Alpha Squad vs. Pickaxe Gang (Zuzusmoosher Edition)

I finished my version of the well-beloved, classic blockbuster movie!

Finally. Yeah, I thought it would get done earlier, but I had more stuff I had to do than I thought I did. But now it's done!

I was gonna wait 'till John got his done, but he's being a lazy zuzu, and hasn't worked much on his edition yet. So I got authorization from him to post my version, with his coming out whenever he finds the time for it.

I gotta say, I'm almost wondering if it was a good idea to tamper with the original. I mean, the Zuzusmoosher Edition is cool and all, but why mess with perfection? Heehee. Well, here it is anyway. You can decide which is better for yourself.

And now, without any further ado, I present to you, the one, the only, Alpha Squad vs. Pickaxe Gang (Zuzusmoosher Edition)!



So, is the original better? Is this one any good? Feel free to leave any input. :D

Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

AWANA Class

My church runs a Bible club for kids called AWANA (Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed) that takes place every other Friday night. Most of you probably know about it. Anyway, last year I had the awesome opportunity to teach the 9-12 year old class there. I still do it, except now another guy and I alternate classes. Teaching has been such a blessing to me (I think sometimes Christians use "blessing" to the point of cliché but I really mean it here); as I prepare the lessons I'm about to teach the kiddies I learn so much myself. I'll share the idea of last Friday's lesson here, as it is relevant to Thanksgiving. This isn't the way I actually taught it, it's sorta different writing it down as opposed to saying it, but all the important ideas are there.

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What do you want more than anything else? Now, what would you do if someone gave you that exact thing?

Here's a story about ten men who had that very thing happen to them, and how they reacted to it.

Luke 17:11-19--11 Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 12 Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. 13 And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
14 So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.
15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.
17 So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? 18 Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” 19 And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”

Leprosy is a terrible disease. Nerve endings die, flesh rots, fingers fall off, and extremely contagious. Not only did these men suffer from the actual symptoms of the disease, but the contagiousness of the disease meant that they were unable to be with their friends or families, and were forced to live as outcasts. I'd say the one thing these guys wanted more than anything else was to get rid of their leprosy. And guess what? They got it. Jesus told them to go show themselves to the priest (God ordained the priests as the identifiers of leprosy--Leviticus 19 gives a detailed explanation of what the priest looked for to diagnose those thought to have the illness), and as they were on their way, "they were cleansed".

Now what did they do?

Luke 17:15-18 says that only one of the ten went back to thank Jesus. Only one. The others just took the blessing and ran off excited that they had just gotten their life back.

I find what the Bible says about that one leper and what he did interesting, and a good lesson for us. First off, in verse 15, it says that as soon as he saw he was cleansed, he returned. As soon as he noticed God's gift, he acknowledged it and went to thank Jesus for what He had done for him. Not only did he go back to thank Jesus in person, he "with a loud voice glorified God." Not whispered a thank-you to God for helping him, not secretly rejoiced in his heart about what had happened, but out loud, so that others could hear and know what God had done for him. That part there was the most convicting to me, as I tend not to talk much about what God has done for me. After praising God out loud, the leper who had been healed went straight to Jesus and worshiped Him. He realized the power of God because of what had been done for him and worshiped Him for it. And the last thing this verse tells us about this man is that he was a Samaritan. A man who, in the Jew's mind, was lower than they were and sinful. The other lepers were probably Jewish, but he, the Samaritan, was the only one who did the right thing.

And when Jesus saw that man, the only thankful leper, after He pointed out the fact that only the Samaritan had thanked Him, He told him, "Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well." Now, I think we can say that He wasn't talking about the leprosy. The other nine lepers all were cleansed, yet none of them showed any signs of faith. The Bible doesn't tell us whether or not that man believed, but Jesus knew the man's heart, and since we see the man's outward signs of faith, it's very reasonable to say that that leper, once he saw what had been done, understood who Jesus was and believed. And his faith healed him from his sin.

Now, to draw some parallels from this story to our lives.

Here in America, we enjoy many, many blessings. We have freedom of religion, we have a safe place to live, we live in a place where all our physical needs can be met. But besides this, we have a blessing somewhat in common with those lepers. Leprosy and sin are much alike: they both cause much pain, spread, and result in death. But, if we have accepted Jesus as our savior, we have been cleansed from our sin, just like the lepers were cleanse of their leprosy. Yet, how often do we thank God for what He's given us? Do we glorify Him with a "loud voice" so that others know? And when new blessings come our way, do we acknowledge that they're from God, or just take the blessing and continue along our merry way, happy that our life is now better, without recognizing their true source or thanking God for it? And do we worship Him for His wonderful grace and power? I know that I, at least, don't do this nearly as often as I should.

As Thanksgiving comes tomorrow, let's remember not only to thank Him on Thanksgiving for what He's done for us, but also to thank Him as He gives us blessings.

