Monday 25 September 2000

Pic of the day: Don't listen to Nike, kids.

Sinning sucks

Today I touched a young woman in a rather inappropriate way. You don't really need to know the details - in fact, I trust that your imagination will blow it out of all semblance to reality - but it was definitely not something Jesus would have done.

It felt sort of a bit exciting, but not in an intensely carnal way. I mean, it's not like I "suffered the masculine reaction" as Piers Anthony so beautifully phrases it. Not that I had expected that, either. I just did it because I could.

And then, after a few steps, I felt very weak. I was barely able to stand on my feet, and my hands were trembling. Actually, they were shaking. It felt as if about half my life force was just gone, sucked out of me. A very disconcerting feeling. No less because I don't really believe in life force. I believe that the body gets its energy from burning carbohydrates in the mitochondria in all our cells. Life force is something you find in super mutant comics. But that's what it felt like: As if my flame of life was suddenly flickering, sputtering, weakening. It sucked royally. I did not fully recover for several minutes.

***

Of course, it is hardly the first time I sin. But my favorite sins are those of omission. I like to spend my money and my time on myself and ignore the needs of other. I guess that's sin too, but of a more indirect and circumspect class.

Funny thought: If I took up a really saintly life, would I get some kind of super lifeforce? St. Super-Magnus? Now that would be interesting.

Can't do that right now, though. I've promised two more sins this week. First there's this MP3 player that I found cheap, demonstration used. It's not like they have any moving parts that can be worn out easily. So I think it wasn't a bad buy, humanly considered. But of course there goes some money, which I could have given to small starving children. Not that I would have done that anyway, but in theory I could. [1]

Plus it is American Superhero Comics week again. I've cut down on the intake but there is likely to be a few this time too. I still hold on to a couple of Marvel Comics - Thor and X-man - but they are rather pathetic now. (Of course, most people have known that they were pathetic all the time. Gloat away people. I know I am a nerd.)

***

I'll be slightly shorter than usual (which may not be a bad thing). I only slept like 4-5 hours this night. The head cold has given way to the usual after-cold syndrome, where my nose and sinuses churn out large lumps of chewy goo that very slowly slide down my throat and must be coughed up. After a few hours of sleep it gets pretty clogged and I get up and clear out. Yeah, eeww. I know.

And the message boards are pretty active too. People are probably chatty after the weekend. Also one mailing list had a couple hundred messages or so basically consisting of one guy throwing pearls to the swine and the swine tearing him apart. Or so he eventually concluded. Poor guy; at least he found it out in the end. I used years to wean off the swine-feeding thing. If at all. I don't consider this to be like that, but you be the judge. :)

(You might not believe this about me, but I responded to the "pen friend" columns in youth magazines and started writing with girls, and then wrote lots of holy stuff for them to read. Things have changed, in so many ways. And yet ... "The more things change...")

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[1] If you are very concerned about small starving children but have spent all the money on yourself, there's always The Hungersite. Feed the poor for free.