The last couple posts have been pretty heavy. They were written from a place of pain and reflected feelings that I have when I’m feeling really down. As is the nature with bipolarism I’m feeling sorta okay today. Played some Minecraft. Drew some logos. Actually, digitally painted a logo.

It’s not super great… but I like um. Not often I do a lot with painting digitally. It’s usually drawing shapes and text and shading and gradients and drop shadows.

So about not everything sucking…

I figured I’d write out some of the good things that have transpired since I quit my job as a Children’s Pastor.

I had big plans for the summer. The kids and I were going to be doing something fun every single day of the week. I worked for hours on Google Calendar putting together schedules based on swim times, library craft classes, children’s museums, playgrounds and theme parks. I took them to the pool twice the first week and maybe one other time… but that was about it. Just didn’t have the energy.

Building with the kids

What I did manage though was taking the kids to Lowe’s Learn and Grow classes for kids. Jenna and J loved using hammers and nails to create an RC Racer and Dusty the plane from the upcoming Pixar film Planes. See look.

The kids really enjoyed it… and so did I. They were constantly bugging me to let them help me do something with wood and tools. This was a perfect, and safe, alternative.

Lowe’s isn’t the only company in the kid’s wood projects game. I looked up Home Depot and jumped on that band wagon too.

There was a little more involved with the Home Depot truck. Not only did you nail it together you used wood glue then painted it, then stickers. Not as cool as Pixar characters… but the kids loved it. A little more challenging than the Lowe’s stuff.

It’s a doggie

We added a new member to the family this Summer. His name is Moffat. He’s a Shih Tzu puppy about three months old right now. He’s a crazy little guy. He’s named after Stephen Mofffat the current writer for Doctor Who. Check him out in action.

My 40th Birthday

I turned 40 on August 8th. My wonderful wife made sure I had a great, but stress free experience. We ended up going to Universal Studios & Islands of Adventure. Stayed two nights in a pretty fancy hotel… though I wasn’t really impressed with it. It just so happened that a our church denomination had a huge nationwide meeting in Orlando that same week, so we got to meet up with a lot of great friends from Kansas City. Even ran into my old boss who had nothing but kind words for me.

You might think you don’t know any of these people. If you’re a Nobody’s Listening fan you don’t know Randy, but you know Me, David (EP 57 – The DIAL Program) and Kevin (EP 37 – Israel Underground).

Since we stayed at a Universal hotel we got an all day fast pass. So we didn’t wait in line more than 10 minutes for anything… except for Harry Potter Land. They told us fast passes weren’t allowed there. So I decided I wanted to ride the main ride. So we waited for over an hour and a half. But it was worth it.

While you’re in line you go through the greenhouse and see little crying mandrakes. Once inside there are several recreations from some of the scenes in the movie and hologram like moving images of the main characters explaining what’s going to be coming. My favorite part is the talking pictures in the hall.

Got to see this too:

Something wicked this way comes

On the way home we had a close encounter…

You might not see him right away… but here’s there. A stinkin clown full on driving down the road like it’s nothing. There aught to be some laws restricting the movement of clowns. Meaning we should make it legal to tie them up.

Birthday Haul

Here’s what all I got.

Red Five X-Wing Starfighter

Lego Cuusoo Back To The Future Set

Buzz Lightyear Action Figure, Signature Collection. Pretty much an exactly duplicate of the Buzz from the movie… down to the packaging.

Disney Traditions Buzz Lightyear

Lego Star Wars: Jabba’s Palace and the Rancor Pit.

The kids got me this little guy.

My daughter made me a Laptop Birthday Card. Every key on that keyboard is in the right place. I love the “comet” (comment).

My sister Lee Ann, who sews, sewed this for me! Love it.

Minecraft

I also got back into playing Minecraft. That might not sound like much… but before I wasn’t able to experience any kind of pleasure or have any interest in anything remotely fun. So this is a huge step. To the point that my son, upon finding me playing Minecraft my room exclaimed, “Yeah! You’re playing Minecraft! You’re getting better!”

Here’s home:

Having a good time with this game again. Never thought I’d ever want to mess with gaming again.

I’ve also made a few player skins.

Buzz Lightyear, LGM Alien, The TARDIS (Doctor Who) and Shaun (Shaun of the Dead). Get them here.

Logo creation

I got back into drawing for hire this Summer. Here are a few of the works I completed.

Plus a couple more that are in progress. If you need a logo or artwork or any kind look me up at Draw You A Picture.

Freestyle Lego building

One more thing. J and I sat down in his room the other day and I put together this spaceship type thing all freestyle. Haven’t done anything like this before but it was a blast!

Music

I also made a stupid song. The Duck Song.

Wrote this just to have a wav file to practice compression and mastering audio. Might as well release it.

Game Videos

For some reason for a while anyway, I was interested in recording myself playing video games. Put out four videos (more to come). Funny stuff.

If you like what you see, please Subscribe to my YouTube Channel.

Kindergarten & 3rd Grade

J started Kindergarten a couple of days ago. Jenna jumped into 3rd. They both did great the first day… couldn’t wait for us to leave, and are loving being busy again.

So it hasn’t been all bad. Days where I feel motivated and creative I create. Some days it’s just Minecraft. Other days sleep. But slowly, ever so slowly, I’m rising out of this hole. Looking forward to the green grass and sunshine at the top… and enjoying the bright spots along the way.