Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Livin’ on a Prayer

  
Easter morning sky.

I’m not sure how else to live anymore. Except on a prayer.

I’ve been known to say about some of my endeavors that we’re flying by the seat of our pants, the grace of God, and the power of prayer.

I’m spinning so many plates right now … well … I’ve lost count but I think we’ve busted out the good china and the everyday and the salad plates and the holiday plates and the backup extra fun stuff for parties and a few paper plates on top of that. I’m buried in plates. And stress.

Relying on the power of prayer.

Some of those plates are being uncooperative this week. The thought of launching into a Greek dance while throwing plates against the wall crossed my mind, which led me to locate the following on Wikipedia, the reliable research source of everything …

The custom probably derives from an ancient practice of ritually "killing" plates on mourning occasions, as a means of dealing with loss. Breaking plates may also be related to the ancient practise of conspicuous consumption, a display of one's wealth, as plates or glasses are thrown into a fireplace following a banquet instead of being washed and reused.

In 1969, the military dictatorship of Georgios Papadopoulos, that had suspended democracy and ruled Greece autocratically from 1967 to 1974, banned plate smashing to the great disappointment of Greeks and foreign tourists alike. While it is no longer officially allowed at Greek nightclubs, it still happens occasionally. For private celebrations such as weddings, modern Greeks may purchase specially-produced plaster plates, which are less expensive and dangerous, while being more easily broken. Another modern variation on the custom is for diners at small Greek restaurants or tavernas to buy trays of flowers that they can throw at singers and each other.

[Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plate_smashing]

Trays of flowers. As in they throw the flowers only? Not the tray? Remind me to practice my flowerpot-ducking skills if I’m ever called upon to sing in a Greek taverna. Because this is a huge possibility. You know it is.

Did you catch the part about throwing plates and glasses into the fireplace to avoid washing them? My grandmother, may she rest in peace, would be appalled. She would have a full on conniption. A hissy fit even. She was well known for washing and reusing red plastic Solo cups. Everyone had their own assigned cup for yeeeeaaarrrrssss, with their name written on it in black Sharpie.

Frugality is admirable, especially when livin’ on a prayer, but hey.

Plates. Prayers. Jon Bon Jovi.

I have so many plates going this week that I told one of my writing partners in crime what she could do for me was … continue praying and … name the blog theme. Which she very kindly did. She has a few plates of her own spinning.

I just saw this on the same Wikipedia page. This is information you need to know, people. I’m here not only to inspire but to educate as well.

In Part I of The Love Boat S6 E18 episode (February 5, 1983) titled: "Isaac's Aegean Affair/The Captain and the Kid/Poor Rich Man/The Dean and the Flunkee," Gopher initiates plate smashing in a Greek restaurant.

[Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plate_smashing]

Yes.

From what I’ve found on the interwebs today, apparently there is some support for making “Livin’ on a Prayer” the official state song of New Jersey. Did you know New Jersey is the only state without an official song of any kind? The only one! A song was approved by the legislature many years ago but never signed into law by the governor. Any governor. Never. And nothing by Bon Jovi. Nothing by Springsteen.

It’s also worth noting in the midst of today’s stream of consciousness Wikipedia-researched musings that “Livin’ on a Prayer” appeared on the album “Slippery When Wet”.

Yep.

I’ll be over here keeping the plates spinning while sliding gracefully around the slippery floor.

Livin’ on a prayer.


Sometimes this tree lives on a prayer. It's got a nice bloom going now, though. Look for updates on my Facebook page.

Keep looking up.

For more thoughts on Livin’ On a Prayer and 80s hair bands from my writing partners, see Sue Bowles at bebold7.wordpress.com and Leisa Herren at life4inga.blogspot.com.


