That's Ten Days Before Novel, for those of you, as Chris Baty says, Still stuck on the Gregorian Calender.
Yes, in ten days, at midnight, local time, November 1, commences National Novel Writing Month. during this month, thousands of lunatics from around the world will attempt to write 50,000 words of fiction within the month of November. It seems impossible, but it is perfectly doable. I did it last year. In fact, I did 55k.
*stops tooting own horn*
See the website for more: www.nanowrimo.org (Also on my Links bar.)
I would also reccomend, if you can gt your hands on it, the book No Plot? No Problem! by Chris Baty. It's the NaNo handbook, but it's also good for people who like to write in general. (Available at Barnes and Noble and Amazon and, well, in MY world, every local library.)
I highly recomend trying this, for anyone who can read this. Or read. Period.
Anyway, if you usually hear from me and don't during November, that's where I'll be-- off writing my novel and having no social life. Or, well, even less than usual. I'll be in Marshall for a few days, too. ;-)
I have a feeling my blog will become a sort of diary, with fragmentary posts and fragmentary sentences consisting of updates and overtired ramblings. :-D I will try to put up the rest of my Feast posts before November, I dunno if it will happen or not.
This should be fun.
slainte,
Ethan
(Exit, pursused by Aaron trying to drive him up a wall.)
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Monday, October 09, 2006
ACK!
I AM WRITING A BLEEDING COLLEGE APPLICATION ESSAY!
AckAckAck!
dodododododododododooooooooo!!!!!!!
arglarglarglarglarglargl!!!!!!!!
ehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*Deflates like a balloon.*
--
Sorry. I needed to do that. I'm okay now. Really I am.
--
PS, added later: This was just me frazzled and blowing off steam. RachelE has a similar, but good blog entry on her blog. teehee. :-D
AckAckAck!
dodododododododododooooooooo!!!!!!!
arglarglarglarglarglargl!!!!!!!!
ehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*Deflates like a balloon.*
--
Sorry. I needed to do that. I'm okay now. Really I am.
--
PS, added later: This was just me frazzled and blowing off steam. RachelE has a similar, but good blog entry on her blog. teehee. :-D
Thursday, September 28, 2006
The Feast 3: Bring Out the Lightsabers!
So Wednesday started as most days at the Feast did: with me feeling groggy. Which was totally unfair. I mean, the night before, I was always fine when I went to bed. I knew I needed sleep, which was the reason to try and get some, but I never felt liked I needed it. Then the next morning I would feel like I hadn't slept in days. Grr.
Okay, enough about sleep.
That morning Paul didn't feel like eating anything for breakfast save fruit; I didn't feel like eating anything, but I did anyway, 'cuz I knew I'd get hungry later. The pastor and youth leader from the Altamont group stopped by, for some reason expecting us to be with Susan or at least know where she was. ;-) As they walked away, Paul looked groggily after them and said, "Was she wearing a shirt I've seen before?"
Andrew: Um, that... Orange one?
Paul: No, it had some design that was familiar.
Andrew: (Gesturing to my shirt) You mean that?
Paul: (Grins) Yeah! That's the one!
(It seems my Monty Python "No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!" shirt is a duplicate of one owned by, erm, one of Paul's sisters.)
After breakfast we hung about breifly with some MHers, until many of them had to go off to choir (they kept doing that <_<).
We went to chapel. Then we sat close to the front again for Bender, and Paul and Nat and I stayed in the gym after that to hear Klemet Preus give an in-depth sectional on vocation. It was great, not surprising considering the speaker. At one point he asked for examples of vocation, and Paul mentioned "Pickle shelving!", to the amusement of most present (including Pastor Preus). After that, Paul brought said vocation into the proceedings at every oppurtunity. Afterwards we talked to Pr. Prues breifly, and he said to Paul, "Thanks for keeping it interesting."
Then was lunch. I don't remember much about that particular lunch, but I will say that just eating lunch with MHers etc. was very nice. Makes lunch at home seem rather dull in comparison. ;-)
Then I went to a sectional on the church's response to homosexuality, which was very good, by a pastor that I am very baaaaad and can't remember his name.
Next was evening in-depth (at 1:15 PM, teehee). I would like to note here that some of the most quotable things at the Feast came out of this sectional, such as:
Pastor B: Us keeping the law is like me bird-hunting.
Pastor B: ...And we like to think of the New Testament God as a kind God, a loving God, with a sheperd on his shoulder.
Pastor B: Aaron, if I gave you control of the Higher Things webpage for one day, what would you do?
Aaron: Copy it onto my hard drive.
Pastor B: You are worth TONS of dead birds.
And of course:
Pastor B (Illustrating, I think, our reaction to the Gospel, someone correct me on this): lalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalala!!!!!!! (With hands over ears, Pastor B runs around the room, still saying thus, runs out the door, closes the door.) lalalalalala! (Pastor B comes back in, goes back to the center of the room, and looks slightly embarassed.) I wonder if Fehrman heard that. 'The purpose of Lutheran missions is...' lalalalalalalala!"
Ahem.
After that was Moseman's sectional, then Vespers. I beleive this was the one where Andrew and I (maybe Paul, but I think he was somewhere else) arrived later than usual, and MOST of the seats were filled, so we sat in one of the forgotten corners and had no hymn book for half the service. Of course this was the place where the kids who don't really care, and are just there beacause their youth group is, hang out. (There are not many of these kids at HT conferences, I've noticed, but a few do slip through the cracks.)
So after that we met up with Heidi and Tarja and Aaron and Nathan, and all hung out for a little while. People were loading on both charter buses and their groups' own transportation to go to Garden of the Gods. Heidi and Tarja soon had to go off with their group to go to the Garden, and Paul and Andrew and Susan went with a Wisconsin group, but Aaron and Nathan and I kind of opted not to go anywhere.
So the three of us wandered around the CC campus for a time. We didn't really have anybody to go anywhere with, unless we went on a charter bus, but we might have had to sign up so we didn't feel like wrangling with that; and the WI bus only had two seats left, and there were three of us. So we were still wandering, kind of wondering what we'd do to fill up two hours, when we came across the Canadian group. One of us (probably Aaron, but I can't remember) asked something like, "Have you got room for a couple more?" And the drivers in Heidi's group were kind and generous and took us in. (And I must give special thanks to Pr. James (?) for driving both that day and the next. It takes a special kind of person to drive with Aaron in the vehicle and not spontaneously go off the road.)
So we went to Garden of the Gods and messed around in the gift shop for a while. It was threatening to thunder and lightning, but we went out to the hiking trail area anyway and messed around there for a while. Aaron and I had our lightsabers of course, which made us, heh, popular. (Actually, he and I and Heidi had them all day, and there were intermitent duels at certain oppurtunities, such as between classes, at lunch, in the car, etc.)
The Garden itself is a beautiful place, all that red rock sprawled around you; it's kind of indescribable.
After the Garden we went to the Flying W Ranch, for an old-fashioned cowboy meal and a Western show. We arrived and filed into their mess hall, making for the corner tables near the window along the back wall. (Ventilation-- it was hot.) The meal was the best I'd had all week; the show, well, parts of it were alright. Parts of it *coughthegospelsongscough* not so much. During the show Agent Delta came over and passed the message, "Lightsaber fight outside of Worner after we get back tonight."
So after we had finished eating, a bunch of people were out back there, hanging out on a strip of pavement, leaning against the western-style fence, watching the show through the window and talking. And playing with lightsabers. hehe. At one point, Aaron and I and some girls (sorry I don't know who all, exactly) were all leaning against the fence. Aaron was leaning on a support sticking out of the ground, and I was to his left. Suddenly he started away from the fence, and the group of girls to his right went over backward with a screaaam!, and brought that section of fence (a felled tree, I think) down with them. Acoording to one report, "Half the place heard them." I investigated this later and find this claim suspicious at best.
