Disneyland 1968

I think what you're looking at is my first visit ever to Disneyland... of course, you're not looking so much at me as you are at the head of a blond child (me!) and my mom & dad.

What's With All the Disneyland Stuff?!

Regular readers of this blog will have astutely spotted that the number of posts about Disneyland has increased over the past few months... and, though absolutely no one has asked this question, I feel compelled to explain why the flood of Disney memories & pictures.

The main reason is that we are now in the throes of planning our next expedition to Mouse Country. We've been racking up "points" on our Disney Visa for over four years... and that, coupled with the cash I'm pulling down from my consulting gig for the folks at Klutz Press, will pay for 5 days at Disneyland & California Adventure. As well, this is the last year we can take Collin "for free" - once he's 3 years old, we have to buy him a ticket, too.

Our plan right now is to go either the week right after Thanksgiving or the first full week of December... the parks are beautifully decorated, there's a Christmas parade each night (as well as fireworks when the winds are favorable), and both Small World & the Haunted Mansion have their seasonal "makeovers" in place. Most importantly, the time between Thanksgiving break & the beginning of Christmas break is the lowest attendance time of the year, particularly during the day. (During the evening, local Annual Passholders show up, which increases the numbers somewhat.)

There's another reason for posting the trip reports... not long after our last trip to the Disneyland Resort in 2003, I posted to an e-mail group about the trip & hinted that I had taken notes to do a write-up. Susan Rozmiarek replied that she would be very interested in reading them - and as she & her husband, Ed, are regular readers of this blog - consider this a belated birthday present. Or whatever.

Disneyland 1970

The cute kid in the glasses is none other than yours truly - aka pastor guy. The lady next to me is my mom... and the guy taking the picture from the Dumbo in front of us is my dad - which is weird, since we have a picture that looks just like this one, taken in the same way some 33 years later. Man, I feel old.

The Latest Whatever

Some capsule reviews from the "media" intake in my life:

Books

Stephen Lawhead's Hood is a wonderful beginning to The King Raven Trilogy. In it, he reimagines the legends of Robin Hood & sets them in Wales after the Norman invasion of England. As usual, he mixes Christianity with mysticism & high adventure, evoking a sense of place & character that makes his books a delight to read.

My only frustration is, of course, that this is the only book of the trilogy that's been published. The next book, Scarlet, is due sometime this year.

Games

Reiner Knizia's Blue Moon City finally hit the table when I was playing - and while I think it suffers from "theme disconnect" (this could literally be about almost anything), the gameplay itself is a lot of fun. I esp. liked figuring out how best to use my cards in creative combinations. I also really liked the way timing plays such an important part in the game - when you do something is almost as important as what you get out of it. I'm not sure I need to own a copy, but I'll happily play it again.

My first play of Battlelore: Call to Arms was great, even if I lost to my 5 year old son & his evil Giant Spider. More details on that later.

Music

Derek Bell's The Ringing Bell is probably my least favorite of his albums... of course, that's a bit like saying that Big Thunder Mountain is my least favorite rollercoaster at Disneyland - dude, it's Disneyland. The music & the writing is still strong here, esp. so on "I Want To Marry You Again" and "This Too Shall Be Made Right" - but they don't (for the most part) pack the same punch as "Wedding Dress" (from his first album, she must & shall go free) or "The Strong, The Tempted & The Weak" (from his second album, the brilliant i see everything upside down). It's short, as well... just about 35 minutes. On the plus side, the limited edition graphic novel presentation of the lyrics is very nicely done.

Chris Duran's EP, More Than I Know, is a 4-song collection of music written for the worship gatherings at Mosaic. It's not your standard rock'n'roll praise/worship tuneage, though - it feels like it would music that's friendly to someone on a search for God while also expressing the cry of the hearts of Jesus followers. I know it does that for me.

Movies

Spiderman 3 was quite good - but not as good as Spiderman 2. Shari & I got to see it at the Imax, which was great. The action sequences are splendid and there are some wonderful moments in there - but it all fit like they tried to stuff 10 lbs of potatoes into a 5 lb sack.

I finally saw Casino Royale... I think this will do for James Bond what Batman Begins did for Batman. It's a complete reboot of the franchise with plenty of sly in-jokes & references for those of us who've been watching for a long time. It's not a "nice" film - the torture scene still has me wincing in sympathetic pain - but it manages to raise real questions about what doing that particular job can do to your soul. I look forward to the next installment.

I also watched Deja Vu, which benefits immensely from the gravitas of Denzel Washington. As in most time travel films, the plot will fall apart if hit by a strong breeze, but with Denzel to anchor the story, along with the nicely done SFX, it works. One caveat: the opening terrorist attack is filmed in order to play mightily on your emotions - frankly, it's pretty manipulative. If you can get past that, there's a decent film here.

TV

It's season finale season... and I'll weigh in on a few of them before posting this.

• The Amazing Race - All-Stars: the only good thing is that Charla & Mirna didn't win. Otherwise, it was just sad... particularly since the last challenge basically was "how much gossiping do you & your partner do on the race?" Sigh.
• Survivor - Fiji: Go, Earl... of course, I'd have picked Yau Man in a heartbeat, but Dreamz & his struggle with integrity/$ put everyone's favorite contestant out of the running.
• Heroes: Just like the rest of the season, this focused more on character development than on SFX, which is a major part of what has made this show so wonderful. The epic battle we were all waiting for turned out to be inside Nathan rather than between Sylar & Peter. I can NOT wait for next season!
• Veronica Mars: What a horrible way to go out... with a pair of splendid episodes that set up all kinds of interesting plotlines for the next season. Unfortunately, the show is cancelled. (Yes, the CW has learned that more people will watch women compete to be the next Pussycat Doll than will watch an intelligent show that deals with ethics & morality with humor & intelligence... go figure.)
• American Idol: No matter who wins tonight, Melinda Doolittle got cheated. That girl can sing.
• 24: I'm planning to catch up on iTunes this summer - so don't anybody tell me anything that happened after Jack started out after Audrey.

