More Well-Written Passages From Old Books

     Another notebook's worth of great sentences copied down in the margins. 

     "I sometimes think Atticus subjected every crisis of his life to tranquil evaluation behind the pages of the Mobile Register, the Birmingham News and the Montgomery Advertiser." - [Scout Finch], Harper Lee, To Kill A Mockingbird (Possibly my favorite first-person narrative ever written. Which is saying A LOT.) 

     "It may have been 100% truthful, but 100% truthful isn't always the truth. It may have been accurate, but it wasn't fair." - Dick Schaap, sportswriter 

     "It[the weather] drizzled a little, shone a little, blew a little, and didn't make up its mind until was too late for anyone else to make up theirs." - Louisa May Alcott, Little Women, chapter 26, page 260 

     "Fanny went to a fashionable school where the young ladies were so busy with their French, German and Italian that there was no time for good English." - Louisa May Alcott, An Old-Fashioned Girl 

     "He's now, in baseball lingo, a 'submariner', which is baseball's way of making a guy who throws underhanded sound manly." - Michael Lewis, Moneyball (Nobody else could make a book about the history of advanced statistics a worthwhile enjoyable read. Check it out sometime.) 

     "It takes a man a lifetime to find out about one particular woman; but if he puts in, say, ten years, industrious and curious, he can acquire the general rudiments of the sex." - O. Henry, "Cupid in a Cafe" 

     "They're chummy and honest and free and tender and sassy, and they look life straight in the eye." - O. Henry, "Cupid in a Cafe" 

     "He had a voice like a coyote with bronchitis, but whenever he chose his song he sang it." - O. Henry, "The Caballero's Way"

     "'To care passionately for another human creature brings always more sorrow than joy; but all the same, Elinor, one would not be without that experience. Anyone who has never really loved has never really lived.'" - [Laura Welman], Agatha Christie, Sad Cypress (This wasn't one of her best works, but this might be my favorite Christie quote out of everything she wrote. She wrote a ton of really great-to-think-about things in her lifetime, mostly in the books that suffer in terms of plot.) 

     "Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway." - Earl Nightingale 

     "'Ah, we men and women are like ropes drawn tight with strain that pull us different ways, then tears come, and like the rain on the ropes they brace us up, until perhaps the strain becomes too great, and we break. But King Laugh, he come like the sunshine, and he ease off the strain again, and we beat to go on with our labour, what it might be.'" - [Dr. Van Helsing], Bram Stoker, Dracula (I really don't like this book much, reminds me too much of Dickens. But I really liked that quote.)  

Well-Written Passages Found in Old Books

     This is exactly what it sounds like: A collection of quotes and passages that are very well-written, that I scribbled down in the margins of a notebook or two. I've been scrounging through my large stash of notebooks over the weekend and thought a post on here was in order. As best I can figure, most of these books were read from 2009-2011.

     Joe DiMaggio, when asked why he hustled on an absolutely meaningless play; "I figure there's some kid out there in the stands who's watching me for the first time. Don't I owe him my best?"

     "The search for Deborah's undiscovered genius continued through cello, flute and clarinet lessons as well as several other instruments that wheezed, whistled and bawled like dying animals. The piano was a last resort, Mrs. Harding-Smith confessed. It was difficult to make a piano sound like anything other than a piano, no matter how badly played it might be." - Bodie Thoene, Danzig Passage, page 176 (Read this and the rest of her Zion Covenant series as soon as you can, if you like WWII or character-driven historical fiction.)

     "Books don't transform you, but paragraphs and sentences do." - Unknown (AMEN.)

     "....returned Amy, who was gifted with domestic power, but was chosen because she was small enough to be carried away shrieking by the hero of the piece." - Louisa May Alcott, Little Women, chapter 1 (Very good book.)

     "Amy followed, but she poked her hands out stiffly beside her and jerked herself along as if she went by machinery; and her "Ow!" was more suggestive of pins being run into her than of pain and anguish." - Louisa May Alcott, Little Women, chapter 1

     "She has the close-to-the-door-when-anything-interesting-is-going-on technique highly developed." - Agatha Christie, Remembered Death 

     "But some girls seem born for the express purpose of making trouble, and would manage to do it if they lived in a howling wilderness." - Louisa May Alcott, An Old-Fashioned Girl (This would not be included in my list of favorite Alcott books, but it had a fair amount of quotable phrases.)

     "Able-bodied men are apt to leave the place[the town of King's Abbot] early in life; but we are rich in unmarried ladies and retired military officers. Our hobbies and recreations can be summed up in the one word, 'gossip'." - Agatha Christie, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Amazing. But no spoilers here....)

     "The best in this kind are but shadows; and the worst no worse, if imagination amends them."
     "It must be your imagination, then, and not theirs."
     "If we imagine no worse of them than they of themselves, they may pass for excellent men." - Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 5, Scene 1, lines 206-210

     "'He's a cobweb; a pinch would annihilate him.'" - [Heathcliff], Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights (This book was unbearably depressing, but I did like this quote.)

     "He spoke like a gardener should, mournfully, but with dignity, something like if an emperor spoke at a funeral." - Agatha Christie, The Seven Dials Mystery 

     "The only thing that we knew about the man was that he grew vegetable marrows. But that was not the sort of thing Caroline wanted to know. She wants to know where he comes from, what he does, whether he is married, what his wife was, or is, like, whether he has children, what his mother's maiden name was, and so on. Somebody very like Caroline must have invented the questions on passports, I think." - [Dr. James Sheppard, speaking about his sister and Hercule Poirot], Agatha Christie, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

     "It's not your average, ordinary, run-of-the-mill ho-hum fairy tale." - the previews tagline for the movie version of The Princess Bride

     "She was a tall, serene-looking young woman of 27, who, although her face was unlined, looked older than her years, probably from a sedate maturity that seemed part of her make-up." - Agatha Christie, Ordeal by Innocence

     "They moved down the field with maniacal relentless precision. If the Japanese had invented football, this is how they would have played it." H.G. Bissinger, Friday Night Lights (Extremely well-written book. If you've seen the TV show, they matched the tone perfectly.)

     "It did them all good, for music is a beautiful magician, and few can resist its power." - Louisa May Alcott, An Old-Fashioned Girl

     "Nobody likes to be talked to, but nobody can resist the eloquence of unconscious preaching." - Louisa May Alcott, An Old-Fashioned Girl 

     "...said Maud, who had a talent for betraying trifles which people preferred should not be mentioned in public." - Louisa May Alcott, An Old-Fashioned Girl 

     "It was Mr. Blatt's apparent ambition to be the life and soul of wherever he happened to be... He was puzzled at the way people seemed to melt and disappear whenever he himself appeared on the scene." - Agatha Christie, Evil Under the Sun 

     "She moved with that insolent effortless grace that is common among those who have been professional mannequins." - Agatha Christie, Hickory Dickory Death 

     "I think you can always tell when the artist is having a good time: the energy and life come out in their work." - Bill Watterson, The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Collection (I agree. And it's been too long since I read Calvin and Hobbes or Peanuts.)

