In the Name of God ...

Has anyone ever stopped to wonder, what, in the name of God, is God's name?

I mean, we call Him God, sure. His Son is the great and awesome JC. We have the Holy Spirit moving around there too. (Being Christian, this is the Trinity we have faith in.)

He's omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and above all, benevolent.

Being such a powerful being, it brings me to wonder, what is His true name? A being of such infinite greatness would, I think, have its own name. We can safely say His name is not God. That was a name coined by humans to describe, well, gods. The Sun god, the Moon god, the god of the Underworld, etc. ... no, God is not God's name.

Perhaps Yahweh, or its anglicized representation, Jehovah? Yahweh (and by extension, Jehovah) is widely considered to be the 'proper name' of God. However, in the Hebrew Bible, it is written as YHWH; there are no vowels to guide the pronunciation. Therefore, we are not even sure how it is pronounced.

Potentially even the Muslims might have it: Allah. The supreme and all-comprehensive divine name.

But I don't think so.

Not because I think religion is wrong, but simply because I believe God is so powerful, and so divine, that His true name would be incomprehensible to us mortals.

Think about it. By most accounts (including my own), God is an infinite, supreme being, perfect in every possible way, and anyone who's religious enough will tell you that there is NO WAY to comprehend Him in His entirety while our minds are still limited to this world. Why? Simply because the human mind has little capacity for the infinite.

Therefore, by extension, His true name would be similarly baffling to us.

I think of this because I would hate to die and find out that our creator's true name was, say, Bob.

(I would almost be surprised if anyone gets that reference.)

And I would think, sure, God works in mysterious ways ... but Why couldn't you have TOLD US?

I would not be surprised if I get flak about this from any super-religious types, though. If you are the type who thinks a little healthy curiosity and expression of one's ideas is wrong, and if you 'care for my soul' enough to condemn me simply for philosophizing, then you can be sure you deserve the same judgment that you expect me to receive.

Baba Yetu

Be YOU (-tiful)

So many kinds of beauty in this world.

Not 20 minutes ago, I had an idea of what I was just about to say ... and now it's gone ...

*-*

Ever met that one person, who, no matter what - the angle; time of day; their emotional or physical state; the background; the surrounding environment; etc. - looked surreal?

I thought I did.

Again.

Perhaps this is indicative of glitches in the Matrix.

I'd better talk to them (or them to me, whichever) before I wake up and they've faded away ...

:: Pictures re-blogged from I Can Read ::

Why is Love?

Well, that's the immutable question, isn't it?
You figure out that answer to that, and you're made for life, if not eternity.

Where is Love?

Following up from my previous post - kind of - I figured I'd explore where love can be found, now that we all know what it is (after a fashion ... ).

Is it over here?

Or over there?

Under that rock?

Out on that branch of the tree?

I just love my little games, don't you?

I remember talking about relationships with my friend some time back. For some reason we'd fallen into the metaphor of "the relation-ship" and "many-fish-in-the-sea". I'm far from remembering the exact conversation, but this recently occurred to me:

If I'm sitting in my 'relation-ship' on, shall we say, the 'sea of relations', the only way I'll get my 'fish' is if I 'fish' for it.

Now, the 'hook' stands a chance of hurting my 'fish', so I'd feel bad using that; and using a 'net' would likely give me more than I need - not to mention I'd have to face the task of sorting out the 'inadequate' ones.

So I was thinking about the whole metaphor, and I realized that I had it wrong.

I am a 'fish' too, and not only am I hurting my own kind by being all high-and-mighty 'fishing' from my 'ship'; I am also slowly 'dying' out of the 'water'.

This has been a great 'talk'.

-- Everything's Relative.

What is Love?

"Love is just a word; what matters is the connection that word implies."

And to think I thought I might have had that kind of connection ... eh, well.

Is it like a wireless connection? Password-protected or not? Do you have a strong or weak signal?

Or is it like an ethernet connection? One-time setup and payment for upkeep?

Maybe I just need to find the right service provider.

Then again, my connection interface might be having problems, seeing as it's an atypical design.

Too bad the professional 'tech support' you get for this sort of thing is exorbitantly more expensive and infinitely more finicky than just smashing a computer to bits.

I freaking need to get back on track.

Well, It's been a long time since I last posted.

Like my loyal readers can tell.

Oh yeah, just craving for an update on my overly eventful life, eh? Well, here's one:

I spent a month in Dubai, after a year and a half away in the U.S.

Here's another:

I accomplished nothing there.

I wonder how many people have had the fun experience, of planning a get-together expecting 20 people - out of which only one person turns up with her buddy. What a wonderful feeling, to learn just exactly how much you are loved.

And what a wonderful feeling, too, to express your feelings to someone after two and a half years, and to utterly fail at doing so.

