New Year Family Fun

Saturday January 1st, In the year of our Lord 2011

Home for the Holidays, Saskatchewan

Celebrating an Epic Victory

Weather = Very Cold, Very Windy, Very White

Some families do fun things for New Years. I am very pleased and so thankful for an awesome family who knows how to make awesome food, tell good stories, play fun games, and look back on the year with gratefulness!

Among this year's family festivities we played a rousing game of Settlers of Catan. I thought I might win, but Grandpa sneaked up on all of us with development cards and in one turn built two cities and revealed two more victory points from the cards. Wow. Excellent game.

Now, for the first time ever, we also played free World of Warcraft. I don't generally play too much, but we found a free server (Ravencrest) and agreed to make characters and run through the first Alliance Instance, Dead Mines. We brought in the New Year by slaying hundreds of Defias miners, overseers, pirates, parrots, and goblin thingamabobs. It was freaking awesome, all of us working together, slaying bandits, getting ganked, ganking the gankers, and tanking the bosses and turning their minions into sheep. There was some pretty epic hysteria going on. We killed all the bosses in Dead Mines and only died about 5 times each (10 times for the priest). Yeah we're definitely not the best, but it was super awesome fun. We emerged from the mines into the sunshine of the Dagger Hills in Westfall and celebrated our victory with an epic dance party.

Pity for Celebrities

Tuesday December 28, In the year of our Lord 2010

Home for Christmas, Saskatchewan

Thinking thoughts, 1:03PM

Weather = Cold, Windy, and White

I feel sorry for celebrities. I would never want to be one. This might be an absurd thing for some people to hear. There are masses of people who absolutely adore their chosen celebrity(ies) and worship the ground they walk on. A discarded used tissue paper may become the centerpiece in a cult-like shrine to a celebrity. There has even been a new word created to accommodate this sort of hyper-fan. 'Groupies' travel with their celebrity and serve them hand and foot offering everything from making coffee to expensive gifts to giving up their

virginity. There are so many people who wish that they could be the celebrity who they worship, or at least be just like them.

I will never ever ever EVAR want to be a celebrity and my heart goes out to them. Our culture selects a person. Maybe she looked really pretty. Maybe he had a good voice. Whatever the reason a pop-culture industry *spit on floor* finds someone who they deem profitable to turn into an icon / idol for young people and curse them with complete popularity and wealth. The pop-culture section being addressed fawns over this individual like a god and puts him / her in concerts, commercials, movies, reality TV shows *spit on floor* etc. When I was in middle school we had the Spice Girls, when I was in High School we had Britney Spears and her slightly less popular doppleganger Christina Aguilera. Today's pop sensation is Justin Bieber, the youngest soul to have this unfortunate thing happen to him.

Why would I not want this? Why would I feel sorry for anyone who had this? Because it seriously messes you up, especially if they get you when you're young. Let me explain.

DISCLAIMER! I am not a sociologist or psychologist. These ideas are strictly my own that come out of my head. I have not done research in this area so it is completely possible that I have no idea what I'm talking about. My appeal is to common sense and history.

It starts off great! The new born celebrity is an authentic person, a personality, with sincere goals, a loving family to look after them, and a heart to change the world. (or something to that effect) Despite getting more money than they know what to do with and achieving godlike status they maintain that it will not change them, that they will always be true to themselves. (or something to that effect)

I suspect that the first compromises are due to their life being broadcast for the entire world to see and the pressure of expectations. After all, once on the top you want to stay on the top. Maybe letting my contractors hire song writers for me to sing isn't the end of the world. This is greatly emphasized if their are contractual obligations to uphold. Ok, so the songs that I sing aren't completely my own, I still get to change the lyrics if I want to and I'm still an authentic person. Everyone cheers them on. So much positive reinforcement! The crowds, cheering, chanting my name. They want me, they love me, I want to make them happy!

I think at this point the authentic person part is still in tact, but it has been melded with the pop-image designed and commercialized by the industry. There is a process that takes place where authentic personality and icon designed by industry inter-mesh and the new celebrity slowly becomes more like the icon designed for them. And why not? Staying popular, meeting all your childhood icons as equals, the money, the fame, the limo rides, the pride of your family, none of these things are bad in and of themselves and they are all very comfortable nice things.

But alas, the reality is that popularity is short lived and a very fickle (nigh pointl

ess) thing that will leave even Justin Bieber in a long list of abandoned pop-culture figures that stretches to the beginning of time to be forgotten about. To the celebrity who has successfully kept their identity in tact they can count their blessings and go on to live a normal life. To those who let their identity become the icon designed for them they can not move on and choose to make sacrifices in order to keep what they have and stay popular.

Now their is nothing more popular than something scandalous. What happens when good girl turns bad and we see the new side of celebrity x. (enter my rant against tabloids *spit on floor*) Sex appeal is a tried and true method of getting attention and making money. Even if it's only provocative and not porn (if there is a difference in your mind) a decision has been made, and it's only a matter of time before that skirt is cut a little lower or the thong underwear makes an outrageous appearance which cause the ratings to rise. This is what happened to Britney Spears, Charlotte Church, and Christina Aguilera to name only three.

Side Note: The hideous thing about this is that pop stars will still maintain that their songs are about abstinence and respect for yourself (or something to that effect) and they actually believe that they are a support for that cause. Meanwhile they wave their scantily covered reproductive organs about and allow the camera crew to draw undue attention to their breasts (which have been highlighted by their costume) and can't figure out why anyone would doubt their intentions. After all, the person behind the icon is all for abstinence and a healthy life style. Well, all the guys see is breasts and their brain stops there. Every time they hear the song they equate it to the sex icon as shown in the music video. (I speak in absolutes, but I'm sure that their are exceptions to my generalizations) I can not speak for the girls, but I doubt this sort of crossed messaging has lessened the female self-esteem issues which lead to unhealthy lifestyle. You see, when you take something intimate about yourself and make it public for everyone to see it's kinda like dragging something precious and sacred through the mud and tossing it out a window into the street for people to look at and misinterpret. You can not continuously do this to something sacred and then go on to explain how it is very important it is to you. However, I saw a Reality TV Show *spit on floor* in which the consensus was that there is nothing wrong with dressing like a slut because that would be judging someone which isn't right. I might make a post someday where I explain why this sort of relativism is stupid.

