Greek passed...CHECK!

So, just got back my Greek final exam, 82.5%! So, that means that I passed Greek for...well, EVER!

I think if I had taken it for a grade (I took it pass/fail, like just about everyone else did) I'd have gotten a B-.

ANYWAY, the long and short of it is that I now have passed Greek and no longer have to take any more Greek!

I spoke with a couple of the people who elected to continue on with Greek--they were also the ones that decided to take it for a letter grade, for the most part....and they are spending about 4 hours per class period on homework. Apparently participles are a BITCH! Yet one more thing I'll never know about, thank you Jesus.

"It's Bloody Brigadoon!" in Alexandria

Saturday, cold, windy, almost Advent....day after St. Andrew's Day. Perfect time for over 100 different clans, bag pipe corps, Scottish Terrier Rescue Clubs (I'm not making that up I swear to God I'm not), more bag pipes, The British Embassy, The Chief of Police, Mayor, Senators, Council-people, Kids from Eli's after school program, Police on motorcycles riding in formation, to all get together and walk about three miles. Of COURSE that's what you were thinking would go down on a random Saturday after St. Andrew's Day.

Turns out Alexandria has the World's SECOND largest Scottish parade, right behind the one held in Glasgow on the Saturday after St. Andrew's Day. There are people that fly in from NEBRASKA for this one. No, I'm not kidding. Of course, they are in NEBRASKA so just about any opportunity to get the hell outta there would seem like a grand idea I'm sure.


Holly was all amped up because there were about 40 Irish Wolf Hounds from the Alexandria Irish Wolf Hound Association (or something, I'm making the name up, but you get the idea). Apparently she has it in her head that she likes these huge dogs that poop bigger than Bella. You know the old saying, Big dog, big poops.

The worst part of the morning was the parking. We finally got everyone bundled up and out the door and down near the parade route--which goes right through the heart of downtown Alexandria--to find NO parking anywhere, at all. Whatsoever. Period. We drove around for about 20 minutes and just as I was about to come out of my skin for the fourth time with the kids asking "are we there yet" a spot opens up just about within eye sight of the parade route. GOD IS GOOD!

The second worst part about the morning was the wind. Damn, it was windy. 42 degrees facing into a stiff wind is not my idea of a good time. But, we did end up getting some candy thrown at us so it was alllll good. But at least there were a lot of bag pipes. Bloody Brigadoon.

Now, I'll have to admit that I wasn't necessarily SURPRISED at the fact that there were four or five groups of parade entrants who's only business for being in the parade was DRESSING UP IN COLONIAL COSTUMES (seriously, where do these people COME FROM, and why in the wide, wide, world of sports do they all seem to live in Alexandria?!). Honestly, I don't know why I was at ALL surprised by the appearance of several dozen people dressed up like it was 1799, but I just didn't see what the hell that had to do with being Scottish. At all. Ugh. I give up trying to understand these people. (read any of the entries below and see if YOU have a clue--if you do, let me know please).

The kids loved the parade, as did we all. I was kinda bummed out that our clan, Fraser, wasn't represented at all. I think there was one dude in a kilt with the Fraser tartan marching with the "Highland Clans of Alexandria" group, but I wasn't sure it was the Fraser tartan. Turns out there are over 30 variations of that tartan. ALSO turns out there is a tartan specifically for Episcopal Clergy. Who knew. OK, Google knew.

Overall, a great morning. I think one of my favorite moments were the guys from clan Hay. They came walking by looking like they were doing the wave yelling, HhhhhhhAAAAYYYY!" It was nice. That and the guys behind us who yelled at all the elected officials that they should lower his taxes, with his friend yelling, "Yeah, lower his taxes!" right after the initial barrage from guy #1. That was a nice touch too. Did I mention there were a lot of bag pipes?

Smarmy Old Guy Visits VTS I Get Picture

Yeah, so a couple of weeks back--for some reason that I still can't quite figure out--VTS was host to Lord Richard Harries, Baron of Pentregarth and recently retired Bishop of Oxford. He met with about 20 or so of us after lunch (we had chili and grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch that day--he didn't know quite what to make of it I think, I tried not to laugh).

He had a question for us and we spent the whole hour of his time with us discussing the three part question:

What is the theological starting point for speaking into the public domain--both specific and general starting points; and what language does one use from the pulpit, "Christ language" or public-reasoning language?

In the end I don't think we ever really answered his question straight on. However he did have some interesting points. Here is one set of logic he expounded to us...

The kingdom of God impacts directly into both our public and private lives. In fact, the kingdom of God still bears on every aspect of life and our Christian understanding...children of light and children of darkness. We are made in the image of God, but are also capable of God's "great image". We are made in the image of Christ, but also are the cruicifiers of Christ. "Love our crooked neighbors with all our crooked hearts"--W.H. Auden. I've done a poor job of paraphrasing so it makes sense...but you get the general idea.

So that was fun. In the end he was very down-to-earth, loves Reinhold Niebuhr somethin' fierce and was generally good fun. I would have enjoyed hearing him preach, bet he would have been "the whip".

Kate and Ramsey Now Merged

OK, so there are about 153 things I can say about the weekend that the two of them got married, but the one that keeps coming back to mind is: FUN! I'm not talking "Hey, I went to the museum and saw that really old sculpture, that was fun boy-howdy." No, I'm talkin', "WOW! I spent almost 3 hours throwing a football up a hill to a tire swing to see if it really is as hard as the Cialis commercial" fun.* I'm also talkin' fun like: "I've never seen someone shake their booty like that" and, "MONKEYS IN SPACE!!!" fun. Further, I'm certainly talkin' "Hey, Ben, you've been workin' out?" fun with a healthy dose of, "Hey, looky there, my cup is empty again...better get a re-fill", fun. There was a smattering of, "Eli, I swear to everything that is good and holy if you do that to you sister again...." fun (OK, that last one wasn't so much fun, especially for Bella). I'd say there was also some, "Well, look who's here!", fun; and most certainly some, "No, it is DADDY'S turn on the tire swing" fun. One of the best things was the, "Aww, I love you guys so much" fun. Unfortunately there was a dram of, "Hey, where are those fire trucks going?!" fun. But, most of all, and I mean this one. There was "Kate and Ramsey, we LOVE YOU!!!" fun. And THAT was the best fun of the whole weekend. The pictures tell the rest of the story...

*I'd like to say that the Cialis stuff must really work because Ben and I tried for about 45 minutes straight taking turns throwing the football at the tire swing with no luck. Now, we didn't have any Cialis on hand to see if once we took some if we could "get it through the hole" but I'm thinkin' our chances would have been SIGNIFICANTLY better. So, this means that "The Hanisian Experience" backs any plan where you take Cialis to a weekend-long wedding where throwing footballs though tire swings is involved. In fact, if you ever, EVER have to go to a wedding where footballs and tire swings are involved over a weekend, I'll strongly consider BUYING you some. THAT'S how strongly I feel about the whole thing.