Optimism

Don't worry, things will look up. Every cloud has a silver lining, after all. It seems it is ever so necessary for me to be optimistic and to have hope because I center my belief system around a good God, after all. So, that's exactly what I've done. I've consistently convinced myself that my pessimism is somehow invalid, that there is a silver lining around that rain cloud. But should I really stay around even after such a long period of disappointment? Am I somehow fulfilling some obligation I have to God by convincing myself that the sum total of what I perceive on a regular basis to be wrong?

At this point, I (finally) can say and do say "no". But don't get me wrong. It's not as drastic as a 180 degree turn. Surely, there is room and, perhaps, a necessity for the pessimist to reevaluate where he is right now but I would say the corollary is also true. I think my case is that I've just been trying to be too optimistic.

Perhaps, there is validity in pessimism. I mean the reality of a situation is always sandwiched somewhere along the continuum of the situation as it is and my (flawed) interpretation of it. The point is, maybe I shouldn't always categorize my disappointment as being due to my interpretation.

Learning to believe, again

Well, no surprise. I'm not always that fond of CCF large group meetings. And this recurring aversion really came around to bug me for the past few weeks. The fact of the matter is.. I don't like mingling. I don't like having to meet someone, talk about something completely irrelevant, and then moving on to rinse and repeat with someone else. And I fully accept that this type of attitude will ostracize me to some degree, especially in the large group setting. And, I'd be ok with that, as long as that's not where it ends. For the past few weeks, however, that is where it ended. I've just been having trouble connecting to people. I haven't been able to meet someone new and really form a bond with them. And, since that's what the past few weeks have been, it's been a little discouraging, to say the least.

I wasn't going to go tonight. Luckily (although perhaps I really never had any intention of staying home), I ended up going. Well, large group itself was terribly underwhelming. All that "mingling" time.. yeah I'm good.. I'd prefer Guild Wars any day. And I literally stepped out like three times hoping that it would end when I came back. As much as I'm ragging on it, I've gotta say that the choir did an amazing job, as always, the sharing was very heartfelt, and the Johnson was Johnson, as always.

But beyond the scheduled events from that night, I learned or, more aptly, I was reminded of something drastically important. That, even though I may not mesh well with the vast majority of CCF, I do have a few great friends there. I also learned that there are people that I may not know too well but can mesh with anyway. Maybe I was being a little too pessimistic. Well, in all reality, it's my last year anyway. Why not stay in, I already gave it 2 years. I'm sure the grass ain't greener anywhere else.

And, worst case, I'll just bail and play Guild Wars outside ;).

Way of Awkward #1

"The server looks like she's having a hard time putting the food down." someone observed.

"Yeah, the lazy Susan's just too big." I quipped with earnestness.

Across the table, Susan was not amused.

Return of the music

I've gotta admit, I'm really starting to get into music on the Edge again. I had completely stopped listening to it for the past 3-4 years. Everything just sounded too repetitive and lacked something. But this year, music's gotten a lot better.. Well, maybe, it has to do that I've actually been listening to the radio again.. in hindsight that's probably one of the more prominent reasons. But whatever the reason, it's great to hear new music again.. it's about time the collection got a fresh injection.

Here're just a few songs that I've really liked in the past year:
MGMT - Kids
Tokyo Police Club - Your English is Good
Pilot Speed - Put the Phone Down
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Zero
The Offspring - Half-Truism [!!]
Mother Mother - Body of Years

**edit** Except I just realized that Body of Years is really [really] similar to Hey by the Pixies. It's still a good song but it does take a little away from it.

Parallel lines

Something that I've really been searching for is open discussion, where people keep their minds open and approach issues without stubbornly adhering to their own ideas. I've always held some disdain for that type of attitude. Of course, I don't mean for the renunciation of all beliefs, e.g. certain religious dogmas. Even with these absolutes in mind, there surely must exist flexibility when living. What's important isn't the exact way in which our beliefs are expressed but, instead, the underlying root of such beliefs. People ought to spend more time discovering the roots of beliefs as opposed to the beliefs themselves. There is no need for all to be united under one line of thought. As long as there is an overarching underlying root, our directions will certainly be uniformly aligned. And, as we travel on our own courses, we will surely meet in the infinite.

Jaded, j-j-j-jaded

It's so repetitive. This is really the only thing I write about. Well, I actually write a lot more but all those entries are tucked nicely within the confines my harddrive. But yeah, I see the repetition. I actually do get bored sometimes always slaving away at this issue. Perhaps it's because I find it to be of utmost importance, to know why we wake up everyday. But, whatever. I'm starting to think it's futile. That there is no answer within reason alone.

