Lazy Days and Fun Weekend

Hey there future self! It's been awhile, eh? Well, I've been busy lazing about doing nothing and enjoying the heck out of myself. In a way. The enjoyment of the moment--collapsing on my bed and watching Simpsons--is soon soured by the regret and nagging uneasiness of the tasks left undone during that time. So while my mind and body are fairly rested and *happy*, my room has gone from clean and open to cluttered and discouraging. I haven't finished the BHG project for Mom, I haven't been having regular quiet times, and that clutter in my room, besides cluttering my room, is mostly things I need to deal with--forms to fill out, receipts to enter in my checking account balance, letters to file, laundry to do...

I've been realizing that I need to take sharp heed to the tempatation to wait to approach God until I'm making headway on those things--until I'm measuring up to what I should be. One of the few things I have done is pick up where I left off in Numbers on my journey through the Old Testament. There I came across a poignant picture of the gospel: After reading through pages and pages of Israel's astounding rebellion and doubt (in the face of jaw-dropping physical displays of God's blatant reality) Balaam, asked to curse the nation, receives this word from God: "I see no wickedness in Jacob; I observe no iniquity in Israel." Balaam's three blessings are basically God bragging about Israel to Moab. They are His chosen people, and look out anybody who tries to touch them! He was proud of them, He protected them and avenged them, and yes, He delighted in them. Not because they were worthy (not by a long shot) but because He had chosen them.

Such it is exactly with me. I'm wholly as bad as Israel in my heart and actions, but God, to display His glory and power, has chosen me and justified me, and now proudly states, "I see no wickedness in John; I observe no iniquity in John Behrens." I'm very glad that New Attitude is in less than two weeks. I anticipate its powerful refreshment of the basic truths of the Gospel--refreshment I need and am praying for.

As far as what's going on, well...lesee. Last week was the first week of class, but my Short Stories in Context elective hadn't started yet, so I only had the pillar class, "Reactive Process Engineering." I napped a lot, wrote and recorded a lot, and lazed around in leiu of the press of full-time work and a class. This week I've been buckling down a bit more and slowly girding up the belt of homework in the evenings. Plus I got sick on Tuesday, dang it. Stupid sickness. I couldn't even really feel it coming on like I usually can. Just Tuesday afternoon I started feeling crappy, and the next morning the roof of my mouth was swollen and my nose was running like a faucet. Hateful. It's on its way out now, though, thankfully. And it shall not shake my working out. MWF last week and M this week, and I shall pick it up again next Monday. It's sad how weak I am compared to when I ended last fall, but oh well. And I'm doing my best to stretch my stupid tight weak hamstrings, hoping to get them flexible so my knees can be normal. And working on my shoulders, gently, to strengthen them and get rid of that weird tendon stuff that racked me a month ago. I've got a crummy body, and that's a fact I've had to face these past months. Daniel can get beat up and banged around and be ok, but me--one good fall and some joint is all messed up for the next 2 weeks. Heck, even normal scrapes don't heal right! You can still see plain as day the rings around my ankles that got worn off from the ice skates New Year's Eve. Rrrg. Oh well.

This weekend was hedged behind and before with dental appointments. I got 5 cavities filled Friday, on the left side, and 2 on Monday on the right side. I had to face on of the few (as in maybe 5) true gut-wrenching fears of my childhood--novacain shots in the mouth. Double whammy. But they came and went, and though my mind still contorts itself in all kinds of jibblies when a needle is stuck in me, I'm not that worried about them any more. But I still won't give blood. *shudder* I think God will need to give me a lot of grace when I start getting old and have to have all kinds of nasty medical procedures done to me. Cross that bridge when I get to it. Now the left side of my mouth is very sensitive, and I wonder why and if I should call up the dentist. I'll give it some time, and we'll see. Pop is bad for teeth. But I love it so :-(

The weekend itself was cool. Friday Daniel and I had a nice dinner and talk at Taco Bell and then met Nate at the Southside Works theater to watch "United 93." It was a moving and gripping film, and I rejoiced in the simplicity and realism of its treatment of 9/11. We walked to Caribu Coffee in the grey drizzle that has covered Pittsburgh for the last 10 days and sat in its warm outdoorsy decor and talked and sipped great mochas. Nate's one swell guy :-)

On Saturday....I don't recall much in the morning/afternoon. I think I worked on the BHG project more. Anyway, the big event was going to the Pirates game that evening. Jess and Steph, and then Heather and Matt congregated at our house and then we headed downtown in the minivan. Triple date :-P It was fun to hang out with this crew and to get to know Jess and Steph (Jeph), with whom I haven't spent much time. The 'rates lost, of course, but it was close enough to maintain some interest in the game. We mostly got food, ate it, took pictures, danced to the silly stadium music, and watched the mildly retarded people in the rows below and above us. Pretty sweet and funny people.

