Blog Archives - The Land of the Weird

The Land of the Weird

Easter Vigil 2017

4/15/2017

We started our mass around a fire, lighting candles as we walked into the church. The conversation before was upbeat and cheerful, with people wishing one another a happy Easter. Although the sun doesn't go down soon enough for the church to get as dark as it did in Michigan, the effect of the candles was still impressive, giving the opening of the service an other-worldly sort of feel.

The high point was the baptism of a mother and her two children. An elevated walk-in baptismal font had been placed in the back of the church, making the event easy to see even from the choir corner (something we should take into account when designing the more permanent font). Watching a person being baptised is always a little emotional for me. There is something tremendously beautiful about the sacrament that moves me every time I witness it.

Happy Easter, everyone!

Good Friday 2017

4/14/2017

Our pastor asked us today to think about why we carry the crosses we carry. Is it out of obligation or duty, like Simon when he is told to help Jesus carry the cross? Do we have other motives? Do we seek attention, wealth, power, or self-righteousness? Do we try to measure our crosses against others? Do we feel we have no choice in the matter?

Jesus carried His cross out of love. He had the power to let this hardship pass Him by, but carried it instead as the means to save us from a burden beyond our ability to bear. May I look at the cross that I carry in the same way. Instead of bemoaning my fate, may I embrace my cross and carry it out of love.

Holy Thursday 2017

4/13/2017

Jesus kneels to wash His disciples' feet, demonstrating that leaders must be willing to serve, that the greatest are no better than the least, and that we should be willing to humble ourselves in order to make our world a better place. Meanwhile, I alone of our choir did not go forth to either wash someone else's feet nor have my own washed. We also had the option of doing the same with washing hands, but I stayed back from that as well.

Honestly, I'm not entirely sure why. I know that part of it is that my feet usually stink to the point that I am quite self-conscious about it. I certainly did not want to subject anyone to that, and most of the people I saw who went to wash someone's feet then had their feet washed in return. Another was that I was simply unprepared to take part in such a display. The choices were too political: whose feet would I choose to wash? Would washing one person's make others wonder why I hadn't washed theirs? Should I wash Trevor's -- the foot smell problem seems to run in our family?

Instead, I stayed frozen in the choir section while everyone else participated after Father Roger specifically invited the choir to take part. I admit to feeling quite relieved when they finished and we started the next song. I wonder then if I'm missing an important part of the lesson of today's Gospel.

Back Up

4/12/2017

I made the call and Roto Rooter is coming out tomorrow to find out what is going on with our septic system. We were not able to flush our toilets this evening without grey water (and thankfully only grey water) coming up the floor drain in the laundry room (and slowly go back down over the course of hours). We had been hoping that, since snow is mostly gone from the area where we believe our leach field is, the problem would slowly disappear on its own. Sadly, it has only gotten worse.

As Roto Rooter was the company to put in the new leach field last year (just before we bought the house), there is a chance that this will all be under warranty. Even though that idea was suggested by the person I contacted, I realize that having this fixed for free is mostly wishful thinking on my part. Still, I would prefer to know for certain rather than go with another (although possibly less-expensive) company. We will find out more tomorrow.

I certainly hope that this will not be an annual stress.

Naptime

4/11/2017

I had to take a nap today after school for I was nearly taking one during school today. I generally avoid naps as they tend to make it harder for me to fall asleep at night, but on occasion (and those occasions seem to be coming more frequently as I get older) I just need a nap. Hopefully today's nap won't mess with tonight's sleep.

My naps have not followed my usual sleeping patterns. Granted, I did limit my nap to no more than an hour (it was only about forty minutes). I did not sleep under the covers. I remained on my back rather than one of my sides. Most bizarrely, Ranger (one of our cats) curled up next to me as I napped. Usually we are of the agreement that he is not to be anywhere near me while I'm sleeping. Today, however, it was comforting (probably due to the lack of covers) to have the small warm and purring body next to me.

I wanted to sleep more, but we still had things (dinner, homework, chores, etc) to do today. It was a pleasant nap. I hope that it helps me stay focused tomorrow.

