No Longer Peter

"Elephant"'s obituary

2006-11-09T11:53:00.000-08:00

The beloved Flickinger family hamster "Elephant" died today at 1:25 PM. She was suffering severe trauma to her intestines - with no hope of recovery. She enjoyed a few minutes of sunshine outside before she was quietly put to sleep with the aide of a shovel.
Funeral arrangements are being made - with a sour cream container as a coffin. The family is planning to bury her today. She will be missed.

Elephant was named after "Little Bill"'s hamster of the same name. We believe her official diagnosis was rectal prolapse.

As a dad, sometimes I get the "dirty" jobs. This is one of them.

People of faith should vote yes, not no

2006-11-06T05:32:00.000-08:00

Just to clarify for people:
Voting "Yes" ammends the constitution to define marriage only between one man and one woman. Voting "No" does not ammend the constitution. This allows a judge to rule that marriage can be between two men or two women.

Most of the people I have explained this to have thought they were supposed to vote vice versa. This is because of many confusing factors.

One confusing factor is signs/bumper sticker that state "People of Faith Vote No". There are several churches in the Milwaukee area that do not interpret the Bible that homosexuality is sinful. I have read the Bible and I think it is very clear on this issue. I have also read their arguments, and my opinion is that these churches are willfully deceiving themselves because they love the world, not God. I do not hate homosexuals and if you care to talk about this issue I'd love to discuss it.

The second confusing factor is billboards and commercials that tell us that we shouldn't change the constitution. However they don't mention the reason for the ammendment. The purpose of the ammendment is to protect what was common knowledge when the constitution was written (that homosexuality relationship is wrong) from being rewritten by an elitist judge. The real issue here is that we have seen these judges rewrite the rules based on their viewpoints, often times contradictory to the public they represent. The public has lost their say on vital issues. The idea really represented by these people is "don't ammend the constitution so a judge can do it for you".

That's my 2 cents. There are many other things to vote on this Tuesday (Nov 7th) - but this one hits closest to home. Hopefully all my friends who read this and have differing opinions will be open minded to different info, and not just hate me, which tends to happen sadly. Again, if you'd like to discuss this then I am always open for new info/opinions.

Clay's curiosities

2006-09-18T10:56:00.000-07:00

The questions are from my son Clay. Here is his effort to gain wisdom on the important things of life.

Q: Would your tummy hurt more if you ate a tall lady or a fat lady?
A: It depends on how big or how tall the lady was.

Q: Is it better to be a mommy or a daddy? Because daddies have to go to work, but mommies have to push out babies.
A: Because you're a boy - it's better to be a daddy.

4 weeks later

2006-08-09T06:15:00.000-07:00

Today Nadia is 4 weeks old. Hooray. She is a sweetheart. She sleeps through the night and has gathered up cute baby chubbiness. Unfortunately we still have not settled on a middle name - it is currently up between Neviah, Myra and Amara.

Nadia (Hope) Is Here

2006-07-12T13:32:00.000-07:00

Nadia Flickinger was born today at 1:12 PM. She weighs 6 lbs 12 oz and is 19 1/2 inches long. Danielle's labor started at 4 AM - but did not become consistent until 11 AM. Danielle pushed twice - about 2 minutes. Nadia is beautiful and a wonderful eater. Baby and mom are doing fine. She was born at the home of Peter and Danielle Flickinger in Oak Creek. There were signs that she might be slightly overdue - but only by a few days.

Praise God and thanks to everyone for their prayers.

"Within 24 hrs"

2006-07-12T08:06:00.000-07:00

I got a response from Jeremy to update - so here we go.

Yesterday my sister took our kids over for a "sleep over". Great time for Danielle to go into labor - right? That's what we were thinking. She started her dinner with leftover eggplant parmesan (see last post). Then I made her "Chicken Tikka Masala" which is a favorite Indian dish with lots of spices. You can probably guess that spicy food is rumored to help bring on labor. We went for a long walk (to help bring on labor). Then, lastly, we watched "Ferris Bueller's" since we were recommended to do so by the accupuncturist (laughter to help bring on labor).

So Danielle woke up at 4AM this morning with contractions. I am at home with her. However, the labor is not progressing much. This is a very weird labor. We sit down and they get very infrequent (every 10-14 mins - but very long). When she walks they get more frequent (like every 4-5 minutes). We were walking for almost an hour but it hasn't seemed to help much.

