Which is better?

Well if I want to keep my average of a post a week I'de better hurry up and get this written. I have several idea's for different posts, but all of them will take a little to long to write right now, so they will have to wait for the future. However I know I have a loyal reader base out there in web-world and I don't want to disappoint you all, so here is a quick fix for your blog cravings.

Several things have come up that may lead to changes in the future for me. I've noticed in the past that often the anticipation of an event is just as good as the actual event itself, sometimes even better. This time I really doubt that the possibilities can come close to the real thing, but it got me wondering. Why do we build up the future in our imaginations? Why do we puff up what is coming so much that we set ourselves up for disappointment? I have even gotten sick with anticipation, and I know that this isn't just me, because my friend's brother has come down with the same illness.

I actually started this post out with the title question in mind but after many tangential thoughts and writing out what I have, I have another question to ask. Why would you ever choose imagination over reality? Imagination might be quicker, easier, and possibly even better at first, but it always leads to a dead end with no future. So as an encouragement both for myself and you, however good imagination may seem, be patient and wait for the real thing because there is absolutely no comparison.

Therapy writing.

I feel I should write, not so much for your reading pleasure but simply because a lot has happened this week that I don‘t want to forget. Unfortunately knowing that people read what I write has the effect of making think about how I put my words together and what I tell or leave hidden. Nevertheless to the best of my abilities I shall go on and chronicle all , or at least most, of my life during this week. So if you want to come along for the ride, welcome. If not, come back again sometime :-)

Monday I’ve already written about so there is no need to go over that again. Tuesday started off normally enough. Went to work, struggled to stay busy, was miserable because of the weather, and then headed home. Here is where the day took a turn for the worse. About a quarter of the way home, as I was entering onto a highway my car suddenly lost all power! I still had electrical power, but the gas pedal sank right to the floor with absolutely no effect. I was able to coast over to the side of the road and pull off into the breakdown lane, but after that I was as helpless as a twelve year old girl. Just to do something I looked under the hood, paged through the repair manual, and checked a switch that had given me trouble, all to no avail. Just as I decided to start walking to the nearest exit (I don’t have a cell phone, though this has certainly given me a jump on getting one) a green van pulled up behind me. It was from an organization called CareVans; they are sponsored by the state of Mass. to take care of stranded motorists and keep traffic from getting slowed down or jammed. He looked at the car, couldn’t find anything, tried giving me a jump, nothing happened so he ended up calling in a tow truck, and then drove away, relieving me of a lot of stress and worry, though certainly not all.

The tow truck finally arrived and took me to the nearest garage that I knew off about twenty miles away. Needless to say this cost a small fortune. Once there I talked with the mechanics, dropped the car off, called my brother to pick me up and waited nervously. Why nervously? I had school that night and the teacher I have is a stickler for punctuality. So much so that he will lock the door after the start of class so that tardy students can’t come in. After dropping my brother off at his house I took his car and made it to class only about an hour late. ( On a normal day I would have been home at 3:45, this time not until 6:30) .

Wednesday I had my brothers car so I could get to work, but the weather was still miserable: chilly and rainy all day long. Half way through the day the owner of the company came to the job site and started reassigning people to other job sites because there was no more work to be done where we were. Guess where I got re-assigned to? My cousin Evan who had just out on his own back in May. Thankfully he had work otherwise I would probably just have been asked to take some time off.

And then the garage called. They had found the problem (broken timing belt), fixed it, and then found another problem (radiator leak). Since they had my car I told them to replace my brakes as well, since they were just about gone. Because I don’t have a cell I wasn’t able to talk to the garage until late in the day and they couldn’t get everything done before they closed so I would have to wait until Thursday to pick up my car.

Thursday went fairly well. I simply felt disconnected all day long and not very in control. I’ll skip a lot of details because this has become such a monster post, but we found out at the end of the day that we wouldn’t be able to go back there for a minimum of a week because the town was closing a bridge that we had to cross, due to all of the flood damage. My brother took me to the garage where I picked up the car and paid the bill. Let’s just say the repair bill was for more than I originally paid for the car. Being Thursday it was class night again, but having to pick up my car made me late again. I arrived fifteen minutes late to find the door locked. He did let me in but he was NOT very happy. He also took off an hour from my attendance record.

Friday I had off from work, which I sorely needed. I used it to rest up and get a lot of chores done that had been piling up during the week. And now it is Saturday. Normally a day of rest for me. But this week I had a class I was planning on attending. Planning, because I didn’t set my alarm or remember it until ten-thirty, (it started at ten) and since I would have been more than an hour late I decided to just skip it and stay home.

