I was reading tonight and I came across something that got me to thinking about the original meaning of Christmas. So, the first thing I did was open up a search of the Bible. I tried several translations and failed to find the search term 'Christmas' anywhere in any of the most popular translations of the Bible.
I wasn't too shocked by this because I have read much of the book, and I didn't remember anything about Christmas specifically. I do, of course, remember passages about Jesus' birth and the events that took place shortly before and after, but I don't recall any instruction to yearly celebrate his birth.
I did a bit more research and came across much the same thing again and again...
Christmas wasn't celebrated by the early church.
It started around the second century AD by the relatively new Roman Catholic Church.
It immediately took on many of the same rites and celebrations of other religions. These rites/observances/celebrations based around the winter solstice... which was December 25th on the Roman calender.
Many cultures worshiped or celebrated fertility and motherhood in some way, and they often used either images of a woman with child, an evergreen tree, or both. Catholicism adopted these cultural similarities and renamed them putting a Christian spin on all the belief systems and customs of these other people groups. (Kinda reminds me of sampling and remixing.)
Throughout the history of Christmas it has gone through a great deal of innovation and adaptation, and the many words, celebrations, songs, and stories reflect that rich history.
I've heard a number of things from different individuals who have issues with the Christmas holiday, and now I think I can agree with their spirit of disdain. This holiday really isn't anything more than traditions, trappings, and commercialism. We don't know the exact date of Jesus' birth, and we never will, which ultimately doesn't really matter all that much, because the Bible never calls us to celebrate His birth.
One of our dwarf hamsters died today. It's very sad. Joy and I both miss her very much -- Joy especially -- because she was Joy's favorite hamster.
I am really going to miss her walk, and the way she'd always, always hang her back legs off your hand when you pick her up. I'll also miss how easy going she was, and how she'd always be easy to find and quick to find Iris when Iris runs off and hides.
I'll miss her water habit, because it was cute and it was fun to say she was all water weight. Also, I have a thing for drinking water all the time too, so I felt like she was kinda like me in that regard.
I'll really, really miss how much Joy loved her. I'll miss Joy's reactions especially. When Joy would look for her and try to wake her up she'd always have to look in all the toilet paper and paper towel rolls, because Dove would love to sleep in them. Also, Joy would get really excited when Dove would sleep with the twins, and all three of them would be together. I'll also miss hearing Joy call her 'Chubber,' 'Chubb-Chubb' and 'Chubbs' as terms of endearment.
It was really great getting to know Dove though. So, I decided that, even though it hurts to suffer a loss, it shouldn't deter me from openning myself up to other pets.
I hope that the twins and Skipper live 'til the end of Joy's college years like they are supposed to, but I guess we'll just have to see how things turn out.
We miss you Chubber!
It's 34°F outside! Luckily, there's a fireplace in here... we've had a fire going since early this evening and the whole house is warm from just this one fire.
It's soooo nice, man. Joy is sleeping by the fire keeping warm and adding wood whenever she feels like it (or wakes up,) and I'll be sleeping in my room, which is warm even with the fireplace several rooms away.
I've realized over the course of the last few years that I like to have time to myself. I probably never really got much of a chance to know this until I had a long period of time that was not to myself. Lately, I've had that chance both in college and in having a girl friend during college.
The first quarter of my college experience was spent in dorms, so I didn't get too much alone time there, but I could always leave and go somewhere quiet to just relax and think about things. This last half of my college experience Joy has been around, and she's a bit harder to escape at times. I don't really notice this all the much, because I do manage to get quite a bit of time to myself or with friends during school, but now school is out and Joy is spending Saturday through Monday at my place, because she is not allowed to stay at Keys over the holiday break.
So, she is here, in my house most of the time, and to make matters worse she is inviting friends over to reshape chocolate in my kitchen. This wouldn't be so bad, but I am a pretty "territorial" guy. I like my space to be my space. This is really offensive to people who like every space to be everyone's space though. So, we are getting in each other's way and I'm not too happy because when I wake up I have someone standing at the end of the hallway pointing out evidence of how successful my roach baiting system has been and strongly suggesting that I rid the halls of said evidence.
There are, of course, more things than just those causing problems, but they probably don't need to be rehashed.
