Hopes and Dreams

There are many things that we hope and dream about as we grow up...

What we would like to do...where we would like to live...who we would like to marry...

I was lucky enough to marry the woman of my dreams...

I'm still working at what I want to do, and hoping for a good outcome...

I still dream of living in Hawaii someday soon...

But...my wife and I share our ultimate dreams together...

And that is for our children...

That they may be happy...and have the opportunity to chase their dreams...

Our daughter Lacy is about to finish her first year of college at AMDA(see my links)...

She has done so well, that she has earned additional scholarships for next year...

Most importantly to her mother and I, however...

She is becoming...

She is becoming all that she has hoped to be...

But...

She has always been what every parent dreams of...

The best daughter in the world...

She comes home next week...

And I can't wait to see her...

Tu Padre Te Amo Bene Sai...Bene Sai...

The maze of memories...CLINT WALKER and CHEYENNE

I was flipping the channels a few weeks back and heard the start of this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h9rUNf64cw

Suddenly I was a very young boy, sneaking out of my bed to do something I knew was very, very wrong.

We bought our first "Big" TV in 1960 when I was four. The old TV was put in my bedroom, with one caveat: don't watch it after bedtime.

I still remember that old TV set. It was about four feet tall and three feet wide. The screen was maybe nine inches or so across. There must have been a dozen knobs across the front, but the only ones that I think worked were off/on-volume and the vertical/horizontal controls. The small antenna was on top, and you had to turn it to try and get a picture. I needed a small stool to reach it.

My bedtime was seven o'clock back then. All of the good shows started after that, of course...so I would wait...as patiently as a four year old can, for my parents to think I was asleep. Then I would pull the small foot stool out from under my bed(carefully hidden behind a stuffed animal), turn the TV on, and adjust the antenna to get the best picture I could. It was magic.

I had a few shows that I loved. Disney, of course. The Flintstones. Alfred Hitchcock(yes, I've always been bent). Red Skelton. Bonanza. Have Gun Will Travel( Richard Boone was soooooo cool...and talk about another iconic theme song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZzY6KZuLUo ) Maverick( another great theme song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_DQC3iaWbg&feature=related )And of course, Cheyenne.

Clint Walker brought something unique to the screen...and to a four year old boy. He was larger than life(6,6" tall with a 46" chest and a 32" waist), and ruggedly handsome. But there was something else. He made me feel safe. I liked Paladin, but I always thought that he might shoot me as well as the bad guys. Not Clint Walker. There was something in his eyes that made me feel that I would never have to worry about that from him. That soothing, deep baritone voice conveyed assurance. That's a very nice thing when your four years old.

That was almost fifty years ago. Fifty...wow...

And yet, at the sound of that music...

I'm four years old again...sneaking out of my bed to the TV.

Music is an amazing thing. What it does to your memory is even more amazing.

I've always believed that teaching, especially the most difficult topics, should be done to music. Why? Music is a key to memory. Don't believe me? Recite the pledge of Allegiance. Get through without stumbling? OK...now try the Gettysburg Address. Any luck? Probably not.

Now, turn on your radio(or your computer's music) to what for you is an "oldies" station. Depending on your age, that could mean songs anywhere from the forties to the nineties. Now listen for a while. Eventually, a song will come on that you haven't heard in forever...and you'll remember most, if not all, of the lyrics.

Why does music have such an impact on us? Not just on our memories, but on our emotions? I think it has to do with the harmonics of the human body, and the way sounds resonate within those harmonics. Our bodies are bio-machines that run on chemically generated electrical impulses. Harmonics have a huge impact on, and interaction with, electrical impulses.

But enough technical talk...I didn't start this blog for that...

My miner's flashlight is lit. I pull the covers back...oh, so slowly. The coarseness of my father's Navy blanket scratches my skin...almost like sandpaper. I swing my legs over the side of the bed and look down...the drop seems enormous. I will myself over the side, praying the sound of my feet hitting the floor won't give me away. I freeze, like a statue, at the sound of footsteps in the kitchen. The 91 freeway hasn't been built yet, so the night is still...except for the crickets. The sound recedes, and I creep softly to the TV. The light from the small screen pierces the darkness. I adjusted the antenna earlier, because I knew what I wanted to watch tonight. The sound is on so low, I can barely hear it. Then, it begins...

