A Lucky Bum

Gossip

haimehennehemiah@yahoo.com (Nehemiah Roome) — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 09:56:00 +0000

I understand that blogging on the topic of “Gossip is bad” could be seen as the equivalent of calling Michael Jackson dead. Yes it is obvious, but still someone people might want to argue it. I think it could be beneficial to look at the topic more in-depth; gossip that is, not MJ’s would-be deceased status. Whenever you look at a one word topic it is best to try and clearly define it first. Even if you don’t agree with the definition, it is a place to start.

gossip |ˈgäsəp|

noun

casual or unconstrained conversation or reports about other people, typically involving details that are not confirmed as being true : he became the subject of much local gossip.

chiefly derogatory a person who likes talking about other people's private lives.

I don’t know about you but I love to gossip. You might make a small comment that implies you know some juicy information on someone else’s personal business; “I wonder how long Jessica will be suspended for?” you might say. “What! Jessica was suspended? I didn’t know that.” says your coworker. And then the gossip commences. You knew every well that your coworker probably didn’t know, but it is so dramatic when you phrase it in a way the suggests that only an out-of-the-loop square wouldn’t already have this information. We have all done it. It seems so harmless. Telling people information that they will other wise hear anyway can’t hurt anyone. It won’t get Jessica reinstated if you hold your tongue.

As I said at the beginning, let’s dig a little deeper. Let’s assume that Jessica was really suspended. When she comes back, no doubt someone (if not more) will ask her what she did to get suspended. It does not really matter what she did, she will probably feel similarly bad regardless in regards to the idea that people have been talking about her while she was gone. If she was late for the third time in a row, or if she spoke rudely to a costumer, I doubt it will encourage her to do better if she knows that her peers are talking about her behind her back. She was already disciplined and does not need extra punishment from people that work with or know her. It becomes one of those “What to get away?” moments. Whether the person you are gossiping about is from your church, school, or work it amounts to the same thing. They will want to get away from that situation and environment. Most of the time they will have little choice, and have to stay in that situation. Then it gets bad for everyone involved.

That is pretty bad, but what happens if Jessica was not suspended, but maybe had to go on bereavement or had an emergency to take care of? Basically the gossip and rumors were false. What then? When Jessica gets back she will have to set the records straight. People might not believe her completely when she tries to explain why she was absent. People could think she was lying to save face. If all of her peers had never heard the rumor and Jessica came back with her story of what happened, few would question it. But if someone passed the idea around that she was suspended, it could taint the perception of Jessica’s character or professionalism. Also, she would have that same uncomfortable feeling one gets when you know people were talking bad about you.

It sounds like a lose lose situation to me. Gossip might feel harmless at the time, but it can turn ugly later on. It is not anything new to say gossip is harmful, but I think it can’t hurt to remind ourselves of just how much we can negatively affect other people around us by what we say. Telling people of other’s misdeeds can give us a momentary boost to our egos, but in the long run it will only hurt others and eventually come back to bite us in the butt. It all comes back to pride, and our own insecurities. Can you suck it up and give people the benefit of the doubt and pass up the opportunity to bring someone else down? If you don’t have something interesting to say to your coworkers, schoolmates, or friends, don’t say anything at all. If you do feel compelled to talk, say things that build others up. It might conflict with your prideful sin nature, but God will bless those who bless others. If you don’t believe me, try doing it for a good period of time. It feels good to help others feel good.

ALB

Anticipation

haimehennehemiah@yahoo.com (Nehemiah Roome) — Sun, 02 May 2010 10:57:00 +0000

Life is hard. We can always find something to complain about. It’s doesn’t matter if you are the CEO of some big company in New York or if you are the youngest brother of 5 in a family that lives in Kabwe, Zambia; life is hard. Most of us fall somewhere in the middle. We want more. We want the next thing. It is all relative too. If you have $10 and want $1 more or if you have $1,000,000 and want $100,000 more; it’s all the same thing. We all want.

I have a good memory. And I can recall quite clearly when I was 5 years old wanting something very much. It was this little bathtub boat that had a tiny motor on the back. It was green and yellow. They sold it at Fred Meyer for $4.99. That was a lot of money for our family back then. At least it was for something so useless. I would dream about the day that I would finally buy that boat and bring it home. For literally months I thought about it. Every time we went to Fred Meyer to shop for groceries I would run to the toy section and make sure it was still there. I would hide it in different places all over the store to make sure no one else would buy it. I was baffled every time it was gone from my previous hiding place. Those Fred Meyer employees were sneaky. Ironically, I am sure there were at least a few lucky kids that found a new boat in their parents newly bought items. Every time I hid it in a new tool box I made a construction workers kid real happy I am sure. The thought of actually HAVING that boat was almost too much for me to handle. My mom knew how much I wanted it and would tell me grand stories of how I could attain it through my good deeds. Once I achieved the proper prerequisites I would always mess it up with my poor behavior soon after. Once I got my act together and managed to get my mom’s promise, the wait was soon to be over. Three days later I had it. For the next week I was the cleanest I had ever been; bath after bath. It was pure ecstasy. The boat had just enough buoyancy to hold two Lego men and their spears. There was just one problem. It wore off. Months of anticipation burned off in about 8 days.

Now I think that everyone reading this (Hi Grandma) can identify with this situation. We always want something or someone. Wanting something is not a horrible feeling. The anticipation I felt for attaining that boat was not a painful feeling, but more of a longing. It even led to me behaving better. When we get into trouble is when our desires get in the way of what is best for us. If we make decisions that are based on attaining that person or thing we are after, it better have a positive effect on you and the people around you. If not, it might not be something you should devote your brain powers to. Easier said than done, I know. My point is not to try and forget wanting things that you know you shouldn’t or can’t have. But rather to give you the free pass to enjoy anticipating the good things to come. I didn’t regret getting that boat, but the amount of time I enjoyed it was nowhere close to the amount of time I enjoyed wanting it. Focus on wanting good things in life, not just on the good things you already have (that is a good practice however). Shift you desires to good ones and enjoy the ride. Anticipation is good. Longing is good. It is not just about where you have been or what you have now, but also on what is to come. Sometimes we are let down, but that is better than wanting something and never getting it or having no aspirations at all.

