Fantasy

Fantasy
Should I go here? Probably not. I was thinking of the movie Peggy Sue Got Married. Do you remember the movie? Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, and starring Nicholas Cage and Kathleen Turner. They all did a great job. Kathleen Turner is in a coma (I believe) and in her coma she goes back in time and relives her life. In real life her childhood sweetheart turned husband is cheating on her with a younger woman. She knows about it and they are facing divorce. In her dream she relives the more happy times with her boyfriend who she now knows she will eventually marry. So she decides, what they heck? "I will not wait until marriage. I will have sex with him now."

I think Hollywood writers love this kind of scenario. It's fantasy sex. It's sex with no consequences. There were several movies with mermaids turned to beautiful women. They were free fantasy sex to the lucky men who encountered them. I'm sure there are plenty of other situations I cannot recall now.

Well funny thing about changing history. It isn't so easy. When she propositions her boyfriend he freaks out. Cage has a great quote here, "That's a guy's line, Peggy Sue! That's a guy's line!" I just love dilemmas like that. Peggy Sue figures "What the heck?" I'm going to marry this guy and have sex with him in the future. This is not cheating really since we are destined to be married after high school. She is reliving her life but she knows the future. There is a funny line about an Edsel.

I remember high school and college dating a bit like the Cage character did. I would try to get a girl to go further with me after a date but truly expected, almost hoped she would say no. Somehow, weirdly, I felt it was my obligation to try. Yes, it was objectifying a girl. A girl saying yes would have freaked me out. This was quite a bit like fantasy. If a girl had tried to proposition me I would have freaked. I would not have had to say no or yes. Did that make me a tease? I imagine a lot of girls had me figured out.

Omari Tau Williams

My favorite section leader of all time. Omari Williams, now going as Omari Tau.

Keeping material things lightly

Loyola spoke of this. It was one of the things his disciples, the Jesuits, were supposed to do. One man, I forget his name, was exemplary in that when Loyola asked or volunteers to go to India. When someone got sick at the last moment he said, "Yes, I'll go." He was on the boat within a week. For most of us that would be impossible. Now the fact that he was single and had no family certainly helped. Few of us could be ready that fast. And remember there were several other Jesuits who did not jump up to volunteer. So yes, this man was exemplary.

I was thinking about this because it is so much fun to accumulate. But then at some point I have run out of room or lost the ability to keep track of all the stuff. Then I slow down the accumulation. I then try to cull items I don't need but that is much harder than getting them in the first place. This is all a part of having so much. My possessions run over, no doubt. When I die there will be so much for people to go through. I am concerned about that but I still have a hard time releasing things.

I couldn't even list all this things I have accumulated but a partial list is:
CD music,
Beta movies mostly taped off the TV (I still have them),
there are over 200 tapes with 2 or 3 movies on each tape most still work
VHS movies (only 100 of these),
DVD movies (second daughter bought most of these),
downloaded .avi movies,
cassette music,
old Redeemer albums
old Vineyard albums
old radio shows taped from the radio on cassette,
Oddessey radio shows (Focus on the Family) taped from the radio and some bought sets,
I have almost all of them until 2001 or so when
the kids positively got too old to care
books in several book cases,
Apple II software (I have so much of this stuff, mostly on 5.25" diskettes),
some restaurant matchboxes
many series of magazines that I have subscribed to (why?)

So I am certainly a negative example of holding things lightly.

Gilmore Girls, seven year compacted into 8 minutes

Such a great show, I need to pull out my DVD's.

