One More Reason to Go See Elaine Sing

These are the words to "O Fortuna," you know, that song that makes you feel like the Vikings are but a few kilometers away hell-bent on raping & pillaging?

O Fortuna velut luna statu variabilis, semper crescis aut decrescis; vita detestabilis nunc obdurate et tunc curat ludo mentis aciem, egestatem, potestatem dissolvit ut glaciem. Sors immanis et inanis, rota tu volubilis, status malus, vana salus semper dissolubilis, obumbrata et velata michi quoque niteris; nunc per ludum dorsum nudum fero tui sceleris. Sors salutis et virtutis michi nunc contraria, est affectus et defectus semper in angaria. Hac in hora sine mora corde pulsum tangite; quod per sortem sternit fortem, mecum omnes plangite!

O Fortune, like the moon you are changeable, ever waxing and waning; hateful life first oppresses and then soothes as fancy takes it; poverty and power it melts them like ice. Fate - monstrous and empty, you whirling wheel, you are malevolent, well-being is vain and always fades to nothing, shadowed and veiled you plague me too; now through the game I bring my bare back to your villainy. Fate is against me in health and virtue, driven on and weighted down, always enslaved. So at this hour without delay pluck the vibrating strings; since Fate strikes down the string man, everyone weep with me.

lab protocols vs. military protocol: round 1

today, the dean and dr. macdougall brought a potential dmd/phd student by the office to meet some of the current students. what follows is as close to a word-for-word recap as i can manage of the first few minutes. i'm not sure when i last made such a fool of myself with a stranger. for those of you who've seen my jokes get me into awkward situations before... add this one to the list.

---

dr. macdougall: "everyone, this is andrew. if you could take some time to tell him a little about what you're doing in the program, answer any questions, you know the routine-- that would be great. dean thomas and i will be in my office. andrew, you can come get us when you're ready to head back downstairs."

everyone: "hey andrew."

me: (trying to impress) "i'm brian. nice to meet you. you from around here? where'd you go to school?"

andrew: "sort of. i was. but i've been on tour for a few years since finishing at the academy."

me: "oh, cool-- like, the military academy? are you in the service?"

andrew: "yeah, anapolis. just finished my service obligation with the marines. probably going back once i finish dental school."

me: "awesome. so you're thinking about doing a dual degree?"

andrew: "yeah. it's getting popular for medical officers to have research training."

me: "great. well, um... welcome to the suck."

entire universe except for crickets and nate: (silence)

crickets: "chirp chirp. chirp chirp chirp."

nate: "holy crap! ha ha ha!" (leaves room when he can't stop laughing and realizes andrew isn't)

andrew: "huh? dude, did you just compare grad school to the corps?"

me: (resisting all attempts to ask if he really just called it the corps) "yeah. crap. sorry. you're right." (pause) "i do kind of feel like i'm in brain bootcamp sometimes, though."

andrew: (says nothing, just looks befuddled)

me: "nope. not bootcamp." (awkwardly long pause) "you should know that the other students are all much more well-spoken than i am. and they dress better. honestly, i'm kind of a clerical error."

andrew: (finally laughs a little...phew) "don't sweat it, man. you're funny- remind me some of my brother. (to the others) "is he always like this?"

mary beth: (in true engineer fashion) "we're trying to fix the bugs."

andrew: "ha ha. i like you guys. so where are we going for lunch? dr. macdougall said she'll treat us to wherever you wanna take me."

me: "if you want somewhere close, we all really like newks." (trying so hard to resist, but failing) "that's spelled with an e-w. more of a food place than a bomb place."

angie: "brian, oh my god..."

andrew: (laughing) "just show me the labs already."

me: "oo-rah!" (laughing now, because sometimes i embarassingly crack myself up) "i'm so sorry. i have a problem."

andrew: "you really do, don't you?"

me: "pretty sure, yeah. um... labs-- wanna see them?"

andrew: "yeah, definitely. i have a few minutes before my next interview, and then later we can go to that place for lunch. any more duds you wanna get out of your system?"

me: "you mean jokes? my jokes aren't duds. but nope, i'm done." (pause) "was that a bomb joke?"

andrew: "yeah. not a very good one, but yeah."

me: "touche." (wait for it... wait for it...) "that's french. their army sucks, you know?"

---

after that, i eased up on the "duds" (i can't believe the jerk called my jokes duds). we talked some during the lab tour. turns out he's a pretty cool guy. if lunch is exciting, i'll let you know. but i think we're through the thick of it.

over.

Riddles of Death...

I went to an opera yesterday. Our landlord's daughter sang in it and gave me a ticket.

