Friday, I didn't eat dinner. So, at 9:30, I met with Mike at the Hub and we bugged Erka. While eating, Gina calls. She's on her way over, to my surprise, and she's going to be spending the night. She gets there, and George is there too, and we all leave the Hub with blue dots on our foreheads (except for Mike) because G-Love felt compelled to give us blue dots. We then played George's Wii to the late hours of the night, Gina and I came back to my room, talked a bit, then fell asleep.
Saturday rolls around. Gina's already up and on my computer when I wake up at 1:30. Out of nowhere, she says we should go to IU and visit Ray. I say why not? So, we call Ray, he says awesome, we pack, and we're on our way. We got lost a couple times, but we found our way out of the creepy forested country roads that we thought was 231.
When we finally get to IU at 9, Ray says we should go for a tour to pass time. So we do. We walk around campus and downtown Bloomington for three hours, ending up at the Cinematic for some Atomic Age Theater. Basically, it's live Mystery Science Theater 3000. It was one of the funniest and most unique experiences ever. After smoking intermission, Dr. Calamari and Death Pimp (two of the characters making fun of the movie, "The Day Time Ended." I never heard "Death Pimp's" real character name, but that's what the crowd called him all night) asked random questions. I answered when the world was going to end according to the Mayan calendar and got a really bad anime movie. I love it :) Edit: Death Pimp's actual character name is Baron Mardi. Here's the Atomic Age website.
We then go walking around for a while longer, get some tacos at Qdoba, then go back to Collins (Ray's dorm) at around 2:30 am. I was stupid and didn't bring any pajamas, so Gina let me borrow her boxer shorts and I was going to wear my jacket for my top. I change in the bathroom and come out to Gina, Ray, and some guy I didn't know named Josh. Gina gives me an extra t-shirt of hers saying she forgot she had packed it and goes into the bathroom. Being too lazy and impatient to wait to change in the bathroom, I just informed Ray and Josh that I was going to change shirts right there in the hall/lobby dealy. Josh said it was Collins, so it wasn't like it mattered (Collins is one of the predominantly homosexual dorms at IU). It just added another excuse, and I changed right there.
So Ray, Gina, Josh, and I go into the lounge and are just talking and doing tarot readings when Josh yells at someone walking by in the lobby. In comes a jumping ball of energy named Sylvia. Very talkative, very funny girl who is awesome. She ended up hanging out with us almost the rest of the time we were in the lounge that night. A few more people joined and left us, and their names were (I think) Aaron, Nick, Austin, Renee, and Jordan. Gina decided she was going to change shirts there in the lounge and had the same "Collins is predominantly gay" excuse.
So, until 7:30 am, we're doing tarot readings, talking, making fun of each other, and having a massaging orgy. Only Gina, Ray, Josh, and I are left. We were starting to get sleepy, and Gina and I had nowhere to sleep. So, we figured we'd sleep in the lounge. Gina's first to go to bed on a couch. I'm still up, giggling at every little thing because I get very punchy when I'm tired. I finally find a couch to lie down on, Ray does some more tarot for me, I traded massages with Josh (best massage EVER!) and zonked out.
Throughout the night, I tossed and turned a lot. Then, when morning (I'm not quite sure when that was) came around, the janitor was in the lounge with the vacuum cleaner. Gina and I tried to sleep through that, even through the vacuum kept hitting my couch *grumble*. Ray finally wakes us up with a call. So we go up to his room. There's his roommate's boyfriend (his name was Victor) on the floor on his laptop and Ray in his bed. Gina and I pop a squat on the floor and Ray's roommate, James, comes in. He's freaking awesome! Gina and I then go to work with Ray and James at a bank downtown where they clean. Gina and I just sat around and watched TV while they worked. Ray, Gina, and I then went to the Trojan Horse, an amazing Greek restaurant. Delicious gyros. We then go to three hippie stores, got some tarot cards, ran into James and Victor on the way back to Collins, then Gina and I start our way home.
On the way back, we stop at Gina's sister's (Kyra) apartment. It's very nice. Her roommates/friends were really cool too. We hit the road again, and I'm asleep until we're back in Lafayette. Gina and I order pizza, trying to wait out the rain (didn't work), watch my prize movie from Atomic H Theater and My Big Fat Greek Wedding. She then drops me off at St. Joe, and I have to read for my classes tomorrow now.
