We're off to Laguna today (yeah it's rough, I know). Be back sometime Sunday night. Logan and Zoe are guarding the house so don't get any smart ideas rub-a-dub....
Our Christmas video. It's bandi heavy so let it down load. or someone learns me more about compression...
We are also thinking about going to a Unitarian church here in Vegas. Mostly so that the children have some kind of comparative religion education. Lately we've been watching all these shows about Jesus and religion on the History channel and Discovery. It's interesting because in 1988 I had what I guess would be referred too as an epiphany about Jesus and religion. It was before I relapsed with Liz so I'm taking it as some sort of revelation. The non-drug induced type.
Basically I was struck from out of the blue, so to speak, by the knowledge that everything that had been said about Jesus and his life was true, but that it was put into practice completely wrong. That religion as a thing was profoundly wrong. Building churches and going on crusades was wrong. Judging other people for their imagined trespasses against God or the church was wrong. That the idea was in fact that we were supposed to live in peace with one another but not at the expense of other people. That to worship God was to live a good life. That was it. Nothing more, nothing less.
I think when Liz and I broke up I forgot about that, or was mad at the universe for lying to me (as I perceived it then) about Liz or whatever. I think that my life out here in the desert has allowed me to find that part of myself again. I feel like as hard as this last year has been it was a huge learning experience for Mary and I. I guess I feel ready to go forth and do something about it now.
Divine intervention? I don’t know. I really don’t. I do know that ever since then I’ve tried to at least live a good life. Depending on who you ask I suppose.
I’m not sure what exactly that entails but I’m definitely tired of being on the sidelines. Put me coach I’m ready to play.
A little sobering statistic piece by the True majority...
Want to know the Christian origin of Christmas? Or maybe the Pagan origin is more appropriate? My personal favorite is the way the British standbys like the Yule log and the 12 days of Christmas have been snagged up.
You know for years I've had issues with Christmas. When we were kids, my mom had some issues around Christmas as well. In fact at least one year we were told we weren't having Christmas at all. My circumcision aside I knew we weren't Jewish so what was up on that?
My mom’s father died on Christmas. So I’m thinking that may have brought up some weirdness.
That one year is the year that really stands out. I think sometimes my brothers and sister remember that more than any of the years we had really kick ass Christmas celebrations. Shawn likes the negativity…. makes him feel comfortable. Like a warm diaper really. You should try it.
This will be my fourth Christmas with Mary. Each year with her seems to be getting better. I’ve still got plenty of issues but they don’t seem to revolve around Christmas anymore. In fact my mom said that Mary’s love of the Holiday has helped her not to dislike it so much anymore either.
The interesting thing is that Mary isn’t very religious. In fact agnostic would almost certainly describe her best. She basically just likes the idea of family and friends coming together. I don’t know if the red and green clothing have anything to do with it at all.
Hey! Go and buy my crappy art, I need the money. Thanks. oh and uh ...peace.
File this under things that I would I do if I had more time on my hands...
I've always been a big fan of the Legion of Super Heroes ever since I can remember so this is my animated attempt at a tribute.
"And if there's going to be blood on my hands, I'm determined that it's not going to be invisible. That blood is not just Iraqi blood, it's the blood of American soldiers."
--Sean Penn
Why is it that anybody is questioning Sean Penn’s patriotism. Is it because he’s trying to put a face on the people we plan on killing in the next few months? Or is it because disagreeing with unreasonable government policy is now considered unpatriotic.
I mean it’s not like he’s throwing tea into the Boston harbor or something....
Here’s my Christmas list. Because I’m sure you all wanted to see it.
From Russia With Love James Bond Swatch Watch
Project Greenlight (Complete Series)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer - 3rd Season
Star Trek II - The Wrath of Khan...
The Green Lantern (Archives, Vol 2)
James Bond 007 Ken & Barbie Dolls Giftset
Hmmm. James Bond, Buffy, Comic Books and Star Trek? I smell a geek! I feel that as long as I don't participate in renaissance festivals I'll be okay. Huzahh!
My son is taking world history in school this semester so while he was writing an essay on comparative government we consulted this book Power and Society: An Introduction to the Social Sciences.
Now I'm not as Forest Gump would say "a smart man" but according to this book I fear we are now living in a fascist regime. I came to this conclusion after reading this passage in the book. "Under fascism the nation is an organic whole; therefore, the economy ought to be cooperative rather than competitive. Every class and every interest ought to work together for the good of the nation." and this quote "Fascism strives for a totality of power in which all sectors of society -education, labor, art, science - are incorporated into the state and serve the purposes of the state."
