Archive for September, 2003
Luther
30 September 2003Anyone heard about this film? Starring Joseph Fiennes, Luther is about… well, Luther. Martin Luther, the guy who nailed stuff on the church door? Of course, being a film about religion, there’s not really any mass appeal for it. And that’s a shame.
Not that I’m saying the film is perfect or revolutionary by any means. It’s pretty much a history lesson, and probably a bit biased concerning Luther on a personal basis. But it’s thought provoking. It got me thinking about people’s blind devotion and conformity to the system which rules them, and what it takes to progress beyond such submission. Perhaps the people, the places, the proper nouns of Luther are hard to relate to these days, but the struggle is quite universal, if one looks beyond religious matters into the societal. We aren’t the Germans trying to reclaim our deserved freedom of worship from the heavy hand of the Roman Catholic Church. No… Today the issues are capitalism, consumerism, foreign relaitons, nationalism… blind secularism, oddly enough. And much more. Really, it’s hard to see clearly. Maybe we’re the Romans in this matter. But I believe spiritually and socially, we can find inspiration in the examples left by Luther and other courageous souls.
One of my favorite lines from the film–and I’m paraphrasing here–is that, the broader the message, the greater its truth. In Luther’s time, that broadening meant a change from faith in “The Church” to faith in God. Today I believe we’re at another point where we must take a leap–about our faith. No longer specifically a faith in God as a personified being, but a faith in existence. A faith in ideas, in all those harmonious and spiritually prosperous notions that all fellowships and religions and demoninations have, at their most innocent and sincere, sought to acheive. It’s hard to describe. Even the greatest orators and writers have finite talents, and mine are nowhere near their level. I just call it “faith in faith itself”.
Some might call it a “secularization of faith”, as it would more or less involve the abolishment of organized religion, or at least abolishment of the significance of organization. Maybe, whatever. But it’s better than what our 20th century response to religion has been: “secularization from faith”. We’re witness to the abandonment and rejection not just of religions but of the basic (and generally good) values that can be found within religion: faith, compassion, a system of morals… Moral relativism is the argument du jour and somewhat compelling, but its preachers seem to reject that there is a pattern of common morals just as there are patterns of order in the universal chaos. Compassion is certainly not unique to the religious, but the “church community” is one of the few avenues which remind us of our generous capabilities. As for faith… Well, faith historically has always been interwoven with religion. Until now.
Now there is faith in ourselves, in mankind–not the hopeful, optimistic sort, but rather the arrogant and opportunistic. We can do anything we want to do, and no god or devil can interfere. Well… That’s certainly doing us a lot of good, isn’t it? No… By doing this we’ve narrowed the scope of our faith. Now it’s not so broad as an omnipotent creature, not even so broad as a powerful empire, but just broad enough for us to stand on our own two feet. Our vision is narrowing; we are becoming more nearsighted than ever.
The next leap of faith must be toward something broader than ever. Faith in existence. Faith in the natural order of the universe, and not simply on a scientific level, because science practices skepticism. Even if we are to be skeptics, we must have faith that skepticism will lead us to greater truth. But I believe it’s simpler than that. Faith… that we’re not masters of our own destiny, perhaps. We certainly have power to affect it, but perhaps not the wisdom to control it.
I could go on and on about all this… and I’m sure I will many many times to come. But I’m sleepy. ;-)
Argh…
30 September 2003My parents annoy my. My mother in particular, this time. I’ve been trying to get her to watch Amélie for a while now, because I think she could like it a lot if she gave it a chance. And if not, no harm right? Well, she’s been dreading having to read subtitles, so she just hasn’t cooperated about it at all.
So tonight, I make a deal with her: she watches Amélie with me tonight, and tomorrow she can pick absolutely any movie she’d like to watch, especially one that I wouldn’t normally want to watch with her, and I will do just that. We had a deal.
