Monthly Archives: August 2008

I Get Crushed in Dueling Accordions

Dad preached at Anchor today. He pastored the church from 1995-1998, leading the people to accept the idea of a restart, which occurred in October 1998 (so we’re coming up on our 10th anniversary). He and Mom have attended services at Anchor several times over the years, but this is the first time Dad has preached. Pastor Tim’s on vacation, having just completed (on Friday) his last class at Trinity toward his MDiv.

Mom and I played our accordions together, a duet of “Mansion Over the Hilltop.” Now, I hadn’t played my accordion in a couple years. Shame on me. But “Mansion” is easy. I can get disoriented in the black buttons, but with “Mansion” you only use three of them, and they sit next to each other. Mom and I practiced Saturday night, and it went great. Easy.

Not quite so easy this morning in church.

First, I put my arms through the accordion straps and lifted it onto my shoulders. But Patty, a few rows back, was pointing at something. Turns out the strap was caught around the front of the accordion. If I had started playing, the strap would have been holding several keys down, making a horrible sound. So I needed to remove the accordion and start over. I felt silly.

I had already undone the clasps holding the bellows together, so as I hoisted it up again, it was making noise. “What are you doing?” Mom asked.

Then the strap got caught again, and I had to undo it. Mom was all ready to go, but by this time, I was totally flustered.

As soon as I had the accordion situation, Mom started off. But I still needed to find where to put my fingers. I couldn’t locate the “C” black button, and, like a dork, had to bend the accordion out to physically look at it. Then my right hand wasn’t sure it was on the proper keys (it wasn’t). With an accordion, you can’t really see what you’re doing.

So while Mom was charging ahead, doing a marvelous job, I was fumbling around, hitting the wrong buttons and wrong keys in a two-handed train wreck, and forgetting to open and close the bellows. Can you spell “I feel stupid and highly conspicuous”?

Finally, Mom paused and said, “Do you want to start over?”

Indeed I did. This time I got my fingers in the right places, and it went fairly well. We had planned to play two verses. After one verse, Mom said, “Do you want to go again?” And I said yes. Finally, I actually played the song right.

The moral of the story is two-fold:

  • Don’t NOT do something for two years, and think you can ace it, you foolish prima dona.
  • Don’t put yourself in a situation where Mom can totally show you up.
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Book: The Post American World

ZakariaBook_100.jpgA book I can’t recommend highly enough is Fareed Zakaria’s The Post American World. I love big-picture books, ones which don’t focus just on what’s happening in the United States, but put the US in a global context.

With that title, your instinct as a nationalistic and maybe thin-skinned American is to think, “Oh, he’s knocking America, saying we’re a nation in decline.”

Zakaria, a Newsweek writer, answers that assumption in the first sentence: “This is a book not about the decline of America, but rather about the rise of everyone else.”

I hate to disappoint the doomsdayers who think the world’s going down the toilet, and that’s why the Second Coming will occur next Friday. But the reality is, the world is experiencing a time of unprecedented economic prosperity and of peace.

  • We see the prosperity most noticeably in China and India, where hundreds of millions of people are rising out of poverty. But you also see “the rise of the rest” in Brazil and other parts of South America, in Russia, in some of the Eastern European countries, in the Muslim countries (which are beginning to invest in infrastructure for their countries, instead of just Swiss bank accounts for Muslim princeling playboys), and in various other countries here and there (like Vietnam).
  • Wars, particularly wars among major countries, are becoming a thing of the past. The threat of terrorism remains on our minds, but in most of the world, peace reigns. Has the world ever been this peaceful?

Zakaria (an immigrant from India who is now a US citizen) says the United States will continue being the strongest economy and the only superpower for many years. But no longer will we call all the shots.

In the years ahead, global economics, not politics, will rule the day. Central planning, the centerpiece of communism, has been thoroughly discredited. Capitalism (with or without democracy) is now the way to organize a country’s economy.

It’s a wonderful, big-picture book. And he gives some great insights into why America has been so strong, and why it will remain so. I’ll be writing more about this book.

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The Olympics are Here (Actually, in China)

I’m really excited about the Olympics. Only comes around every four years, and there’s always plenty of drama and the unfolding of neat stories.

  • Right now, I’m watching Kerri Walsh and Misty May in beach volleyball.
  • Had men’s gymnastics earlier, but I didn’t care for it, so mainly read and book and sat outside while Jordi was in the grass.
  • Actually enjoyed women’s fencing earlier in the day (not sure I’d ever seen fencing before).
  • Cycling doesn’t work on TV, unless it’s one of those small oval tracks.
  • I generally dislike soccer–scoring so rarely happens. I like a sport where things happen. But I enjoyed watching some soccer earlier today.
  • Saw that Chinese girl win a gold in weight-lifting. Pretty impressive.
  • Of course, I love Olympic basketball.

Yeah, I’ll be addicted to this for the next two weeks.

The opening ceremonies were pretty impressive. But I was mainly interested–as I always am–in how the flame is lit. The Chinese did it pretty cool. But nothing beats that arrow shot in Barcelona. That’s still the best.

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Oh Say Can You See

Canadian pitcher Chris Reitsma about Beijing’s pollution: “You’re watching batting practice in the outfield and you can’t see the ball because it’s the same color as the sky.”

