All Gone / The Spider Cavern Revisited

I know not many of you have an Xbox 360. You should, then we could play together over Xbox Live. Oh well. I recently signed back up for Xbox Live after a free subscription ran out long ago. I wanted to sign back up to keep in touch with friends back in LA.

All 360 games come with a list of "achievements" for the player to beat in the game. Some you automatically get as you progress through the game, others are hidden. Sometimes they are quite tough, other times they are just pointless and time consuming. I usually bypass those because they take very little skill, just time. I had amassed something like 7000 gamer points, which isn't bad. These are saved on a profile in the box called a "gamer tag".

When I signed back up it retrieved the game tag I had when I last played on Xbox Live. I figured it would just update the old one... nope! All my achievements are gone, actually they are back at 650. And it looks like all my saved stuff is gone too, although it is on the console I can't figure out if I can get the saves back.

I know most of you are saying, "It's just video games." Well it's important to me. So, bite me.

While we're talking about games, The Eric brought to my attention the new Diablo 3.
Eric, Jeff, and I played a lot of Diablo 2. Perhaps one of the most memorable moments between Jeff and I happened while playing that game: The Spider Cavern Incident. I may as well tell it. I've nothing better to do.

(If you don't know what a word is click it because I'm not going to type it all out for you "noobs") The Diablo series is a "dungeon crawler". The 3 of us were playing and Jeff and Eric decided to go into a particular dungeon ahead of me, a dungeon known as "The Spider Cavern". We ventured there to get Khalim's Eye for that old pervert Deckard Cain. Now, they should have waited for me because I was playing my Barbarian who is the classic "tank". Instead Jeff goes charging in with his Paladin and he and Eric are almost instantly destroyed. They respawn and again instantly dead. I see this and I decide maybe I shouldn't go in because everytime you die you lose experience points and when your lvl 80 it takes hours of playing to attain a new level. Everytime you die it's like erasing 5 hours of playing. Meanwhile Jeff has died like 5 times and is screaming at me to get in there. Watching the instant death made me feel like my tank of a barbarian wouldn't make it either. Finally, after many more deaths and a slew of expletives directed toward me: "I'm losing so much cupcake experience! Get the cupcake in there! What the cupcake! Cupcake!". I finally went in and killed all the offending spiders with a barely a scratch to show for it: "Oh I guess it wasn't that bad after all". I have never witnessed Jeff so angry in the tenure of our friendship. It was great. Then Blizzard released the 1.10 patch and made my Barbarian useless. I never used him aain after that, thanks Blizz.

World Of Warcraft sucks.

The Rapture Is A Lie

I am writing this not to put people down, but rather to highlight the frightening lack of intellectualism among Christians. For some, the idea that little rational thought and Christianity often go hand in hand is like commenting that the sky s blue. While I do not feel the same about the detractors, they will look on these ramblings as a bit of silliness. It is my job, literally, to mature Christians in their study of the Bible, and in this I will attempt to do so.

Here is a normal conversation I have with someone:
The topic of rapture somehow comes up. Usually I'm being told how to teach something.
Me - "Yea, I don't believe in a rapture."
Dude - *Blank Stare* "... Don't you read the Bible?"
Me - "Yea. Do you?"
Dude - "Yes, but I guess I take the Bible literally."
Me - "I see. So where does the Bible, literally, talk about a rapture?"
Dude - "Ummm..."
Me - "Why don't you go look it up and we'll talk about it next week."

This is not an uncommon response when it comes to most topics, and in all fairness they don't really need to know it off the top of their head. The hope is that they are going to attempt to rigorously defend a position, that they have given it at least a cursory study. If a person has been spoon fed these ideas and told they are necessary to be a Christian, I will usually start off with a history lesson.

Most people are rather shocked when I tell them that the idea of a rapture is a fairly new innovation, being traced back to the 1830's. (Btw, when you're dealing in thousands of years of tradition, 180 years is considered "new".) The idea started in Britain, where it grew in prominence due to the life and work of John Darby. It is unknown whether Darby really came up with the idea himself. There is evidence that suggests it started with a 15 year old girl in Scotland, Margaret MacDonald, who had a vision of a 2-stage return of Jesus during a Benny Hinn style healing craziness. Darby took this idea and expanded on it when he joined up with the group called the "Plymouth Bretheren". Darby was a hit with these kids and he began teaching a "rapture of the saints" to precede Jesus' return.

