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On June 20th, 2009, I organized a group of 16 brothers and sisters from our congregation in Lake Mary, FL to go up to Keystone Heights to help with the preaching work there. Keystone Heights is a small, rural area near Gainsville. There were only 5 local publishers who met with us. Their congregation is small in relation to their territory, so they really need the help. I worked with my brother Aaron and my sister Heather in the morning. We had a lot of fun and were able to speak to quite a few people. Other groups had even more success. One brother and sister started a Bible study. For the most part their were very few bad experiences, though one young brother got chased by a dog, and another one got chased by a parrot. Here is a picture of some of the group breaking for lunch:
It's been a little while since we finished this project, but I've been lazy about writing for this blog so I'm just now getting around to posting a few more pictures of the (nearly) completed project. These were all taken on the last day I was there. We received and helped set up the chairs that day.
I thought I'd share some more pictures from the Kingdom Hall remodel in Crescent City. Here's a shot of the auditorium with all of the demolition done. That's drywall stacked on the left side of the picture. One of our responsibilities in receiving was to count the drywall and make sure we received enough.
Last weekend the RBC set up the cook tent and began providing cooked meals for the volunteers. We've had some good stuff, and they do a good job keeping the lines moving fast.
Last weekend the stucco crew began work on the exterior of the building.
The tile crew also did their job last weekend. You can't see the tile here because it's covered to prevent damage, but it covers the entire lobby floor as well as the restrooms.
Here is the only structural change they're making to the building. They've added a wall in the area where the literature counters used to be. I think this is to seperate that area from the main auditorium, but I don't know for sure if it will still be where the literature counter is or not.
That's it for now. I'm looking forward to going back this weekend. It sounds like the painters will be doing a lot of work on Friday. I'm not sure what else is scheduled, but I'm sure it will be exciting.
About three years ago I spotted this book in a bookstore. The classic Japanese illustration on the cover jumped out at me as I walked past it. I bought it right then, but for some reason it’s taken me until just recently to finish reading it. It’s not that it isn’t interesting; I just kept getting distracted with other things.
Shinju is a historical mystery novel by Laura Joh Rowland. It’s based in Japan during the late 1600s, and follows the story of a police detective named Sano Ichiro as he investigates what appears to be a double suicide. He believes that the supposed lovers were actually murdered, and investigation soon produces evidence that this is true. In his pursuit of truth and justice, Ichiro faces many challenges that a modern detective would not encounter due to cultural restrictions and standards of propriety of the day. In the end, he discovers that the murders were just a small part of an intricate conspiracy with the ultimate aim of assassinating the shogun and starting a revolution.
Ichiro makes an interesting protagonist. He’s not just a detective but also a samurai, a man raised with martial training and a strong sense of duty. As a samurai, Ichiro is a man of action and a capable swordsman. His sense of duty is both a cause for inner conflict and a strong motivator for him. At first he almost determines to cease his investigations when his immediate superiors frown on his efforts. However, while his duty to them demands that he obey, he feels an even stronger duty to the pursuit of justice. Eventually he finds fulfillment when he discovers that his perseverance means the protection of the shogun, the highest lord to whom he owes his allegiance.
In reading this book I also learned some interesting things about ancient Japanese culture. When Ichiro wanted an autopsy of the dead man to determine the true cause of his death, he had to pursue it in secret because of the cultural taboo against cutting on dead bodies. One of the evidences against the original assumption that the two victims were lovers who had committed suicide together was the fact that the man was a known homosexual, and such a practice was socially accepted in Japan that long ago. It was also interesting to learn that the class distinctions of the day would allow a samurai to kill a commoner with little penalty, but murder of a samurai could result in execution. It was also interesting to learn about the arrangements imposed on the Japanese noblemen by the shogun in order to control them. All of the great landowners were required to maintain a luxurious estate in the capitol in addition to their estates on their own land. They were also required to keep their families there in the capitol. This meant that if they attempted to rebel the shogun could hold their families hostage and seize their properties in the city.
Overall, it was a very interesting read. Ichiro was an intelligent man, a skilled warrior, and a man of some character. The plot remained interesting from beginning to end, with the stakes gradually rising as the investigation progressed so that the excitement continued to mount.
Roleplaying
Because of my obsession with roleplaying games, I tend to absorb most material with an eye for what I could take from it and apply to gaming. Here are some ideas from Shinju.
Cultural Elements in Setting: The setting of historical Japan contributed a lot to the conflicts and complications of this story. It might be fun to play a game set in this period. I’ve never played a game where the setting gave much attention to cultural quirks and class distinctions. This story demonstrated that such elements can be powerful elements for bringing characters to life.
Mystery: I’ve played a couple of games where mystery was an element of the plot. In the game InSpectres, the player characters solve mysteries, but the solution to the mystery is provided by the players themselves. In the game Dogs in the Vineyard, the player characters have to investigate the goings-on of each town they visit, but the focus is less on solving mysteries and more on finding solutions to complex moral dilemmas. A game where the player characters investigate a mystery with the simple goal of discovering who-done-it and bringing that person to justice could be an interesting experience, though it would require careful attention from the GM to create a believable mystery with just the right amount of clues so that it is neither too easy to solve nor impossible to overcome.
