Another year another piece of me gets older

So as I have gotten older pieces of my body have started to break down or need to be stretched before I do things. Such as before I was 29 I never had to stretch before sports or hiking unless it was a big game. However, now, unless I want to waddle like a duck for a few days I had better stretch before hand. Or my hearing slowly becoming worse over the years, but that might not be a bad thing because by the time I am 40 I wont be able to hear my wife {edited*} ask me to do things :). I kid.. I kid...Well I had to get my eyes checked for a physical recently and I did rather horribly. I use to have 20/20 but a week ago I found out that I cant see below line 5 in my right eye and below line 4 in my left. You know you are eyes are going when the doctor says "And they let you drive w/o glasses?!?" So when my insurance kicks in (My hospital insurance gives me an allowance per month) in Sept. Ill be getting some glasses. SO LADIES WATCH OUT!! Because my sexiness will increase 100 fold.

*nag

Nickel Creek: So long and thanks for all the fish

Well I got the chance to see Nickel Creek live this past weekend and they were really good. I heard most of my favorite songs and they mostly stayed away from their 3rd cd which is my least fav. album of theirs. Unfortunately the night was broken up by a few things. First, was the realization that this was their farewell tour. That is not cool! Second, was the drunken idiots who were heckling the band. Third, was Fiona Apple. Now to be somewhat fair to her the MANN did not have speakers pointed in our direction and as I am going deaf by degrees it was hard to hear what she was singing. And she had a great voice and probably would make an excellent blue singers instead of whatever genre she was in. However even if I could have understood her voice I would have still hated her performance because of her dancing. Her dance looked like someone dressed in a Salem witch outfit, on cocaine, animated by Tim Burton while moshing. Now this was interesting for all of 5 min. but to have to endure her weird music and her "dancing" for 45min that was unbearable and I will never pay $ to see her again.

Side note 1: If you go to the MANN do not sit in the balcony unless you really know the bands', whom you are going to see, music. There are no speakers up there.
Side note 2: If you know from what book comes the title of this blog, You win.

This week

So this week is much more open and not planned. By the end of the week I fully expect to be stir crazy and wishing I had to go to work. My plans are: Read a few books that Brett gave me, work on my elliptical, mem. some vs for appropriate use in the hospital, Disc Golf and Ultimate, and read Our Greatest Gift: Meditation on Dying and Caring, A by Henri J. M. Nouwen and
Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World by Henri J Nouwen. I also have a book coming via mail Getting Serious About Getting Married: Rethinking the Gift of Singleness by Debbie Maken which is probably not much different than some of the issues brought up in Passion and Purity,: Learning to Bring Your Love Life Under Christs Control by Elisabeth Elliot but Ill read it anyway because Ill get pie. And ladies and gents you can never have too much pie.

Recap on last week

So on Monday, my Bible study and I went kayaking down the Brandywine and it was a very relaxing time. I am sure though both Dave and I would like the river to be higher next time, so Mark get working on that.
On Tues. I did nothing but chill.
On Wed. I got schooled by Brett on the Disc Golf course and had to dish out some $ for dinner at Sofritos. It was a great day to be out but a crappy day to loose. Plus I lost two disks.
On Thurs. I met with Pastor Bo and told him how my internship went and when I would like to start working on my ordination. I also had a so-so day playing Ultimate.
On Fri. I went out to lunch with my Dad, read The Hostage by W.E.B. Griffin and played a new CPU game.
On Sat. I declined to go disc golfing with Brett and Brian (due to my earlier performance) and later was called by Brett to tell me it was a good idea that I did. The rough had been deliberately left to grow about waist high and so a course that normally took 1hr-1hr15min. to do took 21/2 hrs. Plus Brian lost two disks. Later that day I helped a new friend move into her house and then I went to see Nickel Creek.

WED Aug 15th

So The day has come, or will come, that I have been looking forward to for many a yr. My disc Golf partners and I have been talking about doing an all day disc golf tourney between us for a while now and we are finally going to do it. Tomorrow we will start at Cape Henlopen, then go to Killen Pond, and then to Lums. It will be Hot, it will be grueling (that is why I am getting a massage on Thurs), and I will be the victor!! Winner get dinner at a decent restaurant! Stay tuned and Matt sorry you can't be here to help pay for my dinner.

