You Passed High School with an C

You have the brains of a high school graduate… at least!

Could You Pass High School?

http://elmodog.livejournal.com/697.html

You will need to be a friend of mine in LiveJournal in order to view this.

Some of the things are very personal and I would not want them to be made public. I either need to figure out how to make some entries private with WordPress or I need to figure something else out. We’ll see what happens.

I saw a worker arranging some gift cards on the shelves. I asked her, “Do you know where the bread is?”

She said, “Yes.”

I looked at her for a couple of seconds. I was trying not to laugh or to be frustrated. Then I said, “Where is the bread?”

She said “Aisle 9.” I thanked her and walked to Aisle 9.

http://www.chrisyates.net/reprographics/index.php?page=424

God is love. God loves us all. God even loves people who don’t acknowledge him or deny his existence. God’s unconditional love for each and every one of us is truly astounding. I am sure everyone has gone though one period or another in life where you have doubted that God could love you. I had that feeling not too long ago. I am such a sinner. Why on earth should God love me?

God teaches us to love each other, and that love can do some pretty amazing things. When you truly love someone, you will do what it takes to help them in their time of need. And trust me, everyone has a time of need. Look around you. It is not too hard to find someone with a need. Needs come in all shapes and sizes. What are you going to do for someone in need?

It doesn’t have to be big. It is better to start small. It is much better to do one small thing rather than dream about doing twenty large things. Find someone in need, and love them enough to help them through that need. Give them a call. Be someone to talk to. Cook them a meal. Whatever it is they need, have the courage to help them.

Pray to God. Try to talk to him as much as you can. Tell him about the needs in your life. How can he send an angel to aid you if he does not know the problems you face? Trust in God. He knows what he is doing. He created you and he created this beautiful planet. Nothing is beyond his control. You simply have to ask.

Asking for help is one of the hardest things to do. Trust me on this. The person with the humility to understand that he or she does not have all of the answers is a very mature person. Keep asking, even if you think God couldn’t possibly care about your need. You would be surprised at the response he gives.

I was surprised. Was God actually listening to me? Did he actually care about little old me? Although he can and usually does answer in a way you would not expect, he does respond. God loves me. He really does! How powerful that is! I need to share that love with anyone and everyone I can. God loves you. Do you realize how important that is? The creator of the earth, of all our worldly possessions, of us, of our family, loves you and loves me.

If you are still skeptical about God’s responsiveness, give it a try. If you have believed for years and years, don’t forget about your brother or sister who still might have some doubts. There is always work to be done in God’s kingdom. You can start with a simple prayer. Ask what to do. Or ask for some help. The important thing is to ask, to be in constant communication with the only one so powerful as to be able to follow through on anything you might suggest. And even some things you don’t.

We had our second counselling appointment this morning. It was pretty rough. Throughout the meeting, I felt disgusted with myself. How could I have let this happen? What was I thinking? Why were we in this situation? It was almost as if I was having a dream. Or a nightmare.

Things have been tense between us for the past few weeks. It has progressively gotten worse. I can’t remember a time where I have felt as down on myself as I do right now. Perhaps I felt this bad about myself when I was in high school and not fitting in very well. But, in that situation, it was not my fault that it happened. I suppose that makes this situation worse.

I hope that we are able to make it through this. I know that it will take a lot of time and patience from both of us, but I really want to make it work.

http://anomalous-girl.livejournal.com/122858.html 

Here are my results. I must have answered some questions wrong, because I think my Wrath is too high and my Sloth is too low.

Discover Your Sins – Click Here

“Hey guys”, says Two. “Are you ready for our party this weekend?”

“I guess so”, replies Three.

“What’s wrong? You don’t seem very excited about it”, says Two, with a confused look on his face.

“It’s just that everyone was so boring last time!”, screams Three.

“Yeah, it was pretty much just even numbers”, agrees Five.

Four is exasperated. “Why do we always have to fight about this? What is the big deal? We are all numbers, right?”

Three is getting visibly upset, but then seems to fight back a grin. “Yeah, well you even numbers think you are all that and a bag of potato chips. Ooh ooh look at me! I am divisible by two. I am soooooo special”, mocks Three, in her all too annoying voice.

“Did someone say my name?” Two looks up and sees the angry, red face of Four and the grinning face of Three.

“Oh, sorry, Two”, Three says. “I was just having some fun.”

Two chuckles. “Oh you are too much sometimes! Anyway, speaking of fun, I was thinking of inviting some other numbers this weekend. Maybe even some non-integers!”

“Well, I don’t want to have to clean up after all those decimal places,” Four replies. “You remember what happened last time we tried that? One-third started repeating threes all over the place! As if we don’t have enough trouble with the one Three we have!”

“I heard that, Four”, shouts Three.

