Sunday, April 28

STORM youth group:
during worship today, both the PJH and I both broke our A strings. our A strings!! i've broken Gs, even D, but A! man. we were definitely being waay too heavy handed with our guitars.

message on God's perspective: thru death, there is life
Joseph: "It was not you who sent me here, but God."

world says: "eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die!"
christ says, death to this world is the beginning to real life
(clip from matrix, where neo is shot, then given life by trinity, to begin a new life. neo sees totally differently (sees the matrix code), gaining new perspective)


got back today, and went to link on simplicity. my abdominal muscles are cramped up. my whole hall came out to see why i was laughing my head off, screaming, crying, and begging for mercy. craziness...

i've been to karaoke places several times in my life, and you know what? it was never, ever like this experience. first of all, i hardly know any of the songs, since i've grown up listening to classical music, and have not had a radio since high school. i know classical music, christian music, and...that's it. so i usually don't sing. but i usually go, for the sake of hanging out with my friends.

the general atmosphere at karaoke places isn't that fun. most people aren't very enthusiastic about it, so it comes across kinda weak...meanwhile, most people aren't watching or listening, because they're busily searching for their song. maybe it's because you need to be drunk to loosen up, and all the groups i go with don't drink... karaoke is actually pretty depressing. there are much better ways to have fun.

speaking of drink, i'll share a bit on:
alcohol and drinking:
my very first experience with this toxin was after high school, when i went to korea. where did the pressure to drink come from? my own relatives, no less.
i was able to convince most of them that i was underage, that i shouldn't be drinking, and so on. midway through my vacation, i visited my aunt and uncle in the country. it was a fun time, the hills were so beautiful, and aside from the pungent smell of cow that permeated through and through everything, it was great.

one day, when my uncle and i were alone, he cooks up some noodles for lunch. and also busts out two beers. uh oh, i thought. i started to go into my spiel about my being underage, etc, but he wasn't hearing any of it. turns out he had already had a couple, and wasn't about to take no for an answer. the more i argued, the more upset he got. it came to a point where he looked like he was going to get out of his chair to thrash me. i put the beer to my mouth, let the foam cover my lips, and put it down. my uncle's drunken demeanor completely changed, and he leaned back with a satisfied smile, as though he had won a great battle. he was a proud man, my uncle, for having broken the will of a high school graduate.

as soon as his back was turned, i poured the beer down the sink. when he turned around and saw my empty cup, he flashed a broad grin. "like it, eh?" i groaned inwardly as he filled my cup again. luckily, he didn't harass me anymore.

the next big alcohol experience came in college, during my first year. it was perhaps the 2nd or third day of school, when one of the guys i had met and became friends with came tumbling into the dorms, totally wasted. the smell of alcohol and vomit was all over him, and he was not doing well at all. several of the others in the dorms were experienced and wise enough to lay him on his side so he wouldn't choke on his vomit, and covered him with blankets so that he would not be cold. that night made a lasting impression on me, and i vigilantly stayed away from alcohol or any place that had alcohol for the rest of college

i do not believe that alcohol is evil or anything. my nose has somehow become very astute at picking up the fumes, and alcohol is always associated with vomit in my mind. i don't like its taste, whether in beer (hate it), or wine (tolerable, but still undesirable), or fruity drinks (more tolerable, and i like the fruity flavors. but i'd much rather have juice). i definitely don't like the smell. it smells so "chemical-like," like ether or acetone. orgo lab is another image that frequently passes through my mind. the idea of smallowing an orgo lab reagent is repulsive to me.

i don't dislike or disapprove of people who drink. my dad has often told me of the social function of alcohol (though he himself does not drink, either), and i don't think worse of my friends who do. but i dislike and disapprove of its abuse. aside from drunkeness, which i believe is flat-out wrong, my dislike of alcohol and the places where it is served is just my personal dislike of the chemical, and what it does to people.

i much prefer juices. i drink orange juice as my staple instead of water (i go through oj cartons pretty quickly, as my roommate for 3 years, albert, can attest to), and when i want something special, i love to have chilled welch's white grape peach juice. ooooohh. is there anything so good, so wonderful? you have to sip it sloooowly, to savor the taste of the chilled juice, as it is warmed by your throat and runs down your esophagus. a chilled glass of this on a hot summer's day is unbelievable. if there is anything on earth that is like ambrosia, this is it.

wow. talk about tangents...
to do: clean my room, study until lakers game. (bust out the brooms, it's gonna be a sweep)

yakob at 4:35 PM

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