Day 93

Sunday service in church, it was a communion service. Had one of these about 3 weeks ago, but a little repentance never hurt anybody. I ate the bread and drank out of the cup.

After church, my mother and I went to O'Toole's, a nicer Irish bar on the border of downtown Grand Rapids. Today was there $3.00 build your own bloody mary, but I declined the offer, and instead got the hangover burger and a coke. We enjoyed the lunch, then returned home, where I sat on the couch and played spider solitaire on the iPad for a good hour. That game is so addicting.

Later on in the evening, I met up with my dad at Celebration South and we saw the film "Tower Heist". The theater was near sold out, but we had decent seats. The film was way better than I anticipated, and him and I actually enjoyed it. It was worth $4.00. After the movie Chad came over and we watched Dexter, which is now down to its last 4 episodes. Excited to see where the writers take it. After Dexter, I broke my Mcdonalds vow and got 1, just 1 burger. That's it. No pop, sweet tea, fries. Just a burger. It's been 3 weeks since I've touched the grease hole, and, well, as mentioned in the first sentence, a little repentance never hurt anybody.

- Phantom Menace Lobby Standee  (yes, I'm stoked for this release) -

Day 92

What felt like a beautiful winter day in California really lit me up today. The weather is beautiful.

I spent the majority of the day inside, having a Batman day on the video game system. Eating what food I had around the house, I spent a good portion indoors, which is kind of depressing. I mean, if I stay inside too long or sit in front of a screen too long. I truly get depressed. This means a night is due of insane fun.

Enter Ryan and Phil. I've known these guys since 1998-1999. They're great guys and I thoroughly enjoy hanging out with them. I've coined us the wolfpack, because our personalities and lifestyles are so different, yet hanging out is a blast. We started at Woody's Lounge for bowling, but the lanes were full until midnight. We grabbed some drinks, and then drove out to Gun Lake. Ryan & I scored big. I started with 10 bucks and was up 105 at one point, and made it out with 63.35. Ryan actually hit the mini jackpot and won 170 bucks. It was a good reel. We almost drove to Soaring Eagle but we decided it would be 3:00AM by the time we arrived, and none of us wanted to spend the winnings on a hotel.

Went home and slept. Darn good night to counter a darn dull day.

- Me, Phil, Ryan -

Day 91

The cold was weaker this morning in my body, which means the immune system is beginning to heal again. This is a small victory for my body.

Worked a little, then after work I met up with Chad for some dinner. We waited in line at Brann's, but deemed the wait was too long. there was also a man in Brann's that looked identical to Michael Cera. Seriously, I'm pretty sure Michael Cera was in Grandville last night. Anyway, line is too long, so we go to Cracker Barrel. Here's a place I haven't been to since 2002 or 2003. Walking in, the sights and smells brought me back to that good smelling general store feel. The candy, the fronteir clothing, the christmas apparel, it was very cozy. We ate and I ordered a lot of food, and I mean a lot. Salad, Rueben, cole slaw, chili, and the best sweet tea I've ever had. Mcdonalds has nothing on Cracker Barrel sweet tea.

Afterwards I went back to Chad's where we surfed the web for a bit, and then met Melissa, April, and Kaitlin at the theater and saw "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles", a 1980's cult classic directed by the late great John Hughes. The film was in blu-ray high def, and looked and sounded glorious. The entire day was like a memory trip. Seeing the old cars and listening to the 80's music in the film, plus being at Cracker Barrel really brought up the past. And this is a past, that I enjoy.

- Chad and I outside Cracker Barrel (and what appears to be the ghost of Mr. Clean behind Chad -

Day 90

Dang. The three month mark. Wow. 1/4 of the way there.

I slept in this morning, not going to school. Needed the extra rest to ensure this cold would end in due time. Upon waking up I made myself eggs and finished eating my pomegranate fruit from the previous night. I called eBay customer support while I ate my breakfast, trying to find out if the blue-oxford-seller died or died. I use eBay so much, and this is the first real issue I've had with them. I found my prick in the needle in the haystack.

Went to work at 2:00, where I spent some time cleaning, updating papers, and calling previous clients. I made a huge bowl of orange tomato soup, and not even 5 minutes after starting to eat it, I opened the cash register drawer, forgetting about the location of the soup bowl. What followed was a similar picture of projectile orange vomit that spilled all over my leather chair, my pants, the floor, and made a huge mess in front of three clients. I just laughed, got a mop, and started cleaning.... again.

In the eve, myself, Noah and his date Cassy, and my friend Mitch from work all went to For the Kidz, which is a giant indoor gymnastics and trampoline place. We spent 2 and a half hours there, bouncing, diving into foam pits, and heck, I even finally mastered a flip and was able to jump over a 5 foot padded wall and into the foam, complete with flip. The entire place had a safe and soft bounce to it. One kid there tried to land on this ceiling platform but missed, and he seriously was injured. They had to get ice and fill out a incident report, etc. Afterward we went to Meijer to replenish our bruised and soar joints with more juice and protein shakes. I was so soar upon arriving home. My body ached. I was in immense pain.... so badly that I sat in my shower for about 30 minutes, trying to relieve my aching joints and tendons. Gravity's a booger.

-Security Camera footage from Just for Kidz -

Day 89

Not even getting up slightly early for a hot shower and vitamins could prevent me from having an even colder day at work. Angry customers, ill-forgotten paper-work..... I sigh out loud and help the clients where I can. My throat is full of mucus, but I'm still alive.

