So, what I believe was 17 days ago, Candler School of Theology held a commencement ceremony to honor those who completed their degree requirements during the 2006-07 academic year. When I was in Atlanta back in February, I told numerous...perhaps even scores...of people that I would most likely be back in town for graduation. This prediction, I am sorry to say, proved false. Not only did I fail to attend but, due to absorption in my own affaris and good old fashioned procrastination, I also failed to communicate my pride and happiness to those who graduated.
Until now.
To all the wonderful friends who are now hold the title of "Master," be it of "Divinity" or of "Theological Studies":
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
And to Beth, Dana, John, Jay, Rob, Ashlee, Russell, Joe, Andrew, David, Michael, Lane, Charity, Kacy and whoever else I told I would almost certainly see you walk, I apologize for my absence. I don't know how many of you actually read this darn blog, so I'm supplementing this post with transpatial emotional projection. I hope anyone who proves receptive to this transmission senses it as a case of the warm fuzzies and not as some sort of gastro-intestinal discomfort.
It may sound superficial but, to tell the truth, the main reason I didn't show was financial in nature. My job as a sub officially ended on the 24th and, with my move to Denver and the return of monthly rent on the horizon, I needed to earn as much chedda as I could before the opportunity to do so (at least as a teacher) had passed. The fact that it now cost me $45-$50 to fill my gas tank did nothing to ameliorate my money concerns either.
The reason I didn't call anyone to let them know about this in advance is because the above seems like shallow and inadequate grounds to not make the trip. Honestly, confessing it makes me feel more than shade of embarassment. Typing it out certianly revives my own sentiments of feeling like a dunce for passing up a once in a lifetime opportunity to be with good friends on a special day in favor of adding a few hundred dollars to my bank account.
Briefly, I want to reflect on why I personally thought it would be important for me to be there. First and foremost, I made a surprisingly number of good friends during my two years in Atlanta and I wanted to see them be recognized for the hard work they had completed. I especially wanted to be there to soak in their intense feelings of joy and relief to finally be done. When I began my graduate school experience back in August of 2004, those friends were the people who began that experience with me. Yet because the M.T.S. program is two years and the M.Div. three, I turned off the path, so to speak, a year earlier than most of my friends.
Several close friends graduated with me, namely Erin, George, Flack, and Scott. But I left at least twice that number behind. For that reason, I've had this dangling feeling inside me since I left Candler. I've loved being home in Indianapolis, don't get me wrong. Even still, those men and women that befriended me in Atlanta had made that southern city a very real home for me while I was down there, and that is why I wish I could have made more than one extended visit during the past year. I also thought that being at graduation, seeing all those accomplished persons be recognized, would put an end to my subtle sense of dangling.
Which brings me to my second and final reason for whishing I had been at graduation: Those few days surrounding graduation was the last time I would have had to see all those wonderful folks together in the city where we all became friends. Even more to the point, now that graduation has passed, I've realized that I may not see some folks again...or at least not see them for an extended period of time. The good news I received from Erin Miller on Tuesday was that more folks than I expected would stay in the Atlanta area are staying for the time being. That means I can still visit with many of you should I manage to get my big Irish butt down there before I make my move to the distant land of Colorado.
So, to sum up, I regret not being there, my friends. Even though a significant part of me knows I made a wise choice by staying put, another will always regret not being there to celebrate with you. Nevertheless, the most important fact to focus on is that all of you have graduated and your buddy Dave Scott is exceeding proud of each of you. Once again...Congratulations!
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Sunday, May 27, 2007
RAMPAGE!!!
Quinton "Rampage" Jackson def. Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell by KO at 1:53 of Round 1.
He is now the new UFC Light Heavyweight Champion!
'Nuff Said.
Friday, May 25, 2007
More Books and an Exciting Match-Up
A Dark Tower Update
On May 4, I ordered Volumes V-VII of the Dark Tower Series (in Mass Market Paper Back edition, of course) from Amazon.com. Just days prior to placing this order, I made the antecdent commitment to read the aformentiond volumes I already owned and figured I might as well add the concluding books to my collection. With each of the three books priced at $9.99, my order qualified for the much appreciated Super Saver Shipping. My confirmation e-mail from Amazon advised me to expect my purchase to arrive between May 14th and 16th.
What my friends and family may or may not know about me is that I am fairly obsessive when it comes to tracking an expected package. If the online resources to do so were not so conveniently available, I doubt I'd give a rip and would be content to received my purchase whenever it happened to show up at my doorstep. But Amazon is definitely one online vender that allows you to track your package, so I was keeping a close eye on where the box containing my books was located on any given day.