Anyway, back on track now. Once a celebrity starts to sacrifice themselves for the icon they've melded with there are a host of problems. Attitude, psychological growth, self esteem, physical well being and materialism are a few.

Attitude. I would find it hard not to get spoiled and accustomed to getting copious amounts of attention and stuff that I wanted if I had the same diet of celebrityism. A bad attitude leads to poor choices and a stubborn "I'm right no matter what / it could never happen to me" syndrome.

Psychological Growth. One of the things I fear for these celebrities is that they become addicted to the hype they generate. To live for the crowd, to live for the moment of being in the spotlight. It can seriously mess someone up. I think of Britney's acting like a little child instead of a mom and needing psychologist help. This is an unfortunate thing to go through.

Self Esteem. Once someone takes on the identity of the icon at the expense of themselves then they're identity as a person rises and falls with the icon, which is destined to fall. Popular people are often the ones with the lowest self esteem because they can not help but allow the opinions of others define who they are. Think of the constant fear you would have if this was the case for you! What a pointless and miserable existence if someone got stuck here.

Physical Well Being. It's not uncommon to hear about pop stars getting into drugs and other lifestyle choices that accompany it. This is to say nothing of their emotional and spiritual wellbeing of being a whole person.

Materialism. The whole thing has a distinctly materialist taste to it, and material things can't actually bring you peace or happiness but pretends like it can. If all you see are the material things, then you will look to those things to fill your basic needs, but you can't fill a spiritual or emotional need with a material thing. Materialism seeps in, puts a hook in your nose, and leads you into addiction to one thing or another.

So I pity celebrities. The pressure to conform to the culture they define must be immense. I wouldn't want the stress or the attention. The money might be nice, but then I would not feel like I earned it. A life of excess is unhealthy and unhappy and all that money and popularity would be hard to turn down. I would like to think that the unfortunate celebrity crashes are an exception and that most people have a solid head on their shoulders. I would like to think that the pop industry is run by human beings who care for the people they raise up. But with the pop industry investing in younger and younger teenagers to bear the mantle of pop star I just kinda shake my head at them. Not helping guys... you're really not. So pray for celebrities, especially young ones in the pop industry. They live in a world with very real risks and dangers.

Greg W

Tabloids are Stupid!

Sunday, December 19th, In the year of our Lord 2010

My house, Carponport, Saskatchewan.

Enjoying Sunday Afternoon, 3:32 PM

Weather = very cold, very windy, very white.

So some of you might be thinking to yourself "why is Greg calling something stupid after he wrote an entry about why nobody should call anything stupid?" Well, if you are thinking that right now then you didn't read my last post very carefully. I'm pretty sure I left myself an out when I said that if I "discover that there were lots of mistakes and logical inconsistencies with a healthy dosage of foolishness then I can say legitimately and with gusto 'that's stupid, and here's why...'"

Maybe it would help if we defined Stupid. According to Dictionary.com stupid has the following meanings.

–adjective

1.

lacking ordinary quickness and keenness of mind; dull.

2.

characterized by or proceeding from mental dullness; foolish;senseless: a stupid question.

3.

tediously dull, esp. due to lack of meaning or sense; inane;pointless: a stupid party.

I didn't mention this in my last post, but there is a danger in thinking objectively and logically about the world. The danger is that sometimes you will understand just how profoundly stupid some things really are. Tabloids are one of those things and I am going to declare why... with gusto!

So I'm finishing up some Christmas / grocery shopping when I come to line up at the till and there are stacks of tabloid magazine *things* looking at me. They were attractive to look at. All those colors, interesting looks on their faces, usually a liberal amount of skin on display, and catch phrase titles. Then I began to read what was on each of the covers and discovered, with no shock, that they were all absolutely pointless.

Let us assume that the tabloid magazines were accurate in their information and take the cover stories at face value. The first style of tabloid to grab my attention kinda looked like 'Oprah is with so an so, but she's really with someone else,' 'Jessica's Revenge on Brad,' Britney Betrayed by so an so,' and so on and so on ad nausium. What is this? If we boil this down to algebra this is (celebrity x) (relationship status) (celebrity y.) Now I don't know about you, but I don't personally know any celebrities, and if I did, why would I need to read about their relationship status? In fact, why should I (or anyone else) care about these people and their relationships? Does my knowledge of (celebrity x)'s relationships add one iota to my life? Maybe if I am a shallow pitiful person with shallow pitiful friends who don't have the ability to live a life of their own and need to leech off the life of the person they want to be.

eh... sorry, maybe that was a little extreme. Note, the above statement is more rhetoric than objective thinking. I apologize. And no I will not erase it. Sometimes I like rhetoric and I am not perfect. Moving on.

My point is that this sort of information is pointless and useless. It's female teenage high school drama stretched out to unhealthy and absurd dimensions. It's no different than the highschool girls nattering on in the hall about everyone else's business with no understanding of what's actually going on. Lots of emotion, lots of opinion, all of it backed up by popularity and more emotion and more opinion. Well emotion and opinion do not amount to much except uninformed ignorance. 'Popular' is never the same as 'Important.' It is authentically sad to see people thrive on this sort of drivel. So shallow. So pointless.

Furthermore, the information you get in these tabloids is not accurate. The people who create these things feed the niche of 'gossip' and will phrase things in a certain way and leave out some points (or just create an entirely fictional story) in order to arouse that sense of urgent and shocking scandalous news. I was a bit soft there, many tabloids unashamedly concoct completely fictional stories with absolutely no basis what so ever! So not only is it pointless and shallow, it is also inaccurate pointlessness and shallowness. Completely meaningless.

The second type of tabloid that I spied was the one that appealed to my sex drive. The cover had some woman wearing lingerie in the form of everyday clothing. I thought to myself 'my that shirt looks very much like a tightened corset, and I swear that if those super short blue jean shorts were shaped just slightly differently they would be blue jean panties.' Thank you Cosmopolitan for showing women how to where their undergarments as overgarments. These types of magazines had call outs like "10 ways to find out if you are good in bed," "15 sexy tips to seduce your man," "how to lose those 15 pounds and stay sexy." (and these were the tame ones)

Now I understand that these *advertisements* are addressed to women. I am not a woman. But I can still call these things for what they are. They are shallow and destructive. They are shallow because they appeal to base instincts of sexuality and social acceptance. They all say "You want to be sexy, and in order to be socially accepted (or popular) here's how you become more sexy." There are so many things wrong with this message so I will try to highlight in broad strokes. These types of messages on the cover of the tabloids appeal to the physical side of intense relationship only. Real relationships include actual relationship... beyond physical sex, long before sex, and long after sex. It's one of the most obvious forces of sexualization and objectification of women in society. Be sexy. Sex is your goal. How to have more sex. How to have better sex. How to stay sexy. How to keep your man for more sex. (celebrity x)'s sex life. Sexy stories. Sex tips. How to feel good and sexy.

