The Music and Words of Rich Mullins

So, as most of you know, I love listening to Rich Mullins' music. For those who don't know who he is, he was a contemporary Christian singer/songwriter, who died in a car accident in 1997. Some of his better known songs (though not my personal favorites) are Sing Your Praise to the Lord (first recorded by Amy Grant), Awesome God, and Sometimes By Step (you know, the one with the chorus: "And step by step You lead me, and I will follow You all of my days."

 

I don't remember when I first started listening to him. I think it was sometime in junior high. I remember reading an article about Rich Mullins in Release magazine, along with an essay by him, that was oddly moving. I remember borrowing a cd of his from the Amarillo public library, and falling in love with the music. The cd was The World As Best As I Remember It, vol 2. I especially loved the songs Everyman, Growing Young, and The Maker of Noses. Over time, I grew to love The Just Shall Live, Sometimes by Step (the whole thing, not the badly overused chorus), and Hello Old Friends.

 

I remember hearing about his death in 1997. It was sad, but I remember feeling that he himself was not sad, but happy beyond any happiness in this life.

 

Over the years, I got more of his albums (Songs, Canticle of the Plains, and A Lturgy, a Legacy, and a Ragamuffin Band) and read the essays he'd written for Release magazine. I think his music and writings have influenced me more than any other music, with the exception of the hymns I heard growing up.

 

His music was deeply influenced by folk songs and Appalachian hymnody (there's a phrase for you, Anne!).

 

Here are some of my favorite quotes from his songs. Some of these hit me right away, and some got into my blood quietly, laying dormant for years before the profound insights really hit home. They will not have the same impact without the music; if you like the quotes, I encourage you to listen to the whole song. There are quite a few on Yahoo's Launch, and I'm sure they are available for download on iTunes.

 

Please note: I do not have special permission to use these quotes, but they are all online at http://www.kidbrothers.net/index-lo-res.html  Please visit the site, it's a great reference.

 

Calling Out Your Name:  Well the moon moved past Nebraska
And spilled laughter on them cold Dakota Hills
And angels danced on Jacob's stairs
Yeah, they danced on Jacob's stairs
There is this silence in the Badlands
And over Kansas the whole universe was stilled
By the whisper of a prayer
The whisper of a prayer

And the single hawk bursts into flight
And in the east the whole horizon is in flames
I feel thunder in the sky
I see the sky about to rain
And I hear the prairies calling out Your name

I can feel the earth tremble
Beneath the rumbling of the buffalo hooves
And the fury in the pheasant's wings
And there's fury in a pheasant's wings
It tells me the Lord is in His temple
And there is still a faith that can make the mountains move
And a love that can make the heavens ring
And I've seen love make heaven ring

Where the sacred rivers meet
Beneath the shadow of the Keeper of the plains
I feel thunder in the sky
I see the sky about to rain
And I hear the prairies calling out Your name

From the place where morning gathers
You can look sometimes forever 'til you see
What time may never know
What time may never know
How the Lord takes by its corners this old world
And shakes us forward and shakes us free
To run wild with the hope
To run wild with the hope

The hope that this thirst will not last long
That it will soon drown in the song not sung in vain
And I feel thunder in the sky
I see the sky about to rain
And with the prairies I am calling out Your name

 

Sorry, that's the whole song, but there's no way to take selections from that. It's too good.

 

From Elijah: This life has shown me how we're mended and how we're torn
How it's okay to be lonely as long as you're free
Sometimes my ground was stoney
And sometimes covered up with thorns
And only You could make it what it had to be
And now that it's done
Well if they dressed me like a pauper
Or if they dined me like a prince
If they lay me with my fathers
Or if my ashes scatter on the wind
I don't care

But when I leave I want to go out like Elijah
With a whirlwind to fuel my chariot of fire
And when I look back on the stars
It'll be like a candlelight in Central Park
And it won't break my heart to say goodbye.

 

 

Growing Young (another full song, this is one of the best songs I have ever heard.)

 

 I've gone so far from my home
Seen the world and I have known
So many secrets
I wish now I did not know
'Cause they have crept into my heart
They have left it cold and dark
And bleeding,
Bleeding and falling apart

And everybody used to tell me big boys don't cry
But I've been around enough to know that that was the lie
That held back the tears in the eyes of a thousand prodigal sons
We are children no more, we have sinned and grown old
And our Father still waits and He watches down the road
To see His crying boys come running back to His arms
And be growing young
Growing young

I've seen silver turn to dross
Seen the very best there ever was
And I'll tell you, it ain't worth what it costs
I remember my Father's house
What I wouldn't give right now
To see Him and hear Him tell me that He loves me so much

Everybody used to tell me big boys don't cry
But I've been around enough to know that that was the lie
That held back the tears in the eyes of a thousand prodigal sons
Well we are children no more, we have sinned and grown old
And our Father still waits and He watches down the road
To see His crying boys come running back to His arms

And when I thought that I was all alone
It was Your voice I heard calling me back home
And I wonder now
What it was that made me wait so long
And what kept You waiting for me all that time
Is Your love stronger than my foolish pride?
Will You take me back now, take me back and let me be Your child

'Cause I've been broken down, I've been saved
Learned to cry, and I've learned how to pray
And I'm learning, I'm learning even I can be changed
Everybody used to tell me big boys don't cry
But I've been around enough to know that that was the lie
That held back the tears in the eyes of a thousand prodigal sons
Well we are children no more, we have sinned and grown old
And our Father still waits and He watches down the road
To see His crying boys come running back to His arms
And be growing young
Growing young

 

 

From Hard To Get (this one made me cry the first few times I heard it)

 

Is if You who live in eternity
Hear the prayers of those of us who live in time
We can't see what's ahead
And we can not get free from what we've left behind
I'm reeling from these voices that keep screaming in my ears
All these words of shame and doubt, blame and regret

I can't see how You're leading me unless You've led me here
To where I'm lost enough to let myself be led
And so You've been here all along I guess
It's just Your ways and You are just plain hard to get

From Here in America (the first time I heard this song, I didn't get it. Now I think it's beautiful.)

