Serious emotional statements and actions without a corresponding relationship lead to the feeling of cheesiness.
Think about it: we’ve all seen movies with sappy moments that made us laugh. We’ve also seen movies with similar statements and were a little choked up. What’s the difference? The latter film was created in such a way that built an emotional bond with the audience.
It’s easy to look at the responses and conversation between two people and automatically gag at its cheesy nature. Consider two newly-weds or a couple that has just started dating. The words out of their mouth are so saccharine that only an infatuated person could enjoy them. But to the couple at hand, those comments are sincere and welcomed. Why? They have an underlying relationship that give meaning to their words.
The framework with which we interpret everything defines how meaningful life’s events are. To someone who is dealing with an illness in the family, reading a story about healing would be so encouraging. But others may scoff at the unrealistic nature of the story. Why? They didn’t have the necessary relationship to comprehend the meaning and importance of healing.

A few weeks ago, while I was at the Guster concert, I watched an older woman perform the alcohol-laced concert sway. She repeated it over and over again, and all the while, we laughed at this foolish-looking behaviour. Well, a friend of mine was at another concert and filmed this, so I thought I would share it with the world. It’s awkward and I just don’t understand why people think it’s okay.

It was a rainy day, and so I waited until after it stopped raining to head out this evening. But I walked outside to the sounds of raindrops smacking the ground, and I thought, “Dang, I didn’t realize it was still raining.”
I ran to the car and proceeded to Starbucks. After Ryan and I sat down, the rain subsided.
Leaving Starbucks a little later, I noticed that it was still sprinkling. As I drove home, the intensity of the rain grew and grew. By the time I got back to the apartment, it was a regular downpour. All of the close spots were taken, so I sat in the visitor parking for a few minutes contemplating my next move. It seemed as though the Red Sea separated me from the building. And I didn’t have a staff to part the waters.
It had been a while since I walked through the rain, so I opted to take off my watch and shoes, and saunter through the rain.
I got soaked, but it was good. I heartily recommend a stroll through the rain. It’s refreshing.

I must admit that blogging is a come and go proposition for me. Some weeks/months, I have tons of stuff to write about, and others, well, I just don’t have much to say. And I guess that’s how things are right now. So, considering that I don’t have anything deep to write about, I’m going to go with some quick hits:
1) I played in my very first organized football game tonight. I caught one pass for about 5 yards, I missed another pass (it was a bit long), and mistook a couple flags for a handful or air. Overall, a great game (we won, by the way), but I need to practice a bit…
2) I’ve decided that I don’t like small talk. I’m not interested in having a half-hearted conversation with someone. Exchanging brief pleasantries is about as far as I want to go…after that, let’s talk about something worthwhile or I’m out.
3) End of night conversations are likewise awkward. People usually stand around in groups waiting for something. Of course, that “thing” always escapes me. Do they want to go do something else? Well, say so. If not, then what’s the purpose of standing there with unexpected moments of silence and conversation?
4) I’ve realized that my tendency in work (and life) is to work really really hard, then coast. I noticed this as I biked over the past year, and I have come to realize that is my style with life. At work today, I had 5 things I had to finish by 5:30pm. I had two hours to complete them (seeing as though I started at 3:30). I jumped into the work, booked it, and finished up at 5:15pm. At this point, I was tired and ready for a break. The same goes for this weekend, I’ve been working/doing stuff constantly for a few weeks, and now I’m ready for some time off.
5) This is the year of the hospital. In the past week, I’ve added another two to the list who are undergoing serious illnesses. And for the record, this group includes people to the second degree (friend’s friend). You always think this sort of thing happens to everyone else, and I suppose to a certain extent it still is. Sometimes I wonder how long it will be until it creeps in closer.
To those who read this diatribe…well, this is my life right now. Cheers to a long weekend.

Are all conversations about other people gossip?
Are all of those conversations bad?
Tonight, I started to consider whether or not you could discuss someone without it being “gossip.” Is it even possible? I have reconsidered a number of situations that I’ve been in, and it seems to me that gossip isn’t a natural outflow of a conversation about somone.
How do I determine this? I ask a few questions:
1) Are you mocking the person?
2) Are you building yourself up at their expense?
3) Are you trying to figure out how to deal with someone?
4) Are you working to discern how to help a person?
I had fallen into this nasty trap of thinking that it was wrong to “talk” about someone behind their back. And I would agree if your conversation falls within the first two points above. But life is filled with conversations and connections with people, and what better way to deal with other people than to address the subject with friends. The key is for everyone to realize that the point of the conversation is mutual edification.
And if that’s the case, talk away.

