Category Archives: Random Thoughts

Seeing Red…Cups

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DM: As you walk through the hallways of the calendar,  you are ambushed by horrific Christmas monster! Roll for initiative.
Player A: I attack with my + 5 flaming red sword of religious holiday slaying.
DM: Make your attack roll
* Roll Roll Roll*
Player A: Natural 20! Yes! Roll to confirm? 16 + 11 to confirm?
DM: It’s a crit, roll your damage
Player A: 87 points of flaming religious holiday slaying damage to the Christmas monster!
DM oh wait… religious holiday slaying?
Player A: yes?
DM: Oh yeah the Christmas monster doesn’t give a shit about your damage because its has secular.
….
DM: Best you can hope for is to cast a binding spell to trap it between Thanksgiving and New Years and even then it’s going to test those boundaries again and again

I’ve been asked by a friend of mine to talk a little bit about this red cup shenanigans. I didn’t want to, it feels wrong to even bring it up. But i was asked and sharing my thoughts to those that want to hear them is kinda the point of this blog.

So this is what I can tell you; from my point of view as a bad Christian I don’t care what color your cups are. I don’t care what color the Starbucks’s cups are. And I don’t care what “news” sources say, other Christians are upset about when it comes to cups.

It’s a cup, what does it matter?

Do you I believe that there is a war on Christianity in this country? Clearly yes. 70% of this country identifies as Christian, 2% practice Judaism, 1% in Islam, 1% Hindu, 3% other and 22% no religious affiliation. I’m totally fine with that and when a Jewish holiday is on the calendar, awesome! I’m glad for them. When a Hindu holiday is on the calendar, awesome! To say there isn’t a war on Christianity is just ignorant, Christianity is ridiculed on television and in Schools. It is easy to take pot shots at the big dog. But if there was the same level of freedom in other parts of the world that has a larger % of theses other religious believes don’t you think that they would also be part of the same war?

I said a couple days ago that every thought needs to be defended and Christianity and other religions are no different. But ultimately religion comes down to the question of faith. If you have faith no amount of proof is going to dissuade you from believing that which you believe. If you have faith that there is man made global warming no amount of evidence will prove to you that that is not true. If you believe that your job on this earth is to convert the infidels and if they will not convert kill them no amount of proof will tell you otherwise. If you believe people are generally good and kind people no amount of proof will dissuade you from that no matter what the proof to the contrary might be.

What irritating me right now is that what I am seeing is one very small group of Christians particularly one guy says and I’m paraphrasing here: ‘The fact that there are no symbols of Christmas on this holiday Cup tells me that they are symbolically removing Christianity from the holidays.’ When you wrap it in the little bow of it somebody’s opinion then it’s not a big deal at all. Now this guy makes YouTube videos about his faith to stir up the conversation. And I have no problems with that. But are large numbers of Christians upset? Not that i can tell. But if you look at the social media and the “news world” it almost acts as if Christians are up in arms over the fact that there’s nothing on this red cup and I just don’t think that’s the case. I just don’t think most Christians think that it’s a big deal because it’s not.

Christmas has become a secular holiday meaning that Christians to Hindus in the United States are probably celebrating Christmas even it if doesn’t have the same meaning to one as it does to the other. And that is great!

You’re going to hear remember the reason for the season, and that is a great slogan for Christians to remember Christ this holiday and that’s the reason why as a Christian are celebrating this day not the gifts or the food but Christ. But we also need to remember that we as Christians co-opted this holiday from other pagan traditions. Making it a secular idea even before Starbucks.

If you are mad over the cup get over it; if you are telling people that Christians are mad over a cup, stop it! It is aggravating for no reason other then to try and shame Christians. Would to share an article on how Starbucks put a bomb on a cup to remember Guy Fawkes and how it actually attacks Islam???

Oh and remember the remember the reasons for the season!

