Insane (but good) Cartoon-Movie

Okay.  So I'm sitting here watching "Justice League: The New Frontier."  It's an hour and 15 minutes of the origins of the Justice League.  It's insane!!  Two words: fascinating and cheesy!

There were a couple mentions of God.  They were battling something from the center of the Earth that kept spewing out monsters that were like dinosaurs, was taking over weak minds, creating cults in its honor, and telling the heroes they didn't have the will/power to defeat it.  Anyone else think that sounds like a veiled semblance of Satan?  And so it was the person newest to his power and the an originally true human who saved the day after Superman, in his usual Christ-like manner, sacrificed himself for all. And, of course, he did later rise from the "dead" - in case you wondered.

It also touched on politics, condemning the veritable "witch hunts" of the late 50s and championing a coming together of the nation despite individual differences.  It concludes with JFK's "new frontier" speech.

So that covers the fascinating part.  Anyone for some cheese?  Wow.  It usually had to do with moments involving girlfriends of some of the male heroes - The Flash, Superman, and The Green Lantern - but there were just some funny, funny lines and moments in general.

It was a fun way to spend a little over an hour between church and play practice.  I think I'd recommend it to anyone with at least some familiarity with the characters.  If you have no idea who many of these people are, you'd probably feel a bit lost..but maybe that's okay, too, because that's sort of what these heroes are in the world to do - save the lost.

Walter, Peanut, and Bill O' Reilly

If you are familiar with Jeff Dunham and his ventriloquism, and even if you aren't, the interview Bill O' Reilly does with Jeff's puppets Walter and Peanut is pretty darn funny.  It was just on tonight and even though I missed it, I did see it on the Factor's website.  The link is below.  Look for "Jeff Dunham in the 'No Spin Zone'" video.

http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/oreilly/index.html

Some day this link will go nowhere, but in the meantime, I hope you check it out.  :-)

My Favorite Rock Star

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og1qmplP-xM

The Spirit Moves Me

I am so excited for Sunday!

For most people, it's just another day.  But it's my third favorite "holiday" of the church calendar.  Reformation Day is on All Hallows Eve...a.k.a. Halloween.  Being Lutheran, we are celebrating it on Sunday, making the 28th Reformation Sunday.  Reformation Day is the commemoration of the night Martin Luther nailed his "95 Theses" (or discussion points) to the church door knowing that the next morning (All Saints Day) people would be passing through those doors on their way to Mass.  And thus began The Reformation that changed the world (not just religion - I can go into that in another post).

There is something about that Sunday that reaches through me way back into my genetics all the way to the very first Lutherans in my ancestry.  On Reformation Sunday, I am worshiping with all my relatives through time.  It's like a crazy Star Trek effect taking place in my soul.  When I sing that day it's not just my voice.  The voices of all those Lutheran ancestors sing with me.  Reformation Sunday has the ability to fill me with joy to overflowing, refresh me more than a "normal" Sunday, and shut off at least for a while all the "junk" that may be going on elsewhere in my life.

Yes, I am proud of my Lutheran heritage.  I like being a Lutheran - born and raised.  I am fascinated by religion, so I have not been lax in looking at the differences between many religions, and even faiths and I happen to agree with the Lutherans - Grace alone, Faith alone, Scripture alone.

And one of my favorite bits of scripture are what I lovingly call "the Lutheran verses."  That would be Ephesians 2:8-9.  There's nothing I can do to earn God's grace and love and salvation.  He gives it as a gift.  What I do is a result of that gift - kind of like saying thank you.

I was blessed with the opportunity to pick the music for this Sunday's service.  I even get to coordinate a big choir/organ/trumpet/congregation arrangement of "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" (the Lutheran theme song if we ever had one).  It is going to be so fun!  And there's an organ-piano duet of the same song as pre-service music.  It's beautiful!  Just the rehearsals lift my spirit, and fill me with energy I didn't have when I walked in the building.

Speaking of rehearsals, this week is insane and wearing me out (which is why I'm up late writing).  Play practice Sunday night...worship planning meeting Monday night...instrumental rehearsal Tuesday night...youth rehearsal Wednesday night...play practice Thursday night...choir/team rehearsal Friday night...choir/team rehearsal Saturday morning...sing Sunday morning and play practice Sunday night.  I think after that I can rest...after getting home from work Monday night.  Wow.

Something I have discovered is that being so happily busy with preparations for this Sunday has given me the opportunity also to share what Reformation Day is all about with people who just aren't familiar with it.  Some haven't heard of it at all.  Many who have don't really understand what it is and why it's important.  Honestly, I don't know who else (if anyone) celebrates Reformation Day.  I just haven't heard of anyone celebrating it besides Lutherans.  Special choirs and traditional German food are my favorite ways to celebrate our history and the theology to which we ascribe.

