I just got off work a few minutes ago; I had to sit in the back and make deli sandwiches while listening to country music. Yeah. It was hell. I work three hours 8-11 tomorrow morning, then three hours 9:30-12:30 Friday night. So, yes, I have two shifts tomorrow at polar ends of the day. I am sitting in my room preparing to go the gym with two of my friends, Monica and Lizzie. Tonight at 9:00, Rob, Amos and I are heading down to Jazzman's Cafe in Covington to enjoy some coffee and quiet jazz music while working on homework. I don't have any homework, so I'm probably just going to take my bible and read a little bit.

Monica is sad I'm going to Jazzman's. "We were going to go to Skyline with April," she said. April, remember, is the girl who looks like she's eight years old. I mean, she really looks like an eight-year-old. It is unbelievable. She stays in her room all day and never comes out. I don't know how Monica, Lizzie, and Emily expect me to date this girl if she never comes out. Of course, maybe I could go out to Skyline with them, but I am really looking forward to Jazzman's. I just need to... relax. I've been so crazily busy lately.

I am going home this weekend. It will be good to visit with the family, to hang out with friends. I may be teaching Sunday, I don't know. If so, I have a pretty interesting lesson on evidences for God and the history of God versus the pagan gods in the Old Testament.

Things are beginning to quiet down again. My job is going well, I'm getting everything figured out, it's pretty much the most wonderful job in the world. I love the atmosphere, the opportunity to meet cute freshmen girls, I love the crew I work with... It's pretty much fantastic. Classes are underway now, too. I actually have to go study for a test on the nature of the scriptures, but I'll head down to Student Life to undertake that task here in a few moments.

Caleb and I finally finished unpacking our things. The room actually looks nice now. Clean and tidy and organized. I like it.

I talked to the freshmen girl who (I think) likes me. She's a really quiet, shy kind of girl. I think I may have misread her, though. We sat on the bench by the dorms and talked for a little bit, and then she left. I've had several freshmen girls flirt with me lately, it's insane.

Oh, I am cutting my hair tonight. I have to cut it for work, but that's okay. Another inch won't hurt any.

I miss all my friends and family back home.

I've been once again struck down with sickness: a cold sprinkled with a sore throat.

I've been working like a madman. I will enjoy it when payday comes. Amos and I didn't get out until around 1:00 a.m. last night, and I had to work 8-11 this morning. Luckily Trista showed up to help me out. I'd been holding down the fort since 8:00. I close tomorrow night, then work mornings Wednesday and Friday. The weekend I have off, thankfully. I love the job, though, and I'm beginning to learn how to make the drinks, and I get to meet cute freshmen girls. Hah.

I do miss Sonja. I really liked her. Things will get better, though, this I know.

I haven't had the energy to write any intellectual posts. Hopefully the energy is on its way.

A freshman girl has the hots for me, but I'm not really interested. Sorry for her. Oh well, we all walk that road. My friends are trying to hook me up with a girl named April. Why? Because I look 12 and she looks 12, so they want us to get together because it'd be cute. Hah.

Life on campus has resumed...

Classes started yesterday. My classes include Old Testament Prophets, Hermeneutics ("The Art of Biblical Interpretation"), Basic Bible Doctrines, Advanced Communication, and Multi-Cultural Literature. I'm only truly looking forward to two classes: prophecy and B.B.D. The rest I have to take to graduate (though their importance I know very well). I have friends in all my classes, which is nice. In one class of thirty I'm good friends with 2/3 of the people. Everyone is in it. Score.

I've been working like a banshee. I worked six hours Tuesday, two hours Wednesday morning and two and a half hours Wednesday night (Amos needed help), then two hours so far today (Dustin needed help), and tonight I have adopted Cassie's 9:30-12:30 shift because she really needs some time off. Besides, I have nothing else to do and wish to get better at making the drinks. It's a really enjoyable job, and I get to work with coffee. I never thought I'd call myself a "barista," but here I am, in-fleshed.

It's so hard learning all the drinks, though, how to make them and such. I've got caramel macchiatos down, though.

Here's a hilarious re:make preview of Charlton Heston's "The Ten Commandments." This is called "The Ten Things I Hate About Commandments," and because of a foul word near the end (uttered by Samuel L. Jackson, who plays the voice of God), I don't want any of the kids I teach watching it. But you can watch it HERE.