<3s

cup

27 Ways to Be an Actual Man

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Last night while doing my normal web surfing before bed i stumbled on to an article that caught my attention. 27 Ways to Be a Modern, Man by Brian Lombardi, published on the New York Times’ website.  Intrigued i started down the list of points that to Brian made someone a man. Some of which are fine, not good but fine and others that just make no sense to me at all.

1. When the modern man buys shoes for his spouse, he doesn’t have to ask her sister for the size. And he knows which brands run big or small.

2. The modern man never lets other people know when his confidence has sunk. He acts as if everything is going swimmingly until it is.

3. The modern man is considerate. At the movie theater, he won’t munch down a mouthful of popcorn during a quiet moment. He waits for some ruckus.

Just the first 3 on his list and i want to force choke this guy right through the screen. So here is my list of 27 things that i think make me an Actual Man. You be the judge.

1, Loyalty. Be loyal to your Wife/Girlfriend/Boyfriend/Friends/Family all of it. If you are in a relationship don’t be cheating or trash talking people you want to have your back. It was known as the Golden Rule in the old days, keep that shit in mind.

2, Ability to protect others, namely those you have granted your protection. This point is in contrast to one of Brian’s points, assuming they are in order of importance.

25. The modern man has no use for a gun. He doesn’t own one, and he never will.

This is just dumb. As long as there are people you want to protect then there will always be a reason to own and use a gun.

3, Be trained to handle a firearm. What i see as the main issue with guns is fear of the unknown. If there was a firearm class in High school that was required to graduate then a lot of the fear of guns would be greatly dispelled.

4, Have a hobby or two or more. To much in today’s life style we work and then zone out in front of the TV, just killing time until bed time to repeat the cycle. Think they call that living for the weekend. Everyone needs to get away from the old idiot box and yes that includes the computer sometimes.

5, Healthy eating habits. I happen to be a big fan of the Paleo lifestyle, yes i am a huge pile of man flesh from all the years of eating a drinking like i was left to die in a candy factory, but i am working on it. If eating Paleo is not your thing i understand, just don’t eat/drink yourself to an early grave if you can help it.

6, Being a parent to any kids you might have. This is really a sub point to the first point, but i want to be clear. Most of you are not donating sperm to a bank. You are making sons and daughters they need good role models. That doesn’t mean you can just send a check. You have to be involved in their lives. It is worth it.

7, Words are just words. Words only have the power to effect you if you give the people speaking them the power to do so. The only people with that power should be those you love and love you back.

8, Be prepared for any natural emergency. It is simple things, a few days of food and water for your family’s needs. A copy of important documents in a easy to access but secure place. I will point to point 2 and suggest that a firearm is a good idea.

9, Punishments must be balanced with the crime. In my house hold we spanked when needed, which was almost never as it was rare that a spanking fit the misdeed. But it was an option. Now most of the punishments we dole out is no Youtube (for fun) or video games and that is for not turning in homework on time. See rule 6

10, Be the Hero you wish you were. If you see something happening that is wrong step up and take action to correct things. Now i am not telling you to be Batman…. Unless you can…. Then be Batman. But if you see someone hitting another person maybe you should interject, if you see someone looking for a meal hand them one.

11, History is a thing.  Just saying learn from your, the nation’s and the world’s past avoid the pit falls that history teaches.

‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.’ – George Santayana

12, Be comfortable with your imitations but test them constantly.

13, Be able to share your thoughts and feelings freely. Let the people you love know that you love them.

14, Hold your Liquor. Drink responsibly and never drink and drive.

15, Honor our armed service. Always remember those who are willing to go into harms way to protect you. Your rights are defended in blood.

16, Respect the Police. Most police officers are just people doing a thankless job trying to keep you safe. The system is not perfect and in many places flawed but we must work with in the law unless we are Batman.

17, Work hard and Smart. Totally stealing that line from Mike Rowe, but we can work hard while being smart about it.

18, Crack a book and not just the newest fiction you love but non-fiction books too.

19, Ask for help. It is okay to ask for help if you need it. No one is going to take away your man-card for asking.

