We did not have our usual lectures again last week in my New Testament class. Instead, we had a Bible Manuscript Seminar. The seminar was about how the Bible came to be. It wasn't so much about the books of the Bible, rather, it was about how the Bible came as a large, hand-written book available only to the affluent to a smaller, machine-printed book that is available to everyone that it actually became the best selling book in history.

I learned that the early Bibles had their pages made from animal skins and some used parchment. Much has been done to preserve the Bible and to have the ordinary folks read it. The invention of the movable press by Johannes Gutenberg and the English translation of the Bible by John Wycliffe, among others, have helped accomplished this. Back then, these were very risky moves that if they got caught, they could be sentenced to death.

After the seminar, I have honestly a greater appreciation for the Bible. This was a book that people have sacrificed their life for just so the words of God will be made known to all the world.

The power of symbols

Taking a break from the usual lectures, my New Testament professor decided that we visit the Museum of Art (or the "MoA") right here in the campus. Before we came in on Thursday for the tour, he had a woman from the MoA come in to talk to us about the paintings we were to look at at the museum, and most especially, about the symbolism of these paintings and how symbolism itself is a powerful tool in conveying the artist's messages.

She talked about Christian paintings and how the artists put these seemingly minute details in the paintings that actually means something. I am choosing not to give examples this time, but what I want to say here is what I really got out of it. I usually look at paintings just for the sake of looking at it, but I have never really looked at paintings before in a way that I would pay attention to the symbols that they would carry. For me, looking at paintings while paying attention to the symbols give them a more aesthetic value, and, more importantly, we get to see how these painters perceived their subjects.

Active day (I did ju jiutsu today for the first time...)

Dear Journal,

I feel so proud of myself today because I had been pretty active. Well, I wasn't quite proud of how I started the day, though, because I slept through my alarm and I declined an invitation to compete in an ultimate frisbee competition (which, you'll later see, is the irony of the day).

I got up at about 9:30, an hour and a half past my alarm, then someone in my hall asked me if I wanted to compete in a frisbee competition in my dorm. I said no, because I was going to go practice clogging. I had a test coming up in a few days, so I really needed that practice. I practiced with two other girls in my clogging class,. We didn't quite get to what we were expecting to accomplish. It somehow helped, though, so it wasn't really a waste of time.

Just as I was getting to ready to leave, this group of guys came in the room. I'm not sure if I asked them this, but they I found out they were Ju Jiutsu club. I impulsively asked how I could join the club, and then they said that I could just join them and I could be a member at that very moment. Sounds like fun, I thought, so I decided to try it out. Besides, I've never done this before so this should be interesting. Heck, I'm not even sure if I spelled the name of the club right.

The ju jiutsu club was definitely the highlight of my day. I did it for a more than two hours, and I must say, I really had fun. I met new people who were really nice about me being so lame (hey! it's my first time). They had demonstrations on different attacks and escapes which were all interesting. It felt so.. manly. I was a little uncomfortable with the nature of ju jiutsu, because you get a lot of body contact with guys. Basically, ju jiutsu is pretty much like lying on top of another guy and getting into the most awkward positions (if you know what I mean). And I had to keep myself from laughing for a couple of times. I didn't know jju jiutsu can be pretty funny... Anyway, it was fun and it felt so fulfilling. I felt like a real man! Haha! I would definitely come to the practices again.

After my de-virginization from ju jiutsu, I headed to gym to work out. I didn't do much really, I got on the stationary bike for a little over 10 minutes and I worked out mostly my legs. I really have to find new routines for the gym, because the ones that I do are getting boring. After working out, I came back to the room where I was clogging and I started, well, clogging again. This time, I did more clogging. As always, it was fun.

So that was my day. It didn't really end at clogging, but the rest of the day was not really interesting.

Later,
Levin

Oh, those quirky little twists

So things have been pretty funny lately. You know those quirky little twists that just come up when you least expect them to? I think that's heaven's way of helping me keep my sanity. Every night, I pray for help all the time. And only now have I realized that these funny twists are the answers to my prayers. These things somehow keep me from living a monotonous life. Every single day, I try to get up early, I go to class, I dance, I eat, I try to stay awake in my classes, I try to get through any school work I have on my plate, I deal with my roommate's stench. While having dance classes was initially a new thing for me this year, they have became quite routinary. Don't get me wrong though, because I absolutely love all my dance classes and they even more fun now.

Lately, I've been running into people I haven't talked to for a while. It's always fun to catch up on things, although there's not always much to catch up on. And then I've spent more time with people I don't know very well and now I know a little more about them. And then there are some new interesting people. If you're a people person, BYU can be a good place.

Now this is totally off-topic, but I've almost decided to live in an apartment next semester. Rates are a lot cheaper in off-campus housing than that on-campus housing (it's 50% cheaper). And besides, I'm totally sick of the view from the dorms. And it would be nice to have a bigger space, and to room with upperclassmen. I do appreciate maturity a lot. Sometimes, guys my age are too immature that it becomes totally annoying.

"Between the Testaments"

For the midterm exam for my New Testament class, our teacher had us read a book he co-wrote with someone else, and the title of the book is Between the Testaments. It is about the events that took place between the period time which is called the "intertestimental period" which covers the five centuries from the end of the Old Testament up to the beginning of the New Testament.

The book first talks about the colorful history of that time period, starting from the return of the Jewish exiles, to Hellenization as brought about by Alexander the Great, and then the Roman occupation and finally during Herod's regime, around which time Jesus was born. The book later talks about the scriptures, the groups pf people and beliefs and traditions that have emerged during this huge space of time. One who reads the book will notice that same things are repeated over and over again, as all the things in the book are all connected to each other in one way or another.

I highly recommend this book. This is quite a history book by itself, but it does provide insights as to how people in the Old Testament have become a lot different than those from the New Testament. It is also a one-stop resource for basic information about the many things that we hear about, like the Pharisees and the Sadducees,, the Apocrypha, and many more.