Wednesday, July 29, 2009

A note (or eight)

This seems the easiest and quickest way to explain to everyone who cares: Zack isn't coming in August. Work scheduling problems. We didn't have a fight or something.

Reading books that were written for a purpose is hard if the purpose doesn't apply to you. If the writer is writing in order to correct some misconception he once had, but I don't share the same misconception, I find it terribly difficult to stay interested. Thus, reading John Piper's "Desiring God" is not coming along very well.

Sleep is a wonderful thing; I'm thankful for it. Every now and again, no sleeping makes things interesting though. And it provides a good time to clean one's room. :) Although it's hard to clean/organize/rearrange some things quietly. . . . Heh heh.

I've noticed that I dislike it when people unknowingly copy other people when they're completely different types of people. It makes me second-guess all my carefully constructed categories of said people. . . . lol

It's 2am. Logic says I should be tired. The majority of my body isn't very logical. My eyes, however. . . .

Tonight was mostly good. Today was weird. . . . But tonight was mostly good. Church was great. It generally is. :)

Mike stopped blogging again. . . . *tsk, tsk* So did other friends: Aaron, Evan, and Sam. :P

In closing, Ups and Downs come suddenly and often one after the other. So enjoy every minute of tranquility where you're just moving Straight. And never swim off the coast of Maryland.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Thursday, my Thursday!

Thursdays were, once upon a time, my favorite day of the week. If a week could be described as a day, I think it would look like this: Mondays are the beginning of the day - sometimes good, sometimes bad, and they set the tune for the rest of it. Tuesdays have always been Meh, that in-between time of mid-morning. Wednesdays were too busy - coming back to school/work after a lunch break and there's so much to do; afternoon. Thursdays were the beginning of the end - the evening of the week. Friday is Midnight - not very novel by itself but combined with the right catalyst - a great deal of fun. Saturday is the wee hours of the morning - time to sleep, or on rare occasions, go none-stop and have a blast.

You may notice that Sunday isn't in there. (If you didn't, learn to be observant. ;)) That's because Sunday has always felt like it's not part of the week. It's its own thing. Sundays make up their own year, a year of church and escape from work and school and, most importantly, the world.

I slept eleven hours last night. Why? I've no clue. Maybe I'm sick and my body is trying to fight it off but I don't know that I'm sick yet. . . . . Hmmm. Maybe, if it's something minor, I won't ever actually feel sick because of all the extra sleep.

I started writing this blog yesterday, in case you were wondering. People interupted me. :)

Friday, July 17, 2009

Summer wind

It doesn't look much like a summer day to me. It's cloudy and kind of dark and rainy-ish looking. Looks like it's going to be a wonderful day. =) Michigan has a lot of clouds. I like them.

So, some of you may remember that at the beginning of the year, I said something about trying to read the NT 15 times this year. I made a schedule to follow and everything with about thirty extra days. It's hard to read twelve plus chapters of the Bible on holidays. It's going well thus far. I think I've actually gotten ahead. (At the beginning, I had to read an average of 11.5 chapters a day, now it's a little less than 10.) The interesting part is that I think this is why I don't have a job. lol

It's true though. Because if I had a job, I really doubt I'd have the determination to spend the required amount of time reading when I suddenly had so much less time in general. A saddening fact of my spiritual life, to be sure. It bothers me immensely. And yet, the fact that I've (through God's grace) been able to stick with it this long is huge to me. It's incredible what it does for your mental process when you just read the Word for 30 minutes to an hour a day.

I started this because I was unhappy with my level of familiarity with the NT. I couldn't have told you where well-known verses were. All I knew about I Corinthians was that it had the communion passage and the verse about being the temple of the Holy Ghost. It was awful. And while I think and hope that I have a better hold on what's in which book, that hasn't been the point of my reading for quite some time now. I've gotten so used to it, that if I don't spend that much time, it feels awkward. If I read a chapter or two of Colossians rather than the book, it feels incomplete. Besides the fact that it's only four chapters! It takes what? Ten minutes?

All my life I've heard, "You don't have to read a lot for devotions. You can just read a few verses, maybe only one." And yes, it's true. But the things we miss because we don't just read. You just sit down and read a normal book, and when you come to something that you have to think about, then you pause and think about it. You mull it over for a day and then start reading again. To be sure the Bible has so much more to offer so there's much more to stop and think about. But still. . . How often do young people who've been saved just end up reading a verse before they go to bed at night in order to satisfy their conscience? I did that for a long time (well, I read a chapter. . . But the Psalms are really short). I was told it was okay.

I'm afraid for the end of the year to come because I don't know what to do next, and I don't want to go back. I want to keep moving forward. I want to do better.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Oh snaps.

I said something stupid yesterday. It's bothering me. But I don't know if saying anything else will help it, or if it's one of those things that should just be left alone because it's forgotten faster that way. . . . Bleh. . . . I'm very bad at knowingly taking risks. . . .

