The skeptic's faith

I have to say I'm very excited about the return of scripted television. Have you been watching The Office? or How I Met Your Mother? I'm one of those people that gets really invested in the relationships of television characters, I'm what the chat rooms and web boards call a "shipper".

Buffy and Spike, Rory and Logan, Joey and Pacey, Veronica and Logan...I've shipped for all of these couples, and more recently Robin and Barney (on How I Met Your Mother) and Jim and Pam (on The Office). So, if you've been watching these shows you'll know why I'm so excited about TV this week.

Another relationship I'm routing for is Booth and Bones (on Bones). They're getting closer every episode. Though they haven't gotten together yet their relationship (still just friendship) leads me to another discussion of faith.

There was an episode of Bones several months ago (before the writers' strike) where Bones and Hodgins got kidnapped and buried alive. It was a serial kidnapper who buried people alive and then demanded huge ransoms from their friends and families. If he got paid he told them where their loved one was buried, if not he let them die.

So, Bones and Hodgins were buried alive and Booth and the rest of the lab techs were having trouble coming up with the ransom because while Hodgins did come from a rich family, he is the only surviving member so with him buried no one could access the money and Booth couldn't really negotiate with the kidnapper because Booth is FBI and the official stance of the FBI is to not negotiate.

Now, Bones is well known to be a skeptic. She doesn't believe in God, she believes in science (I won't get into that more than to say I don't see any reason not to believe in both). So, she and Hodgins only have a few minutes of consciousness left and he is trying to make peace with God but she tells him not to worry that Booth will find them. That statement, he explains to her, is evidence that she does have faith (which she emphatically denies).

Maybe all she has faith in is Booth's detective skills, and his determination, and the fact that he cares about her and Hodgins and life in general. Maybe. Those things she does have plenty of evidence of. However, those things don't constitute evidence that he will find them in time. There's evidence to support that he has the capability to find them and the desire and determination to find them, but there's no way of knowing when he will find them. He could easily be too late, but she believes he will not be and she believes it thoroughly. That's faith, as Hodgins points out to her and she is forced to admit.

I won't go so far as to say that we all have faith, but my point here is that some people think they have no faith because they don't believe in God, or aren't sure about God, when faith isn't about believing in God or not.

A few of my favorite things

It's springtime, not that you'd know it from the weather here. There was snow and freezing rain on Friday and I had to walk to work in it. On the bright side if I should have kids some day I can now say to them that when I was their age I had to walk nine miles in the snow and freezing rain to get to work. Of course, I'll have to wait until they are almost thirty for that to really be accurate.

Anyhow, it's springtime, which is one of my favorite things and in honor of it here is an excerpt from an episode of Sports Night (another one of my favorite things) about baseball (another one of my favorite things):

