Trying Something New

The Living Christmas Tree is just a few days away and I can't believe it! It seems like just yesterday that it was a few months away but it's here whether I'm ready or not. I haven't been able to practice as much this year due to having a night class on Wednesdays when we normally have practices. I have made it to a couple and plan on being there for our dress rehearsal tomorrow night. Anyway, I have been asked to do something this year that I haven't done in years: I'm going to take part in a skit during the Tree. I'm playing this well-to-do gentleman who is reading "Twas The Night Before Christmas". However, another person will be standing beside me (unbenounced to my character) and will do all these crazy sound effects along with my reading. It's going to be crazy. This follows along with the theme this year as members of the Tweedly family will showcase their talents, and this is mine.

Luckily, I don't have to memorize the poem or anything, I just read from a script while improving a little too! I've had a little experience doing this. Back when I was going to my church's day camp, we would have plays at the end of summer parent nights. I played King Nebuchadnezzar one year and this guy named Mark Jackson in another (which I forgot what exactly that was about). I also have played Judah in my other grandma's church's Christmas Cantata, so I think I'll be fine. The troublesome area for me is the well-to-do guy isn't really suppose to laugh when the other guy does all those noises. I'm easy to laugh, so it'll be hard for me not to at least crack a smile.

I think I'll be fine, though, and I've always wanted to have a significant role in the Tree, so here's my chance! I'm just glad I don't have to memorize anything. Just as long as I don't have to do that! Below is a video of the skit. We're not doing it exactly how these people did it but you can get a gist...

Done With Football

Before I begin, I want to warn you. What I say in here is my opinion and should be considered that only.

First off, I'm sure the ACC is celebrating Maryland's win over the Wolfpack. Why you ask? Well, it seems like Virginia Tech gets into the ACC Championship almost every year regardless of how good or bad they play. It's the truth (see the facts here)! Plus, the refs and commentators for today's game were siding with the Terps. I guess no one could stomach the fact that the Pack were actually good and could mess up the ACC's plans to kiss up to the Hokies and Seminoles. I've come up with a good idea, why don't we just automatically let VT play in the ACC championship game and let the other teams play for fun, since at least one of them gets in almost every year?

On a sidenote, the refs were also kissing up to the Hokies today. While I was watching, a VT guy ran the ball out of bounds. A UVA player who wasn't even in the game (and standing on the sideline) put up his arms to block the VT guy from mowing him over. What do the refs do? They call a personal foul on UVA for a player who wasn't even playing! I immediately turned the TV off the game after that call.

Now on to the second "great" thing of the day: the Carolina/Duke game. The game itself was alright (even though a lot of penaties were called) but the main problem was the fans. First off, the Dookies would yell out crap about UNC's investigation, calling them cheaters and other things. Let me tell you right now: what happened with Carolina happened OFF THE FIELD. It has NOTHING to do with playing football!

As if that wasn't enough, I witnessed a fight (no punches thrown) between two, get this, Duke fans. I only saw the argument itself but I think one guy was accusing this lady of saying something and she said she didn't...you get the picture. The lady left and everything seemed to calm down...but not so fast! About 30 minutes later, this random guy comes to our section (I don't know if he was event staff or what) and calls out the two guys who were in the argument with the woman. An even bigger, face-to-face argument insues at the top of our section and police were finally called to resolve it. It carried on for a good 10 minutes or so. The crazy thing about this was the staff actually let everyone involved return to the game! I couldn't believe it, even though they were all calm for the rest of the game. Other things happened too (even me getting close to my boiling point) but I'll just leave it at that.

You know, after all of today's events, I can say that I am officially done with college football. I don't know why I even get so into it. Most of you know that I'm more of a college basketball fan anyway and, after today's shenanigans, I think I'll stick to that permanently! I just don't understand why you can't even go to a simple football game nowadays without some kind of fight or whatever. It's RIDICULOUS! I've never liked it when people fight anyway, so I was extremely ticked off by what happened. I even yelled out "You can't even go to a freakin' game anymore" and I hope everyone heard me too. Trust me, I know this stuff happens in basketball too, but I've had it! This was long, but I had to get my emotions out...here's my bottom line: GROW UP!!!!

P.S. The ACC Championship game is next Saturday...I think I'd rather be caught at a Britney Spears concert (which is bad in and of itself) than pay a dime to see that crap! Oh, and I'm sure State will go to either the Chick-Fil-A Bowl or that Champs Sports Bowl and Carolina will probably go back to the Meineke Car Care Bowl for, what is it, the 20th year in a row?!?

Big Weekend

A big weekend is on tap in the college football world. In the ACC, Maryland and NC State play in the final game for both teams. If the Wolfpack win, they will head to Charlotte for the ACC Championship. If the Terps win, Florida State will go. Virginia Tech has already clinched the Coastal division (surprise surprise) and have already punched their tickets. Also, UNC plays Duke tomorrow in the classic Battle of the Blues. Of course, this is probably the less exciting of the battles, but it's still a pretty important game for bragging rights. I'm going to the game tomorrow so it should be fun!

