Nothing

I've been sitting here trying to think of some clever/funny/honest/insightful blog post for over an hour but I have nothing.

So, thanks for reading anyway. In the past few weeks I have gotten some really positive feedback from my blog; makes me feel good to know that people 1) read my blog and 2) like it.

Hopefully, I will have more content soon. All I have now is nothing but time.

Random Thoughts

Missed a post last night. Went out in Denver and didn't get home till 3:15 and was too tired to do anything but sleep. A super fun night but I ran into some peeps from high school - my least favorite part of living back home.

Went to the Broncos game tonight with my dad (we won!). This might be my fav perk of moving home: getting to cash in on our season tickets

I found myself really missing friends from college today. Stalked them on fb then felt better about things.

I'm slowly but surely getting more and more anxious about the job possibility in Parker. I just want to know so I can get on with life. I'm bored of waiting.

I think my computer died today, it gave me a good 5+ years. I will be using my parents until I have money for a new one. That might take a while.

Today I can't stop thinking about what my life would be like if I were hired in Shawnee Mission. I don't hate anything about those thoughts except, of course, that they aren't reality.

I haven't been to a real church since I've been back. I don't like the church I went to in high school anymore and I'm pretty sure that I don't want to make a new community.

Hmm. I just read these straight through and realized that maybe I am not at peace with where I am as much as I thought I was. I don't know why. I do really like Aurora and the people around Denver that I hang out with. I guess I hate that I am still in an inbetween stage; I'm not in college, I'm not employed, I don't have a plan that I can control, I'm waiting and growing impatient.

You Might Think I'm Heartless

So in college, one of my room mates, Mafro, would always tell me that I was heartless because I am from Colorado. I don't remember why he came to that conclusion but my best guess is that I tend to laugh at people when they get hurt. I consider it a character flaw and have worked to correct it, unfortunately, all of my attempts have been unsuccessful.

In addition to that I think there might be another part of me that some would consider heartless. I really don't care about whales/dolphins/sharks/cows/chickens/fish/etc. Basically anything that has not been domesticated to be my pet cannot pull at my heart strings. Derek and I in college would watch Whale Wars together and just laugh because these people cared so much about the whales. Whales! Really, saving a few hundred whales is worth you risking your life? I don't even care if the Japanese are eating all of them, they hunt less than 1% of the projected population of the species. And now this is some sort of hot topic issue that the TV networks are cashing in on because they keep producing Whale Wars and have a new show Blood Dolphins.

Over hunting to the point of messing up the ecosystem has some negative consequences, so I can stand on that ground, but don't try and win me over with an emotional appeal to the animals feelings. I don't care. And when it comes to the huge industrial farms that raise cows/pigs/chickens, still don't really care. I watched Food Inc. and then went straight to Sonic. Again, stop trying to make me feel bad for the cow that cannot walk and is being forklifted to the slaughter house. Its going to a slaughter house where it will be killed, chopped up, processed, and delivered to one of the many fast food joints I love. Would a cow walking into the slaughter house make things better?

I think the reason I get a little heated about this issue is because it highlights people spending so much money trying to care for a whale or a cow while there are countless sick/homeless/needy/abandoned human beings all over the world whose lives would be changed if we fought for their rights and dignity rather than animal rights and dignity. I like how Food Inc addressed the rights of workers but it almost seemed to me like a secondary issue for them.

I think a world where the millions of dollars (or billions, too tired to find an exact number) wasn't donated to animal rights but was used to help the poor and needy would be a world I could be proud of.

Tired

Today I was still pretty sore from the hike but surprisingly not in as much pain as I was expecting. I was at the level of tiredness that I could just sit around without feeling unproductive. My first official "rest" day. I was going to strictly follow a routine of watching TV and napping but I remembered that I had told my Mom I would paint her office for her birthday. I tried to rationalize putting it off until tomorrow but decided I should just go for it. Unfortunately, she now has a mostly painted office that is unusable right now. I'll finish tomorrow morning and try to post pictures in my next post.