All I can ask for those Sunday, all the planning and practicing and history aside, is that God take the music and use it to do for others what it does for me - uplift, energize, refresh, and fill with the Spirit.  I hope others can be moved, too.  I look forward to being a conduit.  I hope my face and my voice just exude the Spirit and voice of God.  Honestly, I don't know how I could possibly have the energy to do all this.  How does someone who can't stay awake at work, who is in pain all of every day, possibly have the energy and spirit to go to rehearsals all over the place and spend a whole morning singing with energy?  Energy, energy, energy...it's not me.  I know that I can't do it.  The desire to do it is my "thank you."  Actually doing it is some days purely an act of God.  Some days, I have no idea how I do what I do...but I am so glad I do it.  I can't imagine the opposite.  I think it would be physically impossible for me to not go sing in church on Sundays.  And I definitely, definitely, need to sing on days like Reformation Sunday.  Physically, what I more likely need is to be asleep.  But emotionally and spiritually, I need to go sing the music of "my tribe" - the Spirit moves me.

It's that time.

Last night I was driving home and heard birds.  Not every day, see 'em everywhere birds - birds flying South birds.  I couldn't see them (it was dark and I was driving).  I pulled into my driveway and heard them again.  This time, the moonlight let me see the birds, flying in their V...and heading South.  You know what that means.  Winter is coming.  My fingers and toes get cold just thinking about it.  I don't think I'm emotionally prepared for it to be winter.

Watching the Game

So here I am watching the football game - not for a lack of frustration waiting for the overtime plays of the previous game to get over.  Don't know what happened in the first 15 minutes that we had three points and Burkhead got injured.  Will have to ask Sandra and Branden what happened since they are actually there.
No big party this weekend.  Just Chris and I watching the game this time.  So I was lazy and didn't make a lot of food or "decorate" for the event.  Samson is chillin' chewing on a rawhide and the weather is gorgeous, so the doors are open, making it a pleasant 71-degrees in the house.

(Whoa!  Al Capone attended was there the last time Nebraska played Northwestern.  That's a fun bit of trivia!  Go ESPN!  lol)

Kind of nice more or less having the weekend off.  I like having the football parties.  Samson goes nuts over having all his "friends" visiting.  I don't quite go nuts, but I do enjoy it.  Probably needed the slower weekend anyway.

I think I'll pay better attention to the game now.  :-)

It's scary.

I don't know why, but I've become hooked on FoxNews Channel.  I started watching back in the early stages of the Republican primary.  But that's not what's scary.  What's scary is the type of news one learns about watching the news as much as I do now.

Tonight there was a special show investigating what happened in Libya on September 11.  I just about cried.  It's frightening that just shy of one month before the ambassador was assassinated, the majority of the security was pulled out.  It's difficult to fathom how something like that could happen - that our own government could drop the ball so badly and then lie about it. Mostly, though, my heart broke for the man who was in charge of the security team that was withdrawn.  There's nothing quite so upsetting as watching a strong, military man barely keep himself together saying that if he and his team could have been there, they could have saved those people.  And you know each member of his team is probably thinking the same thing and feeling the same way.  It's incredible really, and upsetting.  The world is so horribly unstable and the people who want desparately to do what they can to protect each other aren't allowed to do so.  What is wrong with this logic?!

Also scary, are the cranky feminists that seem to be coming out of the woodwork.  One woman actually said she's treated like a "second-class citizen."  What?!  You're some sort of "expert" or something asked to be on a news show seen internationally.  How is that treatment as a second-class citizen?  I suspect there are some jerks out there in the workplace treating women poorly, not paying them fairly, et cetera, et cetera, but can there be that many?  Still?  Have we as a culture still not grown out of that?  I haven't noticed anything like that...but I have only ever had one male boss before, so maybe I've just been lucky.  Either way, what are these women whining about?  They have it good!  You can't tell me the nice clothes they wear for their interviews are the only nice clothes they have.  I can imagine the kind of cars they are driving.  And I bet some of them are balancing family with work of their own choice and some probably could stay home with those kids if they would like to, but no, they have to be on TV fussing that they can't get cheap enough birth control and high enough pay.  *rolls eyes*  Bunch of whiney babies.

Wars and rumors of wars...so the Middle East has all sorts of war going on all over the place and that's real war...and then there's the purported "war on women" that is so much fiction it makes me want to slap a liberal, whiney, bra-burner.

Also scary?  There are people all distraught that Mitt Romney said he received a binder full of qualified women while there are people dying at the hands of psychotic terrorists all around the world.

New Toy!

Hallelujah!  Finally I have a new laptop to replace the one that died in July.  Three months without my own computer (having to use my work one for everything) was torture!  But now has begun the new torture of getting used to it, personalizing, et cetera.  Here's a bad picture of my "ooo-ing" over the new laptop.  :-)

What the heck?!

Usually no more than two or three people read any given post on my blog.  My last post, however, for some reason has had nine views.  Nine.  That's a lot for my blog.  Why in the world did nine people look at my blog fussing about not being noticed or known?!  There are so many better posts to read.  Why that one?  I can probably tell you who the two or three regulars are.  Makes me wonder...

