So as we all know, there has been chaos going on in Egypt since last week. To learn and read more about it, go here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12324664

The unrest in Egypt only began last week, which coincidentally was around the time I begun reading Exodus.

(Exodus, the second book in the Old Testament, and the second book in the Hebrew bible, starts off with Moses freeing the children of Israel from Egypt. The Pharaoh of Egypt at the time did not want to let the Israelites leave because of the free labour they provided, but through a series of plagues that devastated Egypt from God, Pharaoh reluctantly let them leave. Exodus basically means 'departure.')

I thought it was a strange coincidence that I begun reading Exodus just as the Egypt in the present time is going through a series of unrest and political change, and wondered at the implications of this. The bible, Old and New Testament, is the most textually referenced book in Western literature, so I thought that it was odd that not only could I textually reference the bible with Claudius' speech in Hamlet, but I could also cross reference and apply it with what was going on in today's present time.

Another cool thing was that at the same time, I was also reading 2 Corinthians Chapter 3 (2 Corinthians is in the New Testament) which mentions Moses and the Israelites coming out of Egypt and making a new covenant, which is basically a new set of laws. I was like, wow, this goes so well with present time Egypt, where there's such political unrest and a need for new regime changes, also it was cool how I could textually reference the bible with itself.

Another coincidence is that, I was also reading Lecan's essay (He's this know it all French theorist. Poor Lecan, it's a pity we don't get along.) and he mentioned a verse I read in 2 Corinthians Chapter 3:6: "He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant-not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life."

Again, there's this running theme of making a new covenant since the old covenant no longer suits the needs of the people. These are all just coincidences, I'm not superstitious enough to think that I was meant to read these passages all at the same time by some divine providence.

Well anyway, I don't now if you guys really get what I'm trying to say since I don't think I'm being very clear, but one of the points to get out of this is that it's almost impossible to run away from the bible. Whether you turn away from it or just simply not interested in it, you can't really get away from it since most of Western literature borrows images and symbolism from the bible. I'm usually thankful for all those years in Sunday school where we learned stories from the bible inside and out, since it comes in handy when I'm doing my readings for my classes.

Like Lecan's essay, if I hadn't read 2 Corinthians I wouldn't understand what he meant by the letter killing but the Spirit giving life. Or I wouldn't understand half of what goes on in Shakespeare because he borrows imagery and stories from the bible. (Actually, Shakespeare borrows imagery from everyone, it's sometimes annoying, but then again, now that's he's dead, everyone uses his imageries. This is why it's also important to read Shakespeare and why back then in Africa, everyone read and learned Shakespeare since it meant you were educated.)

**SPOILER ALERT**

And, not sure if you guys are aware of this or not, but Harry Potter borrows from the bible as well. True story. In the last book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry dies as a sacrifice in order to save his friends and loved ones. Because he sacrificed himself, he is allowed to come back to life and be defeat Voldemort, hence becoming everyone's saviour. This parallels the story of Jesus Christ sacrificing himself to die for everyone' sins, and he comes back to life as the saviour.

Mwahaha, cool stuff. I love Harry Potter.

**SPOILER OVER**

I'm not saying that you guys should go now all go and read the bible (you can if you want to) but there's just this whole sector of hidden meanings and symbolism that people say and do and think and act that will be completely oblivious to you. This is like saying how if you don't know Marx's theories, you won't fully understand capitalism, and if you don't know Freud's theories, you can't judge a work as Freudian.

Anyway, moving on:

It snowed a lot today and some schools were closed, like the colleges and York, but Ryerson and U of T's St. George Campus stayed open. Scarborough and Missisauga declared it a snow day. (My friends and I were trying to get over the fact that we were deprived of a snow day and cheer ourselves up by saying that, "We aren't one of the top universities in Canada for no reason! Plus we're Canadian, a bit of snow can't stop us!" But we were only kidding ourselves :( Deep down, everyone just wanted to stay in PJ's all day and bum around at home.)

But I had fun trudging through the snow. I ended up spending a lot of time today with Ariel (Hi Ariel!). We had lunch together and then dinner, where she made awesome Turnip Cake for Chinese New Year. And then afterwards we had a mini boxing match at Cecil and talked about Unicorns babies.