postal scrotum: superscrote edition

Lots of letters recently. I'll just slap them on up here.

Kevin,

I just read you latest post. Whatever compromise or solution you arrive at, please do not stop blogging. Your blog is one of the few that I read faithfully and regularly and I'd hate to see it go.

Why not blog if and when you have the time instead of holding yourself to a daily schedule? That way you could think about subjects during class/walking/whatever and when you have a few minutes, throw them on the blog.

As for walking, you don't need 3 hours of that for exercise. Trust me, I'm the "abs at 45" guy, remember? 30-60 minutes of powerwalking (not a leisurely stroll, but a good, brisk walk 5 days a week will give you plenty of exercise.

I jogged for years and years until my poor knees and ankles just couldn't take it any more and found the joy of powerwalking a few years ago. Now that my wife and I have joined a local gym, I hit the treadmill for 30 - 45 minutes at 6.2 kilometers an hour (brisk walk), then lift weights afterwards - a different body part each day. But enough about me, let's talk about you :).

At the risk getting too personal, if it's your weight you're worried about, the walking will help a lot, but the other thing is your eating schedule. Dinner at 11:30? bad, bad, bad. Is there any way you can grab something to eat during a break in your classes?

Bottom line is, don't stop blogging. I can't tell you how many time one of your posts had me googling all over creation to research the topic, or the laughs your posts have brought (the Daejon love motel is my all-time fave, a classic).

Nomad

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Kevin,

I understand. There are days when I am falling asleep at the keyboard while trying to create a post or read all the blogs I consider worth reading. Blogging, for someone with ideas and the urge to state them, is a passion and a draining one. It may well be that there must be a compromise. There have been days recently that I have left the computer off and slept instead. The world does not come to an end, but I worry it might. Far better that you blog irregularly (egad!, not you, irregular!) than to not blog at all. If you are at all like me (a most gruesome thought) ideas get built up and until they are communicated they just tie up thinking and leave no room for new. Or in more direct terms, better to shit once in a while than not shit at all. The latter state is usually equated with death.

Regards,

Bill


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Hi Kevin,

Re: "Yet the question lingers: why did Bennett swear off gambling only after the press made a stink about his vice?"

There's no question there - he 'quit' because he got caught. Giving him the benefit of a doubt...he might truly have been trying to quit. But let's be honest, I was 'trying' to lose weight the entire time I weighed 220lbs.

Bennett's only effective change of mind came after looking down the barrel of serious unemployment. That's not an intemperate thing to say, the guy simply got busted. Because if someone's trying to overcome lifelong addictions at the age of 50+...... trying hard isn't someone's strong suit.

_Scott

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"I also teach French every Sunday for about three hours, and that's for free."

you probably do this for a good reason (charity, family obligation, business obligation, etc etc) but just on the teeny tiny chance that its not a good reason, im writing to remind you that you should not be teaching french (or anything for that matter) for free.

if its not for a good reason, then ive freed up 12 hours a month for you!

otherwise, it sounds like a tough time. that freaking split schedule sounds like the shits...

hang in there...


HK

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I started taking walks fairly regularly a couple months ago and have been blogging a lot less. I've also been the busiest during this past month than I had been for a year or so. Interestingly enough, taking long walks improves the quality of my shitting sessions.

Just my two cents.


J. Yoshida


P.S. You didn't even consider the Bolivian marching dust option.
P.P.S. The dark rings under your eyes are quite fetching.


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Hi Kevin,

Posts like your latest are why I read your blog. I don't understand or agree with everything you write, but you often make me think. You will probably be worthy of a link on the sidebar of my upcoming personal blog, thus offending untold others.

I'm currently reading Total Truth: The Transforming Power of a Christian Worldview in which the author strongly argues that there is no place for dualism in the Christian worldview. It's been an interesting challege for me, as I've questioned but never fully confronted my own dualism.

May you rest well during your own brief hiatus. Split schedules are a killer.

Kangmi


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I have one word: Whew!

When I started reading your latest post, I was worried you'd made the decision to quit...glad you found a compromise!

Sleep tight and don't let the centepides bite ;)


Nomad


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Kevin,

First of all I am glad you have decided to blog part time as opposed to not at all.

With respect to being an Elder in the Presbyterian Church and all the rest you said on religion. Hi, fellow traveler.

I spent over 30 years as a hard-core atheist/agnostic. During that time I read though did not strongly study much about all religions and their traditions. For a while I had a lot of resonance with Zen. I loved the tiger koan. I still think it encapsulates much of my life. I have a great difficulty with the whole concept of Nirvana. Negation doesn't seem to be my bag. If you read my religious archive, you will see that I am definitely not a traditional theist. However, I am a member of the ELCA as is Lee (Verbum Ipsum), and am a member of the choir, soloist, and regularly am lector and liturgist and occasionally communion assistant. Just as they are vital to you, so religious questions are vital to me.

I have a mission or calling to witness to those who don't believe but are looking for some intellectual support for theistic beliefs. I have apparently brought one person from being a self-styled atheist to talking about believing in God. She has said my writings are important. I try, though I don't always succeed, to write a "Sunday Sermon". Lately it has been a Monday or Tuesday Sermon instead. The main purpose is to get my thinking down so I can think about something new. It is a way of creating new ideas or expanding or even destroying old ones.

I am in awe of the level of discussion that you and Bill Vallicella get into. When I can't follow it, I archive it for later study. I felt honored to be included in the three-way discussion you, Lee, and I had not too long ago.

With respect to the not-twoness of the sacred and profane, I have this idea that since God grew with people by the accumulation of good souls, that He is not nearly as judgmental as many would make Him. [See below] He is far more interested in the attitude towards people and doing good than the details of its expression or interests in the material things of the world. As long a material interests do not get in the way of goodness, they are unimportant even if some consider them offensive. One of my friends who is an ELCA pastor has pointed out that Paul was earthy. Where the translations of the bible clean it up, Paul actually said, "shit". My wife gets all over me sometimes for my earthiness.

I think a non-traditional belief that one develops for oneself is much more sustaining in adversity than a lay-on of traditional religion that cannot be questioned. I have a fundamental rule for living, ANYTHING is open to question and investigation. I also am willing to live with incomplete answers for very long periods of time. I have a whole part of my head that contains open questions that accumulate bits and pieces of data throughout my living. I just realized that the greatest enemy of wisdom is impatience -- the unwillingness to wait for the answer.

[I just saw the counter to my own argument that there is no Devil. If God is the accumulation of good souls, then there would be the possibility of a Devil as the accumulation of bad or evil souls. This implies that it gets real dicey when death occurs. How are things sorted out, and is there really a Purgatory after all?]

Regards,
Bill

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