Sheridan's Avowal
An open and frank declaration
Three Christians
1When someone is described, or describes them self as a Christian, after learning more about them, I find they fit in one of three categories:
*1* Those who are Christians to be more effective and justified wrongdoers
*2* Those who are Christians and wrongdoers, trying to balance the two, publicly or privately
*3* Those who are Christians trying to be like Christ, rightdoer.
and for completion sake:
*4* Those who are Christ, and perfect.
I find it hard to use the term because the world HATES the first two, so much so that often people assume more wrong comes from Christians than someone with “no belief system”. #1 is obvious, examples being “missionaries” who committed genocide, #2 has many examples of those who love with their left hand, hate with their right, hypocrite and Christian are two oft related words sadly. Most are never exposed, but that doesn’t make it much better.
The world hardly knows #3. It takes effort, humility, surrender, love, discipline, and can so rarely be evaluated on a group basis especially when skeptics are proved right when one person fails. A group can’t know another group intimately by definition and #3 is personal. I would find it much easier to wear the Christian banner loudly if this were the only type of Christian or I could name each category succinctly and we could all go in our own ways with three separate labels. But nope, we’re stuck with this messy one. Christian.
#3 is in many ways, humanly impossible, who has those qualities on their own? Which mortal can say, “Oh, I’m perfect by nature” It’s so much easier, and natural to fall into #1 or #2, which is why the world expects it, and will be all the more pleasantly and deeply surprised when they are shown otherwise, not by the group of association, but by personal genuine testimony.
Aside: I think people with claim to have no belief system or religion, have a religion, usually a humanist religion. Perhaps they have a laissez-faire social darwinism religion, let everyone be, passivity or apathy. But when it comes to good and bad, right and wrong, having no opinion is not really an option. To have no beliefs is to have no mind and soul.
Oh Halifax, and Canada
0Oh Halifax,
Things I don’t expect to ever see elsewhere and hope to remember.
more h-fax photos
- Accordion buskers
- Rubber boots with pink bows
- Man with guitar on shoulder buying groceries
- Plaid rubber boots
- Two normal people walking quickly on busy street, barefoot. Maybe not normal… earthy.
- Pink polka dot rubber boots.
- Oxford Theatre, an artsy old single movie house, with balcony.
- One armed guitar busker
- A homeless dude who yelled at me for spitting in a garbage can.
- Beer branded double decker tour buses.
- Homeless dudes who open the door to tim hortons for you.
- A public park with Michael Jackson dance-offs, carnivals, video game contests, and paul mccartney.
- Good bagpipe buskers
- A waterfront with very ordinary boats that somehow become a big attraction.
- A snowboard competition with trucked-in snow in a tiny downtown one block park. and hundreds of people standing around trying to stay warm enough to watch it.
- Bald drumming busker monks
- Ancient victorian houses with modern businesses inside
- Fun hurricanes.
And oh Canada…
- Andreanne Sasseville’s music minute before a movie, why do i pick her out? She’s just an advertising talking robot, but I still like her. French Canadian pleasantry goes a long way. She was the first to mention Lights to me, so props to her.
- George Strombo nobody interviews like him with legitimate edge, and legitimate mainstreamity.
- Racial acceptance. It just seemed like it never came up negatively, just like the cool cultural parts of people’s background. Haters were the weird ones (or the foreign ones). Plus, there were more asians , even in halifax… sadface. To all asians, if you move to phoenix, i’ll buy you some of those pretzel sticks that don’t taste very good. Or maybe some fishy snacks that are awful.
- Snow. Note that Ice Rain is definitely not on this list.
- Leaving your door unlocked and not freaking out about it.
- Second Cup.
- Hockey. (duh.)
- A government bureaucracy that seems like they put in effort to be helpful.
- Decent public school system.
- Colored money. – I don’t miss coins though. It is nice to never carry change.
- Cultural food. More than one Thai restaurant in the whole city, and actual sushi…. sigh. A real mediterranean restaurant would be nice.
- Political pleasantry.
- Cora’s. A breakfast place that won’t cause heart disease.
- Cheap, entertaining football.
- Winter Heart. Watching a football game while in parkas and multiple blankets, or even a sleeping bag for warmth, that’s Canadian heart.
Bo Peep
0Is Bo Peep really an appropriate name for a female? Is there a big bo peep?
Stupid name or not, she has aged extremely well. I’d like to throw out there the suggestion that nobody has aged finer in history. In 1902 and then today, (in 3D no less)
Who can resist that bonnet and sheperdess crook?
My cinematic brain
02 years ago
by Sheridan
in storytime!
Every once in a while, I will be in bed when I am not totally in need of sleep, and yet not totally awake. These often fall on lazy days, when the sun is up and I don’t have much better to do.
Today, I had one of those days and I dreamed up a suspense movie.
From what I recall, it didn’t stray too far from a typical crime drama with some sci-fi elements intertwined because standard dimensions and reality are just boring.
I can still remember a few solid scenes from my brain movie, nearing the end.
