Sunday, September 7, 1997 -- My own intolerance
The only thing i can't tolerate is intolerance. -- UNIX fortune		It's taken me a long time to write this. Mainly because I realized I was going to have to say something negative about someone who reads this journal. I guess it's the catch-22 of having an online journal, and people in your life who know about it. Oh, and being honest in the journal, as well. If I let myself lie, the whole thing would be easier. Two friends of Azura's, MtMan and MudBlossom came to visit us this weekend. MtMan is a huge guy..he's one of those people as big around as he his tall. He's also wiccan, with a strong belief in Thor. MudBlossom is also wiccan, although she's more private about it that MtMan. If I were more tolerant, and MtMan less exuberant, we would have been fine. But I'm not, and he's not. What do I mean? I've got this huge guy, this really huge guy coming through my door for the first time. Azura asks him if he locked his door, and he told us that the spell he cast on the car would keep most people out. Then he goes on to tell us about the use of magic to avoid police on the trip. [as in..thinking.."I'm not here, I'm just a regular driver." at the police, and so they ignore him.] I felt my internal skepticism rising, and I fought hard to bite my tongue. I refuse to make my guests feel uncomfortable just because I don't agree with their religion. Especially since I'm not a proponent of any religion, not even atheism. I hold them all to the same standard of proof. Show me. Do an experiment, prove it to me, and you'll have my (albeit grudging) belief. Of course, it wasn't just the spells that got me set off a bit. It was his size. I'm not a small guy, as even this old picture proves. But people MtMan's size just turn something inside me the wrong way. Like the old saying, "There but for the grace of God go I". I know that some people have glandular problems, and they can't help being that size. It still bothers me. I just take it as a warning, and try to eat better at the next meal. It's intolerant, I know, and on top of it I don't want to be tolerant of it. I can deal with a certain amount of fat, but at some point it becomes excessive, and it bugs me. That's me. Thankfully, Moose and Squirrel came over to game on Saturday. Since no one else showed up, and MtMan wasn't the type of gamer I normally like to play with, I helped Squirrel with a hardware project. She was upgrading her Dad's PC, and needed help getting it running. I went over to their place, met their little (cute) "muppet dog". We wound up going to CompUSA and Moose and I looked at WindowsCE palmtops while Squirrel bought memory and hard drive...then we went home and I walked her through the installation procedure. It was fun, I like Moose and Squirrel a lot, and hope to really integrate them into our group (or be integrated into theirs). Today we went to IHOP to eat with MtMan and MudBlossom, and they headed on their way home. Azura and I talked a bit about the weekend, and tried to decide if we were going to do any of the things MtMan invited us to. He's big into SCA and wicca, and wants us (really, just Azura I think) to go to Tennessee for several events. I'm trying to decide how I'll feel about going to a wicca circle, basically a religious event. I know the last time I was in a church, I felt awful, even though it was just a wedding. I felt out of place, and wrong there. I'll probably feel that way in the circle, as well. Well, time will tell. Generic Joe's A Typical Male