This Week With Oscy

In which our hero smack-talks at video games....


This week we have Oscy: Those of mutual acquaintance will know to whom I refer.
Needless to say he is a good friend and an excellent smack-talker. He is visiting this week to help us break-in the new HD tv.

I love watching him and my little brother play MW: II together; it's funny stuff. They sit and communicate strategies to each other, or smack-talking each other depending on how things are going.

The itinerary for Oscy's stay has been as follows....
Day one: We took Oscy home with us after Wednesday Divine Service; we then proceeded to fritter away the rest of the afternoon playing "ESV: Skyrim" and chatting about the game and the previous entries in the series; we enjoyed a wonderful meal provided by the grace of God through the agency of his servant, teh Mama; after dinner, we carried on with the playing of "Skyrim", staying up much later than is entirely wholesome.

Day two--thus far--: The day started for the three of us with another Divine Service, after which we stayed at church to drink coffee and chat for an hour; we then went home and spent most of the day, you guessed it, playing video games; we took a hiatus from the gaming and attended our churches Thursday night Divine Service -aren't we pious- and when we came back we watched "The King's Speech" a very good movie.
As of right now,  even as I write this, they are attempting great feats of video gaming prowess.

Neither of them has dared the other to eat anything gross yet, but it's coming.

Ah, I love having Oscy over.

Hobbies... Or the Lack Thereof

Today I was struck by the strong urge to do a musical. Sadly the local theater groups aren't doing anything that interests me right now. The urge hit me after watching a short video of Lego minifigures singing "One Day More" from "Les Miserables". Les Miz is my very favorite musical and, in my opinion, it is simply the best ever.

But that was only the beginning of the train of thought for this post. As I realized that there were no musicals I wanted to do right now, I also realized that, except for Choir, Greek, and sporadic DnD, I have little to occupy my time. I lack a serious hobby. I sing, but apart from memorization and theory there is not much there on which to invest my time. I have been taking piano, but it does not take me very long every day to play through all of my practice pieces several times.

So then, my dilemma is this; I have too much time on my hands and I often find myself frittering it away in a mixture of anxious thought, boredom, passive entertainments, and frustratedly rambling at anyone who will listen. I spend much time at church, but not often doing anything of real use, aside from attending matins or the Divine service. I asked a friend what she thought and she told me what should have been obvious to me, I need to find something to interest myself in, a skill or hobby.

And so I find myself in a dilemma which I am not unfamiliar with. What should I spend my extra time on? I could certainly read more than I currently do, I definitely do not do enough of it. I could hunker down and work hard on my Greek, however most of the time that I am looking for something to do I am not looking for the mental gymnastics of Greek.... Or maybe I'm just too lazy....


I would appreciate any suggestions. Right now I am at a mental impasse, so any fresh thoughts would be lovely.

A Brief Thought For Advent

I don't like to post theological tidbits on my blog. I feel that I am rather not the person to consult on anything beyond the most basic of doctrines. I wouldn't say I am uninformed or ignorant of these things, but there are many who are much wiser than I am.

That being said. I had an interesting thought this weekend.

Sunday's gospel was the account of Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The Lord almighty entering his own city, lowly, sitting on a Donkey, to loud cries of Hosanna. But it goes on, not everyone was singing Hosannas, there was a great disturbance in the city, a 'stirring up' of the people. This is not a positive reaction, they are fearful and speculative.

I do not know why, but today as I was considering this gospel I thought of when Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees in Luke: 11:14-22. He speaks to them concerning the house divided, referring to their accusation of his casting out demons by Beelzebul. He speaks first concerning a house divided; then when he speaks of casting out demons by the finger of God he goes on to use the Strong man analogy. A Strong Man with his armor and his sword is comfortable and at peace, relaxing. However, One who is stronger than he overcomes him and divides his spoils, taking his armor in which he trusted.

Up til now, as you can tell, has just been referencing the gospels. Here is my exegetical thought.

We have entered Advent, Death has been reigning freely, the Devil roams like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. They sit in their palace of hell, wearing the armor of unrepentant sin and wielding the sword of the law's condemnations.They sit comfortably, confident in the fallen nature of men doubting that God will fulfill his promise to Adam and Eve.

