Once upon a hoopty...

Last monday I ran into my friend Jessica. I had seen her twice before and was pretty sure it was her, but I was in the middle of something, and she looked busy and I was a little too shy to get up and go see when she didn't seem to be recognizing me. So, i finished what I was doing and went back to where I had seen her and she was leaving about that time. I called her name and she said, "Adam?" It was the best hug I've had in a while.

I met my friend Jessica while we were in Costa Rica at the language school. I cannot say enough good things about my fellow students from that time. In fact, that year (2003) may have been one of the best years of my life. I met and became closely connected with people during my orientation that summer before I went overseas and then I met and became close with the people at language school in the fall. (I won't go into why the spring was so good, because she's married now.) I have lost contact with my friends from language school because i lost all their emails when my comp got stolen. So, this was a huge blessing. I knew Jessica was from Louisville, but I didn't think I'd ever see her at the Seminary. How random.

We went out to lunch today (lunch? i guess so..around 2:30) at a cuban restaurant and we caught up. No one else that I know can understand how happy I am about running into her. I cannot explain the connection of having shared living overseas with her and all the others. I like to think that I am quick to love people, but it is always hard when you are new to town and don't love anybody yet. I have a few friends from before that I love and a few that I am getting to know that I love, but too often I just feel alone. It's nice to have friends.

P.S. I think I'm going to go see that Braff movie tomorrow. Thoughts?

P.S.2 is better than gamecube. Just kidding.

Another friend named Jessica had her first baby today. How exciting. I am happy for them and I pray that all goes well and that they stay in health.

Loneliness is one of the worst stages of life. I felt lonely most of the time I was in Nicaragua. And this weekend was a reminder of just how horrid that was. Friday and Saturday I saw very few people outside of work. I can only remember seeing my roommate and just a few acquaintances as I sat alone eating lunch on friday. I try to blame the rain, but the truth is that I chose to stay in my apartment instead of looking for a nice, warm coffee house to cuddle into. And it would be nice if I could blame it on the fact that I was doing school work. I had plenty to do, but I kept putting it off. I'm really nervous about this next paper. It's just a book review...and it's only 10% of the final grade, but I really am unsure what the grader (not the prof) is expecting. *sigh* Expectations. But I digress. I have friends in town and I have tried to hang out with them, but it seems that they are like every other American and don't have time to slow down more than once or twice a week. Maybe I should just go drive over to U of L campus and look for anybody having fun.

I'm reminded of that great 60's hit: "Another Saturday Night." It's hard on a fella when he don't know his way around. If I don't find me a honey to help me spend my money, I'm gonna have to blow this town. It's not really the honies that I'm after, but I do need to find some friends. It isn't good for man to be alone. It's the first thing God says about man besides that "it was very good." I find that to be an important truth. We don't do well on our own. We need to interact with other human beings. That's all I've got.

John Ritter is dead? I ask myself. I speak the words aloud in shock as if he were a close friend. I feel betrayed by the world for taking someone like that away from me and not telling me about it. Then I look at the date: 2003. Oh. I was gone. It happened during that time when I had left the world to fend for itself while I went to live abroad for 2 1/2 years. I can't believe I've been back 10 months now and there are still things that surprise me. I expect for people to have in-jokes that started during that time. I did too. I expect for people to refer to commercials that aired during that time.

When i was at debrief in may, two guys who had been living in Africa went to youtube (the first I had ever heard of it) to watch the big basketball brawl that happened while we were gone. A lot happened while we were gone. And the worst is things that are now gone for good. Relationships that were passionate when I left are non-existent. My Grandpa passed away...and his wife behaved in such a way afterward that she's kind of on outs with the rest of the family. I can't believe he's gone. My friend Ashley Jones sings "Everything is different now...and it's okay." I guess it's okay, but it doesn't always feel like it is.

I have joy in the everyday, don't get me wrong. It just always comes as a shock to realize that something you thought you had was taken from you years ago.

I didn't know you were gone, John. Rest in peace.

My body lies to me. I'm leaving my first exam today and my body says "oh, I'm soo hungry...you would be able to write that paper a lot better on a full stomach." So, I agree and we come to the terms that we will 1) eat and then 2) write the paper. As soon as I'm done eating, walking to the place where I plan to write, body says..."oh...I'm so tired...you would be able to write that paper a lot better if you took a little nap." Tricksy, body...but I ain't falling for it again (instead I'm going to waste time by blogging).

