| October 27, 2003 -Minor changes coming to Random Thoughts to better suit your user friendly needs. Be patient. October 23, 2003 Bikinis in Afghanistan!!! (click to read) --Um yeah, if they grow’em like this over in Afghanistan, I may have to change my views on a couple lil things yo. Wow! :) Plus it’s a good “woman triumphing over oppression and tyranny” thing too. Just goes to show Islamic Law is all about control, slavery, and brainwashing. I hate Nazis. “Nazis. I hate these guys.” -Indiana Jones October 22, 2003 Return of the King video game -This game looks hella tight. http://www.eagames.com/official/lordoftherings/returnoftheking/home.jsp October 23, 2003 Yes, I’m still alive...I think so... --Writing usually is my oasis from reality through addressing reality. Lately I’ve wanted to write and “get away”, but I’ve had little to no motivation to do that. The irony of it all is that this past week should have me in the best of moods, yet I feel depressed, apathetic, and temporally hopeless. So I’m writing now not out of desire or passion, but more out of obligation, which icks me to no end. I guess it’s a number of things, mostly the usual. There’s no getting away from my heart, mind, and soul, and you know what, that can be a bittersweet pickle to be in. There’s something to be said about drone-like behavior, unfortunately the words integrity, courage, and individuality aren’t included in any of those sentences so count me out. Maybe I should go back to school. Eh, for what purpose? I already have more and have a higher credit rating than most of my peers with college degrees and I feel fully content with my current acquisition of knowledge and continual personal pursuit thereof. College is basically a big ego trip. You don’t learn much of cosmic or even practical value there, and you become poor during your youth which ironically is the best time to have money.. You just learn how to conform to your society and be frightfully insecure if you don’t have a significant other. So is apathy the answer? I doubt it, but it can occupy a period whether good or bad. The author of Ecclesiastes makes that organically clear. Keith, you way over analyze way too much dude, chill out. You could be right. But I heard this quote from my friend, and at first it would seem folly, but wisdom blankets the layman’s subconscious. “It’s better to be a wise@$$ than a dumb@$$.” I’d have to agree. I think there’s two types of people in this world, and being that we’re all @$$’s in the sense that we’re all damned, sinful, Hell-bound individuals, you’re either a wise@$$ or a dumb@$$. Sounds like philosophical discussion you’d have at a NASCAR race, but the human heart is the same whether in a trailer park in Georgia or a high rise in Manhattan. Maybe apathy isn’t the answer. It only acts as a personal smokescreen for me, applying a temporal salve on a wound too deep from my pride to attend to. I don’t condone a state of heedlessness or aloofness, but I do acknowledge they are necessary evils in our walk of life. Apathy is indicative of selfishness, I know. Things aren’t going the way I planned, or things didn’t turn out how I wanted them to. Well c’est la vie, and I’ve got to learn to deal with it. We grow up in our youth with lofty goals and intrepid dreams only to find them mere mirages that result in angst against our elders for not telling us the truth about goals and dreams. Then we try to justify that the circumstances that did happen, the ones we hadn’t planned on, were “meant to be”, another smokescreen and avoidance of taking responsibility at failing. Well whether things “were meant to be” or were just a result of my laziness and sin I don’t know. All I know is dreams or not, I can’t do a freaking thing aside from my Creator. And that statement of fact/faith is the most frustrating thought of all because while it opens a plethora of questions about life, love, and why, it only answers like two or three. Now is a time of apathy for me, of slight angst, and of listlessness. Oh, it will pass indeed, as it always does, but for the moment I lull around in my bog of insensibility. But whether Keith Wojciech is ebb or flow, it does nothing to change history, that the one God of the universe humbled himself beyond recognition on Middle Eastern sands ages ago so that the only Hope could exist. My feelings change no fact. I then begin to ask myself whether my state is helping anything? The answer is of course no, but being human, being stubborn and insubordinate to righteousness, I resist refining fire like a dam resists the waters. No my friends, apathy isn’t the answer, but neither is a false smile. Sometimes the truth about life, love, and why can be sobering and I believe the drunkenness that society provides us with, TV, sports, kissing, etc., only act a salves against admitting our human condition. No my friends, you won’t see a smile on my face today. But fret not for me, for that can be a good thing in the grand scheme of things. Let not my trials hinder you though. Don’t let my bog be your bog. And if you are walking through the dead marshes also, fear not, because restitution awaits you on the other side. I honestly didn’t mean to write all this stuff. Talk about “on the fly”. “explaining time again. the question, the defense. how come he never smiles? why hide my happiness? a season to laugh, a season to cry. i'm just living my life with respect to my times. i'm just passing through. trying to stay true. i'll stay true to me, you stay true to you. our walk's a narrow road and there's a whole lot more to go hope yours is filled with sunshine. right now that's not my world. it's not my place and that's alright. abundant life to many, joy is to survive. i think back and it's sad all the high hopes that i had. years pass so fast. in the end i just hope i last. meanwhile i might smile -- but it's grace mile after mile. "through grace we carry on" and that grace will lead me home...” -It Must Be Wonderful, by Outer Circle.....punk music at its spiritual best... October 16, 2003 Gandorf, Garllum, and Aragon oh my --My parents (I love them dearly) unfortunately have some trouble with the characters from