But then, the Christ, the Stronger man, comes lowly, with no armor, into this house of death, he overpowers Death and the Devil, claiming for himself the spoils of the souls of mankind. Even as he does so, men refuse him and allow Death and the Devil full reign once more. (Luke: 11: 23-26)

It's a thought, not particularly deep and definitely not unfamiliar. But I liked it.

Yet Another Frustrated Rant

Recently I have felt terribly disenfranchised. I followed the lead of the higher ups; forgave them for their departures from their core principles; faithfully endorsed their ventures; eagerly anticipated their dicta; answering their questions and reading their publications, not complaining about their ever increasing cost....

I am, of course, referring to the Lego company.

If you know me well at all, you will know that I am a die hard Lego fan. I love my Legos.
In more recent years though I have seen a steady and increasing disparity between my hopes and expectations and the delivered product. In short, I feel that Lego is losing its spark. In an attempt to become more marketable and profitable they have departed from what was, in my opinion, mind you, their greatest appeal, that Legos are what you make them to be. You do not need some sort of convoluted plot line about ninjas with super natural elemental spinning powers. The Lego sets are ultimately meant to be taken apart and reconfigured into the creations of your mind; zany starships, massive castles, obscure architecture, or maybe just a quiet little town. (Soon to be destroyed by aliens mind you.)

Lego's strategy is brilliant though. Create a storyline revolving around a dozen or so sets then sell them as a progressing story that you can partake of if only you would purchase all those sets. The plan is perfectly keyed towards those who lack imagination.

I have followed Lego for many years, and I believe that I have pinpointed the dock and vessel of this sad departure.

The year was 2000, the world of Lego consisted of very few genres, Star Wars Legos had just hit the scene, the Pirates were gone, Johnny Thunder was raiding tombs, the Bull knights were threatening the Kingdom, City Legos were prevalent. All of these groups and none of them really had a story to speak of, there were bad guys and good guys and adventures, everything else was up to you. Then, on December 30th, the Legos company released its new highly anticipated series.... "Bionicle" was highly successful. Featuring named elementally supercharged heroes and a flashy comic book series, the Bionicle franchise went on to have over eight re-inventions over the next ten years, and still lives on under another name.

Of course it wasn't an overnight change and perhaps I'm too critical, I loved Bionicle up until it had been going for over five years, then I got frustrated with it. However, after Bionicle's creation, the nature of Lego genres began to morph. Overtime it came to be that everything was a gimmick, everything had special powers or special abilities. The stories no longer consisted of the classic cops and robbers kind of set up. Legos started to be less about what you could build on your own and more about what you could build if you would only buy all of the sets.

Now, earlier I mentioned prices. I realize it is more economic reality than it is anything else. Legos are made out of plastic, plastic means oil, oil prices go up the cost of plastic goes up and Legos are more expensive to manufacture, not to mention the increase in prices for the shipping of the Legos from where they are made.

As well as this there is inflation. A weakening dollar which makes it more expensive to run their business forces Lego to place some of that cost on the consumer. There is of course also an element of profit in this equation. Lego is more popular than ever and they are able to charge what they do because of their company's strong name, people know that Legos are a high quality product, and the children don't care how much it costs... just as long as they get their Legos.

I used to have a very accurate rating system, Legos were an .8:10 ratio, for eighty cents you received ten Lego pieces. Then it increased to a 1:10, every dollar was ten Lego pieces. And now, more recently, the ratio has been 1.2:10 and the price keeps rising. It seems every time I enter a store the price of Legos has gone up. Even the used Lego market on Ebay is steep.

I still love Legos, and I still go to the Lego aisle and look at the sets there on the off chance that there will be something that I want, but there never is and every two months the salt is rubbed into the wounds by the Lego magazine whichs always reveals Lego's next big story genre.

I am disenfranchised, torn by my life long love of Legos and my ever increasing cynicism concerning the future of the brand for which I used to save my every penny.
That's all, I'm done now. Sigh....

The Mostest Bestest Mama

Earlier today, during coffee after Lauds, the topic of the 'generation gap' came up. The one who presented the topic did not believe in it's existence; he didn't experience it with his children and he doesn't remember it as a child. I agreed that it does not naturally occur, but rather it is the product of the industrial schooling system. On our own, we want to be our parents--at least I do--we want to be smart, we want to solve problems, we want to know things and know how to get things done.