Nothing quite like it.

That looks like it in terms of real updates, although the fact that I've moved into a new, larger room should count as news, since that means this time I can actually have friends over without feeling suffocated.

'Til next time then, my loyal readers,

Yours Truly.

Wow, interesting year ..

Well, it's getting closer and closer to a year since I left Dubai and have been living in Virginia, USA.
Eventful year, it would seem.
Most notably, Barack Obama becoming President of the USA. How cool is that? Of course, it doesn't affect me nearly at all, unless he and/or the government pass laws (probably like they pass gas) that affect internationals.
But, all of that pales in comparison to the fact that I can't visit Dubai and the few friends I have left there this December like I had hoped.
Oh well. :-[
"The times, they are a-changing" as someone put it once. I dunno who. But LiveScience is the chronicle of that change in times. So much cool stuff.
Table Tennis, a.k.a 'ping-pong' in the USA, is my new addiction. And I am far better at it now than I ever was before. Haha. Screw you, homework.

Holla to people who mean a lot to me at this point ... LC, Ben, John, Emilie, Holly, Catholic Campus Ministry, ΘΤ (that's 'Theta Tau'), the International Students' Christian Fellowship, the Fantastic Outstanding Ridiculously Entertaining Immigrant Geniuses (with) Narcissistic (and) Egotistical Rationale Squad.
And, of course, dear Mita. =)

Well, I've been writing this blogpost over the course of 4 hours overnight ... it's 6.45am Tuesday morning and I woke up about 24 hours ago -- 7-ish Monday morning.
Eh, well.

Religion vs. Science .. will it ever end??!!

Oh, don't get me wrong, I love God.

In fact, I have now decided to state as unshakeable truth that, if religion (of any kind; I make no distinctions here) is the spiritual food and drink that we ingest, then music is the spiritual air that we breathe.
This must be so, because we can survive weeks without food, and days without water; however we cannot survive more than minutes without air.
And only God could have provided us menial Home Sapiens with the inspiration and creativity necessary to create sequences of sound vibrations of varying pitch, amplitude, and spacing, in the innumerable different arrangements that exist today and continue to be created, that bring joy to the over 6 billion people (and increasing) that live (and die) in the present.

But more to the point, it is also pure truth that religion (especially the ancient religions, now called mythology) evolved first and foremost to explain the things we do not understand.
The first religions centered on the sun, the moon, the seasons, etc. - all easily definable and explainable by modern standards, yet beyond the comprehension of our far ancestors.
As we Homo Sapiens have evolved, the discipline of science was created as we began to think more and more logically about the universe around us.
Throughout history, and continuing on to the present (and hopefully, on into the far future) things previously explained away as gods, or signs from the gods, or emissaries from the gods, or acts of the gods, etc. were slowly but surely replaced by true, logical, scientific explanations.
The rising and setting of the sun, first taken as the Sun God riding around the sky in his fiery chariot, was (eventually) discovered to be a ball of hot gas (although it was only after Einstein that we discovered it to be due to nuclear fusion).
The moon thought to be a Moon God, was discovered eventually to be the piece of spherical-ish rock that it is, that reflects light from the sun.
The planets, far away as they are, were taken to be different gods because they moved far differently from the ever-so-distant stars (which the Ancients believed to be stationary .. in fact, that is why planets are called that now. Look up the etymology of the word 'planet').
The oh-so-distant stars were considered representatives of the gods that their pattern composed - from which we get the signs of the Zodiac.

Anyone with a grain of common sense can see, that as time goes on - however fast, however slow - whatever we attribute today to God (or to the paranormal, or anything else not scientifically explained) will, eventually, one day be truly explainable and understandable by anyone, through science.

And yet, didn't I just say I love God? Indeed I did. And I believe that there will always be a place for religion in this world. Because even though science may eventually explain many of the mysteries of this world, there is always likely to be a small part of it that cannot be accounted for, and that small unexamined spot of research may be of equal complexity to the rest. Consider it as though it were a shape known as a fractal; no matter how deep one delves into a fractal shape, it never gets any less complex. Think about it. Or, read what Isaac Asimov said about fractals. If you can find it.

Wow, that was waay more than I expected from myself. =P
Still, it felt good.
I feel so wise. Let's see you convince me otherwise.
XD

Need I Say More?

Thanks to XKCD.

XKCD = 42. The Meaning of Life, The Universe, And Everything!! O_O

Douglas Adams = Awesome.
Check the letters, XKCD. They add up to 42. (-:

It means shuffling quickly past nuns on the street with ketchup in your palms, pretending you're hiding stigmata. ^-^

Did you shoot a man in Reno? Now, I don't mean to pry.^-^

How could you choose avoiding a little pain over understanding a magic lightning machine? ^-^

So, that is an extract from XKCD.
I must say, a really good comic.
Although PHD Comics holds an equal place in my heart. =P

That last one above defines the truth! The Truth, I tell you!

