africa [1] and/or halloweeen

while not officially recognized by the UN, the continent of africa operates a small satellite in the greenwood area of seattle. for whatever reason, you won't find this northern outpost on many maps. nonetheless, the daily heapings of sadsa, funky drum beats, and celebration of everything african should make it relatively easy to find. at one time, this african enclave (in the person of mari) even crafted a beacon in order to attract fellow (in some sense) africans (these days, however, the most visible landmark is apparently a big tree, but nevermind that):
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1. Andrew David 'Inspiration' Seattle --
2. Andrew David 'The dark continent' Seattle -- as seen in #1, this is actually a picture of a pumpkin sculpture by mari. i arrived at this title at 1am (after many Markian distractions kept me from my all-important task of posting these pictures) because of joseph conrad's 'heart of darkness.' i'm pretty certain that somewhere in that little book he uses that phrase; however, i just can't seem to remember if he's talking about africa or south america. oh, well. the major impetus for this title is the blatant paradox of a glowing dark continent. i'm writing this rather long explanation in order to dispel suscpicions that the title was born out of some subconscious racism. and also its 1am.

i could (and probably will) say much more about the odd shadow that africa manages to cast here in the puget sound, but i was actually hoping that this post could somehow segue into halloweeen. but alas, all i have left to say is, 'here are my halloweeen pictures!' #3 is my pumpkin.
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3. Andrew David 'Jack' Seattle -- this is a pic of my coolest pumpkin ever
4. Andrew David 'Symbol' Seattle -- this is a pic of mari's brother's pumpkin
5. Andrew David 'Murder Is So Dreadful, But Someone Has To Do It' Seattle

and finally, because beth might not like #5, here's a cuter, less threatening pic:
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6. Andrew David 'Beth XI' Seattle -- this is a pic of my coolest Queen Anne picture ever

nasty [1]

my neighbors are having a screaming match, and i don't think i've heard an adult this mad before. i'm a bit surprised, i thought passionate anger like this only happened on tv or in statistics. what a great way to celebrate thanksgiving early.

the first essence [2]

Here is the sixth poem from my unpublished anthology Poems Written in Brady's UCORE Notes at 3AMish ca 2001:

Command
Spread your wings
Not your legs

(i really have no anecdotes to share about this poem. looking back, i think it may have been too revolutionary, too cutting edge for a conservative christian arts journal like Second Essence.)

For more information concerning this poetry, please refer to my post entitled 'the first essence [1]'

animals and beer [1]

penguins in a bar-top congo line might be an okay beer commercial. especially if everyone else in the room seemed fairly ordinary. actually, i bet its been done before. if not penguins, than perhaps monkeys, mice, or some other photogenic critter. however, the good thing about penguins is that, even when drunk, they don't smoke or make much noise. elephants, on the otherhand, tend to light up at every opportunity. okay, maybe a foggy memory of Dumbo doesn't merit slander of the entire elephant kingdom (but it does feature a carousing scene with circus beasts sucking down cigarettes and beer, right?), but they definitely aren't beer commerical material. that's not to say that elephants don't appreciate a good drink -- they just don't fit too well in the local neighborhood pub. besides, rob, a visiting zimbabweeen, claims that elephants have plenty of alcohol on the open range; they don't need a lucrative contract from budweiser. apparently, there's an african fruit that can actually make elephants drunk...and it grows on trees! let the mass exodus to africa begin!

Alaska pics 4 (the end)

i'd love to hear feedback on any of these pictures or opinions on which, if any, to print & frame. however, many of these pics have been posted at beth's request for memory purposes rather than any aesthetic value. pictures with an '*' are currently under printing consideration. AND, BE GLAD; this is the final segment from alaska. oh, i'm especially having trouble deciding between glacier pictures...

