When I was in elementary school, way back in the 1980s, on summer days, I would go to my cousin’s house up the street to make up battles with our latest commercially induced toy line. Often the toys were Transformers, G.I. Joe, M.A.S.K., or He Man. I was very much into Transformers and M.A.S.K.; just slightly interested in G.I. Joe, and only had 2 He Man figures to my collection. I can remember putting a few of my own toys in a box and making a shortcut through neighbors’ yards in order to get to my cousin’s house. My only concern was the random dog, which would bark at me. We’d have some amazing battles before my uncle got home (which in my case was my queue to leave). My cousin would always keep his toys in premium condition. Sometimes I would inadvertently break mine from playing too rough with them. Or possibly due to them being underfoot. Neither my cousin nor me would even think to play with our toys outside (might get them dirty).
Toys weren’t the only thing that kept us busy. Sometimes we’d get out the Atari and play it for hours. Othertimes we’d play with waterguns or ride our bikes around in the woods behind my cousin’s house.
A Very Special Waltons Episode was on the other day. It’s the one where the new preacher comes to town to preach a tent meeting. The preacher is played by John “Three’s Company” Ritter. I wanted to see a cameo appearance by Suzanne Somers as the lady of ill repute on Waltons Mountain, but Suzanne didn’t show up.
Anyways this is the one where the preacher comes in preaching hellfire and brimstone sermons. Later on in the episode the preacher ends up getting drunk off of some elixir. He is shuned by some in the community for accidentially getting drunk. Because of that a lady ends up preaching the tent meeting. (I thought this was revolutionary even on Walton’s Mountain). The Waltons father ends up going to the tent meeting and saying everyone has sinned and let the preacher preach. The show ends when Grandpa starts up an accapella version of “Just as I Am” during the meeting. How heartwarming!

Kmart has gone bankrupt. They’re under Chapter 11 protection. They are hoping to recover by this time next year. I, for one, hope they won’t go under. I shop at Kmart. I like it because 1) it is not crowded; I can get in and out without having to wait in long lines and 2) Photo processing gets done in 1 day. On the other hand Walmart is always crowded and photo processing takes at least 2 days. Ironically one of the things that I like about Kmart is the thing that is bringing it down: No one is shopping there. The Hermitage Kmart is never crowded.
During the summers of 1994-1996 I worked retail. I worked as a cashier at Walmart during 1994; and as a Sporting Goods Worker at Kmart duing 1995 and 1996. I can honestly say that I enjoyed working at Kmart over Walmart. Walmart was pretty strict with the proceedures. Before even going out in the store, I had to take a 2 week training course and watch all these proceedure videos. Kmart was more laid back. I can remember one rainy Sunday night when no customers were in the store….I got on the intercom and said “Severed heads on sale in sporting goods!”
Since Walmart was much busier than Kmart, I have alot more interesting experiences. These include:

• Watching security personel wrestle a shoplifter to the floor. He was trying to steal a $5 stereo wire.
• The whole store being evacuated because of a bomb threat. The police actually had the nerve to ask Walmart employees to go in there with them and look for a bomb. Does employee comp cover this?
• A lady buying the entire shelf of deodorants to sell at her own store.
• Someone trying to pass a brand new $10 bill with the series of 1910. It was an obvious fake.
• Doing the Walmart cheer during training class. Give me a “double-U!” Give me and “A!” etc….
• Regularly seeing customers throw a fit because Walmart didn’t accept out of state checks.

I have much less weirder experiences while working at Kmart. Usually it was something like a customer trying to switch UPC symbols in order to get an item cheaper than what it really was. Then there was the people who would buy a stick of gum with a $100 bill at the beginning of the day. I never had enough change in my drawer. Don’t these people have checking accounts????

Skiing is the only sport that I’m relatively good at. “Good” is a relative term. “Better than the average southerner” is a more descriptive term. Some people just aren’t able to ski. Either they aren’t coordinated enough or they give up too easily. Whenever I ski, I end up hanging around people who know how to ski. I usually don’t wait around for the novices. I was always picked last when choosing teams for kickball in 4th grade. Being good at skiing is my way out. I figure, those dumb jocks never waited on me when I played sports. Why should I wait on them when I’m skiing?

