Alternative Answers to Questions on a Religious Flyer

When I'm on campus, sometimes they pass out flyers on various issues like vegetarianism and religion.  Mostly, I acquire flyers of the religious variety.  There was one in particular that I thought I could have fun with by writing about it on my blog.  This particular flyer is called "God's Answers To Man's Questions" and it was compiled by Charles Leiter to represent the views of the Lake Road Chapel in Missouri.  In this flyer, there are 15 questions bolded with answers under them from psalms, proverbs, and other reference types from the Bible.

Disclaimer: Now, before I come up with my own answers to these questions compiled by Charles Leiter, I would just like to say that I encourage people to believe whatever they want to believe.  I am open-minded and believe people should believe whatever makes them feel best inside to believe.

Question 1: "Aren't there many ways to God?"
I take the mentality of a mathematician.  As there are often many answers to a math problem, there are often many answers to the same conclusion.  That conclusion might be God.  That conclusion might be Evolution.  That conclusion might be energy scattered into the universe.  Nobody can say for sure what that conclusion is definitely until Judgment Day.

Question 2: "Did Jesus ever claim to be God?"
I wonder when I read this as to why this would even matter.  Jesus is a prominent figure in popular culture and he sounds pretty cool.  If he wanted to claim to be God, why not let him? Crazy people rant all kinds of things.  If people can back it up with proofs and theorems, let them try to prove it.  Debate enhances society discussion.

Question 3: "How do I know that Jesus is who He claims to be?"
Here's my mentality: If you see with your own eyes that someone has magical powers like the ability to walk on water or part the ocean, I think you shouldn't really question whether or not he's who he says he is or not.  I think you should probably just nod your head and play along regardless to preserve your own life.  This means that Criss Angel should also be respected and worshipped (and he's hot, so it's not a stretch).

Question 4: "Isn't the Bible just a bunch of myths?"
Most religions do have a mythical feel to them, but seeming mythical gives religion a sense of majesty.  Myths, fantasy, fairy tales, and science fiction make for awesome reading.  Who cares if it is a bunch of myths, if it is a good read?!! (I still intend to read the Bible one of these days.)

Question 5: "What about all the contradictions in the Bible?"
Life is full of contradictions.  People say they want some things and end up with different things.  In other words, people are hypocrites on occasion in what they say and do.  Why should we expect the Bible to not have contradictions?

Question 6: "Why is there so much suffering in the world?"
This question is based on a very pessimistic premise.  I'd like to think there are people out there who are very happy with their lives.  People suffer sometimes because they are afraid to be themselves.  People are afraid that they will not be accepted.  People do not want to be judged.  People look for others to love them or fill voids when all people would be happier if they learned to love themselves and not have to rely on other people.

Question 7: "What is the real purpose of life?"
The answer to this question is simple: to have babies.

Question 8: "Aren't all men basically good?"
Ha! Behavior is a learned trait, so all people have the potential to be good.

Question 9: "Won't my good works outweigh my bad works?"
Does anyone seriously tally up every good and bad thing they do in their lives? I don't.  I believe the important thing is to try to be a good person and do good things every once and awhile.  And if you decide to go bad, go big or don't bother.

Question 10: "Why did Christ die?"
Underneath all the magic and bravado, Christ was a mortal man.  If it makes you feel any better, he's immortally famous.

Question 11: "I don't really love Christ.  Isn't it all right to be neutral?"
No.  It's not alright.  Believe fully or not at all.  You disgust me.

Question 12: "What must I do to be saved?"
It's best to introduce yourself to the lifeguard, security guards, and many doctors at the local hospital.  These acquaintances will increase your likelihood of being saved.  Perhaps, a healthy set of lungs would help as well but that is iffy at best.

Question 13: "How do I know God will receive me?"
Make sure you get the right address written on the envelope.  As long as you're addressed correctly, the universal postal service will not fail you.

Question 14: "What is eternal life?"
Who cares about the eternal life? I'd rather find out the recipe for a happy fulfilling life than an eternal one.  There are some awesome works of philosophy out there about happiness that are quite enlightening.

Question 15: "How could I ever change?"
Change takes time, willpower, and work.  Educate yourself on your options, assess what you have on your plate, and decide what is the best option for you.  Set goals, meet those goals, and be diligent about it.  That is how you change yourself.

A Productive Weekend: Lots of Reading, Hemming, and Periwinkle

I had a really productive weekend this weekend.  On Saturday, I cleared out all the stuff in the Kia Sephia.  I sorted it and put it into bags.  Then, I cleaned the vinyl inside the car.  Lastly, I vacuumed the car floors including the trunk.  I remember cleaning the vinyl inside my Dodge Stratus when I first owned it.  I believe it says a lot about a person if they try to keep their car in presentable condition.  After I was done, I sat in the driver's seat and marveled at how nice it felt to sit in an uncluttered clean space.

