Earlier this morning my brother and I taught a Biblical Greek class. We have been doing this regularly on Thursdays, and sometimes Mondays, for about four months. We are actually more like TAs; we teach so that the primary teacher, our Pastor, can continue the teaching of the students while still having flexibility with his schedule. We are competent readers of Greek but much less competent teachers. But we do our best and the students are learning Greek slowly but surely.
Today, we had a "Law Moment" Recently the students had been falling behind on their homework; not doing translations, laboring over some of the more basic grammar concepts and they were falling behind on vocabulary. Today we assigned them a vocab quiz. All vocab, about an hundred and some words; they were given thirty-five minutes to fill it out and afterwards we walked through it and marked anything that they got wrong or missed in red crayon, crayon 'cause we're cool like that, and between now and next class, they need to have their parents sign every page of the test to show that they know how much they need to work on it. Pastor hated to have to assign this, but it's the best way to get them to work. He knows from experience...
How about a little story, hmm? Once upon a time, there was a homeschool Greek class taught by a generous Pastor. The Pastor was a good teacher and well loved by all his students. Time passed and the class grew smaller, people moved, people decided they would rather spend their time doing other things; some just wanted to learn Latin instead. And eventually there were only two students. These two students, despite the fact that they were the only ones left, were not the most studious pair. They had always had bad study habits, not memorizing their vocab and not learning their grammar.
One day, the Pastor decided to give his two remaining students a full comprehensive test; including a large vocab test, grammar, and direct translations. The two students did terribly. In less than an hour the Pastor learned that they retained very little of what he had taught them. He decided that he had to lay down the law. Starting from the beginning of the book, he walked the students through everything again, sending assignments with them every week that they would have to do and then have signed by their parents.
The Pastor's plan worked! It was not long before the students were back up to speed and studying new concepts. In fact, they did so well that a couple years after these events, the Pastor had them start assisting with the teaching of a new crop of students...
And so, by the grace of God and the dedicated perseverance of his servant, I have a greater appreciation not only for Ancient Greek, but also for the written word.
I look forward to my continued study of the language as my brother and I slowly move towards almost complete independence from lexicons.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Could you please occupy a shower next?
In case it was not understood from the title, this post is going to be about "Occupy Wallstreet" and its constituent protests. Fun!
I was riding in the car with my mother as we went through downtown on our way home. We drove past the courthouse on our way and, sure enough, there was the Ft. Wayne contingent of the 'occupy' movement....
All twenty of them.
They had held a big organized protest in One Summit Square; the local newspaper was only too eager to report that, "About 300 demonstrators showed up Saturday morning at One Summit Square plaza, for a rally inspired by the grass-roots Occupy Wall Street movement that began four weeks ago in New York City."
"Marchers were invited to take the mic and express their opinions, as passing motorists honking in support nearly drowned them out. By 1:30 p.m. the number of demonstrators had grown to what organizer Lambert thought was about 400. Earlier in the week, organizers had predicted 600 people would turn out."
I don't know about that. From what I have heard from people present during that time period there were about a hundred protesters, and those driving past were not in fact honking in support, but beseeching the participants to, 'get a job and take a shower.' Which are both, I am sure, valid requests.
I'm afraid that I often have the strong urge to ruthlessly mock the protesters. I can't help it, I have absolutely no empathy for the people demanding such things as amnesty from debt; free higher education, or the beheading of responsible businessmen.
What strikes me as the most poignant, is this: the protesters are so proud that they have been having these week long constant camping protests. And what is the reason they can do so? They don't have jobs of their own; they probably aren't even paying taxes. They are out protesting in the public square, while the very people they are protesting are working full work days in order to make a living, which includes all the taxes they have to pay so that these protesters get their unemployment checks. If these are the 99%.... I'd rather stand by the bourgeois capitalist pigs, at least they earn their bacon.
And this is all just talking about the local protesters......
New York.
What else need I say? If you have followed any of this you will know what things are like in the area of the protest. I don't feel the need to list some of things that are happening there. But let me ask you a question. In all of the hundreds of gigantic Tea party events across the nation, were there ever any mass-arrests? Or video and audio recordings of *extreme* antisemitism?
I cannot help but hope that those who have done so continue to compare these protests to the Tea parties. The difference is night and day, and people see that.
Thank you for reading.
I was riding in the car with my mother as we went through downtown on our way home. We drove past the courthouse on our way and, sure enough, there was the Ft. Wayne contingent of the 'occupy' movement....