Too Much Excitement

The last few days have had more than enough excitement, I think - and apparently of the variety I always have which therefore inspires apathy.

Two Sundays ago, Elkhorn-Valley Community Theater had auditions for "Scrooge: The Musical."  I will be playing Mrs. Cratchit (that would be Tiny Tim's mom, for those of you who are less familiar with the story).  It's completely different from the part I had last time.  We had our first rehearsal this last Sunday.  So far, the only people who seem the least bit interested or excited about this are those of us actually in the show.  The enthusiasm from friends and family has been all but zero.

Saturday I played with Samson in the backyard...for about five minutes.  He was a bit over-enthusiastic and managed to run into my legs, taking my feet right out from under me.  I 100% hit the ground - hard.  Scraped both palms.  One arm went out.  The other I managed to half fall on and knocked the wind out of myself.  Seem to have twisted some on the way down, too.  My mid- and lower-back, left shoulder and neck are suffering the most, but really there's nary a part of my body that doesn't hurt (more than usual).  Last night I was having bad muscle spasms in my back.  The spasms haven't happened as much today, but the general pain and discomfort have been more than distracting at work and at home.  Acetaminophen just doesn't seem to cut it. Ointments aren't really helping either.  I have an appointment with a new chiropractor tomorrow at 5:00.  I think it must be a God thing because I called the office at about 5:00 yesterday and here I am getting into a new doctor within just two days at a time that actually works with my work schedule...things just don't happen that way in the usual course.

So I'm in a lot of pain - which is normal and warrants no comment, right?  I don't go around broadcasting that pain (I can only think of about four people to whom I've mentioned it).  Some people do with theirs because they need to be the center of attention.  (Yeah, yeah.  Poor you.  I hurt, too, all day, every day.  Get over yourself.)  I don't want pity and don't require sympathy; I just get annoyed with apathy.  I was taught to care and the Bible says you should put others before yourself.  So I do what I need to do, help other people where I can and even when some would think I shouldn't.  I politely listen while others vent or just tell their stories.  I am honestly glad when things are going well for the people about whom I care, and do truly want to help, pray, and wish the best for them when things aren't going well.  But it occurred to me last night that I don't often hear or see the reverse happening.  Who is listening to me?  To whom do I vent?  Let me think.  Mom.  Okay.  Anyone else?  Hmm...no one's really coming to mind.  Now that to me is rather distressing.  Good grief!  What would I do without my mom?!  Good God!  Poor Samson is just no help when I'm dealing with pain (except for instinctively going into cute and snuggly mode).  He has no advice about things at work.  He doesn't understand what theater is, let alone why it's worth talking about.
Full disclosure, I don't go around talking about myself, sharing my grief all over the place at everyone and etc, etc, etc, and I certainly don't ask for help.  I have my Northeast-Nebraska, German-Lutheran, farm upbringing to thank for that.  I also make a concerted effort to not whine and complain (thanks to someone pointing out in the past how much I was doing that, and the introduction in recent months of a great amount of perspective).  So, I suppose part of why I don't hear "So sorry you're hurting!  Anything I can do to help?" is that I'm not saying I'm in pain and need help.
...But should I have to?  "How are you?"  I might skip my response and go straight to asking that person how they are.  Sometimes I think I lie and say I'm fine when I'm not.  Today I told a couple people I was "managing" and then asked how they were.  And there, I had deflected another potential moment when I might (heaven forbid) have had to share.  But here's my point: who besides my mother is close enough to me to be able to tell when there's something up without my just blurting it out?  Anyone?  Anyone?  ("Bueller?  Bueller?")  Easy answer: no, there isn't...well, maybe there's one other person.  But I know there are several out there who think, "well, I would know!"  Um...right.  If anyone truly did, I probably wouldn't be writing this.

Now I've come this far in my rant and have to think about deleting the whole thing because I can imagine how some people will react.  (That is, of course, assuming anyone will read this.)  I'll be mocked by one or two.  Mom will either ignore it or call me to make sure I'm okay.  (*rolls eyes*  Some people's mothers!)  Some may even take it personally and get offended.  Others might feel the need to make some sort of concerted effort as if they came up with it on their own.  (Don't.  Because I'll know.)  And about the time anyone gangs up on me...do you really want to see me annoyed?

I'm a private person.  I don't need 500 friends on Facebook only 17 of whom I've ever even met.  Even of those 17, I don't need them all to know everything about me.  It is my choice that the number of people in my life who "truly know" me is very, very, very small.  The number of folks who know in general what's going on in my life is higher.  I'm good with it being this way...as long as those who only think they know don't pretend they do and those who should know don't chose apathy.

That brings this rant to a close.  Chalk it up to my being tired, cold, and in a great deal of pain, but whatever it was, it has all been far too much excitement.