1:01AM - A completely unrelated question

So, I'm generally wary of banks. After going through hell with Chevy Chase Bank in DC (picked because it was the one on campus, and while I was there, it was the most accessible), and then having a generally positive experience on Suntrust after people recommended it as a good alternative, I'm all about asking people about their experiences regarding customer service.

I'm getting paid on Thursday (OMG CAN I HAVE AN AYYYYYYYY-MEN?) and I want to open a bank account in the East Bay. I was originally going to do Bank of America, but I've heard some semi-disturbing things about them as of late, and the last thing I need is a repeat of battling the evil demons of bank-kind.

I've heard good things about WaMu, but I'd like as many opinions as possible. Thus far I'm looking at:

Bank of America (but only kinda)
Washington Mutual
Wells Fargo
Union Bank of California

Does anyone have any opinions (either way) about any of these? Good/bad experiences? Advice on picking a bank?

12:36AM - A general question

Sometimes, when I put up ads on Craigslist (usually for housing type deals), I get responses that look, frustratingly, like this:

I have a lovely 3 Rooms in oakland piedmont,SF,Kindly get back to me for more details

I'm not referring here to the lack of general information (though this is also frustrating) and awkward syntax, but rather the phenomenon than I call "comma squinching." A clearer example (where the rest of the sentence is fine but the commas are squinched):

Today I bought eggs,milk,bread and,cheese.

I used to assume that it was a punctuation mistake common in non-native English speakers (though I see it in both native and non-native speakers), but even if English isn't you first language, it still makes no sense. There is no language of which I am aware (correct me if I'm wrong, of course) where this compression is acceptable. This, for example, looks equally bizarre to me:

Hoy compré los huevos,la leche,el pan,y el queso.

And unlike certain grammar rules that can be bent and flexed (depending on the formality of what is being written), it just looks plain sloppy and awkward. It makes me feel a little anxious, and I'm not sure why. I think it's my internal editor beating her head against a desk. I guess while I understand typos, and common spelling errors, I just don't understand how someone can look at that and say "Yes, that looks like a properly expressed sentence."

Does anyone else ever wonder about that? Or am I just weird?

9:24PM - Question

Wha t do you as a community believe in about getting tattoos.

2:20PM - AHHHHHHH

DOCTOR WHO OMGWTFBBQLKJALSKJDJFALSKDJFALSDKFNAONOIE
JROANAHGBAUALKSAJFALSKJASJFLJSLDFKJASLDKFJALKDJALKS
JDFASNDFJANSDFJKLKJSADLKHIUBGNEOPIOIERJKNXSDJFAKJFI
JOIJEFLKANSDFLAJSDOFJAOPDFJIALIDJFANDGIOHWOIFJKLNDK
ALSDNFKASHDFKASNFIAUSBFASHDFKLAKJSLKBADWOLFASJDLKAS
JDLKSAJDLMCLKSHFAJSFKASJFDLKJFSLDK

*is dead from the intensity of that episode*
*cries*
*hugs everyone*

( teeny spoiler beneath the cut )

11:42AM - The process of death, judgment, and second coming

Ugh, okay, I really don't like having to ask this, and I know it isn't of the same importance as focusing on Christ, but I need to go through something. I myself hardly ever dwell on this, but I mentioned the other day to my grandma that I didn't believe in the rapture and she flipped out considerably and made a comment implying she worried for my soul. Now then, the point of asking this is not so I can rub anything into her face, but for my own understanding.

1) We die, and our souls go to Heaven (if we receive Christ), and if we don't we go to Hell/Hades/Sheol. (I do not believe in Universalism [sorry]).
2) Christ returns at the second coming, just as he says, with trumpet and angels and a cloud, and no one knows when this happens (like a thief in the night he comes, but does not take).
3) People are 'caught up in the clouds'. This is not rapture, because the Son of Man descends on a cloud. Kind of implies to me that we're in the middle of doing stuff and then BAM, the cloud is here in our midst. This happens simultaneously with #4 I suppose.
4) The dead in Christ rise first. Therefore our souls are reunited with our bodies and possibly at this time made perfect. This satisfies God's intent with Adam, that our bodies and souls no longer separate in death.
5) And now Jesus separates the goats from the sheep, possibly, or whatever process he uses in the Final Judgment, and those who don't believe remain in whatever state (separated from their body in Hell, or maybe with their bodies in Hell).
6) There is no pre-, mid-, post-tribulation or anything like that. No 'left behind'.

I don't understand where people get the 7 years and the tribulation stuff...I guess during John's apocalypse.