Have a happy Thanksgiving everyone!

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(In case you're wondering, this was done out of boredom/frustration/attempted escape from responsibility, and it's not all meaningless blahs. There's actually a secret message hidden in there. If you get it, feel free to say so, but let others try to find it and don't give it away. It shouldn't be hard, I didn't really put much thought in it. Oh yeah, no jokes saying that this is what most of my posts look like, I see those coming from a mile away!)

Qu'est-ce que j'ai fait en Montréal?

I'm glad you asked! (In case you're wondering what you asked, you asked what I did in Montreal) I'll try to keep it brief, there's alot that happened but I would probably be unable to write them all and yet manage to keep this post interesting.

The trip up to Canada was relatively uneventful. I manged to sneak in an hour or so of sleep to save up for the sleep I knew I was going to lose. Listened to my iPod, talked here and there when the others and I were awake. Got over the border with no problem, Canadians don't seem to care too much about who's getting into their country. Nothin' special. After entering Quebec, we stopped by a bank to change our American bucks into Canadian currency, discovering the awful truth that inflation is so high that the Canadian dollar is worth more than its Canadian counterpart. Ninety-one cents American equals one Canadian dollar. Pretty sad, last year we went it was one American dollar for a Canadian dollar and 14 cents. Anyway, after exchanging said dough, we stopped by a mall in Montreal. The mall was actually made up of about five malls connected by tunnels, which made for lotsa walking and lotsa looking at what was, for the most part, clothes. Blech. However, and the plus side, I got an awesome tee-shirt. The front side had the question, "What's the definition of a Canadian?" The back side said, "An unarmed American with healthcare.......heh heh heh." >:D Lol, I love it. Funny that you can buy shirts making fun of Canadians in Canada. Unless it was intended as a lame insult to Americans for not having an inefficient socialized healthcare and for actually fighting in wars? I doubt it, I don't think even Canadians could be so bad at insulting someone that they'd insult themselves. Heehee, just kidding. Anyway, after a while at the mall, during which we ate dinner, we left for our hotel. We had reserved two hotel rooms, one big and one not-so-big. The intent was for the girls to get the big room, as they were supposed to have more people, and the guys to have the smaller one. Well, one of the girls wasn't able to go on the French trip because she had gotten sick the day we left. So the number of males equaled that of their feminie counterparts. But, our French teacher, who so happens to be a woman, decided that since the girls were supposed to get the big room in the first place, they would still get it. And thus, we were split up to our separate rooms. The girls room was a few steps away from the registration desk; they snickered as they walked into our room. And we, the guys, climbed the stairs. Then we climbed another flight of stairs. Then another. Finally, we cam to our room, number 46. WE looked at each other in dismay. The door was tiny! It was half the size of all the other doors in the hotel. We opened the door, prepared to enter whatever size room lay ahead. And came face-to-face with a small spiral staircase. We climbed yet again. Upon reaching the top, we beheld a large, spacious room, with four queen sized beds, two large round windows, and a third window that could be opened. It was the best hotel room any of us had ever seen. This set us to wondering about how big the girls' room was. Turned out, our teacher had made a mistake; 46 was the big room, in fact, I'd say it was the biggest room in the hotel, as it was built into the attic. Our teacher felt bad making us move, since we all had settled in, so we got to keep it, and gloat over it every time our group congregated in the room. Those two windows were big enough to sit in, and thus me and another guy would regularly sit in what we called our "emo windows." Heh, I can't really describe it in any way that would make sense, I'll just leave it at that. Anyway, after devotions and bedtime, thus ended our first day.

The second day was packed with things to do, and since I don't want to bore you any more with details, I'll just say that we visited a giant cathedral, went to a few restaurants, walked around Montreal, etc. Oh yeah, I got this awesome Russian-looking hat. In the evening, we went to a giant indoor ice skating rink. This was only my second time ever skating, the first time being my first French trip, while I still had a broken toe (during which endeavor, I, going faster than I probably should have given my complete inexperience, I knocked over a girl from my class when she suddenly swerved in front of me while I was trying to pass her...I still don't know how to stop on the ice). I did decent, in my humble opinion, for a second time. The only time I fell down was because an attempt of kindness on my part. I had been skating behind a couple, and noticed the man's gloves drop out of his pocket onto the ice. I was unable to pick them up for him, but instead caught up to him to let him know (a difficult task, he was going pretty fast and there were lotsa little kids who unkowingly tested my dodging skills) I finally caught up to him, and tried to tell him in French that he had lost his gloves. But he didn't understand, probably because of my accent and the fact that I had probably used the wrong word for gloves. So I, passing him, tried to turn around to tell him again what I had said, and in doing so, fell over. A group of friends was conveniently taking a picture together near where I had tried to tell the man about his gloves' impending doom; and I, of course, fell right into their picture. Remind me not to try to help anyone anymore. Anyway, I told the man where he had lost his gloves, he thanked me, and snickered a little with his little amie. Oh well, can't blame them, musta been hilarious to see. And so I learned a very important lesson: never try to do do good deeds and speak French while skating without much experience. Oh yeah, when we went to a restaurant to eat, the place was full and we had to wait for our seats, which took a while. During that time, Andrew and one of his buddies went outside and pretended to be bums, making a sign that said "Donations will buy us a coat" and an attempt at "Give us money" in French, also using shot glasses they had bought to beg for money. Heh, immature but still pretty funny.

