3/13/01

What a strange daze.

Ten days ago Friday was the trip to College Town and clubbing, which bled into Saturday, and I..I am too tired to remember that now. It will come back and i will update this entry.

Monday, my friend called. my whole perspective was shaken. Still is. Tuesday? Don’t remember. Wednesday? That was drama..oh, yeah, I had the flu by then…. Monday’s shock was a Life Trauma of short duration but sufficient impact to weaken me across the board. Including physical stamina. I caught a flu bug that evening. It set in on Tuesday. I went home and went to bed, I think.

Wednesday, I was tired, run down, and gunky-headed. I went to drama because I had to prep for a video segment we were doing this Sunday. It was “Thou Shalt Not Murder”, and we were doing a dramatic reading of headlines mingled with Scripture. With images of murder, mayhem, and soap, in the background. Anyway, Wednesday night, they brought me the images. I worked on the video while the rest of the group …discussed stuff, I guess.

Thursday. That would have been Bible Study/small group night, but I am the leader of the Technical Services ministry, and we were having an I.T. subgroup meeting. Our first one. I needed to be there.

It was a good meeting, and I was feeling better to boot. Its amazing how quickly things can get done when you do a little planning. its also amazing the level of technical talent we have on hand as a church that was being under exploited.

Maybe exploit is the wrong word….

Anyway, after the meeting (Jared was there too) I kept trying to drag Jared with me back to crash in on our small group. He thought it would be more fun if he and i went to see a movie or some such…. [nodding to myself] That was cool. it was nice for someone to ask me to join them for fun for once, instead of my always initiating.

Well, the City sucks for weeknight entertainment. Actually, it sucks for it all nights, but weeknights are worse. There were no shows after 7pm. So instead, we went to Barnes & Noble and book-looked for a couple of hours. That is a favorite activity of mine, and apparently his too. We each bought some music, and he even bought a book! Go figure! [grins]

Anyway, Friday…friday I bought salmon and pasta-veggies from the grocery, and came here to my Other Office to fix computers and play on the net. Unfortunately, the Net is down, here. and, of the two machines I was going to fix, one needed a special video adapter which I didn’t have. But, it was still an okay evening.

Oh, and I did the Express Workout again at the YW over lunch, for the first time in almost two months. Boy am I sore now!

Saturday, i got up early on a beautiful warm sunny morning, and fixed my brakes on my car. i had blown a brakeline on the right front. Including the time it took to ride my bike to the parts store and back, it took just over two hours total. [slow nods] So I went back up and napped for a short while, then cleaned up, and came down to the chinese restaurant for lunch.

Then, i went out to The Club where they were having a workday on the land. This was my first workday, so finally just did a trash search. This is a good chore for me – tests my visual acuity, keeps me moving… that was nice.

After the workday, a sauna was scheduled. All of us there for the workday steamed, and a few others came out. For most of the evening, there were just six guys. Someone suggested jumping in the lake, and one of the guys did. Eventually, all six of us did, twice. Three of us went 3 times.

This is a new Club record. First, no records have been kept prior. Second, no one remembers when so many fools did such a fool thing so many times on one night. The lake water was no more than 35 degrees. The first time I hit the water – I momentarily died. I lost all function except the white burn of mortal panic in my brain.

About a quarter of a second later, I began to swim and try to get out! I don’t know if my heart stopped beating..I only know it was beating as I ran back to the sauna!

That was one of those insane moments that I have far too few of. it was fun personally, and fun as a group activity.

I left around 7pm, came back into town, and went to see Hanibal.

Good show, but it ended too soon! I say that after standing for the whole show (the theater was packed and yes, I know it was 2.5 hours or so!). It was just getting started for me when the credits rolled. But it was as good as expected otherwise.

The effects were top notch. I was dancing the nervous dance, and actually considered leaving during two scenes. I have never experienced that before in a movie. Most impressive.

Sunday, church. Then laundry. Then, back to church for Praise Night. This is a celebration in music and testimony of God’s grace. Both services had emotional and spiritual impact, but I am growing to weary this late hour to recall all of it.

I know this isn’t the most intriguing entry. I am writing it simply as a journal. So i have a record of these days, and can come back to it another time to flesh things out.

Thank you for reading.