Sunday, November 17th - 8:30pm - 10pm
This week, I decided to go back to reading The Bible. However, in order to mix it up a little bit, I decided to read "The Message" version.
I have mixed feelings about "The Message" translation. I do find that it is easier to breeze through sections of the Bible. However, when I directly compare it to other versions, some of the translations seem questionable. I find myself reading "The Message" as more of an overview. The most startling passage that I have come across in "The Message" was in Numbers 4 - where a material typically referred to as leather (or goatskin or badger skin) is referred to as dolphin skin. I do realize that all the versions of the Bible have to have a certain amount of passages different than all other translations, but this passage certainly seemed to be different than the rest. I'll probably switch back to the New Living Translation for most my Biblical readings from now on.
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Monday, November 11, 2013
The $100,000 Teacher: A Solution to America's Declining Public School System
Sunday, November 10th- 8:00-9:30
This week, I read yet another book that I got at the "bag sale". I picked it up thinking "Well, cool, if this teaches me to make $100,000 a year, I'm all for it!!".
The book aims to prove that teachers should make as much as any other "smart people" profession, such as being a lawyer or a doctor. With this, I agree. Teaching does take a lot of energy as well as skill. One of its major points is that in other countries, teachers are much more highly regarded
However, the book annoyed me. It seemed to be very complainy about the life of a teacher. From reading this book, one would think that a teacher is an abused slave worker in a third world country (no joke!). Maybe I'm still unjaded because I'm not "officially" a teacher yet. However, I've had enough long-term sub jobs to pretty much know what day to day life is like. I don't feel that the author shared the joy of being a teacher or highlighted any of the good parts. It was quite depressing! Oh well. I suppose this is yet another book that I likely won't get all the way through, but I'm glad I gave it a try!
Sunday, November 3, 2013
The Holy Book and Worship Leader Magazine
The Holy Bible - New Living Translation
Worship Leader Magazine
Reading in progress!
Well, these last couple weeks have been a doozy. Therefore, I admittedly haven't fully finished my 90 minutes of pleasure reading. However, I knew that if I finished right now, it wouldn't be pleasure reading- but instead, forced "have to get this done" reading, which completely ruins the point. So, I hereby vow to finish my 90 minutes for last week during Monday and Tuesday of this week! I'd rather do the assignment correctly, then rush and do it.
That said, I was pondering how different Bible reading experiences can be from each other, depending upon what part of the Bible I'm reading. In small group every week, we read Acts. However, in my quest to read the Bible in a year, I'm still in the Old Testament. Then, I think to the Psalms - which I took a whole class on - and how different they are from the rest of the Bible and also from each other.
Also, I was pondering the different translations. My favorite is the New Living Translation. I feel that this translation makes older text more clear, but does not "dumb down" a lot of the Bible. I enjoy reading The Message because of it's ease of reading, however, I feel like I miss out sometimes when I read it.
Also, I plan to read a borrowed copy of "Worship Leader Magazine". Although I'm technically on background vocals and piano currently, I have led service before and sometimes lead one or two songs per team rotation. I'm excited to see what this magazine can show me!
I plan to update this post once I finish this week's session.
Session complete! I enjoyed the variety of the articles in Worship Leader Magazine, ranging from information about old hymns to more contemporary styles of music and music technology!
Worship Leader Magazine
Reading in progress!
Well, these last couple weeks have been a doozy. Therefore, I admittedly haven't fully finished my 90 minutes of pleasure reading. However, I knew that if I finished right now, it wouldn't be pleasure reading- but instead, forced "have to get this done" reading, which completely ruins the point. So, I hereby vow to finish my 90 minutes for last week during Monday and Tuesday of this week! I'd rather do the assignment correctly, then rush and do it.
That said, I was pondering how different Bible reading experiences can be from each other, depending upon what part of the Bible I'm reading. In small group every week, we read Acts. However, in my quest to read the Bible in a year, I'm still in the Old Testament. Then, I think to the Psalms - which I took a whole class on - and how different they are from the rest of the Bible and also from each other.
Also, I was pondering the different translations. My favorite is the New Living Translation. I feel that this translation makes older text more clear, but does not "dumb down" a lot of the Bible. I enjoy reading The Message because of it's ease of reading, however, I feel like I miss out sometimes when I read it.
Also, I plan to read a borrowed copy of "Worship Leader Magazine". Although I'm technically on background vocals and piano currently, I have led service before and sometimes lead one or two songs per team rotation. I'm excited to see what this magazine can show me!
Session complete! I enjoyed the variety of the articles in Worship Leader Magazine, ranging from information about old hymns to more contemporary styles of music and music technology!
Friday, October 25, 2013
Week 3:
This week, I picked up a book that had been sitting on my shelf for a couple years. 365 Ways to Change the World... provides ideas for being a "mover and a shaker" when it comes to helping the world in which we live. I particularly liked this book because it doesn't just give ideas, it really flushes them out. Each idea has a page long description, providing both interesting facts and resources to get started.
The ideas are broken up into various categories and are really diverse from each other. One idea that I found quite interesting was about the negative effects of the shrimp industry and how many other fish would be saved if we stopped eating shrimp. Another idea, which I might incorporate into our Bible Study, is to visit churches of other religions in order to increase your perspective of other world religions. The book gave the advice of calling ahead to these church organizations in order to see if they had open service and what the expectations are of guests.
I can't wait to read more of this book and attempt to incorporate more of these ideas into my daily life.
365 Ways to Change the World: How to Make a Difference - One Day at a Time
Monday, Oct 21st: 1:00-2:30pmThis week, I picked up a book that had been sitting on my shelf for a couple years. 365 Ways to Change the World... provides ideas for being a "mover and a shaker" when it comes to helping the world in which we live. I particularly liked this book because it doesn't just give ideas, it really flushes them out. Each idea has a page long description, providing both interesting facts and resources to get started.
