kicking at the new blogger

So am I here at this converted kick.against.the.goads for now. I dig this new version of blogger and how it is tied to gmail; for gmail roxxers the boxxers!

Here is another beautiful photo of the camera and lens Hannah and Luke gave me for Christmas; take note of the sexy beast operating the all mechanical, precision instrument.

Well for now I will post this rather lame entry to be sure that this account works. My thoughts and prayers of late have been focussed on the numerous young families with babies and those expecting a newborn at my parish.

Leitz Elmar 5cm 3:5 lens

My son graciously gave me this pictured Elmar lens as well as a Leica Summitar lens for Christmas; and I love using both on the Leitz IIIc body Hannah gave me (which is pictured in my previous post below). Thanks heaps and heaps, Luke and Hannah!!! I am sure Ramone does not appreciate their generosity, but she will in time learn to forgive their lack of thrift and move on to other joys and worries.... :)

In other news I have slowly started to enjoy Sufjan Stevens' music; more specifically his song "Transfiguration" off of his album Seven Swans is such a beautiful tune. I maintain the oboe is what makes the song have a magical feel. But the story Sufjan has to work with is no slouch.

Today our house was entirely un-Christmased; all of our decorations are now wrapped, boxed and waiting to celebrate the glory of Christ's Nativity next December 25th. I will miss the lights of Christmas.

To make matters one bit harsher I just noticed that the Lenten pattern starts earlier than I am used to this year; Zaccheus Sunday is coming two weeks from now on Jan.21st! I know that is not the real beginning to Lent, but it serves as a huge kick in my spiritual arse; the upside being that Pascha comes so much sooner, too:)

New Years is Coming...

....And that means it will be soon time for the bash at the Jordan's dwelling! I am still trying to determine which tunes to bring. No one will want my Bach or Mozart, so I will be bringing my favourite pop tunes that were formative in developing me. My old piano instructor would be laughing if he read that; but appreciating music is something quite apart from performing it. Songs by Cash, Jane's Addiction, the Minutemen and the Meat Puppets are all candidates to make my list....there are so many songs and so little time before the big bash. I have my ale and scotch ready to transport out to the boondocks.

Last night we went over to the Folster's for dinner with some regular friends in addition to some new folks, Rian and Naomi. It was a fun and lively time; Dave and Andrea put on such a fine spread, anyone who knows them, knows that that is regular for them. My thanks go out to Andrea and Dave for inviting Ramone and I over.

Let me take this moment to send out greetings and good cheer to all of my very few readers; no doubt you, the happy few that you are, will be able to spread my good cheer all about through your numerous friends and acquaintances!

Pictured is my new 1946 Leitz IIIc camera; the body is solid brass and functionally the camera has a jewel-like precision. When Ramone allows me to get a film scanner, I will post some of my successful snapshots.

Merry Christmas!

Christ is born! Glorify Him, the author of light, with joyful lights; lights that rejoice in His coming! Take delight over Christmastime, for Christ is the very fruit of God Who came to fulfill our hunger!

An excerpt from St. Ephraim third Hymn on the Nativity:>

Blessed be the Child who today delights Bethlehem.
Blessed be the Newborn who today made humanity young again.
Blessed be the Fruit who bowed himself down for our hunger.
Blessed be the Gracious One who suddenly enriched
all of our poverty and filled our need.
Blessed be He whose mercy inclined Him to heal our sickness…
His hands bound and fettered, His feet nailed and fastened,
by His own will He clothed Himself with a body for those who seized Him.
Blessed is He whom freedom crucified, when He permitted it.
Blessed is He whom also the wood bore, when He allowed it.
Blessed is He whom even the grave enclosed, when He set limits to Himself.
Blessed is He whose will brought Him
to the womb and to birth and to the bosom and to growth.
Blessed is He whose changes revived our humanity.
Blessed is He who engraved our soul and adorned and betrothed her to Himself.
Blessed is He who made our body a tabernacle for His hiddenness.

Eva

Eva Green, the French actress who plays the Bond-girl in the latest James Bond movie is intelligent, stylist, funny and self-sacrificing. Needless to add, she is remarkably gorgeous.

Luke's Film "OisseuxZilla"; phase 1

What will he do next?

41

So I will turn 41 on Friday if I make it to Friday. Why do I have this photo of my old roommate posted? Well I thought some of my younger readers might be interested in what I was up to 20 years ago when I was half my age. Well, 20 years ago EXPO 86 was going on and I was living in the Westend of Vancouver; and Vancouver was an entertainment Mecca. The local Vancouver music scene was full of cool young bands: Slow, No Means No, DOA, 54-40, and the Grapes of Wrath were among the finest up and coming bands anywhere. In January of 1986 I started rooming with a member of the Grapes of Wrath named Tom Hooper. Living with a guy in a successful rock band had its upside.

