I went to see Ben Stein's movie, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed [Web site], this afternoon. It was well-constructed, and his interviews were well-done, showing respect for the evolutionists he interviewed and asking the hard questions of the intelligent design representatives he interviewed.
You should see this movie.
The movie is not about Creationism. The movie is not about the theory of intelligent design. The movie is about academic freedom.
Students are being oppressed in this country by those who would deny our God-given right to ask questions (partially guaranteed by the First Amendment in the redress of grievances clause). It is not whose idea is right or wrong or valid or invalid. It is that we have the right to ask questions. It should be self-evident that God has given us the right to ask questions about anything and everything. It is most profitable to us if we ask questions in humility and in the search for truth, but we can ask any question.
Except in the classroom. In the classroom, the Right of Inquiry is being denied.
That is why this movie is important. We need to be aware that the Right of Inquiry is being denied, and we need to demand that institutions and governmental bodies respect our rights of inquiry and discourse. We need to demand that theories be taught in the context of discourse and rigorous criticism.
I do not believe Creationism should be taught in a classroom funded by taxpayers. I do not believe that Intelligent Design Theory should be taught as the only theory of the origin of life. I do not believe that Neo-Darwinian Evolution Theory should be taught as the only theory of the origin of life. I believe that these theories should both (or in concert with other theories) be honestly discussed as theories put forth by their respective authors, honestly criticized in a discourse of examination and inquiry, and honestly set to rest at the end of the unit or class as exactly what they were at its beginning: theories. And let the students decide for themselves what theory they feel has the best basis in fact, evidence, logic, and their own personal worldview. Anything less is a disservice to science and to the students of our educational institutions. To teach one theory and only one theory in a classroom is to preach a dogma, not to teach an informative course in science or anything else that falls under the heading of education.
Any theory that cannot exist in an environment of discourse, criticism, and inquiry is not a serious theory. In the words of Charles Spurgeon, "Truth is a strong tower and never requires to be buttressed with error."

This evening, there was at OWC's Arts Center a lecture by Nancy Pearcey on the cultural implications of the evolution theory. This was part of the reason I chose to watch the movie today. The newspaper indicated that the movie was the subject of the lecture. It was called "Beyond Expelled"
One of the interesting things she pointed out is that roughly 80% of this country believes that an intelligent designer (either through guided evolution or through direct creation) was involved in the origin of the forms of life we see in the world today. Only 10-20% believe evolution without any supernatural force is the source of today's diverse world of life. And then she said something I thought was noteworthy:
"The public schools have a responsibility to respect the public."
Now, if 80% of the nation believes there was a designer involved, why do the school systems teach as though it were uncontested a theory of naturalistic forces without the input of a designer?

Something that occurred to me while she was speaking was the realization that the environmentalist who fights to protect the planet from polluter-humans and the amoral business that pours toxic sludge into the rivers both take their worldview from the same place. Darwinism is the belief behind both the personification of the environment, or less extremely, the dignity of the environment, that the environmental movement holds central and the contextual erasure of the exploitative business or social pragmatist. They both rely on this idea of man as an evolved animal who has no higher spiritual calling than to either fulfill his animalistic passions or to protect nature as an example of all that is pure and natural.
Neither the environmentalist nor the unscrupulous corporate raider has respect for both human freedom and dignity and for stewardship of the earthly realm. In fact, I would suggest that only a worldview based on the Bible (an economic model of Biblical capitalism, which relies on both stewardship and individual self-determination) can respect both humanity and natural stewardship.
In other words: If there is no creator, if we came from non-living matter purely by chance or natural laws, but either way without a creator, then we have no responsibility to each other as humans with dignity, nor do we have anyone to be responsible to in the question of whether to practice good stewardship of the land, because without a creator, we have no one to be stewards for... and since I have already said that without a creator there can be no responsibility to each other, there is likewise no responsibility to hold the land in stewardship for our descendants. This is the logical consequence of a worldview wherein people came from evolutionary processes alone.

By the way, she also mentioned in passing the practice in many schools of telling children that all ideas have equal validity. This is a precept of postmodernist philosophy. I immediately thought of this comic: Hard Onions: Marketplace of Ideas
So, go see the movie, and check out the writings of Nancy Pearcey.

Edited to add:
Freedom of Inquiry means being able to follow the evidence wherever it leads.
There is a false dichotomy between science and religion. I believe honest scientific exploration in search of the truth will always lead to a deeper understanding of the truth of God's word.
Freedom of Inquiry means encouraging questions and seeking of the truth.
Students have the right to know that what they are being taught is accurate. How can they discover that if they can't ask questions about the validity, truth, and accuracy of what is being put forth?
"The situation may be expressed by an image: science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." --Albert Einstein

I didn't pull out the stitches yet. I started fresh with a different skein. I'm not sure if this will become a pillow cover, which is the item from which I modeled it, or an afghan. Probably the former, unless I get crazy with the size of it.

