something completely different

After a few thoughtful posts that really strained my brain...let's try something a bit less intellectual....









CUBS SUCK

Musicals....

Ok, this is a very revealing post for me, so it's tough to put out there for you, but, for the sake of journalism, or something....I like musicals. There, I said it. Those cheesy movies/plays where people are dancing and singing in a choreographed way as if it were spontaneous. I wish it would happen in real life too. Could you imagine a dance number coming out of nowhere. It'd be amazing to join in on that. But I've found that there are genuinly really good stories snuck in with the massive musical numbers. These are stories that tug at our hearts and make us enjoy being human. I watched Moulin Rouge with my sister last night and to my dismay, it was an excellent story. I'm sure that ruffles many a feather, but it just impressed me as over the top, funny, but with an element of real deep humanity. Granted, the fact that they fell in love in 2.5 seconds was slightly ridiculous, but for some reason I can let it slide because it's already an incredibly over the top movie. But it has come to my attention that I will try not to automatically put down musicals. I also seem to tolerate romantic comedies. I'm more and more like my dad every day....

SOTD - The Year of Pujols - Just read that for an intense amount of stats you don't need.

Faith

NOTE: This is stream of consciousness, so many thoughts might not seem put together in a recognizable order. You have been warned.

FAITH (n.)

1. Confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing.
2. Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence. See Synonyms at belief. See Synonyms at trust.
3. Loyalty to a person or thing; allegiance: keeping faith with one's supporters.
4. often Faith Christianity. The theological virtue defined as secure belief in God and a trusting acceptance of God's will.
5. The body of dogma of a religion: the Muslim faith.
6. A set of principles or beliefs.

Hebrews 11:1 - Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

The first set of definitions is a grouping taken fron Dictionary.com and the verse is from the NIV.

I find it interesting that they do indeed mention Islam as well as Christianity in the definition. It just makes it really interesting. How can sooo many people believe so many different things so strongly? It is baffling. What do we know though? Faith is confidence in something. No matter what it is, it's knowing that one something is so true, that all other things fade away, regardless of factual basis. But what are facts? We are still trusting a person, idea, or thing when we believe facts. What makes them more valid? Obviously we seem to have an inate sense or something that allows us to 'know' that most facts are true. Is that because we are Doubting Thomas? Do we need to see before something becomes 'fact'? I don't know, but it bothers me that my faith is so deeply placed in Jesus and yet others do not accept that as fact. It brings up doubt in my head and it makes me cling to the faith tighter as well. Yet their faith is in something. They have a faith that is in the people that say there is no afterlife. They have a faith in the ideas that there is no God. They have a faith in the things of this planet. Yet there is still faith. But it really bores down to that most important word. By Faith we have been saved. By faith we 'know' that the Gospel is true. By faith people 'know' that God can't exist. Science 'disproves' that much. People don't want to be challenged to believe something that is slightly intangible. They want to be comfortable and claim no faith at all, because 'faith' is something of the middle ages and the third world. We don't need it in America. We're too advanced for that. And yet people STILL HURT. People escape to sex, alcoholism, money, and yet their escape is not recharging them, it's not changing them for the better...it ends up owning them and becomes less of an escape and more of an addiction. Does God become that for believers? He becomes an escape at first, but after a while, I think he has the potential to become an addiction because he's that amazing. So shouldn't that be bad too? I feel in my heart that it is that much better in fact! I've seen God transform lives of people that were caught and destroyed and controlled by things like alcohol, sex, and money. Now it should be noted, I do not think any of those things are bad solely to themselves in a way that is not controlling of our person. WOW...I've tangented...silly stream of consciousness.

FAITH...how in God's name is it so powerful? In the case of Christianity and Islam, these faiths are very similar. They are based in the same history. Adam and Eve, Abra(ha)m, and Abra(ha)m's sons. Islam is a nation created by Ishmael and Isaac gave way to Judaism and finally Christianity through the final covenant. So wrap your mind around that. Ishmael, the son that was cast away, a son of a mistress, becomes the father of a billion+ people in today's world. Isaac, the son that was nearly sacrificed to God becomes the father of another billion+ people in today's world. So what's being said here is that a massive portion of the world believes in a bastard (the literal sense) or someone that was nearly killed by his own father? This really is a broken world! But perhaps that isn't even as important as what two men did in caves. The salvation of an entire planet depends on what two men did in caves. That's right, all alone where nobody saw them. So Jesus rose from the dead in his cave and all was good right? What about when Muhammed came out of the cave with the Quran in hand after Allah inspired him? How are we supposed to know which one is right? Here's my application thought point I think...

