...it's just a jump to the left...
I could probably look up the lyrics and all to one of the Rocky Horror Picture Show's most famous songs, but instead I'll just use it as a handy framing device for this blog post! Ta-da!
So the times they are a-changing here in the DeBord home. Of primary significance is the loss of my job at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, which I mentioned with such enthusiasm in my previous post. Unfortunately, my position was cut, so the Fellowship bought out my work contract, gave me some compensation for the agreed-upon remainder of my work period, and sent me packin'. I must say, I appreciate them ending the work relationship by essentially laying me off rather than just up and firing me, but the loss of the good pay and flexible hours really hurts. Also, the fact that they didn't give me any sort of warning before they did this kind of sucked. But life goes on.
...and then a step to the right...
In happier news: hey, look! It's the holidays! Since "the holidays" start in late September these days, I'll give a recap of what Shannon and I did for Halloween in addition to what we've got coming up over the next month of holiday festivities.
For Halloween, we basically ended up making the weekend preceding the actual day our time to get festive. We spent basically the whole day Saturday doing stuff like baking pumpkin chocolate chip muffins (sweet lord, they're awesome!), carving a pumpkin to resemble Jack Skellington a la Shannon's obsession with Nightmare Before Christmas, making roasted pumpkin seeds, and watching Halloween movies like Hocus Pocus and Nightmare Before Christmas. In short, it was a pretty great weekend.
So now we're rolling around to Thanksgiving. Shannon and I are planning on having a big Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday just for the two of us, but I'll be leaving town on Friday to go take part in my best friend Eli's wedding. I'm the best man, so I'll be all up in that mess, but Shannon has to work on Friday, so she won't be able to come with. As a result, we spent this weekend kind of doing our post-Thanksgiving weekend Christmas decorating. We put up our Christmas tree, my vast collection of Charlie Brown Christmas ornaments, and the few other things we had lying around. It's not exactly a winter wonderland in here, but we had a lot of fun. Plus, this just gave us an excuse to listen to Sufjan Stevens and Vince Guaraldi Christmas music, so it's totally worth it!
...put your hands on your hips and bring your knees in tight...
I've had some fun in my personal reading lately also. I started rereading Plato's Republic for the first time since I initially read it in my freshman year of college. It's been a strange experience reading it after finishing the Honor's program. I feel like I can actually understand the book much better than I could in my first reading. It's also really weird trying to remember what I thought about Socrates and his arguments in my first reading compared to what I think now. I'll have to post about that after I finish the book, since I'm currently only through Book IV. We'll see what happens.
...but its the pelvic thrust that really drives you insane...
Okay, so maybe that last line doesn't really add to the post...
And so, my friends, we come to the end of another post about the misadventures of Gravitas the Magnificent and the tall dude whose face he occupies. I'm currently on the job hunt to make up for my lost position at CBF, and school continues to have its moments of utter despair and absolute enlightenment. My thesis is progressing slowly; I'm still in the preliminary research stages. I'll post about my topic and perhaps some other thoughts that have been churning around in my noggin sometime soon. But until then, my friends...
Let's do the Time Warp again!!!
18 November 2012
31 August 2012
Connect the Dots: A Year in Retrospect
Another silent year, another random blog post! Yes, folks, after nearly twelve months of silence, I've decided to carry on with this tom-foolery called blogging and give you all an update on life here in the ATL.
First of all, probably the biggest news I can communicate is that I am now happily married! I have the privelege of being wed to Mrs. Shannon DeBord (formerly Pringle for you new readers). We were married on 28 July in Yellowstone National Park, which is where we first met. The setting, the attendants, and the service were all absolutely perfect except for a renegade aisle runner that decided it would be cool to get blown around by the wind. Altogether, it was an absolutely blissful experience.
After going home to work and rest from travel for a few days after the wedding, Shannon and I travelled out to San Francisco, CA for a week for our honeymoon. If you haven't been to the City by the Bay, I must strongly recommend it. Shannon and I had an absolute blast, seeing popular tourist sites like Fisherman's Wharf, Union Square, and the SF Zoo. We even got to ride the historic Cable Cars that are so famous. And let me just say: the food there was spectacular. You seriously couldn't walk a block without hitting some kind of locally owned, crazy delicious sort of restaurant. Shannon and I were particularly fond of a Thai place called Chabaa, where we ate dinner twice during the week, and the Taylor Street Cafe, right downstairs from our hotel room in the Hotel Mark Twain. Folks. Go there. Eat the croissant breakfast sandwich. Then call me afterwards and we will exchange tele-high-fives, because it is seriously that cussing good.