20, Be able to take a joke and joke about ourselves. Not everyone can do this. It is like a super power.

21, Try and forgive those that wronged you. Are there unforgivable sins? I don’t know i am not God. But i really do try and forgive those that have wronged me. I know I have wronged others and i hope that they can forgive me.

22, Take some time for spiritual exploration. I am not saying you have to study religion, but as i bad Christian i hope you pick up a Bible, but you can learn a lot from the different spiritual paths. There is a lot of positive stuff that comes from exercising that portion of your brain or so modern Science says.

23, Question everything you see and hear. There is a lot of information out there, true and false. You have to be the judge.

24, Know yourself. We all change over time, do you know how you have changed?

25, John Wayne was the MAN. Have you seen his best works? How many of this list of movies have you watched? Do you need to expand your movie experience?

26, Play games. I mean card games, board games, video games, and/or physical sports bring your loved ones in on the fun. Games are fun and they keep you on your mental as well as physical toes.

27, Live for today as well as plan for tomorrow. It is hard to have fun today and save and build for the later years. We all are moving into the future and someday tomorrow will be the now. Will you be ready? There is going to be times where your only happiness will come from looking back at the past and being happy with what you remember. But it is a lot easier to look back fondly when you are active and living your life in the way best possible manor.

I am going to throw one more in a overall goal that i have been working towards. An idea totally stole from Scott Mosier.

Life your life with the idea that joy is best in the long run. Pleasure is just a flash in the pan, it is like a drug. It takes more and more pleasure to beat that last high if you are chasing it. But if you live in a constant level of joy with moments of pleasure you will be happier overall.

I am sure i didn’t do that justice. But it was my best crack at explaining it in text.

Anyway, while the title is about being a Man, most of these thoughts can apply to ladies as well.

Much <3s

Random is as Random Does

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I have never stolen a dog. It seems like something that i should have done back when i was younger and drunker. Well that is not totally true i could be equally as drunk today as i was back when i was younger.

Speaking of younger, remember when the it seemed like the future was a long time away and full of promise? Right this minute besides writing this my life is a flux of terror, pain and the sinking feeling that i am letting everyone down. Does that make me normal?

Think it is this whole situation, with my job, part time *cough* so i can work on this other freelance programming project which could make me a ton of money and change my family in a super meaningful way. But if history has shown me a repeatable pattern it is that someone else profits of my hard work and i get the shaft.

Oh the other hand, Tobril keeps pushing me in to going out on my own and starting my own business. I have always had ideas that would make great products and or businesses. Not that i think that Tobril is secretly selling my ideas but a strangely large number of them seem to be crawling out of the wood work.

Think i have been talking about an online grocery/delivery service tied in with a reminder email based on things like average days between reorders of the same products and best use dates. Guess what Walmart is testing out? If you said that very logic then you can order yourself a cookie. About 3 years ago, when i first started looking at this whole aquaponics, i woke up and drew something very close to this:


Which is a fairly good deal by the way, just to learn the basics anyway grow yourself a few things and have a small fish or two. Link to PETCO

This is all about how i have ideas but i am often bad at the follow through. It always felt crazy and often like a massive waist of time, but the wife watches this show Shark Tank. And i catch it from time to time. It is full of people following through with their crazy ideas and making a go of them.

I should find the time to be more crazy.

How and the hell did i go from dog stealing to i have shitty follow through? See how my mind is working today…

<3s

Mtg Plus Samius Equals AMAZINGBALLZ!

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My artistic abilities are limited, ie i am not a physical artist. Werds are my colors and the mind is my canvas. Example i say orange and pink spotted wang and you think amazing, right? Right.

But sometimes i wonder what it would be like to have a talent that makes art for everyone to see. I am always sending off ideas to Clankenbeard for Samius/Lessah artwork, most go into his trash box i think because i assume he needs to be inspired to do his thing. I am not a jealous person, but i am jealous of those people that have a talent for turning ideas into reality. I would very much like to make some of my ideas happen.

