As is my usual tradition, I'm posting to LiveJournal the stuff I got for Christmas. Not to brag, but I like to keep track of it, I guess.

For Christmas, weirdlovemaker and skitskatskakat came over to our house on Christmas Eve, we went to Christmas Service, took care of the kids' Santa presents and watched A Christmas Story. This morning the kiddos woke up about 7am but were good enough to stay in their room until 7:30, we all went out and opened our presents. Bro and girlfriend and crashed out downstairs.

My daughter has the beginnings of a cold or an ear infection, sadly. Which means she was upset to her stomach. Not fun, but I'm really upset that my in-laws decided not to come over. We know she doesn't have the stomach flu from her symptoms, but they still decided not to come over. It has upset our kids and our plans for the night as well. I'm trying not to let it get to me, but I'm pretty ticked.

Anyway, for my own edification, mostly, here's the list:

( The List )

Yesterday, my wife's birthday, I began taking medication for ADD. I can't yet attest to the effects. For one, it's a very small dose. For two, it was my wife's birthday and I was very motivated to stay focused and make sure she had an amazing day. I'll likely report in from time to time on how I'm doing with it. I'm very curious to see how it goes...and, frankly, I'm pretty darned excited.

Oh, so quiet on LJ lately. I wonder how many other people are suffering the same affliction that I am - namely Facebook. I'm writing this on LiveJournal and it'll end up on FB for all my pals and I think that's the way to go with these notes. I prefer LJ for journaling and writing thoughts, etc.

ANYHOW!! This is shaping up to be a very nice Christmas season. Our tree is up, the lights are completely up and done, and we have some of our purchases made for people already. Both my wife and I are trying hard not to give in to the frantic chaos that ends up being Christmas. I don't want to get done with Christmas and take that deep breath and say "Finally, it's over." I want to enjoy every moment leading up to the holiday and when it's over be clamoring for more.

On the lights, I decided not to kill myself trying to replace bulbs on the strands of mini-lights or figure out what the problem is. I just can't do that this year. It's annoying, time consuming and stops me from getting the stuff done that I really want to. So we threw out at least four strands of lights this year and just bought new ones. The white chasing lights we had around our garage? Gone. Every third light wasn't working and as much as I love those lights, I'm not going to try to replace every bulb. The Home Depot in town? Completely out of lights. So I guess they aren't going up...unless I find them somewhere else. He said with a shifty look.

This year we celebrated the feast of St. Nicholas by taking the kids to pick out five non-perishable items each (at the dollar store thankfully) and having them donate them that same night then came home for a nice family dinner together. We spent a lot of time talking about the real St. Nicholas too. My wife is pretty amazing at helping to extend the Christmas festivities and making the winter season about so much more than just presents. She's amazing. She's also planning to do St. Lucia's day this Sunday. These are the kinds of things that make the holidays really special - along with spending great times with friends and family.

I'll likely write something for Christmas as well, but I still wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Fall is definitely here in Washington. The leaves are changing and falling, the weather is colder outside, the clouds are an ever-present companion through the day, and the rainfall has increased.

Personally? I love it. When my family was getting ready to move up here, my dad brought us up to look at the area, the neighborhood and start connecting with some old family friends. I had never been any farther North from Arizona than Utah and that was just for a weekend music seminar with my family (we were piano nerds). I had never been anywhere with actual seasons.

When we pulled up to the hotel, I remember distinctly getting out on a cool, brisk, sunny fall day in Bellevue. I saw the trees with all their different shades of the season, smelled that smell of fall (if you've never smelled it or recognized when it was really fall by the smell outside, you're missing out), and a flock of Canada Geese flew over head honking in "V" formation. It was my first taste of what would become my favorite season here.

Don't get me wrong, spring and summer are lovely here and winter has its merits...but fall will always be closest to my heart. It's the most recognizable season shift we have, I think. But I also enjoy the sense of anticipation. The holidays are coming! Thanks giving is near...Christmas is not too far away, and while I'm not wild about Halloween, I even like the decorations coming out in preparation for it.

It's been here for awhile, but I felt like it was time to finally post about it. My icons on LiveJournal have been updated to include my favorite Fall images and my color scheme has been updated as well. I'll be keeping my window slightly open for fresh air and the accompaniment of the sound of rain on the red leaves as I drift off to sleep.

With a pleasant sigh I say "I'm so very glad it's fall."

