For those who like puzzles/riddles/games…

…prepare to waste hours.

So cool.

Tag: Andrew

10 Years ago: I was 11 and in the sixth grade. I loved Star Wars, especially Star Wars micromachines. Coolest. Things. Ever. My friends and I wrought havoc at Zeman Elementary, being removed from assemblies for laughing uncontrollably, bending silverware in the cafeteria, and generally running amok. One time we carried a donut around for a week that was left over from a teacher’s meeting one morning. We named him “Doney” and he would sit quietly on our desk while work was done. Our teacher threw him in the trash several times, but we always found some way of rescuing him.

5 Years ago: I was 16 and a junior in high school. This was my most difficult, but also most productive, year of high school. AP US History was the most useful class of my high school experience, since it taught me how to write historical arguments based on primary texts. I was very involved in Berean’s high school youth group, and had been playing electric guitar on the worship team there for about a year. I think I was introduced to Radiohead in the spring of this schoolyear.

1 Year ago: I was a junior in college. My semester was a full one, with Medieval Literature and Theology being my most time consuming, but probably most interesting, class. I think I was still writing on my first blog, and Jacob and I would soon form this one. I had recently met all these great people from Zion, and was starting to do some RUF stuff.

Yesterday: Slept late since I did some recording the night before. Nearly missed my bus on the way to school. Discussed Thomistic philosophy in my Great Ideas in Religion class. Had a great practice for worship team, and played my electric guitar for the first time in a couple weeks. Watched the second half of Scorsese’s Bob Dylan documentary and went to bed too late for the second night in a row.

5 Snacks I enjoy: dark chocolate Milky Way, cinnamon rolls, chips and salsa, Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Pringles

5 Songs I know all the words to: “Luv is a Verb” – DC Talk, “Stay or Leave” – Dave Matthews, “Subterranean Homesick Blues” – Bob Dylan, “Fake Plastic Trees” – Radiohead, “Njosnavelin” – Sigur Ros

5 Things I’d do with a million dollars: buy 100 million Chicklets, mountaineering expeditions, finance revolutions, build a cake or something, give to worthy non-profit organizations (like the Precious Moments Chapel)

5 places I’d run away to: Colorado; Glastonbury, England; the Swiss Alps; Iceland; Nepal

5 Things I’d never wear: glitter, Abercrombie (it’d take a lot of convincing), pantyhose (or, for that matter, anything with the word “panty” or “hose” in it), stirrup pants, precision time pieces (not really)

5 favorite tv shows: Simpsons, I Love the 80s, Behind the Music, David the Gnome, X-Files

5 Greatest joys: salvation, good music, clean sheets just out of the dryer on a cold evening with the windows open, thought-provoking discussion, precision time pieces (not really)

5 people to pass this on to: Jacob (since he hasn’t done it yet), Ben (if he were, hypothetically, to post on his blog)…anyone else who reads this and feels inspired

Another Hymn

I bring you a new arrangement of yet another William Cowper hymn: “O For A Closer Walk With God.” Gregorian chant meets droning folk with a healthy dose of electronica. This was entirely too much fun to make.

Download it!

Remember, the files are only available for seven days. And please only download once since there’s a 25 download limit.

Edit: I made a My Space site to host the mp3s.

Discovery

Today I realized that my iBook actually has a halfway decent microphone built into it. Thus, I’ve wasted several hours recording a couple songs. If I had a way to post them, I would. I’ve got them on my iPod, so if you’d like to hear them, ask me sometime. (If you’re one of the two readers whom I don’t know in the real world, you’re out of luck I guess.)

This will surely ruin my academic career.

No Direction Home

For those of you who (like me) missed Scorsese’s Bob Dylan documentary “No Direction Home” at the Ross last week, you can still see it on NET Monday and Tuesday nights. The first half is showing at 8 and 10 Monday night, and the second half at 8 and 10 on Tuesday.