Frustratingly, said box didn't even ship until May 9th. However, the USPS tracking sytem informed me that the package was successfully delivered on the 12th, two whole days ahead of schedule. Ordinarily such news would have prodded my peculiar nature into being estastic, but not this time. Why was my joy held in check, you may ask? Because I did not have the supposedly delivered books in my possession, that's why.
The root of my problem is that I didn't check my personal information closely enough when I confirmed my order with Amazon. I had sent my desirable booty of books to my old apartment address in Decatur, Georgia! It seems I hadn't ordered anything from Amazon in well over a year and thus had an outdated address in my default shipping information.
To make a potentially long story short, I spoke with someone in the leasing office of my former aparrment complex on Monday the 14th about my screw up. In a Near Eastern accent, he told me that his office would return the package to the U.S. Postal Service who, in turn, would return it to Amazon as "undeliverable." That same day I sent an e-mail to Amazon customer service informing them of the situation and what was being done about it. The represtentative that replied told me that they could not forward the package to my Indianapolis address but they would refund my account once the returned items had been processed by their return center. If I still desired to own what I had bought, I would need to make a second order.
Last Friday, the 18th, I did precisely that (checking my personal info meticulously this time) and, on Wednesday, I received the my very own copies of The Wolves of Calla, Song of Susannah, and the appropriately named final volume, The Dark Tower. As of this moment, I've yet to receive a refund for my first order. Postively though, I don't think any negligence on the part of my old leasing office or the postal service can screw me out of thirty bucks because I have interpreted something the Amazon representative wrote to me as saying that my money will be refunded to my by June 13 whether their system confirms the return of the package or not. The moral of the story, kiddies, is always check your online orders closely before you click "Confirm."
For those who may be curious, I finished Wizard and Glass Wednesday evening. Thus I officially read four novels in two weeks and put about half the total page count of the series under my belt. It's only half because Volumes V and VII are both whoppers, clocking in at 950 and 1,050 pages repsectively. Volume VI, thankfully, is a manageable 560 pages. I've decided to take an open-ended break between the fourth and fifth books. I'd hate to burn myself out unnecessarily, you know.
UFC 71: Liddell vs. Jackson, This Saturday Night
I don't have as much to say about this fight I have other fights in the recent past. Both fighters are atheletes I greatly respect and enjoy watching compete. Neither of them, however, are a combatant I would classify as a "personal favorite," although Jackson comes pretty darn close to qualifying.
Irrespective of my personal allegiances, this match-up of the reigning Light Heavyweight Champion Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell and the deserving challenger Quinton "Rampage" Jackson is the most solid main event the UFC has booked thus far in '07. Of all the 205-pounders who were contractually available to face Chuck at the time this match was made, Jackson was truly the best fighter to award the status of No. 1 Contender. After seeing the UFC brass feed Chuck challengers who were not ready (Renato "Babalu" Sobral) or not deserving (Tito Ortiz), and then fail to secure the fight between Liddel and (now former) Pride champion Wanderlei Silva, it's thoroughly refreshing to see president Dana White and match maker Joe Silva (no relation) give us the best title fight they were capable of securing.
There has been suprisingly little hype surrounding such a quality pairing of top fighters- a pairing bolstered by several newsworthy subplots, at that. The story the UFC has understandably chosen to push is the fact that Rampage is the last person to defeat Chuck (nearly four years ago in Pride FC), and this defeat is the only one that the Iceman has yet to avenge. What they have inexplicably not chosen to push is the fact that a Liddell victory gives him 5 consecutive title defenses, which is a UFC record (presently co-held by Matt Hughes and Tito Ortiz). Such an accomplishment, combined with a stellar record and no unavenged losses, would cement him as the top Light Heavyweight in UFC history if not the world, and puts him in solid contention for the greatest MMA fighter of all-time.
A Rampage victory, on the other hand, would give the UFC a dymanic and charasmatic new champion whose versatile skill set would guarantee a compelling title fight with any number of potential challengers. Even though Chuck is presently the face of MMA in America, the man himself is relatively soft spoken and not nearly as colorful a personality as his mohawk would suggest. If Jackson is anything, he's marketable and entertaining on the microphone.
Adding to the interest of this fight is the UFC's rumored acquistion of Mauricio "Shogun" Rua.
