Monday, November 15, 2004
This weekend's most un-metal moments
A lot of ignorance this weekend, and so little patience to type about it. But, here we go...
1) At work Friday, I heard one of the more re-donk-ulous things I have ever heard in a professional setting. A pharmacist was surfing the Yahoo news when she came across the information that skater Scott Hamilton has a brain tumor. Her comment; "That's what you get for having sex with guys." This was ignorant and bigoted on several levels. First of all, Scott Hamilton is not necessarily gay. Just because he is an ice skater means nothing. Secondly, listen to the lack of compassion in her comment. This is coming from a health care professional. Thirdly, since when does ANYONE deserve cancer? If a person is homosexual, they deserve to be stricken with a life threatening disease? What a stupid comment to make. I didn't have a ton of respect for this person anyway, but this just proves that there are morons at every station of life. I wonder what materialistic, lying lushes deserve... It makes me sick that Americans, and Christian Americans to boot, are so hateful to homosexuals. It is embarrassing and wrong to behave this way.
Let me get a little "churchy" here for a second. Even if you are a Christian, and you think that homosexuality is a SIN, you have to also be sensitive to how Jesus modeled treatment of sin and sinners. He rubbed elbows with them (got to know them on their level, in their homes/turf), confronted their sin, but in the same time had great compassion for them. The spiteful and homophobic nature of certain people smacks Jesus in the face; there needs to be love. And as an aside, from one Christian to another, homosexual sex is no worse than things you have done and not yet repented for. Sin, according to Jesus, is sin. And sinners are sinners. As humans, we are all sinners, and all brothers-in-arms when it comes to falling down, and needing a lift up, not kicks to the gut.
I hope Scott Hamilton beats his cancer, and I will be thinking of him. He is a talented and genuine individual. He has already had to battle cancer, and now it has returned in a very delicate location. Beat it Scott, and we hope to see you back on the ice.
2) The American Music Awards were on last night. The highlight of the night was centered around the showing of a Beatles clip that hadn't been aired for 40 years. Beatles... American music... what? Anyway, the highlight of the night was an apparently stoned Anna Nicole stumbling and mumbling on and off stage. She is a joke. As Jimmy Kimmel said, "may she rest in peace." Jessica Simpson did a miserable job lip-synch'ing (must run in the family), and Lenny Kravitz played his most soul-less song ever (as did Maroon 5). By the way, most of the music played/awarded on the show was not very good... Usher and Alicia Keys are probably the only worthy winners all night (and Mercy Me, who were awarded off camera at a separate ceremony). Soundscan will never have its finger on the true pulse of good music. As Breakfast With Amy once sang, "art doesn't sell."
3) Getting sick was very un-metal. My throat is sore, I have a cough, and Codiclear just doesn't last long enough. Add to this the fact that I am back to not being able to sleep again, and voila! You have a miserable zombie Carl.
4) The sermon at church Sunday was all about giving money. I can't say that I have ever heard a sermon about giving yet that didn't annoy me. Ministers so often forget that there are a lot of ways to give to the Kingdom. Instead, they always end up plugging the tithe, which is 10% of your income. And, as usual, the sermon was the longest one of the last few months. Our church has made a lot of questionable decisions in the last year or two, wasting a lot of money on a very aggressive up-town plan to build a new church and reach the community (well, a new part of the community anyway). Along with the move has come a lot of high profile activities that cost a great deal of money (such as building a recreation of Bethlehem for people to drive through for Christmas, complete with actors and props... just to get the church's name out there). Then there are the TV commercials, mass mailings, hiring a new minister of media, buying multimedia equipment... I try very hard not to question or criticize the decisions of the church leaders, but it is hard to hear them beg for money for so many projects that I see as wasteful.
When I was preaching, I liked to focus the attention of "giving" on time spent doing good (in or out of the church). Money is sometimes an easy cop-out. I think the spirit of the message of giving is to give of yourself to better something around you, and in turn you will be bettered. This can be anything from participating in Big Brothers-Big Sisters, teaching a Sunday School class, doing odd jobs for a elderly woman, or giving someone a ride to their doctors appointment. In our culture, time is worth far more than money. Anyway, I was disappointed to see our minister go to the tithe well with such energy. He is the best minister I have ever seen, and even he got pulled into my pet peeve. To close, I'll end with a paraphrased quote from his sermon. Not tithing means that you are an atheist in your giving life, and God doesn't see our lives as separate elements, so not tithing makes you, in fact, an atheist. You can't trust God in all areas in your life but one... so failure to give 10% of your income to your church is a sin. (I'll never buy into this line of thought. There is a spirit to the call to give that goes far beyond a religion-tax, which is what tithing is being presented as).
