Alpha

Never take lightly that the rules of the game are dynamic ...

Alpha - It was in our early teenage years that most of us started to take notice of the opposite sex. From the viewpoint of a young boy, he starts to notice things about those young girls around him that, somehow, he had never noticed before. Their smiles, their curves, their tenderness. Even more than their physical appearance, he begins to realize that they affect his external actions and his internal feelings when in their presence. Interestingly, just a few seasons earlier the lot of them were viewed as cootie-covered hindrances to his rough-housing play.

In middle school and high school, most boys start to seek out girls and to devote more and more of their energies toward trying to get closer to them. Through flirting and dating we start to gain an understanding of what sort of females attract us. We also learn how to interact with them. Hitting and cussing and crudeness and other sorts of typical and normal guy behaviors are frowned upon. This is a period for learning the basic rules of the game. Of course, this whole period is complicated beyond measure by the amazing biological changes that are going on in this stage of adolescence. A time when body and mind respond to controlling triggers that might not even be understood or recognized.

It is not surprising how few people end up with their high school sweethearts due to the fact that this is an important time of learning. What is preferred today, is likely to be cast aside tomorrow. Trial and error. Error and trial. These young kids in our western civilization are really in no position to make such important choices before they even establish themselves as responsible adults. Most young men are eager to attach themselves with the first young lady who shows them any attention. But lust-filled schoolyard crushes are no basis for long-term compatibility metrics.

(Part 1 of 2)

Infidel

In an offshoot of his Circle series, Ted Dekker gives us the six-volume Lost Books series. This set of adventures takes place in the nearly 15 years between his Circle series books Black and Red. This is a time when the evil Horde, worshippers of Teeleh, led by Qurong, and the remnant of the forest people, worshippers of Elyon, led by Thomas Hunter, face off in an ever-spiraling conflict.

The second of the Lost Book series Infidel picks up immediately where Chosen left off. The dark priest of the Horde wants Johnis, chosen one of Elyon, to increase his power. Qurong couldn't care less about his priest's inane dark powers, but he too wants to capture the chosen one because it will lead him to vanquish Thomas Hunter, which will lead to the defeat of the forest people. In this sinister planning, the bait is Johnis's mother, Rosa, who everyone believed was killed by the Horde. However, we learn that she is a prisoner of the Horde. Johnis will do anything to rescue her, even if he has to betray Thomas.

A rescue plan is hatched by Johnis and the shady forest guard recruit Jackov. Thomas is left for capture by the Horde after Jackov reveals his traitorous allegiance to the Horde and Johnis betrays his leader in an attempt to save his mother. In a chance exchange, Thomas is saved by Chelise, the daughter of Qurong, who will become his partner in the Circle series. Meanwhile, in his bull-rush to save his mother, Johnis loses the two books of history that he had found to the dark priest and he costs the forest guard 150 of their army with his ill-fated ideas. Johnis is eventually captured, but not before saving his mother and his love interest Silvie. He could have escaped cleanly, but he ended up trading his life for Karas, the young daughter of the dark priest. This is a sign of growth for Johnis, as he sees through hatred, bigotry, and tradition and starts to embrace light.

Eventually Johnis is rescued by a clever plan devised by Silvie, Darsal, and Billos. Silvie acts on her love for Johnis, Darsal acts on her love for Billos, and Billos acts because of his growing dark love of the power associated with the books of history. Now, onto the third book in the series, Renegade.

Trifecta

I have hit a natural trifecta! Boy howdy I must be a lucky man. Watch out Vegas and Atlantic City. Better pull in those welcome mats before I show up and fix to clean you out. I am on fire and nobody can put me out.

First there were the out of control wild fires in the Great Dismal Swamp (what a welcoming name, huh?) right across the border from me in North Carolina . The thick smoke hangs heavy in the air in my area. Each morning they issue lovely sounding air-quality reports with threatening ratings like "red", "orange", and the ever-dreaded "purple". Lemon

Second there was the magnitude 5.8 earthquake that recently caused me to yellow my trousers. Man this quake was so nerve rattling that it caused the Washington Monument to crack up. Lemon

Finally, third in the row is the hurricane that just passed through my area, ripping and tearing its way as it went. Way too much destruction and loss. Lemon

So, I have hit a natural trifecta and wish that I could return my winnings, every last chip, token, and marker. I don't want to be this lucky again.