The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Whether it’s my dad calling Gandalf “Gandorf” or my mom referring to the “little critter”, “Garllum”, the world of Middle-Earth is still foreign to them. Being an enthusiast as myself, it can become a little difficult not only explaining the proper pronunciation of these intrepid characters, but also what their place in the story is. (Yes, Boromir is a good guy mom, and no Sauraman and Sauron are not the same person. No, Mordor is a place, not a character. No, hobbits aren’t dwarves and dwarves aren’t human. Eowyn is Eomer’s sister...) But we can all agree on one thing though, that the movie representations of the legendary books are amazingly awesome, and that’s enough for me :) Anyways, if you’re having trouble understanding what Treebeard is or whether orcs and goblins are the same race, check out the Characters page lordoftherings.net set up. It’s cool. October 14, 2003 Random Thoughts · Most religions use the “shock and awe” technique to get(con) believers. Christ used the “stretch and die” technique. · Read this article about music and copyrighted CD’s. Are you telling me a college student figured out how to bypass this highly touted “monumental software achievement in the battle against music piracy” by just holding down the “Shift” key while inputting the CD? Are you serious? A multi-million dollar software company overlooked such a simple bypass and in turn made themselves out to be complete and total idiots!?!? And that now they’re trying to sue this kid for infringing basically on their pride (which now exists not)?!??! Are you freaking kidding me?!? This only further proves the music industry gets everything is deserves and then some....everything is now coming fill circle on them. Go Napster! *Update: Firm drops suit against grad's CD hack · I don’t know about you but I always give a chuckle when I’m watching a movie or TV show and one of the characters is a dorky character or just a normal character and they explain all sullenly how they haven’t “gotten any” in like a year and then the other “cool” character feels real bad for them and stuff. Haha, what a bunch of freaking wusses; absolute freaking wusses. Anyone that determines their personal joy and/or happiness on their most recent engagement with breeding rituals is as secure as an alarm system made by AudioVox. Get some balls people! And by that I mean the totally opposite of everything that your society has squished, pummeled, and tractor beamed into your head all your life. · A flame slowly dies out when you restrict oxygen from getting to it. I’m sure there’s a deep truth that can be extrapolated from that occurrence, I just can’t think of it yet. • This is a funny little thing Forbes magazine did ranking in the wealthiest fictional characters this past year. Frodo is 5th! October 7, 2003 Quarterbacks and color --Hmmm, I can’t reasonably argue with any points made in this article. Sure, I could unreasonably come up with some points, but reasonably I’m at a loss. I love McNabb and in the long run wouldn’t want any other quarterback behind the center of my beloved Philadelphia Eagles. And I firmly believe if he had a Marvin Harrison or Randy Moss to throw to, his stats would be much better and he even may have a Super Bowl, but what’s happened has happened and stats speak for themselves. You don’t see Brad Johnson on the Chunky Soup commercials. Gosh, color issues are weird and taxing. October 7, 2003 Keith learns more, talks less (or maybe more) --The best thing that can happen to me each day is for someone to prove me wrong. Not only does it require I futilely humble myself and admit my fault, it strengthens everything that’s weak in me; my ego. Do I hate this? Yes, why of course I do! I’m a male for goodness sake! The last thing I want is to be proven wrong, especially in front of friends, family, or peers. My pride runs so deep due to my XY’s that it sometimes takes a Mack truck to pummel some sense into me. Fortunately a Mack truck wasn’t necessary in this case, and I’m sure you’ll see it’s not as big and dramatic as I made it out to be, but I did learn something that I previous thought otherwise. This learning experience involves the economics of loans. You might remember an article I wrote in Random Thoughts 2 entitled Your Money. In it I told of the perilous traps that things like car loans, school loans, and credit card debts can set on the unsuspecting and unwise mind. After reading it I didn’t totally rule out the notion of a car loan, but I strongly advised against it unless you had a very intelligent and successful payoff plan. I stand by that and now see there is a crucial benefit to a nominal car loan. I was under the impression it was always best to pay off a car purchase full on right away. Well I’ve learned that Keith has a few things to learn about credit. After conferring with elders much wiser than I in the way of finances and economics, I found out it can be a good thing to acquire and payoff a car loan. Case and example: A friend, whom had much cash stock loaded, had a hard time getting a loan for a car even though they had plenty of money, never were in bad credit, and had a steady full time job. The reason for this? The bank was apprehensive about giving such a substantial loan to someone who had never paid off any substantial loans in the past. So even though someone may have a clean financial past and bright financial future, it doesn’t necessarily qualify them for good loaner credit. So in some respects it can be good to pay off a loan now for future credit considerations such as major purchases like a house. I like this because it gave me insight into something I thought I had already all figured out. But it’s not always a good thing to walk into a car dealership with a bag of money and say "give me the red one". Just some food for thought for the financial minded. Also, even though it stings a bit, knowing you were wrong about something ultimately turns out so much better in the end. October 7, 2003 The MLB Conspiracy continues -You might remember back to a little article I wrote in Random Thoughts 6 called Say it ain’t Sosa about Sammy Sosa’s corked bat and how