Writing about not having anything to write about...and other things

So my last post where I wrote about anything worth writing about was over two weeks ago.  You'd think that in this self-obsessed day and age I'd be able to think of something about my self or my life that I figured was worth writing about.  And I did.  But then I got back home and thought to myself, I don't really have anything to say.  The blog should be witty and clever and thoughtful and God-honoring and...list a bunch of other cool adjectives here.  And so now I should talk about how people, especially of our generation, are self-absorbed and focus on themselves all the time.  Or something like that.  But the reality is that I'm bored.  I'm actually waiting to go pick David up from the airport and his plane has been delayed until midnight thanks to the cool front that moved through Houston and brought a lot of rain and wind with it.  So I thought, "now's a good time to write something in your blog."

Now that you've been warned what kind of post this is: read on at your own risk.

The other reality is that there are about 7 people that read this blog other than me, and they are all friends and family of mine (Hi Mom!).  So really it doesn't matter if this blog is hip or cool.  It's basically just my journal.  And you happen to be reading it.

Alright, contrary to the evidence presented in this blog I have been doing some interesting things and I'll try to catch you up:

First in chronological order is the fact that we lost our cat.  That was Sunday night on the 11th, right before I posted about finishing my cardboard chair.  I spent my free time that week either looking for her, posting flyers about her, or updating my resume and cover letter to start looking for assistant or substitute teaching jobs again.

Jump forward to the next weekend (life happened in between of course...work, Shwey searching, etc).  Melissa had found out about something called Free Night at the Theatre.  We managed to score tickets to a one man performance of Hamlet and Jeremy and Amanda (Jeranda? Amandremy? ...I'm asking for Jeremy's sake) came with us.  Melissa went all out and made some amazing lasagna for us for dinner beforehand.   The performance was intense, and the actor was impressive.  He managed to convey so many emotions, delivering so many lines spot on (at least, in my uneducated opinion) and must have been completely worn out after being so physically and emotionally active for 2 straight hours.  We think that he only forgot his lines once, and he recovered in such a way that it could have been an intentional part of the scene, so we're not actually sure (Jeremy would say he is sure).

Tuesday night (Oct. 20th) Mom and Dad took Melissa and I out to Cheesecake Factory as a belated birthday gift.  It's a bit of a tradition for them to take us out to eat on our birthdays.  I think it started because it was one of the few ways to have guaranteed one-on-one time with them without being interrupted by life and the immediate crisis of one of the other 8 siblings.

...oops, it's 11:40.  Time to go pick up David from the airport.  Yeah, it's awesome.  He's coming down to hang out with us over the weekend.  So I guess I'll have to catch up to the present in another post.

Peace.

Should this be my next project?

Photo courtesy of www.inhabitat.com

Just kidding!  We don't even have a lawn at the moment.  And do people actually do this?  Has anybody seen anything like this in person?

Oh yes, it's real.  Here's where I found the picture:

http://www.inhabitat.com/2005/06/04/lawn-couch/

http://www.inhabitat.com/2006/05/28/grow-your-own-grass-furniture/

Extreme Home Makeover: Project Complete!

Yep, it's done!  And, as promised I've got lots of pictures of the process and the finished product.  Obviously we will still be improving it -- Melissa has some great ideas which she talks about on her blog.  But the furniture is complete.  I've even got pictures of Melissa sitting on it, just in case you are skeptical. 

So, are you ready?  Here we go (click on any of the pictures to see it full sized):

Here's the before shot.  This is where the loveseat is going to be.

Looking for a Job? Do what this guy did

LONDON (Reuters) - In a pinstripe suit, silk tie and polished shoes, David Rowe has all the trappings of a successful London city worker, except for one stark difference -- he is wearing a sandwich board that says "JOB WANTED"....

Wish I'd thought of this.  Now I'd just feel like a copycat.  Or a creeper, since I'd most likely be doing it outside of Elementary and Junior High schools.

Here's the rest of the article: http://bit.ly/yXMPD (it's a link to Reuters website)

She's here! I have another niece!

Text message i received from my brother a few minutes ago:

--ORIGINAL MSG: The human has arrived

Birthdays!

My birthday was Saturday.

Saturday I was busy doing other things and just posted some Hassaniya rap music here for you. You don't have to understand it, just appreciate it for me. It's my birthday after all. But I promised to tell you all about what I did for my birthday, and even though I'm a day later than I might have said I'd post it, here it is:

What's the Right Thing to Do?

Okay, this is the video version of me reading my favorite sections of books to you. I think I found my new favorite video series for a while. Yes, the video is an hour long, but watch the first 5 minutes or so and you'll probably see why I liked it. I think I most interested to see if anybody brings up God in these conversations. It doesn't happen in this video, but maybe in one of the next ones?



Check out the three episodes that have been released so far: http://justiceharvard.org/

Hassaniya Rap!

Hi everybody.  Thanks for all the birthday wishes on Facebook!  I've got a coupla things I want to write about from today, because today was great.  But it's after midnight here in the great country of Texas so I'm gonna save it for tomorrow.  However, I wanted to put something up for my birthday and thanks to a friend on Facebook (Jay) who was also a Peace Corps volunteer to Mauritania (not at the same time as me though) I've got a little something for you here to tide you over till I write something for real.

One day in Nouakchott Melissa and I got into a taxi and the music sounded pretty good.  It was also in Hassaniya.  The driver, like many Mauritanians we met, was surprised that we knew Hassaniya and was happy to tell us all about this group.  Apparently they sing a lot about social issues and situations in Mauritania.  I was impressed.  Well, Jay posted what I think is a music video from this same group (I mean, how many can there be?  Mauritania is a small country).  My Hassaniya isn't good enough to follow the message of the music very well, but I'm gonna try to listen to it a bunch over the next few days and see if I can't decipher it a bit.  My guess from the words that I picked up is that they are singing about the poor and the problem of poverty in Mauritania...but then, I could be completely wrong.  For all those Hassaniya speakers out there feel free to correct me and translate any parts of the song that you want.

Here's the video: