Drinking and driving I understand, because it has a high possibility to harm other citizens, but just drinking and being in public? Why should that be a crime? I just think the government shouldn't worry itself with things like seatbelts, drinking, drugs, if the person is not hurting anyone or operating a machine/car. It just seems ridiculous to me.
I have been struggling with this one for awhile. Is it the governments job/role to "save" its citizens from their own dumb choices and decisions or that just part of being human? The best example that comes to mind is wearing a seatbelt. If you don't wear a seatbelt when in a car you are more likely to be injured/die if the car is in an accident, but isn't it your choice whether to wear the seatbelt or not? Is it the governments role to fine you for not protecting yourself? I don't think so. I think the government is overreaching its role when it tries to protect its citizens from stupidity that doesn't endanger others.
Drinking and driving I understand, because it has a high possibility to harm other citizens, but just drinking and being in public? Why should that be a crime? I just think the government shouldn't worry itself with things like seatbelts, drinking, drugs, if the person is not hurting anyone or operating a machine/car. It just seems ridiculous to me.
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Fun vs. boring ways to spend money. This is a dilemma that my wife and I struggle with on a monthly basis. We save money, usually we tell ourselves it's for things like a house, a new car, a new computer, practical things that we would like to have. But then we go on some big trip somewhere and spend most of it. It's a vicious cycle, but I love the results. We get to go on an amazing trip or have an amazing adventure instead of being boring. But then we don't have any money for a down payment on a house or something like that! So should we be boring for years to buy the house, then we can start being fun again and travel or is this the time to be fun and travel before we have kids and a house payment? Just something I've been struggling with. There are many things about human nature that I don't understand, but one of the most mystifying to me is our obsession with death. No matter what you believe about God or the afterlife, I feel that the general concensus is that death sucks. It is the worst thing that can happen to a human being and we do everything in our power to keep it from happening. We make playgrounds safer, we make cars safer, we make all dangerous activities safer so that even when we are doing things that might get us killed for the thrill of it, we are safe. Why?
The more we try to control something, the more it controls us. This is true about many aspects of our life. The more we try to control our finances, the more our money controls our every move. The more we try to control our social life, the more grip it has on us. If we try to insulate ourselves from death so much, that we tell ourselves it can't get us, then it is controlling us. We think about death, we fear it, we run from it, we hate it, and we are so shocked when it finds us. Death finds everyone. If we lived forever, we wouldn't cherish the moments we have. If we started living life like those cheesy slogans "live like its your last day on earth", we would actually be enjoying life so much more! We would be free of the worry, free of the fear, free from death. Even if it finds us, we aren't surprised, because we are ready to pass on. I believe that I am going to heaven when I die, I believe that I will be called home, I believe in something even better than this life after I die. So, even more than a non-Christian, why should I fear death? Why should I care what death does to me or the ones I love? Death has no power here, because if Jesus calls me home, I should be happy to see my Savior, and my family and friends should rejoice for me. I know, I know. We are only human, we will grieve for the ones we love. We want one more minute to be with that person, we want to share one last cup of tea with them, and we didn't get that. And grieving is not bad, or harmful. It's a good process. But let's make sure that we remember what our time on earth is really for. Is it go gain more friends? Is it to make the largest impact? Is it to leave an unforgettable legacy? No. My purpose is to serve the One true God, and it is He who has power over death. So when I go home to meet my Father, I hope you will not be full of too much sorrow, but will remember what we were put here to do. Don't try to control death, for if you do, you will be controlled by it, all of your days. BTW. I read an article today about Coy, a 6 year old that has male genitalia but identifies with the female gender. Coy is technically a boy, but has always worn dresses, and makeup, and played with dolls, and hung out with girls, and has always called himself a girl. I will not go into the debate of whether a person decides to be transgender or not, I don't think that is the important question here. Coy goes to a Colorado elementary school and the school said that he either had to go to the boys bathroom or to the staff bathroom, but he could not go to the girls bathroom. The parents of the student have gone to the social media machine and have started online petitions to get the school to treat Coy like another other child. This is an impossible situation. The school is going to be faced with angry parents who are upset when a boy who dresses like a girl uses the girls bathroom with their little girls. Or on the other hand they will be faced (which they are currently) with angry members of the LGBT community who say that they are repressing the child's development and creating situations where Coy will be ridiculed. I think both of these responses are true, so what do we do? Honestly, we have to look at with the longterm situation in mind. What solution is more viable for a school that has transgender kids, homosexual kids, cross dressing kids, and bi-sexual kids? My immediate reaction was unisex bathrooms. Many cultures use them, even though there have been many conversations about an increase in sexual behavior in the bathrooms when both boys and girls are in there at the same time. But what other solution is there? Everyone can choose which bathroom they use? That's almost the same as unisex. Bathrooms are used specifically by genitalia of the same kind? That is impossible to regulate, and it would upset members of the LGBT community to no end. No, I don't think those will work in the end, they may be good bandaids, but they are not good cures to our sickness of accommodating everyone all the time. Will conservatives be upset that girls and boys are using bathrooms