Grades

     GRADES.... 

     They can terrify, dishearten, and frustrate students everywhere. They can discourage, and depress teachers everywhere. They can either make parents proud or horrified. They largely determine whether you get saddled with tons of loan debt or come out okay financially each semester. Pretty impressive power for a string of letters to hold.

     Prof. Semrow said once that a grade is just an opinion of how much effort the teachers think you put into a project. I guess that makes sense. Good teachers know that we have a handful of classes we're juggling at the same time, so you can't always give everything all you've got, you kind of have to prioritize the tasks required over the next few days and then run from there. You can(and should) polish as much as possible before deadline, but at some point you have to kick a field goal and take whatever you get; accept that it's impossible to score a touchdown or hit perfect bulls-eyes every time. That doesn't mean you shouldn't aim for perfection in everything. It just means that you probably won't always have a nice grouping of your arrows on the target.
     I guess it comes down to discipline. You just do it, just like Nike's told the world for the last thirty years. Somebody defined discipline as "doing what you need to even when you don't feel like it." So you just plow along and get that assignment or whatever it is finished as best you can, and then wait anxiously for the verdict. If you do well consistently over time, that creates expectations for next time, and as Philip Gulley humorously pointed out about a friend's daughter in an essay on expectations, "if she fails, the entire town will basically lose its will to live. Other than that, I don't think she's under much pressure."
   

     That pressure can be tough to deal with, though. Because the longer you do well, when you slip, it's a longer fall. That's why it's better for a college football or basketball team to lose games earlier in the season than later; the impact is less. And it's the same way in baseball; because it's the World Series at the end. And to fail....well, you kind of feel like the guy in the video above this paragraph.

     And I suppose grades do matter in some sense, because good ones allow other people(in one way or another, the government) to pay the way-too-steep prices for an education that will lead to you earning a slip of paper that's apparently the Golden Fleece, the way employers hire. And that slip of paper means that you managed to survive four-to-five years of incarceration in public (or private) factories. So in that sense, they matter.
     And it's easier to get good grades if you enjoy what you're studying. For example, then you say things like "You know you're in the right major when you're ecstatic about dissecting a cow heart.", or "You know you're a MassComm major when you watch the Super Bowl because it''ll be homework for the test on Tuesday." or "Practical things being a theater major has taught me #4826 - How to sew!" (I pulled those from Facebook, didn't write any of those quotes.)

     And if you enjoy what you're studying, and therefore get decent-to-good grades, then you'll probably have a small dose of confidence going into the next test or class or semester or whatever. (The exact level depends on many, many variables.)  And as this Tina Fey quote printed in the September 2012 copy of Reader's Digest says, "Confidence is ten percent hard work and ninety percent delusional thinking."

     So that's all I can think of to say on this topic at the moment. More will probably be said at some later point.

Now November

     It's been about two weeks since I posted something on here, I guess.

     Nano's home now. She left two weeks ago yesterday, and the funeral was last Saturday. It went well.

     Enrolled at RSU on Wednesday, so I'll be headed to Claremore in January. Not sure where this'll take me, but it's in the Lord's hands.

     The coldness is signalling that winter will be coming soon, and so does the Halloween candy on sale. That also means you can officially start playing Christmas music anytime you want(although I'm a rebel and do that anyway) and plan for Thanksgiving. I'm a big fan of Thanksgiving, and also of Christmas. Family, music, decorations, fellowship, music....

     That also means that it's been a year that Copper's been gone. It's been a very, very long twelve months. Yes, there's Rags, and Banjo and Captain, but....it's just not the same.  Miss her. It'll be a year tomorrow. And that's also the first SWAT show this season(with everything that's been going on, off to a bit of a late start).

     School's keeping me busy plowing most of the time, Photoshop is interesting(but confusing) and biology is for the most part more confusing than interesting.

#NSUProblems: The Debate

     About two weeks ago, there was a Tahlequah Daily Press story on low morale throughout the Northeastern State University community. I would agree with that statement. It's a major reason I left a couple months ago. On Wednesday The Northeastern published an editorial defending the university.

     The TDP article is focused on administrators and faculty, which I don't know much about, and I'd never heard of most of those who went on-record, though I knew people who really liked Dr. Amy Aldridge-Sanford.
     In the second paragraph, the article mentions that faculty and staff pay is among the low end of Oklahoma regional universities. That is definitely true, as I've heard Mr. Deiter(Comp I), Prof. Semrow(Lit) and Mr. Woods(speech) all mention that in classes, and I'm pretty sure several other instructors have said something like that at other times.
     It also mentions several times that professors are greatly overworked. I would totally agree with that. On average it seemed like most instructors taught at least four to six classes, which were at least two separate courses.
     Dr. Richard Carhart was quoted as saying, "I watched other individuals(teachers) being berated, intimidated or humiliated for simply doing their jobs as best they can." There's no way to prove this happened, unfortunately, but everyone knew that it happened to teachers, and so they indirectly funneled that attitude down at their students. Carhart also stated that he honestly "couldn't wait to leave." That's how I felt most of the time.

     Dr. Isaac Dalanni, former assistant professor of economics, wrote six pages of unpleasant incidents and sent them to the Daily Press, which ranged from "mistreatment of colleagues to poor living conditions for students to stagnant salaries."
     Two of those incidents were mentioned in the article, one which involved a newly-hired professor not receiving his office key for over a week and not getting an email address until several weeks on the job. This instructor got his class schedule by email, which was then changed without his knowledge or consent, and the only way he found out about it was because of a phone call asking "Where are you? Why aren't you here?" on the first day of classes. This doesn't surprise me in the least.
     The other story was of one of his students who graduated, went through commencement and everything, but failed to get a diploma. So for six months the student called and emailed asking what the holdup was, and every time he was told to wait. Finally the student got so fed up that he physically came to campus to see what the problem was, and it was only then that he was told he was two credits shy of graduating. (This had been checked multiple times.) This also doesn't surprise me that much, because I've had this same scenario happen(on a smaller level).

     Dilanni's claim about poor living conditions is right on the (far too exorbitant for the amenities) money, as everyone who lives in the dorms knows. (On the other hand, everyone in Ross knows each other from complaining about the crappy conditions.) That's been well-documented in other posts on this blog. But paying $325-425 a month for a 10'x'14 cinder-block cell, usually shared with someone else? When the seasons are reversed and doors won't lock, ceilings leak and showers and sinks break down frequently? When the elevators are fifty years old and trap folks inside on a routine basis? And the TV and internet connections are really spotty. And that doesn't even include neighbors and noise levels. And the RAs never really seemed to do anything, as far as enforcing rules or customer service went. (Maybe that happens everywhere. Maybe all of these things do.)

