Osama Wants You!

Poe War

I found a really good site that deals with writing techniques and tools. I'm reading through it slapping my forehead at the brilliance of the exercises. The tips and activities that it suggests are really helpful. I'm really trying to get through this book that I'm writing, so any resource can be very helpful. Here's the site: http://www.poewar.com/

The Blessed X - Renewed

Muhahahahaha! I've done it! The Blessed X isn't annoying looking anymore. It's actually readable! Go over there and take a look. Click Here

Latest

This is what I've been up to lately. Below I've listed the hook for my book. It's a small excerpt from it, but I didn't want to list the entire thing for all to see without copyrights. I'm sorry that I haven't posted in forever. There's just been no motivation to do so for some reason. Anyway, let me know what you think mom.


My dear friend, I’ve undertaken to write to you and others like you in answer to all your questions. My silence isn’t changing the mail I’ve been receiving, nor is it helping me to move from place to place, they still find me, so I’m going to write to you answering all your questions once and for all. I plan to be as descriptive as possible and tell the story exactly as it happened. I’ve also included with this letter my journal entries from the time. Use them and my writings however you need.
My sincere hope is that you and others will stop asking me questions concerning what happened up there in Chochokpi. This should quell the curiosity.
-Michael



I was sitting at the top of a hill overlooking my small town beneath. The town of Chochokpi had been my home for three years. It was small and quiet, removed from the rest of the world cradled in the Rocky Mountains. Fog settled in every morning, which is why it was named Chochokpi meaning “throne for the clouds” in Native American Hopi language. One could only reach the town by one road or by air. I liked it for its seclusion and for its modest population just over two thousand. True, it was one of those towns where everybody knew everybody else, but I managed to stay out of that loop for the most part. I kept to myself except for a few friends. People noticed my reserved nature, but treated me with kind hellos nonetheless.
I looked down at my blank notepad and then back toward the town. I was a writer. My first novel had been published, unfortunately. Initially, it left me star-struck with the notion that I had natural talent for writing. I decided I wouldn’t have any trouble getting another book published, but I was wrong. It’s like going to Vegas and winning your first time. From that point on, you think you can win and spend more than you should when you go back. I’d submitted over a hundred pitches since my first book, but I didn’t hit a jackpot. My will waned as I watched my once robust earnings drain from my bank account. I would need to find work soon if I didn’t get published, so I kept searching for ideas.
The sun had set and a calm breeze filled the air. It was late autumn. Dusk brought with it the orange and pink painted sky accented by its glowing reflection off the treeless, snow capped peaks around the town. The mountains really could boast of its small towns and their beauty. It was here that I settled after the book signings and fame drove me away from the California coast. I was twenty-six when I moved here.
My perch was on a pronounced cliff that jutted out of the bowl the town was settled in, just about a mile behind my house through the woods and above the tree line.
The lights throughout the town were on and gaining more visibility with each darkening second, but as light drained from the sky and the stars began to show more prominently I noticed the lights in the city stop casting light.

November 22 2:30am

Tonight I had a lapse in consciousness and as far as I can tell, it was a significant amount of time. One moment I was looking over my town and the next I was knocked backward while a flash of light flooded the sky. That’s the last thing I remembered till I woke up. The breeze had been warm and calm, but when I came to, I noticed that it was cold and whipping at my face. When I moved, my joints cracked and popped. It was apparent that I’d been lying there for hours. I feel sick to my stomach even now. I stumbled back down through the woods and to my house, almost throwing up two or three times. I’ll keep a bucket near my bed tonight. I’ll think about all this in the morning.

News

Hey, check out The Blessed X (http://www.theblessedx.com) for an update. Right now we're in Denver, Colorado.

DUNT FARGETT UBOUT APOLOGETICS!!

First and foremost, don't forget to come to Apologetics on Wednesday. Everyone that is a Christian is welcome. We'll be discussing whether baptism is required for salvation.

Today I taught Sunday school. I did a lesson on the Messianic prophecies from the Old Testament. I put together a power point presentation for it, which kept me on task. That's good and bad. I was planning on using this one lesson for two weeks, but because I stayed so on task, I finished the whole thing. It's alright, however, because I'm planning on expounding upon Daniel chapter 9 verse 20 and following by popular request. I only had about ten minutes to cover it and it's a hefty section. So, I'll do a power point for it by itself.

In other news, college classes are coming to an end next week and I'm finished with all the work for one of the online courses. I had to write a survival guide at 1,200 words. I simply sat down and did it all yesterday. So, all I have to do now are my German classes and my communication class. That's good, because next week will require me to spend a considerable amount of time planning my Sunday school lesson. No problem, because I love doing it. It won't be terribly easy though. I have German class on Tuesday, apologetics on Wednesday (YES!!), German class on Thursday, and Friday must be spent with my family. So, Monday and Saturday will be busy.

