Great Gatsbys of Antioch!
No, I'd like you all to know that this actually doesn't have anything to do
with either Gatsbys (sp?) or Antioch, at least not directly. I suppose that
if stretched yes I could create such tenuous relations based on say ... hmm
for Gatsby the notion of being "new money" or the more ethereal idea of newly
coming into fortune. I suppose for Antioch it would be much the same except
that my analogous doesn't really work quite as well, that being newly coming
into some manner of fortune. Though if we were to consider my situation
providential (originally I was going with fortuitous however that's more the
opposite of my intended purpose) than I suppose that could extend some great
degree of relevance. But I digress. At anyrate, it has been a most
incredibly long time since my last update. I could naturally blame a plethora
of causes, stemming from the logistical nightmare of making the trip back to
Purdue, to things as various as simply not having a computer or even Lucifer.
Though, considering the amount of time I usually invest in this thing, one
would most likely be correct (or at least nearer the mark) in saying that this
was rather of tool of the devil as opposed to there existing diabolical
machinations to keep me from it. Moving right along however. I am pleased to
report that I have somehow managed to pick up a few new readers, and whether
or not they will become quickly disenchanted and disillusioned as I'm sure
happens to all the unlucky souls who stumble upon my musings by accident shall
be a source of some interest to me in the days to come. Whatever the case may
be, I extend my humble greetings to you new comers and humbly beg your pardon
for so unapologetically subjecting you to such utter nonsense.
In other news, yes I am in fact well aware that I was promising all of you to
elaborate on some sort of inspirational message or some such business that I
heard during one of my evening church events. Well, I'm afraid that the world
yet again failed to acquiesce to my particular needs by alltogether stopping
it's incessant rotation, at least for a time. What all this means however is
that I now find myself at a point where I don't entirely recall what I was
going to write to begin with. hmm ... my bad. However, if you would permit
me, I shall deign to make a much truncated attempt for the sake of posterity
(does that even work? .. for the sake of posterity?). Huh, just checked and
it kinda does (the posterity thing), go fig.
So the speaker man right? Well, this fellow went by the name of Shane, and in
short, he was awesome. He's like this guy, ok, and he went and had the
audacity to dial up Mother Teresa and ask her if he could come work with her.
There's a bit of an amusing story behind how he procured her "digits" as he
called them, involving nuns and other such comedic gold, but needless to say
he gets ahold of her and finds himself in Calcutta. So he tells some stories
of how absolutely incredible this all was, but in particular a story about a
leper colony. Like, as in a colony of people having contracted leperosy. So,
I don't know about the rest of you, but I thought that leperosy was a thing of
the past. Apparently not. Goes to show what I know I guess. At anyrate,
there's this colony that was started by Mother Teresa for these lepers. The
whole thing is, I guess these people upon contracting leperosy were shunned,
almost as bad as in biblical times when you'd have to wear a bell so people
could run away from you. So Mother Teresa starts this colony up to take care
of the lepers right, well the amazing thing was that by time this Shane guy
from America gets there the lepers have started to care for each other. He
said it was amazing, like these people would just take care of each other in a
like, real self sufficient way. And I guess it must have left quite an
impression on him. Cause like, he left I think kinda feeling that "duh, why
don't we live like that?". So he heads back to the states, and he's pretty
fired up. So he starts this thing called "The Simple Way", which is basically
this page out of the lepers book. Him and a bunch of college friends are just
like, living in this really poor neighborhood and helping out. They make
their own clothes, and cook for the whole neighborhood so people can like, you
know, eat, and they help out with kids homework and all this stuff. So like,
his whole thing was, that we really just need to start lovin on people. He
talked about how newspapers would call them radicals or crazy, how some other
friends of his made the front page by everyone in that neighborhood helping
each other out with car pooling their kids. And he's like, "we're crazy? ,
what is so crazy about this? it's obvious!". So then he was like, well maybe
we are crazy, but we (we as in Christianity) have a whole history of crazy
people! He talked about the early church, and how it said that everyone gave
what they could and supported each other so that there was no one with need.
I mean, wow. He talked about that thing being promoted by like Brad Pitt and
Bano or whatever called One, that is basically like, "Hi, we're tired of
poverty, let's get rid of it" specifically with Africa, and he's like "that's
beautiful man" and how in the bible it says that even if God's people don't
worship Him, then the trees and rocks will cry out, well he's like, so even if
the Church doesn't do something about poverty then the Rockstars will cry
out. He gave a pretty good little illustration thing too, he was saying that
okay there were these two guys, guy one and guy two. So guy one can ask God
anything he wants, anything. So guy two's like, what do you wanna ask? Guy
one responds, well I'd like to ask God why he allows all this poverty and
suffering. Guy two, so why don't you ask Him? Guy one, because I'm afraid
that God will ask me the same question. I mean, seriously, it isn't like
there isn't enough to go around. And we (the Church or whatever) are called
God's hands and feet, the Body of Christ, so Shane was saying "hello!" we are
what God uses to do things with, we are the tools that are supposed to be
fighting poverty and all this division and strife. So, I thought that was
pretty awesome. The other thing I liked, was that Shane wasn't saying that we
should all sell all our possesions and go live communally. He gave an example
of another friend of his. Brilliant guy, had his doctorate by like 22 or some
ridiculous thing. Well, he meets and Shane and gives it all up to live
this "Simple Way" right? Well, after a little while, Shane talks to him and
he's like, hey man, you know you're really not being fulfilled here. So this
genius guy goes back, he's a scientist by the way, and figures out how to make
wells and get clean water into these places where kids are dying just 'cause
they don't have clean water to drink. So I thought that was nice, that he
wasn't some psycho telling us all to go live in the woods holding hands or
something.
