Ty didn't want to leave when the time came. He was so comfortable where he was. The idea of leaving his career, the job he'd worked at since he was 21, the opportunity he'd been given to work in this town for Aerospace. It was hard enough leaving that without even mentioning taking the children out of school and telling the older children to leave their positions. It was overwhelming and it felt as though the burlap sac that Ty often imagined his psyche being carried in was being torn slowly in two directions and his mind was about to make a wet thud on the linoleum of his office as burlap dust wafted away from his person. Ty didn't love the idea of going somewhere new either. His home had been in the family for generations. To sell it would be a loss, even if the market was better. It would also alert others. Further, the home had more value to him than it could have to any buyer. Selling it on such short notice was sure to limit his ability to sell for even a decent price. He needed enough money to get to the island with his large family, and he needed to buy supplies for the journey, which was likely to be long, due to the fact that they were leaving the planet. There would be no return, no search, no one coming after them. He had begun to explore these options, but because of the urgency and secrecy of the trip, he couldn't search the internet for fear of being noticed. Searching for the kinds of things that one needs to move to another planet was no longer an easy task.
Posted by Admiral Joe at 3/30/09
kokorotza HT
Noelle, a small blonde woman about 30 years old answers the door. Ty is standing outside with his youngest son, (insert son's name here). "Hey Ty, how's it goin?"
"I'm doing alright, how are you doing?" They follow Noelle into the family room off to the left.
"I'm alright, better than I was this morning, I've been throwing up."
"That's a bad idea. I recommend against it."
What?
"Sorry to hear that, are you still ill, do you need to rest rather than being visited?"
"No, I'm good, I've felt much better recently, I just need an enema for my nose to get the vomit smell out. I might use the baby's blue nose squirter."
"Sounds like- Sounds like you're doing better; you've got your sense of humor back."
"I wasn't aware I'd lost it."
Carey, Noelle's husband enters from the kitchen, "Yeah, she stays pretty spunky at all times."
Ty replied, "You can ask my wife, I pretty much lose all personality when I'm ill."
both laugh. The family room is a small room where a fireplace backgrounds a three cushion sofa with a white sofa-cover, two rocking chairs- one large and one that is child-sized, a chair that matched the sofa before the sofa was covered, and other coffee tables and end tables that are worn and stressed by years of child-rearing.
Ty began, "Well, I've got a lesson to share, i hope not to ramble, but it's all one continuous strand in my mind, we'll see if it comes out coherently. The prophet recently spoke about obedience, have you been able to hear or read the message?"
"Not yet, but I was planning on trying to get us a copy soon." replied Carey.
(Ty's youngest) interjected, "that's me too, I wait for dad to read it and relate it to yall so that I don't have to do as much reading."
Ty looked at his son over the tops of his glasses, "is that what you do? Well, guess who's teaching next month."
"Guess I should'na said anything."
Ty glances up again at the boy in a half-eye-roll.
"I'm doing alright, how are you doing?" They follow Noelle into the family room off to the left.
"I'm alright, better than I was this morning, I've been throwing up."
"That's a bad idea. I recommend against it."
What?
"Sorry to hear that, are you still ill, do you need to rest rather than being visited?"
"No, I'm good, I've felt much better recently, I just need an enema for my nose to get the vomit smell out. I might use the baby's blue nose squirter."
"Sounds like- Sounds like you're doing better; you've got your sense of humor back."
"I wasn't aware I'd lost it."
Carey, Noelle's husband enters from the kitchen, "Yeah, she stays pretty spunky at all times."
Ty replied, "You can ask my wife, I pretty much lose all personality when I'm ill."
both laugh. The family room is a small room where a fireplace backgrounds a three cushion sofa with a white sofa-cover, two rocking chairs- one large and one that is child-sized, a chair that matched the sofa before the sofa was covered, and other coffee tables and end tables that are worn and stressed by years of child-rearing.
Ty began, "Well, I've got a lesson to share, i hope not to ramble, but it's all one continuous strand in my mind, we'll see if it comes out coherently. The prophet recently spoke about obedience, have you been able to hear or read the message?"
