I've been eating lunch at McDonald's every day just to play the stupid Monopoly game.
It feels good to get that off my chest.
Wednesday, October 29, 2003
Monday, October 27, 2003
Umm... Ouch
I had a wonderful weekend, most of it with Sarah... Friday involved a walk through a state park, then a double date with our friends Jason and Jen to a great Italian place and a comedy club. Saturday involved some laying around and reading, then watching the Marlins win the Series. Sunday's church service was good, then after a Sunday afternoon nap (which should be required by law, btw), Sarah and I met up with my friends Aaron and Lindsay to watch the Chiefs' game. I could expound on all of those things a lot more, because it was really a great weekend, but...
There was one thing that made it not such a great weekend. At some point while my car was in Sarah's driveway, someone got into it. At first, the only thing I noticed that was missing was my Discman, which wouldn't have been so bad. But then I realized that my cds were gone. Pretty much all of them. A few of my newer ones were not yet in the big cd wallet, but there were definitely at least 100 or so in there. And they're all gone.
Now, I've been trying to be philosophical about this. "It's just stuff," I told myself. Well, it's true, it's just stuff, but it's stuff that I've spent most of my life compiling. I was pretty proud of my cd collection - I felt like I had quite a good variety of music in there, and I felt like I could find music for any mood I was in. That cd wallet also served as my main resource for planning the music for church services, etc. Anyway, I've found myself thinking about my dad's record collection, albums he collected in high school, college, and afterwards... the Beatles, the Stones, Hendrix, Clapton, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, Zeppelin, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Dylan... all sorts of good stuff that I grew up listening to and that helped form my musical tastes and gave me a glimpse into my dad's life before he was my dad. And I'm realizing that over the past several years, as I've built up my collection of music, it's really served as a soundtrack to some very formative years in my life, and if my kids (when I have some) could listen to those albums, they'd get a good picture of the thoughts and melodies that accompanied my life so far.
I don't want to overdramatize this, but for someone to whom music is such a central part of life, this was a tough thing to lose. I shouldn't have kept them in my car... but who knew? I'm sure I'll start buying some back slowly, but some of them I know I won't be able to replace. Anyway, I'm not looking forward to the next several weeks when I'll be driving and think "Hey, I want to listen to... Oh, wait."
God is good, and music, at its best, has always only pointed me towards God. But this one kinda stings.
There was one thing that made it not such a great weekend. At some point while my car was in Sarah's driveway, someone got into it. At first, the only thing I noticed that was missing was my Discman, which wouldn't have been so bad. But then I realized that my cds were gone. Pretty much all of them. A few of my newer ones were not yet in the big cd wallet, but there were definitely at least 100 or so in there. And they're all gone.
Now, I've been trying to be philosophical about this. "It's just stuff," I told myself. Well, it's true, it's just stuff, but it's stuff that I've spent most of my life compiling. I was pretty proud of my cd collection - I felt like I had quite a good variety of music in there, and I felt like I could find music for any mood I was in. That cd wallet also served as my main resource for planning the music for church services, etc. Anyway, I've found myself thinking about my dad's record collection, albums he collected in high school, college, and afterwards... the Beatles, the Stones, Hendrix, Clapton, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, Zeppelin, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Dylan... all sorts of good stuff that I grew up listening to and that helped form my musical tastes and gave me a glimpse into my dad's life before he was my dad. And I'm realizing that over the past several years, as I've built up my collection of music, it's really served as a soundtrack to some very formative years in my life, and if my kids (when I have some) could listen to those albums, they'd get a good picture of the thoughts and melodies that accompanied my life so far.
I don't want to overdramatize this, but for someone to whom music is such a central part of life, this was a tough thing to lose. I shouldn't have kept them in my car... but who knew? I'm sure I'll start buying some back slowly, but some of them I know I won't be able to replace. Anyway, I'm not looking forward to the next several weeks when I'll be driving and think "Hey, I want to listen to... Oh, wait."