Yep.
Well, I suppose that this thing has achieved moderate length now.
Of course there is much still that I have to talk about. From concerns and
trials to the unexpected (and I mean UNEXPECTED) windfalls of my life there is
deal a great deal more for me to say. But here is my dilema. You no doubt
recall those new readers I was mentioning at the beginning? Well, among those
new readers are my relatives, or more specifically my cousin and Aunt on my
Moms side. Now, if I were to continue on with my planned update of all things
Scott, and my Aunt or cousin continued to actually read this post. ... If
would bring down a veritable firestorm of questions, jests, ribbings, and
comments at my expense upon revelation of my newly instated position of
vulnerability. You see, in an ironic bit of hilarity, my curious situation is
one where I have someone who will hopefully be reading my livejournal who
didn't used to, and others who if they continue will be made aware of the
first one, and so seal my fate of endearing taunts and good natured teasing.
Already I find myself teetering on the edge of not nearly cryptic enough, but
to those who know it is obvious, to those who don't perhaps suspicious and to
those who are, maybe just confusing. At anyrate, I can at least share my (or
at least from you people's perspectives it is confined to me) trials.
My grandfather since about my senior year of highschool has been fighting
prostate cancer. This is a most unhappy thing. He is now like 79 years old
and so really not in a state to attack it with treatments that someone of a
more vigorous age could. So here's this grandpa that I just love, like, we're
really close, and he's kinda been fighting this losing battle. It's been an
interesting journey, because he lives in Indy, and I in MN that other than
when we get updates, I find myself all too often distracted by the worlds call
to less important yet ever so pressing matters. The hardest part is perhaps
the touch of reality. I am full well aware that not only will my grandpa not
live forever, but so too it is with my parents and many others who are
significantly older than myself. I'm certainly not immortal in the highlander
sense, but my family has always remained relatively blessed by time rather
than diminished. My grandfather on my moms side passed, but I was so young at
the time that I had not yet had time to gain anything with which to lose. Not
so with my grandpa, I have been blessed by his prescence and am better for
it. I know that all things of this world must pass away, but I suppose I am
selfish in not being pleased with the reality of that fate. And yet, I can
honestly say I do not feel the least bit out of line with being displeased and
the worlds temporary state of affairs, in fact I feel quite justified in
wishing that my grandpa could stick around to hold great great grandchildren
in his hands. Am I immature and childish? I think not. It is my great hope,
my great belief and profound inherent knowledge that God has put eternity in
my heart, and not arbitrarily so. You of course are free to call this faith
of mine a crutch to prevent my emotional collapse as my former Governor
(Ventura) so elequently did, and I won't begrudge you. But the one thing that
allows me to find peace of mind about all this is that I am secure with the
belief that when I pass from this world, there is another and that there at
last I will find a place that doesn't fade or grow dim and where I may once
again greet those I had seperated from for a time.
Well, that was all rather more profound this is typically my wont. So on to
the heady days of youth and spring (impending fall be darned!), of excitement
and gossip and all such good boyish pursuits. Okay, so perhaps not boyish,
but exciting and no doubt I will be subjected to wretched gossip from my
extended relations. *sigh* the price of an online life, lol.
Okay, so I am here faced with a question profound. How do you write about
someone, for the purpose of making others aware of my new circumstances, while
knowing full well that this someone in particular is also a purveyor of your
propaganda and so will be reading about themselves? Hmm, there's the rub
indeed. Well, if you are someone who keeps up to date with facebook than you
already know. I suppose there's really no way of getting around it (and you
should know dahling it isn't a matter of embarrasment but rather a loathing of
the familial interogation that shall follow) but to just be upfront and
plain. Yet, I find myself as it were unsure of how precisely to proceed.
Certainly I know what I could say to shed light on the matter for the rest of
you, excepting you of course whom I am referencing in my rambling, but therein
lies the problem with writing. I have the time and power to stop and pick it
up again whenever I should want. So even while I try to "just wing it" as I
found to be most succesful (though do to no skill of my own) last time in your
family room, it was really more because once I started I couldn't jolly well
stop now could I? I mean, in the real world, when one is face to face with
another there is a certain commitment that when you start talking you shan't
stop again untill you have made whatever point you had intended to from the
outset. Not so here. I can choose to just get up and leave without even
posting any of this and none of you will be the wiser. Lol, I wasn't kidding
when I told you I was longwinded. I suppose my propensity for not
just "spitting it out" is really only magnified here in this mode of
communication to such an irregarious degree so as to only be called
preposterous. I mean come on, irregarious isn't even a word! But if it were
(I shall finnally tell them, but only for your sake so I can uncryptically
make referneces and ascribe flattery), irregarious would probably be defined
somewhat to this effect: I now have a girlfriend and she's totally amazing.
