Gay Guy in Seminary Day 113 (Magic 2010)

2nd Magic post, please excuse me all those who are not interested in this kind of thing, but I didn't really have too much else to write about today. Magic 2010 is the current expansion where they changed a lot of the rules. There has been a small revival of Magic: The Gathering here at SFTS, but most of us are not familiar with the current rules, or even the rules that came before the current rules change. (I'm looking at you Russ) So, this has been an interesting learning experience for all of us.

I'm going to come right out and say that I am probably very likely addicted to this game. I love to play it, which should come as no surprise, but I also love looking at the art on the cards, I love finding out about the new things that the designers are doing with the game and I love reading about Magic online. I will sit at a table and spend hours shuffling through cards trying to figure out what kinds of decks I can make, testing new decks and organizing my collection. I haven't counted, but I have thousands of cards. They have taken over my room. Late, but not least, is my collection of angel cards. It is a binder of almost ever single angel Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes the game, has ever printed. I collect these cards because I have a natural tendency to collect things and the angel art is usually really cool. There are some angels where the art is kind of questionable that I decided did not belong in my collection.

So, the question must be asked, "Does it really matter if I am 'addicted' to this game?" I'm asking in all seriousness for all you jokesters out there itching to post a snarky comment. I would venture to guess more "yes" than "no." Part of the reason I didn't get anything done over Thanksgiving break is because I spent so much time playing Magic with my brother. And, right now, I am waiting for Russ to get done with his reading so that we can play a quick game before we call it a night. I, of course, have a ton of homework to do as well, but this always takes a back seat to Magic. I mean, I can always stay up until the wee hours of the morning just so that I can play a few games, right?

Gay Guy in Seminary Day 112 (Margaret Cho)

I was about to start writing my blog when I realized that I should have titled one of them "Margaret Cho" by now, so I had to actually stop and look through my past blogs to see what I had written about her. It turns out, very little. I can't believe I haven't blogged about her yet! She's my favorite comedian of all time! For those of you who don't know, she is a raunchy Korean American fag hag who had just come out with her 5th stand-up comedy movie "Beautiful." This woman is brilliant! I have no idea how she keeps managing to come up with new material; it's just amazing. One word of warning before anyone goes running out to watch one of them: Margaret Cho is a dirty girl. She is not afraid to say anything and everything that comes to mind, and trust me, her mind is a lot dirtier than almost anyone else that I know about. But, this makes for a good time when watching her. I've seen her twice in concert, and each time I was laughing so hard it was hard to breathe.

The thing I like most about her is that she has more to say than just making people laugh. She has a tendency to get very political in her stand-up, which is a turn-off for some people. If you haven't figured it out yet, she is super crazy ultra liberal. For me, this adds to the rewatchability of the movies because they make you think. Even if you agree with her, she has something to teach you about the issues that she talks about, but you're laughing so hard and so shocked at how outrageous she can be that you're usually not really aware that you're learning anything.

Her new DVD, "Beautiful," is about people accepting themselves for who they are, essentially that everyone is beautiful. Acceptance is always an underlying them in her stand-up, but in this case, it goes beyond just accepting yourself to loving yourself. I woke up sick this morning, so I used it as an excuse to do absolutely nothing productive and ended up watching "Beautiful" for the second time. It is by far the raunchiest of her movies to date. I keep thinking to myself each time she comes out with a new one that there is no way she is going to top herself, but she keeps proving me wrong. Two-thumbs up for "Beautiful", but this sucker is definitely NC-17.

Gay Guy in Seminary Day 111 (In Defense of D&D)

Yes, I am a gamer. When I say that, I am mostly talking about Magic: The Gathering because that is the only real "gamer" thing I have experience with. I had a run in with D&D (Dungeons and Dragons) in high school, but I have never actually played it for real. Now, this is not directed at anyone in particular, because I am fully aware that everyone was joking...well, I'm pretty sure they were anyway. No, this is directed at all of those people out there that spend way to much time listening to James Dobson and his radio program "Focus on the Family."

Dungeons and Dragons is a game. No more, no less. It is not going to make people start worshipping Satan or form some kind of cult. It is exactly the same as all of those fantasy based video games (see the Final Fantasy series...there's like 12 of them now I think), the only difference being that instead of a high speed computer and some nifty code doing all of the mathematical calculations for you, you have to roll dice. Yes, we are adding gambling to this just to make it that much more evil. I mean, look at that picture? Doesn't it scream "satanic ritual?"

I'm not going to pretend there isn't a downside. Playing this game is not the "coolest" thing to do... but I haven't put much stock in what the world thinks is "cool" and "trendy" in my life, and I'm certainly not going to start now.

And since we are on the subject, I just have to say that James Dobson and his "Focus on the Family" crew preach hatred. They use Jesus' name to spread bigotry and fear under the guise of doing God's work. You wanna talk about evil? Why don't you stop looking at a peaceful group of people getting together for some healthy social interaction, and start looking at that crazy group of people that are actively trying to tear this country apart each and every day. THAT'S EVIL!

Gay Guy in Seminary Day 110 (Lessons and Carols)

First off, I need to apologize to any SFTFers; I realize this picture is not from this year's Lessons and Carols, but I wanted to show what the inside of Stewart Chapel looks like. The music was really good. Anyone in the area for a Lessons and Carols weekend should stop by and check it out.

So glad that it's Friday. I somehow finished the Old Testament paper and made it through another Hebrew quiz. I've kind of been slacking off on the Hebrew, but I crammed over the last few days, so I think I may be pretty much up to speed. It's not perfect, but if I keep up with it EVERY DAY, then I should be back to where I was a few weeks ago.

