Archive for January, 2005
Is it so elemental?
29 January 2005Wow… Today was the most surreal weather I’ve seen in a long, long time–if not my entire life. As I drove Phil to work today, it began pouring down rain–while the sun still shone bright as ever. But that was nothing… Just now, we had another huge cell pass by. It dropped hail thick enough to coat the earth–probably 1/4″ at least–and it thundered like you never hear in the valley–it thundered like a mountain storm. (If you don’t know the difference, you learn it when you spend enough time camping.) After the hail passed and it began to melt, I walked into the yard and felt it crush like snow beneath my feet. Walked to the wall where it’d built up particularly thick and made a snowball. Threw it across the yard (over the fence & into the street–oops!) then I looked at the porch thermometer: a good 50° F. Crazy
Theologic Rock
28 January 2005I’ve been thinking about some of those old tunes of mine, realizing that they’re still very comfortable and personally valid to play, even if I’m not in the Christian Rock mindset anymore. I’m thinking about going back to them & trying to record them, finally get them mixed thanks to the digital age, and maybe write some new tracks to reflect “where I am” both spiritually and personally. Dunno if it’s enough to consider an “album”, but I’m gonna call the project “Theologic Rock”.
Anyhow, related to this, I decided to drudge up an old “Belief-O-Matic” quiz which compares your personal beliefs to those of major religions and other theological beliefs. I decided to dive more specifically into each result to see what I believed or agreed with about each–goodness, what a hodge podge of beliefs I hold. Here they are, if anyone’s interested:
Liberal Quakers
• Origin of Universe and Life
Emphasis is placed on spiritual truths as revealed to each individual. Many believe that God created/controls all events/processes that modern scientists are uncovering about origins. Many believe in scientific accounts alone or don’t profess to know.
Unitarian Universalists
• Origin of Universe and Life
Diverse beliefs, but most believe in the Bible as symbolic and that natural processes account for origins.
• Why Evil?
Most do not believe that humanity inherited original sin from Adam and Eve or that Satan actually exists. Most believe that God is good and made people inherently good but also with free will and an imperfect nature that leads some to immoral behavior. Diverse beliefs. Some believe wrong is committed when people distance themselves from God. Some believe in “karma,” that what goes around comes around. Some believe wrongdoing is a matter of human nature, psychology, sociology, etc.
• Salvation
Some believe in salvation through faith in God and Jesus Christ, along with doing good works and doing no harm to others. Many believe all will be saved, as God is good and forgiving. Some believe in reincarnation and the necessity to eliminate personal greed or to learn all of life’s lessons before achieving enlightenment or salvation. For some, the concepts of salvation or enlightenment are irrelevant or disbelieved.
• Undeserving Suffering
Diverse beliefs. Most Unitarians do not believe that Satan causes suffering. Some believe suffering is part of God’s plan, will, or design, even if we don’t immediately understand it. Some don’t believe in any spiritual reasons for suffering, and most take a humanistic approach to helping those in need.
Liberal Protestants:
• Origin of Universe and Life
The Bible’s account is symbolic. God created and controls the processes that account for the universe and life (e.g. evolution), as continually revealed by modern science.
• Undeserved Suffering
Most Liberal Christians do not believe that Satan causes suffering. Some believe suffering is part of God’s plan, will, or design, even if we don’t immediately understand it. Some don’t believe in any spiritual reasons for suffering, and most take a humanistic approach to helping those in need.
Bahá’í
• Incarnations
The prophets of many religions, e.g. Jesus Christ, Moses, Muhammad, Buddha, are revered as Manifestations and Messengers of God, pre-existent spirits (with individual souls) sent to reveal God’s message. Each of the Manifestations is considered equal in stature as the perfect reflection, the infallible word, and the divine spirit of God.
• Origin of Universe and Life
God created all from nothing and controls all phenomena that modern science reveals about the origins of the universe and life. They support scientific study and education, as they believe science serves to reveal rather than dispute God’s awesome creative powers.
• After Death
Literal interpretations of resurrection, heaven, and hell are regarded as figments of imagination. Resurrection is the spiritual awakening that occurs upon the appearance of a new Manifestation. Heaven is the indescribable bliss of closeness to God, harmony with God’s will as revealed by the Manifestations–eternal spiritual life. The closer one is to knowing and loving God, the greater the joy of paradise. “Hell” is the self-made torture of isolation from God–spiritual death. Unlimited spiritual growth toward perfection continues after death.
