The question:
Tell what the underlined figure of speech means:
Time flew when they were at recess.
Larissa’s explanation to Miguel:
You know, it’s the opposite of what Madonna sings about in “Hung Up.” (insert singing and dancing here) “Time goes so slow.”
One project we did this summer in Plymouth is a Quicktime Virtual Reality Image. My partner and I decided to do a panorama of a nearby traffic circle, though it didn’t stitch together exactly as we hoped. If you look carefully, you can see my feet in the image.
It’s just like in Back to the Future where Marty is playing the guitar and all the sudden realizes that he can’t play so well and that his arms have a translucent quality to them. He looks at his family picture and realizes that he’s almost disappeared complete from the picture.
Well see, this summer I built a time machine and messed up my personal history so I had to get my parents to kiss at the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance. No, wait, that’s from the movie. It was the University of Tennessee Baptist Student Union Semi Formal. No, no, that wouldn’t work…Baptists don’t dance. It must have been an ice cream social or something. They ordered one milkshake with two straws and lived happily ever after.
Click the picture if you want to see the whole panorama.
This morning’s collect began with the statement,
“Almighty and everlasting God,
you are always more ready to hear than we to pray”
I think sometimes I regard prayer as a chore. Something that should be done…Something that God wants me to do. Like most chores, it becomes something that I can put off too easily. I rationalize the need to a preference. Sure my room could be cleaner, but I can make due with the clutter…and I don’t have the energy anyway.
What I miss out on by treating prayer in this manner is the bounty of blessing God desires to bestow on me. His blessings are greater than anything I can fathom, yet too often I toil away in prayerlessness attempting to do God’s work without God’s blessing. The absurdity of a life such lived is striking as I write it, yet remains too easily maintained.
God’s faithfulness is not dependent on mine. He is always more ready to hear…
Today I ran into one of my very sweet Korean families from last year. The mother came over to say hello and then told me that she and her husband were very grateful for last year and really appreciated the comments I made on their daughters report card. They were so happy, she said, that they drank three bottles of wine to celebrate! Then she giggled and said, “We almost got drunk.” I’ve heard of people being driven to drink by their children’s school troubles, but this is the first time I’ve heard of someone being driven to drink by their child’s success. 
After spending a little more than 2 weeks in the US, I’m back in Vienna and back in the thick of things at VCS. I had a great time seeing family and friends even though the weather was equally hot and muggy in Tampa and Philly.
Here are some other highlights from my brief stay in the US:
As you can see my time in the US was very exciting.
I’ve just finished my first week of orientation at VCS, and am looking forward to the school year…though I think I wouldn’t mind if I had an extra couple of days…or a week even…to get ready. Though I probably think that every year. School starts this Thursday!
