David Kaye: Day 11,12 &13

I know I’m really late posting this guys…I’m sorry.

Februrary 9, 2008:

    I looked at my shampoo bottle this morning. It is still 3/4 ths full! I have been showering everyday, I don’t know what the deal is! I guess I am just a frugal guy! I take pride in that….Do you take pride in your shampoo usage? I bet not!

   Me, Bill, and his friend Geoff’s grandson Darell read through the book of John. I haven’t read it in a long time, but I’d like to share with you guys anyway. Have you ever heard the term ”Born again Christian”? We’ll it’s actually a redundancy. The Bible only speaks of one type of Christian- that is someone who is “born again”. In John 3 Nicodemus comes to Jesus at NIGHT (not wanting to be seen in the company of Jesus publicly) and says “Rabbi” (which was flattery) “We know you are a teacher who has come from God. “For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him” (We should note this because nicodemus makes the Educated claim that Jesus’ work is authenticated by God).

Jesus cuts through the flattery. He says “Truly,Truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kindom of God.” Anytime we see this “truly,truly”(Hebrew rhetorical device meant to convey messages of  utmost importance) we should listen. Apperantly there are many people within the church who say you do not have to be born again to be a Christian, but that’s not what Jesus said.

This is all part of a sermon by R.C. Sproul so check it out.

February 10, 2008

I listened to the rain pitter patter against the skylight today. I can’t believe I have been here 12 days! I’m am running out of things to do! I guess when I was out in the real world I spent most of my time in cars. Going too and from and from and too. It wasn’t really a bad thing. I actually kind of miss it. I spent a lot of time talking to friends or sleeping in backseats or staring out the window at passing cars. There were city lights and country fields, mountains covered in snow, and innumerable faces. I’ll see it again soon.

Februrary 11, 2008

I woke up this morning to Steve staring at me. I wanted to scream, but why give him the satisfaction?

 

Okay I don’t know if I can make anything else up. I love writing, but when your not really in Walmart it’s hard to fake.

William Petruzzo: Day 11

I spent about three hours talking to Steve in the music section today. I think he’s going through and cataloging all of it. He was telling me about Margarett, one of the employees here. She was worried about her son, but apparently he asked her if he could go to church with her this Sunday. Steve, and apparently Margarett, were really excited about it.

Geoff wasn’t here to keep reading John today, but his grandson Darrell came in. That was pretty surprising; Also Leanna and a new person Rachael came and joined. Dave also sat and read John with us. It was another awesome day.

Having the cot to sleep in almost makes it not so bad to be here. It feels like cheating. What’s also kind of like cheating is that I’m starting to make so many friends with the employees almost all my meals are taken care of without having to buy anything. I can spend more money on cleaning supplies (I’m still keeping up the bathroom) and toiletries. But even with all that crap, I’ve got tons of money left over. I feel a little guilty about it actually.

Anyway, I’ve had might nightly dose of Monk and I’m going to go to bed. I thought I’d sleep in the CD rack again tonight, but Steve was there. I’ll gladly take the cot again!

David Kaye: Day 10

Walmart has a great selection of Frank Sinatra. Today I listened to “Somethin’ Stupid” (Notice it’s in quotation marks, the song wasn’t actually stupid). I have to say it is by far the most romantically fantastic song I have ever heard. It starts out with the words “I know I stand in line until you think you have the time to spend an evening with me……” then he says “and then I go and spoil it all by saying something stupid like I love you.” “I can see it in your eyes that you despise the same old lies you heard the night before….” “The time is right, your perfume fills my head, the stars get red and oh the night so blue. And then I go and spoil it all by saying something stupid like “I love you”. So you can see how he can’t hold back saying that he loves her, but knows when he does it he ruins the moment. Then at the end of the song the chorus rings “I love you”, “I love you”, “I love you”. He does love her ; so much so that it doesn’t matter if he ruins moments or interrupts the evening he is enjoying so much. He has to say it and the song is a beautiful description of why.

