So, the semester is over, and I wrote 3 papers @ 10 pages each in about 10 days, research included. But immediately after I finished my last paper on Monday, I headed out with my roommate Wookkyun on a roadtrip.
The roadtrip started in Champaign, IL and will end in Baltimore, MD/Washington, DC. We have visited Niagara Falls; Boston, MA; Manchester, NH(thanks Jamie and Nathan!), and we're now in NYC. I'll make a separate post for each place and hopefully link to some pics.
Friday, May 20, 2005
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Psalm 148, Denison Marrs style!
From the heavens,
and the heights above,
all the angels
show your love.
The sun and moon,
and the shining stars,
deepest waters,
skies so far...
We can love forever,
never pass away.
All the lightning,
clouds and wind,
moving mountains,
and trees that bend,
the wild creatures
and the mighty birds
show your love
all across the Earth...
We can love forever,
never pass away.
We can love forever,
through the night and the day.
We can love forever,
and never pass,
never pass away.
And an authentic NIV translation for you too :-)
and the heights above,
all the angels
show your love.
The sun and moon,
and the shining stars,
deepest waters,
skies so far...
We can love forever,
never pass away.
All the lightning,
clouds and wind,
moving mountains,
and trees that bend,
the wild creatures
and the mighty birds
show your love
all across the Earth...
We can love forever,
never pass away.
We can love forever,
through the night and the day.
We can love forever,
and never pass,
never pass away.
And an authentic NIV translation for you too :-)
Sunday, April 03, 2005
Celibacy and Homosexuality
Being a Catholic Christian, I believe that marriage is only valid between a man and a woman, and that only married couples should have sex.
Having said that, I don't think that having the homosexual tendency in your thoughts and feelings is any worse than heterosexual thoughts and feelings. Indeed, having lustful thoughts toward anyone who is not your spouse is sinful.
There is no discriminatory standard against homosexuality in the Church, or there shouldn't be. We are all human, and we all have lustful feelings towards both sexes at one time or another. There is the same standard for all humans.
I consider homosexuals having sex outside of marriage the same as heterosexuals having sex outside of marriage. I am tolerant and loving toward people who do it, although I don't personally think it's the best thing.
Homosexuals have to face something very difficult, as we all do in our own way. We all have our own issues that make it hard to be human. Homosexuality is just another part of being human, and it's clear that it occurs naturally. As long as it's not acted on, I don't see this particular tendency as being bad.
Some people are not called to marry, and Paul even discourages people from getting married(if it can be avoided) quite emphatically, as in 1 Corinthians 7. So it is quite an expectable(although difficult for most) thing according to Paul for people to just go through life celibate.
The problem comes in where everyone wants to have sex, no matter what orientation. And so people act to get what they want without doing it properly(i.e. without marriage). It's the same problem with everyone.
A close analogy is if a friend wants something in your house that belongs to your parents, but you don't feel like waiting to ask your parents, so you decide to give it and hope everything works out ok.
I believe God owns our bodies, and we should get permission from Him through marriage in the appropriate way before we can give our bodies to someone else. All this, of course, precludes some belief in traditional Christianity.
Having said that, I don't think that having the homosexual tendency in your thoughts and feelings is any worse than heterosexual thoughts and feelings. Indeed, having lustful thoughts toward anyone who is not your spouse is sinful.
There is no discriminatory standard against homosexuality in the Church, or there shouldn't be. We are all human, and we all have lustful feelings towards both sexes at one time or another. There is the same standard for all humans.
I consider homosexuals having sex outside of marriage the same as heterosexuals having sex outside of marriage. I am tolerant and loving toward people who do it, although I don't personally think it's the best thing.
Homosexuals have to face something very difficult, as we all do in our own way. We all have our own issues that make it hard to be human. Homosexuality is just another part of being human, and it's clear that it occurs naturally. As long as it's not acted on, I don't see this particular tendency as being bad.
Some people are not called to marry, and Paul even discourages people from getting married(if it can be avoided) quite emphatically, as in 1 Corinthians 7. So it is quite an expectable(although difficult for most) thing according to Paul for people to just go through life celibate.