Chappie#5

So my internship is over and I have learned a lot. I plan to give a few insights over the next three weeks but for now I am enjoying my second day of my three week vacation.
What will I be doing? Well yesterday I kayaked down the Brandywine river with my small group, saw a good movie (review forthcoming), and ate at a new, new for me, Chinese Buffet. Today I am working around my room, reading Spurgeon, blogging, making dinner, and playing video games. Tomorrow I will be playing disc golf all day and Thurs I will be getting a massage and of course playing Ultimate. Fri is up for grabs and Sat. I will be going to see Nickle Creek.
So I do have some fun stuff planned, but I think the challenge for me will be to stay spiritually focused and to be preparing for the year to come.

Kite Runner

So I know I said I would have a review up a month ago, but my internship was requiring more and more of my time so I did not get a chance to put a review up.

I liked the Author's use of words and images. I felt that I could easily visualize where the main character was at all times. I especially enjoyed the first Kite tourney. I also liked the author's use of foreshadow and irony. Finally I enjoyed the frailty of the main character as I see any of us acting in the same way, in his situations, if we did not have God as our Rock.

However to me this book was not an amazing piece of literature and I have read books that are far harsher in their depiction of reality. There was no huge revelation at the end of the book that made me want to realign my views to the authors nor was there a challenge to any of my beliefs etc.

The reason I think that so many people loved this book was that it was their first time initiation to this type of reality. Sure this book is ficton, but I believe it depicts accurately the reality of Afghanistan and in many cases is much worse. I also think that many people were surprised at the fact that someone with Afghan roots could be a good writer, which I think is a shame.

Anyway the book was decent and if you need something to pass the time please pick it up. Or if maybe you are thinking of being a missionary to that area then this could be a good intro to Afghanistan.

Saying goodbye

I have had the pleasure of knowing Jeremy George since we were kids. We were pretty good friends up until 2nd grade when I moved to a new school and I believe his family went to a new church. However we reunited first in Kairos in 1997 and than as interns for Pastor Bill Heider where we once again became fast friends. Jeremy was part of the tri-fecta of men who once said that doing youth ministry is like getting paid to eat Ice-cream. We became so close that in the summer of 2000 I was invited to be in his wedding where he was married to Chairty. Now it is 2007 and it is hard to believe that he has been married for 7 years....7 years that regardless of what happens in the future he would not give up for anything.
For those of you who do not know Charity had a brain lesion that has severely impaired her. She cannot eat on her own, can only move her head a little, and can barely breathe. My heart has been broken time and time again as I have read the journals of Jeremy, His parents, and her family. However as many times as it has been broken my heart has been restored and encouraged as everyone involved has spoken of their faith, and how it has grown, in our Lord despite their situation.
Today Jeremy has sort of said goodbye to Charity. Not that he has given up hope nor has Charity spelled out anything more than "Thy will Be done", but they are starting to say their goodbyes, in case the Lord decides now is the time for her to go home. Here is today's journal, read, be broken, and be encouraged

Today, Charity continues to show clarity of mind and soundness of mind. As you heard from Phil already, there are some medical concerns that have arisen that are being addressed in a precautionary manner. I am so thankful for that. Our charge nurse is really a quality person who is monitoring Charity in a really wonderful way. She keeps us informed and shows great concern for Charity and us whenever she tells us anything about her condition. Today during speech therapy, Charity spelled out a request. That request spelled out "kilme." At first that seems like a desperate plea, but not if you take the time to sit and ask my wife why she said what she said. I asked her if she was more afraid of living like this than she was of dying. She nodded her head , "yes." I asked her if that was because she knew that there was something much better waiting for her. She nodded her head, "yes." I asked her if it was because it would be better to be with Jesus. She nodded "yes." My next reply to her was, "heaven must be the most wonderful place because none of this is there." She began crying as I embraced her and nodded once again, "yes." I then asked her if she was going to hold on to Jesus through this. Once again, and with an unsettling calm, she nodded, "yes." Jesus, You and You alone have kept my wife in her faith. That is more valuable to me than her getting better, so I praise You, my Lord and my God for what you have done in her heart and what you are doing. I sensed Your smile over her as she confessed her faith in You, and her love for You which today has surpassed her love for me and for our daughters. I praise You Jesus. Be glorified in my wife's life and testimony. Thank you for encouraging me today by my wife's faith. In Jesus' Name, Amen. Jeremy

If you want to read the whole faith story http://charitygeorge.com/index.php?page=blog

