The journey begins..

About 8 years ago, my husband told me, "I need to go to school to be a pastor."
I thought he was joking.

He was in his early 30s at the time.  He was a successful regional sales manager for GE.  He sold high tech access control systems to large corporations and he covered all of New England and upstate NY.  That day, he had been sitting outside of an office of a CEO of some large company, waiting.  He was about to do some demo or sales pitch.  Suddenly, he was overcome with  the sense that he wasn't doing what he was supposed to be doing.  That he needed to do something else, and that had to do with ministry of some sort.  I think it was a supernatural epiphany. 

I thought he was joking, because he jokes about everything and also because my husband does not fit into the "pastor" mold.  He enjoys heavy loud music with angry lyrics, not christian contemporary.  He drinks beer and enjoys cigars.  He doesn't shy away from controversy or difficult situations, he embraces them.  So, no, a typical church probably wouldn't work.  We have had several friends tell him, "I don't go to church and I am not a church person, but if you were the pastor, I would go." Maybe it would have worked, but not as well, as what he has been chosen for.

About six months ago, he received a call from Washington DC informing him that he was chosen to become  an active duty Army Chaplain. He began his basic training last week. It is ironic because it will be 20 years this August since he went through basic training the first time.  (He was a reservist for 7 years).  I am extremely proud of him, I can't think of a position which is more necessary right now. 

Now, to deal with everything falling apart while he is gone....
the refrigerator leaking,
the food disposal leaking,
the tick I found on me in bed,
the dog running away,
teenage boys trying to disappear,
a little girl who misses her daddy terribly,
not to mention the garage that needs to be cleaned, but alas, there are black widows in there and I am terrified!

Ransom - Son of the Shield

We are calling my oldest son the Kingslayer around here now.  Ransom has had a very eventful year.  He is my child with the least consistent education.  What I mean is that he has hopped around more schools than the other two.  First he was in public, then my husband was teaching at a private school, he was there, then he moved to the school I was teaching at, then I home schooled them, only because I thought we would be moving midyear.  I put the younger two in public as soon as I learned otherwise, but since the middle school was going to change the following year, I kept him home.  That was last year (when he was in 7th grade)  This year, is his first year in public school since 3rd grade. Academically, he doesn't have to try very hard to get good grades.  This year he didn't try hard at all , but I didn't  have to follow up and make him do any work.   He just does it.  Minimally.   He could do better, of course.  He gets by with somewhat good grades with little or no studying. He does his homework in the class before its due.  He is the classic slacker.
Anyway, he was trying out for the middle school baseball team a couple of months ago, and as I picked him up from school, he tells me that he got in trouble.  Apparently, he wrote his name in wet cement.  There is no other kid by his name in his school, or probably the whole town, or the state, (actually the only other Ransom I heard of was an old man in Vermont) so it really was not the slickest move.  Yes, the principal called, but I don't think anything happened to ruin his academic career.

But I believe that the thing that will go down in the annals of the school's history is how he came to the aid of a fair maiden and punched an annoying rogue in the jaw.  That was yesterday.

There is a certain kind of kid that always tries to test his limits.  He is the type of personality, that no matter how big or tough the guy who touches him, he won't put up with it.  So, several times this year, especially being a new kid in the school, he has gotten into some..... altercations.  Mostly in the bathroom, he always tells me what happens.  A few days ago, a kid called him a name, he said something back and then the kid followed him into the bathroom.  A few of his friends followed them both.  Nothing happened that time except for some colorful language.

But back to the fight yesterday.  At first, I assumed he was telling me that he got in a fight to prepare me for a call from the authorities.  I didn't get a phone call  from the principal, but a friend left me a message about how her twins were talking about Ransom and liked him better than they did in the morning.  Apparently, the kid he punched in the jaw bullied a lot of kids, broke their calculators, and especially liked to hit, kick and punch girls.  Teachers actually saw his magnificent punch, and looked the other way, glad that someone did it.

This morning, my golden son, showed me a bunch of tweets and facebook statuses about him and how he did what so many wished they had the guts to do. 

