A Wedding, Angels and the Whole World.

Nice waterfall, eh?

Great... now I have to use the restroom. brb...

Ah, the middle of the weekend, with all the mixed emotions that come with it. I certainly enjoy a good weekend, but even while it's happening, in the back of my mind, I realize it will be over before I want it to be, and it will be a loooong wait before it happens again... I could draw an apt parallel to that, but it might offend everyone reading who is not a married male...

Speaking of "married", there was a wedding yesterday. Oh, it's the talk of the town. It's all over the newspapers and gossip columns today. There hasn't been a wedding of this magnitude since the royal wedding. Of course, I'm talking about my good friends Vye and Rebekah.

You know, these guys...

You might recognize Vye from my web comics. Rebekah is the one on the right, in the dress...

Yay!

It was a nice, outdoor ceremony, and surprisingly brief. And yes, I cried, I admit it. I *really* want them to be happy together and stay married forever and all that. I wish them only the best.

Here's some more pics, just because it's my blog, and I wanna postem!

Here's Abbie and Shannon, looking like they just floated down from Heaven... 

Here's Joseph walking his sister Rebekah down the aisle, so she can swap her last name for a new one. 

Here's Mr. and Mrs. Wilson, when they were still the future Mr. and Mrs. Wilson... 

And here are two very happy people. The Happy Couple!

All in all, it was an afternoon/early evening extremely well spent. I'm not usually much for being social, but I wouldn't have missed this for anything.

Guess who caught the bouquet? Yep, Middle Daughter. I told her to throw it back. Then I grounded her... 

And here's the... uh... other Happy Couple. O_O Plus, as an added bonus, a hideous goatee!

So that's that.

I'm going to keep this post brief tonight. In fact, I'm wearing briefs, just to maintain internal consistency. I will post one video, but you can't watch it unless you make a solemn promise, before God and man. That you will click "Play", then change the 360p to 1080p, then pause it and let it load completely. Then hit the full screen icon, and enjoy the heck out of this...



Remember, you promised. Unless it's full screen and high-def, it won't be anywhere near as amazing.

Adios for now. More stuff soon.

Dave the Middle-Aged

I Was Assaulted By A Snowman!

You see, every now and then, I like to lead a blog post with a nice, cliched seaside picture in "portrait" orientation. You know, just to keep things fresh, and to keep you on your toes. Yeah, I'm clever like that. Although it does look painful for you to read my blog on your toes like that... good thing you're wearing your point shoes... oh, the irony of posting a landscape photo in "portrait" orientation! O, the blessed, chill-inducing irony!!!1!

So, of course, the big, earth-shattering news I have to lead with tonight is this: My big, bushy, beautiful, beastly beard has been ... uh... um, yeah, a synonym for "shaving it off my goofy face" that starts with B. Sorry, forced alliteration has never been my strong suit.

Where was I?

Oh, the beard. Yeah, it's gone. In its place is a sad, furry goatee. So sad, I will not post a picture of it, since it will depress me... and the last time I got depressed, I drank a venti iced caramel macchiato from Starbucks.

Wait... I do that every day... hmm...

Ah, well, depression is all the rage nowadays with hipsters like me. And argyle socks. And chewed-up gum stuck in my armpit hair...

Where was I?

Oh, yeah, the goatee... yeah, it's ridiculous. But the only thing more ridiculous to me than a bushy, unkempt salt-n-pepper goatee is a clean-shaven face. I need facial hair to break up the monotony of my face. Although it really shouldn't matter much, since it's not like I look at my face, other than an occasional wince as I catch a glimpse while washing my hands and/or socks at the sink. And also when I catch my reflection in the mirrored sunglasses of the policeman ticketing me. Usually I cry until they let me off with a warning. And a wedgie.

Where was I?

Oh, yeah... a funny dog picture...

 Ah, gets me every time... dogs are awesome. So are hippos. Wish I could get one for the kids. A dog, I mean, not a hippo. It would be a hyperactive terrier and I'd call it Divot. But no! We can't! No pets aloud! Or allowed, for that matter! See, a serious writer would have gone back and deleted "aloud" and merely typed in the correct word... but no, I'm too lazy for that! Sorry, Divot, you'll have to settle for living as a minor character in my fantasy novel.

Yes, I'm still writing it! Sheesh! Quit hounding me about it!

Sorry, that was addressed to the voices in my head, not to you.

See more White Ninja comics by clicking THIS OMINOUS ALL-CAPS LINK!

Yeah, I wouldn't click it either. You know how untrustworthy I am. It's the goatee. Makes me look shifty. That reminds me... my transmission is grinding going into second gear again. I'll have to get that looked at. Any auto mechanics in the house? How about any acrobats? Anyone play a ukulele? Anyone that can teach a beagle to catch a ball?

Yes, you there, in the front row. Go ahead.



O_O

Dang. You're good...

So Vye and Rebekah are getting married on Friday. Maybe I can sneak my camera into the ceremony (past security) and grab a picture or two to post in the next blog. Two of my favorite people! Vye is so awesome, one title is not good enough for him... he's the Groom, sure... but, actually, he's also the Best Man, in the strict, literal sense. And Rebekah's amazing as well... I *sincerely* hope they live happily ever after. Heck, someone has to be the first to do so! Might as well be them!

