| Ink dream |
[02 Dec 2008|07:28pm] |
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music |
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The Ergs! - Hindsight is 20/20, My Friend |
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I had an odd dream the other night, and I'm unsure as to how I should interpret it...
Guy Arnold came to my house to start work on my Iron Maiden sleeve. Guy is a tattoo artist who's done work on a number of my friends, but never on me... and I'm loyal to my good friend Uncle Pauly at Little Vinnie's., so this was an odd situation right off the bat... not to mention the fact that Guy was making a tattooing house-call. Before we could begin, I had to search through my brother's room to find his Aces High 12" single to use as reference artwork. In this dream, our bedrooms were located where they were when I was in high school, and the search proved futile after going over his bedroom with a fine-tooth comb. This recalled real experiences, as I remember sneaking into Eric's room to root through his records when I was like 15, looking for Bad Religion's No Control and other discs by bands like the Exploited, Circle Jerks, Jello Biafra, and Suicidal Tendencies. I figured, instead, that I'd just try to find the CD or shirt that I had in my room. I actually do own a shirt with the Aces High artwork on it, but I was unsuccessful in my attempts to locate it.
As I kept searching, though, I suddenly remembered that I already have plans for my sleeves—plans that don't involve Iron Maiden—so I stopped looking and went back downstairs to let Guy know that we weren't going to be able to do it because I couldn't find a copy of the artwork. Now, of course I knew even in dreamland that I could hop online and find the cover art in about five seconds, but I had already decided that I didn't want to get the tattoo... and I figured I'd just tell him that we couldn't do it because of the lack of art rather than just ticking him off by telling him that I'd changed my mind and he had driven out to my house for nothing. I did have second thoughts, though, because when trying to determine what would go on my other arm to maintain some symmetry if I were to get an Iron Maiden sleeve on my left, I realized I could go with an Descendents/ALL theme for the right. That would be rad.
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| The Christian's Responsibility to Vote |
[03 Nov 2008|07:04pm] |
In Romans 13, Paul tells us about the source of authority and political power: that, in essence, God ordains or chooses the people who are put in positions of leadership and authority. Some believe that this renders voting completely irrelevant, but I couldn't disagree more. Romans 13:4 says, "For [a political leader] is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing," and this fits very well with the idea that I think the forefathers of our country had in mind: a government by the people and for the people, that would not run every aspect of our lives, but rather exist primarily to protect our freedom and ensure that people are held responsible if they "do wrong." Indeed, Romans 13:5 says, "Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience." The caveat, of course, is that if our leaders' policies contradict our conscience, we must put God first. That being said, I believe that part of this submission, in good conscience, is to exercise our right and responsibility to vote.
Scripturally speaking, if God chooses our leaders, then we can infer that it is by that very same wisdom that He has established a representative democracy for our country. We recognize through positional truth that God graces us with a specific and important role to play in carrying out His will here and now on earth; He has chosen us to be His hands and feet here on earth. What I mean by that, is that He gives us a unique role to play in His plan; His will is carried out when we agree to play our part and make it happen. Consider the examples of Abraham, Noah, Moses, Nehemiah, Joshua, Jonah, and others. None of these men just sat on their laurels and waited for God to "do His thing." They were called by Him, and answered that call by actively responding to it. 2 Chronicles 7:14 says, "if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." Similar conditional propositions are at work in all of these cases: if we do our part, then God rewards our obedience. If someone chooses not to agree with God and carry out His will here on earth, it doesn't happen—usually to disastrous effect—not because God can't do it Himself, but because He chooses to use us as His agents. Building upon that idea, if God set up our government as one where we the people choose our own leaders, isn't it entirely possible that His will is for us to choose certain leaders, and that these leaders will be chosen only if we prayerfully consider who we should vote for?
God doesn't want us to simply pray for change, but to actually do something about it. We are called to be a people of action, to worship with the activity of our lives. To me, the argument that both candidates are poor choices is not an acceptable one. I doubt that many of the people in first-century Jerusalem cared much for the emperor of Rome, but the command holds the same. Matthew 22:15-22 can be interpreted in several ways. I see it to mean that money, since it has Caesar's likeness and name on it, belongs to him, and it is worthless to the Christian. We are not told to give Caesar the authority of God, or any authority over us at all for that matter, other than the laws which have been put in place. This being the case, the founding fathers' idea of what our government should be—an institution charged with protecting liberties and little more—fits well into this statement. We are not expected to bow before our leaders, but only submit to their authority in negative matters (this, by the way, stands in direct contradiction to the interpretation of the Warren court, which Obama agrees with). Still, we are charged with submitting to our government to a certain extent. Since a democracy requires votes of the people to operate, we must at least give our vote.
