Week in a box..
Mar. 12th, 2004 03:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
transomwhiplassI'm too tired to give you the step by step. Here is a stab at a summary:
Retreat:
I have to say, it was the best ever. That should mean a lot coming from me - the grand "puu-puu"er of all retreat-dom. There were only two things I really didn't like.
1. All the Jesus/Christian-Camp songs, especially sung multiple times. However, this could only be expected and I was grateful that this was the only, what I call, "Jesus-stuffing," that occured. My "beef" occurs for several reasons. We all, or at least should, know that I'm trying to figure out my own religion. Being brought up Catholic (and going to a Catholic school), were I ever to orient myself with being a Christian.. I would be Catholic. I would choose Catholicism because of the contextualist interpretation of Scripture as opposed to a fundamentalist. I don't like fundamentalists, I don't like evangelists, I don't like it when people try to convert me. I'm not being religiously intolerant, I'm just being intolerant of stupidity. I believe, if anything, that if what the Bible says is "true" its true in a metaphorically-interpretive sense. People who take the Bible out of the context it was written in and try to apply it word-for-word to today are just too lazy the figure out what it really means. They are too stupid to think, they are like babies who are spoon-fed relgious bullshit their entire lives. Tele-evangelists are the worst. Accusing people that they will go to hell and blah blah blah... fake conversions and extortion look like sins to me: religious hypocrisy me thinks. So.. what does this have to do with those stupid-campy-Christian songs. The hand motions and words all directly imply some fundamental beliefs. I can understand Catholic-children being forced to sing them. When you are trying to teach a child about his/her religion, its just easier to tell them: God lives in a house that is heaven with the baby angels, Jesus, Mary, Rufus the dog, and grandpa. They can't grasp the application in history.. they can't grasp any philosophical or underlying advanced concepts of relgion. You try explaining transubstantiation to a 10 year old... dude, most adults don't even get it. Those stupid songs make sense when trying to build a groundwork for a child, but to make college-prepped seniors with 4 years of relgion classes under-belt.. you are just mocking my intelligence. Jesus and God do not live in a house and play football. They don't. Trust me. If heaven is anything, it is beyond our imaginations, logic, and vocabulary. To reduce it to a "house" and "touch-down" (I don't know the words.. these are just tidbits I remember) is to totally mock the entire concept. Those songs don't mean anything to me and the hand-motions aren't cute. Look at me making a big deal out of nothing, but woe.. that is me. Sorry.. I've "thought-the-death-out-of" this situation. Summary: I didn't like the campy-Christian songs. Dude I'm cutting this.
2. We won't go into 2. It wasn't the retreat's fault in any way. It was something else that I know, and people I've complained to know. Not retreat's fault, not camp's fault,.. something else entirely.
So yeah.. I'm really happy right now. I think that I've reconciled with someone thanks to it. I at least hope I did. It was good.
---
Concert:
Ok. Summary. "The Engine Room" is an ash tray of huge proportions. We got to see 4 bands.
1. Bo Jones - Three young boys, could have been older than 20. They were cute, their music was ok but lyrics not-substantial. The guitarist was hot. The keyboardist had emo glasses but I think he had classical piano training because he was REALLY good. The ode to cigarettes didn't really interest me but probably won favor with 4/5 of the audience. I don't know if they were local but I think they probably were.
2. The Living End - First of the Aussies, I'd never heard of them. Three guys. The guitarist was good. We saw the drummer get off the bus earlier to help bring food in. He had cool hair. The bass was like.. a real bass. Not a guitar.. a bass. It was so cool, he was like.. stunting off of it and playing it. It was awesome. They were good, Niki liked them.
3. Jet - Omg.. they were SO awesome. When the tamborine came out, people went wild. It was SO COOL. I got an awesome ringer tee with "Jet" on it.. wooo! They came out third which was shocking. They were great... just... great..