IU = awesome. I think I'm going to go there for my masters and/or doctorate.
Oh, and while at Trojan Horse, Ray informed Gina and I that there weren't any gay people out of the group we changed in front of......we kept asking "Really?!?" for about 15 minutes. I'm still shocked and blushing.
Cold hard bitch, you're just a kiss on the lips.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Thursday, January 11, 2007
What I Think of Jesus: Part III
In lecture today, Father Jeff suggested we look at themes repeated throughout the gospel of Mark, like "house" and "synagogue." Of course, this got my gears turning. Events that go one when "house" and "synagogue" is the location of the story...
House
1:29-34 Jesus cures Simon's mother-in-law of a fever. Then, swarms of people come, and he heals a bunch of people and exorcises a bunch of demons.
2:1-12 Jesus is at his own house, stuffed with people trying to be healed. He's talking to them when someone tears apart his roof and throws in a paralyzed guy. Jesus heals him, and the man can walk.
2:15 Jesus eats with sinners and tax collectors.
3:20-35 People think Jesus is possessed by Beelzebub, but Jesus says that's impossible. Says anyone who does the will of God is his family.
5:38-43 Jesus raises a ruler of the synagogue's daughter from the dead.
7:17-23 Jesus pretty much calls his disciples dense and tells them that the external (i.e. "unclean" foods) does not defile, but the evil that comes out of people defile the soul.
7:24-30 Jesus has a match of wits with a gentile. He's happy with her and her understanding of what he's saying, so he heals her daughter that she had to leave at her home.
9:28-29 Jesus tells the disciples they were exorcising incorrectly, and that's why they couldn't get the demos out of a person.
9:33-50 Jesus tells his disciples to stop trying to say they're better than the rest. He says kids are better than adults. Goes on his spiel about cutting of your foot, hand, and eye if they cause you to sin. Better to enter Heaven maimed than Hell perfectly intact.
10:10-16 Jesus talks about people remarrying committing adultery. Then says children are like the Kingdom of God.
14:2-9 Jesus is anointed by a poor woman who spent a year's wages on a jar of perfume. The disciples are appalled, thinking the money could be spent on helping others, but Jesus says she did the right thing. There will always be poor to attend to, but he won't be around for much longer.
14:18-31 The last supper, where Jesus gives his flesh and blood to his followers. Also calls one of them out as a traitor.
Synagogue
1:21-28 Jesus teaches to the amazement of the crowd, then exorcises an unclean spirit that is the first to call him "son of God."
1:39 Casts out more devils
2:26-28 (as "house of God") Jesus eats bread that was reserved for the priests. Says the sabbath was made for man, not vice versa.
3:1-5 Jesus heals a man with a withered hand.
6:2-5 Jesus tries to teach in his hometown, but people won't learn. He can't do anything but heal. The people won't listen, and he is in disbelief.
The pattern that I see is that in homes, Jesus heals people of ailments that cause them to stay in place and/or not be able to go into spiritual matters. Demons, paralysis, severe fever, death. He's trying to get people to leave the comfort of their homes so that they can go out and grow spiritually.
In the synagogues, Jesus is constantly met with opposition. Unclean spirits call him the "son of God," which he refutes. The priests and scribes try to tear Jesus' reputation apart. The people are harder to get to if he can at all. The synagogues are almost a sludge between people and God. People like the man with the withered hand finally seek out God instead of priests, and he is healed, and he goes off to a happier life (quite possibly being able to grow spiritually, finally).
Out in the open, Jesus heals two people differently than all of his other healings...he rubs his spit on them. To the deaf and mute man, Jesus sticks his fingers in the guy's ears and puts his spit in the man's mouth. Jesus rubs his spit into the blind man's eyes. This is symbolic of what is repeated all throughout the Bible, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." Listen to God, not the people that stand between you and God. God heals and tries to get attention of the people, but so many just run off to the churches. God pays attention to you. You don't have to communicate through a middle man. In a sense, a priest is the same position as a medium. One is supposedly communicating between customers and God, while the other is communication between customers and the dead.
Hang on, prepare yourself for the rubber band man.
House
1:29-34 Jesus cures Simon's mother-in-law of a fever. Then, swarms of people come, and he heals a bunch of people and exorcises a bunch of demons.
2:1-12 Jesus is at his own house, stuffed with people trying to be healed. He's talking to them when someone tears apart his roof and throws in a paralyzed guy. Jesus heals him, and the man can walk.
