A guy and his 5 year oldish son were in my line. The guy handed his son a book and said, "hold your book." I looked at the book and saw cartoon animals and symbols, the animals and symbols looked kinda Japanese. I asked the dad sortof jokingly, "Is he learning Japanese?"
Dad guy answered, "Yes, actually he is. His grandma is Japanese."
I said, "He should be able to learn it starting out this young."
"Right. I only wish I could learn it"
My mind went through thoughts about the plasticity of the young mind and how children can learn languages more readily than adults, because that's what their brains are wired to do at that age, and it's just not as easy for adults to learn new languages because they already have well worn paths in the language section of their brains. And I blurted out, "But your brain doesn't work right." Excellent.
Then my mind raced through do-something-you-idiot mode. I thought, I don't think they sell those books at Barnes & Noble. So I asked the guy, "Where did you get the book?"
And he told me that he has family in Tokyo and they mailed him the book and he said that they have really crazy stuff in Japan like cell phones the size of a pen.
Later at work, I saw a guy with a denim shirt with a clerical collar, and it made me think of Real Live Preacher, because he has one, too. I wondered for a second if it could be him, but then I realized that it wasn't because that guy didn't look like any picture of RLP, Gordon, that I have seen on the site.
This reminds me of a customer at work who I have seen a couple of times (a week ago and a couple of days ago). He wears black pants, black shirt with the clerical collar, a black vest, and a big fat crucifix. I was sliding his groceries along the scanner, and there was the big ol' cross with a guy on it hanging around an old guy's neck. He was a friendly old man. He had an accent. British I thought. So I figured he must be Anglican. I felt like talking to him, so I thought of the most original, creative thing I could, "So you're a minister."
"A Priest," he corrected me, as if it was an insult to call him a minister. Yikes, I didn't know. I knew not to call him "a Pastor" but I thought "minister" would be OK. Then he added, "An Anglican Priest."
You weren't supposed to tell me! I was gonna guess and impress you. I'll show you anyway, "Yeah, that's what I figured because of your accent. British, right."
"Close. Australian"
ooookaaaay. "Not really even close." Guess I'm not gonna be impressing you much.
A coworker and I had a break at the same time today. This coworker is also a classmate, and a friend and a PK (Pastor's Kid). I think she's curious about what I believe about Torah and whatnot, and I think she thinks I'm a little wacko. We should really talk about the Bible sometime. That's something I've noticed, all these spiritual people don't really discuss scripture much, instead they talk about what the lord told them. But I digress. The coworkerstudentPKgirl asked me about work today, like how long I had been there. I worked all day today 9:30am-7:30pm.
"Don't you feel bad about that [working instead of going to church on sunday morning]?" she asked.
"No. It's not like it's the Sabbath." (I'm such a snot)
"But that's not how you were raised."
"I wasn't raised Muslim either." Really, this is why I prefer writing to talking. When I talk, I sound so weird. The Muslim comment made no sense unless you could read my mind. I was thinking about how if someone was raised Muslim and then converted to Christianity, this girl would not be saying the same thing (i.e. "Do you feel bad about not praying to Allah 5 times a day?" "That's not how you were raised"). I don't think I'm explaining it very well. I'm just weird.
Then she asked, "If you were back home would you go to church?"
I think I answered with a "maybe." It doesn't make much difference. I would go to church back home to see friends from the past. I've seen church (as in the sunday morning church service) as pretty whack for much longer than I've observed Sabbath and all that. My apathy towards the sunday morning church service is not a result of observing the 7th day Sabbath and stuff.
I would much rather hang out with a community of believers (why can't I find one on this Christian university campus) and discuss scripture and spirituality with them. I have some friends on campus, but it's so hard to talk about God. And when we do, they get all weird. I guess I'm weird too. I dunno.
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