I wish I had more John Bunyan to share,but not today. I haven’t been keeping to it. Some say it is good to have a passion to which you are unwaveringly devoted. I feel that men have there ups and downs in life and because of them no one can pursue something with equal fervency day in and day out. This is why it is necessary to trust in the Lord who by nature is one of steadfast character, fervent love, and grace for the sinner.

 

Stephen Unthank: Days 9 & 10

The great poet and philosopher Saul Williams relates music to the progression of the soul directed by the bass, kick & snare of your heart. This is great to meditate on and has some truth behind its intent. Its day 10 here in the belly of the beast, inside the worldwide street pusher of globalization through deforestation and ecological pissery, and I have found my peace and rest in the most universally recognized place of rest – the music section. In this neurotic antinomy of capitalism where the worlds greatest nation is pushed into greatness and prosperity by letting a free market rule but simultaneously is a corporation known for its rape of this once green planet in hopes of attaining that all important green dollar and pushing aside small-town main street businesses, killing the heartland of America in its own growth, I find time for escape in the music of Jimmy Hendrix, Chrisette Michele, Third Eye Blind, and Lil Wayne. I immediately deplore the ravage business ethics of my new home but center myself and find peace in its small hub of music bliss. I can’t help the hypocricy, I’m American. Every Day Low Prices – Every Day Family Businesses Perish.

William Petruzzo: Day 10

I’m definitely a little bit taken back. Geoff came back in today. It was his day off. He brought with him his (other) grandson Darrell, I think he’s seventeen, and another woman, Leanne who also works here at Walmart. We had another bible study in the furniture department. Geoff again was chock full of questions. Turns out Darrell is a Christian and ecstatic that his grandfather was going to a bible study. Leanne stayed kind of quiet, but she was tracking with us. She had a pretty big fat worn bible; who knows.

I just got finished watching Die Hard 1 and 2 with Stephen and it’s time to go to sleep. I’ll keep everyone up to date!

David Kaye: Day 9

Steve and I played Hide and seek again today. I saw him out of the corner of my eye and pulled out the nerf gun. He looked at me and pulled out something that looked a lot like a pistol. It was a BB gun! Why would he do that?? Why?! I only have fifteen dollars, but if I wait until tomorrow I’ll have enough to buy a BB rifle.

This is how it’s gonna go down. After browsing the glass case and buying my rifle of choice I’ll climb the Aisle wall at the far side of the store. Having also purchased a scope I will mount it onto the Gun. After that I will cover myself with a trash bag and wait. Far off on the other side of the store Steve will be doing his daily clothing section perusing. With one eye on the scope I’ll take a deep breath and nail him in his Buttocks!

Later on we’ll watch a movie with Bill.

 

William Petruzzo: Day 9

It was weird. I got to bed so much later than normal last night and I just slept in. I slept until like 2:30 in the afternoon. It was so weird. None of the loading bay stuff woke me up or anything. It was weird. I decided to clean the bathroom anyways, even though the store was open.

Geoff didn’t work today, so we didn’t get to have another bible study, but I’m looking foreword to the next time he’s here.

I discovered something excellent tonight! You know when people return DVD’s to Walmart because they think their defective? Well, the truth is, they’re usually not really defective. DVD’s fall under the category of ‘small merchandise,’ which means that at the end of the day, they just sit back there behind the customer service desk until they’ve eventually shipped back to the distributor. There’s all kinds of awesome movies back there. I’m about to start watching Monk Season 3 on one of the TV’s in electronics. Hopefully Dave or Steve will join me.

David Kaye: Day 8

I woke up this morning to the sudden thought that I haven’t seen the sky in 8 days! I’ve spent the first week frequenting the back of the store and it has really warped my concept of time. For me the mornings are determined by the selection of staff. Margret and Geoff are both here as well as mary-anne, PJ (who works the register), and Trisha in the photo studio. The nights are occupied by my lonely friend Allen and the small Filipino lady that reorganizes the shoes when all the customers have gone home.

If you haven’t seen the sky in a while what would you do?? You could either a) tape a picture of the sky on the ceiling and stare at it or b) listen to the weather and daydream. I chose option b. It didn’t help to hear words like “Gorgeous”, “Sunny”, “Cool Breeze” and “The upper seventies”. I turned the radio off immediately.

