금요일 아침: i’m glad it’s friday.  “tgif,” people say.  yet, it seems strangely enough that some evangelical christians avoid using the phrase “thank god” and substitute “thank goodness.”  do you understand why?  is it because they think we’re taking the lord’s name in vain or something?  i don’t totally get it.  if we really thank god, can’t we say it?  maybe they think it’s too insignificant of a thing to thank god for sincerely, but no… why not praise god for the small blessings too?  is it that evangelical christians use the “thank goodness” euphemism for “thank god,” or is it american societal types that want to avoid offending atheists?  i don’t understand.  maybe i can google up an answer or wiki one up.

okay, i found my first datum: from some atheist professor of philosophy daniel c. dennett’s web page or blog (i’m not sure what it is) “edge: thank goodness!”: ”i saw with greater clarity than ever before in my life that when i say “thank goodness!” this is not merely a euphemism for “thank god!” (we atheists don’t believe that there is any god to thank.) i really do mean thank goodness! . . .   or you can thank god—but the very idea of repaying god is ludicrous. what could an omniscient, omnipotent being (the man who has everything?) do with any paltry repayments from you? (and besides, according to the christian tradition god has already redeemed the debt for all time, by sacrificing his own son. try to repay that loan!) yes, i know, those themes are not to be understood literally;they are symbolic. i grant it, but then the idea that by thanking god you are actually doing some good has got to be understood to be just symbolic, too. i prefer real good to symbolic good.”

well, after googling around, i now believe “thank goodness” is indeed an atheist’s euphemism for “thank god.”  wow… isn’t it funny how, thanks to american media, we assume that all euphemisms are products of evangelical christians?!  funny, huh?  evangelical christians often say “what the heck” as a euphemism for “what the hell.”  strange, when hell is definitely something we christians believe exists, whereas atheists try to deny.  in fact, even so.called secularists, who are mostly just american materialists (money worshipers), try to sweep hell under a rug and say that religions can talk about good things like heaven but not bad things like hell.  well, i like to focus on the positive – in the sense of focusing on blessings not just buying into cheap positive affirmations that modern secularists/humanists preach (think about the movie the secret); but i don’t deny the existence of evil and bad things.  *sigh* anyway, evangelical christian youths – especially here in the bay area, i.e. da 408, da 510, da 415, da 650… hyphy territory, often say “hecka” as a euphemism for “hella.”  you know what?  actually, i like the word “heck,” not because it’s a euphemism for “hell,” but because it combines “hell” and “f@ck!”  it’s efficient and brilliant!  sorry for my crassness, but a few weeks ago, while preparing for my second jesus for president bible study that has yet to occur (due to low turnout), i was reading about how the prophet ezekiel was very crass and explicit.  it’s true.  wow, i was amazed at some of the crude, sexually.explicit things he’d spew!  dude, he was raw and told it as it was.

[later] anyway, i suppose the conclusion from my research on what “thank goodness is about” confirmed a suspicion i had years ago that it’s simply better to say “thank god” instead of “thank goodness.”  why stick to cristianese phrases like “praise the lord?”

[later] 점심: i’m very hungry, waiting for the beautiful kaela hwang to call my for lunch.  i rode my bike to work this morning because our street is being paved.  well, it’s not being paved but sealed or something like that.  anyway, we were told not to park on our street (kaela and i park our cars in the garage anyway) and not to expect to be able to drive on our street today.  i parked my car in the garage, but kaela parked her car on a nearby cross street.  i pondered skateboarding to work, but i ended up biking.  if i had skateboarded, it would have taken much longer, and the sun didn’t come up till later than i had expected.

[later] for months, magazines and online articles kept telling me that i must get this program called docsyncer to help me sync my beloved google docs with microsoft office on my local drives (on my laptops).  well, i found out today why i haven’t been able to find this software.  the company closed down this past spring.  gee… why?  i can’t believe so many publications kept pushing that app, and now it’s gone.  what a bummer!  here’s an article: “docsyncer merges with the deadpool” from techcrunch.com.

[later] 오후: for the past few days, my right eyelid has been twitching.  i don’t like it.  it’s annoying.  i found this webpage via google: “medlineplus medical encyclopedia: eyelid twitch.”  it says there are three common causes: 1) fatigue, 2) stress, and 3) caffeine.  wow!  well, first, i haven’t gotten enough sleep lately.  secondly, i’ve been under plenty of stress at work and even with politics in the taekwondo instructional staff.  finally, i have drank more coffee lately; and, even though it’s decaf, i know there’s still a little bit of caffeine in it.  the webpage provides these three solutions: 1) get more sleep, 2) drink less caffeine, and 3) lubricate your eyes with eye drops.  *sigh*  well, thank the great creator it’s friday!

here’s a mildly interesting blog entry by “the christian scribbler” about “euphemism” and “dysphemisms”: “critical thinking; euphemisms vs. dysphemism…”

during lunch today, kaela picked me up, and we had tons of sushi at under the sea sushi on homestead road by 고향산천 gohyang sanchuhn.  i had a 25% off (up to $10) entertainment book coupon.  you see, all those coupons expire next week, so now we’re off on a dining spree.  i’ve got to be careful not to get carried away.  we don’t always have to max out the value of the coupon.  today’s lunch was about $45 before the discount, which knocked it down to about $35 plus tip, which brought the total back up to almost $40.  that’s a bit of a pricey lunch even in this day and age.  however, gee… the sushi was delicious!  to be totally honest, the rice was a little firmer than i typically like it.  however, wow… the choice of fillings and toppings for these modern rolls?  cool!  there were many modernised variations of already modern rolls.  the rainbow over the sea roll was a great idea: a rainbow roll with spicy tuna inside instead of california roll.  cool!  the titanic roll was a spider roll with all sorts of other goodies like fake crab and unagi.  we had one more roll… oh yeah, the mt. fuji roll.  mmm… it had like uh… a shrimp tempura plus all sorts of sashimi on top, including scallops!  aw, that was so good.  actually, kaela chose that addition at the last second.  we had two rolls already, and i was about to add one more small one.  i was about to add the firecracker roll, which the menu claimed to be a super spicy tuna roll.  however, kaela pointed out that it was too much like the rainbow over the sea roll.  true… so she picked the mt. fuji roll, which was a monster of a roll, and the most expensive of our trio at $15.95.

[later] 저녁 이지만 아지가도 퇴근 안했어요: *sigh* i want to bust out of my cube since it’s friday.  what a crazy day!  i need to bike home.  it will be good to get some exercise anyway.  maybe i should bike over to the bank to make a deposit too.  we’ll see.