OH MY GOD, I ACTUALLY STARTED THE VLOG! BEHOLD, THE DESTRUCT-O-VLOG 5000™ IN ALL OF ITS GLORY!
EXPECT MORE WHERE THIS CAME FROM!
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
The Student and The Monk, Cont.
My previous post, written this morning, was a tale of spiritual exploration and two individuals sharing a moment of each others lives. That passage was written by a happy Andrew. Happy Andrew left awhile ago. I am an angry Andrew. I will explain to you why I'm an angry Andrew in just a bit: I would just like to call attention to the fact that this is a cynical, every-silver-lining-has-a-cloud rant, and if my original post uplifted your spirits and brought a little warmth to your soul, you might just want to walk away with that and ignore this hasty addendum. If you're still reading, you've probably already made your choice, but don't say I didn't warn you.
Minutes, minutes after wrapping up "The Student and The Monk," I again ventured forth to the Student Center. I wanted to get to class early so that I would have some time to work on my animation project (yes, I have a paper to write AND a project to animate, I'm one busy motherfucker). Of course, in writing my first post of the day, I neglected to buy lunch. To correct this, I ordered a hot dog. As I sat, enjoying my beef cylinder, a student approached me and asked if I was busy.
Immediately, red flags went up. Say you're busy, common sense cried, for god's sake say you're busy! But my heart said, you know, this has been a good day, I think I'll humor him. I told him I wasn't busy. And that's when I unwittingly boarded the train to Shitville.
The student, asian, a few years older than myself, introduced himself as Mike. Mike was not a DePaul student, he was enrolled at some Catholic school and was training to become a preacher or something. He asked me if I am, or have at any point in time ever been, a devout Christian. Again, I answered truthfully: yeah, I used to. Not anymore. This simple action, this little slip of the tongue, was like opening the floodgates. He started with questions, like "why did you stop?" and "what do you think of this and that?" I was still too cheerful from my previous encounter with the monk, and so I went along with him, talking about how I've studied a multitude of religions and their philosophies, and have found that in all cases the religions' belief systems and regulations were too intrusive and restraining to me. At this point, I probably should have also explained my theory regarding a strict belief and adherence to the supernatural quadrant of religious belief: in other words, if you seriously expect me to believe that it is not only plausible, but one hundred percent, bonafide truth that an invisible, omnipresent, all-powerful man in the sky and his magical zombie son decide which good little girls and boys get to go to the wonderful sky-kingdom when they die, you're an idiot. I can't even argue with you, because your logic is based on fairy tales. Of course, at the time, my new friend Mike here had no idea. So he decided to take me on a twenty minute long verbal tour of Evangelism, full of metaphors and personal experiences and pauses where he would ask if I understood. Twenty. Minutes.
Don't get me wrong, his oratory was pretty good. His speaking skills were excellent, he never stuttered, and he certainly sounded like he was making sense. The whole Jesus thing was working out great for him, and that's fabulous. Who am I to tell people what they should do with their lives? If pretending like there's a God and that he's got this great big plan for all of us makes you feel better, then go ahead and dress up for church every Sunday. Go score some more points for the afterlife, if that floats your boat. Because I know that when you're dead, that's it. Game over. You lose. You're fertilizer, end of story. It just seemed to me like he was missing the point. Religion shouldn't be about "my God is better than yours" or "the only way you can achieve eternal salvation is..." Religion to me is about having a code of conduct, sticking to it, and finding happiness among people who love you. That's why I see no need to affiliate myself with any specific religion (not even atheism... because yes, it is a religion). I already have everything a religion has to offer without all of the downsides.
Of course, friend Mike wouldn't understand. After his twenty minute long sermon, there came that point at which I was supposed to rise from my seat, thrust my hands into the air and shout, "Jesus has saved me!"
I didn't.
Instead, I told him that I need some more time to think about it (a blatant lie: at this point, I wanted him to go away) we shook hands and he left.
I picked up my hot dog. It was cold now. Damn. Outside, it was raining.
Of course, that was some time ago. The anger has passed now, but still, I was in such a great mood after talking to the traveling monk that having to deal with this overzealous theology student really brought me back down to earth. Hard.
