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kc9aic
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Country: Japan
Interests: Dark Trance and Metal music, Electronics, Radio transmitting and reception, Apple Computers, Kawasaki motorcycles, anything else with an internal combustion engine.
Expertise: wasting time, being annoying, staying up late, scaring people, and making people smile.
Message: message me
Website: visit my website
Member Since:
10/20/2004
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| I'm frustrated with contemporary Christian music for a number of reasons, many of which are mentioned in this article.
I also have stylistic differences (I prefer to sing to music that's lead by piano and organ, rather than guitar), but those are merely matters of taste, and are pretty peripheral.
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| Although I'd like to think of myself as logical, I know I fall far short of even my own expectations. I also composed this during the hours of 4 and 6 AM, while unable to sleep. Please forgive me.
I've been thinking lately about how to answer questions that people ask that although appearing simple, are not intuitive. One of these is the loaded question; the classic example of a loaded question is "Have you stopped beating your wife yet?" Now, given that I do not have a wife, and do not condone domestic violence, I can't say yes, that I have stopped beating my wife, for I have not ceased that activity. But if I say no, most people will falsely assume that I am still beating my wife, though this is impossible (I'm not one for violence against nonexistent entities), and does not logically follow. The answer of no is nonetheless correct, because I have not performed the action of ceasing domestic violence.
Since I don't want to give anyone a false impression on such an account, I must answer with the single syllable mu. If you can't be bothered to follow the link, this Japanese word is derived from Chinese for "none," or "without," and is used as a response to koan, which are sayings, questions, or statements to respond to that are important to Zen Buddhism, which is an important religion in my home country, Japan. Mu has been adopted by adherents of Discordianism, a semi-parody new religion that emphasizes the importance of chaos. What Discordians take mu to mean is "Your question cannot be answered because it depends on incorrect assumptions."
This answer can be very well applied to other loaded questions, like "Why do you hate America!?!" Instead of decapitating these people with a bandsaw (you can't always trust your instincts), or tactlessly saying "Because it spawns insufferable maggots like you!", I could confuse them by not speaking English (mu!)…while trying to explain that their question cannot be answered, because "I don't hate America."
Interestingly, mu also works for nonsensical questions, like "Why does Pluto smell orange?" After replying "Because the pears are out-of-season," I'd say "Mu!", and recommend that the inquirer consider giving up psychotropic substances and start studying more Zen Buddhism, despite the former's possible aid of the latter. Maybe then, the person could come back to me, and truly explain whether the dog has a Buddha-nature.
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| I'm finally back at LeTourneau. My trip was, to say the least, a bit rough. It was fine from Tokyo to San Francisco, and I even got to travel with a friend of mine, as she was on the same flight. But when I get into the domestic terminal at SFO, I noticed that my flight had been delayed from 10:40 AM to 1 PM. I was concerned that I'd be late for the friends who would pick me up in Dallas. I was tired from my international flight and lack of sleep, but I managed to stay awake until the plane finally boarded at 2 PM, after a series of delays. We taxied away from the gate, but sat on the ground for several hours, as they had to have the plane inspected, due to a lighting strike it had experienced on the way into San Francisco. It turned out that there was major structural damage to the plane, and so our flight was cancelled. We went back to the gate, exited the plane, and waited around to find out what was to happen. They were eventually able to tell us that they couldn't get another plane, so we'd have to get to Dallas on another flight. I stood in line at the customer service counter for two hours to try to get a flight out the next day, and a place to spend the night. I was pleased to finally get a booking for a flight to Dallas through Denver the next day. I got to the hotel, took a shower, and fell asleep quite easily. Since I had to leave the hotel at 4 AM to get to my flight, I was worried about being able to wake up on time, as I hadn't slept for more than a few hours at a time for a couple days. Fortunately, I suppose, my worries caused me to wake up well before my alarms went off, and I was able to leave on time, even though I didn't get as much sleep as I would have liked. When I got to the airport, I was hungry, having had nothing to eat since my flight from Japan. Unfortunately, none of the airport restaurants were open yet. I ordered food at one of them right after it opened, and picked it up right before my plane boarded. After more hardship and annoyance, I finally got to Dallas, only to find that one of my bags had not arrived. I ended up having to pick it up on Monday from the airport in Longview.
Now I'm here, trying to get well-rested and healthy again before many homework assignments are due.
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| I am back in Tokyo for vacation until January 5th. Most of my friends are not here, so most of my social interaction is online. Considering that I'm a computer-dependent life-form, that's okay. | | |
| I found this video rather humorous. Pardon the language.
Pachabel Rant | | |
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