Daniel @ MindSay 
little brother
here it is.
Che Guevera
Matthew Gray Gubler(from Criminal Minds)
Frodo (lotr, NOT Elijah Wood, he has short hair= not the same)
Daniel Radcliffe (from Harry Potter)
the long haired light blonde from The Convenant
Severus Snape (not the actor)
Alex O'Loughlin (From Moonlight)
Johnny Depp (in POTC and Edward Scissorhands)
There's my list. >.<
Would you, gentle reader, consider my cyber silence of late deprivation or reprieve? One way or the other it's over, so git ready!
The comparatively frantic pace of our earlier travels has given way this past month to a very even, relaxed, down-right lazy Balinese experience. (Yogini Rosie is likely to take umbrage with the "lazy" designation, practicing near every dern day, so I'd best limit that to my own modus operandi.) Though an unsettling round of musical accommodations occupied much of our time and energy over the last two weeks (a shite situation now mercifully resolved), the experience here has been, on the whole, precisely what I was looking for in coming to Indonesia: a sublime symphony of recreation, relaxation, routine, reading and writing. It is ironic considering my travels of late but I'm a home body, and the past month and a half has slaked this innate inclination of mine. Bali is a truly remarkable little corner of the world, graced with mindbogglingly magnificent land- and seascapes and a culture that's as warm as the summer winds which sweep through these lush forest villages, situated snug amidst rice terraces, gentle hills and dense jungle. We are fully aware of how fortunate we are to be in Bali and are looking forward to spending the rest of our southeast Asian time here, required to be nowhere until our flight to New Zealand in late March. We're merely some ticket-switching and visa extending away from this being set in stone.
The one casualty of my aforementioned program, actually, has been the writing, as evidenced by my prolonged absence from this space. Most recent attempts have resulted in rusty rigmarole, sap-drenched drivel unfit for print, though important nonetheless in getting back on track. What's vexed me however is where's gone the inspiration? I have a theory on this which goes as such: I need some grit in my gears. This easy livin' shit offers little up front of the dark fodder necessary for a good long loud rant. Sinclair, in Hess' Demian, said, "It was not my lot to breathe fullness and comfort, I needed the spur of tormented haste." My tone has always followed my eye and my heart toward the tensions that sully our societies, the dense unspoken that shapes our days, our lives, our interrelations, our minds. Outside of Eden one need not probe deep to unveil evidence thereof, nor obvious (if not radical) solutions thereto. But here's the paradox: I'm in heaven and my art is suffering, my expression stifled.
This intellectual torpitude has likely arisen from how I'm going about this paradisaical perseity. Thus far the leisure has far outweighed the adventure, our time here spent more in books and varied bodies of water than on bikes. With the latter I presume comes exposure, which of course offers insight; hard-won angles at the scenarios surrounding. My chosen m.o. of late has afforded none of this: long lazy brunches; odd runs to the beach or the hills; poolside lounging; endless reading. What has accompanied it, however, is a social life. But I've never been the least bit compelled to chronicle cliquish tos and fros, and there's no need to start now; I'll spare you the yawns. But it's an element not present in most early, more personally creative phases of this journey.
Long winded admission of shiftless etiolation. Working on it and, now, moving on...
My good friend Mark Henry O'Connor came and spent a few weeks with Rosie and me, recently returning to Bao Dong, China, where he is teaching English for a year. Mark and I met in freshman English, way back in 1991, and have been fast friends ever since. A biology teacher at the elementary and high school levels back home, Merko (as his sister and I call him) decided one day out of the blue to go to China shortly after returning from a visit to our home in Olympia. I'm not sure what possessed him; it'd been a while since he'd traveled before coming to Washington (one year ago now) and upon returning to Maine he realized that the whole world was out there awaiting his eager exploration. A week after he headed back east I got an email from him with the subject line "Ching Chang Chong CHINA!!!!!!" and he was off.
