Yesterday I played a game of Star Wars Monopoly with my buddy Darrick that lasted over four hours . Yeah, after you've been playing Monopoly that long things get a little crazy. I mean after we sent three other players out of the game Darrick and I were sitting around with approximately 5,000 in cash a piece, and cities (hotels in regular Monopoly) on every property that can be improved. (I know you Monopoly purists out there are wondering how every property could have a hotel when there is only 12 hotels, well we were playing by house rules and uses houses to represent hotels once we ran out.)

The new Star Wars edition offers some interesting alternative rules. For instance, double one's mean you can move to any space on the board, and double two's mean that you instantly collect two hundred dollars. Role boxcars and you can "duel" someone to steal one of their properties.

In the end we called it draw, mostly because there was no end in site. By this point the rules were being bent on a turn to turn basis. For instance:

Me: "You hit Alderan, with a city that's 1,400 credits."
Darrick: "I'll role you for it."
Me: "Role you for it?"
Darrick: "If I beat you, I don't have to pay."
Me: "What do I get if I win"
Darrick: "nothing"
(slight pause while me sleep deprived brain tries to figure that out)
Me: "ok"
(we role, I win)
Darrick: "That didn't count!"
(we role again, this time Darrick wins)
Darrick: "Yes, I don't have to pay."

I ended up buying the Star Wars equivalent of the railroads from Darrick for 5,000 credits, in anyone has ever bought all four railroads for more let me know about it, because until then I'm counting it as a world record for most expensive railroads in a game of Monopoly.

This trendy little picture was snapped on Christmas Day.

Boxing Day

Thanks to gift cards and gift returns, the day after Christmas is quickly surpassing the day after Thanksgiving as the number one shopping day of the year. Rather than just staying home and complaining about commercialism, my family decided to do our part and help contribute to the overcrowded malls and general hustle and bustle of the post holiday season.

The stylishly swank Chandler Fashion Mall (which is the nicest shopping mall I've ever been to, in Arizona, California, Kentucky or otherwise) was so packed, it was almost to the point of being ridiculous. I mean there was a line just to look at the directory. But there something amazing about seeing so many people in one place, even if most of them were upper class, materialistic sluts. (Indeed the warm Arizona climate inspires a low level of modesty that isn't found in Kentucky, but an eighty degree Boxing Day is quite pleasant.)

Paul and I did our best to make John Letoto happy and both found some pants at Banana (some chino slacks for myself, and jeans for my brother.) In a brilliant example of how what I do in moderation my little brother does in excess, David bought a pair of high fashion jeans that cost more than my last two pairs of jeans combined.

But the superficial satisfaction of new material possession pales in the comparison of indulging in the culinary ecstasy of In'n'Out Burger. Oh if there is something I missed about Arizona other than the pleasant temperatures, star filled skies, friends and family, and the mountain air, it was definitely In'n'Out. I could devote a couple of more paragraphs to the subject of this wonderful restaurant, but I'm afraid it would just cause my east coast brethren to fall into the sin of coveting living where the best fast food place on earth exists. Suffice it to say, after a long day of shopping sitting down with my family to a dbl. cheeseburger, freshly made fries, and strawberry shake was a tremendous blessing.

Happy Holidays

Well it is Christmas Eve's eve, which is my favorite Eve's eve of the year. In my family we we each get to open a present on Christmas Eve, so it is almost anticipated as the big itself.
I have seen The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe four times now, an all time record for me when it comes to seeing movies in the theater. I thought they did a pretty decent job but I have a few mild discrepancies, but they are not worth going into here.
I hope everyone this Christmas Season spends some time contemplating how Jesus came to earth in the form of a helpless infant. Really the concept of All Mighty God dwelling in the body of a baby is so incredible, is not surprising that so many people scoff and refuse to believe. But in my opinion it is one of the most beautiful things in human history.
Well my profound apologies to all of my dear friends that I could not afford to get presents. I only have my dearest love and devotion, which you may freely have. (I know, that's total crap, but I mean it)

Well I had just finished typing a very intelligent and intriguing blog when I flipped the off switch on the surge bar,... that sucked...

Friday I traveled to the wonderful city of Flagstaff with some dear friends and watched the one and only Tad Klein, play a small show at a Christian bookstore. It was quite nostalgic for me, Tad wrote those songs over the past three years and I performed and recorded many of them with him over the year. After the show Mrs. Klein had the generosity to take everyone out to Cracker Barrel, which in my opinion is a fine eating establishment.


The following day the Butterworths/Gildersleeves had their annual Christmas party. I made out like a bandit with one of the best white elephant gifts, (that's right, ... like a bandit) and I filled my stomach filled with my Aunt Karen's immaculate fudge and peanut brittle. Last time a checked, fudge is good.

Christmas Break

Well I returned to the town of my youth only to discover that I had been forgotten. Or perhaps, more accurately, no one really knew me in the first place. In either case, my four month absence has seemed to have very little impact on the community of Heber/Overgaard, which has proved quite content to go about its affairs without me here. I feel like the loose Jenga block that is easy to pull out.

Nevertheless, being home is quite a relief. Honestly, I haven't had this much sleep or food in a long time. College has a way of stealing youth and energy from a person. It is the metamorphasis that turns children into boring adults. Only a semester into it and I left my highschool self somewhere between AZ and KY. I guess he's probally in Oklahoma somewhere.

the jubal jubilee

hhmm. well, if anyone has anything worth saying, chances are it will be written online. likewise, nothing that is done in real life has any validity unless it is recorded on a web blog.