No horrifically long post now

I am back at work today, after taking yesterday off… I awoke with a sore throat and a lot of pain in my neck. Fortunately, we had a chiropractor appointment in the afternoon, and after my adjustment, Dr. Lee not only did the usual muscle massage, but she also massaged the lymph nodes in my neck (to get my lymphatic system working) and pressure points on my head. Ouch! But I felt so much better after she was done, and went home with strict doctor’s orders to take a very hot shower/bath to keep the circulation going in my muscles, plus expel some toxins through my pores. Aaahhh…
Anyway, I’m back at work. This is the last day that I’ll see Sarah Carrera here; I’ll be gone on vacation tomorrow, and she’ll be over at her new job in Naval Electronics Systems immediately following the holiday (July 4). She’s been a good person to work with, and I’ll miss having her around (not least because I’m taking over some of her duties… like I need extra work!). I’m trying to get the first draft of my document finished and sent out (so people can have a week and a half to give me feedback), and my inbox cleaned out to the extent that 5 days away from work won’t cause the staggering volume of megabytage to cripple the Anaheim Exchange server. Unfortunately, I’ve already switched into vacation mode, so my motivation is at zero! *sigh*

Elizabeth is coming over tonight, and we’re going to watch a movie and have girl-talk. Sara isn’t coming because she’s in Japan for Reiko’s wedding (yay, Reiko!). But E and I will have fun anyway.

Last night, Jeff and I took Laurel to Mott's Miniatures, which is a huge miniatures store along Orangethorpe in Fullerton. It was awesome! We got Laurel a gift certificate for her birthday, so that she can get whatever she wants; she's always longed for a dollhouse, but could never afford one when she was young. The store was supposed to be open till 6 pm, but when we got there at 5:40 (Laurel had to come over from work after 5, and then we had to drive there, so it took a while), the store was closed. The door wasn't locked, though, so we just opened it and walked in. The shop girl told us that the store had closed early because no one had been coming in; I was about to argue that someone HAD just come in, so they should be open again (I'm a tough customer; don't mess with the Deb.), but a man in the back (the owner or the manager, I think) saved me the trouble by telling her it was okay-- she could leave early, and he'd take care of us. So that was cool. We looked a little bit, and Laurel bought something, but it's definitely a place where we'll be going back. Laurel wants to design and build a miniature log cabin (like the one she grew up in, when she lived in the Canadian sub-Arctic region), and I want to build a miniature stilted wood/bark hut (like the one I grew up in). Dollhouse/miniatures companies make a few pretty tame miniature log cabin kits, but Laurel wants one a bit more realistically rough-hewn; meanwhile, no jungle-huts-in-trees-or-on-stilts kits are commercially available. Those imperialistic, western-centric dollhouse makers! With their utter lack of multi-cultural appeal! Oh, well, it gives us a chance to be creative and do our own things.

After Mott's Miniatures (if you live in South LA or North Orange County and enjoy miniatures, check it out), we went to Black Angus on Imperial, because we had a coupon. We ordered what was officially a meal for two people, and there was more than enough food for us three. We at A LOT.

On a side note, I watched The Easiest Way on Tuesday evening, and The Florodora Girl and Dramatic School on Wednesday morning. I love my old movies!

More of life (the past two weeks)

Well, there's no denying that I've been pretty busy over the past two weeks.

I'm trying to be productive at work, so that takes a lot of energy.

