White_Bat's Xanga

The Power to Refuse the next Blockbuster or Fad

Fri, 23 May 2008 18:11:44 GMT

Sometimes I wonder what's wrong with the world. Or maybe just Christians who are of the world and think they aren't. The ones who go watch or read something that compromises their morals because of either
1 Popular hype
2. considered to be amazing writing or visually stunning (Nevermind the sex scenes, the innuendos, the blood spurting, the missuse of God's name and obscenities, after all that makes it more realistic, right?)

It's sad. I admit I have gone through the whole thing, seen junk and tried to validate it. That swear word isn't *that* bad, there are worse. Hey, this guy mowing down everyone *looks* cool, that's the important part. The scene isn't *really* porn 'cause they still have their clothes on and are just kissing passionately or are in very provocative positions

If we tell ourselves that it isn't quite sin, or isn't wrong, we'll keep engaging in the activity that we know that God wouldn't approve of. It's sin. But But! I'm immune to this! I mean I've seen bodies blown to bits and it's not sin I don't feel that it's wrong at all. Then you're in a bigger mess. and I'd suggest staying away from all violent stuff for a while. Awaken sensitivity again.

When I entered college, I found out that I was missing all these great movies I'd heard about but never seen. Everyone said they were good, so I watched them. Reflecting back, I realize it was rather stupid. Nothing in those movies has made me a better person, has caused me to remember them, or be able to relate to non-christians. The coolest fight scene in The Matrix becomes dull and commonplace. Every movie has a scene like that now. But you know what remains from those movies? the sex scenes (or practically sex), the lines with innuendos, the
cusses all around in 'everyone's' mouths....

To be a christian, you don't have to see the latest movie that everyone thinks is amazing. You really aren't missing out. And you don't have to partake in some criticism about bad acting or low budgets in 'christian' movies.

You have the power to refuse popular culture, or as Christ said, 'the world'

Friday, January 04, 2008

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 20:47:19 GMT

I seriously wonder if some people spend more time reading and believing Snopes.com to prove and debunk chain emails, than they do reading their bible.

*shrug*

R-E-S-P......erm, responsibility

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 02:58:40 GMT

So, I'm not sure what to say...
Time is flying fast... but then, not fast enough.
I realize how much I have to grow up these next few years. Become responsible. Honestly I'm scared of that. I want to enjoy the lazy simple life of a child, when I could play outside with my neighbors... or a teen, lounging away for hours to play on a gameboy or write a story. Now as I'm becoming an adult I realize, I won't have time to sit and think and play and relax, because the world has got it's grip on me. Must get a job... must take care of the kids 24/7 eventually, must make food, must be involved in some activity... all the time.
*sigh* It almost makes me feel like becoming a hermit.

Hmm, I'm someone who really dislikes responsibility. Who does? The is something of a quote in Spiderman which says: With great power comes great responsibility. I'm not sure what power I've gained now that I'm getting older, but whatever it is, I'm sure feeling the responsibility. I think as humans we only want to be responsible when the effect is in our favor (If I do a good deed and then get complemented, or some nice dollar bill for the trouble), but once you do something wrong, we shirk our responsibilities and start looking for a way out... trying to pass the responsibility on to so that we won't be punished for our use or misuse of our power. I keep thinking of in the Garden of Eden, how Adam says: "Hey God, not my fault, it was this little lady you threw in here with me. She gave me it...she persuaded me to eat it... she used her influence against me. It's all her fault."
And God's like: "Dude... I gave you responsibility for the chick, and you coulda refused, There's a reason I gave you free will you know... you don't have to do what the chick tells you to."
Anyway, you know what happens then in Genesis... so.....I guess I'm just thinking that someday, I might have a responsibility in which it goes... horridly wrong... I'll want to blame it on someone else, but hmm, how do I keep from doing that?
Thoughts?
How does one learn to take responsibility for their actions? Or is it just trial and error?

Paper -By White_Bat

Wed, 23 May 2007 03:04:12 GMT

I stare at the page. It’s blank… but now there is a line going across it. Is a page with only one line a paper? Doesn’t a paper mean that it is on one sheet? Could I write only one line? For that matter does a paper need to have any more than a word? Perhaps my name, so I receive credit, but then what? Oh well, I’ve written four lines now, and that should be a paragraph, according to my elementary teachers. I need to end with an ‘Enter’ and then start a new thought.
What is the point of the ‘tab’? I can discern a thought easily enough through seeing where the end of the last though ended, somewhere in the middle of the page. Even if a sentence reaches to the end of a page, I should be able to tell if a new thought is occurring in the next sentence. Or even better for a space-waster, one could insert a gap between every paragraph, like so.

