2ndchance

An Old Article

I had an English house-mate from 1993-1995.  He was a graduate student at the University of Richmond, and we always got along great.  He taught me about 'real' beer and how to play tennis.  I remained his friend even after his gf came to live with us.  For three long months.  (Did I mention she was extremely selfish and a lousy cook?)  He put decidedly British message on the answering machine and introduced me to Monty Python.  I helped him figure out his spirituality, and supported him when the above-mentioned gf broke up with him.  He introduced me to Daniella. . .but that's another entry.

At some point, he met one of my former youth who was finishing his Army training at a local base.  Soon after that, my house-mate decided to write an article for the UR newsletter.  An excerpt, with name changes, follows:

The relationship we have with our children is a very wonderful thing.  However, it also can be a confusing and difficult time in our lives.  David ****, the minister with youth and children at **** Baptist Church in Petersburg, has had plenty of experience with the complexities of dealing with children.

No more peeing in the dark

Well I found something very useful today.  A bit of back story first.

We don't lose electricity here very often. (unlike some people I know who live in Asia, ha!)  If there is a bad ice storm, or like when a transformer blew about a year ago. . .then we are in the dark for a couple of hours.

And I do mean in the dark.  We have been reduced to one Coleman electric lantern, which lives on the shelf at the top of the stairs.  We keep it there so we can use it to see in the attic.  Last time we lost power, I realized very quickly that I had forgotten to change the batteries in the lantern.

Don't you just hate when that happens.

An Old Letter

What follows is a letter I wrote to a kid in 1993.  I was working both for a church and for a local supermarket chain at that time.  So I had 60hr weeks and no free time, but lots of happy time with families and kids and co-workers.

I had totally forgotten this particular letter and the circumstances surrounding it.  For anyone that knows my recent history, the irony of what the letter says is apparent.  But I want to let it stand on its own without too much preamble:

Dear JR:

Cleaning Days

I'm cleaning up my room.  It's a task I almost always dread. . .not only because I'm a pack-rat and save everything. . .but because those things can get me off on emotional tangents.  I have saved most of the things kids have ever made for me or given to me.  This includes cards and letters from parents, my family, and things my niece and nephew have made for me too.  Every little piece of something has a story attached, and each piece takes me on a trip down memory lane.

That's why it takes me so dang long to clean my room.

Leveling Up

Yes I admit that I'm still playing World of Warcraft.   Along with several million other people from around the world.  One of the goals of the game is to 'level up' through 70 different 'rungs on the ladder'.  The more experience points you get, the higher level you get to, the cooler gear you can get, and the harder the game seems to get.  Except when you get to the higher level, it somehow doesn't feel all that cool.

Sound familiar?

Work part 1

Part of my job involves leading groups.  Two of them at the moment.  One meets on Monday mornings at a local supermarket cafe, and is called 'the breakfast club'.  The other meets at our agency clubhouse on Wednesdays.  The two groups couldn't be more different.

Hi there

Yes I'm still here.  Just peeking through to say hello.  More to follow shortly.

Merry Christmas!

moar funny pictures

Questions

Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart. . .try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books written in a very foreign tongue.

Do not seek the answers which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them.

And the point is, to live everything.  Live the questions now.  Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.

~Rainer Marie Rilke

Dell sucks part II (Andrew rawks)

Andrew brought multiple fans over.  Which was a good thing as he had to cannibalize parts from two of them to make it work.  Now my computer has a nice shiny used fan which doesn't squeal.  Yay for Andrew!  We went out to eat with his wife to celebrate.

On the flip side, now my vid card fan is squealing and the colors on my monitor are mainly green.  It's like looking at TV through a chia pet.

Heh.