Link to original post: [drupal=3067]A Few Musings[/drupal]
* I recently visited Mission San Diego de alcala, Alta California's first Spanish Mission. I'd visited San Francisco's mission before (aptly placed in the mission district... don't wear red or blue there, trust me
), but it occurred to my family that we (or at least me and my sister) had never been to our hometown mission. So, we went.
I really wish San Diego used more traditional Spanish architecture instead of the ugly modernist crap you see everywhere -_- . It was beautiful in the church, pleasant in the garden, and there was an archeological dig site in the courtyard. Aside from admiring the design of the place, the museum got me thinking; the history of this place, indeed of all missions, isn't exactly benign. While many religious men came to the new world on genuine goals to spread Christ's message (I'm an agnostic, if you're wondering), that doesn't mean that the intrusion of Europeans into this land didn't have devastating consequences.
The Kumeyaay nation (which still is in existence today) was the main subject of the mission's conversion efforts. I found it simply amazing that the mission would pull the usual bullsh*t of how the American Indians before where brutal lost people who were shown the light by the missionaries and cast aside their evil, backwards ways... haven't we all heard this crap somewhere before. Look, I'm not saying all bad men came, that people didn't convert of their own free will, that the purpose of these missions were to be death camps for the Indians, or any of that other garbage, but I think the officials who run the mission should have a more balanced view of history and show that to the public. I am 1/32 Cherokee after all
.
* I just don't get smokers
. Why would you do that to your body? I'm the child of two smokers, both of my grandmothers smoked, two of my uncles smoked, but I'll never understand why. I guess I just don't know what it's like to be an addict, but the question then becomes this; why even start in the first place? Why would you even start doing such a thing to yourself. It strikes me as ridiculously as this scenario...
Dude#1: (walks into room)Dude! What the F*ck are you doing to yourself!
Dude#2: Dude, it's called bleeding yourself man. You just take a little knife, make a little cut...
Dude#1: But that's F*cking insane!
Dude#2: But it feels ever so good!
Dude#1: Why would you ever start doing something like that? How did you even think to...
Dude#2: It's a natural knife and my natural blood, so it can't hurt me dude!
Dude#1: You dumb sonofa...
Seriously though guys, it's really bad. My Maternal Grandmother died in her early sixties, when I was still in Elementary School. That woman helped raise me, and when I think of her death, it's like Someone's dragging a knife down me it hurts so much. If you started, please quit, especially if you are/ plan to become a parent. If you haven't started, please do your lungs a favor and never do.
* I just finished watching the Dirty Harry Series! That's five movies of Eastwood certified and Frisco approved a$$-kicking, head-splitting, gun shooting, milk-spilling action! Okay, so the first two films are the ones that I really recommend, but I found all of the movies entertaining at some level.
The first: What's not to love? I know, it has excessive force, but the entertainment level is top notch and it has one of the most awesome scenes in movie history! The main antagonist, Scorpio, is based upon the Zodiac Killer who plagued northern California in the late 1960
* I recently visited Mission San Diego de alcala, Alta California's first Spanish Mission. I'd visited San Francisco's mission before (aptly placed in the mission district... don't wear red or blue there, trust me
I really wish San Diego used more traditional Spanish architecture instead of the ugly modernist crap you see everywhere -_- . It was beautiful in the church, pleasant in the garden, and there was an archeological dig site in the courtyard. Aside from admiring the design of the place, the museum got me thinking; the history of this place, indeed of all missions, isn't exactly benign. While many religious men came to the new world on genuine goals to spread Christ's message (I'm an agnostic, if you're wondering), that doesn't mean that the intrusion of Europeans into this land didn't have devastating consequences.
The Kumeyaay nation (which still is in existence today) was the main subject of the mission's conversion efforts. I found it simply amazing that the mission would pull the usual bullsh*t of how the American Indians before where brutal lost people who were shown the light by the missionaries and cast aside their evil, backwards ways... haven't we all heard this crap somewhere before. Look, I'm not saying all bad men came, that people didn't convert of their own free will, that the purpose of these missions were to be death camps for the Indians, or any of that other garbage, but I think the officials who run the mission should have a more balanced view of history and show that to the public. I am 1/32 Cherokee after all
* I just don't get smokers
Dude#1: (walks into room)Dude! What the F*ck are you doing to yourself!
Dude#2: Dude, it's called bleeding yourself man. You just take a little knife, make a little cut...
Dude#1: But that's F*cking insane!
Dude#2: But it feels ever so good!
Dude#1: Why would you ever start doing something like that? How did you even think to...
Dude#2: It's a natural knife and my natural blood, so it can't hurt me dude!
Dude#1: You dumb sonofa...
Seriously though guys, it's really bad. My Maternal Grandmother died in her early sixties, when I was still in Elementary School. That woman helped raise me, and when I think of her death, it's like Someone's dragging a knife down me it hurts so much. If you started, please quit, especially if you are/ plan to become a parent. If you haven't started, please do your lungs a favor and never do.
* I just finished watching the Dirty Harry Series! That's five movies of Eastwood certified and Frisco approved a$$-kicking, head-splitting, gun shooting, milk-spilling action! Okay, so the first two films are the ones that I really recommend, but I found all of the movies entertaining at some level.
The first: What's not to love? I know, it has excessive force, but the entertainment level is top notch and it has one of the most awesome scenes in movie history! The main antagonist, Scorpio, is based upon the Zodiac Killer who plagued northern California in the late 1960
