Hey, great news everyone, I just found out today that I am one of the winners in an art contest I recently entered. I'm so excited! I'm going to be attending the Art Expo in Passadina next weekend and entered thier contest. I'm not sure what I won yet but will share the details later.

Found some poems I wrote a while ago so thought I'd post'm.

Love resembles sugar in seeming desirable.

A bitter thing tasting to the tongue of nothing but sweet

only to be dealt sickness and death as the sweetness passes into weakness

Insatiable yet so cunning a thing to put one in the grave.

Wretched stench that which is called so sweet

I love him, and as any man will do, he becomes my hope and my destruction.

Ever sunrise holds the night.

As wings of doves remember might.

Uncondensed in prisons of air,

The shallow ones dwell here.

As breath, as wind, as memories past or still to come.

They wade the clouds, and all

Who've ever loved may come.

Transpire, Inquire

To the decay of those wondrous things

They've lost.

Feeling they could reach out as though at a child's stone toss.

What hope is there that love could start again?

What love can loose or find a many time too great a cost.

A chance of fate come knocking on the door

Of heavens laughter, slander, or for joy.

Does every means have an end or in ending never mean a thing.

Just catch the flicker of the candle in the flame

And hold the sigh of wind inside your palm

While all who came professing never came

And there the storms have never profaned the calm.

Have thoughts which flicker just the same

And light as wings of a butterfly upon a name.

But thoughts cascade and fall throughout the day

And in the evening, tong tied and despised

Crumpled as a toss of paper by the lettered graveside

Fall empty by the bedside of the lifeless day

To slip away as dreams arrayed in moonlight

Cascade upon the hope of life someday.

I want your life to be stuffed full of good constructive things,

Right now your such a little guy but time goes by on wings.

What will you wish when you grow up to do or see or be?

I wished so much when I was young and you are part of me.

"What would men be without women? Scarce, sir...mighty scarce."
-Mark Twain

"Youth would be an ideal state if it came a little later in life."
-Herbert Henry Asquith

"Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one."
-Benjamin Franklin

"A real friend is someone who walks in when the rest of the world walks out."
-Anonymous

"Yeah, I know I'm ugly...I said to a bartender, 'Make me a zombie.' He said 'God beat me to it.'"
-Rodney Dangerfield

"The Doc told me I had a dual personality. Then he lays an 82 dollar bill on me, so I give him 41 bucks and say, "Get the other 41 bucks from the other guy."
-Jerry Lewis

"Borrow money from a pessimist - they don't expect it back"
-Anon.

"You see things; and you say, 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say, 'Why not?"
-George Bernard Shaw

Bad Marketing Translations

The Dairy Association's huge success with the campaign "Got Milk?" prompted them to expand advertising to Mexico. It was soon brought to their attention the Spanish translation read "Are you lactating?"

Coors put its slogan, "Turn It Loose," into Spanish, where it was read as "Suffer From Diarrhea."

Pepsi's "Come Alive With the Pepsi Generation" translated into "Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back From the Grave" in Chinese.

The Coca-Cola name in China was first read as "Kekoukela", meaning "Bite the wax tadpole" or "female horse stuffed with wax", depending on the dialect. Coke then researched 40,000 characters to find a phonetic equivalent "kokou kole", translating into "happiness in the mouth."

When American Airlines wanted to advertise its new leather first class seats in the Mexican market, it translated its "Fly In Leather" campaign literally, which meant "Fly Naked" (vuela en cuero) in Spanish.

1) Make race car noises when anyone gets on or off.

2) Grimace painfully while smacking your forehead and muttering: "Shut up, dammit, all of you just shut UP!"

3) On a long ride, sway side to side at the natural frequency of the elevator.

4) Crack open your briefcase or purse, and while peering inside ask: "Got enough air in there?"

5) Offer name tags to everyone getting on the elevator. Wear yours upsidedown.

6) Stand silent and motionless in the corner, facing the wall, without getting off.

7) Greet everyone getting on the elevator with a warm handshake and ask them to call you Admiral.

8) On the highest floor, hold the door open and demand that it stay open until you hear the penny you dropped down the shaft go "plink" at the bottom.

9) Do Tai Chi exercises.

10) Frown and mutter "gotta go, gotta go" then sigh and say "oops!" 
 

Things to wonder about

1. How important does a person have to be before they are considered assassinated instead of just murdered?

2. How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage?

3. Why is it that people say they "slept like a baby" when babies wake up like every two hours?

4. Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground?

The Steeple

Divisions set on lines of gold

Cry out behold! Behold! Behold!

The work of some forgotten king,

In many ways of right as seen.

Division set among the lights

Of fallen beings wrapped in life

To turn the tide to whirling pools

Guide those who will to be called fools.

Division cries within a wheel

The pulling strings of time revealed

So torn the troops establishing

Forget the coming of their king.

Divisions called upon in plea

Recall the coming of the king

In fractions thou wilt face defeat

In ruling, sons, by his decree.