What is the point of the ‘Enter’ key? It used to be called ‘Return’ because the curser would return to the beginning of the line. ‘Enter’’s meaning of imputing data makes no sense in this case. The computer does not save the data you have here on this paper when you hit it, it only returns you to the next line. It has been replaced with the mouse’s left click.

Why does the ‘Delete’ key remove anything before it, and the ‘Backspace’ key remove anything in front of it? I still don’t understand why there are two removal keys that do basically the same thing are on this computer keyboard…Perhaps the computer manufactures are trying to keep everything even.

Perhaps they can also explain why there are two ‘Alt’ and ‘Ctrl’ keys. Is one set in case the other gets too gunked up when you accidentally spilled your pop on the keyboard? Or maybe if one set doesn’t seem to work when you are trying to keep your computer from destroying itself and you hit ‘Ctrl’ + ‘Alt’ + ‘Delete’. So that’s what the ‘Delete’ key is for!

I wonder who came up with the idea: ‘Ctrl’ + ‘Alt’ + ‘Delete’ for the Anti-Computer-Destruction cure. Someone who was thinking: I want to have Ctrl of my computer so that it will Alter itself from the freezing up that it’s doing by Deleting whatever is on the screen right now. Personally, I think the keys should be ‘Anti’ + ‘Cmptr’ + ‘Dstry’, but that’s me. I should write a letter to those computer manufacturers, maybe send them this paper too. So they could improve in the future.

I’m looking at my keyboard and seeing all these different things that I never use…For example, what in the world are the ‘F’ keys for? They look like they’re Morse code or something, the way they number up to 12. Why are they all F? Did someone get ticked off at 12 people one day and put simple Computer-Destruction keys easy at hand with only a tap of the finger?

Finally, good old ‘Esc’ key, I’m not sure what it’s for, since I’ve already got the ‘Ctrl’ + ‘Alt’ + ‘Delete’ combo. Maybe they can just skip out on the party and we can use ‘Esc’ instead. Hmm, I’ve never pressed it before… Let’s try…
Oh shoot! I lost my paper!

WALMART AND THE SEX INDUSTRY ARE IN CAHOOTS

Tue, 22 May 2007 21:56:24 GMT

WALMART AND THE SEX INDUSTRY ARE IN CAHOOTS

Wow... that was powerful... *chuckles* Oh well. It got your attention, didn't it?
Let me explain...
So my family and I are out at Walmart the other day. We just had a wonderful dinner at Fazolis (all you can eat breadsticks!) celebrating the end of my first year of college, and my brother's graduation from college.

Since gas prices are on the rise, we are making several stops in one trip. So we mosey over to Walmart for a couple items and I'm going to the book section, finding nothing interesting, the electronics section, still nothing amusing but a little kid with the guitar from Guitar Hero jamming to the music and pretending he's a rock star . Then I go to the toy section and walk through the aisles feeling something missing... there were no kids in the toy section. It was strange to me. Of course, it was almost 9pm and most kids were going to bed, I guess, but I just saw that little one in the electronics department... I walked back, to find my brother and mom, and on the way I saw a little girl, maybe 6 years old in front of a music box player singing lyrics and dancing a little to some Tim McGraw song, It amused me much. So I get to my mom, as she's dropping off film, and find some fake flowers and pose for my mom with some roses there... um...okay you get the picture.

Anyway, so as we're going back to the check-out lanes, I see this little boy come out of an aisle and he stops and looks at the poster rack thing. You know, the thing that shows each poster and you flip through them to find one you like. I noticed as we approached it, the first one the kid saw was this practically nude woman as a poster and I heard the boy audibly say: "Whoa..." I wanted to quickly flip the poster to the next one so the boy couldn't stare at it, but we had already passed him.

I don't know... Why does Walmart and other stores have so easily available such mature things in their store. Someday I might have a child, and I wouldn't want that kid looking for a Spiderman poster and finding... "Whoa..."
I'm not sure what the answer is other than parental guidance at all times... Even in the store. I think it's also pretty terrible that Walmart sells that type of poster in their store... but what are you gonna do? Infringe on Freedom of Speech? I guess what bugs me most was that that was the centerfold, what you would see first, not hidden behind anything....Hmm, oh well. Btw: I'm doing fine. No worries, just wanted yall to know I'm still alive. :)
I'm missing my duck though... I lost 'em among all the chickens...

Australia and Bat so far.

Sun, 25 Feb 2007 04:50:54 GMT

Silent Chorus! I need you to contact me, please....
Howdy all,

I'm here to give you an update as to where I am. I am where I've always been... but anyway...
Silent Chorus! I need you to contact me, please....

