Happy Thanksgiving Everyone.

I hope everyone is pleasantly stuffed with turkey and other various foodstuffs. I thoroughly enjoyed my day with lunch with the family and then cooked up what is possibly the closest think I've ever come to a perfect bird... or at least part of one; I only did the breast.

In honor of all the shopping tomorrow here is my wishlist.

I will start with my Amazon.com list, but add these as well...

Not to start a trend or anything... but let me know if you have a similar list and I will be sure to check it out.

Got a new printer...

... and had to cance Eidos for this week. Eddie Bauer had to schedule a staff meeting tonight at 7:30. Eh figures. It was hard to figure out which is most important though, weighing my work responsibilies and aspirations against fellowship and establishing this new thing.

Not sure what I am going to do with Thanksgiving. Mom, Dad and Amanda are going to be at Woodleaf to celebrate the holiday and Amanda's Birthday. The family up here is getting togather at Stuart Anderson's at noon to have lunch. Seems wrong to me to be having a holiday which encompasses a cooking tradition at a restraunt. I will probably cook for myself later that night. Wish I had folks to share it with... Need to see what Janie is doing.

Funny thing happened today at Church... Illuminate was packed this morning and I slid over two chairs towards the center while thinking to myself,
"Self?"
"Huh?"
"It would be nice to have company right now... I wish I had friends at this service."
"Yeah that would be nice"
(Like my interior dialogue?)
At the exact moment this lovely conversation concludes, Mary, the first friend I made at Overlake back in July, came in with her father and sat in the two chairs I had just cleared.

Coincidence? I think not!

Grace and Peace to you all from our Heavenly Father.

Women... Grr... >(

Why, oh why do they do this to me?!

So heres the deal... I finally sit Janie down and tell her that we are going to find an evening where we can make something work. We agree that Tuesday will work... Ok, yes that is tonight... She's supposed to get off work at 7:30. So I scour the web looking for cool stuff that is going on tonight. I find out that "Cats" is playin in the next town over and I can get half off military tickets. And I am thinking to myself "Yeah I am missing my college group and stuff but that is totally ok because were going to have a great time." Well, she calls me at 4:00 pm to find out what we are doing and I try to play it as a suprise. Unfortuantely, her mother is extremely protective and Janie has to tell Mom exactly where she is going (Janie is 19 btw) so I finally break down and tell her...

AND SHE GETS UPSET! She gets mad at me for wanting to keep her out too late and here I am thinking that its great cause she'll be home before midnight... So now I have no ideas what to do tonight and apparently she wants to be home early...

I'm not so sure this is going to work out...

Eh...

Women.

"Eidos" (Dinner,discussion) coming to an apartment near you !!!

Eidos:

The word means "image" and is used in philosophy, particularly ancient Greek philosophy to indicate "idea" or form. In Aristotle, we find eidos to be that set of qualities which a scientific definition (logos) analyzes into its constituent parts. Elsewhere, in Plato, Kant, and others, the idea is a knowable aesthetic sense of the whole, a clear intuitive grasp of synthetic relational meaning, as opposed to that order which is merely represented in human discourse.
www.texascollaborative.org/Urban_Module/glossary.htm

Since I have decided to keep my Sundays off limits to my work availability, I would like to put that good ole Torrey itch for good discussion to good use round here...

It seems like most of my church friends are content to discuss random and (as if I could ever say this without sounding extremely pretentious) inane topics, this would give us a chance to change a small aspect of that (Considering my own life of the mind has been suffering). I sort of instigated a small discussion the other night while we were having Starbuck's and had a good time and I think some other people did too. However this raises some interesting questions I must ask you dear reader. What should we discuss? What should we eat? (I was figuring the usual massive amounts of pasta, salad and fresh french bread were good ideas to start)

thats enough for the moment

A mans home is his castle...

Got my place rearranged... and clean, REALLY CLEAN. Its almost scary

The living room is really bare with only the one couch. Dunno what I am going to do about that...
Really puts a kink in trying to have people over and stuff.