"W-well, what now?" The man asked shakily, half hopeful and half ashamedly. "Well son," Saint Peter said, "we see if your name is in the book of life." The man's heart trembled. He had heard of that. "Wasn’t' that one of the things in the Bible?" He asked Saint Peter. "Yes" Saint Peter replied, "So you've heard of it." "yes" The man half whispered," but I never really believed it." "Oh it really exists, in fact it's right here. We keep it at the gate to see who's names are written in it and who's are not. This tells us who can enter the kingdom of Heaven and who, sadly cannot." The man began to tremble slightly as he tentatively asked, " and how do you judge that?" "It's very simple really," Saint Peter said, "when a person such as yourself comes to the gate we open the book and if his name is written there in the masters blood then we know that he is a child and that his debt has already been paid. " His debt", the man echoed. "Yes", Saint Peter said," the debt of death that he owes for all the sin's that he has committed. Look at your wrists." Saint Peter said softly and the man looked. Chains and fetters were linked from his wrists to the cases containing his deeds on earth, the good and the bad. The man looked back at St. Peter shocked "I never saw these chains before!" he exclaimed. "They've always been there," St. Peter said. "No one ever notices the chains until they're at the Gate." "Well, how do I get them off?" the man asked. "First let me ask you a question." St Peter replied. "While you were living your life did you ever go to church?" The man nodded. "Read the Bible?" "When I was a kid." "And did you believe it?" St. Peter eyed him curiously. "Well, n-not really. I mean the stories were great. Pretty fantastic if you like fantasy. But I'm a realist." The man had meant his answer to sound confident but it came out less than self assured. St. Peter asked a more direct question. "So you were familiar with the death and resurrection of our Lord?" "Jesus?" The man quietly asked. "Yes" Saint Peter replied just as quietly. "On earth you had the chance to choose to accept his offer of his own death for your sins and it was there that the keys to your chains would have been given to you and you would have been freed of your bondage to your deeds lived out on earth. Do you remember hearing the scripture, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God?" The man nodded and a tear slid down his cheek," and do you also remember the passage "For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord?" Again the man nodded dreadfully. St. Peter sighed, "many men like you pass by this gate, still chained to the deeds of earth because they did not accept our Lords free gift of salvation from death through his blood. As the scripture says, "All have sinned", every man woman and child and all should have to pay the price, but when Jesus died on that cross he paid the bounty that was on your head and all you had to do was accept it and acknowledge that he loves you and did it for you and in exchange vow to love him and learn from him for the rest of your life on earth growing closer and closer to him like a father and child, then your chains would have been released. You would have been free to walk through these pearly gates and join the family." "I have met many men like you, son,” Saint Peter sighed sadly,” too many. You never accepted him did you?" The man bowed his head and whispered the answer that St. Peter already knew. "but...but could you look anyway" he pleaded. St. Peter looked at him pitifully but went ahead and stepped up to the book. slowly he opened it and turned the pages, searching. The man held his breath and sweat ran down his forehead. St. Peter kept searching, finally he came to the last page. Nothing. He closed the book. Your name is not here son,” He said quietly," I'm sorry." The man began to cry openly," I thought I could do it myself, I thought I didn’t' need anyone...if I just...was good enough everything would be ok. I was a good person..." "but being a good person is not good enough, even for the best." St. Peter's answer was soft but it still hurt. The man knew now that it was true, but he looked desperately for another way. "Please, let me talk to him, your Lord, Jesus...Please let me reason with him. I know he would understand...I know he would..." St. Peter shook his head in sympathy. A few of them still hung onto this feeble hope. "Shhh," He quieted the man and then he stepped to the side, looked up and said one word. "Father." Immediately the man fell to his knees and was unable to look up into the face of the one he had denied existed, but if he could have seen the face of the Lord, he would have seen the saddest expression upon his face and seen the tears in his eyes and known that the Lord's pain was equal to his own. He loved the man and he had died for him, but he had been rejected by him. While the man knelt unable even to speak, the Lord knew what he desired and so he opened the Book of Life and carefully scanned the pages. Once again the search for the man's name was in vain and the back cover was shut with a soft thud. For a moment their was silence. Then the Lord spoke in a voice warm and gentle but full of sadness, and he said, "I died for you, and I waited seventy years for you to acknowledge me and accept the keys to remove your chains so that you might come live in my kingdom and be my beloved son.” His voice changed, hardened a little with what he must now say but still full of pain.” But I waited in vain for you, because you never accepted me. If only you had I would have written your name in the Book of Life with my own blood that I shed to save you from the death you must now face. For you chose to remain chained to your sins and there is nothing else I can do to free you from the price you will now have to pay. So now, depart from me. I do not know your name and I never knew you. And the Lord was gone.

I thought it was really interesting that, First, the home of Voodoo in America was wiped out. It's interesting that it started there. On one of the major news broadcasters website there was a story covered of spiritual things at work in the flooded city. A type of haunting, not by ghosts but by bad spirits,and two Bibles in different parts of the city completely preserved in areas where every other book and paper was torn and shredded, both open to the same spot. Revelations chapters ten and eleven.                                                 

which read:

          Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven.  He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars. He was holding a little scroll, which lay open in his hand. He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke. And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven say, "Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down." (5) Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven. And he swore by him who lives for ever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it, and said, " There will be no more delay! but in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets."

There will be no more delay! and since then, hurricane Katrina, there has been disaster after disaster after disaster all over the world.

Interesting: I think soon I'll be gone