David B. Calhoun’s Blog

Wow, I didn’t realize how late it became. I’ve been spending a lot of time at the Biola library recently, and I stayed till midnight (closing time) tonight studying. That was very interesting - I loaded up my PDA with Mozart’s Requiem and I listened to it as I read the Gospel of John, from a randomly selected middle part (it turned out to be the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead) all the way to the end. I had only planned on reading a chapter at most…

All this studiousness has been very unusual. Even more unusual, on the way to the library I saw someone’s trash in the parking structure. It was someone’s McFlurry or whatever from McDonalds, plus their Starbucks drink. This kind of trashiness is what I dislike most about Biola students. Anyhow, I took the bag, what I could of it, dripping wet with melted ice cream, and took it about 100ft over to the big trash bin, which smells terrible today for some reason (earlier in the day, I walked past it on my way to my English class, which finally met today!).

The first semester I was at Biola, I took this New Testament class, and we had to get in groups for a project or something. I remember my group walking from our meeting to class (we met just before class), and this girl saw some trash on the ground and picked it up. Now THAT takes a lot to do. Not only are you picking up someone else’s soiled excrement (err, hopefully not literally..), you are doing it in front of your peers, which makes you look like some cleanup person. You get the mental image of rolling around in another person’s garbage (or.. maybe I’m the only one that gets that mental image…). Only now, two semesters later, did I follow her example and cleanup someone else’s junk. On the way to the library I prayed that this would not be peculiar behavior for only today (i.e. if I’ve had an especially good day, which I have), but that this shows real change in me. I really hope for the latter, and I pray for that.

And I really enjoyed studying in the library. It’s becoming more comfortable, and I’m way too productive in that place. I’ll be going there often I think.

On a completely different subject, I just had the realization today of my sister’s philosophy of music being bad if it is enjoyed by the masses. In her mind, the music is good only if it is completely unique and unknown, and remains largely unknown to the wider population. Though I wish it was, this isn’t a peculiar philosophy that only my sister has. Yet it only seems to be present in the Arts. If you really think about it, it is the opposite of democratic - it is anti-democratic, even. Then the word “democratic” caught my attention. What if this anti-democratic principle was applied to governments? That is, the candidate with the least amount of votes is elected into office. I am almost positive that this would not be approved of, even by the Anti-Democratics. So this Anti-Democratic movement seems to be limited to the arts, at least for now (I might go into arguments about people supporting Raplh Nader, but I am so poorly read in modern politics that I would be pretending to know more than I do).

Alright, get to it! The Proverbs quote of the day!

“Take my instruction instead of silver,
and knowledge rather than choice
gold;
for wisdom is better than jewels,
and all that you may desire cannot
compare with her.”
Proverbs 8:10

Note: Not long ago I was forced to decide between two majors, and two futures: computer science (programming) with great profits or philosophy (teaching) with lower profits. For those who think that happiness is the chief goal in life, the world tells them that money brings happiness. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that this is not necessarily the case. But I go a step further - I say that happiness is a great goal to have, but contentedness is even better. Yet both happiness and contentedness should not simply be the one goal of your life.

Either way, money only allows you to buy bigger and better things, and to gain even bigger appetites. No thanks. I chose philosophy. I would rather live my life well than to live rich.

I don’t have much to say today (maybe Jeremy is right, you run out of topics fast!). Anyhow, I spent most of my day in the library, writing a paper on “What is Love?”. It’s a standard 5 paragraph essay (or supposed to be), except I have at least 8 paragraphs. I hope the professor doesn’t slap me upside the face for it. I think it’s a good paper anyway. There is something about writing something with pen and paper. I tend to slow down and write better, I think. I first discovered this when my English teacher in high school said that a class he was taking (it involved writing short fictional stories) required him to do an assignment completely on pen and paper - no typing allowed. He said it let him slow down a bit, and to write his thoughts better. Maybe that explains the lousiness of my blog. If I just wrote it out on pen and paper!