The problem comes in where everyone wants to have sex, no matter what orientation. And so people act to get what they want without doing it properly(i.e. without marriage). It's the same problem with everyone.
A close analogy is if a friend wants something in your house that belongs to your parents, but you don't feel like waiting to ask your parents, so you decide to give it and hope everything works out ok.
I believe God owns our bodies, and we should get permission from Him through marriage in the appropriate way before we can give our bodies to someone else. All this, of course, precludes some belief in traditional Christianity.
Power and Corruption
Everyone likes having power(aka getting what we want when we want it), and we all also like it if there is an easy way to get what we want, and this includes power.
Women in society see that men(almost half the population) have a strong weakness for lustful thoughts and actions.
Men in society see that they are stronger than more than half the population (i.e. women).
These are possible routes of least resistance to gaining power; a third is being just slimy, which can apply to either gender, and will usually be accompanied with sex & violence.
However, we know that the more power you have, the more you tend to be corrupted. Consider the example in the Hitchhiker series, where the ruler of the universe was made to not know he was the ruler, so he could be totally pure in his decisions.
In the same way, I would say the only way to gain power without corrupting yourself is to gain power without trying to gain power, and not trying to keep it once you know you have it. In other words, don't pursue actions with intent to increase or maintain your power.
When you do, you end up corrupted(letting yourself be treated as a sex object, or being a violent person, or being a compulsive liar or cheat).
Women in society see that men(almost half the population) have a strong weakness for lustful thoughts and actions.
Men in society see that they are stronger than more than half the population (i.e. women).
These are possible routes of least resistance to gaining power; a third is being just slimy, which can apply to either gender, and will usually be accompanied with sex & violence.
However, we know that the more power you have, the more you tend to be corrupted. Consider the example in the Hitchhiker series, where the ruler of the universe was made to not know he was the ruler, so he could be totally pure in his decisions.
In the same way, I would say the only way to gain power without corrupting yourself is to gain power without trying to gain power, and not trying to keep it once you know you have it. In other words, don't pursue actions with intent to increase or maintain your power.
When you do, you end up corrupted(letting yourself be treated as a sex object, or being a violent person, or being a compulsive liar or cheat).
Thursday, March 31, 2005
The Schiavo Case
If you are interested in the recently fallen Terri Schiavo and the controversy over the case, I highly recommend these two articles:
Whose Life Is Worth Living?, by Orson Scott Card
Terri Schiavo: Judicial Murder, by Nat Hentoff
They are very well informed and very powerful.
Whose Life Is Worth Living?, by Orson Scott Card
Terri Schiavo: Judicial Murder, by Nat Hentoff
They are very well informed and very powerful.
Monday, March 28, 2005
Spring Break
Spring Break is over and classes have started again.
Over Spring Break, I went to Glasgow, KY to visit my Dad. He owns a 20 acre property that has a creek running through it, and it's verrrry nice there. I spent a night in Lexington, KY where my Dad's family is from, at my Uncle Gerry's house. I had a good time just being with my Dad, and I appreciate that I can spend time with him that's fairly uninterrupted. I was there from Monday until Friday.
Also, on my way down to KY, I stopped in Bloomington, IN to have lunch with a friend named Russel. He's helped me a lot with programming in the past year and it was nice to sit down with him for a while. We went to Django Cafe, which is an interesting jazz cafe with an Asian/Indian/Vegan menu. I got a veggie pita and a strawberry smoothie.
On Easter I went to breakfast at church, then went to the Easter service there, and then I made some fried sweet potatos (yum!) for a potluck lunch over at Natalie's house. It was a great time :-)
By the way, Rachel is my darling girl and I love her very much ^_^ She is so good to me and does everything she can for me. I am blessed and lucky and everything.
Over Spring Break, I went to Glasgow, KY to visit my Dad. He owns a 20 acre property that has a creek running through it, and it's verrrry nice there. I spent a night in Lexington, KY where my Dad's family is from, at my Uncle Gerry's house. I had a good time just being with my Dad, and I appreciate that I can spend time with him that's fairly uninterrupted. I was there from Monday until Friday.
