well, it’s been quite a while hasn’t it.
finals week came and went, without much in the way of commendation. i fared decently in terms of grades–not too great, but not failing. but god damn mediocrity (that’s a sincere request, not profanity). you know, i really want to be excellent in my academic life, but i just can’t seem to bring myself to get there anymore. i suspect some deeply rooted problem which if i’m smart i’ll get sorted out, with god’s help, before september.
the weekend after, i moved into my apartment in the basement of kingscote. it’s a dark, musky, ratty sort of place with one small room, one small kitchen, one small closet, and a bathroom down the hall (which i share with an invisible man named bob).
everyone else was at graduation, so i rented a car for the week, to help move things, and to take myself to the airport the coming thursday. anyway on sunday i moved all my belongings, virtually alone [jon parr and shannon helped for a few minutes here and there, thanks guys], and exhausted myself after 13 hours of carrying stuff and shopping for food and necessities.
the next morning i started my job, which is creating and managing three websites for the stanford in vivo medical laboratory (or something like that). unfortunately, my boss seemed to have left on a three-week trip, so i was left to do whatever i would in the way of getting things going. that being the case, i worked half days monday through thursday.
i’ll pat myself on the back, here: i’ve been eating pretty well. i’ve used the stovetop to cook about 80% of my meals, and they’ve all been more or less well-balanced. i like cooking, and i’m already feeling like buying some more arcane sorts of things (a griddle, for instance) so that i can experiment with extremely difficult recipes (for example, a decent chicken and pasta entree). [i realize that one doesn’t cook that sort of dish on a griddle, it was just to give an idea]
on thursday at noon i drove to the airport and flew to orlando for a weekend at home. you see, alister mcgrath and graham tomlin, of wycliffe hall oxford, were coming to orlando to discuss some things with CNL about plans for new facilities at oxford. moreover, they were going to be involved in some planning meetings with wycliffe execs [to make things more confusing, ‘wycliffe execs’ refers to leaders, not of wycliffe hall, but of wycliffe bible translators, based in orlando], etc… so, wycliffe hall is a college of oxford which focus is theology and christian studies. my dad (a wycliffe exec) and i thought it would be advantageous for me to meet these gentlemen (being rather important scholars, christian or otherwise) in the event that at some point i want to go to oxford to pursue a d.phil or what have you. the weekend went well–i attended various meetings and other functions, and met a lot of orlando business leaders as well as the oxford duo. “networking”, some people would say. i’m not much of a networking person but it was good.
needless to say, it was also great to see my family.
and now i’m back. and done with a 9-hour work day. the first in my life? maybe… the last? no.
not to mention, [cf. my last post] i feel like i’ve just been told the last spoken line in the matrix.
virtual disc on spin: false cathedrals | elliott
