Typed Words

Embrace who you are, even if it is age.

From March 25, 2008:

The flow of the personal journal,
The meditating prayer,
The praise we give to God,
Hoping He is there.

Friendless times disappearing,
A new change up on the rise;
Syllables of Spring are waking,
And awaking my sibilant eyes.

Doubtness and Darkness departing,
Clarity taking the helm;
Godless is gone and my heart sings,
Charity breeding a calm.

Remember the cycles, for there are many

Penetrating winds of blow,
An ice cap on my chest;
Profundities too bleak to seize,
A million wished I’d have pleased
A heart well wounded throughout time
A lonely forest for the mind
A jealous guard protects the mine
And reach out on a precipice
For something more divine than this
A Voice is calling for your bliss
Not offered in the Void’s abyss
But treading gently on the moss
The ferns and cresses yield the dross
The burden weighted by the cross
That I insist to carry.

Weighted down I fear to tread
With reverence near your heavy head
For pickled brains need old adults
Whose life-tick barely yields a pulse
For duty stands to watch the wings
And silence anyone who sings
But sung I have
And sing I may
And sing will I beyond today
Not chained by food, grades, money or a Norm
So indefinable in this stimuli storm.

I am content to bake alone;
Simmer, incubate;
Find my prime and percolate;
Rise above and look beyond, --
This migrant stop is but a pond.
Move on!

Jump in the river!
And if you fall out,
Jump back in!
It just might wash away my sin
And bring me, baptized, cleansed anew
To where I should and what to do.
There is no life in stagnance
There is no joy in mud
There is no preacher worth his fluff
Whose “Sermon says” says it’s enough.

I want sunbeams Heavenward,
I want life beyond our sky;
And if my dream is trampled here,
Resurrect us both before I die.

Breathe some room in openness,
Give sway to open paths.


From 3-30-2008:

The flow of passion brings a curse,
Defamatory in name;
A bronzéd heart so cauterized,
By dancing near the flame.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

I want fire in my bones
And fire in my belly

Some Poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins

He lived from 1844-1889. He dared to break rules when writing. He used his words like clay, like paint. He worked them until they became some new form. He preferred his poetry to be read aloud:




“God’s Grandeur”

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs—
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.




“Pied Beauty”

Glory be to God for dappled things—
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough;
And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise him.




“The Windhover”

To Christ our Lord

I caught this morning morning’s minion, king-
dom of daylight’s dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding
Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding
High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing
In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing,
As a skate’s heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and gliding
Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding
Stirred for a bird,—the achieve of; the mastery of the thing!

Brute beauty and valour and act, oh, air, pride, plume, here
Buckle! AND the fire that breaks from thee then, a billion
Times told lovelier, more dangerous, O my chevalier!

No wonder of it: shéer plód makes plough down sillion
Shine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear,
Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermillion.

Sometimes we stare so long

“Sometimes we stare so long at a door that is closing that we see too late the one that is open.”

- Alexander Graham Bell

My sister looks like the lady from Enchanted

See for yourself. Photos alternate between the actress and my sister.

Soul, Link, Connection

Bono and Bill Hybels

Go to You Tube and search for Bono and Bill Hybels. He interviewed Bono about his belief in Jesus Christ. It is profound and thought provoking, condemnatory and inspiring.

Peace out.

Amendment to last blog

Someone wise told me that if you criticize somebody, it is overwhelmingly likely that you possess the same problem you are attacking. So if yesterday I said that others were being negative and critical, it means that I have been fighting it too.

Viva esperança!

Thoughts

Maybe I'm going to the wrong places, or listening to the wrong people, but I've been hearing so much negativity as of late I can barely stand it. Criticisms, contentions, and gossip. Blanket condemnations. Things you would never dare say in the person’s presence. Anger. So many people are angry with others. Yeah, it's easy to get sucked into the vortex of negativity. But where is the guidance (and following) of the Holy Ghost? Where is forgiveness? Where is mercy?

E-mail

Apart from those friends who live far away, or emergencies, I CAN'T STAND E-MAIL.

It is a waste of time.
Too much typing.
Too much.

-----------------------------(sigh)-----------------------------

Here's Neil:

U2 Pics

Idolatry, Age, Movies

It is glorious to have a few days off. I am listening to music. I don’t care if this blog doesn’t make a ton of sense. Sensing feeling.

Idolatry is very subtle. It can creep into me very easily. It is not a good a thing. A distraction.

As I get older I get more tired. And I don’t think it’s because I’m older – I just have more responsibilities, and I give them more attention than to exercising or sleeping. When I exercise regularly I still feel young.

