Root: under-active (13%)
Sacral: open (31%)
Navel: open (63%)
Heart: open (56%)
Throat: over-active (75%)
Third Eye: open (25%)
Crown: open (19%)


Click to take!


Apparently I'm too domineering and I talk too much. D= I'll do my best to become mute in the near future.

Oh come now, must you make these questions too easy? =]

But since this question has me thinking about Christmas Eve, it's still so hard to believe that it'll have been five years we've been together. It doesn't even feel like five years, rather it still feels practically like the first. I think that's the one thing I do love about this relationship; the fact that it always feels as if though we're on a fresh start, if only because we're both always willing to try new things. And it always feels as though I can't really picture myself with anyone else, it's as if we've both always been together. It would feel too odd to be without her, and I already know she feels the same. She tells me in all kinds of ways. But it's still a bit humbling to think that this all started when she decided to tell me that she liked me, and we both awkwardly agreed to give a relationship a try. So yes, I would say that the love of my life, who would later become the mother of my children and a fiercely loyal friend and confidante would be the best gift I've ever received to date. And I can only thank God every other day for it.

Click here.
Take the quiz.
Post your results.
( See mjk_1635's results. )


*SIGH.*

Just to get that negative entry off the top of my page, here...

I thought I would announce to everyone promptly about our trip to Spring Valley tomorrow! =D Everyone's a bit excited to get out of the house, to say the least. The reason we're going, you ask? Well, we need to go to pick up a new giraffe. Luckily Zri came across the auction in the newspaper, and it seemed like a splendid idea to get a new giraffe!! Our old one was just about worn out. It had a couple of stains, and it seems quite apathetic to the foliage we offer it nowadays. Emb had to help me load it into the truck, but regrettably we had to throw out our old giraffe at the dump. D= We're sorry.

Hopefully tomorrow's excursion will bring us back a new giraffe, and along with it brand new memories. =D

Just a quick entry to get this particular opinion off of my chest. And yes, I know that entries have already been made pretty much all around regarding this, but I thought I would add my two cents, as it were.

Making the best of one's circumstances by joking about it is one thing, I suppose. (Although I still don't like Zri joking about being sick like this, considering the possibilities of WHAT she could be sick with.) I can live with it, I've seen people make the best of their situations by joking about it, Couto's mother joking about the eye she lost in that terrible accident being a fine example. I can understand that.

But honestly? How wrong, and how terrible of a person can you be to wish death or illness on someone? I happen to think that it doesn't get anymore wrong than that. I don't care how horribly you get along with someone (considering that forgiveness is seen in a virtuous light for a reason). To wish death, illness or misfortune on anyone is wrong. And believe you me, karma, God, whatever you choose to believe in, it all has a way of coming around and insuring that everyone will get what they deserve, you and your spiteful mind alike.

Not going to sling labels and call anyone a monster or 'horrible' for it, but I'm just going to say that I don't happen to think 'I WISH ____ WOULD GO DIE IN A CAR ACCIDENT ;D' or 'I WISH _____ WOULD GET CANCER, LOL SHE'S SO WEIRD AND HORRIBLE AND STUPID' are funny in the least. It's not clever, it's not nice, and more importantly it's not moral in any instance. Before engaging in those spiteful, terrible thoughts (not to mention arrogant, as if somehow you're fit to serve death as judgment) consider this: would you be able to live with yourself if your sentence was carried out? What would you do if you found out that person had died the way you wished them to? What would you do if you found out that person WAS raped or murdered or whatever you would wish to happen to them, just because they annoy you, or just because you don't like them? If you would feel no slight of remorse for the above scenarios, I think you need to re-evaluate your view on humanity and where you stand on contributing to it altogether, but that's just this particular man's opinion.

Perhaps I'm only speaking out after a similar sentiment was voiced about someone I care about, but my disposition was the same even before then. I just didn't expect to need to voice it until tonight.

Although while I'm on the topic, I'll go on a bit of a tangent I suppose.

Forgiveness is a Godly trait for a reason. If you truly expect not only God, but everyone around you to forgive you for all the less-than-saintly acts you've committed (and anyone who dares to say they're a golden exception to this? You're a liar. Just saying.), where do you get off not forgiving someone else for their slights or mistakes? Some are harder to let go of, I know, believe me. I've had to forgive a few people in particular for some terrible wrongs against me, but I'm also aware that as humans we're bound to make mistakes. We're bound to say and do things we don't mean, maybe we even do mean it. But I still believe entirely in hating the act, not the person behind it. The person behind it may not be good for us (mentally or spiritually) to associate with, and certainly not good for us to welcome back into our lives for the danger they're capable of putting us in, but in wishing death or illness or vengeance on them, I have to ask: how are you any different?

