Glorious Nightmare

I had a glorious nightmare that took place inside a movie theater. It was a luridly illuminated theater with shadows darkening every corner and the back rows of seats. The place reminded me of the Rialto theater in South Pasadena. The theater was populated by the ghosts or the reanimated corpses of long dead film stars. They all had completely black eyes, like Ray Milland in "The Man with the X-ray Eyes". I recognized Gloria Swanson and Joan Crawford somehow mingling with fiendish Buddy Epsen.

I was afraid of all of them, they all seemed on the verge of going haywire and attacking me. In addition, fire was spreading though the theater. For the moment they seemed under control and I was determined to escape from them.

I addressed them all together and bade them to stay, stay and burn in the consuming fire. They stayed in their seats, looking about with their black eyes. I ran out of the theater, down the back stairs, thrilled that they had obeyed me and would be destroyed. Once I was safe I realized with horror that I had forgotten my flash drive in a backpack in the theater lobby.

Night Terrors

I recently had a nightmare in the middle of the night. I dreamed that I was in a devastated area, what looked like a blasted academic area, perhaps a ruined college campus. There was drizzly rain and moaning wind. It looked like something out of an H.P. Lovecraft story. I was overcome by night terrors, an overwhelming feeling of dread and irrational fear. Projected onto one of the collapsing walls I saw a staticky, purple image of Jodie Foster. That's all I remember.

I woke up in the darkness with my heart pounding. For the first time ever I wakened from a nightmare with the luxury of having someone in the bed to comfort me. I have a vague memory of clinging to Nicole and saying, "Hug me, I had a nightmare." What I have no memory of is being dissatisfied with her effort, but she recalls that I then said, "No!! Hug me tighter!!"

Easter Photo Mosaic

This is a random collection of pictures from Easter 2007. It will give a sense of the chaotic experience of Easter at my grandma's house. She is turning 88 soon and she can still peel the potatoes.

I'm training my nephew Jarod to be photographed like a Russian, that is without smiling ("What is there to smile about please?"). Nicolette gave me a Noah's Ark card memory game, we played it with the boy for a while. Nicole beat us, but Jarod beat me. I have a memory weaker than a 3-year-old's.

As for the rest of these photos, the one thing they can't convey is the loudness. Bunch of kids, food preparation, television, people calling to each other from different rooms and trying to talk louder than the surrounding noise. Actually this isn't very crowded compared to Christmas. But at Christmas we have tamales and I eat until I make myself ill - at Easter I only eat until I am falling asleep.

Happy Easter

It's Easter morning. I was going to go to the Easter "sunrise" service (at 7 a.m.) at the park, but no one I know wanted to get up that early and go with me. In the end I couldn't summon the energy to challenge the jibe. [note: it rained anyway.] We'll be lucky to make it to the 9:30 a.m. service, and it will be crowded because this is one of the only two days each year that many people go to church.

For Easter Nicole gave me a tiny, battery-powered reading light - so that I can clip it on my book and read in the dark - and a Noah's ark game that nephew Jarod and I can play with. I gave her a set of mullet haircut magnets (she is amused by mullets more than most people I know) and a Jesus rubber duck (Jesus with a modified beak and a duck's tail, bathtime fun).

I wish I could get Easter presents for everyone, but what I can do is to give folk my favorite Christian book this year. I've always wanted to give folks I know a book that gives a good presentation to answer the question, "So John, I can relate to your interests in movies, books and music, but I just don't get the Christian thing -- why are you interested in that stuff?"

I know some interesting Christian biographies or Christian "I'll prove it to ya!" types of books that *I* like, but I've never imagined that my friends and loved ones would naturally relate to them. In the case of "Hind's Feet on High Places" this is also the true, ha, but this is a brilliant book.

When "Hind's Feet on High Places" was recommended to me years ago I thought it looked completely goofy and very girly. Kind of like a darling plush toy. Worse yet, it's an *allegory* (like "Pilgrim's Progress"; the characters have names like Much Afraid and Craven Fear). For some reason I tried to read it and to my surprise it sucked me in.

It's a very simple story about a young woman who is following the Shepherd up a mountain, but it's so...deep! Profound! Apart from the Bible (when was the last time you cracked open the bible? That's what I thought.) it's the best and most accessible explanation I've read that demonstrates why a reasoning, intelligent, completely imperfect person would be drawn to Christian faith.

What's more, I'm giving it to you this year with your birthday present, so deal with it. You don't have to read it if you don't want to, but it's coming. Happy Easter!