Murphy

Current System Configuration: Vexed but fulfilled anyway
Earworms:
NONE, Busted speakers.
Sustenance:
[Breakfast] Raisin bread
[Lunch] Fusilli pasta with my brother's as-yet-unnamed sauce.
[Dinner] Fruit Magic's pesto verdi spaghetti
[Coffee] Homebrew coffee.
Current Read:
-None right now; TIRED.

Had a run-in with Murphy today. I prepared a listening activity for my students, and in light of the near-failure of a CD player I used earlier this week, I decided to bring my PC speakers and plug them into my MP3 player. I tried it at home, and the rig worked. I was happy that my PC speakers were of good quality and could play the song I was using loudly enough for the class. However.

In my second class, the adaptor popped. I was at a loss as to what I had to do. I spent the rest of the period fretting. Nevertheless, it's amazing how everything turned out well in the end.

I was able to borrow speakers from a student, and although they weren't as powerful, they did the job well enough. All three classes were able to do the listening exercise albeit some discomfort. Not only that---they actually liked the song. o_o I'm glad the youth of today are able to appreciate the beauty of symphonic power metal in the age of emo and punk. Remember, dear students: Don't let anyone take away the power of your imagination. Creativity is useful in any field---not only in art. We were created in the image of God, and imagination is part of that.

We are the power inside, we bring you fantasy!
We are the kingdom of light and dreams!
Gnosis and life: AVANTASIA!

In the end, though, I really think that this was all by the grace of God. Perhaps I was too confident in my preparation. Perhaps I was depending entirely on my hardware, so much so that I forgot to think about who enables me to do all things: The Lord.

Now, a little rhyme I wrote for my students. They have a little poetry round robin going on our forum, but I didn't really see it as poetry as much as I thought it was rhyming narration. So I reacted with this:

And thus the Master did speak:
Thy effort is commendable---
But still your poems look bleak
For rhyming is deplorable.

All poetry needs meter--
To this I will concede.
But rhyme forces the matter
'Tis not found in the poet's creed.

For rhyme makes one pretentious
And one's readers slightly queasy
When forced, words are atrocious
And forced writing, very cheesy.

Bound with rhyme's leaden shackles
Words lose their arcane enchantment
Saying less than loopy cackles
Rhyme's burden's not an enhancement.

Of course rhyme has its uses
Light-headed it's entertaining
Ensnared, its soul it loses
Night-blackened rhyme is enslaving.

Let words be free to take flight
To soar to the heavens on blazing wings
When chained, words are without might
They fall to the nethers, decaying things.

When one writes a senseless rhyme
The proper word is "limerick"
Otherwise, one wastes his time
Say "poetry"--false rhetoric!

People often think poetry is "rhyming text." Of course not. Poetry---good poetry---always has a central image around which the text revolves. It doesn't necessarily have to rhyme. Most outstanding modern poetry doesn't rhyme. Just some food for thought.

Exhausted but fulfilled,

Your Black Lion