When I feel most alive … go ahead, take your shoes off!

Sorry for the long break in posts on this blog, but I have enough trouble keeping up with one blog, it can be hard having two! Anyway, I’m back and this time with a light-hearted technology update, about the Apple iPod.

It has gotten quite a bit of attention of late, being the most wanted gift for Christmas this year.

It was recently featured on The Late Show with David Letterman, and he showed a sneak peek at the newest iPod, which holds 1 billion songs! (CLick here then click on “Everything’s Funnier When It’s Gigantic”)

Well, I don’t have a whole lot more to say abotu it than that I also want an iPod for Christmas. If you are working on making my dream come true, any kind of iPod will do.

So tonight we went to a Christmas party for the law firm that Leila got a job as a law clerk for the semester (she starts work Monday). It was a fun party, and I enjoyed the people there, but there were several things about the evening that just made it a little humorous for me.

First, it was at the nicest restaurant in downtown Ellicott City, Jordan’s Steakhouse. (To make it clear, let’s just say that a few years ago I walked by the restaraunt and thought to myself “That looks like a great place to take a date out for dinner!” .. it has great atmosphere, the menu was full of good food, but when I caught the prices on the menu on the door, I wanted to throw up. The only way I would be coming here for dinner on my supported missionary salary is if I win the lottery, in two states.)

Second, the first thing the server asked me after we arrived was what kind of wine did I want? (It was a stand-up, mingle, eat food from the buffet of hors d’oeuvres and lots of random foods so we were never seated at a table) Now, I have no problem with wine. In fact, I kind of like wine, and I had some, but the reason this is a bad sign for me is that I am not used to the very sophisticated, classy setting that this was unfolding to be. Not that I have no manners, but I have never really been around the kind of people that can afford to drink wine all around and have a meal of fancy hors d’oeuvres. I felt at once that I didn’t neccessarily fit in among the people who make more in a week than I do in a year. But I had fun putting on a show (or at least not trying to look really stupid or embarrass Leila, or myself, in front of her soon-to-be coworkers)

And third, the two most common gifts for the white elephant gift exchange that we did (there were about 20 people there) were condoms and bottles of wine. I don’t really know how to reconcile those two, but I am thankful that I didn’t end up with either.

Regardless, I had a fun time, and while Leila’s new coworkers might be a strange mix of eccentric, sophisticated, and crazy, they were a good group of people and knew how to have a good time. I’m sure she will have a great experience working there and grow to love these people!

I love Christmas parties… Christmas parties for work, Christmas parties for church, Christmas parties for the Card-nite gang, and on and on! They are great. And only slightly less great is the wonder that is the White Elephant Christmas gift game, IT’S THE FASTEST-GROWING-CHRISTMAS-GAME-SENSATION, and it has become like some kind of plague, I mean phenomenon, around here!

In case you aren’t aware, the idea of the game is that everyone brings a “gift” to the party, and it’s usually something that you previously owned, or found in your house, or something funny or ridiculous, and depending on how you play the game, it could even be generous or special.

So in honor of this holiday favorite, here is

The Top 10 White Elephant Gifts No One Wants to End Up With:
10. The bad Christmas gift you got from your Great Aunt Nancy last year.
9. The shirt that used to fit you, in ninth grade.
8. A chia pet.
7. An inner tube, with a hole in it.
6. A set of batteries, dead ones.
5. An old barbie doll, with no head.
4. A tube of Hemmorhoid cream.
3. A picture of your Mom from the Eighties.
2. Anything that you found in your bathroom, or that at any time in the past resided there.

and the NUMBER 1 White Elephant Gifts No One Wants to End Up With IS:

1. A handwritten coupon redeemable at any time for me to eat over at your house for a week.

In more than one sense, next week will be the beginning of winter for me. First, according to the smart people who know all about the Sun and what a solstice is next week (December 21) will be “when the Sun is at its greatest distance from the celestial equator, the great circle on the celestial sphere that is on the same plane as the earth’s equator” - infoplease.com

But second, and more meaningful, is that next week (Dec. 18) will mark my return to non-tropical weather after 20 months of living in Summer. It will be my return to a place where it is normal to see your breath, scrape the ice off your windshield every morning, wear 5 layers of clothes, build fires inside your house, throw snowballs, drink hot chocolate, and turn on the heat in your house all day long.

I look forward to my return to Winter, but also to my return to my family and friends in Maryland, since last year I didn’t get to spend the holidays with them. It’s just not the same to spend Christmas away from your family.

Anyway, if you are in Maryland from Dec 18 - Dec 31, I would love to see you so get in touch with me and maybe we can do some fun Winter activities together!

November (click for full size image)

Headlines:

Leila Visits!

Holidays at Home

Almost Famous

October (click for full size image)

Headlines:

The craziest people I know

Adjusting to a new lifestyle

Church hunting

September (click for full size image)

If you didn’t know, I write a letter each month and send it to lots of people.

But there are probably many people who are not on my mailing list (snail mail or email), so I figured I would pop them on my blog in JPG form (typically I email them in PDF, so let me know if you want me to email you the PDF)

Here is September’s update. The others will follow.

Headlines:

Finally in Florida!

Mean Jeanne Storms the Scene

I’m Lovin’ It

November 22, Hurricane Leila blew into town, and left 8 days later, Nov 30th (the last day of hurricane season). Leila came to visit me in Florida and it was great! God provided a place for her to stay (And it worked out well because one of my coworkers needed someone to watch their house and dog while they were out of town!) The best part about her being here is that we got to do all the things that we can’t do long-distance, like take walks, watch movies together, go dancing, and go out to dinner. It was great to spend some real face-to-face time with her. I think we are a lot closer now after spending the week together (especially since we have been dating for almost 3 months and have spent more than 2 months of that apart!)

Oh yeah, blog-readers, sorry for being so silent in November. I guess I didn’t feel like blogging much or just didn’t make time for it! I think November was a hard month. Part of the reason I have not blogged much in November is because I haven’t really been taking much time to think or reflect, and when I don’t do that, I have very little to write about. Sometimes when we are struggling within ourselves, we don’t necessarily feel like opening up to others. When I am so disgusted by my own sin and struggle it is easy to feel scared to write about it because I don’t want others to see the badness or struggle inside me. I apologize for not keeping you in my life so much this last month. I’m hoping to pick back up in full-force again with my blog! You can start reading again if you took a break with me!