One day, we will have to tell our children the truth about the environmental movement.
We will have to say:
When I was younger, we allowed a massive, unlawful cartel to control the world price of oil and damage our economy. Even though the cartel set the world market price for oil by curtailing its production whenever the price got too low for their tastes, we blamed others for the price.
We blamed the SUV owners, saying their excessive consumption drove up demand and created high prices. We blamed BP, Citgo, Shell, and Exxon for making a profit, even though their profits were only about four to eight cents on each gallon of gasoline. We ignored other things that drove up the price, like the many federal, state, and local gasoline taxes, to focus mainly on the corporations that refined and transported our fuel at meager levels of profit, and we taxed the oil companies heavily because we felt they made too much profit.
When the price reached $4.00, it was the realization of the pre-2000 dream of environmentalists, who wanted to see the price of gasoline go so high that people would stop buying it. $4.00 was a common price listed as the "no way" point back when gas was $0.99/gallon.
We refused to do anything about the price of oil and gasoline because we were following a mandate from the environmental movement that we had to eliminate our use of fossil fuels. We didn't drill for the oil we had to force the world market to correct its price, and we didn't pursue non-food crop-based fuels, such as hemp. We drove up the price of corn that could feed people in order to make ethanol, even though growing, refining, and transporting the stuff used more energy than it created, and even though it required high amounts of fertilizer and pesticide.
And because we refused to do anything about the price of oil, we followed the environmental movement's advice to conserve energy by changing our light fixtures from incandescent bulbs to fluorescent tubes, even though the compact tubes brought mercury or similar toxins into our homes and created a massive problem in proper disposal of the spent lamps.
And we gave away our freedom to climate control our homes, letting someone at a remote location control the thermostats in our houses so we wouldn't use as much electricity.
Loss of freedom and damage to the economy are the results of the policies put forth by the environmental movement. Eventually, we're going to have to be honest about this and tell our children that this is what it was doing to us. Why can't we be honest about it now and find a better solution?
Look around. Think through what the policies advocated by the environmental movement will eventually do to our nation. Then look around at the political candidates and see which ones have a record most closely aligned with the environmental movement. You can be sure that they favor policies that will have these effects:
- Higher fuel prices - Burning anything (except an SUV, it seems) is bad in the eyes of the environmental movement.
- Hamstrung economic growth - Taxing the oil companies (which are most likely in your mutual fund) hurts investors, which limits the amount of money available to start businesses, which limits the number of jobs that are created, which hinders the economic growth.
- Higher food prices - One of the environmental movement's sacred cows in this country right now is ethanol made from corn or sugar cane, even though most other nations have abandoned ethanol as more resource-intensive than petroleum. Candidates favoring ethanol from food crops favor higher food prices, which means more hungry poor in the USA.
- Less freedom - The environmental movement wants to tell you that you can't choose to spend your hard-earned money on electricity to cool or heat your home to the temperature that makes you comfortable. Candidates who support the environmental movement don't support your right of self-determination in small things... what makes you think they'll support it in large things? Maybe you've heard of the concept of faithfulness with little being an indication of worthiness to manage much?
- Hare-brained solutions and computer models that don't match facts and logic - Compact fluorescent tubes use less energy than incandescent bulbs, but they contain toxic chemicals: not a sensible solution. Candidates supporting the environmental movement follow the theory of massive man-made global warming, even though the science doesn't back the theory (maybe you read a few news articles about the drop in temperatures over the last year that wiped out a century's temperature rises, to name only one of many problems with the theory)... and even though following the theory requires steps hurtful to our God-given rights.

The environmental movement has failed us, and it is time to abandon it. We need to focus on being good stewards of the resources God has given us and stop blindly following this navel-gazing warm fuzzies movement. Environmentalism is fatally flawed. Stewardship is sound both ecologically and economically, as well as theologically and logically.
We must do a better job of taking care of God's green earth -- but we won't do that by joining the environmental movement in poorly-considered plans based on questionable science.
Consider this when you choose a political candidate this November. Think about what you'll tell your children.

