Movie Migrane

     There has been a lot of talk lately on the news about movie studios.  The movie studios would have you to believe that they are going broke, because people are either buying pirated copies of the movies, or are waiting until the movies come out on DVD.  While this may be true to some extent, the movie studios have to accept some of the blame for themselves.  Like everything else in life, movies have outgrown the common man.
     Friday, my wife and I decided to treat our 3 kids to a movie.  They had been wanting to see the new Alvin and The Chipmunks movie, so we decided to give them one last treat for Christmas.  The last few times we had splurged for a movie we had went to the drive in, which was $15 a car load, and took our own snacks.  This time, we were going to the theater for a matinee.
    I knew that movie prices had skyrocketed, but never imagined what I was about to encounter.  The price to get into the movie, for the matinee, was $6.75 per child, and $7.00 per adult.  Before we had even set foot inside the theater, we were out $34.25.  Now, I have a decent job, and make decent (not good, just decent) money, but this was still about 3 hours worth of work, for 87 minutes of movie, and almost 30 minutes of previews.  This had me amazed, but what I saw next made me downright floored.
    The kids of course wanted popcorn and a drink.  We walked up to the concession stand to check out the prices.  Earlier in the day, when I was looking for movie times at this theater, I had run across a coupon for the concession stand.  The coupon was for a small coke and a small popcorn for $7.  I thought there had to be a misprint. I was wrong.  The price of a small coke at the stand was $4.50.  I was having sticker shock by this time.  A small popcorn was $5.75.  Needless to say, the kids got gum out of my wife's pocketbook to snack on during the movie.
     This is just one more small joy that has been priced out of affordability for the average family now.  I know that my family can hardly afford to put out $35- whatever to go see a movie very often.  This is truly a shame.  As for my family, we will stick to cable TV, On Demand, and RedBox for our movies from now on.  Maybe the movie studios and cinemas should take a long hard look at their ticket and concession prices to see why most families are no longer going out to the movies.

Looking Forward

        Soon a New Year will be upon us, and I will, like many others, use this time to reflect on the things of the past, and look forward to the future.  This past year has not been one of my best, I must admit.  Health, finances, personal development, none of these areas have been anywhere close to stellar this year.  In 2011 I gained back most of the weight that I worked so hard to lose in 2010.  Financially, I, like many others, would rather forget this past year.  Looking back I am farther behind now than I was when the year started, and losing ground.  I can also say that I feel like personally I stood still this year.  A few years ago I went back to school, but had to give it up because I did not have enough money to go, but made too much to qualify for most financial aid.  I was also working two jobs at the time, and trying to help raise three children.  I should have toughed it out.
      Last July I set a goal for myself that I would be out of my job by July of 2012.  I thought with a year of working towards this goal I could accomplish this.  I am 6 months in now, and actually farther away now than when I started.  I did apply for a job out of state, with the intentions of moving when and if I got the job.  Things looked promising for a few weeks, but then fell through.  I have resigned myself now to the fact that, barring some sort of divine intervention, I am where I am going to be for a while.  I am not complaining, because I am thankful that I have a job in these tough economic times, but do wish I could do better.  There is something disheartening about not being able to take your family on vacations and things like that.  Like I said, I am not complaining, we have a roof over our heads, and food on our table.  Anything else is just icing on the cake anyway.
     My goals for 2012 are simple.  I am going to get serious about my health again, and get rid of the excess weight I am carrying once again.  I have lost the same 50-60 pounds 5 or 6 times already.  I am also going to do my best to get back to spending time in God's word every day.  For a while I did that, and it did me good.  I got a new Bible for Christmas, and I plan on using it.  Everything else will just have to fall into place. 
     As for the blog, once again I plan on being more active.  The stories I do will be different, because of my desire to protect the privacy of my family.  I am not quite sure what direction I want to go with the blog now, but I hope that whatever direction I go that people will enjoy it.  I have considered going strictly humor, sports from a Christian perspective, or just continuing to write whatever is on my mind.  I haven't decided yet.
     I hope you all had a Merry Christmas, and wish you a Happy New Year. 

