With that out of the way, I’ve decided I need to do something to get in better shape. Getting a better body has never really been a goal of mine, as I’m more or less happy as I am. However, health is important to me, and it’s obvious that I’m not in the shape I used to be in. I can’t even finish a mile nonstop anymore, when I used to be able to do 1.5 back in middle school. So, I’ve decided to start running again. Nothing complicated, because I don’t have the patience for complicated programs or buying equipment. Just running got me in shape in middle school, so I imagine it should have similar (though possibly slower) results now.

At first, I decided I was just going to run the approximately two mile block around where I live. Run as much as I can, then walk until I can run again, rinse and repeat. You can probably guess what happened. I jogged for 6 minutes (about seven tenths of a mile), then promptly burned out. I spent the majority of the rest of the “run” walking, with a couple more short bursts of running. That’s not really going to cut it if I want to get better.

So I went back to a site I’d heard about before called Couch to 5k and took another look at their running program that is supposed to get one from a couch potato to running about 5 km (4.8 really, 3 miles), by running for time or distance. It starts out with short jogs followed by slightly longer walks, and looks like it’s meant to get you to build up endurance sustainably by keeping you at a relatively continuous pace despite the breaks. Takes about the same amount of time to finish a run, and I don’t feel so achy at the end. I’d call this a win. Also gets progressively harder as you go, as expected, until you’re running continuously for 30 minutes or 3 miles at the end. I’m actually not sure if I’ll stick with it the whole way or try to branch of later on, but it looks solid and for now I plan to try and just stick with it. Nine weeks seems like a really short time to get up to a 3 mile run, as that would be way more fit than I’ve ever been, in terms of endurance running.

I’ve also looked at proper breathing a bit, because let’s face it, I’ve always been a huffing and puffing machine when I run, even when I was in relatively good shape. It always felt like a matter of willpower and pushing through the discomfort to keep going with the way I was breathing. I’ve always found it hard to breathe properly while running, but I plan to give it another try. Here’s the military fitness article I’m using for now to judge if I’m about right on breathing. Looks similar to most advice I’ve read about it, so I’ll go with that for now. I’m also going to try breathing more like this during the day, so it becomes more natural to me for when I’m exercising.

I’ve decided I’m not going to worry about changing my diet for now. I eat relatively healthy lunches and dinners (though probably a touch on the salty side, I love my salt), mediocre breakfasts, and some less healthy snacks through the day. I might look at diet later, but for now, the lack of exercise is the big thing that needs fixing, so I plan to go with that first.

Magic is best performed in a style that works for you. If you copy someone else’s style of magic, you might get results, even good ones that you’re happy with. But it won’t fit into your life as well as it could, and magic is a way of life more than just individual spells you may cast. That’s not to say you shouldn’t use ideas from other people at all, just that when you do, it should fit comfortably into the way that you practice. Make it natural to you.

Magic can be done anywhere, at any time. You may have to adapt it to suit the circumstances, but there’s almost never a bad time for a little magic to ease things your way a bit. On the way into work, out of work, during a quick restroom break, at home, stopped at a stoplight, there’s plenty of times you can do something. Of course, there’s certainly time to consider, as well as who’s around in considering what might be socially acceptable and what won’t be. But a quick mental chant, or just raising some energy and sending it on it’s task is simple enough.

When you’re looking for something to incorporate into a spell, or just more generally into your practice, charts of correspondences are wonderful sources of many ideas quickly and in a small space. Just don’t get carried away and try to use everything. Instead, find the one or two things that pop out and make you think about how much you’d love to include in your practice, and use those, then add more gradually as they pop out and make sense to you.

Do what works. No one knows what actually works, so if it works for you, roll with it. Don’t worry about what your neighbor is doing (aside from sharing and learning of course). If it works for you, great, if not, find something that does.

Learn from wherever and whoever you can, but also be wary of charlatans. Knowledge is abundant and can be found almost anywhere. On the other hand, there are those who are all too willing to take advantage of those who are too trusting, and many people who practice or want to believe  are easily tricked by these people. The old adage is true: if something sounds to good to be true, it probably is. Don’t let your belief in magic cloud your judgement, and let go of the idea that “anything is possible” if  you find it’s too easy to find yourself blindsided.