And that’s another thing – age. I swear age is so much a mental thing. In my mind I’m 20. Twenty. And I know who people who were 40 even when they were in high school, you know? I don’t want to mention anyone out there by name, but some of you who read this blog are way too old for your bodies! A couple of weeks ago a guy names Gary Stoddard came to Sunrise Elementary School and performed for the student body. He was a one-man band – amazing. He must have been about 45 or 50, but the man had an infectious enthusiasm that defied his body. Mentally he was about 23! He was delightfully entertaining, a quick wit, a local Robin Williams. I laughed and marveled at his enthusiasm and talent the whole hour. Here’s his web site: http://www.whateveryouimagine.net/

Movies. There is so much total visual CRAP out there that we so nonchalantly swallow. I strongly recommend Screenit.com before watching anything PG or worse. Come on, now. No message can be so indispensable that you have to rake yourself through filth. So many Mormons want to watch crap and still live their religion. Garbage in, garbage out.

“Life flows on within you and without you.”

If you don't agree with me, discuss.

U2 in action

I read that they're recording a new album.

So much to write...

What to say?

Marlins Want Fat Men Who Can Dance

February 23rd, 2008 @ 1:44pm

MIAMI (AP) - The Florida Marlins are looking for some footloose fat men. The National League team is creating an all-male, plus-size cheerleading squad to be dubbed the Manatees. Tryouts were scheduled for Sunday.

The team hopes to recruit seven to 10 tubby men to dance, cheer and jiggle during Friday and Saturday home games this season.

Real manatees, 1,200-pound mammals sometimes referred to as "sea cows," are not considered the most agile of creatures and often get caught in boat propellers.

The Marlins want their Manatees to have the same dimensions, but to be decidedly more agile. Men will be judged on how well they dance a choreographed routine.

The Marlins already have a cheerleading squad, the considerably more svelte Mermaids.

Men selected for the Manatees won't be paid. They'll get tickets to games they perform at, and the honor of dancing in front of crowds that have been smallest in major league baseball for the last two seasons.

The Marlins aren't the only pro sports team capitalizing on Americans' expanding waistlines. The Chicago Bulls basketball team have the Matadors, a big-man dance troupe that's entertained fans at home games since 2003.

And although cheerleaders might be an unfamiliar site in baseball, big men aren't, as fans have long cheered on the likes of Babe Ruth and Kirby Puckett.

.

Something for the people.

I Like You Too

Eye like yew to.
Aye, like ewe two.

If you are interested in acquiring free U2 concert music, go to this site: U2 Start. You'll be glad you did. The site has something like 1,000 of their concerts - each one in its entirety - from the whole career. Amazing. That's A ... MA... ZING.

Glenn Beck on President Hinckley

Zamzar

Yo yo - wat up? Here is an awesome site: Zamzar. It will make all your wildest dreams come true.

Convert a You Tube video into an mpeg, or an mp3. For free. Find beautiful live performances of your most favorite artist, performances that were never available on any album, and convert them into a CD.

Enjoy

My Testimony

I am troubled by recent and numerous media reports (brought about in part by the presence of Mitt Romney as a presidential candidate) that skew or misrepresent Mormonism. I am troubled by those who slam our entire church because of one negative experience perpetrated by the imperfect members of our faith. I am troubled by those not of our faith who give more credence to a critic than a member when it comes to determining our doctrine. If you want to know the truth about somebody, go to the source – not to a third party.

Apostle M. Russell Ballard of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints challenged us members to consider sharing our views on blogs, responding to online news reports and using the “new media” in other ways.

I would like to do that.

I am a believing member of the Mormon church. I try to live its precepts, often failing; nevertheless I cherish my association with the Church. I am profoundly grateful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

For those of you who may not be a believer, or if you falter in your faith, I urge you to study our doctrine:

Study The Book of Mormon.
Read our manuals.
Study the Doctrine and Covenants and our church history.
Surf around our web site: www.lds.org.
Attend our meetings.
Study our General Conference talks.
Get to know our people.

If you approach these things without bias, you will find clarity, purpose, and sweet communion with God.

I believe all the doctrines of the Church. I cherish the vast amount of Gospel knowledge the Church offers. I believe the words and revelations of Joseph Smith. I believe there is divine purpose in the seemingly endless trials we go through in this life. I look forward with fear and excitement to the time when I will see Jesus Christ again. I believe in an afterlife, that this life is merely a bus stop in our eternal progression.

This Church and its Gospel mean everything to me. I encourage you to embrace our faith as well.

- Tim Brooks

The Internet

The Internet takes me away from nearby friends, from real interaction and conversation.

The Internet keeps me home.

The Internet promotes my physical inactivity

The Internet tempts me with inappropriate things.

The Internet lures me away with trivial, unimportant information.

The Internet often wastes my time.

The Internet frazzles and fragments my thinking, and my attention span, with flitting images and numerous options. I often do not dwell on subjects that require time to understand.

The Internet often robs me of being a content human being, of reflection time, and of inner-peace opportunities.

Cursed be distractions, and that which is trivial, alluring, but unsubstantial.

Counsel to self: exercise caution, self-discipline, and restraint when on the computer.