If that sentence confused you (or at least boggled your perceptions of me), then good - you might get something out of this post today.
CURRENT MUSIC:
Halestorm - "I Get Off"
Halestorm
I remember first hearing about Halestorm (and then listening to them very soon afterwards) at last year's Rockstar Uproar Festival. They had a great sound, and sure enough I ended up
Anyway, moving on from expository background. This song's just brimming with energy. Lots of it. While the lyrics may seem sexually charged (with the less-intelligent and closed-minded thinking this), I saw something else embedded within the song - a metaphor for (the singer) being on stage, giving an amazing show to the fans (who Lzzy is singing to) and feeding off of each other's positive energy.
In that same regard, I can relate to this song. Artistically speaking, I kind of do the same thing when it comes to my literary work. I feed off of the positive reinforcement that I get from comments and constructive criticism, and the readers in turn get something fun to read.*
* = If we ignore all those short entries I post almost every other day on here and the occasionally-depressing poems I touted off back in high school, then this statement is true. =3
Muse - "Uprising"
The Resistance
The opening track to Muse's most current album is actually the song that got me into listening to them in fervor. (Yeah, I know - what the hell took me so long to like them?)
Truth is, I heard a few songs by them in the past back in high school and I thought they were just "pretty decent." Then last year I was exposed to The Resistance and I ended up purchasing a copy. Some time later I found myself parked in a car underneath a shady tree with time to spare, so I popped in the album as I sat there reading. Ended up repeating the album because I loved it so much.
Anyway, I found this fitting with today's entry because a good portion of the world is so wrapped up with today that it's snuffing out the more important aspects of life - like, oh, I don't know... LIFE? Enjoying the day anyway? Not giving a damn what anyone says or judges about you? Disregarding negative and untrue comments about your performance? Taking pride in the fact that common sense exists in your level of rank while it runs scarce higher up in the chain of command?
...wait, we're not talking about work? Oh. OH... *clears throat* uh, well. "We will be victorious," anyways. =3
R.E.M. - "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)"
Document
Something tells me I'm going to hear this song being blared by somebody on my way to work, assuming we don't hear strange alien signals first. *snerk*
"In many of the more relaxed civilizations on the Outer Eastern Rim of the Galaxy, the Hitchhiker's Guide has already supplanted the great Encyclopaedia Galactica as the standard repository of all knowledge and wisdom, for though it has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal - or at least wildly inaccurate - it scores over the older, more pedestrian work in two important aspects. First, it is slightly cheaper; and secondly it has the words DON'T PANIC inscribed in large, friendly letters on its cover."
- Douglas Adams
(The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)
Strangely appropriate for today, don't you think?
Sadly, though, I have yet to read this book. I really want to, though.
So, good day to you ladies and gentlemen! Today's a bright and sunny day, which contradicts with what some say could be the start of "the end of the world" - otherwise known as "the rapture."
To those who, like me, don't really pay attention to current events or just say "I don't give a damn"* about the news, here's the nilly-willy:
Today - Saturday, May 21, 2011 - is supposed to be the day of rapture. According to Christians, God's chosen people (the believers) will ascend into heaven while the rest of us normal folk will get hit with a worldwide chain of earthquakes.
...what.
* = Oh, that's our shortstop!
Now, some of you are wondering what I'm doing relaying current events to you readers. A few of "some of you" are probably even more perplexed due to the fact that you know I'm an empirical and apathetic agnostic.
Truth be told, I wanted to share my two cents on the matter, and I know that if I did so on Facebook, I'd end up looking like some sort of (counter-)troll who's metaphorically slapping the faces of every devout Christian friend I have on there.
So I decided to post here - not only would it count as an entry, but at least here I can say what I want with little repercussion. But just in case...
DISCLAIMER:
Now, as a person who believes that anyone and everyone - including myself - is a fool (or will be if they aren't yet - as if), I will do my best to not express my true opinions. By that, I mean that I'm censoring myself from sounding truly offensive, because at last analysis, my opinions on this supposed rapture were half-insult, half-research - all parts lampooning Christian beliefs. In short: THIS IS MY PERSONAL OPINION ABOUT TODAY'S SUPPOSED RAPTURE. If you don't like it, then don't accept it. If I offend you, I apologize, but hey - this is what I think of this whole spiel. That's all.
