more normal than not

What’s that line in the old “the Band” song “Up on Cripple Creek”? The one where Levon sings something like, “I can’t take the way he sings, but I love to hear him talk”?

This guy is kind of like that….the jury is still out on what I think about his singing….but it’s fun to hear him play the guitar.

Man…there are a lot of talented people in the world. It’s pretty amazing how talented some of these folks are.

I was looking up the phrase “forest home”…trying to find more cabins in the woods….living vicariously…when I came across this guy, Wise Cub.

He’s pretty darn good.

Here’s another one by him….

So many people that I wouldn’t know about if it weren’t for random YouTube discoveries.

Pretty cool.

(A quick post script….this guy’s voice is pretty good, too. OK…I approve. The jury passes judgement and….I approve.)

The band is called “Forebear”….formerly “Wise Cub”….the guitarist and singer is named Scott Goldbaum.

I get up so early.

Early, early, early….trying to carve out some quiet time….a time of self-reflection and caffeination….a time when I can sit and, for a moment, nothing is going on around me.

I’m hiding in my own house….silent as… a mouse…hiding….waiting for a sound and relieved when it’s just the noise of my own quiet breathing.

I’m a gatekeeper, too.

When I’m not up and holding my position as sentry outside our bedroom door, people can come in and wake us up.

If, for some reason, I’m still sleeping and enjoying a peaceful morning….and I haven’t assumed the “sentry” position yet, we can be surprised by some extra company.

The bed’s not so wide that we can handle a bunch of additional people.

It’s not restful to add to the mix.

It was so quiet for about 5 minutes this morning.

Beautiful.

And, then…..I heard the slide of the barn doors I put up in the hall….and the padding of little feet in the darkness, and….Nate was in the room and on my lap and the day had begun.

The real day had begun and my quiet alone time evaporated and it was juice and Transformers and everything else we do to stay happy and out of Momma’s room.

Nate’s up.

I’ve done alone before.

I know how to be quiet….and alone.

I value quiet….I chase it now….gently, on bare feet in the darkness of morning, trying to avoid the squeaky tread on the stairs when I go down to the kitchen to make my coffee, never turning on a light because it might wake…..

I’ve been in places where no one would hear the tree falling in the lonely forest.

I’ve been so alone…..and I learned that “alone” is OK, too.

Nate’s up.

My quiet time is finished for the morning.

Five minutes in, my quiet time is gone.

I would not trade the chance to lose my quiet for all the tea in China.

Nate is up.

Quiet is sweet…but there are sweeter things in the world….noisy, early rising, Transformer toy blaring, sitting on my lap while I type….things people.

Good morning, Nate.

We’ll play this “Daddy’s up” game again tomorrow morning.

“quiet” Paul Simon

I get a lot of spam.

Email spam.

I get spammed in my emails…..spammed heavy….spammed hard.

I don’t know why.

I’ve never figured it out.

I’ll write them back….ask them not to contact me again….even send my name and address and bank information like they ask for in the hopes that it will appease them and they won’t bother me anymore….but they keep writing….and I keep asking them not to.

Spam is a pain.

The other day, I got a message with this heading…..”I CONTACTED YOU AFTER A SERIOUS THOUGHT”.

That was one message that deserved an answer!

“After a serious thought….”.

I don’t get many messages from people I know that have that much import behind them….but here was a complete stranger….in a foreign country…who was willing to reach out to me after experiencing a “serious thought” that concerned me.

That’s really kind of beautiful, if you think about it.

Someone who lives in a different culture…possibly of a different “race”, even (!)…..who is willing to contact me and help me achieve….something.

Here’s a snippet of the email….

Dear Friend.

After serious thoughts, my decision to contact you personally became
urgent, since I have no grudge against you, other than your Nigerian
partners. I happen to be the Deputy Governor of Central Bank of
Nigeria(CBN) in charge of Operations.

The line that sucked me in was, “….since I have no grudge against you, other than your Nigerian partners.”

I KNEW THAT NIGERIAN THING MIGHT COME BACK TO BITE ME IN THE A**….but this guy was willing to forgive even that!

He held no grudge.

Like I said before….I get a lot of spam.

Most of the messages seem like total scams….but there was something so benevolent about this one that I couldn’t help but respond….

Here’s some more of his message to me….I think you’ll see the honesty and humility that I saw after you read this….

