Personal

Monday, April 25, 2005

Holy Week

In some ways it seems like it is not time for Holy Week.  I really like the separation from Easter.  However, due to various reasons - mostly legitimate, but also laziness, I have not been to a number of services that I have gone to in the past. 

Something to take to confession....

Anyway, Sunday I could “feel” pasca coming.  I sang with the choir.  Afterwards it was declared that I do not sing saprano, alto, tenor or bass.  The first description was that I sing “moose”.  This wasn’t said in a bad way.  In fact the person saying it went on to clarify - to which several people agreed.  She said that I sing saprano, only two octives (maybe three I think...) lower.  What she really meant was that I sing the melody.  They did agree that I sing the same chord, so it is not a problem.  They decided that I sing sapramoose.

I sing that way because

1) That’s the part I can hear - i.e. I can’t hear the others distinctly enough to sing what they are singing - including the basses.
2) I have a bass singing voice so it is octives lower.

I did apologize to the choir director, who was more than kind in allowing me to belt out with them and not take too much offense.  In fact, he was quite encouraging.  But that’s part of his nature - I can’t hold that against him. 

Of course, I can’t read music.  I know what some of the symbols mean - like where a refrain is and when to go back to it.  I vaguely know some of the timing (although i’m much better if people would say a song in the same timing instead of the numbers - i.e. sing it the way you would sing “Gladsome light” or something like that).

I understand the concept of music and the notes and stuff… like speed versus the kind of note, etc.  What I don’t know is what the notes sound like.  Well, I might know what the “A” sound like, it sounds like “saprano, alto, tenor, bass” (maybe it’s A#, I dunno).  I can hear that one in my head.

Last time I tried to do a reading my two best friends gave me crap.  One is a reader and the other is a reader/choir director.  But, if you can’t take crap from your friends, why keep them around?? 

Anyway, I look forward to this week, but it is going to be tough.  My schedule is booked every night.  Some of it is work related, some of it is church.  All of it will be good for me.  I just hope my lovely can endure it all.

--Moose

Thursday, April 07, 2005

tm3.org expired

Well, I went and spent the $15 to renew it… don’t tell my wife… So we are good for another year…

This domain has expired
It will be deleted in the next few days. If you are the owner of this domain, you still have a chance to renew it.

Domain Name Expires
tm3.org 05-APR-06

It seems that the domain listed above has already been renewed. The domain should be reactivated shortly. You do not need to renew it now. If you still see this message in 72 hours, please contact us.

Tuesday, April 05, 2005

Cost of Living

I’ve always said that money is a short term motivator.  And it is.  However, it is also a frequent motivator when it is absent - thus it becomes a bigger issue due to the frequency.

That’s where I am right now…

I’m making less money than I did when I moved to Seattle in 1996.

I’m paying more in rent - and it keeps going up.

I’m paying more in medical type bills - and it keeps going up.

I’m paying more in automobile type bills - and they keep going up.

I am down to only $80K in debt with over $50K of that being student loans… assuming I don’t buy a home....

‘tis frustrating…

sigh…

--Moose

Saturday, April 02, 2005

2:37 p.m. EST Time… Bishop of Rome’s demise

About 5 hours before his death, I had sent him an e-mail asking that the grace of the Lord be upon him and that He would bring the Pontif peace.  I believe that God has granted this.

Wednesday, March 02, 2005

The ministry of pain

"Sending out a message of dignity, courage and acceptance of the trials of life. “ This is the message that the ailing 84-year-old Bishop of Rome is sending out to the world as he suffers through his agony for all the world to see.

On January 16, my wife gave me a print out of the icon “Veneration of the Precious Chains of the Holy and All-Glorious Apostle Peter” I taped to to the left side of my monitor in my home office.

I have learned a little about this icon, and I’ll share…

Event occurred around 42. 
Event ordered by Harod Agrippa

Event was:
Peter was thrown into prison for preaching about Christ the Savior.  In prision he was held by two chains made of iron.  During the night before the trial, an angel of the Lord removed these chains and led him out of the prison.

Event recorded:  Acts 12:1-11

Additional Information:  Christians who learned of the miracle took the chains and kept them as precious keepsakes. For three centuries the chains were kept in Jerusalem, and those afflicted with illness and approached them with faith received healing. Patriarch Juvenal (July 2) presented the chains to Eudokia, wife of the emperor Theodosius the Younger, and she in turn transferred them from Jerusalem to Constantinople in either the year 437 or 439.

Eudokia sent one chain to Rome to her daughter Eudoxia (the wife of Valentinian), who built a church on the Esquiline hill dedicated to the Apostle Peter and placed the chain in it. There were other chains in Rome, with which the Apostle Peter was shackled before his martyrdom under the emperor Nero. These were also placed in the church.

On January 16, the chains of St. Peter are brought out for public veneration.

Troparian - Tone 4

You came to us without leaving Rome
through the precious chains that you wore.
First-enthroned of the apostles,
we bow down to them in faith and pray:
“Through your prayers to God grant us great mercy.”

Kontakion - Tone 2

Christ the Rock radiantly glorifies the Rock of Faith,
the first-enthroned of the disciples;
He calls us to honor the miracles wrought through Peter’s chains,
so that He may grant us forgiveness of our sins.

I’m new to Orthodoxy.  I am new to “Classical Christianity”.  I’ve had trouble with these chains and with this idea of suffering. 

I look at the Pope in Rome and see his suffering and the “Ministry of Suffering” that he bears.  I look at the wonderful Alana Sheldahl, and I see the suffering that she bears.  I look at my lovely wife with her Muscular Dystrophy (Dermatomyositis), I look at me with my constant pains.  I look at the deaths and humiliation that surrounded the dying process with my Mother and Grandmother.  I look at the pain of the deaths of my Uncle and Grandfather.

I hate sin, death, and the devil!

I used to not care about any of the three.  I think this is where the devil would have us.  But, with life comes suffering.  With life comes death, and with life comes sin. 

Ours is a Ministry of Suffering. 

It is hard to ask a sufferer how they are doing.  What are they going to say?  As Alana put it on her blog:

So what do I say when people ask me: “How are you doing?” Do I say, well, my hips, and a spot on the back of my head, and my forearms are hurting right now, and my left bicep is burning unnaturally as if I were lifting weights, and my tongue and lips are slightly numb this morning, not to mention the ache in my left quad and my UTTER lack of energy?

Do I say all that? Or do I just smile and say: “Fine, thanks”? Or should I shrug my shoulders and give a rueful glance and not say anything?

The other day I asked Dana, “How are you doing today compared to yesterday?” I think I like this question better, as I know how she was yesterday.  But I have intimate knowledge of how she was yesterday.  Most people cannot ask it that way.