Politics is a touchy subject with some people. And with many, it is the realm of emotion rather than reason.
With some politicians throwing around words like hope, change, and future without giving any clarification for what they mean by these words, I thought it would be a good idea to examine the possibilities and the mindsets that I've observed in recent months.
I think it fitting to begin with the future. Politicians love the future. After all, if all your promises are about the future, you don't have to actually do anything about them, because the future is always yet to be. The future is nebulous, unclear, and unpredictable. This is appropriate, because political promises tend to be the same things. I don't trust people who talk about the future in vague terms. If you want to talk about the future, put it in firm language so I know what you really mean to do.
Hope is a wonderful thing, but we need to have real hope, not throwaway hope. We need the kind of hope that is mentioned in Jeremiah 29:11, where God says His plans will give us a future with hope, that is, something real to look forward to. We need to avoid making political decisions based on throwaway hope, like when we look at the dark clouds and say, "I hope it doesn't rain." When we say that, we don't expect it to stay dry, and we don't really mind if that throwaway hope is not fulfilled. It's not real hope, and we don't care much whether it comes to pass. In fact, we expect that it will not be realized. This is a terrible way to make important decisions, because we have more at stake than whether we will have our picnic cut short by a rain that does us no more harm than making us wet.
No matter what anyone says, humans don't like change. We often feel there is no guarantee that the change will be for the better. Except when a politician talks about it. This is a good time to be wary. Pin people down. "What changes are you suggesting?" After all, someone who promises change can fulfill that promise by locking every person into an isolation cell. It's change, but do you support it? Change for the sake of change is not good. Changes need to happen as a logical solution to a problem. If the change is not adequately considered, it may do more harm than good. And question assumptions about what needs to change and why. It may be that someone has a vested interest in a change that hurts other people.
Of course, the most disturbing thing I've seen lately is not with the politicians themselves but with the voters. Many voters have been getting excited about candidates who say they will give them things ... things that are not really in their legitimate power to give ... things the Constitution doesn't grant the federal government power to enact.
Be careful, voters.
The road to totalitarian dictatorship is reached often through the side street of 'bread and circuses'. Be wary of anyone who promises to give you things that are not rightly yours. Government is supposed to protect your ability to use your gifts and talents and efforts to make a good life for yourself with what God has provided. Government is not supposed to give to some at the expense of others. It is supposed to protect and give equally to all (roads, etc.).
"In the end they will lay their freedom at our feet and say to us, 'Make us your slaves, but feed us.'" --Dosteovsky's Grand Inquisitor
"The mob is traitor to the people." —Victor Hugo

Do you think I'm a strong man? Do you think I have all my ducks in a row? Do you think I am a spiritual giant?
I hope none of you think I am any of those things, because I'm not.
I'm a scared and frightened little child. I'm insecure and uncertain of myself and my future. I'm not strong or secure, and I'm tired of pretending. It's stupid to pretend, because my strength doesn't matter. It's God's strength that will carry me through whatever I face in my life.
You might wonder why I would pretend to be strong in the first place, knowing that God's strength is best displayed when I am weak. It's quite simple. I want to be strong for my wife. I want to be attractive to her as a protecter and provider. But that's silly; the woman I want to marry will be more impressed that I rely fully on God for my strength and my ability to protect her and provide for her and our children than she would be by my strength were it a hundred times the average man's.
So I should not pretend that I am a paragon of strength or that I can provide for anything in my limited energy. All people are dependent on God's loving providence to deliver into their hands the means to feed and clothe themselves honorably. Some people cheat to acquire their livelihood, but they are definitely not relying on God for their provision, and those who willfully sin to get their bread and clothing and more than they need cannot reasonably expect God's protection from calamity.
But I digress.
I am not strong. I am weak. I am a frightened little child lost in a wood. I am nothing and know nothing. If there be any good thing in me, it is what God has given me, and it is not of myself.

I polished off the last of some lavender yarn today with a mobile phone case. I had to use lime green yarn to make a belt loop and top strap for it, because I ran out of lavender. If I keep waking up early, I'll be drowning in crochet projects.
I'm still working on the chevron blanket, but it is slow going because the rows are so long. I went to Wally World this afternoon to get more of the 'color' of yarn with which I started the chevron blanket. It's Red Heart 1987 Bathtime Print. The clerk who helped me with my 6" sample said it seems to have been discontinued, but they had three skeins. I should only need one, but I bought two, since it's discontinued. Good thing I went today. I got to the end of mine this evening and had to start one of my new skeins.