5) This is for my own benefit, I need to vent. My birthday party. It was okay, but I missed out on my volleyball game. My wife purposely (maybe subconsciously, but still with purpose) planned to hold a birthday party with both sides of the family at 3 PM. I hate to complain about something that was done to honor me, but here is a note to future wives and husbands out there; do NOT throw a party for someone at a time when they have something else they had rather do, and do not expect them to rearrange their whole morning to help clean and set up for their own party. I am so not into the big celebration, and I was satisfied with dinner and a movie (which we did on the 10th, and it was nice). So imagine my frustration when I spent the morning rushing to do errands for my own party. To add to the anger, my friends weren't invited... it was just my family, who I see on a weekly basis anyway! And my brother, who I actually wanted to hang out with the most, didn't come. Basically my whole day was centered around this two hour get-together, and it is rare that I have a Sunday free to do what I want. I am a little upset about this. So Phuong, I am sorry I missed the game, and I would have expressed my frustration to you a little better on the phone, but I had 20 people in a tiny apartment, and no privacy to vent. Anyway, I feel better now.
There were some positive things... my nephew & sister bought me the Ren And Stimpy DVDs. Those are such a fun blast from the past. I ate a lot of good cake (I'll post a picture of it later). The Kansas City Chiefs lost. Lot's of good manga came out this week; I bought and read the sixth volume of the manga Pita Ten, which is getting better with each volume... only 2 more to go until its over!
Tomorrow is going to be a great day as well; Kids in the Hall Season 2 DVD set comes out, Aqua Teen Hunger Force Vol. 3 DVD comes out, Alice 19th #7 (the last volume) should finally be out, and Evangelion #9 is finally out! So much time-wasting goodness is headed my way, and me with so many studies I need to do...
See ya!
1) At work Friday, I heard one of the more re-donk-ulous things I have ever heard in a professional setting. A pharmacist was surfing the Yahoo news when she came across the information that skater Scott Hamilton has a brain tumor. Her comment; "That's what you get for having sex with guys." This was ignorant and bigoted on several levels. First of all, Scott Hamilton is not necessarily gay. Just because he is an ice skater means nothing. Secondly, listen to the lack of compassion in her comment. This is coming from a health care professional. Thirdly, since when does ANYONE deserve cancer? If a person is homosexual, they deserve to be stricken with a life threatening disease? What a stupid comment to make. I didn't have a ton of respect for this person anyway, but this just proves that there are morons at every station of life. I wonder what materialistic, lying lushes deserve... It makes me sick that Americans, and Christian Americans to boot, are so hateful to homosexuals. It is embarrassing and wrong to behave this way.
Let me get a little "churchy" here for a second. Even if you are a Christian, and you think that homosexuality is a SIN, you have to also be sensitive to how Jesus modeled treatment of sin and sinners. He rubbed elbows with them (got to know them on their level, in their homes/turf), confronted their sin, but in the same time had great compassion for them. The spiteful and homophobic nature of certain people smacks Jesus in the face; there needs to be love. And as an aside, from one Christian to another, homosexual sex is no worse than things you have done and not yet repented for. Sin, according to Jesus, is sin. And sinners are sinners. As humans, we are all sinners, and all brothers-in-arms when it comes to falling down, and needing a lift up, not kicks to the gut.
I hope Scott Hamilton beats his cancer, and I will be thinking of him. He is a talented and genuine individual. He has already had to battle cancer, and now it has returned in a very delicate location. Beat it Scott, and we hope to see you back on the ice.
2) The American Music Awards were on last night. The highlight of the night was centered around the showing of a Beatles clip that hadn't been aired for 40 years. Beatles... American music... what? Anyway, the highlight of the night was an apparently stoned Anna Nicole stumbling and mumbling on and off stage. She is a joke. As Jimmy Kimmel said, "may she rest in peace." Jessica Simpson did a miserable job lip-synch'ing (must run in the family), and Lenny Kravitz played his most soul-less song ever (as did Maroon 5). By the way, most of the music played/awarded on the show was not very good... Usher and Alicia Keys are probably the only worthy winners all night (and Mercy Me, who were awarded off camera at a separate ceremony). Soundscan will never have its finger on the true pulse of good music. As Breakfast With Amy once sang, "art doesn't sell."
