still kickin

Hey everyone, this is just a quick note to let you all know that I am still alive and doing alriht, despite not emailing anyone. A couple weeks ago I thought I was over being sick, but turns out it was only the beginning. I ended up cathcing a bad flu and laryngitis to boot. I'd saying im almost recovered, but I don't want to jynx myself. Anyway, I'll write more later.

a book review

Obviously I have too much free time. I've never posted this often...don't get used to it. As soon as Ramadan is over I'll be lots busier.

Funny, the things we do in highschool, and hate, are the things that we end up repeating later on by our own desire and volition. Life’s irony never ceases to cause me to chuckle.

During my recent indisposedness (those times when you are conscious, but wish you weren’t cause you don’t have the energy or drive to do much of anything) I took the time to reread A Brave New World. It has been several years since I last read it. The book was just as (or more so) thought provoking, innovative, inspiring, and insightful than I remember. However, it was also more vulgar and, at parts, arguably inappropriate than I recall as well, and would therefore caution anyone reading it to be guarded about some portions (they may be simply skipped over, which is what I did).

For those who don’t know the plot or background I am not going to give much of it. Suffice it to say that it takes place in an unforeclosed future time where society is filled with genetically prearranged classes of people, preprogrammed to reproduce their assigned task. Happiness and comfort of the individual is the end all of human, or social, existence. Men and women are biologically conditioned to not think of anything that might lead to unhappiness, such as: love, guilt, hope, God, pain, etc. They are conditioned to indulge their basic whims and carnal desires, and to not deny themselves any pleasure. Basically, it is the Solomon of Ecclesiastes, but without chapter 12 or the realization that it is vanity (those undesirable consequences are silenced by drugs, which have no ill side-effects).

Anyway, in my opinion the book is insightful (nearly clairvoyant) because it captures the essence of the Humanistic society. In contrast to the Orwellian society, which is dominated by Fear and Repression of human freedoms, Huxley (the author) shows a society repressed by the unlimited access to human indulgences and freedom from consequence. I feel that Huxley, not Orwell, plays a more probable dirge to which our “free”, post-modern society is marching. It is a society which has all the pleasantries, trinkets, and amusements, yet without any of the prerequisites or consequences. It is a spoiled society, but yet so spoiled as to be ignorant that they are missing anything. I think it relates quite appropriately to western ‘civilization’.
I would sum the book up by a quote from Gibran Khalil Gibran; “Verily, the lust for comfort murders the passion of the soul, and then walks grinning in the funeral”.
Often we think that satan is trying to make the world full of bad people. The truth is, we do that ourselves. Satan, is trying to make us numb, soma sucking infants; anesthetized to the pain and guilt of our sin, as well as to our potential for good works. He is a roaring lion, but his roar may be the quiet offering of a bit more comfort, a little less self-denial, and a few more worldly pleasures…

Well that was my nerdy, academic post. I really do love good literature, it is such a thought-provoking (and for me, spiritual) exercise.If you want to understand the cartoon completely you'll probably have to read the book...I just didn't want to post without a picture...I guess I've been conditioned that 'pictures are good'.

Insomnia no longer a myth

I’ve always taken it for granted that I have never been seriously effected by jet lag…but I guess this last week has made up for it. Until today, I haven’t slept past 4am for the past week, no matter how tired I seem to feel. Even then it is broken sleep that lasts about two hours maximum. I attribute a large portion of this to being notably sick, sicker than I can remember being for a few years. I had considered going to a doctor, but a few days ago started to feel like I was getting better. It was one of those times when you wish your mommy was around...I am almost fully recovered now. So, between the jet lag and the sickness I had quite a lovely first week back in Jordan. I am glad that I at least had a place to lay down and not be bothered, even if it was 90 degrees in the apartment. The thing that was most annoying was that exhausted, nearly unconscious feeling you have when you are so tired that you can’t get anything done, but for some reason can’t sleep either, so you end up kinda existing in a semi-conscious stupor. The bright side (actually there are lots of bright sides) is that the first day I was here I went and bought a blender and a bunch of fruit. So, I’ve been eating smoothies for about 50% of my diet…they are ssooo good. And of course there is humus.
Things are going well here (despite my little sissy boy whining about insomnia and sickness). I started work a couple days ago. Working hours are officially 8-2, which really means about 9-1, so pretty easy start. Yesterday and today I was able to see a number of my old friends at the university. It was really nice to see them again. I saw a couple of the new language students struggling to learn the basics of Arabic, which made me feel pretty good, but that didn’t last very long, because about later that day I was talking to a friend on the phone. We were just discussing how the summer and telling stories, when in mid-sentence, she said to me, “you need to take some more Arabic courses”. Blunt and to the point…I thanked her for her arabness, and assured her I planned on improving my Arabic.
Well, I better get back to doing some productive (now that I can). Adios muchachos

