Narrative Theology - Keith Graber Miller

Theologies of Whiteness - Dean Johnson

Love and Justice - Malinda E. Berry

Can you really argue with that? I’m lovin’ it…

I spent a lot of money on eBay and Amazon.com in the past week buying various roleplaying games (RPGs). I’ve been listening to the Fear the Boot tabletop roleplaying game podcast recently, and it’s energized me to start gaming again. But instead of sticking with the all-too-familiar Dungeons and Dragons system, I want to try some other roleplaying game systems and worlds that have received good reviews and that the guys at Fear the Boot (FtB) seem to enjoy. So here’s what I bought:

• Star Trek (FASA) — This one cost a lot more than I expected ($44), because it’s long out of print (published in 1984). However, it’s supposedly a solid system, with a creative character creation system that FtB likes. You start by rolling to determine your education received through Starfleet Academy, and the results of this process determine your options as a character. The characters also fill specific roles (Captain, Engineer, Helmsman, Navigator, and Communications Officer) during combat, which sounds like an interesting concept. Also, I miss the ol’ days of watching Star Trek: TNG after school, which leads into the next purchase…
• Star Trek: The Next Generation Officer’s Manual — A supplement to the FASA Star Trek game that adds new rules, ships, and characters to update from the original Star Trek to the Next Generation era.
• Star Wars Roleplaying Game: Saga Edition — The latest (published June 2007) Star Wars roleplaying game set in the d20 rule system. I want to try some sci-fi roleplaying, and I figure that this is the best of the games still being published and supported. Plus, I want to be a Wookiee.
• Serenity Role Playing Game — Spawned from what is probably the best TV series ever, I figured this game would be a letdown after the decent movie of the same name. But after reading a number of positive reviews, I decided to give it a try. Partially I’m interested because it uses a Sovereign Stone game system, not the now-standard d20 system. I doubt it’s a whole lot different, but it’ll be interesting to see. I may be disappointed that I can’t roleplay dialogue as well as Joss Whedon can write it, but I’m hoping his universe will still be fun to explore.
• Iron Heroes — A low-magic variant player’s handbook for the Dungeons and Dragons setting, created by Monte Cook. Carl contends that D&D players become too familiar with the monsters and spells of the tradition D&D 3rd edition, so a good way to keep surprising the players is to change the magic system or add some new monsters. This rulebook changes the character class system to foster a more realistic combat-oriented game that doesn’t rely on spells and magical items. It should be a fun addition to our campaign.
• Classic BattleTech: A Game of Armored Combat — The original BattleTech tabletop miniatures wargame boxed set, published by FASA in 1984. I have vague memories of playing this with my older brothers as a young child some 10-15 years ago, and I’m excited to try it again. This is not a roleplaying game, but is used along with the…
• Classic BattleTech RPG — The latest 2007 printing of the original MechWarrior roleplaying game, published by FASA in 1985 to add a roleplaying element to the BattleTech universe. This can be used as a standalone RPG, but in-game combat situations are often decided by using the aforementioned miniatures wargame boxed set, thus combining a tabletop wargame with an RPG. Some reviewers claim that the roleplaying aspect of the BattleTech universe is limited, but FtB swears by this game combo as one of the best games ever. I’m willing to give it a shot.
• Classic BattleTech: Total Warfare — The latest addition (2006) to the BattleTech game set, adding new rules for vehicles, artillery, etc.

How much money did I waste on all this stuff? $197.49. Do I have that kind of money? No. Will I enjoy not having time to play these games because I’m working to pay for all of this? No.

C’est la vie.

In other news, this is a shameless plug to go join in on the online TnE fun. It’s an online game based on the strategy board game Tigris and Euphrates. And it’s lots of fun, so sign up and start a new game or join a current one.

As you can see, since my girlfriend is in Peru and I haven’t started my summer job yet, I have a lot of time on my hands.

the first one is a photo of my house. this is the main (and only non-bedroom) room in the house. my cot is to the right, covered with a red and white sheet.
the next one is my family. clockwise from back left: brother Sam’oun (22), brother Piseth (26), brother Sehung (28), sister Sambok (30) who lives down the road in her shop, and brother Tanheng (36) who lives in Australia with his wife and one child. In the front row are my parents, mother Simen (56) and father Saran (60) Ngin.
the third photo is me with my family eating dinner at the “dinner table”.
the fourth one is 5 of my classmates with me in Khmer language class with Mr. Meng.
the last photo has both of my parents.

tomorrow, when i’m not in a fit of frustration, this message will probably be irrelevant.

