Que pasa? No mucho. . . (that means "what's up?" "not much" in Spanish). . .

Another quiet day. Work was stressful. Just dealing with customers sometimes, I feel like I'm dealing with the dregs of humanity. You have the high-blood pressured people who scream at you if you tell them something they don't like. You have the woman wanting to cancel service because her husband's in prison (which, of course, shows their good decision-making choices right there.) The man who can't speak English properly, but gets frustrated at me because I can't understand him. The ebonics-spouting teenager who wants to "axe me why his phone don't get no service." Ugh! I know that rant was mean-spirited and politically incorrect, but I'm sorry. . . sometimes you gotta vent. And I know that it shows my pride issues seeping in and things I need to work on, but it's the end of a very long, very stressful day.

On the plus side, I did get to see the new apartment Brandon and I will hopefully be moving into in about a month. It's so much nicer than where we're at right now. The layout is just nicely spaced out and more comfortable, and really gets rid of the feeling of living in a boxed in area. My room will be a lot smaller (I am spoiled with my room right now), but that's okay. It has it's own bathtub!!

Tomorrow is Friday and then the three day weekend (for me) starts. I'm looking forward to traveling out to see Erin and Christina at camp. Most people are put off by long drives, but I'm looking forward to a few hours of just playing cds and having some well-needed time to think and pray. I'm looking forward to a quiet night in a hotel. I think I'm going to head back about four or five on Sunday instead of staying the night, so I can cut the price of the trip in half. But it should still be fun. My dad doesn't know why I'm going on such a short trip. To be honest, I don't really know why I'm going either. Just to see my best friend, I suppose. It's weird; when you hang out with someone or talk to them nearly every day, the 10 days they're gone can seem like an eternity. I'm a very people-oriented person and I easily miss people. So driving seven hours just to visit with friends isn't really a waste for me. After all, my alternative is to sit at home and watch DVDs. . . which one is going to supply me with more memories?

I would like to get to the movies on Monday, which is my day off. I'm hearing horrid things about Alien vs. Predator, so I'll probably pass on that. I really want to see The Garden State, though. I love Zach Braff's work on "Scrubs," and the reviews have been fantastic. I'd still like to see Open Water, as well. So we'll see.

Okay. In lieu of writing something deeper and rambling tonight (I'll get to "The Weight of Glory" this weekend), I'd like to take a page from one of the blogs that I read every pretty much every day. http://messychristian.blogs.com/ Messy Christian's blog is always an interesting read, for a number of different reasons. One, I like the fact that she's a journalist, which is the field I studied. Two, it's nice to read thoughts from another area of the world. Three, although I don't always agree with her theologically, it's refreshing to see such honest writing on Christianity. I think we get so into the mold of being "inright, outright, upright, downright, happy all the time," that we really neglect to be honest about the fact that the Christian life is often frustrating, aggravating, heartbreaking, and confusing. She tackles that very passionately and honestly and yet still gives the impression that there's no better place to be than following right behind Christ.

Anyway, one thing she did was to list 20 things she'd like to do before she died. So, I'd like to crib from that and do just that. These aren't the obvious things (obviously, I'd like to get married, have kids, and all that jazz.) But they're the things that are simply my ideas and some longings I have.

20 Things I Want to Do Before I die:

1. Be a published author, either of a novel, short stories, or screenplay.

2. Travel to Europe, Australia, Africa, and the Holy Land.

3. Take an RV across America and just spend time in each state.

4. Open a coffee shop that encouraged Christian discussion and debate, showcased Christian music and poetry.

5. Read all the works of CS Lewis and William Shakespeare.

6. Visit New York (wow, I really need to get out more, don't I?)

7. Learn another language. . . most likely, just relearn what I've forgotten of Spanish.

8. Start a production company that fostered Christian filmmakers.

9. Go on an international, long-term Missions trip to somewhere where the trappings of popular culture aren't around us. Just get away from this so I can focus on helping others come to Christ.

10. Learn to fly a plane.

11. Balance a budget (trust me, this is the goal I am most in danger of not doing!)

12. Direct an independent film that I'd write.

13. Perform in an amateur night at a comedy club.

14. Memorize the book of Proverbs.

15. Sit on the beach all night and watch the sun rise.

16. Umm. . . I'm really running out of things here!! Write for a magazine much like RELEVANT that covers Christian life in this culture.

17. Have a long cup of coffee with all the close friends I used to have who I've fallen out of touch with over the years. Just one more cup of coffee to catch up and remember old times.

18. Become involved with an inner-city ministry.

19. Learn a sport or game or hobby (I have none!)

20. Publish this blog.

Alright, that was kind of biting off more than I could chew! Most of those weren't big things and the idea sounded better before I started than it did once I started writing. Of course, I probably shouldn't have waitied until I was falling asleep to do this! Oh well.

Til' tomorrow,
C-Dubbs