The House of my Dreams

What would be the house of my dreams?  A dream house, like a dream car, would be needing a certain glamour as of good looks.  As well, it would need a balance of practicality and aesthetic appearance. Lastly and most importantly, my dream house would be able to function as a comfortable residence.  There is a multitude of factors that would make my house a dream house.  

To begin with, my dream house would need to look good.  A house that simply isn’t nice to look at is not my dream house.  The right colours of paint on the interior and exterior would be important to consider.  I’ve never been too crazy for excessive decor in homes, but I would definitely want a reasonable amount of pictures or paintings to emblazon my dream home.  As for other decorative features like sculptures and pottery, I think I could pass up on those. Decorating your home can be joyous, but there is more to a home than style.

In terms of practicality, a dream home would need all the basics of your average home.  A place to sleep is a must in every home, and my dream home would be no such exception. A kitchen and bathrooms are also standard and would need a presence in my dream home.  Lastly, for basics, a place to spend most of my time watching television or playing games would be needed, in the form of a living room. Since I do plan on sleeping, I would omit the presence of a television in my bedroom.  The basic functions of a home are widespread.  

However, my dream home would have more than the average unconventional functions and features.  Unconventional would mean more luxurious than average. Entertainment devices and high-end couches would have their place in my dream home.  A large backyard would be necessary should I have pets that need outdoor space.  A kitchen with an abundance of hardware for cooking is also something I would desire for my dream home.  The list goes on for elements of a home that can make a dream home.  

A dream house can take many shapes.  My dream home would need a look that suits my style.  A dream house or not, any residence needs the basic functions of a home; a roof over your head.  And more importantly for being a true dream house, features beyond the average home would be desirable.  A house becomes a dream home when you make it your own.

The Car of My Dreams

What is the car of my dreams?  This is not a question I have asked myself too often.  A dream car couldn’t just be something for showboating, I believe that it should be practical.  There must also be a balance between aesthetically pleasing and practical. Another thing that would make a car a dream car, would be its ability to drive.  Although there are plenty of good choices for a car for teens, To be perfectly honest, I couldn’t think of my dream car off the top of my head right now. But, with a little more thought, I have faith that I could think of a dream car that would suit me just right.  

To begin with, every car needs to have practical implications.  I wouldn’t want a car made completely from gold, nor one built for the sake of pure luxury.  My dream car would need a sturdy frame and suspension that could handle the Alberta landscape.  A car designed to be able to handle winter and uneven terrain would be a must.  The last thing I would want would be a car that falls apart after a drive through the ice and snow.  

As well, my dream car would have to be pleasing to the eye.  A fine shape and model would be a necessity.  The right colour would also be crucial.  I would likely go with something more common, like black, with a nice shine to it.  The car of my dreams would be nothing too extraordinary, but definitely, something to strike my fancy.

One more aspect of being a dream car would be its ability to get to your destination.  The ability to drive is a priceless aspect of any automobile.  Something with a V8 and plenty of horsepower is in my interest.  A sizeable gas tank would also be needed.  Getting from point A to point B would be the real purpose of a car, would it not?

The car of my dreams would be a 2020 Chevy Camaro.  Although mainly for aesthetics, this car is also my choice because it has great specs.  Elegance and authenticity embody this car’s looks.  The V8 engine, 455 horsepower, and around 6000 horsepower rpm, this car would be a car of my dreams for sure.  This car is nothing short of dream-worthy. 

Rosiness or Gloomy Gray: On Viewing the World #7

When viewing the world, do we see rosiness or gloomy gray?  Many would say that they see the gloominess and drab of the world.  Certainly, others would also say that there are rosiness and blissfulness in the world.  Some of us see both, myself included.  The writing prompt I chose was an interesting voice to this topic; the topic of the world being rosy or gloomy.  

It is obvious to see why people might tend to believe solely in the gloominess of the world.  More often than not we see bad news from our sources of media.  However, according to this writing prompt, the rain we see falling in the world looks harder through the windows of media than it really is.  The media may overemphasize world events to bring seeming validity to their sources.  However, this does not mean that it isn’t raining outside.  There are conflicts in the world that we hear about.  Humans have found ways to ruin their very environment we rely on for survival.  There are injustices and inequities; all signs of human failure.  And for these reasons, I can understand why people view the world as gloomy gray.

On the contrary,  there is also reasoning behind why people may see the world as a rosy place to be.  Alongside threats of war and pandemics, we also receive news of improving technology; a sign of human success.  People find a myriad of ways to be hopeful even in a struggling world.  Hope is what powers our drive for success.  And from this hope, we can drive ourselves to further successes.  If we view the world as merely a gloomy gray wasteland, how can we begin to hope to fix it?