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Act 4:
A spectator witnessing the murder of a pretty blonde. The mastermind criminal at this point is not known to them but this spectator is hiding in quiet and is waiting for the room to clear to discover the evil man’s identity. He is looking through a lensed device of some sorts and doesn’t dare look away. He is frantically trying to signal someone else in silent, using morse code and waving a little napkin. But nobody responds and suddenly things turn bleak. He spots the mastermind, and the mastermind spots him. Bam. He gets him in the eye with a silenced pistol, right through the telescope thing. All that surveillance for naught. Nobody even notices until he is dead for minutes.
Act 5:
Another scene involved a crowded room which was full of panic and fear. The evil guy was in the room, but the good guys couldn’t identify him. They just knew he was there. The main noble investigator was suddenly in the sights of the evil guy. Evil man pulls his gun for the sure kill, when out of nowhere, this crazy blade flies at him, landing in his eye socket, because that’s just the best place for blades to go. This scene is replayed and around the corner is someone who resembles this very same noble investigator. He has a bit more facial hair than the original investigator and he has these heat detecting goggles on. He sees the evil man, who is actually in a wheel chair behind a group of innocents. He pulls out some jumbo sized oblong throwing star thing and arcs it in the air like a boomerang. It hooks around and lands in the evil man’s eye. He looks over to the noble investigator and they exchange a little moment. They are the same person, and the rescuer is from the future. He tips his hat to himself and the other nods. Credits roll.
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Is noble future man gracious or selfserving? The good guy killed the bad guy, perhaps this is a very uneventful typical ending. But I like the idea of future self helping past self. It is the flip-side of the everyday idea of longterm thinking, current self helping future self. But I like reversing it, and many times I contemplate how future self would help me right now. What words of wisdom would widen our will to wictory? (sorry, i was on a woll) ((We just referred to ourself in the plural, we wants it, we needs it, we must have the …))
I also love my ending because there was no mention of time travel up to that point, and I think audiences would HATE that. Like, violently throwing food at the screen. Can you imagine a movie wrapping up with something totally outside the bounds of what you thought the movie was? haha, i just laugh 
I think I, the screenwriter, would be the true villain. Then, I would watch the movie in a crowded theatre with family and friends. As the plot concludes, I would stand up, and tip my hat to myself for such a dastardly maneuver.
To tip a hat can be both good or bad. I think that’s the moral of the story. I’m going to start wearing more hats.
Personal Adjectives in Threes
0I really like a good solid word, one that describes a lot without needing to expand or explain.
I can write something that I feel is quite full and detailed about myself, and yet only has 9 adjective words.
Can you boil yourself down into three words? Baked? Fried? Toasted?
I was
Unconventional – Wise – Careful
I am
Versatile – Ambitious – Supportive
I want to be
Disciplined – Bold – Influential
Relational Reverse
0As per my outlined five greetings below, the real question on my mind, is how do you go from Oh come here! to Oh you… from *hugs* to *shun*
Aside: I did a bit of this self asking question thing I don’t like that much, but it fit into some of my points so it grew into a literary device theme. When I read this again in a few months I will probably hate it and delete them all.
1. Date and dump. This is a pretty easy way to hurt their feelings, turn friends into enemies. I haven’t really done this ever. Hooray? … yes!
2. Roadblock. Sometimes when you’re talking about something significant to one or both of you, a disagreeance or opinionated comment can really put up a roadblock. If you offend someone, or totally reject them based on a major principle, then it is extremely rare to continue to grow unless one or both parties is very gracious and flexible. Black Eyed Peas make the most atrocious music, if you are inspired by I gotta feeling, you need some grammar lessons, and I hope you don’t insert random reverent hebrew sayings in the middle of a party — or shout out DRANK and the days of the week. Take it off?… NO! (did i offend you? if so, it was intentional)
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Relational Greetings
1The number of people we come across can grow to be large. In social situations, sometimes nothing becomes of it. It fizzles, it ends, it doesn’t have to be someone’s fault. Maybe you don’t find the same things funny, or you don’t understand their perspective; perhaps there are different shared interests. Sometimes you develop a good relationship with repeated communication, good times. And then you have those people where you can be totally unguarded. I’m going to categorize these by how one might initially greet them.
1. Oh, you… – There are times where I just feel unliked, or like a different species. I worry that I’m a hindrance or getting in the way — cramping their style. My presence is unwanted, and perhaps theirs is unwanted for me. Much of the time, these are petty things, being small minded, or judgmental. However, nobody says you have to befriend everyone, sometimes that initial butting of heads is something you don’t really want to put effort to overcome so that is that. Perhaps you put up with each other and form a working relationship if it is absolutely necessary, but rarely will anyone do more than the minimum.
2. Oh, hi – For me, I can usually grab a high percentage of people, and make something of it. Perhaps it isn’t much, but talking here and there even if it is uncomfortable or different. It sometimes can be interesting to hear about the differences, or topics totally unrelated. Maybe I’d like to know why Nascar is interesting to so many people. We might not be the best of friends, but if I feel like it, I probably can form some sort of friendliness if they have some warmth or openness (and I feel like it at that time). These “relationships” can easily be a one time deal, or just left to develop and reoccur based on circumstance and coincidence. I don’t think I’d call these people friends, or even acquaintances, just people you’ve met or run into occasionally.
