Insects

I had a desire to see the large historical changes in the earth such as the ice age and such. I realized that in one way I have. Compared to animals with short life spans, like bugs, I see great changes. I can imagine bugs that live less than a day saying things to each other, “scientists have rumors that there was a time when large balls of water twenty times the size of us fell and some people got caught in them and died.” And Zippy-The-Fly would say, “Dude, do you actually believe that? I suppose you also believe that the eternal frost is coming too?”

The first fly would say, “I saw one of the big balls of water once, they call it a raa-ine drup.”

“It’s a rain drop.”

“That’s what I said.”

“And you saw it when you were a larva. You can’t remember clearly what life was like then.”

“You’re just jealous that I know more about this world than you do.”

“Than you think you know.”

“Whatever.”

NoNe

Wow I has been a long time since I posted.

I have some Indian Clubs that my parents sent me. I say to myself, "I'm going clubbing tonight." They are used for exercise. Check out this old time writing I found on a Indian Club website. Sorry I don't remember which site it is from.

Indian clubs, along with other forms of rhythmic gymnastic exercises, were associated with “muscular Christianity,” a social gospel that affirmed the importance of physical fitness for mental and moral improvement. Proper physical exercise built bodily strength and, with it, character and righteousness—shaping young men for God’s work, and for the nation’s.2

Gymnastic exercises—ideally, ones that exercised all the muscles in a balanced fashion and combined all ranges of motion—were said to counteract the dangerous tendencies toward nervous exhaustion, moral dissipation, and spiritual decadence associated with modern life in the big cities. Moses Coit Tyler, who would become the first professor of history in the United States, explained (in the words of the fictional Judge Fairplay of Brawnville): “It is as truly a man’s moral duty to have a good digestion, and sweet breath, and strong arms, and stalwart legs, and an erect bearing, as it is to read his Bible, or say his prayers, or love his neighbor as himself.”3

In 1861, Amherst College was the first to introduce physical culture and gymnastics—including exercises with Indian clubs—as a required subject at the collegiate level.4 Physical exercise came to be regarded as a mark of manliness and a religious and patriotic duty. By 1901, 270 colleges offered physical education, 300 city school systems required physical exercises, 500 Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) gymnasiums had 80 000 members, and more than 100 gymnasiums were associated with athletic clubs, military bases, and other institutions.

Second Grade and Beyond

You know when I was in the second grade we had to write a report on parts of the human body. I picked the brain. I remember a distinct feeling about it like it fit me. It felt like I was meant to write about the brain. Anyway, I remember writing the phrase, “I could go on and on.” I also remember my teacher pointing this out to my parents and I remember hearing them laugh, saying something like, “Why don’t you go on and on?” to which I thought, I don’t want to it would take up to much time and space on the paper. I cared too much about saving paper. I didn’t think that it would help the environment to save paper. I just have a personality that tends to be concerned that things will run out so I save them. This attitude about paper made it so that I would cram my class notes on to one sheet. To me that was what was important. I would look at other people who took pages and pages of notes and think that might be easy to read, but I only used one page. To me taking notes wasn’t a step in the process of learning material meant to be read during studying. For me it was only a requirement imposed by the educator that had to be met. I rarely studied my notes. They were also a foul representation of what I considered to be the drudgery that was public school. So I didn’t like to even look at them.

Spring

A few days ago the weather was what I could consider, a pleasant. I got on my bike and started to ride. The cool humidity made the air tangible. The flowering trees offered delicious scents for me to sample. Peddling quickly, I rode without my hands. Gently, I stood up and carefully pinched the seat between my thighs. I stretched my arms out horizontally. I wondered what people would think if they saw this.

I was watching a young toddler. He is very tall for his age so I sometimes expect more dexterity from him than he is capable of. I picked a dandelion that had its seeds out, and blew them away. I picked one for him to try. He could blow but not with enough force. So he opened his mouth licked it then shoved it inside before I could do anything.

May

I am listening to a sermon by a pastor from at a church called the Village in the Dallas Texas area. I am literally listening right now. Okay, I turned it off to write better. He was saying that many people developed an understanding of Christianity that was based around the idea that if you act as a good Christian by wearing the right clothes, avoiding certain words and going to church then things would go good for you. Then, he explained that people with this notion would loose their job, get dumped, loose a loved one, or something and their idea was shattered. Then they would leave church, stop praying, and possibly begin hating God. The pastor then said how really our relationship with God is not a contract because we have nothing to offer God. Everything we have is his already. We can’t make him owe us a good life by our actions. Instead of contracts God gives us a covenant which is more of an interactive relationship.

I guess that another way to talk about this is that a covenant is, like friendship, a dynamic experience. It exists in times of variety such as pain, pleasure, distance, intimacy, and so on. A contract in comparison seems more fixed. It seems to be unconcerned with contextual changes.

Mmmm interesting...

To Be Sure

I was thinking about why so many societies have such a common aesthetic for dress and appearance. It seems that people would want to be accepted by the community, because in most times the individual needed the strength of the community for survival.

You know sometimes the title for these blogs mean something and other times they are just what came into my head.

It is the great equalizer. Do you ever sit down to start something, let say like a blog post, and here is comes the rumble? If you are anything like me you think, “Awe man, I just sat down. I don’t want to go sit down on that special chair. Can’t my body get in-tune with my mind.” But on the other end, I mean hand. On the other hand it is interesting to think that maybe the president of the united states is doing the same thing as me right now. Okay that is strange. Forget that part. It is interesting that no one is exempt, yet cultures like with everything else have different thoughts. I have heard that in Holland the toilets have a shelf that allows the user to “make sure everything is normal” before it gets washed away.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go.

My Name is Braden

My Name is Braden

Hi So, I was thinking about how it is interesting how people name the stars. They give them strange names. There are so many stars that have been named. It is kind of like adam naming animals.

My man hands are getting tired of typing. You know, some people who are older jump right in to the new technology that comes around and others don’t. I think it would be really something to live during the time, or in the cultures that didn’t have a swift progress of technology. It seems it unwittingly provides a potential wedge that could be placed, or viciously driven, between subsequent generations. I wonder what it would be like to hang out with the old people when what you were learning or had a grasp on, these old people had been doing for years. Of course, this would vary between individuals and cultures, but perhaps there would be a submissive respect from the younger to the older. Or might there be a haughty pride of youthful dexterity. I wa- wa- wa- wonder.