So, like I summarized up above, today is yet another supposed rapture. Devout and faithful Christians will be taken up into heaven as a reward while the other non-believers will be left on Earth to either repent and hopefully ascend as well... or suffer the impending doom that the apocalypse will bring - starting with a precise chain of earthquakes hitting each area at roughly 1800 hours local time. All this has been predicted by radio evangelist Harold Camping*.
Now, I say "yet another" primarily because in the past, there have been numerous raptures that have come and gone. Predictions have been made since the days of modern Christianity, with the earliest rapture "occurring" in 1844. Since then, numerous people and groups have touted off years or days for "the beginning of the end."
1844's rapture was touted off by William Miller).
Jehova's Witnesses claimed that 1914, 1918, 1925 and 1942 were rapture years.**
And more notably, since the 1980s numerous people have said that those years would be the promised rapture (1981, 1989, and virtually every year of the 1990s - thank you, televangelism: you've created sheep out of men).
Even famed physicist Isacc Newton made a prediction that a rapture will occur - albeit that his calculations ended up pointing to 2060.
Now, with all those years coming and going and their respective predictions being proven untrue (minus Newton's***), I have to ask the Christian community: "Do you REALLY think it's going to happen today? Do you REALLY believe that Harold Camping is right?" Seriously, if each of these past "raptures" already occurred, then I'm pretty sure there wouldn't be over six billion people on this planet by now. (At worst, we'd probably be down to about 300,000 or so.)
As of today, there is no scientific proof that there will indeed be millions of people suddenly rising up and earning eternal life in the heavens and stars above. The only "proof" that these false prophets have been claiming comes from some little holy book that says that judgment is coming. This "Judgment Day" doesn't exist anywhere else but in theory papers and publications by Christian groups.
Of course, with today being what it supposedly is, skeptics and disbelievers living in time zones far ahead of me (GMT-8) have been a very good resource in terms of debunking the crap out of this. New Zealand isn't in a state of post-earthquake emergency, Londoners seem to be tweeting that nothing has happened, and the New York Police Department isn't even expecting a mass panic.
Of course, my friends who aren't buying this prediction are hosting rapture parties, with some of my Facebook friends joining in a "post-Rapture looting" that'll occur... if the rapture indeed happened.
Now here's a fun fact for you: even other Christians are denying any truth to Camping's claim. Level-headed believers cite Matthew 24:36 (KJV: "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.") by stating that there is no possible way anyone would know an actual date for any (pre-/post-) apocalyptic event. Christian-operated website RaptureFail calls Camping yet another false prophet as its users and friends report in worldwide that nothing has happened to them. (If I wasn't going to be at work, I'd be reporting in as well.)
I've been quoting others' views on today's "rapture," but I've yet to voice MY response. (Brace yourselves, easily-offended Christians.) I'm sorry to say this, but to you Christians ditching work and friends to go off and pray and prepare for your ascension: you are blind, petty fools who were easily swayed and swindled by a crazy and potentially-megalomaniacal and zealous Christian. I hope you get fired or suffer some horrible sickness or hangover or get some punishment that seems fitting for your transgression.**** Perhaps one day there WILL be a rapture, but it will claim you when you're not even expecting it. I only hope you're not driving a vehicle that anyone I care for's riding in.
So, to those of you who, like me, aren't buying this crap: let's just continue our lives as normal. We'll probably end up getting beers or something later and talking trash about everyone else.
To those of you who did: the rest of us will be making SO MUCH FUN OF YOU over a few rounds of beers. Fair warning, because I'm sure there's a few messed-up individuals who'd do far worse to you.
* = I would have linked Camping's official biography on Family Radio, but it wasn't loading. Hell, Family Radio itself was having problems loading for me. I checked my connections and found that my Internet is operating normally - which leaves me to assume that traffic's getting higher due to the numerous people who're now debunking this and lampooning Camping. Go, Internet!
** = I suppose this could be true. I mean, look at the numerous amounts of God-fearing people who lost their lives during World War I, the Roaring Twenties and WORLD WAR II. *scoffs sarcastically*
*** = Who's got a DeLorean with a flux capacitor? Go to 2060 and see if the world is gone for us, will you?
**** = I could have said "Die in a fire," but that just seems too mean - especially if one of my friends actually believed in this.
Now, I'm not sure if you read all of that. Fortunately (for you bastard skim-readers out there), I fashioned a TL;DR for you that will easily summarize this whole spiel:
DON'T PANIC
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