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Also get my writing from facebook and text messages...
Ending Well
Got me to thinking about what I would consider a good end (per your sermon).
Like my work, when it is done best it would be unnoticed, but things would be better than when I began. No vacuum, no ripples, and no loose ends. No 'I love you' unsaid. No apologies forgotten. No encouragement left silent.
No care about how I'm remembered. Faith that every good thing begun through me would be completed. Knowing that I don't have it all together, but that was never my purpose.
An end, but not of me. An end of pretense. An end of doubt. The end of
everything about me that needs to end.
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Sometimes I can't tell if I am being insightful, inspired, or just need my meds adjusted...
There's a thin line between being insightful, inspired, or just needing your meds adjusted.
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In my experience it is not unusual to find grown children who are quite similiar to their parents.
As they say, the apple dosen't fall far from the tree.
But that does not mean the apple doesn't roll down a hill, into a stream where it is washed miles away ending up in a orange grove!
But that's just apple's and oranges.
Something else I've noticed now and then.
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In the comming weeks there will be quite a bit of attention paid to the political goings-on in Kentucky. So, it is a good time to remind everyone of the rule of thumb that has guided Kentucky politics for generations now...
What happens in Frankfort, wouldn't be allow in Vages!
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Things are so much easier these days. Ones, zeros, nibbles, bytes, on and on... When I started programming, we only had zeros! And not very many of them!
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Thoughts at slayer concert
But the objectify vocabulary and thematic focus took me by surprise, sort how hot wheels prepares you for freeway driving. A decidedly dystopian post-Christian worldview with a distinct nod to the dark ages, presented with all the subtleties of the inqusition.
A great soundtrack for the darker parts of Revelations.
It is amazing how deep and embraced the rebellion and rage are and how its is more a celebration. I cannot tell how much is performance and how much is considered commitment. I am sure there is both.
I think it is a good thing to step out of the christanise cocoon we can wrap ourselves in and see parts of our society we are commanded to witness to, but are not on our radar or consider beyond reaching. I don't think this is a community I can be effective with, I'd probably do more harm than good. But I am better informed seeing this in-your-face opposition, rejection, mocking of Jesus rather than just understand there is such a thing.
Celebration of frenitic rebellion for it's own sake. Storm the castle, burn it to the ground and stand over the smoldering embers and blood and proudly proclaim "This is now mine!"
One of the lyrics expressed the attitude this way, "Where you are ain't no good unless you can get away from it!"
The beatniks gave up because it was trendy. Here there is nothing left to give up, all there is is embracing rebelion against nothing in particular, energetic rebelion for its own sake.
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This is unfinished, and I am not sure if it is of any value...
What are my expectations of people I have a relationship with. A relationship means frequent interaction, a contract (social or other) requiring continued interaction, along with a commitment to, responsibility for, and the expectation of some general benefits from my proper participation in that relationship.
So w|hat do I expect?
respect - acknowledgement of and resultant behavior based on the assumption that I have intrinsic worth, insight, wisdom, something positive to offer. That I and my thoughts are worth taking seriously and considering.
love as I define it. that the other want good for me and will talk, act and behave in ways to demonstrate and bring about things for my good.
consideration as I define it. That words and actions are proceeded by considering how I am likely to understand them and how they will affect me.
There is also the conviction that I am to practice at least as well toward the other.
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This morning as I woke up, still in that fog of sleep, for no apparent reason the word 'shampoo' came to mind. As I pondered the basic concept of shampoo it occurred to me that it was actually the combination of two words, 'sham' and 'poo', meaning 'fake excrement'.
So someone at some point decided that the best name for what we wash our hair with needed to be 'fake excrement'. Why not 'creamy head lotion', or 'not for skin soap'?
Then at about that point, for no apparent reason, I imagined angels walking around amount us. Beings of tremendous glory, power and wisdom.
Well one of them stopped as it was gliding past having hear the thoughts of my mind, and paused to take a pad of paper and pencil from its robe and start writing, 'Note to language department...' I guessed it was stumped also.
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I had a simple task to do. Cut a 1 by 3 popular board in half. That's it, just cut in half.
So with the board in hand I went to get a saw. And I looked in the basement, the laundry room, all through the shed, in the shelves and boxes on the porch, in my truck, and every other book and cranny I could find. The only thing I found that even vaguely resembled a saw was an old half rusted pruning saw - with half a handle.
So I struggled and fussed with that bent, dull, flimsy tool-wanta-be until I had put asunder that beam, leaving a deep void twixt one end and its former other. Notice I went all King James on it!
Walking back to the house I pondered how most of my tools, small appliances, tape, oil, rope, batteries, glue, extension cords, gloves and other things, that when you need them you need them right then, were all gone. Not used by me, or loaned out but gone!
Then it occurred to me that never once, not that I could remember or suspected had even one of my books gone missing. I have books scattered throughout the house. Always have. They are out in the open, easy to carry, easy to conceal but apparently not valued nearly as much as my 16 oz. hammer, hand saws, drills, and other assorted clutter.
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I don't know why, but a game popped up in Facebook that said 'Guess the most popular =stripper name and win...'
I don't usually pay any attention to such ads, but I thought maybe I had a shot at this one, so I started the game.
It asked for my choice for the most popular stripper name, and I answered 'acetone'. After awhile a message popped up saying 'There was a problem with your submission. Please try again.'
So I thought about it awhile and decided to try 'turpentine', but again got the same message.
So the third time I took a deep breath and racked my brain and finally decided to enter 'denatured alcohol.'
The wheel on the screen just spun and spun, until it finally stopped. Then is spun some more...
Finally it stopped and in all lower-class a message popped up reading, 'Like, is this a cry for help or something? Cause dude, well, we all think you really need to talk to someone...' And the game closed down and I was back in Facebook.
Maybe I should have gone with 'lin seed oil.'
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I wanted to share with you a milestone I am very proud of having accomplished. It has taken me 61 years to get to this point, but now I feel I can accomplish anything.
I found myself in a large group over the weekend, and at one point I was sitting with four married women. They were deep in a discussion about the hemorrhoid surgeries they and everyone they knew had had. They seemed to be trying to one-up each other, and even made eye contact with me repeatedly. At one point one of the ladies even pulled out her cellphone and offered to share pictures with our little group.
The discussion went on for about 20 minutes, during which many comments come to mind, many innuendoes (including the word 'in-yo-end-do'), along with several insights which were right there on the tip of my tongue.
There was plenty of opportunity to share my thoughts, but to my utter amazement I did not! Not once! Not a word, a chuckle or a gasp. Not even a smirk, a look of horror, or even a quick look of astonishment! I was polite, attentive, and contributed absolutely nothing!
I'm just going to sit here and bask in the afterglow of this amazing accomplishment, just as astonished as I am sure you are also.