Somebody, Somewhere

It's 1:15 on a Sunday night (or...Monday morning), and for some reason i find this night strangely and peculiarly different than most nights. I couldn't sleep. It was too hot, the hair on my legs kept twitching; they installed a new street light that protrudes itself into my oversized window. Maybe it was the coffee i drank right before i went to bed. Maybe it's the Oreos i'm eating now. Maybe, just maybe, this is all in my head, and in reality i am, indeed extremely tired, but dont want to admit that to myself, because admitting that means admitting weakness, and admitting weakness is in no way manly. And being in no way manly means i'm femenine. and feminicity is just...bad.

No...no, that's not it. I really just am not tired. (Is amn't a word? i.e. I really just amn't tired.)
And because of this lack of fatigue, I have decided to explain both to you and to me something that's been going on in my head these past couple days.

We all know that my friend Ben has made his way out of the doors of Mexican Childhood, to New York, and is now starting his new life at a College where he'll become an intelectual. And little me has been left here to experience the strange, yet comforting, realm of solitude... Alone, no less.
You see...Ben and I were musically related. Our friendship was centered around melodies and harmonies and lyrics and meaningfulness-- something very important. These were, as the Little Prince would say, Matters of Consequence. Thigs that really mattered to both of us. Things that we both loved with all our hearts. And when we both found each other a few years ago, we found somebody who we could share that love and beauty with, and create something new and intelectual, a song twice as better as one we would have made ourselves. Yet, we didn't know it at the time. But now I know.
As I reread this, I can't help but wonder what wild ideas could be going through your head. No, neither of us are gay. We both have come to the consensus that we like girls very very much. This was just a friendship.
As Ben left, I realized that our music would have to separate as well, forming within themselves two different styles, becoming their own unique sound, completely different from that one sound that they were before, together. And, of course, to make music singularly, I was supposed to have my own singular band name, right?

Somebody, Somewhere.

Like it? It's kind of catchy. Meaning? There are two.
1. Somebody, Somewhere is the idea that there is somebody, somewhere in the world for everbody, anywhere in the world. No matter who you are, what you do, and how you do it. There is somebody, somewhere out there who will love us, unconditionally, always. We just need to get to that somewhere and find them.
This is all romantically speaking, of course. But it could also be taken spiritually, because God loves anybody, anywhere unconditionally, all the time.

2. Somebody, Somewhere is the idea that no matter how bad off you are, if you're waste-deep in a trash can filled with murky, stenchy water with slimy, swimmy things floating around inside it, you can always know that there is somebody, somewhere out there that is just a bit worse off than you are. And that thought should do two things to your brain: 1. You should rejoice that God has blessed you with only being waste-deep, instead of neck-deep in a trash can. 2. Go find that person that's worse off than you are, and pull him up to your level, and higher.

So what do you think? (You, being the imaginary person that reads my blogs). Which one, which one?

Saturday?

Question: Ever wonder why it's called Saturday?
I really kind of want to know. It's my favorite day of the week, and I dont even know what its name means.

On Civil Disobedience

It's almost eleven, which means waaaaaay past my bedtime, if I ever had one. At the moment I should be doing a Double Blog Entry on a short story named Araby written by a guy who likes the color brown and has a vocabulary too big for his own head. Instead, I take a moment to breathe. Oh! And also, to share.
A couple days ago in United States Government Class (Courtesy of Mr. Steve Murry) I was assigned to read an assortment of scripture and write a one page paper on Civil Disobedience. Not so hard, right? Pretty easy A in my opinion. But we all have our opinions. Here's what I got from it. I hope it sheds some light on our Christian patriotic duty, if ever things get too bad.

When, and in what way, should a Christian practice civil disobedience?
In Daniel Chapter 1, there is an example of civil disobedience that shows us the attitude which Christians should have while disobeying. Daniel is one of the men in training to work in the kingdom under king Nebuchadnezzar. He is required to eat a certain food and drink a certain wine, but instead civilly disobeys and eats vegetables instead, because it is better for his health. He even asks his authority if he may do so. When he was told that it would be impossible, Daniel was smart and devised a plan that helped everybody out. He wasn’t out to get his authority, or get anybody beheaded. He was respectful and courteous, even to the point of being what the modern world would call a gentleman. We as Christians should follow this example and, even in the midst of civilly disobeying authority, act respectfully and humbly to the point that even the authority we are disobeying will respect and show kindness towards us.
Sometimes the law of man and the Law of God simply do not line up, and it is up to us as Christians to choose which authority is the ultimate authority in our lives. And if we decide rightly that God is the ultimate authority, we must civilly disobey any authority that contradicts God’s word. “We must obey God rather than men!” (Acts 5:29). Yes, we may be persecuted for disobeying man’s authority, but if man’s authority is in this case false, God does not want us to do anything else but disobey it…civilly, of course.

In Daniel Chapter 3 there is another example of how we should respond to the consequences that follow civilly disobeying authority. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were ordered to worship a golden statue that king Nebuchadnezzar built. But they did not, because it went against what God had said:

“You shall not worship any other God but me.”

Nebuchadnezzar gives them a second chance, telling them that if they did not bow down this time, he would throw them into a blazing furnace. They tell Nebuchadnezzar that they are ready to receive any such punishment for their civil disobedience. They said to the king,

“O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

The three men knew what was coming to them for their disobedience, and they accepted it, because they were absolutely certain that doing what God said was more important than any sort of pain they were about to endure. They were also certain that, if God wanted to, they would be saved from the flames by God himself. This is the attitude we should have as Christians: ready to take any such punishment for our civil disobedience, because our relationship with God is worth it, and living in certainty and in hope that God can, if he chooses, save us from our punishment.

Two sequences of twenty-four hour periods have gone by since I began school, and already I'm beginning to feel the fatigue. Not only that, but I've already begun the procrastination process. Sickening, I know. I mean really.... I'm the big bad senior this year that everybody, even the teachers sometimes, look up to. I'm the one that's supposed to have it all together, no mistakes, goodbye, the end (as mad-eye moody would say). At least that's how I looked at seniors as. But now that I'm here, I feel...small. Tiny. Insignificant. Minute. A tiny fly on the verge of being smacked by a flyswatter. Good analogy, huh? And now, I find that I'm simply what I was last year, and the year before, only slightly elongated and less smelly. There is no wisdom in my eyes, as I look into the mirror. Only cluelessness and...is that hazel?
My new guitar is here with me. Her name is Liz, and she's a Taylor. Get it? Liz Taylor? :) No? Hmm... Here's a picture
Yeah...I know...pretty great.
Oooh. I also have a new haircut that I'm slightly excited/ slightly "meh" about.
Tada! I dunno. I always end up looking crappy.
So uh...homework is calling me with its slimy, metallic-like voice (shudders). So for now, we must part. Adieu! (Bless you?)