Posted 2:32 AM by HokiePundit
Tragic Kingdom

I'm not a Goth (if you've ever met me, this is a "duh!" statement). However, I have to admit that tragedy can be fascinating. Most of my favorite stories are tragedies; The Count of Monte Cristo is probably my favorite book. Ska music, while upbeat in tempo and style, usually has very sad lyrics. I also like some rock along the lines of The Doors and Iggy Pop and classical music by Russian and British composers, such as Marche Slav, 1812 Overture, Procession of the Nobles, The Vanished Army*, etc.

I've also noticed that American rock bands often sound different than foreign ones; there's usually a sort of roughness to the American sound that makes me think of intense emotions, as though they were so caught up that the power of what they were feeling caused a tiny but perceptible loss in technical ability. Everlong by Foo Fighters and No One Knows by Queens of the Stone Age are good examples of this. Sometimes the most powerful part of the song is just a repetitive driving beat, like the musical equivalent of someone who has just been so deeply upset that all he can think to do is the same, simple thing over and over.

I don't know why this is. I don't think my life is a tragedy or anything like it. It occurred to me that it might be that I'm so insulated from harsh realities that I need to fantasize my own tragedies in order to add a little balance. The fact that I tend to prefer happier music, movies, and reading when volunteering in Chester would seem to support this. The ancient Greeks were fond of the idea of catharsis; that the purpose of art was to help us express those emotions we had trouble with on our own. Maybe this is like that. Teams getting pumped up for a game are naturally a little bit afraid, and so they listen to hard-pumping rap and metal. If you listen to folk tunes, they tend to be lively and bright, though the performers may spend most of their time simply tilling fields or herding goats. Heck, this may be why guilt-tripped WASPs feel good about seeing a Congolese or Amerindian group singing native songs.

I guess the catharsis idea makes sense. Of course, it's also 2:30AM, and the idea of running naked through campus doesn't sound utterly insane, either. I'm thinking that I'd better quit running my mouth and get to bed.

Posted 1:50 AM by HokiePundit
I'm Worried

It's interesting to see how God puts us in situations we never could have foreseen, but which, in hindsight, make perfect sense. Right now, I'm meeting with a guy who is very reserved, and comes from a fairly similar church background as mine. He's an Episcopalian, but of the sort that never really had a lot of the stuff sink in. He's also an often-taciturn country boy (he called himself a redneck), who usually listens but occasionally can be extremely blunt, especially when he thinks other people are full of it. He told me this evening that he's glad the two of us are meeting together, because I actually seem to understand where he's coming from on a lot of issues.

You may remember that a few weeks ago, I mentioned that I had some disagreements with others in Navigators, and with much of Evangelicaldom in general, though not rising anywhere close to level of breaking fellowship. Well, my friend's comment made me realize: so far as I know, there's only one other guy in Nav leadership here who even might have the sort of attitude and viewpoint to connect with my friend. This is not a reflection on the quality of the Nav leaders, but rather a realization that I'm one of the very few people with the right mix of attributes to connect with this guy. Not every task requires a hammer or flathead screwdriver; sometimes you need a corkscrew or staple remover (yes, I'm a tool).

For a brief second, after I'd considered how unique my position is, the thought popped into my head that the Navs were lucky to have me. However, about half of a millisecond later, it occurred to me that they're also lucky to have my study co-leader, our director, and, as the thoughts cascaded, every single person involved. It's not that I'm a special and unique person possessing talents not available (or at least much so), but that every person is that way. For this one task, I'm the right fit. Another problem might be better solved if "Joey" or "Beth" were the one confronting it. God doesn't give us more than we can bear. This applies to ministry as well as individuals, I think. For some people, Navigators may be exactly what is needed to help them out. We're a strong organization, but the fact is that we're not perfect. For other people, it might be Impact or Campus Crusade, the United Methodist or Assemblies of God churches, or just a believer on their hall or at work.

