I've had my religion on my brain a lot lately so I apologize for the heavier topic if you were looking for something lighthearted. The muse points and I follow. Maybe if you want to avoid the deep thinking you can scroll down and I'll add something for the more amusement-inclined. But I hope you appreciate my thoughts.
As most of you know, I consider myself a devout Catholic. This statement sends mixed messages though. On one hand, saying you are devout means that you are committed to your faith. It also suggests that you follow the various rules and regulation surrounding the Catholic teachings. It also suggests a sense of pride, a declaration that you are committed to something can stick with it. It is these last two points that are problematic.
Following the various rules and regulations I think is how most non-Catholics and probably many Catholics gauge piety. In fact, the thing most non-Catholics know about Catholicism is the rules and regulations, usually those that they disagree with. I think non-Christians boil down Catholicism to its stances on abortion, gay marriage, unmarried priests, something to do with bread, Church on Sundays, no meat during Lent, and tough feelings about sex. While those are aspects of the Catholic church, a devout Catholic comes off as a mindless non-questioning cultist who blindly follows rules that, to a progressive, educated person are "obviously" archaic and unfounded.
Now while I completely disagree with that sentiment, I understand where such a person is coming from. They are attacking the end result of the Catholic church, the rules and opinions that are no longer popular with the modern person and the things that most directly affect them. I believe people have every right to disagree. What I get frustrated with is when people say well I disagree therefore you are wrong. The way I see it, people are disagree with the end without understanding the beginning. Why does that Catholic church teach what it teaches? Because 2000 years ago a guy who we believe knew what he was talking about founded the Catholic church with a set of certain principles. And over the course of 2000 years the Catholic church and the people around it have questioned and debated and argued with those principles and the rules and regulations that resulted from them. And the Catholic church has been consistent in its basic principles (like the fact that Jesus was both God and human) and slow moving at changing and flexible principles (such as what language the Mass should be in).
It is this consistency that has attracted me to the Catholic church. I can trace the rationales of each of its stances, rules and regulations, and see the principles that lie behind them. The call to higher respect of life, love and happiness in this world and the value of sacrifice and forgiveness. By understanding the basic tenants of the faith, I can get on board with the tougher rules that result.
So of course its difficult for others to "buy into" an anti-abortion sentiment because they don't see how the teachings of Jesus are related to this "modern-day" problem. They just see the issue at hand. So in other words, I defend your right to disagree but that doesn't make you right and me wrong or vice versa. For me to change my mind though would be hypocritical in my Catholic beliefs.
I said two parts were problematic with calling oneself a devout Catholic. The other part is coming off as proud. To say one is devout is in a sense tooting one's own horn. Catholicism is supposed to be about humility and selflessness. So when I express my opinion on things, I come off as, "well it should be like this and any other way is wrong". I don't believe any other way is wrong, but I have found my rationales (not just blind faith) for the reasons I believe what I believe. So when I question other people's stances I want to know why they have though stances, because I know why I have mine. This makes me come off very arrogant and talk down to people. For this I apologize, especially because I am absolutely positive that the last 3 or 4 paragraphs do so too.
It is not my intention to talk down. It is not my intention to force my beliefs on others. I truly believe everyone should come to their beliefs through their own self reflection, life experiences, and any counsel they wish to include. Would I want the whole world to be Catholic? Sure, because I believe I have found something deep and impactful that guides my life straight and true. Why wouldn't I want everyone to have that? Do I want everyone to be forced or coerced into being Catholic? Absolutely not. Everyone has to go through their own process and make their own decisions. This is how I can say I support the concepts of gay marriage even if there are aspects of homosexual actions that I disagree with (see an earlier blog). I believe that if two gay persons want to get married and have the legal rights, the social inclusion and equal footing that come with it, great. But if two gay Catholic men are committed to their faith, they are going to be challenged to a different experience then two non-Catholic men. And while that then sends the message of a socially unjust viewpoint, the principles and concepts of the Christian ideal are, in my opinion, worth a different lifestyle, and if I were a gay man and as Catholic as I am today, I would still want to be saying the same thing.
I can't and won't force my views upon other people. For me to change my mind though would be hypocritical in my Catholic beliefs, which I have already questioned and found answers to. And know that its hard to appear to compromise if you truly believe something and someone else truly believes something else. The best aim is to try to build unity between the two beliefs.
So be merciful to the Catholics who are trying to be devout. We don't mean to be arrogant or preachy. Our intention is to share why we have committed ourselves to such "socially crazy" ideas and maybe even get some commiseration because they are often struggles that we believe are worth a higher goal.
Again I apologize for the preachiness that probably came out from that. I would like to go back and edit the post but I also want to post on time. I also know that it is very rambly and probably sends an inconsistent message. Again, I hope to make edits as needed but I am kinda drained today and won't have time to do so. And don't mind sparking a discussion because how can we learn about each other if we don't talk.
This probably didn't give anybody any answers to questions I may have raised, I'm sorry for that, but I'm writing this just as much for myself as for you to get my thoughts clear.
A now for something completely different:
Did you know that bobbing for apples is very unsanitary? People's mouths touch a bunch of different apples and their saliva gets in the water and sometimes you could even get an apple that has someone else's teeth marks in it? Yes, gross.
So my last year as an RA, we came up with a conceptual solution to this problem. Rather than bob for apples, we though what if we tied them to a string and tried to grab them that way? It's the same concept of you try to grab the apple and it bounces away right?