Hiking

A few weeks ago, I was asked by my friend, Derek, to go hike some 14ers with him and our friend, Ken. I instantly declined because I am what some people call an "indoor boy." After some convincing, I agreed to attend the mountain hiking. Derek convinced me with pictures of small children and people with disabilities at the summit.

This so called "easy" hike included not just one 14er but two. Grays and Torreys. My alarm went off at 5:35am and I was off to pick up Pat before heading to Derek's place by 6:15. Way too early! We arrived at the trail head around 7:45 and it took us right around 3 hours to reach the first summit. Proof:

I was feeling a little sore at this point and was considering not attempting to summit the next peak. My friends are great and they were like good leaders at one of the Colorado camps: gently encouraging me and not letting me say no. That and a little something most like to call the silver bullet were my motivation for the next summit:

When we made it back to Aurora, Pat and I ate some well earned Chipotle and went to the hot tub at his health club. I will sleep very well tonight.

Success

What would you say the opposite of success is?

I think everyone would say failure but tonight at Bible study one of my friends, Ally, disagreed with that. She had heard a pastor say that the opposite of success is not failure, rather its futility.

If you agree that futility is the opposite of success then you are saying success is being in a state of having purpose. Not having loads of money and all sorts of cool things to prove that, not having titles or the career you want but having purpose.

The hard thing with this realization for most people is that they find their purpose in pursuing status but are never truly satisfied with what they achieve. Max Weber studied this in his work "The Spirit of Capitalism." How does one change their outlook on the world from one we are socialized into? That all rests in the transformation of one's mind that Paul (most likely, maybe not) talks about in Romans 12.

I have found my purpose to be loving God and loving others as He loves them and I feel good about it.

Brewery Tours

Today I went to the Coors Brewery with two friends, Sami and Laurel. This just happened to be Sami's first brewery tour so she was over excited. I think her expectations were something like this:

You walk in and are greeted by John, a person at the peak of male attractiveness, who will be your personal guide. John then gets his assistant, Mike (equally as attractive), to take your picture in front of the big Coors sign while John pours you a nice cold pint. On the tour you are actually involved in the process of making beer. John laughs at all of your jokes and trusts you enough to add the hops to the brewing kettle. The tour finishes in a swanky lounge where you can drink all the delicious Coors beer you want.

In all actuality you were on a tour with a ton of other people listening to little "cell phones" on lanyards for all the facts. After a few rooms Sami and Laurel decided to ditch the listening devices and were on the hunt for the beer lounge. I followed giving them little nuggets of information that the walkie talkie was giving me. The end of the tour was a large bar area where you could get 3 free samples. And it was pretty warm the entire time, I was basically pitting out in all pictures. Whoops.

So brewery tours are not the most fun but there is free beer and if you add good company then its all I need. So thank you Sami and Laurel for a very fun afternoon.

New Candidate Assessment

This weekend I received an email from the YL region I am applying to, in it was a link to an assessment the region requires all potential staff to complete. In my conversation with Steve, the committee Chair, this assessment was described as a personality test. Steve, unfortunately, was only half right.

The assessment (test might be a better word) had 7 parts. The first was to be expected: each question was one statement and you had to answer yes if the statement was true about yourself or no if it wasn't. The next section was also predictable: two scenarios were given and on a scale you had to show which scenario you would rather do. Easy. Then I started to feel like I was taking the GRE all over again. Section 3 was a vocabulary test: one word and you had to choose its synonym. It moved on to patterns. It gave 4 or so numbers and you had to choose the next number in the sequence. 5 was back to vocabulary and English with analogies; I freaking hate analogies. Section 6 was math problems and it finished with another scenario section but this one was quite different, it was clearly ministry related where the first section was more general.

I was on the honor system to not look up words or use a calculator but I really, really wanted to. Honestly, at this point I am afraid that if I don't perform well on this "assessment" then I won't get hired. I mean, it took me 2 full days to "find" time in my schedule to sit down and take it not because I didn't have time (trust me, I did - lots of it) but because I was afraid of failing. A very real fear of mine that has taken some time off in my life (college) but is again rearing its ugly head. I just have to remind myself that my identity is found in who Jesus sees me to be. Also, that these people think I can handle the job, the assessment should only prove that.

