a funny thing happened on the way to the bank

so i was on my way last saturday, december 23rd, to the bank. i was out about doing my christmas shopping. i admit i tend to be a procrastinator and well, this year i have to be honest i just wasn't feeling it. and of course, nothing gets you in the "ho, ho" holiday spirit than fighting traffic and maneuvering through crowds of other procrastinators and those annoyingly jolly people in bright red sweatshirts with bells and mistletoe dangling off who are feeling it enough for you, me and all those in the line behind me.

as i rounded the corner in my car headed to the bank, i passed our usual saturday morning protesters. most saturdays a few men and women stand with signs declaring their views on the war in iraq and encouraging us to "honk for peace" which while i appreciate their enthusiasm i am not sure that honking on a busy road, at a crazy intersection, on one of the last days to shop before christmas is wise. i fear such "honking for peace" could in fact ignite road rage in any of my fellow people who failed to plan ahead and now feel the rush to not only find the perfect gift and buy it but also fold it in just the right wrapping paper wrestling with cheap tape that won't tear at the prescribed location indicated by the sharp teethy edges.

but what made my belly laugh like a "bowl full of jelly" was as i finished rounding the corner and began the straightway leading me to my destination and passed the protesters and encouragers of honking to establish world peace, i looked up just in time to see a young teenage boy, dressed in khakis and a blue sweatshirt, thus declaring his servitude to none other than best buy, holding the brightest yellow sign i'm sure he could find at the party plus store located conveniently behind him with the words: "We Have PlayStation 3".

and while i'm not sure what it was exactly about that scene that me me laugh, i did. just something about best buy sending its employees to the corner to capitalize on the protesters' audience with signs declaring their supply of playstation 3s next to signs declaring our lack of peace seemed a bit amiss and amusing at the same time.

a poem to pass the time

i have an absolute brain freeze/block. i know what i want to write about, what i want to say but can't for the life of me figure out how to get it from the brain molecules whirling in my head to paper so for the time being i thought i'd post a rought draft of a poem i wrote during a very important church meeting. i really was paying attention i promise.

grace kills all that is dark
like a disease it grows
spreading, breaking down
the faulty immune system
built by man's distaste
for the divine and his
glutinous need for self-satisfication
which stunts his soul
and grace is violent
it surges, crashing up against Eden's
defenses, warring with the
elements, wearing down the
structures, tearing
at the grit of life


feels like there should be another last line but again brain freeze wins.