Today's celebration also happens to fall on the 31st of October--All Hallows Eve (or Halloween). In the Gospel reading, we are reminded that the greatest commandments are 1. to love your God with all your mind, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength, and 2. to love your neighbor as yourself. This "is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices." In his homily, our pastor pointed out that everything we do for God needs to be done out of love; if we just go through the motions of prayer, praise, and charity or do so only out of hope for future reward, then we are missing the point of God's message.

Jesus repeatedly tells His disciples that the way we treat our fellow human beings is how we are treating Him. This means utterly loving everyone. I will point out that this does not mean just doing anything that they might want. Too many people mistake love for submission; although subordinating ones desires for another's can be part of love, love should be deeper than surface gratifications. This means that service for one another is part of our service to God. Certainly, attending church, taking part in the sacraments, and prayer are beneficial to our spiritual growth, but they should be part of our preparation for a greater service to our community.

God wants to enter eternal paradise, but to do so, we should first work at making our world a better place for all of His children.

I have never been a big fan of watching basketball even though I did enjoy playing unorganized games of it. In particular, there was the summer of 1994 where there was a elevated outdoor basketball court in the center of the married student housing at UAF. One of the guys there loved knocking on doors and getting enough people out for a game. The games were in good fun, but still built up a sweat.

Today, Janelle and I watched Connor play slightly more organized versions of those summer games. There was not an official score, the clock ran down no matter what, and the five teams rotated around so that each one had a chance to play against the others. It looked like the players were having fun.

At present, Connor towers over most of the other players. He's about at the age where my height plateaued, but he still seems to be growing. While he has the build for it, he has not cultivated the skill yet. However, I saw improvement in his play just through the today, so perhaps he will be able to play the game at a higher level than just pick-up games on outdoor courts.

I just hope that he has fun with it while learning teamwork and sportsmanship.

Today’s events included parent/teacher conferences (both as teacher and as parent), the arrival of Connor’s custom lightsaber, lots of playing Dad Taxi, Connor’s friends coming over, and a D&D session with a new recruit. It’s been a good day. However, I have barely been home and am quite tired, so I’m cutting this post short.

As I was getting ready to leave for today's parent-teacher conferences, I was excited to see that snow was starting to accumulate on my driveway. It barely covered the road on my way there, but over an inch came down on Mera while she was parked in the school parking lot. However, by the time conferences were over all of the snow was gone from Mera, and most had disappeared for them roads--at least, until I turned on to Forest Lane. Due to the lack of traffic, the snow left on the road kept increasing until I got to my driveway where there was a bit over an inch still sitting there.

Now, I don't expect it to last for long as we are supposed to get into the forties with rain showers for the next few days. In truth, I'm glad for that as we still need to get Scarlet ready before I can use her for plowing. Still, it is nice to look out at my snow-covered yard.

Ever since last year's costume competition, I've wanted to get a set of Jedi (and/or Sith) robes. It's not so much about winning any kind of competition, but just having the costume available should the need or mood arrive. To make certain that I had them before Halloween, I ordered the costume a while ago. However, due to Alaska shipping being what it is, the order seemed to be delayed, so I hedged my bets and purchased a Star Trek uniform (original series science/medical) from a different company. Thankfully, the Jedi costume (and boots) arrived soon enough.

While one part of the costume was a little tight, I am otherwise quite pleased with how they look. Dressed in them, I spent the day greeting staff and students with Obi-wan Kenobi's famous "Hello there" with an occasional "May the Force be with you" to people who greeted me first and a couple "The Force will be with you, always" to the two students who greeted me with "May the Force be with you." Only ten students provided the correct counter-phrase to the "Hello there" greeting; although, several other students seemed to know what it was and just chose not to say it.

Several students took pictures of me. At least one digitally added the appropriate lightsaber effect and showed it to me, but I didn't think of asking him to send it to me. I don't think I will win the competition as there were some amazing costumes out there--especially some fantastic group get-ups. Still, I got a lot of smiles (and compliments) which made the experience worth it.

