Fortune: "Happy News is on the Way"

That's what my fortune cookie said today. So, here's hoping.

Anyway, I did hear back about that job, but I haven't had time to post much here until now. They are now in the reference-check mode. When I applied, I put "references available upon request." I guess I wasn't thinking. I should have given them some names up front. I have good references, though, so this is a good thing.

Also, they needed a Statement of Faith. This is another thing typical of pastoral candidates. (Again, I should have got this to them earlier on.) I didn't send it with my ref's, because I wanted to look it over to see if I wanted to revise it. They were very cool with that. Funny thing is that I forgot that I sent it off to someone else earlier this year, so I had already touched it up. A couple of more final tweaks, and it was good to go.

So, now they should have everything. Hopefully, I will hear back from them mid-week. Till then, I'll just sweat it out some more.

This was a really good weekend. A friend of mine wanted me to come down and visit in the Springfield area. I had a decision to make: go to show off my art at the Ottawa River Days or go visit. I chose to go visit. It was a blast. I suspect her 9-year old had way too much fun shooting me...repeatedly...in an X-Box game called Timesplitters. That's an awesome game. I must remember never to get anything like that for my computer, lest I never get anything done ever again.

Alas, the result of being out of town was that I missed Battlestar Galactica. Now, I desparately have to find out when SciFi airs the rerun, or else I don't know how I will get through the week.

I didn't go to the Go/ue/rilla Art Thing today. I was intending to, but my nap lasted longer than intended. I hit the pillow some time after 1pm, closed my eyes, opened them again, and lo and behold it was 5pm. Yikes! It felt good though. Apparently, I really needed it.

Today was the last of my two-Sunday pulpit supply gig at the church down the road. That means that the second installment of the two-parter is finally done. I tried to put it together on Friday, but it just didn't come together. I spent quite a bit of time yesterday on it, and didn't really finish it until late last night. Of course, yaking constantly on the phone doesn't help time management any. (Hmm, maybe this has something to do with the long nap?) I should be able to get it up on my podcast soon. Tonight, though, I have phone calls out the wazoo to make, so I probably won't be able put it online until (maybe) late tonight or tomorrow.

Btw, I'm really excited about the stats that I'm getting on my podcast. It appears that I have somewhere between 11-20 subscribers. Unfortunately, I don't know whether I'm reading them right (which odds are good that I'm not.) So, if anyone out there has significant familiarity with the feedburner stats, please leave some suggestions for interpreting them.

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Egad, It's Hot!

Since I've been working on getting the podcast up and running, I've largely neglected Eclectic Mass. So, I want to hit on a few highlight from the last couple of weeks.

Megalomaniac dropped in for a week. We went to see the The Fantastic Four. I liked it better than he did. The effects were great, except for the Thing. When you see creasing in the stone skin, the illusion that it isn't foam starts to fade.

I had an interview last Thursday. I don't want to say too much, but I think it went well. I won't hear anything until after mid-week. Till then, I'll just have to sweat it out.

Speaking of sweating, it's hotter than hell out there! It says that it's a whopping 89 degrees, but add all that humidity and you might as well be standing on the sun. Let's hope that thunder I've heard all day means something later.

After my interview, I dropped in on a couple of friends. Their children hung on my, which was fun. They're just adorable. While there, we watched Catwoman. The movie was good, but the CGI looked too "fake." I don't know, maybe it was too crisp or something.

Since I've been working again on Nutshell Christianity I've remembered why I stopped. Writing about evil is hard. Really hard. And then putting it on paper in such a way that it is concise and easy to "get" is even harder. Part of my problem is my growing impatience. I want it done, and I want it done now. I need to relax, not think about self-imposed schedules, and let it flow. I need to take the time to do it right.

Today I was reading an article in The Myth of Christian Uniqueness (eds. John Hick and Paul Knitter). I was supposed to have read it all during seminary. Apparently I didn't, because I just discovered a wonderful text by Japanese theologian Seiichi Yagi. A great quote: "For all human beings are so constituted, in their very natures, that the divine and the human are at the same time one and two. It is just that most persons have not yet awakened to this reality." (p. 122-23) Now, time for me to go away and finish reading the article.

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Getting Back in the Saddle

Now that I've got some time on my hands, I need to get back to work on Nutshell Christianity. It has been about 4 mo's since I last worked on it, and it's high time I got back in the saddle.

This is what I said about it back in March:

It doesn't exist yet. I've been working on it in my spare time. It's an intro book to Christianity as a religious option in America. The BIG plan is to turn it into a supplement book for a video series. It would be a way to present a Christian alternative to both those already in the pews and to those who are on the outside of the church. It is all about a Christian option for postmoderns who are both experiential and thinking people.