We take the facts that are accepted by all of humanity and apply them to these situations. Then we take the things that have been written about/by these two men and see how they hold up to eachother and against themselves. Are there contradictions? Are there parts that are just false? Wait, there are still parts that are impossible to figure out? BAM...FAITH. It comes down to that. So now that I've gone in a circular situation, what am I saying....? I'm not sure, but please, lets look at what faith is, what it means to you, and how you can own your own...

An intense day for thoughts

Sunday was one heck of a day and it really stretched my mind with thoughts. I'll try to throw a few of them out there for you.

1. At mass, Father Don gave one of the shortest sermons ever. He asked the question, when will I start to love God? I mean, the wording is kind of vague, but clearly there are things we love more. Our sins, our vices, our habbits. Those things tend to dominate us, and when will we be able to let them go for the purposes of loving God wholely? I just think that's a good thought to ponder? And on the same token, for some of us, when will God 'click'? When will we get who he is for us? When will the Gospel ring true, or even ring for some of us? The story, the John 3:16, the reality to our lives this very day 2000 years later, the relationship that it brings, the freedom of the heart that is established. When will these things rings true? They are beautiful thoughts and I wrestle with them, but if you wrestle with them to a point where you just can't accept it...keep wrestling, look into it and really pursue the truth so you can own your faith.
2. This thought is from this moment just now. Let's talk about ownership of our faith for a moment. Many people are brought up in the church and if they continue to go, it can be very much so because of it becoming routine and just part of their lives while they continue to feel dead inside. Maybe it's time we owned what we believed, whatever that was. Doing it so that we have convictions to defend, so we know what the truth is for ourselves. We cannot settle for a force fed system without exploring why the system is indeed true. Why does it resonate with us? Is it because mom and dad said it's what we do? Or is it because it has transformed us and made us anew?
3. I watched United 93 with my family on Sunday and it's interesting how the movies we watch as a family have evolved as Emily and I have gotten older. It's an intense film and I HIGHLY recommend it. It's not feel good film for sure, but it drops you into a situation you remember very vividly and shows it from the perspective of others. I get the impression it wasn't recieved very highly either and many people haven't seen it. GO SEE IT, and if it's not in the theaters, wait...and then GO RENT IT! The thing that struck me most was that this really happened and it was very real to us, but as time has gone on, it became more just....there. This movie I think opens up some infected wounds in our hearts and minds so that they can heal in a better way. Another thing that struck me was the chaos of the situation. Finally the things that just had me tearing up in the theater and even shaking were the scenes where you have muslim terrorists believing so fully that this is what Allah wants them to do. They are indeed OWNING their faith. Then it cuts to Christian hostages praying the Lord's Prayer so confident that this is a horrible act. WOW. It just cuts deep for me. How do you take that when people are owning two contradictory faiths and there is no proof...especially when the ideas come from similar roots. I think at that point it comes down to the single word, Faith. I really want to study and meditate on that idea, because it really ends up being very crucial to owning a belief system. How can faith be so powerful is opposite directions? It's just really interesting...
4. I also saw Requim for a Dream on Sunday. That is a MESSED movie. It's really good though and it shows some real raw stuff. It also just busts out how broken and messed our world is. It's shocking and scary and just makes you really wonder about how messed up the world can really be. I mean, we live in America...the land of the all mighty dollar where everybody has their two car garage and is happy no matter what. Yet there are people so busted and broken here. What is it like where things are harder and people don't have shelter, food, or even water? It just makes my heart ache knowing that this life is really hard and messed and there are some people that seem beyond hope and will be lost in the cracks forever....Pray for them.
5. Finally...the crew going to LT this summer shoves off today and I am SOOOO envious. It conjures up amazing thoughts of how sweet and good the times of that summer at the Y were. I definitely want to plan a trip to visit them. So I'm not sure how it'll work, but let me know if I know you and you're interested in going...

Ok, I've talked enough.

SOTD - 1 - LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers took the Detroit Pistons to a game 7 in their series, but after 'The Chosen One', Mr. James, only scored 1 hoop in the entire second half, the Detriot defense carried them to the third round of the NBA playoffs.

