This is yet another post from the anals [sic] of our family texting and email conversations.
One of my 4 sisters forwarded the following from a friend who sends very funny stuff. I used some of her humor in a food-related post I wrote. Here’s the original forward.
A WALK ON THE MOON!!!
IN CASE YOU DIDN'T ALREADY KNOW THIS LITTLE TIDBIT OF WONDERFUL TRIVIA . . .
ON JULY 20, 1969,
NEIL ARMSTRONG WAS COMMANDER OF THE APOLLO 11 LUNAR MODULE,
NEIL WAS THE FIRST PERSON TO SET FOOT ON THE MOON AND
HIS FIRST WORDS WERE:
"THIS IS ONE SMALL STEP FOR A MAN AND ONE GIANT LEAP FORWARD FOR MANKIND,"
HIS WORDS WERE TELEVISED TO EARTH AND HEARD BY MILLIONS. BUT, JUST BEFORE HE RE-ENTERED THE LUNAR MODULE, HE MADE THE ENIGMATIC REMARK,
"GOOD LUCK, MR. GORSKY."
MANY PEOPLE AT NASA THOUGHT IT WAS A CASUAL REMARK CONCERNING SOME RIVAL COSMONAUT. HOWEVER, UPON CHECKING, THERE WAS NO GORSKY IN EITHER THE RUSSIAN OR AMERICAN SPACE PROGRAMS.
OVER THE YEARS, MANY PEOPLE QUESTIONED ARMSTRONG AS TO WHAT THE 'GOOD LUCK, MR. GORSKY' MEANT, BUT ARMSTRONG ALWAYS JUST SMILED.
ON JULY 5, 1995, IN TAMPA BAY, FLORIDA, WHILE ANSWERING QUESTIONS FOLLOWING NEIL'S SPEECH, A REPORTER BROUGHT UP THE
26 YEAR-OLD QUESTION ABOUT MR.GORSKY.
THIS TIME HE FINALLY RESPONDED BECAUSE MR. GORSKY HAD JUST DIED, SO NEIL ARMSTRONG FELT HE COULD NOW ANSWER THE QUESTION. HERE IS THE ANSWER TO "WHO WAS MR. GORSKY?" . . .
"IN 1938, WHEN HE WAS A KID IN A SMALL MID-WESTERN TOWN, PLAYING BASEBALL WITH A FRIEND IN HIS BACKYARD. HIS FRIEND HIT THE BALL, WHICH LANDED IN HIS NEIGHBOR'S YARD BY THEIR BEDROOM WINDOW. HIS NEIGHBORS WERE MR. AND MRS. GORSKY.
AS HE LEANED DOWN TO PICK UP THE BALL, YOUNG NEIL ARMSTRONG HEARD MRS GORSKY SHOUTING AT MR. GORSKY:
"SEX! YOU WANT SEX? YOU'LL GET SEX WHEN THE KID NEXT DOOR WALKS ON THE MOON".
THE PLACE ROARED IN LAUGHTER!!! LATER NEIL ARMSTRONG'S FAMILY CONFIRMED THAT THIS IS A TRUE STORY.
Do pass it on, it's too choice not to be shared.
MY REPLY TO MY SISTER WHO SENT THIS FORWARD
(Your friend) is getting a little racy!
Great story even if it’s not true.
On that point, last night the three of us (my family) watched “The Big Year” with Jack Black, Steve Martin and Owen Wilson. The opening credits started with:
“This is a true story
only the facts have been changed”
No comment. I’m restraining myself...
ONE OF MY BROTHERS DIDN’T RESTRAIN HIMSELF
great line - "true story only the facts have been changed" - seems a bit descriptive of life these days - depending on who's talking, tweeting, snapchatting, news reporting, etc.
MY NEXT REPLY
Another kind of moon walk. From my Alien Encounter post...imagine him (MJ) doing this with the freedom provided by 1/6th the gravity of earth.
MJ
ANOTHER OF MY SISTERS JOINED THE EMAIL CONVERSATION
Tom
Wow, could he dance! He really looks like he's on a moving sidewalk when he walks backwards.
I've read your alien post a few times, but this is the first time I opened all of the links. I can't believe how appropriate they are to the spots where you've inserted them. Were you familiar with all of those songs and references, or did you have to google some of them? I can't believe how many song and movie references you know. I'd have to look up every one of them.
I love how you wove it around the moon landing to give it a sense of authenticity. I enjoyed the references to the Jetsons and Michael Jackson, Pizza the Hutt, the Star Wars movie. It was so fun and clever!