Mark wasn't sure if he'd be able to make it here, with amorphous vacation dates and ambiguous communication from his project managers. But perseverance and dogged determination got him here in one piece, if not frazzled, chilled to the bone and more ready than ever for some Balinesian leisure. You see, Merko was in the midst of that Sino-rail debacle surrounding the lunar new year. He braved seas of humanity, queues running hundreds if not thousands of heads back, ice storms, food shortages and gods know what else en route. His train ride from Beijing to Hong Kong was supposed to last 26 hours. Seventy-two hours and several authority-quelled passenger mutinies later his train limped frozen and famished into Hong Kong. While back home in the PRC, battling record-low temperatures without benefit of a heater (in neither his school nor his lodgings) he'd taken to sleeping in two pair of thermals, pants, socks, jacket, hat and gloves. Needless to say, when he arrived a day late and bewildered he was more than ready for Bali's warm, laid-back ways. Three weeks later he departed tanned, rested and, understandably, hesitant. Back home now he's looking forward to the end of his service and to like opportunities thereafter. He spends his summer months, those blessed benefits of his trade, working at a world-class trout fishing camp in Maine. Rosie and I are eager to pay him a visit upon our return.
Wow. How 'bout them Giants? Sheeeit. Rosie, Mark, Jonny Woo and I all rolled down to Kuta first thing Super Bowl "Monday" to represent the chowdahead gang, to wave the flag, to watch my team cement their place in history as the undisputed greatest team in the history of the NFL, but ultimately to be shocked along with the rest of the sporting world. Un-freakin'-believable is really all I can say. What a finish. I'm still not over it. Only a successful Sox campaign this spring will begin to salve this pain, to fill the gaping void in my stomach where my team pride used to be. OK, perhaps this is a touch dramatic but Jesus. How did this happen? Arrgh....go Sox!
Rosie is great folks. She's doing her practice daily, spicing her more demanding, self-lead Ashtanga practice with a couple of gentler Hatha classes every week, and with satisfying results. Between our departure from Mysore and our arrival here in Ubud, she's not had a community with whom to nurture her skills, from whom to draw inspiration. It is important, apparently. For Rosie sanga, or a community of fellow students, has been a welcome benefit of our establishing roots here in Bali. This, the friends that we've made, Merko's visit, the peaceful ease with which we pass our days here have all made our time in Bali simply fantastic.
That's all for now. I'll try to shake off this writer's block and post more often. Wish me luck and take care.
I've been looking for a good blog host for about a week now. I had initially signed up for Livejournal, but I realized that it had far more settings than I needed. So, I abandoned my Livejournal account and set off in search of a more simple blog. I decided to try Blogger, but I didn't like any of the templates, and when I tried to modify it, it continually played up. So I found My.Opera. Which looked great. Until I tried to put my own header in. The CSS just wouldn't work for me - I swear, that language is evil. It's conspiring against me. It's going to strike when I least expect it. Anyway, after signing up for goodness knows how many other blog hosts, each one of which failed to meet my standards (which, to be perfectly fair, weren't exactly sky-high), I finally found Mindsay. I scouted around the site a bit and it seems to meet every single one of my needs and wants! So, that's how I got here...I told you this was going to be random :).
My username, My Own Eternity, comes from the song "Before The Chance To Leave" by Motion In Colour. The four lines in my header are the lyrics from that song that always seem to grab me. My blog name, Out Of The Blue, wasn't really inspired by anything in particular, it just seemed to fit with both the design of the header and the sheer randomosity of this blog.
I don't have much to say now...just a few dates I don't want to forget:
31st January - Elliot Minor at Wrexham. Gutted we missed the signing, but the gig was awesome! Bought myself a signed poster and hoodie (the hoodie wasn't signed though)!
6th April - Showtime! at Wolverhampton. First time seeing Daniel Boys live; he was amazing, of course! And so was Kerry Ellis, but I wouldn't have expected any less from her! I found out about some really good West End performers, namely Ramin Kairimloo, Chris Key and Rebecca Lock. The students weren't good at all - I know they're only young, but if they want to go into the West End, they're going to have to be a million times better than they were. And the sound guy should have been shot. It's one thing to get the kids' mics wrong, but the pros as well? Off with his head!
