Six Things about Today

This started out as twelve things, then went down to ten, and now has dropped to six. I had best post now before we have to delve into negative numbers--you'd all owe me posts at that point.

In no particular order:

1) If you've not yet, go see Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. If you like Nick Park and have enjoyed W&G's previous adventures, this is a delight. And if you haven't seen them before, this is an astonishment. This is the first movie in a long time I can recall getting no bad reviews at all. We took the boys today and it was fantastic.

2) After the movie it was off to the pumpkin patch with Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Kathie. I much enjoy the patch we go to, out in Yucaipa--it's part of a working farm and is an actual "patch" with pumpkins growing on the vine, not just a bunch set out on some vacant lot. There are rides for the kiddos and a petting zoo as well. My only complaint: I know we live in Southern California, but it should not cost $40 for five pumpkins (one small, two relatively small, and two quite medium). It's worth the price to get to go to this place, I suppose, but it just seems a bit much. When we move to the northwest, by gum, I'm a'growin' my own gourds and squash, yessir.

3) Okay, so they're not all about today. I had a long chat with Ben Smedley last night, all about faith and stepping out in it and taking risks. It is always nice to talk to Ben, to get a slightly different kind of mockery than I usually receive, but also because he's the man. His advice and encouragement were really needed and much appreciated. However, in the spirit of the friendships of our masculine social circle (the rules of which state quite clearly that you cannot compliment someone straightforwardly, but must couch all such praise in ironic insult), I will point out that Ben does smell like an unwashed camel.

4) Speaking of taking risks, Marilyn put up a link about Kendall Payne and her album Grown; I listened to a few tracks the other day and was so impressed I ran out and bought a copy. If you like Sarah McLachlan as I do, you'll much like Kendall. And she's a Christian artist, which increases her rating vastly with me. If--sorry, I mean when--the Christian Artists' Colony gets underway, she's high on the list of musicians to invite (along with Michael Card, since he kind of inspired the whole idea in the first place).

The reason I mentioned Kendall in light of taking risks is one of my favorite songs off the CD, "Ups and Downs," which speaks directly to following God's call despite the insanity of life. Have a listen to a clip of that and a few other songs here.

5) Nothing. There is no fifth thing.

6) Oh, man. I better come up with something here. Um... Oh! Here you go. I thought I'd mention that The Sims is the devil. For some reason I can't begin to fathom, I fired that thing up again after not playing it for something like a year. The Sims baffles me, in that we play video games for the vicarious thrill, and here's a game that's utterly absorbing, yet all it does is present us with a simplified version of real life. How pointless is that? It reminds me of the heady days when we used to play the Teenagers from Outer Space roleplaying game (a smashing little game with very silly rules about aliens invading our high schools and dating our women). Our teenagers characters, in a bit of metafictional irony, played a roleplaying game in their spare timed called Boring Old Normal Teenagers; The Sims is the real-world equivalent.

I suppose the draw is that you can actually control all aspects of life in The Sims, in a way you can't in the real world. Sure, they never get weekends off and they're stuck doing the same repetitive things over and over, they don't drive cars (in any meaningful way), and the only way to make them happy is to buy them increasingly expensive material goods (wait a minute--it is like real life). But you can manage all that. No sudden crises strike them. They can make hard choices relatively easily (usually with a yes or no). You get hooked on working for just that one more promotion or one more upgrade, or one more distracting toy. Like real life, it's very easy to get caught up in the minor details. Unlike real life, there's no real-world payoff; I could be the greatest Sims player ever, and have the richest, most powerful Sim on the planet, and that would translate to exactly nothing in any area of my life that counts for anything.

So why do we do it? You tell me, friends. You tell me.

'Cause I have no idea. I'm going to have to take it off the computer again, is all I know, if I ever want to get anything done ever again.