So much has happened in the past couple days, all of it (in some way) good. We start classes tomorrow; I have my two least exciting classes (multi-cultural literature and advanced communication) following a bout of work in the morning. My funds have not come in yet to cover for this school year, so I can't buy any of my textbooks from the bookstore. I'll only have $300 to spend on books this year, but people are telling me that the prices are extreme; Rob's books cost him around $550. Obviously I'm going to have to be selective in the books that I buy.

I trained for my barista job from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. It went well, especially since everyone is a friend of mine. All the people working with me have been mentioned in stories throughout the past year of my blog entries: Amos, Cooper, Nate, Caleb, Monica, Lizzie, Andrew, Trista, Kyle, Becca, Cassie, Cory, Rob. I work with Trista tomorrow morning. It's going to be quite the exciting job, I think. I've always wanted to work in a coffee shop surrounded by friends, and look where I am now!

On a sadder note, I broke up with Sonja last night, for two reasons. First, I felt God telling me, "This isn't where I want you to be right now." Honestly, I went into this relationship for several reasons, one of them being because I wanted a girlfriend and she was willing to be mine. Yes, I do have feelings for this girl, and yes, I do like this girl, but at times we must do that which is difficult when we know it is the right move to make. I made this decision for a second reason, too: she told me, rather bluntly, "I've lost my feelings for you." It hasn't hurt me all that much; to be honest, I've become rather cynical in regards to relationships (a stoic of sorts).

I'm sorry I haven't been on-the-ball with the posts. Once the craziness of the beginning of the semester fizzles out, I'm sure my posting will become quite regular again.

It's been great spending time with all the friends I left behind three months ago: Caleb, Rob, Forest, Alex, Monica, Trista, Heather, Lizzie, Kyle... We've been hanging out a lot, muling around the coffee shop and catching up on how our lives are going. Everyone is excited to hear that I have a girlfriend. I don't even mention her, but somehow they've all found out. I guess it is a small Christian campus, so people will find out if you've merely sneezed. I shouldn't be surprised.

I had the flu for about a day and a half, but I'm thankful that I've gotten over it. On Saturday I went down to South Fork to visit Brian and Sonja at a pool party for the youth group. We all swam and played volleyball and made fun of one another. It was amazing. On Sunday the church had their annual picnic at Big Bone Lick, which was rather exciting. Sonja was really tired, though, so we didn't get to spend much time together. She started school today; she's a junior. I'm looking forward to calling her tonight and seeing how it went.

On a more aggravating note, something went wrong with my school funds and I'm negative three thousand dollars on my school account. Basically this means that I shouldn't be here. I can't eat off my meal plan, I can't buy my books, I can't even go to class legally. We're trying to straighten this out, but in the meantime I'm very hungry, and I'm getting tired of eating fast food. I'm tempted to go someplace nice for lunch, but I really should try not to.

Don't be expecting my posts on repentance or eternal security anytime soon, probably not until next week. When I woke up this morning, I had muscle cramps all over my body, from my head to my toes, and nausea consumed me. I didn't sleep at all last night, except for an hour or two before the aching set in. This morning I arose at 6:30 to go buy some excedrin and nyquil. Returning to campus, I walked around a little bit before popping both. I promptly fell asleep until 2:00 p.m.

I lounged around the room for a while, ran and got Subway with Monica. As I watched the Russel Crowe movie Master and Commander, I sipped a three-dollar jug of sprite. It helped ease my stomach. I laid back down for a few hours and began to shiver uncontrollably (my roommate turned the air conditioning to 40 degrees F). I took a hot shower but the shivering continued. I crawled into the bed under five blankets, and it felt amazing. I turned up the heat to 80 degrees, and now it feels spectacular.

I am heading down to the coffee shop to try and get some sprite and perhaps a banana to ease my upset stomach. I've been crazing ice cream, but I don't know how that would flow with my stomach ache.

I know I promised two more "spiritual" posts--specifically, one on "biblical repentance" and another on the Eternal Security issue. However, I forgot to bring my notes with me to good ol' Kentucky, so I won't have them up until Friday and Saturday, respectively. My sincerest apologies.