it was just part of the big Major League Baseball’s nefarious plot to keep baseball ratings high. Well Bud Selig and Co. are at it again and this time its the “marquee matchup” ploy. I may not be a hardcore baseball fan, but I’m learn-ed enough to know the Chicago Cubs haven’t won a World Series in like a quadchillion years (1908 to be exact) and that its almost been as long for the Boston Red Sox (yes, baseball is a really really old sport in America). Anyways, what a better ratings booster than to have starving Cubs face off against the Bill Buckner haunted Red Sox??? At this point in the playoffs it’s still only in the pennant races, but don’t be surprised if we see a Chicago/Boston showdown for the World Series...don’t be surprised at all. Coincidence? Hardly... An ESPN.com article to prove there is plenty motive and “probable cause” for the MLB to fix something this nice. October 7, 2003 Is everybody a wuss? *article continuation again The fact that I’m continuing the article multiple times is a testament to my guilty conscience concerning my ambiguous stereotypes. Specifically what entails a “hot” girl as I’ve mentioned many times before. This generic adjective is easier to gauge than you might think though. But I can see where my vague definition of the such would generate speculation as towards Keith Wojciech’s standards. It’s pretty simple really. The “hot” girl is that stereotypical cheerleader, homecoming queen, popular, “best looking” senior superlative, in the “cool” crowd, etc. (not necessarily fitting all these characteristics) type of girl that no doubt I know you know exactly what I’m talking about and that you had a handful of the aforementioned “hot” girls during your high school tenure. In fact, I can almost guarantee you that you know they’re full names still, which boys they dated during high school, and what types of hair styles they had junior year. Yes, pictures of those girls are starting to pop up in your mind and their names are floating around it. Whether jealous, envious, or feeling sorry for them, they exist in our society and usually stand out from the crowd by around late junior high. The social status class continues through high school and college and doesn’t start to phase out till the mid to late twenties. These are the types of “hot” girls I’m talking about. For better or for worse, they usually fit in what society deems as the highest physically attractive social class, and they usually are falsely put on social pedestals. Now I must disclaim, as I have a bit already, that just because a girl may fit in the socially deemed “hot” class, it by no means means that that status also translates into qualities that are actually important in a person like being honest, trustworthy, caring, gentle, compassionate, understanding, courageous, humble, loving, forgiving, and having a sense of humor. My past has dealings with the aforementioned type of girl and I had to learn the emotionally hard way that just because someone may seem like they have it together on the outside; it doesn’t mean they’ve got it together on the inside. And unfortunately, I’ve found in my experiences, that the “hot” girl usually doesn’t have it together on the inside for the aforementioned reasons on my pervious article thoughts. Somehow, even though I haven’t really explained myself too well even after two article additions, I feel as if you know what I’m talking about. Society isn’t kind to certain types of people and unfortunately in our society, if you don’t live up to its expectation for your social class, you’re shunned, and that peer pressure leads many people to make some very poor decisions in their youth that affects the rest of their lives. That’s all I’m trying to say. If you need any further clarification, please let me know, I’d be glad to talk about anything and everything. -Ebb October 6, 2003 Middle-Earth random thoughts • Maybe marriage isn’t a bad thing after all. Not that I ever considered it bad, but I’m thinking that even though you lose a lot of freedoms in marriage, you do gain a lot of perks (plus someone to watch your anime movies with even if they don’t like anime but they’ll act like they do and watch it with you because they love you so much. Now that’s a cool perk) Anyways, sometimes I come off as anti-marriage. It couldn’t be farther from the truth. I want to get married just as much as the next guy (perhaps even more). My beef isn’t with marriage; my beef is with conformity and drone-like behavior. Uh oh, what’s going on here....am I changing....gosh, sometimes I scare myself. • I’m reading through The Fellowship of the Ring again. It’s been years, but it’s extra special now since the movies have come out. I highly super recommend picking up a copy of the trilogy. I’m gonna hold off reading Return of the King before the movie comes out, but I’ll read up to it. There’s something magical about Tolkien’s works. They’re an absolute pleasure to read. And after reading it, you realize even more the genius that Peter Jackson was to bring it onscreen. Now when I read I picture Viggo Mortenson as Aragorn and a really scary guy as the Balrog. Sure, it restricts the imagination somewhat, but gosh I don’t think my imagination is much better than the movie. Go buy the books for $12, go find a comfy couch, grab a Snapple, and get reading. Talk about an adventure. • Do girls realize they have the power to reduce the strongest of men to mere loaves of bread??? Well they do, and a lot of times it doesn’t even require showing skin or cleavage. It could just be the way she smiles or how she laughs. See, I think girls have a big conspiracy going on. I think they do indeed know their power and they nefariously act (well most of them) like they don’t know about it, confusing us even more. Like the innocent “Who me?” look. And all the while they’re pulling the strings behind the scenes. The irony of it is that when we (outwardly) strong men get reduced to loaves of bread because we’re (inwardly) weak, we don’t mind it. From Odysseus getting breadified by the sirens to King David becoming a loaf from seeing Bathsheba taking a neked bath, we men have little to no strength when it comes to