The other 2 labors progressed much quicker. Danielle's labor with Anya went took 2 1/2 hrs from the first contraction. Her first labor (Clay) seemed to progress much faster than this is going too. This labor seems to be like the end of her pregnancy - a guessing game of waiting and confusion. We are getting pretty frustrated - and are worrying that the labor will just die off.

If your read the last post you will recall that the accupuncturist thought Danielle would go into labor within 24 hours. We are hoping this is the real deal and that it doesn't go away.

If you think of it, prayers are welcomed.

Accu push

2006-07-11T11:06:00.000-07:00

Yep. No baby yet.

Yesterday I took Danielle to eat eggplant parmesan. Supposedly eggplant is listed as "downbearing" by ancient Chinese science. Which in our case means it's helpful with inducing labor. I guess a restaurant named Scalini's captitalized on this and stated that if an expectant mother does not deliver within 48 hours of eating their dish they get a gift certificate for a free meal. See info and recipe. You will see all sorts of websites out there that seem to discount their claim - stating that it is just the basil and oregano. Uh - who knows. It has not been 48 hours yet - so all judgements are out.

Today I took Danielle to an accupuncturist (Sulema De La Rosa). Yes, the kind with needles.

A friend referred us to go. Our friend went to an accupressurist (similar to the needle kind, but think massage). After our friend's visit the practitioner stated that she should go in labor at about 2 or 2:30 AM. She went to labor at 2:30 AM. Needless to say - this sounded good to Danielle - since it seems to help induce labor in a much more gentle, natural form. Here is more info and there's tons more out there.

So the "visit" took over an hour - she looked at Danielle and checked the baby's heartbeat. She then put some small needles in Danielle's ears, shoulders, palm and above the ankle (8 needles). We sat in the quiet room and listened to some quiet Chinese-sounding music which was soothing. Then the lady came back to the room and would move the needles until Danielle could feel them again. After the second or third "rest" she removed the needles and put on small magnets. It was all very interesting - although I am not sold on the ying-yang philosophies behind it. I do believe that there are many complexities of the body that are overlooked and not understood by most modern science however.

Sulema told Danielle that if after 2 days (48 hrs) she was still pregnant that Danielle could come back and get another free visit (2 days later). This is how confident she was that Danielle would go into labor (she believed within 24 hours). When speaking with Sulema she told us that the soonest she had someone start labor (after the accupuncture session) was after removing the needles. The longest it has taken for her is after the second accupuncture session.

It will be interesting to see if this provides a "push" and Danielle goes into labor within 24 hours. Here's hoping it is.

The Birth Day

2006-07-07T11:38:00.000-07:00

Today is my birthday. It is also my niece's Skyler. It is also Lee Bozeman's. ..and most importantly it was the (2nd) due date for baby #3.

For those who are completely uninformed on my life - Danielle had 2 due dates for the baby. One was based on the ultrasound and the other based on 40 weeks from period. Although it might seem rational to just go with the ultrasound date there are times when the other due date is much more accurate (ask a midwife and she'll tell you it can go by either date).

but anyway... The non-ultrasound date was back on June 18th. We were dearly hoping this was the date - and there were several signs that this could be the date. However it has come and gone - and now we are at the 2nd due date. Needless to say we have been pulling our hair out for the last month with anticipation of the baby.

Can I ask for a birthday present God? :-)

Shane's answered prayer

2006-04-19T10:42:00.000-07:00

Shane told me something that I thought was worthwhile mentioning in the blog. I like to try to document these kinds of things when I remember them - so here goes. Also, for all who don't know Shane is my good friend and the drummer in No Longer Micah.

"
I have been living with a weird/annoying eye twitch in my left eye for about 2 months now.. I visited the eye doctor and he had me take eye drops for a week and after they didnt help he had me put hot and cold packs on my eye.. and it was not helping... so basically I gave up and was living with it... So then on Easter sunday my church has these communication cards you fill out and put any comments or prayer needs on them.. so I said.. "what the heck" and requested prayer for my "eye twitch" felt weird asking for prayer for that but I was fed up. Eye then forgot about it and then I received an email from the person that is leading my mission trip to mexico saying she is on teh prayer team and that she was praying for me.. and that was tuesday night.. I then realized my eye didnt twitch all day long tuesday and has yet to twitch today.. I even stared at it in the mirror for a long time last night and it didnt twitch once!

