I am a man again. I stopped using the AC in my dad’s car. I cant afford to stay cool due to the rising gas prices.

THIS JUST IN

My King Supers card works at the Fry’s here, so I can now save .10cents (where is the cents sign on keyboards?) This is a big deal. I almost shouted at the gas station this morning. I love driving around with a cd player. I feel like a wealthy person now, except I don’t think I can afford to eat at Chipotle for the rest of the summer. This is the first time I have really told myself that and I’m not real happy with myself…

On Saturday (21^st) Anthony and I went and saw the Hulk.

Ten Toe Thumbs Up.

It was awesome. I jump and shot a lot at movies that are really intense. The guy next to me was kind of afraid of me by the end. If you have yet to see the film, sell all you have and purchase a theater, then watch it twice daily for seven days.

After the movie we drove to Jamba Juice. Once there we drove back to the theater to retrieve Anthony’s wallet. This trip to the theater with Anthony was a big change from last summer…

People who live in glass house

Jul. 25th, 2007 at 2:23 PM

“Anthony had an amazing idea to go running around in front of the theater “because it would be funny.” The real reason was being around girls without his shirt on. He, Chris and Raymond went running around the theater. Justin and I headed back to the jeep. Luckily I had my tent covers in the back of my jeep, so I covered the back seat for the half naked kids.”

Sunday went well. I taught class because Josh was out of town. There were thirteen kids in class Sunday morning. That’s a big number… I didn’t expect this at all. Sunday night after church I had “Chinese food” for the first time since I visited the motherland. It was Panda Express. It tasted like candy compared to real Chinese food.

I got a stain on my shirt.

Rewind to Friday night. We had

EXTREME FRIDAY NIGHT HANGOUT TIME

I would say the title was a little bold, but it got kids to come. I got to know a few of the kids a little better. One girl named Kadeshia, no not a spelling error, and I got to know each other pretty well. She is a quiet gal, so I started conversation with

“What kind of music do you like?”

“Anything but Country.” She answered

“Right on…. What’s your favorite right now though?”

“I’m really into Coldplay right now.” Was her reply

“No Way! You just get their new cd?” I asked in excitement

“Yeah! I love it!

I didn’t see that coming. The conversations then lead to me discovering she’s a huge Weezer fan, which I am also (for those ill-advised). She also loves Jack Johnson and Dashboard. You’re thinking

“Well Dan, a lot of people listen to those music groups”

I would reply. You are right, but Kadeshia is a black girl, so I didn’t really expect us to have the same taste in music.

“Take that” I would say to you.

I asked about her Hip-hop favorites, and we have the same fav’s there too. That was funny. I never would have guessed how to connect with Kadeshia. I guess I got pretty lucky.

Layne isn’t coming to Arizona.

FYI; that blows.

To rest your head is something taken lightly, well I always have. Finally in Phoenix, finally in my summer stay, finally somewhere to unpack for more than a week. I have seen it all, but have yet to see anything. God already has rocked my socks and I haven’t had the time to sort any of it out.

Encounter 2008. glo.

I couldn’t stand it. I thought the theme was great, but why oh why was it spelt without the ‘w’ I don’t even want to wear the shirt because people will think I bought it in China due to the spelling error. It took me about a day to realize I was in Lubbock Texas. You would think it would take less time but here was my week prior.

Tuesday 3^rd            Leave China at 3pm

Tuesday 3^rd            Arrive in LAX at 6pm

Wednesday 4^th       Arrive in DFW, Fly to LR.

Thursday 5^th          Leave LR, Fly to DFW then to Colorado Springs.

Saturday 7^th           Drive from CO to AZ

Sunday 8^th             Fly from AZ to El Paso to Lubbock.

This is after three weeks of being in China and in no city for longer than three days.

Friday the 6^th was a nice day off, but I don’t even remember what happened that day. Actually I can’t remember anything before the second day of Encounter. I do remember there being some great speakers there talking about “gloing”.

No, I didn’t spell it wrong; there is no ‘w’

Most of the classes were about Hell. Some of the classes attempted to be hell. One class was in a room reeking of sulfur and you had to sit in little spaces on carpet that had screws and other pieces of metal underneath. There was a very loud speaker playing heavy metal with a lot of double pedal action, which I can only assume is Satan’s kind of music. Once I realized I was sweating just as much inside as I would be outside, I thought to myself

“Hell will be just like this”

But then Layne sent me a text, so I knew I wasn’t really there.

