My two-cents worth and then some. An online journal by LP Brown.

Posts Written By L Parker Brown

My BBB – Biggest Blogging Blunder

by on ·General

Whenever someone asks me why I write, my frequent lightheartedly reply often draws a tilted head and puzzled look from my questioner. “I write because I cannot paint.” I would love to have the skill to brushstroke a scenic turquoise and orange sunrise above shadowy buildings, zigzagging across a city landscape. But I believe that my God-given talent lies in coloring the imaginary canvas of blank, white pages with black key-stroked words. Writing — creating insightful poetry, thought-provoking essays, and personal stories that inspire, encourage, and entertain.  

Speaking of writing, is there a learning curve for bloggers?  Surely, there must be, because while I am an experienced author I admit that after months of blogging, I am still a novice when it comes to on-line writing. I know how to make my posts impressive with current topics, relevant pictures and properly placed links. Or so I thought until I committed a blunder worse than an atheist signing up for a subscription to Christianity Today. Wouldn’t you think that by now I would have familiarized myself with the tricky spots enough to avoid the BBB?

There are two things that make me feel bad after writing my heart out and publishing my creations on my blog. In reverse order, they are learning that only a few people who I really care about – that would be family and close friends – take time to read my blog. Then, there is the primary and by foremost the worse thing that occurs. After I publish a post that I proofread in draft form no less than 30 times, I discover a major goof. 

It happened with my last post. If you are thinking that typos or misspelled words took the wind out of my sail, you are wrong. I found none. My blunder was much bigger than that. Straight to the point – I failed to properly insert the links. Did I hear someone say, “Oh, no you didn’t?”  Oh yes, I did. I cluttered my metaphorical “painting” with cumbersome URLs; strings of gibberish, in places that should have contained tidy links.

The problem has been corrected, and that’s my true confession. If you are thinking that blunder will cause me to shamefully abandon my blog and enroll in a twelve step program for Embarrassed Writers Anonymous you are so wrong. I don’t cave like that. I am not easily discouraged by a temporary set-back. In fact, if I were a captain, I would likely be one who goes down with her sinking vessel instead of abandoning ship. Now hand me a pail so I can start scooping the fast rising water and fling it overboard.

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Book Worms and Writing Cramps

by on ·Lifestyle and Culture

It is no secret that I love books and I love to write. I own bookcases filled with hardbacks, paperbacks, and even a few magazines containing articles worth rereading or storing for research purposes. My library shelves have been expanding for decades with books that I have purchased, found, or received as gifts. People may wonder why I keep collecting books, when I rarely have time to read them. My hope is that one day I will proudly tell myself that I have read and learned something from every book I own, and I have owned a thousand or more in my lifetime. Over the years, due to lack of space, I have given away a few hundred books. An action that is more painful than you might imagine. In the meantime I keep buying them, only not as frequently as I used to.

One thing that I enjoy more than reading is writing. I write at every opportunity. Any time and any place. When an idea comes to mind I scribble it on whatever is handy. If I am not tapping out fantasized best sellers on my desktop keyboard, I write in long-hand on lined pads. When I have a light bulb flash inspiration while I am reading, I record notes in the margin of my book. It doesn’t matter where I am — the doctor’s office, the bus terminal, the grocery store, where ever — if I get a blazing idea, I write it down. When I happen to be someplace where there is no paper available, I jot down key thoughts on my hand, and transfer them at the earliest opportunity to a more permanent place. Writing on the hand is a convenient last – and sometimes desperate — result in these times of laptops and tablet computers. Just ask Sarah Palin about hand notes. (Okay, I said that facetiously. But that’s a subject for another day.) As any dedicated writer will tell you, it is essential to seize the moment and record an inspirational thought before it slips away.  

When Potpourri101 was born, I told you that as she grows, I will be writing about anything and everything. Opinionated rants concerning news events and public figures. Or private reflections like this one.

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Another Stroke of Misfortune for Camping

by on ·Lifestyle and Culture

Family Radio minister, Harold Camping, the subject of the first post on this blog, suffered another stroke of misfortune last Thursday when he fell ill from a brain attack. The man who inaccurately predicted that Judgment Day would occur on May 21, 2011 is reportedly recovering from a mild stroke in a California hospital. Not to make light of a serious health condition, some of his followers have to be wondering if the self-proclaimed prophet foresaw the stroke coming. Some are saying that the fact that Camping’s speech was affected by the stroke may be a punishment from God while others ask would a just God punish someone for prophesying a date and hour that only He knows?

After May 21st slipped uneventfully into May 22nd, Camping explained that he had miscalculated the Rapture and now maintains that the world will actually end on October 21st.

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The Long and Short of It

by on ·Lifestyle and Culture

Okay, my very first post was much too long. I admit it. I really got carried away.  I tend to get long-winded when juggling words. But, I promise you from now on I will limit my posts to only a few paragraphs.

Is this short enough for you?

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Harold Camping’s Apocalypse

by on ·Lifestyle and Culture

Harold Camping is the 89 year old fundamentalist radio preacher who predicted that the world would end on May 21, 2011. Apparently, the wannabe “Almighty” Camping got trumped by a higher power, because the world didn’t end on the day he said it would. There was no fire and brimstone rainstorm and no Rapture, just business as usual – hardships, escalating crime, immorality, war, man-made and natural disasters. The only things raised to high Heaven on Camping’s predicted Judgment Day were the prices of food, gas, and housing; leading many to believe that we are already living in hell on earth. As far as the knuckleheads who quit their jobs, sold their homes, and gave away all of their savings in anticipation of the May 21st Doomsday, well, what can I tell you?  Lawyer up or seek counseling.

The octogenarian founder of the Family Radio station, whose nonprofit organization benefits from numerous donations from supporters, is the leader of a nondenominational Christian ministry that broadcasts out of Oakland, California.  Many of his followers emptied their bank accounts to print huge Judgment Day ads predicting the end of the world on May 21st. Others gave Camping their entire estate. Such was the case of 79 year old Doris Schmitt, who died on May 2nd in her Queens, New York home. Schmitt left $250,000 out of her $300,000 inheritance to Camping’s ministry. “Holy hell!” was probably  her family’s immediate reaction when they  learned about that. Needless to say, they were not pleased.

It is no laughing matter that other tragic events surrounded Camping’s prediction of The End. His false prophecy had deadly consequences for Nastya Zachinova. The parents of the 14 year old girl blame Camping’s apocalyptic fear factor as the reason their daughter committed suicide on May 21st.  

When Camping and his followers awakened on the 22nd to discover no change in the status quo, he admitted (ahem!) that he had – yet again – miscalculated The End. Knowing that people knew he had flubbed previous predictions about when the world would end, he gallantly refused to shift the blame for his latest blunder on Alzheimer or brain freeze. Instead he merely admitted to being “flabbergasted.”   Oh, snap! 

Trying to understand the mentality of people who commit blind loyalty to any individual or organization that leads them over a cliff is as mind-blowing as Sarah Palin’s convoluted explanation of Paul Revere’s famous midnight ride.  

Camping is not the only one who has miscalculated Judgment Day. For centuries, there have been Doomsday prophets — from astrologers to religious leaders to soothsayers — prophesying the end of the world. In the meantime, Camping’s latest blotched prediction made him infamous on YouTube. Many of the videos are humorous, some are just plain silly, but a few had me laughing out loud.  Check out YouTube.

Okay folks, this is . . . The End.

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