But then we had to wait for her to watch the first hour of a special “Trading Spaces” marathon on TLC. And after that, stopping it for the last ten minutes of each next episode. Between those and her cigarette breaks and phone breaks she tagged on there, after having started the movie two and a half hours before, we’d only watched an hour of it. So we start it up again, finally rid of the home improvement mishaps, and of course… she starts dozing off. Yeah, it was 11:40, but if she’d actually tried to watch the movie we’d almost have had time to watch it twice. Instead, I resign and turn it off with a half-hour left to go on it, and she goes to bed.
Yes, yes, I know it sounds silly to get mad over a movie. But it’s not that really. I wouldn’t mind one bit if she watched the movie and absolutely hated it, so long as she gave it a chance. But sometimes my parents, who are otherwise quite intelligent and wise even (the latter of which I consider very few people to be), can be stubbornly closeminded. They can get it in their head that they won’t like something, without considering the possibility that hey–they might like it–and rarely will they allow being swayed from their choice. It reminds me of the uncle, the magician, in The Chronicles of Narnia, who reasons to himself that lions cannot speak and therefore is incapable of ever understanding Aslan, though the beast’s words are clear as day to the audience and other characters.
I’m tempted to think of it politically… Whereas I’m not by any means very liberal–just take me to Hamburger Mary’s if you question that–my parents can just be extremely conservative. It doesn’t make sense, though… I always thought my openminded, unassuming nature was something I got from them. I dunno, maybe it was just growing up in an even more conservative small town, or with a staunchly Republican grandfather to constrast them. Maybe they’ve just changed through the years, or maybe I’m not so “moderate” as I thought.
I dunno. It’s a pretty wide gamut these days, between being restrictingly conservative and being boundlessly liberal.
My Forecast
29 September 2003“Here is your forecast for Sunday Sep 28, 2003… Personal forecast:
It is easy to get frustrated, especially when you want something that is beyond your reach. This period teaches you patience, and you do well to focus only on what you can do. Sometimes responsibilities motivate your actions, and it is important to weigh the consequences of any decision. Choices that you make now can make a difference. Concentrating on one thing that you desire is better than having too many interests since being thorough pays off in the long run. Doing what is required is difficult, and effort is necessary to get anywhere. Take your time.”
Mighty coincidental, this being my horoscope right now. Just last night I was talking to Kaleena about how I sorta realized, if I’d found that “special someone” already (as I’ve looked for so much) and started to settle down (as most who know me would agree is in my nature) then my writing aspirations would have little hope. So as it stands, maybe I’m lucky I haven’t met her yet, or it hasn’t happened yet. Of course, Kaleena says as soon as I stop looking, I’ll find her… Part of me hopes that isn’t the case, because right now I don’t want my dreams jeopardized. But then maybe this internalization would even help me to handle that correctly, if Kaleena’s old saying proves true.
Well…
15 September 2003Haven’t talked about my job yet, and I’m loving it, but a bit too pooped to talk about it. I just wanted to describe how my night went tonight, and I just did, so I’ll let you see the conversation:
Thom Stricklin: hola
ArmedWithPudding: Aloha
Thom Stricklin: got to watch a car wreck happen right in front of me tonight
ArmedWithPudding: Wow. Where at?
Thom Stricklin: Crismon & Southern
ArmedWithPudding: What happened?
Thom Stricklin: 16-year-old girl in a Civic got mixed up with her pedals (driving a manual) and couldn’t slow down enough to
make her turn, so she plowed right into the truck sitting opposite of me.
Thom Stricklin: low speed, just a "crunch" sound, no shattering crash
ArmedWithPudding: That’s good.
Thom Stricklin: so when I got the light, I pulled into Walgreens, had them call the cops/medics or whatever, went out and
checked if everyone was alright
Thom Stricklin: they were, and I guess a former cop was driving along and stopped to help get everyone safe
ArmedWithPudding: Look at all the luck there.
Thom Stricklin: yep
Thom Stricklin: so I was pretty much useless, but I stuck around to gave a statement (though couldn’t say much… a white car
running parallel to the civic blocked my view of the actual impact.)
