Interstitiality

10 Reasons I Love Thanksgiving

In no particular order...

1) Cooking the meal is a blast. Cooking Thanksgiving dinner is our favorite meal to cook together.
2) Eating and carving the bird at the same time. Drippings and turkey taste the best hot out of the oven.
3) Family, friends, neighbors all sharing the benefits of tryptophan.
4) Football (though the Lions and Cowboys aren’t what they used to be)
5) Michelle’s stuffing combined with my gravy, going strong for fourteen years now.
6) Our wedding anniversary is usually the week of Thanksgiving.
7) Leftovers
8) Twilight Zone marathons
9) George Winston’s “Winter,” our traditional soundtrack for the holidays, always comes out on Thanksgiving day and plays throughout the holiday season.
10) Being with family, friends, relatives and neighbors; holding on to ideals of family and community, which though outdated never go out of style.

Happy Thanksgiving!

SBL Thoughts

I just got back from the AAR/SBL meeting in San Antonio. Here are some random thoughts and observations:

-Increasingly, I go to AAR/SBL more to see friends than to hear good papers (though I heard that Margaret's paper was excellent and AKMA's response was well-received)

-We had a pretty good turnout for the open papers session of the Asian and Asian American hermeneutics group. This year our session could have been labeled “Issues in Korean and Korean American Biblical Interpretation.”

-The Monday 4-6:30 session is not a good time to have a panel at SBL.

-Monday Night Football (and fantasy football) is a good way to keep in touch with friends from graduate school

-Sometimes I have to go to San Antonio to see my colleagues and friends from Hyde Park. Sad but true.

-Princeton Seminary has the longest reception at AAR/SBL (four hours). The food is also primo!

-The Riverwalk in San Antonio has more Tex-Mex restaurants than all of Illinois.

-Every Tex-Mex restaurant has the same combination platter: two enchiladas, a tamale with chili con carne, a crispy taco, beans, and rice.

-People in Texas, and people who are tourists in Texas, still haven’t figured out that Hooters is not a family establishment.

-Some books are still expensive at 50% off. I bought one book for $62.50, after the discount. You do the math.

-Denny’s still has the best buy for a cheap breakfast. A large fruit filled pancake, one egg, two sausages, two pieces of bacon, and hash browns for $4.99.

-San Antonio folks don’t like rain (and we got plenty of it).

-The Alamo is smaller than I imagined (who says that everything is big in Texas?)

-Waitresses at San Antonio bars have a tendency to call you “baby” or “babe” (no I did not go to Hooters). I have never been called “baby” or “babe” so much in my life. It put my male ego into shock.

SBL Bound

I'm off to San Antonio early tomorrow morning for the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature. I'm not super excited about going this year. It will be good to see friends. I am rooming with a long time friend and flag football offensive genius, Matt Stith. It will be the first year in a long time that I will not be stressed when I go to the Princeton Seminary reception.

The Saints are now 2-2 in the Northwestern intramural football league. We won our first playoff game last Tuesday by forfeit. Go figure.

I am behind, behind, behind on my work. I think I have the post-dissertation blues. I know, it sounds weird to say it, but it's happened, and other friends have told me it would happen. I have finished my doctoral work, and I have hit a numb spot that has lasted at least 3-4 weeks. With the busy-ness of my life at Seabury, I would guess that I might start to feel again by spring. We'll see. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that I am finished. Passing my defense was like a huge exhale. I'm just waiting to breath in again.

Song from 1989

I was picking my guitar the other evening as Michelle and I were relaxing, and I randomly started playing a song that I wrote about fifteen years ago. I was surprised that I remembered all the words. There was a period in my life where every song I wrote had "pain" or "hurt" in it. Obviously this one came from that period...

The Pain

There’s Joanne, tears in her eyes so red
Her wrinkles in a frown as she turned to me and said
She said
“They’ve taken my little girl away from me
And given her to her father
He has done unspeakable things to her”

There’s the Jones, a picture of the perfect family
A lovely home and pretty faces, a steady salary
Life was so pretty
But now I hear that the mom is with another man
The children are so confused
“It’s our fault that mommy’s gone away,” they say

And I don’t know how to stop their pain
No I don’t know how to stop the pain

All alone with a flood of loneliness that never ends
I sit home by the phone; desperation is my only friend
Sometimes I think I would almost rather die
Than to sit here alone and be alive
And I close my eyes and cry my self to sleep; I weep

And I don’t know how to stop the pain
No I don’t know how to stop the pain

There was one in the garden, blood dripping from his pours
He said, “Father take this cup, but not my will be done
Only yours.”

And he went to the cross and through the pain
Yes the Son of God went through the pain
But I don’t know how to stop the pain
And I still don’t know how to stop the pain

Maybe there’s no way to stop it…

Picket Fencers

There are those days when you look at your children and are stunned by what they are becoming. I haven’t seen Adam and Stephen fence for about a month. Tonight they had an exhibition, in which their coach asked them to demonstrate the different types of fencing. Stephen did sabre and Adam did foil. I was so impressed with how good they are getting.

Stephen was fencing with a high-schooler who has a “B” ranking (this is an excellent rating a teen), and he was holding his own. After the exhibition, Stephen was disappointed with his performance. He’s such a perfectionist—very competitive. I wonder where he gets it?

The best part of fencing for me is that I don’t know anything about the sport. It allows me to be a laid back dad who doesn’t offer much advice. Honestly, I don’t know what I could say except, “You looked great!” If Stephen was still in baseball, I’m sure there would have been a long discussion on what he could have done to improve. I think in this case, my ignorance is bliss.

Back Up, Incredible(s)!

The blog is back up. After some difficulties with our new version of MT and some lack of writing force on my own part, the blog is back.

Last weekend, I saw the Incredibles with my family.

It was a great ride. The plot was a little predictable, but the characters were great. There were many gut-busting moments. My kids’ favorite was when Helen Parr, a.k.a. Elastigirl or Mrs. Incredible, turns herself into a flotation device as her son, Dash, provides the hyperactive kicking motor. I thought Adam’s spleen was going to burst he was laughing so hard. The best character had to be Edna “E” Mode, the sub 4-foot superhero suit designer. Brad Bird, the writer and director, provided the voiceover. Absolutely hilarious!

The film did well in its first weekend, grossing over $70.5 million, which made it Pixar’s highest grossing film ever, topping Finding Nemo.

Speaking of opening numbers, another significant event happened in the Yamada household this weekend. Halo 2 came out early this week, and Stephen and Adam are ecstatic. They have already logged many hours on their Xbox. For a little perspective of how huge this game is, first day receipts on Halo 2 were in excess of $125 million dollars (including presale orders). YIKES! Can you say, “Blockbuster Redefinition”?