Monday evening I ran into Mike Box as Trista, Monica and I were hanging out in the coffee shop lounge. We sat down and talked a little bit about nothing too grand or exciting, nothing worth writing down. He did confirm my suspicions, however, that my relationship with Sonja is not illegal: the laws in Kentucky are different than the laws in Ohio. So if anyone is creeped out by the fact that it's "illegal," well, get over it, because it's not.

Behind Mike Box stood Professor Dyke, my favorite teacher at Cincinnati Bible College. He's a crazy old man with a wily sense of humor, who has as many good jokes as he has bad jokes (but since I have a very... broad... sense of humor, I find all his jokes hilarious). He's the kind of guy who would fit in well throwing back some Irish Cream with a smoking cigar between his fingers. His thoughts on the Old Testament have "opened my eyes" to the role the Old Testament plays in the Christian faith, and I've found that I find the Old Testament far more intriguing than the New (partly because of his class and partly because I've loved ancient history to begin with).Don't get me wrong: in no way did I "bash" the New Testament. I love it! I just think we need to understand that there is no discontinuity between the two; both speak to one another and compliment one another beautifully. The OId Testament, as well as the New, is our story.

I have a good idea for another zombie book. The odd thing is, I don't think I'll even have a scene with a zombie in it. It sounds terrific, though, in my head. I haven't written fiction in so long it hurts!

my first day back

I woke up at 10:30 a.m., possibly the longest I've slept in for several months. The bed felt amazing, and I slept like a baby. I took a long, hot shower; the water comes down so hard it's like a massage. Caleb woke up and we went to the bookstore. Becky was there, so we talked for a little while, catching up. As Caleb and I were leaving, Trista exploded in the doorway and embraced me. We laughed together and called each other names, as usual. Caleb and I went to C.V.S. for some basic hygeine equipment, then grabbed lunch at the ghetto Taco Bell. We ate our food while watching "The Boondock Saints" in our bedroom. Caleb ran off to work, so I took a nap for a little while.

Finally I went up to the coffee shop, hanging out with Amos and Caleb, drinking "beer" (a mix of apple juice and Sierra Mist) and laughing together. Monica and Trista came in, joining us. Amos mentioned that the coffee shop was hiring, so all three of us decided to jump on board. We had our interviews, filled out our paperwork, and got hired. Amos and Caleb, let's be honest, are rigging the team with friends, but, ultimately, it's "who you know" that gets you anywhere in the world. That's just how it works. Kyle and Becky were hired later tonight, too. It's going to be amazing this semester. Working in a coffee shop with all my good friends here on campus: Caleb, Nate, Amos, Lizzie, Andrew, Kyle, Monica, Trista, Rob, to name a few. Wow, it's going to be fan-freaking-tastic. Plus, I have my job situation taken care of. If I work mornings, I'll be able to reap in lots of hours, so that's what I'm going to do.

I helped Nate (supervisor at the coffee shop) move some of his furniture from his old apartment on Rosemont to his apartment on campus. We went to Subway to eat, but I didn't get anything. It started to rain as we were moving things into his truck, so we decided to bolt (only after I decided to scale a fifteen-foot wall with my bare feet, receiving a small scent of memories from Red River Gorge). I returned to the coffee shop to hang out with Lizzie, Kyle, and Amos. Trista challenged me to two games of pool, beating me both times. Monica and I sat out on the steps and talked about all that's happened over the summer. She saw pictures of Sonja and said, "She's so pretty!!!"

Speaking of Sonja, I hope to see her Thursday night. Tomorrow I am going to Lexington to visit my aunt for a few days, and I hope to swing by her place on the way back and hang out before heading to campus. It's so amazing that we're only fifteen minutes away from each other now, driving on the highway. Amazing!

"we are gods"

As the sun sets between the spindly trees, a fire builds within my bones, screaming: “I am a god.” We are all gods, if you stop and think about it. What is it that makes a god? Ask an ancient Near Eastern pagan, and he’ll tell you of their gods: they have free will, territory, power over the elements, and the greatest ones have power over life and death. Have we not free will? Have we not territory, our own little kingdoms called our lives? Have we not power over the elements, promoted by technology? Have we not power over life and death; can we not take the life of another, and even take our own lives? The ancient Near Eastern gods warred against one another: do we not war against one another now?