Silly little things

Este es ganked del blog de Chuck. Este es un examen de mi y digame que soy de.

Advanced Global Personality Test Results Extraversion |||||||||||||||||| 73% Stability |||||||||||||||| 63% Orderliness |||||||||||| 43% Accommodation |||||||||||||||| 63% Interdependence |||||||||||||||| 70% Intellectual |||||||||||||||||| 76% Mystical |||||||||||| 50% Artistic |||||| 30% Religious |||||||||||||||||||| 90% Hedonism |||||| 30% Materialism |||||| 30% Narcissism |||||||||||||| 56% Adventurousness |||||||||||||||||| 76% Work ethic |||||||||||| 50% Self absorbed |||||||||||| 43% Conflict seeking |||||||||||||||||| 76% Need to dominate |||||||||||| 50% Romantic |||||||||||||| 56% Avoidant |||||||||||| 43% Anti-authority |||||||||||||| 56% Wealth |||||||||||| 50% Dependency |||||||||| 36% Change averse |||||||||| 36% Cautiousness |||||||||| 36% Individuality |||||||||||||| 56% Sexuality |||||||||||||| 56% Peter pan complex |||||||||||| 43% Physical security |||||||||||||||||| 76% Physical Fitness |||||| 30% Histrionic |||||||||| 36% Paranoia |||||||||||| 50% Vanity |||||||||||| 43% Hypersensitivity |||||||||||| 50% Female cliche || 10%

Take Free Advanced Global Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

This is funny

I've been surfin' around the net and checkin' out friends' Facebooks and MySpaces and stumbled across this little gem...





OK...if it doesn't work, just go to the actual YouTube site by clicking on the video...watch it though!

Poll data

As I rummaged through my room, I stumbled across something from CIY after my senior year. It's the data from the poll questions that I posed to people throughout the week. So without further adiou, here is the info that you need. Opinionated folks unite and let me know what you think....

• on the subject of Crumpling vs. Folding toilet paper, crumpling wins 22-19 votes.
  
• When we wipe, 31 people prefer to sit to 11 wanting to stand after pooping.
• 26 people to 16 would rather have plastic over paper.
• In an epic battle, ninjas unfortunately beat samurai 22-20.
• In a rousing battle of Pepsi vs. Coke, Coke won 31-30.
• Pepperoni decimated sausage by a score of 42-19.
• For men, out of boxers, boxer briefs, and briefs, the score fell 19-13-5 respectively.
• For the women, 17 prefered N*Sync while only 7 prefered the Backstreet Boys.
• Ketchup won in dominant fashion over mustard 49 votes to 12.
• People that like to look at their poo after they are done numbered 44 compared to who did not at 17.
• On the biggest day of the poll, the results allowed Santa Clause to stomp on the Easter Bunny 63-57.
• People would rather have bad breathe over bad body oder by a score of 99-23.
• People did not want to poop their pants as 101 people would rather pee them than the 11 that would pee them.
• People prefer thick crust pizza to thin crust by a vote of 66-51.
• Vikings were deemed less cool than pirates by a score of 75-45.
• 71 people would rather lose a hand than the 49 that would rather lose a foot.
• Mullets handily beats mohawks in cool factor by a score of 89-31.
• People would rather walk in on somebody naked than get walked in on naked by a score of 29-23.
• Brunettes were prefered by a score of 32-19 over blondes.
• Chocolate beat regular flavoring by a score of 29-23.
• On the subject of black and brown matching, we had a tie. 26 people thought they did match and 26 people thought they did not go together.
• Luigi was shown to be the favorite Mario brother over Mario himself by a score of 26-15.
• People would rather meet a celebrity than my friend Tucker by a score of 21-20.
• Yes beat No 34-7.
• The Olson Twins were deemed cooler than Tia and Tamara of Sister Sister by a score of 36-5.
• 35-6 was the score of people prefering innie belly buttons to outtie ones.
• 40-1 was the score of people having innie belly buttons to outtie ones.
• Retzer got 29 votes while Caleb recieved only 12.
• People preferred being hit by a bus over a semi by a score of 21-20.
• In the final round of the samurai, viking, ninja, pirate tourney, Ninjas beat Pirates 22-19 for the role of coolest and Vikings lost to Samurai for the role of least cool.
• There was also one more poll and the score was 72-45 in favor of Someone elses TB to Someones HW...I'm not sure what I meant by that.