I went to classes: Modern Philosophy and Epistemology. I’m starting to get used to the Epistemology teacher (he’s new to the university), and starting to like him and appreciate him better. Something about the first day put me off I guess.. But yes, those classes were the usual, and then I came back home and…

“Ready to go to the Angel’s game?”

Oops. I forgot. My dad got free tickets from a guy at his work, and just he and I were going to go. My mom bought two more tickets for seats a couple sections away, so my mom and sister ended up going to. It was a pretty good game, I guess. Most of it was boring, since the Angels didn’t get any hits until like the 5th or 6th inning (maybe earlier?).

Then in the 7th inning the scoreboard looked like this:
A’s 0001000
Angels 0000000

Haha, and I thought it was over! But then.. the 8th inning…
A’s 00010000
Angels 00000001

Boo! The game lasted until the 11th inning I think - when the A’s got a hit, and the Angels got three outs and that was it. There were some exciting plays in the game though, especially double plays, which were cool. I enjoyed it :). Even my mom enjoyed it! that’s saying a lot for a baseball game, haha.

Then I come home and find a message from a guy on the Bubbs commuter forums saying that he can’t ignore my post anymore. I guess he’s the commuter senator, so he has to keep his finger on the pulse of the commuter community. I’ve been posting like mad on there, getting all the snide comments I can in about lack of parking this year. I typed up a response email, which said I was half kidding around - note that’s HALF.

That’s it for today. Tomorrow looks to be a semi-long day - work from 8:00-11:00 (not bad!!), then class from 3:00-4:15pm (not bad at all!!). Bah, not bad. I’ll hav to use it to catch up on make-up chapels maybe.

“My child, keep my words
and store up my commandments
with you;
keep my commandments and live,
keep my teachings as the apple of
your eye;
bind them on your fingers,
write them on the tablet of your heart.
Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”
and call insight your intimate
friend,
that they may keep you from the
loose woman.”
Proverbs 7:1-5

Well I blogged just a while earlier about not taking many things in life seriously, and I think it’s still generally true of me, but I do take some things seriously. For instance, when a speaker is giving a presentation. Take for example, the Early Church History and Acts professor I listened to tonight. The group of people are the usual Biblical Studies rowdy crowd - with the addition of a couple of morons (a.k.a. “class clowns”) who really disrespect the speaker. Our professor was asking everyone where they went over the summer (Biola kids are loaded, so as a collective audience they’ve toured the world). Then she asked what we want to do for a living. Some idiot kid yelled out “I want to start a church here and steal all the money from the rich people and give it to poor people in Europe”. Maybe it should be school policy that anyone who yells out stupid comments like that should be sent outside and shot execution style with the whole class watching. Ok, sorry, I’m just a bit ticked off.

The Biblical Studies always have this type of stupid crowd, but there’s a couple decent ones in there of course. I just need to find them..

“Go to the ant, you lazybones;
consider its ways, and be wise.
Without having any chief
or officer or ruler,
it prepares its food in summer,
and gathers its sustenance in
harvest.
How long will you lie there,
O lazybones?
When will you rise from your
sleep?
A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest,
and povery will come upong you like
a robber,
and want, like an armed warrior.”
Proverbs 6:6-11

Comments: Just a brief note here. I remember on my days discussing philosophy and religion with the internet loons, this verse was brought up. Someone thought they had refuted the entire Bible because this verse is mistaken - ants DO have a ruler, what we call the queen ant. Talk about missing the point. The purpose of the verse is to use things that the culture understands as an analogy for discussion. There’s also a verse that people take to refute the entire Bible - in the New Testament, Christ says that one must have the faith of a mustard seed, which is the smallest of the seeds. Aha! Refuted! the mustard seed is NOT the smallest mustard seed, so all of this teaching is completely and utterly useless and meaningless! Fools, I don’t think you can TRY harder at missing the point and purpose of these verses.

Just a little update before my big update tonight. Work was fine. There was a full time guy who also posts on BioL4N, so I recognized his name. Also, the guy who works just after me is also a member of Biol4N, so it was weird seeing two guys at the same who I’d only seen in posts before.