It was shortly after this that a cowboy-dressed guy came back and talked to those of us back there, asking that we keep it down, and saying that people were complaining. teehee. (I think the fence was alright, and no real damage was done, except maybe to some egos. :-D)
The Canadian/North Dakotan group we were with left a little early, to beat the rush back to CC. A group eventually congregated outside of Worner; Aaron had his lightsaber, I had mine, Heidi had hers, and Rachel D brought four or five.
There was a huge lightsaber duel.
Copious amounts of damage was done to the campus grounds. Limbs were chopped off, to lie untouched in the moonlight. Alliances were made and broken. The screams and cries were heard throughout the campus (by morning we were famous). I fought mostly on the side of whoever was outnumbered, since I had one of the two longer sabers. I fought many individual duels as well, and participated in many, er, backstabbings.
It was great fun.
After lightsaber fighting, we went to a birthday party for the Rachels and a friend of theirs named Ellen. We ate globs of frosting, and performed strange experiments with Sweet-N-Low, and played games, etc. We sang happy birthday and included Aaron as well, since his birthday was also a week or so away (happy birthday EllenAaronRachelRachel, happy birthday to you. :-D)
Next we made Aaron go to the wrong Compline again, and I bumbled my way back to our dorm, turned on the old radio shows again, and was soon out like a light. Thus ended Wednesday.
PS.: Thanks to Rachel D for supplying Ellen's name. Ethan's mind not so good. ;-)
Okay, enough about sleep.
That morning Paul didn't feel like eating anything for breakfast save fruit; I didn't feel like eating anything, but I did anyway, 'cuz I knew I'd get hungry later. The pastor and youth leader from the Altamont group stopped by, for some reason expecting us to be with Susan or at least know where she was. ;-) As they walked away, Paul looked groggily after them and said, "Was she wearing a shirt I've seen before?"
Andrew: Um, that... Orange one?
Paul: No, it had some design that was familiar.
Andrew: (Gesturing to my shirt) You mean that?
Paul: (Grins) Yeah! That's the one!
(It seems my Monty Python "No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!" shirt is a duplicate of one owned by, erm, one of Paul's sisters.)
After breakfast we hung about breifly with some MHers, until many of them had to go off to choir (they kept doing that <_<).
We went to chapel. Then we sat close to the front again for Bender, and Paul and Nat and I stayed in the gym after that to hear Klemet Preus give an in-depth sectional on vocation. It was great, not surprising considering the speaker. At one point he asked for examples of vocation, and Paul mentioned "Pickle shelving!", to the amusement of most present (including Pastor Preus). After that, Paul brought said vocation into the proceedings at every oppurtunity. Afterwards we talked to Pr. Prues breifly, and he said to Paul, "Thanks for keeping it interesting."
Then was lunch. I don't remember much about that particular lunch, but I will say that just eating lunch with MHers etc. was very nice. Makes lunch at home seem rather dull in comparison. ;-)
Then I went to a sectional on the church's response to homosexuality, which was very good, by a pastor that I am very baaaaad and can't remember his name.
Next was evening in-depth (at 1:15 PM, teehee). I would like to note here that some of the most quotable things at the Feast came out of this sectional, such as:
Pastor B: Us keeping the law is like me bird-hunting.
Pastor B: ...And we like to think of the New Testament God as a kind God, a loving God, with a sheperd on his shoulder.
Pastor B: Aaron, if I gave you control of the Higher Things webpage for one day, what would you do?
Aaron: Copy it onto my hard drive.
Pastor B: You are worth TONS of dead birds.
And of course:
Pastor B (Illustrating, I think, our reaction to the Gospel, someone correct me on this): lalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalala!!!!!!! (With hands over ears, Pastor B runs around the room, still saying thus, runs out the door, closes the door.) lalalalalala! (Pastor B comes back in, goes back to the center of the room, and looks slightly embarassed.) I wonder if Fehrman heard that. 'The purpose of Lutheran missions is...' lalalalalalalala!"
Ahem.
After that was Moseman's sectional, then Vespers. I beleive this was the one where Andrew and I (maybe Paul, but I think he was somewhere else) arrived later than usual, and MOST of the seats were filled, so we sat in one of the forgotten corners and had no hymn book for half the service. Of course this was the place where the kids who don't really care, and are just there beacause their youth group is, hang out. (There are not many of these kids at HT conferences, I've noticed, but a few do slip through the cracks.)
So after that we met up with Heidi and Tarja and Aaron and Nathan, and all hung out for a little while. People were loading on both charter buses and their groups' own transportation to go to Garden of the Gods. Heidi and Tarja soon had to go off with their group to go to the Garden, and Paul and Andrew and Susan went with a Wisconsin group, but Aaron and Nathan and I kind of opted not to go anywhere.
So the three of us wandered around the CC campus for a time. We didn't really have anybody to go anywhere with, unless we went on a charter bus, but we might have had to sign up so we didn't feel like wrangling with that; and the WI bus only had two seats left, and there were three of us. So we were still wandering, kind of wondering what we'd do to fill up two hours, when we came across the Canadian group. One of us (probably Aaron, but I can't remember) asked something like, "Have you got room for a couple more?" And the drivers in Heidi's group were kind and generous and took us in. (And I must give special thanks to Pr. James (?) for driving both that day and the next. It takes a special kind of person to drive with Aaron in the vehicle and not spontaneously go off the road.)
So we went to Garden of the Gods and messed around in the gift shop for a while. It was threatening to thunder and lightning, but we went out to the hiking trail area anyway and messed around there for a while. Aaron and I had our lightsabers of course, which made us, heh, popular. (Actually, he and I and Heidi had them all day, and there were intermitent duels at certain oppurtunities, such as between classes, at lunch, in the car, etc.)
The Garden itself is a beautiful place, all that red rock sprawled around you; it's kind of indescribable.
After the Garden we went to the Flying W Ranch, for an old-fashioned cowboy meal and a Western show. We arrived and filed into their mess hall, making for the corner tables near the window along the back wall. (Ventilation-- it was hot.) The meal was the best I'd had all week; the show, well, parts of it were alright. Parts of it *coughthegospelsongscough* not so much. During the show Agent Delta came over and passed the message, "Lightsaber fight outside of Worner after we get back tonight."
So after we had finished eating, a bunch of people were out back there, hanging out on a strip of pavement, leaning against the western-style fence, watching the show through the window and talking. And playing with lightsabers. hehe. At one point, Aaron and I and some girls (sorry I don't know who all, exactly) were all leaning against the fence. Aaron was leaning on a support sticking out of the ground, and I was to his left. Suddenly he started away from the fence, and the group of girls to his right went over backward with a screaaam!, and brought that section of fence (a felled tree, I think) down with them. Acoording to one report, "Half the place heard them." I investigated this later and find this claim suspicious at best.
It was shortly after this that a cowboy-dressed guy came back and talked to those of us back there, asking that we keep it down, and saying that people were complaining. teehee. (I think the fence was alright, and no real damage was done, except maybe to some egos. :-D)
The Canadian/North Dakotan group we were with left a little early, to beat the rush back to CC. A group eventually congregated outside of Worner; Aaron had his lightsaber, I had mine, Heidi had hers, and Rachel D brought four or five.
There was a huge lightsaber duel.
Copious amounts of damage was done to the campus grounds. Limbs were chopped off, to lie untouched in the moonlight. Alliances were made and broken. The screams and cries were heard throughout the campus (by morning we were famous). I fought mostly on the side of whoever was outnumbered, since I had one of the two longer sabers. I fought many individual duels as well, and participated in many, er, backstabbings.
It was great fun.
After lightsaber fighting, we went to a birthday party for the Rachels and a friend of theirs named Ellen. We ate globs of frosting, and performed strange experiments with Sweet-N-Low, and played games, etc. We sang happy birthday and included Aaron as well, since his birthday was also a week or so away (happy birthday EllenAaronRachelRachel, happy birthday to you. :-D)
Next we made Aaron go to the wrong Compline again, and I bumbled my way back to our dorm, turned on the old radio shows again, and was soon out like a light. Thus ended Wednesday.