The idea of humans being gods is a biblical idea. C.S. Lewis captures this when he investigates the creation of mankind in his published journal entitled, “A Grief Observed.” He writes, “[The] grand enterprise [of God is to] make an organism which is also a spirit; to make that terrible oxymoron, a ‘spiritual animal.’ To take a poor primate, a beast with nerve-endings all over it, a creature with a stomach that wants to be filled, a breeding animal that wants its mate, and say, ‘Now get on with it. Become a god.’” (72) After billions of years of guiding evolution, God takes a poor, primal, instinct-driven primate and breathes divinity into it. Arising from the dust of billions of years of evolution is a creature that stands apart from all others: a creature designed in the image of God. We become “gods” over the creation.

Yet the title of gods also comes with responsibility. God made us “gods” so that we could reign with Him in His universe, watching over and caring for His beautiful, prized creation. Yet gods, remember, have free will, and we decided that we’d like to be king god. This is nothing surprising. In all the ancient Near Eastern hierarchies of the gods, power-plays were nothing uncommon. The great goal of the lower gods is always to move up, and the ultimate goal is to take the throne of the king god. We tried to take the throne of the king god, but He is far too powerful for us, and we were overthrown. Our godliness was corrupted, and now we walk this planet as fallen gods, bitter and selfish and greedy, a disgrace to the One who designed us. We are the wickedest, most vile gods, and the world around us testaments to this fact: unparalleled suffering, suicide, genocide, rape and murder, starvation and dehydration and indifference around every corner. It makes us uncomfortable to think that we’ve messed up, but we cannot deny this truth when we look about us and see what the world has come to by our hands.

Yet there is still a choice for us gods. The Great God, who has called Himself “Yahweh,” “He who is,” has called us to rejoin Him in His mission for the earth. He wants to make the world a better place, and He calls us to return to Him and join Him. “Your rebellion will be forgotten and not held against you,” He promises. Yet what happens if we refuse to return to Him? Some believe that humans will eventually overthrow God, that we will throw God down and take over the universe. This is pure foolishness. Psalm 82 prophetically shows what the future holds for those who refuse to return to the King God. In this psalm, God is presiding over all the gods, whether these are the pagan gods, the angels, or humans themselves! God is in disgust with the gods’ wretchedness. He examines their ways, how they refused to return to Him, and exclaims, “I made you gods… but you will die like men.” We are only gods because God has, by His mere word, given us that status; and He will, by His mere word, take away that status: our fates rest in His breath. Unless we turn to the Great God and take our stand with Him in His mission for the world, we will be utterly destroyed—and this is what we deserve.

Sonja came up and met the family yesterday. As we drove north on I-75, driving across the bridge, I asked her, "Are you nervous?" She nodded. "Yeah. Really nervous." "Don't be nervous," I said. "Really. They'll like you." She was able to hide her nervousness well when she met my little sister and my parents. She said, "I really like your family." Mom and Dad think she's amazing, which is good news. Ams and I sat at Starbucks, and I said, "I really like this girl." "Me, too," she said. "She's so pretty. I'm surprised." I gave her a cock-eyed stare. "Ummm... thanks?" She explained, "That's not what I meant. I mean, I expected you to find a pretty girl, but not... that pretty." I'm a lucky guy, what can I say? Sonja and I ate Chinese with Amanda and her "boyfriend" Matt, then we went to the Dollar Store to find frames for two pictures Sonja drew me (she's a good artist). We relaxed at my place before going to Starbucks for some delicious coffee (she, like me, is addicted to coffee).

Here she is sitting in the chair in my room (I still can't get over how beautiful she is!):

I apologize for a lack of "spiritual" posts lately. I've just been so busy, especially with my Old Testament Poetry projects (which I am going to knock out today, since they're all due by midnight tonight!). I have a nice post on repentance that I have yet to type up, an examination of how repentance is viewed in both the Old and New Testaments. Pretty interesting stuff, if you ask me.

