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Posted: August 7th, 2006 | Author: nedandthefrog | Filed under: | No Comments »
This week my girlfriend turned…well we celebrated her birthday. She spent the previous day figuring out what she wanted to do. We thought of the circus, Downtown Disney, a play, but in the end we settled for dinner at CPK, a trip to the bookstore and a short walk to the beach to see the last minutes of the sunset and the arival of another night.
It occured to me that this is the second year we have dinner at CPK on Beth’s birthday. The restaurant is probably one of our favorite, we don’t even need a menu to know what we want. Beth has the Thai Chicken pizza; I have the Jamaican Jerk with no cheese, a pepsi and some water. From time to time Beth will break the pattern and order something diffferent, but it has become our tradition to order the same thing every time.
In the past we have tried to create other traditions for ourselfs and I’m sad to say that we haven’t been very successful at it. We tried making lunch at Souplantation on Saturdays one of them, but that only lasted until we were too lazy to drive or coulnd’t afford it anymore. Earlier this year we had started to make a tradition of meeting on Thursday nights for an early dinner and some good conversation before my classes at West L.A., but as soon as school was over that tradition ended as well.
So why are traditions so important anyways? I hear people say that Mexicans are very traditional, and being a Mexican myself I thought I might have a chance at figuring it out; but the more I thought about it the more I realized that I am either oblivious to my traditions or just don’t have any. After all what is a tradition anyways? Is it simply things you do and are known for? If so, then what is the differnece between a tradition and a habit?
It appears that the task is going to take a bit of research. I will keep you posted on what I find.
Posted: August 5th, 2006 | Author: nedandthefrog | Filed under: | 2 Comments »
how much do i love my love? a little more now, i think. have you seen the previous post? its a bunch of star wars links. (it turns out i am obi-wan kenobi, ha!) he stayed up to find star wars all over the web. he bought me the next 3 star wars books for my birthday. and he listened to me go through all the books at the book store telling him which i’ve read and which i haven’t. he asks what happens in the stories and listens as i talk and talk and talk and talk giving him the story and my interpretation. he doesn’t do this to impress me, he does it because he is really interested. i love that about him.
Posted: August 5th, 2006 | Author: nedandthefrog | Filed under: | No Comments »
Posted: August 2nd, 2006 | Author: nedandthefrog | Filed under: | No Comments »
Over the last 10 years I have developed an interest in teaching, but not teaching in general. I have specifically become interested in teaching some type of humanities topic or even more specific religion/ous topic. I have had opportunities to do this as a co-teacher for sunday school, but not in the scale that I would like. I have also taught the “teacher development” class, which is a class that is suppose train the up and coming sunday school teachers, so I have a tendancy to I sit in church and size up whom ever is teaching at Newsong and Westdale. This brings me to what I have been thinking about lately, and that is teaching and what techiniques “good” sunday school teachers employ to be “good” or even “great” teachers. I’ve noticed that every “good” sunday school teacher consciously or unconsciously uses the classical hero pattern in presenting their lesson. This is actually very easy to do, and sunday school lessons, or sermons would be a whole lot more interesting if they followed this pattern. So if you are teaching or delivering a sermon this coming sunday, consider formating your class or words as follows:
1. You have to start out with “me” in mind. You have to make me the hero of your talk or lesson, otherwise it isn’t going to be relevant to me and my mind is going to wonder why I’m wearing a tie. In the classical hero pattern, the hero starts off innocent in his village/home doing everyday things. So remind me of the things I do everyday that make me innocent—a better word might be naive.
2. The next part is for you to find a way to lure me into the adventure. I find that the most boring lessons or sermons are subtle in this part. You have make sure that I am completely lured and that there is no way for me to remain where I am (naive). Most good sermons and lessons typically go back to Eden and the fall, lets face it, once the fall took place there was no going back!
3. Somewhere along the way I need to be confronted with the “shadow presence”. You have to be very tactful here to not make room for justification. You can not be relative here, I have to know without a doubt that I am face to face with the enemy in the story. You mustn’t confuse this part with the climax, this part should only give me an insight into how weak I am and how strong the antagonist is.
4. If you have brought me this far, you are doing pretty good and its pretty much downhill from here. Now you need to bring me to the climax of the story, beyond the threshold. This is the part where I am beaten and I can not see anyway out and the “shadow presence” has the upper hand. Now if you are a good teacher you will bring me this far making me think that I am the hero of the story, and that something supernatural beyond me will soon happen that will suddenly turn things in my favor. However if you are a great teacher you will find a clever yet subtle way to teach me that unlike the classical hero; I really am beaten. If you are a great teacher this is where you will link Christ into the story and teach me that he is the real hero and how the ordeal he overcame is the only thing that will help me overcome.
5. The last part of the story is the “return”. Tell me what lays on the other side of the ordeal. Tell me about the reward, but mostly tell me about how I will have changed. You have to bring me back to the same place I started; to the mundane little things that made me naive, but with the added wisdom I have gained.
If you can get this under your belt, I can almost guarantee an improvement in your audience attention span.
Posted: August 2nd, 2006 | Author: nedandthefrog | Filed under: | No Comments »
This week, automotive machinery conglomorate The Autobots announced a new logo and marketing direction for its company.
Analysts had worried for years that the company’s logo was becoming “dated� and “wicked 80’s.� The new look, spearheaded by Autobot President and CEO Optimus Prime, is meant to bring the company’s image up to date and refresh its brand appearance, a spokesperson said.
“We feel like this new company image, which is more of an update, per se, is exactly the right move for our company at this time,� said Prime. “We’re a little bit angrier now. Can… can you see the eyes? We’re angrier. And we have a bigger nose. Our design department has assured me that bigger noses are in with our demographic.�
The new design sharpens the brows and reduces the negative space between each element of the logo, creating a tighter, more aggressive image. “Yeah man, we totally needed to ditch that whole pacifist vibe,� said Autobot PR Manager Jazz. “Look, see, it’s all like… ‘grrrr’… right? That’s our company in a nutshell, poser.� The new design also removes the original airbrush gradient of blue and red, and moves into a more weathered metal texture.
“Look, this company’s been around the block,� said Prime. “I’ve seen this company go from a top market position on Cybertron to stuck in the middle of a volcano for, how long? Four million years. Now we’re trying to adjust our image to suit our company’s rich history.
Competitor company The Decepticons, which has shifted its focus to the field of aeronautics, remained unimpressed. When reached via telephone, Decepticon CEO Megatron replied “You call that angry? We’re not impressed. My nephew’s friend is designing our new logo right now. We don’t even have to pay him.� Megatron added that you could expect to see the new Decepticon logo by summer of next year.
Posted: July 29th, 2006 | Author: nedandthefrog | Filed under: | No Comments »
i watched Star Wars again tonight, maybe for the hundredth time. or more. i met my love through star wars. i pass a lot of bad tv days with star wars. it is very comfortable. i’m a little embarrassed by how much i really like star wars. few people know the depth of it. i can relate many of life’s lessons to themes and princess leia is my hero. i look forward to the day i can share star wars with my kids and tell them all about it and how the story goes on and on. it might end up the thing that us “crazy parents” do. but secretly, they will love it the way i love watching m*a*s*h, because my dad watched it all the time. star wars is a big part of my life and it will be my mild obsession for quite a wile.