Future Thoughts

Every time I start thinking about the future it makes me sad. I like the way things are now. I Loved the way they used to be. Of course there are some things I like about the present, but when I refer to the past and future I'm talking about my family, mostly.

Just reading that confuses me a little, and I wrote it. Let me try to explain. I love to play games...cards, board, sports, you name it, I like to play it. The problem is it requires others to fully enjoy games. That's why I enjoy visiting my parents so much. My mom and sister will almost always be in the mood for a game, and sometimes there's other around as well. The only sad times I have there are when the games end. I'm almost always in favor of continuing on, but most people don't share my passion for games. I realize it's not the greatest thing in the world to be passionate about, but it's who I am, so I'm not going to fight it.

Anyway, the point is that I was thinking about what life will be like after September, and Sandy's wedding. She won't be live at home anymore, so my visits will lose the one thing I enjoy the most. And then because my mind works in funny ways, I think about when the time comes that either my dad sells the farm, or worse, dies, and then I won't even have the home to come home too.

It makes me long for the old days when computers didn't hog so much time. The days when we all lived at home and just had school to worry about. I'm grateful for all the fun memories I have as kid, especially the ones that involve playing with my family, even if I didn't always appreciate them at the time.

I realize that I can't stop time, but I just wish that things didn't change so much.

Sorry my Christmas post doesn't have a lot of cheer in it.

Kevin

Random Writings

I'm never really sure what to write in here. You'd think it would be easy to come up with a subject seeing as my life is usually so busy I don't even have time to update this. Oh well...guess I'll just start typing and we'll see what happens.

Went to Jeff's last night for another fun cookout. Yes, I realize it's winter. This just in: Brats are good YEAR ROUND! who knew? Anyway, it's not like we hang out outside...just do the cooking there. And he has a deck, so it's not even a big deal. I would argue that winter cookouts are even more special, cuz in the summer EVERYONE has cookouts.

Just 5 more shopping days left before Christmas! I keep thinking work will slow down after that, until I remember that I know how to work customer service now, so I'll probably be doing thousands of returns. Fun times...

Of my 3 Fantasy Football teams, I only made the playoffs in one league, despite having more total points than anyone else. Sometimes life just isn't fair. Oh well, at least I have ONE team with a chance...

In a related bit of news, I'm predicting that the Packers knock the Saints off in the playoffs, only to lose to the Vikings who will go on to get Favre that second Super bowl ring. Favre 4ever!

Merry Christmas!

Cookies for Christmas

As I gear up for another round of New Years resolutions, I'm reminded of my old ones, specifically the one where I pledged to update this regularly. Unless "regularly" now means once every 3 months, I'm doing a terrible job. Look for me to rectify that in the coming days/weeks as I strive to get into the habit of telling the world about my life. The "world" being Mary Ellen and Lindsey, as they are apparently the only readers.

On to the subject of this blog: Christmas cookies! Yum!
On one Saturday in December every year my parents house is filled with a number of aunts and grandmas and such who are intent on making every kind of cookie imaginable. I usually try to make an appearance, not so much for the baking part, but more for the taking a bucket of fresh cookies home part.

That day just happens to be tomorrow.

Kevin

The Triumphant Return...sorta

Actually, it's not really triumphant. More like sneaking in with my tail tucked between my legs. so much for keeping this bad boy updated.

So much new stuff to write about...the hair stayed shaved off through the month of July, but then I had to grow it back for Chicago the musical. I did like the bald look, and it was easy to take care of, so it will probably return next summer. Guess I'm over that mullet phase.

In the musical realm, I just watched Seussical yesterday, starring my good friend Libby as Horton the Elephant. It was less than impressive...but the costumes were pretty cool. It was also nice to hang out with Jackie and Kayla. When you're a single guy like me, it's usually fun to do things with girls, even when THEY are in relationships. One of these days, God will bring someone for me, but until then it's nice to have a collection [of girls] to go do stuff with.

The tv show thing previously mentioned was a complete and utter failure, mostly because I never took the time to actually do it. It's not like I didn't have the time...I could have played fewer video games...but I just never got around to it.

That's all for now.

Kevin S.

Summer Daze

Well well well. So much for updating within a month. I may have missed THAT deadline by a week...or two. Whoops. Rest assured, I am still working on the whole Which-TV-Show-is-better thing. I even made a bracket for it. I've just been busy with other things, and feel that there will be time for that later this year, like when the snow returns. For now, I'm really enjoying the summer.

