My Skin

As of Friday, it is permanently changed. I ended up getting my tattoo on Friday in Owatonna. It's on the inside of my right forearm. I enjoy the insane sticking-out-ness of my veins in this picture.

After I was done, I took a little jaunt to go eat some food with Amy. We had a little bit of deep discussion and a little bit of random discussion. All in all, we found Ben's twin.

Then, I took another little jaunt to go on a walk with Mariah. It was good, and I think it was much needed. We talked almost the whole time, which we both decided makes the cold walks go faster.

After I got home, I started playing with the first picture I put in this post on Photoshop. It wasn't until after I got home from the leadership meeting today that I finished the textures. The coolest part was the fact that there was enough shading on my arm to make the gradient on the final product.

My Schedule, Stress, Stupidity, and Surprise

I picked up my work schedule today after school, and next week looks horrible for me. Thursday, tomorrow, the last day of this work week, marks the start of a long week. I work 3:15-9 tomorrow, 3:15-10 Friday, 7-4 (truck shift) Sunday, 1-10 Monday, and 9-4 Wednesday. I requested off New Years Eve and New Years Day, so I better not get stuck trying to find someone who can work so I can make it to the NYE party.

Thank you, Northwestern College, for causing the most stressful twenty minutes of my recent life. Trust me, this wasn't an easy feat, but you succeeded quite well. How? Well, the notice that you hadn't yet received one of my recommendations for the Peale Scholarship was a good start (no worries, Janet, it was the other one). Of course, the nice guy filling in in the admissions office who just so happened to steal my name was very generous in letting me sort it out with my teacher so that the recommendation would be faxed to them this morning. Still, all you'll be getting is the written portion with a little notice that says the form was sent to you and it's the post office's fault you never received it. So take that, NWC!

On that note, more stress. I have two big research papers due Friday, and I'm just about halfway done with one of them (the less important one). This stress ties in with my stupidity, meaning I fell into some hardcore procrastination yet again recently. Thankfully, I have a nifty little stress poker chip from the lovely Kelly Castle that always helps relieve some stress (it's also lucky in poker tournaments).

Then, the surprise. I don't think I've ever mentioned in my blog how amazing Mariah is, and I probably should more often. She had asked me a while back if I wanted to go with her family to a Wild game this Saturday. We would've been in a gameday suite, which would've been tighter than a noose in The Crucible. Something came about where that wasn't going to happen, so she told me she had a surprise for me. Now, she and I will be going to the game on January 3, hanging out behind the penalty box. Have I mentioned lately how amazing my girlfriend is? I never have the resources to come up with any good gifts or surprises for her, so I'll have to think of something very clever to return the favor.

My Fruit

Last night was full of a lot of driving, and very little sleep. I went down to NWC with my mom and Mariah to see a play. It's a play I wasn't too sure of, seeing as I disliked both the book and the movie. My brother had done the sound design for The Grapes of Wrath, which was adapted by Frank Galati (I have to admit the writing was very good for the play).

I was utterly impressed with the show. I loved it, and I wish I could see it again. I'm a little sad I couldn't make it to other things I had as choices for the night, but it was good seeing my brother and hearing his great work for the show. Plus, I remembered reading Tracey's blog about her labor scene, and while she was giving birth during the storm I had to hold back some laughter.

We didn't get back to Frost until just after 1:00 in the morning, and I had to work at 9. It took me a while to get out of bed because this cold of mine is getting horrible, but I was only 15 minutes late to work. I made up for by staying until 5:15, so I got the whole 8 hours in.

After work there was a run-through of the play before our dress rehearsal tomorrow. I'm still a little skeptical about the show, but tonight made me a little more confident. It'll all come down to remembering lines.

As for the title of this post, I kind of got to thinking tonight about The Grapes of Wrath. I instantly thought of Galatians 5:22 (Fruit of the Spirit). There wasn't anything too specific or deep that I was thinking about; just that I feel like all of the things listed in that verse are things people hold near and dear in relationships. Coincidence? Not likely. Godincidence? Definitely.

I want to include the Director's Statement from the play last night because it's really good. It's kind of long, but well worth it.


"Three provocative statements to consider as we enter together into tonight's production:

1. Christ-figures appear in various forms of literature. Writers as diverse as C.S. Lewis (Chronicles of Narnia), Ernest Hemingway (The Old Man in the Sea), Bernard Malumud (The Natural), and John Steinbeck (The Grapes of Wrath) imbue their protagonists with Christ-like qualities, often leading us to see familiar aspects of the Gospel story with fresh eyes. In his apologetic writing, Lewis argues that the appearance and reappearance of Christ-figures in myth and literature testifies to the inherent truth of the Gospel in our daily lives; Christ keeps showing up, often where we least expect. This said, we must acknowledge a key difference between Christ-figures and Christ. Jesus was not literally a Lion, an old fisherman, a baseball player, or a fallen-away Pentecostal preacher from Oklahoma. The fact that these characters exhibit some of Christ's defining characteristics only serves to remind us of the essence of the Gospel story and how we are all, at our core, image-bearers.