No, that didn't really make any sense, but neither does my having a
girlfriend, so I shall kindly ask you to disregard my lack of cohesion due to
a certain logic hindering state that I seem to find myself in. All in all, here is where I'm at. Currently listening, hmm no, rockin' out to Hamster Dance, that's correct Hamster Dance the song, w00t!!! So, yeah. But like anyway, yeah, for some inexplicable reason I seem to find myself in this relationship with a girl. And not just a girl mind you, but I think I may even go so far as to say MY Girl :) So just who is this person, how did I meet them, and why on earth didn't they run away from me? Okay, well for starters her name is Holly. It's kinda weird, 'cause I know that Holly's going to be reading this, to be writing about her but hey it's nothing that she doesn't already know, lol. ... Hiya Holly! Hope you're well, and I'll talk to you soon babe ;). Ok, sorry for the little tangent there (well in all candor I'm not, but it seemed appropriate). So anyway, Holly. She's this girl that I met at the end of the summer. Well, I suppose that's not really fair, I first actually talked to her at length at the end of this summer but I'd seen her once before at my church and on a few other occasions at Wal-Mart. Yes, Wal-Mart. I know it sounds lame, I mean, it is Wal-Mart after all, but frankly all I can say is God Bless Wal-Mart , lol. So I've already covered her name, that being Holly, let's see ... we didn't go to the same highschool but it wouldn't really have mattered much anyway 'cause she didn't stay there long. I guess there was some kind of post-secondary option thing which allowed her to go to college after her sophomore year and get credit for college and highschool at the same time, which is what she's currently doing. So she's in her second year of college as well, though I'd wager that she's going to finish well ahead of me as she should graduate this year and all with a degree in accounting. Hmm, I guess I really can't think of a clever way to segway into some sort of account as to her character or just describing her in general so I'll just sorta randomly start to describe her more. Oh! I know, I'll start a new paragraph..
Perfect! Okay, let's see, where should I start? I know this will seem shallow or whatever, but sue me it's how I feel, Holly is absolutely gorgeous! Seriously, this girl is so very very pretty that I kinda get lost in her face every now and again. :) Holly, you're stunning really! Okay, that being said, she is also a Tall girl! Like, she's 5'8" and that could very well be a hair taller than myself, lol. She has long hair that's a nice brown colour, and a slightly darker complexion. She has a pretty diverse background but the two that I remember the best is that she's heavily Irish and also a little Native American on her mom's side. Of course, that doesn't really tell you much about Holly the person. It's kinda funny, but Holly is sorta like, my complete opposite, lol!! Yeah, weird yet true. Like, I'm freak'n out to Hamster Dance and am in the same jeans that I've been wearing since God knows when, where as Holly does NOT like Hamster Dance and she likes to dress up a little more. Accounting strikes me as possibly the most boring job ever, but then Holly's really organized and methodical. She's also kinda a clean freak, anyone here think I'm a clean freak? ... yeah, didn't think so, lol. I'm borderline insane and wacky, she's reserved and like .. thinks .. things .. out , weird huh? I'm someone who likes to be crazy but am actually tired out by large crowds and high level social interaction, Holly is kinda more of an observer but really likes to go out and is energized by being with lots of people. I'm a sci-fi anime freak. Holly doesn't like Star Wars or cartoons. I LOVE to read, Holly not so much. Holly is kinda bossy and strong willed, I'm more willy nilly. I am a ninja, Holly is not.
Let's see, the most important thing to both of us is that our "other" (Holly for me, and me for Holly, got it?) put God first and have a strong faith. The oddest thing (no transition, sorry) is that we haven't really even known each other for that long at all. Like, I said already that I met her at the end of the summer. True. What I didn't specify was that it was a week before I left MN to come back to lovely Purdue. Yep. Stupid, foolhardy, impulsive, illogical? Sure. Sue me. I don't know, the whole thing was so patently unlike me, normally I get to know a girl for at least 3 or 4 months before I learn enough to determine whether or not I even like them, let alone would consider them for a relationship, and I'm HORRIBLY picky. Well, so far I haven't run into any "wow, if I had only gotten to know her better first I would've known to not get involved" , which needless to say is a good thing. I can only assume that it's the same with Holly. Though, I still don't understand really why she likes me, I mean, the other day she called me "cool geeky", most people just scream things like "Hide the children!", but i'm not complaining, just mystified. So anyway, here's the timeline if you will (sorry more Wal-Mart is inevitable).
So I was working at Wal-Mart, and then I see this girl that I recognize with her mom. Now, I know that I've seen her before, and I'd jolly like to say some...thing, but then again there is that fearsome mom person who just refuses to hover away from her daughter ... hmmm. Oh, dash it all, I'm going in, I just hope God's there to pick up the pieces! Well, perhaps it wasn't quite as dramatic as all that, but in anycase, I went over to her and was all like, "Hey, do I know you from somewhere?" -knowing full well that I had seen her at my church. So Holly's like, "yeah, you look familiar too, did you go to such and such school?" and i'm like, "no... well what church to you go to, maybe it was from there?" , "hmm" Holly started listing a whole BUNCH of churches, but naturally not mine so I decided it was okay to supply it by now. "Oh! Yeah, I went there one time with so and so!" and BAM! a connection was established. Albeit a very thin one, but it was enough of an excuse for me to justifiably continue talking to this girl without being too overt or stalkerish. So we chatted a bit, and I find out she's majoring in accounting and so forth, but she does have to leave (her mother never having left though probably desiring to .. - Hi Holly's Mom!) ;) just in case - so she left with a "see you soon" and was gone. Well, I thought, it'll have to be very soon as I leave in a week, but whatever, what happens happens. Nevertheless I was disappointed the next day at work when I didn't see her, though at the same time berating myself as very foolish for bothering to be disapointed in something I knew very well was not going to come to pass. Enter the next day at Wal-Mart. So, as usual, I'm at my post at the self-checkout or Fastlane and just sorta dithering about not accomplishing anything due to a lack of customers. I believe I was just finishing calling a friend in a different department on the Wal-Mart