Working for the Weekend

Did I say for? I meant "on". Yes, I think I will work over this weekend, because it would be just so nice to be done w/my summer stuff. At the moment I'm down to one paper left. So why not buckle down and get 'er done, and then have time for more important things like GRE study?

Let's see, here's the haps for me:
1. I finished my Gadamer as guide to interfaith dialogue paper. It's good. I am happy it's done. And my hubs the philosopher read it and although he disagrees with some of it (i.e. he generally disagrees with postmodern philosophy), he gave it the thumbs up for sending to prof. So that's out of the way. The nicest thing he said is that - well actually, two things: first, that I could use this as a prospectus for a dissertation b/c I guess it's that interesting of an idea (but I have no interest in doing a PhD on this...I think) and second he said that I could expand each of the sections into chapters and make a book out of it, because it would actually be a useful book. What a compliment from the house philosopher! I felt really good about all of that.

It wound up being kind of halfway between an academic paper and a layperson explanation of a tough philosophical book. I wanted it to be the latter but b/c of page # constraints I couldn't do the full explanations and resorted to a lot of jargon and shorthand. However, if I ever write the actual Gadamerian Interfaith Training Manual, I will expand the four sections into chapters of at least 20 pages each, in which I not only explain the concepts in greater detail so that a non-Gadamerian could understand (perhaps even for a non-postmodern, but that's harder), and then I would add lots of illustrations and stories and examples to make it readable and interesting and fun, and charts and stats and stuff. What a cool book it could be.

Yes, I will post it, but I want to wait until the due date's past, so you have to hold your horses for a bit.

2. I am definitely going into the diocesan ordination process. I have to make up a little paperwork for the vestry, but I don't see why they won't move it forward, and I checked with Antony and he said that yes, the next step would be handing me over to the bishop - no more discernment at church! (well, no more hoops of discernment - of course it goes on in some sense) What an amazing relief. Of course, I don't really believe any of it will happen. I told my girlfriends theology group (new small group attempt) the other night that I will believe it when I am actually sitting in the bishop's office and he says it's a go. 'Til then, it's no expectations as usual.

3. I'm writing my next paper on jihad. If anybody has sources for me I am all ears. I'm looking to write a more philosophical/theological piece on it rather than historical or political or related to current events. But I do really want to show the spectrum of belief and not just the liberal side (which is easier to access b/c liberals tend to write more academic resources). I got and/or looked at books from the following folks: Reza Aslan, Karen Armstrong, Alex De Waal, David Cook, Mary Habeck (this one is called Knowing the Enemy and I am guessing it's anti-Islam but we'll see), Rudolph Peters, Mustafa Koylu, and Hilmi M. Zawati. So if I'm missing a big one let me know.

4. Studying for the GRE is going well, I'm realizing how very little math I remember but then it's coming back faster than I ever imagined it would. Haven't done any practice tests yet - probably will hit that this weekend. Straw poll: would you jump right into the practice tests first before studying to see how much studying is required, or not until after reading a few study texts? Or am I nuts for studying at all? So far I really liked the Princeton Review book and found its test tricks to be handy. Should I take it ASAP or give myself more time to fret? I'm guessing the former is wiser.

5. If you're on facebook I am too, and I'd love to be your friend, so add me and tell me you read Feminary. I'm on there as Anastasia not Stasi. You can see scary pictures of me and all the very many causes I support (today was a goof off on facebook morning), including a cause for stopping the use of poor grammar. Booya.

OK, I think it's time for a swim. It's hot in here. Swim, then meetings, then going to watch the doggies again. And at the doggie house, I am isolated and its quiet so hopefully will get a lot of jihad research done, maybe a paper written, maybe a practice test tried. What a fun fun weekend I've got planned. I sure know how to party.