As the Day Grows Dim I Hear You Sing a Golden Hymn

Congratulations to the recently-married Joey Halbert for correctly naming "Interstate Love Song" by Stone Temple Pilots as the Thursday Song of the Day.

Part XVII (Luke's Response)

One thing that's definitely worth mentioning- we shouldn't be leery of technology to the point that we're kept from participating in it. Whenever new gadgets/technologies come along, there are always haters. The anti-facebook people, the anti-twitter people, etc. History will reveal that I used to be one of these. Hell, I didn't have a cell phone until I was a junior in college. But now I'm of the school which says technology, especially technology that encourages togetherness among people, is good.

Usually I'm not the best judge of how balanced I am. That is to say that often people around me are aware of my imbalances before I am. And it then falls on my friends (or others around me) to alert me of such things. That's a friend's responsibility and privilege. And as technology continues to advance, and we continue to tread in ever-new directions, maybe it's on us (we friends) to help each other achieve balance.

And it's not a one and done thing. It's not like, "well we've achieved balance, good thing we don't have to worry about that again." Balance is something at which we must continually work. That last sentence is certainly true of me. One of the duties of the principal (the person in question, for example, me) is discipline. For me to achieve balance, I'm not relinquished of the need of discipline.

So achieving some balance between ever-imposing/connecting technologies and solitude is a lot like with the rest of life. We need to work hard. And we need help.

I'd guess you and I are similar in that we both like earning our own way. That is, the above-mentioned about accepting help, receiving guidance from others about our personal levels of balancedness sort of strikes a dissonant chord within us. Personally I'd rather buy a car from an Iraqi auto manufacturer than accept any help of any kind from anyone. I can handle myself, dammit! It's this stupid self-dependence which will be my constant opponent in my pursuit of balance. I'm curious for your thoughts on this self-dependent attitude. Are you like this? Does the idea of accepting advice/help rub you wrong?

They'll Kill Him With Self Confidence After Poisoning Him With Words

Part XV (Luke's Response)

Well certainly church must be effected. And must adapt. And perhaps in a way it never has before. Since the curve of technology development is exponential, and technology is what we're dealing with, it stands to reason that history hasn't seen us need to make this jump before.

There's a cynical view that church will become more techo-ish and lose a certain human element, but I'm more hopeful. I imagine community being enriched by technology, not necessarily weakened. But effort is probably the key, as you've said.

It's interesting how some church congregations have adapted already. A few months ago I went to Austin Stone with Girod. And of course I tweeted about it. Within the hour, @TheAustinStone had tweeted back to me following up on my experience. They asked if I wanted more info., they asked how my visit was, they welcomed me. All in 140 characters. It's this type of adaptation that I imagine churches making to reach this new kind of community. And perhaps it's because I'm of this "attention span of a gibbon with ADHD" generation, but for the most part, I'm cool with it.

The Heavy Stuff Ain't Quite at Its Heaviest By the Time It Gets Out to Suburban Minneapolis

Part XII (My Response)

I've enjoyed an episode of "Lopez Tonight*." That's the first time in my whole life I've ever typed that. Thanks for sharing that moment with me.

It's pretty tough to argue with the idea that we each have our own community to isolation ratio. It's also pretty tough to argue with the idea that J.D. Salinger's was pretty heavy on the isolation and light on the community. The thing that fascinates me about Salinger is that "Catcher in the Rye" was published in 1951 when Salinger was 32. He goes on to release a few more items throughout the next twelve years, and his last published work appeared in the New Yorker in June 1965. That means that he lived almost 45 more years (almost half his life) without publishing anything else. That is what is amazing to me.

How many writers/musicians/actors/chemists/lawyers/architects/professors/doctors/etc. would receive critical acclaim in their profession 1/3rd of the way of their life, work until the 1/2 way point in their life in that same career, and then just remove themselves from that career and make no further contributions in that field?

Perhaps this ties in with our discussion about how each of us has our own isolation/community ratio, but I think that with the way that technology has changed our interactions with each other, that isolation/community shift in the world as a whole has gone towards the community side of the ledger. That's not to say, though, that the community shift I'm talking about is what people would have called "community" 30 or even 15 years ago. It's this kind of quasi-community where I'm interacting with people on a much greater frequency through avenues like Facebook, Twitter, email, text messages, or even phone calls, but all of those avenues may crowd out more conventional face to face community experiences.

*This is not even remotely true.

Nothing is Planned by the Sea and the Sand

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, readers of all ages...

I apologize to each and every one of you for the recent dereliction of my blogging duty. I've been all over the place this past month from Houston to Tyler to Fort Davis to Hidalgo del Parral to Tyler to Houston to Nashville and now back to Tyler.
I'm heading back to Houston tomorrow in advance of starting work on Monday, and that means that from here on out I'm going to do my very, very best to update this blog on a consistent basis.

Also, even though I've been doing some recent flirting with that tempting mistress known as Twitter, this blog will always remain my first love.

There Was a Line, There Was a Formula

A quick hit tonight in honor of Michael Phelps, ladies and gentlemen.

I, along with noted U2 expert Andrew Tuegel, have joined the wild and woolly world of Twitter. Mr. Tuegel and I have formed a Twitter joint venture talking about "law, politics, pop culture, English soccer, baseball, and all things in between."

Follow us (or don't) at twitter.com/thepartylines.

You may now return to your regularly scheduled activities.

What is the Central Theme to This Everlasting Spoof?

As I've been notified by notable luminaries of the blogosphere-verse such as this guy and this gentleman (please don't read anything into who received the "gentleman" moniker and who was relegated to the distinction of "this guy". I'm just trying to avoid redundancy), I'm apparently the subject of a Twitter fatwa issued by noted (at least among ACU alums between 2004-2006) Auburn Tiger football supporter Austin Henley.

I am truly flattered by the groundswell of popular support that has arisen in the aftermath of Mr. Henley's decree, but as the lady friend notified me earlier this evening, I have a tendency to be "a bit long winded" (which I'm pretty sure was a euphemistic way of saying that I go on about things a BIT longer than I should sometimes/all the time), and I don't know if I could resign myself to a prison of 140 characters.

Also, and more importantly, if I own a phone that can only receive, but not send, text messages, how in the world am I supposed to tweet? Twit? Twizzle?

I give up.

Current Reading

God Save the Fan by Will Leitch