Everyone's Favorite Senator Ted Cruz

one of the many faces of Ted Cruz

I shouldn't post pictures of Ted Cruz because just looking at them makes me angry, and looking at pictures of him probably evokes a similar reaction in many of my readers. Donna suggested that viewing pictures of Senator Cruz probably made me sicker and caused me temperature to rise. I wouldn't rule it out. For that reason and many others I do not go out of my way to view pictures of the very silly man, but I come across them from time to time without any effort on my part.

Regarding photos of Ted Cruz, not everyone is photogenic, and today's society places far too much emphasis on physical appearance. That being said, Ted Cruz looks goofier in most of his pictures than anyone I know. I wouldn't want someone following me around with a camera and snapping a picture every time I made an expresion that looked even remotely doltish, but I doubt most of us could give a camera so much fodder as does Senator Cruz even if we made conscious effort to look absurd every time the camera clicked. If the man is trying to look silly, he is succeeding.

One of the faculty members on the cellist's adjudication panel last night emailed my mother to tell her how well he thought I played when accompanying the cellist. My mom doesn't ordinarily boast about my skills because hers are far superior, but she said she did email him back that I played last night with a temperature of almost 103, and that while she didn't see or hear the performance, she would assume the cello recital was a conservative showing of my ability as a pianist.

My fever is slowly abating. I checked it a couple of hours ago, and it was 101.8. I would think it should be gone by tomorrow or by Monday a the very latest. I'll still probably be out of classes for a few days after that because pneumonia always leaves me zapped, but by the end of the week I sould be well on the wayto recovery. I still don't know about Halloween plans, but I cannot justify jeopardizing my health just to witness young adults making drunken and drugged out fools of themselves.

This blog is ended. Go now in peace to love and serve the Lord and to rid yourselves of any and all signs of illness so that you might enjoy the upcoming All Hallows Eve.

a Halloween celebration somewhere near my university from some previous year

I've been following the murder trial of Utah doctor Martin MacNeill, who allegedly gave his wife a cocktail of powerful drugs before she was found lifeless in a bathtub a week or so after she underwent a facelift, reportedly at his urging. This occurred in Pleasant Grove, Utah, where I spent a portion of three summers during my youth. The homes of two close relatives of my hosts in Utah were located close to the MacNeill home, and just knowing something creepy, whatever it was, had happened there was enough to cause me to feel very uncomfortale at either of the two Pleasant Grove homes.

I feel sad for everyone involved in this rather eerie situation. I hope that the outcome of this trial will allow the surviving victims in the situation, whoever they may be, to have some closure and peace.

Even though my temperature is still hovering between 102 and 103, I was able to play for the cello recital at my university earlier this evening. I think I was powered mostly by adrenaline, but I was over-prepared for the recital, so even at 80% capacity I was most likely good enough to impress the panel. At the very least, I did nothing to detract from the cellist's performance . I don't have any details except that the cellist received his grade and that he aced the recital. I left right after the performance without staying for any of he reception, but the cellist texted me with the information. I'm glad that I played for him, and I'm also glad that it's over. It's daunting for me to play for someone in a high-stakes situation when I'm operating on diminished capacity. My mom wanted to play for me, which didn't exactly bolster my confidence, but my dad told her to leave me alone -- that I would play for a little over an hour and then would be finished with all obligations for the rest of the week. My dad went with me because he likes the cello as much as I do. He thought the recital went very well, and he's a relatively tough critic.

I will do absolutely nothing for at least four days. The professors of my Monday and Tuesday classes always record and post their lectures, and the health center has notified all of my professors that I am not allowed to attend class. I hadn't missed a class prior to last week, so I can afford a little downtime. My professors don't want a flu epidemic this early in flu season; if I and the few others who are infected show up all over campus and share our germs, we could start an epidemic that lasts for entirely too long, so everyone is happy to have me stay home. I had to get special clearance to attend the rehearsal last night and the recital tonight even though I stayed pretty far away from everyone at both events. Someone is supposed to give the keyboard and music rack of the pianoI played a thorough cleaning before Monday.

