"A Friend to All is a Friend to None." -- Aristotle

Ah, Saturday! Though it's kinda pointless to mention what day it is as I'm writing this, since it could be Tuesday or Wednesday by the time you actually read this... and by then my thoughts on Saturday will be old... so, so old...

Hmm, I suppose I could lead in like this: Ahh, last Saturday!

But then, what if it's, like, a month or two before you read this?

OK, fine, here: Ah, the Saturday that is represented by the date at the top of this post! There, ya happy?

Got a lot done today, and it's just 2:45 pm! Are you proud of me? Vacuumed the whole house, picked bagfulls of lemons of our backyard tree, dismembered and trashcanned our Xmas tree, cleaned the inside of my computer with compressed air... hmm... now that I write it out, it doesn't seem like much...

Still, it's a beautiful day outside in San Diego... a perfect day to stay inside and play games and/or write a movie script! Or put stuff in the microwave!



So after reading Riddler's Gift, I decided to sample a couple other titles before beginning the sequel Second Sight. I got more than 70% through a book called Edge by Thomas Blackthorne, which is sort of a near-futuristic urban fantasy tale, but the author was too heavy-handed with his anti-global warming and anti-violence messages, and the tale lacked depth. Once I saw where the book would be going for the climax, I decided to bail on the book. No doubt it will be turned into a "made for TV" movie in the next five years or so. Seems like it was written with "optioning to TV" in mind. Bleh.

I then decided I wanted to learn more about snipers, so after nosing around online a bit, I settled on Marine Sniper, by Charles Henderson. It's a biography of the greatest sniper from the Vietnam era, a legend named Carlos Hathcock. It was mentioned by many reviewers as the best sniper-related book available. However, it seems to me like it was written for simpletons. It reminded me of the biography of Bill Watterson I read a year or two ago (review here). I can't stomach dumbed-down books that insult my ability to "get it"...

So I abandoned that book (cost me $8 dangit!), and moved onto one of the many samples I have in my digital library, a new book called Rook by Daniel O'Malley that is getting a lot of buzz. It's another sort of sci-fi urban fantasy type of book, which I may buy when it goes on sale for a few bucks, but I wasn't hooked enough to want to pay $13 at the moment.

So I'm reading Second Sight now, and it is very solid so far.

So my trainer Mark was destroying me last Monday during our workout, and I felt like I was pushed to my limit, out of breath, heart pounding, weak-kneed, etc. So I asked him how I'm supposed to know when I should "listen to my body" and take a break for a time, or forget how I feel and push through it. I didn't want to negate in any way the progress we had made during the workout thus far by stopping when I should keep pushing... but I also didn't want to keel over. He said that it all depends on the day - there is no formula to it. We took a break so I could recover, then modified the rest of the workout to avoid hitting that place again.

But I bring it up because I wonder if there's a spiritual parallel, as far as God testing us in certain areas. I know there's that verse that says we won't be tested beyond our ability to handle it (1 Cor 10:13). But I also know that many times I've worked with my trainer where, if I had been by myself, I would have stopped, thinking I'd hit my limit. But then he would make me do another set, and then sometimes yet another, and to my amazement, I could do it. I hadn't hit my limit after all. So when it comes to tests, etc., I wonder if there are times when we need to push through (so to speak) and times to take a break before we keel over.

Or is that forcing an analogy where one doesn't exist/belong?

Shifting gears, here, watch this full screen-high def.



I never even knew what a Teahupoo was before this video!!!

While you're in the mood to full-screen, high-def a video, here's another jaw-dropper...



Wowza, I says. Wowza indeed.

Go here to read about a Giant Tortoise named Adwaita that lived more than 250 years, plus other animals that lived way longer than they should have... and go here to watch Naader Reda eat a 12-pound pizza in one hour. No human being should have the capacity to eat that much food! I am stunned. And finally, Go Here to watch the infamous Camp Video that I've been working on for eons. Yes, it is done. Unlike the other videos, it doesn't look good full screen.

Those that went to the camp will be getting a DVD copy of it in the mail soon.

Well, I think that's it for today. If anything interesting happens, I'll mention it in the next post. I hope your week is a good one.

Dave