Funny #BlackFriday Tweets

Black Friday is today, so I thought I would take to Twitter to find some funny #blackfriday tweets from people. Here's just a sample...

@GaryJBusey: "While you're all in line at Target at 4am, I'm gonna be robbing your houses to get my own #BlackFriday deals."

@riri_navy: "Last year i felt like Simba during the stampede in the Lion King during #blackfriday"

@TWITTERWHALE: "#BlackFriday should be called #BlackEyeFriday...Only the strong survive."

@jordanndeck: "I have a handful of money an theres sales. Look out...I carry a tazer! #blackfriday"

Yea these are just some of the funny tweets going around in the Twitterverse. I will, myself be going out on Black Friday, so it should be interesting!

P.S. Pray for me!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hey everyone, I wanted to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving. You know, this is the one time each year where we can truly sit down and focus on what we're thankful for. I'm thankful for many things myself and I'm sure you are too. Here's what I'm thankful for...

1) God-He got me through my college search smoothly and into NC State in addition to daily blessings

2) Family-Even though there were some times when I didn't see it, they were there to help me when I was down or in need

3) Friends-I have already made some new friends in college (mainly with Campus Crusade) but I have started my network there while maintaining the friends I already had

4) Kids At Church: There are a couple kids at my church who I've been able to teach either in Awana, Day Camp, or both and they are awesome!

5) Opportunities I've Had-I've been fortunate enough to see so many people and do so many things this year. From my New York/DC trip to seeing Corbin Bleu on Broadway, Darius Rucker at the Fair, and Justin Bieber in concert; I've done a lot!

Turkey Day Oops Awards

In honor of Thanksgiving, I have a two sets of winners for this week. The first set is K-Mart and Old Navy for actually being open on Thanksgiving Day! I couldn't believe it when I saw this. How dare they take hard working employees away from their families. What, you mean to tell me they're going to do that for Christmas too? That is why we have Black Friday! Plus, I bet a lot of people won't be so concerned about shopping on Turkey Day. They'll be concerned over how much turkey is too much and who will win the football games.

Whew! Now that I'm off my soapbox, it's time for a more lighthearted one. On the "Ellen Show", Ellen DeGeneres poked a little fun at the TSA and her audience by having them go into this "extra security check". Watch what happens...

Should Panthers Fire Fox?

I always hate to talk about things like this, but I think it's time to entertain the question of coach John Fox's future at Carolina. On the bright side, he took over a disastorous 1-15 Panther team and turned them into a pretty good team, becoming the only other coach since Vince Lombardi to take a one win team to a Super Bowl. The Panthers lost to the Patriots on a last second FG, but they still got further than any Panther team had in the past. Since then, Carolina has been to the playoffs each year from 2005-2008 in which they lost out before reaching the Super Bowl.

Now to the bad side. This season, the Panthers are 1-8 after a rout by Baltimore yesterday. Not only is Fox's coaching in question, but also his decision making. The team has since been lacking with regards to player choices. They unfortunately let Julius Peppers walk right away from the team by becoming a free agent. They did sign highly rated QB Jimmy Clausen from Notre Dame, but he's a rookie, so he probably won't be that good in the NFL at least until next year. They have also acquired Brian St. Pierre who just came in on a whim and had little practice with the team.

Like I said, I really hate talking about stuff like this, especially because it seems as though John Fox is an all around good guy; but with Vikings coach Brad Childress getting the ax today, I can only wonder if Fox will be next.

Honey, I Shot The TV

I couldn't resist but to give this an Oops Award. A 67-year-old man in Wisconsin was arrested for shooting his TV because he thought Bristol Palin didn't deserve to be on "Dancing With the Stars." He believed Palin only got on the show because of her famous mother. After blasting out the tube, he then turned the gun on his wife who managed to escape the house unharmed. 

Police were in a standoff with the man until they made him surrender a few hours later. They claim he suffers from bipolar disorder and he has since been charged with 2nd degree reckless endangerment. The man could face up to 10 years in prison for his outburst if convicted.

Here Comes The...Fall

I have an early Oops Award winner this week. I found this vid of a couple making a horrible entrance at a wedding reception on Youtube. At least the guy was nice enough to help the girl up afterwards...

Great Concert

Photo I took from my seat at the concert. The seats ended up

being much better than I originally thought!

Of all the great concerts I've been to this year, I have to say the Justin Bieber concert I went to Saturday in Norfolk, VA was the best. JB was the headliner (of course) but he had three opening acts as well. The first two were "up and coming" acts: teen boy band Burnham (which reminded me a little of Hanson) and Jasmine V, who sung pop/hip hop tunes. They were both pretty good themselves, but the best acts were saved for last. 

The act right before JB was Sean Kingston who was awesome. Like the Biebs, I had never seen him in concert before until now. He sung mostly new songs but did bring back his most popular tune "Beautiful Girls." Then, he played his hand at being a DJ as we jammed to hits including "DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love" and others.

