oh. just so its not one-sided.
heres shit about other places amen came from.
but who wouldnt think that influences in trade effected language?

does it really matter who came first?
i dunno.
i guess it doesnt matter when everybodys borrowing from everyone else.

...however. i'd still like to know....

well. i've claimed in the past (without too much evidence, but just what i've seen) that islam jewed a majority of its religious aspects from judism.
well. after taking an egypt class, along with death class (one of the required books being When a Jew Dies), i'm starting to think that the jews jewed some of their religious aspects from the egyptians. burial and whatnot.
my egyptian/jewish history isn't quite chronologized in my head, but there are a lot of coincidences, if anything.
i got more than this, but heres one. amen vs. amun.
back in the day, vowels weren't written, so you kinda had to guess.
kinda like in here where its just got YHWH instead of Yahweh.

this little thing kinda reminds me of the great schism. thems who wanted icons/idols and those who thought it to be more reverent to not represent their god in any certain way. same with the muslims, eh?

this shits kinda also weird. according to that jew book, some jews recite psalms 91 after plopping good ol' dad/mom into the ground. whats it got? verse 4 He will shield you with his wings! They will shelter you. His faithful promises are your armor. whats this shit about wings? the main god that protected and guided pharohs was symbolized as a hawk (Horus)... ok. maybe a stretch, but why the hell would they use this metaphor?

i got more, but i'm good for now.
putting this shit on "paper"'s hard.
i think that first part didn't make much sense.
my bad.

i feel agog = agas

so. when i rant on like that, i'm always wondering if i'm beating a dead horse...
probably, eh?
i never intend for it to go there, but it always ends up that way.

anyway. the other funny thing that i remember mustafa asking about was wrestling.
he asked if it was real, and that him and his buddys watch it all the time.
he imitated stone cold... holding up a beer (which of course they dont do) ....funniest shit ever.

he would also always go off to wash so he could pray and get water all over himself.
he blamed it on the fact that he was a libra. knowing meg as i do, he seemed to have a point.
but it was also kinda weird for a practicing muslim to know about astrology.
i'm sure its something he picked up from previous travelers.

ya know.
being in egypt, in both the nation and class, i'm kinda dissappointed that while i was there, i didnt get to know the culture a bit better.
but it seemed like they kinda hid it from you. whether it be cuz they dont think youre there for the muslim way but rather the ancient sites or they just dont want you to know their actual poverty... since they are a third world country and all.

mustafa (our guide) and i did have a couple heart to hearts when meg wasnt around.
maybe it was cuz i was the only guy in the group. but anyway. i think he wanted to know more about my culture so i couldnt really get in any of my own questions.

one question that really sticks out to me though, was him asking...

so if i went to america... what kind of rights would an egyptian have?

uh. the same as everyone else.

so i could have... sex ... with an american girl?

heh. uh. yeh....

but dont get me wrong. mustafa wasnt a perv or anything.
it just shows how much we dont know about each other and where we come from.

one thing that i was persistant about though was that i asked him about these sacred meteors (or rocks, i cant remember which) that they hold in mecca.
i inquired about the reverence that they hold for them.

i dont think he really got what i was asking, so i eventually gave it up, but he said that the people went to mecca (their once in a lifetime or more journey) and would kiss the rock. i asked why, but the only response i would get was that muhammed had done it, so people want to emulate that and so they do it themselves. i guess what i should have asked was why muhammed did it, but instead i tried to rephrase my question and it got me nowhere.

but thinking about it. muhammed is basically the dude who started this whole islam thing, right?
well. what better way to do that than to incorporate past religious beliefs into the new one that you will use to gain the peoples respect and control them?
tribes had their sacred meteors already, so he just incorporated them. as to what significance he put on them, i couldnt get outta mustafa, i guess its just one of those things that a religion believes, but kinda forgets why...

but what got me thinking about that was from my oaxaca class. catholic buttfucks ran across the new world converting everyone to believe in la virgen de guadalupe but in doing so, they just stuck her into their past indigenous rituals. like day of the dead. this used to just be reverence for ones dead ancestors/relatives, but now they call it synomiously all saints day.

i guess it should have also been kinda evident with the whole easter/christmas thing.
just put a different spin on old celebrations. solstices now with a jesus emphasis.

dammit. nothings pure anymore....

and you wonder why i dont believe in religion... with its continual evolution to suit people's needs.

weekend. whut. dorks in town. payin a visit.

anyway. so i've noticed lately. people at school carrying around those perty colored nalgene bottles.
now that in and of itself isnt all that odd, but what is, is out of maybe a dozen or more that i've seen,
ALL of them have had a straw in them. i dont think they sell them with straws, do they? why the hell would everyone do this?
and although most of the people with these bottles are chix, i did see a dude with a straw....
some sorta phenomena? maybe if they got the small necked bottle they wouldnt really need a straw,
but i dont think they sell those much anymore. but a straw? seriously. wtf?

heheh. spanish is funny:

ínclito - adj. distinguished, illustrious.

er...
make that 4 priceless posters....
didnt know i got to sleep with one of them =D

anyway.
so im reading about cremation in my DEATH class.
seems as though back since 1888, i believe, the pope made cremation a sin.
cuz we all know (heh) that when jeebus comes back to gather all them good people, they'll return to their bodies, so,
if your body's all burnsd up, then basically, yer fuckered.

so yeah.. bad ol' sin.
but times change, and more people like the idea of cremation. its relatively inexpensive, and if you dont want the hassle of a funeral,
you go the option not to.

anyway. i doubt anyone who reads this is catholic, but if so. whatever.
if theyre convictions are strong enough, nothing i say should effect them.

so 1963, mr. pope says that its not as looked down on to cremate, although the priests should have nothing to do with it
(meaning not accompanying or having the ceremony in the crematorium).

but what the shit?
i think ive beat this to death many a time, but, its no wonder the catholic church has survived for as long as it has.
i mean, whenever the cultural majority of followers lean away from the church, they make it so you dont have to.
wily fuckers.

but i guess its not too surprising, seeing their base and all.
i mean. what do we got?
Exodus 21:23-27 If any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. When a man strikes the eye of his slave, male or female, and destroys it, he shall let the slave go free for the eye's sake. If he knocks out the tooth of his slave, male or female, he shall let the slave go free for the tooth's sake.

