C's Donald Trump Poem

My 12 year-old had an assignment to write a poem about someone or something that upset them. She wrote about Trump. I love this kid!!

One day it may be lost in the sands of time, so I am going to preserve it here! It had to start with"this is just to say"....

This is just to say

This is just to say….

I’m worried about your mental health

You act like a child when you're in your 70’s,

You made fun of a disabled man,

You are rude and racist,

You have very bad grammar,

You even married a woman in her 20’s even though you are 71!

You dyed your hair thinking it would do you better, but it did the very opposite,

Why oh why?

You make me think if I’ll ever live past my 20’s.

Trump, Trump, brainless Trump….

Why do you even try?

You know you only won because of the Russians…

So you can back off!

And one more question,

Why are you so orange? 

Pic Dump: Spring 2018 Edition

Ya know, it's been awhile. Here's some cool fotos mainly from Twitter.

The show America NEEDS

Fragments of UPDATES

You know what I'm happy about? Spring is here (at least in South Texas).

It's time to UPDATE you on my life.

COMIC BOOK THOUGHT UPDATE:

I was reading some early 80's Avengers lately (some just sit on the back of my toilet perpetually). And ya know, what's the point of Wonder Man? He's terrible....as in terribly boring. Boring personality, boring powers, boring costume, boring, BORING, BORING. Why did he exist as a reoccurring character in the freaking Avengers for decades? Who likes Wonder Man? Was he anyone's favorite character in the history of mankind? He sucks. He's stupid. Also, he's boring.

LOS SPURS UPDATE

Just when I thought we'd land in the lottery again, they get good. Blah.

MASS SHOOTING UPDATE 
 
Did you hear about the shooting?

Just kidding of course you did, there's one just about every other week.

CONCERT(S) UPDATE:
 
Taking C (just turned 12 in March) to her first rock concert in June. Weezer!! (Pixies-Weezer in Austin). If you would have told me in December of 1996 after my first Weezer concert I would be taking my 12 year-old daughter to a Weezer concert 22 years later I think I would have flipped my lid. She's excited and so am I. In the meantime I will be going to the Breeders show in Austin a few weeks. One of those bands I have always had on my list. Should be a great one.

MUSIC UPDATE

I have been loving Sufjan Stevens "Carrie and Lowell". It has become my favorite album of his. Soul crushingly sad, amazing, beautiful. Listen to it and let it into your heart.

Also, Weezer's White Album is still so good. (review forthcoming sometime in the 2020's).

I know these albums are a couple of years old but they've been my go-to on and off for two months.

WE WENT MARCHING UPDATE

It felt good to do something, even if it won't change immediately. 

SICK BURN

Shared this on FB and my sister pointed out that she had a grammar mistake on it. Like, who cares sis? ITS A GREAT POSTER. Also, she didn't comment on anything else or like the photos. So I am deleting her comment right this second.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

H: He said he wanted to wear this Beatles shirt ("All You Need is Love")

C - Hard to read but says Humans > Guns.

 

 

 

 

 

E: This poster was a big hit. It is also true. A TRUE INDISPUTABLE FACT

  

GUN CONTROL UPDATE:

I AM COMING FOR YOUR GUNS.


MOVIE UPDATE

I saw COCO. It was good. Surprisingly I didn't cry but I came close.

BLOG UPDATE

Blog is now updated. Good night to you, don't forget to practice being kind, even when it's hard. That's when you're really tested and your character shows.

Thoughts and Prayers are the Inverse of the Gospel

Yes, this is "piling on".

Yes, "thoughts and prayers" has already jumped the shark.

Yes, senators and congresspeople are now saying things like, "our prayers are with...." because the phrase has moved from a joke to toxic in a few weeks.

That said, whatever will come post-"thoughts and prayers" will serve in its place, another empty platitude in the place of actual action.

And that's the point. Prayer is never a substitute for action.

Let's try out the parable of the Good Samaritan with thoughts and prayers....

A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead.^... But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. The Samaritan told the man, "You will be in my thoughts and prayers," and continued on his journey. 

Or how about this one....


 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave me your thoughts.  I was a stranger and you prayed for me.  I was naked and you posted on social media.  I was sick and you felt sad. I was in prison and you felt bad for me.

Or how about one more... 

“Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”  They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “My thoughts and prayers are with this woman."

Thoughts and prayers in the place of action is the actually inverse of the gospel. It's heresy. The good news was not about platitudes and "feelings" but compassionate acts of love. 

Of course we should pray for those in mourning and for healing but when we only pray for healing and fail to actually act to prevent further pain, we make our Christian faith perverse. God works in mysterious ways, but never though the NRA.

Similarly, I have found many Christians blaming the fact that God is "banned" from schools. 

This t-shirt. This was obviously designed by an elderly person or a 11 year-old. Look at those fonts, and COMIC SANS. A prayer in COMIC SANS.

Who knew that God can be held out of a solidly built brick building? Is this like the silver bullets of theology? God is all knowing and all powerful....well, except in schools! It's bad theology and it's factually incorrect. Students can pray, bring their holy books and schools must make accommodations for religious groups and meetings after school hours. It's also a slap in the face of teachers living out the gospel with their actions. American Christianity has become a cult of fantasy and anti-science, of trusting politics and laws rather than changing hearts. Embracing "winning" over ethics and morals that were supposedly important. Evangelicals see themselves as victims, even though they are in the numerical majority. American Christianity is in its final fits of it's spiral of death. Death is ugly but the rebirth is necessary. May God save us from the Christians. 

(To cover my bases #notallChristians)

Frumpy Wintery Fragments

It's been awhile, so here are some fragments from the fam.

