Sights set on MICA

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I’ve set my sights on Maryland Institute College of Art. They offer the most attractive fast-track package with a two-semester Digital Arts grad program. Application deadline is March 1.

I’m still at a loss as to how I’m going to be able to afford this (unless I qualify for financial aid). That one schoolyear can cost as much as thirty thousand dollars — tuition, housing, and living expenses included — and even if I could leave for Baltimore today, and land a good job that could last me till October, I seriously doubt I could hoard up that much cash (not honestly, anyway). In all this, I must lean on the Lord for provision, and if He does not provide a way, then I must trust that He is opening a door for me to some other pursuit.

Now I’m headed for my alma mater to order my transcripts. See y’all!

Columbine reflections

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The diary of Eric Harris, Columbine shooter, is disturbingly full of puerile, senseless violence. But why? These insights crossed my mind:

1.) Strange modes of evolutionary thought. “Natural selection” comes into focus, with Harris thinking “I am higher than you people,” thus justifying to himself the idea that the superior human must destroy inferiors as a matter of natural course. Of course, this would be absurd even to the evolutionist, since competition within a species does not equate to wiping out all other members of said species. Clearly, the idea of natural selection here was a mere rationalization for…

2.) …Insecurity. We know that these kids were mocked mercilessly. This would have created feelings of inferiority and helplessness. (I have firsthand experience, having been teased unceasingly all through grade school.) But rather than retreating into themselves, the Columbine shooters seem to have instead overcompensated as a defensive mechanism, reversing their insecurities into Doom-god-like feelings of superiority, and latching onto a twisted concept of natural selection for use as a pretext to vent their anger on a world that — they felt — persecuted them.

3.) Which brings me to this: While the educational system was busy teaching them about evolution and natural selection, weren’t these children categorically told at any one time, “Thou shalt not kill?” I don’t know about anyone else, but I think a moral absolute such as the prohibition of cold-blooded murder should be of equal if not greater importance than the biological assumption that humans came from animals. I’m not saying that the Ten Commandments and Religion should be standard curriculum (although they were for me, having come from a Jesuit school), but certainly, those standards of morality — which I believe are universal to all humans — should have some place in the educational system, shouldn’t they?

That’s my line of thought. Of course, I’m no Psych major, and I have almost zero experience with the US educational system, (except for about a semester in first grade at a public school in SF) so I’m hardly qualified to give more than this little opinion.

Utmost – the Impartial Power

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Few writers can express the greatness of the absolute redemptive gift we have in Jesus — and its implications for our lives — as lucidly and as powerfully as Oswald Chambers, in his daily devotional My Utmost For His Highest:

No matter who or what we are, God restores us to right standing with Himself only by means of the death of Jesus Christ. God does this, not because Jesus pleads with Him to do so but because He died. It cannot be earned, just accepted. All the pleading for salvation which deliberately ignores the Cross of Christ is useless. It is knocking at a door other than the one which Jesus has already opened. We protest by saying, “But I don’t want to come that way. It is too humiliating to be received as a sinner.” God’s response, through Peter, is, “…there is no other name… by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). What at first appears to be heartlessness on God’s part is actually the true expression of His heart. There is unlimited entrance His way. “In Him we have redemption through His blood…” (Ephesians 1:7). To identify with the death of Jesus Christ means that we must die to everything that was never a part of Him.

– from Dec 8 devotional: “The Impartial Power of God”

Hi-C Orange

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“Good afternoon sir welcome to McDonald’s may I take your order?”

“Filet-O-Fish sandwich with small fries and medium orange juice, please.”

“Sir, you want Hi-C Orange sir?”

“Yes, orange juice, please.”

“Sir, Hi-C Orange?”

“Yes, that’s the orange juice, isn’t it?” Is she trying to make me say the brand name?

“Sir, we don’t have orange juice. Would you like Hi-C Orange, sir?”

(At this point, I thought of playing a little game to see who would give in first: would the attendant give me the orange juice or would I be forced to order by the brand name? But I was hungry, so I just nodded, waved my hand noncommitally, and shoved the cash towards her. It was a yummy Filet-O-Fish with orange juice.)

The rug is pulled

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And suddenly, the rug was pulled.

I’m no longer assured of parental aid to finance my postgrad schooling.

Mom doesn’t want me going to the US next year, partly because of The War Against Terror, partly because she may not be able to afford the funding for two brothers taking Master’s courses at the same time, and partly because she doesn’t feel I’m ready. (“You’re not ready” is a phrase I’ve heard from my parents a LOT since I was a kid. It’s a major reason I had to move out.)

So here I am, with a pile of prospectii, course descriptions, admissions instructions, application forms, self-addressed envelopes, and transcript requests — and no certainty regarding my ability to pay for any of it. If I take the leap next year, and if I do commit to a one-year or two-year course, I will have to work through it, and pay my way with blood, sweat, and tears.

Well, a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.

But before forms are signed and envelopes sealed and mailed, one must take that integral first step: that of falling to one’s knees with Book in hand, and consulting the Master for direction and assurance.

This is going to be a challenge. Fun, fun.

Get cracking!

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As I sit here, eating my leftover lemongrass chicken with rice and chili-garlic sauce, I think to myself: whatever happened to my earlier plans to leave for the US in pursuit of that M.A. in Graphic Design?

Events since then have given me some pause. Certain loved ones in my life aren’t too eager to see me go There now, for fear of my catching anthrax or being caught in a tall building near low-flying planes. Am I being silly, or at least ridiculously cautious, to give credence to these fears?

And who am I fooling? I’ve been slacking off. After finding the schools and courses I want to aim for, I’ve procrastinated on getting admissions forms or requirements. “Later, later, tomorrow, tomorrow, busy, busy.”

Ack! it’s been four months of tomorrows, and the admissions deadlines are coming. I’d better get cracking.

Broccoli and Christopher Walken

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Interesting. I wasn’t aware of it, but my broccoli entry bore an uncanny resemblance to The Onion’s column on hotdogs by Christopher Walken. (Satirical, of course.)

Yes, I love broccoli that much.

Broccoli Lover

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I hope you won’t be shocked at my saying that I love broccoli. Yes, you heard right. I do so love to eat broccoli. Whether sauteed in oyster sauce with beef or served fresh by itself from the microwave, broccoli is my favorite fun tasty vegetable.

Yesterday, I bought a head of broccoli. Today, I sliced it up, washed the stems and flowers, and stewed them in a pot with butter and garlic. But woe, oh woe, I overcooked it, and the result was mushy broccoli: not quite as fun or tasty as the fun tasty vegetable I love.

But I ate it anyway, with roast lemongrass chicken and rice. What a yummy lunch.