Job situation:
Lost job at Records and Registration.
Am applying for two jobs, both office positions, and looking into something that I won't probably be able to do... but.... It's appealing to me.

Flight situation:
Flying to Dallas, spending day with cousins, then off to LA and Sydney! (round trip).
I still haven't bought my ticket, I have to get a special card first, to get 20% off, then I have to flush my bank account to my parents so they can use their credit card online and buy those tickets. Heh, and by that time, who knows how much they might be going for. Or if there will be any left....

Scholarship situation:
There are one or two scholarships that I think will really be able to help me, if I can get them--any of them actually. Any bit of money will help.

Financial Aid situation:
This last semester, I received $2,306.00 for college. This next semester, the number will be lower because my father got more money and I will be the only student in college. (you get more money if there is more than one student in college)
I just pray that the money I receive is going to help me, somehow. $1,000 bucks would be sweet. More would be awesome.
Every little bit counts.

Final things:
Write a couple awesome essays
Bake cookies
Get a job, or two
Keep up grades

Silent Chorus! I need you to contact me, please....

Australia

Sat, 20 Jan 2007 04:22:24 GMT

To those of you, who didn't know... and now do... yes, I'm going to Australia.

--or at least gonna try.

Okay, lets get the run down first.

Lismore.

Yeah, Silent Chorus, that's right down the road from you. I might have to steal a night or two at your place if you'd be willing. I also have to find out where Deb is...

Anyways, I need to make a list of what needs to be done before I get going... in somewhat order...

One English Paper rewritten by January 22nd, (This ensures that my grade is above or equal to the 2.75 mark that is required to go on this trip)
Find a job asap
Copy of my Passport due February 24th, (for International Education Office)
Southern Cross University Admission Application due February 24th.
Another Official Transcript, this time from the Registrar with Fall 2006 grades, due February 24th
Application for On-Campus Residential in Australia, due February 24th.
Decide on the three classes I want to take there, due February 24th (hopefully most can gain credit here too)
Book a ticket for roundtrip airfare thing, due asap (the thing I am most afraid of, it'll drain my savings account like that *snaps fingers*)
Keep grades up this semester (above that 2.75 mark)
Somehow raise $10,000 bucks via scholarships or whatever (scratch the thing about the airfare, this freaks me out more so. God help me...)

Now that that's all said... I have been having my doubts, it's... the money issue of course. I mean... that's a lot of money, I simply can't raise that much on my own. I mean... even if I got 100 bucks a week... this semester, that's only $1,500 and I need that times 6 or 7, *sigh* I need a miracle.
And what if I get no miracle? Do I pull out, losing up to $180 from the CIE, and however much from the airline company? Do I go anyway and use loans to pay for it that I'll have to dig myself out of?
Maybe God meant I should do it *next* year rather than this year...Maybe God wasn't even speaking to me at all...maybe it was just my own desires getting in the way. Whatever possessed me to think to go to Australia (the most expensive trip) anyway? *sigh*

I've heard a quote recently that's been repeated, it says, "Pray like it's all up to God, work like it's all up to you" something like that. That means that I really need to make an effort to work to get to Australia, and if I pray to Him, and trust Him, then He'll get me there. Somehow...

There is no one in the world like....

Tue, 16 Jan 2007 04:35:03 GMT

So um... here I am thinking about stuff. Everything from the Chatbox to your right that is saying that I stink, to how I really should be doing JaNoWriMo... Even that the silly YouSendIt thing hates me to death...

But really, I don't care about it very much. God turns things upside down and inside out. I feel like Seth in Blink... thinking... hey, what if this happened, and what if this happened... so many possibilities...It's like foresight isn't foresight at all, only an over active imagination of what 'could happen' in this moment. Um... not sure what that has anything to do with the rest of this... but eh...

Some of the girls might know that when you first get a crush, you start saying to yourself--there is no one in the whole world who's like him... he's perfect. Then another prince Charming comes along and you see your crush as dirt compared to this one. oh yes, there is no one in the whole world who is like him...he's perfect... But then he isn't, and that goes on forever.

So either each of the guys was better than the first, or there was another one in the whole world who is like him. Or a third option, as you get older you find someone who is better and better suited for you. Blah, I'm not gonna talk about love the whole time here... just a couple random thoughts that fall into my head.

See... I wonder if Jesus looks again and again at His Bride and says each time: There is no one in the whole world like her.

That thought makes me smile.

I suppose I should figure out how I'm gonna get to Australia... Even if I have to be a janitor...eep!

-Bat

The Truth is all that remains

Wed, 08 Nov 2006 17:16:21 GMT

The Truth is all that remains

Here I sit at my college campus, I haven’t ate my lunch yet, maybe I will go without… I have a truckload of German homework to do, and I’m taking a break from Nanowrimo just ‘cause God pressed this on me to write to y’all. Anyway, many of you may remember that yesterday, November 7^th, was Election Day. No duh.

