Musicophilia

So I have a book recommendation for y'all. At your earliest convenience, run down to the nearest book store and buy Musicophilia - Tales of Music and the Brain by Oliver Sacks, author of Awakenings and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. The author is a neurologist whose fascination with the brain is immediately evident, as is his knack for making clinical studies accessible and enjoyable to read. This book is filled with tales of fascinating disorders, obsessions, and cures all related to music. Seriously folks, this is nearly 400 pages of incredible stories. I find it really interesting that the author, without any religious practice, makes all these incredible points about the wonders of the human brain, when there is so much evidence that this is all the workings of a creative God. If you're interested in the brain and music, this one will be a fascinating read.

On a related note, I've been thinking about the effect music has on my own life, especially when it comes to its ability to alter moods. I know of a lot of people who use music as a reflection of their mood: sad music for sad times, happy music for happy times, indifferent music for indifferent times (okay, maybe not that one... mostly because I'm trying to think of what would be considered indifferent music, and I can't.) I, on the other hand, use music like medication, especially when it comes to my own depression. Music has enough power in my life to change the way I think and react, to the point where if I play sad music for sad times, I think I would feel worse than before. However, I'm not sure I would play sad music all that often when I'm happy, so it's not an exact science. Anyway, I'm curious what you guys think. So I'm going to see if I can't get one of those polls put on the side of my page. We'll see if it works.

Cheers.

Little joys...

Earlier this year I discovered the joy of smoking a pipe. There are so many activities that at one point in my life had seemed sinful, though there is certainly no Biblical law or decree to support that feeling. For instance, consuming alcohol in moderation is not in itself sinful. Using something like that for the purpose of getting drunk is definitely spoken about in the good book, but even Jesus made water into wine, and wine is what Jesus used to represent his own blood. So, along those lines, smoking a pipe was something that made me uncomfortable simply because it was unknown, untested in my own life. However, when I was invited by some friends at church to go smoke pipes and hang out, I thought I would give it a shot, if only to be social, something I’m not always good at. I really enjoyed it. There was a whole world of complexities, near-artistry in smoking pipes that I had never heard of, nor encountered. It was intriguing, and above all, enjoyable. I hung out with those same people several times afterward, enjoying myself more each time.

Being indoctrinated into this new culture, I began noticing pipe smoking more and more in every day life. Such famous minds as Albert Einstein and the Inklings, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien among them, were avid pipe smokers. Participating in this activity is relaxing and a great way to pass the time with others, usually accompanied by good conversation. It’s also a great catalyst for thought, and a great tool to help me focus on reading scripture. In fact, I’ll sit for a couple of hours reading my Bible with my pipe in hand, something I’ve always had a hard time doing. The pipe I own is a Peterson, their line being that it’s “the thinking man’s pipe,” and as cheesy as sounds, I’ve found it to be true. Sure thinking doesn’t require hot smoke, but I’ve actually found that I do some of my best thinking with it. There’s just something to it, though if hard pressed, I’m not sure I could truly articulate what it is. Perhaps having something to occupy my fidgety brain helps to focus it on more important matters. I know for many people, doodling can help a person focus on a speaker, perhaps on a Sunday morning as the preacher pours himself into his congregation. Focus can be a rare commodity at times, so anything to bring comprehension to an easily distractible mind is a good thing. This is how I feel about smoking my pipe.

I’m not endorsing tobacco, as some people have a history of nicotine addiction or any number of other vices associated with smoking. But I do enjoy it now and again. And now that I’ve been properly condemned by those against smoking of all sorts, I will take a bow and leave in peace with my thinking man’s pipe resting on the table.

Cheers.

The day's flotsam...

Here are a couple of random bits from the day. I found them amusing, so I expect you to as well.

The last couple of days I've been inside way too much, and not just indoors, I've been in my bedroom the better part of the last 48 hours. So in an effort to counteract the atrophied muscles and bedsores, I decided to go on a long bike ride. I hadn't ridden my bike long distance for a month or two, a travesty when the weather has been perfectly conducive to biking. I was probably 3 miles into my 17 mile ride when I saw an incredible sight. As I approached a busy intersection I saw a fellow biker of sorts, though he was of the leather-clad variety. This guy was decked out in leather: jacket, pants, boots, even a leather dew-rag-looking-thing on his sans helmet head. Dark sunglasses and a handlebar mustache completed this biker-stereotype of a man, an awesome sight to behold. But what really completed the whole ensemble, of course, was the bike. Or should I say scooter. Yes, this bad dude was riding a Vespa. I waited until I was sure he couldn't see me before I laughed out loud. It takes guts to ride a gutless bike.

After another 5 miles or so, I had something completely different and funny happen. I got to a point in the ride where I needed to spit. This can be tricky while riding a bike, because if you don't time it right, you're looking at a face full of expectorate, which is just as gross as it sounds. So I was preparing to launch, getting everything in its place, and fired... and at the exact moment the spit was leaving my mouth, I caught a huge disgusting whiff of dead animal, and in reaction lowered my head, spitting all over my leg. And as I rode past the putrid deer carcass, I couldn't help but laugh. Fantastic timing.

