My Kind of Christmas

Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven, 16 December 1770 – 26 March 1827, was a German composer and pianist. He was a crucial figure in the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western classical music, and remains one of the most respected and influential composers of all time.

Jingle All The Way

Christmas. It's not that I don't like Christmas it's just that for some reason everyone's expectations of one another seem to change during the holidays. As I go into the world (especially to places where people shop) what I notice more than anything else is that people are not happier they are crankier but expect others to not notice as much. I think of myself mostly as a happy/cheerful person. Not like a sappy goofy guy who isn't realistic about things, but I'm a generally optimistic and positive guy. When I go places I try to wait on others, taking my turn and not shoving and complaining. For the most part the rest of the world is like that too until it's time for Christmas. Suddenly it's totally acceptable to PUSH your way to the front of a line or grab at merchandise from the shelf like a greedy child. It isn't even this that gets me down about the holidays. It is the fact that for some reason I get treated like I'm a scrooge because I notice it. I recognize that people are behaving poorly and for some reason that makes ME the one who has a problem. I want Christmas to be about the compassion God has for the plight of mankind and about gathering with family and friends and spending time relaxing and finding ways to better know and love one another. Now THAT would be dreaming. Instead I feel like I'd be more realistic asking to have no one steal toys from my shopping cart.

Nerd-hood...dom...ness...atude.

So I'm a nerd. Ok. I'm coming to terms with it daily. I like to play video games, I have scheduled time to watch "Heroes", "chuck", and "Battlestar Galactica". My best friend, the Schaam, and my Brother, The Rock, and I all play this game called City of Heroes. It is like an online comic book (did I forget to mention that I like comic books?) and the Rock is about to be level 50, which is a big deal. We have all been making a regular Tuesday night game for the past couple of months so that we could get this far. The Schaam and I are both already level 50 so we have been putting extra effort into getting The Rock caught up. This week should be his week. And for all those gamers out there 43 g375 pwn3z.

us posing with Statesman, a Non-Player Character (NPC).

I'd just like to point out for the record that we were nerds before nerds were cool.So chin up all you nerds. you are not alone. I'm routing for you... NERD!

Togetherness

I went, this past summer, to a tattoo convention where people gathered to celebrate the fact that they have decorated their bodies; to revel in the freedom that they have been granted to do so; and to inspire and encourage those who chose to do likewise. It was an interesting combination of people from those with a full set of sleeves and a piercing in every piece of cartilage that will hold a metal rod, to the little old lady who looks as though she could have simply gone to a piano recital got up to use the bathroom and got lost on the way back; People with tattoos on their heads and faces and people who have not a blemish on their perfect skin. First time tattoos, touch ups, cover ups, inspirational tributes that reveal the true artistry of the skin painting and big mistakes that will never be undone. I was amazed at the welcome and openness with which people shared the reasons for their tattoos and the stories that the tattoos told. When I left there I was stuck in stand still traffic on interstate 630 for just under 2 hours with people I didn’t know and the stillness of the moment caused them to get out of their cars and spontaneously socialize with one another. Standing in the middle of the highway, they talked about their day and shared cigarettes and anecdotes. They told their stories to perfect strangers in confidence that this will be the last time I ever see this person and anything they know about me is useless to them so I might as well spill it because why would I lie. They told their stories to perfect strangers in confidence that this will be the last time I ever see this person and anything I tell them they are bound to believe because they don’t know me and right now I can be anything and anyone I chose so I might as well lie. When the wreckage was cleared away and the cars began to move some of us were actually sad to go. I got home late and fell to sleep thinking that we had stood talking so easily in the middle of the highway and yet so many of us have neighbors, literally living in the house next door that we have never spoken to. People who live not one hundred yards from us for years and we do not know their name or their family or when they come and go and when they laugh and cry and when they love and die. God did not create us to be solitary. He made us to live together, to love each other and care for our neighbor.

a photo

We do tend to take pictures at times of joy, fun, triumph, exuberance. Because of this, as I look at other people’s pictures, it seems to me that their lives are all fun and excitement; adventure and opportunity. I don’t tend to carry a camera with me and so my pictures are all of me at my house, asleep on the couch with my sons or playing video games or of me at a birthday party… in my house. As a matter of fact as I look at other people’s pictures it would seems that, in comparison with my camera, their cameras have a much higher quality of life. If I were my camera I’d be pissed at me. I’d probably go find some adventurer to take me across the face of the earth and for goodness sake take a picture or two. I actually lived in Italy for a month and didn’t take a single photograph. I’ve hiked nearly every state trail in Arkansas and I have not one picture. I have driven my VW Beetle from here to Florida 14 hours and back but do not have a snap shot. I once camped out of the back of my car for a week in the summer and saw a huge chunk of northern Oklahoma but never even considered capturing the memories. I have been skiing in Breckenridge Colorado, fishing in Manitoba Canada, sight-seeing in Roswell New Mexico, rocking at a music festival in upstate New York, and body surfing in Destin Florida without one single Kodak moment. Once a friend of mine knocked on my door and asked me if I wanted to go to New Orleans right now, so of course I threw a pair of pants and a t-shirt into a backpack with my toothbrush and walked out the door. I called into work from the road and left a message for my roommate on the answering machine so that no one would think I had died. What I failed to bring was a camera. That week we went to New Orleans then over to the gulf in Texas, visited a DuPont physical processing plant then drove up to Six Flags and then came home. I saw amazing, beautiful, valuable people, places, and things. I have nary a picture of these nouns.
These days I have a camera on my phone… but who can spare the memory?