This also has implications for a girl I know (no, not a romantic interest or anything like that). She says she's a Christian, she goes to church, and she's big into the Christian subculture (yes, subculture; we ought to be a counterculture). However, she's seeing a guy whom her parents strongly dislike (perhaps with reason and perhaps not; that's not so much my concern) and doesn't really read her Bible or even know what's in it. Most of what she knows she extracts from what a friend of hers says (I don't know the friend very well, but she seems solid, though at a school far away), and she seems to pick and choose from that. I'm also in a unique position to talk to her, but there's a very real risk that if I confront her then I'll be equated with her parents and essentially permanently ignored. What concerns me is firstly that she thinks that she's a Christian but doesn't seem to know all that much about what it means, and secondly that whether or not she does know, she seems to be having some serious trouble living it out. I don't know what to do, but it's looking like I'm going to have to sit her down and have a Talk with her. I don't want to go Jonathan Edwards on her, but I really feel like she needs to be shocked into action with evidence directly from the Bible. Let's hope that it works, and that I don't muff it up (God's will is going to get done somehow, but if it's meant to work through me, I don't want to mess it up due to carelessness).

Posted 12:40 AM by HokiePundit
Oh, My Bad

It has been brought to my attention that I don't have a girlfriend. Upon having my secretary search through my records, this has been confirmed. Meanwhile, I have at least three sets of friends who are currently engaged, and at least one who've recently tied the knot. Of course, my parents were nearly thirty before getting married, so I don't feel as though I'm way past my time (one of my great-grandparents, for instance, fought in the Franco-Prussian war around 1870). My parents seem to be getting nervous or something, as if I'm in danger of never getting married if I don't get cracking.

My problem is that I have some fairly inflexible standards. I hardly ever ask girls out on dates (which I differentiate from hanging out with girls as friends), and even more rarely ask them out again. Some of this is my shyness, but a lot is quite simply that I rarely meet girls I think would be a good long-term match (by which, I mean that I could conceivably see myself marrying them). Sometimes this is because they do things I couldn't tolerate in a spouse, such as getting drunk or cussing. However, it's usually nothing bad, but rather just a recognition that I don't think we'd do well in such a close relationship. The analytical part of me has observed some of the girls I know who I find attractive but not likely to be a good bet for marriage (mostly because of my own defects, and sometimes just because we'd reinforce each other's weaknesses rather than cancelling them out) and I've been learning a lot about what I'm actually looking for in a girl. Girls like JF, PN, RG, LR, EH, and SB* especially have helped me focus on those traits I find most attractive; I'd happily treat any and all of them like sisters (hopefully, I do), though none would be a good match, I don't think.

I'm not sure I believe that everyone has one (and only one) "Mr/Miss Right" out there, but I do think these things shouldn't be rushed. I'm so very grateful to the Christian women I know, who've shown me simply by the way they live different aspects of how I hope the person I marry** will be. Yes, this has been rambling, but at least until further notice, I stand by what I've said.

*This is not a complete list.
**If God wants me to remain single, of course, then His will trumps mine.

Posted 9:38 PM by HokiePundit
Calling All Hokie Students!

Don't forget to Vote Will for SGA President! While you're at it, if you're in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences (CLAHS), write me in for Senator! I don't think either of us will serve (he's graduating and going to MWC; I'm graduating and doing grad school at VT), it's still a great idea! Besides, we both like beer, and have decided to form BeerSGA as our party. So, be a cool person and VOTE!

Posted 9:22 PM by HokiePundit
Free Song(s) of the Day

Under Over by Doctormanette, from the album "The Same Thing Over and Over..."

Yeah, this feature has been gone for a few months, but I recently went searching and found a lot of good new music. I personally like Third Wave Ska and Ska-core (sometimes aka "Fourth Wave"), and so that's what I searched for. I don't pirate music, but I have no problem downloading the free sample tracks bands provide, and will sometimes buy the albums of these bands. One band I found recently was Doctormanette (or, as Amazon.com calls them, "Doctor Manette"), a now-defunct five-piece band featuring trumpet and sax.