A Little Explanation

    Once gain I find myself explaining why I haven't blogged in a while.  This time I had a good reason.  I have had to go back and edit a good majority of my posts, and even delete some of them entirely.  From now on, I will not call my family by name, or post any pictures of my family on this blog.  It is going to be hard to do, because I do not like referring to my children as my son, or my youngest child.  My kids have names.  Unfortunatly, there are some people in this world who will take advantage of things like there names or images.  That is sad.
    I have talked before about being scared of what kind of world my kids are going to grow up in, and the past few weeks have brought those fears to new levels.  I will not go into details about what has gone on, but it has taken every ounce of my energy the past week or so to process things that were happening.  The blog was the last thing on my mind.  I can say that I am very discouraged, knowing that people who do harm to others often have more rights than those they harm.  I also am learning to guard my privacy more closely. 
    I am not going to stop the blog.  One of the biggest goals of terrorists is to make people afraid, and when they are afraid they stop doing what they love or need to do.  I am not going to allow one crackpot to stop me from doing what I love, and what other people enjoy.  I am however going to be more careful.  One of the casualties of this episode is that there will be fewer blogs about my family, and the ones that I do about them will be extremely general.  I apologize, but that's just the way things have to be.
     I hope you all have a Merry Christmas, and stay tuned.  I am just getting started.

My Sitcom Life

     I have come to the conclusion that I should video my life, and then sell the tapes to a network for a sitcom.  I can get myself into situations that are would be comical, if it weren't really happening. It's either that, or it is funny because it is really happening.

     A few weeks ago a friend of mine asked for volunteers to sing at the local nursing home on the second Tuesday of December.  I told him I would try to be there if I could.  As luck would have it my wife had a meeting at church and took one of our kids with her, and the other two decided to stay with my Mom.  I got dressed, and off to the nursing home I went.  I looked forward to being with friends and singing to the residents.  My friend had told me earlier in the day to be there at 7:00, so I happily arrived with about 10 minutes to spare.
     I didn't know what kind of vehicle my friend drove, and didn't see him or anybody I recognized outside when I got there, so I went inside.  I went to the nurses desk and told them I was there to sing with a group.  The nurse looked at me strangely, and said that the singing wasn't until 7:30.  The nurse told me that I was free to go into the dining area where the singing would be and wait.
     I went to the room, and sat down.  7:00 came and went with nobody there.  Around 7:15 an announcement came over the intercom that the singing would begin at 7:30.  I figured I had misunderstood my friend.  Around 7:20 the nurses started bringing the residents in, but still no friend.  About 7:25 a man walked in with an armload of hymnals, and a preacher and his wife walked in with him and started talking to the residents.  This would have been good news, if not for the fact that I knew the preacher, and knew that we were not only of different races, but that I was a Baptist and he was Church of Christ.  I have nothing against Church of Christ singing, in fact I enjoy singing A Capella, but I knew by this point I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
    I got up and, as quietly and inconspicuously as possible made my way out.  As I was leaving I talked to one of the nurses and explained what had happened.  She said that a baptist church was supposed to sing the next Tuesday.  I told her my friend had talked to me earlier in the day and said tonight.  I was really confused.
    I got into my car to head home.  As I got on the road, I happened to look at the other side of the nursing home were the assisted living facility is located and saw a small crowd gathered outside.  Sure enough, it was my friend, along with several other people I know.  I pulled in, got out, and walked over.  I asked him if they had already sang and he said yes.  Come to find out my friend calls the assisted living facility the nursing home.  They looked like they had a great time.  He told me he realized he had told people the wrong place and had texted everyone whose cell number he had.  Unfortunately he didn't have mine. We laughed, and I told him I would try to catch them next time.
    That's the way it goes in my world.  My heart was in the right place, and everyone got a good laugh, so no harm no foul.  It could only happen to me.

Christmas Past And Present

     I cannot believe that Christmas is less than two weeks away.  It occurred to me that my kids are growing up, and there are not that many Christmas mornings with children in our house left.  My two youngest are growing up fast.  I'm not looking forward to that day.
     There is something special about Christmas with children.  It doesn't seem that long ago that Rose was the one that we couldn't get to go to bed Christmas Eve.  Rose is a teenager already.  Lauren has already gotten to the point that she understands some of the "mysteries" of Christmas, and I'm sure that Matthew won't be far behind.  I am going to miss it when I don't get to stay up late and wait so I can help Santa.
     When I was a kid, we had a routine every year.  On Christmas Eve night, we would go to my Grandmother's house.  Every year, my Mom and Dad would have to leave to go to the store.  Somehow, when we got home, Santa had been there.  I still remember those Christmas Eve gatherings.  There were a lot of characters in my Dad's family, and I looked forward to seeing them all.  There was a lot of food, and a lot of love.
     When I got older, we would also go to my Dad's house.  Between my Dad and my Step Mother there was a large family.  My Dad loved Christmas, loved having family around, and especially loved the kids.  Christmas morning has always been breakfast with my Mom.
     My Grandmother is gone now, and so is my Dad.  We are doing Christmas a week early with my wife's family.  I am going to really try to take time this Christmas day and just enjoy my family.
      I apologize for the shortness of today's post, as I am extremely busy with another project tonight, and had a Christmas program that I attended.    God Bless.

