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StudBoy
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Name: Crispin
Country: United States
State: California
Metro: Bay Area
Birthday: 2/12/1982
Gender: Male
Interests: Do any of us truly have hobbies? I used to be able to fill this space when I was younger. Now I find that I, and others, do not have hobbies. It is a perceived lack of time, me thinks. We are habitually hobbying laziness and wasting of time. Such wretches are we.
Expertise: I am a writer of second-rate children's books which makes me an handsome living at present.
Occupation: Artist
Industry: Art
Message: message me
AIM:  RousasWgnr
Member Since:
6/14/2003
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| Upon reflection of an article by Zoran Zivkoric on a comparison of short stories by Sir Arthur C. Clarke, I came to a perhaps somewhat cliched idea about human nature. Sir Arthur is, Zivkoric claims, a great creator of stories which anthropomorphize alien beings with the hope of offering them as mirrors for human action and thought. In fact, I believe Zivkoric is quite correct, and the examples: "Report on Planet Three," "Crusade," and "History Lesson" - with the addition of "A Meeting with Medusa," the short story about which I am writing my final paper for ENGL101 - are apt in illustrating this point. My epiphany (a word which was explained in a recent episode of the TV series "Family Guy" as being NOT just a name black people give their children) was coupled with Zivkoric's article and the off-hand remark of a friend over the week-end.
Clarke's essential hope is that mankind will take from his stories that they are not the end-all of the universe. He believes, as a strict evolutionarian, that Earth and her inhabitants are accidents of birth, not the reasons for which the universe exists. As a Christian, and (I hope) a scholar, I humbly disagree with his premises while wholeheartedly agreeing with his conclusion that, in fact, mankind is NOT the end all of the created universe - God is. More specifcally, God's glory is the end-all and purpose of the universe. In so illustrating this, Clarke reminds us that alien or human, we are all products of our conditions and presuppositions - things which though were are cognizant of, we can hardly be blamed for carrying. All too often, the human being is less thinking and more feeling or reacting - of this sad fact, we are alike guilty.
My friend pointed out Saturday night that among the group of males present in my home, there was one, Nathan, who was youngest of us all - a whole ten years younger than me. We all groaned at the confrontation his naive youth grants us of our wasted, or perhaps more charitably, past youth. It struck me then that each person, so incredibly different from the man standing next to him, was simply a creation which soaked up the intricate conditions under which it grew. And their activites that evening - all of the time, really - represent these conditions and systems of belief in amazingly beautiful and diverse ways. Even those things which grate against my nerves - which are nearly numberless - are simplistically alluring and beautiful. Yet, I feel, as any real human must, anger and frustration and even something bordering on hate towards those around me. Clarke, as well as the off-hand remark by my friend, brought to my attention that these feelings - while at times justified by the actions of others, heartless and cruel - are of my own creation. They are choices in feeling - in acting, which I have made and chosen to be the lens through which I live and I see. It is only by a concious new choice that I can look at things others do and be content and removed and thankful. Common grace is not passed out by God alone - He imbued it in us, and we owe it to our fellow men to be charitable and understanding.
Zivkovic, Zoran. "The Motif of First Contact." The New York Times Review of Science Fiction. 14.6 (2001).
(Available through interlibrary loan via electronic facsimile or your library may simply have a copy - interesting read.)
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These are the firstfruits of my garden this year. They're rather small, and the camera wasn't cooperating, so they're also out of focus. I planted all my pumpkins and gourds on Friday, as planned, 42 seeds all told. I'm not sure where I'm going to put them. I looked up the Campbell community garden, but it's full and apparently has a waiting list! I'm going to have to scrounge around the backyard.
I found this exhibit is at the San Jose Museum of Art, which I think is killer:
http://www.sjmusart.org/content/exhibitions/current/exhibition_info.phtml?itemID=369
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My brother decided to have a party which coincided with Laurey Johanson's birthday. This was Hawk's response to the invitation. | | |
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I always wanted to start a garden when I was little, and I think that I even tried a few times. However, I was quite lazy (and still am) when I was younger, and I found it to be loathsomely boring and hard to actually maintain a garden. This semester, though, was supposed to be a period of many changes. One of which was the fulfillment of childhood whims (going to the zoo, for instance, was such an event). The garden was a powerful whim, and probably the largest project of a whim that I ever had. I planted tomatoes, strawberries, snap peas, onions, leeks, lavender, rhubarb, and rosemary on the first day. All of these are doing quite well, and the first tomatoes and strawberries are starting to form on the vines. I planted watermelon seeds today, and pumpkins and gourds will come on Friday.
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As of last Sunday (roughly a week and a half ago), I was no longer drinking soda. I had cravings, literally, cravings that morning for a Diet Coke. Yes, yes, I drank Diet Coke for caffeine in the morning, instead of coffee. I went through withdrawals, too, in the few days following*, which is slightly disturbing since I didn't stop drinking caffeine, just soda of all kinds. I looked around my desk the other day and counted 30 empty or partially empty diet coke cans, and I decided that even if it did take over a week to accumulate that, I'm not home often enough to justify the existence of that many cans. Plus, I'd just rather not get brain cancer. So with the exception of Saturday night (dungeons and dragons with the guys - can't really not participate in the mandatory drinking of DP), I've been soda-less. I feel gobs more energetic and positive and less bloated, too (which was my main goal). Water and some juice has been my primary means of hydration, thus the picture. Although, my sister claims I'm single-handedly killing the environment through my excessive use of water bottles.
*My dad also made frozen hamburgers, since my mom is gone, which got us sick. I assuming that didn't help with the withdrawal pangs.
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