Still here.

I just got back from watching Un prophète. It has earned a spot next to The Godfather in the pantheon of organized crime film classics. I can't think of any false steps. I was the fourth person to enter the theatre, but we ended with three when one of the guys left during/after the throat cutting scene. I'm not sure why they left then, they didn't say anything like, "That is an appalling and desensitizing depiction of violence, of which I will take no part." But their manner was a bit huffy. Their loss, there was only a couple more scenes of violence/murder, and they weren't as graphic, then again I didn't leave after the first one.

Back to the movie, it is the story of a 19 year old illiterate, Arab named Malik. He is sentenced to six years with no outside friends, or inside for that matter, which brings us to Cesar Luciani commissioning him to kill another Arab that will be testifying in a case. For doing this, Malik gets protection, and isn't killed by Cesar himself. Cesar uses Malik and his 12 hour leaves from prison to run errands for him between Arab and Corsican mafia. I really recommend this film, if you can't see it in the theatre, put it on your Netflix queue. And there is a really neat cover of Mack the Knife by Jimmy Dale Gilmore.

In other news, I had my 29th birthday the 28th of March. To celebrate,I went to the first home match of The No Coast Derby Girls this season. They are split into the Road Warriors and the Mad Maxines (JV and Varsity respectively). The most interesting/vulgar name of an opponent that first group was Queefer Sutherland. This last Saturday was their second home date, to which I won tickets with a radio contest (I'm not really sure how that should be phrased).

The 10th of April, my sister and I went to Sioux Falls to attend my uncle's induction into the SD Sports Hall of Fame. It was a wonderful time with family. One of the stories my uncle told during his speech was about an opponent he'd wrestled about six times over a three year period. The opponent was asked in an interview whom his most feared opponent was, and it was my uncle. The opponent continued to say it was like wrestling Death itself. Of course this was neat to hear, considering my uncle has never resembled Death to me in any of my own interactions with him.

Next weekend I plan to go to the Parkville Microfest just outside of Kansas City. It is a great craft beer festival that pulls brewers from Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska. There's also good food vendors and live music. And being outdoors in a city park, there's plenty of dogs too.

Speaking of dogs, leaving the theatre, I saw a young lady walking two miniature/Italian greyhounds, André, 9 and Mia, 6. I'm normally not big on small dogs, but they were a fitting pair, André white with grey patches, and Mia, a fawnish-grey (as far as I could tell in the street light). I asked if he got along with her, and their owner said he only gets upset with her when she sleeps on him too much.

Big Weekend

Last weekend I went to Stillwater, OK for my Uncle Dennis' National Wrestling Hall of Fame induction. There's some pictures here too. Here's an interview that he did for the USA Wrestling website. So you have some context, it was taken after a hot windy morning of golf for him. I haven't seen the video yet, but there it is.

My favorite part of the weekend was seeing both sides of these legends of their sport. For example, I got to meet Dan Gable and most of the conversation centered around how he was going to pay for all of his daughters' education. Apparently, being a wrestling legend doesn't pay for Master's Degrees.

Then there was my introduction to Greg Strobel by my Uncle Duane. At a wrestling exhibition in North Carolina, Strobel was responsible for a group of wrestlers that were either blind or deaf. And at some point he came up to my uncles asking if they'd seen the blind and deaf wrestlers because he'd lost them. Later in the evening, I went to a feature on the Lehigh wrestling program which is celebrating its 100th season this year. And as the historian was talking about the different coaches who'd brought Lehigh success he mentioned Strobel, who'd returned them to prominence after a down period and now serves as Assistant Athletic Director at Lehigh. Funny, I knew him as the guy who temporarily lost a bunch of deaf and blind wrestlers and now he's in charge of 25 varsity sports programs.

The rest of the weekend was spent at Silver Dollar City on Sunday and meeting Allison's family on Monday before driving back home to Lincoln. A little over 1200 miles of driving all told.

langoustine du murauskas

I left for SD about an hour later than I wanted because I was slow getting out of work because it was the end of our fiscal year. This put me at the camp site at 1:30 am and in bed in the back of my car, so's to not bother the others with rustling up more comfortable sleeping arrangements.

My Saturday was for my intents and purposes about 15 hours long from 8:30 to 11:30. There was an hour and a half of swimming (the first hour between 1:00 and 2:00, with no sun screen, the remainder at night with the "bear moon"* coming up), another ninety minutes of reading, maybe an hour eating, so that leaves 11 hours for bean bags and sitting around talking. I would say that I easily played two dozen games of bean bags on Saturday.

Sunday was a bit lazier. I got up an hour later and took another hour to get the bags going. Then after just two hours of bags, I helped roll out the dough to put the spiced burger in for the fleishkuechle. After that point, I read some and stewed in my own selfish juices, wanting the frying of our masterpieces to begin so that I wouldn't have to get back to Lincoln so late.

HERE'S SOME ADVICE: If you're camping with thirty other people, any personal agendas you have might want to be put on the back burner if you want any inner harmony.

What can I say; I'm selfish. I should have seen the church sign in Columbus earlier: "A chip on the shoulder indicates wood higher up."