Rules Lawyer - continued

Here Collin cheerfully points out my error. (For more errors from me & others, check out my Lost & Found page on my website.)

Rules Lawyer

Collin decided he needed to check out the rules to Buddel-Wuddel for himself... probably to make sure I was teaching them correctly.

Disneyland Resort: Christmas 2003 (Friday)

Last day - sigh. I hate the last day of a vacation, and none quite so much as the last day behind the Mouse Curtain. (There's a certain "the world is extra far away" quality about Disney - which they cultivate, as it's part of the appeal of the Disney experience.)

We loaded up the minivan & drove over to park in the Garage of Infinite Size (they call it the Mickey & Friends Parking Structure) - seriously, Disney has built a parking structure that has such mass that, when full of tourist vehicles, evidences enough gravitational pull to affect the tides at the Port of Los Angeles. (Don't believe me? Check the following picture from Google Sightseeing - the giant rectangle to the NW of Disneyland is the parking structure! It is, according to a couple of places I referenced, the largest parking structure in the world.)

Side note: if this thing is called Mickey & Friends, I'm assuming that Timon & Pumbaa did something shady to get their names assigned to the two overflow lots - Timon, which is pretty close to California Adventure, may have simply forgot to RSVP for the 50th birthday celebration. Pumbaa, OTOH, possibly questioned Minnie's parentage... it's over a mile away from the parks and they don't have tram service. Trust me - if they want to park you in Pumbaa, you should NOT be going to Disneyland that day.

One short tram ride later, we were on our way to our final day in the parks... it's a little weird, of course, to ride along the berm as it goes by the Haunted Mansion, Pirates & Indiana Jones show buildings. (They don't look like rides on their exterior, but that's where you go after you drop down the elevator in the Mansion or go down the falls in Pirates... or walk 10+ miles through the maze that is the line for Indiana Jones.) And when I say "weird", I mean "funny weird", as in "that's the area I walked through when I got kicked out of Disneyland many moons ago."

It's A Small World: One final ride through the Doll's House for all of us... we managed to average one trip per day, which may seem like a lot for those of you who want to "borrow" a weapon from the Frontierland Arcade & start taking pot-shots at the singing "kids of the world" dolls, but it's actually a lot of fun to watch a child enjoy it. (In fact, that's a major theme of this trip - I'm a huge Disney parks fan, but there's nothing like watching your son laughing & playing & enjoying himself in a world you already enjoy.

Matterhorn Bobsleds: When we wandered by the Matterhorn, I realized that the line for the bobsleds was tiny. (For those of you who know Disneyland, it didn't even extend 1/2 way through the Alpine hut at the bottom of the mountain.) Shari & Braeden went to ride Small World again while I managed to make a round trip run through the line, up the mountain, down the mountain & back to them BEFORE they could get through their ride. (Important Matterhorn tip: the Submarine/Tomorrowland side feels faster than the Fantasyland side... but the Fantasyland side has more "outside" views. Ride 'em both!)

Man, I love the Matterhorn... it was the first rollercoaster I ever rode - and I remember riding it with my dad. That was "back in the day" when the interior of the mountain was open. You could see the bobsleds going in & out of the tunnels, as well as the Skyway cars going through. (The new enclosed lift pull is cool, but not as scary.)

Enchanted Tiki Room: More than any other attraction at Disneyland, this one is a trip down Nostalgia Lane for me. What I mean is that I don't really go to enjoy it in the here & now, but instead to enjoy the time-travel back 35+ years to when I enjoyed it as a kid. Braeden was OK with it - he really liked the singing & drumming totems - but compared to many of the newer rides, this one is kind of pale. (At least they left the Disneyland version in it's original form - don't get me started on how badly they screwed up the one at WDW by having Iago & Zazu take over the show.)

As you see from the picture above, Braeden's favorite part of the Tiki Room was the fountain in the outside waiting area.

Heimlich's Chew Chew Train: We then trekked back into California Adventure to ride Heimlich for the 10th & 11th time. (Seriously - I kept count.) It's funnier the first few times you ride it.

And with that, we bid adieu to the parks - Braeden was finally worn out enough to be cool with getting something to eat & driving 4 hours back to Fresno.

Downtown Disney: Disney's answer to your local shopping mall is probably the least interesting part of the resort, particularly to those of who have small children. (Well, there is the Lego Store, but I'd go in there even if I didn't have kids.) We ate at the House of Blues (which has pretty good food, though the food we ate at the House of Blues in New Orleans some years back was much better).

And even with five posts worth of stuff, somehow I missed two other rides that I know we "did" - so I'm adding them here:

Pirates of the Carribean: Braeden was nervous about this - what with the talking skull above the door & the darkness - but Shari & I pushed on, not remembering just how scary the caves full of skeletons could be. Brilliant parents, that's us. He toughed it out - but for a couple of years was pretty clear that he wouldn't be riding that again. Recently, he's talked about fondly remembering the classic "dog with jailhouse key" scene and thinks it might be OK to try again.

Alice in Wonderland: One of the "lightest" of the dark rides - there's no real story and nothing terribly menacing in the ride... Braeden tolerated it (I like it - but it's one of those "if nobody's in line" kind of rides. If you have to wait more than 4-5 minutes to ride it, you're wasting your time.)

The Brothers Grin

I took this picture of Braeden & Collin last week - here's what it looks like to be 2 and "almost" 6 and a Jackson.

More Yelo

Some specific quotes & thoughts that popped up during this very cool one-day seminar... for more of my reactions, check out my post, Yelo, from last week - or the Yelo website.