I went out tonight to a gathering of my church's singles group. We watched Lucky You, which turned out to be a pretty good movie. We talked about how Hollywood is skillful at getting audiences to sympathize with characters they wouldn't normally like.

Ask me some time later about my philosophy on gambling.

I finished The Code of the Woosters: Jeeves to the Rescue tonight, and while it was a trifle predictable (or else I have powers of deduction that made it predictable to me), I nevertheless thoroughly enjoyed it. However, when I say predictable, I mean that I knew what was going to happen a few sentences before it happened, and that this happened several times, not that I knew everything five steps ahead of where I was. The ending provided a few twists and turns, and while I felt sorry for the policeman, I did not feel too sorry. All in all, a delightful book, and I thoroughly enjoyed Wooster and Jeeves as characters, as well. The book had me laughing uproariously several times as I was driving down the Interstate. Fortunately, these outbursts of laughter did not cause me to lose control of my vehicle nor necessitate pulling over to the shoulder. I highly recommend it, though perhaps it would be better to begin with an earlier work in the series. I did not, unfortunately, see any other books of this sort on the library's cassette-based books shelf.

A minor note on the crochet front. I have completed another random square. I think I have almost mastered the art of turning corners. Still, I think my best square came by beginning at a corner and moving outward along two sides rather than trying to keep four corners square by going around in a squared spiral. I also toyed a little with a design I saw on a pillow, which I am trying to duplicate. Unfortunately, I did not look closely enough at the design before starting, and it turned into a cup shape rather than a flat square made of little triangles. Ah, well. You live and learn, and maybe you pull out all your stitches and start anew, the wiser for the mistakes. :)

The world attempts to tell us that hate and selfishness are the ways to live. These are lies. Don't believe them. Love and giving generously to others are the stepping stones to a life well-lived. Gentleness and love should be our goals, and in most cases our means. Other means are necessary some times, unfortunately, but we ought to minimize their use, for they are not profitable.

I am half-way through Ben Hur, a magnificent tale of a man's journey of faith. Good stuff.

On Wednesday, my mother took me out to eat at a wonderful Japanese restaurant called "Fuji" in the plaza where Hobby Lobby and Books-A-Million is on Davis in Pensacola. I've only eaten there a few times, but it's always been excellent. The atmosphere is nice, the music is calming and pleasant, the service is attentive, the portions are generous, the food itself is delicious, and the price is good for what you get. I like the miso soup they bring before the meal.
In the evening, we went to see Spider-man 3. I've never read the comics, so I didn't have that comparison to deal with. Still, I wasn't sure how good it was going to be, because some people said it wasn't as good as the first two, but I needn't have worried. It was an excellent film, and the multiple villains (including Peter's own nature) were well-handled and well-spaced through the film. Three good movies is plenty to get out of a franchise, and I do notice that sequels don't tend to be as good, but I do kind of hope they make a fourth one, because I'd like to see Peter now that he's learned the lessons he found in this movie. And I'm sure there are plenty of villains left to fight.
Oh, and we got a little bit of rain, which was nice, but we still need some more.

I have been falling down on my plan to write about the movies I've seen and the books I've read.
Before I finished Return of the Native, I read Shadow of the Giant, which is apparently the last book in the shadow section of the Ender saga. I found the book to be hilarious, though my mom didn't, so maybe my sense of humor in irony is more heightened than hers. This book chronicles Peter Wiggin's attempts to unite most of the world under one government. The way he tries this is unique, and a nice idea, but all the other events of the series needed to be in place for it to have a chance. I consider the idea of a world governing body to be a pipe dream, an idea that can only come true as a dystopian event in the end of the world. I would recommend the Ender saga to others, but while the shadow section is great reading, I would recommend the original four books primarily. Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead, and Xenocide are the best in the saga. Children of the Mind is almost as good. Ender's Shadow, the first book in the shadow section, is definitely worth reading, as it puts Ender's Game in an interesting light, though the original book certainly stands on its own, and I did have trouble at first with reconciling the two sides of the story, but it is still worth reading if you don't mind seeing the events from a different viewpoint. Each additional book in the shadow section of the saga is worth reading, but each additional book is slightly inferior to the ones that went before. It is only because of the amazingly high quality of Ender's Game that the saga has continued to produce worthy reads into the eighth book, because this trend is also found in the original tetralogy. There, however, even the fourth book is of such high caliber that the trend is not apparent until the last four books bring the comparison to mind.
I have recently seen a number of movies, and I can't remember what they all were. I'll mention those I remember:
Pursuit of Happyness [sic] - This is a powerful story, and worth watching. It reminds me that in a nation that claims to prize hard work and honesty, we make it difficult for honest, hard-working people who've had some mishaps in their lives to get by.
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind - Studio Ghibli's first film. This story of war and nature is haunting and beautiful. I recommend all of Miyazaki's films.
Freedom Writers - When I saw this on the shelf at the video store, I knew it was going to be either very good or very bad. It was on the good side. My favorite line from the film: "What if every teacher performed in this way?" The line has an unintended meaning. Apart from some bad language, this story is definitely worth seeing. It has an important message. Also, it made me realize part of why some people can say the Holocaust didn't happen: Some of our students are not being taught about history in the schools. It happened. Real people were killed. Anyway, I recommend this movie.
The Frighteners - This would have been a good movie if the language hadn't been so bad. Kind of a silly premise, and a bit on the funny side, but marred by the language.
Seabiscuit - Been a while since I saw this, so I don't remember much, but it was worth seeing at least once. Great message in the repeated line about not throwing a life away just because it's a little banged up.