After the heavy metal song, Satan began to inform us of our current situation, which I had correctly assumed to be hell. He said it was because of all the porn, lies, parties, girlfriends, drugs, heavy metal, and cutting I’ve been into. I figured the class was geared more towards high school students than myself.

Much to my surprise, all of the students claimed it was one of their favorite classes.

Surprise.

I have started a collection of Spiritual Memorabilia in the form of candles with pictures of all the different Saints on them. I am guessing these are exclusively sold at Fry’s Food and Drug, which is very convenient due to Fry’s being my grocer of choice.

My grandmother was very disappointed in my when I told her I hadn’t taken a journal to China. I really didn’t expect to let anyone down by this, but I guess I should have known better.

(FYI, I’m getting really good at typing, I still have to look at the keys but I can go pretty fast.)

Grandma told me that because I didn’t write the things down that happened to me I would forget them

“Grandma that’s ridiculous!” I replied

She was right; I almost don’t believe I went to China because I can’t even remember what happened there. Thank goodness I have facebook and everyone else on the trip took tons of pictures. If it weren’t for the pictures I wouldn’t believe I had actually been there.

Also because of this girl I talk to on the phone a lot, she the best kind of reminder.

Now that I have forgotten the three most intense weeks of my life, I’m ready for the unexpected that I expect Phoenix to give me, and because of my grandmas’ threats, blogging will be a regular activity.

In closing…

It was Wednesday night at Encounter, I think. Josh and I had just had some amazing conversation with Taily, Seanna and Ashley when we were walking back through campus and the most ridiculous thing ever happened to me. It was windy, just like it always is in Lubbock, and it was past curfew so no one was out. Suddenly from above, at a speed of approximately 15mph, a volleyball descended onto my face. Knocking my glasses off, the ball taught me a lesson I was ill-prepared for.

While crawling around on my knees looking for my glasses in the dark, Josh offered no aid, only laughter. Josh recalls some choice words, but I don’t. I really couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe that a ball just fell from a tree and hit me in the face so hard that it knocked my glasses straight off.

If you didn’t know, nothing… literally noting makes me angrier than when my glasses are knocked off my face.

“Hey Moses, come watch this!”

God is quite the joker.

Goodbye

I’ve used mapquest a lot this summer.
 

I had always dreamed of the day when I would write my final PHX journal entry. The song FIX YOU just came on my iTunes. You know what this song does? It makes me feel old. I love being older; having so many memories that every time I hear a song or hear a certain phrase my mind is overloaded with memories of times past.

“If you never try, then you’ll never know just what your worth.”

In Matthew 10 Jesus is sending the twelve disciples out and he tells them in verse ten

“…the worker is worth his keep”

I lived 20 years till I did something I felt like was work for the LORD. I’m sure some other stuff along the way was work for him, but my heart wasn’t there. I remember at the beginning of this summer, I thought I couldn’t do it. I tried. I think I did ok. I feel God smiled once or twice. I think I’ve found my worth. The cost of a man’s life, and not just any man, a man who died knowing he was dying for me.

I wish I could write down what I’ve learned, and how I’ve grown. I think about how it might be in a conversation

“How was your summer Dan?”

“I grew a lot”

“Ha, sure, you’ve always been huge. You’re so funny!”

It won’t matter. I’ve never been so in love with God. This next semester is changing the way I drive. I’m so excited about living for God in a different environment, that’s red lights make me even more anxious. I feel like speed limits are slower then ever.

I want to see my sister, see my friends, smell Colorado, and spread the gospel.

I went to Chandler for the last time this summer last night. I ate dinner with Nick, Ben and Steven. God has blessed me so richly with amigos, I can’t even believe it. There are people who love me from Cali to ATL. Be thankful for the heart of your brothers and sister.

In the movie 300, Leonitus say “A soldier’s strength is the soldiers to his right and left.”

We are the same way. If it weren’t for the strength of the people here at Southwest, I couldn’t have had such a crunk summer. If it weren’t for my friends at Harding, I wouldn’t have been strong enough to make it through some of the lowest parts of my Christian walk and life. If it weren’t for the strength in my parents, I wouldn’t have made it to Harding; makes me feel pretty humble when I think about where I’d be without my soldiers.

Everybody here’s got somebody to lean on.

 Till next year.

I watch fifteen hours of LOST on Thursday.

I thought about seeing a doctor, but Jack on an island in who knows where. I’ve never been so attached to a TV show. After watching ten hours of LOST, I went to GameWorks with Justin and Ryan. We played arcade games for a few hours, then headed back to watch more LOST. We watched five more hours. 1am to 5am.