Basically, I think that I will probably always want to have some space to myself. Hopefully, I manage to find someone who respects that and is willing to honor my desire too.
Tomorrow I'll be leaving Gainesville, finally, and heading back home. Last year was a pretty dismal holiday experience, so I decided back then on a few things that I would change for 2003.
Call them resolutions if you will.
1. I decided that I was not going to wait until the last minute to buy the Christmas gifts that I needed to get for my various family members and Christmas exchange people.
2. I decided that I was going to either get a job and work most of Christmas break in Gainesville OR stay here as long as possible before heading home to avoid the many stresses and stressed peoples that I associate with the time before this holiday.
3. I decided that I was not going to get sick again this year. The last two or maybe three years in a row I have gotten sick around Christmas time. Last year was especially bad. This past year I feel like I discovered the cause of the sickness (mold poisoning from the HVAC system in my house here,) and I have since taken a number of steps to end that problem.
RESULTS:
So far I seem to have managed to keep all of these resolutions.
1. I have purchased (and even wrapped) nearly all of the presents that I plan to buy this year. I did this the day after Thanksgiving -- just as I had planned. I even managed to save enough money to buy exrta gifts for people not originally on my list. Now I only have one more gift I need to buy -- for my grandmother.
2. While I did not manage to find a job (I wasn't looking this semester anyway) I did manage to convince Joy that staying in Gainesville longer was a good idea. This turned out to be quite easy though, because she has tons of things she wants to do here. Now she actually wants to stay a day later than I do.
3. As I write now I am still not sick. It is still only the 21st, so I have another two weeks until I make it through the holidays, but I really think that my problems were caused by the mold in the heating system, so I think I will not get sick. After all, I've been living in my room this winter a week and a half longer than I normally do.
Last night I saw a raccoon as I was driving home from Joy's apartment-style dorm. Tonight I was driving to pick her up from studying, and I saw a roadkcoon on the same short stretch of road. It had only been hit once the first time I saw it, and I got a pretty good look at it, because it was close to this stop sign on University AVE.
I couldn't help thinking, 'Dead looks so weird.' There was a cute and ugly all at the same time raccoon just last night, and here, in complete contrast is this uncomfortable looking dead one.
The whole concpet of dead is so weird. It's different than just still -- like in a picture. It's haunting. So, I'm blogging.
Saddam Hussein was captured early this morning in a small town along the corridor between Tikrit and Baghdad.
This is big news I guess, but I can't bring myself to be excited right away. I am thinking ahead to the trial or whatever will happen to him next. I can't help but think that even though we managed to capture him alive and reasonably well people are going to continue to find things to be upset about with our handling of this situation as well.
I guess that is just life though. No matter what you do (when you're doing something important) someone will likely be unhappy with you. I am glad that he is no longer roaming free, but I wonder what court he will be tried under, and I wonder if it will really make a difference in the effort to calm and rebuild Iraq. I certainly hope so.
I run into many sites that judge music, movies, plays... art in general, and I was wondering where the basis of their judgement lies. Also, I got to thinking that it would be pretty convenient if there were some universal measures by which all people judge art.
Here's what I've come up with --
The first, most obvious criteria is whether the person likes the work. This is pretty subjective for sure, but it makes the most sense. If the work of art has some sort of aesthetic appeal to the beholder than it will likely win a few points with that person.
The second notion I had was the concept of art as a tool. Art mas a purpose. It simply always does. Perhaps 'good' art is art with a higher purpose or art that accomplishes it's purpose well.
To me, art is a tool and sometimes a weapon. It is a functional thing with which the artist or the patron of the artist accomplishes the goal behind the work's purpose. That purpose could be as simple as expressing a single emotion. It's purpose could be to teach, make a point, or comment on an event, behavior, or way of living life. It can be anything...
If I sing a song to make some point about soceity, and it changes the way a Nation looks at a single issue, than I have written and sung a 'good' song. Likewise, if my song causes a change, but that change is something felt only in the sphere of music, it is 'good' because it caused that change, but the change was smaller, so shouldn't it be less 'good?' Finally, what if I have a work of art that causes a great, sweeping change, and is thus pronounced 'good,' but when we look back from a later time we see that the change was really a negative one?... what then?
