Friday, August 31, 2007
Whoa, awesome Chinese rap
I've been recently getting into C-pop (don't ask), and I ran into this on YouTube.



It's called "Huo Yuan Jia" by Jay Chou, after the main character of Jet Li's film, "Fearless". Lyrics and translation here. If you've seen the movie "Curse of the Golden Flower", you'll remember Jay Chou as the second son who rebels against the Emperor of China and leads the golden-armored army.

The female-sounding singing in the video actually is Jay Chou; he's apparently such a big Jet Li fan that he imitates an imperial-era female opera singer to say he's a Jet Li "fangirl".
Written at 11:23 PM by The Harlequin King.
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Thursday, August 30, 2007
The difficulty of fitting in
Some funny thoughts have been creeping into my head since my arrival here. I have to admit, I'm having a bit of a hard time fitting in here at AMU. Don't get me wrong: the kids here are truly exceptional, brilliant, and faithful-to-the-Magisterium papists and the environment is unquestionably Christian and spiritual.

However, they're still kids. For example, when I met my roommates, they all came here with their parents. Their parents made sure all of their forms were filled out properly, that they had all of their things and supplies in order, ate with them at the dining hall, prayed with them, etc., etc., etc. The parents even made their beds for them and provided them with all sorts of amenities such as a mini-fridge. I was the only one here who came by myself and had to sort out my own affairs. I'm not sure if my mother even knows where AMU is on a map of the country.


At any rate, I'm not used to seeing so many 18 and 19-year old people depend so much on their parents. One roommate of mine (I have 2) has a very obvious problem with trying to get away from his overbearing "helicopter parents", and I feel sorry for him when they call him twice or more a day. Of course, this reminds me all too well of Shannon and the stories she told me of when she first arrived at Stanford last year. But I hadn't seen it with my own eyes until recently.


If helicopter parenting is a sign of good family unity and values, I suppose I'm a lot more Americanist and individualist than I thought I was.


When I look back, I feel ashamed of the many times I've flatly ignored or disobeyed my parents, despite how I tell my peers to "honor thy father and thy mother". Does that make me a hypocrite? After all, my very presence here at Ave was an act of sheer defiance against my parents, who wanted me to attend a state college locally in Texas (contrast that with the experience of my roommate, who was forced by his devoutly Catholic parents to attend this school). For years, Shannon's parents have seen me as nothing less than a scourge and a scoundrel to filial piety for dating their daughter against their will and constantly impugning their authority. I suspect Shannon herself couldn't take my recklessness anymore, so perhaps that's why she left me. And of course, by converting to the Catholic faith in the first place, I caused a giant rift in the family that still isn't quite healed, and perhaps never will be. It's such an irony that in my attempts to be a morally upright and virtuous Christian, I've made so many enemies and bitter feelings. It's cost me my good standing in my family, my engagement to the love of my life, and a whole lot of dollars.


And yet I still believe, and will not repent of it, that to kneel before God, one must stand in defiance to the world.
Written at 3:35 PM by The Harlequin King.
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Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Various thoughts
Ecce! The Latin language is really starting to come back to me. I just wrote a whole page of Latin, no sweat. I never did so much in all three years of Latin in high school.

After class, I really had to get some fresh air and leave the campus for a while, so I did and went to the movie theater in Naples (which is a fairly long drive away, 35 to 45 minutes) to see "War" starring Jet Li and Jason Statham. The plot is about a San Francisco cop, Jack Crawford, whose partner and his whole family are murdered by a notorious assassin. Three years later, this assassin resurfaces and creates chaos in San Francisco by triggering a war between the Japanese Yakuza and the Chinese Triads, and Crawford, now part of a special unit dedicated to fighting Asian organized crime, is stuck in the middle. I'll tell you something: although the movie versions are always heavily dramatized, Asian organized crime is still the scariest kind. I have a cousin in the Yakuza, and there's no telling what he does for a living.

All of the Chinatown, San Francisco scenes in the movie reminded me of my own visit there with Shannon in March. One of the pictures we took there was of a Chinese sculpture of the Last Supper for sale behind a window. I think it's marvelous. The names are inscribed in Latin.

