Take a Leap

Tomorrow, as you surely know, is a leap day. Last leap year I was a second semester freshman. I was taking lit analysis and American lit survey and a couple of horrendously boring communication classes.
I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with myself - what I wanted to be. I determined that I wanted to be an English major and ditch the inane com classes. Other than that, I haven't come very far. I'm still not sure what I want to be when I grow up. But I finally have some options for the short term future. I have been accepted to a couple of grad programs. Now I just have to decide which path to choose and when to start. That will give me a plan for the next few years. And I like plans.

Anyway, back to leap day. One of my favorite episodes of one of my favorite television shows, Fraiser, is entitled "Take a Leap." It's about leap day and the various risky decisions or leaps of faith that Frasier, Niles, Daphne, Martin, and Roz decide to take. They decide that since leap day is like an extra day of life, they should celebrate by living life to the fullest. All these leap day leaps end, naturally, in disaster. I don't plan to take any big leaps tomorrow, but I do plan to enjoy the day. I have to drive to work in the snow, spend nine hours at work, then drive three more hours down to Cedarville. That all adds up to a rather mediocre day. But that doesn't mean that I can't enjoy it. Right?

Sometimes it's good to remember that life is made up of these little days all strung together. I probably sound like a broken record these last few posts, but I really do want to try to enjoy my life as it comes. There's no sense living in the future. Tomorrow is an extra day, and I will live it to it's ordinary day fullest.

So
much
snow.
I should be used to it. I've lived in Michigan amidst the drifts basically all my life. I love the way the snow makes everything look. I do not love these massive storms we've been having: storms that turn a 40 minute commute into a 2.5 hour commute.

I've decided to try to be less generally frustrated. My hope is that such an effort does not prove to be a source of frustration.

The future is just a concept. It cannot be lived in, no matter how hard you try. You can change or enjoy or waste or redeem only the present.

O God, by whom the meek are guided in judgment, and
light riseth up in darkness for the godly: Grant us, in all
our doubts and uncertainties, the grace to ask what thou
would have us to do, that the Spirit of wisdom may save
us from all false choices, and that in thy light we may see
light, and in thy straight path may not stumble; through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

TV

After spending four years at Cedarville where TV was inaccessible, I have reentered the TV world with gusto. Funnily enough, now that I actually have access to a television, I don't really watch TV shows on it. Instead, I watch them mostly via the internet or DVDs on my MacBook. And I really love this phenomenon. I am so glad that the networks are posting their shows online, and I love TV DVDs. It's great, especially in this fairly boring phase of my life. It's nice to have something to look forward to when I get home from work at 1am and I'm too tired to read but not tired enough to go to sleep yet. Tonight I look forward to an episode of 24, season 6 (which I really don't find to be as horrible as the critics) and an episode of Six Feet Under, season 2.

And tomorrow night I get to go to Cedarville and see many good friends, which will be infinitely better than any TV show.

There is a significant winter storm raging outside as I sit here at a desk at work. Knowing that I have to sit here with little or nothing to do for two more hours while snow and ice pile up on the roads, knowing that I have to drive 40 miles in snow and sleet tonight, knowing all this is not making me a happy Ben.

I absolutely hate the prospect of a miserable commute in the snow and ice when all want to do is get home and curl up with a book or a movie before falling asleep. I really, really want to scream, which would probably not go over well.

Yesterday, on NPR, I heard a black college student claim that she and her fellow African Americans are not allowed to "take pride" in being black anymore. She claimed that she and her piers are labeled racists if they express pride in the color of their skin and the cultural heritage that goes along with it.

I beg to differ.

In my experience, it is white Euro-Americans like me who cannot express pride in the color of their skin. I have many times, both in person and in the media, seen black individuals praised for expressing pride in their "blackness." But I have never once seen a white person lauded for taking pride in her "whiteness." In fact, I believe that I would be taken to task much more harshly for expressing pride in being a white man than an African American expressing pride in being black.

If I could talk to the woman who made that comment on NPR, I would ask her to specify exactly how she has been "disallowed" to take pride in her black skin. I really am curious. I think there is a fundamental difference between her and me. It is a difference undoubtedly based in any number of cultural differences and social experiences. She wants to be not just allowed to take pride in her skin color, but to be praised for taking pride in it. On the other hand, it has never really occurred to me before to take pride in my skin color.

I think she's just as racist as I am.

Hi.
I decided some time ago that Xanga was wearing incredibly thin, and now it seems to have become the trend to abandon it. So, I have decided to indulge my sheepish tenancies and begin a 'fresh' blogging experiment here.

I generally feel that I have very little to say in a setting like this, but I find reading other people's blogs interesting (well, some other people's). So, we'll see how it goes. Perhaps inspiration will strike in the many hours that I must sit in front of a computer looking busy at work.