Well, I need to go help my little wife put together a Cobb salad for lunch tomorrow and the next day. Take care all. Thanks and good night.

Libertarian=Revolutionary

German class, Communication class, and Information Technology class are coming to an end next week. It's so sad, but I'm looking forward to it. It's been a lot of work losing two nights a week. I'll immediately be starting up two new classes with Axia (University of Phoenix), but I'll have more time for those classes without two nights a week taken up by them. So, I'm excited to finish German. I'm also excited about my two Axia colleges being completed because I'll have six units done in only nine weeks. That's really awesome. The time went by really quick.

So, I confronted my co-worker on his disappointed hinting concerning my vacation. He apologized for how he came off and insisted that he didn't mean for me to take it that way. I believe him, because it's difficult to tell if he's joking a lot of the time.

In other news, Maggie and I went out to dinner with Mike last night. It was a lot of fun and he and I ended up talking about his ideal form of government. He claims to be a libertarian. In my view, libertarians are idealists whose concepts cannot be looked upon seriously as far as our country's government goes. I say this because the ideas they promote are revolutionary--not revolutionary in a good way. I mean that it would actually take a revolution for the libertarians to do what they'd like to do. It's fun to speculate, but ultimately impractical in the reality we're faced with. We have to look to changing the system we have through its own channels and avenues lest we become anti-Americans advocating the downfall of our government and the drafting of a new constitution. Our work is slow, but bloodless.

Anyway, that's all for now. Thank you and good night.

Vacation Is A Right

So, we (Maggie, me, and her parents) are going in June, from the 23rd to the 3rd of July, out to Oklahoma. We'll be visiting Maggie's uncle in Haskell. Unfortunately, he's been diagnosed with multiple forms of cancer. He's enduring chemo therapy right now. We've been challenged in many ways. First, we wanted to arrive during a time when he would be in good health and able to visit; that turned out to be every other week. Second, we needed someone to watch Sandie. Nobody could do it, but we found out that Maggie's sister Becky was coming out and staying at her parent's house, so we asked if she could watch her. She's able, but will be leaving two days before we get back. That's as of yet unresolved, but I'm sure we'll figure something out. Finally, there was my co-worker.

He wasn't really a challenge, but a small trial. I put in for time off during the same days that two other co-workers put in for. Unfortunately for them, I put in for the approximate time I'd need to be off a month and a half ago, I requested officially before they did, and I have senority over both of them. One of the guys wasn't really worried. He got one of his days off, but not the other. He didn't think it was a big deal. The other guy, however, didn't seem alright about it. Now, he never said anything directly, but he hinted that he was quite inconvenienced by my move to take the time off over him.

Alright, now it's my time to rant. It has been four years since my last more-than-a-weekend vacation. Four years ago I had a honeymoon in Catalina. I took off something around two weeks. It was awesome and memorable. I haven't felt so relaxed as I felt walking around Catalina with my new wife so far from work. So, four years without taking more than five days away from work has passed and not quickly. I'm finally taking this opportunity, although an opportunity that is less than desirable because of Maggie's uncle's cancer, but still an opportunity to have a vacation. We're spending a week touring the country between here and there, visiting with family, and then touring the country between here and there till we get back.

I think that a vacation is much deserved and I refuse to feel badly about taking time off for it. I've been working at my job a year longer than the next in senority from me. I get treated like a dirty, sweaty sock all the time and now it's time for me to take a break from it. I'm going to be a refreshing sock that's just come out of the dryer and smells like Bounce. So, if anyone else feels the need to place a damper on our vacation, go suck on a jelly dohnut covered with ants. No one's going to make me feel bad for indulging once in four years.
Thanks for your time and have a good night.

-Sometimes it takes work to relax-

Discussion Question

My online college classes ask me to write out discussion questions, so, of course, I do. I decided that I'd share one of my answers with you here. It's got a funny little story in it that you might enjoy.

The question: How would you describe your personal style of learning (how you learn best)?

When I was young, my teachers thought I was a very difficult student. I recently shared in the Com 120 forum about my kindergarten teacher. She called a meeting with my parents because I was performing poorly in school. During the meeting, my parents found themselves sitting at a little children’s table with the teacher. My parents were, like most parents, very unconditionally loving. The words that they needed to hear would not be easy to swallow, but they didn’t hear the words they needed to hear. The teacher, prefacing with the words, “I don’t know how else to say this,” dropped a bomb on my parents when she said, quite brazenly, “Your son is stupid.” The comment hit my dad like a firecracker was under his twelve inch tall chair. He stood up in a fury so quickly that he nearly flipped the children’s table over. Now, even though I wasn’t there, I have a great picture in my mind of what went on. My parents eventually told me the story and what was said. My dad first pointed at her and told her, “You don’t know what you’re talking about!” then, pointing to the chalk board where the word “Febuary” was written, he yelled again, saying, “You don’t even know how to spell February! Don’t call my son stupid. You’re the one that’s stupid!” After his remarks, the teacher stood quite adamantly and sought out her dictionary while arguing that “Febuary” really is the correct spelling of “February.” She was ultimately proven wrong.

