That Music is For The Byrds

When I turned on the radio this morning, the first song I heard was
Turn, Turn, Turn by the Byrds.

What are the chances?

How many of you knew that the band spelled birds with a "y" ?

How many of you can sing the song if pressured to do so in class?

Well, if you can, play the clip below and sing along. It's a live version so it sounds different from the one I heard on the radio, but it's still them.

Such stuff as dreams are made on

Dr. Sexson would want me to say that "something dreamed through me last night..." (or something pretty close to that expression.)

I was Batman! It's me, so it makes since. I am Batman. And I confronted Daily Bugle reporter Ben Urich about his girlfriends criminal activities. (So what if he is a Marvel character and I am from the DC Universe, we are all comic book characters, right?) Anyway, he's a smart guy and would have figured it out eventually, so I just helped him along. I am the World's Greatest Detective afterall.

And after all that, not a word about The Bible. Then why post this at all? you ask. Well, excluding the exam and the group get togethers, we talked about having dreams in class today and I actually remembered my dream for a change. So there it is. Batman. Enjoy.

Repent! The End Is At Hand!

I feel like Billy Crystal. And I haven't even seen City Slickers in its entirety.
The clip we saw in class pointed out that he needs to find the one thing that matters. But poor Billy Crystal does not know what that thing is. Nor do I. (Perhaps it is to watch City Slickers?)
Bottom line: I have been doing the dishes for the entire semester and have not noticed that Jesus Christ is in my living room. So to speak. (The Bible actually sat in my bedroom.) I devoted hours upon hours of time reading tax, audit, and cost accounting material as well as financial statement analysis and overall/managerial business functions. So I set The Bible aside because "Professor Sexson will talk about it in class. And if I come to the lectures, I will get all that I need to know."
THIS IS NOT TRUE!
I know that there is so much in The Bible that we will not cover in class, but I ignored these things so that I "could do the dishes." (not that I did them very well...) I just wish that Jesus had asked me to wash his feet. No wait... I wish I was pointed in the direction of the needful thing. (Am I now, simply by acknowledging this?) Of course, who is to say that reading The Bible is needful? If I were not distracted, I suppose I would be home writing (and not this blog entry! but a short story) Because literature is not about communicating tax brackets,

it's about sharing stories.

Unfortunately, I put The Bible down sometime in Genesis and only picked it up to get at a book that was beneath it (literally and figuratively.) That doesn't mean I have given up, I have just postponed my reading indefinitely. I am moving slowly through Plotz and working towards The Slave. I can't say I wish I spent more time on this class, because today we discussed how you can if you want to. I can say I wish it was offered year round. It took me months (I'm dead serious, from March 20th or so to September 1st) to get this class with all my business requirements. I was looking forward to this course so much because EVERYTHING has been touched by The Bible. (More on that to come.) I wanted to learn about God and Satan. I was excited to hear about Lilith and how she was part of the story, but not necessarily in The Bible itself. I wanted to study The Book of Revelations. I still can, but not in the time left in this class. We have eight meetings left? I just don't see it happening, and it saddens me because it won't be the same latter on as it is right now. This class is special and the professor is special. It is my own fault, but I am only getting out of this class what I put into it. I didn't research Lilith. I didn't blog about Satan. And I can't even remember other passed up opportunities.
The title of this entry : Repent! The End Is At Hand! comes from my own penance (a sacrament, as in the Roman Catholic Church, consisting in a confession of sin, made with sorrow and with the intention of amendment, followed by the forgiveness of the sin. from Dictionary.com) and the realization that school will soon be out.
Coincidentally enough, I must take an accounting exam soon, thus ending this post. (What are the chances?)
I hope poor Billy Crystal found his one thing and that someday I will too. And I hope you find your one thing. Because everything else is just distracting us

The villain is the hero of his own story.

Intelligence Test

Not really a test, more like a fun quiz! I was handed this little assessment by Craig Ehlert in the College of Business and I wanted to share it with you. You must work quickly to answer all 12 questions in only 2 minutes!

Question 1: Is there a 4 th of July in England? Yes or No?
Question 2: How many birthdays does the average man have?
Question 3: Some months have 31 days. How many have 28?
Question 4: How many out are in an inning?
Question 5: Can a man in California marry his widow's sister?
Question 6: Take the number 30, divide it by 1/2, and then add 10. What do you get?
Question 7: There are 3 apples and you take two away. How many apples are you left with?
Question 8: A doctor gives you three pills and tells you to take one every half hour. How long will the pills last?
Question 9: A farmer has 17 sheep. All but 9 of them die. How many sheep are left?
Question 10: How many animals of each sex did Moses bring with him on the ark?
Question 11: A butcher in the market is 5' 10" tall. What does he weigh?
Question 12: How many 2 cent stamps are there in a dozen?

