It is 10:40 on Saterday night and I should be in bed. But I'm supposed to take a shower tonight and the hot water has run out, so I am taking the chance to update. Hey, it's only been five days since I updated last! Cool, huh?

Today was cold. Not really all that cold tempature wise, or even wind factor wise, but for some reason it was that kind of cold that no amount of warm clothing will keep from freezing you. Dad was working outside most of the day, but he had Anna, Ethan and I take one hour turns, so I lived through it (just barely).

Friday was interesting. Dad had Thursday and Friday off, and Friday morning he headed into town and rented a trencher. We're going to be putting a new breaker box in when we get the boys room finished, so Dad is going to go ahead and run new wire from the pole (don't ask, long explenation). So we had about fifty feet of dirt to trench, which, supposedly, is not that hard if you have a trencher. HA! Things got started pretty well, but we'd done about twenty feet when Dad realized that we weren't digging deep enough. So he decided to drive the trencher forward and go over it again. Well, that was much easier said than done! The little wheel up in front kept on going into the ditch, and making the sides collapse into it. We finally got the whole trench dug, but it was quite an experience.

Mom and Dad are planning on sending me to a thing called "Teen Pact" (www.teenpact.orga) in Oklahoma city in March. It sounds really interesting and I'm looking forward to going.

We're going to late service tomorrow morning so that we can use the sancutary to film my Joshua and Caleb routine after people have cleared out. I'm hoping I don't have to try and film it too many times: it's got a couple tricks that I don't really have performance ready yet (of course, I perform them anyway!)

And, speaking of juggling, Thursday night I got 16 catches with six rings! I think that's the best I've ever done. I tried seven some, but never got a flash. My pattern really stinks. But I did nail a really cool five ring trick. For those of you who know what I'm talking about: juggle five rings, pull down two, throw a pancake flip, pull down the other two and catch the pancake on your neck. I've only done it a few times, but it's pretty cool when I do. Eventually I hope to start out with a pancake throw and pull the other four down before the pancake lands.

I shall leave you with the following, which I found amusing. This honestly happened to me.

Session Start (AIM - JJFSamuel:lilbaby82289): Fri Dec 27 18:48:37 2002
lilbaby82289: hi samuel
lilbaby82289: do u still juggle
JJFSamuel: yes, as a matter of fact, I do
JJFSamuel: who am I speaking with?
lilbaby82289: myrtle remember we met at bingo
lilbaby82289: you said you had im
lilbaby82289: hello?
JJFSamuel: bingo? The only time I ever played bingo was at a retirment place in WA state
JJFSamuel: did I meet you there?
lilbaby82289: the other weekend
lilbaby82289: at bingo
JJFSamuel: other weekend?
JJFSamuel: I haven't played bingo in a year and a half!
lilbaby82289: last weekend
lilbaby82289: yes you did silly
JJFSamuel: where?
lilbaby82289: the bingo club
lilbaby82289: ;-)
lilbaby82289: remember
JJFSamuel: you are either a: teasing me b: talking to the wrong person or c: talking to a guy who has forgotten playing bingo last week
JJFSamuel: I have never, ever been to a bingo club
lilbaby82289: remember caseys bingo
lilbaby82289: dont you
JJFSamuel: what's the location? (state, town)
lilbaby82289: indianapolis in indiana
JJFSamuel: last time I was in Indianapolis was October and I was only there for a few hours, and then only at the airport
JJFSamuel: I have to get off now, I'm afraid you have the wrong person.
lilbaby82289: i dont
JJFSamuel: goodbye

Ok, I honestly am updating. So much has been going on, and things have been so wild the past couple weeks that I haven't taken the time to update. Yes, and I am aware that y'all are about ready to shoot me for updating so rarely. I don't have much to say to keep you from shooting me, so instead...*BANG! BANG! BANG!* That was just a warning...everybody keep your hands in plain view!

So, I guess you want to know what has happened to me since the last update. Well, the most interesting thing happened on the 23rd. We headed into Tulsa with six friends of ours and went and watched The Two Towers. Which, by the way, was very good and could have been done much better. Oh well. Anyway, we got out of the movie and it had started snowing. Really snowing hard actually. So we ran out to the van and wiped it off (part of it got wiped right into BonnieJean's face, and she wasn't all to pleased about that!) And then we started home. A friend from down the road was there at the theater as well, so we followed her, which was nice, because she new a bunch of back ways through Tulsa that saved us getting stuck in traffic. It still took us three hours the make the normally half hour trip home though! It was kinda fun to get to have some time with the people we had taken along (I don't really know any of them all that well, although I would like to get to know them better) but everybody who was going to the party called and cancled. Oh well. We'll have to do it again next year for the Return of the King.

Christmas was really fun. We didn't really do anything unusaual and didn't have anybody over, but I like having it that way. It's nice to make Thanksgiving into a big production with lots of family and food, but it's also fun to have quite Christmas at home.

For new years we all stayed home except BonnieJean, who went to an all night new years party at her Sunday school teachers house. We stayed up and played Risk and then juggled into the new year. I was planning on juggling five balls into the new year, but I dropped just before the clocked rolled over and ended up doing four! Oh well. Maybe this won't be a year for numbers!

Actually, that's not true. My seven balls has been doing great. I can get a juggle (14 or more catches) with some regulatiry now.

Yesterday Ethan and I went home with some friends from church and spent the afternoon with them. It was really fun. Their oldest boy is quite the artist and I really enjoyed looking at some of his work. We played a bunch of board games (lots of bughouse!) and also got to watch the VeggieTales movie "The Star of Christmas". I loved it! ("Your toilets exploded/your flushing in vain!") We really had a blast.