The third group of people to mention here would be those who see the good and bad in the world.   I see events in the world that are beneficial, and others that are negative.  Yin and yang exist in our daily lives.  Though we’d all certainly like to live completely in the yang, life would be unbalanced without the bad elements.  In a piano song, the black keys may represent the sad parts of life, and white keys the happiness in life; both are needed to make a song; a balanced life.  This writing prompt I chose is representative of both these views because although it mentions the rain coming down, it also reassures us by mentioning that the storm looks worse than it is.

So, when I view the world, I see rosiness, and an amount of gloomy gray alongside. The gloominess may tend to dominate our lives.  Knowing this, it’s our responsibility to not have tunnel vision; to look up and remember that not all to life is hopeless.  Seeing the bad things in our world will help us to see the good things when they come.  Not a question of if they come, but when.

 

Longreads – To Grieve is to Carry Another Time

I read the first few sentences of this short story and I was already captivated to read the whole thing.  The limited description of this short story includes a  detail about the fourth dimension, which I know to be time, which immediately interested me.  The last essay I wrote was about traveling through time, and human nature, and, while in the process of reading this short story, I noticed some ideas I could write about connecting the two.  Another element that interested me was the inherent certainty that this short piece of literature was a fascinating personal story.  This short story was regarding man writing about the loss of his wife to cancer, and how this loss affected his outlook on life.

The story starts with the author writing about certain scientists, and how their various scientific works, such as books and theories have influenced our modern concept of time, and how it passes by.  This subject, the human concept of time,  fascinates me.  How this concept of time plays into the story, however, is part of what makes it so interesting for me.  First mentioned in the title of the story, the idea of grieving, meaning to remember someone lost, is to carry, or possess emotionally, another time.  Another time from when the person you are remembering was still with you.

This idea of remembering someone you lost some time ago ties into what I wrote briefly about in my essay about time travel.  In that essay, I wrote about how although it would certainly feel good to travel back to a time when you still had someone, it would be better to stay in the present.  I understand why some people would want to go back, and I cannot begin to blame them.  In fact, the short story which I found so interesting actually mentioned how the author wished to go back in time ” just one minute”(paragraph 9).  In this particular example, the author would be wanting to back for the purpose of seeing their significant other.

By including this short detail of wanting to go back, the author can display human emotion, which will undoubtedly make for a better story.  Regardless of what the story may be about, when told from a personal angle, it always seems to captivate us more thoroughly.  Being able to relate to characters in literature is necessary for our psychological and emotional comprehension of said literature.  When we read a story about unusual people living unconventional lives and possessing a generally unorthodox belief for life in comparison to our own, we have a lack of relatability with those characters.  In contradiction to the aforementioned abnormalities, interpreting a literary work containing characters similar to us, with lifestyles and beliefs comparable to our own, a superior sense of relatability and humanity with those characters can be established.  And for this reason; the story having characters that can be related to is an additional defining circumstance that makes the story exceptional.

We encounter good literature essentially every day.  This literature may be surrounding various subjects that we are enthusiastic about.  Good literature we encounter daily may be reflective of our own works and writings.  Or, more commonly encountered, a good piece of literature might be exceptional due to its abundance of emotion and understandability.  This piece of literature was exceptional for all of these reasons.

If Time Travel Becomes Possible, Where Would I Travel to First?

Time travel is, and has been a topic pondered by many over the years.  We see people’s imagination at work in the form of films and other media.  A multitude of people, I’m sure, have made their own attempts at the comprehension of what I would believe to be a popular question among the creative minds of the world.  The questionable proposal under discussion here would be, If time travel becomes possible, where would I travel to first?

I have an  answer to this simple, but essentially limitless question.  My answer to this question would be that I would not travel to any time, outside of right now.  I believe that to do so would go against human nature. I believe that as much as we wish that we could go back to a past moment for the sake of being ‘happier’ then, as much as this might seem all well and good, it would ultimately be best to stay in the now.  Choosing an alternate time outside of right now simply means we have fallen victim to the classic trick the human mind plays on itself.  To choose a past or future moment over this moment right now is not right in my mind.  

To begin, I believe that time traveling to an alternate time is to go against human nature.  This is because all of our lives, and certainly my life, there have been many times that I have been taught or taught myself to not wish for the past, but to learn from the past, and take the right steps to make your future better.  Time traveling to the past would go against this principle, as you would essentially be choosing to exist in a different moment than right now.  Not to mention the fact that all of our lives have taken place in an uninterrupted chronological order, and traveling to a different time would go against the natural manner of being a human, as this uninterrupted order would thus be interrupted in the natural human order.  I would not stand for this interruption in my life.

