Anything and Nothing TWO
(Bigger and better than ever!)
Well, people had been saying that my Anything and Nothing Page was the size of a dissertation, that their fingers were getting numb just from having to scroll down the page for so long, etc. etc…so I decided to quit adding so much STUFF, before things got out of hand....but random thoughts can’t just disappear, so I’ve started another page just for them…affectionately called Anything and Nothing TWO, for lack of creativity.
July 7, 2003
Franklin D. said, "There is nothing to fear but fear itself."
June 8, 2003
"The truth knocks on the door and you say, 'Go away, I'm looking for the truth,' and so it goes away. Puzzling."
"Perhaps because of these changes [faster-paced radio, movies, and TV] the stream of national consciousness moves faster, now, and is broader, but it seems to run less deep....Now the stream of our common consciousness seems to be obliterating its own banks, losing its central direction and purpose, flooding the lowlands, disconnecting and isolating the highlands, and to no particular purpose other than the wasteful fulfillment of its own internal momentum. Some channel deepening seems called for."
I've only started reading this book yesterday, but it's pretty fascinating.
June 8, 2003
April 12, 2003
~Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, p.5
~Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, p.7,8
Mornings I sit in front of the two windows of my room and stare out into the rain. I love the sound of the heavy, steady rain. Like an endless applause. And all the lush green trees sway and dance and bow in recognition.
It's all so beautiful that my windows start crying.
“A spasmodic contraction of the diaphragm accompanied by a small
involuntary sound,"Webster said.
But then- he said nothing about the time. Yes, yes, I know. They
are “spasmodic." Spasm-like. Spontaneous. Spiccatto. Staccato. Split
second. Short? Short time? Hmm. Perhaps.
Hiccups are also like hockets. See, in Renaissance music class, we’re learning
about hockets. They’re a bit like short hiccups, except in music. Two voices
will take turns having brief alternations of melody and rest. Short
snippets. Spicatto- staccato- like spasms.
So. If Hockets are short, and hockets are like hiccups, I guess hiccups must
be short, too.
But?
Not-so-sweet.
The funny thing about hiccups is that you can never have just one. Hiccups
follow one another, tripping over each other, spilling over each other,
like nosy neighbors tumbling into the room after they’ve been piled up
against the closed door, straining to see inside.
And as the door rudely whips open, every one cries out- barks- in surprise.
High-pitched indignation.
I’m living in a hiccup. Or rather, in a series of hiccups.
Spasmodic snippets of time, all carelessly slapped together.
An endless string of lurching, hurling, gasping, grasping for air.
Hiccup
Hiccuphiccup
Hiccup hocket sprocket pocket socket sock it --
STOP IT!!!
I really need some water.
Friday, August 30, 2002
(I will always be Here).
Friday, September 7, 2001
So I'm starting the second year of my Andrews experience...and when I look back upon all the incoming freshmen, I can't help but feel a tinge of...I dunno, bittersweetness? The kind of feeling when you think, "wow, I used to be so young and fresh once upon a time, too, and how I wish sometimes I could have known just how inexperienced and naiive I really was...then I wouldn't have made so many stupid mistakes..."
I know, I'm only a year older! But I feel as if the past year taught me so many lessons just about growing up, and "finding myself," (I know, that sounds so hackneyed); I just feel ages older and wiser than I did even one year ago, exactly.
Last weekend, our now-sophomore group of Korean friends took two of the freshmen girls out with us on Sabbath...we had a blast swimming at the beach on Lake Michigan, and then having sundown vespers together...and as we were just sharing and worshipping together, one of my friends, Jonathan, suggested that each of us give some piece of advice to the freshmen... and so we went around the circle, and we told them how important choices are, especially in the friends and relationships one gets involved in, and how important time management was, and most importantly, how vital a Christ-centered life was...
And as I sat there, I kinda wished I had had that kind of support and nurturement from the upperclassmen last year, too! I wonder if I would have made so many mistakes, like in my relationships, in my spiritual life, etc- all the areas we were warning the freshmen about this year...
Then again, I don't think I would have even listened. Actually, I think the freshmen girls, too, were probably just humoring us by listening to us attentively, because they were probably thinking what I thought last year, too- that everything was perfectly under control, and that I should be free to live my own life.
And so life goes on...and now, even though I feel so much older and wiser, probably next year, I'll look back and think the same exact thoughts I do this year about the class below me- but no matter how stupid and naiive I may seem to myself at a given point, I'm still so incredibly young and immature no matter where I am in life, I find...so I guess the thing is to just keep on going, to keep on learning, to keep building up those experiences that are the basic foundation of Wisdom.