I tested this out. For a rather amusing video of my attempt, you should go to my facebook, click photos, and then click the little tab that says videos of me (well it probably doesn't say "me" for you but either way this new facebook made it trick for me to give you these instructions). The caption for the video is "I have no idea what is going on but I found this on my computer)
Needless to say its, a wee bit difficult. Enjoy!
One final note. I was on a roller coaster with Heavy Spy, Dungeon Daddy, and a few others and it was raining. Well, it was really just kind of misty because the rain and for the most part stopped. But the little droplets of air were like needles on our faces and we were screaming in pain, laughing at the ridiculousness of being on a roller coaster in the cold wet air, and enjoying the ride all at the same time. Anyway, as usual the ride takes a picture of you towards the end of your trip. Since we ride all the time, we knew when the picture would occur and we usually pose for it. I made fists on my cheeks as if I were crying from the rain. Heavy Spy next time me was putting thumbs up over his cheeks. We get to the picture and this giant, quarter sized drop of water falls from the track and speeds right into Heavy Spy's open eye. He screams and the lights flash and we finish the ride. We rush to see the photo and there's me posing like I'm crying and there's Heavy Spy, actually crying out in pain with one hand gripping his eye and the other curled in agony. We will never take a better, emotionally realistic picture ever. I laughed so hard I really did cry.
You can find that picture on facebook too. It's on my wall right now haha.
Currently reading: Brawl in the Family webcomic... amusing and video gamey. Right up my alley
Currently listening to: Overflow by Matt Maher- Religion's on the brain remember
Currently playing: Golden Sun: Dark Dawn... I should probably be playing the first one first but I like this so oh well... We also started Diablo 2 again...
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
It's only 12 am and I'm sleepy...
The moment I saw Tenshi, I knew she was amazing. If only this were true. We didn't have the "love at first sight" moment every person--girl-- thinks about. It was more of a she thinks I'm gay, talk, and get to know and love her more type of movie. It's different, but it is our own nonetheless.
The reason I mention this is because well Tenshi wrote it. Yes, none of the words are technically mine, though I agree with the sentiment. We've been a relationship more or less for 2 and a half years and had our share of bumps and really amazing times. I'm not really one to talk about things that I consider private, and the ins and outs of relationships are one of those things that I think belong to those two people only. However, I'll give you a rare glimpse of this treasure I hold dear.
Last month for a little mini-date we decided to go to our local Natural History Museum. The trip I think captured our personalities to a tee. We walked in and found that I had to pay for admission and she didn't because she now attends a masters program at our rival $chool, which happens to be located next to the museum. Then upon seeing the giant Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil in the lobby I was all excited and wanted to have my picture taken in front of it. We then walked into the mammal hall and she was all excited to see the different stuff models of various North American mammals and took a picture of each and every single cute creature. We then wandered into the gem section where she marveled at the various opal gems and said how much better they were than topaz (a battle of birthstones which I pretend that I won but really didn't). We eventually found ourselves in a traveling exhibit of a finwhale skeleton, which is the second largest animal to ever live. It could have sat in that exhibit for an hour marveling at the size and majesty of a large creature. Tenshi was done with it pretty quick. I made her take a picture. Interestingly, the exhibit we both agreed on was the live bug room which equally fascinated and creeped us out. We would have had a lot of fun in the children's area where my current facebook profile picture of me hugging a polar bear was taken, but we were out of time. I think that's totally like us, we may disagree on what exhibits are the coolest but we just like to have fun goofing around :)
This weekend featured a Summercamp TTD, which is a staff retreat. Besides the usual games and bonding activities we also had a very amusing game of Scattegories where the staff member who Naysayer P Smith calls my twin brother kept picking the exact same randomly specific words. But even more amusing, I broke the Summercamp mantra of "make smart choices" but staying up until 5am playing what the staff calls "Presidents". This is actually a game taught to me by my very very good friend who I can't believe I haven't mentioned yet: Mama Goldfish. She and the rest of my close friends and I play "Presidents" all the time, except for us its a drinking game. So yes, I taught my staff a drinking game that we stayed up all night playing. They don't know its a drinking game but the thought still amuses me. I'm sure I'm going to get beat by Naysayer for admitting that but the card game built team unity and nothing even remotely close to inappropriate behavior occurs because of it. Except of course of the fact that my staff makes fun of the dance I deliriously did at that ridiculous hour when I finally won the stupid game. Now that's just disrespecting the supervisor that is!
An extra shoutout to Mama Goldfish or Mama G as we sometimes call her, she is a very good friend of mine from high school and we commiserate over various Brock antics together and try to keep him out of trouble, so she's my partner-in-crime [prevention] you could say.
Speaking of Brock, he baked a cake today.
Yes, I'm still waiting for the world to start spinning again too.
I think that's all I'm going to touch on tonight and sorry for the slightly late update. Enjoy!
Currently listening to: "RE: your brains" by Jonathan Coulton... I love him so much and his song a week is a free podcast on iTunes... "All we want to do is eat your brains, we're not unreasonable. I mean nobody's gunna eat your eyes..."
Currently reading: I've actually dusted off the Bible in attempt to read it a little more. I pulled out in honor of my friend that passed away
Currently Playing: Jedi Academy- If I can't be a jedi knight this is the next best thing.
The reason I mention this is because well Tenshi wrote it. Yes, none of the words are technically mine, though I agree with the sentiment. We've been a relationship more or less for 2 and a half years and had our share of bumps and really amazing times. I'm not really one to talk about things that I consider private, and the ins and outs of relationships are one of those things that I think belong to those two people only. However, I'll give you a rare glimpse of this treasure I hold dear.