While all of this was well and good, we really have the Scofield Reference Bible to thank for our predicament. In 1909, the Scofield Bible began printing and would become the weapon of choice to beat unsuspecting unbelievers over the head, especially during the conception and rise of the "Fundamentalists". And wouldn't you know, rapture was right there in the footnotes telling everyone how and what they ought to believe. (WARNING: DO NOT READ THE STUDY BIBLE FOOTNOTES. ATTEMPT TO THINK FOR YOURSELF) Thank goodness for footnotes! It is from this sordid background that we find the ignoble history of the rapture.

Usually a history lesson isn't quite good enough to cause people to relenquish their death grip on the rapture. I continue the teaching lesson by setting out for the king of supposed rapture prooftexts: 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17.
For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

Every person who I have said, "Why don't you go look it up and we'll talk about it next week" has come back to me with this passage. To be honest, there are other passages people will attempt to bring up but they all share one very significant similarity.

All supposed rapture proof texts are arguments from silence.


Anyway, back to those Thessalonians. Is that passage talking about rapture? No. Is it really concerned with end times at all? Not really. The people are concerned because their fellow Christians have died and everyone thought Jesus would return before anyone died. The point Paul is trying to make is that whether alive or dead, neither is better than the other because all go together to be with Jesus. But we go to meet Jesus in the "air"... huh? That's where Jesus went, if he had gone to Chicago it would say they meet him in Chicago. But we're going to be among the "clouds"... huh? Sure. Are the clouds heaven? Do we stay in the clouds? There are more quesions than answers if you take this to be a rapture text. Not to mention the whole "meet" word in the Greek was the same word used to describe a dignitary who came from a far away land to your country. You then sent men to meet the coming dignitary before they reached your city. What happened next? Did they stay out there? No. Did they go back with the dignitary? No. They escorted the dignitary back to their city. If anything this passage is directly contradicting anything rapture related.

I know there are more passages. Eric and I were talking about this a while ago and he asked me about the Thessalonians passage and what I said about it goes for most rapture proof-texts: If you didn't already have an understanding of what rapture is, would you make the connection that this is teaching Jesus will come to earth, take christians to heaven as a sort of holding tank, then wait around and come back (btw how do you wait around outside of time)? Ridiculous.

My Rock'N'Roll Lifestyle

Rachelle comes home from work and asks what I did today. The answer has been the same the last couple weeks: Watching the Euro Cup in HD and reading. It's been pretty great.

When we decided to move, I didn't want to get any cable or direct tv. Rachelle did though, and I understand that she likes to relax after a long day of work by watching some of her favorite shows. I certainly didn't want to get Tivo, not because I don't like them per se, but because I don't want any machine that helps me watch more TV than I already do. But I have to say that I really have been enjoying the HD channels I never had before for 2 reasons. They look amazing, I can't even tell I'm watching TV instead of a dvd. And there are only about 15 channels; if there aren't anything on those channels I just turn it off. It's great.











The best has been the Euro Cup. You can see the blades of grass on the pitch. Looking forward to the final match between Germany and Spain this Sunday.


Like I said, the only other thing I've really been doing is reading. That's been great too just because my reading has always been forced due to school. Now I get to read what I want to or books I feel would be more helpful in my immediate work.



















I recently finished this book, which was very helpful in framing my goals and intentions when I get into my hospital chaplaincy work. Kubler-Ross was a pioneer in the field of thanatology and the insights she presents are invaluable. I think the most powerful lesson I took from this book was how to talk to children about death. She makes the point that when death is explained to a child either "sleep" is used as an example causing children to believe they will return, or parents simply say "they went to be with Jesus" and how many children view that as a non-answer parents are prone to give, such as "because I said so". Kubler-Ross uses "symbolic language" to honestly deal with the situation and answer the questions they may have.



