A rough start

Well, I made it back to Jordan safe and mostly sound. The flight back (12 hours) was packed, and it was my luck to have a group of handicapped children sitting behind me who really didn’t understand why you are not supposed to beat on the back of the seat in front of you…oh well, no one likes to sleep on airplanes anyway. At least I had my new mp3 player (it’s a Sandisk knock off of an Ipod model, but less expensive and NOT Apple). Eventually the kids went to sleep and I was able to nod off for a couple hours. I was pretty tired since we spent the whole day walking around New York, or taking buses, subways, and ferries. I thought the transport system in New York was great: cheap, quick, and easy to use…maybe it’s improved since last year J.
When I arrived to Amman my friend picked me up and we had dinner together then went to see my apartment. This is where the fun really began…The apartment was supposed to be finished and everything ready, or so I had been informed. Now, anyone who has any experience in the Middle East is a fool to think that everything will ever go according to plan (no matter how simple that plan is). I was expecting some problems, but I had called and double checked before coming to make sure things were in order. Nevertheless, when we arrived at the apartment (about 10 pm) I discovered that the apartment was far from ready. It did not even have electricity or water hooked up, and the resident guard (a guy who watches over the building during the nights) said it probably won’t be done til end of Ramadan, which translates into ‘not until at least a month after Ramadan’. It was 10:30 at night, but that didn’t stop us from going around the neighborhood looking for apartments. Arabs are night people, especially during Ramadan. Everything was high priced and I was too tired to make a clear minded decision. My friend graciously offered (actually ordered) to let me stay at his place that night. He has internet at his place and so I tried getting in contact with my old roommate (who is in the states now) to see if the old apartment was open. Since I couldn’t sleep more than about three hours I ended up catching him on MSN around 4:30 am. Come to find out the old apartment was vacant, but the key is with his uncle (who lives in Amman). He said I could stay there until things work out. So the solution was easy enough: try to get some sleep, get up, contact his uncle, and go and get the key. Problem solved right? Nope. When morning rolled around (with no sleep thanks to jet lag) I couldn’t get a hold of the uncle, so I went with my friend to his work and then walked around Amman until 2pm when he got off work. Normally I like going into downtown Amman, however this time was not so fun. The temperature was around 100 degrees, I had almost no sleep for two days, I was catching the standard nasty cold that always comes when I change climate zones, and the worst part was I couldn’t eat or drink anything in public (which in Amman is everywhere). Needless to say, I’d had better days. Nevertheless, my spirits were high, and I tried to just embrace the hardship (with a fair amount of success). That afternoon we still had not got a hold of the uncle, but we found out where he lived, so after a short rest, my friend took me over the place. My roommate was supposed to have called him and let him know the situation, so everything would go smoothly…smoothly if anyone was home. As it turns out the uncle and all his family were away in Saudi Arabia and no one could get a hold of them.
Our options were running low at this point. Luckily, in the middle east families are well tied together, so I called my roommate and he got in contact with all the relatives he could to find out if they knew anything about the apartment key. I guess at this juncture the Lord figured the trial was sufficient and that my patience was sufficiently increased, because my roommate called me back and said that a cousin of his had a spare key and I could come pick it up that evening. So, after dinner with my friend we grabbed my stuff from his place and went to the apartment. I am so glad that I had my friend there to help me, the whole situation would have been much more difficult without him. He was incredibly helpful and hospitable. A real friend.
So anyway, that is my story about my first two days back in Amman. Had I not been tired and sick it probably would have been an average experience in Jordan. Nevertheless, I am thankful the experience, and the gracious watchfulness of the Shepherd in leading me through every challenge. It is truly comforting to know that God never stops looking out for His sheep.

Well, I better wrap this up. I start work tomorrow by the way. We'll see if things work out in that arena...

Here is a picture from the trip to New York

P.S. can someone email Brian's email address, I seem to have misplaced it...

There it is, the Big Apple...its a strange place, people: 14 times the population of Alaska in 1/2,000 the space

See how wierd it is...they won't even let you stand in this city. This is brother Shorter breaking the law haha.

A list of highlights

Since I am not sure when the next time that I will have access to the internet will be I figured I better make a quick post (quick because it is midnight and I'm tired) about the last week here on the east coast. It has been an incredibly fast week, but I've been able to see a little of the east coast (and it doesn't seem as different as I anticipated), and meet lots of great and interesting people. Here is a quick list of highlights (maybe good or bad) as I see them
- Meeting the Hammetts and/or getting to know them a little better. I really had a great time with them all and was able to learn alot. For instance I learned Sam has a hard head and plays defense with it in basketball...
- Meeting the Shorters: I left for New Jersey on saturday morning and have been staying at the Shorter's residence since. It has been a lot of fun. They really treat me like part of the family, and I kinda even feel like part of the family. Mr Shorter speaks a little bit of Arabic, which was really cool. It really is too bad I am always leaving the people I would like to stay longer with...
- Giving presentations and speaking at the Hammett's and Shorter's. Both nights went well. I ended up speaking all day in New Jersey. During the evening presentation I spoke for almost three hours, including the Q and A session. The people seemed to be very interested in the material.
- Getting to see some of the sights and do different things: I went to Philidelphia and will got to New York tomorrow. We went canoing today and then bowling afterwards. On sunday I met some great Korean people and they invited us for authenticate korean food, which was really good.

OK, there is lots more, but it will have to wait. I'll leave you with a couple pictures

This is me at the Liberty Bell...its kinda dark...

This is a statue of ol' George, our first President, standing next to bro. Shorter's daughter Christian. I had fun harassing her, it reminded me of my sister. While I was at the museum I learned that Washington was like 6'4"...I didn't know that. Guess you learn stuff at museums