Our college campus was filled with chalk on the sidewalks and yard signs in the grass all of which told voters who they should vote for. College kids get rather annoyed with it, most don’t vote, and some will vote against what the signs say just to be rebellious. Others are dead set on the issues and don’t care about what the signs say.

In the end, people just attempt to avoid looking at the ground or anything but the people coming towards them. The big picture…ooh I could write a whole other devotion on that. Anyway, it was covered with chalk, then chalk scratching out opposing arguments, and then other chalk written to denounce the first arguments. It ends up as insanity.

It rained last night, and the night before, which washed away much of these arguments. All the angry chalk, all the hurt abuse, and mudslinging, just like TV ads—it was all washed away. Those who had written things that were washed away scrambled to write them again. But come this morning… when the voting is finished, the poll results in, it’s so interesting to see that indeed those who scrambled out those last ‘Vote Dem’ or ‘Vote Yes for Marriage’ were the ones which stayed, and were the one who won. Indeed, if you look about, all the arguments that lost the election are washed away, and all that remains are those which won, the truth.

Despite if you agree or disagree with those who won, or the marriage amendment, it still is truth.

That makes me think of course, about God. We once were, and even now are, in filthy mudslinging battle between Good and Evil, Truth and Fiction. It’s nasty, the chalk is piling up on each other as both try to cross out what they think is wrong. We are tempted to just not care anymore. Or vote against that which we are told, whether for good or evil, we just want to rebel.

But if we hang on, and cling to God’s promise of Grace. He will wash us clean and only the Truth will be seen. His truth.

^w^

By the way, I have a new Bat as my pet from Bunny Heros labs or whatever it's called. They just recently got the bat and I was excited 'cause my spider was a bit weird...

The Hill

Sat, 16 Sep 2006 15:12:24 GMT

Every weekday that I have college, I have to walk down this hill to get to the college campus. We live close enough that I can get down there and in the classroom within twenty minutes. However, what goes down, must come up… or something.

At the end of the day, when I’m tired of classes, the weight of my backpack and such just seems so heavy…Then I have to walk up the hill. It’s not terribly steep, my mom says it used to be steeper than it is right now, but it does take a lot of effort.

There are problems, such as, the vines on one side of the sidewalk are hanging half into the sidewalk, and the only way to avoid them is to get closer to where the cars are speeding up the hill at a good 60+ MPH. You realize that these cars are taking a big effort to get up this hill as you, and they can’t just stop because everyone behind them is going 60+ as well, so the trick is to not fall into the street while avoiding the undergrowth that pulls at you. Further complicating matters, you must always try to stay as close as possible to the undergrowth because there are bikers who take the sidewalk too (They aren’t supposed to!) And they’ll whiz by you without even yelling out a ‘On your left!’ (Of course, if they do yell this, it takes a whole second for me to get through the shock of realizing there is someone barring down on you from behind as well as trying to figure out which direction is left, and then I’ll end up leaping left rather than right… and it’s a whole mess)

Yesterday, I was walking home and a guy on a bike whizzes by me, cordially speaking while I’m in hearing distance, “Pardon me.” Shortly after he goes by, another one goes by without a word, nearly hitting my elbow with his handlebar I’m sure ;)

The ‘Pardon me’ guy stops his bike at the most steep section of the hill and walks it from there. The other one whizzes by him. Whenever I get to the steepest part, I try to play a game with myself. It’s called Disconnect from Reality, where I basically focus on thinking of other things rather than the walk and the pain. I’m pretty sure I won’t get the Freshman Fifteen with this little workout every day.

So I put a little goal in my mind… to never lose sight of the ‘Pardon me’ guy’s head. So I focused on that guy and not the cars chugging by only two feet from me. And I did it, if I was losing sight of most of the torso, I quickened my pace to make sure I never lost sight of the guy’s head.

One might find that a little weird. I’m sure if ‘Pardon me’ guy read this he’d be weirded out that some girl was focused completely on his head… But it focused me on something besides this painful, scary, exhausting walk.

So it is with us. In our life when we are living on the edge of danger, in this life where we feel so used up, so tired, so sad, so scared. To take our eyes off of our problems, and focus on His head. Ephesians 5:23- The husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the Church, His body, of which He is Savior. Ephesians 4:15- Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Him who is the Head, that is, Christ.

Focus on His ‘head’ today (and always) and never keep Him out of sight.

(on Monday I'll take a picture of the hill from below, and add it in here. On second thought, it doesn't look so steep when you look at pictures. Sorry)