it's a nice day for a white wedding

How is it that you can feel old and young at the same time? How does your soul not internally combust due to the contradictory nature of such feelings?

It's a Saturday, and I didn't wake up until 10:30am. This made me feel young. And slightly irresponsible, as I am supposedly an independent adult. As such, I should be getting up on Saturday mornings at a decent hour, doing productive things.

Upon removing myself from my bed, however, I got a cup of coffee (point for the "old" side) and read a book on the analysis of pop culture (another "old" point, as I apparently have moved from mindless consumer of pop culture to...well as least an aware consumer, if not a removed analyst, depending on the specific area).

I then watched a tv show on Netflix (points for both sides, as watching tv on a Saturday morning clearly belongs to the "young" side, but the fact that it was the show "Arrested Development" and that I watched it on Netflix, which I pay for myself with a salary I earn from my technically full time job means that I award another point to the "old"side), while removing coupons and recipes from old Real Simple magazines ("old" point).

Later, when on the phone with a friend, I had an entire conversation about asparagus, and how annoying it is that you can't buy it in smaller quantities. I always seem to end up throwing some out, which feels incredibly wasteful and tempts me not to buy it in the first place ("old" point for even having that conversation). Yet I really like asparagus, so I do end up buying it every so often (another "old" point for the mere fact that I admit to liking asparagus). The fact that I cannot finish a unit of asparagus, however, adds a point to the "young" side, because it reminds me that if I were married, let alone had kids, I would be in a situation where an entire unit of asparagus would be eaten before it went bad. And being reminded that I am not married, nor do I have children, makes me feel young.

Currently, the tally is at Young: 3 Old: 7 ...apparently I feel about 30% young, if you can feel youth in percentages. I think you can.

Also, as I was reading the book on culture (Chuck Klosterman's Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs...hilarious book that I highly recommend to everyone who has a remote interest in anything), I came across more commentary on objectivity. Klosterman was particularly referring to media, and I found it relative to my previous thoughts on the matter, so I've included an excerpt here:

...almost every sound bite you hear in the broadcast media is partially false. And there's nothing anyone can do about it. It's not that the truth is being ignored; it's just that the truth is inevitably combined with a bunch of crap that's supposed to make news stories unbiased and credible, but really just makes them longer and less clear. The motivation for doing this is to foster objectivity, but it actually does the complete opposite. It makes finding an objective reality impossible, because you're always getting facts plus requisite grains of "equalizing" fiction.

First, I think it is interesting that Klosterman seems to inadvertently (or perhaps intentionally) acknowledge the intellectual community's belief that objectivity is most desirable by pairing together the terms "unbiased" and "credible." Second, I really think it is interesting that he points out the fact that this attempt at objectivity often destroys the credibility of the information provided. Which brings me back to the point of my other post, that sometimes bias is indeed preferable to objectivity. Depending on where that bias is taking you.

And another thought: Is attempting objectivity itself a bias of sorts? Isn't the thought that "information free from partiality is superior to all other information" just as much an opinion as all other opinions that are thought to negatively sway information?

And this is where I stop. There's no sense in proverbially continuing to peel an onion when you've already peeled so many layers that you've got tears streaming down your face and blurring your vision. Everybody needs a break now and then; the onion's not going anywhere.

...

**Note: Two couples that I know decently well are getting married today. Hence the title.

and I didn't even know I'd been "shredding"...

This is just an update on the previous. I bought a few new picks today at the Fret Shop, a local guitar (and more) store. While we were waiting for my receipt to print (this took about twenty MILLION years), I figured I'd ask the cashier whether or not he'd ever ripped a pick. He said he'd been playing about nine years, and he'd only done it once. (To which I thought, Sweet, a milestone, and I've already achieved it!)

...Then he followed that up with the fact that at the time, his guitar pick was too thin, and that was probably why it had ripped. I told him about my quandary of whether or not it meant that I just really didn't know how to strum. He said I had probably just been shredding too hard.

Ok. So I really thought "shredding" was playing individual notes. Now I'm just confused. ...And I don't feel any better about my guitar-playing abilities.

objectivity is for girls?

I began reading Dan Doriani's book Women and Ministry the other day. He blew my mind in the very first paragraph...of the preface. It reads as follows...

With this preface I invite my readers to enter a controversy. Readers will naturally want to judge if they can trust the author who hopes to guide them through complex, emotionally charged issues. Is he a polemicist or a peacemaker? What are his formative experiences? What are his biases and convictions? Are these biases and convictions likely to lead to truth or to confusion? (emphasis mine) These questions deserve answers.

I remember doing DBQ's (document-based questions) in my AP European History class in high school. One of the questions we always had to answer about whatever bit of philosophy we had read regarded the bias of the author, and how it affected his work. Whenever I pick up a newspaper or turn on CNN, I filter the information through the bias I assume the author or speaker has. Whenever I listen to political candidates running for various offices (ok this does NOT happen that often), I constantly keep their party affiliation in mind as I listen to their speeches.

In short, I have always assumed that bias is perceived as a negative thing by the intellectual world. That if one wants to gain respectable knowledge in that world, one must clear away any subjectivity until only the facts remain, and then draw conclusions. I've never thought about it in terms of truth versus confusion. That if a bias leads to truth, then that bias is infinitely preferable to even complete objectivity. That a bias even could aid in discovering the truth. The word "bias" has such a negative connotation; I have simply never considered that it could be incredibly beneficial.

I'm still rather fascinated by this idea, and haven't fully processed it yet.

**Note: In the title of this post, my use of the word "girls" is completely unrelated to Doriani's book. I just love the phrase little boys use, "[insert lame thing here] is for girls!" I use this phrase frequently. Even when it makes no sense whatsoever.

...

In completely unrelated news, I broke a guitar pick today. I guess I was really getting into the song I was playing (badly, I assure you), and the tip ripped almost completely off. I didn't even know that could happen. I'm trying to decide whether that means either a) I've now completed my right of passage and am a TRUE guitar player (like breaking a tennis racquet string), or b) I'm just that bad at guitar. I'm hoping for option a.

And so it is...

*continue damien rice here*

...or, alternately, finish with: ...that I've finally jumped on the bandwagon and created a blog. I'd like to say that it will be incredibly funny, or deeply intelligent, or refreshingly authentic. In all likelihood, I will attempt all three and succeed only at creating mediocrity. And yet, I have so many thoughts tumbling around my brain that I feel it can only improve my sanity to type them out every once in a while, hopefully giving them some organization and purpose. You, dear reader (...you poor soul), can judge for yourself the results. Many thanks in advance to those of you who stick around for the long haul. At the end, I think we shall all be impressed that you made it through the labyrinth.