A great Holiday

At least that is how I would describe Thanksgiving. Abigail and I went to my parent's house again this year, and helped their church with a community Thanksgiving dinner. Last year afterwards, my brother and I played Battlefront a good deal. This year we did the same thing, so I dare say that two years in a row makes that a tradition! Before that though, we convinced people to play a thanksgiving day game of football. It was really fun. It was confirmed for me that Abigail, does indeed throw like a girl. Apperently people of British nationality have a rather difficult idea understanding the concept of the "three mississippi count". I guess there is nothing comparable in their football or even Rugby. Friday we went to Evansville for some pefect BBQ from Shylers. I also got to trade in some excess video games at Book and Music Exchange, and I think I am going to be fairly happy with what I got in return. Yep, good times indeed.

The ground is white

Seriously it is. So this past weekend was fairly enjoyable. I did see the new Harry Potter movie on Friday. The only other time I have seen more excitment in a theater are the midnight showings of Star Wars. The movie definatly has some exciting sequences (dragons are the highlight). It definatly felt like a "middle movie". Even less so than the third one Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire does not stand on its own. It assumes existing knowledge of the characters and locations. In a lot of ways the movie also just feels like a set up for what happens next. I don't know how you make an almost three hour long movie feel rushed, but they did it. They crammed so much into this movie that some of it did not get fully developed. Playing paintball was fun on Saturday. Unlike the last times I had played, I did get shot this time (only four times) and it does not hurt that bad. While I did not get the most "kills" I was on the winning team the most. I think that fact plus the fact that I have my own marker (thanks again Adam!) has caused a rumor to spread throughout the church that I am a paintball superman. I did have a few shining moments. The best was when my plan of two up the middle and 1 down each side worked perfectly. We managed to pin all three surviors on the other team behind one spot. While the rest of my team surpressed them, I managed to completely flank them and I let loose and shot two, while the third bolted and got picked off by team. It was fun stuff, and the youth have already informed me we are playing again in the spring.
When Abigail get back from school we will be driving down to Washington to spend Thanksgiving with my family.

A busy Weekend!

I have a full weekend planned. It starts tomorrow with taking the youth group to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Now as far as epic fantasy goes (because that is ultimantly what Harry Potter is) I perfer the Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Narnia varieties. However, I did find myself enjoying the movies (even the first one which I really hated the first time I saw it) when I watched them to plan the Harry Potter youth group series we did. So I am looking forward to seeing this one, and who knows I may go all out and read the fifth book (after I finish the book I am reading now). It is all Jr. highers going to see Harry Potter, then on Saturday I am going with the Sr. Highers to play paintball (if the weather holds). I have not been able to use my paintball gun since February and that was blast, so I am really looking forward to going again. Then on Sunday I have a big meeting at 10:00. It is an informational meeting for the mission trip the sr. high youth will be going on in July. We are going to the Cayman Islands!!!!! Yes, you can do a mission trip in an incredible tropical place like that. In 2004 Hurricane Ivan hit Grand Cayman and several churches still need help making some repairs, and that is what we are going to do. I then have youth group that night (for the number people youth group meetings has been averaging around 11, which is about double what they were doing before). So yeah, there is a lot of stuff going on this weekend, and it is all "work". Oh yeah, I have one of the best jobs in the world!

Reasons Why I havn't posted a lot lately. . ..

and that pretty much sums it up!

Best Star Wars Moments

Tonight Abigail and I watched the first three installments of the Star Wars saga, and tomorrow we plan to watch the last three. Last week my brother posted his top ten moments from Star Wars, so I am going to do the same.

Top Ten Star Wars Movie Moments:

10. Yoda and the X-wing: I think I have used this scene for like five different faith illustrations. It is one of those perfect Star Wars moments where the scenery, the characters, and the music all come together perfectly.

9. Battle of Geneosis: This is by far the biggest land battle shown in any of the Star Wars movies. I love the imagery of a Jedi leading a squad of clone troopers into an advancing droid army. I also think that the Attack Gunships are really, really cool.

8. Cantina Scene: So Star Wars. . . .I love it, but do you know why? Yes I grew up watching it when I was very young and had the toys but seriously from 1st grade to 7th I didn't watch a single Star Wars movie. At that point in my life I despertly needed a mental escape, and the summer between my 6th and 7th grade years I found it. I watched an old taped off HBO copy of Star Wars mostly out of boredom, and it gave me the escape I needed. This scene was the most pivitol, because it had so many aliens, so many faces, and each one seemed to have a story. This scene more than any other got me lost in a galaxy far, far away.

7. Darth Vader vs. Luke round 2: Wow, this scene is the ultimate climax of the Star Wars saga. A battle is raging all around, and Darth Vader tempts Luke with the same thing that turned him (saving those he loves). Luke lashes out and there are echoes of the fight between Anikan and Obi-Wan. The thought of it all send shivers down my spine.

6. Darth Maul vs. all: Pod Race. . .Jedi Duel. . .Pod Race. . Jedi Duel. . . Seriously Episode I is not that great. I really do enjoy the story but a lackluster script, butt stupid characters (Jar-Jar) and horrid acting (Jake Lloyd) really detract from it. Despite that, the Darth Maul fight is really, really awesome. It is absolutly perfect how he ignites his double sided lightsaber right as Duel of the Fate starts, and Darth Maul is seriously kick butt.

5. Destroy the Death Star: An ugly Jabba and Greedo shooting first are what most people remember about the Special Edition changes to A New Hope, but I love the way that they updated the fight over the Death Star. This space battle probably more than anything else made people love Star Wars when it first came out in 1977, and it is still fun to watch today.

4. Battle of Coruscaunt: Best. Movie. Opening. Ever. It is seriously like someone went into my mind figured out exactly what be the perfect way to open a movie and did it. If you don't believe how excited this opening sequence gets me, ask Abigail who watched me squirm in glee all three times we saw Episode III in the theaters.

3. Battle of Hoth: Empire Strikes Back is my favorite movie, and this battle is just cool. What can I say? I heart AT-ATs.

2. "I love you": As far as I am concerned the absolute best scene in Star Wars (that doesn't involve Lightsabers anyway) is the one where Han gets frozen in carbonite. Once again, the music is perfect, the atmosphere is perfect, and the characters are perfect. Leia says "I love you" and Han simply replies "I know." Brilliant! It gets me everytime.

1. Obi-wan vs. Anikan: When I watch this my only reaction is still "holy freaking crap!" The whole sequence is absolutly phenomenal. I think this is by far the absolute most epic fight ever put on film in cinema history. Everything about it just feels right and just feels Star Wars.

What exactly do you mean when you say torn . . .

and most likely that will probably be my question when I see an orthopedic doctor this week. This weekend I took the youth group on a retreat. The theme was "Who is God?" and it went really, really well EXCEPT one thing. One of the activities we did was dart gun capture the flag, and that went well. Afterwards, during their freetime a lot still wanted to play with dart guns, so I made up a capture the flag variant and we played. In the process I had a high speed, mid air collision with a 6th grader. It was her head into my knee, and while she cried and I didn't my knee definatly lost. Yes I said 6th grader and she. I was "taken out" by a 70 lb. 11 year old. Yeah, go ahead laugh it up. Anyway, An ER visit later and I am going to see an orthopedic doctor to find out what exactly in this picture I messed up and how bad.


Until then my leg is imobilized and I am gimping around on crutches.