Praise God!! and keep praying that it doesnt come back!!!
"

and he also added later:
"
I've never really experienced anything like this... and its not like it was getting better or not as often.. it just went from twitchville to gone
"

I've suffered from eye twitching before in the past - and I know what a big pain that can be. Very infuriating.

It think it's a good reminder to never give up on the power of prayer (assuming it's to the one, true Almighty).

(enter verse from I Kings 18 26-29, NKJV)
"
So they took the bull which was given them, and they prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying, “O Baal, hear us!” But there was no voice; no one answered. Then they leaped about the altar which they had made. And so it was, at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, “Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is meditating, or he is busy, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened.” So they cried aloud, and cut themselves, as was their custom, with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them. And when midday was past, they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. But there was no voice; no one answered, no one paid attention."
"

Baby # 3

2006-01-02T21:59:00.000-08:00

To all who don't know already - my wife is pregnant with our third blessing. Below are the pics of our first ultrasound (at 11 weeks or so). When I say "first" - this is truly our first ultrasound. Since both Clay and Anya were born at home with no visits to an MD we have never had an ultrasound done. I think it's pretty neat. This was a "dating" ultrasound to determine the date for when the baby is due. The nurse told me that the due date is July 7th - my birthday. The pic says a day later though. I also share my birthday with my niece Skyler Schulke.
May God give me wisdom and strength :)

Christmas and Charlie Brown

2005-12-08T11:16:00.000-08:00

I watched the Charlie Brown Christmas special the other night at my in-law's house. I was surprised at what a smart piece of Christian art it is. It isn't every night you turn on the local TV channel and hear someone telling you a quick synopsis of the gospel. And the gentle critique of modern day American culture (around holidays) is right on. I'm glad to see that the modern age hasn't yet censored this piece of genius. .. and hope they never will ..

Here's some articles about the creator/writer of The Peanuts - article 1 - article 2

On a Christmas-related note - we have a humble, acoustic version of "What Child Is This?" available for download on our MySpace page. It's the second down in the list. The melody is all changed - I am trying to sing the alto part I think - but in my range.

Too busy to blog?

2005-10-10T12:47:00.000-07:00

Seems to be my problem. You might think that when someone isn't blogging that it means they are just up to nothing - but that's not true for me right now. I'm trying to get all of the outside house work done before it's "too late". The chill of fall/winter is a great motivator. Reminds me of the sting of death approaching. They both give signs of things to consider quickly.

The Trio

2005-09-26T08:29:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday a friend reminded me that I never updated this blog as to what our deal is with Matt (and bass playing). Matt has been totally phased out - we are now playing as a three piece, without bass or flute (Karen went to DC for fall). We actually have a show set up in November coming up. We were under the impression that "a friend of a friend" would be able to pick up the bass parts. Unfortunately this guy was not able to fit us into his work schedule - so we're back at square one in this regards. However we have a new (demo) song on our MySpace page. And on the bright side we are having fun playing music and experimenting around with our sound. Hopefully the show in November should be very interesting to see!

On a side note - saw Aviator and Clementine play last Saturday. Went there with Shane, Jeremy, Danielle (my wife) and Peter Boyd. Good time had by all. Aviator and Clementine played excellent sets. Another band, "Members of the Yellow Press" sounded good, but were incredibly loud (or perhaps it was just Riverwest Commons has poor acoustics).

Electric Conversion

2005-08-26T10:12:00.000-07:00

I am slowly being converted over to electric guitar more and more. You'd think after such a long time it would have happened by now - but I guess I'm slow to change. Lately I've been playing around with reverb and delay on my guitar. I'm so used to hearing it be used in a way that doesn't suit my musical tastes - it is now very liberating to be able to experiment with the settings and find something I like.

RFL show review

2005-08-18T10:32:00.000-07:00

In regards to the post below "RFL Show on Monday, July 11th" -
we got a review for that show.

http://www.tollbooth.org/2005/creviews/rfl.html

doesn't give the impression that he liked/disliked us too much. Just that he definitely noticed us.