I've found that taking naps lowers my body temperature dramatically. lol But it also makes my head feel funny. . . .

I have a very precise internal clock. I just can't see it. ;)

Fellowship potluck tonight after church. Mom's bringing egg-salad sandwiches. They'll probably be the only real food there. . . There will be lots of sugary things and probably some fruit. And Mom's sandwiches. As a result, they're always a big hit. Plus, they're just good. =)

Church this morning was interesting. I don't know that Pastor has ever taken an entire message in order to review. Granted, he went over like two years' worth of messages, but still. . . . It was interesting. Hm.

There are two kinds of people in the world - those who are looking for someone who is willing join them in their activities and those who are looking for someone who is willing to give up their activities.

Friday, July 10, 2009

Friday

Well, today is John Calvin's 500th birthday. You know what that means? Yep. It's the second annual "Hug a Calvinist" Day. :) I've yet to actually do so though. :P I forgot till just now actually. Haha. I've been telling everybody about it for like a month and then I go and forget. Yeah, that's the way it works.

Equilibrium is a good movie, but it has an awful lot of loop-holes. Too many to try to fix even. It's not like you can get around them. And it's sad. The sad part is that he kills a bunch of people over a dog. . . . Don't get me wrong, I like puppies as much as the next person, but that's a very sad miscalculation of the worth of things. At least the next time he fights the guys, he doesn't kill them.

John Preston is a cool character. But his name is John. There are a lot of main good guys with the name of John. John McClaine. John Rambo. Arnold Schwartzhisface played a few, too, I think. It's a very popular name for good guys. . . . I don't particularly like it myself though. John. It's one of those names that's just alright. /shrug

I'm really glad for things that auto-save. Haha. I just lost my whole post but Blogger saves them periodically, so it's all good. ;)


Some people have the hardest time watching movies. They just can't stand to find out what happens on their own. I try not to do that.

Happy John Calvin's birthday!

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Departures

Dave and Kaylynn are leaving today. They're going back to Florida. :( I have to drive them to the airport. :( :(
lol ;) j/k I'm more sad about them leaving. /sigh I suppose that is the way of it though. Life is full of comings and goings.

I had strange dreams last night. These bad guys were trying to find Dave and Kaylynn and I was like Michael Weston and getting them out of all kinds of trouble. And there were good police guys around, too, but they weren't really on our side, because we were kind of neutral. The weirdest part is that the soccer coach from college was the guy in charge of the good FBI-ish guys. lol So weird. . . lol And at one point, we went to this place that only exists in a video game. . . . D&K were safe there, but they didn't stay there. (So I had to save them again. Hehe. :)) Anyway, I was really cool in that dream, taking care of people and saving the day. . . There was a different one before it where I was, I think, sorta the damsel in distress, but I can't remember it now. :(

It's really easy to get used to nice things. Good things that happen every day - you just get accustomed to them. And then if there's a lapse and it doesn't happen one day, you keep looking for it. . . . Wondering what happened. Where did it go?

I think there's going to be a week of, "Where's Dave? Where's Kaylynn?" lol

I'll have to con Mike into coming over more. lol "Who wants a cookie?" ;)

Don't let me forget to do piano lessons early today.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Did you know...

- Last night was the full moon? It was pretty. Well, maybe it wasn't completely full, but it was close enough to be beautiful. My current calendar doesn't have the phases of the moon on it. . . It's not a very good calendar. It has cats on it. . . :P

- Yesterday was four things at once? Two birthdays in the family, an anniversary, and communion Sunday all rolled into one. Crazy!

- Stupid things can be funny? It's true. You just have to find your specific brand of Stupid. Some people like it all, but they tend to be stupid themselves. . . .

- Burn Notice is new this week? It's true. I know it's confusing because it's summer and then last week they didn't show a new one, but I'm here to keep you all informed. Burn Notice - Thursday nights at nine. (EST)

- Random quotes are so much fun? "Do you know. . . .who I am?" "Watch out for the Oomu!" "Narshlobs coming in from above!"

- There are no current good cartoons? They all stink. They're so bad, I can't even watch them to figure out just how bad they are. You start watching and you actually feel your IQ slipping as your brain turns to mush . . . .

- I need some new music? I need a new soundtrack or something. My stores of music have been memorized and I need a new dozen songs to listen to. (Just to clarify, "need" does not mean "need" here. It's used loosely, like when people go through DT and say, "I need fourteen double cheeseburgers." It simply expresses a desire for something that is stronger than "Yeah, that'd be neat.")

- My cousin is running for Congress? He is! It's so great. =D I hope he wins. lol I think I'd like to go help on Saturday, but it's kind of scary. I have the pitch down pretty well from listening to Aunt Anette, but I've never actually been door-to-door. I think I could do it though. . . .

Christmas anywhere without snow seems an impossibility to me. . . . . Hmm.