new books

time for a pair of new books already. bobby got me the silmarillion by j.r.r. tolkien for christmas, so i'm gonna put ender's game back on the shelf for now. i also decided to read eats, shoots, and leaves by lynne truss to fix up my punctuation habits a bit.

does god have a future? was a pretty interesting read. i thought john sanders was well able to defend his position while chris hall was left appealing to incoherant mysteries and such to defend the idea of a timeless god who has absolute knowledge of the future. hall seemed to keep avoiding sanders' questions and actually claimed that a literal reading of certain scriptures could not be used to defend open theology because a literal reading of those scriptures lead to open theology!

another very interesting aspect of the book was the occasional bits sanders wrote about his experiences as some in the evangelical community were trying to get him fired from his teaching position at huntington college (which they succeeded in last month). i would reallu like sanders to write a book specifically about all this.

i also found much sympathy and understanding for sanders and his encounter with his evangelical community. it's how i have seen much of it in regards to the mormon-evangelical divide. i loved sanders quote where he says, "It appears to be much better in evangelicalism to be guilty of adultery than to be guilty of an errant belief, because evangelicals place much more emphasis on correct doctrinal beliefs than on correct living."

this is a great primer for anyone who disagrees with me that god does not know the future, but not ready for (the very mormony) process theology.

and laying his finger inside of his nose, and giving a nod, up the chimney he rose

christmas came and christmas went. just like that. nothing spectacular. no memories to cherish. but, i guess it was good nonetheless. i was with my family... and that was pretty special.

twas the night before christmas

i drove home tonight for christmas after work and, believe it or not, the christmas tree at my parents house is the first christmas tree i've seen in person this whole season. my mom did an excellent job on it. it's not the traditional tree we've had with all the decades-old felt ornaments, but it was really beautiful. my mom's got a talent with stufs like that.

with the combined effects of not having seen christmas tree, a rather snowless decemeber, and other bah-humbugs, i have just not been in the christmas spirit. i went to barnes and noble this morning to buy some books for some unnamed children, but they had already filled up their list of kids. i had to get to work right after, so i didn't have time to try somewhere else to spread some good. this year, there is just no christmas spirit. i haven't felt the commercialized spirit of christmas, nor the spiritual spirit of christmas. nothing. this year it has suddenly just showed up. there has been no caroling, no checking out the lights, no cards, no trees, no nativities, nothing. i've tried to play christmas music, but it never clicked.

i think school and work just burned me out too much this year. being a tad sick doesn't help any either.

one last attempt. i think i'm gonna sit by the tree and read luke's nativity by the christmas tree lights before i go to bed.

'twas the night before the night before the night before christmas

it finally snowed today and i think that might have actually put me in the christmas spirit. i really just haven't been in the christmas mood lately. i think it has largely to do with burning myself out so badly the last month. i also think it's because i haven't really done much this christmas. i haven't done any real donating like i did last year. .. or anything else really.

i've got all day tomorrow off, so hopefully i'll be able to get more much needed rest in and get rid of this stupid cold that hit me yesterday. i should prolly go hit barnes and noble and see if they are doing the gift buying for under-priviledged children again.

i was planning on posted a few of my papers this last semester... or at least the two that others might find interesting, but i accidently erased the finished copies of them, so i'll have to wait until school opens up to get them off my computer there.

new books

over the past couple weeks i finished fight club, man's search for meaning, the rediscovery of the mind, and process theology: an introductory exposition as well as simone beauvoir's ethics of ambiguity which i was too busy to post about reading.




up next on the reading list is does god have a future: a debate on divine providence by chris hall and john sanders (who was recently fired from huntington college for his open theology) and ender's game by orson scott card.

still recovering

these last few weeks of class really did a number on me. tomorrow will be my first day in months without work, school, or studying to do.

i didn't do as bad as i was fearing this semester. i finished with a pair of a's, an a-, a b+, and a b.

i think i'll post more and fix stufs up tomorrow

more on giving jesus presents...

i needed a little break from paper writing, so i went to our ward's fhe tonight. the bishop told a little story and then said that we need to think about giving jesus a present. what are we going to give him? not an ipod, he says.

i'm sure most in the room were thinking "ooh, i'll give him a broken heart and a contrite spirit" "i'll give him my prayers" "i'll give him more of my faith" "i'll give him 20 minutes of scripture reading"

i think jesus would almost rather have an ipod, but i'm not sure what to give him this year.

last year i gave jesus harry potter and captain underpants. i've never read captain underpants, but one of my cousins loved it, so i thought jesus would appreciate it too.

not to sound braggish, but last christmas eve i met up with one of my old roommates for some breakfast at the village inn. yeah... i know... why would i brag about that. lots of people do that. i'm not done with the story stupid.

after breakfast, i went over to barnes and noble to window shop ( i usually order my books through amazon). in the center of the store there was a little tree with ornaments labeled "boy, age 14" "girl, age 8" "girl, age 4" etc... these all represented under-priveledged kids who didn't have much. grab an ornament, pick out a book, pay at the register, kid gets a brand new book for christmas... not some crappy, beat up hand me down.

girl, age 12 got harry potter, books 1, 2, and 3. boy, age seven got the captain underpants collection.

"inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."

this was by far, the highlight of my christmas.

during another immensely boring and superficial sunday at the singles ward...

girl giving talk: christmas is jesus' birthday. we wouldn't want people giving presents to other people on our birthdays, so we should think more about what we could give to jesus on his.
me: every christmas eve i leave some milk and cookies for jesus... but santa keeps eating it.

oh my gosh! i am so funny!

seriously though, shouldn't this be a criticism of our selfishness on our birthdays? does jesus really care that we are giving to others on christmas? or is he self-centered enough that he actually wants us to give him presents and is somehow bothered by the generosity and selflessness of people during christmas?

good ol' happy valley

since i haven't haven't posted anything lately, i thought i'd throw some highlights from the campus police beat from byu's the daily universe. as soon as i get some time with the christmas break, i think i'm gonna fix this site up some and start trying to regularly post crap that nobody really cares about

criminal mischief

an individual drew human figures on the sidewalk between the morris center and deseret towers on nov. 23. each figure had a name of a student living in dt. when a university police officer responded to the call, he said it was more of a prank than a threat.

individuals threw eggs down on cars from the east overpass north of campus drive on nov. 22 at 11:30 p.m.

six women’s bathrooms were vandalized between nov. 22 and 23 at chipman hall. feminine products and money were taken. thirty dollars in cash was taken and there was $90 in damage to the locks.

communication violation

a student living in desert towers has been receiving harassing notes that were posted on the walls in her hall and ward building. the incident was reported on nov. 30. the notes were malicious in nature and an attack on her personality and circumstances. the notes have since stopped.

disorderly conduct (my favorite)

a female visitor, 33, may be banned from campus because she was reported for urinating on the bathroom floor on nov. 29. she has done this several times prior to this incident. university police have received complaints from custodial workers.

bookstore shoplifting (yes, this actually made the police beat)

a 19-year-old male student stole a chocolate candy bar valued at $1.49 and jelly belly candy at $2.79 on nov. 19.

wow

i definitely need some sleep. last night i got 1.5 hours of sleep, the night before i had 2.5 hours. sunday night i had 2 hours. i think i might be slowly killing myself

i turned in two papers on monday, one on eliminative materialism and another on process theology. they both turned out pretty good, especially the metaphysics paper on eliminative materialsim. today i turned in a paper on quine's language and truth as well as a short paper on sartre and husserl. tuesday i've got a paper on sartre, camus, and beaviour, then i'm done with paper writing for a month.

this semester is killing me. i can't believe i'm working full time with these classes.