Last month for a little mini-date we decided to go to our local Natural History Museum. The trip I think captured our personalities to a tee. We walked in and found that I had to pay for admission and she didn't because she now attends a masters program at our rival $chool, which happens to be located next to the museum. Then upon seeing the giant Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil in the lobby I was all excited and wanted to have my picture taken in front of it. We then walked into the mammal hall and she was all excited to see the different stuff models of various North American mammals and took a picture of each and every single cute creature. We then wandered into the gem section where she marveled at the various opal gems and said how much better they were than topaz (a battle of birthstones which I pretend that I won but really didn't). We eventually found ourselves in a traveling exhibit of a finwhale skeleton, which is the second largest animal to ever live. It could have sat in that exhibit for an hour marveling at the size and majesty of a large creature. Tenshi was done with it pretty quick. I made her take a picture. Interestingly, the exhibit we both agreed on was the live bug room which equally fascinated and creeped us out. We would have had a lot of fun in the children's area where my current facebook profile picture of me hugging a polar bear was taken, but we were out of time. I think that's totally like us, we may disagree on what exhibits are the coolest but we just like to have fun goofing around :)
This weekend featured a Summercamp TTD, which is a staff retreat. Besides the usual games and bonding activities we also had a very amusing game of Scattegories where the staff member who Naysayer P Smith calls my twin brother kept picking the exact same randomly specific words. But even more amusing, I broke the Summercamp mantra of "make smart choices" but staying up until 5am playing what the staff calls "Presidents". This is actually a game taught to me by my very very good friend who I can't believe I haven't mentioned yet: Mama Goldfish. She and the rest of my close friends and I play "Presidents" all the time, except for us its a drinking game. So yes, I taught my staff a drinking game that we stayed up all night playing. They don't know its a drinking game but the thought still amuses me. I'm sure I'm going to get beat by Naysayer for admitting that but the card game built team unity and nothing even remotely close to inappropriate behavior occurs because of it. Except of course of the fact that my staff makes fun of the dance I deliriously did at that ridiculous hour when I finally won the stupid game. Now that's just disrespecting the supervisor that is!
An extra shoutout to Mama Goldfish or Mama G as we sometimes call her, she is a very good friend of mine from high school and we commiserate over various Brock antics together and try to keep him out of trouble, so she's my partner-in-crime [prevention] you could say.
Speaking of Brock, he baked a cake today.
Yes, I'm still waiting for the world to start spinning again too.
I think that's all I'm going to touch on tonight and sorry for the slightly late update. Enjoy!
Currently listening to: "RE: your brains" by Jonathan Coulton... I love him so much and his song a week is a free podcast on iTunes... "All we want to do is eat your brains, we're not unreasonable. I mean nobody's gunna eat your eyes..."
Currently reading: I've actually dusted off the Bible in attempt to read it a little more. I pulled out in honor of my friend that passed away
Currently Playing: Jedi Academy- If I can't be a jedi knight this is the next best thing.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
I wish I were a Jedi Knight
It'd be so cool.
It's amazing what an escape fantasy can be for people. All of our imaginations and dreams embodied in literature, movies, and games. Even more importantly, things we never knew we wanted or had imagined appear in the realms of fantasy. I never knew I wanted a movie about aliens trapped in a ghetto until I saw District 9. I never knew I wanted a story about a magician trapped on an island until I read (thought have yet to see) The Tempest. I still DON'T want a story about a whiny wanna-be glitter girl who thinks she loves a vampire and a werewolf. But people share their imaginations with us nonetheless and sometimes they really appeal and sometimes they really don't.
But we like our escapes. Star Wars is one of my favorite universes and its nice to relive the movies, books, and video games that rules my childhood and still shape my imagination. To some, they just don't get Star Wars (I know, I was surprised too)! To others, Harry Potter is the end all be all of imaginative worlds. To others is the universes of Marvel or DC or both. Some people really get into shows like Battlestar Galactica and others dismiss it as frack and prefer fantasy like Weeds and True Blood. I don't really have a point to make or a conclusion to draw from my observation but its just nice to acknowledge and enjoy our fantasy escapes.
For something more real, tomorrow is MLK, JR Day. I find myself getting so excited for the holiday Monday and a much needed break from a hectic last two weeks that I had completely forgotten WHY we have the holiday. They reflected on it at Mass today and got me thinking about how much things have changed in the over 40 years since his death. I can't imagine living in those times of fear, anxiety and chaos, where the world you thought you know changed so much. Some of those changes were for the better, like steps toward battling prejudice and sharing the same rights to all. Some were for the worse, like an increased resorting to military might. Regardless, I truly believe the world is sooo soo sooo much better thanks in part to MLK, Jr. While I don't think we are near the vivid particulars of his dream, I think he has given us the gift of hope, that even when terrible things happen, like bullyings, shootings and wars, we as a people can still be accepting, and respond with love. I will try to keep this in mind tomorrow and maybe have more to say next week.