phones so as to distract her from her job as well. At any rate, I hang up the phone and look up, "Holy Crap!" , yeah, I seriously said that audibly because when I looked up there was Holly wearing this cute baseball cap (which was really only cute 'cause it was on her head) and giving me a wave. Well I spasticly return the wave and then she continues on with whatever errand had brought her to Wal-Mart for the day. Meanwhile, I return to my station rationalizing that she'll probably leave and I won't see her and that will be the end of that. Of course at the same time I just looked up at the ceiling and go, "God help me", oh and I meant it too. So, I spend the next few minutes in a pretty heightened state of disarray, just absolutely coming to pieces. Remember when I posted earlier that I'm an incredibly awkward kid? Yeah, this is the sort of thing I was talking about. When I actually care about something, I tend to just be sooo awkard. Anyway, she did stop by again before she left (well of course!) and so we talked a bit more. This was a much better talk as it ended in my knowing a few of valuable things, one her name being Holly, two her phone number, and three that she would like to hang out some time. Hah, and you thought I was awkward before, lol. Well, I was unable to call her that day, or I forget maybe I didn't want to seem too over eager. At anyrate, the next day I did give her a call, and though by time I was done with work it was a bit late for getting together, we had a pretty good phone conversation. This was saturday by the way. The next day I went to church in the morning, called Holly but I think she was working so no go. Finnaly on Monday I called her right after work at 6:20pm and zipped over to her house. Now, I really still had no idea what to expect but she answers the door and is just beautifull looking! She's all dressed up and looking nice, so I was just thinking WOW in my head. Of course I ended up just saying hi, but I think that was the right call. So we went in and like, one of the first few things she says is how messy her house is, it took me a bit to understand that she was serious. I mean, holy cow! That house looked like it could be in a catalog it was so clean. I think maybe there was a magazine at an angle on the coffee table, gasp! and that was it! So anyway, I attempt to tell her that no, this was indeed not worthy of being called messy, but she wouldn't hear of it. Lol. So, then we got a high quality snack of puppy chow (w00t!) and just kinda chatted for a bit. We were of course interupted quite profusely by her younger brother who's nine, but he's a pretty doofy kid that I find amusing so it was all good, lol. (You're a good kid Rob ;) ) Anyway, so we do that and then her parents come home (yeah, there was a moment of initial wonderment at their lack of presence) and I say hallo to her mom again, nice gal that one, and meet her dad. Her father is a large man. And I'm not just saying that, he really is. Well, I know that he has no reason to need to intimidate me, I'm a good guy, so we shake hands. Ahhhh! By the holy winged seraphimian servants of the host! He nearly did me the favor of never having to bother with all that silly cartilage by compressing all the bones in my hand into one fused mass! So I exaggerate, but not by much, lol. I talked to Holly about it, apparently it's his "thing". I guess. lol. Well then Holly asks me if I want to watch a movie downstairs, and I'm all for that. What movie? Well what else but "Guess Who" the movie about Ashton Kutcher meeting his highly dissaproving father in law for the first time. LOL . I nearly died inside of the irony but contained myself due to her dads presence and the absolutely horrifying events that would follow should I be asked to explain myself. So we go and watch the movie and then chat some more before my parents call me and tell me it's time to go. Of course by then it was 12:30am. So, yeah, I spent like 6 hours with this Holly girl. And that was Monday. Well, due to our work schedules we were unable to see each other again until Thursday. Of course I could have seen her on Wednesday too, but earlier I had promised my younger brother I'd go watch a movie with him some time that week and that was the only day that worked for him. So yes, instead of spending time with Holly I was with my little brother watching "Sky High". I sure do love my brother, lol. Nah, but seriosly I'd do it again 'cause I'm just going to be seeing less and less of the guy as time passes. Onward to Thursday! Well, Thursday was kinda a big day for me. See, I was leaving on Friday for Indiana, and as my typical unorganized self had yet to pack, make a list of what to pack, or even buy all the things I had to pack. So I was busy. I packed and shopped like a crazy person and finished all that by 9pm which is when Holly finished work. Okay, so the other reason that this was a big day was that I still didn't really know what Holly and I were. We had hung out for one day, but there weren't any like super clear signs that yes she felt about me how I felt about her and so forth. So, I had resolved no matter how painful and awkward to force myself to have a DTR or Define The Relationship talk with her before I left, because I refused to leave without being sure one way or another. No pressure, lol. So anyway, Thursday went much the same as did Monday except that is was more comprised of just talking without the movie watching. I told her repeatedly how weird I was, and how I'm obsessed with ninjas and am in fact one myself, but she didn't seem phased. So then I started asking her questions to get to know her better, and the became progressively more personal. Like at first it was stuff that would be normal to ask a friend. But the last question of what makes you feel special or loved, i.e. what's your love language, yeah that doesn't strike me as the sort of question you ask a friend. Well, she answered all of my questions and never seemed to think that it was weird that I should ask so I was really left with nothing left but the DTR. Man was I nervous and not knowing at all how to proceed. So I hemmed and hawed for a bit and finnally got around to spitting out that I liked her, and not as a friend but that I was interested in her and just wanted whatever manner of relationship we did have to be clear. So then she said that she liked me too and was interested in me and I almost died right then and there and yeah. If I thought my telling a girl I liked her was overwhelming I should have known that hearing that she liked me too would be near overload, lol. And there you have it. We both agree that it sucks that we have to be apart for so long, but both of us are undeterred. She knows that there's a good chance that I'll be taking summer school and she isn't even discouraging it, on the contrary she thinks it's a good idea too. So, yeah. Holly is pretty awesome, and nice, and pretty and I like her a whole bunch. Okay well, that'll have to do for now, Holly should be done with work now so I'm gonna go call her.
