Breaking Bad is finished, and what a great finish it was.  I can't help but wondering what might happen to the characters now that the show is done...

• Skyler - Skylar is irreparably damaged from the past few years with Walt.  She begins a string of tumultuous relationships with abusive men and is a less than stellar parent.  Her life spirals into a dark abyss of cigarettes, alcohol, and bad relationships.  She lives out a long depressed life doing very little of anything. 
• Walter Jr/ Flynn - He realizes what his father did and gives most of the money to charity.  He then turns very dark, plays Grand Theft Auto 21 hours a day, starts a collection of automatic weapons, and becomes the next poster child for gun control. 
• Holly - Her life is wrecked before it has really begun. As she gets older, she looks for significance in the wrong kinds of men.  She becomes an exotic dancer in her late teens.  Later in life she is a homeless prostitute meth head living on the streets of Albuquerque.  Ironically she dies of malnutrition stemming from her chronic meth habit. 
• Jesse - Not knowing where else to turn, he goes to Marie's house.  They end up crying in each other's arms, finding mutual solace in each other's pain.  Jesse spends the night and just never leaves.  Eventually he converts the garage into a wood shop, takes up woodworking as a profession, and becomes well known as a master craftsman of fine wooden boxes which he sells on Etsy and Ebay.
• Marie- (see Jesse above) - Marie gets a fat widow's pension from the DEA and is set for life.  She finds love with Jesse.  They both cry a lot, get married, and have four kids named Hank Jr, Jesse Jr, Flynn Jr, and Jesse Marie.
• Saul - Starts a new life in some small Midwestern as a used car salesman by the name of Paul Goodman whose slogan is 'Better Call Paul.'
• Badger and Skinny Pete - After using up the money Walt gave them for a two month drug fueled party, they end up broke.  Then, it's back to normal for these two.
• Huell - No one ever comes to get him so he starves to death in the hotel room.
• Hank and Gomez - After months being buried in the ground, they rise from the dead and hail the beginning of the zombie apocalypse.  Cue The Walking Dead prequel.

5 Things I Love About Rednecks

I grew up in a small town in Georgia.  And many of the people I grew up around, family included, were rednecks.  Most of them still are rednecks, and they are dang proud of it too.  Rednecks,

Country Folk, Hillbillies, Bumpkins, whatever you want to call them, are often made fun of. Jeff Foxworthy made an entire career out of being a redneck. 

But being from redneck stock, I've recently realized that this much maligned portion of our population is a noble breed, set apart from the rest of the world. Here are five things I love about Rednecks:

1. Rednecks are polite and respectful: They always know how how to treat women, how to treat guests, and how to properly address their elders
2. Rednecks are friendly: They wave at passersby and say hello to people on the street.  Why?  They understand the simple importance of being friendly.  Because many rednecks live in smaller communities, they often know a lot of people.  And if they don't know the people they pass, they probably know someone who knows that person. So they are friendly because they belong to an interconnected web of people. 
3. Rednecks are independent and value self-sufficiency: From growing their own food, to killing their own food, to working on their cars, rednecks have skills that most of America has already lost. But when the apocalypse comes, guess who's going to be sittin' perty (as they say)!  Rednecks!!
4. Rednecks tolerate the government, but they don't love it: Rednecks proudly pledge allegiance to the our flag, serve our country, and love our country.  But they don't love the government.  And they especially do not love the politicians. 
5. Rednecks are generous and help when there is a real need: If your car ever breaks down, if your dog gets sick, if you ever need help in any way, pray that there is a redneck nearby. They will help you is they can. And if you know someone in their family, well that's just a guarantee that they have to help you.

Rednecks are the backbone of our society.  They grow our food, make our cars, and send their sons and daughters off to war for the rest of us.  So today, I salute Rednecks.  Thank God I'm a country boy (at heart)!!

Saves the Day (am I old?)

