A Few Thoughts on Dying

 

So, I used to have this incredibly long list of songs from multiple genres that I thought really communicated who I was.  I (not so jokingly) would call it the songs you can play at my funeral list. The list was never really written down and many of the songs were chosen before the days of Spotify playlists; so some things that should be forgotten were lost. Let's say my taste has changed over time. You're welcome.  

Realizing that I would actually need a list, I decided on the ones you see here. Just five songs from four albums - now not so much about me, but rather about the dying itself and the faith I've found to be faithful through my life.  I've intentionally not included any of the lyrics here in the blog.  You'll have to check-out the Spotify Playlist itself for those goodies.

1.  Grave Robber - Not of This World (Petra) 1983

Grave Robber is first, and rightfully so.  It was the first of that meandering list I built and has consistently held a top spot.  

By no means was this Petra's greatest song or album, but the in your face answer to death spoke to what I thought was rebel me.  Keep in mind there were plenty of folks in my life that thought rock music was literally evil; so giving them a bit of Thessalonians in a power ballad seemed like a good gotcha at the funeral.  And that's what funerals are all about to a 10 year old right?

Grave Robber also represents what death was for that 10 year old kid.  Superhero Jesus was there to kick Death's butt.  Something far off that was  apparently inconsequential (according to the song and the Apostle Paul).    I think it's stayed on the list as a defiance not to the people - but to an increasingly real fact of life.  It's probably also a good opportunity to introduce younger generations to one of the two best male vocalists in Christian Rock.

2.  What Do I Know? - Conversations (Sara Groves) 2001

By the time the millennium turned over, I was happily married with two little ones and not a lot time for listening to music … or at least not music that made this list.  I heard about this album from a mutual friend, and recognizing Sara from college, decided to give it a go.

This became our mini-van soundtrack for a bit and I'm pretty sure the kids know it all to well from the days we drove through miles of corn fields to get anywhere, and those other days that had us moving to suburbia and a fenced in yard with leaves to rake,

Of the multiple songs on the album that challenged me, What Do I Know? stuck out - not because I knew anyone that was dying at the moment or because I was particularly all that concerned about the logistics of heaven.  Still it questioned what I believed about what was unspecified in life and death and whether I was only good at trusting what was spelled out for me.  Ultimately, this song added a point of reference to all the big questions in life for me:  What have I learned so far about the character of God and what does that say about what I'm facing?

** Bonus Double Play **  

The Far Country (Andrew Peterson) 2005

Almost 10 years later, we were back in those same corn fields we had moved away from before (with a different mini-van).  I'm not sure if the CD came first or a concert, but I ended up with yet another soundtrack.  It wasn't his latest release, but the album art reminded me of a great story. The kids were older and I was often driving them to Wednesday night church activities with friends in tow, this CD in the player.  They still refer to this as the "Death' album, so I'm sure that no one in the family is surprised it made the list on dying … and with 2 song picks.

3.  The Havens Grey

Speaking of good stories, Peterson is a fantastic author and I recommend his Wingfeather series any chance I get.  One of the reasons I connect so well with his music is that he drops in little bits of stories:  family stories, fantasy literature references, other songwriters stories etc.  The Havens Grey is not a "little bit" but a full shovel of Tolkien's Middle Earth and more.  For those of you that are Tolkien fans, I won't spoil all the fun parts of what is most definitely not a fun song.  And even if you don't know a hobbit from a dwarf, you can hear the magic of a song that manages to sit in two worlds at the same time.  And for those that were wondering if it truly earned it's place on the "Death Album".  Yes, it is in fact about dying - sort of … and that's the point.

4.  More 

If Grave Robber exemplifies my thoughts on dying as a child, More seems to sum them up now.  I've mentioned to Tonya that learning I was dying included a few "why" conversations with God, but much of those conversations were already done years before in knowing what I can of Him and who/what I am/am not.  As I write this, I know that I'm not yet to the hardest part of all, and there are still some moments I need to learn from; for example, my serene and saintly demeanor does not appear to have kicked in yet. 

This seems like an appropriate time to talk about what's not on this list: Amazing Grace.  I've been accused of not liking the #1 funeral song of all time.  This is not entirely true; "Grace" really is an Amazing hymn.  When you have some time, dig into all the different verses it's had over the years and which ones they don't sing at your church 😉  My hang-up with the song is that it's seen as some sort of short hand for being a believer … as if knowing the lyrics to three verses is the only connection with God you need.  You need MORE.  Not more in a hidden secret code sort of way - just more of what's out there for you to explore about your faith.

Yes, John 3:16 does a great job of pinpointing the Gospel; but pull the thread a little - find MORE.  Find more about why someone dying for you would even work.  Other people have died for other people in pretty horrible ways before.  Why does it matter who?  And how long has He been telling us He would do it and showing us how nothing else could work?.... MORE!  No matter where you are in your faith journey and even if you don't know more than the first couple of lines they sing at all those funerals.