Tucking in 5 year-old H the other night and as he was slipping away into sleep he asks me, "Dad, what's 15 +15?"

Love that kid.

Look I know every parent thinks their kids are awesome, but our kids have won character awards every single year, every single one of them. Pretty impressive, thank you very much.

As a reward each winner gets a free ticket to a Spurs game or hockey game, look the games are usually against terrible teams but this means in all eight games I have taken my kids to over the years, we are undefeated. I also know it's a huge scam to get you into the arena, but they enjoy it and so do I.

So, H won his character award in November and we finally got to go this January to his first Spurs game (against the Kings). We were slated to be maybe eight rows or so before the last row in the entire arena, but some old man saw us walking in, asked us where our tickets were and gave us a huge upgrade down on the floor, about 22 rows up. Random act of kindness...pretty sweet.


On the way out of the game H asks me, "Dad when do you marry mom?" "I was almost 27." "Wow." "Is that old, buddy" "Oh yeah." H half whispered. "When do you want to get married?" "15 or 16". I laughed. "I don't think so, buddy you would still be in high school" "Dad, it's my life, I can do what I want. It's my life."

E was in a local church production of Annie. It was really quite an impressive production for "only a church production" she was one of the "Hoover kids" in the Hooverville. This means our whole house has been singing the songs of Annie, now even a week after the shows ended.  I have a feeling it won't be her last show, she had a great time and she showed a lot of moxie and showmanship for her first show.

C continues to do great in school and run her photography business (although things have slowed down in the winter). She's an amazing kiddo, but she was out with the flu this past entire week.

The oldest always gets a little more rewards and the last few months, C stays up with me to watch some TV on occasion. Now that she's 11, she's been able to see some classics, Indiana Jones, Gremlins and whole bunch of Star Trek: TNG. Oh yeah, I'm a great dad. We're in the middle of Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade (we skipped Temple of Doom and of course Crystal Skull crap). The other day both girls were sick and we watched Groundhog Day. So fun to share classics with your kids.

Quick Hits:

Last Jedi: Mixed thoughts, overall good but plot holes and some general blah feelings about some choices. Also, too many new Star Wars movies is a bad thing, capitalism ruins everything. Not excited for Solo. Don't care about all that crap. I thought Rouge One was technically well-executed but ultimately, horrible. I dread the idea of watching it again.

Winter Olympics: shrugs

Concert Updates: I got tickets to the The Breeders show in Austin in April. Can't wait. I missed Built to Spill a few years ago and now they are coming back on a double-bill with Afghan Wigs but I'm not crazy about Afghan Wigs and the venue will be pricey. Weezer is going to be in Austin with Pixies this summer but my plans are up in the air (India and/or traveling to Wisconsin). Speaking of Weezer.....

Weezer: Pacific Daydream - Yawn. Kinda terrible in a non-offensive way. Background music at a restaurant. Big disappointment from the White Album and even EWBAITE.

Dr. Mario: I got addicted. Holy Batman I am addicted. Up to 15 on Medium speed, trying out 17 (I skipped a few to  get up to that high)....can't do it. So hard. 

New David Letterman Show on Netflix: Thumbs Up. Wish there would be more than six.

Spurs: Sigh I literally sighed typing "Spurs".  Just not working out for them this year. The rumors with Leonard even more troubling. If Lady Luck is still a thing with this franchise, either something magically will happen this off season or the jig is up. Pretty crazy run though.

Prez Trump: A bumbling fool. A bumbling frightening fool.

Still watching a lot of MSTK 3000 on Youtube.  About half my week I fall asleep in bed watching one. Love it.

Winter: I am tired of cold weather and especially cold feet.

I should be grading papers.

So until then, take a look out your window and enjoy and don't forget to pray for world peace.

Art Post: Existential Snowman

I was sipping my coffee yesterday morning and became inspired by my coffee cup of a snowman helping a bird in a nest get (back?) into a tree.

How many nests just fall from their tree? Maybe the snowman is helping straighten it out? Or maybe, just maybe this is an evil snowman who is about to destroy the nest...

Well anyhoo, I started thinking about how snowmen (snow people?) and how they are always shown as happy, joyful and completely oblivious that they will be melting in short order. Look, it's not too much of a stretch to understand the snowman's plight.

With that in mind, I painted this in a few hours, it's titled Existential Snowman. 

Warning: This is DEEP stuff. Enjoy and then contemplate your own melting.

Existential Snowman, acrilic paint and ink, 2018. 

Stumbling, bumbling end of year fragments

Well, 2017 is ending with a bang.

That is everything is breaking including our laptop, garage door, the broiler on the oven, a dead van battery, a bedroom ceiling fan  and a few electrical problems in the house...and more to come (besides a roof that needs replacing).

Sigh.

That and we just got back from a Disney World vacation. So, ya know, money has unusually been on my mind. Still, it's all first world problems so I should shut up.

So, I'm writing this blog on my phone but all my plans of "catching up" on the blog lies in utter ruin.

Still, 2017 was quite a year. I finished a grad certificate program, traveled to Ireland and the UK, we took the kids to Disney, it actually snowed here in SA, and our kids are doing amazing things that are keeping us busy. C is first chair flute and as an 11 year old started her own photography business (and already has had at least 10 gigs), E, is always a crafty girl and has excelled in her dance class and is part of a local production of Annie, H has moved on a bit from Pokemon and loves Lego Ninjago, he's amazingly smart and ahead of his kinder classmates. He will likely start karate this spring.

I leave you with two images I recently found and love. Whoever you are out there in Internet land, have a happy New year and don't forget to not be a big jerk to your family when you're mad about something else.