An act begins as a thought after all, and is it not improbable to say that we remain as 'good' people when we have malicious thoughts? Just another pondering, there.

I can understand bouts of anger where we might say things we don't mean, where we might say we want to do things we otherwise never would. Believe me, I do understand that people can grind our nerves enough where we wish things on them that we don't mean if only because anger's a strange emotion for what it stirs within us. I also understand that some acts are harder to let go of than others, and for that, only time will heal the wounds and bring about the peace we need to forgive the person behind the act. Humans aren't God, where asking and true penance are all that are needed. Humans take longer to heal and they're infinitely more fragile, so I do understand where one might be coming from in cases of abuse and the like. I especially understand not letting the person back into your life, and for what might be wrong with them mentally or spiritually or what have you, it's the best decision to go by. But I still believe that forgiveness will at least help you to overcome the wounds, and help you to feel better about your humanity, indefinitely.

My problem lies in people thinking it's FUNNY to wish these horrible things on other people just out of spite, nothing further to it. Just childish spite, as if that in itself is enough to wish those horrible things on someone. By no means should you ever jokingly say things like the above examples as if you mean them. You should take that time to remember that death, rape, suicide, terminal illness, things like that are irreversible sentences. And if you lack the conscience to care when the person you target falls victim to your sentence of choice, I suppose you should just bypass this entry.

I won't wish anything on you, but I will say that I don't approve of your disposition, and further I'm fairly sure I don't wish to know you.

Thank you, and have a pleasant tomorrow.

I should probably get back to that movie review project. xD Good lord, I only just now noticed how much the movies have piled up, and I'm probably never going to be able to catch up to all of them since we just keep adding more and more onto the list. I'll try, but just don't expect me to review EVERY film on the now gargantuan list that's nearly impossible to keep up with.

FOR NOW YOU GET TO READ ABOUT MY DAY OFF. n.n!

Right, so today I went out to Charlotte with the family, and it was a pretty grand time if I do say so myself. xD We went to Discovery Place, albeit a bit pointlessly since it was going to close in 45 minutes but well. 8D The point is we were there, which Joey was infinitely excited by, and even Ri found the artifacts and history fascinating enough. All kinds of interactive and entertainment-based exhibits, and since we brought him along Edd was definitely overjoyed to spend his afternoon after school with us there. xD

As I said, there were plenty of interactive exhibits in the section we spent our precious time in; the Odyssey Marine voyage section, which was basically a cover-to-cover section about what the Odyssey recovered from shipwrecks in the Mediterranean. Had the candlesticks, gold coins, ceramic pipes, valuable treasures that were recovered from wreckage up to two thousand years ago. Fascinating finds, and the interactive exhibits were a load of fun. One of which happened to be hurricane tubes, where you stand in a little isolated capsule-tube while the wind machine blasting through the vents in the side and top simulated the windspeeds of category one hurricanes. (That's roughly wind up to ninety miles per hour, if memory serves me right.) I loved how Zri and Fio both simply stood in their tubes, the wind sweeping their hair and ballooning their baggy clothes, all they while they stood there and waved and grinned about it. xD Another one was where Ri learned how to navigate, though the touch screens weren't really responsive to his touch, to which he threw his arms up and proclaimed his crew dead to him until Spain could develop better touch screens.

Another one happened to be these ropes hanging from a wall, along with complex diagrams displaying how to tie certain kinds of sailor's knots. For some odd reason, no one could figure out how to tie the sailor knots. I managed to figure them out, to which my daughter responded promptly; "Daddy knows EVERYTHING!"

XD Wouldn't go that far, but I've got to say I've yet to find any qualms with being my daughter's hero. And Ri was fairly amused by that too, to say the least ("Yeah, I guess he's pretty smart, we'll give him that. =]."). The only downside was that a good lot of the museum was shut down for renovations; hopefully we'll be able to go back when it's a tad more expansive. (But at least that knocked a few dollars off the price, so can't really complain, can I?) But we saw the recovered artifacts and relics from the Odyssey Marine voyage, played with a few of the entertainment exhibits, in summation it was all pretty cool stuff.