I will skip the obvious Jesus analogy. You can use your own imagination. Oh what amazing things we have to anticipate…

ALB

Perspective

haimehennehemiah@yahoo.com (Nehemiah Roome) — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 15:29:00 +0000

Why is it that there are so many different views and opinions about life? Obviously experience has a lot to do with it, but I think it is much more than that. People are born in different places, into different families, and in different times. Culture, genetics, and personality all play their part too. But I don’t believe that everyone is bound to react and think in a certain way just because that is their total net outcome given all of those factors. If we want to understand people and be able to grow our own wisdom, we have to purposefully step out of the rivers flow that is made up of our circumstances.
I think a good way to do that is to understand and strive for a better perspective. You see we can’t always fully understand a culture or way of thought that is foreign to us right away. But we can change our perspective on the subject.

I am a security guard at a hotel and we have about 40 cameras set up that I can view on a few monitors. In some cases I can see the same area from multiple angles. Sometimes someone will steal something and we can go back and see who did it or how. It is amazing how a different angle can change the way you see something. One time it looked like someone had stolen a cell phone. After looking at the first angle it looked like the man had taken it without a shadow of doubt. I almost didn’t even look at another angle because it looked so obvious that he had done it. Luckily I pulled up another angle and low and behold he had not stolen it, but rather had accidently knocked it off the desk and onto the floor. It had slid under the desk and out of sight. Seeing it from another angle helped me see what really happened. I went out to the desk and found the phone under the desk just as the camera had shown. I can’t tell you how many times similar things have happened. The problem is that one angle is limited by time and space. That one camera can’t see it all because it is not omnipresent. Neither are we, but we can give people the benefit of the doubt. I am only one person. I can’t be everywhere or experience everything, but I can leave room in my mind and judgment that maybe someone else has. If I disagree with someone, there is an extremely strong possibility that the person has good reason to think the way they do. Understanding that they have reasons for doing or thinking a certain way is vital in life. It helps us to accept people, to accept our own limitations, and to realize our dependence on someone who is omnipresent.

Thinking about the healthcare bill passing gives me the chills. I don’t like it and my opinion on it is very negative. But the fact of the matter is it passed. The people who made that possible have their reasons. In my little human brain it does not compute. I think that some of those people have bad reasons. I am sure that some do have positive ones. I need perspective. Not only do I (and humans) lack the ability to be everywhere, but I also lack the ability to be in every time. In 100 years this bill passing could be a blip on the radar of history. All in all, I don’t think that the heath bill passing will kill me or anyone I love (at least I hope not, how Ironic if it did). Thinking outside of time can give me just a taste of what God possesses in spades: perspective. It is not only the future perspective that can be helpful, but also the perspective of history. That is one reason I love history. It can give us some idea of why people do or believe a certain way. Where we came from, where we are going, and how we did it. Again, God knows the past, He is still there. He is in all of time. Knowing someone really well on a personal level basically means you have attended their personal history class. If you know enough about them and have been around for a part of their past then you can then predict what they will do and how they will react to things. Just because you don’t know someone does not mean that they don’t have a personal history class, it just means that you haven’t attended it yet. Every one of us has a history, everyone has a past. Not knowing their story puts us at a disadvantage, acting without taking that into account is realizing that disadvantage into a possible mistake in actions, judgment, or attitude.

Does this mean that we are all right in our beliefs and actions just because our history and personality has lead us to this point? No of course not. We can’t all be right, but realizing that there are many things in life that are not black and white can help us deal with our differences. For some the heath care bill is the right thing, for others it is the wrong thing. There is no choice that helps or hurts everyone. Perspective. For things that are black and white there has only been one person to get it all right. Jesus. He was/is also the master of time, space, and perspective. What we do is less important than WHY we do it. He judges the heart. If someone wants to get this heath care bill passed because it will fill their pocket books full of money, then maybe that is the wrong motivation. If someone honestly wants to help the people who don’t have health care, then I very much doubt that God will say to that person when they get to the heaven “Well your heart was in the right place, but unfortunately the right decision was to not pass the heath care bill. Sorry you get one less gem on your crown”. Of course either way Grace is the saving factor. We are called to give Grace as we have received it. (For those that have accepted God’s Grace) I guess that is my point. We should seek God’s perspective so that we can better understand and give God’s love and grace to everyone. It is harder to love someone who you don’t understand. It is harder to give someone grace when you don’t understand why they sin. Sometimes they are not even sinning and we can look down on someone because we get so caught up in our own one dimensional view of the world. Jesus talked about not pointing out the sliver in someone else’s eye when we have a plank the size of Tiger Woods golf club sticking out of our own eye. Looking in the mirror (Jesus and the bible) every once in a while can give us the humility and perspective we need to make sure we keep our retina free of PGA equipment via our reliance on grace to become successful at it.

Next time you disagree with someone, try to look at it from their shoes. Not the height of their shoes of course. Although I would have seen that cell phone under the desk without having to look at the cameras if I did, but I digress. Put yourself in their shoes and look at the situation from their point of view. It can only help. It takes work on your part. Somehow we get very lazy when it comes to brain thought. It shouldn’t, it’s not like you can break a sweat from thinking too hard. But never the less it is difficult to think about others first. Believe me I know. But when it happens God can give you a piece about disagreements and a lack of understanding.

ALB

Culture, take it or leave it. Part 3

haimehennehemiah@yahoo.com (Nehemiah Roome) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:11:00 +0000

My belief is for the eternal truths to exist there must be someone behind it to set up a system that is bound to those truths. It is always better to love someone than it is to hate them. Even if it ends in death, somehow God can work it out for the better in the end. 99 Balloons Why is that always true? The bible tells us what those eternal truths are. Jesus shows us what it looks like to live them out in a real human way. Only someone who lives outside of the linear world and time could do that. Fully human, fully God. So for our beliefs, attitudes, and tastes to be shaped by Jesus and His way it means that we need to get to know Him and learn about Him so that we can live our lives like Him.
All truth belongs to God. If you know Him you will know when you have spotted His truth. So many people lose their faith once they start to go to college. Why? My belief is that it is because they learn about real truth from their non-Christian teachers and incorrectly think that they must choose between the bible OR this new found truth that the college is teaching them. The teacher says “all people should help each other”. That is true, it feels right. That is because it is an eternal truth. Then the teacher says “you don’t need religion to help people”, again that is true. Then she goes on to say “so you don’t need Jesus”. Not true. The teacher can speak truth one sentence and then falsehoods the next. Only when you are seeking God and His wisdom will you be able to tell the difference between truth and falsehood. Affirm truth when you find it no matter who speaks it. But don’t fall prey to falsehood and deception just to feed your own desires of not wanting to be held to a higher standard. “I want to help people and feel good, but I don’t want to give up my sins and emotional desires for Jesus”. In the depths of our minds we have all thought that thought, whether or not it was clear, it was there. In the bottom of our souls the battle rages on.