On my way home from church today, I was followed by a Ford Taurus… Normally I wouldn’t notice this, but I looked back and saw that she was gesturing me to drive faster. The speed limit was thirty and there were a row of cars stopped in front of me, so I motored on at my pace. At this, the woman behind me started to pull into the opposite lane of traffic to pass me. Humm. We both got to the light at the same time… Oh yea, and we stopped at the next light together. And then she took off.
I just wonder how you can drive like that after getting out of church. And I wonder how you can drive like that when you’re following someone out of church. I guess I just don’t get it…

I noticed one of the most interesting and unsuspected sights as I left work today. I noticed that someone’s continual and interesting bad habit had been washed away. Gone in a a heartbeat.
Of course, I wouldn’t have noticed this had I not been aware of the story behind the scenes…the story of what happened. I won’t bore you with the details, but I knew a friend had talked to said person and gently moved them in the right direction. Not pushy…not inconsiderate. But genuine in the discourse and genuine in trying to help their friend.
And it made me realize how important friends are.
I wonder where I would be today without the friends in my life. I specifically wonder where I’d be if I didn’t become friends with a savvy and culturally well versed friend in high school. I wouldn’t be living in Houston if it weren’t for friends. And I certainly wouldn’t being enjoy life if I didn’t have my friends.
Like family, it seems we overlook and not realize the role of these people in our lives. It’s so easy to take these things for granted. To not be thankful for the people that make the days enjoyable. To not be thankful for great coworkers. To not appreciate the little things like, “Dude, you’ve got food in your teeth.” or “Check your fly, bro.”
And for all these great things, I say cheers…I say be grateful for the friends around you.

Yes, as many of you know, I am (and have been) rather opposed to MySpace. I can waste time like a champ as it is…so why do I need another site to peruse? And plus, all of the music, hideous colors, and sketchy code make for an entirely unappetizing site. I have yet to understand why MySpace is so popular.
Until tonight.
I got an email from a girl I knew in High School…she was a friend of my sister and dated one of my best friends. At any rate, my sister got a MySpace account and through that account, I happened to get an email from this girl. Boom…In an instant, lost and missing friends are no longer lost and missing. It is an interesting concept.
I spent a bit of time on MySpace tonight, clicking on faces and running through the list of folks that graduated from my high school. It was interesting to see the status of all of them….how some have kids, how some are single, how some never change, and how good little private school kids can still turn out in ways that you wouldn’t expect.
It was a fascinating experience. Never at any time in human history has there been so much information about us so public and so available. All of these people willingly place their lives online (I do the same…), unafraid of all of the ramification. Stalkers have to love MySpace. And this make friendships completely different–you can keep up with old friends without ever saying a word to them. You can watch their children go up without having to be involved in their lives. It’s like a television show…except you know the actors and actresses.
And out of all of this information, I wonder why people still clamor about the lack of privacy in society today. If you’re willing to post that information online, then why should we want privacy? It doesn’t seem to make much sense.
I don’t forsee MySpace of social networking going away any time soon, but I do wonder what sort of lives we are building by constructing these artificial and impersonal edifices on a place that only exists as a bunch of ones and zeroes.

I made a quick trip to DFW this weekend for a visit and birthday celebration. Overall, it was a great weekend, but a few events stood out…here are some of the best:

Why did the cactus cross the road?
Because he was stuck to the chicken

- Erin Tooley
It’s no wonder she’s good with kids!!! (Ha…I’m sure you didn’t expect me to post that, huh?
2. I filled up my car in NRH today…I got a grand total of 3.5 gallons of gas. But I drove 180 miles. You do the math.
3. I was at the tail end of a massive wreck today. I’m pretty sure at least 16 cars were involved, and the last one (at the time) was right in front of me. Yea, the Jeep Wrangler nailed a pickup truck after locking up the brakes and sliding into it. Luckily the Jeep didn’t tip over, even though it did wobble a bit. I slammed on my brakes, skidded a bit, but stopped in plenty of time. I did, however, hit the brakes so quickly that I forgot to depress the clutch. So my car died on the freeway…but truly it was a mess. Lots of smashed cars pointing the wrong direction. Just imagine…
4) The sermon at my parents’ church meshed with what we talked about in Bible Study tonight…you gotta love that.
5) There were other good things, but not that interesting to write about, so I will leave you with these…