Turns out this was a bad idea.

On Friday we had the lock-in. I wasn’t running off very much sleep, and my stomach was nice and sick for the past few days. I went and bought some Full Throttle drinks and a Starbucks double shot. Those did me good through the night. I did the devotional, and I think it went really well.

I slept on Saturday. I also played my sax for a little; then cried for a little. I watched more LOST to cheer myself up.

Sunday was my last lesson for the summer. It wasn’t the best I’ve done, but it was my fault due to the time I spent preparing it. I’ll be in Colorado in a week from today.

I can’t believe I’m almost done. It fells like just yesterday I was arriving to the Graduation dinner at Southwest. I don’t know how much I want to leave. I also can’t wait to see my friends again. I can’t wait to see how the things I’ve learned this summer and how I’ve grown will affect my life away from this place.

I know for sure GOD wants me to do ministry. I remember sitting in my office the second week thinking, “I don’t know about this, maybe I should be somewhere else.”

You ever been really wrong?

I took a nap Sunday afternoon after spending two hours at guitar center, that’s my kind of afternoon. It’s been a long time since I napped. Sunday night I got sick again.

It’s Chipotle; gets me every time.

Today I went and saw the Simpson’s movie. It was grand; I give it 3 toe-thumbs up. This week Dave and I are going to throw down a track about Southwest.

I’m learning the Greek Alphabet.

On Monday I went to see Transformers with Justin, Justin’s cousin Raymond, Anthony and Anthony’s cousin Chris. It would have been complete if I had had my cousin Todd, whom I miss dearly. The movie was awesome. I haven’t seen an action film in the theaters in a while.

I give Transformers 5 toe-thumbs up.

When we got out of the movie it was raining really hard. I thought

“Weird, were in the desert”

Its monsoon season here in the desert, and rain is as random as me getting a date. You know; happens only a few times a year, and after it’s done it gets so dry you forgot it happened. When we got to the theater, I thought it would be funny to park in the furthest spot away. It was funny when it wasn’t raining, then even funnier when it was. We made our way to my jeep, and then I said

“Ready to get out?”

“What” I think was the general response of the guys. So we got out and ran around in the parking lot. Once we were all soaking wet, it was a lot more fun. Anthony ended up taking of his shirt. I’m lucky it wasn’t his pants. The drains coming form the roof of the theater were overflowing like flooded waterfalls. So we played in them.

Anthony had an amazing idea to go running around in front of the theater “because it would be funny.” The real reason was being around girls without his shirt on. He, Chris and Raymond went running around the theater. Justin and I headed back to the jeep. Luckily I had my tent covers in the back of my jeep, so I covered the back seat for the half naked kids.

Then it stopped raining, and ten minuets later you wouldn’t have know it was raining, except for our soggy underwear.

Later that night I went grocery shopping. After drying off and changing clothes, I went back into my jeep, sat down, then got up to find my bum all wet again. My seat was still soggy.

Bummer.

I just covered the seat with a tent tarp and went on my way. I figured it be fun to walk around Fry’s acting like I don’t know my pants are all wet. I was right, it was.

On Tuesday I went with Justin to the Dollar store to purchase prizes for the Lock-In on Friday/Saturday. And here is the list of prizes, because I know you really want to know.

• Box of 40 envelopes
• “Great Tasting Marshmallow Burger”[1]
• Artificial lemon
• Self-inflating whoopee cushion
• Funnel set
• Mouse Traps in a bonus 4 pack!
• Four different award ribbons reading;

      -“My 7^th Birthday”

      -“Potty Training Award”

      -“Good Eater Award”

      -“Singing Star”[2]

      -“39 Forever”

·        Clear-peach colored LCD watch

·        Small wooden bird house

·        2pc Bamboo Spoon serving set

·        2 boxes of Twin Dragon Fortune Cookies “Chinese style”

·        Genesis 22-36 on CD

·        “Miracle Dogs Too ‘An inspirational trial’” on VHS

·        “Feliz Quince Años” Centerpiece 8.5 in. It’s a girl in a pink dress

·        Can Cooler

·        Dawson’s Creek novel “Don’t Scream” an all new original story featuring the characters of the hit Columbia TriStar Television show

·        Key chain “Monkeys in a barrel” game

“Wow” you say. Some pretty amazing prizes. I know. I picked them out.

I started watching LOST. I didn’t mean too. I got pressured into it. Now I enjoy it, but I not really gonna tell anyone at Harding because I use to talk trash about people who liked it. Oops.