At this point, we have to ask ourselves what true happiness is.  To be truly happy in our lives, I believe would be complete satisfaction with the choices in life we have made in our lives in at least recent time.  The classic trick our brains play on ourselves is that of choosing something pleasing now, as opposed to waiting even a short amount of time for something that would be better for us in the long term.  Some decisions of something pleasing now may be minor, like choosing to read a comic book in your free time instead of a longer book, or something major, like choosing to abuse substances and do drugs, regardless of the severe and extensive health risks down the road in life.  This is also true in the case of time traveling to a time recently in which you felt happier then you do now.  Each day I try to recognize these decisions, and go against my first instinct, which is to do the easiest thing first.  Instead of investing time into traveling to the past, one should invest in making decisions today that would grant them the total happiness granted by aforementioned satisfaction with your choices in life leading to that point in time.  Choosing mindfulness is a healthy practice; a practice of living in the present.

If I could travel through time to anywhere, anytime,  I would choose to go nowhere and no other time but in the present moment.  Living in the present is something we have been encouraged to do, in the form of mindfulness.  Human nature has no need to be interrupted by choosing to exist in a moment that is outside of right now.  Decisions play an important role in our lives, and we need to have the will to live with our own.  We are the sum of all our decisions made in life leading to this moment, and this will still be true as our lives carry on.

If I could teleport to any place right now, where would I go?

I could think of a number of places I would be delighted to see.  With the power of teleportation, I could see these places for myself.  Natural wonders of the world like the Swiss Alps strike the fancy of many a modern traveler, and I would be none such an exception.  Heart-racing sports events like those held at Maple Leaf Square in Toronto would also pique my interest nonetheless.  Lastly, countless people would agree that seeing the city of Paris from on top of the Eiffel Tower would be a grand investment of time.  With the power to teleport anywhere right now,  you could make your dreams come true.

I would go to the Swiss Alps less so for being at the apex of the mountains, but rather just to see the majestic nature of these amazing land features.  Around here, most of what I see is flat ground.  Fairly flat ground flanking the highway from Fort Mac to Lethbridge, and almost everything in between.  I’ve grown up in this same geographic location, and it hasn’t changed too much.  But, if I were to just see the Swiss Alps in the event of instantaneous teleportation being possible, my life would be changed.  Images of the Alps and the drive from Fort McMurray to Lethbridge (blue line) shown here.

Me if I could teleport there (left).
Long drive. Plenty of somewhat flat ground to gaze at in awe and splendor.

I have been a witness to a variety of sporting events throughout my life thus far.  With the ability to teleport,  I could get into any sporting event at any stadium or gathering place I wanted.  The one place though, that I would desire to go, would be to Maple Leaf square, in Toronto.  Also known as Jurassic Park, this gathering place is where thousands of fans of the Toronto Raptors gather to watch NBA games live on a big screen.  I’ve seen the kind of scene that can develop when the Raptors are playing right then, and it was especially exciting in 2019 when the NBA championship game was won by the Raptors.  As of the time of me writing this essay, there is a Raptors game scheduled for tonight in Toronto, with the Raptors playing the Phoenix Suns at home.  If I could teleport anywhere right now, it would be there, in Jurassic Park, waiting for the action to start.

Jurassic Park packed with fans cheering; probably for the Raptors.  Just an educated guess.

It is a dream shared by plenty of people to see the world below them from great heights.  If I could choose a great height to see the world from, I would choose the Eiffel Tower, in Paris.  I would go there less so for just being there, but to see the city from three hundred meters up.  Additionally, imagine how much money I could save my family if I could just beam myself anywhere I wanted; namely somewhere you would normally need a plane to get to, as flights cross-continent can be pricey.  It is also interesting to think about how different something can seem when seeing it from far away.  I could see anything I want from this perspective with the power of teleportation.  A view of the greatly contrasting Seine River, France, and Battle River, Alberta can be seen below.

Yes, I know we have rivers around here, but none have the majesty shown here, nor are any surrounded by the French cityscape that displays such majesty.
A segment of the mighty Battle River in all it’s glory.  

Dreams inspire us to take action.  If your dream is seeing majestic mountains or being at the literal apex of architectural achievement, then teleportation can get you there.  There’s the odd one of us who would also choose to cheer on their favorite sports team above all else.  Teleportation might not be possible this day, and tomorrow isn’t looking so good either, but someday, it just might be.

