bestrooftalkever:

• ‘boring cool dad overgrounder music’
• ‘field-wave’
• ‘walden-wave’
• ‘meaningfulcore music’
• ‘cool dad-NPRwave’
• ‘rural wave’
• ‘snooze wave’
• ‘haunting soft-rock-wave’
• ‘unabomber-manifesto-wave’
• ‘lamestream dad’
• ‘sub-prime mortgage buzz loan vibes in ruralwave’

(via andrewmcclain)

“Therefore, so that I would not exalt myself, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to torment me so I would not exalt myself. Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times to take it away from me. But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’ Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me. So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, catastrophes, persecutions, and in pressures, because of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Wow. How often do I take pleasure in catastrophes? Apparently not enough.

PROSPERO 

    Then, as my gift and thine own acquisition 
    Worthily purchased take my daughter: but 
    If thou dost break her virgin-knot before 
    All sanctimonious ceremonies may 
    With full and holy rite be minister’d, 
    No sweet aspersion shall the heavens let fall 
    To make this contract grow: but barren hate, 
    Sour-eyed disdain and discord shall bestrew 
    The union of your bed with weeds so loathly 
    That you shall hate it both: therefore take heed, 
    As Hymen’s lamps shall light you. 

FERDINAND 

    As I hope 
    For quiet days, fair issue and long life, 
    With such love as ‘tis now, the murkiest den, 
    The most opportune place, the strong’st suggestion 
    Our worser genius can, shall never melt 
    Mine honour into lust, to take away 
    The edge of that day’s celebration 
    When I shall think: or Phoebus’ steeds are founder’d, 
    Or Night kept chain’d below. 

Friday Night Lights 1.22 - “State”

“If you see the donkey of someone who hates you lying helpless under its load, and you want to refrain from helping it, you must help with it.” Exodus 23:5

Oklahoma weather, y’all.

Another big change I made in 2011: I started listening to country music. At first just because it felt like the “right” thing to have on the radio in a hot Arkansas summer after five months abroad. But country music is fun, and memorable, and predictable, and simple. I found I could enjoy it honestly and without effort, just sinking naturally into the plain world presented in the song. As soon as I let my condescension and conceit go, there was nothing holding me back.

2011: changes made, resolved or on accident

• Four big books read: Bone, Les Miserables, The Lord of the Rings, The Hunger Games Trilogy
• More cooking, thanks to being without a meal plan in Edinburgh. Learned recipes like coffee cake, pineapple teriyaki chicken, vegetarian fried rice, and pasta a-plenty.
• Exercise innovations: barefoot running, kettlebell routines, eschewing exercise machines.
• More non-school writing: journaling, a few attempts at stories, lots of articles in the Collegian.
• Random: studying standing up, throwing theme parties (CMA Awards Watch Party, Jay-Z’s birthday party), writing more music.

Reading

Katie has written eloquently about why she loves new year resolutions and how she makes hers: not an “an extensive list with lofty, impossible to achieve wishes,” but goals that are a product of reflection, appropriately done at a time of year when we stop and notice how things have changed (one year ago today, I landed in Edinburgh for a five-month adventure under the guise of “studying”).

Amy’s “Directions in Which to Lean in 2012” are not the kind of thing you have to do every day: eating less meat, watching less TV, beginning to compost, etc.

What daunted me about new year resolutions as a child and kept me from the practice was the notion that resolutions had to be made on 1 January, and if you didn’t stick to them every single day, you failed. Intimidated as I was by resolution-making, I stayed away from the business and missed out on what could have been some healthy introspection and intentional efforts at growth.

The reading challenges changed everything. With Amy & Katie, I read 52 books in the 52 weeks of 2010, and then four 1,000-page books in the four seasons of 2011. Finally—a resolution that I didn’t have to worry about every single day, and that I could gradually decide on as January went on. Plus, the books I read were generally rewarding, and there were several that I wouldn’t have read without the challenge (like Les Miserables, the only book that has ever made me cry).

