in medias res

Whilst reading about this disappointing sequal (which shall never taint my Sandlot Experience as I will never be watching it), and the user reviews seem to be chock full of very angry customers. My favorite quote:

It just leaves you with a lot of anger inside as the credits roll down.
-Joanna Smith

or this…

Pretend this movie was never made and go watch the original (you’ll be happy you do).
-Sweep The Leg

But this confuses me:

this is the best thing i’ve ever seen! But it still isn’t as good a Sandlot 1.

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Nothing brings a family close like a crisis. After I got back from a week-long mission trip to Meridian, MS, I went with Mom and my sister to see Mamaw in the hospital. Mom tried to prepare both of us about how to present ourselves when we saw her. They’d almost lost her this last Monday night, and by tonight she was doing so much better, though still on a ventilator, so she couldn’t speak. But when we walked in, Maleah’s blue eyes teared up and I had to step in between her and Mamaw.

Here’s the kicker: my cousin Adam is a Marine, stationed in Afghanistan for the last little bit. He was able to make his way home on leave for a medical emergency, but Mamaw didn’t know he would be there. I told her that we was here right before he walked into the room, and she opened her eyes with more activity than the rest of the family has seen in the last week. When Adam walked over to her bedside and spoke to her–told her he loved her–she raised both her arms and actually began to sit up. Adam looked around, his tough face quivering a little, and said, “I can’t hug her… I don’t want to mess anything up.” Mamaw collapsed back onto the bed, and I nearly had to leave the room. I’d kept my composure until then, but seeing her in pain without being able to speak or hardly move gets me deep down.

It’s not death that bothers me. I’m fully aware that I and all those I love will die someday–my grandmothers most likely sooner than the rest. As a Christian I do not mourn like those without hope. Instead, I am sure that anyone of my Christian brothers or sisters dies, he or she is finally becoming the creature that God originally intended him or her to be. I’ve thought more on this, but I have this bad habit of posting serious thoughts at late hours, and after being on a hot roof in the Deep South this week, I’m pooped. Tootles.

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I just got back from the Seinfeld show. My life is complete. I suppose that really means I could just drop dead any minute.

The show was hilarious, of course. He even gave us a little treat at the end of the Q&A Encore by doing the only thing I’d specifically wanted to see all night: a ‘Hello, Newman’.

He mentioned the Iraq War and various other current events stuff, which would have been very out of character for Seinfeld during his previous stand-up, but he managed to do it without getting political–a rarity in the comedy world. He touched on the Abu Graib scandal:

I mean, even if you think you’re going to get away with it, what are you going to do with those pictures? Put ‘em right there next to the ski trip? ‘Sorry, could you take another? I don’t think it flashed…’ I think it’s just all that sand with no beach driving everyone in the middle east crazy over there.

I’d write more, but I’m both speechless (proseless?) and due to rise in 4 hours and 5 minutes for the next youth trip. Such is the life of an intern.

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Dick, “Stop telling inappropriate jokes” really should be on your list of things to do.

The question is, how does the ADL get all hot and bothered about “The Passion” but this leaves them unscathed?

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One more before I walk away. I have been thinking of something so simple, that it could possibly take pages to really lay it all out. Here’s the thought, most likely siphoned from some great thinker rather than from my own ideas: It should not be so difficult to love others as I love myself.

The reason? Because in my attempt to love others, I have something with which to compare that is a beautiful analogy. Despite my shortcoming, my disgust with myself, the knowledge of my own intentional deceits, I still love myself. I may not like myself, I may really feel that I am a rather unsavory person, and yet I still hope for the best for myself.

And as I’ve been sitting here, I’ve thought of who that great thinker might be. I believe it was C.S. Lewis, whom I referenced just one post ago.

Now that I come to think of it, I have not exactly got a feeling of fondness or affection for myself, and I do not even always enjoy my own society. So apparently “Love your neighbor” does not mean “feel fond of him” or “find him attractive.” I ought to have seen that before, because of course, you cannot feel fond of a person by trying. Do I think well of myself, think myself a nice chap? Well, I am afraid I sometimes do (and those are, no doubt, my worst moments) but that is not why I love myself. In fact it is the other way round: my self-love makes me think myself nice, but thinking myself nice is not why I love myself. So loving my enemies does not apparently mean thinking them nice either. That is an enormous relief. For a good many people imagine that forgiving your enemies means making out that they are really not such bad fellows after all, when it is quite plain that they are. Go a step further. In my most clear-sighted moments not only do I not think myself a nice man, but I know that I am a very nasty one. I can at look some of the things I have done with loathing and horror. So apparently I am allowed to loathe and hate some of the things my enemies do.

Mere Christianity, Bk. III, ch. 7

Ah. Well then, I need not say more. It seems that a much more gifted writer and thinker really has laid it out ahead of me.

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Now, after having ripped on MySpace, I find a statement on pain from a friend:

But think about it, what if we were always happy? Would we know it? Don’t the times of pain bring out the best in the times of happiness? And don’t the times of pain ultimately bring us back to the ONLY reason the world revolves?

Maybe it’s simplistic, maybe she’s been reading too much C.S. Lewis. It’s probably both. But it’s the truth. In our infinite wisdom, we pray for the good in our lives all the while expecting to never encounter the natural opposite. What a small and foolish person I am, never understanding the true ramifications of anything for which I ask, yet curling my lip when ultimate wisdom is carried out. Perhaps trust is my biggest issue.

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Just a little thought: Nothing infuriates me more on the Internet than people embedding music videos into their MySpace pages. I guess that’s what happens when you allow anyone to make a web page without any requisite for color schemes, aesthetic formatting, or a solid respect for what may already be playing on someone’s computer. If I’m listening to Seinfeld tell jokes, I don’t want him suddenly backed up by a live rendition of Peaceful Easy Feelin’.

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I’m glad to hear this from NASA. It’ll be good to have something positive for everyone to focus on, just like during the 60’s, rather than having to hear a whole lotta bitching about Iraq or immigration from people who can’t even take care of themselves.

I’m excited about the possibility of expanded space travel in the future… or maybe I’ve been watching too much Star Wars lately.

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I applaud Glenn for his resolve in this time of loss. .. I only wish my family had the same common sense. Sure, Kev’s deathly allergic to the cats, but we loooooooooove them!

And when’s the last time you petted them…? Ah yes… lies.

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