Hobbies

My latest attempt at bettering myself is to cut boredom out of my life. Over the last month I've noticed I don't move around the house without taking my laptop with me. What do I do with it once it's transported? Watch bad youtube, read redundant sports articles, browse the concentrated cynicism and circlejerk that is Luelinks. I'm making a stand against this nonsense. Whenever I'm doing a boring activity I stop what I'm doing and pour that energy into a hobby.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002VA464S/
The above microphone is on it's way to my house. I think I've lived on my mac microphone for just about long enough. I'll be putting this to use by having a semi active youtube channel which is under the middle school classic moniker Bewareoffarms. http://www.youtube.com/user/BewareOfFarms I've got a couple new songs in process right now. One I like the tune but the words need work (I'm considering making it about Ann Boleyn, that's probably a bad idea) The other one needs some flash in the melody. I'll probably put some covers up or something in the meantime once my set-up arrives.

Magic is occupying an interesting spot in my life right now. I really enjoy tournaments but don't really have the time to take part in that many. Playing online is a much bigger pain on a mac than PC since I have to emulate a PC. (Let's get real M:TG Online, how can you not have mac version of your product?) So for now my tournament life is kind of on hold. Unlike my early Cleveland days with Dano, I don't have somebody who enjoys going to all the FNMs. What I do have are SJ friends who like the going to higher level tournaments out of town. It's an interesting spot because I go to more large tournaments but am far more out of practice. Still fun, but makes it tough to do well.

Basketball is insane. I'll be at Crisler tomorrow.

BSE? Revisited

Ugh, doing a bad job with the blog lately. I haven't even blogged anything about being back in Ann Arbor. Book of Mormon stuff is coming sometime too.

Today I'm doing a look back at the "Best Song Ever?" Lately music has been a larger part of my life due to me and Ian going to every show within a 50 mile radius. Work has been a solid 8 hours of music listening as well. It's been a year and a half since I made the original brackets so I think it's worth looking back and seeing what changes I would make to the original list now.

ARTIST SWAPS

OUT: My City of Ruins - Bruce Springsteen
IN: Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen

I've got nothing but good things to say about City of Ruins and of the two songs it's certainly the more heartfelt. In this case though I let nostalgia and an amazing live performance cloud my opinion. Stripped down to just the music, Born to Run is just a better song.

OUT: Gyroscope - The Dismemberment Plan
IN: The Ice of Boston - The Dismemberment Plan

Not sure what I was thinking here. There are at least 5 other Plan songs I would pick over Gyroscope if I did it again. You are Invited would be an obvious choice but I gotta go with Ice of Boston here. To me it feels like the only Plan song that feels ok to listen to by itself. It tells a story like Invited but is more musical and feels more relatable. There are some great lyrics that really sell it "knowing about that would involve knowing about some pathetic, ridiculous and absolutely true things about myself"

OUT: Tired of sex - Weezer
IN: Say it Ain't So - Weezer

Again, I'm lying to myself. I have a lot more history with Pinkerton than I do with the Blue album. Tired of Sex was also probably in the first 500 songs I ever downloaded. When it comes down to it Say it Ain't So has the melody, the lyrics and definitely the charm.

OUT: No Children - The Mountain Goats
IN: This Year - The Mountain Goats

No Children is awesome, but I often mix it up with how much I love Moral Orel. This Year is better, Thanks Ian.

OUT: Lost in the Supermarket - The Clash
IN: Train in Vain - The Clash

Feels weird taking out a song that made it to the sweet 16. It's still pretty close in my mind. Shit, they're both so good.

OUT: Young Heart Spark Fire - Japandroids
IN: The House That Heaven Built - Japandroids

They just released a better song in the meantime. Not much to say. Super excited to see them again this summer.

NOT MAKING THE CUT

OUT:The Drugs Don't Work - The Verve

I want The Verve to be better than they are. Along with Oasis, The Verve was one of the first times I was into an actual band instead of a song. Unfortunately, Urban Hymns just doesn't live up to the legend it is in my head. I thought about swapping the song for Bittersweet Symphony or Lucky Man but it still seemed more correct just to drop the Verve altogether

OUT: All Star- Smash Mouth

I don't wanna talk about it.