I haven't been sharing that many stories about Brock because for the most part there has been much out of the ordinary. I do have this little anecdote to share, which happened tonight actually. I come home with my dinner from the new Mexican restaurant around the corner and see Brock sitting as usual in his underwear watching TV. It is rare that I watch television but I thought I'd sit next to him and eat my food and keep him company. He was watching the Golden Globes which weren't particularly entertaining at the time but good enough for me and a 20 minute meal. Halfway through Brock comments its ironic that you and I are here watching this while Clark, the film buff, is not. I said I agreed and that it was funny how we never seem to watch TV together. Soon after Brock got up and left, too. I found myself looking around going how did I end up watching a show I don't care about when both my roommates would be infinitely more interested in it. I felt like I'd be tricked into caring about television, at least for a little while. I turned it off and went to my room, ending the roomie bonding.
On the Summercamp side, we've been recruiting for new RAs plus my mountain of other things to take care of so its been really hectic reading apps doing interview plus my other work. Add a departmental meeting on Tuesday and the funeral for my friend on Friday and I am still behind. So in the spirit of being behind, I share a story from last year: Naysayer P. Squirrel, Banana Slug and I were sitting outside at a table in the middle of the residence halls. Naysayer had just finished threatening me (like usual) that if I ever pranked him or snuck up on him or anything like that he'd punch me in the face. We had been talking about Halloween, his favorite holiday, and how he once hit a guy who tried to scare him in a haunted house. Banana Slug chuckled and said OK, I have to get back to work. As we watched her leave I noticed one of the supervisors, who we shall call Princess Predator, wandering toward us. Naysayer wasn't facing him but I was. I remarked Oh, look here comes Princess, but Naysayer didn't look up. As Princess Predator came closer, he snuck up behind Naysayer and whispered something like Hello handsome. But it really sounded like HelloOW!! because Naysayer flipped out and punched him in the face. Yes, he clocked a supervisor square in the cheek. I think the funniest part is how Princess is so proud of how he works out and is in good shape. TKO! OK he wasn't really knocked out but long story short Naysayer felt defensive, Princess Predator was understanding but had to go home to slap a steak on his face, I was laughing nonstop for the next 10 minutes, and Banana Slug was very sad she missed the whole thing.
As a final two notes for today's post, first Brock can hear my typing and wants me to spill my secrets so here's a secret:
I've never read Lord of the Rings and have no intention to because I don't like JRR Tolkien's writing style. As an English major, it hurts me to say I'd rather just watch the movie.
Note two, the funeral for my friend on Friday was very nice. It was good to reminisce about how she touched all our lives and it was tragically beautiful to see how many young people arrived to support her. I will miss her very much but I have no doubt in my mind that this wonderful person in smiling down on us in heaven.
That's all for now, until next week!!
-JTY
Listening to: Funeral for a Friend- Elton John. My favorite song of his and one of my favorite songs of all time.
Reading: I'm supposed to by the next installment of 100 Bullets tomorrow... fingers crossed!
Playing: Jedi Academy to fill my lightsaber needs haha!
It's amazing what an escape fantasy can be for people. All of our imaginations and dreams embodied in literature, movies, and games. Even more importantly, things we never knew we wanted or had imagined appear in the realms of fantasy. I never knew I wanted a movie about aliens trapped in a ghetto until I saw District 9. I never knew I wanted a story about a magician trapped on an island until I read (thought have yet to see) The Tempest. I still DON'T want a story about a whiny wanna-be glitter girl who thinks she loves a vampire and a werewolf. But people share their imaginations with us nonetheless and sometimes they really appeal and sometimes they really don't.
But we like our escapes. Star Wars is one of my favorite universes and its nice to relive the movies, books, and video games that rules my childhood and still shape my imagination. To some, they just don't get Star Wars (I know, I was surprised too)! To others, Harry Potter is the end all be all of imaginative worlds. To others is the universes of Marvel or DC or both. Some people really get into shows like Battlestar Galactica and others dismiss it as frack and prefer fantasy like Weeds and True Blood. I don't really have a point to make or a conclusion to draw from my observation but its just nice to acknowledge and enjoy our fantasy escapes.
For something more real, tomorrow is MLK, JR Day. I find myself getting so excited for the holiday Monday and a much needed break from a hectic last two weeks that I had completely forgotten WHY we have the holiday. They reflected on it at Mass today and got me thinking about how much things have changed in the over 40 years since his death. I can't imagine living in those times of fear, anxiety and chaos, where the world you thought you know changed so much. Some of those changes were for the better, like steps toward battling prejudice and sharing the same rights to all. Some were for the worse, like an increased resorting to military might. Regardless, I truly believe the world is sooo soo sooo much better thanks in part to MLK, Jr. While I don't think we are near the vivid particulars of his dream, I think he has given us the gift of hope, that even when terrible things happen, like bullyings, shootings and wars, we as a people can still be accepting, and respond with love. I will try to keep this in mind tomorrow and maybe have more to say next week.
I haven't been sharing that many stories about Brock because for the most part there has been much out of the ordinary. I do have this little anecdote to share, which happened tonight actually. I come home with my dinner from the new Mexican restaurant around the corner and see Brock sitting as usual in his underwear watching TV. It is rare that I watch television but I thought I'd sit next to him and eat my food and keep him company. He was watching the Golden Globes which weren't particularly entertaining at the time but good enough for me and a 20 minute meal. Halfway through Brock comments its ironic that you and I are here watching this while Clark, the film buff, is not. I said I agreed and that it was funny how we never seem to watch TV together. Soon after Brock got up and left, too. I found myself looking around going how did I end up watching a show I don't care about when both my roommates would be infinitely more interested in it. I felt like I'd be tricked into caring about television, at least for a little while. I turned it off and went to my room, ending the roomie bonding.