RFL Show on Monday, July 11th

2005-07-06T09:02:00.000-07:00

... got a show this Monday .. should be pretty cool.

The director from Rock For Life will be speaking at the event. Got touring bands playing with - Sides of the North, The Roosevelts. Should be a good show - trick is getting people there at such last minute - and on a Monday. Any extra bodies would be more than welcomed!!!

Bass Player Drama

2005-06-16T09:27:00.000-07:00

No Longer Micah is in need of a new bassist - again. I had a long discussion with Matt about his involvement. Short story is that he doesn't enjoy it anymore and is under too much stress. He doesn't feel like it's something that he is meant to do anymore. He said that he would play everything we have scheduled so far (3 shows in July and tour in October) - but he would like to be phased out as soon as possible.

So with tons of opportunities in the works (possible national tour,...) we are in a precarious position of playing shows with a bass player that wants to leave.

So if you know of anyone - send them our way. We'd so appreciate it.

Kittie Stew

2005-06-07T11:27:00.000-07:00

6 weeks were up. It was time to get rid of some kittens. They were old enough and we wanted them to be taken before they started getting unfriendly. Karen's sister, Rachel took one cat. A second cat was supposed to go to another family who at the last moment decided they didn't want the cats anymore. So we were left with 2 cats to find homes for.

We have some friends from church that we got the momma cat from. They constantly have kittens that they give away - and sometimes have more demand than supply - so we decided to give them a call up. They told me to bring over our cats because they were having a rummage sale and trying to sell their kittens - and we could leave ours to be sold as well.

So we got the kids ready and headed on over to the rummage sale. As soon as we got there an Egyptian family saw the kitties and wanted them both. Yippee! got rid of both immediately. That was very easy....

My friends also raise rabbits and were selling them at the rummage sale. They sell the rabbits to all sorts of people, some looking for a pet - some looking for a dinner. The Egyptian family was buying 3 of their rabbits (to raise for dinner). When asked by my friend how she prepares the rabbit the grandmother begins to pick up the bunny by the neck and demonstrate how she
cuts the throat down the back.

Only hearing the end of the conversation, my wife turned to look at me with horror asking "are they going to eat our cats?".

If you don't know already - the answer is "no". She was giving one cat to her sister and one for herself - to raise as pets. No kittie stew. All fur safe.

A Sabbath For Ears

2005-05-13T10:45:00.000-07:00

After 6 bands my ears have stood some abuse. Last night we played the Shorewood Legion Hall with 5 great bands. Our friend, Bud from Meteah Strike set up the show. I was really impressed with the quality of the other bands that played. A couple of bands that really stuck out were Clementine and Meteah Strike (both from Milwaukee).

But anyways, as enjoyable as the show was - it's also very taxing. Just performing is one thing that drains you. But listening to 6 bands in a row is kind of mind-numbing. It's kind of like sensory overload. After a while you tune everything out and become disassociated. Not to mention what your ears go through. Danielle and I went to a local Jewel Osco to pick up some earplugs. Wish we would have done that before "Bring On the Guns" played (who were very good). So anyways, I'm giving my ears a rest today. I started listening to some Clementine downloads (which are great) but decided my ears can't take anymore. .. At least for part of the day.

Happy Golden Birthday Clay!

2005-05-04T10:31:00.000-07:00

After much anticipation, Clay Michael Flickinger turns 4 today (on May 4th, 2005). This event happened despite my idle threats that he would "not turn 4 if you keep sucking that thumb like a baby". As an initial birthday present he received a Dora (learning) computer game to which his mother called me up so that he could give me an excited "Thank you". More celebration to follow tonight when I return home after work - possibly to some restaurant that will sing him "Happy Birthday". The real big celebration will be held on Saturday, May 7th - when Clay's playmates will join him in a festive celebration. There will be cake, food and even a dinosaur pinata filled with delicious candy. And all things will be decorated in dinosaur fashion in rememberence of the classic Clay phrase: "when I grow up I'm going to be a dinosaur". In Flickinger fashion, presents will be given to the (little) guests and we request that presents not be given to Clay.

As a side note: Clay shares his special day with the chickens as it is also "International Respect for Chickens Day".