The Brazilian Shogun has established himself as the No. 2 205-lb fighter in the world (behind only Liddell) during his time in Pride FC, where his most notable achievement is having won the 2005 Pride Middleweight Grand Prix. Many journalists and fans believe Shogun would have been the Pride 205-lb champion over a year ago if his mentor and stablemate Wanderlei Silva had not been the man already holding that title. Rua never wanted to fight his close friend and so remained content to wait for his time in the championship spotlight.
The American branch of Rua's training camp, Chute Boxe Academy, reported on its website earlier this week that Shogun was now officially under contract to the UFC. Dana White indirectly corroborated this report on Thursday when he told reporters that the challenger to the winner of Liddell-Jackson would be an imported fighter. Hardcore followers of the sport are now salivating over the seemingly high possibility of seeing Mauricio "Shogun" Rua make an appearance in the Octogon tonight and be declared the next contender to the Light Heavyweight throne. If Chuck wins tomorrow night, Liddell vs. Rua will pit the best two fighters in the world in their weight class against one another with gold on the line. If Rampage prevails, a high profile confrontation with Shogun is easily marketable because Shogun defeated Rampage convincingly on his way to securing his Grand Prix title. And it should now be clear to even the most casual UFC fan that the UFC brass looooooove a rematch.
If there was ever a night to tune into the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Saturday night is it. Whether Liddell vs. Sobral lasts 2 minutes or 5 full rounds, it's bound to be an exciting and important fight. Plus, the undercard is loaded with competitive match-ups, even if it is lacking in other big names or further championship implications. I, for one, will be pulling for Rampage. As I said, I like both fighters, and I wouldn't mind seeing Chuck having his hand raised. But my stronger allegience is with Quinton and I will be unabashedly rooting for him once the action is underway.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Making My Way to the Dark Tower
Alternate Title: Dustin's $8 Investment Pays Off
Stephen King. For my money, he is a highly skilled and consistently solid author. He represents that rare, enriching phenomenon in popular culture: a huge commercial success with true artistic integrity. Known first and foremost as a master of horror for books like The Shining and Pet Semetery, the man's word processor has also given the world stories such as The Shawshank Redemption, Stand by Me (published as The Body), and the non-fiction On Writing.
Ironically, I've never read any of the writings I just listed. However, a recent bit of introspection revealed to me that I have read more of Stephen King's books than I have any other author's in any other genre. Unless one views the Bible as being made up of 66-71 truly individual books, each one being similarly authored by the Holy Spirit. In that event, the Paraclete trounces King as my most read composer of written works.
The Requisite Lengthy Preface
(Skip to the Next Heading If You're Not Feeling into Excessive Verbiage Today)
My relationship with the famous (human) author began with Night Shift. The fact that this volume is a collection of short stories made it a logical choice to be the first book of his that I, still a junior high age kid with a far less rigorous attention span than I now possess, ever read.
Next came The Running Man, more of a novella really, which I received English credit for reading during my sophomore year of high school...and at a conservative, Christian school no less. My lasting memories of this text are a) it's substantially different from the Arnold action film it inspired and. b) it introduced me to the word "pudenda."
Soon thereafter, I read The Green Mile. Released as a serial novel, I read the first three parts consecutively and the last three several months later. A couple years later I would read the lengthy Desperation in 3 days or less, and then its genetic companion The Regulators during my junior year of college.
From about 1994-1996, I practiced the bad habit of asking for books I thought looked cool and then basically ignoring these volumes once I received them. I only made it 30 pages or so into The Stand before I gave up on that epic mamma jamma. Insomnia still sits in my closet entirely un-paroused. Rage, Roadwork, and The Long Walk (which came bound together with The Running Man) are three further works of which I've not read a single page. There was even a well-worn copy of It that came briefly into my possession before I passed it off to Mark Schwartzkopf.
This summer, when I was searching for gainful employment and feeling guilty about watching copious amounts of television, I rediscovered my largely unread Stephen King collection. My longtime friend Aaron Homoya had just finished reading Firestarter and was preparing himself to tackle The Stand (which he did successfully), and his adventures in imagination inspired my own literary course Ending a 3-year hiatus from King's books, I read two of the books already in my possession: Skeleton Crew, his second collection of short stories, immediately followed by his third, Nightmares & Dreamscapes.
When Christmas time rolled around, I asked for one of his most recent writings, the zombie-esque scary story Cell, which I read this past winter. Cell brought my grand total of wholly consumed Stephen King books to eight. This number raised to nine after I consumed King's fourth, and presumably final short story compendium, Everything's Eventual.
