A Religious Post?

An article I read today really puzzled me. If you would like to read it, click here.

Now, I know that most Christians do not believe the same things these people do, but it is things like this that make me a little concerned about Christian beliefs. I used to go to a Catholic school, and I remember liking the idea of Christianity, you know the whole “love your neighbour” thing, and it did have some very good morals. Of course, I had some cynicism for a few bible stories like the one where Abraham is told by God to sacrifice his son (yes I know, the son doesn’t get killed… but still) and for biblical “plot holes” such as the dinosaurs, but I didn’t mind it.

Years later, the same school I used to go to did not allow students to go to a debate tournament where the topic was on abortion and whether it was right or not, which kind of alarmed me. I mean, yes, abortion isn’t part of a Catholic’s belief system, but what’s wrong with having a friendly debate over it? What’s wrong with trying to fight the other side?

Another thing that troubled me was the belief that homosexuality is a sin. It really didn’t, and still doesn’t make any sense to me. This brings me to the article in question.

The article is about this group of Christians in Michigan who are complaining about hate crime laws, which now extend to protect homosexuals, saying that they criminalize their religious beliefs and are trying to silence Christians for expressing this belief.

I’m pretty sure this is not what the law was intended for. If you read further, the law does not force Christians to change their beliefs. I mean, if you don’t like homosexuality, that’s your own preference. What the law is saying is that if you try to harm someone *because* of their homosexuality, then that’s a crime.

Although, I don’t know why homosexuality is considered a sin. I mean, it kind of implies that homosexuality is something that gay people have chosen to do of their own will. I’ve looked at the main reasons, and I don’t really see what they’re getting at. Now, before anyone attacks me, I’m not trying to change your beliefs. I’m just trying to express my own opinion on the matter.

1. It destroys the sanctity or holiness of marriage
- in terms of the “holiness” or “sanctity” of marriage, I’m not quite sure what the problem is. A lot of people have common-law marriages, or do not take part in the traditional church wedding with a priest. Is the “unholiness” of their weddings such a bad thing?

2. Homosexuality does not lead to children
- our world is growing more and more crowded and the rate it’s going, there aren’t going to be enough resources for the number of people on earth. Is not having children a bad thing? What if a infertile man/woman marries? That doesn’t lead to children either, so is being infertile a sin too? What about people who choose to remain single?

I’m sure there are other reasons as well, so feel free to leave a constructive comment if you feel like it.

Continuing on, I thought it was a Christian belief to love your neighbours, at least the last time I was in a Catholic school, that was the idea. It’s one thing if someone has murdered your family, but how has the simple act of being homosexual harmed anyone else? (Please note that I’m just talking about *being* gay) Last time I checked, homosexuals aren’t forcing anyone to become gay. Why not leave them alone? Why can’t we accept them as a part of our community, like we do with people with other differences? Why treat it like a strange disease?

Speaking of that last thought… there was actually a famous computer scientist by the name of Alan Turing, who was a World War II veteran who decrypted enemy transmissions, and made all sorts of contributions to computer science in areas such as artificial intelligence. It also turned out that he was homosexual.

So, the British government stripped him of his honours and fired him from the university he was working at and tried to treat his homosexuality, as if it were some terrible affliction. He eventually committed suicide at the young age of 42 by cyanide poisoning.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, why all the hate? Why does homosexuality have to be a sin? Why must we treat it like something taboo or malicious? When Jesus said to love your neighbour, did he mean “love all who believe in God, but not gay people/non-christians/whoever else”? I would like to believe that he meant that we should be able to love all human beings equally, regardless of who they are.

Hopefully I didn’t offend anyone with this message, it was certainly not my intention.

 

Those Silly Engineers

So I woke up a little late for class today, but either than that, it was a pretty normal day… until I reached DWE (Douglas Wright Engineering Building) for my electrical engineering course.