PS.: Thanks to Rachel D for supplying Ellen's name. Ethan's mind not so good. ;-)
Monday, September 25, 2006
Patience, My Children!
Greetings, Ladies and Germs (by which I mean Colin).
I have recieved some slightly, hem, impatient feed back wondering when the next Feast post will be up. In truth, I planned to post The Feast 3 soon after posting the two below. But then I acquired a nasty virus which knocked me out for several days. I am nearly fully recovered now, but I haven't had a chance to post much. I don't have time to write the whole Feast post now, but I just wanted to post an update and say this.
Oh and btw, my Links section is almost fully updated! Yay!
Ethan
(Exit, pursued by a bear)
PS. The Post Title was in the style of Bob, 'cuz I felt like it. :D
I have recieved some slightly, hem, impatient feed back wondering when the next Feast post will be up. In truth, I planned to post The Feast 3 soon after posting the two below. But then I acquired a nasty virus which knocked me out for several days. I am nearly fully recovered now, but I haven't had a chance to post much. I don't have time to write the whole Feast post now, but I just wanted to post an update and say this.
Oh and btw, my Links section is almost fully updated! Yay!
Ethan
(Exit, pursued by a bear)
PS. The Post Title was in the style of Bob, 'cuz I felt like it. :D
Friday, September 15, 2006
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Update and Nigel Burch (And My Faulkner Theory)
Have you ever read anything by William Faulkner? Neither have I. Yet I have decided that he is nothing but a rip-off on Shakespeare. You know the type-- The ones who rip off GOOD authors and sell said rip-offs to the ignorant masses who have neither read the good authors nor care to read them.
"But sir," says the imaginary You. "Surely Faulkner IS one of the good authors."
"But sir," says another You. "I have studied Faulkner in college."
And to You(s) I say: Poor children. You have become part of the lie that is Faulkner.
But never fear. I am here to expose this lie to the World!
Faulkner's most famous work is the book The Sound and the Fury. This is an obvious take from Shakespeare's MacBeth:
Life is but a walking shadow
A poor player who struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more
It is a tale told by an idiot,
Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Then there is another work of Faulkner's, called The Hamlet. And guess what? It's set in a small Mississippi town. Sound familiar? eh? Sound anything like a similarly titled work of Shakespeare's set in a small European Kingdom?
And then of course, there's this, which I hardly need to point out:
William Shakespeare
William Faulkner
SAME FIRST NAME!
But (and this is the real clincher) if you write those names again, and rearrange the letters in one of them slightly, you get:
William Shakespeare
William ---ake-----r-
William SHAKESPEARE!
That's right, if you rearrange the letters in Faulkner's name, take out an F, u, l, and n, and add a h, two s's, p, a, and two e's, you get WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE!
I believe I have proven my case.
--
In other news: Nigel Burch sent me an e-mail!
A while ago I posted about how I really liked/couldn't stop listening to the song by Nigel Burch and his Flea Pit Orchestra, "I Used To Be Mad". It's a great song, by a great skiffle/barroom ballad/Irish/rock group. Well, the other day the man himself sent me an email mentioning it and stuff. It bloody well made my day!
See also: www.myspace.com/nigelburch
(I wonder what it says about me that I am more excited about getting an e-mail from Nigel Burch (no offense to Nigel) than I would be about getting one from, say... some American rock band. ;-))
(I also wonder what it says about me that I can't think of ANY popular American rock groups off the top of my head.)
(Footnote for those interested: I DO NOT go on Myspace regularly, because it annoys me, among other reasons. However I go on ONCE IN A WHILE to listen to certain songs by certain bands.)
--
The other day we went to see Shakespeare's Julius Caeser by American Players Theatre, one of the best Shakespeare troups in the country. Paul and Andrew were there, as was Jeremy, which was fun. It was cold and raining the whole time, but the play was great anyway. (They perform in this really cool amphitheatre set high on a hill in the middle of some woods. Outdoors, in case that wasn't clear.) With about twenty-five minutes to go in the last act, the rain really started to pour down. A girl came on stage with a loudspeaker to announce that we should all adjourn to the lobby. We waited under what shelter there was, until another announcement came to announce that we would all move down the hill into a big white tent, where the play would finish. I ducked under an umbrella with Jeremy and some of his family, and we did the penguin-walk partway down the hill. Finally Jeremy and I were kind of like, "Screw it," and ducked from under the umbrella and ran for it, weaving through the crowd and jumping puddles (kind of reminded me of another sprint through cold rain I took once, though this was not so extreme as that one ;-)). When we got to the tent a whole ton of the Public-schoolers had left, but us die-hards (i.e. the homeschoolers) stayed to the bitter end. Quite fun, actually.
Yesterday we went to Bethesda, a HUGE rummage sale (charity benefit for a WELS group, actually). They basically take over the county fairgrounds, and have garage-sale-ish stuff in EVER BLOODY BUILDING! We were there because my mom is an antique dealer and she gets alot of stuff to resell there, and she needed, erm, muscle, to haul stuff around.
They had a really cool book section; I got King Solomon's Mines , an old pulp fantasy book (classic) that has actually been hard to find. I also got the Complete Short Stories and Poems of Poe, and an old Conan book with a cool poster of Conan slaughtering a group of supernatural monsters; and some other stuff.
--
So yeah, just thought I'd take a break from the Feast posts for a (SHORT) while to give an update and get rid of some inane ideas. I haven't been doing too much else worthy of note lately. School started and while I was sad to see summer end, but I guess it had to sometime.
I haven't been writing much, I should probably do something with one of my stories. But I've been reading alot.
So bye bye Laura, no one else could ever take your place
So bye bye Laura, your beauty will never fade
--Laura, Flogging Molly
btw, Flogging Molly's new CD/DVD set is out, it's awesome, especially the documentary, I HIGHLY RECCOMEND IT!
Well, that's all I've got for now. :-D
'Cuz me I used to be mentally ill,
Slainte!
Ethan
(Exit, pursued by a bear)
"But sir," says the imaginary You. "Surely Faulkner IS one of the good authors."
"But sir," says another You. "I have studied Faulkner in college."
And to You(s) I say: Poor children. You have become part of the lie that is Faulkner.
But never fear. I am here to expose this lie to the World!
Faulkner's most famous work is the book The Sound and the Fury. This is an obvious take from Shakespeare's MacBeth:
Life is but a walking shadow
A poor player who struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more
It is a tale told by an idiot,
Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Then there is another work of Faulkner's, called The Hamlet. And guess what? It's set in a small Mississippi town. Sound familiar? eh? Sound anything like a similarly titled work of Shakespeare's set in a small European Kingdom?
And then of course, there's this, which I hardly need to point out:
William Shakespeare
William Faulkner
SAME FIRST NAME!
But (and this is the real clincher) if you write those names again, and rearrange the letters in one of them slightly, you get:
William Shakespeare
William ---ake-----r-
William SHAKESPEARE!
That's right, if you rearrange the letters in Faulkner's name, take out an F, u, l, and n, and add a h, two s's, p, a, and two e's, you get WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE!
I believe I have proven my case.
--
In other news: Nigel Burch sent me an e-mail!
A while ago I posted about how I really liked/couldn't stop listening to the song by Nigel Burch and his Flea Pit Orchestra, "I Used To Be Mad". It's a great song, by a great skiffle/barroom ballad/Irish/rock group. Well, the other day the man himself sent me an email mentioning it and stuff. It bloody well made my day!
See also: www.myspace.com/nigelburch
(I wonder what it says about me that I am more excited about getting an e-mail from Nigel Burch (no offense to Nigel) than I would be about getting one from, say... some American rock band. ;-))
(I also wonder what it says about me that I can't think of ANY popular American rock groups off the top of my head.)