I've recently finished listening to an unabridged recording of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It has kept me company on my commute to classes.
I think it was about the time Faramir let Frodo go that I realized something about the movies in comparison to the books, and that realization was confirmed in the Return of the King.
Peter Jackson's movies don't tell Tolkein's story. They tell a story based on the same framework, in a smaller world, with completely different characters. Gandalf is less patient and kind, Faramir is weaker, Aragorn is not as sure of himself and less of a leader, Frodo is weaker and more wavering, and Smeagol is more sympathetic and less scheming and less sensible.
They are both interesting and enjoyable stories, but in different ways. Perhaps that is merely a function of the nature of film, but they are certainly not the same story, in the same world, or with the same characters.
I enjoyed listening to Tolkein's version very much. I recommend the trilogy highly, whether you read it or listen to it.

I saw the Science of Sleep today. I knew beforehand that it would be either very, very good or very, very bad. There would be no middle ground. It was the latter. It was like watching a train wreck, but I kept hoping it would turn a corner and suddenly become good.
It didn't.
The idea was interesting, and it had some good moments, but the scenes from the preview were the best part. The sad thing about this movie is that all the raw materials of a good film were present. It just never went beyond the exuberance of an abstract artist trying to explain his work to someone who does not see any of what the artist was trying to convey.
And it's not from lack of understanding, because I kept grasping the points in the movie, but they never coalesced into anything meaningful.
It reminds me of a Family Guy episode wherein Lois and Peter enter a talent show, and they get high for inspiration, and they think they sang beautifully. But what really happened was that their experience of reality was not accurate, and no one could understand their incoherent gibberish.

I've begun a fund to pay for publishing my first novel. I decided it was time to start socking away a little bit when I have it instead of waiting until I have $4000 to make a print run. I might change direction and just buy a business license and start selling the books on CD to raise the print run costs, but I don't know what I will end up doing, except that I want to get a book published before I graduate.

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.

I guess it's been a while since I updated. Here's what has been happening.
My lips appear to be healthy again. They've been clear for a couple of days.
I've been doing homework. Yeah. It's starting up again. I had some reading, and I've knocked that out. I had an assignment from my Magazine writing class to bring a copy of my favorite magazine, "and if you don't have one, go to Barnes and Noble and pick one," so since I don't really read magazines, and since my favorite magazine is vintage Mad, which doesn't have articles, per se (which is what we'll be discussing), I went to Books-A-Million! and spent twenty minutes scowling at their selection of magazines. I wasn't scowling at the limits or the contents... just scowling because I don't really have a magazine I read. I'm getting started in HO railroading, so I picked up a copy of Model Railroader 2007 special issue, which I will claim as my favorite magazine, for at least the next week. With that out of the way, and my chapters read for tomorrow's class, I'm ready to go.
I'll drop in to the campus paper after class and probably proof stories for a good long while. I have my copy of the Stylebook in my backpack, so I should be good to go on that front. I'm nervous about this. I'm always nervous about going to work, because even though I should have no trouble with the work, I'm afraid of messing up.
Speaking of reading, I've been doing some. I'm into the third section of the third book of Return of the Native, and the story is starting to move at a good pace. Older books tend to start more slowly, but I think they're worth it when you get into them. It's an intimidating thing, though, because some books don't really go well after the slow start, and by then it's too late. You've read half of the book and are sick of it. But getting back to the book I am reading, it's very good. The story is shaping up nicely, and the things abridgers might remove are thoughtful and well-written. I'm glad I started reading it. However, I'm anxious to get back into Anna Karenina.
And speaking of good stories, I saw a great movie tonight. It's called Akeelah and the Bee. This movie is well-done. It's cute, heart-warming, and funny, but it's also serious, gritty, and poignant. The ending is great, not what you would expect in a movie that is heading where this one heads in the middle third. I recommend it.
I've also seen:
A Prairie Home Companion - A fun movie, especially if you listen to the radio show. Many familiar characters, but I probably wouldn't recommend it to someone who's not a fan of the broadcasts.
Mozart and the Whale - A very well-crafted story. I was disappointed in the level of bad language, though. I saw a bit of myself in the characters, and you probably could, too. In truth, we face similar struggles to those faced by the characters in this movie.
Mission: Impossible III - Just what you'd expect. Worth the price of admission. Rather gut-wrenching in places. But a thrilling ride.
And speaking of stories, I have some I'd like to tell through images. If any of you would be interested in drawing for a comic strip, please let me know. I don't have any plans that would bring in any money, but I have over 80 strips worth of scripts, and it'll be good practice. Plus, if we do somehow make money, I'll be happy to split it 50-50 (or 40-60, if you prefer).
Tomorrow, I want to drop by the local paper. I've been thinking about trying to sell some of my essays for publication. Do newspapers do that anymore? Or would any of you like to publish essays I wrote?
I guess that's enough for this update. God bless you all!