Sonja called me late last night (around 10:00), and asked if I could stay on the phone with her. I asked, "Why?" and she said, "I'm at my cousin's, and it's really scary here." So I stayed on the phone with her until she fell asleep. How cute. I am leaving here in an hour and a half to pick her up; she's visiting good ol' Springboro, cruising my streets and meeting my family. She's excited but nervous at the same time; I can imagine, for I remember how nervous yet glad I felt when I got to meet her mom and dad.

Before I left to pick Ams up from The Garage, I sat out on my back porch and just... thought. It is not something I've had much time to do, especially lately with work and projects for school all falling atop my head at the same time (work has officially ended and I only have two more projects to do). There are a lot of people who live their lives without hopes or dreams, living just in the moment, for various reasons. "Life is too risky," one might say, "so what's the point of dreaming?" I have run into Christians who aren't a fan of dreams because they "might conflict with what God has in store for us." Part of me, however, believes that our dreams are a great hint towards God's dreams for our lives. Anyways, so I sat out on the porch, felt the cool breeze, and thought about where I want to be in ten, fifteen, twenty years. A dream life, you could say.


I want to live in a small cabin with a walk-around porch, a cabin with fireplaces and quilts. I love quilts.

I want to be married to a wonderful girl, and I want to have a kid. My greatest dreams are to be a good husband and a good father (hopefully in that order!).

I want to have a good ministry, preferably teaching at a school or college somewhere, or preaching in a small church.

Basically, I dream of a simple life with a loving family and a loving God. That just about sums it up. I pray for this life every morning, noon, and night. Will I ever experience it? I don't know. I sure do hope so! I dare to believe I will experience it, but, ultimately, it is in God's hands. Perhaps He has a different plan for my life. I'm not sure. I don't think there's anything wrong, though, with expressing our deep desires and loves; not at all. I dare to believe that the life I desire--what I have came to call the "psalm 16 life" based on a personal lectio divina of psalm 16 in the Message version--is the life God has for me. The only way I'll ever know is if it materializes somewhere down the road.

Nevertheless, I am happy and content where I am at now.

My article has been published on "the ooze"!

I forgot I sent it in for publication, but (a year and a half later) it's been published.

Check it out and lemme know your thoughts.

Read it here.

Yesterday morning I drove down to campus to take my final exam on Job, Lamentations, and Ecclesiastes. The professor fixed us some coffee, showing me a secret of the trade to make it much stronger. I took my test in the quiet, listening to the gurgling of the coffeepot, writing down the story of Job's life, what repentance means according to Lamentations, and an essay on why Ecclesiastes is such a strange book. I took my paper to the professor and he graded it. I sat down in his office and looked over the walls. He had a 300-year-old page out of the Hebrew book of Numbers. We hung out for a little while, talking about all sorts of things. He is my favorite professor; he does not let human tradition shape his views, and for this he is often very heretical. "The school should let me teach the class on heaven and hell," he said, "but they'd kick me out before I even began!" Right now he is contemplating the idea of whether or not people can come to repentance in hell, based off of a very odd verse in the apocalypse of Revelation. I also like him because he reminds me of Sean Connery: his appearance, his mannerisms, even the way he talks.

Sonja and I spent *most* of the day together. Since a wave of rain moved through, we mostly sat out on her front porch and watched the rain fall as we talked. The weather cleared, and we went to the county fair with Nikki and Kevin. Sonja and I were hungry, so we got some Chinese food to eat. Bad move. After a few rides, we had to sit down for a little while and take a breather. We both glowed green. The nausea wore off and we walked around for a little while before heading back to her place around midnight. I want to bring her up to Springboro tomorrow, but her mom has to approve (obviously). So we're still waiting on the news for that. Even if she can't come up, I hope to spend much of the day with her in Kentucky.

Well, now I have to write an exegesis on Psalm 2. The projects never end!

summer '06

Well, my summer is coming to a rapid close. As I look out at these past three months, I see lots of ups and downs, mistakes and successes, revelations and dreams coming closer to fulfillment.

It was good to spend lots of time with my home friends: Ashlie, Amanda, Chris, Pat, Lee, Dylan & Tyler, as well as numerous other friends I've made through church and through visits to Starbucks. I've really enjoyed sitting out at Starbucks, talking theology and philosophy with people I barely know. The way I see it, everyone is a theologian and a philosopher; if we have something to say about God, we are theologians; if we have something to say about life, we are philosophers. Who doesn't have something to say about God? Who doesn't have something to say about life? No one can ever agree, but, if you ask me, that's the beauty of it all.