Ultimately, I had a lovely jaunt back to Lincoln, with my orange moon as a companion and thirty miles of entomological orgy that is field after field of lighting bug mating on Hwy 81 north of Norfolk. I'm no A.S Byatt, but I think these gatherings should be called "insex."

* I say "bear moon" because it was a blue moon (second full moon in a month) and was also orange because of atmospheric interference, hence blue and orange at the same time just like my Bears.

Jet Setting SD Style

So I was sleeping in Thursday morning, and I got a call from my mother. This was a pleasant surprise. In our conversation, my mother intimated that she wanted me to join the rest of the family as they camp starting this weekend at West Bend on the Missouri River.

So with a bit of filial piety, and a lot of hunger for fleishkuechle and playing bean bags, I depart for the week end.

Some names for you. There seems to be a bit of a spiritual slant to them this time.

Ted Christakes

Mylorde Cherenfant

Donnieval Walker

Sleed Dornelus

Lalfela Chhakchhuak

"Wherever you are, it is your own friends who make your world." -- William James

Wonderful Time for a Wonderful Reason Part 2

Dramatis Personae

My Mother,

Denny - my step-father,

Janet - my mother's friend from PA and formerly of Southern IL where we last spent time with her twenty years ago,

Ed - Janet's husband, who drives truck

Eian and Evan - Janet's sons who are a couple years apart going into Third and First or Second grades respectively

Jim/James - my mother's oldest brother from Northern California

Jimmy/JJ/Jim Jr. - Jim's son from Fargo, ND

Dennis - the oldest of my twin uncles, now the head chiropractor for the Minnesota Vikings

Duane - the youngest of my twin uncles, and host of the previous family get together last September at his home in VA

Marlys - the youngest of the five Koslowski siblings and close friends with one of the daughters of Korczak Ziolkowski

Eric - Marlys' son

Ron - Marlys' boyfriend and restorer of pianos

Shane - Eric's roommate and friend

Marcy - my sister

Stephanie - my sister's friend

Mail Call

I didn't check today's (Saturday's) mail til yesterday (Saturday, since it is now 12:40 ante meridian). But today's mail held a letter from my father and a missing Christmas gift and note/letter from my mother. Each was post marked January 3rd, but I'm betting each was taken to the post office on Tuesday the 2nd, which because of Gerald R! Ford's death was a government vacation. This purturbed me a bit, first because they used his death to extend an observed holiday, when they could have used the 26th through the 29th just as easily. The second reason is not mine (at bottom of page) but is a reason nonetheless: it was a national day of mourning. Why are we mourning the death of a good 93 year old man? Christians who believe in immediate afterlife would have us believe that he is already in Heaven. Why should we be sad about that fact?

But this is not a time for grumbling but rejoicing. How great in this era of e-connection that I receive two letters of integrity. I think there are some great things about written correspondence. The permanence of pen on paper. The buying of the stamp. The licking of the envelope. Salutatory and valedictory deliberations (post scriptory deliberations?).

So if you would like one of these from me, send me your address. I'll do my best in the coming days and weeks to seek out the addresses I already have and act on them, but if you want a guarantee, give it to me.

Kind Regards,

Daniel

PS I feel bad for Tony Romo.

Caring Hearts and Killing Cars

This past week end, I drove up to SD then hitched a ride to DAA for my sisters graduation. I left at 6:12 am on Friday morning and 424 miles later at 12:07 pm I arrived in Rockham. Yes, I sped. On my way up, I hit a smaller bird. Then going up to DAA, we (my mother, Denny and I) hit a larger bird. The weekend's events went smoothly without any major hitches in the giddy-up. I'll share my notes that I took in the program later.

One fun piece of advice that Charles Reel, Dakota Conference Treasurer, gave in his commencement address: "If you lend someone $20 and you never see them again, it was probably worth it."

I stayed, after we packed my sister up on Sunday, to ride back from DAA to Rockham. Yes, we hit another bird. Monday was cleaning out the front porch and playing plenty of bean bags. I headed out for Lincoln later than I wanted, so I sped again. This time though, I was pulled over and given a ticket. Oh well. I felt no remorse or guilt or anger or anything really. It was a consequence of breaking the law like falling off a table is consequence of gravity. Then I stopped at the Wal-Mart to get a pint of ice cream and Arrested Development. Jennapher was the girl that checked me out, literally, not as figuratively. Why would a parent do that to their child? I was fortunate to purchase gasoline for 2.57 in Sioux City. Who knows when gas will be that cheap again. Then an hour later, I hit a deer. Don't worry; I was terribly precise with my hit. The deer only took out my headlight, nothing else.

So if you're keeping score, I had four legs to my journey, and each resulted in a dead animal. Four for Four.

The caring heart of the title is the scholarship my sister won from the NAD.

Post 50

Pumpkin pie is good. I was invited to a Sabbath lunch and said I'd bring a pumpkin pie. The pie I made Friday was not as good as one I'd made earlier in the week, so I made another with the original recipe on Sat. morning. It was good and I even did the leaf thing to garnish like Eric (my)Idol did.