Happy New Year.
I don't know what word to use in describing this week. It's been quiet, it's been busy, it's been relaxed, and it's been productive. I haven't been reading LiveJournals much since my last post, but I've been keeping up with answering the comments.
I've been trying to get onto the university's secure site to check my grades, but it has tossed me to an error page every time I login. I don't know who manages that system, but they don't seem to be in a rush to get it back up and running. It's been like that since the middle of December. And I still haven't gotten my grades in the mail, so I'm a bit annoyed about that.
However, I found out tonight that the new school has received my final transcript from the old one. I missed the deadline to register for orientation, so I'll arrive at my first class with no idea of how to be a good student at this university. Oh, well. I'll get everything squared away after the first class.
I found on Sunday (12/31) that my lip has broken out again. This always makes me feel monstrous. On top of that, I'm dealing with some sort of illness that has been making me ache in various places.
Mom and I cleaned out a bookcase and a desk and switched their places. We've made some minor inroads into cleaning the garage.
I cleaned and rearranged my bedroom, almost totally changing the layout. I'm pleased with the new set-up.
I hate living in this county when I'm looking for something specific. There don't seem to be any hobby shops in the entire county, except one RC car store. I don't know why, but I'm suddenly desperate to find model trains, and I can't find any place that sells them.
My car has begun to make a strange noise, so I'm planning to take it to the dealer on Friday.
I found a stack or two of photographs while cleaning my room, along with two scrapbooks. I need to get those pictures into the scrapbooks and write up the story behind each photo.
I've seen a large number of movies this week:
Chicken Little - This is a very cute movie. Well made and fresh in its approach to the story. I recommend this movie.
Ice Age: The Meltdown - Nothing noteworthy here, but it's good for a lot of laughs. Well, actually, the variety of tortures they perform on Scrat are noteworthy, hehe.
Thank You For Smoking - I was a little wary about this movie, but I'd heard so many people say it was good that I put it on my list. I enjoyed it, and I couldn't figure out why, until I was reminded on one of the special features that the movie isn't about tobacco; it's about spin. And I found it an interesting return to my own beliefs about smoking, which I will probably add to my web page on the topic.
John Tucker Must Die - I enjoyed this movie. It's something of a teen version of The First Wives Club.
The First Wives Club - After that comparison, we had to watch this one again, and it was great. While Tucker was a well-made movie, First Wives has a class and wit that a movie about teenagers would be hard pressed to equal with authenticity. I highly recommend this movie.
The Sentinel - A great action romp. I only noticed a few errors in protocol. But they don't detract from the overall story. I recommend this movie.
The Princess Bride - Always a pleasure. That's why I own it. :)
I finished reading The End, the thirteenth book in A Series of Unfortunate Events. I highly recommend the entire series. This installment had many twists and turns and unexpected one-offs of the conventions Snicket established throughout the series. It's a more intense book than the others, and high;y thought-provoking. The ending is a surprise, though it probably shouldn't be, if you keep your eyes open throughout. However, there is one surprise at the end of the book that I don't think anyone could foresee.

You asked: What is your favourite hymn? Why?
My favorite hymn is It Is Well. I like the words of the song. It has some awesome points about spirituality and peace. I need to live more in peace.
But I also admire the fact that these words of peace were written under circumstances that would destroy a man who did not have the peace of Christ.