Well what I wanted to share was something I read in Ecclesiastes about a year ago. It's really stuck with me ever since. It's Ecclesiastes 9:7-10. The author of Ecclesiastes deals with the question of existence throughout the entire book. After all that questioning, this is his solution: "to live and enjoy living". No, he doesn't answer the question. No, we don't get to find out why God created everything such that it would be like this. This happens in Job too. God just plays the.. well.. God card. He doesn't explain it, He just puts Job in his place. Even the document from the absolute source does not give an absolute answer. In the end, we are left with life. We may have some idea as to what to do with it, I know I do. But, why I was given such a precious yet terrible gift, I haven't the slightest idea. And truly, I don't think anyone does, though they may have well-crafted hypotheses.

And so.. maybe this is our lot in life, to live in partial darkness. Ecclesiastes says there's a season for everything. Perhaps the season of humanity requires us to lack full knowledge in this area and to have faith. To push on to face the unknowns of tomorrow because we just don't know.

I often struggle with existence. It's a pain in the ass sometimes. Is there really meaning to it? I mean if the Bible were true then yeah it would and yeah life'd be a tad bit more clear and I'd know what to do. At the end of the day, the one thing that I really would want to do is to discover that one truth that would be the pillar to life. I've always been taught that Christianity was that pillar. Many times I've professed that that indeed is what I consider to be my pillar. But why do I do this? Why do I affirm to something that is just a little beyond reasoning that requires faith? May I propose that I may be ..scared? Scared that perhaps it is true and that if I don't partake in this set of beliefs that I will have to endure an eternity of God-less hellfire, whatever that means. Well I suppose that's not the answer to why I want to know the reason for life. A more appropriate answer would be that I just want to make sense of reality. I've never really liked reality much. It's a pain to live sometimes and, really, I want to know why I continually allow myself to go through with this absurdity. I want to know why I have to stay here.. study.. get a job.. interact with people.. and whatever else 'life' entails. I guess a lot of people are comfortable with reality and its perks, ok with living their lives. I suppose I'm more of the other end of that spectrum. Does anyone ever really find out the answer or am I going to end up sitting here in this state until I finally realize the futility of the search and give up. I sincerely hope it's not the latter.

I WANT TO THINK!

Hey guys, ..hey Michael. Just right off the bat, if you read this, please give some indication of your presence. I just wanna see who would visit this site after a year and a half of no updates. Let me know you exist! I just might post on here regularly! (If I do, I'll take down the Jew thing, seriously.)

So, I do actually keep journals. They're a private collection of my thoughts. Thoughts that I don't feel comfortable sharing with others, barring a few of course. But today, I had an epiphany. It was wonderful. It was like the first time I wrote a "journal". I just exploded and all my thoughts just came gushing out. I love thinking. It's like my non-corporeal lover (other than God, but that's besides the issue). Anyway, it felt like I was reunited with an old friend.

Well, I'm just going to copy and paste that entry onto here. It was so insightful, I just want to share it with everyone! Yes, I realize that this may not be the best medium because of the somewhat low traffic to this site. But it's ok. It's a start.

Please be aware that I use the word "shit" in this post. If you are offended by this word "shit", know that I am using it in context and that it really is the only word I could think of at the time that could adequately describe what I was experiencing.

May 30, 2008

I've been working this clinic job for about three weeks now. It's just menial stuff still but I intend to ask the boss for more involvement in the writing aspect. Well anyway, I don't want to talk about that because it bothers the shit out of me already so .. I'll stop there. But with work, I find my free time just cut exponentially. I suppose it's somewhat ok. But I've felt that something was amiss, especially today. I didn't know what it was at first. Now I know: I haven't had nearly enough time on my own just thinking. Thinking about anything. I've been trying to sleep for the past hour but I've just been lying there thinking, in my head and out loud. Thinking about where I am right now. Thinking about where I want to be. Now that I have something that can be construed as “work”, it's opened my eyes to many things. One of those things is my ambition. It exists (wow). I had no idea. So what do I want? I want to move forward. I want to grow and keep growing. I don't ever want to stop. When I stop is when things become routine. Routine's ok but the same routine is not. I don't want to be complacent with where I am in any aspect of my life. I want success but not in the worldly sense of it, since when was it ever anyway for me. I was brought up anti-world and I will continue to be anti-world, hopefully for a long time to come. But I do want personal success. I want to always enhance my abilities, increase my abilities, and acquire more knowledge. I do however stress the practical aspect. Head knowledge alone typically fades away into nothingness. You know, 9-5 doesn't give nearly enough time for me to really think out me. To think out the things that matter to me and affect me. Although I do nothing, I'm glad I got this “summer student” position. It's stretched me a lot. It's helped me realize more of who I am as well as who I want to be (and the things I can do to achieve that, which I fully intend to do). I've got to be a leader of myself. No backseat for me. I usually sit front seat anyway. But I suppose it's the being driven part that's the point. I miss thinking to myself. I miss taking time to understand myself and the world around me. So many ideas. So little time. Man, I hope I use the next 70 years properly! (HOPEFULLY NO EARLY DEATH NOR DEMENTIA)

