All Hallows' Eve

I'm just so traditional that way, calling this post 'All Hallows' Eve' instead of the generic 'Halloween'. Hey, I don't see anything wrong with tradition. I read Orthodoxy, I know the 'democracy of the dead' spiel. I like it.

DR. STOVALL ROCKS!!!! She was wearing plastic vampire fangs in class this morning, AND she passed out candy! And it wasn't the cheapo stuff, like tiny pixie stix and plastic-tasting faux-licorice sticks. It was the good stuff, like Reese's and Hershey's and Whoppers and Kit-Kat bars. I bet half the class didn't mind the quiz near so much after she went around with the jack-o'-lantern of candy.

Dr. Christy was at it again with his German puns. He says McDonald's has a commercial in German with the slogan, "Man ist, was man isst," which is funny after you realize it means, "You are what you eat," but that the words for 'are' and 'eat' sound just the same.

Dr. Diaz experimented today in chemistry. At precisely 10:00, he stood behind his desk tapping his ruler on the top of the desk, looking out over the sea of faces. After a moment or two, he said to the guy on my left, "How long do you think I could stand here before they stop talking?" The guy guessed about ten minutes.
So, smirking a little (you can't deny it, Dr. Diaz), he proceeded to test this theory. He actually let five minutes go by, and apparently NOBODY noticed that he was standing there. Finally, someone from the back sang out, "Good morning!" which alerted about half of the class that the teacher was, in fact, in the room. Others, however, continued to talk. About what, I do not know.
Then the big guy that always asks really in-depth questions yelled, "HEY, ---- IT!" That startled us into near-silence for a few moments, before we all started laughing at the abruptness and unexpectedness of it.
There were two girls to my right, however, who kept whispering throughout all of this. It took Dr. Diaz turning to them and asking, "What are you talking about, ladies?" to make them be quiet. Then we launched into the wavelengths and frequencies of light waves and Planck's constant.

Dr. Bibbee had his glory moment of humor today as well in history. Apparently, the dude who attempted to rob Kappa Sigma was wearing white gloves, so we derived great amusement from imagining him as a mime. Hilarity ensued. I really don't know how much of Ancient Rome we discussed today, but we sure do have some interesting conversations. Oh, well, Dr. Bibbee did warn us on the first day of school that he lives his life 'on a tangental basis'- always going off on tangents.

And, no,  I didn't go trick-or-treating. I haven't in years. A much better system is going to the store, picking out a bag of candy that you like, and eating it without all the hassle. My little brother spent the hour before he went out changing his mind every thirty seconds about what he was going to be. He was going to be a vampire, Voldemort (don't ask), an army guy, and a Ringwraith (from the Lord of the Rings). He settled on Ringwraith... I think. My other brother went as a beekeeper (which he is, incidentally, so he had all the equipment).
I settled for pilfering from their candy when they got back. There's always sure to be some little chocolate tidbit that they don't want. And there was. Milk Duds. But they were stuck together so much they were more like Milk Wads.

In Pace Christi,

Elyse

Many a man curses the rain that falls upon his head, and knows not that it brings the abundance to drive away hunger.

-- Saint Basil

(As an aside, today is the Feast of Saint Jude and Saint Simon, Apostles! Te Deum laudamus!)

In Pace Christi,

Elyse

Happy Dance

I managed to get the WiFI/LionAir/whatever in the library to work today! Aren't I so clever? Of course, yeah, it was only after ten minutes of texting my friend- "What do I do next??!!" Still, me and technology do not always get along, so this is a marvelous accomplishment.

Today was also a banner day in that I had no problems staying awake in chemistry today. Yeah, I know, what is the world coming to. However, we started Chapter 6 today- Atomic Structure- which is something a bit more exciting than coffee cup calorimetry. Dr. Diaz was asking us when we thought the theory of atoms was first expounded- people were guessing the 1600's, the 1400's, even the 1900's, while I kept mouthing, "The Greeks. It was Greece." Dr. Diaz wrote "400's BC" on the board and told us it was two Greek guys. Somebody suggested Plato, another Socrates. Sorry, but they were more focused on philosophy than the natural sciences. Aristotle, however... Yep, he was one of them. As Dr. Bibbee, my history teacher, puts it, when Alexander the Great had Aristotle as his tutor, it was like having a group of Nobel Prize winners tutoring you now.