Our culture should be made up of Jesus’s culture. The cool thing is that if we do take on His culture we still retain our own personality. We can still have our own way of doing things. We can still be unique and still have our own beliefs, attitudes, and tastes regarding things that are “disputable matters”. The bible tells us that there are things in this world that do not matter to our salvation. Things like what you prefer to eat, what art you think is good or not, what you like to do in your spare time, and what kind of clothes you wear. The caveat is that none of those things should distract you from following and seeking God’s will and desire for your life. If what you eat takes away from your walk with Him, change what you eat. If who you hang out with leads you to sin, hang out with other people. This freedom in Christ allows us to be completely unique, but also helps us to remain in His arms and to be a part of the church of God. That is our culture; the heirs to the throne, the children of Christ, the followers of the Way, and the massagers of truth. That is how the Chinese person in Hong Kong and the American person in Seattle can have the same culture and mind set. No matter where we come from or how we were raised we can have the same perfect wisdom that comes from God. Without Him we can only see glimpses of it in the world around us. We see it in nature, we see it in the lives of people who dedicate themselves to humanitarian work, and we can see in our professor’s lectures. With accepting Jesus into our hearts and starting on our journey to see all of His wisdom we will get to see past the glimpses and start to see the whole picture. It is not just about seeking truth, it is about living truth, living love, and living holy. Only through Jesus can we enter heaven. Only perfection is allowed there and only the perfect One can redeem us into that perfection. The choice is simple, the road is hard. Drop your culture and pick up His.

To sum up I will answer the questions I ended my first post with. Should I conform? Only to Christ and His will. Should America conform to the world? No. Should the world conform to America? No. Should you seek refuge in a group of people? Seek refuge in Christ. If so, how should you go about picking a group? Pick the source of truth, Jesus. You can test Him in His ways and He will always come through. Should you leave the group you are currently in? Yes, even churches can as a group lose sight of God’s will. The Catholic Church in the Middle Ages were up to no good from time to time. How much of yourself should you “give up”? All of it. Die to sin and live to Christ. Give up your selfish desires and take on God’s will as your own. Is it possible to live outside of a culture and only be your true self? Yes, in Grace Jesus accepts you for you, but calls you to be holy and to love Him with all of your heart, soul, and mind. What would a life like that look like? Jesus.

I should not have shunned the people in high school that did things differently. I in my own way was looking for my own group of pessimists. I didn’t care what group you were from as long as you were as negative as I was. I didn’t love people like I should have. Looking back on it I should have gone to the park and been Jesus to those dorks. I should have hung out with the basketball jocks and showed them that you can have fun and live a fruitful life without drinking beer until you forget your own name. I should have been a better friend to that emo girl and showed her that she does not have to act weird and emo to feel unique, different, and loved. But alas I am a linear being so from now on I will do my best to be Christ to people. The choice is easy, but the road is hard. Pray for me.

ALB

Culture, take it or leave it. Part 2

haimehennehemiah@yahoo.com (Nehemiah Roome) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:57:00 +0000

I think it is important that I talk about the pros and cons of any culture. But first I think we need to look at some definitions of culture to outline our perception of it so that we are on the same page.

Culture (Noun): the tastes in art and manners that are favored by a social group.

Culture (Noun): all the knowledge and values shared by a society.

Culture (Noun): the attitudes and behavior that are characteristic of a particular social group or organization.

Culture (Noun): a highly developed state of perfection.

All right, let us see if we can condense this a bit. Key words that pop out to me are: tastes (opinions), knowledge, values, attitudes, behaviors, and perfection. I think a good way to look at this is from a small to large scale. On the most basic level there is what you have as your unique set of beliefs, attitudes, tastes, and general ‘youness’ that resides in your brain. Then you scale out a step and there you have the groups that you belong to, work, family, one of possible many stereotypes i.e. surfer, gamer, or ditsy blond. And each one of the groups that you “belong” to has its own set of beliefs, attitudes, and tastes. Then you scale out another step and you have location that plays a part. All of the people and groups from Georgia will be different from the people and groups from Oregon. They will have different beliefs, attitudes, tastes from their stereotypical counterpart from a different area. Then you step out to a scale of country and you have one more group called America with its own set of beliefs, attitudes, tastes. Things that we all (most) share in common with each other as Americas like, freedom of speech, same federal laws, same television channels, and same love of football. Then you can still zoom out even further and see that on a Philosophical level many people from Canada, America, Mexico, and Europe all think with a distinct “Western thought” born from Greece. Yet again we can see grouping people together on a larger scale. Then to end with, there is what we as humans like to think that we all agree on. Most if not all societies on earth today do value human life. We have that in common. There are other things that as humans we would and do agree on and have the same beliefs, attitudes, and tastes in.

Why are we so different? Yet why are there so many “eternal truths” that can and do bind us together? I think that there are two things battling each other. One is the eternal truths that do exist such as math, love, guilt, and kindness. The other is our (as humans) linernessness. We as humans can only be in one place at one time. Each thing that happens to us shapes us and prepares us to make another decision only based on previous experience and knowledge. Everything that happens in one day directly affects the next. Since no two people are in the same place at the same time, we are all inevitably different from each other. Then you factor in the difference in our genetic makeup and how we react to each said experience we even further diverge in our uniqueness and choices. The eternal truths are in my mind the essence of making the best decision and emitting a general attitude of truth.

The problem is that when we are affected by our previous decisions and choices so we inevitably make poor choices because we are liner and are susceptible to emotions and negative feelings. We can’t rewind and do things differently. We need to know what the best thing to do is. We need to see what that looks like to live it. Then we need to make that our culture, our beliefs, attitudes, and tastes. In order to reach for perfection we need to see what it looks like. If left to our own devises we will not end at perfection, we will only die. On the personal level as well as at the humanity level. We need someone who lives outside of time. Someone that is not bound by the linear constricts of life as a mere human. We need someone that knows all of the eternal truths and is able to use them in every instance in the best way possible. Enter Jesus.

