Writing

What?  No Zerg?

The Moth is a live storytelling series. Sometimes the stories are true, and sometimes they are factual. Always they are interesting.

Here’s a sample.

The Moth will be in Pittsburgh in August, and I’m so looking forward to it.
American Shorts @WYEP presents The Moth in Pittsburgh

Nerves of Steel: Stories of Moxie and Might

Hosted by

Jessi Klein

Featuring stories by
George Dawes Green (founder of The Moth)
among others

Stories begin at 7pm
at New Hazlett Theater
Allegheny Square E.
Pittsburgh, PA

Tickets: $20, $25, reserved seating

http://www.pittsburghlectures.org/interior.php?pageID=238

If you can’t attend the event, they also have a podcast.

It’s the little things that let you know when you found your soulmate…

Dave of Cyanide & Happiness would like to come to the good old USA to work on animations, but is having issues getting a visa.? It seems that they don’t think him to be famous enough of an artist to be able to get the visa.? To prove them wrong, you can go here to [...]

The Virginity Hit looks like a shaky cam version of The 40 Year Old Virgin, but with a younger cast.  It’s got Will Ferrel’s name on it, so it’s bound to have a laugh or two in it, but I don’t know that the rest of the movie will be good.

I was rather excited when I got in on the limited edition DVD release of Tales of an Ancient Empire, that changed when I received an email today. Thank you for your recent order of the Tales of an Ancient Empire – Special Limited Edition DVD. Your credit card has NOT been charged but we [...]

Recently, my niece Rachel found this white ceramic cat at my parents’ house. She carried it downstairs by herself.

The cat had been a Christmas gift for me years ago and was a prized possession. This was during a period when I was nicknamed “Pussycat Doggie Girl,” thanks to my habit of crawling around houses on hands and knees, either mewing or barking depending on whether I felt more like a cat or dog at the time.

I think that’s my father’s handwriting. He’d also have been more likely to include the date.

Sometime to shake things up I would be a horse instead, but somehow “Horsey Girl” didn’t stick as a nickname.

Thirty-some years later, my niece has taken up this animal-impersonation habit, completely on her own and much to the amusement of everyone. Here she is, a momma cat carrying her kitten.

She’s also been playing with the ceramic cat. She’ll put it and her stuffed kitty in a laundry basket and then crawl in with them, three cats in a nest together.

As adorable as that sounds, my parents decided I should take the ceramic cat to my own home — one tiny step toward clearing out clutter from their place. For now it’s in my living room. My live cats have taken little notice of it, until tonight when I took these photos to share on the blog.

I always thought of the ceramic cat as larger than life-size. It’s only now, seeing my real housecats next to it, that I see it’s been just about life-size all along.

Meow.

On Sunday those of us who participated int he New Testament Challenge finished reading the New Testament--in 63 days!  That's quite an accomplishment, but as my good friend, Mark Geppert, always says, "It isn't how many times you've been through the Bible, but how many times the Bible has been through you that counts!"  His meaning is clear: APPLYING God's word is the key.  In order to apply God's word, though, we do have to have it in our minds and hearts.  That's why I want to encourage you to KEEP READING God's word.  On Sunday, I offered a few ways to do that, and I want to post them here in case you didn't make it to worship at New Life.

1. Do the New Testament Challenge again.  Just go back through the previous 63 blog posts and get the readings for each day, and read them again.  After all repetition is the mother of learning!
2. Read a chapter of Proverbs each day of the month. Proverbs has 31 chapters and most months have 31 days, so just read the chapter that corresponds with the day of the month. (Since a new month starts on Thursday, it would be a great time to start reading through Proverbs.) When you get to day 30 (or 28 for February) in the months that don't have 31 days, just read to the end of the book.  Then start over on the 1st with chapter 1.  If you'll do this for a couple of years, you'll gain wisdom from the wisest man who ever lived and have it available for your daily life!
3. If poetry, music and prayer appeal to you, consider using the "formula" in #2, and start reading 5 Psalms each day of the month.  Since there are 150 Psalms, if you'll read 5 a day, you'll read through the Psalms each month AND you'll be exposing yourself to some of the most powerful prayers ever written!
4. The Gospel of Mark has 16 chapters. If you'll start reading chapter 1 on the first day of the month and then read a chapter a day through the month, you'll read through Mark twice a month (again you'll have to read a couple extra chapters on the last day of the month).  As you read through Mark a couple times a month for the next six or eight months, you'll find that the main events in Jesus life, ministry, death and resurrection become fixed in your memory, which is extremely helpful as we seek to live in Jesus every day!
5. Many standardized "through the Bible" reading plans are available on the internet, in the front of many Bibles, and there are actually through the Bible in a year Bibles for purchase. 

