Happy Reformation Day!

"This blank space brought to you by Google."

Its better than ads for Yu-Gi-Oh! cards.
(Which, frankly, baffles me.)

Chemistry is going well. I'm glad we're out of Romeo and Juliet in Shakespeare. We're starting Twelfth Night, which I know nothing about.

I've begun to play Christmas songs on my violin. It was really bad at first, but with practice they will all improve (hopefully).

"Stupidity glories in never yielding to the force of truth; that is how it effects the ruin of anyone who is under the dominion of this monstrous moral fault. It is a disease proff against all efforts to treat it, not through any fault in the physician, but because the patient is himself incurable."
Book VI, preface, City of God

Many conservative Christians reject strict individualism, which is evidenced by their intact and thriving families or their connection to tightly knit local churches. Consequently, they assume that, because they are immediately surrounded by people they love and are committed to, they are not guilty of individualism. But although they do not go through life as detached individuals, they do go through life as members of detached families and as members of detached churches. This problem requires a more accurate name: I suggest independency.

I'm making cupcakes in ice cream cones. They're turning out alright so far.
I'm going to frost this batch, hide them, and do some chemistry homework.
Now, where shall I hide those cupcakes? ;-)

Update: they turned out great! There are no more left.

Marlins win! Yankees lose!

Now I'm off to finish up Book V of City of God.

   "As for this mortal life, which ends after a few days' course, what does it matter under whose rule a man lives, being so soon to die, provided that the rulers do not force him to impious and wicked acts?" (Book V, Chapter 17)

"4. Kingdoms without justice are like criminal gangs
Remove justice and what are kingdoms but gangs of ciminals on a large scale? What are criminal gangs but petty kingdoms? A gang is a group of men under the command of a leader, bound by a compact of association, in which the plunder is divided according to an agreed convention.
  If this villainy wins so many recruits from the ranks of the demoralized that it aquires territory, establishes a base, captures cities and subdues peoples, it then openly arrogates to itself the title of kingdom, which is conferred on it in the eyes of the world, not by the renouncing of aggression but by the attainment of impunity.
  For it was a witty and truthful rejoinder which was given by a captured pirate to Alexander the Great. The king asked the fellow, 'What is your idea, in infesting the sea?' And the pirate answered, with uninhibited insolence, 'The same as yours, in infesting the earth! But because I do it with a tiny craft, I'm called a pirate: because you have a mighty navy, you're called an emperor.' "
St. Augustine, City of God, Book IV, Chapter 4

  "'Drinking, sir? Me, sir? No, sir. Where would I get a drink, sir?'
  'You're as tight as an owl.'
  This was a wholly unjustified slur on a most respectable breed of bird, for owls are as abstemious as the most bigoted temperance advocate could wish..."
~Pigs Have Wings, by P.G. Wodehouse

The lizard survived. But it had to be photographed first, to prove its existence to posterity.
I tried to take its picture with Joshua lying in the grass and the lizard in his hands, but the lizard would escape, terrified, from the hands that caught him. He would leap out and try to run through the grass, which is like me trying to run in thigh deep water. He made very little progress and I would catch him again as gently as I could. Then I put him on Joshua's head. The pale, translucent skin of the lizard showed up very well against his dark brown hair. Hopefully the snap will turn out well. One's first lizard must be properly documented!

Those who have never had a small lizard dart up their pant leg do not know what they have missed. The search for it, though, gently patting my pants, was the harder part. Happily, the lizard decided to exit my pants, and headed for under my dresser, where I recaptured him.
Had I lost him there would have been grief, because this lizard was the first one Joshua has ever caught. The lizard is sitting by my keyboard in an empty Celestial Seasonings box, safe for the moment. He is due for release at nightfall, and my self-appointed mission is to keep him safe until then.

I've been listening to 'Downstream', a WeatherVane Compilation for a while.
While I have my favorites, of course, it is a good listening CD. You can just let it play, without groaning and thinking to yourself, "Why did they put this in here?"
It is difficult to place this CD in a tidy genre. Buzzwords would be folk, folk/rock, grassroots, acoustic guitar, alternative rock, country and folk, haunting poetic lyrics, and acoustic pop. Altogether, its an excellent CD.
My favorites are

Lady of Cicero, by Hughes & Wagner,
Mary Visits Elizabeth, by Claire Holley,
Listen to the Rain, by Hughes & Wagner, and
Pull My Wagon, by Loni Rose,

however, there are 18 tracks, so there are lots of other choices. Not every song appeals to me yet, but when I get around to listening to each track and appreciating it on its own, not as a part, I'll be better equipped to judge them individually.

The violin has lovely tone and squeaks less. I'm enjoying practice more. I'm playing simplified versions of Psalm 122, 119 X, the doxology, and Rise Again Ye Lionhearted.
Also, by ear, If I Were a Rich Man. (from Fiddler on the Roof). It is addictive-- all the boys have asked me to play it, and now, today, everyone is walking around the house singing the 'yabba dabba dabba dabba dabba dabba da!' part. Only some of them are singing 'yubba dubba.' Ah well.
I'm going to try to squeeze in finishing my chemistry homework before I have to leave.