The weekend of the 18th, I went up to Visalia for Rob and Candace's wedding. On Thursday the 16th, I went over to Sara's apartment for dinner, as her family was visiting from OR, and were having their birthday celebration. Jeff was already up in Visalia for Rob's bachelor party, so I didn't want to be at home alone, plus I really love the Martins, so it was a pleasant evening. Then I went over to Rob and Candace's apartment (they live in the same complex as Sara and Elizabeth, just in a different building), where Candace and Debbie were spending the night, and I slept there, too. Friday morning, we drove up to LA and got the wedding flowers from the LA Flower Market. It was an interesting experience; not only were we in a place where a lot of the vendors didn't speak much English, but Candace and I were clueless about most of the flowers, whereas Debbie knew all about them. Candace drove up in her car, and Debbie and I drove up in the Feelys' van. We found out that Jerry had injured his leg the night before, while playing volleyball; it turned out, when he went for a real doctor visit the following week, that he had broken his leg up near the knee; it complicated things, in that he was in pain whenever he walked during the weekend, and as the father of the groom, he was an important participant! Anyway, Friday evening, we had the rehearsal and dinner. I set up shots and prepped the video camera, since I had been asked to shoot a wedding video for them. [Did I know anything about doing event vidoes? NO! Did that stop me? Obviously not.]
Saturday was a beautiful day, and things ran pretty smoothly, over all, for the wedding. Candace looked simply beautiful in her dress; it was ballgown style, with lots of lace trim, and it is simply not anything that I would be caught wearing even while dead, but it looked wonderful on her. I like the Vander Koois a lot, and of course I love the Feelys, so most of the people were easy to work with. I dunno... What can you really say about a wedding? Nothing went hilariously wrong. The ceremony was short, and the reception was long. They had a full dinner and DJ with dancing, at some place called the Country M Ranch, which was cute and enjoyable despite that name and the general hick atmosphere. Oh, yeah, Mum and Dad drove up Saturday morning, and it was lovely to spend time with them. They are so cute, and so cool! And Josh (who helped me with the video, and took pics at the reception) and Laurel were there, and the Yoshimotos, so that was nice. We stayed and danced till 10:30, when the bride and groom left; Jeff and I got in a lot of dancing, plus I got some great video footage--the lighting wasn't very good after the sun went down, so I hope it turns out all right--of wild and crazy dancing (including Tamyra, the bride's mother).
Sunday morning, we slept through church (doh!), but got to spend time with both sets of parents. In the afternoon, we visited our model home at The Ranch so that Denise and Dennis Hopewell (Jeff's aunt and uncle) could see it. We drove back down to the LA area in the evening, but discovered that our weekend of excitement was not over, as we were involved in a four-car pileup on the 5 South. Traffic was backed up to the extent that we were only traveling at a rate of c. 35 mph, so nobody was seriously injured. However, both Jeff and I displayed signs of whiplash within an hour after the crash. =( We are currently being treated by chiropractors; if you need chiropractic work, ask me for a recommendation. Anyway, since nobody died or had extensive bleeding, I felt free to view the incident as an adventure. I took photos and video of our car and some other cars and people involved, and the CHP came with their flashing lights and signal flares and police reports (although it wasn't all about us... there were two more accidents at that spot--the 5/60 interchange--within 3o minutes of ours), and I was polite to them, even though two of them told me not to go romping in the brush along the highway (I was exploring, plus looking at one of the other wrecks of the evening; I wasn't hurting anybody, and I can take care of myself while you take witness reports, thank you very much.). When all was said and done, Jeff and I were just very tired and stiff and longing for bed.

The week passed with me fighting a lot of fatigue. I seem to be tired a lot lately, plus it is natural to feel that way when one's body is healing. *sigh* I told some of my managers that I would be at least going to part-time in December, if not leaving the company altogether. In all honesty, I'd like to just leave and get out of there; I am so tired of it! I'm one of those people that can work tirelessly on something, if I am passionate about it, but can barely bring myself to do anything at all if I am just doing work for the sake of earning a living. I feel guilty sometimes. I have so much, and make quite a decent salary, but I am apathetic about my job. Sometimes, I just don't care anymore. I desperately hope that my attitude will change when I start doing something that I choose for myself (namely, science and academia). Some days, I sit and stare and fight back the tears, wondering, "What am I doing here?!?" It reminds me of my first year back in the States, when I would be in my classroom in Portland, and would suddenly look out of the window into the bleary greyness of that city, and it was as if I would have a brief moment of clarity after months of being a ghost of myself. I'd think, "Where am I? What am I doing here? I don't belong here." Even then, I was Difficult. An Iconoclast. A Jungle Pixie in the Overcast World of Tree-hugging Birkenstocks. Bleh.

