Opening Track

I've decided to keep track of myself in yet another place in case I've failed to make my own intentions clear to myself elsewhere. It's always best to put things in writing is what I believe; this way, I can't misunderstand what I want to do at one time and get out of doing it later. I really want to commit to things and follow through; that said, there's no guarantee this will last long. I'm at deviantart, fanfiction!net, and aven, but I rarely post things. I'm in community college, which is for adults and tasters, not gobblers. My goal is to become a gobbler.

The title of this blog is derived from my newfound liking for apricot jam and my penchant for spreading myself so thin among fandoms and hobbies that I tend to jam to a beat that seems to come from all places. As a Christian there's only one place I should be jamming from, but I'm working on that ;).

I'd like to use this place to post on happenings, my interpretations of those happenings, and fandoms in addition to my own stories. Since sixth grade I believed I'd be a writer, but college changed that. I'll also talk about primary and secondary school vs. post-secondary school, religion, politics, relationships...but these are only the opinions of someone who has learned nearly everything she knows from fanfiction and second-rate literature, so feel free to insert your own thoughts and try to set me right when I've got it wrong.

Now then, at this time I'm thinking about that dumb kid who quit choir in order to avoid singing a Muslim song of worship. I have only seen one clip of him talking to FOX reporters and I can already tell he's hoping for it to blow up into a Supreme Court decision. He's so smug. His parents are probably telling him he's setting an example for kids across the nation. My position:  His reasons are right, but he didn't have to make such a big deal of it. If the text of the song includes "there is no god but Allah", and the context indicates that this is the Muslims' God and no other (even if Muslims believe Allah is the same ultimate creator and benevolent ruler of the universe as Jewish YWH and Christian...do we have a name or should I just say Father-Son-Spirit?), a Christian or Jew cannot, according to a Commandment, lift his voice in worship of that foreign god. Though the class is secular, the song is not. I believe our words overflow from the heart, that not meaning what comes out of your mouth is similar to lying, and we are held accountable (which stinks, 'cause I'm big on cussing). Students of other religions should be able to sit out the song and gain credit through another performance; this guy could've asked instead of quitting--obviously he wasn't a committed choir member if he didn't do this, so I say the class suffered no big loss.

Then look at it liberally. If atheist choir members decide to protest Christmas songs because of their non-religious orientation, can this reasoning be taken seriously? How strongly can a person validly feel against the threatening of their non-belief?

I admire the faith of Muslims. Raised non-denominational Christian, I've been taught that religion is going though the motions of faith rather than the building of spiritual relationship with God, but I think committing various aspects of your life to God, including prayers at certain times or events of the day and clothing standards, is tangible expression, and my family at least doesn't do that often enough. Atheists, on the other hand, express theiir non-belief by either arguing with reason or leading admirable lives, apparently without guidence (which is good too). I'm just pissed at this little snot for making an ass of himself and labeling Christians everywhere with his behavior...but maybe I'm too self-conscious?