Who'da Thunk It?

I miscalculated badly -foolishly. Now I have to scramble to recover. The situation is by no means lost, but it will require some truly inspired manuevering. My research paper that I thought was due next week is actually due in four days. Lord!! I have to get cracking. This was a long weekend. My son turned two, but had some kind of stomach bug that wouldn't let him keep anything down. I'm engrossed in about six different books right now, besides what I'm reading for scholarship. This may need to change. I am keeping all the plotlines and themes straight, but I wonder if I just need to be less versatile and more focused right now. Versatility is not a goal or ideal, but a mode to slip into and out of when the situation warrants it. Hmm.

The best book I am reading right now is Tom Clancy's The Sum of All Fears. I read (listened to, actually) an abridged version and found it to be excellent. The scope and complexity were just incredible. At this point, I am not capable of writing such a story, but then again, neither is Clancy himself. His recent works have been much maligned for their quality, but to be fair, brilliance is notoriously difficult to sustain over a long period. If I wrote one work like the one I'm about to spend a little time with before I retire for the night, I would be both pleased and grateful. Anyway, having read the unabridged, I was curious as to what was left out. Oi! If you have a love for a good story, and a mix of technical and poetic writing, this is your book. And now, what about that research paper?

It's an Exciting Time

I have a short paper due tomorrow for my Humanities class. The smart thing to do would be to knock it out, and were I truly ambitious, tackle the other, longer reports lurking in the ether. However, I don't feel like writing, I feel like writing. I haven't written in over a week. That should bother someone like me... and it does. So here I am, delaying the inevitable by a half hour to 45 minutes. Nothing is new. Choir practice was very unusual yesterday. We prayed, then sang praise songs for a minute, then we had sister Carol bring the Word (Ps. 137). Carol touched on some themes that had also been on the mind of our beloved choir director, Pastor Taylor (his link here). This, in turn, drew observations and insights from various members of the choir and the band, including myself. Personally, being in the choir has added a dimension to my life that I greatly appreciate. I have always been an optimist (except when in the occasional funk), but now, I have really learned (and am still learning) how to worship God. One result of this is a deepening faith in God to carry me through this life, which only makes being optimistic that much easier. My optimism in years past was based in my supreme confidence in myself. It is now a supreme confidence in God. I can cast off my delusions of grandeur and see that my great successes and triumphs are trivial with respect to His achievements. I am a mighty hunter in the earth, but I am aware of my limitations and weaknesses. Old optimism forced me to downplay my weaknesses, pretend they did not exist; new optimism says that in my weaknesses are fabulous resources and that victory may yet be won. Isn't that something to be glad about?

Some of the other people seemed to feel like the choir (and they themselves) were hitting a wall, plateau-ing into a dull colorless routine (to coin a phrase). I couldn't disagree more. I am more alive than I have been in years. I have miles to travel, skills to learn, skills to refine, discipline to increase in... too many things to even think that I am levelling off. My flight plan and path says "Ascencion". It's an exciting time. I hope I am resonating this. I wrote a poem as I listened to people talk. I will type in up and post it soon. I will refine it over time, but I am going to just put it out there, maybe it will bless someone. In the meantime, I must get to my studies.