5.  He Has Formed Me - Hymns (2nd Chapter of Acts) 1986

If you grew up long enough ago to have seen or felt the effects of the Jesus People or Jesus Music movements in the 70's, you'll recognize "2CA" harmonies from the start and know that these three siblings defined some of the first Christian Rock and impacted what was to come for decades. The Hymns project from later in their run has given me the way I hear most of these church standards in my head to this day - even if it does make How Great Thou Art impossible to sing along with at the notes Matthew is hitting. 

This one was the last add to my list - and not just because I wanted to introduce younger generations to the other top male vocalist in Christian Rock. 

He Has Formed Me is a short track (less than 2 minutes long) that I've learned was added at the last minute for runtime.  The only original song on the album, it still fits and is a few extra moments of C2A harmony that starts out in familiar territory lyrically about some of the nice parts of heaven. (If you want a MORE moment, you can dig into whether it's describing being dead in Christ now, or some other time (if there is even a difference).

After all the lyrics you'd expect, it smacks you with a last line that really has to be the best thing about death I've ever heard.  

—-

That’s it.  Now go listen to some good music and let it change who you are or at least show you more about who you are and could be.  This is one of my playlists.  Feel free to listen … but find your own and look for MORE.

Chad

written 7/20/23 

Chad passed away on December 5, 2025. Leaving a legacy of love, laughter, and learning. Per his wishes, this blog was posted after his death and with his permission read and shared at his memorial service. 

We love you, and miss you Chad - (T)

The Wright Stuff

In my last post, I mentioned Mr. Jordan - My 7th and 8th Grade science teacher and his love for David Letterman. With that in mind, I thought I'd give a run down of some of my teachers.

Mrs. Sparks was my kindergarten teacher. I can't remember much about her other than the fact that she made us take naps and I didn't like that too much.

Mrs. Ellrod (1st Grade) had us do those really long math worksheets with 100 problems. I did the first row and told her I was done .... you see I thought if I could do an example of each problem, I shouldn't need to do the rest (I didn't need to practice something I already had down). Let's just say, bad idea.

Mrs. Steiner (2nd Grade) was a great teacher. I especially liked the dick and Jane books ... oh and the Valentines party.

Mrs. Fry (3rd Grade) introduced me to Narnia. She read us The Wardrobe during recess when it was too cold and snowy to go outside. I think her husband wrote worship songs and is some big praise-guy now. I could be terribly wrong about this - but hey it's my blog.

In 4th Grade, I transferred to the Christian School my mom was teaching at and had Mrs. Suzy Wratten .. notice I know her first name because she was a friend of my Mom's. That made it even more wrong when I called her Mrs. "rotten" at the dinner table. Kenny Rodriguez did it all the time and I bet he didn't get in trouble for saying it.

In 5th Grade I had 2 teachers, Mr. Davies and Mr. Veith. One day Mr. Veith was having a bad day and sat at his desk with his head in his hands as we came in from lunch. I asked him if his face hurt, he said, "no - why". When I laughed and said that it was "killing me" he didn't think it was funny. Again, bad idea.

6th Grade I transferred back to Bixby and had Mrs. Stubbs. I can't tell you much about her (or my other teacher who's name I've forgotten) but I can tell you that in 6th grade I met Darin. He and I quickly became best friends, and when the musical "welcome to the sky" was performed by the 6th graders - he and I played Orville and Wilbur Wright. We sang ( and God help me) danced a song called "The Wright Way to Do It" complete with a musical interlude during which we did the Charleston and swung our canes around on our fingers as we waived out straw hats.

Darin was in Mr. Jordan's Jr. High Science classes with me and we were inseparable. He was in this cool thing at church called "Royal Rangers" and he and his dad picked me up to take me every Wednesday Night. He was always a better ranger that I was ... of course his dad was a commander and he'd been in it since the program started. I remember the three of us cooking beans in a can over a fire we illegally built out behind their house.

After 8th grade, I moved to Springfield. I can't remember more than a handful of my remaining teacher's names (mostly band directors and the odd Psychology teacher ... and I do mean Odd). Darin stayed in Bixby, he joined the band too and I even got to see him march (one time .... at band camp) while I was visiting my Grandma in Tulsa.

We stayed in touch over the years now and then. He moved to Springfield to go the Central Bible College and after we were both married, there were a few years that we hung out now and then and played cards on our back porch. He and his wife Diana are missionaries to Cambodia now. They've adopted a daughter named Mycah, and they stopped in too see us the last time they were in the states.

Darin and I are very different. In some ways he's still the same guy as when we were kids telling one of our friends that he was going to Hell for listening to a band called U2. Sadly, we did that sort of thing a lot - bad idea. I'm still that same guy too, I suppose - though with a slightly more diverse taste in music.

The Frog Story

In the last few posts, I've been telling stories about my life in Bixby Oklahoma. A small Tulsa suburb, Bixby was the home of the Spartans (as in "We are the Spartans! - Mighty Mighty Spartans...") . We were not a cultural icon like our noble Greek city-state counterparts, but we did have the Green Corn Festival, The Watermelon Festival, and the Purple Martin Parade.

