Saturday, February 27, 2010

Day 195 (Hell)

And now, a very special episode of "Jesus High for the Gay Guy"

I had this dream a couple of years ago. Freaked the hell out of me! I reworked it for the Prophecy-themed poetry night we have coming up. Some of you may not want to read this right before going to bed. It gives we the willies!


Here I record the events of my dream.

I was in a concrete pool, and the pool was filled with people. The water came up to my chest, and the people were standing in it, but they did not move. I was near the edge of the pool, which was gray in color, and very plain. The pool was very large, for the other three sides of the pool were too far away to see.

Above us, the sky was gray and filled with clouds, but shown with bright light. It lit everything in a harsh manner, but was not so bright as to make it difficult to see.

The people in the pool were naked, and covered in a fine layer of wet soot. The water itself was black and I could not see through. The faces of the people were sad and their eyes downcast. In truth, they did not seem to be aware of where they were.

Workers moved among us, the water being no hindrance to them. Their countenance was that of humankind, but they were free of soot and carried with them orange hoses that trailed behind them as far as the eye could see. Clear liquid came forth from the frayed ends of these hoses, and they doused the people in the pool with this liquid.

Among their number was a woman of medium height. She was fair of skin and had short black hair. It was plain to see that she was the overseer of the workers, for she issued orders to them with a loud voice. The area was large, she had to shout to make herself heard.

Some of the workers moved slowly from person to person, taking great care to cover every portion of them with the liquid. Other workers sprayed the liquid over the people in great arcs. The workers pushed the people out of their way to move from place to place, and the people offered no resistance. The people in the pool did not react to the liquid that was being poured over them or to being pushed to the aside. Even when the liquid came into contact with their faces or eyes, they did not give notice.

Neither did the workers show any sign that the work was pleasing or troubling to them. They gave no emotion as they completed their work.

When the workers had completed their task, the overseer called for all of the workers to come out of the pool. After the workers came out of the pool, the overseer lit a match and threw it into the water. The clear liquid caught fire, and the fire began to spread across the surface of the water and the skin of the people in the pool. The fire burned but did not consume, and the people in the pool began to moan in pain.

Then, my vantage point moved towards the sky, and I began to see the true size of the pool. There were thousands upon thousands of people in the pool, its dimensions being at least one mile long and half a mile wide. I could see no other pools in the distance, but knowledge came upon me that this was not the only pool of its kind. The fire spread across the pool, and though I was a great height above the people, the moaning of the people was still able to reach my ears. No person screamed and no person cried out. The fire spread, and the people moaned, and the vision disappeared.

Day 194 (Denny's)


I went to Denny's again today. AGAIN!!!! OMG! I might actually be trying to kill myself with food. Not to mention, I really can't afford all of this eating out. What is wrong with me? I have to admit, the prime rib melt I ate tasted pretty good. Greasy as all get out, but good. The bun was so oily! Sorry, that's all I got, LOL.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Day 193 (Pho)

Today was awesome. I had Exegesis and Theology today, and even though I was dead tired, I had a lot to say in class. I figured out what it was. I really like my classes this term. Call me sick. Call me disgusting. But, I actually like Old Testament Exegesis. It's sick and twisted and wrong, but the Hebrew fascinates me and I get frustrated because my education level is not high enough for me to play with the language as much as I would like.

Theology was cool too. I wish I had more time to do the readings. We talked more about the theologian Barth today, and I loved the dissection of what/how/why people believe things. These two classes were pretty much why I came to seminary.

Then, we went out for dinner to a Vietnamese restaurant today (first time I had Pho since I moved up here.) Then hung out at Holy Grounds, drank wine and watched Fargo with an amazing group of people. We played Yahtzee afterwards where I got to watch the magic that was Heather and Ryan being as catty as two people could possibly be. Lots of laughs, lots of fun, can't wait to do it again tomorrow!