This morning I heard John or Leisa setting the alarm to AWAY. This means the alarm would go off if anything in the house moved. I was still in bed when I heard it being set. I figured “Oh well.” I was wrong. When I finally got up to go to work, the censors picked up on me and the alarm sounding like the world was going to blow up.

Don’t worry; I saved the world by entering the code. After the alarm went off, I felt like I had just fought off a Great White Shark.

I never liked the sea.

 Spend a lot of money on Windex

Church bummed me out today.

Last Sunday I flew to California. It was my week of much undeserved vacation from working in Phoenix. My Mom and Taleen were staying in Laguna Hills house sitting my uncle’s place, so I kicked it there for a week.

On Monday we went to the beach. Taleen and I built sand castles, collected a bucket full of seashells, and got some color. After the beach, we went out to lunch. Everything in that state cost too much money; especially the food. At the restaurant, Taleen’s desert was two Oreos. While eating one, I snagged the other and took out the filling, ate it, and put it back without her noticing. When she was read for her second cookie, she opened it in disbelief.

“Where’s the filling?” she asked.

“I guess it was manufactured incorrectly” I answered.

“It was DAN!” my mom rudely shouted.

Taleen wasn’t going to let these two black cookie wafers go to waist.

“I need something in my cookie”

Taleen loves Ketchup. When you give her a serving of it you think “that’s too much,” but your wrong; she’ll want more. Taleen dipped part of her cookie in the ketchup and spread it between the two cream-less wafers.

“Here Taleen, let me give you some more” I said

So I squirted some more ketchup in her cookie sandwich for her to partake. Then whole time she was eating it my mom was telling her not to. Then Taleen had had enough.

“MOM! Don’t tell me not to like it! I like it!” Taleen shouted.

I laughed hysterically, and my mom said, “OK”  

On Tuesday I went to Magic Mountain with an old friend Michelle. I was a grand time. On two different lines we were in, the rides broke down. We still rode some killer coasters. I like to talk like an Australian in public places where I know people don’t know me. So I started to in one line, and then realized the groups of people next to us were British. I stopped.

It felt like telling a black joke and not seeing the black person behind you.

On Wednesday the three of us went to visit me Mom’s aunt and uncle. They are rich Armenians who live in Beverly Hills. I don’t like it there in L.A. Everyone has to have a killer ride, but now I’ve realized why. Traffic takes you two hours anywhere so you mindaswell roll in style. My mom’s aunt and uncle are like the parents on Big Fat Greek Weeding, except they are Armenian not Greek.

The night was filled with awe-inspiring fact about the homeland.

On Thursday we went to Sea World with my Uncle and Aunt. It was really good to see them. I’m closest with them when it comes to family on my mom’s side. I saw some sweet stuff there. I got a sweet fanny pack that says

“Sea World Juniversity”  

Which I’m guessing was a mistake, and was suppose to read

“Sea World University”

This still makes no sense. Is that really a school?

On Friday we drove two hours in horrible traffic to see my Mom’s father; hes not a very good man. He was and alcoholic and abused my mom and her brothers and mother. Now for some reason we visit him. About ten years ago he was fighting with his brothers on the phone and got so angry he burst a capillary in his spinal cord and paralyzed himself. I’ve been pissed before, but never that pissed.

He didn’t want us to adopt Taleen because she isn’t of the Arian race.

I’m not a fan of his.

His second wife, Alice, cooked us an Armenian meal. It was tasty, but it’s all Greek to me! Lame. Then later conversation led to Grandpa saying something to rightfully piss off my mom.

“Debbie jan[1], the other day I was watching show on TV called Millionaire, and you know what a question was? Which country did the Arian race come from?”

Then my mom got pissed, because we were just talking about China. They started fighting, and my grandpa contested he was just teaching here about Armenia; which was the answer to the question.

Saturday was my favorite day. My mom went to Wal-Mart to pick some stuff up to Taleen and I were just kickin’ it together. We hung out by the pool dancing to jazz music for a while, and then just played together. I was fun. I miss here and it’s a bummer I don’t get to watch her grow. I left that afternoon.

Back in Phoenix it feels like home.

I smell like dirt.

I just got back from Copper Basin Bible camp in Prescott Arizona. It was an awesome week.

Stuff happened that was bad/amazing. I’m really tired, and as of right now, I’m not living anywhere. All my stuff is next to me inside my office. This is only momentarily till John and Leisa get back from watching Transformers, then I’m going to go live with them for a day, then go visit my mom and sister in L.A.