(Footnote for those interested: I DO NOT go on Myspace regularly, because it annoys me, among other reasons. However I go on ONCE IN A WHILE to listen to certain songs by certain bands.)
--
The other day we went to see Shakespeare's Julius Caeser by American Players Theatre, one of the best Shakespeare troups in the country. Paul and Andrew were there, as was Jeremy, which was fun. It was cold and raining the whole time, but the play was great anyway. (They perform in this really cool amphitheatre set high on a hill in the middle of some woods. Outdoors, in case that wasn't clear.) With about twenty-five minutes to go in the last act, the rain really started to pour down. A girl came on stage with a loudspeaker to announce that we should all adjourn to the lobby. We waited under what shelter there was, until another announcement came to announce that we would all move down the hill into a big white tent, where the play would finish. I ducked under an umbrella with Jeremy and some of his family, and we did the penguin-walk partway down the hill. Finally Jeremy and I were kind of like, "Screw it," and ducked from under the umbrella and ran for it, weaving through the crowd and jumping puddles (kind of reminded me of another sprint through cold rain I took once, though this was not so extreme as that one ;-)). When we got to the tent a whole ton of the Public-schoolers had left, but us die-hards (i.e. the homeschoolers) stayed to the bitter end. Quite fun, actually.
Yesterday we went to Bethesda, a HUGE rummage sale (charity benefit for a WELS group, actually). They basically take over the county fairgrounds, and have garage-sale-ish stuff in EVER BLOODY BUILDING! We were there because my mom is an antique dealer and she gets alot of stuff to resell there, and she needed, erm, muscle, to haul stuff around.
They had a really cool book section; I got King Solomon's Mines , an old pulp fantasy book (classic) that has actually been hard to find. I also got the Complete Short Stories and Poems of Poe, and an old Conan book with a cool poster of Conan slaughtering a group of supernatural monsters; and some other stuff.
--
So yeah, just thought I'd take a break from the Feast posts for a (SHORT) while to give an update and get rid of some inane ideas. I haven't been doing too much else worthy of note lately. School started and while I was sad to see summer end, but I guess it had to sometime.
I haven't been writing much, I should probably do something with one of my stories. But I've been reading alot.
So bye bye Laura, no one else could ever take your place
So bye bye Laura, your beauty will never fade
--Laura, Flogging Molly
btw, Flogging Molly's new CD/DVD set is out, it's awesome, especially the documentary, I HIGHLY RECCOMEND IT!
Well, that's all I've got for now. :-D
'Cuz me I used to be mentally ill,
Slainte!
Ethan
(Exit, pursued by a bear)
Thursday, August 31, 2006
The Feast 2: Teusday
After only a little while of wandering around the CC (Confusing Campus), Paul and Andrew and Susan and I found our apartment. We walked in, and were seriously floored. The place had a bottom floor with a spacious living room, cable TV, a better kitchen than either of our families had, a bedroom and a passable bathroom/shower. It also had an upstairs with three more bedrroms! The on I was assigned even had two beds (I imagined a Harpo-ish skit, where I arranged one bed and then went to sleep on the other). We think we had our odd male/female ratio to thank for this, as these were probably the most sensible rooms for a mother with three children. ;-)
After settling in a bit, and taking showers to wash off what was for me twenty-seven hours' worth of car/bus riding, we set out in search of some food, any food. In our wanderings (they were pretty much random at this point) we ran across Aaron, Heidi, and Tarja. We did a bit of breif introducing, then Aaron directed us toward a hope of food. We ended up in Worner. I bought and ate a fruit cup; I thought I wasn't very hungry, but I think I had a touch of altitude sickness.
At Worner, we ran into Heidi and Aaron and Tarja again, as well as Agent Delta. The group of us stood around talking for a while. Aaron assigned Paul to kill me with his big giant glass Sobe bottle (he FAILED, thank you very very much). After a while, some people had to go off to choir practice. Those of us with bad singing voices and/or little courage wandered around Worner, still talking. Then we went to chapel.
As Rachel E said later that day, "It's worth coming just for Divine Service." And it was. The service was traditional, confessional; beautifully done. The choir sounded amazing (Even with Aaron in it ;-)), the preaching was dead-on, the liturgy was what liturgy is supposed to be; yet none of it glorified the people involved. All the praise, the ceremony, the teaching, and of course the Lord's Supper, was about God coming to us through His Word and Sacraments. I never cry in church. I don't know why, I just don't. But I very nearly did at this service.
After church I just barely kept up with Paul as he threaded through the crowd at breakneck speed, taking secret passageways through the gym building to be front and center for Rev. Bender's Catechism session. So yes, if you saw a brown-haired kid acting goofy because the camera on Bender included him in its shot, that was Paul. :-D
Bender was great. He's a great speaker and a great teacher, and, as usual with HT speakers, both easy to follow and challenging.
After that, Paul and I hung around outside Worner, waiting for our time to go to supper. We, ahem, fenced (using our conference books) and acted generally insane and somewhat hyper. Several groups approached, looked at us breifly, and left in a hurry. :-D
We went in to supper, in the cafeteria. The cafeteria food, in general, was good, if not great. Sometimes I thought it made me sick when I looked at it, but I think this was again because of slight altitude sickness making me not want to eat. Midway through the meal we realized we didn;t know which sectionals we were going to, so discussion began in earnest. Aaron and I ended up deciding to attend "Ask the Pastor" together. Little did we know what we were in for.
It was held in Olin, which was apparently the one building Aaron did not know the location of, even after three weeks on-campus previously. So we frantically studied the big map outside Worner, and our maps, and determined a general heading. Aaron, his brother Nathan and I set off. We crossed the street and were heading for a likely building when Aaron looked at a passing group and recognition creased his face.
Aaron: I see a Rachel! Wait, two Rachels.
Nathan: HEY RACHEL!
*Rachels look up, startled*
*Ethan, Aaron and Rachel E and Rachel D meet and talk.*
Aaron: Llamas taste good.
Rachel E: They do! I've tasted some!
Aaron: *A rare moment of shocked silence*
Rachel E: I hug all MHers! *She hugs all MHers present*
*The two groups are forced, due to time constraints, to part*
The three of us coninued toward the building we were heading for. Entering, we found it empty and silent. Another study of the map gave us a new heading, and finally we found a building labeled Olin. No, two buildings labeled Olin, and no indication of which one we wanted. We went all through one, then the other, to no avail. Returning to the first, I suddenly heard a voice. Following said voice, we came to a door seemingly placed so as to fool outsiders to its existence. Though we arrived ten minutes late, the session was just starting. It was good, I was able to ask a couple questions I would have gone to other sessions to learn about, thus helping narrow down my choices for some other sessions (from, say, four to three).
Then we went to Plenary Session. Paul and I later found we liked to gipe about these sessions, as the speaker was more of a stand-up comic and not so challenging. But they were fun times to chill with a bunch of MHers. (Wow, did I just use the word 'chill'? Scary.)
Then came my favorite sectional, Pr. Borghardt's "The Law, the Gospel, and What to do With the Rest of My Life." I'm not sure whether this was because of Pr. B's hilarious style, his great teaching, or the fact that many/most of the MHers attended this one, so (as Heidi says) "We had our own seating section." Probably all three. :-D
Next was evening prayer (and I would like to remark here that even the HT 'short' services are very well-done).
Then a bunch of us rendezvoused and headed over to Worner and began playing a card game which Heidi brought/taught. I quite liked it, but too many people were tired and left (I couldn't exactly fathom this. I mean, I was quite tired at this point, but I knew my body wouldn't sleep, ESPECIALLY knowing that there were MHers roaming around loose). We switched games, and began playing slaps, Egyptian rat trap, Egyptian rat screw, and rat slap (all at the same time). ;-) Btw, Aaron's class ring is a weapon. I don't care what anybody says.
After a while it was time for Compline. We attempted to figure out which building we were supposed to go to. We didn't know when we left Worner, but finally figured out where some of us were supposed to be, and all decided to go there.
