good night and good luck

stop whining and do something

Disclaimer: This post contains generalizations and assumptions. Read with caution.

Today at work I saw a man with a t-shirt on which read "No More BU ll SH it", but the smaller letters were even smaller, and obvious dig at the president. Now, I'm no ardent supporter of the president, but there's so much against him these days, it just gets to me. All these people put energy into complaining about what he's doing and what they think is right, but I'm willing to bet that not many of them are doing much about it. And I'm not talking about protesting, or trying to arrange some sort of impeachment. I'm talking about my main beef with these sorts of people (and it's not just people who complain about the president, it's about most people, I think, who complain about politics): if you want to complain and change things, get involved locally with politics. I don't even mean doing something as big as volunteering to help out various campaigns, I'm just talking about something as easy as regularly writing your local representatives about things you believe in. When that bill that's important to you comes up, try to influence them. Don't just vote for who gets in office, but vote for the things they're going to do. How are they going to know how to represent you if you don't let them know how you want to be represented. And don't always talk about how bad things are, talk about what they could and try to make them that way. Negative talk just makes people angry, and it's very hard to turn it into constructive energy.

So, if you want to get something done, get involved. Let people who matter know what you think.

Ok, I'm done ranting.

more bibles

I know I mentioned before about my concern for having so many bibles. Sometimes I feel a little guilty having so many when others have so few, but I've realized that I shouldn't feel guilty. I feel privileged to have so many resources at hand.

Another issue, and I'll tie it in in a moment, is how 'rich' I am. Now, I'm not rich in comparison to most other people in America, or in other developed countries, but to the rest of the world, and to most of the people in history, I'm rich. The bible gives instructions to rich people to be rich in good deeds. To help other people with their wealth and not to put themselves above people with less money.

Well, I've found a way to let other people have bibles. There's a ministry which is part of Voice of the Martyrs, and they help get bibles out to people in countries where it's hard to get bibles. For a relatively small payment each month, I can send these people bibles. (I'm not working for VOM, but I guess I am advertising for them) So, I can share my wealth with people who need bibles by sending them bibles. It's great.

immature

I get by in life, but I think I'm pretty immature. Most of it stems from a lack of self-discipline, I think. You see, usually I just do what I feel like doing, which doesn't usually include what I should be doing. Grown-up things like taking out the trash and paying bills. Getting work done on the car or going to work at all. I'm best at going to work, but that's because it has immediate repercussions, I think. I usually get them done, but it's last minute or late, and that's not good at all. I'm slowly improving over time, but it's only slooowly. It makes me wonder about people like my dad, and others from his generation, who just seem to get what needs to get done first, on time or ahead of it, and then go around to what they want to do. Getting ready for the future is something I only dream about, not actually do, but, again, people from my parents' generation seem to do it well. How do I change?

road to perdition

WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD (but I don't think they are)

I just finished watching "Road To Perdition." I forgot how good it is, and how much of a sap I can be. Actually, I'm not quite sure if the word 'sap' applies here. What I mean to say is, I seem to cry easier than other guys I know. There are themes of love and sacrifice in the movie which just make me tear up when they approach. I was also thinking about how strange of a role it is for Tom Hanks. He's not usually the violent type of person. At least, not that I can remember. There is "Saving Private Ryan," but it's not quite the same. This one makes it out fairly clearly that he's a bad guy, but he loves his sons and doesn't want his life for them. Anyway, I'd recommend seeing it if you haven't. It's rated 'R' mainly for violence and a bit of language.

isaac asimov's science fiction treasury

I went to the bookstore this afternoon to browse the books, which for me usually means going to the science fiction section and checking out the anthologies. I was looking through the books and saw this anthology from Isaac Asimov of some classic SF stories. It was bound in a hard binding, so I thought that it would be expensive, but I picked it up and saw that it was only like $11.99. $11.99! That' almost 800 pages of science fiction stories, new and hardbound, for less than $15.00. Unbelievable. So I bought it.

spelling

I just noticed in the past couple posts that my spelling is getting better. There usually are a few troublesome words for me, but the only thing the spell-checker gave me advice about was the titles, but I consciously choose to keep them lower-case. Now, I'm not quite as sure about my grammar, but I trust that I can be understood enough.

