Keep Trying Until You Get It Right - 29 May 2021 - Plague Journal Day 443

Micah 6:8
Psalm 118:23-26
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

There's a narrowly-held theory (as opposed to a widely-held one) that the Middle Ages (or Medieval Times, as it were) ended as a result of musicians beginning to improvise rather than play exactly the same thing over and over.
This is analogous to the difference between Old Time music and Bluegrass music. In the former, it's regarded as a terrible faux pas to actually deviate from the notes recorded in the deep hollers of Appalachia when the first recordings were made, while in the latter a more jazz-influenced approach is taken.

It is for this reason that today marks both End Of The Middle Ages Day and International Jazz Day. I plan to celebrate by listening to Thelonious Monk and John Coletrane's classic recordings of Gregorian Chant Improvisations. (Blue Note Records #666 I believe)

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

Way Up North - 28 May 2021 - Plague Journal Day 442

Micah 6:8
Psalm 89:11-13
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

I was listening to CBC Music this morning as they played a piece titled "Aurora Borealis" and it put me in mind of our trip to Alaska several years ago. We were visiting Christian who was in the Army, based at Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks.

One of the places we visited (it turned out that we visited many places in the Fairbanks area that he never had!) was the Museum of the North on the campus of the University of Alaska at Fairbanks.
What an amazing place that was. Lots of artifacts and samples of the native plants and animals, but they had a room that played music based on what was going on around the world at the time. Lightning, earthquakes, solar wind, cosmic rays, all kinds of things like that were detected and translated into sound.

It also reminded me of the novel "Snow Crash" by Neal Stephenson. I looked it up to make sure that really was the right book, and it appears that I need to read it again - I only remember bits and pieces of what really undergirds that whole story. One more on the "to read" pile!

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

Get Up And Do It Again, Amen - 27 May 2021 - Plague Journal Day 441

Micah 6:8
Jude 1:17-23  Romans 5:1-5
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Channel 9 in Windsor is doing the Greater Windsor/Detroit Metroplex a huge favour these days. After the evening news each weekday they play an episode of the Rick Mercer Report. This was one of the CBC's greatest shows, and it's wonderful to be able to watch it again - even his weekly Rants about whatever was going on in Canadian politics back when the show was airing for the first time.

We were watching an episode recently where Rick was rappelling down a cliff - face first. He was pretty obviously terrified, but managed to make it down with some great coaching by the staff. He stood at the base of the cliff, finished quaking, and asked, "now what?"
"Now you do it again." was the reply. And he did.

Heidi and I then talked about the wisdom of that repetition. She thought it made total sense - a way to convince your adrenaline-besotted self that this really was something you can do. She spoke in general terms until I interjected that I had assumed she would be bringing up her lone skydiving experience.
"Oh, exactly," she agreed, "I should have done it again right away; then I could have done it over and over, rather than just the once."

Today is Heidi's birthday and Nothing To Fear Day. What a perfect pairing after that conversation, eh?

So go out today and do something that frightens you - and then do it again. You'll thank me (or Rick Mercer) later.

Today also has one of those odd conjunctions of celebrations - it's Sunscreen Protection Day and Red Nose Day. Don't those cancel out?


Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

Just Some Fun Today - 26 May 2021 - Plague Journal Day 440

Micah 6:8
Matthew 2:10
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

I was just thinking of how many fun movies I've watched over the years, and how many of them I haven't seen in far too long. So, rather than waste a day or two watching fun, but generally dumb, movies, I thought I'd throw up a list of a few here - ones I'm likely to pull out and watch again in the next few days - to see if anyone might leave a comment about them, or suggesting others I should add to the queue.

In no particular order, and in a not-remotely-exhaustive way, here are some movies I'm hoping to watch again in the very near future:

1. Mystery Men
   
   
2. Flight of the Navigator
   
   
3. Rustler's Rhapsody
   
   
4. Adventures in Babysitting
   
   
5. The Three Amigos

What do they all have in common? They're all joyfully nonsensical. They know they're movies (and not "films") and that they're just for entertainment. They don't demand much of the viewer, nor do they promise all that much - but they do deliver what we all want when we watch a movie: Entertainment. Oh, and memorable, quotable lines:

"God gave me a gift. I shovel well. I shovel very well."
"Compliance."
"I'm a lawyer, you idiot!"
"Get out of my house!"
"I'm still with you, El Guapo!"

Break out the DVDs and join in, folks!

By the way, this is day 440 of the plague so I ought to mention that's the frequency of A for modern musical instrument tuning - 440Hz = A. Now you know. (It used to be lower, that's why some baroque pieces seem too high - they are when we use our modern tuning. Trust me, I know - I sing tenor.)

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

Stay Dry - 25 May 2021 - Plague Journal Day 439

Micah 6:8
Judges 6:36-40
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

It's beastly hot these days in the Detroit area. It's enough to make one carry a towel everywhere one goes.

It's an interesting coincidence (if you believe in such things) that on this date in 1934, Gustav Holst, the celebrated English composer, shuffled off this mortal coil. Then, a mere 43 years later on this date in 1977, the first Star Wars film was released (Episode IV, as it was the first movie of the central trilogy of nine). The soundtrack by John Williams was actually the first soundtrack recording I ever purchased (I still have the two-LP set on a shelf), and it owed something to Holst (and to Wagner and Stravinsky and ...) At any rate, why not celebrate by playing at least Jupiter from the Planets (Holst would hate pulling out just one movement, but he's dead and can no longer complain); and again, make sure you have your towel with you at all times!

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

Why Is This So Hard? - 24 May 2021 - Plague Journal Day 438

Micah 6:8
Matthew 7:7-11
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

What's wrong with the BBC? They make some wonderful television (and some stinkers too), but they make it so hard for us to watch on this side of the pond.

Sure, there's BBC America, with a smattering of the real stuff and then reruns of our stuff too.


There's some content available on Netflix - at least for a while, then it goes away.

There are even DVDs of the programmes available on Amazon - but only Region 2, so we'd have to buy separate players or rip the DVDs on a computer to watch them. (By the way, thanks to the industry for setting those regions, it certainly makes your customers happier to do business with you. Jerks.)

Why don't they just let us pay a license fee as their locals do and then stream the programmes. There are a lot of us who would gladly pay to be able to do this simply and legally. It can't be that hard to figure out.

grr.

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

Worship - 23 May 2021 - Plague Journal Day 437

Micah 6:8

Acts 2:1-8
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

 

 

This is Pentecost Sunday!

When the COVID case levels settled down in Grosse Pointe, we resumed our in-person worship.
Yes, we still have in-person worship in the Sanctuary today. You need to have registered ahead of time to attend, and an email went out from the church with all the details!

For our 9:30 worship service have a vocal solo for our offertory time, and a hymn for us to read along while Doug plays. (We'll eventually get back to real Methodist worship - we'll be singing together again one day!) Remember, we'll be streaming for all those who can't join us in person. In addition to its being Pentecost, it's also Confirmation Sunday, so please keep our confirmand in your prayers!

As usual, today's stream should just appear as the latest entry on our YouTube channel, here.
You'll find all our previous worship videos right there at that same place, and today's stream will stay there as a recording as well.

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264