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mobill76's LiveJournal:
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| Tuesday, September 6th, 2011 | | 2:18 am |
Still dawdling
The front page at LJ boasts 42.1 million journals and communities with 179,100 posts per day. Assuming that everyone is still posting and that everyone posts with equal regularity - the average update time for a journal or community would be 235 days. I, then, am an average LJ user. For comparison, WordPress claims to be... The best of 366,232 bloggers, 471,961 new posts, 396,340 comments, & 110,369,216 words posted today on WordPress.com. Not as many blogs but far more active than we are. | | Monday, September 5th, 2011 | | 3:23 am |
Writer's Block: Killer Queen
Prophet's Song. 1 - It never got any airplay. 2 - It's good and long. 3 - It's got the classic left/right channel choral messing around. 3. Quasi-ethical/religious theme. 4 - Dense guitar work climax. | | Monday, June 13th, 2011 | | 6:17 pm |
Writer's Block: Time to move on
Time to move on? I logged in and saw the "Games" and "Shop" areas and I assumed that they were talking about moving on from LiveJournal. This is ridiculous. This used to be a refuge for serious bloggers. Now, it looks like FaceBook. I'm not sure that I want to invest any more time on something that's just going to dissolve into painful silliness. There's got to be something better out there by now. Current Mood:  aggravated | | Tuesday, August 24th, 2010 | | 4:54 pm |
Additional Comments or Thoughts (from RCIA session 2)
It's been a long, lonely road. But Jesus said it would be. He warned me, "The world will hate you - They will say all sorts of evil against you - for my sake" ( Read more... )Jesus said that few find the road and He wondered whether there would be faith on the earth when He returned. So I shouldn't be surprised to be rejected. If I were of the world - the world would love me. Reason tells me that I'm just trying to love people and help them and that they should be grateful. It's hard to accept that the opposite is true. But, I was warned and told to count the cost. It's a great cost - but to to be the body of Christ and to have the mind of Christ is a great reward. As I die to myself, these rejections will bother me less and I will love more. When I am completely His - I will take up my cross and follow Him. I will love as He loves - like everyone is something I made. | | 4:24 pm |
A Month of Sundays
Last Sunday, we attended our first "official" RCIA class after we heard mass. The homily for the mass was about how the Our Lady was sinless and went directly to heaven without dying - even though this wasn't known until 1950. ( Read more... )Wow. But, RCIA was very superficial and the subject almost didn't come up. It wasn't mentioned by the presenter but people kept holding forth about what a moving mass that was. After the third comment, I'd had enough and I told them that I didn't buy any of that sinless Mary stuff and I was only here to see how long they would tolerate someone who didn't completely conform to their beliefs. 'bout 5 seconds by my count. I had to defend against "Sola scriptura", "Tradition", "Primacy", and "Papal Infallibility" before they'd leave me alone. But they did. We also attended a Baptist service that evening that featured missionaries from Turkey. They witness under the pain of death. They're already punishable for converting. But, since they're not Catholic, they're not really Christians. I'm sure there are Catholic missionaries operating under the same danger that Baptists would disdainfully label "Papists". Ann Rice is right. Denominations have become an obstacle to Christianity. I may go to my grave un-churched, but it won't be because I ever rejected a denomination. Current Mood:  embarrassed | | Sunday, August 8th, 2010 | | 1:43 pm |
A Month of Sundays - 1
Authenticity is not the issue. I don't expect a church service to be any more authentic than I am. I have my ups and downs. But I try to structure my life to support the ups and discourage the downs. I look for the same thing in a church - i.e. have they set the stage to do the work of Christ. ( Read more... )So, when I attend a church. I really don't care if they're up or down, on or off. I care if they've made the space for the spirit to move and love to be shown. I listen to the tone of their service. Are they hopeful? faking it? going through the motions? self-righteous? Are they driven by something I can't see? Are they lost without it and waiting for it to come back? Can you see the same spirit move from person to person and be expressed in different ways? I look at the bulletin. Is there a prayer time? Is it so full of things that I should be doing that I don't want to look at it or is it so void of content that it doesn't pain me at all? Do they talk more about themselves or what they're doing? (Physician, heal thyself). I've been criticized for waiting for the "perfect church". Not really. I found the "perfect church" alone with my prayer book. I'm looking for a church that isn't there to make money, or provide its staff with a good living, make their "dead-again" members feel better about themselves, or conduct weekly political pep-rallies. It's a subtle thing and it's not all or nothing. If it was just about good preaching or good music - I'd never set foot in a white church again. We're light-years behind Missionary Baptists. If that's how churches are going to be judged - they'll be tired of heaven by the time we get there. Current Mood:  hopeful | | Saturday, August 7th, 2010 | | 12:28 pm |
