Jared over at Thinklings put together a Monday “Cool List,” so here’s mine:

10. Leftover ham from Thanksgiving, which is regrettably gone
9. Fried chicken
8. Banana cream pie, also gone
7. The heater
6. Walter Russell Mead’s Special Providence, which is sadly getting neglected thanks to my SG-1 marathon
5. 2143
4. Alicia Keys’s “Diary,” which is such a favorite on my playlist that I should probably be embarrassed
3. Folger’s Mocha Chocolate Cappuccino
2. Plain cheesecake
1. Stargate SG-1

Since yesterday was the host of much buying, walking, waiting and scrounging in stores everywhere–that sounded so commercial-esque, didn’t it?–I decided not to leave the house. I don’t do big crowds in malls, but I’m not against a good shopping spree like some people are. Yet I’m not so cold as to think of the day in purely capitalist terms. I mean, where’s the fun in that?

But hey, I like waiting for sales as much as the next person. What I’m trying to say is that I’m moderate about the way I shop – call it a mix of generosity on gifts I want to buy for friends and family, and caution about budget limits. I don’t turn my nose up at people who like the bustle and crowd of the Day-After-Thanksgiving-Extravaganza, but I don’t rack up a credit card debt that I’ll have to repay for the next six months, either.

So have fun schmoozing on the turkey leftovers or waiting in line at the mall. Just try not to think of the beginning of the sales rush this holiday season in extreme terms.

The seventh-year college edition of a “long night” looks something like this:

English paper plus insomnia plus chocolate craving plus Alicia Keys’ “Diary” equals something akin to the world slowing to an agonizing crawl.

Or maybe I’m just slowly going insane.
I’ll get back to you on that in the morning.
Oh, wait, it is morning…

If you read this psychedelic ranting and managed to understand it all, you have my sincere sympathy. Really.

P.S. This is my punishment for watching Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, innit? I mean, I didn’t even have to sniff anything to crank out this crap.

I hate pre-holiday homework.

On a more cheerful note, Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

First, thank you for your suggestions on the writer movie post. Tomorrow I’m going to head to Hollywood Video to pick up Shadowlands, Adaptation, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The others have been added to my “Movies To Watch” list.

Now, my question: why do Christians backslide?

If that seems to be too rhetorical, too loaded or too specific, maybe it would better serve you if I broke down the question like this: why would a religiously devout person leave behind or reject his faith? What motivations and circumstances would be behind a decision like that? Or, why would you switch from one religion to another?

In every religion there are hardliners, moderates, faithful, devout, liberals and conservatives, and I don’t mean in the political sense at all.

On a more personal level, if you’ve ever had faith in a deity or belief higher than yourself, have you ever wanted to turn away from it and not look back? Why?

I need to watch a movie that portrays a writer (journalist, author, however you define “writer") for a class assignment.

Are there any particular films that you would recommend?

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: “Give me a light, that I may tread safely into the unknown.” And he replied: “Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light, and safer than a known way.”

Minnie L. Haskins

(Via CQOTD)

Last Sunday we had a guest speaker at our church who spoke about forgiveness. Okay, big deal, you say. Like that hasn’t been preached about before.

Then he pulled out stats like this:

[Everett] Worthington, who is a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University and a pioneer in forgiveness research, has found that people who won’t forgive the wrongs committed against them tend to have negative indicators of health and well-being: more stress-related disorders, lower immune-system function, and worse rates of cardiovascular disease than the population as a whole. In effect, by failing to forgive they punish themselves. Unforgiving people are also thought to experience higher rates of divorce, which also reduces well-being, given that married men and women consistently do better on most health barometers, including longevity.

In contrast people who forgive, Worthington finds, may have better health, fewer episodes of clinical depression, longer marriages and better “social support,” another indicator of well-being. This latter means forgiving people get along better with others, who in turn come to their aid in social-support situations.

“Forgiveness research,” as this field is called, is pretty interesting. Yet it deals with something so obvious that we sometimes miss the meat of its message.

I’ve heard the slogan “Never Forgive, Never Forget” tossed around on some blogs, and it’s a saying I dare not adopt, no matter how good my intentions may be to the contrary. It’s not easy to do, of course, this forgiving thing, but it’s worth more than the constant pain of an unforgiving mindset.