MadMup.com

I realize I’m about 15 years late in making the following statement, but… I like dc Talk.

Expected responses to that statement include “Who?”, “Oh my word,” and eye rolls a-plenty. There will also be a few horrified looks and at least one or two bemused shakings of the head.

See, dc Talk was a Christian rap group. Near as I can tell, they had their heyday in the 90s, a time when I would have fallen into either the “horrified” or “bemused” reactions myself, depending on who was telling me about them. The words “Christian” and “rap” don’t belong together, right? I’m not going to get into a whole debate on that topic, as there’s no way to answer it satisfactorily for people on either side of the debate (so please don’t focus on this aspect of it in the comments!). Those who’ve been reading for a long time, though, will know I have an affinity for certain types of rap, and there have been a few people here and there who’ve seen me “perform” such things as “White & Nerdy,” “All About the Pentiums,” “Vice,” and “Nightmare on My Street.” I don’t get into “gangsta” even a little, and have no interest in cuss- and deragatory word-filled music.

But I’m getting off-topic. My point is that I’ve picked up a couple of dc Talk albums recently and have been enjoying them. In fact, the ringtone for my “Church people” caller group is the opening bars to “Jesus Freak,” which, incidentally, makes me giggle.

This weekend I found a used copy of “Free At Last,” their third album. And while titles like “word 2 the Father” and “Jesus is just alright” activate my Skeptic’s Eyebrow, I still find some good stuff here and there. For instance:

Pullin out my big black book
Cause when I need a word defined thats where I look
So I move to the L’s quick, fast, in a hurry
Threw on my specs, thought my vision was blurry
I looked again but to my dismay
It was black and white with no room for grey
Ya see, a big V stood beyond my word
And yo thats when it hit me, that luv is a verb

Say what you want about “Christian hip-hop,” but this is an important for anyone to remember, church-goer or not: “love” isn’t just a verb, it’s an action verb. If I love you (as a friend, family member, or whatever else), I’ll show you that I love you, I won’t just say it. That’s not just me doing things for you, that’s me reacting correctly to you, me wanting the best things for you across the board, and me making things less about “me” and more about you.

I’ve been back at church for a few months now after being “away” for a few years, and I’m finding that my perspective’s changed. I have the privilege of attending a church that stresses “real world Christianity,” and I’m learning that it’s what I do, not what I don’t do that makes the difference. And the thing that I need to do the most is love others.

Jesus said it this way: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (John 13:34, NIV)

dc Talk says it this way:

Back in the day there was a Man
Who stepped out of heaven and He walked the land
He delivered to the people an eternal choice
With a heart full of luv and the truth in His voice
Gave up His life so that we may live
How much more luv could the Son of God give?
Here is the example that we oughtta be matchin
Cause luv is a word that requires some action

There’s pretty much only one response I can have to that:

Word.

At long last I’ve found an egg salad sandwich in town. This has been an ongoing search for several years now, so finally finding it is the realization of a dream. For a while, Aunt Orva’s Deli fit the bill, but they went out of business rather suddenly. Truth be told, Aunt Orva’s egg salad was good, but it still wasn’t perfect. Today’s find, though, was exactly how I like my egg salad – no extra junk (onions, celery, relish, etc.), and smooth and creamy. The winner: Shellie’s Cafe. I’m sure I’ll be having many an egg salad sandwich there. Kat was even impressed, and she’ll be veering from her normal Reuben to get an egg salad next time, too.

The game Gyruss was released on Xbox Live Arcade this week, and after playing the demo for about two minutes, I bought and downloaded the full version. I’m not so good at shooters, but Gyruss is a game I used to play in the gas station a block from church when I was a kid. Though the games changed every so often, this is one I remember, along with Tutankham. I doubt they’ll ever release Tutankham on XBLA, but Gyruss is bringing back some pleasant memories.

I haven’t been sleeping well lately. I’ve had some things weighing heavily on my mind and I think that’s had an effect on me. A positive side effect is that I’ve gotten up earlier most days, been on time to work, and even treadmilled a bit here and there, so that’s good. The bad thing is that I haven’t felt rested all week, and I’ve had headaches. It all balances out, right?

I’ve been watching this new sitcom that’s all about pregnancy and babies and stuff. I’m not sure why. It’s humorous, but not hilarious. I sometimes think it might be nice to have a kid, though those thoughts are usually immediately followed by the “I’d make a lousy parent” thoughts, so, again: balance.

Oh, I sorta mentioned it up a paragraph or so ago, but I’ve started treadmilling a bit. I’m a long way off from being regular with it or anything, but it’s a start.

I went to The Cheesecake Factory for the first time last week. It was for Jeannie’s birthday and the food was good. Oddly enough, I didn’t actually have any cheesecake while there. Seems wrong some how. Of course, it also seems wrong that the restaurant didn’t actually look like any sort of factory. I wanted to see robots putting cheesecakes together.

I went to a fancy art showing with Kat on Thursday. It was at Westwood, which is where the president of Purdue lives. There were a few neat things about this particular art show. For one, Kat had a piece in it, and it was for sale… and it sold! To the Jischke’s daughter, even! For another, the president and his wife were there, and we ended up talking to Patty for quite some time. She’s a delightful person. For another thing, there were random fancy-dressed people wandering around handing out fancy finger foods. It was just like the movies, only I wasn’t wearing a tux. Also, I’m no good at hobnobbing. There are some pictures from the event on my Flickr page.

The last day of school is May 30. It’s funny to see how antsy the kids get, but the teachers also change around this time, too. I don’t hear as many reports of problems around this time, and I don’t think it’s because there are fewer problems. I’m pretty sure it’s because teachers don’t want to bother with it and just want to get through the end of the year.

My living room’s all crazy right now. I moved the futon downstairs to make room for the treadmill in my computer room, so now the couch and the futon are facing each other. It’s not ideal, but I want to get rid of the futon, so this is only temporary until it’s gone.

I’ve been thinking about buying a handheld vacuum cleaner – do people still call them “Dustbusters”? – and also maybe a house. I wish I could get them both at Target.

The cats are fine and they both say hi. Hope you’re doing well.

I love writing that makes its point by stressing the opposite. It can be tricky to walk that line, because some people won’t catch it and end up being hurt or offended, but I think the payoff is generally good.

I was going through the Rhymes With Orange archives and found “The Rhymes With Orange Checklist to Feeling Pathetic,” and thought I’d share it with you. It’s in comic form originally, of course, but I present it to you here in bullet points:

• Choose someone and compare yourself unfavorably to them.
• Examine your face closely in the mirror. Note all flaws.
• Relive embarrassing/awful moments that occured years ago.
• Make a mental note of all the people you regularly disappoint.
• Disregard all compliments, especially from people who (supposedly) love you.
• Resign yourself to believing that from now on, this is how you will always feel.

I don’t know about you, but I can check many of those off on many days.

I should probably knock that off.