I usually forget my dreams shortly after I wake up, if I remember them at all, but there's one from a few weeks ago now that's managed staying power.
It's not uncommon for me to dream about being back in school or some twisted version of a school I once attended. I've had dreams where I was in college but taking classes at Evans High School and at the end of the semester I realize that I never really dropped that class like I thought I did, so I'm gonna get an "F" and not graduate(or something strange like that). This most recent dream is more about the content than the setting, however.
I was in the room at EHS where I had the second semester of Spanish 2, but it wasn't Spanish class. I think it was a math class. Anyhow, on this day the class was getting a test passed back. I remember looking at my paper and being a little miffed that I'd only gotten an 88, since I always got an "A" in my high school math classes. I also remember that there were 24 questions on the test and I had only missed three. That's all I remember about the dream.
For whatever reason, I thought about it later the next day while sitting with my laptop so I decided to see what 21/24 questions correct worked out to be. Well, it's 87.5%, which rounds up to 88! I'm not sure why I think this is so cool, but it freaking is!
Now, if only I could tap into this subconscious math instinct and take it to Las Vegas or something.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Monday, January 4, 2010
There Really IS a First Time for Everything
It's cold outside! How do I know this (besides the fact that I have cold air seeping through the cracks around my back door)? Well, earlier tonight I spent about 15 minutes standing on my porch with a couple of "elders" who represented The Church of Jesus Christ of Later-Day Saints. That's a mouthful. Being the first house on the right as you come on my street, I've heard my fair share of door-to-door sales pitches, but I've never had religious sales before tonight.
I'm not very confrontational by nature, nor am I overly rude, and I was a little curious so I let them go with their spiel. They're lucky my DVR was getting Heroes for me, though. Here's the Cliff's Notes version of what they had to say:
-Jesus appeared to Joseph Smith ("the prophet", nonetheless) many years after his death and, through him, reestablished God's church on earth.
-Both guys were holding The Book of Mormon and asked if I'd heard of it and read from it. I said that I'd heard of it but didn't own one and hadn't read it. I assured them that I try to read some scripture from The Bible everyday, though, which they gave no response to.
-Baptism in The Church of Jesus Christ of Later-Day Saints is the only way to fully restore holiness to oneself and be cleansed of past sins.
-There was something else about the Great Apostasy, which I didn't quite get and don't remember since I was thinking of a polite way to ask why my baptism from a few years ago in my church by my pastor wasn't good enough.
-They asked me if I would commit to a true cleansing of my soul at their January baptism service on the 24th, and that's when I broke the news that I didn't need it. They were nice about it and said they didn't want to argue or disrespect me, but they felt that wasn't real, basically.
-They invited me to worship with them on Sunday at 1pm out in Harlem and asked if I would commit to come. I said I couldn't commit to that right now.
At some point I asked for a Web site or some source material where I could research and learn more. One guy presented a card with www.mormon.org at the bottom of one side where I could also order a free DVD about finding faith in Christ. They said that they'd be the ones to deliver the DVD if I called the number and ordered it. I already have faith in Christ, so I don't plan to.
As they wrapped up the obviously canned presentation, complete with excellent eye contact, they asked if we could pray together. Always being a fan or prayer, I took them up on it. The main guy asked if there was anything specific I'd like prayer for, so I mentioned my employment issue and we prayed. Fairly straight forward, "Gracious heavenly father..." type prayer. Had I not just heard a quarter hour about The Prophet Joseph Smith, I'd have thought they were just straight up Christians by the prayer. I'm not sure why I was surprised, I just don't have a good frame of reference when it comes to Mormon prayer, I guess.
Aside: I'd Give Anything just came on my iTunes. What a great song!
They thanked me for the time and said they hoped to see me soon. I wished them a good evening and advised them to keep warm. They tried to hit me up for others that I knew of who might need a visit and I had to shrug and say I didn't really have anyone for them. One of the first rules of salesmanship, don't ask the clearly skeptical guy you've just pitched to recommend others for you to hit up.