Since then, I have a basic outline:
1. What is Christianity?
2. Christianity's Origins
3. Christianity's Central Symbols and Beliefs
4. Christianity's Aim
5. Being/Becoming Christian
6. The Problem of Evil

And possibly...
7. Major Issues in Christianity Today

The title is a working title. I will still need something better. Maybe, A Christian Alternative, or Christian Evolution. Not sure yet. What I do know is that I have a lot of work to do.

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I'm Listed

The podcast is now in real live directories. (However, it may take a while for them to appear there.)

~~Digitalpodcast.com
~~itunes

Unfortunately, itunes looks pretty cool. The plan is not to buy anything from them until I get the income to justify it. Once I start buying, things will probably go downhill from there.

I was looking at the audio books, and then realized how difficult it is for me to sit thorugh them. A few years ago, I tried to listen to one that a friend loaned me. It was really interesting. However, I kept spacing out. That meant rewinding. That meant more spacing and rewinding. Maybe audio books are wasted on me unless I'm in the car.

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The Podcast is Ready

The podcast is now fully functioning. If you go over there, you will see that I have a reflection and 3 sermons. That should be enough to start with.

Isn't the animated gif neat? Unfortunately, I can't put it in my sidebars because it is too big. The only size it works at is too small to read, which of course defeats the purpose. So, this is probably the last you'll see it unless I can find a way to use it.

For those who don't have an aggregator yet, I use Doppler Radio.

For those who do have an aggregator, hurry up and subscribe! The feed is http://feeds.feedburner.com/eclecticpodcastingmass.

Please either post comments on the podcast page or send e-mails to vmcguffee@yahoo.com.

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Podcast Update...and Much, Much More!

Some time in the near future, my podcast location will be moving. I am using podblaze as a temporary trial run until I can get the real deal up and running. Tim has been talking with me about what I will need to set it all up. Here's hoping it goes smoothly.

Interestingly, when I was talking with him, he said he only had one show listed. Actually, there are two. I suspect that because podblaze only allows 15MB, the second one will not show up. So, to find it, people will have to go to the podblaze site...at least until I get the new one up.

I have pulpit supply set up for the next two Sundays. Hooray! And they're right down the road in Waltham Presbyterian Church. I was there for a Presbytery meeting a few months ago. They have this HUGE window behind the pulpit that allow everybody to see the corn in the background. Perhaps that's something only a midwesterner can truly appreciate.

I've finished the first draft of a short story that I'm turning into Travis of Aegis Studios. It will be a horror anthology set in the Contagion universe.

I had a friend over last week, so I didn't get to go to the Gorilla Art Thing yesterday. I heard it was hot. Very hot. Tim said he is going to start bringing drinks in mass quantities. So far, the forums are pretty dead, but we need to get people there first before we really start focusing on the forums. (However, if there are any artists out there who want to display their work with us, go right ahead. I'd love to see it and check them regularly since it is an admin requirment.) I'm toying with putting things on there myself.

Anyway, as I was saying about my friend who visited (Megalomaniac), he stayed for about a week. It was a really good week. We had talked about the idea of a "graphic novel." (This is what "Master of Shadows" posted earlier was about.) My experience with graphic novels is that they are kind of like big comic books design-wise. He was talking about full-page pics on one side with text (bubbles/boxes?) on the other. Apparently, they used to do this with Conan graphic novels. Sounds like fun. And a LOT less work for the artist, while also allowing for higher quality art.

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Keys to Power

A while back I picked up a book entitled The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene. It's a great book, and I'm now only rediscovering it. Basically, it is his answer to the question, "how do I acquire power?" Greene uses historical illustrations to convey the spirit of the law. He's quite witty too.

Each chapter begins with a "judgment." Here's my fav, cause I think it's funny:

Law 28: Enter Action with Boldness
If you are unsure of a course of action, do not attempt it. Your doubts and hesitations will infect your execution. Timidity is dangerous: Better to enter with boldness. Any mistakes you commit through audacity are easily corrected with more audacity. Everyone admires the bold; no one honors the timit.

See how funny that is? Okay, well maybe I'm the only one that will bust a gut at that one.

How about this then:

Law 6: Court Attention at All Costs
Everything is judged by its appearance; what is unseen counts for nothing. Never let yourself get lost in the crowd, then, or buried in oblivion. Stand out. Be conspicuous, at all cost. Make yourself a magnet of attnetion by appearing larger, more colorful, mor mysterious than the bland and timid.

