The Mummy III: The Curse of Brenden Fraiser

I've used up most of my scorn for movies in my scathing review of National Treasure. But if you could imagine for a minute all that scorn directed in another direction you would have my review of the Mummy.

Moving on:

I spent this week on a staff retreat with my fellow "student developers" from Huntington University. Oh yes that's right my friend. Staff. I have a staff parking sticker to prove it. But I experienced a lot of things that might make up the inspiration for the next several posts. So before I launch into them I will give a survey of the important events from the weekend.

1) The Vice president of Student Affairs said to me "you complete me." I think he was talking to me, but I was handing him a Nutter Butter at the time so he might have been talking to it. Dr. Coffie is crazy about those Nutter Butters

2) I played a game that will forever be remembered as "pimps and jokers" despite the fact that SOME claim that was not the original name.

3) I forgot to pack pants

4) I found out that the people who work at H.U. are FUNNY

5) I saw the aforementioned travashamockery of a movie.

6) The entire student development staff of a private Christian institution of higher learning was chastised by disgruntled go-kart carnies at "Great Times" in Indy.

7) Everyone ate too much food.

8) I almost saw a "mime-off" and it terrified me.

a benchmark

I would like to congratulate whoever managed to be the 666th viewer of this blog. Please identify yourself for prayer. I hope you are not followed by a curse. I also hope a small circle of people is not currently regretting 665 small units of wasted time. That is all.

No Rest for the Juicy

So for all of you who have been keeping track of my life you know that if I'm done at NewPointe I must be on to my next action-packed phase of life. And you're right. I'm now a proud member of the Huntington University staff in Huntington Indiana. Now this place is no Taylor... (by which I mean I do not love it with an inappropriately huge amount of love, it actually has money, and instead of being represented by a generic Trojan* my mascot is now "Norm the Forrester") but I like it anyway.

Today my boss referenced Flight of the Concords, I had a two hour training session about PHONES, and I was invited to play Settlers of Catan at the end of the work-day. Minus the phones part it was a good first day of work.

Also, a man that I DID NOT KNOW prior to coming here made reference to my blog, specifically my humiliating experience "running" the Indy mini. Dang. Well Eric you get a shout out for being a faithful reader.

For further updates hang tight with baited breath. I have to go on a student development retreat the next few days, but do not fret, I promise to give a full report upon my return. In the mean-time discuss Brett Favre.

*The Trojans, honestly. The word Trojan conjures up two images. A contraceptive with surprisingly uncomfortable commercials and a classic Grecian culture who made it into a history books by being STUPID and LOSING a very important war. Please sign me up for that. I think this is roughly the equivalent of a mascot representing the former** Confederate States of America.

**The South gonna' do it again!

Newpointe is olde news!

Well this post is a bit late but things have been so fast paced lately I haven't had a chance to write as much as I would have liked. NOT that that is an apology. I hate it when people apologize for not blogging or updating their website as if to say "I know that this is terribly inconvienent for you! It must be so hard for you to have to go a week without hearing my opinion"

I figure you guys would live without me. Besides, I apologize for nothing.

So I left Newpoint the other day, and it was harder than I thought. I spent a large amount of time at that place trying to deal with my own personal problems and not really feeling like myself. And because of that I was obviously not too good at making friends at the begining. Also, I was kinda annoyed by my job.

But I eventually got over myself, and by the time I was going my own way I realized that I kinda liked it there. I learned a lot about "defining your own value" in an organization. You may have a job description, but if you've been around for a while you can begin to "lead up" and write your own job description by showing your boss just how valuable you are incertain fields and how bad it would be if (s)he lost you.

I think I was just beginning to get the hang of that when I packed up and left. Oh well. People at NewPointe are obsessed with "leaving a legacy." What did I leave behind?

A Blue Bunny
A Superman Lunchbox
Service starts now
The Junior Operations Committee

I hope that's enough. Unrelated: a generous staff member gave me an iTunes card as a parting gift. I used it to download the song "Grace Kelly" It's as if someone discovered a new bonus track on "Queen's Greatest Hits." Which is just great with me.

