30 March 2006

Finally!


At last! I finally finished going through the maze that is international air fare. Yay for actually having tickets to my destination! I'm flying on Air Canada (hence the logo) from Dallas to Toronto, then Toronto to Rome. Fun, eh?

Ah, and I still haven't written about my great trip this last weekend. I am determined to do it, but alas, no time at the present. For the moment, though, suffice it to say that if you guys had come with me, you would love the Aggies. (Hehe.)

Anyways, I have to work on a book report that is looming on the horizon...

Currently Listening: Trumpet Concerto in E Flat by Haydn from Coffee Break


29 March 2006

Hmm...

Hi folks, just playing around with some new templates. I'm not sure whether I'll keep these lovely earth tones or not. Stay tuned for news from my fun trip this weekend! Good night!

24 March 2006

Laughter Really is Medicine!

One lesson I've learned this week is the need for laughter in one's life. I was completely at the end of my rope yesterday--stressed out--and was saved in the nick of time by a neck massage from my boyfriend and a good dose of laughter from my crazy friends at Bible study. I needed that. I've never had a more stressful semester, academically anyway. But I'm just having to learn to do my best and then let go. That's easier said than done, for me anyway. I'm learning, though, and it helps to remember that my self-worth and identity lie in Christ alone, in His finished work on the cross, and they have nothing to do with the ephemeral "success" found in this world. :)

***

One reason I love my new coworker Becky:
Becky: Matt [another coworker], are you feeling bad today?
Matt: Yeah, Richard got me sick yesterday.
Becky: Were you kissing, or what?
Currently Listening: "Non Dimenticar" by Giuseppe De Stefano from Viva Italia

22 March 2006

Snow...

I love living in Lubbock, not least because of the weather. Yes, I know that the wind blows and the dirt flies around on occasion, but it's generally a lovely place. You just have to learn to keep your mouth shut (to avoid that gritty teeth feeling) and accept that stylish windblown look. Or not so stylish. Whatev. Anyhow, West Texas weather is an adventure...delightfully unpredictable.

Christmas Day 2005: 70 degrees and sunny.
March 22, 2006: 22 degrees and snowing.

Both kind of weird, but also kind of cool. I like to watch the white snow softly coming down in stark contrast with the bright green grass and tree leaves. Never mind that the freeze could kill the trees. Enh, they'll be all right.

In other news, I nearly had a heart attack today when I realized I'd left my purse in the hall before my Roman history class. After the class was over, and I realized it was gone, I had about a 30 minute panic session before finally recovering my precious pocketbook unmolested in the Department of History Chair. I was thinking about using a moneybelt in Rome...maybe I should start now. Next time it happens I just might suffer cardiac arrest; better stock up on nitro now, I suppose.


Currently Reading: The Cults of the Roman Empire by Robert Turcan
Invisible Texans ed. Donald Willet & Stephen Curley

19 March 2006

Handifcrafts and Memories

Today has been a lovely day. I astonished myself by sleeping 11 hours last night, went to church, had a mocha and went book shopping with my parents, and even got a bit of housework done. (Unfortunately, the Texas vs. Texas Tech baseball game was cancelled, but since it was due to rain, I couldn't really complain much. "What a glorious feeling, I'm happy again...")

One of the things I did around the house was put together a bookcase I've had in a box for, oh, 3 months. I just kept not having time to mess with it, and the books kept piling around with no place to go. So tonight I finally got down to it, and I was quite proud of myself afterward. I always feel pleased with myself after I assemble something like that, even though I'm well aware that it doesn't take a whole lot of physical strength or intellectual acumen to put together a pre-fab bookcase. Still, it gives me a sense of accomplishment to see something that I've put together with my own hands. It also gives me a chance to marvel at my own ambidexterity, since I turn a screwdriver left-handed and use a hammer right-handed. Is that odd or what?

After I put together the bookcase, I got to play with my books, rearranging them to my liking. I've mentioned before that I enjoy rearranging my books because I get a chance to remember how much I liked them...but tonight, I not only remembered good books, I also came across a few that I'd forgotten I owned! I squealed in excitement when I found my copy of the Mabinogion. I'd forgotten that I had bought a copy, and a pretty one at that. Celtic myth in general makes me excited, so I can't wait to read it. Maybe this summer...!

Yesterday my mom and I cleaned out from under my bed in their house, and I found my letters and diary from 2000-2003. I've always journaled, since I was about seven. These days I mostly just use this blog, although I still have a written journal that I occasionally update. I had actually been wondering where the 2002-03 volume of the diary was! Tonight I went back and read some of it. It's always fun to read about the things you did and thought about in the past. I particularly had to smile over this entry, written the summer before I started at Tech:

(Wednesday) 8-20-2003

Oops, that date's wrong. Technically it's 12:15 on the morning of Thursday, August 21st. But whatever. I can't sleep tonight. I am just too excited! ...I am moving into my dorm in a few days. I am soo looking forward to jumping into a new environment and living on my own...I'm just so thrilled to think of all the exciting new things that are in store for me at Tech. The people, the activities--I'm even looking forward to my classes. ...I haven't been losing sleep over it, until tonight. I've been trying not to get too excited, trying to just go with the flow and stay cool and calm--because I don't want to build things up in my imagination and then be disappointed once I get there. But that strategy isn't working all that well. I'm pumped in spite of myself! My imagination will not stay in check--I daydream constantly about the future. (But Lee always says that imagining the future is better than living it, so maybe I should just enjoy the anticipation.) There are worse things than daydreams, I suppose--but at night, I'd rather be catching Z's.

