My Blog
The Wedding Curse
Monday, August 08, 2005 at 5:41 am
So last weekend I went to wedding number 1 of 3. That is 1 of 2 I was expected as videographer, and then the third one in three weeks I will be photographer. To make a long story short, because I've told it a hundred times, my car overheated a few times, and eventually died of exhaustion. I didn't make it to the wedding and neither did the brother of the bride. So now I am out of a car. I hope that is over soon. Anyway - so I was afraid of wedding number 2 after all that. I made it there just fine and I think the videography part went very well. All in all it seemed pretty successful. So I was relieved.
Today, I finally got a chance to go after my laundry and get that washed. When I pulled my clothes out of the dryer, a heard something hit the floor - that sounded like plastic. I looked on the floor and it was half of the clear plastic case for a miniDV cassette tape. I reached furrther in and found that the main tape I used for the wedding yesterday was in the dryer. It had also been through a washer cycle. I came back and researched it and there was apparently no way the tape should still work - and even if it did, it could damage my camcorder because of the washed-off lubricant and possible soap. As it turned out, the tape copied just fine to my computer all up until the last 15 seconds that weren't important. Wouldn't be the first time that God performed a wedding miracle, but it still amazes me. And now next weekend remains - photography.
One Word: Senile
Tuesday, July 26, 2005 at 5:27 am
I finally broke down and watched the new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie. It was directed by Tim Burton and that combined with the trailers just made me think it was creepy. Maybe so, but in a far more senile way than scary. They must have thought long and hard about how to portray a recluse with odd tendencies and a very out of touch personality. Of course – they modelled him after Michael Jackson! Right down to the pale white face and total inability to deal well with children. Quite to my surprise, it's just as much a work of art as the original that starred Gene Wilder. However, this one has Oompa Loompa's with a bit more musical talent. I admit it, that old movie had the most repetitive songs in it.
Compared to Disney, where every old movie remake stars Lindsay Lohan, this was a good one. Instead of telling its own story, it presumably goes back to the book (what - I haven't read it). They weren't afraid to use the same story as the old one. They weren't afraid even to repeat lines that were in the original movie. I like that in a remake. It's a remake, not a spin-off or derivative. It should be similar. That pretty much shot my evening. I'm off to bed.
My Phone is Back UPS
Thursday, July 14, 2005 at 5:56 am
I got my new Lingo device yesterday so I can make unlimited phone calls once again. I turned on the "Connection Enhancer," a few minutes ago because it is triple the quality of regular. Even though their normal call quality sucks, they hid this on the tech support section instead of anywhere normal. Saves them money when I make less demanding calls. With this connection enhancer on, I decided to call UPS (since it's an 800 number that I knew would work).
I remember the first time I called AT&T and heard them say "Press or Say 1" and I thought that was the coolest thing ever. Today, when I dialed 1-800-PICK-UPS, I was in for a bigger shock. When I called, started with the usual voice prompts, but then asked me to say either "Track a Package" or "Shipping Information." Instead, wanting to test things out, I said "Customer Service" - "We're sorry, but our customer service center is now closed." WHOA.... After some more playing around, I looked up an old tracking number. I then said "Track a package." When it asked me for my tracking number, I said it as fast as i possibly could, and enunciating as well as possible for the speed. It told me the date in January the package was delivered, and who signed for it. I tried saying the number even faster. It didn't miss a number!! Sure beats any speech recognition I've ever heard before. I don't think a human could have kept up with that. I just now called back and said it even more rapid fire - probably saying the whole 18-digit tracking number in under 3 seconds. This time, it repeated back the numbers to me to confirm. It didn't miss a single one. Ok, I called again and tried to outsmart it. I made such a mess of saying it that I wouldn't even blame a human for missing almost all of it. It didn't recognize every bit. Still, if you enunciate, you can say your tracking number as fast as you possibly can and it pretty much gets it right.
That is my excitement for the day.
