This post might be a little scatter brained since I haven't posted in like a million years and I have a lot on my brain.

Ok... I just finished reading a ValueTales book about honesty, and I'm feeling amazing. So, in the spirit of the book I have a few things to report, and some questions to ask.

Isn't the lil Confucius on the cover super cute?


I haven't been posting half cause I'm super busy, and half because I know Meg reads my posts kinda religiously (hi honey). I used to come here to dump my brains out so that you all can help sort things for me since I sincerely value the perspectives of others and I think that airing any kind of problem out helps to solve it, but I also realize the kind of person Meg is and that she probably wouldn't feel comfortable with you all after having all of our underwear flung in your faces over these here interwebs, and she likes you guys, and so do I.

Still, after reading this book I was compelled to post something since it brought up a lot of questions in my mind as well as some fun conclusions that I don't think you all deserve to miss out on, and I could use some help.

A while back Meg did her best to explain science and religion to the midget (I know that's a terrible nickname and diminutive people the world over can send their hate mail to itsjustanickname@noreply.jez ) and Mya rung out with absolute certainty, "I pick GOD!" We shrugged and went ahead to support her decision by buying her a children's bible (my mom is pleased as punch).

Look how cute those bible people are



We've read a ton of these bible stories to her and I know their entertaining, but she has so many questions that I know when I heard these stories the first time I didn't get answers to, and that she still looks at us for some simple explanations to.

To boot, she's a very strong willed and cocksure person. She does cruel things to people, as any child will, and I haven't run across a story in the bible to help me help her with the character flaws (since that's my job). Maybe one of you peeps who know the bible better can help out with that. Still nothing has addressed this topic more directly than this ValueTales book.

A factoid For all you you who are into Larry the Cucumber who are thinking what I thought when I saw the words and font, ValueTales(mid 70's) came before VeggieTales (late 90's), but I digress...

The value tales have impressed me with the Honesty title, and I'm going to pick up the rest of the books in the series after seeing the titles and who their about.

Ok here's some lyrics to a song you can hear by watching one of the videos at the bottom of this post. Don't let the images influence you. If you want a purely musical performace of the piece try the first video, if you want the recorded version so you can understand the lyrics better check the seond. The first one is, IMHO, much more amazing since it's played in an elevator and the snare drum is a pages being torn out of a magazine.

The name of the song is Neon Bible, and though I'm not feeling particularly feisty in a religion/anti-religion sense, I'm asking you dear peeps what you make of it.

I'm really interested to ask that here where I know there are two Christians that frequent this site who's perspective please and delight me (that's right (e:mrdeadlier) and (e:drew)), but because I like the general perspective of most of you peeps on (e:strip).

So without further ado the lyrics to the Neon Bible:

Vial of hope and a vial of pain
In the light they both looked the same
Poured them out on into the world
On every boy and every girl singing

It's the Neon Bible, the Neon Bible
Not much chance for survival
If the Neon Bible is right

Take the poison of your age
Don't lick your fingers when you turn the page
What I know is what you know is right
In the city you see only light

It's the Neon Bible, the Neon Bible
Not much chance for survival
If the Neon Bible is right

Oh god, well, look at you now!
Oh, you lost it, but you don't know how!
In the light of a golden calf
Oh god, I had to laugh!
Take the poison of your age
Don't lick your fingers when you turn the page
It was wrong but you said it was right
In the future I will read at night

In the Neon Bible, the Neon Bible
Not much chance for survival
If the Neon Bible is true

I've read many prespectives from the general public here .

Some you tubey goodness...


The MTV version
.

She's out! After a lot of squishing and pushing at 1:56 am.

So it looks like a bomb went off in my living room. The other dudes on the team with midgets have similar stories, the likes of which I just stole that line from. I received an email from one of them that asked what the best prices for a bulldozer would be around this time of year so he could get all of his daughters presents home...(ok, I embellished that report a tiny bit), here's my response:

Maybe it's cruel or unusual to leave my girlfriend to that mess, but here I am at work waiting for a meeting that no one is going to show up to, but I'm in a state of zen like peace.