     Dilanni elaborated on his view of his former workplace, saying, "I believe that the problems at NSU are systemic. To make NSU into a welcoming, academically challenging and competitive university would take a thorough reorganization." He is now a lecturer of economics at the University of Illinois, which is interestingly (and irrelevantly) where my cousin Logan goes to school.

     That was another thing about it; I know they were mostly gen eds that I took over 56 hours in four semesters, but the majority of my courses weren't very challenging. They were difficult, yes; but challenging and difficult are two very different words, the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning, as Twain wrote.
     Despite what they say in class, what you actually write in an essay or say in a speech doesn't usually matter. And that's extremely disappointing. But the reason that is is because the teachers are overworked; they have 120-150 papers to grade at a time and other projects besides, and sometimes they're taking Master's-level courses of their own. So they simply don't have time to judge/evaluate content. And so what that means for students is, honestly, you could probably write something only very loosely tied to the topic, following the format perfectly, and you would likely receive a decent grade.
     That's messed up.
     But most students don't really care, rolling their eyes when the subject is brought up and saying carelessly, "C's get degrees, y'know?" But most people don't watch Blimey Cow, and so just go along with it. If you pass, great, why strive for excellence?
     That's messed up, too.

     The article mentioned that Carhart wrote a legal brief called "The NSU Syndrome: A Recipe for Mediocrity", which he sent to the governing body of Oklahoma regional universities, and got no response from them.
     In political terms, the power of Northeastern State University is firmly an elite theory system. This means that a select few members control basically all decisions concerning the welfare of the organization/country/institution. And those powers would be those nameless, especially faceless non-entities to most people called administrators, the athletic department(never mind that most of the sports teams have a deplorable lack of talent and the success to show for it), and the Greeks.
     So what happens in this structure? A lot of meaningless talk about the "pride of our institution" and "our (pricey and idealistic and pointless) master plans for the next ten/twenty years" and a lot of money spent in really questionable ways. Like, a lot. $13 million for construction of a brand-new arena when dormitories are literally falling apart. $2 million for planting and near-immediate excavation of decorative baby trees. A probably non-really necessary addition and remodeling of the cafeteria(which looks horrible.) Wilson Hall sits there, proclaiming its haunted status and wishing somehow it could be put into use again, while the continued disuse make it less and less likely that will happen. Seminary Hall's carpet was held together in many places by duct tape. The health clinic is tucked way back into an impossible-to-find corner of campus inside Wyly Hall, which had been condemned as a dorm several years earlier. Uh...what?

     As the TDP article states, "Dilanni indicated the atmosphere at NSU was one of fear and intimidation." On a near-daily basis he would hear colleagues mention they were unhappy with their current job situation, or were scared they would be fired if they publicly opposed the policies of the administration.
     The whole existence of the Media Studies department hinges on this principle, which everyone knows about and says nothing about, because nobody can do anything about it. One instructor mentioned while teaching a journalism course one day that she knew money was disappearing in strange ways, but she couldn't do any type of investigative journalism on the subject because she'd get fired. And the newspaper staff had no chance of writing anything that came close to hard news, because of the Powers That Be and the fact that, really, the Media Studies department as a whole was on extremely thin ice. Really everything we did/do is an accomplishment, Media Studies is such an underdog in pack hierarchy. The magazine was cut out several years ago(before I came to school), the TV program was shut down, and the newspaper was forced into irrelevancy by going all-online. If we students made one "mistake" by practicing the craft we were learning well in sniffing out and telling the populace about a real news story, it would be extremely easy to shutter the entire department down in a heartbeat. (Based on the last couple times anyone tried to cover hard news.)
     So most of what was acceptable is fluffy pieces about things to come in the next week or two, or occasionally about someone receiving an award. People read the newspaper; it was all over the place, and you could talk to random people about what such-and-such an article was about, or mention that you knew somebody quoted or the writer, etc. The extra copies were a key component of many Homecoming floats. But with the department budget cut (again) and advertisers getting harder to find, the publication was moved entirely online and now nobody ever mentions the paper or notices its existence. (It's really hard to remember the name of the website, and there's so many other sites to look at....) Though folks do mark the printed Northeastern's absence.
     The TV program was sort of resurrected last spring, with half the semester to work with, a temporary teacher from Iowa, three cameras, two tripods(one broken), and six semi-working Macs shared among about thirty people, most of whom had near zero experience with Macs or working with video.  So it was an interesting process, but the eight of us in Advanced Video patched together two pilot episodes of a news show that would hopefully restart the program, and there were a fair amount of school commercials that were created. Not really sure how that's doing this semester.

     The Northeastern editorial begins, "Vacant expressions, empty desks and apathetic professors - this seems to be the current portrayal of Northeastern State University." Which is a very good journalistic sentence. It's stating an opinion of the general public, but not commenting one way or the other as to if there's any truth to it.
     The third paragraph brings up a good point that the students of today are hugely invested in social media, and that this story could spread and impact not just the school, but the city of Tahlequah.
     The fourth paragraph, "We as humble students cannot begin to understand the deadly political dance required to run a university of this size. We cannot speak for the inner workings of administration, or how faculty members are treated behind closed doors," is also strictly true. And it comes up nicely on the "Keep things safe but still address the issue" meter.
     The fifth paragraph makes a good point that the general tone of that article did kind of seem biased, which was true. But also, you have to compare that one article to the loads of other NSU stories the TDP has covered over the past year, promoting events like the summer camps and covering games and plays and debates and special speakers and teacher profiles and whatever else.
     The sixth paragraph, about the opinion that the school is slipping, I don't completely agree with, especially the last sentence, "So do not tell us that our university is mediocre." That's an opinion. (I get that it's an opinion column, but still.) But the point the paragraph makes about there being a flipside to every coin is good. There are, certainly, some good professors.  Dr. Faulds, Prof. Semrow, Dr. Eversole, Cassie, Mr. Shamblin and Mrs. Bowin are the first instructors who spring to mind. And sometimes they do work weekends; and often at night as well.
     That last paragraph is made up mostly of facts. (And, by my count, eight punctuation errors.) Those facts are true. The rah-rah-rah "Go RiverHawks!" spirit is annoying. But, this did appear during Homecoming week. And Homecoming week is when everyone goes "OH MY GOSH, I'M SO HAPPY AND BLESSED TO ATTEND SUCH A WONDERFUL COLLEGE LIKE THIS ONE!" (I'm not much for Homecoming celebrations.) And I'm sure there are a lot of students who actually feel that way. It just seems kinda excessive and fake to have all these elaborate celebratory activities. But, because of that, you need to end on an upbeat note, with all the alumni coming this weekend.

     But Tahlequah is a great town, full of good people. And there's also NSU folks who aren't part of the school like Bob and Deb at the BCM, and Tom and Javier with CCF. And there's all the BCM-related adventures of the past year with SWAT, the worship team and just hanging around the office. But anyway, I just saw the Northeastern editorial this afternoon, and so then I had to look up the original article, and then this editorial or whatever it is just kind of happened.
     And, weirdly enough, I'm wearing an NSU T-shirt right now while I finish typing this post. (I just took a shower and grabbed the first clean shirt in the closet, so....)

