23?!!

Wow, I have now written 23 hymn parodies.  Can't believe it!!  When I started writing these, I figured I would just write a few and that would be it.  But for some reason, they just seem to keep coming to me.  Almost the minute I finish one, another one starts coming to me.  But in reality, I have pretty much gotten hooked on writing these - plus it's very cathartic for me.

Something funny.  In response to a post on the Sharing the Gospel through Social Media page on Facebook (which was put up to honor Joseph Smith on the 167th anniversary of his death on June 27 - and his supposed martyrdom), I posted one of my hymn parodies, entitled "Who is the Man?"  This hymn parody is set to the tune of Praise to the Man, #27 (which IMO glorifies Joseph Smith almost to the point of deity).  Someone (obvious TBM) commented that it must have taken me a long time to write that hymn parody, that it wasn't very clever, and that I should be doing something more productive with my time.  Another TBM commented, though, that although it is obvious that I have "mad writing skills" (which I took as a big compliment), I am misusing my talents for this purpose.  Oh, well... can't please everyone, now can you?

As numbers go, 23 apparently has some significance - and even an "enigma."  According to the linked Wikipedia article, there is some interesting information about the number 23:

23 Enigma - refers to the belief that most incidents and events are directly connected to the number 23, some modification of the number 23, or a number related to the number 23.

The 23 Phenomena - Robert Anton Wilson cites William S. Burroughs as being the first person to believe in the 23 enigma. Wilson, in an article in Fortean Times, related the following story:  "I first heard of the 23 enigma from William S Burroughs, author of Naked Lunch, Nova Express, etc. According to Burroughs, he had known a certain Captain Clark, around 1960 in Tangier, who once bragged that he had been sailing 23 years without an accident. That very day, Clark’s ship had an accident that killed him and everybody else aboard. Furthermore, while Burroughs was thinking about this crude example of the irony of the gods that evening, a bulletin on the radio announced the crash of an airliner in Florida, USA. The pilot was another Captain Clark and the flight was Flight 23."

23 Skidoo - popularized in the early 1920s and means "it's time to leave while the getting is good." It appeared in newspapers as early as 1906.

The Number 23 - Movie starring Jim Carrey (released in 2007), about a man who becomes obsessed with the number 23 while reading a book of the same title that seems to be about his life.

There is more interesting information about the number 23 on this Wikipedia page.  I really like Wikipedia - in my opinion, it is a great compilation of information with reliable references noted for everything on the website.  But someone else on the Facebook page that I mentioned above criticized me for relying on what Wikipedia says (and LOL'd me for it).  That comment was in response to some information I posted about Parley P. Pratt and his murder (and supposed martyrdom).  As I told this person, if she doesn't like Wikipedia, then use Google for some other source, or read a book, or do something other than just accept whatever the Mormon Party Line dictates.  After all, it is historical fact.

I'm not sure how many more of these hymn parodies I will write, but since all the ones I've written so far have come fairly quickly, I will probably write several more.  And maybe I'll look into recording all of these hymn parodies on a CD.  Who knows?  But it's obvious I'm not going to follow the philosophy of 23 Skidoo...

Apparently, the sky's the limit (for at least, the Ex-Mormon Hymn Book)...