AC, Buffets, Blues, N Ladies w/ Swords

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This past Sunday, our family group (OAKS!) went to AC. (For those who don’t know, Atlantic City is the east coast version of Las Vegas.) The beach hasn’t changed much since we last went, it’s still pretty much a very large ashtray, ugh. We went down to AC after watching the slow grind of Italy vs France. (Why Zidane, why??) So we strolled down to the beach and took some pics, got our feet wet and made some disparaging comments about the ashtray. Yuri didn’t want to get her feet wet, but was caught by an incoming wave while we were posing for a picture with our backs to the beach. Walked down the boardwalk and entreated by half a dozen boardwalk taxis to take us down to our destination. There was some rather strange pictures taken, too bad I still have yet to get a digi-cam. Some of us were hungry so after some wrangling we ended up going to Terrace Garden Buffet. (I tend to avoid buffets. But there was no one else objecting, so I went along with it.) Ed stepped up and told us this buffet was good and we should enjoy it. (He said this was what dad’s did. At least his did anyway. I’ve been ordered to eat my food, but not ordered to enjoy my food before.) So I ate my food and I have to say, my head, heart and stomach was in agreement… I should avoid buffets. Strolled around a bit to stave off the onset of food coma. Ed was talking about getting a Fatty Burger. So we chilled out at a nearby mall off the boardwalk then waited in front of Caeser’s to get a ride to the Borgata. Strolled around and took pictures of the cool interior decor within the Borgata when Ed has an idea, “Since we’re at AC, why not gamble a bit?” Part of “the experience” would be to lose some money, yes? So we pooled our cash, whoever wanted to could just put in some cash into the pool and we’d play some roulette. Each person puts in about 5 dollars and Ed steps up to the table and requests some dollar chips. (Gusgus was bouncing up and down. Bleuciel82 was smiling.) Somehow, instead of losing our money as I expected, Ed ended up winning about $300… a return of about 600% for our initial investment. :chuckles: Can you say grace of God? (or would you prefer to say something else?) So we took our winnings and spent it on car tolls, parking and food. I spent the windfall on a FatBurger Meal and a Ben & Jerry’s Waffle Cone Sundae. I’ll have to note this is one of the most surreal family group trips ever because 1) our co-servant was gambling. 2) OAKs are slowly but surely being spread out. (Atlanta, New York, Boston, Chicago, Ardmore, Taiwan) 3) I didn’t get home till about 1 in the morning.

Tony Rich Project – Nobody Knows It But Me

I’ve been a bit blue lately. I don’t know really why. I have to admit that if you ask me about the logical outworkings of belief systems, I can talk a long, long while, but ask me about the conditions of my heart and I’d be hard pressed to describe it to you. Typical symptoms of depression. My food tastes like whatever. Don’t feel like talking to people, but at the same time also feeling isolated and lonely. Wicked cycle, eh? I’ve been trying to exercise and get out into the sun more often, that typically does the trick but not this time. Generally feeling tired and not motivated to do anything. I guess as unsatisfying as this answer is… even my emotions experience brokeness. My mortality reaches even down to the depts of my heart.
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Woman with swords…

This is a train of thought that has been on my mind off and on for quite awhile now. What exactly does a godly man / woman look like? How can I recognize godliness and not be mistaken by religiousity, arrogance, legalism, or perfectionistic tendancies? So she’s pretty, so what? Give her 20 yrs and tell me what you think then…

I’ve been thinking about the discontinuity of my thoughts on a significant other. I have to admit that there is a strange gap between who I would want to date and who I would want to marry. I see things that I would consider a pro for a girlfriend, but a con for a spouse. For instance, parents. Within my head, parents make dating more complicated. Meeting the parents is always a touchy affair and it seems so… contrived somehow. The closer you are to your parents, the more lopsided dating seems to be. But if you’re married, having a good relationship with your parents and in-laws becomes a definite plus. I think it would be natural to talk to your parents about issues that come up when you’re married and if you’re not really close to your parents, it makes it harder to find advice on different things.

One thing that I’ve found necessary is the need for a good sword. If she’s not armed with the Word, there’s going to be some serious trouble. If there’s one thing I know how to do, it’s how to rationalize and argue. I’ve got plenty of excuses and more psychological self-defense mechanisms than I can count. Seriously hard-headed and often tunnel-vision’ed? But all this proves to be moot when the sword is sharp and the technique is good. Nothing like a well-delivered God-smack to get things back on the level again.

So this is just me wondering aloud… what do you think?

Traits that stand out to me:

• Confidence
• A real smile
• Colorful personality
• Perfume
• Eyeglasses

Lost, A Map (possible spoiler)

I’ve been asked by some people what it’s like to be 27. Well, my answer so far has been: “it’s pretty much like being 26.” Parents have upped the pressure for me to get married. Marriage to them is the “next step” in a progression of steps to… who knows where. To quote my first love of the books of the bible: “Meaningless, meaningless… everything is meaningless” (For those who are KJV: “Vanity, vanity, everything is vanity!”) I’ve learned that wisdom is more than knowledge. School, college, university, classes, teachers and professors can pump us full of knowledge, but to what purpose? What good is all this knowledge, if it doesn’t do something in our lives? Sure, these ideas, concepts and theories sound cool and you could prolly use them to impress people with all this stuff floating around in your head. But if you don’t really use this knowledge, doesn’t it make such knowledge just trivia? It would be really sad to have spent so much our childhood and adult life pursuing trivia…. degrees, initials… of trivia. I’ve learned some things about this life, some of them sad, some of them hopeful, some downright cruel. But I realize that when faced with the enormous span of knowledge out there… I really know nothing. To become a so-called “expert” in a single field would require a lifetime… and even then, it would not be enough. I’ve learned that maturity does not come along with age. I’ve come to understand that life, here on earth, is transient and fragile. I’ve learned that it is surprisingly easy to live a life that is a total contradiction of
my own beliefs. I’ve learned that God kicks @$$… mostly especially mine. I’ve found out that my parents are human too. The most important things in life, I probably learned back in kindergarden… like sharing, taking naps in the afternoon, milk n cookies make great snacks, hold your partner’s hand so they don’t get lost, do your work, apologize when you do someting wrong, everyone can dance, everyone can sing and everyone can draw, and Dad can do anything. If I can live out the rest of my life as an example of these things… I think it would probably be a life well-lived.