Today we are going into Tulsa to start Karatie (sp?) class. I'm looking forward to it. There's a very large group of homeschoolers from our area who go, so it should be fun.

And I am getting offline now. Goodbye, my wonderful fans! And don't forget to keep your hands in plain sight.

Hello, hello, and happy holidays! Can you beleive it's almost Christmas? No? Neither can I! But it's the 19th, already!

And, that means that the Two Towers came out yesterday. And I can't wait to see it! We will be going on Monday to see it with some friends, and then be having a party at our house. That should be a blast.

Yesterday a friend from Amarillo stopped by. She and her Dad were driving bak from DC. It was fun to get to see her: we hadn't seen her in five years! Her Dad sat on the couch and took a nap, while we talked for two hours. It was a blast!

BonnieJean is taking finals this week. She took two test yesterday and has two more on Saterday. She was really worried about them, but she thinks she did pretty well on the two yesterday. Y'all might want to pray for her though: she's still pretty stressed out.

Well, I've started working at a gymnastics assistant. I've done two classes so far. It's interesting: last night I helped teach floor and we did alot of back hand springs, which I didn't really know how to spot very well...so I had to learn as I went. Several of the girls found themselfs spilled on the floor as a result, but at least there wasn't any blood! The skill range in the class I'm helping with is pretty wide. So I was spotting girls who had to be told to arch their back and other girls who were doing three back handsprings in a row! It's interesting.

Oh, and I am going to dedicate this post to Melissa, who, unlike other people, did not bother me about updating! Ok, ok, you guys were right. I really should have updated a long time ago. *hangs head in shame*

Oh, oh, cool news! Really cool news! Nathan Dorrel (www.crazytieguy.com) wants me to be in his new diabolo instrutional video! Yep! He wants me to do the Joshua and Caleb routine. I'm very excited about that! And y'all might want to pray for them too: Nathan's wife miscarried two days ago. :(

Let's see....what else is going on? My left pointer finger is hurting, 'cause it got hurt two weeks ago in stunt class...I was spotting a guy and he hit my hand really hard. Ouch. Yesterday I got the most awsome run of five clubs I've ever had: it went on forever! I can't juggle rings very well because I cut my right pointer finger, doing a double spin with a hatchet. Yes, that was really stupid, but I didn't think it was sharp enough to actually cut me. And I finally got that stump out of the garden that was driving me nuts.

And now, my dear fans, I will leave you. Mourn not overmuch!

Ha! So there Rebekkah! I did update!

Today I have an appointment with my torture technician, which is good, 'cause I'm almost out of pain bands. And hopefully I can get the neon bands this time, because the clear ones are very hard to find after you put them down on the table to eat.

Found out last night that Dad is going to be gone until Thursday working somewere (not sure were) on a crain or something.

The other day I found Final Cut Pro really cheep on ebay, but it turns out to be a pirated copy. Mice!

Wow...it's been a while since I updated. Longer than I realized. I hope you will forgive me.

Well, Uncle Kent (Mom's younger brother) and his family came up for Thanksgiving, which was a total blast. I hadn't seen them in 5 years! That's way too long! Erica (Kent's oldest) is doing some work with rifles that's very interesting, and is actually alot like devil stick. I think I want to learn how to do that now. Adam learned to juggle three and flash four balls in less than an hour: that is so not fair. We played Mafia a bunch. The only time the Mafia ever won was when BonnieJeana and I were the Mafia and we both managed to live through the whole game!

I've almost got the website for www.jesusfreakministries.com finished, but I'm having some problems with FTPing to the site. I'm going to have to email tech support and see what the problem is.

CONGRATS COURT AND KALI!!!!!!!!

In case you haven't heard, their expecting! Whoopee! COOL!!!!!!!!! And David Cain and his wife are expecting too! Awsome, huh?!?!

Well, my computer time is up now, but I shall try (try) to post some more tomorrow.

Go away, get out! Leave! NOW!

Alright, yes, that was a little odd. But I was trying to think of some original way to open this post and it struck me that I almost always started out with some form of "Hello!" Well..."hello" has a kinda welcoming tone to it, so I thought I'd try the opposite of that. Stop looking at me like that!

I miss the RI. I was thinking the other day. I haven't talked to Chera in several months. I haven't had a good debate since I got off. I have absolutly no idea what Mike is up to. I haven't read a funny Courtney post in forever. I don't know what deep thoughts James has been thinking lately and I haven't had a chance to enjoy Hannah's humor in way too long. On the other hand, I haven't had to deal with immature people who don't know how to use a period and who get themselfs banned, or Crimson or things like that. I'll be glad when I get back on though.

I think I shall go to evening service tonight. Dad and Anna and BonnieJean are going and I thought maybe I should, at least this once. Normally I am very opposed to evening service 'cause it totally ruins your day of rest. Between getting up early for morning service, getting home and watching little guys while the parents take a nap, getting ready to go and then coming home late, you don't get any rest at all. But I'm feeling pretty perky today and I haven't been to evening service anyway in over five years, so I guess once won't hurt me.

Josh's lawyer was on the raido the other day, talking about the case. The host was REALLY good, but his lawyer wasn't the best at describing what had happened. It is good that their finally taking this to the press, 'cause I think the response would be very favorable for them.

Yesterday I worked mostly on the new chicken coop I'm building. I've it looking pretty much like a chicken coop and actually got a whole bunch of work done. Now I just have to build the roof for it, put in the wire for the floor, build the laying boxes, the perches and the doors. And then paint it, but I might get the other kids to do that instead.

And I think I shall leave you now. Farewell! And GO AWAY!!!