Anyway, felt like stopping by and putting SOMETHING here...just in case anyone actually still reads this. Maybe when we get a better computer setup, I'll post more often.

oh, and I shaved my head for the summer.

Entourage versus Numb3rs (sorta)

So this is going to be a slightly unorthodox post in that it won't be about me, but about two shows I have recently started watching. It's been a little while since I watched the first season of Entourage, and I've only seen the one versus two of Numbers, but I figure if it wasn't memorable enough for me to remember the fine points, then it probably doesn't deserve to be considered as favorably.

And now as I was typing that, I came up with a BRILLIANT idea...well, at least an entertaining one. I'm going to make a list of all the tv shows I have seen, and compare them, March Madness style until I come out with an ultimate champion. Sort of a poor mans guide to what you should watch(and is worth spending your money on) and letting you know what you should avoid entirely.

Compiling this list, as well as all the hard data I will need might take a bit, and so I have to cut this short, but rest assured, within a month I will at least have started posting the results here.

Cheerio!
Kevin

Goodbye Letter

Settle down...don't get over-excited. I'm not leaving Blogspot. I'm not moving anywhere. I'm definitely not going to kill myself. But I have thought about what would happen if I died suddenly.

See, the thing is, I have a lot of freetime at work when I close. All it is is putting boxes back on the shelf in a neat and orderly fashion. It takes almost no skill or brainpower whatsoever. This leaves me with a good 3-4 hours or so to think about random stuff. Usually I run through lines or songs if I'm currently in a Musical, but at the moment I'm on hiatus. Sometimes I think about my various sporting franchises on the PS2, basically making decisions for when I get home. Lame right?

Well, a couple nights ago, I was thinking about that song, "What Would You Say" and it got me thinking about what I would write if I knew I was dying and had only a short amount of time left. It's a pretty deep topic. I've spent a lot of time these last few days thinking about what really matters in my life, what loose ends I'd want to tie up. There are people who have done so much to shape my life that I've never really thanked. There are others I would want to encourage, let them know that they are God's light in this darkened world. There might even be one that I profess my love for, though I doubt if I ever actually will physically tell her. And of course, there would be goodbyes. Not your simple everyday ones, but long, heartfelt ones letting them know how much I've appreciated everything they've done with me and for me.

I'm not actually going to write this letter...at least not on here. I plan on getting a notebook and updating it yearly, but keeping it hidden and secret so no one will actually read it til after I'm gone, which hopefully won't be for a good many years. Still, I felt like sharing my idea, and maybe inspire others to do the same.

Kevin Sieg

Fun Times, Fun Times

The last couple of days have been just packed with neat little adventures, and because I've become increasingly lethargic about taking pictures of things, I'm going to have to type them out so I can look back and remember these times.

Let's start with Anything Goes. The spring show at the Guild always comes with swell times. For one thing, Jeff McLain is always in it. For another, it's the annual Purity Test. Also, we get to have cool parties at Jeff's house. come to think of it, everything good about the spring show is related to McLain. Don't get me wrong...I love to perform, and being with so many talented fun-loving people is a blast, but sometimes I just wish there was a way to do it without all the rehearsal. You know, just have the parties, the people, and the performances. Granted, the show wouldn't be nearly as rockin'...

What next? Let's go to basketball at the parent's place. This isn't just your average run-of-the-mill basketball game...this is a gloves-off, drag-down, knock-out fun fest! Matt and I teamed up with a 7 foot hoop to totally dominate the girls' team. Wonder what would happen with TWO hoops and twice as many people?...

Tonight was definitely a highlight. On facebook, I'm referring to it as "one of Life's Little Moments" It was originally supposed to be a rollerskating party for The Bridge college group, but everyone was busy...everyone except Jenn.

Let me tell you about Jenn. She was in Anything Goes with me, and when I met her, I thought she was in High school...turns out, she's actually 22 and attending UW Eau Claire. Who knew? I only found out because I got roped into attending V-Ball this year. As much as I like dancing, I wasn't sure how I was going to do with 7 hours of crowded dance floors. Lucky for me, God has a plan. Not long after I arrived, I bumped into Jenn. She was by herself, and we started talking. Things just clicked. We spent the whole night hanging out and I had a fabulous time.

Anyway, back to the original point. Jenn was able to come rollerskating, and though she was a bit wobbly, the night flew by. We ended it with a stop at DQ, where I pulled out the old "salt shaker through the table" trick. Good times were had by all.

