Merry Christmas!

Christ is born!
Glorify Him!

'Tis the Season

The Hymn to the Theotokos (Mother of God) is something that has become very familiar to me over the past few months. During Vespers today, I heard it once again, but this time listened to it with different ears. I realized how applicable it is during this month. Thus, I thought I would share it.

The Hymn to the Theotokos
It is truly meet to bless thee, O Theotokos, who art ever blessed and all-blameless, and the mother of our God. More honorable than the Cherubim, and more glorious beyond compare than the Seraphim, thou who without stain barest God the Word, and art truly Theotokos: we maginfy thee.

The Ending of a Semester; Or, a Culmination of a Semester's Worth of Thoughts Untold

[I]
It has come to my attention over the past few months that time is, truly, a very curious thing. Take, for instance, the fact that a year ago today, I would be in Amman, Jordan about to journey a very misunderstood part of the world. Yet, time has moved on and I have been here and there [here and there being California, Argentina, and Texas, of course]. Now, I sit in my bedroom trying to materialize thoughts in my head. It is odd that one's past experiences can only be lived through the memory. What might possibly be even more odd is that as more time passes, it sometimes may feel as if those past experiences might have not actually happened, but, rather, that they were an invention of one's mind. This, I have found, can be a very frustrating thing. However, it is a great[!] thing to have others, which one can reminisce with. In the process, those experiences can once again "put on flesh."

[II]
Now, that I am over my bit of abstract-rig-a-ma-roll, I can set out on other matters, which have presented themselves within my mind. I have become addicted to a series of [children's] literature. The literature, named Harry Potter has quite possibly placed itself in the top three favorites of mine. Do not, by any means, be afraid that it has pulled ahead of my all-time favorite [which deals with a ring, a journey, and small, hairy creatures, among many other things]. Nonetheless, I truly am addicted. I shudder at the day when I finish the seven volume series, myself being on the fourth.

[III]
The weather has finally turned for the better in my small [pop. 300,000] city located in Southern California, So Cal, So Cali, et cetera. This is a great thing. While, I know, there are very neat places dotted all across this globe. I believe my city is one of the best, for multiple reasons. I will not get into those reasons though. I still, nonetheless, would love to be visiting the PNW [Pacific Northwest]. I have heard, from multiple sources, that it is a very awesome! region of this country.

[IV]
I long to be traveling at the present moment, but yet I sit here at home, for funds do not allow me to do so. However, I am unofficially planning a journey somewhere across the Atlantic during the summer of 2009. There are, of course, many details that will need to be worked out for everything to actually happen. Namely, deciding on a place to travel to. I will give it some thought over the, ever-so-quickly-approaching-break. Also, to be thought about over break is what I shall do after I walk across a stage and receive a diploma, if that indeed happens. I am ninety-nine percent it will happen though.

[V]
[Excuse me, but] It is odd, once again, to see how much one can change over the course of four months. I do not know how to or if it would be appropriate, for my own personal sake, to delve into said changes, but I believe them for the better.

Finally, California

There was an interesting article on First Things today. Keith Pavlischek, commented on the bunk argument of opposition of gay "marriage" being morally equivalent to opposition of inter-racial marriage. Please read if you are interested at all.

Also, I've mentioned First Things a few times before. Ergo, I believe it would be wise of you to subscribe to their blog or ,if you're feeling crazy, to the actual journal.

August 18, 2008

Two political posts in one day... oops. This was a entry on the First Things blog a couple days after the Civil Forum at Saddleback.



I doubt it Sen. Obama.

Really Good, Yet Really Dumb

Obama '08 - Vote For Hope from MC Yogi on Vimeo.

I must say, first of all, the design and animation in this is superb. It is visually stunning. The music is decent as well. I enjoyed the whole from a design perspective.

But, to say that Barack Obama is hope, is absurd. To put so much emphasis on a human being is ridiculous. He's not going to change everything. He's not going to make everything "right." Don't get me wrong, I am not a fan of either the candidates. I'm not saying this to promote McCain. I wish we had a real leader to vote for next week, but unfortunately we have to play with the cards we dealt ourselves. And, if I here Obama quote the Declaration of Independence again, I think I might throw up. I'm not sure how he can read it with confidence and actually trick himself that he believes it. Maybe if he did believe it, he would take seriously the part about "all men" being created with "unalienable rights" and on of those rights is Life. If he believed that, he wouldn't be pro-abortion.

Now I'm worked up.

Pray for me.

So Long Flickr

So, a month or so ago, I decided to delete my old Yahoo! accounts that I don't use anymore. Success! It worked and I was glad to shed some of my immature past (speaking of the names of my E-mail accounts and their silliness).

Fast forward 10 minutes.

I think to myself, "Self, let's check your Flickr." Thats when I realized I had done it. Flickr is a company connected to Yahoo!. Therefore, I use my Yahoo! log in information to gain access to my Flickr account. Therefore[x2], I inadvertently screwed myself and cannot log into my Flickr account.

All the above is mentioned to simply say, when the time comes and I easier access to camera equipment, I will be posting more photos on this here blog. Sorry to bore.

Beginnings

Today was a new beginning of sorts. It feels good.

Hm?

Last week, via Dr. Mooney's Blog, I came across this post on Justin Taylor's Blog. The post consisted of the quotes above. I read the title and was very intrigued because I also believe "just me and my Bible" is insufficient. Upon reading the first quote, I not only disagreed with him, but also, I believed his understanding of, as he puts it, "the infallibility of tradition" to be lacking. Interestingly enough, I do believe he is moving in the right direction, just down the wrong path.

An Interesting Article

I was first introduced to the journal, First Things this summer by Bradley. Since introduced, I have gone so far as to subscribe to its daily blog, while at the same moment not gone so far as to subscribe to the actual journal. (Though I do plan on it in the future.)

Go read this article, which I found very interesting today as it is a very contested subject.