Power Blog #2

Thoughts are flowing right now, so I'm just gonna write...
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As much as I love the newer Prince of Persia games, there is one little aspect that annoys me. Aggravates me. Causes me to lose sleep at night.

The wall-jumping. Not, jumping from wall to wall; swinging on a pole and then jumping to the wall, and then kicking off that wall to another pole or ledge. I cannot seem to do the kickoff! It must be my timing, but it plagued me in the first game (I would have beaten it far faster) and it's still plaguing me in the second game!

It seems I'm not the only one who has this problem though, as a google search shows...

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With the release of the new slim sets, I have finally gotten hooked on Stargate SG-1. The movie has long been a favorite of mine; good actors, great premise, attractive love interest, memorable moments...a great movie. The series was just something I could never get into. Any episodes I saw were from later seasons, so nothing made sense or was familiar.

When they announced this past spring they were going to be re-releasing all the seasons in new slimmer packaging, and probably for a cheaper price, I knew I had to get at least the first season just to see if I liked it. Well, I loved it, and now I want more. Plus I'm pissed at the poor quality of Star Trek and other sci-fi shows compared to it.

I need to scrounge together another $35 for season 3...paypal donations are accepted.

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And the 4400 still continues to be one of the best shows I've ever seen...and I really love the music on the show. The opening credits song is especially amazing.

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As some of you have probably heard, they are releasing the Star Wars Trilogy on dvd, again, this coming fall. What they are releasing this time is the 04 and 05 dvds, but as a bonus feature, the complete "unaltered, uncut" theatrical originals. Basically, the newer versions are the Special Editions and the theatricals are before Lucas started digitally tinkering with the movies.

However, in a slap of the face to the many fans who wrote in requesting dvds of the Original originals...the theatricals...LucasFilm is only releasing them in a horrible condition. They call them the originals, but only because they are available in the most basic Stereo sound (the way they originally were), the worse picture condition possible (the way they originally were), and without the Episode numbers (the way they...yeah).

Now, I'm glad I'll finally have dvds of the movies without all the changes. But the least Lucas could do would be to fix them up to optimal picture AND sound quality, as well as leaving in the Episodes IV, Episodes V, etc, that he put in when he first released them on VHS.

Plus, these aren't even mastered from the originals...they are a copy of a copy of a copy, on top of that! Lazy, slap in the face...

However, I will give them some props. The new covers they came up with are gorgeous, especially the one for Empire Strikes Back.

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One more Star Wars note...I'm finally at long lasting going to be getting my hands on the infamous MagnoliaFan edits of the Prequel Trilogy. Supposedly these make the movies ten times better, so I'm really looking forward to them.

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It's of some amusement to me that I'm getting paid more doing menial work now than I ever did when I was actually working an on-air shift...

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More and more I'm reminded of just how crappy The Unforgettable Fire the album is compared to the rest of U2's body of work. Some good songs, but a horrible album. It's their worse, in my mind. Even October was a better album...

I like how myspace says the album was released in 1990...hardly, it came out back in 84/85. Myspace needs to be fixed in some places...

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There are a few people in this life that I do not ever want to see again if I had the choice. The reasons for this remain complicated.

I've noticed within circles that it is very, very unpopular to talk about such things as church discipline. I have gotten into several heated arguments with people about it. No matter how many scripture verses I throw at them, they refuse to believe that such a thing exists. People tend to believe in the concept of "grace" so much that any discipline or punishment is almost a sin.

The Bible has laid some very clear boundaries for church discipline. One to three people need to confront someone, and if that person ignores them or worse, they can be kicked out of the church until they've dealt with whatever sin or issue is their problem. Plus a pastor has a responsibilty to protect the church, and can ask people to leave who are harmful to the church.

It's pretty obvious that this power and responsibility can be abused. One of the questions I have regarding this is what happens when the person who is being kicked out, the "sinner," is in fact Biblically innocent of any wrongdoing. How does one respond when they are innocent but are being kicked out because of purely political reasons, or worse, some power play happening within the church?