 

And once I went to Appalachia for my father he was born there
And I saw the mountains waking with the innocence of children
And my soul is still there with them wrapped in the songs they brought
And the Holy King of Israel loves me here in America

From Hold Me Jesus

 

Surrender don't come natural to me
I'd rather fight You for something I don't really want
Than to take what You give that I need
And I've beat my head against so many walls
I'm falling down, I'm falling on my knees

And this Salvation Army band is playing this hymn
And Your grace rings out so deep
It makes my resistance seem so thin

Oh, hold me Jesus, I'm shaking like a leaf
You have been King of my glory
Won't You be my Prince of Peace

 

From If I Stand:

 

So if I stand let me stand on the promise
That you will pull me through
And if I can't, let me fall on the grace
That first brought me to You
And if I sing let me sing for the joy
That has born in me these songs
And if I weep let it be as a man
Who is longing for his home

 

From The Love of God:

 

Joy and sorrow are this ocean
And in their every ebb and flow
Now the Lord a door has opened
That all Hell could never close
Here I'm tested and made worthy
Tossed about but lifted up
In the reckless raging fury
That they call the love of God

 

From The Maker of Noses (I get some laughs when I mention the song name, but it's beautiful)

 

And oh, I hear the voice of a million dreams
Then I wake in the world that I'm partly made of
And the world that is partly my homemaking
And oh, I hear the song of a heart set free
That will not be kept down
By the fury and sound
Of a world that is wasting away

 

Boy you just follow your heart
But my heart just led me into my chest
They said follow your nose
But the direction changed every time I went and turned my head
And they said boy you just follow your dreams
But my dreams were only misty notions
But the Father of hearts and the Maker of noses
And the Giver of dreams He's the one I have chosen

 

From Sometimes By Step:

 

Sometimes I think of Abraham
How one star he saw had been lit for me
He was a stranger in this land
And I am that, no less than he
And on this road to righteousness
Sometimes the climb can be so steep
I may falter in my steps
But never beyond Your reach

Oh God, You are my God
And I will ever praise You
Oh God, You are my God
And I will ever praise You
I will seek You in the morning
And I will learn to walk in Your ways
And step by step You'll lead me
And I will follow You all of my days

 

From While the Nations Rage:

 

Where are the nails that pierced His hands?
Well the nails have turned to rust
But behold the Man
He is risen
And He reigns
In the hearts of the children
Rising up in His name
Where are the thorns that drew His blood?
Well, the thorns have turned to dust
But not so the love
He has given
No, it remains
In the hearts of the children
Who will love while the nations rage

 

 

Coming later today: excerpts from Rich Mullins' magazine articles.

You’re St. Theodora!

Theodora was the wife of the ninth-century emperor Theophilus and mother of the future emperor Michael III. Theodora ruled the lands after her iconoclastic husband died. She labored to overturn his heretical policies, chiefly by summoning a council that upheld the veneration of images of Christ and the saints. For this, she is herself honored as a saint by the Orthodox Church. Her feast day is February 11.

Find out which Byzantine ruler you are at The Way of the Fathers!

Harry Potter

So I read the last book. Here's some thoughts. No spoilers--I am passionately anti-spoiler. But gosh darn it, one of my friends had best finish the book soon so I can talk about it with someone!!!!!!!

 

 

1. I thought I'd be sad that the story was over. And I kind of am...but not really. She ended it so well, and so completely, that I am really ok with no more Harry Potter stories.

 

2. Harry finally becomes a man. Not a "grown-up", not a "guy," but a real man. No more whining, excues, or procrastination (no, this isn't a spoiler, you can see it in the end of the 6th book). This book really brings home the fact that these characters are of age now. They have chosen their side, and are paying the price, but they are adults now. Very well done, Ms. Rowling, it's been so long since we've seen real men and women in young adult fiction!

 

3. The themes. Oh my goodness! Such wonderful themes! This is the payoff of all the other books, and all the other great conversations. The famous "it's our choices, not our talents" conversation from book 2? This is the payoff. The great scene between Dumbledore and Harry at the end of Book 5? This is the payoff. The excellent part in book 6, when Harry realizes that walking into the battle of his own accord is a greater, more noble thing than being forced into it by a prophecy? This is the payoff. The loyalty of the friends, the bravery of the Order, the sacrifice made by loved ones, all those themes that Rowling's been playing with come to fruition here.

 

4. Kleenex. You will need it. Lots of it.

A Bloomin' Success

I checked my flowers last night, and the jasmine bloomed!!!! Yay!!! I haven't killed it yet! And the bougainvallia (which I cna pronounce but not spell) has a few more blossoms on it. Still waiting for the gardenia, but it looks nice and healthy, so no worries there.

 

I love my plants.

 

 

Halva

I have been wanting to try this stuff for a while. It is a crumbly Greek sweet, amde with honey, chocolate, and sesame seeds, and other stuff that is not printed on this label. My roommate and I got some at our local farmer's market, and I think I am addicted. Like the other Greek sweet, baclava, it starts off a little odd, but the more you eat, the better it gets. This stuff is slightly squishy, and sort of crumbly, and it's got this wispy crispy stuff in it that I can't identify, and it is GOOD! Yum. Maybe I'll try the vanilla kind next week; the guy who was selling it said it's also good on flatbread. Hmm.....

 

 

Don't you just love it when you watch someone on screen, think they are incredibly cool, then discover they have a blog, read it, and find out that they actually are funny and adorable? Yay!

Recent discovery: Doug Jones' blog. For those of you who don't know, Mr. Jones played the Faun and the Pale Man in Pan's Labyrinth, the Silver Surfer in the second Fan 4 movie, Abe Sapien in HellBoy, and Gentleman #1 in Buffy Season 4: Hush. He is very very cool. And his blog is great! www.dougjones.wordpress.com

Huzzah!