A neighbor girl ran up to me today, and although she was mad at my son last week, she thought he was cool today, because of what he did (the bully had punched her and called her names as well)

I don't know what to think of it all.  I don't like violence, but I am glad my kid would punch another kid for punching a girl.  I just don't know why any of these girls didn't punch the kid himself.

Avengers Personality

I have heard said that the superhero you love, or identify with the most, can tell a lot about you as a person.  Just watched the Avengers today.  It was great.. a little too much to process in one sitting, the story could have been better handled as a miniseries, but that is not what the big screen is about. 

Anyway....

1.  Thor.... noble, arrogant, archaic.  I have to admit, I love Thor.  It is not even the fact that he is from Viking mythology.  Ah... who am I kidding.  Of course it is.  But he is funny.  He says stuff like, "You people are so petty, and tiny".   That is great. 

2.  Loki... the original trickster.  You can't trust him.  But you want to believe there is some good in him.  But there is not.  He is all bad. 


3.  Captain America.  Justice, Honor, Integrity, Loyalty.   I am married to Captain America.  I am not joking, my husband is Captain America in many ways.  Mostly because he has that heroic, throw himself on a grenade to save others type of mentality.  And his love for God and Country.  And he is displaced in time, I believe, and would fit in better in a different era.  I just had a cake made for him.. this proves it. 

4. Hulk.  The incredibly intelligent scientist who has an untame-able beast waiting to emerge. 

5.  Black Widow.  I like her a lot.  I am nothing like her, but she is cool.  Totally in control of the situation while pretending to be weak and not in control.  Plus her gymnastics were really cool.  

6.  Hawkeye.  Modern day Legolas.  Doesn't mind taking a minor role, unlike the rest of the characters.

7.  Iron Man.  Tony Starks.  Rich, super intelligent, arrogant, playboy, powers all come from his suit.  Personality wise, he is a lot like Batman, but more arrogant and self serving.  However, he was heroic in The Avengers. 





I guess that brings me to who do I identify with the most.  She is not in this movie.

Russian Writers and British TV

Someone once said that there are two types of people in the world.
 There are those who have read Brothers Karamazov and those who have not. I only know 6 people who have read it.  It is my mission this summer.  I can not let my husband be in a class of people which excludes me.... even if I can never beat him in a game of  Word with Friends or Risk.  I read the first 10 pages and reread them, because my mind is mush and has been further mushified by reading such wonderful tales like Twilight (yes I cringe to admit it, but I couldn't put them down, no matter how terrible they were).  I am almost done with the first Game of Thrones book, and that has most definitely helped to bring my brain back from zombie land.  (Which by the way was a funny movie). 



Game of Thrones is awesome, both the books and the show, which is similar to a medieval fantasy version of War and Peace. 

It is exciting when out of the void of mindless t.v. (which of course sometimes you need) emerges amazing shows.  It was a while after Lost ended, and it seemed that nothing would ever be close in comparison.  Although I could talk about a few shows other than the Game of Thrones, such as The Walking Dead, Mad Men and Once Upon a Time, I am quite addicted to Sherlock.

Sherlock is awesome.  It is magnificent.  It is SO good.  Robert Downey Jr. may be a good Tony Starks, but he is not Sherlock Holmes.  His Holmes movies are entertaining, but they do not come close to possessing anything Conan Doyle.  Benedict Cumberbatch is different. He is Holmes.  The show has quite a fan base, and for good reason. The funny thing is that my parents told us about the show, because they are hip, and are always on the search for good BBC shows.  (Actually not only BBC, they were watching Lost before us, as well)

At first I was skeptical, because really..... how could anyone translate Holmes into the modern day?  Well... the people who create shows about Time Lords perusing through our galaxy and Torchwood saving the world can, that's who.

The Reichenbach Falls has to be my favorite.   The downside to the show is that each season only has three episodes (although each episode is movie length), but I think that is because Watson had to go be Bilbo for a while, so that is understandable.

“Mos Eisley spaceport. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious.”

