Procrastinator is my Middle Name
...maybe I should get it legally added to my name...
I have two papers due on Wednesday, one 3 pager and one 8-10 pager. I should be working on them right now, and should have been working on them all day but instead I went shopping with some friends and bought some capris at Old Navy, and now I'm sitting here trying to figure out what courses to take in the fall, chatting on messenger, and just generally avoiding all things paper related.

Christmas is Coming and Exams are Done, Yay!
I feel very relieved to be done with my first semester of grad school classes. I know that I am approved in one of my classes, the rest I'm not sure of yet. There's something not so satisfying about not receiving letter grades - I'm still not sure what I think of this approved/not approved system. We'll have to see how it goes.
I generally felt very good about how my finals went. I actually used index cards to make study cards for the first time ever - now that I deeply care about what I'm learning, I'm making more of an effort to make sure it sticks in my head. I could hardly believe that my exam partner Kristy and I actually had fun on our Pentateuch oral exam. It was a really great experience, I'm glad it was the first exam because it made me feel at ease about the rest. My only disappointment was one final paper that I don't think I did to the best of my ability. It was a good reminder that leaving big papers to the last minute is not a good idea.

I was extremely happy to have my good friend Jessica visit me for the past six days. It had been so long since we'd last seen each other, but as soon as we saw each other, it felt like we hadn't been apart at all. Those are the best friendships, when it doesn't matter how long it has been, you just connect instantly.

Now all I have to do is pick up my Mom's Christmas present and I'll have my major shopping done and I'll be able to rest, relax, and rejuvenate over my break. I wish I could say that I refuse to read anything to do with school stuff over break, but honestly, I read theology for fun, so I'll be diving right into some good books I've picked up in the last little while but haven't had time to read.

procrastination is a beautiful thing
What better reason to write than to avoid studying for my final exams? I am really really good at procrastinating, I think it's one of my gifts, probably a spiritual one.

So the biggest test I'm studying for right now is Pentateuch - aka the first five books of the Bible. Sometimes I wonder if I learned anything this semester, and other times I realise that I know so much more now than I did in September, it's a wonder that my brain hasn't exploded... yet. Later on I need to devote some major time to history studying, which will be another area where I don't feel like I've learned anything, but I probably have.

It's Christmas time, advent actually, my favourite season, my favourite holiday. It's a mysterious, magical, wonderful time of year for me, and why do exams always seem to get in the way of this wonderful season? Actually, the unavaoidable (for me at least) happiness of the season is probably what gets me through all the exam stress. Having so much joy around keeps me going - the bright twinkly lights, the feelings of anticipation, Christmas carols that I love, the way everyone seems a little bit nicer and kinder. There is a lot to enjoy and be happy about, I feel bad for people who miss the joy of the season and only see the stress and strain. Unfortunately, I can't make my exams go away, nor count on Christmas magic to get me through.

So there is my exam-season confession - I procrastinate to no end, then count on my inherent brilliance to get me through. So far in life it's worked, hopefully it will keep working. Maybe there is a little bit of Christmas magic involved, I can definitely leave room for the mysterious to move at this time of year.

why does this blog exist?
Was I feeling ok when I made this page? What was my motivation? Did I really think that people would want to read it? Maybe what I should use it for is when I have something to say to someone... it's not like I'm going to post my real journalling here. There are things I can say though, probably more for my own benefit than anyone else's!

Last night I went to an AWESOME Brian Adams concert. He is a true entertainer, tons of energy, awesome songs, I knew almost all the words to all the songs, which was hillarious since it has been years since I listened to his music very much. But he's a good enough song writer that his songs stick in your head, the lyrics are very memorable. It was a lot of fun to go with Mom and sing really loud. I felt bad that Joy couldn't go, when she was little she wanted to be Brian Adams when she grew up, she didn't want to be like him, she wanted to be him. Very funny.

So tomorrow I am confirming Suzie, which will be a new experience for me. I really like providing sacramental ministry like that, it is such an awesome preivelege to be allowed to participate in the life-defining moments of a person's life.
I'm also writing a sermon for tomorrow for Mom to read in Vancouver. Maybe it's egotistical of me, I don't know. I do know that writing a sermon is a good exercise for me, doing the exegesis on the passage yesterday was so much fun, I really do enjoy New Testament interpretation. Now that I know a bit of Greek too, it means I have one more tool to use. I felt very scholarly looking up words in the Greek-English Lexicon in the library.

I think it is time for me to finish up that sermon, and try to prepare myself for the confirmation tomorrow. Life as a seminarian is definitely exciting, I like being able to provide ministry for people. It's a good thing I figured out what it is I actually want to do with my life.

The first entry
So I caved and finally decided that it was my turn to clog the web with yet more random ramblings. Not that this will ever be useless ramblings, because this blog is different, it features the lovely and talented Shannon.

Heh heh heh.