I don’t write many letters. Once I got into the realm of email in the mid 90’s, I’ve slowly drifted away from the pen and paper. I’ve had multiple gripes in the past six months about my apartment building and if you know me, there’s a chance you may have heard a 10, 15 or even 20 minute diatribe of mine about how this place is going down the tubes. Well, I’ve finally decided to write a letter to the owners. Turned out to be about three and a half pages by the time I was done. I’m sending it in with my rent check. Chris is going to write something up to send in with his rent too. I’m also going to talk to a couple other tenants to see if they might want to do the same thing. Hopefully something will get done.
Archive for July, 2006
I just got done watching An Evening with Kevin Smith and saw several shots of my friends Perry and Tara. I was actually supposed to go with Perry, but had to stay at school and finish up some projects for classes. So I guess that could have been me, who knows. I loved it. Absolutely loved it. Most people have no idea who Kevin Smith is, but I think the man is a genius. His movies are mostly crude and a bit vulgar, but I find them hilarious. I’m sure a lot of people that know me would be ashamed if they knew I was a fan, but it’s not like I got anything to hide. I recently saw his latest film, Clerks II, and have yet to write something up about it, but have no fear - it’s coming.
I don’t know what it is about this campus, but there’s never a lack of unicyclists pedaling around the sidewalks. My freshman year was the start of Clint’s reign on a unicycle. After we graduated I thought to myself, “well, no more of those unicycles.” Well, I had spoken too soon because there was a new freshman around riding is one-wheel-bike and he also makes balloon animals to boot. Well it’s obviously summer right now but as I was walking back from the grille some kid pedals by on a unicycle. They just keep getting younger and younger.
Apparently pig poo is useful. In Norway they’re dumping into contaminated waste water from a mine. The bacteria takes care of the metals in the water.
Every summer we are entertained as marching band after marching band comes through here for their week of band camp. They practice right outside our building and I usually laugh at them. Most of them are lucky to have 30 members, they sound horrible and their band directors are up on a huge observation thing screaming through a megaphone like he’s addressing a crowd of 1500. They could easily get their instructions across by standing on the ground and talking in a normal tone of voice.
This week however, there’s a real band here. I would guess at least 100 kids out there. They can play their instruments and know their music. They aren’t spending their time tripping over each other while nobody actually plays the songs. I have to say I’m a little impressed. These guys look like a real band.
Well, another wedding notch can go on my belt. This time it was none other than Toll, third keeper of the ball and chain yet first to be married. Soulman’s day will be in October and I’m in November. Now we just have to work on Sevier.
The wedding was awesome. It was so much fun. Rufio has now turned into Pufio. Got to see a lot of people and a few of them stayed at my place. At the reception tables had to tell a story before they got to get up and go eat and that got interesting. I’d have to say that TLoft had probably the best rendition ever of the Boys Town story. For food there were fruit and veggies, cheese, sandwiches and (drumroll please)…………………MOZARELLA CHEESE STICKS, PIZZA ROLLS, CHICKEN NUGGETS and HOT WINGS! It was pretty amazing and tasty. The morning of about 20 of us all went to Hardees in Elwood and got thickburgers. It was a good day food-wise.
Now Joe’s here for a conference going on and tomorrow Liz gets back.
I just read Joshua 23. I think you can definitely take some positives and negatives out of this with the current situation. Does anybody have any thoughts on this?
I haven’t said anything about the current Lebanon vs. Israel situation because I have been trying to decide what to say. To start off, I’d just like to say that every day I’m amazed by somebody else asking me, “So what’s going on with this?” I know that I don’t keep up with the news, but it seems like this would be something major enough to pay attention to. I really wish there was an easy way to solve this problem, but I don’t think there is - short of Jesus coming back and his millennial reign.
I think I kind of understand both sides. It’s kind of complicated, but this is the way I understand it. A couple thousand years ago, the Hebrew nation lived in the area known as modern day Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, etc. At some point in time this area turned into the current Arab countries and after WWII, the land we now know as Israel was created. This is an area in the world considered holy to Christians, Muslims and Jews. Lots of people have a claim to this land. Now for the physical country of Israel to be made, people had to move. This is, to my knowledge, the main reason that many Arabs, mostly Palestinians, have some gripes against the Israelis. To top it off, many Arabs dislike the Israelis mainly because they’re Jewish.
If you look not too far back into recent history you’ll discover a thing called The Six Day War. The aftermath of this left Israel on top and with a lot of extra land. They obtained the Gaza Strip, Golan Heights and the West Bank. The Sinai Peninsula was also taken, but later given back to Egypt after the signing of a treaty.
Fast-forward to today and maybe that gives you a little idea to why Israel is so oddly shaped with those small, named territories surrounding it. There have been other wars and “conflicts” since then and many militant groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah and the PLO have sprung up that are violently against Israel being a nation and a neighbor. So in the past 50 years or so you’ve had these groups, financed by Arab nations, and countries essentially picking on Israel over the years.
Now on one hand, I think Israel may have gone a little over-board with what they’re doing right now. On the other hand, maybe Lebanon is getting just what it’s been asking for all these years. I do know that Israel is the most technologically advanced country over there with a very capable army, navy and air force along with the world’s top intelligence force. So while Israel seems to be going a little over-board, I think they have by no means “unleashed” to their full extent. I think there’s not going to be much left of Beirut after all this is said and done and which city will be next? Damascus? Tehran?
I think the people suffering the most are the civilians. I’ve heard that 500,000+ residents have been displaced in Lebanon, not to mention all of the tourists and foreigners that are trying to leave too. Homes are being destroyed. Shops and businesses are being destroyed. Basic infrastructures (streets, roads, power plants, air ports, water facilities, sewage facilities, etc) are being obliterated. What’s going to happen to all of these people? How long will it be before they can come back to their homes? Will there homes even be there?
The scary part is that it’s very possible this whole thing was started by the decision of a couple people to kidnap some Israeli soldiers and get some media attention. Lebanon obviously doesn’t control the Hezbollah so who is going to make them stop? Who will sit down at the conference table and work out a peace agreement? I’ve seen some footage here and there with people from both sides being interviewed. Some of the things coming out of these people’s mouths are a bit shocking. It’s like listening to propaganda. They would rather be dead than give in to [choose a side]. They would rather be shot than be disgraced by [choose a side]. The only reason they’ve evacuated is because of their children and they would rather take up a gun and shoot some [choose an ethnic group]. I don’t know how peace can be made when generation after generation is being born, bred and raised to hate their neighbors. How can you compete with that? How can a third party (the UN, the European Union, etc) come in and try to make these people get along?
It seems to me that there’s a lot of national pride on both sides. Both sides have very legitimate grievances against the other. Many people have wronged each other physically, verbally and even through their thoughts and philosophies. The only way for this to be settled is for everybody to admit to being wrong and agree to start with a clean slate. Is that going to happen though? I don’t really think so. Humans are selfish and greedy and seriously, who wants to lose face to their mortal enemy? Everybody is going to have to lose something precious to them in order to gain peace. Everybody will also have to play by “the rules” afterwards. Can that be enforced? Can the U.N. really make any country do anything? When the five members of the security council continually do whatever they please, why should any other country be expected to act more mature?
I feel bad for him. I’ve had wannabe stalkers before, but fortunately I haven’t had to go get an official restraining order.
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