who was Jesus?

It has finally sunk in: I am in my thirties ... all grown up ... no longer staying up all night drinking beer ... no more leaving the bars when the sun is coming up ... no more playing music so loud that neighbors knock on my door ... no more sharing a funny cigarette with friends ... no longer dangerous with my decision-making ... no more living like a rock-star ... no turning back. I couldn't if I wanted to ... and I don't really want to.

How did I arrive at this epiphany, you ask?

I have DVRd (that's the DirecTV version of Tivo) 3 solid hours of high-definition programming for tomorrow night.  Do you think I've recorded some cool movie? Or maybe I've DVRd the UFC's next fight night? Perhaps a marathon night of "The Family Guy?" 

Nope. 

The Discovery Channel is airing 3 television documentaries Sunday night, all telling the story of Jesus' life. Here's the line up of the "Who Was Jesus" series:

8:00   -- a portrait of the early years of Jesus

9:00   -- experts examine the reality of the life and times of Jesus and what prompted him to act

10:00 -- an examination of the tense political climate of the times and the relationship between Jesus, the Jewish leaders and the Roman governors that led to his execution

Three solid hours of viewing pleasure.  Oh, and I'm still considering also recording (starting at 5:00):

Jesus: The Missing History

Exodus

Unwrapping the Shroud: New Evidence

... but that may be taking it too far, no?  As I sit here and write this blog post, I'm left with the following idea/question floating around in my head:

Jesus Christ, what in the hell has happened to me!?!?

Dreams Deferred?

I am reading a book titled "There are no Children Here," which begins with the following by Langston Hughes:

________

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore--
And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--

like syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?"

________

this makes sense

meetings

Sometimes while at work, I need to call a meeting, ... and I like to believe they are productive, needed, useful, ... and all that good stuff. But what if they're not? What if people hate to come to my meetings? To keep me grounded from now on, and just to be sure that life is OK no matter what happens, I will play this song while prepping.

Ok, ... uncle!

"Dignity belongs to the conquered." ~ Kenneth Burke

WTF?

Where's the Fans?

dirty grace, common sense and whether balloons

Need it cleanly, want it unusually, ... and not sure yet, ... it depends on the weather.

passive aggressive people?

Do you have anyone in your life (co-workers, friends, family, etc.) that are passively-aggressive? These are the people that speak words that sound nice, but display behaviors and actions that are in consistent with the words.  These are the people that will make little comments to you in a polite way, but the meaning behind the words are intended to be insulting.  These are the people that seem to go out of there way to make your day miserable. Do you have people like this in your life?

Well, some friends have urged me to let these moments of tension just roll right off of me, "like water off a ducks back."  And this is good, sound advice. 

Sometimes, though, reacting to these passive-aggressive jerks with grace is just not that satisfying.  Sometimes, I feel like getting a little revenge, ... a little pay-back.

I love it when the guy says, "this ducks crazy ... get out ... it's on my dog!"

media responsibility

“The primary responsibility of the media is accountability of government, whether it's about lying under oath, which upset Democrats, or the mismanagement of responding to a hurricane, which happens to upset Republicans.” ~ Tim Russert

freedom and transformation

"Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity or it becomes the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world." ~ Paulo Freire (1921 - 1997)

relativity?

"Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?"  ~George Carlin