Jesus was a fish

Since Stef got married and got all of her stuff out of the storage unit that we'd been sharing since I moved back to Tulsa, I've been paying too much rent on a somewhat overpriced storage unit that was larger than I really needed (as well as being kinda out of my way). So last week I went to the storage place that we generally use at the bookstore and rented a plain ol' 5x10 unit that's less than half the price of the 5x15 that I was in. That's good. We like to save money. Especially with Christmas approaching, although it's not like I have a ton of people to buy for anyway.

Anyway, as I was leaving this place I noticed for the first time (and I've been there at least a dozen times in the last few months on bookstore business, so you can tell how much attention I pay to things when I'm in the Gardner's zone) that they have a Jesus fish on their big sign out front.

As an aside, would you like to know the history of the Jesus fish (or ichthus, if you prefer)? Sure you would. See, if you read the gospels, there's a lot of fishiness to Jesus to begin with... and no, I don't mean that in a smarmy way. Not in this post, anyway. I'm still working my way up to the God Rants. But there was the miracle with the loaves and fishes. There was Jesus telling the disciples which side of the boats to cast their nets on and a subsequent miraculous fish haul. There was the "I will make you fishers of men" deal. And it was foretold that just as Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, Jesus would spend three days and three nights in the heart of the earth before returning from the dead (although that's not what ended up "happening," but no, there's no inconsistencies in the Bible). The early Christians latched onto the fish as a sort of symbol for their religion, and during the days when Christians were persecuted for their faith, the use of this fish symbol really took hold. If a Christian met a stranger on the street and wanted to find out if the person he was speaking with shared his faith, he would surreptitiously draw an arcing line in the dust/sand/dirt with the toe of his sandal (half of the fish). If the other person was a Christian, he would then also toe out an arc and complete the fish, and the two of them could go their merry way talking about Jesus without fear of being reported to the authorities or whatnot. Fish and the fish symbol became so central to Christianity that early Christians were in fact often called "Pisciculi," a word whose root is the Latin word "fish."

So there you have it. Just a little something to let you know that I'm not anti-God/anti-religion just because I'm uneducated about the whole thing. ^_^

Where was I? Right, the fish on the business sign. This really annoys me, and not just because I don't share the Christian faith. The way I see it, there are really only three reasons why a business would do this, none of which are exceptionally valid:

• The owner of the business is proud of his or her faith. This is the least problematic reason to me, although I don't believe personally that things like this have any place in a business. Would you plaster your kids on your sign if you were proud of them? Of course not, that's too personal. Your personal life and your business life are two different things, and your faith belongs on the personal side of that equation.
• The owner of the business wants to show that he/she is a Christian because this somehow implies that he/she is more trustworthy or less likely to do you wrong or whatnot. Which is crap. I've seen a ton of shitty things done in the name of God over the course of my lifetime, both to me and as an observor - and let's not get started on what I've read in the history books. Hypocrisy, as it always has, abounds. And it's not like you have to take a test or get a license to use the fish or anything anyway, so what's stopping your friendly neighborhood devil worshipper from slapping a fish up there to try and increase his business? Nothing. In this context, then, it becomes meaningless.
• The owner of the business is knowingly catering to those people - and there are plenty of them out there, probably especially so here in the Bible Belt - who "would prefer to give their money and/or business to a Christian if they have the choice." Replace "Christian" with "white person" in that sentence and that should tell you all you need to know about the bigotry behind this idea. Religious discrimination isn't just discriminating against people who are religious, it's also discriminating against people who aren't. It's just another -ism in the end, and it's just as disgusting as the rest of them.

So did I, as a studious little atheist, go back inside and ask for my money back? Well, no, because I was late for work. Heh. Seriously - it's not like I'm not going to pull out of that storage unit and find a different one that doesn't wear God on its sleeve. I'm not that uptight about all of this - and besides, then I'd be the one with the -ism. (Godism?) I'll just gripe about it here instead.

I miss the good old days

...when I could still convince myself that "Smallville" was a quality show (or at least had the potential to truly be great). Now it's just this crappy WB mess that I enjoy anyway because I'm a superhero geek. Which is fine, I suppose. These days my focus lies with "Lost" anyhow.

What's new, campers? Not much here. I spent the last four days laid up with the flu (I sure get sick an awful lot lately), so that's fun. I'm somewhat scared to head up to my room - since today was my first day out of the house since Saturday, I'm afraid that all the fresh air will now allow me to fully experience the wonderful aromas of stale sweat and vomit. Ew. I sense that a "spring cleaning in November" sort of weekend is in order for the upstairs.

Here's my quandary of the week: should I celebrate/observe Thanksgiving? I mean, I don't have any family down here, nor do I have the time to head up north again at the moment (let alone the cash flow after all the work I've missed due to drama and illness in the last couple of months). I don't have a girlfriend since I pretty much gave up on ever finding anyone decent, especially here in the Bible Belt. Most of the people that I consider to truly be friends are scattered around the nation. I do have a roommate who happens to also be my best friend, but he has to work that day so it's not like we could spend all afternoon and evening watching football, acting goofy, and gorging ourselves on turkey and all the trimmings. However, I do love to cook, and it's been a while since I went all out and made a big spread - lately it's been more like a big vat of chili, or a couple of giant Dagwood sandwiches, or a big vat of chicken and egg noodles, or a couple of steaks on the grill. And there's also the appeal of the leftover turkey sandwich... and delicious freshly baked pies... I just don't know. If you're reading this and have an opinion, feel free to weigh in on the matter.

OK, that's about enough uprightness for me for one day. Time to go lay down.

Long time no see

*shamefaced look*

I'd like to say that I have a great excuse for being away for so long, and while I did have a few dramatic issues that kept me from this blog for a while there, it lasted much longer than it should have in the end because once everything got back on an even keel I basically got lazy. That's so not cool. I'm such a nerd.

Let's see, what should I do with my time on here this afternoon? I have read quite a few good books lately, so I think I'll share some recs:

• I'm not exactly sure why it took me so long to get around to reading Christopher Moore. People have recommended him to me many a time over the years, but for some reason I just didn't feel that much of an urge to seek his stuff out. Well, a couple of months ago while shelving some hardcover fic at work I ran across a copy of "Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal," and I was instantly hooked. So far I've worked my way through that, "Practical Demonkeeping," "The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror," "Island of the Sequined Love Nun," and "Bloodsucking Fiends," and there hasn't been a bad one in the lot. "Coyote Blue," I think, is next on the list.
• If you've got a taste for the samurai/shogun/feudal era of Japanese history, put down your copy of "Shogun" and go pick up a copy of Takashi Matsuoka's "Cloud of Sparrows" instead. It can be difficult to find novels about Japan by people who actually know Japan (at least here in Tulsa, Oklahoma), but no such problems here. It is a first novel, and Matsuoka does fall victim to a number of the usual first novel errors, but the grittily realistic tale is such a page-turner that those flaws are easily overlooked. It's no "Musashi," but very few books are, and I suspect that Matsuoka's going to keep getting better. If you live here in T-town and have a copy of his next book, "Autumn Bridge," feel free to bring it in to the bookstore and sell it.
• Marilynne Robinson's "Gilead: A Novel." Wow. Simply profound - and I mean that both in the sense of "in a word, profoud" and "profound in its simplicity." It's not my usual fare by any means, but I picked it up on a whim and just couldn't put it down. If you've ever been a parent or a child, you truly owe it to yourself to check this book out.

Next up: "Chindi" and "Omega" by Jack McDevitt. Rawk.