• Someone asked Erwin a question and used the phrase "a strength overdone will become a weakness." I don't remember what the question was, but Erwin quickly quashed that kind of thinking. "A strength overdone will not become a weakness... a strength overdone will become a greater strength. A strength informed by bad character will become a weakness."
• In fact, that was a key teaching of the day - your character is more important than your strengths. A charismatic leader with good character turns out like Billy Graham; a charismatic leader with bad character turns out like Adolf Hitler.

For those who are interested (and have some background with StrengthsFinder), my strengths are (in order):

• Input
• Learner
• Belief
• Maximizer
• Responsibility

I think Input is clearly dominant (I'm not sure if it's my ability to remember where to find information in books and/or online, or my 2000+ volume personal library, or my game collection of nearly 800 board & card games that tipped the scale), along with Belief (which, I think, is probably a nice thing for a pastor to have.) The other three are supportive or lesser... I'm not sure in which combination.

Coupled with the StrengthsFinder results was some very interesting conversation about having a "strengths culture" in your enviroment - in my case, NewLife Community Church. One of the big questions I have to answer for myself & our community is "what strengths do we over- or -under-value?"

If Everyone Jumped Off A Cliff

I wrote this on Thursday morning at Ethos (the last part of the Origins Experience)... it sums up my experience very nicely.

"All of the cool kids are doing it" -- could be a come-on for illicit substances ("first one's free!")... unfortunately, it's the knee-jerk "conference" response. And I hear it echo in my heart: "I want to be as cool as Mosaic."

But when I slow down & talk to You, Jesus, what I really want is to be as contextualized as Mosaic. I want to be who I am, who I was created to be... and to be radically effective in changing lives. I feell like I'm spinning my wheels in so many ways... and I want to stop.

Jesus, I wan to enjoy gaming without it owning me. I want to be a bit more organized. I want to eat & live in a healthier way, both for my family & for my ministry.

I want to be bold -- asking to pray for others, sharing the truth, not obsessed with finding simple fixes for people's lives and/or the challenges of church leadership.

Gasping

On the way home from The Origins Experience on Thursday (yes, I'll blog lots more about it later), Aaron & I were trading boyhood "war" stories - I told the story of how I sprained my ankle and he told about (among many other injuries) tripping over an 8 foot fence and doing a belly flop onto hardpan dirt.

We both agreed that the bad part about stuff like that is not simply getting the wind knocked out of you - but the feeling that no matter how hard you gasp, no matter how many parts of your brain scream at your body to intake oxygen, you can't get any air.

Today is kind of like that emotionally. I'd sure appreciate your prayers.

Origins Experience: Tuesday

Again, just a short post to tide my loyal readers over until I can blather on & on.

Today, it was Erwin's description of maturity that blew me away...

Maturity is the gap between understanding & obedience. It is not measured by Biblical or doctrinal knowledge - you can know a lot & do nothing. It's not measured by length of service... by how long you have been a follower of Christ.

Someone asked an excellent question - how do you help people become mature followers of Christ?

You have to remember that human beings are enviromental... they don't do what you tell them, they become what they experience.

Yelo

Well, we've got one day under our belts here at Mosaic. "Yelo" (I don't know how to put the funny accent mark over the O) is their way of doing "Network" (Willow) or "S.H.A.P.E." (Saddleback) in their context... I have some reactions:

• I'm more addicted to "spiritual" language than I thought - even though the leaders & the content are clearly Biblical, and the desire is obviously to enable people to lean into their God-given uniqueness for the good of the Kingdom, they very specifically make this open to those who have not yet chosen to follow Jesus. I could tell you intellectually how cool I think that is... and yet, I still find myself wanting more "spiritualized" talk. (I don't think this is their problem - it's mine. "Hi, I'm Mark, and I'm addicted to sounding like a pastor." "Hi, Mark!" "It's been 12 hours since my last...")
• It's really sweet to get to do something like this with Aaron (our worship pastor). I'm growing in appreciation for the way he's wired and how God made him to function.
• The Clifton Strengths Finder (administered by Gallup) is impressive in how it both helps you see your own strength "themes" and in how it informs the process of working together, inside or outside the church.
• My Myers-Briggs, as usual, comes out INTJ. (Yes, there are lots of pastors who are introverts - trust me on this one.)
• The key piece of Yelo is that "character determines how you use your strengths" - and the stuff they use for that is based out of Erwin's book, Uprising.

More on this later... I need to mull a lot of it over. (And figure out how to help the leadership at NewLife grab on to these concepts.)

The Origins Experience: Looking Foward, Looking Back

In just a few hours, Aaron (our worship/youth pastor) & I take off for sunny Southern California to participate in The Origins Experience, a "conference" led by the folks at Mosaic. My plan is to blog about this (a) from Aaron's laptop while we're there, and (b) when I get home.

Yeah, they'll be plenty of time for play: we're going to a Dodgers game and plan on hanging out at least one night with some of my gamer buddies... but I don't expect this to be a "comfortable" experience - despite my profound respect for Erwin McManus & Eric Bryant & all the folks at Mosaic. I expect this to be a challenging experience, as I struggle with allowing the Spirit of God to fan the flames of my calling into ministry and as Aaron & I use this time to connect deeply as friends & compatriots in the work of the church. Stuff like that doesn't happen easily.

Here's part of a summary I wrote 3 years ago about The Origins Experience 2004.

The Origins Experience is not your typical ministry/leadership conference - this is not about process or programs or strategy or structure. Practical teaching (how-to's) were primarily found in the breakout sessions.

Instead, the focus of the Origins Experience is on the issues of culture, community & spiritual passion.

Challenges

• What endeavor could we undertake that would be so reflective of the heart of God that even failure would be success?
• Are you managing or catalyzing?
• Are you leading from biblical or business principles?
• Are you leading from a spiritual center or a strategic center?
• Are you more like an architect, designer, or artist? How do you grow in all three?
• Are you leading up to the level of real turbulence (but leaving the real battles unfought)
• Are you hearing the voice of God... or is your Christianity a series of rumors about God?