Answer 1: Yes, they just don't celebrate it like we do.
Answer 2: 1, most people only have 1 birthday.
Answer 3: They all do.
Answer 4: 6, 3 for each team.
Answer 5: Maybe in California, but if he has a widow, that means he's dead. So no.
Answer 6: 70 (30/ 1/2 = 60 + 10 = 70)
Answer 7: You took two apples therefore you have 2.
Answer 8: 1 hour; 1st when he tells you, 2nd half an hour later, 3rd half an hour after that
(0, 30, 60)
Answer 9: 9, the rest have died.
Answer 10: The reason to post this Intelligence Test is revealed. I have attended every class session of this Literature class and I still missed this question! I don't blame my lack of attention on The Bible, so much as the question. (I only had two minutes.) Moses did not have an ark. That was Noah. I can't believe I missed this. My only hope at redemption is if someone else got confused like me. So I guess the answer would be none.
Answer 11: A butcher weighs Meat.
Answer 12: There are 12 in a dozen.

I hope you enjoyed this test and learned something in the process, Moses did not build the Ark!!

Paradise Lost?

Dr. Sexson, DO NOT READ THIS until after you have read The House Of M.
This is a spoiler alert!
Anyway, anyone else who was in Emergent Lit last semester will remember that I shared stories from comic books that I have read that related to the five themes of the class. I finally got around to bringing one of them in for Dr. Sexson to enjoy yesterday and handed it to him after class. I thought that if had nothing to do with the Bible.

However, it does touch on the subject brought up in our class discussion. We mentioned the suffering present in this world so that we can have the perfect next world. But is it really worth it?

In the House of M story, the world is recreated; loved ones are "back from the dead" because they were never lost, the outcast class of mutants are no longer suppressed and are instead the majority of the population enjoying freedoms and basic privileges that have otherwise been denied to them, and most of the heroes of the story have perfect little lives that they would be content to live out for the rest of their days. Everyone lives happily ever after... right?
But the heroes realize that this perfect world is not real and reject it for a chance to make the one we have better. This is a grossly compacted summary of the events in the book, but if you want more, you can either find a copy (the authors name is Brian Micheal Bendis, by the way) or come to me with questions.

I assume most of you have not read this because comics are regarded as kids entertainment. But it is a relatively quick read (after all, it has pictures!!) and it should be enjoyable. My goal is to get at least one person to read it, and yes, Professor Sexson counts. As long as that happens, the purpose of this blog entry is complete.

What happens after the end?

In class on Thursday, I remember a little bit about The End of the World being mentioned.

Just as a note to anyone interested, I took Mythologies from Dr. Lansverk back in 2007 where we studied legends of the Norse Gods,and I learned of Ragnarök, The Final Destiny of the Gods. (Unlike many western Gods, in Norse mythology the Gods die!) The story tells of the final battle of the Gods, where the world is consumed in water and only two humans: Líf and Lífþrasir survive and repopulate the earth (sound familar?)

Pictured: Loki breaks free at the onset of Ragnarök

illustration by Ernst H. Walther (from the Wikipedia website)

Even though the Gods are dead, this is not the end. Humans begin the world anew.

Learn more at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ragnar%C3%B6k

Violence...in the Bible?

Yep, it's true. The Bible is even more violent than I thought. When Professor Sexson revealed the fate of Jezebel and then the she-bears massacre of forty and two children, that was the moment the light bulb turned on. And we mentioned the censorship of these stories and how to approach them with young impressionable children.

Well, I do not have any children, but to me the logical answer would be like going to the movies. Unfortunately, the books of the Bible do not come with a rating system or warnings of explicit sexual content or pervasive violence throughout. But if you believe your ten year old can cope with "The Rape of Dinah" then go ahead and share. In the pages I have read, I have yet to find a pg-13 sequence in The Bible. So maybe you could just wait until they get a little older.

PS: from Wikipedia's article on The Liberty Bell:
inscribed with part of a verse from the Book of Leviticus: "Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof."

It just happened to be the featured article of the day and caught my eye.

Poetic, or nonsense

Here is a collection or words and numbers that you can try and make sense of.

You may even find it enjoyable!

In the Beginning...

Dr. Sexson addressed the "housekeeping" issues of the class, getting blogs going, the syllabus, and the sort. And we got our mugshots taken at the end of class. I liked James's Alchemist joke, but if you weren't in Emergent Lit last semester you would not have understood the humor of it.

I read The New Testament (one page everyday) a few years back. I do not remember anything!

Well, that's about it. I'm looking forward to a great semester (my last!). Dr. Sexson's classes are always fun. Those of you who have not had him as a professor before are in for a treat. And those of you that have know what I'm talking about.