So this year, I’ll be doing 12 in 12; I don’t know what its parameters are yet. Right now it’s 12 “substantial” or “worthy” books in 12 months. It remains to be decided whether or not I’ll introduce a floor on page numbers or genre-specific goals (e.g. 2 Christian, 2 economics, 1 biography, 1 mystery, 1 graphic novel, 1 Shakespeare, etc.). For now, I’ll be reading Jacob’s Room by Virginia Woolf with Annie Paige (it’s free for Kindle).

With 52 in 52 and 4 in 4, I never bothered with making sure that each book corresponded to a particular week or season. With 12 in 12, I will. That way I don’t get a bunch of reading done over spring break and then ditch books for a few months because I can.

I’m thinking about other “directions in which to lean in 2012”—I’ll post them once my thoughts have coalesced.

It’s been a good long while since I updated you on this year’s reading challenge (4 books of 1,000+ pages in 4 seasons). After a strong start—finishing Bone, Les Miserables, and The Lord of the Rings before the summer solstice—my schedule filled up and I didn’t have as much time for lengthy reads. Study abroad was perfect for 4 in 4; regular life isn’t.

But like so many this year, I picked a week (Thanksgiving break) to get ensnared by the Hunger Games trilogy, and devoted many an hour on the long drive between Little Rock, AR and Upland, IN to finishing what I will consider the fourth thousand-page book. If the 1,069 pages of the Lord of the Rings trilogy counted, then why not the 1,176 pages of the Hunger Games series?

The writing style was decent. Though Collins is a gripping storyteller, her prose is merely adequate, and her narration often made me less sympathetic with the protagonist, not more. That said, I couldn’t put this series down, and I found in it a more realistic picture of war, revolution, romance, and heroism than the typical action story of the 21st century. For that, it is to be highly commended.

All in all, I ended up reading half as many books this year as last (the year of 52 in 52): still a pretty good record in my “book” (GET IT????). What’s next year? Maybe 12 in 12?

1. The Art of Manliness by Brett & Kate McKay, 274 pages (4 Jan)
2. True Grit by Charles Portis, 215 pages (13 Jan)
3. Bone by Jeff Smith, 1332 pages (13 Jan)
4. All-Star Superman by Grant Morrison, 308 pages (13 Jan)
5. Generous Justice by Tim Keller, 230 pages (25 Jan)
X. The Fellowship of the Ring (2 Feb)
6. Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream by H.G. Bissinger, 367 pages (10 Mar)
7. Austrian Macroeconomics: A Diagrammatical Exposition by Roger W. Garrison, 36 pages (12 Mar)
8. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, 1330 pages (11 Apr)
9. The Trip of a Life by James Lepine, 105 pages (17 Apr)
10. Anarchism: A Very Short Introduction by Colin Ward, 98 pages (18 Apr)
X. The Two Towers (23 Apr)
11. King’s Cross by Tim Keller, 238 pages (29 Apr)
X. The Return of the King (30 Apr)
12. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, 1069 pages (30 Apr)
13. Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes by Kenneth E. Bailey, 426 pages (23 May)
14. A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories by Flannery O’Connor, 7:35:09 (8 June)
15. Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis, 160 pages (11 June)
16. Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger, 198 pages (12 June)
17. Slave Ship Captain by Carolyn Scott, 92 pages (25 June)
18. The Runaway’s Revenge by Dave and Neta Jackson, 141 pages (1 July)
19. Forgotten God by Francis Chan, 208 pages (? Sep?)
20. Spousonomics: Using Economics to Master Love, Marriage, and Dirty Dishes by Paula Szuchman and Jenny Anderson, 352 pages (9 Sep)
21. Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superatheletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Ever Seen by Christopher McDougall, 304 pages (26 Sep)
22. Once A Runner by John L. Parker, Jr., 274 pages (19 Nov)
X. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, 374 pages (20 Nov)
X. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, 404 pages (23 Nov)
X. Mockinjay by Suzanne Collins, 398 pages (26 Nov)
23. The Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins, 1176 pages (26 Nov)
24. Finally Feminist by John G. Stackhouse, 141 pages (8 Dec)
25. Batman: Year One by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli, 96 pages (26 Dec)
26. The Reason for God by Tim Keller, 281 pages (26 Dec)