Month: March 2007

over the last couple of days i started talking with a person on second life that was into the xian music scene and had been to cornerstone a few times. after throwing around names of people we might both know, we eventually hit on a guy i hadn’t talked to in probably at least 5 or more years. the person in sl still had contact with him, so they gave him my aim account and we talked some last night over aim. that was a pretty cool happening.
in much less cool news, i began to realize last night that most likely when the person stole my license plate they also went into the house and stole some other stuff. most of the windows in the house don’t latch, and it would be really easy for someone to go behind the house and climb in through a window. for at least a month or more, i’ve looked for a thing or two and figured i’d just moved or misplaced them since i have been continually in the process or unpacking, rearranging, moving stuff, etc. i can’t describe how unnerving it is to be wondering what in the world someone might have stolen. the same thing happened at 9023, and over months to follow i would realize something else they stole. so who knows what they might have taken this time that i won’t know about until i go looking for it. the most disturbing thing is what i do know they took though — my walther ppk/s. now, it is possible i have misplaced it. but last night i started realizing a few other things i am missing that i think should be in certain places, so i’m pretty sure someone came in through the window and stole stuff out of my bedroom and bedroom closet. at least it evidently hasn’t been found and traced to a crime yet, or i would have probably already been visited by the police.
and the reason i started looking for the ppk/s seriously — instead of just assuming i’d moved it somewhere out of sight and couldn’t remember where — is because i was planning on taking the concealed handgun class this weekend, so i wanted to go a night or two this week and make sure i felt comfortable enough to take the class. it looks like i won’t be doing that.
i don’t recall ever having to deal with people breaking into a house or apartment i’ve lived in, but it’s happened twice now within the last two years. it pisses me off that people do that kind of stuff. i’ve never been a big fan of houston overall, but these two recent incidents really aren’t helping me want to stay in the city. not that it couldn’t happen elsewhere, and of course it does — but it had nevered happened to me or in a place i was living. usually i think the media creates a culture of fear that makes people way more paranoid about the world around them, but i’ve now had the place i was living broken into twice, with at least one failed attempt. it makes it hard to have a good opinion of the surrounding area or town, or to think maybe too much has changed for it to be a decent place anymore. as with last time, i’m fortunate they were most likely on foot and were just looking do a quick grab and run. of course, i also don’t know what else might come up missing as time goes on.

i may take pictures of the prayer candles later, but here are some descriptions:

• (*) la santasima muerte (“most holy death” or “spirit death” — feminine, btw) — this appears to be a mash-up of catholicism and previous pagan/aztec/indian beliefs. the spirit is drawn similar to the grim reaper (skull head, skelton hands and feet, in a robe). it might be holding a scythe, but usually is holding the world in one hand and a set of scales in the other. (the one on these candles is holding a human skull in one hand and i don’t know what in the other.) this “saint” (more accurately, spirit) is the one referenced as the “death cult” that a lot of criminals in mexico have been getting into — praying for protection from others, or putting curses on others. she is also prayed to for protection of your house, for jobs/money, and by women to keep the man of their life from straying (the idea being only death should separate you). or any number of other things. colors are actually important when giving offerings or burning candles, and usually people have an altar and burn candles regularly. unfortunately, my only choices were white wax with black silkscreening (i bought 3) and red wax with white silkscreening (i bought 2). i’ve seen black wax with white silkscreening online, but they didn’t have any at either store. one site had an awesome 7-color one (these are seven day candles)…i’d love to get my hands on that one.
• (*) la anima sola (“the lonely soul”) — this is a redish wax candle with silkscreening of a painting of a woman in the flames of purgatory, with shackles on her wrists with broken chains, one arm raised looking up into the sky. apparently, since it tends to imply being released from purgatory, it’s generally used for prayer for releasing loved ones or yourself from purgatory or a feeling of purgatory. conversely, it can evidently be used negatively to pray suffering or purgatory on someone.
• (*) adam and eve love candle — pink/red wax candle silkscreened with “attraction, man and woman, love of G-d, happy marriage, love of children, long lasting love”. it also has what appears to be a drawing of a greek statue of venus (with the word “venus” above it), and the prayer on it is: “love goddess, with the power of the idealistic love of adam and eve, make me desirable, attractive, and strong so that i may partake in your acts of love and sweetness and your joyful power of love forever. my beloved:” and here it has a place to write in your beloved’s name and your desire. it then suggests you pray daily and read the 23rd psalm. how’s that for some interesting religious mash-up?
• (*) this one is a top half blue wax and bottom half white wax candle (note the colours) with a silk-screened picture of a cop writing a ticket and someone looking out of a window behind them and yelling or in shock or something. the caption in big letters above the scene says “law! stay away”.
• (*) (alleged) controlling candle — this is an orange wax candle with a silkscreened image of a human puppet with strings going up to a human hand on the controls.
• (*) steady work — this is a green wax silkscreened candle with a number of jobs listed (like mechanic, dressmaker, politician, mason, minister, etc.) and a couple of pictures (one of two graduates in their cap and gowns, one of a guy doing masonry and/or carpentry). in the center of the jobs list is a six-point “star of david” inside a circle with a lot of other stuff going on that is not detailed enough to figure out, and the word “talizman” below it.