Hundreds of balloons occupied the intersection of two hallways and were on the floor outside of both the doors that led to the classroom. Figuring I was just imagining things due to fatigue, but not wanting to pop any of them if they were real, I shuffled past the balloons and entered the classroom as quietly as I could.

Later during the class, we heard loud noises coming from the hallway and the classroom door opened to reveal a group of electrical engineering students dressed in strange garb and chanting our instructor’s name. They wrote various things on our chalkboard, including the acronym “IRS” and proceeded to yell something about iron rings and how awesome our prof was. They then left, and proceeded to break all the balloons in the hallway.

While walking to my next class, I heard some chanting nanotechnology engineers, and saw cardboard cutouts of various celebrities (such as Captain Jack Sparrow and Austin Powers) adorned with pink ties in the software engineering office.

I later found out that IRS was supposed to stand for “Iron Ring Ceremony”, where graduating engineers are officially recognized as engineers. But wait a minute… doesn’t Ceremony start with C?

 

Hello Ubuntu!

So… out of curiosity/necessity, I have decided to get some Linux onto my computer in the form of Ubuntu. Currently, my computer is dual boot; so that means I can still start up Windows when I need it (i.e. for Photoshop, familiarity, and for right now, most of my applications XD), but I think I’ll mostly be using Ubuntu for now, and slowly transfer/re-install the apps I use on the Windows side and put them on the Ubuntu side. Hopefully this will be a relatively (?) smooth transition… sort of… I don’t know. Hopefully this goes well ^_^

 

Holy crap on a cracker.

My new favourite line, uttered by Penny from the Big Bang Theory… can’t remember which episode though. Anyway. I was going to continue talking about Rent, but that will take a lot of time that I don’t quite have at the moment… but I just wanted to let you guys all know…

I just got my first job interview.

I know, I’m surprised too. The company is called Magor Communications Corporation which is based in Ottawa, and I’m supposed to be testing and analyzing audio processing software or something, since they specialize in teleconferencing technology for businesses. So, I’m a bit nervous for this interview… mostly because I only have a week to prepare, and I’ve never had a job interview before in my entire life… (sad, isn’t it?) the only interviews I’ve done were three board interviews for cadets, and I was scared shitless the first time I did one (needless to say, I didn’t get glider that year).

I’m reaaaally hope I don’t screw up during this interview, because the job sounded really cool. There are five other people who are also going to be interviewed (from the looks of it, they seem like members of the male persuasion, it’s hard to tell with ethnic names though), and we’re all competing for ONE position.

One good thing about going to Ottawa is that apparently, FRC’s band trip goes to Ottawa in May, which is when I’ll be working there (May-August) if I get the job… so that should be interesting.

Wish me luck!

 

No Day but Today

So. I can officially die very very happy today. As some of you are aware of, I went to go see Rent live in Toronto yesterday, and it was so amazing. I was seriously glued to the edge of my seat just staring at its awesomeness, if you want a cliched description. It was just … oh my god.

So I had to wake up early in order to start the trek to Toronto; the Go bus left at 8:50 am for Toronto, and if I had gone any later, I would have been late for the show, which started at 2 pm. So anyway, I trekked down the Student Life Center to get a round-trip pass to the Union Station in Toronto and was transported to the Square One “terminal” in Missisauga (which was just a bunch of bus stops by the Square One Mall, Arcadium and Chapters) and caught the bus to Union Station in downtown Toronto. After that, I walked up Yonge Street towards the Canon Theatre, where RENT was playing.

Of course, I was two hours early when I finally saw the Canon Theatre, and decided that a bit of lunch was needed and discovered that I was right across from the Eaton’s center. So after a lunch of noodle soup with soggy bokchoy and seafood; I went to HMV to buy the Original Broadway Cast CD of RENT (Because I knew they were going to be superbly overpriced at the theatre: $17 vs. $25) and picked up my tickets at the box office.

