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01.31.05 - THE END
so this is it. the last entry. this page will sit and exist only as an archive of sorts, until the hosting company figures out that i am not posting here anymore and takes it down.
but never fear, change can be a good thing, and i am continuing my blogging ways for all to read, with increased fervor and frequency even, just at a different location, and the link to take you there will now be bestowed upon you in the form of a hyperlink:
http://kelphelper.blogspot.com
so that's about all there is to say. all the previous posts on this page contain at least a few semi-interesting posts, a couple of historical (to me) landmarks, and absolutely no pictures whatsoever. (it should be easier to do stuff like that at the new place.) so goodbye, goodluck and i'll see you around.
01.24.05 - BRETT RETURNS FROM OUTSIDE
i am back from my trip to florida and fargo, and it was really great. my daughter and i had a fun and relaxed time, best illustrated in the stupid video we did, a big hit every time it has been shown since. and fargo of course is where much family and friends reside, and we had some quality time together. no wasted movement or missed opportunities to connect.
other than that, getting away provided me the perspective i needed to think and pray about many things, small and large. and God has had much to say to me, but i'm afraid to say much about such things in this publicly-accessible format. sorry.
i'm finding that i'm also being careful about many events in the journey that would be great and newsworthy to most anyone reading them, but in the interest of not gossiping, i shall omit them as well. so really, i have no idea what to write about. if nothing is going on, then really, there isn't much to say. but when there finally is something important going on, i have to be cautious about sharing much of it. and i end up rambling on about everything that i feel compelled to not write about. so i will now cop out and tell you about something completely inconsequential.
i haven't had a haircut in about a year. it looks pretty bad i guess. i've tried before to grow my hair long, but i couldn't get it past the awkward stage. i always tried to fix it up, and then messed it up, and then i got frustrated and shaved the whole thing down to nothing.
when you cut your own hair, and i have since the late 80's, it only takes one moment of weakness for you to decide to improve your look. and then, just like that, you're bald again. it's just hair, and it grows back. but the instant gratification of being your own barber is difficult to resist.
so this time i've just kind of ignored it. i'm not sick of it enough to shave it, and i don't have the money to pay for a haircut. so if i can just keep myself from "trimming it" for awhile longer, i might actually become a real live hippy. and this is the exciting news from the world of brett's hair, a subject that i care about so deeply.
dog spit on ya. (it's russian.)
01.13.05 - SUNSHINE AWAITS ME
i'm leaving for florida tonight. and not a moment too soon, because it's been freezing here! mostly though, i'm excited to spend time with my daughter.
there is lots of progress to report, so here goes. more hours at work. (yippy!) the new homestead is quite settled, organized and even decorated! been having a few movie nights already, and even had 13 people to watch "real genius" on sunday. (all these youngsters didn't even realize that uncle rico from "napoleon dynamite" had been in previous movies before!) the concert went well, with a pretty big crowd. there were a few rough spots, but a good time was had by all. and i'm contemplating a musical collaboration that would allow me to learn yet another instrument. fun and exciting things, to be sure.
all this factual information is easy enough to document, but it's more difficult with spiritual matters. suffice to say that good things are happening, and that God is pretty good at targeting things in my life that need changing. and changes are occurring. so there you go.
after thawing out in florida, i'm heading back through fargo for a few days, so don't anybody get too jealous.
01.03.05 - THE YEAR IS NEW
i've had a pleasant and laid-back holiday season. good family time. i went to the folks house up in delta with some friends for new years. we played nerts. we watched movies. we got fat.
and i'm just about all settled-in at the new apartment. it's awesome. i love it. my week will be filled with decorating and preparing for a show i'm doing on saturday. yup, i'm singing songs and playing guitar in public. here's the stats:
7pm, saturday january 8 @ new direction ($3)
so you should go. i don't do shows very often. the last one was almost a year ago. that's about it for now.
12.22.04 - TITLES ARE IMPORTANT
ok, everyone, PLEASE READ THIS. hit the refresh button. do it now, before it's too late! really! because it seems that in certain browsers, the headings dissappear. and these headers (green and in all caps) contain important information like the date of the entry, and a title about what it is about. without this, this blog seems like one big entry.
so you have to "reload" the page (by hitting the refresh button), and magically all the headers will appear. this is my christmas gift to you, a greatly enhanced surfing experience.
three other people have emailed saying they read my blog. that makes four, i think. one is my mom. hi mom! and thank you to all.
moving in to the new place tonight.
12.06.04 - RECENT NEWS ITEMS
i have joined forces with a good friend for the purpose of a shared housing situation, and we are currently searching for a suitable mid-town apartment. this is a good thing.
the timeline for my "christmas" visit to florida and fargo has been set for mid-january, and all the arrangements have been made. this also, is a good thing.
i had to buy new windshield wipers for my car. this is a good thing for the safety of myself and the general public, but a bad thing for my budget.
my favorite nfl team is abysmal and they keep finding new ways to lose. this is a bad thing.
because i can't bear to watch them play anymore, i believe that this will have a dramatic affect on my recent quest to clean up my language. so that is a good thing.
at work, i have completed our self-promotional website (http://www.thedogpack.com), and i almost have a big plateful of web projects to do. this is a very good thing.
i got dressed up and escorted two (TWO!) lovely young women, who are just friends of course, but looked smashing nonetheless, to a fancy-dancy wedding last weekend. and this was another good thing.
speaking of weddings, i am seriously questioning whether i will ever get married again. or rather, whether God will ever give me the green light to pursue it. this kinda bugs me at the moment.
my neighbor gave me a gift certificate for the bear tooth, where 'napoleon dynamite' is showing this weekend. this is the happiest thing on my brain currently.
and that's the haps. thank you and goodnight.
11.23.04 - THANKSGIVING HAIKU
lovely burrito
to be formerly frozen -
microwavable
11.15.04 - PROGRESS
so i went to a healing ministry prayerfest last weekend. for those of you who don't understand what that might mean, i will elaborate. basically, it's a big spiritual enema. cleans you right out, and you feel about 20 pounds lighter when it's done.
i went through about 6 weeks of classes with 11 other guys from my new church (new direction). then for the weekend, they split us up into two groups, and we all took turns in the hot seat. they made me go first in my group and i wasn't excited about it. the facilitators knew i would dump the truck, but i had a pretty big truck.
there is really a big expectation that God will show up and direct you and your facilitators. i remember thinking how awkward it would be if he didn't. being first, not preparing my story in advance, i had no idea where it was going. but God was there, and He got to the heart of it quickly.
i was angry at God. because i was saved so young, i felt shortchanged because i didn't get the big transformation that i have witnessed in people who were really messed up before they turned to God. it wasn't until much later in my life as a christian that i really learned how to muck up everything. i knew that only God could change me, and i prayed for it forever, but the big zap from the clouds never happened.
i didn't realize how demanding i was being towards God. so friday night it all came out, and it was huge. i think my attitude had hindered God from really working in my life, and once i let it go, i felt a big difference. there's more to it than that, but that's as simple as i can say it.
so God is still working on me. there's lots left to do, but i thought i'd give an update for those who have been praying your butts off for me. keep it up (please)!
