Transition

Well, 2010 is almost over, and I have nothing witty to say about it. The only thing I could say is what you could say every year, and that is that the transition time is confusing. For the first half of the new year you write the previous year by mistake (usually in pen). After that you get really confused and don't know what to write. At that point I try to think of something witty, which is usually along the lines of Cruella De Vil's lines: "You wretched, wretched pen!!!"

Anyway, I already put this banner up with my last post but it is sort of a transition. I hope to work on different banners for each month. However, they probably all won't be done until 2011, I mean 2012. Darn year change. Man, this is going to be a long year transition. Happy New Year Everyugly! I mean, Everybody. Haha *gulp* Wretched Pen!

Stocking vs. Stalking

I think I made it clear last year, you know, the horrors of Santa Claus? Does "he sees you when your sleeping, he knows when you're awake" ring a bell? No? Well just turn around, he's there.

As if it wasn't creepy enough that he stalks you, then he has to go and break into your home; and through the chimney of all places! Couldn't he at least occupy the decency not to be creepy while he stalks us? But maybe I should give Santa the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps he comes through the chimney to put out that fire you forgot to so that your house doesn't catch on fire. Or perhaps he doesn't want to walk around with muddy boots in your house. But if he came through the fireplace, wouldn't that make his boots all the dirtier? Everything about this just doesn't make sense. Saint my eye glasses! Get away from me you creeper!

Well, one thing I forgot to talk about last year are the horrors of Christmas Music. Take the 12 Days of Christmas for example: all those birds and leaping men! True love my eye glasses! Couldn't you have just stopped with the five golden rings? That's all I really want out of those things.

Do you see what I see? Um, this is a song, I can't see what you're talking about. Do you hear what I hear? Well, I might if you'd shut up and stop asking me these rhetorical questions. RE-pum-pum-pum-petitive. It would be a Silent Night if all these animals would stop talking, drummer boys would stop playing, and Bing Crosby would stop singing. And these are some of the best of the bizarre songs. Who came up with those reindeer and snowmen? Probably some prankster uncle teaching his nieces and nephews annoying songs that they ccould bug their mom and dad. Either him or K-Mart. Both are ridiculous to start traditions. However, that's probably how most traditions start.

But most Christmas songs are really good. Especially those who talk about one of the most incredible events ever to take place on the face of the earth. Thankfully, people still sing those songs too... right up next to Rudy and Bing. It is too bad they just sing it and don't know the truth. Just another Christmas song my eye glasses!

Not where I was planning on going with this post, but it happens. Haha. Merry Christmas!

Three Years

This may just be the nerdiest thing I've ever done, but here it is. This is the third birthday of my blog. Nerdy yes. But if you're still reading my blog, you already know nerdy.

You don't need to think of me like this; you know, nerdy. Think of me like a three year old...as in the not nerdy but little, chubby, and 90s bowl cut part. ? Ok, maybe not that part. But at least if you think of me like a toddler, you won't complain when I put up drawings like this one. ...yeah I'm lazy, and three... But not nerdy!

Recap

If you were wondering why my blog hasn't had any drawings on it for awhile; this is the reason. But it is finally done!!! I checked the properties after finishing it this afternoon so I would know just how long it has taken me to color this thing. The small dates on the bottom are the coloring dates beginning to end. The "much else" I said I wasn't doing...well, this is it. I put this one with the other one on its original post so that way you could see all the changes I've made. I hope to to color all my drawings, so you should really check back to my blog in the year 2057 to see how it went...well go? ...I don't know.

I started coloring this when the weather got really strange. First it would rain for two days, then be really hot, then be overcast, rain, overcast, a week of really hot, and rain some more. It was overcast, hot, then rained all in one last week. We were on the overcast rotation with small showers this past week. This weather is so strange, that perhaps with the holidays coming up, snow will even clock in for a shift.

The other day (or month) I reached for the floss and poked it between my pearly whites as usual. What was unusual was that about half way through I noticed something different. "What's different," I thought as I licked the string, "...flavor! It has flavor! Mint flavor; of sorts." Apparently after my last experience, Target fired that wise guy that forgot to put flavor on all the floss I ever purchased from any of their stores. I knew something was wrong with that last batch. The only problem now is that when you have flavor, you sacrifice the ability to hold on the floss. I guess they literally do wax up the floss with mint flavor, but now I can't hold it. Target was smart however, because now that I can't hold it once it touches any sort of saliva, I have to get a new piece. (Not to mention they made it really weak so it come apart into little individual strings if it even sees a tooth.) The more pieces I have to go through, the faster I go through that whole little box, and the faster I have to buy more. Hey, he really was a wise guy.

Significance

Today is December 7, 2010. On December 7, 1941, the U.S. was attacked by Japanese on a seemingly normal military harbor in Hawaii. Today this harbor, Pearl Harbor, is famous because of the attack. This was the final push that moved the United States to join World War II. But this seemingly insignificant harbor is probably one of the most known harbors in the United States. Pearl Harbor stands as a monument for the lives that were lost in World War II, as well as its eventual victory.

Recently my home-school group and I had the privilege to go to a little, insignificant section of John Wayne airport where there are kept planes and other vehicles from WWII. All the old cars, motorcycles, and airplanes are still kept up, and still make drives and flights. However, the most interesting part of this small museum are the docents that work there. Most, if not all of them, are pilots that flew (and occasionally still fly) these planes in WWII and the Korean war. Most of these guys are in their 90s, who were in the war in their teens. If I was to pass these men on the street, I wouldn't even think twice. Each of these men (aside from looking in great health for their ages) would seem insignificant; just like passing anyone on the street, but the stories these men can tell is extraordinary. Two of the docents were shot down in air by enemy planes. One of these men was the only one in his plane to survive, and that was after it exploded. This man was taken in by the enemy, and had to wait out in captivity until the Germans surrendered. He said is forearm became as thin as his wrist because of the lack of food. He was shot down on only his seventh mission. My group's docent was at Pearl Harbor when it was attacked.

These few, seemingly normal men, all had their war stories some similar, and some very different than his.

This field trip may have been more interesting to me in stage of my life than earlier; not just because I am older, but because I was just reading about the wars of the United States before going. Before this year, this may have just seemed like another insignificant field trip. Perhaps I just need to be looking for significance, and I will find it in everything I see. Perhaps all those insignificant people I pass on the street have their extraordinary stories as well. Perhaps life itself is very significant, and I have just taken it for granted. Perhaps now that I can look to that seemingly insignificant harbor and see significant lives that were lost. Today is a reminder to look to the significant Pearl Harbor.

All this reminds me of the cross. A seemingly insignificant man, lead away to an insignificant hill, about to die a death insignificant to that time in Roman history. Yet, what this seemingly insignificant man accomplished on the cross is very significant. I have the privilege everyday to look to the cross and see significant life, and significant life bringing. Fact, it was the only thing in the history of the earth that brought life. And life is very significant.