The Moo mobile is put out to pasture

So Matt always threatened to buy some rims for my van (The Mooo mobile) as I did not have hubcaps on two of my wheels. He said they would be able to rotate on there own, and he wanted them so he would not be embarrassed by his friend who didn't shell out $50 for two hubcaps. Now in my defense, I have shelled out between $400-900 each year for the last three years for this van and I was sick of doing that. I also knew I was driving this van into the ground and so I was not going to shell out $50 just for cosmetic purposes. But now the Moo mobile has been put out to pasture, it has moooed its last mooo and is now a cube of metal crushed by some compactor in some junk yard.
Why? Well the last thing to go was my turn left turn signal on the left side for both the front and back. And even though my mechanic had looked at it 4-5 times (it had been working intermittently over the past year), he could not figure out what was going on and so he said that he would need to tear apart the door which would cost me $500+. Now I have already spent $400 for a busted sliding door window and so there was no way that was going to happen. Alas I have almost gotten into 4-5 accidents because people cannot tell that I am making a left hand turn. Thus my father, the great man that he is, said I could have his car for awhile as he only worked 2 min away from the home. So for the past 2 months I have had his silver van and things have been going well.
Well at least until he almost got hit turning into our neighborhood because the person did not realize my dad was making a left hand turn. And so someone needed to get a car. And so we did. We now own a brand new 2007 Rav4. It is bluish-silver and is pretty cool. And so now my mom has joined the SUV craze and my moo mobile was turned in for a $900 credit. And now my dad has his van back.... so now what do I have? I bought my mom's 2001 Camery. It is a pretty sweet ride and everything works in it and thus we are all happy and satisfied.

Wednesdays

I love Wednesdays! Why because they are the day before Thursdays. And Thursdays are the day where between the months of April and October I can fly. I fly in the freezing rain of April, soar over the green grass of May, swing through the warm rays of June, float through the heat of July, sloag through the wasting heat of August, then soar once more through the cooling winds of September, and then fly once again through leaving light of October. All those wonderful Thursdays I am doing one thing an done thing only. I may win or I may loose. I may be the big defensive wall that flies out of no where to knock down your point, or the dancing bear as I make an unbelievable leap and grab for the win. Or I may gasp as my asthma clogs my lungs or I may be just too tired to do anything more than stand (yeah right). But I will, Lord willing, play Ultimate Frisbee every Thursday between the months of May-Oct and I will glorify the Lord with playing my best.

More Grey hairs

So today I viewed something which took 4 years off my life. Be afraid be very afraid
http://videogames.yahoo.com/featurescreenshot?eid=524368&index=46

Answered prayers

So this past week during our group intern meeting with our supervisor, someone brought up the fact that they are starting to feel sad that the internship is almost over. And almost everyone chimed in that they felt the same way except for me. I said that I was not even thinking about the time after the internship rather I was just enjoying where I was now. And this is unusual as I tend to rarely enjoy the moment and instead I am always planning for the next big thing or thinking of things to do next. Even when I planned a white water trip, a while back, when all the planning was done and we were actually camping all I could think of was for the trip to be over and what was happening next. I did have a good time rafting but I really did not enjoy the time I got to spend with my friends. It's may sound weird but I just have a hard time enjoying the moment and it has been something that has been in my prayers, off and on, for the last 4 years. And so last Thurs. ,during our meeting, here I was not thinking about the future and just being and it was wonderful.

More than meets the eye

So I have waited and waited and waited for all of my male friends to go and see Transformers, so as to when I write my review I would not spoil it for them. Alas one of them has still not seen it, but oh well. If you don't want the movie to be spoiled Matt don't read any further.
So I loved this movie. It had some good character development, decent action, amazing animation, and surprisingly, humor.

One of the funniest scenes was the one where the teenage boy is trying to put the moves on the girl of his dreams. As is always the case she is not interested but little does she know that this boy has a secret weapon; his car. Actually the boy does not even know that his car is going to help him out which is even funnier. There are some hilarious scenes that take place due to this car from the car just completely stalling out on a remote, romantic cliff with a great view. Or the car picking certain songs like "Baby come back" when the boy, inevitably, over pursues the girl.
And Like I said, the action was good, but what really stole the show was the fast seamless transformation between car/plane, to robot and back again. Sometimes that would happen multiple times in a fight and yet it did not seem fake or too slow so as to distract from the action.