together? Yes, of course. But when are conservatives not upset? smh. The common consensus in the US at the moment is that Trayvon Martin was murdered in cold blood (as the picture to the left indicates). If you don't know who Trayvon Martin is, read this article. I have seen more tweets, facebook posts, blogs, and news articles about this case than I have about Omar Hassan al-Bashir escaping authorities again and fleeing back to Sudan. The whole world isn't up in arms about a man who committed genocide for years and now walks free and easy. Now there's an issue to yell and scream about. But I digress. Trayvon Martin's prosecutor did not lose this case because Martin was black, they did not lose because the jury hated him or because everyone in the judicial system was racist. A prosecutor must create an argument where the only conclusion is that the defendant is guilty, where there is no doubt what so ever that the defendant is guilty. We are all innocent until we are proved guilty, if the prosecution was not able to prove that Zimmerman was guilty without a shadow of a doubt, then the jury must find the defendant innocent. That's how simple it is. The prosecution didn't succeed, partly because they didn't do a very good job, but also because there was reasonable doubt right from the beginning that Zimmerman actually was telling the truth and he really was attacked by Martin, he had blood and cuts on his face and the back of his head. Did he hit himself in the face with his fists or smash his own head against the concrete? Was Martin really up to no good? What was he actually doing in the neighborhood? Why would Zimmerman not run if he really did kill Martin in cold blood? Can I also point out that George Zimmerman may have a white name but he is Hispanic. His ethnicity is very clearly labeled as Hispanic. Why does everyone keep saying things about a white man killing a black man? That's just sloppy research. His mother was born in Peru and is fully Peruvian, his father is from Virginia. If race is such a huge deal, then why skip over this very important fact? It's irrelevant really, I just wanted to point out how the US social media machine accepts what they hear and just spits it right back out without researching at all. That's just dumb. In conclusion, don't say that this case is another example of racism in America, it isn't. This is our criminal justice system and if you want a different system, start talking about that, not about black vs. white. Our system works for what it was intended to do. Don't make this into more than it really is. Don't be dumb, do your own research, don't just regurgitate what you heard on some podcast or on the radio or read on some blog. Find out for yourself. Inform yourself and inform others. BTW. I just got back from a 7 day trip to Indonesia for one of my best friends weddings. Bekah is my oldest friend in the world and every minute of the trip was worth it, but it was tough.
It was hard to be in a place like Indonesia where poverty is so prevalent and terrible. American poverty is nothing compared to developing-country poverty. There is just no way to compare the two. It was hard to travel 32 hours straight to get there and the same home. It was hard to plan and execute a wedding in a different country, one where the majority of the people coordinating the wedding didn't speak Bahasa (Indonesian language). It was hard because the traffic is terrible in that country, and driving anywhere takes soooo long! It was hard because while we were there, Ramadan started, which meant that all the Muslims (about 80% of the population) were fasting while the sun was up, but were breaking fast before sunrise and after sunset. Traffic got even worse. SO those are some of the reasons why it was hard, but like I said, it was just plain worth it. Bekah means the world to me, besides my wife, she is my best friend and she will always be one of the people I would die for. No matter what the circumstances, I will fly halfway around the world to be there for Bekah when she needs me. I also got some great international and travel experience, it was really fun and there were a lot of super memorable moments during the trip! :) Wouldn't trade it for the world. I was talking to my bus driver on the way from Emeryville to San Francisco Airport and I told him where I was going and why I was going. He could not believe that my wife thought it was cool for me to travel to another country for the wedding of one of my childhood friends, who was a woman! He thought that it must have caused major fights or mistrust. I told him my wife was seriously that cool, and that we had also built our relationship on open and honest communication and trust. I have no problem with her meeting up with her guy friends and she doesn't have any issue with me being with my girl friends, We trust each other. I know that she loves me. I'm not worried, and she isn't either. That is all I wanted to say today. My wife and I have DJ'ed, planned, or taught dancing at about a dozen weddings now and we have had a fantastic time at every one! :) We love helping people enjoy the day by making it easier for them and full of dancing! What is it that makes a good DJ or a good wedding coordinator? Honestly, over the last two years, we have found that it is flexibility. Being able to handle anything that is thrown at us has been a constant struggle and (I would hope) our most valuable skill. We have worked hard to make the planning, music, and dancing as seamless and stress-free as possible for the bride and groom. Allowing them to just sit back and enjoy this day that is supposedly We have been asked for our business card multiple times at events, but we aren't professionals, we don't have business cards. We have started to gain experience and now we are thinking that we might want to ramp it up to the next level and get some business cards made. Maybe open up a section of this blog, dedicated to just our wedding, DJ, and line-dance work. We don't know, and we aren't sure that we have time for too much on-top of what we already do. We do love doing this kind of stuff and people seem to like our help, so it seems like a good fit. :) Maybe. This is hard. I just transitioned into being a boss about 3 weeks ago and it has been a totally new world for me. The summer has been particularly hard I think because work is very sporadic One week we will be slammed with work and I won't have a single second free and the next we will be relaxed all week with almost no requests coming in and a few projects that we knock out in a few hours, which leaves us time to do things like write in our blog. Life is like that sometimes, and we don't really care, but as a boss you have to care. You want your workers to feel like