Ever get the feeling you're living two lives when you own two blogs?

I personally feel like an idiot owning two blogs- and updating the more obscure one. Which is not this one.

Merry Christmas

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Now on to that cake of Yours...

Hello,

I'm home for Christmas leave. Doing okay- alive, pulse, breathing, no grostesque changes to my person. I've got HRAP (Hometown Recruiting Assistance Program) so I have to go out into the world and encourage folks to join the Army. Not Easy. I'm not from here, I don't have friends here and I've only actually lived here for 6 of the 12 months I've stated TX as my residency. I just kind of stroll through town with battle buddies and let it go from there. I seem to do better talking to healthcare-oriented students in high schools- I got two interested people as leads, at least. I prefer not to harrass complete strangers because I wouldn't want it myself, so why force yourself to do something that is not you and will not work for you? Anyway, HRAP is how I'm getting free leave from the military for this holiday season. I go back 2 Jan, report into my new battalion and prep for physical therapy tech school. Fun. I can't wait until school is over and done with. I hate studying! Oh...5 more years to go. sigh. Lord help me.

Having my privacy reduced to nil and lounging here on my bunk while waiting for my facial masque to dry, it feels really weird trying to blog again. I am becoming more and more distant from this thing and I still try and reach for the once familiar thing of sharing my thoughts to no one in particular. I find little consolation. Time to look forward, I guess. Maybe I'll come back later. This is not good-bye, though.

A Political Classicalist

I registered to vote, and for the first time, I should add. I've never seen a voting machine so I don't know how it looks like. Do they have "Other" as an option of political affiliation?

While I ask this question to the air, I am trying to educate myself on the matter since it's never really been a concern for me to vote only because I couldn't. I don't even know if I will, with what I do know of the line-up that we have; but Ron Paul seems promising so far, in my opinion.

Can't I just be a "global citizen" and say my allegiance is to the Pope with affliation as Catholic? :P

Cover all my frickin bases.

Book List

Having been wrapped up in full-time studies, I don't seem to feel inclined to read at my leisure good, solid books to curb the intellect's hunger. Now that I have time, I do! It feels liberating- but I feel like some slow butt because I haven't really read much of anything outside textbooks (which are usually disgustingly boring). I now want to collect C.S. Lewis' works. I feel like starting out with The Great Divorce. No, I haven't read it yet. Yes, that sounds sad, hence my feeling like a slow butt.

I miss reading what I want to read for hours on end.

Meet thy Maker

I, one of the many askers of obvious-and-common-questions, reiterate an obviously human and common question: why is it that people turn to the "divine", or seek out that which is beyond temporal reality, only when they begin or fear to face the end of their own temporal reality?

I feel like I'm beating a dead horse everytime I or someone else brings up the subject of war, ultimately, death and the resulting moral implications of it. I was reading a book called Shrapnel in the Heart by Laura Palmer which shares the stories of significant others and friends of the Viet Nam military casualities. I guess I get the impression of beating the horse because so many people already discuss and think about war and its effects. But then they kind of put it in the backburner once all the hubbub has died (until memorial days). I see new recruits join the military for silly reasons (i.e. shoot guns) and for old (i.e. serve country), but the cycle repeats because the young die and people get hurt in various ways. And the world still turns.

But it still makes you think about life's ultimate endings. I think about how people approach those thoughts. Some don't really care. Some think way too much. Some are inbetween. I think some don't care enough, while some think I put too much effort into caring. In any way, the question remains: what happens when it all ends?

And when you get "there": what now?

But that's the question that remains for life in general, not just for war. In my opinion, war just makes that question come up faster, which is why I think that those that join shouldn't join with the thought that they're "just gonna die". I mean, the time that they have before they do should be spent wisely- not frivolously. But not everyone thinks this. I believe that people are stupid when they only start to "care" right before they kick the bucket. I don't doubt in God's saving grace for those who only "get it" once death sits in, but when you have time to help it, it's no excuse. Even if someone doesn't believe in God, what one person does can still affect some total stranger- and while we don't know that, there's still the fair possibility to consider.

Instinctively, the answer to my first question seems to be that it is inherent that man asks such questions about the purpose of his existence. It only seems logical that he'd eventually ask what happens when if he ceases to exist in terms of this world. And being the Catholic and interested individual that I am with the bits of knowledge that I've absorbed, one other answer would be that man's inclination to think of the "divine/supernatural" stems from the design of his Maker. While I myself have accepted this concept, I am a caring individual (careful to not just be some nosey butt picking into other people's business) and I can't help to wonder about how other people approach living life in terms of coming to death. I guess all I really want is for people to know the Truth. I would be considered a staunchly arrogant person to say that they should believe as I believe, but heck, in truth I do. At least I won't push them to do so. Free choice, after all.

Isn't life all about dying?

Got a bone to pick with the world. Again...

Today's society discounts several things I hold dear: chastity, humility, selflessness, charity and genuineness- to name a few.

