Altnoise.net

The new site AltNoise.net is now up and running. Check it out and update your feed, which can be found on the new site

hey everyone who reads my pathetic excuse for procrastination, I'm switching stations and putting the blog on my own web address. You can check it out here while its in the development stages. Altnoise.net I wont be posting again until it is finished with design.

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The world is a place for opportunities

Opportunities of greatness, wealth, and prosperity

Opportunities of deceit, selfishness, and anguish

Opportunities of knowledge, power, and control

but faithfully I'll take the opportunity for

a simple, compassionate, and experienced life

After work yesterday, I had a confrontation with one of the biggest troublemakers in the school. Throughout the day, we both knew that it was going to happen  and kept sharing quick jabs at one another. He believed he was better than I and wanted to test his testosterone on me. Well I decided to let him try to step up to the big men's den and so we made the plans to meet up after school. Once we started, he landed the first shot and it was back and forth from there. After a tiring round we decided to take a breather and return in a few minutes to the exciting game of basketball.

The Bad Seed

It was a great and fun time where  I was able to give him some pointers and just pal around a little bit. This boy is stepping into a scary world and trying to figure himself out. More than anything, he needs an older mentor to help guide him down the right directions.Yet, some teachers would go as far as disliking this student, giving up on him, and writing the individual up as a lost cause. Even worse is that it is usually the very opposite of the situation. Those students with behavior problems aren't rebelling against authority but are screaming for loving guidance.

Labels: Everyone's Passion

 There are many boys out there whom get the stigma as a problem child and never lose it for the rest of their lives. I know as a teacher that it is hard not to organize and classify students on their behavior. It is almost impossible to keep on pace of the curriculum whenever you don't have all the kids understood as ones whom are willing and not willing to learn. The problem comes whenever those who aren't learning doesn't come from an unwillingness, but from not knowing how to learn or behave. These kids grow to think that they are scum and black sheep of society and we are the ones who are responsible for the labels. Us, Jesus followers, teachers, pastors, cousins, big brothers, neighbors, nosy observer all label a child as a lost cause or a blessing to the world. Knowing how we felt growing up with a label pointed on us, we continue in the horrible modern tradition. When will the times change and we revolutionize our interactions with the youth of today?

Church Signs: Whats Your Guilty Pleasure

    I suppose we all have one or two or three, but it sure doesn't make them any less embarrassing. Some are addicted to talk-shows vintage Jerry Springer style and others cannot get enough of those annoying little alien Teletubbies, but those both fail in comparison to mine. I do secretly admit to loving HGTV, but that's not my worst guilty pleasure. Ok... I'll come clean... I love reading church signs.  Those really disturbing messages about Jesus put in a poser relevant and opposite of humorous way is like dead skin that must be peeled. It really saddens me that millions of people drive by these signs and think that this is what following Christ is all about. In reality, I wonder if the churches really believe these signs are helping them "win" souls for God. On the other hand, I could be just the strange one who is not affected by them.

    After all, they always do get my attention. There could be a small sign and church beside a large multistory bank, and my eyes hone in straight to the little "Jesus loves you" sign. This morning, I drove by one that was done in the usual one-liner with a message behind it kind of way. It read, "Be an organ donor, give your heart to Jesus". The message does make me chuckle a little in my head, but on a sign it sounds like a bad car salesman trying to give me a horrible deal on a 1980's Relient K.

Maybe I am the only one with this guilty pleasure, but I doubt it. If you are stricken with this horrible addiction, then its time to come out of the closet and be proud of who you are. Share with all of us, the juiciest message on a sign that you've read.

Get fat on Tuesday and burn ashes on Wednesday

Yesterday, was the most holiest day of gluttony. Known as Fat Tuesday, many Catholics, Lutherans, spiritual and non-spiritual moochers decided to celebrate in this festive holiday by seeing how much chocolate, caffeine, alcohol, or anything else they can shove down their pie hole. The whole celebration is to help in preparation for Lent where an individual fasts from a particular food, beverage, electronical device, game, blogging, or whatever else that is not inherently wrong but does have a strong hold in one's life. One abstains from the object, action that they had chosen for the entire forty day season of Lent.

Sadly, Fat Tuesday totally snuck up on me and I forgot to celebrate it. I had been looking forward to it for awhile, but like a boring college class I just missed it. I'm also having a hard time deciding what I will abstain from this year. My everyday routine involves waking up, getting ready, going to work, come home and play with my boys. I can't really cancel any of those and my work consists of computers so I can't fast from computers. I would stop drinking coffee, but I don't get to drink it but a couple of times a week and the same goes for playing my guitar. I guess my choices really end up being meat, t.v.,  sex, and listening to music. More than anything, I think I'll learn that I have a boring life this season.

For those of you who lead more entertaining lives tell me what you are fasting and we can help keep each other accountable.  I've pretty much decided that I am going to go vegetarian this season.

Tags: lent, fat tuesday, fasting

The Way and The World: A Tao

The Way is a limitless vessel;
Used by the self, it is not filled by the world;
It cannot be cut, knotted, dimmed or stilled;
Its depths are hidden, ubiquitous and eternal;
I don't know where it comes from;
It comes before nature -Tao

I love reading various ancient sacred texts and finding glimpses of God. In this passage the Tao is telling us that the world in which we exist is completely separate from The Way. No matter how hard we try to pinpoint The Way, God or that thing beyond us, we will always fall short. God is separate from us and though he might reveal himself to us, there is no way for us to fully comprehend his complexities, his being, his truths.

Road Rage Collision: Whats Your Experience?

This morning while stopped at a light, the man in the car next to me got out of his car and went to talk with the car behind him. I was nervous and anxious at the same time because I have never seen any real road rage incidents in my life. Sadly, nothing happened as the angry man quietly strolled back to his car after speaking his peace.  The real amazing thing about it was he managed to get back into his car before the light turned green, so he has to get some  kudos for that one.

I wonder how other road rage confrontations made the innocent bystander drivers feel in the moment. If you have any confrontation stories that you would like to share then just leave it in the comments below. I'll post my favorite ones in the days to come.

Whats Your Story?