Weekly picture #1.

Luke told me his idea of doing a weekly comic of his own, and it inspired me. But since I can't draw, I decided to do a weekly picture of something from this week. So here goes my first picture:

Liquid

Jars of Clay's self-titled album.

Liquid

Blood-stained brow,
He wasn't broken for nothing.
Arms nailed down,
He didn't die for nothing.

This is the one thing,
The one thing that I know.

You tell me...

There's something terribly wrong with this, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Hm....

Third and sixth.

I listened through the third album by Lifehouse on my way down to my parents' from Biola. It's a pretty good listen, though I think I like the second one better (Stanley Climbfall), but they still haven't topped their first one (No Name Face). Like always, their first few songs on their (self-titled) album were really strong, though it seemed to sort of drone through the rest. I'll have to give it a few more listens, but from what I heard, it's pretty good.

I also noticed that this album is more upbeat and has a lighter mood in its sound. Is it just me, or is Lifehouse progressing as a band? Their first album was so depressing and a terrible downer, their second seemed to give off some kind of "I'm searching for something" type of message, and they found that hope they've been looking for in their third album. Maybe I'm just being way to analytical, but I appreciated that in their third album. Not that I didn't like their first at all; in fact, their first is probably their best.

I just got done watching Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. It's still as good as it used to be. I will probably say that this movie was the best Star Trek movie ever made. The story was incredibly well-written. Nothing over the top like time-traveling (IV and VIII), but nothing mediocre in the grand scheme of things (II and IX). Plus it had all that conspiracy stuff that can be great if done well. This movie did it well, especially for a sci-fi set film.

It's awesome that the original series' cast could go out with such a bang. I'm so sad that the TNG cast didn't have that fortune. Boo on Star Trek: Nemesis!

Sigh.

Life can really kick you in the arse at times, and then rip your balls off while you're still trying to recover. Ain't that just dandy?

Random things.

Referring to Kelly Clarkson's video Since U Been Gone: "Maybe her boyfriend broke up with her because she wore slutty clothes on stage." -Eric Holloway

On a different subject, did you ever get into the game Minesweeper (usually found in Windows)? Jon and I were talking about the times when we were into the game as kids, and we would pretend to be sweeping the "mine field" to clear it from one end to the other so the soldiers could get across. This way, we were finding and marking the mines for a greater cause rather than just mere entertainment. It was a great victory to clear on side and then another and create a pathway for the troops, though it was such a tragedy to die when clearing out the rest of them (I never beat Expert). A sacrifice I was willing to take for my brothers in arms. March on, soldiers! Win that battle for our country!

P.S. Sorry, Phil, that I linked to Microsoft in this post. Oops! I did it again! Doh!

In the musical sense.

A friend once asked me in a random conversation what song would best describe my life. Great. You know how that goes. One song, eh? The first song that came to my mind was She Gathers Rain by Collective Soul. I thought of this song because, firstly, I love Collective Soul and I listen to them quite a lot. Secondly, the song is about someone needing to adjust to a completely new life that she has chosen - a life that is much better. I interpret it as a song of one finding salvation, and that person has a new found hope to live. To me, it speaks volumes for how I live and how I need to keep in perspective the life I need, and was called, to live.

She Gathers Rain by Collective Soul

Today she dresses
For the change she's facing now
And the storm that's raging
A safe haven she has found
She doesn't care
What the prophets say anymore
For the love she had
She has no more

So she gathers rain
She gathers rain
To rinse away all her guilt and pain
She gathers rain
She gathers rain
To wash and cleanse and make
her whole again

Her imagination
Has started stretching wide
And her new conviction
No longer will she hide
She's not branded
When prophets speak words of fire
The same love she gives
She requires

So she gathers rain
She gathers rain
To rinse away all her guilt and pain
She gathers rain
She gathers rain
To wash and cleanse and make
her whole again

Also, I believe that the lead singer and his brother (another member of the band) were raised as Christians, which would explain a lot of the religious overtones in their music. Except they aren't "Christian," they're "spriritual." Heh. Whatever. Anywho, I find them much better than a lot of Christian bands out there, sort of like how Mac feels with U2 and other Christian bands. (On his blog, the post is titled "Another U2 post" dated Wednesday, April 13, 2005.)