A very wise man told me once that sex is only a very small part of marriage. Why do these tabloids spend so much time on it then? Because it is a base desire, it is the lowest common denominator. It is scraping the bottom of the barrel. It assumes a world where physical sex is all there is and you try to get enough of it as possible. Now no magazine publisher would ever agree to that (at least I hope not) but that's one of the message that's coming across in the tabloids. As I said before, relationships should include relationship. You know, friendship, mutual respect, agape love, persistence, care, grace, wisdom. To skip to and fixate on sex is extremely immature at best but far more importantly down right destructive to the female psyche. (This issue deserves a dissertation all on it's own) My heart goes out to those who drink this crap in and become distorted in their mind and soul. There are so many broken people craving for meaning that run afoul this false and shallow world view.

So what do these tabloids cultivate?

1. An unhealthy fascination with gossip

2. Immature social popularity contests

3. Outrageous fiction propagating itself as truth

4. Distorted Understanding of Sex

5. How you (a woman) can become a more appealing sex object

All of these things are pointless, meaningless, foolish, and unhealthy. A steady diet of this sort of crap will eventually make you stop thinking and begin acting on instinct alone (which is what these tabloids appeal to the first place).

So after looking at Tabloids objectively and in understanding them I will say with conviction and with gusto that Tabloids are Stupid!

That's Stupid

Tuesday, December 7, In the year of our Lord 2010

Distance Learning Office, Briercrest College and Seminary

Short break, 1:22 PM

Weather = very cold + very white

Over the course of my education I have become increasingly irritated by the saying "that's stupid." It started in high school when my peers would say "x" is stupid, and never bother to understand how "x" works. "x" could have been George Bush, Steven Harper, Taxes, Assignments, Teachers, Homosexuality, 'Homophobia,' Religion, or anything that didn't immediately line up with their very shallow understanding of the world.

I make no apologies. Anyone who resorts to "that's stupid" as a default and never bothers to even imagine why that something is the way it is has a very shallow understanding of the world. "That's Stupid" is usually another way of saying "I don't understand this," or "I don't agree with this," and the thing itself probably isn't stupid at all. One of the things that I will call stupid without much hesitation is the love of ignorance.

Before calling something stupid people need to approach the subject from a disposition of humility. Lots of people assume that the world is run by idiots who can barely tie their own shoes. The educational system is run by morons, the health care system is run by morons, all the political leaders are morons, and this plague of moronry extends to the ends of the earth. This is of course a ridiculous assumption. To think that I (and maybe some of my friends) are the only intelligent people in the world assumes a lot of information that I do not have. It also leads to some seriously unhealthy (and inaccurate) perspectives on the world which tends to trap you inside your own head.

Instead we should assume that there are reasons for why things are the way they are. We should assume that there is a logical and traceable line of cause and effect where people made decisions based on information and motivations. I'm not looking for a purist kind of rigor against calling things stupid, just a common sense effort to understand things the way they are.

If I don't know the reasons or the why behind something I try not to say "that's stupid" I try to say "that doesn't make sense to me." If something makes me angry I try not to say "that's stupid" I try to say "that makes me upset."

Now, if I do research and uncover the why and how behind the offending idea or object and discover that there are legitimate reasons backed up by legitimate information and I still disagree with it. I don't say "that's stupid" I say "I understand why it is the way it is, but I still don't like it."

But if I do research and discover that there were lots of mistakes and logical inconsistencies with a healthy dosage of foolishness then I can say legitimately and with gusto "that's stupid, and here's why..."

So in light of my explanations, people who default to "that's stupid" for everything are themselves stupid, and when people around me defaults to "that's stupid" for too long I kinda feel like this guy.

So please refrain from just relegating things you don't understand or don't like to "that's stupid." There is a good opportunity to learn the reasons behind that thing to either change your opinion with knowledge or truly understand how and why that thing is stupid so that you can actually do something about it besides fume to yourself and with your 'that's stupid' circle of peers.

There is Nothing New

Tuesday, November 9, In the Year of our Lord 2010

Caronport Saskatchewan, Distance Learning Office

Contemplating last night's Peace Times event, 12:29 PM

Weather = Cold, Windy, and Damp

מַה־שֶּֽׁהָיָה הוּא שֶׁיִּהְיֶה וּמַה־שֶׁנַּֽעֲשָׂה הוּא

שֶׁיֵּעָשֶׂה וְאֵין כָּל־חָדָשׁ תַּחַת הַשָּֽׁמֶשׁ

"What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again;

there is nothing new under the sun."

The world spins round and round. What has come will come again. What is new today was old many times before. No problem afflicts us that has not been seen before. And here we are, like fools, thinking that the situations and emotions that befall us are something that nobody understands or has ever had to deal with before. Many of us think that the entire world is going to Hell in a Hand Basket and that things are as bad now as they have ever been.

Fortunately this is not the case. The problems in society, in people, in churches, and in the world of today are the same problems that we've always had. They are not a strange new phenomenon that will somehow destroy the world because we have never seen them before.

History is our companion that we should learn from. The generations that came before us wrestled through the same foundational issues we did. Now, your grandparents may not be able to help you reformat your 'I-phone' so that you can run your apps faster, but they will know about dealing with rejection, disappointment, longing for that special someone and being afraid to talk to her or him, etc.

There is a line of authentic people who wrestled with authentic issues and left behind the journals, books, testimonies, and art of their wrestling and their conclusions. Whatever issue that plagues your mind or heart whether physical, emotional, or spiritual has been dealt with by others in the past and in the present. Open up their testimonies and read, understand, and know how this issue has been dealt with and what the consequences of each dealing have been.

