Today started well, with the Pan-Seabury softball game. Lots of fun and fellowship and so on and so forth. Then I got home, and was confronted with the allegations (already reported by Dad) that the American Boychoir School, where I spent many summers, has been the site of extensive child molestation and sexual abuse over a very long period of time, even up to the past few years. The memories of having slept in those beds and lived in those halls where such horrific actions allegedly took place literally sickens me, and even more sickening are the concerns that people I know and care about were victims of similar atrocities, or turned a blind eye. Albemarle (the campus) had been the site of many happy memories for me, memories that have now been tainted by the lurking presence of the pain and suffering that I had been unaware of during my stay. My heart goes out to all who have been hurt, and I continue to pray for all involved.

It was a comfortably cool Spring night, the kind of cool that isn't cold enough to notice unless the wind picks up. I'd had a long day and needed some time away, so I wandered down to the lakefront, which is where I saw her. She was dancing– no, frolicking up and down the edge of the shore, kicking up a light spray of sand behind her moving feet. She spun and leapt, seeming not to know what movement would come next, but letting her body swing freely through the evening air. Her head tossed, sending her hair in a wave over her shoulder, and I caught a glimpse of her face. That picture is stuck in my memory, and I don't think anything, even the steady erosion of time, will ever fade that image. Her pale face was spread in a smile that was simply radiant. I watched in awe, wondering what could have given her this joy. She was so happy, she was almost glowing. With a start, I blinked in disbelief as I realized that she actually WAS glowing: there was a soft pale light surrounding her. Her face, arms, and the feet pointing out from under her dress were almost white with luminescence. Gradually, she grew brighter and brighter, until her features became indistinct behind the silvery sheen and it became hard to look directly at her. I raised my arm to cover my face, and the instant I could not see her the light vanished. I dropped my arm suddenly, and looked all about, but she was nowhere to be found. She was gone without a trace except for the footprints in the sand, and a light melodic laugh that echoed in the night wind.

Tunes: "I've Been High," R.E.M. (iTMS)

Some people have waaaaaay too much time on their hands.

I've tried my hand at poetry a fair few times, and while I think that I've got a good feel for rhyming schemes and patterns of emphasis, I still feel a total amateur when faced with works of such bizarre flowing whatever as what I read from Lewis Carroll. His poetry was ever-present in my childhood: I memorized Jabberwocky for a talent show at a young age, and Dad would read to my brother and me from The Hunting of the Snark (those of you who have heard Dad preach or lecture can probably imagine what a fabulous experience that was). Dad and Pippa got me a copy of The Annotated Alice the other day from the library booksale, which thrills me especially because it contains the original John Tenniel illustrations, the same ones that were in the books I first read from.

I would love to be able to converse with Lewis Carroll at length about his poetry, because so much of its meaning is left open. I wonder if The Walrus and the Carpenter really is "an indictment of organized religion," as they say in Dogma, or whether he simply wrote it for the sake of writing it, or if there was another meaning hitherto unexplained. Robert Frost, when asked about the ulterior meaning of The Road Less Traveled, simply said, "Oh, I was just talking about the two roads there in Boston." I'm realy not sure what to make of Carroll's works, or if I should even try. But I do know that I'll be keeping and rereading this book for a very, very long time.

Tunes: "Hey Leonardo (She Likes Me)," Blessid Union of Souls; "Good Old A Cappella," The Bandersnatchers.

I held out for a while, but this meme was just too far up my alley for me to ignore.

First 10 shuffle on iPod:

1. Lost & Gone - Lost City Angels
2. Learning To Fly - Tom Petty
3. Danny Boy - Black 47
4. Closer - Nine Inch Nails
5. Turning Japanese - Incubus
6. Cyclops Rock - They Might Be Giants
7. Prince Of Darkness - Indigo Girls
8. Vengeance And Fashion - Electric Six
9. What A Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong
10. Johnny's Room - The Bobs

(That's a great run... It's being unusually cooperative. Normally my iPod's shuffle displays a rather sadistic streak seemingly bent on aggravating whatever mood I'm in.)

and now, with iTunes:

1. There's A Fine, Fine Line - Avenue Q Soundtrack
2. Zombie - Screeching Weasel
3. The Reason - Hoobastank
4. Ticket To Ride - The Beatles
5. Dragula (Hot Rod Herman remix) - Rob Zombie
6. Waiting Room - Fugazi
7. The Set Up (You Need This) - Reel Big Fish
8. The First Noel (I Like Christmas) - Eve 6
9. Für Elise (Techno Dance Remix) - ?Unknown?
10. How The West Was Won And Where It Got Us - R.E.M.

(I like this set too... and R.E.M. got in there, at the last second. Yay! And I could put links through all of those but I'm tired, so look 'em up yourself.)

Many thanks to Nathan (and Tyler) for putting me up and putting up with me.
Thanks to Liz for picking me up from the train and for providing long pauses in conversation.
Thanks to Shannon for raising bizarre theological questions and for displaying her love of babies.
Thanks to Willa for teaching me so much about American presidential history.
Thanks to Sarah for not fixing me something special for dessert this time.
Congratulations and best wishes to Claire and Derek.
Thanks to all the girls from Ell for making St. Olaf as crazy and interesting as it is.

And dedicated to my Laura.

(No animals were harmed in the making of this film. Except maybe the ones in the petting zoo, I dunno about them.)

I gotta go see about a girl.

So recently, the local alt-rock station Q101 has been taking its entire music library and leaving it on shuffle instead of picking and choosing songs, which is way cool. Where else am I likely to hear TMBG's "Birdhouse In Your Soul" followed by Mudvayne's "Happy?" followed by King Missile's classic "Detachable P****"?

And today, Q101 made me very very very happy, because I called them and they gave me free tickets to this year's Van's Warped Tour featuring The Offspring and the Dropkick Murphys and Relient K (of Veggie Tales fame).

Happy Si. Happy happy Si. ^_^

Yesterday I sat on the train for over an hour to stand outside for another four and a half hours in the cold and wind, before I could wait another half hour indoors, to watch a Ben Folds concert for free.

Worth every second. The man is just amazing. He played with accompaniment, just like in the early days, with bass and drums, and it sounded fabulous.

The set list, as I recall it, went something like this:

Jesusland (iTMS)
Bastard (iTMS)
Bitches Ain't S**t (Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg cover) (iTMS)
Brick (solo piano) (iTMS)
You To Thank (iTMS)
Landed (iTMS)

Medley finale:
Rockin' The Suburbs (iTMS) ->
Philosophy (iTMS) ->
Theme From Dr. Pyser (instrumental) (iTMS)

You rock, Ben.

Ultimate Frisbee in driving hail.

Now THAT'S what I'm talking about.