girls. Hmmm, maybe I shouldn’t be admitting this, but then again I think girls already know. Sheesh, loaves of bread...we men are indeed a hopeless and weak bunch, there ain’t a strong one out there, nowhere. • I watched 2 Fast 2 Furious over the weekend and despite the lackluster reviews I gotta admit I liked it more than the first. I don’t know, maybe the cars were cooler (at least they had some Beamers in this one). I liked how the romance didn’t overshadow the story and I like how the plot wasn’t a direct rip-off of Point Break (ala Fast and the Furious). The action didn’t disappoint and I enjoyed the camaraderie between Paul Walker and Tyrese. I didn’t miss Vin Disel to be honest and the bad guy was bad enough that I wanted to see him go down. I want my M3... October 6, 2003 Is everybody a wuss? *article continuation I’ve had a few thoughts since I wrote the last article that I wrote. My brother also pointed out a few things I had failed to recognize on paper about the “hot girls having it tough”. Ok, it’s true they probably get more unwanted attention from punk guys than other girls, and they probably are forced to “mature” earlier than other girls (which is a negative thing), but come on, it’s not all that bad. For one, sometimes the extra attention can be beneficial. Hot girls can never complain they don’t get any attention. They sure don’t have a hard time finding help for things whether it be getting a flat tire fixed or having someone poor shmuck carry their books. They have no problem finding stylish clothes that fit them, and more often than not they have socially acceptable boyfriends. So you know what, I think I recant a lot I said about hot girls having it tough. They have it pretty easy to be honest. The only reason I really feel bad for them is when they grow with a dead beat father that doesn’t show her how much she’s worth (more than anything). Now any girl can grow up in a family like that but I guess I just see the effects it has on hot girls more often because they get taken advantage of by punk guys and its more obvious. So in conclusion, in this day and age, every girl growing up in our society has it tough. Whatever social class they belong too, they’re always gonna face some tough situations. October 3, 2003 Is everybody a wuss? (click to read) --Man it must really really stink to be an insecure pretty girl. I’m mean they have it bad enough already, but to have to deal with selfish bastards that don’t have to worry about wearing a condom now.....super ugh. Sure, pretty girls usually put themselves in the worst of situations and show time when they shouldn’t to the basterdish of guys, but I mean they’ve probably had it tough since like 13. They’ve had guys hit on them for years because their hot and a pretty, insecure girl, despite her inner want to remain pure, just cracks under pressure eventually in some shape or form. But then again, they’ve probably had a wussy dad that never told them to hold a high standard of purity because they're worth it and they’ve probably never met a guy that cared anything more about them then what they looked like. Like I said, it’s gotta be hella tough to be a hot girl in this day and age. Back to the topic at hand...I predict that a male contraceptive could not only plunge our society into even a deeper chasm of sexual promiscuity, but the advent of the PAB will increase so much as too render a “good” guy obsolete (He most likely already is in my experiences with girls {you see, this is the kind of observation that EbbWorld makes, the observation of the effects past guys have had on present girls, that gives him an edge in understanding people better}), but a vehicle (male contraceptive) that would almost eliminate any possibility of potential physical consequence to sin (a baby) is like a blindfold that doesn't allow you to see the nuclear explosion about to vaporize you; really its not doing anything to prevent the coming pain you’ll experience. I’ve often been ridiculed because of my naiveté concerning sex and sexuality by my peers. Keith, if you don’t have sexual education and know what to do and yada, contraception, yada, orgasm, yada, oral, yada, yada, yada....you’ll be so out of the loop and no girl will ever want to have sex with you. Whoopty-freaking-do! Folks, I’d much rather be learn-ed concerning the emotional and spiritual effects of sexual relationships than I would be the physical ones. Therefore I will hold my position of naiveté and social embarrassment thank you very much; its ramparts are much stronger. I don’t care that the kids in 7th grade laughed at me because I had no idea what sticking your pointer finger through a circle you made with your other hand meant (intercourse for anyone that didn’t get my hand gesture). And I don’t care that kids (yes kids because most 23 year olds are hella immature) currently make fun of me because I still haven’t seen “the sights” (female genitalia for all you that are thinking whatever else). Screw them and their “paths leading to hurt, pain, consequence, emotional damage, higher potential of divorce, etc.”! Anyways, I’ve gotten off topic. The concept of a male contraceptive is extremely disheartening to me because I know most guys are going to use it to their selfish sinful sexual desirable advantage. Unfortunately girls, like they have for a long time now, are going to buy into their false claims of “love” and their false affections and false interests, and these girls are gonna let the guys take advantage of them all over again. And the guys, being as nefarious as ever, won’t have to deal with that nagging “guilt” or apprehension that the girl might miss her period or something. They can go on fulfilling their social quota with no fear of being dragged down by a toddler. Granite, I believe contraceptives do have value in a marital relationships, but I have no idea how (yes, my naivete calls out again here. I’ll worry about it if the time ever comes). I know there’s something about a girl’s eggs won’t something a certain time of the month and at that time there’s no chance for conception...something like that. And maybe married couples use contraceptions to avoid having a kid.....I have