The Greatest of Vampires

Friday, November 5, In the year of our Lord 2010
Briercrest College and Seminary, Distance Learning Office
Just uncovered this post that I had forgotten about, 4:17 PM
Weather = Melting, Calm, Sunny


After reading the Bram Stoker’s Dracula I gained an appreciation for the iconic monster we know as the Vampire. I consider Bram Stoker’s work to be the measuring rod by which to compare other depictions of what he first made popular. One of the things that I loved about Stoker’s work was that it blended the common everyday understandings of Modernity with the supposed reality of a supernatural monster. He wrote the story in such a way that it was believable paying very careful attention to detail so that there were no inconsistencies. I became a bit of a critic, especially of the newest teen girl sensation, Twilight which I thought was a thoroughly repugnant desecration of the original Vampire.

So what is a vampire then?

Speaking generally a vampire was once a person who died and now continues in unlife by sustains his existence each night by feasting upon the blood of other people. Vampires have several iconic weaknesses to things such as sunlight, running water, garlic, holy symbols, etc. That is a very basic description of what a vampire is, but it lacks the subtle nuances and significance that Bram Stoker was able to give to the original masterpiece.

The original Count Dracula was characterized by the complete corruption of his being as displayed on his face when he was ‘at rest’ in his coffin. A gentle, caring, beautiful, God fearing woman in life became a voluptuous lustful, God spiting fiend in unlife. It was as if the transformation were not only physical and mental but also spiritual, which adds a whole new dimension. This would have been particularly frightening for readers at the time who took morals and Scripture seriously, it does add a theological horror that is lost on the generation of today. To make it even worse the process of turning from life to unlife is a slow process, one in which family and dear friends watch, attempt to stop, give their own blood to save, and all the while the plot grows darker and more ominous. Even once the protagonists are armed with knowledge, garlic, and charms, the greatest among them keeps a will on his body because he knows that this undead is far more powerful than he and that he would never survive an encounter with it. In an attempt to save a dearly loved and gentle soul the Holy Eucharist burns upon her eternally rejected forehead. The plot grows darker and more ominous still for this woman still lives yet is passing and she, the very reason for waging war against this creature, becomes their unwilling betrayer. They speak of God and call upon his blessing, but God hides his face and the darkest night and a long treacherous journey engulf the protagonists and the reader.

Far from a hack and slash bloodfest, this book is a Classic. Stoker uses things that we barely even comprehend these days. He uses words, subtlety, dramatic irony, and the thoughts, emotions, and journals of the characters to weave a tale that is truly horrible to behold. I was fascinated by his oscillation between the bright and normal activities of the characters, fading into a twilight of question and suspense, and suddenly you, the reader, behold the gathering dark of horror that you know is out there, but cannot see. Everyone is powerless and it is as if God Himself gives the powers of darkness leave to corrupt and destroy the hopes and dreams, even the very core of good people. When he goes back to the normal life, the ‘morning’ if you will, it serves to clearly see what terrible things were done and this morning comes as a relief, because maybe it will be day again, but also brings new horrors to light. Then things go back to normal and the characters progress in their lives. But after going on this journey a few times you the reader begin to have an unsettled feeling at the brightest of times because you know that night must surely come. You also begin the realize that the nights grow darker and days grow shorter. By the end, the brightest moments of the book are but a murky twilight of uncertainty about to be engulfed by a night that will not have a morning. Bram Stoker successfully created this effect and made it seem very real and very whole. The feeling is absolutely dreadful. There are lessons to be learned here for anyone who wants to write fiction.

I will Glory in my Singleness

Sunday, October 24, In the year of our Lord 2010
My House, Caronport Saskatchewan
Just returned from House Church, 3:40 PM
Weather = Overcast, cold, windy (bleak)


It occurred to me last night that if I took my understanding of God seriously then my priorities have been backwards for a while. What do I mean when I say this and how does this relate to singleness?

This is what I mean. It has been a life time goal of mine to be married someday, and for a I while I thought I was really close at accomplishing that goal. I wanted the intimacy of the marriage relationship, the sharing of one's entire life, the opening of one's inner most heart to another, an equal, a loved one, opening to and sharing with me also. Things didn't turn out this way, and has left a very real longing after dealing with the initial shock and aftershocks of the breakup. (My relationship ended very well, in a mutual and respectful fashion which preserved the friendship and respect we still have for each other) The marriage relationship is a good thing to be sure and something that I still desire, but it needs to be seen in its proper perspective.

I have heard it said that marriage is a living analogy that God purposefully crafted to reflect how God has union with Himself (Father Son and Holy Spirit) and how we as Christians have union with Him through Christ Jesus. Here is the issue. If marriage is just an analogy of God's relationship with me, then why and how has the analogy overtaken the reality to which it pertains in my life? My focus should be on Christ and the reality to the analogy I long for. It's like desiring Mom's cooking (an expression of her love to me) to the exclusion the actual relationship with my Mom (which is very precious to me).

Maybe it's no coincidence that Adam was created alone, able to enjoy God without distraction. But God also created Adam in His image which made him long for an equal companion to share himself with. We know the story of what happened and God crafted Eve also in His image and joined the two as husband and wife which completed the image of God so that God has intimacy with Himself and with his image bearers who share in the intimacy with God and flowing from that then with each other. Christ is the one who fulfills. Christ is the one with whom the marriage relationship and the intimacy their in was modeled after. Christ is already placed himself in my inner most being and I have access to Him for all time. So why run about asking God for a wife when I haven't filled myself with the source of what I want which is staring me in the face? Could you imagine the absolutely horrible consequences of trying to find fulfillment in a spouse to the exclusion of Christ who is the very source and Archetype of the relationship you seek fulfillment from?

So I turn to Christ (rather sheepishly) and realize that when I sing

"I will glory in my Redeemer
My life He bought, my love He owns
I have no longings for another
I’m satisfied in Him alone"

that part where it says "I have no longings for another" needs to be taken seriously. I ought to pursue this incredible God revealed in Jesus as though He were my beloved. I barely even know what that looks like. In one of the books I have been reading the author related his relationship with God to his relationship with is wife who told him "I wish you enjoyed me more," which cut him to the heart and changed his marriage. He looked forward to spending time with her but didn't enjoy it, and that acts (at least for me) as an analogy to how I can treat God. This same author also proposed that we become more like what we are focused on. If I am focused on fixing myself or on a life issue then I just become more like myself, which makes me frustrated because I see problems that need to change which makes me focus even harder on the problems thus creating a downward cycle of self destruction.

