John Wayne

The Grand Finale

Ok, I just have to brag a little. Our competitive cross country season is officially over, and the results are in ... these kids are amazing!

Our boys team has had a difficult challenge all year ... at first we didn't even have enough runners to form a complete team (a school needs at least 5 runners), but with some additional recruiting we added Ricky and became a complete unit. Throughout the season, these guys steadily improved ... and in the league meet yesterday, the boys came in 3rd place in the league! Individually, James placed 25th in the league, Chris placed 20th, Tyler placed 12th, Ricky placed 9th, and Kyle placed 7th. What an awesome season!

The girls team just rocked the house. They've put in awesome performances all year and didn't let down at all at the league meet. Rachel placed 16th in the league, Natalie placed 12th, Kara placed 11th, Genny placed 8th, Laura placed 5th, Callae placed 4th, and Karah finished 3rd! And overall, the girls walked away with the MVC League Championship.

There were some serious obstacles to overcome this season ... from team members who had never competed in a sport before to others who didn't really want to run at all to some who were just skeptical about the social aspect of a team sport ... we all came a long way and ended up bonding like crazy, truly growing into a team. I am so proud of them. And I've had so much fun coaching these young men and women, teaching them about running, community, discipline, and encouragement. Even I learned a lot, especially about the ins and outs of middle school kids. What a joy. We're still going to have a party and run in the All-City Meet (but just for fun), and I'm sure the fun will continue down the road as well. Great job, guys!

Is This Symbolic?

From what I just read, Symbolics.com was the first domain name ever regsitered (on March 15th, 1985). The WhoIs results point to a company in Boston who has registered the name through 2007 ... but here's the kicker ... there's nothing at that domain! How lame is that?

Musical Chairs

We're doing an activity in my 7th and 8th grade classes called Musical Chairs. I give the kids the opening phrase to a story (like "It was a dark and stormy night"), stick on some music, and let them create a story. Every time the music stops, they get up, midsentence, and switch seats with someone else. They then continue that story, etc. It's basically a creative way to work on typing skills subconciously. Here is one of the more interesting stories I read yesterday:

I was sitting, typing in computer class, when all of a sudden, Mr. Webel turned into a giant half gorilla half fluffy bunny and said his real name was Fluffy-Pooh Bear. We all said, oh my gosh and went to see if Mr. Webel was just wearing a disguise, but when we tried to pull off a mask, it wouldn't come off! We were then convinced that Mr. Webel was not human. We decided to turn him in to the school authorities, but then we found out that all the teachers were not human. We called the police but they didn�t beilieve us. It was up to us to save the school but we didn't care so we left and went out to the movies and theme parks and raced everywhere for we found that all the adults or people of 18 were animals as well and their minds were of course primitive, or so we all thought. We didn't notice for a while because we were having so much fun, but all the adults/animals were gathering at the city's center. What could we do? It was now becoming obvious that these weren't our parents but evil aliens who were using their bodies, only they wouldn�t fit because they were so much bigger than their human suits. There seemed indeed to be nothing for us to do at first except to barricade ourselves in and stay together, safety in numbers you know. We were devoutly hoping that matched against their superior size strength, technology and brains our numbers and primitive tactics would match against them. By primitive I of course meant that we threw ourselves on the aliens!!! How wonderful!!! Suddenly some guy came in!!!

Hex-7

Here's a pretty fun little game called Hex-7 that my brother found. It's difficult -- I've played it about 5 or 6 times and I still haven't been able to beat the computer. Grr ...

I Can't Wait To Die.

I have been reading Till We Have Faces, a novel by C.S. Lewis. It's one of my favorite books (it's C.S.'s personal favorite), telling a profound story of sacred and profane love through a modern retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche.

I just finished reading a passage that really stuck out to me. In this section, Psyche, a princess who embodies perfection (in a remarkably goddess-like fashion) is spending her last night in jail before being pledged to be the wife of Ungit, the god of Glome. For this "marriage" she'll be tied to the Tree on a distant Grey Mountain and devoured by the Shadowbrute. (I know, it sounds weird, but try to think of classical mythology here ... it's actually rather profound). In this conversation between Psyche and her sister, Orual, Psyche is revealing a hidden secret:

[Psyche]"Indeed, Orual, I am not sure that this which I go to is not the best."