I think Jeff probably read this once a year when we were in college, maybe more. I had always wanted to give it a whirl and finally I had the time. I enjoyed it. Read it in just a day and a half. Despite it's futuristic bent/alien war themes it really wasn't as science fiction-y as I thought it would be. More of a war/psychology story set in the future. I did like how Card flushed out the Peter and Valentine characters more. I thought they were only going to be used in the beginning to contrast with Ender but they ended up having a larger role than simply that.



















The sequel to Ender's Game, the two have very little in common other than a changed Ender who was praised in the first book as a hero is now considered a mass murderer. Now Ender must save a new alien species and give a new beginning to the one he destroyed. I thought it was pretty good. I didn't read it as fast as the previous but it still kept my attention. I may continue reading the rest of the series at some point, but for now I have moved on to other fare.

So yea, this is what I do right now. Oh and think heretical thoughts. They're revolving around inerrancy at the moment.

Incoming Threadless

My first San Diego shipment of Threadless shirts are on the way.

Jonah And The Technicolor Whale











The LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights. From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his God. He said: "In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me. From the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry."

This shirt is great. Great whimsical use of the color, almost like the sinews of the whale are a rainbow masterpiece. The whale's mouth and eye look straight out of the 70's with a huge grin after swallowing up the little Hebrew. Everything's better in technicolor.

Spiritual Symphony Fin


















I have to say, I thought a little while on this one. Not whether I liked it or not, but how people might react to it. Jesus and Moses back to back on dueling guitars, Buddah blissfully playing his "Kasio", and Ganesh rockin' a 3 arm and 1 trunk drum solo. Some people will look at this and see syncretism. I look at it and see the world as it is, with many different faiths. And while I may not believe in all of them, they make up the cultural and spiritual landscape of the people I come in contact with everyday. And through that I understand my fellow man a little more.

Deforestation

















One of the things I have always disagreed with "artsy" people about is that we find our own meaning in the art itself. Bollocks, I say. The only time we find our own meaning is when the author/artist isn't there to tell us what their original thought was. And if they have no original thought, then it isn't very good at all because there is no message to begin with.

I thought I would take the incorrect artists up on their pursuit of no meaning and I gave this a different meaning than was intended. The artist sees this as a sad state of the environment, with rainforests being destroyed everyday. I say that's looking at the glass half empty. I see this and I say, "There is still so many trees for us to cut down!" Soon the world will be one beautiful gray slab of concrete, especially Oregon. That's right Jeff, they're all going down.

Funkalicious














Once my dream of no more trees is realized (and it will be realized), we will all be forced to wear suits pumping pure oxygen. The excess of oxygen will cause us to see mystical technicolor shadows following us around. It will be beautiful and funky. Who wouldn't want to destroy all the trees for that?

The End Of May

The past few weeks have been a flurry of activity.

Rachelle graduated with her Masters of Science in Nursing.














She will now be rockin' the NICU of Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women as the Clinical Nurse Specialist.




















I graduated with my Masters of Divinity. I will now be rockin' the trophy husband lifestyle full-time!












Actually, I just heard back from the chaplains at Rady Children's Hospital and they offered me the internship over there. I have no idea how that happened but I'm excited nonetheless. Rachelle's hospital and this one are about 20 yards away from each other. Awesomeness.















I spoke one last time at the Wacc High School service. There wasn't as many people as normal due to the holiday weekend, but it was still great to see everyone I did. If you are so inclined, you may listen here.

The movers came, hauled away all our stuff and then had to lug it up two flights of stairs to our new apartment. The whole process plus driving took about 12 hours. Hiring those movers was some of the best money I have ever spent! If it hadn't been for them, Eric and I would have been moving most the stuff and then, I daresay, he and I wouldn't be friends anymore. Not sure about Eric, but I would hate any person who asked me to willingly go through what they did.

Had the pleasure of meeting my first neighbor during the move. She announced her "welcome" with repeated honkings. The moving truck had partially blocked her garage and she sat behind it wailing on the horn, driving around the lot, and then honking some more. When the mover asked if he could guide her in, she refused because she had to "drive straight in". I then introduced myself as her new neighbor and tried to shake her hand, which she eyed warily not wanting to touch me. I asked if it were at all possible for her to park in the myriad of spots a mere 2 feet away, alas that was too much to ask. We moved the truck so she could drive "straight in" to avoid her calling the rental office because they would "make you move". A fine woman.

