Life Goal #0743902: Completed

Everyone needs to sled down a hill on the back of an big inflatable yellow seal. No exceptions.

I Heart Whiskey

I have watched two movies in the last twenty-four hours. Both of them are over a year old, but I just now got around to watching them. Million Dollar Baby is amazing. If you want a character driven movie that is not boring, then you should see it. Ray flat out stinks. I have no idea why so many people raved that movie. Sure Jamie Foxx gives a decent performance, but the directing is flat and the screenplay is boring. Oh well, now I'm a more culturally well rounded person. That what I'll tell myself. I'm really enjoying my pre-break break. I have one more final, Music History, on Tuesday before I'm really done. I shoveled our driveway today and it was beautifully biting-cold work. I think that's one of my favorite outside jobs. The only thing that would have been better is if it had been dark yet clear so you could see the stars and a full moon. We had whiskey fennel sausage for dinner. I love whiskey fennel sausage!!! I think it may just be because whiskey is in the name. Whiskey, whiskey, whiskey!!!

Happy to be Here

Tonight I have reaffirmed two universal truths.

#1: I like looking at snow. As I sat in One World, eating their raspberry cheesecake and watching the snow come down, I got a very happy feeling.

#2: I do not like driving in snow. I almost killed a pair of drunk Chi-O's who ran across the street in front of my car, as it slid on the snow, trying to avoid a taxi that pulled out in front of me. No that I have any great affection for Chi-Os, but I don't want to kill them.

It would ruin the happy feeling in my stomach.

By the way, the Bradley Women's Choir sounded as good as they have ever sounded tonight. I was very impressed, even if they did illegally use lo-Jost-ics. I think I will forgive them though.

Yay for the end of the semester!

Bohemia?

I just saw Rent. Well, yesterday I saw Rent. I never have to see it again.

I always thought it would be a joyous experience: to watch a group of non-traditional, information age bohemians romp around NYC and generally stomp on the system. I was wrong. I have fancied that I am becoming a more open-minded, liberal Christian, but this movie brought me to my limit. To see a "live for the moment and the devil may care" lifestyle exalted as the most pure form of existence saddened me to the point of nausea. I love the music and alot of the songs out of context, but the context was maddening.

As Christians, how do we love in a way that will rip the heart out of the masses, tear it up, and reform it into one that is open to the gospel? I know that only Christ can do it but how do we turn ourselves into conduits for that kind of love?

Rent does get one thing right. Love is the only way to measure a life.

Maybe Bohemia has that one over the church.

Maybe we can be a new Bohemia.

Thank You

Today is Thanksgiving. I haven't posted on here in forever. I've been really busy. Today I get to be thankful. There is so much to be thankful for. I don't know where to begin.

God has given me so much. He's given me a house, food, an amazing school filled with awesome people, an amazing dad, mom, brother and sister, an incredible girlfriend, a car that runs, a guitar amp, a bed, a backyard full of dirt, a tree with no leaves on it so you can see the stars, a history, a present, a future, a nose, ears that can hear, fingers, skin, an imagination, music theory class, fullvolume, friends, vibrations, particles, waves, colors, mountains, lakes, lakes in the mountains, rivers, grace, mercy, hope, love, love, love.

Thank You. I don't tell You enough. I never will be able to, but in this moment, be praised by one who doesn't deserve You.

Gloria In Excelsis Deo

Guest Blogger #2: e. e. cummings

I'm tired, so it's time for another...Guest Blogger!!!

i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday;this is the birth
day of life and love and wings:and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any--lifted from the no
of all nothing--human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

These Are Real Words Now

Let me instruct you in some of my obscure vocabulary from yesterday.

Mmphphphmnnnangng. This is what you say when you wake up and you realize that at some bizarre moment in your sleep you have bitten your tongue and can no longer speak, yawn, chew or swallow without extreme pain shooting into your ear from your mouth.

Mmllammungmmmmumm. This is the sound you make when you realize your chili dog is soft enough to chew without causing significant dicomfort.

Aauugghghghrruuungnahh. This is the sound you make when you find out that your car has been boxed in the parking lot and there is no way you will be able to get to work on time under your own power.

Whaauuhhhummuaahhuuuh. This is the sound you make when someone turns on Christmas music before the end of October.

That will end the lesson for today. Happy Halloween! I'm dressing as Dr. Heinemann.

Blowing Up Bridges

I've always considered myself a republican. When I was was little I equated democrats with the powers of darkness, or at least the St. Louis Cardinals. Now that I'm older, I still consider myself a republican, but the feeling of superiority has left me. Republicans are just as stupid as democrats.

Case in point: I have been told that our republican government has made it illegal to photograph any bridge, anywhere, anytime. They have done it in the name of homeland security, protecting us from terrorists. Can you say violation of Freedom of the Press? You know, I admire President Bush, but sometimes he really can be dumb. Where does this line of reasoning stop? Will soon not be able to take pictures of skyscrapers? They might blow those up too. What about any structure? Couldn't they come and destroy nearly anything?

If this is true, I am disproportionately upset about it. There is a fine line between protection and being a bully. I am not convinced that our leaders have not crossed that line.

There Is Too Much Beauty to Quit

I am inadequate. Enough said.

Celebrations

Well, I have reached an important milestone in my life. I am now officially certified to work bakery and register at Panera, the avacados could not get me down. Hooray for me. We'll ignore the fact that they gave me the answers to the test. Anyway, I feel pretty much the same. my passing of the test did nothing for me, kind of like my last birthday.

Ben Sparks turns nineteen tomorrow, so Jake and I ran to Walmart, bought a cake, covered the living room with streamers, autumn colors, and blew up twenty-nine balloons, one popped in my face. Despite our best efforts, tomorrow will pass, the balloons will shrink and pop, the streamers will be torn down and the cake will go where all cake eventually goes. This momentous occasion will fade into history and nothing will really change. Ben will be who he was today.

I will also remain the same person, even though I now can boast of my recent professional achievements. Nothing inside of me has changed. So why do I live my life as if every event will some how transform me into a faster, stronger, better me? It is because I forget. I forget that I have done this a thousand times before. I have come to a million milestones and each one just leaves me feeling a little more tired from the journey, except for one. I'll let you guess what that one looked like.

Oh, and Happy Birthday Ben!