Djembe Lessons

I had my first lesson last night and it was fun. I found out that I know exactly squat about the correct way to play. But that's why you take lessons, correct? The teacher is cool...very knowledgeable. There's only two of us in the class and it was iffy as to whether it would be enough for him to justify coming out for the lesson (he lives on Vashon Island) but, in the end, he decided that between us and the advanced class, he had enough. (WHEW!)
So, between last night and today, I've forgotten more than I remember. I am going to take a tape recorder next week so I can record the lesson. I've got to find some time here in a bit to practice. How in the world am I going to find time to work, practice djembe, make art, write, take an acting class, be in the Christmas play and spend time with my wife? Geez, how did all that sneak up on me like that?
Anyway...I love the lessons and hope this is an ongoing thing. I love drumming. I have really missed making music these past couple of years. I miss being in a band jamming with my friends singing and playing great old songs. I hope the drumming will fill that void.

The Wrong Pastor

Sarah and I auditioned for the Christmas musical/play at church on Sunday. Today we found out the results. I got a small part as The Wrong Pastor which, in a way, seems appropriate for me. Sarah got the part of Aunt Pookie after Jeff told her to try the part "just for fun." She nailed it!
After seeing the results, I suffered the briefest bout of envy and then got over myself. I had hoped for a slightly bigger or more colorful part but, after auditions, really didn't know if there was a part for me. Honestly, were I to cast the thing, I would have made some of the same choices Jeff made. I told Sarah as we left that I wasn't sure there was a part in it that I could play. And seeing as how we are doing this partially to get to know folks, it's a great deal to just be a part of this.
Another factor is that I am taking an acting/performance class at Taproot in a few weeks and it's a big time commitment. So, I wasn't out for the lead anyway. I'm also taking djembe (african drum) lessons and that is also a big commitment. Plus, I am really dedicated to making art right now and I would not enjoy life if I didn't have time for that.
So, brushing envy aside, I somewhat joyfully embrace the upcoming busyness of fall in Seattle...which is a good thing because the butt indentation on the couch needs time to redistribute.

Booklist

Book of the Dead by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child - As the Museum of Natural History in NYC gears up for an opening that will save their reputation, Agent Pendergast must find a way to stop his brother Diogenes from fulfilling his evil plans, whatever they may be.
This is the third book in a trilogy, the first two being Brimstone and Dance of Death. This book is really good, hearkening back to the days of Relic. This book is really fun and action packed. The last two have dragged a bit. It's all been building up to a clash between the Pendergast brothers and while it doesn't quite deliver the way you'd expect, it's still pretty satisfying.
I've read that the authors are working on the next Pendergast novel. I wish they'd hang this character up for a while. In my humble opinion, their best books are the ones without Pendergast (with the exception of Reliquary).
Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things by Ted Naifeh - In this graphic novel, a moody middle schooler moves into a dusty old mansion with her family and her eccentric uncle. She soon discovers she's surrounded by a world filled with faeries and goblins and the like. Things are a big scary until she learns to use these things to her advantage.
I picked this up on a lark. Saw it on the shelf at the library and thought I'd give it a go. It's not bad. The art is really good and some of the stories are fun. I particularly liked the one about the changling. I've discovered that there are other books in the series so I may try to track them down.
30 Days of Night by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith - Barrow, Alaska is the northernmost city in the USA with arctic temperatures and a season where the sun doesn't come up for 30 days. This proves to be the perfect hunting ground for a pack of vampires. Mayhem ensues.
This is a true horror comic. It is extremely violent and bloody. I picked it up because I read a review that said it was good. It's clever, and I hear it's being made into a movie, but I don't think it will be winning any major literary awards. The dialogue is scarce. I read it quickly. The art is very dark and took some time to get used to. I believe the artist incorporates photographs underneath the paint. It's quite interesting and some of the panels are very good.
There are others in the series so I may try to read them but, like I said, this isn't for the faint of heart. If you're a hardcore horror/vampire fan, you'll probably like it.

Arius and Athanasius

I'm reading A Short History of Christianity by Stephen Tomkins and it's very interesting. It makes me wish I had taken more courses that cover this type of stuff in seminary but I was a former art student rebelling against the call of God. Why would I want to take a course in church history or theology or apologetics or hermeneutics (which, I was disapointed to find out, had nothing to do with Herman Munster). Ironically, it turns out that some of my favorite classes were Old Testament Survey and Systematic Theology. That doesn't mean I aced them all but I did okay for myself.
Anyway, back to Arius and Athanasius. These two guys couldn't get along. I won't go into details because I wouldn't be able to explain it correctly. Let's just say they couldn't agree on issues surrounding the divinity of Christ. Athanasius was for Christ as deity, Arius against. In the end, Arius lost. Amidst all this history, I found these few sentences of particular interest.