Nowadays news organizations tend to take a look back at the year and post highlights and lowlights of the year. In the same manner I would like to do the same from a personal perspective.
Lowlights:
September 7, 2001: Finding out that my friend Elizabeth had passed away due to a brain tumor. When she found out in April about her tumor, she had been given 5 months to live. Somehow in the back of my mind I knew it could happen at one time or another, but I was holding out hope that she would get through this….and that somehow a revolutionary treatment could prolong her life. She was a fighter the whole time she was going through treatment. I regret that I did not see her during the last few months of her life. The last time I saw her in person was in June. I’ll remember her smile and positive attitude. It is a shame such a wonderful person had to be taken away so early in life. This was the first time I knew a young person who passed away in life. I hope I never have to experience it again.
September 11, 2001: At first I thought it must have been some dreadful accident. Then I saw the 2nd plane crash in to the 2nd building. At that point I knew something else was happening. September 11 changed all of our lives. I get an incredible sinking feeling in my stomach everytime I hear a “Breaking News” banner on the TV. In the back of my mind I know that there could be another terrorist attack in the near future, but I don’t have any control over it. I try not to think about it.
Highlights:
June 14, 2001: Seeing 3 young people become Christians at church camp. It was the last night at camp. Our camp director had been avoiding giving any type of invitation requests for people to become Christians during the sermons. However, on this particular night of camp, he did give an invitation. One of the campers in my cabin came forward to be baptized. It was a joyful time to watch a young person baptized at camp, especially when it is someone that you got to know over the past few days.
May 1, 2001: The most unusual day I ever had this year. I was riding for 24 hours on a train ride from Shanghai to Xi’an, China. During this extremely long trip I got to see the Chinese countryside. Everywhere there were farmers out picking rice and tending to their fields. I supposed that this was truly a time for knowing my place in the world. Many of these farmers I’m sure knew nothing about the outside world and probably had never seen a foreigner. From my window in the train I was really seeing China. Through this trip I found that I’ve been granted alot of opportunity in my life and I hope I never take it for granted.
All in all, I’d say that 2001 will be a year I will never forget. I did get to visit China for a 2nd time. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to go back. Unfortunately, due to the intense nature of it, I’ll probably remember the lowlights of the year: experiencing a young friend dying; and hearing of the terrorist attacks. Yet, I think I’ve learned from it. I’ve found to take every day as a gift from God. Make the most from what you’ve been given.

Christmas is over….at least around here. All the presents are unwrapped and ribbons and other junk are packed away in the trash bag. Growing up I’ve found that it doesn’t matter what you get for Christmas, because someone you know got something better that what you got. So be happy for what you’ve got.
The last time I truly remember believing in Santa Claus was when I was in 5th grade. During those early years, usually on Christmas Eve I couldn’t sleep at all with the anticipation of Santa. I’d get up at 5AM to see what Santa got me. At my house Santa was too lazy to wrap anything, so the presents were stacked up in front of the tree. There were 2 piles…one for my sister and the other for myself. When I was younger, it was all toys….except for gifts from my great-grandmother. She always got me practical gifts because she felt we had too many toys….which we probably did. I remember one time getting an alarm clock from her.
We don’t get together with extended family much anymore. This childhood tradition soon stopped after my grandparents died. Sometimes I feel like we only got together for Christmas in order to please both sets of grandparents. At times Christmas can seem empty, yet it is a relaxing time since I don’t do any traveling. Nowadays we usually get together with our neighbors’ on Christmas Eve night for sandwiches. Then they come over to our house for breakfast on Christmas morning.
There are some people out there who truly believe that Christ was born on December 25, 0000. ‘Tis a sad circumstance when someone is ignorant and doesn’t read their Bible. Since the Bible doesn’t say when Christ was born, it would be wrong to try to pin His birth on a particular day. In that sense one would be going beyond what the Bible had written. However if Christmas helps people remember Christ on a particular day, then it probably does more good than harm, in a religious sense. I just wish more people would get serious about their religion. For these people who aren’t serious about their religion, I call them “Chreasters” – people who come to church only on Christmas and Easter.
I spent Christmas Eve night at Roy’s house putting pictures on his webpage. Some of them are quite humorous.