Don't hate me...

For writing this. I'm not trying to take myself too seriously. I don't ever expect the following "parable" to ever mean anything to anyone, or to be forwarded to everyone on your contact list. I just like to write stuff from time to time, and today I thought I would write like this.

One day God came to me in a dream and said to me that like Solomon he would grant me a request supernaturally. I realized that, like Solomon it would be a good idea to wish for my self improvement. So I wished that I would be stronger.

I woke up the next morning expecting to discover a new body stronger than my old one. But sadly I realized that no Spiderman like transformation had taken place. Disappointed I staggered blearily through the dark until I stubbed my toe on an unexpected object. There was a weight bench in my room.

God came to me again in a dream to tell me that he was sorry the last request didn't work out so well for me, so I could try again. This time I thought I would be just like Solomon and ask for wisdom and intelligence. The next morning I woke up expecting to feel smarter. However I still couldn't do the morning crossword. Later that day I went to get the mail, and found an unexpected letter with no return address. It was a recommended reading list.

A third night God came to me again and said I had one more chance. I thought long and hard about what I wanted most, and after much deliberation I figured that God would finally honor my request if I asked for something "good" something that he would want me to ask for. So I asked that he would help me love him more.

The next morning I was wakened by a phone call. It was bad news. Really bad. I thought that because I loved God more it would be easy to take. It wasn't. It hurt worse than ever because I felt like I had been betrayed by God. I didn't feel loving at all, I felt angry.

I screamed at God. "You could have made me stronger without the weight bench, I could have woken up with muscles"

"You're right" he said, "I can do that. But unless you understood what it took to gain that strength you wouldn't understand how to keep it."

"You could have made me smart!" I wailed "you could have put an encyclopedia in my brain"

"You're right" he answered, "I can do that. But you wouldn't value it properly. You would abuse that knowledge."

Finally I had had enough and in utter despair I accused him "But you didn't have to do THIS to me! You could have made me love you without taking away something else I loved more!"

"Actually you're wrong," he said, "I can't do that."

Peep this trash

So I went to a concert at church this weekend featuring this up and coming "artist" named Josh Wilson. People who take themselves too seriously call themselves artists. People who one day wish to be called "artists" call other people "artists" hoping to make the phrase seem more legitimate. Well fine, then I'm a joke artist.

But that's not the point. Josh Wilson does NOT take himself too seriously. I spent some time with him today before the concert and I think I've never met anyone with a better ratio of talent/humility. Which is not to say that I don't know some pretty cool and humble people, but this guy was crazy talented.

Anyway, the concert was awesome, not only is this guy a good musician he is funny, and a sweet dude. He also loves God. Some people are performers, and some people were just made to be on a stage because that's where they come alive. He is one of those guys.

So check this video of him playing Amazing Grace. He's 24, recently graduated college, and is trying to make it as a full time musician. He's never played with Audio Adrenaline but he's starting to make a name for himself. He recently got picked up by a Christian label and his music is available on itunes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UND-DtHBZQ


Everything about this post makes me miss Ben Taylor.

The Adventures of Bunny Deluxe (Part III)

Congratulations all you faithful readers who have made it this far. We've followed the progress of our lovable blue friend from adventures past, to the present, and finally we wave goodbye to him as he hops off into the future. But where is he going you ask? Anywhere that grown men hope and children dream. That's the place for him!

but more specifically he will be serving in "The reign forest" this Sunday at NewPointe. Which means that he's going to be babysitting the young'ins. But even more exciting than that, it appears that our friend is going to be taking his biggest leap of all....To Africa.

Yes, that's right. Africa. NewPointe is sending a missions team to Egypt to do a children's VBS, and they invited my best inflatable friend along for the ride. And no one here is bluffing. Next time you see B.D. he is going to be serving the Lord in the mission field. I just hope that he doesn't suck up too much sand.