We went out to Chili's a bit later for lunch, where our little Joey here spat her first curseword. xD Which we're guessing she got from a movie, since even Zri knows to tone down her language when Joey's around, but whatever the case I had to fight to keep a straight face when telling her not to say that word again. And of course after we told her that it was a nasty word, she began to cry because, quote, 'I was bad!! I was bad, I used bad words!!' I had to pull her out of the high chair to calm her down, honestly she's too adorable for her own good. XD I swear, it's next to bloody impossible to be any sort of angry with her, and I think she gets that from her mother if anything (here's to hoping she doesn't use that to her advantage in the near future. *COUGH* 8D). She made her brief 'atonement' by eating all her vegetables, and Zri pointing out that one of the waiters looked like Steven Segall aside, while Robyn plotted to steal another couple's baby aside for a birthday present, that was that. 8D

Came back home only to get ready for 'cowboy church', which is basically an informal sermon in equally informal circumstances (given in a horse barn where the congregation sits as well as sings, and you even have a few dogs wandering among the parishioners).

Although of course before going up to the sermon, Zri had to change her clothes since her shirt got a few stains on the front of it (which I didn't understand the point of, since it's almost a guarantee that you'll get dirty at cowboy church anyway). She put on the tie-dye pirate shirt from Myrtle Beach that she received from Couto... ...To which I had to point out that a shirt that says 'Loose Women!!' on it probably wasn't the best choice to wear to a church sermon, informal or not. 8D Life sure is funny that way sometimes. n.n

But it was actually a good and meaningful sermon, mostly revolving around the things God wishes us to remember in all tenses of our lives. Even Zri agreed that it was a good sermon that focused less on the hopeless conflict of man and more on the positive messages the Bible taught. That was good news to me, considering that that's usually Zri's main qualm with the Bible and fundamental Christianity to begin with, so I was plenty happy to see that the message of God was being taught still through peaceful and sane means. Good sermon, though... We could have done without having to nearly sink to the knee in mud on the way out.

But overall, Zri will probably write a much more detailed version of today in her journal so I should just stop. D= Either way, this was a great way to spend my day off. So there you go. 8D I'll probably write a bit more frequently, or at least I'll try, but for now you just get our day today.

Zri wrote a dream survey, so I thought I would steal. =D Everyone else should too, HINT HINT and all that. ...Oh dear, I typed that aloud, didn't I?


( Dreams )

Dear Muffin,

Please stop walking all over the keyboard, thereby turning on strange commands such as Sticky Keys and Filter Keys as well as Cabaret Browsing.

Yours truly,

Michael

P.S: Sitting in the chair and staring up at me innocently does not in fact bolster your innocence.

You say your time has come, you're tired of waking up.
Don't be obscene, I can't conceive of living without you.

You say you drag me down,
No one should want you now,
I start to cry, you kiss my eyes
And say I'm not allowed to.

Burning beacon in the night,
Can't feel its heat or see its light,
That single solitary guide
It must get lonely there, sometimes...

You were a child forgot,
Lessons of love untaught
Now no embrace can quite replace
The one that never found you.

I was raised tenderly,
All that was taught to me
I will apply, your parents tried
But they didn't know how to.

Burning beacon in the night,
Can't feel its heat or see its light,
That single solitary guide
It must get lonely there, sometimes...

Let me stand by you,
The honor is mine.
Let me stand by you,
Loneliest light, loneliest light, loneliest light...

Burning beacon in the night,
Can't feel its heat or see its light,
That single solitary guide
It must get lonely there, sometimes...

-A Fine Frenzy, The Beacon.


Sometimes it's amazing how PERFECTLY a song can convey your message. Now off to bed!

Oh, I wasn't looking up any shallow, trivial reason to try out a new icon Zri made for me or anything of that sort. No, I've no idea what you're talking about. Why, the very idea! n.n

But I suppose to give this entry an actual purpose, I'll just say that work is going well enough. Steady hours, work's a tad tedious but easy enough that it doesn't typically stress me. (Basically it's drafting letters, record-keeping, organisation, that sort of thing.) Five days out of seven's not all that bad either. But enough on that...


( A few surveys. )

The Dante's Inferno Test has sent you to Purgatory!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Extreme
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	High
Level 2 (Lustful)	Low
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Very Low
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Very Low
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Very Low
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Very Low
Level 7 (Violent)	Low
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	Low
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Very Low

Take the Dante Inferno Hell Test


Not quite sure if I should feel accomplished. D= *SIGH.*

Comment and I will comment back with a picture of the fictional character that most reminds me of you. Then post the same in your journal.