Going To The Movies!

I remember vividly my Friday and Saturday nights going to the Mann Chinese Movie Theater in Middle School. These memories came flooding back tonight when I went to see The Other Guys (I really liked it, fyi). As I left the movie, there was a hoard of Middle School kids just hanging out; those were the days! At least in my experience going to the movies rarely included actually watching a movie. We would run around, maybe go get McDonald's or Village Inn, try to sneak into the movies (always unsuccessful). You know, we just generally acted like we were the coolest people to walk the Earth. The theater at Southland's that we went to was quite a bit classier than my old stomping ground but there was one glaring difference, which just happened to be my favorite part. The security, aka the rent a cop who was watching this cluster of hormones as if it were destined to break out into a riot at any second.

Happy Hour

Tonight I got invited to happy hour by one of my best friends, Derek. Apparently, they have a little happy hour crew that hits up places all over Denver on Thursday evenings. I hope I become a regular because these people are a lot of fun.

Touch Down in London

So a few days ago I got an email from my bank telling me about a new promotional contest that they are having this month. Every purchase made with my Broncos Visa Debit card gives me two entries into the drawing for a vacation to London to watch the Broncos play the 49ers at Wembley. This would be like a dream vacation; it includes airfare for two, a 4 night stay in a fancy hotel, tickets to the game, and two invites to a Bronco party.

I have been using this card for EVERYTHING. I try to use it at least 2 times a day and every time I use it I convince myself of how its going to pay off when I get a super bad ass vacation for FREE!! "I mean, not that many people bank with USBank and of those people there can't be a ton who love the Broncos enough to have their debit card be blue and orange with a giant Broncos logo, right? I'm totally going to win this thing!!" Seriously, I'm putting most of my eggs in this basket.

No Socks

Apparently when I go to an interview, I don't like to wear socks. In March, I interviewed for a Young Life Staff position in Kansas. As I was getting ready to leave for the interview I realized that my only pair of dress socks had been ruined in a not so sober walk home from a wedding. Freaking out I opted to not wear socks. Unfortunately, my interview was at someone's home and most people took off their shoes before entering the house. I was already nervous about this interview but I couldn't go in bare foot. I broke the mold and kept my shoes on only to be called out by my Area Director, Wendy, during my interview with her. I pretended like I just couldn't find them; confessing to my poor decisions surrounding the last time I wore those socks was out of the question. Needless to say, I was not hired and I've been getting crap for this since then.

Fast forward to today.

I had a follow up interview with Parker/Franktown Young Life. It was a little short notice but I was told that I would be interviewed by some of the committee and some leaders. I was ready for it but in my honesty, I emailed the person who contacted me and said "I also have an irrational fear of being over/under dressed so I am awkwardly going to ask how formal this interview is ." She emailed back and told me it was pretty casual and I should be comfortable in pretty much anything. I went with jeans, a button up, and flip-flops. I know, I know, I didn't wear socks again. The last thing my mom told me before I left was "I would wear shoes." Not wishing me good luck or reassuring my talents but critiquing my wardrobe.

As I drove to the interview I became overwhelmed with emotion. For the first time I felt truly independent from the relationships I have formed through YL. Wendy wasn't going to hold my hand through this interview and no one knew me so there wasn't anyone to fall back onto if I didn't present myself clear enough. It was just me in a room full of committee and leaders ready to see if I had what it takes to be their Area Director. The interview flowed from an overview of the area to me sharing who I am and where I came from then finished with an hour or so of questions. I walked away from the interview feeling really good about it. Just truly at peace with what had just happened. I will continue to pray that the area makes a decision that will be best for them and if thats me, great, if not, I'm OK with it (jokingly I will blame it on my lack of socks).

For the last few months of my life, I have been learning how to trust that the Lord has a perfect will for me. Trying to live in trust has not been easy, sometimes I just want clarity. I want to know what is next for me I want my life mapped out in front of me so I don't have to worry about making the right or wrong decision.

Tonight at Bible study we ended our time sharing one word that describes our soul. When it came around to my turn, I smiled and just said "trusting."