P.S. I knew it! When I just did the spell-check, it came up with a problem: I misspelled 'grammar' as 'grammer'.

symmetrical posting

Last week I was thinking of writing a post called, "I'm sad, and I can't tell anyone." Now, I'm not sad any more, so it's not applicable here, but I was very sad. My girlfriend and I broke up after dating three months. I don't know exactly how long that is compared to other peoples' dating, but I hadn't dated anyone in about seven years, and I taking this pretty seriously. Maybe too seriously. But we had differences and decided that we wouldn't work out together. At first, I wasn't too sure about how well I'd be able to keep the friendship, but now I'm feeling better about it. I'll save the friendship thoughts for later.

The first few days I was so sad, feeling like I wanted to cry, but never quite able to. Subconsciously, I think, I kept myself around people all the time. It's easy at work, but I was able to do it after work, too. Even on Sunday night, three nights after we broke up, when I thought there wasn't going to be anyone around, I unexpectedly ran into some friends and they invited me over for dinner. It was good.

I'm coming out of it stronger, but it's a process. I'm glad it didn't take longer to figure out, since that would have made things harder.

I also have to say that it was worth it. Both of us, I think, got a lot out of it, and are better for it. We made some good choices which made things easier. I think I'm rambling now.

...lies, all the devil's wicked lies

I don't normally lie, but sometimes I get this urge to lie for no reason. To lie when it won't really make a difference to anyone around me if I tell the truth. Usually, someone will tell me something, or ask me something, and immediately my mind will fabricate this answer which just isn't the truth. And I want to say this answer. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but this happens maybe every week or two. When I get the urge, it also seems to crop up a few times in the same day or two. Maybe it's not that often, but it's happened recently. Unfortunately, I can't remember the circumstance. Why would I want to lie for no reason?

bad taste

I'm pretty sure I've commented on this before, but I've got a bad taste in my mouth right now from sugar. There's just something about having gone without sugar, with the exception of fruit, for over a month. Now, when I have much sugary food, I get this bad taste in the sides of my mouth, right on the two edges on the sides of my tongue. I don't know why I keep trying to have sugar, it just gives me that bad taste and makes me feel bloated (funny word, bloated, it makes me almost laugh).

weirdnes (but not as it could be)

"dead" bird

Today at work, some of my coworkers mentioned a dead bird which was sitting of to the side on our sidewalk in front of the store. I ended up being the one who called it in, and I first called it in as a dead bird. A while after, though, I went out to get a look at it myself. As I approached, the beak moved. I wasn't sure if perhaps the wind was blowing it, so I got closer. I was most definitely alive, but crippled in some sort of way. It was sitting in the sunlight, and had been for quite some time. I toed it into the shade, not thinking about the danger of the West Nile virus. Of course, I'm not sure I'm even putting myself at risk by pushing the bird with the toe of my shoe, but the thought passed my mind. After I'd put it in the shade, I went inside and called animal control. There was a message, which at the very end referred me to the non-emergency police line. I called there, and they said they'd send out an animal control officer. So, I hope I don't get West Nile, but I doubt that's what was even wrong with the bird; there really haven't been any occurrences here.

bibles

Every now and then I start thinking about how many bibles I have. I have many different version: NIV, KJV, ESV, HCSB, TNIV, NASB, NRSV, and others. I also have multiple editions of a couple of the translations. That means that I have at least ten, maybe at least fifteen different bible. And that's in english. I also have some in different languages that I'm not even fluent in, not even much past pronunciation in a couple of cases.

The question I keep asking myself is: Do I really need all those bibles? Especially in light of how hard it is in other countries for people to get just one bible, here I have so many choices of translations. People argue about which translation is better than another, and in certain areas of the world, people are hoping for any bible in their own language.

Sometimes I tell myself that I'll give my bibles away as I see a need arise. I have given one away, but there is so much more need, I'm sure.

This land we live in is sure one of plenty. Maybe one of too much.

sailing, sailing

too late