A Salute to...

Today we salute you, Mr. Constant Collar Putter Upper. You, bedecked in popped collar, teach us that we no longer have to live with a cold, back of the neck. Sure, your pink alligator polo may look feminine to some, but not the 17 other frat guys wearing the same thing at the bar. Where others may see thoughtless fashion conformity, you preach a higher gospel. You preach of a world where it is okay for a man to go tanning. You ask "why can't we wear makeup, and use shampoo with lavender essence?" So crack open a fresh bottle of candy cologne, Mr. Abercrombie (or is it Fitch?), because we all know, when we really need a piece of gum, you might have one...in your man purse.

Friendly Iraq

Friendly Iraqi
Originally uploaded by nukeit1.

This is the side of the story that you will never hear from the mainstream media. This is the side of the story from a Marine.

My friend, James is a Marine, currently serving in Iraq. He is able to upload pictures that he's taken to his Flickr account. It's different, because I know what he's telling us about Iraq is completely true and real, unlike what I hear on the news.

This particular picture really struck me. "I have found out that Iraqis are very hospitapal people. Even after we conduct a very intrusive house search, this man gave us some food. Not too bad tasting; dates, pita bread, and some kind of tomatoes." - LCpl. James McCauley Things are all bad in Iraq. The Iraqi people do understand why we are there, and they appreciate it.

Be honest...

I've designed a couple of websites in the last couple weeks. Be honest and tell me what you think. Granted, there's no cool Flash stuff... but for a novice... what do you think? My own design company. OneShot. OneKill. --- a SOCOM clan. Covert Óps --- another SOCOM clan.

(Place catchy title here...)

Here's some of the latest 'hap': House: Still for sale. Yes... that's right folks! I have a really old house that I still need to get rid of... because it's costing me an un-godly amount of money every month. Yet, it sits completely empty. With the exception of a family of cats that I hear have moved in underneath the front porch. So, if you get a chance... some my "posse" back home... you could run over there and throw some paint on those cats (at high velocity). Job: Still looking. I'm still looking for a job. Although things have really been picking up at church. Anyway, I was told that I should send my resume to Saatchi & Saatchi-X. They are an international design / branding company with clients like Toyota, Nissan, Guinness, Coca-Cola... the big dogs. They do some amazing stuff. Well, one of the guys in our church used to OWN this company --- so he told me to get him my resume. I think that I'm under-qualified to work there... but everyone else seems to think different. I'd be happy with a paid internship with these guys. They are that big. I thought I killed my dog. The other day, I was outside playing with Kafka (my dog)... I was throwing the tennis ball, and she goes and gets it. Well, I went to throw it one time... and she jumped right in front of it. And well, I really threw it hard... I mean, I chucked it. Well, when she jumped in front of my throw... the ball hit her right in the eye. She yelped. Play time was over for her. We took her inside... and her inner-eyelid was all swollen up and her eye was rolled back in her head. I was pretty freaked out. She wouldn't open her eye. We let her rest overnight... and it was fine. Thank God. So there's the story of how I almost killed my dog.

Do you all hate me?!

Why... oh why don't people tell me these things?! Nobody told me that Neil changed his blog address. So, like a moron, I've been checking his old one wondering why he hasn't updated. I must be notified of these things! Don't you know that Neil is the source of the knowledge of good and evil in the realms of technology and overall geek stuff?! I mean, I could've gone on for years not knowing about his new HD camera or his new iBook... Come on people!!!

Last Chance.

APRIL29_FLYER_test1
Originally uploaded by Josh R..

April 29th is the last chance for everyone to see Faded Me with JP, Mark, and Jason. Here's what the flyer will look like for that show. I was going for a "simple" look.

Creative Slump.

The bad thing about being a creative person is that you go through slumps. Times, that no matter how hard you try, there's just nothing happening. Throughout this week, I've just been drained. Dealing with financial hardships and all of the stress that comes with it... leads me into one of these slumps. Which doesn't make like easier --- because the work still has to be done. So, I end up just 'outputting' something that I'm not happy with. It's hard to focus... or even sleep or eat, for that matter. Is there something going right? Indeed there is. This past Wednesday, we had our first "Small Group" meeting at Casey's house. It's a young-married couples group. There were only three couples there... but there's at least 3 more couples that weren't there. Thankfully, all the guys in our group are gamers! Yes! One of the guys works at Wal-Mart in their Internet Security Department. Essentially, he's a hacker... but now works for Wal-Mart protecting them from people like himself. Sabrina found some women to hang out with too... so that's cool. Our groups are different from those back home. There's no lesson... well, I suppose there could be on some occasions... but, the point of ours is to just build relationships outside of church. We're supposed to play "Cranium" at our next meeting.... all the girls were pumped about that... and the guys were all like, "We wanna play Halo 2.". Pastor Whit plays Halo 2 Online. I found out that Whit George (one of my major influences to go into full-time ministry doing media; although he doesn't know that, because I don't know him personally) from Oneighty plays Halo 2 on XBOX Live almost every night. He has a blog on the Oneighty site. You can get his screenname on his blog. I would post it... but it might be weird.

