championship vinyl: "You promised me a rockin chair."

snowmen.
i love calvin and hobbes comics. i ran across this collection of calvin and his demented snowmen today.

24
i had a map of simi valley on my wall today, and i was marking out where all of our kiddos from church lived. our office manager said my office looked like ctu.

american dream.
i'm a huge switchfoot fan. tonight at spark i used this song as means to talk about consumerism around christmas.

When success is equated with excess
The ambition for excess wrecks us
As top of the mind becomes the bottom line
When success is equated with excess

If you're time ain't been nothing for money
I start to feel really bad for you honey
Maybe honey put you're money where your mouth's been running
If you're time ain't be nothing but money

I want out of this machine
It doesn't feel like freedom

(chorus)
This ain't my American dream
I want to live and die for bigger things
I'm tired of fighting for just me
This ain't my American dream

When success is equated with excess
When we're fighting for the beamer, the lexus
As the heart and soul breathing the company goals
Where success is equated with excess

I want out of this machine
It doesn't feel like freedom

(chorus)

Cause baby's always talkin 'bout a ring
And talk has always been the cheapest thing
Is it true would you do what I want you to
If I show up with the right amount of bling?

Like a puppet on a monetary string
Maybe we've been caught singing
Red, white, blue, and green
But that ain't my America,
That ain't my American dream

(chorus)

the line that sticks out to me is 'success is equated with excess'. it reminds me a lot of luke 12:15 where Jesus warns that, "a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."

christmas list
the american dream song has been ringing in my head lately because i put together my annual christmas list for my mom a few days ago. i really had trouble this year because there's nothing that i really want that can be bought. me, mi madre, and mi hermana are going to spend a week together. that brings me more joy than any store bought 'thing' possibly could.

at this point, the only reason i even bother making a list is because of tradition. back in high school i turned my christmas list into a piece of art for mom and every years ice i've done the same. i don't even remember what i put on there for this year, but i know i like giving mom her own piece of art every year.

thrice
another band that i've been listening to a lot lately is thrice. today was a perfect thrice day. i was trying to keep my energy up for class tonight even though i felt like garbage all day. later in the day it became overcast, and now it's raining. the latest thrice album, the alchemy index vol. 1 & 2 have been the perfect soundtrack for the day. the first six songs revolve around the element fire, and the last six revolve around water (their follow up with wind and earth should be out soon). anyways, the heavier fire songs were a perfect way to get stoked for hanging out with the kiddos tonight, and the water songs have been a perfect listen with the rain outside.

aside from the pace of the music, the lyrics really grabbed me today too. in the song the arsonist, i really liked the verse:

There is truth beneath the floorboards;
there is hope in brick and stone.
But they tell me just to shut my mouth;
leave well enough alone.
But I think maybe all that's needed,
is a match and gasoline;
because I don't think that any one of them believes that there will be a reckoning.

there's something powerful in the message there. it's a great call to arms to being passionate about being a revolutionary christian. the same song has a great line in the chorus:

I love this city, but I've set and numbered its days.
I love this city, enough that I'll set it ABLAZE.

wow. the idea that we might have to do something extreme to save what we love. i'm not really sure why this hits home so much right now in my life, but it really has struck a chord with me.

well, that's enough serious stuff. here's some stuff that's been cracking me up this week.

kent tekulve was a great pitcher back in the day. somebody made a t-shirt with his unmistakable silhouette on it. it's my nominee for t-shirt of the year.

and lastly, one of my favorite things in the world are really bad record covers. so here are a few really bad christmas album covers that i found.

racial sensitivity is a must.