Grind My Gears 24

Hey, I'm all for modern conveniences, especially if I can opt to hunt and peck on my state of the art computer (1.86 MHz CPU with a heart-stopping 4 kB of built-in memory) instead of actually having to stop and talk to people in person. email folks. That's e-m-a-i-l, which stands for Electronic Manipulation Adding to ILliteracy or some such acronym. But I tell you that I am getting sick and tired of this whole medium. How many times has someone sent you a communication promising that some important document or cartoon is included in an email "attachment"? Don't you find that most of the time said attachment is missing? Then the klondike bar who sent you the email in the first place sheepishly follows up with a second irksome and cloying communiqué saying "oops, teehee, forgot the attachment." Well this whole inane scenario that plays out time and time again really grinds my gears. This is rising above the normal levels of petty annoyance that I usually rant about in this forum. This is moving me to DEFCON 5 my friends. If I had absorbed near lethal doses of gamma radiation in the spectrum range from 520 to 570 nm, I would be hulking out right about now. For more on this issue, including detailed specifications on my computer, see the attachment.

Chosen

In an offshoot of his Circle series, Ted Dekker gives us the six-volume Lost Books series. This set of adventures takes place in the nearly 15 years between his Circle series books Black and Red. This is a time when the evil Horde, worshippers of Teeleh, led by Qurong, and the remnant of the forest people, worshippers of Elyon, led by Thomas Hunter, face off in an ever-spiraling conflict.

In the first book of the Lost Books series, Chosen, Thomas Hunter is in need of additional troops to ensure adequate protection of the forests where his people live, and where they have access to the cleansing waters of Elyon to protect them from the scabbing disease of the Horde. Thomas makes the decision to lower the age of enlistment in the forest guard from 18 to 16 in an effort to add 1000 new recruits. As part of selecting four officers from this list of recruits, a set of athletic games is staged in the middle forest. Ultimately, three recruits are named as officer candidates, Darsal, Silvie, and Billos (who will play a very important role later in the conclusion of the Circle series). However, unexpectedly, Thomas selects the fourth officer candidate from the crowd. This boy, Johnis, was a curious selection as he had failed to even be selected for the 1000 new recruits. A more obvious officer candidate would have been the skilled young warrior named Jackov. In time we learn why Thomas made his choice. Johnis is actually a chosen one of Elyon who was prophesied to serve an important role to protect the forest people.

The four chosen candidates must pass one final test defined by Thomas. They must endure a brief survival mission. However, along the way they are marked for attack by the Horde as they have somehow learned that Johnis bears the mark of Elyon. When Johnis evades the Horde soldiers for a time, he learns that his role is to collect the seven lost books of history. These books have immense power associated with them, such that if they were to fall into the hands of the Horde, then Teeleh could utterly destroy humanity. The quest that Johnis, Darsal, Silvie, and Billos accept is to find these books at any cost, including their own lives. The task will certainly not be easy, especially given the treachery afoot from the traitor now serving the Horde leaders. Now onto the second book in the series Infidel.

Earthquake

Have you ever seen a movie in the theater or on TV and just really got into it? Have you ever then told a friend about your experience only to have them say in a nasally, condescending or erudite manner that they much preferred the book version? Don't these pseudo-intellectual wanna-bes really make you want to projectile vomit all over their shoes? In fact I wish that whenever anybody even thought of uttering this ridiculous turn of phrase that a hyperactive irish man would sneak up behind them and whack them over the head with his shillelagh (a stout, knotty stick used for delivering a good beatin'). But this brief aside is not the subject of today's post, it serves only as an introduction.

Do you know anyone who has been in an earthquake and acts like they have something over you because you have not experienced one yourself? I sure have. All snooty and self-absorbed. They should be put on a whomp-down list just like the book readers. Well, perhaps I should now add my name to such a list. Yesterday afternoon at about 1:51 p.m. (EST) my area was "rocked" by a 5.8 magnitude (on the Andy Richter scale) quake. I was in my office and the whole place started shaking deeply without warning. It wasn't a gentle shaking either. I think I may have wet myself a little during the experience. Certainly my nerves were a bit frazzled and jangled. But I am sure that you couldn't possibly appreciate what I went through not having been there yourself.

Waiting for the Sun

When my daughter was younger, she would wake up early on the weekends. A bundle of energy and excitement, ready and eager for adventure. Naturally this meant that she would come and wake me up. She just couldn't stop herself. It was impossible for me to sleep in or linger too long in the warmth and comfort of my bed. There was just too much to do and she didn't want to miss out on a second of play time, wasting it by anyone sleeping the day away.

Now as the years have passed, things have changed completely. North is south and east is west. On most weekend mornings I am the first one up. I get showered, dressed, and do some chores. I then have time to do a bit of reading and savor that first cup of coffee before she even begins to stir and pull herself out of dreamland. As I wait, the house sits eerily quiet, yet there is an expectancy and charge in the air that is almost palpable as I wait for her to come out and start our day with her smile and laughter, as I sit in my study quietly waiting for the sun.