age

One grad student's perspective on why he's getting his PhD:
"I don't particularly enjoy my research. But I guess I'm here more for the social scene. Here, there are a bunch of young people, but once you start working it's very hard to meet and connect with people your age."

Not everyone sees things this way, of course, but I guess it's somewhat understandable? Most grad students are more or less at the same life stage? And I guess age is a somewhat important thing to have in common with someone if you want to connect with him (or her) on a more than superficial level. And groupings of people by age seem to occur only in educational institutions. Oh, and maybe retirement homes.

But I do have this one image of people of different ages really getting to know one another and spending time together. And that's in the context of a church bible study group. It's really cool how you can go to a church and (ideally) meet a bunch of Christians, and identify with them on the basis of Christ and not age.

embarrassment

A few observations.

1) My ability to articulate a prayer publicly often serves as a rough litmus test of the state of my private spiritual life. E.g. I find it harder to pray over a meal (when asked) when I haven't been actively praying in private.

2) For me, embarrassment can serve as a much better motivator for change than guilt. But usually I'm only embarrassed of the foolish things I do. Maybe I should try to associate the wrong things I do with an embarrassment-inducing foolishness? Maybe embarrassment can lead to repentance? Not sure how biblical that is, haha.

3) 1 & 2 in this case are related.

4) Somewhat random, but I kind of like Djokovic more after seeing him play against Federer in this year's US Open. Oh, and isn't this crazy?

common phenomenon?

I feel the need to document this. Every time I wash the dishes, I suddenly have the urge to um, well... use the restroom. Sounds like an excuse not to do the dishes, huh?

My hypothesis: it's caused by the water running over your hands. Much in the same way that a cup of water, when used with a sleeping person's hand, can lead to very embarrassing results when he/she wakes up.

loitering

My cousin is starting college in the fall! Seems like college was so long ago. Anyway, he's staying in my room for the couple of days before he has to move in.

me: hey, where are you going this late at night?
him: if I told you, my gang would have to kill you...
me: whoa, you're part of a gang! what do you guys do at night?
him: um... nothing.
me: really? sounds boring...
him: yea, we commit crimes. like loitering.

theology

Sometimes I wonder what God thinks when He looks at all the blogs, books, and other material that attempt to describe His character, proper interpretations of the Bible, and methods of prayer and worship.

I'd like to think that for the most part, He smiles at our efforts to understand what is so obvious to Him (even lending a hand once in awhile).

notes

So apparently "loose lips sink ships" has now become "loose tweets sink fleets." Talk about upping the ante (at government work places), haha. Anyway, I don't think I'd be very good at using twitter.

Completely unrelated, but I've been thinking somewhat of racial profiling (spurred by the arrest of that Harvard professor). And people are so against it because it poses a liability to them, based on stereotypes of some group they belong to (I think)? But what about profiling (not racial) in the context of Christianity? I'm the one posing a huge liability to the name of Jesus, when there is no reason at all to group me with Him? I think that's why I find it really really hard to either read the bible in public (I've seen several do it on subway rides, which always makes me smile), pray in public, or otherwise advertise my beliefs in any manner whatsoever. The intern who works in the same office as me is Christian, not ashamed of it, and what I think is a good example of leading a public Christian life. It's just really hard for me to find a way to balance trying not to be a bad example of a Christian with the necessity of proclaiming my faith (not necessarily by reading the bible or praying in public, I don't think I could ever do that) in order to share the gospel.

Somewhat unrelated, but I'm reproducing a quote from another blog because I found it to be really really pertinent (to me). So it's a quote of a quote, if you will. This actually feels somewhat awkward, haha:

"Sometimes it seems that our many words are more an expression of our doubt than of our faith. It is as if we are not sure that God’s Spirit can touch the hearts of people: we have to help him out and, with many words, convince others of his power. But it is precisely this wordy unbelief that quenches the fire."

I think I've messed up a lot in that respect, in the past.

dreams

Had one of those dreams last night where you have to go to the airport to catch a flight (or do some other urgent thing). But then, you need to pack. And just when you're about done packing, you realize you forgot something and have to run and get that, and when you get that, you realize you have some random other errand to run. And you're almost done, and just about to miss your flight, when you wake up, somewhat stressed.

Blah. So I think the only solution to those types of dreams is to be able to just leave everything behind, not worry, and just go catch the flight. Except, this is very hard when you aren't having a lucid dream. So you'd have to be able to do that in real life. Hm.

Anyway, I was riding on the T today, and I looked out the window. And there was this short animation playing of a preview to this cartoon movie! So apparently, a bunch of images were plastered in the tunnel where the T would pass by, flip book style (e.g. Aninmorphs, because you only ever read those books for the animations on the bottom corner of every page). I don't know why I didn't notice them before, but what a cool idea.