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29/06/07: Just a short update this time; I've added more of my backlog to the --RefutedYouBleeps-- project, and also put up a new version of Rogue Trader II on my --Warhammer 40K-- page after someone expressed an interest in the old thing. I already had the new edition (updated with the proper 40K font, the imperial symbols, etc.) just sitting on my hard drive about 2/3rds complete, so I put in one final push over the last few days and now finally have something to put out the door. It's still not "finished", as such - the wargear and talents are blatantly for all the armies, but only the Imperial Guard, Space Marines, Eldar and Orks are included in the Army Handbook. There are also several references to "Standard Bearers" in the Wargear Book - no such unit exists in the Army Handbook (an oversight in my first draft rather than something I was always going to include). Anyway, it's at least workable now, so go --check it out-- !
What's that? Still here? Check out the html of that last link instead - I'm definitely getting better at this Internet lark. ... Where was I? Just this second finished a call from an old friend, apparently he's got a fairly steady job at a hospital and is working part-time at Boots. Lucky him. As regular readers (yeah right) will know, I've been trying to get a job for the past year at University and have failed miserably. The closest I came was unpaid slave labour for the --Uni magazine-- - they didn't give me a proper job title, didn't show up to the meetings we organised, put out issues without telling me, and eventually just stopped returning my emails*. Soon after that they completely changed format from a fairly nice arts magazine with a large short stories and poetry section to a "student mag" focused around boozing and heavy metal music reviews, so I figured " -bleep- them" and gave up trying to contact them. This summer, aided by my parents, I made a second concerted attempt to find employment; nothing doing. Apparently no-one needs cheap temporary labour anymore. My heart goes out to all those poor asylum seekers :)
One ingrate advertising a vacancy at a picture frames shop took one look at me and said "you do know it's a full-time position, don't you"? When I pointed out the advertisement specifically said "part-time", she retorted that she meant it was a "permanent position" (sounds positively deathly) and that she didn't want students looking for summer-holiday jobs. This, by the way, was mentioned nowhere on the advertisement, which as I stated implied it was a fully part-time job, in tenure as well as hours. Honestly, what kind of job in a framing store requires a permanent post? I actually suspect she wanted a woman, as my mother initially warned me she might, and seized on the first excuse to turn me away. Anyway, my parents have suggested I focus on learning to drive instead.
In other, most definitely related news, I've had some surreal discussions with Certain People which has really driven home to me just how little Christian thought (or indeed, thought per se) the average person has going for them anymore. The best example of this could be found right after I pointed out (in response to some infantile paean in praise of Buddhism on TV) that Siddhartha Gautama's main claim to fame was that he died AND STAYED DEAD, which is hardly a particularly impressive feat by the standards of most religions. Further to this, I argued that whilst adherents of Shinto believe he is still around, just freed from the cycle of reincarnation, and worship him as a god, Buddhists technically believe he doesn't exist any longer, having achieved Parinirvana and therefore having ceased to exist - see the Buddhist view --here-- where it is clearly stated that the Buddha "no longer exists in any way, shape or form". Hence, those who pray to him are wasting their time, as there is, by their own admission, nobody there.
The Certain Person in question retorted that "most Christians believe Jesus is dead, but they still pray to him". This was news to me. The fact that even Buddhists recognise a difference between being dead and not existing notwithstanding, I asked whether the Person had never heard of a little-known doctrine known as the Resurrection. The Person said they had heard of the "Easter story", but they said Christians believed Jesus had ascended into heaven, so he was dead now. A little pressing revealed their reasoning; if you're in heaven, you are not in the "plane of the living", and therefore you are dead. I asked whether the Person thought Christians believed God the Father is dead, as he too is not generally supposed to be strolling around buying newspapers from the 7/11. At this point the Person enlisted reinforcements, calling on a third party to back them up. The second Person, who I will point out is a lapsed Catholic, said with great confidence that "Christians believe Jesus' body died, but his spirit went up into heaven", where it "looks down on them". Therefore, said the second Person, Christians believe Jesus is alive "in some sense". Yeah, that's some orthodox stuff going on there. I knew Catholic doctrine was a bit iffy, but do they really not teach the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ? Last time I checked, that was in the Nicene Creed.
Well, the conversation continued, with me being thoroughly bamboozled by how both People firmly believed Christians taught such bizarre things. Anyway, the conversation got around to Christology (or at least, that's what I would call it), with me pointing out that whilst Muslims accept the virgin birth, they insist Jesus was just a prophet, whilst Hindus at least have the courtesy to recognise that he was the avatar/incarnation of "a god". The Person suddenly became animated: "Yes! They believe he is a great spirit teacher (WTF), but not greater than Buddha (and he appears in Hinduism where, exactly?)". This seemed, to me, a slight non-sequitur. After a little more pressing, they revealed their definition of "avatar" - "some kind of prophet or teacher". Yup, that makes sense. So Krishna is a prophet of Vishnu? Please. By the way, the proper definition of --avatar-- is, indeed, the incarnation of a "higher being" or the "Supreme God" upon the Earth. The Person in question is an avid reader of New Age, Buddhist, and Hindu literature, and practices Reiki. After hearing my definition of "avatar", the Person became irate and said that Jesus couldn't be God, because he said his Father was greater than himself. Hn. Leaving behind the fact that he also said anyone who had seen him had seen the Father (i.e., claiming identical substance), there is in fact an obscure doctrine of Christian thought that attempts to explain this. What IS the name? Oh yes, THE TRINITY. Ever get the feeling "knowledge" is going out of fashion nowerdays? The Person continued: did I mean to say that Jesus was, like, God's big toe? I said yes, assuming your big toe talks to you and has its own consciousness, this being the best way I could think of to illustrate the basic principle of the three Persons (that is, of Godhead) sharing the same substance. The Person then said something that made my jaw drop wide open. The Person said that the carrot I was grating at the time would then also be God, because it, along with the rest of the universe, was created by God and would therefore share his divine substance. WHAT? I tried to continue the discussion, but quickly hit a brick wall - the Person simply could not conceive of the idea that you can create something without it being an extension of your own being.
I've had several of these completely confounding conversations, and it isn't work to cheer the soul. How do you get across the idea of actual doctrine to people who seem to have decided to jettison any kind of external yardstick anyway? I'm currently working on a new rant - "Reality And Reason - The Failure Of The Internal Divine", in which I examine, in particular, my parents' and peers' attitude to fiction, fantasy, and human creativity, and how the opinion shapers of our time use the new and, to me, alien worldview that seems to have grown up in only the last decade, to control the populace and manipulate their feelings. So, look out for that soon. I also want to add some more information to my own fictional settings (hey, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, right?), although that is entirely dependent on how energetic I feel.
Wow, this has turned into a rather more epic update than I intended. I'd better stop there, since I seem to be degenerating into "rant" territory right now. Signing off, pray without ceasing, keep taking the blue pills, etc.
* That's actually slightly unfair. What they actually did was let the inbox of their official contact address get so full that any emails sent to it rebounded. For days. This from a magazine dependent on email submissions. It was obvious that no-one was checking it, as in my last real communications with the magazine they asked if they could put me in charge of email (they already had me on as a proofreader and Junior Editor, but they never sent me anything to edit, despite frequent promises to that effect). I said I would be delighted and proposed a day to meet up so they could show me how to access the account. They never appeared. I turned up at the same time every day for the next three days. No-one was there. Eventually the Deputy Editor said they "didn't feel like coming in". Great.