Anyway. The show. I had only seen RENT the movie and the broadway film, so it was very exciting to finally see it live. It started out with Mark and Roger on stage with the rest of the cast more in the background as they explained the setting of RENT. And of course, all of us went crazy when the show started.

Of course, my mind was completely blown away when the started singing the title song. I mean, it’s one thing to listen to a recording or watch the films, but it’s entirely different when it’s live. It was phenomonal, and it was only the beginning of the pure win that was to follow.

Anthony and Adam really make a great team when they sing together, it was incredible. Anthony’s voice was incredible, it was kind of like how it sounded in the movie, but with the added awesomeness that he has that voice even when he performs live, while Adam’s voice was a lot more rock and roll, which was also really cool, since his character Roger, after all, is a former rock band member. They definitely did not disappoint, and I was so stoked to see them perform together on their last tour.

Lexi Lawson, the actor who played Mimi, had the most beautiful voice. It was different than the version I had watched and listened to by Daphne Ruben-Vega, Rosario Dawson (in the film) and Renee Elise Goldsberry, but I really liked her rendition of Mimi; especially in the character’s more solemn songs, such as “I should tell you” and “Without You”. Sometimes I thought that she didn’t quite have Mimi’s spunk during “Out Tonight” (I dunno, it sounded like she was out of breath or something, but then again, there was some pretty intense stuff happening during that scene), but it was very well done nonetheless.

Angel, who was played by Justin Johnson (the Angel from the musical film version) , was off the charts. He was absolutely amazing. “Today 4U” was full of energy; “I’ll cover you” with Collins (played by Michael McElroy) was so touching and his final scene was so … oh gosh there isn’t any single word to describe it. There was this huge climatic moment where his voice gets higher and higher in pitch and it just blew me away… almost more than any other part of the musical.

Gosh… there’s so much to say… I can’t do this all today, I’ll have to discuss the rest later. O_O I’m still in that OMG I JUST SAW RENT LIVE AND IT WAS AMAZING!!! mode. I should go have lunch.

 

Job Hunting~

Hi guys~

As a co-op student, I’m in the middle of looking for a job… and as a Computer Science major, there’s actually a lot of listings on our online system called Jobmine… unfortunately, there are also a lot of people applying for these jobs. Will go into more detail later. ^_^

 

‘Cause Everything… is Rent…

So I have a bit of a conundrum. As some of you might have heard already, RENT is currently in Toronto, starring original Broadway cast members such as Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal, who reprise their roles as Mark and Roger, as well as people from the final cast on Broadway with a few members mixed in. And as you know, I really really want to go see them.

However, unlike Avenue Q, Rent is in Toronto, meaning I’d need to take a bus out to Toronto, and then possibly use TTC (Toronto’s bus/streetcar/subway system) just to get there. This also means it’s a lot more dangerous to go at night, so I would definitely have to go to an afternoon showing. Once again, I have no one to go with; this time I do know some fans of the show, but they’re not as keen on paying $50+ on ordering tickets or taking the chance on rush tickets, plus transportation. Also, I have a Stats midterm on Tuesday; so far we’ve only learned basic permutations and combinations.

Surprisingly, there are still relatively good seats left for the Saturday and Sunday afternoon (2 or 1 pm) shows, so I can hold off on buying them still for now.

So… what should I do? Should I go? Should I stay in Waterloo? Should I set a bunch of conditions to determine whether I should go or not? Tell me what you think.

 

Physics Rant

What can I say about my physics class? It’s a bit of a pain in the ass. Now don’t get me wrong, I still like physics. I just don’t really like the way it’s being taught.

The main reason for my dislike of the teaching method is the fact that he teaches stuff we could figure out by ourselves in the class, but anything needed to finish our assignment, which is a lot harder, he expects to read ourselves and figure it out. At least if he went over the harder concepts in class, this would make a lot more sense.

Instead, we learned about basic oscillations in class, and Hooke’s law, and all the simple definitions of what they are, along with simple examples that we probably could have done using high school physics and maybe some elementary calculus. We are then left to figure out how to deal wit Damped harmonic oscillators, calculuting resonance frequencies, and all sorts of other things he never bothered to tell us, and instead skipping right to the next unit on waves.