Boxes are being unpacked, but still much to do.

Free Rice

Want to donate hundreds, thousands, or millions of grains of rice to needy people around the world without paying a cent? Free Rice is a nonprofit site devoted to giving rice to those in need and all you have to do is brush up on your vocabulary. So far I have donated over 2000 grains and have a vocab high score of 40. Make sure to go to the options tab of the site to save your progress and play everyday!

Ain't No Michael Jackson

We had an event tonight where we introduce incoming Freshman to the High School Ministry. It works like a progressive dinner with each class being represented at a different house. I was manning the Junior house. The new Freshman came, we beat on some pinatas, and then they took off for the next house and left us to clean up the paper mache entrails. Then we went inside and played Super Smash Bros. Brawl until nearly 11pm.

Here's the question: When does it get weird? I am a decade older than these guys. Under normal circumstances, if a 26 year old man was hanging out until late into the night playing video games with High Schoolers... most definitely sketchy. But due to my work and relationship with these guys, it makes it acceptable. But for how long? I have always thought this comparing my age to the students, but thinking about it now it seems better to compare my age to the parents. I guess when you start creeping up on the same age as the parents, you're treading on some fairly weird ground.

Do Work!

I know I was feeling down last night when I wrote my blog. I definitely didn't feel like I did my best work yesterday. Nights like that make me question what the heck I'm doing. As I was thinking about it today, I believe I have fallen into a trap. For some reason, I have this idea that it all should come easy. One small set-back and I'm doubting everything I've been preparing for the last 8 years. Is that lame or what?

I want my work to be challenging and fulfilling. I don't care if that means it might not be easy. So, today I pondered the words of a modern day philosopher: Big Black.

If you know Big Black you know one of his favorite phrases is: "Do work". I have been inspired by these words. Inspired by how no matter how wacky the work that needs to be done is, he still finds a way to make it happen. I want to do whatever it takes to get it done and do my best. Yea, it won't always be the greatest thing ever but I'm going to give it a shot. Next Wednesday is coming soon...

DO WORK SON!!!

Still Looking For The Square Hole

I have grown to respect pastors who preach week in and week out. I have had to preach the last 10 weeks in a row and it has solidified in my mind how it is not for me. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy teaching and I have become much better over the last 4 years. Rather it is the knowledge that next week is quickly approaching and whether or not I feel like what I have to say will be the least bit edifying, I must preach nonetheless. This is what I feel like my soul cannot abide. A sneaking feeling that I have and will produce mediocre work because I'm really not feeling what I am supposed to be teaching on. If I don't feel like it is going to make much of a difference in my students lives, or that the material is particularly relevant at the time, then I feel like my heart is not in it. And when my heart is not in it, I see a marked difference in my teaching. So what do I do? Fake it? Even if I could, which I can't, I wouldn't want to.

I have to say, I am really disheartened by the whole thing. Even though I knew this about myself before I began; that preaching every week or being a senior pastor was something I never aspired to do. I'm not a preacher, I never have been. It's more something that has been placed on me because of my position and education. While I don't mind doing it every once in a while, it will always be another man's shoes on my feet. I guess the question is: What is it that I ought to be doing?

"Jack of all trades, master of none, though ofttimes better than master of one." This quote, in it's entirety, is pretty much how I feel all of the time. I feel like the devotion of myself to one, and only one thing, is a waste of time. The problem is that I have yet to find a position anywhere for: teacher, preacher, chaplain, graphic artist, zookeeper, writer, and all the other things I want to learn. I know what the square peg feels like as the world tries to hammer it into the round hole.

Kanpai!

God bless the people of Japan. I just got done talking about how I dislike tv shows, but the Japanese never cease to impress. A staple of Japanese TV are the "prank shows". Thanks to Chad for inspiring me.


I nearly died laughing watching this one.


Never trust your friend that unexpectedly stick you in a taxi and tell you to wear a helmet.


To quote The Simpsons: "Our game shows are a little different from yours. Yours reward knowledge we punish ignorance! Our categories are: Ow That Hurts, Why Are You Doing This To Me, Please Let Me Die."