Christmas: The Best Six Months of the Year

I don't want to be one of those bloggers who complains about the world we live in too much. I do my best to not take things to seriously if at all possible. My personal struggle is to always be laid back, but because I'm a pretentious person at heart I have trouble with that one; always thinking that what I'm doing is clearly important and probably more important than what you are doing. So when something like Christmas comes lumbering into my life messing with my schedule and changing what others expect from me... I have difficulty. This year I started to notice Christmas displays around Halloween time. So at this point I feel like we've already been having christmas for about a month and a half. I'm also someone who likes to celebrate advent (that's the season we are really in now) and so I'm trying to not get distracted by the faux Christmas season that everyone else seems to have been having for the past 45 days. Then there are all the services and parties and traveling and presents to buy ($$$) and cards to send and didn't we have some other holiday in there too? something about turkeys or something? and then there is my father-in-law's birthday, my sister's birthday, my father's birthday, my grandmother's birthday, my birthday, and then the actual season of Christmas (it lasts 12 days and ends on January 6th) then new years day. Immediately after that We've got a human sexuality workshop, then I'm going to Perkins to take some classes, then there is my son's birthday, then there are plans for the Valentine's day Dinner Theater, then Veritas, then Spring Break Mission trip. None of it is separated by more than 10 days. so it will be April when the "holidays" are finally over. That's a solid six months of activities and it will all end just in time for me to plan our summer programs.

Happy Thanksgiving

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving!
(note you can see my lips moving)

My Mamma Prays

God has blessed me far beyond what I deserve. I think part of the reason he does that for me is because my mother prays. She prays good. And God, who apparently likes my mom, listens to her. She has always prayed for us (my sister and I) to be protected and safe and healthy and happy. For the most part, I have nothing in life to complain about (I still do of course)and I have always attributed a good deal of that blessing/grace/luck to my mother's prayers. So, thanks mom.

All Purpose

Today I was
a train,
a bulldozer,
a jungle gym,
a car,
a robot,
a chef,
a superhero,
a teacher,
a ghost,
a jar opener,
a dancer,
a drummer,
a badguy,
a cheerleader,
a masseuse,
a dog trainer,
a sanitation worker,
a critic,
a therapist,
a pillow,
a stop watch,
a designer,
a husband, father, brother, son, and friend.

What a Man's Got To Do

Today I spent the entire day moving my email contacts around in different programs trying to get a list that is comprehensive and consistent between my outlook, my spreadsheet, and my gmail. (If Google would just offer desktop software I would never have to open outlook again. I'd probably delete the whole program.) anyway, I am NOT the kind of person who gains personal satisfaction from this kind of work and I find it overwhelming and intimidating and it always puts me in a slightly bad mood. But today that's what my day was all about so, I haven't had a great day. It's not a bad day really but just not a great day and it adds to that sad feeling I've been having. I didn't see any of the kids or parents or volunteers and I didn't plan anything fun or engaging. My friend Mike did come by and we went to lunch which was a nice break in the day but then it was right back to the spreadsheet and the outlook and the typing. At least tonight I'm playing CoH with the Rock and the Schaam.

Home for the Holidays

I have recently moved and while I have always had a way of making friends wherever I am, I have been missing the friends I made over the past five or so years in Rogers. The holidays are coming up and I'm preparing a lot of the same kinds of things that I always prepare only this year it's a little bit harder. The people that I used to call on and the activities that I used to plan for are no longer part of my routine. I'm having to look for new ways and new people and new experiences. This is very exciting and I am enjoying myself but i can't help but be a bit sad all along the way too, because I do miss the people that made Rogers home for me and my family.

Makin' Pictures

So this guy is moving into town who I guess is a big country singer in Europe. I guess over there they have the European CMA (Country Music Awards)and he's been nominated for singer of the year 6 times and won twice. Which is a big deal. especially if you happen to be from Europe, which I don't, so I've never heard of the guy. BUT, he's coming to Hot Springs and I got the opportunity to make his first commercial for the Christmas gig he's doing. SO here is my very first "professional" commercial. He liked it alot so I'm hoping he'll ask me to do a few more.

Just Trying to Get Home

The other night I was leaving band practice and as usual the VW started up just fine. I backed out of the space and into the street and the engine promptly died. This wouldn’t have bothered me so much except that I have recently made some bold modifications to the ignition system and I was worried that I had created a disaster waiting to happen. I re-started the engine (it started as it always does) and started down the street. As soon as my foot was off the clutch it sputtered and kicked until I pushed the clutch back in… then it died. So I rolled into a spot across the street from where the preacher was getting into his Jeep. I started the engine again, this time listening closely, but the engine started without a hitch and held at idle. So I got out opened the deck lid and the engine spit something out at me. A small round disk or plug of some kind shot out and hit me in the foot. Just about that time the preacher pulled in next to me and offered me a flash light. Well of course God had placed the plug right next to my foot so it was easy to find (he is always looking out for me like that) and I picked it up and began to wonder to myself… “What in the world is this thing?”
After the preacher had retrieved a flashlight he found a hole in the back of the carburetor where this plug had once been. Now, I have built this engine from just a block, but that in no way makes me a mechanic and the only thing that has brought me comfort all this time is that I made it run in the first place so if I break it I’m not any further back than I was when I started. Only on this particular occasion our other, more reliable car was in the shop and this was my only means of transportation. I said a little prayer of thanks for all the years of service the car has given me, placed the plug back into the space (it kind of snapped in) and asked the preacher to step back while I started the engine… It started up, just like it always does. I drove it home without a problem and drove it today without a problem. I guess I need to get a new carburetor but it’s going to have to wait. It’s being held together with shear faith right now.