I thought this blog was dead forever.  But then two dear friends of mine (I shall not name names, hemhem) convinced me to resurrect it, if only for their sakes.  So, if this is a way to stay in touch with people I happen to like, and let them know how I'm doing, I will do my best to keep it going.

Ah....senior year.  Perhaps it would be fun to post some commonplaces from the books I'm reading and the people I'm living with.  Some of the books are for school, and some of them are for fun.  The people are all for fun. ;)  In no particular order, then:

The great gain was that I very soon became able to understand a great deal without (even mentally) translating it; I was beginning to think in Greek.  That is the Rubicon to cross in learning any language.  Those in whom the Greek word lives only while they are hunting it in the lexicon, and who then substitute the English word for it, are not reading the Greek at all; they are only solving a puzzle.  The very formula "Naus means a ship" is wrong.  Naus and ship both mean a thing, they do not mean one another.  Behind Naus, as behind navis or naca, we want to have a picture of a dark, slender mass with sail or oars, climbing the ridges, with no officious English word intruding.
~C. S. Lewis, "Surprised by Joy"

We are not simply the users of creation; we are, all of us, called to be its offerers.  The world will be lifted, as it was always meant to be, by our priestly love.  We can, you see, take it with us.  It will be precisely because we loved this Old Jerusalem of a world enough to bear it in our bones that its textures will ascend when we rise; it will be because our eyes have relished the eath that the colors of its countries will compel out hearts forever.  The bread and pastry, the cheeses, the wines, and the songs go into the Supper of the Lamb because we do; it is our love that brings the city home.
~Robert Capon, "The Supper of the Lamb"

Let me tell you what it really should mean if a fellow says to a girl, "I love you."  It means: "You, you you.  You alone.  You shall reign in my heart.  You are the one whom I have longed for; without you I am incomplete.  I will give everything for you and I will give up everything for you, myself as well as all that I possess.  I will love for your alone, and I will work for you alone.  And I will wait for you--it doesn't matter how long.  I will always be patient with you.  I will never force you, not even by words.  I want to guard you, protect you and keep you from all evil.  I want to share with you my thoughts, my heart and my body--all that I possess.  I want to listen to what you have to say.  There is nothing I want to undertake without your blessing.  I want to remain always at your side."
~Walter Trobisch, "I Loved A Girl"

"Kindness is contagious.  Like a duck carrying a bag."
~Jenni

"I am not going to talk with [Luther] any more," said the cardinal.  "His eyes are as deep as a lake, and there are amazing speculations in his head."
~Robert Bainton, "Here I Stand"

Historically as well as cosmically, Medieval man stood at the foot of a stairway; looking up, he felt delight.  The backward, like the upward, glance exhilarated him with a majestic spectacle, and humility was rewarded with the pleasures of admiration.
~C. S. Lewis, "The Discarded Image"

"The current common sense thinks it is not common sense to replace the common sense."
~Katie

"The Word did it all.  Had I wished I might have started a conflagration at Worms.  But while I sat still and drank beer with Philip and Amsdorf, God dealt the papcy a mighty blow."
~Martin Luther

That, you know, is why the world exists at all.  It remains outside the cosmic garbage can of nothingness, not because it is such a solemn necessity that nobody can get rid of it, but because it is the orange peel hung on God's chandelier, the wishbone in His kitchen closet.  He likes it; therefore, it stays.  The whole marvelous collection of stones, skins, feathers, and string exists because at least one lover has never quite taken His eye off it, because the Dominus vivificans has his delight with the sons of men.
~Capon, "The Supper of the Lamb"

 There 'tis.  For now.  Hello, xanga!

Plato says that time is an image made after the model of Eternity, designed for the created things and guarded and measured by the planets.

I don't know why, I got this picture of the Seven Planets as slightly-harried, over-worked sheepdogs.

Gotta watch those seconds.  No wonder time seems to go faster sometimes.

Yes, it is finals week, but I don't have any more until Thursday.  Breaks are nice, I like breaks.  Also, Katie and I watched episodes 15-17 of Neon Genesis: Evangelion last night.  (Anime.  Bwaha.)  There are angels in it that are variously-shaped big blobs or spheres with assorted eyes in weird places, and they're very strange things.  Apparently, they're out to destroy the earth and must die.

Hey, it's fun, okay?

Plato thought there was a creator.  He called him the Craftsman, and said he created everything, even the gods--then he put them in charge of creating men (Tolkien-Valar-style).  Though he did make men's souls--as many as he made the stars.  Literally.  Each soul has a companion star.

He didn't say anything about angels, but he called the planets gods, too.

Atlantis was also heinously defeated by Athens in the long ago and far away...and then they were both destroyed in the same earthquake, eradicating Atlantis and leaving only the country bumpkins of the once-perfect Athens to rebuild their city.  Who knew?

Maybe if they'd had the Evangelions...

Xerxes should have known better.