Habakkuk

Last night I read Habakkuk and I think it may have been the first time for me to read the whole three chapters in one sitting. I just swallowed the minor prophet whole. It's hard for me to say what book of the Bible is my favorite but after last night's reading, I had to enter Habakkuk on my list of favorites. Here's why:

Habakkuk covers some really important themes:

God's sovereignty
"For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans [to punish Judah]...But they will be held guilty" (1:6, 11). This is one of the things about God's sovereignty that repels people from believing this doctrine or even Christianity altogether but nevertheless it's Biblical. Compare Romans 9:11-24 and Romans 3:19 and Ecclesiastes 12:14.

Righteousness through faith (2:4)
Paul expanded upon this in Romans and Galatians, Martin Luther was saved through Paul's explanation of this doctrine which was a major cause of the Reformation, and everybody's eternal joy relies upon their understanding of this doctrine.

God's glory (2:14)

Reverence for God (2:20)

God is eternal (3:6)
God is so everlasting that ancient hills collapse and perpetual mountains shatter in God's presence.

Habakkuk, the man, knew that only God could satisfy his deepest desires (3:16-19).

Habakkuk is a man who seems to have no feelings hidden from God. He reminds me of the psalmists David and Asaph and the apostle Peter.

Habakkuk is a book that can be read in one sitting. That makes it easier for me to understand.

Magnolia Hill Studios

So my mom knows this rockstar family that owns/runs a fine and performing arts studio. They've been doing it for six years and I had no idea, mostly because I didn't live here, but now that I know, I think it's just about the coolest thing ever. And as many of you know, I am currently 90% unemployed (90% because sometimes, I waitress at a dinner and at some banquets, but mostly I don't), and have lots of time to do lots of random stuff. So one day, Sandy, the owner of the studio asked my mom if I'd be interested in helping out in the office at the studio like a volunteer internship type deal. And when I talked to Sandy about what they do, I was totally impressed and am very very happy to be getting involved.

One of the first orders of business I did for Magnolia Hill is a profile which appeared in The Grapevine, a local newspaper/advertising magazine. You can see the profile (a short little thing) in the February 10 issue on page 17, and the ad on page 12.

Anyway, I love Sandy's story about her dancer daughters and their experiences in different dance studios and dance companies. Sandy herself is a painter, and believes art is beautiful and uplifting, inspiring and edifying and wanted to give the South Jersey community a place where art feels that way. Not only that, she wanted to create a space where children can learn to discern good art from bad, both technically and tastefully, by learning how to make art themselves.

I love it. I remember I went to DC once and sat on a bench in the basement of the National Gallery of Art, staring at a Jackson Pollack and wondering at the way paint sticks to canvas.

I am very excited about getting involved over there, about my life intersecting with such cool, inspired art people and about offering a helping hand. Unemployment, it turns out, hasn't been all bad.

A Few Good Songs

I'm more of an album person but here's some songs that I've been digging lately:

The Airborne Toxic Event - "Sometime Around Midnight"
I had heard this song on the radio once a few months ago but didn't know who performed it until Elena heard it two weeks ago, looked it up and found the acoustic version.

Modest Mouse - "Float On"
We love their album The Moon and Antarctica.

Broken Bells - "The High Road"
The singer here is James Mercer, the lead singer of the Shins.

Weezer - "Can't Stop Partying"
Elena wrote a post about this last week.

Paramore - "Decode" (Acoustic)
This was performed at the studio of a favorite Philly station of ours and I heard it several times in September and October but didn't know who it was until recently.

Michael's New Favorite Song

We have a lot of good friends. A lot of good friends who, for our wedding and for Christmas, gave us iTunes cards with which to indulge our musical sensibilities. Maybe yous know that Michael and I are really into music. Maybe you don't. (I'm brewing up another post about this...)

Anyway, we've been choosing slowly, wanting this free music escapade to last. And after we heard "(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To" on the radio for about the one billionth time, we decided to buy the new Weezer Album. (We didn't know about the snuggie deal, so we bought it on iTunes.) We've always been Weezer fans--we've already decided to name our son Rivers--but the whole living in another country thing sort of disconnected us from the Weezer happenings. But we're back on track and Michael has not stopped playing Raditude since we bought it.

His new favorite song is "Can't Stop Partying." And he can't stop singing:

I can't stop partying, partying
I can't stop partying, partying
I gotta have Patron, I gotta have the beat
I gotta have a lot of pretty girls around me

Oh, I can't stop partying, partying
I can't stop, partying, partying
I gotta have the cars, I gotta have the jewels
And if you was me, honey, you would do it too

and rapping:

Party like tomorrow is my funeral
Gotta stop mixing alcohol with pharmaceuticals
And the unusual is the * usual

not that there is any mixing of anything with pharmaceuticals around here--or really partying of any kind--but he is bouncing around the house and he can't stop "can't stop partying."


There's no official video yet, but you might want to check out the Chamillion version, the flute version, or the concert version.

New Jersey Fun Facts (#2)

Those of you who've known Michael or are from the great nation of Texas are already familiar with the second person plural pronoun "ya'll." I would now like to introduce to you the South Jersey/Philadelphia equivalent: "yous" or "yous guys".


Urban Dictionary offered the following definitions for "yous guys":

1. Yous guys are all wrong. Yous guys is a northeast phrase (often used by jersey girls and long islanders) meaning you guys. The extra 's' is not silent and is added for no reason whatsoever.
   "Eh, maybe later I'll meet up with yous guys." "Yous guys keep your mouths shut." "Very funny, least I'm not stupid like yous guys."
   
2. A version of "you guys," which is mostly associated with New Jersey, but is also heard in other metropolitan areas, such as New York and Chicago. It may also be spelled "youse guys" and is much better than saying "y'all." "Yous guys want to go to the concert tonight?"

People really do talk like that up here. At Walmart the other night, the cashier handed us our bags and said, "Yous have a good night." At marriage class, every Wednesday, our small group leaders greet us, "How yous been doing this week?" During post-season every one was asking, "Did yous see the Phillies game last night?" Now they're all asking, "What do yous think about the Eagles?"

Perhaps our brains are over compensating. All the other personal pronouns have singular and plural representations, how come the second person got left out? And we all, in our respective regional ways, are trying to make it better. I wish I had retained all that wonderful history of English knowledge passed on to me by Prof Hagge in English 411, to offer some other sort of explanation as to why you is different that the others and why we feel the need to intercede. But I sold the textbook the day of my final and have not meditated much on those matters since.

I think I'm going to start writing down real-life instances of "yous" and "yous guys" so that yous can see how it's really used.