I started this blog in 2010 (wow, that's when my boys were 14, 11, 9 and 1 year old). A priest who had attended a lecture series I did on Church history suggested it. The lectures were fairly well received, and in the day I was given references to speak at various parishes or events here and there.
But something strange happened. Between our coming into the Church in 2006 and by about 2012, there was a marked decline in attitude toward this whole 'clergy convert to Catholicism' thing. I won't go into what and why, since I've posted on this several times over the years. Clearly things were changing, at least in our neck of the woods. I began getting the impression they were changing across the whole Church.
It's enough to say that the context in which I was advised to take pen in hand and begin honing my writing prowess has changed radically over the years. As a result, the whole reason that the blog was started has more or less faded away.
I initially intended to use the blog to improve my writing skills. What happened, however, was that as I blogged, I spent less and less time honing my skills, and more and more time posting seat-of-your-pants opinions about things going on in the world. Shocking things. Stunning things. Things I couldn't have imagined even 20 years ago.
I began to see the emergent Left as the real 'existential threat' to the world I was leaving my children. Not that there aren't other threats. I've not found anything coming from the world of Islam to suggest Muslims as a whole have given up on the ideal of a one-Islam global paradise. And there's always those Illinois Nazis, just to keep it balanced. But the Left, as I've written a million times, is the source of devotion for many of our nation's power players: our journalists, educators, entertainers, corporate moguls as well as politicians and judges. As such, the manifold sins and evils, the blasphemes and heresies, of the Left are not opposed and resisted, like the sins of the Right or other such threats. Rather, they are ignored (at best) or openly advocated (at worst).
That came to dominate much of my focus. After all, I don't think jettisoning the American experience, or the Western Tradition, is the wise move, even if it has become fashionable in Christian circles to shrug our shoulders and say 'America isn't God's kingdom.' No, it isn't. Neither is planet earth, and yet many of the same are running around yelling Global Warming! or Animal Rights!, even as they say God doesn't care one whit about America here or Western civilization there. Let's be honest. Those are the Christians wanting to be on the inside lane of all the best parties at Ivy League universities. They're going with the flow. And the flow is a post-Christian, post-American, secular Leftist order. A flow I consider heading toward a waterfall in the not too distant future.
Anyhoo, the context in which I began this blog has long passed. I'm not even in the Church that I was speaking at when the blog began (though I bear it no ill will, and pray for the day when the two great traditions of Christianity can come together). So I'm going to be changing some things around.
First, I will no longer try to do the 'one post minimum per day' quota. I just don't have the time at this point. I'll try to post here and there, but can't promise any minimum daily amount.
Second, I don't plan on rambling on about the big issues of the day. If someone else has done the heavy lifting, a link and a brief snippet from me will do. My rambling will be reserved for musings, reflections, memories, personal interests and sundry, and general overarching issues, not the latest blog post or FB page.
Third, in continuing with the spirit of reason #2, I reserve the right to post on whatever I feel about. That was one reason I left Patheos (among many). At Patheos I felt compelled to 'keep it controversial' (in order to increase the hits). If I want blog posts about movies, books, the family, the latest hobby, or whatever, so be it. If I do ramble on, I plan on rambling about what's on my mind, not the latest headline or media stoked controversy.
Finally, it's not to say I won't keep up with the times, or even post about them. But I think I've done my duty where warning about the coming storm is concerned. I see far more willing to admit to the problems today than when I began. I'm seeing more and more finally admitting that the problems we're seeing now might be nothing less than a few centuries in the making. That means we'll need to seem some radical overhaul to keep the Faith afloat for our posterity in the upcoming century or so.
Therefore, that's where things are. I don't visit many blogs anymore. I start the day at The American Catholic and a few others. Some of the blogs don't post like they used to, if they exist at all. If I post on the latest issues, it likely will be with a link and a snippet; a few sentences, perhaps a couple paragraphs at best. If it touches on a larger theme or ideal from my own thinking, I reserve the right to be long-winded. But mostly I'll be backing off the 'controversy.'
Life just has a way of moving on. Why ramble on for pages about something that's clear - the Christian Faith is at a crossroads, a crisis point. I personally think Christians can't believe that the civilization we built, and those in it, are prepared to destroy our faith and us with it. But we're going to have to wake up. This has been a long time coming. I'll leave it to others to do the yeoman's work, while I stay behind to post the links when I can.
Otherwise, it will be what I want, when I want it. I will try not to go too long between posts. I may have many in a day, followed by days without. Perhaps a 'week's crazy list' or something each week or two if nothing else. Or one post in a week where I have something to say about the latest movie or book. Or notes on the latest family get together or how those cookouts are going. Or some such.
In any event, I do appreciate those who visit, and while I won't be leaving the blog, I just won't be keeping up as I have. It will be enough for it to be my blog about my interests, while only mentioning when the evil or the crazy or both are raising their heads on a need-to basis. So TTFN and God bless. I'll post whatever, whenever, or maybe later today. Who knows what will happen next! :)
I'd like to try dark tower sometime. That seems neat.
ReplyDeleteAnd i need to teach y'all Yedo. ;)
I've sicced my third boy on Yedo. He figured out Struggle of the Nations, he can figure that!
DeleteAs for Dark Tower, I'm surprised how much they enjoy it. It doesn't have the over and over replay value it did 40 years ago, largely because back then you had the novelty factor. They particularly love the brutal randomness. One person can barely make it two spaces while others trot along with little problem.
Really? One of the appeals for me of Yedo is that it was one of the easier games to play (all rules are on the boards). If y'all have questions about what is not making sense drop me an email I'll clear it up.
DeleteThat's crazy. I have no clue why - and we know it really isn't the game - but we've had the hardest time wrapping our heads around it. That's why I'm commissioning our ringer. If you're familiar with Struggle of Nations, which some say is one of the most difficult and complex games ever, I'd say he has the best chance. Right now he's starting a new job and is pretty busy, but Yedo is up on deck for him to look at the rules.
DeleteThat could be the problem is that you're overthinking it - you keep convincing yourself there's something you're missing when you're not.
ReplyDeleteYedo is a style of Worker Placement. So in this game style, you don't "move" your pieces around the board, you just stick them onto open zones on a first come - first serve basis. That's it. No catch to it. You can go anywhere you want when it's your turn. Each spot on the board does something different so there can be mad scrambles to get some spots.
Of course the other catch is that you only start out with a few workers, but you can get more later on in the game. The more workers you have, the more places you can deploy to and utilize.
Oh and that could be another point of confusion: rather than each player having their own separate "turns", instead the game itself proceeds through a turn and players go around doing stuff. So when it's "bidding" - everybody is bidding. When it's "placement" - everybody is placing their workers and so on.
The game does have some action and event cards marked "Samurai" which is considered "hard mode." I do recommend you take those out until you get a handle on it.