Goodbye 2010

For the past few years on this blog, I've been creating a video looking back on the year that was; but I've mostly been counting down top moments in the world. I've decided to change things up a bit this go round and count down the top moments in my own life from the past year. There were some life changing events in 2010 for me, so I thought it would be cool to make a video counting them down. Check it out here. Happy New Year!

Christmas 2010

Hey everyone! Hope you all had a great Christmas weekend. Mine was awesome! Even though it came late in the evening on Christmas Day, we did technicaly have a White Christmas here in North Carolina. We ended up getting about 4-6 inches of the white stuff around where I live, so I was happy! 

Christmas Eve was nice. I really didn't do a whole lot except pop into the Dollar Tree to pick up a couple extra gift bags. We had a pretty big dinner that night with ham and all the trimmings. I ended up following my tradition of watching "Christmas Eve On Sesame Street" which had the "Gift Of The Magi" story with Bert and Ernie (my favorite part).

On Christmas Day, I opened presents with my family and ate breakfast courtesy of the Swiss Colony. The breakfast pack included cinnamon apple pancakes and pepper bacon and I pigged out! I also went to my grandparents house and had Christmas there, where I got what I wanted for Christmas...a Kinect for my Xbox 360! I was so excited because I know it's so hard to find.

I had a great Christmas, and I hope you guys did too. We're now just a few short days away from New Year's and I will be blogging about the year that was very soon...stay tuned!

A Little Dose Of Christmas...Oops

Since today is Christmas, I thought I would give you guys a dose of some Christmas Oops...have a Merry Christmas everybody!

Santa's Comin' To Town (Yeahhh Mannnn!)

I saw this vid the other day on Twitter and thought it would be perfect for Christmas Eve...check it out!

Why The Giants Lost?

If you watch "The Late Show With David Letterman" you know that every night they cook up a "Top Ten" list which is normally pretty hilarlious. Last night, the list was titled "Top Ten New York Giants Excuses" in the wake of the teams 28 point meltdown against the Eagles this past weekend. I decided to post the vid from last night's show here just to give a little laugh to those who need it. Enjoy!

End Of A Good Show

I was sad to hear that the finale of Little People Big World was December 6. I couldn't watch it because I didn't have a TV in my room over at school and, quite frankly, I didn't know it would come to an end this fast.

Now I, like a lot of LPBW fans, are asking did TLC pull the plug on the show or was it the family's decision? Personally, when you have a show like that which was so popular with viewers and just stop it abruptly, one could only think if the network pulled the plug.

Also, when reading their Twitter account, TLC had one tweet about the finale, saying "Join us as we say goodbye to the Roloffs." In addition to this, it was reported that TLC broke the news to Matt Roloff (the dad) and was told to "spin it however he wanted."

On the other hand, the kids are getting older and the family may be tired of doing the shows and having cameras follow them around everywhere. Either way, E! Online reported that TLC pulled the plug on the show. If this is true, the network has lost a great show.

I would rather watch that any day than that Kate Plus 8 or The Little Couple. It's a shame that good shows like this get dumped for boring, and quite terrible shows. I may over think somethings, but if this is true, TLC got some problems!

P.S. I am still watching Castle (ABC hasn't gotten rid of that yet) and I'm kind of liking this new show called Downsized which follows a blended family of nine who used to live in the lap of luxury but now are living on a day-to-day budget. It's pretty fascinating to see a real-life story of the economic problems we face in our country.

You can read E! Online's take of the alleged cancellation of the show here.

Crazy Over Yogi Bear Or Justin Timberlake?

The movie, "Yogi Bear" hits theaters today and I saw this vid while looking at the trailer. It shows the traffic guy for WKRC in Cincinatti doing this segment called "Dance Party Friday" with Yogi Bear and Boo Boo, who are played by Dan Aykroyd and Justin Timberlake in the movie. I don't know who this guy is more obsessed with: Yogi Bear or Justin Timberlake. Just watch...

NFL Troubles

I couldn't decide, so I chose both the Metrodome (home of the Minnesota Vikings) and the Carolina Panthers as my Oops Award winners this week...

Metrodome

I hated to see the roof collapse like it did but my question is, why would you have an inflatable roof on a building in a place that gets 100ft of snow each year? I mean I know the Metrodome's been around before, but this is not the first time the roof has collapsed. You would think they learned their lesson...apparently not!