Why I love Babylon 5

First let me state what I do not love:

 

1. The sets. They are cheap and unimaginative. However, they blew most of their budget on costumes and effects, and cheesy sets are a staple of sci-fi, so....

 

2. The effects. The special effects are TERRIBLE. Seriously. But they were one of the first tv shows to use massive cgi every week, so maybe it's excusable. *thinks* No, no, not entirely. It's just bad.

 

What I LOVE:

 

1. The storyarc. 5 seasons of one continuous storyline. Ok, granted, season 5 is a little out of sync, because they didn't know they were going to get that one. I think it still works well, however. This storyline does not make for good episodic viewing--if you miss 1 episode, you miss crucial information; but this makes for superb DVD viewing. It's more like a miniseries than a tv show.

 

2. The characters. The characters move through very believable arcs, and not every good guy ends up happy oy dead (the two usual options). Some end up broken, some end up isolated. Many of them do survive to lead happy lives, but not always the ones you'd expect. Some characters that began as loveable rogues become despicable power-grubbers and then degenerate into pitiable men who cannot tell right from wrong even when they want to. Some begin as violent rebels, and become wise, strong, leaders. And then you have Mr. Morden, a man so evil that his smile can send you running for cover (I am not exaggerating, his smile is incredibly creepy).

 

3. The costumes. They are lovely, imaginative, and very distinct between the 10 major people groups of the B5 universe.

 

Incidentally, I still don't own seasons 1 and 5, and my birthday is on Monday...not to hint, or anything... :)

 

Wheeeeheheheheheheheheeee!!!!!!!

I love the NaNo forums.

 

I just posted there about a story that's been floating in my head for years, but I could never write down, because I could never figure out the conflict that gets resolved. So I posted on the Plot Doctoring forum, and another NaNoer found me a conflict!

 

Let me back up a bit: I had a dream, years ago, in which I watched a girl reincarnate(note: I do not believe in reincarnation, but it made for a cool dream/story) through various lives and times, always with the same teacher. The final two scenes were impressed into my memory, and I can still watch them replay in my head even now. In the first scene, the girl is in a burning house, watching her teacher die at the hands of a mob. In the second, an 8-year-old incarnation of the girl walks into a modern library, sees an old man librarian, and smiles, knowing it to be her teacher. That was it. I had a resolution, but no conflict, no idea where it was going.

 

But now.....I have an outline for the plot!

 

Girl constantly reincarnates, being pursued by an enemy who can choose where he reincarnates, and follows her. He wants to harvest her memories; he is from the far distant future--their historians enter siumlations of events to study them. They generate the simulations by plugging in the mind of someone who remembers them. He wants to plug her into these simulators, since she has reincarnated repeatedly. She keeps meeting up with a mentor/teacher in each incarnation, trying to piece together what is happening. At one point, she finds a book that she remembers writing, but it was published hundreds of years before. This sets her on the path towards a confrontation with her enemy. Since the enemy can reincarnate where he chooses, she has to keep him from dying. How? Situation in which he is granted eternal life if she sacrifices herself. She dies. Once this is completed, she reincarnates in modern day library, with teacher.

 

Yay!!!! I'm not waiting til NaNo to write this one. Besides, I already have this year's NaNo idea: a guy with paranormal powers has to decide whether to serve the public with them, or go become a monk.

 

Yes, I like weird stories. Deal with it.

Harry Potter

I pre-ordered my copy from amazon, and they garuntee that I'll have it on the 21st! SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

*cries, doesn't want the story to be over*

 

*happy dance that next book is FINALLY coming out*

remains of house on Ghost Mountain

remains of house on Ghost Mountain
Originally uploaded by LostLuthien

Remnants of Marshall South's house on Ghost Mountain.

Brian climbing

Brian climbing
Originally uploaded by LostLuthien

us watching brian climb

us watching brian climb
Originally uploaded by LostLuthien

see that little green dot above Ashley's head? That's Brian, trying to climb down towards the opening of a cave. He's nuts.

footprint canyon

footprint canyon
Originally uploaded by LostLuthien

The lovely Erin in Footprint Canyon.

large footprint

large footprint
Originally uploaded by LostLuthien

tis in Footprint Canyon. After a rain, the entire floor is mud, and this long walkway still shows the prints of anyone who walked there after the last rain.

This is a huge footprint, made from someone jumping in with one foot.

hillroad

hillroad
Originally uploaded by LostLuthien

valley1

valley1
Originally uploaded by LostLuthien

view8

view8
Originally uploaded by LostLuthien

view7

view7
Originally uploaded by LostLuthien

view6

view6
Originally uploaded by LostLuthien

view5

view5
Originally uploaded by LostLuthien

view4

view4
Originally uploaded by LostLuthien

view3

view3
Originally uploaded by LostLuthien

view2

view2
Originally uploaded by LostLuthien

view

view1
Originally uploaded by LostLuthien

More of the desert

Brian

Brian
Originally uploaded by LostLuthien

This is Brian. He was telling us a funny story, and didn't realize that we weren't laughing at the story, we were laughing because he kept running his sooty hands over his face and hair.

Fr. David reading

Fr. David reading
Originally uploaded by LostLuthien

This is Fr. David, reading to us by the campfire. He read from The Mad Scientists' Club, one of my all-time favorite books. We read the Sea Monster of Strawberry Lake, and the one where they try to make Harmon Muldoon's gang think a house is haunted.

Mount Sinai in Twilight

mtsinai1
Originally uploaded by LostLuthien

twilight

hills
Originally uploaded by LostLuthien

Hills

hills1
Originally uploaded by LostLuthien

These are just down the road from the campsite. If you were to walk into this picture, and over the small hill at the bottom of the frame, you'd dead-end at Plunge Pool.

