Riding the Wave of Life

Hello everyone. It's another tuesday morning. The weather hasn't been great over the past few days. I had a great time late last week though. We had a few very nice warm days. I spent quite a bit of time outdoors walking around the lake meeting people and reacquainting myself with the area. I'm not quite at the point of competence I was at the end of last Autumn but that'll come back quickly enough. The Trekker Breeze is working splendidly. It seems I'm not the only one on ODSP around here. I met a lady who has a couple of mental conditions which mean that her brain can only function fully for a few hours a day at most. The rest of the time, she finds it hard to focus on things clearly and get much done. I was able to get her laughing and that felt good. I hope I never have to find out what it's like to truly lose my mental faculties. That thought creeps me out even more than losing my hearing. Given how much I rely upon sound, that's saying something.

I've also been gearing up for tomorrow's TV interview for the Accessible Channel. It's nice to know people out there still care about games accessible to blind people and that my expertise in that area is still valued. Recently, I did a podcast with Serotek as well about games for the IOS devices. I'm just beginning to get into those on my iPHONE. Now if I could just get the creation of Enchantment's Twilight back in gear again,... well, I guess all there is to do is keep trying and be patient with myself. God knows I've tried forcing creative stuff to come out of my brain and it just won't until it's ready. Thank goodness the weather is finally getting nicer. I can go for walks and at least put myself in the path of potentially interesting inspirational people.

This latest May 21st end of the world prediction keeps popping up everywhere. My twitter followers are having endless fun discussing it. This is the very first supernatural world end prediction that I've been conscious of. The group made an earlier 1994 prediction apparently but I have absolutely no memory of that enterring into life at all back then. The 2000 end of world stuff was more based on man-made disaster. I certainly remember people quoting bible verses and the like but the real thing hoverring over everyone was the fear that machines would cause disasters by failing all over the world as the dates rolled over. This time, God, out of patience and full of wrath, is front and centre in the worst way possible. The ultimate dad throwing the ultimate tantrum. No more warnings and no more Mr. nice guy. Just all the "good" folk snatched away and five months of Hell on a shaking Earth.

I don't believe God has left us any sort of code to crack when the time is right or anything like that. It'll just happen when it happens. All one does by making predictions like this is set oneself up for failure and give skeptics yet more reason to be so. My major problem with what they say is that it's simply too capricious. The merciful loving God I believe in just wouldn't act as this group tells us the bible says that he will. It just doesn't jive for me. I don't claim to know God all that intimately. I'm a relatively recent Christian who has yet to read the whole bible. However, I believe we're still very far from any sort of point of no return. Also, the whole thing about churches being utterly useless since 1998 simply doesn't fit facts. It certainly gets you thinking though. How do groups like this get so much attention? Are people that desperate for an escape from this world that they'd welcome such cruelty for those who don't believe? What if all the effort, time and money pumpped into spreading this latest cry of wolf were directed to more worth-while ends?

In other prior incidents of predicting the world ending, we've seen people do extraordinary things, give away all they have being convinced that they'd be raptured and not need it, etc. However, there are a couple of different elements to this latest scenario. The horrid but relatively brief post-rapture period they describe wouldn't leave anybody in shape to actually make use of what was given away. Also, and this is by far the saddest element to all this, salvation will be utterly impossible after the 21st. This leaves approximately five months of earthquakes and supernaturally caused insect-bite agony for any who remain on Earth. Such pain wouldn't be any sort of last-ditch attempt to get peoples' attention. It would simply be God's final fit of anger, an utterly unmerciful, dismal, and hopeless winding down of time. Giving stuff away would therefore not do anybody the least bit of good. I'm left wondering what, if anything besides presumably praying, members of this fringe group are doing to prepare. You don't exactly need to pack stuff before being raptured, do you? I guess they're trying to "save" as many souls as possible as quickly as possible. If my experience on that journey to faith is anything to go by, that kind of "believe or miss out" argument just isn't a good place to start. Also, what happens after the 21st when they're inevitably proved to be wrong as all too many others have been before them? Apparently, not all such dissapointed? groups fade into the sunset after their chosen dates come and go. Will we see another sect emerge to somehow try and compete with the multitude of existing branches of Christianity? You'd think there'd be enough for everyone already. What will all those people do after the long weekend I fully expect to enjoy?

There isn't a whole lot else extraordinary to talk about. Podcasts, family visits, and various conversations have kept life moving fairly nicely along over the past while. Doing the Serotalk Tech chat and talking to the creator of StemStumper was a distinct pleasure. I look forward to any more such opportunities. After tomorrow's interesting trip to a Tv studio, I expect things will once again settle down. I don't have any plans for the long weekend. Presuming nice weather and no other happennings, I may go out and see what goes on down at the lake. I may go again to the multiethnic conference held by the reformed dinomination to which I belong which happens in early June. Other than that, my week away in early July at the Lake Joseph centre is the only other thing planned over the next hopefully warm and mostly dry months. I don't want a damp rainy Summer. I wish I had more people or a special lady to hang out with and go places with. However, one way or another, I intend to spend a lot more of this Summer outdoors. I'd love it if I could spend that time in conversations which built and lead to stable friendships, but can't bring myself to expect that after last Summer. Most likely, there'll be many pleasant conversations which may well inspire my creativity but won't really break any barriers which would let me onto a more connected sustained social plane. I'll hear about festivals or events which I'd love to attend with people but won't know anybody interested in going. Barring something drastic and unexpected, my road to really changing that state of affairs is going to be long and very slow as people gradually learn more about me and I them during brief passing conversation or through church. Twitter has really been helpful in keeping empty days moving along and feeling less like they've been lived in a vacuum. I'm still amazed at how good I'm feeling overall. I'm not used to being able to just get through even very dull days and not find myself trapped in a blue funk of no escape. Last saturday was another such gloomy day which could have, even should have, brought me down from whatever emotional pillar I seem to be on. However, I was able to enjoy it quite well. Overall, I just seem to be more accepting of how things are and on more of a positive track. Hard to believe that it's been like this since November.

Soon now, I'll be off to the Dam for another afternoon. One thing I've got to do over the next while is try and hook up with Steve now that he's back from India. I haven't had a good talk with him yet about his trip or what I've been up to over the past while. There's a lot to catch up with there. I've been fiddling more with Audioboo lately and figured out how to add pictures to my "boos" as they're called. Haven't gotten many comments on the ones I've taken already but I guess a lot of my followers are blind and wouldn't see them. One new addition I'm very happy to have is a couple of very comfortable slingback balcony chairs. They're far more comfortable than the plastic ones I've used up until now and it'll be much more pleasant sitting out on the balcony this Summer presuming no loud construction work. They're very porous so they shouldn't be carried off by the wind or be too wet from the rain.