Sunday, March 22, 2009

:P

Okay, so putting the blog on private didn't exactly work. ....haha.... I didn't realize that one had to have a google account to sign in, and eventually it got so confusing that I just decided to put it back on the other thing. I guess it's just easier to do it this way. :)

If any of you are wondering WHY I put it on private, I did so because I didn't want a lot of people that I didn't know about reading blog. But I actually think it's fine now. :)


18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Ruby,

I absolutely love that signiture! What beautiful and exquisite flourish you are exhibiting in it. Very prestigious and ostentatious... in a good way that is :-)

Even though I never have time to comment on your relations of personal life, I do certainly enjoy reading when you expatiate on an occurence(s) of your day. Those posts add a personal aspect to the blog that connects you to your readers.

I had no problem in establishing another email account. It just gives me another address to channel my university notes into and out of my main Yahoo address. Those 'billions' of solicitations can clutter up ones inbox and now I have three addresses to organize them into. So, no grumbling over here .... but unfortunately Google is one of the least secure email servers available so I don't send anything of value through it.

By the way, my piano auditions were on Friday and I received a "Superior" rating on both Clair de Lune and Beethoven's Op. 13. So now I'm in the annual concert on the 29th in downtown Wheeling (or should I say "Hicktown" - I don't like that too much ...) and another memorized performance is coming for me. This time a much larger crowd: likely over a hundred. On Fri. it was just the judge from WVU, some excessively garrulous ladies and my mom. However, you know that passage I was harping to you about? Well, I resorted to a subtle fingering manipulation that "superficially" remedied that problem. You would have never known! (and no one does! :-)

Take Care,
Ryan

Clarke Family said...

Yeah, well, I think it's fine TOO.

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Ruby--even though I completely understand why you were doing it, I'm not sorry that I can just read it now!

Love you,
Hannah

Ruby Jean Hopkins said...

Hey Ryan,

Thanks! I really like it too. (I wish I couldn't write like that... :-|)

Haha! Don't worry about it... I'm glad that you enjoy reading them!

Well, I'm glad it wasn't that big of a deal... However, I thought it would just be easier for those who didn't have accounts. :)

Well! I'm glad that you did well! But I've heard you play... I would not have expected you to do horribly. :P



Rachel,

Pfft. Yeah...


Hannah,

Well.... I really like your comments and everything.... and if you didn't read my blog, then that would lower the usual amount of comments I get, which isn't that much anyways... so I just thought it was better. :D

~Ruby

Anonymous said...

I must ask - just to satiate my curiosity- Rachel, have you established your own blog as well? I noticed that your name was highlighted in a Blogger account. Mine was too, but that is only a ramification of having a new Google address. If you care to ignore this comment, then go ahead and do so. However, that would certainly be nice if you set one up as Olivia, Jordan and Ruby have.

And P.F.F.T. means??? Just curious ... and illiterate in modern standards I guess.

That's all.

Anonymous said...

Nope, I don't have a blog. It's my parents decision that I ocupy my time with more domestic responsibilities. But I would _so_ love one. O well. 1 Timothy 6:6. :)

Rooburt. Pfft back. :P bllaaahh! :)Hmph. :(:) *oink*

-AchelRay

Anonymous said...

Oh yeah, why don't you get a blog, Ryan?
-Rachel

Anonymous said...

Well, I won't deny that the thought has previously crossed my mind. However, I am too much of a perfectionist to sensibly control the time invested into one. There is only one Internet site on which I actively participate and that is Yahoo Answers. On that particular forum I have a habit of scrutinizing over answers that I submit and I know that everything I would post on a blog (if I possessed one) would consume an exorbitant amount of time from me - time that I do not have to be relaying my daily life to an on-line audience. However, another user on Yahoo Answers whom I am familiar with strongly suggested that I establish a Bible study blog that covers the issues that I frequently answer/discuss/debate on the forum and that many people are unfortunately confused about. I have established a large reputation in the Religion & Spirituality section of the forum and so this is why he encouraged me to open up a blog/discussion site that I quote Scriptures and discuss Biblical doctrines. This, I suppose, is a future possibility, although an unlikely prospect. There are a great amount of commitments that I have already and if I did not regularly post, it would bother me. Just as it would if wording, grammar, punctuation and coherence of my posts were inaccurate. Like I said, I am simply too much of a perfectionist.

I also think that my parents would not desire that I divulge so much personal information overtly on-line. These blogs are regrettably not very secure which is why I was happy that Ruby placed hers on private - until now? And, along with my parents, I would not be overly eager to take that risk either.

