Today: 1) What I did today. 2) Things I noticed.

1) So, during and after waking up and taking a shower, I spent my thoughts praying. It was good to catch up on praying for people whom I'd promise to pray, for my church, and for other things.

After that, I did the final stage of cleaning the carpet: sprinkling the deodorant and vacuuming. Afterwards, my brother and I went shopping again for the barbecue we had tonight. We also got our cable receiver replaced because our old one was going haywire.

It was fun firing up the grill (actually, 2 small grills) with the charcoal, lighter fluid, etc. We had hot dogs, barbecue chicken, mashed potatoes, "sahm gyup sahl" (thinly sliced pork belly) and sliced ribeye, chicken caesar salad, and almond tofu/fruit mix.

2) The new thing I encountered today was the multiple "Spanish" categories in the nearby Pathmark (a chain of supermarkets in NJ and PA area.) It was strange... some aisles would list a couple of items, and then have "Spanish" displayed above. I really didn't see much a difference in the aisles besides a couple of items, like maiz for tortillas in the flour section and a section devoted to Goya products. (Does anyone remember the "Goya... oh boy-a!" commercials?)

I forgot how drivers in NJ are a lot worse than Baltimore drivers... they cut you off a lot more and they don't really obey traffic laws. Be careful if you go through NJ... at least, the local roads.

I've become anti-social now. It's just too draining now to put energy into forming new friendships and relationships. What happened to me? When all of my brother's and roommates came over today, as well as throughout the week, I just smiled politely and then went back to doing whatever I was doing.

What a great impression I must be leaving on everyone. What happened to the excited, social butterfly that I was during freshman and sophomore year?

So, that's what I've done and noticed today.

I just tried to watch the recent, modernized version of Hamlet.

Too tired to watch something of this weight, so I stopped. I guess I'll finish later.

So far, it's been interesting how they're doing all the scenes. I like the staging, and the ideas of how they've modernized it... Denmark is a corporation in NY, Hamlet wears Oakley sunglasses and a ski cap, and Bill Murray, at times, worked well as Polonius. I like what they did to it in terms of staging, but the acting and some of the delivered lines... were too awkward for some of the actors to pull off well. Oh well.

I'll finish it tomorrow.

What a long day.

Yesterday, I brought the carpet steamer back from home to clean the carpet in my brother's (ok, now mine as well) apartment. It was really dirty and heavily stained, so I decided to do something about it.

I woke up, read the Word, and started to clean at around 12:30 PM.

I didn't know how powerful the detergent "Oxyclean" was, until I used it to spot clean the nasty stuff. It tooke things out... perfectly. I was really surprised... the spots are totally gone.

Anyhow, afterwards I ran errands with my brother. We went to Costco... and I'm surprised. I have never seen so much liquor in my life. Ros and stacks of beer cases and wine bottles and hard liquor... in Costco? Since when did Costco sell alcohol?

We ate White Castle.... I haven't had it in such a long while. White Castle, if you've never heard of it, is a small fast food chain, but it's the original chain of restaurants that invented the concept of fast food. Oh... they're so good, the tiny, ~2.5" X 2.5" square little burgers, with their onion-steamed beef patties, the american cheese, and soft buns... i can eat at least 10 of them at once if i wanted, but I settled for five. But man. They are so good, I tell you.

We rented Shallow Hal, the recent Ethan Hawke version of Hamlet, and some anime.

I really liked Shallow Hal, because though I expected a silly and mindless movie, it actually was a really humbling thing to watch. It revealed to me how I think a lot when it comes to girls... ok, so I can be very shallow at times. Ok, a lot more than I'm willing to admit. Guys really do act more out of their hormones than they realize they do... a lot more than they'd like to admit. But yeah, I think it's definitely a movie that guys should watch. As well, Jack Black's a riot... he's such a funny actor.

I'm going to watch Hamlet now. Let's see how good a job Ethan, Bill Murray, and other pop culture actors can hold up to Shakespeare.

Today, after lunch my brother, my roommate, some of their friends and I went to see Men In Black 2.

Eh.

It was ok. Just ok. Will Smith wasn't as charismatic a screen presence; kinda lost that energy he had in the first one. It was also a lot of rehashed jokes from the first.

Don't go see in theaters, just wait for rental.

Afterwards, my brother and I went home for dinner and to discuss church matters with my mom. On the drive back to our apartment, we saw three separate fireworks shows from the highway. It's very calming to watch fireworks from afar, when you can't hear them... that combined with the hum of the highway made for a nice peaceful ride back.

just watched mothman prophecies.

was ok.

ok, i sleep now.

So NASTY! We lost count after catching/swatting 30+ flies in the apartment. Many were on the window, right behind the blinds... good thing I broke out the Hoover. Man, those vacuums are powerhouses. I was able to suck up a couple of flies in mid flight... heh, i felt like i was in a movie or something.