And now, more geeky, comicky humor...

Yeah, I know. It's a reach. Still, it made me smile. So it has that going for it, at least...

Finally, it's almost Youth Camp time! You know what that means! Yep, I'll be gone for a week, filming it and taking pictures, and then will come home, full of enthusiasm, ready to edit this year's camp video together... only to watch the weeks tick by, as it sits, partially finished, as I spend more time in blog posts lamenting the fact that it is undone than I will spend actually working on it... the problem is, it's the same basic group of people, at the same camp site, doing the same activities that we do every year! How am I to make that fresh and interesting!? :O - AAAAA!!!!!

Fine, I'll stop whining... here, we'll have a little cake, and then we'll end this mess...

A tetris cake! You can play it by making the lines disappear... down the hatch!

That's enough nonsense.

Dave the Goof

Is This To Be Endured? It Shall Not Be!

It is with no small amount of trepidation that I take keyboard in hand to pound out this post... o, what I would write if only I could set aside the limits of appropriateness and unpack my heart unedited and unrestrained. But I shall trust that the parts of me that still retain a shred of self control shall prevail, and I shall instead resort to my usual tack of vacuous nonsense. It's just life, that's all. It's easy to tell others to keep things in an eternal perspective, but it's another thing entirely to try to tell oneself such things, while caught in life's teeth, listening to your own bones crunch and your insides scream.

Dang. How emo is that? Sheesh.

I guess I could just use a friend. Volunteers? The only qualification is a willingness to have a metric ton of my unsolvable problems/dilemmas tactlessly dumped in one giant, boiling, haphazard mess upon your head, and remain standing afterwards, telling me what I already know to be true but need to hear anyway...

Yeah, didn't think so, lol.

Ah, well, the "Turning 40 Wagon" trundles onward. This too shall pass...

You know what they say! When life gives you lemons...

... make lemon 'nades.

So, I went with my friend Carey to the Indian Casino on Saturday night, as I threatened, to help him celebrate his 41st birthday. He's an old man. 41. Dang, that's ancient. Anyway, it was fun to see Carey enjoying himself, playing inscrutable slot machines for an hour or two. I dumped a cool $20 into a machine at one point, just to fit in. Haven't been in a casino in forever -- whatever happened to good old fashioned "three bar/lucky 7" slot machines? All the slots they had at the casino the other night had about a dozen different buttons to push, and you could set any number of different types of bets, varying the amount depending on whim, from a penny up to several bucks, all on the same machine! It was crazy. Gone are the penny slots, the nickel slots, the quarter slots, etc. It's all one machine now. And there are up to 30 different ways to win, depending on the type of bet you place. It's impossible to figure out - I just placed a random bet, and assumed the machine would let me know if I won anything or not. It was like an arcade game on crack.

So, yeah, not really my scene. But as I said, I wasn't there for me, but for my good pal, Carey, the old man. And he had fun, so that's what counts. The buffet we ate was yummy.

I know I've posted a similar video to this one before, but these guys that fly these "wingsuits" never cease to blow my mind.



I wish I had the wherewithal (both internally and financially) to attempt such a thing. Talk about living life on the edge. Leave absolutely every single "everyday" worry and concern behind, and live as "right now" as humanly possible... gliding down a mountainside, sometimes only feet off the ground or over the treetops.

WOW. A hundred times, wow.

Dangit, I want to live.

So, my good pal Rebecca is moving out to New York City this summer, to pursue her dream of becoming an editor. Talk about radical change, I'm super happy for her. And no, it's not just because if she becomes an editor, I can hire her to help me with my books. That too, of course...

Mostly, I'm happy that she's busting loose and jumping out there with both feet. Can't wait to see how it plays out for her. How cool is that? No small amount of envy on my part, of course. Ah, well, just more stuff to overcome...

What a pleasant surprise! I have my window open, and it just started raining. I love that sound. Let it rain, Lord, let it rain.

Wifey was watching the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice tonight (the one with Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy), and I snuck in and watched the ending. Now, I'm definitely someone that loves actions movies, and things that go boom (like a good, healthy, red-blooded American male), but I kid you not, that version of Pride and Prejudice is solidly on my Top 10 favorite movies of all-time. Yeah, I'm getting sappy and maudlin in my old age, I know. I can't help it. It gets me every time. So many terrific characters and performances. That scene with Elizabeth and Lady Catherine, squaring off in the garden there at Longbourne toward the end... love it.

Dangit, I have to go find it on YouTube, be right back...



I could only find it in 360p, sorry.

You gotta love Mr. Bennett. I feel a certain kinship with him, that shall remain unelaborated-upon for the time being... *ahem*... anyway, Jennifer Ehle was originally cast as Catelyn Stark in the HBO series A Game of Thrones, but was recast. She would have been great, methinks.

I better post these clips while I can... new copyright laws may get passed which would make it a violation to post clips in a blog like this. Sorry, it's not worth risking massive fines and jail time to entertain you... forgive me? I still love you, fear not...

