here's life

So, the other evening I slapped together another coffee cup table because my last one seemed to be such a hit. Only this time I did it right. Except that it looks alot like the vapor that it is made of. And now I get to go home for a while and visit my family.

Extinction is forever
So is evangelism.
A positive priority for people.

Last weekend was spent, very enjoyably, having a wedding. I left work after half a day at work and drove to MO. We got to northern Indiana later the next day after some complications and sleep. But we got there in plenty of time for the rehearsal, and the party began as more and more people arrived. This was going to be a unique wedding. After running through it a couple times, we ate some Mediterranean food and then more hanging out while doing the dishes. Then there was a hanging out in a nice basement. Finally it was time to go to bed. I joined a group of cousins packed into a vehicle with all our stuff piled on top of us. We set off, with a map to our host home, reminiscent of a pirate treasure map. Eventually, after wandering around the nonsensical maze of snowy roads, we got some gas, and some directions to make up for some confusions. Then we drove around enough to know that we weren't going to find it by randomly trying doors at midnight (we only tried one) so we found a payphone and called Sim, the groom, who was where we were trying to get to. While talking to him, a police officer stopped by and tried to help us. And then stopped by again. And then he found my brother, while I was talking to him, and he was trying to find out what road he was on. Using the information from the policeman, we drove over, and didn't find Sim, but did find a policeman, who was a different, confused one when we talked to him. And then my brother showed up and we all got out of the cold, and to bed. We only spent about an hour and a half within a few miles of the house, and I like to think of it as a fun time with cousins.

Saturday morning bright and early we got our clothes ironed and on, and headed over to the church. We got pictures taken and pretty much had everything ready by 10:30 when the wedding was to start. Unlike most weddings, the audience was seated around round tables. When the bridal party went up to the front, we were follow by my two youngest brothers pulling red wagons with the nieces and nephews of the couple in them. There was a short message by the guy that they had trained under and worked with during their time in Reach. They read vows they had written, and then some "repeat after me" ones to top it off. Then short, meaningful blessings/messages were read while the person who wrote them poured colored sand into a vase. It was neat to hear from all these people who had influenced them, and the important things they said. The time closed with all of the family of the couple coming up and praying for them, everybody at once. Then of course the "I present to you.." and Sim scooped up Janelle and went out. There was a slide show, and then the couple went around and dismissed tables for the buffet style breakfast. We ate waffles, lots of waffles, and cinnamon rolls and eggs.

Later, some of the cousins got up and told how that morning on the way to church, his abilities temporarily impaired by love, Sim had driven off the road into a fence, which tore off the bumper of his car. So, they took up a collection, carrying around the bumper as it filled with cash. Then, after counting it up, they couldn't just give it to him, so they paid him $10 per push-up, which he did on the stage, while they counted out the money. Unfortunately, we ran out of money before he tired, and there was no good mechanism for the crowd to give more to keep him going.

Rice kills birds. Birdseed is not a good thing to throw in the foyer of a church as the new couple rushes toward their car, sitting outside in the cold. However, a couple hundred bright plastic balls (ball-pit type) work quite well. Especially when each one is labeled with their names and the date, and they can be taken home as "party favors". (I don't think there was a team doing the labeling, like with Kelly of Troy's thousand ships, poor Janelle)

Well, that party was over, but the after party was just starting over at the very fine basement that we were staying in. There were leftovers and swing dancing, and philosophical discussions answering deep questions (or at least defining them) and practical testing, answering important questions like how well do wheeled toys made of interlocking plastic blocks hold together on a treadmill going ten miles per hour?

Sunday we drove home. I got back to Wichita at 2:30 Monday morning, but didn't really have trouble staying awake at work.
The weekend was a great success, and as usual, it was good to talk to family and get a refreshing idea of what it means to be sane, something that is severely challenged by spending most of the day with people whose values are totally insane.
Now I must go to sleep, so I can go to work and face the craziness with happiness, humor and subtle satire.
Thank you to whoever gave me the seat covers. Cecil looks very spiffy.

Last night I went to see Chronicles of Narnia. I was expecting it to be totally "Disney-ed" and be an insipid story about "following your heart." I was actually surprized to find they hadn't changed the story or ideas much. In fact, they started out almost verbatim in the dialog. The story was adjusted in non-critical ways to make it more exciting. Unfortunately, by making danger closer and more often, it showed the danger was less powerful. And I think they messed up when they had Edmund save the day by defying Peter's orders toward the end. Didn't he just take initiative, rather than second guess the captain of the army?
I need to read the book again to see if they rendered Magic correctly, but it didn't sound like they paganized it too much. (Magic as it appears in the original should be up for debate anyway).
After I came home I look up what the news said about the movie and Christianity. It seems that just by following the book, they were able to create a movie that most people thought could be Christian and still sell to the secular market. They presented it to the public in two ways: to the Christians they sold it as a Christian movie, likened the Passion of Christ, with churches buying out theaters. Then to the rest of the populace, it was passed off as a good story, based on a classic children's book. It seems to have been a winning strategy, that will fill the coffers of our new friends in the multimedia business.
After finding out what the popular opinion seemed to be, I am taking up the argument that we need to be careful what they try to pass off as a Christian movie. You don't have to change much to make an allegory about Jesus into a story about a trancedent lion. I don't remember them mentioning that Aslan was the son of the Emperor beyond the sea. Maybe that comes later. Or maybe they "forgot" to make him divine, settling for just pretty cool. The Matrix has themes that were obviously borrowed from Christianity, but does that make it a Christian film? No, I think probably Post-Postmodern would be a better description. [request for comment from those who know] We should be careful, Chronicles of Narnia could be a wolf, masquerading as C.S. Lewis.