The evening didn't end with the last out of the 9th, though. For a PGP we granted Heather's request to try Cold Stone at the South Side Works. It was indeed open, so after getting our concoctions we walked to the fountain outside the Cheescake Factory and sat on the benches for a long time, joking, making funny noises, running through the fountain and watching other people run through the fountain. Gotta love those late night random hang-out times. And Matt made everything pretty funny. He's like Brian Chima--whatever he does is funny, and he can make things light hearted and funny that wouldn't be otherwise. Gumby. One in a million. At last we walked back to the car and returned home in the darkness of Sunday morning. Good times.

I played electric on Sunday, and since I broke a string on my normal Strat I was forced to use the new one I bought last week at Guitar Center. It's a sweet instrument, though the lack of a humbucker at the bridge is limiting sometimes. In general the worship was fairly rough, so I didn't get to think about the songs or the words too much. And then I pretty much slept through Dave Harvey's sermon (he'd come up to surprise Jere Harvey for Mother's Day. Cue the "awwww" :-)). When I was awake enough to listen it seemed like pretty solid stuff on denying ourselves and following Christ. Which is the antithesis to the self-serving laziness that has been dragging me down of late.

After church all normal people went and did stuff with their Moms. But Mom and Dad had opera tickets, so Daniel and I were left free. After teardown we hooked up with Steph and the Quinlisks, who likewise had no immediate Mother's Day activities, and we went to Panera for lunch. Poor Steph went to the wrong one, and it took about an hour for her to make it to ours. The bagels were good, and the Dr.Pepper was great, though I got burned out on it by the end of the afternoon. After eating and talking we wandered outside and strolled through the dollar store, the Eckerd and the pet store in that strip. I found Vanillamyntz Thinnie Tinnies, which in itself would make any week. But in addition, they were $0.18 per tin! So I bought nine! :-) I truly could hardly believe it was true. What joy! Finally around 5 o'clock we went out separate ways. Daniel and I picked up some good steaks and mushrooms at Shop 'n' Save for dinner and got home about half an hour before Mom and Dad's return. That night we had a fancy dinner and Mom and Dad got their presents. It was Dad's birthday too. Fifty years old. Kind of interesting to have your father be that old. Fifty is definitely past the midpoint of life.

So, I think that's the weekend. I made a CD of a well-ordered collection of my best recordings for Mom and Dad, and I'm working on the BHG project for Mom. I've got several recordings in the works, and in the last few weeks I've written two that I'm pretty happy with. School seems to promise a fairly comfortable and mildly enjoyable work load, and the only tension apparent is the difficulty of fitting working out and NOVA into the same day. Tomorrow I walk around the plant with Bob Wasileski for 3 hours and we tag abandoned equipment. I'll catch lunch at the Midway too, yay! Then Uncle Keith shows up from, of all places, Akron. He's got a new customer there, so he's been in my second city all week and he's chillin' here for the weekend before returning next week. Saturday I'm running sound for Leah and Doug's wedding. Next weekend is New Attitude. The next weekend is a likely Pure Boss gig at the Orange Street, and the weekend after that is the big dance show. Then I think the next week is Youth Camp!

Tomorrow the alarm will go off at 7am and I'll hit it four or five times until about 7:45, at which time I'll scramble to get dressed, pack my backpack and get some sort of breakfast before leaving at 8:20 or so for Pitt. I'll drive because I'll be going to NOVA right after class, and since it's summer I can find parking. NOVA till probably 4:30, as soon as I can leave, then back home to UK and Daniel for whatever we want to do.

I've been a bit more adventurous this semester so far, specificially in going places on campus that I've always wanted to go. I've gotten lunch at the trailers once and I finally went to the "Salem's Halal Meat Market" on Bouquet, which I've seen a hundred times. Good food, and cool European pop. I like myself when I do stuff like that. Perhaps I'll even go the Carnegie Museum some afternoon, or stop by the Phipp's Conservatory on my way home. Or maybe even go to that dingy looking Hungarian food place in Hazelwood. Ooooohhhh.

For now it's shower and bed. Yay I've caught up on the blog!

--Clear Ambassador