Can you say girls? Free concerts and girls, sunshine and suds, music and dancing girls; truly I tried to find meaning through pleasure! I worked hard at it; very hard. Tom Hooper and I lived together until September in 1986. Then Tom and I parted ways, and I have not had contact with him since; I went back to University to pursue truth, beauty and goodness, while he continued the high life. From that time on, I looked for more purposefulness in life than in only an unding series of unsatisfying, monotonous pleasures without any aim other than the pleasures themselves.

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:)

The latest priestly tool?

James from St. Peter the Aleut Parish in Calgary introduced me to the latest marvel in evoking a repentant heart during Lent. The self-described 'Talk-to-me' hammer would be especially helpful in softening up tougher, grinchy hearts during a confession. One can almost chuckle at some of the potential conversations under the stoll! "Make a complete confession of that, boy, or else you will be talking to the 'Talk-to-me'..." Indeed such confessional dialogue is not for the faint of heart, but do consider that if a sinner doesn't make a good repentance now, the 'I-don't-know-you' hammer in the afterworld is way, way worse to consider! Let us consider the cost of not having one of these priestly confessional tools.

Fr. Lawrence, my priest, would make good use of this implement. Perhaps a gold and jewel encrusted whacker would be just the ticket for getting those lukewarm repenters to come around to serious metanoia?! Oh be merciful; let us just pray that our parish council finds the funds for one of these 'Talk-to-me' hammers.

Theotokos and Dylan

St. Ignatius wrote to the Church of Jerusalem: "...I intend to come to you in order to see the faithful gathered in Jerusalem, and especially the Mother of Jesus: they say of her that she is honorable, affable, and arouses wonder in all, and all wish to see her. But who would not wish to see the Virgin and to converse with her who bore the true God? ...With us she is glorified as the Mother of God and the Virgin full of grace and virtue. They say of her that she is joyful in troubles and persecutions, does not grieve in poverty and want, and not only does not get angry with those who offend her but does good to them still more... All who see her are delighted."

To reiterate, 'all who see her are delighted;' and why? Because 'she is glorified'. She is glorified 'as the Mother of God and the Virgin full of grace.' Since it is logical that we should glorify what God honours, Mary has been glorified as being holy -- that is, separated for God -- from the infancy of the Church. Also this sense of her holiness helps us to understand why Joseph left Mary as a virgin. What manner of man would touch that which God has separated for Himself? One who wishes to face His wrath. To the ancient Hebrew mind, the answer was self-evident, especially given certain precedents. Though most see in this a sense of Mary's purity, I see in this situation a manifestation of Joseph's manly personality. As manliness is mostly made manifest through self-control, we can see in Joseph a supremely manly example of a man abstaining out of a desire to honour 'what had been separated' or 'made holy by God's Presence'. One would be not far from the truth to see in Joseph a certain type of monastic. Without a doubt Joseph's role as a protector of Mary and Jesus is the one we generally think of. In my heart I believe that Our Lord was joyful to meet with His human father when He ascended, so 'well pleased' was He with him and his manliness.

In a complete change of topic, I will discuss my favourite Bob Dylan albums. I will limit my list to only five albums. Any serious Dylan fan will likely be able to accurately guess 3 of the 5 on my list; for in the period 1964-1966 Dylan produced three works which could be viewed as being among the greatest artistic achievements of the 20th Century. Highway 61 Revisited, Bringing It All Back Home and Blonde On Blonde are 'must listen to albums' if you are interested in Bob Dylan. There are single hits on these albums, but I think they play best as cohesive units and should be best enjoyed as albums. Bob married in late 1965 and had a child in 1966; this combined with a motorcycle crash caused Dylan to slow his creative production a bit. The John Wesley Harding album from 1967 is a fine album, but even with "All Around the Watchtower" on it, the album does not make my top five Dylan albums. But his Nashville Skyline album from 1969 does; with his duet on "North Country Girl" with Johnny Cash, onto "Country Pie" and "Lay Lady Lay" the album is a truly magnificent unit. The depth and power of Dylan's lyrics on Nashville Skyline lies in their simplicity, as most of the songs narrate ordinary life experiences. Boring, perhaps to some, but timeless to those who know life's joys and woes. After Bob Dylan's accident, his lyrics became more and more concerned with religious themes. This is the case with his work through the 70s and 80s. Of this body of work, two albums stand out. Oh Mercy from 1989 and Infidels from 1983 are both fine albums. But for my fifth album I will go with Oh Mercy. The chiming, apocalyptic-sounding guitar work on the dobro by Daniel Lanois is evident throughout the album, but nowhere as effectively as on the track "Man in the Long Black Coat". Dylan and Lanois create a windy, end-of-time atsmosphere with a melody that haunts a listener well after the track has played.

