2 weeks later…

I’m back and healthy in the Steubie U life again. Although ‘back’ can be misleading. Normally it means ‘having traveled backward’ or ‘toward a former location’ or even ‘at or to or toward the back or rear’ which might suggest regression, or a reversal into ‘old ways’. The way I C it (this is where I slap my knee…unknowingly) my being back means that I have returned to the physical location, but not the mental, spiritual, or even (dare I say) emotional location. Almost three months passed by since my last presence on campus and I can definitely see the change. Every bit of it was for the better. I can see where I have grown stronger, in ways where I am more independent, more self-sufficient, more responsible. I can also see where, before I left last Spring, I was just fooling myself in some ways in which I had grown over the year. Which is all perfectly fine. You see, understanding one’s weaknesses is an important thing, but the harder part is figuring out how to deal with those weaknesses.

Well anyways…on to more important things, like what’s been going on on campus! Well, orientation was fun but so exhausting, like I was warned. It was great to return to school early and see some of the people I’ve been missing all summer. It was strange getting used to half a campus, then being flooded by 700 new students and their families, then finally getting all the returning goodies back the next Sunday… unfortunately that last batch was missing quite a few people. It’s strange, it seems that on campus I don’t know anyone anymore. Between the seniors that graduated and the 150-ish people who went to Austria, most of the people I seem to recognize and know aren’t on campus right now. Weird. It’s cool because I’m able to get to know people I was barely aquatinted with the past two semesters, and get to know a few freshman and other new students, but it just doesn’t feel right. Maybe it’s the fact that Trinity Hall is just too darn quiet, rephrased, Dave isn’t playing his guitar and Tom and Alan aren’t yelling “Challenger” and “Destroyer” down the hall and Harry isn’t walking steadily around the corning with hands folded in prayer during the prayer before Quiet Hours. Or maybe it’s Brandon not bursting into my room at 1 am and wondering why I’m not partying it up. Or perhaps it’s just that change is imminent and we must all learn to adapt…like the Borg. Bzzrt!

Which brings me to me next point. Star Trek. Somehow I’ve caught the bug. Which is horrible because it’s not even that great of acting. Maybe it’s just the ‘futuristic’ technology that is in it that fascinates me. But when I start laughing at inside jokes that appear in TNG season 4 that only people who have been watching since season 1 would understand, I start to worry. Santi appreciates my concern, he too is worried at my staying up to all hours because ‘you can’t just watch one fifth of the episode, you have to watch the whole thing’. I just need to block YouTube from my computer and be done with it. Don’t I just crack myself up when I speak of such nonsense.

Alright continuing on with topics that might intrest you. Classes, right, well. Let me just say that it’s going to be a great semester, but some of these classes *cough*elements-of-geometry*cough* are going to drive me bonkers! I really do understand the reasoning behind the class requirement but it just seems that it could be so much simpler, and at a higher level. The class is literally a Geometry class, for college students who are going to be teaching math, most of whom are well out of Geometry and probably in Calculus I at least (some of us are up in the rafters of #3 though). The main problem is that the class is being taught with the presumption that we don’t know geometry, so we are ‘dumbing ourselves down’ in a sense. Maybe this is an effective way to learn how to teach Geometry, but it sure is frustrating. The work load isn’t crazy, just insane. It really isn’t a lot, it’s just tedious, especially when you already know how to do it all, it’s almost too easy. One of our assignments, which I am praying that I won’t be tasked with again, requires us to use three different problem solving strategies on each problem. Mind you some of these problems clearly require the use of writing special equations and guess and check would clearly be illogical…it would take hours!!! Other times, good ol’ index card manipulation and clear thinking can do the trick, but three methods redundantly, especially when the methods are just pointless and in some ways impossible, is outrageous (slight hyperbole added for effect). I know I just have to grin and bear it, and at least it is only once a week (for 2 hours and 40 minutes at a time) but it’s gonna be tough. Good thing there are other peeps who are going through the same class with me. Yay for similar majors.

I have finally started my first Theology class. So legit. Dr Puppo (as recommended by two very learned classmates of mine) was the chosen instructor and she has so far proven to be awesome. She is such a genuine person and as the Gospel reading today explained, she lives said message by having genuine humility, knowing what she is great at and knowing what she is not great at, and using both to glorify God. She has a visual problem that makes it difficult to see. Her notes are full notebooks with ‘little’ notes written in thick large sharpie on each page. They can be easily read at the back of the classroom. Even with this, she brings such a joy and love of the faith to the classroom, you can’t help but want to learn about your faith. And the way she gives you the ‘information’ (I use the term in quotes for reasons explained later) just shows you the passion she has about it. As she says, we don’t learn about our faith simply for the knowledge. We learn about it because we have a desire to know and love God written and imprinted on our hearts and souls since birth. A desire so deep that we can’t escape it. A desire that even when we don’t recognize it, God does and seeks us out where we are and revitalizes that desire so that we can consciously pursue him and let him use us for his Will. Learning about the faith is not mere ‘information’. It’s a passion, it’s a love, it’s a desire that we each have.

Well there is so much more to share, yet so little time in which to translate it into words for you to read. If I could videotape my life here, you would be busier catching up on what I’m doing than actually living your life, which is why I’m terminating this transmission and commencing the regeneration cycle.

Chris Out.