Finals Week

Well, it's that time again. Finals are here to stay, and well, I am not at all worried. I'm good at what I do, so the prospect of huge final exams holds no fear in me, save for some mild apprehensions about writer's cramp. On the whole though, 'tis a painless experience. Thus, on to more important subjects!

This weekend was quite nice. Friday night, Forrest took Bower, Brittany, Shane, and I on a retreat at the Stoneridge resort in Idaho for Senior Capstone. We each took turns on the hot-seat, presenting and defending our portfolios to the group. I had a pretty good piece, and felt like I had acquitted myself ably in my duties. That evening, we went and dined at the restaurant there, and had a pretty good dinner-time discussion. Afterwards, we went and played walleyball with Forrest, and then spent some quality time relaxing in the pool and hot tub. Forrest had gone back after the game, and we returned to find that that punk had eaten all of our chips! Ye gods, but that man is addicted to his salt. Shane, Brittany, Bower, and I then proceeded to watch the first Batman movie (you know, the one with Jack Nicholson as the Joker). Saturday morning, we woke up, ate breakfast, listened to some presentations, and then packed up and left. 'Twas good.

Saturday night was simply awesome for me. The Whitworth choir was performing down at First Presbyterian, so I went to see it (seeing as both my little sister and my girlfriend [see previous post] were singing). It was a wonderful concert, full of energy and atmosphere. Afterwards, my girlfriend and I thought we'd go to Ella's jazz club for some "together time." Unfortunately, it was full up, with no real spots to sit. We then elected to go to Catacombs, which remains one of my favorite places to hang out (what with the whole medieval monastic feel to it). We split this wonderful Kahlua chocolate mousse and had a beer each. Over the course of the evening, we had a marvelous conversation about topics ranging from philosophy, to theater, to family, to relationships, to feminism, to religion, and so forth. Quite frankly, conversations such as this are the things that human relationships thrive upon. If you have never had one of those incredibly free and open discussions with another person, you are sorely missing out. I came away feeling a fair amount closer to her. Let me say up front that I respect her very much. She is strong-minded and passionate about what she believes without being pushy or angry about it. She isn't afraid to disagree with me, which is a huge plus, and doesn't hold the fact that I disagree with her against me. She has a wonderful sense of humor and an infectious laugh that makes even the most seemingly trivial things a source of endless amusement. We've already established that we'll keep it casual, so the boundaries are in place, and the fact of the matter is that I have a tremendous amount of fun with her. Yes, things are looking up.

Sunday was a bit different. Needless to say, I was somewhat tired after the night before, and had to get up to teach Sunday School. I got that taken care of, no sweat. Then came the cluster worship. Let me say this: I have had it up to here [indicates point way above head] with some of the leadership that runs the whole shebang. First of all, the girls in charge are just waaaaaaay to perky for my tastes. The people I've realized I harbor the most intense dislike for, though, are these two older women who lead one of the other groups. When we were trying to present arguments to maybe help trim down the 3-hour+ chunk of time that cluster eats up once a month, they would respond with this sort of smug look, saying, "Well that just shows the problems with your priorities." It was our fault we couldn't make our kids want to give up 3 hours of time. It was our fault that parents would not let their kids give up 3 hours of homework time. Nice try, ladies. I don't buy it. In essence, they equivocate spending time at cluster with a commitment to God. This is batshits, and bad logic to boot. I wanted to jump up and give them a good solid lesson on the follies of equivocation, but my better reason kicked in and I was able to ignore my Imp of the Perverse and so avoid saying anything impolitic.

Other stuff: Read the Baroque Cycle, damnit! Neal Stephenson is a genius!