no idea (and I could care less that I have no idea. Sex, although I’m sure is pretty cool, is by no means necessary and I’m already “complete” thank you very much (props to my man JC) so stop saying I’m not until I’m married or have sex or yada, yada, yada). So chew on this article and its relevance to you. Then turn on your brain and think about all the situations you’ve been in either directly or indirectly related to this stuff. That’s all EbbWorld does when I think up these articles. It’s just I seem to think too much about stuff like this and I need to relieve some of that thought by leaking the thoughts out of my head and onto paper. I feel better now. October 1, 2003 sometimes you feel like you’re alone... ...sometimes holiness can seem like emptiness, when you feel the whole world’s laughing eyes but if it’s a lonely day know you’re on the Father’s way, He will hear you when you cry and He will hold you, hold you your Father will hold you He will love you, love you for the things you do Desert rose, desert rose don’t you worry don’t be lonely. Heaven knows, heaven knows in a dying and weary land a flower grows... -Desert Rose by White Heart, a song upon my heart October 1, 2003 Study reveals drinking black tea reduces cholesterol, reduces risk of cancer, heart disease, and results in other healthy benefits previously unknown to science. (click to read) September 29, 2003 Weekend Update • You haven’t seen the new Lord of the Rings: Return of the King trailer yet you say? Um, what planet do you live on? As for me, I live on Middle-Earth and if you know your Saurons from your Sauramans then you need to download this trailer. Otherwise, just fade away... • I got to test drive my soon to be new type of car this weekend, a 1989 BMW M3. It was all that I expected, and much more. You should be proud of me that I didn’t buy it though and I resisted. The reason? It wasn’t black. I need a black one so I can call it “Squall”, like Squall Leonheart, me manifested in a video game. Or maybe I’m Squall manifested in real life? Whichever. • You really find out a lot about people when they reach the “real world”. You’re able to delineate the real from the spineless by realizing the people that have the courage to step out and take a chance even when everyone around them has conformed to a pattern as opposed to the people that cower from opportunistic freedom and hold onto stagnate and deadening loyalties just because they’re afraid to get out of their comfort zones. • Speaking of the “real world”, I hate it’s presumption that I’m going to be its pawn. I’ve done this whole “9 to 5” thing for quite a while now and I refuse to accept the fact that I’ll be its slave for my whole life. I’m not making much sense here, but I just saying that I going to break out of it soon. Whether it be my book or something... I’m just not going to be like everyone else and just accept that fact that I’m just a “normal” Joe Schmoe that's going to have a normal middle class job, live in normal middle class America, have a normal middle class sedan, marry a normal middle class girl, have a normal middle class family, and have a normal middle class “didn’t really do anything to change the world but people will lie and say only nice things about me” funeral. Screw you consistency and normalcy! I’m not accepting my social place in this world and like I said before, I’m sure as hell not going to conform how they (meaning most people around me) want me to....end my little, frivolous rant. • Here’s a picture of Marit, a girl very special to me, and I. This also proves that yes, I do hang out with girls. Some of you have wondered who this wonderful, fun, and crazy go nuts girl I’ve been talking about a lot is. So here is proof that she’s not a figment of my imagination nor a video game character and that she is real and that yes, girls do hang out with me too. September 26. 2003 Fix -I fixed the text alignment/format on my Suggested Relationship Path page. September 25, 2003 Relational Stages -I created this chart about a year ago when I was trying to quantify the qualities of the stages that one goes through in a relationship. Anyone that knows me knows that this it a touchy subject of mine and that I’m very egotistical thinking the way I think is right and the way everyone else does it is wrong. Well I don’t think there’s necessarily a “right” and a “wrong” way to approach a relationship, but I do believe there are levels of fulfillment experienced, as well a levels of disappointment/sadness, during a relationship based on the paths taken and decisions made in that relationship. And I believe there is an optimal path to take which theoretically speaking should result in the most fulfilling of relationships, reaping the greatest rewards, and enjoying the most pleasure. I could be wrong, but I believe, more often than not, that if one were to “follow” these guidelines I’ve proposed, one will have a better experience in ever relationship with the opposite sex whether it goes the distance or not. If you haven’t taken a gander at my chart yet, now’s the time to do so. Or you could finish reading this first. Why did I do this you ask? Well, I’m kind of tired of seeing my peers jump into relationships arse first if you know what I mean. Two insecure people with no plans, or motives unsaid does not equal love folks. Love isn’t knowing you can’t live without that person, love is knowing you can live without that person but you choose not to ( a regular Shakespeare huh?) . Anyways, too many people get involved in relationships they have no business getting involved in, and you know who gets screwed? The resultant kiddles. Kids of divorced parents can thank their parents’ poor decisions during their courtship process (do people even know what that means anymore?) for screwing their marriage up and for making you have to go through hell. “It’ll all be better when we’re married,” he said not facing reality. “He’ll change when we’re married,” she ignorantly said of her fiancee, “Marriage does that to people right? It matures them.” Yeah right missy, it’s matures them to realize how immature they are. Ok, enough angst towards my society. On the page with