College Party Crashers

Wow I totally forgot to mention my kick ass camping trip last weekend. That's something I want blogged for posterity. Last weekend I went and stayed at Plunge with 6 friends and it was a much better trip than even I could have imagined. I was kinda tired and cranky but the delicious food and company and abundant laughter (and 4 dogs) made me forget many worries for a while...and watching Andy and Ian go off the slide on boogie boards was more than worth it.
This past weekend I discovered something very important: apparently I'm too old for Ben Kweller concerts. Katherine and I went and saw him at the Grey Eagle on Saturday night. We got our beers and were standing around talking about stuff like carpal tunnel and kids when suddenly we stopped and realized something shocking to us: we were a minority in the room, as 90% of the people there were between 18 and 21. It was like crashing a college party only more expensive. Thank God I'm not that age anymore, no?
Anyway, no word on the job front just yet and I'm getting nauseous thinking about it so don't ask. Literally may cry from stress, but I'm believing that my needs will be supplied. That's why I got the Jesus.

Sweetness

I feel like there is a lot going on that I don't feel like blogging about, and thus my blog scuttles around talking about everything else. It's keeping itself busy, much the same as me. My biggest prayer recently has been for wisdom--not the kind to spread pearls to others, but the wisdom to know the right choices to make and the guts to do them. The wisdom to know trust and worth in Christ, no matter the circumstances. That's been the biggest thing this summer: living in that assurance and experiencing the peace there. Hard to explain but it is sweet. Life is sweet, isn't it? No matter what is going on or how hard it can be, there really is a sweetness to it all. I don't know what is up with all the life metaphors lately and for that I apologize, but there is much to pick through and the skills to do it are being developed on the fly.

Flight of the Conchords

So there's this new show on HBO that I watched with Katherine and Andy the other day and I think it might be one of the funniest, most bizarre things I've seen in quite a while. It's a show/musical centered around Jermaine and Bret, two New Zealand-ers (Kiwi's if you will) who move to NY and are in a band. But it's so much more bizarre than that. They break out into song randomly, like this clip. Awesome.





And then they also actually perform as a band too....a very serious song.

Impending Tornado

Sometimes life feels like it's a stroll down a beautiful, secluded mountain trail. It's mysterious but not dangerous, solitary but not cloistered, brisk but not too difficult. Other times life is that same secluded mountain trail, but its path is full of sharp, scattered rocks, roots, downed trees, rabid animals and an impending tornado.

Just an observation.

There's a whole lot to say and no words to truly say it. I'm suddenly in a place where I've put people before but never quite been myself. So that's new and fun. And if by fun I mean impending tornado fun then yes, totally fun. The biggest thing I think I've learned this summer is just how not in control I am, and how that's a good thing because when I am in control shit just sorta flies pell mell. Things have changed very quickly this summer both for the better and for the worse (or at least appearing that way initially) like there hasn't been any middle ground. No gradual shifts; it's like a 16-year old learning to drive standard. Mostly I've been the overly chatty back seat driver through all of it. Much of it seems to be coming to an end, a head, or a crossroads, and you just can't imagine how much I love all three of those all at once with little idea as to the what next in any way. I don't mean to sound as if I'm complaining, I'm just tired and a little mopey. But the more I live the more I have to cling to the belief that things have a way of working out and it's not by my hand. That's not to sound fatalistic it's to sound relieved. Slowly I'm learning peace no matter the circumstance. Thank God for that.

And thank God that Brad Pitt's doppelganger lives in Asheville and asked for my number.

Seriously.

He's on my quizzo team next monday. Bringin' the camera.

Awesome! ...or Apocalyptic.

I read yesterday that Robert Plant and Alison Krauss are releasing an album together this fall. I can't tell if this is awesome or a sign of the impending Apocalypse and thus began to think of other things that could fall in a similar category. My current list:

• Gogurt

• Premade peanut butter and jelly sandwiches available in the frozen food aisle.
  

• The Flowbee

• The robot vacuum

• The Wii

• Skinny Jeans on boys

• The 2004 collaboration of Nelly and Tim McGraw

• “The Simple Life” has lasted 4 seasons

• Tamaguchi pets

• “Scary Movie” actually became a movie franchise

• A New Indiana Jones movie due out in 2008.

• Rupert Murdoch buys the Wall Street Journal

Bullet Points

Hello friend, been a long time. Not really but it just seems like it's been a long time, and the appearance of distance is enough to make me feel neglectful. The interweb of America told me so. Things that have happened since the last time I blogged:

• Robin and I made Leslie the best/worst care package to ever be mailed. We deserve high fives and/or smacks upside the head. Anyone want a Misty cigarette?

• Josh and I got Mamacita's burritos and drove up to Craggy Gardens to watch the sunset. It was imperfect and a moment of time I pray will never lose it's sweetness. That is what I love about summer: memories imperfect and delicious. Like homegrown fruit.

• Took car in to have transmission rebuilt. Do not pass go, do not collect any money, but give away a lot. Car once again really, really fun to drive.

• Flew to VA for Amber and Mark's wedding. God bless open bars and gin and tonics, cuz that was a HOT evening. I did actually cheer and fist pump when they were pronounced; that should happen at more weddings. Another chock full visit to the LoCo—time out driving around with my oldest sister in the 1987 F-150 pickup that was my first car that my Dad still keeps around, dinner with Dad and Lori, riding back roads with Amy Jones, drinks with the Bafton, a brief visit with Romano, some quality time on Natalie's couch, etc. Stayed with Michelle and Dave; I'm truly blessed.

• Learning the sweetness and love involved in discipline. Understanding lines and boundaries are meant to be out of love, not out of spite. Mulling over Hebrews 12:12-13. “Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. Make level paths for your feet, so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.” Trying to make level paths.

• Still no idea what I'm doing for work in, oh, three weeks. Any suggestions?

• Sustained drama in one's life is a choice. Choose no.

• Would punch you in the face for a chicken biscuit right now. Sorry, honest craving.