The Same Question

I got a CD from my Grandma last Christmas. It was called Reflection of Something, by Todd Agnew.

I opened it today.

This was a mistake.

Not opening it, but opening it a year after I got it. You see, I took one look at the cover and thought "Nah..." It's a soft-focus, warm-toned photo of a hippy, bare-footed man seated cross-legged, looking down with a dopey smile on his face. I looked at the tracklist, and dismissed it as yet another average Christian CD. My Grandmother doesn't exactly have the best track record on this kind of thing, you see. For instance, and my personal favourite, the other CD she gave me, which features 'The Ten Commandment Boogie', with lines like:

"We're half way through with one that's just for you - Listen to your mom and dad 'cause what they say you gotta do."

"the B-I-B-L-E, yeah that's the book for me"

and my personal favourite:

"Commandment Seven feels like heaven but only with your husband or wife"

(oh for goodness sake, go and look it up if you don't know what it is.)

So anyway, I didn't exactly have high hopes for Reflections of Something. Or, in fact, any hopes at all, given that I waited a year to open it. In fact, it was still in its protective cellophane casing earlier this evening, when I decided that I might as well put it on my laptop.

And it's fantastic.

Todd Agnew's voice is pretty good, and the tunes aren't bad, but what really gets me are the issues he addresses, the words he uses. He isn't a perfect, squeaky-clean Christian, singing gloatingly about how awesome it is to be a Christian. He's a real person, a Christ-follower, someone who truly loves Jesus and is doing his best and not always succeeding.

And I don’t know what You want, what You see in my life
And I don’t know what You mean, how You could be glorified
I’m not too sure about this idea of sacrifice

My Jesus would never be accepted in my church
The blood and dirt on His feet would stain the carpet
But He reaches for the hurting and despised the proud
I think He'd prefer Beale Street to the stained glass crowd
I know that He can hear me if I scream out loud.

I'm reminded of a cartoon I saw once. Two turtles sit, talking to each other. One says to the other, “Sometimes I’d like to ask why God allows poverty, famine, and injustice when he could do something about it.” The other turtle asks him why he doesn't. The first replies. “I’m afraid God might ask me the same question.”

Head + Concrete = Concussion

Things I have in common with Ben Roethlisberger, NFL Pro Quarterback:

1) Both our last names start with an 'R'
2) We've both been knocked unconscious and suffered a concussion recently
3) We've both won a Super Bowl.

One of these facts is untrue.

So last night at dodgeball I was definitely unconscious for between a minute and two minutes. I went up to catch a ball, bounced off another player, and then as I came down something inexplicable happened.

My feet missed the ground.

The rest of me, sadly, did not.

The sound of my head hitting the carpet-covered concrete has been described as a 'schmush', a 'thunk', or, and in my opinion this is the most descriptive account, 'the most disgusting noise I have ever heard.'

Now I just remember lying there for about thirty seconds, with the wind totally knocked out of me, unable to think straight, but with my eyes open. Turns out I was down for a good couple of minutes, with my eyes closed, and was totally unresponsive. Pretty scary. The weirdest part of all this is that the things I remember as a continuous stream of events actually occurred over several minutes, with big gaps in between.

The real kicker is the concussion, though. Since then, I keep getting weird headaches and rushes of blood to my head. My hearing will fade in and out, I'll feel randomly nauseous, and standing up too quickly is really weird.

On the plus side, I'm done with all with all my classes, and all my finals were in-class, so I really have nothing better to do than sleep and sit around doing nothing....which is really all I feel capable of doing right now.

All I Want for Christmas is Mariah Carey

Hello again.

Well, I'm still in Illinois, still not doing very much. Well, actually, that's a lie. I have four finals in two days this week, three of which are in a five hour span. That's just ridiculous. Add to that an average of four hours a night of rehearsals, and you start to realise that I am somewhat overworked. On the plus side, I did work out where a certain film quote that was bothering came from, so I'd call it a successful week.

My laptop is driving me crazy. Its latest 'hilarious' quirk? The disc drive won't stay in. At all. What the hell is that all about? On the plus side, it still runs the internet...just about.

Christmas is approaching at breakneck speed. I honestly have no idea where the last four months have gone. It seems like so recently that I arrived here in Champoo-Banana, and yet I have been here an entire semester. Crazy. What else have I to tell you my devoted readers?

Well, I've been working on my five year plan. I currently plan to graduate from Edinburgh in Summer 08, and then, hopefully, do a Post-Graduate Certificate of Education (The Caps make it official sounding) at Edinburgh, before coming back to Chambana to teach in underpriviledged schools around here. Originally I wanted to come out to America sooner, but recent events, and large amounts of rumination have made me realise that, actually, I'm not quite done with the U of K yet.

Well, I should probably go study for my final final, but to keep you thinking, here is my Christmas wishlist, just in case you have Santa's number on speed-dial.

1. World Peace
2. Understanding between all peoples
3. A new laptop