blood, tears & gold

Exactly a year has passed since my last post.
Things change. Hearts, philosophies and motivations. One tweak to the cogs of life changes everything, so minute but heavily contrasted over eternity with an unchanged dimension.
Initiative means taking the first step in the series of actions. Initiative has gotten normal people extraordinary status. No initiative; no first steps, no change, nothing learnt by anyone.
I'm alluding to many things, and I could discuss this further some other time. But, the gift we share of life was designed with eternity in mind. So think about what belongs in eternity, and what truly matters. Always ask the Lord for guidance in your steps with an open and willing mind. Be transformed by this divinely renewed mentality. This is merely an act of obedience, so do it often. We were created with an extraordinary setting, you can access it from your knees and echoes into eternity.

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clark gable

emotions are an interesting thing. i guess i'm stating the obvs, but more specifically i'm writing about the turbulence they stir when they process the not-so-pleasant news. right now do i fight the tears? or punch something?

i have been blessed by being spared from mourning for most of my life. my companion for the good part of a decade and a half just passed this morning, my jack russell terrier. she had an awful bark, and for the first 14 years you would had to have a pocket full of lucky stars to sneak into our perimeter without her voice-box ringing the alarm. on the flip-side, she was the biggest small spooner i have ever known. sneaky, Sophie was the sneakiest. she was quite the people watcher. she had the gift of looking into your eyes and syncing; downloading your current status, and usually resulting with a foot lick (like if i had just come in from a run) or jumping out of her bed onto your couch after a busy day.

she's gone, buried but never forgotten. who would have thought 3 months ago would hold the last of our moments together...

the mortality of life on earth rings louder and reverberates this question: 'what will be gone tomorrow?'

to me, words like embrace, live, grace, love, serve, and believe stomp down this question, and tells it to 'quit your sniveling and get a life*' (of course in the most polite of ways).

*also stated on my 7th grade No Fear tee shirt.

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sunburn

i have always wanted to experience Thanksgiving day in the United States. Watching so much American broadcasting throughout my life I've picked up on the commercial hype surrounding the event. Whelp, now that it is here I gotta say having it on a thursday means no school, I thank you. Having the following day being 'black friday', a Christmas present shopping kick-start holiday is another thank you.

There is much that I'm thankful for. But, I don't just need one day in 365 to express this. Opening my eyes in the morning is tearing off ribbons and ripping off the tape. I thank whom gives me these gifts, and hunt for hidden eggs throughout my day; He is crafty, I love looking for His handiwork. I am thankful, Jesus loves me.
ladders, ladders, ladders. Kinda sick of them, however, I have some mad ladder skills.

Ps, I watched New Moon last night, with the boys. The row of tween girls behind us laughed when they saw us coming. I think my future wife is a Vampire named Alice...

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battle studies

little story; at the 'nuck game, vancouver scored, i jumped up and did the usual dance (cuz i actually was cheering for the 'nucks for once) and my camera fell out of my pocket and down for the count. i was a tad emo trying relentlessly to revive her, shed some frets and decided i needed a new one after unsuccessfully turning her on.

thursday i was about to truck it to the local walmart (my favorite off campus Kilgore establishment, it's our local amusement park) i hit the power button for one last time...and her 6.2-18.6mm 1:2.8-4.9 3x zoom lens shot out in full working order ready to point and shoot! i could not believe it, she was tested and flatlined for 5 days straight. you see i have a relationship with my camera, and i sort of blame it on my short term memory...she helps me tell stories..now check out these moments out of my last 8 days:
1. the Canadian quad crew (we live together)

2. my mo for movember

3. Owens and i at the Stars 'Nucks game

4. Roommates

5. Canucks

6. 'crappy hockey is better than no hockey' ~ proverb from a flamer

7. American Airlines Arena, GM place could learn a thing or two.

8. Handheld dry chem vs diesel/gasoline fire= 3.5 second pwnage

9. the boys cooling off between burns

10. keeping cool

11. 'who calls a thousand of us?' dc'ism. i could use a 100 hour coma...

12. team Canada, the victors @ the 'first ever KCFA Mustache Invitational Softball Tourney for Cancer'

13. team Texas, the humble sportsmen

14. shaggy crankin one

one final thing, if anyone reading this wants to see a video of me and my instructor getting our eyebrows burnt in a fire just let me know...a dry chem extinguisher's greatest enemy; wind change.

favorite lyric of the day:

- "if you want more love, why don't you say so". from John Mayer's "heartbreak warfare".

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party all the time

this event is going down this saturday. our academy is putting in two teams, one of the americans (10 of the 17 in the classroom), and one of the Canadians (all 10 of 10 in the classroom). obviously this is a pretty competitive rivalry we have going on as you can imagine. i'm happy to tell you that tonight after class we had a practice sort of exhibition game between the two, and the Northerners killed the home team 14-5...

ps: poster made by yours truly.

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