the last two i took to work and put on my desk. i figure the implication that these candles are providing me steady work and the ability to control others will help me keep my job rather handily. how can one fight the spiritual realm when it’s so obviously on my side?
there were a few i didn’t pick up, but considered. there was one for court cases — to get the judge to be fair and just, or at least for you to get what you want. if only i had known about these candles when i was going through my divorce! maybe the evil that was perpetrated on me would have had to retreat to the sulfurous hell-hole from whence it came. i wouldn’t be surprised to find out most of the people involved smelt of sulfur. but i digress….
with these 10 new candles, my number of 7-day prayer candles now goes up to 16. the other 6 i already had were much more catholic in nature. although the “justo juez” (“just judge”) picture tends to get used as the centerpiece of the “seven african powers” stuff, which is generally considered religious mash-up. especially when instead of 7 saints they put the names (or even pictures) from other religious origins.

thursday evening i watched intermission. it’s a film set in england about a number of different people, and how their choices effect each other through the length of the movie. it was fairly entertaining and interesting, but it must not have left too deep of an impression because i don’t remember it all that well. or maybe i was distracted while watching it.
friday afternoon i left work a bit early to meet up with my friend tim. he’s in the air force and is currently stationed in south korea, but was in Texas for a conference and decided to rent a car and drive to houston for the weekend to hang out.
we met at my house, then headed over to tropioca for the monthly geek gathering. the turnout this month was pretty low (around 10 people or so). the original plan was to head to the poison girl afterward, but the shift in tim’s sleeping cycle was still throwing him so we headed back to the house. where we ended up having theological discussions until 2am or 3am.
saturday we got up around 11am i think, then i spent a few hours playing various alt.country and Texas swing bands for tim. eventually we got pretty hungry, so we headed over to sylvia’s enchilada for a late lunch. on the way back, we stopped at a few stores because tim had a list of things he was supposed to get while in the states to take back with him. it was during one of these store visits that i found an exciting new product i just had to have (more info later). we eventually headed to the house of pies for an evening desert. while there, jay texted me to let me know two tons of steel was playing at the continental club that night. earlier in the day we’d considered driving to swiss alp to see the wild river band play, but our timeline didn’t work out for that — so this seemed like a good substitute. we went over to the continental club and spent the rest of the evening there. two tons put on a good show, and i was able to talk with chris (the drummer) for a fair bit before they went onstage. it’s cool to hear that things seem to be going pretty well for him as far as balancing work, music, and family. around 2am we went back to the house and i went to bed around 3am.
sunday tim had wanted to go to a lutheran church, but the night of carousing put an end to that. we got up around 10:30am or 11:30am and pretty quickly decided to go to goode company bbq. the inside seating was full so we had to sit outside. they had the plastic walls down, but the wind was harsh. we turned on the heater units and that helped, and eventually other people sat outside, but most of them appeared to be chilled by the wind. after that, we continued tim’s search for items not available in south korea. eventually we ended up heading to the fiesta on hillcroft, where i found even more exciting new products i just had to own — i found a number of prayer candles i’d never seen before. the ones i was excited about on saturday, i found more of here. but then i found even more versions i’d never seen before. i bought 3 of the same thing on saturday, and i bought 7 at this fiesta (2 of the same as saturday’s, plus 5 others). we headed back to the house, and i showed him a few episodes of “robot chicken” and we watched pi. i’m not sure he was as enamored with the movie as i am. after that, it was time for him to hit the road back to san antonio.
after he left, i met the potts at houston first baptist (services were already over) and we headed to a wendy’s. dietrich rode with me. when we got in the car, i forgot i’d been listening to the dead kennedys rather loudly. i turned it down and dietrich said “that’s nice music.” i replied that it was the dead kennedys and they’d been around long before he was alive. he then said “i would like to see them sometime.” so i then had to explain they weren’t together anymore. not too long after that the song “nazi punks fsck off” came on and i decided i should turn it down beyond listenable levels. while at wendy’s i was talking about me and my brother for some reason i don’t recall, and dietrich casually dropped in with “brothers from different mothers”. i told him we actually had the same mother, and i wasn’t aware of any brothers i had from different mothers. at which point sue chimed in about jack, and jack turned a sad face to me. so i admitted except maybe jack. that dietrich is quite the character these days.
candle information in another post…