(I beleive it was determined much later that we were all in the proper place save Aaron, who technically should have been at Loomis, which had its own compline. Ah well. N trespassed, as usual. :-D)
After saying goodnight, I wandered around a while until I found my dorm (I swear, there were three or four buildings that looked EXACTLY the same, and mine was one of them.)
Upon arriving, pretty much everybody I stayed with went straight to bed. I did too, but couldn't sleep. I turned on the clock-radio in my room, and found a station playing those really old radio dramas with lines like:
"Detective, what are you feeling?"
"Well, I've got an expression of shock and concern on my face, what do you think?"
Thus ended Teusday (at one o'clock Wednesday).
(EDIT: Card games at Worner, not Olin. Thanks alot, Aaron. ;-))
After settling in a bit, and taking showers to wash off what was for me twenty-seven hours' worth of car/bus riding, we set out in search of some food, any food. In our wanderings (they were pretty much random at this point) we ran across Aaron, Heidi, and Tarja. We did a bit of breif introducing, then Aaron directed us toward a hope of food. We ended up in Worner. I bought and ate a fruit cup; I thought I wasn't very hungry, but I think I had a touch of altitude sickness.
At Worner, we ran into Heidi and Aaron and Tarja again, as well as Agent Delta. The group of us stood around talking for a while. Aaron assigned Paul to kill me with his big giant glass Sobe bottle (he FAILED, thank you very very much). After a while, some people had to go off to choir practice. Those of us with bad singing voices and/or little courage wandered around Worner, still talking. Then we went to chapel.
As Rachel E said later that day, "It's worth coming just for Divine Service." And it was. The service was traditional, confessional; beautifully done. The choir sounded amazing (Even with Aaron in it ;-)), the preaching was dead-on, the liturgy was what liturgy is supposed to be; yet none of it glorified the people involved. All the praise, the ceremony, the teaching, and of course the Lord's Supper, was about God coming to us through His Word and Sacraments. I never cry in church. I don't know why, I just don't. But I very nearly did at this service.
After church I just barely kept up with Paul as he threaded through the crowd at breakneck speed, taking secret passageways through the gym building to be front and center for Rev. Bender's Catechism session. So yes, if you saw a brown-haired kid acting goofy because the camera on Bender included him in its shot, that was Paul. :-D
Bender was great. He's a great speaker and a great teacher, and, as usual with HT speakers, both easy to follow and challenging.
After that, Paul and I hung around outside Worner, waiting for our time to go to supper. We, ahem, fenced (using our conference books) and acted generally insane and somewhat hyper. Several groups approached, looked at us breifly, and left in a hurry. :-D
We went in to supper, in the cafeteria. The cafeteria food, in general, was good, if not great. Sometimes I thought it made me sick when I looked at it, but I think this was again because of slight altitude sickness making me not want to eat. Midway through the meal we realized we didn;t know which sectionals we were going to, so discussion began in earnest. Aaron and I ended up deciding to attend "Ask the Pastor" together. Little did we know what we were in for.
It was held in Olin, which was apparently the one building Aaron did not know the location of, even after three weeks on-campus previously. So we frantically studied the big map outside Worner, and our maps, and determined a general heading. Aaron, his brother Nathan and I set off. We crossed the street and were heading for a likely building when Aaron looked at a passing group and recognition creased his face.
Aaron: I see a Rachel! Wait, two Rachels.
Nathan: HEY RACHEL!
*Rachels look up, startled*
*Ethan, Aaron and Rachel E and Rachel D meet and talk.*
Aaron: Llamas taste good.
Rachel E: They do! I've tasted some!
Aaron: *A rare moment of shocked silence*
Rachel E: I hug all MHers! *She hugs all MHers present*
*The two groups are forced, due to time constraints, to part*
The three of us coninued toward the building we were heading for. Entering, we found it empty and silent. Another study of the map gave us a new heading, and finally we found a building labeled Olin. No, two buildings labeled Olin, and no indication of which one we wanted. We went all through one, then the other, to no avail. Returning to the first, I suddenly heard a voice. Following said voice, we came to a door seemingly placed so as to fool outsiders to its existence. Though we arrived ten minutes late, the session was just starting. It was good, I was able to ask a couple questions I would have gone to other sessions to learn about, thus helping narrow down my choices for some other sessions (from, say, four to three).
Then we went to Plenary Session. Paul and I later found we liked to gipe about these sessions, as the speaker was more of a stand-up comic and not so challenging. But they were fun times to chill with a bunch of MHers. (Wow, did I just use the word 'chill'? Scary.)
Then came my favorite sectional, Pr. Borghardt's "The Law, the Gospel, and What to do With the Rest of My Life." I'm not sure whether this was because of Pr. B's hilarious style, his great teaching, or the fact that many/most of the MHers attended this one, so (as Heidi says) "We had our own seating section." Probably all three. :-D
Next was evening prayer (and I would like to remark here that even the HT 'short' services are very well-done).
Then a bunch of us rendezvoused and headed over to Worner and began playing a card game which Heidi brought/taught. I quite liked it, but too many people were tired and left (I couldn't exactly fathom this. I mean, I was quite tired at this point, but I knew my body wouldn't sleep, ESPECIALLY knowing that there were MHers roaming around loose). We switched games, and began playing slaps, Egyptian rat trap, Egyptian rat screw, and rat slap (all at the same time). ;-) Btw, Aaron's class ring is a weapon. I don't care what anybody says.
After a while it was time for Compline. We attempted to figure out which building we were supposed to go to. We didn't know when we left Worner, but finally figured out where some of us were supposed to be, and all decided to go there.
(I beleive it was determined much later that we were all in the proper place save Aaron, who technically should have been at Loomis, which had its own compline. Ah well. N trespassed, as usual. :-D)
After saying goodnight, I wandered around a while until I found my dorm (I swear, there were three or four buildings that looked EXACTLY the same, and mine was one of them.)
Upon arriving, pretty much everybody I stayed with went straight to bed. I did too, but couldn't sleep. I turned on the clock-radio in my room, and found a station playing those really old radio dramas with lines like:
"Detective, what are you feeling?"
"Well, I've got an expression of shock and concern on my face, what do you think?"
Thus ended Teusday (at one o'clock Wednesday).
(EDIT: Card games at Worner, not Olin. Thanks alot, Aaron. ;-))
The Feast 1: Getting There
I have decided I must write down my Feast memories somewhere, and this seems as good a place as any. Perhaps I was inspired by outside sources (yes I'm a copycat Heidi, sue me :D). This is mainly for my own memories, people don't have to read/comment unless they want to. And yes, unlike certain other people *coughAaroncough* I WILL be finishing this, whic means there will be four or five Feast posts.
It started on Monday morning, my dad and I arose before six and got in the car to drive two hours to join Paul, Andrew, and Susan for the trip south to meet our bus. The trip took about four hours, but it didn't seem that long; mainly because the conversation was entertaining. It was the usual fare; started off with talk of Evolution vs. Creationism, and conjecture as to why scientists will support a theory they know to be wrong; it evolved into talk of the 'Taking Over the World' thread that had been raging on MH lately, and other various wars/factions associated with MH/HT. Paul put forth his theory that the wars against Peeps and Olives were merely peices of Aaron's ultimate plan to take over the world; ie, we'll take out Peeps and Olives, then move onto the rest of the factions.
It was here that I came up with the idea that in a few years you'll be able to go to the Military History section of a bookstore and find a book entitled "MouthHouse Wars," and that at the center will be a huge fold-out diagram of everybody associated with these wars, and what factions they belong to; and that, if you work everything out, everybody probably should have both killed and supported everybody else at least twice. Paul showed me a sheaf of his comics; some of them were quite good.
We arrived in Altamont, IL, and drove around those ridiculous flat IL roads looking for the church where we were to meet the bus. We found it, stopped at the church for homemade ice-cream, before loading up and setting out on the seventeen-hour ride to CO Springs, CO.