Patience

4/10/2017

Although I seem to overcompensate in the procrastination department, I often have problems with the virtue of patience. Perhaps it is a byproduct of my generation, one raised with television, fast food, and microwaves, but I don't like waiting for something that I want. This is particularly true when it comes to matters of my future. I want things settled, sooner rather than later.

When I made a similar complaint to God today, I was surprised by an answer: would you like your reward to be swift or would you prefer for it to be good? There are some things that cannot be rushed, at least, not without consequences.

Now, frankly, I wouldn't mind a little less drama in my professional and financial life. Still, I suppose I should practice patience. After all, there is little more that I can do at this moment to stabilize things anyway.

Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion

4/9/2017

We are just about there. Easter Sunday is but one week away, and today's Gospel holds the story that leads directly to Christ's grand resurrection. The story starts with Judas' decision to betray Jesus, and ends with Jesus dying on the cross surrounded by soldiers and revolutionaries, while only a handful of His followers stayed by His side.

Some of my devotional readings today also talked about how often we tend to stray away from God when the going gets tough. We somehow cloud our relationship with Him by placing blame for the situation on His shoulders (which He can take) while throwing guilt and worry on our own. He fail to realize that God stands with us through everything, whether we can see Him clearly or not.

We also watched Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame yesterday (one of my favorite Disney movies). Esmeralda's song "God Help the Outcasts" still sends shivers down my spine. One line rests with me when she says "When I see your face I wonder ... were you once an outcast too?" As the people around her in the church pray for wealth, fame, and love, she prays "I ask for nothing; I can get by, but I know so many less lucky than I."

In the dark times of our lives, it helps to reach out rather than folding in on ourselves. We might just find that others are also struggling, and together we can help each other out. In the least, we will discover that we are not alone.

Lost Time

4/8/2017

I lose a great deal of time just sitting and staring blankly out into space. Sometimes, my thoughts are nothing more than, "You know, you should really get out of this chair." Often, I'm replaying past events, either actual events that happened to me or events that I "witnessed" in movies or books. In those cases, I am usually thinking about how things could have gone better. In a few instances, I am thinking about something that I need to do, from writing one of these posts to housework to grading or even to homework for one of the classes that I'm taking, rather than actually doing it. Much more rarely than I feel I should, my sitting and staring is actually in prayer.

With the exception of the last occasion, this is time that I can almost tangibly feel slipping away from my life. Sure, many times, I am in this state while waiting for some other event or activity to start knowing that I do not have enough time to actually start something before I will be called away from it. However, often, like the twenty minutes or so before I started writing this post, it's just lost time when I know that there are other things that I could do.

Actually, I am almost more concerned about the time that I lose while just thumbing through Facebook or other Internet sites. Sure, I might be learning something interesting or new, but more often it is drivel that, at best, supports ideas that I already hold or, at worst, infuriates me as the ideas expressed go against my convictions (I also hate it when I then later waste time staring into space while mentally composing arguments that I will never write). I suppose, in that sense, it might be better to stare into space to give my brain time to reorganize.

Oddly, although I probably should, I don't count the time I use playing video games or watching movies and television shows as wasted unless I didn't like the end products. Hmmm ... Nope ... I still don't think of that as wasted time.

Break Up

4/7/2017

The ice and slush have now completely disappeared from our road. Thanks to several days of shoveling as well as several days of above freezing temperatures, the ice and slush are also disappearing from our driveway. Nearly all of our roofs (house, garage, and cabin) are now snow free--although the process has scared our dogs a bit silly.

While there are still large piles of snow from the accumulated times that I shoveled the driveway, it seems that spring is firmly latching on. The biggest problem so far has been how overworked our leach field has been this past week. We have to be careful to only wash medium sized loads and then to space them well apart. Sure, we almost got stuck in our driveway a few times when the icy mounds turned to slush, but otherwise this year's break up has been going rather smoothly.

Now if we could just convince the dogs that there isn't any more snow on the roof for them to be afraid of ...

