Dreams

Here is another video from At Wit's End. Enjoy it and let me know what you think! If you would like to check out my YouTube channel, go to http://www.youtube.com/user/KBatwitsend.

KB

Little Miss Sunshine

Image by carbonated via Flickr

Beauty isn't skin deep. I think we can all say we learned this lesson as young kids. Beauty is what is on the inside, not the outside that counts, right? I have a sister, a sister who is somewhat of a beauty queen. Don't get me wrong, she deserves it, but as a guy, I have had to sit through way too many beauty pageants and cheer competitions to be considered healthy for a man. Shamefully, I know the majority of cheers for the Gateway Christian Warriors and far too many fashion points for pageants.

With the advent of these beauty contests came the advent of the loss of male dominance in society. No, I'm not sexist. However, these pageants have recently drawn a crowd not looking at just physical beauty but brains as well! "Really?" you ask. No, not really. Most beauty pageants are sad displays of intelligence gone wrong and a blatant exploitation of the body to promote success. Could you image if men did this? That's like men playing football in dresses! Lord, I pray that day never comes. It's just not natural. In recent years, the beauty pageant has been portrayed in films like Little Miss Sunshine and the national broadcast of the Miss America awards. These media outlets have fueled the fire of beauty contests across the country like the death of Michael Jackson has fueled band wagons and bad plastic surgery.

I have witnessed this spectacle of beauty firsthand. Men, it's not all what it's cracked up to be. While beautiful women may abound, their lack of intelligence sucks most of the quality out of the air as you are subjected to two hours of "dancing" (more like flailing) and "speaking" (more like rambling). The questions are absurd and the answers are even worse. The whole business is rather dreadful and for a guy, it's utter torture. Obviously, I hate pageants. That is until my sister entered Miss Roswell. I sat through a series of awful performances which were called "interpretive dance" (I think they called it "interpretive" because I needed an interpreter there to tell me what the heck I was watching) as I awaited my dear sister's performance. While most of the contestants wore skimpy designer dresses or revealing outfits, my dear sister trotted on stage wearing a fat suit, a geriatric bathing suit, and a sunhat. She looked like the Angela Lansbury in a Victoria Secret magazine (see picture- Heather, you are much more beautiful than that!). She did a comedy routine about picking out swimsuits and the pain for women thereof and made the audience laugh and smile. She didn't have to look "sexy" or "stunning," she just looked comfortable as she was. I admire her extremely for stuff like this. I think they picked the right Miss Roswell, in my opinion that is!

Moral of the story is that beauty isn't the skin deep pleasures all around us, but it is truly how we have been taught- in the heart of the matter. I'm here to push that one step further, though. Beauty is in everybody, each person contributing to a little more beauty in this world. The truth is, beauty undergoes the same painful moments we all face. Beauty can sometimes feel ugly. I have seen great people this week, both man and woman, who are beautiful in their own facet of society yet feel bombarded by pain and misery. They feel hurt and alone- keep in mind this is the beautiful we are talking about here. Some are beautiful in the way they love others, some are beautiful in the way they encourage, and others are beautiful in believing in people, yet all will feel the pangs of life at one point. So I'm calling all of us muddy people to wipe each other off this week. Forgive, encourage, and uplift because we all need a little selflessness every once and a while. Those who feel ugly, give them assurance. Those who are stressed, give them relaxation. Those who are in pain, give them comfort.

So here's to putting a mirror in the hand of the beautiful and telling them they are loved. Here's to looking at a fat suit and seeing a crown. Here's to being a Little Miss Sunshine of our own.

KB

P.S. Football rocks, as do guns, the military, large explosions, and iron. Sorry, had to add something manly to even out the estrogen.

Small Groups Dance

Austen Radar, Alli Davis, Garrett Messer, Halie Harton, Cory Holm, and myself, dancing like maniacs at small groups. If you are a youth and wanna get more from God, I encourage you to check out a small group here in Roswell, every Sunday at 6 o'clock.

KB

Stress Relief

So the other day, my awesome mother found a book about fitness and health in regards to the body as a whole. Basically, it's the same diet book as all the other diet books out there, only with a different cover. Anywho's, she came across the chapter on stress where a test is given to see just how stressed out you are. One would answer questions about different situations in which stress would have been put on their shoulders and the like. If you scored 50-100, you were as cool as those beer commercials on the beach. If you scored 100-200, you had some issues, but otherwise normal. If you scored 200-300, you were stressed and needed a vacation. My sister scored in the 700's, my father in the 600's, and my mother didn't even make it to 400. Intrigued, I asked if I could take the test.

My mom asked me a few questions like "Have you had a change in core responsibilities at work?" (I said no but she put me down as yes), "Are you facing any relationship difficulties?" (I am currently single, hence sane, so no but again she put me down as yes) and of course "Have you been terminated from a position or had a sudden change in jobs?" (Apparently, in her eyes, I have. I work for the greatest law firm in the world and it is my first real job but she put me down as yes anyways.) You can see the trend with my mom here. She scored me off the charts and gave the three of us a strong lecture on how we need to chill out. In retaliation, we quipped about how she took the test for us and didn't let us take it on our own merit, so it was only fair that we do the same for her. Ironically, she scored nearly double when we took it for her... funny how this works, huh?

However, despite whatever some stupid test scores, we are still some stressed out people. Our family has had a lot of things going on that have turned a lot of hairs grey in the last 6 months. Stress locally has seemed to be on the rise lately with death, sickness, relationship struggles, and the like bogging us down. Things aren't easy now-a-days, I'm sure you would agree.

We have now come to the part of my blog where I usually put down a verse or life lesson in which betters one might better themselves as a Christian and/or a person as a whole. I might add a Bible verse or short quip. Today, I am giving it to you through a personal experience I had this weekend.

