Rain rain, stay to play

It's been raining all day and I love it. Even better than listening to the rain against my window, I got to listen to it hitting the car and then listen to it while I walked the dog. (Okay, that last part wasn't as fun as the dog and I both didn't fit under the umbrella so I got a bit soaked) The sound of rain is delightful. On the days I don't get to hear it in real life, one of my favorite websites provides the perfect background noise.

Rainy Mood gives you a loop of rain/storm sounds and it's incredibly soothing. I listen to music when I write but there are times when I need something soothing and this is the website I use the most.

ROM1218

I drove behind a vehicle with that license plate today and came home to look up the verse.

If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Romans 12:18

Lovely verse and sentiment, but I wonder why the driver put it there. Is it a reminder to him about the way that he should live his life? Is it a plea for others in the world around him to live at peace? Or maybe it's a check...a way to keep him honest. If I was driving with a bible verse as my license plate would I be more aware of how I acted towards others? Would it be easier for me to forgive the person who cut me off or was tailgating me if I knew that verse was out there for all to see?

Solitary

Some of my favorite experiences as a geek have come from sharing my love of something with others. As a teenager I wrote notes back and forth to one of my mothers coworkers about our love of X Files. I remember sitting in my first panel at a convention listening to other people chatter about Stargate. Sitting at loads of midnight premieres, excitedly waiting for a movie to start in a theater filled with fellow fans. I love being able to share my passions with other people.

Unfortunately, my social geekiness has decreased lately. I haven't been to a con in years. My real life fannish friends and I have drifted apart. Even those people in my life that allowed me to cajole them into watching sci-fi shows have stopped being so agreeable. (with the exception of the Marvel movies...everybody loves superheroes!) Maybe it's a sign of getting older; everybody seems to be moving away from the love of comic books and robots and aliens. I mean, I still love all these things but as my 20's dwindled away it became harder to find geeky peers.

Of course I still have the internet. Which is a lonely geeks best friend. I can always scroll Tumblr to find tons of people who are interested in my fandoms or hit up Reddit to discuss an episode. I've mined Youtube to watch vids (nerdfighters!) and get sucked into new interests. There are thousands of places to go on the internet to find content, conversation, pics, vids, rp, reviews, spoilers and more. I love the internet and, as a geek, I do find fellowship there. Sometimes I just wish I had more of that in real life.

In the past week I finally got caught up with Doctor Who and watched the Christmas special. That's right, I hadn't even watched the Christmas special yet! Doctor Who makes me so happy but it just made me sad that I didn't have anyone to watch and geek out with in real life. I had convinced someone to watch one or two of the of first 11th Doctor episodes, but beyond that I had been watching it by myself. And while I did have people on the internet to chat with, I really enjoy shows/movies more when I watch them with someone else. Eventually I just gave up and watched these episodes of Doctor Who by myself. They were good and I liked them and I immediately went to Reddit and Tumblr to interact with fans and discuss and talk about things, but there was a part of me that still feels sad that I had to watch it alone.

Upside down plane

Apparently even airline acrobatics can't make a movie any good. Flight was a terrible, terrible movie. I didn't like anyone in the movie. Not a single person. I'm so glad I had a free Redbox coupon and didn't actually have to pay to rent this thing.

edit: Just watched Premium Rush and it was so much better. Saturday movie night redeemed! Yay!

Poetry and Prayers

My friend loaned me a book the other day that I've enjoyed reading this week. While The Valley of Vision: A collection of Puritan prayers and devotions isn't a book of poetry, its beautifully lyrical prayers remind me of poems and have been a joy to read.

One of my favorites today is Love Lustres at Calvary
My Father,
Enlarge my heart, warm my affection, open my lips,
     supply words that proclaim 'Love lustres at Calvary.'
There grace removes my burdens and heaps them on thy Son,
     made a transgressor, a curse, and sin for me;
There the sword of thy justice smote the man, thy fellow;
There thy infinite attributes were magnified,
     and infinite atonement was made;
There infinite punishment was due,
     and infinite punishment was endured.
Christ was all anguish that I might be all joy,
          cast off that I might be brought in,
          trodden down as an enemy
               that I might be welcomed as a friend,
          surrendered to hell's worst
               that I might attain heaven's best,
          stripped that I might be clothes,
          wounded that I might be healed,
          athirst that I might drink,
          tormented that I might be comforted,
          made a shame that I might inherit glory,
          entered darkness that I might have eternal light
My Saviour wept that all tears might be wiped from my eyes,
          groaned that I might have endless song,
          endured all pain that I might have unfading health,
          bore a thorned crown that I might have a glory-diadem,
          bowed his head that I might uplift mine,
          experienced reproach that I might receive welcome,
          closed his eyes in death that I might gaze on unclouded brightness,
          expired that I might for ever live.
O Father, who spared not thine only Son that thou mightest spare me,
All this transfer thy love designed and accomplished;
Help me to adore thee by lips and life,
Oh that my every breath might be ecstatic praise,
     my every step buoyant with delight, as I see
          my enemies crushed,
          Satan baffled, defeated, destroyed,
          sin buried in the ocean of reconciling blood,
          hell's gates closed, heaven's portal open.
Go forth, O conquering God, and show me the cross,
     might to subdue, comfort and save.

Curiosity, trains and blogging

I was going through my bookmarks the other day and stumbled upon my blog. The fact that I ‘stumbled upon’ it should tell you just how often I’ve updated this recently. Oddly enough, it’s not because I haven’t been writing. I’ve actually been writing like crazy. I should really do a post on Zenwriter and how it’s changed the way I write creatively. (And I promise I will do one as soon as I manage to talk about the software without sounding like Billy Mays)

As much as I’ve been writing, I miss updating my life through this blog. Even more, I miss the ability to look back in this blog and see what I was thinking, feeling, and experiencing at different times. So I’m going to start trying to update more, starting with whatever I’m thinking about currently.

Since last Monday I’ve spent a large portion of my time online following the coverage of the Boston Marathon bombing. I am a person who is naturally curious and I thrive on information. Even when something disturbs or scares me, I still want to know more. It’s that characteristic that keeps me watching horror movies till the end or searching google images for pictures of bugs despite my phobic-esque fear. There are times when I’m proud of this desire to soak up knowledge, and there are times when it’s not healthy. I have to admit that over the past 10 days I’ve followed my curiosity to some pretty sketchy parts of the web. Early this morning when I was watching an online documentary about airplanes that secretly release chemicals over major population centers I realized that my search for knowledge had possibly outlived its usefulness in this case. It’s hard to tell sometimes when you’ve crossed that line, and thankfully there was a spookily voiced youtube video to provide the stop sign for me.

The picture above is from Unstoppable, a 2010 movie starring Denzel Washington, Chris Pine and Rosario Dawson. I watched it again today and it was just as suspenseful as the first viewing. I’m not joking here, I literally chewed the collar of my t-shirt during a really tense scene. I love this movie (and no, not just because it has Captain Kirk) because it holds up for repeat viewings. My favorite movies are ones that I can watch over and over again. Sometimes it’s ones that I watch with friends and family like The Princess Bride or Lord of the Rings, sometimes it’s ones that I enjoy watching for emotional reasons like Narnia, Stargate or Life is Beautiful. But my all time favorites are usually action flicks that don’t lose any of their excitement on repeat viewings. Unstoppable is like that for me, no matter how many times I’ve seen it (and I believe the first time I watched it, I rewatched again in less than 24 hours) I’m always emotionally invested. I know the outcome but the movie is so well done that it doesn’t matter. Don’t you just love movies that can not only sweep you away once, but over and over again?