Halladan's Xanga

Etadpu

Sat, 25 Aug 2007 02:09:44 GMT

Wow...xanga has changed a bit since I last looked at it. Shiny.

Anyway, I am back at Hillsdale, which is inherently awesome, except for the current temperature and the lack of AC in the dorm, which kinda sucks. Classes are a little boring this year, with Greek being the most interesting (and a little full)...with no interesting history courses or even the classics courses I was hoping to take this year. But that's old news, since I found that out when I pre-registered last year. Still...I wanted to gripe about it.

I guess the most interesting thing that's happened/happening is that I am probably going to become Eastern Orthodox and the soonest possible date, which apparently means anywhere inside of two years. There's no fixed time period (obviously), that was just the number that Father Nicholas back in Flag handed me off the top of his head, I've heard stories of it taking six to 18 months. And I will (at some point) post my reasons for doing so...I will not do so now, because I don't fully comprehend it yet, and I think if I tried to explain it it would either be really good for me or I would make a complete hash of it. Suffice to say, I find Protestantism very unsatisfying at this point (please understand I mean no offense to any Protestants who read this) and I find liturgical worship very appealing, and especially the Orthodox, for a variety of reasons...among which is their claim to being the only branch of the Church that can really trace it's existence back to the time of Christ.

Anyway, I'll go more into that later...it's not set in stone yet, but I think it's fairly certain.

That's really all the interesting news I have...other than that I managed to bring a lot more of my stuff out this year, and between that and various other things I now have a TV, a stereo, fridge, and various other assorted items in my room, thereby enabling it to look much more lived in as opposed to last year. Also means there's less stuff at home for the siblings to rummage through.

Oh yeah...one small addendum.

My oldest brother is now Father Anthony and serves at the Greek Orthodox Church of the Assumption in St. Clair Shores, Michigan. How cool is that?

Hey folks...

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 23:25:47 GMT

Apologies for dropping off the radar for so long. The explanations are really quite simple...in the six weeks of summer vacation I have (a) spent a lot of time with Caleb when he came to visit (b) spent a week with Catherine in Rhode Island and (c) got a job that requires me to get up a four in the morning and not get home until six, with a necessary bedtime of nine at the latest. Anyway, that hasn't left me much time for communicating...my apologies. I am still around, and I'll try and keep in better touch with y'all.

If I don't talk to some of you anytime soon though, see you back at Hillsdale (if you so attend) in the fall!

Oops...

Mon, 28 May 2007 21:33:34 GMT

Went over the handlebars while playing with the sibs last night. Result, a fair amount of skin missing...my right arm strangely resembles fresh hamburger. But no bones broken (and my cell-phone is still intact), so it's all good. Funny thing though...I thought my days of getting strawberries were over...guess not.

Oh yeah...

Thu, 17 May 2007 22:32:34 GMT

Did I mention I was home...?

Amusing...

Tue, 01 May 2007 20:59:50 GMT

So the tornado siren started blowing today for an unknown reason. The responses of the men of Niedfeldt:

Continue working on homework, ignore the siren.
Continue playing cards while looking out the window.
Run outside to see if they can see the funnel cloud.

I wonder what would happen if a tornado actually came through...

(I was one of the the third group, in case you're wondering )

Studies have shown...

Mon, 30 Apr 2007 17:16:30 GMT

that it is possible to exist and function, for a limited period at least, on four hours of sleep. Furthermore, studies have also shown that it is possible to write moderately decent-to fairly good papers while on such a sleep schedule.

At least, they seemed like moderately decent papers to me...we'll see what my profs say. My judgment at this particular moment is probably not the best.

Ai....

Mon, 16 Apr 2007 01:53:21 GMT

Just under four weeks until I go home. Three weeks until classes end. well...almost three. Where the dickens did the time go?

Happy Easter Everybody!

Sun, 08 Apr 2007 17:59:42 GMT

Christos anesti! (Which is poorly transliterated from the Greek, but yeah.) Happy Easter!

Interesting for all you LOTR nuts

Mon, 02 Apr 2007 03:22:35 GMT

Apparently, Drogo (hence why you all will find this interesting, i.e. Frodo son of Drogo) is the patron saint of unattractive people.

In addition to bodily ills, broken bones, cattle, coffee house keepers, coffee house owners, deaf people, deafness, dumbness, gall stones, hernias, illness, insanity, mental illness, midwives, mute people, muteness, mutes, orphans, ruptures, sheep, shepherds, sick people, and sickness.

EDIT: Oh, and apparently St. Timothy is the patron saint of stomach problems.

The Revival (or etadpu, whatever you want to call it)

Tue, 20 Mar 2007 01:37:00 GMT

Well...believe it or not, I am actually alive. And well. I am currently/once again in Boston, visiting my eldest brother and sister-in-law and nephew, and by a really odd (not planned at all...no really...it's not...well...maybe a little...but only slightly) coincidence, my older brother Caleb happens to be here too. All worked out very nicely and a good time is being had by all.

Little trouble getting here...had my original flight canceled on account of the weather and got stuck on one the next morning, so I figured I'd just wait around in the airport for that. (Yes Jon, I know you offered to let me sleep in your house...I'm kinda wishing I had taken you up on it now, but maybe it was a good thing I didn't, for reasons you shall see below.) Turned out that flight got canceled too, and I was unable to get a ticket for any of the later flights, since they were all booked solid. Ended up (after a few hours of finagling and wrestling with the airport bureaucracy) that I got put on stand-by on all the flights to Boston that day on the hope that I could snag a seat. Three flights and eight hours later, I did eventually get out of there. Total time spent in the airport ended up being 21 hours, which beats my old record of 17 all hollow. Could've been worse though, I s'pose.

And since I'm not thinking about my classes this week, that's pretty much all I can tell you about my life. I did think I should let y'all know I still live, since you might have been in doubt.