Sunday, November 26th
Is the beast a man? Which man is the beast?
I dreamed about our pet Yorkshire Terrier Molly two nights in a row. The first dream was in the form of I'm beginning to call a "dream vignette." I've been having more and more of these recently: short dream sequences that don't seem to connect to other dreams. In my Molly vignette, Molly is charging me furiously without barking (this would never happen in real life.) When she realizes who I am, she suddenly stops: just a foot or so away. The second dream was much more involved. I dreamed I was in a house similar to our old one on Clinton Heights. I am securing the back door because there is a tiger trying to get in the house. I am trying to protect my family which is upstairs. Then I realize that there is another tiger at the front door. So I run up there and find that an absolutely huge tiger is pressing against the door. Despite the fact that the door is a metal security door fastened with a heavy deadbolt, the beast had suceeded in pressing the door inwards about half an inch. I am leaning hard against the door (rather futile since the tiger weighs several times what I do) and trying to fasten the other deadbolts in the door. Realizing this is futile I start to fasten the chains. As I'm doing so, I hear Nancy say in a calm voice, "Instead of worrying just about your own safety, you should worry about our safety, too." I look out the window and realize that Nancy and Molly are outside with the tigers. As I look, the tiger that was at the back door runs into view and chases Molly. Molly runs, but suddenly becomes blind and starts running in random directions. Nancy says, "Don't worry about it, it's just hysterical blindness. She'll get her sight back."
At election time my thoughts always tend to reconsider the role of the Book of Revelation's Beast from the sea, because it is such a political image. Maybe that's why I'm dreaming of beasts. I've also been thinking more about the word beast, perhaps because someone mentioned the old Christmas song The Friendly Beasts. The title of this song reminds me that the connotations of the English word beast have changed over the years. Originally it simply meant animal, but over time beast has developed a more specific meaning. It's a shame that we've forgotten that the picture of the Revelation beast is the picture of an animal. This has continued to promote speculation over which man is the beast, which of course further obscures the picture. Roman Catholic theology tends to identify the beast with the man Nero or another Roman Emperor, the reformers identified the beast as the office of the pope, and fundamentalist/evangelical types identify the beast as a future man antichrist. All of this obscures what to me is the one of the coolest things about the picture of the beast as a parody of creation. In the beginning, God forms man in His image from the dust and gives him authority over all the beasts. In Revelation 13, a dragonish beast gives authority over all the men to another beast that arises to the sea. It's a wonderful picture of the topsy/turvy nature of authority in this present world.
Thursday, November 23rd
Things I am thankful for
10. My job
9. Technology, especially the internet (yeah, i know, i know, shallow ain't i?)
8. Good drink and good food, especially coffee
7. Music
6. Friends that care (even if they only care a little bit)
5. Being able to see and hear (more or less) after all these years and for my generally good health
4. Living in the greatest community in the greatest country on the greatest planet in the galaxy
3. Three beautiful children: Anya, Chad, and Jacob (alphabetical order)
2. Nancy, my wife
1. God in Three Persons
Wednesday, November 22nd
More kudos where more kudos are due
Yes, my lovely and insanely practical wife has done it again- bought me some great shoes for my feet and some generic orthodic thingies that are supposed to make my feet feel better. We got them from The Walking Company, a snazzy store at the Tuttle Crossing mall. The sales clerk popped me up on this computerized platform that analyzed the way I allocate my weight across my feet and recommended a certain shoe insert.
They don't work miracles, but my feet do feel better.
One thing that I learned is that there are two different measurements to consider when buying shoes: there is your toe size, and your arch size. My toe size is 10 and my arch size is 11.5. It is pretty typical to have a larger arch size than toe size apparently. I've always bought shoes based on how my toes fit, but judging from how my feet have felt for the past few months I need to reconsider this strategy. My foot consultant told me that it's ok to have a little play in the heel so long as the rubbing doesn't produce blisters and your heels don't pop completely out of the shoe. The shoe we finally settled on was a Keen. Keens run a bit smaller in the toe size, so the size 11.5's that I bought are actually about 10.5 in the toe. Very comfy.