Key elements to good ska are clear vocals which match the tone of the instruments and songs, catchy lyrics and hooks, a good sense of irony, some musical knowledge and talent, and a horn section capable of playing both very tightly and fairly loosely while playing accurately and creatively. I also like clean lyrics. Most bands have some of these, but not all. Reel Big Fish and Mighty Mighty Bosstones have mismatched vocals, in my opinion. Five Iron Frenzy also is trouble, with high vocals that get annoying after a while. OC Supertones have abandoned ska, and several other bands were never really there to begin with. Catch-22/B.O.T.A.R./Streetlight Manifesto is incredibly talented, but the lyrics not only have profanity but in Streetlight Manifesto's case, contain outright blasphemy at some points. Many other bands, such as I Voted For Kodos, MU330, Voodoo Glow Skulls, 13th Tribe, Buck O' Nine, and Radio Active have a good song or two, but on the whole aren't so hot.

Doctormanette has all the things I want in a ska band. It is one of the very few bands, along with groups like the Insyderz, the Hippos, Secret Agent 8, and the Toasters where I like pretty much everything I hear. In their songs, they manage to switch keys, do several minor variations in a row (listen to the end of Over Under), catch you with hooks, and yet keep everything clean and in good fun (bands that can do that always seem to break up...). My only regret is that you can't find their lyrics online, though I've ordered their CD from Amazon and hopefully they'll be in the liner notes. If you don't feel like buying their CD, or want to test out more songs first, you can go to EMusic.com, get a trial subscription, and download their entire CD (2 Cents, Diesel, and Under Over are free off the band's website, though...). Next free link: Insyderz

Posted 11:44 PM by HokiePundit
New Church?

As anyone who's been reading knows (and has heard to death), my denomination, the Episcopal Church USA, has betrayed backstabbed ...gone astray, and I no longer feel comfortable going to most Episcopalian/Anglican churches. The nearest orthodox church to school appears to be an hour away in Roanoke, so most of the time I've simply either not gone to church of just gone to NLCF, though rarely. However, two weeks ago my friend Mark invited me to come to the house church where he goes, which that week was being held at his parents' house in town. It's essentially four or five families and a few college students who formerly went to Blacksburg Christian Fellowship (BCF), a large non-denominational church in town. They felt it was too impersonal, and about two months ago started their own house church. It's basically like a large Bible Study, with singing and Communion afterwards. After the "service," there's several hours of socializing, which is nice. While I may be a sacramentalist, I'm not a sacerdotalist, and it's nice to go to a church that actually serves the Eucharist. The teaching is pretty solid, and the people are pleasant and friendly. I went back last week (at a different family's house), and will go back again in three weeks, since I'm camping this weekend and going home for Easter the one after that.

It's not a "beautiful" service like many Anglican ones, but sometimes the perfect is the enemy of the good, and these services are good. For me, it's an answer to prayer to simply have a solid church where I can worship in good conscience and be a part of the community. That's something that I've pretty much always been lacking, and it's very nice to finally feel like that missing space has finally been filled.

Posted 11:28 PM by HokiePundit
D'oh!

I need to be careful, I think. I've got an opportunity before me that I know deep down I shouldn't pursue. While very attractive, it would only end up causing harm, and it would destroy another, more edifying opportunity that may or may not happen. So, any prayers for patience and discernment would be appreciated.

Unrelatedly (yes, I know I could put this in another post, but what would that accomplish?), I think I've hit on a way to make my praying better. In the past, I would either feel overwhelmed and generally fall asleep, or I'd be there for an hour or more, basically praying for everything and everyone I could think of, in detail. What occurred to me was to make seven categories of things, such as my family, Virginia Tech, Chester, the world, missionaries, etc. and pray for one of those categories every night. That way, all my praying gets done every week, and it's at a do-able level.

Posted 11:26 PM by HokiePundit
Updated Links!

Happy Birthday to Erika, who will now be found under the "Fighting Gobblers" section in the Land o' Links. Josh S has also been added to the "Consie Christers" section, and many (not all, alas!) links have been updated, as people move off Blogspot or tweak their addresses in other ways.

Somewhat relatedly, I've got a small problem. There are quite a few people I'd like to add to the list, but I don't want it to get to the point where no one really pays attention anymore. How should I do this? Ideally, a few would be featured at the top for a little while at a time, but that would mean adjusting my template once a week or so, which I don't really want to do. I'll figure something out. In the meantime, if your site isn't listed, it's not because I don't want to, but because I don't want to make the link worthless.

