Weatherwax Note leading to updates and some fun quotes

I don't know if anyone who reads this blog reads Terry Pratchett's Discworld books, but one of the main subseries among them features Granny Weatherwax and the witches of the tiny mountain kingdom of Lancre. Granny will occasionally leave her body and go wondering mentally about the Lancre countryside. When she does this she leaves a note pinned to her chest that says, "I aint'nt dead." I aint'nt either. I just haven't gotten around to posting on here, which is fairly shameful given one of my New Year's resolutions was to post at least five times a week. It might have even been to post once a day, but that would be silly. For those who are wondering I'm having a good and somewhat full month hanging out with friends, reading, working, going to church, and all the other usual stuff. One thing I haven't done is see a movie in a theatre since Geron and I saw Rocky Balboa back over Christmas. Sometime I might even get around to posting six weird things about myself.

A couple of quotes I've found amusing:

"When monkey's get small they get really small." AC about a video game option
"I won't eat you. Well, I probably shouldn't say that. One day we might be stranded in Antarctica and if you die first...." JJ to CM
"See you later, Goldfish." DB on a proposed alternate ending to The Guardian involving the dropping of Ashton Kutcher

Verse of the Day

"But I, by your great mercy,
will come into your house;
in reverence will I bow down
toward your holy temple." Psalm 5:7 (ESV)

I like to be reminded that it is only by God's mercy that we can come before Him and worship.

Toasting the Professor on his Birthday

I'm sure many of you don't know that yesterday was J.R.R. Tolkien's birthday. When I remember I like to go out and have a beer and toast the professor. Last night after ingloriously losing a game of Settlers of Cataan and gloriously winning Wise and Otherwise (think Balderdash with proverbial sayings, aphorisms if you will) I mentioned to my friends that I was going to be stopping somewhere on the way home for the ritual. Steve brilliantly remembered my Bird and Baby mug (a nicely large beer mug from the pub in Oxford where Tolkien, Lewis, and the other Inklings often met. The real name of the pub is The Eagle and Child and Cindee got me the mug when she was there a few years ago) and suggested I drink at home. So I stopped on the way home to get a suitable libation (Guinness and Newcastle for a pseudo Black and Tan). At home I poured the beer and read one of my favorite passages from the Silmarillion, the section from "Of Beren and Luthien" that covers Beren's capture and rescue from Sauron's lair, making sure to read the poetic portion out loud. Then I stood and raised my glass, "To the Professor." and I drank.
Except for the phone calls I forgot, it was a good night.

"He chanted a song of wizardry,
Of piercing, opening of treachery,
Revealing, uncovering, betraying.
Then sudden Felagund there swaying
Sang in answer a song of staying,
Resisting, battling against power,
Of secrets kept, strength like a tower,
and trust unbroken, freedom, escape;
Of changing and of shifting shape,
Of snares eluded, broken traps,
The prison opening, the chain that snaps.
Backwards and forwards swayed their song.
Reeling and foundering, as ever more strong
The chanting swelled, Felagund fought,
And all the magic and might he brought
Of Elvenesse into his words.
Softly in the gloom they heard the birds
Singing afar in Nargothrond,
The sighing of the Sea beyond,
Beyond the western world, on sand,
On sand of pearls in Elvenland.
Then the gloom gathered; darkness growing
In Valinor, the red blood flowing
Beside the Sea, where the Noldor slew
The Foamriders, and stealing drew
Their white ships with their white sails
From lamplit havens. The wind wails,
The wolf howls. The ravens flee.
The ice mutters in the mougths of the Sea.
The captives sad in Angband mourn.
Thunder rumbles, the fires burn--
And Finrod fell before the throne." Silmarillion, 2nd ed. p.171

Verse and Quote of the Day

I lay down and slept;
I woke again, for the LORD sustained me.
I will not be afraid of many thousands of people
who have set themselves against me all around. Psalm 3: 5-6 (ESV)

I've always liked these verses from Psalm 3. They remind me of the similar moment in Psalm 23 when David is so calm he can sit down and eat a meal even enemies are all around him. It also looks ahead to Philippians 4:6-7 and the promise that if we give our anxieties to the Lord he will take them and give us peace. David was in a dangerous place when he fled from Absalom, but he slept trusting the Lord.

Gratuitous amusing quotes:

"There's got to be inconclusive evidence for them to overturn this call." a sportscaster during a video review in one of Monday's bowl games. How long should the video crew have to decide whether or not the evidence could go either way?

"I couldn't argue either way." a second sportscaster in a different game regarding a call under review that he'd just claimed should be overturned because of the "indisputable video evidence." I suppose he's technically right, if it's "indisputable" then he wouldn't be able to dispute it, but the "either way" part seems shady.

Verse of the Day

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths." Proverbs 3:5-6 (ESV)

This is my first intentionally repeated verse of the day. I think Proverbs 3 is a good chapter for meditating on at the start of a year. A couple of years ago Ann suggested we have a devotional time at New Years and asked me to come up with something. I chose Prov. 3:1-12 because it's how we ought always to be thinking and living, especially when we're thinking about how we ought to be thinking and living. One of the handy things about reading a chapter of Proverbs a day is that you always get this one right near the beginning of the month. Hopefully I'll turn back to it more often as the month goes by.

Verse of the Day

"Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.
Serve the LORD with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son,
lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him." Psalm 2:10-12 (ESV)

Tagged Post

AaaH! I've been tagged. Help! Oh well this gives me a way to start the new year off with a post. I've got to find the nearest book. Give the title and author. Find page 123. Go to the fifth sentence. Post the next three sentences. Tag three more people. (for some reason "Enter" isn't working on this computer in gmail so forgive any lack of paragraphing) Reflecting my location, that book is 32 Third Graders and One Class Bunny: Life Lessons from Teaching by Phillip Done. "'My dad's is--' 'Thank you, Matthew,' I said, cutting him off. 'That's your daddy's business.' The book I was going to do before I remembered where I was and looked around for something closer was The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis (which wouldn't have been close at all except that I had grabbed my remaining volumes of the Chronicles of Narnia here to take back to Illinois tomorrow). "Are you ready, Hwin? Off we go. Narnia and the North!" So there you go. I'll tag Tara, Matt and Cindee. In other news it was a great time here in Georgetown for Christmas with side trips to Corbin and Fern Creek. It was also a great time in Chattanooga for more Christmas fun and lots of playng with Cora, who's about as beautiful as a baby can be. Happy New Year, y'all.