Also, a very weird moment today when I took my employment information to Human Resources. The last girl I called - let’s call her K - was there as a new hire at the HR desk. There was sort of a weird moment of recognition, then I spent the rest of the time talking to the more experienced person sitting right next to her. Then I left..

I do have to return though, since I need my birth certificate or social security card for I.D. purposes. But I hope K isn’t there. I think I blogged it here, but I called K like 4 times, all 4 times when her roomate picked up the phone (and at least once it sounded like K was there but didn’t want to talk to me). The last time I called, I asked if she was there and her roomate said “Oh, no - she’s out on a date”. What the heck! Well, I thought of all of that when I was standing there at the desk…

Relationships are stupid. I just want friends, no stupid relationships.

I was also thinking today how serious some people are - maybe that’s one of my problems. There are not that many things in life that should be taken seriously, only things related to Christ are serious with me. Everything else is a joke as far as I’m concerned. I suppose we are just here to get along and be better people until we die, but we just shouldn’t be so serious about pursuing a career or anything that the world says we should do. We should still do it I mean, but just not take ourselves so seriously while doing it. I dunno, maybe I have some messed up warped view of the world.

Not much from me today I’m afraid - I’m tired and I’m ready to start work tomorrow bright at early at… 8:00am! Eeek!

Anyhow, part of my day today was spent reading the Usenet message boards, in particular the philosophy one. There were a bunch of people trying to piss off the philosophy people, saying that science is more superior than philosophy (the original post was on the subject that the sciences were one time just a branch of philosophy [hence Ph. D = Doctor of Philosophy]). So I decided to piss off the people who hold science so holy and supreme.

I basically said that while science offers us cures for diseases and extension of our lifespan, it doesn’t necessarily have an impact on our lives - that is, it doesn’t help us grow into better people. It just extends our life. More importantly, science doesn’t give us answers into the questions that really matter in life - i.e. the “Why?” questions. Traditionally, philosophy has been mocked as the meaningless pursuit, since it seems to be all theory and doesn’t produce results. While on the other hand, science is always in action, producing things that help our physical bodies.

Oh joy, something to fix my body, but nothing to fix my mind or to give me answers as to the purposes of life, or how to become a better person. If we did not have bodies, science would be completely useless…

Ok, that’s it for my anti-science rant. I just want to qualify this with saying that I appreciate science. There is no doubt it has helped the quality of life over the past couple of centuries. However, this is purely on a physical quality scale. Add to that the fact that science pursues no other end than in hoping to achieve a greater understanding of the physical world. Here’s an analogy: it’s like a person who has been confined to a certain space in their house and yard. Along the way, this person decides to dedicate their life to discovering and catalogueing the world around them. But it’s like collecting stamps - it serves no purpose but to pass time. This is science embodied - the person with a pointless hobby. No effort is made to improve himself as a person or, if there are other people in his house and yard, no effort is made to improve his relationship with them, since examining his house and yard take priority.

In summary, science has no end, and can only be used as a means. So it is not the end-all - something else is needed. On the other hand, philosophy seeks to help people become better persons, to know themselves better, to behave well with other people, and most importantly, to find THE end, THE telos, THE purpose of life. Dismissing philosophy is like the stamp collector dismissing the wise man and laughing him off, ignoring him to pursue his stamp collection.

“For human ways are under the eyes of
the Lord,
and he examines all their paths.
The iniquities of the wicked ensnare
them,
and they are caught in the toils of
their sin.
They die for lack of discipline,
and because of their great folly they
are lost.”
Proverbs 5:21-23

My Mom has been getting back into church recently. I’ve probably said it enough, but I come from an unchurched home, so I’m deifnitely not used to anything related to church. I’m still VERY freaked out about the whole thing, and I’m not sure why, since it can only be positive and rewarding for my spiritual life.