Secular Humanists
• Why Evil?
No concept of “evil.” Reasons for wrongdoing are explored through scientific methods, e.g. through study of sociology, psychology, criminology.
Taoists
• Belief in Deity
The supreme being/ultimate truth is beyond words or any conceptual understanding.
• Incarnations
Taoism does not refer to any specific incarnation of God.
• Origin of Universe and Life
All matter is a manifestation of the Ultimate Reality. Generally, Taoist beliefs don’t find modern scientific discoveries contradictory to Taoist thought; hence Fritjof Capra’s “The Tao of Physics” is aptly named.
• Why Evil?
To understand the Taoist notion of good and evil, it is important to distinguish between the “concept” of evil versus the “reality” of evil.
…Another way of understanding this is that the sage person understands the reality of good and evil, whereas the fool concentrates on the concept of good and evil. The sage knows that any evil will soon be replaced by good, the fool is forever fruitlessly trying to eliminate evil.
I’m very comfortable with my own beliefs, but I do wonder why there’s no single established “belief system” that comes anywhere close to my own. Actually, I guess Bahá’í is pretty close, except when it comes to worship of Bahá’u'lláh, which just seems like a one-upping of Islam and, in turn, Christianity… “I’m the most important messenger!” “No wait, I came last… I am!” “Ha! Now it’s my turn!” Eh, oh well. I guess if I’m confident in whatever I believe, it doesn’t matter where I fit relative to anyone else.
Lost Song
27 January 2005I have no idea where my songbook ended up, from back in the day when I played with Jared & Luke, yes–in Kentucky, in (Gasp!) my Christian Rock band. But in listening to my iPod, probably because of the Jars of Clay & PFR in the mix, an entire song’s worth of lyrics came back into my head. Here ye be:
“All Was Dark”
by Thom Stricklin & Jared Jones
I once had a good friend
Spoke a lot about life
He was such a good man
He wouldn’t hurt a fly
So when he was arrested
I could not believe
That they had suspected
A man who wanted peace
And when he was convicted
Tears came to my eyes
He’d be executed
For committing no crime
All was dark that day
As I looked into his face
I saw the innocence in his eyes
Though I knew he’d soon die
The day before his last breath
He got to talk to me
He asked my why he had to pay
For another’s felony
They strapped him to his deathbed
The blood rushed from his head
I watched them as they flipped the switch
Now my friend is dead
All was dark that day
As I looked into his face
I saw the innocence in his eyes
But I knew he’d soon die
All was dark that day
When my friend went away
Still I wonder why
My friend–had to die
It’s here…
27 January 2005Anybody want a used MP3-CD player? I seriously doubt I’ll be needing it anymore.
My iPod shuffle arrived yesterday, and… it’s simply amazing. Mind-blowing. I can’t say much else about it that I haven’t already described previously, except that it seems almost unholy for such a small device to put out such loud, full, crisp music. In fact, it puts out better sound than the trademark white earbuds can handle, so I’m glad I already ordered a set of Koss KSC-50 clip-ons as travelling companions.
I’m very glad, in fact–as my only disappointment is that my earbuds are defective. The right earbud puts out less than half the volume of the left earbud. I don’t plan on using them often, but I’d like to have the option… So hopefully Apple’s gonna send me a replacement pair shortly.
Music is on my mind…
17 January 2005Well, since the last update, and in preparations for my nifty iPod shuffle, I’ve been going through my entire music collection and re-ripping CDs to AAC audio files. It’s been a bit of a “rediscovery”–I haven’t listened to this much music in years, and never so diverse as this weekend. I find my mind in a million different places, all to do with music. Where to start?
Umm… How about iTunes? I was hesitant about this program, especially when I saw the words “Powered by Quicktime” on the installation window. It is a bit sluggish at certain tasks and at start-up, but boy is it worth the wait. First of all, there is this AAC format… At 128 kbps, it sounds nearly as good (usually indistinguishable) from 256 kbps, and not much worse than full CD audio. It still has a bit of roll off on the treble–right now Blink 182’s cymbal-heavy Cheshire Cat is suffering a bit–but it’s bearable, and much much better than the high-end “garble” that MP3 will give you at the same bitrate. Aside from the file format, iTunes itself is superb at organizing all of my music. I can change ID3 fields for multiple songs at once, I can rate songs with a single click (in other words, Winamps shortcomings have been exposed), I can create smart playlists that update automatically as the contents of my library change. It’s verrrry nice, and it’ll be a piece of cake to keep my iPod interesting, no display be damned.
