Religion

Our family has always been secular. My mother was Catholic, but practiced less and less as her marriage furthered. My dad was also raised in home without God. So if I was to attribute my lack of faith to anybody it would be my grandparents.

My grandma was a practicing Catholic and grandfather was a card carrying Latter Day Saint. Then love happens. Catholicism said non-Catholics went to hell and Mormonism said the same of non-Mormons. So as my Grandparents say, "When both of our religions said the other was going to hell, it just didn't feel right." And thus religion faded from their lives.

I hate to blame my Atheism on my parentage but they do carry a certain influence. But of course there is more to my nonbelief. It's not a rejection, it's a simple lack of feeling. I have no reason to believe there is a God. I have never felt a presence or influence from an otherworldly being, so why would I believe there is one? Sometimes as a child I would make small prayers: for toys, for cookies, for more TV. But even when these prayers came true they didn't feel "answered." It was always either random chance or the kindness of others.

Of course in this reasoning I am alluding mainly to a Christian god, one that is supposed to intervene in daily lives and answer prayers. If there is an uncaring creator is there any we should worship such a being? I won't make any claims now about such a God since that is a much more open topic.

My girlfriend has always been deeply religious and for the moment we agree to disagree. But sometimes our circumstances are hard to ignore. During the last weekend her and my father debated:
"So you believe that all non-Christians are going to hell? That seems harsh"
"Well, the truth hurts."

Yes it certainly does.

All My Friends

"All My Friends" is the title of my favorite LCD Soundsystem song. I've shared it with other people but most tend to dismiss it when they tire of the initial piano riff. However, the riff is a metaphor what the singer is talking about. I won't get too much into it now but this is the line in the song that always hits home for me:

"You spend the first five years trying to get with the plan, and the next five years trying to be with your friends again."

I talked to Caitlin online briefly today and she said "I've already sort of started mourning the end of ham, so this will be one last hurrah." Is it over already? My friends have been drifting a lot recently and not just temporarily. Cong is in Korea for a year, Pranav is in India for 2 years, Dano has moved to Cleveland, and Ian's in NC indefinitely. But that's just the people who are already gone. I foresee spouses and jobs in faraway lands for many of us.

I guess we're at the end of the first five years. Let's try to end up where we want to be.

No Children

I recently watched All 3 seasons of Moral Orel. For those who don't know, it's a fairly anti-religious show that aired on Adult Swim. I believe it to be one of the most thought provoking shows I've ever seen.

The first season sets the scene, we're in middle America and everyone is a god fearing Christian. Orel, our hero, parodies Davey and gets himself into all sorts of trouble in the most blasphemous ways possible and at the end of most episodes his father punishes him for the wrong reasons and reinforces bad lessons. This season is simply a lighthearted poke at religion and Christian television in general. Until we reach the season finale "The best Christmas ever" wherein Orel's parents fight and his mom plans to divorce. Orel ends the episode with a little hope "Well God this sure wasn't the best Christmas ever, but it's only 11:57 there's still 3 minutes left. I have faith in you."

Season 2 begins with Orel's dad explaining that him and Orel's mother are staying together for appearances. This is just the beginning of a rocky relationship between Orel's parents. Orel's dad also becomes romantically involved with another man, Orel's Coach at school.
In season 2 we also see:
-Orel's dog get killed by the town because Orel confesses he loves it more than Jesus.
-Orel's best friend has teenagers for parents and his must wait on the front stoop for hours before they let him in.
-Orel isn't allowed to be with a girl because she says the The Lord's Prayer differently.
The season ends with "Nature" in which Orel and his father go on a hunting trip. Orel refuses to shoot any animals and His father is angry with him for it. As the trip continues Orel's dad drinks more and more and as the episode ends he begins to describe his failed relationship and failed life. He begins screaming at Orel and talks about how he will teach Orel to be a man. He picks up his rifle and then the scene zooms out and we hear a gunshot.

I won't spoil too much, but season three is some of the best television I've ever seen. It begins with the song "No Children" by The Mountain Goats. This song sets up Orel's Parent's relationship for the rest of the series. Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVS5rpPW5Pg

I could talk about Moral Orel for hours, I think there's something to be analyzed in every episode of season 3. If you ever have the inclination check the show out from start to finish. It'll give you something to think about.

Ham

I'm out of Ann Arbor and back in SJ. It's nice to be home but it's somewhat depressing at the same time. Not much happens around here, I'd probably go crazy if none of my friends were in town. Perhaps that's just how the Ham life has conditioned me. There's always something to do and always someone to hang out with in A2. So when it's just me, Magic cards, and TV I tend to go a little nuts.

It's sad to think I won't be back in A2 for a while. Iris's birthday is the closest scheduled time. Sometimes I worry when I know I won't see someone for a while, "What if I never see them again?" That's Scary stuff. But this isn't the end for Hamham. Even when September rolls around it won't be the end. 441 Hamilton will be gone but Hamham won't.

Meeting people you can spend 80% of your time with doesn't happen often. So I feel crazy lucky to have found 7 of those people to live with. Thanks Hamham/Packpack for making these last years some of the best of my life.

Imma bee missing that Hamlife.

Hounds of Love

I found out my favorite song from a certain band was a cover. Specifically, it's Hounds of Love by The Futureheads. It's kind of a shame, their album has become so much less than I thought. Not to say the rest of the album is bad, but Hounds of Love was always a huge standout for me. It's really the lyrics that make the song, so to find out they're not original is such a detractor.

The original is by Kate Bush, a fairly popular English singer/songwriter. I've had one of her songs that I liked for a while but this revelation prompted me to get the album. It's damn good. As for the original Hounds of Love, it's leagues above The Futureheads.

xkcd

xkcd is a webcomic I've been reading for years now. It appeals to the nerd inside with references to bits of a academia with a focus on programming. Lately they've been trending way down and today's comic is a prime example. http://xkcd.com/731/ Oh yeah there's lots of stuff under the water we can't see, that's real funny. Wednesday's comic suffered a different sort of death of comedy. http://xkcd.com/730/ oh a circuit, hilarious. This is undeniable pandering to the nerd crowd. There's too many jokes in this comic and none of them are funny.

I'm sticking by http://www.smbc-comics.com/

Graphic Content Ahead

So today and yesterday I've had food poisoning.

Yesterday was composed of vomiting, feeling nauseous, and visiting the bathroom every 5 minutes or so.

Today was just the latter. Trying to have violent diarrhea in a house full of 8 people without someone hearing your bowels empty has proved to be a difficult task. Whether it's Drew at his computer or Mike and Angela trying to take a shower. I'd use the girls bathroom but there's no soap in there... wtf eh? Eventually the task is given up. I'm taking a thunderous shit, deal with it.