Hello, hello! I have recieved two request to update, so I guess I should.

But update about what? I mean, sure, lots of stuff has been happening. I haven't updated in almost a week. So surely I have something to write, don't I? But you know what? I don't. I can't think of a thing to write. Maybe I should try anyway.

I need to write something for the CJA newsletter about my trip to David's. In fact, I really out to have it to David by the end of this week. And I'm drawing a total blank. Right now it looks kinda like this: "I went to David Cain's for a little over a week and learned a lot." Not exactly the full page that David was hoping for. I guess I should just knuckle down and do it. In fact, I should be writing it instead of this. But I'll go ahead and do this anyway.

I've started work on the Jesus Freak Ministries website. It won't be anything big, so I've got most of it done. I'll then have to do a little bit of a revamp of the CJH website and then create a website for my juggling ministry. I'm hoping to get all the stuff for my juggling ministry ready by early next year and start advertising myself so I can get the summer as booked as possible.

Gymnastics has been interesting lately. The teacher has started teaching me how to spot all the differant stuff and I even got to teach most of the trampoline lesson yesterday. She says I could very possible get a job there, which might be something I would look into seriously. I enjoy the people who work there and it would be something interesting to do.

Hmm...what else has been doing on. I've been playing alot of chess lately and seem to be getting better. Chess classes have ended, but hopefully we can join the home school chess club.

Ok, I'm out of things to write. Bye!

It has been four days since I posted. Is that good? Is that bad? Should I post more often? Should I post less often? Don't answer me, I just feel like rambling on about a question that will never, ever be answered. How often should you post on your blogger? Should you do like Abbey and post about every three months? Or like Brian, and post every three minutes? Should they be long, like James', or short, like Brian's? Ahh..the questions that will never be answered! When shall they ever stop? (Hey, there's another one!)

Ok, cool news! I invented a new juggling trick last week! I didn't even know that I was the first to do it until I told David about it. It's a force bounce variation of a four ball trick that is normally lift bounce: but it has to be kinda differant for a fource bounce. Anyway, I named it Samuel's Side Show, since it's a trick that mostly happens on the sides of the juggling pattern.

Did I tell y'all that I got a call from a guy who I met in Knoxville? We had started talking after one of my shows and exchanged phone numbers, and then promptly forgot about them. Well, he came across my number the other day and gave me a call! We had a fun time talking, and I'm planning on giving him a call back sometime soon.

Friday I have another show. It will be about 20 minutes long and will go before the lesson at our home school youth Bible study. I would tell you more about it, but we're leaving for gym now. Bye!

Good day to you, my loyal blogger readers! Anar kaluva tielyanna! (ten points to the first person who can figure that out!)

I am doing great! Except my sweater is getting kind of hot, so I will be taking it off now. Ahh! So much better!

Well, Thursday our chess teacher was talking to me and Anna, telling us he really wanted us to be in an upcoming tournament he is hosting in Dec. The problem is that I would have to join USCF ($20) and pay the entry fee ($15). But I really, really wanted to do it, so I told God that if he wanted me to do it, he'd have to arrange for me to get $35. Well, I found $5 in my drawer. Then Mom gave me $25 that she had mistakenly withdawn from my back account and then I found $3 in my drawer in change. And then Ethan gave my $2! So I get to do it! Cool, huh? So I'm pretty excited about that.

I am one week away from the half way point in my spanish studies! If I can keep up at the rate I'm going at now (and I'm pretty sure I can) I should be totally done with it sometime in mid-Jan. And hopefully I'll then be able to take the Spanish CLEP, which is worth something like 6 credits. I'm also hoping to take the biology CLEP sometime this winter. We're just a couple weeks away from finishing our text book, so I figure if I do some review and look up some stuff on the internet that wasn't covered in the book, I should be able to make a good score. If I can do both of those, I'd have 12 credits from stuff I'm doing here in high school.

Well, Dad wants me to build a new chicken coop. I'm not so hot on the idea. Techincally, I suppose I know how to do it, but I'm not at all confident I can do it. Oh well, I guess things will work out somehow!

I called and talked to JC for a good long while yesterday. That was fun. Because of our scedules, we're never online at the sametime anymore, so the only place I ever see him is on the admin board (and there's not really all that much I see of him there). School is going good for him, although he's feeling really stressed with the 19 credits he's taking this summer. We half-jokingly talked about having him get me some gigs up there so I could have all my expenses paid to fly up and see him. That would be lots of fun I'm sure, but I doubt it would actually happen. Then again, who knows? It might. Oh, btw, JC, Mom says you just need to buck up. Her brother took 18 hours a semester and held down a job. *grins* However, he brother is one of the most driven men I know of: the fact that he can do it doesn't mean that any of us can do it! :)

Well, I'm sure there's tons more I could write, but I can't think of any of it right now. Martha, I honestly, really will send you my comments on that story you sent!

Ta-ta!

Hannah! I need your help again! In fixing the problem so that I can post, it somehow got rid of the script for YACCS. And I have no idea whatsoever how I'm supposed to fix it! So if you could email me, that would be great!

Alright, I will try to give you as much of an update on my life as I can in the limited amount of time I have left on the computer today.

So, on the 14th I left the house about 4 o'clock and the plane took off at 6:45 PM. Nothing really worth talking about happened on the trip, which was good. I met David at the Indy airport and we drove the 2 hours to his house, arriving there at about 12.

Tuesday morning I met Janet (David's wife) and their six month old baby, Ethan. We went to David's church that morning, which had a really high ceiling in the lobby and juggled some. David showed me some cool numbers stuff, juggling six clubs, flashing seven sticks and attempting eight. David also pointed out that my five club pattern is not centered on my body, which was interesting. (I'm sure y'all were just dieing to learn about that, weren't you?)