I would argue that this same concept can be applied to your own personal life. There are a small number of people I know who, despite numerous attempts to point things out to them, have steadfastedly "hardened their hearts" or just chosen to listen and ignore. They make a huge pretense at being totally and completely holy, and yet drop their "guard" whenever it suits them and are revealed to be completely the opposite. Should we "throw these people out" of our circle of friends?

I've noticed that a lot of what I blog about could at face value be seen as exalting myself over others. Can I stress enough that that is hardly the case? I'm well aware of my faults, my sins, my flaws and shortcomings. At times there seems to be a line I walk between both sides of my nature and personality. It's more complicated than just a Christian side and a sinner side; redeemed vs unredeemed personalities. It's more than that. At times I can appear crude and to certain Christian eyes "backslidden" or even "heretical," and yet if you ask any of my Christian friends, they will tell you I am very grounded and have some pretty decent advise and wise worldviews to share. Many have come to me when they have questions about certain things.

I don't say these things to artificially puff me up or make me appear holier than thou; I say these things so that I don't have to bend over backwards in a pretense of humility when challenged by others. Plus I'm really tired of the attitude that I'm worthless and aren't studied enough to have valued opinions.

But onto the main matter. I have had several people call me various things to my face, including heretical and ungodly. As a Christian, it would seem to be my duty to listen to these complaints or observations against me, weigh them against Scripture, consult God/Spirit, and then act when needed. If they are proven wrong, what then?

When someone wrongs you, you forgive them. Simple as that. But does that mean you must have continual fellowship with this person? If someone wrongs you enough times, even if you forgive them, are you still expected to hang out with them or commune with them? I know several people who it seems cannot be in my presence without wronging me or slighting me in some sense. Either a spiritual attack, Biblical attack, personal attack, or indirect attack. I won't get into specifics.

So I try and pray to forgive. But must I still continue to see this person? To the people who the details are known to, it has been suggested on numerous times that I pack up and move away, either by finding a job in another state or going to a school elsewhere. Perhaps this would be a wise thing for me to do anyway. Life has gotten way too easy and comfty here.

Moving might be one of the best things that has ever happened to me. I look at people like Terry Lange and my friend Josh who have successfully moved crosscountry and are doing well because of it. Heck, Terry is married with a kid now and Josh is even engaged!

The solution does not seem to be to move into the frathouse. While I support Jelani in his decision to do so...something within me screams "NO!" whenever I think about it myself. The frathouse appears to be a deadend to me, or maybe better yet a funnel; you know whats gonna happen to you and where you will be when you come out of it. And I really don't think I can live with a bunch of Christians who I don't know well.

As far as living options, there seems to only be a few choices for me: 1- live alone, 2- live with a spouse and future kids, 3- live with old friends, and 4- live with people I have nothing in common with (although that's an extreme).

So maybe moving would be the ideal. A new place, new state, new people, new friends, new life. All the job opportunities I'd really like to pursue seem to be in either California or New York or Seattle anyway. Moving would also allow me to get away from certain people and in truth much of Christianity in general. I wouldn't turn my back on Christianity, but certain aspects of it.

So I really don't know, ultimately. It's something I'm going to have to pray about, and I'd like it if you can remember me too once in a while.

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I've written enough, and I'm tired of staring at this screen.

Oh, once last thing. I've been thinking way too much again, and it's come to my attention that perhaps buying myself a laptop would be one of the smartest and wisest buying decisions I could make. It'd give me a portable computer, a place to store any writing I'd like to do, a place to put all my music, and even give me an excuse to start playing my collection of CRPGs I've been stockpiling.

I figure a P4 with at least a 120 gig harddrive, dvd player, and internal networking card would be the minimum specs...maybe a decent soundcard and graphics card too...for under $600. Work and play and the future in one box...