Testing

State Senatorial Convention

State Senatorial Convention

DW and I spent most of Saturday at the SD6 convention - Republican style. This is a weird year. The major comment is that the Ron Paul delegates worked hard to disrupt things. Our little old district, run by a saintly Christian man, usually gets us out by noon. But this year we had a credentials fight to start with. The nominations for the state convention became a donnybrook. Then the resolutions segment was dragging on. About 3:30 I got tired and DW and I left. It looked like that it was going to be another hour anyway. I think they were done but for the technical problem of have to do a re-vote. Each precinct was supposed to vote it's strength but we had been using "one man one vote" as a matter of convenience. (Is that clear as mud?) There were several men and one woman too, dressed well, who seemed to be trying to be very literal about the rules. No one asked, and it didn't really matter, but everyone in the room knew these people were Paul obstructionists. They were well schooled in the rules and how to manipulate them.

The Republican party has always run a grassroots convention. We have since Reagan anyway. But to make this manageable we have to respect one another. If people are going to act as the Paul delegates did, they might ruin it for all. But hopefully this is going to be isolated. It is not worth changing rules over.

I hope that these delegates were not trying to drive people out so they could try to pass their agenda. This has certainly been done before but I hope the convention chairman would recess the convention first. That is why you should stay until the very end, to protect against that. But I was supposed to take youngest daughter to a Rice baseball game. I was already two hours late. We got there for the last three innings then went over to see the football scrimmage. DD got to see some old buddies from Bellaire. We left after the first half so she could get up to Huntsville to visit with middle daughter.

All four of our precinct delegates showed up. That's a first and it has got to be rare. The man who volunteered to be an alternate did not come. I guess that was good. He would not have been seated as we thought he would. (I called him last night and his duplex mate said he spent the night at the UH Law Library. So I knew there a good chance he would sleep in.) We would expect at least one of the four to not show. But we would have been wrong. Slightly less than 50% of those who signed to go actually came. So we did really well to get 100%. I am proud of them. One of the women is new to our precinct. She dropped right in, helping to secretary the nominations caucus. She is quite confident while doing that. DW helped with credentials. I helped with resolutions. It was a busy day. I was asleep by 9 PM.

Accoutability List

Accountability
I got this from Fresh Wind, a newletter I received. This came from the pdf WindSockDec.07.pdf: The Gift of Yourself. I cannot say that I am very good at this. But I did find the points a good review of what I aspire to do.
Yes I did change some of it to make it more timely. They are not substantial changes.
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Important leaders' fall from grace reminds us of the need for accountability relationships. Here are some quick, challenging thoughts on the subject.
Accountability suggests the lateral, horizontal aspect of life.
• We’re accountable to other people. We count to them (matter) and we count to them (itemize).
• These people need to have some authority in relation to us, which we give them.
• It involves trust of those to whom we’re accountable.
• also respect
Accountability presupposes love and acceptance (if you don't love me, I won't level with you.)
Accountability presupposes a desire to be well.
Accountability presupposes a determination to relate.
Accountability requires honesty, trust, courage in the one being held accountable.
Accountability requires trustworthiness, discretion, largeness of heart in those holding accountable.
Accountability promotes balance, health, teamness in the sense of not-being-alone.
Accountability is not an adversarial but a side by side relationship.
Accountability’s areas of concern are:
• sin
• responsibility--to agreed upon criteria
• growth
• health
i.e. the tough stuff.
Accountability allows us to be agents of each other's growth and freedom.
Accountability recognizes that none of us is a capable judge of ourselves.
Accountability provides an on-going opportunity to get real, to become truthful, to face our spiritual enemies, t olay hold of the grace to change what should be changed.
Accountability realizes that I can hold off God all day long, but I rally start to deal when I tell you, and that God is the author of this dynamic.
Accountability says “I give you permission to ask tough questions”.
• “Have you done what you said you were going to do?” “Why?” “Why not?"
• and the toughest and last question is, “Have you just lied to me?”
Accountability in the church is an opportunity to grow through a relationship that no other relationship on earth provides. No other relationship provides the combination of grace, honesty, forgiveness, forbearance, hope, and power which this can provide.
The goal of Accountability is not success but growth, not perfection but improvement, not lying solo but as part of the flock.
May I suggest a Lenten resolution to get an accountability partner?