Natalie at Cornerstone 2005
Tuesday, July 05, 2005 at 1:37 am
Ok, so I did it again. I out-somethinged myself. I have a knack for doing excactly those sort of things that people joke about but never would have done in real life. Lindsay was talking to her cousin and friend Natalie on the phone and they were talking about how Natalie would miss Cornerstone. Jokingly, Lindsay said that someone should make a cardboard cutout of her and take her out to Cornerstone. Tuesday of this week, I got a phone call from Lindsay when she was on her way into Bushnell. She told me the whole story - and of course, I left for Wal-Mart right after that. I stayed up that night until 3 a.m. putting the finishing touches on her. Through the whole week we've been taking random pictures of her in all sorts of situations – from worship on the beach to wearing a festival t-shirt to Sunday.... On Sunday, the plan all along was to let her crowd surf - no matter what this meant for her frail body. So up she went in the middle of the Jeremy Camp concert. She made her way back and forth, and spent a good five minutes making her way around. She made a couple appearances on the video screen, so I was just ecstatic. Then the song ended. Jeremy Camp just kinda looks at the crowd and said something along the lines of "What was that?" So Keith took her on toward the stage and she got passed up to the stage. He did a little dance with her and a litte Q&A with the crowd over what she was doing here. Here, just take a look at the video clip if you have Windows Media Player.
Cornerstone Conclusions
Tuesday, July 05, 2005 at 1:21 am
Every time I go to Cornerstone, it feels like a reincarnation. Not that I know what one feels like, but everything looks completely different for a few weeks after Cornerstone is over. This time was even more inspiring than usual. If I don't change anything in my life from that, then I go straight back to what I was, soon enough. However, there have been times that I've let that energy take charge and actually change me longer-term. This year seems like it will be one of them. It's always my choice, and I'm going to actually go the next step. So many conclusions came to me at sometimes seemingly random moments.
Perceptions
I went to a seminar called "Do what with False Prophets?" that was about a radical approach (at least from a traditional view) of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with people of other faiths that involved none of the pointing out of difference between the Bible and what they believe, which is going to be pointless – especially to the ones that actually use the Christian Bible in part or in whole. The approach basically talked about setting yourself in their context and working your way to what you want to say through their own perspective. The part that struck me and instantly flashed several lights was that he said this approach is more of a dialogue than a monologue. Suddenly, instead of thinking about the seminar topic, my rational logical mind started thinking about art. I instantly had a very real and deeper appreciation for art in many forms. My old opinion of art is one solely of aesthetics. If it isn't pretty to look at, what's the point? I know that isn't true, but I didn't understand that art tries to present a view of something while making the viewer, rather than the artist, come to the conclusion being made. So I guess I understand art now.
Music
There was a time in my life where music was a vital experience that revived and motivated. At the time, it was easy – it was as easy as turning the radio on. Today, the music just isn't changing on the radio fast enough. Before, hearing a song that's words directly applied to my life at just the right time is the sort of thing that made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. Lately, I'm lucky if I just enjoy singing along. My life has slowed down because of that. This week I listened to a lot of new things, bought 6 or 7 CD's and I'm surprised at what that can do. I tuned in to TVULive.com for the first time in about 2 years today.
Motivation
Let's face it, compared to America it isn't hard to be a bit busier or more motivated to do work than other people. Lately, I've been satisfied that I've taken on a couple things here or there. That's nothing about sacrifice. The times in life where things go best seem to be when I'm too busy to seek entertainment. Giving up my rights and my wants in every way makes life better than when I get what I "want". Among a huge list of personal goals I want to set for myself, the first is to get rid of cable tv. I realized that it's not helping me relax once in a while, it's subtracting vigor from my life. I've only got a few days to act before I start to feel like I did before Cornerstone – this is the time for change. It is so freeing to give things up. It is so relieving to remove things that seem like they are created for relief. The harder life is, the easier it feels.
This Day Forward
There are a few people I saw this week that I really haven't seen much of that just amplified this in every way. And yeah, some of those are complete strangers that I may not have even talked to. Where are these people on a day-to-day when my life is demanding so much? Why have I hidden from them? I guess that's another goal in itself.
