My Hat

Like a little Christmas blessing. My stocking cap showed up on my front porch a couple of days before Christmas. It was a little anti-climatic, though. There was no note, no demands, no damage done to the hat. I still don't know who committed the crime. But I'm glad to have it back. I look just as good as I did before in my Patriots hat.

I'm a friend with a thief

My Patriots hat that I was proudly wearing a few posts ago was stolen from me at a Christmas party over a week ago. It must be that Indiana people have never seen a patriots hat in person, so someone must have been so filled with desire that they couldn't help themselves.

Anyway, this is day 9 and still no one has confessed to stealing my hat. I have a premonition that it will show up under my tree or will be delivered to my house wrapped up with a bow on it.

. . . i have never thought this much about a missing hat in my life. I guess I had a problem with being overly attached to this possession of mine. Maybe my iPhone will disappear next.

We Three Krings

Check out my latest project. Special thanks to Carl Frost, Bob Thompson and Dan Bruggeman for their music and video expertise.

Merry Krunkmas!



You might be able to better view it here.

The Burning Babe

I read this poem on Don Follis' Blog. It is called The Burning Babe and it was written by Robert Southwell (1561-1595). As Follis says, "Southwell was a Jesuit priest during the time of intense religious-political conflict in England. He was martyred in 1595. Most of his poems were written from prison. This poem is an strange, extended metaphor in which the baby Jesus is likened to a smelting furnace."

As I in hoary Winter’s night stood shivering in the snow,
Surprised I was with sudden heat, which made my heart to glow;
And lifting up a fearful eye, to view what fire was near,
A pretty Babe all burning bright did in the air appear;
Who scorched with excessive heat, such floods of tears did shed,
As though his floods should quench his flames, which with his tears were bred:
Alas (quoth he) but newly born, in fiery heats I fry,
Yet none approach to warm their hearts or feel my fire, but I;
My faultless breast the furnace is, the fuel wounding thorns:
Love is the fire, and sighs the smoke, the ashes, shames and scorns;
The fuel Justice layeth on, and Mercy blows the coals,
The metal in this furnace wrought, are men’s defiled souls:
For which, as now on fire I am to work them to their good,
So will I melt into a bath, to wash them in my blood.
With this he vanished out of sight, and swiftly shrunk away,
And straight I called unto mind, that it was Christmas day.

Here's a link about two tragic shootins in Colorado today where the targets were believers:Jesus Creed » Pray for Colorado

The Anti-Fan

Okay, okay. I'm not a big football fan. But, I delight in rooting against certain teams. In my past it was always Purdue, Notre Dame, The Pistons, the Knicks and the Patriots. Over the last year and a half I have delighted in rooting against the Colts. Why you might ask? Well probably because I live in Indiana and it makes people angry with me. I rooted for the Colts for the better part of my life. I always had such high hopes, only to see those hopes dashed to the ground in the playoffs (at least over the past couple of years). Because I'm not a huge sports fan, it was very easy for me to stop rooting for them and start rooting against them. The year I stopped rooting for the Colts, they went to the Superbowl, and won it! Okay, I see the irony. But I continue to enjoy rooting against them, and I really do enjoy it. I tried to root for the Colts one Sunday earlier in the season when I was by myself watching the game , and I couldn't do it. I have become a real anti-Colts Fan. I even bought a Patriots stocking cap to wear around. It feels liberating to not get sucked into the Blue and White tide that swirls around me. I've seen more than a few people shake their heads at me when I walk into a store with my hat on. One of my good friends took my hat off and threw it in the snow. I picked it up, brushed it off and said, "It's undaunted. Just like the Patriots, still undefeated."

A psychologist would likely analyze me and tell me that I'm trying to protect myself from disappointment by not rooting for any team. And they could be right. But I do get kind of sad when the Colts win, so I'm not completely dysfunctional . . . am I?

On another note. We just recorded the music for a Neil Kring Cole music video that will be released next week - We Three Krings . . . stay tuned for more. If you want to check out the project we worked on last Christmas you can find it here: Neil Kring Cole.

Babies aren't Eco-Friendly!

Sometimes you find things that are just too unbelievable. Here's a story of a couple of women who . . . you're just going to have to read this one: Meet the women who won't have babies because they're not eco-friendly.

S.A.D.

This is the time of year, when even though all of the outward symbols are screaming out joy and happiness and peace on earth, I start feeling sad. I've realized over the last many years that I must have seasonal affective disorder. Looking out my bedroom window at the grey skies and the trees sans leaves makes me feel . . . blah. That has become a descriptive feeling for me me lately.

I have sought some help over the years and here is a summary of the things that (when I've done them) have kept me from slipping into a spiral of depression during this season.

1. Exercise - which is usually the last thing I want to do this time of year.
2. Be Outside - which is always the last thing I want to do this time of year.
3. Identify things that might be making me feel anxious. - which is any little thing this time of year.

I told a friend that I want to exercise every day between Thanksgiving and New Year. And I have exercised twice in the past week and a half. Blah. Quite a difference between knowing the things that I should do that would promote health and a positive lifestyle and actually doing them.

. . . this year is going to suck if I don't do these things.