Monday

Most people don't like Mondays because it means the start of a new work week. I think I would be in the same boat if I were employed but not having a job has allowed me to forget what day it is. The only thing close to a routine in my life is the more or less strict schedule of TV I watch starting at 5pm every day. Starting my weekday evenings with a double dose of Seinfeld I then move on to watch Jeopardy with my parents while we eat dinner (6pm every night). My dad always tries to watch Entertainment Tonight (apparently I get my trashy TV desires from him) after but I make him keep it on Wheel of Fortune. Then depending on the day I will watch more TV with my parents in the Family room or move the party downstairs to watch something else. Tonight is Bachelor Pad (judge me, please). I'm addicted and I blame it on Kate and Hattie for inviting me to watch a few episodes of the Bachelorette; I realized that they weren't so bad so I gave this new show a try. Now I can't stop. This is also my second post that has made its way back to TV. Ugh, such is my life.

Susan Joan (Dach) Brinck

My mom is the best (This statement might be a little biased but I don't care).

Today she turned 58 and I couldn't feel more blessed to have the 5 foot Jewish woman in my life.

My favorite thing about her is that she finds herself in hilarious situations and I get to tell all of my friends about them, so here you go.

One time she got arrested, like handcuffed, mugshots (which I am still looking for), fingerprints, and spent a few hours locked up. I learned this gem of a story when I called to thank her for something she had sent me in the mail. When she answered the phone I knew something was off. I figured she had just been taking a nap and I had woken her. She shot that idea down with a response of "I've been crying all day." Immediately I went into inquisitive support mode asking her what was wrong. I was legit concerned for her and the possibility that the news could also be devastating to me. I quickly learned just how wrong I was. She told me that she had just spent the whole day locked up in jail. I tried so hard not to laugh but that is one of the hardest things for me to do. All of this drama was for a parking ticket that my brother got on her car which went unpaid and ultimately led to a missed court date. The best part is that the only reason she was arrested was because she was picking up my brother (yes, the one who got the original ticket) from jail. Weekly, I picture her balling her eyes out behind bars and it makes me chuckle every time (no need for any commentary on if this makes me a bad son).

Another time I got a text from my brother that said "mom shit herself lol." I was in a quiet coffee shop and legit fell out of my chair laughing just trying not to pee myself. I called to inquire further about this predicament. Robert filled me in and said my mom called him and in a straining panic said "open the garage door, open the door to the house, and open the bathroom door. I don't feel good and I'm on my way home." He described her movement from the car to the bathroom as the fastest he had seen her do anything. A little while later he heard her calling him from the bathroom saying "Rob, go get me my robe, I need to take a shower."

Another time she thought it was appropriate to tell me about a stripper that she had got for one of the ladies who worked in her old salon. His name was Tod the Bod. I started screaming in the car for her to stop but she thought it was funny to see me squirm in awkward tension that was filling the car. She went on to tell me "Greg, you should have seen his thighs." Sweet innocent Suze was no more.

My mom is a hardened criminal who sometimes shits herself all while apparently loving man thighs. What more could a son ask for?

Work Crew

Typically, it is my experience that work crew kids and work crew bosses don't keep in touch. I fully understand why this plays out but at some level I am sad that this is such a reality. This summer I decided that I wanted to break the mold. There are 4 terrific boys who I had the opportunity to live with and serve alongside for an entire month and they all just happen to live in CO. My vision was a once monthly hang out/bible study. Today was our first day.

I told three of them to meet at my house, around noon, before I drove us all to Boulder to meet at the last guy's house. The first guy, Luke, showed up promptly at 5 after 12. At this point I remembered that high schoolers are usually late and aren't the best at communicating their tardiness. Joel was next to show up at 12:25 leaving Will as the most late. Once 12:30 rolled around and after a few unanswered phone calls I assumed Will was not going to be joining us. I got conformation from Tyler when he called to get a status update from our end. I told him we were just waiting on Will and asked if he had talked to him. His response was "Yeah, he is on a college visit. He texted me last night, I thought you knew." Funny.