I could try and give you a day by day acount of the events, but I don't guess that would be the best way. I learned a TON. David got me started on plate spinning, which is the most boring thing in the world, but most people don't know that. So you just act like it's actualy worth watching and they will! I made some real progress with ball spinning, and even nailed a few cool tricks (I spun a ball on a ball!) I tried out cigar boxes some, but didn't really spend much time on them. I worked alot on five rings and my pattern was actually looking fairly tolerable by the time I left. I went ahead and ordered some rings (yes, I actually bought rings, can you beleive it?) and I should be getting them soon. I learned a whole bunch of new ball bouncing stuff, which was really good, 'cause that's probably my weakest area.

On Saterday we went to David's parents house, where I got to meet David's twin brother, Scott. That was interesting. David and Scott do some really cool team stuff, but Scott is not actually that good of a solo juggler. We had an unoffical four ball dual between us, and Scott unoffically won, but I whipped him good with seven balls (in spite of that fact that I was using David's beanbags, which are horribly huge). I also found at that Scott doesn't like Reagan, so I threw a few things at him (yes, I honestly did. And no, I don't mean passing!)

David and I did 5 shows together. I was in about 5 of the routines in each one. We came up with a whole bunch of new material and improved alot of stuff we already had. Some of it we even performed. At one of the performances on Sunday morning there was a guy got saved! Cool, huh?

Well, I got back home on Wed. Saterday morning we left for Amarillo and just got back last night. It was a fast, but fun, trip. We got to see Ms. Johnson, our old piano teacher and had a blast with her. She played some for us, which was interesting, because in all the years I took from her, I think I'd seen her play only three times! Then we went to see Mom's friend Judy and stayed at her house until 10 or 11, having a total blast. Poor BonnieJean spent most of the time on her computer, writing some stuff that she had to have turned in by midnight! She had stayed up all night before we left trying to finish it, and hadn't been able to. Poor girl. She's managing to keep on top of it, but just barely. Hopefully she'll get a little more used to it soon, since she's only been doing it for three weeks.

Sunday morning we went to church with some good friends about an hour from Amarillo. We had a real good time visiting and left two hours late, but we got home about 11, so it wasn't too bad.

Which brings us to today. We slept in late (very late!) and then I had to go have my torture device worked on. I'm now wearing rubber bands, so I can't open my mouth all the way. Annoying. Oh well, I got neon colors, so that was cool.

And now, I think I shall close. Farewell!

This is Anna. Samuel has asked me to post to see if it will show up. Please reply us if you can see us.
Love y'all (esp. Samuel!)!

Alright, I'll try this. Who knows if it will work, but hopefully you will finally be able to see my last three posts.

[9/23/2002 11:06:47 AM | Samuel B.]
Quick question. When I look at yaccs.com and check the comments, it says nobody has made any comments on the last two posts. Is my account messed up, or have y'all just abandond me to wonder if I spelled appandond right?

Well, I bought the plane tickets for going up to David's next month. I'll be gone Oct. 14-23 and plan on having a great time. David and I are going to work on developing some routines as well as some more technical stuff (ball bounce, ball spinning, four club tricks).

Courtney and Kali got married on Saterday!!!!! I think this calls for a large, red sentance with lots of exclamations points (we haven't had one of those in a long time!)


CONGRATS COURT AND KALI!!!!!!


Right now I have two AIM windows open trying to get info about the wedding. One girl (who was probably at the wedding!!) is not responding and the other wasn't there. The lack of info. is maddening. Kali's sister is only on AIM every once in a while and I'm sure Courtney will not be posting on his blogger until at least after their honeymoon.

Good heavens, Jen just told me that she was going to be at the wedding, but they wouldn't let her on the plane, because they had booked the flight under her Dad's name! So she missed it! How horrible!

I'm not making much sense, am I? Oh well, I don't care! I'm feeling very carefree today! Goodbye! *walzes off*
[edit]
[9/19/2002 10:48:34 AM | Samuel B.]
Just a quick note. David Cain called me this morning and told me that last night he became the second person in the recorded history of juggling to flash 8 club like objects in a show! CONGRATS DAVID!!!
[edit]

[9/16/2002 7:51:42 PM | Samuel B.]
Here's something interesting I wrote a week or two ago to a friend. Thought you might (or might not) enjoy it.