Do you remember how long you worked on it?
HERE’S MY REPLY
Short version:
“Yes” (Were you familiar with all of those songs and references?)
“Yes” (or did you have to google some of them?)
“No” (do you remember how long you worked on it?)
Long(winded) version:
I, too, am amazed at what’s stuck there: movies, music and scripture (all my former teachers - living and dead would be pleased).
I’m also amazed at what I uncover, as my various Muses lead me onward…
The fact that I remember all this useful/useless (you pick one) stuff, confirms what one of my early religion teachers used to say about the value of higher education…
--I selected this version because the set reminded me of the grammar school auditoriums of Saint Benedict Joseph Labre and many others I’ve seen.
--I found this clip while out the other day at Umberto’s Pizzeria. While sitting in their parking lot, Eileen mentioned Fr. Guido and his “Find-the-popes-in-the-pizza-contest” skit. While looking for it, we found the one above about higher ed. Also, on the way to the Vatican, as I was walking along the Via Humerosa, I found his lecture on the missing commandments.
By the way, his version is denominationally different from the one I heard from a funny rabbi I know.
Just one more thing, in writing this, I found another take from a guy who always manages to both speak the truth and offend simultaneously. Viewer discretion advised: Obscenity
P.S. I had meant to add the following perspective on George's monologue about reducing the number of commandments. So, here's another way to view it...
The 10 are all contained in the one law of love (love G-d & neighbor as self). If we all had this law written in our hearts, the other 9 wouldn't be needed because they'd be included. But, as the Teacher said, because of the hardness of our hearts, they have to be spelled out. This letter-of-the-law approach is also needed to address our many attempts to weasel out of applying the law of love - as Fr. Guido alluded to above in the skit about the missing commandments. "Did G-d really say...?"
Education: For Information or Transformation?
To illustrate what Fr. Guido said about education…
One more…
If you’re interested, I recently wrote about my own disinterest in classical higher education.
“G-d comes to us disguised as our life…”
A lot of what I write about comes from my present life – family texts, other folks’ emails, walking around my neighborhood, movies I watch, songs I listen to – in essence, “G-d comes to us disguised as our life”. Please take 5 minutes to read this post in which the blogger mentions the author of this phrase and his own experience with the truth of this statement. And, what continues to amaze and bless me is how this article I just found fits so well into the tapestry of the fabric of my own post.
THIS IS WHY I WRITE!
My Muse post describes some of this process.
We are co-creators with G-d
I see the Muses as representations of Spirit – where all creativity comes from. We are, in fact, co-creators. “The Spirit of G-d hovered over the waters…” in the creation story. This same promised Spirit showed up in a dramatic way at Pentecost and in a quiet way in another passage – I’ll get there in a minute or more...but no less than “five minutes.”
When I went just now to see where the scripture passage about the quiet wind is located, I found this video.
--a perfect example of the Muse/Spirit-led creative process at work. I’m gonna check out this movie; after all, its name reminds me of the wandering and wondering imagery of my website.
I also found this one in the search: “You ain’t seen nothing like the mighty wind”
--Thinking it might be based on the song “The Mighty Quinn,” the Muse invited me to explore further…and was I rewarded with a 9-minute vicarious vacation, in which I got to walk in the shoes and canoes of others.
…still didn’t locate that scripture about the wind. Back to the task at hand…
G-d may not be where we are looking for G-d...the Spirit blows where it will
-- “Then he (Elijah) was told, ‘Go, stand on the mountain at attention before God. God will pass by.’
A hurricane wind ripped through the mountains and shattered the rocks before God, but God wasn’t to be found in the wind; after the wind an earthquake, but God wasn’t in the earthquake; and after the earthquake fire, but God wasn’t in the fire; and after the fire a gentle and quiet whisper.”
A lot of what I discover as I write ends up on the cutting floor (REALLY!!! : )))) but blesses me, as did that video of friends traveling by canoe and the other things I came upon in writing my reply.
Graduate School
For all my artist friends (and those who wish they were)
If higher education isn’t your thing, you might want to try your creative hand at art.
What is de-value [sic] of art anyway - in our utilitarian society?
Yet, it is deemed non-essential...
From my candid camera neighborhood photos...
Theological debate - In Whose Diocese is the Moon (who gets the collections?)?
Since there's no water, dust baptisms will be the practice. Quite fitting, as on Ash Wednesday, we are reminded, "Thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return."
Yet, we look to the stars because of a searching desire that's been placed in our hearts...
Recessional Hymns
Ciao, baby…Arrivederci!