Thom Stricklin: and afterwards, I just went around, offering those involved that I was glad everyone was alright… kinda a "duh"
statement, I guess, but it calms peoples nerves a bit to hear others concerned about them
Thom Stricklin: added some levity, told the girl that my first week driving I plowed into a guide wire… a bit of hyperbole, but eh.
ArmedWithPudding: lol So you had…fun. Were amused. Entertained this evening. That’s good. :D
Thom Stricklin: well, felt slightly useful I guess
Thom Stricklin: felt like I at least could’ve been useful
Thom Stricklin: kinda nice to express a little concern or compassion or whatever… it’s like everyone I know these days are
either gone or busy or got everything too much together for me to be of much use. so complete strangers, cool lol
Crazy. But I’m glad I could at least stand around there and be someone concerned. Think it offers a bit of hope in general, that the notion of “Good Samaritan” isn’t just some old myth or parable, that people do give a crap. Sheesh, after this accident happened, when I was inside Walgreens I guess, some moron turned the same corner, looking at the wreck, I guess, and clipped a guy sitting at the red light. That moron just drove off unconcerned and didn’t look back, while a hysterical 16-year-old girl was flipping out over what she’d done. I don’t think it actually hit me to say it, but I hope that girl will feel a little proud in retrospect that she did the right thing… That she stuck around, she fessed up to making a mistake, and truly showed concern for the lady in the truck she’d hit. That was damn good of her. A natural thing to do, I’d like to think, but something that people don’t do enough… people twice her age, people who’ve probably had a hundred times more driving experience.
A full night. Odd, I’ve always had this foreboding feeling that I’d watch a wreck unfold right in front of me, if not involving me. I’ll be interested to see if I’ve had my fix of it seeing this. But eh, I ramble. Mostly I’m just glad everyone’s alright.
The word for today is J-O-B…
12 September 2003Yes, it’s technically Friday now, but no, I didn’t get fired from my job. I got some news, though, and it was indeed on my day off… This Wednesday, in fact. (Sorry for the delay; couldn’t use the computer last night.)
I have a N-E-W J-O-B! Yes indeed. Let me recap: “Full time employment. $10.50/hr. That should be a good $1200 a month, and my expenses right now are about $400.” It’ll essentially be a helpdesk position at the district level of the Special Education department of [work-related]. Fookin’ rocks!
Now, what of Harkins? It’s odd. Now that I am not dependent on that job anymore, I don’t really feel such abhorration of it. So I’m gonna cut myself down to weekend availability, and pick up a few extra bucks a week for the time being. If I get fed up with the place, maybe I’ll keep a two weeks notice in my back pocket, and I can just be gone with the place then. But not yet. The people that work there are pretty friendly, after all.
Hmm… Other stuff…
* I looked at the [work-related] calendar and it looks like October 17-19 will be the most likely time to go camping, as that falls on “October Break”, during which I don’t think I have to work. That 17th is a Friday, in case Kaleena or anyone else who might like to go is reading this.
* Just got an e-mail from somebody who liked a profile of mine that she read online. (Yeah, a dating site… silly and full of spam but cheaper than the equally useless bar scene.) She’s moving to the area in a couple weeks and wants to learn what’s around, so maybe I’ll do that. She’s got interests in “outdoors” stuff too, so that’s always a plus. Couldn’t pick worse timing though… I mean, the new job (read: extra money) is a plus, but…
Eh, I’m looking lazy lately… Hopefully a regular schedule at my new job will make it easier to work out. I wanna get in good shape and I’m probably a little worse than my normal “bad” shape right now, since I haven’t been making mad dashes across the ASU campus this semester. Anyhow, my point is, I hope I can win whatever potential date-people I have right now with a “good personality” while I work on attaining a toight (like a toiger) image.
My throat hurts so I’m not gonna push my luck and stay up really late tonight. TTYL later.