Anyway, I'm gonna skedaddle off to bed, regroup, and hit the ground running tomorrow. Let's see what this week brings, eh? Hopefully, I'll be able to look at life a bit differently...

Well, maybe not that differently... but close...

Dave the Unsettled

Little Trees, Big Plays and Hobbitses

Yet another random place I'd like to visit someday. I tell ya, pictures like that really do something for me...

The sun is slowly dipping toward the horizon as I type this; in about a half-hour, I shall walk the hill, as I have for the past couple days. I'm going to see how many times up and down the hill it will take to listen to the whole book of Psalms on my iPod. I'm at Psalm 50 after two trips (about an hour total).

Gee, ain't that fascinating!?!?!

Have you ever been typing something, say in Facebook, or in, like, a blog post, and you realize as you're typing just how boring what you're saying is? Wow! Dave's going to get off his duff and actually see if his legs will work! Wowza! Soooo captivating!

Moving right along...

Thanks for all the positive feedback on the last comic strip I posted. On a whim, I sent a link and a quick note to Pat Rothfuss, about his cameo in the strip, and he wrote back to me today, saying thanks for the nod, and that his beard is a lot bushier now than it was in that picture of him I used.

Yeah, I interact with famous people like that all the time, see...

And now, a bonsai Apple tree...

A Bonsai Apple Tree! Are you kidding me!?!?

Those little apples are edible - so says the tree's creator, a gentleman named Walter Pall, from Colorado. Apparently, Mr. Pall is quite a big deal in the world of Bonsai... he even has a bonsai Sycamore Maple whose leaves change color with the seasons...

Here's a couple more killer trees from this article.

There are more cool pictures in the linked article. Hey Abbie, your dad might get a kick out of seeing those trees, since he's into bonsai as well...

Ah, I almost forgot... hang on, you're not going to believe this... brb...

OK, so I was playing a game of Scrabble against the computer the other day on my iPad, and I was getting creamed, as usual... the CPU routinely plays ridiculous, obscure words that no one in their right mind would know, and usually has its way with me. I have to play it on the hardest setting, since the other settings are not challenging to me, and I easily beat them all the time. Part of me doesn't mind losing to the computer, since I try to use it as an opportunity to learn new words...

Anyway, the only way I can beat the CPU is through a series of power moves, which rely on luck as much as skill. HOWEVER, I destroyed the CPU in one play, dropping a bingo, not just across two Triple Word spots, but one of the Triple Word spots I hooked it so I could use it a third time...

Ironically, I spelled the word FORTIETH, and scored an amazing 173 points on the play. Check it out.

All those weird words on the board? Yeah, that's the CPU. VIDEOTEX? Are you kidding me? So OTALGY and ACHOLIA were already there. I just hooked onto them... like a boss! 173 points baybay! BOOM!

Oddly, that's not my biggest play ever. I played BLOOMIER one time for a staggering 198 points. That's my all-time high. But 173 is certainly impressive... to my invisible friends, I mean...

And now, a kid with crazy skills at... uh... whatever this thing is called...



Um, yeah.

I have more to cover, but I have to go on that walk that I captivated you about earlier, so I'll end here, and jump back in once I return. Oh, the anticipation! If I don't return, assume I got hit by a bus or something...

Dave the Pedestrian

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

EDIT

There and Back Again; A Hermit's Tale, by Davebo Baggins...

Yeah, I'm back. I didn't get hit by a bus, or any other vehicular variation. And I can't even tell you how many more Psalms I listened to, since I discovered the tracks aren't in order. Yeah, when it went from Psalm 51 to 59 and then to 62, I knew something was up...

So I failed to get hit by a bus. I failed to accurately track the Psalms. And the air was clear, so I failed to encounter Smaug... I mean, smog...

OK, the Hobbit references aren't working, so I'll stop the nonsense now...

Well, actually... speaking of The Hobbit, they announced the names of the two Hobbit films that Peter Jackson and crew are making. The first is called An Unexpected Journey (Dec 2012), and the second is called There and Back Again (Dec 2013). According to this article, they seem to be finding a way to bring back most of the cast from the LOTR films, for better of worse. I mean, I understand Gandalf, Elrond, Galadriel, and Gollum... but Sauroman? Frodo? Legolas? And "old" Bilbo? Come on... it's bad enough we have to watch them in 3D, but to have to see these guys shoe-horned in where they don't belong?

Ah, well, worse problems to have, I suppose...

My good pal Carey D is celebrating his birthday this weekend, and so I'm joining him Saturday for an evening at the Barona Indian Casino, for better or worse. Not much for gambling, personally, but he assures me he always wins, so maybe some of his luck will transfer to me through some bizarre form of vice-related osmosis or something. Well, at least I'll get a good buffet out of it. Can't beat a good buffet...

If you didn't see Logan's or Josh's posts from today, you might check them out when you get a moment. Both well worth reading, for entirely different reasons.

I suppose that's it for now. I trust your week has been a good one. Have a fun weekend! That's an order!

Dave the Whatever