Day 192 (Exegesis Theology)

It's almost 1 am. Just finished Exegesis. Now moving on to Theology.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Day 191 (Apples to Apples)


Survived another Tuesday with Intro to Ministry and Christian Ed in Berkley. It's been raining pretty much all day, and now the wind is blowing, but the rain isn't really that heavy. I should have been more productive today, but when I got back from the GTU, it was already 6:00 and after dinner, I hopped over to Holy Grounds for some Apples to Apples. We had a crazy marathon Apples to Apples game that lasted about 5 hours and we went through EVERY SINGLE GREEN CARD. I won with 58 cards, WOO HOO!!!!

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Day 190 (Life Story)


In a strange twist of fate, I ended up basically telling my entire life story tonight. The first part I told to Alyssa, Mike's granddaughter. The last part I told to one of the prospective students that was still on campus.

It all started when I woke up this morning, dead tired from studying the night before. Made it though Exegesis, made it through Theology, got through the Prophets quiz and the rest of Prophets class with my eyes open, but it was a challenge. In the van on the way home, I mentioned to Mike that I could really use a glass of wine, so he invited me over to let me borrow his book for Intro to Ministry, and of course, a much needed glass of wine. His wife, Kathleen, and granddaughter Alyssa arrived shortly after and they invited me to stay for dinner. We had delicious hamburgers with gorgonzola cheese.

Alyssa, 5th grade, had an assignment to complete a 500 word rough draft for a story about an immigrant. I agreed to tell what I knew of my mother's story as an immigrant to help Alyssa with her assignment. If you are going to tell a story about your parents, you naturally end up telling a story about yourself, so everyone there got to hear about a significant portion of my childhood up to about high school.

Afterwards, I went to Holy Grounds to do some homework. Christina walked in eventually with one of the prospective students following her like a baby duckling (this is my favorite nickname for the prospective students), and before you know it, we start swapping call stories. I had avoided the Saturday night dinner for just this reason, but telling my call story to just one person is not the same as telling it to a room full of strangers. Besides, my dad had been home from the hospital for about a day and a half by this point, so my mind was much more at ease. My call story starts when I was in kindergarten. I know this is not typical, but it's true. Although a lot of the time frame overlapped with the story I told Alyssa, I don't think any story points did. So that portion of life-sharing brought us up to the present day.

One story, two different audiences, two different purposes. Adding to "To Do" list: Write The Book of Chuck.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Day 189 (100 words)

I found this on one of my fellow blogger's blogs: Pomomusings

Patheos challenged some bloggers to answer the question "Who/What is God?" in 100 words or less. You can read the article here: Patheos

Here's my take on the challenge:

God is eternity, the creator of all things, holy and set apart, the ultimate contrast to our flawed and sinful lives.

God is our nurturer and friend, who sustains us in our times of need and comforts us in our times of sorrow.

God is the space in between us, drawing us together.

God is our counselor and confidant, the soft whisper in our hearts urging us to become better versions of ourselves.

God is love, distilled down to its purest form, the ultimate sacrifice who gave himself for us that we may be set apart from him no longer.


Try it out! Who or What is God to you? Remember, keep your answer to 100 words or less. have fun!

Day 188 (A Different Kind of Day)

I woke up around 10:00 am today after about 3 hours of sleep. The first thing I did was call my mom to find out if there was any more news about my dad. The doctors think there was something wrong with his medications, and one of them brought his potassium level way too low. They've been playing with his meds because he's been having some trouble, and I guess they haven't figured out the correct dosage yet, or what exactly to give him.

I also found out that no one had bothered to tell me that my mom was also in the emergency room last weekend due to complications from her hysterectomy. She told everyone not to tell me because she didn't want me worrying about it. Not cool.

I'm going to have to leave explicit instructions for the siblings that this type of information cannot ever be kept from me. Just because I'm not there, doesn't mean I don't have the right to worry about my parents if something goes wrong.

I called my dad next. He sounded really bad. I figured out later it was because he had fallen on his face and messed up 3 of his teeth. That, on top of not being able to sleep because he was in the ER all night, gave him a scary slur to his speech. I had to keep reminding myself that if he had had a stroke, the doctors would have caught it right away. It's really hard to talk to my dad about emotional things because he doesn't process intense emotions very well. Still, I was able to get across how worried I was about him and that I love him. This, of course, was done through choking sobs that did not help him to respond coherently.