~Delightedly Perplexed
with either Gatsbys (sp?) or Antioch, at least not directly. I suppose that
if stretched yes I could create such tenuous relations based on say ... hmm
for Gatsby the notion of being "new money" or the more ethereal idea of newly
coming into fortune. I suppose for Antioch it would be much the same except
that my analogous doesn't really work quite as well, that being newly coming
into some manner of fortune. Though if we were to consider my situation
providential (originally I was going with fortuitous however that's more the
opposite of my intended purpose) than I suppose that could extend some great
degree of relevance. But I digress. At anyrate, it has been a most
incredibly long time since my last update. I could naturally blame a plethora
of causes, stemming from the logistical nightmare of making the trip back to
Purdue, to things as various as simply not having a computer or even Lucifer.
Though, considering the amount of time I usually invest in this thing, one
would most likely be correct (or at least nearer the mark) in saying that this
was rather of tool of the devil as opposed to there existing diabolical
machinations to keep me from it. Moving right along however. I am pleased to
report that I have somehow managed to pick up a few new readers, and whether
or not they will become quickly disenchanted and disillusioned as I'm sure
happens to all the unlucky souls who stumble upon my musings by accident shall
be a source of some interest to me in the days to come. Whatever the case may
be, I extend my humble greetings to you new comers and humbly beg your pardon
for so unapologetically subjecting you to such utter nonsense.
In other news, yes I am in fact well aware that I was promising all of you to
elaborate on some sort of inspirational message or some such business that I
heard during one of my evening church events. Well, I'm afraid that the world
yet again failed to acquiesce to my particular needs by alltogether stopping
it's incessant rotation, at least for a time. What all this means however is
that I now find myself at a point where I don't entirely recall what I was
going to write to begin with. hmm ... my bad. However, if you would permit
me, I shall deign to make a much truncated attempt for the sake of posterity
(does that even work? .. for the sake of posterity?). Huh, just checked and
it kinda does (the posterity thing), go fig.
So the speaker man right? Well, this fellow went by the name of Shane, and in
short, he was awesome. He's like this guy, ok, and he went and had the
audacity to dial up Mother Teresa and ask her if he could come work with her.
There's a bit of an amusing story behind how he procured her "digits" as he
called them, involving nuns and other such comedic gold, but needless to say
he gets ahold of her and finds himself in Calcutta. So he tells some stories
of how absolutely incredible this all was, but in particular a story about a
leper colony. Like, as in a colony of people having contracted leperosy. So,
I don't know about the rest of you, but I thought that leperosy was a thing of
the past. Apparently not. Goes to show what I know I guess. At anyrate,
there's this colony that was started by Mother Teresa for these lepers. The
whole thing is, I guess these people upon contracting leperosy were shunned,
almost as bad as in biblical times when you'd have to wear a bell so people
could run away from you. So Mother Teresa starts this colony up to take care
of the lepers right, well the amazing thing was that by time this Shane guy
from America gets there the lepers have started to care for each other. He
said it was amazing, like these people would just take care of each other in a
like, real self sufficient way. And I guess it must have left quite an
impression on him. Cause like, he left I think kinda feeling that "duh, why
don't we live like that?". So he heads back to the states, and he's pretty
fired up. So he starts this thing called "The Simple Way", which is basically
this page out of the lepers book. Him and a bunch of college friends are just
like, living in this really poor neighborhood and helping out. They make
their own clothes, and cook for the whole neighborhood so people can like, you
know, eat, and they help out with kids homework and all this stuff. So like,
his whole thing was, that we really just need to start lovin on people. He
talked about how newspapers would call them radicals or crazy, how some other
friends of his made the front page by everyone in that neighborhood helping
each other out with car pooling their kids. And he's like, "we're crazy? ,
what is so crazy about this? it's obvious!". So then he was like, well maybe
we are crazy, but we (we as in Christianity) have a whole history of crazy
people! He talked about the early church, and how it said that everyone gave
what they could and supported each other so that there was no one with need.
I mean, wow. He talked about that thing being promoted by like Brad Pitt and
Bano or whatever called One, that is basically like, "Hi, we're tired of
poverty, let's get rid of it" specifically with Africa, and he's like "that's
beautiful man" and how in the bible it says that even if God's people don't
worship Him, then the trees and rocks will cry out, well he's like, so even if
the Church doesn't do something about poverty then the Rockstars will cry
out. He gave a pretty good little illustration thing too, he was saying that
okay there were these two guys, guy one and guy two. So guy one can ask God
anything he wants, anything. So guy two's like, what do you wanna ask? Guy
one responds, well I'd like to ask God why he allows all this poverty and
suffering. Guy two, so why don't you ask Him? Guy one, because I'm afraid
that God will ask me the same question. I mean, seriously, it isn't like
there isn't enough to go around. And we (the Church or whatever) are called
God's hands and feet, the Body of Christ, so Shane was saying "hello!" we are
what God uses to do things with, we are the tools that are supposed to be
fighting poverty and all this division and strife. So, I thought that was
pretty awesome. The other thing I liked, was that Shane wasn't saying that we
should all sell all our possesions and go live communally. He gave an example
of another friend of his. Brilliant guy, had his doctorate by like 22 or some
ridiculous thing. Well, he meets and Shane and gives it all up to live
this "Simple Way" right? Well, after a little while, Shane talks to him and
he's like, hey man, you know you're really not being fulfilled here. So this
genius guy goes back, he's a scientist by the way, and figures out how to make
wells and get clean water into these places where kids are dying just 'cause
they don't have clean water to drink. So I thought that was nice, that he
wasn't some psycho telling us all to go live in the woods holding hands or
something.
