Before and After

Wednesday 09.09.2009 12:04AM

Before:

photo

After:

photo

They're both pretty great in their own ways. I'll leave it to you to decide which is better.

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I'm alive

Saturday 09.05.2009 10:43PM

It's been exactly two months since I last wrote. I didn't plan it that way, that's something I just realized. It's been an... interesting summer for me. Interesting year.

I haven't given up on blogging, and I plan to blog some more soon. I already have a political philosophy post brewing in my mind. In the meantime, I figured I would give a brief update about myself.

  • Taking my should-be-final class (Physics) for my degree at IUPUI – much to the delight of some family members.
  • Taking some more serious steps at overcoming addictions.
  • Paying off my debt; I think I can be debt-free by the end of this year.
  • Working.
  • Dreaming.

I'm not too exciting in this post, I guess, but hopefully I'll get back into the swing of blogging. :)

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Summer To-Do List

Monday 06.01.2009 06:49PM

I borrowed the idea for this post from Rachelskirts:

  • Go camping at Cornerstone Festival – my 13th year there!
  • Finish reading the Harry Potter series – I'm on book 5 currently.
  • Re-read the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
  • Read some other good books (recommendations welcome).
  • Watch movies at the drive-in.
  • Make an app for that.
  • Eat corn on the cob.
  • See U2 in Chicago with Jenn.
  • Blog more regularly.
  • Play volleyball.
  • Visit Jeeves and Sarah in North Carolina.
  • Go to a water park.
  • Finish cleaning / re-arranging my office.
  • Walk a bunch of miles along the canal downtown.
  • __________________________________

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Worn

Friday 05.08.2009 09:49PM

I have been feeling pretty worn and heavy-hearted lately. There's just a lot of stuff going on, and I tend to empathize.

Sheryl's dad passed away in March. Now her brother is having some health issues and is in the hospital. Matt's mom has cancer again, and it's apparently stage 3 or 4. She's having surgery sometime this summer. A marriage is dealing with the repercussions of an affair, as well as the friends around them. There's other things I can't really go into, but those are some key examples. On top of that are my own battles with self, which is another post entirely.

Lately, it just seems like everytime someone turns around, something bad is happening. Most of the time they are things I cannot really do anything about – it feels helpless. I feel like I'm sometimes looked to – even if I cannot “do” anything – to be strong, at least. Not sure how well I'm doing at that. I just feel discouraged. I am weak. I am worn.

I have been reading through the Harry Potter series and it feels like there's a dementor around:

“Dementors are among the foulest creatures that walk this earth. They infest the darkest, filthiest places, they glory in decay and despair, they drain peace, hope, and happiness out of the air around them. Even Muggles feel their presence, though they can't see them. Get too near a dementor and every good feeling, every happy memory will be sucked out of you. If it can, the dementor will feed on you long enough to reduce you to something like itself... soulless and evil. You'll be left with nothing but the worst experiences of your life.”

– Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

It's not to that extreme, thankfully, but I thought the analogy to current happenings was uncanny. I know that I am loved, and in that I have hope, even if it is often hard to see or grasp that hope. I am still trying.

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Mystery trip

Friday 04.10.2009 04:21PM

This past weekend I ventured out on a mystery trip that Myssi and Adam organized. I had no idea where we were going, just that we were to meet at 6pm on Friday and wouldn't be back until late Sunday night. There were seven of us, 5 guys and 2 girls. My initial guess was Chicago, but we soon got on the highway going south. After passing Louisville, I guessed we were going to Nashville.

The ride down was fun. Myssi and Adam play this game that the first person to get within a state “claims” that state. While driving, they both suddenly reach forward on the dashboard right as we crossed into Kentucky (Myssi got it). This happened suddenly and we had no clue in the backseat what was going on until they explained. As we approached the Tennessee border, Adam said he was going to pull over on the shoulder, get out, and run across the border because he was sure he could run faster than Myssi. We mocked them from the backseat, because they're both really competitive about... well, most things. Adam actually did pull over and I surprised both of them by getting out first and running like the wind, claiming Tennessee. They were surprised and we were quite amused.

We arrived at our hotel in Goodlettsville, not far from Nashville. They gave us the itinerary for the weekend, but they named things cleverly so we weren't really sure what we were doing. For example, dinner at “Krustellos” - Krystal, similar to White Castle (but better since they had chili dogs). After dinner we drove a few miles away and there was difficulty finding our next destination. We were supposed to go to a cemetary to tell scary stories, but apparently it didn't turn out to be a cemetary after all. Most of us were tired, so we just went back to the hotel.

Saturday morning we went to the Nashville zoo which was a pretty cool zoo. They have one of the coolest jungle gyms I've seen in a while - big enough for us big kids, too. Afterwards we went to Hard Rock Cafe for lunch (it only seemed appropriate, being in Nashville). Then we went to Centennial Park, which is quite a beautiful park. There's a replica of the Parthenon there with a museum inside. We checked that out, then lazed around outside in the sun. The weather was beautiful, 70s and sunny. That night we went to Opryland which was pretty impressive. It's a combination of convention center, hotel, and lots of restaurants, shops, and gardens - all beneath a huge glass ceiling. We walked around there quite a bit, getting our exercise in.

Sunday we went to the Tennessee State Museum which had a lot of interesting information / exhibits from the Civil War era. Unfortunately, I was rather worn out by that point, so probably did not appreciate it as much as I could have. Finally, before heading home we stopped by Rocketown, a nice little venue / cafe started by Michael W Smith.

Thanks to Myssi and Adam for organizing such a fun trip!

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