...vengence when necessary.

to Matthew 5:38-45
You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, Do not resist one who is evil. But if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also; and if any one would sue you and take your coat, let him have your cloak as well; and if any one forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to him who begs from you, and do not refuse him who would borrow from you. You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

...turn the other cheek, cuz being pussies is now cool.

thats been done to death too, but at least it shows that flip-floppin aint a new thing.
what they need to realize though, is that theres this new thing out there now called government.
so. with its help, we dont really need your popal guidance anymore, thank you.

crappy argument, there ya have it.

you know those fatty, huge posters they got of male models at say, oh, abercrombie, or where ever?
well.
i am now the proud owner of not only 1, but 3!
one is even complete with manips.
....the envy of every 13 year old girl...
eat it, bitches!

wow.
ok. so if i take 2 300+ level anthro classes and spanish 302 (for a W credit) in the summer or fall, then i could theoretically be done.
except for this one stipulation:
i will need 1.5 more credits at UW.

talk about blowing goats.
do they offer PE or something?
1.5, wtf?!

i think complementary classes are one of the most important parts of school.
not only do you learn whatever you learn in your singular classes, but you can compare and come to your own conclusions about whatever subject they seem to have in common.

last quarter i had a them of nature. environmental anthropology accompanied with botany. each opened my eyes to the subject in different ways. use of natural resources by different cultures and functions of plants.

this quarter, unknowingly, but should have realized, i venture into the realm of death, with my comparative study of DEATH, which shoulda been the thing that tipped me off, but also archaeology of egypt, which, they were seemingly deeply religious and involved in the belief of an afterlife. Then theres that Oaxaca class, which i think has a strong tendancy to lead toward the customs and traditions of el día de los muertos (day of the dead).

its kinda odd, cuz these two themes are seemingly the 2 fundamental parts to the creation of culture:
how one copes with their environment, and how one deals with the concepts of death.
i think the only thing possibly left out are life cycles, things such as rites of passage: reaching wo/manhood, marriage, reproduction, etc.

i wonder what kinda classes you take for that.....
i'm sure i can figure it out if i look at whats offered next quarter.....

lately shit hasn't seem to gone my way.
i was looking into lifeguarding at the green lake pool the other day, and i guess i missed the test by a day.
sucks to be me.
theres also this program that sends students to Oaxaca, Mexico for fall quarter.
i was kinda interested, but i got denied? why? cuz i'm too damn good at spanish.
i guess its only for those who will be taking either 201 or 202. for those of you who dont know, i'm in 301.
fuckers.
i guess theres one in Cadiz, Spain, but shit, i've already been there twice! (yeah, i guess i shouldn't be whining about that)
but Tijuana doesn't really count mucho for being in mexico, other than the poverty, in my opinion.

shits gotta start falling together one of these days.

side note:
went to the pool couple days ago with meg (thats how i was asking about the job) and we both did an hour of lap swim.
now. you'd think i'd be hurting like hell by now (second day since) but i got nothing.
what the fuck? i couldnt be in shape enough for that to not get to me.
i think megs feelin it...
and its not like i was slackin either....

oh. the other thing.
for "fun" i read origin of species, which i believe i earlier blogged about.
i mentioned, if i remember correctly, that darwin never wrote the words "survival of the fittest" up through the point where i was at.
well. i finished it, and NO WHERE in the WHOLE BOOK were those words strung together.
so unless it was in his later publishings, i'm wondering who the hell came up with that saying,
and why would it then be tied to darwin by every damn science teacher (that isnt from the bible belt or my old private school)?
darwin only continually writes about "struggle for existence" which i kinda like better than the ol' "survival of the fittest".
i know its just semantics, but survival connotates (IMHO) species at the bottom or middle of the plethora of speices that just barely keep alive by whatever they do to gain food, reproduce, etc.
but struggle rather is a more equal plane, where everyones on top, combating for one spot.
likewise, fittest is merely those who are best suited for acquiring food and ability to reproduce,
where existence kinda puts a damper on things... once your species is gone, its gone.
never coming back.

i guess those last to words really arent comparable, but struggle for existence shows the dire will and need to persist,
where survival of the fittest i guess only shows the means. maybe the two should be fused somehow.

but struggle for existence of the fittest doesn't quite have a ring to it.....

the way darwin fully put it was struggle for existence by descent of modification through natural selection.
there ya go.
from the mastah.

ran into susannah (pardon any misspellings) on the bus. its the first time since tripat that i've ran into anybody at school that i still fraternize with.
i guess thats due to everyone either already dun been gradiated, not going to uw, or not even being up by the time i'm ready to go home.

anyway. i fucked up and thought she went to singapore.
thailand, singapore, whats the difference? i guess malaysia. it separates em.
anyway. i much prefer listening to people than talking at them, so i was intrigued to hear about thailand,
but somehow i got onto the topic of egypt and i told her about my adventures.
got to 65th before i could ask anything about hers. >=P