Posted 11:18 PM by HokiePundit
Computer Update

Well, I learned a lot about computers today (and not just because my Computer Science for Liberal Arts class met today!), mostly out of necessity. It turns out that my computer had been the victim of the CoolWebSearch homepage hijacker, and with the help of my roommate and another friend, figured out how to fix it. Now, I knew about viruses and worms, but a homepage hijacker? What kind of sick person spends their time coding things like this? Sheesh. I figure I got it bundled with one of the freeware CD rippers I'd been using. As a result, I decided to simply buy WinAmp 5.0 Pro instead.

I also learned about the incredibly awesome (well, relative to computers, at least) System Configuration Utility, through which you can tell all sorts of worthless and annoying problems not to boot up with Windows! Yes, I too let out an ecstatic cry of joy!

I'm still working on convincing my browser to open Outlook Express rather than Netscape Messenger when I click on an email link. Though IE acknowledges that it is to open OE, like John Kerry, France, or Frank Griswold, it ignores this agreement and simply opens the Netscape tool instead.

So it turns out that my computer is back to working pretty well again. I still have no idea what ails QuickTime, but I'm not really sure I want to push my luck today. Maybe tomorrow.

Posted 11:04 PM by HokiePundit
Ouch...

This weekend, I ran around campus on a scavenger hunt, played wallyball for two hours, went running, practiced softball, and did Swing dancing. My hands and wrists hurt from hitting the wallyball and smacking into the walls to try and get the ball; my legs hurt from the running and the dancing, and I'm tired. I've never managed to actually get all four of my limbs in a painful state before; I just figured I'd complain on my blog so I could move on. Thanks for reading; good content coming once I figure out how to heal my computer!

Posted 6:49 PM by HokiePundit
Problem Beyond My Ken

Apparently, my computer's cheese done slid off its cracker. Whenever I try and run Internet Explorer or click on anything on my Desktop, I get a message, before my application has launched, that it has committed an illegal operation and must shut down. Instead of my normal homepage, I get something along the lines of "res://thingy.dll..." and am told that Internet Explorer won't work. Now, things in my taskbar do work (except Quicktime, which may or not be related, but was finicky before). My virus scanner hasn't picked up anything, and I haven't gone rooting around deleting files, either. So far, all I've done is install the Opera browser (because MIE stopped working), tried to reinstall MIE (no luck), and added and removed a CD ripper demo (no idea if that has any connection). Netscape still works, sometimes, but it's a vastly inferior browser to MIE. I have no idea what to do, though conceivably my roommate may. I really hope the computer itself isn't FUBAR, but given that I've had it 3 1/2 years and most of my friends are already on replacements, I may have been living a charmed life. Now, I certainly wouldn't be happy about my computer being hosed, but I understand that it's a possibility.

Posted 3:48 PM by HokiePundit
Brief Update on the Status of God's Existence and Divine Mercy

Yep.

Posted 3:45 PM by HokiePundit
DO NOT CLICK THE LINK!!!

At least not if you're prone to epileptic seizures (I'm serious!)

And now...the link!

Posted 12:21 AM by HokiePundit
An Anglican Disagreeing With a Roman Catholic! Hide the Guinness!

Not that I could drink Guinness right now anyway, it being Lent and all. Anyway, as much as it pains me, I'm going to have to disagree with TS O'Rama. Personally, I think the new building at Ave Maria University is absolutely gorgeous in design. To me it screams "ultra-Gothic," in that it takes advantage of modern technology to allow for the entire church to admit light, rather than just a few windows. Of course, I'd prefer more stained glass, but there are certainly limits to what we can artfully accomplish. My main concern, though, is that while it'll be absolutely lovely when first built and whenever cleaned, it'll look like a dingy greenhouse the rest of the time. And, knowing universities, it's going to look dingy a lot, unless they can spray it down with Tilex by helicopter once a week. Still, a good idea.

I mean, if you want awful churches, you don't have to look too hard