I finished 'reading' A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court on cassette and started 'reading' P.G. Wodehouse's The Code of Wooster: Jeeves to the Rescue. While there is no equal to Mark Twain for humor, I have been greatly enjoying Wooster's misadventures so far. When Stiffie brought out her plan, I was in guffaws. I anxiously await the continuation of this comedy of errors on my commute tomorrow. :)

I think I will be a great deal warmer on my commute in coming days, as I noted white smoke-like mist coming from my A/C vents this evening. I have seen this before in other cars, and I believe it to mean that my A/C needs to be charged. I sincerely hope I can get it done with freon, because whatever people say, the synthetic stuff isn't as effective. Also, whatever they say, freon refrigerant can't possibly be important in the alleged decay of the ozone layer, as it is heavier than air and thus sinks, not rises, and it hasn't been in use the 300 or so years it would take for air currents to theoretically carry it up to where it might destroy any ozone, which, by the way, is created by sunlight. There. Right, so, I hope charging an A/C with freon is not too expensive.

It's been over 90 the past few days. Not ideal for walking around on campus.

Well, it is getting quite late. I must to bed. Please pray for me; I need a big cold front. Then I wouldn't have to worry about my A/C for a while.

I've been struggling lately with what to do with my life.
I've been adrift on this question, more or less, since I left high school. Except for mission trips and my first two years of college, I guess I've been wondering what I should be doing the rest of that time.
See, my family has no family business. My mother taught elementary school, and my father was a sheriff's deputy. There was no family business for me to follow in. I want to live and work for Jesus in whatever I do, but that does little to make the decision clear, because Christians can serve God in their work in almost any field. I asked God what He wants me to do for a career. I asked my friends to pray for me and tell me what God told them about me. The response I got back more than any other response was that God wants me to pick a path; that He will help me with it.
I have multiple talents. It's sort of nice that I can help people in a variety of ways, but having multiple options for a career is not pleasant. I know that may seem crazy to some people, but it stinks to have so many options you don't know where to start. I'm sort of a jack-of-all-trades. I'm not skilled enough at enough things to be a Rennaissance man.
And I have limitations. Because of certain factors of my life, I am uncomfortable with the prospect of handling food preparation for strangers. Because of my body thermostat, I can't work outside regularly. Because of my lack of depth perception, I can't fly fighter planes and am uncomfortable with driving large vehicles. Because of my sinus problems, I will probably never become a DJ, not that DJs do what they used to.
I'm not complaining I can't do anything. Far from it, these limitations still leave an intimidating number of options on the career buffet. They just represent a few of the things I might have chosen to do.
My best skills, for what it is worth, better or worse, are in thinking about things and then talking about them. Ironically, that seems to be, from the hype in the media and in the classroom, a large part of the new economy. Unfortunately, no one has offered me a job doing it.
And I must have work. I cannot simply do this for a side ministry, because I must eat, and no one has offered to support me as a missionary to... the Internet? I don't think I could accept the offer if it came. And in addition to supporting myself, I still need a fairly stable income to be attractive to a responsible woman.
I have not met my wife yet, but I want her to be confident I can support my family, however many people end up being in it.
I have a pressing, even haunting desire to not waste this time I've been given. And in all of this, I am still, though I have been an adult for over a decade, a small and frightened child, watching and listening to hear what would please my Father.
I want my life to be wholly devoted to God.
Which is my current question. Am I going in the right direction preparing for a stable job in a career as a copy editor? Or am I wrong in that, and should I instead be focusing all my efforts on completeing more novels, on getting them published, and on getting people to buy them and read them?
Nothing is clear to me between these two. And the nagging question comes whether the choice should even be between these, or if I should be doing something else. It is a terrible burden to have an important choice under your umbrella of responsibility.
Who am I? And what should I be doing with this life I have?