"Doctrinal propaganda war spread throughout the east. Arius wrote pop song with lines like 'the essence of the Father is foreign to the Son.' Their arguments were parodied on the pagan stage."

I find it funny that the arguments of Christians were parodied by pagans back then because that never happens nowadays. And we Christians don't do anything that's worth making fun of. I don't know where Jon Stewart and SNL and all these other funny people are getting their material. They must just be making it all up.

Jon Stewart: "Did Pat Robertson or Benny Hinn do anything funny this week?"
Writers: "No Jon.
Jon Stewart: "Well, then make some stuff up. We need material.
Writers: "Yes Jon.

As Dr. Evil would say, "Riiiiiiigggggghhhhhht." I started reading this book because I'm on a quest to try and find out why the church is so screwed up today. It looks like we're just following in our forefathers footsteps. I feel much better now...I think?

Clone Wars

Last night, Sarah and I attended a play at ACT called A Number. I didn't realize until we got there that Kevin Tighe was in the cast. If you're old enough, you'll remember Kevin on the old TV show Emergency! If you're younger than that, he has been on Lost playing Locke's father.
The play concerned itself with cloning and it addressed some pretty good issues about whether human cloning is right or wrong. The play takes no stand either way, allowing you to make up your own mind. Kevin Tighe plays a father who reveals that his son is a clone and that the original son is still alive and that there are about 20 others roaming around. The other fellow in the cast played the clones. As the father confronts 3 of these "things" including the original, the ethical and moral issues play out. The original is quite a villian and, at one point, the father asks if he is going to hunt them all down and kill them. Wow! What a movie that would make, huh? Man finds out he's been cloned so he tracks down and kills the others so that he can be unique again. Ah, but at the end there is a twist. He finds out he's a clone and he has killed the original. Maybe I'll pitch this to M. Night Shyamalamma-Ding-Dong. He loves those twist endings.
Anyhow, the play was only 55 minutes and raised some interesting questions but the dialogue was a bit annoying due to the way it was written. There were many unfinished sentences with the characters running on top of one another. I know it's a stylistic choice, one I didn't enjoy. The other guy who played the clone was very good. He played three characters that look alike but have different personalities. He did a very good job changing his accent and body language to create the characters.
After the play, I treated my lady to some dessert at The Cheesecake Factory because she had had a rough day and we all know that chocolate raspberry truffle cheesecake can make a bad day better.

Christians Using Their Imaginations?

"Midrash is the playfulness - and I say this in a loving way - with which the rabbis embraced biblical texts, filled in some of the blanks and missing pieces, and tried to seek God through the stories they told. The Bible itself is a very sparse account, and it needs us to be able to read it and make it come alive for us - it requires an imagination. I think what you've done with the Christian Scripture is something Jewish; you've filled in the pieces with Midrash. I didn't know that Christians were allowed to do that."

- Jewish rabbi speaking to Anne Rice about her book Christ the Lord

Source: Relevant Magazine Issue 19

A Manageable God

"Americans are known for liking big things. Our cars, meals and homes are all pretty big compared to those found in most cultures. It's ironic then that so often our concept of God isn't very big at all. We've reduced the 'Creator of all' to the 'man upstairs' - someone understandable, explainable. No wonder we've lost our sense of wonder about God.
I'm sure we have lots of reasons for trying to shrink God down to a manageable size. We like control. We fear surrender. We crave certainty. Sometimes we're so busy trying to run the world ourselves that we overlook the opportunities we have to see and remember just how big God is. Whatever the reason, when we shrink God, the result isn't just less wonder, it's less life"

Source: Chris Mitchell from A Place for Skeptics

Art Drought

This is me. I haven't been inspired lately and just can't seem to make myself sit down and make art. I think I messed myself up. I was in a groove doing my collages but I really miss painting and working larger so I started experimenting with some new techniques and now I'm stuck. I need get over myself and do what I always tell Sarah to do and that's to just sit down and do something...anything. Just slap some paint down or throw together a collage...anything to get the juices flowing again. SIGH!
If artists waited until they felt like making art to actually make some, there would be no art in the world.

When Doubt Overshadows Belief

"...my questions far outnumber any answers I've received. Early questions like,
God, where are you in all this?
gradually gave way to,
God, did you really speak to me at all, or was it just my own ideas and desires being wrongly attributed to you?
And then, questions like,
Do you really speak to and lead people at all, God?
eventually led to,
Do you even exist?"

