Here, have some Jesus...

Today is cold and rainy, but despite this fact, the Bible Hander Outer Guys(BHOGs from here on out) were out in full force at 8 am. On my way to class, I was too tired and grumpy to really give it too much thought. I was also too busy quoting Nobody's Fool with my roommate as we walked(we watched it last night...great flick...Paul Newman R.I.P.) On my way home from class, however, I really started to ponder the BHOGs. Some questions came to mind.

1. "What is your conversion rate?" In essence, how many people actually agree to take your free miniature bible(Please note, they are really only handing out the New Testament....so it's like half a bible)? Of those people, how many do you think aren't already practicing Christians? Of those people, how many do you think don't intend to just deface or throw away on principle, your free tome of salvation? So of the remaining bible accepters who aren't Christian and won't deface/throw it away, how many of them do you think will actually read it? Of those left, how many will think, "Golly gee! I've never heard of this Jesus character. I can't believe he died for my sins, and all I have to do to reap the rewards is to just believe in him! How have I never heard of this before?" I'm guessing we're probably down to zero at this point. I can't imagine that somebody has made it out of high school without somebody already attempting to push religion onto them(parents, friends, "youth" groups, etc.)

2. "Do you happen to have any copies of the Quran or the Bhagavat Gita in that bag of yours?" The answer is going to be no, of course. I then wonder if they've ever even considered reading either of those books. These BHOGs were all in their 50s at least, and I would bet money that none of them have or ever would. I picture them telling me that Christianity is the one true religion or something like that. Faith is a funny thing. You really can't truly believe in something if you have never once called its truth into question. I would have much greater respect for Christians in general if they all had, at some point in their life, turned their back on their faith or studied an alternative religion or two. Spend a year studying Islam, you might find that there really is nothing in the Quran that says Allah wants you to kill Americans and hate freedom. To sum up with a metaphor, how can you know that Harry Potter is better than Lord of the Rings if you've only read Harry Potter?

3. "Do you think this is the best way to spread your message?" Basically, by handing somebody a book, you're hoping they'll read it, find it relevent to their interests, have questions, go to church, and become Christian. That seems like a stretch to me. Granted, it's a better approach than the guy who comes to campus every now and then and tells everyone they're going to hell. That's not missionary work, it's a spectacle in the name of the Lord. The BHOGs are at least polite and nonconfrontational.

Please note, the author was raised Catholic, stopped going in middle school, started going again in high school and baptized nondenominational Christian, stopped going in college, briefly became Mormon(again baptized), and is currently non-religious. Author has also studyed all 3 major religions through college coursework and some of the lesser ones as well(buddhism, hinduism, native american religion, etc).

Questions regarding Elliot Smith

1. Do we listen to Elliot Smith because we are depressed, or does listening to Elliot Smith make us depressed? *

2. Is Elliot Smith's music depressing on its own, or does the fact that Elliot Smith stabbed himself in the chest two times to commit suicide make it more depressing to listen to?

I suppose we'll never know. Anybody listen to his stuff before he killed himself? I have only recently discovered his music, so I can't help.

Regardless, its probably not the best thing to listen to following a breakup.

*With apologies and much respect to Nick Hornby.

Don't Read This Blaugh...

So it seems to me that there may be an insurmountable conflict of interest for a lot of people who decide to start blawgging.

Goal #1: I want an anonymous forum through which I can write my deepest of deep thoughts without fear of judgement from people I know.

Goal #2: I want SOMEBODY to read my deepest of deep thoughts, and without telling people I know about my blawg, this will likely never happen.

I suppose if you're really HONESTLY only writing for yourself and you don't care if anybody reads it, then an actual diary, or a Word document would work fine. Then there are the people who write really damn awesome things and are so proud of them(and rightly so) that they are then faced with the decision of whether or not to go public and drop the anonymity entirely. This then changes the nature of their blohg and immediately causes censorship of those things you are not ready to admit to your friends.

The decision I have to make is thus: Do I have any deep thoughts that I actually think are worth writing and releasing into the wild? Do I want anonymity and only random readership(otherwise known as "no readership")? Do I want to allow friends into my little world and be forced to hold back on those things that I don't really want anybody to know?

And most importantly is this: Will I really keep posting in this thing, or will I neglect it and forget it exists within a month like I did with my last blarg?

Ah, decisions. What do YOU think, nonexistent readers?*

*(If you actually are reading this, I am in no way implying that you do not exist.)

For starters...

So I have no idea what inspired me to start a "blawg", but here it is, and until I decide to think of something to write, I'll just refer you elsewhere.

My new favorite webcomic is called XKCD: A Webcomic of Romance, Sarcasm, Math, and Language. It is utterly hilarious and often a frighteningly accurate portrayal of how my own mind works sometimes. I'll warn you that some of the jokes contained within have to do with very advanced math and computer programming. I would guess that 1 in 5 of the strips have some sort of mathematical concept or obscure geek inside joke that prevent me from fully appreciating the intended humor. 1 in 1o strips are so far above my head that I don't get any of the humor. That is ok though, I would say that 7 or 8 out of 10 are mostly understandable by the average intelligent person who has a college degree.

They update 3 times a week and so far, have published 488 cartoons. I recommend starting at #1 and working your way up to present, as many of them reference previous jokes.

You may find yourself alone and laughing out loud, just so you know.

Go here to start at #1. Or you can just go to the homepage and decide for yourself how to proceed.

Word.