My first story will appear in tomorrow's campus paper. School is under way. Last week was a little hectic, with the news story and all. This week is about to start being hectic, with this week's story event happening on Friday.
I'm sorry I haven't been around much, but that's how it goes with the schedule I have.
I've been meaning to write entries here for a while, real entries-- not just passalongs and surveys, but that hasn't happened.
I'm still not doing a good job of getting enough sleep.
But it's two weeks into the semester, and I guess I'm doing okay. I don't know how I'm going to get through all the reading I have to do this semester on top of all the work for the newspaper. I started with a bit of a buffer, but I don't know how long that will last, and I'm not sure it's helping, because I read the early stuff so long ago I hardly remember it.
The first day of classes, I borrowed Anna Karenina on cassette from the school library. I've been listening from the point where I had reached in the paper copy. I've now reached the third part of the book. Sadly, I am more interested in Levin and Kitty than I am in the title character. Still, I am enjoying the book, and it distracts me from the length of my journey.
Anyway, I've been looking over some logs from last year. Mostly, I was combing them for questions that were good to ask in getting to know someone. But it is interesting to see some of the topics I discussed with people last year. I think I was much more in tune with current events last year.
I have a hard time following current events because people tend to want to put deep value onto everything they observe. It's good to care about things, even deeply or passionately, but looking at every event as being of epic proportions is like jumping at every sound. It'll be hard for anything to sneak up on you, but in a short time, the adrenaline will do more damage to you than the dangers you feared. I find my life is a lot calmer when I wait to hear things by word of mouth. A lot fewer Chicken Little stories reach me that way than when I pay attention to the media.
That's an ironic point of view, I know, from someone who is studying journalism. But I think it shows that journalists needs to be more selective about describing trends. If we say something is heading a certain way, we might cause the likelihood to shift in that direction. We are stewards of truth, so we need to be sure we are saying things we can verify and not things that are conjectural.
I also think the public would like to see more good news. We don't focus enough on good things that happen.

I'll probably pick up five or ten copies of the paper tomorrow. :)

On Monday, I was having some pain in my leg, and I began to worry about it. I asked some friends to pray for me that the pain would be nothing serious and that I wouldn't freak out.
My mom showed me a week-long series in Daily Guideposts 2007 on worry.
May 7: "Next to me, an older gentleman stretched his arms to the ceiling and announced to no one in particular, 'If I knew life was going to turn out this good, I never would have worried so much!' .... I happened to know that his life was not without difficulty." --Edward Grinnan
In the May 9 entry, Grinnan recounts a lesson given him that worry is a self-focused activity and that it blocks positive thoughts we could be having, including a focus on God. He points out that worry is heavily related to control. I think that may be why I worry so much. I like to be in control, and I'm usually not in control of anything. I should not worry.
In the May 11 entry, Grinnan mentions something that can help us to not worry: "Enthusiasm is one of the greatest blessings we can receive-- and, I'm beginning to think, the perfect antidote to worry."
So think on the good things, be excited about good things that can happen, and don't worry. These are hard instructions to keep, but if we did, we'd be much happier.
I continue to covet your prayers, because I am still having some pain in various places. I think it is from a little bit too much exertion one day this weekend and from being tired from not sleeping enough. Please pray for me that that is what I am experiencing (I may also have caught a touch of a summer cold), and that I don't worry. And don't you worry. And pray that I get the rest and whatever else I need to be healthy.