So. Saturday morning I had coffee with Mum. Saturday afternoon I went to the wedding of Dustin Guenther and Katie Fisher. The ceremony itself was actually pretty fun, probably because it was officiated by Dr. Sanders. I was several people that I knew, but not as many as I'd have expected. I guess a lot of Biola Torrey and science people didn't come because (1) it was summer, and (2) there was, I think, a competing Torrey-related wedding on that day. But the reception was pretty fun, because I got to see Mr. Jim Harrington (who talked to me about cool history stuff from his studies at CSU Fullerton--despite my allegiance to the natural science, I truly love hearing and talking about humanities-related topics) and meet Sharon Biggs (who is a friend of Dan's, and doing mission work in Cameroon), and I sat with Mr. Kevin White, Mr. Eric Holloway, Ken and Lynn Johnson (I only know her b/c she is a secretary in the theo dept at Talbot), and a very nice young man named Steven who is, I found out later, one of the children of the O'Herrins (of whom I know much, via Sara and Jeremy Brown, the linguists). I had so much fun with people (Sheesh, Kevin, you and I should not be allowed to be goofy within close proximity to one another) that I didn't realize how late it was, until I checked Mr. Holloway's extremely nerdy-looking watch and saw that it was 19:23, and I was supposed to meet Jeff and Laurel and Josh at Islands at 19:00! I made some quick rounds to hug the happy couple, and say goodbye to several buds, then blasted off in my Hybrid Civic to meet my other buds at the restaurant. They were almost finished eating, and since I had eaten dinner at the reception, it was no great loss. We reconvened at our apartment, and Jeff and Josh played Halo while Laurel and I looked at knitting patterns and had girl talk.

Sunday morning, we went to church, and then had a Fathers Day/birthday lunch for Dad at a Thai restaurant on Pacific in Huntington Park. Fathers Day had been rather overshadowed the previous weekend (we were just recovering from Rob's wedding), and Dad's birthday is actually the 26th, so it was perfect timing. Tim joined us, as did Andrew, and all the kids but Mia were there (she is excused b/c she is on the other side of the world). The food was delicious, and I had a long talk about "Rules of War" with Tim and Andrew, which was one of those catalytic conversations that prompt me to explore and clarify my own views, even though (due to the emergent nature of my thoughts) I don't always express them to others as wonderfully as I think I ought. I am coming to understand my own objections to certain ideas such as "rules of war" and "just war," and will eventually be able to discuss them in a manner that will satisfy even me (I am guessing that no one else thinks I don't communicate well, but if I don't express myself perfectly, I consider myself a failure). At any rate, it was interesting to see the differences in why Tim and Andrew thought the way they did, even though they both believe that "rules of war" are a good thing.

Sunday evening and Monday, during my free time, I did a lot of laundry, and read, and did other things that needed to be done. Jeff played Halo.

Tonight, Dan came over for a few hours. We ate pizza at Top Class Pizza, then came back to the apartment, and I (again) read, while Jeff showed Dan how to play Halo. We are going to spend some more time with him in the next few weeks, before he ships off to North Carolina for military stuff.

It's nearly 23:30, but I'm barely sleepy. Oddly enough, my fatigue consists of a lot lassitude and bone-deep weariness, but not a lot of actual sleepiness. I think it's related to the abundant light in this time of year. Jeff is taking this week off, so he isn't worried about staying up late. He's playing Halo right now. Surprised?

I think I'll cuddle with my cats. Maybe look at some knitting and paper doll stuff. Having a job totally bites. But maybe it won't, if/when I become a university professor.

Tree branches at half-mast...

... in the Hundred-Acre Wood.

The actors who voiced Pooh's buddies Piglet and Tigger have died. I didn't really like Disney's take on Milne's whimsical world for children, but anything Pooh-related is significant to me and my family.

-Wol

Taken from other people's blogs...

3 THINGS I DON'T UNDERSTAND
1. Illogical people, and people who live their lives entirely according to their bad logic. E.g. Mormon “scholars” (Seriously, how can a person be smart enough to have an advanced degree in ancient languages or something, and still not reject the Book of Mormon, et al, in the name of intellectual honesty?), or people who think it’s good to kill babies but not to prosecute criminals. I’m not just ranting; I am actually unable to comprehend certain people.
2. Americans (yes, the same as Dan… but I would also add: Other Westerners).
3. Electrical engineering. No joke. I’m reasonably competent with anything from quantum physics to Greek grammar, but am a total dunce when it comes to circuits/electronics. It’s sad, really.

3 THINGS MOST PEOPLE DON'T KNOW ABOUT ME
1. I have a sick and twisted sense of humor. Well, maybe people do know this one.
2. I wish I had dark hair and green eyes.
3. I like reading other people’s answers to quizzes like this.

LAST...
1. Movie you rented: I rented National Treasure with Elizabeth and Sara a few weeks ago.
2. Movie you bought: I guess Jeff and I bought Phantom of the Opera and Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events from Pay-per-view a few weeks ago.
3. Song you listened to: “I Fought the Law,” by Green Day, on my iPod.
4. CD you bought: The last CDs I bought for myself were Mad About Sopranos and a Jeanette MacDonald CD.
5. TV show you've watched: The Simpsons—the episode where Bart becomes an emancipated minor.
6. Person you kissed: Jeff
7. Person you were thinking of: Jeff, I hope. Otherwise, I was probably just thinking about work.