Anyway, that was it. Hopefully you didn't read it, and you still have a positive outlook regarding religious faith. I, on the other hand, am permanently jaded. Except around December 25th, then I suddenly become a church-going Christian once more! MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Minutes, minutes after wrapping up "The Student and The Monk," I again ventured forth to the Student Center. I wanted to get to class early so that I would have some time to work on my animation project (yes, I have a paper to write AND a project to animate, I'm one busy motherfucker). Of course, in writing my first post of the day, I neglected to buy lunch. To correct this, I ordered a hot dog. As I sat, enjoying my beef cylinder, a student approached me and asked if I was busy.
Immediately, red flags went up. Say you're busy, common sense cried, for god's sake say you're busy! But my heart said, you know, this has been a good day, I think I'll humor him. I told him I wasn't busy. And that's when I unwittingly boarded the train to Shitville.
The student, asian, a few years older than myself, introduced himself as Mike. Mike was not a DePaul student, he was enrolled at some Catholic school and was training to become a preacher or something. He asked me if I am, or have at any point in time ever been, a devout Christian. Again, I answered truthfully: yeah, I used to. Not anymore. This simple action, this little slip of the tongue, was like opening the floodgates. He started with questions, like "why did you stop?" and "what do you think of this and that?" I was still too cheerful from my previous encounter with the monk, and so I went along with him, talking about how I've studied a multitude of religions and their philosophies, and have found that in all cases the religions' belief systems and regulations were too intrusive and restraining to me. At this point, I probably should have also explained my theory regarding a strict belief and adherence to the supernatural quadrant of religious belief: in other words, if you seriously expect me to believe that it is not only plausible, but one hundred percent, bonafide truth that an invisible, omnipresent, all-powerful man in the sky and his magical zombie son decide which good little girls and boys get to go to the wonderful sky-kingdom when they die, you're an idiot. I can't even argue with you, because your logic is based on fairy tales. Of course, at the time, my new friend Mike here had no idea. So he decided to take me on a twenty minute long verbal tour of Evangelism, full of metaphors and personal experiences and pauses where he would ask if I understood. Twenty. Minutes.
Don't get me wrong, his oratory was pretty good. His speaking skills were excellent, he never stuttered, and he certainly sounded like he was making sense. The whole Jesus thing was working out great for him, and that's fabulous. Who am I to tell people what they should do with their lives? If pretending like there's a God and that he's got this great big plan for all of us makes you feel better, then go ahead and dress up for church every Sunday. Go score some more points for the afterlife, if that floats your boat. Because I know that when you're dead, that's it. Game over. You lose. You're fertilizer, end of story. It just seemed to me like he was missing the point. Religion shouldn't be about "my God is better than yours" or "the only way you can achieve eternal salvation is..." Religion to me is about having a code of conduct, sticking to it, and finding happiness among people who love you. That's why I see no need to affiliate myself with any specific religion (not even atheism... because yes, it is a religion). I already have everything a religion has to offer without all of the downsides.
Of course, friend Mike wouldn't understand. After his twenty minute long sermon, there came that point at which I was supposed to rise from my seat, thrust my hands into the air and shout, "Jesus has saved me!"
I didn't.
Instead, I told him that I need some more time to think about it (a blatant lie: at this point, I wanted him to go away) we shook hands and he left.
I picked up my hot dog. It was cold now. Damn. Outside, it was raining.
Of course, that was some time ago. The anger has passed now, but still, I was in such a great mood after talking to the traveling monk that having to deal with this overzealous theology student really brought me back down to earth. Hard.
Anyway, that was it. Hopefully you didn't read it, and you still have a positive outlook regarding religious faith. I, on the other hand, am permanently jaded. Except around December 25th, then I suddenly become a church-going Christian once more! MERRY CHRISTMAS!
The Student and The Monk
Today, as I walked across the quad towards the Student Center, a man in a large hoodie approached me. He asked if I was a student here. I didn't see any harm in the question, so I answered yes. He then asked me if I'd ever meditated before. It was a strange question, but again I answered yes, I had meditated before at the Myoshinji Great Plains Zen Center in Wisconsin.
