Well, I'm all done with college. I now have a B.A. behind my name. It doesn't really feel any different. That's probably because I don't have a full-time "career" yet. It's also because I know I'm not done. I probably have six years of school left! Yikes. It's a good thing I finally like school now, haha.

In other big news, I'm moving back to Escondido. Rent is just too expensive up here in Whittier/La Mirada. I also haven't been working much at In-N-Out up here, because the store has been really slow. I'm finally quitting too! This week marks my 4 year anniversary at In-N-Out. Wow. It's definitely time to move on. That's too long cooking french fries, haha. Hopefully I will be able to start working as either a substitute teacher or a tutor this Fall. I'm really looking forward to it. I can't wait to start getting some experience working in a classroom, without the burden of actually being responsible for a class full-time. :P It's also good money, apparently.

In addition to working I'll be taking classes at Westminster Seminary in Escondido to get my M.A. in Historical Theology. I'm only taking 6 units this semester, and in all likelihood I'll only take 6 units for the next few semesters, until Steph gets her R.N. and can start working as a nurse. Unfortunately, the M.A. program is 74 units, so it's going to take a while at that rate! Hopefully I'll be able to work out taking 12 units per semester sometime soon, but if I do it will be very hard to work, so I don't know. It will all work out. As long as I can get into a PhD program at Oxford before I'm 30, I'll be alright! :P

Hmm...after reading that last paragraph I was just struck with how much debt I'm going to be in at the end of my education. Haha. It's a good thing my wife is going to be a nurse!

I'm really looking forward to being back in Escondido, especially because we'll be closer to family and friends from church. Steph and I have gotten a chance to become much closer to my Pastor and his wife recently, primarily because they became so close to my Grandpa just before he died. It will be nice to be home and be back in a close community of loving, generous people.

The only thing that sucks about moving is that we have to leave our friends from Biola. A group of my closest friends just moved into the same apartment complex this summer, right before we're moving! It's such rotten timing. They're such a great group of people, and most of them are philosophy majors, so we always have riveting discussions. I'm going to miss those very much.

Still, I always love these times of big change in my life. Inevitably, whenever I look back on such big changes, I always see God's providence at work. I'm a very "go with the flow" type of person, which probably makes me quite open to God's leading. All the big decisions in my life, even the ones that weren't made by me, have always lead to something good. Going to Iowa for one year and coming back might have seemed like a mistake, the people I met there and the closer bonds of friendship I formed with people from back home definitely made it worth it, and they have lasted. In fact, I am standing up in my friend Donald's wedding in a few weeks, but only because the time I spent with him in Iowa helped us to grow close. Should I have stayed in Iowa? Well, coming back to California when I did more or less "sealed my fate" with Stephanie, and now we're married! And obviously coming to Biola has been a huge blessing in my life. The people I've met, both students and professors, have been wonderful, loving people who have helped me grow as a person. And the education I have received has not only broadened my horizons and filled my head with lots of facts, but it has done what a classical education was always supposed to do: taught me how to think and made me a better person. I still have a lot growing to do, and I hope I will continue.

And now again I feel God's hand in my life. The plan was to stay here in Whittier, work as a substitute, take a few Masters classes at Biola, and wait for Steph to get into a Masters in Nursing program. But so many things conspired at once to cause us to consider moving back to Escondido now, rather than years from now. It almost seemed like the decision was made before we really stopped to think about it. And then it just seemed so right. Now my friend Donald is talking about moving back out here after he finishes Law school. And Dustin and some of my friends from Biola who are originally from the San Diego area are also talking about moving back soon. So I'm very optimistic about the future. I just hope that everyone doesn't decide to move back home right when I'm leaving for Oxford! They'll start to think I'm trying to avoid them. :P

Thinking back to those little quizzes I took in elementary school, I'm forced to wonder what can be done in our society. They were called "Fact/Opinion" quizzes. Surely you remember them.

1. The Empire State Building is x feet tall: F O

2. A rose is beautiful: F O

Look at all familiar? Naturally for statement number one you're supposed to circle the "F" for fact. What about statement number two? You're expected to circle "O" for opinion since, after all, beauty is only in the eye of the beholder. But is this right?

Show someone a rose and what are they likely to say, that it's beautiful or ugly? Even if the person doesn't particularly care for roses, the average person is likely to call it beautiful. In fact, I dare say there hasn't been a person (or at least a culture) in history that hasn't considered the rose to be beautiful. This should at least make you wonder. If everyone in the world, from different times and different cultures, has thought that a rose is beautiful, might we say that it actually has objective beauty? Possibly.