"Not yet, but I was planning on trying to get us a copy soon." replied Carey.
(Ty's youngest) interjected, "that's me too, I wait for dad to read it and relate it to yall so that I don't have to do as much reading."
Ty looked at his son over the tops of his glasses, "is that what you do? Well, guess who's teaching next month."
"Guess I should'na said anything."
Ty glances up again at the boy in a half-eye-roll.
Posted by Admiral Joe at
2/22/09
Hey Jim.
Hey Ty, whatdya say man?
How's the wife?
Good, How's your family, how's your boys-how many do you have? three?
Four.
Right. Good grief man, how many of those were on purpose?
I know, the first one was a surprise, wife was on the pill even. Once we had him though, it was like a happy meal toy, we wanted to collect them all.
Hey Ty, whatdya say man?
How's the wife?
Good, How's your family, how's your boys-how many do you have? three?
Four.
Right. Good grief man, how many of those were on purpose?
I know, the first one was a surprise, wife was on the pill even. Once we had him though, it was like a happy meal toy, we wanted to collect them all.
Posted by Admiral Joe at
2/5/09
post 9
Ty tried to make a game plan. He tried to envision himself talking to his colleagues about his dream. He decided that wouldn't end well. He thought about trying to bring up prophecies of the old prophets, or perhaps to print a few talks by recent church leaders. In spite of the current condition of the church, there remained a few of the leaders of the church, homegrown guys from the quorum, who seemed to grasp what was wrong with the town and tell the people in regular talks about it.
Posted by Admiral Joe at
Post8
The next morning Ty told his wife about his dream. She was listening for interesting bits. Ty never had her full attention in the morning because she and he were on different sleep schedules. She would perk up if she was mentioned in the dream, or if it was really good. Mostly she said things like, "huh!" in response. He explained that he saw a star blazing toward him with 12 lights behind it. The star alighted next to him and was a man who handed him a laptop screen with no keyboard, or a tablet and told him to watch. He watched a video of his town being destroyed as the narrator described the problems with the town in a bold crisp plain voice. At the end of the dream, Ty's wife said, "wow, that's sad. I love our home. Do you think it will happen?" Ty paused for a second and rolled his eyes to spread the tears over his eyeball so they wouldn't fall, at the same time swallowing hard over the knot. "I feel that it will...and I feel that I need to try to stop it." Ty's wife leaned up on her elbow in the bed and asked, "you think it's stoppable?" Ty said, "you mean as opposed to un-?" "Yes. As opposed to Un-stoppable." "I don't know, but I have to try, I mean- it's a whole town!"
"All right Ty. Let me know how that goes, ok?" and she rolled back into the covers.
"All right Ty. Let me know how that goes, ok?" and she rolled back into the covers.
Posted by Admiral Joe at
1/27/09
sandwiched before the dream 6.5
Ty had a special place that he liked to go to pray. In the wintertime he would need snowshoes to get there. Ty had been going there for years. He'd drive up to the trailhead, walk across the small dam that led to the trail and strap on his snowshoes. After a stretch against a ponderosa pine he'd start up. If he hoofed it, it took thirty minutes to the top. It was mostly uphill, switchbacks up the side of a peak. It used to be the case that the trek up was half the fun. He'd bound up the mountain and run back down, jumping and sliding on the backs of his snowshoes. The silence at the top was what he sought now. On the way up he'd notice tracks and listen to the birds if they were around.
The best trip Ty had taken up to, Ty called it the cathedral, was right after a big snow. The roads up the canyon were plowed, but the trail was completely untracked. Ty loved making new tracks. Up at the top, the snow had fallen such a short distance that the flakes were all still intact. The cathedral, which was a small flat valley up at the top, was a huge bowl of cornflake sized snowflakes that even the snowshoes sank into up to Sol's knees. It didn't crunch though, it whiffed when he stepped, like the sound of sugar being poured on more sugar.