As a sidenote, the two of us are NOT dating. We're just friends, and the rest is in God's hands. For now, I'm just going to continue enjoying her company as we try out the many amenities of Eau Claire.

Peace, Yo!
Kevin

Lazy Blogger

Hey...

So yeah, I kind of got busy and blogging wasn't exactly high on my priority list. Actually, it pretty much wasn't on the list at all. Funny how that happens. I started this and the year with the best of intentions, but for some reason it just kind of fell by the wayside.

So updates since we last: the current musical is Anything Goes with the theatre guild. I'm not sure I like the tapping(I'm not coordinated enough) but otherwise it's been fun. Jeff M. is in it, and that's pretty much my only incentive to do them these days. We always make plans to hang out for the summer and stuff, but it never happens. Once the musical is done, we don't meet again until the next show. That's not exactly true. I did visit him twice last year. Anyway, we'll try and make it more often this time around. You know, cuz that worked out so well with this Blog.

Another great thing about this show is that I convinced Laura H. that the Guild is an amazing place, and she should definitely check it out. She did, and also got a part in the show. Life is definitely more fun with Laura around.

Right-o. Wouldn't want to make this too long and set the bar super high again, so I'll be signing off now.

Inventor of the Lollipop,
Kevin Sieg

The Wondeful World of Books

So as per one of my resolutions, I have been reading quite a bit lately. So far this year I have read:
Starr: The Bart Starr story
Black and Blue: A history of the NFC Central Division
and three quarters of Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street

You might have noticed that all the books are about real people and/or places and/or things. This is because I enjoy reading about things that actually happened. It somehow makes it worthwhile in my mind to spend time reading if the final result is that I'm smarter than I was before. This isn't to say that I won't read non-historical books. The next one on the queue is The Appeal by John Grisham, and while John has written more and more historical books of late, this one is in the mold of his originals...ie, it's about lawyers.

Basically, I just have to be entertained by it. If I don't feel forced into reading it, then I'm not opposed to it. There has been several times over the last few weeks where I was distracted by other things and simply could not read. It wasn't because the books were lame or boring, because they definitely weren't. The fact of the matter is that I view reading as a pure entertainment option, although I'm not opposed to learning something along the way.

One problem that has arisen from this is that I can't afford all the books I want. I would absolutely love to read about WWII. Borders has a number of books about the Russians and Germans and Italians before and during the war. I'm fascinated by all of them...just by reading the blurbs on the inside cover. Some day I plan on reading many of them, limited partially by the time I have for reading, but mostly by the cost. In addition to the WWII books, I have always enjoyed reading about the civil war. The current book I am most interested in acquiring is Team of Rivals which is about Lincolns cabinet.

Anyway, I'm off to read more about Sesame Street...and I hear Grisham has a new book coming out in February...

Kevin Sieg

Singing the Blues [Clues]

Being in this latest musical has definitely made me realize something...I can completely love a show, greatly enjoy being in said show, and still not actually like the people I'm in the show with. I should probably warn you that this will be a bit of a whiny post which doesn't necessarily reflect poorly on my fellow cast mates as much as my lousy attitude toward them.

The problem, as it appears to me, is that there is a distinct lack of people who I am completely at ease with. The majority of the cast is high school girls which never used to be a problem for me, until everyone started making fun of me for hanging out with that particular age group. Something about it being not generally an accepted practice in our society. Furthermore, the ones who ARE my age are all "involved" shall we say, with other members of the cast, IE: Amy and Taylor, Libby and Nina with their cronie Kathryn.

I guess the biggest problem is that I can't handle being left out. I don't generally like being alone, and this show has made that unfortunate section of my life quite painfully obvious. That, however, is another entry entirely.

I guess I'll just focus on the joy I get from singing and dancing as a giant salt shaker. It sounds strange, but I love every second of my stage time, even if I am in a ridiculous outfit. Also, it makes me appreciate my ties to the Theatre Guild even more, and Anything Goes simply cannot come soon enough. To quote Don Cheadle in Ocean's Eleven, "That's terrific! It will be nice working with proper villains again!"

Kevin "Mr. Salt" Sieg

Learning to Crawl

Well, at least one of my resolutions should be fulfilled, as this will be the third entry in roughly a week. I don't know that I'll keep that pace up, but this seems be serving as a good sounding board for getting my thoughts out in an organized manner.