After a brief intermission, it was time for the man of the hour...Bieber. A countdown clock popped up on the screen and, no lie, every time the minute changed, the girls would scream. In fact, every time one girl would scream, it would send a chain reaction throughout the crowd. As we got closer to showtime, fans started chanting "Justin". It was pretty funny to watch but, oddly enough, exciting at the sametime. When the concert actually started, the crowd went absolutely nuts! Justin performed all of his big hits, including "Baby" (which was at the very end). You know, that was (believe it or not) the best concert I have ever been to. I have never been to a concert that had three opening acts and lasted for three and a half hours. It was well worth the money!

P.S. While in Norfolk, I got to go to the local mall, the Macarthur Center, to shop around and see the movie "Unstoppable". It was pretty cool to hang out in the mall and see a movie while I was there.

Busy Weekend Ahead

Hey guys, sorry I haven't been blogging in a while. I have a huge weekend on tap! Friday night, Northern H.S. hosts Lee in the football playoffs, so I'll probably be going to that. On Saturday, I'll be spending the entire day in Norfolk, VA for a kind of shocking event. Don't laugh, but I'm going to the Justin Bieber concert at the Scope Arena. If you haven't realized from my Twitter account, I have become a fan of his.

No, not like some (or all) of the girls who cry over him and think he's cute and all that stuff. But homeboy's got some good music once you actually sit down and listen to it instead of dissing it completely. From what I've seen online, his concerts are pretty awesome, so I'm excited. Honestly, I used to not really like his song "Baby" because radio stations would play it over and over and I would hear it so many times, but something hit me and now I kind like his music too.

As a musician myself, I really respect him for his musical talents which include: singing, dancing, playing piano, playing guitar, and playing trumpet. He also is very down to earth and doesn't let his humongous fame go to his head while being kind and appreciative of his fans. Many celebs don't really care anymore about their fans, but I'm glad to see at least one still caring! That's my pet peeve with most celebs. There are some that care for their fans, but there are some that clearly do not. The fans are the ones who made them famous by buying their CDs, movies, etc. Anyway, off  my soapbox: I really appreciate all this guy is doing inside and outside of the music biz.

After getting home super late from the concert, I'll have to wake up for church and be there as we are having First Fruits Sunday. This is the first big collection for the Legacy Center project. The more money we get now, the more momentum we can get going into the project. Man, what a weekend it will be!

I Was Right!

I knew all along that the video of Bob Etheridge I mentioned in the previous post was a set up. Now, and of course after the election, ABC 11 is reporting that the all too famous National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) has admitted that the whole thing was a set up since their "beloved" candidate, Renee Ellmers, was considered to be a very long shot against Etheridge in the polls. Didn't I say that this had to be the only way the Ellmers could defeat Etheridge? See, they set that up to give the public a bad attitude towards Etheridge, thus making more lean towards Ellmers on Election Day. The GOP got exactly what they wanted, perhaps. However, the long time Congressman has called for a recount and, if the results are still the same, will call another and another until he knows the outcome for sure. How low will Republicans get to win?

P.S. If you think I'm not telling the truth, click here to read the full story.

My Election Thoughts

It's that time of year again where I give my thoughts on the election. Of course, as most of you know, I am a Democrat, so I haven't been all that hyped about the results. Quite frankly, I'm not really surprised by the results of the election. Most of the time, the incumbent party will lose seats in the midterms, so it's not really that surprising. However, I do know this is a big loss for the Dems but, who is still the president? I mean, all the Reps and Tea Partiers are acting like this is the presidential election.

One surprise for me was Bob Etheridge. He is a long time US congressman from my state of North Carolina. Apparently he has lost to Rep. Renee Ellmers who I haven't liked since day one. Quite honestly, I believe the reason Ellmers won was because of the video of Etheridge "assaulting" a student who was interviewing him. I personally believe the "interviewers" were placed there as a trap for Etheridge to let the GOP candidate gain some ground. Trust me, this was probably the only way to defeat him. Unfortunately, I am not in his district so I couldn't vote for him. I definitely would have, though, because I have always supported him. Oh well, like I said, who's still the president?

Legacy Center Update #3

I'm a little late with this because I just finished watching the entire thing today, but the Durham City Council voted to close Warner Street; the first step in the completion of the Legacy Center. The plan met a little opposition from two people living in neighborhoods around the area, but it still passed 7-0. Two of the council members seemed to care more about pedestrian and bicycle traffic rather than the closing of the street itself and made a motion that there should be a pedestrian right-of-way put in as well. That motion failed 2-5. Regardless of what others thought, this did pass, so Warner Street will officially close sometime in the near future.

It was cool to see all the Grey Stone people there, including our pastor. He spoke to the council and made a presentation of sorts along side the engineers and church lawyers. At the end, he asked all who were in favor of closing the street to stand. That was a really cool sight to see! I am very happy that the council voted to close Warner Street so we can move forward on expanding our church. As one of the public commenters said, "a super plan for a super church."