my weekend

Friday: Trista and I grabbed lunch at Grand China Buffet, then I picked up Karen from her house and we drove to my place. We played a few games of Halo, shared a delicious meal of fettuccini alfredo with my family, and then my sister, Karen, and I went to Target. Amanda bought me a cool $2 journal where I have been scribbling down story ideas. We finished the night by watching “Wedding Crashers” and playing some more Halo. 

Saturday: Karen and I went out for lunch at Max & Erma’s. We grabbed some Heath bars and chocolate ice cream on the way back; we grinded up the Heath bars, added some ground-up girl scout cookies, and dumped it in with our ice cream. It tasted just like Coldstone. Karen and I took a nap in one another’s arms, and then I took her down to Newport for her friend’s birthday party. I drove up to Wright State and went to Ashlie’s apartment, where we baked cookies, ate pizza, and shared lots of laughs with a bunch of high school friends, including Hank, Chris, and Dewenter. Around 1:00 I became exhausted and left. 

Sunday: My scheduled plans for tomorrow (well, today) are as follows: clean out my car, see “There Will Be Blood” with Dad, and watch “To Kill A Mockingbird” for a paper due in my Worldviews class tomorrow. I’m not sure what time I’ll be returning to Cincinnati (right now I’m at home near Dayton), but if it’s early enough, I’ll swing by Karen’s house and give her a visit. She is a wonderful girlfriend, and I am very thankful to have her in my life. We are doing this relationship right, keeping God at the center, and that includes praying together, reading the Bible together, and even doing a devotional for dating couples I bought from the campus bookstore.

on truth

I have been pondering the concept of Truth for a little while now. I am taking a class that surveys different interpretations of truth, and this class jogs my mind and makes my little brain turn and giggle.

"What is truth?"
"Can truth be discerned?"
"If truth can be discerned, where can we find it?"

I believe truth is that which is true. Yet this definition is not adequate, for you can never define something by using the word itself as the definition. Thus I will define truth as that which is real, that which is actual.

Some people do not believe that truth can be determined. We are merely humans, and we make mistakes all the time. Our reason and intellect are flawed. Some have gone so far as to say that truth is relative to our own wishes, wants, biases, and opinions. This degradation of truth into an experiential realm is due in part to a reaction against the failure of humanistic ideals: the pure humanist believed that Man, by his reason, could decipher the universe and discover truth. When this failed, humanistic ideals began to crumble. But I believe that truth can be discerned.

I believe that truth can be found in the Bible. I am a Christian. I believe the Bible is the Word of God. I believe that God used individuals throughout history, guided by the Holy Spirit, to write down what God wanted to be written down. The Bible doesn't tell us everything. But what it does tell us, I believe, we can accept as facts. But then another problem arises: when we read and interpret the Bible, we become prone to vastly different interpretations of what the scriptures are saying. So who is right? Who is wrong? If truth is absolute, and if A being true means that B and C and D and E are not true, how are we to discern between A and B,C,D, and E? It really is quite the conundrum.

contentment :)

Karen came with me to church today. It has been a long time since I went to Southwest, and it was good to see some people. We talked for a while with Jimmy, and with Dr. Joe, and I got to see Megan, and that was exciting. I chatted with Boomer for a little while: I am going to start teaching again come April. I would be teaching earlier, but Southwest is going through the 40 Days of Purpose series, so the curriculum is wired towards that right now, and Boomer wants the students in together and not divided between Junior and Senior High. Boomer is going to let me write my own curriculum, and that’s exciting. I absolutely loathe ready-made curriculums, unless I am allowed to completely change them. My teaching style goes against what most curriculums employ. 

Life is going well. 

Things are getting better. 

Life isn’t perfect, but it never will be. 

But even though it’s not perfect, I’m content. 