My mom came to visit me today. I asked her if she could bring me some sunshine, but I know not even the best mother could grant that. However she did bring me clothes from home and a couple of C.D.s that I wanted. She also brought me assurance. She said “Your young so your stupid”, but she said it with an assuring smile. I’m glad she’s not pissed at me for neglecting precious college time.

A deeper burden has been upon me; it is the one of my sin. john Bunyan says “O my dear wife and you the children of my bowels, I your dear friend am in myself undone, by reason of a burden that lieth hard upon me: moreover I am for certain informed that this our city will be burned with fire from heaven.” After saying these things Bunyan went out of his house and began to cry. When all seemed hopeless a man named evangelist came to him and pointed  toward a city wall far off called the wicked gate. of it was said: “He that will enter in must first without Stand knocking at the gate, nor need he doubt, That is a knocker,but to enter in, for God can love him, and forgive his sin.” I feel free knowing these things…It is better than fresh air.

William Petruzzo: Day 8

Neither of the guys wanted the cot last night, so I gladly used it again. And again, another wonderful night sleep. I got my new sweats on, fresh undies, I’m bathing pretty much every day in the back bathroom. It’s funny, I’m starting to settle in here. My mom came in today and took my old clothes from me to go and wash them. She said she’d bring them back. I told it was kind of like cheating so she should take her time. She didn’t, she brought them back about three hours later. That’s my mom for you though.

Dave and Steve somehow got their hands on a few copies of The Pilgrim’s Progress so we’re reading through that together. That’s bringing in some nice routine and the book, while wildly difficult to read, is really good.

I had a bible study with Geoff today after he got off work. I was actually surprised, when he got off he came and searched me out. We went back into the furniture section. There’s a little elevated platform with a bunch of pseudo room displays. One of them has two chairs in it. We climbed up onto the platform and sat in the chairs together. We had a great conversation. We just decided to start reading the book of John. Geoff had about a million questions and thoughts, so we only got through like three verses. That’s alright though. He liked using the King James Version—in fact he bought the one he was reading. He said he wanted to get together again right away and read some more. I told him I’ve got nothin’ but time.

Mary-Anne, one of the other employees, she’s a believer, walked by while Geoff and I were reading. She almost stopped and said something, but I guess she had other things to do. After Geoff went home, she was getting off, she came up to me and asked how I got Geoff to read the bible; apparently he’s always been really hostile to the idea. I was pretty encouraged.

Off to bed; goodnight!

Stephen Unthank: Day 8

Today has been great.  Last night Dave, Bill and I read through the beginning of John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. The joy of that must have carried through.  The first song that played over the music system was Tony Toni Tone’s It Never Rains In Southern California.  I love Raphael Saadiq, he has one of the best voices of our time.  That song set the mood for the rest of my day so far.  Another song I love but I haven’t heard in a while is Jill Scott’s He Loves Me, it’s so filled with passion and fun. I wish they would play that song here.

Around 3:oo the funniest thing happened.  I ran into a friend of mine that came to get some supplies for her kindergarten class.  It was one of my best friends Jaquie, who i haven’t seen in a couple months.  We used to hang out all the time, me her and her boyfriend Elijah(another of my great friends), but our busy schedules I guess got in the way.  Well anyway, we ran into each other and it was cool, we did the whole “hey haven’t seen you in a while, that shouldn’t be” thing, gave hugs and I asked what she was doing here.  She said she was doing a project for her class and needed some supplies.  She asked me and thats when it got fun.  I told I was living here for 30 days and she didn’t believe me.  It took me actually getting one of the workers to verify that he’s seen me here for that past couple of days for her to believe me. HA! You should have seen her face, it looked like she pooped her pants.  Well after we discussed what it’s been like and told her some funny stories, she did the most awesome thing and went out and got me some sushi. (We always used to go eat sushi)

So far it’s been a cool day, but that’s to be expected when everyday is low prices.