autumn busy-ness

So I have been rather busy with school work lately. My classes this year look to be made up of decent secular heathen kids. Intellectually my classes seem more capable than in my previous years; this is primarily because my junior level grade 8 blocks are filled with kids from only French Immersion. French Immersion kids are generally more capable than regular stream kids in my school. As well, they tend to be more dedicated to achieving good grades. But on the whole my 5 blocks of senior English are absolutely fabulous and fun to teach; the downside is that, despite the recent CBA which stipulated class sizes of 30 and maximum special needs students of 2 per block, I do still have a few classes over 30 and one English 11 class with 4 autistic students jammed into it. I am enjoying going through All Quiet on the Western Front with my 12's this month. We will move on to The Taming of the Shrew around the third week of October; we will all be 'full-gorged' with the Bard by Christmas.

This last week we had beautiful, clear and sunny afternoons and evenings. On Thursday our Gr.12s had a boat cruise dinner and dance around Vancouver's False Creek, English Bay, Stanley Park and Coal Harbour. It was joyful for me to see them take such delight in the dancing, the breath-taking views and in one another's company outside of the school. For myself it was tiring to start work at 7 am and work to 4:30 pm, and then boogie on the boat until 10 pm. I arrived home to my welcoming bed at 11:30ish; accordingly work yesterday was unusually yawny. It was cool to be in charge of the digital SLR; I went truly wild taking over 2 gigabytes of photos during the cruise.

In other news, Ramone's llama notebook bit the dust after only 9 months! Never buy a computer from Costco, as they only warranty computers for 6 months. Accordingly, so that Ramone can do her accounting work for the Church, I have graciously permitted her to purchase another notebook; this time it will be a MacBook as in the above image. Those of you that know how teeny and tiny my heart is, will perhaps note the great and far-reaching self-sacrifice of this gesture.

In still other news, I am thinking of buying a digital camera in the next few years. The model I am thinking of saving for is the Leica M8, a digital range finder camera. Here is a review of it. I am still continuing with my cycling 3 or 4 times per week; some have even noticed my reduced girth, so the girth-control measures seem to be making both an aesthetic and a healthy difference!

Beauty's objective demands

Von Balthasar, a fine Roman theologian, wrote somewhere that beauty makes demands, and suggested that this is a natural analogy to the attitude of faith, which is like an aesthetic response to the form of Christ.

Beauty makes demands. If I hear the central movement of Beethoven's Appassionata or Bach's Cello Suite in G Major or any of a dozen other pieces of music, I can't do anything else. I've got to listen. Try not breathing deeply when you catch a whiff of hyacinth or lavender. Try not looking at a beautiful landscape, a beautiful building, a beautiful woman. It's possible not to look, rather it takes an act of resistance, a rebellion of sorts.

We can appeal to this to establish the objectivity of beauty. If beauty were purely subjective, could it command attention, could it fascinate, could it surprise?

What is the beverage of manly men?

Scotch, wine, ale or water? Something else like tea or coffee? Is it situational? Identify the manly beverage in your life accordingly.

Water is life-giving. I drink volumes of my Wa2! filtered water daily. Wine is a delight to consume with friends or when I sit and relax with my wife. Coffee is a morning experience, whereas tea is a soothing evening beverage.

In other news, the Scrivener pointed out this very interesting article, composed by Fr. Thomas Hopko. The intent is to outline certain changes that would be needful for a reunion to happen between the Roman Apostolic See and the Orthodox.

I recommend a glass of merlot while you read it.

In yet other news, I rode my cycle to work today. Truly it was a minor, though important, achievement for me. I am thankful to Christ for the strength I have been given. I have had to do a lot of cooperating with Him to gain any slight edge. With fortitude I hope to get the synergy raging full-on! Perhaps someday I will climb up to the summit of Mnt. Baker to see further glory:)