December 19th

Catch Phrase

While my roommate and I were working out, the radio was playing and I think (more precisely we) had an “Ah-Ha” moment. The radio station disc jockey was talking and he said a phrase I say constantly. My roommate looked at me as this was said and I looked at him and just smiled. From this point thoughts came flooding into both of our brains. I can see (very clearly) a tee-shirt and other products with this saying along with a large internet presence. My roommate took these ideas and ran with it. All day yesterday and this morning, he has been saying this phrase. I do believe it is very catchy and this could be the start of something. The only question is whether or not this internet domain registry has already been taken. I hope to have my mother look into this and if it is not I would like to register this domain. The beauty of this is the fact that it is very inexpensive. I have no idea whether anything will come of this but I do believe it is a magnificent idea and I am sure lesser ideas have made it. The very interesting part about this is this all came about so suddenly and the ideas were flowing freely. We are both very excited and who knows?!


Christmas Celebrations

Yesterday was filled with Christmas celebrations. The local church group which comes to camp each Tuesday evening had their Christmas celebration complete with a rockin’ band. I had seen this band once before and they were very good. Half the camp was in attendance and the evening was very festive. I attended with my roommate who went on his own volition. This is a bit remarkable because he is Jewish and really doesn’t celebrate Christmas. However, he enjoys live music and was very interested in seeing the band. The evening was filled with music and also prayer. I say “prayer” in the loosest sense because there was more preaching than prayer. Refreshments were served and and later in the evening each inmate received a goodie bag. In the bag were pens, paper, envelopes, razors, dental floss, toothpaste, soups, candy bars, and other assorted goodies. This was an extremely nice gesture.

Before I go on, I must qualify my religious knowledge or better yet lack of. I have been raised Catholic and still consider myself a non-practicing catholic. Being raised on the East Coast – more precisely NJ – I didn’t have any interaction with Christianity. I have been to a few Christian services since moving to California. In the Catholic religion there is Christianity and maybe I never paid enough attention because I failed to see the integral part that Jesus plays. Now that last statement may make me look and sound like an idiot so please let me hopefully clarify. In Christianity the whole basis is to give one’s life over to Jesus Christ, lord and savior. I really don’t know if this is necessary in Catholicism, but it is in Christianity. Last night the emphasis was on Jesus and being saved. I was moved to observe my fellow inmates envelope that moment. I, on the other hand have a long way to go before I am saved. If in fact, Jesus is coming again to judge, I am in big trouble. I do believe there is something more powerful than me or for that matter anyone and anything. This creator, I believe is in all of us. I don’t believe it is a person, let alone a man who came 2000 years ago, well after the Creator set-up shop. I have no doubt that Jesus was a very powerful person and is much like Muhammad, Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Buddha, and other highly spiritual humans. Dr. Wayne Dyer writes about these people as they are in touch with the Source and have affected millions of people. I did get somewhat turned off with the fire and brimstone during the Christmas celebration last night.

I will not judge any person and I will not judge any religion. I do believe if it works then this is wonderful. I have given up my egocentric thoughts to a higher power. I cannot specifically explain this Higher Power, but it does exist in my opinion. I would much rather believe in a Spirit than an individual and this could very well be the same thing. I don’t want to inflict my views on anyone and I prefer to believe everyone is a Spiritual being (from God, if I may) no matter what their religious pervasion or lack of.


Christmas Present

After I received my goodie bag, I was called into the office to pick up a package. It was from Amazon and in it contained Bruce Springsteen’s new CD “Magic”. This was sent by my wife as a Christmas present for me. I was very excited to receive it and I thought of the irony; here it was my wife’s birthday and she had sent me a present. Yes, my wife is wonderful. This is very Bruce Springsteen pre “Born in the USA.” Bruce has gone back to his roots and it is a very moving CD. I doubt any of these songs will get much playtime on the pop radio stations because it is not mainstream “poppy” music. I’m not sure when Bruce last released a CD with the full complement of the E-Street Band, but they haven’t missed a beat.