loosening up the arm

Today was a notably better day than yesterday. We got a pretty big work order in at the warehouse today, which kind of seemed to ease marvin's mind (my boss) and in turn eased mine as well. Got home this afternoon and it was relatively pleasant out, so phil and i went out to throw the baseball around a bit. It was good stuff. Nothing like fielding ground balls, even if it's in the grass. Wednesday's already finished, which means a holiday weekend is just around the corner. Phil's friend Ben and his wife are coming down to hang out and it should be fun stuff. We're gonna check out a pool hall in Castleton one night as well as go to the Indianapolis Indians game on the 4th of july and stay there to watch fireworks.

David Haller... if you read this, know that I have every intention of calling you this weekend (i had this same intention last weekend, but im a loser, sorry). I'f you're my sister, and reading this, it would be great to hear from you sometime (cough cough).

The big highlight of the night.... there are now two new tenants for the two previously empty apartments on the second floor right across from us. This is a big deal for us cause we all kind of share the same balcony space. So, our fingers are crossed that the people are our age and spend time outside on their balconies, or one or the other at least... Anyway, Phil will be spying all day the next two days, so im sure we'll get the low-down on here soon.

Restlessness

And Tuesday has come and gone already. The last few days, to tell the truth, have kind of rolled by without much to get excited about. Phil and I are restless. The banks is taking it's sweet time getting their act together to let him know about the job. I think I should call them up and tell them to hurry the heck up cause people kinda have their lives on hold for this. So, he seems restless for good reason. I'm not sure why I've been so restless the last few days. Work's been alright. My boss seems very anxious and apprehensive about things this week. I'm sure it's just a bit of impatience, but it still kind of makes it hard for me to know what exactly I can (or am supposed to do) to ease his mind. I dont like prolonged tension, so hopefully things will calm down for him soon, cause I don't think there's much I can do for him about it. I went to the coffee shop tonite to read for the first time, as planned. It was kinda nice to not sit on the couch and do the same thing we've done every week night for the past 3 weeks. Two girls were having a little bible study in there. I kinda wanted to walk over and start talking to them, but then I decided that would probably be kinda creepy. I'm reading Animal Farm. I'm 2/3rds the way through it and am enjoying it. In fact, I think that this will be the book I will refer people to from now on when they insist that they know about communism/socialism and assume I'm full of crap when I talk about it. It does a good job of showing where Marxism(the root of real communism) parts ways with Eastern European 'communism' (the root of every westerner's misconception of real communism). So, yeah, it's good.
Phil and I planned to go to College Park Church on Sunday. We got all excited because we decided to go to Sunday school as well and attempt to make friends again. Got online and found out what class and when it met and stuff... Sunday morning we got up and left and realized that we had a little miscommunication about where the place was and we found ourselves at an intersection with a gas station and not much else. Luckily we stumbled upon it right at 9:30 (start time). We went in and asked someone at the guest table where the class met and our hearts sunk when they informed us that that particular class met in a separate building about a mile down the road. Man! We weren't gonna be the newcomers who walk in 10 minutes late, so we just walked into the church service and left afterwards. It was a pretty big letdown. Hopefully next week we'll get it all figured out. Cause I know right now I'm craving some friendship. Not even friendship; just the potential or possibility of friendship... So, yeah, feeling a little lonely. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

*on a brighter note, Phil and I met for lunch today and discovered that the Skyline Chili right by us has 'all you can eat chili' every tuesday. Good news for us, bad news for them....

Books

So Phil and I went to the used book store and I found three good books. Dostoevsky's Crime & Punishment, Kafka's The Trial, and (always the good sociology student with under the table socialist yearnings) Marx's Kapital. On the way back we stopped at this little cafe a few blocks from our apartment called Lulu's. I walked in the door and fell in love. The place was exactly the atmosphere I was hoping to find. The coffee I ordered tasted good. Phil and I sat there and enjoyed our drinks for a bit. Then I looked at the door and saw the hours posted that they close at 6pm every night! And as quickly as I fell in love, I was heartbroken. I would barely be home from work in time to get there. So, that one's out. We're still on the lookout though.

Got home and found my parents birthday card in the mail, which was sweet cause it had a 25 dollar gift certificate to Barnes & Noble, so being on the classic literature kick, we went down to downtown and walked around Circle Center mall and found a bookstore and got three more good books. Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamov, Orwell's Animal Farm, and Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises. So, all that to say that it's been a pretty big book day for us. On a side note, we found Kistler a sweet looking dress shirt at Express and his not-girlfriend Step is gonna love it.

