Thursday, January 26, 2012

Tolerance is Intolerant.

If you're expecting me to go on a huge rant about something, you would normally have been right. However, I have nothing in particular to rant about today. I just found an awesome quote and I really want to put it out here, so it can get more of the attention it deserves.

“We need to remember that tolerance is not a Christian virtue. Charity, justice, mercy, prudence, honesty — these are Christian virtues. And obviously, in a diverse community, tolerance is an important working principle. But it’s never an end itself. In fact, tolerating grave evil within a society is itself a form of serious evil.”

That was said by Archbishop Chaput, and I couldn't agree more. Tolerance is like the idea of saying that all beliefs are right. Umm... excuse me, but such a thought contradicts the Principle of Non-Contradiction, upon which all logic and indeed all of our actions throughout the day (subconsciously) are founded. If two things are diametrically opposed, they both may be wrong, but only one may be right.

I view it as something similar with tolerance. At its best, it makes a good servant but a bad master, like ambition. You can be tolerant of people, I think, without being tolerant of their wrong actions or wrong ideas. Love the sinner, hate the sin, anyone? But, at its worst, tolerance is used as an excuse to paralyze people into taking no action whatsoever against things that are wrong. Sure, it's good not to go out and blow people up or discriminate against them for whatever trivial reason, but that doesn't mean they get to impose their tolerance beliefs on you.

Really. We Christians get blamed so much for 'imposing' our beliefs on others. Now, it would be imposing if you were just about cramming Christianity down someone's throat, but most of the time it's nowhere near that. We just do something small to show our faith and it gets jumped on... phew! At the same time, however, those who jump on us and it insist on us being tolerant, and I think that's a little hypocritical, as they're obviously not being tolerant of us.

I'm not really sure where I'm going with this post, and it seems that I have accidentally gotten on a rant anyway, but I'm ending it here, so breathe easy. I just want to add another quote that I (for some reason) find hilarious, even if I have, ahem, slightly edited it.

"The (expletive deleted) tolerance shall cease."

I can't remember who said that- it was one of Constantine's sons, but when you realize that their names were Constantine Jr. (okay, minus the 'Jr.' part), Constantius, and Constans.... yeah, it's easy to get them mixed up. Anyway, the followers of the Arian heresy were tearing his empire apart, and efforts to placate them only encouraged them more. So he decided that their heresy and their rebellion would no longer be tolerated. Wish we had a few more like that now- people who have the courage to stand up for what is right and demonstrate the true meaning of tolerance.

Ooh, now I have the urge to go pull out my G. K. Chesterton book and go nuts with it over 'intolerance' and love... but I think I'll hold off.

Good night and joy be with you all!
In Pace Christi,

Elyse

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

A Few More Random Things About UNA

Okay, okay, most of these random observations are from yesterday and I forgot to blog about them. But oh well! They shall be blogged about today.

(1). Whoever thought it would be a clever idea to write the 't' and 'h' as one letter in their sidewalk chalk advertisements for The Well, it's really not a clever idea. It just proves that you can't spell or can't write, either one and possibly both. It does not give a good first impression of the message you're trying to get across. People, learn to spell!

(2). I see that the OUT OF ORDER sign on the back of the bathroom door in the Guillot has been moved to the door of one of the stalls, where presumably it belongs.

(3). Why was the CAUTION: WET PAVEMENT cone outside the Guillot yesterday? I really couldn't figure that out. The pavement outside should really only be wet if it's been raining, the sprinklers have been on a long time, or someone spilled something really big. None of those had happened. The pavement wasn't even wet for that matter...

(4.) Why has UNA stopped carrying those sandwiches in the Guillot that I liked? Now they only have peanut butter and jelly ones unless you want those ginormous ones with croissants or whatever. And sushi. They are carrying sushi now. I'm sorry, but anything labelled, "Jellied Eel Egg Roll," or whatever it said I most definitely do not find appetizing. Even more ominously, after 3:00 or so you can buy one get one free for the sushi. This does not bode well for those leery of food poisoning.

(5.) I haven't seen those people standing on the amphitheater and preaching and passing out literature lately. Not that I'm complaining about the fact, mind you... I just remember that one of those cards they handed out was a picture so blatantly photoshopped I have been unable to take them seriously since then. It depicted the earth right next to the Sun, and credited NASA for the photo. Uh-huh. Even I know that the earth is like 93 million miles away from the Sun.