Yep.
Well, I suppose that this thing has achieved moderate length now.
Of course there is much still that I have to talk about. From concerns and
trials to the unexpected (and I mean UNEXPECTED) windfalls of my life there is
deal a great deal more for me to say. But here is my dilema. You no doubt
recall those new readers I was mentioning at the beginning? Well, among those
new readers are my relatives, or more specifically my cousin and Aunt on my
Moms side. Now, if I were to continue on with my planned update of all things
Scott, and my Aunt or cousin continued to actually read this post. ... If
would bring down a veritable firestorm of questions, jests, ribbings, and
comments at my expense upon revelation of my newly instated position of
vulnerability. You see, in an ironic bit of hilarity, my curious situation is
one where I have someone who will hopefully be reading my livejournal who
didn't used to, and others who if they continue will be made aware of the
first one, and so seal my fate of endearing taunts and good natured teasing.
Already I find myself teetering on the edge of not nearly cryptic enough, but
to those who know it is obvious, to those who don't perhaps suspicious and to
those who are, maybe just confusing. At anyrate, I can at least share my (or
at least from you people's perspectives it is confined to me) trials.
My grandfather since about my senior year of highschool has been fighting
prostate cancer. This is a most unhappy thing. He is now like 79 years old
and so really not in a state to attack it with treatments that someone of a
more vigorous age could. So here's this grandpa that I just love, like, we're
really close, and he's kinda been fighting this losing battle. It's been an
interesting journey, because he lives in Indy, and I in MN that other than
when we get updates, I find myself all too often distracted by the worlds call
to less important yet ever so pressing matters. The hardest part is perhaps
the touch of reality. I am full well aware that not only will my grandpa not
live forever, but so too it is with my parents and many others who are
significantly older than myself. I'm certainly not immortal in the highlander
sense, but my family has always remained relatively blessed by time rather
than diminished. My grandfather on my moms side passed, but I was so young at
the time that I had not yet had time to gain anything with which to lose. Not
so with my grandpa, I have been blessed by his prescence and am better for
it. I know that all things of this world must pass away, but I suppose I am
selfish in not being pleased with the reality of that fate. And yet, I can
honestly say I do not feel the least bit out of line with being displeased and
the worlds temporary state of affairs, in fact I feel quite justified in
wishing that my grandpa could stick around to hold great great grandchildren
in his hands. Am I immature and childish? I think not. It is my great hope,
my great belief and profound inherent knowledge that God has put eternity in
my heart, and not arbitrarily so. You of course are free to call this faith
of mine a crutch to prevent my emotional collapse as my former Governor
(Ventura) so elequently did, and I won't begrudge you. But the one thing that
allows me to find peace of mind about all this is that I am secure with the
belief that when I pass from this world, there is another and that there at
last I will find a place that doesn't fade or grow dim and where I may once
again greet those I had seperated from for a time.
Well, that was all rather more profound this is typically my wont. So on to
the heady days of youth and spring (impending fall be darned!), of excitement
and gossip and all such good boyish pursuits. Okay, so perhaps not boyish,
but exciting and no doubt I will be subjected to wretched gossip from my
extended relations. *sigh* the price of an online life, lol.
Okay, so I am here faced with a question profound. How do you write about
someone, for the purpose of making others aware of my new circumstances, while
knowing full well that this someone in particular is also a purveyor of your
propaganda and so will be reading about themselves? Hmm, there's the rub
indeed. Well, if you are someone who keeps up to date with facebook than you
already know. I suppose there's really no way of getting around it (and you
should know dahling it isn't a matter of embarrasment but rather a loathing of
the familial interogation that shall follow) but to just be upfront and
plain. Yet, I find myself as it were unsure of how precisely to proceed.
Certainly I know what I could say to shed light on the matter for the rest of
you, excepting you of course whom I am referencing in my rambling, but therein
lies the problem with writing. I have the time and power to stop and pick it
up again whenever I should want. So even while I try to "just wing it" as I
found to be most succesful (though do to no skill of my own) last time in your
family room, it was really more because once I started I couldn't jolly well
stop now could I? I mean, in the real world, when one is face to face with
another there is a certain commitment that when you start talking you shan't
stop again untill you have made whatever point you had intended to from the
outset. Not so here. I can choose to just get up and leave without even
posting any of this and none of you will be the wiser. Lol, I wasn't kidding
when I told you I was longwinded. I suppose my propensity for not
just "spitting it out" is really only magnified here in this mode of
communication to such an irregarious degree so as to only be called
preposterous. I mean come on, irregarious isn't even a word! But if it were
(I shall finnally tell them, but only for your sake so I can uncryptically
make referneces and ascribe flattery), irregarious would probably be defined
somewhat to this effect: I now have a girlfriend and she's totally amazing.
