Bah! We're Young & Brilliant

Heh. This is today's Dilbert comic and it's exactly what I was talking about here. I used to do those kinds of things in my meetings at work.

To me, this attitude smacks of Young Man Syndrome. 1 John 2 outlines one way to look at the stages of growth in our Christian lives. The young man/woman stage represents the time when we have learned a lot. The problem is not a lack of knowledge but a lack of maturity. It's not that we don't understand the problems that we face, it's that we lack the experience to properly apply that knowledge. We lack the ability to co-operate and communicate with others effectively. Being right is fine but being right and alone isn't too productive.

In practical terms, I had learned a lot at work at one point but I didn't have the character to back up my expertise. The result was that I acted like a character from a Dilbert strip.

This maturing process applies to many areas on our lives. How do we respond when we hear our pastor preach something with which we disagree? What if our parents just don't seem to get us? What if our acquaintances have silly assumptions about God? What if our Christian friends are just plain wrong about some really important things? What if other bloggers spout moronic ideas? (And I hope that I'm not referring to myself with that last comment...)

Even if we're always right (which isn't going to happen anyway), the way that we respond to others is a key difference between the cocky teenager that knows everything and the humble old man that realizes he doesn't know so much after all.

Fear, Fish and Falacies

So I went to Boler Mountain for my first time ever because the Big Brothers program had donations of two months of snowboarding lessons. I haven't done any actual skiing or snowboarding before so I had to start from scratch. Falls, I had many. By the end of our hour-long lesson, I was able to go down the training hill by myself at an even pace without falling. I was proud of myself, although my 8-year old Little managed to do that first. Apparently I still have several weeks to learn various techniques so let the bruising continue!

Don't you just love it when we find another species of life on this planet? I read about the most recent discovery in this article. It's a transparent fish with no skull that is only 7.9 mm in length and it was found in peat swamps in Indonesia. In the past, it was assumed that nothing but plant life could exist in swamps like this due to the high acid ratio but God seems to be more creative than we think.

And did you hear about the algorithm that can rate a politician on the amount of "spin" they have in their speeches? This article has a interesting tidbit that analyzes the mumbo-jumbo of the Big Three party leaders in this past Canadian election. Rank the three leaders in order (1-2-3) before you read the article and see if you're right!

Character and Hope

We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perserverance; perserverance, character; and character, hope. Romans 5:3,4

December 20th, 2005 was my sixth year anniversary at work. At one point I had been working there as a computer programmer for almost three years and, by my estimation and that of my bosses, I had become both talented and experienced. I had the privilege of being a member of the design team for new software projects and I had a knack for solving the most difficult problems.

While I was able to decipher solutions from only the vaguest of clues, I also had a keen eye for potential problems with proposed designs. I had the foresight to know when a design decision would backfire on us but that understanding was a two-edged sword. If the "right" decision was not made and the logic of a situation was ignored, I would become frustrated.

Granted, this was the result of numerous factors. Obviously, the leading cause of my frustration was that I was somewhat prideful, which is a nice way of saying I was an arrogant butthead. Even so, my frustration grew as I was proven correct more often than not. In my mind, I could have accepted being proven wrong but to be right and then have to clean up the mess left by others...well now!

My frustration mounted over the course of several months. My poor sister frequently picked me up from work after she was done school for the day and she was unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of my complaints each afternoon. It got to the point that I making faces and sighing out loud during meetings when we would decide on actions that I suggested a month beforehand. I saw my attitude deteriorating drastically and yet I was helpless to reverse this downward spiral. In the larger scheme of things, my "suffering" amounts to little and yet it was still such a depressing time for me.

We were discussing this verse from Romans in my cell group last week. Some of my other friends are able to relate to this passage on a much deeper level than I can. I look back at that period in my life and see a long stretch of darkness but in comparison to the stories of others, things couldn't have been any easier. During our discussion, however, we did find that this passage rung true for each of us in our own ways.

My situation at work is not unique. The majority of the time, people seem to head for greener pastures in a new job or even a new career. I've certainly seen my share of acquaintances and friends leave a variety of jobs because of the stress and difficulties of the workplace. I considered doing just that but I decided that if God didn't open a door for me then that was that.

So God, being as wise as he is, decided that I should stay where I was. I eventually realized that I wasn't going anywhere any time soon and I also realized that nothing was going to change at work. That left only one thing that could be changed: me.

Between a period of three to six months, I kept coming back to God. I prayed and had others pray for me. I applied verses to my situation and everything else that you would expect. I would still find instances in which decisions were made at work that left me inwardly fuming at my desk. That remained constant. Now, though, things started to change inside me. Now, I decided that the only person I was hurting in my anger was myself and I decided to consciously choose to comply fully and completely with whatever was assigned to me. I chose to enjoy my own work, offer my own opinion and then respect the final outcome, period.

It wasn't easy. Let me tell you, that's where the perserverance part of this verse came in for me. Little by little, that black cloud over me began to dissipate. The muttering and grimaces slowly ceased and were replaced with encouraging words and warm smiles. The end of my days were not a release from my cell (and by that I mean cubicle) but were instead opportunities for me to spend time with my sister in friendly conversation.

