Sabbath
2. The first day of the week, Sunday, observed as the day of rest and worship by most Christians.
Rest, worship, and contemplation, I hope. In some religions one does no work. From ou.org:
On Shabbat, the Jew withdraws from the performance of “Melachah.” All categories of “Melachah” represent purposeful, creative interactions with nature. In the case of Man, this refers to his interaction with his environment, whereby he exerts mastery and control over nature, as in fact he was commanded to do by G-d. Our purpose in this is to express our belief and to testify that G-d is the Creator of the Universe, and is the source, on an ongoing basis, of all creative forces within it.
Note in the text that there is a specific reference to this word “God”, but the middle letter is masked. Rather as one would mask a word that is odious. But instead, this masking is intended to be one of reverence and respect. The distinction is interesting to me.
Once again I attended mass this Sunday. I have no idea where this is leading me, but it feels right, and produces the kind of feelings of relief, unease, and humility that I enjoy. I remain a Freethinker, and I have no idea where the capital “T” Truth lies with regard to spirituality, but retracing the steps I took when I was younger feels right for now.
The church I attended today is in my neighborhood, predominantly Spanish. So today I’m looking and reviewing these: Spanish Christian Prayers of the Rosary. At one time I actually knew several prayers of the Catholic Church in Spanish.
Lately, I’m rusty.
So, time passes. But man, I really like this phrase from ou.org: The Shabbat is that one day out of seven that was charged with holiness, by the holy Creator of time.
The non-specificity of that phrase: “the holy Creator of time” is really interesting to me. “Creator” is a much better and less loaded phrase than “God” or “god” or “G-d” — whose invocation is so ubiquitous as to be uttered all the time. “Oh my god” is so common a phrase, and in repetition, perhaps the meaning, and interpretability of the phrase, and the word, begins to mean nothing.
This journey continues.
The crew, which is to say Leah, her kids, and me, are headed to the swap meet today: some commerce. We’re also going to do laundry: work. These are in violation of the Sabbath by some interpretations. However, there are times when the constraints of time and our own wants alter the timing of things.
Let me be clear, I’m not feeling “guilt” for a violation of what should be the “holiness” of this day, just pondering the requirement that we take a day to reflect, and do nothing else on that day.
It seems an impracticality, given the structure of the world I live in.
My folks and sister and her boyfriend left yesterday for back East. It was wonderful to have them visiting. Joyous even. I miss them already. However (ha!) the impracticalities of time and space make it hard for me to see them more than a few days a year.
Fascinating.
Today feels like a good day.
Onward.
Thanksgiving
So today is starting well. The goal in life is to improve each day I think, and today is a success on that basis.
So now, Leah’s kids and my sister and her boyfriend and also my parents are here. It’s going to be a mega-Thanksgiving, and I’m a bit nervous about it, but I have found that bringing people together who I love usually works out better than I could ever anticipate.
The dead iBook has been willed to Leah’s eldest. Leah and Allie are working on a killer relish tray. We’re all taking our showers and making ready to head over to see my family. It’s gonna be a good day.
Now it’s a mini-air hockey game with the other two kids. And of course blogging. Got to relentlessly take my own pulse for my own feelings and thoughts.
I’ve gotten a lot of questions about my newfound “religion” or “spirituality” and about attending church. It’s an evolving thing, and I’m not sure what to say about it other than it’s still very personal for me. I’m still hesitant to say much more with any more than a select set of personages. That just feels right for the time being.
On that note, I wish all of you (in or out of my beloved United States) a Wondrous and Happy Thanksgiving.
Onward.
Quote of the Day
The Earth is degenerating these days. Bribery and corruption abound. Children no longer mind their parents, every man wants to write a book, and it is evident that the end of the world is fast approaching.
– Assyrian stone tablet, c. 2800 B.C.
I don’t have an original source, but it’s all over the net. Anyone have an original source?
Geeky Unix Conversation Slash Unix Confession of the Day
ArtLung: so i’ve been trimming away at artlung.com – reformatting stuff, getting rid of dead directories
ArtLung: this morning i’m futzing along, killing little dev experiments
ArtLung: was doing rm -rv * in some dirs
ArtLung: *accidentally did it in my main artlung.com directory*
ArtLung: DOH!
Sassbert: doheth
ArtLung: luckily, i had a dir with special permissions which caused it to prompt me before i killed anything public
ArtLung: ladies and gentlemen, the power of rm -r *
Sassbert: always be careful
ArtLung: i was being so careful, i would go down into the little dev directories
Sassbert: hehehe
ArtLung: seeing i had not left anything important
ArtLung: then cd –
ArtLung: and up in my history, and NOOOOOOOOOOOO!
ArtLung: maybe i should have a thinger to automagically remove any rm command from my .bash_history
Sassbert: maybe you should be more careful!!!
Sassbert: hhehehe
Sassbert: you could write a shell script to remove grep and remove rm from your history but that seems like a waste of time
ArtLung: *bows head*
ArtLung: “yes, i know”
ArtLung: *chastened*
Sassbert: hehhehe
Sassbert: you can do this though
Sassbert: alias rm to rm -i
Sassbert: then, it will always prompt you
ArtLung: make it interactive
ArtLung: yeah
ArtLung: that’s a good idea
Sassbert: it’s easy enough in your startup script
Sassbert: its probably a good idea
ArtLung: *adding to my to do list*
Whoosh!
