Back from Christmas Vacation
Belated Solstice, Christmas and New Years greetings, Everyone!
I didn't plan to take an LJ hiatus, but that's how things worked out.
I had a lovely Christmas Eve with my parents, my daughter, a beautifully prepared prime rib roast, and my brand-new, 15-gig iPod. (My parents love me!) It was a week before I was able to stop stroking it and whispering "My precioussss" - and I'm still ripping .mp3's from my CD collection and downloading them. I'm at close to 600 tracks on the iPod now, with 12 gig of memory still available to me. (One of the reasons I haven't been on LJ is that all my at-home computer time has been monopolized with music processing.)
The first thing that went on the iPod was the soundtrack to The Return of the King. On December 26th I was climbing the eight flights of stairs up to my desk and listening to "The Black Gate Opens". Which was lovely, except for the fact that I had just seent RotK for the second time on Christmas Day, and that scene before the gate was fresh in my mind, so by the time I reached the door to the eighth floor I was weeping. Fortunately, there are few people at work at 7am on the day after Christmas, so no one saw me.
I wept several times during my second viewing of RotK, starting with the charge of the Rohirrim at Pelennor Field, and then off and on through the end. I enjoyed it more the second time, probably because I no longer was in the grip of anticipation and fear that it would not live up to my hopes. I'm already looking forward to the DVD release, because there are several scenes indicated in some of the tie-in books that didn't make the final cut of the theatrical release.
Our pastor is on a working vacation in Aruba for two weeks (presiding at a wedding, with travel expenses paid!), so I'm in charge of the two services following Christmas. Last week went well, and I'm looking forward to tomorrow, although I have a lot of work to do on my sermon. Once that's done, I'll start my serious prep reading for my weekend class on "Christology" which starts January 16th.
Life is good.
I didn't plan to take an LJ hiatus, but that's how things worked out.
I had a lovely Christmas Eve with my parents, my daughter, a beautifully prepared prime rib roast, and my brand-new, 15-gig iPod. (My parents love me!) It was a week before I was able to stop stroking it and whispering "My precioussss" - and I'm still ripping .mp3's from my CD collection and downloading them. I'm at close to 600 tracks on the iPod now, with 12 gig of memory still available to me. (One of the reasons I haven't been on LJ is that all my at-home computer time has been monopolized with music processing.)
The first thing that went on the iPod was the soundtrack to The Return of the King. On December 26th I was climbing the eight flights of stairs up to my desk and listening to "The Black Gate Opens". Which was lovely, except for the fact that I had just seent RotK for the second time on Christmas Day, and that scene before the gate was fresh in my mind, so by the time I reached the door to the eighth floor I was weeping. Fortunately, there are few people at work at 7am on the day after Christmas, so no one saw me.
I wept several times during my second viewing of RotK, starting with the charge of the Rohirrim at Pelennor Field, and then off and on through the end. I enjoyed it more the second time, probably because I no longer was in the grip of anticipation and fear that it would not live up to my hopes. I'm already looking forward to the DVD release, because there are several scenes indicated in some of the tie-in books that didn't make the final cut of the theatrical release.
Our pastor is on a working vacation in Aruba for two weeks (presiding at a wedding, with travel expenses paid!), so I'm in charge of the two services following Christmas. Last week went well, and I'm looking forward to tomorrow, although I have a lot of work to do on my sermon. Once that's done, I'll start my serious prep reading for my weekend class on "Christology" which starts January 16th.
Life is good.