Powerful Quotes

• It is significant that the history of the first-century church is called the book of Acts, not the book of truths.
• If those who prepare for leadership are looking for the safe place, who will lead the church into the dangerous places?
• The ultimate goal of American Christianity should not be to make us good citizens, but to make us revolutionaries in the cause of Jesus Christ.
• It's hard to believe that a movement born of visionaries and dreamers would have dominantly known for its traditions and rituals.
• We have put so much emphasis on avoiding evil that we have become virtually blind to the endless opportunities for doing good.
• I know this may sound like heresy, but it is more important to change what people care about than to change what they believe.
• If we can do it without God, it doesn't count.
• If our hearts don't burn for unsaved people, there is not much evidence of us being a church.
• Human beings are far more environmental than they are informational. Spiritual leaders are called to create environments.
• The battle is not about style or structure. It's about infusing the values of God. Which begs the question: does the value system of your community reflect the values & passions of Jesus Christ?
• You've got to be willing to lose your job in order to do your job.
• My job is not to feed the sheep, it's to make people hungry for God.
• The limit of leadership is who you are in the presence of God.
• You must become the person you long for your congregation to be.
• Non-negotiable: if in fifteen years, my kids have left the church, but I love it, I have failed. On the other hand, if they are still a vital part of the church, but I hate it, I've succeeded.
• The Gospel came to you on the way to someone else.

Gulf Games 18: Friday (Part 2)

I started writing this back in August of 2006... about a month after Gulf Games 18. Then it got shuffled to the bottom of the virtual pile of "to be written" stuff on my virtual desk. So, some 8 months later, here it is. Sheesh.

My Gulf Games Friday continued with a "GG-only" game - Pick Two. (By GG-only game, I mean a game that I only end up playing at Gulf Games.) Pick Two is a bit of a Gulf Games institution, what with Gail Schloesser & Vicki Watson both being "word sharks"... and it doesn't hurt that the game easily accomodates 6 players (or 8 with the new deluxe edition). This was my opportunity to play a game with Cassie Berg & her "friend", Adam - as well as Bill Hembee, Kevin Rozmiarek, and the shark herself, Gail Schloesser.

Pick Two is a real-time crossword game - you get 8 letter tiles to begin, quickly attempting to fit them into a crossword-like format. The first person to do so howls out, "Pick two!" and everyone at the table grabs two more tiles from the pile in the middle. Of course, unless you've set yourself up correctly, these tiles may do more harm than good, as they must be fit into the grid as well. This goes on, usually for 5-10 minutes, with cries of "Pick two!" followed by grumbling, moaning, and an occasional "whoo-hoo" as the right tile falls into someone's lap. When the tiles are exhausted (not to mention the players), the first person to finish calls "Done!" and play stops. The game is scored based on the tiles you didn't use - each tile has a point value. You play 5 rounds (I think?) and the lowest score wins.

This was an esp. good Pick Two GG for me, as I not only won this game over Gail (thanks to her drawing both Q's in the final round) but I also managed to win in an 8 player game later on Saturday, this tim with BOTH Vicki & Gail at the table. (My discovery - there are two odd words that are very helpful in Pick Two: "queue" and "valve".)

Possibly the least successful gaming experience of Gulf Games followed my euphoric Pick Two win: I talked five other folks into playing Fat Messiah's Lifeboat. Note: this is NOT what many Eurogamers call "the Lifeboat game" - that's actually Rette sich wer kann (which is also about lifeboats & negotiation, but is a completely different animal.) This is a role-playing card game, with each person taking on one of six preset characters: the Captain, the First Mate, Sir Stephen, Lady ?, Frenchie & The Kid. Players are also dealt a Love card & a Hate card - at the end of the game, they are rewarded for the character they "love" being alive and the character they "hate" being dead... and yes, there are rules for if you love or hate yourself - or both.

Normally, this game is a boatload of silly fun... but something weird went wrong here. Despite the joys of playing something like this with Craig Berg, James Miller & others, it fell completely flat. And when I say "flat", I mean like a pancake that was crushed underneath a brick that was then leveled by a steamroller. I won - but, youch, we managed to create negative fun space in the room.

We quickly jumped over to play a hard fought match of Tumblin' Dice, where I snaked out a 7 point win over Craig. (If you've seen Tumblin' Dice, you realize that this had very little to do with skill.)

I'm not sure how the transition worked, but I found myself invited into a 6 player game of Iliade (the English version is Iliad.) With six players, you play in partnerships, so I was matched up with Dale Yu against the teams of Alan Moon/Valerie P & John P/Tyler P.

Ilide reminded me a bit of Taj Mahal in trying to decide when to drop out & take points and/or cards - but the partnership aspect helped to keep some of the "futility of hope" sentiments I feel during Taj Mahal at bay. (Others say it reminds them of Condotierre, which I've only played once and didn't particularly enjoy.) I don't think I'd buy a copy of Iliade... but I'd gladly play it again.

Dale & I made a valiant effort to catch up standing on John & Tyler, but it was to no avail. Alan & Valerie had built too much of a lead.

My notes become a bit iffy here... I think I ate dinner around this time. I know this was the same afternoon that the storm came roaring down the river - one minute you could see downtown Louisville across the Ohio (it is the Ohio River, right?!) and the next minute the rainstorm was blowing so hard that the city was gone. I mention this primarily because living in Fresno, I miss summer storms. Heck, I miss summer rain - it dries up in late May & we don't see another drop until late October.