However, if you drop a child in the midst of his childish peers all it takes is one child complaining about his parents saying that they aren't cool or just in general being discontent, after that it snowballs; peer pressure kicks in and everybody jumps on the generation gap bandwagon. Children who never have thought that the rules of their parents were unjust are convinced otherwise by their peers. And so, having established this disrespect for the authority of their parents, they go on to perhaps have their own children, but *they* know better than their parents did, *they* are going to be *good* parents and not be so strict.

In many ways this disrespect is encouraged by the schools and pop culture. Advertizing appeals to it all the time. The schools encourage it every time that they contradict a child's parents. Creationism vs. evolution; disagreements of political ideology; the constant narrative of the power and wisdom of the government; all of these things contribute to a lack of faith in the wisdom and efficacy of one's own progenitors.

Now, with that in mind, I get to the point of this blog post.

It is with profound and humbling honor that I acknowledge this most auspicious of days. This prestigious natal day of one who is very likely the coolest, wisest, most awesomest, kick-buttest, wonderfullest, goshdarnedbestest mamas in the whole wide world, nay, in the universe.


Happy Birthday Mama!
That's all.

A Tall Tale of Trade

I have a tale for you, my friends. A tale of hardship and struggle. A tale of four colonies struggling to survive in a rugged landscape....

Once upon a time, a great fleet of ships searching for a new home arrived on a bountiful island,  Catan. They immediately struck out into this vast new land in an attempt to find their place. Many went north searching for wealth where there was wheat and brick, and the brick in that land was good. Some made their home on the far end of the island; they lived in peace with all despite being the greatest military power, and chose to devote their days to defending the land from robbers.

And then their were those who took for themselves the southern portion of the island. They were shrewd traders. They quickly expanded, claiming for their own the entirety of the south. They bade their time, working trades with the other colonies slowly positioning themselves into the perfect position. And then it happened...a merchant came to the local governor and said his favorite word in the world: monopoly. The shrewd merchant had discovered a way in which their colony could claim ownership of all brick produced on the island. The governor mobilized, and within a month the governors of the other colonies were informed of the treachery. They prayed for robbers to descend on the merchant colony, but no robbers came.

At that time, the local economy saw a great uptick in production; wood, grain and sheep were in great supply and the governor of the southern colony had great ambitions. He wished to build cities, and a great road that would make his colony the dominant force in the land but he had no ore to build his cities. Then, being a clever and shrewd merchant, he contacted his neighboring colony in the north. He offered them massive deals on brick if only they would give him a little ore. One of the neighboring colonies jumped at the chance because they hadn't any brick due to the recent monopoly. And so the governor had everything he needed and that day he commissioned the building of a great new city and a new settlement in the north as well as his great road.

Within the month, all the colonies on the island were either abandoned or they were controlled by the shrewd merchant governor. The End.

Well, there is our story. It's a story of hardship and struggle, but  mostly it is the story of one governor's magnificent brilliance in wiping the floor with his opponents.

Laying Down the Law

Earlier this morning my brother and I taught a Biblical Greek class. We have been doing this regularly on Thursdays, and sometimes Mondays, for about four months. We are actually more like TAs; we teach so that the primary teacher, our Pastor, can continue the teaching of the students while still having flexibility with his schedule. We are competent readers of Greek but much less competent teachers. But we do our best and the students are learning Greek slowly but surely.

Today, we had a "Law Moment" Recently the students had been falling behind on their homework; not doing translations, laboring over some of the more basic grammar concepts and they were falling behind on vocabulary. Today we assigned them a vocab quiz. All vocab, about an hundred and some words; they were given thirty-five minutes to fill it out and afterwards we walked through it and marked anything that they got wrong or missed in red crayon, crayon 'cause we're cool like that, and between now and next class, they need to have their parents sign every page of the test to show that they know how much they need to work on it. Pastor hated to have to assign this, but it's the best way to get them to work. He knows from experience...