So they managed to come up with Aristotle, but they could not come up with the other name. Cue massive "Uhhhh" around the room. (I also note that there are a lot fewer people in the class than there were when we started out. For example, my row consisted of me and two other girls; empty seats surrounded me. The guy behind  me who always puts his feet up on the chair beside me was absent; perhaps he's dropped the class, like he's been talking about before the teacher walks in for weeks. (He said that if he changed his major to architecture he could get away with no chemistry. Perhaps he has. I don't know. Or maybe it's just the Friday Syndrome. Few people show up on Fridays. But I'll be there the Monday of Thanksgiving, Dr. Diaz. I'll show up, even if it's just me and that other guy who promised to show... I like atomic structure.)

I couldn't have told you that Aristotle thought of atoms, though it is reasonable since he did so many other things, but I sure as anything knew the name of the other guy! Democritus. Now, if you ask me why I know that name I shall have to respond that I don't really know. It may come from high school with four excellent courses of biology (the biology lab, on the other hand, was not excellent but nauseating...), chemistry, physics, and AP physics. (Which is probably the reason why when we did rectilinear motion the other week in calculus I was very happy. It was stuff I'd been doing for two years in physics and one year in calculus.) Anyway, one of my high school science textbooks told a story about Democritus and the seashore- how it looks to be smooth and uniform from far away, but how when you get close you can see that it is made up of many tiny particles. That was how Democritus thought the entire world was. Of course, he thought atoms were hard and perfectly spherical, but they hardly knew about electrons, protons, and neutrons then.

Not to mention croutons. :)

Yes, this is definitely the blog of a nerd. Now you know why I identify so strongly with Carter in the Kane Chronicles, and his, "Gee, history is fun!" attitude. His sister calls him Mr. Wikipedia and the same could probably be applied with some truth to myself...

I don't do entirely geeky things, however. I waste time spectacularly looking up random things. Me and the search bar... I do some very random stuff. And then wish for brain bleach. To make a long story short, NEVER look up Sailor Moon videos. Don't even ask. They seem a lot better when you're 5 than when you're 18.

And I play Lego games online. I can blame that on my brothers. They are Lego nuts.

To complete the randomness of this post (and to complete its slide from nerdy into complete nonsense), BROTHERBAND TRILOGY 1: THE OUTCASTS COMES OUT ON TUESDAY!!!!!

I found its website. I couldn't watch the trailer because I don't want to turn on the sound in the library (and I, of course, stupidly forgot my earphones... not that they work very well, anyway. The right one doesn't work at all.), but I will when I get home! And then bug my family about it with a countdown. Though I doubt I will be as obsessed over this book as I was over the Son of Neptune. Hey, it's Percy's fate we're talking about here... And to complete my joy, I have learned that the Heroes of Olympus series will consist not of three books, but 5!!!! YAY! PERCY SHALL NEVER GO AWAY! And if he dies, well, we'll bring him back to life. Nico will help.

In Pace Christi,

Elyse

Short Day (But Not As Short As Last Thursday)

I really don't know why I like blogging so much. Perhaps because it gives me a perfect academic excuse to procrastinate another 30 minutes on doing my homework?

(Not to worry, I've already done my calculus homework, and it wasn't near so dreadful as I was fearing. Even if it is highly unlikely that I will remember any of the formulae for Monday.)

I learned something today. The Human Environmental Sciences (a name which I still think is ludicrous), which include culinary arts and interior design, is housed in Floyd Hall. And it is not called the Floyd Science Building. It is called Floyd Hall. It has its name spelled out on the building. But so many people do not know the names, or even the positions, of the buildings, they feel compelled to add a little clarification: "Floyd Science Building." The Math Building is, however, for reasons unknown, purely and simply the Math Building. Which is weird, especially considering the path leading past the GUC and all the other important buildings is called Shelby Way and there is the Harrison Entrance by the fountain...

What else is there to blog about today? I've already mentioned my football ecumenicism, haven't I (my English class today brought it to mind- don't ask), and my prospective topic for my compare-contrast essay. I should probably not post if I do not much of anything to post about.