So here I am, taking solace in imaginary scenarios.
I miss sanity. Do you? .......
Was there ever a time before the loneliness? Because it seems that that's the only way of life I can remember ..... :-/

Russell Peters, man, c'mon, talk to me, dude!
I need a job. Any advice, anyone?

Tactlessness.

I'm so Stupid.
I would probably never survive on my own.
Should have confronted that damn homeowner immediately about the money he deducted from my deposit.
Why did I put time with my friends ahead of that?
Why would I do that?? And me, with all my talk of "I got it, mum" .. "Don't worry about it, mum" .. "I'm saving money, mum" .. "I'll take care of it, mum" ... I'm gonna feel that guilty pinch for years to come. (Ow. :-/ )
It's far too late to do anything about it now. It could be construed as a belated attempt to weasel some money out of him .. and I'm sure after taking that money from me he can afford to potentially make it a legal battle of I tried anything [I heard from one of the previous tenants that he'd already been in court for a similar occurrence previously]. Add that to the fact he's an American citizen and I'm an international student. See any inequalities here?

Viva La Vida. OH Yeahh .. Thanks everyone.

Coldplay is such an Awesome band. I just love their music.
bond is so totally awesome too .. I just can't stop listening to this one particular song, 'Time' .. Thank you so much, Stef. =)
Thanks for your friendship too Ridz =D I dunno where I'd be (how many times have I said that already? lol) if we all hadn't met, that fateful day in December - was it 21st? - 2006 .. remember? :-) Thanks to Stef again .. Lol. She really influences people's lives, I must say. [Does she even realize it? I dunno .. maybe if she did realize it it would stop happening .. I hope not ..]

As for here in the US..
American Pie and YMCA amount to religious fervor here .. so whatever you do, don't disrespect. Besides, they're pretty good songs.
I recently moved to a new house .. and I couldn't have done it without your help, LC. Thanks a bunch .. sorry you got a parking ticket for me .. lol =P
Ben .. your mom is an Awesome cook. and almost too incredibly hospitable, you know?! but u have a great family. =)
Ah, Davenport. Great guy for hanging out and conversation. If you don't know him (or, somehow, don't like him), you're missing out. Believe me. (=

Jeez, I'm so depressed. I missed the International World Youth Day in Sydney this year. Just don't even ask. And I'm still homesick! Yeesh.

What?

That's what.

Who?

That's right.

Huh?

Exactly.


I must say, I don't expect anyone to see any sense in that, especially myself.

Russell Peters is awesome, so is Jeff Dunham.
I have respect for George Carlin.

Celebration.

The link to the song above, dedicated well in advance to an amazing friend.
(Yes, yes, I know, I'm transparent. So why try to hide anything? 'Cos I'm scared, that's why.)

Random: Derp! (Thanks Ben)

Just Testing.

Duel by bond
Innocent by bond
Korobushka by bond
Time by bond
The Theme from Johnny English as performed by bond
Viva La Vida by Coldplay
Bitter Sweet Symphony by The Verve
Chaconne - Mvt.5 of Partita No.2 for Solo Violin by J.S. Bach
Prelude - Mvt.1 of Partita No.3 for Solo Violin by J.S. Bach

Sorry ppl, just had to test if this thing actually worked. =D
If you see a media player embedded into the lower right of the page and are able to use it to listen to the music links above here, you will be listening to 9 of my favorite songs =). Or just press the tiny play button that should appear on the left of the song name. If u can't see it, it doesn't work for you.
To download the songs:
Internet Explorer users, right-click on the song name and click 'Save target as ...'
Mozilla Firefox users, right-click on the song name and click 'Save Link As ...'

Enjoy! =D

My Laptop is Awesome.

Betcha your laptop (or even your PC) ain't got as many programs as mine. =D
I love keyboard shortcuts. :-P
Free & open-source software is d@ sh!t. *w00t*
My system will never crash if I can help it. ... unless I'm stupid enough to let it get hung up with 139 processes starting simultaneously. LoL. That time didn't count as a crash, 'cos I knew it would happen, and besides it doesn't fit the criteria for a 'crash'. =)
Now, if only I had a bloody camera to take pics of myself as I use the laptop .. oh wait, there's one built in! =D

I know, it looks like I'm looking at some good stuff. LoL. That's anyone's guess. *heehee* =P

At any rate, it still doesn't replace the convenience of a good ol' high-resolution handheld camera ... which I am sadly lacking.

Neway .. time for some music practice .. my teacher's gonna be rather let down when she realizes I didn't practice as much over the summer as I promised .. :-/