On the Summercamp side, we've been recruiting for new RAs plus my mountain of other things to take care of so its been really hectic reading apps doing interview plus my other work. Add a departmental meeting on Tuesday and the funeral for my friend on Friday and I am still behind. So in the spirit of being behind, I share a story from last year: Naysayer P. Squirrel, Banana Slug and I were sitting outside at a table in the middle of the residence halls. Naysayer had just finished threatening me (like usual) that if I ever pranked him or snuck up on him or anything like that he'd punch me in the face. We had been talking about Halloween, his favorite holiday, and how he once hit a guy who tried to scare him in a haunted house. Banana Slug chuckled and said OK, I have to get back to work. As we watched her leave I noticed one of the supervisors, who we shall call Princess Predator, wandering toward us. Naysayer wasn't facing him but I was. I remarked Oh, look here comes Princess, but Naysayer didn't look up. As Princess Predator came closer, he snuck up behind Naysayer and whispered something like Hello handsome. But it really sounded like HelloOW!! because Naysayer flipped out and punched him in the face. Yes, he clocked a supervisor square in the cheek. I think the funniest part is how Princess is so proud of how he works out and is in good shape. TKO! OK he wasn't really knocked out but long story short Naysayer felt defensive, Princess Predator was understanding but had to go home to slap a steak on his face, I was laughing nonstop for the next 10 minutes, and Banana Slug was very sad she missed the whole thing.
As a final two notes for today's post, first Brock can hear my typing and wants me to spill my secrets so here's a secret:
I've never read Lord of the Rings and have no intention to because I don't like JRR Tolkien's writing style. As an English major, it hurts me to say I'd rather just watch the movie.
Note two, the funeral for my friend on Friday was very nice. It was good to reminisce about how she touched all our lives and it was tragically beautiful to see how many young people arrived to support her. I will miss her very much but I have no doubt in my mind that this wonderful person in smiling down on us in heaven.
That's all for now, until next week!!
-JTY
Listening to: Funeral for a Friend- Elton John. My favorite song of his and one of my favorite songs of all time.
Reading: I'm supposed to by the next installment of 100 Bullets tomorrow... fingers crossed!
Playing: Jedi Academy to fill my lightsaber needs haha!
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Sunday Blogday: Endings
A friend of mine is dying. For the last year shes been fighting a brain tumor that came on her suddenly and without real cause or reason. She has been in a coma for most of 2010 and while she's had her ups and downs, recently she took a severe turn for the worse and has been given days maybe weeks to live. I bring this up today because due to my semi-accidental napping, I skipped my normal 5:30 Mass and went instead to the campus one at 9pm. While kind of embarrassed at myself for still letting myself nap when I have responsibilities to fulfill this turned into a blessing in disguise when they announced that there would be a prayer service for my friend after Mass.
I am not too too close to this person but I consider her a good friend. The kind that I always enjoy running into and doing a quick catch up and felt utterly at ease with. In fact, the last time I saw her she was randomly in Las Vegas the same time I was and was so excited to see me she ran up and gave me a big hug. She has as big a heart as a smile and we bonded over the numerous random things we had in common from both having mixed heritage to attending the same church. Nevertheless, I hadn't ever made the trip to visit her in the hospital, though I kept up with her condition through her friends facebook message updates. So I felt it was the least I could do to spend an extra hour of my life in prayer for my friend.
I say all this in part because the ceremony naturally made me think about death. It is very tragic to have someone so young be dying for no apparent reason. Yet the traditional songs in the service were very positive and hopeful, reflecting ideas like the Lord is my shepherd of what shall I fear and the like. As Catholics we are called to be not afraid of death and that sentiment was reflected tonight. We dwelt on the hardships of life but with the confidence that God will take care of us and we will be with him soon. It was a very positive feeling even as we talked about the tragedy.
I think due to my faith I have no fear of death. I fear pain, and suffering and leaving other people and unfinished business behind, but dying itself does not scare me. In fact, I have this sort of fascination with death. Whenever death is personified in movies or literature I find it intensely interesting. Some of my favorite works include the Sandman Series, who's sister is Death and I love story of the Deathly Hallows in the 7th Harry Potter. I also enjoy the comic personifications of death like in Christopher Moore's A Dirty Job, Terry Pratchet's Rincewind the Wizzard, and all those Family Guy episodes. I've heard it said that dying is one of the most selfish things someone can do. It rings so true to me because your troubles are over but others suffer from your departure. And by no means does that condone suicide because to me the selfishness is not wanting to deal or perhaps heal the pain in your life. I hope that noone ever feels that death is the only answer to their problems.
Regardless, the concept fascinates me. It's one of life's guarantees and the concept and mysticism and fear and dread surrounding the idea of death just really interest me. I think this concept is one of the defining things that makes us human.
So that's my weekly musing. But I haven't talked about the quirkies in my life for a while so here's a story about Naysayer P. Squirrel, who if you don't recall (as I've changed his name like 3 times) is my boss in Summercamp.
