One Hundred

A hundred entries! I must say, when I started this blog several years ago, I had no vision of where my life or my blog would be this far down the road. Such a significant milestone requires some sort of recognition.

I thought about doing a "Top 10" list, then counting down: top 9, top 8, etc. but 55 items in 10 different categories was too many to think of. Next I thought of doing factors or prime factors of 100. Wolfram Alpha tells me that there are nine divisors of 100: 100, 50, 25, 20, 10, 5, 4, 2, and 1. The lists numbering 20 or more were too daunting. Instead, let's treat 100 as 10^2, then we'll do factors of 10: 10, 5, 2, and 1. Since we can square 10 to get to 100, I'll even do the "10" list twice. Sound like a fair trade?  Good, I thought so too.

10 Great Albums Recently Prominent In My Life

• Queensryche, Operation Mindcrime: Probably one of the best Queensryche albums ever. Sweet guitar work, if nothing else.  And there's much else
• Nightwish, Imaginaerum: The previous effort "Dark Passion Play" was OK, but Imaginaerum definitely showed the band hitting their stride with Anette on vocals.
• Metallica, Ride the Lightning: Ah, an album from back when bands did albums as coherent wholes rather than a bunch of songs clumped by chronological proximity
• Within Temptation, The Unforgiving:  Although not the customary Within Temptation style, this album is coherent, compelling, and a spooky story besides. Good stuff.
• Eric Geils Band, Picture of A Thousand Faces: Simple, elegant rock-n-roll
• Black Stone Cherry, Folklore and Superstition: Southern rock'n'roll.  Can't fault it, especially when containing bits of "real life truth".  At least, that's what I pick out.
• Roger Waters, Amused to Death: Although not Floyd, it's definitely evocative of good Floyd.
• Pink Floyd, The Division Bell: I find the album wistful, reminiscent of better days while mourning today's sadness. I like it!
• Dream Theater, 12 Step Suite: As one who's walked that path (story for another time), I identify with a lot of the sentiments expressed therein. Also, "Ermahgerd! Derm Therter!"
• Anais Mitchell, Hadestown: Like Ride The Lightning, a complete album, just this time a story album with folk music. Mythology, music, talent, what's not to like.

10 Great Movies and Associated Philosophical Concepts

1. Unbreakable: Every life has a vision and a mission. Find yours.
2. Shutter Island: Your perception becomes your reality. Maybe not everyone else's, but yours enough to lock you in.
3. Black Hawk Down: Never give up. Always perform your duty.
4. Gladiator (over Braveheart - Wallace wavers in his conviction/lacks personal moral character): Do what's right, always. You may "lose", but to lose your honor is to lose all.
5. The Adjustment Bureau: Never stop fighting for what you believe is right. Eventually the world will stop to take notice and bend to your will.
6. Matrix: Don't accept the world at face value, but be willing to change it. "Some rules can be bent. Others broken."
7. Mr. Deeds: Yep, the world will work you over whenever it gets a chance. However, sometimes doing what's right will help you in the end.
8. Princess Bride: "As you wish..."
9. The Village: "The world moves for love" (Yeah, I know, I double-dipped Shyamalan. Get over it.)
10. Inkheart: Your words have power, although through some people more than others.  Use your power wisely.

Runner-up:  The Glass Menagerie is one of my favorite plays and I have it on DVD, but "theatre on video" is a whole new category that I didn't want to consider.

5 Experiences Without Which My Life Wouldn't Be The Same

1. Flight School. Although my career took a different path, I've taken the life lessons learned there along with me.
2. Dating. I'm glad both women I've dated are out of my life, but I wouldn't be the same now without those interactions.  I wouldn't have it any other way.
3. Tough Mudder. Not sure if I'll go back for seconds, but the experience of taking my body and mind right to their limits was priceless and irreplaceable.
4. Swing dance, full stop. Time has not yet revealed the complete extent of the effects in my life from this one pursuit.
5. Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship and Campus Crusade.  Across two schools and many periods of growth in my life, I wouldn't trade either the time spent with people chasing after God or all the challenges I've faced and overcome, encouraged by my brothers and sisters in Christ.  Good times, bad times, it all works out when your arms are locked with others.  These two organizations laid foundation stones in my life that still underpin who I am and what I live for.

2 Places Everyone Should Experience

A. Summiting a 14'er.  Although the photograph in question has been lost to time, one poignant image remains in my head.  I was with some friends and new friends on top of Mt. Bierstadt a few summers ago, eating and resting before starting down.  Looking over, I noticed one of our group members silhouetted against the sheer faces of the next mountain over.  Earbuds in, hands raised, she was completely lost in her worship experience.  I still hold that in my head because it reminds me of who God is and how He made big mountains and complex people and all sorts of things.
B. The ocean.  I've only been to the seashore a few times as an adult (recently only the Pacific), but I've enjoyed it always.  Constantly changing on a "micro" scale, yet always the same on a "macro" scale, it's an idiom of life.  The ocean also reminds me that I am small and the world is big.  Sometimes I get an inflated sense of self-importance (like most people), and it's OK to realize again that I'm not everything and don't have to live up to being the be-all end-all of life.

One Idea I Wish Everyone Understood

That God loves them, doesn't hate them, and wishes the very best for them.  I think it would change everyone's life if they fully understood that.  I know I don't fully understand that yet, and the better I understand, the more my life comes into line with how God says it should be.  For this idea, I will give my life and for it I will always fight.

On to the next 100 standing stones along my path of constant learning!  Thanks for journeying with me - life is better not lived alone.