Filcards Minkers

Fred and Caleb once again sneaked into my bags, this time in my big backpack for an overnight hike along the Deschutes River near the Dalles. When we stopped for lunch at this high point in the trail, the minkers jumped out of the nylon sack they were in. I snapped a quick picture of them hanging onto the side of the cliff, but stuffed them back in the sack (to their disappointment). I didn’t want to freak anyone out or tempt wildlife poachers to capture them. Besides, there were rattle snakes along the trail (we saw 3). I think Fred and Caleb are too friendly and naive to keep their distance and might get hurt through curiosity.

We were all surprised at work to receive a visit from a famous Sesame Street celebrity. Big Bird dropped in and took a seat at my friend Nate’s desk. I think he chose this desk because he liked the plant. Though he was only there over the weekend, he seemed to have a profound effect on the desk.

After grabbing my bowl of soup from the microwave at lunch today there was what looked kind of like a cursor on the side of the bowl. I was tempted to click on the soup, but then I realized my finger would probably just get wet a la soup. I was sort of curious, so I actually tried it. Sure enough, my finger was wet with soup.

One of these days Fred and Caleb will save this web site from degenerating into blog posts about pointless junk. I find their videos considerably more interesting than the weird stuff I write. Oh well, it activates my tiny brain somehow perhaps.

This song started out as yet another weird, senseless one. I was driving and thought of the expression, “Why you little”. It’s funny that it’s not meant to be completed. Same as “Son of a”, both expressions used in the same context, a half-hearted, fond expression of pseudo-frustration with someone. Because I thought it funny that they were both incomplete expressions, I thought it would be funny to say them in a way not normally heard. So I chanted them really slow and somewhat high pitched. Yeah, I’m weird.

So the original lyrics to the song were:

Why you little
Son of a

Then I thought, “Son of a” is often followed by negative words that I don’t like. So I decided to redeem the phrase. So the song evolved into this first 4-line stanza:

Why you little
Son of a
God Most High
Daughters too

And since my little weird song became something more serious, I decided to write a bunch of stanzas, twelve to be exact. After I was done, and I noticed there were twelve sections, I named the song “The Dozen Gospel Chant”. I like how it turns out something silly became something serious, but it still has an unusual delivery. I wanted to present the message in a way that people might actually listen. Maybe this form is just “different” enough for someone’s ears to hear the Good News afresh.

Listen to: The Dozen Gospel Chant

The Dozen Gospel Chant
Words and arrangement by Phil Steller
Written May 20, 2010

Listen here
Basic stuff
Stop your “I’ve
heard enough”

Eden: good
God and man
in the garden:
that’s the plan

Adam, Eve,
Serpent, Tree
Death was passed
to you and me

All have sinned,
deeply flawed
All were lost:
all but God

Adam’s choice:
fruit enticed
There’s still hope
and a plan

Son of God,
Jesus Christ
came to earth
as a man

Jesus died
in your place
so you’ll live
in His Place

Endless life,
length of days,
end of sin
and evil ways

You won’t die
but you’ll live
if your heart
to Him give

Turn from sin,
make a choice
Worship God,
in Him rejoice

Spread the News
Tell your friends
of a love
that never ends

Jesus is
the only Way
Nothing much
else to say

Interestingly enough, I just realized that the original plan – having 3 syllables per line – turns out to make each stanza twelve syllables… another cool instance of the “dozen” title concept. However, because of how some of them flowed, there are some 4-syllable lines, so it’s not a perfected execution. But the thought that “counts” is pretty cool anyway.

My intent after recording this song (one take, not polished) was to add some really powerful and interesting drums to create a stark and catchy rhythm to go with the simplistic chanting. But I didn’t do that, needless to say. If it becomes some sort of an internet overnight sensation, perhaps I’ll add some drums.

My Mom was a huge blessing to me by helping me clean my old apartment. On the way home to my new place I wrote a song, “I Lost My Tuna”. The origin is an evolution of words, as are many things I say. I started out by singing some song that was stuck in my head, coming up with new accompaniments and variations and such. Usually when I do this I am often so “adventurous” with my variations that I lose track of the original melody. It’s at this point when I detect a note or two that are way off and give up. Such is what happened this evening, so I sang a short song, “I Lost My Tune”. This quickly evolved into “I Lost My Tuna”. Liking the silliness, I continued on, adding other lyrics to the new line.

Listen to: I Lost My Tuna

I Lost My Tuna
Words and Music by Phil Steller

I lost my tuna
It swam away
I lost my tuna
Out in the bay
I lost my tuna
Hip hip hurray
It’s a tuna shopping day

I saw this mural in my old neighborhood while driving to work recently. I’m pretty sure it hasn’t always been there. I surely would have noticed it before. If you want to see it for yourself, it’s on the west side of the street on Bel Aire Lane, in between Denney and Hall in Beaverton, Oregon.

I’ve always wanted the freedom to paint a mural in my room or somewhere else. Not a sensible option when renting.

Yay, it suddenly occurred to me to make a Facebook group & page on Facebook for the Minkers. Fred and Caleb are pretty excited about it – though they don’t really know what Facebook is.

Why have both a page and a group? Don’t know. It’ll probably be annoying. It’s annoying that Facebook has both, since they are almost the same, but have slightly different features for each. I created both so they would be “reserved”, since I was able to get them.

Minkers Page

Minkers Group

My Mom, Grandma and I drove down to Gold Beach for Easter a couple weeks ago. Little did I know, the minkers sneaked into my bag. They have done this more times than I can remember, and yet I always forget to check my bags before getting in the car. They even made it all the way to Brazil once! Stealthy little guys.

Fred and Caleb surprised us all by popping out of my bag midway down the freeway to Gold Beach.

When we stopped at McKay’s grocery store in Gold Beach to pick up some last minute things for Easter dinner before landing at Aunt Cathie’s house, Mom asked if I needed anything. I said, “Nope, unless you want to get some bananas for the minkers.” You know how Grandmas are with spoiling their grandchildren, or in this case grandminkers. Sure enough, she came out of the store with a few bananas!

Just to prove they went to the beach, I took a photo of Fred and Caleb in Bandon on the way back up highway 101.

I don’t remember why I did this, but I decided to make an alphabet out of my fingernail clippings. Here it is for all the enjoyment that it obviously brings to everyone in their life. Woo hoo for you because it’s so cool and interesting.

Fred: “It was good to talk to you on the phone today!”

Caleb: “Yeah, hi Grandma!”

Filcard: “Silly minkers.”