AC's blog!: December 2008

31 December 2008

Some slightly random Isaiah quotes (from Ch. 5)

Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field till no space is left and you live alone in the land.

Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.

I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard:
My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside.

24 December 2008

Pétanque

I don't know how i came across this idea, but i must have been reading something which referenced pétanque. Anyway, i wasn't sure what it was, but once i did a little research on the internets i realized that i actually DID know, but just didn't know it was called that. My first encounter with the game was in Barcelona, my very first time there before I knew Ivan, Pijus, Al, Carlos, and wasn't really familiar with the city and its architecture, cool places to go, etc. etc.

Another name the game goes by is Boules/Bowls (though this may be a slightly different game, or the name for the family of games played with steel balls and a jack), and I also realize that it's similar to Bocce Ball, which i have played, but i'm not exactly clear on the differences between the sports. I think it's cool that both are related to ancient games played during the Roman Empire.

Senario I:

Julius Caesar: "A fine toss, Brutus!"
Brutus: "Et tu, Caesar!"
Other Competing Senators: "We are lost!" *whisperwhisperwhisperwhisper whisperwhisperwhisperwhisper whisperwhisperwhisperwhisper "We really should get rid of that guy!" whisperwhisper whisperwhisper whisperwhisperwhisperwhisper.*

Senario II:

The Accuser vs. Theophilus, last game of the match

Jesus: "Theophilus! If you just have faith the size of a jack, you can say to your opponent's ball, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea!' and it will be done for you. Believe in God, and nothing will be impossible for you!"*

Lastly, i found this video on the web, and it is an interesting mix of pétanque Frenchiness (note: rock/pop musique en français) and the Portland scene. It also paints a portrait of boules being a compatriot of lawn bowling, another example of an interesting, low-physical activity, probably largely underrated sport. Maybe this is just further evidence that i am an old soul.

*On a related note, my buddy Dillon gave me a shirt for Christmas which says "Jesus Saves" on it with a picture of Jesus as a hockey goalie saving a puck from going into the net! Look for its debut in a county near you.

20 December 2008

"When I was your age, television was called BOOKS!"

One book I am currently reading--though it's slow going because of other stuff going on and other things i'm reading etc. etc.--is called Der Kleine Grenzverkehr. (AC's translation = The Border-hopping Shenanigans). This speedy Buchlein has had an interesting run, seeing as how i acquired it, didn't read it but it somehow managed to make it to Wisconsin and back. Anyway, i received it in the mail several months ago and i've been wanting to read it, but as with most books i want to read, it just sat there for a while. It's true: if you never actually pick up the book you want to read and start reading it, it will never get read. I know, amazing!

Anyway, i am still not finished, but i like it and it transports me to another time and place in a very strange way. Also i showed "The Motorcycle Diaries" & "Goodbye Lenin" to close out a few of my classes for the semester and some ideas and quotes from those have been sticking with me. One in particular from "TMD" was something to the effect of Che feeling nostalgia for a culture/society he never knew (i.e. the Inca as he & Ernesto arrive at Machu Picchu). This book makes me feel like that, partially because of the drawings in it, which i just want to dive into and walk around it. But really, it's only half true, because most/part of the story takes place in Salzburg, a place and culture i have known, only not in that time nor capacity.

P.S. Whoever can tell me from whence the title quote comes from (no using the internets!) wins a gold star and large hug. Whoever is too curious to wait and uses the internets only wins .123 of a gold star and an icy side hug.

P.P.S. Kirsten has been looking over my shoulder for most of this post which makes for some very *weird* writing... i am not sure if it affects me & my thought process, but i am a bit nervous about making grammatical errors... teh heh?

09 December 2008

X marks the kiss

My grandma sent me a magazine clipping a while ago which contained various bits of random information. "Just So You Know..." it was titled, and one in particular caught my attention. Many a friend & relative signs their correspondence with and X or O; e.g. xxoo, or XOXOX, etc.

According to the article, "In the Middle Ages, when many people were unable to read or write, documents were often signed using an X. ["Make your mark!"] Kissing the X represented an oath to fulfill obligations specified in the document. The X and the kiss eventually became synonymous."

Kixxes!