Carolina Panthers

What's there to say? They're 1-12, trusting a rookie QB who is struggling (understandably) and they can't throw the ball worth crap. Coach John Fox said the team is a "work in progress". How when they're 1-12? I don't call that a work in progress I call it...well I don't know what to call it!

Pray For Westboro

As you've seen, I've been talking a lot lately about the Westboro Baptist Church group of people who claim they are followers of Christ but yet spread a message of hate to anyone who blasphemes God according to what they are taught.

They did show up today to protest the funeral of Elizabeth Edwards. As if her family needs any more grief and sorrow! However, the good of God one out as many other gathered for a counter-protest which eventually made the group give up their own protest. In an article from ABC11, the NC Council of Churches released a statement saying: 

"The protesters from Kansas have come many miles to spread their hatred at Elizabeth Edwards’ memorial service. Let us be clear: the Bible calls us to kindness and respect for one another, and Jesus Christ preached throughout his life that we should love one another. The protesters' appalling and repeated violation of the sacred services by which we honor our dead, along with their representation of themselves as messengers of Christ, are offensive and misrepresent Christian faith."

You know, instead of criticizing them 24/7 (although that's what they deserve) we need to pray for them as Christians. I find it so hard to overlook their actions without being so filled with anger, but that's their MO. They want us to be mad and for their protests to be covered in the media. If we let this happen, they win. We can't let their vile and un-Godly message of hate engulf us.

New 'Narnia' One To See

I saw this review from Russ Breimeier at Christianity Today about "Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader." The writer said this particular adaptation "disappointingly lacked the awe and wonder of the book." My question to him is: did you see it in 3D? I normally don't see movies on the day they hit theaters but I did see this one Friday in 3D. The effect wasn't as great as in animated movies (but that happens with most 3D live action films) and seeing it in 3D did make you feel like you were apart of the action. 

Breimeier mainly compares the film to the book itself and criticizes the movie for not taking the time for "character development." He also seemed to believe that the movie kind of rushed along the plot laid out by the book. Honestly, you can't directly compare the two because we all know a film adpatation of a book will never be the same as the book itself. I thought the movie was fine just the way it was. I'm not a big fan of those long and drawn out movies that last 4 or 5 hours. "Narnia" lasted about 2 hours which was fine for me.

Overall, I really liked the new "Narnia" flick. I especially liked how it was in 3D and there was kind an unexpected surprise of who would save the Dawn Treader crew and all Narnians from the evil that lurked on Dark Island. I won't say anymore cause that would give the whole point of the movie away. We also are introduced to a new character, Eustice, who is the cousin of Edmund and Lucy and a flat out crybaby. He does learn a valuable lesson at the end, though (once again I don't want to give too much away). "Dawn Treader" is definitely worth the money to see!

Way To Go

Since it's the middle of the shopping season (or therabouts) I thought I would find an Oops Award winner centered around a hot shopping item: the new Xbox 360. I saw this vid of some video game buffs at a convention checking out the new 360. What the one guy in the plaid shirt does is just boneheaded! The vid is entitled "New Xbox 360 Destroys Discs!" but the guy should have known this happened with the original Xbox 360 too (I know from experience). Just watch...

Are You Kidding? Part 4

There are two things that have really been bugging me:

Westboro Protestors

They really need some prayer! I heard today that they are planning to protest at Elizabeth Edward's funeral just because she supported gay marriage. Now, you guys know my opinion on that issue, so I won't go into detail. However, I was outraged when I heard about this group doing such a thing. I absolutely could not believe it! If you've been living under a rock, the Westboro protestors are a group of people (from a "church") who are anti-gay and protested at many funerals, including those of American soldiers. They have plastered signs saying "God Hates the US" and some other more personal ones that will not be said on this blog. Now, they plan on picketing Elizabeth Edward's funeral. Because of groups like this, the Christian faith is suffering. Absolutely despicable!

US Congress/House Dems

I know that I am a democrat, but I have to be upset at my own party right now for rejecting Pres. Obama's tax cut compromise. I'm sick and tired of Congress holding up things that need to get done! That's why the president hasn't been able to get all that he wants accomplished. Oh, and another thing, I don't understand why in the world Americans voted for a president who vowed to change things if they didn't want change in the first place! According to Rasmussen Reports, only 27% of voters approve of the president. It just really ticks me off that voters were so supportive of change but, now that Obama's trying to change things, they shoot down and diapprove of almost any idea he puts out there. Come on people, let's stop the whining and fighting and let's actually do something to make this country great again!