One last thing. On the side of this page I have a couple video clips posted, three of which are from my trip to Kenya a couple years ago. I posted these videos for the sole reason of being able to show friends and family where my sister Daylan lived and worked. One thing some of you know, is that Daylan and I tend to make jokes a lot. So in the video we make mention of things like driving on the wrong side of the road, knowing full well that there is no such thing. I hadn't even though that anyone would take our jokes about Americans seriously. People have gotten seriously upset, to the point that they feel obligated to set us straight via comment on the video. I got another comment this afternoon, more angry words directed at someone they've never met, and never will. It's hilarious that our flippant funny comments were taken so seriously. And all from a video I never really meant to be watched more than a dozen times. (It's at over 3000 hits now.) Good stuff. Well, bad stuff, but it's kind of funny.

Updates, new and old connections

Hey everybody!

So I have to say that having a computer of my own has been great. I've had a couple opportunities to use it for Keynote (Apple's far-superior Powerpoint-like program) presentations, and has performed beautifully. Today I got the opportunity to present my Pioneers information at my dad's church here in Bend, OR. It's just been one of those things where scheduling didn't work in my favor, and months went by before being able to share with the church body. Feedback said that the presentation went well, which is good because it seemed like it went well from my perspective. (Ever take a test in school and think you did really well only to discover you completely bombed it? I've had enough of those happen to give me a tiny twinge of fear when things seem to have gone well. You just never know. I had a handful of conversations with people about my upcoming Pioneers duties, and gave out 7 or 8 support letters. I need to work on being a bit more aggressive in giving out and requesting information from people. Someday I'll get there.

Last weekend I got the opportunity to lead worship at the Evangelical Free Church's Northwest District Pastors and Wives Conference (I wanted to abbreviate it to EFCNWDPWC, but it never caught on) held in Sunriver, about 25 minutes from Bend. There was a lot of work getting 5 sets of music together, and then the problems involved with half of your band living 3 hours away in Portland. But, despite all the complications, things went relatively smoothly. Actually, this was the first major worship event I've led in a long time, and a good reminder that I do indeed enjoy leading worship. I got the opportunity to share a little about my Pioneers work at that event as well, and hopefully God will work in people's hearts, reminding them that despite the crappy economic times, there are people out there working toward full-time ministry. It's just been great to have a couple weeks in a row where there was at least opportunity to increase support numbers.

And actually, now that I think of it, two weeks before that conference last weekend, I got to give an update to my home church in Portland during the Sunday service. I made a couple of very important connections that Sunday, which is both unexpected and fantastic. As a result of one of the new connections, I may at some point in the future have the opportunity to lead worship at a church in Hong Kong. I'm not going to count on that working out, but the prospect is exciting. The other connection is with a person in a nearly identical life situation, also heading towards missions, a new and valuable friend.

My work has gotten more regular, and I've even had a couple chances to substitute as an Educational Assistant in the district here in Bend. This last time substituting involved a pretty incredible happenstance, something that rarely if ever happens to me. So I got a call just before 7am that there was an opening for a sub in an all-Autistic classroom at a nearby school. So I showed up and was being shown the ropes when in walks a little girl that I could have sworn I knew. However, knowing I'm now in Central Oregon, I know that I hardly know anyone, let alone random child walking through the classroom door. So I kind of blew off that sort of weird deja vu feeling and went on with my business. A couple of minutes later in walks one of the classroom teachers, and I get the same feeling, like I knew who she was, but couldn't figure out for the life of me who she was. I went back to orienting myself to the room, and the little passes by again, staring at me like she knew me, and then she left the room. Then it hit me: I knew this kid from the school I used to work at up in Alaska more than 2 years ago. I even remembered her name, and asked the other assistants if I had the right name. I did, and as it turned out, the teacher was her mother, and I knew her from the afterschool program at my old school, because she would pick up her kid every day from the program. I re-established that connection with the mom (and the girl once school was over for the day) and she let me know that her daughter, even a year after I had left Alaska, had still talked about me and how much she enjoyed me as a staff member. So now I have a top-notch connection with someone in the district, and I can only imagine that I'm at the top of their substitute list, or at least close to the top. Anyway, this was one of the strangest connections I've had in a long time. What are the odds, really?

Hi Everybody!

Sorry for being so inconsistent with blogs recently. I've been both busy and lazy, a frequently fatal combination.

Just thought I would let everyone know that I was finally able to replace my stolen computer. Unfortunately my computer needs are relatively specific, so I couldn't easily replace it with the amount of money I already had. I want to give a special shout-out to my dad for letting me use his laptop while I was between computers. I'm up and running again, and it's really great.

So those of you on my prayer/support team can expect a special email or letter in the mail soon, and those of you who haven't committed, please do. I have forms all ready to mail and email out. I'm in real need of prayer partners, so if you're interested in that, I'll send you the form and then Pioneers can help me keep track of my team-members.

So thank God for a new computer. You will be seeing more of me on the interweb again.