11.08.04 - BRETT'S BIG UPDATE
so here's the BIG UPDATE i've been promising everyone. and i have to say that writing something like this is somewhat intimidating. i want to cover everything. i want to be honest. i want to be brief. i want to be all three. but it's a daunting task, and i've been avoiding it for a bit. i guess it's easier to share what's going on in your life when everything is going peachy, and my life has not been so peachy lately.
it feels like most everything in my life has been changing. since august, i have a new church, a new job, a new car, a new roommate, and soon i will be starting a new living situation. (for more detail on some of that stuff, try some of the earlier posts, further down the page.)
earlier this year, i realized that things in my life would be changing. they just haven't been the kind of changes i had in mind. i am definitely at a sort of crossroads, but instead of launching into some new areas of ministry and livelihood, i am pulled off to the side of the road with car trouble. it seems that God is more concerned with working on ME and my CHARACTER than any of the pursuits i had been obsessing over.
i've been trying to read this book, and it's really good, but so far it has driven home two points: 1) suffering is how God brings about character, and 2) God doesn't always do things as quickly as we want Him to. all the difficulties of life that i know are opportunities that God intends to use to build patient endurance in me, have mostly served as reminders of just how impatient, demanding and selfish i am in the face of trials.
so no plans to move to hungary and become a missionary. no plans to pursue any sort of romantic relationship. no worship team or album projects. i am trying to rearrange everything in my life to allow God to bring about all the much-needed changes in me.
and so far, i've been having a rough time of it. maybe it's just like really cleaning your room, where you have to pull out all the junk from under the bed and in the closets, making the room much messier initially before it starts to show any progress. i guess that's what i'm hoping for, because i feel like my life is a mess, i am full of sin, and my attitude sucks.
the only plans on the horizon are to finish the book i started, get tickets i can't afford yet to see my daughter for christmas, and to try and get enough clients to allow me to work full-time at mad dog. and i'm also looking into some sort of roommate/apartment scenarios that i think will help increase community and accountability; two things that i've been lacking of late. past that, i don't know much and i don't know when i will. but this site will continue to serve as a place for me to ramble and vent, so check back anytime you are in the mood for that sort of thing.
and there you go! i think i can say that this is a pretty good representation of how i am really doing. feel free to respond, not respond, pray for me, whatever. and thank you to all for the friendship you've extended to me, past and present. God bless you, wherever you may be...
09.28.04 - BRETT GETS A JOB
since my last entry, a lot has taken place. i worked a bit of odd jobs, and at odd hours. i painted, constructed, consulted and designed for money. i also thought, pondered, sulked and loafed around for no money. it took me about two weeks for me to come to the conclusion that i needed a real job, and that the unstructured, always-scrambling-for-money life of a freelancer was not very healthy for an undisciplined person such as myself.
but what did i really want to do? the agency left me so frustrated that i daydreamed about life away from computers with a large grin on my face. but there's the part of me that dies when not being able to be creative. the answer became more clear the more i thought about it. and so i walked into the only real "design shop" in town and asked for a job.
for those of you who are wondering what the difference is between an ad agency and a design shop, i will explain. no, that will take too much time. i will sum up.
i believe there is no more universally hated group of people in the world (especially for designers), than the soulless account executive. their job is to impede progress and communication between the client and the creative people doing the actual work. this way, the agency makes way more money, and account executives are valued more highly than any designer, no matter how talented. and the pay scale reflects that too.
design firms do not have account executives.
so now i work at mad dog with two other designers, and we all get along famously. i work directly with the clients. i get to be creative. i get to pay my bills. and not an account executive to be seen anywhere. i wonder why i didn't do this sooner.
i am part time to start, and we're trying to get new business and clients and stuff so i can get to full-time. it's a little tight right now, but if this works it will be worth it.
besides that, i got my toenail fixed before the insurance ran out. the first snow is melting. the seahawks are 3-0.
guess i'll call that an update.
09.10.04 - BRETT IS FIRED
so i'm finishing up my last day at northwest strategies. my second stint here lasted 2.5 years, and in total i've worked amongst this stressed-out and somewhat dysfunctional group of advertising professionals for six years of my life.
it all ended very abruptly and strangely, but i can honestly say that i think it's for the best. i see God's hand in it all, and i'm excited for something new. on monday i'm going to be starting a few house painting projects, and there are some freelance flash projects that i might get involved in. i think i'm going to have to get this self-employment thing rolling quickly.
it just adds to the drama of what i would consider one of the most intense summers ever. i'm not sure where this boat is heading, but it's going very fast. prayers are good.
08.25.04 - BRETT ALMOST HAS GIRL PROBLEMS
i've been living in a world where i wonder about everything i say, trying to find the balance between complete honesty and being appropriate and considerate. this entry will be duly analyzed as well.
so this is what i can say about the budding romance that almost was but now isn't. i'm not sure what to say, because i haven't figured it out yet. but it's over, and all i really know for sure is that i am not ready for a relationship, and that a very cool person is now bewildered, confused and rightfully mad at me.
i guess to most people, you can't really "break up" with someone you never kissed and weren't officially "dating". but for a time, there was the excitement of a possible something, and thoughts i used to be too afraid to think were suddenly being expressed and talked about.
that's where i messed up. i let myself and my emotions get ahead of God. and God, of course, let me know that i was way out in left field. so i pulled the plug, and now i feel pretty much like a jerk.
so there's your update on what's really going on with me.
in other news, i sold my saturn and bought a toyota. it's a turquoise 92 paseo with a brand new alpine stereo, and it's grand. i named it "carlos", or "car" for short.
