When he realized that Pat and Courtney were going to be in town, Tim Lappala initiated the idea of a party of the current and former IVCF staff (who are in town) at my place. I have volunteered with IV/ISCF for a long time and was, in fact, interim part-time staff between Nina and Tim. (I was actually still full-time with CSSM Ministries/Dorion Bible Camp at the time, but IVCF contributed to my support, helped with IVCF and received monthly reports from me.) The party was Saturday night and it was a good time of eating, chatting and never getting around to playing Balderdash.

Back Row L - R: Miriam Lappala (who was staff for 1/2 a year), Tim Lappala (who was also my Assistant Program Director at Dorion Bible Camp for 3 weeks in '96), Paul Morrison (current LUCF staff), Pat Cain (ISCF for a year before Annika) and Mary Ellen Cain (ISCF '98 - '01).

Front Row L - R: Courtney & Isaac Cain, Annika Vastamaki (current IVCF High School
Ministries staff "Frontline") and Richard Pepper (moi).

(Pat, Courtney and Mary Ellen, of course, were also staff in various capacities at Dorion Bible Camp.)

So TU, erica, mim, timlap, Black Mamba and I played Balderdash yday afternoon. Hilarity ensued.

Sunday School Picnic: June 26/05

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Mother and Child

Mothers and Grandmother

Teenagers

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Finnish Pancake Breakfast (Sound System Fundraiser): June 25/05

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Donate!

Genuine Finn

Finn by Marriage

Sylvia schmoozes.

"Hey! Where are the Chocolate-Frosted Sugar Bombs?"

Sat. June 18th Nipigon Marina jamming with Jim (on a guitarjo), Richard (the 2nd) Harvey and his daughter. 

Why is it that when numbers are down, some of us say "Numbers don't matter." But when they are up, we thank God -- for something we previously said was irrelevant?

Richard Sherlock (on right) was a student in our Sunday School (& built a huge styrofoam stable or "unstable" for the Christmas play). He was a Dorion Bible Camp speaker in '99 and '00. Now he is pastor of O'Connor Free Methodist. (Taken at the Pinewood Court Vol. Appreciation BBQ last night by retired pastor, Fred Hubert). 

Why is Tom's proposal to Katie news!!?

And why do you know immediately who I mean? Aargh!

Ed Gooch song (mp3) at http://www.psw.ca/rpepper/mp3s/campdorion.html plus Headless Kitchen Girl, Pillow-Fighting Champ, Mayfly Mush etc.

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks."

Hamlet 3.2.240 (the line # may differ in different editions)

Gertrude says this of the Player Queen who is swearing fidelity to the husband she is about to murder (or, if your prefer, murther).

The use of this line (often misquoted by people who don't take a couple of minutes to Google it) is a means, which sadly I know myself to have used at times, to suggest that someone who defends himself at length is all the more certainly guilty for it. I suppose that is true at times (but then so is "pleading the 5th"), but it can also be something of a trick for intimidating a verbose opponent.

But in some situations the allegedly verbose one simply realizes that it takes more than a few words to describe complicated matters, especially matters close to the heart.

It is especially ironic when this "trick" occurs in the midst of a lengthy speech (which again I'm sure I myself have done).

And of course the irony in Hamlet is that Gertrude who speaks this line is herself as guilty as the Player Queen (who represents her).

So if you ever use this line on anyone, just remember that by analogy with its use in Hamlet, you are as guilty as the one you accuse. (Or guiltier. She is just an actor, after all.)

This is a bit like the accusation of being "negative". If one chooses to reply, "No, I'm not.", a biased opponent will say, "See, you said 'no'. You're so negative.", ignoring the laws of arithmetic. I can easily imagine Homer Simpson doing this to Marge.

These are ad hominem ("against the man") arguments which focus on the manner of the arguments made, drawing conclusions about the character of the speaker, while not focussing on the arguments themselves.

Such arguments are used often in ignorance, but when we know better, we ought to be ashamed of ourselves.

It may be that we all do this (including myself), but we should stop.

Arrogant people *can* actually be correct -- but we should not be arrogant. I, of course, cannot say that I am not arrogant without sounding arrogant to some. Maybe I should say that I am arrogant, but that would be called "false humility" by some.

Lord have mercy on us all.

Neither those who speak much or those who keep silent are necessarily in the wrong.
Pay attention to the words and their meanings not to their number.

Perhaps the best response is that of the Amishman who was asked "Are you saved!!?" by an eager Evangelical:

"Ask my neighbours."

Upcoming Finn Pancake Breakfast (June 25th)

Maybe we should all blog about the upcoming Finnish Pancake breakfast on June 25th at the Church of Christ building (Edward and Redwood). It runs from 0800 to 1100 hrs, right? I believe it's $5 each. I should my facts straight first, eh?

It's a fundraiser for our new sound system.

PS I did yard work today. (That's for Black Mamba, Tulrich and Mim.)

Camp Gitchigomee 60th Anniversary: June 10 - 12/05

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This is for Black Mamba 

I Don't Understand Call Centres

I phoned EI today, because I had to report extra income ($102 of Vacation Pay). The -- what do you call them? -- lady was away from the phone for quite a while calculating what the overpayment was (because I actually rec'd this in a previous period). The answer -- eventually: $102.

Then she had to put the Muzak back on for quite a while while she found out how many more weeks I have left on this claim (13).

Ive had similar experiences phoning CAA. Answering my straightforward questions about my account becomes complicated for reasons I cant comprehend. Are they not sitting in front of a screen that contains every detail of my life? -- well, (I hope) my EI life or my CAA (or whatever) life? Are they actually putting me on hold for a while simply because theyve just spotted how they can beat Free Cell?

So I dont understand Call Centre life and maybe I never will -- unless thats where I end up working.

Kyrie eleison!!

Dream

I dreamed last night that I was at Camp Dorion for Staff Orientation (I guess). The leaders hadn't shown up in the room yet. (It wasn't clear to me if they were the current leaders or new ones.) There were some staff I knew and, of course, some I didn't. Despite the anxiety of possibly remeeting the leaders considering their rejection of me at this point, I actually felt pretty good -- again, despite not knowing what my role was and feeling fairly certain that I wasn't back to full-time status at that point anyway. Well, gotta go right now. Maybe more later.

Gitchigomee Work Weekend 2005

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Exact date unknown at this point

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Frontline Surfer Party: June 4, 2005

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Frontline's Surfer Party this past Saturday:

There as part of the Karaoke contest I "cheated" and used my guitar to sing Bob Dylan's "I'll Remember You". I sang this the other night for Andy James (Director of Dorion Bible Camp 1972 -1991). I suppose Bob wrote it for a person, but I sing it for a place.

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