For some reason, I was the only person in the entire theater. I don't know why; it was 5pm, and the movie itself wasn't that bad (but not great either). The sheer loneliness of sitting in a theater all alone, though, makes me sure that I'm officially never going to see a movie in theaters by myself again.

Speaking of loneliness, I was looking today into my application to Stanford. Look at this gem here from the Stanford website on transfer applicants:

Before proceeding with a transfer application, it is most important that
applicants understand just how competitive admission is for prospective transfer
students. Last year we admitted just 1.5% (a total of 20) of our transfer
applicants, making the competition extraordinary. While we do not want to discourage transfer applicants, it is important that they have a realistic
picture of their chances for admission.


LOL. Thanks for the warning, Stanford. Actually, I'd probably rather have NOT known that. I'd like to know, though, why the acceptance rate for transfer students would be so much lower than for freshmen from high school. Why bother accepting any transfers at all? It must be the money they make from those $75 application fees, which I calculate is $225,000 or so, according to those figures above. On the other hand, it must be a pretty good education, seeing as how Stanford just got me to make my first calculation aside from income taxes since high school two years ago.

*sigh* The things that people will do for love...



This evening at AMU, the famous Father Joseph Fessio led the students in procession with the Blessed Sacrament in a monstrance as we had a rosary walk (praying a set of rosary mysteries while walking in a procession around the campus). At the end, there was a benediction and then Father Fessio carried the Blessed Sacrament to all the halls of the dorms to bless them. It was pretty cool. The way the rosary was prayed here was actually exactly the same way it was prayed when I was with Shannon's rosary group at Stanford, right down to the singing of "Ave Maria".
Written at 9:57 PM by The Harlequin King.
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Monday, August 27, 2007
First day of classes

(Psalm 16:5-7) Perfice gressus meos in semitis tuis, ut non moveantur vestigia mea. Inclina aurem tuam, et exaudi verba mea. Mirifica misericordias tuas, qui salvos facis sperantes in te, Domine.

"Perfect thou my goings in Thy paths, that my footsteps be not moved: incline Thy ear, and hear my words, show forth Thy wonderful mercies, Thou who saves them that trust in Thee, O Lord. "


This was the motet sung by a man and woman alternating parts as today's opening Mass at AMU began. Aside from the ten priests of the university, there was a procession of the staff and faculty clad in robes and caps not like the typical graduation gowns, but more splendid and reminiscent of portraits of Saint Thomas More and Renaissance England. For a moment, it felt like I was taken back to a different century, despite the Mass being held in a mere ballroom, until the oratory has finished construction.

Today was the first day of classes. I feel a little bit like a pioneer, in that I get to be a part of the first class to attend lectures in these halls, or to reside in these dorms, or worship in these sanctuaries. There was a news crew from Germany, of all places, to film the goings-on of today's ceremonies. Actually, I feel bad that I overslept today and missed several of the opening ceremonies such as the color guard rites and ribbon cutting by our famous/infamous chancellor, Thomas Monaghan (the founder of Domino's Pizza, as well as AMU and apparently a whole host of other establishments).

First class today was Sacred Scripture. My instructor (I prefer that term to professor) seems to be very knowledgeable about everything related to Scripture, as well as actually passionate about the Bible as a holy text; actually, all my instructors seem to be very knowledgeable and passionate about their respective subjects, and that's the first time I can say that with certainty across the board. I also enjoy how all classes begin with prayer, and it seems like the saint of the day is always invoked. Today's saint is St. Monica, mother of St. Augustine.

After that was Latin. It's a 101 level, despite my having taken 3 years of Latin in high school and regularly attending Latin Mass. It's kind of embarrassing that I retained so little knowledge of it after high school, but today, for some reason, I found myself suddenly remembering a lot of things and being able to construct Latin sentences much better than I was able to when I was in high school. I'm encouraged about that.

Last class for today was Western Civilization, a general history course. I knew that the instructor and I were seeing eye-to-eye on things when he explained how history is essential not only because it teaches us about our past, but because Christ Himself sanctified it by becoming incarnate on earth at a specific point in time; and that western civilization acknowledges that the Incarnation of Christ is the centerpoint of history because all dates are written either before Christ/BC or anno Domini/AD/in the year of Our Lord. Now, how awesome is that?

