Tuesday, July 08, 2008


Yesterday I went to the Safeway to withdraw some cash that I needed to pay some legal fees. I had to get a limited power of attorney (I thought) for my dad in order to get a police background check on him for his work in Korea. Apparently they need a notarized, apostille'd background check in order for him to continue working in the country.
So.
There I was coming out of Safeway with my cash, walking through the parking lot, when I saw 2 bald guys in t-shirts guys walking in my general direction. One of them my gaydar registered immediately as a flaming sodomite, so I figured they were two specimens of that species together. Once they got within about 20 feet walking past me, I heard one (the flaming one) yell at the guy who I now realized he was following: "that's a nice round a** you've got, you're gonna be really popular in prison b****!" I shuddered @ first thinking this was some perverse mating ritual, but then the guy in pursuit yelled in his Michael Jackson lisping falsetto "CALL 911" at no one and everyone in the parking lot "CALL 911, HE HIT ME!" he continued making vile comments towards the guy he was following, who was attempting to walk quickly and quietly away as the flamer guy grabbed his shirt and tried to swing him around. The guy broke free and tried to hurry off as the sodomite remained in flaming hot pursuit.

In other circumstances I might have called the police. I figured that guy #2 probably did hit the gay guy, but it must have been pretty minor for him to keep following him like that-I saw no visible injuries - and with the gross commentary I really felt no compulsion to call 911, and apparently no one else did either, because when I looked back up from unlocking my car they were gone and everyone in the parking lot was going about their business.

So then I went downtown, where after a lot of confusing rigamarole, spending $50 to the county recorder's office and paying a hefty fine to the parking ramp attendant (I can hardly call 8.00/hr a parking fee, that's a fine in my book) I got the limited power of attorney. Then they told me that I didn't need a limited power of attorney to get a police b.g. check, I just needed to pay State Patrol 10 bucks and I'd get the report online. That sounded fishy to me so I asked the Sheriff's department in the city hall for a 2nd opinion, but they seconded the recorder's office. So I went home and did the online thing, which felt wierd and resulted in a very small and unofficial looking 1 page form.
So now I've got to actually go into the State Patrol office to try and get them to sign it or something. Then I've got to drive down to the State Capitol to get the apostille (which is like an international notarization)

So that was all very interesting.

Then I got home and Brandy & I watched "Sophie Scholl, the Final Days". It's in German, naturally, as it's a German film. It's about the last week of Sophie Scholl, a German College Student during the last days of the 3rd Reich who was secretly (via literature and graffiti) protesting the war, Hitler, the inhuman slaughter of the Jews and the handicapped; and calling for a student uprising to protest. Instead she and the rest of the protesting students (who formed a society called "The White Rose") with her on campus including her brother and close friends were arrested by the Gestapo. The movie chronicles the interrogations, how she handled them and answered them, and the quick mock trial and execution of her, her brother, and close friend by the german court for treason. It's a really great movie, you get to really feel for and admire Sophie and her brother for how they faced the challenge & fear. Sophie was a christian, they bring that up in the movie well. They show her praying in fear to God to help her not be afraid, and talking to her mother before her execution about trusting Jesus, and telling the interrogating Gestapo that they needed a new, different Germany, a Germany with Compassion, a Germany with God, and telling him that every human life is valuable & created in God's image so they don't have the right to take the lives of the handicapped.
Even Brandy cried, which surprised me. Usually I'm the one who cries during movies like that. I wondered if it might be because Sophie is a girl about Brandy's age, and most movies like that have a guy suffering and dying-it's probably easier for girls to empathise with girls in a situation like that.
I like (such an inept word - need would be better, but not quite sufficient either) watching movies like that. A few I recommend are:

The Mission,
The Hiding Place,
Sophie Scholl, the Final Days,
Beyond the Gates.

And Books:

Tortured for Christ,
The Saffron Robe,
Foxe's book of martyrs


In the 3rd and 4th century, there was a large portion of the Church (at least in N Africa) that idolized martyrs, called the Donatists. They would go to the graves of martyrs and pray there, sometimes TO the martyrs as a modern day catholic prays to saints, as a kind of intermediary - someone who had borne witness to Christ to the point of torture and death, they figured, would have clout to ask favors of Christ to make them likewise worthy.

That's not my kind of Martyr fixation, but I do believe there's something special about martyrdom. And considering what happened in Nazi Germany and WWII Europe over all, I'd say it's only a matter of time before the same thing happens on a larger, more intense & far-reaching scale. So I want to watch movies and read stories like that to keep the right frame of mind when the day comes that I & mine will have to face those circumstances. It will be important to know that we're not the first to be persecuted when the persecution and martyrdoms come, so that I can have strength to stand up for truth and justice for the opressed, to the point of Death. Those movies make me think and feel necessary things, they're like a jolt of caffeine for the soul, to jar me out of the trance of all the amenities and vanities of life as we know it here in the overfed, overentertained USA.

I got my tactical boots today. They fit well.
I'm reading Lilith, by George MacDonald, and understand it a lot better than I did 9 years ago when I read it last.

I had a fun conversation about literature with my co-workers Nathan and Rebecca. Nathan dislikes most C.S. Lewis except for 'Til We Have Faces and Surprised By Joy. Becky likes most of Lewis. I said I loved Lewis' writings but don't understand the point of having symposiums or writing books about Lewis' books. Becky disagreed with me, and went on to say that Mercedes Lackey was one of her favorite authors but is so no longer. We discussed feminism in literature, my annoyance and her defense. I said the way in modern fiction that women are always rescuing men stretches the limits of credibility. She said that the motif of the man rescuing the woman and stealing a kiss at the end stretches it equally. I disagreed, and disagree.

I'm also reading C.S. Lewis' "The Allegory of Love" charting the idea of romance and the value of romance in stories from the middle ages where it began. He makes a good case that it didn't exist as a motif before then, and since then it's become a fixture in our psyches.

I went to my 1st responder training this evening at the Red Cross. I'll be going to the 4 hr classes every tue. & thurs. for the next two months, paid for by my employer: SPU. We practiced "rescue breathing" (CPR style breathing) on mannequins-adult size, child size, and infant mannequins. It was wierd performing rescue operations on an infant mannequin especially, I kept on thinking: "what would this be like if it were real? If it were Enoch or something"?! that made it seem much more serious. I'm glad I'm taking these classes.

I guess that's long enough for now.

2 comments:

E. Chikeles said...

Long enough indeed, lol.
At least I feel a bit caught up with life... sad I missed Brandy crying at a movie. Man if she cried there is no way I'll be able to watch that movie at all... I never could finish the hiding place, only got half way through before I wanted to puke, and the piano one... I only got 10 minutes into it before I was bawling and too upset to finish. I agree it is good to remember and not lose sight of what is real and worth living and dying for, but I get too upset when it is visually portrayed.

Mercedes Lackey?!! lol. yeah.

I'm glad you figured out your password. =) Now how to get Brandy to make a blogspot...

Uriel said...

How about literally portrayed? Did you ever read "Night"? It's really short. I think it's important to read/hear/watch things like that because there's so much evil masquerading as harmless in my normal media diet I like to be reminded what it's really all about every once in a while. But it sounds like your tolerance is a bit less than mine, which is not at all a bad thing :-)
and I'm glad I was able to find your blog.