april tuesday

I am in a SUPERB mood.  Because it’s Thanksgiving break, and last night I finished all the work due before next Monday.

Since the past two weeks have pretty much been constant work, and the next two weeks after Thanksgiving will also be constant work, this is pretty nice.  (Although due to the impending end-of-semester busyness ahead, I will be attempting to get quite a lot done during this break.  Wish me and my motivation luck.)

Today in Bible study, I mean my Hebrew Bible class, we went through the book of Jonah, which is more nuanced and waaaaaay funnier than what they probably teach you in real bible study, where the story is all about being obedient to God and stuff.  The Jonah we met in class is depressed and annoyed about living in a world with a capricious supernatural power, a complaint God addresses by not addressing it.  Probably because He’s a capricious supernatural power.

Perhaps my favorite part, however, is that the one thing Jonah derives joy from is a plant.  The whole giant fish thing (not a whale, btw) is really much less interesting to me than Jonah’s relationship with his beloved plant.

“Jonah was very happy about the plant.” -Jonah 4.6, AKA my favorite line in the Bible

Anyway, after class I went to the mailroom and found a most excellent haul, including:

• $12.10 from a psych study I did last semester.  Call it my “two cookies later,” as opposed to my “one cookie now”… or should I say two marshmallows.  I just always use cookies when I summarize Mischel’s study.  Because cookies are much better than marshmallows.
  
  (Note: I haven’t read that entire article, but it’s by Jonah Lehrer (wow, this post has a higher than average concentration of Jonahs) so I’m sure it’s a good read, especially if you’ve never encountered this study before.  It’s never too late to start nervously correlating the trajectory of your life to whether or not you were able to wait five minutes for an extra treat as a toddler!)


• George R. R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones.  Based on what I’ve heard, I anticipate consuming this book extremely quickly, ordering the rest of the series, waiting impatiently for them to arrive, consuming THEM extremely quickly, and then waiting impatiently for more to be published.  I’m excited.