To be continued...

Culture, take it or leave it. Part 1

haimehennehemiah@yahoo.com (Nehemiah Roome) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 13:15:00 +0000

The idea of culture has been on my mind lately. I feel like my whole life I have been separated from it. Since I was young I had a hard time liking something just because the people around me liked it. I didn’t possess the skill that most kids my age had mastered; pretending to like something or convincing myself to like it just so I would be accepted into a group. If I didn’t like something I would stop doing it. I didn’t choose my activities based on who was doing it, but rather whether or not I enjoyed doing it. Example;

I liked to play chess in high school. I did not (in general) like the kids who played chess. I, along with the one person who I liked outside of playing chess started our schools first official chess club. It went like this. I was the best chess player in the school (not bragging, it’s just a fact) and everyone wanted to play me and try to beat me. I could never turn down a chance to beat someone and would always accept their challenge. Unfortunately, after the game the nerd would try to invite me to his magic the gathering romp in the town park they had every day. They would flail about casting spells and wearing chainmail vests that took literally years to make. They had foam swords and had some kind of code of honor and some other rules of engagement. I was not into it. Period. They assured me that I would enjoy it. I knew for a fact I would not. Back in grade school it was the same thing; kids running around playing terminator or Jurassic park. I didn’t get it. I have a limited imagination or something but since I was 5 I was more of a realistic kind of guy. I tried to play those games. But about 5 minutes into it, I would stop running around making retarded dinosaur noises, asking myself “is this it? Is there not something better I could be doing?” This gathering in the woods to smack each other with foam swords was the same thing; high school version. I am sure that if I played along I would have had “my group” in high school. I just couldn’t turn my back on my true feelings. I would have felt like I was selling out. Turning my back on who I really was. I didn’t want to live a lie.

Don’t get me wrong, I am sure it was genuinely fun for those guys; the 6 year old version and the 15 year old version. The problem was that I didn't enjoy it, even though I was “meant to” because I stereotypically fell into the group of nerds. After I repeatedly turned them down on their magic woods game they eventually stopped asking me to come. I was not a part of their group because of it, but I didn’t really care at the time. Being rejected by the nerds does have some side effects though. At least I had the satisfaction of forcing their king into submission. Checkmate Gandalf! But it didn’t stop there. I loved to play basketball as well. When I turned down the bball jocks and their beer and pot I was excluded from their festivities just like their chainmail counterparts. If I didn’t subscribe to their groups activities it was hard for them to accept me. I understand that part of it could have been my attitude as well. But it was not like I was incapable of making and keeping friends. I literally had a least one friend from every stereotype group; even an emo lesbian. I was not afraid to accept people that shared my frustration in stereotypes (also you had to be smart and funny). But I never had a dedicated group that shared all of my interests. My interests were too random and intermixed. I liked acting, chess, basketball, history, cooking, speech, and baseball. But I didn’t like football, alcohol, drugs, dating, magic the gathering, or dances. Where does such a person fit? Basically I had my own culture and was unwilling to change it to conform to a group’s culture because I would miss the stuff I would have had to give up and would hate the things I would have to start doing.

So how does this all fit in today? Should I conform? Should America conform to the world? Should the world conform to America? Should you seek refuge in a group of people? If so, how should you go about picking a group? Should you leave the group you are currently in? How much of yourself should you “give up”? How much of who you are is directly influenced by your current group? Is it possible to live outside of a culture and only be your true self? What would a life like that look like?

In my next few posts I will try to tackle some of these hard questions with my own opinion and thoughts. We can call this part one of many.

Writers Block

haimehennehemiah@yahoo.com (Nehemiah Roome) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 10:43:00 +0000

I feel like writing but I have no idea what to write about. Normally that is a really bad way to start out a post or written work. This time is no different. Let’s see…I can tell you a joke I made up. -Your momma is so fat, that when she wears green on St. Patrick’s Day NOBODY gets pinched. Ok ok that wasn’t so good. One more? Yes? Ok. -Your momma is so fat, that when she uploads a video of herself onto facebook the whole site has to go down for maintenance. Like it or hate it; that is original material people.

Update on what I am up to:

Books I am reading:

“Velvet Elvis” by Rob Bell

“Sex God” by Rob Bell

“Angels and Demons” by Dan Brown

“The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle

“A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens

“1 Corinthians” by Paul

Games I am playing:

Modern Warfare 2

Supreme Commander 1 and soon to be 2

Napoleon: Total War

Mass Effect 2

Music I am listening to:

Radio Head

Classical

Timberland+JT

I will do my best to get a podcast up soon. I am aiming for a shorter more enjoyable show. Let’s hope I hit my target.

Use your blinkers.

ALB

Pride

haimehennehemiah@yahoo.com (Nehemiah Roome) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:51:00 +0000

“Interpersonal communications”, I hated that class in high school. You see my dear reader; I have an issue with pride. As you read this I want you to realize that more than anything I am talking about myself and how I deal with and perceive my pride issues. I might use examples of things I have seen in other people but for the most part all of the negative things I will be talking about have to do with me and how I have failed in “interpersonal communications”. You might see a small part of yourself in what I have dealt with, but try not to beat yourself up too much like I am about to do. No one should go into this much insight into themselves too often for fear of slipping into a depression or insomnia or….developing a split personality.

Pride is at the root of my failures in interpersonal communications. First the internal battle: in my mind I want to do the right thing and to be nice and helpful to everyone. I want to, but most of the time it doesn’t happen. Why? There is what I want in theory; i.e. world peace, to be a “good guy”, to help not hurt people, and to be a person people can count on. Then there is what I really want, recognition, people to envy me, pleasure, fame, riches, and to feel important. Now all of those things I just mentioned will not actually make me happy. I know that. I know it with my brain, but my heart never got the memo. What’s happening here? It is a battle between my selfish desires, and the true riches of this world, love. I want the love side to win. I really do. But what is it that is stopping me from reaching that goal? Why can’t I love and care for people that the selfish side of me ignores? What is the barrier in my head that makes it so hard? I will give you a hint, it rhymes with ride.

