Purple Iris

Getting Kicked Out of High School Band and Other Fallout

My freshman year I was in the HS marching band and in ROTC (yeah, you could have pasted a “IMADORK” sign to me). In ROTC, I was also in the Drill team/Color Guard class, so I had two classes of ROTC, and two of band. I knew how to march.


The band had raised money to march in Ronald Reagan’s 1980 inaguaral parade, but another CA band was picked over us. (Nice intro to political process). So we had this money we raised, and needed to go somewhere – and Hawaii was picked as the destination to go to over the Easter break. There was supposed to be a band competition, but it really wasn't.

We had to bunk up three people to a room, and I got picked by my section leader and his buddy to be roomates – as they told me, “We know that you won’t talk about what we are doing here”. They kicked me out of the room to have girls over, drink beer, and smoke pot. They did this most every night.

The last night there, I get back to the room and they are pretty wasted and the girls are gone. They had to get rid of the beer, so they told me to drink the rest of one. A few minutes later, there’s a knock at the door, I answer it, and its the band director and the VP. They come into the room, and after a few tense minutes, tell us that we will discus this back home.

I was kicked out of the band and suspended for a few days from school.

At the end of the school year(month or so later) the ROTC has their awards dinner. As part of the Drill Team/Color Guard, I earned some ribbons that I did not get. I asked the teacher about this later, and he stated “You are not going to get those ribbons due to that incident” – he meant the band incident. I told him that that was band and had nothing to do with ROTC, and he said it did, and that was that.

The politics of having to maintain the “proper look” was a bit of a surprise to a high school kid. I became upset about ROTC, and when a buddy of mine quit mid way through the next, I wanted to as well. The teacher actually had the gall to call my parents and try to convince them to make me stay in ROTC, but I had made up my mind to get out of the political game. This upset my parents to no end, but later on when I told them about the ribbon fiasco, (which they had not known about), they understood why I did what I did.

I don't regret getting kicked out of the band or leaving ROTC. It was part and parcel of growing up and figuring out that I wasn't going to have those labels attached to me.

Voodoo the Leopard

John Chrysostom Quote

Let no one grieve at his poverty,

for the universal kingdom has been revealed.

Let no one mourn that he has fallen again and again;

for forgiveness has risen from the grave.

Let no one fear death, for the Death of our Savior has set us free.

He has destroyed it by enduring it.

—John Chrysostom, bishop of Constantinople; sermon, ca. 400

Prayer from Clement's Letter to the Corinthians

Read this prayer from the Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians:

1 Clem. 59:3 [Grant unto us, Lord,] that we may set our hope on Thy Name which is the primal source of all creation,
and open the eyes of our hearts,
that we may know Thee,
who alone abidest Highest in the lofty,
Holy in the holy;
who layest low in the insolence of the proud,
who settest the lowly on high, and bringest the lofty low;
who makest rich and makest poor;
who killest and makest alive;
who alone art the Benefactor of spirits and the God of all flesh;
who lookest into the abysses,
who scanest the works of man;
the Succor of them that are in peril,
the Savior of them that are in despair;
The Creator and Overseer of every spirit;
who multipliest the nations upon earth,
and hast chosen out from all men those that love Thee through Jesus Christ,
Thy beloved Son, through whom Thou didst instruct us,
didst sanctify us,
didst honor us.
1 Clem. 59:4 We beseech Thee, Lord and Master, to be our help and succor.
Save those among us who are in tribulation;
have mercy on the lowly;
lift up the fallen;
show Thyself unto the needy;
heal the ungodly;
convert the wanderers of Thy people;
feed the hungry;
release our prisoners;
raise up the weak;
comfort the fainthearted.
Let all the Gentiles know that Thou art the God alone,
and Jesus Christ is Thy Son,
and we are Thy people and the sheep of Thy pasture.

An Example of Humility from Clement Letter to the Corinthians

While re-reading Clement's epistle to the Corinthians, I am fascinated by this quote:

"We know that many among ourselves have delivered themselves to bondage, that they might ransom others. Many have sold themselves to slavery, and receiving the price paid for themselves have fed others." Chapter 55.

Did people sell themselves into slavery so that they might get the release of others, or feed others? It would seem to be the case, if true.

Back in the day, if you fell into debt and had no other way of paying it off, you could sell yourself into being your creditors slave. Depending on how you were treated, it wasn't always a bad deal: Your master had to feed, clothe, and provide housing to you until you paid off your debt. Depending on how you were treated, you could decide to stay with your master and become their bondservant.

But to sell yourself into slavery for someone else - who does this kind of thing? I suppose that if my wife and kids were needing to be released from slavery, I might do it without thought.

Would I sell myself into slavery for someone else? What about another family member, a good friend, or even a complete stranger? That would take some serious "hearing from God", the farther away from me you are(thinking 6 degrees of seperation here).

Which all causes me to wonder, "How far am I willing to go for someone else?"

Redbud Tree in Spring

Painted Horse in Fog

Cast Out - Part 14

Sunrise came to the parking lot of the Club Store, with many cars already parked near the front. A few people had begun to mill around the entrance, waiting for it to open and talking amongst themselves. Some of them were armed with handguns, not quite hidden by their jackets. Others were trying to look inside the store, while some had decided to stay in their vehicles until the store opened.