Bixby Merit Sweet Corn was harvested and ready for the festival the last week of July - coincidently, so were the traveling carnival companies, gospel quartets, and funnel cake makers. Our other festival was in honor of the world's largest watermelon grown by our very own Conrad farms. It's not the largest any more ... some jerks in Arkansas got a bigger one. This was probably because of all the toxic waste that was dumped in that state while a certain Governor was paying too much attention to a certain Flowers.

The backbone of our outstanding agriculture and the reason we adopted the Purple Martin as our city bird (previously, it had been the mosquito) was the Arkansas River. It bisected the town into the cool "North" Bixby where I lived and old "South" Bixby where the Daylight Donut Depot was in the middle of downtown. This river is also brings us back to "The Frog Story".

One hot summer, the river was up and the the local frog population took advantage of the situation and decided to annex the downtown business district into their hopping-grounds. Back behind the donut shop, there was a large parking lot for Citizen's Security Bank. This was apparently the frogs favorite place to hop about under the yellow streetlamps - especially about 3:30 in the morning when bank traffic was light and they felt like croaking out "Joy to the World" and other Three Dog Night songs.

While taking out the trash, I found that if you pick up a frog by one leg and fling him up in the air as far as you can - it will make a cool 'thwapp' sound when it lands on the bank parking lot. You might be surprised to learn this, but there is a lot of waiting around in the donut business for an eleven year old. I filled the spare time that summer flinging frogs. Ebenezzer Scrooge would have been proud - I helped to decrease the surplus population.

Glazed Sausage Rolls

When T read that I would be blogging about childhood memories over the next few blogs, she immediately asked if I would be telling the frog story. This is not the frog story, but it will be a good lead-in for tomorrow's post.

My folks owned a donut shop in downtown Bixby. It was called the Daylight Donut Depot ... for those of you paying attention, you'll get the "train" connection of my Grandpa working on the railroad and the theme of the donut shop. It was decorated with railroad antiques from the old train depots he had collected. The table tops were made from those big wooden spools they used to wrap telephone and electrical wire on and the Christmas tree in the corner even had little toy trains ornaments .. of course it also had cake donuts dipped in shellac hung on it as well.

My favorite donut wasn't actually a donut at all, but a deep fried pig-in-a-blanket made with an Eckrich breakfast sausage link instead of a hotdog. I liked mine with an orange juice ..... and since I was allowed back in the kitchen, I could glaze mine like a krispy cream if a wanted too. To get an idea of what this was like, think of that wonderful bite of sausage that 'accidentally' get's syrup on it while eating breakfast at Denny's; then multiply by 10.

I learned the value of good customer service and the importance of selling a good product and being part of a community of local businesses. I knew who ordered what and who sat where ... I knew who needed more coffee and why you don't taste the chocolate that comes in the big tub from the food supplier before it get's mixed with the donut glaze - eccchhhh!

If you were in the store when a train went through town on the nearby tracks, you got a free donut. All this in the town they filmed the movie "Tex". I think it might have starred Matt Dillon, but I do know that my 7th grade science teacher had a walk-on part. Mr. Jordan was his name and he liked David Letterman (a lot) and used to show clips of Dave's wacky experiments in the Honors Science class. - but that's another story.

The Cider-Mill

Yesterday, I promised to tell the story of my earliest memory:

I was 2 or 3 and staying with my Grandparents in Michigan while my little brother was in the hospital. I call them Cecil and Helen now since they are both dead; but back then, they were 'gandpa' and 'gamma'. I remember them taking me to an apple cider mill in or around Clarkston where they lived. In addition to wonderful apple cider, they had hot sugar and spice cake donuts that were all served out of the actual windmill that pressed the apples.

The mill had some tables to sit at outside next to a little creek ... and here's the memory ... after having my donut and cider, I got to walk across the huge (2 foot) creek by stepping on the stones that had been placed across it. This may not sound like much, but I was king of the world !- did I mention there were donuts? I tried to find it when I went back (about 10 years ago) but sadly, the cider house rules no more.

There was an extra room at gamma's up in the attic with two beds. I don't remember this myself, but I know it happened because when I graduated from highschool, they gave me the 4 Mickey mouse sheets and 2 pillow cases for my new dorm room. C-man uses them now.

Richie, "Dash", & Danny

I was going to start off the Vow part 2 by recounting my earliest memory. At the last minute however, I decided to push that post to tomorrow and blog about something that I don't remember at all - my life in Bennington, NE.

This was a small town to the northwest of Omaha (I think). From all indications - coming primarily from my Grandmother, it was the hip new not too expensive place to buy a house in the area. My folks had a place that I only remember one thing about .... When you walked in the door, you could walk up to the living room or down to a basement. That's it - my whole memory of where I lived for about the first 2 years of my life. My dad could probably correct this and give more clarification on what he was doing ... I think mom was teaching and going to grad school; but I think I like what I "remember" from Bennington is even better.

