Thursday, October 25, 2001 10:58 AM A day off from being a week in on 'Europe-Fall01' and I thought I'd take some inventory: Music brought for the soundtrack to UF01, but almost never listened to because radio in Europe is really good and whatever is on the radio over here always becomes our soundtrack for that trip (for example our Bravo double CD from our spring trip 01): 1. U2 - All that you can't leave behind 2. Nelly Furtado - Whoa, Nelly! 3. Joey McIntyre - Meet Joe Mac 4. David Gray - White Ladder 5. Five For Fighting - America Town 6. Jeffrey Gaines - self titled 7. Christopher Williams - One man service station 8. Over the Rhine - Films for radio 9. and a lot of mp3's :) Things just plain forgotten: 1. Power adapter, without which computer no good. Solution: our hosts Maria and Peter went and got one for us. 2. Floppy disk, for transferring journal from computer to internet-connected computer. Solution: no problem, floppies laying about. 3. Cotton balls. Solution: makeup remover cotton thingies approx. 50 cents for big package in Slovakia. 4. European Road Atlas. Solution: bummed one. 5. Invisible Monsters book. Wanted to read it on this trip. Darn. Solution: maybe I'll get through my library book instead. 6. Anti-itch cream. Reason: it's cold here, no sweating, no itching, me thought. Facts: under blanket at night still sweat like crazy, even thought w/o blanket you freeze; still sweat carrying luggage all over London in the tubes, which feel like 100 degrees F at all times! Other statistics: 1. Small packages of Kleenex gone through week one: 2-3 2. Zinc tablets: 1/day 3. On second pair of jeans. 4. Days leather jacket needed thus far: 2 5. Projected future use of leather jacket: 100% 6. Full meals actually paid for: 1 7. Meat intake increase: 500% 8. Magazine purchases: 2, both for Daniel 9. Bed making time per day: down 100% 10. Time wondering why the rest of the world hasn't figured out to do bed linens in the European way: up 100% Miriam has these cards that on one hand are kind of cheesy but on the other hand are totally cool. I like things like that. Here's what they say: <blockquote> How to be an artist Stay loose. Learn to watch snails. Plant impossible gardens. Invite someone dangerous to tea. Make little signs that say Yes! and post them all over your house. Make friends with freedom and uncertainty. Look forward to dreams. Cry during movies. Swing as high as you can on a swingset, by moonlight. Cultivate moods. Refuse to "be responsible." Do it for love. Take lots of naps. Give money away. Do it now. The money will follow. Believe in magic. Laugh a lot. Celebrate every gorgeous moment. Take moonbaths. Have wild imaginings. Transformative dreams. And perfect calm. Draw on the walls. Read everyday. Imagine yourself magic. Giggle with children. Listen to old people. Open up. Dive in. be free. With everything. Entertain your inner child. You are innocent. Build a fort with blankets. Get wet. Hug trees. Write love letters. </blockquote> I've had some time to consider all the things I love about Miriam lately. There have been plenty of beautiful women cross my path on this trip. Any trip to Bratislava has that result. But every day I'm with Miriam, I realize a little more how perfect she is for me. How much I truly love her personality. How beautiful she is. She got hit on yesterday! How funny. How much I trust her. How much we compliment each other. Life is good sometimes. Like now. Peace to you and love one another. 6615438daniel millerThursday, October 25, 2001publishWednesday, October 24, 2001 2:00 PM More thoughts on Vaux (www.vaux.net) last Sunday. Refreshing. Joy-inducing. Validating. It was so great to be with people who immediately understood where we were coming from. Who immediately had knowledgeable responses to what we were talking about. Hopefully we too provided a little insight into what things are like in the States. But the ideas that flowed were tr� cul. So many amazing things and ideas. Someone who was working on non-linear processing. Another who works with a company in the States boxing up the labyrinth project. Felt his struggles with the marketability of such a thing, but also the joys of royalty checks. Had an amazing worship time and just a quiet reflective and peaceful time. Miriam balled like crazy. I had a million inspiring thoughts. Then we just kinda hung out and next thing you know we've been talking for another hour and we're going to the pub with the core group of people, still just talking about what they all are doing and what we're trying to do, etc., etc. Have I used the word great a lot yet? More thoughts from being at Miriam's grandparents (maternal) yesterday. I realized, truly realized, the truth about possessions, materialism, greed and money. In a story. We showed up and grandfather (star� otec or just otec�pronounced oh-chetz) was asleep, so first we only surprised grandmother. I don't think she shows much drama anyway, so it was hard to gauge her shock level at seeing us show up at her door. But we helped her with drying the dishes and dumping outside the dirty dishwater (major old school, heat the water on the stove and then dump it outside-gotta love it!). And as I came inside, there was otec standing at the top of the stairs (this is a short flight of about three stairs that go down to the kitchen). He looks at me (I'm assuming he didn't see Miriam and grandmother walk by just a few seconds before me) with this look of shock and I say, "Ahoy!" And he goes "You're a miracle!" It is hard to describe the subtle sensitivities of otec's humor but suffice it to say that it was very, very funny. Soon we were sitting again in the kitchen with both otec and grandmother, and he was asking us, "Are you on your way to heaven?" Again there was a subtle element of humor to his comment, but at the same time he had a point (or two). He is old, finds it very hard to breathe an increasing majority of the time; he gets fluid in his lungs and has to take a diuretic medication every day to prevent them from completely filling up and suffocating�however this is apparently the way which his body will finally fail him, and the apparent imminence of this event is the reason for our visit this fall. Indeed, he said "It is so great for us to see each other again while we are still alive." (Remember I'm writing all this from Miriam's translations to me on the fly, so you have to imagine him speaking in Slovak to us.) So he's asking us "Are you on your way to heaven," I think, partly because he is old and thinks about death a lot himself, and because of our surprise thinks maybe it really is just a miracle that we're appearing in his kitchen. However he's much more lucid than that. He had a more powerful message to deliver. He says that the Bible says that it is harder for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than a rich man to gain the kingdom of heaven. He said that it is good that we came to Slovakia because it will be easier now for us to get to heaven now that we're with the poor people, so to speak. (Again remember I'm going from the memory of a translation here, but my point is what I learned yesterday and its profundity.) 