The ride went fairly well; we watched stupid movies and talked. Most of the Altamont kids were jock-ish and kind of ignored us; but we talked to a couple of the more geek- (read: Star Wars) inclined kids.
Memorable moments: Paul created a new superhero, Meta-Chap. His power? He can chap people's lips. He and I sort of collaborated on a comic featuring him:
Evil Bad Guy: HaHA, Meta-Chap, now you are captured, and my evil minions will take over the world, and...
Meta-Chap: I have chapped your lips! Your evil monologue is cut short!
EBG: *Gestures to minions* Just kill him.
M-C: *Dies.*
Um, passing through Kansas (or maybe we were in CO by then) in the evening, we saw a stealth bomber flying pretty low. (Or was it a fighter? I keep forgettting. The military-geek kid explained it to us, and I still forget.) Anyway, 'twas cool. Paul took a picture of it, but only as it was fading. As I remarked then and Aaron would remark later on seeing it: "Well, it's either a Stealth Fighter or a smudge on the camera lense." I also came up with this dialogue:
"It's a picture of a stealth fighter."
"I don't see it."
"That's because it's a STEALTH fighter."
Also, while passing through Kansas, I could not help but notice the landscape, or lack thereof. That baby is FLAT. I remarked to someone, "I don't know what the Indians saw in this place." They said to imagine hordes of buffalo roaming the praire. Then I could see it; but still, you'd think that two of them eight hundred years ago might have a dialogue something like this:
Red Pony: You know, if you take away all the buffalo out here, what do you get?
High Horse: I dunno. Grass?
Red Pony: And what else?
High Horse: um... Grass? There's trees over there. No wait, that's also grass.
Red Pony: Yeah. Without the Buffalo, this place is pretty sad.
High Horse: So what do we do, move?
Red Pony: Maybe not now. Maybe we could wait till alot more people arrivve and shoot them all for us.
*High Horse and Red Pony stare at each other, and decide that the conversation never happened.*
(In case anyone's curious, I came up with this ON THE BUS. This, my children, is what fifteen hours on a bus will do to you.)
Sleep was a fitful thing that night; I'd doze off for a couple hours, wake up, read myself back to sleep, wake up again. I remember thinking that direct city lights are harsh, but are rather pretty when reflected panoramically in bus windows. however this thought came when I was half-asleep, so it should probably be ignored.
We arrived in Co Springs about four hours ahead of schedule, drove around a while, stopped at Wal-Mart for some stuff, then went to have breakfast at Perkins. I had what Susan called a "Heaping plate of meat and white flour," (pretty much their whole breakfast menu was variations on this).
Well, we drove down to CC and found the registration place. We were two hours early, but people were already registering. Susan went out for a quick scouting run, and almost immediately brought back reports of some weirdo in a purple toga. :P :D
Soon the bus dropped us near our rooms, and we had Arrived.
(Note for this and future Feast posts: if there is something essential I have left out, let me know. These posts may experience some slight editing. ;-))
It started on Monday morning, my dad and I arose before six and got in the car to drive two hours to join Paul, Andrew, and Susan for the trip south to meet our bus. The trip took about four hours, but it didn't seem that long; mainly because the conversation was entertaining. It was the usual fare; started off with talk of Evolution vs. Creationism, and conjecture as to why scientists will support a theory they know to be wrong; it evolved into talk of the 'Taking Over the World' thread that had been raging on MH lately, and other various wars/factions associated with MH/HT. Paul put forth his theory that the wars against Peeps and Olives were merely peices of Aaron's ultimate plan to take over the world; ie, we'll take out Peeps and Olives, then move onto the rest of the factions.
It was here that I came up with the idea that in a few years you'll be able to go to the Military History section of a bookstore and find a book entitled "MouthHouse Wars," and that at the center will be a huge fold-out diagram of everybody associated with these wars, and what factions they belong to; and that, if you work everything out, everybody probably should have both killed and supported everybody else at least twice. Paul showed me a sheaf of his comics; some of them were quite good.
We arrived in Altamont, IL, and drove around those ridiculous flat IL roads looking for the church where we were to meet the bus. We found it, stopped at the church for homemade ice-cream, before loading up and setting out on the seventeen-hour ride to CO Springs, CO.
The ride went fairly well; we watched stupid movies and talked. Most of the Altamont kids were jock-ish and kind of ignored us; but we talked to a couple of the more geek- (read: Star Wars) inclined kids.
Memorable moments: Paul created a new superhero, Meta-Chap. His power? He can chap people's lips. He and I sort of collaborated on a comic featuring him:
Evil Bad Guy: HaHA, Meta-Chap, now you are captured, and my evil minions will take over the world, and...
Meta-Chap: I have chapped your lips! Your evil monologue is cut short!
EBG: *Gestures to minions* Just kill him.
M-C: *Dies.*
Um, passing through Kansas (or maybe we were in CO by then) in the evening, we saw a stealth bomber flying pretty low. (Or was it a fighter? I keep forgettting. The military-geek kid explained it to us, and I still forget.) Anyway, 'twas cool. Paul took a picture of it, but only as it was fading. As I remarked then and Aaron would remark later on seeing it: "Well, it's either a Stealth Fighter or a smudge on the camera lense." I also came up with this dialogue:
"It's a picture of a stealth fighter."
"I don't see it."
"That's because it's a STEALTH fighter."
Also, while passing through Kansas, I could not help but notice the landscape, or lack thereof. That baby is FLAT. I remarked to someone, "I don't know what the Indians saw in this place." They said to imagine hordes of buffalo roaming the praire. Then I could see it; but still, you'd think that two of them eight hundred years ago might have a dialogue something like this:
Red Pony: You know, if you take away all the buffalo out here, what do you get?
High Horse: I dunno. Grass?
Red Pony: And what else?
High Horse: um... Grass? There's trees over there. No wait, that's also grass.
Red Pony: Yeah. Without the Buffalo, this place is pretty sad.
High Horse: So what do we do, move?
Red Pony: Maybe not now. Maybe we could wait till alot more people arrivve and shoot them all for us.
*High Horse and Red Pony stare at each other, and decide that the conversation never happened.*
(In case anyone's curious, I came up with this ON THE BUS. This, my children, is what fifteen hours on a bus will do to you.)
Sleep was a fitful thing that night; I'd doze off for a couple hours, wake up, read myself back to sleep, wake up again. I remember thinking that direct city lights are harsh, but are rather pretty when reflected panoramically in bus windows. however this thought came when I was half-asleep, so it should probably be ignored.
We arrived in Co Springs about four hours ahead of schedule, drove around a while, stopped at Wal-Mart for some stuff, then went to have breakfast at Perkins. I had what Susan called a "Heaping plate of meat and white flour," (pretty much their whole breakfast menu was variations on this).
Well, we drove down to CC and found the registration place. We were two hours early, but people were already registering. Susan went out for a quick scouting run, and almost immediately brought back reports of some weirdo in a purple toga. :P :D
Soon the bus dropped us near our rooms, and we had Arrived.
(Note for this and future Feast posts: if there is something essential I have left out, let me know. These posts may experience some slight editing. ;-))
Sunday, August 20, 2006
IrishFest!
I just got back from the Isle of Skye
I'm not very big and I'm awfully shy
The lassies say as I go by
"Donald, where's your troosers?"
The wind blow high and the wind blow low
Down the streets in my kilt I go
All the lassies say "Hello,
Donald where's your troosers?"
-Donald, Where's Your Troosers?, Irish traditional
So yesterday, immediately after reassuring someone on AIM that I was not, in fact, avoiding them, I had to rush off (oh the irony! It almost killed me--but it failed, as always) to get in the car and drive with my family three hours to Milwaukee to go to Irish Fest.
