landrover.

My sister’s family is on vacation for the week, so I have access to my brother-in-law’s Landrover as long as I feed their fish and cat.

You know that scene in Ferngully where the bulldozer is driving through the forest and all of the trees and flowers are wilting and falling over as the bulldozer passes them?

So goes the Landrover.

doormat.

Candace and I may have trouble finding a proper doormat.

journey into space, pt. 1

from probably my favorite album of the year:

Baby, baby. You cannot protect me.
but I’ve heard of one who can.
and he does not take sides tonight.

baby, baby. if this is the ending.
then we’ll find out how it ends.
we’ll find where we begin again.
i just wanna make you feel alright.

hold me in the shelling of the night.

let them come for us.
let them have their way with our names that they drag thru the mud.
should the murder us.
we will live again in the clouds that cover the sun.

baby, baby. if this is eternity.
then it must be made of love.
how else could i hope in all this death?

baby, baby. tonight i have no enemy.
i have held my fellow man.
looked into his dying eyes i just wanna look into the light.
hold me in the shelling of the night.

journey into space, pt. 1.
-house of heroes

conflicted.

I will be so happy after Tuesday – after this blasted election is over.

I have to mail in my absentee ballot tomorrow, and I don’t know who to vote for.

I had a long drawn out entry planned mapping out my ideal candidate, but that would be futile, because this guy isn’t running. I have to pick between two seriously flawed individuals. lame.

swim.

You gotta swim
swim for your life
swim for the music
that saves you
when you’re not so sure you’ll survive.

You gotta swim
and swim when it hurts
The whole world is watching
You haven’t come this far
to fall off the earth

The currents will pull you
away from your love
just keep your head above

I found a tidal wave
begging to tear down the dawn
memories like bullets
they fired at me from a gun
cracking me open now

I swim for brighter days
despite the absence of sun
choking on salt water
I’m not giving in
I swim

You gotta swim
through nights that won’t end
swim for your family
your lovers your sisters and brothers and friends

You gotta swim
for wars without cause
swim for the lost politicians
who don’t see their greed is a flaw

The currents will pull us
away from our love
just keep your head above

I found a tidal wave
begging to tear down the dawn
memories like bullets
They fired at me from a gun
cracking me open now

I swim for brighter days
despite the absence of sun
choking on salt water
I’m not giving in
I’m not giving in
I swim

You gotta swim
swim in the dark
There’s an ocean to drift in
feel the tide shifting
and wait for the spark

Yeah you gotta swim
don’t let yourself sink
just find the horizon
I promise you it’s not as far as you think

Currents will drag us away from our love
Just keep your head above

Just keep your head above
Swim

Just keep your head above
Swim

Just keep your head above
Swim

Just keep your head above
Swim

Just keep your head above
Swim

swim.
-jack’s mannequin

titanic, more bricks, museums, and work

So this may turn out to be a monster of an entry. I’ve decided not to break it up into separate posts, and just one all-inclusive deal. I’ll split it up according to the titles above. I’m listening to the new Jack’s Mannequin album now. Its fantastic. I’ll write about it, a bunch of other albums (House of Heroes, Anberlin, Valencia…), and the Dear Hunter show over at You Love to Sing.

Titanic
So this past Sunday was my last one teaching Sunday School. We watched the end of “The Miracle Maker,” a surprisingly not cheesy claymation portrayal of Jesus’ life. Well before class, as usual, the one kid, Sean comes racing down the walkway and tears into the room. He says ‘hi’ before he starts building with the blocks, out of breath. I ask him if he’s tired. He had just run a hundred feet or so. His response: “No, I’m just sad. I’m thinking about all of the children that died when the Titanic hit that iceberg and sunk that tragic night.” Oh, Sean.

More Bricks
So as I mentioned in a previous entry, last week I moved bricks at my sister’s house, after tearing out their patio. Well, this weekend we were able to do the opposite at my house. Last summer, my dad tore up our back patio before my brother’s graduation party, but never put it back together. (I know, that doesn’t quite make sense). For my dad’s birthday, us kids, bought sand, and put the back patio back together. I had to work at Wendy’s for the day on Monday, but I still got my fair share of work in. We also got the front walkway laid out (which was torn out before my sister’s wedding, that was a long time ago). So our house looks a bit more put together now. It looks pretty nice.

Museums
This weekend some of Candace’s friends from Messiah came to visit. I like them. They’re fun. We went to the museum on Saturday. Not much has changed since the last time I was there. The new dinosaur exhibit is pretty sweet. I enjoyed it, though, I don’t believe that they ever, really, existed (I kid). The Life on Mars art exhibit was pretty sweet too. One piece was a wall with holes drilled into it, making rows of holes. In each hole was a ribbon with a wish on it. The wishes were written by people from a church in, I think, somewhere in South America. The wishes were translated into different languages and the ribbons were brightly colored. People were allows to take a ribbon and tie it around their wrist with 3 knots. For each knot, you were to make a wish. When the ribbon falls off, all of the wishes should come true. My ribbon says: “a liberdade de nao sentir medo.” I believe it means something along the lines of “I wish to be free from fear.” I feel most of us can relate to that.

Work
This section of the entry is two-fold. First, today was my last day at Wendy’s. It was wonderful. I was the order taker, which was a change of pace. I also took most the afternoon to do my post-rush duties (trash, mop, sweep…) I really just took it easy and took my time. Nice and relaxing.
Secondly, Candace got a job! It’s for the county as a case worker with Child and Youth Services. It’ll be pretty cool. They pay for grad school, offer free health care, and there is lots of room to move up. Looks like we’re going to start car shopping pretty soon.