If you have friends interested in magic, learn from them, debate with them, and challenge each other. Working with someone else is a great way to grow in any pursuit, and this is no exception.

Then there was also moving soon after settling into my new jobs. Then settling into a new routine after doing so. Next up was getting Gaming My Way back on course, and since I have a couple posts a month going up there (less than I’d like, but about all I have time and resources for), I figure I can start things up back here as well. I wouldn’t expect things to be too frequent, but I’m hoping to get at least one a month done for here (not counting this update post).

So, for those of you who have stuck around, or those who may be new or returning after your own long break, thanks for remaining interested, and hopefully you’ll find just as much or more value in the new material that crops up along the way.

So we all must have  failed that class. Except, as I’m sure you’ve guessed, we didn’t. Now, naturally, there was a curve, and, no stranger to college grading, especially in the math and physics departments, we knew there would be a curve. One might also expect we were a lousy class, not putting in the work to do well. You would be mistaken. Instead, this class was about us applying everything we’d learned in math and physics up to the point in ways we’d never thought about before. Our tests, and even our homework, was never about regurgitating what we’d already learned and putting it back on paper. It was about applying what we learned to situations we’d never seen before. In short, this class tested true mastery of the material and our ability to think and apply our knowledge, something we’d never had to do before. And we were woefully unprepared for this.

Our professor seemed surprised by how little we understood how to apply what we learned. Frankly, we were all surprised, as we had previously thought we were doing well. But, struggling through the year, getting half the questions right was a big deal. It meant we were making progress and getting somewhere. And we learned a lot in that class, about how to think, and how apply our knowledge to more general situations and make it work for us more often than in the specific cases we were taught. And the ability to do so is incredibly valuable.

Also, a 50 turned out to be a B at the end of the year. I was pumped, because, even though my score was low, I knew I’d earned that B more than I had any other grade at college up to that point. I would bet our entire class put more effort into our work than we ever had before for this one class. We certainly spent far more time talking with each other and struggling through our work. But in the end, it was worth it, even if it felt like we were constantly getting beat down sometimes, because we learned the skills we would need to make our knowledge useful to us.

I’m the man who made the world. You wouldn’t know it looking at me though. Nothing all that special about me. In fact, I used to be just like you. Well, I still am, but I used to be just like you think you still are. Confused? Give it time, and you’ll get what I mean. You might not believe me, but you’ll know what I mean.

As a young man, I spent my time searching for the truth of the universe. Never did find it. I tried though. Studied magick, witchcraft, eastern philosophy, eventually became a fundamentalist Christian, convinced I knew the one true path to God and determined to show everyone else the light. I would be the one who could bridge the gap between believer and non-believer. You can probably guess how that turned out.

During this time, there was an expedition for one of the holy artifacts used during the reign of King Arthur. Most people dismiss him as a legend. However, I now have it on very good authority that he is real, and he did many of the things people claimed, even some of the supernatural things. But, that’s really a bit of a tangent. The point is, I joined the expedition, and sought the Holy Grail with a group of like-minded Christian archaeologists.

Well, long story short, we found it. Rather, I found it. The rest of my crew perished in Siberia. How it ended up there, I have no idea. Some prince probably took it for just a fancy chalice and used it as such, and it was traded and bartered amongst royalty until it made it to Russia, where it somehow fell into the hands of others and was eventually lost.

I stumbled upon it quite by accident though. While walking along the snow-covered wastes, I wandered onto a lake without realizing it. When everything is covered in snow and ice, you don’t tend to pay attention to more ice. It collapsed, and I thought I was surely going to die. Would have, too, but I crashed through close enough to the grail that it pulled me to its hiding place, safe from the freezing water of the lake. It wanted me to find it, so it saved me.

See, the Grail wished to be reunited with Excalibur, though that isn’t the blade’s true name. Truly, it is called Infinity’s Edge. As we get more into this tale, I think you will come to see why.

In any case, the Grail led me through Earth, protecting me from the pressure, heat, and other dangers that exist far below the surface. After King Arthur, the blade was disposed of by people who never wanted it to appear again. It’s power threatened them, and they wished to maintain control of the populace. I don’t know who it was, but they had a vested interest in keeping their power.