I did rip some of my old Christian rock CDs in the process of all this. Yeah, that’s right… I had a Christian rock phase–have I ever mentioned that in this journal? Probably once or twice. Anyhow, mostly Jars of Clay and PFR made it. I think I still have Audio Adrenaline coming up, and I might go back and add some DC Talk… eh, maybe not. Kinda realized today that I did listen to a lot of it for the sound, not the words. I mean, I believed in the messages behind the songs then more than now, but I don’t think I ever would’ve listened to it if the music hadn’t been good. Which is, I guess, the reason why I’ve added it–the bands I listened to had great guitar riffs, a nice earthy sound, etc.
Meanwhile, whilst Googling about iTunes and all that, I came upon a bunch of “angry-for-the-bands” music listeners bitching about iTunes and “the new” Napster, about how the services and the record companies were still shitting on the artists (who get about 11˘ per song). I guess this is justification to keep on downloading illegally through P2P clients. (Totally for the band, right? Because we’d rather fuck the studio out of 88˘ than see that the band actually gets part of the money. Fucking hypocrites. Anyhow…) They do have a point… The technology has changed, but the business model has stayed, more or less, the same. It’s only a matter of time, though, before bands start to harnass the technology for themselves. Skip the studio, put out their own CDs and digital music, and have a management company handle setting up live gigs. I don’t think we’re going to see this out of any bands we know, though… Most of them are already tied up in contracts and other rights hassles. What we’ve gotta do is embrace and influence the up-and-comers, the local scene. It shouldn’t be a goal to “get signed” anymore… Burn CDs on your computer and start selling them that way. Build up to fancy disks–it’s not terribly expensive for orders of 1000 or so. Worry about getting gigs, getting on tour. But take control of your business… I don’t encourage artists to perform at their craft simply for money, but by taking control, musicians can take their time to make good art, or walk away when they’re running dry. They won’t feel so much of a need to keep pumping shit out just to live the good life.
Life is random.
13 January 2005Well, not really. Life is boring and repetitive from where I’m sitting. But I’ll soon be adding a bit of variety to my life, or rather, the soundtrack to my life.
I have, indeed, splurged. I have purchased the iPod shuffle:
I bought the 1 GB model, which holds about 240 songs encoded as 128 kbps MP3s. I did a little figuring… That comes out to 16 hours of continuous music–in the palm of my hand, in my pocket, or tucked beneath my shirt. Amazing. Some of those who own the bigger brother iPods say 1GB isn’t enough storage, but there isn’t a single iPod out there with a battery life longer than 15 hours, so by the time you need to recharge, you might as well load up a new playlist.
Ordered it yesterday afternoon, and I hope to be getting it early next week. You know, I care nothing about the “fad” that is iPod, but the ways in which Apple has been pushing the technological envelope is just amazing. I’m totally psyched.
Since I’ve been so delinquent…
12 January 2005…and I’m currently too lazy to write a real entry, some polls:
Q. Time now?
9:32 AM MST.
Q. Today’s date?
10 January
Q. Name on Birth Certificate?
Thomas Gordon Stricklin
Q. Age?
22
Q. Birthday?
15 January
Q. School/College/University?
Arizona State University still owns my soul, though I’m currently not attending.
Q. Shoe size?
~11 1/2
Q. Who lives with you?
Mom, Dad, Brother
——————HAVE YOU EVER—————–
Q. Ever been so drunk you blacked out?
Once. Watching “Crossroads” (w/ Britney Spears), playing a drinking game where I took a shot of tequila every time she showed cleavage. I was out cold in about 15 minutes.
Q. Missed school because it was raining?
Once or twice growing up, maybe, I don’t remember. I definitely skipped classes at college because of rain, but then, I didn’t need that much of an excuse.
Q. Put a body part on fire for amusement?
Never purposefully. Pulled my shoe away from a campfire once to realize my shoe was part of the fire. It was pretty amusing.
Q. Been hurt emotionally?
Duh.
Q. Kept a secret from everyone?
Probably, but not often. I needn’t repeat the “my life is an open book” speil.