I didn't finish my romantic tragedy, "No Perfect Ending," as I'd hoped to. Oh well. In fact, I haven't really written much of anything. Maybe this will change come school-time, though I doubt it: I have lots of hard classes with lots of projects and tons of studying to do. I plan on visiting the comfortable campus library many times a week (it's just so hard to concentrate in the dorm room, sometimes).

I went through a (silent) bout of depression for a month. It has passed, yes, though some lingering remnants remain, to claw at me every now and again. During this time, I began smoking cigarettes heavily. While I have stopped, it is still a battle. I'm not going to lie to everyone and say that I hated smoking and that I quit because it's some abominable sin; rather, I quit because I don't want to be smoking around my future wife and children, and because I don't want to clock out of this life early, leaving my family behind.

I have learned a lot about myself, especially about my weaknesses. I need some [divine] help on these.

Yet this summer was really good, too, because I met a wonderful girl named Sonja, and Saturday will be our three weeks (the longest relationship I've been in for quite a while). I hope to see this beautiful angel tomorrow (we might be going to the fair in Florence with some friends), and she might come up and visit the family and town on Saturday (if her mom lets her). She is sixteen years old and I am nineteen; this doesn't faze me or her at all, though some people frown upon it. I can't blame her mom if she doesn't want her daughter spending the day with me in an entirely different state.

I am about a quarter done with my projects for my O.T. Poetry class, so I must be getting back to work.

Chris and I went to North Park yesterday, talking about life, God, heaven, and addictions. It all stemmed from a peculiar scene: as we walked down to the creek, a man stood by the water's edge, doing handstands and such. I exclaimed, "It's Gabriel, preparing for Armageddon!" Lee and I hung out today, the first time in (literally) months. We went to Starbucks and enjoyed some delicious treats: he got some special Starbucks coffee cake, and I tried their "new" mango cake. Tomorrow I am going to be doing my five projects for O.T. Poetry, as well as reading some of my books for school so I can get them out of the way. I hope to start the day early by going to Starbucks and getting started. Sonja and I are (hoping) to hang out sometime this week; she might even come up to my place Saturday. On Thursday I have to go down to the 'Nati to take my O.T. Poetry final exam on the Book of Job.

That's all that is going on in my life right now. It's been pretty hectic; sorry for a lack of deep posts. I've been so worn out from work and driving and friends that I haven't had much desire to sit down and right out a bunch of theological thoughts. Oh well. Chances are, most of you don't care. Hah.

Beware The Beast

Do not feed the beast.
Do not look directly at the beast.
Do not make any sudden movements near the beast.
Do not taunt the beast. You will die.
Do not make any odd noises around the beast.

I drove down to Kentucky to see Sonja today; we went to the Dollar Store for drinks, took a walk down to the bridge overlooking I-71 (semis and other cars honked and waved at us as we looked down on them), ate a wonderful dinner her mom fixed, and then laid out on her trampoline and gazed at the stars together. A very romantic evening, indeed. She is such a wonderful girl. All my buds at work wanted a picture of her, so I took Mom's digital camera and snapped this one of her on the front porch (we tried to take pictures of the two of us together, but they always turned out bad for some reason). Anyways, now you can admire the beauty of my girlfriend and be entirely jealous.

I am visiting her again on Sunday, as well as seeing Brian and the other kids in the youth group. I might go down tomorrow evening for a grill-out with Brian. Sonja and I are getting ice cream and maybe taking a walk down by the Ohio River. Who knows? We kind of make things up as we go. Work begins again on Monday, the home-stretch: Friday is my last day before college! The week will be extremely busy, though: I have five projects and two book reports to write for my summer O.T. Poetry class, as well as a test I have to take someday during my busy schedule. The projects are only one-pagers, so it's really not that big a deal.