Cheyenne, Cheyenne where will you be camping tonight? Lonely man, Cheyenne, will your heart stay free and light? Dream, Cheyenne, of a girl you may never love Move along, Cheyenne like the restless clouds up above.

The sound carries me away...

The wind that blows, that comes and goes, has been your only home. But will the wild wind one day cease and you'll no longer roam?

I'm on a mesa, overlooking the mission school, in my mind...

Move along, Cheyenne, next pasture's always so green. Driftin' on, Cheyenne don't forget the things you have seen, And when you will settle down where will it be? Cheyenne... Cheyenne!

And now I'm back there again...a small boy...full of hopes...fears...dreams...

Now...think of your own memories...close your eyes and drift back...

Where will you be camping tonight?

SIGNS OF THE APOCALYPSE

Flipping the channels this morning...Rick Warren, author of the Purpose(porpoise) driven life, Obama's new pastor(pimp) is on Fox news...giving his Easter service...

Really? A news channel broadcasting a man who prostitutes scripture for his own gain?
A man who teaches that you have to choose God, because he didn't choose you?
You have to choose to be a part of God's family?

Really?

Did you choose your family, or were you born into it?

What does Jesus tell Nicodemus in John chapter three?

You must be born from above(the proper translation of the Greek word, Ano)

So...just exactly what the heck did you have to do with your physical birth?

Nothing...you were just along for the ride...same with your spiritual birth...

What we choose, is what we're going to do as a member of His family, and when...

Not very empowering, which is why no one popular is teaching it today...

Very humbling...but liberating...

God does the heavy lifting...

You don't have to Find Jesus...He isn't lost...

You don't have to Accept Him...He doesn't need your blessing...

You don't have to help Him get His work done...He's pretty good at it...

I had planned an Easter blog on the actual days of Pascha...the Last supper on Tuesday...Crucifixion on Wednesday...rising from the dead Saturday night...should have done it...I do it every year...

Now I see this blasphemous opportunist teaching people that God needs them to accept Him, so they can change the world the way He wants it to be...and it's on a cable news channel...

So, here's my question for you...

Do you believe in an Omnipotent God...or an impotent one?

My God doesn't need my help...in fact, when I try and help, I'm just in the road and make the work harder for Him...

But He lets me try...because he loves me...of course, this doesn't jibe with most Pastors today...

I will always remember having this discussion with a Pastor many years ago...his response?

"...that's fine for someone like you, Chris...I consider myself, however, a fine instrument for God's service...He needs me for His work..."

Any God who "needs" me to get the job done...is a God who would be too inept to ever save me...

Have a nice Pascha(Easter)

LOST: NAMASTE...WHAT DOES SAWYER KNOW?

"I respect that divinity within you that is also within me."



That is the meaning of namaste...taken from the Sanskrit namah and te, literally, I bow to you. It is a greeting of respect. The position of the hands, palms together, fingers pointed upward, denote the feet of the divine(the right palm) with the head of the follower or devotee(the left palm). It symbolizes the concept of divinity in all, and submission to one another.



Something rather lacking in Lost, wouldn't you say?



Nothing very Eight fold path about what the Dharma people, or the "Others" have been practicing. Which leads me to...



What does Sawyer know?



That was my main question throughout, and after, last night's episode of LOST. I think it should be the most important development on the show to date...and I'll tell you why.



First of all, to those of you who are followers of the show, I want to ask you a question. How many of you have screamed at the TV at least once when one of the main characters gets some time with a character that has way more information that they do...and never asks them a friggin question? Come on now...doesn't that drive you nuts? Cherish and I have complained about that for years now. One thing either of us would do, and I think most of you are the same, is ask someone...

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?



EXPLAIN (FILL IN THE BLANK) TO ME, OR I"LL CUT YOUR (FILL IN THE BLANK) OFF.



