Category: Outside the Box

Non-mainstream thoughts and musings

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Time To Slow Down

So much has happened in the last few months. Where do I begin?

First, let me say I’m extremely thankful that there are people who actually still read what I write here.

Second, there have been huge changes in my life as of late. I started a new job (which I love, and am actually good at). My family joined a large church, participated in a local (to us) campus launch, and a year later, we ended up moving to a smaller, less hectic church environment. I’m slowly working on minimizing more things out of my life. I’m focusing on developing my relationship with God, and learning more about the Holy Spirit’s role in my life.

I’m playing music a lot. I’m working on cars a lot less. Remodeling the house. Teaching my kids. Serving my wife, and the church. Trying to keep a grip on everything.

I’m also still (after a long hiatus) co-hosting the awesome ADD Masterminds podcast.

But…

Continue reading “Time To Slow Down”

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I Literally Just Can’t

I have been frustrated lately. It seems as though God is trying to stretch me into things I wasn’t trying to stretch into. I’m having things thrown at me from every angle, and sometimes I can barely keep track of what day of the week it is, much less all the things people want me to do.

One of the things I want to prioritize is spending time with my kids. However, that’s hard to do when they’re teenagers, and don’t want to do anything with me. Or they want to do things with me that I can’t do. Makes it kind of hard. And I spend time taking care of them, cooking for them, cleaning up after them, playing with them, driving them places… any chance I get (when they’re not busy), I’m spending it with my kids. My dad never could do that with me. My kids have no idea how good they have it.

I’ve also got creative forces pulling me every which way, including writing another book, recording an album, and relaunching a podcast. Also rebuilding my ’65 Rambler. And possibly building more cosplay props. I’ve been asked to play in concerts, join in writer’s groups, attend ceremonies, organize activities, and who knows what else. I barely have the time and energy to do *one* of those, so certainly not all of them. Continue reading “I Literally Just Can’t”

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The Plan

I have thoughts on things.

My head is always full of thoughts on all kinds of things. Lots of things. Always.

Most of the time, it’s not important stuff. Such is the life of an adult ADD’er.

But sometimes…. sometimes, God gets a hold of me and I think about things that are important. Like “How am I going to multiply the gifts God has given me?” Or sometimes “How can I call myself a Christian when I fail all the time?” (I get this one quite frequently.)

Sometimes I get a wild idea to create something. And most of the time, before I can do anything about it, there’s a voice inside my head saying “Don’t bother. You won’t have time to do it the way you want. And you’re too distracted to finish it anyway.”

Sigh.

I have been asking God to give me clarity on this. I will always fight the battle of distractions, but I know God wants me to get through that barrier.

This is not for me… not to prove anything. I’ve already proved I can do things on my own. I need to rely on God for this.

I am getting to the point where I’m ready to do things again. I have a lot of things I want to do that I need to get out. And it’s going to require me to go into ADD Beast Mode© to get them done.

Continue reading “The Plan”

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The Nine Laws: Part Four

If you haven’t read them, start with my review of The Nine Laws, and subsequent part One, part Two, and part Three.

The Fourth Law is Endurance.

The word “endure” comes from the Latin root word “indurare” which means “to harden.” To Endure means to go through something “difficult, painful, or hard.” As opposed, of course, to not going through it, i.e. giving up.

Endurance is what separates good athletes (or warriors) from great ones. Most people have the capability to run, or to lift heavy things. But when you can do it repeatedly, or for extended periods of time, then you have endurance.

There are millions of websites that can show you how to develop physical endurance. It’s not that difficult, actually- the human body is phenomenal at adapting to a repeated exercise. If you progressively push yourself longer and longer, your body will gradually learn and adapt.

What there isn’t much information on, sadly, is Mental Endurance. And the most tragic thing about this is that without Mental Endurance, your physical endurance is practically worthless.

The principle of Mental Endurance can be embodied in the trait of Psychopathy: a complete removal from emotions. It is acceptance: not wishing things were different, but accepting them as they are.