In other news, I'm now in my second year at McAfee School of Theology, pursuing a Masters of Divinity. I've declared myself to be on the Academic Research Track in the program, which basically entails taking the next two years to develop and write a sixty-page thesis in addition to all my other classwork (i.e., I have a penchant for academic self-abuse). I'm doing this because it will help me look good for applying to PhD programs after I graduate from McAfee, and also because it will allow me to really get an idea of what doing academic research for the rest of my life is going to look like. My eventual goal is to obtain a PhD, probably in biblical studies or something of that sort, then to teach that same subject in a liberal arts university. I could let you all know about my proposed topic, but this post is becoming pretty lengthy, so I'll leave that for another post perhaps.
So anyway, on to some miscellany! Shannon and I are now living in an apartment complex in Dunwoody, on the north side of Atlanta, which we like much better than our respective former apartments. Our dog, Seamus, has grown and matured a good bit, but he's still a pup, so he can still get out of all the trouble he gets in by flashing that little puppy face of his. Shannon and I recently started going to Dunwoody Baptist Church, and we think this could be the church for us, which is really exciting because we were on the verge of giving up on finding a church home here in Atlanta.
Also of note, I am no longer working at Caribou Coffee. I enjoyed my time working there, but the hours became somewhat restrictive and difficult to juggle in relation to my school work. I am now working with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship as a Marketing Research Assistant (read: data monkey) and I am really enjoying my time here. The pay and hours are much better, and I am really beginning to get plugged into what the Fellowship is doing. Probably more on that sometime later as well.
Well, I think that's enough for now, friends. I hope you all have fared well this past year and I would encourage you to drop me a line sometime.
Keep checking back for posts, dear Readers, and may the luck of the Valar* be with you!
*25,000 awesome points to the person who is able to identify that reference.
First of all, probably the biggest news I can communicate is that I am now happily married! I have the privelege of being wed to Mrs. Shannon DeBord (formerly Pringle for you new readers). We were married on 28 July in Yellowstone National Park, which is where we first met. The setting, the attendants, and the service were all absolutely perfect except for a renegade aisle runner that decided it would be cool to get blown around by the wind. Altogether, it was an absolutely blissful experience.
After going home to work and rest from travel for a few days after the wedding, Shannon and I travelled out to San Francisco, CA for a week for our honeymoon. If you haven't been to the City by the Bay, I must strongly recommend it. Shannon and I had an absolute blast, seeing popular tourist sites like Fisherman's Wharf, Union Square, and the SF Zoo. We even got to ride the historic Cable Cars that are so famous. And let me just say: the food there was spectacular. You seriously couldn't walk a block without hitting some kind of locally owned, crazy delicious sort of restaurant. Shannon and I were particularly fond of a Thai place called Chabaa, where we ate dinner twice during the week, and the Taylor Street Cafe, right downstairs from our hotel room in the Hotel Mark Twain. Folks. Go there. Eat the croissant breakfast sandwich. Then call me afterwards and we will exchange tele-high-fives, because it is seriously that cussing good.
In other news, I'm now in my second year at McAfee School of Theology, pursuing a Masters of Divinity. I've declared myself to be on the Academic Research Track in the program, which basically entails taking the next two years to develop and write a sixty-page thesis in addition to all my other classwork (i.e., I have a penchant for academic self-abuse). I'm doing this because it will help me look good for applying to PhD programs after I graduate from McAfee, and also because it will allow me to really get an idea of what doing academic research for the rest of my life is going to look like. My eventual goal is to obtain a PhD, probably in biblical studies or something of that sort, then to teach that same subject in a liberal arts university. I could let you all know about my proposed topic, but this post is becoming pretty lengthy, so I'll leave that for another post perhaps.
So anyway, on to some miscellany! Shannon and I are now living in an apartment complex in Dunwoody, on the north side of Atlanta, which we like much better than our respective former apartments. Our dog, Seamus, has grown and matured a good bit, but he's still a pup, so he can still get out of all the trouble he gets in by flashing that little puppy face of his. Shannon and I recently started going to Dunwoody Baptist Church, and we think this could be the church for us, which is really exciting because we were on the verge of giving up on finding a church home here in Atlanta.
Also of note, I am no longer working at Caribou Coffee. I enjoyed my time working there, but the hours became somewhat restrictive and difficult to juggle in relation to my school work. I am now working with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship as a Marketing Research Assistant (read: data monkey) and I am really enjoying my time here. The pay and hours are much better, and I am really beginning to get plugged into what the Fellowship is doing. Probably more on that sometime later as well.
Well, I think that's enough for now, friends. I hope you all have fared well this past year and I would encourage you to drop me a line sometime.
Keep checking back for posts, dear Readers, and may the luck of the Valar* be with you!
*25,000 awesome points to the person who is able to identify that reference.
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