I've lost a day.

November second to be precise. It's gone entirely.

I haven't been abducted by aliens or anything like that (Although I wouldn't say no to any invite. Hear me up there?). It's just that when I was looking back through my archives for my chicken nacho recipe, that I found that the entry for November 2 was corrupted. It looks like the file got truncated in transit somewhere, leaving only part of the calendar behind.

Damned if I don't remember what I wrote either. It was entitled 'Quiet Evening', and the back and forth links on the surrounding pages indicate it was something mushy. Which means it probably was about Lisa.

Damn it all.

The pages at my former URL are already gone, so no luck there. I don't tend to keep the originals, although I have a few at my work computer, which I will be able to check tomorrow. If I do find it, I can rebuild the page. If not... sigh. I've cleaned up the links just in case.

Had a fire alarm here in the building yesterday morning. Lisa was just about ready to head out the door and I was about to hop in the shower when the alarm goes off.

Why does this sort of thing always happen when I don't have my contacts in?

We learned that if there ever were a fire in the building, Emma would survive, while Samantha will not. When loud noises happen, Emma tends to come find us, while Samantha finds the most secret bolthole she knows and stays there. You wouldn't think a cat could hide so well in a 700-square foot apartment that she couldn't be found, but she can do it.

False alarm, in any case. One of the switches downstairs was tampered with. Nice trick. Especially given that there are a large number of retired people in the building, who have trouble getting around quickly.

I've mentioned to Lisa once or twice over the last couple years that I wonder why more people don't write books and movies based on Christian mythology.

Seriously. We get fantasies all the time based on Greek and Roman gods, Norse mythology, Egypt, etc. With the exception of Armageddon films like 'End of Days' and stuff, we don't get anything that really looks at the meat of the Christian mythos, which is as rich as any other.

Part of that, I'm sure, is a desire not to offend. When Xena fought an evil six-armed Indian god in one episode last season, there were so many complaints from people who still worship them that the episode was yanked and hasn't been shown since. And everyone knows how bad orthodox Christians get when someone makes fun of their religion.

I just finished reading 'Left Behind', the first book in the 'Left Behind Series', which tells the story of what happens to those people left behind after the Rapture.

For those of you who are not up on their Christian references, the Rapture is supposedly a time (in the near future) when all true members of God's church, living and dead, will be swept bodily up to heaven in an instant. The rest of humanity will be left behind and suffer through seven years of really, really nasty stuff, including a planet-wide earthquake beyond anything ever experienced and the rising of the Antichrist.

Pretty juicy stuff, no?

The book suggests that everyone who not only believes in God, but who gives over their life to Jesus will be swept away in the Rapture, and everyone left will get one final chance to change their ways. God's final attempt to get everyone's attention.

To me, this is fascinating. The book examines the real-life consequences of God's church being removed from the Earth. You ever see the bumper sticker, 'If the Rapture hits now, grab my wheel'? Well, that's exactly it. Cars crash, planes plummet, and people in every walk of life suddenly disappear. Even the corpses of true believers get taken away, leaving empty coffins and graves behind.

A lot of good, wonderful people are left behind. People who have never done anything bad or 'sinned', but who simply never gave themselves over to God. People who simply mouthed the words or went to church on Christmas or Easter. Plus all the criminals, terrorists, fanatics, murderers... Yep. They are all still around.

Now the Rapture isn't something I believe in, myself. I believe in God, but it is my belief that God created us all to go our own way, and not to follow blindly what any man says is the word of God. I dislike the concept that if I don't blindly follow a path, I will be damned to suffering. That, to me, seems the worst kind of evil - to give us free will and then damn us for it.

I'd like to say that this book to me is just one big 'What if...?' Like any good science-fiction story, this book makes a suggestion and then goes ahead to examine what happens next.

Thing is, many Christian theologians and researchers claim to have found evidence that the signs of the Rapture are all around us. According to some claims, the re-forming of the nation of Israel in 1948 signaled that the end of time will come before all those who were alive at the time pass away. Which gives us 30 years or so.

I know, I know, people have been linking up the prophecies in Revelations for a hell of a long time and nothing has happened. Rapture scholars have as much credibility as followers of Nostradamus these days.

But I cannot say I am wholly unaffected by this book. I don't know if it is my Christian upbringing, or simply the fact that I saw a lot of myself in the heroes of the book - people who share the same intellectual belief as I do - but something raised the hairs on the back of my neck.

And I'm not exactly certain what it was.

Geez, man. Go read some comics or something.

How'd the move go again?

You ready for Christmas?

Take me home, big fella