Mt. Sinai

mtsinai2
Originally uploaded by LostLuthien

See the peak on the left? That was just across the road for us. I began calling it Mount Sinai.

Morning light

hills2
Originally uploaded by LostLuthien

Morning light on the hills. After a freezing, sleepless night the first night, I woke up before everyone else, and just stared up at the sky for a few hours.

A Wild Beauty

clouds
Originally uploaded by LostLuthien

This photo does not do the scene justice.

Plunge Pool

plungepool
Originally uploaded by LostLuthien

This is the entrance to Plunge Pool. You weave through this high-ceilinged narrow passage for a few yards, then it opens up into a cavern that can comfortably hold several people.

Hills

hills
Originally uploaded by LostLuthien

Morning in the desert. This is the road that ran through our campsite.

Clouds

clouds1
Originally uploaded by LostLuthien

This was in the morning, when clouds were drifting across the sky. It was actually brighter than this, but my camera didn't quite capture it.

Shadow

shadow
Originally uploaded by LostLuthien

This is Ashley's shadow. I just had to catch this moment.

Entranceglow

entranceglow
Originally uploaded by LostLuthien

All this is just dried mud and morning sunlight! Incredible!

light

openingglow1
Originally uploaded by LostLuthien

More incredible light.

Ashleylight

ashleylight
Originally uploaded by LostLuthien

This is Ashley, walking through one of the canyons. The warm-colored walls would catch and reflect the light, creating this golden atmosphere.

ashleyopening
Originally uploaded by LostLuthien

This is Ashley, standing in the entrance/exit to Plunge Pool, which is a smallish cavern that is pitch black at night. By day, if you stand in there for a few minutes, your eyes adjust, and you can see a little bit of light that comes from a skylight 30 feet up.

Good morning!

ashleysmile
Originally uploaded by LostLuthien

This is Ashley, eating a banana and looking cute. Behind her, you can see the hills that surrounded our campsite.

Cave Entrance

brianfrdavid
Originally uploaded by LostLuthien

Here's Father David and Brian heading into another cavern. It's hard to believe that caves this size are just made from mud!

Cave

cave3
Originally uploaded by LostLuthien

Sorry for the blurriness here. I was perched on a rockslide near the roof of the cave, looking down at Fr. David and Ashley.

Ashley and the plant

ashleyplant
Originally uploaded by LostLuthien

Here's Ashley with a scrubby plant, just after coming up out of a cave.

the view

view2
Originally uploaded by LostLuthien

This is the view that greeted us after scrabbling up through one of the caves (Footprint Canyon, I think)

You can see why it's called the Borrego Badlands.

keyhole

keyhole
Originally uploaded by LostLuthien

This odd cave opening was in a mud wall above and behind our campsite. There was no way to get up there, so we don't know how big that cave might be.

up from the depths

frdavidclimb
Originally uploaded by LostLuthien

This is Fr. David, climbing up out of Casey's Big Cavern (I think).

cirith ungol

cirithungol
Originally uploaded by LostLuthien

Seriously, don't these look like the steps of Cirith Ungol?

That's Fr. DAvid and Brian up top there. None of us girls wanted to rick our necks climbing up there.

in the depths

down
Originally uploaded by LostLuthien

This is us going back down into Casey's Big Cavern.

Moon light

jet
Originally uploaded by LostLuthien

This was a moonrise, viewed from a small vale in the hills above the mud caves. The pink streak is the trail of a jet going by.

This is depressing. I went to the bookstore the other day, scoping out the current state of Young Adult novels.

 

It's disgusting. The vast majority of it (with the important exception of sci-fi/fantasy) is over-sexualized, immature, selfish, and preachy. Blech. No wonder young people don't want to read, if this crap is all they have to choose from.

 

Note the new addition

Yes, I have added a NaNoWriMo countdown clock onto my blog. I am addicted to NaNo: I started participating in 2004, when I first heard about it. I started 4 days late and finished 2 days early: 52,000 words in 25 days! My 2005 story was a bust, but I learned a lot by not winning. In 2006, I wrote 54,000 words in 30 days, and realized that I was totally hooked. I participated in the forums for the first time, got to know other NaNoers in my region, and went to the Thank God It's Over party.

 

And now I'm re-writing last year's NaNo (excerpts available upon request--manuscript now at 64,000 words and counting), lurking in the forums, and generally just waiting for November to roll around again. This year's story will be about a monk with super-powers (no, I'm not kidding. I'm working on the outline already).

 

Go to www.nanowrimo.org. Check it out. Sign up for a reminder. Discover that you really can write a novel. Go for the gusto!

 

We who are about to write salute you!

 

(note: Yes, I am aware that NaNo has eaten my soul. I'm perfectly okay with this.)

 

My map!

I love Google. I really do.

 

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=101719516587025947641.000001136e4dc1d57eaaf&z=11&om=1

 

Here's a map of my world! I'm currently adding locations mentioned in Sanctus: those are all marked with little red flames. Adding photos slowly. Enjoy, and let me know what you think!

Update on story

Well, I have been reworking my NaNoWriMo novel. Well, reworking may not be the right term, more like re-writing entirely. For instance, I'm on page 25 of draft two. That part of the story used to be on page 4 of the original. So, yeah....expanding the story, a LOT.

 

Anyhow, I'm trying to stay inspired with this thing, which is hard, because rewriting STINKS. I'm hoping to have draft two finished some time this year, and I want to self-publish a few copies, and give them to friends and family to read over, and see what they think.

 

So, if you are reading this, and are interested in reading the story, and giving me feedback, that would be GREAT! Just let me know, and I will send you a book when this draft is done. I can't say how soon draft two will be finished (again, I'm on page 25 out of 170, and expanding a lot), but knowing that people are waiting for it might help encourage me to get it done.