2:15 Jesus eats with sinners and tax collectors.
3:20-35 People think Jesus is possessed by Beelzebub, but Jesus says that's impossible. Says anyone who does the will of God is his family.
5:38-43 Jesus raises a ruler of the synagogue's daughter from the dead.
7:17-23 Jesus pretty much calls his disciples dense and tells them that the external (i.e. "unclean" foods) does not defile, but the evil that comes out of people defile the soul.
7:24-30 Jesus has a match of wits with a gentile. He's happy with her and her understanding of what he's saying, so he heals her daughter that she had to leave at her home.
9:28-29 Jesus tells the disciples they were exorcising incorrectly, and that's why they couldn't get the demos out of a person.
9:33-50 Jesus tells his disciples to stop trying to say they're better than the rest. He says kids are better than adults. Goes on his spiel about cutting of your foot, hand, and eye if they cause you to sin. Better to enter Heaven maimed than Hell perfectly intact.
10:10-16 Jesus talks about people remarrying committing adultery. Then says children are like the Kingdom of God.
14:2-9 Jesus is anointed by a poor woman who spent a year's wages on a jar of perfume. The disciples are appalled, thinking the money could be spent on helping others, but Jesus says she did the right thing. There will always be poor to attend to, but he won't be around for much longer.
14:18-31 The last supper, where Jesus gives his flesh and blood to his followers. Also calls one of them out as a traitor.
Synagogue
1:21-28 Jesus teaches to the amazement of the crowd, then exorcises an unclean spirit that is the first to call him "son of God."
1:39 Casts out more devils
2:26-28 (as "house of God") Jesus eats bread that was reserved for the priests. Says the sabbath was made for man, not vice versa.
3:1-5 Jesus heals a man with a withered hand.
6:2-5 Jesus tries to teach in his hometown, but people won't learn. He can't do anything but heal. The people won't listen, and he is in disbelief.
The pattern that I see is that in homes, Jesus heals people of ailments that cause them to stay in place and/or not be able to go into spiritual matters. Demons, paralysis, severe fever, death. He's trying to get people to leave the comfort of their homes so that they can go out and grow spiritually.
In the synagogues, Jesus is constantly met with opposition. Unclean spirits call him the "son of God," which he refutes. The priests and scribes try to tear Jesus' reputation apart. The people are harder to get to if he can at all. The synagogues are almost a sludge between people and God. People like the man with the withered hand finally seek out God instead of priests, and he is healed, and he goes off to a happier life (quite possibly being able to grow spiritually, finally).
Out in the open, Jesus heals two people differently than all of his other healings...he rubs his spit on them. To the deaf and mute man, Jesus sticks his fingers in the guy's ears and puts his spit in the man's mouth. Jesus rubs his spit into the blind man's eyes. This is symbolic of what is repeated all throughout the Bible, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." Listen to God, not the people that stand between you and God. God heals and tries to get attention of the people, but so many just run off to the churches. God pays attention to you. You don't have to communicate through a middle man. In a sense, a priest is the same position as a medium. One is supposedly communicating between customers and God, while the other is communication between customers and the dead.
Hang on, prepare yourself for the rubber band man.
What I Think of Jesus: Part II
The feeding of the 5,000 (4,000) with 12 (7) baskets left over in Mark 6:34-44 (Mark 8:19-21) has more of a parable feel to it than of actual accounts. Those that listen to what God is telling them are filled and have enough to pass on to others. The numbers 12 and 7 make these seem like they're trying to strike a chord with the Bible reading population since they both are frequent numbers throughout the books. The point of the stories are not Jesus' amazing culinary abilities. It's that even if everyone in your immediate area is fed - a huge and impossible feat for most people - by the word of God, there are still baskets of teaching and help to give. You have to go out of your way and do all you can until your sources are exhausted, until your death.
In Mark 8:29-33, Peter tells Jesus he believes him to be the messiah. Jesus tells him and the rest of the disciples to keep quiet. Again, he doesn't want this title to spread. When Jesus is hanging out with Moses and Elijah in Mark 9:5, Peter wants to build a shrine/tent/tabernacle to each of them on that spot. He echos other passages in the Bible (i.e. Jude 8:9) where Satan and/or man want to worship and build shrines to people and locations. Instead of trying to understand and appreciate what happened, people like this are led astray by thinking a place is important, not the message. Jesus could be telling the disciples not to say anything to people about him being the messiah because they could have fallen for the unclean spirits' (Satan's) ruse. People are completely missing the point of Jesus' life, and his disappointment is repeated all throughout Mark. When Peter wants to build shrines to the event of Moses, Elijah, and Jesus, God Himself comes down, obscures the three prophets, and tells Peter right to his thick skull to listen to Jesus.
