Sentimental Valium

Rented a storage space this afternoon. A really nice but S-L-O-W elderly woman helped me with the process. All in all, it look just under an hour. So at least it was long! But as I was reading through the paperwork, I came across the Certificate of Storage Insurance. As I was reading, and trying not to laugh, I knew this was going to make it as a post.

Now, it's obvious that I am no scholar of law and legal language, but a few of the "Perils Insured Against" are VERY VERY funny I think. I understand the need to cover all bases, but still...

>> Strikes, Riot of Civil Commotion. (That means if the soccer moms of the Tri-Cities decide to revolt, my stuff is insured! WOOO HOOOOO!! Thank goodness because one day their threats will be realized and our roads will be littered with mini-vans and SUVs! Perish the thought and the day. But my stuff will be INSURED!!)
>> Aircraft, Self-propelled Missiles, or Spacecraft. (Doesn't that one seem strange? I mean, other than the puddle jumpers from Dupage Airport, are we really worried, in this area, about any of those things? I realize that St. Charles is a high priority on many of the lists the enemies of the US keep... On second thought, I'm glad I can rest assured!)
>> Landslide, including sinkhole collapse. (Are sinkholes a danger anywhere on civilized Earth? I'm asking seriously--I don't know!)
>> Falling Objects, provided the exterior of the building containing the property is first damaged by such falling objects. (OK, take a minute to read that again.... If something falls on the storage space and my things inside are damaged, they are insured only if the building itself is damaged first. Do you see any other way for my things to be damaged by a falling object? It's like the inside of an egg becoming scrambled without breaking the shell.... So if something falls on that storage space, it had better well hurt the building if it's planning to hurt my things!!)

Lastly, the nice woman gave me this rule also. "And you are not allowed to live inside the storage space. You know, like have someone lock you in from the outside..." What a killjoy! She could obviously see right through me!

Hap-Hap-Hap Happy Birthday to Mozart (who would be the good ole age of 248 if he were alive today. You know, men slow down a lot at 248! Don't know what it is...) and to Lewis Carroll. Quite possibly my favorite story-teller of all time, I have read and re-read "Alice In Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass" so many times, I might actually have read them as many times as he would be old--172.

Interestingly, my favorite section from "Through the Looking Glass" begins, in one of the books I have, on page 172. Like many great writers, Carroll served, unknowingly perhaps, as a kind of prophet. These words, written long ago, speak well to January 27, 2004.

In my favorite passage, Alice is running through the Garden of Live Flowers with the Red Queen and Alice discovers, upon resting against a tree, "Why I do believe we've been under this tree the whole time!" Confused because they had been running so fast for such a long time, Alice tries to explain to the Red Queen her understanding of getting from one place to the next.

"Well in our country," said Alice, still panting a little, "you'd generally get to somewhere else--if you ran very fast for a long time, as we've been doing."

"A slow sort of country!" said the Queen. "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!"

Welcome, Alice, to Wonderland. And welcome, mankind, to the United States.

posted by -tr0y- @ 3:17 PM

Strange days....but still surprisingly good times.

Hung out with dSep a little today. Few people make me laugh and think so much--and very RARELY do people combine the two! But he said something tonight that really struck me. We were talking about life and the stages we are in. And just very honestly he said, "You know Troy, I didn't think it would be this hard!"

I know that's no profound statement--but what I loved about it was his honesty. I think that all the time! But I just don't say it. I needed to hear someone express it to validate my experience. I agree--I never thought life would be handed to me easily. Yet at the same time, I didn't anticipate there would be so many difficult things! Common experience I think.

But I ask myself... if it's so common, how come we are so silent about the "simple" difficulty of life? I'm sure like me, most of us are too scared to say something silly. I never want to admit that I am weak and don't have it together. Some of us probably have the sick idea that life is hard because they deserve it. Whatever the reason, I realized how sad our silence is. As dSep and I were talking, I thought, "I have a sense that God is pleased with right now!" And I immediately wanted that experience for all my friends.

I don't want to try and call people to honesty or baring their souls and life's troubles with each other....I don't want to over-spiritualize anything I experienced either. I just had this sense that, even in the simple everyday conversation, that God could be pleased. And there is nothing--NOTHING--simple about that.

May you today sense the pleasure of God in the simple things of life. May his grace and acceptance and love for you be experienced in profound and intimate ways. And may you discover, either again or anew, the unbelievable intimacy of God and unwavering presence of the most simple and most profound of all beings.

posted by -tr0y- @ 7:05 PM

Grrrrrr..... I have given up on trying to do something "creative" with the look of this page. MY html is obviously rusty and I'm not really sure I ever got close to what I wanted to do. So, I have gone back and used the initial template that I started with. Boring, but acceptable. A few different people told me they couldn't read some of the text, links, etc... And one person even, reportedly, felt the urge to vomit at one point because of the colors I had been using temporarily. I'm just here to give the people what they want. And what they want is simply the ability to read what is coming out of my head. Poor souls.....

I think everything is functional as of now. I had to redo the links and counter/comments.. blah blah blah. Maybe someday someone will show me how to take care of the things I'm wanting to do.

Couple of Hap-Hap-Happy Birthdays today. I've called each of these people to wish them "Good Tidings," but they didn't really seem like they wanted to talk to me. Ungrateful people!

>> Douglas MacArthur (1880)
>> Paul Newman (1925)
>> Eddie Van Halen (1955)
>> Ellen (Not-So) Degeneres (1958)
>> Wayne Gretzky (1961)

And my apologies to Alicia Keys, who turned 23 yesterday. Sorry babe--I was busy packing my house! (See previous posts) Maybe next year....

posted by -tr0y- @ 2:28 PM

Read something this afternoon that really hit me. I feel like it summarizes my life right now. So bear with me and my introspective, meloncholic post. Consider it a way to get a more well-rounded picture of me.

In her book "Poemcrazy," Susan Goldsmith Wooldridge tells a story of she and her eleven-year old friends catching snowflakes. For the first time, she realized the unique beauty of snowflakes. So she called her friends over and one of them began to make fun of her. That's where we pick up the story. (Hope I don't get busted for the long excerpt I'm putting on here...)

"I learned that day that there didn't seem to be a place for a person describing a snowflake on a mitten. After that I was quiet about what I saw so I wouldn't make a fool of myself. I learned to be quiet about beauty.
"Often we keep secrets because we're not only embarrassed to BE who we are in front of other people, we feel genuinely embarrassed BY who we are."

Well said....

posted by -tr0y- @ 8:20 PM