The clerk asked us if we wanted to buy some beeswax to waterproof the shoes Of course it is a great idea to waterproof one's shoes, but I've been down this road before. You buy this great waterproofing product and then it sits on a shelf for years, never used. As I was pondering whether to buy the beeswax a bit of The Walrus and the Carpenter by Lewis Carroll popped into my head:
"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes and ships and sealing wax
Of cabbages and kings
And why the sea is boiling hot
And whether pigs have wings."- Lewis Carroll
The walrus sounds a lot like a politician at election time. I can imagine the walrus speaking forth as though these things are dreadfully important subjects. Democrats, of course, are sure the sea is boiling hot because of the Republican's failed energy policies. The Republicans, on the other hand, are sure that the boiling hot sea is just a result of the natural cycle of things. The line about cabbages and kings reminded me of Diocletian, who retired his position as Emperor of Rome to grow cabbages. Other people have seen political overtones in this poem also, although I suspect that they are accidental. But like politicians, as soon as walrus' objectives are obtained, he promptly ignores the little people (or oysters in this case):
"Now, if you're ready, Oysters dear,
We can begin to feed."
"But not on us!" the Oysters cried,
Turning a little blue.
"After such kindness, that would be
A dismal thing to do!"
"The night is fine," the Walrus said,
"Do you admire the view?"
Has anyone else noticed that the politicians are ignoring us now that they've gotten our votes? I haven't got a single piece of political mail since the election.
Perhaps I'm having these thoughts because I'm mentally still in the aftermath of the election frenzy. The other night I dreamed that I had been elected to Congress. We were taking a vote on a bill called "The Amended Patriot Act." I knew that this act scaled back the provisions of the original Patriot Act and that it was likely to pass overwhelmingly. I also realized that I hadn't read the first word of it. I didn't want to look like an idiot, though, so I went ahead and voted for it. I got a glaring look from a young man that I realized was also a newbie congressman like me, and I realized that he wasn't upset because I voted for the bill, but because he knew that I hadn't read it. Then it was announced that we would begin discussion of the next bill which was called "The Pacifist Act." I knew that this act would abolish the U. S. Airforce without, however, scaling back other branches of the military. It sounded like an exciting bill to me but, like the other bill, I hadn't read the first word of it.
Sunday, November 19th
Pursuing a sidecar
It's not so much what you say as how you say it. Nobody wants a "plywood" guitar, but a guitar with "all-laminate construction" is pretty spiffy.
"Antique" stuff is cool, but expensive. And "fashionable" stuff is mondo expensive. That's why my world has become "vintage." Vintage means that it's not old enough to be an antique and not new enough to be fashionable. 96.2 percent of everything I own is vintage, and the other 3.8 percent is going to become vintage within the next 15 minutes.
About a month or two ago I suddenly decided that before I die, I want to drink a cocktail called the sidecar. I have no idea why. The sidecar was/is a cocktail popular around the turn of the previous century, is made with brandy and some other stuff, and that was about all I knew about it. I ordered a sidecar at a few campus area bars and got nothing but some very strange looks. These were similar to the looks I got back in the 70's when I ordered martinis in the same bars. Martinis have come back in a big way since the 70's but back then they were not nearly as popular. One hapless campus bartender actually did attempt to make one for me back then. He served it up in a collins glass and substituted a cherry for the olive because he didn't have any olives. It was a noble attempt, but not an especially successful one.
So anyway there is an "antique" store on the same corner where I catch the bus to work. (They call it an antique store, but actually most of the stuff is "vintage.") One day I noticed an old cocktail tray in the window that had a recipe for a sidecar on it. Fortunately my memory is still good enough that I didn't have to buy the tray to remember the recipe (the tray of course was way too expensive), the recipe being equal parts of brandy, cointreau, and lemon juice.