So what exactly do I want to do? Right now in this phase of my life, I want to improve my abilities, but more importantly gain abilities and understand life and the world. I mean, if perfection was more than just an ideal, I would aim for knowing everything and being able to do anything but that's not possible so I'll settle with pushing onwards at all times.

I WANT TO THINK!

To those who still visit this abandoned area

Well, whoever still comes here.. http://youtube.com/watch?v=BaC5sKzK93A is a longer video of the first .gif I ever posted. It's an ad, I think. Don't you love how things go full circle (I never really liked clichés like that but it works in this case).

Found it.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6447713405009238376&q=dj+format

Quickie

Big Bird says:
Press the red button
Sun goes down
TIMES UP!
Let's play again...

We're goin' to Candy Mountain!

Yeah, just a few flashes this time. (I think I sent these to a few people already. Great, aren't they?)

When I come to the show that I rock and the flow that I drop y'all know Run kills the mic.. (the song's great)
Oh no it didn't.
La lalalala la la la lalalala la lalalalala la lalalalala!

And a bit of dancing!

And hopping!

And burning!


Woo! That was great.

Random Link: A Latin-English-English-Latin Dictionary Client (Java)

Medieval Man

Found these medievalized things a while back.
All Your Base
Milkshake

And, on a side note, guess who bought the Audioslave CD? (Me) Actually it's not because I particularily like Chris Cornell's voice but it's more because of Tom Morello's guitar playing. (apparently, he was an extra on Star Trek: Voyager once)

Favourite songs for now
Mukina Shimokawa - Sore Ga, Ai Deshou
Maaya Sakamoto - Loop
Audioslave - Out of Exile

Exploding deer

Don't have any really funny pictures to show this time. Well, guess you'll have to survive with just this one.

(By the way, does anyone know where it's from?)

Can't stop dancing!

They're all mostly from the same picture but..

Bear and friends.

Close-up on bear.

Close-up on bear with tuxedo.

Another shot of bear.


Man, bears dance better than a lot of people.

Oh..

I didn't think it was possible. But it happened. Shock and confusion were my first reactions. I was astounded..the phrase "wtf" popped into my mind more than once..I knew that something like that would happen eventually but I never would have thought it would happen like that and certainly not at that time. Sigh..the wound..it still hurts, well, it tingles. But I guess all roses have their thorns. And I guess there are a few things in life that I would have to experience for myself. Honestly, this..sigh..situation was just one of those inevitable and unavoidable ones. I guess I'll just have to learn from this experience and try to make sure it never happens again.





i cut my thumb on macaroni.. i was like "wth am i bleeding?! but.. it's cooked pasta.. (overcooked, apparently)" so yeah i was trying to scrape burnt macaroni off the stupid pot and yes.. they are quite sharp at times. YEAH, i cut myself twice, cause once isn't enough you know. -_-

Huh?

Live-action Sailor Moon, who knew.

(Sailor Mars looked way better in the cartoon..)

Who is that?

Who is that?

(No, I don't troll around the Internet looking for girls and demanding their names so I can find more pictures of them)

The Upside of Coughing: It worked out my abs.

Subtitles, please? (continued)

Ok, I take it back. The animation is horrible, pixelated to be exact.

Subtitles, please?

So I downloaded School Days, I think it's an OVA or something, but lucky me there weren't any subtitles. At least the girl's kinda cute -_-.

I <3 水銀燈 from Rozen Maiden!
zOMG LOOK 1280x960 WaLLPaPER!!!

NOTICE: AS OF 2/28/05

http://www.ciel-theskyguardian.blogspot.com can no longer be accessed by me. Go here instead ^^.

Great, now I have to copy and paste all my old entries.