Hypothetically speaking, what if the vote was as clear-cut as a choice between a largely free society where the practice of any religion is protected on one hand, or a totalitarian society where we are not even legally allowed to be Christians? Would our attitudes change? Large changes in government are not always heralded in by revolutions; sometimes they just rely on a slow erosion of freedom. If you've ever visited the Holocaust museum in Washington, D.C., you may recall seeing a well-known poem by German pastor Rev. Martin Niemoeller, in which he writes about the rise to power of the Nazis in Germany. They came for various minority groups, one after the other, and he laments that he didn't speak up for any of these because he didn't belong to any of the groups. Finally, though, the Nazis came for him, and because he had not spoken up as the others were systematically taken, there was no one left to speak up for him. If we neglect our responsibility to speak up in the form of a vote, we could end up in the same place sooner than we think. But if we prayerfully consider our decision and cast our ballot, we can be a part of positive change here on earth. The final source of that change, of course, is God Himself, and we should pray for whomever our elected leaders should turn out to be.
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[28 Oct 2008|10:06am] |
Although I normally prefer to keep my opinions to myself where politics are concerned, I feel like I need to speak up on this issue, because I'm actually becoming quite fearful about what I see as the proliferation of a failed economic philosophy that is gaining support in our country. We need to see this philosophy for what it is.
Although I could've ignored Barack Obama's claim to ol' Joe the Plumber that it's "good for everybody" when we "spread the wealth around," and Joe Biden's comment about how it's "patriotic" to pay more taxes, it's become quite apparent to me through new information that's being uncovered that Barack Obama and his ilk are—when you get right down to it—unapologetic socialists. The sheer number of times that both of them have commented on the issue, and their confirmations of what they are talking about, lead me to conclude that we can not just write off these statements as poor choices of words.
As far as I can tell, Obama, Biden, and their supporters actually believe that spreading the wealth around (redistributing it) is good for our country, and will help our economy. Apparently, there are no economists among this group, or else someone would recall the clear evidence provided by history: higher taxes stifle economic growth, cause higher unemployment rates, and are just generally detrimental for everyone involved.
Although Obama says he'll "cut taxes for 95% of Americans" (and this claim ignores his proposed devastating capital gains tax increase, among other things), most of the supposed "tax credits" he proposes are refundable—this makes them not just "credits" but hand-outs. Even those with no tax liability—those who don't even pay taxes—will get that money from the government if they meet the criteria for those particular "credits." What this amounts to is the confiscation of money from the "haves" so that it can be redistributed to the "have-nots"—or as Karl Marx put it, "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need." Now, please don't misunderstand me. That sounds great in theory. Who wouldn't want to help their fellow man out, if they have the ability? I certainly do. The problem, though, is that this will never work in practice, if it is left up to the government. History proves this beyond a shadow of a doubt. I support charities both domestic and overseas, and indeed see the problems of poverty, hunger, health care and more as the problems of the Church more than the problems of the government. The problem, of course, is that government always proves itself an utter failure as the handler of social problems, because it is polluted with selfishness and greed. Obama and the rest want to be generous with our money, but the problem is that we'd do a hell of a lot more good if we were able to contribute our money to charities that haven't succumbed to corruption, as our government has.
In the first video below, Obama says that he agrees with the Warren court's view of the Constitution that it is a "charter of negative liberties" which "says what the states can't do to you, what the federal government can't do to you, but doesn't say what the federal government or state government must do on your behalf." Of course, if you ever took a middle-school government class, you might remember that the founding fathers wanted the smallest government possible because they realized that government, though necessary to preserve liberties, also threatens personal liberty when it grows too large. The rest of the videos just give a little more insight into Obama's socialist economic philosophy... one that will be absolutely devastating to our country if he and his cronies are allowed to enact the changes he desires.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iivL4c_3pck
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgc4zm3XrBc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUfo-RxkXA8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pRcTY4XPMY
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| The past two weeks, I've been on the move. |
[15 Jul 2008|02:00pm] |
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music |
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As Tall As Lions - Lafcadio |
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Illinois
A few weeks ago, I went to Cornerstone Festival in Bushnell, Illinois. We had some trouble getting out of Maryland, but finally left Frederick at 4:30pm on Monday afternoon (June 30th) and arrived at the house where we were staying in Macomb, Illinois at about 5:30am. This was my fourth consecutive year attending the festival, and it was probably the best one yet. The weather was fantastic this year, in the mid-80s all week, with only a little bit of rain that didn't make anything too wet. As usual, I met a bunch of awesome new friends, but this year I also felt like I grew more spiritually, thanks in large part to attending more of the Bible Studies and seminars that are offered. I didn't watch nearly as many bands as I normally do, but the time spent talking and hanging out with people is more important to me. We held Unified Underground Day at the Fatcalf Stage on Saturday, and it was a huge success. I expect a lot of people to come to Unified Underground in October, based on the outpouring of support and interest that I saw at Cornerstone. Our entire Sunday was spent traveling home.