Okay our economy is not cooperative but rather competitive. We don't serve the state entirely. My point is that we are waging a war against the Iraqi people, and soon against the North Korean and Iranian people.
I fail to understand when we as a country became the watchdogs for the world. Was it after September 11th? I don’t understand why these other countries cannot maintain their own nuclear programs? I think if another country came to us said "hand us over everything you’ve got concerning your weapons programs", we wouldn’t be too compliant.
The thing is I was just as pissed off as everybody else when the terrorists attacked New York. I’ve always considered myself patriotic. Very patriotic actually, probably more so than a lot of my liberal friends. I wanted blood just like everybody else. I’m just at a loss as to understanding why this is happening. It seems to serve the country as an organic thing and not the will of the people.
Frankly the whole prospect of this scares the bejeezus out of me.
Well once again my XML lacking skill set has failed me. I can't figure out how to get my archives working again so I just let them all load. So if you've gotten this far that's the hold up.
I think in January my regular workload is going to slow down a little so I should have more time to concentrate on learning things again. I really want learn more about Flash MX and coding in general.
I was thinking a lot about Mary and her daughter yesterday. I've thought for a long time that her daughter being taken by Jean was the catalyst for a lot of badness in her life. It's not like her life was a happy fun place before hand or anything but most people have a jumping off point before things really go down hill. That was certainly Mary's jumping off point.
When I was first told about this whole situation with Mary and Jean and Mary Belle I don't think I realized the depth of it. Most people just assumed that Jean was trying to do the right thing by Mary Belle because her young son and younger daughter-in-law were not in a position to care for her.
After watching this all unfold I've realized that Jean never had anyone but her own interests in mind. That is a sad statement there baby. I think that it's also true. So now Mary, Mary Belle and David get to live with the consequences of Jean's selfishness. I don't know that any of them have ever realized the how absolutely insane any of this is. Mary probably does. It's hurt her for a long time.
The really upsetting part of all this to me is that Jean (a supposed "recovering person" for the last 30 years) is so looped on painkillers and copping prescription drugs illegally that she doesn’t even remember from day to day what she says and does. She's spent years hurting Mary and David and now she's doing the same thing to MB.
Now this is probably not the best forum for this kind of thing. I’m just pissed off and felt like venting.
So I drove to Kingman AZ this morning so that Mary Belle and Erin could catch a ride back to Oklahoma with some friends of Erin's parents.
A couple of things about this struck me, the first was that the guy driving them back didn't introduce himself to me. Now I've spent a few weeks in Oklahoma myself and I've found that generally speaking folks are pretty polite. So I figure the fact this guy didn't introduce himself meant that he was A.) annoyed that he had to stop to pick up the girls, or B.) that he just didn't like me. I'm going to go with the former as he had that "I love Jesus but not as much as I love teenage girls boobies" thing going on. (You gotta love horney old white men too). Nothing I find more unappealing than "Christian" people that don't practice it except when it serves themselves. What would Jesus do? My guess he would at least introduce himself, maybe even shake my hand.
The other thing that struck me was that Mary Belle and Erin are more than likely in for a world of shit when they hit the OKC God Squad again. I know when I was eighteen three weeks seemed a long stretch of time. I don't think they know what they are in for. It hasn't been all that long and the issues that made them leave are more than likely still in place. I hope that they come back soon.
Poor Bad Mary, she cried all morning. I really think about what would have been different in her life if Jean hadn't stolen Mary Belle sometimes. I think Mary would have been a much different person for sure. I’m reasonably sure that Jean is just evil. Time will tell I suppose.
Of course the highlight of the trip was that I actually got see the Hoover Dam for the first time since I've been here in Nevada. That wasn't really the highlight. It's big dam. Didn't really care. I did find out that Mary belle and I have really similar taste in music. It was a shared moment to be sure.
Generally when I wake up early and I am supposed to be working I end up checking the stats on Empusa....
My top search string in November was Petra Verkaik. My favorite however was bond girl was a actually a man.
I also seem to get an average of 50 hits a month from the US Government (58 in November). Lately though I've been getting hits from odd countries that don't usually show up in the stats. In order they are; Iran (76), Saudi Arabia (76 as well), Cyprus (72), Estonia (46),Old style Arpanet (arpa) (22), Croatia (Hrvatska) (18)
I am not sure why. I suppose those people like comic art and my sardonic wit right?
Or maybe they are just lost...
"I stink therefore I am".
I think that was in Jitterbug Perfume if I'm not mistaken. I THINK I have an idea. I'll keep people posted as it develops. My main problem with my ideas is that I seem to have them well in advance of the norm. I have yet to act on one of them. I've found that talking about an idea tends to dilute it. It's better to just act on them. My personal hygene not withstanding.