How about a little story, hmm? Once upon a time, there was a homeschool Greek class taught by a generous Pastor. The Pastor was a good teacher and well loved by all his students. Time passed and the class grew smaller, people moved, people decided they would rather spend their time doing other things; some just wanted to learn Latin instead. And eventually there were only two students. These two students, despite the fact that they were the only ones left, were not the most studious pair. They had always had bad study habits, not memorizing their vocab and not learning their grammar.
One day, the Pastor decided to give his two remaining students a full comprehensive test; including a large vocab test, grammar, and direct translations. The two students did terribly. In less than an hour the Pastor learned that they retained very little of what he had taught them. He decided that he had to lay down the law. Starting from the beginning of the book, he walked the students through everything again, sending assignments with them every week that they would have to do and then have signed by their parents.
The Pastor's plan worked! It was not long before the students were back up to speed and studying new concepts. In fact, they did so well that a couple years after these events, the Pastor had them start assisting with the teaching of a new crop of students...

And so, by the grace of God and the dedicated perseverance of his servant, I have a greater appreciation not only for Ancient Greek, but also for the written word.
I look forward to my continued study of the language as my brother and I slowly move towards almost complete independence from lexicons.

Could you please occupy a shower next?

In case it was not understood from the title, this post is going to be about "Occupy Wallstreet" and its constituent protests. Fun!

I was riding in the car with my mother as we went through downtown on our way home. We drove past the courthouse on our way and, sure enough, there was the Ft. Wayne contingent of the 'occupy' movement....

All twenty of them.

They had held a big organized protest in One Summit Square; the local newspaper was only too eager to report that, "About 300 demonstrators showed up Saturday morning at One Summit Square plaza, for a rally inspired by the grass-roots Occupy Wall Street movement that began four weeks ago in New York City."

"Marchers were invited to take the mic and express their opinions, as passing motorists honking in support nearly drowned them out. By 1:30 p.m. the number of demonstrators had grown to what organizer Lambert thought was about 400. Earlier in the week, organizers had predicted 600 people would turn out."

I don't know about that. From what I have heard from people present during that time period there were about a hundred protesters, and those driving past were not in fact honking in support, but beseeching the participants to, 'get a job and take a shower.' Which are both, I am sure, valid requests.

I'm afraid that I often have the strong urge to ruthlessly mock the protesters. I can't help it, I have absolutely no empathy for the people demanding such things as amnesty from debt; free higher education, or the beheading of responsible businessmen.

What strikes me as the most poignant, is this: the protesters are so proud that they have been having these week long constant camping protests. And what is the reason they can do so? They don't have jobs of their own; they probably aren't even paying taxes. They are out protesting in the public square, while the very people they are protesting are working full work days in order to make a living, which includes all the taxes they have to pay so that these protesters get their unemployment checks. If these are the 99%.... I'd rather stand by the bourgeois capitalist pigs, at least they earn their bacon.

And this is all just talking about the local protesters......

New York.
What else need I say? If you have followed any of this you will know what things are like in the area of the protest. I don't feel the need to list some of things that are happening there. But let me ask you a question. In all of the hundreds of gigantic Tea party events across the nation, were there ever any mass-arrests? Or video and audio recordings of *extreme* antisemitism?

I cannot help but hope that those who have done so continue to compare these protests to the Tea parties. The difference is night and day, and people see that.

Thank you for reading.

DND.... It's Dynamite.

It strikes me as exceeding ironic that this should be my first blog post in a long time. There are so many things happening right now that annoy and bother me to no end; but nevertheless, I am not posting about raucous protests or obnoxious policy debates; I am posting about Dungeons & Dragons.

Last week my little brother and I went to a local game place and attended a DnD for beginners class. We got there early so that we could introduce ourselves and begin creating our characters, which was an hour and thirty minute process.

The game itself, once we finally got to playing it, is not thought intensive; it's based on a simple skill and counter skill system that I find very appealing. I won't go into details of gameplay, I won't be *that* boring.

My brother and I had fun. It was a fairly large group, by DnD standards, and they sadly fell into almost every Nerd stereotype that I have. They were nice guys though and a lot of them tried hard to help us understand the game better. I rather enjoyed the whole experience, even if it did help to reaffirm all the DnD stereotypes in my head.

And so, now the question I ask myself is this: Should I make the effort of learning how to Dungeon Master so that I can form my own DnD group with my friends?

Right about now you're brain is saying, "Nerdnerdnerdnerdnerdnerd!"

Which I would not deny, it is nerdy; but it is also fun. I have several friends who play, and a few more who have expressed interest in learning how. It would take some work, a little organizing and a relatively small monetary investment on my part.

So what do you think? Oh much respected and valued reader? To DM? Or, to not DM? That is the question.

P.S. I am going to make an effort to blog more often.