Pumpkin carving (Edited)

So I decided to post the first two in a series of four different pumpkin carvings that I am doing this year. These two are Heroes related and were the only ones I could get done tonight because I'm pretty tired. So far, It's just the symbol and the eclipse. I tried my hand at pumpkin scraping for the first time on the eclipse so I need to do some fine tuning. What you see in the eclipse is not actually cut out. I'm sure you guys understand. EDIT:
So, I did end up carving another pumpkin but it didn't come out too well due to some complications so this is it...where real pumpkins are concerned. I did carve a famous scene from Scarface into a fake one which turned out ok. I'll probably do some touch ups on it next year. In any case, it was a pretty good year of carving.

I'm hoping to get the pictures of last night up soon so that I can put them up as well. Good times all the way.

The Bathroom debate

Everybody knows public bathrooms are the worst. They're dirty, smelly, and not to mention all of the vandalism. It seems like every stall has some crude joke or drug/drinking related comment. Well my friends, I think I found the weirdest that will top off any of those that you may have seen. Here it is:


"I have lived, Sir, a long time and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth -- that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings that "except the Lord build they labor in vain that build it." I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our little partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall be become a reproach and a bye word down to future age. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing Governments by Human Wisdom, and leave it to chance, war, and conquest." Benjamin Franklin, Constitutional convention, 1787.



It was basically the "religious debate stall" Now I was thinking of some things and I would like to hear some discussion going on here. Is Vandalism of a stall alright in this instance? Should we be going out of our way to scribble a whole long speech just like this on a bathroom stall? (It was high up on the wall so it rules out what you could possibly turn into some humor) Should we let little things like this for example, to slide and just stand up against the big "threats" or should we stand up to things like this too? Again, I'd like to hear your thoughts on this. I think the discussion inclined shall enjoy it.
Ok, GO!

Sickness, more like suckness

So I've been sick for the past two days. Definitely terrible. I mean you do get to skip school but that sucks for 2 reasons. I have a crapload of notes to get, but Calstate fullerton made that a little bit easier for me. secondly, I got to sit around of view the plethora of terrible programming that spins through the tube almost all day long. The only way I survived was by watching my 24 dvds and waiting till my other favorite show came on. (I don't think I need to tell you guys what that is)

In any case, I plan on getting to school tomorrow, for those of you who care. You will most likely see me at the burn too. I really don't feel like contributing something unique or something that will make you think so I'll leave you all with Sickness=Suckness. goodnight.

Fishing trip pics....and some new headphones

Well if you've seen Kevin's blog then you'd know that we were both up in the mountains fishing this past weekend. It's a weird beginning to a series of fishing trips with the church. My lips are so chapped from the trip that they're split!
So, this is what we saw the first morning when we got out of the tent. There was snow all over the place when we showed up the night before but we couldn't really tell how much.
The mountains were completely covered in snow which was a cool sight to see. It was as cold as heck though and I didn't really have suitable gear so I was suffering.


That's a shadow of me. Just thought it was cool.I have a tendency to get altitude sick, which happened as soon as we got to the lake. I slept in the van for lord knows how long until I felt better. I got out after that, bought myself some gloves and a beaney from the store and headed over to the lake.
That's it. And so is that ------->














I've got a couple of others. In any case. I show up and they still haven't caught 1 fish. Alright, so I put in my worm and pull out a fish right after. by the end of the day I had made up for last years failure. That'll teach that lake for taking 5 of my lures. The day after, we headed over to the river by the dam where I caught a couple more. All in all it was fun. Kevin caught a bag full of craw dads so we're going to have a big ol' cook out this weekend. A worth while trip with some good people. One more pic for good measure.So, I got some new headphones today to replace my broken ones. These are the ones I got which are the exact same model as the other ones. This is probably the fifth pair of "grappling hooks" I've ever bought. ( I call them grappling hooks because these things will hook onto anything and everything. If they were made out of metal then you could scale a building with them.) They are so comfortable that I just keep buying them. The thing is, their wires are easy to tear internally, so you have to be kind of careful with them. That reminds me; dan, you owe me a pair of these. Anyways, I bought them at the titan tech store today for like 10 bucks cheaper. woohoo. I got a chuckle out of the bar code thing though.That is what they are after all. I'm entitled to a crude joke from time to time. So here ya go.

But It's cool, man...

Yes, I stold it from Jason, but I'll get to that in a bit. He's always got something good to say so I thought I'd claim some of his wisdom and apply it here. Surprisingly, life is good. In this little experimental phase I've been going through, I never figured things would start working out so soon. Awhile a go I was just sitting here in this chair taking in the feeling and thinking "man, I'm completely calm, I'm completely at ease." It's a weird thing really. I've been stressing all this school business and how my life isn't the way I want it and how I have been neglecting my bible and all that business. I've been taking baby steps since then. It's an experimental phase, I didn't expect it to work. Life is tough. It's hard to get back up after a big fall. Holding onto that fall is probably the worst part about the whole deal.

I've been reading this book written by a Native American Shaman or should I say "medicine man" called The Wind is my Mother. It really isn't what I expected. At this point in the book (the point I will be sharing with you) he is speaking about how we can some times hold onto these things in our lives that will hamper us and keep us from going any further. Things like a big fall like I talked about earlier. "The way my people take care of something that we're not happy with is to honor it and say, "thank you, you've taught me a lesson." If it's anger, if it's hate, if it's a drinking problem: "boy, you've been with me for a long time. Now I'm going to try something else. But I want to thank you for teaching me something about myself." Never try to just get rid of it. You can't, it's too strong, it's too embedded. Instead, honor it and say "thank you."" I claim that as truth. Somethings can't just be tossed off. Something you have to really come to grips with and figure it out. I'm dealing with this because there is something I need to learn from this. It's isn't punishment, it's a lesson.

Continuing with the book: " If you fill that space with something else, what you're doing is employing the law of physics that says no two things can occupy the same space at the same time. So get it out and put something else in. If you've got a negative, put a positive in. they can't both be in the same place at the same time. Clean it all out." That makes sense to me. Just sitting down and reading this book most of my free time has just really changed me. Not mainly because of the great words in it, but because I'm not stressing about some school work or tearing my hair out about some problem. It's a lot like painting and doodling with me. Life sucks, It is so unfair and it doesn't go your way at all. You are always suffering and you are always getting the shorter end of the stick...But it's cool, man. It's nothing. There is something deeper and it's out there calling us to join in. Something so awesome that it can blot out all of these petty little problems. It is small and big at the same time. It's the moment's reprieve. the little lit candle that can sever the oppressive darkness of a room. That's what I'm feeling. Sure, I won't feel this way all the time. Some big ol' problem can come along and smash all of this to pieces and bring me down, But it's cool man, 'cause things are going my way.