1) Belief Requires Trust

"Believing in God is quite different from believing God. Eighty-five percent of Americans claim to believe in God, but very few of us really reorient our lives around that belief."

2) Belief Is Not the Absence of Doubt

"Rather, trust is most often deepened in working through the presence of doubt."

"Sometimes the greatest act of faith is in the doubting."
- Fyodor Dostoevsky

3) Belief Demands Action

"You can always tell what a person really believes by his or her actions."
- Jonathan Edwards

Source: Scott Larson in A Place for Skeptics

Uncle Terry, Pharmacist

My Uncle Terry works for Publix in Florida and he is being highlighted on the Publix Careers site. I don't know how long it will stay up so I'm preserving it here.

"At the age of 5, going door to door selling Rose Bud and Cloverine Salve to neighbors and friends, little did I know that the groundwork was being laid for my career as a pharmacist. Listening to their concerns about aches and pains, giving a smile or hug, and saying, "Let me know if you need anything more," taught me patience and understanding of others.
Fulfilling my parents' dream for one of five sons to obtain a college degree, I achieved that goal in 1969 from the University of Florida College of Pharmacy. Years of working in my own pharmacy then taught me customer service and the satisfaction of going that extra mile - whether it be lending a listening ear, sharing a simple smile, going in a few minutes early or staying late, delivering prescriptions to invalid patients who cannot drive, and yes, even returning to the pharmacy after closing to give that much needed prescription.
Publix has allowed me to continue those early-learned values of concern and caring for people. In working for Publix, I have found that doing whatever it takes to help someone, be it customer or employee, is the PUBLIX WAY. Thank you to my parents and Publix for allowing me to serve others."

Why Do You Do What You Do?

I find this site very interesting. Artsy and gimmicky and cathartic all at the same time. Reminds me a bit of Post Secret.

Crikey!

"Steve Irwin, the hugely popular Australian television personality and conservationist known as the "Crocodile Hunter," was killed Monday by a stingray while filming off the Great Barrier Reef. He was 44." (Associated Press)

This dude was extreme and I guess he went out the way he would have wanted to go. G'day, Steve.

Cruisin' Seattle

Sarah and I persuaded Adam and Heather to accompany us on an evening cruise last night. We had a good time. Before the cruise, we went by the gallery where Sarah and I have art. Sarah has sold two pieces and I have sold none. Way to go, baby! We then headed down to the waterfront and grabbed some dinner and drinks at Red Robin. We sat outside by the water and it was very relaxing.
The cruise was also very relaxing. During the summer, they run late cruises thru the locks so it was great to be out on the water during dusk. It was a beautiful evening. I took our new camera and will post some shots to my Flickr site when I get a chance. One of the unique things about last night's cruise was that the salmon were running. After we went thru the Ballard Locks we saw dozens of King Salmon (or Chinook) jumping. They are pretty big fish (around 50 lbs according to our guide) and it was amazing to see so many in one place. I hope we get a chance to go to the locks by land and see the fish ladder. I guess we should go soon while the salmon are running.

Photos on Flickr

Sarah and I sold our washer/dryer and used the money to purchase a digital camera. I took it out for a test drive the other day while walking the neighborhood and it's a great little camera. I've been trying to get back into the photography thing lately. I've pulled my old Pentax out on occasion and taken some shots but this digital camera is going to save us money on film and developing. I'll be posting some of the shots I take on Flickr so check them out sometime if you have a spare minute.

Booklist

Sorcerer by James Byron Huggins - "Retiring to rural New England, ex-detective Michael Thorn discovers a mysterious skeleton in his new home! When it suddenly disappears, his investigation unearths the stunning revelation that the bones belong to an ancient Egyptian sorcerer who fought Moses! Can Thorn defeat the necromancer before he wreaks havoc on the world?"*
I've read Huggins before and enjoyed it. I own copies of Cain and Leviathan and hope to get my hands on a copy of Hunter soon. I also plan on reading Nightbringer. This book, however, doesn't seem to be one of his best. The only thing I think it lacks is character development. It's a rip-snortin' action read. It's got killer sorcerers, an ex-cop who is tough as nails on the outside and a teddy bear of a family man on the inside, the elite ninja Catholic squad called the Assassini, priests, nuns, and a quaint little town that doesn't know what's gonna hit it. What you don't have is adequate background on any of the characters. Sure, you like them because they are trying to protect a woman and some kids but it would have been nice to find out a bit more about them as people. That said, I still enjoyed it but not quite as much as his others, my favorite so far being Hunter. If you want to read some Christian fiction that fits the mainstream market, look for Huggins. He's better than Peretti when he's on.

* Source: Christianbooks.com