Lately I've been spending a lot of time thinking about my so called Christian "walk" and I haven't been too happy with the way it looks. Yes, I attend church regularly, and am in fact helping get a new Church plant started here in Eau Claire. Yes, I have been reading a couple different devotional books, though I haven't really been taking notes. (probably should remedy that asap) Yes, I have been turning to God in prayer more often, though not nearly as much as I should. The problem is I'm not actually LIVING my life the way God desires.

That isn't to say that I'm doing the opposite extreme. I'm not running around the city naked. I'm not going out and getting wasted(though I do feel a beer is OK now and again as long as I don't get drunk). I'm not having wild sex parties. I'm not doing drugs. I'm not tipping over handicapped peoples wheelchairs or poking retards with a stick.

The thing is I'm also not 100% about God all the time. This bothers me because in all the books I'm reading, the authors are super Christian people. Everything they do or say is related to God in some way. Their very thought processes are programmed, it seems, to focus only on Him. I have trouble praying for five minutes straight without being distracted by some random thoughts. I want to be walking among these great Christian men and women, but it seems I can't even figure out how to crawl, let alone stand up.

I equate it too my niece. As a 7 month old, her newest thing is to get up on her knees and one hand, and then grunt and struggle as she tries to figure out how to get that second hand in place so she can actually go somewhere. Usually she gives up after awhile and then just scoots forward on her stomach. While it's cute too watch, it would be much more productive for her to be able to crawl, as she could go faster, and do more.

That's how I see myself as a Christian. I know what I want to do. I have the general idea of what I have to do. I just can't seem to get all the parts in place to actually do it. it's kind of a huge struggle for me, because I want to be able to Walk with Him NOW. I don't want it to take a lot of time and effort. The thing is, just like my niece will eventually figure out how to crawl, and then walk, so too will I eventually figure out this Christianity thing, if I keep working on it, and relying on God to get me through.

Another tie-in to the crawling analogy is that usually I take pity on her, and pick her up. in the same way, I have my pastor and other Christian influence in my life who "pick me up" with encouragement and advice on how to proceed.

I know I'm not perfect. I know it's going to take a long time to get where God wants me to be. I know it won't be easy. But I am learning to Crawl, and for now, that simply has to be enough.

Kevin Sieg

2009: And so it begins.

For my first entry of 2009, what else could I possibly write about then New Years Resolutions? Thanks to the amusingly inspirational Danielle Ryan, I have to decided to actually make some this year.

My first resolution, which I proclaimed to my roommates a couple nights ago, is to make at least one New Years Resolution. I think I already succeeded with this one, so let's move on to the "real" resolutions for '09. For the record, they are going to be in no particular order, as I haven't actually thought of any yet, and will be written out as I think of them. Here goes!!

1. Read more. I used to read all the time, but since my introduction to the PS2, it has definitely fallen by the wayside. The new goal is to read at least 18 books by the end of the year. "Books" shall hereafter be defined as being of at least 150 pages in length, and have to be at least 75% words...I know 18 seems like a smallish number, but I believe in attainable goals, as the whole point of these things is too make you feel better about your life.

2. Finish scrap booking at least through '08. Right now I'm in June 0f '07, so not so far behind, but still, it'd be nice to catch up to within a year...

3. Pay off my debts and keep total balances due under $1,000 at any given time. Again, $1,000 may seem like a rather large margin of error, but considering that's only $250 per card it would be an improvement. Baby steps. Maybe next year we can knock it down to $500 or less.

4. Get Married. No, I'm just kidding. But it would be nice to get a girlfriend and maybe even a fiance?

5. Make an Appearance on Couchcapades. This one is entirely dependent on Libby, so hopefully he reads this. Most of you probably don't even know what Couchcapades is. Google it. Those are the guys I live with.

6. How many of these are you supposed to make? Number 6 will be update this blog regularly. I've never been all that good at keeping things updated, but we'll try to turn over a new leaf, to borrow a cliche phrase.

7. Exercise...at least once a week. Again with the wimpy goal, but like I said, attainable is good, and it'd be a vast improvement over exercising 4 times a year, which is the current ratio...also "exercise" shall hereafter be defined as any strenuous activity that lasts at least 20 minutes and has no other goal but to be exercise. This means that work, musicals, shoveling snow, and walking to the grocery store DON'T count.

That seems like enough. Tune in next year to find out how I did.

Burger Me,
Kevin Sieg