On arrival, we met up with my Aunt Nancy (not a real aunt--my parents' good friend from college, Zeke and I call her aunt) and some of her friends. Nancy Is as much of an Irish music/culture freak as my brother and I.
We immediately went to a show by the Kottars, a great traditional Celtic group from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. They did some great jigs and reels, but they also had some really strong ballads and other songs. At one point they did a song called "I'm Ready for the Storm," and the sun cam out. One of them pointed this out, and another said "Aye, reverse psychology."
Then we went to see Malachy McCourt (brother of Frank McCourt, author of Angela's Ashes). Malachy is a great comic/storyteller. He told one story about a friend of his who was very quick on his feet. "And one day, Danny got on the train. And there were no seats left except one, and an Englishman had his dog in it. So the conductor says, 'This man's been working all day, and he's hot and tired, and could he have a seat?'
"So the Englishman moves his dog, and says, ' A sad day it is when a dog must move for an Irishman.' And ol' Danny sits, and he says, 'That's quite a nice dog you got there, what kind is it?' And the Enlgishman, not givin' 'im an inch, says, 'He's half Irishman, and half baboon.' And so Danny says, 'Well b'jasus, he's related to both of us!'"
After that, we got some good Irish cofee and sat and talked a little while. My brother and I went off to do a little shopping, got some candy at the Irish candy stall (I swear the candy they have in Ireland and England is a hundred times better than what you can get over here). My brother, who was wearing his Got Kilt? shirt, and his kilt, got some comments, while I had a couple people look at my shirt and go, "The same to you!" (I was wearing my shirt that says "POG MO THOIN", Irish for Kiss My "Boxers".)
An aside here, because I have no better place to put it: the crowds at Irishfest are always interesting. You have the yuppies who go either because they think Irish-ness is just so cool, or because it's something to do, or because they go to all the cultural things, some combination thereof. Then there are the drunks, who hang around Irishfest because a) that's where all the beer is, or b) because they love Irish music, and that's where all the beer is. Then there are the, er, geeks, the types who love Irish music and culture, and go mainly for the music and cultural stuff. (Zeke and Nancy and I fit into this one.) There are other catgories I could talk about, but I won't for fear of rambling. ;)
We met back up with the adults breifly, before heading to the other side of the park. Our destination was a great CD booth that had seemingly all the greatest Celtic bands; I got a CD by Ashley MacIsaac that I had been looking for but previously been able to find for sale only in Canada; also Flogging Molly's latest, CD/DVD combo--the CD has live versions of some of their songs, that are faster and better than the versions already released.
We were right by the Celtic Rock stage, and got to see the last three or four songs by Young Dubliners. They're a pretty good band, as I knew already, and even better live.Then we got supper (typically unidentifiable Irish fare), and settled down by the Celtic Rock stage to wait for this band Zeke wanted to check out based on their name, Enter the Haggis. I thought the name was great, but expected them to be typical Celtic punk--Pogues knockoffs that weren't quite as good.
This was not the case.
They started out with a great fiddle riff, and added hard guitar chords, that sounded really cool without being obnoxious. They did a couple more sets of rocked-up jigs and reels, sounding like they took some cues from Wolfstone, but more ragged--they sounded more punky, while Wolfstone is more rock. Plus the pipes are different.
Next came what was probably my favorite thing all day: they did the best version I've ever heard of "Donald, Where's Your Troosers?" In the middle the piper told this long story about how last night he had partied a little too hard, and almost drove a van. But no, (he said) that would have been ("Seriously now, folks,") irrespnsible. So he did the responsible thing, and stole someone's bike. Then he thought the Milwaukee Police were after him, but it was really the fiddle player. "What seems to be the trouble, officer?" "Well, sir, you're not wearing any pants." (Kilt joke there, teehee). And in explanation, the piper starts singing the forst verse of "Donald, Where's your Troosers?" (see above).
So to cut it short ('cuz otherwise I'll go on all night), Enter the Haggis is awesome. Check them out if you get a chance.
After that, we went to Gaelic Storm and caught their last half-dozen songs. Then we wandered around for a while, trying to meet up with the others in the thronging crowd. We finally did, and it was time to go. I hated to leave, but was most glad I went. All in all, it was a bloody good day.
I'm not very big and I'm awfully shy
The lassies say as I go by
"Donald, where's your troosers?"
The wind blow high and the wind blow low
Down the streets in my kilt I go
All the lassies say "Hello,
Donald where's your troosers?"
-Donald, Where's Your Troosers?, Irish traditional
So yesterday, immediately after reassuring someone on AIM that I was not, in fact, avoiding them, I had to rush off (oh the irony! It almost killed me--but it failed, as always) to get in the car and drive with my family three hours to Milwaukee to go to Irish Fest.
On arrival, we met up with my Aunt Nancy (not a real aunt--my parents' good friend from college, Zeke and I call her aunt) and some of her friends. Nancy Is as much of an Irish music/culture freak as my brother and I.
We immediately went to a show by the Kottars, a great traditional Celtic group from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. They did some great jigs and reels, but they also had some really strong ballads and other songs. At one point they did a song called "I'm Ready for the Storm," and the sun cam out. One of them pointed this out, and another said "Aye, reverse psychology."
Then we went to see Malachy McCourt (brother of Frank McCourt, author of Angela's Ashes). Malachy is a great comic/storyteller. He told one story about a friend of his who was very quick on his feet. "And one day, Danny got on the train. And there were no seats left except one, and an Englishman had his dog in it. So the conductor says, 'This man's been working all day, and he's hot and tired, and could he have a seat?'
"So the Englishman moves his dog, and says, ' A sad day it is when a dog must move for an Irishman.' And ol' Danny sits, and he says, 'That's quite a nice dog you got there, what kind is it?' And the Enlgishman, not givin' 'im an inch, says, 'He's half Irishman, and half baboon.' And so Danny says, 'Well b'jasus, he's related to both of us!'"
After that, we got some good Irish cofee and sat and talked a little while. My brother and I went off to do a little shopping, got some candy at the Irish candy stall (I swear the candy they have in Ireland and England is a hundred times better than what you can get over here). My brother, who was wearing his Got Kilt? shirt, and his kilt, got some comments, while I had a couple people look at my shirt and go, "The same to you!" (I was wearing my shirt that says "POG MO THOIN", Irish for Kiss My "Boxers".)
An aside here, because I have no better place to put it: the crowds at Irishfest are always interesting. You have the yuppies who go either because they think Irish-ness is just so cool, or because it's something to do, or because they go to all the cultural things, some combination thereof. Then there are the drunks, who hang around Irishfest because a) that's where all the beer is, or b) because they love Irish music, and that's where all the beer is. Then there are the, er, geeks, the types who love Irish music and culture, and go mainly for the music and cultural stuff. (Zeke and Nancy and I fit into this one.) There are other catgories I could talk about, but I won't for fear of rambling. ;)
We met back up with the adults breifly, before heading to the other side of the park. Our destination was a great CD booth that had seemingly all the greatest Celtic bands; I got a CD by Ashley MacIsaac that I had been looking for but previously been able to find for sale only in Canada; also Flogging Molly's latest, CD/DVD combo--the CD has live versions of some of their songs, that are faster and better than the versions already released.
We were right by the Celtic Rock stage, and got to see the last three or four songs by Young Dubliners. They're a pretty good band, as I knew already, and even better live.Then we got supper (typically unidentifiable Irish fare), and settled down by the Celtic Rock stage to wait for this band Zeke wanted to check out based on their name, Enter the Haggis. I thought the name was great, but expected them to be typical Celtic punk--Pogues knockoffs that weren't quite as good.
This was not the case.
They started out with a great fiddle riff, and added hard guitar chords, that sounded really cool without being obnoxious. They did a couple more sets of rocked-up jigs and reels, sounding like they took some cues from Wolfstone, but more ragged--they sounded more punky, while Wolfstone is more rock. Plus the pipes are different.