Jo and I went to see one of my favorite bands, Saves the Day, last night.  They played right her in Chapel Hill (Carrboro actually, but the Cat's Cradle is just barely in Carrboro).  Throughout the evening, I had several thoughts that make be realize that I must be getting older:

Its too late - Its Friday night, I just worked all week.  Its already dark outside and its cold.  I would love to fall asleep here on the floor.  If it wasn't one my favorite bands and if the show was more than just a few minutes away, I might stay home.
Its too loud - Wow, it's loud.  Is it just me, or is it loud?  I think it would sound better if it weren't so stinking loud.  I mean, the vocals would be much better if it weren't so loud.  Who's running sound here?  Is it loud?
Its too crazy - I hope the mosh pit stays where it is.  I don't want to get kicked in the head.  I'm not 18 anymore.  18 year olds think its cool to get kicked in the head at a show, because they can brag to their buddies.  If I get kicked in the head, I might have to go the ER.

The show was killer.  And it was good to get out and see some live music, something I don't do nearly as much as I want to.  I don't really think I'm old, but I'm definitely not young as I used to be, and never will be.  Before I know it I'll be hitting to the 4:30 Shoney's buffet and going to bed after Jeopardy.

donkeys

Here's my latest conversation with Adelle:

Adelle: Is it okay to kick a donkey?
Me: I don't know; I've never thought about it. 
Adelle: Do some people kick donkeys?
Me: I don't know, maybe somebody has.
Adelle: Why?
Me: I don't know.  Like I said, I've never thought about that before. 

Note: I'm not sure exactly why she asked this, but we had a conversation yesterday about the fact that donkeys have been know to kick people.  I guess she's been thinking about that.  Like I've said before, I don't make these things up. 

unfulfilled and fulfilled at the same time

I have a job I do not like.  It is not fulfilling and also frustrating.  But I get paid to do it.  I often think, 'wouldn't it be nice to get paid to do the things that I love to do?'   But that may never happen.  In reality however, I'm already doing the things I love and already giving my life to some pretty important things.  And no one's paying me to do them.  I don't get paid to be a father or a husband or to serve Greenleaf VIneyard or to make music with fellow Greenleafers or to care about people.  But those are the things I love and enjoy.  I may never get paid to do what I love, but that's fine; some things can never be measured on a monetary scale. 

the end of the world

I had this conversation about the end of the world yesterday with Adelle my five year old:

Adelle: How is the world going to end?
Me: Its going to explode or something like that.  Basically its going to stop working.  But Jesus will make it all new again. And it will last forever and no one will ever die again.
Adelle:  But what if somebody swords you in the throat?  Would that kill you?
Me: I never thought of that.

Notes: She didn't know how to say 'stab you in the throat with a sword', so she coined the phrase 'sword you in the throat.'  Honest to goodness.  That is what she said.  I can't make up stuff this funny.  I love my kids!!

2 new blogs

My friend Ryan put some ideas in my head about blogging.  So I started 2 new ones:
the deserts that our lives have become
Tasty Poblanos

I have several reasons for these new blogs:
To get things out of my head
To give myself a consistent creative outlet
To become a better write by writing consistently
And honestly, I want to see if blogging can be profitable


The first blog has things I've written, books reviews, etc.  The second has movie reviews and things related to movies.  Please visit them, bookmark them, add them to your feed,  whatever. One thing I can't tell you is to click on the ads.  If you did that, I would make money.  Thanks!

dinosaurs

Evie's fascinated with dinosaurs.  Here's a conversation we had when I was putting her to bed one night:

Evie: What happened to the dinosaurs?
Me: They all died.
Evie: Why?
Me: I don't know, they just died.
Evie: Where are they now?
Me: Well, their bones are buried in the ground.
Evie: How did they get there?
Me: They just got there.  You see, the dinosaurs all died and over time the dirt covered their bones.  So that's how they got in the ground.
Evie: But who put them there?
Me: No one put them there.  They're just there.
Evie: Did people put them there?
Me: No, no one put them there.
Evie: But how did they get in the ground?
Me: Good night Evie.

funny things Evie has said

Evie is 3 which means she says some hysterical stuff.  Here's a sampling of things she's said recently:

the weather
Evie (looking out the window one morning): Daddy its soggy outside.
Me: 'Soggy'?  Oh I think you mean 'foggy'.
Evie, Yeah, foggy

plants
Evie: Daddy, plants really love oil.
Me: Oil?  What?
Evie: Yeah, they love oil.
Me: Do you mean 'soil', like dirt?
Evie: Yeah soil.

the BK drive thru (as we moved away from the place where you order and drove up to pay)
Evie: Daddy, why was that computer talking?
Me: What? 
Evie: The computer was talking.
Me: Oh sweetie that wasn't a computer, it was a person talking to us.  We told him what we wanted and he talked to us. 
(she honestly though I was talking to a computer.  Shows how infrequently we go to the drive thru).