The afternoon could not have gone any better! After an hour or so of swapping stories of life post Castaway we settled in to our discussion of James. An honest and inspiring conversation about how James fits into our lives lasted the next 2 hours. I was taken aback at how the Lord has used these 3 boys and I am waiting in anticipation to see what He has in store for them this year!

We finished our time together with a trip to Chipotle (obvi) and some shenanigans. I have not laughed this hard in a long time. This was mostly due to Luke's failed attempt at a back flip on the tramp, Joel's epic falls off the slack line, and Tyler's drooling laughter from his wired shut mouth.

Perfect.

I Found A New Hobby!!

Its true, I have a new hobby but it makes me feel like an old woman.

Canning. I loved all sorts of jams and preserves and various sorts of pickled veggies so it checks out.

Today, I made my first batch of the strawberry jam my grandma makes. I took a picture or two but the camera is downstairs and I am far too lazy to go get it now. The jam has to take some more time to set but should be ready to enjoy tomorrow evening! This is more or less the test run of my abilities. If it turns out well, I will keep pursuing; if not, I will have convinced my parents to waste $15 on the canning supplies. (That might be my favorite thing about this new little hobby, Suze loves it and pays for it!)

I have already been searching for other recipes. Next on the list is a peach mustard compote and possibly some pickled asparagus.

I'm A Sucker

This is just a general fact of my life.

Tonight it expressed itself in how much I love reality TV. Basically, during my younger years I would say "the trashier, the better." I like to think I have become more mature and will try my best to limit my trashy reality TV watching.

The trash in my life currently runs new episodes on Thursday evenings. If you haven't guessed yet, its Jersey Shore. I know, I know, its terrible.

But terrible in the most amazing way possible. I can't help but be sucked into the drama these people live in. MTV knows how to put together a reality show that is just as addicting as crack. This and I am just generally a sucker.

So, bring on the insults all you want and judge me for indulging but keep in mind that I have at least classed it up a little bit from the likes of "A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila" or "Flavor of Love" or "Tool Academy."

High School Reunion of Sorts

So I went out for a friends birthday. She wanted to go to this place called the Stampede.

I have literally heard nothing but bad things about it but I put my reservations aside and went out. I don't think I can accurately describe this bar. It is suppose to be a country bar but I immediately knew I was in for something more than that when I got there because, not to be racist, but there were a lot of ethnicities other than white. (Come on, how often have you seen a black guy rock out to Toby Keith? Or a Latina killing it on the dance floor to the Zac Brown Band). This was the most eclectic group of people I have ever seen at one bar at one time. People ranged from straight up cowboys, to thugs, to frat boys sporting ed hardy, to women with outfits so slutty I thought it was Halloween. Aside from all the diversity, there also seemed to be a large concentration of women who were taller than 6'. Crazy. So many tall women.

As the night went on I kept running into more and more people from high school; some I talked to but I had the awkward we-know-each-other-but-are-choosing-to-act-like-we-don't glances with most.

To top off the evening some black girl touched my butt and the club played Black Eyed Peas "My Humps."

Dear Ladies Night at The Stampede,

Never again.

Love, Greg

The Colony

This is the coolest show ever!!!

I watched the first season and was instantly hooked. This season is proving to be even better. If you have some extra hours on your hands I would highly recommend you fill them with catching up on this season.

On a side note, if I ever go to grad school for sociology I want to study how people act after the break down of civil society. Thank you professor Andac for making me like political sociology.

PUPPIES!!!

I want one so bad. I literally check this at least every Friday to see if there are any cute puppies to adopt.

For the entire week leading up to my birthday I started dropping subtle hints to my parents that all I wanted was a puppy. OK, they weren't subtle at all; I just flat out asked them at least once a day for a puppy. I knew in my head that it wouldn't work out but my heart wanted it so bad (kinda the same way I feel about Tebow coming to the Broncos).

My birthday rolled around and I legit looked through the house to see if my parents had stealthily hidden a little bundle of joy in some strange corner of the house. They did not.

My desire for a puppy is not anything new. I have always loved animals and wanted a dog in college but knew that there was no way I could afford it. During the last few years I have started to think about what I am going to name my first dog and I think I've finally figured it out.