First, the said opera was the number one coolest story that I've ever heard, comparable only to Braveheart. It was the best representation of the gospel I've ever heard. It made me so happy.
Second, there were riddles in the story that I wanted to see if anyone could figure out. I answered all of them wrong in my head but got kinda close on two of them.

If you're going to play, please DON'T CHEAT. Cheating includes previous knowledge of the answer used as if you figured it out and using any type of search engine.

The stakes are high... If you get all three right you get right to marry the a cruel queen and if you fail, you die.

Here are your riddles....

1. What is the name of the phantom which spreads its wings at night over the black infinity of humankind, which is invoked by all, but which disappears at dawn? What is this thing which is born every night and which dies every day?

2. It flickers like flame, but is not flame. Sometimes it rages, sometimes it is languorous. When one is defeated, it grows cold, when one is victorious it is hot.

3. Ice that sets you on fire, but which becomes icier from your fire. One who, setting you free, makes a slave of you. One who, taking you as a slave, makes you a King. What is this frost which gives off fire?

Once we figure out the answers I'll give a link to a great synopsis on the plot if you're interested.

Peace friends,
Keith

Recent News

I just got word today that I passed my qualifying exam. I guess I should explain what this is...If you don't know or have forgotten; I have moved to Orlando to pursue my Ph.D in optics at the University of Central Florida. After the first year a test is administered to determine if you are qualified for the Ph.D program. Under the rules of the college you have two chances to take this exam. I first took it in August and did not pass, but retook it this past week and learned this afternoon of passing.

Essentially it means I will be living in Orlando for the next three or so years and will be doing research. All in all I am relieved.

A Decade in the Magic City

Joining Cheese's request for prayer, I humbly ask you for prayer myself. A mere twenty-four hours ago, I was still quite burdened in prayer, asking God to bow my heart in surrender to his will- wherever that may lead me.

Well, at lunch yesterday (as many of you know by now), Brian Phillips, Birmingham Area Director for Campus Outreach, told me that I... get to stay in Birmingham! I am thrilled beyond words. I'm not sure that the fullness of that reality has sunken in yet... So here, in Larry Langford's lovely land, I remain... until at least August 2013-a full decade of calling Birmingham "home." A shame it took me nearly five years to say it with pride.

Slightly more than a week earlier, I sent Brian an e-mail with the nine reasons why I felt like the Lord was leading me to pray to stay at Samford.  The top two:

1. My Community Here
       -Never have I been a part of a community (apart from the confines of Beach Project) so ready & willing to challenge, encourage, confront and pray for one another. The guys in my house and the friends I have made at church have shown me, as I have never seen before, what true community should look like. This body would be terribly hard to replace (though, obviously, I am aware of the great community that would be developed elsewhere, particularly with other staff guys) & quite hard to leave

   -This semester, I have come to see how important it is for college students to see & interact with real-world Christians. I feel like my house has been a place for that these past few months. I would love for college students to see men & women living for Christ after college in everyday jobs, to interact with and learn from them, to know that it can be done, and to have an example to follow. If we are raising up laborers solely for the college campus (which I do not believe we are), we are missing the greatness of God's calling & vision and being consistently around these men of God affords me opportunity to confront that very thing.
 
2. My Church
     -I love Briarwood & the work that it does, and I do understand that I would need to attend it, but I would ask, as Ryan Akers has, to be allowed to continue to go to my church, Redeemer Community (Joel Brooks' church), as well. I have never so enjoyed church. I have never felt so a part of a community struggling together for the sake of Christ & for the sake of the city. For many of the same reasons as I listed above, I would ask to stay in Birmingham. Joel is my pastor, and he is the first I would ever claim in such a way. I have learned these past few months what church should look like... and it has been transforming.

Unrelated: An interesting piece in London's The Times- "As an athiest, I truly believe that Africa needs God."

Hey guys I have been meaning to post about his for a while

I want to start off by telling ya'll how great it was to see everyone over the New years. It was awesome rachel loved getting to meet everyone and felt really accepted. It was a really humbling experience for me, because of all of the great things that ya'll are doing. I have been struggling recently with the fact that i feel like I don't really have a purpose right now, and I'm facing my future, and job hunting( which sucks). Anyways i was truly humbled by all of the great things that my friends are doing, and feel blessed to know ya'll.