Well, not so funny, but I like it.

So there you have it, two of the 48 Laws of Power. Use them wisely and you too can subtly take over your own little hamlet in rural America without anybody noticing.

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Medium: Charcoal

Title: Niedius, Master of Shadows
Charcoal is something that I haven't touched in over 15 years. It was fun back then, but messy. And since I like to draw inside, messy is a bit of a concern. It's a character for an idea for a graphic novel. I'm trying to figure out how to do quality b/w for comics. This pic was done with charcoal, but touched up in on the computer. So far, they see to work well together. I definitely want to use charcoal more.

The inspiration for the look came from the movie King Arthur. It wasn't a great movie by far, but it wasn't as bad as I expected. I really appreciated their trying to make it more "historical" as opposed to "romantic." But you can't keep from coming to a movie like that without certain expectations, and when they're not met the overall evaluation is naturally less positive.

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I'm a Podcasting Maniac Too!

Why would I want to podcast sermons, you ask? Well, it's pretty simple really...

I like writing sermons.
I like my computer.
I like being everywhere at once.

It's not like you all couldn't see this coming eventually.

Check out the Eclectic Podcasting Mass. Right now there's only one entry, but give me time.

Edit: Okay, I just discovered the downside of podblaze. They only allow 15MB of storage for free. That means that I can only have one or two sermons available at a time until I break down and buy space. Mind you, I will not be working with podblaze. They are very expensive.

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How Incredibly Disappointing

Today was (and yesterday and tomorrow) was Utica Days. I was invited to be in the art tent, which was flattering because they did have a bit of "quality control." But, did it ever suck.

First, the art tent was supposed to be on a main street where all the action was. However, that meant closing off the highway, which meant getting permission from the state first. But, someone apparently forgot to apply for the permission, which meant not being able to close off the highway, which meant that we were a couple of blocks out of the way. Most people didn't even know that we existed.

Second, they expected to have 20,000 people attending. Where they got that number I'll never know. There weren't very many people out our way, and some artists who had gone up to the main area said that it wasn't overly populated either. Let me put it this way: I went away for lunch, and when I came back I pulled right into a parking spot. Utica's pretty small. It was a very low turnout.

On the bright side, they did refund the fees that we paid to set up. So the only cost was time and getting there. Since I've only sold 2 mugs so far, that pretty much still puts me in the hole. If I'm in the area next year, there is no way I will pay $50 for two days (which is an outrageous price anyway). I might consider $10/day, but certainly not any higher.

Two good things happened.

One, I met another portrait artist. He's better than I am, and he gave me some suggestions on pricing. That really helped. I told him about deviantArt. He really should get on there and get prints set to sell.

And two, I've been invited to participate in the art show for the Ottawa River Fest on 29-30 July. It sounds like that will be a better situation.

I guess that means that the day wasn't a total wash.

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To Podcast or Not to Podcast...

Yesterday, MissionBound and I went to the birthday party for "ssg". Quite the bash, I assure you. It was good to see my friends there as well as several new faces. (How was I supposed to know that "ssg" had a sister. Well, if he will not turn to the darkside, then perhaps she will!)

Anyway, while there, I was talking with InvaderTim and discussed the idea of me doing a podcast of my own. (FYI: He was in the Rockford Register Star. Go look it up people. But be forewarned, he did not say that podcasting was "all things.") I was thinking about putting sermons out there. He told me he would help me get me off the ground, which hopefully wouldn't be toooooo hard.

So, even though I am now not in a church, I might be doing weekly (or bi-weekly?) sermons. I'm considering it. I'm even recording a couple to see how they sound. We have yet to see the extend to which I'll go down this path. Regardless, I want to find out more about this whole podcasting thing.

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An Interview with Your's Truly

The most recent installment of Tim's Podcast is out. It starts with an interview with none other than me. Get over there and listen to that thing.

Which leads me to a little story. When I went to Tim's podcast page, I also checked out his Podcast Extras page. As I was reading, I noticed that he misspelled "ecclectic" wrong, not once but twice. Silly boy spelled it with only one "c". Then I thought about it and...wait a minute...I'm the one who's been misspelling it! Egad! I don't even know how to spell the title of my own site!

Okay, so spelling isn't my greatest strength. Now, the question is: Do I correct it or leave it? That means redoing the whole logo. That means people changing their bookmarks. That means me going through and changing links on other pages. I may just leave it. (Besides, it looks better with two "c"s.)

Maybe I should set up a poll: How many think I should change it after all this time? Or, maybe not since that, too, would be more work.

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