Premonition:

I didn't realize this until just now. During small group tonight I only said one word...

"die"

Yup, that's it. Other random things from today... I practiced drawing straight lines, we found Mark, and lastly a strange 'premonition'. Earlier in the afternoon I remembered distinctly a few words that Tiffany passed onto me about David and his Psalms. No leading conversation or even a connecting train of thought. I just remembered it. Then I come home late to find a beautiful note from her on my desk. Gotta add ESP to my list of skills. Someone managed to infiltrate and get it on my desk. I'm a little concerned about the security of my room now. I thought I was the only one who was sneaky around here!

p.s. Mark is listening to the Top Gun sound track. And speaking of Tiff, Ronny has forever ruined the song 'Take My Breath Away' for me. Sorry.

Ouuuch:

Holy cow! That was the most intense hangboard workout ever. Whoever made that up must be absolutely sick. Please note: my arms may not be moveable tomorrow. Don't be offended if I fail to complete a waving motion or give you the dead fish hand shake. This may be the case every week if we (guys in the house) continue to egg each other on like this.

Dog:

Happy New Year!
Gong hei fa choi... now you're supposed to give me a little red envelope with money in it.

Also, slightly updated :)

If:

If you were a musical instrument, what would you be?

What would I be? I've got one in mind already, but I'm curious about what you think.

Company:

It happens to the best of us. I wrote out this whole post on the first day of classes and whatnot, but it managed to get erased with the internet acting a little whacky over here. So what happened the other day? Not much really, as I think back on it. I hope to make the chapel a regular, weekly event this semester. Most people haven't experienced what it's like to sit down for a few hours and feel how intense quietness can be. Missing out, I tell you. Come on by, company would be cool.

Also, I hope Thursday lunch at the SCDH will become a weekly tradition this semester too. Ryan rides me in at 11 and I don't have class until 12:30 so there's sort of a break there. I ran into Kayla, Holly, and Mark today. It made me feel so young eating with the freshmen in the dining hall. Oh the good ole days of Monday lunches...

Home:

It's good to be home again. The boys are, indeed, back in town now. And I guess the girls too... given the girl to guy ratio of tonight's activity. Good times with Apples to Apples. I usually never win at competitive group games. Diana and I tied for first place, smoking everyone else with five whole points each. What a quality game... though it's no Guess Who?, that's for sure.

I think I've begun to pick up an odd habit from NO. Lately, I'll pick up some random/weird and just wear it. Tonight I found a strange hanger-clip contraption that says "Villager" with the subtext "a liz claiborne company" written underneath. It sits fashionably snapped around my right belt loop and I've grown a little fond of it over the past few hours. Maybe this odd fascination originated from the zulu mardi gras beads. Or maybe further back when wearing spaghetti sauce on your work shirt was a fad. Who knows?

Currently listening to, and digging Kings of Convenience's "Winng A Battle, Losing The War". So chiiiillllll.

News:

A billion people died on the news tonight.

Life comes at you fast. Tonight on ABC news there were an uncanny string of stories that caught my attention. I don't usually even watch the news. First, a family of five were shot dead in Baltimore, supposedly by an angry boyfriend. In Columbia, a stray bullet hit a four year old boy in the head, leaving him in critical condition at the time of reporting. Lastly, they showed a short clip of an Black woman from New Orleans getting upset with the missing peoples situation, including her mother. They titled the story 'Raw Emotion'. In light of all the talking and learning about what the Bible has to say about cities, these seem all too relevant. But even so, just like the many other times I've heard this sort of morbid news, I'm still not sure what to do. Right now I mourn. I mourn because of the violence that comes from a network of people being selfish. I mourn because I feel like I know that woman and her missing mom, that she was my neighbor in New Orleans. I mourn because people will see these news stories and come away unsympathetic, and then go to bed and wake up the next morning to continue their daily cycle.

I want to go back. This I know for sure. I've seriously thought about what it would look like to raise funds for another trip, maybe a week... and what it might look like to fundraise for a semester and all the logistics and organizing I'd have to do. Though praying through it thus far seems to point in the 'not yet' direction. I don't know. I do know that I will always miss it. I have a good feeling that someday I'll be back there to leave a little more of my heart down there.

NOLA:

I didn't do the best job of journaling on the trip, but I did take down a few thoughts as those twelve days passed. I'll post up a few reflections while they're still fresh in my mind. Don't expect them all to make sense, and they may not be in chronological order but I'll try my best:

- As soon as we entered a devastated area the van became dead silent
- I was affirmed in my ability to feel and empathize with the sadness, loss, depression, hopelessnss
- I, and perhaps others, wanted to see the destruction and effects of Katrina ("oh, the ninth ward got hit the hardest? I want to see!" and "I want to see a car up in a tree")... makes it a little bit easier to see where the people who go to NO on destruction tours are coming from
- The boys hit the town part one, when we saw the most gutter punks... they're a crazy but kind of cool people. I can see myself being like one of them, oddly.
- Separate guys and girls for a while, but then bring them back together and it's just exciting
- Some boys hit the town part two, Bourbon street this time. Anything you want to see, feel, or hear... it's there. A lot of talent, a lot of sin, a lot of diversity but a lot of separation
- Jonathan (yonder fan.. I'm sorry! It was my first try) is so much more fun when Cheryl's not around, and by that I mean less rational i guess
- Boys have a real talk, I like that
- Shattered Cat and their trees... that was some really fun climbing
- Quiet time, fresh air, porch, swinging bench... so beautiful I couldn't help but smile
- Having to get over that Myron did not hate us
- That horrible work day... oh where was the team?
- There are some mind games we should never play... they'll only end in hurting hearts
- Guess who? Who would of guessed?
- The Newlyweds game, Tiff and I headed up some awesome questions
- MJ's and a pirate... maybe some of the most WTC moments
- Airports and airplanes, prepare to watch us be embarassing
- Our team was/is a body... a demolitioning machine... I may have been like an ear and an elbow... an earbow... or maybe also a little like the teeth since I could cut things... an earboweeth
- Regret is simply not an option
- Best destruction moment, when that entire ceiling came down
- Funniest ending moment, I'm introduced as "And this is Bert, he likes Grothe's too"... I mean, it's not untrue but who says that?

It's now almost midnight and it's certainly almost bedtime. A lot of other life stuff (ie. school logistics and all that catching up jazz) comes at ya fast. Poor Cobert has caught pneumonia. But I hope to never stop sorting memories and reminiscing because the learning and doing must spill over.

Makeover:

Just trying something new. It sort of hurts my eyes so I may not stick with it.

Fatty:

So the cast came off today. The first thing they instructed me to do, and I don't blame them, was to hit the sink and use a lot of soap. Oh and this time, I did keep the cast. Unfortunately my thumb has undergone further atrophy than I had anticipated. The doctor said this condition is perfectly normal and I guess in the back of my mind I kind of knew it would be like this. Oh well, full strength will come in a couple of weeks. My thumb, in fact, has not dwindled down to a toothpick. On the contrary, it's actually fatter than my other thumb. And there's the problem. My once-lean left thumb is so lardy, I can hardly bend it. As I exercize that muscle, it will eventually gain mobility and strength like a normal thumb should have. Until then, I'll just have keep the strain low.

Today (it's 1 AM Friday) is, indeed, a special day:

1. First, it's Änna's birthday. Happy Birthday!

2. My sister comes into town.

3. It is officially (as I have now ordained it) NOLA Packing Day.

4. Tomorrow holds the ultimate slumber party :)

5. Today (well, technically yesterday) was Jeff's birthday. What a cool spiderman... I mean, kid.

My hand still stinks even though I've washed and soaped it raw. I'm gonna have to spray it down with something ;)

Hoo:

Just some updates. Yesterday ended with a ridiculous Orange bowl game. Today I woke up and had lunch with Joel, Esther, and Charley (I don't know his last name). It was loads of fun. After lunch, we walked around the mall a bit. Esther is so funny! Her and sales make a bad mix. That's it; that was the highlight of my day. I love those crazy kids.

Update: holy cow! Some older-looking guy just proposed to his girlfriend on Jeopardy... whaaat? Who does that?

Dozing:

I might have caught up on a little sleep. My flight came in around 11 am and we grabbed lunch at a pretty good Chinese restaurant. I think we got home around 12:30 and I immediately went to sleep. I think I woke up at 8 pm, took a shower, ate a chocolate snack, and then proceded to go back to sleep. Next thing I know, it's 9:30 in the morning. That's close to 20 hours. Let's see, what's new...

Beau has updated his Xanga. First time in a bit.

Jason has apparently cut his hair.

Dana and Änna have an adventure. Änna is also sporting a new sitemeter that is messing up her right-side navigation bar.

Leslie gives a large update on her Xanga.

Jeff IM'ed me to tell me about his new purchace. An Xbox360. Cha-ching! I don't think our house will see sunlight next semester.

Now I'll probably go do a sudoku, unless I can find something more interesting. Brian reminded me, what about late night scrabble?

Blogtastic:

Yeah, I've definitely been on a blogging spree lately. A lot to update, I guess.

And so ends this year's adventure in Houston. And thus ends the 80 degree weather, but will be returning to probably similar weather not a week later. Tomorrow morning I'll be back in MD and I won't know what to do with myself. Maybe clean up a little. Catch up on some sleep. No plans for Wednesday yet. Thursday I get my cast off, finally. Friday I should be packing. And what's going on Saturday? Maybe dinner in EC or something? Perhaps go clubbing through the night? I'm sure there's some havok we could work up.

Lakewood:

Early this morning we decided to go to Lakewood church, just to say that we've gone. In case you haven't heard about it, Lakewood is a mega church in Houston that's one of those churches that broadcasts its services on national television. They now meet in a newly renovated building that used to be the Staples Center (or where the Houston Rockets used to play) so they fit about 16,000 in their "santuary". It's ridiculous.

First, their message is so... de-Jesusfied. It's mostly a feel good message all through out, that basically you will receive good stuff and God will fulfill all that you want. Prosperity gospel at it's finest. They also emphasize how "you are a conquerer" and a "victor" if you believe in God. Some of it just made me sick. But that's just the half of it.

There is so much money put into that place. I don't know about the rocky stream structures that flow down on either side of the stage. Or the stage itself that lights up and actually moves. Or the excessive use of LCD panelling that was only being used for decoration (believe me, I know how much some of that stuff costs). Oh yeah, who could forget the 10 foot rotating golden globe at the back of the stage. Blaah... big churches.

2006:

Happy New Year!

Alright 2006, let's dance.