Sol went up there one day in the spring, it was green and the trail was brown and almost damp. There were still bits of snow here and there that had held on. The trail was much faster in boots than in snowshoes, and Ty's shirt was damp and he was winded when he reached the cathedral.
He had decided that day to go out and pray to the Lord for his people. He had been trying to share the word of God with his friends and colleagues for some time with no avail. He was concerned that he was doing something wrong, and had prayed for the last few nights that he could be more effective. The third night as he was pleading for guidance to help his neighbors, the thought occurred to him that he should take some time to pray vocally outside his bedroom. He decided to do just that the following Friday. That Friday was his wife's party with her ladyfriends where they were doing something with sewing or blah blah blah craftiness. He supported her in that, and rescheduled for the next week. That friday was a get together with friends, but the next evening he was able to get out. They had spent most of the day trying to compel kids to do their chores. Ty had decided that it would certainly have been easier to simply do the chores, but wanted the kids to learn work and build character. The problem with having teenagers clean your house is that if you want something done right, do it yourself, but if you do, you'll always be doing it yourself.
Ty arrived at the top around 7:00 and found a dryish spot to kneel. He was certain that his khakis would get wet in the knees eventually, but at least it was dry to the touch at first. He knelt and almost immediately felt the cold reach his knees. He lifted a knee and it was wet. Sol removed his camelbak and placed it under his knees. He began to speak to God. He began by talking about his decision to come up and pray to the Lord, then he began to open his heart to God about his frustration with his attempts to share the truth. He prayed with all his heart for the people in his town. He continued to pray and speak to the Lord until he had said all that he was feeling. Then he stopped to allow the Lord an opportunity to speak. There was absolute silence for a moment and then a pillar of fire, or what could be described best as a pillar of fire pushed out of the sky as if God had put fire playdo into his grey cloud-shaped spaghetti factory. it stopped precisely on the boulder seven feet in front of Ty. Ty then saw, and heard things from the fire. When it was finished, Ty stumbled down the mountain, drove home and lay prone on his bed, he ran over what he had seen and heard in his mind until sleep overtook him.
The best trip Ty had taken up to, Ty called it the cathedral, was right after a big snow. The roads up the canyon were plowed, but the trail was completely untracked. Ty loved making new tracks. Up at the top, the snow had fallen such a short distance that the flakes were all still intact. The cathedral, which was a small flat valley up at the top, was a huge bowl of cornflake sized snowflakes that even the snowshoes sank into up to Sol's knees. It didn't crunch though, it whiffed when he stepped, like the sound of sugar being poured on more sugar.
Sol went up there one day in the spring, it was green and the trail was brown and almost damp. There were still bits of snow here and there that had held on. The trail was much faster in boots than in snowshoes, and Ty's shirt was damp and he was winded when he reached the cathedral.
He had decided that day to go out and pray to the Lord for his people. He had been trying to share the word of God with his friends and colleagues for some time with no avail. He was concerned that he was doing something wrong, and had prayed for the last few nights that he could be more effective. The third night as he was pleading for guidance to help his neighbors, the thought occurred to him that he should take some time to pray vocally outside his bedroom. He decided to do just that the following Friday. That Friday was his wife's party with her ladyfriends where they were doing something with sewing or blah blah blah craftiness. He supported her in that, and rescheduled for the next week. That friday was a get together with friends, but the next evening he was able to get out. They had spent most of the day trying to compel kids to do their chores. Ty had decided that it would certainly have been easier to simply do the chores, but wanted the kids to learn work and build character. The problem with having teenagers clean your house is that if you want something done right, do it yourself, but if you do, you'll always be doing it yourself.
