[notes from the plane]

Tuesday, takeoff:

Love flying -- "pure and prepared to leap up to the stars" -- dim, fog, 
wandering clouds below at takeoff, then BLAM!! light!  plains, turning to 
seas, of white clouds as we move into the sunlight reaches, blue blue sky 
out to the reach of vision, and fields below of glowing white.

and, a chav scum in front of me. dropped his seat back as far as it could 
possibly go even while the plane was loading; rude and inconvenient.  now 
in flight i don't begrudge it, but it makes my life more difficult, 
though with a seat to spare in our row (empty one behind us), i've moved 
over. "School of Rock" w/ Jack Black is on the small screen ($5 for 
headphones; not tuning in, but it looks like feel-good dreck. I've 
predicted a couple of "plot" points w/out audio, even.

back hurts -- abused it brutally yesterday, mostly by staying working on 
that couch.  doom.  time to read some VE and maybe some other snarfed 
goodies.

so far: 2 cantos of Paradise; 
listening to: SF59, _silver_; New Order, 
_Best of_; 
_______

Monday, after takeoff:

Again with the sky of clouds, plains of white as we move above the plane 
of the cloud cover.  And, below, the plains are white with snow as well.

Flight full this time; need to become rich and famous so I can fly 
first-class and have more elbow room.

I have seen how the other half lives and it is good; frankly it reminds 
me of a time in my life when I had a purpose in God, and moved within and 
for it.  I intend to go back there ('for I intend to go in harm's way').  
Denver seems to be a nice place to live -- flat, though, on the plain, 
though the mountains were all I remembered.  (Saw elk, too!)  Although 
Denver is a city, with its own particular urban issues, it seems to have 
neither the accumulated dysfunction nor the treasury of character that 
Pittsburgh does.  I'll miss it all, I think.  Or almost all.

As I say, "will", I have to qualify that: Deo volte!  So far, I think 
it's all green lights.  I have met the team, and the team is good.  We 
want to spread the good news, deep and wide.  Far-flung over half a 
continent on the front end, and drawing from four on the back end, 
there's no end of communication issues; I see my role doing geekery as 
facilitating all of the interplay of ideas and info which undergirds this
arm of the Church (capital 'C' sense here).

[now playing: Talking Heads, "This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)"]

Now six miles above the earth, the plane is pulling away from the sun and 
traversing slow-rolling hills of cloud, now curving into shade as we flee 
the light.  Cokes and pretzels en route to replace my battered minty gum.

[now playing: Terry Scott Taylor, "Writer's Block"]

["pardon me while i have a strange interlude"]

Now the clouds have faded from the slate-esque blue of evening to dark, 
dusky illuminated grays as the sun sets behind the banks of clouds behind 
us.  Night is ahead.  The plane is flickering now, sending its staccato 
signals out.

With the interruptions, my thoughts have stalled again; I spent a week in 
the heart of a powerhouse for East Asia, and got a bit of the "drinking 
from a firehose" effect in crash-coursing on ACME's ways and means.

[now playing: Swirling Eddies, "Pyro Sets A Wildfire"]

Now below there's blackness and city lights somewhere over the Midwest.

Hoping when we return that we can really adopt the kind of prayerful life 
we've always known we should have, and know that we'll need to have up 
front on the lines with missionaries.  If the Devil can't keep you, he'll 
at least try to keep you in mothballs...  And of course it's a damn fool 
thing of us to be lax until we *need* to pray -- as though it were all 
about our *needs* -- but there you are, the lust, the flesh, the eyes and 
the pride of life.  Also hoping ACME will take us just as we are, without 
one plea, spiritual underclassmen shooting for the varsity.  As long as 
they don't ask me to play goalie or evangelist, we should be fine.  But 
maybe we'll stop riding the high of the new and exciting, and God will 
make it clear to us we're not going there.  I just hope he shows 'Plan B' 
right quick after that, frankly.  All this idling in Ambridge is killing me.

[now playing: The 77's, "Frames Without Photographs"]

Sounds like slowing for the descent now.  Probably the lights will blink 
and the keepers of the ship will ask us to stow the fruits and tools of 
our labors.  For a little while the crooning of the 77's will cease from 
"Pearls Before Swine", and the wail, "veil of ashes / veil / veil of 
ashes / ashes for your veil" will fade into memory as we come to ground.  
Thrashing and grooving and squealing of strings writhing in the air will 
cease to float through my ears and over the latticework of the city, 
glowing upward in the darkness.

[now playing: The 77's, "Pearls Before Swine"; Charlie Peacock, "The Way 
of Love"]

We're still here, it seems.  Music rolls on, and the plane rumbles as it 
changes pitch and yaw.  My moods warble, too, according to whatever 
drifts up to the forebrain, and if it seemed like it was perceived as 
"good" or "not so good" by the crew.

I liked the crew, in fact, even the ones who might be annoying if they 
had nothing to live for.  Instead, by directing all of their quirky or 
weirdness to serve God, and by practically glowing with reflected Love, 
they became nearer to family than strangers quickly.  The older set, 
though, might be less prone to taking anyone with just a dash of 
sincerity and a handy skillset.  Fortunately, I think I clicked with most 
all of them quite well, except ironically the big boss, whom I'd deal 
with the most.  Had trouble reading him.  Happily he's a practical kind 
of guy, and will line up two things in his calculations: 1.) Does God say 
Yea or Nay? and 2.) Is this guy going to get it done?  I think 2.) is 
pretty much a lock, but 1.) is obviously more important, and until we all 
pray we can't be as sure enough as we can be.

Descent into Pittsburgh now, and turbulence ahead.  Time to call it a 
week, and then some.