All alone at night.

Here it is midnight at night and I'm bored out of my mind. I'm not tired. Nobody is online. I don't feel like playing video games (that's a first). Hmmm... so I blog. I'm still working on a website for a guy... well, me and this other guy. He's doing the "HTML part" (with Dreamweaver) and I'm doing the graphics. It's been a royal pain in the butt. Because we've been dealing with it for like 3 weeks now. I'm sick of it. Finally, yesterday I talked to "the guy" and told him what we needed to do to make progress. He hadn't really determined what he wanted... so we were just trying different ideas with no success. Well, we now have a direction and look that we're going for... so hopefully, by next week, this project will be done. I have some other stuff for Faded Me that I need to get done. Not to mention a couple of videos for the church that I need to do. And, to be perfectly honest, with all of this financial stress... I don't feel like doing any of it. Later ya'll... keep praying!

Mental overload...

Man, what a week it has been so far. I've been overloaded with financial burdens! I hate money! It can be a source of tremendous happiness or it can bring you into the pits of hell! Gosh. Without going into details, one of my credit cards has been turned over to collections. And I have no way to pay them. So, this has just really been stressing out Sabrina and I. I know that God is bigger than any of my financial problems; but I feel so alone right now. Anyway, please continue to pray that our house will sell... we really need it to sell. That joker is eating up close to $1000 per month of our income.... which we could really use right now! I really want to get out of debt. Once our house sells and I get a job... we could be pretty much debt-free within 2 years. But, I need a job and my house needs to sell. C'mon God... hook me up. WANTED: BUYER OF HOUSES! I'm currently looking for a job too. So that's another area of prayer. I have my resume into Wal-Mart / Sam's Club for a couple of positions; and also at the Arkansas Democrat Gazette for a position. I'm praying that God will expedite this process; so I can start bringing in some cash... quick. Also, I'm available to do some freelance design work... so if you hear of anyone needing that sort of stuff... bands, businesses, etc... Please, send that business my way!

My knowledge of code...

I am lacking. In knowledge of HTML code and CSS code. I suppose that I do okay; but I would love to be able to do so much more. You may have noticed that my main header doesn't show up in any other browser besides Internet Explorer. I'm sure it's because there's something wrong in my code. I need some help. I have found some really cool CSS files; but I have no idea how to incorporate them into my blog. Help.. someone... please.

Things You Learn from Video Games...

- There is no problem that cannot be overcome by force. - If it moves, DESTROY IT! - Piloting any vehicle is simple and requires no training. - One lone "good guy" can defeat an infinite number of "bad guys". - Make sure you eat all food lying on the ground. - You can break things and get away with it. - You can push other vehicles off the road and get away with it. - If someone dies, they disappear. - If you get mad enough, you can fight even better. - You can overcome most adversaries simply by having enough quarters. - You can operate all weapons without training. - No matter how long you fight, you can always fight again. - Death is reversible (only for you!). - Ninjas are common and frequently fight in public. (my personal favorite) - Whenever big fat mean guys are about to croak, they begin flashing red or yellow. - You never run out of ammunition, just grenades. - All women wear revealing clothes and have great bodies. - Shoot everything. If it blows up or dies, it was bad. - Don't worry if you vehicle crashes and explodes. A new vehicle will appear in its place. - A thousand-to-one odds against you is NOT a problem. This poster is hanging up in my office... I love it! Thanks Kayla!

No time for "the bug".

Today has been okay. I haven't done much; except a few loads of laundry. I haven't felt well all day... I've had a headache, and kinda felt blaaaaah. While I was doing laundry, I watched Alien vs. Predator. I wouldn't waste your time or money renting this one. Not very impressive. I hope that I don't get sick. My parents and Joel will be stopping in this weekend; and I really don't want to be sick. I do not handle sickness very well. Although I don't get sick too often... when I do, it's terrible. So..... yup..... there we go.