Then the art is this powerful and effective tool used by many to effect wide-spread change, so for that it is inspiring, but because it has a negative impact it is dreadful or notorious.
So, I have two measures for weighing the 'goodness' of art. There are probably more, so I am going to keep this open for updates containing more thought and perhaps more criteria.
Feel free to help me out.
I've studied a bit of astrology in my day, and in that time I've also mentioned my interest in it (or knowledge of some of it) to people here and there.
One typical question I've run across is the, "So, what are (enter astrological sign here -- with plural marker) like?" question. It happens almost every time.
Often, as soon as the person asks the question I can tell from the tone quite a bit about what they already know and think about astrology. The top four in my experience are (in no particular order) --
1. The person knows very little and is fairly to highly sceptical.
2. The person knows very little and is interested in learning more.
3. The person feels they know enough and is out to disprove or uncover fallicy.
4. The person knows very little, is OK with that, and feels like astrology is errant and/or morally wrong somehow.
Obviously, I'm quite OK with explaining things to a person #1 or a person #2 from the list above -- especially if they have the time and the patience to listen for a bit.
#3s are what really kill me though. They know so little about what they are inquiring about, they often come off immediately as confrontational, and they feel that they are right from the beginning. So, I'm dealing with people who are wanting a fight, and if I participate an ego is at stake.
My typical experience with this is that these #3s ask me The Question in their own unique way. Then, whether I answer them at all or not, they will often proceed to let me know that not all the members of that one (sun) sign are alike. (I am, of course, already well aware of this.) From that logic they conclude that astrology is, of course, errant and they go about their life happy to have won another victory over falseness.
I think that these people are really missing something. They come to me completely alien to nearly all the concepts of astrology, and as aliens they ask a question that is analogous to, "So, what are Humans like?" I might tell them something like, "well, it's complex, but generally they've got two legs that they walk around on, they talk to each other, and love is pretty important to them in general." Then, to continue the analogy... the alien will look at me, laugh, and say something along these lines -- "HA! That's so wrong! How can you say humans are born like that? I've seen some without legs, I've seen some that cannot talk, and I've heard of many that care nothing of love."
Basically, any way that I choose to describe a human can be nullified by the alien in the analogy, because people have things happen to them in the course of their lives. The lose limbs, they get scars, some are tall, some are short, some are hairy, some are not, some have piercings, tattoos, venereal diseases, cancers, etc, etc, etc.
However, any reasonable (read: not nit-picky) person can say, "Hey, generally people do have two legs, ten fingers and toes, two arms, hair on their head... they're just born that way!"
This analogy is how I feel when explaining astrology to someone who is testing me. I try to explain that it is about potentials like DNA or intelligence. Then I make an analogy to intelligent people who have a stong potential to be successdul but are not. I explain that it is not supposed to be perfectly predictive. I even explain that there is a lot more going on than just the sun sign... like the other planets, the 12 houses, the natal chart, etc.
These #3s don't have time for this though. There's an agenda here... listen enough to laugh, say something "witty," and then walk away feeling good and vindicated. "Disproving" things never felt so good!
I have been going to counseling for a few months now, and it has gone fairly well for me. A few weeks ago my counselor gave me a sheet of paper that I found today in my car. It has some important stuff that I'd like to keep for reference, but I know I'll just lose the paper again. So, I'm recording it here for my reference and possibly for other's use.
Ten Key Relational Needs
Acceptance: Receiving another person willingly and unconditionally when the other's behavior has been imperfect. Being will to continue loving another in spite of offenses. (Romans 15:7)
Affection: Expressing care and closeness through physical touch or other means. Saying "I love you." (Romans 16:16; Mark 10:16)
Appreciation: Expressing thanks, praise, or commendation. Recognizing accomplishment and/or effort. (Colossians 3:15b; I Corinthians 11:12)
Approval / Blessing: Building up or affirming another, affirming the existance of the relationship and its importance. (Ephesians 4:29; Mark 1:11)
Attention: Conveying appropriate interest, concern, and care; taking thought of another; entering another's 'world.' (Corinthians 12:25)
Comfort: Responding to a hurting person with words, feelings and/or touch; to hurt with and for another person's grief or pain. (Romans 12:15b; Matthew 5:4; II Corinthians 1:3-4; John 11:35)
Encouragement: Urging another to persists and persevere toward a goal; stimulating toward love and good deeds (I Thessalonians 5:11; Hebrews 10:24)
Respect: Valuing and regarding another person highly; treating another as important. Honoring. (Romans 12:10)
Security / Peace: Harmony in relationships; freedom from fear or threat of harm. (Romans 12:16-18)
Support: Coming alongside and gently helping with a problem or struggle; providing appropriate assistance. (Galatians 6:2)
USC fans and the media seem to be in an uproar now that the BCS rankings have determined that USC is going to play fourth ranked Michigan in the Rose Bowl.
