On Giving Thanks and Calling Fools Out

In which thanks are given, future events considered, and fools called out.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays.  I don't know when that happened.  Sometime while I was a college it just sort of became one that I loved.  Part of it, I am sure, is that being away from home made me appreciate my family that much more.  So the long weekend spent at home became that much more precious to me.  Watching movies with my dad.  Eating home cooked food.  Playing with the dog.  Disc golf with Sarah.  Long talks with mom.  I am so thankful for my family.

Getting to see my family was not the only catalyst for Thanksgiving moving up the ranks of holidays.  I think another big reason came in the fall of 2002.  At the time I was living with Nick and Tim (Street not Felton) and we decided that we wanted to have all of our friends over for a Thanksgiving dinner of our own.  So we moved furniture around, brought in some extra tables, bought a huge turkey¹ and told people to bring a side dish and come on over.  It was a blast, there was so much food, we were packed in elbow to elbow, and it was amazing.  This last weekend I went over to my friends Jodi, Laura and Julia's for the seventh annual Thanksgiving dinner (see picture below). 

Seven years, that's pretty crazy.  By my count there were four of us there that were at the original dinner, and yet it was still going strong.  I love and miss all of those friends that were at the original Thanksgiving, especially those that I don't see often or have fallen out of contact with.  But at the same time I love all of the new friends that I have made over the last few years of being back in Bloomington.  I am thankful for my friends.

Speaking of huge holiday parties the Sunset Hill community (the Feltons, Roses and myself) went back and forth about having a Thanksgiving dinner for ourselves.  We decided to wait and instead have an epic Christmas potluck before we all head out of town².  Our hope is to pack the house with our dearest friends, eat way too much, laugh a ton, and maybe watch a Christmas movie³ and/or sing Christmas carols.  We already have our turkey waiting in the deep freeze, and I will start collecting paper to cut up for telephone-pictionary.  Our hope is that this party is so big we are finally forced to spread the good cheer to the upstairs annex (if for no other reason than to force Tim and Carrie to clean their dang room).  The last four month of living in an intentional community has been such a blessing.  This Christmas party will hopefully paint a great picture of how we want to live, loving and caring for each other and having our doors wide open to those who want to come.  I am thankful for this community of believers.

One group of people I would love to see join us for the Sunset Hill Christmas Potluck Extravaganza are the members of my small group.  I have loved spending time with them Thursday evenings, getting to know one another as we investigate the book of Genesis.  Even more fun was hanging out [read: playing telephone-pictionary] with them outside of small group, and I hope that that happens more often.  Like at a giant Christmas potluck.  They are all so awesome.  I am extremely thankful for my small group.

Speaking of abrupt topic shifts, you may have noticed that the last seven blog postings of mine were all uploaded during what most people would consider "work hours."  The reason behind that is simple, they were all written while I was at work.  I'm even at work right now.  This sentence...written at work.  But that will all change in about two and a half weeks.  I am leaving the cushy, yet low paying, job of in-school suspension monitor so that I can take over for a counselor at Eastern Greene middle and high schools who is going on maternity leave.  What will that mean?  Certainly less reading will get done, my fantasy football team will probably not get as much attention, I will not be able to answer emails with as much frequency, and my blog may become less frequent.  On the upside (though you may consider some of those things on the upside already) I will actually be utilizing the masters degree that I worked for 3 years to obtain.  I am thankful for the job opportunity that I had at Jackson Creek and the people I have met, but I am also thankful for the opportunity to return to Eastern.

So the best part of this whole blogging thing is that I get to see updates about my friends Sarah and JC and their super funny son Luke.  I have been terrible about making it up to see them and this way I am a least a little connected to them.  That's the wonderful part about the internet, staying update about friends' lives, thoughts and reflections.  With the in mind, welcome to:

The Great Blog Call-Out of 2009.

July 15^th, 2009 - Jon
August 3^rd, 2009 - Seth
August 10^th, 2009 - Colleen
October 1^st, 2009 - Dan
October 28^th, 2009 - Sara
November 10^th, 2009 - Kristen

This was the last time these people posted.  Kristen has only been absent for two weeks, so that's not too bad.  But the rest of you are on notice.  I am especially disappointed in one Seth "they call me death" Rowe, who claims to enjoy writing, but I think he just says that to impress people (it doesn't Seth).  So share something with us, a thought, a poem, a recipe, a picture, something.  P.S. Good work Carrie for posting furiously over the last week.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

 ¹The next year I learned two things.  One, the only huge turkeys you can find are frozen, and two, you can defrost a huge frozen turkey in a day if you keep it in a bathtub full of water.
²The festivities will be help at our house on Sunday December 20th, if you are in town, or want to come into town for the fun let me know.
³My vote would be for the greatest of all Christmas movies, Die Hard.

On the Internets

In which homeless people are observed, robots are brought to life, and insanity is contemplated.

So it is a great big internet out there. Lots of things to do and see.

One thing that I have learned over the last 10 or so years that I have been interneting is that the internet is full of garbage. You can put up just about anything that you want, unfortunately most of what people put up is just horrid.

But on that rare occasion there will be a gem of goodness amidst all the crap. On an even rarer occasion I will stumble upon said goodness. So I was thinking about it and decided one of the uses for this blog would be to share with those of you kind enough to read along some of the fun things I find.

A game: What's one thing the internet has lots of? Well, yes, naked ladies; but I was actually talking about flash games, just ask any high school student taking a computer application class. One that I discovered a few days ago is beautifully put together and very short, which is nice. This puzzle game has a fantastic atmosphere, beautiful visuals, and a simple concept, all in all very charming. You can check it out here: http://fastgames.com/littlewheel.html

A blog: I don't know if you have ever played the Sims before. It was a fun game where you get to control a family of people and pretty much act as a god. You could tell them what to do, who to talk to and how, you had complete control. Part of the game included creating a house for the sims to live in. Why am I telling you this, well because the Sims 3 just came out and a woman from the UK is playing it in an interesting way. She has created homeless sims, a father and daughter, and had created a blog following their "lives." You would think that reading about fake people being controlled by a stranger would be stupid, however, following the lives of Kev and Alice (the sims in question) is strangely compelling and poignant. Even if you have never played the Sims you should give it a look: http://aliceandkev.wordpress.com/

A YouTube video: Ah YouTube, home of embarrassing videos of kids doing stupid things. You can also find music videos on there. I watched one just this morning. I had never heard of the song before, but after watching the video I can't help but wonder if that is what going mad is like.



The World Wide Web, allowing you to waste time since 1989.