friday random 10: go lasers!

i tell ya, it feels good to be back into a routine. being able to come home, sit at a desk, and type a little bit for your enjoyment adds a little bit of home to this far away land. this weekend, i'm planning on watching the entire third season of 24, helping a friend build a fireplace, cleaning, trying out a new church, and buying a new car! let's see how it's going to pan out....

1. "Feel Fine" - Augustana
2. "He Was There" - David Crowder Band
3. "Worlds Apart" - Jars Of Clay
4. "Two Coins" - Dispatch
5. "Hemorrhage (In My Hands)" - Fuel
6. "Rearviewmirror" - Pearl Jam
7. "Late Night Radio" - David Gray
8. "Bunnies" - Howie Day
9. "Amsterdam" - Guster
10. "Did I Fool Ya?" - Jason Mraz

hmmm...one must refer to how i feel watching dvds on my enormous tv. three clearly represents the distance between me and #2. :o( eight, on there other hand, clearly means that she will be here with me soon. :o) and ten of course refers to me buying a new car this weekend.... ;o)

you don't know me, you don't even care....

hey kids!

i know it's been f'ing forever since my last post, but i have plenty of excuses. i moved halfway across the country, moved into a new apartment, bought thousands (and thousands!) of dollars worth of new stuff, started a new job, and boy does having a girlfriend take up some time. so, as it's quite late here on the east coast, here are some pics from the past month to tide you over until tomorrow's friday random 10!

here are #2 and me in texas....

here's the texas apartment as i'm packing....

man bites dog....

here's mom in the atlanta apartment....

here's me giddy that i have cable on my HUGE tv....

more to come....

is this the real life? is this just fantasy?

so much to report! first an update on the casino trip...i won almost exactly the amount i had to spend to fix my car. it's like God wants me to gamble or something, right? the bad news (or good news, depending on your point of view) is that i seem to have lost my love for the game. it doesn't hold the same allure it once did. could i have mastered the game and it no longer challenges me? has it gained too much exposure and now conflicts with my indie nature? do the people at the tables smell too foul? any of the above could be true, but it boils down to me being ok with playing a lot less poker once i leave texas.

thanksgiving was incredible...both of them. and the second one was followed by "black friday." i don't understand this term. we, as americans, should celebrate this day as a bastion of capitalism. i was at office depot at six in the morning to pick up a digital camera...the digital camera that took this picture:


that, of course, is my roommate, who hilariously took this picture:


laying with me is, of course, maddy, who also appears in this picture:


holding maddy in that picture is, of course, #2, who also appears in this picture:



next to #2 is, of course, her boyfriend--me. that's right, i of all people now have a girlfriend! many of you anticipated this coupling, and i applaude you. and i applaude myself for at long last figuring out what a great girl she is and convincing her to go out with me. as she is an avid reader of this blog, i'll omit most of the details, but know that i'm so happy and want this to last a really long time. though i have the feeling "#2" will not last as her pseudonym in this space or as her pet name in real life....

friday random 10: sittin next to vanna white....

hey kids! after a brief hiatus, the random 10 has returned. this is an action-packed weekend! in mere seconds i'm headed to shreveport to get my last poker fix for a long while, tomorrow is our annual thanksgiving potluck, and sunday i'm going to get some, like, culture and see a play. i'm very excited....

1. "Halfway Home" - Jason Mraz
2. "Carry You" - Dispatch
3. "Slow Jamz" - Kanye West, Twista & Jamie Foxx
4. "Don't Dream It's Over" - Crowded House
5. "All The Way Up To Heaven" - Guster
6. "I Don't Wanna Be (live)" - Gavin DeGraw
7. "Rough And Tumble" - Tribe America
8. "String Quartet No 2 - Nocturne - Borodin" - Various Artists
9. "How to Be Dead" - Snow Patrol
10. "Sweetly Fly" - Huckleberry

hmmm...this is a tricky one. one may well refer to the location where i get a speeding ticket as i tend to on gambling trips. three could (hopefully?) refer to tonight when i share a hotel room with #2. scandalous! i'm sure i'll be thinking of four during dinner tomorrow night when my closest friends are gathered together for one of my favorite college events. six and nine most likely refer to the poker tonight...as in "i don't wanna be" going home broke...again, nor do i want that feeling to teach me "how to be dead." ten and five certainly refer to the way i feel at the thanksgiving dinner and its two fried turkeys, homemade macaroni and cheese, cornbread, dirt, and sparkling grape juice. mmm...thanksgiving....

