Jack, the Irish say, grew up in a simple village where he earned a reputation for cleverness as well as laziness.
He applied his fine intelligence to wiggling out of any work that was asked of him, preferring to lie under a solitary oak endlessly whittling.
In order to earn money to spend at the local pub, he looked for an "easy
shilling" from gambling, a pastime at which he excelled.
In his whole life he never made a single enemy, never made a single friend and never performed a selfless act for anyone.
One Halloween, as it happened, the time came for him to die.
When the devil arrived to take his soul, Jack was lazily drinking at the pub and asked permission to finish his ale.
The devil agreed, and Jack thought fast.
"If you really have any power," he said slyly, "you could transform yourself into a shilling."

The devil snorted at such child’s play and instantly changed himself into a shilling.
Jack grabbed the coin. He held it tight in his hand,
which bore a cross-shaped scar.
The power of the cross kept the devil imprisoned there, for everyone knows the devil is powerless when faced with the cross.
Jack would not let the devil free until he granted him another year of life.
Jack figured that would be plenty of time to repent. The devil left Jack at the pub.

The year rolled around to the next Halloween, but Jack never got
around to repenting.
Again the devil appeared to claim his soul, and again Jack bargained, this time challenging him to a game of dice, an offer Satan could never resist, but a game that Jack excelled at.
The devil threw snake eyes—two ones—and was about to haul him off, but Jack used a pair of dice he himself had whittled.
When they landed as two threes, forming the T-shape of a cross, once again the devil was powerless.
Jack bargained for more time to repent.

He kept thinking he’d get around to repentance later, at the last possible minute.
But the agreed-upon day arrived and death took him by surprise.
The devil hadn’t showed up and Jack soon found out why not.
Before he knew it Jack was in front of the pearly gates.
St. Peter shook his head sadly and could not admit him, because in
his whole life Jack had never performed a single selfless act
Then Jack presented himself before the gates of hell, but the devil was still seething.
Satan refused to have anything to do with him.

"Where can I go?" cried Jack. "How can I see in the darkness?"

The devil tossed a burning coal into a hollow pumpkin and ordered
him to wander forever with only the pumpkin to light his path.
From that day to this he has been called
"Jack o’ the Lantern."



Erin Comes tonight!!! :) :) :) :) :) :)

Sorry I forgot to update last night! I was cleaning and cleaning and cleaning and cleaning, and well... it got late! what can I say.... Nothing much really going on... except that the room is clean... and well... I get to see Erin tomorrow! Yippie! I love Halloween it's my favorite holiday, especially if I get to spend it with Erin! Ahhhhhh Yeahh

That is all.

Hmmm, lets see, i'm not an oboe major, so eventough it's my oboe playing test, doesn't mean that I should be absolutally flawless on the instrument, that woman stresses me out so bad... she's so hypercritical of my playing eventhough it's just a methods class, Yes i'm a woodwind player, but i'm a jazz sax player, it's a far cry from classical oboe, so sue me if i'm not perfect... BAH

Then Sophmore Eval recital......... LONG and DULL, Worse of all It ran right up to the start of jazz band and I didn't get to call my Erin... I MISS YOU SWEETIE! Sniff Sniff, but i'll see you soon!

My All Hallow's Eve costume is coming along quite nicely, my super secret special mission (ok so it was just a trip to a costume store and a thrift shop, HEHE but it was exciting when you didn't know!) turned out with a copious amount of fruition... meaning it went well, and I think I found the items I need... now all that's left is just some work with my trusty flipblade knife, and some water... actually....... Does anyone know how to make nice new, good leather look old and worn? Lots of websites about how to make fake leather look like real worn leather, but nothing about how to make REAL leather look like worm leather? I mean I can understand why... but that's beyond the point! Anywho, i'll be glad for this week to come to a hasty end... because I want to see my baby...

XII
If there pushed any ragged thistle-stalk
Above its mates, the head was chopped, the bents
Were jealous else. What made those holes and rents
In the dock's harsh swarth leaves, bruised as to baulk
All hope of greenness? Tis a brute must walk
Pashing their life out, with a brute's intents.

