If there's a way to go . . .

For the past couple of years i've been thinking about what really matters in the grand scheme of things. i don't know if it works this way for others but certain things rattle around in my head for a couple years before they get anywhere. The decision to drink alcohol took somewhere from 3-5 years. Perhaps you ponder something for a week and then know fully everything you think about the topic. For me it takes a while.

That said, the question of what really matters is one i fully expect to take a long time. i'm glad to be dealing with it now though. i recently picked up some Tolstoy and, in reading some of his non-fiction, found that in his fifties he was pondering very similar issues. After living a successful, and arguably important, life he questioned everything. This period in his life brought about massive personal change and that personal change draumatically impacted the world around him.

i also think about the diciples in a similar context. The disciples (post resurection) all lived to the death for Chirst; the aposlte Paul as well. These men, once misfits and losers, lived their life with determination and conviction. Something changed them. Something similar can be said of Tolstoy. He hit a point where what he once knew would no longer suffice.

i've often considered myself weak, unspectacular, quiet. i often fail to stand up for things i believe strongly in; often while fighting for things that simply cannot matter. That simply will not do anymore. i think the first step is deciding what truly matters. Once that is done, i can decide how to live in light of what matters.

Part of it is also letting the things which don't matter slide. I'm confronted with this one regularly. I'll get upset over something at work. On the whole, work is important. It is the little issues we get up in arms about that are typically the unimportant. They cause unnecessary frustration and they take our eyes off those things which do matter.

i hope one day to have the balanced perspective of a man who knows what matters in life. i hope this so that i may live the life that i believe to be the only possible outcome of such a perspective.

. . . face first is mine.

Bloke in a dress!

So, i recently bought myself a dress. . .

Apparently, i will, this Saturday, carry on the grand, cross-dressing tradition of many who have engaged, survived and conquered the education system. i, my friend, will walk in a graduation commencement ceremony. Why this requires me to wear a dress (or "gown" if you prefer) is beyond me.

The whole graduation thing seems strangely anti-climactic. Perhaps this is because 9 days later i will again begin classes at the same school. I will not be resuming classes for the sake of continuing my education by seeking a graduate degree, but rather for the purpose of completing the very degree i'll be cross-dressing for this weekend. It's sort of a kill joy.

Honestly, it feels like a kind of debt. i'll be "getting a degree" based on my promise to complete some course work. i know i'm not actually getting a degree this weekend (i don't think anyone does at these things; i'm pretty sure they mail it to you later). Still i can't help but imagine i'll feel somehow obligated to finish after Saturday. Like before i was doing it for my own reasons but after this weekend i'll owe them my scholastic effort.

i plan to finish, obligation or no, so it's not big deal but still, i can't help but think that walking across that stage on Saturday will feel ever so much like the swipe of a big credit card.

All blasphemy aside . . .

This is my list of games that God could not win. There are explanations for each one. Re-check this post from time to time as i will add to it as they come to me (are suggested). So, without further delay (or delayla for that matter),

Games God could not win:

- Dodge Ball. Come on, possibly the most obvious; He's omni-freekin-present! How do you not hit him. Guaranteed 1st out every game.

- Any variation of tag (see above).

- Ping-pong. At first i thought, of course God would win at stupid table tennis! He's God! But, you may recall, His eye is on the sparrow. You've got to keep your eye on the ball man!
___- you could lump a lot of racket sports in here too. (volleyball as well i suppose)
___- on a related not, he'd crush at badminton, sparrow/birdy, same thing.

Cholesterol 1, Tim 1, Diabetes 0

After a recent conversation with my brother i found out both of my parents are on medicine for high cholesterol. This conversation arose because he was telling me he recently discovered that he too has high cholesterol. Genetics being what they are, i decided i might want to get checked as well. I also got checked for diabetes as it also runs in my father's family.

The results:

- In your face diabetes! i win!
- Stupid cholesterol! i loose!

So i have high cholesterol. The good news is that diabetes would have altered my sweet tea drinking schedule. Cholesterol will just mess with everything else. Oddly enough, i can live with that.

So, Cholesterol, now that your friend diabetes is out of the way, it's just you and me. The way i see it, you may have been wining before, but i didn't even know about it. But it's on now!

Law School

So, i basically got an email this morning indicating that i have been accepted to Regent Univesities School of Law. So that's good news.

