Living and Dying, and living and dying...

Lately I've been thinking a lot about life and death. Wondering about other perspectives on the topic other than the Christian one I have known so long. Becoming of a skeptical mind and questioning everything, I am exploring other worldviews. I want to write more but I am very tired, more sleep is needed.

Okay, fresher now, and trying to remember what exactly I was thinking when I first started to write this. I think it was a contrast to the Christian world view, that you have this one life and then you spend the rest of eternity with the Lord. The contrast being that our existence on this planet is a small part of a larger existence, maybe one of many lifetimes on this planet, or others. Who knows? So my question is, at this point, what is the nature of our existence? Does Christianity have it right? Or the eastern religions with reincarnation? Or does the New Age free thinkers have some valid points? Or do they all have a part of the truth?

That has become my quest of the past few months. If I get around to it, I would like to publish my findings and ideas here in the weeks and months ahead.

A random post

Okay, this showed up as a draft. I thought there was something here, but when I looked, it was empty. So I'll write about 2012.

Recently I saw a History Channel program on Nostradamus. Very interesting because it was about the lost book of Nostradamus and how it relates to 2012. The only exposure I've had to Nostradamus is through the History Channel. Good for a start but I'd like to do some more research on my own. I found a few websites for starters and we'll see how it goes.

Changes

Since I've decided to not be so religious, making sense of the world and world events is much more challenging, and frightening. Wondering what is going on with our government. Is he/are they doing this deliberately, or are they just being idealistic and not knowing what the consequences might be given the economic environment? Do they really care, or are they really trying to destroy the US as we know it?

Writing and Stuff

I am going to try and practice writing every day as much as I can. Whether it's a blog post, or working on my creative writing or something else, I will consciously do something about writing. The whole idea of communicating, expressing myself in a meaningful way, has always been important to me. I just haven't had the confidence to follow through and really believe that what I have to say is worthwhile, even to myself. Now that's an issue.

Others can benefit from my insights, as I have benefited from others' insights. We all have to share because all of us learn at different rates and in different ways. So rephrasing the same information will catch on to 4 to 5 out of 10 people the first time. The second time, maybe two to three, and the third time, maybe one more. So far at best we have 9 out of 10. Probably one more time will catch that last person. And then the cycle will begin all over again.

So writers, and I say this to myself as well as to those reading this. Don't give up on yourself. If you have a dream, pursue it. If it's working in the realm of ideas and concepts, keep working at it, practice writing in the area you want to follow, whether creative writing or journalism. Go for it with everything you've got and get better. Participate, compete and be heard, or read.

It's been a while. I've been thinking of things to blog about, and struggling to think of things to blog about. I get a lot of ideas when I'm not at the computer, and when I do get in front of the computer, my mind goes blank and I'm staring at this thing trying to figure out what I wanted to do. It's quite frustrating you know.

I seem to have this problem of doing something productive on the computer. All of my life I've been interested in writing. About four years ago I discovered fan fiction.net, where you can write stories using your favorite media. Everything from books to TV to anime. Take your favorite characters and make up a new story for them. A lot of people have done a lot of creative things with this. So I decided to give it a try.

I started to write a story based on the TV show; Law and Order. Jack McCoy solves a case with some unconventional methods. If interested, look under the author name of MrTax57. The name of the story is Jack's Halloween. I wrote the first three chapters three and a half years ago. Then life got in the way, or writers block or I got scared of the feedback I was getting, it was good feedback too. Go figure.

So finally, last night I posted chapter four. But now its treating chapter four like a new story instead of a continuation of the old story so it seems like its in a different place or something. But so far chapter four is not with the other three. But I will post chapter five soon, and be finished with this story for now. I may leave it open to continue later or close it and be done with it, I don't know yet.

One of the problems I've noticed about myself is I don't take myself seriously, and if I do, it doesn't last long, or I let myself get distracted by other stuff on the internet. Second life has been a distraction for the past two years. I'm finally using that to try and get some writing done. We'll see how that goes.

Can It Be?

For the last several months I have been listening to 'talk-radio' here on Cleveland. A very conservative lot. As most conservatives go, they don't like President Obama. They are afraid of his policies, as well as his philosophy. Socialist, they say. It's all that 'change' you know that he was talking about before the election. He wanted to transform America they remind us. And to them, he's doing just that, in the worst possible way.

With the passage of the health care bill at almost $1 trillion, it does make one wonder what's going on. Do the math, or if you let the conservatives do the math, they might say something like our country is at about $60 trillion negative net worth. That's with a $10 trillion net income. If that's true, that seems like a real problem.

Now I'm confused between what the consevatives say about Obama and his motives. Now granted, I am not a poly-sci major or anything like that. What I have heard the conservatives say is that the democrates want power and control. By passing this health it gives the government control over one fifth of the economy and they can expand it from there. Well, okay, if that's how they want to move us out of a free market system and into a european-style, more govenment controlled system, I guess that's one way. The big thing is that it seems like they're spending money we don't have. Or that we're not making because we're loosing jobs like crazy, still.

So, if they want that power and control so badly, why ruin the country to get it, or once you get it? A big problem is that China owns a lot of our debt. It seems possible that they could call in the debt, then what? Who will have control? Did the democrats get control just to ruin the country so we cant be the worlds policeman anymore? So we can't afford to do anything on a global scale anymore? We'll be reduced to something like, The Czech Republic, or an African country that can barely protect its borders? How's all that power and control workin' for you now? I don't quite get it, but as time goes by, we shall see.

Times What They Are

I've been hearing a lot lately about how hard times are for some people and I got to thinking. Since people are having such a hard time, being laid off and the like, loosing their homes etc. Would it do any good to band together in out neighbourhoods and develop a commune style of living model? Like several families living under one roof?

I'm not proposing a communal living style associated with the hippies, free love and all that. But more like people grouping together to pool their resources. Maybe for suvivals sake their financial resources as well as their material resources. I don't know how this would look, but I just thought I'd throw the idea out there and see how it would fly. Maybe someone with some more details could pick it up and run with it. I will try to add some more meat to this idea later.

Getting Around - Bicycling

Well, apparently I was going write something here. Thats ok, I will. I recently dusted off my old Huffy 10-speed and decided to try and use it again. I came across some info on the web about riding in the winter that interested me and thought I'd try the idea out. It worked for about a week. That was a month ago. I haven't tried it since. Too busy, too put off by the cold and snow to venture out again in the elements. I guess I'm not that much of an enthusiast to go bicycling in winter on a regular basis, guess I'll have to work on that.


Otherwise, bicycling is a great idea, very practical and good for you too. I would advise anyone to try it for recreation. However it's not as practical as having a car in today's society. To be really practical would take a big readjustment.