Attitude

While I'm not much, generally, on Christian fundamentalist dogma, occasionally these bible-toting jokers get something right. Case in point: I've been thumping the idea of perspective, of attitude, into my students for years. The Chancellor of the Dallas Theological Seminary, Charles Swindoll, in addition to his right-wing, capital R Republican views, actually happens to make sense when it comes to how we, as people, can utterly alter our lives through the adjustment of something firmly within our own control: attitude.

Italics and bolds below are mine, but the words are all Swindoll. (A shout out to Taby, the new teacher in the staff room, for passing this passage along.)

Attitude
By Charles Swindoll

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude... I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me, and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you... We are in charge of our Attitudes.

Marvel 1602

I just finished reading Neil Gaiman's post-Sandman endeavour, entitled Marvel 1602 due to the simple fact that he's taken the Marvel universe and plunked it firmly in the final year of Queen Elizabeth's reign. 1602, to be precise.

Well-written, and a fun spin on the whole Jack Kirby/Stan Lee character empire. Mutants are called Witchbreed, and are hunted by the Inquisition.

Strangely, the character I'm most into is Daredevil, all-too brooding and self-absorbed in his usual incarnation; here a blind minstrel with a penchant for one-liners.

A fun read, I must say, especially necessary for me right now, since most of the time these days I'm knee-deep in non-fiction Latin American history or fighting through intense Shakespearean analyses.



Oh, and did I mention the bitchin' scratchboard covers by Scott McKowen? They're, well, bitchin'.

Our wedding pix

My lovely and talented wife has created a brief slideshow at scrapblog.comof some of the Mexican wedding pictures. We look pretty good, if I do say so myself.

Failed again in 2006

For the second time in a row, I failed to read 50 books in a calendar year. Both times I was less than 10 short of the goal, but short I fell nonetheless. Here are the 40-something books I did finish last year; my only qualm is, should I count books I use repeatedly at work, such as my students' texts, in 2007 as well?

#23

45. A University Grammar of English - Randolph Quirk & Sidney Greenbaum
44. Colonial Latin America - Mark Burkholder & Lyman L Johnson
43. The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien
42. A Feast for Crows - George R.R. Martin
41. Res Gestae Divi Augusti - Augustus Caesar
40. Ancient Greece: From Prehistoric to Hellenistic Times - Thomas R Martin
39. Roger Hargreaves
38. Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen
37. The Elements of Style - Strunk and White
36. First Certificate in English Masterclass - Simon Haines and Barbara Stewart
35. CAE Focus on Advanced English - Richard Walton and Barbara Stewart
34. Dave Cooks the Turkey - Stuart McLean
33. Stories from the Vinyl Cafe - Stuart McLean
32. The Sandman: Brief Lives - Neil Gaiman
31. The Last Temptation - Neil Gaiman
30. James and the Giant Peach - Roald Dahl
29. 100 Bullets: First Shot, Last Call - Brian Azzarello
28. Lullaby - Chuck Palahniuk
27. Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk
26. The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia - Samuel Johnson
25. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - JK Rowling
24. Mortimer - Story by Robert Munsch, Illustrations by Michael Martchenko
23. Fables: Legends in Exile - Conceived & Written by Bill Willingham
22. Romeo and Juliet - William Shakespeare
21. The End - Lemony Snicket
20. The Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell
19. Gulliver's Travels - Jonathan Swift
18. Essential English Grammar - Philip Gucker
17. A Midsummer Night's Dream - William Shakespeare
16. ¿Cómo Se Dice...? - Ana Jarvis, Raquel Lebredo & Francisco Mena-Ayllón
15. Cash Flow Quadrant - Robert Kiyosaki
14. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - Alan Moore, Kevin O'Neill, Ben Dimagmaliw and Bill Oakley
13. Deception Point - Dan Brown
12. A Storm of Swords - George R.R. Martin
11. Superman: Red Son - Mark Millar
10. On Bullshit - Harry G. Frankfurt
9. Angels & Demons - Dan Brown
7. Augustan Rome - Andrew Wallace-Hadrill
8. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
6. The Watchmen - Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons
5. Civil War - Lucan, translation by Susan H. Braund
4. The Aeneid of Virgil - Virgil, Translation by Allen Mendelbaum
3. The Magician's Nephew - C S Lewis
2. Coraline - Neil Gaiman
1. The Island of Dr Moreau - H G Wells

El Pipila

El Pipila
Originally uploaded by stodmyk.

As my millions of fans know, Nadia and I spent the first two weeks of November in Mexico. We renewed our vows in grand Mexican fashion, and took a mini-honeymoon to Guanajuato, a gorgeous little tourist town a couple of hours away from Guadalajara.

This is El Pipila, one of many revolutionary figures made legend across Mexico. The statue sits atop the hill abreast of Guanajuato, and is truly magnificent as he looms over the city.

It's just one of many memorable bits from our trip; I'll be posting more over the winter, if for no other reason than it lets me contemplate something other than Vancouver's incessant winter rain.

Toodles!