It's 9pm, do you know where your Slurpees are?

Moving Day

Miracle helped me get my boxes out to Green House today, because she is my hero.  Everything I currently own in Boston (other than my summer clothes and a small nightstand) fits into 4 boxes.  I find that pretty wonderful.  We had a long talk with Josh (who also appreciates Jim Cymbala -- a rare find...) and managed to solve most of the world's problems.  Feel free to rest easy; we have it taken care of.

Then Miracle and I went to lunch at a place called Tom Can Cook.  The sign was an Italian looking guy with a wok pan...?  It advertised Asian fusion food.  There was a lot of fusion going on.  The food was kind of weird (there were tomato quarters in my fried rice) but good, and the music selection was beyond eclectic -- classical oboe arias, Celtic tribal music, Caribbean beats, smooth jazz.  It was wonderful.

Then Miracle dropped me off at the Riverside station and I rode the T all the way back home.  It turns out that Riverside is where Boston keeps all the nature.  Okay, not all, but a lot of it.  It's also where, on the way back, you can be transported back in time.

Too bad I forgot my carpet bag.

Pros and Cons

In the spirit of Jimmy Fallon, I have chosen to summarize my time in Boson as a list of pros and cons.  Here goes it, in no particular order.

Cons:

• Practices of Faith
• Reading the World
• proximity to nephew
• proximity to other family, I guess...  :P
• degree of moving required
• weird pronunciations
• Boston vs. "Dragons"
• "Being from the South"
• Arguments about where exactly the boarders of geographic regions are (is Missouri the Midwest, West, or South...I used to know, and heaven help you if you're from a plains state...).
• expensivity
• 87 stairs 
• hurricanes
• not enough grass/feet time

Pros:

• Sarah
• Haley
• Desi
• Julie
• The Charles River
• The Museum of Fine Arts
• writing papers
• learning
• history
• gaining strength
• 87 stairs
• less humidity means smoother hair (this is a pro as soon as I figure out what to do with smooth hair)
• proximity to Maine
• fantastic landscaping

So yeah...  I'm sure I'm forgetting things, but these are the highlights.  What a weird year.

Finally Fotos!

I have been trying to upload these photos since Saturday...  And today the blogger gods have smiled on me!  Maybe I'm just giddy because I've finished my first year of seminary!!

Anyway, spring has been really beautiful in Boston -- flowering things everywhere.  If I had allergies I'd be miserable, but since I don't (knock on wood) I just think it's pretty.

The shell in the park where, among other things, the Boston Pops perform their 4th of July concert to fireworks; flowering trees along the esplanade; sailboats on the Charles

Copley Square.  The marathon memorial is set up to the left of the left photo.  I love the reflection of the historic buildings against the modern ones.

Reading retreat weekend!  These are all taken from my new favorite study spot (which I'm not divulging).  I want Mom to make me a mug like this -- the form and decoration are so pleasing to me!  The duck helped me stay on track and finish everything BEFORE THE DUE DATE.  Who am I?

Lasts and Firsts

It's the last day of the worst class ever and the first day of the rest of my life!

I'm actually sitting in that class right now.  We're using the Boston Marathon bombing as a chance to pull together everything we've "learned" throughout the semester in sociology, history, and theology.  The problem is that we haven't actually had any history after Westphalia, sociology that assumes everyone in the room is the same and shares the same opinions of the world, and no theology whatsoever.  Doesn't exactly make for positive education.  It's pretty hard to synthesize information you never were given or taught how to use.

Also, I'm tired of talking about the bombing.  I understand people are hurting, but to me the city's response points to how privileged we are.  We have no framework in which to process violence like this because we are fortunate enough to live in a country where this isn't normal, daily life.  I don't want to undermine the value of the lost lives, but comparing 3-4 deaths with the wars going on in the rest of the world, or with the hundreds of lives lost in the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, or with the thousands lost in the events of September 11th, 2001...there is no comparison.  We live in a society where there are no international wars on our doorsteps.  We don't live in fear for our lives every day.  I don't go to sleep at night wondering if I'm going to wake up to someone raping me.  Or cutting my arms off.  That is privilege to many other people.  So while the events of the marathon are sad, and people should grieve if they need to, we can't assume that everyone is else is also experiencing events in the same way.

Which you'd know if you were an effective sociologist, theologian, or historian.  Alas...