No, that didn't really make any sense, but neither does my having a
girlfriend, so I shall kindly ask you to disregard my lack of cohesion due to
a certain logic hindering state that I seem to find myself in. All in all, here is where I'm at. Currently listening, hmm no, rockin' out to Hamster Dance, that's correct Hamster Dance the song, w00t!!! So, yeah. But like anyway, yeah, for some inexplicable reason I seem to find myself in this relationship with a girl. And not just a girl mind you, but I think I may even go so far as to say MY Girl :) So just who is this person, how did I meet them, and why on earth didn't they run away from me? Okay, well for starters her name is Holly. It's kinda weird, 'cause I know that Holly's going to be reading this, to be writing about her but hey it's nothing that she doesn't already know, lol. ... Hiya Holly! Hope you're well, and I'll talk to you soon babe ;). Ok, sorry for the little tangent there (well in all candor I'm not, but it seemed appropriate). So anyway, Holly. She's this girl that I met at the end of the summer. Well, I suppose that's not really fair, I first actually talked to her at length at the end of this summer but I'd seen her once before at my church and on a few other occasions at Wal-Mart. Yes, Wal-Mart. I know it sounds lame, I mean, it is Wal-Mart after all, but frankly all I can say is God Bless Wal-Mart , lol. So I've already covered her name, that being Holly, let's see ... we didn't go to the same highschool but it wouldn't really have mattered much anyway 'cause she didn't stay there long. I guess there was some kind of post-secondary option thing which allowed her to go to college after her sophomore year and get credit for college and highschool at the same time, which is what she's currently doing. So she's in her second year of college as well, though I'd wager that she's going to finish well ahead of me as she should graduate this year and all with a degree in accounting. Hmm, I guess I really can't think of a clever way to segway into some sort of account as to her character or just describing her in general so I'll just sorta randomly start to describe her more. Oh! I know, I'll start a new paragraph..
Perfect! Okay, let's see, where should I start? I know this will seem shallow or whatever, but sue me it's how I feel, Holly is absolutely gorgeous! Seriously, this girl is so very very pretty that I kinda get lost in her face every now and again. :) Holly, you're stunning really! Okay, that being said, she is also a Tall girl! Like, she's 5'8" and that could very well be a hair taller than myself, lol. She has long hair that's a nice brown colour, and a slightly darker complexion. She has a pretty diverse background but the two that I remember the best is that she's heavily Irish and also a little Native American on her mom's side. Of course, that doesn't really tell you much about Holly the person. It's kinda funny, but Holly is sorta like, my complete opposite, lol!! Yeah, weird yet true. Like, I'm freak'n out to Hamster Dance and am in the same jeans that I've been wearing since God knows when, where as Holly does NOT like Hamster Dance and she likes to dress up a little more. Accounting strikes me as possibly the most boring job ever, but then Holly's really organized and methodical. She's also kinda a clean freak, anyone here think I'm a clean freak? ... yeah, didn't think so, lol. I'm borderline insane and wacky, she's reserved and like .. thinks .. things .. out , weird huh? I'm someone who likes to be crazy but am actually tired out by large crowds and high level social interaction, Holly is kinda more of an observer but really likes to go out and is energized by being with lots of people. I'm a sci-fi anime freak. Holly doesn't like Star Wars or cartoons. I LOVE to read, Holly not so much. Holly is kinda bossy and strong willed, I'm more willy nilly. I am a ninja, Holly is not.
Let's see, the most important thing to both of us is that our "other" (Holly for me, and me for Holly, got it?) put God first and have a strong faith. The oddest thing (no transition, sorry) is that we haven't really even known each other for that long at all. Like, I said already that I met her at the end of the summer. True. What I didn't specify was that it was a week before I left MN to come back to lovely Purdue. Yep. Stupid, foolhardy, impulsive, illogical? Sure. Sue me. I don't know, the whole thing was so patently unlike me, normally I get to know a girl for at least 3 or 4 months before I learn enough to determine whether or not I even like them, let alone would consider them for a relationship, and I'm HORRIBLY picky. Well, so far I haven't run into any "wow, if I had only gotten to know her better first I would've known to not get involved" , which needless to say is a good thing. I can only assume that it's the same with Holly. Though, I still don't understand really why she likes me, I mean, the other day she called me "cool geeky", most people just scream things like "Hide the children!", but i'm not complaining, just mystified. So anyway, here's the timeline if you will (sorry more Wal-Mart is inevitable).
So I was working at Wal-Mart, and then I see this girl that I recognize with her mom. Now, I know that I've seen her before, and I'd jolly like to say some...thing, but then again there is that fearsome mom person who just refuses to hover away from her daughter ... hmmm. Oh, dash it all, I'm going in, I just hope God's there to pick up the pieces! Well, perhaps it wasn't quite as dramatic as all that, but in anycase, I went over to her and was all like, "Hey, do I know you from somewhere?" -knowing full well that I had seen her at my church. So Holly's like, "yeah, you look familiar too, did you go to such and such school?" and i'm like, "no... well what church to you go to, maybe it was from there?" , "hmm" Holly started listing a whole BUNCH of churches, but naturally not mine so I decided it was okay to supply it by now. "Oh! Yeah, I went there one time with so and so!" and BAM! a connection was established. Albeit a very thin one, but it was enough of an excuse for me to justifiably continue talking to this girl without being too overt or stalkerish. So we chatted a bit, and I find out she's majoring in accounting and so forth, but she does have to leave (her mother never having left though probably desiring to .. - Hi Holly's Mom!) ;) just in case - so she left with a "see you soon" and was gone. Well, I thought, it'll have to be very soon as I leave in a week, but whatever, what happens happens. Nevertheless I was disappointed the next day at work when I didn't see her, though at the same time berating myself as very foolish for bothering to be disapointed in something I knew very well was not going to come to pass. Enter the next day at Wal-Mart. So, as usual, I'm at my post at the self-checkout or Fastlane and just sorta dithering about not accomplishing anything due to a lack of customers. I believe I was just finishing calling a friend in a different department on the Wal-Mart phones so as