(Jeremy is by the food tables when Casey comes in)
Casey: Hey, Jeremy, you got a second?
Jeremy: You bet.
Casey: I looked over your Cubs/Marlins tape. (hands Jeremy the tape and goes to make a sandwich)
Jeremy: Yes?
Casey: And it's good.
Jeremy: Thank you.
Casey: It's very good.
Jeremy: Thanks.
Casey: Especially for your first time out.
Jeremy: Thank you very much.
Casey: I guess the one note I would have for you would be about length.
Jeremy: Yes?
Casey: Yeah. Usually we get thirty to forty seconds for each game. A little bit more if it's a game chock-full of spectacular plays and/or play-off consequences, and a little less if it goes the other way, but thirty to forty seconds is usually the rule of thumb.
Jeremy: I see. And how long did mine run?
Casey: Eight and a half minutes.
Jeremy: Ah.
Casey: Yeah.
Jeremy: That's long.
Casey: Yeah, it ran a little bit over, yeah.
Jeremy: I don't know what to do.
Casey: You should make it shorter.
Jeremy: I've tried everything.
Casey: You should try making it shorter.
Jeremy: What's the key?
Casey: In this case?
Jeremy: Yeah.
Casey: Making it a lot shorter.
Jeremy: I can't imagine what I'd cut.
Casey: Well, you start off with Cedric, the lead-off batter, in the top of the first inning.
Jeremy: Yes.
Casey: Despite the fact that nobody scored until the fifth inning.
Jeremy: There's action beyond scoring.
Casey: Yeah, but Cedric grounded out to the shortstop and was thrown out at first by quite a large margin.
Jeremy: Yeah.
Casey: Well, that is what is called a routine ground ball. In your search for things that are newsworthy, let the word "routine" serve as a danger sign.
Jeremy: There's nothing routine about it. Casey, the guy's hitting .327 since the All-Star break, he's drawn 22 walks in the lead-off position, and he's a threat to steal second every time you put him on. He fouled off seven pitches.
Casey: And you show each and every one of them.
Jeremy: You bet I do.
Casey: We usually just show the pitch that puts the ball into play.
Jeremy: But then you miss the battle.
Casey: The battle?
Jeremy: Yeah. He started him off with a fastball up and in. Then slider away, slider away, comes back with a split finger change, drops the curve off the table, sets him up off-speed, then jambs him high and tight. That's what got him out.
Casey: It was a ground ball to the shortstop.
Jeremy: The inevitable conclusion to a job well-done.
Casey: (frustrated sigh) We have fourteen baseball games to cover.
Jeremy: Yes.
Casey: Thirty seconds a piece.
Jeremy: Right.
Casey: Your tape is eight and a half minutes.
Jeremy: I'm at a loss.
Casey: You gotta make it shorter!
Jeremy: I'm just not seeing it.
Casey: (sigh) All right, come with me. Come on. (both leave)
(later)
(Casey and Jeremy stand in the editing room, looking tired and frustrated)
Casey: We've been at this for two hours now. Which is just slightly longer than your coverage of the seventh inning stretch.
Natalie: (taps on window) How's it going in there?
Casey: (sardonically) Goin' real good.
Jeremy: Casey and I are having some very healthy creative differences.
Natalie: Casey listens to the Starland Vocal Band, so I wouldn't take any stock in --
Casey: (marching up to window) Go away from me now!
Natalie: Shout if you need me --
Casey: Now! (Natalie runs off) Okay, this section here where the batter taps dirt off his shoe and spits four times?
Jeremy: We can't cut that!
Casey: Jeremy --
Jeremy: No, the storm clouds are gathering.
Casey: All right, just out of curiosity, what kind of voice over would you have me write for this moment?
Jeremy: What's wrong with "the storm clouds are gathering?"
Casey: The storm clouds aren't gathering, he's cleaning his shoe!
Jeremy: He's breaking Carrera's pitching rhythm.
Casey: (sighs)The battle?
Jeremy: The battle.
Casey: The battle. Okay, look --
Jeremy: If people just want the score they can listen to the radio. We have an opportunity to affect their appreciation of baseball.
Casey: (rubs temples and clasps hands as if in prayer) God knows you've affected mine.
Dana: (entering room) Casey, what are you working on?
Casey: An epic miniseries.
Jeremy: It's the Cubs/Marlins.
Dana: I gotta make room for Danny's apology. Just give me the double off the wall, the homer in the 5th and the error at third.
Jeremy: That's a travesty!
Dana: I need it in my hands right now. Casey, we're on the air in fifteen minutes.
Casey: All right. I gotta go change, Jeremy. The storm clouds are gathering. (leaves with Dana)

Oh no I didn't

A friend of mine recently was lamenting to me that she sometimes gets accused of being defensive when she's just making an argument. I used to get that a lot too and, I wondered, when does defending yourself against a false accusation become "being defensive". By definition being defensive shouldn't have the negative connotation that it does, as defending oneself isn't really a bad thing (or isn't always a bad thing). However, people tend to say it when they think someone is trying to defend themselves when really they're guilty (or wrong).

I don't usually react that way when I'm wrong. If someone accuses me of something I've actually done, or argues a point with me where I'm not sure I'm in the right, I may try to deny it, but I won't do so vehemently (which is what most people would call "defensive"). I tend to fly off the handle when someone says something false about me which then just fans the fire because they see my "defensiveness" and take it as evidence of guilt.

In the 8th grade when my friends accused me of having a crush on this guy in our algebra class I stood up (on the school bus) and screamed at them. The thing is I didn't even really know the guy. Algebra was the only class I had with him, he was new at our school, and I'd never really talked to him. I made quite the scene. So, I called him to tell him he'd probably be hearing about it the next day at school. He asked me if it was true that I liked him and I told him no, but that it wasn't that I didn't like him, I just didn't know him. We talked for about an hour and by the end of the call I kind of did like him. So it worked out well, but in the beginning I was absolutely adamant that no one think I liked this guy who I didn't even know.

