28/365: Going to the gym after a long day

Mariah and I do this now, we go to the gym right after 3pm-4 Contracts.

It's nice to go because we talk about anything, and we air out everything we've been thinking, work up a decent sweat, and feel better about ourselves, like we aren't bad students. I've noticed that it suppresses my cold, not quite sure why, but that's a bonus over sitting in a cold dark classroom listening to someone talk about Contract Mistakes or Federal Question cases and coughing nonstop.

Some people find going the gym a huge chore; I enjoy it.

29/365: Adhan

I wrote the list when I was thinking concurrently, so this combined with Minarets two days ago is going to seem kind of weird.

I'm not Islamic, religiously or ethnically. But my freshman year I took Religion in a Global Context and we studied eastern religions sort of extensively. And there was a CD that came in the back of the book that had different Muslim readings--it's sort of like singing the religious text.

Anyway, Adhan is the call to prayer spoken by the muezzin, who stands at the top of the minaret. And on this CD was a track with this haunting, echoing man singing the first calling, the translation of which is

God is the greatest
I bear witness that there is no deity except God

And it goes on. I looked for something comparable on YouTube to show you, but there's nothing quite as dramatic. He gives these lengthy pauses between the lines, and it genuinely makes me think that it would be a perfect thing to put over the beginning credits of a movie interspersed with random cut shots--I'm not kidding, I imagine it every time I hear it.

It's jarring and at the same time very beautiful.