I had a dream today that is sort of one I have from time to time. I was in a very large boat, and someone was chasing me, and I was rushing up and down stairs in these cramped corridors and hiding from the person chasing me. There was a lot of burgundy carpeting and walls, but some areas were blue. I never saw the one chasing me, but I was running and hiding.

I'm planning to work on my desktop machine tomorrow and get direct rendering working there so I won't be wasting the money I'm paying for Cedega. I think I'm doing well on being caught up on sleep, but I need to be careful I don't spend too much time awake.

I saw Cars last night. It was cute. The story is pretty neat, too, about lost heritage and things more important than winning. Unfortunately, I seem to have gotten bitten by something while I was watching it. I have one bite on each thigh, just above the knee. Isn't that weird?

    It has been an eventful period of time, since I last wrote in this journal.
    School is going well. I'm managing to keep up fairly well with most of my homework.
    I don't like my PreCalc prof, but neither do most of my classmates. It's not that his class is hard; it's that his instruction is incomprehensible. It's not that he has a thick accent that makes him difficult to understand; it's that he drones on and on about things we understand, lulling us into bored slumber, but when he is explaining something difficult and complicated, he does it once on the board and moves on. He makes no attempt at formative assessment. He shows no interest in whether we understand the concepts or not, and he answers our questions with disdain but without an attempt to make things clearer.
    I'm wasting a lot of time I could be using to do homework, but I'm still managing (barely) to keep up with the reading assignments, and I'm getting out among people (though I'll admit to having spent several hours this week on my computer). I went to the movie on Wednesday. They were showing Top Gun. It was still pretty good, but I'm noticing that a lot of the 80s movies (That's this month's theme) don't seem as good as they did when I was younger.
    There was a suicide on campus Monday. The Spinnaker didn't publish a regular issue this week.
    I've decided to change majors. I was only kidding myself when I decided to become a classroom teacher. Teaching is something that I love doing, but I have to face the fact that a career as a schoolteacher involves today a lot more frustration than I wish to endure, long hours that would keep me from spending time with my wife and children (when I find her and have them), horrific disdain in the eyes of the public (as though I need more of that than I've had in my life), and the maddening antics of unsupportive parents, unsupportive administrators, and unsupportive real estate agents pretending to be school board members. I'm just not cut out for handling that, especially since I might have to take on another job and spend more time away from my family just to earn a decent living.
    Other careers are for people who can't handle ministry or teaching.
    That's the place for me... somewhere else. So, I made an appointment on Wednesday to speak to a career counselor. I opted for all of the tests, and I just need to pay $40, take the online assessments, and make another appointment for the analysis of the results. Since other places would charge me $100 for one of the five tests I'll be getting for $40, I think I'm getting a good deal.
    In other news, Chartwells, the company that runs all the dining facilities on campus, had a promotion running the first two weeks of school: Get a little card, have it stamped at every dining place in the core, get an entry in the drawing. I don't normally enter such things, but I asked one day, and the cashier said not many people were doing it, so I picked up a card. I filled it well before the end of the promo, so I filled another card. I don't know which of the two was chosen, but I got an email telling me to come by the office today. I did, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that I had not won some dippy, "and other prizes" type thing. I am now the happy owner of a Polaroid 7" portable DVD player, the kind with a built-in screen you can take on the bus or whatever (When I saw 'DVD player' on the poster, I thought it was a regular unit you plug into your TV). Thank you, God, for this blessing. Now, I just need some DVDs, hehe.
    In other, other news, I'm trying to get a LUG started here on campus. For those of you who don't know, a LUG is a Linux Users' Group, a gathering of Linux users and persons interested in Linux. I'm hoping it will be a lot of fun. I'm sure it will look good on my resume. ;)
    I'm in the middle of two books right now. One is for class, A Loss for Words, and the other is Terry Pratchett's Soul Music, which is a quirkly little book with a quirky sense of humor.

    Well, it's very late, here, so I should get to bed. I have a lot of reading to do, as well as the sign cards for Chapter Three. I also have a few files to transfer onto my computer, so I should get moving so I can get to sleep. Good night, and God bless you!

