bad points are okay too

I forgot something for the weblog entry: Maddox, which I've browsed through a bit after Shepin posted about it. (Thanks.) I imagine that most of you have heard of it, and if you haven't, you'd probably be scandalized, which is kind of a pity, because he really is rather clever. I particularly enjoyed the following, from one of his hatemail pages: "You do make a good point however, when you talk about... oh wait, my bad, I started reading my response to you; you have no good points." (In his moral defense, some thank-you letters from people who couldn't take suicide seriously after reading his list of satirical reasons to off yourself. And he recommends Firefox.) Here's my favorite, though, from Shallow, selfish, petty women: Is there another kind?:

"Of the thousands of people you've met throughout school, chances are that you've only managed to become good friends with 1 or 2 of them. The problem that guys have is that they don't realize that as many dumb* guys as there were in their classes when they grew up, there are just as many dumb* girls. The only difference is that girls are not physically repulsive like men. If only 2 of the thousands of people you've come into contact with have been good enough to become your close friends, then what are the odds that you're going to find someone out of the remaining thousands that's good enough to spend your life with?"

Wonderful perspective for when you feel like a failure for not having found someone. (He neglects the extent to which physical attraction can compensate for incompatibility, I think, though I assume it was for the humour, rather than in actual oversight.)

Thanks to those who commented. (Pleasure talking to you again, Caitlin.) I'm tricking myself into liking Songs for Silverman by shuffling it in a playlist with Rockin' the Suburbs and "Army." (It is legitimately growing on me, though; in particular, the "like she's hiding from me" section in "Trusted" is positively chilling.)

Mmmkay, catching up. It's been Week of the Karla, essentially; we ordered pizza into Vermillion Skies and played a terrible game of Upwords Thursday, went to Ottavio's and read the first bit of Pygmalion Friday, and went to the Creamery and watched The Importance of Being Earnest Saturday. Such fantastic company.

I read a bit of Lewis' Mere Christianity on Sunday. I'm really glad I tore myself away from Age of Empires; it wasn't as inspiring as Screwtape Letters, but very thought-provoking. Expect a philosophical entry tomorrow. Darin sang very well in Sacrament meeting. Nice subtle vibrato. I didn't comment in Sunday School or Elders' Quorum; I wanted to cut myself off before becoming the token Screwtape Letters advocate. Also, I was feeling kind of contrary in the latter, wanting to point out the omitted "many" in someone's "the last shall be first, and the first shall be last" and note that, while less was expected of the servant with only two talents, his reward was also less. (Double-checking the talent part, I see that I've conflated Matt. 25 and Luke 19. Glad I held my peace.) Home teaching went well; Allison's still hot.

Whoa, Amazon.com recommendations are *so* cool. Okay, okay, I'll buy Shadow of the Giant soon. And those Ben Folds CDs.

For FHE, we combined with another ward up in Provo Canyon. Did a fun get-to-know you game in which they divided us up into sixteen groups via four binary questions, gave us a few minutes to talk, and then split us up differently again. After that, we just sat around eating chips and grapes, which was incredibly awkward, because your options are 1) go make small talk with new people, 2) talk to old friends and miss the whole point of the activity, 3) sit by yourself and get fellowshipped, or 4) wander into the woods and be a terrible anti-social person. I decided to go with 5) walk laps between the two fires, appearing to be heading towards socializing without ever having to actually talk to anyone. Apparently, though, I got mad blessings for enduring it: not only did one of the guys in my FHE group ask me to do some freelance work for his new web design firm, but the head TA for CS 142 told me to e-mail him an application noting he met me and liked me. Bizzow.

Hung out with blue-beta people today at Poetasters (yaargh, I really meant to write something for this week...) and Melyngoch's house. Very pleasant, but man, such a dearth of red-orange. Tolkien Boy tried to entertain everyone while Leibniz and I stood with our hands in our pockets and laughed at appropriate points, but the ten-place kept fragmenting into little introverted conversation pockets. Actually, though, my favorite part was walking down to Melyngoch's with Ambrosia; we don't interact so much as I would like (entirely my own fault), and it's divine hearing that I'd make a good writer from the very embodiment of the Board.

Apparently I'm not the only one who eats the decorative fruit around campus; Ambrosia grabbed one, though I don't find most quite ripe yet. It was an amusing reminder to me that I adore others for characteristics they share with me, regardless of the nobility or ignobility thereof. One would expect a depressed person to have low self-esteem, but man, I'm freakin' awesome. I just fear that no one else will agree. {laughs} It feels kind of deceitful calling myself a depressed person at this point; I've been in such a fantastic mood lately. Really, though, it's ridiculous how much I romanticize flaws. Leads to internal dialogues like this:

Green: You know, I've been meaning to have a talk with you.
Purple: Oh? What's that?
Green: Well, I think you should give a thought to emotionally accepting the Gospel. You see, we all sin, which removes us from the presence of God, and we all die. Jesus Christ has overcome both of these if we'll accept His sacrifice.
Purple: Huh. Why'd you say I'd want to do that?
Green: Well, when we sin, we feel guilt. Repentance helps us to feel clean again.
Purple: Hmmmm...no, I don't think I know what you're talking about.
Green: You don't know guilt? Don't you feel shame sometimes?
Purple: Oh! You mean, like, when I think about that time you slept under the jungle gym during recess in elementary school? You can fix that?
Green: Look. When I said "removes us from the presence of God," I meant you're going to hell. How about that?
Purple: Need I remind you, friend, that I lived in a closet? You ain't got nothing.
Green: Well, another wonderful part of the Gospel is the sealing power, which enables us to be with those we love for eternity. Don't you want that?
Purple: Oh, I don't think there's anyone in my life I couldn't bear to lose. And beside that, I'm sure all the great philosophers will be in hell; having the earth as a great seer stone and such would just take all the fun out of postulating. [N.B.: I'm making this "Purple" fellow rather green too. Oops.]
Green: Oh, for pity's sakes. I give up.
Purple: Good. It's so much nicer when we get along, don't you think? All that queer violent stuff about "killing the natural man" of yours does get so wearisome. I have no such animosity toward you, you know; I really appreciate your teaching me about this Church of yours. It's a fascinating theology, and really quite a laudable social contract. I want to try out all this business about family evenings and scripture study with my own family; it seems very conducive to a stable developmental environment.
Green: You can't just...an important part of such an home is the presence of the Priesthood. You have to be on good terms with God for that.
Purple: Oh, come off it. How patently absurd. I'm not allowed to support your cause?
Green: Well...that's not what I mean. It's not like you can't borrow the techniques, of course. They just won't be as effective without the emotional foundation.
Purple: {dramatic sigh} Fine, then. Please negotiate with this God of yours the dismissal of my debts.
Green: You can't just do it like that; it's not a business transaction! You have to want it, to really feel penitent and desperate, to sense your own inadequacy.
Purple: Well, forget it. So much for trying to help. I must say, for a people theoretically so fond of selflessness, you sure seem to do poorly with it. I'm going to play Age of Empires. Go write a whiny entry about loneliness or something.

Oh, by the way, I slept in until four in the afternoon today. That's pretty dang amazing, even for me. I think I grew another inch; I felt uncommonly tall all day.