Finally, I reached Infinity’s Edge at the core of the world. Upon touching the blade, I learned more about our world than you could possibly imagine. I certainly can’t explain it all. I was also given the power to remake our world, in any fashion I wished. In short, Infinity’s Edge granted the wielder power that belongs only to God. How could I use such power responsibly? Furthermore, why was it there in the first place?

At this time, I was still a fundamentalist Christian. I wanted to be right badly enough that I considered rewriting history on the spot and creating God to fill that role. It was very tempting, because then I could truly be right, and could likely start proving it to those who didn’t believe. It didn’t feel right though. I’d still know I’d been wrong. And truly, it wasn’t what was best for us. I tried to think more about what the Biblical Jesus would have done. And I had my answer, because it was what he had always tried to do when he was alive.

I planted the divine spark within humanity. Now, every person who walks this planet has the power of God. Most haven’t realized it yet. Even the highly spiritual, the spell casters, the priests, and all the others fail to notice the spark, as they are focused on their old ways, and not the new path open to them. That’s okay though. People will notice with time.

Now, why not just make everyone aware of this spark? Well, I considered it, but people have just as much propensity for evil as they do for good. I didn’t want people to just begin fighting over resources before they realized they don’t need to do so anymore. The power does not provide wisdom or knowledge, after all. We still have to learn that ourselves. We’d destroy ourselves if we went down that path. If people learn of it gradually, we’ll be able to incorporate the changes into our lives more easily. We don’t do rapid change well. Gradual change lets us get used to it a little at a time.

So, someday, people will see their power. Then, perhaps we’ll all learn to rely on ourselves more. Though I suspect in reality, people will have to rely on themselves more before discovering the power they have. After all, things like this tend to mirror the way we’ve always done things. In the meantime, I have more work to do. Otherwise, it might be a long time before I have someone else to speak of this with in casual conversation.

Also, I’d like to point out that many practicing monotheists (Christian and non-Christian alike) believe in Universal Salvation. To believe a loving God could condemn someone to hell for choosing the wrong beliefs is completely illogical, particularly when he has given us no way to know for sure. The Bible doesn’t count, as I could just as easily cite the Vedas or Koran as ultimate truth, with just as much validity. If God wanted us to be blind through life, he wouldn’t have given us the ability to reason through situations and ideas. As he gave us reason, I’d think he expects us to use it to better ourselves and our world, wouldn’t you? And since it’s illogical to think a loving God would condemn us to Hell for the wrong beliefs, I guess he’d think to make it clear which faith we should choose if he required us to make that choice correctly. Since that isn’t the case, and most of us presuppose a loving God, I’d say that leaves the option that God isn’t really looking for us to make the right choice of religion. He’s looking for us to live our lives the right way, which there is also no guide book for, which leaves us to reason out the best way for ourselves. Guess we’d better think for ourselves instead of relying on the Bible, don’t you think? Yes, there is some presumption in this paragraph. I know I don’t know the will of God. But I’m trying to come to a reasoned conclusion here based on premises that are commonly held by many religions, the most prominent being that God loves us, and my own reasoning and thought processes.

So, not only is Pascal’s Wager a poor argument because God can see what’s in your heart anyway, it’s also a poor argument because a loving God wouldn’t condemn anyone to Hell for making the wrong choice of religion without the knowledge to make an informed decision, or using our reason to come to our own conclusions. Stop using Pascal’s Wager to try to convince people. It doesn’t work, and it’s quite possibly one of the most flawed arguments to convert people I’ve ever seen.

It is this contradictory nature and the way people invest so much effort into it that gives the Bible the power it has. That power is to reveal the character of the person interpreting the Bible. Those who think of homosexuals as second-class citizens will harp on the parts that condemn homosexuality. Those who believe that people are evil will focus on the role of original sin. Those who believe in social justice will highlight the way Jesus tended to the downtrodden and the poor. Those who believe in equality will focus on the elements that proclaim everyone to have a right to enter paradise. You can justify just about anything by picking and choosing your Bible verses. What you choose to justify speaks volumes about your character, not God’s.

Consider the large variety of Christian churches. Then consider religions outside of Christianity that still read and interpret the Bible in their own ways. You will find groups who are liberal, centrist, and conservative. Authoritarians and libertarians. Groups that are inclusive and exclusive. Groups that believe in their own superiority, and those that believe in the equality of all people. Groups that believe we’re all evil, that believe we’re all good, and that believe we determine our own morals. They all interpret the Bible in their own way, and how they interpret it tells you a lot about them. It tells you what their organization thinks. And it gives you a good idea what most people in that organization think, though listening to personal interpretations will tell you more.

