Missouri Weather

The weather here in Missouri never ceases to amaze me. Don't get me wrong, this does not mean I have any kind of positive feeling toward it. It's amazing in the sense that my friend eating seven Big Macs in one sitting is amazing. It's not right, but it's still a cause of wonder and grudging respect.

Yesterday, the day started at a pleasantly chilly 14 C, the kind of weather where back in the Philippines, you would take out your thickest sweater and revel at the chance to wear it. By the time I got home from school, the temperature had dropped to 0 C, which, as every school child is taught at an early age, is the point when water freezes.

Then today, as I was about to move from one building to another, I saw and heard little pellets that looked like rice falling from the sky. This, apparently, was sleet, which I had never seen before. An hour after that, snow began to fall. Snow is pretty to look at, and nice to take pictures of, but it's very hard to walk in, especially if you don't have a car and have to walk everywhere.

I have to admit though that I'm pretty excited to wake up tomorrow morning, because there's supposed to be a foot of snowfall overnight. I haven't seen that yet, since when it snowed here last year (which happened maybe about twice) it would just be an inch or so. My undergrad classmates in convergence are planning to go sledding this weekend, and that sounds like fun. Certainly something I've never done before.

The High Cost of Studying at Ellis Library

It's the last three weeks of classes, and as always, I am cramming all my requirements into these very limited remaining hours of school. This means I have been spending inordinate amounts of time at the library, which closes at 2am. I am not really a nerd who likes hanging out there. It's just that if I stayed at home to work, I would inevitably fall asleep in the comfort of my bed instead of getting stuff done. It would be very hard for me to sleep in the library, because I refuse to be seen drooling in mid-dream at a very public place. So, Ellis library it's been, and for the past two nights, Felicity and I have been staying till the library police with their shiny badges shoo us away at 2am.

One unfortunate side effect of staying at the library for extended periods of time (yesterday we were there for more than 12 hours) is that you end up spending a lot. First of all, I have to eat out since I don't have time to prepare food and take it to school to eat. (When you are employed, this is not a big deal. When you're a poor student, eating out could mean you go without food the week after). Secondly, there's a coffee shop on the first floor of Ellis and I've been spending on overpriced triple espressos (the coffee shop is run by Starbucks) to keep me awake. Of course, there's also the occasional cookie (or two) bought as a reward for a paper completed.

So, if I'm not careful, I will be both burnt out and poor by the time this semester draws to a close.

Good News and Bad News

I got very sad upon reading the news the other day, and learning that if we don't change the way we treat our marine life, there will be no wild fish left to eat in the whole world in 50 years. 50 years!! I'll still be alive by then, and there'll be nothing left for me to eat! I'll be ancient AND hungry! Seriously though, that's pretty depressing news. The Philippines in particular has (or used to have) such great marine biodiversity, but with overfishing, dynamite fishing, and the like, it's all disappearing very quickly.

On the plus side, (former) Pastor Ted Haggard who headed the National Association of Evangelicals has admitted to "sexual immorality" and was booted out by his religious group. How is this good news, you ask? Well, in the sense that hypocrisy has been unmasked, that's how. His earlier admission that he bought methamphetamine but did use it; then, that he hired a gay prostitute but only got a massage was just ridiculous. Not to mention that he was vocally against gay marriage even as he was paying for gay sex.

It seems the prostitute/escort, who was named Mike Jones, went public with the allegations that Haggard had transactional sex with him because the leader has supported a measure that would ban gay marriage. Jones said he was also angry that Haggard condemned gay sex in public.

Who would have thought a prostitute would have more balls to stand for his beliefs than a national religious leader? (Then again, with other developments in the news about religious figures, that may not come as too much of a surprise anymore.)