This is great, courtesy of my brother:
Partly because I’m an idealist.
Partly because I haven’t the first clue about how to run a thrift store (or any store, for that matter).
Also, I’m looking for good places on the web that have HTML templates to download and make your own. I want to revamp our mother site, bedeviant.com, into a showcase for the design side of Deviant Media Group. We’re moving more into a design firm than a clothing company and I would like the site to reflect that.
Okay, so the picture you’re looking at is of an unhappy me with a band playing in the background, over my left shoulder. There’s three dudes here and they’re all wearing trendy hats and shoes and playing their guitars very loudly. Right in front of me.
I am in a coffee shop. When I am in a coffee shop, it’s usually to plug my earphones in, sip an Americano, and crank out some work. When I’m in a coffee shop, I usually like to be left alone. Not to be entertained.
This band is trying to entertain me. That is why I am unhappy.
I’m all for artistic creativity – really, I am. But please, trendy-hat friends, can’t you just be creative somewhere else?! Not here. Anywhere else but here.
Oh well. Guess it’s back to turning up “Band of Horses” even louder and making it obvious that I’m not listening to them. I’d be nicer in different circumstances, but a brotha’s got a lot of reading to do.
Peace to you….
Two things have me on the brink of bursting as of late:
Item 1: Pro-Life groups
Item 2: Pro-Environment groups
Now, before I get into too much hot water, let me assert that I am, in fact, both pro-life and pro-environment. God likes life, I like life. God likes his creation, I do too. That’s not what I’m talking about…
If I hear one more celebrity tell me how I should ride my bicycle to work, or how I should change the lightbulbs in my house, or how I should care because polar bears are drowning in thawing frozen ice caps, I’m going to lose it! As I said to my wife, “I… can’t…. HANDLE IT!“
Similarly, if I hear one more person tell me that because I follow Jesus, the most important thing in my life should be getting Roe v. Wade overturned, I’m going to shoot blood out of my eyeballs! I do not want to hear it! I don’t care what presidential candidate is against abortion – if he/she is a poor candidate, I will not vote for them. Do not use my faith as a recruiting tool to get people to sign up for your causes.
I came to understand that although these groups typically stand in opposite camps, their approach to their issues are exactly the same: “issue X is the most important issue and I’m going to take every chance I can to cram issue X down your resistant throat. What’s more, if you don’t agree with issue X you are a horrible person and should have your membership from the club of humanity revoked.”
Seriously.
I really love this guy. I mean, I really do. I’ve been listening to a lot of Matisyahu lately. I don’t want to go into a long back story on the guy, suffice to say he’s the only Hassidic Jewish Reggae artist that I know. The man is centered on Yahweh – he’s a lover of God. Any guy who loves God like this is alright by me. Heck, half of his lyrics are from the pages of the Old Testament. Nice.
My wife and I had a chance to see Matisyahu with 311 a few weeks ago here in West Des Moines. Kerry bought me tickets to the show for our first anniversary (!!!), plus she graciously attended the show with me which, we found out, is not Kerry’s “cup of tea.” Of course, after sweating off 15 lbs. in water weight, breathing in a, shall we say, “smokey” environment for three hours, having copious amounts of stale beer spilled on her, and being elbowed in the eye by a well-intentioned, yet severely inebriated, “hippie chick,” I can’t say that I blame her 
I had fun though, and she had fun because I had fun. That works for me. Here’s some pics:
