notes_from_the_belfry

Man I was mean, but I'm changing my scene

2006-02-13T16:02:00.000-08:00

and I'm doing the best that I can, OOH OOH

I am currently considering changing schools. It is a decision that I do not entirely take lightly, nor one in which I entirely trust my own instincts in, but the only time when I recive signals that indicate that this is a bad idea (at present) are when I speak to one individual here. The only unfortunate part of that is that the individual in question is my father confessor. The other school is cheaper (less than half as much) and has a reputation for not being as academicly inclined. This school has a much more nuanced and accademicly acceptable set of facts that are taught, but it would appear that the academics here are a veneer--the concepts are not being taught as examples of how to think but as what to think. In looking at the thing from a different perspective than from when I came I have a whole different set of priorities-- If what I want to do has more to do with people (most of whom will have no training in theological matters whatsoever) that I should spend my time with people who are better at being pastors themselves. There was an individual here that suggested that I may be reacting negatively to this place because it is challenging and that I want to be a big fish in a small fish bowl. I am doing poorly here, and when I visited there the dean of the school actually at some point said "we don't normaly get people of your intellect interested in this institution" and seemed to be trying to talk me out of coming until a point in describing my experiences here at which his facial expression changed instantly, and the room itself sighed with his empathy the way a concert hall breaths with an organ. I was invited to come to the seminary if ever I needed asylum from present conditions (even If I chose not to become a student there) and after spending at least twice as much time with me as the entire administrative staff at my own institution had combined, he told me that his door was always open ( even If I didn't become a student)

Since I have to be somewhat circular here in public perhaps some of my friends should call (I don't care about hours of day at this point) but posts would work too..

end of semister reflection

2005-12-30T10:17:00.000-08:00

I am now staying with my parents for 30 days. My mother and step father enjoy "having me at home." my Father and step mother on the other hand enjoy "when I visit" it is interesting how a subtile shift of words can reflect attitudes so different. I chose vacation destinations "poorly" and am now lying in the corner, crumbling, desicated, and wind-swept. I am somewhat dissilusioned with how being back in the west would feel, I was using the word "home" for here when I was in NY, and now I am using the same word for the third floor cackerbox that Fr. Lurch (yes it's a pseudonym)has stuck me in. In looking for a better definition of home I find that what I mean by it is a place where I control the goings on and sleeep. In this sence of the word I will be homeless for another 2.5 years. Now of course, I have time to catch up with friends and No cellphone reception and someone reading over my shoulder when I blog.

TTFN

I think someone's coming

An embarrasment of wealth

2005-09-10T18:26:00.000-07:00

Being here at the seminary is an odd experience, in that I am surrounded by the things of the church all the time, it seems there is a hazard of growing accustomed to them and forgettng that they are to remind one of God, and to draw the soul up into repentance. I can only imagine that this is what it is like to be so rich that you could never spend all of the money, but being so close to all the money blocks out the sight of how high it is piled, and we fools continue to work at making money and have no time to spend. God preserve us from ourselves!

Time is now on my side

2005-07-14T13:16:00.000-07:00

Mea Maxima Culpa for not having writen in several months,

I know that it has become old news, but events in London are rather telling. I keep hearing Brits' and their local authorities refer to this as a crime, and indicate that they will not let the terrorists win! Glory to God for their resolve and healthy attitude. Meanwhile back home we are begining to loose confidence in our ability to win the war we forgot that we started because our leaders LIED to us but those of us who complan about this are still ungratefull and unpatriotic.

Meanwhile closer to home, so long as I am willing to be humiliated twice a week I have learned that I can redeem some of the money that the govenernment was so kind to liberate me of, I beleive they call it "unemployment insurance" I am off to the cematery er I mean seminary in the fall, so writing to my presumably huge audience out there in cyberspace should give me lots of practice, and I will have plenty of time on my hands.

So what do all of you want to talk about?

This just in

2005-04-25T19:42:00.000-07:00

In looking at recent news events it seems that half of the "faithful" are admiring the salt stains on the Kenedy Expy (they seem to look like the Blessed Virgin, not unlike a recent grilled cheese), and the other half are having a rally to denounce the fillibuster as a form of religous opression; no one seems to have noticed that our "Christian" president has met with the ruler of a monarchy where it is ILLEGAL to be a Christian for a reason no less noble or pious than to beg for lower prices on petrolium!