And that’s really saying something.

of withdrawal and verbatim

Karen and I went to Barnes & Nobles after work to do some homework. I wrote a 12-page paper and she studied for some upcoming tests. She graduates in May with her bachelors in psychology, and she’s applying for entrance into the Master’s program for counseling at C.C.U. (she would start fall of next semester). It’s a little strange for me to be dating someone so close to graduating. But it’s a good strange. Anyways, while we were at Barnes & Nobles, I had a very good story idea. I explained it to her, and she really liked it. I took some shorthand notes and typed them out and saved them to my computer (my time is dedicated to Dwellers of the Night right now). Karen has read some of my work and likes it. She said, “You’re a writer, that’s for sure.” I liked that. She’s right. Writing is a lifeblood for me; when I go for long periods of time without writing, it feels as if I’m going through withdrawal. 

We went to her place for a little bit afterwards. Her mom and dad like me. Her dad didn’t like her other boyfriends, but he likes me. He says I’m kind and gentle. Karen and I sat in her living room and talked with her dad for a little while. He is a lot like my dad: overprotective, a little anal about the weirdest things, stuff like that. It cracks me up to watch Karen and her dad interact: it’s like watching Amanda and my dad interact, almost verbatim.

I won’t see Karen till sometime Sunday afternoon. I’m going to her house before working 6-9:00 in the Hilltop Sunday evening. I would be with her tonight, but she is at a youth sponsor’s annual meeting and it lasts several hours. Sarah was going to come up tonight and hang out for a little while, but the roads were too icy: lots of the country roads have turned to sheets of ice due to the ice-storm last night and the freezing cold tonight. The ice from yesterday melted today, then froze over once more. So I’m not going anywhere. But that’s okay. Tomorrow I’ll be spending the night at Ashlie’s apartment with her and Hank (one of my best friends). I’m expecting good times. It should be a good weekend. And I want to write a lot on Chapter Five of Dwellers of the Night. *sigh* I miss Karen. I’ve spent a lot of time with her over the last week, and it’s sad I won’t see her for about 48 hours. Oh well. I guess I’ll survive.

meet karen

I have been friends with Karen for nearly two years. I met her through the Hilltop Café, where both of us work. She was always quiet and shy, so I never really got to know her. We started hanging out outside of work, and it was at The Anchor Grill in Covington one evening where it hit me like a sledgehammer: “I like this girl.” I didn’t really know what to think. Getting to know her has been fun, and the more I got to know her, the more I came to like her. She transformed from just another friend to something much, much more. I went to bed that night thinking about her, and the idea of dating her seemed wild and crazy, but at the same time I was strangely comfortable with it. We continued hanging out, and a few days later, she became my girlfriend. Since then we have been hanging out a lot, doing homework, going to parks, grabbing food. We went to the Krohn Conservatory at Eden Park this morning after class. It is wild how comfortable I am with her: I can be my strange, quirky self. It is strange how comfortable I am in her arms, but it’s nothing I would trade. I told Karen, “This is totally unexpected, but it’s wonderfully beautiful.” She agrees.  

Sarah is writing a special scene for Dwellers of the Night. We’re going to Barnes & Nobles later today to look over and share some thoughts. She knows the material very well. I shared another story idea with Karen—it would possibly be called Shadows in the Ashes—and she thinks it is a very interesting idea. I’ve been perusing it over my head, but not too much, because Dwellers of the Night is the focus. It will be available through Amazon and Barnes & Nobles sometime in the summer or in mid-December.

the week I started dating Karen

Karen & me, from Cox Arboretum

Monday. This evening I went to Brandy's. Artie, Lindsey's ex, was there. We hung out, played some games, laughed our asses off. Artie left, and Brandy & I went out onto her balcony apartment to smoke and talk. The snow fell really hard. We talked about our dreams and desires and pondered when we first met, Corinthians class last semester. I got back to campus right as it started to sleet. Earlier Trista and I went shopping and I got three silly Hawaiian t-shirts. Trista said, "I bet Courtney and Kyle are having sex." Yeah, that made me feel great.