DO...?
1. You have a crush on someone: No.
2. You wish you could live somewhere else: I regularly wish that I lived in West Papua or Singapore. I think I’d also like to reside in Greece or Italy.
3. You think about suicide: I reflect on it, occasionally. I don’t consider it for myself, though, because I’m too stubborn to give up like that.
4. You believe in online dating: Meh.
5. Others find you attractive: I always assume not, but I’ve been told otherwise.
6. You want more piercings: No.
7. You drink: I drink plenty of liquids every day. Alcoholic beverages? Seldom.
8. You do drugs: Over-the-counter and prescription drugs only.
9. You smoke: Not in any way.
10. You like cleaning: I like doing things that involve disinfecting. Tidying and organizing? No.
11. You like roller coasters: No.
12. You write in cursive or print: Either.
13. You like soap operas: I don’t know much about them, but I probably wouldn’t like them.

HAVE YOU...?
1. Ever cried over a girl: Yes, in sorrow or frustration.
2. Ever cried over a boy: Same as above.
3. Ever lied to someone: I know that I must have lied, but I can’t think of any examples.
4. Ever been in a fist fight: Yes, I’ve been in a physical fight before, but it wasn't limited to just fists.
5. Ever been arrested: No. Apparently, I need to get out more.

WHAT...?
1. Shampoo do you use: Pantene Pro-V.
2. Shoes do you wear: A variety. Skechers, often.
3. Is your desktop background: At work, two Siberian tiger cubs. At home, two lions from the SD Wild Animal Park.

NUMBER...
1. Of times you have been in love: 2
2. Of times you have had your heart broken: 0
3. Of girls/guys you have kissed: Just one boy.
4. Of drugs taken illegally: 0
5. Of people you would classify as true, could-trust-with-your-life type friends: 5 or 6. Counting my family, maybe 12. I’m very blessed, I know.
6. Of people you consider your enemies: There are plenty of people I dislike and/or despise, but none that I could classify as actual enemies.
7. Of scars on your body: Major scars: 3. Minor scars: several more.
8. Of things in your past that you regret: I really regret 4 things that I can think of right now. But I often try to redeem regrettable things by making them learning experiences, and I really have learned a lot from them, so that makes them valuable instead of regrettable...

My celluloid life

Sara and Elizabeth are here. We are watching Office Space.

I figured it out. If you really want to understand me, watch Mean Girls and Office Space. Mean Girls gives some insight into my early teen years, having just moved from the remote jungle to snobby U.S. suburbia. Then watch Office Space to understand my life in the corporate milieu. If you wish, check out Real Genius for a humorous look at science nerds in college. They're just movies, but they're full of moments that make me laugh and say, "That's funny because it's true!!" I haven't seen Saved yet, but I plan to. It sounds like it'll be my high school in a nutshell.

Anybody else have movies that define little bits of their lives?

Busyness continues

Well, discussion regarding the wedding and all that will have to come later. Overall, it was a nice wedding, and Rob and Candace seem as though they are going to be very happy.

I am tired.

How about that freedom of speech?

My company has not yet issued an official policy on blogging. But that might not prevent me from being chastised or even fired for writing what I do. Corporate entities are beginning to crack down on weblogs.

Oh, no! No more funny work stories? No more anecdotes detailing the misadventures of B? Does anyone even care? Does anyone even read them?

Reflections on past week (longish post)

Fun times in the world of Kiti. We finished summer school on Friday, and I was so tired at the end of it. Not only was I handling the equivalent of full-time work and full-time school, but the class was very thought-provoking, so my brain was busy all the time, which left me exhausted.

Tuesday night, I went to Naomi Geier’s 21st birthday party after class. The other guests were her friends from Torrey (many of whom live in the Reynolds’ houses), and I was familiar with most of them. We hung out and talked for a little while, and I had to leave after a half an hour. While I was there, a few girls went out to rent Emperor’s New Groove, but when they got back, I chose not to stay, because I needed to get home and sleep. While I was there, though, one person mentioned that she had heard or read somewhere that it was the one-year anniversary of the death of Ronald Reagan. I must admit that I really did not know whether that was true or not—I have no memory of even what month it was when Reagan died. Anyway, she griped that she had not heard any news reports or anything honoring him.
I remarked, “Why should there be? He’s just an old dead guy.”
She looked at me as though I had suddenly announced that I had highly contagious leprosy. She was utterly incredulous. “Are you serious?”
“Sure, why not? He’s dead. What would there be to say? He hasn’t done anything new in the last year.”
“Well, it would have been nice if there had been some tribute or something.”
“Why don’t you write one?”
“Oh, I don’t know enough to do that.”
And there you have it. Honey, if you’re not part of the desired solution, you’re part of the perceived problem. But I digress. Perhaps I just startled her with my terminology. Perhaps I should have said “formerly aged, currently deceased male person,” instead of “old dead guy.” Perhaps I should ask her about it. Perhaps not.