It's amazing to think how much my life has changed in the 2 and 1/2 years (a little more, I guess) between then and now. Now I've actually met those people and done those things...and I must say, I'm not disappointed in the least. :)

18 March 2006

A Foggy Day in Lubbock Town

The drought is finally over! It hasn't rained substantially here since around August, but it finally came today. Naturally, every customer who came into the pharmacy felt the need to inform me that it was raining, and that boy, we sure needed it. :) I didn't really mind, though: it gave them something to talk about besides how expensive their meds are.

Tonight as I was driving back into Lubbock from my hometown, the rain was finished but the fog was so dense I felt I could hardly see. There were some moments when it was so thick I felt like I was floating through a cloud in my car. That may sound pleasant and all, but it was actually kind of frightening. Still, I made it home in one piece.

This is a very mundane post, but I'm afraid I've nothing much to report since Spring Break has consisted entirely of work (50+ hours) and working on my big research paper in my seminar class. The paper's finished, and work was fine, but that's all very boring. Sorry, it's all I have to offer right at the moment.

In sports news, the Red Raiders beat the Longhorns in baseball today, 2-1. Our pitcher threw a complete game! (A baseball fan's dream...) Tomorrow's the rubber match, and I really hope we win, not only for the team's sake but also so I can rub it in to my two Longhorn coworkers...

So now that I have finally have some time to relax (and my brain is obviously fried), I guess I'll go vegetate and read about Italy. I approach every big event in my life by researching it (yes, I'm a bit of a Hermione that way), and this trip is certainly no exception. Today I'm particularly excited by the work of Michelangelo...and I would show you, but Blogger's being cranky. Don't worry, you'll get more than you ever wanted to see later, I'm sure!

08 March 2006

No more papers, no more books...oh wait...

Well, I can't say no more books yet, but I can definitely say no more study abroad papers! I turned in a deluge of paperwork in the Study Abroad office today...and when my advisor told me, "That's it!" I sat there in utter disbelief. Haha she says she always gets that reaction at the end of the looooong process. Anywho, after much running around and doing random things like convincing professors to write recommendations, getting a physical, etc., I'm finally through with the whole process. All that's left is to pay the rest of the cost and get some plane tickets. Sweet.

In other news, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire came out on DVD yesterday. I'm belatedly celebrating by wearing my lovely Gryffindor shirt today, which started a long conversation with my study abroad advisor, who has copies of Harry Potter in German on her desk. Potterheads of the world unite...

Well that's it for the moment, and if I don't update before Saturday...congratulations to Ems on her wedding!

I'm out...

01 March 2006

Black Athena?

Did Western civilization come out of Africa?

Tonight at our Classics Society meeting we watched and discussed a documentary called "Black Athena." It is about a debate that centers around a book of the same title, written by a professor of Near Eastern and African culture. He claims that Greek culture comes directly from African and Near Eastern sources, and therefore that the idea of Greece, a country of white people, as the birthplace of Western culture is completely false.

Sounds interesting, eh? Well, it's actually not very well founded. The author of this book, as mentioned earlier, is not a classicist, but more importantly, he doesn't seem to allow for the idea of influence separate from domination. It is widely recognized that Greek society had a lot of contact with the Egyptians and Phoenicians; the Greek alphabet was borrowed directly from the Phoenicians, and the Greeks themselves identified their gods with various Egyptian deities. Archaeology gives us clear evidence of extensive trade and artistic influence between these cultures. But the view of Black Athena basically asserts that the Egyptians and Phoenicians dominated the Greeks and taught them to be civilized. There really isn't any evidence for that. Of course, our intrepid professor tells us that the evidence has been covered up by whites who don't want to admit that blacks had a share in founding Western civilization.

Well, the whole thing about "black" heritage in Greece is very tenuous indeed, since he cites Egyptian and Phoenician influence (or domination)...and neither culture was black. Some people like to say that the Egyptians were black, but the only evidence they have is that they lived in Africa (which is, by the way, a huge continent capable of housing more than one ethnic group). There are vast quantities of paintings in which the Egyptians portrayed themselves with reddish-brown skin and straight, flowing hair. Clearly, they weren't ethnically the same as, say, the Numidians, who were quite certainly black, and from whom the Egyptians clearly differentiated themselves.

So, all in all, I think it's a silly argument, and it reeks of an attempt to project the political and social issues of our time onto the distant past. The evidence just isn't there to support the idea that ethnically black people taught the Greeks civilization, who in turn taught everyone else. Still, black people certainly have a claim to a heritage in the classic civilizations, just the same as I do. I am ethnically descended from Germans, who come from the old Germanic tribes in Europe, who had zero contact with the Classical world until they were conquered, fairly late in Antiquity, by the Romans under Julius Caesar. My bloodlines have nothing to do with Greece, but Greece is ultimately my cultural heritage. This is every bit as true for black people, hispanic people, oriental people...anyone in the Western world. Classic society is certainly not a realm exclusively for white people, nor should it be. It affects all of us. This why we still study it!

It's 2007. So What's the Big Deal?

Happy New Year! You know, this is the first year in a long time that I've actually made a New Year's Resolution. Here it is: GET MAR...