I'm not religious scholar, didn't stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, and I don't really even know most theological differences between the major factions within Christianity, but I'm pretty confident that a religion that values a book so much that the sales force carries it around instead of The Bible isn't the way to go.
Aside: One of my fondest memories is of a Sunday morning back in the fall of 1999 when I went to pick up my girlfriend (at the time)for church. Walking out of the back door, her mom says, "Elizabeth, where's your bible? Doug's a baptist and all good baptists carry their bible to church." "Doug's not a baptist," she replied, "he just loves God." Word.
While I've never read from The Book of Mormon, I flipped through one at a hotel in Montgomery, AL on the way back from my friend Jason's wedding in Baton Rouge, LA a few years ago. My only memory of it was that the first page had a painting of the aforementioned Prophet Joseph Smith. Jesus was relegated to the second page. Yeah, good luck with that.
I'm not very confrontational by nature, nor am I overly rude, and I was a little curious so I let them go with their spiel. They're lucky my DVR was getting Heroes for me, though. Here's the Cliff's Notes version of what they had to say:
-Jesus appeared to Joseph Smith ("the prophet", nonetheless) many years after his death and, through him, reestablished God's church on earth.
-Both guys were holding The Book of Mormon and asked if I'd heard of it and read from it. I said that I'd heard of it but didn't own one and hadn't read it. I assured them that I try to read some scripture from The Bible everyday, though, which they gave no response to.
-Baptism in The Church of Jesus Christ of Later-Day Saints is the only way to fully restore holiness to oneself and be cleansed of past sins.
-There was something else about the Great Apostasy, which I didn't quite get and don't remember since I was thinking of a polite way to ask why my baptism from a few years ago in my church by my pastor wasn't good enough.
-They asked me if I would commit to a true cleansing of my soul at their January baptism service on the 24th, and that's when I broke the news that I didn't need it. They were nice about it and said they didn't want to argue or disrespect me, but they felt that wasn't real, basically.
-They invited me to worship with them on Sunday at 1pm out in Harlem and asked if I would commit to come. I said I couldn't commit to that right now.
At some point I asked for a Web site or some source material where I could research and learn more. One guy presented a card with www.mormon.org at the bottom of one side where I could also order a free DVD about finding faith in Christ. They said that they'd be the ones to deliver the DVD if I called the number and ordered it. I already have faith in Christ, so I don't plan to.
As they wrapped up the obviously canned presentation, complete with excellent eye contact, they asked if we could pray together. Always being a fan or prayer, I took them up on it. The main guy asked if there was anything specific I'd like prayer for, so I mentioned my employment issue and we prayed. Fairly straight forward, "Gracious heavenly father..." type prayer. Had I not just heard a quarter hour about The Prophet Joseph Smith, I'd have thought they were just straight up Christians by the prayer. I'm not sure why I was surprised, I just don't have a good frame of reference when it comes to Mormon prayer, I guess.
Aside: I'd Give Anything just came on my iTunes. What a great song!
They thanked me for the time and said they hoped to see me soon. I wished them a good evening and advised them to keep warm. They tried to hit me up for others that I knew of who might need a visit and I had to shrug and say I didn't really have anyone for them. One of the first rules of salesmanship, don't ask the clearly skeptical guy you've just pitched to recommend others for you to hit up.
I'm not religious scholar, didn't stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, and I don't really even know most theological differences between the major factions within Christianity, but I'm pretty confident that a religion that values a book so much that the sales force carries it around instead of The Bible isn't the way to go.
Aside: One of my fondest memories is of a Sunday morning back in the fall of 1999 when I went to pick up my girlfriend (at the time)for church. Walking out of the back door, her mom says, "Elizabeth, where's your bible? Doug's a baptist and all good baptists carry their bible to church." "Doug's not a baptist," she replied, "he just loves God." Word.
While I've never read from The Book of Mormon, I flipped through one at a hotel in Montgomery, AL on the way back from my friend Jason's wedding in Baton Rouge, LA a few years ago. My only memory of it was that the first page had a painting of the aforementioned Prophet Joseph Smith. Jesus was relegated to the second page. Yeah, good luck with that.
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