With that being said, if anything I say or write held any credibility to you. Then you many want to reconsider and as a public service I just had to acknowledge this grievous error in my character.
Now that I have cleared my conscious of my facebook sin, I can write about what I intended to write about.
Lord it’s so hard to be humble has to be one of the funniest songs I know. Anytime something is humorous, it usually because there are elements of truth to it.

What makes this song so funny is that you can think of people who remind you of the person portrayed in the song. For instance one person in particular that comes to mind is a preacher that frequently preached at some churches I went to as a teenager.

Even from a straight man’s point of view, there was no denying this man was a good looking guy. Come on, you can’t look at a Brad Pitt and deny seeing anything women would swoon over. The same was true of this preacher. I don’t think he was that much older than me, maybe 5-7 years. When you’re a teenager though 5-7 years seems like 20 years difference. When you’re 34, 5-7 years is in your age bracket.
Anyway, this dude was tall, dark, and handsome. He showed up to preach and all the girls all of the sudden felt inclined to sit on the very front row during services. His build was something like Ted Danson in Cheer’s. So picture a young Ted Danson with a great head of hair. And that’s the best way I can think to describe this guy.

One year I went to a youth convention in the great metropolis of Lufkin, Texas. When you are sixteen and you parents let you take a road trip. You don’t care even care if it’s to go to a youth convention/church. I rode up there with a friend from church and we shared a motel room with a couple of other guys from the church. After service on one of the nights, they had a midnight basketball tournament. We went to check it out, and who should be there playing but the aforementioned young preacher. (Up until this point I did not have a nickname for this guy.) He was just Brother X the preacher all the girls swooned over.

Brother X would dribble the ball up and down the court, and with his free hand he kept holding and finger combing his hair. I immediately dubbed him “Brother Hairspray”. You can only imagine how big a tool the guy was when he wasn’t preaching or playing basketball. I haven’t seen him in over ten years, so I have no clue if the women are still swooning, or if he’s still a tool. The nickname even caught on with my Dad. To this day he’ll go somewhere and see this guy and say, “Hey son I saw Brother Hairspray at a fellowship meeting. “

While I never have looked at myself in the mirror and thought “what a fine specimen of flesh”, there times where I have thought way too highly of myself. Many times while reflecting I’ll cringe at things I said to people, or how I treated them. Or just how good I thought I was at something (acting). I really had/have no reason to look down on anyone. My beginnings are very humble and even if they weren’t it would not give me the right to build myself up by lowering someone else.

There was a girl my family lived across the street from in the mid to late 80’s. She was a year ahead of me in school, so when I was in high school in the early 90’s, she was there all but one year. This girl was made fun of a lot at school for her looks, her speech, her clothes, and the family she came from. Maybe I have selective memory, but I don’t remember being one of the people degrading her in front of others. Unfortunately though, I was one of those laughing.

I logged into facebook today and was checking out a friend from high school’s profile. And noticed he is friends with this girl. I looked at her profile and remembered how cruelly she was treated.
There are times when I think it would be a lot easier to be a kid or teenager again. One of the best things about being an adult though is you have a chance to move past making fun of people because of superficial stuff. Have I lost my sense of humor? Of course not, but I just can’t feel good about making fun of someone because of how they look, how the dress, how they speak, or who their family is. Most of us have been on the receiving end of it at some point or another.

I guess it’s not so hard to be humble after all.

“How far you go in life depends
on your being tender with the young,
compassionate with the aged,
sympathetic with the struggling,
and tolerant of the weak and the strong
because, someday you will have been all of these.” –George Washington Carver

From Drop Box

A message from The Woodlands, Texas Chamber of Commerce:
There are over 100 miles of trails and pathways in The Woodlands. 30 of those 100 are actually usable.

From Drop Box

I love all kinds of music, but there is no group I would rather hear than the Sperry Quartet, made up of an uncle, a first cousin, a great uncle, and a second cousin. These guys were a staple in my childhood and sang frequently in the home church in Oklahoma.

A lot of things have changed in my 34 years (and a few months) on this earth, but one event that has been consistent is the Jones reunion held every August since I can remember at Camp Lutherhoma on the banks of the Illinois River near Tahlequah. As far back as I can remember the reunion has been one of the few events I could look forward to every year.

Larry Briggs; my uncle has been made sure the reunion has continued to exist. I truly appreciate the tenacity he’s shown in making sure the family has a chance to reconnect, relive memories, meet new additions, and remember those that have left us. While the last few reunions have been bittersweet with the void of ones that are gone, just being around family for a brief time, gives us a chance to remember where we came from. While things will always change, we can be proud of where we came from, and hope that our young nieces, nephews, and cousins get a sense of what we enjoyed when we were their age. Despite the advances of technology, hopefully they still feel the same excitement from going swimming and exploring the woods with cousins they don’t see very often.

Though my generation will never adequately fill the shoes of our grandparents, and parents, hopefully we can ensure that those coming up after us create the same memories we did.

Thank you Uncle Larry for keeping the reunion alive, thank you Grandad and Grandma, and all of our aunts and uncles for setting an example that though life has its ups and downs, visiting with your family is important enough to plan and make the effort to do so.

I’m thankful anytime I get to hear my favorite group. Besides enjoying how they sound even if it is on a hot August night, without them being polished. If they are together, and I am lucky enough to be present. It also means there is a lot of family present.