So I am not actually glorying in my singleness, (even though there are many practical reasons why I could) I am choosing to glory in Christ. Even people that have been Christians their whole life, grew up in the church, and graduated from Bible College need to be reminded of God's love in a radical way every once and a while. How this will take shape is unknown to me, but deliberately taking time out of my schedule to spend time with the person I want to know better should be a generally good start.

So on that note I'm going out into the frigid Saskatchewan pre-winter to chat with Jesus
Greg Out

Would You Like to Make That a Meal?

Friday, October 15, In the Year of our Lord 2010
My House, Caronport Saskatchewan
Preparing Supper, 5:20 PM
Weather = Sunny yet cool/cold and windy

Today I felt the urge to rage against Subway’s “would you like to make it a meal” deal. This has been something that has irked me for a while. For an additional $2.20 (in Caronport Saskatchewan) you can add a fountain drink and a couple cookies or a tiny bagette of chips. My issue is that the $2.20 being paid is not proportionate to the goods received.

I shall begin with the fountain drink. It is a combination of syrup and carbonic fizzy water. It is low quality. very cheap to mass produce, and is literally shipped by the truckload. At this point I’m not sure which is worth more, the fountain drink or the disposable cup you put it in! Let’s say half of the $2.20 is for the drink, so that’s $1.10. I have seen an entire liter of REAL soft drink being sold for less than that on the right day at Wal-Mart or Superstore. Furthermore, fountain drink pop is not something that I want to fill up with, I would be happy with half the drink you get. This item is clearly not worth the debatable $1.10 that you paid for it. Even if it did cost that much make, ship out, and make a 10% profit (which it doesn’t) then it would still not be worth it.

Then you have your choice between some cookies and a handful of chips. Now their cookies are pretty good, if not for a dangerously high (sometimes even disgusting) sweetness content. But we all know that the cookies come in a frozen tube of pre-made mass produced dough. I ask you, how much do you think it really costs subway to bake these cookies? After all, they’re COOKIES! Nough said.

But what if you choose the handful of chips? It is quite literally a ‘handful’ if you have man sized hands. Maybe it is enough to satisfy some people, but it is hardly worth the other $1.10 that you paid for it. I would peg these annoyingly small bags of mass produced lightly seasoned potato at $0.45, and most of that would be to cover the cost of shipping as well as to create the biodegradable chip bags.

So when they ask me “would you like to make that a meal?” I say no. If they try to convince me otherwise then I proceed to tell them that I could simply walk another 20 feet into the service station and pick up a full bag of chips or three day old cinnamon buns (one of which is filling) for a much better price. If the meal deal was only an additional dollar then I might consider it.

Furthermore, the concept of “meal” doesn’t seem to fit hear. What you’re adding to make your super sized sandwich a ‘meal’ has little to no nutritional value, nor is it even partially filling. If I were seriously still hungry after eating my fully loaded foot long bundle of goodness (which in itself should be considered a meal) then I would bite the bullet and buy another ½ foot of similar tasty and filling awesomeness. I think a better way of phrasing “would you like to make that a meal” would be to ask “would you like to add tasty nonessentials at a price that looks small but is actually unreasonably high?” “Would you like to exchange some more hard earned cash for some things that are not good for you?”

Really what they are asking you is “would you like to give us more money?”

So there you have it, some Greg Rage against Subway. Rawr!

Greg Out

Screamo is Evil

Monday, September 27, In the year of our Lord 2010
Caronport, Saskatchewan, My House.
9:46 PM, Reflecting on Philosophy Class
Weather = Clear, Starry Skies, cool to cold

Screamo is evil. I have known this all along, and now I have proof! It not only sounds terrible it IS terrible, at least it is if you are going on Platonic Philosophical reasoning.

It is a core belief in Platonic Philosophy that the most important step you can take to educate yourself and attune yourself to The Good is to listen to Good music. In the Platonic way of thinking, music is the embodiment of The Good. The Good is all the pieces of your inner being, your relationships within yourself, with your spouse, family, neighbors, politics, nature, and all things working together in harmony. So Classical music is the embodiment of The Good which changes our thinking, our emotions, our desires, and this effects our wills. Classical Music is ordered harmony which inspires the hearer to search out true knowledge and understanding. (and this is extended much farther than just pieces like Mozart and Beethoven).

Screamo is not orderly, it is chaos. It is a form of music that does not embody harmony within yourself towards others, nor does it inspire you to find true knowledge. Screamo appeals to base desires which affects your reason which affects your will, and it does this in such a way that it manipulates you against freedom of thought.

Classical music affects your desires, reason, and will simultaneously and guides you into freedom of thought.

So that is my new philosophical reasoning as to why Screamo is evil. I always thought something was actually WRONG with the genre, and now I have an actual argument besides preference. Yay Philosophy!

It begins

Saturday, September 25, In the year of our Lord 2010
My House, Caronport Saskatchewan
2:46 PM, just returning from the Library
Weather = Warm, Sunny, moderate wind

It begins. If I am to succeed at the masters level my thesis must become as video games to me. I must allow it to consume my thoughts and give it access to all my spare time. May God grant me the grace to uphold this task.

I have printed off three reference sources on my topic and will go through them shortly for the bibliographic information. I am going to write before and after my research and put it in a separate private blog as a way of ensuring external storage of my thoughts. I also need to do as David said and separate my work space from my living space. I already feel the tug of SC2, RT3, DnD, and SHC. My music seems to be more distracting than helpful.

So yes, this thesis must become as all consuming as a brand new shiny video game. I remember when I started Assassin's Creed 2, and how it utterly dominated my mind. It was... glorious. Similar games have been Age of Empires, anything put out by Bioware, and most recently StarCraft 2. I must work at my thesis and think about it as much as any of these. I am a doomed man, for if I achieve this, then I will never have a social life and my long term goal of finding a wife will probably become longer term.

Then again, I am a whole person. I need the social aspect of life and will implode without it. Imploding is detrimental to my thesis, therefore it should be avoided. Ok, I can live with that. Whew. Terminating topic before a less pleasant revelation is stumbled upon.

Greg Out

Unity of Thought?