I also worked on the mounds of homework I have due this week.  I accomplished a lot.  I did my logic design homework first because I'm always worried that if I put that class off, I'll lose it if I have to rush to finish an assignment.  For that assignment, I had to read the next chapter in my textbook.  It was a lot of stuff I was familiar with like rules of mathematics and whatnot.  However, binary math has some interesting theorems that wouldn't work in standard math with ten digits.  I'm quite fascinated by this new type of math.  It's a new adventure for me.  And I'm pretty positive that it will require some work to understand this new stuff.  Then, I finished reading chapter 2 in my programming textbook.  I took breaks in between reading.

I also read 8 books of the Odyssey and took 2 quizzes on it.  I was only assigned the first 4 for tomorrow, but I have to study lab safety tomorrow and I didn't want such a large reading commitment hanging over my head for Wednesday (when the next 4 would have been due).  I also had to do those trusty library research tutorials and take quizzes on those.  Even so, I will still have a lot to do this week for homework.

I also made a trip to the library to turn in 2 books I had just finished reading.  When I was there, I checked out another one that isn't due back until October.  I'm looking forward to reading it.  It is about insects.  I can channel Gil Grissom's fascination with bugs and try to take on a more profound dialogue about how little creatures teach us about greater things.  

Incidentally, I'm really excited for the upcoming season of CSI because of the addition of Ted Danson to the cast.  I can't wait to see how the new season unfolds!! I even think Nick Stokes (George Eads) will be getting more airtime and I love me some Nick.  This weekend, they finally aired the new episode of iCarly that I'd been waiting for since August.  I am glad for a weekly iCarly schedule again.  Making viewers wait months between episodes is cruel and unusual punishment.

Last week, I had tried Style Snaps from television and found them ineffective.  I was disappointed, but I was probably asking too much of them by using them on retro flare jeans.  In any case, this meant I would have to hem them.  I tried to hem them during the week, but I didn't really know how to hem.  I plowed into the task, but didn't hem them properly or even to my satisfaction.  Thus, this weekend, I perused the various online instructions on hemming pants.  I found a site with instructions for doing a French hem to preserve the authentic jean hem (website: http://www.sewcraftymeg.com/2009/05/hem-jeans-the-easy-way/).  It took me a few hours and I ended up doing an additional stitching instead of using hemming tape, but I managed to hem a pair of my retro flare jeans.  Yay me! 

I had to hem them up three inches.  I even managed to impress my mom with my hand stitching skills.  I could still iron and top stitch them, but the jeans are wearable.  At least, I'll finally get to wear them tomorrow.

I also took photos of my periwinkle plants and updated my Facebook album.  My periwinkle flowers are really cute.

This is my favorite picture I took.  This blossom is especially photogenic.

Book Review: Two Books On Mindfulness

I have just finished reading two books I had checked out from that wonderful heavenly place called the library.  Both of these books were about mindfulness and living in the moment.  The first book I read was Calming Your Anxious Mind (2003) by Jeffrey Brantley, MD.  The second book I read was The Mindful Woman (2008) by Sue Patton Thoele.  Both books held practices and meditations for relieving anxiety and being more present in our lives.  Calming Your Anxious Mind was the slightly shorter read of the two books.  However, I liked The Mindful Woman better for the examples I could relate to, the creative quotes incorporated into the material, and the thorough content.

If you're a lady, you can probably get away with reading The Mindful Woman.  Gentleman, on the other hand, would probably get razzed by their peers if these men were reading a book of this title.  As such, the men might have an obvious preference for reading Calming Your Anxious Mind.  Overall, both were informative and helped to broaden my perspective.

Time To Nerd It Up Another Magnitude

Well, here's the status of my mind at this point in my life.

First, I'll explain that I have a B.S. in Mathematics and a Chemistry minor.  I tried out graduate school for Civil Engineering in California, but things didn't work out.  I returned home and took a semester off.  Then, I started attending school at UNLV while trying out substitute teaching, dealing with medical problems from a surgery gone wrong, and supporting a loved one through cancer.  I was still up in the air when I went back to school to pursue a 2nd bachelor's degree.  Initially, I just wanted to make sure my brain still worked properly after the mental breakdown graduate school and health problems inflicted on me.

In any case, I logically thought that maybe pursuing a Civil Engineering bachelor's degree would be easier than pursuing a master's degree.  As such, I tried going in that direction, but I had my doubts about that.  Thus, I considered possibly going in the construction management direction.  So I took classes in both civil engineering and construction management to see if I could distinguish an obvious preference.  But then, I found that looking at the course lists for both majors indicated that Civil Engineering was preferred over Construction Management.  But I still had my doubts.