I'm considering applying for a job as a security guard here. It'll be interesting, and they say they prefer military. I just hope I don't get hours that are too wonky.

Oh, and Shannon, if you're reading this... I love you!

Written at 10:14 PM by The Harlequin King.
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Saturday, August 25, 2007
The next title in the Total War series: Empire!
So the expansion pack for the game Medieval II: Total War came out recently (here it is); but even greater than that was this week's announcement of the next game, Empire: Total War!



Set in the 18th and 19th centuries, this latest installment introduces naval battles for the first time. Check this out:

It's going to be awesome. More images and info on this web page!


Written at 10:18 PM by The Harlequin King.
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Reporting from Ave Maria University: yes, an update!
It's been a long time since the last update! That's because for a while this summer, I decided to go on some sort of Internet seclusion. Now I'm back, and a lot has changed since then. Namely, I'm no longer at home. I'm reporting from my new college, Ave Maria University, where I just moved in a couple days ago. I guess you could say I needed an adventure, so here I am.


First Impressions

AMU is essentially in the middle of nowhere; although, since I was hoping for a peaceful and quiet environment, that's a good thing. To get here, I had to drive about ten miles down a narrow country road with nothing but wilderness or farmland in sight. Apparently, I'm fortunate enough to be part of the very first class staying at the permanent campus in the city of Ave Maria. Right now, it's really a very small town, of which the university is at the center. And, for a school consisting of less than 500 students, the campus is gigantic. I'm told by the students who lived at the old campus grounds that it's leaps and bounds better than the old one.

I'm very encouraged by the professors here, and especially the liturgical life. Aside from three Masses a day, including some Latin Masses, there's daily Lauds and Vespers, and even daily confession. Soon, each residence hall will have a chapel with the Blessed Sacrament reserved for perpetual adoration. I was very moved by a lecture one of the theology professors here gave on the role of the Catholic university in intellectual development. He described it as that of leading a soul out of darkness into the light of Christ's knowledge and quoted freely from Scripture, Cardinal Newman's "The Idea of a University", and Pope JPII's Ex Corde Ecclesiae ("From the Heart of the Church"). To be honest, there are a lot of rough edes to smooth out here; I mean, the plug outlets in my room don't even work yet. But I'm quite convinced that AMU has a lot of promise of growing into a great Catholic university that's committed to the "splendor of truth", which is the love of Christ Jesus our Lord.

Now, for the bad news and melodramatic teenaged complaining: I'm still trying to figure out exactly how I'm going to pay for all of this. I essentially just took out some giant loans, threw everything I own into my car, and drove off. After spending an ungodly amount of money on textbooks, I barely have $500 left to my name. My greatest worry is that I'll either have to leave after a year, or accept that I'll be paying off student loans for the rest of my life. I actually feel a little silly now because I took a look at Facebook to see where all my high school classmates went, and just about 99.9% of them, even the really smart ones, went to community college or state schools, or least stayed in Texas. The only one who went out of the state is my (ex-)fiancee, and now me... and maybe one or two other people. But with her, it's understandable because she's an academic genius, has two Stanford alumni parents, and a lot of money to throw around. I have nothing.

To further frustrate that is my worry that the university might not issue me a parking permit because I'm technically a freshman, that I can't get a transcript from UTSA to transfer credit hours because I have $300 in outstanding fees at that school, and just now, I've discovered that my car has a flat tire for some reason so I can't even go anywhere now. And in regards to military matters, I still haven't found a unit nearby to transfer to, because apparently no one for hundreds of miles around is looking for paralegals.


Worst of all, though, is that despite all of the good things here, I'm still not quite as happy as I should be because my (ex-)fiancee isn't here. Actually, she refuses to acknowledge my existence and/or that I meant anything to her during the past three years other than evil. Nevertheless, being my brash and reckless self, I will hope against all hope and apply to Stanford just to be with her. Of course, my chances of being accepted are about as slim as winning the lottery, and even if I did make it, I'll undoubtedly be paying student loans the rest of my life.... but I feel duty-bound to try.


And now, as I jump headfirst into the abyss, I dwell on the words of Christ, who said "For, amen I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain: Remove from hence hither, and it shall remove: and nothing shall be impossible to you"...
Written at 8:14 PM by The Harlequin King.
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