I'm reading the Trumpet of the Swan with one my of classes these days. Although it's a book for 4th or 5th graders, I think it's one of the most romantic books I've ever read in my life. There's a cob named Louis, and he has been madly in love with a swan named Serena. After a long absence, he finally saw her again unexpectedly at the zoo:

She felt distinctly better. And when her feathers were all smoothed out, she looked extremely beautiful - stately, serene, graceful, and very feminine.
Louis trembled when he saw how truly lovely she was. He was again tempted to swim over and say ko-hoh and see if she remembered him. But he had a better idea.
"There is no hurry," he thought. "She's not going to have Philadelphia tonight. I will go to my job, and when I get back from work, I shall abide near her all through the night. Just at daylight, I'll awaken her with a song of love and desire. She will be drowsy; the sound of my trumpet will enter her sleepy brain and overcome her with emotion. My trumpet will be the first sound she hears. I will be irresistable. I will be the first thing she sees when she opens her eyes, and she will love me from that moment on."...

At the first note from his trumpet, she woke. She raised her head and her neck straightened until her head was half high. What she saw filled her with astonishment. She gazed straight at Louis. At fist, she could hardly remember where she was. Directly in front of her, she saw a handsome young male swan, a cob of noble proportions. Held against his mouth was a strange instrument - something she had never seen before. And from this strange instrument came sounds that made her tremble with joy and with love. As the song went on, as the light grew stronger, she fell hopelessly in love with this bold trumpeter who had awakened her from her dreams. The dreams of night were gone. New dreams of day were upon her. She knew that she was full of sensations she had never had before - feelings of delight and ecstasy and wonder...

Louis had been told once by his father what happened to deep-sea divers when they go far, far down into the ocean. At great depths, where the pressure is great and the watery world is strange and mysterious, divers sometimes experience what they call the "rapture of the deep." They feel so completely peaceful and enchanted, they never want to return to the surface. Louis's father had warned him about this. "Always remember, when you dive deep," he had said, "that this feeling of rapture can lead you to your death. No matter how wonderful you feel down there, don't ever forget to return to the surface, where you can breathe again!"

Looking at Serena, Louis thought to himself, "I think love is like the rapture of the deep. I feel so good I just want to stay right where I am. I'm experiencing rapture of the deep even though I'm right on top of the water. I have never felt so good, so peaceful, so excited, so happy, so ambitious, so desirous.


I'm not quite sure what 4th graders are supposed to make of this, but E.B. White definitely captivated me. Louis is a defective bird, but he got the female of choice. I'm so happy for him.

In other news, my week is going much better, thank you very much. At the end of the day, I'm actually happy with how my work day went. The Lord gave and take away. May his name be praised. Nicely put, Job!

My dad quit smoking after puffing away for the past 35 years. One day, he just made the decision to stop. Ever since, he's been pigging out every meal. He'll find excuses to cook me mandoo around midnight so that he could have some for himself. He even eats more than me now. All of that appetite suppression from nicotine is slowly revealing my dad's true colors. He'll praise like the simplest meal and rave about how it was exceptionally good that day. It's quite an exciting sight. It really is wonderful to eat with people who have a special love for food.

My cough is about 90% gone now. I really wasn't expecting it to go away til some time in late February or March. I don't know if it's because of the honey-soaked garlic I ate, or if it was the Bromcol cough medicine that I started using again. Either way, God is in charge, so he gets my thanks.

Did you know that Mozilla now has quick search engines for Dictionary.com, Biblegateway.com, and even Yahoo! Korea dictionary? This totally made my day.

Thanks for praying for me, friends. I'm feeling much better in various ways.

Thought of the Day: You little!
Song of the Day: Naruto-Aito Hi