A good laugh

I have recently discovered (thank you, Miriam, for the heads-up!) one of the most delightful, most clever writers I have ever read. Jasper Fforde's books are not only well-written, but have more jokes per page than almost any other book I've read. And not just any jokes: puns, similies, characters contacting one another through the footnotes, and many jokes that depend on having read classics of English literature. For instance: in his alternative world of 1985 London, you don't get Mormons coming to your door--you get Baconians, who try to persuade you that Sir Francis Bacon, not Shakepeare, wrote the plays.

 

Aside from his Thursday Next stories, he has a series of Nursey Crimes, with investigators Jack Spratt and Mary Mary. In the first book in the series, The Big Over Easy, the team puzzles out who killed beloved social presence, womanizer, and philanthropist Humpty Dumpty? This is a seminal case for Inspector Spratt, since his last case, in which he tried to convict the Three Little Pigs of murder, fell through because of the all-pig jury.

 

These books read a little like the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by the much-missed Douglas Adams; however, there are two key differences.

 

1. Adams' jokes cna be understood by virtually anyone reading the book, no external sources are necessary. If you are reading Fforde's The Eyre Affair, you'd better have read Jane Eyre, Shakespeare, and Poe's The Raven. A good grasp of grammar and punctuation is also helpful.

 

2. The Hitchhiker's Guide books are extremely funny, but also highly cynical. Fforde's work is full of a delight in words, great books, and life in general. His lead characters are highly moral people, though never preachy or dull. While he pokes some fun at the great literature of the Western world, he obviously loves the books, and the jokes are the sort that bibliophiles tell. 

You know it's going to be a long day...

....when you wake up in a sweat, from a dream in which you were caught in a Hitchcock movie that you remember as the scariest movie you've ever seen.

 

It really doesn't help much when you realize that there is no such movie.

Augh!

    Hip-hop should be banned from office settings. Headache headache headache

 

Old sci-fi

I freely confess, I love sci-fi. The good, the bad, the just plain "out-there," I enjoy reading it. Bring on the space princesses, space pirates, space weapons, stupid space slang, and space dinosaurs (usually living on Venus, for some reason)!

 

But I also freely confess, many of these books are not particularly good. Many of them take no time to think about basic physics in weightless enviroments, or human dialogue (a race that can travel between the stars would not have phrases like "space dementia" or use "space torpedoes." They would have much better terms for such things).

 

This is why I am immensely enjoying Assignment In Space with Rip Foster, originally published in 1952 (I think) as Rip Foster Rides the Grey Planet (a much better title, btw). Towards the end of the book, the heroes are on an asteroid made of a very valuable metal: they've set up controlled explosions to knock it out of the asteroid belt and toward Earth's orbit. But then the bad guys came around again and are trying to kill them and take the asteroid, so they've taken apart one of their nuclear explosives, and made mulitple bombs out of it, and guided the asteroid much closer to the sun, so the enemy cruiser can't launch its small fighters (they'll get sucked in by the sun's gravity). Now we're waiting to see if our heroes can survive the attack, survive the radiation, and blast the asteroid back into an earth-ward orbit once the attackers are gone!

 

I won't tell you how they get out of it (go read the dang book yourself!) but it was great, interesting, and actually pretty funny (well, the way they got rid of the bad guys was funny, anyway).

 

I gotta get some more in this series.

You know you are a geek when....

1. You are reading space adventure book from the 1950's and loving it.

 

2. While reading said book, you come across a description of an enemy spaceship, and think "Well, they may do ok in space, but if you lured them into atmo they'd be as manuverable as a cow."

 

3. While thinking about this, you start trying to figure out if any of the known techniques for fighitng TIE fighters (eyeballs) would work in this situation.

 

Yeah................

Also to read...

..the Cthulhu stories by H.P. Lovecraft. I've read Shadow Out of Time, The Call of Cthulhu, and the first part of Whisperer in the Darkness, and loved them.

 

I'm not much of one for the horror genre. There's a ton of junk in it. However, Lovecraft is a master of the genre; he can evoke a shiver with a single phrase, and the end of his stories make me want to run and hide under the nearest couch. He manages to bring forth the horror of the utterly Other, the terror of chaos, of the "old gods" coming back to the earth. Some of the most disturbing parts of his classic, The Call of Cthulhu, are the sections in which the architecture of the ancient city is described as "all wrong," planes that are neither vertical nor horizontal, nor quite diagonal. Even the words, "Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn," translated as "In his house at R'lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming", seem full of menace, even before the translation.

 

So...yeah. Creepy as all get-out, and great stuff. Hmmm...my birthday is coming up in July....a book of Lovecraft stories would not go amiss.......  :)

 

Book list!

list of books I need to read--if you are reading my blog, and own any of these, and are willing to loan them to me, let me know:

 

Shadow of the Torturer, Gene Wolf

The Bourne Ultimatum, Robert Ludlum (I was surprised at how good the Bourne books were--highly recommend!)

Ringworld, Larry Niven

Foundation, Isaac Asimov

the Thursday Next novels by Jasper Fforde

the Dresden files books by Jim Butcher (already read first two, loved them. Like Buffy meets film noir.)

The Warrior's Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold

Watchmen by Alan Moore

Coraline by Neil Gaiman, because Neil Gaiman is cool

Sandman Vol.6 through Vol. 10 by Neil Gaiman because Sandman is amazing

all the Happy Hollister book

the original Hardy Boys series (not the 1960's re-writes)

the Cthulhu stories by H.P. Lovecraft

 

At this point, I'll read just about anything recommended by John C. Wright, from http://johncwright.livejournal.com, because he has such darned good taste.

 

 

Books read recently:

 

Lying Awake by Mark Salzman--good book, recommended

Mariette in Ecstasy--very good book, read along with Lying Awake

V for Vendetta by Alan Moore--while I disagree with the philosophy in this graphic novel (pro-anarhy, and I tend to be a monarchist), it did bring up interesting issues, and thoughts. Anyone who sees the movie should definately read the novel, though the movie is good on its own.