I mean just look at some of these alters:


Or dozens of other amazing mtg alters over at http://www.alteredmtgcardart.com/

But how great would it be to have a full set of basic lands Samiused?

Like that but with even more smexy, 25 Big Eye Samius Islands! Maybe with a word bubble saying “I am going to tap you for blue!” or “Pants are for losers!”

SamiusBigEyes

Maybe some Lessah Plains:

And Morah Mountains:

I might have to become a red mage. Just damn….

Clanky, if you see this you know you want me to send you like 1000 cards. You know you do. 🙂

<3s

Other Old Favs?

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Remember, (what last week?) how i talked about firing up the old Starcraft. Man i really need a graphic of a flow chart how playing Starcraft makes you watch Starship Troopers with leads to more Starcraft which then flows back to more Starship Troopers which after weeks of that loop leaves you raw to all the furious wanking you end up doing to the sound of killing bugs and nude scenes in amazingly bad movies.

Well in his own way Tobril is also run back down memory lane with his Playstation games, including Final Fantasy Tactics. Which means i now also have a copy of Tactics sitting here and i guess i will finally see about finishing it. Back in the day Tobril was the one that owned all the games and i just got to borrow them and that was only after i moved out on my own. Sometimes he wanted to you know have games at his house and this was one of those games that he just loved too much for me to get too much time with.

This has kinda gotten my head spinning about all my old favs but really most of “my favs” are older then that. And thanks to someone over at Nintendo having a brain i got most of them on my Wii. Which i play almost not at all.

I don’t know if i have a point here, just more of those random ideas rolling around in my head.

Did you rock the Playstation? What games do i need to look at again?

<3s

Lots of Little Things, including Gurobo Farm Update 5.6.14

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Right off the bat i want to say thanks for stopping by, i know that i my base is all over at the moment and that makes me fairly happy. Having so many people with so many different topics come here because i might entertain them for a moment is fairly cool.

Okay lets get into it.

1, DUCKS! Oh man if you missed the 30 sec link i tweet to them still in the shipping box don’t panic. First it is right here:

Second, i will be taking a longer video later and will have it up as soon as i can. I hope to run down the breeds and names i hope. Right now i like using our Grandparent’s names for the ducks but with 4 girls that might be hard.

2, Greenhouse, i have a new update processing right now over on youtube, what phones are shaky… Odds are it will be done later tonight so it might have to wait until tomorrow but if you don’t want to wait i am linking the shaky video below. I also did find and get two IBC totes, one of which Remmie and i busted hump and converted yesterday. It is not 100% ready for fish and plants yet but it is getting close.

3, Got to see Spiderman 2 yesterday. Really good but i also have a bit of a crush on Emma Stone. Yeah i know. I also have a thing for Dr. Girlfriend and Lana from Archer.

I plan to do a ring tone of this scene for CtH.

LESSAH!

Okay, i better check on things and tape more videos of the ducks. I mean how damn cute are they? Super damn fuck’n cute, i know.

TV Guide?

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Have you ever encountered something so foreign in a dream that it made you wake up? Not that i never wake up from sleep, but that is normally due to a migraine firing up.

Sorry, my son’s dog just puked or shit some orange nasty all over the floor and i might have broken my train of thought stoping to clean it up…

Where was i?

Oh, yes shaken awake. So i was just dreaming, normal home time i think. It is hard to remember the moments before but i seem to remember walking around a corner going from the kitchen to the living room when i saw my son sitting reading a TV Guide with the TV off. I am not 100% sure why that hit me as overly strange. But something about the idea just weirded (yeah, my brain is having issues with weirded also but Google seems to think it is fine so who am i to argue with Google?) me out.

And worse it stuck. I was able to get back to sleep for a little bit, but my brain was really troubled with this notion and was the focus of dreams for the rest of the night (really about 45 mins). Would he even know what a TV Guide was? He has always has a satellite with a built in guide. He hardly reads anything outside of school, not even game guides as everything is on Youtube now.