However with any good movie there are some downsides and there were three major disappointments with this movie. First, while the writer developed Optimus Prime, Megatron, BumbleBee, and some of the important humans, he did not develop the rest of the transformers. At the very least he should have developed Jazz and Starscream as they are two very important characters in Transformers mythology. He also mis-wrote one of the Deceptacons into the wrong form. Frenzy is not a boom box, he was a tape played by another major Deceptacon, Soundwave, who is the actual boom box.
Second, I REALLY disliked the destructibility of the transformers. They died too easily to human weapons and while I know there needs to be some human victory is all this, Transformers should not fall to anything less than a full compliment of missiles from a jet; not some RPG's.
Third, they killed every Deceptacon. Yes, Eugene, I know you say starscream is still alive but I did not see him fly away when he was hit by all those missiles. You cannot continue the Transformers universe when you kill off all the bad guys. After all it is a fight between good and evil. And yes I know there are some other bad guys out there but Megatron was the leader and Starscream his second in command. Who else can they bring in who would be a decent bad guy? And yes I realize they might not make a sequel but still, you do not kill off all the bad guys.

Anyway I did love the movie and I cannot wait for it to come out on DVD. I give it 4/5 stars.

Chappie #4: My residency

So, yes, for all those who did not know I received my residency invite a week ago and I accepted that day. I am very excited not just because I am going be a chaplain for this next year at a great institution, but also because I will be paid. Now you all might be thinking I am in it for the $ but the truth is not being paid but working 40-55 hours a week is really hard. Plus I have bills to pay, things I would like to do, and I would like to be putting $ in my savings account instead of withdrawing from it.
Anyway we get to pick a concentration within our residency and I am hoping to pick Pain and Palliative; which deals with end of life. It will be hard but as I want to go into hospice it is the best prep I can get for that job. And I say hope because I wont know if I will get it until I meet with the 5 other residents and we hash out which concentrations we want.
Well all thanks for your prayers and encouragement, I am FINALLY done with retail and I am very much looking forward to my future as a chaplain.
Blessings
Jon

One man's trash, another man's umm stinky treasure?

All I can say is there is no way I would keep on digging. Once I found some of this stuff, I would then stop or give the rest to someone lower on the totem pole. That is why I would not make a good treasure hunter or archaeologist, I want the treasure and the hard work, but man the smells would kill me.

VENTURA, Calif. - The spot where a pair of outhouses stood 130 years ago is proving to be a treasure trove for archaeologists who braved the lingering smell in the dirt to uncover some 19th Century artifacts — and a mystery.
The one-time site of privies for men and women has been built upon repeatedly. Recently, crews demolished a former school bus barn on the 3.5-acre downtown site in order to build a condominium complex and a parking garage.
But first, archaeologists were called in. Beginning in late May, they started digging into the ground in a discovery process that could last several more weeks.
They uncovered a pistol, a knife, whisky flasks, a set of false teeth, two dog skulls and a blade from a set of sheep shears.
"It might be an early crime scene," project archaeologist John Foster said. "It looks like the two dogs were decapitated. Then whoever did it dumped the skulls and the blade, thinking the women probably wouldn't be looking too hard into the bottom of the privy."
The work has its drawbacks.
"The further you go down, the stronger the smell," archaeologist Marisa Solorzano said. "But it's not that bad. These privies are archaeological gold mines."
The site was known to be used historically by American Indians, Spanish missionaries, Mexican soldiers and American settlers. Once, there were brothels nearby. The area, the size of two football fields, housed Ventura's first courthouse, jail and hospital during the late 1800s.
Artifacts found at the site along with photographs and other documentation, eventually will go to the Museum of Ventura County.

Chappie #3: The decision to move forward

So the half-way point of my internship is here and I only have 5 weeks left and man has it been good! Yes I have had my fair share of death, sickness, depression, anxiety and even people wanting to end their life, but the LORD has seen me through it all. And where once it felt like an ulcer was in my stomach as I made my way to the ED (or ER) now I am relatively calm. That doesn't mean I don't feel useless at times or that I am able to help everyone that God puts in my path, but it does mean that I am fully confident that whatever comes my way I will be able to do my best and let God do the rest.