Visitors

Tim & Jamin came down to hang out with us last night. To be quite honest, I wasn't sure if I was up for it or not. But it was a wonderful evening. We went to the grocery store and bought the ingredients for Tim to make a beautiful pasta dish all from scratch. Lots of candles, good music, & quality company. It was good to catch up with them. I'd seen Jamin at Shorb's wedding, but it's probably been a year since Tim and I have actually gotten to sit down and talk without a whole lot of noise and other stuff going on to prevent it. So, it was a great evening and I hope they come down again soon.

The mission for the day is this. Phil and I are going to go down to the used book store down the block and get some reading material. Three reasons for this. One, we've gotten into a huge rut of wasting our evenings away playing an X-box football game for the past 3 weeks and it really isn't the best use of time, especially if it's every night. Two, I have been talking about putting together the 'books to read' list all my life and there's absolutely no excuse why it shouldn't happen now. I've sat here for a bit with a pad of paper, writing down titles that I can remember I've said I would put on the list. If anyone has any that should be on there, please leave me a message. Thirdly, a great place to read is a good cafe or coffee shop. We live in a good sized city and chances are there are a few out there. We need to find one or two and frequent them as a good place to do some reading a few nights a week. The added bonus here would be that we're out and about and in situations where we could meet people.... maybe make a few friends as well. So, that's the plan.

23

So... I'm 23 today. My mom sent me the funniest/sweetest email. It opened up with this line:
'I know you know where & what I was doing 23 years ago today...HAPPY BIRTHDAY.' She crack's my stuff up! Phil, meanwhile decided to change my away message and his to tell everyone on the internet that it was my birthday and to call my cell. What a dork. I love him though. One of his endeering qualities. So, yeah, it's my birthday and it would be great to talk to anyone and everyone tonite. If you want to, give me a call. 317-531-4419.

Randomly funny

Father's Day weekend was very good. Went home and spent the weekend with the parents. It was good to see them and to catch them up with all that's happened since i moved. It was also nice to not be sweating 24/7, as they have air conditioning that they actually turn on. I'm crossing my fingers here, cause the forecast is saying really really hot is to come.

Two random funny things yesterday. First, I got a message on my answering machine in the middle of the afternoon. It was phil. This was the message:
'Hey roomie, just wanted to call and let you know that I got to Atlanta safe and things seem to be good for getting to Indy this afternoon for you to pick me up. By the way, I had my first bloody mary today. I got to fly first class and drinks are free... I ordered it, then realized.. wait! It's 9am. This lady's gonna think IM an alcoholic! Then the lady behind me order one too, so I didn't worry about it. '
hahaha


Second, I was driving home from work on 86th street (a very very busy place at lunch hour and rush hour). I was talking on the phone with my dear, dear friend Nate Shorb and traffic all of a sudden stopped way up. It stayed that way for like 2 minutes, then we went again. As I got up to where the traffic stopped there was a herd (no doubt, a herd) of ducks crossing the road. What in the world are a bunch of ducks doing on 86th street in the middle of rush hour no less?! I laughed.

Roommates

My advice to you, if you ever decided to move out on your own, is to bring a roommate along with you. Phil's been in San Diego since Wednesday morning visiting Arizona Kym, a friend of his. So, for the last two nights I've come home from work to an empty apartment and boredom has set in. Thus, im looking foreword to coming home and seeing my family, as well as a few friends (Vos's second date with a girl involves hanging out with her parents!! haha). I will be spending my whole day today inspecting The Three Pigs books. We have over 5,000 of them sitting in our warehouse right now just waiting for me. Now if that's not exciting, I don't know what is.

Humidity out the door

And God finally smiled upon our little apartment home today, as the jetstream brought a strong breeze and humidity-less air in from the west. Wow! what a relief. It will be good to fall asleep tonite without having the fan pointed at my head on high.