Rather than continue to be disappointed at various bars I decided just to get the above mentioned ingredients and make the damn drink myself. This became something of a project since I haven't bought a bottle of real liquor in years. In Hilliard it was easy because the state store was inside Kroger's so if I got the sudden urge for a shot of Old Grandad I could just pick up a pint along with whatever sundries Nancy had sent me out for. The closest state store to where I live is just north of campus, and shopping there is quite a different experience. All the liquor sits behind the counter, you have to order it from the clerk, and the place is busy as hell. Some of the liquor is out in the open with the price displayed, and some of it isn't. The cointreau was not displayed, and it was something of a shock to find out how expensive it was. The store is also cash only, different than the Hilliard Kroger's. But I did eventually emerge from the store triumphantly, the proud owner of a bottle of brandy and a bottle of cointreau.
My victory was short lived, however, as I realized that I got rid of my drink mixing stuff many years ago. So how the heck was I supposed to mix the stuff? I went back to the antique store again, this time looking for a "vintage" cocktail shaker. They had a couple and I settled on the least expensive one. Nancy picked up an organic lemon for me at the co-op and last night I had my first sidecar- just in time to celebrate the Ohio State victory over Michigan. How much did this drink end up costing me? Probably about 60 bucks, but I still have some liquor left and a vintage shaker.
Wednesday, November 15th
Kudos where kudos are due
Nancy has been doing major work on our living space getting it up to snuff. And she hasn't been thinking of just herself, either. She did some of her hardest work so that I could move my music stuff into our main living area. Before this I had all my stuff down in the basement. It's pretty dark and yucky down there. I had plans to fix it up to be more inviting, but I never seemed to have the desire to ever get it done.
So here's what Nancy did for me:
She did everything but the wiring: moved the desk and the computer, put up industrial strength shelves: rated for up to 450 pounds. I figure I can get about 370 more pounds of music stuff and put it up there- more if I lose the bust of Beethoven.
That particular bust was quite a find. My mom got me one that looked just like it about 35 years ago, but I broke it about 25 years ago. That bust was hollow, but I think the new one is solid- it sure feels a lot heavier. Maybe I'm just a lot weaker. I happened upon it one day at the antique store just down the corner from us on W Como and High St.
I think the coolest thing about our new space is the his 'n hers computers:
I did most of the wiring for these, but I must point out that Nancy wired her own computer. We found a really cool adapter at Microcenter by which one can wire one monitor, mouse, and keyboard into two computers. This as you can see saves a lot of desktop space.
Tuesday, November 7th
stay the course and vote for change
For those that are tuning in late, this year I am voting according to the procedure laid out for us in Acts chapter 1, verses 23-26. I am praying and casting lots. Specifically a Susan B Anthony dollar. The obverse is for the Repubs and the reverse is for the Demos. (I am avoiding using the more common "heads" and "tails" designation because who, after all, wants to be a tail?) In the non-partisan elections, I simply assigned the obverse to the candidate listed first on the ballot.
This is how the lot fell:
J. Kenneth Blackwell
Betty Montgomery
Barbara Sykes
Jennifer L. Brunner
Sandra O'Brien
Sherrod Brown
Deborah Pryce
Jim Hughes
Marilyn Brown
Albert N. Donahey
Willim Michael O'Neill
Robert R. Cupp
Gary Tyack
Peggy Bryant
Guy Reece
David E. Cain
John P. Bessey
Charles A. Schneider
Stephen L. McIntosh
Tim Horton
Francis Macke
Elizabeth Gill
Jim Mason
Chris Geer
In the partisan elections it was an absolute 50-50 split: 5 Repubs and 5 Demos. But what I found particularly interesting was in the top 3 contests God had me vote the exact opposite of how I would have if it had been up to me. That was really hard to do- and it will give me much praying material should any of the candidates I voted for wins.