I still can't figure it out; we have AC, so none of the windows have been open. I can't find any rotting food anywhere.

Where are they coming from?

*smacking forehead*

Doh, I was supposed to call the cable company, but i don't have have a phone to do it with.

why didn't i think of that?

man, i'm such a retard.

hey, check out joe and gyju's wedding pix. they capture but mere glimpses (sorry, gyju, i mean, blimpie's) of the fun, the joy, and the beauty of this wedding. the most fun i've ever had at a wedding, i must say.

NASTY!

My brother just caught 20 flys and threw them all into the toilet as he did it. I have no idea why there are so many flies in this apartment, but all i know is, it was just nasty to see so many flitting in the toilet.

*hurl*

today was similar to yesterday. woke up. spent time in 1 john. did errands, watched tv, cooked & ate, watched more tv, more errands, and already it's ~10:00 PM. I still haven't been able to start my job search yet, and it's already july. how am i going to find a job quick? temp? i don't even have a car. arg.

creation festival.

so, an interesting about it was, that friday I got to attend this outdoor youth worker q&a session with deliriou5. I sat in front with my brother, taking pictures with his camera. the funny thing is, it started to rain a little, so they all moved up in their chairs until they were about 2 feet away from us. pretty cool. very interesting questions asked and very well answered.

they played well that night... and with the added availability of the huge video screens, they incorporated some visual elements too. very well rehearsed, i might say.

the one thing that i found strange all throughout the festival was that i was very disinterested and emotionally detached from everything going on... I even tried to get into it at times, but it just didn't feel right.

one thought that kept coming through my mind was actually a struggle of mine that i've been dealing with since... oh... probably the middle of first semester senior year, last fall. it's a little private, and i haven't told anyone what it is, but it's not been really good. it's a feeling that i can't shake, and it has been sparking really bitter feelings.

God, i just can't get over this.

that compounded with the events of this past year, as well as graduating from college, has built up now and for the past half of the year i've found myself a lot more self-centered, unhappy, and not as passionate in my relationship with God.

I just want to handle this well. how do i surrender all of this to christ?

Hey, check this link out. Doesn't "Clef" look like "Chef" from South Park?

"We're gonna live forever!" - The Cross Movement @ Creation East Festival, last week.

So, last Tuesday night the youth group kids in my church slept over my home so that we'd leave early morning.for Creation. Thus started the adventure that would last five days and four nights.

We left at around 7 in th morning. I drove the minivan while my older brother drove the van. When were pulling out of the street that I livedon, my mom relized that she forgot something, so I honked at my brother to wait up while we turned and went back. However, much to my annoyance, he decided to take off instead of waiting for us. After we got onto the highway, I sped at an average of 80 mph in order to catch up, but to no avail. It wasn't so safe, especially since I was driving a car full of people and luggage. I made good time, though, and we had almost caught up to them when it happened. We hit the Creation camper traffic at around 1:50... The line of cars stretched a couple miles long, so we parked every now and then to wait. To be nice, we even let the kids in our car go out and play.

Boy, was that a big mistake. One particular boy is a really athletic, but not so quick with his wits when it comes to being careful. So, at one point, the line of cars moved forward a couple of yards, so we moved up a long. to catch up, the kids that were outside ran along. For the life of me, I can't understand why the aformentioned boy did this, but he decided to cross the rod between a couple of cars behind us.... without looking for oncoming traffic. Yep, he ran straiight into a slowly moving van. I watched it all happen in the corner of my eye through the rearview, and my heart stopped when I saw it happen. The lady driving it screamed, "That boy just ran into my car!" and for the rest of the hour, kept saying how it was all my mom's fault for being irresponsible and how bad a person in charge she was. Not nice, lady, not nice, even if you were right. So, that put a dampener on the rest of the day. The kid got wisked to the hospital with my mom to keep him company, and we got back into the long line of cars. We didn't get into camp until 4:30..almost 3 hours after we had gotten there. The worse part was, I was told to pick them up from the hospital during the opening act, a Cross Movement concert... and when I got to the hospital, it turns out that they had already gotten around from the Creation Festival people. I was a little annoyed. Just a little. It was the Cross Movement!

But ah, God provides. They came and did another concert a couple days later... and wow, they were awesome. Not just because of their incredible skills, but they were the music group there that most clearly presented the Gospel, in its entirety, details included... So awesome.to see how they really strive to practice saturating every part of their lives and work with the Gospel. Oh, and yeah... that quote above is from one of thier songs, and it's celebrating eternal life in Christ. Yep... it'll be for they new album. Can't wait!

Ok, I'll write more later. I must sleep.