Before the big reveal, I am going to provide a bit of background. A friend of mine has a cat, her name is Jessica. I think this is hilarious. People names for animals. Literally, perfect. But I wouldn't want a super current name, maybs something a little more old school.

To tie it all together, I thought of incorporating friends names. Not as an insult but as an ode to my appreciation of them in my life.

OK, the moment you have all been waiting for: Roberta and I would call her Bonnie. Bonnie Butters Brinck. I already cleared this with Natalie and she is on board. Bonnie is on my list of top mom's that I love who are not my own. (This is probs only funny to about 2 people who read this but I figured it was worth sharing with the other 3 of you).

Hopefully in the next 6 months I will be posting pictures of little Bonnie (Roberta) Butters Brinck

Today Felt Like High School

*Sorry for missing a post last night although I'm not convinced anymore is actually reading this blog that regularly. Regardless, no excuses, I should have posted.*

So I pretty much just bummed around today not doing much of anything. The only real responsibility I had was to mow a person's lawn, who lives just down the street. Loading the mower into our truck and driving a block and a half away took me back to the summer before my junior year of high school. I ran my own lawn care service and would frequently drive the same rout I took today. As I drove home I passed some neighborhood friends and some parents, waving as I drove.

To top it all off my friends Mickey and Ally were having a post marriage wedding party thing. It turned out to be a bit of a neighborhood get together + some relatives. For some reason I decided to walk down there instead of taking a car (I had not done this since middle school; it was nice). A lot of good friends and more than a few jokes on my poor decisions at the aforementioned wedding.

All of that aside, I feel like moving home has made me feel like I'm back in high school again. Almost as if I have lost my sense of independence from my family that I was so prideful about during college. Maybe its just because I am unemployed but I believe that I'd be in the same place even if I had a job.

Just some thoughts. No real conclusions.

Fantasy Football

We had our draft tonight. I'm not normally much of a fantasy player but I was asked to take over for a team whose owner didn't want to play anymore. I think the draft went well and lets be honest, I have nothing but time to research, analyze and make changes to my team.

Fantasy is fun but thats not whats making tonight awesome. I get to spend it with two of my best friends, Colin and Mickey. Everything just feels right: we are currently sitting playing MLB10 The Show (home run derby, of course), drinking some beers, and eating left over cold pizza. There is no doubt in my mind that the better part of the evening will be spent having pillow talk and just sharing our lives.

I just really love my friends.

**A big shout out to my friend and Mickey's new wife, Ally, for having a girls night allowing us to have a spedsie in their new apartment.

Showering

This post might be TMI if you didn't know me well my freshaman year of college. If your name happens to be Lisa, Natalie, or Alex you know all too well that I was not the most frequent showerer. Needless to say, showering was not on my list of priorities. It wasn't as bad as some of you might be thinking but I would generally only shower every other day, tops. I look back on that first semester and wonder how I even made the 4 friends I made.

That New Year's my resolution was a simple one, shower every day. This revolutionized my world. OK, not really. But at least I was clean for a little bit each day.

I have found myself falling back into poor showering habits since I moved back in with my parents. Its because I don't do something every day. I mean, I only left the house once today and that was to drop my brother off somewhere.

Conclusion: my showering frequency is directly related to how lively my social life is. Maybe if I shower more I will magically have more things to do. Or at the very least it would inspire me to seek out a reason to leave the house.

I Miss Asian Buffet

Seriously.

In Lawrence, I would find myself consuming vast amounts of MSG laced food surrounded by friends about once a week. Its probably better for my body that I don't have multiple buffets at my disposal(this makes me think Lawrence is on oddity. What other small town has at least 4 Asian Buffets?).

Anyway, I miss it. A lot. But I guess that I have a Panda Express only a few blocks away and they are open until 10 on weekdays and 11 on weekends. I will use this as my substitute for Asian buffet and Tryyaki, the most delicious late night drive-through Chinese place in the Midwest.

So thanks, Panda Express, for helping ween me off of my Asian buffet addiction.

Birthdays

Honestly, I think they are overrated.

