Haunting:

Forty times the bells rang
Doom,
Death,
Despair
Forty times it rang,
First by single strike
Then the crystallic strike sounded
It’s final lonely blast

Again the bells rang, Forty times,
Ominous black the bells did cease
As luminescence commenced increase:
Hope,
Life,
Freedom,
Chime forth, the call of Christ
Redemption for the used and jaded
Freedom for those indentured to sin
Hope traded for despair
Life beyond.... eternally clear


Mr. President Reagan: here is my tribute. I never knew you other than your image in on fuzzy screen and pictures posted in magazines. May God welcome you in His arms, servant and friend of Emmanuel.... friend and brother in Christ. You did for this country what was meant to be, truly leading this one nation, under God, indivisible... with liberty and justice for all.

House-sitting:

The past couple of days, I have been house sitting for a guy that I work with. This is pretty cool. I get a house all to myself. The only problem is that it is out in the middle of no where. That doesn’t really bother me...except when I can’t find my way to or from there! This has happened to me twice now and I’ve only been out there for three days...not exactly a good average.

Something that I found interesting and intriguing is the road that is the driveway to where his house is at. Did you ever wonder why you have shocks on your vehicle? This road is why. It is one large chain of pot holes. I can’t even begin to describe to you the amount of pot holes on this road.

The Brawny Man(?):

If you haven’t noticed, they’ve changed the guy on the Brawny paper towels! My first reaction to this was a little upsetting. Last time I checked, the Brawny man was a 70s style macho man with a blonde comb-over, blue flannel shirt, and a dirty ‘stache. I have recently seen commercials, featuring both past and present Brawny men. The elder acts just as you’d expect the brazen, Brawny man to: tough, rough, and grossed out by the romantic. The younger man is a sap, not worthy of the Brawny Man title.... he doesn’t even have a dirt-stache... clean shaven sissy.

(Disclaimer: I do not believe that you have to have facial hair to be considered a man. I cannot grow facial hair... so I’d only be making fun of myself if that was true)

Now - I have no problem with the romantic, however... the commercial features the younger and elder Brawny men watching television together... yet the show featured is a soap opera. The younger is sitting next to a box of tissues and talking to the television. “Tell her, Jack!”, he exclaims... “Shut your mouth”, replies the elder and more brazen paper towel man.

Who is your Brawny man?

Burnination:

I was up later than usual last night because Kim had a bonfire at her house. We have done this plenty of times, but it is usually just Kim, Anna, and I. Every time we do one of these things, Anna and I end up burning things aside from the normal wood and bantering in the most nonsensical way. It’s great to have friends that share the same sense of humor! What is even better is having a whole group of people like that located in the same area at the same time.

The combination of Ryan, Dan, Chris, Anna, Jasmine, and myself made for some very interesting convesations. I can’t really get into the details but if you were involved in the “torch carrying” you will understand and appreciate the phrase “let’s slay the beast!”

“I’ve been having these thoughts lately...like, is any of this real...or not?” - Sora

I had this dream last night that scared the ever living crap out of me. This is the closest thing to a death dream that I have ever experienced. It seemed so real that I was afraid to open my eyes. I don’t know if there has been a moment that I have been so scared in my life. I know that If I describe the dream to you, you may laugh, but from where I was - it was awful.

This was my dream:

I had gone to a local gas station to fill up the van one night. Normally, I’d pay at the pump, but for some reason, I had to go inside to pay. When I went inside, I saw that my Dad was in the line. The cashier wouldn’t take his credit card, but when I offered to pay his bill, they refused my payment. The lady’s comment was something to the effect of, “He comes in here enough... we’ll get his money sooner or later.” I was struck a little odd by the comment, but Dad’s response was “Well in that case...” as he started grabbing fist fulls of lottery tickets. Being terribly upset with him, I paid my bill and stormed outside of the store. I remembered mumbling to myself “He promised that he’d never do that in front of me...” As I noticed that my van was no longer parked next to the building as it had been when I went into the store to pay, I realized that it was parked facing the outside of the lot. I went over cautiously to the van and climbed in. As I buckled my seat belt, I looked out of the front windshield and I saw Death. Death had a physical body and looked as stereotypical as ever: a black, hooded cloak, he held a large sickle...he had a large clock hanging around his neck... being petrified, I press the clock button on my van’s radio and viewed the time in a font not native to my van... in a split second I felt if an earthquake had hit or lightning struck me of something. All I remember was a loud bang and a flash of white...

As I said before, I was almost too scared to open my eyes. It wasn’t until I heard what sounded like a dove land on the roof that I opened my eyes to see that I was in my room. I am not sure whether I was relieved or not when I opened my eye. I really don’t know how to describe what happened last night and I know that it didn’t help that I almost died twice today via car accident.

Was my dream a warning? Was my dream a premonition? Or was my dream just a dream? I don’t know, but I’ve been bothered about it all day.