Today I went to Lindsborg, the local manifestation of Sweden. They were having a Christmas festival, so a group from church went up to eat ethnic food and look at the local arts, crafts and festivities. The symbol of the town is brightly painted wooden Dala horses. There was also glass, and pottery and paintings and more things out of wood --like bowls and boxes lathed from multiple colors of wood, glued together. There were people playing fiddles and similar instruments, and people dancing. Your good old folk-dancing style. And then they crowned the "Lucia" of the year, in honor of St. Lucia.
New to me:
Lingonberry: A small red berry, reminiscent of a gooseberry. I ate it as a topping on Swedish cream as well as in an oatmeal bar.
Pecan skorpor: a hard, sweet bread ---like sugar cookies, baked in a loaf, and then sliced and toasted until brittle.
It was a good time, and interesting to get new ideas in culture as well as art, crafts, and architecture.

I was reading some websites today about whether or not we actually landed on the moon. It does seem that the Apollo photos were actually done in the desert in Nevada. However, I am smart enough to see that the hoax doesn't stop there. Nevada is actually on the moon!
As you traveled across the western part of the country, you may have visited a "state" known as Nevada. How did you know what state it was? Easy, the "Welcome to Nevada" signs. But did you ever wonder how easy it is to fake those signs? Or make fake "Nevada" license plates -- traditionally made in government-run prisons. Sure you've seen "Nevada" on a map. I could put "Abudia" on a map of Antartica, and I wouldn't even have to put up fake signs---the penguins won't tell on me.

"Nevada" was created because long ago, someone miscounted the states. When it was discovered, rather than undergoing the embarrassment of removing a star from the flag, they simply created a phoney state out where nobody would notice or bother to survey. There may be other states that don't exist. I can only name 45, so that leaves about 5 that could be "borrowed" from the moon, or anywhere else. Missouri attempted to make a fake "Nevada" but they pronounced it with a long "a" so it wasn't much help to the space program.
In conclusion, the moon landing was filmed in Nevada---the real Nevada, in a vacuum, on the moon.

That would be the headline if it had snowed more. As it is, we have about 1/2" with drifts up to 3" deep. This morning driving to work, there were little eddies of snow scurrying behind the cars. On my way out of work, I made a snowball.

Well, the destruction at my apartment goes on. Only half of the tennis court was removed, and on closer inspection, only half of it's fence. However, a section of the concrete wall, that was the fence between our parking lot and the road area, is now a pile of rubble. And the sand has been removed from the sand volleyball court. Maybe they are hauling in something that is so large, part of the wall around the complex had to be removed. I seem to remember disaster following such giant objects...

Sunday, this apartment complex had a tennis court. It wasn't used very often, but occationally I would see people out there. Monday I came home from work to find that they had taken down the fence around it. Today, there was a skid loader, pulling up the concrete and putting it in dumpsters, and basically tearing up the area. I wonder what they are replacing it with? A grassy area? Some trees? A wind turbine? A waterslide? They have gotten the electric wires painted out on the ground. There is almost enough room for another building.

It have become really cold. This is my first "real" winter since I started college. I need to beef up my collection of warm clothes. Today I had to drive to the other side of the plant to gain some information about putting some parts together. We have this little yellow, three-wheeled electric vehicle that we drive around. It was pretty cold, but nice and sunny.
This evening I saw a snow plow, patrolling the roads, just in case there was some snow somewhere that nobody had noticed. But maybe tomorrow it will be white.

Nothing has happened. My chilly apartment is a wreck, especially since I took apart a clothes steamer in my bathroom this evening.

So, I caved in and am posting a quiz result on my blog. I am happy with what the authoritive quizfarm says about me, but it was somewhat surprizing. I got done and wondered, "How did they get that from those questions? But sooo fitting!" It is cool to get deep, meaningful insight about who you are as a person, simply by answering 20 something questions.

You scored as Blue. Blue is your favorite color. There are many blue things, and you like the color of: cloudless skies, navy blue jackets, blue screens of death, and stereotypical water. In your book, bright blue can't be beat.

Choice of Color
created with QuizFarm.com

What can I say? They pigeon-holed me quite well!