New Baby(ies)

2005-04-21T10:49:00.000-07:00

Holy cow! Can you believe it! Already?! Don't waste no time. And the crazy part is it's not one baby. Oh no! Is it 2? No!!! It's 3 babies!!!! Three stinking babies!! Man can you believe it - that is just crazy!
OK - it's not my wife (which I was hoping you would think). I'm talking about my proud momma cat Bella. She just had 3 sweet kittens - which isn't a lot for a cat - but is a crazy amount for a human. Isn't kind of weird to think that an animal can have like a dozen kids at once? I think it is. They are very sweet kittens and look just like mamma cat.

Sooo... if you know anyone who is looking for a new furry friend - give me a buzz. They should be ready to "adopt" in 6 weeks or so.

OCR Nostalgia

2005-04-20T10:36:00.000-07:00

(sung to the tune of "Living On A Prayer")

We've got to hold on
to the clients we've got
It's gonna make a difference
if we work till midnight or not.
We've got our keyers
and that's enough for now
We'll give it a shot!

Oh! We're not quite there.
Woah! OCR Repair.
Take it from Jeremy
we'll make it he swears.
Woah! OCR Repair.

Yeah - so it's stupid and cheesy. But if it made Jeremy (and Craig) smile then that makes it all worthwhile.

TaxMan Without Wheat

2005-04-14T10:42:00.000-07:00

You can tell what kind of man he is by when he does his taxes. Today is April 14th and tomorrow is the deadline. I've finally got my taxes done - I just need to copy them and send them out. This is much better than most years - I am usually the guy who is in a frantic rush to do them on the last day. Don't be surprised if you see me some year - waiting in the post office line around midnight on April 15th.

By the way - I'm starting a two week full-body cleanse. This one you can eat on - so it's pretty nice. Just very limited to what you CAN eat. No processed, no white, no refined, no wheat, no soy, no dairy, no caffeine, no beef,.. Pretty much the entire American diet. You would be amazed at how many items have wheat in them.

Race for the (Singer's) cure

2005-03-30T10:19:00.000-08:00

I'm sick - yet again. And two days before we play our show at Jitters (in Whitewater). I felt it coming on last night and tried to get a bunch of sleep. I ended up getting 8 hrs in - but still got the cold.

I'm not trying to complain but it seems to always happen when we have a show coming up. I'm going to keep track of it and see if my suspicion is true. I know I was sick for our last show at Mad Planet - and I think I was sick for the show before that (at Jitters).

I've been trying to do all kinds of things to improve my health lately - so stuff like this won't happen. On Tuesdays I've been attending this health seminar that I've found really useful. It goes over healthy/unhealthy foods - and how our food supply has been seriously tampered with. It also goes into vitamins/minerals, good/bad fats, and the last class will be about herbs. Best of all the classes are free.

Homeopathic things I'm doing to try to get well by Friday.
1) NetiPot
2) drink lots of orange juice
3) take Grape Seed Extract (powerful antioxidant)
4) Good multi-vitamins.
5) drink lots of water

Also i'm going to try to eat healthy - and maybe drink some flax seed oil (good Omega-3 fats your body needs).

In the future I'm interested in
1) chiropractic adjustement - Working on C1 can help immune system.
2) incoroporating ground flax seed into diet (3 TBs a day)
3) taking Vitamin C to bowel tolerance (please! do I need to explain?)
4) do a full-body cleanse - making sure to clean out my lymphatic system (immune)
5) more exercise

But thankfully I still can breathe and have my sense of taste. Usually when I get sick I lose all sense of taste for about a week or so. Praise God for that.

P.S. - come to our show Friday. Should be a great show - we're playing with some great bands.

The Media and Terri

2005-03-25T07:39:00.000-08:00

The media loves to twist things and ignore the real issues. I think Terri Schiavo is a good example of this.

To me the real issue of the Terri Schiavo case is whether or not she is aware. If she is aware of what's going on - it's wrong to starve her. Simple as that.

However you hear virtually nothing about this in the media. They make the assumption that everyone is in agreement that she really is in a "Persistent Vegatative State". Therefore they make the "real issues" out to be things like "should someone be allowed to die"? or "who's decision should it be"?.

They ignore the issue I mentioned which is a catastrophic one. If you start killing innocent people who are aware then where does it stop?? Retardation? Disease? Old age?

She could be trained to feed herself. Does this sound like someone in a "Persistent Vegatative State"? Not to me.

