Light a Candle

I really like sites like this for some reason.  I just think it's cool to be able to light a "virtual candle."
So take advantage of this and light some candles, saying a prayer as you go along.  Spend some time to stop and reflect on what you're praying about.
Let there be light!!!

Holy Nicholean Catholic Church

The Holy Nicholean Catholic Church

I think this is part of the "Reformed" Catholic or "Liberal" Catholic Church.
Mos def related to the Holy Imperial Russian Orthodox Church.

The Unknown Christ Blog

The Unknown Christ
I like this one, mostly for the beautiful paintings & poems.  Catholic, Coptic, & Orthodox.  But I do believe this is a Gnostic site.  I could be wrong.  I need to investigate it more.

Vestiges of Christianity

Vestiges of Christianity

Gnostic Society

The Gnostic Society Library

I like this site because of the Christian New Testament Apocryphal books that they have on here.  I'm fascinated by the apocrypha!  I've read nearly every book in the Ann Arbor & Ypsi public libraries.

Hundreds & Hundreds of Books......

...to read!!!  I'm backed up about 225 books right now!  YIKES!!!  I've also got about three hundred fanzines that need to be re-read.  I have to periodically look through my library to be reminded of what I own.  I used to do that with my music collection since I would, on many occasions, buy a 7" or CD that I already owned!  Every time I went to a hardcore fest I would come home with 25 - 100 new 7"'s, LP's, & CD's.  Not to mention a couple of dozen demo tapes.  Man I loved those demo's!  Still do.  My favorite part of MRR (Maximum Rock n Roll fanzine for you non-punks) has always been the demo's review section and the fanzine review section.  I don't even know how many times I would get the new issue (usually at Borders...ugggghhh, that's a whole other blog post --to come sometime soon) and read it with a pen in my hand to mark the thing that I wanted to order.  You can't get much more D.I.Y. than sending off $3 to some kid for his bands crappy (most of the times) demo cassette.  Or a couple of bux for the first and only issue of a new 'zine.  But actually many times the demo's would turn out to be awesome and some of the bands best work.  And to me it was always worth it for just a few dollars.  Getting a letter and small package in the mail from Singapore or Poland....cool as all hell!  A hand-written note on the back of a punk show flyer, thanking me for buying his band's demo!  Or being one of the lucky fifty people to get the first issue or the last issue of some fanzine.  I vividly remember getting the newest issue of "In Abandon" fanzine done by that kid Mike in south Florida...Tampa to be exact.  It turned out to be his last also.  I went to my p.o. box in downtown Ann Arbor at around 9:30a.m. one sunny late summer/early fall day.  Those perfect sunny-but-not-humid days we experience mid September here in Michigan!  I grabbed a nice, fat stack of mail and drove over to the small park near St. Francis church & school. Sat in the freshly mowed grass and opened a manilla envelope from Mikey in Tampa. I was blown away at the outstanding printing job he or someone else did with the 'zine!  The blacks were ultra dark and super crisp, all the lines were sharp, and the drawings were vivid.  It was printed on a heavier bright white paper.  Lots and lots of block lettering and weird/cool drawings and doodles.  An awesome story about going on tour with his favorite band, who just happen to be comprised of his best friends!  All kinds of anecdotes that punk kids experience being 20 years old and touring the United States in a punked-up van full of sweaty, stinky d00ds and band equipment.  Mike meets and befriends all kinds of interesting people up & down the east coast of our country.  He repeatedly talks about the "revolution at 3 a.m." jolted up on coffee and wide eyed & in love with life!  Such a great 'zine!  I never got to meet Mike though I did write him a few times.  A bit later I saw that hed done a bunch of artwork for the REVERSAL OF MAN records who he was good friends with.  And I saw something he did for the band BRIGHT CALM BLUE.   I recently pulled out that very issue of In Abandon and re-read parts of it.  I also wound up buying the two previous issues of that 'zine.  Twelve years later those fanzines are still great!

Lots & Lots of stuff...

...but most notably the fact that my computer hard drive crashed and I lost over 250 GB's of music, photos, videos, documents, resume, bookmarks, etc.  I am completely devastated.  I can't even begin to express my grief.  I'm mos def not over-reacting, those who know me know that my music is one of the most important things in the world to me.  I lost files that I will NEVER, EVER get back or be able to find again.  There were so many obscure, underground, hard to find, out of press, never-released-on-CD recordings that I'm so overwhelmed as to where to start collecting it again.  The hard drive (which is now in a box on the table next to me) stands a better chance of fixing itself, than I do of even finding HALF of all that music again.
 What would YOU do?  What should I do?
 In 2009 my entire CD collection (over 900 CD's) was stolen and never recovered.  At that time ALL of my photos, clothing, Doc Martens, books, 'zines, furniture, etc was also stolen & thrown out.  I'm STILL not over that, especially when I know who did it and the police won't follow through with the charges I filed.  Well, what can you expect from a bunch of monkeys.  Police are, by nature, slow, lazy, and inept.   Essentially worthless but it seemed the only recourse I had at that time.
I've gotta figure something out.  Man, sooooooo many of my lost files were vinyl-only 7"s & LP's with all the art-work & lyrics scanned in with them.  I spent countless hours up all night at the computer organizing and cleaning all my folder.  I have about 4 GB's saved at adrive.com, about 7 GB's on my ipod, and 12 GB's burned onto two DVD's.  If ONLY I had burned more shizzit to DVD.....if only.