A Class Act Getting A Raw Deal

     I watched the class AA state championship football game Friday night.  It was a tremendous game between two great high school football teams in the Buford Wolves and the Calhoun Yellow Jackets.  Most people around here were pulling for Calhoun to win, the thinking I guess being that they are a local team.  For my part, I was pulling for Buford. Calhoun has always been a rival, and I just couldn't find it within myself to root for them.  It was like choosing between the lesser of two evils.

Hal Lamb

     Calhoun ended up winning the game, and winning their first state title in 59 years.  While that is a great accomplishment, that is not what this post is about.  What happened after the game has created a controversy, and I just really don't understand what all of the fuss is about.  After the game, the Calhoun coach, Hal Lamb, was interviewed.  The first thing out of his mouth was that he wanted to thank his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  I thought it was great.  He didn't preach, just gave praise to his Savior in his moment of victory.  A few minutes later, he again did the same thing while accepting the championship trophy.  During the trophy presentation coach Lamb said Jesus "helped us win today."  I heard this, but didn't give it much thought.  A little while later I went to a web vent about high school sports to read the trash talk that I was sure would be on there.  What I saw amazed me.
    There were almost as many posts about what coach Lamb had said than about the game itself.  Some people were up in arms because the coach had mentioned Jesus, but most of the comments were about why coach Lamb thought that Jesus had helped them win.  They didn't get the point.  I am sure coach Lamb was not inferring that Jesus had helped Calhoun any more than He had helped Buford.  I would imagine that he was only trying to give glory to Jesus, and to thank him for letting him be in the position he was in.  To me it is simple.
     Unfortunately, most people only want to start a fight, especially when it comes to others sharing their faith.  What should have been a great moment for the coach was instead picked apart by people that had nothing better to do than belittle a man for sharing his faith.  That is sad.  That is the world we live in now though.  I don't know coach Lamb, I have ever met him, and probably never will, but I admire him for standing on his faith.  From everything I have read, he is someone who not only talks the talk, but he walks the walk.  I have to admire that.
     As much as I am not a fan of Calhoun, kudos to them for ending the 4 year reign of class AA football by Buford.  This was the 4th year these two teams had played in the state championship, and Calhoun got closer every year.  This year they finally went over the top.  It was a great game, and neither team had anything to be ashamed of.  I wish I could say the same about some of the fans.




































    
  

So Random

     I am borrowing the title for today's blog from a television show my kids watch.  I tried watching it with them one time.  I made it through Dora, TeleTubbies, and even Barney, but could not take 30 minutes of So Random.  I did not find anything wrong with it, as far as letting my kids watch it, but it just wasn't funny, or interesting, to me.
    This blog is being written at 9:40 pm Thursday night.  I normally have this written and am in bed by now, but play practice, and then kids baths took care of that.  Before you ask, I am not acting in the play.  I am singing in the choir.  I love singing, even though I am not the best at it.  Notice I didn't say I wasn't any good?  I have a bad habit of writing on the blog about things I am not good at.  I am a good singer, just not an awesome singer.  I sing bass.  Bass singers are to music what offensive linemen are to football, they never get noticed except when they mess up.  I have gotten to where I can hit a low C fairly well, which is pretty low.
     I also have to admit that I have finally realized that I have a special gift.  I had it back when my kids were little, but never realized it.  It was only recently, while I was spending time with my newest niece that I re-discovered this gift.  I have the unique ability to make babies go to sleep.  Every time I hold my niece, without fail she will go straight to sleep.  I know a lot of it has to do with the fact that every time I have held her so far she was taking a bottle, and a full baby wants to sleep.  I have a theory about why it is so easy for her to sleep while I am holding her, other than the bottle thing.  Not only does she have her belly full, but her Uncle is also warm and soft.
     My wife has told me that I am a human electric blanket.  For some reason, I am just naturally warm.  I also, much to my chagrin, am soft.  This has a lot to do with my affinity for butterscotch, peanut butter and corn chip sandwiches, and a wife that is a lunch lady.  In 2010 I actually lost over 60 pounds.  Unfortunately in 2011, I must have been on a scavenger hunt and recovered a lot of them back.  I am going to recommit myself in 2012 to lose those pounds for about the 10th time in my life.  I am going to do it, and keep to it this time.  I mean it.  Really.
     Finally, something hit me tonight.  I didn't realize until tonight there was a short angel in the Bible.  He is found in Luke 2:9.  The verse reads And, Lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.   Get it, Lo, Low?  As you can tell, time for bed.