And then, whatever I ate & wherever I went, it was back to the gaming. I had the privilege of playing Volle Hutte, a game I was introduced to at my first Gulf Games (GG2/Panama City Beach). I don't remember which bar I had (I'm usually partial to the Black Pig) but both Matt Albritton & Theresa Vander Ark managed to attract more paying custormers than I. (Thankfully, the other Vander Arks in the game - Dave & Sam - were eating my dust. Esp. Dave... whose score was 1/2 of Sam's!)

Then came a game of Expedition with the newest version of the game: the National Geographic edition. Imagine my surprise when we found that the rules were different and so was the map. My memory is very fuzzy on the rule changes - it'd be nice if someone did a comparison over on the Geek - but I do remember being irritated by them. Curt won, with me only 2 points behind him. Doug & Shelly, Rob Wood & Anne were also a part of the fun.

Next up was a personal favorite, Viva Pamplona. This "running of the bulls" game is lots of fun, and playing it with a Gulf Games crew (Elaine, Larry, Dennis, John P & Peter) only makes it better. I stayed in the middle of the pack, with John playing the coward (11 pts!) and Larry taking the win (37 pts).

Somehow I ended up with the Atlanta contingent at this point in the evening... not that that's a bad thing, but the final four games of the night all involved one or more folks from down Georgia way. The "Peachtree Street" (there are, btw, 17+ Peachtree streets in Atlanta) gaming began with Around the World in 80 Days - the new one. (The older one by Wolfgang Kramer is very good as well - I'd recommend folks give it a try. In fact, you could make an entire night of "around the world" gaming, what with the Krismus card game & Parker Brothers The Magnificent Race.)

I think my only real beef with Around the World in 80 Days is how many times the blue "reshuffle" cards mess over my carefully laid plans... but that's a randomness that you can foresee, so I'm not sure it's a problem with a game. We played with five players (Jack, Jim, Anne & Maria) and the order of finish was very interesting:

1. Me (77 days)
2. Maria (84 days)
3. Jim (66 days)
4. Anne (78 days)
5. Jack (DNF)

As you can see, my early finish was eclipsed by Jim's superior use of time - a feature I really like about this game. (It's also one of the things I love about Jenseit von Theben... which is coming out in English in time for my birthday, people - hint! hint!)

I was then initiated into the cult of Gemblo... dang, that's a weird-shaped box & a very large board. I'm pretty good at Blokus, and some of the same skills (recognizing spatial patterns) are essential in this game as well, so that translated into a win for me against players with more experience. (Note: I also got lucky I wasn't getting messed with - another vital "skill" in Blokus.) It's a little harder to see the patterns in this one, but it's still enjoyable. I think the real attraction of Gemblo is that it will play well with 3, 4 or 6 players, whereas Blokus is really only good as a 4 player game (or 2 player with the travel edition). Jack was only one gem behind me, followed by Peter & Maria tied, Mike Green, and finally Anne.

Then the Atlanta crew introduced me to Dancing Dice... a game I liked enough that I've since picked up my own copy. It's a dice game with no down time - amazing! - but it does have a "arrange your dice in secret" element that would make me nervous playing with people I don't know. (The ability to cheat is pretty much unlimited.) Anne went from worst (Gemblo) to first here, outlasting Warren, Shana, Jeanette & myself.

Finally, we played another game of Pizza Box Football... this time Warren & Sheldon (I _think_ it was Sheldon?!) led the Patriots to victory over Curt & I playing the hapless Bills. We were just behind by 3 point lead at halftime that turned into a 13 point lead by the end of the 3rd quarter... but, because the dice in this game HATE ME WITH A PASSION THAT MAKES TELENOVELLAS LOOK LIKE A STEPHEN WRIGHT COMEDY GIG, we managed to score 13 points in the fourth quarter and still lose 43-33. Sigh. (Good thing I enjoy the experience, because I think I've only won one game of this EVER.)

With that defeat, I trundled off to bed.

Required Reading

They like Jesus...

Winston: Hey Ray. Do you believe in God? Ray: Never met him. Winston: Yeah, well, I do. And I love Jesus's style, you know. Ghostbusters (1984)

...but not the church:

Christians are hard to tolerate. I don't know how Jesus does it. Bono

I hate when people do stuff like what I'm doing right now: "If you read one book this year, make it this one." (Actually reminds me of a great Steve Taylor quote from the advertising from I Predict: 1990: "If you buy one album this year, buy mine too.") I tend to ignore it on purpose... as if to say, "Obviously you are in throes of some kind of mania and need to be brought down a couple of notches."

Look, I'm not condoning my behavior - I've managed to miss plenty of very good books, movies, albums & games this way. (If it wasn't for the kind persistence of Matt, I'd have missed Yspahan with this kind of dumb-butt snobbery.)

So, when I tell you that every person in leadership in a Christian church ought to read Dan Kimball's new book, I don't want you to blow me off. Go pick this up & let it mess with your head & heart. Give it the chance to burrow under your defenses & get you thinking about what kind of impressions those of us who call ourselves Christ-followers leave with the way we "do church."

This may sound odd, but quite honestly, I don’t blame people in our emerging culture for what they think about us. If I weren’t a church leader or if I weren’t friends with Christians who really are following Jesus in a loving and balanced way, I would probably judge Christians and Christianity based on what I could see from the outside. And it isn’t a pretty picture.

Based on outside observations of Christians, there’s no way I would want to become one of them. I wouldn’t want to become an angry, judgmental, right-wing, finger-pointing person. I wouldn’t be saying that out of rebellion against God or the church; I would simply conclude that from observations of Christians and from not wanting to change into something I wouldn’t want to be like. Dan Kimball, They Like Jesus But Not The Church

Snark & Superiority

I will take the blame/heat for getting my wife & I hooked on Survivor. Shari was going to a Thursday night Bible study and I was putting Braeden to be each night right around 8 pm. After doing a couple of quick chores, I found myself with 20 minutes or so before CSI was on, so I'd crank up the TV early and catch the immunity challenge & tribal council of Survivor.