They rarely (or never) mention any of these things as valuable, except for selflessness. Nevertheless, the many do not seem to live it to the fullest- when it comes down to it, it's every man for himself and "hate to be" all those who are just unfortunate. People have such lax views on anything chaste- few people mention it as being a strength of a person. I feel that people think or understand that the innocent heart is only for children. Then pride. Just pride, pride, pride- and it's not always whittled down into a wise sort of dignity that isn't celebrated inwardly. Charity- why is it usually used in reference to the downtrodden and not as in treating any of your neighbours, rich and poor? I feel that people are rarely genuine. You can't seem to trust people to just be Good- you always have to watch you back. What kind of living is this? You can't freely live a good life. It's no wonder that I walk out my door and feel morally fatigued after dealing with lost ideas everywhere I turn. I am just disgusted.

If I didn't value anything in living for a higher good or for the promise of an eternal, true Happiness, then I truly would not want to live at all.

But what am I saying? This is a neverending "problem". Man is the same, age after age. I really wonder what will happen at the "end" of the world. When will such things really end?

My thoughts (or thesis) on that question: perhaps the "end" of the world may be the end of your life. Once you die, you leave this world, you leave the temporal- you are no longer bound by time. Maybe you end up at the "end of the world". It's certainly the end of your "world".

Here I sigh, close my writings and face the world head-on again.

Intelligence is...stupid?

I watched this movie trailer and was left with a thought: if we weren't created by a higher Intelligence and we were just some cosmic accident, then the words we use, the ideas we have, the intelligence we own...at the bare roots of it all, were just accidental? So, we ourselves are not intelligent.

Our nervous system just interacts with our surroundings, and by some chance (if monkeys couldn't type out the Bible or Shakespeare at least somehow type out the definition of rationalization) we come to understand what this is and that is and we put names to things and we make calculations and we invent things and, yes, rationalize about our own existence? It's just by chance that every man of every age asks those same questions about life and stuff, huh?

I, for one, know that as immensely capable as we human beings can be, we are also capable of mistakes. So, logically, we're imperfect. Therefore I have little trust in the idea that we human beings can come about by chance and then say or think something like we're intelligent by our own design. (As a side note, we human beings can be very self-destructive- we figure out ways to kill ourselves yet we strive way too hard to control and maintain our lives...)

So with these thoughts, I think we who believe in God should not be ostracized and immediately labeled as fantastical or illogical (squirm)religious people who can't be open-minded.

Reaffirmation

I am fighting a battle which the many do not fight today. You may ask what the hell I could be fighting any differently from those around me. I say that you can't fight if you've already surrendered.

While my comrades have marched in regards to one aspect of it, they still march for the root of the same reason as I.

We advocate for the sanctity of Life.

They march for the unborn.

I fight for the pure of heart- one of the Most Beautiful things in Life that is overlooked. Quite frankly, it's a long, lonely road but it is worth it. This is one thing I will never changed about myself.

This is a shameful plug: I do update my other blog.

More thoughts to come on why I haven't made up my mind on the justified use of "profanity"- and why I'm frustrated yet appreciative of vagueness, ambiguity and quotation marks.

Upon donning the mic and make-up...

I never finish thoughts. Even when I've said I'll finish what I started...bad habit. Pathetic habit. And if I hear anyone else reiterate my own feelings, I'll strangle you. I'll say what I want when I please.

Random quote:

"Hearing nuns' confessions is like being stoned to death with popcorn."

- Bishop Fulton Sheen

Amongst other relatively noteworthy tidbits, approximately a month's time shall pass before this globe-trotting citizen zeros in on a relatively permanent location. In the meantime, partly dusted rooms are expected with a high chance of insanity. We should see a storm pass through the halls as organised junk falls from an upset of formerly inconspicuous shadows. Look for this erratic system to remain due to isolated thoughts and simultaneous combustive issues.

In sports, resale for previously-owned vehicles is uncertain. Let's take a look at the line up: we have the Bluebird- a funny name for that one seeing as it's white and not "blue". Who were his parents? Regardless of his namesake, he's looking swell and keeping well and should last the year. I reckon he'll be voted for MVV. That Vech' is Sleek. Carina's coming in second, no doubt. After her recent injury, and by the look of the judges' score, her performance has seen a decline. Let's just hope she holds for another month or two. As for Prairie,...have mercy. Well, it looks like the Main Man hasn't been preparing his line up. Not sure if this looks bright. That's right- especially if we've seen a weak side to the drag of the PSC season this time of year, there's no telling what prospects will arise. Will it have to be short of a miracle for all three to make it to the finals, or will some of them simply have to hit the road...in pieces? More on that later.

Well, that's all the time we have for now. Tune in next time for an update on The Global Trotter: will the trotting end, or is there more around the bend?

Good night, United Carbon-Based Forms of Life- and stop being collectively stupid.