IF I HAD A BOAT, I'D GO OUT ON THE OCEAN ...
It appears to have been awhile since my last post -- too much working, living, sleeping, etc. I'll just hit a few highlights of the past week.
Saw Lyle Lovett in concert at the Finger Lakes Performing Arts Center. Quite a show -- he effortlessly fuses country, jazz, blues, gospel and folk into a stew that's nothing so much as just "Lyle." As said before, that's what I appreciate about artists like Lyle, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Emmylou Harris, Phil Keaggy, Johnny Cash, etc.: They're distinctive and original, even while distilling their roots and influences; there's no mistaking them for anyone else. Whereas I can't, for the most part, tell one performer from the next on most commercial radio -- whether pop/rock, country, even Christian radio. (Public radio and college radio, of course, are a different story, as is Internet streaming. Found a nice alt-country station out of Texas a while back.) Anyway, I quite enjoyed Lyle, both the music and the sardonic commentary between songs. As the concert went on, the quirkier, funnier stuff was edged out by the deeper, bluesier, sadder songs about loss -- but crescendoed at the end with a jubilant gospel set. Quite nice. It's too bad the world at large mostly knows him for either his hair (which isn't anywhere near as big these days as back in the 80s) or for being one of Julia Roberts' assorted exes.
Read the final LaHaye/Jenkins novel in one sitting -- it's not great writing, or necessarily great theology (I'm still a bit dubious about dispensationalist theology -- it makes a certain amount of logical sense, but some folks seem to take it as a given), but Jenkins (who does the actual writing) is a good storyteller and does make one care about the characters, even the minor characters who haven't been developed much beyond the initial sketch. (And of course, in God's eyes there ARE no "minor characters.") I appreciated the fact that when Christ returns in the book, the authors aren't presumptious enough to put dialogue in His mouth -- almost everything He speaks is taken, or at least paraphrased, directly from scripture.
Worked another 12-hour shift Saturday at the paper. Had a couple funny anonymous voice-mail messages -- one wanting us to investigate what the city was up to by closing off side streets in the morning on a holiday weekend and diverting traffic. Apparently she didn't realize there was going to be a PARADE in about half an hour ... (I'm surprised I didn't get another call when the parade started: "There's fire trucks all down Main Street! What on Earth is going on?" Next call was even funnier: We had an item in our Police Beat column about how a Harley rider was charged with DWI; an outraged anonymous call came in sputtering on how we are obviously biased against bikers and that our paper sucks and that we don't know anything about the Constitution and that freedom of the press is "crap." (Somehow those last two parts could co-exist in her mind.) :-) Why in the world are some people so reactive, so easily offended? It's like people are such raw nerves that anything will make them jump and rage. I get offended if someone punches me in the face, but that's about it. (I do have theories about how talk radio and the Net have encouraged reactive proclivities, but they don't cause 'em.)
Went to the Seneca Park Zoo in Rochester and then to lunch at Dinosaur BarBQ with my friend M. today. A memorable day, partly due to assorted monkey antics (like the orangutan sticking his head in the feed bag and then trying to use it as a tarp) and partly due to M's Marilyn Moment while waiting for the light -- short, billowy dresses and windy days don't go well together, suffice it to say.
Good sermon Sunday from Mike on Saul/Samuel/David/Goliath, and how with obedience and faith, one is able to vanquish the challenges that loom large in one's life, whereas without it, we become as ineffectual as King Saul. David didn't even use conventional armor, saying it would only weigh him down ... and trying to handle our own issues strictly in the ways that are dictated by our culture won't work, either. Mike put it much better than I'm doing. That's one of about five dozen reasons he's the pastor. :-)
Finally finished writing the chapter in my Santa novel that I'd been blocking on for some time. ohiblather, in her LJ, recently wrote that there's no such thing as writer's block, any more than plumber's block -- it's just a lack of discipline. And she's probably right. (I've occasionally lurked on that LJ ever since researching filkers for a freelance piece that apparently won't see the light of day, since the magazine that agreed to buy it tanked immediately afterward. Sigh.)
I must have gotten overly used to the chilly, damp conditions in the old basement apartment, because I find the new one warm even when it's not. I had the fan on here in the office/library room, then went out to watch the fireworks just now (postponed from yesterday due to rain -- yesterday there was a single firework) and was chilly. I suppose my body, and mind, will adjust.
Peaceful thoughts go out to michaelhinman, who's dealing with the infrastructure ramifications of a lighting strike at his building down in Tampa (no, the hockey team wasn't picketing in his living room). Sounds like they've got most everything back to normal, though.
That's about it. No great observations on life and humanity this time around ... just random bits o' life. I like bits o' life.
Current book: Dante (sometimes I think I have reader's block) and whatever magazines are at hand.
Current music: My Media Player playlist and its usual ecletic offerings. Last three songs: "First Dog on the Moon" (Garry Novikoff); "Stay a Little Longer" (Willie Nelson); "Minstrel of the Dawn" (Gordon Lightfoot); "Nod Over Coffee" (Mark Heard); "Curb Your Dogma" (Ookla the Mok)
Current scripture: "By the grace of God, I am what I am ..." (I forget the reference at the moment, but it's in one of Paul's epistles.