In other words, I wasn't really watching it... I was just catching a little bit "accidentally". But it was the season of Tom and Stephanie and of getting Pagong'd... and by mid-season (about the point that poor little Pagong won the jellyfish reward) I was hooked.

Shari's the one who got us started on The Amazing Race... it was one of those "nothing interesting is on but we need the brain-dead embrace of the cathode ray tube" nights. So, we managed to catch a passle of contestants thrashing about Russia, drinking shots off of swords & trying to eat a stinkin' pound of caviar. We missed a few episodes after that... then started watching the last few episodes of that season (we loved Chip & his wife!). The rest is history.

Steve & Shane Oakley are to blame for American Idol... Shari visited Nashville in January of 2006 and was sucked into their weekly routine of watching the auditions. Of course, she brought it home with her. (Granted, I'm like a TV show addiction magnet, so it didn't have trouble taking hold at our house.)

Which leads me to TWOP, which I will now blame for making me "superior" to my reality TV shows. Television Without Pity is a recapping website that manages to snarkily comment on a number of television shows.

So, when I booted up my computer this morning, it was fun to find the following in the recaplette from last night's American Idol:

Tomorrow: two hours of celebrities pretending to care, plus Bono, who invented the concept.

I'll be there... but that's dead on.

Quickly, some more TWOP highlights from the last week of TV:

Mirna happily claims in an interview that she and Charla have coined a new phrase: "Yield karma." Don't tell them that they didn't coin it; you'll just make her sad, and she'll start begging for mercy in that charming accent. Mirna then cranks up her disappointed-playground-supervisor voice as she says, "There's really no reason to resort to dirty play, like the beauty queens." I have to respect Mirna's persistence and imperviousness to outside influence, given that she is the only person who came on the race this time who had a very bad reputation last time and managed to be much worse about absolutely everything. This is really all her "criminals, criminals" stuff from Season 5 all over again, which means she watched her entire season and never once cringed at herself. That takes a certain kind of resilience that most people lack. I mean, she's now managing to be morally outraged about things that literally have nothing to do with her. At any rate, Mirna says they're going to use "the muscles," then points to her head and says, "This muscle here is the one we try to use the most." She says this with absolutely no sense of irony, which is what makes it comic genius. It's like indignantly declaring, "I'm going to use my B-R-A-N-E." Amazing Race 11:9

Over at Ravu, Alex brings back the same message, rather nauseatingly addressing his tribe as "horsemen." As in, "Greetings, horsemen." "Ahoy, horsemen." "Does this tank top make me look feminine at all, horsemen?" I always wonder, when people use the "four horsemen" reference, whether they are aware of what the four horsemen actually are, and that the next logical question is which one of you is the Antichrist. They're not the four horsemen of the Greenwich Hunt Club, nitwits. Survivor 14:9

Important safety tip: TWOP uses language that is PG-13 or better/worse (you be the judge), so consider yourself fairly warned.

Soundtrack of My Life: Steve Taylor

The year was 1983, and I was a sophmore at Baylor University when Steve Taylor came to town. Of course, I had no idea who he was - and it wasn't like it was a concert or anything. He was actually the director for a tour of the Jeremiah People. (I was a big fan of the Jeremiah People - they were a drama & music ministry that did thoughtful, interesting & very funny things, primarily targeting the foibles of churches & cultural Christianity.)

During the intermission, he hawked his new EP, "I Want To Be A Clone." Steve explained that this was music adults wouldn't like... and the rest, as they say, is history.

I picked up a copy of the cassette for four bucks (I think - that was 23 years ago!) and listened to it so many times I nearly wore the electrons off the tape. Steve was not only exploring the New Wave sound, he was writing incisive, sarcastic & funny lyrics about Christianity and the church. It was like I had permission to ask tough questions about the faith I'd grown up in - that the culture I was a part of could be questioned & examined & poked fun at... without throwing away my faith in Jesus Christ.

So now I see the whole design my church is an assembly line the parts are there I'm feeling fine I want to be a clone

I've learned enough to stay afloat but not so much I rock the boat I'm glad they shoved it down my throat I want to be a clone

Everybody must get cloned "I Want To Be A Clone"

Thankfully, he didn't stop there. Steve Taylor & Some Band went on to record 4 more brilliant albums, full of the same kind of odd ("Am I In Sync?"), saracstic, ("I Blew Up The Clinic Real Good"), funny ("Drive, He Said"), insightful ("Hero"), angry ("Baby Doe") and stunning ("Jim Morrison's Grave") songs as the first EP.

Along the way, Steve managed to attract all kinds of controversy... you don't write this kind of music without stepping on some toes. (Imagine a cross between Randy Newman, the Clash & Billy Graham - that may get you close to the musical stylings of Steve Taylor.) He released, as far as I know, the first MTV-like Christian music video ("Meltdown (at Madam Tussaud's)"), and the first really cool concert film ("Limelight", filmed live at Greenbelt).

Of course, for a "good Christian kid" (that's me!), I loved the fact that he was theologically solid... but dangerous. Kind of "rebellion lite", if you know what I mean. Listening to Steve's music forced me to think about the implications of what I said I believed... while rocking to some very inventive music that didn't sound like anything else I knew.

Anyway, the early 90's brought about a new phase in Steve's career: a "super-group" of Nashville studio musicians who were all followers of Christ - and felt called to follow Christ into creating a great rock'n'roll band that actually talked about deep stuff. The group, Chagall Guevera, released one album & one video ("Violent Blue") and then sunk into oblivion. This, sadly, despite the fact that the album was critically acclaimed. (One of the privileges of living in Nashville was getting to see amazing live shows... and so Shari & I got to see the last live performance of Chagall Guevera at the Mark Heard tribute concert in 1992.)