The Dark Tower and Mr. Lafferty's Eight Bucks
Yet, for all the thousands of pages I have read of his writings, I long avoided delving into what he personally acknowledges as his master work: the epic Dark Tower series.
The urge to read these books honestly didn't take hold of me until roughly 5 years ago. During my mostly jobless summer of 2002, I read 14 books covering several different genres. (Noticing a pattern here.) Foremost among these texts was J.R.R. Tolkien's widely revered Lord of the Rings trilogy. Together with The Hobbit, these books showed me the deep joy one can experience from immersing oneself in an elaborate and extensive work of imaginative fiction. In discussing how much I liked these books with Mark, he shared with me how much he enjoyed what had been published of the Dark Tower series. When Mark told me the fact that most of the fan mail Stephen King receives concerns this series, I knew then and their that I owed it to myself to explore what all the hubbub was about.
Committing myself to that exploration proved to be the most difficult. At the time, Mark and I had our little chat, four Dark Tower volumes were in print: The Gunslinger, The Drawing of the Three, The Wastelands, and Wizard and Glass. Knowing full well how many unread King novels I had piled up at home, I procrastinated on purchasing these texts out of the fear that they would suffer similar neglect. So I made a promise to myself: If I ever saw all four books in mass market paperback edition available at the same bookstore, I would buy them then and there. I further qualified that the packaging of each book must reflect that they came from the same printing. I was especially adamant on this point seeing as Signet had just re-released much of the Stephen King catalogue wrapped in snazzy, newly designed cover art.
For nearly a year, whenever I went to a Barnes & Noble or a Borders, I check the shelves in their Literature & Fiction section to see if they had the inventory necessary for me to honor my vow. Every time I checked, however, I would run into the same hitch. Volume 3, The Wastelands, was never available. Around the time I was reading The Regulators, I informed my friend and then roommate Dustin Laffterty of my "Dark Tower resolution" and the problems I was having fulfilling it.
Less than two weeks later, Dustin surprised me with a copy of The Drawing of the Three.
When I asked Dustin why he had chosen to give me this most welcome gift he said something to the extent that: "I was at the Barnes & Noble in Castleton [on the north side of Indianapolis] and saw that they had all four of the books you were talking about. I couldn't remember exactly which one you said you couldn't find but I thought it was that one. I figured maybe if I bought it four you, it would encourage you to buy the rest of them."
To this day, I still feel honored that Dustin would invest $8 in my future reading endeavors driven by no other factor than his own goodwill towards yours truly. What I can't remember for sure is whether or not I risked killing the buzz of that warm moment by informing Dustin that he had not, in fact, bought the book I could never find. Nonetheless his investment spurred on my own. That same weekend, I traveled to the same bookstore where he had been and discovered that the other three books were indeed there. I purchased them immediately. I left that Barnes & Noble confident that I would begin reading them in the very near future. After all, I had just dropped twenty-four of my own dollars on top of what Dustin had spent on my behalf.
WRONG! Whenever enough space opened up in my personal schedule to do some recreational reading, I found the task of reading my Dark Tower books too daunting to take on. True, the first volume, The Gunslinger, was only 300 pages. But each successive volume considerably outdid its predecessor in terms of length, so that volume four Wizard and Glass is 700 pages of print much smaller that the font featured on the pages of The Gunslinger.
Breaking the Seal
Fortunately, I have become much more ambitious in my reading in recent years. And after adjusting to reading 100 or more pages of theology/philosophy a week during my two years at Candler, I've learned that reading a 600-page novel really isn't that ominous of a task. This point was really brought home for me at the beginning of the present month when I read Everything's Eventual (583 pages) in 11 days. One of the stories contained therein is a mini-novel called The Little Sisters of Eluria. The protagonist of this tale is Roland the Gunslinger, the central character from the Dark Tower Series.
Little Sisters is a "prequel" of sorts and reading it lead me to realize that now was the ideal time to finally join Roland on his quest to reach the Dark Tower. Once I begin my Ph.D. program in the fall, I expect to have little time for any sort of recreational reading for the next several years...let alone recreational reading in the quantity this series will require of me. In all, the Dark Tower saga is made up of seven books, and the later volumes continue the pattern of increasing substantially in length. (Stephen King wrote parts 5-7 in close succession, releasing the final volume in late 2004.) I'm hoping to complete the whole shebang by the time classes begin in September.