Q. Had an imaginary friend?
Two of them, when I was around 5-6. Timmy and Bob.
Q. Wanted to hook up with a friend?
Story of my life. 
Q. Cried during a film, if so which film?
All the frickin’ time. I’m a sap for movies. I almost teared up watching Dogma last night. 
Q. Had a crush on a teacher?
Don’t think so. Maybe a student teacher or TA, but not that I recall.
Q. Ever thought an animated character was hot?
Like when Bugs Bunny would dress up as a girl bunny? j/k… Jessica Rabbit, maybe?
Q. Been on stage?
Sure. Elementary school drama as I’m sure most of us have done, and then later on w/ my band & a bit of “solo work”.
————————FAVOURITES———————
Q. Shampoo?
Garnier Fructis
Q. Colour?
Cornflower blue. (Grr… I’m always reminded of the boss from Fight Club when I say that.)
Q. Day/night?
The night time is the right time. Actually, I really love early morning, but mostly because it’s such a rare occurance that I’m awake for it.
Q. Lace or satin?
Eh? Leather, unless I’m wearing it, in which case I’m a sucker for cotton/poly blends.
Q. Cartoon character(s)?
Bender & the rest of the Futurama crew.
Q. Food?
Thanksgiving food, or tuna patties w/ mashed potatoes & peas.
Q. Advertisement?
Those HP photo commercials.
Q. Films?
Amélie, Good Will Hunting, Chasing Amy, Saving Private Ryan, Fight Club, Shawshank Redemption, Shaun of the Dead
Q. Non-alcoholic beverage?
Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper (esp. my own QuikTrip blend)
Q. Alcoholic beverage?
Amber Bock, Killian’s Red, hard lemonade, anything draft
Q. Person to talk to online
Kevin 
but as that rarely happens… my pal, screenwriter & published Marvel Epic writer Rob Worley
————-RIGHT NOW——————
Q. Wearing?
Boring work shirt & khakis.
Q. Eating?
Tums, but not enough.
Q. Drinking?
Bottled water.
Q. Thinking about?
Indigestion.
Q. Listening to?
Nada.
——–IN THE LAST 24 HRS——————
Q. Cried?
Nope.
Q. Worn jeans?
Yep.
Q. Met someone new?
Nope.
Q. Done laundry?
Nope.
Q. Drove a car?
Yes.
—————DO YOU BELIEVE IN————–
Q. Yourself?
I feel I can neither prove nor disprove my own existence. ;P Yeah, for the most part I do.
Q. Your Friends?
The ones who’ve stuck around this long, sure.
Q. Santa Claus?
Are you serious, Clark?
Q. Tooth Fairy?
No… I draw the line at the Easter Bunny and the male-friendly lesbian.
Q. Angels?
In a vague spiritual sense, I guess.
Q. UFOs?
Well, any flying object that can’t be identified is a UFO. Do I believe they’re aliens? Eh, I allow for the possibility. We’d make one hell of an ant farm, wouldn’t we?
——–FRIENDS AND LIFE——————
Q. Do u have a girlfriend/boyfriend?
Nope.
Q. Like someone…if so who?
Not at present.
Q. Who is your best friend?
Kaleena.
Q. Do you hate anyone?
Nope. Stongly as I may disagree with some people, hate’s an awfully strong emotion I don’t embrace easily.
Q. Who have you known the longest of your friends?
Kaleena.
Q. Who’s the shyest?
Erin. (I could really just start naming names, couldn’t I?)
Q. Who’s the weirdest?
Kaleena, I guess. They’re all a bit quirky in their own way.
Q. Who do you go to for stuff?
Stuff? I go to Kaleena when I need comforting.
Q. What’s the best feeling in the world?
Laying on a sleeping bag in the middle of nowhere, campfire to the side, starry night overhead.
Q. Worst feeling?
Doing something against my nature, i.e. being dishonest.
Q. Who will respond to this post the fastest?
To my post? I’m not sure if anyone will.
——–RANDOM——————
Q. What’s your favourite jelly flavour?
Grape.
Q. What’s the most illegal thing you’ve done?
I suppose using pirated software could get me in more trouble than underage drinking.
Q. Who are favourite music artists and/or bands?
The Eagles, etc… This has been done before.
Q. What do you think about sex?
It can be fun, people should enjoy it, but there’s way too much importance placed on it these days.
