what are we? (8 til 9 am)

farewell

Damn, Tom, just tell her you have a headache.

Squid is tasty. :v

Pulp 236. I wish !

 Ah, so, beneath all that killing, wars and hate, there is love! Perhaps they're killing and go to war to kill each other out of love; deep down they love each other, but in the meantime why not kill each other?

war is late birth control; useful

Haha we need a new plague

Good point SA. Wouldn't it be fun to observe those who observe others? Their smile, their aura, and even their glance. :P

What is the difference between squid and calamari?

About $10 a kilo. Squid and calamari are two different beasts. Squid is cheaper and tougher; calamari is more tender and expensive. Squid is generally Nototodarus gouldi, also known as Gould's squid, but a species named Teuthoidea is also targeted. Calamari come from the genus Sepioteuthis. You can see the word "sepia" in the name, which refers to their ink. You can tell squid from calamari by the fins that form an arrow shape on the end of the squid's hood. The fins of calamari extend almost all the way down the hood. My fishmonger insists you can make squid as tender as calamari by marinating it with kiwi fruit. Try buying smaller squid, chopping up their fins and tentacles and stuffing these back into the hood with breadcrumbs and slowly cooking in a tomato and garlic sauce.

tomtrytostay wrote:

well I don't believe what we are is anything to do with our gender or our sexuality. 

What we are is consciouness no? Or is it love? 

I don't know but I'm watching and I'm going to find out. 

I just think Jake is hot!

md says:

Does that not define who you are ?

We are love is horse manure.

And tom... making sexual advances online can be construed as harassment. I know you're drunk so I let it slide.

Watch the excellent movie 'The Emile Griffith Story' and find out how living a life of denial can destroy you . Emile finally made a recovery. A very hard road indeed.

Posting, on these 'threads' .. is Not unlike 'refining gold'; The object, when reading; Is to recognize the purer stuff, from the 'dross'!  0:

Yes, I constantly weed out anything more than 1 tolerable sized paragraph. But the squid and calamari post was really educational and enjoyable. 😛

Philip Yancey; Chess Master

From my own experience in trying to make stories 'work'; I have discovered that what is needed is an action that is totally unexpected, yet totally believable; And I have found that, for me.. this is always an action which indicates that grace has been offered.

 And frequently it is an action in which the devil has been the unwilling instrument of grace. This is not a piece of knowledge that I consciously put into my stories; It is a discovery that I get out of them.

 
 My own life story contains details that I regret and may even resent; Pain from childhood .. illness and injury.. times of poverty.. wrong choices.. broken relationships.. missed opportunities; And, disappointment in my own failures.


 Can I trust, truly trust, that God can weave these redemptively into my overall story, as "unwilling instruments of grace"?

 I think of God's style as ironic. A more straightforward approach would respond to each new problem with an immediate solution.

 A woman gets sick; God heals her. A man is falsely imprisoned; God releases him. Rarely does God use such an approach, however.


 An author of great subtlety, will let the plot line play out in perilous ways; Then ingeniously incorporates those apparent detours, into the route home.
 
 Thus Paul gives thanks for his "thorn in the flesh" because it advances, rather than impedes, God's work through him; And, Joseph can look back on his harrowing life and say to his cruel brothers: "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good."

 
 In high school, I took pride in my ability to play chess. I joined the chess club, and during lunch hour could be found sitting at a table with other nerds poring over books with titles like, Classic King Pawn Openings.


 I studied techniques, won most of my matches, and put the game aside for 20 years. Then, in Chicago, I met a truly fine chess player who had been perfecting his skills long since high school.


 When we played a few matches, I learned what it is like to play against a master. Any classic offense I tried, he countered with a classic defense.

 If I turned to more risky, unorthodox techniques, he incorporated my bold forays into his winning strategies.

 Although I had complete freedom to make any move I wished, I soon reached the conclusion that none of my strategies mattered very much.

 His superior skill, guaranteed that my purposes inevitably ended up serving his own ends!


 Perhaps God engages our universe, his own creation, in much the same way.

 He grants us freedom to rebel against its original design; But even as we do so; We end up ironically serving his eventual goal of restoration.


 If I accept that blueprint-- a Huge step of faith, I confess; It transforms how I view, both the good and bad things that happen.

 Good things, such as health, talent, and money, I can present to God as offerings to serve his purposes. And bad things, too—disability, poverty, family dysfunction, failures—can be redeemed as the very instruments that drive me to God.


 A skeptic might accuse me of flagrant rationalization, arguing backwards to make evidence fit a prior conclusion. Yes, exactly!

 A Christian begins with the conclusion that a good God will restore creation to its original design, and sees all history as proceeding toward that end.

 When a Grand Master plays a chess amateur; Victory is assured, no matter how the board may look at any given moment.

 In a miracle of grace, even our personal failures can become tools in God's hands.

 Many people find that a persistent temptation, even an addiction, is the very wound that causes them to turn in desperation to God, so that the wound forms a beginning point for new creation.

Paul Tournier, summed up the pattern well:

The most wonderful thing in this world is not the good that we accomplish, but the fact that good can come out of the evil that we do.

 I have been struck, for example, by the numbers of people who have been brought back to God under the influence of a person to whom they had some imperfect attachment

.. Our vocation is, I believe, to build good out of evil. For if we try to build good out of good; We are in danger of running out of raw material !

 I am certain Tournier, would prefer for people never to commit evil in the 1st place. -- Unfortunately, that is an unattainable state in this fallen world. Here the ironic response works best; For it never runs out of raw material ! ..{fini}

Troy 225.
I disagree that there is anyone that does not possess love . If there is what a sorry state that would be .

I do notice when I observe that love isn't truly what we are . We observe it so how can it be .

I'm still searching for what we are but right now it's looking to me like we don't exist at all . I think I've always suspected that really .

This to observe is to think . Is that true ? I'm not at all sure about that .

To me anyway to just watch is like to listen and to think is like to talk.

So I can say to sa I know through my logic that God doesn't exist but when I just observe I'm absolutely not ruling anything in or out .

I'm just watching . The watcher .

Troy at 240.
A little humour nice .

But you know when people feel threatened they agitate . This agitation leads to paranoia.

You haven't seen that ?

When we are paranoid we lose touch with our natural state which is love .

Don't worry be loving .

Md 246.
I made sexual advances at you . Really ? God that was so subtle that I didn't even notice it . Man you must be something for me to have all this attraction to you . It's probably how nice to me you are .

Re sexual advances..im jealous, i thought we were virtually married.

You tenderize octupus simply beating the crap out of it.