Month: July 2004

  • Circe

    The merman Glaucus became enamoured of a dainty nymph called Scylla who came to the waters every day to bathe. Glaucus begged Circe to work her witchcraft upon the nymph to make her return his love, but Circe, intent on the favours of the merman herself, poured one of her poisonous charms into the fountain where her rival swam. No sooner had Scylla stepped into the water than her lower body was transformed into monstrous barking dogs. Distracted by the hideous metamorphosis and the ugly noise, Scylla threw herself into the sea and was changed into the roaring rocks between Italy and Sicily that bear her name.

    Excerpt from Webmagick
    from http://www.jwwaterhouse.com/view.cfm?recordid=63
    Who may see the passage of a goddess unless
    she willed his his mortal eyes aware?”
    Homer …..”The Odyssey”

    A child of the sea, and the sunlight to men…
    She comes to you with a glow within
    “A form of grace and beauty rare, “
    A singing nymph with sun-bright hair”
    Her eyes the color of the azure sea..
    But watch closely and you shall see,
    How her eyes shall mirror these:
    The seas, the storms, the noon sky so bright
    The iris, and the new dawn’s light,
    The hearts of men, whose souls they bare,
    When in her company, they do share.
    Endless treasures and gifts so rare…
    With magic kiss upon your brow,
    She seeks to cure your troubles
    And if perchance you would allow,
    A healing she would render.
    O! Harried , weary seekers!
    Rest easy in her care!
    For she may cure your troubles

    from http://www.jwwaterhouse.com/view.cfm?recordid=63

    “There must be thousands of girls sitting alone like me dreaming about becoming a movie star.
    But I’m not going to worry about them, because I’m dreaming the hardest.”

    – M.M.

    from The Bombshell Manual of Style
    by Laren Stover, Ruben Toledo

  • No Need For Luck, Just Strength

    This time four years ago, I was stuck in a job I hated. I had a run-down house that was in perpetual fix-me-up state. I was single and kinda bitter about it. I was beginning to feel my age, which was something new to me, as people often remark that I look 15 years younger than I really am.

    Today, I have a job doing something that I really love. I sold my run-down house for nearly twice what I paid for it, to someone who was happy to pay as little as he did, and even offered me $3000 more, because I almost didn’t want to sell it at all! And I’ve been happily married to one kick-ass husband for. . . Wow! almost two years now. Has it been that long? I finally have a house that can hold the entire family, and more! And I live next to a lake. It’s a shocker, that one.

    I really don’t care for people who tell me that I’m just lucky — the jealous ones who think that others get all the breaks. Lord knows, I’ve had my share of poop from people, and I know that at any point, poop can happen again. But it’s nice to be in a place I love again. It’s especially nice to know that my hard work was not for naught.

    God really does help those who help themselves. And when I mean God, I mean all the people who believed in me, and gave me a chance when they could have just as easily turned me away. It’s truly Divine when people can see something in you that is yet to be.

    Green Bananas
    by William Neuel Littleton

    I still buy green bananas,
    I have faith in the future, you see;
    They’re not for the moment, green bananas,
    But they’re ready to eat in a day or two or three.

    It takes some faith to buy green bananas,
    You gotta think the world is gonna be here awhile;
    It gets pretty scary, with all the bad stuff that happens,
    While we weather the storm, we might as well smile.

    I still teach old songs to children,
    I have faith in the future, you see;
    In a swirl of change, we all need an anchor
    And there’s no sense of home like an old melody.

    I still plant trees and flowers
    That might not even bloom while I’m still alive;
    The next generation needs to learn appreciation
    And that direction is worthy to strive.

    It takes some faith to buy green bananas,
    You gotta think the world is gonna be here awhile;
    It gets pretty scary, with all the bad stuff that happens,
    But while we weather the storm, we might as well smile.

    Thank you to sunnee for posting this song.

  • Topher in Training

    I truly admire people who run in marathons. Long-distance runner, I am not. The last time I ran a mile in less than 9 minutes, San Francisco started shaking somewhere above 7.0 on the Richter scale. The sky went black, and I lay on the track suffering really bad menstrual cramps for the rest of the day. I don’t run. I sprint.

    So Topher, a fellow former commodore, is doing his first marathon. And he’s asking his friends to support him in his cause. How can I refuse to sponsor research for something which is close to my own heart — cancer.

    For those who are interested, below is a link to Topher’s site, where he is sort of chronicling his training for the marathon, which will occur this December.


    http://www.topherpages.com/tint/

    It’s funny how Topher used to tell me, when he left the sailing club for his new job in California, how it hurt him to see the club’s website not being kept up after he left. I didn’t quite understand then, and now I do. But as he said, “Sailing clubs cycle in popularity.”

    Control freak I am. Sometimes you just have to let go (as in ignore that the old message board is now full of advertisements for teenage porn).