Saw Lyle Lovett in concert at the Finger Lakes Performing Arts Center. Quite a show -- he effortlessly fuses country, jazz, blues, gospel and folk into a stew that's nothing so much as just "Lyle." As said before, that's what I appreciate about artists like Lyle, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Emmylou Harris, Phil Keaggy, Johnny Cash, etc.: They're distinctive and original, even while distilling their roots and influences; there's no mistaking them for anyone else. Whereas I can't, for the most part, tell one performer from the next on most commercial radio -- whether pop/rock, country, even Christian radio. (Public radio and college radio, of course, are a different story, as is Internet streaming. Found a nice alt-country station out of Texas a while back.) Anyway, I quite enjoyed Lyle, both the music and the sardonic commentary between songs. As the concert went on, the quirkier, funnier stuff was edged out by the deeper, bluesier, sadder songs about loss -- but crescendoed at the end with a jubilant gospel set. Quite nice. It's too bad the world at large mostly knows him for either his hair (which isn't anywhere near as big these days as back in the 80s) or for being one of Julia Roberts' assorted exes.
Read the final LaHaye/Jenkins novel in one sitting -- it's not great writing, or necessarily great theology (I'm still a bit dubious about dispensationalist theology -- it makes a certain amount of logical sense, but some folks seem to take it as a given), but Jenkins (who does the actual writing) is a good storyteller and does make one care about the characters, even the minor characters who haven't been developed much beyond the initial sketch. (And of course, in God's eyes there ARE no "minor characters.") I appreciated the fact that when Christ returns in the book, the authors aren't presumptious enough to put dialogue in His mouth -- almost everything He speaks is taken, or at least paraphrased, directly from scripture.
Worked another 12-hour shift Saturday at the paper. Had a couple funny anonymous voice-mail messages -- one wanting us to investigate what the city was up to by closing off side streets in the morning on a holiday weekend and diverting traffic. Apparently she didn't realize there was going to be a PARADE in about half an hour ... (I'm surprised I didn't get another call when the parade started: "There's fire trucks all down Main Street! What on Earth is going on?" Next call was even funnier: We had an item in our Police Beat column about how a Harley rider was charged with DWI; an outraged anonymous call came in sputtering on how we are obviously biased against bikers and that our paper sucks and that we don't know anything about the Constitution and that freedom of the press is "crap." (Somehow those last two parts could co-exist in her mind.) :-) Why in the world are some people so reactive, so easily offended? It's like people are such raw nerves that anything will make them jump and rage. I get offended if someone punches me in the face, but that's about it. (I do have theories about how talk radio and the Net have encouraged reactive proclivities, but they don't cause 'em.)
Went to the Seneca Park Zoo in Rochester and then to lunch at Dinosaur BarBQ with my friend M. today. A memorable day, partly due to assorted monkey antics (like the orangutan sticking his head in the feed bag and then trying to use it as a tarp) and partly due to M's Marilyn Moment while waiting for the light -- short, billowy dresses and windy days don't go well together, suffice it to say.
Good sermon Sunday from Mike on Saul/Samuel/David/Goliath, and how with obedience and faith, one is able to vanquish the challenges that loom large in one's life, whereas without it, we become as ineffectual as King Saul. David didn't even use conventional armor, saying it would only weigh him down ... and trying to handle our own issues strictly in the ways that are dictated by our culture won't work, either. Mike put it much better than I'm doing. That's one of about five dozen reasons he's the pastor. :-)
Finally finished writing the chapter in my Santa novel that I'd been blocking on for some time. ohiblather, in her LJ, recently wrote that there's no such thing as writer's block, any more than plumber's block -- it's just a lack of discipline. And she's probably right. (I've occasionally lurked on that LJ ever since researching filkers for a freelance piece that apparently won't see the light of day, since the magazine that agreed to buy it tanked immediately afterward. Sigh.)
I must have gotten overly used to the chilly, damp conditions in the old basement apartment, because I find the new one warm even when it's not. I had the fan on here in the office/library room, then went out to watch the fireworks just now (postponed from yesterday due to rain -- yesterday there was a single firework) and was chilly. I suppose my body, and mind, will adjust.
Peaceful thoughts go out to michaelhinman, who's dealing with the infrastructure ramifications of a lighting strike at his building down in Tampa (no, the hockey team wasn't picketing in his living room). Sounds like they've got most everything back to normal, though.
That's about it. No great observations on life and humanity this time around ... just random bits o' life. I like bits o' life.
Current book: Dante (sometimes I think I have reader's block) and whatever magazines are at hand.
Current music: My Media Player playlist and its usual ecletic offerings. Last three songs: "First Dog on the Moon" (Garry Novikoff); "Stay a Little Longer" (Willie Nelson); "Minstrel of the Dawn" (Gordon Lightfoot); "Nod Over Coffee" (Mark Heard); "Curb Your Dogma" (Ookla the Mok)
Current scripture: "By the grace of God, I am what I am ..." (I forget the reference at the moment, but it's in one of Paul's epistles.