12th April - Elliot Minor's album arrived in the post, and it was one of the first 500 to be shipped, which means it's signed! So now I have their autographs twice :), but I haven't met them once :(.
'Til next time, then,
Take care!
Have you ever done any work in administration? Ever been in a job where you organized and directed people? Fifteen years ago or so, I had oversight of 200 volunteers when I was the kid’s ministry pastor of a growing megachurch. It was a huge job and almost drove me over the edge of sanity, but that’s another story!
Laurie was reading in Daniel yesterday and shared with me about a vision that Daniel had of God’s throne room. Here’s part of it, from Daniel 7.
“Millions of angels ministered to him; many millions stood to attend him. Then the court began its session, and the books were opened.”
We were wondering what it would be like—rather, what kind of competency would be required—to have oversight of millions? We’re not told a lot about angels in the Bible, but one of the things we are told is that they are to “minister to the heirs of salvation,” which, if you’re a follower of Jesus, would be you. Daniel doesn’t reveal what, specifically, these angels are doing as they minister and attend to the Ancient of Days, as He is called here. Regardless of what they’re about, it is impossible for us to fully comprehend a Being who is able to administer the tasks of millions upon millions of these angelic entities. However, we shouldn’t be surprised that God, who knows the name of each star, about each falling sparrow and the number of hairs on our heads, does indeed have the competence and capacity to perform this administration.
This God, whom we serve, whom we love and who has graciously allowed us to know and have fellowship with, is, indeed, amazingly, wonderfully, unfathomable.
The reason there is such a vast amount of programming lately is because programming caters to advertisers who want people to buy their stuff, so they want programming that meets the interests of their target audiences. The current spreading of interest in the End Times, the book of Revelation, an investigation into The Rapture (was it Discovery Times or History International or the National Geographic Channel?) all tells the folks in cable television that they need to find information on this topic.
Often, the television programs turn to the book of Revelation, but they tend to neglect the gospels, thinking that the "good stuff" for television programming isn't going to be seen there.
However, Jesus teaches of some amazing things, there on that hillside near Jerusalem. He told his disciples to be on the lookout for the "abomination that causes desolation" (Matthew 24:15) that will be standing in the "holy place" prophesied by Daniel. Many have taught over the years that this alludes to a future rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem. However, Daniel himself did not say that there would be a Temple, there. What he says is this:
with many for one week,
but in the middle of the week
he will put a stop to sacrifice and offering.
And the abomination of desolation
will be on a wing of the temple
until the decreed destruction
The wing of the Temple, you will see there. A corner of it. A part of where it was or where it might be. This will presage the greater tribulation. Christ says that those who witness it should prepare to hide themselves at that time. "Run for the hills" is about what he said.
Has all that come to pass already? According to Eusebius, when there was persecution, many Christians did indeed remember the words of Christ during a time of persecution during the reign of Emperor Titus. The Christians fled to Pella, at the foot of the mountains, for safety.
However, I do not believe that the fulfillment of Daniel's prophecy is contained entirely in that era. Jesus referred to that prophecy specifically, and as his disciples were Jewish, they would have been familiar with Daniel's words. Jesus also goes on to say this:
Does this not sound as if the elect, then would still be present for the times of trouble? Does this sound as if Christ is promising a pre-tribulational departure for his followers?
I do believe that after all the trouble starts, there will certainly be those who do cry out to the Lord. They will be the exception, though, rather than the rule scripture teaches in the book of Revelation. As is the truth today, many people will discount God's hand in the events of the world, even as the signs and judgments pile up on one another.
So, folks may watch shows and specials on cable, they may read about it popular and fringe media, but it is still highly likely that many will not recognize the signs as they come about. For it is much more entertaining to speculate on the End of the Age than it will be to live through it.
Jesus says that many will come, claiming to be him, but they will be lying. False messiahs and prophets will appear (and indeed, they have done so over the millenia) to deceive many. (24:23-27)
They may even have a special on cable.
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