they are accomplishing something, to want to come to work because they feel like they change something, not just sit on their computers and play solitaire. I want to make the work experience something that is organized and fulfilling, but not too busy that it isn't also fun sometimes. That's really hard to do. I have a burning desire to be liked, but also to make sure that my student workers are being productive and not being viewed as slackers. It's a pretty interesting place to be, a place that I am growing into, and definitely something that I am glad I am getting to experience at this time and season in my life. My wife has been enormously helpful in my quest to become a better boss (she is a boss herself), and she has given me great ideas and suggestions over the last couple weeks! I just wanted to talk about that. That's all. Do you supervise anyone? What is it like for you? Do you run into any obstacles? Do you like it or hate it? I watched this movie last week and I have a few things to say about it. This isn't necessarily a review of the movie, it's more of the things it made me think and the feelings it invoked in me. I do have to say that overall I was split 50-50 on liking and not-liking the movie. It was slow-paced and not an action-packed thriller, but it was not meant to be. I did find it somewhat boring through some parts, but that was off-set by the good soundtrack and very interesting cinematography. IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS ABOUT THE MOVIE, STOP READING. The story is basically about two fathers and two sons. The first father turns to crime when he can't come up with enough money to give his baby boy the things he wants to buy for him. The second father is on the police force and lies about an interaction with a criminal, he is hailed as a hero, tries to crack down on corruption in his department, and eventually makes his way up to district attorney. They both are separated from their women, the first by death, the second by divorce. The first son grows up without knowing his father (who is dead), raised by his real mother and his step father. The second son grows up detached from his father, wanting to be like him, but not having opportunities to be with him or having anything in common with him. The interesting developments begin to form when the sons become friends at high school and they get in trouble together. The former-cop wants his son to distance himself from the now-dead-criminal's son, but of course he does the opposite because his dad is not present in his life. They do drugs together and throw a party. They both resent their parents, but for different reasons. The first boy wants to know who his father was, but his mother and father in law refuse to tell him anything. The second boy wants to be like his father and live a normal life, but his father's job in the spotlight keeps their lives public and different. The first boy meets with somebody who knew his father, gets some of his old possessions and finally begins to understand who his dad was. He steals some drugs for the first time after finding out that his dad stole money from banks before he was shot by the second father who was a cop at the time. He follows in his fathers footsteps by taking out his anger on the second boy (after he finds out that boy's father was the one who shot his own father) by attacking him in his house and kidnapping his father and taking him out to the forest. He almost shoots the second father in the woods with a gun he got from a drug dealer, but doesn't at the last second. He leaves town, leaves his mom a picture of him as a baby with her and his father, gets a motorcycle and drives west. The movie ends with him just driving off with no idea where he would go or what he would do, which is how his father started the movie, a travelling motorcycle circus stunt driver. The second boy ends the movie finally smiling and looking proud of his father as he speaks in front of a large crowd. Everything seems to end well for the second family, but I don't think it really does. Both families were hiding secrets that defined their lives, the first hid the father's true identity from the son, the second hid the fact that the father had killed a man without purpose and was hailed a hero. The deeper wound is most likely going to be the second families secret because there is never going to be an opportunity for that secret to come to the surface. The first family lost contact with their son, who took off to the west, but at least they don't have to cover up a dirty secret any longer and their family is all on the same page. Lies and secrets tear groups of people apart, no matter what we tell ourselves about "saving them from the ugly truth", we are just saving ourselves from having to tell them something we don't want to. The first boy, the one who's father was a criminal and died was a better kid, didn't seem to be heading down a negative path, until he met the second boy, who's father was a hero and a "good" guy. The second boy was a hardcore drug user, a partier, a manipulator of other people, and frankly, not the kind of boy your parents want you hanging out with. This is an example of nurture over nature, the first kid was raised by a good mother and step-father, the other second was raised by a distant father and divorced parents, yet the first kid was leading the better life. I didn't really like the movie overall, but it did get me to think about some interesting things, which I did like. And I liked the soundtrack a lot. Maybe you should check it out if you Packing up everything in your house, organizing it all, finding friends who will help you move it all, finding trucks to fit your furniture, eating pizza for all 3 meals of the day. These are all some of the joys of moving. It can be such a stressful time if we let it. It can also be fun and exciting. We get to move somewhere new, to do something we have never done before. It's just a new adventure, a new step on this crazy roller coaster of life. And it's only a terrible thing if we view it that way. Sure, sometimes it's just hot, things break, life gets in the way, or something goes wrong, but most of the time, moving can be fun if we let it be.
Tia and I have to move out of house in July and we are dreading it, but we are starting that packing process now so that we don't get caught with our pants down (as the saying goes) when the time rolls around for us to move and we haven't done anything. :) Do you like moving? Whats the best part? Worst part? |
Ben Weemes.Hi. My name is Ben Weemes, I love to dance and sing, I love Tia Weemes and my family, and I love games and books, I love Jesus and the San Antonio Spurs. Categories
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