Firey Irony

Yesterday Creative Arts Camp was brought to a hault as the fire department was called. Something had caught fire, filling the air with acrid smoke. The culprit? The very device designed to show the way to safety: an exit sign. Apparently, this is not the first time it's happened either. In fact, this the third incident in 2 years. Thankfully, the sign only smoldered, not doing any damage to anything but itself.

Fire safety, or ticking time bomb?

And they say irony is dead.

This is probably going to be my last communique for a while. See you on the other side.

Camp, Preach, Camp

This week and the next are/are going to be crazy.

After this week, I will have survived Creative Arts Camp. My job is to serve as one of the devotional leaders. Basically, devotional leaders (or devo-leaders if you prefer) provide spiritual insight for the campers, beyond what they learn in the musical they are learning. Did I forget to mention that the campers learn an original musical written by the music minister of the church? Yeah, and its good too. Campers also go to special interest groups where they learn how to build things, dance, play instruments, etc. Devotions leaders are the privileged few that get to see all of the campers, from 2nd to 7th grade. Its crazy.

Sunday, I will be "tag-team" preaching at a 20-30 person church in Henderson. That should be interesting considering I haven't written anything for it yet.

Next week I will be at Camp. With a capital "c". The real deal, with A/C cabins and everything. I get to be a counselor for junior high kids. Knowing this, nobody get mad that I don't post for a while. I nearly drown in the amount of negative feedback I get when I don't update my blag (hint of sarcasm).

Unless something happens, I will keep a realog (as opposed to a weblog) and post that when I get back. Wish me luck.

By the way, if you noticed, I put some pictures in my older posts. If you had not noticed, they were there the whole time.

Shack

For those of you interested, read "The Shack" by William P. Young. Its pretty good, I consider it to be C.S. Lewis' "Mere Christianity" in fiction form. It has to do with the problem of evil, relationship with all parts of the Trinity, and relationship with others. Like I said, its pretty good.

Check it out here.

Deer, oh dear...

Deer blag readers,

It has been an endeering opportunity to right this blog for all of those close and deer to me. Okay, that's enough for now.

Seriously though, there are more deer here than I have ever seen. I have seen deer circle and surround a group of youth, kept back only with the use of a campfire and towels... It was terrible. Not to mention I saw a deer run down a hunting dog and stomp its back with its hooves. Worse, the mini-dachshund I live was attacked in its own backyard. Is nothing safe?

They are always watching.

OK Corral

After Round 2, it seems as though the buffet/salmonella breeding ground "Golden Corral" has won yet again. For those of you confused, check earlier posts. In fact, read all of them. Please. I am desperate for attention.

Last time I unwittingly walked into my own demise, thinking it was just another buffet. This time, we were invited to go to the retired pastor's lunch (there are quite a few of them), and we could not refuse. I will say that I had a bad feeling in my gut, as my stomach groaned in futile protest. Last time lunch was at Abuelos. This time, not so much.

In the face of such sheer adversity, I boldly (read: foolishly) ladled myself a cup of clam chowder to start the meal off. I was barely able to finish my red velvet cake for dessert before my stomach imploded.

Next time we have lunch is at CiCi's.

Moon Shine

Here is my requisite post, and a bit of Baseball history. I hope you enjoy it.

Wally Moon was a Major League Baseball player for the St. Louis Cardinals and the Los Angeles Dodgers from1954-1965. The game he made his debut, the crowd was chanting, "We want Slaughter!" Out of context one might think baseball back then was a lot more action packed. However, Enos Slaughter was the name of the player Wally replaced. Despite this icy welcome, Wally's first at-bat was a home run.

His impressive list of achievements includes:

• 2x All Star Selection
• 2X World Series champion
• Gold Glove winner
• 1954 NL rookie of the year

Wally is a member of the church I work at, and recently underwent hip-replacement surgery. I had the honor to meet and pray for Wally the other day, which explains why I went to Wikipedia to look all of this up.

Wally's baseball card.

Obligatory Post

Because I feel obligated to, here is a post.

Not much to report... I did kill a monster cockroach yesterday though.

There I was, innocently minding my own lazy business on the coach, when, out of nowhere, this prehistoric beast was upon me! It crawled along the floor near the walls, dazed and confused due to the light, its unholy eyes unused to it. The size of a small dog, this creature of the night looked as though it had recently scuttled from its nest deep within the bowels of the sewer system, in order to carry off some small child on its carapace.

I immediately sprung to action. Having on only leather top-siders, I knew that stepping on the monster would only provoke it. Instead, I lunged for the nearest magazine stack. As this "fell-roach" drew close, I let loose a volley of light reading in order to stun it. After a direct hit from Southern Living, I was able to end its foul reign. Antennae flailed uselessly in the air from beneath the glossy pages of the magazine. Never again would it see the oozing walls of its dark subterranean lair.

Cockroach: 0
Me: 1

Who?

Many of you (read: the few that read my blag) may have been wondering where I have been for the past eight days, because clearly I have not posted anything in that time. Well, I have been very busy (read: I have no other good excuse).

This past week I gave a "sermonette" at the Conference Headquarters chapel service, been to many a meeting, ate at the "Golden Corral" buffet (read: got sick at the "Golden Corral" buffet), and ate at a place that served chicken and waffles. I got a croissant sandwich and a bottomless cup of coffee. In case you were wondering.

This coming week should prove to be interesting. I should be learning about how to write liturgy, and there will be a fish fry on Saturday. So I am looking forward to it.

It is interesting how meaningless all of these things are on the Internet. After all, I could easily use Facebook or Myspace and act hip and with it. But then again when have I ever been hip or with it? What is it anyway (answer: it's it)?

So anyway, those of you I have not put to sleep with the trivialities of my week may be wondering, "what does the title of this post mean?"

I heard an owl outside before I started typing. That and I am uncreative.

Give a hoot! Read this blog!