Broken

I apologize for the recent lack of postage on this here blog. The reason was because my iPhone wouldn't charge. I plugged it in and it would turn on, but it wouldn't charge. I've had to make due with my dinky little 00s phone I bought specifically for England, but I wasn't desperate enough to use the pictures I took with THAT phone.

Finally, though, I got my phone repaired at a shop, where the owner told me the problem was that the charger was broken. It was such a relief. What's really interesting, though, is what I did when I thought my iPhone was going to die. At 13% battery, I tried to update iOS in a last-ditch attempt to get it working again. I eventually was told, though, that I couldn't update it without the iPhone being plugged in. At 6% battery, my iPhone was going to die for good, or so I thought at the time. So I powered it up and clicked on an app called "The Lorax."

You see, last year, when Knightshine was competing at a regional show choir event, I was sharing a hotel room with some of my best friends. We had an hour or two to kill. Earlier on, I had found an app called "Green Eggs and Ham" which not only narrated the story to you, but allowed you to record your own narration, and that intrigued me. So I invited a friend of mine to make our own hysterically funny narration during that time, and it was awesome. He wasn't interested in doing another, though (due to video games), but we still had some time to kill before we competed, so I invited another friend of mine to narrate The Lorax. Good times.

That friend of mine is dead now. Every so often, I listen to the narration, remembering a time when he was almost back to his silly old self, and it's nice to hear (and sometimes quite funny). So when I realized my iPhone was going to die, I went to the book app on my iPhone, went to an app I'd downloaded onto my computer that allowed me to record lectures (I teach off and on), and recorded all his lines (as the titular Lorax) as fast as I could as a lecture. I finished just in time.

Anyhow, thought that was worth talking about.

What else has been happening for the past two weeks? An old friend of mine from TKA, alias Phogey Jarblestein (I don't use names on this blog without explicit permission), is in Oxford studying abroad for a month, and I sat with him at St. Aldate's this morning. I'm also going to be competing in the "jive" dance category at Dancesport Cuppers (basically the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup but at Oxford and for dancing).

As for everything else, I'll sum it up with a series of photos.

Playing croquet in Third Quad

Croquet player? …Or ICE CLIMBER!!!!

More croquet, 2 on 1 (I was the "1" and was a total n00b)

I saw this at Oriel and thought, "There's probably a head crab in there.
Where's my crowbar?" #halflifeworldproblems

Stand-Up Comedy Night during Arts Week. Unfortunately, I was probably
the worst comic act there that night, partially owing to my unpreparedness.

The duck couple of Oriel cameth, and they enjoy napping on the First Quad
lawn, in the partially shade of the sign that says "STAY OFF THE LAWN" 

I've started going to the standard Oriel Library to study (worth it!!).
This desk hidden in an isolated corner is my favorite place in the school,
but you have to get up pretty early to nab the spot.

 

...I think I might need some new sunglasses...

…Yuppers…

I've lived in Peru for over a month, and I'm not convinced Pret a Manger
has a clue what "Peruvian Chicken" is. I remember the chicken in Peru
(my dad and I lived at a farm there, and the chicken roamed freely), and they
definitely didn't taste like that.

These nachos sounded so good on the menu that I gave in and
ordered them. Unfortunately, they tasted even worse than they
look in this photo, and that's saying something.

This is possibly the worst food choice I have ever made in my
entire life. But also quite possibly the best. Mmmmmmm.

Finally, here's a link to the homily (brief 5-8 minute sermon) I gave at Oriel College Chapel two weeks back: http://www.oriel.ox.ac.uk/content/1st-may-2014

I'm honestly pretty tired and plan to wake up early tomorrow morning to go to the gym before lectures, but it's amazing sometimes how something that seemed so broken can be fixed, isn't it? Hope is not always lost. Not always.

Peace,

   John Khouri, Sunglasses Pirate

Oxford is Basically a Zombie Movie

You face overwhelming odds, no one gets any sleep, too many people demand too much of your brain, and everyone is really pale. 'Nuff said.

Behold the zombie march.

At 6:00 in the morning last Wednesday, most of Oxford woke up super early to listen to the Magdalen (pronounced "maudlin," for whatever reason) Chapel Choir sing on "May Day," the first day of May and the beginning of spring or something.

It was kind of like a rock concert, except less screamy and more weary.

I give them credit; it's hard to sing high notes so early in the morning, but they pulled it off. I don't know if it was worth waking up so early in the morning, but I think I can safely say it was worth going to see a woman in a cow suit dancing to the chapel choir songs.

Advertising G&D's? Or just another cow enthusiast? You pick.

Cow-lady passed out coupons for G&D's, an incredible bagel/ice cream fusion chain, and so we went there afterwards. It's nice waking up so early in the morning. Pretty much impossible for me most mornings, but nice. You get to be thinking properly for the rest of the day, assuming you actually got a good night's sleep.

At G&D's.

I still haven't gotten the hang of the weather yet. Sometimes, it's almost as sunny as a nice day in California; later that day, it will be raining "like a rat out of hell," as a friend of mine is fond of saying. I don't know what it means, but it's cool, brah.

I swear, it was sunny when I left the Maths Institute 15 minutes ago...

There are also people taking full advantage of being allowed on the Third Quad lawn to play croquet during the Trinity Term by playing seemingly 24/7. I swear, every time I walk past the lawn, I see the same people playing. They're probably up to something.

Ah, the smell of procrastination. Not that I'm not a hypocrite in that.

Still, though, I'm actually really doubling down on work this term, though. I'm actually doing twice the amount of work I was doing the last couple terms by working almost constantly and only goofing off when I literally cannot do any more work. It's going fairly well, I think; I'm in the process of memorizing all the thirty-something algorithms we covered in lectures and I'm halfway done categorizing the Linear Algebra key concepts. I really need all the extra preparation, since I didn't do very well last term what with the six classes and all and near-total lack of sleep toward the end.

I gave a homily (basically a sermon) last Thursday at Oriel College Chapel. I prepared well for it, and it went pretty much exactly as I intended. People laughed at the right moments and listened intently during the rest. My secret was that I have ADHD, and if speakers don't use humor in sermons or in lectures, I often find it very difficult to pay attention. As such, I knew that if I would listen intently to a sermon, there wouldn't be anyone else who couldn't. So I never felt I had to be all serious-like just because I was in a thousand year-old university; I just wrote the homily from the heart, and it flowed out with humor naturally blended in. Organic; freshly-squeezed and full of zing.

I'm really grateful to God it worked out, and that He used me in that way. My mom pointed out afterward that it was interesting to think of all the famous theologians/saints/professors who had stood where I was standing and given sermons/homilies. That is pretty cool, but one really ought to follow suit rather than stand in awe of the situation and/or people who have gone before, since the only one that really, truly matters who preached before was Jesus, and I mentioned him once or twice. Maybe more. I also mentioned Tolkien.

I've recently started the Half-Life series (so good!!), and I'm already almost done with the series, but I'll try not to stay up too late tonight!

Dios les bendiga,

   John Khouri, Croquet Hooligan