Up early again today, I did get a good night's sleep last night, along with having weird dreams. I was wanting to get some stuff done outside before it got too hot, but I wound up spending two-and-a-half hours online, so it's already hot, dammit.
I'm a member of the diary-L crit list, and I'm impressed with the critiquing that has gone on so far. Some of these people must be pros at this stuff. I have a tendency to think "I like" or "I don't like" without doing the reasoning that goes with it. I just react. Which is probably OK for everyday living, but I feel like a goldfish swimming with the sharks on this list.
Of course, that means that I'm in for a great learning experience, which can be very positive. It will be a couple of months before Nilknarf comes up for review, which means that I'll have the benefit of watching the others first, and take notes of what people like and don't like. The more that I think about it, I realize that I don't really have the slightest idea.
I will occasionally get an email:"wow, that was a really good entry!". Boy, does that ever make me feel good! The problem is, I can't figger out what made that entry better than the last one or the next one. If I could, of course, every entry would be sparkling, and you know that isn't the case.
On the other hand, I have never gotten an email saying an entry is crappy, although I know for sure that this happens frequently. Is there something in my writing that says, Hey, this guy is sensitive and thin-skinned, please don't hurt him? or maybe This doofus isn't going to listen to you anyway, he's off in his own inpenetrable little world? I am not trying to convey either of these messages, but maybe I do anyway.
Enough of that!
My life has seemed very flat lately, devoid of any real joy. Which is kinda strange for me; I think that the meds that I'm taking for my back are having more of an effect on my mind than I expected them to. I really don't like that, and I'm going to D/C those meds after today.
And I just realized that I have done in two pots of coffee and not eaten anything yet; and I'm really hungry now that I think about it.
Hmmm... solved that hunger problem... unfortunately, it's only a short-term solution, I'll get hungry again in three or four hours and have to do it again. This body maintenance thing is a real pain sometimes. I had a big bowl of Generic Corn Flakes with two packets of Sweet'n'low and 1/2% milk. I noticed several flakes that were partially blackened... I don't know if that's from the baking process or just some of those parts-per-million of insect parts. Luckily for me, I don't dwell on shit like that. Just gobble-gobble, feed the machine, splash, splash, wipe, empty the machine.
I am again becoming disgusted with myself for smoking... I seem to be doing two-packs-a-day recently. A lot of that is from not being able to do a lot of stuff, so I sit in front of the computer and smoke. Now that the big tobacco people have admitted that they hooked me and intended to, how do I go about getting money from them for the years of wasted productivity and the heart attacks? I would really like to get some money from them...
There is a one-third page picture on the front page of the Topeka Cap/Journal of a young girl being baptized by her father... not only has he brainwashed his daughter, who isn't old enough to know better, but he is being lauded
That, of course, was a rhetorical question. In hindsight, we can see that Heaven's Gate was a lunatic group. On the other hand, in hindsight, the society of the future as a whole will probably view xianity in the same light. When Oral Roberts says "send in the money" they do. What if he would say, "get out the plastic bags/drugs/liquor and follow me to heaven"? Probably only 80% of the people would actually do it. Most of the other 20% would just wish that they had the faith and courage to.
I would be rooting for the 80%, of course.
That was cruel. I would only wish them the best. And I would like to think that the 20% that stayed behind did so for logical reasons, which would indicate that they could actually think for themselves.
But the whole point is... it could happen. It most likely wouldn't be 80%, but more like 20%, that would follow to that extent.
Tyler is sitting here with me, and he says that 80% of the catholics would go if the Pope asked them to. I do have to disagree with that... most of the catholics that I know are pretty cynical. I know a lot more non-practicing catholics than non-practicing baptists. Officially, I'm a non-practicing catholic, and a non-practicing member of the church of christ. I'm just non-practicing to a greater degree, ie: atheism, than most of the other non-practicing people.
More tomorrow...
It has been a week and I should be over the worst of it, and I think that I am. I am still moving very gingerly, especially when doing those things that I couldn't do without pain a week ago. Anticipating pain when there is no real cause to, maybe. But there still are a few things that I can do that hurt, and I avoid them.
Achieving life is not the equivalent of avoiding death. Joy is not the absence of pain. -- Ayn Rand
by the community as a whole. And the girl will never have a chance to think logically about religion. What the fuck is it that makes people think that xian brainwashing is any better than that of, say, Heaven's Gate?
What if he would say, "get out the plastic bags, drugs and liquor and follow me to heaven"?