The Week that Was and Is and Will Be

Wow! I have had a week.  A good week.  A busy week.

Monday

On Monday, I was a little groggy from allergies and tired from all the driving and walking in Philadelphia.  It was a fun weekend.  At least two people have assumed it was for rest and relaxation, I had to remind/explain that trips with children do not involve rest and relaxation, just lots of fun.  We had lots of fun.

Monday evening, I did watch House and am glad I did.  WOW! Another fantastic episode.  House’s breakdown, as we have seen it coming, in recent shows was something.  Next to Lost, this is the only other thing on TV I really look forward to watching.  Anything else is just dealing with boredom or vegging.

Tuesday

Tuesday was a full day.  I left the house at 7:45 (some days I am not awake that early) and was still late to my destination.  I am taking a 9 session (one day a month) leadership class.  It was AWESOME!  I am excited about the next one and sad I will miss one session while away at Bible Camp.

If you ever get a chance to take the Strength Deployment Inventory (SDI), you really should.  It reveals your Motivational Value System.  Kinda like Meyers-Briggs but different.  There are only 20 questions but they draw out the info and seem to be very accurate.

The results are color coded.  It reveals what motivates you, what you value, and what demotivates/discourages you.  It is a color-coded system.  Reds are about winning, results, action.  Greens are about being right, doing right, logic/analysis.  Blues are people persons, sensitive, creative.

I am a blue-green.  And as the teachers of the class where explaining to me what my results meant (as they did for each of us), I was astonished.  It was like talking to a mind-reader.  Pretty cool.

We are using this to learn about ourselves, then to learn about communication and conflict resolution.  We did exercises that show how each color perceives the other.  It makes it easier to understand lack of communication and the source of conflict if you recognize others’ motivational values.

I went straight from there to a school board meeting and didn’t get home until 11 pm.  What a day!

Wednesday (spoilers)

How about that Lost season finale?!?!?!  I love this show.  I dread the 7 months of waiting and I am sad that next season will be the final one.  I like the multiple storylines, mystery and confusion, and the great characters.  They show confused many but wasn’t boring.

I really wish we at least knew the name of Jacob’s enemy.  The shapeshifting guy who has probably been behind a lot of the weird stuff on the island, like Christian Shepherd roaming around and talking.

I want to know more about Richard’s story, too, and hope we get  flashback in the final season.  Is Locke really dead?  If he is, that’s okay with me.  I still prefer Jack, especially the new Jack of Faith.

The death was really sad.  I hated to see her go. Definitely go read Doc Jensen’s summary/thoughts about the show.  He really studies up on history/religion/etc. and provides thought provoking stuff and points out things you may have missed.

Thursday

In the midst of a busy week, I went and saw Star Trek yesterday.  I needed a break and this was a good one.  I felt refreshed and calmer after enjoying some fun.  The movie is really good.  It went by quickly, had an easy to follow story, lots of action, a fantastic score, and was fun.

I did think of Mike Tyson with his face tattoo every time I saw the Romulans, though.

Thursday evening, I took the kids to McDs to play and eat so mom could get work done at the house.  Our girl who has had a few potty accidents recently, came to me holding up her ballerina dress after playing a while.  She had a load in the back of her panties.  Sooo, we had to get shoes on, get to bathroom.  I cleaned her the best I could without wet wipes.  Had to toss the undies.  UGGH!  She has been trained for about a year.  Had recent pee accidents in the last couple of weeks.  This one like others occurs soon after we ask, encourage her to go potty.

Today and This Weekend

Just working today.  Taking a break to blog, though.  Working on three lessons for Sunday, plus a bulletin.  There is our monthly bidness meeting tomorrow morning.  There will be a brief VBS meeting Sunday after worship.  I need to finish two Bible camp lessons: one on Jesus attitude of sacrifice, and the other on Jesus’ attitude of service.  I have the lesson mostly finished.  The hardest part is coming up with the Multiple Choice questions.  I usually get around 10-12 before really stretching.  I need to come up with 15-20.  We use them for Bible Buzzer Bowl during the week.

Next Week

Maybe, just maybe, I will blog more next week. I do really want to share about how God worked in my life while I lived in Rome.  It’s coming but I hate to make promises and have lots of work to do.

New Jack City (LOST)

What a great episode!  It was all about the changes that some of the main characters had made.  To me, that was the main stuff.  Little Ben’s injury was secondary.

Kate came back to find Claire. How many of you believe that?

Sawyer has matured enough to have a serious relationship and be responsible for others.

Even Miles seems to have matured some.  The dialogue between Miles and Hurley about time travel was hilarious b/c it mirrors all the blogs, fans, etc. who are having the same conversations.

I know I am in the minority by retaining my appreciation of Jack.  Kate didn’t like the new Jack (nor the old one, ouch, what a sad moment), but I do.  I actually like the new Jack.  Poor guy, when he was trying to save/fix everyone and everything, people were against him.  Now, he is laid back, he is in the middle of a conversion from being the Man of Science into a Lockian Man of Faith.  He even talks about how the island might “fix” things on its own.  His transformation is fascinating.  Too bad so many fans have been turned off by his character up to this point.  I imagine all the haters will jump on him just like Juliet did in the shower scene.