When I was older (probably C-man's age) my dad and I would sit in our Chevy Monza (with the big window in back) and wait for my mom when she went into the Safeway for groceries in Bixby, OK. Now that I'm remembering it, I think I'll decide that this particular time it was in our red 70's Buick named "Nellie". While we waited, Dad would make up stories about me and my two best friends from Bennington. I think he chose to use the 2 other characters from where we used to live because he could do anything he wanted with them....or he first started telling me the stories when we lived there .. I hope I wasn't because I didn't have friends in Bixby.

R.C.D. stories are probably what got me into fantasy adventure. Richie, "Dash", and Danny did all kinds off cool things: they had tree forts, they encountered pirates, they found lost incan gold, they road skateboards and bicycles without training wheels! It was great - imagine if everytime you heard a good story; it was about you and your friends. I don't remember much more than just hearing the stories - certainly not enough to recount them here. In the past couple of years, Dad has talked about trying to write some of them down. He has explained who Richie and Danny were and who their parents were - but I honestly can't remember what he said. Maybe I like it better than way.

As I was typing this, I told T what I was blogging about. Based on the blank stare and her, "after 12 years ..." comment, it sounds like I should share more about this with my own family - maybe in a black mini-van named "Muriel" outside a price-chopper. I might ruin some of the magic by "researching" it with Dad - still, If I could make that kind of memory it might make for more happy childhoods.

Looking Back - The Vow Week 2

Well, I managed to blog every day for a week; and I must say it's been nice to feel like I've actually accomplished something. Granted, this was not much to do - but I've been feeling like I don't get much done lately. Looking over my blogs for the week (especially yesterday) has made me realize that I am being a little negative.

This is often a big part of my so-called "personality", so I can justifiably be a little self-loathing now and then. On the other hand, it doesn't make for good blog reading and probably isn't the best foot forward to put out there. With that in mind, I'm going to try for another 7 days of blogging. This time I'm going to try and be happy and (somewhat) funny. So keep reading and tell those people you call friends. Dash is going to relive happy childhood moments.

For those of you that like rules and guidelines, I'll once again stipulate that "daily" blogs can be posted after midnight and still count. Also, I'll define childhood as pre-17 (when I went to college). Just like last week, if you'd like to suggest a topic, please comment to this post.

... now where did I put that yearbook? .....

Bargain Bin

Today the whole family headed out to do our grocery shopping. This is significant because it was the first time T had gone to the store since Thankgiving. After analyzing the list, we found that everything (except toilet paper) could be picked up at the local ALDI store; so off we went. We were just about to check out when I saw an asile end-cap display with PC game 3-packs for $9.99 each.

This immediately sounded like a good deal - especially since T has been wanting to get an online scrabble game for her laptop for a while now. The 3-pack also came with a PC version of Monopoly and a multi-cd of board games like backgammon and parcheesi. T was happy with the purchase .... and I picked up Civillization II, Joan of Arc, and Troy.

T's scabble seems pretty cool but Civ II is horrible. If anyone out there in the Blogverse is just dying to play this, they can have mine for a rubber-band and a paper-clip (+ shipping and handling). Yes, even unusable office supplys have more appeal this pile of "code". No opinion yet on Joan or Troy, but I guess I'll see how they turn out as well.

If I have just somehow managed to miss the magic of the game and you can explain it too me, please let me know.

Doc's Quiz

Thanks to all of you that have submitted questions for this week's bloggin marathon ..... ok, actually it's more of a mini-marathon. Today - since I have adequate battery life - I'll be answering one comment in greater detail than the others. It seems fair that I would do this for Doc since I am so behind in commenting to his blog.

Q1: What/Who's your favorite cartoon character?

Answer: For a long time the answer to this questions was always Marvin the Martian. That little green guy was cool in the same way that Booger was cool in Revenge of the Nerds. I used to have a marvin ball cap, a marvin watch, marvin stickers on my trapper keeper .. I'm pretty sure I even had a marvin tie when T and I started dating.

Today though, I find myself identifying with a whole new kind of Cartoon character. Hank Hill and his buddies from Arlen TX is by far my my favorite cartoon - surpassing even the Simpsons (just breathe BB ... it's ok). Last night, T and I watched the episode where Hank and Peggy are trying to get pregnant; I've never seen her laugh so much at a cartoon ever. By the way, my appreciation for the Hills has nothing to do with how narrow (or wide) my urethra might be.

... that last bit of info was for doc.


Q2: What country outside of USA would you most want to visit, and why? (i.e. Netherlands, legal pot)

Answer: As un-exotic as it sounds, I'd really like to spend some time in the less populated parts of the British Isles. This probably has more to do with a chance to listen to celtic music in the right setting and reading about barrows, amons, and tols when I can actually see them from where I'm sitting.


Q3: When you get old, would you rather have a healthy mind and decrepit falling apart body (like Parkinson's) or a healthy body and demented mind (like Alzheimer's)?

Answer: I'd like to keep it all upstairs even if means the plumbing and wiring don't work that well.


Q4: What's your favorite fast food?