4. The Vines - Ok. I've heard a lot about them, but I've never heard them. I read an article in Spin that made the lead singer out to be really cocky. Dude, he was like.. stoned out of his mind. Niki really didn't like them but I thought they were interesting. The lead singer, Craig (I think) at one point trashed the stage. We thought it was over but the roadies came out, fixed the stage, and the band came back out. Craig knocked over the mic like 5 times. Some of the melodies were pretty but he was like, screaming and wailing. He was also constantly messing with his ears. It was really bizarre. People left while they were on.
Niki and I thought we were the only SAA people there but we thought we recogized one girl walking by, and then we saw Caroline Broom from our Art History class outside. Oh and hahaha, Ms. Sudick was at this concert too looking equally ho-ish (if you recall, Niki & I saw her at the Strokes concert in November). We stood for 5 hours and came out reeking of cigarettes. Everything smelled like cigarettes. My clothes, my hair, my skin.. everything. It is disgusting. Niki and I can't imagine how people put that directly into their lungs and how people hide their habit from their parents. Yuck. I'm never smoking and I'm never going to marry anyone that does. I'm suprised I don't have lung cancer from just yesterday, it was awful but worth it for the music.
---
Woo hoo! I just got my grades.
H AP English - 91 (Happy! She had me down as an 89. It's pretty good considering my lack-of-knowledge in poetry. However, stupid in the sense that the only think I did bad on were a few quizzes).
AP Calculus - 87 (Still pretty good!)
Philosophy - 91 (Dude, almost crapped myself. I owe Mary thanks for notes for my "esse" essay [oh ho ho] and my amazing bull-shitting powers that somehow saved me while writing my "proof of God" essay during lunch solely from the outline with no extra notes or knowledge.)
Art History - 96 (She left me a long and lovely comment about how awesome I am.)
Drawing - 99
Journalism - 100
Orchestra - 100
GPA YTD is a 4. Take that senioritis!!! MWAHAH!!!!!!! I'm such a raving psychopath.
Retreat:
I have to say, it was the best ever. That should mean a lot coming from me - the grand "puu-puu"er of all retreat-dom. There were only two things I really didn't like.
1. All the Jesus/Christian-Camp songs, especially sung multiple times. However, this could only be expected and I was grateful that this was the only, what I call, "Jesus-stuffing," that occured. My "beef" occurs for several reasons. We all, or at least should, know that I'm trying to figure out my own religion. Being brought up Catholic (and going to a Catholic school), were I ever to orient myself with being a Christian.. I would be Catholic. I would choose Catholicism because of the contextualist interpretation of Scripture as opposed to a fundamentalist. I don't like fundamentalists, I don't like evangelists, I don't like it when people try to convert me. I'm not being religiously intolerant, I'm just being intolerant of stupidity. I believe, if anything, that if what the Bible says is "true" its true in a metaphorically-interpretive sense. People who take the Bible out of the context it was written in and try to apply it word-for-word to today are just too lazy the figure out what it really means. They are too stupid to think, they are like babies who are spoon-fed relgious bullshit their entire lives. Tele-evangelists are the worst. Accusing people that they will go to hell and blah blah blah... fake conversions and extortion look like sins to me: religious hypocrisy me thinks. So.. what does this have to do with those stupid-campy-Christian songs. The hand motions and words all directly imply some fundamental beliefs. I can understand Catholic-children being forced to sing them. When you are trying to teach a child about his/her religion, its just easier to tell them: God lives in a house that is heaven with the baby angels, Jesus, Mary, Rufus the dog, and grandpa. They can't grasp the application in history.. they can't grasp any philosophical or underlying advanced concepts of relgion. You try explaining transubstantiation to a 10 year old... dude, most adults don't even get it. Those stupid songs make sense when trying to build a groundwork for a child, but to make college-prepped seniors with 4 years of relgion classes under-belt.. you are just mocking my intelligence. Jesus and God do not live in a house and play football. They don't. Trust me. If heaven is anything, it is beyond our imaginations, logic, and vocabulary. To reduce it to a "house" and "touch-down" (I don't know the words.. these are just tidbits I remember) is to totally mock the entire concept. Those songs don't mean anything to me and the hand-motions aren't cute. Look at me making a big deal out of nothing, but woe.. that is me. Sorry.. I've "thought-the-death-out-of" this situation. Summary: I didn't like the campy-Christian songs. Dude I'm cutting this.
