Somehow I think TJ will like this one

Blues Traveler with Elwood Blues doing “Rock Me Baby”.  This is what we call awesome.  Take notes.

Looks like Bruce needs to update his costume for this year.  No more brushes, Bruce!

tj:

As I lay in bed struggling to wake up I thought: Christian? Christians aren’t some twee boutique demographic. Christians represent the majority. About 78 percent of Americans self-identify as Christian, according to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. What NPR and Fox and Sony mean when they say “Christian” is “Christian right” or “Christian conservatives,” terms that adherents don’t like because they think they’re pejorative. “Fundamentalist” and “evangelical” are imperfect substitutes because a) the two categories, though they overlap a lot, aren’t precisely the same; and b) some of these folks consider themselves political liberals. (The worldly Cold War liberal Reinhold Niebuhr called himself an evangelical Protestant.) What conservative Christians really like to be called is “Christians.” Hence “Christian rock” and “Christian college” and now “Christian film.” This strikes me as terribly presumptuous. Bruce Springsteen was raised Catholic but he doesn’t perform anything these folks would accept as Christian rock. Wesleyan was founded by Methodists and named after John Wesley but evangelicals would never call it a Christian university. “Christian” has become a euphemism for “acceptable to the type of Christian (in most instances Protestant) who frowns on homosexuality and wishes Saul Alinsky had minded his own business.”

According to Pew, only about one-third of Christians call themselves “evangelicals.” That’s about 26 percent of all Americans. The other two-thirds self-identify as Catholics (23 percent) and with either mainline (18 percent) or historically black (7 percent) Protestantism. (A smattering of Mormons, Orthodox Christians, and other tiny subgroups make up the remaining 4 percent.) To suggest that conservative Christians are the only Christians is like saying Hasidic Jews are the only Jews. It’s a cartoonish misconception that the Christian right has managed to sell to a largely secular news media that’s too sensitive to accusations of anti-religious bias.

This is what I’ve been saying for as long as I could get anyone to listen.

Stuff like this is why I thing TJ and I would get along famously.

I swear to GOD I thought this was a picture of Bruce.

There goes TJ photobombing random people again.

So this guy won a Tony for his portrayal of Jerry Lee Lewis and this song is awesome.

I want to apologize for the emo post a few days back.  My problems are real to me; I’m the sole support of a family of 5 while my wife is in school working towards a nursing degree, and struggling at work makes me feel like an idiot and a loser and like I’m being painfully reminded that I’m really one month away from losing everything.  Still, there are those that have it worse, and nobody died, and I should really try to keep my positive hat on.

I think part of the reason I’m so hyper-sensitive about all this is that, in getting my kids diagnosed and medicated for attention issues (which has not robbed my kids of their personality while simultaneously producing calmer kids with much better grades) I’ve been forced to apply the same measure against myself and finally admit that I have a “disability”.  I’ve asked my wife to make an appointment for me to see the kids psychiatrist.  The first opening isn’t until March, but even without health insurance it’s only $160 for the initial visit and $80 a month thereafter for my appointments.  I have no idea how expensive the medicines will be, but I’m sure it’ll be cheaper than being out of work, so I’ll do my best to make due.

In the mean time, I’m begging for things to do so I can stay busy and have something to help me keep myself as focused as possible.

Anyway, I’m sorry for the whiny post.  Forgive me?

I haven’t written anything original on here in a long time.  I’ve never been comfortable putting me out there for everyone to gawk at, or at least that’s what it feels like to me.  You guys write about yourselves with what seems wanton abandon, perfectly comfortable telling the world about who you are, your triumphs and struggles and daily lives on display in The High Museum of Tumblr.

I’m not interesting.  I’m a vapor in the periphery of the world.  Most people that cross my path don’t think about me after they pass, and that’s the way I like it.  I’ve mastered the art of being forgettable.  Nobody can hurt you if nobody knows you, and all that.

All that said, I just need a place to vent.  Feel free to skip this post.

I’m an undiagnosed ADD kid.  Somewhere in the ether of my brain is a pretty smart guy, but I’ve never been able to get that person out into the world full time.  It causes me to struggle in social circles and, more importantly, in my professional life.  I hear of my kids, “they struggle to stay on task”.  That’s me.  My brain bounces around so much that it’s incredibly hard for me to maintain focus and even harder for me to absorb information that I’m not immersed in for hours on end on a daily basis.  Once I understand something, I really understand it and can tell you how it works, why it works that way and what your current circumstance will cause when applied to this thing.  I know I *can* do anything you throw at me, but I often have problems doing it fast enough to meet demand.

People seem to see the potential I have and sense the intelligence that resides behind the veil, clawing and screaming, desperate to escape the prison cell that is my skull.  Sadly, I’m without health insurance, so seeing a doctor is likely to be cost prohibitive.  I’ve never really admitted that I “suffered” with this “problem” before the last 3 months as I’ve finally had to admit that at least 2 of my kids do, too, but now that I have and I can see a way out, I lack the means to get there.  

It pisses me off.  I’m so incredibly frustrated and am reliving my teenage years of feeling stupid and incompetent.  I’m depressed and sad and just want to make it all go away.  I feel like I’m really not good for anything and, though in my head there’s a voice that says otherwise, emotion continues to trump intellect.

I want to scream.  

I want to cry.  

I want to run away from home and join the circus.  

I want this to all go away and be normal.

Am I crazy?

laughterkey:

1. Open this tab.
2. Open this tab.
3. Open this tab.

Just do it.

I needed to feel classy today.  I’m still not *actually* classy, but I’m doing a darn find job of pretending.

sadness-or-euphoria:

Doctor, this is why I love you. Right here.

Vincent van Gogh was a man who is somewhat famous for his mental instability. He later ended his own life. For the Doctor to go and show him that his art mattered, and that his existence mattered…is amazing. And I wish someone could have shown this amazing artist how much he contributed to the world.

I wish the Doctor could show everyone how they mattered, because everybody does matter. In our own small way, we change the world simply by existing.

aimee-b-loved:

plemur:

jordyhamrick:

The funniest video I’ll ever make

I’ll just leaave this here so I can watch it far too often.

Tears. I’m in tears.

I think I woke my son up…  this is priceless

My middle name is Brian.  No fancy reason for, no amusing stories.  I am the king of bland.  I am the personification of Beige.  Nobody has ever wanted to be me and, I’m sure, this is part of the reason why.

tj:

Now that’s funny.

rartastic:

undercovernun:

Undercover Nun is going to hell for reblogging this.  But then, I’m probably going to hell just for laughing at it, so I guess I’m in for a penny, in for a pound.

abunchofeverything:

Author: Josh

So funny.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I didn’t read a single one of the books and only saw the first movie… but this was still funny.