Posting on a Bus About Church

Once again I am tooling around the Steel City on a bus. The bus is packed and it has to be explained to people that they should use seats in the back and not stand in the front blocking everyone. There is the occasional person screaming for the back door even though the driver can get in trouble if they are caught using it.

I am on the 61C and there should be a larger bus on this run. Of course the Port Authority is opposed to doing anything that might make their customers happy or comfortable. So a shot bus it is. I suppose we are lucky they have not started using dodge darts.

I am off to Bible Study at Second Baptist. It is an odd format that I have not seen done anywhere else. You are given a Bible verse and asked to come up with your thoughts on it. Some have object lessions or mini sermons. Others tell how that verse made them fell. And the happy few tell elephant stories that are related to the Bible Verse.

On the face of it one would think this would be some kind of train wreck. To the contrary it works out most weeks. The people who come clearly spend time thinking about thier replies, and you get to learn a lot about the people you go to church with.

After a person has read their verse and said their piece the floor is open to comment from everyone else around the table. This ranges from well thought out Biblical commentaries to jokes about people being old.

In many of the churches that I have been a member this would lead to great division in the congregation and much gossip. At Second Baptist it leads to a greater understanding of the word and a great deal of good natured fun.

Over the last couple of years I have thought a great deal about what church should be. I have tried to list what are the best traditions, command structure, physical layout and a hundred other details. I would have never considered such a Bible Study as being part of the mix. So over the last year I have thought a great deal about this particular Bible Study. I would like to think that such a Bible Study could be a blessing to any church. Sadly it strikes me that many Christians are too thin skinned or not introspective enough. So in the end I have a lot of reasons why it would not work elsewhere. I have very few reason why it works here. Maybe the people are special. Maybe the Holy Spirit is particularly strong in this congregation.  It could be the leadership of the group.

What ever it is this church has been set apart for something special. When it realised what that thing it will be something to see.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice

Pack 60

It look like the number of Second Baptist's Caub Scout Pack is going to be 60. Well it make me happy. that was the number of my Boy Scout Troop when I was a kid.

The thing that I find exciting about this is the start of a complete scouting program. For some reason the last couple place that I have done scouts has only wanted girl or boys ans not both. I personally found this very odd.

So it will be interesting to see how this goes.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Kilt Stuff

For those that have been keeping track. We are still looking at some of the tradition of the Clown Brigade. There is always some kind of uniformity amoung a clown troop. Some just have patches others like us have some kind of uniform.

This is Sergeant Kisielnicki stabbing Sergeant Arasin with a sword. there is a story that goes with it but it is silly. Anyway both are wearing some version of our uniform and Kisielnicki is in a kilt which is something thtta we have been doing for more formal occassions.

They are also sitting on the front Stair well at Second Baptist Church where we have been meeting for church over the last year. By the way the folk there have been incredibly tolerant of us considering stuff like this happens on a regular basis.

Well be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Musical Randomness

I have been watching a lot of Godzilla recently. As of now I have officially watched every Godzilla movie at least three times except for the American one. I saw that American one in the theaters and was not impressed. i mean enough stuff blew up. It was just not the real Godzilla.

Anyway, I still think the good people at TOHO should attack an American City. A man in a Suit going through LA would entertain me to no end. Granted LA is not as entertaining at New York being destroyed.

Anyway the one thing that i have been looking for is a good version of the Gozilla March. i have not been able to find it. there are a couple version on the youtube. Still I have not found the song itself anywhere. i wonder if there is music to it out there. I am not sure why it is important to me.

Actually music has been a preoccupation of mine for some time. Granted there are few people out that that should probably stay away from music more than me. There are just so many horrible things that I have done to music. Frankly my accodion playing is unforgivable. Perhapse if i could find someone to teach me I would be better. Unfortunately there is no one in the city of Pittsburgh that is giving accordion lessons. It is really a shame. So I have been trying to learn that on my own.

The other unspeakable thing that i am doing to music at the moment is singing in the church Choir. Extemporaneous music is something that i am truly not prepared for. Our Choir Director has been very patient with me. Sadly i do not appear to be getting it. I suppose more practive is order.

As usual this has been pointless and has been brought to you by the letter W for Waste of time. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Meatloaf Does Funk

I just heard this meatloaf track from the early seventies. He apparently did Who is the Leader of the People. If is awesome. It was released ten years after he recorded it because he had some kind of argument with mo town records. Meatloaf and mo town records wow those words in the same sentence. I suppose there has always been something just a bit funky about Meatloaf.


Well this is another song that i owe to Craig Charles and his Funk show on BBC 6. It just does not get better than this. If you have not listened to this show is is better than a bucket of cotton candy with a cherry cola. That is good by the way.

I do think my tastes are beging to shift again. Once upon a time I would listen to BBC 2 almost all the time. The BBC 1 started creeping in there. Then there was the jpop thing. Now I am onto BBC 1 and BBC 6 this is crazy stuff folks. I imagine the Brits that read this might understand why that is strange. Still it is a shift none the less.

Something that i have always thought about is a soundtrack for various things. My own personal sound track is messed up to say the least.

With the Brigade now on it's own I have been thinking about what kind of soundtrack they should have. We are going to have to retool the show. I must say my time at second Baptist has given me a new love of Gospel. Even so I am not sure Gospel is quite right for the way that things are with the show. I am thinking about writing a new show. That would leave it open for what ever kind of music we want to do. Still it is something that we really need to think about. With the Army there was a certain type of music. It felt right and it was always there. If anyone has some ideas I am open to them.

Something else that I am wondering about is the soundtrack of the various character in my books. Various Character already have a soundtrack.

Brigadier Mason is mix Speed Metal and British Rock. Even thogh she is one of the good guys you get the feeling that she is capible of unspeakable evil if the situation requires it.

The newer Character Yamato Yukawa is easy she is jpop and jrock. She is a Versailles and Gackt fan with some Morning Musume and Namie Amuro thrown in there. She is adorable but also you get the feeling that she does not understand the necessity for morality.

This has led me to ponder some characters that I had not thought about.

There is Evangeline Jefferson. Now she is a time traveler who is a baseball fan. She is a huge Roberto Clemente Fan. the time that she specialised in was the late 20th century. So she is an eighties pop fan. There is a point in the story when she is listening to Curel Summer from bannanaramma.

There is her father James Booth. I am all over the place on him. I have his character wlell defined. I am just having some trouble where he should be. At the moment I have him listening to Jazz. He is also a time traveler that one used hi abilities to see BB King in a crummy hole in the wall club before he was BB King. So I know there is Jazz.

He is an uncomprimising man that has unblemished character. he and Mason are often going round and round about tactics. He is the jimminy cricket of the book on occasion. So there is that one that end. I would like to fill out his musical background. Also being a Salvation Army Officer he must play and instrument. I have established that he cannot sing. i am not sure what he should play,

The takes me to John Jefferson. I have not a clue on him. He is a black man that was raised in the US Navy by a father that was into mo town. i do have him liking Ray Charles. Still there is something wrong with you if you do not like at leaste three Ray Charles Songs. i am serious if you do not like that many Ray Charles Songs you have a character defect. By the way Mason only like two Ray Charles Songs.

He has lost his faith in the church but not God. I am thinking that he likes funk and maybe some rock and roll. I am not sure about him. In most of the stories I have been working on he is a background character. In the current story he is a young man of nineteen and and older man.

Well if you have any ideas I am up for them. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.