May 2009 - Posts

• A Torturous Night

  They crept ever forward, their eyes affixed on their target. There was determination in their eyes as they stalked their prey. They aggressors were picking up long sharpened sticks and apple-sized stones as they advanced; this was the real thing, no rehearsals. Finally they sprung forward, screaming obscenities as they stabbed and pummeled their helpless target: me! All I did was cough, for goodness sake. Well, maybe it was a little more than that. The general consensus was that I woke up everyone, including all the neighbors a mile away, with my incessant coughing, hacking, snoring, belching, screaming, sneezing, tossing, turning, and nose blowing. (My husband wrote that last sentence.) I've got this annoying cold, or whatever it is, that causes me to have all the symptoms mentioned above. Whenever I lie down it gets worse so getting the rest I need is not going to happen, nor is it likely to happen (getting a night's sleep) for anyone else in the general vicinity. I've been to the doctor. She said that it is bronchitis but she didn't provide any quick cures so I continue (no, we continue) to suffer. There was cheering and laughter from the mob as I retreated to other bedroom. Even as I closed the door behind me there were rocks and sticks making their staccato presence known. I dove under the bed and barricaded myself with pillows; I dare not raise the ire of the swelling hordes that were still pounding on the locked barricades that protected me. Oh blessed sleep, where art thou?! Posted May 27 2009, 01:34 PM by Blogette with no comments

• Signs, Signs, Everywhere A Sign

  Every time I pass a church, or house of worship, I see a sign outside that speaks about something that the Pastor wants the congregation to ponder. Most messages on these signs are from the Bible, or other ubiquitous religious materials, but sometimes I wonder where the information comes from. For example: "Our arms are too short to box with God". Box? Are we going to have a round of fisticuffs with the Almighty? I know on whom I’m betting. Where does this instruction originate? I don’t think it is contained in the Bible. I also wonder what the message might be telling us. Is it that we are too insignificant for God to bother with us?  Maybe that we should not be so silly as to think that we are a match for God’s wisdom, or that we are not as good at boxing, maybe we should try karate instead? I always thought that God was a good guy; that He is on our side against evil. Why would anyone seek to duke it out with the ultimate Master of everything? Another favorite of mine is: "The Ten Commandments are not an option". Usually when you see the phrase "not an option" it is in a sentence like "failure is not an option". So wouldn't this phrase mean that we should not abide by the Ten Commandments? If the message is supposed to instruct us to learn and live these ten rules, then wouldn’t it make more sense to rephrase the sign’s wording to: The Ten Commandments are not optional? Or, The Ten Commandments are required reading? Or, The Ten Commandments are required living? These are only two examples of many that I have seen on numerous church signs. Maybe the pastors ought to take a survey of passersby to see if the people really understand the messages that they are trying to preach. After all, if you annoy God by not making His messages clear, He may come to your door with His boxing gloves! Posted May 27 2009, 12:07 PM by Blogette with 1 comment(s)

• I'm A Roadie

  Ever since I was in the band at school I always had an interest in the behind-the-scenes activities that accompanied musical performances. Last Sunday I got the chance to relive some of the fun. My husband has teamed up with another guitar player to perform music at local restaurants. The name of the band is The Marshall Experience. I usually help out whenever my husband plays on the weekends by carrying the equipment, set up and break down, and by doing sound checks so we know if the equipment is adjusted correctly. It is virtually impossible for a musician to hear what he sounds like if he's on the stage; he can't be in two places at the same time, so it is necessary for someone to go out into the room to decide what has to be adjusted. Maybe the microphones need more volume; maybe the instruments are too loud, etc. A couple weeks ago we purchased a new sound system. There is nothing wrong with the old system, but it is much bigger than the new one. My husband is getting tired of hefting the big equipment that he has been moving around for the past thirty years and the gigs these days are smaller. The new system is smaller and lighter than even one of the components of the old system so it is a welcome change. However, a new system means that it has to be set up and adjusted; the settings on the old equipment cannot be used. My husband is happy to let me read the instructions on the new equipment and to adjust everything. (Did you ever hear of a man reading instructions? They would rather just fiddle around with things until it sounds right.) He trusts my judgment and I adjust the controls throughout the performance. He thinks of me as a member of the band; so do I. Posted May 19 2009, 08:13 PM by Blogette with no comments Filed under: Music

• Thoughts on Death

  The father of my very good friend died a few days ago. I will miss his warmth and vitality. Ever since I was very young this man always treated me, his daughter's friend, as part of his family. The passing of this wonderful man set my mind to thinking about death and how it comes to us all. No one likes to think about life ending; how there will never be any more fun, that we will never take another breath of air, nor eat another meal. We all get so used to our day-to-day living that the thought of the sun not rising tomorrow morning is incomprehensible. We seem to understand that other people die; the obituaries in the newspapers are so common that we tend to ignore them. Only when someone close to us dies do we take notice. There is always a feeling of loss and hurt that overtakes us and we feel helpless to intervene on behalf of our loved one. Many intelligent writers have tackled the subject of death and how we may view it, but no matter how in-depth the tome, the feeling of helplessness always invades our lives. My husband has said that we always hear about the death of people in groupings of three or four. That is, when we hear of someone we know dying, we will hear about at least two more people passing in a short span of time. So far he has been right. It is very strange that we do seem to hear of death in groups rather than just a single passing. So far as I know, no one has come back after death to let us know what is on the other side. Is it better than the life we live now, or is it just nothingness? Posted May 14 2009, 09:02 PM by Blogette with no comments

• Is It Dollars or Cents

  I have another pet peeve to rant about. I don't understand why people will write .99¢ or even $.99¢. At least the first one .99¢ is valid, although it means that the value is slightly less than one penny which I'm sure is not what they meant. The other one, $.99¢, doesn't make sense at all. The number .99 is fine (meaning 99/100 of a unit), but is it being applied to the dollar sign or to the cent sign? You can't have both .99 of a dollar and .99 of a cent. The proper format is either $.99 or simply 99¢ (no decimal point!). I see it written incorrectly all over the place and it drives me crazy. On a side note, when I started to write this blog, I discovered that the cent symbol no longer appears on the keyboard and I had to do a little research on how to get it to appear on a web page. The cent symbol used to be above the 6, but it was replaced by the caret ^. My husband happens to have a very old electric typewriter so I was able to compare the current keyboard with the old one. The key that now has the tilda ~ and back tick ` used to have the degree symbol ° and the plus/minus symbol ±. The old keyboard also used to have fractions ¼ and ½ which no longer appear on the keyboard, and it didn't have the curly braces { }. The pipe | and the back slash \ have also been added to the keyboard. Posted May 08 2009, 10:25 AM by Blogette with no comments Filed under: pet peeve