God is good, and music, at its best, has always only pointed me towards God. But this one kinda stings.
Thursday, October 23, 2003
Some happenings that are... happening
So, last week I worked up this really long post catching up on the last few weeks, and then the imperfect world of technology failed me and lost my post, so now I'm finally trying again.
It's been a crazy few weeks, and I'm hoping I'll be back to posting more regularly soon, but for now, here's what's up...
I'm enjoying my schedule this quarter at the business college, and the little bit of extra free time it affords (even though that obviously hasn't translated into extra time to blog). I'm still enjoying the challenge of working with nontraditional students and trying to excite them about things like writing.
Last weekend was the first in a month that I didn't go down to St. Louis to work on the album. I've enjoyed the process SO much, and I'll be kinda sad when it's done. On the other hand, I can't wait to get it finished! In my obviously unbiased opinion, it sounds really good, and after we do the last bit of recording next weekend and after our engineer, David (who plays for this really good band you should check out) finishes the mixing, it'll hopefully sound even better! Not sure yet what we're going to do with it, but we've felt very led in the process the whole way, so it'll become apparent.
The biggest thing that's happened in the last few weeks is that my friend Sarah, who I think I've mentioned several times here, has become more than "my friend Sarah." We've started dating, and it's a beautiful and exciting thing that I won't say much about now, but you'll probably hear more about it in the future.
My grandparents are stopping through town tonight, and I think we'll be going out with Sarah, so that will be a nice chance for them to get acquainted.
One more important trend in the past several weeks... the Kansas City Chiefs are 7-0. And the Bill Self era in Kansas basketball has officially begun (click here for a good article), as practice commenced this week. Things are good in my sporting world.
Things I'm looking forward to:
1) Meeting up with my good friend Aaron Banman (and hopefully Sarah and Aaron's wife Lindsay, too) to watch the Chiefs game Sunday night, somewhere between here and Chicago.
2) A large gathering of family at home in Topeka for Thanksgiving.
3) Jayhawk basketball
4) My church growing in being a community of faith that models God's love and grace and compassion and heart for the lost.
5) Maturing into a more faithful and selfless son, brother, friend, teacher, worship leader, and (eventually) spouse.
Albums I've acquired recently that you should too:
1) Lori Chaffer - 1Beginning
2) eastmountainsouth
3) Patty Griffin - Living With Ghosts
4) Allison Krauss and Union Station - Live
5) Chris Thile - Not All Who Wander Are Lost
6) David Crowder Band - Illuminate
It's been a crazy few weeks, and I'm hoping I'll be back to posting more regularly soon, but for now, here's what's up...
I'm enjoying my schedule this quarter at the business college, and the little bit of extra free time it affords (even though that obviously hasn't translated into extra time to blog). I'm still enjoying the challenge of working with nontraditional students and trying to excite them about things like writing.
Last weekend was the first in a month that I didn't go down to St. Louis to work on the album. I've enjoyed the process SO much, and I'll be kinda sad when it's done. On the other hand, I can't wait to get it finished! In my obviously unbiased opinion, it sounds really good, and after we do the last bit of recording next weekend and after our engineer, David (who plays for this really good band you should check out) finishes the mixing, it'll hopefully sound even better! Not sure yet what we're going to do with it, but we've felt very led in the process the whole way, so it'll become apparent.
The biggest thing that's happened in the last few weeks is that my friend Sarah, who I think I've mentioned several times here, has become more than "my friend Sarah." We've started dating, and it's a beautiful and exciting thing that I won't say much about now, but you'll probably hear more about it in the future.
My grandparents are stopping through town tonight, and I think we'll be going out with Sarah, so that will be a nice chance for them to get acquainted.
One more important trend in the past several weeks... the Kansas City Chiefs are 7-0. And the Bill Self era in Kansas basketball has officially begun (click here for a good article), as practice commenced this week. Things are good in my sporting world.