The Lady in the Forest, by David Guterman. Not sure what I think of this one. Really not too crazy about it, but it's making me think a little.

The Happy Hollisters and the Old Clipper Ship--innocent, good, sometimes funny--better than I remembered!

 

Currently reading:

 

The Worm Ourobouros by E.R. Eddison. Weird, high epic fantasy. Almost as tough as reading the Illiad, but very good stuff.

The Ring of the Niebelung, by Wagner. Just cause it's cool

The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Inspired to read this by my roommate's video of Le Notre Dame De Paris, a really awesome stage production. In French!

 

Cthulhu ftagn!

My visit to the library confirmed a suspicion of mine. H.P Lovecraft writes the creepiest stuff I have ever read. EVER. Seriously disturbing stuff. Excellently done, highly recommended. Just don't read it at night. Or alone. Or without a blanket to hide under.

....than can just make your whole day/week/month:

Fr. David recently did a blog post about children's serial books, which he collects. I made a comment on the blog that while I read many of the classic series (Bobbsey Twins, Boxcar Children, Hardy Boys, Danny Dunn, etc) my favorite was the Happy Hollisters series. One book in particular had stuck in my memory--The Happy Hollisters and the Old Clipper Ship.

I went to a talk Fr. David gave on the subject at the Placentia Library last night. At one point, he mentioned that he had some books on a table that were free for the taking, but he had one in particular that he wanted to give away. He pulled out a pristine copy of the Old Clipper Ship, complete with dust jacket, and gave it to me!!!

I could hardly sit still through the rest of the presentation, I just wanted to go to a quiet spot and re-read the story! After the presentation was over, I drove to the nearest Sonic and ordered a burger and malt to set the mood, and settled in to read. I finished the book just before I went to sleep last night.

It was even better than I remembered.

You know what can totally make your whole day/week/month? Your year-old god-daughter (aka most beautiful intelligent baby in the whole world) snuggling with you before a nap and reaching up to you to say goodbye.

You can see pictures of the most beautiful, intelligent, good-natured baby in the world at her lovely mother's blog: http://comewhatmay.wordpress.com

Fixating

I've recently begun the practice of fixed-hour prayer, after reading the book The Shaping of a Life by Phyllis Tickle. I actually disagree with Mrs. Tickle on many points, but she's an engaging writer.

 

The practice of fixed-hour prayer is very old: elements of it can be found in ancient Judaism, as well as in early church practices. The basic idea is of praying at specific ("fixed") hours. The standard ones are traditionally:

 

Matins--traditionally midnight, but often anytime before dawn. Lauds is often added into Matins

Lauds-sunrise

Prime-6am

Terce-9am

Sext-noon

Nones-3pm

Vespers-sunset

Compline--before retiring, usually around 9pm

 

Obviously, most working adults will be unable to say all of these, so the strict observance is usually only for monastic orders; however, many lay people have found ways to say many of the fixed hour prayers (also called the Divine Offices) Phyllis Tickle's books, The Divine Hours, are a set of books of fixed hour prayers/offices that are arranged to be useable by the ordinary Christian. The day consists of 4 offices:

 

Morning Office--on the hour or half hour between 6 and 9 am

Midday Office--on the hour or half hour between 11am and 2pm

Vespers--on the hour or half hour between 5pm and 8pm

Compline--just before retiring for the night

 

I've only been praying these for a couple of days, and I don't always get every office in (I haven't done Vespers for a few days now, just due to schedule issues) but it seems to be a good thing. I've never been good at just sitting down to pray--I talk to God quite a bit during the day, but very little of it is structured for worshipful prayer in any way. This method or praying seems to be working well.

 

We shall see!

Hmmm.....

I need to re-read Dune. That's just a darned good book, even if it turns out to be evil. Wonder where my copy is.......

 

Jim Harrington, gosh darn it, you need to finish writing the Tara story.

Best quote from an author's blog today

"I am a closet anarchist. (That is, I believe in lawlessness for wardrobes.)"

 

From the archives of the inimitable John Wright at http://johncwright.livejournal.com This has become one of my favorite blogs to read.

 

You learn something new everyday...

...for instance, today I learned that my co-worker can do a killer Marvin the Martian impersonation.

 

My new favorite blog

http://johncwright.livejournal.com/

 

This guy is great. Here's a sample:

 

"But I do not think men and women are equal insofar as they are both equally masculine and feminine. I do not think man and wife are equal in marriage: the man should lead the household, and the woman should rule it. The man should make the decisions and the woman should domesticate the man so that he makes the right decisions. The woman's task is to civilize the hairy barbarians of bachelorhood into fine upstanding young breadwinners: this is preliminary to her assuming the role of motherhood, and good practice for it.

I wear the pants in my family. It is just that, in my family, my wife picks them out."

 

He has stuff on every topic; go read!

 

Ugh

I hate having a sore throat. It's just annoying. It's all itchy and achy and makes it hard to talk. Blergh.

 

How Much of a Church Geek Are You?

You're definately on the border here; just a little more work, and you'll be a fully-fledged geek! Time to add some good blogs to your reading: go for the Curt Jester, the Anchoress, and Shrine of the Holy Whapping.
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http://www.scriptoriumdaily.com/2007/05/25/college-graduation-ten-things-i-wished-i-had-known/

 

The link above is to a post by one of my favorite teachers, Dr. John Mark Reynolds. "College Graduation: Ten Things I Wish I Had Known". I've been thinking graduation/growing up thoughts lately, after attending the Torrey graduation on Friday. Dr. Reynolds thoughts in this blog post seem good to me, so I'm going to see how I'm doing in these ten areas (Reynolds' comments in italics):

 

1. Friends matter. Don’t move around without considering the value of the community you have already made.

Doing ok on this one, I think. I still have friends from freshman year, and have been at the same church for...wow, 7 years in October! That's the main reason I've never considered moving; I love being around my friends here Not that moving is inherently bad--but maybe people in my age-range and culture move around a little too much.