At 7AM, the store opened and the parking lot seemed to come to life. Some of those who had been in the front of the store began to push their way inside. People began to shout and then scream as the panic started.

Someone fired a gun. More screams and panic ensued. People were being trampled on as their bodies blocked the front of the store.

Then some of them started to get up.

Some got up like they were awakening from sleep, looked around, and then began to attack those trying to get by them, grabbing them by the legs and pulling them down. Screams and more gunshots filled the air, as blood sprayed the air, ground and windows.

A handful of people who had been sitting in their vehicles got out and made their way to the trunks of their cars and backs of their trucks. They began to unload their hunting rifles and shotguns, grabbing a few stray shopping carts and loading them with ammo crates. While panic ensued at the front of the store, they nodded to each other and began to push their carts towards the entrance. One of them without a cart walked in front of the rest, pulling his pistol from behind his back. Seeing this group, several more people began to get out of their cars and followed.

He calmly walked towards the mayhem, paused, raised his gun, and shouted out “Hey! Over here!” One of the bodies on the ground turned looked at him. The body had black eyes. Before it could raise itself off the ground, a bullet ripped the top of its head off. More of the infested bodies started to stand, but were quickly dispatched themselves.

After the entrance was cleared of bodies, the group pushed their carts forward. Loud moans made them stop.

The noise had attracted ghouls within a radius of the Club Store. They were now swarming to the source of the commotion.

The people slowly making their way to the entrance looked to the left side of the store. About 20 figures were making their way towards them. On the right side of the store, about 15 more bodies. And behind them, more were coming from the direction of the street. A few stumbled out of the restaurant from across the parking lot.

“There’s too many! Get inside the store!” said the shooter.

The group quickly pushed the carts around the bodies and into the store, while the shooter yelled at everyone else to get inside. Others were already inside, screaming at the store manager to close the doors.

At last the shooter came in and said “That’s it! Close the doors! No one else is out there!”

The dead were getting closer with every moment.

“Lock the doors!” the shooter shouted. Others shouted as well. The shooter turned around to face the crowd.

“Who’s locking the doors!?” NOW!!”

“ME!” said a running man with a vest. With the shooter next to him, the manager locked the outer glass doors. They turned around and faced a gun pointed past them.

“NO!!” said the shooter. “No shooting outside! You’ll break the windows! Get inside the store!”

Between the glass doors the store, they had warehouse rollup doors.

“Can we lock those doors?” the shooter asked.

“Try and stop me!” the manager yelled.

Once they got everyone else inside, they closed the doors and secured them.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Some sat on the floor and cried.

“Thanks.” The shooter said to the manager, breathing heavy. Looking at the managers nametag, he asked him, “Randy? That you?”

“Yeah, no problem. Good job yourself.” The manager said to the shooter, also out of breath. “You?”, he said with a head nod.

“Dan”.

“So Dan, how did you…..get to be a..such a good shot?” Randy asked.

Dan replied, “Comes with being a cop”. Randy nodded, as did Dan. They both looked down at the floor.

Blood had been tracked all over the floor.

Both of them exhaled, and said nothing.

Cast Out - Part 13

Pam awoke to the sound of moans outside of her apartment, She looked at the clock – 4:30AM.


“Who could it be at this hour?” she thought.

She slid out of bed and put on her robe, quick and quiet, and went down the hallway. She peeked into each of the kids rooms, and then went toward the front door.

She grabbed the baseball next to the door, and with both hands on it, placed it on her shoulder. She took her opposite shoulder and looked out the peephole.

The lights in the foyer were always too bright, but tonight she didn’t mind them so much.

In a moment her eyes adjusted to see a couple of people moving around outside of her neighbors door across the foyer.

Pam saw her neighbors door open and the people outside went into his apartment. She heard some muffled voices and then silence. “Maybe they were his friends?”, she thought. “I may have to say something to him about his friends waking me up.” She turned away from the door, put the baseball bat down, and began to tiptoe back to bed.

The sound of a hand striking the door startled her. She stopped. Then came the sound of the hand hitting the door again, this time harder. “What could they want?” she thought to herself.

She didn’t move. She didn’t turn around. She breathed through her mouth, not making a sound. In her mind, she prayed. She decided to not answer the door.

The hand hit the door again. And again.

And then it stopped.

“Whoever it was must have found something more interesting than my door”, she thought. She soon heard a voice and then..nothing.

Still not moving or turning around, she stood there until she could not hear the sounds of shuffling of feet and the sound of moans any longer.

Every few minutes she heard muffled screams from elsewhere outside her apartment. She stood there, praying, and praying hard.

After what seemed like an hour, she turned around and ever so gently moved toward her door. She again looked out her peephole, but saw no one and nothing else, but a stain on the wall across the foyer. She shuddered. Tears started to come down her cheek, as she realized that the stain was blood.

It was daybreak before she moved away from the door.

She tiptoed into the kitchen and turned on the little TV they had there, not turning on any other lights. She leaned against the counter and watched the news, not believing what she was hearing.

She was glad that she had not opened the door.

After watching the news for awhile, she decided that the best course of action was going to be staying put for awhile. She had to quietly get the kids up and let them know not to make any noise. Keeping quiet was going to be their plan, until a better one came up, or they ran out of food, whichever came first.

Ice is nice

And no, I have not forgotten about writing my Zombie story....thanks for visiting!

Just cause...

I haven't written anything for awhile, and I wanted to post something!