Just wonderful. Thank you very much. I plan on voicing these opinions as well to my instructor in person, so you don’t have to remind me that any one can see this blog and ask me “what if your instructor sees this?”. I will once again attempt to try and understand what the heck is going on in my assignment today, and see the prof tomorrow.

Also, you might have noticed that I changed the title and tagline of my blog. It was kind of on a whim. I meant for it to kind of follow the Journey Song … you know… “She took the midnight train… going everywhere”… no special meaning in it. It’s kind of random.

 

Best of 2009

So… I decided I would recall some events that happened in 2009 in the most girly way possible: saying an event, and ending it with a period, despite it not being a complete sentence. I normally don’t like doing this, but I’m waaaay too lazy to provide descriptions. If applicable, and if I’m not completely lazy, I’ll link to related posts. Here it goes! *cringe*

Band trips. Playing Carmina Burana with the WSO. Graduating from high school. Poking Jason awake in English class, or rather, almost anything having to do with Ms. Brogan’s English class. Watching Kate and Jon drama (not the TV show). Getting 2nd highest average in the school despite Ms. Oresnik hating me and giving me a low grade in her class. Kelsey’s sleepover party after grad. Hugging Nicole, whether she likes it or not (she doesn’t). Going sledding with Allison. Escaping glares of hatred that accompanied high school. Physics tea time… heck, anything related to physics. Lounging in the band room. Sarah’s story about Kevin, the little deviant of the band room. Getting my pilot’s license. Questioning the masculinity of several guys (they know who they are). Hearing Miles being epic on trumpet. Double reed buddies! Watching Avenue Q (although it was kinda lonely watching it by myself). Math Orientation Week (We shoot pi, we soar through the sky, we wear pink ties, we’re so fly… go Team Buzz! To infinity, and beyond!). Meeting new people in Waterloo. Seeing my family during winter break. Plotting with Kelsey. Sitting beside Lisa in Jazz band. Watching Sarah obsess over Christian Bale and Vic Minogna. Watching Inari and Ayame drawing cool stuff in English. Computer Science class with Mr. Rowan and arguing with Landen (okay, maybe I didn’t enjoy that second part).  Watching the Nutcracker with Lisa and Kelsey. Attempting to be a drum major and failing miserably. Teaching level fours at cadets (wait, I thought this is a list of the good things in 2009). Lisa (or was it Kelsey’s) book about the personalities of elements. Not failing second-year chemistry, which I vow never to take ever again. Talking manga/anime with friends. Forcing Kelsey to watch Mary Poppins against her will. Orchestra Saturdays. Cadet outings after parade nights. Ground school. Spending New Years eve with most of my best friends.

Thanks for making 2009 an awesome-ish year ^_^ .

 

Winter 2010~

So… it’s the start of winter 2010… woo hoo. Back to the books ^_^;; My classes have been okay so far, but then again it’s the beginning of the term. Hopefully they won’t pose too much of a challenge.

It seems my stats class does not have an “mandatory” assignments, but you can hand in assignments for bonus marks. So I guess that will lighten the load slightly. Of course, I’ll probably end up doing them anyway; I think I like the idea of bonus marks.

I already have homework in physics; a problem set due next week and a reading assignment due for tomorrow, using clickers to check if we actually read the stuff.

In astrophysics, we learned basic triangulation techniques (which is really just an application of high school mathematics) in order to determine the earth-sun and earth-moon distances, as well as the earth’s diameter. No assignments yet.

In algebra, we learned how to do vector arithmetic. Yawn. I imagine it’ll probably get harder later. In CS, we didn’t really do much at all, it was mostly just “welcome to the course! we’ll try and relate real world stuff to university courses now!” .

That’s all for today; I should go complete the rest of my reading assignment now…