It has been a slow and quiet Saturday, so I decided to add a bit of excitement to the day. Yes. I cut the cat’s toenails. It is an event that brings on screams of displeasure, shouts of anguish, bleeding (mine… most certainly not the Queens!), and then a game of, How Far Can I Sink My Teeth Into Your Ankle. A game that is only appreciated by cats, but one they engage in with the same vigor and conniving that Voldemort went after Harry. I can still walk, so that is a bonus.
Today I have also remembered. I’ve remembered 20 years ago and what happened and where I was. What happened… we all know. Where was I… I had just entered seminary and we all knew that the world had forever changed. I remember crying and knowing there wasn’t a dang thing I could do. I remember being so angry that I confessed to wanting to be in hell the instant the terrorist opens their eyes and realized how very wrong they were and knowing the eternity of punishment they would be receiving. I remember today, but with perhaps a bit less venom, but let’s just say that I am still no Saint and a long ways from it. I will leave room for God and his vengeance. Now, I’m mostly afraid of the vengeance that is directed towards and deserved by me. I pray: I don’t need a mansion in heaven. Just a cot in the basement will be fine for this poor wretched sinner. Just please, Lord, let me in!
Did I mention that I had finished reading Fahrenheit 451? I read it many moons before and it didn’t mean much then. Now… well, I hope you’ll read tomorrow’s sermon (or come hear it preached!), but let’s just say that it had considerable more impact the second time through than it did the first. One thing that did not make it into the sermon (perhaps another time) was when Clarisse said to Montag, “You’re not like the others. I’ve seen a few; I know. When I talk, you look at me. When I said something about the moon, you looked at the moon, last night.” It just made me think. When someone talks… look at them. When they talk about the moon, look at the moon. And when it rains… well… tilt your head back and open your mouth. I’m off on A Man Called Ove now and very much enjoying it. Same author that wrote Anxious People, which you’ll recall won high marks in our little world. After that, I’m not sure, but it may be the next book club selection for the Saints Book Club at the church.
Movies: we’ve made some progress in this department simply because I went back and watched some favorites, but it didn’t start that way. Yes. I was bored, so I stuck with it: 10.0 Earthquake. Maybe it is just me, but with a title like that, I fully expect Denver to become beach front property! My stars! We’ve had a few shakes here in Oklahoma and that movie didn’t produce half the excitement. Well, maybe except for when the beach swallowed up a surfer, but that could have been a scene out of Sand Sharks, which we all know at least had a decent body count! Oh my goodness! I see there is a Sand Sharks II! Where the heck is the remote. I hope I have a job after confessing to have watched the first one. But! Yes! One I’ve rewatched was the entire Matrix Trilogy. Why? Because they are making #4. I can honestly say that I’ve not been this excited about a movie coming out since The Lord of the Rings and not the most recent one, but the animated version they made back in 1978! I’ve watched the trailer of the new Matrix (due out Christmas) and now, after watching the trilogy again, I know what #4 will be about: love. Yes. Love. Severus had his “Always” and so does Neo. “Hello, Trinity, love of my life. Let’s meet in New York and catch a show! I found a way through time and the machines and all the way back to you.” I love a good love story. Click here for the preview to The Matrix: Resurrection. They won’t let me embed it… go figure. Dang machines!
What I’ve learned: as I’ve gotten older, the capacity for the amount of BS I’ll put up with has diminished significantly. That goes for the BS that I dish out to myself. I use to believe that bit, but I’ve come to the conclusion that I would like to live a life that the Lord has chosen for me and one that does not involve so much drama. I can deal with life’s drama-that’s just a part of living-but that created bit, the bit that you think is real, but that really only exists… in the Matrix… that’s the bit I’m weary of. Ask yourself: “Is it live or is it the Matrix?” You know what I mean. If it is live, deal with it. If not, in the words of some very wise three legged dog, “Kick some dirt over that shit and move on.”
Thought for the day (and it does link to the sermon for tomorrow): “Those who don’t build must burn.” – Fahrenheit 451 (p.85) People will burn all day long, but you… you never get tired of building. It is easy to burn. Strike a match and watch what goes up. Building, on the other hand, is work, hard work and dang well worth it. I definitely have my struggles and there are days when I want to chuck it all in, but when I come to my senses… I’ll put on my rundown cowboy boots and dig those heels in. As my friend St. Joan of Arc would say, “It was for this that I was born!” You got this… Illegitimi non carborundum.
Candle in a Cave 
What, and you didn’t call me to come enjoy the fun in cutting the cat’s toenails? My feelings are hurt!