I Screwed Up

4/6/2017

In an epic fail of fatherhood, I did not get Alex to the airport in time to board her flight. We got to Anchorage fine, shopped at Costco, had a nice dinner, did a bit more shopping at the mall, and spent some quality time together, only to misjudge the time that we had and thus get to the airport only 30 minutes before her flight. The cost and times of the next flight out were prohibitive, so we returned home and she had her interviews online. I have not been happy with myself since my screw-up.

I certainly pray that everything turns out fine, but if so it will not be thanks to me.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Wii U) - A+

4/3/2017

The Legend of Zelda series has been the the best video game series bar none. I have loved playing these games since the original Nintendo version (although, technically, I played The Adventure of Link first). While there have been some missteps [cough ... Skyward Sword ... cough], most of these games have been ahead of their time, creating a feeling of adventure and fun that no other series has matched. So please understand when I say that this is the greatest Zelda game, and possibly the greatest video game, to date. Not since the original Zelda game have I felt such an amazing feeling of adventure and exploration. Meanwhile the Internet is full of tips, secrets, and tricks that are still being discovered by avid players around the world.

I knew that this game was special before we even went through our interesting journey in getting it (involving store outages, external hard drive swaps, and hours of downloading). No other game has had so many members of my family interested in playing it. While I am often content to wait until a game drops in price (usually during the Christmas sales after its release), a few games warrant my "vote" by paying the full price. In this case, we had originally purchased the Wii U in anticipation that this game was going to be released ... only to have it delayed several years, and then for it to be the feature game of the Nintendo Switch. The betrayal I felt originally made me want to sour grapes the game entirely, but Janelle (who hasn't been excited about a video game since Skyrim and hasn't finished a game since probably a decade before that) and my children convinced me that the game would be worth it. The fact that four of us were taking turns playing it for the past few weeks indicates just how great the game is. I am also happy to report that the game plays just fine on the Wii U. While there are some occasional issues of frame-rate drop, they are few (particularly with moblin falling animations) and have been reported with the Switch version of the game as well.

What is so great about the game? Well, first of all: SPOILERS! You have been warned.

The game recreates the lonely feel of exploring a defeated world in a way that reminds me heavily of the very first game in the series. Like the first game, nearly every area in the game is loaded with secret goodies. Basically, while the first Zelda game had me burning every bush and bombing every wall, this game also encouraged me to leave no stone unturned, no surface unclimbed, no lake unswum, no fruit tree unpicked, etc. Even after hours and hours of playing the game, I know that I missed many, many of its secrets. Honestly, I started playing, thinking that I would uncover every single item possible, but I now leave the game (for at least a while) knowing that there are still places that have gone unexplored. Unlike many other open world games, with the exception of completing all of the shrines and memories, there's no real incentive for finding every hidden item (actually, the game even makes fun of people who take the time to do so).

The game departs from the previous games in several ways. Instead of a line of complex dungeons, there is only one massive castle and four mid-sized "divine beasts" who together make up the size of one of the previous game's larger dungeons. In place of the sometimes overly complex monstrosities, this game hosts over a hundred smaller shrines, each holding only a few puzzles based on a some game mechanic the game uses. Activating these shrines not only rewards you with spirit orbs (basically the heart pieces of the earlier games, although they can also be used to increase Link's stamina--another new game mechanic), but provides locations for Link to quickly transport to at any time (thus, always look for a shrine near an inhabited area). The game's map only opens after climbing suspiciously Assassin Creed-like towers, which not only expose new areas of the map and allow you to spot distant locations (pretty much, if you can see it, you can get there), but provide perfect jumping-off points for one of my favorite new Zelda tools: the paraglider, a tool acquired early in the game that works as a hang-glider for relatively quick travel throughout the massive world.