2. As a culture, we do a poor job of ministering to our social and economic outcasts. This production forces us to remember this sad fact, and begs the question "Who are the 'Okies' of today and how are we serving them?"

3. Our American expressions of Christianity reveal annoying tendencies that emphasize the indiviual over the corporate. Sometimes we allow our individualistic culture to define the Gospel exclusively as a "personal relationship with Jesus Christ." This stops short of an equallyl pressing biblical call to live in community, ceaselessly serving the "least of these" our brothers and sisters. This seperation is false. Christ's directive to the apostle Peter's individualistic affirmation that he loved Jesus was to direct him to feed and care for community (John 21:15). As stewards of the creation, God calls us to live and sustain our individual faith through community. At its best, The Grapes of Wrath reveals to us our corporate body and our social responsibility."

-- Robert Hubbard

"Well in my mind we can conquer the world..."

It's been a crazy few days since I blogged last. Wanna hear it? Listen closely...

Thursday was quite the day. I had a pretty good day in school, and decided to play a round of disc golf before Tommy was done with school and we played our round for the day. Turns out the wind on the 6th didn't like me very much. It took my older driver into the trees, and it was never found; I'm still not sure if it made it into the river or not. After Tommy, Dalton (who randomly showed up to play), and I were done, I went home to shower and head off for Albert Lea. Mariah and I decided have a birthday dinner, walk around the lake, and she really wanted to feed the ducks. We had Chinese (we've been planning on having Chinese together since we met), fed a few ducks, and we were about 3/4 around the lake when I realized my wallet was missing. We turned around and walked the long way back looking in a few places for it, and it (like my disc) was never found. That is until I got a phone call at 11:00 that night from the ALPD. My wallet was turned in with no money in it. There went 40 bucks....

On Friday, school was pretty lenient. For example, we spent about 20 minutes in AP Bio talking about carbohydrates and the last hour or so talking about fun parasites. Work was good Friday night, even with the rush at the end of my shift from the football game being over. We beat our biggest rival (Fairmont) 42-14 to keep the little brown jug. There's an article about our team on the Trib's website somewhere.

Saturday was a great day, starting with the fact that it was Mariah's birthday. I drove over to AL in the morning to pick up my wallet, which wasn't too exciting. As soon as I got home, Mariah and I left for NWC. We hung around down there for a good 4 hours or so before Cody had some free time, but it was really good to see Anna. And Carl too. We ate at Hemingway's with my brother (their food's great) and then went to pick up our tickets at the box office. After a 45-minute wait outside the theater doors, we went in and found some fairly good seats. RUSH (student-led, student-produced, student-everything dance concert) was really good. Mariah and I both laughed hardcore at Matt Reiter dancing in it, mostly because he seemed so serious and such. After it was over, we drove back to my house, and Mariah left early this morning.

I worked from 1-9 today, and it was a smooth shift. It started off with a little cleaning in preparation for Kwik Clean, which is coming up soon. I have to clean the outside of the store and the pumps tomorrow and Tuesday. Tomorrow is also play practice and homecoming coronation, which I'm an escort for. Boo to that part.

The Life and Times of A Baron

I don't have anything too exciting to blog about tonight, so I'm sticking you all with a boring post about how I've spent the first two weeks of my summer.

As most of my readers know, I've been job hunting. My interview was on the 8th, and I know at least one of my references was called yesterday morning. There are still a few slight ideas in mind if I don't get the job, but who knows what'll happen.

I've been swimming a few times so far this summer. Not at a public pool, but at the Oswald's house. Come to think of it, I've basically lived there for the last two weeks. I'll go out there after I wake up, stay until supper (or sometimes eat there), and then I'll come back home about 11 at night. We shoot a lot of blackbirds, play PS2, and swim. It's a good time. We've still got to start our random "Hey let's have a fire" nights where we call people up either the night of or the night before and see if they're bored enough to come to a fire.

I went to a total of 9 (I think) grad parties so far, and there's only one left to go to on Sunday.

As for the rest of my summer, it's fairly open. I have a wedding tomorrow (technically today since it is officially Saturday), and one next Saturday. My youth group is going on a camping trip from Monday to Thursday of next week, and I'm always excited for it. I love Whitewater!

So let me set up this comic a little bit. I was on the phone with Mariah last night, and I told her I thought Rachel Ray was making a lot of money (I was looking at the Forbes Celebrity 100). Then, we both decided Rachel Ray was annoying. 'Nuf said.