  One of the most important things to remember about missions is that we do not forge a path into uncharted territory, taking the Lord with us. When we go into places away from our home, we are joining Jesus in work He's already doing.
  I once heard an excellent paraphrase of Psalm 59:10, which was, "My God, in His lovingkindness, shall meet me at every corner." Every time we approach a corner and don't know what's around the bend, God is there providing for us. Every time we come to a corner and feel trapped, God is already there providing for our needs. Psalm 139 tells us in verses 7-13 that no matter where we go in the world, even to the heights and depths of heaven or hell, God will be with us.
  I mention this because I know there are times we forget it.
  I heard a story a few years ago about a mission team that went to Poland. The story was told to me by a Pole, and he said that when they arrived in the airport in Warsaw, they were wearing shirts that said something like "Bringing Christ to Poland". He said the sight of it made him sick. I can well understand his feeling. Christianity was adopted in Poland in A.D. 966, over a millennium ago.
  And even if the team had been going somewhere with no formal history of Christianity, they still would not be taking Christ anywhere He had not already been. Christ precedes us in missions. Christ is at work wherever He calls us. We need to remember that we are not the root of God's grace, from which we take and spread it abroad. Nor are we the vessels where God's grace ends up, to be stored and enjoyed. We are conduits, the branches (Jn 15:5) that carry God's grace from the root to the leaves like water; living water flows through us, and while it nourishes us in passing, it does not stop in us: we pass it on.
  Remember, when you go out in missions, that you are not taking Christ anywhere. You are following Him.

  Missions is important. Every member of Christ's universal Church is called to some form of missions, whether it is full-time service in a particular field, summer mission trips, or praying daily for missionaries in the field.
  Missions is such an important part of the Church that we would be doing a great disservice to the work of the Kingdom if we went out in missions ill-prepared or with wrong motives. And yet, that is what we as individual congregations often do. This is unacceptable.
  We need to understand first that right motives don't always translate to right actions. Proverbs 27:14 says that we can bless people in the wrong way and have our actions counted as a curse. If we do not understand what we are doing, we can easily do more harm than good. Proverbs 27:7 tells us that one who is full despises even the sweetest things, which reminds us that we need to make sure the needs we're trying to meet are the needs people actually have. And Proverbs 27:12 says, "A prudent man forseeth evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished."
  Let us be wise, let us forsee the possible evils of doing missions with wrong motive or wrong preparation, and lets us avoid the danger.
  First, we must have the right motives in doing missions. We oughtn't do missions to increase our church membership. We oughtn't do missions to make ourselves feel good or to get a blessing, though that often accompanies mission work. We oughtn't do missions to make ourselves feel better about our circumstances. We ought to do missions because Jesus calls us to it, because we are reflecting God's love, and because we have the Spirit of Love in our hearts.
  Second, we must have the right attitude. We are not better than the people we meet in the mission field. We are not inherently smarter, nor do we know everything. We are not experts on the culture, no matter how long we've been working there. We don't know better than the locals. We have the same number of right ideas and wrong ideas as everyone else, really; Really. We are in missions to share God's love, and part of love is respect. We need to have an attitude of respect, because whether the local customs are right or wrong, they are the local customs. Yes, we should exhort people to righteousness and away from sin, but no, just because they do things differently doesn't make them wrong. Our attitude must show that we know the difference between actual sin and cultural differences of opinion.
  Third, we must be well-prepared for the missions we undertake. If you aren't going to take the time and effort to learn how to properly move about in another culture, stay home. If you aren't going to take the time and effort to learn how to properly do what you're going to do, stay home. It is better that you stay home and do no missions than that you go off ill-prepared and break something that was livable as it was. To go on a mission, individuals need to have training in how to approach a different culture. Training is important.
  Fourth, we need to listen to the local people. They've lived in their culture their whole lives. If they tell us something, we need to listen. We don't need to do anything we feel is counter to the will of God, but we need to listen and fairly evaluate what we are told. The simple pass on ignoring the warnings, and they are punished for it.
  Finally, in all that we do for God in missions, we need to think about how we are treating people and ask ourselves whether we would want to be treated that way.
  Missions is crucial to the Kingdom. We need to do it. We need to do it correctly. It's vitally important that we do.