The Target:

dinoforensic858: i will kill you
subcon G: sweet
dinoforensic858: heck yeah
subcon G: how soon can I look forward to that
subcon G: ?
dinoforensic858: tonight
dinoforensic858: i will slit your throat and have a giant party in your blood
subcon G: should I invite people?
dinoforensic858: i will take care of that
dinoforensic858: i did a facebook group invitation, and i'm waiting for R.S.V.P.s
dinoforensic858: honestly, i've been planning this for about a week or two
subcon G: since I kinda have an important role in this, can I at least get an invite. Just to make it more official?
dinoforensic858: yeah man, i'll send you one
dinoforensic858: you can R.S.V.P. if you want, but you're gonna be involved no matter what
subcon G: I might as well give consent, since it's inevitable
dinoforensic858: we don't really care if you consent or not
dinoforensic858: no offense
subcon G: none taken. I completely understand the circumstances.
dinoforensic858: that's good. what time tonight is best for you?
subcon G: could we push it back a day or two? I really need to get work done tonight
dinoforensic858: are you serious?
subcon G: yeah. I mean, it's not anything incredibly important, but it'd be nice to have piece of mind in regard to my work before people use my lifeblood as a playground. call me old fashioned
dinoforensic858: well, i'm busy saturday night
dinoforensic858: does friday night work?
subcon G: can it be later on in the night. I'm goin to the 311 concert
dinoforensic858: what time do you think you'll be back? i have work in the morning on Monday
subcon G: that might actually be a good plan. given that I'll most likely have a second-hand high, I'm not going to be able to put up an incredible amount of resistance
dinoforensic858: i have an idea: how about we just do it while you're at the concert? it'd be kind of exotic, you know?
subcon G: do you need a full 48 hours of sleep after a party? friday to monday is a long time
dinoforensic858: oh, i thought we were doing it sunday night
dinoforensic858: what am i thinking???
dinoforensic858: the excitement is getting to me, i think
subcon G: that must be it
dinoforensic858: well, we'll just do it sometime when you don't expect it
dinoforensic858: how does that sound?
subcon G: ok. and I'll try not to expect it after the concert on friday
dinoforensic858: all right, do your best to forget
dinoforensic858: i gotta get some revised invitations out... i'll see ya Friday night, then?
subcon G: what's friday?
dinoforensic858: never mind
dinoforensic858: later on buddy
dinoforensic858: sleep well
subcon G: adios

Sonja and I shared our first "real" romantic moment last night (even though it was over the phone). I called her around 8:30, and I sat out on my front porch and she sat in the swing by her driveway, and we talked as the sun slowly set, glowing red with orange stripes. The first star came out, and Sonja said it was Venus, not really a star. She became all excited; "We're looking at the same thing and we're an hour away!" I said, "Venus is the Greek goddess of love." She said, so sweet, "Oh, how romantic!" Once she said that, a shooting star--the second I've ever seen in my life--flew overhead. "I just saw a shooting star!" I exclaimed. She burst, "Are you serious? That's so cool!" "The romance just gets better and better," I said. When the first star came out, right over the crescent moon (God's thumbnail, according to her), she said, "Do you see it?" I said, "Yep." She suggested, "Let's wish upon a star together." So we both made a quiet wish and repeated it over and over in our heads. Finally, she said, "That was so neat." Ah... Ams says, "Oh, you guys are one of those cheesy couples." Hah, I guess.

One of the books I'm reading for my Old Testament Poetry class is Philip Yancey's "Disappointment with God." It is a lot more exciting than the other two books (a research book on the psalms and a book on wisdom). I am nearly one-third done with the book, and Yancey's treatment of the Old Testament borders on wretched innovation and sublime brilliance. I cannot get it out of my mind! He has systematically gone through the entire breadth of the Old Testament--from the dawn of creation, the breathtaking display of GOD creating creatures in His image, to the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonian hoardes. In all of this, his refrain echoes loud and clear: "GOD is a wounded parent, a betrayed lover, who suffers alongside His people, and despite all His miracles and great shows of power, is unable to draw them to His heart." It is a tragic story of a parent whose beloved child gives him the finger and curses his name; it is the painful existence of a GOD whose most precious lover has abandoned Him, and is not only opening her legs to countless men, but paying them to use and abuse her. The agony of GOD felt through the Old Testament radiates more grief and agony than any human can ever imagine.