... until my insurance rates drop!

You know, when you're a kid it's entirely possible to get everything finished that needs to be finished. Usually with some time left over. In high school (yes, I'm old enough to call high-schoolers "kids" now) I could do my homework, practice my trumpet, hang out with friends, and still have time to come home and play video games.

That doesn't work, now. Somewhere in the last year or so I've reached a point where being "finished" is nothing more than a myth that inspires false hope. The activities that fill my life can never actually be finished. However much energy I put into them, they will soak it all up and then want more.

I can work on schoolwork and studying for as long as I can stand it, and there will still be more things I have to read. I can devote as much time as possible to my wife and our marriage, and it will still feel like we don't get to see each other enough. I can spend every morning and evening on Bible study and prayer, and I will still go to bed thinking that God has more to share with me. I can do chores, I can work out, I can make money, I can play video games... I can spend every minute on any of these, and they would still not be "finished."

I don't know how to balance my life when everything in it demands all of me. I guess that's part of life as an adult.

Here's the obligatory update to my Pleonast! Every other month, right on schedule!

The title of this entry is the subject of one of my research papers for school. It's the first one due of three I'll have to turn in this semester, so I've been reading a TON about ancient Jewish concepts of Sophia (see the character of Wisdom in the first 9 or so chapters of Proverbs) and the Greek philosophical significance of the Logos (see John 1, the 'Word'). It's coming out of my ears... blah.

I can only handle so much of one topic before I lose interest or get irritated with over-analysis. It's time for me to move on. I still have to write it, though. Hmph.

Renee is doing well. She made it through her fall-semester melodrama without too much mishap, just some irritation with the people she was working with. Now we're starting the debate season, so she's gone the next couple of weekends to chaperone her students as they argue. I may be drafted, too.

I've got an urban frisbee game tonight -- played like ultimate frisbee, but in the middle of campus around all the obstacles and with no out of bounds -- and some more reading to do before I can go. So that's all from me for now!

Hello again, all.

As I'm sure my mother has been keeping you up to date, I won't add a lot of extraneous details about my life right now. It was more than three months since my last post, so I am indeed a married man. My M.A. in Religious Studies is in progress.

My entire life right now is consumed by one of those, my wife or my schoolwork. I love the first, I can tolerate the second. ^.^

Oh, I guess a little sliver of my life is currently dominated by watching the first season of Heroes on DVD. It's good. Mom, you need to go get it. It just gets better.

So, as my mother has noted, it's been almost three months since my last update. Sorry, Pleonast friends; I forgot about this altogether for a while, and lately I haven't had time or motivation to write anything that wasn't required by my classes. So here's the update:

Less than three weeks until I graduate. Less than three months until I'm married. Less than three years until I graduate again, this time with a Masters in Religious Studies.

That's my life in a nutshell -- everything I'm doing is basically about one of those three things. Finishing graduation requirements, getting wedding stuff lined up, or prepping for grad school.

Incidentally, none of the philosophy programs accepted me, so I'm going with my fall-back plan of a Masters from Missouri State. They've already given me a pretty good chunk of money, and I've applied for a couple of graduate assistant positions. Wish me luck, 'cause that would be great!

If it's another three months before I post, then the next entry you'll see will be by a married man!