All twenty of them.
They had held a big organized protest in One Summit Square; the local newspaper was only too eager to report that, "About 300 demonstrators showed up Saturday morning at One Summit Square plaza, for a rally inspired by the grass-roots Occupy Wall Street movement that began four weeks ago in New York City."
"Marchers were invited to take the mic and express their opinions, as passing motorists honking in support nearly drowned them out. By 1:30 p.m. the number of demonstrators had grown to what organizer Lambert thought was about 400. Earlier in the week, organizers had predicted 600 people would turn out."
I don't know about that. From what I have heard from people present during that time period there were about a hundred protesters, and those driving past were not in fact honking in support, but beseeching the participants to, 'get a job and take a shower.' Which are both, I am sure, valid requests.
I'm afraid that I often have the strong urge to ruthlessly mock the protesters. I can't help it, I have absolutely no empathy for the people demanding such things as amnesty from debt; free higher education, or the beheading of responsible businessmen.
What strikes me as the most poignant, is this: the protesters are so proud that they have been having these week long constant camping protests. And what is the reason they can do so? They don't have jobs of their own; they probably aren't even paying taxes. They are out protesting in the public square, while the very people they are protesting are working full work days in order to make a living, which includes all the taxes they have to pay so that these protesters get their unemployment checks. If these are the 99%.... I'd rather stand by the bourgeois capitalist pigs, at least they earn their bacon.
And this is all just talking about the local protesters......
New York.
What else need I say? If you have followed any of this you will know what things are like in the area of the protest. I don't feel the need to list some of things that are happening there. But let me ask you a question. In all of the hundreds of gigantic Tea party events across the nation, were there ever any mass-arrests? Or video and audio recordings of *extreme* antisemitism?
I cannot help but hope that those who have done so continue to compare these protests to the Tea parties. The difference is night and day, and people see that.
Thank you for reading.
Monday, October 10, 2011
DND.... It's Dynamite.
It strikes me as exceeding ironic that this should be my first blog post in a long time. There are so many things happening right now that annoy and bother me to no end; but nevertheless, I am not posting about raucous protests or obnoxious policy debates; I am posting about Dungeons & Dragons.
Last week my little brother and I went to a local game place and attended a DnD for beginners class. We got there early so that we could introduce ourselves and begin creating our characters, which was an hour and thirty minute process.
The game itself, once we finally got to playing it, is not thought intensive; it's based on a simple skill and counter skill system that I find very appealing. I won't go into details of gameplay, I won't be *that* boring.
My brother and I had fun. It was a fairly large group, by DnD standards, and they sadly fell into almost every Nerd stereotype that I have. They were nice guys though and a lot of them tried hard to help us understand the game better. I rather enjoyed the whole experience, even if it did help to reaffirm all the DnD stereotypes in my head.
And so, now the question I ask myself is this: Should I make the effort of learning how to Dungeon Master so that I can form my own DnD group with my friends?
Right about now you're brain is saying, "Nerdnerdnerdnerdnerdnerd!"
Which I would not deny, it is nerdy; but it is also fun. I have several friends who play, and a few more who have expressed interest in learning how. It would take some work, a little organizing and a relatively small monetary investment on my part.
So what do you think? Oh much respected and valued reader? To DM? Or, to not DM? That is the question.
P.S. I am going to make an effort to blog more often.
Last week my little brother and I went to a local game place and attended a DnD for beginners class. We got there early so that we could introduce ourselves and begin creating our characters, which was an hour and thirty minute process.
The game itself, once we finally got to playing it, is not thought intensive; it's based on a simple skill and counter skill system that I find very appealing. I won't go into details of gameplay, I won't be *that* boring.
My brother and I had fun. It was a fairly large group, by DnD standards, and they sadly fell into almost every Nerd stereotype that I have. They were nice guys though and a lot of them tried hard to help us understand the game better. I rather enjoyed the whole experience, even if it did help to reaffirm all the DnD stereotypes in my head.
And so, now the question I ask myself is this: Should I make the effort of learning how to Dungeon Master so that I can form my own DnD group with my friends?
Right about now you're brain is saying, "Nerdnerdnerdnerdnerdnerd!"
Which I would not deny, it is nerdy; but it is also fun. I have several friends who play, and a few more who have expressed interest in learning how. It would take some work, a little organizing and a relatively small monetary investment on my part.