bought some cds from cdbaby awhile back…

• singing, stomping, and strumming – lynda kay (self-released)
• cowgirl! – lynda kay and the lickity splits (firelight)
• starbase 109 – starbase 109 (self-released)
• a little bit faster and a little bit worse – the devil makes three (monkeywrench)

last weekend i went home to brady for my grandmother’s birthday. i went ahead and took monday off, since driving all the way home and back is too much for a two-day weekend. a couple of my grandmother’s nieces and a nephew were there, as well as a…uh…grand niece? (i’m not too good with the terms for family relations, since both of my parents were only children. well, my mom wasn’t, but she was in her adopted family so she didn’t know.) i spent some time with my grandmother by myself as well, and some time with my parents. as usual, it felt like a pretty short amount of time.
on the way back, since it was a normal business day, i stopped by the mason county courthouse to see about gathering some records related to my family. i’m curious to have the stuff, but i also need some of it for my sons of the republic of Texas application. i only spent an hour or so there, but i got a copy of my grandfather’s birth certificate and his certification of his mom and dad’s marriage. some of the stuff i need i may have to go to fredericksburg for, and possibly bexar county (san antonio) as well. then there is the matter of getting ship rolls for entry into the republic of Texas…i’m not sure where i’d go about getting a certified copy of that yet. i’m also hoping to find old deed records that can show me where the original land was that my ancestors got, as well as land they bought and sold. that may take a lot more work than birth and marriage certificates. but i think it’d be pretty cool to buy some of that land if it comes up for sale at some point.
i also stopped by the cemetary where my grandparents and some other ancestors are buried, near the chuch in art. this time, i also stopped at the cemetary a mile or two further down the road, which is where my grandfather’s parents are buried, along with some of my grandfather’s siblings. i hadn’t been to that cemetary in years, but i hadn’t actually made the family connection for some reason until recently when i started tracing my family line.
on tuesday for lunch i met with bill, the pastor of kaleo. i basically wanted to be able to sit down and tell him what my background is, as far as my experience with ecclesia, and also with tamara. partially i wanted to him to have that information in case it ever came up through other channels, but i also wanted him to know where i am emotionally and spiritually because of all of that. and i also wanted to let him know what the ecclesia issues were with myself and tamara and a number of friends, so we could see if kaleo would be a different kind of place or fit, both from his side and mine. i did almost all of the talking, which i guess would make sense in the context, but i end up feeling self-conscious in those kinds of situations. plus when i talk about those issues, it’s hard for me not to go on at length because they were major events in my life and i tend to provide a lot of detail when i get into telling something. hopefully my verbosity didn’t make him feel like he wants to avoid me, seeing as i tend to feel uncomfortable around people who completely dominate all conversations they are a part of.
more catching up to come…