The KEY is to READ God's word and then APPLY it in our lives!  Congratulations to those of you who completed the New Testament Challenge---NOW keep on reading and applying God's word--or as King David put it "Hiding God's Word in your heart"--so those who may never have taken the time to read it, will experience it through You.  After we've been through the Bible, the challenge and opportunity is to have the Bible go through us, to God's glory and praise!

Sunday, March 28, 2010 Reading for the Day Revelation 20-22 Focus on Revelation 21:5

In the final two chapters of the Book of Revelation we find ourselves in heaven.  One of the most powerful statements in these chapters is:  I am making all things new!  Jesus told us that in order for us to go to heaven we must be born again.  Here at the end of the New Testament we find that God has finally established those who will reign with Him forever!  In order for that to be the case, each of us must be made new.  Yes, we have been born again and have inherited eternal life, if we have trusted Jesus as our Savior and Lord.  Yet, as we die to this life, or as Jesus returns and we are received into heaven, the reality is we and every other thing that will remain is made NEW, by God in that moment.  This is what we wait for all our lives after Jesus becomes Lord of our lives!  This is what separates our faith in Jesus from all the other religions of the world.  We aren’t going to be recycled through thousands of incarnations here on the earth.  We live once, and then we die once.  Then all of us who trust Jesus will be raised to new life to live with Him forever.  We’ve read about it since we picked up the New Testament and started working our way through the gospels. Now, we read about it again as we come to the close of the New Testament.  That’s because eternity IS a reality, and living in eternity with Jesus is our end experience as human beings who have trusted in Him.  Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through Christ Jesus, Our Lord!  Amen.

Congratulations to all of you who have stayed with the New Testament Challenge through today and who have read the entire New Testament in 63 days!  Now, as you look forward to tomorrow here are a few suggestions of what to do next to continue growing in God’s word:

1)   Go back to the beginning of the New Testament and read it again.  After all, repetition, is the mother of learning!

2)   Go to Genesis and start reading the Old Testament.  If you continue to read at your same pace of 20-30 minutes each day, you will complete the Old Testament in about four months!  (A big suggestion here:  When you come to portions of the Old Testament that seem boring to you—SKIP over them and go on to the next section of interest.  Some portions of the Old Testament are rather draw on a first reading (and a second or third for that matter!), so don’t let that you sidetrack from reading all the great passages found in it.

3)   Consider a repetitive reading program such as the one that follows to deepen your understanding a certain Scriptures.  For example, read one chapter of Proverbs each day and one chapter of the Gospel of Mark each day.  If you do that you will read through Proverbs one time each month (It has thirty-one chapters), so if you read a chapter a day, you’ll read through it each month.  In addition read one chapter in the Gospel of Mark each day.  Mark has sixteen chapters, so if you read one a day and then double up on the last day or two of the month depending on whether it is a 30, 31, or 28 day month, and you’ll read through Mark’s Gospel twice each month.  Some also like to read 5 Psalms each day, since there are 150 Psalms, and by reading five each day you will cover the entire book each month.  This repetitive reading helps a person grow deeper in his or her faith, and also to gain some mastery of specific Bible texts.  

Whatever you choose—KEEP READING!  Keep filling your mind and heart with God’s word, and pray for Him to fill you with the Holy Spirit that you’ll understand it and apply it in your life.  As you do that you will grow more and more into the full stature of Jesus!

Heavenly Father, I thank You for every person who has taken the New Testament Challenge and finished the readings!  Fill each of us with Your Holy Spirit that we may continue to learn and live Your word, and bring Your love and salvation to the world.  This we pray in Jesus’ name.