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new gig, and a hammer.
0So I’m in Phoenix, kicking it with my own place, my job is fun. Things are up. I have some bloggings in the draft phase. No thrilling stories, but I could spice up my scorpion killing. I did whack it with a hammer. My weapon of choice. (no connection to Captain Hammer in Dr Horrible)
Ventless
0My blogs and notebooks have gone for quite a while untouched.
The questions like, how are you doing, or how is life have gone unasked.
Or in the cases they are asked, the tone or audience is bothersome.
So what happens to my mind, and soul if they are left to their lonesome?
I have known this before about myself, and I think it is a general human trait. My thoughts loop when I don’t get them out. I don’t escape from them, but I hope they fade away. I can numb them or distract myself from them but that is just as productive as shutting my eyes in the face of a mountain lion. It is still there. When I open my eyes I will see it, and if I close my eyes shut, it can still get me.
So what do I think about? What does any single 25 year old games programmer think about? Women, specific ones, and the concepts of them. Career, current job and the concepts of future ones. Games, movies, food, drink, laughs, normal things.
Is this a problem though, no, not really, it is normal, it happens, it is _ordinary_. GASP, yes! it is a problem! I hate the idea of being ordinary. I believe what has kept me unique has a lot to do with my analysis in writing, and exploration of thoughts feelings in word form. Also talking to smart people, wise people who have positive things to say, important questions to ask, and a level of respect and wisdom that is above the ordinary.
Admittedly though, I haven’t been totally ordinary, or ventless. I’m big on asian culture lately. Also I have a pile of video game thoughts that would probably be smart to compile into a gaming blog. I had some fun being normal, going out with people, having simple fun being dramaless has been nice for my sleep patterns. That being said, I still wish to be weirder, and more Sheridany, and write more.
Being informed
0
I have actually read a lot more news than previous years. Downtime inbetween code compiles lets me browse reuters, google news, bbc, and a pile of financial and foreign sources. However, despite all this, I feel less informed to give an opinion than ever. I have learned how gray all of it is, and how much you need to be there. What can I say about Iran, who had a rebellion, almost a revolution, but now what? I read a teenager was jailed and tortured for wearing a green wristband. Also Ahmadinejad appointed some female ministers, and more people oppose him. I don’t really get what it all means other than I’m glad I don’t live there and I hope the youth growing up will not act like the current ruling class when they gain power.
Or what can I say about Obamacare? I know a ton of republicans are being straight up morons in their arguments against it. But beyond that, I don’t seem to have a strong opinion on it. This would be another “revolution” of sorts, although not as severe as Iran. Will change actually come from anything they decide? Is it unrealistic to expect a system to be flipped on its end overnight? There are massive groups of “conservatives” which by definition are resistant to change. So obviously, change isn’t going to happen very easily. And if they ever form the majority in usa again, who is to say they don’t just change it back? I really don’t know what’s going to happen, from the little I know, American medical system is messed up, but how should that be fixed? And at what cost? I think you have to… trust… the politicians who put together bills or proposals for medicare plans and then… trust… other politicans who endorse it. There is no way I’m going to read one of those plans, and there is no way I am going to understand the system and terms in the plan even if I read it.
Then there is the topic of stock market, economic stability, inflation deflation, housing crash, toxic loans. And the crazy part of all that, is while I can watch the present, and get general consensus about the past, people interpret all that to form different thoughts on the future. Also I really have a hard time believing consensus of all the factors that made it happen or how successful solutions have been. Does giving american auto industry insane amounts of money help or not? I don’t know. Were all the great years in the 90s and 00s just too good to be true ? Or did something go wrong somewhere. Is it just a normal a boom and bust cycle? Who is to blame, who is to praise? I do think it is clear that those bad credit companies giving AAA ratings to bad loans are obviously to blame. Housing markets were obviously way too greedy and profitable where they shouldn’t have been. People were buying outside of their means and that type of stuff is well known. However, once you go past that topic, what is the role of the Presidency or governments in the last 15 years? What made it better or worse? I don’t really know. Foreign markets are going berserk too, what is up with that? Does China’s corruption affect the whole world? Probably. But it is pretty hard to get the straight truth on something like that.
Anyway, to all the people who think they know what is what: Iran is fixed, or a lost cause, American economy is booming, or ruined, Obamacare is perfect, or evil communism, I really doubt you know what you’re talking about. Same goes for all these journalists and editorialists on television making wild claims, calling presidents racists… sigh. I know strong opinions are more interesting, but just have some humility in your lack of knowledge or insight.
My man John Mayer, who i follow on twitter, has the icon I put at the top regarding Iran and I think he has the right idea. Note that tons of famous people colored their photo green in support of the rebels over there. (although currently, almost all have switched to something else)