I completely disagree with the assertions of these two groups that USC is undeniably #1 -- "by concensus."
First, when you look at the poll results both polls are won by USC by about 1% of the vote. The ESPN poll has the three ranked like this...
USC -- 1542
LSU -- 1516
OU -- 1449
The AP poll has the three in the same order, but the number of votes is slightly differnent...
USC -- 1595
LSU -- 1580
OU -- 1481
Basically, the "concensus" is something that could have easily been swung either way in the voting. Also, the poll results show how many 1st place votes each team got, and while USC got more coaches and media writers giving them first, they must have also gotten a fair number of third place and lower votes to keep the results as close as they are. End First Point.
Secondly, USC is at the top simply because they were the first team of the three to record their loss. If we had time for a few more weeks to go by then I imagine that we'd see OU work its way back up to the top.
Other quick reasons why USC is definately NOT the #1 team in the nation...
Computer results matter. Human polling is a human process, it's flawed and it's partial.
USC has the weakest strength of schedule.
USC has played only one of the top 25 teams... LSU and OU have each played three or more. LSU lost to the BCS number 15 team, and OU just lost to K-State, the conference champions, and decidedly top 10 team. UCS lost to 7-6 team -- California.
Also, USC has played two teams that OU and LSU also played -- Auburn and UCLA (These are called common games and are often used in tie breaking situations.) USC went 23-0 against Auburn while LSU put up a 31-7... pretty close, but LSU edges out USC. USC went 47-22 against UCLA while OU put up an awesome 59-24 game. OU definately edges out USC there too.
Essentially, if you made this into a tie situation, and used all the traditional tie-breaking stats, such as head-to-head play, win-loss-tie percentage, common games, strength of schedule, margin of victory, etc, etc... USC would be the obvious choice for third place, and thus would be the obvious choice for being the team that doesn't get to go to the Championship game.
I think that there are human biases involved in the polls, and while they are an important part of the decision process, I don't think that the BCS should be disbanded simply because the "human polls" didn't match up with the BCS outcome. If USC had an equivalent strength of schedule or equivalent stats then they'd be at the Sugar bowl... it was that close.
Final Note -- I think that some media personalities and some coaches dislike the BCS because it takes decision powers away from them. They are still an important factor in deciding the rankings, but they are no longer the last word. No one with power likes it when a system of impartiality (or predictable, systematic partiality) steps in and takes up half of the power. That's just the nature of these things.
Last night the Keys Complex was offering up free Cold Stone ice cream (chocolate chip cookie dough,) candy, and stress balls. So, Joy, Lana, JennJula, Megan, Lauren, and I went down to the commons to get some. It was great, and it was yet another reason I am glad that Joy decided to live in Keys.
I got Mario Kart: Double Dash this weekend. Actually, Joy got it for me as an early Christmas present. I got her an early Christmas present too, at Best Buy.
MK:DD is awesome so far. I've played it for about three hours total across three days so far. I played it with four guys at Joy's house Wednesday, before Joy got me the game; I played with my nine year old niece, and one of my older brothers on Saturday; and today I played with my roommate for a bit.
After all that playing I am decent, but I still haven't gotten a gold cup in the 100cc star cup. So, the game is actually challenging and engaging.
I can't wait until I get more people over to play it again. Right now pretty much everyone I play is still at the beginner stage so I have to walk them through a lot of the game, which is fine, but I was enjoying playing with my niece, because she was a masterful little back seat driver, and really helped me out.
This is one of the few games that makes owning a Nintendo GameCube really worthwhile.