The Great Divorce

This is my attempt to be both Tolkin and C.S. Lewis while talking about Western New York's weather. Enjoy

Something that has always been, is no more. I see it all around me. The cycles and forces that once controlled the earth have been shaken. A union that once was once strong, has been dissolved. A season is being dissolved. The marriage between Mother Nature and Old Man Winter has been broken.

The lives of ordinary men are being drawn into this extra-physical conflict as the earth around them thaws and the snow is melted. What has been done, they can not undo. They are powerless to act on the controls of their world. They wait, hoping that all will resolve it’s self without their involvement.

The world is subjected to a harsh chill as part of Mother Nature’s cycles. For centuries the cycle was never broken. And that chill that once was, had only to do with Old Man Winter’s presence at the controls. But he has been expelled, and winter with him. Now there is a warming. The cold has lost, and winter is warm.

Winter? Is that you?

I feel my facial hair freeze and I’m only 50yards from the dorm: it’s that cold. For so long it was warm; a happy radiant warm. But that is radiance. Winter has come. An ever thickening layer of powder swirls around in the air. It’s a magical snow, the kind that draws you to sit by the windows for lunch. It sneaks from the sky when I’m in class, adding layers without my permission. When I hike in the woods it lies very still. I walk through the silence around a corner and it pounces. I hunch over to ward off its attack. But through all its rebellious violence we are still friends. We have an understanding. It is always welcome on campus, but not allowed in the dorm. It has tried a few times, but always been frightened off by Sir Heater.

Sir Heater is a relic and this campus thrives on technology. We all have laptops. I can find a high speed wireless internet connection anywhere on campus. Doors open when I scan my ID card. I can read the menu from my room, check my chapel attendance, or learn how to set up my individual voice mail box. But Sir Heater is from the 80s, and he doesn’t do such a great job. There have been maintenance requests, but he still sleeps cold at night. He complained to me this afternoon: “It’s so ironic, they can network and fix anything with a mother board, but they don’t fix my pipes.” Sad but true, the days of Sir Heater appear to be gone.

Friend, Romantic Interest, and Inspiration

Up until now I have been mainly silent about my relational pursuits of the opposite gender, and for good reason: It is none of your business! But I have decided that since she is a part of my life I will share a slice of our relationship with you.

She is Sarah: intelligent, respectful, and God fearing. "A cut above the rest" in another's words.

In my ideology dating for sport is playing with emotions for the sake of getting high. She seems to think the same. When I asked her if she would date me she said "what do you mean by dating?" And so we are pursing a relationship with marriage as an ideal goal.

But there is a distance factor involved. We started in Dec. 2004. I started YES in Jan for a 6month commitment. A month after I returned she left for 12 months of REACH. In our first 19 months of dating, all are spent out of state, 12 are spent on different continents. A bad thing? Only if you look at it that way.

Our relationship doesn’t bear the normal emotional excitement that most have. Instead of seeing it as a bad thing we use it as a catalyst for relational growth. We use the distance and the lack of emotional distraction to help us get to know each other. We write letters about real life: the life we live being our normal self. In writing letters you scribe what is exciting and stimulating about your life. In that way we see who each other are; when the other isn't around. She knows how I spend my free time, and I know what her house mates do that annoys her.

I may sound like I'm turning a relationship into a formula, however you take it, it's my blog and I say what I want. I really haven't detached my emotions for Sarah. She is an amazing woman. Inside her heart is an wonderful commitment to God, a commitment strong enough to choose teaching school over being near her boyfriend. She tries things she is afraid of. She tells me about my faults when I don't face them. And she encourages me to do the same. In my estimation, she is amazing, and she inspires me.

The Show that never ends

Close your eyes for a moment. Imagine you are sitting in a high school auditorium: front row. It is completely dark. You can feel the presence of the other drama goers. Whispers sneak from backstage. Then the curtain rattles into the wings and the lights glow on the stage. Strangers prance about cardboard structures which strangely resemble walls or bookshelves. It is drama. The plot thickens. Characters are developed. Ultimately the events climate and resolve.

Then you blink. The glow of the TV flickers on the wall behind you. Your butt sinks into the same spot on your worn out couch. Bed time is past, but the lure of your friends is strong. They only talk from 11:00 to 11:30. Their set resembles the everyday living room, and their life is so funny! The laughter of people comes through their windows and through your TV. You laugh too, you like watching them.