Things I'm looking forward to:
1) Meeting up with my good friend Aaron Banman (and hopefully Sarah and Aaron's wife Lindsay, too) to watch the Chiefs game Sunday night, somewhere between here and Chicago.
2) A large gathering of family at home in Topeka for Thanksgiving.
3) Jayhawk basketball
4) My church growing in being a community of faith that models God's love and grace and compassion and heart for the lost.
5) Maturing into a more faithful and selfless son, brother, friend, teacher, worship leader, and (eventually) spouse.
Albums I've acquired recently that you should too:
1) Lori Chaffer - 1Beginning
2) eastmountainsouth
3) Patty Griffin - Living With Ghosts
4) Allison Krauss and Union Station - Live
5) Chris Thile - Not All Who Wander Are Lost
6) David Crowder Band - Illuminate
Thursday, October 02, 2003
Catching up...
Yah, long time no post. Here's the brief synopsis of the last few weeks.
1) We're working really hard on finishing the cd. I've been to St. Louis three times in the last two weeks, and I'm going again tomorrow, and I'm going again next weekend. We are SO CLOSE! Everything already sounds really good, so we just need to add finishing touches (a few background vocals, some last electric guitar parts, a bit of mandolin, hand percussion, etc.)
2) The summer quarter at the business college ended a week and a half ago, and I had last week off. In between trips to St. Louis I spent some much needed time at home in Kansas with my parents. Highlights were spending a little too much money at the hometown Barnes and Noble, spending some time with the Bob and Jill Roesler (pastor of the church I grew up in and his wife), playing golf with my parents, following in the footsteps of great thinkers like Luther and Calvin by discussing theology over a few beers with my friend Adam Reck, and having Adam, the Roeslers, and our friends the Conrads over for dinner the last night.
3) The new quarter at IBC started this week, and my schedule is so much better than last quarter. I now have night classes only two nights a week, and I don't have any classes that start until 12:40. Thank you, Lord. I'm enjoying meeting the new students and I'm excited that I'm teaching a writing class this quarter... I just hope I don't annoy them with how much I love writing.
4) We're coming out of a time at church in which we've really been challenging each other to consider our commitments to God and His church. It's been really encouraging to see how people have responded to that. I'm excited about moving forward with that energy.
Those are the basics... oh, tonight I'm going to see Over the Rhine here in Indy - that should be a blast. Life is (knock on wood) really pretty good at the moment!
1) We're working really hard on finishing the cd. I've been to St. Louis three times in the last two weeks, and I'm going again tomorrow, and I'm going again next weekend. We are SO CLOSE! Everything already sounds really good, so we just need to add finishing touches (a few background vocals, some last electric guitar parts, a bit of mandolin, hand percussion, etc.)
2) The summer quarter at the business college ended a week and a half ago, and I had last week off. In between trips to St. Louis I spent some much needed time at home in Kansas with my parents. Highlights were spending a little too much money at the hometown Barnes and Noble, spending some time with the Bob and Jill Roesler (pastor of the church I grew up in and his wife), playing golf with my parents, following in the footsteps of great thinkers like Luther and Calvin by discussing theology over a few beers with my friend Adam Reck, and having Adam, the Roeslers, and our friends the Conrads over for dinner the last night.
3) The new quarter at IBC started this week, and my schedule is so much better than last quarter. I now have night classes only two nights a week, and I don't have any classes that start until 12:40. Thank you, Lord. I'm enjoying meeting the new students and I'm excited that I'm teaching a writing class this quarter... I just hope I don't annoy them with how much I love writing.
4) We're coming out of a time at church in which we've really been challenging each other to consider our commitments to God and His church. It's been really encouraging to see how people have responded to that. I'm excited about moving forward with that energy.
Those are the basics... oh, tonight I'm going to see Over the Rhine here in Indy - that should be a blast. Life is (knock on wood) really pretty good at the moment!
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