(6.) I'd like to know just how many markers the UNA faculty go through each day. Based on the way Dr. Gren switches markers through his lectures, I would bet the number is more than you think. Let's hope they buy in bulk.

In Pace Christi,

Elyse

Monday, January 23, 2012

"He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom."

--  Gandalf

Okay, okay, it was J. R. R. Tolkien.

Monday's Aren't Really So Bad. Sometimes.

I think I'm a cheerful person by nature, so I (usually) don't stay mad about things I can't control for very long. Actually, when I was coming up with a title for this post, I only added the 'sometimes' after remembering last night. You know, the tornadoes and everything. I wonder what time it was when I finaly got to sleep. It was probably nearing 1 o'clock in the morning. I ended up sleeping in the basement.

Needless to say, I almost fell asleep today at UNA. I seriously thought I was going to fall asleep in calculus this morning, and it didn't help that I had my head on my desk... And for the first time in a long while, I almost fell asleep in chemistry. I had been doing so good for such a long time at staying awake in there- the cold weather and the new semester probably helped with that. I'm trying not to get too comfortable here while I'm typing or I'll just nod off. I'm not very good at taking naps but I can if I'm really tired.

Oh, and no complaints about the shuttles for once. Yay. Any school day is good, I think, when you get home by 11:15 or so.

And the sun actually came out today! Cue cheers of happiness from everyone. It was so odd seeing everyone run around in short-sleeved t-shirts, but, as Dr. Gren said, even if it's crazy weather for late January we should enjoy it while we can.

I don't actually check the weather forecast before I head out in the morning. I just look at the thermometer and the general state of the skies outside and plan accordingly. I'm pretty good at predicting rain by now (of course, it also helps that it's been raining a lot recently...) and wearing my boots so I don't have to splash through two-inch puddles in tennis shoes. Which is NOT fun, let me assure you, as they do not dry out for hours. By the way, I was walking through my yard earlier, and the ground squished. The ground should not squish.

As for choosing how many layers to wear, I tend to err on the side of, "I'd rather take off my jacket because I'm too warm rather than freeze," which tends to work pretty well. (Yes, I suppose I am laughing at you, Amy. :) That's okay. I freeze occasionally, too.)

Tomorrow I have chemistry lab. I wonder what sort of shenanigans we will get up to then. Popping popcorn was fun. Hopefully we will do something as equally entertaining. Boil red cabbage and mess with its pH level? I've done that here at home. Great fun, I assure you... especially when you are abetted by a little brother who is an aspiring mad scientist. Haha. When he learned I had chemistry lab for a class, he was amazed and drew a picture of what he thought a science lab looked like- complete with evil scientist test tubes and evil contraptions. I didn't have the heart to burst his bubble and tell him Floyd Hall was much more mundane.

In Pace Christi,

Elyse

Thursday, January 19, 2012

It has been my observation that most people get ahead during the time others waste.

- Henry Ford

Thoughts for Today, Such as They Are

This is my 90th post. Yay me.

Anyway, I picked up a copy of the Flor-Ala today (honestly, who came up with the name Flor-Ala? Is hyphenating and abbreviating the best anyone can do nowadays? Whatever happened to the spirit of conservative creativity when it comes to nomenclature?). I always like looking at the tweets on the back, as some are humorous, but today I merely came away with the impression that there are a lot of weenies in the world.

Yo, whoever is complaining about having a class on the third floor of Bibb Graves, get a life! Just because the building does not have escalators and elevators (and fireman poles, for that matter, as awesome as that would be) does not mean the world is out to get you. Seriously, people, the stairs are not that bad. I take them two at a time! (Of course, I do that with most stairs, anyway...) But, no, all the weenies line up for the elevators. If you can't walk up a flight of stairs to your class, or you think the world hates you because you have a class on the third floor, what are you doing in college? This demonstrates the maturity of a grade schooler. What's the use of complaining about it? If complaining were to produce some positive result, that would be one thing. But if it doesn't... you're just dwelling on your own misery and making everyone else miserable around you. So, please, don't spread the misery!

As an aside, most of people's misery and pain is when you think about it. It's estimated that 90% of pain is mental.

That was not the end of the tweets. Someone else obviously woke up on the wrong side of the bed and threatened to choke-slam the first freshman they saw up, dressed, and smiling. I take offense to that. If you're having a bad day, fine, have a bad day. But let other people have good days. Will spreading the gloom alleviate your own? Maybe. But, as they say, it's 'bad karma'...