Ty arrived at the top around 7:00 and found a dryish spot to kneel. He was certain that his khakis would get wet in the knees eventually, but at least it was dry to the touch at first. He knelt and almost immediately felt the cold reach his knees. He lifted a knee and it was wet. Sol removed his camelbak and placed it under his knees. He began to speak to God. He began by talking about his decision to come up and pray to the Lord, then he began to open his heart to God about his frustration with his attempts to share the truth. He prayed with all his heart for the people in his town. He continued to pray and speak to the Lord until he had said all that he was feeling. Then he stopped to allow the Lord an opportunity to speak. There was absolute silence for a moment and then a pillar of fire, or what could be described best as a pillar of fire pushed out of the sky as if God had put fire playdo into his grey cloud-shaped spaghetti factory. it stopped precisely on the boulder seven feet in front of Ty. Ty then saw, and heard things from the fire. When it was finished, Ty stumbled down the mountain, drove home and lay prone on his bed, he ran over what he had seen and heard in his mind until sleep overtook him.
Posted by Admiral Joe at
1/26/09
post 7
This was not the first vision that Ty had seen so vividly and understood so clearly. It was not his first encounter with the spirit. HOwever, it was his first time seeing a personage. It was a personage because he didn't shake hands with him or make any type of physical contact. Sol could remember being given a book, but not how it felt.need to replace spirit here. His descriptions belong elsewhere, spirit is replaced with star followed by 12 others.
post 5
The book told of destruction. It described the wickedness of Ty's town and how it would be destroyed utterly unless people in town shaped up. They needed to stop infidelity and dishonesty and hatred. To a great extent pride was mentioned.
Ty awoke from the dream, and felt that it was important. Not a message hidden in a metaphor like some dreams, but a clear and plain message that he needed to share. He decided that the best way to get the message out without embarassing himself might be to write an email, send it to someone and have them forward it back to him after removing his information from the original. In that way it would not make him look like a lunatic. He drafted an email urging people to returne to their core values. To love ach other and to straighten out their lives. He sent it to David, and then straightway went to David and asked him to remove the original email and then forward it back to Sol. David did so, though he thought it odd, and urged his father to simply send the message out. David said that it would not end up like Jerry McGuire. Sol simply said that he would rather not be seen as a man jumping up and down on Oprah's couch.
Ty awoke from the dream, and felt that it was important. Not a message hidden in a metaphor like some dreams, but a clear and plain message that he needed to share. He decided that the best way to get the message out without embarassing himself might be to write an email, send it to someone and have them forward it back to him after removing his information from the original. In that way it would not make him look like a lunatic. He drafted an email urging people to returne to their core values. To love ach other and to straighten out their lives. He sent it to David, and then straightway went to David and asked him to remove the original email and then forward it back to Sol. David did so, though he thought it odd, and urged his father to simply send the message out. David said that it would not end up like Jerry McGuire. Sol simply said that he would rather not be seen as a man jumping up and down on Oprah's couch.
Posted by Admiral Joe at
1/21/09
the dream
One night Ty’s wife woke him up to tell him that she thought she left the oven on. Sol got up and walked down the hallway to the kitchen, all the while thinking of snappy retorts that his sleepiness didn’t accommodate when she first said, “Ty? I think I left the oven on, go check....Please.” She would occasionally catch herself making demands, so she’d put a please at the end. Ty was thinking of how she seemed perfectly ambulatory before they retired to bed, “that would’ve been a good one.”