If you are stressed... buy a pumpkin. They are on sale at Wal-Mart for like $4 right now because of Halloween. Then find a blunt object, some open space, then BEAT THE EVER LIVING TAR OUT OF IT UNTIL IT IS A PULP! This method is both stress relieving and fun. We used a machete, baseball bats, and a golf club, but anything will do. Trust me, it's worth it. As far as the Bible verse, I'm still looking it up to see if I can find where Jesus did this in the Bible. In the meantime, HAPPY PUMPKIN SMASHIN'!

KB

10 Things That Should Not Exist

1) Scary Bathrooms: The kind that are usually found at along the side gas stations and are always dripping wet? Worst ones have cockroaches that you may not kill by stepping on them alone, they are that huge.

2) Gnats: You can't catch them to kill them, you just end up walking around, clapping your hands, and hoping they will go away. This is the same strategy most parents use on their toddlers.

3) Bad Hospital Gowns: We're on the verge of curing cancer but we still have to see the patient's butt? We need to prioritize our medical funding.

4) Creepy Medicine Commercials: What kind of downcast actor do they have to hire to admit they have these diseases and what kind of person is lazy enough not to change the channel when these embarrassing commercials come on? Answer to the second part- me.

5) The 21st Century Mullet: Billy Ray Cyrus got away with it 20 years ago. Nobody else does. End of story.

6) Bad B.O.: Deodorant shouldn't be a suggestion, it should be law.

7) Movies that Make Me Cry: Including The Notebook, Radio, Braveheart, and Weekend at Bernie's 2.

8) "I just wanna be friends.": Coming from a girl you've been going out with for the last 2 months, it feels like a lead pipe hitting you in the gut. Furthermore, think of all the money you could have saved had you just known this sooner...

9) Slow Drivers: Driving 40 in 30mph zone will get you a ticket. Driving 20 in a 30mph zone will get you kicked.

10) Dog's in People's Clothing: We already pick up their poo... must we really? Shameful...

The Heart of the Matter

The heart is a funny thing. It literally supplies the body with all the life giving nutrients it needs to survive the day. Without it, one would cease to function and cease all normal activity immediately. The appendix is the unwanted sibling of the organs; it has no known purpose except to swell up or something and explode. The tonsils are useful not only act as a lymph node, but also to cause sore throats and weeks of Jell-o consumtion. Even the brain acts as a vital tool to functioning in everyday life, yet, I've come to realize that fewer and fewer people use their brains. The heart, on the other hand, is something we cannot control. No matter how hard you try, you cannot force or stop a beat- it is all involuntary.

For me, this week, the heart has been a matter of concern. My mother has for years dealt with what is called Sick Sinus of the Heart, which is basically irregular beating of the heart. My Grandmother was admitted to the hospital this week because she suffered a series of small heart attacks in succession. My other Grandmother has had heart issues for years and is currently dealing with the doctors on this. I, myself, have been trying to overcome irregular beating and chest pains due to my heart. The tough part is, we, in and of our own consent, cannot control it, we can only diagnose problems or medicate a condition. It is really out of our control.

You know what I found out about heart problems, though? People freak. None of us with heart problems are that worried about it. My Grandmother got the news that she needed an aortic transplant- serious, life threatening surgery- and immediately scheduled a perm. "I need to look good if I'm going down! I'm gunna go down in style, sweetie!" Words of a wise woman. But people really freak out when I tell them I have heart troubles. Not that I don't like the prayers, Lord knows I need them. It honestly doesn't bother me though; no matter what happens, I know it's all in God's hands.

Anyways, with all this concern about something one can't control, I see a lot of fear too. I'm not downing on anybody who's been praying for me, please keep it up, but don't freak out! Moral should be that no matter what the problem, we should enjoy having a problem. For instance, I was having an echocardiogram done on my heart. Basically, this is when they spread jelly on you like toast and look to see if you have a heart. For all the skeptics out there, yes, I have a heart. I was surprised too. Then I had a stress test. They hooked me up to a bunch of wires like I were the bionic man and made me walk on an incline until I almost passed out. Apparently it was nurse training day, so I had about five other people in the room examining how out of shape I was. Boost to the ego. Finally, how about the heart moniter they hooked me up to for 48 hours that resembled a fanny-pack/walkman? This wonderful piece of equipment was glued onto my chest using crazy glue and industrial strength adhesive because I think I ripped the entire first layer of skin on my chest completely off when I removed it. The joys of modern medicine.

At any rate, I love what my Grandmother said- if I'm gunna go down, I gotta do it with a smile on my face. Not that I am going down, of course, or she is either, but point is, life is too long not to laugh, and life is too short not to laugh. This is a mantra I live with day after day and write about all the time, but at it's always good to reaffirm. It's not about smiling all the time, but discovering true joy. Finding true satisfaction, whether it be in the petty nuances of the day or the dramatic moments of the greater picture, that is truly living. That is the heart of the matter. So here's to figuring out your problem. I hope it's as fun as mine!

KB

***REVISION: I wrote this blog only hours before an acquaintence of mine passed away from meningitis. Kierra Lopez was only 17 years old. I don't claim to have close ties with her, but we were in several classes together and knew each other well. I remember the last time I saw her was just three or four days prior. She was dancing, full of life, and fun as always. When the news of her death hit, it was sudden and shocking. It helped me realize that life has no garuntees on time limits and throws curve balls at will. So if that isn't incentive enough to live life to the fullest, most joy-filled abilities, then I don't know what is. Proud to say, Kierra lived a life that resembled a joy-filled, blessed life every time I saw her. Kierra, you will always be remembered.