Religyon and Buukz.

I’ve been ‘hecka’ busy these last few days, mainly in my desperate attempts to transform every day that could have been productive into something quite the opposite. Quite simply, I’m franticly trying to maintain a specific quota of goofing off on a week to week basis; I’m told that if people actually see me working, sheep will fly, the Vancouver Canucks will win a game via offensive prowess, and the gates of Heaven will yield unto humanity the blessings of our God Almighty, ultimately leading to the discovery of the ultimate fusion of nourishment and flavor, the pepperoni pickle. Hence, because I’m so eager to witness another 60 minute stall-fest by my lovely home team, I have been devouring books and scouting for games.

Before I get into that, however, I’d like to note two things:

a.) If I haven’t responded to a fan mail of yours (hi mom), it’s either that I’m finding it difficult to fit the time into my strict schedule, I didn’t receive it, or I’m simply so humbled by your response that I feel my own reply in the form of ‘aw shucks,’ followed by a scuffing of the shoes and a rosy blush is simply not sufficient to convey my appreciation for what you’ve sent me. I hug it at night, and it validates my existence.

I’ll respond. Soon.

b.) Someone asked previously why a rational individual (hah) like myself would set his faith in something as irrational as the ‘Holy’ Bible. The answer is because the Bible is such an obscure text, that in reality, it’s a form of self directed worship. The thing about the Bible is that it’s so laced with metaphors and hidden meanings that any individual can read it and get a different experience out of it. If such is the case, then the study of the Bible can be thought of as a more concrete form of meditation, without the silly positions that make your kneecaps pop. In reality, I simply want to have something to blame when I realize that my doctrines are all wrong. I do not, however, believe in the Church. I believe that Christianity is that much more difficult to study when it is done in the constructs of the Church, simply because we, as human beings, introduce disgusting things into the mix, like petty fights, drama, money and social elitism, where they should have no place at all when it comes to the study of the meaning of Life.

I follow the Bible, loosely. I believe that there is a God, and that he created the world, but I do not believe that he takes much of an active role in our slow march to self-destruction. I do understand that many achievements come at the hands of individual motivation and power of self, as opposed to divine intervention, but I do not let myself believe that I am the one solely culpable for anything I do. If such were the case, I’d have a huge ego when it comes to achievements and then I would crush innocent children under the weight of my already prodigious self-confidence. Every failure that comes about, however, I ensure to take fully upon myself, but successes are largely shared with the Big Guy as a sort of ego check.

That and I do acknowledge myself to be irrational. I simply choose to be irrational on the basis of my faith, because to be otherwise is just boring. Quite simply, having faith in God and the afterlife (I don’t believe there is a Hell, and I’ll take up this issue with God when I see him) is much more optimistic and fun than believing that you simply die and rot. You guys might say that it if I don’t believe in the Afterlife, then I will appreciate life on Earth much more, but can’t I do both? I fail to see why I cannot live life to it’s fullest degree on Earth while still being a good individual at heart, and believe that there’s more cool stuff after that.

That said, I’ve been doing a lot of reading and game perusing. I was / am actually very much considering of becoming something of a book reviewer, or gaming journalist, if my career will so let me. Writing is a huge part of me, and I cannot see myself taking part in the stuffy process of newspaper columnisting. Gaming / book journalism, on the other hand, is still relatively fresh, and largely remains un-corrupted by that terribility that is unbiased coverage. It’s ridiculous to suppose that human beings, with our crazy emotions, are ever capable of presenting concepts and news in an unbiased fashion. In my opinion, it’s much better to acknowledge this bias, and explore it for the crowd to understand, and then allow them to realize where your opinions are coming from. This simply allows for better understanding, more discussion, and less brainwashing. We’re getting stupider as we get more technologically dependent, there’s no reason to continue the cycle.

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Anywho, in terms of books, I was recently given the entire “Tales of the Otori” series, and that was a rather good read. It’s a book set in a sort of quasi-historical / fantastical feudal Japan. It’s got some of that mystical magic, but it’s all underlined by a very healthy dose of reality and intrigue. Overall, I really like it when authors fuse history with fantasy, because it usually allows them to put more plausibility into their stories. Too often you’ll find fantasy books that want to toss magic weapon after magic weapon at the main character, followed closely by an enormous salivating hell-beasty, closely followed by a scantily clad enchantress slash love interest.

If you throw some historical context into the fray, or at least a proper historical era, then you’ve effectively rendered these as very real individuals, and authors in the history-redux genre usually understand that better. The only problem I would have is that Lian Hearn, the author of this series, is a woman. I have no problem with women writers not named Virginia Woolfe or Margaret Atwood, but I warn you that the text itself strikes me as very feminine. The feminism within the story is not of the overpowering coma-inducing variety (TAKE NOTES ATWOOD), but as a handsome male reading this series, the plot twists and bumps are often dictated by a woman’s perception of plausibility. It’s not to say that a ‘plausible’ plot twist in a woman’s eyes is something like “I have PMS, so I killed the foo,” but just a few of the emotionally-triggered decisions within the book are just slightly less logical than if, say, the writer were a male. Just noting. Psych textbooks all say that males are more logic oriented, whereas females are emotionally oriented. Well, within these books, you’ll occasionally catch that glimmer of female emotion triggered plot twists, and it is these twists that may leave you slightly winded from the quirkiness of the events. A very good read nonetheless.

I’m also reading the ‘His Dark Materials’ trilogy, in the process of beginning the Amber Spyglass (for the bewildered, the first book in this series is ‘The Golden Compass,’ there was a movie made based on the book). I enjoy the series, but it’s a little bit shocking in the themes it’s dealing with. Once I finish, I’ll be able to have a more solid kind of opinion.

Anywho, I’ve also been doing a significant amount of gaming, but I believe I’ll cover that in another post, since I wrote quite a bit, and I want to go test this Evangelist Priest of Hitting Things in Neverwinter Nights 2.