A pop quiz for extra credit - booo, hisssssss. If ours were TRULY an online course, the pop quiz would have been available so I could have taken it from Key West or Cozumel whilst sipping a marguerita or martini. The salsa lessons should count for SOMEthing besides sore calf muscles. Shoot, I was able to walk down the hallways of the ship on 4 inch heels in rough seas after doing the salsa for a couple of hours - that should count too! I'm more physically fit than I thought!
I will confess that I didn't even think of xhtml, css, forms or xml while swimming with dolphins - nor while biking around Key West nor having my hair braided into corn rows. Uncle Vito and Aunt Belle (who celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary, and in whose honor I attended this family cruise) gave me no choice between the cruise and the class - it was one of those offers one cannot refuse... or you swim with the fishes (not dolphins) - get it?
I came home with tons of digital photos, crazy crimped hair and great memories... htm-who? Guess I'd better rethink spending the next week shopping in Newport, eh? Ooooooh, I know - I'll have Martin and my mom wait in the student lounge until class is over - then we'll head down to Newport. YES! Gem: decide in advance whether an "A" is more important than family bliss.
It's in Venice and is a bridge outside the prison of the Doge's Palace. I visited there and my sighs today easily compete with the many sighs heard over those waters... overheard over those waters? Side note: my husband has a great picture of a gondola moored outside the FedEx building on the water - get it?
OK I am corn-fused. Required fields make my head spin; I'm flummoxed with the cgi script versus the email address pour m'oi versus pour la niveleuse. My miserable child will do this assignment in 15 minutes and I'm bordering on 3 hours. Age has its privileges, and "getting it" isn't one of them. SIGH...sigh...sigh...sigh...sigh...
Is there a gem in this? I am reading - a plus. Search for the smile in the exercise, even if it's simply breathing - which is good, right?
And on we forge... into the land of Forms. I have created forms before: an online survey for participants from my class. I wasn't crazy about the way the form was delivered into my email; 'twas difficult to read the results. But I have created forms; I have created "thank you" pages; it will be interesting to see how much stored knowledge comes forth as I'm working on this week's assignment.
I have to say it's always entertaining to be in class - we banter, ask questions, go off on tangents and laugh - and still walk away with knowledge and a sense of accomplishment. Time well spent.
I haven't opened DW for weeks ... well, at least not related to class. I have to when I've got to post something for a client simply for the sake of time - but I find myself writing in code view more often. Yes.
I'm now able to read the code in my html and css files and understand what I'm looking at. I have a much better sense of the css - not perfect - I'm still mildly confused by inheritance, but figure I'll do the lynda.com courses again - they're likely to make much more sense this time around.
OK, covered the forms and fun - so finally faith: I am trying to commit to daily Mass. I figure this vessel is pretty cracked at this point, and Sunday's scripture spoke of us being the temple of the Holy Spirit. How can I hold onto His wisdom when I'm so leaky? And so I'm in contemplation when it comes to me that the Sacred Eucharist is stuck like glue on the roof of my mouth, and what better sealant can I find for my leaks? Get it? Daily Mass! YES. I'll keep you posted. Me and 7:30 a.m. don't always get along, at least for periods of time longer than 30 seconds - and I have to be at least semi socially acceptable. Stay tuned.
The gem in all this? Hmmmm - if you want something badly enough, go for it - it's taken me at least three years to begin to get the hang of CSS; and at least 25 to begin to get some handle on my faith.
And so my old Sr JEM gets resurrected, so to speak. I am not the true blogger; that is, I do create them, but let them fade into obscurity where they belong. I don't really have much to say that the clamoring public yearns to read.
I do not have a Blogger bias; I have a Women's Retreat blog to tweak the thoughts of my sister friends who attend the annual retreat at San Lorenzo, and a Friendster blog created essentially for this extra credit assignment. I also have favorite blogs (Ask Sister Mary Martha; Savage Chickens; Ironic Catholic, Catholic Cartoons), but I don't read them regularly, just whenever the Spirit moves me.
And so my quest for an A continues... sheesh I'm competitive.
I had no idea... really, if I had known I might have been able to deftly side-step...
The speaker was focused on a mature faith - and places we might be stuck. For example, any of our addictions (shopping, recreational drugs, sex, food) might serve to keep us from growing in our faith.
Then he brought up those stuck in the post-conciliar Church - or pre-Vatican II groupies. I felt his eyes boring through me, thinking "he knows! Someone told him! It's ME!"
I do, after all, love Latin - and really enjoy et in sacula, seculaurum, Amen; Praying the Divine Praises without having to repeat after Father; singing Tantum Ergo; the incense; the candles; the chants; the novenas; the patron saints.
I am the one, after all, who struggles to stand during the Eucharistic Prayer. I cringe when Father blithely holds the Sacred Host, not elevating, so quickly placed back on the paten - and then bows... no genuflection. Is this not God Himself??? Would we not fall flat on our faces and beg mercy if we saw Him in human form? How will the children recognize the transubstantiation if our priests barely acknowledge it?
But stuck? My contemplation goes on for hours some days. I have traveled so far! Nothing to be done but keep exploring, with Himself at my very center.
Today's gem: when you feel particularly bothered some some passing remark, look more closely at yourself. Is there room for improvement?