I'm somewhat drugged because I had a steriod injection plus some strong cough syrup to stave off any major coughing fits or wheezing duing the recital. It worked well, but it's starting to hit me now. I consumed major caffeine right before the recital to give me a burst of energy, but I'm crashing now. I carried juice, 7-up, and crackers to my room in case I wake up needing something in my stomach and I'm too weak to make it downstairs.
I have a feeling the next few days may crawl, but I will make it through the weekend. It would be nice to see a little of the Halloween revelry next week, but if taking myself into the situaion would be hazardous, I'll skip it. One must prioritize, and the prospect of observing drunken revelry probably shouldn't be too high on my list.

You can tell just by looking at the picture that Ted Cruz is whining in this mug shot.

Ted Cruz is arguably the biggest threat to democracy and to a decent and functioning society that we have in our nation today.

I have bronchial pneumonia, but i'm on really good drugs, so the illness should soon be history. my parents apparently did not agree about my dad's decision not to gie me antibiotics as a precaution. My dad follows CDC guidlenines and doesn't give me drugs before I develop a bacterial infection because he believes his ownership of a prescription pad does not make me special. My mom thinks he should have looked into his crystal ball to see that I would become more seriously ill without antibiotics.

Even though I have a 103 degree fever, which is a full degree below where I was last night, I played for the cellist's rehearsal, and there's no reason to believe I won't play for his recital tomorrow, although I do have my mother as a backup if something goes horribly wrong.

Good night to anyone who comes across this page. I will be back after I rest for another 24 hours or so.

The Lens Through Which I View Things: Trying To Be More Open-Minded to Diversity and to the Practices of Others

I don't know if these are all of the pastors featured in "Preachers of LA." It seemed as though there were more, but it may have been my imagination.



I'm very happy to be spending one more night in the familiar and comfortable surroudings of my room at home. I'll return to the dorm immediately following classes tomorrow and probably will do whatever practicing I can do in the dorm. I cannot afford to do that often, as the quality of any practice I get in is less than optimal in the dorm, but it is sometimes important to be social.

Tonight I caught a bit of a TV program on Oxygen that I did not know existed. It's called "Preachers of LA." I don't think it's supposed to be funny, but it is in its own way. Most of the pastors featured in the show are inner city pastors. I can accept that these pastors need to run differnt kinds of churches than ones I've ever attended in order to have a ministry for the people they feel called to serve, and I think diversity is a good thing. I'm guilty of sytereotyping them and assuming that because most of them are black and from a relatively similar theological position, they can get along with one another.

Pastors can't all get along whether or not they hold similar theological views and share ethnicity. Furthermore, status as The Lord's Anointed notwithstanding, it takes a certain level of healthy ego for anyone to appear before a congregation on a weekly basis and attempt to function as a spiritual leader to the flock. I doubt that it matters what the denomination or ethnicity. You could fill a room with Mormon bishops, Catholic priests, Episcopalian or Anglican priests or vicars or whatever they're calling themselves these days, or Methodist ministers, and you would have the same sort of jockeying for position. Such behavior certainly isn't unique to the black Christian religious culture.

There's an added dynamic in their ethnic group possibly being more forgiving and more open to the idea that their clergymen are only human and can err just like anyone else. Extramarital liaisons of varying sorts happen in all of Christianity, Judaisism, and presumably every major and minor world religion. Black evangelical Christianity is somewhat unique in that a pastor typically continues to function in a clergy role.
Maybe the situation is truly that the people are less judgmental and not that their standards are lower in term of what they demand of their clergy. Or perhaps middle class white church congregations demonize "sex sins" while the African-American Christian community is more realistic and even more Christ-like. I really don't know.

Still, it gets my attention when I see a bishop sitting on the piano with his Baby Mama, rubbing her bottom. Maybe I just find such behavior in front of any third party to be unconventional because I was raised with the white middle class ethic of keeping intimacy behind closed doors. If they're just as happy as my parents and are not harming anyone else by their actions, who am I to say it's wrong? I'll leave that for a higher power to decide, but I probably will never engage in similar openness in my own life no matter who I marry.

I need to get to campus early tomorrow to practice for two hours with my cellist before my first class. I really want his recital to go well, and I really want to impress his adjudication panel with my skills as a pianist. Three out of his five adjudicators will be my piano adjudicators. I want any preconceived notions they have before they walk into my recital next month to be good ones.

This blog is ended. Go now to love and serve the Lord and to watch "Preachers of LA" if you get the chance and haven't already seen it. It is most enlightening.