The third day, Sunday, was relatively uneventful. We went to a little French church in the morning, which was really cool. I didn't understand too much, the people kinda had funny accents (in French I mean), but it's cool to meet other believers in other countries. After church, we stopped by a restaurant called Boston Pizza (kinda ironic, ain't it?) and left for home. Uneventful trip down, until we stopped by this little Chinese restaurant in Vermont, and continued on our merry way. And now I'm back, it's good to be home.

Nuthin' quite like the sound of good ol' American English.

In Quebec

The girls lost, thus resolving my dilemma. We will leave half-way through the school day and come back Sunday night. Won't be around until then, so cya all later.

Go Team! No Wait, Don't!

I am faced with a conflict of interest. Namely, should I root for our school's girls' volleyball team, as they enter the second-to-last game of the regional tournament, a feat never before accomplished in the history of the team, or should I hope that they lose, and drop out before having to play the last game on Saturday?

Seems like a no-brainer, doesn't it? Cheer on the team and hope-like-crazy that they win, right? Well, normally it would be a no-brainer, but as there currently are special circumstances influencing my judgment, it's actually a pretty confusing choice.

You see, if they win this game, then we will have to postpone our French class's annual trip to Quebec. "Why?", you may ask. Well, we're scheduled to leave tomorrow for Canada. However, if the girls pull this off tonight, then they will have to play the final game on Saturday. And, as my school is very tiny, the sports teams likewise, the girls on the volleyball team who are also in French II or III are very much needed. So, if the girls win tonight, then they'll be needing everyone for the Saturday game. Which means that we won't be able to go this weekend. Which means we'll have to go next week.

"So what?", you may ask, and rightly so. Well, it goes like this. We're leaving at noon tomorrow (assuming, that is, that the volleyball team loses) and coming back Sunday night. This is a long weekend, courtesy of Veteran's Day. Next weekend isn't. Thus, we miss out on the day of rest we would have had. "Eh, deal with it, you big baby." Well, I obviously would, but that won't make it comfy. "Why?" Each day of the French trip is packed with travel and activities from about 7:00 AM to 11:00 PM. And it's not exactly a vacation either, true it's fun, but there's also a certain amount of work each student is obligated to do. Oh yeah, let's not forget the freezing-cold weather up there. So basically, in a nutshell, you come back from one of these said French trips pretty pooped. Rest isn't the only issue either. My teacher already made reservations and whatnot at hotels. Changing them will be complicated, and most likely messy. "Hmmm, maybe I see what you're saying now." And just so that nobody accuses me of being oh-so-selfish, the girls in French who are also on the volleyball team say that they hope they win but hope they don't at the same time. So yeah, it's not just me saying this.

Thus, I am faced with the dilemma of not knowing what I want. I guess my only option is ambivalence.

Oh yeah, I'm still working on my revised edition of Alpha Squad vs. Pickaxe Gang >:D. So far it's pretty good. The date of release will vary according to the resolution of said dilemma. Other than that, you will be hearing from me one way or another about the French trip, whether this Monday or next we'll see.

What Happens When We're Left Alone.

I took my SATs today. And afterwards, I was, and still am, a little brain dead. So, my parents, in their infinite kindness, allowed me to stay home with Andrew and invite John over whilst they took my sisters to visit some relatives. Heh heh heh, home alone from four to nine. Good stuff.

Anyway, needless to say, we had a blast. John, Andrew, and I pigged out on leftovers and such, and after playing some good ol' video games on this rainy day, we took some hilarious pics and John and I made an awesome movie--out of LEGO guys.

Good, good stuff.

Since I know you're absolutely dying to see it, I shall allow you to watch the uncut, unedited, and unrated version right here (don't worry it's completely clean lol). John, Andrew, and I plan to have an editing contest to see who can fix it up the best, more to come on that later. Any-who, without any further ado, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, young and old, it's time for the feature presentation. Please turn off any electronic devices at this time. Thank you, sit back and enjoy the show.



Heehee, good ol' nonsensical stupidity, I love it. Maybe John and I have a deranged sense of humor O_o Gimme some feedback so I can figure out if we're as deranged as I think we are ;D.