OUT: 96 tears - ? and the Mysterians

I dunno, I like this song but not that much. It's one of those tunes that always seem to make these kinds of lists but I really can't justify it enough to put it on mine. Maybe it did a lot for music or something, but it's kinda boring these days.

OUT: numb/encore - Jay-Z/Linkin Park

Yeah, my bad

OUT: Give a Little Bit - Supertramp

It's possible this should just be a swap for Goodbye Stranger. I'm ok with just letting Supertramp go though, it probably still would have been a first round loss. Give a Little Bit is just a little too hokey for me.

OUT: Ce Jeu - Yelle

Oh la la, c'est bon but not top 128 best songs ever bon.

OUT: Somewhere Over the Rainbow - Brother Iz

At the end of the day covers are still covers, even if they are done in awesome arrangements mixed with Wonderful World. Still a beautiful rendition.

OUT: Closing Time - Semisonic

You don't have to go home but you can't stay on this list.

OUT: Fatalist Palmistry - Why?

Great lyrics, great tune. I think I could see myself getting sick of it if I listened to it 50 times in a week though, which is kinda a prereq in this thing.

OUT: Walking - The Dodos

I remember really being into this song when I wrote up the bracket. It's very pretty, I loves me a banjo tune. The chorus is a little underwhelming though. I"m just pretty ok with letting this one go.

OUT: Overkill - Colin Haye

This one kinda feels like a shame and I can only kinda pin down why I'm cutting it. I feel the lyrics aren't specific enough. Songs are supposed be a little vague so your audience can relate to them. This one goes a little too far though, he just seems to be sad. Something about ghosts.

PUT ME IN COACH, I'M READY

IN: American Pie - Don McClean

Must have just skipped over this song while I was making the list. It's pretty hard to argue with. Side note, when Don was asked what his song meant, he replied "It means I"ll never have to work again."

IN: You Can Call Me Al - Paul Simon

Kind of the same deal. It says a lot in an upbeat tempo.

IN: Bleeding Heart Show - The New Pornographers
I wanted to put a new pornographers song in the first time around but I didn't think they had a single that was good enough to stand on it's own. Looking back, Bleeding Heart Show seems obvious. I love how this song builds. IT just gets better and better as it goes.

IN: Touch Me - The Doors

Doors seem like another bad miss. Tough to pick one song out of the catalog. The End is too long, break on through is too short. Touch Me just gets enough right to represent this giant.

IN: The Crane Wife 3 - The Decemberists

I specifically remember hating on the Decemberists that day and I'm not sure why. Crane Wife 3 is awesome.

IN: Keeping Me Awake - Tarkio

Speaking of the Decemberists! I didn't know about this band or song when I made the list so there it is. It's pretty hard to not enjoy this one. It's interesting to think about what would've happened if Tarkio made it and the Decemberists never formed.

IN: Jane Says - Jane's Addiction

This was a banner year for JA in Steven land. I couldn't stop listening to this song this year and I saw them live in Cleveland town. It's funny how much song you can put together with only 2 chords.

IN: Shout - Tears For Fears

I feel like me and this song have a moment whenever it comes on. Like I have to stop what I'm doing and pay attention to it no matter what. That says a lot about it's quality to me.

IN: Midnight City - M83

Again, new song. Pretty amazing all around

IN: Love Stepping Out - Disco Inferno

I can't stop listening to this lately. It's absolutely mesmerizing. I have no idea why I like it so much. Maybe this one's a little flash in the pan but that's yet to be seen. I think it has the staying power to earn this spot.

IN: Steak Knives - Man Man
Just saw Man Man last week and they had one of the best shows I've been to. I did a lot of preparation for this one and in the mean time I realized how great Steak Knives is. Apparently it took him years to write this song and I believe it. "I know you've met the mess you'll marry. He'll keep you fed but can he carry the weight of your heart." Wow.

