What’s Going On

While I’ve been ill, that doesn’t mean things stop happening. Life is like that, it moves on whether or not you think it should. Look around you at the small changes and events occurring without cease. They add up to a lot of things happening if you just open your eyes to them.

Oh and if your were expecting some Marvin Gaye, here he is and you don’t have to read any further:

Fantastic song from a tormented soul.

Now for what’s going on in my life.

I’m watching pixels resolve into letters on my new Asus VH236H monitor purchased from Rakuten.com (formerly Buy.com) on sale. While I still need to get the rebate printed, I’d be satisfied even if I forget to get that submitted. The change from a Samsung 16:10 21.6” screen to this 16:9 23” has been more dramatic than expected and it isn’t only the increase in resolution to 1920 x 1080. Contrast is much better and the real estate is making windowing apps much easier.

Oddly, even window moving is snappier on the Asus, there is no lag on doing anything. I read that this is the go to monitor for professional video game competitions – after making the purchase. The reason why is pretty obvious, this thing reminds me of the response times I used to get out of CRTs.

Made it to church yesterday thanks to drafting my father to drive. Stamina is not back to its relative norm and discomfort is still there. Somehow I made it through the first two meetings to teach Elders Quorum in Sunday School.

That was an experience. I’d prepared the lesson, but wasn’t sure how to execute it. There was a rough idea of what I wanted to focus on so I prayed and waited for inspiration from on high. Eventually, those prayers were answered… oh, about the time I was standing in front of the class.

I came to understand why I was to break the class up into small groups and ask them to speak of when they realizes they had been converted (fully realized their faith), but had to wait until near the end of the class. By the way, I am not a fan of such small discussion groups and consider it gimmickry in teaching. So it is always fascinating when the Holy Ghost shoves (not prompts) me to use that method.

What came out of this was a very spiritual half hour plus of testimony, comments, and one wonderful confession of faith that was very unexpected. This is why I teach by the Spirit. When one does, amazing things happen. Mind you, as a teacher you absolutely must know the material and be prepared in order to gain such assistance. Yet, in the end, the real instructor is the Holy Ghost and in my case, I learn so much from listening to His promptings and what they elicit from others.

On a much more mundane note, I’ve been slowly working on my next movie review. It will be a large one and requires brain cells firing to write, so progress slowed to a standstill this week. Likewise, the project intended to debut on the 14th doesn’t look like it will hit that mark unless I debut it in a very primitive form.

Being as sick as I have, time killing with minimum usage of the brain has been the order of the day. Lots of grinding through videogames that I already know well so I don’t get frustrated trying to solve mysteries or strategies has been part of it. Actually, it has made me fairly sick of video games, but I need to keep using them to gauge my alertness.

The other passive activity (love ironic contradictions) has been watching movies and catching up on one anime series. I’ve found out that I actually liked Time Burton’s take on Willy Wonka to my great surprise. Little Big Man has held up to the test of time. Japan’s Longest Day turned out to be thought provoking and a little more than upsetting.

However, it was an anime based off of a video game, Stein’s Gate, that got me through a lot of the misery. I’d been watching it off and on for a couple of months and enjoyed it as a science fiction time travel romp. Around the middle of the series it changes a great deal and went from light fun to something far more serious. With that transition, it also became better science fiction in exploring the consequences of meddling with events in time.

So very somber and emotional, the final parts of it were really extraordinary and I started berating the show. Why? Because if it ended well I had to buy it and I wasn’t planning to. Suffice it to say that volumes one and two are on their way to the house now. It is such a slow starter, but what a payoff.

The march on the civil rights of the American citizen continues in earnest with the Second Amendment under withering fire. Locally, Minnesota is in a competition with California to see who can have the most draconian anti-gun laws in the Union.

Meanwhile, the violence is still mostly coming from the left, with the latest example being a radical Democrat ex-cop murdering cops in California and being made into a folk hero by the media.

In contrast, the Pope is resigning, no joke. I admire his willingness to do what is right and it speaks to the humility of the man. He’s already being attacked in the media after the announcement. Signs of the times, I’m sad to say.

Rationality has gone out the window in our culture and I don’t see it making a comeback any time soon. We are simply so spoiled and without true hardship as a society that fantasy and theory are considered real. This is only possible in times of great wealth, but it is an autocorrecting problem. What goes up must come down, just like gravity. Such are the cycles of history.

I used to believe such things were preventable, but I no longer do. Human nature does not change, so no amount of knowledge or enlightenment can forestall the collective desire to go on gambler’s binges. Individuals can change and reform, but once it becomes a trait of the masses, that’s it then.

Understanding this takes a great deal of the sting out of living in times like this and definitely lowers the anger considerably. Unfortunately, it is considered unemotional and alien to view things dispassionately, so espousing macro views tends to elicit anger or bewilderment. As I age, I’m beginning to appreciate Mr. Spock more and more. My blood isn’t green yet, though.