It's not only this case. The media are great at changing the real issue. This is just a good illustration.

Terri Schiavo

2005-03-22T10:39:00.000-08:00

This whole situation saddens me. The parents who want her vs the husband who wants her to die.

We have devalued life so much in this culture. Things keep going this way and we will start killing off all of the "useless eaters" in this country. Think of it as a politically correct Hitler with a similar agenda.

It's true that Terri is severely brain damaged - but if you study the subject much at all it is clear to see that she is aware of her surroundings and able to communicate.

I watched a movie on the "Terris Fight" website. She was sleeping/resting and someone asked her to open her eyes for them. You could watch her thinking about it - and trying to do it. In the end she opened her eyes really wide - like as if to say "I'm going to overdo it so you know I'm doing it intentionally". You really have to see the video to understand better. There have been some people that are paralyzed and can only blink their eyes and have communication systems based on that. Her state is sort of like a severe stroke one can recover (somewhat) from.

Much hope could be her in the future if she actually received decent treatment. But that's not what her husband wants. He got the $1M dollars he said he would use for her treatment and then did not use it on her.

And the big talk (lie?) out there is that starvation is painless. I think that's a big crock. See this article about a woman who lived to tell about being starved to death (in a similar state to Terri).

Just wait - soon the severly mentally retarded will be off'ed. Then less severe...

Chole

2005-03-15T10:52:00.000-08:00

I finally made that Indian dinner - called "Chole". It was excellent. Danielle was quite impressed by my fine cooking abilities. But really, it was very easy to make.

What I was surprised at was how little time it took to make. Whenever I eat Indian food I am always under the impression that the food has been cooking for a very long time (and probably cooked all of the nutrients out of it). I only cooked this meal for about 15-20 minutes.

Tonight I'm going to try a round #2 of the same recipe. It's an encore performance.

Vegetar!@#

2005-02-18T10:18:00.000-08:00

In some circles the word "vegetarian" is like a cuss word. They think that if you mention it that it indicates you've been won over to some liberal-minded philosophy. Lately, I have been trying to get my diet to be closer and closer to vegetarian. It has little to do with ethical issues. I am the type of guy who is generally sick a lot - seems like for every show I play. I've known a bunch of vegetarians that don't seem to get sick frequently - and attribute it to vegetarianism. Also I can see that the meat-processing industry is horrible (with all the hormones, additives, etc,...). And it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that we don't eat enough vegetables in America.

So I was doing pretty well. Before this week I had eaten hardly any beef in the last 2-4 weeks. Chicken, on the other hand, is much more difficult. Maybe a little less of this.

Well the great caveat is that Danielle and I had purchased 1/4 of a cow from a farmer a while ago. This meat was free from all the hormones, additives, etc... Of course that means that we have A TON of meat down in our freezer still uneaten. Being frugal like we are we can't just throw it out - so Danielle took some meat out to make some food. On Monday she made two whopping T-Bone steaks and also cooked a Beef Roast. So Monday night I ate the T-Bone steak. Tuesday at lunch I had more T-Bone steak. Wednesday eve I had some Beef Roast. This lunch I will have some more Beef Roast... Can you see where I am going?? A little too much meat!! Needles to say I am pretty much sick of meat - but eating it because I am cheap. I will be happy when the meat is gone.

On a side note - we got some vegetarian cookbooks from the library. I picked out some (Indian) recipes and we are planning to go get the ingrediants tonight so we can make them soon. I'll have to let you know how they turn out (if they do).

The Blog Name

2005-02-17T10:16:00.000-08:00

For those of you who don't know - I'm in a band called "No Longer Micah". People always have interesting ideas for why we're named what we are. The top 3 are:

1) Did your band used to be called "Micah"?
2) Is/was one of the members in your band called Micah.
3) Are you saying you are "No Longer Like God" (because "Micah" translates to "like God")

of course none of these are correct. For the right answer see Judges 17:1-13 or visit our "hi-fi" website and go to the FAQ section of the band page. Or just post a comment and I'll answer.

But anyways - I picked the name of the blog as tounge-in-cheek. Thinking back on it though I could make it into a serious spin - it could mean something like "I am no longer what I once was" - as an illustration of the born-again experience a Christian believer has.

However you think of it - it should be easy to remember though.