My Blog
Food for Naught
Wednesday, April 27, 2005 at 3:52 am
Buying groceries is what today was all about. From organic foods to killing pet birds, it's all part of the adventure. I bought a bottle of organic Heinz ketchup today. Needless to say, I buy things for flavor first, and then hope for health value. Any way of getting ketchup without high fructose corn syrup is good to me. I like Heinz most because it's a tangy not-to-sweet ketchup. Why not join the organic revolution just to get a bit more tangy zip - if I can.
I bought 5 kinds of drinks today. I bought some kind of chai, some plain ol' tea, something made with a root or something, and then another kind of drink mix. I'm finally buying replacement drinks for soda. I can't just kick the habit on my own, since I need to drink something. I bought 5 drink mixes or brewing bag varieties and then 3 containers of juice!! I'm going to be a heavy drinker this month. Over the last week, I succeeded at drinking soda from home only every second day. In the past, I tried only keeping one can in the refrigerator. That just made me drink warm soda. Do you think it'll happen? I dunno.
Seems I never buy the same foods twice!
All I an say is that there are some things that you never expect to see in real life. I know there are warnings on windshield sun shields telling you to remove them before driving. That just prevents stupid people from suing - so I can understand that..somewhat. I bought a new non-stick skillet, since I'm tired of things...well...sticking. The warning I found on it was more than just weird, it's disturbing: Fumes from pans which have been heated empty can be fatal to pet birds. So am I supposed to assume that it is otherwise safe? What if I leave a door or window open and a bird flies into my apartment. He's not my pet - would he survive the wrath of an unattended pan? The world may never know.
Cable around my neck
Wednesday, March 16, 2005 at 6:02 am
By the way, I'm seriously considering dropping Cable TV. I went to see a movie tonight and came back seriously engaged and motivated. It was a great experience - even if the movie wasn't incredible. TV makes me lazy and bored and keeps me from getting stuff done that I want to do. No, I don't mean I want to switch to Satellite TV. I could afford to go see a movie every week and have a lot more chance of actually putting my life into discipline.
Post a comment to vote. Yes or no.
Vin Diesel is Jesus
Wednesday, March 16, 2005 at 5:42 am
There you go. That title got your attention. The point I want to make will be coming soon. First, I want to say that this was a great movie. Yes - it's true that I'm strangely addicted to family comedies and this is no exception. While the movie is full of cliched fish-out-of-water comedy where a highly trained person is put in a position where they know nothing - this one's still good. What can I say - a high-speed pursuit with a teenage girl, while it's the Navy SEAL that's changing the diapers? Good choice, Disney....I guess.. Ok, so it got lousy reviews and I can see exactly why. Anyway - it had a real impact on me. Maybe my mind was already in the right place, but the movie got me thinking about discipline. Commiting to something is somewhat easy - but getting discipline out of me is much harder.
My personal to-do lists pile up sky high while I watch Futurama. My life was so much better when I was doing the hard stuff. In the year 2000, I was in the middle of my senior year of high school and decided to do a feature-length movie with the help of a friend. Ok - so feature-length means 50 minutes, and movie really means cheap video. The point is that I did a lot of things that I neither had the time nor skills to do. How did I accomplish it? I gave it every ounce I had for several months. That is somehow more energizing than depleting. And it stands that for every year since that year, I have longed for those days again. I longed for what I failed to realize was something within my power to have. It wasnt' that it was a "great year," but I made it a great year.
"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men"-Colossians 3:23
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. I like walking. I like the destination. Now why in the world can't I even wash the dishes when I like my kitchen clean? Simple things are only big things in small shoes.
I want to get back to the beginning of this post. The title. Vin Diesel did one thing that you don't see in movies. Sure, you see people succeeding in movies all the time, but that wasn't important. What was important was his character's priorities. Discipline did not make him boring nor a pure soldier. It made him more human. Now there is something to spend way too long thinking about. But I won't because I aleady had to type this and I don't feel like it :-P.
Weekend Fun
Monday, March 14, 2005 at 8:43 am
So I'm not done with my addiction of going three hours out of my way for cheap entertainment. This time around, several of us went to the City Museum in downtown St. Louis. It isn't much of a museum in the typical sense. It's just what I wanted though!! It's a place with things to climb through, several-stories high slides, and under construction there is a rooftop water park! Perfect for kids aged 3-60. I even had the chance to reassure a high school senior girl who was there that it was still cool for her to be there :-P. Things weren't perfect, but I can say that everyone had a great time.
Then on Sunday, I spent part of the afternoon climbing in the Gullies (a huge wooded area behind the Greenville College campus). We spent our time on lots of steep hills off the beaten path and I got scraped and cut and just plain singled out by the spikes and spines and thorns of the place. I wish I was a bit less lazy, or every weekend would be this great. I'll end my post by linking to a reflection by Rachel S.
Emo's World
Monday, March 07, 2005 at 5:29 am
Well...I had this thought. For all the people asking "What is emo?" - I've often asked that myself...very often. I decided it was possible that maybe the definition could be found by Googling "Elmo" and replacing the word "Elmo" with Emo on the resulting page. It didn't quite work out as expected:
"Emo is a 3 1/2-year-old Muppet who first appeared on Sesame Street in 1984. Recently, he has gained a lot of popularity among children and teens. He now has his own 15-minute segment in Sesame Street called Emo's World. Emo is enthusiastic, friendly, and cheerful. He has a very positive, optimistic view of himself and life. Like several other characters on Sesame Street, Emo speaks a "monster language". He never uses pronouns and refers to himself and others by name: "Emo wants to play." Emo is usually seen with his best friend, Zoe. He has a pet goldfish named Dorothy. His favorite hobbies are tap dancing and playing the piano."
--modified from text found at elmosplayground.com
So you see, it isn't as simple as one might think.