Three Songs I Never Get Sick of Hearing

 

I’ve listened to many songs in my life, at least so so far.  Some have stuck with me, and others passed me by as a fleeting memory.  Of the many songs I’ve heard, only a select few tend to stick with me, and even fewer I end up growing fond of.  There’s the odd song I find that I love just for the pure sake of it being a well-composed song with a great melody to it.  Other songs, while also being a masterstroke of musical composition, also have lyrics in combination with a melody that can bring about a sense of reflection on one’s self.  There are other songs as well that are in somewhat of a middle ground between the two; both having a fine melody and possessing the ability to make you think about something.  I find it awe-inspiring that music can do these things.

Money For Nothing, by Dire Straits (1985).  To begin, this song would fall under the prementioned category of just being a good song, in the sense that it has a pleasing melody.  I’ve known this song for a lot of years of my life.  Through all those years I can still listen to the song and take pleasure in hearing something so nice.  Some songs tend to really stick with you, and this song has done just that by it’s nothing less than catchy melody.

Hotel California, by Eagles (1976).  This song is similar and different from the aforementioned 80s pop hit.  Similarly, in the sense of it having a very pleasing melody, with great guitars and even it’s a fair share of the mandolin.  Although similar, this piece of music is different.  The message sent by the lyrics of this hit tells us about something completely different than the former.  The lyrics of this particular song have a tone to them that brings a feeling of perhaps mystery or existentialism.  When the song talks about being “prisoners…of our own device”(3:40) this, in its own way is descriptive of the human condition.  Our lives are defined every day by the choices we make.  Whether or not our lives revolve around positive or harmful choices, we may well end up being prisoners of our own device.

Stayin’ Alive, by the BeeGees (1977).  With this song, I find it to be somewhat of a middle ground between being a song I have a fondness for because of just how it appeals to the ears, and how it appeals to the soul.  Just as with the song described in the preceding paragraph, this song also has both a fine melody and composition, as well as lyrics that can make a person think.  When the song mentions “feel the city breaking and everybody shaking, people stayin’ alive”(0:39) this may mean that when at the same time of our lives being somewhat chaotic, this sort of danger may bring out energy from those of us who may be accustomed to a monotonous lack of such energy.  The same kind of energy can be understood just from listening to this piece of music.

Of the myriad of songs, there are in the world, each day we hear more.  Even though all three of these songs I never get sick of hearing were all made well before I was born, this doesn’t stop them from being extraordinary.  From songs that are just plain fun to listen to and enjoy, we can grow fond of that music.  Furthermore, other songs that are not only possessive of the aforementioned extraordinary qualities, but also bring about certain senses within the heart and mind.  Who knows, maybe your next favourite song will be released to the world tomorrow or has been released many years ago, and you’ve yet to discover it.

 

Favourite Poems Visual

                      All of these poems have something in common, which is their profound ability to make one think.  Be it about the English language, about a snowy scene described by an author, or about the human condition itself.  All of these poems are my favourites because of their ability to make one think.

Some Riddles of Existence, and Their Burdens We Bear

Riddles of existence; what are they?  Well, a riddle would be a problem, simple or complex, that gets you thinking; thinking as to ascertain the answer to the said riddle.  As for the unsolved riddles, there is a burden we bear in not knowing their answers. A burden of unknowing; a burden that may well keep us up at night, just thinking about that riddle.  How might we and trees be similar; outside the obvious truth of possessing life? What are we compared to others, and what are others compared to ourselves? The riddles of existence might just be one surefire way to lose yourself in thought.

What are we missing out on?  Trees can’t see or hear because unlike us, they do not have the specific organs to sense such natural phenomena.  Humans on the other hand, well, we’re decked out with everything we seemingly need to live our life to the fullest. Eyes to see the world, ears to hear, sense of feeling to feel things, a way to taste things, and even the old olfactory to smell the world, but trees are missing pretty much all of that.  The full extent of a tree’s life is limited to everything it can sense, or respond to as a living thing. Here’s the question; with that same logic, what are we missing out on? There could be a whole world around us that we are completely oblivious of because we don’t have the organ to detect it. Think of the spectrum of light, and of how small of a slice of that spectrum our own eyes are able to detect.  A small fraction of all light in the universe is visible to our complex, yet simple eyes. Just to sit and lose one’s self in the wonder of what we could be missing out on is really quite something.