Full Swing into Fall 2014

     Well, my four-week classes are over now. I got an A in government and (I think?) an A in Word, but that final grade hasn't come in yet. Starting to get the hang of where the tools are in Photoshop; which might be a cool class, we'll see. Biology is coming along slowly.

     We went to Fayetteville to go see Nano last Sunday. That was kind of a somber time. And Northwest Arkansas sometimes feels like a different planet. (And not just because it felt almost SWAT-like finding the exact location of the hospice.)

     Speaking of BCM folks, they seem to be hanging in there, based on reports from Daniel P. and Elizabeth. So that's good, I guess.

     Filed the paperwork for graduation through TCC for an Associate's the other day last week, and was accepted to RSU.

     Texted Daniel last weekend, it was good to hear from him. And talked with Ash for about a half hour today. In other SGYC news, Shari's wedding is tomorrow, and Caleb's already looking forward to next year.

     Mom's been on a "Parks and Recreation" kick; I've only seen a few episodes, but I think I'd like it if I went through them all. I watched Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure the other night and really liked it. Also watched The Karate Kid(liked that too) and Days of Thunder(which was rather boring). So that's about what's been Netflixed recently. (Yes, I know "Netflixed" is not a word, technically. But it's an action akin to "Googled", so... And also, I've mixed AP and MLA styling in this paragraph. Oh well.)
     Eagerly looking forward to Age of Ultron and the Netflix shows in summer. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is off to a terrific start, really great acting and good writing. (Spoilers are HYDRA, so....if you want more info, watch the show.)

     In sports news, Kevin Durant fractured his foot in practice last week, and he'll be out for six to eight weeks. (Cue widespread panic throughout Oklahoma generally and Thunder fans in particular.) The Royals defeated the Orioles and the Giants topped the Cardinals, so I'm pulling for Kansas City once the World Series gets underway on Tuesday night. So long as Missouri wins, it's cool. Hopefully there won't be any wild plays like this and I won't catch any sinus infections. High school football is rolling along as usual for local schools.

     The weather has been really warm for fall, but it's nice. (Low 80's, high 70's for daytime highs, mid-to-low 40's at night.) Lots of sunshine, trees beginning to drop their leaves, so some indefinable creative spark lights up in people, and I'm doing homework most of the day. Nonfiction no-textbook reading recently has been mostly on movie industry, specifically screenwriting. And this month's saturation Bible book is Ruth, because it's short and easy to flip through on my phone's Bible app. At least, I think that's the reason, I'm never really sure how I pick the books each month. Haven't been able to keep up reading every day, but this year I've gotten a lot more time in the Scriptures than I would have otherwise. Still haven't found my Bible yet.

     So that's pretty much it for this update.

On to October

     College is hard.
     Finals are tough.
     Caring about people is difficult sometimes.
     Life in general is tough.

     "Until such time as the world ends, we will act as if though it intends to spin on," Nick Fury, The Avengers. That movie has a ton of great quotes. But that particular one has been stuck in my head recently.
   
     Nano's really not doing very well. So Mom's been over there often. And Banjo got bitten by a pygmy rattlesnake this afternoon. So he's not feeling too great.

     This was how my weekend went: Visit RSU on Friday, turn right around and cover Beggs-Okmulgee football, then write a story on the game and turn it in; four hours of sleep and then three tests on Saturday, skip church this morning and take another test. That's what most our schedules have looked like for a while.
     Claremore seems like a nice town, from what little we saw of it driving through. Susan says it's a lot like Tahlequah. So that explains it. The campus of RSU was pretty quiet, it was a Friday afternoon. There were lots of really nice buildings. Instructors seem to really care about their subjects and want students to learn, so that's a good thing. The radio station is pretty cool.

     Pretty sure I locked up an A in government; scoring 20-of-20 on all three essays and 96-of-100 on all three tests. Word I'm really just hoping to survive; and it seems like from what miniscule feedback there is with other students that others are worried, too. I think I got an 85 on the third test, an 87 on a retake of the first test(previous 71) and an 87 on retake of the second(I think that was an 83 first try.) None of these have been graded yet, so I'm not really sure how I'm doing in that right now. But it's almost over, so that's a negative reward to look forward to(psychology reference; when something unpleasant is taken away). Finals for Word and government this week, and then getting back into biology before Photoshop starts next Monday.

     "You might be a homeschooler if your bed doubles as your desk..." Yep, there's another great new Blimey Cow video to watch.
     Really thankful for the cats, they just live Hakuna Matata. (Which I don't, at all.)
     Watched a bit of football on Saturday, and the Cardinals are back in the NL playoffs. And the Royals are doing well, too, in the AL playoffs. Hockey's about to start, and the state's fixing to get coated in Thunder blue again.

End of September

     This has been a really long month, it seems like. Like, it's just dragged on for eons.

     About halfway through with my four-week classes and can get back to focusing on biology and learning Photoshop. (Side note; taking two online four-week classes at the same time is kinda exhausting.)

     Mom's been taking care of Nano a lot recently, who's gone downhill fast. It's hard being 93 and dying slowly. It's also hard dying young of cancer, like Mimi.
     Courtney's been taking care of Amy pretty often, so that's good. When I haven't been focused on school been trying to keep the laundry running, dishes done, litter box clean and trash taken out so those things don't have to be worried about as much. Banjo and Captain skate around on the wood floor most of the day roughhousing, and Rags glares at them evilly for existing. Kinda fun to watch, and they're enjoying it.
     Coyotes are still out there...somewhere....which is creepy and unsettling.

     Texted Stephen this afternoon to make sure things around the office were going all right; he said they were passing time by trying to stay out of trouble, which we knew is easier said than done. Justin's spent time in the hospital for an irregular heartbeat, which might have been similar to what Jed has. Bob's been in the hospital, too, and so has Deb. Susan stepped down from SWAT leadership, so now that's headed by Jacob; they had their first show Monday night during Impact. Elizabeth's ministry seems to be going well, and so does Bucky's Greek outreach; and the worship team's been traveling around to different places like SWAT does. Hoping to visit everybody sometime soon, if possible.

     Jon was talking with somebody about comment chains and memories associated with them, which fit nicely with something I've been pondering the last few days. As time passes and new experiences are undertaken, we shift different roles, it's like a series of temporary lifespans as we play certain characters. And then gradually, for the most part, we slide from one role to a different role, and then it keeps going and you stop and wonder, "What exactly would this situation be like if it was a year ago? Two years ago? Three? Five? How would I have reacted to, handled and interpreted it? And if X, then how would that have affected everything?" Probably part of this questioning is just my nature as a storyteller, examining potential character/story ideas. And another part would be that it's September; which is full of time-linked dates; 9/11, Mimi's birthday, and high school football and softball, for example, and the first wave of tests and projects for the fall semester.