08.24.04 - HUNGARY TRIP RECAP
i've been back for a week and a half now, and i've been asked about my trip more times than i can count. so hopefully i've kind of processed the experience enough by talking with people to give a good summary here.
this weekend i heard a sermon in which the pastor said that past victories are often more disruptive to us than past failures. i think hungary was like that for me.
hungary meant a lot to me. maybe too much so. in my mind, 'hungary' was so important and significant, that it was always in CAPITAL LETTERS. it was where God used me in new ways. it was where i was needed and appreciated. it was where everyone wondered when i would move there for good. and i wondered the same thing myself. for the past 5 years, i was always trying to figure out how i could pull it off, wondering when God would finally say "yes".
so this last winter as i was preparing to make the big move, God told me that this was my plan and not His. i finally let it go. but i still had the ticket, and an invitation to go to this camp. turns out that God not only told me "no", but He showed me why too.
picture brett, staring off into space and daydreaming about living in hungary. "all that is good and pure must come from hungary," i think to myself. above my head are many thought bubbles, with each bubble containing a perfectly idealized picture of hungarian culture, food or people. i love it all. i can find no fault in any of it, because i worship all things hungary.
until i get there. everything seems different, and i see the other side of it all. turns out the food gets monotonous after awhile. turns out the hungarians are kind of stubborn and hard-headed. turns out that communication is not their strong point, regardless of whether or not you can speak the language.
every bubble gets popped.
and now i see hungary for what it is: just a place. it's a place with lots of good friends and memories, but not necessarily where my hope for ultimate purpose and fulfillment resides. i am no longer jealous of my missionary friends who live there. if i'm really a missionary, then i don't need to go to a foreign country for the distinction. either i am serving God, or i am not. there's nothing magic about a location.
so i learned quite a bit on this trip. it actually makes all the hardship and discomfort worth it, because i feel like i have direction. and with a bit of closure about what i've been daydreaming about for years, the options are wide open.
08.13.04 - BRETT ARRIVES BACK IN ALASKA
just wanted everyone to know that i made it home ok. it was a long trip, involving 5 airplanes, 6 airports, 4 airlines, and many screaming infants. after 28 hours flying, i arrived in anchorage safely.
i am now adjusting to life back in america, and i have almost completely stopped thinking of how to say everything i say in hungarian. i have been welcomed, and it feels good to be back. i have enjoyed reconnecting with many friends and sharing how the trip went. today was my first day back at work, and it wasn't too terrible.
i have more to share, but i have no time to share it. i will do a trip recap soon.
8/10/2004
so it's my last day in hungary, and i am in kazincbarcika. yesterday, my plan was to visit my friends hajni and nwana, and stay with pastor jozsef and his family. problem was, i didn't have any contact info for hajni and nwana, and i couldn't reach jozsef.
but i jumped on the next train north anyway (to miskolc), and it was standing room only the whole way. upon arrival, i hopped onto the vilamos into the city center and made my way to the bus station. after just missing the bus to barcika, i decided to try jozsef again. success. turns out their family was in miskolc for the afternoon, only a mile away. they picked me up ten minutes later.
so today i got to visit hajni and nwana, and i am really glad that it all worked out. we got to pray together, and i think i was able to be a blessing after some difficult times for them. they are now in a small village where he is beginning his work as the family practice doctor.
it has also been so good to visit with jozsef and valika again. their house is in the very middle of a transformation, and i even helped a little hauling cement.
and they have helped me by letting me download all the things God has been talking to me about lately. they are truly cool.
oh yeah, the visit at inarcs went fine, and i think there was good communication and closure about all the stuff. i'm ready to start the transition back to american life, and it starts in a few hours. i will take the train back to budapest, and then coordinate with kristin a battle plan for packing, extra items, and the journey to the airport.
so thank you for playing (and praying). i'll update again when i get back to alaska, after some sleep and taco bell.
8/8/2004
word. i am back in budapest, and i enjoyed a relaxing morning (with no church. i'm kinda churched out at this point of the journey.), followed by a really cool visit with my friend hajni and her mom ibolya. good food, good people. i felt like an encouragemnent.
yesterday, i made it into budapest with help from lorinc, who miracled his way into the front of a very long line to get my ticket on the train. (the next train was 17 hours later...) made it to gabor's church, and that was cool.
there are many foreigners in budapest due to a massive (100,000 people massive) music festival, and i have ran into a few americans. apparently, the secret identification code is the nalgene bottles. europeans have never seen them before. but they enable us westerners to have pleasant little conversations on the bus, enjoying the chance to speak regular english again.
so the plan is to head into inarcs tomorrow morning with jim to pick up my tent and to talk with the eeo folks about the problems with the trip. (by the way, kristin and the rest of the team made it back safe tonight around 9pm.) i'm finding out now that there was an expectation for me to help drive back. of course, this wasn't really communicated, so we get to talk through all that. you can pray for a good ending to that story if you want.
after that, i plan to head north one last time to visit friends hajni and nwana. i have an invitation from jozsef and family to stay with them up in kazincbarcika. it will be a quick trip, for i have to return tuesday. my plane leaves early wednesday morning.
so it's time for bed. i am tired. everything in it's place.
8/6/2004
civilization has welcomed me into its loving arms once again. i took a bath today. it was the most glorious bath in my entire 35 years. hot water. clean water. in a new, green marble tub. i even put in some bubble bath. but i guess i should backtrack a bit first.
the last couple of days of the mission were very much like the days before them, but without the bad attitude. things were still disorganized and problematic, but we were able to meet many cool people. we abandoned our original plan of doing street evangelism and simply visited home groups, village churches and such. the idea was to share our testimonies and encourage people.
wednesday night, we met in a classroom at the village school with what i think was a prayer group. we were told that they were charismatic catholics, and i would say that they were more charismatic than catholic. we sang. we prayed. testimonies galore. we laughed and talked until 1am. it was my favorite part of the trip.
ok, so now about the train ride. my departure was suddenly made much more exciting with the discovery that i could not find my ticket. i checked my pockets. twice. my backpack, once. my friends checked their pockets AND my pockets. a "please help me God" prayer. a rapid fire discussion with a conductor to inquire about purchasing a ticket on the train. (the answer was "yes, but it costs double.") i checked my funds. kristin gives me more money. a quick hug to zsuzsi. and then i jump aboard the departing train as it leaves, without the chance to wave goodbye to my friends.
all this took place within the train's two-minute stop at csikszereda.
turns out, i put the ticket in my secret snap pocket where i always keep my guitar pick. didn't need to buy another ticket after all. the whole way to kolozsvar (cluj), i was in a compartment with two older couples. for the first hour and a half, nobody spoke to each other. finally, the one couple left to go out and smoke, and the other couple talked quietly a little, allowing me to be certain of their hungarian heritage. so asked for the time, and immediately he was surprised that i could speak with him. he asked me where i was from, and that got everything rolling.