Alright, I don't know how long this will be, or how much sense I will make, but please bear with me. BTW, this stuff is not the result of a hastily thought up theory: I've studied Tolkien's works extensively with an eye towards this very topic. And allow me to state right up front: I have yet to find a single good guy who uses magic. None. Zip. Zero. Nada.
Ok, so we know that the Bible condemns witchcraft very strongly. Ex. 22:18 says "Suffer not a witch to live." And there's a lot of other verses like that, but since you've already done some study in that area I won't bother to look them up. The fact is that Bible believing Christians should not be reading and studying about magic (unless God has called them to and given them the grace to do it).
Now, from our talk about Spiderman and the role a villain should play, you know that I don't see anything wrong with having a bad "bad guy". So, how are the bad guy magicians shown in Tolkien? Here's an interesting bit taken from "The Return of the King" Book 5, chapter 10, "The Black Gate Opens".
"And thereupon the middle door of the Black Gate was thrown open with a great clang, and out of it there came an embassy from the Dark Tower.
"At it's head there rode a tall and evil shape, mounted upon a black horse, if horse it was; for it was huge and hideous, and its face was a frightful mask, more like a skull than a living head, and in the sockets of its eyes and in its nostrils there burned a flame. The rider was robed all in black, and black was his lofty helm; yet this was no Ringwraith but a living man. The Lieutenant of the Tower of Barad-dur he was, and his name is remembered in no tale; for he himself had forgotten it, and he said: "I am the Mouth of Sauron." But it is told that he was a renegade, who came of the race of those that are named the Black Numenoreans; for they established their dwellings in Middle-earth during the years of Sauron's domination, and they worshipped him, being enamored of evil knowledge. And he entered the service of the Dark Tower when it first rose again, and because of his cunning he grew ever higher in the Lord's favor; and he learned great sorcery, and knew much of the mind of Sauron: and he was more cruel than any orc."
Not exactly a pretty picture. Being more cruel any orc is saying a lot. The Mouth of Sauron is one of the two magicians that we get to see in any detail: the other is the Witch-King. He was a great sorcerer and very powerful. He established the Witch Kingdom of Agmar and was given one of the nine rings by Sauron himself. A sample of the way he talks: "Come not between the Nazgul and his prey! Or he will not slay thee in thy turn. He will bear thee away to the houses of lamentation, beyond all darkness, where they flesh shall be devoured and they shriveled mind be left naked to the Lidless Eye." (Return of the King, book 5, chapter 6, "The Battle of the Pelennor Fields")
That is magic in Tolkien. Cruel, hard, horrible. There are no perks, nothing desirable about it. Magic is evil, pure and unaltered.
But what about the magic that the good guys use? Doesn't Gandalf use a "closing spell" on a door? Doesn't Aragorn make use of a green stone in healing the wounded in Minas Tirith? Doesn't Galadriel have a magic bowl of water? Don't the Dwarves in Dale create magic toys? And isn't Revindell protected by a magic ring worn by Elrond? How do these make sense? Certainly Gandalf, Aragorn and Galadriel are not bad guys. How then can they use magic?
The answer is extremely simple: they don't! Allow me to go through each of the mentioned bits of "magic" and explain them. Please keep in mind that these are not the only examples of "magic" in Tolkien, but I have chosen each because it represents each kind of "magic" that you will come across. Let's start with Gandalf.
Were you to travel back in time, and yet have access to all the stuff of the 21st century, you could very easily convince people you were a magician. In fact, you might have trouble convincing them that you weren't!
The case is somewhat the same with Gandalf. But he is not a human from the future. In fact, he is not even human! He is a Maiar (that's probably spelled wrong!): an angle basically. He comes from Valinor, a place were the Valor live (the Valor are NOT gods, as some people mistakenly think.) He was sent to Middle-earth to oppose Sauron, and yet not openly. He was not to make a big display of his power, but rather to encourage the people of Middle-earth in their fight against Sauron.
So if he's not a wizard, why is he called such? Well, the Lord of the Rings was written by Hobbits. This is much the same as if those people who you met while time traveling wrote about you. They would get a lot wrong, without a doubt. And if you were under orders not to tell them all about yourself, they would get even more wrong. The same thing happened in Lord of the Rings.
But Gandalf himself talks about casting "spells" and such. How do you explain this?
The language spoken in Valinor is not the same was the one spoken commonly in Middle-earth (often called the "Common Speech"). In fact, when Gandalf first got his body and came to Middle-earth he had to learn how to speak! And as he learned the languages he found that there weren't really any words to describe what he did. So he was forced to improvise. He did not cast "spells" but that was as close as he could come in the Common Speech.
Now let's talk about Elrond and Galadriel. Both of them are Elves: totally different creatures than Humans. And so they have some abilities which are super-human. The funny thing is, if Tolkien were science fiction, Elves would just be aliens with special abilities. But because it's fantasy, everyone assumes that it's magic. Have you ever heard anyone talk about the magic used by Spock in Star Trek? No. Why? Because he isn't a human! And the very same thing applies to the elves.
While we're on the subject of Galadriel, there's a very interesting quote on the subject of magic by her. Sam and Frodo are with Galadriel in Lorien. They are standing by a basin of water and Galadrial was just asking Frodo if he wanted to look into it.
"'And you?' she said, turning to Sam. 'For this is what your folk would call magic, I believe; though I do knot understand clearly what they mean; and they seem also to use the same word of the deceits of the Enemy. But this, if you will, is the magic of Galadriel." (The Fellowship of the Ring, book 2, chapter 7, "The Mirror of Galadriel")
Galadriel obviously didn't consider what she did magic, so why should we? And Galadriel certainly knew about this so called "magic"! She had studied under some of the wisest and most powerful Elves and Maiar, both in Middle-earth and Valinor. I think we can take her word for it.
The "magic" used by the dwarves has the same story. They are not at all human (their biology is such that they can't even interbreed) and their "magic" is nothing of the sort.
So, what of Aragorn and the green stone? Aragorn is certainly human, and yet he uses it. From the context of what we know about humans using magic (like the two magicians spoken of above) we know that it is certainly a bad thing.
Well, the fact is, Aragorn didn't actually use the stone. It was a gift from Galadriel and I'm not even certain he knew what it did. He was simply wearing it while doing his doctoring. And as we see when he heals Faramir, Eowyn and Merry, he doesn't mention it, touch it, look at it, or anything of the sort. It was simply the elvish power of the stone working on it's own and Aragorn had nothing to do with it.
Now, as to the nature of the Valor and God in Tolkiens world. The creation account found in the Sillmarillion cannot by any twisting of the imagination be made to sound anything like the account in the Bible. The world is ruled by the Valor (angles basically). This would seems almost like a pagan religion!
Allow me to explain Tolkien's (and mine) view on this. We, as humans, are created in the image of God. And God is a creator. And so instilled into each of us is the desire to create. Like a child wanting to act like his dad, we each want to make something. There is nothing wrong at all about this desire. It was given to us by God.
Tolkien called his world a "sub-creation". If we are created in the image of God, the creator, why is it wrong to want to imitate him and create our own worlds? This must of course be done with the realization that our would is fake: but that does not make it wrong.
Now you may have heard that Tolkien referred to the Gospel as a "myth". He did. But to have that quote outside of context is a highly deceitful thing to do. I have read the entire passage in which he called the Gospel a myth and it is one of the most beautiful statements about the wonderfulness of the Gospel that I have ever read.
You can find the quote in an essay entitled "On Fairy-Stories". In it, Tolkien discusses what he considers to be the criteria for calling a story a fairy story. At the very end, he notes that by the definition he has just laid out, the Gospel is in fact a fairy story. But, he quickly points out, the wonderful thing about it is that, as opposed to the other fairy stories, the Gospel is true! It really happened! Tolkien was not rejecting the divine authorship of the Bible: he was simply making an observation as to the classification of the Gospel story.

