I love the money and the girls and the shame of life

The title is from a Butthole Surfer songs. "Now, with more flavor!"

Our video project is moving forward. The boys at Chronicle Project have taken it upon themselves to raise funds to get this done, and that is an incredible step forward. That means we won't be tied to our own fundraising efforts and that they can move as they want.

Yesterday I went to court. I lost. On the plus side, it didn't cost me anything more. On the minus side, I didn't get my $351 back. Poo on everyone.

Apparently a group of Japanese people killed themselves after meeting on the internet. I mean, after all meeting on the internet, they decided to kill themselves and then did. It's a very odd side-effect of having access to the world. I've spent the last 8 minutes reading news reports of similar cases (there's one from PHX were a 21 year old student kills himself while people watch him on his webcam) and it's very eerie. The fact that 1) we don't see death other than through a screen and 2) we kill ourselves and broadcast it, leads me to believe that something is off. I don't like feeling uncomfortable and death definitely makes me feel that way. Oh well. Death and taxes, right?

Peace to all. March is a busy month.

Riders on the Storm

Life has been well. I just got back from PHX on Monday after hanging out with my parents over the weekend. It was very odd. My parents are old and crazy, and I love them a lot. We went to my grandparent's gravesite in northern Phoenix. It was kind of surreal to see the name Schoon on a gravestone and realize that "everyone you know, someday, will die." Even me. Later that night I was trying to fall asleep and creeped myself out thinking about final breaths, the experience of death, and all that stuff. I kind of swing on a pendulum in response to the brevity of life: hedonism to asceticism, indulgence to restraint.

I'm reading a great book on worldviews. Meic Pearse has a book called Why the Rest Hates the West. It details the effects of the Enlightenment on Western culture and its excesses and how it has distinctly affected how we are treated by other cultures. It's brilliant.

The video project on the Standards of Excellence in STMs is kind of taking off. We met again today and realized we need to raise $250,000 for four documentaries. I hope we can do it. This would be a rad project to give to Mexico Outreach before I left.

Wayne thinks I should watch The Sopranos. I'll pray about it. Speaking of praying, I observed Ash Wednesday yesterday. I actually had a physiological response to the campus pastor when he said, "Christians all over the world will be celebrating this date today." I felt connected to a worldwide body and somehow refreshing. I gotta go Catholic. By the way, I couldn't figure out what to give up for Lent so I didn't give up anything. What is obedience worth when it's impulsive? I have no idea.

Peace to all.