the momentary radiance
of a sunset
is infinite
eternity’s echoes

I love trees. There is something about walking silently through a forest and stopping to listen to the wind move through the trees. It is as if the trees are whispering secrets to the universe.

There seems to be a trend in weddings to do creative dances during the bride and groom’s first dance. This particular video takes a different twist. What I love about this video is not that the people are flawless dancers, but its that through the dance, they capture the joy of what a wedding should be. We are living in difficult times. This reminds us that in the midst of the worst times, there is joy.

What is it about an empty road that beckons me?  Is it the promise of a new landscape to tantalize the eyes?  Is it the invitation to another adventure?  Or is it the prospect of discovering something new about myself?

Sometimes, it is in the small, fleeting encounters that the universe can leave you breathless.  It seems that we need to be reminded every now and then that a person, a total stranger, can leave a lasting impression that takes only a moment to make.

With the election only days away, I am bombarded with TV ads, political flyers, campaign letters, and lawn signs advocating one thing or another or one candidate or another.

I was on my way home from work the other day and as I exited the freeway, saw a group of people, including children, at the corner holding signs for “Yes on 8 Protect Marriage.”  Many were waving and yelling “Yes on 8!” and some drivers were honking in what I assumed to be a show of support.

I wonder if the people who are advocates of Prop 8, especially the ones using religious reasons for their views, truly understand how the Bible defines marriage.

Yes, the Bible does state that marriage is between a man and a woman, but the Bible also states that sex is only within the bounds of marriage.  I wonder how many of the people for Prop 8 were virgins on their wedding day?  How many of them did not live together before getting married?  How many of them have never committed adultery?  Jesus takes it even further and states that to lust after someone who is not your spouse is tantamount to adultery!  

So if people want to protect marriage, why stop at the definition of who can get married?  Why not introduce a Proposition against premarital sex, and also another one against adultery and lust?  If they truly want to protect marriage, then they should go all the way.   Christians give Christianity a bad name due to their hypocrisy.  And the sad thing is that they are teaching their children to be hypocrites as well.

Christianity is about integrity.  To claim that you live by the principles of the Bible is exactly to do that.  Not pick and choose what you think applies to you and then try to force those beliefs on others by beating them over the head with the Bible.  Jesus summarized the kind of life a Christian is to live in His Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7, Luke 6:20-49).   According to Jesus, the first and greatest commandment is to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. . .And the second is like it:  Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-40).   I surely hope that the advocates for Prop 8 are living by these precepts.

It’s been a while.  Things have been busy, especially with me taking an Art History class and an Intro to Photoshop class at the local community college.  I signed up for the classes to gauge how well I could handle going back to school to pursue another Masters degree, one in Fine Arts.

But it seems that I will have to put this plan on hold as I can feel my chronic fatigue returning.   The MFA program at UC Riverside is about 72+ hours and it’s an intense three-year program of study.  I don’t think my body can handle it at that pace.

It’s frustrating when my body cannot handle what my spirit wants to do.  This has been the story of my life; “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

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The weather changed today.  The wind picked up and brought in the dark clouds.  I could smell rain in the air.  That smell always takes me back to my childhood days spent playing in the rain during the monsoon season in the Philippines.  

I remember my siblings and I playing outside in the rain while my mother joined us in the absolute delight of the warm rain falling on our upturned faces.   A little rain fell tonight, just enough to evoke the memories of a childhood spent laughing in the rain.

Sorry I haven’t been posting this week.  I’ve been busy watching the Olympics and losing way too much sleep.

Anyways, I snapped this photo while driving back home from working in my classroom. 

School doesn’t start for another two weeks, but I like to have my classroom decorated before we teachers have to report back to work; I don’t get a lot of work done once everyone comes back because it’s meeting after meeting and just catching up on everyone’s summer vacation.

I look forward to the beginning of each academic year.  It means a new year and a new group of students to get to know and build a rapport with.

I keep forgetting that I have this photo project to do.  So today’s photo is not inspired in any way.   Just remembered that I had to do it before getting ready for bed.  I got caught up in scanning old film negatives and digitizing all those film negatives.  

Then my wireless router decides to die on me today so I have to get a new one.  I head over to the local Staples store and call my cousin Lanie for some advice as to which brand is the best.  So we’re on the phone talking about routers, which leads to talking about computers, and Lanie’s inevitable, “I need a new computer” line.  She starts telling me about this new laptop that’s super fast.  It’s so fast that it even lights up like a race care or something.   Does it come with a checkered flag, too? 

It’s funny because oftentimes, we call each other for advice about stuff and then we end up talking the other into the purchase.  I guess it’s much easier to justify a purchase when discussing the pros and cons with someone else.  Needless to say, I end up spending $100 on a new wireless router on my cousin’s advice that I need to “think ahead because advances in technology are constantly being made” (or something to that effect.)  I could have bought a $40 router, but you know, I do have to think of future technological advances.

I get home and try to get online.  Not as easy as it sounds.  Of course, the writing on the box states that it’s “Easy Setup,” implying that all I have to do is plug the cables in correctly and voila!  Ha!  Never ever trust what the box says.  It so was far from easy setup!  I follow the instructions on the CD and still I get nothing.  I retry, and retry, and retry, and retry.  Still nothing.  By this time, I’m quite frustrated so I call tech support (and I hate calling tech support) and spend about 45 minutes with them.  There’s a bit of a language issue since tech support is now outsourced to the planet 428B in the Alpha Centauri region of the universe.

Anyways, after much frustration, I’m finally back online.