so we spent hours talking about alaska, romania, the price of petrol, whatever. the hungarian guy translated everything for the romanian couple. i brought out my digital camera and showed them pictures of the gypsy camp we had visited earlier in the day. it was great fun, and they all gave me the double kiss on the cheeks when i left. lorinc was at the station to greet me, (their previous guest was getting on the very train i was getting off of), so it worked out perfectly. and now i am clean, rested, and enjoying time with my friends.
i know it seems like a simple thing, but a bath can become very important if you wait long enough. even alaskans get tired of camping eventually. i realize that this probably sounds overly dramatic, but my last bathing experience was washing my hair and washing pertinent areas with a small amount of (very) cold water -- SIX DAYS AGO. we actually had water a few times in that period, but if you do not act quickly, the water (and the oportunity to use it), is gone. and a hat day stretches into hat week.
but now i am here, my friends offer every kindness they can afford, and i feel so loved. and special. and clean.
8/4/2004
the end is in sight. i am coordinating today my breakaway. kristin is still praying about her plan (whether to stay or go with me).
i was able to call friends in cluj, romania, and they invited me to visit. this was something i was hopeful for since the beginning. i don't consider myself to be bailing out prematurely. i feel peaceful about the whole thing. i am leaving on thursday sometime, so i can spend friday with them. saturday and sunday will consist of traveling. first to budapest, then to inarcs, then up to kazincbarcika. that's the plan anyway.
i had seriously considered leaving this past weekend, but i knew i was to stick it out. i know i did the right thing, even if it continues to suck. you ever heard of kids going to 'fat camp'? well, this is more like patience camp.
most of the problems are things that could be avoided with proper planning and preparation. but there is no remedy. the hungarian mindset is to simply accept the fact that things will go wrong. we build time into the daily schedule for auto breakdowns. we have dinner at about midnight everyday. this is because we usually break a car or two in the evenings so we can wait in the rain after dark for our rescuers who help us cram 7 people into an opel or a trabant for the ride home.
but i will be departing in a week from now. i will finish with a flurry of visits to people i am very happy to see again. and then i return. i can't tell you how much i think about it.
i even miss work.
8/2/2004
i know that i haven't updated for awhile, so as you might imagine, i have too much information to bestow without the benefit of the time to properly bestow it.
it's been rough. a challenge. biggest test of faith and patience that i can remember. i think things have improved, but it's a stretch in every conceivable way. kristin and i almost bailed on the whole outreach. i was very tempted to catch a train and try to hook up with friends lorinc and kati in cluj. i still might try to connect with them in some way, but God made it clear that i need to stick around, because this is where he put me.
the 12-hour drive was actually a 17-hour marathon of pain. our group has indured numerous car problems, sickness, a lost passport, poor communication, personality clashes, no water, and so many near collisions that we cannot keep track. God has been forming so much character it's amazing!
i am convinced that this is a huge set-up, like one of those reality tv shows where they stick the most different people together in a small space for awhile and try to get them to fight. (i think i am losing.) i was going to avoid complaining on here, but if i skipped everything negative, there would be nothing to write.
actually, that's not true. in all of this, i have been amazed at my teammate jozsef. at first i found him mildly annoying, but he has become one of my closest friends on this trip. using our two bibles, he was able to encourage me without using hardly any words at all. scriptures talking about being judged by our words, don't worry about tomorrow, he who seeks to save his life, etc...
so God is in charge, and even though he doesn't seem to be concerned about my comfort (at all), i know he's got me here for a reason, if not several.
gotta run. internet time is over. pray. thanks. missing alaska, home, my own bed. can't wait to share all these horrific struggles on video. it will be funny. (later. it's not as funny right now.)
7/28/2004
i missed yesterday, and we leave tomorrow for romania, so i will try to be as informative as possible with this entry.
well, it has been raining non-stop now for three days i think, so i guess you prayer people are really praying hard! my tent is dry (one of the only ones), and i have been getting sleep. i have been trying to be more diligent in gathering footage for the video project, which has allowed me to meet most of the people in the camp.
the meetings each night have been very good, and i was whomped pretty good last night. i have been such a wuss about evangelism. i am quck to connect and encourage, but sharing Jesus with someone scares me. and why? if i can travel across the globe to sing songs about Jesus in a public square, then surely i can go to an open mic night where i live and skip the funny songs and tell people: "i am a christian. God changed me."
our group is really cool. i think everyone in the group is about as short as me, if not shorter. these hungarians are not so large. here's the names, for you intercessors: levente (leader, pastor from csiksereda), efraim, tamas, kinga (all from csiksereda), kinga2 (maria's good friend from tirgu mures), zsuzsi, zoli, jozsef, carmen (romanian), kristen (other alaskan), me (me), and imre.
anyway, we have been preparing for street evangelism, using music mostly. we practice songs that some of us know, doing them in hungarian, english and romanian. we will be staying in people's houses, who i would guess are from the church. don't know many other details, including our departure time tomorrow. we are supposed to return on sunday, august 8.
as an entertaining side note, there are a small but sincere contingent of tibetan punks enthusiasts here, many of whom i have never met. one annalies wilbrink from norway, 18, was talking about the tibetan punks album with kristen while i was sitting nearby. "oh, you have to listen to it! it's the worst thing i have ever heard, but i love it!" upon being introduced, she apologized, and then added, "wow, i always pictured you to be much taller."
so that's the haps. i think i will end with a classic hungarian joke. do you know why hungarian will be the official language in heaven? because it takes an eternity to learn it!
that's about it. happy trials to you...
7/26/2004
ok, so i'm over the pity party. i adjusted my attitude yesterday, which as you can tell, really sucked. i was kind of surprised at what a baby i was. thank you to whoever prayed. because today is rainy, overcast and not boiling. it feels like home!
so here's the news. because of some visa problems involving the european union, a bunch of ukrainians will be unable to go to the outreaches in serbia or romania. so this will cause some adjustment of the teams, including ours. erika and jenő won't make the trip with us, so we are 11.
we also learned that imre fekete (eeo hungary director) will be joining us on the trip. i guess the plan is for us to split the driving duties on the 12 - 14 hour trip to csiksereda (depending on how difficult things are at the border).
yes, i know that i have never driven over here. and yes, they know that too. but it might be fun, and i know that there will be many prayers offered up in my behalf, or at least on behalf of the poor, innocent passengers.
i think a few guys are going to walk into town to find candy bars and sodas.