Once upon a time
Not so long ago

Tommy used to work on the docks
Union’s been on strike
He’s down on his luck…it’s tough, so tough
Gina works the diner all day
Working for her man, she brings home her pay
For love - for love

She says we’ve got to hold on to what we’ve got
‘cause it doesn’t make a difference
If we make it or not
We’ve got each other and that’s a lot
For love - we’ll give it a shot

Whooah, we’re half way there
Livin’ on a prayer
Take my hand and we’ll make it - I swear
Livin’ on a prayer

Tommy’s got his six string in hock
Now he’s holding in what he used
To make it talk - so tough, it’s tough
Gina dreams of running away
When she cries in the night
Tommy whispers baby it’s okay, someday

We’ve got to hold on to what we’ve got
'cause it doesn’t make a difference
If we make it or not
We’ve got each other and that’s a lot
For love - we’ll give it a shot

Whooah, we’re half way there
Livin’ on a prayer
Take my hand and we’ll make it - I swear
Livin’ on a prayer

We’ve got to hold on ready or not
You live for the fight when it’s all that you’ve got

Whooah, we’re half way there
Livin’ on a prayer
Take my hand and we’ll make it - I swear
Livin’ on a prayer


~ Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ On a Prayer”


Wednesday, March 23, 2016

The Passion

Did you watch Tyler Perry’s “The Passion Live” on Fox the other night?

You can stream it here.

I almost didn’t watch it. I’m glad I did.

Tyler Perry did a unique and creative take on the last days of Christ. He weaved modern, secular songs into the story with modern looking characters in a modern locale. New Orleans. Perry’s hometown but also a city still recovering from Hurricane Katrina ten years later. NOLA has always been a city of contrasts … sinners and saints … Christianity and hedonism and voodoo … Bourbon Street partying and Sunday gospel brunch … Jesus songs being sung by street performers a few feet away from drug deals.

Most of you know I was in New Orleans last August to help with the “Brennan” movie shoot. I lived just outside the city a couple times in the nineties but hadn’t been back in a million years. What a fun, crazy experience. My adopted brother, writer / director David Leo Schultz was interviewed recently about making the movie. You can catch him on Chris Marchand’s podcast here. (Mildly PG13.)

So the draw of seeing familiar haunts was strong. The Passion Live had built an impressive stage along the river at Woldenburg Park. Not being a native or a purist I think of that area as all Riverwalk Park.

Last August my partner in crime, Shelley, and I had a couple hours of downtime one afternoon. What you’ve heard about making movies --- that it’s often hurry up and wait – is true. We didn’t really want to eat, or drive back to our hotel, or shop endlessly. We just wanted to chill. So I kicked my rusty memory into gear and dead reckoned my way to the river. It’s not difficult if you know to head to the corner of that one parking lot and cross the streetcar tracks.

Behold the Natchez.




The Passion Live stage was right in front of The Natchez. There were people everywhere, including on the riverboat. I was a little sketchy on what qualified as Woldenberg Park, but when I saw the live shot … I was in that exact spot a few months ago!

There were live shots from around the city, broadcast to the audience on a giant screen in the middle of the stage. I’ve mostly avoided others’ opinions from the interwebs this week, but I did see one criticism to the effect of “I turned it off when they opened with Jesus on the subway”. Streetcar, friend, streetcar. There ain’t no such thing as a subway below the city that’s already below sea level.

So if you’re not cool with a little artistic license … if you prefer that old time religion and don’t also appreciate Jesus closing with a Katy Perry song … or Jesus’ words to the thieves on the cross being a little out of order chronologically … you might want to steer clear of this one. I didn’t see anything blasphemous, but I was dressed down by a Pharisee the other day so I’m starting to question my discernment.

(Well not any more than usual. I laughed and filed that message for future amusement.)

Favorite parts …

Jesus singing a quiet version of Creed’s “Arms Wide Open” to the disciples, foreshadowing the crucifixion itself. I love, love, loved the portrayal of Jesus. You could see the emotion in his face. You could feel the emotion. How many times do we sugarcoat in our minds the events leading up to the cross. We know the story. We know Jesus loves us. We know he sweat blood in the garden. Seeing the love and seeing the anguish in a modern context … it was well done.

I don’t know that it was a favorite part, I’m still trying to decide, but the illuminated cross being carried through the city from the Superdome to the park was interesting. It did give more of a live, “things are happening” feel to the whole production. Carrying it down Bourbon Street and through Jackson Square in front of the cathedral at night … that was seriously cool.

