i would just like to say...

I love not having to do homework anymore!!!

Love it.

angels & demons

I recently finished reading Angels & Demons by Dan Brown, which is the prequel to The Da Vinci Code. It was a very good suspense thriller, and I think the plot was more interesting and varied than that of Da Vinci Code. It also deals with a mysterious real-life legend type thing, which in this book involves the Illuminati. Like Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons revealed interesting tidbits about significant artwork that were related to the Illuminati, but I didn't find these tidbits nearly as fascinating as the ones relating to Mary Magdalene. It was a great book nonetheless.

embracing change

As you may or may not know, I went to a retreat this past weekend called Embracing Change, which is affiliated with Conversations with God. It was an amazing experience and absolutely life-changing.

Basically, the retreat taught us to apply the beliefs and principles of CWG in a very real and experiencial way. A lot of it has to do with sharing our baggage in a safe space with other people in the room, the purpose of which is to help us accept the "shadow" parts of ourselves so that we can let them go. What came out of it for me was a sense that we all have the same difficulties and that all we really want is love and acceptance. And I experienced, perhaps for the first time, what unconditional love feels like. It was incredible.

Of course, it didn't hurt that Christian Pankhurst, who started the retreat, is 25 and gorgeous and British, and our other retreat host, Andrew, is gorgeous and Australian. I took pictures with them, but until I get them developed, here's a pic of Christian and Neale Donald Walsch from their website.


This beautiful man also has the warmest hug ever. It felt like he hugged you with his entire body and his heart.

Some side benefits I got out of the retreat:
- I finally got over Steve after eight months.
- I no longer feel any desire to keep playing A Tale in the Desert (which was a huge time sucker).
- I am no longer embarassed about crying in front of people.
- I have a new appreciation for the people who get on my nerves in my life.
- and, of course, getting to know a bunch of wonderful souls.

new almost-weekly-when-I-get-around-to-it quote

Resentment is drinking poison and expecting someone else to die.

-- Christian Pankhurst, Embracing Change retreat

addictive substance

So I have written some thoughts I am going to post, but it's not quite organized yet. And I'm not going to bother organizing it during my free time at home because I'm currently hooked on a MMORPG called A Tale in the Desert II. It's an MMORPG without combat, and basically you spend your time learning new skills, gathering raw materials and working with other people to build new technology and projects. It's like Harvest Moon meets Civilization. It started its open beta recently, so it's free to everyone, but they're still working out kinks in the gameplay. If you're going to play, feel free to look me up. My game handle is Mimis.

another cwg quote

Here's another quote of the week.

Until you see God in the face of your enemy, you cannot see God at all. For in truth, there is no such thing as an “enemy.” There is only that part of you which is in contrast to another part of you. God doesn’t exist for you if He exists for you only in the things and the people you like. God isn’t real for you if She is experienced by you only in those things with which you agree.

The real master is the one who knows and understands that God exists in, as, and through all things. That God is absent from no one and nothing.

Neale Donald Walsch
Tomorrow’s God
Page 142

free fantasy/sci-fi ebooks

Baen Free Library

Indirectly through Slashdot, I found this publisher who has his authors put up their books on the Internet for free, as a marketing strategy. The introductory article tells how it all came about. Pretty neat stuff. I'll have to download some into my PDA when I get a chance.

introducing: quote of the week

I don't know why I hadn't thought of this early, but posting a good quotation is a great way to do a post easily when I'm being lazy. These will probably come from my current stash of quotes, books I'm reading, and various CWG sources. Here goes the first quote.

God is the Source of all that is creative. Answers are not creative. As soon as you think you have an answer, you stop creating. Answers kill creation.

The last thing you want is the final answer to anything. A "possible answer," maybe. An "interim answer," perhaps. But a "final answer"? Never.

Ultimately, there is only one question in life. That question is, "Who am I?" It is a question to which you never want a final answer.

Stay with the question. Retain always with the inquiry. For within the inquiry is the power and the motivation and the passion to create. And creation is the glory of God, made manifest over and over again in ever new and never-final ways, through the process called Life itself.

Neale Donald Walsch
Tomorrow’s God
Pages 199-200

GK3

I actually did fire up Gabriel Knight 3 again and played it through (on my new laptop; the DVD drive on my desktop has trouble installing anything these days). It wasn't nearly as good as the first time I played it. I think the first time it was the story and the ideas in it that appealed to me so much. Now that I'm familiar with both, the gameplay and dated graphics alone don't do much for me.

wow...

I hadn't realized I didn't post anything for an entire month! Well, let's see... in July my birthday came and went. Didn't do anything for it. My aunt and cousins came over from Texas and we all went down to San Diego, where we stayed in a big house on a hill with an ocean view. The weather was perfect, sunny and cool at the same time -- except when we went to Wild Animal Park, which was more inland and therefore hotter. Had lots of good food -- a given in my family -- and gained like 5 pounds (I've since lost some of that though). I'll be going on a 7-day cruise in October, and I'm kind of afraid of the unlimited food there. I know I shouldn't stuff myself silly, but I can't help it sometimes.