Today my Mom decided to go to the Saturday church service, which is at 5:00pm and is pretty cool. There’s a mix of contemporary songs and older songs, and the age group looks pretty diverse, which is a good sign. This thing about the older song and contemporary songs is a debate with every church - the older folk like the old hymns and the younger crowd like the newer stuff (complete with electric guitar, drums, bass, etc.). In another church I’ve been to, instead of having a mix of songs, the congregation is actually split into two different services: one with pure traditional music and the other with pure contemporary music. Basically this ends up splitting the Church into two different groups: the old and the young. This is one of my biggest problems with churches today, and one of the reasons I’ve avoided them. This was good that a mix of songs was used for the Saturday service, I can just hope that there are more churches that do that.

For me, I’m not there for the music. I don’t know any of the songs and I can’t sing, and if I did and could, I wouldn’t anyway! Still, the music has an effect on me, there’s no doubt about that. Being so unfamiliar with both types (traditional hymns and contemporary music), I take them in equally - except when it comes to hymns which have a VERY strong melody. Sometimes the words don’t matter as much as that nagging GREAT melody that plays behind them. When these types of hymns play, my eyes get all watery and I get all emotional and thankful for Christ. That happened tonight and I was kind of embarassed, but I didn’t tear up too bad. I feel so embarassed just typing it up here, haha. Whoever wrote those tunes were musical genuises, they really know how to write a good melody and good music. There are a couple contemporary worship tunes with the same effect, but most of that is just repetitive and not nearly as impressive as the hymns.

Then there’s the Beatles. Today was “Service Day”, which means that all the volunteer services were being showcased after the sermon. So after the sermon, the all-pastor band played “Help!” by the Beatles. I’m not sure if they got scolded for that or what, but it was fun :). But there was one problem - no lead guitar! So I just filled in the lead guitar part in my head.

Oh yes! Almost forgot Proverbs.

“Keep your heart with all vigilance,
for from it flow the springs of life.
Put away from you crooked speech,
and put devious talk far from you.
Let your eyes look directly forward,
and you gaze be straight
before you.
Keep straight the path of your feet,
and all your ways will be sure.
Do not swerve to the right or to
the left;
turn your foot away from evil.”
Proverbs 4:23-27

Today was my archery day! That’s right - all Fridays I just have archery in the morning, then I’m out!

And I found it very strange that in talking about bad excuses for missing class, the instrutor mentioned that “oh, I was up until 6:00am playing World of Warcraft” is a bad excuse. I posted this on the BioL4N club folder on BUBBS and someone replied that she (the archery instructor) plays a mage on the Proudmoore server! Haha, fancy time to quit WoW, just when I find out that one of my teachers is playing the darn game! Anyhow, it wasn’t a philosophy teacher, which isn’t surprising considering they’re all a bit too old for computer games, and they probably have better priorities anyhow (though I DID find two other people in my philsophy seminar class last semester who play, but they were both sub-40, as we snobby level 60’s like to say).

Well I’m fine with it. When I want to play a game, I find myself playing the Battlefield 2 demo in the sometimes unbearable and unpredictable lag (when it’s really bad, I’ve found it’s a lot easier than the original [BF1942] to play in the lag, because you can still walk around fairly easily, and you can pick up a job like engineer and just run around repairing equipment on your base).

Ok, enough of computer games!

When I’m not doing that, I’ve found myself editing Wikipedia. I’ve just now gotten into the Philosophy section of Wikipedia, which is a REAL fixer-upper. There’s a whole project dedicated just in updating the philosophy pages. I added my name tonight, and tried to help a bit with Medieval philosophy, which is in even worse shape since it’s so unpopular.

Incidentally, the Middle Ages are the most overlooked period in most every subject, philosophy included. Philosophy was the EPITOME of the Middle Ages though - the Church needed to clear up its doctrine and what its doxology (right-teaching) was. This could only be achieved through academic debate - in a type of argument called the scholastic method, which is basically what people in Ivory Tower land still do today in academic journals, etc. Anyhow, it’s on the one hand a shame that Medieval Philosophy is looked over, but on the other hand it creates a rare opportunity in today’s world. Speaking purely about my future career, Medieval Philosophy is an area in sore need of researchers and teachers. There are volumes of materials just waiting to be analyzed and translated (we only have a very select amount of materials that have been translated into English so far). It’s quite similar to another favorite subject of mine: World War I aviation.