I finally got out of bed around 11, did some prep work for the dinner I had to cook for the 72 hours of discernment retreat, then played some D&D. After that, I went to finish up the dinner, but I had to leave because there was no way I was going to survive a room full of strangers asking me about the school and what brought me there while my dad was in the hospital. I went to a chinese restaurant with Faith instead.




















We finished up the night with Up and Men in Tights where we were joined by Christina, Kimberlee, Ian, and Ryan.

It's good to have friends.


Saturday, February 20, 2010

Day 187 (My Dad)

My brother called earlier to tell me that my dad had collapsed and was brought to the hospital. By the time he had called, my dad was alert and was talking, but the doctors did not know what was wrong. They took some blood, but the results hadn't come in yet.

It was really hard for me to hear this news because I'm so far away from my family right now. I didn't feel like going to sleep, so Christina and Russ stayed up with my playing Yahtzee until 4 in the morning.

Thank you guys for being with me.

After that, Christina and I walked around some and then went to Denny's for breakfast. It is now 6:15 am, and I still don't know what's wrong with my dad. No news is good news, right?

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Day 186 (Metaphors)

We had to read some of Sallie McFague's writing for Theology today. It was about how language is basically a metaphor for reality, which is really cool, 'cuz it's an idea that I've played around with for a while now. It was cool reading a theologian's point of view on it. Basically, words are just sounds that we have come to associate with certain objects and ideas. Think about it. Say the word "chair" a couple dozen times, and it just starts to sound weird. Beyond that, we associate things with other things. Water isn't just water, it means life, refreshment, crops, the ocean, ice and even death by drowning.

Because humans understand things as metaphors, the Bible is full of them. That's what parables are. She went on to say that Jesus himself is a metaphor for God. That gave me pause for a while and I had to stop and and just think for a while. I think I like that idea. But, she continued by saying that because not everyone can relate to Jesus, there must be other metaphors for God. I'm assuming she meant other persons. This point I had to disagree on because she offered no logical train of thought as to why there must be other metaphors. It basically seemed like she really wanted there to be other metaphors, so there must indeed be others. I would like to see if she actually does offer some kind of coherent argument for the existence of these other metaphors, because I would like to see how she proposes it.

In other news, I watched Blazing Saddles for the first time today. Laughed my ass off and even snorted once really, really loud.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Day 185 (Cookin')


I cooked up a storm today: kidney beans, pasta, candy cap marmalade, chicken. Also did many, many, many dishes. I also finished my homework for tomorrow, but I haven't looked at Prophets at all, and we have a quiz on Monday. Guess what I'll be doing tomorrow!

I'm also going to be cooking for 30 people for 72 hours of discernment this weekend. Should be fun.

I'm sitting at Holy Grounds eating Valentine's Day cookies that I'm assuming were on sale because it's after Valentine's Day... kind of sad I suppose... oh well...

Some day...

Day 184 (The New Term)

So far, this new term does not bode well for the quality of my blog. I am so tired right now, and the term is just barely getting into full swing. From what I hear, the second semester of seminary is the hardest, so if I can just make it through to the end, it should all be downhill from here.

I just finished frying my brains on some exegesis. I'll need to finish up on that as well as theology tomorrow, not to mention fold my laundry and cook some food so I have something to eat for the rest of the week. I also need to shop and cook dinner for 30 people this Saturday. I'm hoping this won't interfere too much with homework, 'cuz that on top of the Sabbath thing is going to be a big chunk of time. I'll have to make sure I use my Friday wisely.

P.S. I saw curling (that weird sport where you slide big "stones" across the ice towards a bull's eye) for the first time. Team Norway had awesome pants. It was fun stuff.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Day 183 (Hebrew Parsing)

I finished the parsing for my Hebrew exegesis assignment, but I still need to make it pretty. Finished all of the readings for the next two days, so I can concentrate on what's due for Thursday. I'd write more, but I really need to go to sleep. Night all!