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1. Ramon or Susan David 'We Bring Greet from the North' Seward -- i think this pic has character.
*2. Andrew David 'At the Foot' Seward -- i can't decide which i like the best; i'd like to narrow it down to 1 or 2
*3. Andrew David 'Some of the Glacier' Seward -- there are no anchovies in this picture.
4. Ramon David 'Trail-worn Hikers' Seward -- beth and i.
*5. Andrew David 'Even Less of the Glacier' Seward -- like i said, i can't decide which of these pictures to like the best.
*6. Andrew David 'Vertically Speaking' Seward -- agg ximba.
7. Andrew David 'Moose!' Seward -- taken from long range from the back seat of the truck
*8. Andrew David 'Vertically Speaking II' Seward -- this particular formation reminds me of the fremont troll. i'm serious.
9. Ramon David 'PDA' Seward -- i wonder how long till someone asks me to remove this...

a crazy cool scriptural epiphany

okay, i was in the process of going to sleep (head on pillow, eyes clothes), when i suddenly had this thought--and i feel a somehow like the speaker in ts eliot's Journey of the Magi when he suddenly interrupts the poem's running narrative to emphatically exclaim: "...but set down/This set down/This: ...." so, like eliot's aging wiseman, i will (interrupt my narrative of sleep and) tumble toward some capital 't' truth without wasting time to quibble with words or style (ie i'm giving myself 2 more minutes to finish this)--in joel 2:32, acts 2:21, and romans 10:13 the writers proclaims that 'everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.' its one of the few verses that i can still remember (although i only remembered it once, not thrice). however, i have ALWAYS interrupted it in a rather straightforward manner, especially in terms of the 'from' phrase that seems to implicitly wait at the end of the verse. for example:

if you call when depressed, in need of strength for the day ahead, or desiring patience for that annoying co-worker, you will be saved.

if you call while being attacked by rabid coyotes and walruses, you will be saved (and then the theological question becomes, what does He mean by 'saved'?)

if you are being shadowed by the devil and his legions, you will be saved.

if you are burdened by your sins, you will be saved.

etc, etc, you will be saved.

these somewhat traditional applications of the verse(s) are certainly apt -- i'm sure i've used them all. but they also seem a little...irresponsible....as if the act of calling for salvation first requires shifting the focus of my insecurity or problems to someone or something else. 'save me from this!' or 'save me from that!' but what do i really need saving from? MYSELF! i know, this is certainly not profound, but i feel like its crazy cool. i can't believe i never thought of this. indeed, Lord, I'm calling upon you -- save me! save me from myself...

Alaska pics 3

i'd love to hear feedback on any of these pictures or opinions on which, if any, to print & frame. however, many of these pics have been posted at beth's request for memory purposes rather than any aesthetic value. pictures with an '*' are currently under printing consideration.

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1. Andrew David 'Breakfast in Homer' Homer -- darrrrr for grey skies.
2. Andrew David 'Work is for People Who Don't Know How to Fish' Homer -- the vehicle of our fishin guide.
*3. Andrew David 'A 1000 Johahs' Homer -- i've got like 12 different versions of this shot. maybe one of them will materialize into something worthy of printing.
4. Andrew David 'Fish Family' Homer --
5. Andrew David 'Fish Face' Homer -- she's a fish, and she's holding a fish...go figure....
6. Andrew David 'Where are the heads?' Homer --
*7. Andrew David 'McKinley' Denali St Park -- again, i have a 12 dozen of these shots...
8. Andrew David 'Beth McKinley' Denali St Park -- i like posting this picture right beside the other one. give me props for that.

new blog idea [2]

alright, here's the origin of yester-yesterday's blog. before my brief exploration of spittle, i was actually having rather ordinary thoughts like 'gosh, so-and-so is so great...' and i think this is a fairly human thing to think. after all, any myspace page or legitimate biography will have a section devoted to heroes. everyone has heroes. and i don't mean that we all have some real life equivalent to muscular men running around in tights and a bright cape. indeed, we might, but those magnificons would be superheroes not regular, no adjective meaning 'superior' or 'excellent' preceeding the word, everyday heroes. in any case, as i thought about how great (but not super, just so-so) so-and-so was, i wondered how many of the 2.6 million blogs represent serious attempts to chronicle statements of herodom. after discovering that there are only 3, i thought 'this is an untapped market! for my next blog, i should launch a journal of personal essays about my heroes (but again, not super-heroes). that will be uplifting and people will super love it!'