Friend attempt

So, Phil has a really good friend from highschool who was in indy today. She went to IU for college and was also meeting up with a couple of her college friends. One of them is a girl she always thought should date Phil. Phil wasn't so sure about that. However, this girl recently moved to the north east area of indy (about 10 minutes away from us). So, at the least, we thought, it would be cool to maybe make a friend cause we figured that she was in the same shape we were in with being here and not really having a good way to get to know new people and stuff. So, yeah, we could get to know her and we could all start hanging out and be friends and stuff. Well, as the lunch went on, conversation was fine and all. However, when Phil and I would try to set up the whole idea that we lived close to her and stuff and kinda lead down the road to 'hey we should get together and hang out sometime' kind of stuff... She was going to have none of that because she basically ignored all of our leads and shut us down. So, our first attempt at making new friends was thwarted pretty hard today. Don't worry though, we're resilient and determined to meet new friends. I just hope it's sometime before next march when we've got to put together an new fantasy baseball league.

Posture, Purpose, Process

Today, at Grace Community Church, we heard a very very solid message to set up a sermon series. The pastoral staff is going to take the summer to tackle a different topical issue each week. They're going to speak on pacifism, personal ethics, homosexuality, environmentalism, and social justice. Being the good sociologist, I was pleased that these things would be talked about, but was relatively skeptical about what actually would be said that would be really worthwhile or beneficial... I've become a bit soured by overly conservative Christians and their inability to open their minds enough to even have a quality discussion or debate about several of these things. But pastor Rodriguez gave a message to set up the 'ground rules' for the following weeks. There were three. First, come with a posture that balances a spirit of meekness and resolve. Secondly come with and understanding that the purpose of these sermons (and the purpose of any discussion, argument, or debate about anything) is to be a blessing, not to be defensive or most importantly, to be right. Finally, the process of discussing any of these topics will, and rightfully so, include things outside of the Bible directly. The point being that all truth is God's truth so many fields of study can and should be incorporated in our discussions of such things. All in all, it was stellar and I've found that he articulated the same things that I attempt to articulate many times when I find myself in the midst of heated discussion with anyone, especially other Christians. I'll look foreword to several of those messages later on in the summer.

Skyline

Phil took me to Skyline Chili for the first time last night. He's talked about it all through college about how it's soooo good and all this stuff... Well, it was really good. So good in fact, that when Phil told me that the Skylines at cincy periodically do an 'all you can eat' thing for kids fundraisers, I told him to call up his mom to let us know when she hears of another one and we'll go try to put them out of business... One wierd thing... One ingredient in the chili is spaghetti. We sat down to eat and right before I put my fork in it he stopped me and told me that 'You don't twirl Skyline!'. It took me a bit to be totally convinced that he wasn't just being Phil and doing something to make me look like a dork. But evidently he says that in cincy, if you twirl the skyline everyone will stare at you like you're some sort of idiot. Sweet. So, everyone go try some Skyline chili if you haven't already. It's good stuff.

Last night we hooked up with Kistler and his buddy and went putt-putt golfing, which was hilarious cause everyone else there was a couple. We made fun of them all for the most part. Especially the couple right ahead of us cause they took forever and the girl was obnoxious. After putt-putt we went back to Kistler's house and watched the movie The Thin Red Line. I liked it quite a bit, however, if you don't like movies that wander too far outside of the mainstream, then you probably won't like this one too much either.

Today has been spent putting up things on our walls since I finally got thumb tacks and push pins. If you have any original art that you'd like to donate to the apartment, let us know and we'll be happy to display it prominently on our walls. I cooked eggs for lunch and I think they went over well. Always a bonus. This weekend has been sweet so far.

The weekend

So, I was listening to The Postal Service on the way home from work today, and realized just how much I enjoy them. It's good music, really. Work was good today, however I think I did the most monotonous thing I've ever done in my life. For 3 hours I worked on taking a little book out of a plastic cover. There are 2500 of them... I took care of less than half of them in the 3 hours. Marvin, my boss walked out a few times and said I looked like I was in a daze. I didn't realize how many books 2500 was until today. It's alot.

We're finally at our first weekend in the city! Im' not sure what we're gonna do yet, but it's gonna be sweet, no matter what, cause we don't even care. It's gotta be more exciting that sitting on the couch, watching one of the 4 tv channels that come in clear and playing football on the x-box (which is what every night for the past week and a half has pretty much consisted of). It's been sprinkling a few times here in the last hour or so and it's finally cut some of the humidity, which is really a plus cause I've just stopped sweating in what seems like a week solid. Yeah, try that sometime and you'll have a new found empathy for the fat kid... haha.

New Phone Number

Forgot, I have a new phone. It's 317-531-4419. I have voice mail now too, so everyone who has made fun of me for never setting that up the past 4 years can stop laughing at me.

