bad publicity

at small group we're reading a book on christian identify. i was curious if any in our group publicly said they were christians. not that these are closet christians, or ashamed of their religions beliefs, but they don't, like, first thing, especially in secular environments, identify themselves as christians.

it's because of the crazies they said. they're nervous that outright declaring their religious beliefs would somehow brand them as being one of the religious crazies. they were also worried that non-christians would challenge their beliefs or ask theological questions they didn't know the answers too, which would probably make the non-christian very smug. and no one likes a smuggy buggy.

i think that's sad. the crazy religious make far too much noise. they also get far too much air time. this is, of course, because crazy is as crazy do and crazy makes for good media. but it's sad for the regular tho devout religious. they're shamed into hiding their identities because aggressive idiots will say inappropriate things to them. but the regular joe believer should try to make more noise than the crazy believer. that way idiot non-believers will be like, hey, not all religious people are nuts. i know that competing with crazies isn't usually a great idea, but believers need re-branding!

i'm not saying that believers should go back to shoving their religions down everyone's throats. i mean, i fucking hate it when i do something nice for someone and they say "god bless you." exactly, fucker, god blesses me, not you. just say thank you so i know you appreciate it. you're not in the position to be rewarding me with god's gold stars anyway! but maybe they should talk about their beliefs more openly. instead of "i can't make it saturday morning, sorry" they can say "i'm volunteering with my church on saturday so i can't make it, sorry." or instead of "i don't want to watch that movie" say "my church said this movie has a really bad message so i'd prefer to watch something else." and, as a bonus, i think both my alternatives are more likely to lead to discussion / questions about your beliefs. hopefully they won't lead to arguments tho!

at small group someone said that they hope to behave / live life in such a way that someone will eventually think "oh wow, bob is such a great guy. there's just something special about him." and ask bob what his secret sauce is. ...this is clearly unrealistic. and i don't like that it seems as tho your religious identity should be some sort of guessing game. you've dedicated your life to your beliefs. so do it loudly and proudly!

rock climbing

rip and i have been rock climbing a lot lately. maybe three times in two weeks? i love it! i love that you get dirty, that you get strong, that you get high (well, ish, since i don't like to belay, only boulder), and that you feel the muscle burn right away! i even love that they call it problems!

rip and i got a two month groupon, tho i think when it expires i'll probably take a break for db season. after the season i'll get back to climbing again. rip even got me a pair of shoes for my birthday! turns out that a major rock climbing shoe company is located right in beuna park and they sell factory seconds for cheap, over half off!

i wish there was a gym closer to us tho. the current place we're at may be the closest but i'm not that into them, and it's not even that close. blerg.

the slap

nbc has a new show that sounds really interesting, tho i've not watched it. after watching the trailer, what do you think? should he have slapped the kid? did he deserve it?

i'm going to answer in a really round about way, in the way that i usually do:

1. in general, i'm okay with corporal punishment. but to a point. i don't think slapping someone in face is acceptable. a swat on the bottom is generally cool. hitting someone in the face is really crossing the line. you're not just disciplining someone, you're insulting them too. that's how i see it, anyhow.

2. can you hit someone else's kid? this is a really though question. i really don't think you should. even if their parent is being negligent, i don't think you have the right to touch their kid like that. the commercial is interesting tho. this kid is being dangerous. he's swinging around a baseball bat! then he kicks the adult! but, if you'll notice, the adult holding the kid's arms down by his side. i mean, i would feel threatened if someone tried restraining me that way. i might kick them too. in a way, the man provoked the kick. adults are supposed to remain level headed and kids... well, they don't have to.

3. so, specifically, should he have slapped the kid? no. did he deserve it? no. the kid had something coming towards him, but it wasn't a slap across the face. he should've been swatted on the butt. and i think that in this case, it would've been okay for a non-parent to do it because the kid was behaving dangerously towards everyone in his vicinity.

steering tests

this year we finally put our steering tests online. we have two; practice and tournament. you need to pass the practice one to steer at practices, and both tests to steer at our BLB in july. both are set at 80%, which is pretty high. but most of these questions are repeats of what's been on the tests before, most answers are in our safety manual, and at the top of the test it says that people can email me to double check their answers before they submit them. if they fail the test, they're required to attend the safety class. fail the class and don't take the test? get de-certified. if you pass the practice, but fail the tournament test and don't take the class, you'll only be tourney de-certfied.

you can read more about why we're requiring the tests on our forum. of course there's been push back on the tests. some steers don't like taking them every couple years, especially since they passed it before.

anyway, i'm mostly writing about my feelings, not about why we're making people take the tests. i'm having a terrible time with these. god. i hold my breath every time the results load because the results load slower than the updated number of people who've taken the test. i actually yip for joy when people pass. when people fail i know i have to write an uncomfortable email. ugh. getting bad news sucks. delivering bad news is worse. i'm fucking embarrassed, tho i know i really shouldn't be, because it's your stupid fault you failed! but still. i feel terrible about it. have almost come to tears a few times since i know almost all these steers.

anyway, no real conclusion / point to this post. just that i've been having a hard time with it. hard looking people in the eye at the beach later too after you've sent that email. btw, i can't even bring myself to write FAIL. i write NOT PASS. most people have been pretty cool about it. they know they took a risk and understand that it didn't pay off. i've only had a couple complaining emails. and one person who failed BOTH tests, btw, wrote an angry email back about how he'd rather forfeit steering altogether than waste more of his time at a safety class. his email wasn't at all rude, but of course still rather angry (he did actually say "waste more time"). it was a bit hard since i've known this guy for 8 years now and have always gotten along with him, tho we did have a few difficult moments n china a couple years ago. most awkwardly was that he was literally the first person i saw at a party i went to just a couple days after i notified him of his failing. i was just going to wave and walk past but his daughter basically waved me over. lol. anyway. that's life tho. as the head of the program, and certainly the most visible person of the program by far, i get all the credit as well as all the blame.

check that out!

The Psychology Of Why Guys Really Check Out Other Women!

lies!! as a woman who remembers every man i've ever seen in a bikini AND whether or not either of us was on a beach, i cannot believe that men don't remember every bikini-clad woman they've seen!!

hahahah, but seriously. i get it. mentally it all makes sense. emotionally tho...