And lastly, reporting my daily occurrences would not prove overly interesting for the most part. Somehow I don't think that you and Olivia would be thrilled to hear about the latest study or rumination of an aspiring doctor, or observe the latest 14.7 M.P. picture I took of an adorable little chipmunk, now would you? Maybe you would. So there you have my sentiments on that issue.



I like the "AchelRay" That is rather clever, although I am not her biggest fan.

Anonymous said...

Cool.
Never heard of Yahoo answers! Sounds pretty sweet.
-Recahl Cralke

:P

P.S. Pfft stands for: poopy fritos and fried tomatoes.

Olivia Howard said...

I normally don't read the comments on your blog, Ruby, but Friday had Rachel, Jo, Emma, Janelle and I cracking up on our couch over these, so I had to visit them later. :-D

And Ryan, who says only girls would read your blog? I'm sure since you have such a wide following on Yahoo! Answers you could get a lot of people who *would* like to see a chipmunk picture... and a blog can be a cure for perfectionism... and as far as the security of it all goes, you can very very easily make up a fake name and stuff, or just use your first name. And the time involved? I would say that it would take less time to post on your own blog than it would to post all these comments on other peoples. (you know how busy I am and yet I still have time to maintain 4...)Blogs are also a great way to make friends.

And yes, that's what pfft really stands for. Just like ttyl really means Try Toothpaste Young Lad/ Lassie. You really must be up on these things if you are to converse in these circles...


And sorry I don't comment more often, Ruby Dear, but I love all your posts and they always bring a smile to my day! Thanks.
pfft, ttyl, fwiw,
~Moi

Anonymous said...

Wait, Livi, what does fwif stand for??

<3 Rach

Ruby Jean Hopkins said...

Lol, You all are too funny. :)

~Ruby

Ruby Jean Hopkins said...

And Rachel, fwiw means, "fully with it, woman!"

Anonymous said...

Well Hi there everyone,

I haven't forgotten about you Olivia - in case you thought I may have. Simply put, I haven't had an extra minute this week to address all my emails, even though it has been one of the most enjoyable and memorable weeks I can remember in recent years. So, now I have a few moments to answer your comment.

Yes, I am certain that if I were to begin a blog I would acquire many boys as readers alongside of girls. As you know however, the majority of my immediate friends are young ladies because there is a slight deficiency of young men in OVCHE. I'm not complaining now, simply expatiating extraneously. And as you said, I do have "relations" with numerous people on Y!Answers and I would not at all be surprised if many of them became active members of a blog that I ran IF it was a religious study blog. But Olivia, here is the deal. I have answered ONE question on Y! A in the last three weeks. Okay? And you want to know how many notes I have received as a result of that ONE question? Five. Now that may not seem like much to you but consider this. One of my "adversaries/antagonists" who wrote was a Catholic and he absolutely railed me for my accusations against fallacious Catholic doctrines in my answer. So, in the last two and half weeks I have been INTENSELY working/praying/studying on reply to send to him in order to Scripturally, morally, and historically back my audacious claims up. So, what have I done with this ONE question? I have written a 37 page note on Word (on font 12) that exhaustively covers and lucidly, irrefutably proves every detail of the Biblical errors of, Papal Succession, Immaculate Conception, Tradition in precedence of the Bible, Infallibility of the pope and Catholic church, and lastly transferal of universal authority to Peter (and consequently papacy) here on earth. If you are unfamiliar with these Biblically inaccurate and ungodly doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church than you may not fully understand the crucial importance of this note. However, my point is this. I answer one question in three weeks and then devote hours and hours in typing up this book, in which I have nearly 350 Scriptures quoted, to show someone halfway around the country that what they believe is Biblically erroneous. Do I have time to establish a blog in which I would get bombarded with questions? Not if I am to keep up these habits. Oh Olivia, I love answering Biblical questions and I love to prove my beliefs from the Bible. But it takes considerable time and you are very aware that I have other occupations to attend to that consume my time. Yes, there is no feeling quite like the one I get when people tell me that one of my answers has dumbfounded them or that they have been greatly changed as a result of it and I would love to do more of it. But I must draw the line somewhere because if people ask me questions that I never get to answering, then the might think I have no proof or Biblical basis for my claims and therefore they walk away with a negative opinion about the Bible, SDA church or Christianity as a whole. In addition, I can not stand to let a question go unanswered IF I possess a powerful answer to reply to it. We as Christians are constantly being watched, Olivia. Therefore it is vitally important that we live a Christian and godly life in all things because some people will make a big deal and base big claims on small pieces of evidence. Just as the Catholics do with Matthew 16:19. They grossly interpret that verse even though it may seem superficially what they make it out to be, but if you were to read my thirteen pages discussing that doctrine you would see that it is wholly unbiblical. So, in all actuality, I do not have the time to establish a blog. I guess I have not even considered making one about my life (for previously discussed reasons) so this course would be my only potentiality "if" that were to happen.