A Foul Creation

People who know me, know that I watch very little television. I really hate tv shows. I don't know of anything that has had more of a debilitating effect on humanity than our devout worship of the people in the box. We wake up with with the perky morning show people. The only thing worse are the people who stand outside their studios with signs for a chance to be caught on tape. Follow that up with the never ending estrogen power hour of celebrity chick interviewers. Dozens of shows, each with five of their own spin-offs. No more names anymore, just initials. It's all just bad. TV Guide has a list of the 50 worst tv shows of all time. The worst part is that the number 1, The Jerry Springer Show, is still on the air!

Having said all that, there remains a few gems that keep me from canceling my Direct TV subscription. In no particular order:

The Venture Brothers
Funny, clever, great characters and great voice talent. It's really the only show I look forward to the new season starting. I give you the first episode of the 2nd season with the best opening of all time care of Aquagen's "Everybody's Free".


Ninja Warrior
Ok yes I do love all things Japanese and their tv shows are no different. I love how contestants and audience get so into it. Ninja Warrior isn't just a reason to be on tv, it's a way of life for many of the people who frequent the show.


Flight Of The Concords
Their music videos are really where it's at.


Metalocalypse
The show follows death metal band Dethklok and their search for all things brutal. In this first episode, the boys make a metal coffee jingle and then spend most of the episode at the grocery store and try to figure out how to cook.


Rob & Big
Becky kept telling me that I needed to check this show out. It's on MTV, which automatically made me set off my "crap meter", but I thought I would give it a shot. It really is funny. It's just the skater Rob Dyrdek and his bodyguard/best friend Big Black hanging out and having fun.

Proof Of Awesome

I got some new Threadless shirts and their new packaging says, "You're awesome and this package is proof". If that wasn't good enough, Threadless is now printing all their new designs on their own brand of soft shirts. They just keep getting better and better.

Now That's Dope
Rachelle makes fun of me because of the vocabulary I have picked up from working with High School students. One of the more prolific words that we use is "dope". Two war veterans kickin' back with the gramophone, listening to some dope tunes. Sounds nice.

One Handprint Of Nature
I liked this design's depiction of the interconnectedness of humanity and nature. It's such a simple concept and execution. It's one of those designs I see and say, "Why didn't I think of that?"

Goliath
I don't know why I like this one so much, maybe it's the sneakers. Also, is it a coincidence that this was printed at the same time that The Mars Volta's new album "The Bedlam In Goliath" came out? I don't think so. Here they are at the Troubador... sadly I wasn't there.

Secrets Of Mensa
Finally a shirt to help me fake it. Now if only I could actually grow a beard.

Happy End
Poor King Kong. I never really understood why he was so enamored with the puny blonde woman. When you're that size you don't get a lot of options when it comes to the ladies. A gigantic French babe? He could do worse.

Aesthetic Truculency
Justice.

It's Always Midnight Somewhere
This is probably my favorite of the new purchases. The design was submitted as part of a contest with the theme of "Midnight Movie". It's a mashup of the old school wolfman thrillers and the classic film "Casablanca" with Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in their signature pose. It's beautiful.

San Diego Bound

Rachelle and I will be moving to San Diego at the end of May.

I know what some of you are thinking, "Where did this come from?". Well, it's actually been in process for about 5 months. Back in October, Rachelle contacted Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women about a job opening in the NICU for a Clinical Nurse Specialist. Early this year she went in for an interview, spoke with the Nurse Manager, and saw the unit. After a glowing recommendation from Rachelle's friend and CNS mentor over at UCI Medical Center, she was called to come in for a second interview. The interview lasted all day long. She was questioned by six different panels of doctors, nurses, CNSs, administration, etc., after which she was told that they would inform her of their decision by the end of the week. Of course, they offered her the job and after a very difficult week of deliberation she decided to take it. I think it is a great opportunity for Rachelle. This unit is much larger than the one at her current hospital, it's a much more academic setting, and, I believe, it will challenge her to do so much more with her talents.

What will I be doing? No idea.