Philip Glass and letting less be less

Less, i like to believe, does not have to be more. It can be. But i like to believe it can also be less. Or at least i hope so.

One of my life's contradictions (one which i've been noticing more lately) is that i consider myself something of a minimalist. i cannot imagine anyone else would think that about me; but, at heart, i think of myself that way. No one else would, and that is due largely to a complete lack of evidence to support the belief. So it's a contradiction.

Now, i'm not saying i want to live in a tent or anything but i think i could pare down a bit. Part of the problem is not knowing how or where to start. i try to examine my life objectively and look at things from a balanced perspective. If i do a good job of that i should be able to rationally decide where the line is but i'm perplexed.

So i've got no answers on this one. i have a vague idea of what i want but no idea what it looks like, how far i am from it or how to find it.

Sadly, this seems about like par.

I can't tell what kind of life I've led today

And that really is the problem. i've noticed lately that at the end of any given day, i cannot say with much assurity what kind of day it was, or how well i did living it. i know it's over, but that's where certainty ends. Some days i get a great deal of things done, some days very little gets done. But, somehow, i feel like quantity accomplished is not the right measure. Somedays, the things i do are done very well; others not as well. Still, quality of the things done seems a poor, or at least incomplete, measure (though logically a step in the right direction).

It is possible some combination of these two answers the question. The obvious problem is the issue of the unknown. No matter how well any day has gone i can never know if it could have gone better. No matter how badly a day has gone i can never know if it could have been worse.

The point (part 1): i try to live in a way that will please the Lord and bring Him glory. That being the case, why is it that at the end of so many days, i have no idea if i've even come close to accomplishing that. Often, i could not tell you when i last gave God more than a passing thought.

The point (part 2): i try to be a good husband. At the end of every day, my wife still loves me. That is a good thing. But i cannot tell you that i was a good husband that day. She may say i was and in truth i may have been. There is just no way to know. There simply is no imperical measure or, if there is, it is unknown and therefore unhelpful.

The point (part 3): i try to be a good . . . (i think you see where this is going by now).

The uncertainty is not the core problem; the uncertainty is part of the problem. This is an important distinction. If i was simply bothered by uncertainty, i would not be so concerned with the asnwer to the question. The problem is that i want to glorify the Lord; i want to be a good husband. i'm just not sure how to know if i am or not.

p.s. as a general rule, if you think you may have spotted a musical reference in any of my posts (band name, song lyric/title, etc), assume it is a challenge. Bonus points, though technically non-existent, are available if you catch it.

Hide and go Jinx

So, my wife and i basically have a very cute and mischievous kitty. i am going to try hard not to post zillions of pictures of her here but there will be moments that it will be impossible to resist. This is one of those moments.

Now, how was i supposed to resist this one. This, ladies and gentlemen, is our little Jinx Removing. She is really, quite cute.

What caliber of man will you be . . ?

So, it occurred to me that my explanation for the justification of this blog was not entirely forth coming. My motives may not be any of your business, but the following may help to explain some of the ramblings to which you may be exposed in the future.

We recently began a new chronological period in time (some of us choose to call this period a "year"). I've never been much for resolutions. This has much to do with my life's mission of being too cool for anything more than 15 other people do. But I've been thinking a great deal lately about God and me and my family and life and what is and is not important. Our pastor was talking recently about a man (Johnathan Edwards maybe?) who took one year of his life and came up with like 70 resolutions by which he intended to live the rest of his life. Something in me resonated with that idea. It fit well in that part of me that ponders deep thoughts as I'm driving down the road (when I'm not commenting on the freakishly low IQs of my fellow motorists and the myriad of ways in which their low IQs impact my commute). So i decided to make a point this year of thinking about God and me and my family and life and what is and is not important.

A very good band once posed an inquiry which forms the title of this post (extra points if you can name them without looking it up). They went on to suggest that this kind of question isn't asked any more. I am inclined to agree. I feel, therefore, a necessity to pose it to myself. You may periodically be privy to my thoughts on that topic. I just thought you'd want to know what you may be getting yourself into by reading.

Board at work

So, i've been bored at work lately and I recently recieved some new pedals for Christmas. It was not enough for me to re-arrange my pedal board (twice). I had to embrace my dorkiness and and use CAD at work to draft it out. Behold:

I"m working to try and get one uploaded that you can view full size but blogger is not cooperating. This should give you the general idea in the mean time. Feel free to email me if you want the full size pdf in the mean time.