I'm off to a hell of start. I started reading The Gunslinger a week ago Wednesday (May 9th) and, as of today (May 20), I am halfway through Wizard and Glass. That's 1722 pages read over the course of 12 days! At this pace, I might only take me about two weeks to finish a quartet of books it took me five years to get started on. Although the rapidity with which I am moving through them is more a testament to the high quality of the material than it is to any skill or strength of commitment on my part. Obviously, I'm enjoying myself.
I will close this long-winded reflection with two personalized comments:
Mark, you once told me that you thought the quality of the series dropped off a bit with The Wastelands but picked right back up in Wizard and Glass. I concur 100%, my friend.
Dustin, of the books I've read, my favorite volume is undeniably The Drawing of the Three. I thought you might appreciate knowing that your money was well spent. Sorry it took my four years to finally capitalize on your generosity. :)
Stephen King. For my money, he is a highly skilled and consistently solid author. He represents that rare, enriching phenomenon in popular culture: a huge commercial success with true artistic integrity. Known first and foremost as a master of horror for books like The Shining and Pet Semetery, the man's word processor has also given the world stories such as The Shawshank Redemption, Stand by Me (published as The Body), and the non-fiction On Writing.
Ironically, I've never read any of the writings I just listed. However, a recent bit of introspection revealed to me that I have read more of Stephen King's books than I have any other author's in any other genre. Unless one views the Bible as being made up of 66-71 truly individual books, each one being similarly authored by the Holy Spirit. In that event, the Paraclete trounces King as my most read composer of written works.
The Requisite Lengthy Preface
(Skip to the Next Heading If You're Not Feeling into Excessive Verbiage Today)
My relationship with the famous (human) author began with Night Shift. The fact that this volume is a collection of short stories made it a logical choice to be the first book of his that I, still a junior high age kid with a far less rigorous attention span than I now possess, ever read.
Next came The Running Man, more of a novella really, which I received English credit for reading during my sophomore year of high school...and at a conservative, Christian school no less. My lasting memories of this text are a) it's substantially different from the Arnold action film it inspired and. b) it introduced me to the word "pudenda."
Soon thereafter, I read The Green Mile. Released as a serial novel, I read the first three parts consecutively and the last three several months later. A couple years later I would read the lengthy Desperation in 3 days or less, and then its genetic companion The Regulators during my junior year of college.
From about 1994-1996, I practiced the bad habit of asking for books I thought looked cool and then basically ignoring these volumes once I received them. I only made it 30 pages or so into The Stand before I gave up on that epic mamma jamma. Insomnia still sits in my closet entirely un-paroused. Rage, Roadwork, and The Long Walk (which came bound together with The Running Man) are three further works of which I've not read a single page. There was even a well-worn copy of It that came briefly into my possession before I passed it off to Mark Schwartzkopf.
This summer, when I was searching for gainful employment and feeling guilty about watching copious amounts of television, I rediscovered my largely unread Stephen King collection. My longtime friend Aaron Homoya had just finished reading Firestarter and was preparing himself to tackle The Stand (which he did successfully), and his adventures in imagination inspired my own literary course Ending a 3-year hiatus from King's books, I read two of the books already in my possession: Skeleton Crew, his second collection of short stories, immediately followed by his third, Nightmares & Dreamscapes.
When Christmas time rolled around, I asked for one of his most recent writings, the zombie-esque scary story Cell, which I read this past winter. Cell brought my grand total of wholly consumed Stephen King books to eight. This number raised to nine after I consumed King's fourth, and presumably final short story compendium, Everything's Eventual.
The Dark Tower and Mr. Lafferty's Eight Bucks
Yet, for all the thousands of pages I have read of his writings, I long avoided delving into what he personally acknowledges as his master work: the epic Dark Tower series.
The urge to read these books honestly didn't take hold of me until roughly 5 years ago. During my mostly jobless summer of 2002, I read 14 books covering several different genres. (Noticing a pattern here.) Foremost among these texts was J.R.R. Tolkien's widely revered Lord of the Rings trilogy. Together with The Hobbit, these books showed me the deep joy one can experience from immersing oneself in an elaborate and extensive work of imaginative fiction. In discussing how much I liked these books with Mark, he shared with me how much he enjoyed what had been published of the Dark Tower series. When Mark told me the fact that most of the fan mail Stephen King receives concerns this series, I knew then and their that I owed it to myself to explore what all the hubbub was about.