Who’s me, and who’s “me”?  Am I special? Is “me” special? We are “me”. Makes sense right? Like I said, we’re all “me”, we’re all “I”.  Not all of us are “he”, nor are we all “she”, but we are all “me”. Anyone other than ourselves can simply refer to us, our own being; as “you”, or “him/her/he/she” etc., but that same person refers to themselves as “me”, and “I”.  So that would be who “me” is; we are all “me” but only I am me. This is to simply say that we are all ourselves; our own beings, independent and free-thinking, seeing ourselves as “I” and “me”. So this is the difference between “me”, and me.  The “me” would refer to everyone capable of self-awareness, free-thinking, and independence. The “me” in quotes is my way of separating the individual from everyone. The individual would be without quotes; in reference to myself. My version of me.  “Me” means something different to everyone. To any conscience outside of my own, I am a “he”, a “them”; somebody else.  To the same person that sees me as a “him” and a “he”, they too would think that they are “me”, which is true, they are the only them and that applies to all people and makes them special, but the other thought here is the conclusion that, in a general sense, everyone is “me”.  Everyone is special for this very reason. No two people claiming to identify as a “me” are the same. Every “me” is different, but they’re all “me”. The burden here would be somewhat existential; in knowing that you might see yourself as so special, when really you’re just like everyone else in the sense that you are “me”.

Now let’s take a look at the grand scheme of things.  Think of the whole universe. Every star, every planet, every cloud of dust that looks like something inappropriate, it is all the universe.  So where might we fit in all of that? Think of this. The human brain is tremendous at making things feel like a big deal, but don’t get me wrong, this is a good thing.  When we’re getting charged by a bear our mind takes it upon itself to make that the most urgent event in our lives to take care of at the moment. But to really sit and think for a second and think of how our tiny lives fit into the whole of the universe, it’s really quite humbling.  Of everything, our little share of the matter and stardust is quite small. A fraction of a fraction would not be an inaccurate way to describe our space in the universe. Now, this is not to say that our lives are dimensionally limited, but rather that all the space we have even been to or sent objects to, is a very, very small amount of the universe around us.  The riddle here would be, how big of a deal are we to the universe?

 There’s a lot to think about in life.  These riddles, for example, just to give one idea.  We could spend our whole lives comparing ourselves to trees, or asking who we are, or looking up at the stars and wondering if we really are that big of a deal.  Of course, it’s no less than human nature to go on and on with, “what if” this, “what if” that. In reality, we should keep our heads more tuned to things going on here in our slice of the universe; it just might do us a bit more good than what may come to mind.

Signs of Multiple Intelligences in the Bible Part II

  • 2 examples of the importance and/or value of musical intelligence
  • 3 people who are word smart
  • 2 people who use logical intelligence
  • 2 people whose understanding of Jesus is rooted in the intelligence of relationships
  • 1 person who is self smart
  • 3 passages that rely on spatial intelligence
  • 1 person who uses physical intelligence to understand Jesus.

 

 

  • 2 examples of the importance and/or value of musical intelligence are in 1 Samuel 16:23 including David when he played music to calm Saul, and in 2 Chronicles 5:11-14  when the people gather in church and join each other in song and music to praise the Lord.

 

  • 3 people who are word smart are Aaron the Levite in Exodus 4:10-17, who was sent by God to be the voice of others, the Lord Himself in Exodus 4:10-17 getting mad at Moses for questioning him in set B, and lastly, Mary who sits and listens to the words of Jesus to understand him in John 11:5-6.

 

  • 2 people who use logical intelligence are Moses’s father-in-law in Exodus 18:13-27, and Paul in Romans 7:14-23 in set G.

 

  • 2 people whose understanding of Jesus is rooted in the intelligence of relationships are Martha in John 11:5-6 , who believed that if Jesus stayed her brother wouldn’t have died.  Another person is Thomas in John 11:16, who’s intelligence for relationships was displayed when he suggested that all the disciples go with Jesus to be crucified in set E.

 

1 person who is self smart is Mary in Luke 10:38-42 in set A, and Paul in Romans 7:14-23.  Paul displays intrapersonal intelligence through his seemingly expansive understanding of his own self, his inner conflict, the knowledge of how the law affects him personally, and of how what he wants to do in life sometimes conflicts with the law.

 

  • 3 passages that prove spatial intelligence are in Acts 8:26-38 with Philip traveling and seeing the spaces conceptualized by his spatial intelligence. In set B,  Luke 5:4-11 on Peter’s boat in set F, and Matthew 14:24-33 also in set F.  

 

  • 1 person who uses physical intelligence to understand Jesus is Thomas from John 20:24-29 in Set E.  Physical intelligence meaning how Jesus had marks on his hands, feet and side.