My Christmas wish list

With my 25th birthday having come and gone a week ago (Dec. 16) and Christmas coming in a few short days, it's nice to think about all the cool gifts I'd like to be given but will never actually receive, living some 8,700 kilometers from home. (That's 5,400 miles for all of you living in the past. Face it: the metric system is superior.) Nonetheless, here is my second annual Christmas wish list.

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you're probably aware that I like to read a lot, especially about theology (and by that I mean, living truth about God and his ways). If it were possible and I didn't have an upcoming career in science education, I'd probably spend all my time reading, studying, and writing about such things. My theology picks are: Jonathan R. Wilson, God So Loved the World; N. T. Wright, Simply Christian; Gerhard O. Forde, On Being a Theologian of the Cross; and Jurgen Moltmann, The Crucified God.

As far as other books go, there are few authors I'm more interested in than recent Nobel Prize winner and fiction writer Orhan Pamuk. His novels Snow and My Name is Red have drawn worldwide acclaim, but I'm most interested in his memoirs, Istanbul: Memories and the City. Throw in the latest anthology of poetry by Gerard Manley Hopkins, and I'll be occupied for a long time (especially as I own many books that I haven't even read yet).

As I was perusing the Detroit Tigers web page yesterday I read that, to my joy, a four-CD boxed set of recordings from announcer Ernie Harwell's illustrious broadcasting career is to be released soon. Having many fond summer memories of his sweet, Southern voice telling of strikeout victims who "stood there like a house by the side of the road" and home run balls that were "looonnggg gone," I really want to pick this up soon.

Living in a country where the drink of choice is made from salty yogurt and the alcoholic staple is an anise-flavored liquor that'll knock you off your chair (affectionately known as "lion's milk"), I long for some good beer. Sure, some crappy pilseners are available. But real beers have to have flavor, something that makes them memorable. Hats off to Bell's Brewery of Kalamazoo Brewing Company for my favorite, their Best Brown Ale.

Just like last year, I still want an iPod, seeing as how I spend three hours a day on public transportation, and my CD player is all but dead. (Though I still can't help but wonder how much the headphoned world contributes to our isolation from one another.) And I've got to have music for it, right? Ideally I'd be listening to The Appleseed Cast's new release Peregrine. I'm starting to dig their ever-morphing sound that is simultaneously rich yet lulling. If Peregrine is as good as Mare Vitalis, I'll be glad. Other albums I'd like: Rainer Maria, Long Knives Drawn; Mineral, End Serenading; Sufjan Stevens, Michigan; and some good jazz.

But none of this would really be worth anything without home, without my family. Dear Mom and Dad, all I want for Christmas is a plane ticket home for a week.