Committing myself to that exploration proved to be the most difficult. At the time, Mark and I had our little chat, four Dark Tower volumes were in print: The Gunslinger, The Drawing of the Three, The Wastelands, and Wizard and Glass. Knowing full well how many unread King novels I had piled up at home, I procrastinated on purchasing these texts out of the fear that they would suffer similar neglect. So I made a promise to myself: If I ever saw all four books in mass market paperback edition available at the same bookstore, I would buy them then and there. I further qualified that the packaging of each book must reflect that they came from the same printing. I was especially adamant on this point seeing as Signet had just re-released much of the Stephen King catalogue wrapped in snazzy, newly designed cover art.
For nearly a year, whenever I went to a Barnes & Noble or a Borders, I check the shelves in their Literature & Fiction section to see if they had the inventory necessary for me to honor my vow. Every time I checked, however, I would run into the same hitch. Volume 3, The Wastelands, was never available. Around the time I was reading The Regulators, I informed my friend and then roommate Dustin Laffterty of my "Dark Tower resolution" and the problems I was having fulfilling it.
Less than two weeks later, Dustin surprised me with a copy of The Drawing of the Three.
When I asked Dustin why he had chosen to give me this most welcome gift he said something to the extent that: "I was at the Barnes & Noble in Castleton [on the north side of Indianapolis] and saw that they had all four of the books you were talking about. I couldn't remember exactly which one you said you couldn't find but I thought it was that one. I figured maybe if I bought it four you, it would encourage you to buy the rest of them."
To this day, I still feel honored that Dustin would invest $8 in my future reading endeavors driven by no other factor than his own goodwill towards yours truly. What I can't remember for sure is whether or not I risked killing the buzz of that warm moment by informing Dustin that he had not, in fact, bought the book I could never find. Nonetheless his investment spurred on my own. That same weekend, I traveled to the same bookstore where he had been and discovered that the other three books were indeed there. I purchased them immediately. I left that Barnes & Noble confident that I would begin reading them in the very near future. After all, I had just dropped twenty-four of my own dollars on top of what Dustin had spent on my behalf.
WRONG! Whenever enough space opened up in my personal schedule to do some recreational reading, I found the task of reading my Dark Tower books too daunting to take on. True, the first volume, The Gunslinger, was only 300 pages. But each successive volume considerably outdid its predecessor in terms of length, so that volume four Wizard and Glass is 700 pages of print much smaller that the font featured on the pages of The Gunslinger.
Breaking the Seal
Fortunately, I have become much more ambitious in my reading in recent years. And after adjusting to reading 100 or more pages of theology/philosophy a week during my two years at Candler, I've learned that reading a 600-page novel really isn't that ominous of a task. This point was really brought home for me at the beginning of the present month when I read Everything's Eventual (583 pages) in 11 days. One of the stories contained therein is a mini-novel called The Little Sisters of Eluria. The protagonist of this tale is Roland the Gunslinger, the central character from the Dark Tower Series.
Little Sisters is a "prequel" of sorts and reading it lead me to realize that now was the ideal time to finally join Roland on his quest to reach the Dark Tower. Once I begin my Ph.D. program in the fall, I expect to have little time for any sort of recreational reading for the next several years...let alone recreational reading in the quantity this series will require of me. In all, the Dark Tower saga is made up of seven books, and the later volumes continue the pattern of increasing substantially in length. (Stephen King wrote parts 5-7 in close succession, releasing the final volume in late 2004.) I'm hoping to complete the whole shebang by the time classes begin in September.
I'm off to a hell of start. I started reading The Gunslinger a week ago Wednesday (May 9th) and, as of today (May 20), I am halfway through Wizard and Glass. That's 1722 pages read over the course of 12 days! At this pace, I might only take me about two weeks to finish a quartet of books it took me five years to get started on. Although the rapidity with which I am moving through them is more a testament to the high quality of the material than it is to any skill or strength of commitment on my part. Obviously, I'm enjoying myself.
I will close this long-winded reflection with two personalized comments:
Mark, you once told me that you thought the quality of the series dropped off a bit with The Wastelands but picked right back up in Wizard and Glass. I concur 100%, my friend.