Answer: If I have to go with a national chain with drive-throughs at every other highway exit, I'll go with McDonalds. I've ordered 2 double cheeseburgers (with no pickle) and a small coke nearly every visit for 10 years. I'm proud to say that both of me are in that count of "millions and millions served"

If I can pick anything that is inherantly unhealthy and is served on paper, I'll pick "Casper's" in Springfield, MO. I was shocked to learn that they are still in business back in the old orange quansit hut down by the river. They had previously moved to a twice remodeled KFC on the hip south side of town but closed quickly - I thought for good - in their new unsatisfyingly clean diggs. Casper's is famous for their Chilli and Burgers .. or Chilli-Burgers if you're in a hurry. My dad said that they open just after labor day each year and serve lunch until the warmth of memorial day sends them into semi-retirement for the summer. He has a Casper's sweatshirt - I'm jealous.


Q5: And last but not least - Extreme Hot vs. Extreme Cold?

A: I'm a cold lover. But not to a nutso extent like those polar bear swimmers off the southern coast of Chile. Nor would I want to have been that guy that just set the world record for the longest polar swim (half an hour). This has nothing to do with me - but when you listen to NPR, it shows up in everything.

Thanks for the great questions Doc. Only 4 more blogs to go .... will he make it?????

stay tuned.

Tri-fecta

Within the last 60 minutes, I've consumed:

* One 20 oz. Cappuccino

* One 20 oz. Diet Coke (with lime)

* Five chocolate covered Expresso Beans

... I feel like Beavis ..... hehehehe ....nyanyanyanya .....jumpy jumpy.... cool!

gogogogogogogogogogogogogogo - uh hehehehehehe.

Dark Chocolate

I made the rounds with N and C-Man last night as part of the annual Samhain festival. Like any good druid trying to keep the evil spirits away from my house; I walked far and wide carrying an increasingly stuffed jack-o-lantern accompanied by a paper-faced skeleton and a Cyndi Lauper look-alike. We muttered ritualistic greetings and proudly received compliments on our scary costumes.

I myself, chose the top half of a used gorilla suit. Accessorized with a grass skirt and a coconut bra, I'm sure that any evil spirit that might have sought to assail me on this dread night, fled in terror back to Hell or Omaha depending on their particular level of nastiness. The coconut bra came in handy for storing the popcorn balls we picked up on Beverly avenue. They were bigger than anything else we came across and would have sent us home through the bonfires with a prematurely full bucket had I not recognized the storage opportunity.

The large variety of edible gifts given to the wanderers at Samhain never ceases to amaze me. Some, like the popcorn balls mentioned above are a wistful reminder of years gone by when I would terrorize all the residents of my little neighborhood as a clown ... or worst of all, a Jewish priest with a complete ephod. I think I was a mummy once - back in my Egyptian phase. Today, the candy is so much more impersonal. I would trade it all for a good ol' caramel apple (no razor blade for me - thanks).

Now the skeleton is tucked in his bed, and Cyndi has all of her makeup off (almost). Me and the Mrs have settled down for a long falls night of picking through the goodies the little ones are allergic too. One part of the modern festival seems to have heard the cry of my heart .. or at least my taste buds. Dark Chocolate. You have to really dig through the bucket to get past the unimaginative plain Hershey bars and the ubiquitous Milky Ways to find them ... Dark Kit Kats, Dark Reses, bless me .... Dark M&Ms!

Popeye

I had pasta with spinach for lunch today. Not usually a cooked spinach fan, I was a first a bit hesitant; but I changed my mind when I saw that there was Italian sausage too. You probably don't care what I had for lunch - and I don't blame you. The spinach reminded me of someone though.

Like any kid born from the 30's through the late 70's Popeye the Sailor Man was an iconic part of my childhood. He never quite convinced me to eat cooked spinach though. I remember seeing it sitting there next to the mashed potatoes in the Luby's cafeteria line and wondering why they would put something so terrible next to something so wonderful. There was no chance that my parents were going to let me get a piece of pie further down by the money lady - so my mashed potatoes would be all I had to look forward to ... and they better not taste like spinach.

My favorite Popeye cartoons were when he and Brutus would try to out-fish, out-sail, out-fight each other. It was just as violent as Tom and Jerry (the original Itchy and Scratchy) but always seemed more fun. He was always defeated - but I never could help rooting for Tom a bit. With Popeye, it was always clear who the good guy was. The guy with the cool anchor tattoos that would morph into rockets when he ate his spinach.

My granddad looked just like Popeye. Short with huge forearms a pointed chin and a high pitched little chuckle. He worked for the railroads for most of his life starting out when he joined the army at 16 or 17 back in WWII. He was flat footed so he had to work stateside moving the supply trains all over. He never said much, but he never stopped working. Like Popeye, I'm convinced that he could have bench pressed me when I graduated from college. T and I used to play cards with he and grandma when we lived in Springfield. He never really tried to outwit the other team and would discard exactly what we needed without a second thought ... but he played his hand to win. Grandma would get mad at him for not letting her play the points in her hand, but they still won anyway.