I am not a morning person myself. You should see me eating breakfast in the dark because I can't bear to turn the lights on. But I don't threaten to choke-slam people. I just chase off little brothers whose only way, apparently, of demonstrating how much they miss me during the day (awww) is by annoying me (not so awww).

As an aside, I say, "Good morning," to the bus drivers. I think everyone needs a, "Good morning," to start their day. When you say that, you are wishing that the person you are greeting will have a good morning ("I wish you a good morning."), so it's basically a blessing. And I, if no one else in this language-abusing world, believe in the power of spoken words, so when I say, "Good morning," I am literally hoping that you will have a good morning. If that makes you want to choke-slam me, that's your problem. Not mine.

There's still enough innocence left in the world for a little clueless freshman to be happy over sunshine and "Sweet Home Alabama" playing on the radio and getting home by 11:00, isn't there?
If there isn't, this is a very sad world.

In Pace Christi,

Elyse

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

This is a rant.

Yes, this is a rant. I don't know how long of a rant it is going to be, but it will be a rant. Yes, I love that word. Rant. It's a great word, but not great enough to deter me from doing any actual ranting.

UNA HAS GOT TO GET SOME SORT OF AWNING FOR THE PEOPLE WAITING ON SHUTTLES!
That is simply all there is to it! It's insulting enough when the on-campus bus goes by two or three times (or even the apartment bus, which went by TWICE today, and it usually goes by only once every 30-45 minutes!) and the parking deck bus goes by twice and you name it, but to have to stand in the storm with rain pelting at you... augh. Put it this way, the pavement around the fountain was in two inches of water. Good thing I wore my boots today. I looked out the window and said to myself, "Hmm, looks like rain." Boy, was I right. I don't know what the people wearing pajama pants and flip-flops do in this sort of weather. I honestly don't know.

But, seriously, we need an awning. If they're going to make us wait thirty minutes for a stupid shuttle, we need an awning. We roast in the summertime when there's not enough shade to go around, and we freeze in the winter. But we will freeze and roast more gladly if there is somewhere to get out of the rain or the sun! (As an aside, people haven't begun protesting in the president's yard. Yet...) Additionally, having the trees lining the walk is great in the summer, but in the middle of a thunderstorm... yeah, we're standing under the trees. Yup, intelligent thing to do. A couple of people can cram under that little building in the parking lot, but not all the half a dozen people that have accumulated by the time the shuttle finally rolls around.

Occasionally, there are entertaining people standing at the stop with you, who will say funny things and distract your mind from the cold/rain/flurries/sun/whatever form of inclement weather Alabama is currently throwing at you, but this is not often. Most of the time, we stand around in an awkward silence. Most just stare into space. I stamp my numb feet and turn back and forth (a habit of mine).

On a less rant-y note, I don't even want to know what the basketball-tossing thing in the Guillot today was for, do I...?

On an at least positive note, I had my first chemistry lab today with Dr. Moeller, and he's great. We cooked popcorn. No, we didn't eat it. My popcorn kept sailing out of the beaker and over the bench- once it landed on top of the bench, and I was everywhere looking for it... Haha, as a short person, I don't think of looking on top for something right away. To add to the interest, someone broke a beaker today. No explosions yet, so that's a success, I suppose.

Okay, I feel a bit better now that I have gotten that rant out of my system, but let me inform you, UNA, that my clothes still haven't dried out. FOUR HOURS LATER.

In Pace Christi,

Elyse

Friday, January 13, 2012

Okay, I looked it up. It's boulevard. Stupid French with its stupid weird spellings.

In Pace Christi,

Elyse

SNOWDAY!!! ...I wish.

Okay, okay, I was wrong. The little dusting of snow on the ground DID actually have an effect upon classes today. Not much of one as far as I was concerned, but it got SOME people out of all school today (I'm looking at you, Amy... grrr.... not fair). The roads weren't bad, save for a few patches on Florence Blvd (I'm abbreviating it to blvd because I honestly have no idea how to spell it out in full!) near the bowling alley. Farther downtown, houses still had white on their roofs and the cemetery near St. Joseph's (about where Florence Blvd becomes Tennessee Street for completely inexplicable reasons) was completely white. It was pretty in an odd sort of way. You don't really think of cemeteries being pretty, but this morning it looked all innocent and peaceful... almost restful, in fact.

Downtown the streets looked as if white stuff (not snow) had been spread over them. Salt, I guess, but it looked more powdery than that. Some unknown sort of chemical, I suppose.