  • Come Around
    by Sister Hazel

    The sky fell down upon us and
    stole away my oxygen
    and left me standing breathless there with you
    The ocean wrapped around the sun
    The smell of June,
    the taste of your tongue
    is all I’d ever need

    I…
    I wanna be clear
    Well I needed you here
    And I’m waiting you out
    But you
    You don’t have a clue
    And I’d drive right through
    Oh to find you anywhere, yeah

    The sky fell down pulled us in and
    stole away my oxygen
    and left me standing breathless there with you
    The ocean wrapped around the sun
    The smell of June,
    the taste of your tongue
    is all I’d ever need

    But you, you keep on waiting
    for the sun to come around
    And you, you keep on waiting
    for something better
    better off to come around

    And you
    Well you wanted more time
    So I gave you more time
    Oh but I am the sun
    that waits to come around

    The sky fell down pulled us in and
    stole away my oxygen
    and left me standing breathless there with you
    The ocean wrapped around the sun
    The smell of June,
    the taste of your tongue
    is all I’d ever need

    But you, you keep on waiting
    for the sun to come around
    And you, you keep on waiting
    for something better
    better off to come around

    Whoa but you were a restless soul
    Where’s the next best thing
    Well I’ll wait for you
    All my life wait
    for you to come around
    come around
    yeah

    The sky fell down, pulled us in and
    stole away my oxygen
    and left me standing breathless there with you
    The ocean wrapped around the sun
    The smell of June,
    the taste of your tongue
    is all I’d ever need

    But you, you keep on waiting
    for the sun to come around
    And you, you keep on waiting
    for something better
    better off to come around
    come around
    keep on waiting
    come around
    you’re better off to
    come around
    come around
    come around

    Just a quick prayer for all those who are alone. Alone in aloneness with you — soldiers overseas, widows who stayed at home, widowers who are too old and too loyal to love another, children without parents, and all those who live trials by themselves, whether they chose to or not.

  • John Newton

    “THE GREYHOUND had been thrashing about in the north Atlantic storm for over a week. Its canvas sails were ripped, and the wood on one side of the ship had been torn away and splintered. The sailors had little hope of survival, but they mechanically worked the pumps, trying to keep the vessel afloat. On the eleventh day of the storm, sailor John Newton was too exhausted to pump, so he was tied to the helm and tried to hold the ship to its course. From one o’clock until midnight he was at the helm.

    With the storm raging fiercely, Newton had time to think. His life seemed as ruined and wrecked as the battered ship he was trying to steer through the storm. 1“
    John Newton was born in London July 24, 1725. At the age of eleven, after the death of his mother, he went to sea with his father, a merchant sea captain. At age 19, he became a sailor on a man o’ war, and deserted his company. He was captured, publicly flogged, and demoted from midshipman to common seaman.

    He was transferred into service on a slave ship, and then as a servant to a slave trader in Sierra Leone, where he was brutally abused. At age 23, he was found and rescued by one of his father’s colleagues, who managed to get him appointed as captain of his own slave ship.

    		 johnnewton3
    Newton plied in the slave trade for many years, and developed a reputation for profanity, coarseness, and debauchery which even shocked many a sailor, and led other sailors into unbelief. His mother had early taught him the Scriptures, but he had long since given up any religious convictions and rejected his mother’s teachings. He was known as “The Great Blasphemer.” However, on a homeward voyage, while he was attempting to steer the ship through a violent storm, he experienced what he was to refer to later as his “great deliverance.” He recorded in his journal that when all seemed lost and the ship would surely sink, he exclaimed, “Lord, have mercy upon us.” Later in his cabin he reflected on what he had said and began to believe that God had addressed him through the storm.2

    For the rest of his life he observed the anniversary of May 10, 1748 as the day of his conversion, a day of humiliation in which he subjected his will to a higher power.

    Newton left slave-trading and took the job of tide surveyor at Liverpool, but he began to think he had been called to the ministry. At the age of thirty-nine, John Newton began forty-three years of preaching the Gospel of Christ.

    John and his wife Mary moved to the little market town of Olney. He spent his mornings in Bible study and his afternoons in visiting his parishioners. For the Sunday evening services, Newton often composed a hymn which developed the lessons and Scripture for the evening.

    In 1779, two hundred and eighty of these were collected and combined with sixty-eight hymns by Newton’s friend and parishioner, William Cowper. The most famous of his hymns is known today as “Amazing Grace.”



    Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound)
    That sav’d a wretch like me!
    I once was lost, but now am found,
    Was blind, but now I see.

    ’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
    And grace my fears reliev’d;
    How precious did that grace appear,
    The hour I first believ’d!

    Thro’ many dangers, toils and snares,
    I have already come;
    ‘Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
    And grace will lead me home.

    The Lord has promis’d good to me,
    His word my hope secures;
    He will my shield and portion be,
    As long as life endures.

    Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
    And mortal life shall cease;
    I shall possess, within the veil,
    A life of joy and peace.

    The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
    The sun forbear to shine;
    But God, who call’d me here below,
    Will be forever mine.