Lunch was good today, maybe I'm finally learning to eat my spinach.

Coins

My Dad came to visit for the weekend - this was only somewhat of a surprise since he called us on Wednesday to let us know he was coming. Our other Labor day plans had fallen through, so it has been neat to have him over. Even if we did have to do the yard and other chores under a tighter deadline.

Tonight when dad came to the door, he was carrying a lawn chair that I had left at his place and a box that he said was fragile. He gave the chair to C, handed me the box, and went back for the rest of his stuff. Only later this evening did he reveal that the box was full of special treaures that he had found while unpacking from his recent moves.

The first thing out of the box was a pair of marraccas that my folks bought in Jamacia in 1983. After shaking them a bit, in what I'm sure was a clever latin rythym, I found that the rest of the box had a collection of coins and currency that my dad and grandpa had collected over the years.

There were some neat old half dollars (Eisenhower, Kennedy, Franklin etc.) a whole bunch of wheat pennies that grandpa collected along with coins and currency from Canada, Mexico, Vietnem, Guatemala and others. The highlights for me though were a bunch of pennies that my granddad had laid on the railroad tracks while he was working as a linesman for the northern pacific in Michigan and Canada before my dad was born. As you can imagine, they are squashed flat - but still identifiable.

Another surprise was a bunch fo tokens from the video arcade near our house called "Games People Play". That's where I first saw Galaga, Joust, Space Invaders, and a whole bunch of fun games - my dad used them for pinball if I remember correctly.

The strangest coin (even more so than an original Oklahoma turnpike token) was a very small coin that featured a palm tree, some arabic lettering, and a large number 1. It was a genuine widow's mite that was sent to my family as a thankyou for donating (or calling) a televangelist of some kind. I remember holding the tiny coin in my hand when I was younger and thinking about how little the widow was actually giving when she outgave all the rich giving extravagant gifts. If you know me very well, you know that I'm not all that into TV preachers nowadays. And the fact that I remember that message is very telling of what it meant to me .... and how much it continues to affect how I see giving today.

well, as golden would say - that's my 2 cents.

Singin' In the Boys Room

Singin' In the Boy's Room

So there I was - minding my own business; playing a game of Yachtzee behind door number 2. As I heard the door open I noticed that the guy walking in was humming rather intently and the tune seemed oddly familiar.
..
Then the humming got louder ... followed by some un-zipping and other sounds ... then he starts in with the "Do Deee Do De Dum, De Do Dum Dum Do Dee Do Dee". I was starting to remember where I had heard the tune when he breaks into a full voiced, "How great, is our God - sing With Me. how great is our God ....." as he heads for the sinks.

As I mentioned last week, we now have the new (way to sensitive) fancy "laser" flushing mechanisms. I didn't mean to - but a sudden sneeze hit me and I leaned forward a bit, causing a really loud flush that caught him about halfway through a rather off-key "GREEEAATTT". It was instantly silent in the bathroom. He walked very quickly to the door (forgetting to wash).

I don't even know who he was - but I doubt it was one of those "angels unaware" moments.

506

I downloaded the 'Jamdat' version of Yachzee Deluxe onto my Samsung phone when I got in a few months ago. It provides a nice distraction while waiting for a meeting or when you just need a mental check out for a few minutes. Since, I'm the only to use my phone - all of the high scores are mine ... I usually enter the day of the week that I played the game on. so far, Wednesday's are in the lead in overall average scoring - but something special happened today.

Today I hit 506

Keep in mind that this is a single 13 turn Yachtzee game. There's no sneaky-sneaky balancing out your bad rolls across 6 collumns to keep your bonus. My average game is around 275, so this was huge! I've been trying to figure out what the highest possible score is ... and so far it looks like 714 if you allow 3 100-point bonus Yachtzees and a yachzee to take the place of small straghts, large straights, and the full house. That would be 13 straight Yachtzees (as follows)

1 yachzee each in: 1s, 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s, & 6s
3 yachtzees in 6s to max out the points in 3 & 4 of a kind and chance
4 more yachtzees of any number to earn your inital 50 point yachzee, and the straights/house.

I've never done this well with real dice. I wonder if the game is 'loose' with it's yachzees or if I just play it more often - making this kind of a score a more statistically expected possibility. I don't think that I'm playing any smarter that when I was 12.

Mundane Facts for Friday

1 out of every seven pencils in my pen/pencil cup has a green eraser. There are 3 black pens for every 1 blue. My red highlighter is completely useless.

Mundane Fact For Thursday

I have 132 paper clips in my desk drawer. 32 are "jumbo" - I've never used any of the regular size that were in the drawer when moved in 2 years ago.

The Lake Wobegon Effect

I've been listening to Garrison Keillor's 'Lake Wobegon Summer 1956' and thought I might take a moment to recommend it to those of you that might need more weight to keep the bedside table from floating away. Lake Wobegon, for the uninitiated, is a fictitious town in Minnesota. His weekly radio show: A Prairie Home Companion, features the news from Lake Wobegon, "where the women are strong, the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average." .... more about that in a bit.