Like I said at the beginning, this post was to remember, not to make you feel sorry for me or anything. If you made it all the way through this monster post, congratulations. I’m not sure I would have if this were on someone else’s site. Maybe next week I can write something a little cheerier.

Painting the Town Red

Just in case you don’t know me, let me enlighten you about how much of a party guy I am. Today was/is my birthday (THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH for your kind words and thoughts) and boy did I have a rip up day. :-)

It started out about five-thirty with me getting up for work. Yes I worked on a holiday. I was given a choice of either today off or the day after Thanksgiving. After giving it much thought, I decided to go for the four day weekend instead of the three. Before I took off I opened a birthday card from my sister and was cheered immensely by the goofy message. I then worked a nine hour day and came home. My brother came over and we opened cards, hung out and then as a favour he played some X-box with me. After he left I had a birthday dinner of cherry pie and chocolate chip cookies, which my sister baked as a present for me. Okay, very quiet and laid back I know, but the best is yet to come.

After dinner, I set out to go bowling. By myself. Which is great because then I have no competition and always win! Of course on the other hand….. So I get to the bowling alley and the parking lot is packed. After searching diligently I spied a spot in the corner, park, and walk in. Only to find out it is league night and every single lane is full and will be full for the next several hours. I couldn’t help but laugh.

On the way I home I stopped at a new Target that had just opened two days ago and wandered around for a bit just checking it out. It was a huge store! But it simply reinforced my opinion of them; a Walmart for moneyed snobs. People who like the great prices of a Walmart but are to proud to be seen in one. This is a generalization as I know people who like Target and aren’t moneyed snobs, my cousin being one of them.

And now I’m writing, content in the knowledge that I have friends who like me, or at least tolerate my presence, and a family that loves me. That’s what really makes a great birthday.

Out with the New, In with the Old

No, I didn’t forget how that quote goes, I simply twisted it to better fit my circumstances. All sorts of things have been happening at school which, while I have wanted to tell you about, have been unsettled enough that I have had to wait and figure out what is happening so I can accurately talk about it.

I told you about my first teacher who I liked and thought would teach me a lot. What I haven’t mentioned is that shortly after writing that, we (the class) were informed that he was being moved to an administrative role and we would be getting a new teacher. This new teacher, though well qualified, had never taught before and didn’t have a grasp of what worked well and what didn’t. In a few years he will probably be a good teacher, but he isn’t there yet. Our old teacher stopped at the end of a chapter, and two weeks later our new teacher hadn’t moved forward at all.

And then an amazing thing happened. The teachers (old one, new one, and other one) decided that the classes were too large and the students weren’t getting the personal attention that they should. Thus last Thursday we were handed a sheet asking us who we would like to have as a teacher. We could put first, second, and third choices, plus no opinion and they would do their best to accommodate all of us. Yesterday it was announced who would be in which class, and I got placed back with my original teacher! We had another introductory class and then got back to the chapter that we had ended on when he had left; trigonometry and how it relates to AC voltage. We are doing all sort of interesting things with angles, vectors and the like. I hate to admit it but I am almost enjoying it; don’t tell any of my former teachers.

Worthy Is The Lamb!

Today has been a very emotionally turbulent day. A week long convention that my church holds has just finished up and I find myself challenged, inspired, and wanting more out of my walk with God.

A friend opened herself up today in an incredible way, which served to draw the cords of friendship so much more tighter; not just between myself and her but throughout our whole group of friends.

I was also waiting for an important conversation with a christian man that I greatly respect,every minute of which was nerve wracking. (The waiting, not the conversation).

On top of all of this, tomorrow is the one year anniversary of the death of a very close friend. Memories, thoughts, hopes, and emotions have all been stirred up because of this. Some sad, many happy, and also not a few filled with hope by looking to the future. We graduated together and each wrote something in the other's yearbook. The last line of what he wrote goes like this, "I look forward to getting back together in the future." Does it make me cry? Absolutely. At the same time though, it makes me look forward to the future with great hope and joy because I know those words are just as true now as when he wrote them.

Now I'm at home listening to selected parts of Handel's oratorio, 'The Messiah', while going through school yearbooks remembering, and praising God. With all these emotional storms going on, the Solid Rock has ever been beneath me never moving or shifting, and I can truly say, 'Worthy is the Lamb that was slain.'