Decompressing Dan

Every once in a while, I have to go somewhere to... decompress. Now many people often feel this need and so they decompress in their own ways. Some go to movies(too expensive), some go golfing (not something that helps me decompress but actually puts me into a mini-rage), some people scrapbook(hmmmm.....no), some people sleep(boring), and others just veg out in front of the TV (I can't sit still that long). While all of those ways are fine to me(except the scrapbook thing), I prefer the simpler things. I like doing things that do not involve a lot of deep thinking, that involve the possibility that someone might get injured (ask Brad about that one), and that involve getting so filthy dirty that you basically throw away the clothes that you are wearing when you are finished. Riding four wheelers gets the job done. Yesterday, me and Hosehead(Brad) went four wheeling. Brad's dad owns a couple and was nice enough to let us borrow them. What a great time. I was especially excited to go because of all of the rain the past few days. Mud+Four Wheeler=Fun. Believe it or not, the ground was fairly dry. I must admit that I was a little disappointed. Trailing through Brad's G-Ma's woods was fun but where was the mud? Eventually... we found it(see picture above). It was good to decompress.

IT SEEMED LIKE A GOOD IDEA AT THE TIME

It seemed like a good idea at the time. How many times in your life have you said this? I can attest that I have said it many times myself. There was the time when I was about twelve, me and a friend thought that a six foot long board would make for a good ramp to jump our bikes off of. We also thought that it was a good idea to start stacking a few railroad ties to make the ramp higher. It worked out okay until we got about seven ties stacked up. Think about it. A six foot long ramp that went about six feet high. When I hit the ramp I went up about twelve feet. The only things I really remember is hitting the ground (still on my bike) and my left pedal breaking off. It seemed like a good idea at the time (I have a nice scar on my left knee that is proof of this). Another was when a group of college friends and I (Julie was there too) decided to enter an unmarked cave in the hills of northeastern Tennessee. The entrance to the cave was in the back of this farmers field. This thing went on forever. We trudged through waist deep water, through small openings on our hands and knees, up small inclines and down others. Of course, it was very dark. At one point, however, the fearless leader of the group said "You may want to stay close to the right against the wall for a little bit". I did as I was told but when I looked to my left with my flashlight, I noticed that we were walking on about a twelve inch wide ledge with about a thirty foot drop off to the side. Again, it seemed like a good idea at the time. I must admit, it has been a while since I have had one of those "It seemed like a good idea at the time" moments....until last week. To make a long story short, last week, I received a call from an old friend. He told me that the Putt-Putt place in Milford was closing down and that the owner wanted to give me something that I might be able to use in my ministry
(I had known the owner for years). My friend went on to tell me that if I wanted, I could have the "Bank shot Basketball" court. I immediately said "OF COURSE".

***BELOW IS A PICTURE TO EXPLAIN BANK SHOT BASKETBALL-THINK PUTT-PUTT WITH A BASKETBALL AND HOOP***

I was so excited! Think of the possibilities of having such a piece of recreation equipment. What could it mean for Loveland Christian Church? What could it mean for my family? My mind was racing. It was then my friend informed me that since I wanted it, it needed to be out of there by the next day. No Problem. I joyfully went off to claim my prize.

After about four hours into taking these stinking awkward things off of their mountings (two ladders, five guys (who hate me now), and about twenty cuts from the fiberglass), I had a realization. Where am I going to put 19 fiberglass backboards with rims? All I can say is that now, when people ask Julie for directions to our house, all she says is, "It's the house with the big pile of fiberglass junk in the side yard that my stupid husband has no clue what to do with".

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Thoughts on The Renaissance

In my time at college, part of my education involved a two year block of study called Humanities. It's hard to explain but think of world history, literature, philosophy, fine arts, and composition all rolled into one killer course. There were books to read(from Homer to Sophocles to Augustine to Erasmus to Shakespeare, Keats, Shelley, and on and on)lectures to hear, papers to write, and slide shows to watch depicting the art style of the period we were covering. I must say, back then, I really didn't see the point of all of the ramblings of the professors, endless reading, and the hours of viewing "works of art"....until now. This past weekend, my family made a trek back in history "Brought alive again" to a place called "The Ohio Renaissance Festival". Please understand, I am definitely NOT an expert the Renaissance period. I am frankly surprised that I can even spell it. I think that Renaissance is french for rebirth or something like that. To my recollection, some famous artist of that time were people like Michelangelo, daVinci, and Botticelli (or something like that). That's the depth of my memory but there we were all the same...The Ohio Renaissance Festival. Overall, we had a great time. The food was great ( I highly recommend the soup in a bread bowl)! There were shops everywhere. Wooden swords, clothing from the time, wooden swords, sticks, wooden swords, suits of armor, wooden swords....I think that you get the picture. The place was huge and there were many things to do. There were different shows that ran throughout the day and we were able to take in a couple. One was called, "The Mud Show". It was pretty funny. The one I really wanted to see(and by the size of the crowd, so did everyone else) was a real live joust with horses and everything. We went early to get a good seat. It took a long time to get to the jousting (lots of ceremony and the like). There was an announcer in the middle of the arena on this huge black horse that was trying to get the crowd all hyped up (probably 1,000+ people). The guy basically divided the crowd in two and each side was to cheer for their rider. He evidently picked me out of the the 1,000 people there to chastise for not cheering enough. He stopped the whole thing and pointed right at me and said "YOU!!! YES YOU!!! (he went on to describe me so that everyone knew who the slacker was) WHY DOEST THOU NOT CHEER FOR YOUR KNIGHT?" Needless to say, I cheered after that. Finally, the knights were going to make their first pass (can you feel the excitement?). The one dude dealt a direct blow and knocked the other off of his horse. Game over. All of that for one pass. Oh well. The funniest thing about the whole day was watching the people. Some people really take this whole renaissance thing seriously but at different levels:

Level One (spent 100's of $ on outfit, real sword)- They wore the whole outfit, shoes included. They even spoke with an accent. They drink their beverage (never carbonated) from a real, wooden, mug. These people would never be caught eating a frozen banana(they evidently had them during the renaissance you know).

Level Two (bought a cool outfit but no shoes and fake sword)- From far away they look like level one until you see work boots and wooden sword. These people do however, drink their Pepsi from a brown colored, plastic mug.

Level Three (bought part of an outfit while there, no wooden sword, but a walking stick)-They may have a horned Viking hat or a cloak on over their blue jeans. They Drink from a Pepsi paper cup but do like to eat the turkey leg thing.

Level Four (these people are confused)- A level four person dresses like Harry Potter or Captain Jack Sparrow or might even wear something from Star Wars . They are not really sure about the whole Renaissance thing. They like to eat frozen bananas.

Just a short note, please do not be offended if you are a level one, two, or three person. I think that you are great. If you are a level four person...you need help.

Overall, I guess I would recommend a visit to the Ohio Renaissance Festival. We did have fun, but spent a few bucks. It was also nice to put my education in the Renaissance period to good use (ha ha). Best of all, we can now mark another item off of..."The List"(see previous post).