This week was full of me laughing and yelling at teens. Yelling at them doesn’t work; all it did was destroy my voice for two days.

 
Dave and another youth minister from around here named Josh were the directors of the camp. I got to be the Assistant to the Assistant Regional Director/ Counselor. They had some really killer “out-of-the-boxes” ideas for the week.

 The best part of the week was when my friend Kent’s band came and played on Thursday. It was great to see him, we were really close freshmen year at Harding, and I hadn’t seen him since. They played awesome. We got to do some really intense catching up, we got to pray together, cry together, sing together and skip through the woods together. Along with Kent’s band came a fiddle player. Kent had been telling me for a long time that she and I would be ‘perfect’ for each other. She seemed like a pretty hip cat.

 He might have been right.

 
I also got to destroy some people with a volleyball team named The Blue Tsunami Samurai who never Lose a.k.a Game-Set-Match-SON! It was fun to play in a sand volleyball court. The sand was killer hot, but that didn’t stop our record of being undefeated champions.

 
I’m finally really living my life for God. I have honestly never been happier and content with my life. I think until now if someone had said that to me, I would haven’t really understood.

 
I still get angry at God.

 
Then I realize it’s because I don’t understand him, then frustration sets in when I realize I’m living for something I don’t really understand. Then when my head clears, I realize I would have it no other way.

 I got to tell all the campers about my decision to give my life to God, and seek him before all else. It wasn’t a pitch for baptism, but a pitch to true self sacrifice.

 
Sometimes when I’m driving in Phoenix, I start laughing.

 
I start laughing because I’m in Phoenix. Not because I wanted to go, but because God put me here. Then I ask,

 
“Why didn’t you give me AC?”

 
God doesn’t answer because he knows I’m kidding.

Buy-Sell

For you to notice

So it’s been a while since I’ve blogged.

 
iTunes has had two updated versions to install and Firefox once since my last post. I’m disappointed in my lack of internet discipline.

 
So many things have happened, I’m afraid I won’t be able to ever remember them. Its been two weeks since my last update. The second of those weeks was a paint fumed blur.

 
The teens and I repainted the Student Center. It was awesome. I think it looks great now, err body loves it. It took a whole week, and felt like a day. A few things happened that stuck with me. Ill spit em straight to ya.

 
It was Monday morning, I got to the church at 8am and Anthony met me there and we were going to Home Depot to purchase paint and whatnot. After giving the workers our request for four gallons and four quarts[1], we just sat around observing our surroundings by listening to others conversations.

 
An employee of Home Depot was having a very interesting conversation with his fellow employees. Anthony and I could not help over hear this conversation. The man was Hispanic, a few tattoos here and there with some rad gauges in his ears. He proceeded to tell his associate about a “girl he heard about that got branded for being a snitch.”

 
It was a while ago and I can’t recall his exact words, but he was speaking loud enough for Anthony and I to both fully understand the story. The man told a tale of a woman who had “snitched”[2] on some guys. The guys broke into her home while she was sleeping, and branded the word SNITCH on her face and arm. He said this with a quant chuckle at the end of the story.

 
Anthony and are were a little taken back.

 
So a few days later I was watching the news to see how Paris was doing in prison[3], when a report came on about a women who had be branded for being a snitch. I knew about this crime before the news did. I don’t know to think that was cool, or sad.

 
The painting went on. I did a whole lot of it due to the attendance of the teens. We had a party Monday night to celebrate ‘our’ labor. A lot of kids came and we had a good ol’ time. Some time last week I was getting gas with Justin one night, and had a run in with a drug dealer I think. I asked Justin (who lives in the area) why people like that always want to talk to me. He told me I looked like a kid who smoked weed.

 
I need to change my apparel. Out here in Phoenix if you wear plaid shorts, sandals, tee shirts with Sesame Street characters and Tweed hats, your looking to score a dime sack.

Don't be a snitch

I’ve killed about three cockroaches in the past two days.

I never really get all girly around bugs, but cockroaches make me sick. They are huge, if you crush them, it’s a big mess, so break their legs, then throw em outside.

I haven’t written in a long time, and many things have happed. This week has been really cool. On Wednesday the teens taught class to the little kids at church; that was interesting. On Thursday I went to the driving range with Billy. Someone dented one of his golf clubs.

Also on Thursday Billy and I went to Target. On the way we noticed it was over 105 degrees in my jeep by Billy putting an ice cube on y door handle and watching it melt instantly. We went to Target so I could buy some more underwear; Billy doesn’t have a washer or dryer.

I have a burn mark on my knee form the door handle next to me.

