Death, Distraction and the Christmas Juggernaut

Sailing away, up into Heaven...

Well, it appears this past TNT church camp we had in July 2011 will be the last one we have with Dr. Diane, who passed away on Thursday 9/29. I can't describe how huge a bummer that is to me. On the one hand, yeah, she's "in a better place" and all, I get it. I'm happy for her in that regard. Still, she kind of held a unique position in my heart as perhaps the only person I could safely rely upon to hear and know what God was up to. There's a void there now for me; it will be interesting to see if/how God chooses to fill that.

Regardless, it was quite unexpected. Certain people you just assume will live forever. I hate that "sucker punch to the stomach" feeling you get when someone is just suddenly not there anymore. I learned a ton from that lady. And the fact the last time I saw her she looked me in the eye and told me that she considered me one of her "sons" just makes it that much more difficult to swallow.

I could go on at length here, but I won't. I'll just post a couple pictures in her memory, and then move on like all was well in the world. My life is richer because I knew her. I guess that's all a person can hope for, in the end; to make a lasting impact while there is time. She won't be forgotten any time soon.

That's her, in the middle, bottom row, in the pink hat. That's from this past camp, three months ago.

I don't have any good pictures of her smiling, in my archive. 

Which is odd, since it seemed to me she was always smiling.

She carried a ton of wisdom in that frail frame.

Anyway, God speed, Dr. Diane, wherever you are.

----------------------------------------

So, the Christmas season approacheth. That means Christmas Drama Time! That usually signifies the beginning of about 12 weeks of stress and teeth-pulling, to get a Christmas play/pageant going. We're going to do something a bit different this year, and I'm actually pretty stoked about it. We're going to take one of the sunday school Christmas plays in my archive and redo it... but I'm going to re-write and flesh out the script more, adding more scenes and making it so that adult actors can also participate. The script (called The Beginning) was originally intended for the youth, and when we performed it (10 years ago) the cast was all kids, high school and younger. I love the idea of adding more meat to it, perhaps doubling the length, and strengthening the cast. I already have a bunch of ideas. And the fact that it's been 10 years since we did the play is pretty cool as well. It will sort of be like a 10th Anniversary Director's Cut version or something. It also happens to be the one play that I posted online that gets the most use, as far as emails I get each year from people who produce the play.

Bah, sorry, I'm bummed. Lemme dig out a funny video clip from my archive. See if it cheers me up.

Hmm... almost worked. Lemme try again...

Ah, the classic Wooden Spoon prank...

Hmm... still didn't work. Maybe posting something funny isn't what I'm supposed to do... 

Here, this seems more fitting... High Def, full screen, please...

Yeah, that works...

And now, for the random link of the day, CLICK HERE to see an article that shows what happens when one weird fellow decides to apply a layer of paint to the same baseball every day for 34 years. I'll give you a hint: it currently weighs about 1,300 pounds... it's a pretty cool article, really. It shows pictures throughout the years as the size slowly grows... currently over 22,000 layers of paint... I guess it takes a strange, quirky sort of fellow to do such a thing... 

I'd post a picture of it, but when I right-click on one to "save as", a scary copyright notices pops up. And you know how timid and spineless I am... of course, I could easily circumvent it by merely taking a screen cap, pasting into photoshop, cropping it and saving it to my hard drive... but I'm not going to risk prison time for it! I mean, I doubt you'd come and visit me in jail. I know how busy you are! And here I thought we were friends... *sigh*

Well, speaking of copyright violations, lemme see if I have any funny comics to post...

There, that's from the webcomic Left Handed Toons (By Right Handed People). It's a funny strip. CLICK HERE if you want to read more... maybe since I linked back to their site, they won't send me to prison...

I think I've sufficiently traveled all over the map in this post. I might as well end it. It's so quiet in here all alone! If you happen to be reading this, by all means, leave a comment! All the cool people leave comments. And you're cool, right?

Adios,

Dave the Uncool