Then Sing Aloud to God

Alright. First things come first. The Aitken vs. Bees Epic Challenge 2008 (for history of the epic challenge, please see prior post 'In Memoriam')...

There was always this unspoken little rule/regulation that the bees and I had for the duration of the Epic Challenge - "The battles are to be fought at home". Fair enough. And here's why it was unspoken:

1) A fair rule is deserved by all, and the sensical nature of it did not merit a ceremonious "speaking aloud" of said unspoken rule
2) Silence implies agreement
3) Bees can't talk (let alone hear)

THUS, the rule/regulation "The battles are to be fought at home" was duly adopted by all parties.

HOWEVER -

While I was using the bathroom at work the other day, a bee attacked me. I effortlessly and expeditiously eliminated the enemy. Alliteration's the key, friends. Specifically, I crushed the drone between the wall and the tissue box (which was conveniently on the counter) and by gravity's will, his carcass plummeted to the floor.
HENCE:
Aitken - 19, Bees - 0.

Then of course, I launched a counterstrike against them. I chopped down a bunch of flowers that some bees were pollinating. I figured - they attacked me at my workplace, so I can attack them at theirs. So the TREATY IS OFF, my friends.


In other news, I received my three famous composer marble busts in the mail yesterday. Bach, Beethoven and Mozart. Ah yes. These will nicely grace my humble cottage abode next year.

I've been reading a lot about what various friends of mine are doing overseas in missions et cetera, and I've been thinking back on my own life over the past year or so...and all I can do is PRAISE God Almighty. I am blessed, even through the tough times. That is an awesome thing.

Having been thinking about this for a few days, I immediately thought of a chorus from Sir William Walton's "Belshazzar's Feast" (an oratorio for baritone solo, chorus & orchestra that deals with the story of Babylon in Daniel - the story where 'The writing on the wall' comes from). It is entitled "Then Sing Aloud to God", and I thought of it because, well...sometimes, all I can think of doing is SINGING to the Lord. And a wise man once said "To sing well is to pray twice."

Please enjoy Walton's "Then Sing Aloud to God". Rivoting, I assure you.

Exempli Gratia

On this Sabbath day, June the first two-thousand eight, after a 'wonderful' catholic mass (more on this later), a lot of random yet delightfully pleasing things occurred/entered my thoughts, thus prompting me to share them herewith...

1) From approximately 2:00PM until 3:30PM, there were two AEX guys gracing the state of Connecticut with their presences.

-C. Scott Aitken (per usual) and...

-NATE MOORE. I got a wonderful phone call from Nate at 2:00 this afternoon, the purpose of which was to inform me that he was entering the state with the intent of passing through it, on his way to the Massachusetts coastline. Congratulations to Nate for being a part of Connecticutian Studies - 101.

2) I remembered the wonderful cinematic epic tale of "Willow" and watched portions on "YouTube". If you haven't seen the film, you ought to do so and soon. As Aaron Gottier commented, "...the eighties were SO much better at this kind of thing than we are nowadays...", 'that kind of thing' being fashioning quality original fantasy films.



3) After that, Aaron said to me "Let's punch each other in the librarian." Also random.

4) I found my soundtrack from "The Pianist", the 2002 film and winner of three academy awards. Fryderyk Chopin's music is prominent in the film, namely the Grande Polonaise brillante for piano & orchestra in Eb Major, op.22. Quite lovely.

Prayers go out to Mark Sandvig, Will Ross and Chris Martin as they begin their three-week back-packing "vacation" in Denali, Alaska. An inspiring adventure it is indeed.

And in the spirit of adventure, please enjoy the video clip from "Willow" found above, as well as the newly updated audio clip to the right.