Anyways i write this because I need help, I want to ask for ya'll to pray for me, as I seek to figure out what God has in store for me next year and try to find a job. My plan is to stay in the neighborhood I am living in now and try to find a job that enables me to do that. I have sent in my resume to a ministry that I have worked some with (the Binghamton development corportion), and that job would be incredible to get, but there are several other guys who are applying for this job. Also, I need to raise 5,500 dollars in the next five months to pay for the mission trip to india i am going on with SOS, and for the three months i will not be working for the contractor i work for. Anyways will ya'll please pray for God to help me to be able to raise this support, also if any of ya'll feel led to support me you can call me, or send a check that is designated to my support to 2505 poplar ave, Memphis, tn 38112. Thank you for reading this post and I love all very much and treasure you as my friends.

Top 25 Bushisms:

(From Slate.com) Gotta love it.

1. "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."—Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004

2. "I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family."—Greater Nashua, N.H., Chamber of Commerce, Jan. 27, 2000

3. "Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?"—Florence, S.C., Jan. 11, 2000

4. "Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB/GYNs aren't able to practice their love with women all across the country."—Poplar Bluff, Mo., Sept. 6, 2004

5. "Neither in French nor in English nor in Mexican."—declining to answer reporters' questions at the Summit of the Americas, Quebec City, Canada, April 21, 2001

6. "You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.''—Townsend, Tenn., Feb. 21, 2001

7. "I'm the decider, and I decide what is best. And what's best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain as the secretary of defense."—Washington, D.C., April 18, 2006

8. "See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda."—Greece, N.Y., May 24, 2005

9. "I've heard he's been called Bush's poodle. He's bigger than that."—discussing former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, as quoted by the Sun newspaper, June 27, 2007

10. "And so, General, I want to thank you for your service. And I appreciate the fact that you really snatched defeat out of the jaws of those who are trying to defeat us in Iraq."—meeting with Army Gen. Ray Odierno, Washington, D.C., March 3, 2008

11. "We ought to make the pie higher."—South Carolina Republican debate, Feb. 15, 2000

12. "There's an old saying in Tennessee—I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee—that says, fool me once, shame on—shame on you. Fool me—you can't get fooled again."—Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002

13. "And there is distrust in Washington. I am surprised, frankly, at the amount of distrust that exists in this town. And I'm sorry it's the case, and I'll work hard to try to elevate it."—speaking on National Public Radio, Jan. 29, 2007

14. "We'll let our friends be the peacekeepers and the great country called America will be the pacemakers."—Houston, Sept. 6, 2000

15. "It's important for us to explain to our nation that life is important. It's not only life of babies, but it's life of children living in, you know, the dark dungeons of the Internet."—Arlington Heights, Ill., Oct. 24, 2000

16. "One of the great things about books is sometimes there are some fantastic pictures."—U.S. News & World Report, Jan. 3, 2000

17. "People say, 'How can I help on this war against terror? How can I fight evil?' You can do so by mentoring a child; by going into a shut-in's house and say I love you."—Washington, D.C., Sept. 19, 2002

18. "Well, I think if you say you're going to do something and don't do it, that's trustworthiness."—CNN online chat, Aug. 30, 2000

19. "I'm looking forward to a good night's sleep on the soil of a friend."—on the prospect of visiting Denmark, Washington, D.C., June 29, 2005

20. "I think it's really important for this great state of baseball to reach out to people of all walks of life to make sure that the sport is inclusive. The best way to do it is to convince little kids how to—the beauty of playing baseball."—Washington, D.C., Feb. 13, 2006

21. "Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream."—LaCrosse, Wis., Oct. 18, 2000

22. "You know, when I campaigned here in 2000, I said, I want to be a war president. No president wants to be a war president, but I am one."—Des Moines, Iowa, Oct. 26, 2006

23. "There's a huge trust. I see it all the time when people come up to me and say, 'I don't want you to let me down again.' "—Boston, Oct. 3, 2000

24. "They misunderestimated me."—Bentonville, Ark., Nov. 6, 2000

25. "I'll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office."—Washington, D.C., May 12, 2008

Radiolab

I know I told a number of people about this last week in Birmingham, but Brian's recent post reminded me to advertise. Out of New York Public Radio there is a show similar to 'This American Life' called Radiolab, which presents a topic for an hour and the hosts approach this topic from an easy to understand scientific and usually very interesting perspective.

The link is http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/ or you can subscribe to the podcast.

Interesting Topics:
Race, Choice, Emergence, Musical Language, Detective Stories, Mortality, Morality....and many more.

tone deaf mosquitos can't get no play

just in case you missed it on NPR this morning, something cool including science, disease-carrying mosquitos, and music...