Nutbush City Limits
I've been working 12 hours on Sundays for the past year. My schedule has been changed and tomorrow I will be able to attend the church of my choice. Any suggestions? Yes, I know I'm still listening to the Bruckner Mass. I just happen to be in the same spot on the playlist that I posted last time. Current Mood:  giddy | | Friday, August 6th, 2010 | | 11:53 pm |
SVA again
I was reading the version history of the SVA Wiki page today. Not sure which one is my favorite. Some of the kids would change the site links to anime porn. Some wrote pleas for help. One just posted that he hated his life over and over. Yep. They're really in there. Someday, I'll quit talking/thinking about it. Not today, though. Soon, I hope. The misspellings were special. One version complained about the frequent student explosions. "Squaw Valley Academy is... ( Read more... )"...allegedly a college-preparatory boarding school for grades 6-12, located in Squaw Valley, California. Despite popular opinion and Don Rees's claim the school is nowhere near a college prep school and can hardly handle the mere 60 kids it enrolled. The school was founded in 1978 by Don Rees, who is currently serving as headmaster, however he has as little to do with the school as possible. The school is run day-to-day by a team of senior administrators which may change yearly. SVA has a history of changing staff, even mid semester. Notice there is no mention of staff on its website. Staff changes are generally due to disagreement with the headmaster owner. Staff are not required to have California teaching credentials or any specific training.. There is what we students have dubbed a curse because no teachers or administrators except for Don Rees can survive at this school for more than 2 years most times the school employs a new dean within a period of 6 months so every 2 years the school go's through 4 deans. It should be noted for any prospective students and/or employees that SVA has the lowest retention rate of teachers in the state of California. The retention rate for students is similarly low, due to choice or expulsion. Furthermore, for the 2007-2008 academic year, SVA’s accreditation is currently on probation due to the 2007 spring review by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) committee. The teachers had allegedly been promoting the use and distribution of illegal substances to their students. This has seriously jeopardized the schools once very accredited reputation. I am a former student at this school and I would like it to be known that this school is a very bad one... If you happen to read this and are a parent I suggest not sending your child here. They will be exposed to drugs and troubled students. During my stay at SVA a few teachers purchased alchohol for us. One of which is arrested for having sex with a student.. This is all true, and I would like to add that Don Rees only cares about money and is a old jerk... HE is old and senial and by now I hope he dies. This school has expelled around 50 kids in 2007... Some of which were good people and just needed a little help." Current Mood: frustrated | | 9:26 pm |
post-SVA
I've caught my photoblog up to the Summer of 2007. That's about 70 pics. It's funny how much better I feel just getting the SVA year behind me.
I will never forget the sweet sight of those log buildings in my rear-view mirror for the last time.
Not that much has really changed since SVA. I've lived in 3 towns, had 5 different jobs, but I haven't had to change my whole focus in life again.
The photoblog is at http://billmontgomery.blogspot.com. | | Thursday, August 5th, 2010 | | 11:19 am |
They'll be back
I chose LiveJournal back in the day because it let me post from my Mandrake box via an offline blogging app. The other choices back then were MySpace, Facebook, and Xanga. I still think it's the best at what I want a blog to do. If it has any shortcomings, it's in the area of networking and honing communication skills. My network has stayed rather small. And I choose eclectic strangers for friends. They probably don't care if I communicate well or not because they don't have an emotional investment in me. I've been on 4 other networks since leaving here. The only thing they're really better at is connecting me to my face-to-face friends and people from my past. I feel a little more sense of community with Facebook and EPIC (R.I.P.). But I don't always want to be plugged into everyone who knows me. This is more like being alone - with angels watching. Give 'em time. They'll be back. As soon as they notice that the news feed for their 800 Facebook friends only encapsulates about 5 seconds of real time - they'll be back | | Wednesday, August 4th, 2010 | | 6:41 am |
Why?
What could possibly come of all of this? I could get it out of my system and stop carrying all this distracting, ungodly shite around in my swollen, pustulent head. I could get better at writing. I could find some brick-and-mortar friends. Someone who needs an adaptive, jack-of-all-trades, environmental scientist linux enthusiast could friend me and rescue me from the 9th level of Dell. I might actually figure out where I need to be. | | 6:31 am |
Why not?
