I just signed back onto xanga.com.  It appears that xanga is trying to improve their site options so as not to completely be overcome by myspace and facebook. 

So, I've decided to write in xanga lest it be deleted for inactivity.  I usually write in my myspace blog nowadays.  I'm home for break. I returned home on Friday, and I go back on the 14th of January.  This semester was fairly challenging, but I think I did all right.  I am working at Rite Aid Corporation a little this break, so I'm making some extra spending money for when I go back.  Last week, before I started working, I played Final Fantasy and read some books.  I read a little of Augustine, Luther, Firmicius, St. Cyprian, Seutonius and Josephus.  I really should read some fiction this break, but I don't really feel like reading fiction presently.  I think the only two friends who regularly still post blogs are Jessica, Jacki and Nikki.  You're probably reading this right now.  Hi there!   

Anyhow, I just finished a really long conversation with this guy called Andrew I've been talking with for the past few years.  He used to be Roman Catholic but is now what is called True Orthdoox.  They claim to be the real Orthodox, claiming that the majority of Orthodox we see today are not Orthodox but pseudo-Orthodox.  The way he portrays the "World" Orthodox is similiar to how some ultra-Roman traditionalists portray the "Novus Ordo."  Anyhow, I've never met him; he lives in Arizona, but the other day I found out that he personally knows my old roomate, Chelsea Baldwin.  Very interesting. 

As I mentioned before, I've been reading a good number of books.  Immediately upon coming home, I picked up a biography on St. Cyprian.  It was very interesting to read, especially in regards to Cyprian's flee from the first persectuion.  I received my Luther books in the mail, so I proceeded to read them.  The man is a genius and a nut.  I admire his desire to rid the Church of superficialities, and his prose is enjoyable to read, but some of his theology is way too technical.  The other day I was reading Augustine's City of God.  I've read selections from this book before but it's only been recently that I've been able to better understand it.  This one section is particularly fun to read in light of our present knowledge of the world:

As to the nonsense about there being antipodae, that is to say, men living on the far side of teh earth, where the sun rises when it sets for us, men who have their feet facing ours when they walk--that is utterly incredible.  No one pretends to have any factual information, but a hypothesis is reached by the argument that, since the earth is supsended between the celestial hemispheres and since the universe must have a similiar lowest and central point, therefore the other portion of the earth which is below us cannot be without human inhabitants.  One flaw in the argument is that, even if the universe could be proved by reasoning to be chaped like a round globe--or at least believed to be so--it does not follow that the other hemisphere of the earth must appear above the surface of the ocean; or if it does, there is no immediate necessity why it should be inhabited by men.  First of all, our Scriptures never deceive us, since we can test the truth of what they have told us by the fulfillment of predictions; second, it is utterly absurd to say taht any men from this side of the world could sail across the immense tract of the ocean, reach the far side, and then people it with men spurng from the single father of all mankind.  Let us be content, then, to limit our search for the citizens of the pilgrim City of God on earth tyo those races of men which, as we have seen, were made up of the seventy-two natinos, each with its own langauge. 

(City of God.  Book XVI, Chapter 9)

I find it interesting that Augustine recongizes that there are some who believe the world to be round (and even the possibility that there might be people on the other side of the world!)  Most people think that only Columbus was the first to discover the world was round.  While this might be so, many before him believed that the world in fact was spherical, even if they couldn't concretely prove it. 

Anyhow, I'm now talking with my friend Nathan who is studying in Cambridge.  I guess he's staying in England for the Christmas and won't be coming back for a while.  I guess he's studying Practical Criticism.  Sounds like fun!    

 

   

It seems that someone has deleted my account on myspace.  My sister says her account also has been deleted!  As I am cast out of myspace, I have fled to my former space, xanga, to write of a wickedly cool dream I had last night (or rather in the early morning).  In the dream I was at the checkout counter inside a large supermarket.  I was first in line and showed the cashier the one item I desired to buy: a small, black RSV Bible.  Strangely, when I handed the Bible to the cashier for purchase, I realized I already owned the Bible I was giving her, and that I was paying $10 for a Bible which I already owned.  

In any case, there were numerous people behind me waiting to purchase their goods.  Many of them started mocking me for purchasing a Bible, and some started to scoff at God and religion in general.  I got angry at their blasphemy, and I pulled out a small, white bottle of Holy Water (Our Lady of Lebanon Holy Water to be exact) and started spraying holy water in all directions, some drops falling on the magazines, other drops falling on the people themselves.  One man directly behind me was not hit by my holy water.  In fact, while the other people laughed off religion and the supernatural, this man seemed unnaturally silent.  It was at this time I realized he was different from the rest.  Suddenly, his skin peeled off, there was a burst of flames, and then I and everyone else saw him for who he really was, the DEVIL!!!  I wasn't frightened in the least (which is unusual when encountering the Devil in dreams).  I had holy water left over from my first salvo, so I sprayed the Devil with this holy water.  When the water hit him, he shrieked and fizzled as he burned and was surrounded by misty vapors.  And then he dissapeared altogether, defeated.

I then noticed that one of the large displays near the entrance of the check out lane was different from what it had been before the incident.  The display looked like a cross between a coffee machine and a fountain.  Basically, there were these large vats at the top which let a steady stream of water flow down into various saucers and finally into a large cistern at the bottom.  I gathered by looking at this strange device that the Devil intended to drain peoples' blood through it and then drink it at the bottom.  Pretty disgusting.  I'm glad I stopped him. 

So, that's my dream   

I'm trying to sign onto myspace, but it says that my account is either invalid or has been deleted.  I wonder what's up with that!