San Diego Zoo?? *shrugs*

8-Bit Thinking

For years the gaming industry has sat on a gold mine, with what appeared to be no idea who their audience was or is. They had fallen into the belief, one held by so many people, that video games are for children and teens. I don't know how this came to be, or how it even makes sense. More games are released with a rating of "mature", ages 17+, than ever before. These games are for adults and yet they have historically been marketed so poorly that you had to do research to know when a game was coming out and whether it would be worth the buy, having never seen a commercial for it. It's 8-bit thinking. When Nintendo and the Famicom were the pinnacle of gaming the games were, frankly, ugly. Don't get me wrong, the games were great and I still play them but how do you advertise Donkey Kong? Show a picture of the screen with our favorite plumber running back and forth? Not exactly great advertising material. By the time the consoles had become established, the gaming community had become so niche that advertising seemed to go the way of the dinosaur, except around Christmas. But it seems to be changing.

What does it take to see a change? Money. 8-bit thinking went away as soon as people who played those 4, 8, 16, 24, 64-bit games got a real job and started spending their hard earned cash on what they always loved, video games. Gaming is big buisness. Last year Vivendi and Ubisoft combined to become the second largest gaming behemoth behind Electronic Arts. Over 10 million people subscribe for $15 a month to Blizzard Entertainment's "World of Warcraft" (Blizzard by the way is owned by parent company Vivendi). Projections show the game industry soon beating out even the motion picture studios. And with all this capital comes better, sorry ACTUAL, advertising.

The change has been coming for a while but I realized how effective it could be when I first saw the trailer for Gear Of War using the Gary Jules' cover of Tears For Fears' "Mad World".


I read reviews from teens saying how terrible the commercial was... the fools. This commercial was not made for you. In order to get everything out of this advertisement you need to love the 80's new wave band Tears For Fears. But they use the Gary Jules version which is from what has become a cult classic "Donnie Darko". Not to mention that the cinematic is gorgeous. All these add up to ADULTS who want to buy this game. The first time I saw it on TV I was in awe.

And now that they understand, "Oh yea, let's combine these amazing games with frickin great music and sell them like the pieces of gold that they are!" it's a snow ball effect. I saw this yesterday.


I read on the forums, "I don't get this song for the trailer". Holy crap man they're playing "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane! They could be selling me cancer and I would buy it. I'd buy because it's amazing how far we've come. I would have never thought we'd see good advertising for good games using amazing rock music. I'm bemused by all it's glory. We will use all of this to solidify our numbers and then the nerds will overthrow their oppressors and the war will begin. Join us now or be assimilated later. Resistence is futile.

OGame

I started playing a free browser mmo called OGame. It's your standard planets, resources, fleets of ships, attacking, defending, etc. Best of all it's free. If you want to sign up, we're playing in Universe 31. Within these universes there are Alliances that may be at war, may be available to trade goods, or to have the back of a friend who has 50 Deathstars headed their way. Our Alliance has decided to revamp it's name and look and here are some suggestions I have come up with. This may not be all of them because I have more in my head but time is always a factor. To my fellow Alliance members who are here to check them out, welcome!

1. Space Banditos


















The name "Space Banditos" is from an episode of Futurama where the crew is guarding a single atom of Jumbonium. When the atom is stolen Leela asks,
"Did you hear maracas?"
"No."
"Then it wasn't Space Banditos."
The image is from Coelasquid. Typeface: Bleeding Cowboys


2. Galactic Cattle Rustlers


















The name for this one I came up with myself. I mean think about it, years in the future when the cow has become nearly extinct people will be willing to pay anything for a good burger. Cattle rustling sees a new upsurge as one alliance attempts to hold the universe's meat supply within it's grasp.
Then I found the image from Bergam. Typeface: Nashville


3. Initech


















This is obviously from the classic Mike Judge movie "Office Space". This picture I composed myself. The Initech logo, and all that I could find, was rather low quality. Too low to have in the forefront without it being so glaringly pixelated. In order to fix that I decided to make it like a water marked legal pad given out to Initech employees. Michael Bolton has left Peter a note about getting the memo letting all employees know that cover sheets need to be on the new TPS Reports. Lumbergh, the Division VP, gently breaks the ice before having Peter work the weekend. Finally, Peter himself writes to himself the companies motivational slogan before changing it to what he feels is a more adequate question. The coffee stain ring shows how he has hidden it from his 8 bosses along with the CDEF virus that he and his friends would later inflict on the payroll department.
Typefaces: Bring Tha Noize, SF Burlington Script, Journal


