Autobiographical Playlist

I have decided to explore my musical roots. I love music. I even love all kinds of music. However, I don't have a "but." By that I mean that I don't like any music but . . . I merely like all styles of music. I transition without a problem from rock to rap, country to classical, folk to pop, indie to mainstream, worship to electronic dance. My playlists normally involve such a wide variety of songs they are hard to name. I decided to create a playlist exploring my musical growth from a cloistered beginning to my current tastes. What were the themes and styles which I moved through during my life. It will be an exciting and unusual playlist. From my childhood days of Patch the Pirate to my current appreciation for As I Lay Dying. Maybe when I finish, I will share the list on the blog. You should all try to create a developmental playlist from childhood on up. Maybe you will find some old classics.

Language

I spend a lot of time reading for my Master's study. And recently, I have been amazed at the wonder of language and writing. When the scope of what writing truly means captures my thoughts, I am struck by the power of simple things. In basic form, writing is merely a system of patterns to which we have ascribed meaning. Small marks, inscribed on paper, seem so insignificant. But with just 26 unique marks, the world is set on fire. With those letters grouped together to form words, the human mind begins to create. In various sequences and number, authors of many kinds have recorded thoughts for thousands to share. With words, simple in form, one person can capture and share thoughts and concepts. These miscellaneous markings paint pictures and images. The language as written can transmit knowledge and spark emotion. Lives are ruined and the course of history changed with phrases, books, articles, and essays. So much of life flows from that which has been written. All of this from 26 symbols which capture semi unique sounds. Now from this concept, imagine the songs and poems, stories and sonnets which will be possible in a perfect heaven with God's language. What worship and praise, what emotion and glory will be heard and seen. If this world is a dim and blurry image of what can be, should not language and its power share the same suppression. And thus in heaven, those who love to write, will have all eternity to explore the potential of a perfect language unhindered by our current restraints. How about that?

Abbreviated Analysis About Apple

Well returning to school (albeit online) has proved to be detrimental to my ability to blog.  Moving as well has crimped any available time.  However, I had promised to post my reasons for my decision to never purchase an Apple product. After completing a 12 page paper, I have decided to at least write the shortened version of this post. Perhaps someday when time is freely available (will we blog in heaven?) I will write the extended version. So without much ado, here is a list of the major reasons that I will not purchase an Apple product.

1. Price-As my wife will tell you, I am frugal. As anyone can tell you, Apple products are expensive. So naturally, this makes sense. However the point goes further. Since Apple carefully protects where their product is sold, they also carefully control the cost. You will not often find new Apple products on sale. And in most every case imaginable, I can obtain a similar (if not better) product for a much cheaper price.
2. Accessories-Go ahead, pick up an ipad or an iphone. Then try to see if any item from any other company will work with that machine. Sorry. If you want to connect anything with the ipad you will need specifically designed accessories (see Price). Likewise, my phone is wondeful in that I can insert and manage my media with a SD card. Never will you find any memory card slot on an Apple product. They just don't trust you or anyone else.
3. Software-Basically, there is only one approved place to get Apple software and only a certain collection of individuals making software for Apple products. While this isn't wrong, I greatly prefer a product in which there is extensive competition because everyone is allowed to make and offer software choices (see Price).
4. Adaptability- I am somewhat of a geek. I like to open my computer from time to time and mess with stuff. I like to buy a computer and keep it for 10 years because I update and upgrade it. This is why I have a dislike for laptops as well. However, any Apple product is "as is." Don't mess with it ever. They come across as cute little computers but really all they are saying is "Don't touch anything." As technology progresses and everything gets smaller, I guess that I will have to get better or let this go. But not yet.
5. "i"-I believe this stands for such things as "illuminati" or "imperious." Is there really a need for such repitition? (Yes I dislike the "Mc"whatever as well)

Excessive Information

It seems, as I have wandered the wide world of blogging, that there is an abundance of material and a dearth in meaningful material.  It brings to mind the history of publication and written information.  That point at which a person’s writings could be instantly read by millions of people across the globe should have been a dramatic event historically.  Yet we view such activities as normal and ordinary in this day and age of abundant information.

It once was a special talent to be able to inscribe such information as you saw fit.  Thus, only those writings so deemed important were written down for history to have.  However, there was a breakthrough with the advent of type set printing. Though this was tedious in many aspects, it allowed for multiple copies of a work without much additional labor.

Since then, printing became more advanced.  We saw typewriters and then computers which could hold and manage large amounts of written work.  Yet still, publication of writing was a prize worth seeking and only those works deemed competent were published.

Yet today, the internet and the web log (blog) have transformed that which was once sacred.  The mere fact that my writing is here and you are partaking of said inscription is a testament of historical significance.  Yet no amount of energy will proceed to celebrate such a feat.

Now the world is replete with an abundance of information which has little or no value (though value is but the worth which we place upon an object or piece of information).  So many today are able to enumerate immense amounts of material which says very little of significance.  I also have now spent some bit of time pronouncing nothing of worth.

While all this may be true, the important idea to remember is this.  Our time and our energy are numbered.  We must seek therefore to espouse those causes, and research those ideas which are pertinent, powerful, or prolific for that which is profitable.  In so doing, we will ensure that though we may not accomplish everything, we may offer our sincerest efforts to accomplish what is possible.

That being said, I must confess that I will strive, as I blog, to provide such writings as may be found helpful, encouraging, or pointed.

Always remember, not all that is eloquent is of any value and not all that is helpful is eloquent.  Search and strive at all times to focus on what is true and what is good (Galatians 6). 

Good Foundations?

I have noticed recently an alarming reality in my life.  It is a pattern that may well spread to other people, though I haven't spent time doing any searching.  The fact is that all of my bad personality traits are built upon a foundation of my good traits.  Confused?  Well this is what I have noticed.  My personality and skill set would tend towards the following characteristics.

1. Methodical
2. Even tempered
3. Unaffected by negativity around me or towards me
4. Detail focused and driven
5. Somewhat intelligent
6. Confident
7. Cautious
8. Etc.

Most of those things are beneficial and helpful for my life and I have structured the shape of my future plans around using those skills to glorify God.  However, the struggles with sin and my bad traits come from an extension of all of those good traits.  I could be termed insensitive, arrogant, condescending, unfriendly, not interested in other people, unloving, etc.  I find that I have to work every day to temper and overcome the sinful desires to "be myself."  I seek my own pleasure and that usually means fulfilling my own personality towards my own comfort.  I have just now realized (far too late) that I must be conscious of who I am, so I can consciously act properly in a tempered way.  Why can I not naturally be in perfect balance?  Why can't my good traits end where they turn bad without my daily focus?  Maybe in another 30 years or more, I will get it all worked out.