My senior year in high school a rumor started that I stuffed my bra. It's true that I did gain a cup size at the beginning of my senior year in high school (regular readers of this blog may have a theory about why, I know I do), but the one thing I've never in my life done is try to make my boobs look bigger than they are. I was one of two kids at my school who had to get their first bra in the 4th grade, so if anything I was embarrassed about the size of my chest (until very recently). Also, what I suspected to be the real reason my boobs got bigger would have been far more damaging to my reputation at school. I guess I should consider myself lucky that they didn't know the real reason, but the thing is, I never minded people spreading rumors about me that were true. It was when someone said something false about me that I really got my hackles up.

So, when someone says to me, "there's no need to get defensive", I have to disagree. When someone has accused you of something you didn't do, and then calls you defensive for trying to set them right, that's the definition of adding insult to injury.

Over the years it happens to me less and less because I've realized that it's not what you say that makes people think you're being defensive, it's how you say it. I've learned to keep my temper in check which was actually pretty easy since my temper only ever flared in instances like these. In fact I've been described by some as the most even tempered person in the world. There was always just this one exception to my even temper.

Last night, at a friends birthday party, we got to talking about the misdeeds of our youth (or lack there of in some cases), and it turned out I was the bad seed of the group (go figure). My mom was there and we got to talking about things that she thought I'd done in high school as opposed to things I'd actually done. She was way off base. I was upset that she thought, for example, that I'd been drinking beer in my step-dads car (which was essentially like saying I'd been drinking and driving). I just told her in my best debater tone that a) until I got to college I'd never tasted beer and b) until I got to college most of the alcohol I'd had at all was in drinks served to me by her at family functions. We all laughed and no one accused me of getting defensive.

The Ballpark and the Dog Park

I haven't been writing a lot lately. In fact, I haven't been writing at all lately which is unfortunate because I'm almost done with something I've been working on since November, but I haven't written more than a couple pages in 3 months. I haven't even posted a blog in over a month. I just haven't had anything to say.

So, since I don't have anything to say I'm going to follow the premise that actions speak louder than words and take the cue from some of my friends blogs. I'm going to tell you what I've been doing while I haven't been saying anything.

The last two years I've rediscovered my love of live theater and of course, I have season theater tickets again this season. There's one more show left in the season. The last show I went to (How, How, Why, Why, Why) was one of the best this year, though I think my favorite of this season is still Murderers.

I took a trip to California to visit family. It had been two years since I'd been down to visit them so that trip was overdue. It was such a short trip though that I didn't get to see my friends down there so I'll have to go back again soon.

I've been spending a lot of time with my friends and family. One of my best friends is moving so I've been hanging out with her a lot. She's only moving an hour away so it's not like I'll never see her but it does mean that we can't spontaneously decide to go for drinks or, as she pointed out, to a baseball game after work. So, that's what we've been doing. Last week we met up for drinks and dinner and this week we went to ball game.



It was a great game too. It was the perfect spring day, the first really warm day here, so they had the roof open. We sat in the Hit it Here Cafe which I'd never done and Ibanez hit two home runs (he almost hit it there which I always wonder about, you know, does anyone ever actually hit it there). There were a couple Angels fans sitting nearby and the guys in the next row down from us got into the smack talk which is always fun. I had to agree with them, it's hard to believe that the Angels have fans since LA already has real team to route for (the Dodgers).

I've also been spending a lot of time with my mom. My schedule has changed and I've had to adopt the early to bed, early to rise philosophy which hasn't been easy for me. Not that I've ever really been a night owl, but my ideal would be to go to bed around 1:00 and get up at 9:00. What I am, really, is not a morning person or a night person but a middle of the day person and now that I'm getting off work at 3:30 in the afternoon I've been a little bored. I decided that my mom's dog could also really use some entertainment so my mom and I have been taking the dog to the off-leash dog park twice a week. In fact, I'm about to go there now so I'll leave it at that.

Hopefully I'll have something more interesting to say soon.