7/25/2004
ok, i'm officially whining now.
it's really hot. there is no escape from it. i feel kinda sick, and i am helpless in trying to remedy the situation. last night it rained. i mean REAL rain -- not the kind we have in alaska. but then it goes right back to the sweatfest.
and i have ants in my tent. even though i have the best tent here, and i am very careful about all methods of entry, they have still found a way. i think they get in through a seam or something. they are tiny, but everywhere.
so that is what i have to say. sorry to be so cranky. yes, that's the other thing -- i am quite irritable today. i think i am mad at everyone. perhaps you can take these as prayer points. i need prayer.
i hope everyone is having an enjoyable summer. perhaps you can email me about it and cheer me up. later.
7/24/2004
there is a lot to write about now. and not too much time to write about it. so this might be a bit random.
camp is good. i am glad i brought my own tent. although during the heat of the day, it becomes my own private oven. believe it or not, i actually woke up at 3am because i was COLD. it was a wonderful feeling, even if it was only about 65 or so. (i only brought a sheet.)
good to see many that i know here. from the beginning, i could feel the unity of the larger group. the camraderie is similar to that of the cornerstone festival, except these people are full of joy even at 7am. i like being the video journalist. i spend my time meeting people and interviewing them. (you know how hard that is for me...)
the first task was to divide into teams for the outreaches, so that we can go through the next 5 days of training together. i was waiting for my assignment from the organizers, but in truth, they were not planning on being that organized. we got to pick what team we were on.
so i am going into the transylvanian mountains, a small town called csikszereda (meircura cuic, or something like that, in romanian). it is east of targu mures, which is where i visited 5 years ago, and way the poop inside of romania. this region is nearly 100% hungarian. i've always wanted to go to this area, and this town is smack-dab in the middle.
also in my group are kristen and zsuzsi, the two people i probably know the best here. the rest of the team is mostly hungarian, but from different regions. our leader is the pastor of a local church in the town we are going to. children's outreaches, street evangelism, and visiting some remote villages on foot are what we are told is the agenda. kristen and i will get to do music together, and we are both looking forward to that.
the official language of the group will be hungarian, but many speak english well. zsuszi will serve as the main interpreter for us alaskans, although i am catching on a little better lately.
thank you everyone for any prayers you might remember to pray. i will go for now. God is good...
7/23/2004
i had so many interesting and thought-provoking observations on life in hungary, but they don't seem to feel very important to me now, because i have forgotten them.
been spending the last two days at the czirjak household. they are a wonderful and loving family, who have welcomed me into their lives like a close relative every time i visit. originally, i was zsuzsi's friend from alaska, but now the entire family counts me as their own. every moment was wonderful.
not really been doing anything extraordinary this week. visiting, sleeping in, doing laundry, sharing songs on the guitar and eating well. and lemon ice cream reigns supreme.
the first week is finishing, and the flurry of traveling and visiting friends is over. it's fun, it's fattening, but i'm ready to start the next phase of the trip. wish i had some more pithy things to say, but i don't. time to pack up and head to camp. i'll write from there next.
7/22/2004
first off, let me apologize for misleading everyone with the "100 degrees" comment on my last post. it seems hungarians are just as inclined to exaggerate about warm weather as alaskans. it's been around the mid-nineties.
i have been kind of laying low and not doing much this week, and it's good. tomorrow (friday) the camp starts and i've been informed that my camp job will be videographer.
the romantic ideal of hungary that had been in my mind since leaving has been replaced by a more realistic view. this place is much more carnal than i remember. public transportation is actually somewhat inconvenient. and the language barrier is downright frustrating.
i guess i just feel more like a foreigner here than ever before. in previous visits, i always felt more "at home" here. but i think that had more to do with me being in love with living in a foreign culture. just call me an escapist artist.
in truth, i feel more confirmed about connections God has for me in alaska. i've only been here a week, but i'm excited to get home. don't get me wrong, i have been having a great time rediscovering friendships and what i still believe are "God connections". but i'm not trying to manipulate those signals into a justification for moving here anymore. heavy stuff, i know.
so i'm excited to start the camp, if only to get out of the big city. the underwear show-off competition is in full swing in budapest. a secluded camp full of 150 christians is more my speed. that's all for now, kids.
7/19/2004
i was gone for a few days, and now there is too much to write about in one entry.
i could go through a list of places and names that would chronicle my travels, but would mean nothing to virtually everyone except myself.
i could talk about my adventures in speaking hungarian with an amazing display of fluency after leaving all the alaskans behind in budapest, to the amazement of most all the hungarians i met.
i could talk about the frustration i felt in trying to understand the same hungarians, who then assumed that because i could string together a few words correctly that i was interpreting all that they were saying, when in fact, i wasn't.
i could talk about the weather, since it's around 100, but not really all that bad.
i could talk about the wonderful kindness displayed by friends i haven't seen in years, who arose early to boil water in case i wanted a bath, since their water heater was broken.
instead, i think i'll just share with you how i awoke without hearing in my right ear, just as jozsef's wife was about to go to work. summary: within the hour, we had all gone with her to the clinic where she is a nurse, and cleaned out the earwax chunks in my ear with a hot water syringe. and completely free, thanks to socialized medicine (and my friends)!
so with that, i will go to bed. i'll write more when i can.
7/17/2004
yesterday was fun. the highlight so far was lunch with pastor gabor.
gabor is one of the most openly friendly people i have ever met. we connect so well, that if we couldn't communicate one thing, it would still be really rich because we were so happy to see each other. our friendship picked up right where we left it.
we ate, prayed together, showed pictures, and talked about everything that's going on. more in hungarian than english, but still quite hunglish. we didn't pick up a dictionary at all. it's fun, but i feel pretty rusty.
the train ride up to diosjeno and drive back was pretty, and a good chance to talk with friends and get caught up. but i must say that i was even more enthralled with the buckets of raspberries that were picked at mary jill's cottage there. some as big as my big toe! (yes, dad, i did the right thing and got some vanilla ice cream to give them a proper burial...)
so i'm up early to head to the train station. heading north to kazincbarcika. many friends there. two of which have been going through some rough times lately, and i hope to find out more. (for those familiar: hajni's husband nwana is in a hospital near debrecen. she is with child and moving this weekend.)
i think of home quite a bit, and i'm thankful for the prayer cover. happy weekend...