3) Getting sick was very un-metal. My throat is sore, I have a cough, and Codiclear just doesn't last long enough. Add to this the fact that I am back to not being able to sleep again, and voila! You have a miserable zombie Carl.
4) The sermon at church Sunday was all about giving money. I can't say that I have ever heard a sermon about giving yet that didn't annoy me. Ministers so often forget that there are a lot of ways to give to the Kingdom. Instead, they always end up plugging the tithe, which is 10% of your income. And, as usual, the sermon was the longest one of the last few months. Our church has made a lot of questionable decisions in the last year or two, wasting a lot of money on a very aggressive up-town plan to build a new church and reach the community (well, a new part of the community anyway). Along with the move has come a lot of high profile activities that cost a great deal of money (such as building a recreation of Bethlehem for people to drive through for Christmas, complete with actors and props... just to get the church's name out there). Then there are the TV commercials, mass mailings, hiring a new minister of media, buying multimedia equipment... I try very hard not to question or criticize the decisions of the church leaders, but it is hard to hear them beg for money for so many projects that I see as wasteful.
When I was preaching, I liked to focus the attention of "giving" on time spent doing good (in or out of the church). Money is sometimes an easy cop-out. I think the spirit of the message of giving is to give of yourself to better something around you, and in turn you will be bettered. This can be anything from participating in Big Brothers-Big Sisters, teaching a Sunday School class, doing odd jobs for a elderly woman, or giving someone a ride to their doctors appointment. In our culture, time is worth far more than money. Anyway, I was disappointed to see our minister go to the tithe well with such energy. He is the best minister I have ever seen, and even he got pulled into my pet peeve. To close, I'll end with a paraphrased quote from his sermon. Not tithing means that you are an atheist in your giving life, and God doesn't see our lives as separate elements, so not tithing makes you, in fact, an atheist. You can't trust God in all areas in your life but one... so failure to give 10% of your income to your church is a sin. (I'll never buy into this line of thought. There is a spirit to the call to give that goes far beyond a religion-tax, which is what tithing is being presented as).
5) This is for my own benefit, I need to vent. My birthday party. It was okay, but I missed out on my volleyball game. My wife purposely (maybe subconsciously, but still with purpose) planned to hold a birthday party with both sides of the family at 3 PM. I hate to complain about something that was done to honor me, but here is a note to future wives and husbands out there; do NOT throw a party for someone at a time when they have something else they had rather do, and do not expect them to rearrange their whole morning to help clean and set up for their own party. I am so not into the big celebration, and I was satisfied with dinner and a movie (which we did on the 10th, and it was nice). So imagine my frustration when I spent the morning rushing to do errands for my own party. To add to the anger, my friends weren't invited... it was just my family, who I see on a weekly basis anyway! And my brother, who I actually wanted to hang out with the most, didn't come. Basically my whole day was centered around this two hour get-together, and it is rare that I have a Sunday free to do what I want. I am a little upset about this. So Phuong, I am sorry I missed the game, and I would have expressed my frustration to you a little better on the phone, but I had 20 people in a tiny apartment, and no privacy to vent. Anyway, I feel better now.
There were some positive things... my nephew & sister bought me the Ren And Stimpy DVDs. Those are such a fun blast from the past. I ate a lot of good cake (I'll post a picture of it later). The Kansas City Chiefs lost. Lot's of good manga came out this week; I bought and read the sixth volume of the manga Pita Ten, which is getting better with each volume... only 2 more to go until its over!
Tomorrow is going to be a great day as well; Kids in the Hall Season 2 DVD set comes out, Aqua Teen Hunger Force Vol. 3 DVD comes out, Alice 19th #7 (the last volume) should finally be out, and Evangelion #9 is finally out! So much time-wasting goodness is headed my way, and me with so many studies I need to do...
See ya!
Comments:
Happy Birthday, Carl! My 30th B-day sucked too. I was at a trade show & my co-workers even forgot & picked me up a brownie at the last minute. Of course the time around my birthday was a blast with a trip to Austin & Chicago, but still, it sucks to not "have your way" on your b-day no matter how old or young you are.
-CS
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-CS