There you have it....the facts, and nothing but. Now you are more educated and ready to dominate the summer months.

100%

DONE, and done. Barring anything ridiculous, I'm a junior in college. Amazing. I'm in St. Louis now and I'm just gonna enjoy some time with my family on my mom's side. I have no inspirational thoughts, just thought I'd holla that I'm done...

Nuggets of thought

• TAM, I'm looking forward to being done with you.
• When counseling a person, tell them what they need to hear, not what you want to tell them. (not sure if that's correct, but it's something I chewed on today)
• I feel as if I'm not cut out for this engineering thing. It's not based on work ethic or anything of that nature...it's just not clicking.
• But yet I love it. I love how things work, I just hate tests.
• I feel as if I'm not very sad that everybody is parting ways and school is over....I feel like it hasn't hit me yet and it's gonna stink when it does.
• And yet I know the majority of these people I will in fact see again soon and it brings a comfort to me.
• Ok, I just lost motivation on the random thoughts. Time to go and study.
  

wiidunn

80%

I'm 80% done with my finals and I've hit my second block of detox/chill time tonight. Glory of glories!

This is fun

Music has become such a fluid thing. Genres have melted together and people from across the board want to perform with people from the other side of the board. I wonder if what part of it is for the money and what part is because they love what they do and want to do new and interesting things with it. Check this video out as you'll look at a mix of three different genres of music...amazing.

Mass thought

Monsignor Swetland said the 9pm mass today and I love that guy. He really offers forth some challenging thoughts.

This week is Good Shepherd Sunday. All of the readings were representative of God as our shepherd. And then Swetland took it one step further and spoke of God calling us all out to be shepherds in whatever role we may have as either family leaders, church leaders, work leaders, etc. So if we are to be good shepherds, what do we have to do? Well he spoke of a brilliant analogy that Christ is our Good Shepherd, and yet he became the Pascal Lamb. He became one of the sheep and was killed for the rest of the sheep. Brilliant! So we are to lay ourselves down and be servants for our flock, whatever that may look like. Our friends, our family, our co-workers, etc. We must become servants. I know I've heard this a thousand times, but it was good to hear again.

SOTD - 6 - That's right, the Cubs losing skid has hit six games...awesome :(

Play that song by Green Day

It's nearly the end of the semester, and it's finally catching onto me. I'm sad that I'm not gonna see a lot of these people the a few months. But last summer it worked out, so clearly this summer will too. It's just gonna be different. I think about this past year, and I realize it's been amazing. It started in the fall coming back from LT, tanned from being in the sun all the time, ready to hit the campus here at the UofI hard. I messed up a lot. From a school standpoint, I was looking at switching majors. I decided to stay the same major and God has blessed me with study buddies and resources out the rear end. I got to meet a ton of new people, freshman, sophomores, juniors, seniors, grad students, and little kids I got to babysit. The freshman I met have become an integral part of my life. The sophomores I've met have become the people that I am doing this school hasrdcore with. The juniors and seniors have ecome a smaller gap. The grad students....well, I don't think I'll ever understand them. But I got to hang with so many people, grow in my ministry role. I still messed that up a lot and I've learned a lot more about the practicalities and the down and dirties of it all. I have put myself on the line, I've been to Michigan for a ski trip, I've been to Bloomington to hang with friends, I've been to Chicago to hang with friends, I've been to St. Louis to see family, I've been to Ohio to see an Illinois game, I've been to New Orleans for a missions trip, I've been to Memphis to hang out...WOW. I've been to a lot of places. I've met all sorts of people, Calvin, Mike O., Rachel, Sarah, Christie, Cale, Greg, Anthony, Justin, Imig, Mike A., T-Dawg, Dan, Pat G., Dieball...and there are so many more, but I have to finish this post in ten minutes. Then there are the people that I already knew that I've gotten to know so much better...Josh, Mike, Eliz, Kim, Syd, Jeff, Julianne, Kaylin, Megan, Erik, Evan, Fred, Brooke, Casey, Heyen, Paolinetti, Ty, Chris, Paul, Gleason, Megan...and there are more here. I love the people here. It's gonna be sad to not see these folks for a while. But I'm already excited about the summer that I'll be having hanging with my bros I haven't seen in forever. I'm ready for that. It's gonna be great! I just could reflect forever...but I think I'll take a break for a bit. The coming year is gonna be great. New student month is gonna be a stress, but it's gonna be sweet to get people excited about meeting new peeps and also helping Mike and Eliz in their roles. It's gonna be great to hang with my junior peeps. I'M GONNA BE AN UPPERCLASSMAN!!!! WOW!!! What's going on!!! Okay, I've let my diatribe go a bit too long. So I'm done for now.