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Day 182 (Sabbath IV)

If only Sabbaths actually lasted 4 days....*sigh*

So, Jim made me drink soju last night. Yes, MADE me drink it! Soju is the Korean version of sake, only much, much deadlier. No one should under any circumstances ever, ever, ever drink any quantity of soju. Ever! Of course, my drunken debacle was followed by another trip to Denny's. I did not however eat another artery clogging Slamburger, which is what I had a few nights ago when we went there thinking we would stay up all night to get our reading done. A Slambuger is basically a Denny's Grand Slam piled onto a burger. It's an egg, hash browns and cheese sauce stuffed into a hamburger. And, it's served with has browns on the side. The Slamburger weighs in at 1,080 calories (actually not as bad as I thought it would be, but I don't even want to know how many of those calories are from fat, not to mention how much sodium it has). My doctor would be so pissed if she knew I was partaking of food at Denny's O_o


I tried to do some Exegesis tonight, but my brain imploded and I had to stop. I honestly don't know if I'm ever going to figure out how to use the Hebrew/English Lexicon. It took me over half an hour to parse one verb! I tried working on another verb for over an hour I think, and I just gave up. Oh well, tomorrow's a new day. (No class! WOO HOO!!!!)

Day 181 (Sabbath III)

Jim made me drink soju. Will blog more tomorrow.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Day 180 (Sabbath II)

I'm so tired right now. Did Improv today and then Beer and Theology. Katie and I made hot wings for that, and I drank a lot of wine. Conversation was amazing; I love going to beer and theology! To be honest, it was one of the things I was looking forward to the most when I decided I wanted to go to school at SFTS.

After that, Chris, Faith, Tom and I were hanging out at Holy Grounds, and Chris kept saying he wanted to go out and do something. We eventually ended up going to a little cafe in Fairfax that served Middle Eastern food. After that, we ended up going to Mel's Diner in the city (San Francisco). Not sure why we needed so much food, but it was fun.

We drove around a bit, and came back across the bridge. Tom took us to this place where people live in a redwood grove and we saw some deer.

I'm supposed to go to Marlene's church for their Sabbath celebration; hopefully I can wake up and feel energetic enough for that. *keeping fingers crossed*

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Day 179 (Sabbath)

I can't believe we're only 2 weeks into the semester and I'm already exhausted! This is gonna be a rough one!

I started my day with a trip to the doctor. Kaiser was insisting that I see a doctor before they give me another refill on my blood pressure medication. This is probably a good thing because it seems that my blood pressure medication is not working as well as it should. Still a little high, and as I am not that old, a cause for concern. Apparently, my heart will not be able to take this kind of stress for 30+ years.

So, she told me the usual; I need to watch what I eat and get more exercise. I'm pretty sure this is standard advice for most people's doctor visits, but in my case it's probably even more important. I wish I liked exercise and dieting. Life would be so much simpler that way.

Also, I need to learn how to like going to bed early.

The weekend is upon us now, and I need to make a concerted effort not to waste it like the last one, otherwise I'll be running myself ragged all term. The only hurdle, and I should really stop seeing it as a hurdle and more of a blessing, is the Sabbath assignment SHP gave us for Intro to Ministry II. We need to dedicate a 24 hour period every week to observe the Sabbath. I decided Saturday noon to Sunday noon, SHP's suggestion, would be the best. This means that during that time, I cannot do homework, clean, or work on scholarship stuff. While cutting out a large chunk of time with which I could be pursuing these worthwhile activities, I will instead be walking, reading for fun, praying, hanging out with friends, watching movies, collecting mushrooms, cooking or writing.

I'm kind of excited about this whole Sabbath thing, but at the same time worried that I won't be able to stick to it. I guess we'll find out!

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Day 176 (And, so it begins...)