Newsweek reporter Melinda Liu describes the skies as “the color of bed sheets that have been slept in too many times.”

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My Inability to Swallow Pills

You’ve seen this in movies and TV shows. Someone is having a medical attack of some kind–heart, anxiety, whatever. With much over-the-top dramatic fumbling, the person finds and opens a pill bottle, tosses the pill open-palmed into his mouth, throws in some water, and swallows. Immediately swallows. And life is good.

I couldn’t do that. Probably not even if my life depended on it. I would die with the pills and water in my mouth.

I take two pills every morning. I pop them into my mouth, take a swig of water…and then wallow them around until the pills are on the verge of dissolving. Finally, after several false starts, all of my throat muscles convene a meeting and decide, “Okay, let’s do this. All together now…1, 2, 3…swallow!” And down go the pills. Or what’s left of them.

Not too many years ago, I couldn’t swallow a pill without looking in a mirror. I would set the pill on the back of my tongue, drink some water, and eventually force the thing down.

Turns out my brother Rick has the exact same malady (as was unearthed when we got together over Memorial Day). And I’m wondering how many untold millions of people, like me, suffer from the same Protracted Swallowing Syndrome? Is anybody working to solve this?

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Books: from Lisa Lee, James Crumbley, Robert Parker

3novels_July08_2_300.jpgHere are three more novels I’ve read recently.

The Last Good Kiss, by James Crumley. This Black Lizard book sat on my shelf for a long time. Didn’t know what I was missing. Another roman noir book. The book takes a leisurely, meandering pace, with several seemingly unrelated things going on. At times you think everything’s resolved and the book can end now. Finally, about 80% of the way through, things collide in a way I wasn’t expecting. Well done. But the protagonist is a bit too far on the lacking-in-morals side for me. Probably won’t read any more.

School Days, by Robert Parker. A quick read, like most Spencer novels–a couple days, tops. I wasn’t sure how this one would end. I did some guessing, and came pretty close, but still enough wiggle room for surprises. Hawk made no appearance in this book, and Susan was pretty much absent, but Pearl the Wonderdog was ever present. Now I’m all caught up with the Spencer series (except for the latest hardback).

The Flower Net, by Lisa See. This author has a series of mysteries set in China. They have gorgeous covers. Every time I was in a bookstore, I was drawn to them. Finally bought “The Flower Net,” the first in the series. Set mostly in China, with the middle section in Los Angeles. Lots of background, lots of Chinese flavor. It was a little much at first, and I wanted the plot to move along faster, but once I got into the rhythm, it was good. Not great.

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Politics as Usual for Republicans

I had thought John McCain had the potential to be the kind of transforming figure in politics that I’ve yearned for. I was a huge fan. But I’m an objective person, too. And McCain’s continual petty and usually baseless attacks on Obama (amplified joyfully by Rush and FoxNews) convince me that he’s just more of the same. Deeply disappointing.

I believe Obama, too, has the potential to be a transforming political figure, despite his youth and inexperience, and he has done nothing to turn me away. I desperately long for someone who can, as much as possible, transcend normal politics. It may be decades before another such person comes along.

The Washington Post ran a thorough article about the flap over visiting the troops in Germany, debunking the (disappointing) lies and innuendoes thrown around by McCain & Co.

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When You Just Won’t Take it Any Longer

One of the blogs I read regularly is by Perry Noble, pastor of Newspring Church, one of the fastest-growing in the country. The last few days, he’s been talking about obesity, and of his own battles with weight. Today he wrote this:

I remember having a conversation with a guy once who asked me, “What is the first step in losing weight” and I told him, “You’ve got to get pissed, REALLY pissed!”

He looked at me, sort of stunned, so I continued.

“You’ve got to get pissed at yourself. You literally have to look in the mirror and say, You did this…but I’m coming after you…and this is going to be the end.”

That’s pretty much how it happened with me. Since November, I’ve dropped nearly 40 pounds, and am shooting for another 15 by the end of the year. Feels great. But I remember my feelings of desperation a year ago. Yep, I was basically PO’d at myself.

Is that what it takes for some churches to change? They lose people and decline, until the remnant say, “Enough! We’ve been sticking to our ways long enough, and it ain’t working. Unless we do something different, we’ll die.”

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Worries Me, Too

Senator Thad Cochran (Republican-Mississippi) earlier this year said of John McCain: “The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine…He is erratic. He is hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me.”

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Segregated Sundays

CNN’s website has an excellent article on racial segregation in churches. It examined a lot of the nitty-gritty dynamics in churches with multiple ethnic groups, and how it can be like tip-toeing through a minefield as you try not to offend anyone.

The article mentions how black churches can prefer to remain mostly black, just as white churches may prefer to remain white. It mentioned how some sensitive black preachers have toned down their preaching style, knowing that whites sometimes cringe under traditional too-fiery preaching. Very interesting stuff.

My denomination, in the US, is close to lilly white. Until a few years ago (when they pulled out over petty disagreements), we had white churches in California that shared buildings with Hispanic church plants. The Hispanics were growing, the whites shrinking. But the whites pulled shenanigans to hold onto their power. It was sad, some of the stories I heard.

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