Once his thoughts drifted from his frustration with being the only person in the house who gets out of bed after dark for a good reason(the boys sometimes arose for less worthy causes) he reviewed a snippet of the dream he had dreamt. Sol loved his dreams. He dreamt regularly on his mission, and wrote them down frequently. Often they helped him in his daily life. Mostly they helped him understand. This one was different because he had been talking to a man who had told him to read some scriptures. The scripture was unfamiliar, and yet very familiar. It was as though he had read them before, but was now reading them for the first time. Déjà vu was one of Ty’s favorite occurrences in life, another was meeting people he either a) felt he knew all along or b) knew immediately were friends of his. Sometimes both. The man in the dream was someone that Ty had not seen before, but he knew immediately when he saw him, it was the Spirit of the Lord, or the Holy Ghost. The book was about Ty's hometown. The town he'd grown up in and raised his family in, the town his parents and their parents had worked and raised their families in. The town Ty knew had grown dramatically. Unfortunately, the financial boon that the town was encountering had created more wealth than people were accustomed to, and the people had become buttholes. That's not to say that overnight everyone turned into raging jackasses. The situation started with self-sufficiency and self pride and nationalistic pride in the community. All healthy normal things. However, the nationalism and healthy self esteem had led to esteeming others lower than self. A general feeling that every individual was by himself better than every other. The general atmosphere in the town had deteriorated to such a degree that Ty no longer liked engaging in extended conversations with his neighbors. The town was irrevocably/irreconcilably/
Once his thoughts drifted from his frustration with being the only person in the house who gets out of bed after dark for a good reason(the boys sometimes arose for less worthy causes) he reviewed a snippet of the dream he had dreamt. Sol loved his dreams. He dreamt regularly on his mission, and wrote them down frequently. Often they helped him in his daily life. Mostly they helped him understand. This one was different because he had been talking to a man who had told him to read some scriptures. The scripture was unfamiliar, and yet very familiar. It was as though he had read them before, but was now reading them for the first time. Déjà vu was one of Ty’s favorite occurrences in life, another was meeting people he either a) felt he knew all along or b) knew immediately were friends of his. Sometimes both. The man in the dream was someone that Ty had not seen before, but he knew immediately when he saw him, it was the Spirit of the Lord, or the Holy Ghost. The book was about Ty's hometown. The town he'd grown up in and raised his family in, the town his parents and their parents had worked and raised their families in. The town Ty knew had grown dramatically. Unfortunately, the financial boon that the town was encountering had created more wealth than people were accustomed to, and the people had become buttholes. That's not to say that overnight everyone turned into raging jackasses. The situation started with self-sufficiency and self pride and nationalistic pride in the community. All healthy normal things. However, the nationalism and healthy self esteem had led to esteeming others lower than self. A general feeling that every individual was by himself better than every other. The general atmosphere in the town had deteriorated to such a degree that Ty no longer liked engaging in extended conversations with his neighbors. The town was irrevocably/irreconcilably/
Posted by Admiral Joe at
Ty himself - or post two
Ty is an astronaut. He makes a good living, he’s tenured and has been at his position for long enough that when he starts to speak, other astronauts stop and listen, and usually agree. Ty had become so accustomed to this that he expected similar behavior from his children. At dinner, though several conversations may be separately pursued by several people, Ty had several children and they all had dinner together most nights, when father Ty had something to say, he’d either a) start to say something and then stop abruptly as if the ongoing conversation was actually interrupting him, or b) look at those talking until they returned his gaze and then wait for conversation to cease.
Ty was a well respected man, who likes to resolve conflicts the way that a male human does: quickly and with as little discussion as is reasonable. He doesn’t dress exceptionally well, though he would be considered upper middle class or lower upper class by most people in his community. He didn’t buy a lot of fancy toys either. He bought clothes that fit and spent money on things he could do with his family. They lived well, but were by no means ostentatious.
Ty’s beard was not one of a typical professor- well kempt and tidy. It was also not a zz top beard or the type of beard where you’d expect to find owl droppings. IT was the type of beard you would expect to find on a man frozen to the icy top of Mt Everest, stripped of his Patagonia parka and clutching a photo of his family. A big burly full-bodied mountain man beard.
Ty was married to the same woman that his parents told him to pursue when he was away at college. Ty’s parents told him, “go ask out that June girl, she’s a freshman now.” This was after Ty had returned from a mission trip with his church that had lasted for two years. June was busy dating most of the freshmen in her church congregation. Those that had the moxy to ask out the cutest girl at church had lined up to ask her to dinner or a movie or a picnic. Ty got in there for a date, the night he came down with the stomach flu. Either by the nurse-patient rapport that they developed or just by fate, they ended up together. They married and then had children, Doing those things in that order was very important to Ty and June.
