A busy calm.

That describes my J. Term. Basically, there's nothing I have to do besides attend my basketball, volleyball, and leadership classes. Simp sauce.

That being said, while there is not much I'm required to do, i feel like decreased productivity would be quite a waste of time.

So, among other things, i read. Previously I had said that the jury was still out on whether or not i liked "til we have faces" by C.S. Lewis. The jury came to a unanimous decision. I love it. And the beautiful thing is, I love it because I am letting it work on me. I can't read myself and what i want to think of it into it. I'm letting the art do its work. And its working.

For those unfamiliar with the book, C.S. Lewis retells the Greek myth of Cupid and Psyche. The focus is on Psyche's older sister. The whole book she is trying to figure out the truth concerning the Gods and the reasons behind the various pains she and her sister have felt. (that was a very, very, rough description of the book.) It culminates in this paragraph:

"The complaint was the answer. To have heard myself making it was to be answered. Lightly men talk of saying what they mean. Often when he was teaching me to write in Greek the Fox would say, 'Child, to say the very thing you really mean, the whole of it, nothing more or less or other than than what you really mean; that's the whole art and joy of words.' A glib saying. When the time comes to you at which you will be foreced at last to utter speech which has lain at the center of your soul for years, which you have, all that time, idiot-like, been saying over and over, you'll not talk about joy of words. I saw well why the gods do not speak to us openly, nor let us answer. Till that word can be dug out of us, why should they hear the babble that we think we mean? How can they meet us face to face till we have faces?"

I have two things to say about this. First, an embarrassing statement. This passage is near the end of the book, and at the point of which i speak, I had not yet highlighted a single thing--which meant that nothing was going to be written in my quote book. So, when i got to this passage, i was so very excited by what the Fox had said...i highlighted it. then, BOOM. "A glib saying." It hit me really quickly that i had been reading the book for glib sayings. Reading it to have a neat little paragraph to write down as the whole of how the book affected me. Perhaps the book was intentionally filled with mere story because any addition of these kinds of sayings would have drawn away from the purpose of the book. Sometimes packaged quotes just aren't enough. The point is that Orual (the main character, and narrator), works for her whole life to utter one simple, coherent complaint to the gods. We can't live our lives uttering these phrases, they are meaningless without the experience. They can't be really understood by merely hearing them. There is an indescribable understanding that must come through more than just the spoken word. The impact is in the implications.

Secondly, I'm still mulling over the idea of "till we have faces" as a phrase. I could think about it for hours. Especially considering the fact that Orual's face is veiled for a majority of the book. I'm reading it again. starting today. I love this; I've never felt a real need to read a piece of art more than once, save "A severe mercy" by sheldon vanauken.

Also, i finished Through Painted Deserts and picked up the last of Donald Miller's 3 books "Searching for God knows What". I'll read that too, i figure authors all have something to say, and thus far its taken him 3 books to say that, so it would be wrong to leave out one of them if i'm really trying to understand where he is coming from.
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Enough about books.

Alex came to visit me and we had a marvelous time, as always. The girls on my wing loved her, and want her to come to Taylor. Don't i wish.^^^representing each other's schools. love it.

Anyway, life is grand. I live in the Student Activities Center (ksac). My intramural volleyball team is undefeated. I'm going for a threepeat in intramural championships for this year. That would be prime.

Anyway, love to all. And dearest gracie, please get well soon. I love you and I'm praying for you!