Nothing about my situation changed. The only thing that changed was me.

And so it happened that I developed a little more character. As a curious side effect, I find that I now come across plenty of people that are facing the same struggles in their own workplaces and careers. I can immediately identify with them and more importantly, I can offer them hope. I can say that I went through that tunnel but God was with me and I did see the light on the other side.

God's a funny. Refining fire looks pretty but oy, does it hurt to go through it.

Blogging Update

Richard was using this blog in the beginning but he later converted to using this blog. The latter is in my list of blog links and the former is in the middle of a countdown to the infinite bliss we know as blogger's paradise. (As Richard and my sister can attest, I keep visiting all of my blog links until they actually disappear, regardless of how often they are updated.) So come join the countdown while it lasts!

I would also like to inform y'all that Jevant now has two blogs: His public blog and his personal blog. His public blog has more traffic and will be directed to political rants and his conservative agenda. His personal blog will be holier than thou.

As for my political agenda, I went out this past Monday to cast my vote early for the federal election. Apparently I was part of a trend this year in which more people did likewise nationwide. All the cool people were doing it.

Updated: I finally found Stan's Blog.

Blinks and Beeps

Who doesn't think that Cyclops the Cat is cute?

Welcome back, Zach. He has another blog up and running. We'll see if this lasts longer than his last one.

Welcome to NRG, London's latest contribution to high culture.

Does anyone know the address for Stan Clemance's blog?

I would just like to say that I did not hang out with anyone yesterday evening. And the name of the woman I did not hang out with did not start with an E...no wait, that's too obvious. The name of the person whom I did not see was not a book of the Bible. Nothing to see here, folks, so just move on.

A few months ago, a friend of mine took a trip to New York to do some sight-seeing. Over the course of his week there, he quickly learned that NY drivers have a common language that they use to communicate to one another. Just in case you're ever driving there, here are the basic messages that drivers give to each other by using their car horns. To quote my friend:

• One short beep means go ahead. Usually by the average joe.
• Two short beeps also means go ahead, but I found cabbies used this one more often.
• One long beep I found meant one ore more four letter words. This was proven when I saw the drivers flipping out to the person in front of them.
• Three short beeps (I think) means they are trying to get someone's attention. This was proven when it surprisingly happened more than once to people walking on the sidewalk.
• One normal length beep was when a cabbie acknowledged to someone on the sidewalk with their hand waving them down, they wanted to let the person know they will turn around.
• Now, I think you can guess this one yourself.. but if you are blocking the intersection, and you hear one long continuous beep coming from > 5cars/trucks... they are not too happy. This would fall under the category of one or more long beeps continuously.

Building a Mystery

I was recently listening to this song by Sarah McLachlan on the radio. Charles Coutu always comes to mind immediately whenever I hear this song, if only because he praised the song extensively back in the day. (Congratulations to Chuck for his recent marriage on December 28th, 2005!)

I won't provide a link to the full lyrics for this song since the original CD version has one swear word that the radio version does not have. However, there is this article that provides a fairly deep analysis of both the lyrics and the chord progressions in the song.

The man in this song has built a mystery, a facade of religion from different sources to hide his true inner self. His faith is a mystery, his real character is a mystery and it's a mystery that she loves this man.

The song variously references Christian, celtic, goth, rasta, and Eastern religion and philosophy. I have seen religion used in this way. In our search for meaning and for acceptance, we'll combine a little Christianity with a little pragmatism. In the hope of peace and love, we'll take some New Age mysticism with some Eastern philosophy. In the desire for knowledge and wisdom, we'll mix a little science with some subjective experience. We paint our picture from each of these colours and then try to see what life looks like - and what we look like.

More than that, we'll use the results to hide our deep emotions and to mask our inner spirit. We'll blame our actions on the sum of our experience and the rules imposed by others. We'll direct our decisions by a set of ideas and then find that we live by a completely different set only a short while later. It's like looking in a mirror and not quite recognizing the reflection.

We are mysteries that are trying to discover mysteries. I find that I have done this myself at times. I try to conform God to my own image rather than reveal his true face. I try to pour myself into a mold created by others rather than build on what I am.

I need to remember that I am a wonderful creation. I need to discover that there is a hidden beauty in those around me. I need to see that God's mysteries are everywhere and I need to know that God himself is the greatest mystery.

God is the revealer of mysteries. (Daniel 2:29)

Links & Blinks

My brother, Dave, has a series of new photos on his MySpace site under the "December 31" photo album. It includes various pictures of my family's recent Christmas celebrations.

Check this out: Angry Alien Productions. It has a series of 30-second versions of major motion pictures, animated with rabbit characters. Funny stuff - like Coles Notes on drugs. I particularly enjoyed the Star Wars one.