He seems to be at peace and now has an “island” focused purpose/destiny.  He is the Locke of Season 1.  He was broken and suicidal back in LA but now seems even to be content to play janitor for the Dharma Initiative.  I can’t wait to see what he does and if it is crucial to the story or not.

LOST Update: Jeremy Bentham

Jensen’s Preview:  What you should have read before watching on Wednesday evening.  Still has great info.

Jensen’s Recap: A quote:

To be honest, I was surprised to see Locke resurrected so quickly. Whenever I envisioned his reanimation, I always saw it at the end of an episode — a big reveal, a swell of Michael Giacchino score, and then BONG!…title card. Nope. We got the Risen Locke right away, in a moment that belongs on a clip reel of Quasi-Mystical Pop Culture Characters Who Introduce Themselves With A Dramatic Removal Of An Oversized Hoody. (See: Obi Wan Kenobi; Gandalf; Spock in the original Star Trek movies.)

Tom on Life with Mrs. B from Facts of Life:

A recent episode of Life, my second favorite TV show, had Tom appear, again as a bad guy, biker dude.  His mother, played by the lady from Facts of Life, got scammed, so he scammed the scammers.  I still get chills thinking about Sawyer shooting him in cold blood.

“That’s for takin the boy off the raft.”

The weird sky behind Hurley at Santa Rosa  Mental Facility

Did anyone else notice the Hawaiian skyline above Hurley’s Mental Facility behind the haze and occasional flashes of white?  I don’t know if it was a hazy day or some remastering to hide the local background which may or may not be similar to Santa Rosa, CA.  I doubt it is plot related, but I did notice it.

A good ep, but not a great one.

For some reason I didn’t enjoy this ep as much as I thought I would.  Maybe my expectations were too high.  I knew from the previews that Locke was alive on the island.  There was some interesting background about Widmore and a shocking scene with Ben.  We knew Locke would die, but we only thought we knew how.  But overall, it was filler, part of the story that had to be told.

Most interesting quote from the ep:

Charles Widmore: ”There’s a war coming, John, and if you’re not back on the Island when that happens, the wrong side is going to win.”

Doc Jensen at EW recap of Lost “316″

Here is an excerpt.  Read the entire article HERE.  There is more about the Bible, Christianity, Kierkegaard, Ulysses, and Narnia in the article.

Watch the videos someday, as well.  They are funny.

It was certainly an episode explicit and implicit with deep thoughts and wild possibilities, but they were all in service of an ironic mission: Bringing Lost back down to terra firma after five episodes of challenging, far-out time-travel storytelling. ”316” — that was the title, and for many more reasons than one — was a proverbial pilot episode for a whole new chapter of the show. It effectively returned the series to a place where all fans — the in-too-deep geeks like me who want meaty mythological disclosures, as well as the normal people who just want powerful, character-driven stories — can find some common-ground appreciation. By reuniting the castaways in the setting we all know and love, and by conspicuously omitting key details from various character arcs (Why did Hurley change his mind? Who was that woman with Sayid? How did Ben get roughed up?) that will surely require some traditional flashback storytelling in order to fully reveal, Lost’s time-traveling, time-looping, Back to the Future fifth season has now gone all Season 1 on us.

-Jeff Jensen, ew.com

Hey, it’s just me on a Thursday. (Lost Spoilers)

The obvious winner of the Poll is “The Shack.”  I may not read it next.  The Poll question technically stated, “What book SHOULD I read next?” not which book WILL I read next.  As always, the final decision comes down to me.  We all know that “should do” is not always the reality.

Tomorrow, there will be a person of the day.  Be looking for that.

WOW!  What about Lost?!  I felt the first half last night was a little slow, but the second half was POW!….BANG!….ZOOOM!

I am so glad Jin is still alive.  And did I call it or did I call?  A young and very pregnant Rousseau made her appearance.

Here is a good recap from Doc Jensen at EW.com

Next week will be book review week at the Blogprophet blog (that’s this one you are reading right now).

I will finally post on Todd Deaver’s book, Facing our Failures.  I hope he gets out of Henderson, TN, alive.  He is at FHU Lectureships.  Hopefully, my review will not be “In Memoriam”.  Also, I hope Brother Deaver is honored to have his watershed (hopefully) book reviewed by the same blog that recently reviewed Monster Ballads: Platinum Edition.  Doesn’t get much better than that!?!!?!!

I also want to share about “Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters.”  Great book for dads of girls.

I may also post on Lives of the Caesars, even though I will not be finished.  But some sick and twisted examples from Tiberius and Caligula are always entertaining.

I also got a book from Nelson Publishing that I am going to review (but not next week).  If I blog about it, post reviews on Amazon, etc.,  I will get another free book to review.  I love reading.  I love blogging.  I love blogging about books. I love getting free books.  This is awesome.

I hope your week is going well.

Lost Links Has Returned!!

Lost is back.  I am excited. Last week set the stage, we can expect the pace to pick up tonight.  I can’t wait for the next “NO WAY!” experience.

A Great Recap of the Opener.  Includes thoughts such as, what if the whispers in the jungle are when a character’s past self and present self are in the same place?!

Cuse and Lindelof interview

My predictions for Season 5

• We will get to see Rousseau arriving on the island on Black Rock.
• Sawyer dies by the end of the season, heroically like Charlie, most likely in the finale.
• Season finale is the Oceanic 6 either back on the island, or finally assembled to return.