Then you blink. The set has changed. The laughter and the cardboard sets are gone, everything looks real. The characters are genuine. The lighting is hidden somewhere beyond a total surround sound system. It is almost as if you are Lucy and have pushed past the last coat discovering Narnia. The cold wind rattles the trees. Snow flurries drift across the set. Or is it a set?

This is what I watch while I stump sitting. It is a show that never stops. The main character is a squirrel named “Quick-Toes”. The plot centers around his quest to visit neighbors and maintain the security of the nuts he has stored in Pine Tree #8, a high security nut storage area. His theatre has certain etiquette. The show only starts after everyone is seated and quiet. I didn’t have a good seat today. The show moved down the hill to Half-tail’s hollow log. (Half-Tail is the uncle of Quick-Toes named after a mishap with a hawk) I couldn’t quite see what was going on, but there was a great deal of noise and a pine cone. This isn’t the first time Half-Tail and Quick-Toes have gone at…..well, you really need to see the show to understand.

Learning outside the box (we call it a classroom)

Down and dirty

Liberal arts is boring. Who wants to sit in class trying to catch the gems that fall from the lips of the intellectual? After four years of this they put a funny hat on you and off you go. Then you move on to the real world and try to apply the skills that you acquired.

Somehow, I feel like I am not a liberal art student, sure I'm enrolled at a Liberal arts college. But I'm a Recreation student, and for some reason it seems like a different world. I'm not tortured by professors: I like going to class. It seems like all we do in class is have fun. The saying in the Rec. dept. is "take something you like to do and find a way to get paid to do it." So that's what we do, and the teachers get paid. No text books, no formalities, and lots of assignments. I was working on an assignment today: I was stump sitting and hiking. I have required hours for both activities. Latter on I'll make snow shelters, cook on a rock, and build fires without matches. For me, that isn't liberal arts, that's life at it's best.

.Edu

Right now I could be on a smoky bus filled with chicken catchers. But I'm not, I'm expanding my mind and surrounding myself with exciting individuals in a process that is known as a "liberal arts education" So far I haven't met any exciting individuals or expanded my mind. I did however meet an old High School friend (Joel Bru) who didn't know went here. Maybe more exciting individuals will arive when campus fills up and classes will stimulate my intellect.

Most of us write off the book of Job. I have a whole class on the book. In preperation, and out of boardom I read the first 15 chapters. It is amazing! Job asks some hard questions: "Why does God treat me unjustly?" "Why can't I talk to God and tell Him that He has made a horrible mistake?" It's a must read. I personally like the character "Billidad" who promotes the "just God" theology saying "God is always just".

I have a window in my room. If I look out the window I see stuff. I see some trees, a canadian hemlock, and a guard rail. So far the guard rail hasn't been very social with the trees. He sits by the road with a steel look. The trees, on the other hand, have a great time. They sway a bit in the wind and wave to eachother. The hemlock has an ego problem, he is the only green one of the bunch.

But the window is better used if you reverse the direction of viewing. Try looking in instead of out. Most windows are like that. Have you ever looked out of your neighbors living room window? All you see is your house, which is equal to "boring". But try looking in your neighbor's living room window. Yeah! its a lot more interesting. Its the same with my dorm room. I'm doing stuff and don't know you are watching. Who knows, you might catch me making my bed or organizing my closet. Ever see a tree do that? Maybe I'll mount a wireless web cam on that hemlock so you can all look in my window 24/7. I'll bet people would pay for that kind of excitement. I would be like "The trueman show" with me as the star!

It's like opening a Christmas gift, everytime.

This green font is a tribute to our friends at WM (waste management) and their green goody bins. From time to time I find myself in one of these bins ripping open piles of "gift bags" filled with presents for me. This week we came home with $500 worth of flower bulbs. Asher and I spent a good part of monday planting them around the house. I wish I could be around here when those two bushels of tulip bulbs turn our back yard into an explosion of color.
I've been a bit dissapointed with the meat situation around here. The temps have risen into the mid 40s, and there hasn't been any big hauls. Maybe we could convince the grocer to overstock steak like he did in Columbus.