Somewhere in the depths of my conciseness is a little feeling that crops up every time I tell myself that I am going to be happy to help someone. I have finally nailed it down as pride. You see, I feel like only certain people get the privilege to be my friend. This is not something I try to set as a standard. It just comes from the carnal selfish side of me. In my own little way I think that I am SO unique and special that only “cool”, smart people get to know who this person really is. If you are my friend I will go out of my way to be there for you, to listen to you, and to be the best friend I can be. That takes a lot of time and energy. There is no physical way I can be that kind of friend to everyone, sure, but I should not ignore everyone else! Again, I know this. But, brain, heart, memo. So I tell myself to be kind to everyone and to pretend like they are my friend. Sounds like a good idea until Mr. Pride decides to show up. He tells me things like, “you are too good to waste your time on this person, they don’t like you or care about you” or “you don’t really feel like you have the energy to care right now, just ignore them and they won’t ask anything from you” or “you have nothing in common with this person, you have nothing to gain” or “if they don’t like you, you won’t be able to handle the rejection” or “if I am nice to this person they might try to take advantage of me and ask for more from me” or “they didn’t make the first move so why should I always be the one to initiate the friendship”. Wow! Those are some serious thoughts going on in my head. Who the heck do I think I am?? Like I am some sort of gift to mankind that only the few lucky ones are privileged to know and be friends with. Or am I that insecure that I feel like I must reject them before the reject me? First off, I am garbage. I don’t deserve anyone as a friend just for the simple reason that I have thoughts like those. Second, I am not any smarter or cooler than anyone else and to think so, on any level, is delusional. I should feel privileged to have any friends at all with an attitude like that. Third, I am missing out on the true riches that Love and kindness have to offer. Forth, my insecurities are my fault and my problem. I should not make people pay for my lack of respect for myself. Fifth, the fact that I want people to know that I am not dumb enough to let them take advantage of me is ridiculous. Whether or not someone takes advantage of me and my kindness will not change the fact that I should still be kind to them. Giving someone a helping hand is the hardest when the person you are helping thinks you are an idiot for doing it. My pride doesn’t want anyone to get away with that. I am writing this down yelling at myself in my own head as I do it; DO IT ANYWAY! Help when the person isn’t grateful, that’s true love. Pride, I banish you.

The jokes on me when I act like a mute deaf person around people. No one thinks “oh, this guy is only nice to his friends and it is hard to become his friend, so I want to be one of those people”. Instead they think, “wow, this guy is a DB. Who does he think he is?” Is that the reason I should change my behavior? Nope. Regardless of how people perceive me, I should treat other people with respect and interest. I should love them. Not because I want love back, not because I will get ahead in life, and not because I want more friends. As a matter of fact I don’t want friends. And again if falls back on pride. I know on the inside I am a work in progress. I have faults (many that I am sharing with you now) and shortcomings. My pride tells me to hide these things from people. If more people find out about my faults then I will be exposed. So in order to keep my pride, I push people away. What I am learning (or at least trying to train my stupid heart) is that people respect an honest and open heart. If I can cast aside my pride, I can become teachable and humble. I can’t learn anything if I think I already know it. Just because my head knows something does not mean my heart does.

In each of us we have that part of the brain that knows what we SHOULD do. So often we fail to do that because our feelings get in the way. So many people try to get rid of their feelings Vulcan style only to learn that you can never fully purge your emotions. Others base most decisions that they make on what they feel like doing. Our feelings are often irrational and unpredictable. So this leads to problems as well. The key is to only let the virtuous feelings guide you as you constantly keep them in check by holding them up to the light of perfection that is God and Love. God wants us to have and use our feelings, but for good, not for our own evil desires. Not just because He wants to control us for kicks, but because the system He has set up will greatly reward us here (earth) and beyond (heaven). Most people know that they should be nice and helpful. The problem is that our pride inhibits us. It is like trying to run a race with your favorite Snuggie on. You might feel comfortable and think you look cool, but really you will lose the race and people will think you look like an idiot. You would lose out on the reward and respect of winning the race. Throw off the snuggie and run hard and you will get your reward. The race itself is not easy, but it is possible when you discard the ridiculous garb. We I need to cast aside my pride and just accept that people will think differently of me. For better or worse, I am going to do my best (with some help from the big Guy) to pay attention and care for everyone. It will take sacrifice and energy, but I am getting both of those things from the ultimate provider. He promises that I will always have more to sacrifice and will give me ways to use His energy through me. I must keep in my mind the persistent thought of “love” for my attitude to change. It is a learned habit that must be practiced and consistent for it to come to fruition in my everyday living. Telling others of your desire to open up to people is a necessary step. One I am taking right now. If you see me ignore a chance to cheerfully help someone when I am asked, let me know. Call me out. It will humble me, but it is necessary. I will know you are a true friend if you do so.

If you made it this far thanks for reading. I do this more for myself than anyone else. It helps to write thoughts out. Journals are for the weak. Blog it up people, blog it up. Fin.

P.S. Don't type the word "pride" into Google's image search engine. You will get a lot of gay stuff attacking your eyes. Literally...the gay part not the attack on your pupils.

Will you buy the iPad? Podcast002

haimehennehemiah@yahoo.com (Nehemiah Roome) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:45:00 +0000

Download here

Josiah, Matthew, and I discuss the new Apple "iPad". We talk about what it can do and who it will appeal to. If you are interested in what the iPad is about or if you are in the market for a netbook, laptop, phone, ipod, or e-reader you should defiantly check this out. Feel free to leave your opinions in the comments below. We are now in iTunes. Search for "A Lucky Bum" in your itunes search bar and we should pop right up.

First Podcast!

haimehennehemiah@yahoo.com (Nehemiah Roome) — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 16:49:00 +0000

Download here

Here it is. The long awaited podcast. I have a guest on the show, Josiah Ball and we discuss Avatar and the new "iPad" coming out from Apple. I mention a "making of video" for avatar and will give you the link to watch that after. Good times. We had some problems with the sound quality, but I promise it will be fixed for the next podcast.

Creativity

haimehennehemiah@yahoo.com (Nehemiah Roome) — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 12:29:00 +0000

The concept of creativity has been on my mind lately. When I look around at the world around me, I see more and more creativity. Youtube is a good example of an outlet exploding with content. 15 years ago the ability to express your creativity and ideas was limited to main stream media and entertainment outlets such as books, movies, and music. But in the last 15 years that has changed drastically.