This morning in bed with everyone (Mya, Fern, & Meg), Mya looks to me and says in sincerity only expressible by a four-year-old in deepest distress, "Tony, what am I gonna do with all that stuff?" It was kind of priceless... Well Meg's got her parents there to help her clean up a crime I consider them full accomplices of, though I'm sure she'll insist they don't (I think I am, at best, an accessories since Meg did all the shopping. "I don't know where my credit card was officer...") I'm playing house hooky... heh!

I may get going since I just found out about the basement sink clog that started 2 days ago. I'm waiting for my brother to get in touch with me, until then I'll hold down the fort, and only leave in an extreme case.

Merry, Happy, Joyful, Jolly Festivus (WIKIPEDIA - Festivus) to all. May your grievances be heard by loving ears, and bounce off of the hardened hearts of the rest-of-us.

--tony

eeeeehhhhhh...

I'm up at 6:44 am, and I've been up since 5.

Fern can be a tiny terrorist sometimes. She got hungry and decided to set off all of her alarms at once and we went from green to yellow alert in the blink of an eye.

Lots of screaming and 3.5 ounces of Target brand formula later and she's back to her usual curious self. Twisting around in my arms to see what I'm looking at while I try to check out some awful thing that I followed from digg to entertain me while my spawn feeds.

"Eeeh... she's a baby, she won't remember this. Hell, she don't even know she's got feet!" Well, that's what I tell my self right before my fatigue settles in and I get into a serious discussion with a 2 month old. "You have to go back to bed! You can't watch this..."

Hmm... the baby's growing. I didn't even realize how much until I looked at my estrip pic of her. She used to look like a bogger compared to how she looks now. She's heavier too. She's seriously half the height and just under half the weight of her 4 year old sister, Mya. I joke with Mya and tell her that I'm half troll (I use my crooked pinky finger as proof), but the way this baby is growing I'm starting to believe me.

There's other things in my life though. I swear. Um, I think. The baby has changed so much about what I can do, that it's almost like she's changed who I am. Though I know that's not true or fair. Hmm, I'm sure this paragraph might be misconstrued as a regret, but it's not... It's really just an observance. I'm still me in here. I just have my priorities arranged differently.

That's one of Meg's biggest gripes too. She hates being stuck in the house. Sometimes she goes out of her way to get outta here and I don't blame her. I love my house too, but if I felt like I could never leave it I think I'd rather burn it down than be in it one more minute, but isn't that what this period is all about? Living in a cocoon like state until the babys big enough...? I hope so. I need to find out. The one thing that I always defer to after banging my head on the wall is "Maybe I'm wrong about this, maybe I need some new insight".

All in all the baby's too young to leave with a stranger. Sometimes I fee like she's too little to leave with anyone. I had my mom babysit a few times. Each time leaving her with the kids for more and more time until things got a little wobbly. My mom's great, and she's no freak. She raised me...ok, I understand that that doesn't really support my argument, so just believe me, kay? The last time I left her with the kids Meg and I went to see Beowulf at the IMAX 3D and then did some skippin' around the town with my friend Jeremy,. When we got back my mom was passed out on the couch (not the air mattress we set up for her) in a (prescribed) drug induced stupor while the baby wailed on the monitor.

In my moms defense, she needs the drugs. She's missing a vertebrae. Some kinda freak accident involving a mentally retarded character with the PC label of "consumer", her spine, and a clock radio. Every time I hear the story it sounds more and more like something Rob Zombie would have directed. Anyway, I guess she needs help sleeping. I wish I'd of put 2 and 2 together before that night, but everyone is fine and we had a good time.

As the baby struggles to sit up on her own, and with news like "..your baby held her own bottle for like 20 seonds... it was cute, sorry I just had to call you..." the shell on this cocoon is getting more and more brittle.

I don't know I have friends that have kids and understanding friends that don't but I want more of a life for my self... I think, maybe. I don't know.

I'm doing a band with Nick Vega from work. We have a show January 4th at Neitchez, and the set list looks kinda tight. Mostly covers some orginals too though. I haven't been on stage in and age, but after a couple of practices we'll see if it's worth coming out to see this old goat do some tricks for the fair going proletariat again.

Till then...this is muja signing off from inside the cocoon.