Judas and Jesus when the betrayer brings the popo in a complete overkill of riot gear. That’s the equivalent of how it originally went down. Hats off to Chris Daughtry and Jencarlos Canela. Wow, wow, wow. While singing Imagine Dragons’ “Demons” you could see both the humanness and callousness of Judas. Jesus’ love for Judas and the depth of his hurt over being betrayed were evident. These two brought so much emotion to an event we often gloss over on our Holy Week checklist. Last supper, check. Judas does his thing, check. Time to head to trial, check.

Speaking of that trial. Although I can’t say I was thrilled with Seal’s acting in this case, his aesthetic was impressive. And I’ve always loved Tears for Fears’ “Mad World”. The choir singing “We Don’t Need Another Hero” was startling.

My view of Pilate and the trial scene may have been a little skewed by something said in the sermon earlier that day.

“Pilate tried to avoid the cross.”

How hard he tried is up for debate but remember how many times he asked and questioned the Jewish leaders and the crowd? Really? What did he do that’s so bad? Really? Barabbas? Are you sure?

Kind of makes you wonder about Pilate’s ultimate fate given what he witnessed. I don’t think scripture mentions him other than in the context of events surrounding the crucifixion. I shall have to research further and see if there are any historical texts. I’ll get right on that in all my spare time. If anyone knows something, please enlighten me.

The trial. Hat tip to a pastor acquaintance of mine who pointed out the image of Jesus in an orange jumpsuit as perhaps being the one image of the evening we needed to see most. Ponder that for a moment. From a two thousand years ago perspective, Jesus … the Messiah, the son of God … was treated like a common criminal. From a modern perspective, ISIS throws the image of an orange jumpsuit in our faces as they slaughter Christians on camera. An orange jumpsuit brings gruesome, barbaric acts to mind.

The actual crucifixion was not depicted, which I think is totally fine. Tyler Perry as narrator described it in enough detail. Mel Gibson’s “The Passion” filled the need to understand the goriness.

Jesus appearing at the end was a great visual. Honestly, someone had to tell me it was a Katy Perry song.

I re-watched a few of my favorite scenes today. If you haven’t watched The Passion Live, I encourage you to go take a look.

Yes, this is my photo. :-)


For more thoughts on The Passion Live from my writing partners, see Sue Bowles at bebold7.wordpress.com and Leisa Herren at life4inga.blogspot.com.


When the days are cold
And the cards all fold
And the saints we see
Are all made of gold

When your dreams all fail
And the ones we hail
Are the worst of all
And the blood’s run stale

I wanna hide the truth
I wanna shelter you
But with the beast inside
There’s nowhere we can hide

No matter what we breed
We still are made of greed
This is my kingdom come
This is my kingdom come

When you feel my heat
Look into my eyes
It’s where my demons hide
It’s where my demons hide
Don’t get too close
It’s dark inside
It’s where my demons hide
It’s where my demons hide

At the curtain’s call
It's the last of all
When the lights fade out
All the sinners crawl

So they dug your grave
And the masquerade
Will come calling out
At the mess you made

Don't wanna let you down
But I am hell bound
Though this is all for you
Don't wanna hide the truth

No matter what we breed
We still are made of greed
This is my kingdom come
This is my kingdom come

When you feel my heat
Look into my eyes
It’s where my demons hide
It’s where my demons hide
Don’t get too close
It’s dark inside
It’s where my demons hide
It’s where my demons hide

They say it's what you make
I say it's up to fate
It's woven in my soul
I need to let you go

Your eyes, they shine so bright
I wanna save that light
I can't escape this now
Unless you show me how

When you feel my heat
Look into my eyes
It’s where my demons hide
It’s where my demons hide
Don’t get too close
It’s dark inside
It’s where my demons hide
It’s where my demons hide


~ Imagine Dragons’ “Demons”


Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Freestyling Chaos




Well how else do you suggest dealing with chaos?