God, guide me as I must push through my last few tests and get done. Help me to focus and reflect come time for reflectingafter the tests. I need you, and you got my back!

Sinko De Mayo

I know this is a bit late, but....

Most people don't know that back in 1912, Hellmann's mayonnaise was manufactured in England. In fact, the Titanic was carrying 12,000 jars of the condiment scheduled for delivery in Vera Cruz, Mexico, which was to be the next port of call for the great ship after its stop in New York. This would have been the largest single shipment of mayonnaise ever delivered to Mexico.... But as we know....the great ship did not make it to New York....The ship hit an iceberg and sank....and the cargo was forever lost.... The people of Mexico, who were crazy about mayonnaise, and were eagerly awaiting its delivery....were disconsolate at the loss.... Their anguish was so great, that they declared a National Day of Mourning which they still observe to this day....The National Day of Mourning occurs each year on May 5th....and is known....of course....as Sinko de Mayo....

Best video game yet to be released

I can't wait for this game....It's gonna be amazing and take up a signifigant part of my life

40%

I am 40% done now. My brain is slightly ready to turn off. I'm awfully drained right now and need some rest and relaxation. I just gotta find something fun to do...

SOTD - 170 - The Caulk the Wagon and Float It video is out there folks. It has received 170 hits since it has been uploaded. Tell your friends and let everybody check it out. Please spread the word!!

20%

I am 20% done with finals...booya. I have another one in 2 hours...ICK.

Yellowcard

Studying is harder than I initially thought. So I rounded out my concert tour for the 05-06 school year last night. I think I ended up going to 5. I went to a UofI band concert that Rachel Ahrens played in, The Nintendo Fusion Tour with Motion City Soundtrack, The Starting Line, and Fall Out Boy, I saw Maxeen, The Rocket Summer, and Relient K at Foellinger. I also saw Lovedrug and Switchfoot at Foellinger. Finally last night I saw Mae and Yellowcard at the Assembly Hall. It was a blast every time and each show had it's own unique feel. I'm also thinking that last year I saw Casting Crowns, Chris Tomlin, and Steven Curtis Chapman at a show last year and I saw The Format, Taking Back Sunday, and Jimmy Eat World at another one. I've been to quite a few shows this year. Far more than I'd ever been to before college started. It's been really sweet to catch live music. I've also seen small groups like 51 Stones (Matt Wondra's band), Sherlock (now defunct), and the amazing Marching Illini on quite a few occasions. Now I've got music in my head still and it's there so I can study. I gotta roll... 

Reading Day

Meaning I'll disappear for a while and then turn back up afraid of natural light and done with school in about a week.

hooootttt pockets

all thoughts from Jim Gaffigan

-How did they come up with the idea for hot pockets anyway. Were they in their development meeting and some guy went, hey...I got an idea. Let's take a pop tart and stick nasty meat in it and then we can cook it in a wrapper thing and....

-hot pockets definitely have one of those jingles...."HOOOOTT POOOCCKKKEEETTTSS." How hard must that have been to come up with?

"JENKINS!!! How's that jingle comin'?

'uhhh uuhhh uuhhhhh (look of panic)....HOOOOTTTT POOOCCCCKKKEEETTTTSSS.'

'That's Brilliant! What can we use for Mexico?'

'ummmmm CALLIIEEENNNNTTTEEEEE POOOOCCCKKKKEEETTTSSS.'

'You have a gift. Don't let it stay hidden.'

yea so um

Ok, so I think with a clear head I can honestly say that I am believing a lie. IMAGINE THAT!!! I just think I"m fine. I have no need to worry and not trust God and not think that I will be ok in the end because of him. It's not as if I'm in a bad spot. I've just got to be, dare I say, BOLD, and also patient. But God is great and the people around me are great, so I'm not gonna believe the lie anymore. I'm not gonna buy into what I'm being 'told' anymore.

Late night findings

I am up talking online to a friend I haven't talked to in quite some time and I was surfing at the same time and stumbled across this...Justin, you'll appreciate