I really wish I had more time to do an actual blog post, 'cuz I just hashed out a lot of my personal theology with Tom at Holy Grounds tonight and we came up with some pretty cool stuff, but I have WAY too much to read for tomorrow, so hopefully I'll get share all of that with you eventually! Keep your chins up everybody! We ken dew eet!!! XD

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Day 175 (The Bounty of SFTS)

Because I am more than the sum of my parts and don't want to be identified by what I am as opposed to who I am, I am changing the format of by blog titles. I was having a weird moment at Abiding Way today; I haven't been there in 2 weeks. The last time I went was the Sunday after I had coffee with the pastor and we talked about our differences in theology. Today's sermon was about how Jesus changes lives, and I sat there the whole time scared that he was going to make some kind of negative remark about gay people. Not exactly how I want to feel when I go to church. I could barely focus on the sermon because all I kept thinking about was how I was supposed to react when he does make a negative reference to homosexuals. I figured I could just leave and never come back, but what would that really accomplish.

Luckily, we were able to make it through the service without a showdown. One of the guitar players in the band invited me over to watch the Superbowl, but I told him I had too much homework to do. This is true, even if I probably wouldn't watch the Superbowl if I had no homework whatsoever.

When I got back to the school, I decided it was time to do some foraging. I don't know if any of you remember the weird wrinkled black mushroom I took a picture of a few weeks back.


It's called a black elfin saddle, scientific name helvella lacunosa, and I originally wasn't going to try to eat it because it seemed like it would disappear to almost nothing when I cooked it. Well, they started popping up all over the school! As I was telling Kimberlee, when you put enough insubstantial things together, pretty soon you end up with something substantial, and I figured there were enough of the things growing to cook up something. Here's a picture of my haul!




This one was as big as my hand!





Miner's lettuce has also started to sprout up everywhere, so I decided to pick some of that to cook with the mushrooms. All of this (the mushrooms and the lettuce) was collected from the campus. Miner's lettuce, as its name implies, tastes like lettuce if you eat it raw, and spinach if you cook it, but it doesn't have that weird alkaline thing that spinach does.


I found this huge one growing in the shade. You can't tell all that well, but it's kind of variegated with green and yellow. The flowers grow in the middle of the circular leaves, so it's really easy to identify this plant.


This is a normal sized one, about the size of a quarter.




And, this is the finished dish! As you can see, the vegetable shrunk a lot.I sautéed the mushrooms with olive oil, onion, garlic, salt and pepper and then threw the miner's lettuce in the end just to wilt it. It was delicious, and although all of the stuff that I've read on the Internet says that this mushroom doesn't really taste like anything, I found that they did have a unique "musky-mushroomy" flavor that went really well with the other flavors. This mushroom is easy to identify because no other mushroom in the area look like it, except for false morels, but those are brown, and it seems like it would lend itself well to almost any dish you would want to put it in, so it gets a thumbs up from me!

While we're on the topic, if you do choose to pick wild mushrooms, please be careful! Do your homework and absolutely do not eat any mushroom unless you are 100% sure of what it is. Only you can prevent mushroom poisonings!!!

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Gay Guy in Seminary: Day 174 (Just the 1st Week)

We're only one week into the semester and already I'm exhausted. True, I could be getting more sleep, but it just seems like I've been running full speed since the semester started. There's just too much to do!

I just finished ordering books for the semester, which sucked in two ways. As you already know, the first week is over and I'm just ordering books now. There's no telling when the books will get here. I expedited the ones I'm gonna need first, but I'm going to be playing catch-up for a while... possibly the whole semester. The other reason, which if you follow this blog you should already know, is the whole money thing.

It's only 8:00 and I already feel sleepy. Maybe I can get myself to actually go to bed early today...

Friday, February 5, 2010

Gay Guy in Seminary: Day 173 (Debt)


So, I got my financial aid check on Wednesday and I deposited it into my brand spanking new US Bank Student Checking account. I started paying off some money that I owe and watched as all of that new money slowly disappeared. I'm trying to pay off everything that I know I am going to owe through August of this year so that I can see how much money I really have and I won't have to worry about making payments on things all the time. I figure it'll be easier to budget this way. Right now, it totally looks like I have enough money, but I'm hoping I can pull in a few scholarships to supplement it. Student loans are nice and all, but they need to be paid back, and as I was filling out various forms for scholarship applications, I came face to face with just how large my student loan debt is. I'm not going to lie, I had to choke back a tear or two.

