Sunday, December 21
"A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it."
~John Steinbeck
Having passed through the fire and death of finals, I come at last into the 3-week paradise of Christmas Break. I've laid aside my coffee and Modern Philosophy and taken up a glass of red wine and a bubbling pot of fudge. It's good to be home.
The road home was rather adventure-ridden. It's a bit of a challenge bumming a ride when one has an 8:00 final on Friday, but after sending out word on the grapevine, I finally tracked down a friend of a friend who was driving back to good old Minnesota on Saturday morning, and had one seatbelt left in his Topaz. Now, fitting five people into such a car is one matter, fitting five people and their three weeks worth of luggage into such a car makes the state room scene look downright cavernous, especially when one of the passengers has a duffel bag large enough to bring himself home in, and the driver is bringing home a piece from his sword collection (a pretty freakin' cool Spanish piece at that). After much careful packing and wedging, we were finally in and on our way, although I was fairly certain that getting out would require nothing less than the Jaws of Life.
Everything was running smoothly as could be expected, and we had just passed the last tollbooth in Illinois, when the car started to twitch. You see, the gas guage was broken, and while one or two people in an empty car can get well over 300 miles to a tank, apparently five people and their luggage will get exactly 247.
Having coasted to the bottom of the South Beloit exit ramp, we discovered the great advantage of having a full car, namely, four people to push. In accord with Murphy's Law, getting to the gas station involved a full mile, several uphill grades, and three left turns. I hope, at least, that five crazy college kids provided comic relief for motorists on an otherwise boring leg of the trip home. And no one can say I haven't earned the break.
But sitting here, sipping tea, blogging at my leisure, and reading The Silmarillion as the faithful old dial-up fetches my pages, 'tis but a happy memory.
This break will pass quickly, no doubt, in a flurry of sugar, butter, eggnog, champagne, friends and family. I have an exciting semester to look forward to at the end of it though, with a Latin class taught by the best prof in the department, a Logic class full of friends, Issues in Sacred Architecture from none other than Duncan Stroik, and War and Philosophy, for which we're reading both King Lear and City of God. The extracurriculars will be exciting, too. I'll be working hard with people to promote Eucharistic Adoration at ND, as well as traveling to the March for Life in D.C. and then to Rome for Spring Break!
But for now, the siren scent of the kitchen calls.
~John Steinbeck
Having passed through the fire and death of finals, I come at last into the 3-week paradise of Christmas Break. I've laid aside my coffee and Modern Philosophy and taken up a glass of red wine and a bubbling pot of fudge. It's good to be home.
The road home was rather adventure-ridden. It's a bit of a challenge bumming a ride when one has an 8:00 final on Friday, but after sending out word on the grapevine, I finally tracked down a friend of a friend who was driving back to good old Minnesota on Saturday morning, and had one seatbelt left in his Topaz. Now, fitting five people into such a car is one matter, fitting five people and their three weeks worth of luggage into such a car makes the state room scene look downright cavernous, especially when one of the passengers has a duffel bag large enough to bring himself home in, and the driver is bringing home a piece from his sword collection (a pretty freakin' cool Spanish piece at that). After much careful packing and wedging, we were finally in and on our way, although I was fairly certain that getting out would require nothing less than the Jaws of Life.
Everything was running smoothly as could be expected, and we had just passed the last tollbooth in Illinois, when the car started to twitch. You see, the gas guage was broken, and while one or two people in an empty car can get well over 300 miles to a tank, apparently five people and their luggage will get exactly 247.
Having coasted to the bottom of the South Beloit exit ramp, we discovered the great advantage of having a full car, namely, four people to push. In accord with Murphy's Law, getting to the gas station involved a full mile, several uphill grades, and three left turns. I hope, at least, that five crazy college kids provided comic relief for motorists on an otherwise boring leg of the trip home. And no one can say I haven't earned the break.
But sitting here, sipping tea, blogging at my leisure, and reading The Silmarillion as the faithful old dial-up fetches my pages, 'tis but a happy memory.
This break will pass quickly, no doubt, in a flurry of sugar, butter, eggnog, champagne, friends and family. I have an exciting semester to look forward to at the end of it though, with a Latin class taught by the best prof in the department, a Logic class full of friends, Issues in Sacred Architecture from none other than Duncan Stroik, and War and Philosophy, for which we're reading both King Lear and City of God. The extracurriculars will be exciting, too. I'll be working hard with people to promote Eucharistic Adoration at ND, as well as traveling to the March for Life in D.C. and then to Rome for Spring Break!
But for now, the siren scent of the kitchen calls.
![[SMMMHDH]](http://www.mgilleland.com/music/smmmhdh.png){kind=small}