Here are some notable parts of my journal of the trip to Poland:
  "I've been thinking a lot about single-field missionaries, those lovely people who visit a place and fall in love with it and its people and go back year after year to the same place. I've never really been one of those. I've been a lot of places. This thinking seems to be leading somewhere for me.
  I also reflected that I do have a fierce love of the people in Poland. One of the things I have often prayed in recent weeks is that our team do no harm to the people in Poland, to the reputation of our church or Pastor Kris' parish in Poland, to the relationships between Poland and its Methodist churches and the UMVIM churches in the States. I am at enmity with harm."
  "While I was looking through my devotional book, I ran across a note I'd written on an entry. I had prayed that God would bring me to live out my love of the English language by teaching it OR guide me in a different direction. And I just laughed. How often do we ask God to do this or that, I reflected, and God answers with AND instead of OR? After all, here I am in Poland teaching English, AND God has led me in a different direction, Journalism or something else in Communications."
  "I'm having stronger wonderings about where God is calling me.
  I think that I'm being called to a ministry of drawing people out into the mission field. Obviously, my going many places is not going to make a huge difference, but if I can get many people to go many places for God's mission in the world, that will make a huge difference."
  "Late in the evening, I found myself rattling around and thinking about a calling to draw others into missions. Missions is important, and more important is doing missions the right way."
  We got back on Monday. On Wednesday, there was a meal and presentation by the Peru team, which had left and returned shortly before the Poland team went over. It was interesting to me to see how the light of missions was in the eyes of the team members. That excitement was good for me to see, but I didn't put it there.
  I think that's the first thing God wants me to realize about getting others involved in missions: I can't do it.
  See, I've been trying for years to get my church more involved in missions. But it was another missionary from our church who got this Peru team started. And it was that trip, not mine, that gave them that excitement for God's work.
  The second thing I think God wants me to understand is that it's okay that I can't do this.
  My job is to do what He's called me to do. The results are up to God, so the results are not my responsibility. My responsibility is to do the task God gives me to the best of my ability.
  This idea is a bit freeing, because I don't have the slightest idea about what to do first or next. But it's also scary, because I can't cling to my inability to decide the outcomes for myself, lest I should lose sight of the importance of doing the task God has given me.
  I think my first step, then, is to sit down and make notes about all the things I know about missions. I expect this will take a humblingly short amount of time.
  I wish you well. May God richly bless you.

I've been doing some research for class, and here are some of the gems I've encountered.
It's about time I saw someone else saying these things. Most of the points in Nintendo's Wii Is the Best Product Ever are things I've been saying ever since I heard about the features of the Wii, and PS3, and the Xbox360.
That article had links to some others which I couldn't resist reading.
Yeah, I think I was right to avoid MySpace all these years... and for many of the same reasons mentioned here: MySpace, Second Life, and Twitter Are Doomed. I did not, however, predict what is predicted in the article. I just complained about it and stayed away.
Even though I could not care less if you paid me not to care, this article, iPhone to Flop...Then Fly is a pretty good read, and I think he's mostly right in his analysis. I disagree about the keypad issue, though. That will hold them back. Anyway, I don't really care if iPhone does well or poorly, because I'm not into multi-function phones. I want my phone to be a telephone and nothing or very little else. Text messaging is sort of useful, now that we have predictive entry.
Another news item is this one about Blockbuster video choosing Blu-Ray for its high definition rentals. As A Slipped Disc? explains, the war is not over, and since HD-DVD is more closely aligned with the computer world (while Blu-Ray has a good corner of Hollywood), HD-DVD may be the winner in the end. That's where I'd put a wager, if I had to. Computing and recording are more important than Hollywood releases.
Finally, Google is doing things that annoy me. Their maps service is the one thing I do use on their site (except when individual sites use Google for the backend of their site search page, but that doesn't really count. Anyway, this article suggests that Google Is Watching Us! An interesting read.
Well, i should probably get back to my assignment. I have more research to do.

I've heard many people say they found their mates when they stopped looking, and suggesting that singles who want to get married should just stop looking. I don't believe that's either healthy or helpful.
You didn't find your mate when you stopped looking because you stopped looking. Either your attitude became right, and that was what was lacking, or you lacked faith and gave up right before your faith became sight. Make your attitude right, but keep looking.
It would be a sadistic god who made people wait for no reason other than that they were waiting and looking for something special. It would also be a god not the God of the Bible, because Jesus says we should ask, seek, and knock. Keep looking, but make sure your attitude is right. Seek first His kingdom, deny yourself and honor others above yourself. But none of that conflicts with seeking something righteous and watching for it.
Be faithful and watchful but not wrongly focused or desperate. Focus on God but trust His goodness to provide for the heart desires He's given you.