     Caleb,Trevor, Courtney and I marathoned (almost, editing over various bits) the entire first season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. over the past week, and the first episode of the new season was Tuesday night. It was very much Wesley-approved. Iain De Caesticker's acting as Fitz....it was amazing. And wonderfully-written. And there were a ton of new storylines to follow, and everybody's almost new characters due to being in a completely different situation(see? There it pops up again!), so it's almost like we as audience get to meet them all over again, but yet know their backstory and what all led up to this point in their history. And we have totally new characters joining the cast, so....

     It's been a nice break from studying my coursework. Politics isn't exactly the most enthralling subject; in fact, it's more of a look at human sinful nature, with windows into history, psychology and literature. Jessica's been helpful in explaining basic biological process like the structure of proteins.

     The Okmulgee library book sale was (I think?) last week, the days blend together until you're not sure when something for sure happened. We only picked up about fifty books, most of them from Louis L'Amour and Agatha Christie. Also some of Keats' poetry and Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. So it was a pretty decent haul.

     Spiritually, it's been a little tough sometimes here recently. Kind of a "survive today, then do it again tomorrow" mindset. Saturating in 2 Corinthians this month, there are some very good verses in there. Verses that have stuck in my head are 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 and Philippians 4:6-7.
     Missed most of the GBC missions conference this year, but it sounded like it went well.

     Not really sure still on what's going to happen school-wise, but I think I'm probably going to stduy English. Going to explore around the RSU campus next week

September is Here

     It's September. High school softball is ending and high school football is beginning. The NFL is beginning the journey towards another Super Bowl and college football is starting a new era with a four-team playoff to decide their champion. That also means that we're coming to the first wave of tests of the semester. 

     It seems like the days drag on forever, the weeks skip by quickly, the months are in slow motion, and the year itself somewhere between "It's already (month)?!" and "Well, huh....it's that time again." (Rabbit trail about the weirdness of time over now.) 

     There's been a lot going on in the world that needs prayer. It's been kind of a long week, but not much has happened. The DeSpains came over after church this afternoon, there was a kind of book-discussion and we played volleyball(they won in three sets). 

     Biology is coming along, I have an 86 at the moment, which I'm not too happy with, but there's still a lot of the semester to go. And I'm trying as hard as I can in that, so we'll see what happens by December. Government and Word start next Monday, and then when those end I turn right around and start Photoshop. 

     Still no clear ideas about what to do next in spring and next year. I think with the MassComm classes I've already taken I might could just make that a minor and be done with that part, if I didn't keep that as my major. And I'd have at least nine hours of English down already if I went down that route. Think I've looked at the website of nearly every school in eastern Oklahoma, western Arkansas, southeast Kansas and southwest Missouri. 
     The current options and rough estimates of odds look like this: "Return to NSU"(possible), "Stay home and keep doing online through somewhere for one more semester"(more unlikely, but possible), "Go south to Ada at East Central"(maybe?), "Go north to Claremore at Rogers State"(maybe? Considered going there originally), "Go west to Edmond at UCO"(not likely, but could happen), "Go to Joplin at Missouri Southern"(longshot) and "Go to Springfield at Drury"(extreme longshot). Kind of interesting, though not important at all - besides NSU's RiverHawks and UCO's Bronchos, all those those other schools' mascots are feline in nature(Drury's Panthers, ECU's Tigers, RSU's Hillcats and MSSU's Lions).   

     About halfway through Jan Karon's new book, which is good. Not quite as good as most of the others, but still very gripping and character-driven. (But then again, it's new. I haven't even finished the first reading, much less the sixth, as necessary to really get into everything.) But it's great to be back in Mitford and see everybody again. 

Aftermath

     I know it's August, so don't judge me. But I'm listening to Alan Jackson's Let It Be Christmas CD right now. (I also have an entire Pandora channel for Christmas music.) But August is almost over; so seems like the right time to listen to Christmas music if you want to. And it's calming. And it's been a really, really long week. And a hard one, too. So I could use some calm-ness.

     College is in full swing everywhere, pretty much, now - and all the routine and mundane routines and hassles that entails. Facebook and Twitter are full of "Oh, help..." posts. Biology is not going to be my favorite class ever. It's tiring and frustrating and there's no scope for imagination in it. And that lack-of-imaginative-qualities is a real problem.
      I'll try to sum this up quickly as best I can, but for a better argument, read Martin Cothran's  article The Rhetoric of Amazement, or, even better, read G.K. Chesterton's Orthodoxy; specifically the fourth chapter, "The Ethics of Elfland". He speaks much against the "learned men of science in their spectacles" who say "'Cut the stalk, and the apple will fall", but he says it calmly, as if the one idea really led up to the other. The witch in the fairy tale says, "Blow the horn, and the ogre's castle shall fall", but she does not say it as if it were something in which the effect rose out of the cause...She does not muddle her head until it imagines a necessary mental connection between a horn and a falling tower. But the scientific men do muddle their heads, until they imagine a necessary mental connection between the apple leaving a tree and an apple reaching the ground. They really do talk as if they had not only found a set of marvelous facts, but a truth connecting those facts. They do talk as if the connection of two strange things physically connected them philosophically. They feel that because one incomprehensible thing constantly follows another incomprehensible thing the two together somehow make up a comprehensible thing. Two black riddles make a white answer."
     But on the first quiz I scored 32 out of 36, so that's a good start.
      There's another good passage I came across reading it over again the other day, in chapter six, I think: "It is very hard for a man to defend anything of which he is entirely convinced. It is comparatively easier when he is only partially convinced. He is partially convinced because he has found this proof or that proof of the thing, and he can expound it. But a man is not really convinced of a philosophic theory when he finds that something proves it. He is only really convinced when he finds that everything proves it. And the more converging reasons he finds pointing towards this conviction, the more bewildered he is when he is asked to sum them up."
     That's why I have so much trouble expressing what, exactly, felt so off-kilter when it came to NSU. (And not an artistic, nice-looking off-center, either.) And also, in a much more pleasant vein, why it's difficult to sum up exactly what and why I love SGYC so much.

     Church was very good today, Sunday School in 1 John 2 and another sermon from the first chapter of 2 Corinthians, verses 12-22. (Last week's sermon can be found here, look for "Dennis Gundersen, 2 Cor. 1:8-11".) It's hard to know what to say to people, though, when they ask how I'm doing. But I'm making it, I guess. Prayers are very valuable things.

     Finished reading Jan Karon's Light From Heaven again this afternoon, which was nice. Her new book is coming out next Tuesday, it's called Somewhere Safe with Somebody Good. (Very nice title. Sounds like a perfect description of Father Tim's life in Mitford with Cynthia.) Hope it'll be good.
     I can't find where I put my Bible, which is mildly irritating. I know I packed it somewhere when moving my stuff out, but I just haven't found where I set it yet.
     And the Okmulgee library book sale is coming up soon, on the 18th. Mom's really looking forward to that. I am, too. And that's also the weekend of GBC's annual mission conference, which Courtney is pretty excited about. And then the 23rd is the season two premiere of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

     Spent a lot of time on the phone this week, it seems like. Besides annoying hassle-ey financial aid stuff to deal with, I called Ash last Saturday afternoon and we talked for about an hour and a half, and then I called Jon Wednesday night and we talked for an hour. Good to catch up with them.

