No.
Or more accurately: Yes.

I found this questionnaire in two of my RSS feeds this morning, and it sounded like a good idea, so Daniel, Jason (aka B. N. Positive), here are my results.

Oh, first – for anyone who wants to play along at home, load up your handy-dandy music manager (they used iTunes, but I use Winamp) and stick it on random. Use the songs that come out as your answers.

1. What do you think of me, Winamp?

   Newsboys – Entertaining Angels
   That’s nice to know. I’m an entertainer then, and I hang around angels. cool.

2. Will I have a happy life?

   Sixpence None the Richer – Anything
   Um, ok. I’ll take it you mean anything could happen right, right? Although the first words are that this is their forty-fifth depressing tune, so… Should I pack my tent, shut down my show? I should like to see a burning bush, but anything would be fine. Anything would be fine.

3. What do my friends really think of me.?

   U2 – Desire
   Well, I guess that answers the next question too.

4. Do people secretly lust after me?

   Lenny Kravitz – Thinking of You
   Ok, I’ll take that as an affirmative.

5. What should I do with my life?

   Endorphin – Free (Free Range Mix)
   Free… free what? Free software? Free slaves? Free spirit? Free speech? Free beer…?

6. Why must life be so full of pain?

   Relient K – When I Go Down
   Well, I guess when I go down, I go down hard. I hope that my problems will go away when they’re ignored. But that’s not the way it works…
   I know that when I go down, you’ll be there to lift me up again. That is enough.

7. Will I ever have children?

   Audio Adrenaline – Big House
   Well, that’s pretty conclusive. It’s a big, big house. With lots and lots of room, a big, big table, with lots and lots of food. A big, big yard, where we can play football. Sounds good to me.
   If I’m gonna have a big house (with rooms for everyone!), looks like I will have plenty of kids. Yay!

8. Will I die happy?

   dc Talk – Jesus Freak (Reprise)
   Hmmm, I’m to be a martyr then? Perhaps. I hope I’d have the guts to if I have to.

9. Can you give me some advice?

   Newsboys – Cannot Get You Out of My System
   You crazy Winamp, have you got hidden registry settings, installed a rootkit or something?

10. What do you think happiness is?

    Rob D – Clubbed to Death
    Um, stop it Winamp, you are scaring me. I’d feel like a seal or something.

11. What is my favourite fetish?

    Modjo – Lady (Acoustic Version)
    Well, Jen should be pleased to hear that, no crazy, kinky, wierd stuff here.

12. Am I a total freak?

    Sixpence None the Richer – Waiting on the Sun
    Um… OK.

Well, there you have it. That’s what Winamp answered me. Post your own responses in the comments.

RodeoClown: offers the following as what he would have picked were he Winamp incarnate (and slightly cheeky):

1. What do you think of me, Winamp?
   Lenny Kravitz – I Belong to You
2. Will I have a happy life?
   Newsboys – Lord (I Don’t Know)
3. What do my friends really think of me.?
   Newsboys – Lost the Plot
   Sixpence None the Richer – Easy to Ignore
   Audio Adrenaline – Some Kind of Zombie
4. Do people secretly lust after me?
   Lenny Kravitz – Can we Find a Reason?
5. What should I do with my life?
   Newsboys – Thrive
6. Why must life be so full of pain?
   Jamiroquai – Where Do We Go From Here?
7. Will I ever have children?
   Pointer Sisters – 12
8. Will I die happy?
   Modjo – No More Tears
9. Can you give me some advice?
   Relient K – The Only Thing Worse Than Beating a Dead Horse is Betting on One
   Newsboys – Be Still
10. What do you think happiness is?
    Jars of Clay – Whatever She Wants
11. What is my favourite fetish?
    Creed – Bound and Tied
12. Am I a total freak?
    dc Talk – Jesus Freak

It’s 4am, I’m tired but it’s too hot to sleep, so I thought I’d introduce you to a site I stumbled across (via Kathy): Slow Leadership.

That article I just linked discusses the need for leaders to slow down in order to be civilised, that rushing decisions that should take time ignores those most likely to be hurt. When I read it, I was immediately reminded of our current federal government’s insistence on rushing through a few recent legislations which have some big implications.

Although I don’t necessarily disagree with the content of these new laws, giving people 30 minutes to digest a 1252-page document before starting the formal debate just seems to be rushing things far too much.

I think so many things in life need to be slowed down, not everything of course, but important decisions rarely need an answer immediately, rather, they should be considered carefully, espescially when they will impact millions of people.

RodeoClown: is disappointed that his government rushes things so much.

Last night I went to Annandale to meet Craig and hear him give a talk on his divorce, and where God was throughout that whole ordeal. It was a good talk, very open, and absolutely heart-wrenching. I was almost at tears at several points in the night.

He referenced Psalm 22, a poem/song written by king David, one of the first (well, the second) Jewish king. The psalm is an outpouring of grief and pain towards God: ‘How could you let this happen to me?’

David then answers his own question. He is God, and is sovereign over all. He is there and worthy of praise even when the fan is being barraged with excrement. It is no wonder Jesus spoke the same words as David when he hung on the cross. It just hit me then, that when Jesus cries “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”, there’s more to it than just the pain, he knew that psalm, and implicit in his cry is the knowledge that his father was there with him and that he knew what he was doing.