Thursday night was the Flag Day Pizza Party at Peter Piper Pizza. It was fun, and a lot of kids came. I gave Justin and Gary a ride back, and we got Jamba Juice on the way. The girl working didn’t know was a Raspberry Dream was. Pisshh.

On Friday I went to Chandler to spend the day with Nick, Mike, Kevin and Bentley. It was really fun. Before I left, I locked my keys in my jeep, so I had to punch in one of my corner windows. The heat changes the way you think. We went to some restaurant and got the words largest Calzones. Then we went to the movies to see Oceans 13. It was pretty awesome. I recommend it.

In the parking lot afterward we witnessed adults acting like little kids.  Some guys were having an argument over a driving mistake, it was silly. They were silly. We laughed at them.

We went to get taco later that night, and then Nick told us they were having a Lock-in at Alma School road COC, so we went there to surprise our friend Stephen. He was excited to see us. We hung out there from 10pm to 2am. It was a good time. I woke up at 10am to head home and get ready for the killer pool party planned for that evening.

I met up with Dave, and then we hit up Wal-Mart for our party needs. I got Dave to buy me a life vest. I wore it all over Wal-Mart. People stared. It was fun. Only some guys showed up, so we played basketball in the pool because there was a sweet hoop in it.

I taught class on Sunday, and it went well, took a killer nap in the afternoon, and went to church, lead a song and it went well. I lead it in a low key, because my throat was sore, and some people were struggling to hit the notes, it was kinda funny. G-Money is moving on Friday, so we had a party for him.

I washed my hair today.

Let it be sung.

 
Thursday was six days ago. I got lazy on my blog entries.

 
I had Thursday off. I went to Safeway again. This time I was in for some MAN shopping, so before I left, I called my mom and asked what food I should buy; I always end up just buying sandwich material.

 
I had a pretty full cart, and I knew it was more food then I had ever purchased before, so I decided to guess the total. I guessed $63.00, it was $71.17. I was close.

 
I went to work Friday morning. I finished up planning my lesson for Sunday, and I was pretty confident it would go well. I called Jesse and Jacob and tried to arrange a get-together, but Jacob was going to a birthday party, and Jesse didn’t call me back. I ended up watching videos on youtube all night. I watched as many standup comedians as I could take. Then I watched a Bruce Lee movie that I have. “Fist of Furry” I believe it was.

 
On Saturday, I was awaken at 7a.m to the beautiful melodies of a hammer to a metal plank. The neighbors decided early Saturday mourning would be a good time for some work around the house.

 
I disagree.

 
Saturday mornings are a holy time. In fact, I once wrote a haiku about Saturday mornings.

 
Saturday, sleep in.

Do not hammer so loudly.

Silent, like tall tree.

 
I remember taking a class that taught me to do that, but I still can’t do math.

 
So on Saturday I didn’t really get to sleep in. After awaking to my neighbors renovating, I stayed in bed till 11, in and out of sleep. Not to bad. Jacob said he was going to call in the mourning. He didn’t. He called at 3p.m, explaining he had just woken up. Lucky.

“I’ve already had two meals” I told him.

Jacob told me I sound black on the phone. (He is black, he would know.) I told him I practice. I went to the church; we were going to meet there. On the way, I wrote a chorus to a new song. I dig it. Its fun to write music during really bad traffic. At the church Justin was there helping his pops move tables form a wedding that ended earlier. Jacob rolled up in his GMC Envoy bumpin’ T.I, so Justin and I hopped in.

 
We went to Sonic: Mistake. I got sick. I took Tums: Relief. Then we went to a car dealership because Jacob wanted to look at a Lance Evo that he was hoping to purchase after boot camp. It was funny being there, the older male sales men thought we were actually going to buy a car. They kind of got tired of us, and sent out a younger guy, who was going to drive us to another side of the lot. We hopped into a Peon (what we called a neon because those cars a pretty lame) and we went crusin’ with the young sales guy. I asked how old he was because I could tell he was around my age. I was right, he was twenty. We had a fun conversation, the four of us, about cars and other topic that don’t come to mind.

 
After wasting a lot of salesmen valuable commissions-hungry time, we went to Boarders. I wanted to find a book about making coffee. I found one. I also had to extract some Sonic in the little boy’s room. The floor was extra sticky, and I don’t like it that way. I don’t know if they do it on purpose or what, just not my thing.