7/15/2004
my travel went well, and i was welcomed warmly. kristen arrived safely just 15 minutes after me. i am in budapest, staying with the person family.
after arrival, we went to dinner/lunch. i have decided that unless otherwise stated, all the food that i consume within the borders of hungary shall be assumed to be highly edible, fattening and tasty.
i have also decided that jet lag is just a mental thing, and i hope to perpetuate this belief to the rest of my body tonight.
having lunch with pastor gabor tomorrow (friday) at his house. his wife lidia will be gone, so it looks like i will be plunging into the hungarian right away. then i'm hanging out with kata and borbala on a train ride, just to meet with mary jill and drive back. saturday, i go up to kazincbarcika for a few days.
not quite all the way here. i can tell that i've been away for a long time.
07.14.04 - THE BIG TRIP STARTS HERE
ok, so i'm updating this page. i know it's been a long, long time...
i'm safely in new york. actually, poughkeepsie. my buddy macker extracted me from the airport with dramatic flair (new york cops have this great accent AND attitude), and i have eaten very, very well ever since.
i set a new personal best for sleeping on an airplane on the 5-hour ride from seattle. so of course, i was up at 3:30am. i finished my book. just in time to fall asleep again at 8:30 and wake up at noon.
so we couldn't watch 'raising arizona'. i was shocked and appalled to discover that macker had NEVER SEEN RAISING ARIZONA!!! so the smart and witty banter is all a facade. first there was extreme, then the clintons, and now THIS. what is happening to our country?
but friendship is greater than top ten lists, and we are leaving soon to explore the big city. jfk to budapest tonight. it begins...
ANCIENT STUFF RESIDES BELOW!
everything below this point, is really stinking old. you can read it if you want, of course, but mostly it contains notes from my hungary trip in 2001, and my move back to alaska from fargo. and if you're really that bored, might as well scroll straight to the bottom and then work your way up chronologically. (it makes more sense that way.)
5/9/2002
in a much-overdue burst of trivial organization, i decided to procrastinate on some other tasks (that rate much higher on the 'crucial-things-to-do list'), and put together my top 20 favorite movies of all time. actually, i am cheating, because i divided them into two categories, and made two top 10 lists, and then pasted them together. but it's still 20 total movies, and they are all good (in my estimation), so you shouldn't really have too much room to complain.
>> top ten serious movies <<
1. smoke signals - amazing movie. a completely native american production. no romantic elements, no real bad guy, no skin. how many movies can you say that about?
2. the shawshank redemption - "at first, you hate the walls. then, you get used to them. after awhile, you get to depend on them." it's a very rough movie, and hard to watch at times, but ends up being all about hope.
3. life is beautiful - nothing even to compare it to.
4. pi - low budget, black and white movie about a balding mathmetician. you'd never guess that it's one of the most visually exciting movies ever made.
5. memento - ten times the movie 'a beautiful mind' was. i'm still mad it didn't win a gazillion awards. messes with your mind, and not for everyone, but one of those try-to-figure-it-out kind of movies.
6. never cry wolf - too slow for most, but beautifully simple.
7. quiz show - a seriously underrated character study. how valuable/costly is the truth? i like it better each time.
8. 12 monkeys - the only movie brad pitt was ever great in.
9. rudy - yeah, i know, a football movie. but everytime i see it, i cry like a baby.
10. run lola run - german movie about a red-haired chick running through the city for an hour and a half. it's way too creative to be american. i think franka potente might be my favorite actress.
>> top ten not-so-serious movies <<
1. raising arizona - check out nickolas cage's hair. it's worse in every successive scene. more happens in the first five minutes of this one than most any other movie can pack into two hours.
2. zero effect - believe it or not, this straight-to-video classic is more than you ever think it could be.
3. mystery men - the weirdest and lamest group of characters you might ever see. it took guts to make a film this cheesy, and i love them for it.
4. buckaroo banzai - if i told you what this film was about, you wouldn't believe me. weird, weird, weird. weirder than 'brazil'.
5. strange brew - "it's a jelly."
6. dumb and dumber - why didn't they make a sequel? the snowball scene saved my life.
7. grosse point blank - social commentary? yes. delicately handled? no.
8. high fidelity - john cusack again. he plays the best loser. the movie about 'top 5 lists' makes it into my top 10.
9. the holy grail - you'd think we'd get tired of it after so many times. i think i can quote the whole movie backwards. so why can't i get the british accent right?
10. real genius - so many could go here, but i decided to include a favorite from my formative years. it's influence on my fashion sense (or lack therof) is still felt to this day.
so there you have it. of course, just because i liked it, doesn't mean you will. i tend to like things that weren't all that popular. and i think all the movies are skin free, but a few have more than enough wordy dirds: (2, 5, 8, 2, 7 and 8.)
happy camping.
4/28/2002
the problem with recording your own music is that eventually, someone else will listen to it.
when i decided to record some songs i had written, my goal was to do it as quickly as possible. everything in one take. i was more concerned with recording it honestly, rather than worrying about production values. after all, it was more for myself than for anyone else.
these songs were, in effect, the journal i kept during the five hardest years of my life. i guess i wanted to get it all down someplace so i could move on. i was exhilarated when the project was finally done. i actually got sick of the songs, and quickly started writing new songs with a little bit different tone.
the hard part now is sharing the recording with people. i understand that creative expression is supposed to be experienced by others to be complete. the problem is that i'm embarrassed by the product because it was poorly recorded. i don't actually mind my sucky voice, but there's lots that i would want to do differently. i guess i do care what people think after all. (doh!)
i decided not to sell them, just to hand out copies to family and friends. i figured the only people really interested would be people who really know me anyway. but when some people close to me listened to some of the 'darker' songs on the cd, they expressed concern for my well-being. i knew i would run into this.
i believe there is some value in looking at the difficult parts of life and learning from them, instead of striving to be happy (or at least look happy) as soon as humanly possible. and what's the point of being honest, if i can't be honest about my struggles, my sin, and my pain? in my experience, i think there's something very liberating about letting others see where we are really at.
even if we aren't really there anymore.
3/18/2002
so yesterday was my birthday. i'm 33 now. same age that Jesus was when he died. good thing i'm not as much like Jesus as i aspire to be.
it snowed 28 inches.
