ihavethemic

Best of luck with the job hunt!

That really sucks. So sorry to hear it!

I see you posted this a long time ago, but i just wanted to say that i am sorry to hear of such tragedy. It pains me greatly to hear of the men and women fighting for us that lose their lives unnecessarily.

Heh, my parents geocache as well, which is how I got into it. It's a fun little hobby...There are some really cool ones out there and I always like being taken to places I wouldn't normally go, hearing little stories about the area, and all that good stuff.

As for Disneyland, it is just kind of the default plan. I've taken 2 trips there with friends in the past couple of years and some amazing times were had. For a day or 2 trip, it is something really easy and fun to do (Although pricey). I definitely wouldn't mind doing something more imaginative though. Just need to get some people interested in it

As for college, I'm still a freshman, despite being in school for 3 years now lol I've had some really nasty health problems over the last 5 years, so finishing a semester has been extremely difficult for me. But, hopefully all of that is behind me and I can move on with my education and life. I'm signed up right now as an electrical and computer engineering major, but I'm definitely not sure if that is the path I want to take. So right now I'm just taking as many different types of GE classes I can so that I can try and figure out what really interests me.

"I do believe that there is much more hope for our country right now. I don't use the word country to mean "government" either...I use it to mean the Americans themselves, us."

Well said! I travel abroad a great deal for business and pleasure, and I'm looking forward to the time in the very near future when I can once again enjoy a pint in a pub without fear of getting my ass kicked for being from the US. We as a people are some of the most optimistic, upbeat and (when one-on-one) well-received people when traveling abroad (the Ugly American aside). Our government so effectively soiled that image over the past eight years that the lines between governmental policy and popular sentiment have been blurred in the eyes of the rest of the world.

I think that our election of Barack Obama has one again proven to the world that we, the people of the United States, are not the arrogant myopic bullies that our recent foreign policy has insinuated.

Sorry to hear you've been struggling with your beliefs a bit.

I'm agnostic as well, although I suppose I lean a bit more towards the religious side of things. I am a firm believer that anything is possible, so I'll never go so far as to completely deny the existence of an all powerful entity. In fact, I actually hope there is an afterlife of sorts because our lives are so fragile and so very short.

To me, religion has always just been a suggestion or guideline on how a person should live their life. Heaven and hell are what becomes of your life based on your decisions. If you live immorally and make poor decisions, then your life becomes a living hell; if you do what's right and live a good life, then your life becomes better (Like heaven). My understanding of religion is basically the concept of projection...What you project onto others and onto the world projects back onto you. So if you're an asshole, people are going to be assholes to you; if you are loving and caring, then people around you are going to be loving and caring as well.

I've never been uncomfortable in religious settings because I know that I am trying my hardest to live a good life. I try to be the best friend, son, brother, and human being that I can be. So when I'm surrounded by religious friends or at a religious gathering, I don't feel any pressure at all. What can they judge me on? I like to think that I have a good set of morals and follow them pretty well...That I live a good life. I hope that is more important than believing in a god...That should there be an afterlife that I am judged on my actions and how I lived my life, rather than whether or not I believed and worshiped in whatever.

I imagine I would be a bit more uncomfortable in a completely atheist setting however. Sometimes those type of people are a lot harder to talk to than followers of religion. I've never had any problems with my atheist friends though, as most of them aren't all fanatical in their beliefs.

Wow...Once I got started there I apparently couldn't stop I think I'll end this post now Hope you are well!

..I'm a firm agnostic..I believe a higher power may exist, or at least a higher power may have set the existence we can sense today into motion at some time..now whether something is in control now or we control our own destiny completely has never been shown to me..

..my problem with organized religion is twofold..first how can one, single religion be absolutely right, while so many others are not..doesn't make sense..and second, it doesn't work..the hypocrisy I see from practitioners and clergy combined with the vast bloodshed throughout history based on differences of faith continue to prove to me the obedience to a particular faith doesn't correlate with people being good, the stated goal of most organized religions.

..my particular agnosticism tells me to gather the main positive precepts from as mainly religions as you can study, lump them all together in easy to understand terms..then make this list your credo..and not in order to gain entrance to a glorious afterlife or to avoid the opposite (what happens after death is left for another rant), but rather to do what is right..something that honest people can usually define. And my belief is the power to do right comes from within each of us and is the responsibility of each of us..not to be left to an outside, uncontrollable force. And sometimes..shit just happens!