Basically we have this fellow named David. He’s in his early 20’s. He’s of normal build, 175# ~5’8” tall. He is neither skinny, nor muscled, not tall or short, not chubby, but not lean. David is the fourth son in his father’s family. Sol has four boys, Clay, Kevin, Tommy and David. David had brown curly hair, not tight curls, but big bouncy curls like Shirley temple. David went to the same university as his father attended. It was a church school, and David believed in the teachings of the church. It was a small school though, on account of it being a small church. The town where Sol’s family lived was religiously homogenous. Outside of Ty’s faith there were a few practitioners of old shamanistic faiths and others who sought religion from faraway exotic places. Most of the variety in religion was within Ty’s own faith though.
Ty was a well respected man, who likes to resolve conflicts the way that a male human does: quickly and with as little discussion as is reasonable. He doesn’t dress exceptionally well, though he would be considered upper middle class or lower upper class by most people in his community. He didn’t buy a lot of fancy toys either. He bought clothes that fit and spent money on things he could do with his family. They lived well, but were by no means ostentatious.
Ty’s beard was not one of a typical professor- well kempt and tidy. It was also not a zz top beard or the type of beard where you’d expect to find owl droppings. IT was the type of beard you would expect to find on a man frozen to the icy top of Mt Everest, stripped of his Patagonia parka and clutching a photo of his family. A big burly full-bodied mountain man beard.
Ty was married to the same woman that his parents told him to pursue when he was away at college. Ty’s parents told him, “go ask out that June girl, she’s a freshman now.” This was after Ty had returned from a mission trip with his church that had lasted for two years. June was busy dating most of the freshmen in her church congregation. Those that had the moxy to ask out the cutest girl at church had lined up to ask her to dinner or a movie or a picnic. Ty got in there for a date, the night he came down with the stomach flu. Either by the nurse-patient rapport that they developed or just by fate, they ended up together. They married and then had children, Doing those things in that order was very important to Ty and June.
Basically we have this fellow named David. He’s in his early 20’s. He’s of normal build, 175# ~5’8” tall. He is neither skinny, nor muscled, not tall or short, not chubby, but not lean. David is the fourth son in his father’s family. Sol has four boys, Clay, Kevin, Tommy and David. David had brown curly hair, not tight curls, but big bouncy curls like Shirley temple. David went to the same university as his father attended. It was a church school, and David believed in the teachings of the church. It was a small school though, on account of it being a small church. The town where Sol’s family lived was religiously homogenous. Outside of Ty’s faith there were a few practitioners of old shamanistic faiths and others who sought religion from faraway exotic places. Most of the variety in religion was within Ty’s own faith though.
Posted by Admiral Joe at
1/18/09
Ty's dream calling
Ty had come to realize that due to something that we'll refer to as theological drift, his people and his religion had drifted from its roots and truth toward a faith that was no long his own. They were enveloped in pride and triviality. They justified their own disobedience with the formalities and extensive knowledge and rituals that they possessed and performed.
It occurred to him one sunday when he discovered that the Elder who conducted their congregation at the synagogue was one of the most prideful men that Sol encountered on a regular basis. He would hold his hand out and say thank you" instead of asking for things. That was a small example that exemplified his whole demeanor. He had slowly evolved from refusing praise after a sermon and deferring praise to God. Nowadays he would simply say thankyou, and the smile in his eyes showed his smug satisfaction in the rhetoric he had written. His sermons had drifted from heartfelt humble testimonies of the truth to long-winded self-buoying boasts about the righteousness of the synagogue. The focus of the synagogue themselves had shifted as well. They now focused on finery and patted each other on the back while in the outside they were turning a blind eye to each others'
It occurred to him one sunday when he discovered that the Elder who conducted their congregation at the synagogue was one of the most prideful men that Sol encountered on a regular basis. He would hold his hand out and say thank you" instead of asking for things. That was a small example that exemplified his whole demeanor. He had slowly evolved from refusing praise after a sermon and deferring praise to God. Nowadays he would simply say thankyou, and the smile in his eyes showed his smug satisfaction in the rhetoric he had written. His sermons had drifted from heartfelt humble testimonies of the truth to long-winded self-buoying boasts about the righteousness of the synagogue. The focus of the synagogue themselves had shifted as well. They now focused on finery and patted each other on the back while in the outside they were turning a blind eye to each others'
