I suppose I should write. Sarah and I were at Mom and Dad's house for about a week. The internet there, as I have complained before, is glacially slow. I used that as an excuse not to write. As it turns out, Christmas was Christmas, as always.We came home for two days to check on the cats (they missed us, I could tell from all the poop no one cleaned up for them). In the morning, we're heading back up to see Mom and Dad for another couple of days. I'll probably use that as an excuse not to write any more, but you never know...

It is finished.

And by finished, I mean all the papers are written, exams are taken, and projects are completed. At least, they are until next semester starts in about two weeks.

The snow fell on its own. Someone plowed the driveway, shoveled the walk, and plowed the road. Someone else fed the cats, cleaned the litterbox, and cleaned the bathroom. All these things got done without my intervention.

As it turns out, my papers are not written unless I directly intervene. It's 2:47 AM, and I'll be done with paper 2 at some point in the next few hours.

P.S. Update as of 6:51 AM: finished the paper; found out in snowed 10.5 inches here in town (apparently, our county got hit the hardest), with drifts over 2 feet; Sarah had another snow day (that makes three so far--incredible).

Does anyone else feel like they want to throw up?

(I doubt it has anything to do with the bag of chips I ate for dinner)

Paper 1: done
Exam 1 (Fri, 1 PM): not done
Paper 2 (due Mon, 10 AM): not done
Exam 2 (due Thurs, 12 PM): not done

It's all downhill from here.

As an addendum to yesterday's post: it turns out that the gunman killed himself (after he'd been shot a few times by the security guard).

As far as my answer to my own question: I am reminded of the story of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5). Feel free to read it if you'd like, but the gist of the story is that this husband and wife team was struck dead for lying to a group of Believers. Can you imagine how much worse would it have been for the pair if they'd been killing Believers (as our gunman was doing)? To answer this question, I am reminded of the story of Saul (i.e., Paul) who had been throwing Believers in prison and killing them--and he was given Life.

You caught me: it's a riddle. Let's live the best lives we can.

There's been a lot in the news about the shootings at two Colorado churches yesterday. What happened was a horrible tragedy: families and two communities of Believers will be forever scarred. Five people were killed, including the gunman, who was shot by a church member with a concealed weapons permit (working voluntary security detail). The pastor of the megachurch praised the volunteer, suggesting that she saved tens, in not hundreds, of lives. I am left wondering a question with difficult answer.

Would Jesus shoot a murderous gunman?

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(breath)

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today I got back the course evaluations filled out by my (60 or so) students, and I thought I'd distill most of the good comments into one sentence.

As it turns out, I am, overwhelmingly, a funny, helpful, easy to talk to, fun, good speaking, interesting, caring, approachable, friendly, really fun, very enthusiastic, not boring, passionate, laidback (sic), knowledgeable, very helpful funny, nice, cool, fun, humorous, and funny instructor. Also, one student thinks that I "look like Hercules."

There were a few exceptions.

From the evaluations:

What constructive suggestions do you have for this instructor and course?

"Be more enthusiastic and maybe less judgemental (sic)." (where did that come from???)
"Just don't like psychology. He does everything fine."
"Make it more interesting." (ouch)
"Great instructor, bad course." (I'm not sure if that was my fault or not)

What did you dislike most about this instructor and course?

"He was extremely timely." (so sorry)
"Having to go to it." (thanks)
"Didn't dislike him. Dislike psychology."
"His hair." (Ouch!)

Some people say that we inevitably ignore the good comments and focus entirely on the bad. In my all-consuming narcissism, I only heard the good, and these evaluations made me feel great. My favorite comment was probably this one:

What did you like most about this instructor and course?

"Good teacher, enthusiasm, interesting to hear speak. Shame I won't be able to take another class with him."

If someone doesn't let me into a PhD program, I'm not going to get to do this for a living. Don't cheat the kids out of that. Just don't.

A fellow student whose first language is not English is graduating in a few days. Today I asked him if he had anything to do before graduation (I was thinking something along the lines of a final paper to finish). He told me that he just had to complete his duties at the psychology clinic. I asked him what that entailed. He replied, "I must terminate my patient."

Note to self: do not refer patients to that clinic.

(We had a good laugh when I explained the difference between what he said and what he meant).

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HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

(breath)

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

From Dec. 12-14, there looms an evil confluence of papers, exams, and projects. Schemed in some sort of mid-afternoon, ivory-towered cabal, this sadistic plan is a not-so-covert attempt at making first-year graduate students wish they had made better life choices.

I'd complain about it, but I'm sure there are about a million other college students who feel like their worlds are colliding. And it happens every semester. In reality, things are going okay: I've been working hard for the last three months so that I won't completely fall apart during this very difficult time, but I can't promise that, at some point during the next 10 days, I'm not going to totally freak out.

Addendum to yesterday's post.

Cost of toy mouse: $0.65
Cost of vet bill when favorite cat rips (inedible and indigestible--i.e., death causing) 6-inch tail off said mouse and eats it: $40.
Cost of cat ownership: priceless

And I mean 'priceless' in terms of inestimably; as in, way too much; as in, we're having cat for dinner the next three nights.


P.S. For sale: 1 cat (slight wear: 'high' on throw-up medicine)