-------------

By the way, I want to let you all know that it's okay to send me IMs. Though I do find myself surprisingly busy these days, I'm not slammed the way I was in the spring semester. I can stop and talk most of the time if I am online. I feel a little lonely sometimes because nobody's on or I don't know what to say to start a conversation.
I went looking for new people to add and found some addme communities, but most of the people on there were in their teens or, um, questionable prospects for a decent conversation. If you know someone who should be on my IM contact list, let us both know. :)

I hear from time to time that we're heading for a cashless society. I don't believe that.
There are numerous problems with the idea of a cashless society, beyond the difficulties that would have to be overcome to implement it, which are great in themselves.
( This became surprisingly long. )

Films about social injustice should be done hesitantly, because if we portray something that is unusual, we can make its perception as being more the norm, and we might in this way hurt the very cause we wished to promote or help the deviance we wished to expose and eradicate.

There is a great misuse, in our society, of questioning.
( We are told... )

You asked: Bush is a divider, not a uniter. Agree or disagree?
I disagree. I think President Bush is trying to pull people together, people who hate each other, people who would rather kill each other than compromise their fanatical beliefs, people who've drawn territories for themselves and resent any attempts by their counterparts in the other ideological camp to enter those boundaries.
I'm speaking, of course, of Congress.
On top of that, he has a problem in Iraq.
But all kidding aside, this question brings up another that is, at once, similar and totally unrelated.
( Cut for length )

My mom and I went tonight to see the Taming of the Shrew. It was pretty good. The director costumed the players in modern clothing, for the most part, and had the good sense to leave Shakespeare's lines in their original form. We laughed a lot, both at the Shakespearean jokes and at the modern sight gags. All in all, it was a fun time.
Some people hissed at Kate when she delivered her final soliloquy, which I felt was in very bad taste.

I've seen recently a few of the Disney dubs of the works of Hayao Miyazaki. They have been skillfully realized films, dubbed with great care to their accuracy and synchronization, that have been worth seeing a second and third time. If any of you are fans (or become fans) of Studio Ghibli's works, I'd enjoy discussing them with you.

Frustration has been present in many of my recent days. My desires ebb and flow, turning up now and then on different days most strongly, but all of them, both great and small, seem postponed with no estimated time of arrival. And most frustrating is that this is true of both my heart desires (finding my wife, having steady work to provide for her and buy a house, and getting married) and of the minor whims of the passing of the day (having money to buy this or that amusement), as well as the desires in between (having money to support worthwhile artists by buying their works). I feel pulled in a thousand different directions with no clear idea of how to accomplish any of my desires because of the choices I have made as far as getting my next degree. I feel both pulled to things beyond my reach and anchored to things beyond my control other than drastic choices not easily undone. And I am tired, weary from lack of discipline to sleep at reasonable hours and exercise as much as I should. And I've been having trouble getting myself motivated to do the things I need to do.

I am making good progress with the exercise, though. I have a treadmill now, and I can exercise while I do my class reading. Since March 9th, when I took the Everything Test and discovered that I weighed 198 pounds (and decided that was probably not healthy), I've made good progress. Without making many changes at all (mostly just curbing the between-meal snacking), I've lost about 6 pounds. I plan to simply stick to this method, no particular emphasis other than eating a regular breakfast and a light meal and a big meal, taking seconds only when I am actually still hungry, and trying to get a little bit of extra activity, and lose weight until my body reaches its optimal weight. I'm not setting an arbitrary goal, because I'm not dieting. But I might continue to keep track of where I am, thought I might not, because I can't think of any reason you all would care about such things. I mean, I care when my friends are trying to reach a goal because it's important to them, but wouldn't care if they didn't care.

Tomorrow is a new day. I no longer feel hideous, my lip having cleared up almost completely. I expect this episode is over.

The semester is reaching that point where the assignments begin to really come hot on the heels of each other. I want to get them done quickly, but they take particular steps to complete that cannot be done as quickly as I would like. I'm going to finish this degree, but I'm not sure whether I'm well-suited for reporting.

Pray for me, for guidance and discipline... and that I find my wife soon for her friendship with me to grow strong.