An ever-amusing story to me (and by amusing I mean the same way we find it funny when a little kid runs into a glass window even though we simultaneously feel bad that its hurt) is the story of Naysayer's arm. You may recall that his office is located next to mine. You may also recall that Naysayer is not exactly known for volume control. So, through two closed doors when we were both killing time in our offices before we met people for dinner, I hear him suddenly scream "Oh my god" and the sound of his hands slapping his desk. And then again "Oh my god!!" only this time it was muffled as he was covering his mouth in shock. And then again "Oh my god!!!!!" followed by him banging the desk again and again in shock and excitement. Naturally, I finish what I was doing, slowly pushed my keyboard aside and sauntered over to his office where I was not surprised to see the latest (at the time) episode of Glee being watched on his computer. Naysayer was so enthralled by this particular scene (I seem to recall it having something to do with a surprising forward bully and his gay victim) he barely noticed me until I sat down in the room. Then he proceeded to play the scene again because he was in so much shock and continued to pound his desk with both hands "I can't believe it!" BANG BANG BANG. "Did you see that?!? Oh my go-o-o-o-oddd!" BANG BANG. Amused I watched a bit then wandered back to my office hoping there would be sushi in the dining hall.
Flash forward a week and Naysayer says that he won't be in that morning because he has to see a doctor. His wrist had been inexplicably hurting. Inexplicably. Right. I reminded him of a certain desk banging episode and then started laughing because Glee had just cracked my boss's wrist. Oh life.
In other news, Brock hasn't burned our apartment down. Not that he plays with fire its just a figure of speech. He did decapitate one card during a game of idontrememberwhat in a drunken rage that fortunately didn't strike the poor cards down in the casino lobby. Hopefully that was just the excitement of the Casinoland experience and not a warning sign of a latent violent streak where if I don't remember to take out the trash I'll come home to an alcohol enraged man sitting in a pile of shredded Kings Queens and Jacks...
He did feel bad the next morning and bought me a new deck of cards so the drinking games-er blackjack practice- can continue next time we are in a certain city. Either way we don't keep a lot of alcohol in our apartment anymore because then we tend to have parties and our neighbors lately have been particularly intolerant of anything that could possibly affect them so we are trying to keep low until they forget we are hear again. Ultimately, we can trace back all initial problems with neighbors to a certain Lady GaGa party last April that got a tinge-bit out of hand. Moral of the story-quarters is dangerous for everyone, especially if I get handicapped to match other people.
Well I suppose I should post this since its already 12:45. I did start this on Sunday I promise. Keep my friend in you prayers and I pray you have an uplifting and hopeful week Thanks for reading :)
-JTY
Currently reading: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (author of Sandman) about a boy who is raised by ghosts. Fitting for today's thoughts...
Currently listening to: Tenshi, she's talking to me on the phone but also "Alive Again" by Matt Maher
Currently playing: Golden Sun: Dark Dawn though I think I need to play the first game before I finish this.
I am not too too close to this person but I consider her a good friend. The kind that I always enjoy running into and doing a quick catch up and felt utterly at ease with. In fact, the last time I saw her she was randomly in Las Vegas the same time I was and was so excited to see me she ran up and gave me a big hug. She has as big a heart as a smile and we bonded over the numerous random things we had in common from both having mixed heritage to attending the same church. Nevertheless, I hadn't ever made the trip to visit her in the hospital, though I kept up with her condition through her friends facebook message updates. So I felt it was the least I could do to spend an extra hour of my life in prayer for my friend.
I say all this in part because the ceremony naturally made me think about death. It is very tragic to have someone so young be dying for no apparent reason. Yet the traditional songs in the service were very positive and hopeful, reflecting ideas like the Lord is my shepherd of what shall I fear and the like. As Catholics we are called to be not afraid of death and that sentiment was reflected tonight. We dwelt on the hardships of life but with the confidence that God will take care of us and we will be with him soon. It was a very positive feeling even as we talked about the tragedy.
I think due to my faith I have no fear of death. I fear pain, and suffering and leaving other people and unfinished business behind, but dying itself does not scare me. In fact, I have this sort of fascination with death. Whenever death is personified in movies or literature I find it intensely interesting. Some of my favorite works include the Sandman Series, who's sister is Death and I love story of the Deathly Hallows in the 7th Harry Potter. I also enjoy the comic personifications of death like in Christopher Moore's A Dirty Job, Terry Pratchet's Rincewind the Wizzard, and all those Family Guy episodes. I've heard it said that dying is one of the most selfish things someone can do. It rings so true to me because your troubles are over but others suffer from your departure. And by no means does that condone suicide because to me the selfishness is not wanting to deal or perhaps heal the pain in your life. I hope that noone ever feels that death is the only answer to their problems.
Regardless, the concept fascinates me. It's one of life's guarantees and the concept and mysticism and fear and dread surrounding the idea of death just really interest me. I think this concept is one of the defining things that makes us human.
So that's my weekly musing. But I haven't talked about the quirkies in my life for a while so here's a story about Naysayer P. Squirrel, who if you don't recall (as I've changed his name like 3 times) is my boss in Summercamp.
An ever-amusing story to me (and by amusing I mean the same way we find it funny when a little kid runs into a glass window even though we simultaneously feel bad that its hurt) is the story of Naysayer's arm. You may recall that his office is located next to mine. You may also recall that Naysayer is not exactly known for volume control. So, through two closed doors when we were both killing time in our offices before we met people for dinner, I hear him suddenly scream "Oh my god" and the sound of his hands slapping his desk. And then again "Oh my god!!" only this time it was muffled as he was covering his mouth in shock. And then again "Oh my god!!!!!" followed by him banging the desk again and again in shock and excitement. Naturally, I finish what I was doing, slowly pushed my keyboard aside and sauntered over to his office where I was not surprised to see the latest (at the time) episode of Glee being watched on his computer. Naysayer was so enthralled by this particular scene (I seem to recall it having something to do with a surprising forward bully and his gay victim) he barely noticed me until I sat down in the room. Then he proceeded to play the scene again because he was in so much shock and continued to pound his desk with both hands "I can't believe it!" BANG BANG BANG. "Did you see that?!? Oh my go-o-o-o-oddd!" BANG BANG. Amused I watched a bit then wandered back to my office hoping there would be sushi in the dining hall.