Wednesday, September 22, In the year of our Lord 2010
My House, Caronport Saskatchewan
Preparing Supper, 5:58 PM
Weather was warm and sunny, is now cool and overcast

I have been learning some interesting things today. I am attempting to keep up with 'The Dialectic of Reading and Writing.' (heh... my prof just gave me 5 bonus marks if he ever reads this)

Now what did I learn again? I got distracted on the internet for a few minutes and don't remember. I think this was it. The different modes of writing. There is free writing (which I am doing now) which is a warm up exercise for the brain. After all, the brain is a literal muscle that needs some prepping before running an academic marathon (writing a paper) just like you need to warm up your other muscles before running a literal marathon. Then there is actual writing where you are interacting with the material, dialogging with it, but not overly concerned with format or detail. Then there's different levels of re-writing and editing to create a well thought out and thoroughly understood project.

I find it difficult to believe that I will be writing a thesis, I mean, that level of scholarship is a definite jump from where I am at now. It will be a lot of hard hard work of research and writing and actually becoming a master (I am going for my Masters after all) in a piece of academia.

And then there was philosophy class. I love it. Jamie is an amazing professor and I sincerely hope he is actually teaching how to acquire Freedom of Thought and not just Plato for sake of teaching us Plato. Regardless of that, I found some interesting connections between Plato's philosophy and my own life.

My disgust at TV and pop music isn't just me, apparently it is the first step in acquiring true knowledge. The media provides pop-stuff that appeals to our immediate desires which affect our reason which determine our wills. Pop-anything is an attempt to brainwash us. I am glad that I am not the first and only person to have given up on these things. It is strangely comforting to see that I have been already moving towards what Plato would call Freedom of Thought.

Freedom of Thought, Freedom of Thought... what a strange concept to our Canadian ears. We have never heard of such a thing, but as Jamie says, "the best way to brainwash someone is to make sure they never hear about what you don't want them to hear about." Making decisions and pursuing things not based on Canadian acceptability, ruffling the status quo, questioning the foundations, and being able to rationally and convincingly prove something different that reshapes entire world views is historically seen as subversive... enter Platonic philosophy. Or at least that's as far was we have got in this semester.

So on one hand I am grappling with the pursuit of academic knowledge to write a masters thesis and on the other hand I am grappling with the foundations of knowledge itself. It is slightly overwhelming to say the least.

On that note it's time for hotdogs. Maybe I will find some objective truth in the mustard and ketchup.

Greg Out.

Drinking from the Sand Blaster

Tuesday September 21, In the year of our Lord 2010
My House, Caronport Sasktatchewan
Finishing Lunch, 12:35 PM
Weather = Overcast, windy, and cold
(Green is turning to orange/yellow slowly)


I survived day one of classes. Day two has been less interesting but just as intense. I am learning lots though. I am learning that everything I did to write a paper was wrong. My approach was wrong, my note taking was wrong, my building a thesis was wrong, even my reading habits were wrong.

First of all, it is a myth ingrained by our educational system (stupid educational system) that one can 'do the reading' and then 'write the paper.' No no NO no NO! You are never done reading and you must write and continue writing during your reading. I used to gather up my books, read them, take notes, and then say "my research is done, now all I have to do is write the paper." WRONG! It was all WRONG! The stupid system they taught at stupid high school is stupid wrong! Our ideas can not form properly until we write them. An idea, even a revelation, sounds great in our heads, but putting it down into concrete words is difficult and makes it seem not so great. Ideas need to morph and change according to the process of careful research, not remain rigid.

If I am going to actually get anything from this class then I will need to take a lot of time to re-format how I do things. First of all, referencing software (like Zotero) is a must have. Painstaking format of computer folders and word documents is a must have. A systematic external filing system is a must have. a work schedule with specific times and places for each day is a must have.

Well, I wanted to be a professor some day. This is what professorship means. I must succeed or choose to fail. When the week is done... no it will be too late by then... DURING this week I will work at this re-formation of my files, my time, and my life. I will gain good study habits or fail, that is all there is to it. Perhaps locating a more stable source of motivation would be helpful in this endeavor.

Hmm

Greg Out



Just returned from class, 5:00 PM
Weather = Overcast, calm, and cool

I have returned. I have to say that this section is probably the most tedious and monotonous amount of data dump that has happened to me in a very long time. We got a full presentation on library search functions, which would have been fascinating if it weren't for everything looking and sounding exactly the same in a warm room with limited oxygen for an extended hour and a half. Also, I have had this exact presentation happen to me at least one time before. Then we moved to proper formating of things like footnotes, abbreviations, how underlining a title is archaic and stupid, (which was the highlight of my afternoon) the technical definition of plagiarism, and so on and so on. We decided to go half an hour overtime with this monotony.

All that being said, I am learning lots still. I have a tendency to get antzy when I think something is boring, which will make it even more boring because I know that know that I think it is boring. Part of my problem might just be poor listening skills. I think a larger part is that I have heard all these things before, but for some reason I still haven't listened to it yet. I still make mistakes that are silly. Sigh.

Well, now I must make some supper and prepare to be 'kidnapped' by my neighbors for the purpose of playing Mow.

Splinterings

Monday, September 20, In the year of our Lord 2010
My House, Caronport Saskatchewan
Collapsing after a long day of class, 10:04PM
Weather = Drizzly, Windy, and Cold


It has rained every Monday for the past six weeks. Grrr

Well, I have returned from class finally. Today I started my Research and Design mod in preparation for writing a thesis. All I can say right now is wow. Wake up, run to class, run home for a bite to eat, run back to class, run to philosophy class, run home for a bite to eat, run to library to do more stuff for class... sigh. Now I am here.

I don't know how many times David said it but I need to read and write, write and read, read and write, repeat. So this is me writing. In writing I supposedly put my thoughts on paper which gives them form and I work things through in my own mind by writing them down.

Actually, I am really tired right now so I don't want to write anything. Seriously, between a job that I try to get full time hours, preparing for class, cooking for myself, and having a semblance of a social life, when am I supposed to do all this extra reading and writing?

Also, pop music is evil. I knew this was true all along, but now my philosophy prof said so. Unfortunately I missed the beginning of class so I am totally taking what he said out of context.