2. Work is good. Get that first “bad job” and read the manager’s manuals. Figure out how your company operates. Suck even your low level retail job dry of information. Credit cards are mostly bad. Don’t borrow money except for a house or more education.

Doing alright on this one too, I guess. My job is good (for me--not for my pocketbook!) Have definately learned a lot. Still very much in debt, but it's almost all for health and education, so not too bad.

3. Don’t live for weekends, they are only 2/7 of the week. If your life is that bad, time for changes. Travel as much as you can in light of duty and sacrifice. (This is a great chance to go someplace and do hard labor for the poor with some friends.)

Well, I do love my weekends....but I don't know that I live for them. I do a lot during the week as well. I'm getting better about doing some traveling--I don't have the money to go far, but I'm having fun taking little day trips: last Saturday, up to Idyllwild! Got to go into a lot of little shops, talk to some interesting people!

4. If you are bored, pretty much ever, there is something wrong. We live in the most fascinating culture of all time with almost unlimited chances and choices. Perhaps you are only living for self and not for a cause bigger than you are? I know, I know. It sounds Commencement-y, but you cannot be happy living only for self.

I do still get bored sometimes, but not much. I usually have a book to pick up, or a painting to do. Never really had much trouble with entertaining myself.

5. Time to stop playing (very much) with toys. Growing up means (partly) finding your pleasures not in bigger toys, but in a life well lived. Have kids (don’t wait past your twenties if you can) and play with toys again as a matter of duty!

Hmmm, think I'm ok there. I only play one video game (Guitar Hero II!!!!) and even that not very much.

6. Getting married is good, but being single is also good. Let the people in your life who know you well (parents, pastor, friends) speak into your life to let you know when you are “ready.”

I think I've already pretty much answered this question in my life. I don't think I'm meant for marriage, and mostly I'm ok with that. My priest agrees with me, and most of the people I've talked to are very supportive. Yay!

7. You are an adult. You don’t have to prove it by disregarding every piece of advice older people give you. (Read the story of Rehoboam in the Bible.) Side line: do read the Bible daily. It is a good habit. Try reading a Bible like the King James version that will expand your vocabulary and sentence structure, not dumb itself down for you. Read a translation and not a paraphrase. The best modern version is the ESV.

I think I do ok with taking advice from my elders. Not great--I've never been great at taking advice--but I do have people I listen to who are older and wiser. Dr. Reynolds, in fact, is one of them.

Unfortunately, not doing great on reading the Bible daily. Never have been. Getting better at praying structured prayers everyday though, so progress is possible!

8. My being “happy” is not worth making someone else miserable. Your forty-something self will have to live with the scars you place on your soul now.

Hmmmm...well, in some ways I'm doing pretty good with this one, but I know my cluttered room is causing my roommate stress, and I need to work on that.  

9. Television? Media? Canned music? Try to get no more than an hour a day of the stuff. Read, read, read. (The difference between reading good stuff linked to on our home page or some other leader’s site and watching endless you-tube videos is one of the differences between shepherds and sheep.)

Eep. Not doing so good on this one. I don't watch THAT much TV (mostly just Mythbusters and Invader Zim--What Not to Wear once a week or so). But I don't much care for YouTube, or other things of that nature, and I'm usually reading several books (at the moment, Frank Capra's autobiography, the letters of St. Therese of Lisieux, and Eclipse of the Sun by Michael D. O'Brien. Trying to start the Ring of the Niebelung)

Even though I watch more TV than I would like, I still read more than most people I know. I've been reading a lot of fluff lately, so I need to up the ante a little.

10. Go to church every Sunday and participate. Join a small group there and discuss a great book. Church is a “free” way to find community, join a cause bigger than self, and find a moral system that you cannot just discard when it is convenient. Join a church with many older people in it (as long as they have a lively faith). Look for a pastor who is at least thirty years older (not close to your age). This seems like strange advice, but most of us are too peer dependent and need to be with (and hear) the ideas of older and wiser folk. Avoid the church of “what’s happening now.” You can get that from television. Find a place with a doctrinal statement with some teeth. If you don’t have to believe anything much to join, then there is nothing to argue about! Dialectical growth comes from pushing against hard and bright lines.

Ah, now this I've been doing for a while now. I love my church! I usually make it to two Masses a week, plus Compline (a beautiful service!) and spiritual direction group. I've also been a part of the church's writing group (now in hiatus) and still participate in the reading group (we read everything from Dante to Sayers to P.D. James.)

 

So all in alll.....I've got a lot to work on. Sigh. But then, what's new about that?

What is happening to me?

First, last weekend, I start liking Joni Mitchell; I'd always sort of thought of her as a random hippie-person, singing nonsense. Then I heard the song River, and decided to buy one of her CDs. I did, and loved it.

 

Second: I've always been annoyed by Bob Dylan. His voice just grates on me, and I never could make sense of out the few lyrics of his songs that I'd heard. But then I bought the Lady in the Water soundtrack, which had covers of 2 songs: The Times They Are a-Changin', and Every Grain of Sand. I found both of them to be moving and profound; so I broke down and finally bought a CD of Dylan's. I listened to the first few tracks last night, and darn it all, I really liked that one, too!

 

What the heck is going on here?

Weird dream

So last night I dreamed I was in Rome with my co-worker Cindy. We were wandering around, enjoying the sights or something, and then there was this little room, with lots of kids in it. I knew that the Pope was due to arrive soon, so we decided to wait and see him. Sure enough, he showed up, and started talking with all the kids.

 

Sadly, I got shy and started drawing a picture with crayons instead of going over and meeting him.

 

Dang it! I'm such a coward! You'd think I'd at least have the courage to go meet a DREAM of the Pope, right? Yeesh!