Let’s ponder on this for a moment. Continue reading “The Nine Laws: Part Four”

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What I learned from Shounen Manga & Anime

“Shounen” is a term coined to describe Japanese comics and cartoons that are aimed at young men. The majority of these shows are targeted at teenage boys aged 12 to 18, and they all tend to gravitate around a common plot point: the ordinary main character becoming stronger and overcoming some seemingly impossible obstacle, and eventually unlocking his inner warrior/strength/purpose/champion.

These shows almost always center around competition- sometimes actual fighting, as in Boku No Hero Academia, and sometimes in sports, such as Haikyuu!! or Yowamushi Pedal. Sometimes it’s goofy stuff like Beyblades, or even cooking, like Shogekogu No Soma.

The idea, though, is that in each of these shows, they focus on sportsmanship and healthy competition. They don’t shy away from topics like ethics (in fact, there’s almost always a character who “bends” the rules and is frowned upon and shunned as the Bad Guy). They address things like motivations, purpose, personal development, strength, and training. And even in the case of the “Bad Guy” that nobody likes, their own motivations are usually revealed to be not entirely selfish. They also just want to win, they just don’t care what other people think of their methods (which is why nobody likes them).

I think one of the funniest things about the dialogue is when one character says “I will defeat you!” and their nemesis (usually the main character who is coming up through the ranks) says “I will defeat you, too!” It’s preposterous, but also kind of cool how their resolve allows them to each say “I will win” even when they both know one of them won’t. Maybe that’s a Japanese thing, but I like that it shows how each character honestly believes in their chances of success. Continue reading “What I learned from Shounen Manga & Anime”

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Free Speech As We Know It Is Dead

In the recent fallout after Gab.ai was banned from both the Apple App Store *and* Google’s Play Store, things have gotten interesting, and dangerous. At the same time, a well-known, notoriously antisemitic Neo-Nazi website was effectively erased from the internet without due process. During this whole debacle it was revealed that the entirety of the internet is controlled by only a few companies who can essentially censor the internet with impunity. And no one can stop them. (I’ll probably post more on this soon.)

Fast forward a few weeks: the “internet refugee” who was essentially erased from posting anything on the internet ends up on Gab.ai, which bills itself as a “Free Speech” platform. But when you look closer, you discover that the Gab.ai Terms of Service exclude posting content that is illegal, as subject to different jurisdictions. “But muh Freeze Peach!” you can hear the trolls crying. Sorry, but if you post something straight-up illegal, Gab.ai cannot protect you. And of course, everybody who could think more than a few steps ahead knew this was going to be tested (and proven) at some point. We’re not that surprised.

Now, this recent incident with the Neo-Nazis and Gab (and an unnamed Sci-Fi author) has sparked flames of indignation with the trolls: “How dare we get sued for posting whatever we want about anybody we want! Isn’t this a Free Speech site?” To which the answer is, There is no such thing as completely 100% free speech without consequences.

It means Free Speech, as they *thought* it was defined, does not exist. And the interesting part is, it really never did.

So what does that mean for people like me and you, who don’t necessarily espouse the ideals of radicals on either side, but still want the freedom to speak our mind? Continue reading “Free Speech As We Know It Is Dead”

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Becoming The Character: Sun Wukong

Over the last few months, I’ve been sucked into the show RWBY, produced by Rooster Teeth, the same guys who made Red Vs. Blue and Lazer Team. In essence, the show takes place in another world where monstrous Grimm roam the countryside, and evil threatens to rip the world apart.

Besides it being animated, the fight scenes are extremely well done. Most of the fighting was choreographed based on actual martial arts skills, which gives the show a wonderful real-world quality. Several of the martial arts scenes were actually motion-captures of the show’s creator, Monty Oum. There are several excellent heroes and villains in the show, but when I was thinking of candidates for whom to emulate, the first one that came to mind wasn’t one of the main characters, but a supporting character: Sun Wukong.