Sorry….

It is like a bag of kittens in my head, just turning/crying/waiting to be set free into the world. But all my head wants to do is drown them. Maybe i should edit that last part out. Makes me sound a little cat murderer…. Hmm, no leave it. DOWN with cats and TV Guide!

Welcome to one more glimmer of the darkness that is my brain.

<3s

Follow up: i am looking at some of the symbols in the dream using http://www.dreammoods.com/ aka the first site that Goggle listed. 🙂

Son
To see your son in your dream signifies your ideal, hopes, potential, and the youthful part of yourself. On the other hand, to see your son in your dream may not have any significance and is simply mirroring your waking life. The dream may also be a pun on “sun”.

If you don’t have a son and dream that you are searching for him represents the undeveloped masculine aspect of your own self. You need to acknowledge the youth and child in you.

Reading
To dream that you are reading indicates that you need to obtain more information and knowledge before making a decision. You need to think things through and consider all you options.

Television
To dream that you are watching television represents your mind and its flowing thoughts. The dream reflects how you are receiving, integrating, and expressing your ideas and thoughts. The programs you dream of watching are an objective view of the things that are in your mind.
To dream that you are on TV suggests that there is something that you want to broadcast to the whole world. You have the desire to express yourself. Alternatively, the dream means that you are trying to take a more objective view on your life issues. If you dream that the TV show is your reality, then it means that you are avoiding some responsibility.
To dream that the television is broken or that the picture is fuzzy suggests that you are looking at a problem all wrong. You need to re-evaluate an issue.

Guide
To see or dream that you are a guide indicates that a higher force is guiding you toward your goals. You are on the right path toward personal development or spiritual enlightenment.

So does this mean that i am looking obtain more information about my potential and i think that everything is very strange and i am hoping that a out of date system for sharing TV programming holds the answers?

Sticks and Stones

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Have you ever been just mindlessly doing something in game having a little fun and then you glance over and see stupid being flung around your chat box? I know you have. Infighting, name calling and epeacocking; in that moment i normally just feel sad for the people spewing such nonsense. But once and a while i wish more then i should that i had the power to reach through the internet and choke the live from some stupid ass little ebitch.

Case and point, yesterday I saw someone post that they were now playing again after about a year break. Then for 15 mins people poked fun at him for sucking. What the hell people? Is that how you would like to be welcomed back?

But most of the time i let things roll off my back because i know that words only have the power i grant them, but that is easier when the werdgun is pointed at me vs someone else and easier said then done for most. I am not sure when that new person went quite as i was busy running something that took most of my focus at the time. But when i went back and looked at the log i he was active in his replies, then less then less then finally none. When i had the chance to send a welcome back tell he was offline or at least didn’t show in the who panel.

I don’t know what it is i am trying to say…. It just stuck with me over night and that normally means something. Like i said most things (in my current life) roll off my back, so if i see something sticking around i want to try and process it out.

I have another story that goes along these lines,  but i am not sure how i want to share it yet, so i will save if for another day.

 

<3s

When i am King

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5 things i would do if i was the undisputed king of the US (maybe world not that up to date on the whole worlds issues) for a day.

1, Surround my house with a moat and line it with heads of my enemies. You know who you are. Yes, Bobby Flay you would be a real jewel in my collection.

2, Stream line the immigration process. Make thing much simpler for new immigrates to declare themselves and get started in the process.

This is where i get a little silly…

3, Order a trilogy of live action films by Shane Black/Jon Favreau team up based on the Guyver manga with instructions to stay as close to the source as possible.

4, The 3rd of July is now, Blow Job Day. Give a little get a little. Smiles all around.

5, Reorder the bug list in DDo. I don’t know where things are going but I could just about scream the other day when i hit a slew of Druid and Bard bugs all in a row. Grumble.

 

So what am i missing? If i expanded this list to 10 what would i add. Shit 10 things in a day? Who am i Superman?

 

<3s