I'd go on Survivor. Hands down. As cheesy as the show has become, I still want to see if the game can be played (and won) with ethics.

The Springtime of my unemployment brought about something that my brother has been bugging me about for a long time - reading the Harry Potter novels. For several years I have heard the debate rage on between believers and non-believers. Should a believer read Harry Potter? Is it truly evil? Is it, as many public Christians have claimed, a method by which to introduce young people to the occult? Is it, on the other hand, just poorly written crap that we should have children read? These are all questions I set out to explore as I picked up the HP books for the first time. Come with me on my journey as an intelligent, balanced, and bible-believing Christian as I look into the books.

( Behind the cut... )

Yes, yes! I'm still here! As I mentioned before, I'm pretty absorbed in Facebook. I have some thoughts I'll likely share with both communities, though.

Anyway, I'm still here...still plugging away at life. :D

Gah! Facebook is killing my LJ time! I haven't posted in SO LONG! I'm going to try to share more of my notes from FB here because I still like LiveJournal.

I shared a link on my wall recently regarding the division among evangelical Christians and the stance on torture (Find it here: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2009218154_torturefaith14.html?syndication=rss). One of my friends shared it with me and it was extremely thought-provoking. As an evangelical, Bible-believing, pentecostal, charismatic "fanatic" I believe...ready for it?

I believe that torture is completely wrong. Period.

From the article, I found it really sad that more people who claimed to be Christians allowed their political leanings/party dictate their response to this. And I strongly disagree with Bauer's statement in the article where he said the question isn't necessarily "Would Jesus torture?" I think that's EXACTLY the question. If, as Christians, we are to pattern our lives after Christ then I think we have to examine how he lived and how we are admonished to live elsewhere in Scripture. If we rely on our political party to determine what we choose is right and wrong on a spiritual level...what is really our religion then?

Another friend of mine sent me a message that it was a hard choice and that it becomes more difficult when it affects you personally. This really gave me pause and made me think and process how I really feel about this. The scenario she presented was a terrorist who had plans to attack our neighborhood but we caught him and now have the opportunity to get information out of him, but the choice were mine.

Would I be angry than someone had plans that affected me personally? Absolutely - but I don't believe this gives me the right to choose who lives, who dies, who suffers and who doesn't. I believe that life is sacred. It's why I'm anti abortion, anti euthanasia, anti death penalty. These things put the power to control the lives of individuals in the hands of men and we are not the final arbiters of their souls.

In Lord of the Rings (horribly geeky reference, I know), Gandalf says "Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. For even the very wise cannot see all ends." Only God himself knows the outcome and it is He alone who will decide the fate of every person.

In addition to this, torture is an ineffective means of extracting information. Even if it were 100% effective in getting the information you want, it does not justify such horrible treatment of another person - no matter the circumstances. As my friend Christopher said "Our fallen nature should not justify inhumanity". Meaning even if we are fallen, sinful being as I believe we are, it should not be used to justify inhumane treatment of another individual.

1. Bread (Grain) Group:
Probably sticky buns. Love the caramel-y goodness with pecans.

2. Meat (Protein) Group:
Steak. A nice New York strip or Porter...mmmm...

3. Vegetable Group:
Brocoli - just can't get enough.

4. Fruit Group:
Boy, a really nice, ripe nectarine is just about the best. Or a fresh, cold honey mango.

5. Sugars, Fats and Oils:
Um? Yes? I think my favorite sugar might actually be sugar in the raw, favorite fat is pork, and favorite oil is olive. I'm not sure what they meant by this question. ;)

Two days before my birthday this year, D&D co-creator Dave Arneson passed away due to an epic battle with cancer. Yes there are horrible geek jokes that I could make here, but I'm just not going to. Dave was an awesome guy and it was really an honor to meet him and have him stop by the Wizards of the Coast booth at GenCon 2005 and roll the game die pictured there. I was MC'ing the game WotC hosts at their booth every year (military themed in 2005, hence the costume that ended up making me look like El Presidente) and he stopped by just to roll the gigantic D20.

And yes, he was dressed in a full-on wizard's outfit. He stayed, rolled the dice (notice the natural 20), chatted, entertained the crowd with a big smile then continue around the Con. That's what I'll always remember. He was a man who wanted us to have fun.

Fare thee well, adventurer. I pray to see you on Heaven's far-off shores.

