This week in Jeff

thursday was the best day ever.

i went to a couple good classes and all, but that has nothing to do with it.

then there was the colloquium (every thursday a visiting scholar gives a talk to the department, and then we all hang around for wine and pretty decent food). During the Q&A I worked up the nerve to raise an objection to the speaker's argument--and lo and behold, it was not a stupid thing to say! that was a small part of it.

then, during the after-colloquium schmoozing, richard (one of the other first-years) paid me what is among the best compliments i have ever received: he said, "you are articulate and wise." i mean, wow. articulate and wise. that was also a part of it.

later on, instead of working on my personal statement (yeah, those oughta be all gone, but on the department's behest i'm applying for an outside fellowship), i played scrabble with jenn and richard. and, lo and behold, i made the best play i have ever made. seriously. "unpolled" (unless it was "unpooled"--there was a blank)--using all seven of my tiles, and covering two triple word scores, for a total of (get this) 149 points. with one word! it was truly epic. that was a large part of it.

then, when i got home, i had, count 'em, six packages, and one of them was my bicycle, and one of them was the internet (which should be hooked up tomorrow). i also got a postcard, and a letter from my mommy. that was definitely part of it.

also, i did finish up a fairly respectable draft that night. and i gtalked for a while with one of my favorite people. so all in all, it was the best day ever. the end.

**

the bike, by the way, got me to another church today. (since sunday is my dedicated do-stuff-that-isn't-philosophy-(like-blogging) day, you'll likely be hearing a disproportionate amount about the churches i go to.) this is the church that the wassermans went to, and where dean goes (though i didn't see him there). it was kind of a revelatory experience for me.

first a little backstory. the last four years i've been going to a reformed (calvinist) church, and i've gotten used to frequently being the token non-calvinist. and a lot of my friends talk in angst-ridden tones of the man-centeredness and gracelessness and heedlessness of god's sovereignty out there in the wild and wooly heterodox arminian wasteland (if you're out of the theological know, that's most american churches). and i've generally been the guy who stands up for the frontiersman, and been sort of bemused at all the sweating calvinists.

well, i have to admit, i get it now. at this wonderful friendly bible fellowship church in piscataway (which reminded me a lot of my church back home) i listened to preaching on how "god just wants to be believed in" and how "what the gospel is all about" is the hard road of discipleship, god's insatiable requirements--and it all seemed awfully man-centered, and graceless, and maybe even heedless of god's sovereignty. and i've gotta tell you, it was frustrating.

really, the frustration didn't all stem from my internalized reformedness. part of it was the mostly separate gut response i have to a lot of aspects of american evangelicalism--the emphasis on a conversion event, the christianity-as-self-help theme, the cut-off-from-tradition worship that makes me think they're just making it all up--you know, that kind of thing.

it makes me recognize how fragmented my christian identity is, you know what i mean? i want a place with sensible religious epistemology, with a robust christ-centered and sacramental liturgy, with a loving, honest, humble, thriving community that studies the scriptures and serves the poor and the world, that cares about justice and peace and god's kingdom on earth, and knows its place in the ancient church universal. i mean seriously, why can't there be more of those around?

(by the way, though i come off pretty negative about today's church, i really do think i'll give it another try later. it wasn't a bad church, by any means.)

**

also of note: we had a party in our apartment last night. it was like, you know, a party. it was for richard's birthday, and lots of grad students from the philosophy and linguistics departments came, and there was mostly drinking and talking. we had both (a) a neighbor threaten to call the cops, and (b) somebody throw up in the living room. it was like a stereotype or something. really, though, it wasn't bad at all, quite fun actually, and people were pretty responsible and didn't trash the house or anything. (and we'll write a nice note to the neighbor today, and the vomit cleaned up nicely.) because we're so close to the department, it's a nice place to have people over. i have to say that, while i've nothing against talking and laughing with people, the department's idea of fun is a bit more alcohol-centric than i'd prefer--but we'll work on that. (in smaller groups, actually, people really do know how to have fun, as thursday's scrabble game attests.)

ok, that's about it for this week's installment.