T will tell you that my favorite book is always the one that I'm reading and that I have "Fan" personality the way some people have addictive personality. By that I mean that given a sufficient amount of exposure to an author / director / world / universe etc., I will feel compelled to explore every dusty corner until the next thing grabs my eye. Observing a multitude of fandoms (as a newbie in each) has provided a rather varied perspective of what it means to be "into" something. Believe it or not, I consider myself a rather moderate fan in just about every category. This is mainly because I have met the "real" fans and well .... they scare me.

My first scare was when I stepped into Cosmic Planet, a comic book store in Tulsa OK. Comic books had been my thing for a few months and I had encountered my first real snag as a collector. You see, I had issues 2-6 of DC's Super Powers Miniseries (including the cool one with Mr. Fantastic on the cover) but I was missing #1. This was right before the "comics are a good investment" revolution of the late 80's when comic stores were made more friendly and staffed with eager friendly investment bankers.

It only took me about 5 minutes to find the book; but I couldn't get out of there fast enough. Not sure what the music was that was blaring through the store; but it probably had "death" in the title and a corpse on the album cover. The artwork on the walls was all gruesome and the employees were all scary older kids dressed in black. On the upside, Issue #1 (with Darkseid holding the all the heroes in his giant fist) is now worth $25 and the value of the other 5 is up because it's a complete set. I paid $3.00 for the book - 4 times what I had paid for the other issues at my beloved Safeway Grocery Store at the corner at 111th and Memorial in Bixby, OK.

I'm a Safeway kind of fan. I know that the long expected party was Bilbo's 111th birthday and like to make sure that I pronounce Tolkien's Elvish names correctly, but have never once considered buying the rings, swords, goblets, or anything else in the Noble House catalog of LOTR collectibles .... except the pewter chess set (which is down to $275 on eBay). As it was told - on a dirt road - I went to see Episode Three at midnight, but there is no storm trooper armor at my house .... although I think there are some second-hand light sabers - but they are in the little guy's room. I can name 26 Star Trek Captains, but have never been to a convention. I never lived in my parent's basement; and yes - Mr. Shattner, I have kissed a girl.

The internet has made it easier to tip-toe into a fandom without going all-in. I don't think I ever used the B'joran ensign profile I created for Star Trek.com to do anything more than review continuity guides and read articles about how Roddenberry's fictitious "star dating" might work ... even though he never bothered to work it out himself. The passing fan can click a bit, find his or her answer and go right back to have a somewhat normal life that more prepared to answer intelligent questions in canceled TV. series trivia.

Now back to Lake Wobegon .....

Sociological studies have shown that most really think their kids are above average. According to one frequently cited statistic that demonstrates this cognitive bias found by a study conducted by Ola Svenson, 80% of students believed they were in the top 30% of safe drivers. The effect has been found repeatedly by many other studies for other traits, including fairness, virtuosity, luckier and better investors, to name a few. While this is statistically impossible, maybe it helps explain my Fan-aticism. If a book or other artistic work is worthy of being experienced, I feel like I'm both cheated and cheating it I don't experience it fully.

I desperately want to be above average - even if it's just in my ability to tell you that while Lake Wobegon is fictitious, Keillor based his town on Anoka, Minnesota - which just happens to be the self-proclaimed Halloween capital of the world. They have a big parade every year ... well actually 2 parades - one during the day and one at night .... plus a kids mini-parade outside the elementary school the Friday before Halloween.

Oh, and there's a big high school football game called the Pumpkin Bowl .....

KodaChrome

"As I look back, on all the crap I did in high school. Its a wonder I can speak at all."


My small part in the Human Video revolution was back before we even called them "Videos". We considered ourselves mimes and would wear the white faces and black clothes to look the part. I had the white gloves and a trademark tripple tear-drop painted just below my left eye.


The first song I performed in was a "Music Mime" of Petra's 'For Annie' (see #2,3,5,13,15,20 below) followed quickly in succession by:

The Carman Trilogy:- Sunday's on the Way (#1,2,4,5,6,8,12,18)
- Lazarus (#4,9,10,11,12,14,21)
- The Champion (#1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,10,11,12,13,14,18,19)

THE TWENTY-ONE ESSENTIAL HUMAN VIDEO MOVES
1. Somebody Get's Nailed to Something
2. Tragic Half-Slump to Indicate Dying
3. Sudden & Thudding Fall to Floor to Indicate Dying/Failure
4. Demons Writhe Arround Mennacingly
5. Smoking Gestures to Indicate Worldliness
6. Bottle Tipping Gestures to Indicate Worldliness
7. Slutty Strutting / Wiggling to Indicate Worldliness
8. Angelic / Smugg Looking Resurected Character
9. Petting / Stroking Imaginary Animal (usually a Lamb)
10. Opening Imaginary Book (Bible/Book of Judgement)
11. Pointing to Imaginary Book
12. Double-Arm Shielding of Face in Bright (Heavanly) Light
13. Double-Arm Swimming Gesture to Indicate a Mist/Fog
14. Despairing Far-Off Look
15. Pill Taking to Indicate Drug Use / Suicide
16. Imaginary Gun to Temple - Suicide
17. Imaginary Rope - Suicide
18. Imaginary Knife/Spear Wound
19. Filler Choreography While Chorus Repeats Endlessly
20. Standing Really Still While Chorus Repeats Endlessly
21. Akward/Abrupt Fadeout to Prevent Endless Repeating


Although I can proudly say, that I have never performed to a Ray Boltz song, this prolific slow-worded / story song writer has touched the human video world like no other.