to distract her from her job as well. At any rate, I hang up the phone and look up, "Holy Crap!" , yeah, I seriously said that audibly because when I looked up there was Holly wearing this cute baseball cap (which was really only cute 'cause it was on her head) and giving me a wave. Well I spasticly return the wave and then she continues on with whatever errand had brought her to Wal-Mart for the day. Meanwhile, I return to my station rationalizing that she'll probably leave and I won't see her and that will be the end of that. Of course at the same time I just looked up at the ceiling and go, "God help me", oh and I meant it too. So, I spend the next few minutes in a pretty heightened state of disarray, just absolutely coming to pieces. Remember when I posted earlier that I'm an incredibly awkward kid? Yeah, this is the sort of thing I was talking about. When I actually care about something, I tend to just be sooo awkard. Anyway, she did stop by again before she left (well of course!) and so we talked a bit more. This was a much better talk as it ended in my knowing a few of valuable things, one her name being Holly, two her phone number, and three that she would like to hang out some time. Hah, and you thought I was awkward before, lol. Well, I was unable to call her that day, or I forget maybe I didn't want to seem too over eager. At anyrate, the next day I did give her a call, and though by time I was done with work it was a bit late for getting together, we had a pretty good phone conversation. This was saturday by the way. The next day I went to church in the morning, called Holly but I think she was working so no go. Finnaly on Monday I called her right after work at 6:20pm and zipped over to her house. Now, I really still had no idea what to expect but she answers the door and is just beautifull looking! She's all dressed up and looking nice, so I was just thinking WOW in my head. Of course I ended up just saying hi, but I think that was the right call. So we went in and like, one of the first few things she says is how messy her house is, it took me a bit to understand that she was serious. I mean, holy cow! That house looked like it could be in a catalog it was so clean. I think maybe there was a magazine at an angle on the coffee table, gasp! and that was it! So anyway, I attempt to tell her that no, this was indeed not worthy of being called messy, but she wouldn't hear of it. Lol. So, then we got a high quality snack of puppy chow (w00t!) and just kinda chatted for a bit. We were of course interupted quite profusely by her younger brother who's nine, but he's a pretty doofy kid that I find amusing so it was all good, lol. (You're a good kid Rob ;) ) Anyway, so we do that and then her parents come home (yeah, there was a moment of initial wonderment at their lack of presence) and I say hallo to her mom again, nice gal that one, and meet her dad. Her father is a large man. And I'm not just saying that, he really is. Well, I know that he has no reason to need to intimidate me, I'm a good guy, so we shake hands. Ahhhh! By the holy winged seraphimian servants of the host! He nearly did me the favor of never having to bother with all that silly cartilage by compressing all the bones in my hand into one fused mass! So I exaggerate, but not by much, lol. I talked to Holly about it, apparently it's his "thing". I guess. lol. Well then Holly asks me if I want to watch a movie downstairs, and I'm all for that. What movie? Well what else but "Guess Who" the movie about Ashton Kutcher meeting his highly dissaproving father in law for the first time. LOL . I nearly died inside of the irony but contained myself due to her dads presence and the absolutely horrifying events that would follow should I be asked to explain myself. So we go and watch the movie and then chat some more before my parents call me and tell me it's time to go. Of course by then it was 12:30am. So, yeah, I spent like 6 hours with this Holly girl. And that was Monday. Well, due to our work schedules we were unable to see each other again until Thursday. Of course I could have seen her on Wednesday too, but earlier I had promised my younger brother I'd go watch a movie with him some time that week and that was the only day that worked for him. So yes, instead of spending time with Holly I was with my little brother watching "Sky High". I sure do love my brother, lol. Nah, but seriosly I'd do it again 'cause I'm just going to be seeing less and less of the guy as time passes. Onward to Thursday! Well, Thursday was kinda a big day for me. See, I was leaving on Friday for Indiana, and as my typical unorganized self had yet to pack, make a list of what to pack, or even buy all the things I had to pack. So I was busy. I packed and shopped like a crazy person and finished all that by 9pm which is when Holly finished work. Okay, so the other reason that this was a big day was that I still didn't really know what Holly and I were. We had hung out for one day, but there weren't any like super clear signs that yes she felt about me how I felt about her and so forth. So, I had resolved no matter how painful and awkward to force myself to have a DTR or Define The Relationship talk with her before I left, because I refused to leave without being sure one way or another. No pressure, lol. So anyway, Thursday went much the same as did Monday except that is was more comprised of just talking without the movie watching. I told her repeatedly how weird I was, and how I'm obsessed with ninjas and am in fact one myself, but she didn't seem phased. So then I started asking her questions to get to know her better, and the became progressively more personal. Like at first it was stuff that would be normal to ask a friend. But the last question of what makes you feel special or loved, i.e. what's your love language, yeah that doesn't strike me as the sort of question you ask a friend. Well, she answered all of my questions and never seemed to think that it was weird that I should ask so I was really left with nothing left but the DTR. Man was I nervous and not knowing at all how to proceed. So I hemmed and hawed for a bit and finnally got around to spitting out that I liked her, and not as a friend but that I was interested in her and just wanted whatever manner of relationship we did have to be clear. So then she said that she liked me too and was interested in me and I almost died right then and there and yeah. If I thought my telling a girl I liked her was overwhelming I should have known that hearing that she liked me too would be near overload, lol. And there you have it. We both agree that it sucks that we have to be apart for so long, but both of us are undeterred. She knows that there's a good chance that I'll be taking summer school and she isn't even discouraging it, on the contrary she thinks it's a good idea too. So, yeah. Holly is pretty awesome, and nice, and pretty and I like her a whole bunch. Okay well, that'll have to do for now, Holly should be done with work now so I'm gonna go call her.
~Delightedly Perplexed