Bumblebees and Staplers

I must pause here to thank Mara for her awesome HTML work on my blog. It would have taken me a long time to figure out on my own. So thank you, Mara.

The new layout is not, in fact, modeled after bumblebees, but as a blog layout is an artistic expression, I suppose any interpretation is valid. The concept came from the title of the blog, "Into the Silent Planet", which, if you recall from my first post, is a varient of "Out of the Silent Planet", a book by CS Lewis. One publication of the book looks very similar to my current blog layout. There are still a few kinks to work out, but I'm quite pleased with how it has unfolded thus far. I chose this specific cover (out of many versions) because I was always told in art class that yellow should never be used as a dominant color. I try not to follow pointless rules.

My last day of work was two days ago and it finished up really well. They gave me some awesome parting gifts, including a fancy water bottle that looks like a space shuttle and a shiny stapler like I've only dreamed of.

WARNING: My blog postings may become infrequent or even come to a halt over the next few months. Rest assured that if such a trajedy occurs, it is most likely due to the fact that I am at university and am spending all my time studying. Do not be alarmed. After all, it's just a blog.

Evangelical Me

No surprises here.

You scored as Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan. You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God's grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called us. You are influenced heavly by John Wesley and the Methodists. Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 93% Emergent/Postmodern 71% Charismatic/Pentecostal 68% Classical Liberal 50% Neo orthodox 43% Fundamentalist 43% Reformed Evangelical 39% Modern Liberal 29% Roman Catholic 18% What's" your theological worldview?

Two Weeks

It started to set in today that I'm going to be home in literally two weeks. I can hardly believe it. I've spent three months living in Calgary, renewing old friendships, creating new ones, and spending time with family I rarely see otherwise. It has been an incredible experience. I have gone headbanging and moshing at the university with the McLeods. I have discussed microwaves with Jason at Glenmore. I have inspected millipedes with Laura at the Science Centre. I have fallen asleep watching a movie with Stefan at his appartment. I have driven in Dorothy with Rene. I have spilt Vietnamese tea at the Bagolac Saigon with Fil. I have buried Michael in the sand at the Volley Dome. I have destroyed food packaging at the zoo with Amanda. I have run like crazy in the mall with John Carl. I have worn out leg muscles in the mountains with Phil. I have wandered aimlessly in Banff with Allison. I have sung Veggietales songs at Centre Street with Kyla. I have watched endless episodes of Gilmore Girls at home with Aunt Cheryl. I have cranked stereos with Uncle Kerry in front of huge TV's. I have cooked strange and exciting dishes with Lindsay. I have listened to and discussed Relient K CD's on a couch with Ashley. I have thought about Africa at Bible study with Joey. I have watched too few Survivor episodes with the Robinsons. I have shared long, and long awaited, hugs with Angie. I have walked and talked with Mara nearly everywhere. I have even listened to Skoch sing the names of random girls at Rocky. For any of you who are reading this, thank you for making this time so wonderful. I have loved it from beginning to end. Although I now miss my home, I will soon miss you.

Black and White

One of my favorite things to do with a free day on the calendar is to have a movie theme day. My first theme was Star Trek. I invited a few friends up and watched all six of the original Star Trek movies in one day. We had Star Trek themed meals and we even dressed up. Since that fateful day, I have held two other Star Trek days, one Matrix day, one Lord of the Rings day, and two Star Wars days. They are so much fun, if you don't mind drinking Klingon blood wine, dressing up as Agent Smith, and watching movies for hours on end.

This weekend, I had nothing planned for Saturday, so I decided to have a Black and White day. I got up bright and early, put on all black and white clothes, and began the festivities. I started with two movies starring Audrey Hepburn; "Sabrina", followed by "Roman Holiday". I then went on to watch "Schindler's List". I hadn't seen either of these movies before, and I was quite impressed with them. I have a weak spot for black and white movies, my favorites being "The Gold Rush", "The Great Dictator", and "Have Rocket, Will Travel".

In case you might be wondering, I did not have themed meals. Black and white foods are very hard to find. I suppose I could have chowed down on marshmallows and black licorice all day, but that probably would have turned my intestines black and my face white after a while.

Triple Tribond

Normally in Tribond, one names three things that have something in common and others are made to guess what the commonality might be. I'm going to cut you some slack and give you three times three (3 x 3 = 9) things. The first person who answers correctly will receive a personally typed comment of congratulations from yours truly. Here are the triple three things:

Scott Adams
Muhammad Ali
William Booth
Albert Einstein
Benjamin Franklin
Adolf Hitler
Avril Lavigne
William Shatner
Mark Twain

Let the races begin!

Not a Heritic

This was a quiz that was going around a long time ago. I finally decided that my 'quiz break' had served its time and I was ready to indulge. Here are my results:

You scored as Chalcedon compliant. You are Chalcedon compliant. Congratulations, you're not a heretic. You believe that Jesus is truly God and truly man and like us in every respect, apart from sin. Officially approved in 451. Chalcedon compliant 100% Monophysitism 67% Apollanarian 33% Nestorianism 33% Modalism 33% Socinianism 33% Pelagianism 17% Arianism 0% Docetism 0% Adoptionist 0% Donatism 0% Albigensianism 0% Monarchianism 0% Gnosticism 0% Are you a heretic? created with QuizFarm.com

To tell you the truth, I half expected that the quiz would tell me that I was a heritic. I thought I would score much higher on modalism, because I view the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as I view my head, torso, and legs. They all co-exist, but they're all God. In other words, I don't feel comfortable with the phrase, "One Being, Three Persons", because I don't feel that the difference between a being and a person in the context of God has been clearly identified. I would be much happier with "One Being, Three Parts", or even "One Person, Three Parts". Apparently I tend towards being a Monophysitist, which makes sense too. I like the idea of a composite nature in Jesus, however I think that composite nature could have pre-existed.

Oh, the joys of ancient theology.

Cutting Up The Bible

Mara loves to share fun quizes that explain something about one's self. It's an enjoyable trait. She recently asked me to decide which books of the Bible I would keep if I could only keep one in each of the following categories:

Pentateuch: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy
Historical Books: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther,
Wisdom Books: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Lamentations
Major Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel
Minor Prophets: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi
Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John
Pauline Epistles: Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessolonians, 2 Thessolonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon
General Epistles: Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Jude
Anything: either something in the categories already mentioned, Acts, or Revelation

This would reduce the Bible to only nine books. My choices were Genesis, Ruth, Psalms, Daniel, Jonah, John, Romans, Hebrews, and James. The choices that Mara and I had in common were Genesis, Psalms, and Romans. The books that were most difficult for me to give up were Isaiah, Jeremiah, Luke, Acts, 2 Corinthians, and Philippians, but especially Luke and Acts. I think I chose the books I did because I like the books that tell stories and have concrete lessons. If you'd like to write your choices on a comment, I'd love to read them.