#1142 – 50 Things I Like

Some days life happens and gets in the way of blogging. Some days also need more smiles than others. Here’s an old post I wrote about 50 things I like.

I’m writing this on Tuesday night at 10:40 PST. It’s Election Day and I’m a little bummed out. I’m not bummed out because Obama won and I’m not bummed out because Romney lost. I’m bummed out because of all the rhetoric from both sides. I had hoped it would finish after the election but, according to Facebook and Twitter, it’s going to keep on keeping on for a while.

So, instead of letting the election and its unreasonable fallout drag me down, I’ve decided to write down 50 things I like, both nerdy and non-nerdy.

1. I really like Jesus.
2. My wife is totally awesome and she plays video games with me.
3. In The Avengers, when they’re all standing in a circle in New York City, I still get goose bumps.
   
4. In The Two Towers, when Gandalf rides in at the end, I still get goose bumps.
5. The theme from the first three seasons of Dr. Who is way better than any of the others.
6. I made a friend from another continent through this blog and now I might get to meet him in real life.
7. 30 Rock (Not just because I’m watching it with Alycia right now).
8. Whenever my niece hears One Direction she asks for “Auntie” and “Uncle” because we always dance with her to “That’s What Makes You Beautiful”.
9. How excited some former students were to vote in their first election.
10. How excited Alycia is for The Hobbit.
11. Playing Halo with a bunch of friends and eating Cheetos Puffs, even though my controllers get all orange and greasy.
12. The Emergency Cute Stuff feed on Twitter.
13. ­X-Men 1 and X-Men 2, though I don’t know if they make up for X-Men 3.
14. Masters of the Universe starring Dolph Lundgren, even though the little gray guy gave me nightmares when I was younger.
    
15. Blackjack.
16. The extensive HD-DVD collection I gathered before Blu-Ray was crowned victorious.
17. Letterpress is currently my favorite iPhone game; this could change once Angry Birds: Star Wars comes out.
18. I feel better about myself when I play Call of Duty online in the afternoon against junior highers than when I play late at night against 20-year-olds.
19. Stuff Christians Like is still one of the best blogs on the Internet.
20. Twitter is totally awesome, as long as it’s not full of angry political rhetoric.
21. Reading Harry Potter on the elliptical.
22. Living in a country where I have the ability to vote.
23. I’m pretty fond of Star Wars.
24. I’m also pretty fond of Star Trek.
25. I like that I can be pretty fond of Star Trek even though it’s based upon secular humanism.
26. I love working with students. Even if I weren’t a pastor I would still be working with students.
27. My dog is cute and I post way too many pictures of her on Instagram.
    
28. Fantasy football makes me happy but it also makes me sad…so very sad.
29. I love the Chicago Cubs but I also hate them so much…so very much.
30. Settlers of Catan is great but Star Trek: Catan is so much greater.
31. Captain Picard is the best captain. He’s not an oversexed frat boy like Kirk. He’s not consumed with archaic sports like Sisko. He didn’t have a smoker’s voice like Janeway. He went seven seasons unlike Archer.
32. Aqua Teen Hunger Force.
33. Making jokes about unicorns missing the Ark.
34. HDTV is totally awesome and not having it makes me miss it so much more.
35. Disneyland, especially when they unveil Star Wars Land.
36. Battlestar Galactica, both the original and the re-imagined series. I didn’t miss Boxy or his evil robot dog.
37. The TIE Bomber sticker on the back of my car makes me feel like I’m flying through an asteroid field when I’m actually just driving through traffic.
    
38. iMessage.
39. The Petros and Money Show. It’s sports talk radio but so much more than that.
40. Chick-fil-A and all of their amazing sauces.
41. My iPhone is a pretty amazing piece of technology even though its aesthetic is ruined by a protective case.
42. XM Satellite radio, which allows me to hear new music instead of just listening to U2 and Celine Dion.
43. Amazon is amazing even though I find it difficult to resist the temptation of the deals they email me on a daily basis.
44. Tithing. (I want to make my senior pastor proud).
45. Flannelgraphs even though they’ve been replaced by PowerPoint.
46. The original trilogy, the prequels and the new trilogy.
47. That my first memory is seeing Return of the Jedi in the theaters with my cousins.
48. Saying mean things to Siri and not feeling bad about it.
49. Hummus. I hadn’t had it until I went to Israel four years ago. I don’t know what changed my life more: the Holy Land or hummus.
50. My family and friends.

In light of all the negativity that has consumed the United States recently, it’s important to remember all of the parts of life that bring us joy. The world will continue to spin and while we may be tempted to focus on what’s wrong, it’s more beneficial to focus on what’s right and what God is making right.

What are some things that you like?