Hot girls, big guns, swords, dragons, and a giant samurai with a minigun

Here’s how I knew I need to go on a clothing diet: Yesterday I read about Six Items or Less in the New York Times, and, while I felt inspired by the people who restricted their wardrobes to a bare minimum of items for a month, I felt more inspired to buy more clothes.

Specifically, I felt that I needed a pair of jeggings — an item of clothing I’d never heard of before, denim-ish leggings. Clearly the perfect thing to straddle the line between casual and hip. I also thought I would do well to get some more black tank tops, and a versatile black dress that could be accessorized to be dressy or day-to-day. I started searching online for an ideal pair of jeggings, ignoring the nagging thought that my closet is crammed to full to fit even a tiny pair of jeggings or leggings or even flip-flops; my two bureaus are overflowing with clothes; and I have yet more dresses and coats and stuff in the basement and garage.

Eventually I convinced myself that I would rather attempt a six item clothing diet with only clothes I already own. I consider this bit of shopping self-control a major win already.

The idea of a clothing diet is this: Choose 6 items of clothing and wear them, and only them, for a month. Underwear, socks, and pajamas don’t count; I’m also not counting workout gear, nor clothes for yardwork (still have a half a yard full of forsythia and regrown weeds to battle in the next few weeks). If you have several duplicate items, like white t-shirts or black tank tops, you can count that as a single item since it really just reduces your laundry efforts. Accessorize in any way you please.

I’d previously thought of trying something like The Uniform Project, in which a woman wore the same dress (actually multiple copies of a dress) every day for a year. But the focus there was on creativity, whereas I’m more interested in simplicity and focus.

I’ve thought often of adopting a uniform, like Steve Jobs and his black turtleneck/blue jeans, or like habits worn by the nuns at my grade school. How lovely it would be to not fuss each day about what to wear, I’d think. Over time I have in some ways simplified my wardrobe, color coordinating it so that it’s easy to mix and match. Even so, it still takes time and mental effort each day to choose an outfit. And I’ve hesitated from making a commitment and really sticking with a uniform of my own.

No more. Starting today I’m wearing these items for a month:

Long black skirt
Light-weight khaki pants
Brown knit capris
White t-shirt
Black tank top
Crinkle-dyed embellished top

The big decision was whether to include a jacket, for client meetings. In the heat of this summer I haven’t worn a jacket in weeks, so including one would feel like a waste of an item for this project. And over the next few weeks I don’t anticipate many meetings with new clients — we’re mid-project on several jobs. If a meeting does come up I may be able to squeak by with the embellished top and skirt, or black tank and a scarf.

One of the interesting points that the Six Items of Less participants made was how few people even noticed that they were wearing the same clothes over and over. In part this may show how clever folks are at accessorizing, but I think it’s also true that people on the whole don’t notice what others wear. Will anyone notice that I’m wearing the same clothes every day? I’ll let you know.

Want to join me on the diet? We can be our own support group, ready with a calming word when the compulsion to buy just this one awesome pair of pants feels too much to bear. We can do it!

Some of the vampires/monsters/whatever, kinda reminds me of the lickers from the Resident Evil movies.  Starring Paul Bettany as a priest who leaves the church to go after a band of vampires who kidnapped his niece.  You may thing that going from the Archangel Michael to being a renegade priest somewhat of a demotion, but [...]

No corsets, no hat pins, no crying.

Here is the trailer for the Syfy (I still feel ridiculous typing that) original movie about a werewolf fighting Felicia Day, Red.

This movie is going to be so ridiculously awesome.  The trailer looks like you took a bunch of Mexicans, and threw them in a blender with boobs and knives, then hit the highest setting.

Someone needs to translate this, tell me how it works, then find out where to buy one. View the high res version here

There is just something about a gorgeous woman with a 12 gauge.  This image is brought to you, if you can’t tell by the watermark, by the Brigade.

Because you just simply cannot get enough of girls with high powered rifles.

A quick video containing a few interesting facts about pornography on the internet.  Also a hot chick getting undressed.

DJ Anorexia and Bob Vengeance embark on an incredible journey to kill Ronan Harris and Trent Reznor in an attempt to save the industrial music scene. Part 1 joins our heroes as they prove their worth to fellow industrial music fans. The frightening thing, I seriously don’t know if this is a joke, or an [...]