2. We won't go into 2. It wasn't the retreat's fault in any way. It was something else that I know, and people I've complained to know. Not retreat's fault, not camp's fault,.. something else entirely.
So yeah.. I'm really happy right now. I think that I've reconciled with someone thanks to it. I at least hope I did. It was good.
---
Concert:
Ok. Summary. "The Engine Room" is an ash tray of huge proportions. We got to see 4 bands.
1. Bo Jones - Three young boys, could have been older than 20. They were cute, their music was ok but lyrics not-substantial. The guitarist was hot. The keyboardist had emo glasses but I think he had classical piano training because he was REALLY good. The ode to cigarettes didn't really interest me but probably won favor with 4/5 of the audience. I don't know if they were local but I think they probably were.
2. The Living End - First of the Aussies, I'd never heard of them. Three guys. The guitarist was good. We saw the drummer get off the bus earlier to help bring food in. He had cool hair. The bass was like.. a real bass. Not a guitar.. a bass. It was so cool, he was like.. stunting off of it and playing it. It was awesome. They were good, Niki liked them.
3. Jet - Omg.. they were SO awesome. When the tamborine came out, people went wild. It was SO COOL. I got an awesome ringer tee with "Jet" on it.. wooo! They came out third which was shocking. They were great... just... great..
4. The Vines - Ok. I've heard a lot about them, but I've never heard them. I read an article in Spin that made the lead singer out to be really cocky. Dude, he was like.. stoned out of his mind. Niki really didn't like them but I thought they were interesting. The lead singer, Craig (I think) at one point trashed the stage. We thought it was over but the roadies came out, fixed the stage, and the band came back out. Craig knocked over the mic like 5 times. Some of the melodies were pretty but he was like, screaming and wailing. He was also constantly messing with his ears. It was really bizarre. People left while they were on.
Niki and I thought we were the only SAA people there but we thought we recogized one girl walking by, and then we saw Caroline Broom from our Art History class outside. Oh and hahaha, Ms. Sudick was at this concert too looking equally ho-ish (if you recall, Niki & I saw her at the Strokes concert in November). We stood for 5 hours and came out reeking of cigarettes. Everything smelled like cigarettes. My clothes, my hair, my skin.. everything. It is disgusting. Niki and I can't imagine how people put that directly into their lungs and how people hide their habit from their parents. Yuck. I'm never smoking and I'm never going to marry anyone that does. I'm suprised I don't have lung cancer from just yesterday, it was awful but worth it for the music.
---
Woo hoo! I just got my grades.
H AP English - 91 (Happy! She had me down as an 89. It's pretty good considering my lack-of-knowledge in poetry. However, stupid in the sense that the only think I did bad on were a few quizzes).
AP Calculus - 87 (Still pretty good!)
Philosophy - 91 (Dude, almost crapped myself. I owe Mary thanks for notes for my "esse" essay [oh ho ho] and my amazing bull-shitting powers that somehow saved me while writing my "proof of God" essay during lunch solely from the outline with no extra notes or knowledge.)
Art History - 96 (She left me a long and lovely comment about how awesome I am.)
Drawing - 99
Journalism - 100
Orchestra - 100
GPA YTD is a 4. Take that senioritis!!! MWAHAH!!!!!!! I'm such a raving psychopath.
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no subject
Date: 2004-03-12 03:16 pm (UTC)anyway, i'm crazy jealous you saw jet and the vines. i've loved the vines for a while and jet for a while, too. ah well, i can still see them when i get to l.a. anyway, i'm GLAD YOU HAD FUN! =) you're awesome.
joyce
Jet Concert
Date: 2004-03-14 08:25 pm (UTC)