Some thoughts on some recent trailers:

Extract - This looks hilarious. I like Mike Judge's stuff and I'd love to see this.

Ice Age 3 - The other movies are charming in their own way and I think I'll probably take the kids to go see this.

Imagine THAT - Personally I am proud of Eddie Murphy's decision to make movies his children can actually watch. This looks funny and endearing. I love the little prayer scene at the end of the trailer.

Anvil: The Story of Anvil - This looks like it could be good. I can't decide if it looks hilarious or so touching all cry. Maybe both.

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs - This is a great book and it looks like Sony Animation might do it right. I'd honestly like to see this kind of production in cell-style animation instead of CGI (and why does all CGI have to be 3D now?) but I think this looks really cool.

Daytime Drinking - Looks pretty good. It's a South-Korean indy film and it looks like it could be good. I expect some disconnect with the translation, but looks worth a look.

Battle For Terra - I'm not so sure about this one. The idea is interesting if not a little played out - humans are going to go extinct and we either completely conquer another planet or we die out. Of course, there's the third option that the angry military leader doesn't want to talk about. We'll see. Looks like a renter to me.

Funny People - a Judd Apatow film I actually want to see! Now we'll see if he throws in a bunch of pot references and stuff like usual. I mean, he does have Seth Rogen! ;)

Public Enemies - Johnny Depp, Christian Bale. It's like a movie made to make tons and tons of money. I will definitely go see this.

Sleep Dealer - Another indy film that I think looks really cool. It's got a largely hispanic cast (or entirely, possibly) and paints a bleak future after the wall goes up to separate Mexico and the United States (something I should write about soon). It's set in the future and looks like it could be amazing.

Anyone have a Gamecube they want to part with? I need one for a reward for my son.

Many of you know that I can't stand the stereotypical presentations of men. While I think we have had bad role models, I don't think there's anything that is stopping us from rising above the stereotype and being better men. Real men.

But every once in awhile we all slip back into old habits. I took a message for my wife today and had to slap myself when I re-read it later:

NOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooo! Our babysitter accidentally cancelled the DVR recording of the finale and so I am not sitting down to watch it right now and I am avoiding any and all blogs and posts regarding it. I won't be able to watch it until tomorrow night because I can't commit TV adultery and watch it without my wife and we have an early morning class tomorrow.


ARRRRRGH!

I'm doing better today. I hung out with a buddy from church. We had some beers, shot pool, ate cheeseburgers and talked. It was really good to get out of the house and do something. I came back home and read for a couple hours because it's what I wanted to do and went to bed before midnight and slept until 9:30. I feel a bit more recharged.

Some more time out would be good for me, I think. I'm planning on seeing Watchmen next week with a friend of mine which should give me some more social time. Today I don't really have much planned, but that's OK. I'll probably spend some time playing with my kids and reading today.

I've even started reading Harry Potter - bum, bum, BUMMMMMM! Shhh, don't tell anyone - I'm really enjoying it.

I'm sitting here at my computer trying to find things to do. I'm not exactly sure why. I have a myriad of movies I could watch including stuff I haven't seen in a long time or never seen. I have books to read and games to play. But I just don't have the motivation to do much of anything. I'm not sure if it's a lack of sleep or just being bored with my daily routine.

I tried working around the house today. Since I don't have a job I figure working around the house will give me some sense of purpose and accomplishment. But that hasn't really helped. To be honest I think I'm going a little stir crazy. I'm really, really ready to get back to work. I want a job so bad I actually wake up thinking about how cool it would be to go to work. I think it's very fulfilling even though it's stressful and aggravating sometimes.

I'm hoping that by writing it out and getting it expressed that it might help. I've not exactly been posting regularly - maybe that would help, though. I used to keep a schedule of tasks to do during the day and maybe I'll get back to doing that. Try to create some more structure or something I dunno.

Any idea how to break out of this funk?

Next in the ultimate showdown of entertainment, two enter, but only one leaves. Please put your hands together and give it up for STARSHIP TROOPERS!! *crowd goes wild*

( I want a good, clean fight! )

[43] DarkStalkers icons

This is my first, big batch of icons. I've done some others but there were only about 5 or 6 in the set. This is a full-on set with a theme: The result of Anakaris's "Pharoah's Curse" from the DarkStalkers (or Vampire Savior) series. Happy to take DarkStalkers requests if anyone has them. I'm only working with the sprites currently, but we'll see how it goes.