I love the fact that the Toronto Raptors have been on a roll lately. The Raptors are twelve games under .500 and yet they're only 3.5 games away from the playoffs. Stupid as it may be, I like the fact that I just connected the word "Raptors" with the word "playoffs" without putting "not" in between. I recently subscribed to Raptors TV on cable at home and I love it.

As for personal news, my Little Brother and I recently got the chance to take 7 weeks of snowboarding lessons. Canadian Tire is paying for the (expensive) lessons for the Big Brothers program. My younger brother, Dave, has always been one for the white hills of winter and he recently taught the three (and now make that five) South Korean boys at our house how to snowboard and ski. I eschew such winter time sports since I much prefer city life and a basketball court but I'm looking forward to this. I would never have learned how to snowboard without my Little and I'm sure we'll have a ton of fun in the next two months.

Top Ten Movies of 2005

Here's my second annual Top Ten list of movies for the past year. I love the fact that I have a second annual anything on this blog.

[10] Doom (Official Site)
This is a great movie within the Aliens genre. You know, monsters chasing you in the dark, fighting aliens with big guns. My full review is available here. Fun as this was, it wasn't much more than a good shoot-em-up so I can't put this any higher on my list. This position was a decision between this movie and Mr. & Mrs. Smith but I give the slight edge to Doom because it integrated first-person perspective from the video game.

[9] Hitch (Official Site)
I do watch a few romantic comedies every once in a long while but I prefer it if they rely heavily on the second part of the term "rom-com." This spot was a toss-up between this movie and Fever Pitch. As much as I enjoyed the baseball portion of the latter, I'm going with Hitch because Will Smith really pulled this movie off nicely. Granted, it takes it's cues from the original Alfie movie in that the main character speaks to the audience directly but it wasn't nearly as cliched and predictable as I expected.

[8] Narnia (Official Site)
I just watched this movie yesterday. After much debate amongst my family, I decided that I preferred King Kong slightly more, hence the eight position for this movie. Narnia captured the novels perfectly, from the setting to the central characters to the talking animals. Even so, it takes a while to set up the World War II era and to get the four siblings into Narnia. That pays off later in the movie because you care about the characters (except maybe Susan) but it doesn't do much for entertainment in the beginning. (I mean, do I need to see them play hide-and-go-seek or should I go find a game of my own?) That being said, this sets up the sequels perfectly and this movie will probably get better with age.

[7] King Kong (Official Site)
This was one of the craziest movies that I have ever seen. Giant ape, three T-Rexes, stampede of dinosaurs, huge bats, scary natives...this movie was darker than I expected and good deal more weird than I thought. Kong is fully realized as a character in his own right. Jack Black and Adrien Brody are fun and plenty of people get squished by giant creatures. This movie has a lot going on and that's the main reason that this gets the nod over Narnia for my list.

[6] Sahara (Official Site)
This was my Bond movie for the year, in the absence of an actual Bond movie. I reviewed this here. 'Nuff said.

[5] Walk The Line (Official Site)
Last year, the music biopic Ray was my top movie. These two movies have numerous parallels since they both deal with a famous musician, drug problems, women issues and the lead actors played and sang. Even so, this movie doesn't quite match up. Granted, I love Ray Charles' music more than I like Johnny Cash's music. More than that, I couldn't really root for Cash's character as he longs to commit adultery for most of the movie. Good movie, not a good love story.

[4] Serenity (Official Site)
If you haven't gotten on this band wagon, it's about time you did. This movie follows the short-lived TV show named Firefly, created by the famed Joss Whedon. (If you don't know who that is then you don't know much about TV. Buffy, anyone?) I gradually got my brother and my parents hooked on this series/movie and I bought my dad the boxed set of the TV show for Christmas. The premise is "cowboys in space," which sounds retarded until you actually see it. And if that's not a glowing review then I don't know what is.

[3] Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Official Site)
I first learned of this movie from a teaser trailer in 2004, I think. It didn't have much but the logo and title but I was still cheering loudly in the theatre, as I am prone to doing. My top three movies in this list basically come in the order of my most anticipated movies of 2005. I reviewed this movie here so suffice it to say, I love sci-fi and I loved the five-part trilogy of novels so I loved this movie.

[2] Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (Official Site)
Anakin turns to the dark side. Ahhhhh yes! The three South Korean boys (the "K Kids") at my house bought the video game Battlefront II for me and my brother for Christmas. There's nothing like the guilty pleasure (and difficulty) of killing a bunch of jedi. This movie paid off in a bunch of ways and I loved it, as I wrote about here.

[1] Batman Begins (Official Site)
Have I mentioned that I'm a big fan of comics? Did I mention that I spent $180.00 US on comics this past week while I was in Florida and I brought back almost 750 new comics? So yes, I'm a fan of this movie. The Fantastic Four was also released this past year and I really enjoyed that movie as well but it doesn't really stands up to the genius of this movie. The fact that it had a bunch of great character actors all over the place only made it that much better.

Honourable Mentions:
Charlie & The Chocolate Factory (My Review)
Robots

References:
Top Ten Movies of 2004
2005 Movie Releases