     Felt kind of sick this morning and the last couple days, which fits perfectly with the new semester and everything else. Pandora is useful. If there were an instrumental piece of music that captured what a semester felt like, this would probably be close. (Jed played this one year during the talent share.) And this would also work.
     It's been an unbelievably slow week as far as assignments and stuff go, yet somewhat productive. My guess is that this week will pick up a little faster.

An Announcement

     Maybe I shouldn't have been following Stranger for the last two years....I just did kind of an Eli McCann-like thing and have no idea how it happened or what I think about it. Also no idea on what this will do to the future or anything.

     I moved back home and am taking classes online through TCC for this semester.

     It was all kind of sudden, and I'm kind of a mess of emotions right now. (Also, I seriously haven't gotten much sleep over the last week, but yeah...) Throughout the weekend I enlisted the prayers of Daniel, Ash, Jon, Elizabeth and Susan(Race of Joseph all) and delivered updates when I could. And at church told Steven and Jamie and Mrs. Rusco. Mr. Gundersen was preaching from 2 Corinthians 1:8-11, which was wonderful and so much-needed. Very grateful for their prayers and advice/encouragement. Called Bob last night and he told most of the BCM crew.

     Over and over since I first came to NSU it's just not really quite fit and I've wanted to leave so bad. (Most of these school-related posts over the last two years have been the S. Morgenstern "good parts" version.) But I wanted to stick it out for my freshman year because I'd've felt like I was letting GBC folks down if I hadn't, and besides, I would've been extremely mad at myself for....well, who ever knows why they're mad at themselves for? Anyway, due to Samantha's gentle pestering and knowing a handful of other BCMers, I slipped inside one Monday night in February 2013 and in so doing, found another important place, like GBC or SGYC, with folks just as familiar. And gradually getting involved with SWAT, the worship team, and everything else...the lone bright spot in a very dark place. And maybe because of that, the light shows up much greater. They were why I hung around sophomore year, a subject we'd covered during Impact or Velocity or coffee runs. It was hard to say goodbye this morning.
     I won't miss the school much, though. Nor the dorm. The best classes have been Prof. Semrow's Lit class or Dr. Faulds' Latin classes; and I really enjoyed(and learned a lot) in Dr. Fuller's psych class, Cassie's Basic Writing and Dr. Eversole's Editing. The worst would be nutrition and Mr. Deiter's Comp I. (Though it was a good class to meet folks in, and certainly memorable....)
     I'll miss Tahlequah. It's a good place, with good people. Neat local businesses abound, and there's great scenery. And I'll miss being near Grandpa and Robbie, and Louise and Harry. And the Galdamezes. I'll probably visit when I can.

     So we moved my stuff out last night, then filled out the withdrawal forms this morning. It went smoother than I expected; but then I'm used to how stuff works out there. Dad isn't as much. Ran by the BCM to see if anybody was around, said goodbye to Ashleigh, Daniel P. and Deb. Then in Ross ran into Elizabeth and then Susan, said goodbye to them, too.

     It's been an eventful two years. There's lots of stories to tell, which can be found by going through older posts. Gotten stronger as a person, spiritually and mentally. Felt weaker than I thought possible often.
     My personality seems to have changed a lot(but that's hard to judge on yourself). More cynical and serious; more spacey and living more firmly in Chesterton's Fairyland.

     So I don't really know what's next. Right now I'm taking a biology course and the other courses coming up are on Word, government and Photoshop. In spring and past that - no idea. But we'll see what happens.

     This picture is of a freshly-chopped stump I found hiking around campus Tuesday night.

FIRE (Is a Very Bad Thing)

     This semester seems to be starting on a historic low. Got somewhere between three and four hours' sleep last night, going to sleep sometime after midnight, waking up at 2:30 and then falling asleep again about half an hour later, unrestfully(see previous post) sleeping again before getting woken up for good about five to a truly horrendous sound: FIRE ALARMS. They weren't in Ross, but they were never-ending and sickening. You know when it's a drill and when things are real, once you go through something like that. And this was all too real. According to the Daily Press, the Pleasant View Apartments(near campus) had sixteen apartments burned after a car caught fire. Nobody was injured, so that's a blessing, but....it's so awful.

     In other news, my roommate showed up about three yesterday afternoon. We'll see how this goes...

     I skipped the BCM's Jam Session kickoff last night for the CCF volleyball deal, because, well, it was volleyball. And so your muscles just go; you don't have to think about stuff. With the Fit (still) under construction, the volleyball courts are kind of a junkyard, so it was a rather unforgiving playing surface. And being a small-sized person, I became the designated chaser whenever the ball went over the fence(I could slide under Sunny-like) or down into the runoff ditch. Not knowing the tendencies of the folks on your side, and having to keep your mind more on where your feet are stepping than attacking the ball, it wasn't the most-well-played matches ever. Was it an enjoyable time? Not especially, but it was something to do. And besides, you didn't really have to talk to people that much, which was nice. (I used up whatever talking-to-people energy I had long before)
     I left that early when there were just way too many people around, and skipped the BCM's pancake feed, too. I was just too tired to walk over there and act happy. I was so tired, even, that I immediately crawled into bed and tried to go to sleep, not even turning on the TV to see Taylor Swift on Jimmy Fallon.

     How will I get through this semester?

Year Three Begins

     This post is brought to you from an all-too-familiar place: My dorm in Ross, in an agitated state of mind. (With an extensive Owl City soundtrack playing while typing.) Things look pretty much the same so far. And wasn't I just here?

     Haven't slept that well; having a hard time falling asleep and then sticking there once I arrive. And there's this enormous montage of situations where something's about to happen, like an event to go to or a present somebody's going to give me, and then at the last second it melts away. It's strange and unrestful. And to continue for two nights straight, and a half-nap? 

     Covered about ten miles of aimlessly hiking around town since Sunday afternoon, I'd guess, on the low end. Doesn't exactly help with thinking so much, and doesn't exactly keep me from thinking, either; but it's something. Supposed to have a roommate this semester; which I didn't know about until I saw the sign on the door when I got here Sunday afternoon(but then, it is NSU, so....) He hasn't shown up yet, so that's nice, I guess. Just the uncertainty of wondering if I will actually or won't actually has me a little more on edge than normal.

