I'm Back!

As usual, don't believe the timestamp on this post. It's 1:23 A.M. right now. And this post is EXTRA long since it's been about 5 days since I posted.

I got my computer back yesterday morning (Thursday), and boy am I happy about that. It's just not as comfortable to use a school computer. I feel more like "Big Brother is watching" when I am on a school computer, even though I know they can monitor this one too.

Let's see, what was the last day I posted about? Sunday? So, I should talk about Monday. To be honest, the week gets so full so quickly I don't remember much of what happened. Good thing I put the date on my class notes!

LAS was a continuation of understanding certain things in the textbook, so I won't bore you with the details of structuring arguments.

In Psychology we discussed the anatomy of the human brain, which was pretty dry and sleepiness-inducing. That all changed when the professor opened up a 5-gallon bucket and showed us what was inside: a real human brain that had been donated to science. He picked up the two pieces (two parts of the right hemisphere) and showed them to us, and he gave us the opportunity to hold the brain pieces. Only 4 of us did, myself included (there are 25 people in the class, I estimate). It was really cool. I wondered a little bit about who the person was that the brain had belonged to. Of course, the professor couldn't tell us, but it was still fascinating to see an actual human brain.

In Spanish, the TA gave a presentation about immigration in her country, Argentina. She caused jealousy when she told us that public college education in Argentina is FREE! Private college education is inexpensive as well, only about $100/month. So, guess where I want to study abroad? haha.

English was just note-taking over things that any high school junior or senior would know, so I'm not going to bore you with those details either.

Tuesday, I got up and went to the doctor for a follow-up on my ear infection. It feels better, but he told me it still looks pretty nasty in the canal. He told me to keep using the ear drops and to come back and see him in 2 weeks (we had to change that to 3 because he isn't going to be in the office in 2 weeks), and if the ear was not any prettier then, he would refer me to the ENT because it could be fungus-related. No fun guy jokes please. Anyway, I had to order a refill on the ear drops because I will run out tomorrow, and I haven't picked it up yet because I've forgotten.

I took my computer in to the IT folks and began to suffer withdrawals. (I'm joking.)

Not much else happened on Tuesday other than I did homework and volunteered in the coffee shop where I met a commuter student who was a mom and a pre-med major. She was nice to me and we chit-chatted. At the end of the day I went to Cornerstone, the youth group for freshmen. We decided we are going to go to Wesley Woods and do the high ropes course October 11th. I'm excited.

Wednesday I started working on my paper after discussing it on Tuesday with my professor (who also happens to be my advisor).

In LAS we discussed the problems with using analogies to make arguments. We spent the entire 50 minutes talking about the watch analogy for proving intelligent design. The professor concluded that the watch analogy breaks down for the proponents of intelligent design. He said that the people who are arguing for intelligent design usually want there to be only one designer, and that we cannot reasonably conclude that there is only one designer, if there is a designer. In my own opinion, some things just have to be taken on faith. I believe that there is one designer and that is God.

In Psychology we discussed child development in terms of Piaget's stage theory. Then we discussed the errors/fallacies in Piaget's theory, and then class was over.

Spanish was a game day. We had memory, pictionary, and charades. I never won but I did have fun anyway.

In English we discussed the professor's favorite topic: Show, don't tell. We also went over an essay by Annie Dillard called An American Childhood which was about an experience she had with a man who wouldn't give up chasing her in order to chew her out for throwing an iceball at his car.

In the evening, we had a debate for Constitution Day over the constitutionality of gay marriage. The gay man won, I think. He certainly presented his arguments clearly, precisely, and with proper emotion. The other man, who was a Christian, kept bringing up the phrase "procreation potential" in reference to hetero marriage. He tended to polarize the audience against him because he was repetitive and his arguments were flawed (one such flaw was he argued that gay marriage caused lower rates of marriage and childbearing in the Netherlands after it was legalized there. Correlation does NOT equal causation!)

However, the Christian made a point that I will share with you: The problem people have with gay marriage is the word marriage. The power and the history and the meaning of that word, to most people, means one man and one woman bonded. It's not that people want to keep rights away from gays, it's that they want the meaning of marriage to remain the same. I'm all for equal rights but I don't think the word should be corrupted to mean two men or two women. The Bible says homosexuality is a sin. I do not judge you if you are not straight, but I do hate your sin. Disagree with me if you like, but please be polite about it.