I've been very busy, lately.
Mostly with work.
Also with this.
Also with writing a coouple of computer programs that may eventually change the way we use the internet. (I'm not conceited... they may not change it, at all, but let's consider what is possible. Neh?) Any C++ programmers want to help?
Also, I posted an entry here
I've been spending a lot of time working. I like the idea that I have an income.
I haven't been getting enough sleep.
I saw A Series of Unfortunate Events, National Treasure, and Secondhand Lions. SOUE was cool. I may read the books, now. NT was a fun movie, though I was not pleased by all the "Masons are honorable men" garbage in it. If you can overlook that and just enjoy the chase, it is worth seeing. SL is a pretty good movie, after a very rough start. Some good messages there, too, but don't believe the nonsense about people being generally good at heart. Any goodness in any person comes from God's working through us.
Did I mention I've been working a lot? I'm gainfully employed, and that feels good.
I bought Myst on eBay. I was pleased with the game, but I was dissapointed that I finished it in three days. I thirst for more puzzles!
My Church had a Missions Fair yesterday. All in all, it went well, but I still want more of the congregation to get involved. Every person should have a mission outside the congregation. We all need to tell people about Christ. Of course, I think we should first live in such a way that people will come to ask us about Christ. We need to reflect Jesus in how we live, then tell people about Christ. So many people talk about Jesus and say they're Christians, but they don't live as though they are. I know I fall short, but I'm at least conscious of the fact that I do. Some people don't even think about it.
By the way, I have been thinking about something my Sunday School teacher said last week. He was talking about someone who said that Christians think we're better than everyone else because we've accepted Christ. I say it's the exact opposite, in true Christians. False Christians may think themselves better than others, but a true Christian knows that he or she accepted Christ because of being unrighteous in the sight of God, and if anything, a true Christian believes that if he or she is not equal with his or her unsaved brothers and sisters, that he or she is worse. That is how I feel. I'm not better than anyone. I'm probably a more prolific sinner than you are.
But I've accepted that I can't earn my way to heaven, and I've accepted that God saw my need and had compassion on me, and that He sent Jesus to die for my sins. Jesus is the full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, if only we'll accept the gift. I have done nothing and can do nothing to earn God's love, but He offers it, and I have accepted it. Praise be to God for saving me and all who cling to Him as our only hope of salvation.
Anyway, I just came on to say that I've been busy. I miss you, my friends. I know that many of you miss me. I've grown spoiled from my overflow of free time, but it is time for me to grow up. God help me to grow more mature while maintaining a spirit as a child. Help me, Lord.
I have to go to work in a couple of hours. There are things yet to be done. So, I'll end this entry and go to do them.
God bless you all.

Explanations: I finished watching Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, starring Gene Wilder, tonight. It's a good movie, though almost all of the truly great parts are in the second half of the movie. One thing I found interesting was in the special features. Gene Wilder, in the documentary, said that a lot of parents thought the movie was bad, in that the children were harmed by the things in the factory, or that Willy Wonka was scary, but he said that children understood the movie. He said somethign very profound: Children look for limits, and they're pleased to find them. And Willy Wonka gives them limits.
    He also said parents come up to him and ask if they can tell their children who he is. And he says, if you don't say it too loudly. And they say, That's Willy Wonka. The child's sense of wonder is a glorious thing.
    In other news, it rained today. I got all of my bottles filled. I'm going to put a funnel up where the valley of the roof comes off. This will help me catch more of the rain that falls there.
    Also, I called a radio station today. They said they don't have any openings now, but I emailed them the URL of my CV. Maybe they'll call later. I also set up an appointment with my neighbor to tweak my song. Does anyone know the best way to go about getting a song published? In the coming weeks, I need to work on getting started with tutoring. One more thing... I'm getting some material together for the Research Assistant program I described some time back. So many things are going on right now.

More explanations later...

Explanations: I finished Casablanca, last night. This remains one of my very favorite movies, and with good reason. It's full of wonderful lines, and I love great lines. It has a great many funny parts. It is patriotic and exciting. The characters are crisp and amusing. And it's romantic.
    An excellent movie, and I don't have much more to say than that.

Top commenting users this... uh, period since last doing this:

1. mrs617: 74


2. pansyprincess: 33


3. kimana83: 18


4. lady_dewhurst: 16


5. kathlenelsworth: 4


6. ladyaylan: 2
   walkingworthy: 2

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Talk to me: If you were in charge of your country's next postage stamp, what would you put on it? (BTW, in America, living people can't appear on a stamp. Other criteria, if you are interested, may be found at the bottom of this page: http://www.usps.com/communications/organization/csac.htm)

Quoted: "Well, she wore far too much rouge last night, and not quite enough clothes. That is always a sign of despair in a woman." --Lord Goring

Explanations: First of all, I grabbed that quote a few days ago, and it doesn't have any connection to my entry.
    I watched another movie. My DVD copy of Hunt for Red October arrived the other day. Overall, it's a good movie. There are several great lines, and the acting is good, but there is an awful lot of bad language in it. :(
    I saw a thing on TV at the gym today. I was being good and reading my book instead of watching a show, but every now and then, I'd look up. There was a thing on Oprah about how women could look lighter by changing what they wore. One of the women had a transformation that struck me as startling. She started out with this squarish black and white plaid sweater over a teal shirt. She finished with a brightly-colored outfit that did make her look lighter, but it also did something else. To me, at least, she looked a lot less friendly. Before, she had looked friendly and nice, but after, she just looked more sensual. I thought I would be more likely to approach the before woman than the affter.
    Anyway, that's my bit for today.