Tuesday. The snow came down in torrents all day and we had a 2-hour delay. Valentine's Day is Thursday. That's depressing. I worked 1-4 at the Hilltop, had Biology with Monica and Rob from 6-9, and then spent the rest of the night working on The Procyon Strain and going on cold late-night drives down Route 50. Probably not a good idea with all the snow, but I can only smoke off-campus. And I like to smoke on my "writing breaks."

Wednesday. I worked 4-7:30 with Karen R. and Isaac. Good times. I locked my keys in my car, and Marshall, the security guard, bailed me out. I got him a free drink at the Hilltop. Karen K., who works at the Hilltop, went to The Anchor Grill with me for cigarettes and good conversation. We were there from 8:00 to 10:30. She won free tickets to a hotel room in Las Vegas and we may be going together over Spring Break.

Valentine's Day. Karen and I chatted over AIM and via tezxts till 3:00 in the morning. I'm 90% sure she's interested in me. She told me I was sweet, and that she feels safe and comfortable with me, things like that. I don't know if the feeling's reciprocal. She seems cool, though... Karen and I went to Mount Echo. It was cold and windy. We stood at the overlook and watched the city quiet in the morning mist, cigarettes between our fingers. She worked from 12-2:00, and when she got off we went to Eden Park, followed by a joyride through the hills of northern Kentucky and another pit-stop for dinner at The Anchor Grill. We headed off to Knob Park to talk. We both played dumb. Soon we were holding hands, then we were kissing, then we were just holding one another quietly... At least until a police car pulled up and the officer scolded us for being on private property. We smoked on our way back to campus. She's a commuter, so I called her to make sure she got home okay. She said, "You gave me hickies," to which I replied, "I'm sorry, and if it's any consolation, I enjoyed giving them to you."

Friday. I grabbed Chinese for lunch. Karen got her Celtic clover tattoo touched up, and I went with her. My tire blew out on Glenway, so I had to nab the spare. Karen picked me up at 7:30 and we went to a business complex in Blue Ash to pick up her Vegas tickets. We pretended to be engaged to get them. We went to The Anchor Grill, followed by a trip to the Cincy overlook Trista showed me last year, over in Mount Adams. Karen asked me to be her boyfriend and I agreed. Some kids surprised us so we laughed and left. Driving took us to a turnoff at Mount Aries, and we were busted by a cop yet again. Two nights in a row! I didn't head home from her place till about 4:00 in the morning, and I saw a poor woman sobbing on the side of the road. Compassion overwhelmed me so I gave her a ride, and then got robbed. They stole my money, my lighter, and even my cigarettes.

Saturday. Karen came up and met the family. Mom fixed dinner, and we went to Dairy Queen for ice cream. At Barnes & Noble I got two Cormac McCarthy books. We built a fireplace in the heart and laid in front of it, talking and cuddling. It was magical.

Sunday. Karen & I went to Cox Arboretum and walked around, a beautiful day. We went to her place just as some storms rolled through. We watched "Legends of the Fall" and I met her parents. They both really like me.

an interesting day

Let me tell you about my day yesterday. 

Karen got her celtic three-leaf clover tattoo touched up in the afternoon, so I went with her. She went to baby-sit her niece and nephew, and while I was out running a check to the bank, my front right tire blew out. I had to drive slowly back to campus and am thankful I made it into the overflow parking lot. Karen came to campus around 7:00, and I went with her to some business complex in Blue Ash where she received her free package: two round-trip airline tickets to Las Vegas and two hotel suites, all expenses paid for. She won it at Reds Fest. We went back and put the spare on my tire (I had everything except the jack to lift the car, so she had to spot me on that one). We then went out to eat at the Anchor Grill, then went to a city overlook near Eden Park. 

It was at that spot that we became boyfriend and girlfriend. I’m really excited. On the way home last night, I got robbed. Long story short, they ran off with only fifteen bucks (I had the rest of my money stashed away).

It was an interesting day.