More later

Desolation

Tuesday September 14, In the year of our Lord 2010
My House, Caronport Saskatchewan
11:41 AM, Contemplating and making lunch
Weather = Overcast (everything is still vibrant green!)

Desolation. Last Sunday's service was on Jeremiah and God's declaring desolation for his people who refused to listen to him. It is a hard word, but the reality of it has been made known to me. The first sermon was about how God was the source of living water, water that is running and moving in a land where water is a precious commodity. The people on the other hand, instead of drinking this living water built cisterns, underground ditches to catch the water and hold it. Instead of drinking the fresh good water they try drinking stale months old water from a little kids swimming pool. Even worse though, the cisterns are broken so the water leaks out. But we do this all the time, when we think we need something and try to get it by ourselves.

Now there is the word of desolation. It comes passively by our own stupid decisions and the natural consequences of. It also comes from God when he deliberately speaks to us and we deliberately ignore him. We dry up because we refuse water. We suffocate because we are drowning in our substitutes for water, whatever they may be. (materialism, social groups, electronics, entertainment, the list goes on and on) But the word of desolation is not the end, God always makes a way for the desolation to return to lush green and living land.

I have seen two desolations this week. A friend of mine has been building her own cisterns and has believed lies about herself. In the end she returned to God and looks to Him to bring life back to the desolation. Another friend of mine has been living in his cisterns for I don't know how long. He has made many choices in life that have left him in pain, confused, and alone. He refused to even consider 'biblical crap' or even sound reasoning and continues to wander in a desolate wasteland.

I stop and consider the Fear of God. Who am I to have received his love and patience? I look at the first desolation and see that God is faithful in bringing life. I look at the the second desolation and I am fearful of hardening my heart lest I be given over to my own devices until I am like the prodigal son who only returns because he is penniless, starving, and friendless. These are analogies and metaphors for a larger truth.

God is the source of our life. If we ignore him and take our own direction then that part of our life begins to die. All of us have areas in our life that are dead, and have been dead for a very long time, and often times we are afraid of God's promise to bring them back alive. It is like feeling returning to a frostbitten limb. These dead parts in our life run deep, and the chains that keep us bound bore deep into our hearts. When those chains are rattled the center of our being knows about it and it hurts. But God is the preacher who rattles our chains, he is the comforter who sympathizes with our suffering, he is the surgeon who removes the chains and brings us healing and he is the teacher who leads us into a full life. He also chooses to use his followers for exactly these roles with himself.

So if you hear the words of God today, do not harden your heart but stop and listen.

The Beginning of my Descent into Atheism

Monday, September 13, In the year of our Lord 2010
My House, Caronport, Saskatchewan
Devouring Pizza Bagels, 6:26 PM
Weather = Rainy

I have begun what can ONLY be described as my inevitable fall into atheism and despair. I am studying philosophical truth outside the Bible. That's right, I am abandoning God's safe pasture and his solid foundation to embrace the shifting sands and the barren waste of the pursuit of knowledge. The name of this evil is Intro to Philosophy I with Jamie Muir every Monday and Wednesday 4:00-5:15 at Briercrest College and Seminary.

So far I have thoroughly enjoyed myself. I am becoming slowly convinced that some things outside the Bible (like God's eternal truth manifest in nature and human logic) are not of the devil after all. This can only end in my damnation, yet I excitedly press forward. And now we shall read Plato, a pagan philosopher who thought that he could use his reason to get to God and become a free thinker. Tally-ho!

Online Public Forums: The Virtual Communal Latrine

Saturday, September 4, In the year of our Lord 2010
Caronport Saskatchewan, My New House
Fuming over recent experience
Weather = Overcast but Pleasant


"And I beheld a multitude of stupid people who had neither discernment nor understanding and their number was as great as the stars of the heavens..."

(me talking to myself)



Online public forums are literally virtual cesspools of ignorance and stagnation. You can not have an intelligent conversation or discussion of a controversial or difficult concept without having a bunch of virtual ten year olds throwing in their 'well informed' and 'thought out' ideas. Experience and emotion, that's all they have. They do not stop to think, to consider, to bother to understand something that is new or foreign to them. They throw up verbal diarrhea and dump emotional vomit all day long. If it's not something that they immediately agree with they call it stupid. If it's something that requires some higher critical thinking to solve they call it stupid and come up with their own stupid and short sighted answer to a complicated question. If someone posts a well thought out and informative essay on a topic they will either not read it or be unable to understand it and call the author stupid.

Emotional response is not a valid reasoning chip, and neither is the very limited experience of most virtual ten year olds. Repeating the same idea or response over and over again into every topic isn't helpful in any way.

Then there are people who think, who reason, who can formulate ideas and respond to other ideas well. These are the people for which public forums should have been built for (but then I suppose they wouldn't be public any more). At best they can interact, pass the time, learn something new, compare notes, etc. Usually it turns into a group of people who can think who all think alike, agreeing with each other and creating stagnation.



Where did this all come from you ask?

I posted a well thought out essay on the nature of how the Zerg are underpowered in a QQ thread that needed some more meat. What I got back was a bunch of people who never read the entire thread, didn't understand my position, misquoted me and called me stupid. I re-iterated myself twice, and before ten minutes I already had four people scratching their heads, calling it stupid. I ask myself, what is the point? Stupid people should not be allowed on the internet, and by this I will be forced to include myself as well.

Drat you higher critical thinking!

Poor Choice People

Friday, July 9, In the year of our Lord 2010
Distance Learning Office, Caronport Saskatchewan
Composing Thoughts in Front of Computer, 4:02 PM
Weather = Hot and Sunny

Call me sheltered, but I haven’t lived in a place where you normally see people living on the street. Small town Saskatchewan isn’t really the same as inner-city anywhere. I have since ran into several homeless people in Moose Jaw and I found myself at a loss to know what to do. My first instinct was to avoid them. But then I thought maybe they’re hungry. I contemplated giving them money. But what would they do with the money that I gave them? These were new questions for me as I became acquainted with a world that I had never truly met before.

I saw a lady who seemed to be picking pennies out of cracks in the side walk. She had a hideously misshapen figure that could have only happened by years of unhealthy diet. Her pants were about 5 sizes too small, unable to contain her. I thought to myself, “How does anyone get to this point and stay there? How can someone live so poorly when there are so many social safety nets in this country?” The answer, I believe, is in our choices.