 
When I got back to Billy’s Saturday night, I reviewed over my lesson plan for Sunday mourning class. I was really excited. I went to bed, but could not achieve the adequate level of consciousness to do so. It was like Christmas Eve, when you were a kid and had peaked at your presents already, so you were really excited to finally give your fake excited look you had been practicing for weeks, to your parents.  

 
My lesson wasn’t ‘fake’, but I had been practicing for a while. All the kids in the Youth Group were back, so there were a good number of kids there. I delivered. It went well. Really well I guess. I was the first time I presented a lesson I was really comfortable with due to the amount of studying I did for it. Wah hoo, and there are more to come.

 
Sunday afternoon I went to lunch with Dave+wife+mom, Billy+wife, Aaron+wife+kid. It was good. We went to this place called Thunderbird. It was a restaurant that’s theme was like “Colorado” or “Rustic Plane States.” There were large vaulted ceilings made with wooden pillars everywhere, just like in Colorado… everywhere. It was nice. I had some killer meatloaf.

 
Then we went to Ashley’s (Billy’s fiancé [and you can bet I spelt fiancé wrong the first time I typed it.]) house and watched the Red Soxs play the D.Backs.

 
Billy fell asleep.

 
On the way to church Sunday night I bought Billy+wife Starbucks. It’s really cool to be able to do that for someone/people you’re not dating. That’s the first time I’ve ever been able to do that. I got an Orange Crème Frappichino.

 
Grade: D-
 

Won’t get that again. John asked me to lead a song before the video we were watching at church. I picked ‘It is well’. Great song, I know “Good choice Daniel.” WRONG. Not at this church. I couldn’t keep the tempo up, and the mic I was singing into was blasting me in the face. It was no good. Maybe I got lucky, and they won’t ask me to do it again. Not, they will, I think there on to the series for the teens I’m doing about singing Praises.

 
Today (Monday June 11, 2007) I woke up and a vision had been reveled to me in my sleep. It was a creation unlike any other.

It included these ingredients;

• 1 fried egg
• 1 slice of Colby jack cheese
• 1 slice of ham, cut into 2
• 2 precooked waffles

I knew my life was never going to be the same again. I jumped out of bed and got right to it. It was just as I had been show in my vision. The egg cooked perfectly. I shaped it exactly the diameter of the waffles. “Wow” you say. I know. I slapped the cheese right on the egg after if was cooked. Good melting time. Then put the ham on the frying pan to cook it a bit. I put those pieces on the cheese for even more optimal melting time. After the waffles were buttered, I threw the creation together sandwich style, and started a revolution in my stomach.

 
I won the award for ‘Best Breakfast Sandwich of the Month’ today. It was kind of a big deal.

 
Billy and I went to REI in search of a Frisbee and a hackysac. Only one item was acquired so we were off to Sports Authority. There Billy got a good disc. On the way there we past what I thought to be a VW dealership, there were four amazing looking VW buses outside. I went there after I went to the church for a few hours.

 
It turns out the place was a specialty interior shop, and they just so happened to have four customers buses in at the same time. I was sad. I was about to buy one.

Anyone can write a haiku.

I don’t know who really reads this. It matters not. The other day I read over my past entries, and read things I hadn’t remembered. Isn’t that a long word?

REMEMBERED- · To recall to the mind with effort; think of again

                              · To recall or become aware of suddenly or spontaneously

Sunday night right after I posted my entry, I went to use the toilet. It was after church, so there were still people around. I was in the stall furthest from the door. A man and a small boy then came in. No big deal. Then something amazing happened.

“OUCH!” the boy yelled

“What?” asked the man.

“I hit my pee pee.”

I don’t know if you think that’s funny. At the time I did, and still do. I was struggling to hold in my laugh because I didn’t want to sounds rude. Then my laugh started to leak, and I thought “Oh well” then laughed really loud for a second. It reminded if a memory long past.

[Eyes squinted, looks off into the distance with head tilted back]

Monday was hot. Surprise. I got some lesson planning done at the church, and then called a guy from the youth group named Jesse. He’s a cool kid. Jesse just graduated from high school, and he has realized the way he was living then was not the best. We drove around downtown looking for something cool to do, and ended up playing games at Best Buy. We ate dinner at Chilies, and I learned among other things about Jesse, that the chips at Chilies just aren’t good anymore.