Not only is World War I looked over in favor of World War II, but hardly anyone acknowledges the existence of air power in WWI.

So that’s good I guess - it provides a good opportunity for the world to grow and research unpopular areas of history. In an age when the physical frontier has albeit disappeared (deep ocean and deep space excepted in this case), an intellectual frontier is still ahead.

“My child, do not despise the Lord’s
discipline
or be weary of his reproof,
for the Lord reproves the one he
loves,
as a father the son in whom he
delights.”
Proverbs 3:11-12

And again!

“My child, do not let these escape
from your sight:
keep sound wisdom and prudence,
and they will be life for your soul
and adornment for your neck.
Then you will walk on your way
securely
and your foot will not stumble.
If you sit down, you will not be
afraid;
when you lie down, your sleep will
be sweet.
Do not be afraid of sudden panic,
or of the storm that strikes the
wicked;
for the Lord will be your confidence
and will keep your foot from being
caught.”
Proverbs 3:21-26

I thought it might be neat to do a self-imposed 31 straight days of blogging, especially since I don’t write a log of stuff up here. I’m trying to do a tie-in with the Bible, so hopefully I’ll keep up a trend of putting up a part of Proverbs each night. Incidentally Proverbs has 31 chapters, so I’ll just work my way through each day. I dunno if I constantly want to respond to the verses I type up here - some days I might just type them and post it without commentary.

Anyhow, today wasn’t very eventful. I was spending all day anticipating my one class on Wednesday (I also have Philosophy Seminar every other Wednesday or so). When 3:00 got near, I drove over and walked to the room. There was a sign posted up there, saying there had been some “quirky schedule mishap” (or something to that effect) and our professor was unable to make it. But fear not! He gave his BUBBS email and said if we emailed him he would give us a syllabus. And also! To keep us occupied - a 5 something or other essay due Monday on the subject of “What is Love?”. The reason I say “something or other” is because it either said 5 page or 5 paragraph. I’m just assuming the latter, since that’s the crystallized noncreative academic form that everyone now expects.

Tomorrow is more nerve-racking - I have a job interview with the IT Helpdesk, about the equivalent of what ITC used to be (there’s a separate department, Audio/Visual, who keep up the projectors and laptops in rooms though). So I’m going to dress up like I’m going to church (though I’ve only been to church about 3 times - more on this in a later entry, hopefully that will change soon…). Anyhow, I guess it’s both a win/win and lose/lose situation for me. On the one hand I need a job for money and just for keeping myself off the streets. I mean, keeping myself occupied. But on the other hand I’d be fine not getting a job - it would allow me to concentrate on studies. I’ll see how the interview goes.. but it looks like I’m going to sucker myself into a job!

Next on the agenda for tomorrow are two philosophy classes, but I’m familiar with one of the professors so it should be good, and exciting. Those classes aren’t a biggie, hopefully. At least not the first day (it’s probably going to be some of the most technical, hardest classes I’m going to take this semester).

Oh well, I hope everyone else is doing alright. I’ve been a literal recluse all summer, and not just playing WoW (which I cancelled, by the way ). Oh yes, speaking of - I made a video called “Bored Horde Train” that I was playing around with. It’s a boring video, but it’s sort of synched up to music: http://www.themaingate.net/bored_horde_train.avi

I took a look at the gogfeds.com forums and apparently Lardo doesn’t approve! Oh well! /cry

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and
instruction.”
Proverbs 1:7

Comments: When I was a child, even though I wasn’t raised in a church-going home, I knew the phrase “the fear of the Lord” and didn’t understand it until very recently. It’s not the sort of instinctual fear a person feels if they’re scared out of their wits or afraid of being hurt or dying, but it’s fear towards a person out of respect and reverence to them. If we don’t fear a person then we place them on an equal or lower level in relation to ourselves. This is why we don’t fear our friends, which we view as our equals. However, God is equal to no one. Fear God and we show him that we understand His role and our role in the universe. As Proverbs says, only then can knowledge and wisdom begin.