My Views

I have tried posting for a while, and I have deleted each terrible idea. Hopefully, I decide to keep this one.

I took a whirlwind tour of Oakland's various churches/temples I was at: a Jewish synagogue, a Presbyterian church, a Byzantine-rite Catholic church, an Episcopalian church, a Roman Catholic church, a Lutheran church, a Scientist church (NOT scientology, that is different!), a Latter-Day Saints church, a Greek Or...thodox church, and a non-denominational church. Nine hours, ten houses of worship.

I learned a few things. At the time, I felt relatively comfortable everywhere I went except for at the Scientist and LDS church. I couldn't immediately put my finger on it, but it hit me today why, and how I am comfortable with it now.

What I guess confused me was with the LDS church how they have prophets and apostles on earth now. My very incompetent mind wasn't able to make the connection --- to a certain degree, this is the same as the Catholic Faith, just with different names and uses. I may be wrong, but Cardinals are much like the LDS Apostles, as the Pope is much like the Prophet in the LDS church. I finally got my mind wrapped around the concept, and understood finally what I had been confused about.


Back to the Scientist church. What confused me was how they related science to the Bible. I also was confused with how they are a religion rather than a thought movement, much like the Tea Party and the Republican Party. I understood that science was how they explained biblical events, and how they interpreted ideas. I still don't understand how they are a religion. 


Ok, here's what I should have started with:
I am an Orthodox Christian, and I am of no voting party, as I can't vote. I believe in the values of the scout law, and try to live by them. I believe what I believe. I respect all, and are a friend to most. 


I wish not to talk about politics or religion, and this will be one of the last posts that I talk about religion. Have a question? Post it into the comments.

Natalie

Natalie is one of those characters that cannot be described. She is a person that, much like me, has a blog (although not that impressive). On this blog, she has started a series called Carlynton Is Crazy which is basically a knock-off of my series: The Chronicles of Jr. High: The Marine, Gym Class and Some Randomness. I take it as a compliment, and at the same time an insult. You see, Natalie is one of the people that. for no apparent reason, everything she says annoys me. It's not that she is a bad person, she just plain old gets on my nerves.

Now onto my blog. I have recently added a new "legal" page to the top bar. This was put in place at the advice of my legal adviser. This is an effort to have further 'incidents' regarding this blog stopped. So, that's admin stuff.


Gym Class:
Ok, much like Ms. Thomas, I wish to also rant about gym class. So, to save me the grief, I will copy-paste her words, and add my own comments. <Source: http://natsrandomsite.blogspot.com/2010/11/first-of-many.html >

So today we had gym. It was Fitness Day! Basically we all get numbers (1-7) and are told to go to different 'Fitness Stations' according to the number. Obviously people get their numbers and then ignore them and go with friends, as with any non-surprise of the teenage world.

Pull Ups: I failed. Hah. This can't come as much of a surprise to my blog readers, for I am much out-of-shape, and a failure to humanity as a whole.

Step Ups: Ok, this is a pointless event. You step up onto a bleacher, and then back onto the floor.

Jump Rope: I once again failed, as Clay made a mockery of me, without a surprise

Planks: You are supposed to lay flat then hold yourself up with your arms in an awkward position. Pointless. Painful.

Push Ups: This might be the only 'normal event' of the whole day.
Wall Sits: I don't know why Ms. Thomas omitted this portion, I guess she just forgot. Anyway, you basically lean on a wall, and keep your feet in a sitting position. Greg made the comment that 'this is the one thing that I could do all day!' which basically means that he mastered the art of weight distribution.

I want to talk next about 'nerd-con' as Natalie called it, but I will call it by its real name (SciTech). Thanks a lot Natalie. We are all reading, and we are a captive audience.

A Change of Wind

To often, I rant and ramble about things that are either wrong or a shortcoming. Today, I want to discuss two shortcomings that now have a better ending. That's enough of an intro, right?

It was Wednesday, and I had just finished a week of reading a book that quite frankly didn't make that much sense to me. Anyway, I took the AR test, or essentially the did-you-really-read-this-book-test test. Well, I decided to pick one of the computers that are spastic. Needless to say, I bombed the test, for anywhere I clicked, it would take the answer closest to cursor and submit immediately.
To add to the madness, the one teacher that could tell me how to handle getting the AR points I needed was out for the day. So, I went with plan B, on a different computer, and it worked.

The next story starts that day after school. I used to LOVE going to Damon's grill for their shrimp. I mean, this place was awesome. It had TV's, a bar, in-restaurant gameshows, and so much more. They closed a year ago, and I was sad.
After a re-organization, they re-opened, and all is wonderful, right??? Wrong. The one thing that was off of their menu was that greatest-shrimp-in-the-world. Needless to say, I made the subtle comment to the waitress, and ordered something else. Then comes over another waitress. She says that the cook said that he can make shrimp for me, because I came there just for that. So, next time you are at Damon's in Robinson, ask for the fried shrimp, maybe we can start a revolution or something!

So there, I decided to write something nice. I have started a notebook for just the purpose of blogging. Once a week, I shall write something from there. I feel bad that I don't have the time to write as much as I want to.