From great racquetball Saturday Morning, to housecleaning in anticipation of my visiting parents, to my parents arriving and a great dinner with a roast cooked by a visiting Australian, to Sunday morning at church, receiving the Eucharist for the first time in at least 5 years, to getting Leah’s homemade rosary blessed, to Ralph’s downtown, to getting ready for an open house, to the open house, to seeing Breaking Glass with my parents and Leah, to doing some freelance work, it’s been a great, and PACKED weekend.
Bring on Thanksgiving week!
Dating Leah in the Gaslamp
Last Saturday, Leah and I went on a date. We went and saw Intolerable Cruelty, then we went for a walk through the Gaslamp Quarter. We had a lovely, low key time.
It’s funny, I remember when I was in my teens – driving through that part of the Gaslamp near the corner of 5th and G Street – and thinking what a den of badness it was. “Seedy” does not do it justice. But now, it’s yuppie and hipster and tourist heaven.
I’m not any of those, but I enjoyed it.
More Fun Linkies, Catching up and blogging from bed from the new iBook
- Critical article on the still-years-away Longhorn
- This is the best country in the world. – Noam Chomsky
- FIRE: Foundation for Individual Rights In Education – defending liberty on campus
- Num1000 is a fun piece of Japanese inscrutability
- Mac Eye for the Windows Guy
- Fox media bias
- I really like it when bands have all their lyrics on their sites. I like being able to search for “kid charlemagne site:steelydan.com” or “boomin’ granny site:beastieboys.com“
- Flowers mean things
- Why the middle class is going broke
- Dilbert on “employee of the ___”
- “Why do people hate Bush?” you ask. I hope you’re also asking “Why did people hate Clinton?”
- Al Quueda and Fires, from July 2003
- US Trials with no public records
- Who links to SanDiegoBloggers?
- Time for the end of the Oil Age
- Controlling debate by controlling language
First Post!
from the new lil’ 12 inch iBook.
Productivity this week is pretty low.
But spirits are high!
Current Important News: VideoChat! Divorce! Life! Onward!
I got an iSight today. Talked to my sister and boss and even Dori Smith and Mathowie – it all worked well. Except my Dad and Mom’s connection is messed up somehow. We’ll figure that out.
Just checked the mail, and I received my “NOTICE OF ENTRY OF JUDGEMENT” from the Superior Court of California, San Diego County. I am now divorced. It’s been a long road from May 2002, and even longer from April 1999, and also from 1996.
My sincerest hope is to honor and remember what was good, and learn from what was bad. I am a stronger, better person than I was last year at this time. I’ve made many mistakes, and continue to learn from them. I hope to continue my dedication to ruthless truthfulness. About myself, my faults, my strengths — everything. Always striving to work on those big four pillars of my life, the emotional, the intellectual, the spiritual, and the physical.
Many people have been wonderful to me during the past year and a half. My parents and sister, my aunt, several key friends, and since last September, Leah, who has a inquisitive, self-search, relentless dedication to truth that I really appreciate, and with whom I share a home and life.
People ask me if maybe we moved a bit fast, I think not. We both do what feels right, and I must say, the truth can be a very difficult road. But in the end, we share a bond that means a great deal to me. I feel I’ve found a real partner, a peer who I am not superior or inferior to. I will continue to be truthful, and open, and hope for all the best.
One never knows what life will bring. That is most certainly the way of things.
But I know I’m happy, and evolving daily. And I expect that to evolve and change every day.
And as I’ve been saying… ONWARD!
Some Links!
- Rush is back at work – and in recovery
- Doc on Ant Control – glad we don’t have these
- Cake Plates and Stands – I see why these are designed the way they are – they’re anti-rodent! I feel so, 19th Century lately, living in this 1892 house
- President interviewed by British sleazy tabloid – like he granted an interview with the National Inquirer
- Admiral Ackbar – we all love him!
- Keep CSS Simple – I agree with this!
- Outsourcing Roundup – from Bill Rini, on tech outsourcing
- Snail Mail Counts to Television – if you’re trying to make a difference, write a letter
- Kynn and his Family lost a cabin in the fires – devastating loss of memories
- Hill of Crosses in Siauliai, Lithuania – very impressive, rather surreal
- Shonen Jump (a Manga) kicks the ass of every American Comic Book – there are lessons here
- Mom finds out about Blog – I always knew mine would
- Average Playboy Centerfolds – these fascinates me
- The states need to form a union – from Richard Stallman
- Aaron Davis – interesting photographer
- Contrary views on PATRIOT ACT – as in, not for it
- Funny movie mashups – from Fark, via Howling Point
- W3C on images used to “prove” you are who you say you are – the problem with the practice
- Kynn was on this issue some time before
- Santiago Theory – remind me to link to this guy
- The Matrix Revolutions – a really interesting take
- How they make Legos – I need to brush up on Legos for this
- Stew and Heidi do Radio – so cool!
- Free books goose sails – as in, improve – Crazy!
Now gotta get ready for work!
