"Nothing in the 'Verse"

I just finished watching "Out of Gas" from the television show Firefly. Watching this episode on DVD brings back fond memories of the not so distant past. I was first introduced to the series by a dear friend, also a distant cousin, of mine by the name of Christopher Peavey. My friends from the Comeau Catholic Campus Center and I devoured episode after episode of this one season series. "Curse the sudden, but inevitable betrayal" of FOX for cancelling such a wonderful series.

In the episode "Out of Gas", we learn how each of the crew members became apart of the crew that flies on Serenity, a Firefly class space vessel. It stirred in me that part of a person that tends to reminisce about days gone by. How people come into our lives in under the most unusual and common circumstances. I remember the first time I encountered my best friend from college. It was a fall day in 2002 on the campus of Fort Hays State University. In walks this student with his floppy hat, leather jacket, jeans, and flip flops. The American government lecture had already begun, and his entrance was more or less a distraction. Quite honestly, he drove me nuts. Yet, the following year we were roommates, and since he has become close as a brother.

There are of course others who have made a last impact on my life. My female friend who had an entire convent of nuns praying for my conversion to the Catholic Church. The friend who teaches Spanish to high school students who has an energy that surpasses most I know, and whose spiritual maturity has been an example to many others and myself. The roommate who with myself confounded the Catholic priest at the Comeau Catholic Campus Center, because two Protestants spent more time there than any other Catholic students. The friend who bantered back and forth with me who wanted to become a Catholic priest despite the wishes of his father, yet still I tried his faith with my Protestant zeal.

And this is just a small portion of that which my mind is reflecting upon. These individuals who ceased to be merely individuals, and became friends, sojourners in on the road of Life. I have never been one to believe in coincidence. I believe each person we encounter in life, whether for a brief moment or years of our lives, are preordained encounters. It is our contact with each living person that molds us into the persons we become, for good or for ill. And in the end, it is how we handle each encounter that ultimately determines the final repose of our souls.

Ahh...Satisfaction

In a half hour, I will be headed home for lunch. I just finished a wonderful trilogy written by Brandon Sanderson. The Mistborn Trilogy consists of Mistborn, The Well of Ascension, and The Hero of Ages. I highly recommend reading these three wonderful fantasy fiction novels. In fact, he wrapped up his triology well. I find myself lacking the frustration that most authors leave me with after a series is finished, the frustration of loose ends not being tied up.

Another odd thing sensations is that I hope Sanderson doesn't feel the need to write about what happens after the end of The Hero of Ages. I have discovred that some of my favorite fantasy fiction authors struggle with this in their own writings. Robert Jordan and Terry Goodkind both gave us amazing worlds to lose ourselves in, but both of their series suffer from diarrhea of the pen. The diehard fan continues to read the books, because of their love for the characters and the world they have created or a simple desire to see the story through to its conclusion.

It is frustrating having a job where there are hour upon hour of nothing to do. Thankfully, they don't mind me reading. I wish I could get paid to read enjoyable books. One of my dreams is to own a bookstore. My father doesn't understand the desire to own the books that I read. He thinks I should simply go to the library. While the library is a wonderful resource, there is something to be said for owning the book one's self. I can pick up many of my favorite stories any time I wish by simplying pulling it off one of the two bookshelves I have filled with books.

This isn't my typical blog, but I do have a couple page numbers of two books written down so I can blog on topics that came to mind while reading those particular passages. Hopefully, I will tackle them in the coming week.

Becoming What We Hate

"It is said by some that the gods show us their bitter humor by molding us into what we hate most in others." ~Kaspar of Olasko from Exile's Return by Raymond E. Feist

The proceeding quote was in a book I recently re-read. This is a phenomenon I have observed in myself in the past. My advisor in college was known to say, "You have to be willing to take out the mirror and look at yourself." In my personal life, I have observed that I have at one time or another exhibited behavior, obtained character flaws, and performed actions that I have at one time or another despised in others.

Coming to this sort of realization can be quite humbling. I have found it is usually behavior, character flaws, or actions that I not only despised in others, but looked down upon them for such behavior, character flaws, or actions. Whether or not this is a result of the Supreme Being's active or passive participation in the molding of who I will become is an unknown. If it is humor, it truly is bitter humor, because I have trouble imagining the Creator being tickled at such a development in my person or any others' for that matter.

More or less, this post is just food for thought. Chew on it, and maybe pull out the mirror yourself.

A Beginning...

"Until philosophers are kings, or the kings and princes of this world have the spirit and power of philosophy, and political greatness and wisdom meet in one, and those commoner natures who pursue either to the exclusion of the other are compelled to stand aside, cities will never have rest from their evils - no, nor the human race, as I believe - and then only will this our State have a possibility of life and behold the light of day." ~ Plato, The Republic, Book V, 473-C

This blog will be dedicated to my intellectual inquiries. Occasionally, I will post about an interesting book I have read. It will primarily be a way for me to share my own thoughts on "The Big Questions" that often fail to be contemplated by the mindless masses. Who knows...I may even become wiser through this whole process.

Just Getting Started

I'm just getting started.