Q. What is your biggest fear?
Not living before I die… Guess I should stop being a lazy bum.
Q. Do you believe in reincarnation?
Not sure, but it’d make a lot of sense.
Q. What’s your biggest regret?
I don’t regret anything I’ve done nor anything I didn’t do or have yet to do thusfar. It all makes me who I am, and I’m happy with that.
Q. Would you ever lie to your best friend?
I can’t see any reason why. Only white lies I tell are to protect feelings & such, but I don’t think I have to do that w/ Kaleena.
Q. If you had just ONE wish…what would it be?
Hmm… Interesting, I think I’d wish not to have to worry about money, or to have enough not to worry. I’d like to accomplish most things for myself, but worrying about money is just mundane & tedious.
Q. If you could be anywhere right now, where would it be?
Camping.
Q. Do you believe in Heaven and Hell?
I think I become a bit agnostic when it comes to such specific terms. I guess I believe there are different levels of existence, but not sure how they’re arranged.
Q. Can you play a musical instrument, if so what?
Guitar, bass… keyboards back in the day.
Q: What kind of superhero power do you wish you had?
Telepathy.
Q. The time now is?
10:53 AM MST.
What sort of mobile/cell do you have?
Verizon Wireless - Nokia 3589i.
Would you ever be in a threesome?
Wouldn’t care to.
Have you ever been in a threesome?
Nope.
Name a song you think you sing well…
“Layla (Unplugged)” by Eric Clapton. Realized just yesterday that it was well within my singing range.
The moment you realised you grew up (not including birthdays)?
The same moment I realized my parents weren’t always right & sometimes acted childish themselves. Sometime about 3 years ago, not sure when exactly.
Your favourite peice of clothing?
Either of my classic fit Red Sox caps.
The cleverest thing you ever said?
I’m still fond of that, “If the helmet fits…” line, but I’m sure I’ve been cleverer.
The Dumbest thing you ever said
5th grade, I was trying to act cool & use language I hadn’t quite grasped. Used the word “pussy” in about the farthest-from-correct way possible.
Your ultimate ambition in 10 words or less?
To travel the world and make films and/or documentaries.
Favourite tv programme (for the blokes: no macho bullshit needed, Stargate does not need to be your answer)?
Friends
Do you think Elvis would have been as big a legend had he not of died young?
Did he die young? He was 47, wasn’t he? I’ll go so far as to say he’d have been a bigger legend if he’d died before the fat, pot-belly-sticking-out-of-white-jumpsuit days.
Who is your idol in…
Music?
Ehh… Clapton, for playing guitar.
Film?
David Fincher, Kevin Smith, Jean-Pierre Jeunet
TV?
Bill O’Reilly No, I don’t really have a TV idol.
Politics?
FDR. Not so much my idol, but someone I’d choose as a role model for our current leaders & representatives. He was pragmatic. Nobody is these days.
Overall?
My friend Genelle. She opened my eyes, gave me a creative & idealistic kick in the pants, and continues to inspire me to this day.
Favourite Magazine?
Heh… Seems I’ve magically started to receive Playboy in the mail for the past few months, and I’m not complaining. Honestly, though, I get more use out of a couple of trade magazines, Videography and DV Magazine.
Favourite Newspaper?
Don’t get the paper; don’t have a favorite. I’ll use Google to get news, and Fox & CNN to get spin.
Favourite Pub?
Cheers? No, no… The Winchester.
When do you most feel like you are you?
When I’m helping somebody, listening to them, helping them feel better, etc.
Do you believe in Magic?
Shit yeah, my friends and I used to play Magic at lunch time in middle school.
…real Magic? Not really.
Can you change the world?
Anyone can change the world, one person at a time. Plus there’s far less chance of fucking up as compared to, say, global domination.
What has dissapointed you the most in 2004?
Hmm… The election. I would’ve liked to see Bush get the boot, but Dems choose a weak candidate with no identity or personality. They handled the campaign reactively and cynically, and treated middle America like idiots. Not a way to win votes.
Can you dance?
Hell no. My limit is the White Man’s Overbite.
These are reposted from the ViewAskew message boards. Interestingly enough, filmmaker Kevin Smith’s wife makes a hobby out of answering board polls. It’s pleasantly amusing to know that well-known, well-to-do people know how to waste free time the same as we all do. :-)