2/22/2002
here's all the great news:
i got a job. i was offered a position at northwest strategies, one of 'the big three' ad agencies in alaska. i used to work there in the mid-nineties. i guess it was a positive experience, since they wanted me to return. so i took the job, and i start on march 1st.
i got a place. just put money down on an apartment today. i will be rooming with my good friends christian muntean and steve baliko. the place is nice, the landlord is nice. we move in on march 5.
so my address will stay the same. and my cell phone will still be the best way to reach me. in the meantime, i will be going to nikiski to visit my bro and his family.
and the 12-song demo is almost done. re-recorded one song at kris rosentrater's house, and it sounds really cool. i am duping copies for friends next week. i will be really happy to have this little lump of creative expression finally out the door.
so that's it for now. i hope to be part of the frequently-emailing masses again soon, but it might be a little bit yet. hope everyone is alive and well and everything. happy trails.....
2/8/2002
i made it into anchorage last friday, but i've been busy ever since. had a close call on the drive into anchorage, and i almost bit it. the scenario involved slick roads, locked-up brakes, and two large trucks. i should have been toast.
but i'm not. i've been apartment hunting with two friends and seeking gainful employment. i interviewed with a place this week, and it looks promising. i should know monday.
been staying with friends, and getting lots of hugs. i have my car finally mostly unloaded, and it's good to be welcomed back.
and the groundhog's eve party was awesome. a sea of earthtones gathered to eat, to laugh, and to dance. i gave the keynote address. i'll have to post my 'big speech' on here if i can get the file. maybe tomorrow.
and i got to greet my brother and his wife as they arrived this morning from india. the trip was good.
so that's the haps. i'll try to keep everyone posted as to current events and newsworthy occurrences as they, umm... occur. happy trails everyone.
1/31/2002
i am an alaskan once again. i forgot how much i have missed the blessed homeland. let the angels rejoice.
i arrived in delta junction on wednesday night (yesterday) and have been spending some good time with my parents ever since. dad and i went ice fishing with pastor curtis, and we killed. beautiful day. my buttocks embraced a day of not driving.
got a phone call from my brother chris, presently in india, and it was good to hear that everyone is doing well. sounds like God is using their trip greatly.
i depart for anchorage tomorrow. only 338 miles left! i plan to arrive before the sacred holiday festivities occur at 7:17pm. this morning i prepared a special creative endeavor that i intend to share with the huddled masses. a small hint: just call me "rev'rend"...
goodnight for now.
1/29/2002
so i'm in whitehorse, yukon territories. for the unititiated, it's in canada. if you don't know where canada is, well, it's directly in the way between america and alaska. that is why i'm here. five days of driving have gotten me within 833 miles of my goal. presently, i am at the greatest youth hostel in the world, where we are teaching each other how to say 'lazy' in japanese, russian, german, french, and of course, hungarian.
it's been easy traveling, but my butt is starting to feel the miles. i do an extensive stretching routine every morning and evening. it helps. driving has been pretty easy, and i've only done maybe one hour of night driving so far.
tomorrow i will arrive in delta junction (496 miles away) to visit my parents. i will spend thursday there as well before heading to anchorage on friday. i am excited to attend the groundhog's eve festivities. i have my earth-toned clothing (required for admittance) easily accessible from one of the rear doors. yes, party time draweth nigh.
so i'm tired now. my head is filled with kilometer/mile ratios and the song 'spartan' (from the new five iron frenzy album i've been ingesting along the journey). time to stretch, and then to bed. night...
1/24/2002
here's the way-overdue brief update:
i'm a clod. pretty much have been way too busy with hosanna's visit, recording a 12-song demo, and preparing to move. time to email has been elusive.
i leave tomorrow for alaska. 7 days journey, will arrive in anchorage on groundhog's eve (2/1). i am presently finishing off my final hour or so of employment at flint.
got a good lead on a job up there. realizing that i am not equipped to freelance much at all. equipment, money, clients: these things are important.
not to mention a place to do it from. living out of my car and sleeping on friends' couches doesn't seem to me like the ideal formula for a successful business launch.
so anyway, it'll be good to reconnect in alaska and get settled into some routine. but i'll miss folks in fargo too. i really had a blast with hosanna here over christmas, by the way. she was here for 12 days and loved the snow.
but now, i better go. gotta finish my last time sheet and all. not a bad update though, if i do say so myself. maybe i'll paste it onto the blog site, so that everyone else that i didn't write (but should have) can feel pseudo-updated.
peace out, home chickens.
11/18/2001
so here's the big update everyone has been waiting for.
first, the trip. my two-week excursion to new york and hungary was an incredible experience. i got to see many, many friends and eat lots of wonderful food. the main purposes for the trip were to reconnect and to encourage. i was able to do lots of both. for a more detailed description of some of the stuff i was doing on the trip, just read some of the earlier posts (further down the page) from when i was actually in hungary.
i learned more hungarian, although i'm still not sure what's the reason for it all. seems like it is obviously God helping me retain all this stuff, but i don't really get to use it except for these little excursions. i had wondered earlier about the possibility of being in hungary long-term, but i don't think God is leading me that way at all. at least for right now.
the direction right now is to return to alaska. i have now picked january 19th as my leave date. i will drive up to anchorage in bessie, my faithful toyota station wagon. it will be a 7-day trip. i have no clue on where i will live, or work, but i'm sure God will work something out.
so i am moving out of my apartment in the next week or so. i will be at my grandparents house again, until december 11th, when i house-sit for my aunt marlene while she is in peru for a month. my mailing address will be the same, but my home phone will be disconnected. if you really need to reach me, best place to try is probably my work number. (701-237-4850)
and the plans for Christmas have changed as well. hosanna will be coming here to fargo for 12 days (12/24 - 1/5), and she is excited about playing in the snow.
so basically, i am doing well. oh yeah, when i got back, i immediately became sick with pneumonia. it really sucked. i am better now though, and i am enjoying life once again as a productive member of society. i'm sorry to be a loser with emailing everyone, but i hope you can forgive me. i hope you are doing well, and that our friendship will continue despite my obvious shortcomings in the correspondence department.
I'll try to keep in touch. Isten aldjon meg...
10/29/2001
so i'm back home safely. good travel. was mightily 'normed' at the airport.
sorry i didn't have much time to blog the last few days in hungary, but i will put together a trip recap in the next day or two. everything went great. it was so wonderful to reconnect with all my friends over there. hungary occupies a very big part of my heart.
but sleeping in my own bed felt really, really good.
10/24/2001
trying not to o/d on the hungarian, but it's tough. my brain has been mushy lately, and i can't speak either language too well anymore.
i forgot how many friends i have made here. and they all remember me. i stick out quite a bit here, despite my supposed mastery of the language. used to be, i would do my best to blend in. but really, it's a hopeless cause.
