What's next...

What have I been doing lately? Well, there's too much to cover since my last post, so let's just sum up my life now...

- I work as a 3rd shift dispatcher at Inontime Logistics & Warehousing. I work (4) 12-13 hour shifts per week. As much as the long nights suck, the long weekends and even longer holidays are awesome.

- I have my own apartment now in Holland, MI where I live with my girlfriend, Kristin.

- Speaking of Kristin, we have been dating for over a year and a half now. We have had some very rough patches along the way and have endured a lot of hurt and pain, but the care and the love we have for each other always overcome the hard times.

- Since my car issues seem to be a theme in these things, I am driving a 2001 Jeep Cherokee and it's been the most reliable vehicle I've owned yet.

- My family life is...somewhat stable. My folks obviously aren't on board with the whole "girlfriend living with me" thing and they have yet to meet her...don't see that happening any time soon either.

- I'm working hard at getting Kristin and myself out of debt so we can move on to the next stage of our lives without that stress. I'm making headway...slowly but surely.

- As far as the near future...doesn't look much different than now. With the exception of hopefully more activities and hobbies outside of home. I want to get back into camping, hiking, biking, etc. and I know Kristin does too. It's just a matter of getting the ambition to get off our asses and do those things.

That's about all for now. I know nobody really reads these, but it's nice to look back on at times and see where I was at at certain points in life. Later!

Life is Good

I had to laugh when I finally came back to check on this blog and realized that I was talking about how I had gotten my truck up and running and all the stuff I was going to fix on it...well, I actually sold it and bought a '93 Toyota Camry. Aaaaaand, as my luck would have it, it broke on me. So, I decided to bite the bullet and take out a loan for a good car. Now I'm driving a 2001 Jeep Cherokee.

Other than cars, I recently quit my job at Venntis and am working for Inontime in Zeeland. Right now, I'm driving vans and straight trucks, but by the end of the year, I'll be driving full semis.

I'm going to school full time studying web design and animation and I've been dating an amazing and beautiful girl named Kristin for almost a month now. Hmmm...I think that's about it for now.

Back on Four wheels.

After going the entire spring and a good part of summer with a broken vehicle, I finally got my transmission fixed. So, for the past couple months, it's been a slow process of making minor repairs on it to counteract the three months of deterioration from sitting. But finally, after a new thermostat, plugs, wires, cap, rotor, an oil change, and a gallon of coolant, the Blue Monster is finally running beautifully again. Next on the list is brakes, muffler, and maybe eventually a paint job and some bondo work. But those are all things that can be done in due time and they're not affecting the way it drives. Now to just make it til September 30 when Mac's curse expires. I don't think I'll really have any problem with that.

I've been working quite a bit for Inontime again these past couple weeks; which is nice because I could use all the extra money I can get for school this fall. Yup, I'm enrolled full time at GRCC this year going for a Certificate in Web Design/Development. I've known I need to get back to school, but have been putting it off the last couple semesters. But now that my job has caught up with me, it's time I get back into it. So, needless to say, it's gonna be a pretty packed Fall season with school, work, and my brother's wedding in September. Wish me luck.

Genesis

Last night, before bed, my brother started talking to me about some of the things he was reading in Genesis...around the time of the Flood. Some of the things he mentioned were very new to both of us and started us thinking. So, this is just a note for me to reference back to as a reminder of some of the questions and topics I want to research more.

..All animals living in peace before the Flood

..Everything being vegetarian before the Flood

..Who are the Nephilim? (Gen. 6:4 & Num. 13:33)

..What is meant by the 'Sons of God' having offspring with the 'Children of man'?

..Maybe inter-family relations weren't the only way that mankind was able to begin?

..Did it ever rain before the Flood? Did plants grow from the water in the earth? ('on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened')

..Was the reason for the first rainbow because it had never rained before? No moisture in the air?

..Was time different in some way back then? Did men really live 900+ years in today's years?

Bowling for Sleep

It's weird how sometimes even the blessings we receive come at a cost. For example, a lady that used to go to my church called me up earlier this week and asked if I would be willing to do some landscaping for her. Seeing as how I could use a little extra cash, I told her I'd be happy to. It would take two nights after work to complete the landscaping. The only nights I have available are last night and tonight. However, tonight(Thursday) is the night that I usually have set aside to hang out with some friends; this particular night, we're going bowling. So, I know I have to get the landscaping done, but I don't want to skip out on my friends either...so I decide to test my limits. After finally falling asleep at 2am last night, I wake up at 5:30am to be to work at 6 so I can leave two hours early at 3pm and finish up the landscaping. Well, it's 11:15am and the entire pot of coffee that I've ingested is still going strong. And by going strong, I mean hand tremors, occasional dizziness, and frequent zoning out. But hey, it's better than falling asleep at work. The extra money will be nice as long as I don't fall asleep mid-throw tonight and end up using my head as the bowling ball. Thank God I have the weekend off.

Bittersweet aging

Saturday night, while watching my brother and roommate play video games, I started to look up some bass guitar solos on youtube. This reminded me of one in an old live White Heart video that my brother and I used to watch religiously as kids. We would get out our Tinker Toys and make guitars and drum sets out of them and rock out while watching the video. It made me think in reverse for a bit. When we're little kids, we can't wait to grow up and do "grown-up" things. But once we get here, it's not so amazing. We have jobs, commitments, and more responsibilities than we ever expected as an eight year old kid. And to think that I used to complain about having to wash the dishes or fold the laundry...at least that didn't involve hundreds of dollars in bills and expenses every week. But I think we make life too complicated sometimes...well, most of the time. I know there are big issues such as job loss and family issues that will obviously cause stress; but when it comes to the little things we deal with every day...why are they made into such big ordeals? Who cares if that co-worker didn't say 'good morning' to you?...or that you didn't get asked out to lunch?...or that someone made a small mistake that you had to fix?...Just deal with it and move on. We're not really as important to revolution of the world as we make ourselves think. To think that everyone around us has it on their agendas to make our lives as easy as possible is just ludicrous; and the more we make ourselves believe that, the more we're going to be stressed out and disappointed. The only one we should be putting our effort into pleasing is God. Seeing as how he's the one that gives us everything we have in the first place, shouldn't he be the one who gets all the credit and attention? So just chill out, tell your pride to hit the road, and quit caring what everyone thinks of you. Because, in the end, what they think isn't worth squat.

If you want a little light entertainment, watch this video and imagine an eight and a ten year old sitting in front of the tv with sunglasses on and a Tinker Toy stage set out on the living room floor...tell me that doesn't make you laugh.

Sick At Home

It's such a weird feeling sitting at home by myself when I would normally be at work, in my office, counting down the hours and minutes until the day is over. If it weren't for the plethora of distractions, working at home in an easy chair is actually much nicer. But I know I'd never get an efficient amount of work done. It is nice to be able to look out a window tho.