A couple of years later, Steve recorded his final studio album, "Squint", which even 13 years later is still one of the best albums in my collection. From the goofy rock opera that closes the record ("Cash Cow") to the overwhelming testimonial power of "The Finish Line", this album doesn't have a weak cut. My youth group even made our own Nashville-based video of "Bannerman" and sent a copy to Steve. (His reply to us: "You guys have a great future in film and/or jail" still cracks me up.)

There was a final live album entitled "Liver" - and yes, you can pronounce it either way: lie-ver or liv-er. The live versions of "Hero" & "I Want To Be A Clone" are incredible... and the video for "On The Fritz" is still one of the most stunning music videos I've ever seen.

Steve has gone on to move into other roles in the industry - it was his label, Squint, that broke Sixpence None The Richer into the mainstream market and introduced the world to the one-album wonder that was Burlap To Cashmere. (Yes, I know they had a live album as well. Don't e-mail me.) He played a major role in helping both the Newsboys & Guardian make some of their best music ever. Most recently, he's been directing films & music videos.

Sadly, the last bit of new music was a couple of "guest" cuts on the Roaring Lambs album and on Charlie Peacock's Full Circle collection. (You'll see more of Charlie in a later "Soundtrack" post.) Sigh.

For those of you Stevey-Come-Latelies, you can check out the links throughout this post (thanks to the magic of YouTube, a lot of his videos are available online) or you can purchase his greatest hits collection, Now The Truth Can Be Told. (It's a 2 CD set that comes with a very nice commentary/lyrics book in a handsome slipcover... featuring the snowball throwing polar bears that lived only a few miles from us in Nashville.)

Disneyland Resort: Christmas 2003 (Thursday)

Days like today (the fourth day of our visit to the Disneyland Resort) is why you spend 5 days here - this was a "clean-up" day as we had the opportunity to ride a number of rides again and take in some new rides & experiences that we had previously missed.

It's also a good argument for the Park Hopper tickets which allow you to jump from park to park. ("Regular" tickets are good for only one park per day.) While this is pretty important in California, it is vital at Walt Disney World (Florida), what with four different theme parks to be enjoyed.

Mad Tea Party: By now, every time we walk by the tea cups (they sit at an intersection between "flying Dumbo" and the Matterhorn), Braeden has me check to see if the line is short so we can ride them. It is, and we do. Thankfully, he still hasn't figured out that rotating the disc in the middle of the cup makes it spin.

Dumbo: Shari finally gets to ride Dumbo with Braeden - and I get the chiropracter-inviting joy of flying in the elephant in front of them to try & get a picture. (Which, as you can see above, actually worked pretty well.)

Storybook Land Canal Boats: Remember, Braeden has been checking out Monstro the Whale (the entrance area for Storybook Land) since Monday night - and as you can see by the picture to your right, it's pretty scary. Of course, I am completely behind my son on this one, as one of my most traumatic memories of Disneyland as a kid was going through Monstro's jaws.

Anyway, we finally talk Braeden into this... and as we leave the dock, he starts to weird out a bit. (Again, look at the picture. If you were 2.5 years old, this would pretty much look like your parents had lost their ever-loving minds, right?!) Shari managed to calm him down by engaging him in an extended conversation about Monstro's dental hygiene: "I bet Monstro brushes his teeth every day to keep them this white. Do you see any dirty teeth?"

Once we're through the whale, Storybook Land is actually a very sweet boat ride past detailed miniature houses from a variety of Disney films. Since it's the Christmas season, some of them have tiny Christmas decorations & trees... cool.

It's A Small World: This time, Braeden is narrating his favorite parts of "the doll house"...

Minnie's House: Since we didn't get to meet Minnie when we were in Toontown earlier, we went by her house again & got a family picture with her. Braeden, even at 2 & a half, is showing a "boy" level interest in a girl character.

Right after we toured Minnie's house (once again playing with the cake & the dishwasher), we ran into Goofy & Chip (of Chip'n'Dale). Unlike Minnie, Braeden was genuinely happy to see these guys.

Heimlich's Chew Chew Train: We trekked back across the park, through the entry area & into California Adventure to hit some highlights there - which, of course, included Heimlich's train. ("Mmmm, candy corn!") I think we rode it two or three times in a row...

Flik's Flyers: More spinning - Mom chickened out this time, so Dad (that's me) got to ride around in a circle over & over & over... sigh.

Ugly Bug Ball Show: One of the nice things about having lots of time at the parks is the ability to slow down & enjoy the shows... this A Bug's Life themed audience participation show was fun. Braeden's pretty shy about getting involved in stuff like this, but he liked watching the characters dance. Shari & I liked the break from walking.

Sun Wheel: A second trip on the Sun Wheel for us - again with the "still" cars. Braeden has obviously not inherited my fear of heights, as he would have bounced around the car like a rubber ball if we hadn't asked him to take it easy. (This isn't really as much for his safety as it is for our personal peace of mind.)

We took a break for the afternoon (lunch & nap) and then returned to Disneyland for our last night.

Tom Sawyer Island: I have fond memories of playing on this island as a kid... exploring Injun Joe's cave, walking across the suspension bridge with my dad making it rock, "shooting" at the passing boats from Fort Wilderness. So when we arrived in the late afternoon & the rafts were still leaving for the island, I insisted we make the trip.

Braeden wasn't interested in the caves at all (right, Dad... they're dark & spooky - you're the same guy who took me into the jaws of a whale this morning!) but climbing on the rock formations was endlessly exciting. (Many parts of the island have been "closed off" for safety reasons... which is disappointing but understandable. The island is currently - spring 2007 - being refurbished and turned into a pirate island to tie in w/the Pirates movie franchise, so I expect that it will be both safer & cooler when we visit in December.)