Note: I was going to make a joke about my doctoral robes being different than I expected, but I couldn't fit it in organically. 

Yesterday, Rowen told us that he wasn't feeling good and didn't want to eat anything. He punctuated that thought by throwing up a short time later. He hasn't eaten and has thrown up several times since. He's clearly tired and was running a fever earlier which are both possible symptoms of COVID-19, but he isn't complaining of aches or any of the other symptoms. We've been told that a stomach bug has been spreading among kids in the area.

Depending on how he is feeling tomorrow, I may get him tested. However, I'm hoping that this is just one of those 24 hour bugs that disappear as mysteriously as they attack. It would be ironic if he were to get COVID-19 just as approval for his age group to get the vaccine came through.

He had been looking forward to this short week at school, especially tomorrow's costume day. We ordered a zombie hunter outfit that he picked out. Hopefully, he will be recovered before we actually get to Halloween, but I'm sure that he's a little disappointed to not get to show it off to his teachers or classmates.

It's just poor timing. 

Apparently, my initial review was not extensive enough. As I would hate to disappoint, this review should meet expectations. You have been warned.

First, I quite enjoyed the movie. However, I feel that it is a good movie, but not a great one. It manages to find a happy medium between the frenetic action of recent science fiction movies (such as J.J. Abrams' forays in Star Trek and Star Wars) and the pompous weight of earlier science fiction (2001, Star Trek: The Motion Picture). There is a great deal of time spent with  massive ships flying or landing, but not a multitude of camera passes over every nook and cranny.

What surprised me the most was how much it borrowed from the (sadly, much maligned) 1984 film. Now, I'm a big fan of that film, so I was happy to see that many of the production choices seemed to be a deliberate move to emulate that movie over the book. For example, the stillsuits take the darker look from the movie rather than the camouflaged look from the book with nearly the same nose-pieces so that we could see the actors' faces. Similarly, the Emperor's shock troops are shown in space-trooper armor rather than the crisp military uniforms from the book (which the Atreides troops still kept--in warfare that includes personal shields, cloth is much preferred over bulky armor). However, I like the look even if our current idea of "futuristic" might not age well, especially since it was such a clear nod to the earlier film.

Indeed, many of the "beats" of this film followed the rhythm of its predecessor--almost down to the camera angles. While events stayed a bit closer to the book (if I remember correctly), this close following of the first movie is a clear statement from director Denis Villeneuve, "I can do it better." Honestly, he is right. However, he did have the two advantages of more impressive effects technology and double the run time--not to mention a phenomenal cast (but the first film had that too).

Villeneuve said that this film is made to be experienced in the theater, and I can certainly attest to that. There is no way that my home sound system can compete with the thrumming resonance which this movie provides. Whether from the massive ships or the colossal score, this movie's sound rivals the expansiveness of its cinematography. Sometimes, it was even too much. There were several points where the music was soaring, but the characters were whispering. In this sense, I look forward to seeing it at home so I can turn on the subtitles. Only because I have much of the original film memorized did I know what they were saying. 

That leads me to my largest complaint: this movie almost requires an understanding of the novel or original film to follow exactly what is happening. The 1984 film dealt with much of the exposition with voice-overs from the characters' thoughts and the princess's narration. This film largely just skips the exposition and places the famous "thought" lines as whispers. My sons did not seem that confused, so I might be overly critical here, but I felt that the story could have been developed a bit more (and had fewer dream sequences). 

All told, I enjoyed the movie and look forward to seeing it again, perhaps even in the theater. Thankfully, Warner Bros. has already announced that they have greenlit Part Two. Unfortunately, it will be a few years (at least) before we will see it, considering that they haven't even started full preproduction yet.

In today's Gospel, Jesus heals the sight of yet another blind man. As was pointed out in today's homily, Mark places the healings of the blind men at the beginning and end of his rendition of Jesus' time preaching. He does this as a way to emphasize the spiritual blindness of the Apostles, and thus of ourselves. Even here, at the end of His preaching (although they did not know that), His disciples are ready to turn Bartimaeus, the blind beggar, away, hushing him and telling him to be silent.