(it's in the 60's or something, and i am wearing shorts. have been for the last 2 days while my clothes are drying at mj's flat.) people always ask me "nem fazzol?", which means "aren't you freezing???"
the pastoral portion of the trip has been super. my time with josef in barcika were wonderful. God's perfect timing. the schedule is pretty set for the home stretch. i travel to szentendre (to see zsuzsi's family) tonight, and then barcika again thursday night for a house group. after meeting with pasztor attila early friday morning, i will travel back to budapest to see balazs at worship practice. balazs is the worship leader at gabor's church. maybe i'll get to play in the band... church is at 4pm saturday, but saturday morning is (for now) unscheduled. then i get up early early sunday to head towards the airport. it will be a long day of travel.
so yeah, God has been active, and i've got some direction in some of the personal areas i was praying about. and i think i have successfully navigated the minefield of diplomacy with single hungarian young women so far. (just trying to be careful..)
and in a much weightier matter, i now weigh 67 kilograms. (hungarian food = very good.)
10/21/2001
i am writing this on the very hungarian keyboard owned by my friend, pasztor vince gábor. here's how much fun you can have with this:
QúeüöÝi sépüört ÖÜÓÓgy¬¤ó¨Ý´Ù7Û°Ø^Ç~§'"!
so we're going to eat here in a minute. this means that it will be a short entry. the trip up to miskolc and barcika went very well. but i missed my train on the way back to budapest, causing me to be late to my time with gabor. i didn't have the address located on a map, so i gave it my best shot. i asked directions three times. finally, i called gabor, and he rescued me. so now we are talking, eating, and i will stay here tonight. perhaps i can write more tomorrow. there are many people to visit as the next two days are holidays.
my brain is nearing capacity with hungarianisms.
10/17/2001
well, i slept a lot. about 12 hours total. i believe i am very quickly all in the correct continent.
hanging out at mary jill's pad with mj, rhon and kata b today. been having fun conversing with a few people in hungarian again. setting up a meeting with my friend pastor gabor, (who knows very little english), we had fun communicating in hunglish how we can hook up on sunday night for dinner. well, i think that's what we're doing, anyway.
the plan (as i understand it at this point) is to head up to miskolc and kazincbarcika tomorrow. lots of people to visit there. the whole trip seems to be falling into place piece by piece. probably won't be blogging as frequently, but i will when i can. thank you all for the prayers.
of course, being the super spiritual bunch that we are, the plan tonight is to rent the movie 'maverick'.
10/16/2001
so i'm in hungary. that's the big news i wanted to report before i passed out. i'm feeling a little tired at the moment. haven't slept since poughkeepsie. boy, that was a load of fun.
so this might not be a very good blog. or coherent. or either. usually at least i can be coherent. oh well, the point is that i'm here.
zsuzsi and kati were there at the airport to norm me. i felt special. still sinking in that i'm really here. feels like i never left. got to mary jill's place to find kata b, and then we went to lunch. mmmmmmmmm....lemon ice cream. they thought we looked like charlie's angels. i guess i'm bosley.
mj and rhon get in tonight. bed sounds really good. goodnight.
10/15/2001
the legacy of jim richardson looms large.
i didn't realize my role in the proceedings of this weekend until i was half way through it. i didn't know i was attending a historic event in jim's stead. you are missed, my friend, but your influence is felt greatly.
i was priveledged to see the fruits of years and years of faithfulness. the stuff going on here was the results of actions set in motion more than twenty years ago. dick benjamin was here. rhon duke. mary jill. and we all had an awesome, goofy, loud, spiritual time together.
i learned a lot. i learned about godly men and watched them operate. i learned that even prophets cut the cheese in their sleep. and i learned there are no video stores open past 10pm in poughkeepsie. (how backwards is that?)
my great friend michael will be taking me to the airport shortly. 'allow three hours to get through the security' is what i am being told. your prayers are appreciated.
10/13/2001
so when i was on the plane yesterday, i got a lot of time to think. and i was thinking of a converstion that took place the week before with two of my friends. the subject was about 'being a man'.
i didn't say much, but i've been chewing on it. i guess i don't think 'being a man' is that big a deal. in my mind, a man is selfish, arrogant, and ruled by his own complulsions. all this pretty much comes natural to me, so i don't really see it as anything to aspire to.
but a 'godly man'... that's different.
i have been priveledged to know a few men that, in my opinion, could be characterized as 'godly'. where their lives have been given so whole-heartedly to serving God, that it very frequently overrides their natural dispositions. i'm not saying they're perfect, just that they seem to possess a level of integrity that i don't think is possible without some sort of supernatural transformation.
i'm almost scared to type something like this, because it seems like a completely unfeasible aspiration. but hanging around with godly people makes me realize that i am experiencing God's creative expression. and there will be many opportunities to view His work on display during this trip.
tonight is the ordination thing for mike. rhon duke showed up this morning. we had pumpkin pancakes. i raked.
10/12/2001
i've been remarkably productive in the last 48 hours. i even got up early and cleaned my bathroom before showering, packing and heading to work so that when they show my apartment while i am gone, people might be inclined to say what a pleasant and clean fellow i must be.
yahoo somehow deleted every email i received in the last month. i'm not sure how this happens, but i hope nobody sent me anything really important. of course, my brain is filled with other things right now, so i honestly can't remember.
but i feel very prayed for and sent out. my life is as organized as it has been for a long time. seems all that energy that i get before taking a trip was put to good use. i fly out later this morning. i'll post again soon.
(later friday)
so i'm in new york. or actually, poughkeepsie. it's really fun to say. everyone try it now, 'poo-KIP-see'! good!
it's cool to finally meet my good friend michael in person. just like we've been best friends for centuries. his wife raelene baked 8 apple pies today. yeah. with the crumbly browned crusty tops. and hand-picked apples. i'm thinking that raelene is pretty cool.
mary jill (missionary friend from budapest - and michael's mom) has been here for a week. we watched seinfeld. we ate pie. life is good.
i have a lot on my mind to blog about, but i'm tired so i'll tell you tomorrow. peace out.
10/10/2001 - THIS IS THE VERY BEGINNING, THREE YEARS AGO
decided this is going to be my update page. if you want a quick update on how i'm doing, and what's going on, then this will be the place to look. and since i'm leaving friday for new york and hungary, then it's a good way to keep folks informed without those dreaded mass emails. so now i just need to send out a mass email telling everyone that the page exists!
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