From 2010-08-18 Jack Johnson-To The Sea Tour 08-18-10 The Woodlands

From 2010-08-18 Jack Johnson-To The Sea Tour 08-18-10 The Woodlands

From 2010-08-18 Jack Johnson-To The Sea Tour 08-18-10 The Woodlands

From 2010-08-18 Jack Johnson-To The Sea Tour 08-18-10 The Woodlands

From 2010-08-18 Jack Johnson-To The Sea Tour 08-18-10 The Woodlands

A teenage stoner kid was standing out there and after Jack left, this is what I overheard.
Stoner kid talking to his girlfriend (I presume as they were sharing a Jamba Juice):
I walked up and as soon as I heard the music I knew it was him. I was in the presence of Jack Johnson, he was right here.
Stoner kid to passerby’s:
Jack Johnson was playing right here, (passerby’s move on by without saying anything) Nobody cares but me! Jack Johnson was playing right here people!”
Once we got inside, my brother Brad had showed up and staked us out a great spot on the lawn about twenty feet from the rail. He and his wife Angela were there listening to G Love’s solo set on the main stage. G Love played a lot of bluesy numbers, and then said he would normally come out later and play with Jack but he was leaving after his set to be with a sick family member.

From 2010-08-18 Jack Johnson-To The Sea Tour 08-18-10 The Woodlands

After G Love came the rain. It rained and poured for 30-45 minutes and was still going for most of ALO’s set. It finally let up as they were finishing. We just set where we were and got wet.

From 2010-08-18 Jack Johnson-To The Sea Tour 08-18-10 The Woodlands

From 2010-08-18 Jack Johnson-To The Sea Tour 08-18-10 The Woodlands

From 2010-08-18 Jack Johnson-To The Sea Tour 08-18-10 The Woodlands

From 2010-08-18 Jack Johnson-To The Sea Tour 08-18-10 The Woodlands

From 2010-08-18 Jack Johnson-To The Sea Tour 08-18-10 The Woodlands

Jack and his band came on around 9 and played until almost 11 counting the encore. I wish I had a list of the set list, but it just flowed from one great song to the next. During “Sitting, Waiting, Wishing” he threw a verse of The Cars’ “Just What I needed”, which was very cool. Paula Fuga, and Dan Lebowitz from ALO came out and played with him for a few songs each. Then they came back at the end of the encore.
The crowd an eclectic mix (see very drunk in some cases). Despite the rain and the humidity (Jack mentioned that he was from Hawaii and when he returns home it will feel cool compared to Houston), the show was awesome and I was not disappointed!

From 2010-08-18 Jack Johnson-To The Sea Tour 08-18-10 The Woodlands

From 2010-08-18 Jack Johnson-To The Sea Tour 08-18-10 The Woodlands

From 2010-08-18 Jack Johnson-To The Sea Tour 08-18-10 The Woodlands

Jack does not talk a lot between songs; he just gets up there and plays. At one point during a song he asked for people to clap. The crowd started an applause type clap, and he said “I’ll never ask you to clap for us; I just want you to clap along and be our rhythm section.” It’s the first concert in my memory where I wasn’t prodded to “make some noise” for the artist’s ego. And it was very refreshing actually.

“I never expected to be anybody important. Maybe I’m not now, but whatever I am, whatever I will become will be what God has chosen for me.” -Photoplay magazine in 1957

Elvis Presley
January 8, 1935-August 16, 1977

Over the last couple of years, it seems like most of the drivers on the road are unsafe and it seems to be accepted. Since by my theory most of the drivers are on the road, this makes sense. They all accept each other.

They accept each other to run up on stop signs, and never stop completely. Several times a day I am at intersections and come to a complete stop, and before I proceed someone from a different direction has come up to the intersection, slowed to see if it’s clear for them to not stop and just keep on going. Sometimes, I ask myself if I just wasn’t paying attention and they had the right away because they were there first. It’s hard to tell though since the people never stop!
Blinkers are a thing of the past now too. Bad drivers just switch lanes sometimes three at a time with no blinker. They just assume everyone else knows where they’re going. From what I’ve observed, not even most police officers use blinkers. They just weave into whatever lane they choose. So why would we expect anything but bad driving habits by everyone else?
Another thing is people who will go across three lanes of traffic and hold everyone else up, even though the lanes are not clear because they want to get to a u turn lane. For example, let’s take an intersection close to where I live the northbound feeder on I-45 at Sawdust road. Yesterday I was sitting in the far left turn lane. A car came across from the Academy parking lot and the front of his car was pointed at the side of my car. When I looked to the right

From Drop Box

I could see his headlights. See diagram below:

When I am in this situation, if the lanes are clogged and I cannot make it across to the lane I need to be in without blocking traffic. I just take the feeder down a couple of miles and take the overpass across. Then back in the other direction. That’s just me though.
I could go on and on about bad drivers, but I won’t.

Phones during movies

If your life is so busy or important that you cannot keep the phone holstered for two hours, maybe you should not go to the movies. Every time I go now people of all ages are pulling out and sending a text, checking email, or updating their facebook status with “I am pissing off everyone in the theater right now that. These people paid for a movie ticket and overpriced concessions. And I’m sure they enjoy the light of my phone shining in their eyes during the movie. I am important!” Seriously if there is something that pressing that you cannot put the phone down, don’t go to the movies! I think it would only be fair for theaters to allow the use of water guns and laser pointers to combat these inconsiderate scourges.