:: this is home

just a quick update, since i kinda left everything hanging with me in starkvegas and lots has happened since then.

i'm back in the dirty dell (slidell, la for those unacquainted with the place). before heading home i had to fill my gas tank up for the first time in a good while, and i was unpleasantly surprised. sure, i figured that since the cost of gas had risen since i last filled my gas tank that it would naturally be more expensive. what i didn't know was that it would cost me $48 bucks to do so. and there's more great news! the price for a barrel of oil has gone up by another $16 a barrel, meaning things will continue to get worse and it will get worse a lot quicker. i'm no economist, but i am poor. and i know that soon i'm not going to be able to go anywhere. anyway, enough of that.

so, i got back thursday afternoon and i was greeted by an empty house. it was kinda sad, my mom and dad were still at work and my brother and sister were both at a camp (and they'll still be there for another week). now, i'm not the kinda guy that gets super homesick, but i've got to be honest, i really missed my family over the past few months. i think before this weekend, i'd seem them twice in three months. but soon my mom got home and started cooking the most amazing chicken tortilla soup i've ever had (and that's saying a lot, as i really enjoy a good cup o' chicken tort from mccallister's). i think it was a mixture of the great feeling of being home, the fact that it was the first good, home cooked meal that i've had in a while, and the spices that made that meal amazing. then my mom surprised me with some good desert and my mom and dad and i sat down to watch some jeopardy (which i'd already seen that morning, but didn't admit that. so, of course, i threw in a few of the right answers that i had remembered. gotta keep up the appearance that i'm learning something in school...). after dinner, i headed straight over to becca's (my girlfriend's) house and hung out with her for a good, long while. i really missed her. she's my best friend.

friday was spent from sun up to sun set setting up my hometown church for becca's sister's (rachel's) wedding. by the time we had finished, that blue and gray gymnasium was looking like an amazing, (eloquent even!) dining hall. it was great to see so many ladies from the church volunteering to help get things ready. that night was the rehearsal dinner, to which i was invited. it was all great fun.

saturday morning was spent getting ready for the wedding. i hadn't dressed up in a while, so i had to dig through the closet to find something that both fit and looked good. i did, and headed up to the church. wow. it was a great service. becca looked great, as did rachel. and rachel and her finacee-now-husband micheal were so happy for that day to finally come. after the service and the reception came the breakdown. by this point in the wonderful louisiana weather of the day, things were starting to get uber humid. even in the day that i spent help setting up for the wedding, i had no idea how much there was to breakdown and load back up. so, there was a lot to do and some bad conditions to do it in. that wasn't the most fun part of the day, but i was glad to help out.

today i got to go up to the camp where my brother and sister are staying and hang out with them. it was great to see my brother again (i'd already gotten to see my sister, who came back down for the wedding). tomorrow is gonna be my day to find a job here in slidell. i've got bills to pay back in starkville, and like we discussed earlier, gas and things in general are getting more and more expensive.

i've still got to digest the importance of being foolish (manning) and the imitation of christ (thomas a kempis) but when i get the time i'll post something. also, lots of good music coming up soon too, i'll be sure to listen and give a rundown.

lastly, if you look down at the "comments" section of the last post, you'll notice that there actually is another person who at least stumbled upon this blog. that gesture is much appreciated. so, i thought i'd return the favor. you can join me in checking her blog out here. good stuff. sure, i'm aware i might have just refered this blog's only other reader/browser to her own blog, but you never know...

anyway, hope this next week goes well for all of you...

more to come...

:: thoughts on a few good books...

work has been slowing down a bit. the first couple of weeks i had to answer calls back-to-back. but since then, there have been a lot of new hires and now it's to the point where i get a call every half an hour.needless to say, that can lead to lots of free time where all you can do is stare at the walls of your cubicle. so i've been bringing a book and reading in between calls. and i've been able to read a lot. so far i've finished tracy kidder's justice to the action that farmer has taken just to stop at that. it's really stirred a desire to do more. it's something that, as a christian, i know i'm supposed to be doing anyway. but this is a story that shows how practical and important it is to do something that will make a difference in the lives of those around me, in the lives of the poor and down-trodden, in the lives of the people that everyone else would have given up on. here's a video interview that 60 minutes did with farmer in cange, haiti and zanmi lasante. it will give you more of a picture of farmer's life's work. also, you can check out his organization, partner's in health, in the list of links to the right...