    Newton’s Thoughts on the African Slave Trade, based on his own experiences as a slave trader, played a part in securing the British abolition of slavery.

    I am not what I ought to be. I am not what I want to be.
    I am not what I hope to be. But still, I am not what I used to be.
    And by the grace of God, I am what I am.    3

    Captain John Newton (1725-1807)

    References
    1 From http://www.gospelcom.net/chi/GLIMPSEF/Glimpses/glmps028.shtml
    2 From http://www.anointedlinks.com/amazing_grace.html (“Amazing Grace: The Story of John Newton” by Al Rogers reprinted from the July-August 1996 issue of “Away Here in Texas”.)
    3 Thank you to ServantsHeart for the John Newton quote.

  • Sunny Days


    A Playa Lake (dry for now) where the buffalo used to play.

    I love this place that Matt and I have moved to. I love driving home from work every evening, and being able to see all the stars. The evening breezes over the canyon are great after the 100o+F weather during the day. ‘Gotta love the lake-effect!

    Every day, I appreciate more and more about my colleagues, and where they’re coming from. They are all really great people, and I’m so happy to be working with them.

    I pray that for those people who do not have a job working with people that they gel with. It makes all the difference.

  • Free Speech: You Get What You Pay For

    People are always complaining that the media is too “liberal” or too “conservative.” The Media is always looking for a way to make people angry/mad/scared. That’s how it makes its living. A parasite that feeds on fear and vanity.

    Matt claims that the media is “too liberal.” But I still remember when a certain embassy was bombed in Africa, and all I could get on T.V. was stuff about sperm on a blue dress. Did the media ever cover WHO bombed that embassy back when Clinton was President? If they did, I never saw it.

    Liberals can claim that a “too conservative” media was trying to defame Clinton. (Living in Arkansas, I had enough evidence to defame him. I didn’t need more.) Conservatives can claim that the “too liberal” media was trying to downplay the bombings by focusing on sex shenanigans at home. Either way, sperm on a blue dress and stories about oral sex get better ratings than black people in Africa who died working in a U.S. embassy.

    You gotta play for the rubber-neckers if you wanna make a living.

    One of my childhood acquaintances — a beautiful and charismatic pathological liar — is now a journalist. I’m happy she found a way to use her talents to earn a living.

    I, on the otherhand, could care less about striking fear into people’s hearts or winning awards for my lies. I take care of people, whether they deserve it or not. And on the weekends,

    I GO SAILING!

    Today I had the misfortune to accidentally turn on the T.V. when “60 Minutes” was on. I saw John Kerry saying something about how Lincoln never invoked God when he was talking about the Civil War. Ummmm, hello. Is he trying to change history on primetime television? The Gettysburg Address does indeed mention God. Sorry, Kerry. Perhaps you oughta brush up on your U.S. history. I hope you do so, before you actually get voted into office. It’ll be helpful.


    http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/gadd/4403.html

    Can someone actually win Atheist-votes with lies?
    I see the word “God” there. I wonder which Gettysburg Address John Kerry read.

    I am absolutely in love with my new job. My coworkers are all really great. A nicer bunch of people, I could never have imagined. Some are Christian, some are Buddhist, some are Muslim, some are Sikh. But we all are working towards the same thing, and it cheers me to be with them, even if it’s 2 AM, and I have another admission from orthopedics.

    Joke from a surgeon:

    Q: “What do you call a 19-year old motorcyclist with no helmet?”

    A: “The perfect organ donor.”

  • Job Satisfaction

    My dad said something to me about work once. He said, “Everyone needs to have an occupation in order to be happy.” He said he got that quote from his dad too (but *his* dad said it Thai).

    Being in middle school, I didn’t have much of a chance to test this theory out. Being much older, and who-knows-how-many-jobs later, I find that, for myself, this quote is definitely true. It also appears to be true for Matt, my friends, and even my friends’ spouses.

    I am amazed at how long it took me to get where I am today, how much work-behind-the-scenes I had to do, and how much more I have yet to do. But I can definitely say that “job satisfaction” is what I have today, and that the last 13 years (although unnecessarily long) were worth the end result.

    For all those who are not yet employable, unemployed, or recently fired, may you find that occupation that helps you fulfill your dreams.


    A Blessing

    May the light of your soul guide you.
    May the light of your soul bless the work you do
    with the secret love and warmth of your heart.
    May you see in what you do
    the beauty of your own soul.
    May the sacredness of your work bring healing,
    light and renewal to those who work with you
    and to those who see and receive your work.
    May your work never weary you.
    May it release within you wellsprings of
    refreshment, inspiration, and excitement.
    May you be present in what you do.
    May you never become lost in the bland absences.
    May the day never burden.
    May dawn find you awake and alert,
    approaching your new day with dreams,
    possibilities and promises.
    May evening find you gracious and fulfilled.
    May you go into the night blessed, sheltered, and
    protected.
    May your soul calm, console and renew you.

    — O Donahue