All that to say: Yesterday was a great day. I took apart my iBook and put it back together with a new LCD screen that I bought off of eBay spending a total of less than $230 for what Macintosh would've charged $1000 parts and labor. My power cord that I've been without for 5 weeks (borrowed one from a very generous man for about 3 weeks) finally came in the mail. So, I started her back up and BAM. Working Computer. Anyone want to buy an iBook LCD with a big crack in it? It leaks purple!! Then I finished my book and started writing my response to it when I got a call to help someone move. I was a part of it for about 7 hours, but it was nice to get a chance to be around people that I like and am getting to know. It's good to have friends. Soundtrack of the day included REM's Nightswimming, Norah's first album and Nickel Creek's first album. We salute you.

Okay, paper due in 3 hours. Back to work

I've been wanting to put my thoughts down about this for some time in some form of media, but I can't seem to get my thoughts straight. Oh, well; here goes.

It seems to me that hippies and the civil rights movement and the women's rights movement all had something right, but that when it came to legislation passed, they settled for things that didn't matter. Like, with civil rights, they passed legislation furthering welfare that, looking back, seems to have worked against the idea of equality that they were fighting for. What rights did women get? Equal wages? I wish. Does it seem like the only thing the feminist movement acheived was more promiscuous sex? Because it seems to me that women had more sexual power when they were less likely to *achem* give it up [Abortion rights aside]. All in all, with these civil rights movements, I feel like the important issues were cast aside in favor of the issues which didn't matter but that were moderate enough that they were passed into legislation.

Did we stop fighting for what was right because we won a battle that didn't matter?

Hippies saw that something was wrong with the way their parents were doing government. After the death of Kennedy, surrounded by controversy and shortly erupting in a war in Vietnam, it became clear that certain parties were stooping to new lows to acheive what they wanted. Suddenly, killing off a man who was elected to represent the people was acceptable and "secret" government agencies felt no qualms using the same techniques they used for foreign "relations" within our own government. Big issues. Whatever happened to the hippies? It seems like they all picked one issue and started to sink to the same level as the big government: my issue at any cost. Or they sold straight out and just started working for or owning the major corporations that run the politicians.

What happened to the American Way? We still have a way, it's just that now it's "my issue at any cost." Nothing but my issue is sacred.

And I am very afraid of these party lines. Suddenly all Democrats are for certain sides of issues while Republicans represent only the opposing view. So, if, for example, I support the ideology of "pro-choice," then I will vote Democrat, no matter what else they stand for. If I support "our boys in Iraq," I can only vote Republican. (If I want a small federal government that lets the states handle all the areas that the constitution entitles them to handle, then I don't have anyone to vote for. Jerks.) This polarization of the nation is bad news and will not get fixed by enough converts from one party switching to another. It's just not going to happen.

Like I said, my thoughts are not very concise right now, but I just needed to put them down somewhere. I worry about this nation. Feel free to respond critically.

P.S. y'all don't be fighting in my comments section. The only person you're allowed to fight with on my blog is me.

I don't do "adam's life updates" in blog format very often, but I'm kinda in the mood for it. I just got hired at Starbucks which is awesome. Sorta. I think that it's mostly going to be a lot of fun. Tonight, though, my big scare was when we had a coffee tasting and it tasted like "coffee" to me. I was supposed to write down my thoughts and I had none. I ended up writing "bold." I mean, I enjoyed it, i guess. I was also already a little dehydrated and so coffee didn't help things. I knew i had the oncoming of a headache. But the people who work there seem like fun. One guy who is training with me also plays ultimate frisbee on campus on tuesday. Fun times.

Labor Dabor was fun. My sister came up and I came down to New Johnsonville, TN (near Waverly for anyone who cares) to see my Aunt, Grandmother and Cousin. It's nice to see family and I got to visit the Morrisons on the way up and back. Life is grand.

Or rather, it would be grand if the post office would stop sending my packages back. I think I started existing today. I hope. *sigh*

Hardly anyone commented on the new days. It was more fun when people were offering suggestions. Announcing winners is depressing because the contest is over. Hope all the readers are doing well.