What has been the hardest part? Well for me it wasn't the Code Blues, Traumas, or even the infant demise. For me was coming into contact with a patient (PT) who wanted to end their life because of the incredible amount of pain the PT was in. It was especially hard because this PT was not listed as a possible suicide and so I had no idea of the conversation we would have. It was so hard that when the PT told me the PT's desires I wanted to run out of the room. This was not because of the fact I had no possible idea of how to handle this situation, but because it brought up some incredibly painful memories of a student suicide that I dealt with at seminary. However, and to me this is one of the best part's of being a Christian, instead of running, I immediately prayed and I was answered! As I felt myself begin to shut down, God instead gave me strength, peace of mind, and the ability to be there and listen to the PT. Since that PT I have had to deal with more suicides than any other intern, but I am not afraid for my LORD, my defender, my strength, is with me and He will get me through it.

What has been the best part? I can be with people and try to help them with their problems. And that is a bit strange for me, for it was only 12 years ago that as I entered College I was going to choose a profession that would limit my interaction with people. I only wanted to study the ocean, both with my eyes and my stomach, and only on occasion deal with those funny, complex, organisms called humans. However God has changed that and while it has taken over a decade for that change to take place, me I now readily enjoy people and I enjoy listening to their lives. And so I have had the chance to develop my "listening ear" as people tell me of their joys, pains, anxieties, goals, pasts, hopes, anger, and depression. And I have had the chance to bring peace, hope, and love and fulfill the Lord's command to be with the sick, the poor, and the needy. I have listened to the stories of amputees, heart PT's, PT's with HIV, diabetics, those who are clinically depressed, those who are sick of being in and out of the hospital every few weeks, and those scared to death of what their next visit with the doctor will mean. And I meet them with the Holy Spirit having gone before me, I bring with me the Love, Hope and Peace of God and I see them, or try to, with His eyes. For make no mistake there is NO way I could possibly do this on my own.

Anyway I am faced with the decision to move forward in this profession. I have an interview with Christiana Care for the residency this fall. If I am accepted I will be in a paid position (whohooo) and Ill be working about 55 hours a week. I will also have more than just one floor, like I do now, to be the Chaplain for. My interview is at 2pm on Tuesday July 10th. It will be in 2 parts. The first part will be with my supervisor and the director of Pastoral care (who is also my coordinating chaplain). The second part will be with a staff chaplain as well as someone from the oversight committee for pastoral care. It should be a breeze. I am pretty confident that I will get the job, but I want to be where the Lord wants me. So I would like to ask all who read this to please pray for me as I look towards my next stage in life. I would also like prayer as Tues. is one of my on-call nights and that means I will be working from 8am Tues-4pm Wed. It is a loooooog shift and while I do get to sleep, if the night is busy that sleep may not be coming. I will find out by Fri. if I got the job or not.

And so Ill leave you with a story of God's providence. This past Fri. I ended my time with a PT with whom I had met with a few times over a week and a half. The PT was angry with the doctors on what the PT felt was mistreatment and on our first visit I suggested that the PT should fire the PT's doctors. And that is probably one of the reasons the PT asked me to come back. This PT is also a staunch atheist and while we talked about all sorts of topics we did not go much into faith or the Bible. During the course of the three visits I had with the PT we developed a rapport and the PT freely talked to me about the PT's family, outlook on life, why I was a chaplain, a little about how faith affects the outcome of sick PT's, and a lot about history. Most of you might think that because I was not able to evangelize this PT that the visit was a failure. But the truth of the matter is we are not allowed to proselytize anyone unless that ask about our faith. We are only allowed to try and support them in their situation, maybe pray for them, and then leave. And at first this was very frustrating, but as I look to the Bible and Jesus's example I see that He often healed a person or took care of a problem, or in the case of Zacheues acknowledged his existence before He would share the reason why He was there. And that is what I do. I don't physically heal them or take care of their poverty, but I do the one thing most people never do; I listen. I listen to their problems, pains, hatreds, angers, joys, loves, all without judging, all in hope, that somehow Christ's Love will show and that I will get to share about the one whom I LOVE! There are three phases in evangelism. The sowing, watering, and reaping. My role will, most of the time, be the first so that Christians like YOU can follow up and be willing to do the rest. And that is why when I cannot out and out share my faith I am not frustrated, for I know the Lord will not let any of His own slip through His fingers.