8:36 PM �just had a great time in Bratislava that I'll have to catch you up on as soon as I finish that last story� He told us this joke/story about two priests in Slovakia. One was named Hlinka and the other Tiso. Hlinka died somewhat earlier than Tiso. He arrived at the gates of heaven, and was denied entry. As he stood there at the gates of heaven wondering what to do, a dirty beggar came to the gates. He knocked at the gates and they asked, "Who's there?" The beggar said, "A beggar," and they let him right in. A next begger came before the gate. Before he went inside, however, priest Hlinka told him, "You can't go into heaven in those clothes! Here, we'll exchange clothes," and proceeded to switch his nice clothes for the beggar's rags. Hlinka knocked once more at the gates. From inside came, "Who's there?" He said, "A beggar," and they let him right in. As soon as he got inside, Hlinka looked frantically for a telephone. As soon as he found one, he called down to Bratislava to his friend Tiso and said, "Make sure no-one in Slovakia has any money-only beggars get into heaven!" {a little Slovak history for those of you who might not know for whatever reason ;) - Hlinka and Tiso were actually both priests and both became government officials in Slovakia before WWII. Tiso was president during the time that Slovakia was a fascist state, just before and during WWII (under Hitler). It was during and after his time that things really went downhill.} So here we are tonight and we just happened to see three people who live away from Bratislava but were all in town for some business of another. This was great for us, because now that's two towns, both two hours from Bratislava, that we do not have to drive to. The conversation and company was fantastic with both Samuel Lacho and the Maria and Peter Wiesner. They're some of our dearest friends in all of Slovakia. I said after dinner with Maria and Peter, all my favorite people are in Slovakia, so we have to move here! We talked about how in my dream life we live in Europe and live off of my songwriting (and other writing and things). They said it was closer than we think. I love that. That they would say that. That they would make my heart soar. { "�you may call it an unreasoning optimism, you may call it obtuse; but the fact of the matter is we have�three days�to reach that treasure�" } It's funny that culturally, people here are more beat down, hopeless, and lacking a basic integrity that generally grows with a sense of hope (easily seen as a direct result of the communist reign of 40 plus years�actually we just had a long conversation with our hosts Maria and Peter Figura about Slovak history and suffice to say it's complicated, and very interesting!). But the exceptions are so exceptional! They have so much life, love, hope, joy, and they infect those around them with the same. The future and the life of this place is wrapped up in a small percentage of highly trained and covert subversives. 6588060daniel millerWednesday, October 24, 2001publishhey i'm exceptionally short on time this time but here goes last night. vaux in london. a freaking mazing. you guys there are amazing. we loved every minute of it. we got to talk with a bunch of the people behind it afterward and it was the most refreshing night in a very very long time for both miriam and i. it was so great to be able to attend something and receive from the service as opposed to worry about how it's going or at least having put all the work into already. it was so relaxing and deep and all those things that we need and long for and just don't get very often. the service was on gift. well, vaux, you all were an amazing gift to us. your auras shone bright and we basked in the light like two wilted plants that left green and shining once again. thanks to all. we wish we could be with you more often. we're in slovakia today and it's been great. the weather is unusually warm here, which means just absolutely perfect for us. jeans and tee shirt weather. a nice cul breeze. wow. we haven't seen any family yet, so the surprises are still in store. i will let you know how that goes starting tomorrow. nobody knows we're here. love europe. love people. love god. in his peace, daniel 6531758daniel millerMonday, October 22, 2001publishhey all i'm really short on time but here's a quick note. first of all: british fucking airways. ok that's unfair. nothing about air travel has changed in recent months. it still sucks. they still expect 5' nuthing people to sit in those horrible seats. its still a bear, meaing you have to fucking bear it but its well worth it once yer here. london has been great as always. not too cold not too hot. lots of culture to soak in even it you're just walking down the street hearing all the different languages and seeing all the different styles. tonight we're going to vaux which i'm very excited about. more later. only thing is i have'nt had curry or fish and chips yet! what the? we went to this terrible mexican place last night (planned by somebody else, of course) and we're only here two nights after all. tonight we're not really hungry after a late lunch with the wonderful people we stayed with last night, but we might grab some fish and chips on the way home from vaux if we're hungry. really looking forward to slovakia and will of course have lots of time there for this sort of thing. cheers! daniel 6504637daniel millerSunday, October 21, 2001publish