Item use in the game is also quite different than before. Instead of a page or two of unique items, this game has only a handful of techno-magic abilities necessary to beat the game and pages of items that can be used (or not) in a wide variety of fashions, from cooking meals (as little hearts no longer pop out of defeated enemies or defeated grass, Link must either rest in beds, complete shrines, or eat food to regain lost health), to crafting elixirs, to dying clothes, to starting fires, to making money, to floating heavy objects, and probably other uses that I have not figured out. Even Link's various outfits serve different purposes, requiring the player to consider what to wear depending on the situation. Gone also is the single, dependable sword. Link can now use a wide range of weapons. Moreso, he must use them as all weapons and shields break over time (the one mechanic that was a bit frustrating, even if it forced me to break out of my comfort zone in some delightful ways).

The game also harkens back to the past. Bows and arrows are still one of the best tools to use in the game. There are plenty of places to use bombs (which thankfully are on a recharge rather than running out). Horses are a main form of transportation. Not only are Zelda, Link, Ganon, and Impa still important characters, Gorons, Ritus, Gerudas, Koroks, Sheikas and Zoras all have significant parts in the story too. Side characters are full of their unique Nintendo charm. Bokoblins, moblins, octoroks, lizalfos, chuchus, wizzrobes, and even lynels have returned to plague the world. The shrines of Power, Wisdom, and Courage make appearances. The Great Fairies are particularly helpful this time around. The Deku Tree is still an impressive sight. Most importantly, the Master Sword is truly deserving of its name in this game.

There are aspects of the game that still bother me (getting items from dragons being the top of the list), but I consider this game a "must-play" for anyone who likes video games, especially games with a fantasy-exploration theme. In my mind, the mark of a great game is whether I want to go play it again even after many, many hours of gameplay the first time. And I certainly look forward to exploring this version of Hyrule again.

The Fifth Sunday of Lent

4/2/2017

Today's readings bring to light friends of Jesus who easily seem like friends we might have in our lives. The first is Thomas (the very "Doubting Thomas" who insists that he would need to stick his fingers and hands into Christ's wounds to believe He rose from the dead) who has an interesting line in today's Gospel. When Jesus says that He is returning to Judea despite the previous attacks on his life, Thomas says to the other disciples, "Let us also go to die with him." My mind reads this with two different voices depending on my mood. The first, and pardon my Star Trek reference, is Quark's voice, the voice of a Ferengi bartender who often finds himself in the role of the reluctant, and sarcastic, hero. When I'm feeling more confident, I hear Thomas say these words in Worf's voice, the voice of a stalwart warrior who would probably tack on a "Today is a good day to die" to the end of it.

Martha and her sister Mary also show up again. Martha is as blunt as always, going out to meet Jesus and scold Him for not being there when her brother needed him. Mary, meanwhile, is the passively trusting sort who wonders why Jesus seemed to let her down. It is seeing her pain and lack of understanding that first causes Jesus to be "deeply troubled."

Interestingly, it is Lazarus, Jesus's friend whom He raises from the dead, who has no voice at all in this, or any, reading. Our pastor intimated that Lazarus stands for us. We, like Lazarus is bound in the shroud of death, are bound in the shroud of sin. Like Lazarus, we can only be unbound by following the call of our master's voice. Often, like Lazarus, we need others to unwrap the sinful bindings that have trapped us. Perhaps we find our shroud comforting, find it too difficult to follow the voice of the one who would save us, or find it impossible to let others even see our sinfulness let alone help us come out from it.

These are the imperfect people whom Jesus chose as friends, just as He chose us.

Spring?

4/1/2017

On our drive to choir practice today, I noticed that--according to Mera--it was 48 degrees outside. One of the other choir members said that her car showed the temperature at 49 degrees. While winter is my favorite season, and I love snow, I am heartened by this rise in temperature.

The birds have certainly indicated that spring should be here. Their song has been filling the air for at least the past week. Yesterday, a couple of smaller birds made several attempts to fly through one of our windows (thankfully, not with the heart-rending thump of head meeting glass, but rather the fluttering scratches of wings on the windows).

Next week sees the beginning of track season up here. While I still regret that I cannot be a part of it this year due to scheduling conflicts, I am still looking at the snow-covered track with a coach's eye. Already, I've made suggestions to the new hurdle coach for indoor activities he can use to get the students in the right mindset. Running hurdles is certainly better when the snow clears.

I am ready for spring.