Wednesday night, I got my hair cut. For some people, this entails going to a salon, or even a barber shop. For me, I simply go to the bathroom, take scissors, and go to work. Yes, I cut my own hair, and then Jeff checks it for stragglers in the back, where I can’t see. I got rid of a lot of split ends and my hair should be fairly healthy at this point, but it looks a trifle awkward. I’m certainly no beautician. I think I’ll try and curl it on occasion, to keep it under control; when it grows an inch or so, it will look better.

Thursday night, I went home and spent quite some time talking to Jeff about my thoughts regarding The Abolition of Man. Argh. I still don’t know what I think of it, and how I feel. I am no relativist or subjectivist, but I really don’t care for the way that Lewis makes his argument or some of his general underlying assumptions. Is there really an objective standard for emotion(s) required in any situation, or toward any object or experience? Can/ought emotions be “educated”? I don’t necessarily think so. I truly struggle, because it seems as though I am out of step with everyone else. All the time. Even my parents think that Lewis is the great speaker of Christianity. I’m a small-minded Uberwensch (gratuitous Nietzsche reference). I must be. I just am not sure about objective emotion and objective beauty (Note: I have no problem with objective beauty of the Creator; just not sure about it being in creation, and no one has provided me with an argument that convinces. I’m not against the possibility of there being objective beauty; I’m just not convinced of it.). He listened nicely, and gave me some good feedback, and I think he’ll read Abolition of Mind again and we’ll discuss it more. I have nicknamed him Mr. Chesty, because (as you will recall) Lewis spends quite some time (the entire first chapter) discussing “Men without Chests” and the need to “educate the chest” with “proper emotions,” and Jeff has a very strong proclivity toward experiencing and understanding emotions.
Strange thought: Women are generally considered to be more emotional, and better able to properly handle emotion, than men. Could it be relevant that women’s chests are usually softer and more prominent than men’s? Yeek! Is this a proper application of biology? Economy recapitulates physiology/anatomy? I am now putting this train of thought out on rusty, rarely-used tracks somewhere in the Yukon.

Let's see. I think we need a spot of humor.
The great thing about working where I do is the potential for humor. Our dear friend B has been up to his usual antics. Being, as we are, in the technical field, we use a lot of flowcharts, specs, diagrams, etc. On Thursday, B had been going over some finer points of the GCA electronics with Cheryl, and chose to copy some of her specs that they were using as illustrations. He went and did so, and when he brought the original back to Cheryl, she discovered that her first page was now double-printed, with E. Nishikawa flight information on American Airlines. That day’s date was printed in the hyperlink at the bottom of the page. B declared vehemently that he did not know how that printing had gotten there. Eventually, he thought about it more, and stated that he thought he knew what had happened: he had first tried to copy the document by running it through the printer. Naturally, this approached proved unsuccessful, so he just went ahead and took it to the copier after all. Apparently, while it was in the printer, though, the first page had picked up a print job that had been sent to the printer. Murray has the same document in his office, so B thought it would be helpful for him to go copy over the first page properly and let Cheryl replace her ruined one. He went, made a copy, and brought it to Cheryl. Lo and behold—he had copied the wrong page! In his defense, we discovered that Cheryl’s bundle of specs was out of order in the folder; B had reproduced the first page of Murray’s spec, but it was not the same as the (ruined) first page of Cheryl’s spec. I told her that I would just go and make the correct copy. I made two: one for Cheryl, and one for B. End of story. Hysterical! But I guess you had to be there…