So my top 5 Bob Dylan Albums would be these, with due honour to Bob's first album "Bob Dylan" being noted:

1. Highway 61 Revisisted
2. Bringing It All Back Home
3. Blonde on Blonde
4. Nashville Skyline
5. Oh Mercy

compounding of charity and hatred

It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing. It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving. ---Mother Teresa---

When I first read C.S. Lewis' argument about the practice of charity, the notion of loving my neighbour became clearer for me. His basic view was that one need not worry whether one feels love for another person, rather it matters only that one acts as if he loved the other person. This acting, if consistent, will become habitual and gradually become the real deal. Said another way, by practising the virtue of charity, you will gradually become more charitable quite in spite of how you feel. This was a keen insight for me, as I used to think I had to feel charitable to be charitable; that feelings and reality were intermingled and almost identifiable. But the truth is that the worldly man treats others kindly because he feels 'like' for them; whereas the Christian, trying to treat all men kindly out of practising charity, finds himself liking more and more people -- including people he could never have imagined liking. This is the spiritual dynamic of charity; that more you act out of charity, the more you will derive; as you love a person, the more your love will grow.

Sadly this same spiritual dynamic works similarly in the opposite direction. Evil acts rot more and more the evil doer. Take the practice of hatred, the opposite of charity. As the hater of Jews acts on his hatred by acting cruelly, as did the Nazis, the Jews end up being hated even more by the haters because they had acted cruelly. Thus the more cruel one is, the more one will hate; and the more one hates, the more cruel one will become. A horrific cycle.

Hence both virtue and vice will accrue at compound interest. Accordingly it is true that all the little things we do be done out of charity; as St. Teresa of Calcutta advises in the quotation, it is the why we do what we do that matters.

Like minds

I saw this flick yesterday, and thought it was clever; the plot was well thought out. The representation of the history of the Cathars and the statement attributed to the Bishop of Rome are a little inaccurate; the Pope did not say it, it was another Bishop who did; and the Cathars are not portrayed as the matter-hating Gnostic heretics that they were. But these two things are minor quibbles, not affecting the plot. Toni Collette delivered a strong performance as did others in the cast.

I am usually quite successful in figuring out how the characters will develop in a mystery and what will happen with the denouement, but this plot fooled me a little. Not a great flick but worth seeing if you enjoy untwisting murder mysteries.

In other news, I am getting mentally prepared to return to work. My friend Danike and I are going to go on a hike (and flyfish at high altitude) this coming Monday; after that trip my summer will be over.

Soon the daily grind will be my reality. However, this year I will cycle part way to work roughly three days per week; not only will this keep me slim and übersecki, but also I hope it will be a fine way to commune with God and pray. "O God keep the cars off me."

pasivirta.baby: wherefore art thou?

Has the Pasivirta.baby paled? Has he withered away back to the dust from which he was made? Is he blowing in the wind? How many roads must the pasivirta.baby cycle down before you call him a manly man? How many trout on the fly must he catch before he is counted among the manly? Is the answer blowing in the digital breeze of his blog? Is he trapped inside a series of Bob Dylan allusions? O say it isn't so!

I was searching for the singing Finnish youth leader online to answer these very questions, but to no avail. It appears he has dropped from the blog world. Was he chased away for fear of giving another offense? Was he bored or tired of it?

This is something I know all too well. Nevertheless my questions remain.

Perhaps the pasivirta.baby is riding the rides at playland, doing some youth group research? Then, again, he may be riding the waves off the coast of Seaside, Oregon?

O pasivirta.baby wherefore art thou?

note regarding humour

This point needs to be added to my last post; I can't believe I forgot to state it originally. For humour is essential to my spiritual walk.

As God laughs at the foolishness of men (Ps. 2:4); so, too, I think it is healthy for us to laugh at ourselves. Consider that Satan fell in part because of his “gravity” (i.e. he took himself too seriously). We need to be able to recognize our shortcomings, bad habits and our sins by calling them by name. We need to laugh at them in order to be able to move past them. A good sense of self-depreciating humour can help to develop humility. As Our Lord stated, "be of good cheer," through all things. Note the allusion to St. John Chrysostom.

life basics for my children

Over the course of my first forty years the Lord has taught me these following things:>

1. Love is what makes life worth struggling through.

2. Unless you are a mystic, God's love will be shown to you mostly through nature, the Church, in friendships and family.