Guess what? I remembered my calculator today! Cue happy dance of joy. I ALSO remembered a pencil (although it was not a very sharp one). I should have gone and checked my mailbox in the Guillot but decided against it. There's never anything in it. The last time something was in there (the first thing in a month or two) it was an ad for some tanning salon place. Needless to say, I crumpled that up and tossed it as soon as I walked past a trash can. All I can say is that tanning beds creep me out. They look like coffins. Proper vampires (not the stupid glittery kind!) sleep in coffins. However, they are also supposed to be allergic to sunlight. Oookaay....

Yay. Another blog post of incredible randomness. I may fail at some things, but I think I definitely win at complete and utter randomness.

On a happier note, the shuttles were running very regularly today and the shuttle drivers are to be commended. They are always pretty good about picking up in the morning and I think the way my schedule is this semester I may end up not having to wait as long on a shuttle. Let's hope so. I really think UNA should build some sort of awning or something at the shuttle pick-up/drop-off areas, because it stinks to stand for thirty minutes in the freezing cold, being rained on or snowed on, or to stand for thirty minutes in the broiling hot sun, for that matter. (Because you all know before we turn around fully it's going to be summer again. Sheesh, I don't think I'm that old yet, and already the days go by so fast... Augh... and now I've got that Keith Urban song in my head... The days go by... I can feel 'em flying like hand out the window as the cars go by...)

In Pace Christi

Elyse

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Second Semester at UNA

Yay. The semester has officially started and it is patently obvious I am not yet back into the swing of things.

For starters, yesterday I completely forgot to bring a pencil or pen (I fail), but fortunately of all days to forget that was the best one. I managed to borrow from people to write my name on the sign-in sheets and today I REMEMBERED! Cue happy dance of joy. Today, however, I forgot my calculator. Fortunately today was also a day I could scrape by, so all's good. I will remember it tomorrow, as well. I will return to the swing of things. I am slightly less clueless than I once was!!

A study in comparison and contrast: my German class now has three people in it, while my Chemistry class has about 80 again. Yup. The professor for the former greeted us with, "Guten morgen, meine kleine Klasse," (and let's hope I have that right- 'Good morning, my small class', by the way) while the professor for the latter greeted us with, "Come on in! Standing room only," as we scurried down the hallway. I managed not to be late. I have to run across the parking lot and down the hill to get into my classroom in Floyd before the teacher walks in...

Apparently, construction is no longer being done to Collier and the work on the water lines (or whatever it was) is also completed. The last few days of last semester it was slightly annoying to have to circumvent the amphitheater. Ampitheater... okay, now I've confused myself. But as the work's done now I don't have anything to complain about, do I? And, hey, it could have been worse...

It is flurrying outside. That was ludicrous when it was 50 degrees outside yesterday, but as today it is more like 30 degrees outside, we may actually have some white on the ground in the morning. Heh. Who knows? I doubt, if there is any, that it will affect classes at UNA whatsoever...

Another random observation: there is pink string tied around a few lamp posts, and I totally don't want to know why. Strangely, I find myself saying that a lot--- "I don't want to know why..." etc.

Labs start next week. Let's see what else we can blow up in chemistry lab! No, just kidding. I actually do not want to witness any massive fireballs or miniature mushroom clouds, even though the shocking propensity for people to pour chemicals straight down the drain does not inspire much confidence... Actually, the guy I'm supposed to have for chemistry lab is the Wizard of tUNA, Dr. Moeller. And this is after I disagreed with his philosophy on my blog. Ooookay. Whoops? Oh, well. My dad says Dr. Moeller used to be the dean of the science/chemistry/whatever department, and that he taught one of my uncles. It would be interesting if he recognized my last name, as it's rather unusual, but I don't expect him to. I certainly don't expect him to comment on its German  nature and then give me the etymology of it, as Dr. Christy did, though that was certainly amazing on the latter's part...

Okay, this was a random blog post. Very random. But, then, when are they ever not?

In Pace Christi,

Elyse

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of.

-- Blaise Pascal

A Warm Welcome to Bobby Wallace

Okay, okay, I'm not old enough to remember the famous three-year-in-a-row championship run here at UNA, but I am in a position now to appreciate that feat and also to welcome back Bobby Wallace. We are all honored to have him here and may he have as much success this time as he did before! Can I get a rousing chorus of 'Amen!'s.... or should that be a rousing chorus of 'Roar Lions!'s?