Things to do before I kick the bucket

Twenty Things I would like to do before I die:

1. Learn to read and write music

2. Get my poetry published

3. Write a novel and get it published

4. Write short stories and essays and get them published

5. Go to London

6. Go to China

7. Go to Prague, Czech Republic

8. Go to Morocco

9. Learn to play the keyboard

10. Smoke a pipe

11. Smoke a cigar

12. Plant a garden

13. View Yosemite National Park from the top of Half Dome

14. Go scuba diving

15. Go spear fishing

16. Learn archery

17. Create my own comic book

18. See the Grand Canyon

19. Record a spoken word/r&b/gospel/hiphop/folk album

20. Learn Amharic, Hebrew, and Arabic

meat eating struggle

I have been striving to give up meat but it's hard. I have cut down on my meat consumption but giving it up totally is still far away. I am doing it for environmental/spiritual reasons. The other day I read an article that talked about how meat consumption is bad for your health but also bad for the environment. Water, oil, and land are consumed with a vengeance while people go starving so we can have the filet mignon or that Whopper with cheese (Uh oh it's almost lunchtime) Here are some facts I discovered from Earthsave International:

80% of corn and oats grown in the US are fed to livestock (while people are starving)

An acre can produce 165 pounds of beef or 20,000 punds of potatoes (that's Big Mac's for me or food for those who really need it)

It takes 25 gallons of water to produce a pound of wheat. It takes 2500 gallons of water to produce a pound of meat. (Hmmmm...meat or wheat)

It takes 50 times more fossil fuels to produce a meat centered diet than a meat free diet.

So there's my motivation. Now I just have to break the habit. It's so hard in a meat eating society. Do I have enough courage and integrity to change?

Africa shoes

Check out the Africa shoes!!! They are dangerous(in a good way). I want to get some but they are a little expensive but at least the money goes to World Vision. Africa represent!!!

The Kingdom of God is not a job

The Kingdom of God is not a job. It doesn't have a great pension plan or 401k. Even with a BA, MA, and PHD Nobody is qualified. The pay is joy and that can never be measured. It goes on all the time so you can't clock in or clock out. The Kingdom of God is not a job. It never was and it never will be. Constantine confused it with a man made empire and some politicians think they can vote it in. But it has always existed somewhere between now and not yet. Between the pages of a book that men have argued about for years, and years, and years but can they live it. The Kingdom of God is not a job. It never was and it never will be.

Captain America is dead!!!

Say it ain't so. Say it ain't so. How the mighty have fallen! .Captain America is dead How did it happen? A hydrogen bomb explosion. A duel to the death with Wolverine. Baptism in fiery lava. Noooo. Captain America gets taken out by a sniper. What a way to go out! I hope it wasn't a gun from Walmart. That would really be a sad demise for the most patriotic superhero.

turtle power

I love my turtle. She's a red eared slider. She can't do any karate or throw ninja stars but here's the good part: I only have to feed her once every 1 or 2 days. Actually the truth of the matter is owning a pet turtle is exotic and it makes you very sexy :)

Cross cultural mess

I'm beginning to realize the toll that my work and new environment is taking on me. Being in this cross cultural environment is really taxing. I realized that it is not just me adapting to 20 or so different cultural grids but in actuality it is me just crossing over into one. Urban black culture to Suburban pop culture. It is me going from thinking Nas, Tupac, and Jay Z to My Chemical Romance and Fallout Boy. There is a whole different world out there and who would have thought it was only 20 minutes away. By the end of the week I am a crosscultural mess.

Lot's daughters and Jerry Springer

We just did a study of Genesis 19 for the group that meets at our house on Fridays. This is a very strange chapter filled with homosexual gang rape, fire and sulfur falling from heaven, and incest. I loved it!!!! The Bible is not just for pristine saints. It is not all clean cut and neatly trimmed. In actuality it is a mess because life is a mess.

I mean who would volunteer to make love to their father in order to preserve the family line!?!???!!? That's a Jerry Springer episode for real.