Flash forward a week and Naysayer says that he won't be in that morning because he has to see a doctor. His wrist had been inexplicably hurting. Inexplicably. Right. I reminded him of a certain desk banging episode and then started laughing because Glee had just cracked my boss's wrist. Oh life.
In other news, Brock hasn't burned our apartment down. Not that he plays with fire its just a figure of speech. He did decapitate one card during a game of idontrememberwhat in a drunken rage that fortunately didn't strike the poor cards down in the casino lobby. Hopefully that was just the excitement of the Casinoland experience and not a warning sign of a latent violent streak where if I don't remember to take out the trash I'll come home to an alcohol enraged man sitting in a pile of shredded Kings Queens and Jacks...
He did feel bad the next morning and bought me a new deck of cards so the drinking games-er blackjack practice- can continue next time we are in a certain city. Either way we don't keep a lot of alcohol in our apartment anymore because then we tend to have parties and our neighbors lately have been particularly intolerant of anything that could possibly affect them so we are trying to keep low until they forget we are hear again. Ultimately, we can trace back all initial problems with neighbors to a certain Lady GaGa party last April that got a tinge-bit out of hand. Moral of the story-quarters is dangerous for everyone, especially if I get handicapped to match other people.
Well I suppose I should post this since its already 12:45. I did start this on Sunday I promise. Keep my friend in you prayers and I pray you have an uplifting and hopeful week Thanks for reading :)
-JTY
Currently reading: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (author of Sandman) about a boy who is raised by ghosts. Fitting for today's thoughts...
Currently listening to: Tenshi, she's talking to me on the phone but also "Alive Again" by Matt Maher
Currently playing: Golden Sun: Dark Dawn though I think I need to play the first game before I finish this.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
New Years Resolutions: SUNDAY BLOGDAY
So I promised myself I'd write my blog more this year. My last update was a pathetic two months ago and it was a short one at that. I'm hoping to get in a rhythm and habit of writing and to consistently give you and myself something each week. So as I will share my new years thoughts, I hereby resolve to update my blog every Sunday if at all humanly possible. Fair warning, we all know how resolutions turn out, but at least I got it right on the first day.
Why Sunday? You may be wondering why this specific day but I figure its the day I have the most time in AND I tend to be more reflective after having church and a week t0 look back on. So fingers crossed and a big thank you to those that keep reminding me to do this. If I get it going pretty good, I'll stop sending those pecky facebook messages too.
Speaking of New Years, Clark and I were talking on our way to our evenings festivities about what 2010 was like. On the whole, we agreed that it was a pretty rough year in our immediate circle, a fairly tough year nationally, and a generally standard year globally. My immediate circle had its fair share of hardships: sch0ol debt kicking in, parking, speeding, and cell phone tickets, traffic accidents, fruitless job hunts, crappy jobs, threats of being laid off, stupid neighbors, foolish roommates, breakups, moving away, not able to find a place to move to, emergency room dashes, to those of you who had deaths in the family I send my prayers, I have a friend in ICU right now who is basically waiting to die, I know a who few dealt with arrests, my sister had a doctor scare and still needs to do some follow up, and to top it all off my mom was sick for Christmas for goodness sake.
Nationally, we had the big BP spill, harsh winter storms, jobless counts are still high, a wave of publicized gay suicides, the political state proved tumultuous, and Lebron James kicked Cleveland to the curb.
Globally, we were unstable, literally, as poor Chile and Haiti, among others, were rocked by big quakes, a volcano single-handedly stopped Europe from flying, North Korea tried to piss off South Korea, and the usual series of terrorist attacks frequented our headlines.
Why recount all this? Yes, to point out all the crappy things that 2010 had, though I don't think it an especially dreadful year, just tough. Instead I bring this up to to bring you to my point:
Pop music.
Yes I said pop music. Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Ke$ha (who was Billboards #1 this year lord help us) Travie McCoy, Bruno Mars, Rihanna, Black Eyed Peas and the like.
As has become my custom every year I eagerly await DJ Earworm's music mashup for the end of the year. He takes the Billboard Top 25 and mashes all the songs together to make a really clever and catchy new song. Last years was especially amazing and his summer one was also pretty good. You can find them all here: http://djearworm.com/
As I was listening to this years, I noticed that for the most part, the songs were pretty positive, fun, upbeat, danceable and all around happyish. Currently stuck in my head is Florence + the Machine's "Dog Days are Over", which I think characterizes my point. Other positive songs currently being played include "Fireworks" and "Just the Way You Are" by Perry and Mars respectively. Considering I generally listen to Rock and Classic Rock, the fact that I noticed this trend means it must be at least somewhat significant. Even rap music, which I generally avoid almost as much as country, mostly because I usually find the lyrics degrading or selfish had a positive song recently: "Coming Home" by Diddy. And its not just a recent trend either. Remember earlier this year saw songs like "Billionaire" and "OMG" which I think were foreshadows for a progressively more positive year.
So yes, despite a rather troublesome 2010, the music has gotten more and more positive, which I think can only be a good omen for 2011. So let's make it good.
On a side note, last year on New Year's Eve, my friends and I decided to try to celebrate in a bar rather at the cottage we were staying at, so we walked to the downtown area at 11:30. Finding, sheepishly, that all the bars were full, we opted to take cabs back to the cottage and try to arrive before midnight. It took two cabs. At 11:57, my cab arrived at the cottage. Much to our surprise the other cab had not, despite leaving before mine. 12 came and went and still they hadn't returned. At 12:15 the second cab pulled up and recounted how their cab had made an illegal u-turn and was pulled over. This spent the new year watching a ticket being written. We did a little mock countdown at 12:15 but it just wasn't the same. This year we actually did it right. Moral of the story: don't miss the countdown, it starts you off on the wrong foot.
I'm going to wrap this blog up for tonight but never you fear, next week will see another!
To be included: Why Brock should not play cards, a news update about Naysayer P Squirrel and his bouts of Italian Food, how Summercamp has changed this new school year, and why El Bandito should not be allowed to call the shots. Thank you to all of you and may you have a Happy and blessed New Year!!
Listening to: "Dog Days are Over"-Florence + the Machine... its SO stuck in my head right now
Reading: 100 Bullets- really really good comic
Playing: Jedi Outcast- an old game of mine that I rediscovered. Also, I have like 5 other games in the works... jeez.
-JTY
Why Sunday? You may be wondering why this specific day but I figure its the day I have the most time in AND I tend to be more reflective after having church and a week t0 look back on. So fingers crossed and a big thank you to those that keep reminding me to do this. If I get it going pretty good, I'll stop sending those pecky facebook messages too.
Speaking of New Years, Clark and I were talking on our way to our evenings festivities about what 2010 was like. On the whole, we agreed that it was a pretty rough year in our immediate circle, a fairly tough year nationally, and a generally standard year globally. My immediate circle had its fair share of hardships: sch0ol debt kicking in, parking, speeding, and cell phone tickets, traffic accidents, fruitless job hunts, crappy jobs, threats of being laid off, stupid neighbors, foolish roommates, breakups, moving away, not able to find a place to move to, emergency room dashes, to those of you who had deaths in the family I send my prayers, I have a friend in ICU right now who is basically waiting to die, I know a who few dealt with arrests, my sister had a doctor scare and still needs to do some follow up, and to top it all off my mom was sick for Christmas for goodness sake.
Nationally, we had the big BP spill, harsh winter storms, jobless counts are still high, a wave of publicized gay suicides, the political state proved tumultuous, and Lebron James kicked Cleveland to the curb.
Globally, we were unstable, literally, as poor Chile and Haiti, among others, were rocked by big quakes, a volcano single-handedly stopped Europe from flying, North Korea tried to piss off South Korea, and the usual series of terrorist attacks frequented our headlines.
Why recount all this? Yes, to point out all the crappy things that 2010 had, though I don't think it an especially dreadful year, just tough. Instead I bring this up to to bring you to my point:
Pop music.
Yes I said pop music. Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Ke$ha (who was Billboards #1 this year lord help us) Travie McCoy, Bruno Mars, Rihanna, Black Eyed Peas and the like.
As has become my custom every year I eagerly await DJ Earworm's music mashup for the end of the year. He takes the Billboard Top 25 and mashes all the songs together to make a really clever and catchy new song. Last years was especially amazing and his summer one was also pretty good. You can find them all here: http://djearworm.com/
As I was listening to this years, I noticed that for the most part, the songs were pretty positive, fun, upbeat, danceable and all around happyish. Currently stuck in my head is Florence + the Machine's "Dog Days are Over", which I think characterizes my point. Other positive songs currently being played include "Fireworks" and "Just the Way You Are" by Perry and Mars respectively. Considering I generally listen to Rock and Classic Rock, the fact that I noticed this trend means it must be at least somewhat significant. Even rap music, which I generally avoid almost as much as country, mostly because I usually find the lyrics degrading or selfish had a positive song recently: "Coming Home" by Diddy. And its not just a recent trend either. Remember earlier this year saw songs like "Billionaire" and "OMG" which I think were foreshadows for a progressively more positive year.
So yes, despite a rather troublesome 2010, the music has gotten more and more positive, which I think can only be a good omen for 2011. So let's make it good.
On a side note, last year on New Year's Eve, my friends and I decided to try to celebrate in a bar rather at the cottage we were staying at, so we walked to the downtown area at 11:30. Finding, sheepishly, that all the bars were full, we opted to take cabs back to the cottage and try to arrive before midnight. It took two cabs. At 11:57, my cab arrived at the cottage. Much to our surprise the other cab had not, despite leaving before mine. 12 came and went and still they hadn't returned. At 12:15 the second cab pulled up and recounted how their cab had made an illegal u-turn and was pulled over. This spent the new year watching a ticket being written. We did a little mock countdown at 12:15 but it just wasn't the same. This year we actually did it right. Moral of the story: don't miss the countdown, it starts you off on the wrong foot.
I'm going to wrap this blog up for tonight but never you fear, next week will see another!
To be included: Why Brock should not play cards, a news update about Naysayer P Squirrel and his bouts of Italian Food, how Summercamp has changed this new school year, and why El Bandito should not be allowed to call the shots. Thank you to all of you and may you have a Happy and blessed New Year!!
Listening to: "Dog Days are Over"-Florence + the Machine... its SO stuck in my head right now
Reading: 100 Bullets- really really good comic
Playing: Jedi Outcast- an old game of mine that I rediscovered. Also, I have like 5 other games in the works... jeez.
-JTY
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