Mark 13:12-13 "Brother will hand over brother to death, and the father his child; children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who perseveres to the end will be saved." This could be seen as people will hate and turn over Christians to die, but could this not also be applied that non-Christians will be hated by all that make Jesus equal to or above God? Many non-Christians throughout history and contemporary times were hated and slaughtered in the name of Jesus.
Mark:21-23 "If anyone says to you then, 'Look, here is the Messiah! Look, there he is!' do not believe it. False messiahs and false prophets will arise an will perform signs and wonders in order to mislead, if that were possible, the elect." Most see this as a lot of people claiming to be Jesus and leading Christians astray. Could this not be interpreted as Jesus speaking about the unclean spirits and Peter claiming him to be the messiah?
Mark 14:61-62 This is the only time that Jesus accepts the title of "Messiah." However, Jesus' definition of messiah was different than what most people have in mind, as can be seen throughout Mark. He didn't want people to get the wrong message, which did become prevalent and still is today. Jesus thought of messiah as someone anointed to do God's work, not a savior of the world. And calling himself the son of God is no different than you and I claiming to be children of God.
Christopher, I was your prisoner, Christopher.
In Mark 8:29-33, Peter tells Jesus he believes him to be the messiah. Jesus tells him and the rest of the disciples to keep quiet. Again, he doesn't want this title to spread. When Jesus is hanging out with Moses and Elijah in Mark 9:5, Peter wants to build a shrine/tent/tabernacle to each of them on that spot. He echos other passages in the Bible (i.e. Jude 8:9) where Satan and/or man want to worship and build shrines to people and locations. Instead of trying to understand and appreciate what happened, people like this are led astray by thinking a place is important, not the message. Jesus could be telling the disciples not to say anything to people about him being the messiah because they could have fallen for the unclean spirits' (Satan's) ruse. People are completely missing the point of Jesus' life, and his disappointment is repeated all throughout Mark. When Peter wants to build shrines to the event of Moses, Elijah, and Jesus, God Himself comes down, obscures the three prophets, and tells Peter right to his thick skull to listen to Jesus.
Mark 13:12-13 "Brother will hand over brother to death, and the father his child; children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who perseveres to the end will be saved." This could be seen as people will hate and turn over Christians to die, but could this not also be applied that non-Christians will be hated by all that make Jesus equal to or above God? Many non-Christians throughout history and contemporary times were hated and slaughtered in the name of Jesus.
Mark:21-23 "If anyone says to you then, 'Look, here is the Messiah! Look, there he is!' do not believe it. False messiahs and false prophets will arise an will perform signs and wonders in order to mislead, if that were possible, the elect." Most see this as a lot of people claiming to be Jesus and leading Christians astray. Could this not be interpreted as Jesus speaking about the unclean spirits and Peter claiming him to be the messiah?
Mark 14:61-62 This is the only time that Jesus accepts the title of "Messiah." However, Jesus' definition of messiah was different than what most people have in mind, as can be seen throughout Mark. He didn't want people to get the wrong message, which did become prevalent and still is today. Jesus thought of messiah as someone anointed to do God's work, not a savior of the world. And calling himself the son of God is no different than you and I claiming to be children of God.
Christopher, I was your prisoner, Christopher.
Monday, January 8, 2007
What I Think of Jesus: Part I
Since my blog is about what's going through my head, I'd figure I'd write down my thoughts as I'm reading Mark 1-3 for Core. Feel free to put your own thoughts as a comment. Mine are as follows:
Jesus seemed to not want to accept his "identity." When he healed the leper (Mark 1:40-44), he told him not to tell anyone about what happened, but just go to the priests so that he would be included in the synagogue again. He wanted the leper to be able to participate in everyday life like the rest of the world, but he didn't want the rest of the world to know about him. Jesus wanted to be just like everyone else, to be an anonymous face in the crowd.
