So, my father and I went to Minnesota this past weekend, visiting friends of the family. Out of respect to them, we went to church with them on the Sunday we left. The church we went to appears to be the new focal point, a HQ if you will, for the five congregations they have. I felt nothing especially “holy” upon approaching or entering this building. In fact, the circulation and other non-worship areas felt not unlike a Holiday Inn. The only real unique characteristic of the building is that it’s big. It’s massive. It’s like someone dumped a crapload of bricks there. Moving on to the Great Hall, this is where most of my beef is had. Before I start discussion, let’s start with Two pics of the interior. Notice on the first pic (nh2.jpg), near the top: a disco ball. Just in case you didn’t catch it, let me reiterate: *A DISCO BALL*. Since when did church services need a disco ball to preach the gospel? Oh, for flashy gimmicks to keep the attention of a bunch of people who can’t summon a solid hour per week of focus for their immortal soul? Please. If I’m going into a Christian place of worship for regular services, they ought to at least partially expect that I’ve accepted Christ as my Messiah. Leave the sales pitch to the missionaries. If care what happens after I die, I’m going to be able to stay awake.

Obpoorcaranalogy: If I’m going to bring in my car to the dealer for regular maintenance, I want the dealer spending their time making sure my car is in tip-top shape, not trying to sell it to me over again.

In other words, if I’m going to be awake before noon for something on Sunday morning, chances are I’m already convinced about it. Also, please take note of the seating in both pictures. Notice the arcs of the seating areas. The seating also is theatre style seating, with the flip-up seat and arm rests. Again, this seems to be gearing the church more for entertainment than religion. The inclusion of several large projection screens draws attention away from the minister, and the two crosses in the hall feel to be afterthoughts, just elements tacked in to remind people that the location they’re at is in fact a church. I don’t feel like this is a “place of God”, I feel like it’s the Sunday matinee. And I’ll save the rants on what a church ought to be and how I disagree with how services were conducted here for another day.

Categories: ArchiGeek, Life of Peawee
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So, I’m back down at school. This apartment, quite frankly, rocks. Rocks my socks clean off. Not only that, but it’s AWESOME. I’ve my own bathroom for the first time in my life, and it’s wonderful. Living with these gents is also awesome. So, Architecture decided to drop me from studio and structures this semester. Seeing my GPA wasn’t high enough to ICT back into Architecture, they wouldn’t let me take the classes. Instead of falling a year behind in that case, I went and decided to go into Political Science. Done laughing yet? (I’m looking at you, Chip :-P) I figure, my lifetime goals haven’t really changed, just the implementation goals. I still want to help my fellow man. It’s just that how I will will be slightly different.

The thing that I noticed, now I’m in two freshman level introductory courses (PS 100 and 101), is Freshman Girls. Normal women tend to pull the necklines of their tops up from time to time, to avoid accidental spillage. Freshman girls, I’ve noticed, tend to have a curious tendency to pull them down. I suppose it’s to encourage increased cleavageosity. That and they go to lecture in miniskirts and ultra tight tube tops, etc. I wonder how long it will take them to realize that it’s a little tough to climb over people to get a seat in lecture when the very act of walking just about exposes oneself indecently. That, and 95% of guys are too busy taking notes to notice that a girl had put on #69 Extra Slutty Red lipstick that morning. Baah. It amuses me nonetheless.

Categories: Life of Peawee
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