Don't get me wrong, I love presents and loved ones telling me happy birthday and letting me know they appreciate who I am but I think it stops there.

I could do without presents and ideally we would live in a world where people openly tell each other that they are great and that they are appreciated for who they are and not what they've done. A birthday, in a lot of ways, is treated like some sort of accomplishment that needs to be rewarded and the next day emotions are swept back under the rug to be pulled out at the next holiday. I am by no means an openly sentimental person and I see it as a character flaw. How can I try to be so loving but forget to express that through words? (Putting it on my list of things to work on).

My perfect birthday would be all my friends hanging out, drinking some beers, laughing, and having amazing conversation. Maybe I will plan this for next year...

This year wasn't bad at all. Went to breakfast with my mom, hung out with Colin and Quinn then went to the Rockies game with Lisa, her boyf, her parents, and Pat. I touched a foul ball but it hit one finger and bounced away from me. Just a really good time.

The other strange thing about birthdays is that you have a free ticket to eat as much as you damn well please. All I did today was go out for food and drink beer. This is not too out of the norm for me personally but I have witnessed unusual eating patterns from people celebrating their birthday.

**After reading this through (sorry for the stream of consciousness), I want to make it clear that this is not some sort of depressed passive ploy to try and manipulate people into telling me that I am great. I feel incredibly loved by the people I choose to surround(metaphor) myself with and could not ask for better friends. I'm simply commenting on how our culture treats birthdays.

Tried Something New

Tonight I was really bored. I know when I'm really bored because I start thinking of crazy things to do just to entertain myself. Normal boredom leaves me with some sort of snack sitting in front of the TV trying to find visual stimulation (like right now: I have popped a bag of kettle corn and I'm watching Snatch). I noticed that my dog, Buddy, was getting a bit shaggy and in need of grooming; this looked like a job for me. I couldn't find any hair clippers so I used the next best thing: a beard trimmer.

I brought Buddy upstairs and gave him a bath. Now came the difficult part. I already knew he hated the hair dryer so I thought using it until he was pissed and then switching to the clippers and using them until he was pissed was a good cyclical game plan. When I was just finishing up his back I realized that I was going to have to shave his "swimsuit area" and became instantly uncomfortable. For some reason I felt like I was about to violate my dog, touching him in "sensitive" places he did not want to be touched was just unsettling. Shortly after these thoughts Buddy was getting restless and increasingly agitated about this little project of mine. We came to a breaking point when he started biting the clippers.

I decided to let him free. He sprinted around the house showing off his fresh new look: A shaved back and hind quarters with shaggy, unkempt legs, belly, and face. Its like a dog mullet, business on top party everywhere else.

If I had a working camera I would show you my work of art.

I will try and finish tomorrow but I might need to work on improving my friendship with Buddy for longer than a day before I use those clippers within 20 feet of him.

Freaking Suze

She took the cake for conversation of the day:

"This is such a good movie" -S

"What?" - Me

"Step Up!"

"Hahahaha, really?"

"Yeah, I love this movie!"

So funny. I've always known she loves dancing (may or may not be some of my inspiration for the "mom dance") but moving home has shown me just how much she loves dancing. On Wednesday and Thursday nights we watch SYTYCD together and in those two hours of entertainment she all of the sudden becomes a dance expert. Freaking Suze, how could you not lover her?

In other news I found these moving pads that just slide on the carpet so I've been using them to get around the upstairs of my house.

Being With Good Friends

It is one of my favorite things!

Tonight I went over to a house that my friend, Sarah, was watching. Sarah and her boyfriend, Colin, made dinner for our recently married friends, Mickey and Ally, and myself. We enjoyed a delicious meal and our conversation was fluidly moving between spiritual and mundane. It didn't matter that all of us are at different life stages. We're friends. Just a real picture of breaking bread together (We didn't have bread, I'm using this purely as an expression).

This is the kind of hanging out that I have come to love. A time when friends are honest with one another. Sure, we joke and laugh. That is who we are but you can't be around these people without hearing them speak about what pulls at their hearts.

I am blessed to know so many good friends that I can have these kinds of nights with.