As most people know, I got totally screwed over a few years ago by the whole bakery thing. I'm not sure how long it will be before I recover from that (I'm thinking a decade or more), but I was saddled with A LOT of debt. I don't need more debt, which is why I need the scholarships. I'm having a very hard time imagining finishing school and trying to start the new phase of my life with that much debt hanging over my head.

It's like that line from Before Sunrise. Everything interesting costs money. Well, I would say most of life is interesting, and a lot of life costs money. This is a problem for someone who is in school and doesn't think s/he can do school and work at the same time. (this is me raising my hand) It wasn't a problem when I was in undergrad; I can't believe how easy it was to work full time and go to school full time in undergrad compared to being in seminary. I know this is not the first time I have written these sentiments, but it's what's going thru my head right now, and I'm sure none of you is that interested in how I learned how to play backgammon today. I'm going to sign off now and ponder my monetary fate. Good night, all!

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Gay Guy in Seminary: Day 172 (Nikki One)


I got an email yesterday saying that a friend of mine died. It had been a really long time since I've seen her, and I have to admit, we didn't know each other all that well, but we were both part of the same poetry group that met every Thursday night in L.A., Poet's Jazz House. We called her Nikki One, and apparently, there was a Nikki 2, but I don't think I ever met her.

She was great; she was kind of the M.C., getting the event going and introducing each of the poets before they went up. She even made up a song to get everyone to quiet down based on Kate Vido's "The Way I Are/The Do Do Song:

Do do do do,
Do do do do,
Do do do do,
Do do do do.

Do do do do,
Do do do do,
Do do do do,
Do do do do.

I am standing on the stage,
And I need your full attention,
No more talking,
Papers rattling,
Other things I shall not mention,
And if your cell phone happens to ring,
Don't say, "HELLO!"
There's refreshments at the back,
And leave some money at the door.

Do do do do,
Do do do do,
Do do do do,
Do do do do.

Do do do do,
Do do do do,
Do do do do,
Do do do do.


I'll miss you, Nikki. I wish I'd gotten to know you better.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Gay Guy in Seminary: Day 171 (Wednesday: Supposed Easy Day)


I generally like Wednesdays because they're usually a day where I can relax a little. Not so today.

I got up to go to Centering Prayer, which is not all that different from what I had to do last term, but this time, I had to pick up Faith because she is still on crutches, again, not a big deal 'cuz I did it all through Jan Term.

Class was about an hour, then Faith, Kimberlee and I went to the library to do our Exegesis homework. I must admit this is the beginning of my second semester and this is the first time I've spent any king of significant time in the library. (Read: ALL DAY)

For those that don't know, there are a lot of steps to get up to the library, actually quite a workout. Going up and down a couple times isn't so bad, but for some reason, the way the timing worked out on everything today, I saw A LOT OF STAIRS.

Noon rolled around, and it was time to pick up my student loan check. Down the stairs, up to the 3rd floor to the business office. I called Faith to let her know she should probably get to the business office before a line formed.

Down the stairs, met Faith at the bottom. I told her I wanted to go to the Sunflower cafe for lunch and asked if she wanted to go with me. She said she did and I told her I would meet her at the place where we were standing after she picked up her check and that I needed to make a quick run to my apartment.

Went down the hill, up to the 3rd floor that I live on, back up the hill, picked up Faith, and we had lunch.

Went to US Bank to open a new checking account 'cuz Wells Fargo sucks, went with Faith so she could take care of some banking at Bank of America, drove back up to the library.

I had picked up some pastries at comforts, so I went up to the 2nd floor of Scott to put them in the fridge in the student lounge. Down the stairs, up the stairs to the library, realized I didn't have the papers I had been working on to finish my homework. I went back down the stairs, up the stairs in Scott to retrieve my food since I was going to my apartment, down the stairs, down the hill, up to the 3rd floor and put some chicken in the oven. Took out the trash (I had my papers with me) went up the hill, up the stairs to the library, did some more work.