Saturday, Laurel and I went up to my parents' house and spent the day there. Mum was helping up to sew Laurel's Renaissance-style bridesmaid dress for Marcy Hatch's wedding. We got nearly all of it done, with three pairs of hands to pin and cut out the fabric. It was so much fun! Mom taught us a lot about sewing, and she also let us go through some old (1950s-1980s) knitting patterns that she had gotten from one of her friends-- Laurel and I are going to work on our knitting and make some of the lovely sweaters and coats that we saw. I know I'm always cold, so more sweaters and coats seems like a lovely idea anyway. At one point, we had to go downtown to the Fashion District in LA; I dropped Laurel and Mom off on the corner of 8th and Maple, and circled several blocks for half an hour, while they went into one of the shops to buy notions like a zipper, etc. While I was driving (scary drivers in downtown LA, I must say), a homeless man walked out into the street, tipped his cart over, and then fell down--right in front of me! Never a dull moment! Tim was spending the weekend with Mom and Dad, so we saw him, and then Mike came home mid-day, so we were able to see him, too. Mike ordered Thai food for dinner, and we watched Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, although Laurel and I had to leave in the middle to get back to my apartment to spend time with Jeff and Josh.

Right now, I'm enjoying the fact that I can relax, even though this next week will probably be crazy, since Rob and Candace's wedding is next Saturday and we'll be going up to Visalia Thursday or Friday (depending on how things work out).

Ever have one of those times when you just feel like a failure? I planned to do a lot of homework this weekend, but all I did was read one book. I’m a bad student. I wanted to see my parents, but I fell asleep instead. I’m a bad daughter. I brought work-related stuff to do over the weekend, but didn’t even touch it. I’m a bad employee. I intended to call Jessica and Katie, and possibly Elizabeth and Sara, and I didn’t. I’m a bad friend. The kitchen is dirty, and I had hoped to clean it, and to be able to cook something, so that Jeff could have something to eat other than fast food during the upcoming week, but instead, Jeff cleaned the kitchen (which is my chore) and cooked dinner on Saturday night. I’m a bad wife and homemaker. As a final indignity, I put on a pair of jeans yesterday and discovered that they are very tight (despite the fact that I weighed myself and am just at 125). I’m too fat for my clothing anymore!

So anyway, things are not going well at work, with people changing their minds and waffling about important decisions, which effectively negates several weeks’ worth of work that I’ve done here; I have assignments that basically add up to two full-time jobs; and IT still has not fixed my computer.

Oh, the humanity!

Reflections

Ever have a day that just didn't turn out as you expected? Well, yesterday was one of those days for me. I woke up after 10 am, which was okay, because it was Saturday and I had no morning plans. Jeff woke up, too, and we just sort of sat around for a few hours, trying to decide what to eat for breakfast; our problem is that when we are hungry, both of us are indecisive and rather unable to cook anything. Finally, Jeff decided that we would go to IHOP. We went, accordingly, and had good food with good conversation. Coming home again, I settled on the couch to do a bit of reading for school, while Jeff started playing Halo. I started getting a little sleepy, and felt my eyes drifting closed. I rested my eyes for a tad, and then started to read again. Next thing I knew, I was waking up c. 6 pm. I had slept the entire afternoon away! This may not be a big deal for some folk, but for me, it is very unusual. I seldom take naps, because I am seldom able to relax enough in the middle of the day. My only conclusion is that the book I was reading--The Discarded Image, by C.S. Lewis--is a snoozer powerful enough to sedate even me. I knew it was dull, but didn't expect it to be that dull. Anyway. I did barely any homework, when I was expecting to complete a lot of it.
I think that I didn't realize how exhausted I am, thanks to the schedule I have been keeping this past week. I work every day, of course, at least 8 hours, and then I am taking a summer school course, which meets every night from 18:00-21:20. The class is the Theology of C.S. Lewis, which is a curious concept to me, as Lewis was not a theologian, per se. But the teacher (named Jerry Root) says that the class is not about C.S. Lewis, but rather is about God, just seen through the lens of Lewis' writings. Well, okay, but it's simply agonizing to sit and listen to someone talk about Lewis for more than three hours straight. My experiences in a discussion-oriented class have predisposed me to want to discuss material, particularly rich material such as much of Lewis' writing. Jerry Root just talks and talks and tells stories, and while some people might like that, I hate it. He mentions Abolition of Man, and I think, "Yes, let's talk about Abolition of Man," because there are a lot of depths to mine there, and I don't really agree with everything Lewis has to say. He brings up the fact that Lewis was deeply influenced by Dante, and I think, "Yes, let's talk about Dante," but we never do! Root just rattles on and gives his opinions, and I think the class would be greatly improved by group interaction. I mean, I have lots to say about Dante and Dorothy Sayers and Charles Williams, et al, and I think everyone would benefit from sharing their ideas (as well as hearing mine--heheh!).