Mmm, Small Jazz band, it's the creamy nugat of my life... makes me have happiness... really truly enjoy myself happiness... it's almost as good as being with Erin, Ok, so it's not even close, but it's the next closest thing I got! This morning Andy Roberts blew my mind in my lesson yet again.... hitting on exactly what I want to be working on... it's amazing, between andy roberts, and jim miller, my skills as a jazz musician have like quarupled just this semester, i'm so confident in my playing lately it's starting to scare even me... if only my piano skills were so solid... any who, I have to teach tomorrow, and i'm not really prepaired for it at all.. speaking of not being prepaired I still don't have my halloween costume together for friday, but I have a double secret special plan... so we'll see if that bears any fruit... i'm really sorta in a weird mood, maybe a little too tired... a little too everything... I really think so few people read this at this point... I guess i've bored most people or i'm too long winded or something.. so for all the people who do read it (being you sweetie, love yah!) and maybe anyone else, thanks! It's appreciated, but appreciated more when you leave comments... so los del stanos americanos.


XI
No! penury, inertness and grimace,
In some strange sort, were the land's portion. 'See
'Or shut your eyes,' said Nature peevishly,
'It nothing skills: I cannot help my case:
''Tis the Last Judgement's fire must cure this place
'Calcine its clods and set my prisoners free.'

An article I found By way of Jason Bachman... Enjoy

If I had a video store it would have one section: Movies. I’m not sure what effect that would have on business, but it would certainly reflect a lesson I’ve been learning and relearning from the moment I began thinking for myself. The lesson is this: Life is one category. It seems simple enough, and hardly Earth-shattering, but as I think about its implications I find myself awe-struck by the possibilities of a life lived from this mindset.

Do you remember how the books you read in literature courses were always set in a historical context that your English professor often felt inadequate to discuss without the help of a history professor? Have you wandered aimlessly up and down the supermarket aisle designated “Sauces” looking desperately for soy sauce only to discover that it’s actually kept in the “Ethnic Foods” aisle? And have you recently noticed that the most casual of conversations with a non-believer has an alienating "spiritual aspect" to it even though you were trying to avoid being too "Christiany"? The reason for all these quandaries is the same: Life is one category.

[GOD PENCILED IN]

Postmodernism has given a shot in the arm to spirituality, but unfortunately, it has been relegated to a spot in our day timer between a stop at Starbucks and the health club. We have made God a category in our life. And we think we’re improving in our walk when we spend more time in that category: “The more often I have morning devotionals, the better Christian I am.” And while morning devotionals are important, the truth is your time in Revelation is as spiritual as your chat with a co-worker over the water cooler. Psychologist Paul Tournier says we have created an image of mankind that is, in essence a list: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. Tournier would argue spirituality is not on that list but at the center of the other three. It is the source of our physical, mental and emotional output and the recipient of all input through those means as well. In other words, there is no way to be solely spiritual. Go ahead, be spiritual. Ready? … One… two… three, go! What did you do? Trying to be spiritual away from the rest of our life is like trying to eat without any food or like trying to be a really good driver without ever going down the road. We get in and study the steering wheel and gauges, then we get out of the car and start walking down the road. It is in the living out of our lives that our spirituality can be exercised. Our spiritual battle is fought a million times a day in a million different ways. It is in the effort we put into our work, its in the way we talk to our loved ones, its in the speed with which we return our neighbors borrowed hedge trimmer.

[THE CHRISTIAN GHETTO]

Within the Church currently there is a strange effort to counteract this effect by bringing our pseudo-spiritual subculture around with us everywhere we go. We turn the world into a large church service full of people who believe like we do and who don’t offend our sensibilities with their sinful behaviors. Opening a phone book, I can find Christian pharmacies, Christian art framing, Christian bakeries and here in my hometown someone has created a business concept out of a cheesy Christian T-shirt. The Lord’s Gym Health And Fitness Centers are dedicated to promoting “Fitness for Body & Soul” and offer classes such as Praise Dance, Body of Armor and Chariots of Fire Spin. Now, some might argue such businesses are a good model of stretching the barriers of our spiritual activity beyond Sunday morning. However, all they are doing is adding spiritual language into things that are naturally spiritual because they are part of the human experience God has created. Taking care of your body is spiritual even if you don’t play the Newsboys while working on your biceps. These “Christian” shops are doing what all the “secular” shops are doing, but to the exclusion of non-believers. Creating places like this completely removes God’s disciples from the world, which doesn’t bode well for the world, and I daresay, ends up hurting the Church as well.