I watched Amazing Grace with Faith tonight. Amazing movie! (no pun intended) It's about the abolition movement in England. A nice period piece if you're into that kind of thing, but it's a lot more than that for those of you who are not. Whiled the night away paling Magic with Tom. Now gotta get to bed so I can start my 10 page Sacred and the Substance paper tomorrow O_o

Gay Guy in Seminary Day 109 (How Close is Too Close?)

We had our fourth poetry night today. Here is one of the pieces that I performed:

How Close Is Too Close?

Have you ever had a fly,

Actually fly into your eye?

Like, actually into your eye?

And before you realize it,

Your eyelids are closing around it like a Venus flytrap,

And it’s stuck in there,

Way too close for you to see it,

And it hurts!

And at first, you’re in denial about it,

Because, really, how often does a fly,

Actually fly into your eye?

And then you start to freak out because you think it might actually be moving around in there!

And, when you finally manage to get it out of your eye,

And you look at its tiny mangled body on the tip of your finger,

You realize,

You did that.

You caught a fly with your eye.

There’s a woman in Eastern Europe that will actually lick your eye for you.

She’s known throughout the region as a healer.

If you get something in your eye,

You can visit this woman,

And she will lick it out for you.

With her tongue!

She’ll brush her teeth first,

Gargle,

Rinse it out real good with water,

But after that she’ll get right up in there with her tongue,

And lick your eyeball!

And, I bet while she’s doing that,

You won’t really be able to see her tongue all that well.

She said that the strangest thing she’s ever licked out of someone’s eye was an apple peel.

So it was kind of like having a snack at the same time.

A wise person told me that you can’t figure out shape of the ocean by sitting on the beach,

But there’s something to be said for sitting on the beach,

Because books can’t tell you everything.

Because, when someone asks you about the beach,

You need to be able to tell them about the salty sea spray,

And you need to be able to tell them about the warm sand between your toes,

And the roaring thunder of the crashing waves,

And how sometimes at night,

At the right time of year,

When those waves crash,

They crash glowing green,

With bioluminescent algae,

And it’s the most magical thing you’ve ever seen in your entire life.

You need to be able to tell people about that.

But, the ocean is huge!

It’s enormous!

You need to be miles above it to even begin to get an idea of what it’s shaped like.

You need to be an astronaut!

But, that’s an awfully far way to go when all you really need to do, is grab a map.

There’s a scene from the movie Clueless,

Where one of the characters is commenting on how pretty one of the girls is,

And another character tells him that she’s a total Monet,

Like the paintings,

From far away she looks good,

But up close, she’s a big old mess.

But when you’re that close to something,

You’re part of the mess.

So, you need to remove yourself from that mess,

From that tangled weave,

You need to work the shuttle backwards,

So you’re looming cloth into thread,

So you can separate the strings of yourself,

From the strings of what you’re not,

Because you can’t see the pattern when you’re part of the pattern.

And, you can’t fix the problem when you’re part of the problem.

You can’t watch TV when you have your face pressed up to the TV screen,

Because all you’ll be able to see is a random assortment of Where’s Waldo pixels,

And none of them are going to be wearing that red and white striped shirt,

And there won’t be an answer key in the back of the book telling you how to live your life.

You need to move back far enough so that you can use your magic eye to find the 3-D image hidden inside the fractal design,

Because life is just a bunch of 3-D images,

We’re just usually too close to notice.

Gay Guy in Seminary Day 108 (Semester's End)

There less than 3 weeks left in the semester and everything is coming to a head. There's papers due, and quizzes and tests galore. Today was somewhat productive. I did 4 loads of laundry and finally unloaded my car from the trip down south. I watched the new Margaret Cho DVD, Beautiful, and memorized the Hebrew vocabulary. It's not as much as I should have done, but considering it's me, I think I did pretty good!

Gonna keep it short, cuz there's more Hebrew to do. Night all!

Gay Guy in Seminary Day 107 (Strange Luck)

My professor for The Sacred & the Substance, his name is Ayize, class cancelled class the week before Thanksgiving because his friend committed suicide. I was feeling overloaded, so when I first heard class was cancelled, I got really excited, but when I heard why, it was really sad. I would much rather go to class and have his friend be alive.

I've only ever had 2 people die on me. The first was my Uncle Fred. He died of leukemia, probably because he spent most of his life smoking cigarettes. He wasn't really my uncle; he was married to my mother's cousin, but he was more of an uncle to me than any of my actual uncles. That was really hard because it was the first death I ever really experienced. I've never forgiven myself for not visiting him in the hospital when he was sick, but it freaked me out too much to go there.

The second was my friend Jeremy who committed suicide earlier this year. That hit me really hard because even though I wasn't really that close to him, I'm really close to many members of his family and I'll always remember him a little boy with a baseball cap and deep dimples. He had so much potential. He was only 17 and he had his whole life ahead of him. He was in the band and on the wrestling team. He had a huge family that loved him. I don't think anyone saw it coming. I don't know if I'll ever get over this death.

So, when I heard Ayize's friend, it made me really sad. We had class today, but we only stayed for about an hour because Ayize was obviously having a really hard week. He proceed to tell us in a half-joking manner that his standards have dropped really low as far as grading, which of course is understandable. He still wants us to do our final projects, but he is more concerned about us getting what we wanted to get out of the class, which is cool. But, I'd rather have him grade us harder and have his friend be alive.