Sun is a laid-back kind of guy (a large part of why I like him) and is also a faunus, which are part-animal humanoids. He’s a bit of a scoundrel, but we also see him being very devoted to his friends. He fights with at least two distinct martial arts disciplines, and executes several slick parkour and gymnastic moves as well. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that he’s got killer abs and nice hair. He’s mischievous, but not rude or mean. He’s confident, smart, and loyal. The area he hails from isn’t big on dressing up, and he’s not overly concerned with impressing people. He’s comfortable with who and what he is. In short, he’s the kind of guy I would want to be. (Some would say we have a lot in common: sadly, abs and nice hair aren’t among those things). Continue reading “Becoming The Character: Sun Wukong”

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Monday Isn’t My Favorite Day

I’ve been encouraged in the last few days, only to feel defeated again this morning. I am going to have to throw myself back into the pursuit of God if I’m going to manage to keep my head on straight.

I don’t know why this is messing with my head so much. It’s not like I’m trying to be perfect. But something about this is just rubbing me the wrong way- there’s something there I can’t put my finger on. I guess I still have strongholds of the mind, but finding them is hard. And tearing them down is even harder.

It would be nice if I could just go back to not caring about anything again, but I know that’s not what God has in store for me. Sometimes I wonder if I ever really wanted to become something great. Maybe I’d be okay just as a regular guy, with nothing else special about me. But when I think about where God has brought me, and what He’s given me, I am encouraged. There’s a driving purpose to what He’s doing all around us, and I’m trying to look past my own shortcomings to see what’s really important.

What am I doing today? I’m going to try to find a job. I’m going to try to figure out what to do about my small business (that isn’t really a business, because I’m not making any money at it). I’m going to try to write some more on my novel, in hopes that just maybe someone will like it and I can get a publishing contract. Or something. Plus I’m working on learning music and preparing for our church’s new campus launch in 5 weeks.

I’ve got a lot on my mind, but I’m in a place where I can’t do much about it. So I have to figure out what I can do, and go in that direction.

I never could get the hang of Mondays.

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Near-Life Experience

“We just had a near-life experience, fellas!”

Today has been 6 years since I got hit by a car. I can’t believe how far I’ve come since then, and how good God has been to me and my family.

I’ve learned so much since then! And I can honestly say I’ve heard God’s voice on these times in ways I never could have imagined beforehand. God has a way of getting your attention like that.

I’m not going to make a huge deal of it, because- you know- life goes on. But just wanted to say that every year my hip hurts less and less, and this year it’s almost completely normal. I’ve been doing a lot of cycling (more at the beginning of the year, but I’m getting back into it) and I thought it would protest, but amazingly, it’s been quite uneventful, which is good when you’re talking about potential problem areas.

Along these lines, I’m looking at starting up a bicycle-themed men’s small Bible study group. There’s tons of life applications we can learn together from it, and I’m looking forward to that possibility. All of this will happen at our new church home, of course- I’ll post more about that transition when I can put my thoughts together on it. Lots to say there, but I want to say it in a way that doesn’t come across as critical, because it wasn’t under bad terms at all.

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Social Media Fast

After some extended time of prayer yesterday, I realized that I hadn’t been spending enough time reading Scripture or praying.

Since I started a new job a few weeks ago, I’ve been pretty busy. I’m still trying to do the same amount of things I did before, but with 9 less hours a day to get it done. At least I don’t have to work weekends!! Thank God for that- but I have to focus more to get the same amount of stuff done.

God brought to my mind the fact that in September, we’re going to be helping launch a new church campus here. And He (ever so gently) reminded me that I need to focus on preparing for that, to which I replied “God, what can I do to more fully focus on this new church plant?” to which He replied “you don’t really need to be on social media, now do you?”

*Gulp.*

“God, do You mean Twitter, Google+, Facebook, Gab.ai, and internet forums? Those social media sites?”

Yeah, those.

So, I’m going to be taking a (mostly) sabbatical from social media in order to focus on the task God has laid before me.

“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Hebrews 12:1-3

I won’t completely isolate myself from social media (and I’m not even sure that’s possible in this day and age) but I’m severely scaling back my time spent there. I don’t need to have news stories, drama, stupidity, and whatnot distracting me from my purpose. Yeah, there’s plenty of encouraging things I see there too, but I have almost no way to filter that, thanks to Big Social’s inability to discern what’s good and what isn’t.

In the meanwhile, I’ll be able to work on music, prayer, and writing. This is probably for the best all around. I’ll post updates here as things go, so stay tuned!