(Mark 1:25, 3:12) Whenever unclean spirits called him the "son of God," Jesus told them to be quiet, to stop. He did not want people to see him as the son, equal, or personification of God. This could be seen as Jesus trying not to piss off the priests in the area, but this would be to no avail since he questioned their lives, laws, and logic to their faces. What's a little blasphemy when you accuse a priest's lifestyle? Jesus constantly called himself the "son of man", in other words, human. It wasn't meant to be "I'm God as a person," but rather as a common term in Aramaic, a more poetic way of saying "human being." Unclean spirits loudly proclaiming Jesus as the son of God in their last words would make people think Jesus was indeed the son of God, resulting in the unclean spirits getting the last laugh.
The crowds didn't care about Jesus in Mark 1:35-39, 2:2-4, or 3:7-10. They only cared about themselves. They only flocked to Jesus to be healed. They didn't respect his privacy or personal life as seen in the first chapter, where Jesus would try to pray by himself only to be swarmed by crowds wanting to be healed. In the second chapter, they stuff his home without being invited, and some tear the roof off of his house just so a guy can be healed. They don't care about him, his property, his family, or how they're going to fix the roof once they leave. In the third chapter, they would have trampled Jesus to a pulp and rolled around in the blood-soaked dirt just to be healed if Jesus hadn't told the disciples to get a boat for him to distance himself from the crowd. The people were monsters and rarely listened to what he told them to do, like when he told the leper to keep quiet only to have him tell every person he met about what happened.
More are to come as more reading assignments are given.
And I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder.
Jesus seemed to not want to accept his "identity." When he healed the leper (Mark 1:40-44), he told him not to tell anyone about what happened, but just go to the priests so that he would be included in the synagogue again. He wanted the leper to be able to participate in everyday life like the rest of the world, but he didn't want the rest of the world to know about him. Jesus wanted to be just like everyone else, to be an anonymous face in the crowd.
(Mark 1:25, 3:12) Whenever unclean spirits called him the "son of God," Jesus told them to be quiet, to stop. He did not want people to see him as the son, equal, or personification of God. This could be seen as Jesus trying not to piss off the priests in the area, but this would be to no avail since he questioned their lives, laws, and logic to their faces. What's a little blasphemy when you accuse a priest's lifestyle? Jesus constantly called himself the "son of man", in other words, human. It wasn't meant to be "I'm God as a person," but rather as a common term in Aramaic, a more poetic way of saying "human being." Unclean spirits loudly proclaiming Jesus as the son of God in their last words would make people think Jesus was indeed the son of God, resulting in the unclean spirits getting the last laugh.
The crowds didn't care about Jesus in Mark 1:35-39, 2:2-4, or 3:7-10. They only cared about themselves. They only flocked to Jesus to be healed. They didn't respect his privacy or personal life as seen in the first chapter, where Jesus would try to pray by himself only to be swarmed by crowds wanting to be healed. In the second chapter, they stuff his home without being invited, and some tear the roof off of his house just so a guy can be healed. They don't care about him, his property, his family, or how they're going to fix the roof once they leave. In the third chapter, they would have trampled Jesus to a pulp and rolled around in the blood-soaked dirt just to be healed if Jesus hadn't told the disciples to get a boat for him to distance himself from the crowd. The people were monsters and rarely listened to what he told them to do, like when he told the leper to keep quiet only to have him tell every person he met about what happened.
More are to come as more reading assignments are given.
And I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder.
Friday, January 5, 2007
Bad news...
The love of my life, my cat, Oreo, has diabetes. We took her to the vet today, and it was the calmest I've ever seen her away from home. Sure, she was shedding like crazy, but still. Anyways, we have to feed her special food, which she loves (thank God). But, for insulin, it'll cost $107 a vile, which would last 100-200 days, depending on what dosage we have to give her. Now, it's up to dad whether or not we'll get the insulin. It could lengthen her life by a couple more years, but it's still not cheap...sorry, it's been a while since I've been so sad and cried like this, even though you can't see it. It's hard for me to type and communicate and all. I swear, this is more painful for me than if a doctor were to walk in and tell me I was going to die in two days. I've had a good run in my life, but I just don't want to think about it without Oreo. I'm going to put all of my leftover Christmas money to it. I've got everything I want, anyways. Sorry for such a downer story.
Nothing else is on for my other attention span. It's all focused on this.
Nothing else is on for my other attention span. It's all focused on this.
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