They have completely missed the point of Jesus' ministry. Jesus, our God, wants us to look after one another (pun intended). Rather than turn a blind eye to the troubles of others, He tasks us to look around, notice the less fortunate, and come to their aid. Time and again, He demonstrates what we need to do, yet He also acknowledges how difficult this is for us as well.

It's all well and good for us to say that we need to help one another, but it is quite another thing to actually do it. It is not easy to follow Jesus as Bartimaeus does at the end of this reading from the Gospel. First, we need to ask God to lift our blindness. For that, we need to be willing to see.

In one of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales--perhaps "The Wife of Bath's Tale"--one of the characters states that magic and fae creatures no longer work in the world because priests have spread holy water over everything. I remember some other author (I do not remember who) stated that the rush to build railroads in the 1800s across all of the continents was a means to bind the Earth in iron rails along its ley lines. I have wondered--when thinking of the Earth as an organism--if drilling oil (and burning it) is a means of depriving that massive organism of its bodily fluids, reducing its power.

Certainly, belief in magic and the fey world have significantly decreased since the colonial and industrial eras. One could definitely attribute this to an increase in education with a focus on science over superstition. Quite likely, the spread of holy water, iron rails, and oil use are coincidental partners in this move away from magical explanations in a more rational world.

Still, I think that there might be a story or two that could be found in exploring this idea.

Sometime around the time that I turned 40, I started having a problem controlling my right hand when playing highly competitive modes in StarCraft II. The more tense the match, the more that my hand would twitch. When I started playing Overwatch, the problem was not as pronounced, but started cropping up more often. More than once, other players would comment on how "twitchy" or "shaky" my Play of the Game videos would seem to be. I hadn't even noticed that I was doing it. 

When I mentioned this to my doctors (I've had five or six now in the past six years), they all said that this is a common reaction when adrenaline kicks in and then lets down. Thus, I didn't worry about it to much. Aside from adjusting my mouse sensitivity and avoiding more intense types of matches (especially 1v1 StarCraft multiplayer), it didn't really impact my life--until a few years ago when it started happening even when I wasn't playing a game.

The shakes have been more frequent this past year in particular. They don't happen all of the time and usually only occur when I am holding up something (like a coffee mug or a phone) in my right hand. However, they also happen when I'm not holding anything and can now occur in both hands. Normally, I can "reset" by placing my hand(s) on a solid surface, waiting a moment, and trying again--but not always.

Such was the case today as I was trying to use my phone to scan a reading for one of my classes as a PDF. Despite "resetting" multiple times, I kept having to retake the scans because they were coming out too blurry from my shaking. Granted, I was a bit hungry, and I think that could have been a factor.

My most recent doctor reassured me like the previous ones that this is not likely to be a serious problem--just a common occurrence as some people get older. Still, she asked that I take note and keep her informed. Benign or not, I don't like it.

Perhaps with the new Dune movie finally making it to America, the worms in my yard have decided to try and reenact their favorite parts. More likely, this time of year has produced the weather that has brought about one of the more disgusting annual migrations that I have witnessed. Short, thin purplish-red worms have started to crawl all over our entryway door and window in the morning.

I was reminded a few days ago of their first invasion due to Facebook's memory feature. As if on que, I started to notice signs of them on the fence for the dog yard. Today, there were three of them clinging to Starbuck's back when I let her back in this morning. I wrote "clinging," but before I could wipe them off, she shook and the worms went flying to who knows where. Ugh, my skin is creeping just to think about it.

This invasion seems to happen after a period of hard frost followed by a slight warming with cold drizzle. It seems to end after a hard freeze. The snow cannot come soon enough.

The Expanse has became one of my all-time favorite science fiction stories in the middle of its second season. While the episodes since then have not be quite as epic, they have still been quite amazing. The show is based on a book series about humans about 300 years in the future. The politics, technology, and characters are quite believable--even if I think wearable computer technology is going to progress quite a bit beyond what they project in that amount of time. It's set far enough forward that, not only have humans expanded to the other worlds in the solar system, they have grown and adapted over generations into different tribes of people. It's a compelling look at a possible future. 