Latter.

You would think they would choose a new pope who would last longer. But then again, maybe that's exactly what they didn't want.

You need variety.

C'mon, Orlando! Can't you do anything else besides medieval type, sword fighting movies?

Assorted things.

My lack of blog posting may be a sign that this whole "blog excitement" thing is beginning to fade from me. However, I will hold on to this web journal with weakened hands hoping that something will come around to give me strength to blog on a more regular, more consistent basis. Inspiration, where are you?

Gas prices are at an all time high it seems, and there is no sign that they will drop any time soon. In fact, there are stronger signs that they will rise! Why is this happening? I can't see any valid reason why gas has to be charged at this rate. Corporate greed is what I see happening here, not to mention a loss in people's earnings when the day's over. Buying a small cot and camping out in the computer labs at school doesn't sound like a bad idea anymore.

My D string on my guitar broke again just a couple minutes ago. That's frustrating because I changed it fairly recently, and my other strings are doing fine.

The weekend was eventful. It has been a pretty good run of weekends so far with the family get together a couple weeks ago and then this last weekend as well.Friday was Randy's birthday party, and that was a good time. It's one of those parties when about three families get together and bring along the kids, so it was a full house. Dinner was really good (By golly! Food sounds good right now), and the presents were really funny from what I observed. I've never seen so many adults laugh so incredibly hard. Heads were on tables, eyes were watering, and faces were quivering from smiling too much. We also played Twister, and I found out how to play dirty and screw everyone up. Twister on a competative level is a lot of fun! I also wrestled Tim a couple times, which reminded me of good times at Faith wrestling. I even ended up pulling out the old photo album and watching my high school graduation. I looked really young, and Oli looked a lot smaller.

Saturday, The Peckhams went to Irvine Regional Park to celebrate Joe and Uncle Lloyd's birthdays (they were born on the same day). It was just a nice hang out time with friends. It was a beautiful day with not a cloud in the sky. Because of the day before, I was all wrestled up and ended up wrestling Luke, Dustin, and Eric. By the time Eric and I were done wrestling, dying did not seem like such a bad idea.

I didn't die, though.

In Sunday school on Sunday, Brent taught on the incommunicable attributes of God. I think that what the terms were, though my memory is fuzzy on "incommunicable"...it could be different word, but it was basically on the attributes of God that Man does not even partially possess. Infinite, eternal, omnipresent, etc. These things that God possesses that we, mere creatures, do not posssess. It is awesome to study this aspect of God, and makes me want to fall on my face praising Him. Praise God!

Pictures will come later. Sleeping time now.

"...and you can find anything."

This is a strange follow up after my previous post, but whatever.

I went and saw Sin City last Friday night. Saying this movie is rated R isn't say much compared to what the movie really contains. The movie is definitely not for anyone under 18, and I wouldn't even consider taking a kid to this movie no matter how big a Bruce Willis fan he is. It is extrememly violent in its most brutal form, and there is a good amount of nudity.

That said, I really enjoyed the movie. Given its content, I walked out of the movie first not knowing what I really thought about it. It seems like a movie I'm morally obligated to not like, but I have to admit that I was really satisfied with the show. The casting was superb! I don't think there was a bad move on any of the casting choices, and I loved Willis and Rourke. I never read the graphic novels, so I can't say much to compare the books from the movie, though I've heard that the movie is very well done in this area. I'll be reading them throughout the next week. The story and plot isn't anything really epic or of anything along the lines of something being a national threat. The stories don't really travel outside of Sin City, so don't expect anything on a huge scale. It's about a city and the people who live there.



Anyway, I found it extremely well done, and I was very pleased that the huge casting wasn't the only thing the movie dudes focusec on.

Jessica Alba is hot.

Alexis Bledel is cute.