 
On Tuesday, I don’t think the day was very exciting. The Youth Group is still gone, so not a lot of action. Tuesday night was eventful. I went to John (the preacher) and Lisa’s house for a bible study Tuesday night. It was a bible study they have been hosting for a while for new Christians. There were three Hispanic couples there. All of them had a few kids, pretty young ones. The bible study was awesome. Some questions were raised that I had never really thought about being someone who has grow up in the Church. The couples were pretty close friends. They were constantly joking with each other, and it was really funny. I felt like I was watching a sitcom on Telomundo, just in English, sometimes Spanish. One thing said that I liked the best was from Danny. He said,

“You might want to leave around six; Mexicans are always running 30 min late.”

 
I didn’t know that.

 
Later that night I was getting ready to go to bed. I forgot to grab the mail so I went to grab it. (The mail box is a little shoot that goes into the house so I didn’t have to go outside) I’m glad I didn’t have to go outside, because it was about 11:45 p.m. and I had been hearing yelling and other noises all night. When I got close to the door, I heard what seemed to be a female crying. I thought she might just be walking by, but the crying stayed the same volume. I got closer to the door, and it sounded like she was just outside on the porch. I waited and she didn’t knock. I was pretty spooked, and I didn’t have pants on, so I was hoping she wouldn’t knock. I started walking away and a heard a man yelling outside. None of it made sense.

 
It had been really windy yesterday, and still is, which made the guard door make a “bang” noise every now and then. I kept thinking it was her, but it wasn’t a repetitive banging. The wind was knocking the plant against the window in my room also. I was nervous again.

 
I had finally gotten use to sleeping there alone.

 
I couldn’t stop thinking about the crying I heard. I know it was crying, I know it was a girl, and I know it was really close. I just don’t know if I should have done something.

This part is weird. I fell asleep thinking about it, and it turned into my dream. I dreamed she was just some girl, and these drug dealers were after her. She was only in my dream for a little. I helped her escape them or something. I can’t remember to clearly.

 
 When I woke up this mourning, I went and checked outside. It was still windy, so the door was still making noise. I didn’t find a body, like I had dreamed was going to happen. I just forgot about it.

 
Maybe I’ll hear something about it on the news later.

 
I cleaned the Kitchen, and the bathroom then went to the church. I found out today that I have to take Greek next semester with a teacher who isn’t a big fan of me. That’s going to be exciting. Travis got his job, Mike is coming to Arizona, and earlier Betsy called me thinking I was Daniel Wade.

 
I’m not.
 

Today because of the wind, it was ‘Colorado hot’.

Nothing is new under the Sun.

Today is Wednesday, and I just learned how to spell Wednesday. Yesterday was Tuesday and plenty of interesting things occurred.

I showed up at the church around 10, and then Dave and I talked about scheduling stuff. After that we went to a bookstore to pick out some curriculum form the classes’ I’m teaching this summer. I don’t know if I like it. It’s a DVD set things with short clips, and discussion ideas. I wish youth ministry had never come to this. After an amazing dish of chicken fajitas a learned a little more about Dave’s past. Once Dave got in a brawl with some Titan pledges. I thought that to be very entertaining.

Dave then told me a story that didn’t sit well with me. He said it was his freshmen year, and one day in chapel and really good speaker gave a sort of “alter call” after his lesson. A couple came forward and admitted to having sex on many occasions, and they weren’t married. Dave said everyone all prayed together and the coupe asked for forgiveness. Later Dave found out the couple was kicked out of Harding for breaking the no sex rule. That’s a bummer. Dave told me hes still mad about that.

Tuesday was a good day in the office, I got some planning done. Before I left I talked to one of the kids in the youth group named Cory for a while. Cory has three jobs; one of them is vacuuming the halls at the church. I’m impressed by his work ethic. (We are going to hang out with some other youth group kids on Thursday.) On my way out, I borrowed a T.V and a Nintendo 64 from the Student Center (youth room) and took it home because Billy has no T.V.

I got home, set it up, and then realized I needed a remote to play the 64. I was ready to accept the task. Billy was on shift (fighting fire) so I didn’t really know where to go. –Side note- I’m now a minority where I live, it’s different. I drove a round and found a Safeway, I needed groceries too. I’m bad at shopping for groceries. Once I realized I could not purchase a remote and an antenna, I sought business else where.

I headed down 7^th (ave. or street, I don’t remember) and saw a place similar to Walgreen. It was CVS, and the man who rung up my purchase was the tallest man I had even seen in real life. I drove back home. Realized the remote I purchased had no batteries, so I was back on the town. After standing in line in a Circle K behind a man whit tattoos all over his head, I bought some AAA. I stayed up as late as I could. Billy was gone and I was lonely. After hours of Mario Golf, I called it a night.

I went to sleep, but couldn’t. So I went and got Billy’s bat and put it next to my bed.