Dustin, of the books I've read, my favorite volume is undeniably The Drawing of the Three. I thought you might appreciate knowing that your money was well spent. Sorry it took my four years to finally capitalize on your generosity. :)
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Floyd, Oscar, and the Two Daves
Thanks to my good friend, Dave Winters, I had the opportunity to watch the much hyped, heavily anticipated squared circle showdown between Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr. My interest in the combat sport of MMA brings me into repeated contact with the more storied sport of boxing, and I find myself more than a little hungry to deepen my understanding of the "sweet science." And any hungry novice should have a quality guru to steer his education- someone who is better versed than oneself in some field, craft, or hobby who is willing to impart some of what he or she has in ample quantity. As of the last couple of months, Dave is my boxing guru, and I his novice.
A truly healthy novice-guru relationship requires not only mutuality of interest, but common affinity of spirit. The novice must be humble and receptive. The guru must not be proud or condescending. The novice needn't feel inferior for seeking guidance in one area of life because, while one may be a novice in one aspect, one may be a guru in another aspect of comparable importance. Thus, while Dave Winters is my boxing guru, and Aaron Homoya is my beer guru, I tend to be the guru of mixed marital arts within my circle of friends (hence the frequents posts on the subject). I enjoy this interlinking of novice-guru relationships because it exemplifies concretely in my life the spirit of community I have heard praised as an abstract ideal in my theological studies. When you're humble enough to bow to the expertise of your friends, they'll be more inclined to acknowledge your own authority when you brings insights from your own area(s) of expertise to the table, and vice versa.
So there I am, sitting on a black leather couch in Broad Ripple, drinking Smithwick's for the first time and watching the most anticipated boxing match in years alongside my own personal professor of pugilism. He gives me a heads up on De La Hoya's championship history, the Philly Shell, and why Floyd Mayweather Sr. can't form a coherent sentence. HBO's countdown show is most helpful and informative, but Dave's commentary further supplements and enriches my personal preparation for the fight. His enthusiasm and knowledgeability reaffirms for me that boxing is a worthwhile sport to invest oneself in and, inherent to its constitution, boxing mirrors MMA's ability to hold beauty and violence together in a tension that is both entertaining and enriching for its fans. Dave enjoys MMA as well, but his love for boxing is more true and runs deeper. And that makes him a good guru for me. He has the requisite expertise in his area, while having a genuine appreciation for and respectable knowlege base in my mine. (I must confess that his knowledge of MMA far surpasses my present knowledge of boxing.)
The amicable character of our fellowship last night goes against the grain of a commonly held perception propogated by the media. Going into the Mayweather-De La Hoya bout, a prominent storyline invovled the importance of this event for the present state of boxing. This fight has drawn the attention of mainstream sports media and the causual fan in a way that few fights have in recent years. Boxing has been on the decline, especially among folks in that coveted 18-35 demographic. In the past two years, these people have been getting their combat fix from the new kid on the block, Mixed Martial Arts, more specifically the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Under the perceived threat that MMA is cutting into the audience and profits of boxing, many of boxing's prominent figures have taken it upon themselves to defend their sport by berating its relatively new competitor. HBO boxing commentator Jim Lampley is one of MMA's most vocal and vehement opponents.
(I've commented on him before. https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34647227&postID=115915189084971417)
Certain key voices in MMA, like UFC President Dana White, have been equally confrontation in responding when disparaging comments are made about the new breed of fighters and the legitimacy of their craft. Fans on both sides have followed suit, flooding message boards with heated posts that exemplify an either/or mentality. As Dave Winters frequents the boxing forums, and Dave Scott lurks on MMA chatrooms, we have found that too few contributors who see through the hype created by figure heads pushing their respective products and instead adovocate a relationship of mutual appreciation between the representatives of both combat sports.
Mayweather himself raised the ire of Dana White in the weeks leading up to last night's event, only to retract his statements at the post-fight press conference.
http://www.fightnews.com/boxing/bc/perea100.htm
(Skip to the last 3 paragraphs of the article for the relevant quotations.)
Lampley, on the other hand, maintained his previous position during his post-fight analysis, even if it was more diplomatically expressed. Fortunately, the comments Max Kellerman made on the broadcast soon thereafter counterbalanced Lampley's more biased claims.
http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=3897&zoneid=13
At night's end, I enjoyed watching the PPV. All three televised fights went to a decision but the first fight was an exciting featherweight battle and the main event held my interest the entire fights. Far from a flashy slugfest or grudge match shootout, Mayweather vs. De La Hoya played out as a battle of wills where the winner turned out to be the one who executed his gameplan must effectively in the eyes of the judges. I don't think a fight has to be a barnburner to be compelling, and for at least the first 9 rounds last night, this bout was certainly compelling. It would have been even more exciting if Oscar could have gone for a rolling kneebar at some point. :)
All in all, it was a good night of fun with my guru. Dave, if your reading this, I'd gladly watch the next PPV you order up.