Next came what was probably my favorite thing all day: they did the best version I've ever heard of "Donald, Where's Your Troosers?" In the middle the piper told this long story about how last night he had partied a little too hard, and almost drove a van. But no, (he said) that would have been ("Seriously now, folks,") irrespnsible. So he did the responsible thing, and stole someone's bike. Then he thought the Milwaukee Police were after him, but it was really the fiddle player. "What seems to be the trouble, officer?" "Well, sir, you're not wearing any pants." (Kilt joke there, teehee). And in explanation, the piper starts singing the forst verse of "Donald, Where's your Troosers?" (see above).
So to cut it short ('cuz otherwise I'll go on all night), Enter the Haggis is awesome. Check them out if you get a chance.
After that, we went to Gaelic Storm and caught their last half-dozen songs. Then we wandered around for a while, trying to meet up with the others in the thronging crowd. We finally did, and it was time to go. I hated to leave, but was most glad I went. All in all, it was a bloody good day.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Nowhere, Boys!
I have a quick announcement:
A new blog, ridiculous and set up by me (redundant, I know) has opened up shop. It is a place where literary characters can hang out and post their thoughts without the restriction of WRITERS telling them what to do. Check it out:
www.erewhonboys.blogspot.com
If you know a literary character who is dying for some self-expression, send me an e-mail and we'll see what we can do about it. I am here to help.
Ethan
(Exit, pursued by a bear)
A new blog, ridiculous and set up by me (redundant, I know) has opened up shop. It is a place where literary characters can hang out and post their thoughts without the restriction of WRITERS telling them what to do. Check it out:
www.erewhonboys.blogspot.com
If you know a literary character who is dying for some self-expression, send me an e-mail and we'll see what we can do about it. I am here to help.
Ethan
(Exit, pursued by a bear)
Sunday, July 23, 2006
Coming off the High (Mountain)
(EDIT: I realize there are certain people who are not MHers, or Not technically, or are no longer, who I mean also. You know who you are. This is for you too.)
So I'm back from the Feast. After twenty-six hours of bus/car riding, I am home. It feels good to be home, although I miss all the MHers I met in Colorado...
(Trail-off)
Please forgive me as I wax poetic. Perhaps I should go to bed, and allow my thoughts to clear, but oh well.
One of the most beautiful, yet bittersweet passages I have come across in literature comes (I think) from Le Morte D'Arthur, tho I've seen similar pieces elsewhere. It goes something like this: A knight and his squire are doing the Errant-thing, and they are lured by a beautiful singing voice. They soon find themselves crossing the threshold to a foreign land, a land more beautiful than any they've ever seen. They are led to a castle, whose lord tells them they are in the land of Faery. They are fed a meal more delicious than any they've eaten.
The King talks to them, telling them that they have to leave this land. He further tells them that after being here, all earthly lands will seem pale and even ugly. They will travel alone, unable to tell anybody what they have experienced, for it cannot be understood.
"Then," says the Faery King, "One day you will find another. You will know from the look in his eyes that he has been here, and he will know you, and it will be as the meeting of long-lost brothers."
There are a lot of things this could apply to, one of them being our lives as Christians. We have seen beyond the veil, however dimly, and life here on earth seems pale in comparison. But meeting other Christians, we share something unspoken and indescribable. And this was what it was like meeting MoutherHousers at HT. Like coming across a whole group of lost siblings. (Or something like that.) We share something special, and unspoken, and that's all I'm going to or can say about it.
Please forgive me if this is dripping with sap. I shall write something about the actual conference soon, but now I believe it's time to go to bed.
Rath de Ort (Peace of God),
Ethan
So I'm back from the Feast. After twenty-six hours of bus/car riding, I am home. It feels good to be home, although I miss all the MHers I met in Colorado...
(Trail-off)
Please forgive me as I wax poetic. Perhaps I should go to bed, and allow my thoughts to clear, but oh well.
One of the most beautiful, yet bittersweet passages I have come across in literature comes (I think) from Le Morte D'Arthur, tho I've seen similar pieces elsewhere. It goes something like this: A knight and his squire are doing the Errant-thing, and they are lured by a beautiful singing voice. They soon find themselves crossing the threshold to a foreign land, a land more beautiful than any they've ever seen. They are led to a castle, whose lord tells them they are in the land of Faery. They are fed a meal more delicious than any they've eaten.
The King talks to them, telling them that they have to leave this land. He further tells them that after being here, all earthly lands will seem pale and even ugly. They will travel alone, unable to tell anybody what they have experienced, for it cannot be understood.
"Then," says the Faery King, "One day you will find another. You will know from the look in his eyes that he has been here, and he will know you, and it will be as the meeting of long-lost brothers."
There are a lot of things this could apply to, one of them being our lives as Christians. We have seen beyond the veil, however dimly, and life here on earth seems pale in comparison. But meeting other Christians, we share something unspoken and indescribable. And this was what it was like meeting MoutherHousers at HT. Like coming across a whole group of lost siblings. (Or something like that.) We share something special, and unspoken, and that's all I'm going to or can say about it.
Please forgive me if this is dripping with sap. I shall write something about the actual conference soon, but now I believe it's time to go to bed.
Rath de Ort (Peace of God),
Ethan
Saturday, July 08, 2006
Check out my White Stripes
Get behind me
Get behind me now, anyway
Get behind me
Get behind me now, anyway
--"Blue Orchid," The White Stripes
WARNING: VERY STUPID!!!!!!!!!!
So a while ago a friend and I at the library were discussing pick-up lines (don't ask). Somehow I had the "brilliant" inspiration to use the White Stripes' song "Blue Orchid" as source material: "Hey, baby, get behind me now anyway."
Surprisingly, all the scenarios in which I used that line ended with me getting slapped in the face. So we looked at other songs. "Little Ghost little ghost, one i'm scared of the most, can you scare me up a little bit of love?" was considered, but then rejected on the basis that females don't usually appreciate the implication that one can see through them.
The end of Apple Blossom, "Put your troubles in a little pile, and I will sort them out for you," could possibly work in certain circumstances, but the follow-up, "I'll fall in love with you, i think I'll marry you," seemed to be coming on a bit strong.
Similar problem: "You're pretty good-looking, for a girl" might be concievable in a crowded room where they couldn't hear you clearly, but being so literal-minded I would have to add that "Your thoughts have been stolen by the boys who took you out and bought you everything you own now."
In the end, we decided, White Stripes "Don't work." It was moved that the entire conversation be stricken from the record, but that movement was put down as I needed something to put on my blog. So there you go.
I warned you.
Slainte,
Ethan
(Exit, pursued by a bear)
Get behind me now, anyway
Get behind me
Get behind me now, anyway
--"Blue Orchid," The White Stripes
WARNING: VERY STUPID!!!!!!!!!!
So a while ago a friend and I at the library were discussing pick-up lines (don't ask). Somehow I had the "brilliant" inspiration to use the White Stripes' song "Blue Orchid" as source material: "Hey, baby, get behind me now anyway."
Surprisingly, all the scenarios in which I used that line ended with me getting slapped in the face. So we looked at other songs. "Little Ghost little ghost, one i'm scared of the most, can you scare me up a little bit of love?" was considered, but then rejected on the basis that females don't usually appreciate the implication that one can see through them.
The end of Apple Blossom, "Put your troubles in a little pile, and I will sort them out for you," could possibly work in certain circumstances, but the follow-up, "I'll fall in love with you, i think I'll marry you," seemed to be coming on a bit strong.
Similar problem: "You're pretty good-looking, for a girl" might be concievable in a crowded room where they couldn't hear you clearly, but being so literal-minded I would have to add that "Your thoughts have been stolen by the boys who took you out and bought you everything you own now."
In the end, we decided, White Stripes "Don't work." It was moved that the entire conversation be stricken from the record, but that movement was put down as I needed something to put on my blog. So there you go.
I warned you.
Slainte,
Ethan
(Exit, pursued by a bear)
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