9/5/00: Honeymoon, Puzzle, Building Your House

Hi,

I hope you had a great Labor Day weekend. I went to the ICC conference,
near Castaic Lake. Pastor Cory Ishida at Evergreen SGV was the speaker and
he was excellent. The theme was "Upward, Inward, Outward". I learned a
great deal and met some cool people.

One of the workshops I attended was called, "Vital Faith in Our Postmodern
World", led by Jonathan Wu. He explained the difference between Modernism
and Postmodernism. I thought I was a modernist, but my friend Steve Lee
thought I was a post-modernist.

So, this week's thought provoking question is: "Are you more of a
modernist or post-modernist?" If you are not sure of the difference, I've
included a short description of the two terms at the very end of this
email. I'm really curious to see which category you fit into.

This week's humor was forwarded from Anna Man. Since so many of you
responded to last week's puzzle, I assume that you really like them. So I
also included one of my favorite puzzles, sent to me by Dave Shim years
ago. Finally, the inspirational piece was forwarded from Beth Morris. The
short answer to last week's puzzle was "the German". All of you who sent
me your answer got it right.

Enjoy!

-Josh.

By the way, I bought an email merge program. That's why I can now send you
an email addressed to you, instead of a mass email.

Come to the APEX/NAAAP Conference here in LA!
http://www.apex.org/content.cfm?content_id=81
______________________________________________

A honeymooning couple is in the Watergate Hotel in Washington. The bride
is concerned about the room being bugged. The groom says, "I'll look for a
bug."

He looks behind the drapes, behind the pictures, under the rug. "A-HA!"
Under the rug was a disc with four screws. He gets his Swiss army knife,
unscrews the screws, and throws them and the disc out the window.

The next morning, the hotel manager asks the newlyweds, "How was your room?
How was the service? How was your stay at the Watergate Hotel?"

The groom says, "Why are you asking me all of these questions?" The hotel
manager says, "Well, the room under you complained of the chandelier
falling on them!"
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Puzzle: Mental Duel

Once, there was a kingdom which had scattered through it ten pools of
water, numbered 1 through 10, which had a peculiar property: if you drank
from any given pool of water, you would die the next day unless you drank
water from a pool with a higher number (e.g. if you drank from pool #4, you
would die unless you drank water from one of pools 5 - 10 before the next
day).

One day, a fire-breathing dragon flew into the kingdom, straight to the
king's castle. The dragon said to the king, "With a few breaths of fire, I
could easily destroy your castle and your armies and have the kingdom to
myself. But that wouldn't be very sporting, would it? Instead, I propose a
game: Tomorrow morning, we will meet in the courtyard. Each of us will
bring a single glass of water. We will exchange the glasses and drink.
Whoever is still alive the next day gets the kingdom." The king accepted
the challenge.

As it turns out, the king only knew the location of pools 1 through 9, but
the dragon knew the location of all 10 pools. Nevertheless, the next
morning, the dragon and the king exchanged glasses of water and drank. The
next day, the king was alive, and the dragon was dead. How could this have
happened? Assume that both the king and dragon are intelligent.
___________________________________________________

Building Your House

An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his employer of his
retirement plan to leave the house building business, and live a more
leisurely life with his wife and family. He would miss the paycheck, but
he needed to retire. They could get by O.K.

The contractor was sorry to see his good worker go, and asked if he could
build just one more house as a personal favor. The carpenter said, "Yes."
But in time it was easy to see that his heart was no longer in his work.
He resorted to shortcuts and shoddy workmanship, and even used inferior
materials. It was an unfortunate way to end a dedicated career.

When the carpenter finished his work, the employer came to inspect the
house. He handed the front door keys to the carpenter. "This is your
house," he said, "my gift to you." The carpenter was shocked! What a
shame. If he had only known that he was building his own house, he would
have done it much differently.

So it is with us. We build our lives a day at a time, often putting less
than our best into the building. Then with a shock we realize we have to
live in the house that we have built. If we could do it over, we'd so it
much differently. But we cannot go back.

You are the carpenter. Each day you hammer a nail, place a board, or erect
a wall. "Life is a do-it-yourself project," someone has said. Your
attitudes and the choices you make today build the "house" you live in
tomorrow. Build wisely.

Remember to work like you don't need the money, love like you've never been
hurt, and dance like nobody is watching.

Pass this on to someone you love and care about.
___________________________________________________

Modernism vs. Postmodernism

Modernism: Three major descriptive words: Individual, rational, factual.
Also: Preoccupied with identity, Value tradition and loyalty, Pursue
analysis, Seek happiness with many friends, Strong duty to restructure
society, Take life and self very seriously, Trust professionals.

Postmodernism: Three major descriptive words: Communal, contextual,
paradoxical. Also: Preoccupied with destiny, Value freedom and integrity,
Pursue synthesis and creativity, Seek ecstasy with a few intimates, Fulfill
the good within them by transforming people, Laugh at life and self, Trust
chance.

Postmodernism, most simply, is a rejection of modernism, applied to life,
thought, and culture.

______________________________
Joshua Li
Leisure Planner
"Your personal guide to what's fun!"
www.leisureplanner.com