He then reached into his bag and handed me a new, hardcover book. The book was titled "Bhagavad Gita As It Is." The book documents a philosophical conversation held between Krishna and one of his disciples, and is apparently very important... the book was also a key piece of literature for Emerson and Thoreau. The man introduced himself to me then as a traveling monk, spreading the word of his beliefs for a small donation. I was, for some strange reason, very interested in the book, and gave a donation of five dollars (I didn't mean to be stingy, but I was going to go get lunch, and I didn't have much to offer in the first place) and took the book. I talked to the monk a while after that. He asked what my major was, and we talked about film for a bit. I asked what group he was affiliated with, and he gave me his card. He was with The International Society for Krishna Consciousness. After some time, we shook hands and parted ways.
I don't know much, but what I could glean so far is that Krishna, the main focus of the book, is an important figure or deity in Hinduism, with many different roles from differing perspectives. I'm going to read the book and see what else I can learn about Hindu philosophy, because I'm really curious now. Also, it's pretty sweet that I got a book for five bucks.
Just wanted to share that. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have an animation reaction paper to write.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Youmacon (Preview)
I'm getting very excited for Youmacon!
My goggles showed up in the mail (finally) a couple of days ago, marking the completion of my steampunk outfit. You can't really call it a cosplay... I'm not dressing up as anybody. I guess you could say I'll be a Neo-Victorian version of myself.Anyway, pics:
Trust me, way more to come... WHEN I COVER YOUMACON 2009!
But yeah, so that's going to happen. Likewise, not tomorrow, not the day after, not any time this weekend and probably at no point next week, but sometime in the foreseeable future, I will commence production of the Destruct-O-Vlog 5000™ and post it on YouTube. I dunno. Maybe?
Oh yeah, and I one day wish to obtain a theremin and learn how to play it. END TRANSMISSION.
My goggles showed up in the mail (finally) a couple of days ago, marking the completion of my steampunk outfit. You can't really call it a cosplay... I'm not dressing up as anybody. I guess you could say I'll be a Neo-Victorian version of myself.Anyway, pics:
Trust me, way more to come... WHEN I COVER YOUMACON 2009!
But yeah, so that's going to happen. Likewise, not tomorrow, not the day after, not any time this weekend and probably at no point next week, but sometime in the foreseeable future, I will commence production of the Destruct-O-Vlog 5000™ and post it on YouTube. I dunno. Maybe?
Oh yeah, and I one day wish to obtain a theremin and learn how to play it. END TRANSMISSION.
Monday, October 5, 2009
On Not Having Posted In Awhile
So I had a bit of a jarring experience today. First of all, I'd like to apologize for my infrequent posting. I've been lazy. Or, rather, lazier than usual. Anyway, now that I put that out there, I would like to relay my jarring experience:
I've come to the realization that people actually read this blog. This conclusion was drawn as a result of a previous post, my Steampunk DnD in the Classroom caught the attention of Mr. Marcus Rowland, the creator of Forgotten Futures (if that name isn't ringing a bell, read the original post). A pleasant surprise indeed! I'm shocked that my humble blog is receiving such attention!
I suppose before this revelation I was under the impression that no one would ever find my blog; that it was a little haven where I could post clever witticisms, day-to-day observations, current events, and of course the occasional critique without censoring myself like I do on Facebook. I saw the truly menial, ridiculous tidbits for Twitter, but the interesting stuff goes on the Destruct-O-Blog.
I don't know where I'm going with this. I guess it's cool that I'm broadcasting myself, it makes me feel all warm inside.
That's really all I have to report. I haven't been posting primarily for a lack of content to post... I mean, I could tell you about the Streetlight Manifesto concert, or how I've been experimenting with Hungarian minor scales in my improvisation, or how director Stan Brakhage has produced some of the most awful, pretentious, boring films in the entire history of film making. But that would only bore you, the viewer.
Besides, if I feel like what I have to say isn't worth saying on the internet, then it isn't worth saying. This blog is, first and foremost, me running off at the mouth: if I'm not in the mood to say anything, then the blog goes silent.
I don't know. Maybe I just need to write more often. It isn't as though my life is less interesting than when I started the blog, I've simply stopped noticing.
Oh, and I don't think I'm going to finish Vertigo. I just can't bring myself to do it! Gluuuuuh!
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