I barely even remember the last week. What did I write about? Oh yeah, “Gems”. Nothing particularly earthshattering happened. I’ve just been loaded with work and chaos. Not without progress, though.

Sunday evening I was in the home stretch of getting the bulk of my tax paperwork together when – plot twist! – my printer died. My just barely one year old printer. I looked through the online help and  … you’ll laugh …

It suggested turning the printer off and back on.

Well yeah, but that’s all you’ve got?

It didn’t fix the problem, by the way.

I had too much going on to spend much time troubleshooting until Monday afternoon. I followed a link to fill in some info to “see if HP can help repair or replace your printer”. Okay, well that would be nice if I can take it somewhere local or you can express ship one. But how long am I going to be without a printer?

The helpful HP web site informed me the warranty on my printer expired exactly sixteen days prior to the time of death. Complimentary phone support ended at the same time. But if you want to get our support people on the phone, you can pay $25 per incident, which is refundable against repair / replacement if you choose HP to provide your service! Woohoo! Yeehaw! Wow. So by the time I pay $25, assume they can do something to help me, probably pay to ship the thing, thereby risking further damage, and pay however much additional they want, and lose days and days of productivity in having to run over to my parents’ house to use their printer or just do without hard copies of helpful items … I might as well just buy a new printer.

For those of you who immediately thought about calling HP to raise Cain and force them to replace a printer that died sixteen days after the warranty expired … of course this occurred to me. But first it would cost me $25, a large spike in blood pressure, and time on the phone I don’t really have to spare. (For some reason REM’s “Losing my Religion” comes to mind. Bless the hearts of everyone at HP phone support.) I thought about tweeting them and might still do that. I should probably share a link to this blog with them.

Chaos ensues. Chaos may suck, but you assess the info you have, make a business decision, and act accordingly. Such is life.

“I’m not a businessman, I’m a business, man.”
~ Jay-Z

Or woman as the case may be.

So Tuesday rolled around.

I had several phone interviews scheduled. I’m in hiring mode and being able to print out the interview form I created on demand would be blessedly helpful. But I made do and rewrote the questions by hand (abbreviated anyway) on a blank sheet of paper every time. I dashed to the ATM and drove to my polling place for the primary election, where I conducted another interview from the car before walking in. Click, click, click, click, print. Hey! The board of elections printers work! I wonder who makes them.

I proceeded onward to Costco – which is not particularly conveniently located near my house but has the best prices on things like printers. After fending off the DirectTV dude (he was pleasant, more power to ya buddy) I made my selection, handed over my recently withdrawn cash, and hit the road.

At home I split my time between printer setup, dinner prep, prep for the one interview that needed to be in the evening, and a wee bit of election commentary on the television. I didn’t quite get it together for Pi Day, but Tuesday being between Pi and St. Patrick’s Days I threw together chicken and leek pie. It sounds weird, but it’s a fine and tasty Irish dish I hadn’t made in a while. I only had one sheet of puff pastry, though, so I improvised with crescent roll dough. (I’d do pie crust from scratch if only I had more time available.) It turned into an interesting scientific experiment somewhat reminiscent of the flag of Ireland.


Yes, it was delicious.

Today I’ve returned to splitting my time between work-work and tax prep. I’ve been playing financial forensic scientist with old, dusty, and probably moldy papers trying to track down the cost basis for some assets that were sold last year. This is what happens when you start early. J Which I encourage. I have the best financial advisor on the planet, but once in a while there are papers I have to put my hands upon personally.

My sinuses and lungs don’t care for old, dusty, and probably moldy papers, in case you were wondering.

But I’ve cleared out and shredded two paper grocery bags’ worth of old documents I no longer need.  Shredded chaos is a beautiful thing.

And the political robocalls have stopped, at least until fall. Praise Jesus.




For more chaos and such from my writing partners, see Sue Bowles at bebold7.wordpress.com and Leisa Herren at life4inga.blogspot.com.





Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Gems

Ah yes, creativity on demand. Sometimes I speak freely and blog themes come out of my mouth.

For example, it might be getting down to the wire and I might quote something from the book I just finished, followed by the words that the author is “just full of gems”.