Last week we started work on a major remodel of the Kingdom Hall in Crescent City, Florida. Here’s some “before” shots of the exterior:
And moving inside, here's the lobby:
The library:
The auditorium:
The literature counter is right off the main auditorium:
Here's the conference room:
A shot of the men's room:
Here's where I'll be working mostly. These are the containers where we store materials for the project. This time we have a tent just outside the main container, though the trees on this property provide plenty of shade as it is.
Here is the computer cart Jeremy built for us. It has a pull-out drawer for a laptop, a printer/scanner for printing purchase orders and scanning ship tickets, and in the bottom compartment are car batteries and a converter for power.
Jeremy really likes building stuff, and he's good at it. Here's Gareth helping him build a gravel sorter. The kingdom hall had a foot and a half of gravel all around the parameter of the building that had become mixed with a lot of dirt and leaves and such, so the brothers wanted a way to sift out the gravel from the rest. The way this thing works is that shovel the gravel and dirt into the top end, and then as someone rocks it back and forth with the handles, the gravel rolls down into a waiting wheelbarrow while the dirt falls through the wire mesh.
Just the other day we received all of the frames and planks for the scaffolding:
We also received the portoilets:
Last Friday they began demolition. They tore the siding off the outside of the building, took down the ceiling and insulation, and tore out a lot of the lobby and restrooms.
A local brother who is a retired mason also replaced some brick on the front-right corner of the building:
That's what's going on so far. I'm looking forward to being back there next week. Thursday or Friday we'll probably be receiving the chairs, which is a big deal.
Last week I washed windows at probably the biggest house we work at. This house is located in Windermere, Florida, and is the only three story house we do. Last time we washed only the outside of the windows, and it still took three of us five hours to complete. Here are some pictures of the house:
I’ve had this idea for a while now, but I just recently figured out exactly how I’d like to do it. Here’s the plan:
Organize 6-12 people into 3 groups. Each group needs a vehicle and a cell phone with a camera and the ability to send picture messages. I’ll send to each group a picture of a landmark somewhere in Sanford or Lake Mary. The landmark will be a recognizable one, but the picture may be an odd angle or something that would make it a little more difficult to find. Once a group has found the landmark in their picture, they must take a picture of themselves at the landmark and send it to me. Then I’ll send them another picture of a different landmark. Each group will follow a separate path, visiting different landmarks, but they should all end up at the same destination where I’ll be waiting with a prize.
If a group is having difficulty finding one of their landmarks they can let me know and I’ll text them a clue. I’ll have 2 or 3 clues prepared for each landmark, with the final clue all but giving it away, but you can only ask for a clue every 10 minutes or so.
Let me know if this sounds fun, and if you would like to participate. Also, let me know if you think of anyone else who might like to join.
Over the last few months I’ve been involved with a project of the Regional Building Committee #10 to build a new Kingdom Hall in Oviedo, FL. It’s been a great experience. I’ve had a lot of fun working for Jehovah and my brothers and sisters. I’ve even made some new friends in the process, which is great. I thought I’d share some pictures I took over the course of the project.
This is fairly early in the project. A large group of brothers and sisters are working to pour the concrete for the parking lot.
This is the interior of the hall with only the foundation, rough plumbing, and block walls up.
These three shipping containers are where we stored most of our materials. As a member of the receiving team, this is where I spent most of my time.
Here is the interior of one of the containers where I spent much of the day sitting and monitoring materials as they came in and went out.
Here brothers and sisters prep the outside of the block walls. By the end of the project these scaffolding had to be disassembled, stacked, and all pieces accounted for by receiving. It was more work than it looks, and proved to be kind of a pain.
Here’s a shot of the main entryway as the project was coming along.
Here’s some of our receiving team taking shelter from the rain.
And here is one of the containers packed full of materials. It was interesting to see just how much materials gets used on a Kingdom Hall build.
Here’s a shot of the mechanism used to unload pallets of shingles from the delivery truck. This crane folds up right behind the cab of the truck and is barely identifiable. Then it unfolds to about twice the height shown in this picture and is manipulated by remote control to unload the pallets. It was cool to watch.
This is the view from the storage containers as the project progresses. Here the roof is on and individual departments have set up their tents and trailers on the parking lot slab.
The hustle and bustle going on inside the hall during the final weekends of the build.
Because the brother in charge of receiving is very creative, and a skilled carpenter, our job sometimes involves building things. This wooden box will hold a tent between projects.
Here’s Latifa goofing off (as usual) while the carpet is being put down.
A look at the drop ceiling before the ceiling tiles are put in.
This is only some of the sod that was ordered for this site. The brothers in the local congregations are going to have a lot of lawn maintenance to do.
Finally, the rest are some shots of the near finished product.
For the next RBC project I’d like to make blog posts throughout the duration of the project, rather than just making one long post after the fact.