Just Life
28 Words
I gaze upon the constellation
Filling up with consternation
Senses threaten cancellation
Living or an approximation
Seeking an inner transformation
Mixing in an appellation
Soul-felt deepening aspiration
Climbing from asphyxiation
Lost in loose transliteration
Half again the bifurcation
Ashes attest the incineration
Stretching an explanation
Spilling in evisceration
Fearing to be an abomination
Asking for a sanctification
Feeling total purification
Can I hear a revelation
Will you join the exaltation
Revel in invigoration
Spiritual inebriation
Enlightening intoxication
Transcending our classification
Shred the lines of demarcation
Spending each denomination
Gambling annihilation
Finally knowing emancipation
Accepting all propitiation
Hoping in anticipation
Me and My New, Old Mac…
OK, way back in the college years when I sold Macs in our University Bookstore I also owned an old Performa Desktop and borrowed a Powerbook 520c on occasion for classes. I cannot remember any computer ever feeling as good under my hands as that Powerbook. So, when I decided recently to get serious aout making time for some creative writing, I knew I needed more than time. I needed a Powerbook 520c under my finger tips… and so I found one on Craigslist for $50.
I love it! and of course, I’m now watching for parts machines, old software… all that. I just picked up an older Ethernet adapter for it off of Ebay. And I have begun to use it for writing. Here’s an responsive prayer I wrote for this coming Sunday morning, based on Jesus’ “Beatitudes.”
Leader: Our Good and Gracious God, we ask you to…
People: Give us a hungering poverty of spirit
Leader: so that richness in you becomes our desire
People: Give us peace when in brokenness we weep
Leader: and let the hope of your comfort never fail us
People: Give us a humble charity towards others
Leader: until the whole world knows our serving love
People: Give us a thirst for becoming like you
Leader: that is daily satisfied by your presence
People: Give us a true gratefulness for your mercy
Leader: and implant in us a living mercy for all people
People: Purify the troubled ways of our hearts
Leader: so that you fill the scope of our vision
People: Make us a people who live and breathe peace
Leader: so you, the God of Peace, will be known through us
People: And hold us as we share the gift of your suffering
Leader: for in its affliction we will better understand and better love
OK, I wish this dude a very Merry Christmas!
Normally, I’m all about people’s privacy, but this fella came by my coffee shop this morning pushing the most impressively loaded grocery cart I have ever seen in my life. I mean, he chugged this monster up hill, against the on coming, one-way traffic. So, today I wish this dude a very Merry Christmas! He’s in my prayers, wherever he’s going with that massive cart.
Sorry for the low pic quality, it’s a cropped phone shot!
yeah, baby… the table is done…
the legs are ok… the top is great. it’s hard to get a decent pic without diffused studio lights, so i’m just gonna throw a shot of some of the grain on here.
final score? todd: 1 chaotic cosmos: 0 (for now)
the table is coming along…
ok, i’m dumb. i forgot to take a picture of the table today before i left the house. i put two coats of stain on it, and we saw right away that there are weird places in the wood… some harsh weather spots, places where a tiny bit of the old finish still existed and some sweet, natural defects and spots around knots. a serious dude would have spent a couple of days sanding first, but not me, baby!
next i put on two coats of polyurethane finish. i bought a semi-gloss and figured we’d work our way to the finish we wanted instead of trying to go high-gloss in one or two coats alone. i think after applying the second coat this morning that we already have the finish we want… not too shiny and evened out from a more spotty first coat.
the second coat will be dry to the touch by tomorrow morning, if it takes 24hrs to dry like the first did. hang this humidity! then, i’ll have to do some minor work on the legs: lots of wood screws, etc.
of course, the weather’s going to pot and it’s supposed to snow on saturday after a couple of days of nasty rain. sheesh. the party might not even happen now, but we’ll have food on the table!
I’m Refinishing a Table…
No, I have never done anything like this before. We’ve invited the Church in Bethesda folks to our house this coming Saturday for a little Christmas Gab & Grab… but we don’t actually have a dining table to put food and snacks out on. So, I went to a thrift shop and bought an old wood table for $20 that’s been weathering outside in Bethesda for about three months…
So, I am staining and refixing the finish and also have to rebuild the legs, all in time for the party on Saturday! YES! It’s the EXTREMELY NOT EXTREME HOME DINING ROOM TABLE MAKEOVER BETHESDA, MARYLAND EDITION!!!
That’s so Euro…
People are always asking me how I like living out here in Bethesda and being near DC, etc. I love it! And this past Saturday presented an example of why I love it so much. I performed a wedding on Saturday for a beautiful couple, it was a very nice ceremony. And outside, no pumpkin come carriage for this magical day… no, it was the stretch Range Rover.
Now, in Texas we stretch things, too… but you can bet it’ll be a GM product or a Ford! We stretch Expeditions, Hummers and even an Escalade on occasion. But a Range Rover? That’s just so European!
I’ve started making my own video backrounds, want’em?
So, for a while now I have used a great program called EasyWorship for running lyrics and putting together the video portion of worship services. I used PowerPoint for years, and for just slapping slides and photos up on a screen, it’s cool. I tried to get the hang of MediaShout, but the learning curve was too much for me, though it is maybe the most powerful tool out there.
EasyWorship lives up to its name, it is easy squeazy. The things which I love most about it are the totally great company behind the product (good service and licensing) and the use of motion video behind song lyrics. And as most people who have had the job of assembling worship services, I’ve spent a lot of time roaming the internet for usable video loops. Also, like many others, I’ve paid premium prices for said loops. That always aggravated me.
Well, now I’m playing around with making my own loops and you can have them for free… I have them posted on my Facebook account, because that works with my free Box.net account to allow a friend on the Facebook network total access to the videos and accompanying still shots.
So, if you’re my friend on Facebook, you can have my totally amateurish attempts at video production. I use them and they look pretty good. I plan to get better at it. If you’re not my friend on Facebook, why not?
Too much at the grocery store…
So, talk about a commentary on our society. I’m at the grocery store last night and the piped in music has Neil Diamond and the Pet Shop Boys back to back. That’s a harsh jump from 70’s Vegas style kitsch to 80’s Alternative Electronica with no warning… though strangely and simultaneously appealing to the separate halves of my brain. I think I’m still trying to come to a psychological peace about the whole episode.
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