Scientists found that the mosquito responsible for spreading Dengue fever (Aedes aegypti for all the McMilions out there who just looove Latin) uses the pitch generated by it's wing speed to select mating partners. The female's wings generate a pitch around a G, and in order for a male to win her affections, he has to adjust his wing speed to about the D above the female's pitch. That's cool in and of itself. But here's the kicker-- he has to do it really well. I can imagine you're all on the edge of your seats, probably asking "How well!?" aloud, leaving your co-workers wondering what you're so excited about. So I'll tell you how well. The male has to adjust his wing speed to generate the exact pitch necessary for the harmony to produce a specific overtone. (If you don't know what an overtone is-- that's also cool. I'll put it in an informal footnote at the end, but suffice it to say the male has to have an awesome sense of pitch). The female won't mate with the male until she detects the correct overtone.

What does this mean? Why does this matter? Eh, it might not. (Although it might justify swatting/squashing the harmless, but mildly annoying, guys that play their guitars on the quad to impress the ladies. In their defense, at least they aren't spreading Dengue fever. Yet.)

Anyways, I'm always on the lookout for science that people might find interesting-- so maybe this qualifies.

And now the footnote about overtones:
Put shortly and simply, overtones are "extra" notes that you can hear (if you listen very carefully) when two or more notes are played that harmonize just right. Nobody is actually playing the overtones, they're just an acoustic phenomenon. A lot of times, it's what makes the difference between a really good choir or instrumental piece, and a really great one. Anyways, that's the short explanation. For the details, try Wikipedia. You can never get too much Wikipedia.

w00t.

Top Ten of 2008!

Everyone cool (or, at least, everyone cool at RMC) does a top ten albums, books, or movies list at the end of the year. Since I desperately seek acceptance by higher strata of society, I have been thinking about doing one too. Then I realized that I only bought four albums this year, only read books published before 1990, and only saw a few new movies, mostly at the dollar theatre. So, I've revised the theme of these lists to "Patrick's favorites this year, regardless of year of publication." Please contact me for ISBNs and SKUs.

Top four albums I bought this year!
1. Astral Weeks, by Van Morrison (published 1968). I mean, it's a mystical document.
There you go
Starin' with a look of avarice
Talking to Huddie Leadbetter
Showin' pictures on the walls
And whisperin' in the halls
And pointin' a finger at me

2. The Triceratops vs. the K-T Boundary, by the Triceratops (2007). I picked this one up late. The Triceratops and other bands have been really doing creative work in the Birmingham music scene.

3. The Garden EP by Handwritten Letters (2008). I really like this Birmingham folk band. They use a lot of flute, and as anyone who has seen me dance to Jethro Tull will acknowledge, I like flute. Unfortunately, the album doesn't sound nearly as good as their live show.

4. We Have Cause to Be Uneasy, by Wild Sweet Orange (2008). Not a bad album, but I was turned off by the way they screamed all of their songs at the concert.

Top 3 Old Books I read this year!
1. City Economics, by Jane Jacobs. Jane explains how cities are the source of all economic growth and how complex, diverse cities produce the most economic development work.
2. Community and the Politics of Place, by Daniel Kemmis. Kemmis encourages us to live public lives, cooperating with our fellow citizens.
3. The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien. I started these last year, but I finished them this year. What makes these books outstanding is the depth of the mythology Tolkein creates as background for the story. It may seem superfluous, but I think it gives us better context for understanding the characters and the plot. Reading these books encourages me to see more mythology in my own life, to see the history and context of the people and places I experience everyday.

Top 2 Movies I saw this year!
1. 2001: A Space Odyssey. I'm glad I live in a world where movies as significant as this are made. It's a cultural document.
2. WALL-E. Also cool. Also about space.

Top 1 Poems I read this year!
1. Crossing Brooklyn Ferry, by Walt Whitman.
I loved well those cities;
I loved well the stately and rapid river;
The men and women I saw were all near to me;
Others the same—others who look back on me, because I look’d forward to them;
(The time will come, though I stop here to-day and to-night.)

What is it, then, between us?
What is the count of the scores or hundreds of years between us?

Whatever it is, it avails not—distance avails not, and place avails not.

The count of years is a 153, but Whitman still manages to humanize even the most mundane aspect of city life. And certainly I can relate to this:

It is not upon you alone the dark patches fall,
The dark threw patches down upon me also;

This year has had its share of dark patches. But these dark patches have provided fodder for the mythology of our lives. In the dark patches we find a faith which orients us toward the end God has prepared for us.

We are developing a robust community only because we have collectively experienced dark patches. This doesn't justify our mistakes, but these mistakes and difficulties give us a shared experience which is the root of the mythology we need.

To 2009, to robust communities, to our mythology.