The Boltz Lamb Trilogy:
- Watch the Lamb (#1,2,8,9,10,11,14,19,20,....21)
- There Stood a Lamb (#1,2,8,9,10,11,14,19,20,.... 21)
- I Pledge Allegiance To The Lamb (#1,2,8,9,10,11,14,19,20, then 21) + (5,6,7,15)

The Other Boltz Trilogy:- Thankyou (#1,3,8,10,11,12,12,14,19,20, .... 21)
+#9 Just Because its a Boltz
- Feel the Nails (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,10,11,12,13,14,21)
+ #9 Just Because it a Boltz
- Saving Grace (#1,2,5,6,7,10,11,12,13,14,18,19)
+#9 Just Because its a Boltz

After the makeup, I did move on to coreograph a couple of White Heart songs for a Youth group that I helped during college. You might notice that these have less of the essential moves items associated with them - but I'm sure that some moves that I considered good back then are tragically overdone now.

- Desert Rose (#1,4,10,11)
- The River Will Flow (#12,13,14)

As you might expect, I was very concerned with timing key visual effects to associate them with interesting things that were going on in the music. Chris McHugh, White Hearts drummer until the end of FrEEdom, provided a lot of neat queues that the lesser "boltz'ian" videos just don't have .... except for the whole "hammer ringing" thing, which was pretty obvious to begin with.

FrEEdom

When I was a teenager I got a Walkman for Christmas. I'm not sure what brand it was and it might actually have been 2 or more walkmans that I'm remembering together.

The point is that I - like so many others spent a good amount of my life with headphones on. And just like it's trendy step-cousins, the disc man and the ipod, a walkman can be a bit of an anti-social device.

I know that they provide the possibility of instant "sharing" of music and as the Duracell commercial points out - give a girl your disc man when her batteries run out on that long band trip ... and she is yours. The anti-social part comes in when you're not one to strike up a conversation anyway .. and you end up being that creepy guy with the headphones on all the time.

Headphones and their ear-bud counterparts provide a wall of protection. They say, "Hey, I'm listening to something so don't bug me" ... besides I might be too scared to talk to you anyways. Please dear God, don't let them ask me what I'm listening to; because then I'll have to explain the whole Christian Music thing - DARN!! - I knew I should have brought something cool and introspective - like Simon and Garfunkl. Think .... THINK .... Does Rush have a keyboard player? ... it'll be to obvious if I open up with a comment about Neil Piert's drumming. All the while, Petra's Back to the Street is blaring though my head "It's just your Altar Ego .... And You Don't Even Know! ... And you won't ever grow, 'till His Spirit strikes a blow to Altar Ego".

As you can see, I wasn't always the social butterfly that I am today :-)

What got me thinking about walkmans was my walk into the building from the parking lot this morning. I was humming an old White Heart tune called "Desert Rose". It was a cool song, and as Mrs. Dash has heard a few times - I once created/coached a "human video" for a youth group that I helped out back in the days the butterfly thought he could fly on his own. While I was thinking about White Heart, I thought of a co-worker whose Aunt has recently suffered a heart attack. I said a quick prayer for her family and reflected that it was good that they are able to be with her at the end.

The night my mom died, we left grandma to stay with her and went home to get some sleep. It had been an exhausting several months and my trusty walkman had been a constant companion in more waiting rooms than I could count. Then again - I can count them ... and I can tell you where they are in the hospital ... and where the cafeteria was .... and the snack bar ... and the library .... and the chapel. I was getting ready for bed when the phone rang. After a few minutes, Dad came down the hall and told us that we were going back.

I remember getting ready to walk out the door and realizing that I didn't have my walkman. I had been spending most of the last few days listening to what I was convinced was the greatest tape of all time: White Heart's "FrEEdom". This was the last album before Chris, Tommy, and Gordon left to run their own studio and way before Tommy was backing up Bruce Springsteen on SNL. If you've never heard, you should try it.

When I stopped and ran back in the house for my walkman - not wanting to spend a night in the waiting room without songs like "Power Tools", "Bye Bye Babylon", and my personal favorite "Eighth Wonder"; Dad yelled at me that I didn't need my stupid walkman. In retrospect, he probably already knew that she had died. With that in mind, what I thought was a very insensitive comment at the time wasn't all that bad.

I don't think I used my walkman for quite a while after that.