So, why do I tell this story? I tell it because, though that teacher would have never thought it, I wound up with the ability to learn. My parents were very involved in my schooling. They moved me to a better school. I never showed up to school without my homework. I was forced to study for tests. I was made to read and even came to enjoy it. And I emerged from being a disinterested floater to become a proactively interested learner.

I don’t remember whether it came from a tutor, a teacher, or a parent, but I do know that I picked up a great concept along the way: the only way I could learn was to make myself interested. I could have easily been slapped with ritalin as an attention deficit child. I couldn’t carry on conversation very well. I couldn’t stop moving. And I was just plain annoying. But, I eventually changed and gained an understanding of how to control and even channel my energy and attention. I took up writing and won a few awards and continue to write today. I love to read everything from fun fiction to in depth informational journals and books. I even enjoy reading and researching history and people for fun. So, I believe the question asked was how I’d say I learn best and my answer would be just as I said. Finding that point in literature that peaks my curiosity, like the tremendous amount of thought behind a sonnet; or discovering the small and intriguing elements of history, like an unscathed George Washington with bullet holes through his clothing; or the biology lessons on how simple yet complex the nature of a cell actually was; those things gave me that much needed interest and led me to a yearning to learn more. I’m glad to have figured out such a wonderful technique and I continue to use it today.

Good, Quick Read

I was reading Alton Gansky's blog, which gets read by me more frequently than any other internet spot, and I followed a link he provided. It led me to a site featuring the writings of a Garrison Keillor, a writer previously unknown to me. I was very entertained and even provoked to thought. I'd recommend you read it as well.

Educationes

I've become a full time student at the University of Phoenix. I'm due to receive my Associate's degree in June of next year. I'm heading for a Business Management degree. I should have my bachelor's degree by 2009. I haven't looked into my master's or PhD yet though.
The classes I'm taking are 100% online. There is no physical classroom to speak of; talk about how far technology has come. I simply log in and all my class materials, assignments, and everything is right there. This makes it especially nice if I ever have to go away on vacation or something, because my curriculum and everything is always accessible from any computer. We communicate through a forum with each assignment given its own thread.
I'm still taking two German classes at VVC, which is challenging. My teacher, however, is working with me to make it much easier. I'm glad I haven't dropped the classes because I have too much fun with my classmates.
Today I've been working on my assignments almost all day. My brain's about ready to explode. So fun.

BL-X

The Blessed X is ACTIVE.

My friend and I were talking about an annoying administration of fear technique he's seen used to convey the gospel message: the fear of burning hell is used to convey the urgency of salvation. He also mentioned that a certain arrogance was a deterrent. Now, from my experience, some Christians forget how they sound to those that are not Christians.You might ask, "So, just answer the question. Is there really this burning hell that all non-believers go to if they simply choose not to think that your Christianity is right?"Let me be upfront: the answer is yes. There is... (Click Here to Read the Whole Blessed X Article)

Apologetics Apologies

It's been so long since our last apologetics. I posted on The Blessed X. Go read it.

I keep getting emails detailing the pathetic hit count on the site. Take a look:

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The Blessed X

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Pathetic...that was an accurate descriptor, wasn't it? Well, my master plan is to stoke the apologetics fire and build it back up again. I posted over there at the Bl-X and gave some thoughts concerning it. I want to pay more attention to that site, since it is built to equip Christians.

It's a tough thing, keeping up on a site like that. If it had more contributors, I think it'd be better. Posting something of meaning there involves study and work. I give thoughts backed with scripture and that takes time to find. I often start with a thought that I know is a biblical principle, but don't know where my supportive evidence for that thought is, and then I go find that evidence in the scriptures. It winds up taking a lot of time. It's fun and helps my walk, but it's almost impractical to think of posting at least every other day. Without the misery of college and it's accompanying homework, I'd be more apt to go about such an undertaking.

Anyhow, go take a look. Leave some thoughts if you have any.

A Post In German Für Praxis and for Fun

Ich war krank am Dienstag und Mittwoch mit die Grippe. Es war nicht so gut. Ich war im das Bad alle fünf minuten. Gestern Abend hatte ich meiner deutsche Klasse, und ich ging nach Hause früh. Ich denke, daß ich zu viel meines Abendessens aß. Nach jeder mahlzeit ich fühle zu voll. Ich glaube dass ich werde erbrechen. Ich sprach mit meiner Schwester Leah und sie sagte, daß sie hat demselben gefühlt. Das war schlimm.