I kept going on the Civil Engineering route, but I still wasn't sure about it.  So I figured maybe I should pop over at the Career Center and take some tests on personality and interests.  I took the tests and what I found was quite shocking.  On the list of Least Popular Jobs for INTJ personality (my personality type), there in bold letters read Civil Engineering Technician.  That was an "Aha" moment for me.  It finally made sense as to why I never felt certain about pursuing civil engineering.  It was sitting there in print on a piece of paper.

I found through this personality test that I would do well in natural sciences and some engineering fields (just not civil).  I had taken another test about interests and found 5 of the jobs in my top interest list involved computers (Computer Systems Analyst, Software Developer, Technical Support Specialist, Computer Scientist, and Network Administrator).  The other jobs listed were more varied (Optometrist, Housekeeping/Maintenance Manager, Librarian, Medical Technologist, and Administrative Assistant).  Even so, the list opened my eyes up to possibilities that I had never considered before.  I also felt that those jobs would be well-suited to my interests.

Since Computer Science would cover most of those jobs on my top interest list, I'm trying out Computer Science classes this semester.  I really hope I like them.  So far, I already feel like these classes are better geared toward my strengths like math and logic.  As such, I feel pretty good about it.  I'm taking 2 computer classes, 2 labs, and two English classes.  

Also, I might tutor this semester and that would be awesome.  I always thought it would be efficient to get a job on campus.  It's always good when the opportunity presents itself to help others and save money on gas.

In some ways, it feels wrong to switch my academic direction after kicking the Civil Engineering horse to death.  And at times, I feel like a traitor for skulking off to take computer science courses without informing any sort of advisor of my plans.  Yet, this route is what is best for me at the moment.  I feel like this semester is an educated experiment.  I'm hoping it is an illuminating one and it will make me feel confident enough to talk to an advisor about it.  Until I'm sure of my strategy, I'd like to scope out the terrain before plowing forward cannons at the ready.

Given that my current plan is to pursue Computer Science and I've already got Math and Chemistry under my belt, I venture to say that I'm trying to achieve Nerd^3 status.  I'm definitely Nerd^2 already.  Therefore, it's time to nerd it up another magnitude.

Thoughts of the Village Loafer / Knowledge Seeker

I think I'm going to have to change up my routine.  I notice that I hold stress when I get stressed out and I think it really messes me up.  I tried to give up skin picking and now have reverted back to stress eating.  I notice that I usually have a nervous habit in order to handle the surplus of stress and anxiety I experience.  Most of the time, I find that they aren't good habits to take up.  However, I figure stress eating is better than the plethora of drug addictions out there.

I have been dabbling in meditation and yoga.  Perhaps, those habits would be better alternatives.  I probably would benefit from taking up the habit of exercise as well.  I'm 20 pounds over the weight I'd rather be.  Perhaps it's just me, but I think my metabolism slowed down this summer when I turned 25.  I noticed that I was weeding my garden for a week, which I thought would help me lose weight.  But I gained and the weight remains.  I worked at conventions thinking I'd lose weight from the walking and smaller meals, but the weight remains.

Sometimes, I wish I could just want something to happen and have it happen without having to change my lifestyle or put forth the effort.  In some ways, this seems like the wish of the village loafer.  I just find time and time again, that I have to work my keister off to do just about anything and everything.  Knowledge takes practice and hours of effort to obtain.  Those who say otherwise are probably not the real deal.  At least, work done right can give the doer some sense of satisfaction.  That's something for the knowledge seeker to revere in his or her quest.

In the end, all I can hope for is that all the work I put in will be worth it.  Maybe once enough education has accumulated in my brain, the use of the information will become second nature.  Then, it will be a matter of pride to complete work tasks and be able to show off all the stuff I can do.  Until that day, I stand by the notion that it's all about hard work and persistence.  Good thing I'm a mathematician.  Persistence is a mathematician's best friend, so we're well acquainted.

My Room Ate My Memory Card

I'm going to have to accept the fact that my room ate my memory card.  I have been meaning to post this essay I wrote about fishing in Utah.  Yet, I want to post pictures to go with it.  Those pictures are on an old memory card I used in my previous camera.  I used to keep that memory card on one of the shelves in my room.  Alas! I moved my furniture around to paint my room and the memory card is missing.  Thus, the logical conclusion is that my room ate it.

My room has probably held a grudge against me for years for keeping it such a mess.  The humble room sits there unable to do anything about how it looks.  Slowly, the disarray and clutter drives the room insane much like the brain of a disorganized thinker.  As such, the room had to develop a complex of some sort.  My theory is that the room must have chosen kleptomania.  

