A 'Ho' Nuffer Rebel!

Alright, so Mad TV and SNL have sucked for a long time, but this title is from one of my favorite new sketches from Mad.

School's started again and they're not foolin' around this time. In fact, it seems to have gone to the HNL, or whole 'nother level. I have two, count 'em, two ethics courses-Engaging World Religions through Ethics and Ethics for Parish Ministry. The former is half an actual world religions class where we learn about the four other major religions and their ethical systems and half an experiment by our teacher, Dr. Richard Randolph (who everytime he e-mails I think is Robert Randolph calling me to join him on tour before I read closer). The whole class requires a computer and an internet connection. I tell you guys, it's like these people have never seen a computer before. If you entered graduate school after the year 1999 and you don't know how to upload....GET OUT NOW!

The latter, and if you don't remember that's Ethics for Parish Ministry, will be no picnic. Part of the course objective is to define my ethic for ministry. I have no idea what that means. This would be fine and expected, I would fully look forward to learning what that meant and being able to write the heck out of this paper...except it's the first assignment. I'm supposed to be able to identify and articulate my ethic for ministry by Sept. 28th. Oh, and CS's were out in force in this class too. (We call them Captain Students, for more info, see www.youmightbeacaptainstudent.blogspot.com ) People just couldn't get their little heads around the possibility of having an ethic for ministry that's something different than your personal ethic. Even Dr. R (yeah, I have him twice, and after I pissed him off by dropping out of his Brazil immersion this summer) got flustered and had to end the conversation. You don't treat your congregation with the same ethical convictions that you treat your children...and if you do, either quit the ministry or stop having kids.

At the end of my marathon 8 hour school day on Tuesday's is Worship-Dining in the Kingdom. This will be a good class except that everyone I didn't want to have class with again is taking it. Teaching this is Dr. Susan Smith, an absolute space cadat but one of the smartest space cadats I've ever known. This might be the first class I actually use when I get out of this place.

And then....there's Greek. AAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!

Alright, on to more important things. When my sister moves, with a lot of help, on Sept. 16th, I'm getting my first set of matching furnature, an industrial size couch that's actually longer than The Beast but not as, shall we say, unique in appearance, just big and soft and perfect for napping, and a chair that's really a love seat with matching depth and softness. They kinda smell like small annoying dog, since both Steph and her roomate havea small annoying dog, but nothing a little Arm and Hammer and Febreeze won't take care of. To go along with my new perfect movie/football watching living room, I'm getting...wait for it...a big screen TV. It's not a plasma or liquid, one of the old ones but who cares. Everywhere I've lived, I've kinda felt like I'm only there for the summer and waiting to go back home. I hope that maybe this, along with Lindsey, Bates, Steph and the NKC fam., will finally make me feel home.

Living large and in charge,
B