Ich beschloß, auf Deutsch zu schreiben weil ich Praxis benötige. Genießen Sie!

If you can't read German, go here, paste, and translate. It may not be a perfect translation, but you'll get the idea.

Luther

I just finished watching Luther and I was impressed. Generally speaking, when a movie that hits so close to the truth of God is made, it usually doesn't stack up for quality. The Left Behind movie for example: poor acting that makes you feel a little bit sorry for the struggling movie makers and the actors trying to act. It was embarrassing.

The movie, however powerful, was not meant as a vessel for the gospel. Rather, it was meant to tell a story that changed the world forever. It just so happens that the gospel is brilliantly displayed through the recounting of these historical events.

You probably already know the story of Martin Luther and the inspiration created by him that spurred the Protestant Reformation. His 95 Thesis sparked a fire that led to radical change. It not only worked out and into the reformation, but also led Luther to undergo a translation of the Bible into the language of the common man: German. This breakthrough allowed each individual the ability to read God's word and also set the standard for German language.

The movie's sets, costumes, and acting were beautifully done. The entire movie keeps you focused on the story and characters, without embarrassing you while watching. It remains captivating and intriguing throughout.

I highly recommend this movie to anyone appreciative of history, a great story, and the Christian faith. I'd also recommend it to Catholics, who, unfortunately, sometimes fall prey to a lack of knowledge about their church history.

Infirmity

A soar throat and a clogged head. I stayed in my chair under a blanket nearly all day. I didn't write, but that's okay. I'm afraid that if I had, it would have suffered from the disconnected head feeling I have. During my day I watched Tommy Boy, Underworld, and Transporter 2. I hope taking all this down time will get me feeling better more quickly. Maggie mentioned that her throat was hurting...I really hope she doesn't come down with it too.

Written Words

It is a good feeling when you finally get past a hang up in your writing. I was stumped when I came to how my main character would discover the remnants of antediluvian colonists, and then once he discovered them, why were they the way they were.

I'm actually bringing back pieces of my first large writing of the Nefroidak story, which I trashed long long ago. Unfortunately, Maggie had read the entire thing, and marked all kinds of corrections and made suggestions. She was a little annoyed when I decided against that whole story line.

It's interesting that I'm coming full circle. In that storyline I had originally had the character become stranded on a planet, doomed to be invaded, with a people that had no concept of war and were lacking in technology. He was charged with teaching these people, very quickly, how to fight for themselves. That story line changed and morphed until I changed everything for the sake of flow. It became a detour and detracted from the rest of the story and warranted being dropped--a difficult decision for a writer.

However, I've expanded on my ideas and have given the overall concept serious thought. It's taken months of mulling over ideas and scenarios, and has actually been approximately five years since I wrote the original stranded on the planet storyline, but I think I'm decided on returning to that concept with some better directed alterations. I've also made the decision to write a series of books instead of just one large one. This will make it much simpler to convey every aspect of the storyline.

It's funny, because originally, I wrote this in first person, but have since, based off the recommendation of Aaron, changed to third person. I don't write from the perspective of omniscient third person however. I like the reader to wonder the same things as the main character and discover through his eyes. So, I've kept the personal structure that I had, but at least I'm not as limited when it comes to details.

I realize that I've shared some things here that are pretty major portions of the first book, but I don't think I've revealed enough to spoil it. I think it may take a trip to the dictionary to look up antediluvian. Even then, I don't think that knowledge will spoil it for you. Let's just say that I'm planning to write about Christianity and it's place in a society that's forgotten about it way off in the future.

Pray for me that the writing continues to flow. For now, I'm off to bed.

Happy New Year!

It's a rare time, the new year, when usually stubborn people are willing to self examine. It's called, "New Year's Resolutions"; the most common of these resolutions being a diet--one that I'm partial to. However, one great resolution would be to start taking faith in Jesus Christ more seriously. It's a time when people might be a little more open to conversation and the gospel. It's an opportunity to start making a difference for God.

This last year has been full of ups and downs. Honestly, I'm positive that this year won't be any easier, but maybe I've been letting my attitude down and allowing things, people, and circumstances a little too much power in my life. The new year is like a second chance, a new beginning. Not really a change, just a number and a fresh set of months, but people's minds make it feel like a change. We hold it up in celebration and then carry out these strange promises to ourselves and others that we're going to break habits that have followed us for months and years. Unfortunately, the failure rate brings discouragement and many don't realize that it takes a continual attempt after attempt to truly accomplish what they've set out to do.

Well, don't lose heart. Look to Jesus Christ, our strength. I really mean this. Read your Bible like you mean it, pray with your attention to Him, and live out what He's teaching you. The New Year's resolution is inherently weak. It's not done because Jesus has changed you, but out of ritual. I do believe, however, that it can be a starting point, a groundwork that opens us up for true inspiration to change.