I'll try and post more about what's going on in my life latter. Maybe tomorrow.

Alright, I'll try this. Who knows if it will work, but hopefully you will finally be able to see my last three posts.

Quick question. When I look at yaccs.com and check the comments, it says nobody has made any comments on the last two posts. Is my account messed up, or have y'all just abandond me to wonder if I spelled appandond right?

Well, I bought the plane tickets for going up to David's next month. I'll be gone Oct. 14-23 and plan on having a great time. David and I are going to work on developing some routines as well as some more technical stuff (ball bounce, ball spinning, four club tricks).

Courtney and Kali got married on Saterday!!!!! I think this calls for a large, red sentance with lots of exclamations points (we haven't had one of those in a long time!)

CONGRATS COURT AND KALI!!!!!!

Right now I have two AIM windows open trying to get info about the wedding. One girl (who was probably at the wedding!!) is not responding and the other wasn't there. The lack of info. is maddening. Kali's sister is only on AIM every once in a while and I'm sure Courtney will not be posting on his blogger until at least after their honeymoon.

Good heavens, Jen just told me that she was going to be at the wedding, but they wouldn't let her on the plane, because they had booked the flight under her Dad's name! So she missed it! How horrible!

I'm not making much sense, am I? Oh well, I don't care! I'm feeling very carefree today! Goodbye! *walzes off*

Just a quick note. David Cain called me this morning and told me that last night he became the second person in the recorded history of juggling to flash 8 club like objects in a show! CONGRATS DAVID!!!

Here's something interesting I wrote a week or two ago to a friend. Thought you might (or might not) enjoy it.