My life would be much less fun without my children

Watch these movies

If you haven't seen these movies already, I recommend you watch them:
13 Assassins
Source Code
Micmacs
Sucker Punch
True Grit
The Fighter
Winter's Bone
Four Lions

Eddie Vedder and a ukelele

Song lyrics of the day

Eddie Vedder is a genius.  Here are his lyrics to Pearl Jam's song Wish List:
I wish I was a neutron bomb, for once I could go off
I wish I was a sacrifice but somehow still lived on
I wish I was a sentimental ornament you hung on
The Christmas tree, I wish I was the star that went on top
I wish I was the evidence, I wish I was the grounds
For 50 million hands upraised and open toward the sky

I wish I was a sailor with someone who waited for me
I wish I was as fortunate, as fortunate as me
I wish I was a messenger and all the news was good
I wish I was the full moon shining off a Camaro's hood

I wish I was an alien at home behind the sun
I wish I was the souvenir you kept your house key on
I wish I was the pedal brake that you depended on
I wish I was the verb 'to trust' and never let you down

I wish I was a radio song, the one that you turned up
I wish...
I wish...

Farfan Scores 1st Pro Goal

Micheal Farfan, a former Tarheel soccer standout, scored his first professional goal with the Philadelphia Union last night.  This is doubly exciting because I am a Tarheel and Union fan:

Quote of the day: Real faith

I love A.W. Tozer for many reasons, one of which is that he is very quotable.  I read this one last night in Root of the Righteous:


"Real faith only knows one way and gladly allows itself to be stripped of any second way or makeshift substitutes.  For true faith, it is either God or total collapse."  - A.W. Tozer

Sometime (live) by King's X

Songs get in stuck my head, on repeat and I can't get them out.  The only way to get them out is to hear them.  This is what has been repeating in my brain for the past few days.



Sometime, I want to give
Sometime, I want to take
Sometime, I want to run
Sometime, I want to stay.
Sometime, sometime, sometime, sometime.

Sometime, I want to love
Sometime, I want to hate
Sometime, I want to build
Sometime, I want to break
Sometime, sometime, sometime, sometime.

Sometime, I want to live
Sometime, I want to die
Sometime, I want to believe
Sometime, I want to get high and fly

accretion and life

I've has the word 'accretion' stuck in my mind for a few days.  Here's how Miriam-Webster defines it:

1: the process of growth or enlargement by a gradual buildup: as  

a : increase by external addition or accumulation (as by adhesion of external parts or particles)  

b : the increase of land by the action of natural forces

2: a product of accretion; especially : an extraneous addition <accretions of grime>

 

I love the word because it describes life so well.  Life is a process of buildup and accumulation, both intentional and unintentional.  I don't mean accumulation  in a material sense as in possessions or wealth but rather in the sense that our lives are a buildup of experiences, ideas, interactions with people, etc.  The things that we 'accrete' make us who we are.  

 

As we grow older and wiser we (hopefully) recognize the things that have shaped us - some beneficial, some not.  Some accretions need to be scraped off and shaken off; some accretions need to be protected and nurtured.  

 

Accretion - a great word. 

death metal in the Psalms

I read Psalm 58 today and was struck by these verses.  They sound like great lyrics for a death metal song.  Here are verses 4-8:
⁴ Their venom is like the venom of a snake,
   like that of a cobra that has stopped its ears,
⁵ that will not heed the tune of the charmer,
   however skillful the enchanter may be.
 ⁶ Break the teeth in their mouths, O God;
   LORD, tear out the fangs of those lions!
⁷ Let them vanish like water that flows away;
   when they draw the bow, let their arrows fall short.
⁸ May they be like a slug that melts away as it moves along,
   like a stillborn child that never sees the sun.

Can't you just hear the crunching chugga-chugga riffs now?  Somebody call Zao or As I Lay Dying and let them know.

Ozomalti - Dos cosas ciertas (live!!!)

If I could be in any band...

Metallica live

Master of Puppets (live)


...And Justice For All (live)

coin laundry loser (live)