Yes, I know I could fabricate a pseudonym for myself, but how fun is that? Then everyone would address me by "George" rather than Ryan and after three hundred comments, that would become somewhat irritating. Maybe not to some of you, but I do like my name! :-)

My life is interesting enough as it is and having the blogs to read of all you lovely young ladies simply makes it more interesting and busy. I would love to reach others with Biblical truth and commence new friendships but I have a great deal of responsibilities and the more I grow up, the more I am going to be forced to determine, "what is worthy of my time and what is superfluous" So, I can live without one for now. If our days start to elapsing thirty hours, then I might consider it. Okay? Sounds like a deal.


Congrats on your hundredth post Ruby. Hey, I have recently begun working on Piano/Orchestral Concerto in DM by Hayden to (hopefully) play/perform with a friend (it is a two piano concerto). Have you ever done it? Overall it is rather fascinating.

Take care all,

Ryan


P.S. I am rather certian that this comment will be risible to some of you as my previous ones on this post were. That is alright, but what I said was serious and not facetious.

Olivia Howard said...

Okay okay I get the point! :-D No blog for Ryan...
That is a LONG answer. Good job, YL.

Anonymous said...

Hi once more Olivia and Ruby,

I know that I have certainly left more than my share of comments on this post but I had one more thought which I will share with you (mainly Olivia). Now, I realize that when you said "blogs can be a cure for perfectionism" that you were typing fast and only thinking of a humorous remark to make. I know that and please do NOT take this as a rebuttal of that statement. However, this thought came to me and I think that it is worth sharing with you. I believe that perfectionism is not such a bad trait to have and therefore not something we should desire to eradicate ourselves of. As we all are more than aware of, we live in a "anything goes" society. All around us people make excuses and justifications for why things couldn't be better and everybody is doing "the best I can" But you know what? That isn't true! Our society is substandard. Our products our substandard. Our morals are substandard all because in this age someone's "best" is now around an equal caliber of someone's "decent" fifty years ago. Nobody is ever told to go the extra mile or invest an extra hour to making it right but rather told why they are exempt from superfluous exertion. Everything is just fine the way it is. But look at our products, our infrastructure, our principles, and our politics. Nothing is, in reality, "just fine" the way it is if we are truly honest. You know, Olivia and Ruby, if we consciously choose to be different and spend an extra few minutes to do a better job: if take time to make our appearance appropriate, godly and decent and not allow ourselves to look like some undomesticated savage: if we invest time in making our grammar and social conduct more refined and not like the "rap/hip-hop" ignominious behavior of the average teenager - than we will saliently stand out in a positive way. People will notice our differences and we will be offered opportunities that other hum-drum teenagers never see because they are too infatuated and engrossed with their Ipods and mutilated jeans. There is really nothing wrong with attempting to make things perfect even if nothing of this world will ever be that way. Read these verses.

"Be you therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” Matthew 5:48

“That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished to all good works.” 2 Timothy 3:17

“And every man that strives for the mastery is temperate in all things.” 1 Cor. 9:25

It is true that no one and nothing will ever be perfect on this earth - "And Jesus said to him, Why call you me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.” (Mark 10:18) - Still though, we can strive to be as much like God as feasible and do things right despite that reality. Don't you agree?

"Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might." Ecc. 9:10



One more thought: After reading my last comment, I saw something that may easily be taken the wrong way and before anyone reads over it and formulates this opinion, I wanted to clarify. I said that I had challenged some Catholic doctrines because they simply have no Biblical backing when studied from an unbiased perspective. Now this is all very true but I could have been a little more moderate or sensitive in saying it. Please do not think that I go in and bash peoples beliefs to shreds or berate them until they are broken about the inaccuracy of those doctrines. I do not answer religious questions to attack and prove others wrong. The only reason why I do take the time to explain to others Biblical truths in so much depth is only to show them something that they have not previously seen - to illuminate them to a new, life-changing truths that the Bible is offering to all but so few realize. The Bible is an infinitely fascinating book when fully appreciated and so many people don't fully understand or appreciate it because they never are shown the ENTIRE Bible. In many churches, doctrines are based on one or maybe two veiled verses which are bent to mean something that they really don't. The people are then taught these things and naturally other verses that are in the Bible that contradict the shaky doctrine are simply ignored and
deemed "unnecessary" This philosophy is EXTREMELY dangerous and here is why. Please read this. You see, the Bible is like a perfect piece of clockwork. If we take a part of it out to do or say something that it isn’t supposed to, the entire clock stops working and we can’t truly understand anything else that the clock is supposed to do because the whole thing stopped or isn't working right because this one piece is being used for a purpose that it shouldn’t be. Right? Likewise, if we contort and make a verse mean something that it inherently doesn’t, we lose the ability to see the rest of the Bible as it TRULY is. We ruin it in a sense and cheat ourselves of a deeper, CLEARER understanding. It becomes twisted and we are not able to comprehend with clarity what it ALL as a whole teaches. Then we base our doctrines on that twisted verse and when we encounter a verse that overtly or subtly contradicts our doctrine, we dispel it as antiquated or irrelevant. But the Bible clearly says, “ALL Scripture is given by inspiration of God.” (2 Tim. 3:16) and in Hebrews 6:18 "It is impossible for God to lie." Henceforth, you can stake your life on the fact that EVERY SINGLE VERSE in the Bible is DIVINELY inspired and TRUE. The only time we ever will become confused with the Bible is when we are making it mean something it really doesn’t. We read other texts and we know something just isn’t right. Contrarily, when we let a verse teach us without previous conclusions or bias and then see what its REAL meaning is, our mind is dramatically opened and countless other Scriptures fall in perfect harmony or clockwork with the true meaning of that verse. If the Bible is at all confusing, we are misinterpreting it and the only way to fix that is to study more. We can NOT ignore ONE SINGLE verse in the WHOLE Bible. If we do, ALL the rest will lose control as a wheel without a brake pad. Every single part contributes something requisite and different to the Bible as a whole. If the Bible does not support something, it will not offer any real support of it. It will, however, offer much support against it because the Bible teaches only one truth. “Sanctify them through your truth, for Thy Word is truth.” John 17:17 There is and only can be ONE truth and that truth is what the Bible truly teaches. When we understand it and accept it, then we receive God's blessing and are led to new light. But unfortunately, many people disregard much of the Bible because they want it to say what they believe rather than let it teach and reach them and lead them to a deeper, more spiritual understanding and relationship with our High Priest Jesus.

So, this is why I spend time in answering people. They can be shown something that they never knew the Bible said (often they thought it taught the opposite) and when that truth hits them, it can be an epiphany! But my last comment sounded as if I enjoy assaulting people's beliefs. That is simply not so - rather my reasons and motives for answering are very different as you have now seen.



I am fully aware that this epistle was rather irrelevant to this post, blog, or previous conversion among these comments; however, I did want to share it and I hope that some of you may have learned something. If anyone has been intrigued or confused, just let me know and I will send Ruby another lenghthy comment to moderate! :-) (aren't you glad I found your blog Ruby? I knew you were! :-)


Ryan

Olivia Howard said...

Okay, sorry Ruby dear, we've hyjacked your blog... ;-)

M'kay, Ryannnn... I am no where near as good as explaining myself and getting my meaning clear, but what I meant by a "cure for perfectionism" was that YES you do your best and constantly strive to do better (like we're commanded) and there is no excuse for a mediocre, so-so job. And YES we can change the world by standing out. I simply mean that we can't let little things (to an extent) nag us in the big picture. Like, not extreme perfectionism.
Sometimes in the deep heart of a perfectionist (like myself) you become self-concious or disappointed that you didn't do it right, you lost the moment, or you don't have another option. So I guess a couple of posts on blogs have helped me see how self-concious I was. But whatever. :-D

(I'm not disagreeing with you AT ALL on any of this by the way, I'm just giving my thoughts... for the same reason you gave yours. :-D)

Taking our "...time to make our appearance appropriate, godly and decent and not allow ourselves to look like some undomesticated savage: if we invest time in making our grammar and social conduct more refined and not like the "rap/hip-hop" ignominious behavior of the average teenager..." as you said is VERY good. We just have to be very cautious of taking it to the extreme and looking like homeschool dorks, turning the world away from our opinons because we're "so religous" and "strict goody-goodies." We need to live a life of repentance before the non-believer that shows we're sinners, too.

And, wow! about the clock thing... I may have to quote you on that sometime... :-D Sounded a bit like that Progressive Creationism speech I gave... just a lot better. :-D

M'kay, I better run and finish my thesis on Hell. ;-)

Ruby Jean Hopkins said...

ALL RIGHT EVERYBODY!!!!!!!!! COMMENTS CLOSED FOR THIS PAGE! :P

Lol, sorry, but I really do think that this has gone on for long enough. :) I don't necessarily agree with everything you, Ryan, say, but I don't think that right now and especially on my blog is the right time/place to discuss it - perhaps at a later point.

Thanks for your comments everyone!
~Ruby

P.S. And I wholeheartedly forgive you, Olivia!! :)