Bah Humbug

After last night's freak snow storm piled Evansville high with white, I'm starting to reconsider my holiday plans.

Of course, Christmas has been a sore spot for me since middle school. The limbo between family members that hate each other makes for a nauseating couple of days. Since my last paternal connection to the Evansville area disappeared last May, my brother and I were bound for Illinois to spend tomorrow and Christmas Eve morning with my dad and stepmom. Now with traffic conditions as they are, I'm not sure I'm willing to risk the trek that incapacitated my intrepid Ford Taurus last Thanksgiving (that bridge over the Wabash is killer).

Even if I did make it safely to Mt. Vernon, there's a chance we could get snowed in over there and I'd miss Christmas with the people who (let's be honest) are more important to me (especially a certain Helsinki-bound friend:) ). The more I think about it, the more I just want to call the whole Illinois trip off. This could be the best Christmas ever. Why should my family be able to turn it into a nightmare?

The final countdown

In the middle of procrastinating while I should be studying finals, I did some basic math. Now, it's been a while since I've taken a math course, but according to my calculations...

In 2 days, I'll be in Evansville.
In 38 days, I'll be in Dublin.
In 133 days, I'll be in Helsinki.

But, really, who's counting?

Boxer rebellion?

It SNOWED today, a fact which caused Margaret and I to wonder if the Sammy Boxer Run would indeed proceed as usual this year after the power outage antics. For those unfamiliar with Taylor's annual tradition of male near-nudity, the Boxer Run occurs on the first snow of the year (or around that time) and involves Sammy men racing to and from the Bell Tower clad only in boxer shorts. Wengatz men meanwhile pelt them with snowballs and generally rough them up.

This past week several men were suspended for JTerm for streaking from their dorm to the Bell Tower during the power outage, according to personal reports. If that's all these men did, I don't see how the Boxer Run could legally continue. Granted, there might be key differences as to the degree of nudity, but I believe this tradition is treading on thin ice. Maybe that's for the best. If the Boxer Run falls victim to the post-power outage PR purification process, I won't lose any sleep.

Party on.

It's not hard to get Vance to let us have a party instead of class, so that's exactly what we're doing today for PSY 310: Integration of Psychology and Christianity. Everyone gave Matt two dollars and we planned to eat food and sit around. Then we realized that today a bunch of people would be fasting because of last Friday morning's antics, so no food. Matt suggested we send the money (about $60) to a mission organization and everyone was all about that. We also decided that instead of sitting around we'd go to the nursing home and sing for the residents. Now that's a party.

Mary is a single mother?

Joseph is still missing from the Taylor nativity scene. Kari suggested that the guys who did it should have to stand in for Joseph for the rest of the semester. Punishment might fit the crime, eh?

Here's some more media coverage of the event from Muncie's NewsLink Indiana.

MSTified

The other day, Margaret and I blew off studying and watched MST 3K. I forgot how much I loved that show. We watched Squirm, which was quality. Just now, I was reminiscing about MST 3K episodes gone by and remembered one of my favorite lines from The Final Sacrifice.

Troy: You knew my father?
Grizzled old prospector: Knew him? He was delicious!

It's beginning to look a lot like Baghdad

**Update**
According to Shaps, according to Ron Sutherland, the "fire" in the library this morning was just some small keypad that shorted out and started smoking. It set off the smoke detector and, for whatever reason, this required seven fire trucks, one ambulance and two cop cars.

****

I've counted at least 5 fire trucks and an ambulance outside of the library this afternoon. I have no idea what's happening (I just sent an e-mail to Shaps requesting more info), but this new Taylor crime thing is totally creeping me out.

It all started this past Friday when Upland's power company shut off all the electricity in the region around 1 a.m. to do some repairs. Of course, I only thought about how this affected my Echo deadline (which went fine, BTW. I think we set a record for earliest Echo submission, at least since we went to broadsheet). When 1 a.m. rolled around, I was in bed. Call me naive, but I figured the rest of the campus would turn in early as well. I couldn't have been more wrong.

When the lights went off at 1, hundreds of Taylor students poured out of the dorms. What started out as a night of fun turned into something much more sinister. The final damage report has not yet been released, but the mob apparently broke into 5 campus buildings (including my dorm), set an unauthorized bonfire outside of Olson, desecrated the nativity scene, overturned a library bookshelf, and trashed the Dining Commons. Campus safety officers (including my good friend and campus safety director Mike Row) were taunted and treated with blatant disrespect. Officers from surrounding towns of Matthews and Van Buren begged Mike over the police scanner to come up and "get those Taylor hypocrites." It was a night of shame and embarrassment for the university and the student body.

For more information on the events of the night, see this open letter from Dr. G (Taylor's president) and an article in today's Marion Chronicle-Tribune (Note its placement below an article praising IWU for helping at a nursing home. A time for humility...).

Among the felonies committed were theft, vandalism and indecent exposure. I've heard about how mobs make people do crazy things, but this is ridiculous. It's scary to be on a campus where this kind of thing takes place, especially considering the glee with which these events were carried out. Cliff has asked me to lock my bedroom door for the rest of the semester and I'm more than happy to oblige. I know I live on the third floor and the chances of me getting attacked are pretty slim, but this stuff is SERIOUS. How did this happen? What went wrong? Who was responsible? How can we stop it?

Pray for Taylor, for our administrators and our students. The story is far from over. At the moment, all I have are questions. No answers.

Christmas Banquet 2004

Here's my wing with Santa at the Christmas Banquet. Cat, Kari, Kash, Bethany, Kate, Ryn, me, Janell and Christianna.

Beach bum

I'm going back to where I came from
So far away, but not so far from home
Where I lay my head down by the sea
I'm going back to where we'd go
So far away,but not so far from home
Where I'd rest, where I'd lay so peacefully

-"One More Minute" by Authority Zero

The beach sounds amazing right now. Sometimes (though not very often) I get these strong urges to be back in Hawaii listening to waves rolling into Anaehoomalu Bay. Maybe I'm just tired of cornfields and icy sidewalks.

Hawaii is no where in sight, though. That's fine. The yearning will subside. Still, hearing about our beachside accomodations in Ireland fills me with excitement. It won't be the same as A-Bay, but that's probably a good thing! I just want to watch the ocean.

When I used to go to Camp Erdman on Oahu, there was this picnic table by the beach that my friends would go to all the time. We called it Koinonia, mostly because we liked the name. Chris used to say it was the most peaceful place on earth. He might have been right.

It's been a long time since a place has given me a sense of peace. I've had moments in the past few weeks where I'll feel this deep sense of serenity, but it's not a particular place that brings it on. I'm looking forward to Ireland's true natural beauty. From what I hear it's one of those places that inspires communion with God. Until then, I'll be at the beach... if only in my mind.