27 Salvations

I was so busy today putting the finishing touches on our Christmas tree that I didn't even get a chance to check my email until late. Anyway, I got an email from my pastor saying how many people professed their faith for Christ during the Living Christmas Tree. 

Turns out we had 27 people do that and I'm very excited! True, we have a lot of fun presenting the shows, but our main goal every year is to lead people to Christ and deliver the Good News about Him. That's 27 more people who will be in Heaven one day. Awesome!

Legacy Center Update #4

Sunday, there was an announcement about how much money we have collected for the Legacy Center project so far. On First Fruits Sunday, we collected over $690,000, just on that one day! It gets even better...as of now, the three year committments total to over $2.2 Million! I am so excited about this and knew we could do it through God! I can't wait to see what God has planned in the future for our church and this project!

P.S. Be in prayer as we will be presenting our site plan to the city council sometime early next year. This is another huge point in the project so pray that everything will run smoothly.

Ending With A Bang

Tonight was the final night of the Living Christmas Tree at Grey Stone. It ended with a bang like always. There were tons of crazy things added to the show, including in my skit. At the start, I acted like I was about to begin reading when I stopped and put on my "reading glasses" which were actually some of those RealD 3D glasses. Next, as the video showed, the sound effects guy "threw up the sash." 

After that, I said tonight "Yea, and it got all over my $3,000 shoes...inported from Portugal." The best was saved for last as instead of calling one of Santa's reindeer Bruce Springsteen, we called him Justin Bieber! Then I yelled "Where?!? Where?!?" (like an excited little girl) and we broke out into "Baby." I tell you, you never know what you're going to get on the last night of the Tree! We always like to be laid back and have some fun and boy did we!

I have to say, out of the five years I've been playing in the Living Christmas Tree, this one was my favorite. I loved every single aspect of the performances and I was especially proud of myself with the skit. I kind of got out of the norm of playing clarinet the entire show and actually being in the Tree. It was awesome!

Big Night

Tonight was opening night of the 2010 Living Christmas Tree at Grey Stone and it went very well. Lots of times, we consider opening night as our dress rehearsal because there are always some technical gltches and things that we fix for the later shows. Tonight was no exception but, despite this, it was very good. It was a standing room only crowd and I heard nothing but positive comments afterwards. 

My skit brought down da house! It definitely stole the show. The acting by myself and the guy doing the sound effects was great. After, the crowd cheered and some even whistled and all. I went into beast mode on that! The first night is always a little bumpy, but the amazing thing is that by tomorrow night, we'll have evenything together and working right (well usually).

Unbelievable

Well, the ACC and the media voters have won the Oops Award for this week. I just found out that they've named Virginia Tech QB Tyrod Taylor as ACC and Offensive Player of the Year. Are you kidding me?!?! I couldn't believe this when I saw it. I guess they forgot about a certain QB named RUSSELL WILSON!!!! Ring a bell? Oh I forgot, you apparently have to be in the ACC Championship game to be win. Well State would have been there had they not been cheated the way they were (you know what I'm talking about).

Oh, and Terps coach Ralph Friedgen has been named Coach of the Year. Frank Beamer came in 2nd and NCSU coach Tom O'Brien got 3rd. What?!?! Are you absolutely kidding me? I am so furious right now! True, the Terps did a whole heck of a lot better than last year, but Tom O'Brien did a far better job than any of these coaches. Where's the love people?

P.S. Like I've said before, I will not be watching the ACC Championship game. I think I'd rather be caught at a Britney Spears concert than go to that crap!

Opening Night

We are now just hours away from opening night of the Living Christmas Tree! I still can't believe that it's here but it is and I'm hyped about it. Some of you may recall that I had a solo on Clarinet in last year's Tree, but this year I have an actual speaking part. I'm pretty excited about the opportunity to do this. We practiced the skit at dress rehearsal Tuesday night and it went well (considering it was our first time practicing it). 

By the way, I didn't even laugh just like my character is supposed to. I was afraid I would because I laugh at things easily, but I had no problem. I guess it's because I've seen the video so much I know what's going to happen. The Tree this year, as I said, is unlike any other I've performed in. At the same time, it delivers a powerful message about family, hope, and the real reason for the season: Jesus Christ. Even though it'll be an event filled with crazy family members, motorcycles, trailers, and haywagons, it is probably the best one I've been apart of.