Christmas Break:

Well, exams are over, and hopefully this will be my last set of December exams ever. Things went as usual, I think, although I had a harder time with it this year. Or at least I thought I did, but Sherri tells me otherwise. According to her, I go through this every exam period (especially in December when we have the most exams). I guess I just block it from my memory for my own mental health. Oh well. they're done, and I don't have to worry about them anymore.

Which means I had a nice relaxing day yesterday. Friday afternoon and evening I was still tired, feeling some residual stress, and feeling a little lost because I had nothing to study. After a nap, I went to Chapters and picked up a few books, including Stardust by Neil Gaiman (Sherri and I loved the movie, which comes out on DVD this coming Tuesday!), and the His Dark Materials trilogy. I decided that I would read these considering the controversy that the movie The Golden Compass is stirring up.

As of yesterday when I went to bed, I am halfway through the first book, The Golden Compass, which I find to be well written. The anti-theistic, anti-Church bias is very subtle in this one. I hope to write a review of the books, so I won't say much more than this now.

Part of the reason I wanted to read them is because it is easier to get a thought or way of thinking into some one's mind through literature, which people are generally less critical when they read, than it is with a full-blown philosophical essay or treatise. Literature is a subtle influence--sometimes you wouldn't even know what it's doing in your mind. But it is easier to plant images which portray what you disagree with as 'bad' and what you agree with as 'good' because you don't have to argue it. You can just portray all who disagree with your main point as horrible people, and all who agree as good, noble people and the image is planted.

Anyways, I will stop writing about it now, and hopefully put up something of a review, or a post of thoughts about the books as I finish them. When I am done them, I also have an interview to listen to regarding these books and their author, Philip Pullman by Alan Jacobs, an English professor at Wheaton College, and author of a C. S. Lewis biography which I thoroughly enjoyed: The Narnian: the Life and Imagination of C. S. Lewis.

For now, though, I will go and reformat Sherri's computer, since the morning service has been cancelled because the minister scheduled to preach cannot make it, and the parking lot won't be plowed yet. I can't wait to see what this storm brings!!