The Light at the End of the Tunnel

I can see it!

My printer is now printing my 12 page Church History paper about the development of the theology of sex in the early church fathers. Summary: Augustine wasn't so into sex but Polycarp didn't seem to mind all too much.

I mailed in my systematic theology paper like a week ago too... so now I have six classes (I started with seven classes) worth of work I still need to do/turn in until December 11 (I still have a final exam for church history).

Hair Cut

Yesterday, when Alinna came back home and saw my haircut, she frowned and said, "You look like a shorn sheep."

Apparently, my hair was so long for such a long period of time that I look naked and sad now. To give a better picture of how drastic it was, there was about an inch and a half of hair on the ground. It probably didn't help that I was shivering a little because it was so cold yesterday afternoon.

Many thanks to my family and Steve and Jeff for coming all the way out to Mountain View to cheer me on and support me on Sunday.

Four Weeks to Go

My quarter of hell will be over four weeks from now. There's a simultaneous elation and fear that comes with that. Four weeks and it'll be over! FOUR WEEKS AND IT'LL BE OVER. All things considered, I think I'm in better shape than I was four weeks ago.

Then again, I practically slept all-day yesterday. After coming back home from subbing yesterday, I slept for 3 hours. Woke up. Read a book for class. Watched Heroes for the first time. Went back to sleep after 3 hours of being awake. It was really nice to slow down and remind myself again that I need not push through without thought for anything else including my health.

Back from Paradise

Just came back this morning from a great mini-vacation to HAWAII!



We did two things while we were there: Relax and eat. Goodness, we ate.

Here's a quick sampler platter around the island of Oahu:

Can't go to Hawaii without having a plate lunch. This place serves up some of the best. Rainbow Drive-Inn. Yum. Forget supersizing. Just ask them to pour brown gravy on just about anything. Double yum. The mix plate was a good way to go.



Then it's off to a pretty fancy dinner at Alan Wong's. The appetizer with the soup served in the martini glass just looks cool. It was tasty to boot. The foie gras sandwich sitting on top of the glass wasn't bad either.



Cool off a bit with a combination of a pineapple soft serve bowl courtesy of the Dole Plantation



And a shave ice from Matsumotos



Stop for a mid-drive snack at the Shrimp Shack. Coconut shrimp and pan-fried garlic and butter shrimp. Ooooh these were tasty!



And back to Honolulu for a couple of drinks at Duke's. Alinna will testify to the tastiness of the Lava Flow.

Reflections from Malaysia

I realize I haven't posted anything from my trip to Malaysia yet.

Here's a picture of my small group during my time there.

From left to right: Me, Gildo (Mozambique), Ranno (Estonia), Brad (mentor from USA), Renier (South Africa), Charles (Tanzania), Remo (India).

I think the picture best summarizes what I learned from the trip: There are cross-cultural missionaries from everywhere in the world. In one of the messages, I had learned that only 36% of the world's Christian missionaries come from the continent of North America. I had heard that the Christian movement was shifting away from the West, but I had no idea that it had already shifted significantly.

Otherwise, I met a lot of really important people. It seemed like everyone had a business card. "President of such-and-such ministries," "CEO of such-and-such company." There were just a lot of important people. So you can imagine my feelings of inadequacy when I would meet somebody new (which was all the time). After shaking the person's hand, he or she would had me their business card, I'd look at it, see that they were really important, and follow it up with, "Hang on, lemme make you my business card (which would be a piece of paper torn out of my notepad with my name and email address on it)." Oh well.

On a related note, I just finished writing a newsletter that talks briefly about the trip. If you'd like a copy, gimme a holla.

Nutzo Quarter

In my haste to graduate after the Summer of 2007, I had somewhat stupidly scheduled an insanely crazy schedule this quarter.

Early Church History
Hebrew
Grief Counseling
Communication
Field Education/Internship

This schedule isn't terribly bad... until you add the two distance learning classes that carry over from the summer. Basically, I should have finished these two classes during the summer, but I just didn't because it was summer (and partly because I had to prepare for the 10 message camp).

Systematic Theology
Biblical Foundations of Mission.

Seven classes. I don't think I've ever taken seven classes except maybe in high school. Just for some perspective, the "normal" seminary student takes three classes per quarter. Some of my classmates are starting to call me the "double seminarian."

My Mouse Is Broken!

For like a month now, my mouse has been broken. The little trackball thing in the middle wouldn't scroll down. But the curse has been lifted!



Many thanks to Jason for pointing me to the website that told me how to do it. The Apple site says to just use water on a rag. Lemme tell ya. IT DOESN'T WORK!

Get the isopropyl alcohol, put it on a paper towel. And just rub it on the trackball over and over again until it works again! Yahoo.

Let it Snow!

Yesterday, according to the news, it snowed in Tahoe! Five inches! Mid-October and it's snowing!

Anybody interested in making a trip out to Tahoe this year?

One Quarter Down, Four More to Go

I haven't been posting very often recently and it's basically been because I've been busy finishing my summer quarter. Apparently, what most seminaries forget to tell you is that while an M.Div may take 3 years to complete, it would be 3 years, full-time, including summers. There's this weird expectation that, "Of course you'll take summer classes." So, while at times I wonder about the academic excellence required at the seminary level, I will admit that it is a gruelling 3 years.

I am kinda on the 3 year track. I started back in September 2004. I'm now slated to finish my schoolwork at around this time next year. Four quarters left to go (now that I've finished my final research paper for the Gospels class). Fall '06, Winter '07, Spring '07, and Summer '07 and I'll be done.

Yes, there will be a graduation ceremony. It'll be sometime in early June next year. It'll be more than likely on June 2nd at St. Patrick's Seminary in Menlo Park. I'll post details as they come. I won't be completely finished with everything then (I would still have a summer quarter to go), but hey, it's better than waiting one more year for the ceremony to come around again.

The Benitez Dilemma

After a merciless drubbing on my fantasy baseball team thereby ending my playoff hopes (the score was 0-10), I have now turned my attention to the football season. I guess I could continue playing fantasy baseball, but then the highest placing I could get would be 7th. I just don't think my ego could take playing fantasy baseball when 7th place is in stake.

So... on to football. My team isn't superstar laced, though I think it may be one of the deeper teams in the league. Basically, I'm expecting to get whomped on early in the season, but then as the injuries start racking up, I hope to make my push.

It also looks like I have a bit of a RB controversy in the makings right now for week 1 (a la Mike Shanahan). My RBs are Ronnie Brown, Willie Parker, Reuben Droughns, and Dominic Rhodes. Two of them are playing tonight at the season opener. There are two RB slots on my starting squad. Who do I choose?

Ronnie Brown is going against Pittsburgh, Willie Parker against Miami, Droughns against New Orleans, and Rhodes against NY Giants. I've essentially illiminated Rhodes from my list for this week. That leaves with three: Brown, Parker, and Droughns.

Brown's going against Pittsburgh, but then I picked him up as my first round pick. I really don't want to bench a first round pick especially in the first week. But well, I don't know. I think I'm beginning to understand Felipe Alou's mindset when it's a close game in the 9th inning. Do you go with what you think is right? Or do you go with the guy you paid a lot of money to?

Parker's going against a mediocre Miami run defense. But with Pittsburgh's running backs, the question seems to always be the same, who's going to get the touchdowns?

Droughns, well, Droughns is probably the weaker of the three but he's also going against the weakest defense of the three.

Which two do I choose?

Oh and by the way... I hate ESPN for taking away Monday Night Football. We've got ABC, PBS, NBC and a pair of rabbit ears. No cable. Boo.