Connecticut
Because I didn't think 30 hours was enough time to spend in a car this month, I went to Connecticut this past weekend for Life In Your Way's final show. The venue was in Danbury, only about four hours from home... but it took us six hours to get up there because of traffic. We had made a prior decision to stop for lunch at a Pizza Hut Express at one of the service areas along the NJ Turnpike, but that plan fell apart when we hit traffic and had to get off at the next exit for a bathroom stop. We pulled off at exit 7 and were greeted with the oasis that is Wawa, and ended up having subs there, instead. My stomach, I was quite sure, would thank me for this later. We finally arrived in Danbury with about a half hour to spare, so we checked into the Holiday Inn where we'd stay the night. I was a little wigged out when I walked in, and the first thing I saw hanging on the wall was a framed certificate of some sort, expounding Danbury as the "home of the first American-made hat." After a brief rundown of Danbury's colorful part in the history of hats, the document ended with this: "Welcome to the Holiday Inn of Danbury, where we celebrate hats!" As I continued to look around, I was made more distraught by the awareness that every other framed painting on the walls of the lobby contained hats as the main subjects. I decided to just stop thinking about it, lest I be driven insane, and we headed off to the show (I did, however, snap a photo with my phone before we left, so that I could share the insanity with you: Hat City, bitches!).
The show was held at the Heirloom Arts Theatre, an old theater that had been converted into a venue, in what I presume was "downtown" area of Danbury. The place was as hot as I imagine some of the cooler spots in Hell to be... probably at least 90º-95º once the place was packed with the show's sold-out crowd, numbering about 550-600 people. Gray Lines of Perfection and Saints Never Surrender split a set to open the show, and problems with the sound system reared the ugly head. I also quickly realized that the lighting conditions and number of "photographers" present, coupled with the crowdedness and high stage with no room on the side, would make getting decent photographs all but impossible, so I just put the camera away after those first two bands. The sound issues would continue throughout the night, with nonfunctional monitors, bad levels, and overloaded amps. Wrench in the Works played next, followed by Means, who I missed because I had to get outside and get some fresh air. Our Last Night was next, and then Life In Your Way took the stage. I retreated to the V.I.P. balcony to watch their set; it was hotter, but less crowded. The band played a few songs with the current lineup before switching up a few times to play several songs with past members coming back to recreate former lineups. It was especially cool to see the songs with the band as they were when I first saw them four or five years ago. They played thirteen songs in all, and before the last song, Josh told the crowd, "You can call for an encore, but there won't be one because we don't know any more songs." Although the night was plagued by faulty sound and oppressive heat, everyone made the best of it, and it was a fitting farewell to an awesome band.
After the show, we went through the Taco Bell drive-through on the way back to the hotel; at this point, I used up any of the brownie points that I may have earned from my stomach earlier with the decision to eat Wawa...
The next morning, we headed out around 9:30am and hit Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast before setting out for Maryland. It was a completely uneventful trip during which we listened to two full Jerky Boys albums, and we arrived about four hours later. Pat O. and I went to Qdoba for lunch, and Starr met us there. Pat decided to be lame and go home to write a paper, and Starr and I went to Friendly's to pig out on ice cream before church. Jay Chaillou gave his first sermon, and did an excellent job. Next weekend, I'm getting together with him and some others to learn more about the sound and lighting systems at Mt. Zion so that I can become more active in helping out, in addition to the few graphic design projects I've done for them.
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| Big Brother Qdoba |
[21 May 2008|10:09am] |
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music |
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Crash Test Dummies - God Shuffled His Feet |
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I may have mentioned, in previous 'blogs, my relatively newfound affinity for Qdoba burritos—and, to a lesser degree, those from Chipotle and Baja Fresh, as well—that has blossomed into a full-blown addiction. Well, I recently became a member of Qdoba's "customer loyalty" program, and I have to say I'm a little frightened about the whole business. You see, you have to register your card online at www.iloveqdoba.com when you first receive it, and you can subsequently visit the site to find out how many "points" you have, as well as how many more you'll need before you get free stuff. That part is perfectly fine, and the fact that they give you a free order of chips and salsa sweetens the deal.