by the way, if you're wondering 'who's so-and-so?', so was i. back in elementary school. you see, on sunday evenings our pastor used to tell anecdotes about so-and-so. it took me awhile, but after hearing a few allusions to this perculiar entity, i realized that the pastor was just slurring his words a bit. still i couldn't understand what our neighbor's golden retriever, Solo, had to do with the Israelites or the transfiguration.

new blog idea [1]

i don't tend to drool. i'm also quite adept at wiping my nose when the winter cold strikes. in this regard, i think i provide a great example of the difference between man and animals: practical creativity. my skill at forestalling snott flow is partially predicated on my use of tools. kleenex, the back of a sleeve (preferably not mine), a hand, or the inside of a pocket all play an important role in my success. in any case, imagine, if you will, andrew turned beast. imagine that in midsentence he--graaaaaaaarrrrr!--shakes his head with a willful whiplash, roaring loudly while you sit at your computer transfixed because you've never seen andrew turn into an animal before. actually, you're probably most bewildered by all the flying mucus. you've certainly never seen so much drool (and snott) flying through the air at one time. and it just keeps coming. apparently, i've become a geyser of sorts. and, being an animal, have neither the desire nor the implements to stop the flow of the nickolodeon-like goo. now, if this ever happens in a literary sense--that is , if ideas and poetic reveries ever come flying out of my mouth and nose and ears and eyes at such an alarming rate that the world (or my life) is liable to flood--i'll need a second blog. one blog will not be able to contain all this literary snott. so, in future entries i hope to consider the best infrastructure for this blogo dos, before its too late.

Alaska pics 2

i'd love to hear feedback on any of these pictures or opinions on which, if any, to print & frame. however, many of these pics have been posted at beth's request for memory purposes rather than any aesthetic value. pictures with an '*' are currently under printing consideration.

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1. Andrew David 'Beth and Bad Sky Glacier' Juneau -- the title says it all.
2. Andrew David 'Train butt' Skagway -- i'm attracted to this picture for the same reason that i like taking senseless pictures of bumper stickers. don't know why.
3. Andrew David 'Whale of a Time' Inside Passage -- i know. you can hardly see it. just pretend...
4. Andrew David 'The Patriot' Inside Passage -- even funnier, ahem, i mean more patriotic, in person (i just watched 'good night and good luck' so i feel like i should be a little careful with my words)
*5. Andrew David 'World Without End' Inside Passage -- i really like this picture for some reason. i just love the clouds and the sunspots...
6. Andrew David 'Mum and Dad and Bad Sky Glacier' Juneau -- again, the title says it all.
*7. Andrew David 'Lighthouse Blue' Inside Passage -- see #11. can't decide if either of these work. or, if so, which works best.
*8. Andrew David 'Ice Cream Outcast' Skagway -- this belongs to one of my favorite photo series that features people. so many comical expressions.
*9. Andrew David 'When Towns Go Postal' Somewhere between Skagway and Whitehorse?
10. beth the s.o. 'The crazy people I hung out with for 10 long days' Somewhere between Skagway and Whitehorse?
*11. Andrew David 'Lighthouse Pale' Inside Passage -- see #7. can't decide if either of these work. or, if so, which works best.
12. Andrew David 'The Dawn Princess' Skagway -- :)
13. Ramon or Susan David 'The couple that ate all of our food' Somewhere between Skagway and Whitehorse? -- i think we look awkward here, but beth liked it.
14. Andrew David 'Let There Be Life' Inside Passage -- i like this for the same reason as #2
15. Andrew David 'Bear Attack' Skagway -- :)
16. Andrew David 'Some Engines That Could' Skagway -- boring?
17. Andrew David 'Ferry Jaw' Juneau -- boring?

Wangling out

http://thesaurus.reference.com/search?q=rescind

the 17 point scale would like to make a correction to the 10/25/05 post (or wangle out of that post). like many jokes, this one may have crossed the line. we unsuccessfuly attempted to slip into the language of catholicism. having never been a catholic and only attended a few services, this was perhaps a sinking ship enterprise. in any case, in our sad excuse for satire, we flippantly adopted the phrase 'fallen catholic' to denote someone who does not regularly attend mass. indeed, we expected readers to think ' ah, fallen catholic, that's like calling a bedside baptist a heathen.' thus, while the comment was made in jest, it perhaps lacked both context and sensitivity. sorry.