after that great book, i started reading an completely different book. chuck palahniuk's fight club is a book that i've been looking forward to getting to. i really liked the movie, starring brad pitt and edward norton (oh, and meatloaf). so, i was eager to read the book and see how they stacked up. and they did so surprisingly well. there were some parts that were omitted from the movie, but i could see why some of them were left out to keep the story moving. there are some lines in the movie that are directly from the book. that's another thing that i've really enjoyed about the book. palahnuik has a great style of writing. he keeps things short and to the point, but each short line is packed. he also writes in a style that both makes sense with the major plot twist of the story and also seems to vibrate on the same wavelength as my brain. what i mean to say is, it's very random and fast-paced. there are whole chapters that seem to jump back and forwards between two stories almost seamlessly. this book, like the movie, isn't for the faint of heart. there is a good bit of violent, graphic content. but i really enjoyed reading it. it was actually one of the fastest reads i've ever been through.

i'd like to get into the importance of being foolish, as i love manning's take on religion and grace, but it's getting late. i've already gotten a lot out of the first half of the book. but i want to finish it, probably tomorrow, and then i'll get back here and share my thoughts on it.

more to come...

:: all is fair in love and spelling bees

those of you who know me might not know of a dirty little secret that i've kept well hidden for a while. i really enjoy watching the scripps national spelling bee. i don't know why. i'm an awful speller. i rely on firefox's auto-spell checker to keep me from looking like a complete idiot. and you never really need to know any of the words they spell in the bee anyway. i mean, why would you need to know that aptyalism is "an absence or deficiency of saliva" or that kulturkampf is german for "conflict between civil government and religious authorities". but these kids know how to spell those words. i think the reason i like to watch the spelling bee is that these kids are doing something that a majority of the population would consider geeky or nerdy or wierd, but these kids enjoy spelling. sure, they stress out about the definition or the part of speech or the etymology of the word, but when they get through a round or past a word, there is a certain look of jubilation on their faces. maybe it's because i know i could do that so i'm more appreciative of what they put into this competition. or maybe it's because i'm a dork. anyway, i've been watching the spelling bee, which concluded last night in primetime on abc with sameer mishra winning it all by spelling guerdon which means, ironically, "a reward, recompense".

after that, i finally sat down and watched there will be blood, the ocsar-nominated film for best picture and oscar-winning film for best actor daniel day lewis. it's an interesting movie. it's not an action movie, as some people might get from the title. it's a movie about the slow decent of a silver miner turned oil tycoon into greed and hatred of human kind. great casting and acting, especially by daniel day lewis, for his portrayal of daniel plainview, and paul dano, who plays eli sunday, the local pastor of the church of the 3rd revelation. the movie's presentation of dano's character is one that has some very interesting parallels to today's brand of financial prosperity gospel and just the general quickness of many of us to sell out the most important things for a quick buck or the promise of financial security. sunday is quick to talk his father into selling their oil-rich land for a sizable donation to his church. sunday is seen a faker, someone who is putting on "one hell of a show" as plainview remarks, but who is ultimately a phony. even when sunday gets the money to build his super-church, he wants more. the second to last time we see sunday, he is boarding a church so that he can "go on mission", but the audience knows that he's take most of the money that he's gotten from plainview and he's off to make a name for himself and to make himself rich. the last scene of the movie shows a desperate eli begging plainview for money because he's starting to loose all of his investments in the great depression. plainview agrees to give eli money, if he first announces to plainview and to god that he is "a false prophet" and that "god is a supersistion." eli gives the idea only a little thought before renouncing god and turning his back on religion for the money. at first, i was a little condemning of sunday's actions, and quick to liken him to today's modern right-wing "wackos" like joel osteen and benny hinn. it's easy to make those parallels to the people who promise riches or that they will heal you and then ask for money. but when i thought about it more, how would i deal with things? i'm a poor college student who hopes to get married inside of two years. what would i do for money? it's definitely worth a thought. and i like movies that make you think about things. the movie isn't even about sunday, but the story is the same for plainview, as you watch his decent into greed and hatred for money and comfort. it's just interesting to take the story from sunday's perspective. anyway, i recommend this movie. don't expect action or buckets of blood, but watch the movie as an introspective story. it will challenge you to think about things.

well, only 5 more days of work here in starkville and then i get to go back home. i'm gonna miss hanging out with my roommates and the friends that i've made at work, but i really miss my girlfriend (who i found out actually reads this, at least she saw it once. that make one...) and my family and friends back home. also, i'm excited because when i get back home, me and my girlfriend get to start recording some songs. we bought a recording system a few weeks back and we only really got to play with it once before i had to leave for starkville again. so, i'll be back home on thursday, and then friday and saturday will be spent celebrating my girlfriend's sister's wedding (for which i was trusted enough to pick out the music for). so, there might be one more entry from starkville and then i'll be bringing you the blog from the dirty dell.

more to come...