And what better item to steal than a memory card with tons of landscape photos.  The room absorbs these photos in happiness because the country has so many wide open spaces.  There is neither clutter nor disarray.  The room can experience some sense of peace at the acknowledgment that clean open spaces exist.  There is hope for order in this world.

Make no mistake.  I will clean my room.  It just makes it a little difficult with so many shelves that need to be emptied and furniture that needs to be moved.  I can totally relate to the space's conundrum.  When it is clean and painted, I'm sure I'll find my memory card.  There are other items I've lost that have been gone so long that I know I won't recover them.  As my room has hope for order, I have hope for finding what is lost and sharing it with others.

Recommendation To Read Fruits Basket

For the last couple days, I found myself obsessively reading this online manga called Fruits Basket.  I had been thinking about looking up this online manga for some time now because I watch the Fruits Basket anime series on a regular basis.  However, the anime series only went up to volume 26, which reaches approximately chapter 35 in the manga series.  I was quite astounded to find out that the online manga has 100 more chapters than the anime portrays.

In any case, it was completely worth the read.  The crazy antics that make the anime series hilarious continue throughout the manga.  I found myself so riveted that I would sit reading it for hours glued to my computer screen.  It is a very dramatic manga and the way the storylines were scattered all over the place made me want to keep reading it.  I would find myself wanting to just read the next chapter to see what happens from the cliffhanger ending of the previous one.  However, sometimes the next chapter was about another storyline.  As a result, I just kept reading.

The premise of this manga is based on the animals of the Chinese zodiac.  There is a rich family where 12 members are members of the aforementioned zodiac.  When these human members hug people of the opposite gender, they turn into the Chinese zodiac animal assigned to them.  There are a lot of incestuous relationships because the zodiac members can only be physically close to fellow members without transforming into animals.  As such, there is a lot of controversy and intrigue to keep the reader's attention.

As such, I recommend reading it if you enjoy reading dramatic storylines.  However, if you're obsessive about reading and feel anxious easily like I do, it is probably best to only start reading it when you have some time available to devote to it without pesky interruptions like work obligations, homework assignments, or social activities.  

I will also say that since manga are essentially Japanese comics and the online material uses mostly just black and white ink, reading in bulk can be hard on the eyes.  Staring at white page backgrounds and squinting to read inside smaller speech bubbles is not for the fainthearted or visually impaired.  Valiant readers such as myself will risk the eyestrain in the aims of enlightenment.  This series in particular spoke to me about getting through hardships and about the relief provided by those who accept other people for who they are.

Something I Envy About Men: The Baby Isn't Mine

I've decided to write about something funny today.

Over the years, men and women have been envious of certain aspects of the other gender's lifestyle.  Specifically, men have a fascination with boobs and wonder what it would be like to have their own set.  Women wonder what it's like to be able to stand up and pee.  The different things to envy is an extensive list and varies from person to person.  As such, I figured I'd share something I envy about men.

When I watch those Maury shows about paternity, it is shocking sometimes to see how the men on the show behave.  Some of the men are willing to step up and do the right thing by the mother.  However, a lot of the men act angry and yell about how the baby isn't his.  Watching the show as a woman, I often think the act of men saying something like that is despicable.  Yet, the reality of the situation is that men can say something like that.  Women can't.  I envy the ability of men to say the baby isn't his.

I mean, if I'm pregnant and far enough along for others to be able to tell, it's hard to pull off that line.
(Someone points inquisitively)
Me: What? Oh, This (points at stomach)? Oh, This isn't mine!
Someone: (Looks at you skeptically). Really? I just saw something move in there.
Me: Oh, no.  I just ate a cooked baby earlier Jonathan Swift-style and that's just a baby limb that is still floating around digesting.
Someone: (Laughing if they have a similar humor preference to myself)  
or (Scowling if they are moralistic about cannibalism).  I don't believe you.
Me: Well, that's too bad.  It's true.  I'll roast you up some awesome baby and invite you over for dinner next week.
Someone: (Laughing if they have a similar humor preference to myself)
or (Scowling if they are moralistic about cannibalism).  I still don't believe you.

Alas, it would just be hard to tell others that it isn't mine if I looked pregnant.  Sure, the girl could say, "I just gained weight."  Or perhaps, she could say, "I'm a surrogate mother. This REALLY isn't mine."  But essentially, if you look like you have a bun in the oven, you can't really say, "It isn't mine" and have people believe you.

Disclaimer: I don't really roast babies.  It's a joke. :)  I'm also not pregnant.  I just got the idea to write about this topic earlier and thought it might be funny.

Incidentally, recently I actually paid attention to the lyrics of "Billie Jean" from Michael Jackson and was amazed that the chorus is about paternity.  I knew all the words to the chorus and would sing along enthusiastically.  Now, I  have more awareness.  It makes me think about how music shapes the behavior and beliefs of society when people aren't always paying attention.