More explanations later...

Explanations: I've been keeping busy this week, going to bed a wee bit earlier, and spending less time online and more time doing other things (though I've been playing Railroad Tycoon II a bit too much *sheepish grin*). Here are some of the notable things that happened since my last update:
    I watched My Dear Secretary, starring Kirk Douglas, and I felt as though I were in a Dostoevsky novel, thinking to myself, Are people ever that audacious in real life? And do others really put up with it?. I think Hollywood (along with writers) tends to sensationalize life a bit. It's like the stand-up comedians who tell you aboout this funny thing that happened to them, except that it never happened. Still, it was a fairly fun movie.
    I also saw the Great Dan Patch, which turned out to be a horse. Even with my upbringing, I didn't know about Dan Patch. And that's a shame, because this nation (and this world) needs to celebrate the good things in life, the triumphant things, the honorable things. I mean, of course, the horse. This horse was a magnificent racing horse. And not just any old racing horse, like you might see at the tracks being ridden by a jockey. No, this was a stepping horse, which ran in races where the horses would be disqualified if they broke into a gallop. It must have been a marvel to see him, and I can see why people got so excited about this feat of God's creation.
    The story of the character in the film who owned him (the accuracy of this story I was unable to verify, and sources conflict) was not a happy one, at least until the end of the movie.
    I also saw the Black Eagle, starring Rudolph Valentino, which was enjoyable, though it was silent.
    I've gotten a small amount of writing done. It's not much, and I'm not sure how good it is, but it's a start, because I hadn't been getting any done. I haven't done much with the game, though, but that's okay. I'm still reading Brothers, but I'm focusing more on the library book I have. I'm not sure if I'll finish it in time. I may call the library and ask if I can keep it a little longer. Speaking of phone calls, I need to call the video club. They sent me a VHS tape instead of a DVD, and they promised to send me a packing slip, but I haven't seen it yet. I also need to select the free movie they're giving me as consolation for being out of other movies I wanted.
    I finallly got down to fixing my mother's (and before that, my grandmother's) bucket. I used J.B. Weld to fill in the holes, which worked a lot better (and was much less dangerous) than trying to fill them with solder. I tested it, and it had some small leaks around the edges of the holes, so I put some XST silicone over the patches and spray painted the interior of the bucket. I think that will make it watertight. I'll know soon, because it's catching a drip from the 5-gallon cistern I made and put on the irrigation line. I need to wrap that hose bib with white tape before I attach it next time. Speaking of the irrigation system, I had a connection that I'd sealed with RTV gasket maker, and it leaked, so today, I put XST in it, and that's now drying, so I think it won't leak when I hook it back up.
    I need to redesign the storage end of my drip irrigation system. I need to shorten some of the lines so that all the parts will hook together properly in a constant downhill slope. But that's a project for another day.
    I updated okaloosa today. :) If you're interested, I still need proofers for this book and the one I'll be starting when this one is finished. :)

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Talk to me: What are you looking for in your internet experience? What things do you want (whether you've found them or not)? What things annoy you the most?

Link of the Day: Nip and Tuck - This webcomic about the adventures of the two Todd boys (anthropomorphic foxes) is drawn/written by the same artist as UTLT/Goblin Hollow. It has quite the country flavor to it, and it's very often roll-on-the-floor-laughing funny. I think you'll enjoy it. It has good attitude, too.

Explanations: This entry is long overdue, but I've been a bit busy.
    I picked my mother up at the airport on Friday. She's just returned from a month in Poland. Play practice went fairly well on Saturday, especially considering that we had to find a new room (someone was in the one we reserved).
    Mom and I went shopping on Saturday morning, and while we were in the produce section, I made a foolish decision. I picked up a package of soy hot dogs. Those things were awful!
    I watched Jane Eyre and the Last Time I Saw Paris. The former was quite dippy, but I think that was the fault of the filmmakers, rather than a lack in the story. They condensed the story too much, perhaps.
    Ironically, TLTISP seemed to suffer from the same problem. It went by so quickly that I never figured out what he saw in her, why he began to act the way he did toward her, why they didn't try to make up with each other, or why a hundred other things happened the way they did. It felt as though the movie should have had another hour in which to develop all these plot lines that seemed to come from nowhere and make the story take another incoherent turn. Needless to say, I wasn't impressed with either film.
    I must make a confession to you all. I have sinned. I have not taken the proper amount of rest, and that is breaking the commandment to remember the Sabbath, that is, to remember that I should not run my body ragged always going and never stopping. I feel it needful, therefore, that I get off my computers at 11:00 in the evening and get ready for bed. If I don't catch up on sleep, my health will (as it already has hinted) begin to be affected.
    A big welcome to mommermaid and the_storygirl! *waves*