the chart I’ll try to describe the different “connections” and “stages” I’ve delineated within the progression of a relationship. The X’s represent the connection that I think should be occurring at that particular stage. If an X isn’t present, that means the correlating connection most likely shouldn’t be happening. You put an X where it shouldn’t be and you throw a wrench in the whole mechanism resulting in an engine that will probably blow up. Of course some misplaced connections are more serious than others, but you get my point. Despite the obvious difference in physical consequences, sometimes emotional consequences can be hella damaging too. *Download this movie and you’ll know what I mean. So check out my suggested relational chart. Curse it if you want, that’s cool. I respect everyone’s opinion. Print it out and burn it if you want too. Chances are though that if you’ve already misplaced some X’s in your own life, you’re saying to yourself, just like you do ever time you’re alone with your thoughts, that you wished you could have that moment or moments back and that you would’ve made a different choice. You realize you have to live and move on with the choices you’ve made, but if there was a time machine available, you’d definitely buy some shares of the company that invented it. If you’ve haven’t made bad decisions yet, chances are you’re either still very young, or you’ve been graced hugely by God. And I guarantee you that either way you’re going to face some major challenges in the days to come. Keep your sentry on full alert and always guard your heart. Don’t refrain from taking chances and live life by all means, but just know the consequences involved if those chances go awry. And just because your past may not look anything like my chart doesn’t mean you can’t start living in a new way with higher standards and better plans. It’s never too late to change and reap the benefits of taking the right path. I know a guy who’s in the business of giving second, third, fourth, heck even infinity chances. He’ll steer ya right ;) Let me also make the disclaimer that just because I made this chart does not mean I’m not susceptible to putting X’s in boxes they shouldn’t be in in my own life. I’m just as liable to “screw up” as the next man, and only, and ONLY by the grace of God have I made it thus far without any major physical consequences. I kiss the ground because I don’t even deserve to stand on it. And remember, this chart is only a suggested path to take. These are just guidelines. Everyone’s experience will be different. I just think this is a good checklist to live by and ensure you and your “friend” will have the best time together. By all means, share the chart! Peace. September 23, 2003 Random Thoughts • If you haven’t already been there, I made a special webpage for My Summer Vacation that I recently took. Take a look. It’s got lots of pictures so it’s not just boring text like Random Thoughts. • I need to make a disclaimer concerning my recent “Marriage...” article. Please don’t get me wrong folks. I really, really, really, really desire to get married and the same goes for having sex. I very much desire a close relationship with a female, one that delves into the ultimate depths of human emotion and relation. But you must understand, there is a difference, and a very large one at that, between desiring something and expecting/planning on something. I refuse to conform to my society/culture and automatically “expect” that I’ll be married some day. Sure statistics show that mathematically speaking I most likely will get married one day, but there is also a chance I won’t. And my God is bigger than worrying or expecting either to happen, what a waste of the precious time we’ve been given here. Also what a complete insecurity and “slap in the face of God” to “plan” on getting married one day. That’s utter BS when someone says to you “Oh when you’re married, you’ll understand,” or other BS like that. Get a life yo, you have no idea whether I’ll get married or not and I sure as heck ain’t gonna bank on it, otherwise I’ll be disappointed if I'm not married by like 28 like so many insecure twenty-somethings in society today. I refuse to lower myself to that insecurity. My God is so much bigger than that wussy thinking. So I hope you understand where I’m coming from. I’m not anti-marriage or anti-sex, by no means! I’m anti-conformity, anti-insecurity, and anti-selfishness. I’m gonna live my life for Christ and whatever happens as a result of that happens as a result of that; married or non-married. He satisfies me more than I ever could hope or imagine and nothing else could ever fill that void or even hope to. If marriage or a girl comes along, praise the Lord! If marriage or a girl don’t come along, praise the Lord! It’s a win-win situation to be a Christian, you can’t lose. I think that’s why I like it so much, nothing depends on me, it all depends on what Christ already did for me. Comforting to say the least... • Did you notice (concerning people on the Eastern seaboard) how everyone with a portable basketball hoop in their driveway had theirs blown down by the hurrican windse? Its little observations like this that get you ahead in life. • Of the many allegories (I’m sorry J.R.R., I can’t help it {Tolkien insisted his writing contains no purposeful allegory}) I’ve found in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, one that sticks out so well in my mind is the triumph of good over evil no matter the odds. I guess its not much a particular allegory, more a theme (so J.R.R. would prolly give me props for this one). Anyways, I love how Tolkien time after time baits the reader into almost complete despair of defeat, yet always finds a way for good to triumph in the end, no matter how small the chance. Sam and Frodo vs. all of Mordor. Minis Tirith vs. all the hordes Mordor can muster. I mean in seemingly insurmountable odds, good wins. Why I like this is because in my own life I find obstacles and barriers that seem impossible to ever overcome. Why Lord of the Rings makes me feel better is because there is a higher power at work here, and let no obstacle bar him from workin his