Take it a step further. Show a room full of people two pictures, side by side, one of a sunset on the beach and one of a pile of dead bodies at a Nazi concentration camp. Then ask them which picture is more beautiful. It's possible to get the occasional sicko who thinks that pictures of dead bodies are cool, but I have no doubt that the vast majority of people would say without hesitation that the picture of the sunset is more beautiful, even if they aren't typically all that thrilled with sunsets. But now consider what's just happened. If the observation about the rose lead us to wonder about objective beauty, this should really do so. Why? Because now we're making judgments about things being MORE or LESS beautiful than other things, and such judgments can only be made in relation to some objective standard.

Notice also, that there is a difference between personal taste and appreciation of beauty. Someone who isn't all that thrilled by roses might find a tulip much more beautiful, and so we're inclined to think of beauty itself as being a mere matter of opinion. But we stop and think about that for a moment, we'd see that we've made a huge leap. It's perfectly fine for me to think that my wife is the most beautiful women on earth, and moreover it's equally fine for others to disagree with me on that. but notice that neither being the case detracts from either my wife or another women being beautiful.

What's the point to all this? I think that many of the problems we face in our culture are a result of a loss of objective beauty. This would especially effect women. If beauty isn't objective (and moreover, if human beings have no inherent value), then a person is only beautiful if someone else says so. Is it any wonder that the messages we try to send to our young teens about not caring what others think don't get through? We're being completely inconsistent as a culture! If we train our children to think that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, guess where they're going to look for affirmation of their beauty? In the eye of the beholder! It seems so obvious right now, written out in this way, and yet we never even think about it.

These are mostly just my constantly forming/progressing thoughts on the matter, so I'm really not sure where I stand at this point. What I do know is that traditional Christian thought has held that there are three objective ideas in the world; Goodness, Truth and Beauty. Historically speaking, these notions are not unique to Christianity. In fact, every major culture throughout history has held these three concepts to be objective, at least for a time. And in all of those cultures, beauty was the first to lost its objective value, and truth and goodness weren't far behind. Thus it's possible (and, as I said, I'm still thinking all this through, so I'm not sure I entirely buy all of this yet) that the downfall of every culture throughout history can be traced to its denial of objective standards of beauty. We can already see some evidence of this in our own culture. The whole beauty in the eye of the beholder bit has been around for a while now, and what do we see today? Truth is now under attack. Relativism seems to be becoming more and more popular all the time. Will goodness itself be next? I don't know, but if nothing is true, how can anything be truly good?

I think this entry got progressively more disorganized as I went along. :P

I decided I should update this thing every once in a while, seeing as how much I enjoy going back a year or two later and reading my old thoughts. LJ also helps me remember things I might have otherwise forgotten.

I just finished the semester last week Wednesday. My last "final" was writing a 10-page paper on Plato's "Timaeus", which ended up being a paper on "Republic", "Timaeus" AND "Critias" and how the three dialogs are interrelated. I always start small with my paper topics, but no matter how hard I try I always end up with a very "big picture" thesis. I still haven't figured out what type of person I am; the kind who starts with the big picture and finds his way from there to the details, or the kind who gets the details and from there extrapolates the big picture. From the way I write my papers you'd assume that it was the latter, but I could very well have the big picture in mind all along as I'm trying to figure out the details, and then simply end up back at the big picture in the end. *shrugs*

So, after having four whole days of freedom from school (two of which I had to work, all four of which I was sick) I'm now in summer school. I'm taking Spanish 102. I decided it would be best to take it during the summer, since I don't do well trying to learn a language on top of a bunch of other classes, all of which I find far more interesting than trying to learn a language. :P I also figured it would be nice to get it done with in just three weeks. Of course, that means that I have class Monday-Friday from 8am to Noon. Yikes! And my textbook (which comes with a dictionary I might use, and workbook I don't think we use, and a CD I know we won't use) was $150! Double yikes! I wasn't planning on that, but I guess it's a good thing I'll be working a lot more now. In addition to In-N-Out, I just got a part-time job with Biola's Apologetics department. It's mostly just tedious office work, but I get unlimited access to audio lectures by J. P. Moreland, William Lane Craig, and John Mark Reynolds, among others. All for free, of course. Plus I get to meet the speakers when I help out at events. All very fun. And since it's an on-campus student position, I pretty much get to make my own hours and fit in work around my school schedule (and spending time with my beautiful wife, of course!). Sadly, I have to work almost all nights at In-N-Out, typically 5 - 11pm. So, class from 8 until Noon, a few hours to study or work at the Apologetics department, and then work at In-N-Out until 11, come home and go to bed. Repeat until the end of summer. Haha.