3. He who breaks a thing to find out what it is, has departed from wisdom.

4. When faced with a big decision in life, and all the options are morally equivalent or traditionally inoffensive, choose the most challenging for yourself.

5. Fighting against your demons will last until you leave; and you must consistently "rage against the darkness until it bleeds light."

6. Be loyal to the Truth above all; then to your friends and family.

7. If one can't be sure of an answer to an important question, then tradition is the best basis for the practical life.

8. Always hold your arms outstretched in love toward the further shore.

9. Rather be killed than break your word.

10. Honour those around you; even treat your enemy as if someday he will be your friend.

The One Book: Vic's Questionnaire

The One Book

1. One book that changed your life:
Bible; Brothers Karamazov; C.S. Lewis' work

2. One book that you’ve read more than once:
Brothers Karamazov; LOTR Trilogy

3. One book you’d want on a desert island:
Bible

4. One book that made you laugh:
Bible; The Hobbit; C.S. Lewis on Music and the Psalms

5. One book that made you cry:
Bible and Victor Hugo's Les Miserable

6. One book that you wish had been written:
How to Say 'No!': A Handbook for lovey-dovey leaders and other perplexed minds

7. One book that you wish had never been written:
Koran

8. One book you’re currently reading:
Bible; Fr. Alexander Schmemann's Journals; The Bible and the Liturgy by J. Danielou

9. One book you’ve been meaning to read:
Leithart's survey of the Old Testament

Against pussy footers

*I am reposting this entry from my web site because of a request*

It is not good for you to be kicking against the goads (cf. Act 26:14).

Don't be a pussy footer, O man of God; manly men don't like them. God doesn't like pussy footers either. Pussy footers are men only in disguise, living as if they had something to die for. Only other pussy footers like other pussy footers. Worse, pussy footers are pales, llamas and whiners. Pussy footers step aside from battling the demons; this is the most deadly criticism of pussy footers. Christ claims we are either with or against Him; there is no pussy footing half-way to Our Lord. Yet, since God commands that we love our enemies, we are duty-bound to pray for the pussy footers; the good news is that there is no requirement you must like the pussy footers you come across. Accordingly pray that the pussy footer in your life toughens up and faces his demons like a manly man. Be sure to do your part to help toughen up any pussy footer! Get him to read some Patristics, all of Dostoevsky and Shakespeare; better yet, have him try to learn some calculus or basic Latin and Greek; take him mountain biking, hiking, fly fishing or rock climbing. But I advise each manly man out there to seek out a specific pussy footer to tutor in the ways of the manly; this personal connection will mean a lot to the pussy footer and may help to rectify his llama and pale-ways more swiftly.

π and 1 Kings 7:23

My friend Gavin brought to my attention what looks like an error in 1 Kings 7:23. It concerns a circumference calculation. For the calculation the number 3 seems to be used for the usual 3.14 of pi( π ). So what gives?

Bear in mind any number can be rounded to any level of precision desired; one can round π to the nearest ten and get zero. Rounding it to the nearest unit, giving 3, makes perfectly good sense if that is what you want to do.

The real question is, what is lost if one rounds π down to 3? We are reducing its value by .14/3.14 = 4.5%, and so any calculations we make will have that much error; but for many purposes that would be perfectly acceptable.

Whenever we work with π we are rounding it to some number of digits, so all such calculations are inaccurate. The only issue is how much accuracy we need for a particular application.

The Bible at 1 Kings 7:23 does not state that π = 3.0. It states that a particular object (the circular basin in front of the Jerusalem Temple) had a diameter of 10 cubits and a circumference of 30 cubits. So the correct question is not, "Is it proper to round pi to 3.0?" but "Is it proper to round the circumference of this circle to 30 cubits?" Or better, "Are a diameter of 10 cubits and a circumference of 30 cubits consistent within reasonable measurement error?"

We do not know the precision of the measuring instruments used to measure the diameter and circumference of this circle. But here is what would naturally be understood if one saw this figure in a scientific journal: in the absence of an explicit indication of precision, the absence of a tenths digit implies that the figure is accurate to the nearest 1 cubit - that is, plus or minus 0.5 cubit.

So let's suppose that the diameter was measured, or specified in the design, to be 10 cubits plus or minus 0.5 cubit. Then the actual circumference would be 29.8 to 32.98 cubits --- based on a diameter in the range from 9.5 to 10.5 cubits. If we make the same assumption about the precision of the circumference measurement, we get a range of 29.5 to 30.5 cubits. Notice that the two ranges have considerable overlap.

There is therefore no inconsistency between the diameter and the circumference as reported in the Bible at 1 Kings 7:23 .

So, it would appear God permits a reasonable range in such calculations:)