Community

Tonight, I have my final study group for the Algebra course that I’m taking at the local community college. There is a group of us, including the instructor, who have been together for more semesters than we want to admit. While Algebra is not a good subject for me, this particular class has turned out to be more fun than happy hour at the local pub. I mean, how many study groups bring Cinco De Mayo decorations to the Math Lab??

Being a big fan of the show “Community” I started naming the characters in our class from the show. I ultimately turned out to be the “Shirley” of the group, the cheerful, older woman. We have “Big Dave” who was a morning disc jockey for the past ten years and finally decided to get serious about his education. “Heather” just got accepted to nursing school and bubbles over with wit and sarcasm.

One of our main goals of the group is to distract the instructor with weekly anecdotes as he tries so hard to convince the class that life without knowing the binomial theorem would not be worth living. And suffice it to say, that when I take my final exam next week and walk out of the class, along with the relief to be finally through it, there will be more than a little melancholy for the end of our “community.”

Downpour

Downpour by Brandi Carlile


I'm like the rain in a downpour
I wash away what you long for
And I wave goodbye with the sun in my eyes
I wish I could be there tonight

I'm like the wind in the canyon
I'm there when I'm gone in a second
You're growing older in peace where you're at
I wish I could be there for that
But I've moved on
Like a rolling stone
In a crowded room
I'm alone

I'm like the rain in a downpour
I wash away what you long for
And I wave goodbye with the sun in my eyes
I wish I could be there tonight

The Story

What I See

I don’t see God in men’s eyes or their harsh rebuke of other’s lives.
I don’t see God in empty prayers of ones who never really cared.
I don’t see God in vanity, blinding self-complacency.

But I see God in my own way, away from condescending cliches.

I see him in the advocacy of compassion and charity
I see him in the solace of the quiet life not wanting strife.
I see him in humility of ones who give so selflessly
I see him in the beauty of the pure, forgiving kind of love.

I seek him more implicitly. This God who lets me....be me.

Mumford & Sons - The Cave

"The pain passes, but the beauty remains.' - Pierre Auguste Renoir

"One does not always sing out of happiness" - Pierre Bonnard