reminder.exe

we probably won’t have the official results of floyd landis’ B urine sample until later this week, but things aren’t looking good. the testing lab has leaked that his A sample tested a testosterone:epitestosterone ratio of 11:1 (normal person is around 1:1, bikers are allowed up to 4:1), and the IRMS test showed that there was exogenous testosterone (synthetic testosterone that wasn’t made naturally by his own body) in his body in the A sample. the test is thought to be inaccurate by some analysts, but apparently the world cycling association trusts it enough to use it. there are still a few questions about whether his thyroid medication, cortisone for his hip, beer he was drinking, or simply the amount of strenous exercise he was doing could have affected the test. for those of us who were hoping that “the world’s dirtiest sport” had perhaps become slightly cleaner, it’s not looking good.

my theory is that 80 or 90% of the riders in the tour de france (at least most of the team leaders) are all taking something illegal to boost their performance, but 70% or more are still getting away with it. maybe you can’t compete in professional cycling with doping anymore, so your choice is either to not dope and to suck, or to dope and be on “equal” footing with everyone else. hmm…

don’t worry, i’ll keep you posted.

what? guilty pleasures? no, i feel no guilt for being addicted to the indianapolis colts and american football. ok, i’ll come right out and say it — i’m really pumped for the Hall of Fame Game (Oakland vs. Philadelphia) next weekend, and even more the nationally televised preseason opener (Indianapolis at St. Louis) on august 10.

for those of you who follow american football (mainly carl, i suppose), i think the colts are going to be a big contender again this year. Edge was a great player, but Addai has speed and the ability to make big plays, and i think he’ll be impressive. i suppose it depends somewhat on his intelligence and how quickly he can pick up the crazy audible and offensive game-plan system that the colts use (according to Indianapolis Star columnist Bob Kravitz, it’s “more complicated that the federal tax code”).

in short, i think dominic rhodes and joseph addai can carry the ball, block and receive as well as edge could, at least by the end of the season and into the playoffs, which is (i hope) when it will really matter.

in other (similar) news, wide receiver reggie wayne showed up to training camp wearing former teammate edge’s new arizona cardinals jersey.

and now, changing sports, floyd landis has been (unofficially) accused of doping in his amazing stage 17 win of the tour de france. his first test was positive for having an abnormally high level of testosterone, and we’re still awaiting the backup sample to see if it shows the same thing. landis claims he has naturally high testosterone levels, which is possible but unlikely. hmm, we’ll see what happens…

—your local sports geek

in other news, floyd landis lost the yellow jersey today, but not to a main competitor. i think he’ll be able to get it back this week.

not like most people care, but Landis was born (and grew up) in Lancaster, PA in a conservative Mennonite family. his parents didn’t think bicycle racing would be an adequate profession, so he would ride at night after work, sometimes until 2 or 3 am. his family finally bought a TV in 2002 so they could watch him ride in his first Tour de France. he was on Lance Armstrong’s team for 3 years and helped Armstrong win the Tour each time. in 2005 he became the team leader of Phonak Hearing Systems, and he finished 9th in the 2005 Tour.

most of the riders who were supposedly going to be Landis’ main competition this year were suspended from the 2006 Tour because of their involvement in the Spanish Doping Scandal. most analysts say that Landis is favored to win this year.

i was cheering for him last year as well, so i’m really pumped that he achieved the maillot jaune today!

tomorrow’s stage finishes in Carcassonne. that makes me want to play games…

Tomorrow morning we’re up early to catch a 5:30 am cab to Heathrow airport, and then on to Bulgaria!

then we went and saw yet another castle: bamburgh, which is still being lived in.

on the way back to Newcastle we stopped by alnwick castle and gardens, which as i mentioned earlier is being lived in by the percy family (the current duke and duchess of northumberland). this is where the quidditch matches from harry potter were filmed, among other things. it was definitely a tourist trap, but still rather interesting.

yesterday morning we visited belsay hall, garden and castle, and we got to watch some very serious croquet players warming up.

yesterday afternoon we traveled by train to London and arrived at London Mennonite Centre just in time for a nice supper with Tim and Charletta and then a game of San Juan with the above-mentioned and their friend Joel. good times–and they baked me a birthday cake, which certainly made for even better times. thanks, tim.

LMC is such a beautiful place; I could stay here for a long time just relaxing. instead, i’ll leave really early tomorrow morning for the airport and eventually bulgaria. tonight we’re going to try to see “Jane Eyre” at Trafalgar Studios on the West End. It’s written by Charlotte Bronte, and adapted and directed by Polly Teale (who wrote “After Mrs. Rochester”). if we can’t get tickets for that, we’ll try to see “Sunday In the Park with George,” which aparently is a pretty amazing production. we’ll see.

we’re spending a lot of time trying to decide what we’re going to do with our last week here in europe, after the 15-day family par-tay. we’ve narrowed it down to 4 options: hike across england on hadrian’s wall, come back to LMC to relax and see shows, go somewhere random (Italy? Spain? Corsica?), or find a cozy B&B or Hostel in southern France or Eastern Switzerland. anyone have any suggestions? we like: hiking, good food, affordable lodging ($20-40/person/night), and beaches, if possible. we could do without beaches if we have nice weather for hiking instead. so let us know where we should go…

there’s a castle/fort every 5-8 miles, and then a tower every mile in between. we began in the ruins of housesteads fort and hiked east for 2 hours, some on the wall but mostly on the trail beside it. the ruins of housesteads fort itself are pretty darn cool, and include a very “advanced” latrine.