Hmm, I know. As the shuttle I was on passed another shuttle at the Decauter Avenue/Hermitage Drive intersection, the driver of the other shuttle shot my driver with a finger gun. Yeah, I know, pointless... but as they're adults it seems so funny.

In Pace Christi,

Elyse

I Survived

Three tests today. At least I wasn't very concerned about any of them. The calculus quiz was about integrals (which I've been doing for a long time), the German was... well, German, and I have no idea why I stress about the history tests. I was the one talking about Macedonian phlanaces! (Or is it phlanaxes... Sorry in any case, Brittany.) Disappointingly, there wasn't a question about the Punic Wars on the test. I was so looking forward to waxing eloquent about the wars, causes and effects.

Someone apparently shares my opinion of the Wesleyan coke machine. They had taken a marker to it and written on the white cap of the large glowing Coke bottle that's on the front of it, "STEALS MONEY."

I think I will continue my blog even if we do not have freshman forum in the spring. I like this blog! I like writing about random things. I don't think anyone actually reads what I write (well, maybe a couple do), and I can't see how very entertaining it is, but it's actually rather therapeutic. (Did I spell that right?)

The guys selling the suckers are STILL out there! Sheesh, I thought they were pushy on Monday. Today they were roaming the campus, trying to get us to buy suckers. Lollipops. Whatever. Is it a fraternity doing this or what? I still can't see why. Now that is something I would never have the guts to do- walk up to random people and ask them to buy stuff. That's just not something I could ever easily bring myself to do. I think I am rather socially awkward. No doubt partially due to my nerdiness...

In Pace Christi,

Elyse

Truth sits upon the lips of dying men, and falsehood, while I lived, was far from mine.

-- Sohrab, from the poem Sohrab and Rustum

Obligatory Honors Post, 10/25/11

Our speaker tonight was Dr. Donna Jacobs, Dean of the College of Education. She was, I have to say, possibly our most engaging and- dare I say it?- entertaining speaker so far. At least I wasn't trying not to fall asleep. (And, yes, I sit in the front row. What is it with me with sitting in the front row and falling asleep? Especially chemistry... stupid warm Floyd Hall...)

Dean Jacobs illustrated that education is more than just teaching 3rd grade math. It also includes human environmental sciences (what a silly term... it's so wishy-washy and politically correct), which include culinary (food is our environment...? Okaaaaayy), interior design, nutrition and child development, you name it. There is also something called HPR which includes sports and recreation. You can't expect me to remember or write down everything, can you? I can write fairly fast (if illegibly), but not as fast as our speakers talk, most times.

Dean Jacobs had plenty of amusing points to make. She said sarcasm can be an effective teaching tool- at the very least, it keeps the audience's attention. Also, she told us that teaching is one of the most scrutinized professions, and for good reason. She even read off a list of incriminating headlines for us. And I don't deny there are bad teachers. But you know how much the media loves hype. They've probably ruined the careers of many innocent people... wait, we KNOW they have. But with teaching, it's probably better to err on the side of caution.

She also said the teacher should be an aide, not a hindrance to the learning process. In other words, the teacher should probably not have a black and white mohawk. Yeah... I think that would be a hindrance to my learning process. It would... how does it go...? 'Project an ungroovy karma that disrupts the school's educational aura'. And if that line doesn't ring a bell, go read The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan. Yes, sigh... I'm shamelessly advertising for his books again. (On a side note, also read Heaven Is For Real. It's worth your time, and it's not over 200 pages. Short, in other words, and it's pretty easy to read- it's written more like a conversation than anything else. It might even make you cry. We were discussing it before the speaker walked in.)

Things to avoid, especially if you want to be an education major, as presented by Dean Jacobs: (1) cheating (2) Facebook incidents- I am so glad I do not have a Facebook page! The more I hear about it, the less I want one. I don't have enough time as it is, anyway! I have three tests tomorrow, haven't even done my Calculus homework, and society expects me to obsessively update my status on Facebook and broadcast my thoughts to the world via Twitter? Come on, no one wants the punishment of reading my thoughts all day. I'm pretty random. And erudite. So you get a combination of nerdy and naive, with a slight dash of entertaining... hopefully. (3) hatespeech (4) inappropriate dress, hairstyle, etc. (5) disrespect towards colleagues and superiors.