After written language was invented creativity was captured and recorded in books. Even before that, stories were pasted on through oral tradition. Music has been a staple in human expression for almost just as long. Then in the 20^th century you have the move from theater to movies and we haven’t looked back since then. But in the future they will look back on this time (the last 15 years) as another milestone. The internet, Youtube, blogs, TV, and the radio have reached a pinnacle of accessibility. With tools to express ourselves so easily available, it’s a wonder we don’t all have an outlet for creativity. Wait, we do; Facebook.

My question is this: should we all be creating content? Just the sheer amount of content on Youtube makes me want to avoid it. We have all had the experience of watching a video waiting for the point; then when you reach the end you realize that there wasn’t one. “Welp, that’s another 4 minutes off of my life.” Then you have to look at the motivation behind the content posted. How many people are just trying to see their view count of the video go up? There are a lot of really talented people out there and they are doing it for the right reasons, but is this new accessibility helping those people or hurting them? I would argue that it is both. Places like Youtube and Myspace can be the jar of which holds all of the stones of creativity. The more you shake it, the more the big polished stones end up on top. I just want to avoid the shaking of the jar part. It is loud and annoying.

In the last few months I have decided that I think we should all try and be creative. There is a large (*) to that statement though. I feel like I want to create and express ideas; however I am not very good at it. Should I stop expressing myself? Should I stop at nothing until I am an author or movie director? No and No. Instead of worrying about IF my ideas and creativity are “good”, I should instead be focusing on THAT I am being creative. Let’s say I make a video. Whether it ends up being “good” or not, should not affect whether or not I make a second video. The fact that I am making something from nothing is the important part. I believe that God wants us to be creative. It does not matter if other people think it is good or not because God does not judge the quality of the final product, but more of the quality of the person’s heart and motivation behind it. Keep true to yourself and never stop creating. It does not have to be in the category of entertainment either. Cooking, sports, hobbies, and a million other avenues of expression can be utilized no matter what your personality type or abilities. Even if is making a blog that no one reads. Talking to a wall is better than not talking at all. If you do that, the walls might start talking to you. Don’t error on the side of inactivity. If time is the issue; make the time. Set aside the time and place and start making something.

The thing I think we should all get away from is just being a consumer. We consume TV shows, movies, videogames, music, gadgets, and books, but if we ignore creating our own content then we lose our opportunity to add to the quality of life here on earth. We are not just waiting for 2012 when the world ends. Helping others and the planet are expressions of creativity. We should help to maintain God’s creation and it is an extension of our Love in the form of using our lives to help others physically, mentally, and spiritually. Youtube might be new to us, but using God’s gifts to create and maintain life and ideas has been around from the beginning. If in your life you don’t write that book you have always wanted to write, or learned to cook like you have always wanted to, then what was your life? It was a mere shadow of what it could have been. It does not have to be so grand of an undertaking, but I think we should all do some soul searching and try and figure out what it is that we could be doing to help others. Think of creative ways to volunteer. Even if you are a stay at home mother, there are things that that you can do. Scratch that, especially if you are a stay at home mother. You have the opportunity to teach and train your children to be ‘outside of the box’ thinkers that have others well being at the center of their hearts. I want to teach/let my children be themselves and express their God given creativity. My cousin just had a baby less than a month ago and you can tell she is already developing her own personality. God made us so different, as long as we Love and follow Him; we should feel free to exercise that aspect of our uniqueness. Identical twins are never identical; same parents, same household, entirely different people.

The Catholic Church wanted to stamp out creativity back in the day. They wanted everyone to fall in line and learn to be told what to do and to do it. That’s not how Jesus did things. He marched to the beat of His own drum; all the while adhering to the heart of the Law. There is a balance that God can show us; one where we are unique and creative representatives of Him. Don’t tell yourself you can’t be creative, God genetically engineered you to be. You just need to search it out. Don’t pay attention to general indicators of success; they don’t matter. As long as you are evoking thought, love, assistance, somehow furthering God’s kingdom, or worshiping Him in the process; don’t worry about it. Just do it! Nike.

So I guess I should be looking forward to seeing all of your videos on Youtube soon;)

Tolerance

haimehennehemiah@yahoo.com (Nehemiah Roome) — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 04:54:00 +0000

As many do, I was reading some of the news highlights on Yahoo’s main page today, and I came across one that I thought was interesting. It was about how France is putting forth a bill to ban full Muslim veils. The draft of the legislation reads as follows; "No one may, in spaces open to the public and on public streets, wear a garment or an accessory that has the effect of hiding the face”. President Nicolas Sarkozy opened the door to a possible ban in June, telling a parliament session in Versailles that such dress "is not welcome" in France.

The article says that in France there is an estimated 5 million Muslims, the largest such population in Western Europe. This boggles my mind. How can a country that prides itself on openness and acceptance do such a thing? Then again it is not just France. As much as I would like to make this a France roast I can’t in good conscience neglect my own country and self in such shenanigans. If anyone wants to cover their face for any reason, let them. If you wear a ski mask in a bank that might be a bad idea, but is it not appropriate to wear it when you go skiing? The whole reason Muslims wear the veils are to hide their faces in public! It’s like taking a gun away from a police officer because he might shoot a bad guy packing heat. That’s what it’s for! Also I am sure there are some unfortunate looking ladies wearing those veils. It’s just like the whole fantasy of everyone being naked. Sure 5% of them would be fun to look at, but the other 95% of the population would burn holes into my retinas. It’s better to cover it all up. Leave something to the imagination.

