Friday, April 04, 2008
Fat, Unhealthy, and Old
Folks, it's true. I am officially unhealthy and overweight.I got my medical report this week. My BMI shows that I am mildly overweight (normal is 18-25, I am 25.3), I have moderately high levels of "bad" cholesterol, mild hypertension (overworked heart), and slightly elevated levels of potassium in my liver (I honestly am surprised my liver is still actually THERE).In fact, the only good things in my report is that I can still surf porn from one end of the room (eyesight perfect), piss with relative ease and sometimes pleasure (kidneys A-OK), and I don't have Syphilis.The report recommends me eating less and exercising more. Well, DUH. My visions of dying in the office from a heart attack and negligence from my colleagues who will draw straws to see who has to give me CPR while I'm frothing at the mouth and going into convulsions - all because they didn't attend the AED (automatic defibrillator) demonstrations - is becoming highly plausible.
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
I am not a very staunch practicing Catholic/Christian. I used to think I'd read everything I needed to know in scripture. It's reached a point where I'll say "yes, been there, done that, talked about every facet of it, understood every bit of that, oh dear is it that reading AGAIN?" Scripture passes through my hands like water, something I could possibly grasp in parts, but i usually just let slip through my fingers. There was nothing else it could say to make me think, to wonder in admiration, to identify with in my everyday life.But every once in a while, you come across a piece of scripture that is so relevant to your circumstance at that moment, not so over-read, in fact, never seen before in my life. Let me know if any of you have read this before, because i sure haven't, and i think its absolutely beautiful, especially given all the discussions I've been engaged in about the purpose(ful/less)ness in being sociologically enlightened, being too judgmental about so-called racists and idiots, being too upset over ignorance, getting too pointlessly upset when "...the rest of the world simply does not think that way."
I stand corrected. The bible still holds many surprises for me. And perhaps, by extension, that illusive Being we call 'God' in my life. Perhaps like water, the full meaning of scripture can never fully be grasped, but has merely to pass through your hands to wash it. The less we are preoccupied about the intrinsic chemical properties of water and merely trust in its cleansing, healing properties, the wiser, happier we will be. Perhaps chasing the logic of this world and all its treasures and goals will only make us eternally lost to the fullness of life that we were intended to have.
I just thought I'd share this with those you can identify.Ecclesiastes 1
Everything Is Meaningless
1 The words of the Teacher, [a] son of David, king in Jerusalem: 2 "Meaningless! Meaningless!"
says the Teacher.
"Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless."
3 What does man gain from all his labor
at which he toils under the sun?
4 Generations come and generations go,
but the earth remains forever.
5 The sun rises and the sun sets,
and hurries back to where it rises.
6 The wind blows to the south
and turns to the north;
round and round it goes,
ever returning on its course.
7 All streams flow into the sea,
yet the sea is never full.
To the place the streams come from,
there they return again.
8 All things are wearisome,
more than one can say.
The eye never has enough of seeing,
nor the ear its fill of hearing.
9 What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there anything of which one can say,
"Look! This is something new"?
It was here already, long ago;
it was here before our time.
11 There is no remembrance of men of old,
and even those who are yet to come
will not be remembered
by those who follow.
Wisdom Is Meaningless
12 I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid on men! 14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind. 15 What is twisted cannot be straightened;
what is lacking cannot be counted.
16 I thought to myself, "Look, I have grown and increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge." 17 Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind.
18 For with much wisdom comes much sorrow;
the more knowledge, the more grief.
I am not a very staunch practicing Catholic/Christian. I used to think I'd read everything I needed to know in scripture. It's reached a point where I'll say "yes, been there, done that, talked about every facet of it, understood every bit of that, oh dear is it that reading AGAIN?" Scripture passes through my hands like water, something I could possibly grasp in parts, but i usually just let slip through my fingers. There was nothing else it could say to make me think, to wonder in admiration, to identify with in my everyday life.