There are people in the world who constantly choose bad choices. I think most people fall into this category in one way or another. Some people choose to be unemployed, choose to sleep around, choose to lie and steal from those who trust them, choose to burn bridges, and choose to not accept help from anyone. I don’t think that this is the situation of all poor people, but it is amazing to look back and see how a person’s previous choices have consequences on the present and the future.

So what can you do for someone who needs help, maybe even asks and begs for help, but refuses to be helped? I don’t know what you can do for them! If they’ve burnt the rehab programs several times and hurt their family so much that they have completely cut off any connection, then what hope do I have of doing anything for them? If you give these sorts of people money, they will buy drugs. If you open up your house, they will steal from you and bring dangerous people over. If you are honest with them, they will be dishonest with you. If you give them advice they will ignore it. You cannot tell if someone is like this until you get to know them so I am not trying to paint a terrible generality onto homeless people, but what do you do when you find someone like this?

What does God do? God loves these people and demonstrated his love by coming as the man Jesus Christ and paying the penalty for their sins against a Holy and Just God. He was spat upon and ridiculed during his execution and is still spat upon and ridiculed by the very people he died for 2000 years ago. There is always hope for bad choice people because Jesus was raised from the dead and the power of Christ in a life raises them from spiritual death now and physical death at the end of time.

God gives bad choice people a life to continue making choices. Sometimes he intervenes, but mostly he allows us to make our choices and live by the consequences of those choices. I think that as Christians we should mimic this sort of approach. Love unconditionally, intervene when the Holy Spirit tells you to, but mostly allow them to make their own choices and live by the consequences of those choices. This is hard, especially if we are close to the ones making the poor choices. But think about how painful it is for God, who loves all people to the point of dying for them, who placed a piece of himself into each and every person, who can do anything.

Sometimes we are caught by the incredible pain of watching someone we care for constantly make poor choices, knowing that it doesn’t have to be this way. I believe that this is part of the Dia Volorosa, the Road of Suffering that Christ walks. These are painful steps in our walk with Christ, but it is necessary that God reveal this part of himself to us if we are to love and obey him in a closer and deeper way. Do not hide from the pain, because it is real and must be dealt with. Trust in Christ who weeps with you and gives you the strength and wisdom to continue on. Draw near to the Lord, and join your soul with His in prayer for what has grieved you both. Trust that he has heard your prayer, be still, and know that He is God.

That is what you can do for poor choice people.

Electronic Enslavement

Monday, June 28, In the year of our Lord 2010
Briercrest College and Seminary, DL Office
Writing a Rant, 5:09 PM
Weather = Warm and Sunny


Yesterday I went out with friends and I saw the strangest thing. A women was willingly subjecting herself to a torturous and merciless electronic force. She had shackled a small silvery thin box to her wrist and had allowed it to put her on a tight leash as well as wire itself into her skull. This insidious device would lay dormant until it saw fit to torment her and would suddenly pull the chain on the leash and send an electric jolt until the woman flipped open the box to see what it wanted. It didn't matter what she had been doing previously, whether it was having fun with friends, eating a family meal, looking after her child, driving on the highway, or even sleeping, the reaction was near instantaneous. The device had trained this woman to obey its every prodding and calling. If she was not quick enough it would begin to berate her with all manner of sounds and alarms, pulling on the leash harder, sending more electric jolt to ensure her compliance. Sometimes it would do this continually for hours, keeping this woman away from her own life as well as those who cared for her.

Perhaps most insidious of all was the wiring which had bored its way into her skull for the device itself could be turned off but, the wiring however, would always remain active. I suspect the wires were made to reprogram her brain for further compliance. The device had gotten into her head and had planted foundational ideas about itself and how necessary it was. I think that it had worked because she enjoyed its inconsiderate domination of her time and became acutely unsettled when the device was turned off for any period of time. I also suspect that these wires may have some indirect control of her motor functions, compelling her to do things and go places that should not be of any high priority.

What sort of twisted and corrupt motivation could this device offer? Why would any person willingly subject themselves to such a burden as the tyranny of the immediate? What sense of fulfillment is bestowed by the continual unquestioned compliance to this inconsiderate, cruel, impatient, unloving, never satisfied master of time and energy?

I had it in my mind to smash this device. I did not though, for if I had then she would have become quite upset with me and would have bought another one to take its place. She would have reattached the shackle to her wrist, the leash to her neck, and the wires to her head. Why would she do all this? Because this is what she has chosen, this is what she wants.



I am talking about Cell Phones and an unhealthy lifestyle that can result. Do you know of people who's lives are dictated by text messages and phone calls from friends, work, or otherwise? Some people respond to their cell phone before they would respond to a fire alarm. Some people consider the unknown text message a higher priority than continuing a one on one conversation, the sanctity of a family meal, or even their own personal safety as well as the safety of others.

Now granted, the younger generation has learned the ability to text and listen and participate in whatever else may be happening all at the same time. This does not make it any less rude, nor does it make the tyranny of the immediate any healthier.

What does anyone gain from a life characterized by the tyranny of the immediate? (except for adverse stress and undesirable heart conditions) What positive effect can result from responding at lightning speed to every text message you ever receive? Sometimes it is necessary, but on average it is not.

Example 1: Hanging out with close friends should not come to sudden halt just because some other person texts you to demand that you do this or that for them. That is a time to just ignore the phone.

Example 2: Family time should not get derailed when someone from work texts you or calls your phone to talk about work stuff. Work should remain at work and not interfere with established family time. If your job takes up all of your time all the time, then I have pity for you and more pity for your neglected family.

Example 3: Driving a vehicle should NEVER become secondary to texting. I don't care how well you think you can drive and text, it is against the law and the equivalent of being drunk at the wheel. (Yes, I'm talking to you, overconfident young kid who thinks you are invincible)

Cell phones should be used as a convenience built to serve humans. They are not intelligent, they do not pose any threat to us, whatever message has been sent will still be there once an appropriate time to read it has presented itself. If the person on the other side of the cell phone does not have the common decency, patience, or understanding that you might be living life at that moment and are unable to / don't want to check your phone right that second, then they are not worth your time and you will never be able to make them happy even if you dedicate all of you time to them all of the time.

You have the choice to throw off the cruel oppressor or be maliciously oppressed.

Rant over
Greg out