That’s enough on the particular case of the veils. That’s not why I wanted to write this in the first place. It is just an example of the human nature and its desire to group together and shun others out of their group, AKA racism and discrimination. When I was in high school there were not too many “minorities” at the school I went to. Out of the 1,000 or so kids only about 5 of them were not Caucasian. They blended in pretty well and all had some good friends. The school was no example of heaven mind you. There were the groups: ‘goths’, ‘tree huggers’, ‘nerds’ (mine), ‘sport jocks’, ‘cheerleaders’, ‘loaners’ and of course the ‘druggies’. For reasons I still don’t understand, I liked to mix in with all of the groups (never did drugs mind you). I had a least one friend in each of those groups outside of my home base of nerdom. It was great. Very few did that though. Years later I was talking to my friend Sarah and she was explaining her high school to me. She grew up in Chula Vista, CA where the mix of races was a bit more populated than 5 total. She told me that at lunch time the cafeteria was divided (naturally) into countries; China, Africa, America, and Mexico. This shocked me. I had no idea it would be like that. Yes I was that ignorant. But now it is starting to makes sense to me. I will explain. Any group of people that has come together under the pretense of being “like minded” was hard enough for me to deal with when they lash out at others that are not so “like minded”. Now I was being told that this still happens under the pretense of being “like bodied/culture”. So here is the question. To help stop/minimize racism and discrimination should we all try to be “like minded” and have the same culture and just try to ignore our physical differences? I say no. The answer will never be for us all to be like minded. I like that there are different cultures out there in the world. I like that most of those cultures are available to me in the city I live in. That does not mean that I like everything that each culture has to offer (e.g. food, music, and entertainment) but I like that I can learn and try new things that I did not grow up with. And despite what I want that would never happen anyway. This is where I start to make sense of this. Most of us agree that discrimination and racism are bad. So let’s say that there is a magic button that we could push that removes the part of the brain that makes us want to stay around people that look like us and have the same culture. Would we then all be able to hang out with each other without any pre-attached labels (e.g. color of skin, gender, economic status) placed upon us? Nope. We would end up looking like my old high school. We would find ways to set each other apart. We would base it on what you are good at, how good looking you are, and what interest you have. No matter what we do there will always be groups. To me that is not the problem. The problem is when we exclude people from the group or try and force people to be a certain way in order to be in the group. This goes down the line. The church is super guilty of doing this throughout history as well as just about any other group of people. The truth is; each and every one of us is different. Don’t try to fit in, don’t try to make others fit in, be true to yourself and tolerate others that rub you the wrong way. When we place people in containers you miss out on what makes that person unique. You can get through life that way, but life is so much more enjoyable when you take the chance and get to know who that person really is. Does that mean you have to like everyone? Does that mean you will like everyone? No. But if we all respected and loved everyone and gave them the benefit of the doubt we could all live lives that are more productive beneficial to us all.

So far nothing I have said is groundbreaking or new, but if there is one aspect of my ideas that I have not heard somewhere else it is this: one major setback in the fight against discrimination is the existence of stereotypes. We have all had that experience on the freeway when you see a car far off and think to yourself “I bet the driver of that car is a _______” and more often than not you are right in your assumption. It is hard to act like everyone is unique and special when so often when we group people into stereotypes we are rewarded with being correct in our estimation of their attitude and or aspect of their said stereotype. Here is my solution, and I hinted at it in my previous paragraph. Each of us needs to hold true to our own self and try to be as unique as possible. Fight to not be a stereotype. At least be sure that if you end up looking like a member of a stereotype you are doing it for the right reasons. Not just because everyone else like you is doing it. I am not a Christian because my family raised me that way. I am a Christian because when I searched out God with all my heart I found Him. People lump me into the group that is “ignorant prep who is just regurgitating what he was taught as a child.” That could not be further from the truth. Everything I believe in is because I tested and searched it out on my own. I like minivans. The reason I didn’t get a minivan last time I was shopping for a car is because how many single, normal men drive around minivans. So I went with the SUV. I should have followed my heart and gone with the van. I urge you to do the same. Be true to your heart that is, not buy a minivan. If we all do that, we will less and less fall into the trap of being a ‘by the book stereotype’. God loves variety, just look at all of the plants and animals He created. He does not want a bunch of robots, He wants you to be yourself. When being yourself I think it is important to not bring any harm unto others. That’s why we need laws. But for the most part be yourself and try and better yourself though learning and trying new things, loving other people and their uniqueness as you do it. Tolerate others, accept new people into your circle of friends, and try not to be a cookie cutter person so that we all don’t get sucked into the death that is a stereotype fulfilled. I understand that some of you smart readers might realize that I am telling you to all be different like me and that in its self is a little bit of an oxymoron, but as long as you are different than me being different than you I think we will all be ok.

Large Hadron Collider (LHC) Attacked By Time Traveling Bird. Discussions of God.

haimehennehemiah@yahoo.com (Nehemiah Roome) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 13:05:00 +0000

Ok so I came across a few articles about this LHC device that was created to study the Higgs Boson Particle (God Particle). Here is an article from about 2 years ago: http://www.universetoday.com/2008/02/07/large-hadron-collider-could-create-wormholes-a-gateway-for-time-travelers/. It was a very expensive and large undertaking.
The LHC lies in a tunnel 17 miles in circumference, as much as 570 feet beneath the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva, Switzerland. It cost about 9.1 billion dollars and started construction in 1995. It is the single most expensive man made device ever built. Although, I think that if you adjusted for inflation the tower of Babel would be the clear winner.

Of course it broke down. Could it have been saboteurs from the future?? I doubt it. But two physicists are claiming that’s exactly what happened on November 3rd, 2008 when the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) came dangerously close to overheating when a passing bird dropped a piece of bread into an electrical substation above the accelerator. It overheated and melted a bunch of the magnets. It took about a year to repair the damage. According to the Times, two physicists posit that the reason that the Large Hadron Collider (and, previously, its unbuilt American counterpart) keeps running into problems isn't bad luck or shoddy workmanship. It's that the LHC's quest to discover the Higgs boson--a heretofore only theorized particle that scientists believe is what gives objects mass--is creating problems to keep itself from being discovered:

"A pair of otherwise distinguished physicists have suggested that the hypothesized Higgs boson, which physicists hope to produce with the collider, might be so abhorrent to nature that its creation would ripple backward through time and stop the collider before it could make one, like a time traveler who goes back in time to kill his grandfather.”

