As the Oscars Turn

The Academy Awards started off good enough, with a rousing opening number by Justin Timberlake. He had the entire audience on their feet, clapping and dancing. Then host Jimmy Kimmel did well to set a positive tone for the evening with a plea for unity. It didn't last long, with Kimmel himself repeatedly trashing Trump, going as far as to check Twitter to see if POTUS had not turned his entire focus to Hollywood. He hadn't.

I wasn't the only one whose ears perked up when Viola Davis declared "we are the only profession that celebrates what it means to live a life." How narrow-minded. Miss Davis may be surprised to learn that unlike in Hollywood, many real world professions exist for the sole reason of celebrating what it means to live a life. It was at this point that the scant attention I had been paying began to wane. Another lady droned on about art and the global community, repeating "global community" over and over like it was a good thing. A third lady read the acceptance speech from a winner detained due to Trump's travel embargo. Somewhere George Soros was smiling.

Nice bit engineered by Kimmel to usher in the group off the tour bus, so the Hollywood elite could be shown mingling with the masses. The bit bombed badly when the fellow from Chicago declared on worldwide TV that he was only interested in the black actors. Others had similar feelings. Dude looked like our friend from Turner Field: the guy in the purple jacket.

But the evening will most be remembered for the Steve Harvey moment, when La La Land was erroneously declared winner of Best Picture. If these people can't get their own awards shows right, how are they supposed to solve all the rest of the world's problems?

Alternate titles: Oscars the Grouch, or Trouble in La La Land.

Back here on the old farm, it was a quiet weekend here in Normalsville. Had leftovers Friday night. Wheel. Jeopardy College Finals, won by the MIT coed from Decatur. Last Man Standing. Dr. Ken, the Duke grad. The Middle. The Hawks wore their pretty blue unis again.

Cleaned upstairs Saturday morning. C went to the Y and M left early to spend the day with friends. Ate a small PB&J early, an egg & cheese bagel for brunch, and black bean quesadillas for a late lunch. Started in on the laundry. Opened the upstairs windows. Watched some of the Honda Classic. Ceil made a run to the Dekalb Farmer's Market, a place I loathe. Anna attended a costume party.

A few weeks ago I had misplaced two checks and four CD's from the library. I was scared I'd have to pay the library for the CD's. I had looked everywhere: my car, my trunk, Ceil's car, the house, my briefcase. Finally Saturday I found the checks in my car, in a place I'd thought I had looked before. Five minutes later I was loading a plastic cart back in my car to take to Goodwill. The all-white cart had been in my trunk earlier in the month. As I looked down over the cart I spied the white CD sleeves in a lower pocket of the cart. Bingo! I loaded more bags for Goodwill and headed out for the library, Goodwill, NAPA, and bank. I felt like I'd accomplished something this weekend.

Ceil cooked pizza for dinner and watched the Hallmark Channel while I worked on my laptop. Posted several new items to eBay. Sales have been steady lately. In the past week I've sold an Olympic volunteer shirt, two Thrashers jerseys, two pairs of shoes, and a jacket. Got several people interested in an old worn out pair of Nike Air Max's.

Bryant is preaching the core values of JFBC, and saved missions and multiplying for this week's world missions conference kickoff. Wright interestingly took a different slant, that though with all the strife and wars and terrorism and suffering in the world, as well as the alleged global warming and climate change striking fear in the hearts of millions, these are but warning shocks in the lead-up to Armageddon, the return of Christ, and the end of the world. Things will get much worse, but the end of the world won't come until the Gospel has been preached to all the people groups in the world. In the last five years over five thousand more people groups have learned about Jesus - a tremendous achievement - but there are still over 20,000 people groups to go. Does that mean Christ will return in 2037? Get ready!

Andy preached at Decatur Community Church, about the refugee crisis. Bill and Kitti Murray took a break from their normal routine to attend. A friend recapped it thusly: "what's best for people is what's best. We are a Christianized country. Individuals have inherent value. No one should be treated or discriminated against. We are a nation of immigrants who, while maintaining cultures, values, and the Constitution of the United States. We are a nation of laws. Compassion and religion inform our legal system. We must not allow our legal system to be undermined. God, help us to make the right decisions when it comes to helping the refugees." Not sure what exactly this means, or if my friend's notes were complete. I'll try to listen on line and report in detail.

Stopped by Target after church, and grabbed lunch specials at El Porton. M worked from 7 am to 2:30 pm, then attended the baptism service at Passion City. C and I napped. She wanted to watch the red carpet and Oscars. I worked on my laptop. When I woke up Sunday morning my right knee was hurting. Hurt Monday morning as well. Not sure why. Might've crossed it wrong on Saturday.

Maybe the new GT coach is like Cremins. Bobby only played six or seven. Coach Pasteur. I'll call him Louie. Sounds like Lammers is known at the Tech Baptist Center.

Coworker Eric was sporting some cool-dude high priced new shoes today, to combat his painful knees: the Cole Hahn Zerogrand Wing Tips. Sweet. Dope. Below. Perhaps a potential Amazon buy. Perhaps in March I'll cash in all my Amazon tokens on an Apple Watch, in an effort to keep up with Nita and Brad. I need a sports watch but doubt I'll use a quarter of the functions. Just something to spend my Amazon points on, since I don't need more shoes. Even these.