I think I've already mentioned in a post (a loooong time ago) how I feel about respecting superiors. May I now mention that I hate cheating and I hate lying? I don't lie. It's like I almost physically can't, it's so repugnant to me. It's like uncreating the universe. See, I believe firmly in the power of words, that speaking is creating. Words are the houses of being. So to tell an untruth, to say that-which-is-not, is almost like blasphemy. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was in God's presence and the Word was God. To use words to do the devil's work... it's unthinkable for me. I just can't do it. Which may mean I do a creative dance to come up with nice things to say... or I just don't say anything at all.

Which brings me to a related subject. I feel very sad when I hear people cuss. I really do. It makes me very sad. In fact, I am sad right now just thinking about it. Do people know what they are saying? I hope not. Most probably don't think a thing of it, or they simply don't care. But I hear. And I am very sad. What makes me the most sad (and this will also get me a little angry, too) is when I hear thoughtless people say things like, "Oh, my God." That's so very pervasive, and so very saddening. Do people realize that the Israelites wouldn't even say God's name, whatsoever? They said Adonai instead, which means 'Lord'. They never said His name. It was blasphemy to do so. Note how the Jews tried to stone Jesus when He said, "Amen, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM." They knew the power of God's name.

So, please avoid it. It makes you sound so juvenile, too. There's no good reason to do it. Please, make a little clueless freshman a little less sad and this world a little brighter and cleaner.

In Pace Christi,

Elyse

Delenda Est Carthago.

I was SO disappointed that the PowerPoint presentation in history Monday about the Punic Wars did NOT include the famous Latin saying: "Delenda est Carthago." Carthage must be destroyed. I mean, that pretty much sums up the Romans' way of thinking, doesn't it? As Dr. Bibbee pointed out, they were just looking for a fight with the Carthaginians. They 'excused' themselves by helping rebels and other people that called for their aid (a bit like the United States, who had helped Columbia in the past put down rebellions in Panama, but as soon as the rebels offer to allow us to build a canal there... pfff! We help the rebels. Columbia was understandably amazed).

I don't know precisely what to think about Carthage. On the one hand, I sympathize with the Romans. What you don't hear often is that the Carthaginians were Phoenician. The Latin word for 'Phoenician' is punicus, whence we get Punic Wars. So the Carthaginians worshipped Phoenician gods... including the infamous Moloch. Yes, Moloch. And do you know HOW they worshipped Moloch? They built a fire in front of the statue of the god, and then they burned a child alive in that fire. Yes, they burned children to Moloch.

DELENDA EST CARTHAGO!!!!!

And if you don't believe it happened... go read Hittite Warrior. It's a great book, gives you great information about the Hittites, Canaanites, and Egyptians (and Phillistines!) during the time of the Judges in Israel. (Barak and Deborah make an appearance in the book.) Anyway, in the book, the main character helps rescue a child from Moloch. You talk about spine-chilling...

I've even read speculation that Moloch wasn't just an idol... but that the Canaanites/Phoenicians were worshipping an actual demon, who then moved on to Mexico. And if you don't believe that the Aztecs were horrid... you have been brainwashed, my friend. I don't care what atrocities Cortez and the Spainards performed in Mexico (and, remember, our histories of Cortez were written by the English and the Dutch... Spain's worst enemies), THE AZTECS DESERVED DESTRUCTION! Or, at least, their religion did. There is almost no way you can find anything more satanic than ripping the still-beating hearts out of the chests of millions of people every year. The Aztecs actually picked fights with neighboring tribes called 'the Flower Wars' in which the point was not to kill their enemies but to capture them alive so they could haul them back home to their temples and sacrifice them to their gods.

So, yeah... I can sympathize with the Romans' horror of the Phoenicians in one way.

But on the other hand, was it really necessary to kill 3/4 of the population, enslave the rest (the Romans even enacted legislation saying that no slaveowner could have more than a certain percentage of Carthaginian slaves, to prevent them from gathering in large enough groups to form a rebellion), and sow so much salt into the earth that you cannot even farm there today? I don't think so. In one of his letters, Tolkien (yes, my moral authority on so many things) mentions how he hated Delenda est Carthago as a child and couldn't understand why he was told it was so wonderful.