The ideas are broken up into various categories and are really diverse from each other. One idea that I found quite interesting was about the negative effects of the shrimp industry and how many other fish would be saved if we stopped eating shrimp. Another idea, which I might incorporate into our Bible Study, is to visit churches of other religions in order to increase your perspective of other world religions. The book gave the advice of calling ahead to these church organizations in order to see if they had open service and what the expectations are of guests.
I can't wait to read more of this book and attempt to incorporate more of these ideas into my daily life.
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Casanova's Parrot And Other Tales of the Famous And Their Pets
Week 2 - Casanova's Parrot And Other Tales of the Famous And Their Pets by Mark Bryant
So, it appears that I have a thing for animal books. I could've told you that before. Next week I'll try to read something a little different!
Casanova's Parrot is a collection of stories about famous people and their pets. I originally purchased this book for my music classroom, as the front cover made it appear that it would be mostly about famous composers. However, the book is actually divided into sections of people such as authors, actors and actresses, and artists. My husband and I have enjoyed reading parts of it throughout the last couple weeks.
This book is very anecdotal in nature, which I like because I feel like I can pick it up at any time. One really learns a lot about the nature of a person by stories of how he or she treated animals. The types of animals in the book are fascinating as well. Let's just say that the rich and famous don't just stick with cats and dogs! Some interesting things I learned were that Mozart's bird learned how to sing part of one of his concertos and that Ibsen had a pet scorpion, which he kept under a glass.
For the rest of my reading time, I tried to become up to date on the current events of our government. Possibly not as "fun" of a read, but one that I found necessary.
Here's to a non-pet book next week!
Casanova's Parrot and Other Tales of the Famous And Their Pets on Amazon.com
Wednesday, October 6th 11:00am-12:00pm
News Article Readings - 9:00pm-9:30pm, and throughout the week
So, it appears that I have a thing for animal books. I could've told you that before. Next week I'll try to read something a little different!
Casanova's Parrot is a collection of stories about famous people and their pets. I originally purchased this book for my music classroom, as the front cover made it appear that it would be mostly about famous composers. However, the book is actually divided into sections of people such as authors, actors and actresses, and artists. My husband and I have enjoyed reading parts of it throughout the last couple weeks.
This book is very anecdotal in nature, which I like because I feel like I can pick it up at any time. One really learns a lot about the nature of a person by stories of how he or she treated animals. The types of animals in the book are fascinating as well. Let's just say that the rich and famous don't just stick with cats and dogs! Some interesting things I learned were that Mozart's bird learned how to sing part of one of his concertos and that Ibsen had a pet scorpion, which he kept under a glass.
For the rest of my reading time, I tried to become up to date on the current events of our government. Possibly not as "fun" of a read, but one that I found necessary.
Here's to a non-pet book next week!
Friday, October 11, 2013
Cat's Eyewitness - Rita Marie Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown
In order to fulfill the requirements of a course that I am taking, Content Area Literacy, I am embarking on a journey of once again reading for "fun". It's a wonderful break from usual Master's work! This blog has been created in order to document my readings each week.
Week 1 - Cat's Eyewitness by Rita Marie Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown
Wednesday, October 9th 12:15-1:00pm, 2:30-3:30pm
For my first book selection, I chose a pet-friendly murder mystery. Rita Marie Brown writes all of her mysteries alongside her best kitty friend, Sneaky Pie. I picked up the book at at local "fill a bag" book sale with hopes that I'd somehow gain the ambition to read it.
The setting of this particular book, part of the Mrs. Murphy series, is in and around a monastery. Not only are the humans involved in the events that took place surrounding a murder, but several kitties and a Corgi friend are helping to solve the mystery. I appreciate that the author has placed animal conversation in differing text than human conversation.
Admittedly, I'm not very far into the book. The murder has just taken place. However, I don't anticipate continuing this one. I'm disappointed in the readability of it, particularly the amount of "fluff" and the abundance of characters whom I don't anticipate being major parts of the story. After my initial reading, I read some Amazon reviews of this particular book which stated that its quality was atypical of the author.
While at the bag book sale, I also picked up a collection of 3 more Mrs. Murphy's books. Perhaps I'll give another one a shot! I really want to like this series :).
Until next time...
-Patty
Cat's Eyewitness on Amazon.com
Week 1 - Cat's Eyewitness by Rita Marie Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown
Wednesday, October 9th 12:15-1:00pm, 2:30-3:30pm
For my first book selection, I chose a pet-friendly murder mystery. Rita Marie Brown writes all of her mysteries alongside her best kitty friend, Sneaky Pie. I picked up the book at at local "fill a bag" book sale with hopes that I'd somehow gain the ambition to read it.
The setting of this particular book, part of the Mrs. Murphy series, is in and around a monastery. Not only are the humans involved in the events that took place surrounding a murder, but several kitties and a Corgi friend are helping to solve the mystery. I appreciate that the author has placed animal conversation in differing text than human conversation.
Admittedly, I'm not very far into the book. The murder has just taken place. However, I don't anticipate continuing this one. I'm disappointed in the readability of it, particularly the amount of "fluff" and the abundance of characters whom I don't anticipate being major parts of the story. After my initial reading, I read some Amazon reviews of this particular book which stated that its quality was atypical of the author.
While at the bag book sale, I also picked up a collection of 3 more Mrs. Murphy's books. Perhaps I'll give another one a shot! I really want to like this series :).
Until next time...
-Patty
Cat's Eyewitness on Amazon.com
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