mojo. It gives me hope in the darkest of caves. Comforting to say the least... Another cool allegory from the books • There’s no doubt that if I didn’t have a 9-5 suit and tie job, I’d grow my hair out super cool long. • So yeah, the O.C. isn’t gonna be on T.V. till after the MLB playoffs are over. Does anyone else see the tragedy and inhumanity of this executive decision by Fox? Guy’s in pin-striped tights eating chewing tobacco and standing around 92% of the game’s duration, or hot chicks and cool plot lines?!? That’s a rhetorical question and you better have answered correctly. • I want to thank you, my faithful readers, for all your comments and encouragement. I received mostly, if not all, positive feedback concerning EbbWorld and its content. In the future I’m hoping to implement a forum where people can comment more actively and in a community, but for now it’s just my one-sided arguments (even though I try to be aware of everyone’s point of view and write accordingly). And I know a lot of people disagree with stuff I say even though they may not say it and I think that’s great. I fully encourage everyone to think freely within themselves. So thanks again for reading my stuff and my random thoughts. I never knew anyone else would be interested in them, but apparently some people are and I appreciate that. And I’ll most likely keep writing till the cows come home, so no worries. September 16, 2003 Ultrasound Random Thoughts • A new technology from the U.K. allows for unprecedented three dimensional looks into a baby’s, err I mean “fetus’s”, development within the womb. You won’t believe this MSNBC video, I guarantee. I dare a woman to have an abortion after seeing this, I dare one. Just like in astrophysical science, new scientific discoveries only further the case for human life inside the womb, just like it only furthers the case for an supernatural being (a being existing outside the natural world of length, width, depth, and time, yet having the ability to exist within it) behind creation. In contrast, everyday passes and we continue to have no evidence indicating a fetus is not human just as we continue to have no evidence for a non-theistic creation moment and for naturalistic evolution. E GAD folks! We get just the opposite! “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” –Galations 6:7 • While I’m on MSNBC here, I want to point your attention to another eye-opening article. For anyone who’s middle-class and married, or for anyone who’s planning at becoming middle-class and married one day, this article is a must-read. Of course this doesn’t apply to me because I fit neither category. I’m just gonna be a rich virginal bachelor. • I was just walking by some street vendors here in DC and I just couldn’t help but laugh at the Hebrew National hot dog maker slogan. It goes like this: Hebrew National: We answer to a higher power. Haha I like that and it’s so true. No other hot dog company can compete with one getting its recipes straight from G_d. If ya know what’s good for ya, you’ll buy Hebrew National hot dogs, they’re divine :) • Is it possible that I haven’t made a plug for HOMESTARRUNNER.COM yet?!? I don’t think I have yet and that’s a tragedy because you’re missing out on some of the best internet comedy this side of the dancing hamsters (which was funny for 3.2 microseconds before you wanted to punch a hole through your computer monitor). Anyways, Homstarruner.com will make you laugh till you can’t laugh any longer. If you don’t go to Homestarrunner.com, I will be forced to give you the Double Deuce. If you still refuse to visit Homestarrunner.com, I will call my friend Stinko Man 20X6, and he will challenge you! Go to Homestarrunner.com. • A “church” without crosses is like a fish without water, it’s dead. Just look at the faces and at the lives of its members. No joy. No peace from knowing that God doesn’t require anything but a broken and contrite heart from them. It’s like a robotic zombie convention I’ve found. Everyone is so worried about making the grade and following the rules that they forget about falling in desperate love with Jesus. Life begins at the cross....real, free life... But it makes perfect sense. I mean without a daily reminder of the love that was shown that day on Calvary, how can you know how to respond in love? I will die holding those two planks of wood to my chest, for my life isn’t possible without them, and I forget too easily. • Have you heard of the Eyetoy? You haven’t? Well you will because every kid on your block will have one come Christmas time. Eyetoy is a new peripheral from Sony for the Playstation 2 that allows you to interact in quirky yet fun mini-games. Now mom can never say playing video games wasn’t exercise! Check out a cool article here. • That’s enough random thoughts for one day. I have about 3,229,223 a day though. Anyways, I’m working on some bigger articles. Anyways, have a good day and watch The O.C. tonight! September 12, 2003 Married Sex vs. Single Sex --I mentioned about writing this articles a couple weeks ago and never got around too it but here it is now for your reading pleasure. *Read the disclaimer below too I was reading the March 2001 issue of Good Housekeeping the other day (don’t ask me how or why I was reading an old copy of that magazine. You’ll read whatever is near the can when you’re there) and an article about marriage caught my eye. The article itself wasn’t too enlightening. Mostly it was about how married sex is better than single sex yada yada.... Well no duh! Any logical human being could/should come to that conclusion. Anyways, it was a little stat that caught my eye concerning the frequency married persons (preferably with your spouse), on average, have sex compared to singles. You have to go here to see it I like this statistic because it’s basically a big “F you” to all the idiots that think fornication is the way to go. Fornication goes hand and hand with selfishness, and last time I checked, anything selfish sucks. So let’s take a numerical approach to this matter. Not only can analysis be done emotionally and spiritually, you can play the numbers game also. My peer society always makes fun of me