Gender Bender

Frodo is a Girl Dog!!!

let this be a warning to all those of you who may one day adopt a puppy: take care to ascertain the sex of your puppy before naming it. otherwise, be prepared to say things like, "good boy! i mean, girl. i mean, dog."

do you know why Frodo is girl dog? it's because, in the doggy cells of her body, there are doggy nuclei which contain doggy chromosomes. and these chromosomes are in pairs. one pair of chromosomes are the doggy sex chromosomes. if this pair of chromosomes are XY, the doggy embryo will develop into a boy dog. but Frodo (i'm assuming that there are no genetic sex disorders involved here) has XX chromosomes, and therefore she is a girl dog. as they say, it's all in the DNA.

DNA stands for d'Nous Academy (unless you're talking about doggy chromosomes, in which case it's DeoxyriboNucleic Acid). running from the 6-16 dec, it's quite a unique camp. this camp aims to build up a new generation of Christian thinkers. so, people don't just sign up like they do for other camps. they have to be recommended by their Church leader or pastor to come. and get this: they are supposed to complete their reading assignments before they attend the camp! this year's camp, they are supposed to read 2 books: a biography of John Sung, and Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster.

another thing about this camp is that it's not just a one-time thing. the syllabus is arranged such that it's run in 3-year cycles. students have to come for 3 consecutive years to graduate. which means, for example, if i miss the 2nd year and come for my 3rd year, i have to wait a year for my 2nd year's syllabus to come 'round again.

please pray for the campers that they will be able to absorb and understand the things that will be taught at dNa. the schedule is quite heavy with teaching sessions (intro to OT, intro to NT, etc...quite like seminary!). there is also a community work aspect of dNa where the campers willl go out to visit various homes and orphanages. this is to try to ensure that the learning is not just head knowledge, but also life application. and pray for us facilitators, from SU and FES (we work together on this camp) for God's strength, wisdom and guidance as we prepare for all the various components of the camp that we are responsible for.

oh yes, the name. wikipedia says, "Nous (Greek: νοῦς or νόος, IPA: /nuːs/) is a philosophical term for mind or intellect." so there you have it: that's why it's called d'Nous Academy. just like our puppy is called Frodo.

and we're already used to calling her Frodo, (plus, she's probably used to being called Frodo too), so we decided not to re-name her. we found out that she was a girl when she was frolicking with the neighbours' puppy. they're the ones who informed us about her gender. we thought that we had recognised a Male Sex Organ on her, but apparently we were mistaken about that.

so, remember: always check your pet's gender before naming him. her. it. whatever. =)