Also, on my way down to KY, I stopped in Bloomington, IN to have lunch with a friend named Russel. He's helped me a lot with programming in the past year and it was nice to sit down with him for a while. We went to Django Cafe, which is an interesting jazz cafe with an Asian/Indian/Vegan menu. I got a veggie pita and a strawberry smoothie.
On Easter I went to breakfast at church, then went to the Easter service there, and then I made some fried sweet potatos (yum!) for a potluck lunch over at Natalie's house. It was a great time :-)
By the way, Rachel is my darling girl and I love her very much ^_^ She is so good to me and does everything she can for me. I am blessed and lucky and everything.
Saturday, March 19, 2005
Locked Out!
Today, the morning did not go so well...
I woke up at 8:30, decided to sleep 15 minutes more, so I set my alarm for 8:45. I get up and my clock says 8:45 so I take a shower. When I come back to look at my clock, it says 9:51!!! Still time to catch the bus if I hurry really really quick. So I rush out of the house and...I don't have my keys! So after a while of thinking, I find a paper clip in my backpack and attempt to pick the lock for a half hour(unsuccessfully) while I wait for the next bus to come.
This was the perfect day to be locked out. It just so happens the both of my roommates were out of state just today. One roommate went to Colorado today and the other is in Salt Lake City and will come back tonight(Saturday). At least it was sunny and really warm though, so I didn't get depressed. I missed phonology class and went to my research assistant meeting. Then I called my roommate who owns the place and leave a message to see if anyone has a spare key, then I call a Linguistics grad friend, but no answer there either.
Then I went to the Student Union, ate some snack mix I had, and slept. My friend called me eventually and picked me up and took me to his house. We played NHL 2001 quite a bit and had fun checking everyone into oblivion. His parents came into town today as well, so I got to meet and talk with them. At around 9PM I got a call from Rick, and he told me that his girlfriend has a key to the house. So I called his girlfriend and agreed to come pick up the key. Charles and I went first to Applebees to get a bite to eat and then picked up the key.
Quite a silly day I'd say :-P I would prefer if it didn't happen again, but I think God was teaching me a lesson about something. Maybe it had something to do with taking my time or getting up the first time my alarm goes off. Maybe it had something to do with enjoying the nice day or not having my computer with me 24/7. Maybe I was supposed to hang out with Charles and meet his parents for some reason. Whatever. I did all that today, then got home and played some Warcraft 3 :-)
SPRING BREAK IS HERE!
I woke up at 8:30, decided to sleep 15 minutes more, so I set my alarm for 8:45. I get up and my clock says 8:45 so I take a shower. When I come back to look at my clock, it says 9:51!!! Still time to catch the bus if I hurry really really quick. So I rush out of the house and...I don't have my keys! So after a while of thinking, I find a paper clip in my backpack and attempt to pick the lock for a half hour(unsuccessfully) while I wait for the next bus to come.
This was the perfect day to be locked out. It just so happens the both of my roommates were out of state just today. One roommate went to Colorado today and the other is in Salt Lake City and will come back tonight(Saturday). At least it was sunny and really warm though, so I didn't get depressed. I missed phonology class and went to my research assistant meeting. Then I called my roommate who owns the place and leave a message to see if anyone has a spare key, then I call a Linguistics grad friend, but no answer there either.
Then I went to the Student Union, ate some snack mix I had, and slept. My friend called me eventually and picked me up and took me to his house. We played NHL 2001 quite a bit and had fun checking everyone into oblivion. His parents came into town today as well, so I got to meet and talk with them. At around 9PM I got a call from Rick, and he told me that his girlfriend has a key to the house. So I called his girlfriend and agreed to come pick up the key. Charles and I went first to Applebees to get a bite to eat and then picked up the key.
Quite a silly day I'd say :-P I would prefer if it didn't happen again, but I think God was teaching me a lesson about something. Maybe it had something to do with taking my time or getting up the first time my alarm goes off. Maybe it had something to do with enjoying the nice day or not having my computer with me 24/7. Maybe I was supposed to hang out with Charles and meet his parents for some reason. Whatever. I did all that today, then got home and played some Warcraft 3 :-)
SPRING BREAK IS HERE!
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