Addendum to "It was a good day to die"

Hmm. As I finished the last post, one of the key songs in my life came on (I'm using Windows Media Player, by the way): Xanadu. Here's an interesting line:

"A place, where nobody dared to go."

It happens to be the very first. Let's take my "dare to live" axiom to the next step. What if we did dare to go ... well, to "Xanadu." Not the ancient pleasure dome depicted by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, not the planet in my book, not even the roller disco studio. Xanadu is defined by Webster as "an idyllic place."

And to get there, you have to dare to go there. And you have to make it happen. "And now, open your eyes and see, what we have made is real."

I remember a saying from when I was in Eckankar (look it up), and it's one of the things I find to be true: Only the brave and courageous will find the kingdom of God.

And the pure of heart. "The love, the echoes of long ago, you needed the world to know..."

And the dreamers. And the perseverant (stubborn). "The dream, that came through a million years, and lived on through all the tears..."

So, what picture does this portray? The man--or woman--who will finally live life to its fullest will be:

1. Courageous and bold.
2. Creative and imaginative.
3. Pure of heart--or at least charitable.
4. A dreamer.
5. Stubborn as a mule.

Do we know anybody like this? Let's think... Oh! I know of one! There was this black kid...nobody particularly special, just like you or me. Nobody special. People just thought he had crazy ideas. Ideas of equality amongst all humankind (creative and charitable). He had a dream, and he proclaimed it to the world (bold dreamer). And he wasn't going to take "no" for an answer (stubborn).

Who is this person? Well, that's the million dollar question. There are others out there like that. A carpenter's son, who wreaked havoc in the temple (bold), loved all his fellows,--even the whores (pure of heart, and I refer to Mary Magdalene here), preached love and an ideology of love and understanding to everyone he met (dreamer and creative), and would NOT back down, even after being scourged and nailed to a cross (stubborn as hell).

Who is this?

You don't have to be religious. You don't have to be an activist. You don't even have to be famous. Just life your life to it's fullest, and worry not about the future; for it will come in its own due time, and only then will you have to deal with it.

And that, everyone, is what I mean by the Road. And I guess the Song of the Year is going to be (as if you didn't guess) "Xanadu," by ELO and Olivia Newton John. Perhaps it isn't all about roller skates and miniskirts...

Happy Memorial Day, and Carpe Diem!

It was a good day to die.

I just finished watching--for the hundredth time--Galaxy Quest, a spoof on Star Trek. In this film, there's an alien who imitates the Spock-like character in every aspect. As the alien dies from a shot from an enemy, the character quotes one of his lines from the TV show; and the alien died happy.

As they say in the Klingon, it was a good day to die.

It got me to thinking (big surprise) about death and the fear of death. I also watched--just yesterday--Star Wars, Episode III, which, in my opinion, is as good as the original trilogy (for a change!). Here, Anakin Skywalker is so consumed by the fear that his love will die that he will do anything to save her life, even join the Sith (Dark Side of the Force)...which he does.

That, plus Galaxy Quest, pretty much made it obvious to me that if I know I only have a couple years left before I die (either from old age or some terminal illness), I will not go out like my grandfather (who killed himself when he realized that he had only one painful month of life left). Instead, I'll be at my most bold and weather the hazards for a cause.

But, why not do that now?

There are two primary things that make people fear death:

1. Fear of the Unknown.
2. Fear of loss.

We fear the unknown, because we can't compartmentalize it and label it, thus giving us power over it. We have no power over death (thank God). And, we fear loss, in so much that we fear not having another moment on Earth to share in the pleasures of life.

Both, when you get down to it, are ridiculous. First, since we cannot control death, why the hell worry about it? There's nothing we can do about it to begin with. Second...well, actually, the fear of loss falls under this category, too. Plus, for us to transition into the next existance (if you believe in that), you have to be prepared for the fact that there will not be any physical pleasures after death. So deal with it.

It's amazing how so many religious texts are based off of these two aspects. I've learned them to be called "surrender" and "detachment", respectively. This, leads to grace. If you aren't spending all of your living moments worrying about death; and if you aren't spending all of your life protecting inanimate objects; you will have MORE of your life to live it!

Duh!

So it's confirmed, and in saying so I truly respect the men and women of our armed forces even more: When I die, I want it to be for a cause, and not in vain. Who in their right mind would want anything different?

The (infrequent) Song of the Week is "Hunger for the Flesh," by Howard Jones. Read it and think about it.

Ridiculous!

A long time ago, I had this dream, where an angel took me into the heavens and showed me the end of the world.

Twenty-seven years to the day. To the day!

When I wrote Voyage to Xanadu, I put the date of The Gift (where Henry, the lead character and my alter-ego, receives the plans to an interstellar shuttle in a dream) as May 23, 2005. Today.

Twenty-seven years after that dream when I was a little child.

I, for whatever ridiculous reason, was expecting to get The Gift this morning in my waking dreams. What a delusion of grandeur. I really did know better, but I still hoped; and hope is the wellspring of fools. Especially in this case.

I would literally risk my life to have that kind of an opportunity. But that has passed me now. It probably won't happen to anyone, at least in my lifetime. So what the fuck was I waiting for? Thinking such a fantastic miracle could happen to me was pure foolishness.

And yet, here I sit, moping.

Ridiculous! Someone go get me my meds...

Red Letter Day!

Earlier this week, I heard a few things. A guy who's staying with us has a court date today (May 4). I have a doctor's appointment to determine eligibility for disability today (May 4). Other things. There seemed to be a lot of things scheduled for May 4, and I had the feeling that there was more in the works.

Well, one more thing happened today (May 4). I got that job I really wanted! Man, my stress level has dropped like a brick. The job pays well, it's 8 AM to 4 PM, it's in a nice environment, it has many different technologies to play with... it's ideal. And I got the damn thing! Whew.

I can't help but wonder what else is going to happen today. Hopefully more good things...like my book being ready to publish.

Woohoo!!!

Do you think they remade this song enough?

I like the song Xanadu as much as the next guy (or maybe more, who knows), but come ON folks! I've found no less than eight versions of the song written by Jeff Lynne back in 1980. Most of them have been made in the past 5 or so years. Here are the artists who have sung Xanadu:

1. Olivia Newton-John and Electric Light Orchestra (1980)
2. Jeff Lynne (2001) (yes, folks, he redid his own song)
3. A+ ... or is it The Olivia Project (this song was remade for a Nintendo game of all things!) (2000)
4. Party Animals (1998) (this version sucks ass, by the way)
5. Olivia Newton-John and Electric Light Orchestra...Remix (????) (this one has the "Drum Dreams" mixed in with it from the movie)
6. Evelyn (1996)
7. Pop! (1998)
8. Venus Hum and Neilson Hubbard (one of the better remakes)

God only knows how many more versions of this old song there are. And, to top it off, there are other songs bearing the moniker 'Xanadu':

Xanadu, by Rush (1970-something)
Legend of Xanadu, by a British vocal group (1969)
Watching Xanadu, by Mull Historical Society (a song about the movie, no less) (1990)
Xanadu, by Children of Bodom (metal!!)
Xanadu, by Stormlord (more metal!!!)

Too much. I'm now gonna go strap on my roller skates and tool about in some abandoned wrestling arena.