People full of hate will use the Bible to justify hateful actions they take towards other people, and other groups of people. People full of love will use the Bible to support others. Generous people will use the Bible to promote charitable works and likely donate what they can of their own time and/or money as well. People with a need for control will focus on those elements that let them assert control over others when those others buy into what is said.

Naturally, you’ll learn the most about a person who puts a lot of stock in the Bible. Still, you’ll even learn a lot about people who don’t really care much about the Bible if they’ll play along and put forward their own interpretations, or if they decide to enter into a debate with someone who does believe the Bible is an important book. How they debate this person will give you insight into what even they believe in terms of earthly morals.

The same could probably be said of many holy books. The Bible is what I am most familiar with, so that is what I chose to talk about.

In the end, the Bible isn’t the path that gets you into Heaven. The Bible is a path to explore your own heart. If you are vocal about your interpretation, you tell everyone else what is in your heart as well, whatever that may be. The interpretation you choose exposes what you believe.

1) Provide what help you can, as needed and asked for.

If you’ve managed to land a job lately, you’re a prime candidate for providing this help. The job market has changed a lot, and it’s not as easy as it used to be. Still, even those who found jobs a couple decades ago will still have some good, timeless advice, so long as they can adapt it to the job market today. Help with resumes, cover letters, and even making applications as appealing as possible can go a long way. Even knowing when it is a good time to make follow up calls is helpful information to many job seekers, as this is not common knowledge. All the little things that may seem obvious to you aren’t obvious to others, so point them out when possible.

2) Support, don’t nag.

Pop quiz. What’s the best way to make someone not want to look for a job? Nagging them about it. This is true of most anything, but when you’ve applied to twenty different places in the past month, and been turned down at all of them, the last thing you want to hear is how you should try harder, put in more time job searching, and just get a job already. By this point, a job seeker’s self esteem has already often taken a huge hit, and piling more on top of that isn’t going to help. Instead, gently direct them to places and people that may be able to help and other possible opportunities. Also, be sure to congratulate them on their victories, such as landing an interview. While they may seem like small victories, sometimes, they’re the best encouragement you can get.

3) Don’t act like it’s the job seeker’s fault he still doesn’t have a job.

This goes hand in hand with the above point. This is a huge self-esteem killer, and on top of that, is very likely to make the dedicated job hunter annoyed with you, cutting off your chances of helping them out. It’s true that some people don’t want a job, but the ones who are out looking are trying, and treating them as though they aren’t is not going to sit well with them. The economy is in still in the tank, even if it’s possibly getting better now, and it’s still difficult to find employment. There’s no sense in blaming this on the person trying to overcome it.

4) Job search sites are helpful, but not everything.

Use all reputable, available job search sites to find potential job opportunities. It’s way easier than looking for now hiring signs, which many places don’t even put up anymore. Still, encourage job seekers to do as much in person as possible, since establishing a connection with other people at the job will help in getting hired. This isn’t always possible, but it should be done whenever it is.

5) Don’t get discouraged if they don’t take every tip you give them.

Sometimes, job seekers know something you might not. For instance, you might know someone is good with computers, so you send them a bunch of IT and computer analyst jobs. What you don’t know, but the job seeker does, is that just being “good with computers” doesn’t qualify them for these jobs, and that additional training or knowledge may very well be required. This doesn’t mean you can’t show them how they may be qualified for a position they think they aren’t qualified for, just bear in mind there might be more to the job than you understand.

Hopefully, these tips can help you better assist someone in finding a job. Positive support will go a long way toward keeping them motivated and applying, and new tips and tricks can help them polish their technique. Good luck to you and those you may be helping.

However, consensus beliefs (that is, beliefs commonly held by a large group of people) remain quite common, and many people hold to them, by definition. So why do we have them?

The simplest explanation is that they have merit. If a lot of people individually come to hold the same beliefs and ideas, there’s a good chance there’s some truth to them. As such, I think any commonly agreed upon ideas are worth examining. This doesn’t mean you should blindly follow them, of course, but you should consider there might be a reason for the ideas to be so popular.

