Grumbling

A three-day weekend to get through. Ugh. At least I have Baldur's Gate II and a stack of novels. Plus Bride and Prejudice is playing in Lubbock, and Joe W. told me about a sushi bar in Amarillo which I might check out.

I seem to have drained the sofa of its somniferous powers. I may have to start camping out on the floor next.

Scientists pinpoint chemical in green tea that fights cancer.

Reading Fletcher Pratt, Well of the Unicorn, a fantasy-adventure yarn from the 40s. I gave up on Fish Dinner in Memison; although Eddison has a gorgeous prose style, he's not a strong storyteller. Well of the Unicorn is a much more engaging read.

The music department is interested in us purchasing collected scores of various composers. I couldn't find them through our usual vendors, so I finally joined a music librarian listserv for the sole purpose of soliciting help. I got the contact info for some specialized vendors and have been receiving quotes. What I discovered is that these critical editions are very expensive (e.g. $7,000 for Beethoven), and generally incomplete, with new volumes appearing at a leisurely rate (one volume every few years). I'm not sure it's going to work out.

A guest preacher gave an interesting talk this morning about beauty. He began by saying that the reason the Bible is written largely as narrative or poetry rather than as systematic theology is that the former literary forms better convey the beauty of God. He then lamented the fact that the Church "abandoned the arts to the devil." Of course, he was driving this point home in a church building almost completely devoid of the ornamental. True, the congregation is only renting the space from the Seventh Day Adventists, but even if they had their own church I don't think it would be decorated, Calvinists being notoriously iconoclastic ("Four bare walls and a sermon.")

A couple of more hours of Baldur's Gate II this afternoon. I'm addicted!