Sometime ago, your partners approached me through a contact who works with
one of the ministries here with a request to assist them conclude a
transfer deal which required programming a transfer on your behalf.

What I gathered, is they wanted to use my position and office to
strategically transfer a sum; which has been supposedly dormant in the CBN
suspense account for quite a while. Our agreement was that I make this
happen and be rewarded with one hundred thousand initial advance payment
and another one hundred thousand when I finally release to your nominated
account. Having successfully programmed the transfer as agreed and your
name approved amongst the list of contractors/recipients/beneficiaries to
be paid for that period, the story changed and instead of standing by our
agreed arrangements, they employed an avoidance tactic and then resorted
to threats. Well, that prompted my decision to immediately delete the
transfer code, but released other payments as listed, excluding yours.

This resulted to several threatening calls which did not scare me though
and then they started making frantic efforts to bribing other officials to
get another approval to the transfer to you, but without success. I
however take 100 percent responsibility for the delay and obstructions,
because of their breach of agreement and trust. If you have doubts as to
this privileged information, then consider what has transpired through the
entire course of your claim process, they continue to ask you to pay one
charge or the other and at the end no results and they continue to tell
you to send another fee with yet no results. In very simple words, I can
only say that they are just wicked. Now if you want us to work
together,these are my conditions:

And….he goes on to tell me how I can get the money…and how he’ll only charge me 20% for helping me.

I AM FREAKING RICH!!! BINGO, BABY…..I’M RICH!!!

It’s pretty amazing that something like this can happen “out of the blue”.

Finally….a sincere spammer from Nigeria.

I waited so long.

….if you don’t have to.

I think that you start out watching the ones that are specific to your vehicle (regular Cherokee)….and then the ones for the other Jeeps trickle in and you sit and watch them, too.

And it’s the same procedure for all of them.

I watch these YouTube videos like one of them is going to tell me how to get the angels to do the work for me.

I never see that video that tells me how to get the angels to do the work for me, though.

This video is one of the only ones that had a narrator who used the word “uff da” in his narration.

That’s a Norwegian word that you can use when something goes kind of wrong.

It’s a good word to know when you’re doing a job like this.

Something in the Jeep is making a “roaring” sound….so I thought that I’d start with this.

I thought that I’d start with the hubs….and then move on to u-joints….maybe replace the rear end….maybe get new tires….

What else? What else might be “roaring”? What else could I shotgun new parts at?

It might be smarter to have someone who really knows what they’re doing check the car out…..and give me an accurate diagnosis.

That might be a whole lot less time consuming than replacing everything and watching all the YouTube videos.

Watching all the YouTube videos……

It’s entertaining watching all these people do all the work.

They aren’t angels….but they’re entertaining.

Nate said that I should do my blog post this morning about monkeys.

“And a little child shall lead them….”

I told him I’d do the post about monkeys….and I keep my promises.

Here’s a Christmas video featuring some snow monkeys.

(Actually….a PS 2/22/2015….the video with the snow monkeys and the nice Christmas music was deleted by YouTube….but the monkeys looked like this….in their warm bath on a snowy day….)

WTH.

What the heck?!

What do monkeys have to do with Christmas?

But, wait….what doesn’t have something to do with Christmas?

What wasn’t affected by the Christmas story?

We don’t think of monkeys very often when it comes to the Christmas story….but they have more to do with Christmas than a bunch of shoppers fighting it out on Black Friday.

Our Christmas isn’t only about the mad rush to satisfy some need to ….satisfy some need.

A monkey in the snow has more of the real spirit of Christmas than someone with a full shopping cart and an already maxed out credit card….frantically grabbing something that might make someone else happy for a while.

A monkey!!

I don’t know what a monkey thinks about….but I know what I think about….and a monkey couldn’t be any farther away from the real spirit of Christmas than I get sometimes.

A monkey has a better chance of knowing than I do….sometimes…..and I’M A MAN….WITH DOMINION….SMARTER THAN A MONKEY!!

I miss some things…..I do remember what Christmas and the miracle is all about….I just get caught up in all the distractions like everyone else seems to do.

Nate told me that this morning it was all about monkeys.

And having my blog post be all about monkeys seemed kind of crazy.

Christmas monkeys…..crazy Christmas monkeys.

That’s weird.

But not any weirder than what we’ve turned Christmas into.

Go, you little snow monkeys with your zenlike appreciation of a miracle, go….you’ve got it going on, little monkeys.

You’ve got it going on, Christmas monkeys.