     Got my book(singular this time) and mapped out class routes yesterday, and then did quite a bit of staring at the walls and ceiling, which has been continued today. Tried to write some, but it was sort of like that day when someone asked Voltaire how he'd done that day. Voltaire says frustratedly, "Not that well. I only managed to get down eight words." His friend winces. "Eight words? That's....that's not the greatest day ever, no." (pause) "But, you know, that's eight words that you didn't have yesterday, so that's some progress."  "But that's not the worst part!" "...It isn't?" "No! The worst part is that I can't figure out what order they're supposed to go in!" (I wish I could remember where I read this tidbit of conversation, which I had to largely paraphrase/modernize due to not remembering the exact wording.) 

     This afternoon I studied some, read a bit of To Kill a Mockingbird. Heard from both Daniel and Ash, which were both very good things. 

     Went over to the BCM to see if anybody was around, hung out for a bit with Ashleigh, Bucky, Daniel P, Elizabeth, Justin, Stephen and Michelle; we split a pizza. 

     Practiced photography for a bit while campus was empty during dinnertime, don't think I got anything that great.

     Robin Williams died last night, I saw being talking about on TV, and then later all over Facebook and Twitter. Took me a moment to compute why this was important, who Robin Williams was and then my next thought was "Well, yeah, I guess that's about right; he's human, and everybody dies sometime." After watching a bit longer, they said it looked to be a suicide, which is a terrible way to die, but one that didn't seem all that surprising, either.
     I guess the worst part about it would be the lack of hope. That's why I don't like those dystopian novels like Hunger Games, Divergent, etc. - they're so empty of hope and if there's not even a chance that the sun's gonna shine tomorrow, well, what's the point of reading further? Mr. Gundersen's been preaching over 2 Corinthians recently, which is all about how this life is a struggle, yes. But that struggle means that we experience just a minute fraction of what Christ went through on the cross. And it may be bad at times, and we may grow weary, but God gives us comfort and allows us to comfort others on the way. And when we die, we as Christians have heaven to look forward to because of our Savior.

     So, yeah. Nothing much of news to tell about. 

Adventure is Out There

     Carl and Ellie Fredrickson would always enthusiastically repeat their hero Charles Muntz's catchphrase: "Adventure is out there!"
     G.K. Chesterton wrote once that "an inconvenience is merely an adventure wrongly considered, and an adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered." Which, when you stop and puzzle over this statement, seems true, and a good attitude to have towards life in general besides.
     And Louis L'Amour's take on the concept in his autobiography: "Adventure is just a romantic name for trouble." While pessimistic, this sounds pretty accurate, too.

     Living, in itself, usually creates or means dealing with other people's trouble. It's just kind of part of the deal. And sometimes that can be frustrating, worrisome, painful, or just otherwise unpleasant. As Frodo told Gandalf in The Fellowship of the Ring, "I wish it did not have to happen in my time." The wise old wizard replies, "So do I, and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time given us." And in The Two Towers, Tolkien continues, "the world indeed is full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands now love is mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater."

     Who knows what college will bring this year? (Wait - I do! "Raises hand". It'll be full of STRESS, lots of hurrying form one place to the next, many tiresome nights and long days, waiting impatiently for things, and monotonous food. And I'll hate it.) Yes, that is true. But it will also probably bring small unexpected sparks of encouragement from strange sources, as well as a for-enjoyment story here or there to savor and cherish and learn from.

     Two years ago, I wrote the following paragraph, in a post The Golden Road; "Right now, I'm kind of scared. But it's time to go, like it or not. Life's an adventure, and it's always best when taken day-by-day, though quite a bit more stressful and tiring. Life's also a dance, as the song says, and you learn it as you go. That's good to know. So as I wind down this last blog post(for a while) typed on the computer in the office at home, where I wrote down many articles over the weeks chasing news stories and had a lot of conversations with friends, I know my future is in God's hands, and He'll work everything out just the way it's supposed to. That doesn't really keep me from being nervous or anxious about the journey, but it provides some comfort as I doublecheck to make sure I've packed everything."
     That still pretty much fits.

     It just seems like I'm slowly getting more open to adventures. (But college doesn't count. At all.)

Guardians of the Galaxy

     As Coulson told Skye(rather angrily, but that's not important here) when the team went to the Hub on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., "We can go off-book because there IS a book." Which is basically what Marvel did in introducing us to the Guardians of the Galaxy. Mom, Courtney and I went to Tulsa Wednesday night to go see it.
     There was an interesting take on the movie in this PluggedIn blog post I read last week.
     It's a little bit of Marvel, dash of The A-Team, a touch each of Firefly and The Princess Bride, with a whole bunch of Star Wars, some Star Trek and quite a bit of its own creature. And it's hilarious. Also rather profane and almost all the main characters are jerks(but that's a necessary plot point and it's totally worth it). And there's a ton of pop-culture references thrown in there randomly, which is awesome.