Top Commenters this week:
1. pansyprincess 38
2. mrs617 23
3. kimana83 16
4. moredetails 13
5. kadin 10
6. walkingworthy 6

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Talk to me: Okay, I'm very curious, now. I was looking at the TSLJS contest (where people made new designs for others' journals), and I was wondering: Do any of you even read my journal from the recent entries page? I mean, I read the journals of people on my friend list from my friends pages, so I don't see the designs of their journals. How many of you do that? So, please tell me: Do you read my entries on my journal or on your friends page?

Link of the Day: Wine Emulator Faulty - The WINE Windows(tm) environment emulator for Linux suffers from some serious compatibility issues. See here for more details (and laughs).
[Edit: Since the link is dead, I'll mention that the program they were trying to run was a recent Windows virus.]

Explanations: It's been a good week, but I haven't updated my journal in quite some time. Here's the run-down:
    I watched Captain Kidd, which reminded me of the Black Pirate in some places, Son of Monte Cristo, a wonderfully adventurous swashbuckling action movie, the Lost World, a silent film with stop-motion dinosaurs and marvelously bad acting, and the Iron Mask, starring Douglas Fairbanks, which was a semi-silent film that must have been part of the transition to talking pictures. This tale of the three musketeers (three musketeers? Why are there four of them?) is wonderfully done, especially for the limitations of the time. I thought the ending was quite strange, though.
    I'm still making steady progress in the Brothers Karamazov.

Here are the people who made more than one comment in my journals (skreyola and okaloosa) this past week:
1: mrs617: 48
2: pansyprincess: 47
3: kadin: 36
4: h1s_songb1rd: 12
5: kimana83: 9

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Talk to me: My mother knows someone who would like to visit the USA, stay with families, see the sights, and speak English to improve fluency. Do any of you know of a group that organizes visits like these? I haven't been able to find anything, and I was wondering if any of you might know about ways to arrange this. Please let me know.

Link of the Day: Under the Lemon Tree/Goblin Hollow - This comic, which chronicles the daily life of anthropomorphic bear Ben Bruin, has been running for just over four years, and in that time, there've only been a couple of instances when I disagreed with the philosophy presented. In other words, the comic is decidedly Christian in its perspective and decidely conservative in its political leanings. It's funny, because when I first stumbled across this comic, I passed it over. I didn't know it was in the middle of a massive crossover that, when taken from its beginning, turned out to be pretty funny. I think you'll enjoy this webcomic, especially if you've ever had one of those days when you felt one side of your personality was manifesting itself too much. Goblin Hollow refers to the location of Ben's home during the most recent portion of the strip.

Explanations: I watchedBeyond Tomorrow on Monday. It was rather a queer little movie. Fun, but queer.
    I'm in the midst of installing Debian on a small machine to use as a dedicated firewall/server. I don't know what I'll serve, since I don't have a static IP, but I have about a gigabyte to play with.
    I'm a jinx. Both of the times I've had a paid account, something has happened shortly before my time expired, and LJ has given more time to paid users. Am I being silly? Anyway, you can now claim 2 weeks of paid time if you had a paid account at the time of the outage. I think my interpretation is correct, but look into it just in case. :) 2-week extension Thanks to moredetails for mentioning this.

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Talk to me: Stolen from carlyd81: Sum up your opinion or impression of me in one word, leave it as a comment in this posting, and then post this sentence in your own
journal.

Link of the Day: A Poll for Girls - Ladies, please take moredetails' poll.

Explanations: I've watched a few movies lately. Little Lord Fontleroy, which I adored, Managed Money, a silly little short movie with Shirley Temple, and the Big Trees, starring Michael Kirk Douglas. (I'm guessing he's Michael Douglas' father.) It was an enjoyable movie, though I thought the philosophy was a little too Sierra Club for me.
    Banks have been foolishly biting the hands that feed them for years and paying dearly for it. They have forgotten the power of large numbers of small amounts. They have also forgotten that the money they handle isn't theirs. I think Compass Bank has finally figured out that if you charge peoploe to have a checking account, they'll carry cash and leave the banks out of the loop entirely. This is the first bank I've seen actually go back to truly free checking. I hope the other banks follow suit.

More explanations later...

Link of the Day: A Poll for Guys - Guys, please click here and take moredetails' poll.