Lions, Djembes and Gay Cowboys, Oh My!!

Wow, where do I begin? Sorry for the absence ladies and gentlemen. As my friend Adam put it, I'm getting pounded in the blogging world.

First off, excuses. My last blog was Dec. 19th about King Kong. Since then I've been sick, on vacation, at minister's school, and back at work too busy catching up on things to get online. Those are my excuses.

Second, what I've done:

The whole family has been together three times: our regular Plaza trip where we ate at Buca de Beppo, or Joe's Basement, on the Plaza. Mom got lost going to the bathroom and we pigged out on three types of pasta and a dessert that just kept getting better as you read. Oh chocolate cake, oh chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream, oh its two pieces of chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream chocolate syrup whipped cream and some Italian thing, taramasu? Anyway, we took a picture of it. It was truly breathtaking. The best part about this was Wesley asking me why we were eating at Poopy de Diapo!

The second get together was Monday after Christmas. Mom, dad, Steph and I came back from CoMo and Lindsey met us at the N. KC Bryans for the comparing of gifts. Andy got a new tent. I finally got a big boy djembe (that's a hand drum). 14 incher that matches the pattern of my little guy!! After dinner we played Kersplatt or something, an Uno based weird animal/color/number game. All in all a good night. The best part, Wesley got a drumset!! (andy, lessons are 25 bucks an hour and I'm free on Saturdays)

The third party was for my much older sister's birthday on 1/8. (give props to Elvis Aaron Presley as well) We went to Brio on the plaza for more Italian, higher class but not as fun and not as much as Joe's. Wesley annouced my arrival to the whole restaurant and Cori annouced that she threw up three times yesterday and "only made the bucket once." We then retired once again to the NKC Bryan's place, even though mine was 5 minutes away. (apparently there's a space issue at my house) Steph got a bunch of old lady presents and...just kidding! She's young and looking better than ever!

I kept big old Shaquette for a week while my family was in Dallas. (that's my dog, or my parents' dog or the family's dog, or whoseever she is) She is pretty old, and pretty fat and got these fatty bubbles all over her. And then there's Fiona. She's young, skinny and has K9HD (doggie hyper activity disorder). But, i think Shaq had fun.

Probably the biggest thing I did, in that it lasted the longest was Minister's School. It was pretty good, but I was disappointed as some of you might imagine. It was a lot of fun playing in the band, especially with Dad and Andy. I'm sorry I was a little young to ever really have time or skill enough to play more with the family. Anytime you need a drummer, I'm available. (except on the 10 and 11th of march, wink wink Calds) What struck me most about Minister's school was how many people thought our band, made of ministerial misfits who haven't played in weeks or years and have NEVER played together, was the greatest thing to happen to worship since broken bread (haha). What are these people doing with the music in there worship? What we did was fun, and it accomplished the goal it set out to do. But imagine what we'd do with practice!!

So, I had a pretty serious talk with Mom at Minister's School. Mom has a way of making feelings i didn't even know were there come out like a geiser. I love where I am, in KC and I love being in school. I love being with Lindsey and being around Ryan Bates. I love dog parks and the plaza and being close to my sibs. But, I just don't like working in a church. I still feel a call to ministry, but maybe just in the setting i'm in now or maybe in general, I don't know if working in a church is for me. I'm feeling pretty good already this year though. I've been freed up a little to do more creative things and working hard on the youth group and young adult ministry here and it's getting better. It makes me wonder if this sort of specialized ministry is more my thing. Campus ministry, youth ministry, young adult ministry that sort of thing. We'll see how I feel in four years, cause I know I want to finish school.

Ok, now I mentioned Lions and gay cowboys. I saw Narnia and Brokeback Mountain over the break. Narnia was awesome but I didn't remember the Jesus reference so loud and clear in the book. I really hope our friends in the conservative Christian realm don't jump on Narnia's back and we can enjoy them as movies alone. OK, Brokeback Mountain......no big deal at all! I have to say i'm pretty disappointed in my newly adopted home town which i thought to be pretty progressive. Brokeback is only playing in three theaters in KC metro area. THREE!!!!! And the excuse can't be marketing, it just won best picture! There are about 7 seconds of gay sex during which you can't see any skin and there's a lot of painful grunting. Other than that, it's just another boring love story that doesn't resolve happily. I don't think it's the best picture, although the acting is great. With all the heterosexual sex that on tv, in magazines, in the paper, and in the movies, this is the stupidest controversy I've seen in a while. Honestly, we see more obsenity on MTV or the OC. If people should be upset it's because these men are married and cheating on their wives and cheating on each other with other guys. We can't make a movie about a normal healthy gay relationship but we can easily put Flavor of Love on television (a show where girls who wear nothing compete for the love of mentally retarded aging hobbit Flavor Flav) Alright I'm done.

My brother's brother in law is a better man than I: I'm going to mention Pat Robertson twice in this article. That sentence, and this next one. Pat Robertson is a fat headed, bigotted, senile idiot and must be stopped. There, feel better.

So now I'm back. Working, getting ready for school, hanging out with Bates and Lindsey of course. Not too much going on right now. I've been working out and dieting, not just because it's the new year but because I reached the 235 pound mark and that's just ridiculous.

I hope everyone's Christmastide was a good one and all your dreams come true.

Good to be back America, Brad