Alright, I don't know how long this will be, or how much sense I will make, but please bear with me. BTW, this stuff is not the result of a hastily thought up theory: I've studied Tolkien's works extensively with an eye towards this very topic. And allow me to state right up front: I have yet to find a single good guy who uses magic. None. Zip. Zero. Nada.
Ok, so we know that the Bible condemns witchcraft very strongly. Ex. 22:18 says "Suffer not a witch to live." And there's a lot of other verses like that, but since you've already done some study in that area I won't bother to look them up. The fact is that Bible believing Christians should not be reading and studying about magic (unless God has called them to and given them the grace to do it).
Now, from our talk about Spiderman and the role a villain should play, you know that I don't see anything wrong with having a bad "bad guy". So, how are the bad guy magicians shown in Tolkien? Here's an interesting bit taken from "The Return of the King" Book 5, chapter 10, "The Black Gate Opens".
"And thereupon the middle door of the Black Gate was thrown open with a great clang, and out of it there came an embassy from the Dark Tower.
"At it's head there rode a tall and evil shape, mounted upon a black horse, if horse it was; for it was huge and hideous, and its face was a frightful mask, more like a skull than a living head, and in the sockets of its eyes and in its nostrils there burned a flame. The rider was robed all in black, and black was his lofty helm; yet this was no Ringwraith but a living man. The Lieutenant of the Tower of Barad-dur he was, and his name is remembered in no tale; for he himself had forgotten it, and he said: "I am the Mouth of Sauron." But it is told that he was a renegade, who came of the race of those that are named the Black Numenoreans; for they established their dwellings in Middle-earth during the years of Sauron's domination, and they worshipped him, being enamored of evil knowledge. And he entered the service of the Dark Tower when it first rose again, and because of his cunning he grew ever higher in the Lord's favor; and he learned great sorcery, and knew much of the mind of Sauron: and he was more cruel than any orc."
Not exactly a pretty picture. Being more cruel any orc is saying a lot. The Mouth of Sauron is one of the two magicians that we get to see in any detail: the other is the Witch-King. He was a great sorcerer and very powerful. He established the Witch Kingdom of Agmar and was given one of the nine rings by Sauron himself. A sample of the way he talks: "Come not between the Nazgul and his prey! Or he will not slay thee in thy turn. He will bear thee away to the houses of lamentation, beyond all darkness, where they flesh shall be devoured and they shriveled mind be left naked to the Lidless Eye." (Return of the King, book 5, chapter 6, "The Battle of the Pelennor Fields")
That is magic in Tolkien. Cruel, hard, horrible. There are no perks, nothing desirable about it. Magic is evil, pure and unaltered.
But what about the magic that the good guys use? Doesn't Gandalf use a "closing spell" on a door? Doesn't Aragorn make use of a green stone in healing the wounded in Minas Tirith? Doesn't Galadriel have a magic bowl of water? Don't the Dwarves in Dale create magic toys? And isn't Revindell protected by a magic ring worn by Elrond? How do these make sense? Certainly Gandalf, Aragorn and Galadriel are not bad guys. How then can they use magic?
The answer is extremely simple: they don't! Allow me to go through each of the mentioned bits of "magic" and explain them. Please keep in mind that these are not the only examples of "magic" in Tolkien, but I have chosen each because it represents each kind of "magic" that you will come across. Let's start with Gandalf.
Were you to travel back in time, and yet have access to all the stuff of the 21st century, you could very easily convince people you were a magician. In fact, you might have trouble convincing them that you weren't!
The case is somewhat the same with Gandalf. But he is not a human from the future. In fact, he is not even human! He is a Maiar (that's probably spelled wrong!): an angle basically. He comes from Valinor, a place were the Valor live (the Valor are NOT gods, as some people mistakenly think.) He was sent to Middle-earth to oppose Sauron, and yet not openly. He was not to make a big display of his power, but rather to encourage the people of Middle-earth in their fight against Sauron.
So if he's not a wizard, why is he called such? Well, the Lord of the Rings was written by Hobbits. This is much the same as if those people who you met while time traveling wrote about you. They would get a lot wrong, without a doubt. And if you were under orders not to tell them all about yourself, they would get even more wrong. The same thing happened in Lord of the Rings.
But Gandalf himself talks about casting "spells" and such. How do you explain this?
The language spoken in Valinor is not the same was the one spoken commonly in Middle-earth (often called the "Common Speech"). In fact, when Gandalf first got his body and came to Middle-earth he had to learn how to speak! And as he learned the languages he found that there weren't really any words to describe what he did. So he was forced to improvise. He did not cast "spells" but that was as close as he could come in the Common Speech.
Now let's talk about Elrond and Galadriel. Both of them are Elves: totally different creatures than Humans. And so they have some abilities which are super-human. The funny thing is, if Tolkien were science fiction, Elves would just be aliens with special abilities. But because it's fantasy, everyone assumes that it's magic. Have you ever heard anyone talk about the magic used by Spock in Star Trek? No. Why? Because he isn't a human! And the very same thing applies to the elves.
While we're on the subject of Galadriel, there's a very interesting quote on the subject of magic by her. Sam and Frodo are with Galadriel in Lorien. They are standing by a basin of water and Galadrial was just asking Frodo if he wanted to look into it.
"'And you?' she said, turning to Sam. 'For this is what your folk would call magic, I believe; though I do knot understand clearly what they mean; and they seem also to use the same word of the deceits of the Enemy. But this, if you will, is the magic of Galadriel." (The Fellowship of the Ring, book 2, chapter 7, "The Mirror of Galadriel")
Galadriel obviously didn't consider what she did magic, so why should we? And Galadriel certainly knew about this so called "magic"! She had studied under some of the wisest and most powerful Elves and Maiar, both in Middle-earth and Valinor. I think we can take her word for it.
The "magic" used by the dwarves has the same story. They are not at all human (their biology is such that they can't even interbreed) and their "magic" is nothing of the sort.
So, what of Aragorn and the green stone? Aragorn is certainly human, and yet he uses it. From the context of what we know about humans using magic (like the two magicians spoken of above) we know that it is certainly a bad thing.
Well, the fact is, Aragorn didn't actually use the stone. It was a gift from Galadriel and I'm not even certain he knew what it did. He was simply wearing it while doing his doctoring. And as we see when he heals Faramir, Eowyn and Merry, he doesn't mention it, touch it, look at it, or anything of the sort. It was simply the elvish power of the stone working on it's own and Aragorn had nothing to do with it.
Now, as to the nature of the Valor and God in Tolkiens world. The creation account found in the Sillmarillion cannot by any twisting of the imagination be made to sound anything like the account in the Bible. The world is ruled by the Valor (angles basically). This would seems almost like a pagan religion!
Allow me to explain Tolkien's (and mine) view on this. We, as humans, are created in the image of God. And God is a creator. And so instilled into each of us is the desire to create. Like a child wanting to act like his dad, we each want to make something. There is nothing wrong at all about this desire. It was given to us by God.
Tolkien called his world a "sub-creation". If we are created in the image of God, the creator, why is it wrong to want to imitate him and create our own worlds? This must of course be done with the realization that our would is fake: but that does not make it wrong.
Now you may have heard that Tolkien referred to the Gospel as a "myth". He did. But to have that quote outside of context is a highly deceitful thing to do. I have read the entire passage in which he called the Gospel a myth and it is one of the most beautiful statements about the wonderfulness of the Gospel that I have ever read.
You can find the quote in an essay entitled "On Fairy-Stories". In it, Tolkien discusses what he considers to be the criteria for calling a story a fairy story. At the very end, he notes that by the definition he has just laid out, the Gospel is in fact a fairy story. But, he quickly points out, the wonderful thing about it is that, as opposed to the other fairy stories, the Gospel is true! It really happened! Tolkien was not rejecting the divine authorship of the Bible: he was simply making an observation as to the classification of the Gospel story.

I'll try and post more about what's going on in my life latter. Maybe tomorrow.