they sat on wooden benches around the edge of the room and water flowed in one side and out the other, so they basically had flush toilets. simply the fact that these stones (even the water troughs) remain 2000 years later boggles my mind… there was also a room (for the commander) where the floor was missing and we could see the gap under the floor for heated air that travelled up vents in the walls. man, this fort was more advanced than my house!

luckily, that’s a lie. but anyway, it was impressive.

tomorrow we see some puffins on an island, and a castle that’s still in use. it’s where the current duke and duchess (the percy family, who also owned warkworth castle) live. it’s the place where the quidditch matches were filmed for the harry potter movies, and the stadium is on the castle grounds. you should be jealous by now…

oh, by the way, i added photos to my last post too, so check that out again.

i also spent a while today trying to figure out why some words in english act as their own plural. it seems that the entire deer family does that: gazelle, antelope, elk, moose, deer. for a while i had a theory that any word ending in “p” was its own plural: pop and poop came to mind. then cousin benjamin said “heaps” and “caps,” and i was ruined. any thoughts?

i’m in newcastle, england. today we saw two castles:

warkworth

and dunstanburgh.

they were pretty darn cool. i’ll upload some photos tomorrow night perhaps. warkwarth was owned by the percy family until 1987 (when they were still using it for picnics, etc), and that’s the same family that still owns much of northern england. a scene from shakespeare’s “henry iv” is set in warkworth castle, and the character “harry hotspur” is a member of the family. interesting…

yesterday was my birthday, and it was spent napping in the sunshine in howth village outside dublin.

hannah and i got in to dublin airport at 6:45 am, after getting 1.5 hours of sleep. dr quirky’s and the drinking emporium were both closed, so bought some bread and cheese and headed out to howth village (the peninsula just north of dublin jutting into the irish sea), with a hike in mind. when we got there we found a nice spot of grass on the coast, had a birthday picnic lunch

and promptly fell asleep. we read books and slept all afternoon, then went back to the airport and flew here to newcastle.

time for some competitive sudoku with kathy and paul (everyone working on the same puzzle as a race), and hannah and i are pretty sure we’ll get trounced. ah well, hannah won one game of dutch blitz and i won the other earlier this evening, so it’s time for k and p to win.

So, M:I III…Good movie, overall. Way better than M:I II in any case, but that’s not saying much. The entire movie was a bit too action-packed and just another way for Tom Cruise to show off, but that’s to be expected. It had the usual plot twists that hardly count as “twists” anymore for M:I movies, and the fun gadgets, etc. Like everyone else, I liked the scene at the Vatican.

Over the Hedge was better. In the spirit of Ice Age, but with a more fun plotline and setting. Not a real thinker, but entertaining and humorous.

In other news, I’m moving into Carl’s room. He doesn’t know yet, but I’m pretty sure he won’t mind. And if he does, what’s he gonna do from 1000 miles away?

most importantly, just be aware that you can read most of my college papers at http://wiki.meyerbros.org/wiki/JonnyMeyer/Posts, and you can comment on them at http://wiki.meyerbros.org/wiki/JonnyMeyer/Comments. if you don’t want to take the time to figure out how to edit a wiki page, just email me some comments and i’ll post them (unless you ask me not to). i post my papers not just so you all can see what i’m thinking about, but so that i can receive thoughts from all of you and keep the conversation going. one of the worst parts of school is that only one person usually ends up reading the papers that students write, and the ideas end there. don’t let that happen.

i’m taking Liberation Theologies with Keith Graber Miller right now, and it’s incredible. how much James Cone have you read? or Gutierrez (who might be coming to talk to our class next week)? there are a lot of things that would be interesting to talk about, but my main point was just to mention that i’m writing a research paper on Native American (Liberation?) Theology, and i’ve been reading Tinker’s Missionary Conquest as well as Spirit and Resistance and A Native American Theology. what a great writer. i had a wonderful conversation with him about the war in iraq (and a little about your work at the oglala lakota nation) last fall when he was speaking here on campus. oh, and he can go for hours on columbus day…

i watched the movie hidalgo last night. bad move. i don’t know if i’m just becoming much more aware because of my Liberation Theologies class (which deals with racism, sexism, classism etc. as much as anything else), or if it really is one of the most racist movie in the world. on the plus side, i think viggo mortensen is ruggedly handsome. on the down side, it’s clear that all arabs and muslims (which are one and the same) are evil and mean, and everyone wants to be a cowboy. ugh.