AT LEAST TELL ME WHO THE HELL THE GUY WITH THE EYELINER IS...AND WHY HE'S THE ONLY ONE WHO GETS TO DRINK FROM THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH?



Anybody else, or just Cherish and I? Now, back to topic.



Sawyer is in, what appears to be, the most unique position of any character on the show. He is one of the original surviving members of the 815ers. He has knowledge of the future(in particular, the Purge) that the Dharma people don't. He has jumped back and forth throughout time and seen things(like the statue), that some of the Others, and maybe even Richard, haven't. He has, over the last three years, had access to Juliet's knowledge of the Others and Richard. He has had access, as chief of security, to most, if not all, of Dharma's plans and secrets. He has also had, at least twice a year, the ability to go to the mainland on the sub.



Sawyer was a con man. The most valuable thing to a con man is information. Information leads to knowledge. Knowledge is power. What did he say to Jack?

"All you did was react...I'm thinking..."

"I heard that Churchill read a book a night...even during the blitz..."



Here are some Churchill quotes that Sawyer might have read over the last three years...

A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.



A prisoner of war is a man who tries to kill you and fails, and then asks you not to kill him.



Battles are won by slaughter and maneuver. The greater the general, the more he contributes in maneuver, the less he demands in slaughter.



Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential.



Everyone has his day and some days last longer than others.



For my part, I consider that it will be found much better by all parties to leave the past to history, especially as I propose to write that history myself.



History is written by the victors.



History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.



I always avoid prophesying beforehand, because it is a much better policy to prophesy after the event has already taken place.



If the human race wishes to have a prolonged and indefinite period of material prosperity, they have only got to behave in a peaceful and helpful way toward one another.



If we open a quarrel between past and present, we shall find that we have lost the future.



It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations.



It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link of the chain of destiny can be handled at a time.



Let our advance worrying become advance thinking and planning.



Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.



Play the game for more than you can afford to lose... only then will you learn the game.



Study history , study history. In history lies all the secrets of statecraft.



Sure I am of this, that you have only to endure to conquer.



The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you can see.



To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years. To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day.



True genius resides in the capacity for evaluation of uncertain, hazardous, and conflicting information.



War is a game that is played with a smile. If you can't smile, grin. If you can't grin, keep out of the way till you can.



We are masters of the unsaid words, but slaves of those we let slip out.



We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.



When the war of the giants is over the wars of the pygmies will begin.



One ought never to turn one's back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half. Never run away from anything. Never!

Think about those quotes in light of the plot of LOST...then think about Sawyer. What is he? A con man. He didn't want to leave the island. He had nothing to go back to. Now he finds himself in an unusual position. What is the first thing he did in 1974? Con Horace about being shipwrecked. Remember the episode, "The long Con?" Sawyer's closing monologue?

"How 'bout you listen up, because I'm only going to say this once. You took my stuff. While I was off trying to get us help, get us rescued, you found my stash and you took it. Divvied it up; my shaving cream, my batteries, even my beer. And then something else happened. You decided these two boys here were going to tell you what to do and when to do it. Well, I'm done taking orders. And I don't want my stuff back. Shaving cream don't matter; batteries don't matter. The only thing that matters now are guns. And if you want one, you're going to have to come to me to get it. There's a new sheriff in town, boys. Y'all best get used to it."

Don't you think Sawyer would have started a plan, which he would improvise as he learned more? The return of his friends, however, might put a crimp in that plan...speed it up, or change it completely.

Think about how the barracks, where Christian met Sun and Lapidas. Do you remember there being any Dharma signs, photos, paperwork, etc...before? No. The Others had removed all traces of Dharma in "Otherville" after the purge. Why are they back? Did someone, or something alter the timeline?

I still think that Widmore is the real bad guy...more on that on another post. If so, who would Sawyer side with? Widmore's group...or the "Hostiles"?

What has he been planning?

What does he know?

Is he hiding Rose and Bernard?

What were his plans before Jack, Kate, et al arrived?

What are they now?

If you were in Sawyer's position...what would you do?

Whose side would you take?

Who

is

Jacob?