what would you say if i told you that i won't be by today? would you say that i'm just a bus driver?

i tell ya, nothing can drive a man to blogging like anger. today i had to teach, so i took the trolley as i normally do. now, the driver of this particular trolley route and i have a touch of history. it's certainly nothing torrid as you readers might hope, just one filled with the peccadillos that make me think someone hates me, as i tend to do. in this case though, it seems i might have been right.

so today i was approaching the trolley stop when i see the trolley pull up. as it starts to leave, i'm still about thirty feet from the actual stop, so i move toward the middle of the street with my right hand raised, indicating my desire to board the trolley. instead of pulling over the trolley he'd been accelerating for a total of about three seconds and opening the door, he accelerated more, steered the trolley around me, looked me in the eyes, waved his finger, shook his head, and mouthed "NO!" i stood in the street dumbfounded. i looked at other passersby for explanation. they offered none, for there was none.

the trolley driver literally went out of his way to be mean to me. is being fifteen seconds late to a trolley--that is on a loose schedule at best--such a horrible offense? have the monsters instilled in him a cynicism that surpasses even my own? i returned to the safety of the sidewalk and watched as the trolley turned the corner. i'm not one to anger so easily, but my face warmed with the flames of anger despite the whipping winds. what do i say to this person the next time i need a ride to campus? "hi!"? "thanks for the ride!"? "please sir, may i enter this trolley if it fancies you?"? maybe i should just stay home....

i wanna shine on in the hearts of men....

(save this for later if you're not ready for bad news.)

my pastor died today. right in front of my eyes. right in front of his wife's eyes and those of the rest of congregation. we watched as he was pulled from the baptistry after being electrocuted in a freak accident. we watched as loved ones and then emergency medical technicians attended to him, trying to save his life. we watched, with tears in our eyes, as he was carted out of the church that he built. an hour later, we found out he had died.

i'm fine. i don't need consolation or to talk it out. i don't need to ask why, and i'm not angry at God. don't get me wrong; i've cried more today than just about any other day, and it's definitely in contention for the worst-day-of-my-life honor. he was a great man who deeply impacted my life. my theology, worldview, and life as a whole have changed considerably since i began attending his church, and those changes were in large part due to what he preached every week. and it is those changes that are getting me through this.

when i cry, it is for his wife who lost her thirty-three year old husband. it is for their three young children, who i pray will remember him. it is for the church that he built and that i call my home. they need God's grace and peace. please keep his family and church in your prayers.

friday random 10: coming home....

it's homecoming! woohoo! wait, that actually has absolutely no impact on my life. hmm...well it is the weekend, and i am excited about that. friend #1 is coming into town, i MIGHT go to the football game tomorrow, and we get to talk about garden stae at church this weekend. please itunes, tell me something good....

1. "Bigger than my Body" - John Mayer
2. "Wake Up" - Rage Against The Machine
3. "Our Love Is Loud" - David Crowder Band
4. "Indefinitely" - Travis
5. "Hurry Up And Wait" - Stereophonics
6. "Ready For The Rain" - Dime Store Prophets
7. "Ocean Song" - The Regulars
8. "Idyl for Strings - Adagio - Janacek" - Various Artists
9. "From Here You Can Almost See the Sea" - David Gray
10. "Ebay (Parody of "I Want It That Way" by the Backstreet Boys)" - "Weird Al" Yankovic

yikes! a bit of a water them with six, seven, and nine eh? no clue what those mean...atlanta is, like, far from the ocean and stuff, right? two is what i hope not to do when the stupid parade marches in front of my apartment. four is of course refering to my dissertation. ten might allude to the three hours of fiddling with my computer last night. if you want a new browser, check out mozilla firefox or opera, the mouse gestures are great!