Potpourri

Today I saw (injured Tight End for the Huskers) Matt Herion on campus. I really wanted to ask him if he knew when he would be able to play again, so, after much internal conflict I did. He said that he had no idea.

Of course, that much doesn’t make a very interesting story, so my question is this: how nerdy is it that most of my internal conflict centered on whether I would be making the mistake that Mr. Collins made with Mr. Darcy (in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice) by, not knowing Mr. Herion, nevertheless introducing myself to him?

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For an assignment for my writing class, we had to write an evaluative essay. I chose to review the new coffee shop on 11th and O, Scooter’s Coffeehouse. We all passed our essays around the class so that we were all reading and evaluating as many of the other essays as we could during the period. We were all supposed to write one positive comment and one negative comment. Even though our comments were supposed to be unique to what people before us had written, I received two comments on my use of parentheses, my favorite being: “Seemingly overwhelming use of parentheses.” I thought that was pretty funny.

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Dear Abby–
In one of my classes, I sit by a guy who constantly turns to me during class, smiles (as if at a joke–it’s not like he’s hitting on me (thankfully)), and mumbles something so softly that I can’t even tell always if he’s actually saying something. I usually smile to suggest that (1) I found whatever he was laughing at funny from the beginning, too; (2) I heard his commentary; and (3) I found his commentary even more funny so that something substantial was added to my classroom experience by his mumblings.

Abby, I find my classmate distracting and annoying; what should I do about this?

Sufjan and the Illinoisemakers

Investigatory Journalism

Sufjan Stevens is actually the son of Yousef Islam (formerly known as Cat Stevens).

Line of Reasoning #1: They share the same last name. (Or at least used to.)
Line of Reasoning #2: They both create acoustic folk accompanied by hushed vocals. (Or at least used to.)
Line of Reasoning #3: Sufjan is an Muslim name. Cat Stevens converted to Islam and changed his name to Yousef Islam. He therefore named his son Sufjan.
Line of Reasoning #4: Cat Stevens song “Father and Son” details a father’s estrangement from his son. Sufjan’s song “For the Widows in Paradise, For the Fatherless in Ypsilanti” describes the adoption of a fatherless son. These are certainly autobiographical.
Line of Reasoning #5: Photographic Evidence

Islamic Calvinism

Today in my History of Islam class, we talked about the two major strands of ideology concerning human nature, the authority of the Qur’an, and God’s sovereignty. In short, there were originally two main views within Sunni (the majority sect) Islam: one was essentially Calvinistic in an Islamic sort of way (e.g., humans cannot truly understand the universe simply through reason since they are depraved, the Qur’an is co-eternal with God, and God predestines humans to have or not to have faith); the other was essentially Pelagian in an Islamic sort of way (e.g., humans can use Greek wisdom and philosophy to understand the universe and God, the Qur’an is created and not co-eternal with God, and humans have utter free will as to whether or not to believe in God).

The most interesting part of the discussion was my history professor’s take on this debate, since it is essentially the same debate we Christians see: “Whenever you have a monotheistic religion, this is going to be an issue, because, if God is the all-powerful creator of everything, how can it be that humans can act outside his will? On the other hand, if God decides everything and humans are drones, what is the point of religion?” Since my professor was an atheist, I thought that her comments were pretty insightful, especially since I have had self-proclaimed Christian professors who have openly mocked Calvinism as ridiculous in class discussions.

On a side note, we discussed Daniel Defoe’s Puritan Calvinism in relation to his novel Robinson Crusoe in my very next class. Two out of three class discussions involving Calvinism in one day: that ain’t bad at all.

Factoid

The Daily Nebraskan today noted that the score in the Nebraska football game last weekend against Pittsburg (7-6) was the lowest scoring game (13 total points) in which the Cornhuskers had participated since Nebraska beat Baylor 13-0 in 1990. That game against Baylor was the very first Cornhusker game I ever attended. Ah, the memories!