A truly healthy novice-guru relationship requires not only mutuality of interest, but common affinity of spirit. The novice must be humble and receptive. The guru must not be proud or condescending. The novice needn't feel inferior for seeking guidance in one area of life because, while one may be a novice in one aspect, one may be a guru in another aspect of comparable importance. Thus, while Dave Winters is my boxing guru, and Aaron Homoya is my beer guru, I tend to be the guru of mixed marital arts within my circle of friends (hence the frequents posts on the subject). I enjoy this interlinking of novice-guru relationships because it exemplifies concretely in my life the spirit of community I have heard praised as an abstract ideal in my theological studies. When you're humble enough to bow to the expertise of your friends, they'll be more inclined to acknowledge your own authority when you brings insights from your own area(s) of expertise to the table, and vice versa.
So there I am, sitting on a black leather couch in Broad Ripple, drinking Smithwick's for the first time and watching the most anticipated boxing match in years alongside my own personal professor of pugilism. He gives me a heads up on De La Hoya's championship history, the Philly Shell, and why Floyd Mayweather Sr. can't form a coherent sentence. HBO's countdown show is most helpful and informative, but Dave's commentary further supplements and enriches my personal preparation for the fight. His enthusiasm and knowledgeability reaffirms for me that boxing is a worthwhile sport to invest oneself in and, inherent to its constitution, boxing mirrors MMA's ability to hold beauty and violence together in a tension that is both entertaining and enriching for its fans. Dave enjoys MMA as well, but his love for boxing is more true and runs deeper. And that makes him a good guru for me. He has the requisite expertise in his area, while having a genuine appreciation for and respectable knowlege base in my mine. (I must confess that his knowledge of MMA far surpasses my present knowledge of boxing.)
The amicable character of our fellowship last night goes against the grain of a commonly held perception propogated by the media. Going into the Mayweather-De La Hoya bout, a prominent storyline invovled the importance of this event for the present state of boxing. This fight has drawn the attention of mainstream sports media and the causual fan in a way that few fights have in recent years. Boxing has been on the decline, especially among folks in that coveted 18-35 demographic. In the past two years, these people have been getting their combat fix from the new kid on the block, Mixed Martial Arts, more specifically the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Under the perceived threat that MMA is cutting into the audience and profits of boxing, many of boxing's prominent figures have taken it upon themselves to defend their sport by berating its relatively new competitor. HBO boxing commentator Jim Lampley is one of MMA's most vocal and vehement opponents.
(I've commented on him before. https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34647227&postID=115915189084971417)
Certain key voices in MMA, like UFC President Dana White, have been equally confrontation in responding when disparaging comments are made about the new breed of fighters and the legitimacy of their craft. Fans on both sides have followed suit, flooding message boards with heated posts that exemplify an either/or mentality. As Dave Winters frequents the boxing forums, and Dave Scott lurks on MMA chatrooms, we have found that too few contributors who see through the hype created by figure heads pushing their respective products and instead adovocate a relationship of mutual appreciation between the representatives of both combat sports.
Mayweather himself raised the ire of Dana White in the weeks leading up to last night's event, only to retract his statements at the post-fight press conference.
http://www.fightnews.com/boxing/bc/perea100.htm
(Skip to the last 3 paragraphs of the article for the relevant quotations.)
Lampley, on the other hand, maintained his previous position during his post-fight analysis, even if it was more diplomatically expressed. Fortunately, the comments Max Kellerman made on the broadcast soon thereafter counterbalanced Lampley's more biased claims.
http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=3897&zoneid=13
At night's end, I enjoyed watching the PPV. All three televised fights went to a decision but the first fight was an exciting featherweight battle and the main event held my interest the entire fights. Far from a flashy slugfest or grudge match shootout, Mayweather vs. De La Hoya played out as a battle of wills where the winner turned out to be the one who executed his gameplan must effectively in the eyes of the judges. I don't think a fight has to be a barnburner to be compelling, and for at least the first 9 rounds last night, this bout was certainly compelling. It would have been even more exciting if Oscar could have gone for a rolling kneebar at some point. :)
All in all, it was a good night of fun with my guru. Dave, if your reading this, I'd gladly watch the next PPV you order up.
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