Of course, there’s also the possibility the ideas caught on somehow, and once they became popular, people used my reasoning above to think that if lots of people think in a particular way, it must be the right way. This only perpetuates itself unless people know how to think for themselves.

Of course, it’s also possible to have more than one set of consensus beliefs, held by more than one group of people. The example that comes to mind most readily is politics, in which we have a conservative consensus and a liberal consensus. There’s also a growing libertarian consensus in the U.S. This is still an oversimplification, but it illustrates my point of multiple groups of consensus.

So, why buy into it? Because it makes sense to you. To take an example, of all the political views I mentioned above, I most identify with the ideas of liberals. The idea that people should all have a minimum standard of living makes sense to me. But, that doesn’t mean I agree with liberals on everything. For instance, I think gun control laws should be minimal. The right to own weaponry is a Constitutionally protected right, and shouldn’t be given up. While I can see some laws limiting weaponry to be reasonable, they all need to be carefully considered and weighed against the Constitution, as well as be narrow in scope to not have unintended consequences later on.

I use this example to show that you can buy into the general idea a group espouses while still holding your own opinions. Gun control isn’t the only area I disagree with liberals on, but it’s a well known area and easy to explain quickly. I still like the general philosophy of liberals, and I picked it up because it was out there and well known because a lot of people agree with it and can explain it well. But then, I examined it more, and brought in my own experiences to refine it into a worldview that makes more sense to me.

My point in this is to show that generally agreeing with a group consensus isn’t a bad thing. Sometimes, there is merit to consensus beliefs. That merit is how many become popular in the first place. The problem is only when you accept consensus beliefs blindly, without examination, simply because it’s popular. I have no problem with anyone who disagrees with me, so long as they disagree intelligently and not just because the group says it has to be one way. I’m certainly not saying that liberal ideas are the only ones that make sense, but it’s all in how you think about it and the process you use to come to your beliefs and ideas. I only used liberals as an example since that’s generally where I fall on the political spectrum.

So, if you commonly treat what’s popular, or common beliefs, as bad solely because it is common, I’d urge you to reconsider. Sometimes, there’s value to be found in beliefs that are held by a large group of people. Don’t take them all at face value though, just consider them and think about the merits they may have. Sometimes, the crowd really is there to see something good. Just don’t follow the crowd without thinking first.

Here are some things people have done that have had a big impact on me, even though they are small things:

-I’ve been asked me why I was angry all the time, and what I was going to accomplish by it. This person was concerned about me and how I dealt with things, and wanted me to be able to express what I wanted productively. Thinking about it, I realized I would accomplish nothing by lashing out the way I used to, and it would be more constructive to do something about the reason I was angry instead of just yelling.

-Invited me out to a gathering of people and engaging me. I’m an introverted person, and I don’t talk much unless I have something to say. By talking to me and pulling me into the conversation with others present, they pulled me into the group and included me, making me realize how much I valued relationships with other people. Since then, I’ve realized it’s good to put in a lot of effort to make good friends and spend time with them, and do so often.

-Told me all the good things that they saw in me. Let’s just say it was a rough time in my life, and hearing that gave me a much needed confidence boost to realize I could push on and make things better.

-Invited me into the dorm community at college. Three people in particular went out of their way to make me feel included in the things that were going on in both our dorm and around campus at large. That made me feel like it was safe to put myself out there and get to know people, which helped me make a lot more friends and get to know people better. Not only that, but it makes social situations easier for me to this day. It probably helped that a lot of us were huge geeks anyway.

-I’ve thought about doing a few things just because it’s assumed you should by society at large. Then I thought about what a couple close friends would think of it and realized it would be really stupid to follow through. Just by being friends with me and accepting of me, they stopped me from doing some stupid things.

So yeah, those are just some examples. They’re all small things, and a lot of people do these kinds of things without even really thinking about it. But they really do matter. Sometimes, if one person doesn’t do it, someone else will. Other times, it really takes someone close to a person to get the message across, and just being close to that person is significant all on it’s own. In any case, don’t underestimate how you’ve effected others in your life. You’ve probably done more than you know, unless you’re extremely aware of how people react to you. So if you’re wondering what you’ve done that’s worthwhile, just think of the little things. They usually matter more than you realize.