The weekend

Finally the weekend has arrived. Time to sleep late, hang out with the kids, and watch a movie. 

Blessed

There are certain times in my life that I feel truly blessed and today is a day like that. Maybe it's because this is my last workday of the week (I'm sure that's part of it), but I think some of it is the realization that 25 years of struggle is about to come to an end. I've been going to college for that long off and on and I believe I'm graduating very soon. Feeling blessed.

Family

It always strikes me as funny how we put such an emphasis on family and then as a nation we are contradictory to the process. I know that it is normal now but I remember a time when stores closed early, and a lot weren't open on Sunday. People didn't have to work graveyard shifts. Society is set up for us to be as productive as we can be but we have left something behind in the process.

New Tech

I am a tech junkie and am in love with how people can connect. I just purchased a small bluetooth keyboard that can link to my phone. All I have to say is wow! For this class I downloaded the blogger app to my phone and with the keyboard I think I can update my webpage on the go like I was at home. This will benefit me greatly in the future when I resume my writing on a more consistent basis.

Poem

There’s a fire in my heart

There’s a fire in my heart

My love never gives into despair

Never will it fall from its cart

If it did it would need repair

She is beauty all on her own

Burning passion raging great

Golden lockets make me moan.

Bet she would make a terrific mate

Passion water never could contain

Burning embers growing bright

Loss of love equals lots of pain

Lovemaking constant through the night

Branches twisting in the wind

Singles become doubles on the mend

I love technology

I just bought a bluetooth keyboard for my iphone 4. I must say that I love technology and the fact that I know can turn my little iphone screen into a generic laptop is intriguing to me. For twelve dollars I can now type at speeds I could reach on my computer (about 50 words a minute). I'm an old man so the texting stuff was getting on my nerves. I much prefer to type the old fashioned way.

Even Jesus wouldn't buy the rapture

http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/06/opinion/parini-rapture-real/index.html?hpt=hp_c3
Check out this link if you want to learn more about this subject matter.
This is going to be a rant so I'm apologizing in advance.

I'm always trying to learn more about the faith that I choose to follow. I don't think I'm the everyday type of christian because I listen to what the other side of the coin has to say and try to find answers to their complaints. I've been listening to this atheist radio host who used to be a preacher on blogtalk radio and he asks interesting questions. They are the type of questions that make you think and try to find answers yourself. If I was to be honest with you I would say that doubt does sometimes creep in. The hardest thing to believe in is miracles and the Bible is filled with a whole host of them. In those times I function on faith as I try to find the answers that will satisfy the rest of me.

This article caught me off guard. It has made me want to investigate further and learn more about my faith. What do we really know if chapters have been added in that change the complexity of the Book? A single word can change the whole meaning of something and now this article is telling me that the rapture is a concept that was just added in 1852. It makes you want to go back and re-evaluate everything you have read in the Bible. The funny thing is that is what we are supposed to do.

Outline for my short story

I just wanted to post a little outline to my upcoming short story. It isn't finished yet but I do like to have something to reference as I write. Don't be surprised if some of this changes before the finished product is up. I love westerns so this will be a short story about that time period.

The Carpenter

Dora Walters use to be a prostitute but when she married Ed she gave that life up. The Johnson boys have had their way with her in the past and tried to do so again when Ed intervened and had his back broke by the gang. The only thing that kept them from killing Ed was the stranger known as The Carpenter. The Carpenter is a stranger from a far off land that may or may not be a representation of Jesus in the short story. Can The Carpenter intervene and save the Walters in a non-violent way or will there be a different ending to this 1000 word short story? Only time will tell.

Summer Vacation

I have been blessed to be on vacation this week and all has went well. I've been able to go down to Tulsa this past weekend and see the Tulsa Shock play two basketball games. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a big WNBA fan but my daughter is one. It's weird how someone else's fandom can spread and become your own for even a bit of time. I found myself enjoying the pace of the game and the fans around me.

I took three of my children with me and the hotel we were staying in was a mess. It smelled when we went inside, the rooms looked old, and it gave you that feeling that something dark was going to happen. We spent the night there anyway and I had to laugh when my kids said that they were going to sleep on top of the bedspread. Yes, it was that bad. I don't think we slept a wink that night but I will say that we had a good time. I crawled on the floor a couple of times in order to get close enough to scare them. Yeah, I'm that guy. The kids returned the favor a couple of times by leaving bits of hair in my bed and then telling me they had seen something crawling.

I've spent the rest of the week doing honey do's and I can say that it hasn't been as fun as the rest of the week but some things need to be done.

They used a hard vocabulary to contain the terrible softness.

I just had to post this on my blog because as soon as I read the above line out of the book it reminded me of some of the women that I work with at the post office. She talks like a sailor whenever I speak to her at my job. I'm telling you she will use racial words and slang in front of me that would make me color up if I wasn't already there. The funny thing about her is that if I spoke to her that way I'm pretty sure she couldn't handle it. The outward appearance that she displays is all show because she's all about saving animals at a shelter she volunteers at. I've even spoken to her about this when she has talked off color to me. I've told her that she's really a soft person on the inside but due to conditions in her life she feels the need to display this bravado. In general she agrees with me and we generally start a discussion about some type of hardship she is going through.

The way I display my bravado is through silence! I've always been told that the quiet ones are the ones you should look out for and I believe this to be true. My bravado is in my stare and in my silence, and when the time comes for action I have no problem stepping into someone else's personal space. I imagine that I would be a lot like these men, crying when no one was watching, but when the sun came up I would remain quiet until darkness returned.

I was asked to share a link to some of my self-published work so here it is Gospel of the Gun. I'm particularly proud of this book because I designed the cover and formatted everything inside. The only thing that I didn't do was edit it. I left that to a real professional.

Ohh, Ohh. My Little girls first date!

Well, let me start off by saying that today is a monumental day for my daughter and for myself. She is going on her first date. I've been dreading this moment for a while and to be completely honest with you I knew that it would be coming for this one sooner than later. My daughter, Kira, is a beautiful girl. So beautiful that I've noticed grown men crossing their eyes over into her lane since she was thirteen. She is getting ready to turn sixteen in a few days, but I'm allowing her to go out with her boyfriend for the first time. Chaperoned of course!

You don't agree with the idea of Chaperoning? It's the first way that I was allowed to go out with my girlfriend (who is now my current wife) so it is a way that we can both be comfortable this first time out. I'm hoping that this is just a crush that will run its course, but as a father I'll be there just in case.

Well, I'm sitting here in my bed wondering what this class will mean to me. I've been writing for a while and I must admit that I would fancy myself a writer of the lowest denominator for the moment. I find that I take many situations in life and turn them into situations that I could write about, and I always will love the underdog story. I've published three books (self-published) and I plan to continue on so that someday I will have enough knowledge to publish others. Work, kids, and a general lack of time has shut that down for now.