Dilemma.

I solved the work vs. non-work dilemma for today: it seems I accidentally broke xorg.conf, so I'm dinking around with that rather than working. I'm going to look into running DSL within Windows to hack at it. Should be fun.

But, another dilemma: so I got invited by a Charismatic to watch a movie [Narnia] and participate in a discussion at her church tomorrow evening. It is, undoubtedly, some outreach thing. But, I might as well go because I have nothing else to do and love Lewis [not as much of a fan of the movie itself]. Dilemma: go or not? As I'm a guest, there would have to be no trolling. And I might still have to putz around with xorg.conf, after all. Decisions, decisions... I think the fact that it'll be dry might make it a no-go: not because I need alcohol to be sociable, but because it's a good way to keep me amused enough that I don't troll/pull/etc and there's grave danger of such a thing happening at a place like this.

EDIT: I didn't get it all fixed and working out like it should, so I just put it back to the perfectly-adequate default configuration. Now: I might get some work done.

I am terrified by everything, from the smallest gnat to the mystery of the incarnation.

Kierkegaard.

sweet: another gig

So I was about to take a nap before doing more studying for a huge friggin' exam I've got tomorrow, and this guy calls me up offering another tutoring gig, he was like, "You sent our company your resume and we like you very much." And I was like, "I don't even remember sending you a resume, nor does googlemail, but I like being given money." So I'm being given the details and maybe the cash. Looks like somebody is going to pay rent next month! Glory to God.

EDIT: After looking at their website, I'm going to first make sure they are able to pay me.

one more time

If I hear somebody say, just one more time, that Orthodoxy in any aspect is somehow "less legalistic than the Romanists", I'll plotz. Perhaps they mean, "more antinomian"? Or are they just secretly holding up a sign saying, "I'm trying to play to your latent anticatholicism to win a proselyte"? Most likely they just don't know what the hell they're talking about.

a few points.

1. I have some sort of temporary employment. Very short term and very boring. But, it pays for rent and food for quite a while. This in addition to my several other gigs.
2. When I run into other math people who ask what I'm going to do [ie, the grad school question], I'm going to start telling them, "Oh, I'm going to be a millionaire." Tone will depend on who's asking.
3. Speaking of other gigs, what's the deal with people doing the gigs I do in a supremely horrible manner? For instance. This afternoon one of the neighbors started cutting down a small tree with a friggin' circular saw. Yesterday the other guy on my moving gig was utterly crazy: lifting with his back, carrying things hunched over or bent-over backwards [!], at one point saying, "I can take the dresser myself the rest of the way...". Fortunately, they didn't seem like the sort of folks to be doing much of this sort of labor in the future, so I didn't endeavor to comment on improvements to their form [as if they could possibly last much longer]. Speaking of which, I really should get my own hump straps and cut back the ivy.
4. One person's insistence on the applicability of certain canons [rightly or wrongly] is not "the spectre of Romanism that [he] thought [he] had escaped," to quote one person opposed. It may be misguided in the instance of that particular canon, but the fact that there are rules is not "Romanism" and if it were, bully for "Romanism". The question is what those rules are. I mean, perhaps the canon about not ordaining those guilty of fornication after their baptism or the canon about not ordaining those married to a divorcee is one of those. I'm not one to say and I wouldn't even begin to have the competence to judge, but it isn't "Romanism" to think it might be. Note this is a debate I have no truck in and am not participating in.
5. Favorite quote [I forget the exact wording] by a bizarre Protestant of the week: "Orthodox theology isn't nearly so unbiblical as some converts make it out to be."
6. I ran into "plain and simply dressed Christians" pages the other day. Essentially, that means, "Amish clothing". I was disappointed that they had few examples of men's clothing for sale, however, since Amish men's clothing is fascinating. I lived just north of the Amish, in fact, but never really took notice of the pecularities. Apparently the Amish pants still use the drop-front broadfall pattern: that's pretty old style. I'm not going to pretend the Amish are more holy than we English, but I will say that the men have pretty cool clothes. If I can't buy them, I may have to make them myself.

okay, one last post before august.

I usually don't read publications like Credenda Agenda for obvious reasons, but they're doing an issue on Flannery O'Connor and I just could not resist. And reflections on the relation between theology and art, particularly novels, always catch the eye. I believe I've wondered before why Catholics write better than Protestants and why the Low Church sorts are even worse and, hey, here's a hypothesis. I hope you enjoy.