Beginnings... Again

So, I graduated. That was good, especially the retarded looking sunburns we all got on the middle of our forheads. It hasn't really hit me at all. I think it'll probably seem like summer break right up until the middle of august and everyone goes back to school and I dont. We'll find out.

I closed down the Penthouse for the last time. It was quite sentimental. I think i did a good job of not getting too carried away with it until the very end. It took forever to pack up all that stuff from the dorm. I turned in my PA keys and stepped out of the dorm for the last time as a student. As I drove away I cried like a little girl for the first time in I can't even remember when.

I spent a week at home with Dad, which was very good. It was my summer break. I slept in every day woke up and cleaned up in time for Dad to get back from school and we went to see a few movies and we feasted like Kings (Mom and Tracy were in Nebraska). And then I loaded all the stuff I had at home into a Uhaul trailer and left home for the last time (not that it's not available for me to return to whenever, as my parents have done well to remind me, but I'm making myself a new 'home' of sorts now).

Moved everything into the new appartment, the address of which is
2010 Pickadilly Place Apt. D
Indianapolis, IN 46260
Phil moved his stuff in as well, but then left for the memorial day weekend to spend in Cincy. My parents stayed with me till Saturday, making sure that I had all I needed. I always used to kind of roll my eyes at the whole 'wedding shower' thing and registering for all this new crap that everyone else was supposed to get you and all for your new life together. Well, the eye rolling stopped this move in weekend when I realized just how much stuff you dont realize that you need to have in order to move out on your own. It's not like I've ever owned a vaccume, or dishes and cups and plates or frying pans or floor lamps and the like... Wow, I'm lucky that my parents ever so graciously bailed me out of a lot of that stuff from giving me some of their old stuff to buying me some new things as well.

And on Memorial Day I showed up to my first day of work at Value Added Resources. I met with Marvin, my boss, who's a really nice guy, and we spent the first half of the day meeting to plan what we were to do the rest of the week, because we didn't really open up for business until a couple of days later). It's pretty sweet to be a part of a totally brand new little business... I'm getting to do a lot of things that I'm sure I am not experienced or qualified enough to do, but hey.. since it's only him, me and two of his kids for now, I am the number 2 man, so any kind of brainstorming kinda has to include me... haha.

I got off work friday to go to Shorb's wedding this weekend. Phil and I drove up to West Unity, OH to meet up with Noah and Coster and see Noah's new house. Then we hit the road and drove through the night to get to shorb's at 730am. Then it was groomsmen stuff all day through rehersal dinner. Shorb gave us gifts with notes on them. I had to wander outside for a few moments as I almost lost it, reading his note to me. He's a good friend. Better than I deserve, no doubt. Friday night we took him out for his bacheoler party. Ok, here's the thing about bachealor parties... You need to pick a best man. SHorb didn't cause he's a cop out, but you need to because the responsibility of planning all this jazz falls on his shoulders and so since none of us was technically it, none of us wanted to step on anyone's toes, so nothing was really planned. All of it was kind of last second decisions and whatnot. But needless to say, I am proud to report that he had, what I think to be, his first drink and smoke. On a lighter note, we were at an all-night diner and met some bizzaire old waitresses who found out shorb was getting married and tried to talk him out of it. Later on they gave him a whipped cream can as a gift and told him to have fun the next night... anyone tell me what they were talking about? hahaha...

The wedding was beautiful and as they were lighting the unity candle and Su was playing a song they were talking and praying with each other and I sort of lost it a bit and started to cry (man, three crys in like 2 weeks... I'm getting soft). I was releived to find out later that I wasn't the only groomsman up there not holding it together... Of all the people and couples and relationships that I've gotten a chance to watch, interact with, and observe, I dont know that there is a couple who I am less concerned about making it work than Shorb and Erica. What an amazing couple. God has and will continue to bless them in ways that I am excited to see. I just hope I can keep in contact with them.

So, here we are to today, thursday. The boss is out around town getting our name out to businesses and distribution centers. I am stuck here waiting on a few calls so we can get some instructions on what to do specifically with a few work orders we have in. So, this is killing time. The first weekend in Indy is fast approaching and I am stoked to find out what Phil and I do. The goal is to begin to get to know some of the more intricate and local aspects of the city. I told my mom that when she comes down next I want to be able to show her around to some places that she otherwise wouldn't have been able to find. SO, i'll try to remember to write it all down here. THat's it for now. Hopefully the posts will come more regularly now that I have internet access.