What’s occurring is the creation of a ghetto. The word has long since been associated with inner city housing projects and Elvis’s worst song ever, but the ghettos have been around since the middle ages. Then they were walled sections of a city that a religious group (usually Jews) was forced to occupy as a way of keeping them from the rest of the population. Christians appear to be doing it to themselves. And within the walls of this Christian ghetto we’re not only experiencing death in the Church but in the arts as well. Go to a Christian bookstore. As you walk the aisles you’ll see shelf after shelf of Christians toys (usually of poor quality), Christians music (usually a little worse than the toys) and over on the right side, by the Christian coffee shop called “Jesus Java” you’ll see a shelf labeled “Art.” This shelf consists of a Thomas Kinkade painting, and two photo landscapes all with Bible verses or Oswald Chambers quotations emblazoned across the top right corner. Here we are, the group of people that claims to have the corner market on understanding the First and Greatest Artist and we can’t even imitate His creative nature as effectively as a world that doesn’t know Him.

[THE LAZY CHRISTIAN’S GUIDE TO PRUDENCE]

Again, the problem is categories. We have categorized ourselves out of the world. Life is one category. Good music, good art, good health and good prescription drugs are innately spiritual if they are in fact good. We don’t need to label something Christian to the exclusion of the rest of the world for it to be good and pure. Because all things that are good and pure are of God, whether the name on it is Rich Mullins or David Gray. All truth is God’s truth. If we are seeking God out in everything we do He will inevitably show up. He doesn’t need labels or categories to find us and we shouldn’t need them to find Him. Sure, there are experiences you should stay away from, but He has given us a mind, a body of believers and the Holy Spirit to help us decipher what is of Him and what is not. Our categories have become the lazy Christian’s guide to prudence. “I don’t have to worry about what messages are in this movie, it’s Christian.” Not only is that argument a dangerous fallacy, but it also leads to the exclusion of truth God is revealing to us through “non-Christian” sources. In God’s cosmic video store there is one category: Truth. It’s not supposed to be easy. Every experience, every person you meet and every choice you make is a part of the walk. It takes a lot more work and thinking on our part, but we must at least read the back of every video before determining its worth. The good news is there are no late fees. You don’t have to have all the answers. We’ll have the answers someday, but for now look for God everywhere. And yes, He might even be found in that stupid Elvis song.

I got spend the night with Erin! Smile Smile <---- That's me smiling... It wasn't planned and it wasn't alot of time, but it was nice to spend even a little bit of time with her, then I got out of her hair so she could study, but it's definentally improved my mood, which is going to be nessisary if I am going to survive the week ahead... I have so much crap to get done it's rediculous... but I don't care, I got to see my baby and it has made all the difference!

I had also planned on going to see the Hershey Orchestra today, but Bruce (whom i was going to go with) can't make it now.. so I don't feel like going by myself, I think i'm going to go see our presidents wife's violin recital today at 3.. she's apperently pretty amazing and has played with like all these different people, really quite incredible... so that might be good, I dunno classical music still makes me sleepy, so we'll see..

Not much else going on, hung out with the band staff after the game saturday, which was kinda weird, I fit in, and maybe that's what's weird about it... geez, i'm getting too old too fast... the aging train needs to slow up a bit....

Sew.. me write more tonight, maybe... wink, wink, nudge, nudge, know what I mean


X
So on I went. I think I never saw
Such starved ignoble nature; nothing throve:
For flowers - as well expect a cedar grove!
But cockle, spurge, according to their law
Might propagate their kind with none to awe,
You'd think; a burr had been a treasure trove.