SNIPETS

“And there followed him a certain young man, having a linen cloth about his naked body; and the young men laid hold on him:  And he left the linen cloth, and fled from them naked.” (Mark 14:51-52)

Yes, those are some of the most bizarre verses in the New Testament.  I think they’re appropriate, however, for this piece which I call “Snipets”.  I’m not even sure how to spell “Snipets”.  Is it “Snipets” or is in “Snippets”?  Well, I’ll spell it “Snipets”.  I will probably feel quite “naked” and vulnerable in writing this piece, hence the Scripture heading!

There was an all instrumental song played on synthesizer which made it onto the pop charts somewhere around 1973 or 1974 called “Snipets”.  As I write, that song is “playing in my head”.  I’m gong to be “wicked busy” over the next few days and may not get a chance to post on this blog for awhile, so I wanted to write SOMETHING today.  I wonder if newspaper columnists go through what I’m going through today.  In my head, I’ve got VERY rough outlines and ideas for six possible blog postings, but all need to be thoroughly developed and I don’t have the time, so I’m going to just give you “snipets” of all six of them!

1.  A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS.  I watched that last night for the “umpteenth” time.  I expected to be bored with it, but I wasn’t.  I loved it.  It was almost as if I’d never seen it before.  “A Charlie Brown Christmas” is really NOT a “children’s special”.  It’s really for adults.  The beginning. and in fact much of it, is very melancholy.  Yet, the Christmas story from Luke is read and the true Christmas story comes through despite the materialism and foolishness.  Those who know me know I really don’t like Christmas very much.  Oh, I LOVE singing Christmas carols.  And I love Christmas candy, especially milk chocolate bells.  But all the pressure?  And all the materialism?  And all the trying to out do each other?  December is a month I dread....it’s not even December yet, but it feels like it.  So, I liked “A Charlie Brown Christmas”.

2.  21 BAGS OF LEAVES IN THE WALL.... Or is is 21 bottles of beer in the wall?  I learned that “bottles of beer” song in early elementary school.  My parents didn’t appreciate it when I sang it on one of our trips to Cape Cod!  Well, it’s not “in the wall” but it IS 21 bags of leaves.  I have raked up 21 big bags full of leaves from my yard this year....and yet, my yard is still covered with leaves.  I raked 7 of the 21 bags yesterday.  All that work, all that sweat, all that time, and the yard is still covered with leaves.  This is kind of a big deal because our yard is no more than a quarter of an acre.  There are three outdoor work seasons of the year:  winter snow shoveling, summer lawn mowing, and fall leaf raking.  I definitely like fall leaf raking the least.

3.  TRUTH OR DARE?  You know what question guys hate?  It’s when a woman asks, “Does this dress make me look fat?”  How do you answer that one?  I am sometimes a pretty lonely and isolated guy.  The reason is I speak the truth.  If a meal is lousy, I’ll say, “the meal was lousy”.  It a guy’s lawn looks bad, I’ll tell him, “your lawn looks bad”.  If someone serves me a food that I hate, I’ll say, “I’m sorry, but I think if I eat this I’ll throw up.”  It goes on and on.  If someone asks me, “What do you think of the Jehovah’s Witnesses religion?”, or the Mormons, or some other religion, I tell them.  I’ve discovered people absolutely do not want to be told the truth.  They also do not want to be lied to.  For a very verbal guy like me, well, it’s just a dilemma.

4.  PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARIES.  I’ve been a “political junkie” from way back.  I must admit to being much less excited than usual about the 2008 Presidential race.  I think having the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3 and the New Hampshire Primary on Jan. 8 is ridiculous!  “Political pundits” say the nominees will be picked by Feb. 15, but we don’t have the conventions until July and August.  This whole thing is out of hand and its ridiculous!

5.  CHRISTMAS WISHES.  I know this will sound like I’m contradicting what I wrote about above but I do have some Christmas wishes.  I (or I guess I should say “we” for my wife and I) sponsor a girl in Haiti.  She’s now around 14.  I feel kind of bad because they give sponsors a chance to send money for a Christmas gift and it had to be in to the agency no later than Oct. 31 and I did not make the deadline.  I’m also several months behind in my sponsorship. Well, I’ve actually sent money for the past few months, but I fell behind over a year ago, and I’m still trying to catch up.  I’d love to be able to somehow catch that up.  On a selfish note, we need a new electric can opener at home.  Ours died over a year ago.  I have about 32 other Christmas wishes.  Some are altruistic.  Some are very selfish....

6.  CAR PROBLEMS.  They used to call Volkswagens “Hitler’s Revenge”.  Overall, Volkswagens are usually pretty good cars. When my parents died in the summer of 2000 (within a few weeks of each other) I inherited their 1989 Volkswagen Golf.  At that time it had 18,000 true miles on it.  It now has 73,000.  Three weeks ago, I lost my stoplights.  I had to have that problem repaired and it ended up being a semi-nightmare which is much too much to talk about.  Last week, I had a dead battery, so the car had to go into the shop and $165 later I had a new battery.  Last Saturday, something weird happened with the car’s ignition switch.  It would take WAY too long to talk about it, but until I can get the ignition switch fixed, I have to leave a key in the ignition at all times, and then lock the car with another key.  It’s awful.  AND, my exhaust system is shot.  I have November state inspection, so I have to have the exhaust system work done and get a sticker.  Should I keep this car or should I not keep it? 

Well there you have my snipets!