What is problematic to me with the idea of a specific of judgment is with #1. I am guessing there is no need to judge those who already went to Heaven, unless nobody goes to Heaven until the judgment. Or maybe the judgment is only for those who are currently 'living' in the sense that they have never been separated from their bodies.

9:11AM - Quick homework assignment:

Because I'm curious what people think on the subject:

1. What does "intimacy with Christ" mean, in your opinion?
2. Is intimacy with Christ a necessary part of the Christian faith?
3. Do you have any Bible verses that back up your answer to #2?

7:48AM

And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.

Colossians 3:23-24 (King James Version)

12:25AM - One last July 4th thought.

I always feel wicked and uncharitable when I say things like this, but Jesse Helms died today, and honestly? Thank God. Jill from Feministe makes a good point. "... dying on the 4th of July was perhaps the most patriotic thing Jesse Helms ever did."

I know, I know. I shouldn't speak ill of the dead. But it's hard not to speak ill of someone who said this about civil rights protesters:

“The Negro cannot count forever on the kind of restraint that’s thus far left him free to clog the streets, disrupt traffic, and interfere with other men’s rights.”

Or a man who calls homosexuality "disgusting" and "unnatural." He even - get this - "launched a Senate filibuster against making the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. a national holiday."

What the hell? The fact that any person can call Jesse Helms a patriot or a great American is completely beyond me, and yet right wing blogs and media outlets are busy lamenting his passing.

From Feministe:

What did Jesse Helms fight for? Well, he fought against a whole lot more than he fought for — including civil rights, women’s rights, gay rights, abortion rights, HIV/AIDS funding, foreign aid, the poor, and even modern art.

It saddens me that artists and visionaries like Mapplethorpe (who Helms battled against in the eighties) are lost so young, and how bitter, racist, homophobic old men hang on for decades. It seems unfair and wrong.

And that's my political rant for the fourth.

9:15AM

Genesis records God putting a kind of everlasting enmity between us humans and the snake, the devil. There were times in my life where I thought, this is bad, always having an enemy, always having to be on guard. But now, after some years, I am actually grateful that God made this so, and I am equally happy that God caused the devil to become a crawler in the dust. When he assaults us, the devil can never face us head on. He always has to use trickery, and come crawling. In fact, that's how we can recognize the devil - he's always trying to manipulate, to deceive.

Think of christian life that would not have this enmity. In a way, we can even profit from the enmity. Because, as usual, the solution of the problem is turning to God, and to His Son Jesus. Because of what Jesus did on the cross, we have the chance to overcome the devil in the blood of the lamb, like the book of Revelation says. We have this enmity, but God makes sure that we have a safety need - when we fail to properly fight the fight against the devil, we can be sure of forgiveness. Jesus is our high priest who is merciful - he knows that the fight sometimes isn't easy.

Think of a scenario wherein which there would not be this deep enmity between man and the devil. The devil would quickly do us in. But now, with this enmity, the matter is settled. We're pulled to God's side. Just like God hates the devil, we can hate him too ourselves. And even though sometimes, in the battle, the devil wins minor victories, we also have our victories. He bruises our heels, we squash his head.

Notice that God visited our sin only with a punishment that does not estrange us from God. He merely made our life a bit harder. Something we got used to, something we can help if we love and help each other in this life. But the devil was immediately visited with damnation, his whole being was changed to a belly crawling beast that will never dwell in the favor of God. We sinned by yielding to temptation, right, but Jesus redeems us from that mistake.

God always loved us much more than the devil. Like a father, He punished us, but it's a punishment we could take. So let's not shun away from the enmity God put between us and the devil. Accept the situation. Trust in Jesus.

11:29PM - Lovely Fourth

I just had a really lovely Fourth o' July, even if I did miss my DC people like crazy when I thought about everyone watching them over the Tidal Basin. I was with you in spirit!

During the day, I spent a lot of time writing and watching Doctor Who and talking to my father and three different friends.

At Eva's apartment, we made burgers and grilled corn and other vegetables while we sat on the porch as the sun set and watched the city sparkling in the distance, and observed the disconcerting smoke hovering over the hills from the forest fires that are burning all around us.

Later, we ate and watched fireworks coming from over Lake Merritt and from over the Bay. I love fireworks so much. I love how they make my chest vibrate. This might be my favorite holiday.