Saturday night was a nice time with my mother, who was on her way back home after spending the week in TX visiting with the new babies Colton Knight (though he'll always be Colton Mare to me) and Abby Vale. Abby is doing pretty well and should be out of the hospital in a couple days. Her upper lip is intact, but her hard palate is missing which is worse because it inhibits eating. So, she had surgery Friday to put a "button" in her stomach to feed her til she learns to eat.

Back to my mother, we went to Chronicles of Narnia the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, as apparently every other Adventist did. No blood, which today we noted as interesting considering the powerful metaphor/image that blood serves for Christianity. Why is Christianity a blood cult? It is refered to as "deep magic" by Lewis, but regardless of the name, there is an intense focus on the sacrifice of blood.

One Harris study I did, there was a phlebo named Jeremy who looked like the lead singer of a rock group I can't think of now. Anyway, he was working on a screen play which looks at Cain and Lilith as the first vampires, based on Cain's experience of being rejected from God because he didn't sacrifice an animal. Lilith of course being Adam's first wife. So you have this emphasis on blood from the very beginning. Why? I'd really appreciate it if those more theologically knowledgable than I would comment.

Final note, why is it wardrobe and not robeward? English has a long tradition of putting "ward" second and in this case, where the furniture is a guardian of the robe, it makes sense for it to follow the case of loaf ward which over time became lord.

May I have fifty more posts,

Danl Muraeser

Seller Dour

Note to self: Don't watch The Aristocrats before going to a community theater play later that evening. It really messes with your expectations.

I'm going to be running the half-marathon with my mother in May. When should I start "training?" I don't want to peak too early. Following the reader participation theme, the aforementioned mother wants music for Christmas. Any suggestions? She enjoyed Sara Groves' Conversations a few years ago. I'm thinking Andrew Peterson, Neil Diamond's Twelve Songs, something like that.

Back to The Aristocrats, I liked the movie. I give it a 3.5 out of 5 because I believe they accomplished what they set out to do. They took a very limited subject and provided a glimpse of an entire industry while entertaining the viewer. It would be nice for other filmmakers replicate the feat with other fields (football perhaps). As other reviewers have noted Bob Saget and Sarah Silverman shine. The mime being another bright spot. Silverman has really risen in the national consciousness with this film and also her new concert film. The article in Rolling Stone, read by my father, boss, and myself (each independently), was wonderful and showed her humour capably.

My mother got into Lincoln about ten to one on Friday night after driving from SD, and we caught up on the horrendous conditions in Eastern SD. In the 15 miles between Rockham and Redfield, there are 28 electric poles knocked on the ground. So power has been out for a week. They are going to grade the snow and ground and just repair the lines on the ground and worry about putting up poles when the spring comes. Menard's in Watertown had the generators already in shopping carts for the customers.

Saturday morning we went to Green Gateau and had a wonderful breakfast. I have always enjoyed their oatmeal and my mother shared in that joy. It was funny to me because my mother talks so easily with most anyone. While we were there, she struck up a conversation with our server. I kept on waiting for her to say something that I thought would have been embarassing, but it never came. And it never does. She's just so cool. I'm very blessed.

Giving Thanks,

The Surveyor of Land

The Man Is U.N.C.L.E

Again and again. My step-sister Amy had her twins, Colton Mare and Abby Vale, on Tuesday evening around 9pm. This makes nephew and niece four and five for me. Actually it is Colton Knight

You Can Go Home Again

I went to my home in South Dakota this last weekend. I left on Wednesday after work, about 8:30 and made the 422 mile trip in just over six hours, so not too bad, and my car still gets about 28 mpg/hwy so that is nice. Thursday was mainly just cleaning up our polebarn/shed. Friday was beanbags and reunioning with deer swiss steaks for supper. Saturday was super hot--105, in the shade. (David Letterman says, "When it is 120 in the shade, you should stay out of the shade!") Friday night after my sister, Marcy, got off work, we played beanbags til three in the morn. Saturday night Marcy, Nona (her friend), and I went to the drive-in movie theatre and watched The Longest Yard. It was an alright film; funny in parts, some unexpected plot developments, and fun cameos from ESPN personnel. I would give it 2.5 stars out of 5. I liked The Waterboy much better. So Saturday night, after the movie, I played some Phase-10, as much as my opponents would let me considering they would skip me every chance they got. Then Marcy and I played ping-pong til 4 in the morning. Earlier that day was the fish feed. Walleye is so tasty battered and deep fried.
Most of the highlights of the trip for me involved my young nieces, nephew and cousins. Friday night I spent some time just hanging with a bunch of 4 year olds in our camper. I would roast them some marshmallows and ask questions like which fruit they liked, you know important stuff. Then Justin my 7 y/o nephew had a funny moment. He was probably misbehaving in the pool, and his mother, Amy (my step-sister), said "Get out of the pool before I give you a reason to cry." He responded despondently, "I already have a reason." Another nice time was when my niece Taylor, Justin's cousin also 7.5 y/o, and I took turns pushing eachother around in a wheelchair. To Be Continued . . .