It was nearing 5:00 and I realized I still needed to get the reader for Theology. Down the stairs, into Montgomery (thank God I was staying on the first floor). Secretary wasn't there, someone suggested I go down to the mailroom to see if she was there. I went down, she wasn't, I went up, out, and up the stairs to the library to do some reading.

5:45 rolls around, time to turn off the oven, so I go down the stairs, down the hill, up to the 3rd floor, realize my roommate has already turned off the oven (hoping he didn't do it too soon) took phone call from Stacey, ate Napoleon (the dessert, not the person).

Down the stairs, up the hill, up the stairs, back at the library, did some reading, now writing blog. Gasp!

Before my day is done, I will have to at the very least, go down the library stairs, go up the stairs to my apartment and finish the reading for Theology. Now realizing why I don't go to the library.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Gay Guy in Seminary: Day 170 (CE @ PLTS)

I only had one class today, Christian Education at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary. Like SFTS, it is one of the 9 seminaries in the Graduate Theological Union and is not all that close to the other schools, although it is much closer to the other 7. (It only takes about 10 minutes to get there from the other GTU schools, as opposed to the 45 minutes it takes to get to SFTS.)

Like, SFTS, it is also at the top of the hill, but whereas SFTS is at the top of a little hill, PLTS is at the top of a REALLY BIG HILL, that I think should qualify as a mountain. Take for example this view from the school:


That's really freaking high! And, I SWEAR TO GOD, the road leading up to it is at like a 45 degree angle. Were we in a cute little car or some kind of SUV? NO! We were in a ten-year-old van that rolls backwards a little every time you take your foot off the brakes and try to accelerate from a stop while on a grade, no matter how fast you move your foot from the pedals! And, OF COURSE, I was the one that was driving as Christina was screaming her head off next to me!

Luckily, one of our classmates heard that we were going down the hill and told us of an alternate route that was much safer and easier on the nerves.

The class another huge one with 40-some students. The professor was cracking jokes the whole time, but you could tell she really knows her stuff. And, you can tell she's been teaching for a while because she only assigns about 70 pages a week, even though it's a graduate class, BECAUSE SHE WANTS US TO ACTUALLY READ IT! (her words, not mine)

This is going to be a very "hands-on" course, and I can tell that it's going to be really fun and I'm going to get a lot out of it. This semester is going to be so cool!

Monday, February 1, 2010

Gay Guy in Seminary: Day 169 (Exegesis, Theology & Prophets)

Phew, what a day! 8:30 Exegesis, 11:00 Theology & 2:00 Prophets. The way they scheduled the classes, I only have a half hour to shuttle Faith down to the vans and grab something to eat for lunch. Luckily, I'm not one of the drivers, so I can eat in the van, but I just got the updated schedule for Tuesdays, and I AM one of the drivers, but I'm not gonna be Faith's chauffeur on Tuesdays, so it should be okay as long as I don't dilly dally after Intro to Ministry.

The workload is going to be crazy; Annette already warned us that some of the Exegesis assignments could take upwards of five hours. She's also our Prophets professor, which looks like it's going to be a lot like The Pentateuch and Former Prophets, which means LOTS OF WORK! And, the amount of reading the Theology professor wants us to do is staggering, but I'm actually kind of excited about some of the readings. He's also quite animated, so I think being in his class is going to be interesting.

I wish we didn't have to drive all the way to the GTU for Prophets, especially considering the fact that about 2/3 of the class is students from SFTS, and we all have to be bussed down (not very environmentally friendly), but it is interesting taking a class with so many students from the other seminaries. The guy in front of me was even wearing white monk robes!!! There's at least 6 of the nine schools represented in that class, which is pretty cool actually. But, also for that reason, the class is huge!!! Not public university huge, only about 40 people, but definitely much larger than what we're used to. That's gonna be a lot of papers for Annette to grade...