Wrap Up

It's great having an excuse to just listen to the best songs. It's almost overwhelming. Feels good to write about music again. Doing something like a Best Albums Ever is pretty tempting but I don't think you guys really want to read me ramble about music for another 12 blogs. I think I feel pretty satisfied with the list for now. Did I miss anything outrageous? You can listen to this thing on spotify here too: BSE with Updates

GreenfieLDS project

Ada Rachel Clark Smith
http://bit.ly/WIaL7k
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Smith_III#Family_chart

Wife of Joseph Smith III. That would be the son of the famous Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon religion. Now there's not a lot of information floating around on the internet about this woman besides the half page blurb in the google book. You might have, however, noticed the last name of Clark. I'm not sure of the exact details but she is a distant relation of mine(something like a great great aunt). The Clarks historically had been heavily involved in the LDS church, up until my grandfather anyways. He left his faith around the same time that he married my grandmother but still maintains an interest in theology and the early workings of the church. I've enjoyed many conversations with him on my bible reading and the workings of religion. Over Xmas he gave me something that I'm very excited to have and am looking forward to reading.

My Grandfather's copy of The Book of Mormon. Published 1944 in Independence, Missouri. 

By Joseph Smith

Coming soon, Let's Read: The Book Of Mormon

Portrait of Facebook Friend Unknown

Scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed today I happened upon a post from a fellow member of the 2006 St. Joseph High School graduating class. The post invited me to check out her blog and being a fellow blogger and general snoop of people I barely know I gladly accepted the invitation. What I found was a strange bizzaro version of my own blog. The central concept of the blog is her journey with the "new testament challenge," a call from her church to the congregation to read the entirety of the new testament. She writes about each verse she finds interesting and explains how it only affirms her faith in every possible way.

Some excerpts:

"I found encouragement when it said in Acts, "...they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah."  Can you imagine never stopping teaching and proclaiming the good news?!  That is so awesome."

"I learned that our God, my God, is awesome.  Simply put - he is awesome.  There is so much in just those short eleven pages that I learned today and that is in God's love letter to me!  How many religions and beliefs have a whole love letter written directly to them?  None that I'm aware of. "

It's a strange bubble of someone else's life and how God plays an integral role in it. I have thus far resisted posting a comment giving me views of the same verses. Though I very much liked hearing the Christian perspective on my posts I'm not sure if the reverse would be well appreciated, especially when it's a person you haven't interacted with over 6 years. The blog is not poorly written though, and if Facebook tells me when the next entry is I'll probably read it.

Career Oriented Individual

At my company, I work in a product that was bought by my current employer. Before we bought them they had a smallish development staff of 6 employees. 2 of these employees were let go upon the acquisition, 1 moved to Cleveland and the remaining 3 worked remotely from New Hampshire. 2 weeks ago we had an end of day Friday meeting and were told that the New Hampshire employees were being let go since having remote employees 'hurt the process.' It's hard for me to say if that's true or not. It's true that many things have gotten a fair amount smoother, but the knowledge base we've lost is incredibly immense and who knows how that will affect us in the coming months.

As a result, many of my peers have been tidying up the old resume and I'd be lying if I didn't say I was among them. Due to a lack of vacation days I'm not really looking until I can afford to travel on weekdays for interviews. I did, however, speak with my boss about whether there's anything resembling a promotion/raise on the horizon. He told me I was ready and he's fighting for me and that's the most that can happen for the time being.

Now, my friend did actually receive an offer another company that was roughly an 8k raise. He looked like he was going to leave but my company counter offerred and now it appears he's going to stay on. Now that sucks. He was well deserving of such a thing due to the work he did there but was only offerred anything after threatening to leave. With my department in the state it's in with so few people left with any idea of how this purchased product functions all the members are somewhat crucial for it to remain functioning. Does this mean I have to threaten to leave before I can actually get anything legitimate here? I do not like the precedent set here and I really do not like anyone getting picked for career bumps based on their claims of leaving. Overall I'm getting rather sick of this company and the career games they're playing. I'm tired of seeing echoes of "the bottom line" all over the place.

Bible Wrap Up

Let's start at the end. Revelations is the worst part of the bible. Yeah a lot of crazy shit happens but it ends up sounding like a drug trip more than anything. Everything in the book seems to be done by weird animal hybrids. Even Jesus described as a "lamb with seven horns and seven eyes." This is a reference to some of the visions interpreted by Samuel in the old testament but that doesn't make it any less bizarre. Revelations might mean to be a prophecy, or it might be referring to contemporary events (I'm sure most of you know that '666' is referring to Emperor Nero) All in all though, one of the books I was looking forward to the most ended up being kinda worthless.

