goodbye dorm-room, hello new look

So, Marissa and I rearranged all the furniture in my room right after I got back to town after break (okay, it's been a while, I know and I'm just now getting them posted, but at least I am, right?!). Before, my room was pretty much split in half--your's and mine--and there was so much wasted space and it felt like I had to walk miles just to get to the closet. We fixed that, although I still really want to decorate the walls somehow. ideas?

(my favorite part)

and of course, me and by sista

the Sandpiper, an adaptation

Across the narrow, sandy beach the Sandpiper wanders. I sit there by the rocks in the morning mist, watching her gather sticks so white and dry they looked like bones. Driven by strong winds, the water laps on the beach shore. The clouds grow blacker and scud dark and thick across the sky, slowly spreading from the horizon, infecting the whole sky, it’s silent ghosts and misty shrouds engulfing us. Sweet and mournful is her cry. She does not start as the wind grabs hold of my coat and shirttails and whips them about. She has a steady eye and does not loose sight of her goal—a nest to build before it is too late. The storm draws closer and still she works away. I stoke my driftwood fire. There is no shelter and if she does not move soon she will be swept away. The wind rages and the storm rushes towards the beach. We are here together, her and I.

This was another rhetoric assignment, actually a declamation--but I didn't end up presenting it (i wrote another one to fit better in the guidelines given).

How did it get so late so soon?
It's night before it's afternoon.
December is here before it's June.
My goodness how the time has flewn.
How did it get so late so soon?
~Dr. Seuss

commended by a "picker of nits"

Here is my most recent of commonplaces (oh, and my indomitable teacher gave it a "really good." hopefully you can see my smug smile):

Two and a half feet above the pool there is no motion, no sound. Multicolored flags flutter on the horizon. In the still water countless plastic wheels separate the competitors and frame the black line that leads straight ahead.

Crouching down, body bent in half, deliberately forcing the back leg to support thousands of twitching nerve fibers. Waiting. Balancing. One toe off the edge of the rough, cold block, both hands curl around the front grasping for stability. Both legs strain with the anticipation of sudden release. Ears tucked between powerful shoulders, eyes tightly shut, head filled with the refrain of Dynamite steadily pulsing. Chlorine, dry and acrid, burns in the mouth as it fills the lungs with sweltering air. Heart pounding. Muscles tense, almost to the verge of uncontrollable shaking. The pressure of every moment weights heavily and the thoughts, instructions, mental pictures--the training of years--flash by in an instant.

In a moment the buzzer will sound, a light will flash, and a timer will start. In a moment all the restrained energy will explode in a splash of speed. In a moment the race could be won and dreams realized...or, all could be lost.

quick update/link

Classes are going well--picked up all at once (I've already read 250 pages, talked sentences in latin, and sung/sight read new songs in choir). If i had more time I'd dump what I've read, it's all so exciting and needs words to flesh it out....hopefully soon.

I thought this was great y'all would appreciate what Pastor Leithart has to say about eating, theology, and the covenantal perspective

marginalia

turpitude- depravity; wickedness

teleology- the explanation of phenomena by the purpose they serve rather than by postulated causes; the doctrine of design and purpose in the material world

catachresis- the use of a word in a way that is not correct

metalepsis- a figure of speech used sole as a transition into something else by referring to a remotely associated chain of thought (used mostly in comedy)

periphrasis- a circuitous way of speaking

hyperbole- an appropriate exaggeration of the truth