Around seven, I got a call from Kelli telling me the FREAKING AWESOME NEWS - Jon proposed to her! He did it after the fireworks, next to the Tidal Basin. OMG. I squealed and shrieked and gasped and after I got off the phone with her did a wild happy dance in the living room whilst laughing and feeling a tad sniffle-y (with happiness!). Even when I got into my car to run and get hamburger buns, I took a moment to try and relax my cheek muscles. My face was practically etched into a permanent smile. I had to massage my cheeks into submission so that I didn't walk around Safeway looking insane. Jon and Kelli? I love you. I love you so much. I miss you tremendously, and know that if I was there I would give you both the biggest bear hug imaginable.

So yes. I am filled with happiness. Rebekah comes home tomorrow, and tomorrow night is my birthday dinner with Frances and Jonathan, and next week I'll get my mail from T., which means I'll get my birthday presents that I've been sent, and also I GET PAID NEXT WEEK. Sweeeeeet.

Okay. One episode of Doctor Who and then bed. I'm nearing the end of Season 4! Ahhh!

1:54PM - Set Fire to the Third Bar

I really love Martha Wainwright; and despite the fact that KC makes fun of me for it, I also really like Snow Patrol. I just discovered a duet that they sang together and it's really lovely and sad. If you've ever been apart from someone that you love, this song is really worth a listen.

2:22PM

Good day to all on this Day of celebration for America, our still yet young nation. May we all ask the LORD in prayer to heal this land and to bless this land for His Name Sake not our own. To strengthen the Body of CHRIST for the spreading of the Gospel to all points on the globe, to heal the soul and spirit of a fallen creation.

In Jesus name, we pray this :)

10:57AM - Yay, my favorite holiday! :D

Happy Fourth, everyone!

(And if you're not in the US... hope you have a good one, regardless!)

And to everyone who called/texted/left messages for/talked to me on my birthday: I love you all! Thank you. :)

12:27PM

I have two prayer requests...
I have an older friend who thinks that she has the symptoms for ovarian cancer... She has faith in Jesus and knows that God would let this work for His purpose, but she's also scared and hopes she's wrong. Can you pray for her?

A good friend of mine died recently of a heart condition. I know that she's with the Lord, because she had a strong faith. Her mom is being really strong, but her dad isn't doing as well...please pray for both of them and her family in general, for strength and faith and endurance. (It's hard for them right now because she would have just graduated high school last weekend, and she only died a little more than a month ago. It's hard for her close friends to deal with it too, but I can't even fathom the pain her family must be going through right now.)

11:48AM - "Cursed is the ground because of you"

Genesis 3:17-20. Am I right in the understanding that when God is telling this to Adam, he is telling Adam the consequences of his disrupting of Creation, and not that God is making this so specifically (in contrast to Gen. 3:15-16, where he specifically tells both the serpent and Eve that he will change their natures).

17 To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,'
"Cursed is the ground because of you;...(Gen 3:17[part], emphasis mine).

The same question appears to possibly be applicable to Gen 3:14, where God tells the serpent 'because of you...' but then switches to saying 'I will cause...'. The Hebrew may convey something the English doesn't, but I'm just curious.

12:10PM - Prayer Petition, English --> Arabic

Hello :)

My church is having a rather large celebration this Summer... In about a week, actually. And they want to incorporate foreign languages as part of the services. They know I've studied Arabic... But they also seem to think that 2 years of Arabic = fluent :(

Anyhow, they'd like me to translate this prayer petition into Arabic and read it during the service... Except I have to admit that, for the majority of the prayer, I could do no better than copying and pasting (and hoping) from a dictionary.

It's just one (run-on) sentence, but if anyone could help me translate this into Arabic (Standard, FusHa), or give tips on pronunciation, it would be unbelievably helpful!

(We pray) for Father Greg’s family and friends here present, and for those who are unable to be here today, in thankfulness for their devotion, support, and compassionate example.

That's all :)

Shukran!

(x-posted. A lot.)

12:11PM - Dork Tower for 04 Jul 2008

http://archive.gamespy.com/comics/dorktower/images/comics/Dorktower658.gif

Dork Tower by John Kovalic

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Please support John by buying his stuff at your favorite game or comic shop. Alternatively you can shop online at Warehouse 23.

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Last Build Date: Fri, 04 Jul 2008 07:00:00 UTC-0500

7:08AM

Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

Matthew 7:24-25 (King James Version)

7:00AM - The Blood of Jesus

5:01AM

I beat Curious Village tonight at work It was a rather fun but perplexing brain teaser game. Layton makes a weird sherlock.



In other news the marriage license came in the mail. I tried on my wedding dress for my first fitting and now I'm tanning for the first time in my life because I have bad tan lines from when I fell asleep on the pool raft in Maryland. Saturday we go and order our wedding cake and I finally straightened out the menu for the caterer. So I guess the wedding is coming together.