So what do you think? Oh much respected and valued reader? To DM? Or, to not DM? That is the question.
P.S. I am going to make an effort to blog more often.
Friday, December 25, 2009
Merry Christmas!
"Of the Father's love begotten Ere the worlds began to be,
He is Alpha and Omega, He the source, the ending he,
Of the things that are, that have been, and that future years shall see
Evermore and evermore."
Merry Christmas and God bless you.
He is Alpha and Omega, He the source, the ending he,
Of the things that are, that have been, and that future years shall see
Evermore and evermore."
Merry Christmas and God bless you.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Saving Private Ryan.
On Saturday I was at home with my brothers all day. My mother and sister were shopping, my father was fixing my sister's car and my brothers and I spent the day doing very little work and lazing about.
Towards the middle of the afternoon we got sick of watching the news, it was annoying and we were tired. So, we decided to turn on a movie. We spent some time considering and finally we chose one, "Saving Private Ryan."
For those who have not seen or heard of it Saving Private Ryan is a world war two movie about a group of soldiers who are sent deep into German territory in order to find and rescue Private James Francis Ryan.
If you have seen the movie, than you know that it is one of the most intense movies you will ever see and probably one of the more violent. It is one of those movies that makes you ache for the sake of the experiences of the characters, not because you are scared or even disgusted, but because the movie was accurate. It properly showed a modern audience what a hell WWII was. Especially some of the parts that are covered in the movie, like the storming of the beaches on D-day.
I wouldn't say that people don't know how bad it was, but to see it presented in such a manner is concussive.
But all of that is merely background on what I wanted to say, which is that, after watching that movie, I did walk away thinking, 'Wow, that was violent.' But, at the same time, when I asked myself, 'Could you remove any of the violence from it?' The only answer I could come to was no.
I thought about it and I talked about it to other members of my family, and what I came to was the fact that, in movies, there are three different types of violence. There is Chaotic Violence, which is when the characters are under threat of injury from their surroundings, examples, 'Jurassic Park' or disaster movies like 'Twister'. Now obviously, these can be pushed over the top, but not very easily.
Number two is one that is much more easily identified; Grotesque Violence, which is in movies like 'Saw', 'Friday the Thirteenth', 'Rambo', 'The Ring' and others, but it is not just in horror movies, anything that is more violent than realistic is grotesque. It is violence almost entirely for the sake of the violence.
Finally, what I call, The Violence of Reality, weird name but it's the best way I can think of to describe it, it is violence for the sake of the story, it stands in the important spot of the setting, unlike grotesque violence which uses it as the theme. It brings out the characters, shows what their world is and calls them to do great things in the face of almost certain death. Of course, the funny thing is, that the movies that fall into this category are almost always war movies and are almost always based on a true story; movies like 'Gettysburg', 'The Patriot', 'Braveheart', 'Letters to Iwo-jima' nad the subject of this post, 'Saving Private Ryan'.
It is not that the violence in these movies isn't a bad thing, but it is the fact that it is the reality that this is the way the world is, that these characters have to stand before the yawning maw of death itself and while standing there say that they will continue even to their death. The characters shine forth out of the darkness of the desperation of their situation. The violence must be there, for no other reason than the fact that if the situation were the same in the real world there would be violence and death.
In my oppinion, what it all comes down to is this: Violence, like any other movie component should only be used to form a setting for a larger and grander story, it should not be the story, but it is a tool to help solidify the story, to make you see the bravery in some characters and the cowardice of others, to expose the wise and the foolish, and to convey the truth of what is happening in the story. If you are going to tell a story about war, you shouldn't ignore the ugliness and the bitterness that war is, it would be an insult to anyone or anything who has been scarred by war.
You don't have to agree with me, I don't mind if you don't like violent movies, I'm not going to say that this is the only right way to think. Likewise if you like the afore-mentioned style of bloody horror films I will not say you can't watch them, these are my oppinions, and as far as I'm concerned you are free in the Gospel ;-) to watch 'Saw' until the cows come home.
If you made it all the way through my obnoxiously long shpiel... Thank you for reading.
Towards the middle of the afternoon we got sick of watching the news, it was annoying and we were tired. So, we decided to turn on a movie. We spent some time considering and finally we chose one, "Saving Private Ryan."
For those who have not seen or heard of it Saving Private Ryan is a world war two movie about a group of soldiers who are sent deep into German territory in order to find and rescue Private James Francis Ryan.