What a summer it will be! Can't wait for Hawaii!!

The last time I posted something here was July 5th! That was so long ago!

Now the last time I posted here was April 24th...that's not so bad. :P

I just spent the last hour reading through a bunch of my jounral entries for the past two years. I love doing it, not only because I get to remember what I was thinking so long ago, but also because I start to notice patterns. For example, almost every entry for the past two years has ended with me talking about how late it is and how little sleep I'll get.

Anyway, it's really late now and I'm not going to get enough sleep, so I'm off to bed. :D

I'm engaged. :)

I found an IMAX playing Superman in 3D. It's in Irvine, only about an hour drive from here. I'm definately going!

Now I need to go to bed before I die...of needing-to-go-to-bedness. -_-

I saw Superman again yesterday. Then I went to Barnes & Nobles and bought the soundtrack, which is amazing. I'm going to take my mom to see it for the 4th of July. I'm so upset that there isn't an IMAX theatre anywhere near me. It's freakin Superman in IMAX! And not just IMAX...IMAX 3D!! I would literally have a 30 foot Superman flying out of the screen at me. That's a childhood fantasy come true. I would seriously drive for hours to see that, but I don't think anyone would come with me. A couple of my friends actually thought Superman was too slow and a little boring...but then again these are the same guys who are downright giddy about Ghostrider...so...yeah.

Leave your name and:
1. I'll respond with something random about you.
2. I'll challenge you to try something.
3. I'll pick a color that associates with you.
4. I'll tell you something I like about you.
5. I'll tell you my first/clearest/funniest memory of you.
6. I'll tell you what animal you remind me of.
7. I'll ask you something I've always wanted to ask you.
8. If I do this for you, you must post this on yours.

I love this man as if he were my own son.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcIRXur61II

This movie looks really funny. And movies with lots of famous people are usually good. :P

http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox_searchlight/thankyouforsmoking/trailer/

Drat! It isn't playing near me. Oh well, that's why God invented DVD.

Politicians are drawn to cameras like flies are drawn to...

politicians. :P

I know these are old, but they still bring fuzzy feelings to my heart, as if I'm reading them for the first time...every time. There's actually 32 facts...because I started at zero. What? *shrugs* I really like the last three. :P

0. When you ask Chuck Norris what time it is, he always says "two seconds till." By the time you ask him, "two seconds till what?" he roundhouse kicks you in the face.
1. Chuck Norris’ tears cure cancer. Too bad he has never cried.
2. Chuck Norris does not sleep. He waits.
3. Chuck Norris is currently suing NBC, claiming Law and Order are trademarked names for his left and right legs.
4. The chief export of Chuck Norris is pain.
5. Chuck Norris defines love as the reluctance to murder. If you’re still alive, it’s because Chuck Norris loves you.
6. Chuck Norris isn’t hung like a horse. Horses are hung like Chuck Norris.
7. If you can see Chuck Norris, he can see you. If you can’t see Chuck Norris you may be only seconds away from death.
8. Chuck Norris is what Willis was talking about
9. There are no disabled people. Only people who have met Chuck Norris.
10. Chuck Norris can win a game of Monopoly without owning any property.
11. There is no theory of evolution, just a list of creatures Chuck Norris allows to live.
12. In fine print on the last page of the Guinness Book of World Records it notes that all world records are held by Chuck Norris, and those listed in the book are simply the closest anyone has ever gotten.
13. Chuck Norris invented cancer because he was tired of killing people
14. In an average living room there are 1,242 objects Chuck Norris could use to kill you, including the room itself.
15. Chuck Norris is the only man to ever defeat a brick wall in a game of tennis.
16. Chuck Norris is the reason why Waldo is hiding.
17. When Chuck Norris goes to donate blood, he declines the syringe, and instead requests a hand gun and a bucket.
18. Chuck Norris simply walks into Mordor.
19.When Chuck Norris jumps into a body of water, he doesn’t get wet. The water gets Chuck Norris instead.
20. Chuck Norris can divide by zero.
21. Chuck Norris can set ants on fire with a magnifying glass. At night.
22. Chuck Norris fought the law. And won.
23. Ever wondered why Hawaii is so far out in the Pacific? It used to be a small pineapple-producing island 20 miles off the coast of San Diego. During one visit, Chuck Norris ate a bad pineapple…