Wow, these past two days have been something else. It's been a really faith building time and a very tough time. It all started a long time ago (like last year I think) when a fellow who works on computers at the local college was fired for putting "God bless" at the end of an email (his name is Mat). Then, about a month ago, he and his friend Josh (who goes to church with us) were taken out of class under armed guard, questioned and expelled. They were not allowed to call their parents, a lawyer or even go to the bathroom. Josh's sister Michaela was also taken out of class and not allowed to call her parents. She has since been up on probation for a year: nobody has been able to really figure out why. Something was said about her biligerant attitude. If you knew Michaela you would realize what a dumb charge that is. She is probably the most quite, soft spoken person I know! So, after much problems and riggermarro, they finally sceduled hearings for Josh and Mat on the 11th. Josh went in at 1:30. BonnieJean and I showed up about one to take part in the prayer vigil that they had going. We had a chance to talk to Josh some and then he went in. We stayed for a couple hours, walking around the building, reading our Bibles and praying in a group. Finally at about four we went on home, but a pretty good group stayed until Josh came out at 6:15. Mat was supposed to have had his hearing at 2:30, so they resceduled his for Thursday (the 12th). It turns out that they prayer group had really unnerved them during Josh's hearing, so they told Mat to come at 9, then called him at 10:30 that night and said to come at 8, hoping that they would be done before we got there. Enter Sam, a dear lady from church and Josh's aunt. She called us at 7:30 and by 8:10 we were up there in a big circle praying. We spent all day up there, except for about an hour and a half that Mom had us come home. Finally, at about 6:00 they finished the hearing and let Mat out. He had some really good news for us: he had not been given a gag order and Josh's gag order had been removed! So we all headed off campus and head "debriefing" with Mat and Josh for about an hour and a half.

Some really cool things had happened. One had been that over the two days, everyone had been praying for "conffusion in the camp of the enemy". I heard those exact words at least three million times. Then, when Josh and Mat started telling us about what happened, it was amazing to hear how God had worked! The main wittness for the oposition had hardly been able to answer a single question and the chairman of the hearing had been very good.

So, the people who judge the hearing have 15 days to make their decision, which will then be passed to the president of the college as a recomendation. It's far from over and we're still doing alot of praying, but it's really been a great experiance.

One neat thing was that I got to get to know Josh and his family better. Our families have always been on pretty friendly terms, but I've wanted to get to know them better. I also found out that I actually knew Mat! I hadn't realized that it was a Mat I had met at several church funtions.

So, please keep Josh, Mat and Michaela and their families in prayer.

find your inner PIE @ stvlive.com

I'm an apple pie. How interesting.

So, how are you doing today? Fine I hope. I had an interesting idea sparked by Hannah. Person 1 says to Person 2 "Hey, look on the bright side!" Person 2 replies "No, then it's even more depressing when it turns dark!"

Yes, I'm nuts.

Hey, did I tell y'all that it looks like we've set some pretty solid dates for going up to David's? Hmmm...have I even told y'all I'm going to David's? Maybe not...if you've heard this already, stop me. David is a professional Christian juggler who I have become pretty good friends with over the past two and a half years. And this coming Oct. I'm going to be spending a week at his house working on juggling and Christian routines and just visiting. I'm REALLY excited about it! If you'd like to, you can visit David's sight: christianjuggler.com

Let's see...what else. I did my drawing lesson today. It went pretty well (I got an A!), but I still didn't like what I'd drawn all that much. Still, it could have been alot worse. This afternoon I've got to go over the first 20 verses of Mat. 5, 'cause I have to say them to Mom tomorrow. I had up to verse 34 once, but I've kinda forgotten some. Still, it shouldn't be very hard. Spanish is shaping up to be taking a pretty big hunk of time, but Mom gave me an hour and a half for it, so I think I should do fine.

I got a very nice email from JC the other day, which I need to reply to (I'm going to try to do that tomorrow JC). It seems I need to write somebody else but I can't remember who! Hey, if you need me to write you, let me know! :)

Why is it that whenever you are posting on your blogger you can't think of anything to write, but once you get off you think of a million things to write?

And with that question I shall leave you. Farewell!

'ello, ello, ello! How are you doing today? I can ask that question because, thanks to a remark by OFG, I can now view the replies. Yup, I just log into my YACCS acount and there they are! I still can't view my blogger though, but I can look at it in the control center here...so altogether, things could be worse. Then again, they could be alot better.

But in spite of that, I'm feeling pretty good right now. We started school yesterday. I like my scedule, except that I have to get up at 5:30. Not my first choice, but I'll live. I start school at 7:00 (biology) and finish at 3:30 (mimorization). In between is Math, Spanish, Gov., Wisdom Booklet and Faith Journal. I'm also having to fit art in there whenever I can. It's working pretty well.

Last night we had hamburgers for supper! Yum! They were VERY good.

Today was our first day of gymnastics (how do you spell that?). There's nine people in our class, mostly younger than ten, although there are a couple girls who are older than that. Ethan was trying to go wild the whole time. I think if we let him, he would try everything until he broke his neck! Joshua seems to have a little trouble, but I think he'll be ok.

And now I shall get off. I meant to post more, but I don't have enough time. Maybe tomorrow.

I am very annoyed. My blogger has be blocked by our server because of "full nudity, sexual acts/text". So I can't view my blogger. I emailed them and have yet to get a reply. Is that annoying or what? In fact, I can't visit any bloggers on the blogspot.com server. Not Mike's, not Anna's, not JC's....it's driving me nuts!

In other news, our trip was a blast. Friday we drove up and it was a really long drive...we got there about midnight! Then Saterday we went to Aunt Trish's and had a cookout, which was very fun. Got to see a bunch of people I haven't seen in awhile and got to meet my cousin Cathy's new husband Andrew, who was a total blast. He looked amazing like Jason Garfield as well, and learned to juggling in about ten minutes....interesting. He told me he could live with the great juggler part, but he would just skip the total jerk part.

Then Sunday we went to church. It was a really nice church with some great music and neet people. Then the party was at 2:00 and went to 4:00. I didn't actually get to talk to Grandma Loria, but she seemed in good health, although she was worn to a frazzle by the end of the day.

And I'm getting off now. I know I should write more, but I don't feel like it. Farewell!