I'm Back

I'm sorry, dear readers, for the blogging hiatus. Sometimes this happens because I don't think I have anything to write. In this case, I also have the excuse of technological difficulties. Several keys on my computer stopped working a week ago, and it's been in the shop since then. When I discovered the malfunction and realized that it would prevent me from logging into my computer, I have to confess I almost had a small panic attack--or maybe a small temper tantrum would be a better way of putting it. My computer easily becomes my substitute for human contact. It allows me to contact friends at home, but it also allows me to watch a great deal of television, to get lost in fictional worlds when I feel lonely in this world. The idea of being deprived of that distraction was frustrating, but it was also terrifying for a while. I'm a bit ashamed to admit that, because I've always thought that technology shouldn't be such an important element of my life. Nevertheless, it's true.

Faith and Skepticism

Ran into this quote in Soren Kierkegaard's Works of Love: 

A New Project

Hello dear friends,

As you may have noted, if you read my last post on New Year's Resolutions, this January I am beginning a new project to prepare myself for the GRE Literature Subject test. I plan to take the test in September and will be undertaking a rigorous reading list between now and then. My study guide is probably overkill for the test (which is the sort of exam that is so difficult, you can't prepare for it enough, but reasonably scaled so that it's not necessary to kill oneself in preparing). I'm viewing this process more as a way to review what I learned as an undergraduate and to develop my understanding of the course of literature in English (and some of its main influences).

Happy New Year!

I have an angst-ridden relationship with new year's resolutions. I love making them--I love making goals and lists and schemes for self-improvement. But inevitably, a few weeks into the year, I stop building the good habits I had determined to pursue and pass through some small crisis of disillusionment. Do you find, as I do, that your list always contains certain items? Eat better, exercise more, keep longer and more frequent devotions. Is it really worth setting goals which I will inevitably fail to achieve?

Some Sunday Service Musings

The church Jeremiah and I attend here in Oxford was built in the beginning of the twentieth century, and it could easily be older. The building was constructed of old grey stone with beautiful stained glass windows, and the interior architecture nods to the romanesque, with beautiful rounded arches and a high vaulted ceiling. Sunday services feel more weighty in such an environment.