The rest, my friends, is history.
24. Chuck Norris can draw a triangle with only two strait lines
25. Chuck Norris isn't lactose intolerant, he just doesn't put up with any of lactose's shit.
26. A cashier once asked Chuck Norris, “Paper or plastic.” Chuck Norris replied, “If you say so,” and roundhouse kicked her in the face.
27. According to Newton’s laws of physics, Chuck Norris can Roundhouse kick you in the face yesterday.
28.Chuck Norris sold his soul to the devil for his rugged good looks and unparralleled martial arts ability. Shortly after the transaction he roundhouse kicked the devil in the face and took his soul back. The devil, who appreciates irony, couldn’t stay mad and admitted he should’ve seen it coming. They now play poker every wednesday night.
29. President Bush had a plan for the exit strategy in Iraq. Unfortunately Chuck Norris was busy.
30. Originally God wanted ten days. Chuck Norris gave him six.
31. Chuck Norris CAN believe it’s not butter.

So silly, yet so good.

Wow, my two favorite actors...together for the first time...in technicolor?

Who else is love?

pseudomonas me scripsit anno 2005



I am love, aren't I? :P

Well, it's been another one of those LJ dry spells (though not as long as some have been in the past). With the advent of MySpace and Blogger, I've all but forgotten about this particular venue for ranting and random musing. So, what's there to say? I suppose there's actually a lot to say, given that my last few entries hardly count for anything, so this dry spell has really been a lot longer than it seems.

I'm no longer a film major. Sure, I filmmed Allee's brother's wedding (which was a lot of fun, and the DVD should be arriving shortly for your stamp of approval my dear) and I just filmmed my old high school's fall play, which I'm now working on, but it's definately not the ultimate career path for me. My major is now philosophy. You see, I've spent the past four years (ever since I knew what a college major realyl was) with this notion that I need a specific career in mind to choose a major. The problem is that you can't really do that, since you won't know what career is right for you until you actually start working. It was that notion that first lead me to become a business major, but I have no interst in business and I hated my econ class. This same notion then lead me to film, which was a job I actually thought I would enjoy, but now I've decided against that. Then they tell you to pick a major based on what interests you. Well, I tried physics and decided I didn't like doing the calculus (one year in high school was more than enough for me). I LOVE asrtonomy, but not as a career (again, too much calculus), it's more of a hobby for me. Again, I came back to film, because the though of writing stories and turning them into movies really interested me, but not so much anymore. I just don't have the drive.

This is when I start getting frustrated. What do I have the drive to do? What do I truly have a passion for? I start imagining all those doctors as little kids, playing with toy doctor kits and reading anatomy books. Or the TURE film majors, who were getting out there and making short films with their friends in every spare moment they had. I thought I had a passion for writing, but I didn't spend every waking hour of my life writing some new story or immursing myself in great works of fiction. The only thing I seemed passionate about was movies. Name any movie and I could probably tell you the director, composer, release date and numerous other facts about it. But I already decided a film career was out. So what's left? I am really passionate about nothing? Will I end up becomming a manager at In-N-Out for the rest of my life?

The funny thing about philosophy is that it's something we all use (or do) all the time. We philosophize everyday. Everyone has a philosophy about everything, even if they don't know what it is. So when someone's passion is such an abstract discipline, it's not so easy to tell. As it turns out, I do spend every free moment I have writing, but not fiction. I write on my blog (not on myspace or LJ mind you, those I use just to keep in touch with people) and I comment on my friends' blogs. And what do we talk about all the time, not just on blogs but in person? Not about cars and sports, like real men are supposed to, or about celebrity gossip and what happend on our favorite TV shows this week, but about politics and religion, about the big issues that mean something to us. I've always heard that if you're passionate about something it's the last thing you think of before bed and the first thing you think of when you wake up. Well I realized that the last thing I do before bed is sit there in the dark, my mind racing in 20 different directions, thinking about all the things I've read on people's blogs or LJ's or Myspace's. Or all the things I've talked about in my philosophy or political science calsses. Or of what I've been reading in some book about science or religion or both. All the big questions that everyone is talking about, but few people understand. I lay there trying to understand them. And if I feel moved, I'll write my thoughts in my blog the next day, or I'll comment on someone else's thoughts on the same subject. THIS is what I'm passionate about. Philosophy: the study of everything.

So what does it really mean for me? Let me put it this way; Republicans are greedy, heartless biggots who only care about making a buck and Democrats are irrational, self-important, morally bankrupt wackos. I don't care about either of them, because it isn't about politicians it's about ideas. I want to know the truth behind an issue, not which political party supports it and which doesn't. I'm a conservative and a Christian, not a champion for the Republican party. I'm suposed to be a champion for Christ, not George W Bush. Do I vote Republican more often? Sure. And for right now that has as much to do with how I was raised as with what I personally believe. In any case, my being a Republican on paper doesn't mean my mind is closed to accepting new or different ideas, as some people seem to think.