No, for the simple reason that I enjoy exercise where I can manage! For the most part, the future has distilled down to convenience rather than what might actually be the right way of doing things, specifically regarding ourselves and our health. I don't particularly share that. People in general have become so impatient, everyone expects results instantaneously enough as it is where if they aren't hastily pursuing unneeded cosmetic surgery, they're peddling which product gets results faster while disregarding the thought that perhaps losing five stones in two days is unhealthy as well as unrealistic.

It's almost a sad thing, how everyone's willing to abandon the concept of hard work and the strengthened sense of focus and discipline that can only roughly come with an actual exercise regime. Though as I'm sure you've figured by now, it's not merely exercise that worries me concerning instantaneous results. Don't misunderstand, I'm all for medical advances that work on ailments and illnesses more quickly than painful weeks of rehabilitation, I'm all for finding treatments for said ailments and illnesses that work more quickly than which would be considered orthodox. If this pill were, say, to be used as a sort of therapy for those who are for whatever reason disabled or otherwise handicapped and unable to exercise like that of regular people, then I could see the pill working in that moderation.

But the instance I'm speaking of, the matter of exercise relying strictly on desire, on work ethic, discipline, focus, self-respect, and determination shouldn't be handed off to be substituted by pills and the insubstantial 'easy way'. Even for those who don't consider themselves atheletic, there's a wide array of sports and activities out there from walking to bungee jumping to rock climbing to playing a simple game of catch with a beach ball! I'm sure of all of that these unatheletic types could find some way to enjoy themselves!

Perhaps my viewpoint could be seen as old fashioned, but I just don't see taking a pill building character as well as the body and mind as well as actually going outside for a two mile run. Honestly, I don't think a pill could ever replace a good lot of the running, weight lifting and sparring that I love to do when I've the free time. For those of us able to manage exercise on our own, I suppose it's a matter of whether or not you believe cutting corners is all right. Personally, I don't.

Yes, a horrendous joke, I'm well aware.

I apologise for nothing. =D.



1) Have your music library ready.
2) Choose one song from your music library whose title starts with the first letter (or number) of your screen name.
3) Repeat this process with each successive letter (or number) in your screen name until you run out of letters (or numbers).
4) Post up your results.
5) BONUS POINTS: Upload your mix (whether it's individual songs or a .zip of all the songs) and include the mix in your post.
6) MORE BONUS POINTS: Add the line around the 1:10 mark of at least five songs.

Username: mjk_1635


All right, with that said... Here we go. (And since it's amazingly difficult to find songs that begin with numbers in my playlist, I'm going to go ahead and take the numbers and place them into letter value. Meaning 1 = One, 6 = Six, and so on and so forth.)


...The finished product of this looks far too simple and dull. So I'll do the bonus points. 8D Oh aren't you all so FORTUNATE? n.n

( What Have I Done? )

Disorder	Rating
Paranoid:	Low
Schizoid:	Low
Schizotypal:	Low
Antisocial:	Low
Borderline:	Low
Histrionic:	Low
Narcissistic:	Low
Avoidant:	Low
Dependent:	Low
Obsessive-Compulsive:	Low
-- Personality Disorder Test -- -- Personality Disorder Information --

D= Oh. How dreadfully boring.

Boredom certainly plays a substantial role in lacking entries, doesn't it?

141 As a 1930s husband, I am Very Superior Take the test!

I'll try to have better updates in the future, but until then, enjoy my outdated superiority. *Has died a little inside.*

Fill this out about me, based on what comes to mind!


Fabric:

Animal:

Beverage:

Mode of Transportation:

City:

Tree:

Color:

Play:

Scent:

Song:

Type of day:

Decade:

TV Show:

Landmark:

Snack:

Mythological creature:

Spice:

Musical Instrument:

Painting or Photo:

Toy:


I'll comment back and fill it out about you. There you go. =D Yeah, you're going to be all right. 8D *Ruffles your hair*

....A note to myself, never fall asleep before Zri again in the next however many years.

I'd say I'm unamused, but you're lucky your laugh is so cute. xD

In any case I'll just fill out a survey before going back to bed, thank you! (It's been going around, so why not.)


( DON'T CRANK THAT SOULJA BOY. )

Right, so under a bit of surfing I came across the site Ashley Madison.com. Apparently, it's a dating site for married couples to have "casual encounters" and "discrete affairs", the site is even kind enough not to disclose itself on the credit card bill as anything more than an innocuous charge, in polite courtesy of the site's users. Despite what the site promotes, it's actually surprisingly popular from what I've seen, though even after reading the reasoning of the site's creator and president Noel Biderman (who is, ironically, married himself) I'm not entirely sure why. After looking a bit further into it, one of the profiles even has the audacity to ask for "an open, trusting and ongoing affair", which from any logical perspective is no different than asking for a unicorn. Who knows, perhaps this is me just being old fashioned with my confounding old fangled ideas of monogamy.

