Just for Fun

Little apple, I cannot raise a tree

anywhere but in you!  Nor dress the boughs

in shades but purple and white, which sows

shall flee at Cotton Bowl of AT&T!

O, ‘ville! I cannot drink ‘nog or cider,

nor raise my cold and frothy yuletide stein

to hail any Heisman but Collin Klein,

nor toast any coach but Scheme Doc Snyder!

On the day Christ was born from virgin womb

I cannot sing, “Fa!  La!  La! La! La! La!  La!”

Lest I shout, “Glory to God—for EMAW!”

And “God bless us all with Frank and Doom!”

I’d like to give Jesus a birthday cake!

And eat it with elves named Denis and Jake!

It’s the week before Christmas.  How much motivation do I have to write anything of any real substance?  Exactly none.  At least, not at the moment.

So, here’s a list of my Top 10 greatest Christmas gifts ever.  Maybe if I share mine, you’ll remember yours–and it will bring back great memories.

10.  How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way.  Not only was I completely obsessed with reading about superheroes when I was young, I wanted to draw them, too.  Not only did this great book helped me render better depictions of my favorite costumed crimefighters, it helped me create some of my own, original superheroes.  Because of this book, I drew some of the greatest superheroes that nobody ever heard about:  the Scarlet Guard, Titan, Ladyhawk, Lancer, and Mr. America.

9.  Luke Skywalker action figure (1978).  Do you have any idea how many hours I spent just looking at this action figure?  Like most kids my age, I fantasized about being a Jedi Knight and saving the galaxy from the evil Galactic Empire.  Of all the scenes I re-enacted in my mind, however, I was strangely drawn to the one where Luke barges into Princess Leia’s prison cell on the Death Star, rips off his helmet, and says, “I’m Luke Skywalker and I’m here to rescue you!”   Love it.
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Hello.  My name is Vaughn.  And I walk too fast.

Whether I inherited the tendency for ambulatory speediness from my fast-paced, big city East Coast parents or it is just a side effect of my lifelong addiction to caffeine, there is no question that my penchant for posthaste perambulation has gotten me into trouble.  Consider the following quotes from my friends

Barrett (friend):  Bro, I honestly don’t know anyone who leaves a social situation faster than you do.  I took, like, five seconds to go to the counter and grab some sugar for my coffee, looked over to say ‘goodbye’ to you, and you were gone.  ‘Okay,’ I thought.  ‘Guess the conversation was really over.’

Zach (friend):  Simpatico, you know I love you man, but when we all decide it’s time to go, you are out the door and across the street before we’ve even put our coats on.  Slow down, buddy.

John (friend and fellow seminary student):  whoa, whoa, WHOA!  What in God’s name is wrong with you?  This ain’t the Indy 500!  You in the South.  You got to learn to stroll.
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Happy Autumn!  I decided to take this week (October 24-31) as Fall Break.  This is the last week of October, which is hands-down my favorite month of the year.  I’m going to try to “suck the marrow” from this greatest and most beautiful of all months!  I may publish some Fall-themed posts, videos, or photos.  I may not. Either way, I’m going to enjoy this last week of October.  I hope you do, too.

A little canine humor for your monday.   Feel free to share with dog-lovers and other great human beings. 

I keep an Idea Journal.  I decided to share a bunch of the ideas in the journal on my blog.  Someone else might have already come up with these ideas.  I didn’t use Google to find out.

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Lately, I’ve been frustrated, because I came up with this great Karate Kid vs. Teen Wolf video game idea, but I lack the technological savvy to actually execute the idea.

Which got me thinking:  wouldn’t it be great if the next step in the evolution of online technology was an application that could translate normal English prose into computer programming language?   It would be Google Translator for computer code.

In other words, all I’d have to do was type, “Make a male character with dark brown hair.  Make him somewhat scrawny.  Put him in a karate uniform. Give him an annoying New Jersey accent.”  And so on.  The application would convert it into computer code.  And presto!

If such an application existed, it would bridge the continental divide between idea and execution.  Any creative type who knew English could generate an idea for a game, piece of software, or a computer program, and–using the translator application–his or her idea would become a reality.

If this ever happens, creative types will rule the world.  If they don’t already.