I still feel a little guilty for hogging half of Antiochian Village’s computer force (note to self: next time, bring laptop!), but things have quieted down a little. This is the last day of classes for the Sacred Music Institute, and some people have already left. That’s good, because there’s nothing that spoils the mood of all this burgeoning holiness like getting to the library in the five minutes you found by skipping coffee only to find that the computers are already taken.

That’s bad. Then it’s time for tiny little words of painful politeness: “Do you think you’ll be on for much longer?” Or, if you want to try for more niceness, “If you happen to finish up, I’ll be over here.” Or, if you’re going for a particular brand of this-minute sainthood, maybe you just prostrate yourself and beg them to stay on the computer longer because your e-mail is unworthy.

I was going with the second option, in no small part owing to the hardness of the floors here in the library. If I’m considering a lengthy prostration, I want to see deep-pile carpet.

But then, Antiochian Village isn’t a deep-pile sort of place. Not that it’s hard living either; it’s sort of somewhere in the middle.

• The rooms are around the Motel 6 level of comfort. Clean and all that, but you don’t exactly want to stay forever. And they don’t provide shampoo in the rooms, but they also don’t sell it in the bookstore (moral for people in charge: be aware of the opportunities of capitalism), so I’ve been living off the kindness of roommates.
• The food is good. Really good. Simple enough fare — hamburgers, lasagna, sandwiches — but I have the impression that they’re doing something extreme like not using a lot of processed stuff. It’s fine.
• This library is something I’m going to have to blot out of my memory once I leave, or else I’ll want to sell my house and camp out here for years. There are unusual and out-of-print books not just on Orthodoxy per se, but all kinds of support topics. I looked into a bunch on Jewish mysticism and across the room found a late 1800’s book of the sermons of D.L. Moody. That’s a kind of richness that’s hard to define, but I feel like Belle when the Beast showed her all the BOOKS.

This is my first time to Antiochian Village. When I first heard someone say they were going to Antiochian Village, it sounded like a strange theme park. (”My parents went to Antiochian Village, and all I got was this lousy omophorion.”) It’s a conference center, but it’s … I don’t know. It is pretty great. It has icons in every room. The chapel is just the right size. It’s really very beautiful.

Oh, but don’t bother bringing your cell phone. The signal is non-existent.

Just as well, I suppose.