 

Yeah, it was a weird dream.

Best Quote of the day

From http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal  Neil Gaiman's online journal:

 

"These days, as a middle-aged and respectable author, I still feel a sense of indeterminate but infinite possibility on entering a lift, particularly a small one with white walls. That to date the doors that have opened have always done so in the same time, and world, and even the same building in which I started out seems merely fortuitous – evidence only of a lack of imagination on the part of the rest of the universe."

 

 

iPod shuffle meme: taken from the 'net

Rules: set your iPod or media player of choice to shuffle and answer each question with the song that comes up! Then repost the answers in a note of your own. No Cheating!

Click on the song titles to see the lyrics.



What do your friends think about you:

And So It Goes (Billy Joel)

Hmmm....interesting...I don't know that I'd mind that...but it seems like it'd be more a theme song for me, rather than others' perception of me. Oh well. I love the song anyway.



What do you dream about:

Everywhere I Go (Five Iron Frenzy)

Ha! For some reason this cracks me up. I dream about a love song made popular by Amy Grant, redone as ska by FIF? Cool. On a more serious note, if you take the words to the song, and the way I always interpreted them(spiritual allegory)....hmmm. Interesting.



What's the theme song to your life:

Million Pieces (Newsboys)

Again, hmmmm, interesting.



What was your high school like:

Walk Through the Fire (Once More With Feeling, from the Buffy Episode)

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So true!!!!!!!! Mot applicable line from the song: "These endless days are finally ending in a blaze!"



How do you feel right now:

I'm Waiting For You (Michael W. Smith)

Hmmm. For one thing, it's weird so many Christian songs are coming up on mine, I actually listen to very few Christian artists.

But this one....does seem to fit my thoughts lately...


When you get older your life will be:

Listen to Your Heart--dance mix (DHT)

Well, that doesn't exactly bode well for my love life, does it?


Your angry song is:

No Rain (Blind Melon)

WTH???? I love the song, but...angry? I knew my emotions were all screwed up but this is ridiculous! :)


Your love song is:

I Lost On Jeopardy (Weird Al)

Yep. I'm completely screwed up. :P


Your happy song is:

Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard (Paul Simon)

I'm really getting worried now..... *whimpers in corner*


How you feel about your boyfriend/ girlfriend:

Rock Around the Clock (Bill Hawley and the Smoots--500 respect points for the reference)

I don't even HAVE a boyfriend, but if I did, I would hope we would want to rock around the clock to some good Oldies.


What your bf/gf [husband] thinks about you:

The Dark Night of the Soul (Loreena McKennitt)

Hmmm......Again, given my thoughts these past few months, this is...interesting.


What your style says about you:

Go and Sin No More (Rebecca St. James)

Um................................No comment.


How is your love life:

Summer Nights (Grease soundtrack)

My music lies! It lies! *smashes Yahoo music player*


Seriously though, that was funny...now to pass it on!

Tagging: Liz, Anne, Andrea, Marcy, and Miriam! Please post a comment on my blog when you've responded.

Sweet!

After taking an online test for reading speed, it looks like I read 600-650 words per minute (average reading speed is 200-250wpm). I bet when I'm really into my groove (which takes about 3 minutes) I'm reading even faster.

 

That makes me very happy!

Happy happy happy day!!

Pan's Labyrinth came out on DVD yesterday!!!!!!!! I think I'll make a stop by the store on my way home.....

Computer help?

Actually, I need help buying a computer. I want a Mac laptop, but I don't want to pay for a new one. Here's my question:

 

Should I try to get one from eBay? Or other online sites for used computers? Or would that just be a really bad idea?

 

Thoughts on a Sabbatical....

Technically, the sabbatical mentioned here is the one that my parish priest is on right now (thanks be to God! He knows the good father needs a break!) but I have been thinking about some things recently.

First off, this article. I think my dad had me read it when a beloved pastor was attacked when I was in high school (still working on completely forgiving those in our church who did that to him). I highly recommend it; I'm not sure I would have believed that there were such people in the church until I saw them in action myself.

After seeing what happened in that church, I determined that I wanted to fight the CKs whereever they tried to do that sort of thing again. I wanted to do whatever I could to encourage pastors and clergy members; while one compliment or encouragement may not count for much, it is at least something.

I don't know if it works. I do what I can to encourage the priests in my church, but I have no idea if it's effective. I don't know that that matters; every little drop in the bucket helps. I don't know if my parish has any active "clergy killers"-- it's likely, but I certainly don't want to know who they are. But I do know that modern society is not friendly to pastors these days. To cite the previous article, :

"There is a general distrust of authority figures of any kind. There is biblical and theological illiteracy in the pews. This means parishioners do not understand God's purposes, and the dynamics of spiritual leadership. There is a general sense of entitlement growing in the church, in which church members feel entitled to comfort and privilege. And if a pastor does not please them, they are free to criticize and punish. There is a growing business mentality in the church, which says that if the CEO (pastor) does not produce, he should be fired. There is mobility among parishioners. This means they feel little loyalty to the "peace and unity of the church." For they will soon move on, without having to deal with the consequences of their irresponsible behavior. And, as has been mentioned, we are not training pastors to handle conflict, nor support themselves in survival situations."

God have mercy on us.

Reason #508 why I love my job

The Big Boss just came by and handed me a rubber chicken keychain, and said, "I thought this looked like something you would enjoy!"

 

The Quotable Roommates:

(this conversation is probably only funny if you've been playing GuitarHeroII for two weeks)

Liz: I still have a set and a half before the final encore on this level....

Joi: Ha! And then you have to play Freebird!

Liz: No! I don't want to think about Freebird! I want butterflies! Butterflies! *flaps arms*

Joi: And then the Freebird will sweep down out of the sky, snatch your butterflies up, and EAT THEM!

Liz: *sings* And the Freebird comes in the NIIIIIIIIIGHT!