They hear a noise. It sounds like someone mumbling under their breath. “Five, is that you?”, asks Two. Five walks into the room and blushes. “Oh, sorry”, says Five softly. “I was just talking to my imaginary friend.”

“An imaginary friend? And I thought Three was weird”, chortles Four.

“That’s ODD, not weird, you dolt!”

“Anyway”, says Two, trying to calm everyone down. “Five, do you think your imaginary friend would like to come to our party this weekend?”

“Ah, I am sure i would love to be there, but I’ll ask him to make sure”, Five replied.

“Well I’m not asking about you. I already know you’ll be there.”

“I am not talking about me. I am talking about i.”

“Come again”, Three says. “Uh, what are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about i”, says Five. “i is my imaginary friend.”

“You mean I AM my imaginary friend”, says Four.

“No, not me. i. i is his name!”

Two says, “That is an interesting name. Why is he called i?”

Five thinks about this for a little bit. “I’m not really sure. Maybe it’s i for imaginary”.

“Ah, that makes sense,” exclaims Three.

“He thinks he is the square root of negative one”, Five says.

“That’s crazy”, replies Four.

“So, who else should we invite?”, asks Two.

Four speaks up. “Obviously we can’t invite Six. At least, not if Seven is going to be there.”

“Why? What is going on with Six and Seven?”, replies Two.

“Haven’t you heard?”, Four replies with shock in his voice. “Six is scared of Seven.”

“And why is Six afraid of Seven?”, Two asks with doubt on his face.

Before Four can answer, Three says, “Because Seven ate Nine.”

“What??”, cries Two. “Seven ate Nine? Why?”

Four tries to explain. “I don’t think Seven actually ate Nine. I think they were just fooling around. But now that Six heard about it, he won’t go anywhere near Seven. I tell you, those odd numbers are all a menace, anyway. Let’s just multiply everyone by two and get it over with!”

“Now now, Four”, Two says. “So is Eight also afraid of Seven?”

“I don’t think so”, replies Four. “I think Eight is a bit too sensible to believe that rubbish. Of course Eight would be sensible. Any multiple of four would have to be.”

“OK, so we won’t invite Six. Do we have more ideas?”

“What about pi?”, asks Three.

“Who is that?”, Four replies.

“Well, technically, she is the ratio between a circle’s circumference and diameter”, Three says. “But I know her. She is pretty cool. We live very close to each other. In fact, in the olden days, people thought that she was me!”

“I don’t know,” Four says with trepidation in his voice. “She doesn’t sound very rational to me. Why would anyone want to be associated with a circle, the most pompous of shapes?”

“Just because a shape doesn’t have four sides does not make it pompous, Four!”, shouts Three. She lowers her voice. “Anyway, that is exactly the point. She is irrational. She will be the life of the party!”

“Sounds good to me”, says Two. “I used to know an irrational number. He called himself e. But I haven’t heard from him in a while.”

Three, Four and Five look concerned. “What happened?”, they all say at the same time.

“Well, it’s kind of a long story. He thought he was invincible because he was raised to the x power.”

“Oooh, you have to watch out for those variables and those voodoo powers”, warns Four.

“Yeah, well, when e is raised to the x power, the derivative operators do not affect it. That is why he thought he was invincible. He was on the wrong side of town. His friend, some constant, tried to get him to go home. But he wouldn’t. Along came a derivative operator. The constant ran away, but cocky e thought he could stand up to it. Unfortunately, the derivative operator was with respect to y! A different variable!”

“So what happened to him?”, Five asks nervously.

“He was obliterated. I think he got reincarnated as Zero”.

“Ah well, there are worse things in the world,” says Three. “At least Zero is real!”

“Hey! That was not nice!”, Five says, and tackles Three to the ground. They get up and start laughing and laughing. Three and Five can never stay mad at each other for long.

“Oh, those crazy numbers”, chuckles Two. “I mean odd. I can’t wait for this party!”

I really enjoyed this game, despite the messy play in the first half. Or maybe, because of it. I love watching football games where the weather is nasty. It has been one of my criticisms of the Super Bowl that they always hold it in a warm city or in a dome. It felt refreshing to watch a game in the rain. However, I couldn’t help but chuckle at the fans in the stands who paid thousands of dollars for the privilege to sit in the rain for four hours while I watched the game in my dry living room.  Call it jealousy if you will.

I was happy to see the Colts win.  Perhaps I was happier to see the Bears lose. I don’t like Chicago sports teams.

It was a good game. The Bears were in it until the interception return for a touchdown. Still, they only lost by 12 points. It could have been worse. The Colts dominated them in many statistical categories, especially yards gained and plays run. But they could not dominate the scoreboard.

Maybe there will be snow during next year’s Super Bowl. That would be sweet!