After hearing Craig’s experience with divorce, it makes me pray that I’ll never have to deal with it in my marriage, and it was also a wake-up call to me to not take Jen for granted.

Jen, I want you to know that I love you more than anyone else in this world. I want to live with you until the day I die, and I want you to help me be honest with you when things aren’t the best. I love you more than the day we married and I stand by my promise to love you to the exclusion of all others as long as we both shall live.

Anyone who sees me do something stupid, or sees me doing things that could start me on the path to ruining my marriage, feel free to slap me and let me know. In fact, don’t just feel free to, actually do it.

In other news: Dave, nice to meet you too, sorry I didn’t say goodbye, I turned around to say it and you’d vanished somewhere. Anyway, goodbye

RodeoClown: can see far more clearly now why God hates divorce (but not divorcees).

Dear Reader,
let me impress upon you a tale of adventure into the heart of the city. It is a tale of woe, not of mirth, and the details may make you quiver in fear, but take heart, dear reader, as the hero has emerged beaten, but not destroyed, and all the stronger for facing his fears in this test of courage and strength of will.

The tale begins, as so many do, with a girl…

She stirred as the hero awoke, the morn of his journey’s commencment arrived. Our intrepid hero arose, dressing for the journey ahead, unsure of what conditions he would face, weather fair or foul would not stop him. He kissed his beloved and then left, checking for any last well-wishing messages from his family and friends, before eating his meager meal of wheat biscuits in silence as he surveyed his intended route.

He had received word of changes taking place along the path. Of interchanges and tunnels. Of roads guarded well trolls intent on taking travellers’ hard-earned coin. Of these, he worried but a little, this hero’s journey could not be halted by mere words.

The hero’s son awoke whilst he donned his boots. A final embrace of his wife and child was all that stood between him and his beast. He felt the warmth radiated by his small family as they huddled together, and then turned and strode towards his ox.

The beast rumbled to life and he led it to the nearest driniking hole, where a young lass charged him dearly for the privilege of refreshing his steed. He took the blow to his purse with a smile, knowing this would not be the only time today his funds were to be asked of him. With a final look towards his hometown, the hero rode forth, leaving the comfort of familiar surroundings for the hostile city roads.

The first stage of his journey was not particularly hard, following the well-trod, well-defined highway down from the mountains he called his home. These roads were easy, and the traffic light. They are the roads one should travel, and often, as they are restful roads and presented the hero (and others like him) a simple path through the villages. Once on the plains, however, things took a turn for the worse. A large number of fellow travellers turned on him, hedging him in, denying him the space he so desparately craved. He rebelled against this crushing foe, stetching forth his foot and driving his ox onwards, spying a break in the assembled enemy, he darted forward, daring the giants who now surrounded him to react.

A small steed, with an even smaller woman driving, hesitated, she looked lost, but our hero could do nothing for her now, as the throng pressed in once again with its attack, surrounding the woman and driving for their next victim. He seived the opportunity afforded by his unknown companions sacrifice and raced forwards, reaching for the small path that would allow him to escape the deadly highway.

He took a moment to thank his maker for his mercy as he stumbled onto the pathway. A small caravan of travellers was passing ahead of him on this new, narrow, path. He joined them at the rear, hoping they would lead him to his destination.

After following these travellers for some time, he saw the signs on the road ahead that indicated a toll would be charged. A sacrifice would have to be made in order to proceed. Our young hero prepared himself for the worst, knowing that the booths inhabited by the road-guarding trolls (relatives of the bridge-guarding trolls he would have to face on the return journey) would be a particularly difficult foe to face.

Or so he thought.

The troll who stopped the steed did not even look at the young face as the fare was thrust towards him. Our hero was puzzled. This deadly troll did not wish to take any further steps to hinder him. Slightly worried, but still relieved, our hero decided to press on, not worrying himself with the uninterested troll, but delighting at the ease of his passing.

Once the troll booth was hidden by a curve in the road, the young man breathed a sigh of relief. The troll was too far away to be a bother any more. However, while the young man took his rest, he was suddenly set upon by numerous travellers, rushing and jostling him on every side and forcing him in a direction he didn’t wish to go. It took all his strength but he managed to regain his path, spending some fair time trapped between two great beasts, who sat against the side of the road and swallowed up the many pedestrians who happened to stand there. There was nothing our hero could do for those men and women in the bellies of the great beasts. But they had no interest in him, and he moved off to the great maze.

The maze in question was of gigantic proportions, ringing the city, but also travelling through it, forced lanes, and evading turns, together with the great throng amassed to get to the centre. It was some time before the lad could find his way. He was no Alexander who could slice through the Gordion Knot, there was no blade at his side that could pierce the pitch labyrinth’s many lines.

He looped to and fro, often circling the same area, seeing the same people, harried and restless, whilst he tried to gain entrance to a resting place for his ox. It took all his strength of purpose not to just leave, and all his strength of mind to not go insane and lose himself in the writhing mass.

But in the end he prevailed, finding a resting place for his faithful ox, he secured the beast and headed towards the market. What adventure lay there is another story, and shall be told another time.

RodeoClown: is not particularly looking forward to the trip home.