[Orual]"This?!"

[Psyche]"Yes. What had I to look for if I lived? Is the world -- this palace, this father -- so much to lose? We have already had what would have been the best of our time. I must tell you something, Orual, which I never told to anyone, not even you."

[Orual narrating] I know now that this must be so even between the lovingest hearts. But her saying it that night was like stabbing me.
"What is it?" said I, looking down at her lap where our four hands were joined.

[Psyche]"This," she said, "I have always -- at least, ever since I can remember -- had a kind of longing for death."

[Orual]"Ah, Psyche," I said, "have I made you so little happy as that?"

[Psyche]"No, no no," she said. "You don't understand. Not that kind of longing. It was when I was happiest that I longed most. It was on happy days when we were up there on the hills, the three of us, with the wind and the sunshine ... where you couldn't see Glome ore the palace. Do you remember? The colour and the smell, and loking at the Grey Mountain in the distance? And because it was so beautiful, it set me longing, always longing. Somewhere else there must be more of it. Everything seemed to be saying, Psyche come! But I couldn't (not yet) come and I didn't know where I was to come to. It almost hurt me. I felt like a bird in a cage when the other birds of its kind are flying home."

She continues later on ...

[Psyche]"The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing -- to reach the Mountain, to find the place where all the beauty came from -- my country, the place where I ought to have been born. Do you think it all meant nothing, all the longing? The longing for home? For indeed it now feels not like going, but like going back. All my life the god of the Mountain has been wooing me. Oh, look up once at least before the end and wish me joy. I am going to my lover. Do you not see now -- ?"

I guess this is kinda weird, quoting a section of such a strange book then telling some of my thoughts about it ... but I was just struck with the proximity of Psyche's feelings to that of my own. I have been known, on several occasions, to really freak out my closest friends by talking about death. Honestly, death doesn't scare me a bit ... bring it on. I am not living for this world anymore anyways, my home is in heaven. And I often long to be free from the chains of this mortal life, from the ills and perils and limits of my body and mind and understanding. To not be confined by time nor by space. I long to be free, and death is the pathway to that freedom.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not going to go kill myself or anything, that'd be just plain stupid. But I want to state something right here and now, before the audience of the world -- I do not belong here, and I will eventually go home. When I do pass away from this earth, it will be the best time of my life (pun intended). I'll be rejoicing like hell froze over (because in a sense it will have), and I'm not going to be looking back. I'll be in eternity with my sweet sweet Jesus.

If you want to mourn and wail and gnash your teeth when I die, please go do it somewhere else, for you're selfishly missing reality (that I've in fact just started truly living). If you're truly sad, deep down inside, it'll merely show that you don't really understand how real my eternal life really is. This life that we're living here is inconsequencial ... it's a whisp on a grain of sand in the hourglass of Time. And once you die, Time is irrelevant anyways. Jesus came to abolish death ... that we might have eternal Life ... and I do. The party starts beyond this world ... so if you're not elated with me when I die, you had better take a step back and examine your view of the eternal ... do you have hope in anything important at all? Do you have eternal Life?

If so, please strike up the band and celebrate with me like you've never celebrated before. Let's show those other mortals that you've got to die to get the only thing that's truly worth living for!

Dress Code?

We've had so much talk at school this past year about the dress code that it's often been a huge distraction. Not as big of a distraction as the lack of a dress code, of course (have you seen teenage girls in the mall lately?), but sometimes it's easy for us (students, parents, and teachers) to see the trees and not the forest. Occasionally, to reward the students and relax a little, we'll have a Casual Dress Friday. It's kinda like this:

Good Riddance

Ok, I just couldn't take it anymore. The bloody stump-head and clunky design just got to me. It's finally gone (you could say it's decapitated), leaving room for something new, something clean and simple. Finally.

So now i've been at school for 18 hours straight (if you don't count cross country practice). Totally out of control ... it's time for a hot bath and a few hours of sleep, before i head on back for another day of middle school. I'd say it was worth it, wouldn't you?