In a lot of cases I made multiples because I got inspired. It in no way indicates a favorite character over any other. ;) I have my fave icons in this set for sure. Let me know what you like or want to see more of! Some inspiration taken from tropic_icons from this set: http://tropic-icons.livejournal.com/63982.html and original interest piqued from spiidfreakbarbi in this set: http://spiidfreakbarbi.livejournal.com/13551.html

Credit for the textures belongs to:
endlessdeep
xonlyashesx
bi0cides
jordannamorgan
emtextures
xloliconsx
xonlyashesx
art_e_mis

( Ready? FIGHT! )

This morning my wife, being the amazing mom she is, gave the kids their Valentine's cards, candy and balloons. She is always so thoughtful. Because of budget constraints, I was under the impression that we were just doing cards and a dinner/movie night at home together. After I get the kids situation at the breakfast table, I went back and flopped down on the bed while she was putting her contacts in and she says "I'm too excited to wait to give you your gift. I wanna give it to you now."

'CRAP!' I thought. 'I didn't get a gift because I thought we weren't DOING them!' Well, she surprised me all right. These images are just one of the things she put in an incredible WoW-themed bag that she put together. She bought all the components then printed stuff from the WoW-wiki and put it all together to make this incredible gift bag. It's so awesome I may just never open the items and keep it the way it is forever.

You can bet I'll be sharing these with Blizzard. I've made this entry public so all my non-LJ and non-Facebook friends can see it. :D

I LOVE YOU, WIFE!! You are amazing!!

( All the large-sized images after the cut )

Being sick sucks. So instead of whining about that, I will follow in my brother's footsteps and post some thoughts on new trailers:

Planet 51: Looks like it could be really funny. Has some relatively big-name talent associated with it and I find that while the computer animated film is continuing to be popular, I don't grow tired of it. Go figure.

Miss March: This is like a naughty version of Planes, Trains, and Autos. Except the end goal in this movie is not home for Thanksgiving - it's a girlfriend. Not sure if I'd see this movie or not, honestly. It looks like it could be really funny or it could just be completely raunchy.

The Great Buck Howard: Wow, a movie with John Malkovich that I actually WANT to see. Playing a clueless, performing buffoon seem, for some reason, like a terrific role for him. Tom Hanks's line in the trailer completely cracked me up. I think it looks like it'll be really good.

Crank 2: I never saw Crank but now I totally want to. I love that Jason Statham became this kind of action king here after Snatch and Lock, Stock. What can I say? I love the guy. Seems completely over the top but really enjoyable.

Gomorrah: The description of this movie off the site doesn't make me want to see it. That and it's a Scorsese film. I've never been a big fan. Anyway, the trailers wouldn't load for me so I can't comment beyond what I see here.

Night at the Museum 2: I didn't see the first one, but it looks like it could be cute. I like Lincoln's patter toward the end of the trailer. Not something I'm going to rush out and see in the theater but easily something I might watch with the kids.

Fired Up: Total cheeseball movie you go watch to take your mind off of something horrible...and something I may just hold in reserve for just such an occasion.

The Proposal: Oh my gosh, I started watching this trailer thinking "Nuh-uh. I have had my fill of bitch bosses." But I like both the main actors and Betty White's line at the end totally got me.

I Love You, Man: Has one of the guys from Anchorman in it and looks great. For some reason I love those "Odd Couple" movies and I think there are some pretty cool-looking moments in this film. Plus, Andy Samberg and JK Simmons are going to be in it. How can it not win?

Dance Flick: I'm not even posting a link to it. Because my statement here is not just no, but HEYELL no. This movie is at least 5 years too late. And man I can't STAND anything the Wayans Brothers do.

The Wrestler: I hadn't originally wanted to see this movie. I hate wrestling. But this trailer is really compelling and it looks like an amazing performance by Rourke.

Let Them Chirp Awhile: No interest in seeing this whatsoever.

Harry Potter: I have this weird love-hate relationship with Harry Potter that most of my friends don't understand. I see the movies and enjoy them yet I won't read the books. I think I'm tired with how ga-ga people are over the series. Children and adults alike. I find it particularly disturbing that there are so many dark themes in the books and yet so many children have read them. Just not sure I'm comfortable with all that. Anyway, I'd like to eventually see all of them.

Knowing: I'd see it. I find this kind of thing sort of fascinating anyway so this seems like it might be a watcher...or at least a renter.