I’ve received an answer to…

Observations

I’ve received an answer to my question: “Is China one of those countries where the visitors have more rights than the citizens?”

Coming from two people who live here, INDEED!!!! we do.

1.We have more rights to do wrong! if that is not ironic.

2.We get paid enormously higher.

3.Of course, we also live a life similar to a reality-tv program, “Big Brother” is always watching! in this sense, we have protection from others as well as ourselves…haha.

4.We can come and go as we please…no permission slip (the people must carry a form with them, and an ID stating that they are allowed to go to this area or that).

5.We can speak freely about our faith.

6.We can gather together with other foreigners without too much hassle.

7.Our opinions about politics or religion or rights do not change our position in the company.

8.We are told we are beautiful no matter how ugly we really are, and also told we are fat no matter how thin we “think” we are! and the list could go on and on!

— A

Da Vinci Code

Opuses

I have made an end of reading The Da Vinci Code. It certainly was an interesting read — especially for someone who enjoys puzzles and solving problems like I do — because the book was very well researched and the plot was as thick and tangled as any. Naturally, I reject the novel’s premise (to wit, that Jesus Christ married Mary Magdalene, that his descendants survive to this day, that documents proving these claims exist somewhere, and that the Church has effected a cover-up of the whole deal). But it was interesting and I learned some history of gnostics and Merovingians.

Moreover, based on what I already knew about gnostics, I might have guessed the ending. One hinge of gnosticism is that one can ascend to higher states by progressively gaining more of the secret knowledge. In the book, the guardians of the aforementioned documents would never be able to release them to the public because that would go against one of their core values.

And that’s the way I see it.

I was talking with some…

Observations

I was talking with some friends last night about dead English that we are trying to bring back. We decided that one can’t resuscitate a phrase on his own. He wants help. And he wants to keep his list small so he can grow skillful with one phrase before adding another.

Hence, if you’re wont to freshen your environs with flowerier words, herewith we offer a current listing:

– “Copasetic” 1

– “Ahoy! Hoy!” 2

– “How do you do?”

– “Not at all” and “The pleasure is mine.”

– “Forthwith” and “Straightaway”

– “Cola” 4

Remember, you can make a difference!

1Last night I found out that ZH and I have both been using “Copasetic” for some time. Nice!

2This is the telephone greeting endorsed by Alexander Graham Bell. I have nothing against Edison (who endorsed “Hello!”), I just like “Ahoy! Hoy!”

4This one is brand new. Last night AW ordered “Cola” instead of Coke. I found it terrifically humourous, so I appended “Cola” to my list forthwith.

Yet another ringing endorsement for…

Fun

Yet another ringing endorsement for anomalism!

“oh man!! my name is robert runnels, and luke hatfield is a leader at our church in texas now, but man….he gave me a cd of HALF NELSON the other day, and oh man, ive been like listening to the cd like non-stop!! the best song is ‘Ode To Dick Buttons’! man…y’all rock!!” — via e-mail

The week has been difficult…

Adventures, Opuses

The week has been difficult for our snowmen 🙁 but the warmer weather isn’t unwanted. So as the old saw says, March is in like a lamb and will be out like a lion. Just wait and see.

We went to see The Passion of the Christ last night. Very moving. I wonder if all the hype changes people’s experience too much. The art value of the film completely matched my expectation which is good because my expectation was so high but as I watched I thought more than once about whether I was having the “correct” emotional reaction. And I don’t enjoy thinking that way. So a body needs to experience a thing for himself and that’s what I decided to do. The thing that touched me most was when Jesus said something like “You have no power over me except what is given to you from my Father,” or “No man takes my life, I lay it down on my own.” It’s incomprehensible.