When I began to delve a little further into the site, however, I found that you can actually pull up an order history, showing what you ordered, and when and where you ordered it, for every visit you make to Qdoba. Am I paranoid to think that this information might fall into the wrong hands? I mean, my meal history is practically a confidential medical record, right? What if at some point in the future I discover that I have superpowers, and decide to become a superhero? Should my alter-ego be uncovered, my dietary information could easily fall into the wrong hands. My arch-nemesis (or -nemeses, as the case may be) could find my Achilles' Heel, like Lex Luthor discovered Kryptonite's crippling effects on Superman! Listen up, Qdoba: you need to tighten your security to the strictest standards available today, in order to ensure that the integrity of my identity and personal information are adequately protected.
Or... you could just give me another free order of chips and salsa. That'd probably shut me up for at least a good few days.
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| 'merican |
[18 May 2008|10:42am] |
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music |
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Audio Karate - Space Camp |
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Yesterday, my family held our 32nd annual Pig Roast, and it was ridiculous as usual. The weather was great and I think everyone had a lot of fun. It is pretty much the most American event you can think of.
Speaking of things that are totally American, the new Indiana Jones movie comes out this week. I'm pretty excited about it, even though I'm a bit upset that Indy isn't tussling with Nazis in this one. Apparently it's the Russkies this time around, headed by Cate Blanchett doing her best Natasha Fatale impression (which, from what I've seen so far, ain't all that great). I'm holding out hope that we'll learn, during the course of the film, that the Nazis are actually behind everything and just using the Commies as their henchmen. I'm half-surprised that the filmmakers didn't decide to go with the standby villain for today's movie... terrorists. I would've been willing to overlook that glaring anachronism just to see one of my favorite American heroes stick it to those Islamo-fascist jerks!
Speaking of American heroes fighting terrorists, I saw Iron Man last night and was pretty pleased with it as a whole. I couldn't really believe Jeff Bridges as a villain because, to me, he'll always be "the Dude" from The Big Lebowski and, consequently, I kept mentally adding "like, y'know... man" to each diabolical one-liner he uttered.
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| For those about to blog, we salute you. |
[19 Apr 2008|09:04am] |
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music |
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Strongarm - The Advent of a Miracle |
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It's been quite a while since last I "blogged," so I figure it's high time I record some memories for posterity... or "for posterior."
I was able to finally pay off, in full, all of my credit card debt a few months back, and it is so amazing to have all kinds of money coming in each month that is not already earmarked to pay for things that I bought anywhere from two to five years ago. I had about 15 months of payments remaining on the Audi, but I sent away five payments this month, and hope to send at least three each month until it's paid off. I've even been able to start contributing substantial amounts to my savings account, which has been starving for the past several years.
Two weekends ago, I flew out to Cali. for Facedown Fest 2008. In addition to seeing 16 great bands representing most of the Facedown Records roster, I had the chance to meet a bunch of cool people, and also speak from stage to about 1,000 people. I didn't get the chance to see almost anything else in California, other than The Lego Store in Ontario, which was pretty cool but much less than I expected. They had a few cool models on display, but nothing that spun my head around.
Last Sunday, I went to Gaithersburg for an annual fundraising banquet for the Montgomery County chapter of Youth For Christ. It was pretty run-of-the-mill, but two teenage participants blew me away. The first was a young man who did a break-dancing routine. I've never seen anyone do this live, and this kid was good. He actually got a scholarship to Liberty University for break-dancing, which is pretty much the most awesome thing to get a scholarship for, and basically puts my "academic" scholarship to utter shame. The second was a girl who is still in high school and came up to sing. I didn't know what to expect, but I was blown away by the sheer depth and tonal quality of the sound bellowing forth from such a petite young lady. Next month, I have another banquet, this time for Metro Maryland YFC, the chapter with which I volunteer. Our special guest at that one is Amy Grant, so that should be pretty ridiculous. I'm going to try to get a MySpace picture with her, obviously.
I haven't been on a date in over two years. I hardly think that it's merely coincidental that those same past two years have been the best in my life, marked by intense personal growth and accomplishment of several of the goals which are most important to me.
The Charles Theatre has been running an Alfred Hitchcock Revival Series, showing a 35mm print of a different film each week. So far, I've seen Dial M for Murder (in 3-D!) and Rear Window, and this afternoon I'll be checking out The Trouble with Harry.
UFC 83 is tonight, featuring the rematch of Serra vs. St.-Pierre, and some other matches which should prove—I hope—to be good, like Rich Franklin vs. Travis Lutter and Kalib Starnes vs. Nate Quarry, plus Michael Bisping vs. Charles McQuarry.
Things I'm looking forward to in the next few months (and you should, too):
• the Walther's 32nd Annual Pig Roast on Sat., May 17
• Flatfoot 56, xLFx and Counting The Days on Tues., May 20
• the 4th Annual Root Beer Kegger w/ Ruiner on Sun., June 1
• Cornerstone Festival the first week of July
• life continuing to be totally crucial
God is good.
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