So what will I do with a philosophy major? I dunno yet. Maybe I'll teach college philosophy someday, or write a few books. I'm planning on minoring in biology as well, since I still love science, and science and philsophy walk hand-in-hand [despite what the empericists would have you beleive (which is ironic, since empericism is a philosophy anyway)]. I also love a good philosophical discussion (or debate, as they usually turn out), but not in person. I'm terribly shy in person and I write a lot better than I speak.

Um, other than that I'm still just going to school and work as usual. Superman Returns comes out next June (the movie website just went online yesterday). Yay for superman. And now it's late, I pulled a muscle in my back yesterday and it's been killing me, work double killed me today, and now I need sleep (since I don't get any during the week). I love it when you don't post for months and then you have lots and lots to say. I should try the short and frequent posting method, but I've never been very good at that.

ZZZzzz...

So, Francine Busby came to my school today, at the behest of the Democrat Club. My Polisci professor caught me on my way to go sit down and have a quiet lunch while I waited for Steph to get out of class and asked if I would stay and help fill the seats (since they were all still empty 10 minutes before she was due to speak). I agreed, and soon after Mrs. Busby arrived I was surrounded by other students, most of whom were members of the Democrat Club (some students from the Rebuplican Club also attended). I ended up sitting right next to one of my managers from work, who writes for the school newspaper.

Later that day, when I got to work, my manager told me that I would probably get my picture put in next weeks's paper. She said the photographer specifiaclly asked her for my name. Upon hearing this I immediately began invisioning the picture of me sitting with Democrats, listening to Francine Busby speak, right on the front page of the Palomar College Telescope. Below the picture is the caption: "David Nilsen joins Palomar College Democrats in welcomming Francine Busby to speak on campus last thursday morning." And thus any hope of my running for President as a Republican someday is lost. Haha.

So yeah, I should be doing homework right now. I'm watching The West Wing and taking online quizes instead. Frankly that's just more important. :P

Well, it's August 24th again. Yep, that's my birthday. This would be number 20. As far as birthdays go this one isn't all that great. I had school all day today after getting about 5 hours of sleep last night and now I'm working on moving more loads of stuff from our old house to the new one. So, yeah, the only real birthday-ish thing I'm doing today is going to dinner with my mom. That's fine though, I'm really tired still. I'm having a couple little shindigs this weekend with Steph and some other people. And my aunt and uncle are making me dinner on Sunday, which is awesome cuz they're like gourmet chefs and they make really good food. Now I'm back to moving...oh...and Star Trek is on Spike right now. Haha.

I had one of those empty days again. The kind where you have all day to do anything (or least until 5 when I had to go to work) and you end up doing nothing. We're suppose to be moved out of this house by the end of August and I still haven't started packing anything or getting rid of anything I'm not taking with me. I probably should have been doing that all day. Eh. I hate weird transitional periods, and I'm not just speaking about the move.

I also got off work early tonight. They sent me home at 8 instead of 11. I actually had the option of staying, but instead of being smart and working as many hours as I can I decided to go. I really should have stayed though, I need to be making as much money as I can in the next few weeks or I'll start to get behind on my car and insurence payments. Ugh. At this point I'm really not looking forward to becomming an adult. When I left work I decided to just go for a drive and listen to some music. I actually enjoy driving when I don't really have anywhere to go, and it seems the only place I get to listen to music is in my car. I also stopped and picked up the director's cut of Dare Devil. I really didn't like the original version of the movie, but this one was a lot better. It's about 30 minutes longer (bringing it up to 2 hours) and almost all of those 30 minutes are devoted to the story, rather than the action. So basically we would have had a pretty good movie in the theatres if someone hadn't decided to cut out all the good plot stuff and leave us with a 90-minute, fast-paced, yet ultimately uninteresting action movie. I still don't like Ben Afflek, but I like the movie much better now.

Ah, and once again it's 2 am. I could have gone to bed early for once, but again I chose not to. Oh well, I'm going to have 8 am classes everyday once school starts, so I guess I should enjoy my late nights while I can.

I tried to download Fantastic 4 today and I ended up with some horribly cheesy 80's version that I didn't even know existed. Haha. Oh well, I suppose I should stop being a pirate anyway.

Sigh. I just decided that I had more fun last week in Sac than I have in a long time. I think I'll go back...in, oh say, a month or so. :) Until then it's back to the mundane. And I may need to get a second job. bleh.