So I'm of two minds. But I do prefer that the Romans won rather than the Phoenicians. Because even Jupiter is better than Moloch.

In Pace Christi,

Elyse

It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness.

--- Unknown (as far as I know of).

ONE CLASS TODAY!!!

Okay, it was a calculus exam, but still, ONE CLASS TODAY!

English was let out so we could have our midterm professor/teacher conferences, and mine isn't until Tuesday. And calculus and English are all I normally have on Thursday, so, yeah, I was out of class at 8:50!! Big happy dance. After that I went to go see my academic advisor, however, who was very nice and lots of help, and which didn't take long. I was home by 9:40! I love it! I'm so looking forward to next semester when my schedule will be much less hectic.

Since we apparently don't have an honors forum in the spring semester, I am looking at 15 hours. My dad suggested getting a PE out of the way, but I'll have to look again at my catalogue to see if I have to have it. If so, meh... badminton? I would fail at badminton. It's a little ominous when you have to have permission to take stuff like snowboarding... HOW do they even DO snowboarding? I don't think there's a ski slope somewhere on campus, or even a snow-making machine. That I know of. I would have preferred archery for a PE class but UNA doesn't apparently offer that. That stinks. This is in addition to their COMPLETE AND UTTER MISERABLE FAILURE in not offering Latin. Even my advisor said she wished they offered Latin. I mean... I thought Latin and Greek were staples of college. Everyone's saying, "Go Greek!" after all. (I bet they don't know the whole Greek alphabet. I should ask some sorority member that sometime. "Are you required to know the entire Greek alphabet? Do you know any Greek words?" Actually, the word 'alphabet' itself comes from the first two Greek letters... alpha and beta. Alpha beta gamma delta epsilon...)

I had to wait 25 minutes on a bus yesterday. This is very annoying in cold weather. At one point I almost offered to the other students, "Why don't we go demonstrate in the president's lawn?" but that might not go over well with the faculty. At any rate, make sure there are enough buses to go around when one of the drivers randomly decides to take a walk in Wilson Park (and don't tell me they don't because I heard one of them talking on her cell phone to another and she mentioned it).

Men with leaf blowers have invaded campus. They will not leave. They are here to stay. They are loud. Bring earplugs.

I have now been in Willingham Hall! It has a basement and two floors and apparently an attic. The stairs to the third floor were blocked off with an impressive and motley array of desks and chairs so they obviously don't want you going up there. Is the floor bad or something? Hmm. Is it haunted? My cousin who goes to South Carolina told me that one of their dorms was a hospital in the Civil War and after the Yankees took it over a Confederate nurse poisoned some of their soldiers. They say sometimes students from the North wake up to find her standing there... Creepy!

I don't know how I would react if I saw a ghost. Perhaps I would think it was a living person. Perhaps I would scream and freak out. I really don't know. I've never encountered a ghost.

Wow. An appropriate October topic. I didn't even realize that.

Anyway, what IS a ghost? I think the term is used rather loosely. I do believe that souls of departed people can come back to try to tell us something- the good people, that is. Maybe they have something left to do. Maybe they haven't left Purgatory yet. We don't know. No one has ever come back from death and told us about it. It isn't for us to know. But perhaps there are evil people that have died and come back to torment the living. And perhaps there are demons that do the same and pretend to be good people so they will distract the living away from God. You just don't know.

It's very sad, though. If I saw a ghost (and figured out it was a ghost), I might just very well pray for them.

This is a very long post. I am very hyper. This is what a short day of class and relatively little homework does to you. (And Dr. Bibbee assigns strange homework when he doesn't have us doing papers. This week so far we have had to Google ourselves, introduce ourselves to somebody new, and look at ourselves in a mirror held in front of our nose so we could see what we look like if our faces were perfectly symmetrical. Don't ask why. It's a very long story. I don't know how we get onto these discussions in history. But I did tell Dr. Bibbee the other day that the projector was Hellenistic because the company name was Panasonic- 'all sound', more or less, in Greek.)

In Pace Christi,

Elyse