What gems have you been blessed with lately?

Sometimes it’s in a book. Sometimes in the sky. Sometimes on my iPod. Occasionally via a good meme on the social media.

On my way to use my birthday gift certificate at the hair salon yesterday, shuffle treated me to Rich Mullins’ “Awesome God” while this was in the sky … on a warm-enough-to-wear-flip-flops but still technically winter day …

Our God is an awesome God …

Some people think that song has been overdone, or was a little too commercial, etc. Honestly sometimes I will fast forward past it. But I hadn’t listened to it in a while, so I left it on repeat most of the day. Everyone needs a good throwback now and again.

A highly windblown version of the new do. 

I proceeded from the salon across the street to Kohl’s to use my $5 of birthday rewards on a clearance pair of earrings. Then on to Red Robin for my free birthday veggie burger. And Bath & Body Works to use my free travel size item coupon.

I deemed this gem too expensive, but I totally need to create my own in all my spare time.

*** Breaking News!!! ***

We interrupt this blog post writing to share The Story of Creation according to one of my favorite preschoolers. On the first day God created Darth Vader. (Verdict is still out on whether It Was Good.) On the second day God created Yoda. On the third day God created the words Star Wars.

To be continued.

We’re still working out the order of the other characters. And honestly, come on, the Millenium Falcon. That story was a huge gem in my day right there. Sometimes gems stop by your table at Panera.

So where were we … birthday freebies day. I was treated to beaucoup de crosses in the sky as I arrived home. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of views like this …






 I have several freebies left, including a free waffle at Waffle House, in case anyone wants to come with. Fine dining, y’all.

I’m not sure when some of the birthday offers expire … some give you a week, a couple days, the entire month. Suffice it to say they’re all incredibly carbolicious and there’s no way I will use them all.

Diamonds are a girl’s best friend. Carbs not so much.

That gem of a quote from the other day. From Alex Early’s “The Reckless Love of God”.

Jesus, what if I’m lazy?
You’re not lazy. You’re just distracted. We can change that.

Story of my life! I’m sure if you read me regularly that you are shocked by this revelation. But it’s all going to be okay. More than once lately I felt like I was procrastinating big time, and perhaps indeed I was. Of the fifty-hundred things I could do in a day, I get to set my own schedule and decide which far-less-than-fifty-hundred things I am actually going to attack.

But as I procrastinated a couple things in particular, before long something would happen to make it kind of clear that it was just as well I had waited. Updates came in that I could run with instead of starting with the old. New info arrived that meant I could save a lot of hassle and time and go about my work in a more streamlined fashion.

I heart efficiency.

I heart gems in all forms.

Yes I made this. Don’t you cut hearts out of puff pastry, too? 

I heart Mexican food. This is the New Mexico Somethin’-Somethin’ I can’t remember at Day y Noche. Getcha some. Side note: I have tried fifty-hundred ways to change the orientation on this pic, but cyberspace would like the rice and beans at the top. 

I heart this view.


For more “Gems” from my writing partners, see Sue Bowles at bebold7.wordpress.com and Leisa Herren at life4inga.blogspot.com.


Your love is like radiant diamonds
Bursting inside us we cannot contain
Your love will surely come find us
Like blazing wildfires singing Your name

God of mercy sweet love of mine
I have surrendered to Your design
May this offering stretch across the skies
These Hallelujahs be multiplied

Your love is like radiant diamonds
Bursting inside us we cannot contain
Your love will surely come find us
Like blazing wildfires singing Your name

God of mercy sweet love of mine
I have surrendered to Your design
May this offering stretch across the skies
These Hallelujahs be multiplied

(Multiplied)
(Oh multiplied)

God of mercy sweet love of mine
I have surrendered to Your design
May this offering stretch across the skies
These Hallelujahs be multiplied

These Hallelujahs be multiplied

(Your love is like radiant diamonds)
(Bursting inside us we cannot contain)
(Your love will surely come find us)
Like blazing wildfires singing Your name


~ NeedToBreathe’s “Multiplied”