my upcoming week

It's Sunday morning and I'm up earlier than expected. I woke up at 8:00, sleeping eight straight hours, and fixed coffee and had my cigarette. I work a really short shift later - 2-6:30 - and I work every morning next week, in at least by 6:00. The only evening I work is Thursday, but one of the shifts is trying to get me on as an opener instead that morning, which I would prefer. My week will thus be spent working, shift-after-shift, and then I have the weekend off. It's strange, having two days off in a row. I'm really looking forward to it. Amidst my seven-day work week, here are some things I'm looking forward to:

1. Finishing the first five chapters of "Re:Framing Repentance." I'm 1/3 done with the fifth chapter. I hope to get it to 2/3 by tonight and, by Friday, have the fifth chapter entirely done. It's a pretty intense chapter so I'm going through it quite slowly. Once I finish chapter 5, it's on to the meat of the book: "What is repentance and how is it practiced?" I'm very excited about this book.

2. Finishing "Justification" by N.T. Wright. I'm halfway through it and loving every minute of it. The first several chapters are really good, but in regards to justification, you don't really learn anything you wouldn't have learned in a careful reading of Wright's "What Saint Paul Really Said." The meat of the book, I think, is in the second half: exegeses on Romans, Galatians, and several other letters in reference to what they say regarding justification.

3. Good food! On Monday or Tuesday, Clare and I are checking out a new Indian restaurant in town, Namaste India. All the evening crew from work loves that place, orders from there all the time. I still haven't been and am looking forward to it. On another afternoon, Pat D. and I are going to hit up China Cottage. The reason we go there all the time is because it's so damned good. And I'm sure I'll be spending time with the regulars: Dylan and Tyler. Last night we went to Dorothy Lane Market for dinner: sushi and a gourmet salad!

4. Lose 3 pounds. I've gone from 141 to 144, thanks to not eating well over the last week. Sometimes, and I don't know if this is just me, but I want to celebrate whenever I hit a goal in weight-loss, which means essentially eating a lot. It's very paradoxical. Regardless, I want to get back to 141 by the end of the week and continue my journey towards 135. I'm glad I'm able to fit into all my autumn clothes from freshman year, but I still want to lose more weight. And don't think I'm going to become anorexic or anything: I'm still chubby. If I get below 135, which is, I think, the farthest I can go before being underweight, I'm going to stop.

Now to decide whether or not I'll be going to church this morning, and if so: "Where?"