1. “September” is a funny, funny answer. Richard Dawson cannot contain himself: http://youtube.com/watch?v=bNoV_kSe7Dk
2. Watch the second player, and it will be like “night and day”: http://youtube.com/watch?v=hGPVoJinn0A
3. Do you know how many letters are in words? Some people don’t: http://youtube.com/watch?v=zdVuEpD9_IY

We went out to dinner tonight after I got home from work. Jennifer’s friend Sophia came over to watch Brooke for us. We had dinner at a small Italian place in Fremont called Ristorante Il Porcino. The food was excellent, but the service was sub-par. The waiter forgot our drinks and we had to ask the busboy to get them for us. They just didn’t seem to care about us as much as some of the other customers.

After dinner, we went to Dave and Buster’s in Milpitas. We played Skeeball, where I scored 300 in my first game. It’s too bad that I never could do that in bowling. I should mention that 300 is not a perfect score in Skeeball.

We then went to Spencer’s. We were looking for a fun adult game to buy. The selection of adult games at this particular location was not very good. But we were able to eventually find a game. I can’t wait to play it!

I think we had a great evening. I am very happy that we got to spend the night together. I hope we have many more anniversary celebrations!

by: Gregory Maguire

Wicked is the story of the Wizard of Oz from the point of view of the Wicked Witch of the West. It is an interesting premise, and it was so much better than I thought it would be. I was not expecting such a compelling story.

I have never read the Wizard of Oz, but I have seen the famous movie. I remember being a little kid and being scared of the flying monkeys. Of course, I also remember the witch being killed at the end with a bucket of water.

The “Wicked Witch”, who was born as Elphaba, started her life with green skin. That was not easy for her or for her parents to deal with, especially since her father was a minister. They treated her rather badly at first. They hid her and they were not proud of her.

Elphaba grew up and eventually met other kids her age at elementary school and then at college in Emerald City, the heart of Oz. She got involved in politics and in the campaign for Animal Rights. You see, an animal is different from an Animal, which may or may not be different from a human. Or a Human for that matter. It was very fascinating how many problems there were in the grand Emerald City. These problems were very similar to problems we face in our cities: poverty, unemployment, a government that tries to be too powerful.

Eventually Elphaba found herself on the wrong side of the Oz government, specifically the Wizard. She became his enemy, and when Dorothy came into town in her flying house, that just threw more drama into the mix. What did Dorothy want, and why did she steal shoes meant for Elphaba?

This was a very captivating read. The Oz presented here is a very complex place, with many of the troubles of the real world. If you like fantasy with political commentary, you should enjoy this book.

“You’re a complete liberal, utterly without a trace of Republicanism. Your strength is as the strength of ten because your heart is pure. (You hope.)”

Are You A Republican?

When he was a senior in high school, he received oral sex from a 10th grader. He was 17. She was 15. Everyone, including the girl and the prosecution, agreed she initiated the act. But because of an archaic Georgia law, it was a misdemeanor for teenagers less than three years apart to have sexual intercourse, but a felony for the same kids to have oral sex.

What kind of crazy law is that? At least they had some sense to change the law, sort of:

Afterward, the state legislature changed the law to include an oral sex clause, but that doesn’t help Wilson. In yet another baffling twist, the law was written to not apply to cases retroactively, though another legislative solution might be in the works.

This kid has been in prison for almost two years. That is two years too long in my opinion.

Here is a site with some more information: http://wilsonappeal.com

There have been a lot of stressful moments during the past year, and also a lot of good ones. But, every day, I worry that I am not doing as good a job as a husband as I could be doing. Do any other new husbands go through things like this?

There are definitely things I could have done better. But part of me is worried that I won’t be able to change to make things better. Before I got married, I did not go through many difficulties. I had it relatively easy, and I got lazy. Then when I needed to step up and be a strong, reliable husband, my laziness came with me. I know this sounds like a bad excuse, and it probably is.

I have made so many mistakes in the past year. I hope I don’t make so many this year, but I am always nervous about doing it.

I love Jennifer very much, and I am hoping that we will be able to work through the things we are going through and have been going through.

Both Brooke and I were laughing and enjoying ourselves while reading these poems. If you have never read his work, or even if you have, I encourage you to check it out.

In all fairness,  it was hard to understand each other through the crackly speaker.

I hope she gets the job. She has worked really hard in trying to find a job, and she really deserves it. And all of our backs will feel so much better if she gets it!

I suppose I didn’t help my situation much with a dinner of Taco Bell and Baskin Robbins. I am the bastion of healthy eating.

I was sitting on the couch, minding my own business. I was reading a book and was not paying attention to the game. What a mistake that was! All of a sudden, I feel a sharp pain in my groin. Jennifer had tossed a beanbag my way, and scored a direct hit. I rolled over on the couch in pain. So, does that count as an X or an O??

What Drug Is Your Personality Like?