If you haven't done so, please reply to this entry; I need a bunch of responses, because I have about 20 pictures left. Feel free to ask for generic things around town that you like (courthouse, city hall, traffic lights, town's holiday decorations)... anything you would like to see. I've only gotten a few responses, so please hurry! You don't have to know my very well, either (as long as you're willing to tell me where to send it).

  It's stinking cold in my dorm room. The past several nights, I've felt worse and worse as the night goes on, and I think it's because of the cold. It's not that cold outside, but the A/C unit in our room blows cold air all night. Tonight, I put on my bathrobe, and I don't feel as bad as I've been feeling, but my hands still get cold, and I realized that my hands, at least, and the shivering, remind me a lot of my time in Poland in the winter. I know I should go to bed earlier, but I feel in the late evening that I'm just getting started on the important things I'll get done during the day.
  I mentioned already that my current website design is ending. I started work on my new design last night. This time, I remembered first thing to archive a copy of the old design. Then I set about designing the layout. It's four boxes under the site name graphic that lead to four areas: The Page - My writing, The Hand - About me and my thoughts, The Muse - Influences on my work, and Poland - My time in Poland. I'm concerned that the labels are a bit trite and corny, but I'll go with them for now, unless I hear from many people that the idea is bad.
  I hate uncertainty. I hate not knowing how something is or should be. I think that's why I feel the need to constantly check the waters, why the counsel of those around me holds so much importance for me. Sometimes, I think I'd rather things turn out quickly the way I don't want them to go than for uncertainty to drag on. Uncertainty is when I do lots of overthinking, I think...and that applies to so many things: worrying when someone doesn't come at the expected hour, the status of friendships, feeling ill and throwing up or not, test scores and semester grades, and romantic relationships, et cetera.
  I have not been comepletely forthright with some of you who've spoken to me recently, because I have been in a state of flux regarding something.
  After I got back to Jacksonville, I asked Ruth what I had asked her before we met: What do you think about our relationship, and where do you see it leading? At that time, we discussed some issues we had noticed during our visit. As well as the two of us match, as amazed as i am at how well we match, there are some significant differences between us in the way we approach things and our relative levels of independence. We decided to give some time to thinking and praying about these concerns to decide whether they were red flags or simply areas that we needed to work on reaching a compromise. For this reason, I felt that I ought not reveal this state of flux to other people.
  I am confident that God has someone better suited than me for Ruth, and that He has someone very well-suited for me. It is possible that God's will is, indeed, for Ruth and me to marry, and if so, I'm sure He will let us know. Otherwise, we will try to patiently await our respective spouses. I am thankful for the many nights of wonderful conversation we had. My semester was greatly brightened by our nightly chats. I think that the speed with which we got to know each other, the maturity with which we handled things, and the due caution with which we treated things (she more than I, hehe) made our recognition of the status of our relationship faster and lessened the pain of our decision to take a step back.
  I am sad that it did not go differently, and I have some pain, but I am glad to have things settled, and I am happy to know Ruth; I know she will be a magnificent wife for someone, whether that someone is me or not. God bless you, Ruth. May He make you and your husband exceedingly happy.
  An entry bears this similarity to a romantic relationship: they are both difficult to end gracefully.
  Speaking of tests and grades, please pray for me. The semester ends soon. I have three major assignments due this week. I wish this week were over and its pains forgotten. God bless you all! Good night.

I need to get more exercise. I feel as though I'm becoming more and more out of shape.
I want to get a treadmill.
I need a treadmill, because if I had a treadmill, I could get so much exercise. I'm the kind of guy who'll walk on the treadmill in the middle of the night. Not the best time to go to the gym. And I would be able to walk in the treadmill in the hot months and when it rains and when it's bitter cold and when no one else is awake and when the pollen is almost thick enough to see. All great times to be indoors walking on a treadmill. I could also get more reading done, because I love reading on the treadmill.
Several years ago, I saw a treadmill on TV that had no motor; it was just a series of rollers. The user provides the energy, the device doesn't have tons of expensive parts and electronics, and there's no electricity to use up. I would love to find one of those. I need a treadmill.
I want to walk more.
I need to get more exercise.