After class I went home and spent time on eBay, still trying to find a blue oxford since the loser I bought my from almost a week ago apparently must have died because I've yet to receive a response, and he isn't even linked with paypal anymore. The week of my birthday I'm going to Michigan City and I'm buying one at the outlet mall. That's that. So I spend 28 bucks, which isn't even that bad. The hunt for the blue oxford shirt continues. Rediculous.

School was great, more speeches about Republican candidates, and the occasional Obama speech. Politics I just don't get. There's days I hate Obama and am convinced he's the worse president the U.S. has had, and then there are other days where, like today, I look at his ads and am like "Yah, he's a pretty cool cat. I dig this democrat." Politics. Can't live with them, cant live without them.

Spanish came and went, made some new friends, and spent my 2nd to last night in the Spanish lab. Only 40 more minutes are needed in the lab, then I'm done with the lab portion. This semester has gone so fast, I won't even be in school in 4 weeks. Craziness.

Stopped at my Aunt Colleen's house where I retrieved my Burt's Bees, as well as received a bag of Costco truffles, which are like chocolate ecstasy in a golden bag. Stopped at Meijer and bought my favorite fruit... pomegranate. It was on sale, $1.50 each, which is way cheaper than the last one I bought ($2.50). I'll stop at Horrocks tomorrow and pick up more exotic fruits there.

- Meijer's pomegranates. Drooling -

Day 88

This morning was worse in the awakening realm. My voice was 3 octaves lower, but my nose was miraculously empty. I'll take it.

Stopped at Family Fare gas station before school, getting gas and a vitamin water to help rain down health on my ghastly throat. On a side note, I really don't like family fare...... the prices in their stores are only good if you buy two of the items, not one. When Meijer has three on sale, Family Fare has two. Grocery wars aside, I went to school and took more notes for my communication class.

Left school and went home all but to change and spend a brief amount of time on MW3. I left and went back to Big Ray's to have them fill my coolant tank and fix the lights. Not even ten minutes, and no charges later, I left, and all the lights in my car went off. It's a miracle. The only thing wrong with my car at this point is that rattling piece of metal below it, which requires a simple yank. With 207,000 miles, I must say this little Saturn has served me well. It's a shame it lacks electric locks and windows.

Cleaned like a hotel maid at work; I mean the duties, not wearing a dress or uniform. Excited to see the new renovations that we're putting in the club. It's exciting. After work I met up with my good friend Steve at Panera to catch up and talk about his new fiance. The last time I got to see Steve was day 3 or 4, and it's documented on this dandy blogger. I told him about where I was in my life, the possibilities of me moving to a different college and even out of the state, and he shared his hopes and worries too. He asked me to serve as his best man in his wedding, which came as a gracious, boomerang of an honor. After defending the slew of choices, he smiled and just asked if I would. I graciously accepted and bought us drinks.

Went home, updated a few things on the web, skyped with Melissa, which I want to say is a good feeling. It's rare when exes can still talk, and in this case especially, it's the first successful time in history exes can be friends. It's like Seinfeld and Elaine. I am still going the single route for awhile, focusing on making myself a better person and who God wants me to be.

Finally, went to Mike's house, and watched the film "Human Centipede 2", which is a black and white frenzy of people being stapled to other peoples butts and pooping. Yes, it's film-making at it's finest, especially when a woman gives birth to a baby in a car and the baby, still attached by the umbilical cord, falls down on the floor and the woman drives away and crushes the baby's head under the pedal. Yes, Spielberg would be proud.

- Another funny Far Side comic -

Day 87

............

So many people wonder why God allows terrible things to happen. Why he lets tsunamis and earthquakes demolish cities and families. We wonder why.... and yet, he is God... sometimes we never know why..... but he doesn't like doing it. I felt a similar feeling today. Carrying around a storm cloud...

Waking up with stuffed noses are never fun.... it was one of those really hard blows out the nose. One of the blows where you do it really hard and you just hear the high pitched air escaping through a newly created crevasse inside the mucus. I got ready and went to work, and spent about 70% of my shift, just cleaning, trying to just clean. I didn't feel like human interaction, just wanted to clean.

In honor of the main idea behind this blog, yet, for personal reasons, I ended the boyfriend/girlfriend status with my girlfriend today. That was my storm cloud I was carrying around.... I can't say anything else. It was a very hard day. I cant talk about it right now.

Gave my speech today, which went good. I guess I was up at the podium for ten minutes, but it felt like 4. It comes natural to me, I tend to thrive on communication. Spanish was fast as well.... in fact, my whole night flew unnaturally fast. Spent some time in the Spanish lab, which I'm done with next week, right before Thanksgiving. Thank goodness.

Went home, picked up some hot and sour soup, browsed eBay for some Sperry's, and just thought. I don't know a lot about life, right now so much doesn't make sense. I was thinking about things I get... what makes sense to me.... I realized that film, vitamins, & Spanish language are the only things I'm getting right now...kind of depressing, but its true... I just get it. I can connect, relate, and see the benefit and future in those things. Time will hopefully bring more relations, connections, and meanings to a life that is currently being moved by God in the chessboard of life. I skyped with Ty last night for a solid hour and a half, and we both realized how blessed we are that we are currently being moved and watched by God at this very minute. Right now, God is shaping us into the men he wants us to be, and it's a bittersweet feeling.

Time to watch last night's Dexter I missed. One other character that makes sense to me.

- This best represents my speech style for speeches -