What's the worst thing that could happen? I could waste a lot of time? People might find out the truth about me? I might find out the truth about me? I might start thinking that the things I post are important? Naw! Eet is not possibul! Current Mood: determined | | Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010 | | 10:27 pm |
Heard ya missed me...
Well, I'm back and all that. Two years + 'cuz I only posted once since March 2008. And I'm about where I left me. Not physically; but stuck in a feudal job, depending on retreats and Thomas Merton books to keep me going. I live in Texas. If this is living. I've been back with the wife for a year. It's not going great but it's going. Blogging has really exploded since I came on board here. I've been blogging at work. I Yammer (Tweet) at work. I scrobble on last.fm. I photoblog on Blogger. I Facebook. But I think LiveJournal is what blogging is really about. Perot was bought by Dell, phased out Epic for Yammer. Facebook has just exploded into a nightmare of nonsense and trivialities. I don't feel like I have an outlet anymore. So good to see that many of you have "kept the faith". | | 9:58 pm |
| | Sunday, September 7th, 2008 | | 4:02 pm |
Bad to worse but working
I had to move to Bowling Green last month to find permanent employment. I've also lost internet access. See ya 'round. | | Tuesday, March 25th, 2008 | | 12:58 am |
A Body of Broken Bones
"There are two things which men can do about the pain of disunion with other men. They can love or they can hate." "He opened their eyes to the reality of a love which asks no questions about worthiness, a love which overcomes hatred and destroys death." "To serve the God of Love one must be free, one must face the terrible responsibility of the decision to love in spite of all unworthiness whether in oneself or in one's neighbor." -Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation Current Mood: peaceful | | Sunday, March 23rd, 2008 | | 3:05 pm |
Personal Statement
What makes me different or unique? I don't have an unusual family. I've never helped anyone through a personal trauma - that I know of. I didn't spend my formative years in a remote place. I have no trophies on my mantle. I have a cartoon picture above my desk of Einstein pointing to a yo-yo. I don't have any unusual talents, skills or abilities. Not by themselves are they unusual. They may be more interesting in combination. I can teach H.S. Algebra. I can machine steel. I can write a geologic field report. I have a 100+ feedback score on Ebay. I have a collection of seashells. That's not unusual. But I have a phylogenetic tree of my seashell collection that I built from 16S Ribosomal RNA sequences. That may border on the quirky. I keep a spreadsheet of every species of plant and animal that I've ever identified. I have about 400 entries and I haven't cleaned out the refrigerator yet. I collect pictures of my heroes. I collage them together and look at them when I need inspiration. They talk to me. They tell me to get off my ass and join them. I'm workin' on it. Current Mood: determined | | 2:01 am |
Prayer for Peace
...Mercifully hear this prayer which rises to you from the tumult and desperation of a world in which you are forgotten, in which your name is not invoked, your laws are derided and your presence is ignored. Because we do not know you, we have no peace... ...Save us from the compulsion to follow our adversaries in all that we most hate. Confirming them in their hatred and suspicion of us... -Thomas Merton, Prayer for Peace Current Mood: peaceful | | Saturday, March 22nd, 2008 | | 9:52 pm |
Not as think as I smart I am
Well, I didn't get any invites to interview for graduate school. I'm not even sure that I got all of my recommendation letters in. I could try again next year. If I can stand another year of temp work. I really thought that I was a shoe-in. There are so many systems in this world that I don't understand the workings of; jobs, grad schools, teaching, religion. Every time I apply myself to something, I find myself wanting somehow. I never understand why. It makes me suspect of my worldview. Maybe I don't really understand anything. I wish other people doubted themselves as much. Everyone seems so sure of what there doing. I saw a commercial for Tiaa-Cref retirement planning that claimed that they provided investment services for the "greater good." That just struck me as crazy that making rich people richer could have anything to do with the greater good. You could sell investment services on the basis of their financial benefits or the wisdom of their advice but to claim that the investment of your excess cash is the greatest good just seems, well, offensive. I watch a lot of TED lectures. There are bigger problems in the world than my lack of a retirement plan. I've been transcribing commercials on 2nd shift but I'm done with that, too. I'm looking at another season of grading papers again and probably starting an MEd program at UofL. Current Mood:  depressed | | Thursday, March 20th, 2008 | | 10:41 pm |
On Strike
As if I wasn't already. I can probably forego posting for another day. It's been 3 months now. Current Mood: aggravated |
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