Tried to suprise Janie last night and wisk her off on a date when she got off work, bt apparently she hadn't been feeling well the entire day and needed to go home and rest. Bummer. We're going to do something tomorrow night.

Thinking of having a theology discussion at my place on Sunday nights for folks from Illuminate (the church service I have been going too). Had the idea when I found the course notes from Dr. Thoennes Theology Seminar. Would be good to add a bit of hard core doctrinal discussion to the mix I think... Totally informal, just like pizza and Gruden.

Thats about it for here... Since I haven't posted to this blog in a while I will be mirroring it on
"What if someone gets hurt"

Soul Mates?

I’ve been thinking heavily about the question of "Is there something intrinsically different about some relationships on a teleological level?" The Readers Digest version: "Are there soul mates?" People who are just better together than another combination of two people; that function synergistically or something so that they seem to “fit” one another?

Second question would be something like “if there is an intrinsic difference, is that enough to base a marriage on?” I am saying if there IS something special about certain relationships, is that a quality that assists/facilitates/helps marriage (it could be God given). Could this be a way fro God to point out that you should marry and this is the person He’s set before you? Is there such a placement? It seems like it’s the Calvinist view; “Are you predestined to be with someone?” Maybe it’s more just has God made someone that is THE BEST compliment for your uniqueness. But still if such a sympathetic quality existed in a relationship... is that enough of a justification for making it a permanent relationship? Personally, I don't know about the first question, if it exists.

The second I don’t think its justification unless God purposefully intends for you to marry that person, which I would tend to say only He knows (though He may and does reveal it), but that is a line of questioning that will take a great deal more time to figure out.

Relationships

I am not sure how much influence in my decisions for next year I should give to the effects said decision will have on my relationships and the community I have found here. For example, should I try to stay around Biola just for my friends and the "lobby dwellers"? This actually seems kind of fool hardy because I have no real knowledge of what next years community will be like. I would like to be around my friends, but God may be calling me away from them. Its rather paradoxical that way. Is God calling me to sacrafice some of the commitment to my relationships with Biola people for other people somewhere else or for Himself?

The concept of potentiality is truely useless.

(I really want to bend my knee right now... and can't!)

The situation as it stands...

So This is where I am...

99.9% chance I will not be at Biola next year. I am still in Torrey but with the tacit understanding that I will take a year off to "find my self" where it doesn't cost $26k a year! I have the option of dropping Torrey and continuing at Biola, but this doesnt appeal to me.

Option 1:
I will seek some form of employment, buy my own health insurance and pay off some student loans and make some purchases from my wish list (in no particular order) like this, this, this, this and this.
1A. Living at or near home would put me closer to Mom, Dad, and Amanda. Cost of living is substantially cheaper (Idea of Housing Cost,though this might work!). Downside: Leave community that I have established here at Biola. I would be able to make ends meet for about minimum wage. (Budget with round numbers)

1B. Stay here in La Mirada or the surrounding area. Cost of living higher (Idea of Housing Cost, This might work). Maintain participation and support the Biola Community. Would have to make nearly $11/hour to make ends meet.


Option 2:
Sign an active duty Army contract for three years. I would be able to get farther on the wish list(Active duty E-4 makes about $1695.60/mo with housing and rations) and get added benifits for college (Active duty GI Bill is nearly $25k)

Option 3
Volunteer for deployment with the Reserves. Money is the same as active duty. There is no gaurentee where I would go, but possibly Germany with the rest of the 328th CSH.

Any other Ideas are welcomed.

(Below is a tenative budget, feel free to comment if figures seem wrong)

Nor Cal
Item	Per month	Cost
Rent	425	5100
Food	200	2400
Insurance	85	1020
Car Payment	350	4200
Utilities	120	1440
Total Gross income needed		14160
Work year in Hours (50wks@40hrs/week)		$/hour needed to meed budget
2000		7.08
So Cal
Item	Per month	Cost
Rent	795	9540
Food	250	3000
Insurance	85	1020
Car Payment	350	4200
Utilities	200	2400
Total Gross income needed		20160
Work year in Hours (50wks@40hrs/week)		$/hour needed to meed budget
2000		10.08

My new personal blog

More to come soon!