     A boy named Peter Quill is listening to his Walkman in a hospital hallway in 1988, where his mother is dying of cancer. Before she dies, the woman gives Peter a present that she tells him to open when she's gone, which is stuffed into his backpack. Wild with grief and anger, Peter sprints outside and collapses to the dewy grass exhausted. That's when he's kidnapped by a band of space pirates called the Ravagers. (Yes, this is truly the first scene.)
     Twenty-six years later on the abandoned planet Morag, Quill, now calling himself "Star-Lord", plays with some T. rex-kangaroo rats and jams out to his Walkman before swiping this orb. That's when he's intercepted by Korath(the Dark Elf from The Dark World!) and several Chitauri(from The Avengers, that One-Shot "Item 47" and an episode of Agents). There's a great snarky line here: "Who are you?" "Star-Lord." (Korath looks confused.) "...Who?" "Star-Lord, man! Y'know, the legendary outlaw?" (Korath shakes his head.) Quill escapes from Korath in his ship, the Milano, and runs out on Yondu the Ravager chief, having a buyer for himself on the planet Xandar.
     Now with a bounty on his head, and someone named Ronan involved, Quill's buyer backs out. An assassin named Gamora swipes the orb away from him, and while they fighting/chasing each other, the bounty hunters  Rocket Raccoon and Groot the tree-thing are chasing Quill. A spectacularly-filmed scene follows, ending with all four getting arrested by the Nova Corps(the planet's police force/military) and taken to the Kyln, a high-security prison.
     Almost all the inmates of this prison want to kill Gamora, since her adopted father is Thanos(Bin-Laden in space, kinda), including a revenge-minded massive warrior named Drax. Drax tries to murder Gamora, but a quick-talking Quill saves her, pointing out that Drax needs her alive in order to kill Ronan(who murdered Drax's family). Gamora betrayed Ronan because he is working with Thanos and planning to destroy entire planets if he possesses it.
     Quote break: Quill, trying to convince Drax to spare Gamora, ends his plea with a slashing-throat gesture. Drax - "Why would I put my finger on his throat?" Also, a little later on: Rocket - "...his people are super literal, metaphors go over his head." Drax - "Nothing goes over my head. My reflexes are too fast, I would catch it."
     The three of them, with Rocket and Groot, plan(improvise) and execute an escape, reclaiming the orb on their way out to meet with Gamora's contact, The Collector, on the mining station Knowhere. The Collector opens the orb, which everyone knows is valuable without knowing exactly why(a Maltese Falcon, in a way) and explains that it contains an Infinity Stone, and then explaining why that's so important. (Basically, if you have all six and set them into a glove called the Infinity Gauntlet, then you earn power above all imagination and become unstoppable. The Tesseract and the Aether are two of the other five.) Meanwhile, a drunk Drax summons Ronan to finally kill him. They pummel each other. The Collector's assistant is sick of being his slave, so she blows up his collection with the Inifnity Stone, committing suicide in the process. The group kind of runs every-being-for-itself out of there. Quill and Gamora are chased by her adopted sister Nebula(also working for Ronan), who blows up Gamora's ship and leaves her to freeze in space's vacuum. Ronan almost succeeds in murdering Drax, but Groot pulls him from drowning, and Rocket meets up with them. Quill saves Gamora's life and they're rescued by Yondu and the Ravagers. (Love the way Quill brags on himself excitedly right there. "I found something inside of me, something incredibly heroic!") Ronan gets away with the orb in his ship The Dark Aster. Rocket, Groot and Drax think that Yondu kidnapped Quill and Gamora, so they set out impulsively to rescue them(without thinking it through much). ("You tried to save us by THREATENING TO BLOW US UP?!" "Well.....yeah. It worked, didn't it?" "Yeah! But...how would that even have worked?!")
     Quill gives a rousing inspirational speech, and then the five of them argue for a while about what to do next, finally settling on re-reclaiming the orb from Ronan's clutches, since he's on his way to destroy Xandar. This also kind of means certain death, but if they succeed he won't be able to destroy the galaxy. So, that's a plus. (Rocket - "Why would you want to save the galaxy?" Quill - "Because I'm one of the idiots who lives in it!" And during the council scene: Quill - "I have a plan." Rocket argues with everyone that that is a phrase of his own creation. Quill - "I have part of a plan." Drax - "What percentage of a plan do you have?" Pause for more argument. Rocket - "So, what percentage?" Quill - "I don't know....Twelve percent?" More argument over whether that's a plan. Gamora - "That's barely a concept." Groot - "I am Groot." Rocket - "So what, 'it's better than eleven percent'?" Quill to Groot - "Thank you." It's a great scene.) They get Yondu to agree to this plan by saying they'll give him the orb once Ronan is defeated.
     A massive space-battle begins once inside Xandar's orbit, where the ragtag group of allies breaches The Dark Aster, Yondu wipes out a bunch of Chitauri on the ground with his whistle-arrow, the Nova Corps' ships create this incredibly-awesome force field, and the Ravagers defend from ground-level while the city is being evacuated. Drax kills Korath("Finger on throat means "death". Metaphor." Quill - "Eh....close enough.")
     The energy wall is eventually breached and The Dark Aster looms down and crashes into the city. Rocket also wrecks Quill's ship somewhere in there. It seems like everyone will die in the wreck, but Groot perishes protecting his friends. And Quill does (yet another) extraordinary thing: He starts dancing. Ronan - "What are you doing?" "I challenge you do a dance-off." "What are you doing?" "I'm distracting you!" And then Rocket and Drax pile into Ronan with the MacGyvered laser cannon. It's wonderful. The remaining Guardians of the Galaxy together destroy Ronan and Nebula escapes, while the grateful Nova Corps expunges their criminal records and rebuilds the Milano. The Nova Corps is given the orb while Yondu is given a trick replica. An officer named Rhomann Dey, in explaining all this as they leave, reminds them not to do anything else illegal. Drax - "Supposing someone angered me and I wished to remove his spine?" Dey - "Yeah...That, um - That would be called murder, and that is one of the worst - Yeah. Please don't do that." Quill promises to keep an eye on things.
     The Guardians of the Galaxy, with a sapling grafted from Groot, set out on their next adventure. Gamora - "What happens next?" Star-Lord - "Who knows? Something good? Something bad? A little of both?" "We'll follow your lead, Star-Lord." "All right, then. A little of both!"
     He then finally opens the present his mother gave him as she was dying; a second cassette mixtape, and pops it in his stereo.  

     Quill's constant pop-culture references are awesome. He named his ship after his childhood celebrity crush, Who's The Boss? star Alyssa Milano, he says the Infinity Stone has a real Maltese Falcon, Ark of the Covenant-like vibe, his reference to an Earth-legend called Footloose(which leads to Gamora shouting excitedly while doing something heroic, "We're just like Kevin Bacon!"), how Earth is home to many legendary outlaws like Billy the Kid, Jesse James and John Stamos(who he'd know as Jesse from Full House),  calling a Chitauri "Ninja Turtle", Rocket "Ranger Rick" at one point and Groot "The Giving Tree" (he meant it sarcastic, but that's actually a really great description of Groot's character).
     Groot is simple, yes. But also unselfish and serving, almost parental at times. And they need somebody like that. Rocket's the most brashly money-hungry and me-against-the-world. But he was experimented on and is now half-machine. So his anger and misery is totally understandable. And his biting commentary throughout is terrific. Gamora did some terrible, awful, horrendous things, yes. But that was in the past, and she's learning how to atone for those errors somewhat by the end. Drax is motivated solely by his desire to avenge his family's murders(like a Fezzik-sized Inigo), but comes to realize there's more out there in the galaxy to live for than just vengeance. And Quill is this kind of wisecracking minor scoundrel just trying to survive(those make the best characters) who comes to find himself the leader of this outfit, and therefore charged with keeping things in some semblance of control.
     Together, the Guardians of the Galaxy are a group of freewheeling by-necessity loners that don't really care what the rest of the galaxy thinks of them, who come to form a sort of family. Every family has their issues, and they're no exception. But like that PluggedIn post said, in a way they remind us of what our jobs as Christians in the church ought to look like. Paul talks in that different roles passage in 1 Corinthians 12 about our jobs and abilities might not all be the same, but they're all just as important and ought to be honored the same, since together they add up to a much greater purpose. "The church," says the article, "can be a little messy. It's made of less-than-perfect folks. But when its' people are united in a common cause, the result can be both beautiful and powerful." Aunt May, in Spider-Man 2, says she believes there's a hero inside all of us. And in Spider-Man 3, Peter Parker reminds us that "It's our choices that make us who we are, and we can always choose to do what's right."

     The Guardians aren't the greatest role models ever, but they'll just do their own thing in their own klutzy way, and that sure is entertaining. The "something bad, something good" quote seems to sum up Marvel's attitude in making this thing, echoing Stan Lee's mindset behind creating the Fantastic Four. "We're making something that we enjoy and would want to see. If it flops, doesn't matter for the company. If it works, there's a whole new area that we can play with." It's a fast-moving, fast-talking, snark-filled, pop-culture-peppered wild adventure. And if you haven't seen it yet, you should.