Thursday I worked on my paper all day until about 3:00 when I went to help with Warren County Habitat for Humanity. We sodded a yard for a new house. It was a small yard, the sod was dry, there were about 10 of us doing the work, and so it went quickly. We found a Sphinx Moth that had just hatched. It had shriveled-up wings and a large body. By the time we left it had pumped up its wings in order to be ready to fly.

There was another Forum event, this time featuring Brian Duffy, the former editorial cartoonist for The Des Moines Register. He talked about what it is like to be in a dying industry, and about how he got canned from a 25-year stint at the Register. He showed us his static cartoons, and some animated cartoons that he is doing for KCCI, the local TV station. Then he closed out his talk with a question and answer session, and as he answered questions, he drew caricatures of famous political people. The first he drew was Obama, and he also drew Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, John Glenn, Arnold Schwartznegger (spelling?!), Jimmy Carter, Richard Nixon, and Gerald Ford. After he finished, a girl from my floor and I both were interested in the caricature of Obama, and we waited in line to talk to Duffy. We let him know we were interested in the Obama caricature, and I said I didn't have to have it, I'd take a different one, but he drew an Obama just for me! I thought that was pretty cool. Also, Obama's position on Kanye West is definitely one that both liberals and conservatives can agree on. ;)

Today has been the same kind of day as Wednesday. I turned in my paper and the LAS class got out early because the professor was gone with his kids (they're twins, 17 years old).

Psychology was a continuation of development using Erik Erikson's theory of development and somebody else's theory of morality. We had an exercise on morality in terms of cheating on a final. Fairly interesting and it ended up that we had more reasons to cheat than to not cheat! Don't worry, I will not be cheating at any time.

Spanish was a continuation of game day and I still didn't win, but I did learn that the TA's handwriting is tricky.

English was a discussion of narration and narration techniques. Things I already knew, but then we had time for listening to our peers read what they had written. My one girlfriend who is in the same class made me laugh with her story about victory over spiders.

This evening was Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and RLC's interfaith division sponsored a meal with a Jewish math professor. The food was good and I don't remember any of the Hebrew names for the food. There was a sweet carrot stew, raisin-nut bread, pitas, hummus, cucumber, tomato/pepper, pomegranate seeds, dates, honey-cake, apple, and grape juice. There was wine but I didn't drink any during the ceremony for Shabbat (the Sabbath). The professor's home was pretty and simple; so far she and her husband have not gotten moved in quite yet. I'm jealous of the heated tile in her bathroom, though. We got to see their marriage license. It was written in both Hebrew and English. It's gorgeous- truly a work of art. She had a canopy (Fiddler on the Roof will help you understand) and this canopy was handmade for her of a similar design as the buildings and colors used on the marriage license. Very beautiful.

After we ate, the professor's in-laws showed up, and we left to get to the service, which started at 8:00. The temple is Reform, so we could sit where we wanted; women were not segregated from the men. They even had a female cantor and a female speaker! However, the rabbi and his helper were both male.

The service began with the cantor walking in, singing a capella. She had a beautiful voice, haunting and clear. Then there was the lighting of 3 candles, and a blessing. After that I don't recall clearly but there was standing up, sitting, Hebrew prayer, Hebrew songs (Lots of them, by the cantor and a recorded male voice- wonderful combination), opening and closing of the Ark with the Torah inside, a sermon by the rabbi (in English- he referenced Fiddler on the Roof! Woo!), and a final song that was written in transliterated Hebrew so we Gentiles could sing along. The service was an hour and 40 minutes long and they gave us candy at the end for a sweet new year. :)

Some things I noticed about my surroundings: the pews were segregated by little walls of wood- each person had a compartment! Most of the men wore the yarmulkes but not all, since some of us were Gentiles from RLC. They had little baskets of white yarmulkes in case the men forgot. Women were dressed fairly conservatively but in nothing that was particularly memorable; no head coverings or things like that. There were these poles in front, and I kept trying to figure out the significance of the poles, and then I realized that they were Bose speakers... Needless to say I felt kind of dumb. There was a cupola at the top with a gigantic chandelier made with stained glass hanging from it. The Ark was built into the wall, covered with beautiful wood, and inside were silver objects (I am not sure what they were, couldn't see them very well through the white translucent veil). Ornate decorations covered much of the ceiling and upper walls. The lectern had 5 microphones attached to it! I was wondering if there was going to be a press conference. :p On the front walls there were menorahs with light bulbs instead of candles. They had an "eternal flame" in honor of the dead, much like Catholics. It is now 5770 for the Jewish calendar.

Well, that's what happened for this week. This is BRIEF. Leave comments for clarification and I will try to answer. :)