:DDDDDDD (Big, Big Smile)
5 September 2003Wow, today was awesome!
Started out a little hectic, as I had to swing down to Harkins to drop Phil off and pick up my check, then cash my check and get gas, all less than an hour so I could get to my interview on time. But the stress vanished quickly along the way… Dressed to impress for the interview, I was actually complimented by Ms. McHale at Harkins. Then at Wells Fargo, the clerk chatted it up with me, mildly flirtatiously… I guess I should wear a suit & tie more often. ;-)
I made great time getting to their office, so all anxiety subsided to normal pre-interview levels. And then, as I sat down in the lobby, guess what comes on the receptionist’s radio? The Eagles, yeah. “Take It Easy,” yup. Even if it wasn’t my all-time favorite band, how much better a sign can you get waiting for an interview? “Take It Easy!” So I did. I was grinning by the time I got called back there. And it was, quite probably I do believe, the single best interview I’ve had in my entire life. By the end of the first question, I’d gotten them confident in my qualifications for the job, so they treated the subsequent questions as a mere formality. By the end of the interview, I’d had them laughing a number of times, and even gotten conversational (and off on a tangent, I suppose) about how “visually stunning” Finding Nemo was. It was great. If there were any weak points about the interview, it may be that I was caught off guard about the employment type: it was “one year only” on paper, which I noted might be good if going back to school next year would interfere with the schedule, but they made me aware that it’s more or less a continual job, that for instance, one of the interviewers was a “one year” employee going on nine years of employment. That and the possibility that I was simply too at ease, and didn’t ask enough questions, if they’re those stingy type of interviewers. But I feel so good about it… It feels like I already have the job.
So I left there, beaming, and did something I hadn’t done in a while… put in my “Favorites” mp3 CD, which I haven’t listened to in nine or ten months. I thought it was only fitting to the powers that be for me to replay “Take It Easy” on the ride home, and the rest of the songs… were no longer bittersweet as they had been. That was a great sign, I thought… Those songs aren’t going to be bogged down by bad memories anymore, because I’m makin’ way for plenty of great new memories.
Full time employment. $10.50/hr. That should be a good $1200 a month, and my expenses right now are about $400. That will be great! I can get a freelance design/consulting biz finally up & going, so I can be bringing even more money in. I should be able to get out and camp at least two or three times this fall & winter, and I should be well on my way to a social life again! :-D Maybe once I get the truck and cards paid off, apartment! :DDD
Good times comin’, good times ahead. Take it easy! :-)
Making My Online Presence Known Again
5 September 2003Well, my my… I haven’t put this much stuff on a website in ages.
If you read my last update, you know that my journal is moving here:
http://journal.smart-popcorn.com
What you don’t know is that I’ve been busting my buns on my new personal page:
The Ugly Green Chair (http://thom.smart-popcorn.com)
A fair warning: It’s not going to look nice and pretty. I’ve done nice & pretty. You’ve seen nice & pretty. You’ve probably noticed that nice & pretty usually means little or no content. So rather than working on the aesthetics, I’m just going to throw whatever I chose on the site, and sort it out later.
My first real “subproject” of the site: TUGC’s Fabulous Shrine to Amelie! Yes, I’m bonkers. Nah… Few “things” (like movies, music, even myself) really inspire me to put together a good-looking, content-rich website, but Amelie is one of the few. It’s only about 1/4 done, but that’s quite a bit already. It’s been pretty theraputic so far, too. There are a few lessons in there which I learned months ago, but have never quite articulated those lessons until now, and it’s helped.
And, from a technical standpoint… It’s a far cry from the usual type of site design I’ve been doing the past couple years. It uses frames, it has no menus, it uses light text over a dark background, and all the content is contained on a single, long page–perhaps it’ll be two pages when I’m finished. But every element of the design is inspired: the background is sampled from Amélie’s bedroom wallpaper; the images, both from the film and my life accounts, are presented like samples from the photo booth scrapbook; the subtitles are in French–heh, ironic; a small & efficient Flash element provides a three-song soundtrack, from the movie; most significantly, the site follows Jeunet’s and cinematographer Delbonnel’s color scheme: two main colors with an occasional bright accent…
If you love the film, I think you’ll appreciate my site. Follow the blue arrows, Mr. Quincompoix!