 

We ventured out to Rockingham Speedway where the Carolina Rebellion concert was being held. Awesome music, but, it was crazy.  I am not talking about the "freak factor" or normal crazy stuff.  I am talking about the ickiness which I have not seen at other concert venues.  It was very dusty and I was positive that if the zombie apocalypse was about to happen, the virus would be spread there.  Airborne or possibly in the beer tap.  My friend Tracie told me that if the ZA happens, we would have to hide in the porta potties a couple of days and then we would be ok.  I think I would prefer turning into a zombie.  I have re-occuring nightmares about public toilets.


It was extremely hot.  The night before one of our friends who is one of those rescue medical people had to helicopter in to save a guy.  His internal body temperature was 110 degrees.  He is going to have permanent brain damage.  So sad.


At the POD stage, I realized how important it is to go to concerts with people who watch the same shows/read the same books.   There was a huge staghead on their banner.  How could a Game of Thrones fan not say something about the Baratheon logo? There was a stag head.

Chevelle was the best.

Five Finger Death Punch?  The guitarist has the most awesome beard ever. 

My videos of the concert are awful.  I am learning how to work my phone, and people were bumping into me. People who could possibly vomit on me at any moment, and no one there had ever heard about the personal bubble space concept.  But that brings me to my next musing.

I am in love.  With my phone.  First time I have had a smart phone and it is a real learning curve. My videos stink because of user error, but the sound is good. But this phone is incredible.  I love it so much, I feel like I am in an outer limits episode, being in love with an android and all.   I am such a nerd.

Ramblings to the max

1. We took a trip down to Fort Jackson, SC today.  My husband got his official military id card  which means we get discounts on everything from phones to concert tickets.  Who would have thought? We are going to take advantage of that this Saturday as we attend Carolina Rebellion, which is a huge music festival with bands that we love like Chevelle, Evanescence, POD, Five Finger Death Punch (not a fan of the name but they are really cool), Shinedown, and some others. 

 Aug. 20, 1992, James departed from home, went to Ft. Leonard Wood in Missouri to do basic training.  Now 20 years later, he will be going through another type of training altogether.   He will be going through CH-BOLC which is training for military chaplains.  Of course, he is pretty ambitious and is planning on becoming a chaplain with every type of extra training he can get.  Airborne, Air Assault, and also Ranger school.

2. So, since I am quite convinced that the great number of people who visit my blogs don't really read my posts, I will ramble on and not worry about boring anyone..   So ...Thinking about music, I have really been liking Flyleaf lately.  Their second album "Memento Mori" seems to be even better than their first. 

I love this song:

Sorrow

Sometimes life seems too quiet
Into paralyzing silence
Like the moonless dark
Meant to make me strong

Familiar breath of my old lies
Changed the color in my eyes
Soon he will perforate the fabric of the peaceful by and by

Left alone with only reflections of the memory
To face the ugly girl that's smothering me
Sitting closer than my pain
He knew each tear before it came
Soon He will perforate the fabric of the peaceful by and by

And we kiss each other one more time
And sing this lie that's halfway mine
The sword is slicing through the question
So I won't be fooled by his angel light

Sorrow lasts through this night
I'll take this piece of you
And hope for all eternity
For just one second I felt whole
As you flew right through me
And up into the stars

Joy will come

3.  I hate coffee tables.  I never did like them, but now.....grrr....

I havent had one ever, because I had kids and I was positively convinced that they would bang their noggins on the corners and they just added clutter anyway.  BUT... in order to sell the house, I bought one to stage the living room properly.  You know, like in the HGTV shows.  Within a couple of days, I was moving too quickly and my toe smacked against a corner.  It snapped, cracked, whatever.  It hurt.  I said calmly "I broke my toe".  I guess because I didn't scream or cry, no one knew that it REALLY hurt.  I should have sworn a few times to get sympathy.  Anyway 3 1/2 weeks later,  it still hurts!

I found ducktape that is tie dyed, however and now atleast it looks cool, all taped up, although big, fat and swollen.  OK, enough complaining.  But since I assume no one would read this much, I will go on.

 Picture of my broken fat toe with the coolest duck tape ever... tie dye purple and blue