Between revelations and the gospels lies a bunch of letters written mostly by Paul. It's an interesting glimpse into the workings and persecutions of early Christians but doesn't offer much substance beyond that. Paul reaffirms that Jesus rose from the dead and that you don't need to circumcise yourself. He makes an awful lot of comments about how women should obey their husbands. One of the most important takeaways from Pauls letters is that it's apparent that these Christians believed Jesus' return was imminent. Nobody ever mentions a date but one part that stands out to me is that Paul tells his single followers not to get married. This advice seems to be a "why bother? the end is coming" kind of deal.

The timing of the new testament is pretty interesting to me. It's placed in chronological order, but the Gospels were written after Pauls letters and preaching. Mark was the first of the Gospels and used as source material for the other three and anything that was put into Mark would have already been influenced by the teachings of Paul. Paul never mentions anything about Jesus' life aside from the crucification and resurrection so it's hard to tell what was invented about Jesus' life by the Gospels. It's interesting to note that Mark doesn't mention the virgin birth. Biblical scholars pretty much universally accept that the virgin birth is a later addition. Mark starts with the Baptizing of Jesus at which point God opens the sky and claims Jesus as his son. There are some early views that Jesus was 'adopted' by God at this point.

Mark's ending is also one of the most disputed parts of the bible. Certain stylistic changes suggest that Mark originally ended at Mark 16:8. Conveniently this is right before any mention of sightings of Jesus after the resurrection. Mark 16:8 ends with Mary Magdalene at the empty tomb which is definitely abrupt. It could be Mark (or whoever wrote this) died before he finished and an apprentice finished the work. A later scholar might have removed an ending and replaced it with the resurrection, too.  Or maybe Mark really did just want to finish the work there. This is just lost to history.

The whole New Testament is an interesting contrast to the Old. One of the biggest themes, as Sara pointed out to me, is the creation of a new covenant. This is especially apparent in Paul's letters. To me it seems as though Paul was very concerned with converting the Gentiles AKA non-jews. I can only imagine the difficulties of convincing others they need to follow Jewish law, not to mention circumcision. The new covenant seems like a convenient way to circumvent all those troublesome rules about not eating pigs and genital mutilation.

In that sense Christianity is definitely an easier religion to follow than Judaism since the only real rule is believe in Jesus. Judaism is also anything but inclusive, these are the chosen people after all. Others' faith seems to be appreciated but you never seem to have the same status. Christianity on the other hand  is willing to accept any believer and anyone can be saved. Unfortunately with Christianity you get a lot more lake of fire.

Speaking of the lake of fire, I find it really difficult to get any straight information about the Christian interpretation of hell. Of course that may just be because there is no agreed upon definition. It seems to be an even split between a disconnection from God and, y'know, mental and physical torture forever. The bible is pretty vague but Jesus definitely mentions fire. According to wiki though this might have been referring to a trash pile outside of town where they threw the bodies of sinners, so who knows.




So Bible is complete. My interest in holy books though is still well piqued and I'll probably give the Qur'an a go in the near future. I'll give you guys a break on these heavy religion blogs though. I probably find this stuff more interesting than anyone else. It was definitely a great read and I'd seriously recommend the Bible to anyone interested.

Still atheist though, sorry Jesus.

Feeling the spirits

A bottle of wine and 2 bible chapters can turn an otherwise lame Saturday into a good time.


John 19:34
 One of the soldiers stuck his spear into Jesus' side, and blood and water came out. ³⁵ We know this is true, because it was told by someone who saw it happen. Now you can have faith too.

WELL FUCK, now I know it to be true. A friend of a friend says it happened. 


John keeps bringing up "Jesus' favorite disciple" AKA (via King James) "the beloved disciple" which sounds an awful lot to me like jesus had a fuck buddy. I'm not alone here either http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disciple_whom_Jesus_loved

They're described as laying on jesus' bosom at the last supper. (John 13:23) Who might that be?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Damiane._Jesus_Christ_and_St._John_the_Apostle..jpg

oh Jesus...