Tarzan's Treehouse: We ate at the Bengal Traders in Adventureland (it's been a great place to get a relatively healthy bite to eat for a long time) and Braeden & I climbed the treehouse again. (Again, you say? Yep, I don't know when we did this earlier - probably the day we rode the Jungle Cruise - but it didn't end up in my notes.) Braeden liked all the Tarzan figures - and enjoyed being scared by the leopard roaring at him. I still have a weird disconnect with it as this was the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse when I was growing up... and some of "their stuff" is still in here.

Haunted Mansion Christmas: There were a few rides I really wanted to go on that Braeden was just not old enough to try... and the Haunted Mansion was one of them. So while I Fastpassed my way in, Shari & Braeden went down the way to Winnie the Pooh (Braeden still remembers the room with the Heffalumps & Woozels... he was telling Collin about it the other day.)

Every October - December, the Haunted Mansion is given a Nightmare Before Christmas "facelift" - which is delightful. I've ridden the Doom Buggies enough times to have parts of the ride narration memorized ("And consider this dismaying observation: this chamber has no windows, and no doors... which offers you this chilling challenge: to find a way out!"), so the added stuff is a lot of fun. I esp. liked the pile of presents in the load-in area and the Oogie Boogie man (my favorite character from the film).

A gamer-y side note: I'm not sure he's done it yet, but I know that Frank "Moo" Branham has seriously considered a Disneyland vacation JUST to see this makeover, as he's possibly the world's most fanatic Nightmare Before Christmas fan.

It's A Small World: Again. 'Nuff said.

Autopia: Even with the Fastpass, we waited a long time for this. Of course, it's more fun to ride at night, as it feels faster in the dark & some of the elements (the off-road section) come as a neat surprise. They give each person a "driver's license" - Braeden still has his.

This is a good time to note that the Fastpass for Autopia only cuts down on your wait if the line is long - the place you enter the attraction is still 20+ minutes from driving if there is a decent crowd.

Fireworks: One of the great things about the Christmas season is the nightly parade and fireworks. There is also a very cool effect over Main Street where it "snows"(from some nifty machines mounted way up high). Our plan was to find a place on Main Street to watch the fireworks over the castle and let Braeden experience the snow.

But, as Robert Burns wrote, "the best laid plans, yadda yadda yadda"... Main Street was packed with people. The crush got so bad that we backtracked into the ice cream parlor and worked/shoved our way back out of the snow zone into the hub. (It was pretty scary - neither Shari or I are "crowd" people and it felt like Braeden was gonna get smushed and/or suffocated by the mass of people who were not exhibiting Christmas and/or Disney spirit.)

We found a nice place to watch the fireworks - which, to top it all off, scared Braeden. Once again, Shari saved the day by asking him questions ("What color is that one?!") and distracting him a bit. Shari is Super Mom.

The fireworks show is shorter (darn!) but still good - though for my money, the best Disney "end of the night" show is still at EPCOT.

So, tired and happy, we ended our last full day in the parks.

Soundtrack of my Life

On occasion, I write about music... granted, I'm not a music critic. My tastes are a little weird, esp. when you factor in an abnormal attraction to synth-based rock'n'roll. But if you can wade through the 80's lovefest, there's some interesting stuff in these posts.

• 4/27/06 - The Happiest Corpse I've Ever Seen
• 6/2/06 - Blame It On Keith
• 8/22/05 - Enter Church History Man
• 9/16/05 - Enter Pastor Man
• 10/22/05 - Tuneage for a Postmodern Pastor

And starting now, I'll be bringing you an irregular series of posts on the music that shaped my life. First up is Steve Taylor, which I'll finish up as time allows this week.

To hold you over until that happens, here's my top 10 albums of all time in no particular order (plus 10 that just missed the cut). Note: I didn't include greatest hits collections, cuz that would be cheating... and this is one of those "as of today" kind of lists.

• Squint (Steve Taylor)
• Graceland (Paul Simon)
• The Far Country (Andrew Peterson)
• Stop Making Sense (The Talking Heads)
• Romeo Unchained (Tonio K)
• Out of the Blue (Electric Light Orchestra)
• The World As Best I Remember It - Volume One (Rich Mullins)
• Under a Blood Red Sky (U2)
• Russ Taff (Russ Taff)
• The Secret of Time (Charlie Peacock)

Just missed the cut:

• Free at Last (DC Talk)
• One Way Home (The Hooters)
• Just Like Real Life (Prodigal)
• Turn of a Friendly Card (Alan Parsons Project)
• I See Everything Upside Down (Derek Webb)
• Journey to the Centre of the Earth (Rick Wakeman)
• Sticks & Stones (the 77's)
• 90125 (Yes)
• 10 Songs (Adam Again)
• Wonderama (Randy Stonehill)

It occurs to me that I chose almost all of these albums as the "best" of a particular band/artist - and I could well give you a 2nd album for almost all of them.

So I will.

• Chagall Guevera (Steve Taylor in the band Chagall Guevera)
• ---I really don't like any other Paul Simon albums - whoops!---
• Love & Thunder (Andrew Peterson)
• Little Creatures (The Talking Heads)
• Notes from the Lost Civilization (Tonio K)
• A New World Record (Electric Light Orchestra)
• A Liturgy, A Legacy & A Ragamuffin Band (Rich Mullins)
• Rattle & Hum (U2)
• Medals (Russ Taff)
• Love Life (Charlie Peacock)

Just missed the cut:

• Jesus Freak (DC Talk)
• Nervous Night (The Hooters)
• Electric Eye (Prodigal)
• Stereotomy (Alan Parson Project)
• She Must & Will Go Free (Derek Webb)
• Criminal Record (Rick Wakeman)
• More Miserable Than You'll Ever Be (the 77's under the band name 7&7 is)
• Yessongs (Yes)
• Homeboys (Adam Again)
• Love Beyond Reason (Randy Stonehill)