Hmmm, it’s fun to think about. It is ironic that this machine is also theorized to be the breakthrough we need to create a time machine that uses black holes into the future (or past). That could be dangerous. That’s like if a fat guy with a time machine travelled into his past to smack every candy bar out of his own fingers as a child. Only the time machine runs on and is made out of Candy bars. I like to think about the fact that it is general consensus among scientists that there is something mysterious out there that is giving atoms mass. Something (or someOne) is holding the universe together at its seams and we don’t know what it is. Or do we…dun dun dunnnnn. Gravity is still a mystery. And where did the big bang come from? While I was doing a little research for this post I soon realized that there are some really smart people out there. They are really good at saying in an intelligent and completely confusing way that they haven’t a clue what’s going on. My brains started to overheat and melt trying to understand it all. Like an ant trying to understand why I threw tootsie rolls at cars from the bushes as a child. (Yes Mom, the cops were looking for me. I was the tootsie culprit.) Come to think of it I still can’t figure that one out on my own. So if this “Higgs boson” is responsible for holding together the universe at the atomic level, what’s stopping us from coming to the conclusion that this “Higgs boson” isn’t a real and practical thing to point at when discussing how God works and uses His power? What if God was in control? Would that limit our understanding of Him completely? Why does His power have to be reduced to magic in the scientific world? I say, maybe there is a “science” to His power. Not that we can or ever will understand it, but if we did understand it just a bit more that does not mean that it is still not His power. What if the big bang is how He started it all? Just because we think we know more about how this universe was created does not mean that He didn’t do it. I am not going to get into macro and micro evolution (I believe in micro), but why can’t that be HOW He did it? To me the greatest “proof” of God’s existence is not in the logic or science debate, but more in the perfect balance of our “proof” for or against being so even throughout the years. That’s God desire for us. For each and every one of us to have to come to the conclusion based on faith. Anyone who has decided one way or another based on “facts” or “proof” is kidding themselves. Even being an atheist requires faith. Faith that the universe just came into being…the same as believers that God has always been. It is funny to me that humans are still trying to prove it one way or another to the sum of $9.1 billion dollars. Let’s say that we finally learn how and why gravity really works. What did we gain? We still use it to stay attached to the earth every day.

Do I believe that someone or something came back in time to stop us from finding out about the essence of the universe or to keep from blowing ourselves up? Maybe; God did it with the tower of Babel, who knows? The real lesson to be learned here is to not leave bread laying around for birds to grab. Tisk tisk.

What are your thoughts? Use your brain. It’s fun I promise.

Want

haimehennehemiah@yahoo.com (Nehemiah Roome) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 10:01:00 +0000

What would someone look like who didn't want anything? When I look back on any part of my life there is always one constant; want. No matter what I have I want more. I want new. I want different. I want the same. There is no end. It does not stop at belongings either. I want better relationships. I want respect. I want to be acknowledged for my awesomeness. I want to not have delusions of grandeur, heh heh. But most of all I want love.

So where and when does it end? Is happiness the goal? Is happiness achievable through the acquisition of of all the things I want? At least once every 3 days I have the thought "If I just had _______ I would be happy". And every time I get that ______ I am never happy. After that it takes my brain about 26 seconds to think of a new thing I want in life. If that is the case it seems that one would never achieve the goal of happiness if we (I) are able to quickly think of new desires.

So maybe the goal of happiness is the problem. So let's get back to my first question; What would someone look like who didn't want anything? Would that person not have a way of getting anything they want and just learn to accept that? OR would it be someone who could have anything they wanted but chooses to not in favor of service and sacrifice? Great power is shown in someone who has power and does not use it for their own selfish desires. So the answer is to not just to be thankful for what I do have but to serve and choose to be a need fulfilled for someone else. Jesus wins again. He had all of the power in the world to avoid being killed, but He chose instead to let himself die for me and my selfish ways. Hmmmmm, it helps to write things out. Jesus you are the Man. You find ways to let Your Will known. When I am feeling selfish you humble the snot out of me. I guess the Camaro will have to wait. There are Camaros in heaven right?

PS I am now reminded that You do give me the desire I want most of all; Love in abundance.

Nehemiah

Sleep

haimehennehemiah@yahoo.com (Nehemiah Roome) — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 12:09:00 +0000

Sleep is a fascinating concept to me regardless of whether you believe in God or macro evolution. Think about it. Everyday most mammals require sleep once a day. Not moving, with eyes closed. Imagine aliens from a different planet that never slept coming to earth to learn that we have to shut down and sleep 5-9 hours a day not doing anything but taking up space. I am sure their plan of attack would be for it to happen at night. And then all of the world would rest on my shoulders. (You will see why later)
Why did God (or why is this a common event in evolution?) decide to do this? God could have made us up all the time. He has the power to make us regenerate in ways that we use sleep for during our waking hours, doesn’t He? Or why would a single celled organism eventually work sleep into its DNA in most of the planets animals? I wish I didn’t need to sleep. I work the graveyard shift at work (AKA your savior) and have for about a year now. I sleep during the day. I am normal for the most part, but there are a few side effects. Every time I go outside I hiss like a cat and squint like a near blind man. In day light I run from building to car to building like I might catch skin cancer if it takes longer than 32 seconds. I try my best to sleep at least 7 hours a day, but sometimes things come up and I sleep very little to not at all in-between shifts. I end up being so grumpy at work that I make Grumpy from the 7 dwarfs look like Rachael Ray. Then there is the problem of eating. Your body has a hard time deciding when it wants to eat. My stomach is so fickle I think it is related to a Charger fan. Sometimes I eat like there is no tomorrow, but then again I am always so confused as to when the day started and when it ended that I end up eating for both today and tomorrow just to be safe. Other times I will go days without eating more than a meal or two. If I am not careful I will end up being so skinny I could fax myself places. There are advantages. For one, I can move my schedule around without having to take a day off of work very easily. Dentist appointment at 11am, no problem. Late lunch at 2pm, I will be there. Bank robbery at 4:45pm, I will keep the van running. It’s great. As long as I can get some sleep in there I am fine. That is very hard though. Sometimes I want to do all three in the same day. That happens at least once a week it seems. If I could just remove the need for sleep I would be ecstatic. There has got to be some way for scientists to figure that one out. (And no Crack is not a viable option…it’s too expensive, Jk) I guess that is just one more thing to look forward to in Heaven…the lack of a need for sleep, not crack. If you don’t believe in heaven you always have eternal death to look forward to, from your perspective and mine.

Let's get this party started

haimehennehemiah@yahoo.com (Nehemiah Roome) — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 13:17:00 +0000

Hello, I am THE Lucky Bum. My real name is Nehemiah, but that is hard for people to care about so I will stick with this for the general name recognition purposes. There is nothing special about me other than my passion for life and the wonders it has to offer us. I like to discuss interesting topics and to stretch my brain muscle as often as I can. I like media and entertainment as well as the good old fashion subjects such as Religion and Philosophy.
I plan to blog about interesting things that are happening in the world as well as the immediate world around me. I am all set up to produce podcasts and plan on posting those every now and then to keep things fun. I want to do movie reviews, video game reviews, and maybe even book reviews. I will bring in guests onto the show for some fun and flavor. I Live in San Diego, grew up in Oregon, and was born in Idaho. So there you have it. Join me on my journey called life, post 24 years old.