4. Monkey With A Gun


















Steve wanted something funny and different. So I thought what about "monkeys with handguns". It's funny and dangerous on many levels, I mean who knows what would happen if monkeys everywhere were armed. Spider Monkeys brandishing weapons in each hand, foot, as well as tail. I don't know about you but any creature able to hold you up with 5 guns is worthy of fear and respect. As I thought about the name more it solidified into "Monkey With A Gun". I googled up an image and behold the cold blooded chimp assassin.
Typeface: You Are Loved


5. Bored Ornithologists for the Ongoing Blue-foot Interplanetary Eradication Society














Yes, we are all a bit childish sometimes even me. Each Alliance is also given a "tag" which is just an abbreviation from you name. We would be known throughout the universe as the B.O.O.B.I.E.S whose sole purpose was to wipe the Blue-footed Booby out of existence. Little did we know that when space travel became widely accessible that the Blue-foot would sneak into cargo containers, weapons crates, etc. bound for the farthest reaches of the universe. Soon the Blue-foot was a menace, devouring the natural resources of once great planets. Our preferred method of destruction is to park a couple million miles away from a black hole open the bay doors and let them be sucked into a quantum singularity. Now that's a job well done.
Typeface: Victor

That's all I have at the moment. I may have more later when I have the time.

Welcome To The Machine

Rube Goldberg machines are cool, especially ones with little Japanese girls singing.

I Really Do Love Video Games

Actually what I was saying to myself was, "If this is PS3 only, I'm getting one". Don't worry Rachelle, it's coming out on Xbox 360 too.

For Jeff

This one I made.

The one below I found on deviantART and couldn't pass it up. It's a bit on the anime side but still amazingly close to how I would picture Calvin and Hobbes in real life. The illustration is by '*spacecoyote'. Go to her deviantART page here!

High School Calendar

The Wacc High School calendar for the next 6 months. The background is an iStock image. The tree was gleaned from an image I found, masked and tinted. We printed them in color on 11x17 paper for all the High Schoolers and extra, about 450. The main typeface is 'Roman Antique', the months are 'Ellianarelle's Path', and the events are a large variety. The back has a detailed description of all events.

Click it for a larger image.

Let me know what you think.

Done.

So, I'm done with school... forever.

Yes, pretty anticlimactic for me as well. I actually finished last week but I havn't written anything because I was unsure how I felt about it. Rachelle finished her Masters degree as well and we both don't really know what to do with ourselves right now. We had Jeff staying with us (I ought to do a proper blog about that later) but now he is gone as well.

It's just the two of us... without deadlines. Needless to say, it's a very confusing time.

There has been a lot of sleeping on the couch. Perhaps I ought to say there has been EVEN MORE sleeping on the couch. I begin to play a video game and I have a nagging suspicion that I ought to be studying Greek or writing some paper. But I don't and there is no paper. For 8 years I have had the sword of Damocles hanging over my head and now the banquet is over, I can leave. But I don't leave, I remain sitting under the sword because the seat that I once cursed has become all I know. I'm sure in time this will pass.

While I hope the feeling subsides, I hope I never want to stop learning. I recently took a strength finder test from this book and one of my top 5 strengths was "learning". Crazy I know. I already have a list of things to study that I want to learn:

1. Piano Lessons - Rachelle's aunt is going to teach me. I started taking lessons from her a couple years ago but I never had the time or piano to practice on. Now I have the time and she is going to let me use her piano because she wants to get it out of her house. Fine by me.

2. Graphic/Web Design Class - I have been doing a lot more design at work and I wanted to audit some classes in it. The problem is that all that is offered in the Spring are the second semester of the classes, so I have to wait until Fall to get in Design 1. I could just try these, but I would like to know what everyone is talking about.

3. Creative Writing Class - Once again all second semester courses or scheduled in the middle of the day when I will be working.

4. Book - Yea, as in write one. Jeff and Elaine think I ought to write a Systematic Theology book. A more cynical, less haughty, and actually useful one. Not sure if I have the gumption for something of that magnitude. I have been thinking of something more akin to a practical commentary/preaching book. I need to get all my heretical thoughts down on paper for all the world to see.

I'd write more but I need to go to work. Shadow hide you.