Archive for December 2006

December 30, 2006

A Real Christmas Song

11:59 am | Music | Comments: 4

When I was a wee lad of 8 years, one particular Christmas carol was all the rage on the elemtary school playgrounds. It went something like this:

Joy to the world! Saddam is dead!
They bar-becued his head!
What happened to his body?
They flushed it down the potty!
And around and around it went,
And around and around it went
And arou-OUND around, around it went!

December 28, 2006

Life Noir

1:56 am | My Life | Stories | Comments: 8

Seeing the picture brought it all back.

The pain, the loneliness. A perfect woman, beautiful blond curls flowing down around her shoulders; a playful smile on her face, her soft lips calling to me. The echoes in my head rang louder than gunshots in a subway station.

At that moment I wanted her more than anything. But she was taken. I nearly slammed my fist down. Partly anger, but mostly sheer frustration. Something stopped me. Time froze as four words thundered out from somewhere deep within me; like the eye of the storm dead silence prevailed in my brain and and I heard them. Thou Shalt Not Covet.

A moment, even less; a fraction of the speed of thought later I was happy. Happy that she was happy. Happy that her husband was happy. Happy more than anything that God had done it all.

It was also he who first spoke those four words, many thousands of years ago to people just like me. He even took the time to write them on my sin-stained heart.

Suddenly, I was the happiest man alive.

December 25, 2006

A Christmas Message from SIO

12:19 pm | Culture | My Life | Comments: 7

Spike my cider with rum! I want lots of hot loot, as well. I am sad to say that I’m a false prophet; I prophesied a white Christmas (how couldn’t I?) and I look out my window this morning to find grass. Rotten, awful, putrid grass. I wish the stuff would seriously go boil its head. I am sitting here listening to Galactic waiting for my cellphone to charge thinking I’d rather be on a snowboard, on a big mountain, waiting for my cellphone to charge. That’s what winter is supposed to be; that’s what I have been dreaming of. Not this ugly green crap. If I want grass I’ll start up a hydroponics lab in my attic.

December 14, 2006

Nostalgilogical

5:47 pm | SIO | Comments: 7

For those of you who are new to SIO, over two years of archived posts might seem a bit daunting. Maybe you don’t want to delve into the depths of the grand history of Set It Off; you’re lazy, but we’re still willing to accomodate you. To give you a taste of what lies beneath the innocent-looking archive links, and to give you a bit of a SIO history lesson, here in no particular order are 10 important posts dating from mid-2004.

Brevity is the Order of the Day: A great piece of relationship advice, and also the shortest post in SIO history (learned ones will no doubt know of a post with less text, however that’s actually the caption to a picture).

Gorillas in the Mist: In which James offers practical hygenic advice, only to be attacked by well-meaning yet misguided individuals, after which a rousing debate follows.

Shadows: My personal favorite bit of story-telling. In retrospect it’s depressing, but it still makes some valid commentary on the human experience. The fact is that most commentary on the human experience will depress people.

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish: There is perhaps no greater display of weblog hooliganry on the internet than in the comments of this innocent post. The amount of hours poured into the nonsense you’ll find attached to this post is unfathomable, and it certainly amounts a comment record which will stand forever like a great obelisk towering over a pack of monkeys.

Democratic Process, the Terrorist Way: Often have there been references on SIO to Islam and the Middle East crisis and this basically sums it all up.

Muppets and Psychology: Some in-depth analysis of important issues which is typical of SIO posts.

The Truth Shall Make You Free: Although a Hardcore Christian, I don’t often make posts regarding my faith. But when I do, I do so with a Bible blazing in each hand dropping doctrinal error like so many flies hitting a buglamp.

My House: Of the scattered bits of poety I’ve posted this is my personal favorite. Most people would have no clue what it’s talking about, but poets don’t care about that.

The Beginning of the End: It’s fitting to include SIO’s first post in this list, with its somber reminder of the finite nature of things on this earth.

This Just In: I threw this one in because I felt I should have ten posts in this list. Aside from that, it was a great moment when I showed up the rest of the world by proving Frank Oz was not dead.

December 12, 2006

Paths Crossing

11:45 pm | My Life | Wisdom | Comments: 5

I had some great advice from a retired Marine colonel on Thanksgiving day. It basically amounted to this: if you want to do something, do it now. If you need to get anything out of the way first, start now. The advice itself seems quite obvious, but it’s something that I personally need to hear pretty often. In my current state of not really knowing what I want to do in life as far as career is concerned, it’s become apparent that I have to pick something and go for it. Whether it’s technology, military, music, or something completely different, the key is to pick one and go. That’s what the Bible means by “man devises his way”. Included in that thought is more than just laying plans; executing those plans is also necessary. The Lord promises to direct our steps; however, we must take those first steps ourselves.

December 7, 2006

Feel It

8:56 am | Music | Comments: 9

I recently upgraded my foot pedal and hi-hat stand. I had been using the Yamaha Flying Dragon single pedal up to now, and I was quite satisfied with it. However, it’s a single pedal and double pedal technique is considered essential in modern drumming. So I dropped a few hundred dollars on a solid double pedal, which in this case turns out to be the Pearl 2002C, a.k.a. the PowerShifter Eliminator. Preliminary tests have been great, and the right foot feels substantially better than the Yamaha. I also had to upgrade from my el cheapo hi-hat stand to a model with rotating legs, this one from Pulse.

December 6, 2006

Your Drug is a Heartbreaker

5:09 pm | College | My Life | Comments: 3

5 months out of Grand Valley and I’m getting asked alot, “so do you miss college?” It’s a fair and reasonable question. Truth is overall I do not miss college. I’ve always believed it to be a means to an end, and not an end in itself. As such, it’s no big heartbreak to see it go. That being said, there are a few specific exceptions, not including simply the nostalgia fallout of not being on campus after 5 years of my life revolving around it.

Things I miss about Grand Valley:

Variety - a year was 3 completely different smaller years, in a technical sense. Each semester I’d be learning new things, expanding in some new direction. It always exciting to walk into a fresh class, clean slate, new cute chicks to sit next to, etc.

Free Workout Facilities - Not only did I not have to pay, but I was automatically in a position to be in the gym 3-4 times a week on a consistent basis. Needless to say that’s not been the case since school proper ended this past April.

Life of Ease - School was a breeze, really. As long as I finished assignments and did well on tests, I was free to be a lazy slob, not shaving and wearing sweat pants to class for an entire semester. This isn’t to say that I was always in lazy slob mode. Only on occasion, usually for morning classes.