If you have seen the movie, than you know that it is one of the most intense movies you will ever see and probably one of the more violent. It is one of those movies that makes you ache for the sake of the experiences of the characters, not because you are scared or even disgusted, but because the movie was accurate. It properly showed a modern audience what a hell WWII was. Especially some of the parts that are covered in the movie, like the storming of the beaches on D-day.
I wouldn't say that people don't know how bad it was, but to see it presented in such a manner is concussive.
But all of that is merely background on what I wanted to say, which is that, after watching that movie, I did walk away thinking, 'Wow, that was violent.' But, at the same time, when I asked myself, 'Could you remove any of the violence from it?' The only answer I could come to was no.
I thought about it and I talked about it to other members of my family, and what I came to was the fact that, in movies, there are three different types of violence. There is Chaotic Violence, which is when the characters are under threat of injury from their surroundings, examples, 'Jurassic Park' or disaster movies like 'Twister'. Now obviously, these can be pushed over the top, but not very easily.
Number two is one that is much more easily identified; Grotesque Violence, which is in movies like 'Saw', 'Friday the Thirteenth', 'Rambo', 'The Ring' and others, but it is not just in horror movies, anything that is more violent than realistic is grotesque. It is violence almost entirely for the sake of the violence.
Finally, what I call, The Violence of Reality, weird name but it's the best way I can think of to describe it, it is violence for the sake of the story, it stands in the important spot of the setting, unlike grotesque violence which uses it as the theme. It brings out the characters, shows what their world is and calls them to do great things in the face of almost certain death. Of course, the funny thing is, that the movies that fall into this category are almost always war movies and are almost always based on a true story; movies like 'Gettysburg', 'The Patriot', 'Braveheart', 'Letters to Iwo-jima' nad the subject of this post, 'Saving Private Ryan'.
It is not that the violence in these movies isn't a bad thing, but it is the fact that it is the reality that this is the way the world is, that these characters have to stand before the yawning maw of death itself and while standing there say that they will continue even to their death. The characters shine forth out of the darkness of the desperation of their situation. The violence must be there, for no other reason than the fact that if the situation were the same in the real world there would be violence and death.
In my oppinion, what it all comes down to is this: Violence, like any other movie component should only be used to form a setting for a larger and grander story, it should not be the story, but it is a tool to help solidify the story, to make you see the bravery in some characters and the cowardice of others, to expose the wise and the foolish, and to convey the truth of what is happening in the story. If you are going to tell a story about war, you shouldn't ignore the ugliness and the bitterness that war is, it would be an insult to anyone or anything who has been scarred by war.
You don't have to agree with me, I don't mind if you don't like violent movies, I'm not going to say that this is the only right way to think. Likewise if you like the afore-mentioned style of bloody horror films I will not say you can't watch them, these are my oppinions, and as far as I'm concerned you are free in the Gospel ;-) to watch 'Saw' until the cows come home.
If you made it all the way through my obnoxiously long shpiel... Thank you for reading.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Infectious Loathing.
I just thought I would vent a little.
I had a Tonsil Infection a couple weeks ago, right before I sang the National Anthem for 7,700 people.
I get home from CCA having tripped while playing capture the flag. And Mama sends me straight to the REDIMED, where I Learn that the small puncture wound on my leg became infected.
So now I'm sitting in a recliner with my foot up, and venting. This stinks.
I had a Tonsil Infection a couple weeks ago, right before I sang the National Anthem for 7,700 people.
I get home from CCA having tripped while playing capture the flag. And Mama sends me straight to the REDIMED, where I Learn that the small puncture wound on my leg became infected.
So now I'm sitting in a recliner with my foot up, and venting. This stinks.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Guitar or Bust.... (Most likely bust)
For Christmas my parents bought me a guitar.
I have since developed the urge to be able to play it... It's painful...
It'll really hurt until I have proper calluses, which will take a little while.
Now I know the meaning of the term, "Play 'til your fingers bleed."
So either I'll come out of it playing guitar, or I'll need my fingers amputated...
I'm hoping for the first one... Crossing fingers... (While I still have them.)
I have since developed the urge to be able to play it... It's painful...
It'll really hurt until I have proper calluses, which will take a little while.
Now I know the meaning of the term, "Play 'til your fingers bleed."
So either I'll come out of it playing guitar, or I'll need my fingers amputated...
I'm hoping for the first one... Crossing fingers... (While I still have them.)
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