One thing that this exercise has taught me is that people tend to vote how they feel more than how they think. This is why there is a proliferation of negative advertising. Politicians understand that people who are afraid are highly motivated to do something with that fear. A successful politician tells people that there is something evil to be afraid of in the world, and that they have the antidote to that evil. A politician that does not do negative advertising implies that there is nothing to fear. Since all of us live in fear of something, the politician who does not advertise negatively has no credibility as a leader, no matter how much we may admire her for avoiding negativity.
However, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
Monday, November 6th
Torture
The body is painful,
it must eat, breathe air, and sleep
it has thin skin, with blood right beneath
it has a goodly supply of teeth and nails
its bones are brittle, its joints extensible
In torture, all this is taken into account- Wislawa Szymborska
One thing left out in this quote is psychological torture, which I underwent today as I delivered the so called mail. Sure, there was a small amount of physical pain involved: feet, knees; but that is normal. What hurt the most was having to deliver absurd quantities of political advertising, most of it negative.
Last night I had a post office dream: I dreamed I was delivering a street on my old route- except instead of mail I was delivering cheese sandwiches. As I went to deliver one side of the street there was a huge wave of water that made it impassable, so I went to the other side. At one house all I had was those processed slices of cheese wrapped in plastic, so I apologized to the man as I gave him his sandwich. He said it didn't matter- he just found out his wife was divorcing him, so he didn't care.
I have tons and tons of these post office dreams, most of them have something to do with anxieties of one sort or another about my job. One thing that i didn't think of until later in the day was that the street I was delivering in my dream is the same street that the mom of one of the current political candidates lives on. I used to be her mailman.
So today I'm delivering Walhalla Rd and there are numerous flyers of this particular candidate with a monstrous Bob Taft emerging from his head. Another flyer has a monstrous democrat spraying a businessman with a huge can of pesticide. For the first time in a very long time i am ashamed of being a mailman. Repubs and Demos are getting the message out that their opponents are monsters. And I have to deliver that message.
Honest to God: I had to stop and think about it a minute- is this for real or am I just dreaming again?
Sunday, November 5th
The Week from Hell
At times I worry if the Post Office will sustain itself long enough for me to make a decent retirement of it. Last week was not one of those times. And, nicely, it is not just because of the political mail. We had a pretty good batch of political mail back in 2004, and yet the other kinds of mail (catalogs especially) have not seemed to catch up.
This year we've just got a big gob of everything. That's a good thing, but, Lord, it's hard this year! I worked overtime every day last week except for Saturday. Today (Sunday) the clerks are working, already loading us up with political mail. I can't remember the last time that the clerks worked on Sunday- maybe 5 years ago?
And I've been asked to start at 6:30 tomorrow: one hour earlier than usual. Some carriers are actually starting at 5:30. That I think is a first- at least in my memory. It is very likely that some of these folks will be working until 5 P. M. tomorrow.
That's a long day.
The good thing is that after tomorrow, the political mail will all be over for me. Sure, there will be some trickle in stuff on Tuesday, but Tuesday is my day off.
Then maybe things will go back to "normal" including me being able not to be distracted by all this political stuff.
Wednesday, November 1st
While I was asleep
Last night I dreamed that Nancy and I went to a mall. I told her I was going to run inside and pick up something. But then I noticed that there was a record store in the mall and of course I had to duck inside for "just a minute." I started looking at the records and realized that all of the records was stuff I'd never seen before, and there was tons of jazz stuff. I was hurrying because I was afraid Nancy would be mad. I grabbed an album by a jazz clarinetist I'd never heard of that cost $10.28 but as I was taking it to the cashier I noticed that it was a double album and one of the albums was missing. So I put it back. Then I noticed that they had multiple copies of Steely Dan's Katy Lied that were brand new and still wrapped in plastic. (I have Katy Lied but the cover is in really bad shape.) So I kept looking and got more and more worried that Nancy was getting mad.
Then I woke up.
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