from a washed up night owl....

I am twenty-seven years old.

And I've lived long enough to say that I can fortunately-or unfortunately-say that I've had a lot of experience with dance clubs and the like.

As a Christian, and as a twenty-seven year old male with things to actually lose these days, I'm finally becoming a stubborn bull about what places and clubs I'll go to. What amazes me is the sheer fact that a 21-year old Remille would be shocked with the caution of a twenty-seven-old Remille. To be honest, Remille at 21 would go wherever the girls were.

I think it's safe to say that you won't be seeing me at any hip-hop dance clubs where a lost soul would kill me with a .45 or where I would have to look at seeing frat boys in Polo's, sorority girls who haven't matured on the inside, or G.I.'s who may fall into a trap marriage. I could never compete in an environment where testosterone or hormones were heavily emphasized. I can't start now.

I don't want to be spotted where my friend Kendal Kinlaw (who is pretty cool, by the way) wouldn't be caught dead at. This disqualifies about 65% of Franklin Street, i.e. East End, Players, La Residence, Pantana Bob's, etc. This is why Durham is more ideal for me, because you don't have these joints clogging up the place.

Kildare's, however, actually does have good karaoke nights on Tuesdays, and karaoke is more up my alley. I do like to go to the dance parties that places like the Pinhook, Kings, or the Station throw; they aren't really hormonal and the objective there is to have a good time.

That's my two cents.

mercy

Kendrick Vinar preached a great sermon a week or two ago on the subject of mercy triumphing over judgement.

What stood out was the comment about the total lack of good guys and bad guys in God's eyes. He loves us all equally. In His universe, the spectacle of Cowboys vs. Redskins, Protestants vs. Catholics, Caucasians vs. African Americans, that kind of thing.

Of course, Kendrick also stated that are three main reasons why people find themselves behind the eight-ball...Social injustice (imho, one of the reasons why several minorities and poor Caucasians struggle today), natural disaster (e.g. the recent tornadoes), and personal sin.

I see all three of these plights, in some fashion, at my job. I won't go into detail about exactly how I notice these things. But I see them and I want them to receive God's mercy.

I do not feel that us human beings (non-believers and even some believers) who live in the Triangle do a good enough job of showing mercy towards those that seem different from them or less affluent than them. It's human nature to stereotype and run away from them.

Think about this: How would Jesus see the poor, the black, the Hispanic, the socially inept? Would He shoo them away???

Let us love each other.

year in review

My one-year anniversary in the Triangle may or may not be celebrated in a week. It all depends on what my mood is at the time. Stay tuned.

The prognosticators (I believe that me and God are the only ones in this case) would call this move a rip-roaring success. So it's pro and con time.

Pros:
I've made a remarkable amount of progress in my walk with God. I've met some amazing people.
And there's so much to do around here.
I have really grown as a person.
I've found a career direction.

Cons:
I haven't found a legitimate job here yet. This is going to become a legitimate issue. I wonder sometimes if I'm ever going to crack the good old boy wall here.
I can't get a date in this area. ;) People here don't seem to like socially awkward folk like myself.
It matters a bit too much where you went to school and what you do for a living..whoops, I'm being nitpicky...I would say that the pros strongly outweigh the cons.
I just hope I can stay here for a little while longer.

why I don't listen to mainstream music...

I don't listen to a lot of mainstream music. And I don't listen to a lot of mainstream rap.

Don't get me wrong. I consider rap as a secondary listening pleasure. But I'm not going to listen to songs that degrade African-Americans and contain lyrics that glorify sex, violence, the importance of money above everything else, and Satanism.

Yes, Satanism.

Some of you may have heard of the Illuminati before (fyi, they are a secret society that allegedly controls most, if not all, of the major media and music outlets of the world, among other things). Some would debate their existence, but I'm not going to argue this here.

Instead, I'm going to pass on some YouTube links that argue that most mainstream music are full of Satanic references and hints toward the New World Order/Endtimes theory. It's 13 parts long, so I would get a snack and click on the link when it says "To Be Continued"..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DikoLMfmEge

if that doesn't work, go to YouTube and search for the The Music Industry Exposed....Look it up for yourself

The validity of this can be debated. But if you ever read the book of Revelation, you would find this easier to believe...

twice-a-week edict

From here on in, I intend to keep myself sharp by posting on here at LEAST twice a month, if not more...I'm being pushed to the brink recently.

My V-Day Letter (Belated) to America-Why I'm Single

I've been gone for a month. It's because I've having a great time with with life. Work is kinda back and forth, but I understand the joy of having a vision, now, because I am the steward of one. Church is good. My truck lives. I live.

Then I come across the Golden Child known as V-Day. I saw the kids at the RC celebrate today, running around the halls with all their abundant joy. I had to fight the notion to say in my heart that Valentine's was irrelevant. But I've never really embraced it.

I'm single. Flaming single. I have been in this state for all my life. sans two weeks. Laugh if you will. Why, you ask?? I could blame Fayettenam for my issue. I was overshadowed in college by golfers, athletes, the 9 to 1 male to female ratio and my own taste for beer. After I got out, I found myself overshadowed by the looming shadow of Fort Bragg. Eek!

And then there's the game issue. Laughing out loud. Haha.

And I'm pretty fickle when it comes to women. I've developed high standards. That disqualifies me from part of the population. If I'm not crazy about a girl, why go through it? The tempation of infidelity would loom larger...

Heck, marriage and valentines and all that jazz may never be in the cards for me. It's possible. I don't think that settling for less than the best isn't ideal!

Don't forget, Paul was single for the duration of his life. So was my good buddy Jesus ;).

So I hopefully have explained why I'm single. I did it all for you.

asperger's part 2: continued education

I've done some research on Asperger's syndrome over the past month (before the holidays distracted me) and I've tried to relate what I've found to what I've gone through in my life. I've mentioned some symptoms in part one, but I've just wanted to highlight some things that I relate to:

-Having a narrow set of interests in life

I fall into that category; I tend to narrow down my primary interests to sports, music that people of my shade of skin color wouldn't dare admit to being interested in, writing, and other things. If you try and ask me about something I don't care about, or if you ask about something that I care about but had just started following, you would run circles around me. Nowadays, I wouldn't care about what other people think about my interests, but at one time I hid them (or edited them in conversation) because I wanted to be liked.

-Social awkardness

Asperger's victims have trouble with eye contact, small talk, and generally keeping a good conversation with people. They have trouble with figuring out sarcasm, jokes, and the like. Personally, I've improved with social awkardness, but sometimes the sarcasm park still gets me.

-Worrying

This is something that Christians shouldn't do a lot of, but Aspies have a high tendency to both worry and keep their feelings inside. I sometimes worry, unfortunately.

-Bad body language in social situations

This is a difficult thing for Aspies to deal with and it certainly doesn't help you socially.

-Being too trusting of people

-Difficulty with dating and relationships

This is a separate column all together......

And so on..

In Part 3, I'll speak about illusions about Asperger's Syndrome.