Perhaps, if people are really starting to move beyond the ideals of faith and keeping some silly old promise made in front of their loved ones and in front of God, I really am old fashioned and falling behind the times. But I think I can safely say that I'm thankful to be one of the gnarled old patriarchs of our day and age.

I'll be honest, I simply don't understand how anyone can justify infidelity. As someone who's BEEN cheated on, I can safely say that I would rather be left than have to go through anything like that again. And I can safely say that I wouldn't wish or inflict that sort of unforgivable pain on anyone, much less the one I love whether they could find out about it or not. The site's not entirely to blame for the actions of those who choose to use it, I'll give Biderman that much. But I never understood the appeal of infidelity or what runs through the heads of those who choose to act that way. (I refuse to call it by its more elegant terminology; an affair. Somehow I can't help but think that if people referred to it by its more derogatory and infinitely realer terms, cheating and infidelity, the action itself wouldn't catch so much fascination.) Many people argue that monogamy is unnatural for humans, that as animals it's our instinct to reproduce with as many mates as possible, but I can't help pointing out that unlike animals who mate out of instinct with no concept of reason or thought behind their actions, humans can choose and make their decisions.

Humans are animals, sure, when stripped of their sentient thought and of their ability to consider or even feel emotional inclinations toward other people or the people they're with. Thus, I never really understood trying to justify that sort of thing with primal arguments as if somehow making us out to be no better than baboons will excuse our actions. If you can justify infidelity with the fact that you're human and thus an animal, fine, then I can justify territorial urges and violence, killing the weakest in my family, or killing anyone who tries to come onto my wife with the fact that I'M an animal. After all, killing to defend their mates or territory, such brutality and savagery are all animal instincts too, are they not? Not to mention the fact that monogamy DOES in fact exist between animals like beavers, otters, wolves and foxes sort of punches holes in that argument.

In short, our DNA isn't some magical excuse for actions we use human-unique sentient thoughts and sense of reason (or lack of) to make.

And honestly, if your marriage or your relationship is in trouble, the most cheating can be considered as would be the quickest and most painful way to end it all. Whatever happened to counseling, or if push comes to shove simply going to a lawyer and getting things sorted out if it really came to all that pain and irreconcilable grief in being with the one you married? I can understand leaving for inconsolable reasons such as the good of your children if they're being abused or neglected, if you're being abused or neglected yourself, if the person you married has become someone else entirely under new inhibitions inflicted by drug or alcohol addiction, but being unfaithful for the THRILL of it? Just because you can?

You can scream you love that person dearly until you're blue in the face, but the fact is thoughtlessly throwing aside their feelings for the sake of a thrill or a one-night stand has the brutal truth of the notion 'Actions speak louder than words' tolling like church bells. Or at least, I simply don't understand why anyone would go through with it, or how anyone could live with themselves taking advantage of their loved one's trust even if it was guaranteed that they would never be caught.

Who knows, as a man that's BEEN there, BEEN cheated on - even better, I CAUGHT them in the act myself - perhaps I'm just bitter and resigned to ways that were SO 1900's.

But now that my sentiments are cleared up, I suppose I can also see why people would do something like cheat when it's so glorified by sites like this. The site's not completely to blame, the users are the ones who CHOOSE to cheat after all, and if it wouldn't be that site then other avenues like Facebook or Myspace or what have you would be taken if the cheater was really so determined to be unfaithful. But helping other liars lie, helping other cheaters cheat while proudly waving the philosophical creed that 'Life is short, have an affair!' like some kind of flag... I can't say I really find it admirable that a married man himself would take the unhappiness of others as a cornerstone in what I'm sure is gradually becoming a lucrative business.

It's just a shame that as much as Western culture flaunts the constitution of marriage, in a painful twist of irony it showcases turning said marriages into nothing more than shams and titles that can be shafted in lieu of "being chained" to the one you said you would love forever in the eyes of God, and in front of your most trusted loved ones for the rest of your life. But Heaven forbid that I condone that sort of thing, since it seems to be a cursed and old fangled idea of the past for fops bearing top hats and monocles.

Not only is chivalry dying, but it seems common decency is drowning right along with it.


And that would be my bit of cynicism for the day! Sorry 'bout that, but it needed to be said.