Reason Breeds Insanity

Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.

Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is. Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts.

But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

Click here.

I can’t believe that Jesus would have imagined the celebration of his passion for us (Lent Online) being wrestled over, talked about, and contemplated in Cyberland. Although there is that whole freaky collapse of time thing where God can see everything from beginning to end like I can see the images brought up in an image search using my new fun tool, PicLens. So maybe the all-God Jesus knew about Cyber-Lent, but maybe the all human Jesus had no clue. Does it work like that? I also can’t imagine that Jesus wouldn’t be ecstatic that we are using technology to open the discussion of his life, word, and love. I mean the disciples used all the latest technology to explain their views on Jesus’ life and work. Who doesn’t love a little Cyber-Lent? You can click on Lent Online above to get to our church’s daily devotional, or you can go to the left of this page where it says Lent Online and click where is says Click here. This seems a bit like those cheesy “Click here and the Tabernacle of the Holy Saints of Pittsburgh will donate $4 for every click to a charity of their choice, namely their own pockets,” BUT this is simply a place to “Read, Reflect, and Respond.” So try it. And remember Jesus is watching you.

I have so much to do this weekend, I assume that I will not see the outdoors until Monday on my way to class. I still need to get my shit together to get my PCM paper written, and I need to get it done by Monday because I need some space from it in order to really edit it well. I think I am going to do a combination of my Victorian literature class, the theory of the the grotesque/carnivalesque and the body, and how my grandma was in the hospital this time. I am not sure how it will turn out, but I want to say something about people in hospital beds are on display, etc. This may turn into a freak show, I don’t know.
I also have to grade my students first assignment. I am a bit nervous about this whole process. I want my students to feel comfortable with me for the rest of the semester, and grades are really subjective, but I also want them to know this class is for real. For the most part, though, their essays were really good, and I can only think of two of them that were even B- quality. The rest were above that.
Today seems like one of those days when I can’t quite focus on anything, so I think I will read my Renaissance stuff this afternoon because I am guessing I won’t get it no matter what. I am looking forward to going out tonight and relaxing. It’s my friend Sarah’s birthday and we are going to dinner before we go to her party. I think I’ll have a nice glass of wine with dinner.

I neglected to outline my amazing experience from my trip to school this morning. I decided that since it wasn’t really cold outside, I would walk downtown to get a cup of coffee then catch the bus and come to school. I went to the Blue Bottle. I waited in line behind a woman who complained the whole time about the Muncie Mardi Gras. She said, “Why can’t we park down here today if the stupid thing isn’t until tomorrow?” I wanted to say, “Do you think they might need to set-up for it?” I mean just a thought. The girls at the coffee shop were so into talking with her, that I knew my drink wouldn’t be right. I ordered the same thing I always order: a double-short-no-foam-soy-latte. What I got was double, incredibly short, and covered in about an inch of soy-foam. For those of you who are soy latte drinkers, you know that soy foam is really gross. It makes your mouth feel funny, and tastes a bit like plastic. So, I just poured it into another cup (my own cup, which I forgot to give to them) and tried to keep the foam in the paper cup. I ended up with about 8 ounces of latte. Then, oh it gets better, I was walking to the bus station and a car turned into the parking lot in front of me a splashed brown, icy, slush onto me. I didn’t have time to go home to change, I had a shitte instead of a latte, and my sock was wet. Basically, the beginning of the day really sucked. However, class went well and the final photo essays were great, so it got better. And I am not bitter that some people can’t make good lattes, and I am not bitter that some people never have to walk anywhere so they don’t understand the concept of splashing pedestrians. Bastards.