skills

I watched Napoleon Dynamite again the other night. I have to share some of the funnier quotes from this low-budget, low-brow but very funny, simple movie. If nothing else, you can walk away saying you saw a movie with no swearing, no sex and no violence (unless you count throwing a steak at someone violence). That in itself makes this film rare.

Napoleon Dynamite: Stay home and eat all the freakin' chips, Kip.
Kip: Napoleon, don't be jealous that I've been chatting online with babes all day. Besides, we both know that I'm training to be a cage fighter.

Don: Hey, Napoleon. What did you do last summer again?
Napoleon Dynamite: I told you! I spent it with my uncle in Alaska hunting wolverines!
Don: Did you shoot any?
Napoleon Dynamite: Yes, like 50 of 'em! They kept trying to attack my cousins, what the heck would you do in a situation like that?

Napoleon Dynamite: Well, I have all your equipment in my locker. You should probably come get it cause I can't fit my numchucks in there anymore.

Napoleon Dynamite: [referring to Deb's milk] I see you're drinking 1%. Is that 'cause you think you're fat? 'Cause you're not. You could be drinking whole if you wanted to.

Pedro: Do you think people will vote for me?
Napoleon Dynamite: Heck yes! I'd vote for you.
Pedro: Like what are my skills?
Napoleon Dynamite: Well, you have a sweet bike. And you're really good at hooking up with chicks. Plus you're like the only guy at school who has a mustache.

Deb: What are you drawing?
Napoleon Dynamite: A liger.
Deb: What's a liger?
Napoleon Dynamite: It's pretty much my favorite animal. It's like a lion and a tiger mixed... bred for its skills in magic.

Napoleon Dynamite – Well, nobody’s going to go out with me!
Pedro – Have you asked anybody yet?
Napoleon Dynamite – No, but who would? I don’t even have any good skills.
Pedro – What do you mean?
Napoleon Dynamite – You know, like numchuck skills, bow hunting skills, computer hacking skills. Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills.

Classic humour!

the joy of randomness (although randomnity sounds better)

Last night I was at music practice for Sunday morning's church service. Might I say how incredibly lucky/blessed my church is with exceptional musicians. It was Dan on drums, Becca singing, Travis on guitar and singing and myself on guitar. The exceptional applies to the first 3, while I'm more of a musician than exceptional.

Becca, Travis and another mate Shingy are playing a gig (see the flyer below) on Sat night. Shingy was hanging at the church as he and his wife Lia are moving back to Colorado soon and have moved out of their home. So after we'd finished practice we went out and sat on the church couches. Dave had his laptop out with some chords on it and was playing Scissor Sistors "Take Your Mama". Travis joined him and Becca, Jane (who decided to come along for the ride) and Lia sat and chatted.

Lia then suggested we get some drinks and kick back. Her and Jane then took off and came back with a few beers and girlie drinks, and the 6 of us sat around having some drinks, listening to the guys play the same song over and over and chatting. Eventually the guys had enough of playing and while the girls were talking serious stuff, the boys laughed about (amongst other things) randomness (Travis and Maltese fantasy), and watching a comedian dance to 30 songs in 6 mins.

You're thinking "so what?". Well, usually at a practice we come and go, but this was one of those random things where everyone was happy just to sit, spend time and hang rather than get on with their busy lives. I had such a good night just hanging with those guys. The joy was mostly in the company, but also that shared feeling of randomness. I'm sure you'd agree that when you plan a night out and you have a great time, it will never compare to those nights where you just kicked off doing not much, but wound up having a ball.

The more days I have on this earth, the more I realise that joy is 20% about the circumstance, and 80% about pausing to connect the circumstance to the feeling of joy. Like last night: there was nothing remarkable about it particularly. But when you put the combination of the randomness and time with good friends together, it is joy in its purest form.

Praise be to the God of Small Things, the God of Randomness, the God of Joy.