The Kite Runner

So today I realized I had not been to one of my favorite stores in a long time (a few weeks). Barnes and Nobles had not seen my smiling face and had probably missed my patronage and so I decided to go visit and pick up a couple of books....Man that was hard just picking two.
And into B&N I went and wow was I surprised... I saw Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Betrayal, The Judas Strain by James Rollins, and The Navigator by Clive Cussler. Now I am on a budget as as each of these books are $25+ I could only get two out of three. And that was a hard decision because I have read each of these authors for years now and I love them all. But then as I was trying to make a decision I saw A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini and I thought hmmm maybe I should try something more thought provoking. I had heard, from a number of people, including some fellow chaplains and my supervisor, that Khaled was a very good author and so I decided to give him a chance. However I decided to read other book first The Kite Runner partially because it was cheaper than the other novel, partially because by reading his first novel it would tell me if spending another $25 would be worth it, and partially because a movie is being made http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0419887/ for the The Kite Runner and I always read the book first before I see the movie. Anyway I walked out with The Kite Runner and The Judas Strain, but I will read the The Kite Runner first and I will try and have a review up by next week.

Chappie #2: A listening ear

One of the dangers of being a chaplain is trivializing a person's pain or experience. It is relatively easy to do and if you do it too often the patient will shut up and not talk anymore or ask you to leave the room. And so you might loose the chance to support them.
How do you trivialize their pain? You do this by first listening to their experience and then telling them that..."Oh yes I have been through that" or "I know of someone who went through the same thing and this is how they got through it". This at first might seem good as your are just trying to show the patient that you are empathizing with them. But as they try to tell their story/pain and you try and interject with something of your own they begin to think that this person is not listening to me. And then they stop talking and let you talk which is the exact opposite of the role of the chaplain. In the first few visits the PT does not want to be told how to fix their situation or how you or a friend went through the same problem. They want to be able to tell their story/pain and they just want a person to listen. And that is hard as we, humans, seem to be hardwired to try and solve problems or talk about what we have been through instead of just listening.
This applies to every day life as well. How often do we find a friend in need or in pain and when they try to tell their story we say, "Oh it's not that bad, I had the same thing happen to me/friend/co-worker etc and this is what happened". Or "Wow that stinks, but you know what this is how you can change that". And so instead of letting the person tell us the depth of their pain, we wall it off, and try to fix it instead. Pain, like grief, needs to be worked though not necessarily solved. And that is hard because as Americans we tend to avoid pain as much as possible. Eventually Time and God allows for the healing/solving process to begin, but in the meantime we need to just to shut our mouths, (indeed zipper them if need be) pray, and open our ears.

Happy 4th of July

I love the 4th of July! I love the fried food, the warm weather, and then the fireworks. For me it always takes too long for the Sun to pass through the horizon. Silently I will the Sun to move it's last sliver past the Earth so that my mind can be blown away by the magic of our hosts. I love seeing the contrasts of red/purple, blue/green, and orange/white across the night sky. And it amazes me the new shapes and designs within designs that the engineers come up with every year. I cannot wait for the day that a dragon such as the one Tolkien writes of at Bilbo's party come to pass!!

My fav. 4th of July happened near Hearing Beach in MA. I had heard their fireworks were pretty good and as I had never seen fireworks over the water before I was determined to go. So I picked up about 15 friends and we went to the beach for the afternoon playing in the water, getting bit by horsefly's, playing Volleyball, and eating dinner. Then around 9pm it all started but not at our beach. A town a few miles down started early with a HUGE bonfire and then they set off their fireworks. It was cool but I was disappointed because they were so far away and so we could not take part in the fun......then 5 min later fireworks again started going off. These were much closer and m0re colorful but again they were coming from another town a mile up the beach. Then BOOOM....BANG.....POP the fireworks I had come to see were here!!! There were all sorts of shapes and sizes and colors and they were beautiful. And the best part was that I could look all around me and see fireworks! I could look down the beach and I could see them! I could look up the beach and see them there too. And then I could lay down in the cool sand with my eye to the stars and see those explosions of light and be satisfied. And for a time I was able to put away my worries of Hebrew, and of my job, of the youth ministry I volunteered at, and how I was going to pay for the next yr of school and just be.

And so that time of year is once again here. I am looking forward to seeing friends, eating good food, and maybe throwing around a Frisbee, but the main attraction is those bursts of light and sound. And while they are often too short of a show they are none-the-less beautiful and make me look forward to the great celebration, the one that will never end, that is yet to come.

Crazy Yo-Yo guy

This guy is nuts. I wonder how much time he put into this act?
http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=512516&fr=&cache=1