Even though this most recent season felt more like a filler between season four and the upcoming season six, I still deeply enjoyed its story and character development. Yes, Naomi's story could have done with less attention, Alex and Bobbie's with more, and Drummer's made even a little bit more sense, but considering that this is an ensemble series that made the daring move of splitting the party (nearly completely), I was ultimately impressed with how it came together … and led to the cliffhanger into next season--which is thankfully coming out in a just under a two months.

Janelle and I decided to pick up the book series that is the basis for the show. I already know that characters and plots come in different orders in the books than they do in the shows. I'm interested to see how it deals with the events, as books have the ability to portray a story more realistically and with greater detail. 

This weekend, we pulled out the orange decorative lights and strung them up around the kitchen. This bit of fall color will stay up until the weekend after Thanksgiving, at which point they will be replaced with the multi-colored Christmas lights as well as additional lights around the staircase and the upstairs windows. Those stay up until Candlemas the kitchen lights are replaced with red for the upcoming Saint Valentine's Day and all of the other lights except the white ones around the staircase are put away. The red lights, in turn, are replaced after Valentine's Day with green lights for Saint Patrick's Day. Eventually the lights are taken down usually by the Vernal Equinox. 

I love the festive look that the lights give to the house. They also provide a significant "protection" against the growing darkness during this half of the year. While I'm glad that we don't keep them up throughout the entire year, I am glad to have them up for just about half of it.

I am astounded at how persistent some conspiracy theories have managed to remain this past year. Despite overwhelming evidence to disprove these theories, people are stubbornly clinging to them. Granted, most of those people just as stubbornly refuse to examine any of the evidence that disproves them and willingly swallow the partial or total lies they have been sold. Here are some pieces of reality that people really need to understand.

1. Wearing masks does not harm your health. Certainly, if they are worn improperly or are not cleaned or replaced, there can be some minor problems that arise. However, nearly all masks allow for enough oxygen transfer that they can be worn by Olympic level athletes during training (not that this is a preferred method). Meanwhile, every study with a statistically significant participant group has shown that wearing the masks markedly reduce the transmission of COVID.

2. You have a greater chance of being killed by a vending machine this past year than from any of the COVID vaccines. Despite fear-mongers' claims, all three vaccines in the U.S. are remarkably safe. Out of 189,000,000 people in the U.S. who have been vaccinated, only a little over 8,100 deaths have been reported after a vaccine has been administered (that's 0.0043%). Out of the investigations of those deaths, as of the beginning of this month, only 3 were found to have a possible causal link (that's 0.00000016%). Meanwhile in the U.S., the mortality rate for COVID-19 is at about 1.6% of those who get infected. This mortality rate is lower than the world average of 3.4% only because a large percentage of our most vulnerable population has been vaccinated (to say nothing of having access to the vaccine in the first place).

3. The January 6th attack on the Capitol, while inept, was an actual attempted coup. Mountains of evidence is surfacing, including confessions from those involved, that the insurrectionists were attempting to overturn the Congressional proceedings to confirm the electoral votes. The breach of the Capitol--a first for this Capitol--was a violent event intent on overturning an election.

4. Three, of course, leads to this point: the 2020 election was valid with no evidence of fraud. Even the poorly conducted "audit" in Arizona had to come to this conclusion. While fraudulent "news" sources spread information about the thousands of "discrepancies" the audit discovered (FYI: a "discrepancy" can be caused when a voter does not completely fill in an oval), they are surprisingly silent on the actual verdict. People need to stop embracing this national embarrassment, but that would require them to doubt Trump's truthfulness and perhaps make them reevaluate many of the things they believe(d) about him.

Certainly, my writing about these will likely not change the minds of those who stubbornly cling to the falsehoods they have been fed, but I'm seeing ridiculous statements on the rise again and needed to vent.