for my virginity, like I’m a “lesser” being cause of it. There aren’t too many 23 year old virgins out there I imagine (less than 2% of university graduating males are still virgins and we’re not even getting into the whole intercourse fallacy issue). Anyways, let’s get theoretical. Let’s say we take a generic PAB and put him up against a guy like me. This all depends on the circumstance of me getting married of course, but I’m just gonna play the numbers game to prove how not only waiting to get married to have sex results in more sex, but even waiting to get married results in more sex to a certain point. Let’s say I get married at 18 (only fools rush in) and this PAB starts having single sex at 18 (normal I guess for a PAB). According to the chart, by the time I’m 69 (side note: to be perfectly honest, I didn’t even know you could have sex like after 50 or something so this chart is news to me) I will on average had sex in my marital relationship 3,348 times compared to the PAB’s 2196 times. Hey MTV, that’s a lot more sex! I think those stats speak for themselves. You can see the breakdown of yearly totals by the age brackets here. Now you could say that most smart people don’t get married at 18 or even until their mid-twenties. Yet most “normal” people start banging at 18 if not much younger, so one could argue that while I’m being a prude, they’re having much more fun in bed, in backseats, and on the kitchen table. Au contraire mon frere. Even if I waited till I was 28.7 years old to get married and start getting it on and you the PAB started at 18 my grand total would still be higher in the long run. Keith how can you trivialize such a wonderful expression of love with numbers and charts?! Chill out Speedy, I’m just stating the facts here. And in my crusade, the facts are on my side so I’m gonna use them as my sidekick to get my point across. You know I don’t think sex is a superficial act of our carnal nature. If you’ve read any of my pervious material you’d know I know it’s so much more than fulfilling ones inhibitive selfish desire. But yes, the numbers aren’t fully on my side when we reach a certain peak, or inflection point for all you Calculus nerds. It’s perfectly possible I may not get married till I’m 38 and compared to the PAB that’s been screwing girls since he was 16, I most likely will not enjoy the pleasures of sex as much as him. It’s also possible I won’t get hitched till I’m 57 and according to the chart, I won’t get too much action before I kick it. Heck its possible I could get married in two months, have sex once on my honeymoon, and my wife gets killed in a boating accident. That’s only 1 time vs. the thousands of times the PAB most likely will have. Heck, I may never get married and therefore may never have sex and that would chalk up a big 0 on my scoreboard of scoring. But you know what? SO FREAKING WHAT?! So big freaking what!? So freaking what... People, let’s get one thing straight here (preferably your head screwed on), the sun will rise tomorrow morning. And you know what? The tides in the Atlantic will do their thing, the snakes in Brazil will slither around like they always have, and cars will travel down crowded highways in New York. To put it bluntly, life goes on. Whether I have sex or not, whether I get married or not, whether I get an M3 or not, life will proceed. And you know what also? No matter what’s going on in my personal “the universe should revolve around me” world, there will still be things like poverty, war, and hunger out there. And should I be sitting here worrying about whether I’m gonna “do” a girl or not ever? Should I feel insecure that I’m not married by 34? Should I believe society when it tells me that I “need” a wife? Well I answer that with a resounding “HELL NO!”. And you know what? I don’t need sex, I don’t need a wife, (let’s not confuse “need” with “desire” folks. Do I “desire” a wife? Do I “desire” to have sex? Well that’s rhetorically answered with a resounding “HELL YES!”. But again, my selfish desires pale in comparison to the major going ons of the galaxy. The solar system isn’t “me-centric”, it’s definitely heliocentric.) and I don’t need a new M3. What I need is Jesus, and I got him already, so all other inquires about what I “need” are moot. He said it himself. I’ve learned two things from this article. One is that people and my peers are having a lot of sex. Both married and unmarried, people are getn’ it on. Another thing is that people are idiots. Yeah I’m a big fat wuss/sinner, no doubt about it, but people that buy into the “life is better if you’re married” or “sex is better when you don’t have the commitment” lies are complete morons. If you’re that inept at thinking on your own and that gullible then you gotta check yourself. Get alone under a big tree somewhere and think about your life and be honest, who you are as an individual aside from anyone else, and where you’re going with things. And yeah you’re right, I am harsh and blunt, but come on, what plausible counter-offensive argument can you bring? Heck I got the numbers on my side for the most part yo. But ya know what? When you stand in front of your maker one day, ain’t nobody gonna have your back. As for me, I got bigger fish to fry than worrying about having sex and/or getting married. There’s so much more out there you’ll realize if you take off your tunnel vision glasses of happiness that say “Made by Society” on them. “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds...” -R12:2 *I must disclaim that I am by no means immune to sexual promiscuity. Lord knows, and he does, I do it mentally everyday, especially on the Metro. But by his undeserved grace, he’s kept me safe from some serious physical consequences and I thank him for it. But please don’t think by the blunt and “holier than thou” tone of my dissertation that I am any greater than any PAB, for unless I was pulled out of the pit and mirely clay by hands not of my own, I’d be doing the same things, no doubt. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I can’t even breathe on my own. And any person has the capacity to commit any sin at any time. If you don’t believe that, you’re lost. |