so i'm in jacksonville, florida, right now. i'll be here for less than 24 hours. i did not plan this trip very well and i don't like last minute changes.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
pc's suck
all i wanted to do was to establish an internet connection via a wireless USB adapter on my laptop. but no. it can't be as easy as i need it to be.
that's why i need a mac book pro. if you'd like to plant one into my life as a seed (ee oh la ma ha sha), just let me know. by the way, my birthday is in less than a month. i'll be posting my wish list on here soon, so go ahead and pray and let the holy spirit lead you on what you should bless me with.
Monday, May 28, 2007
mad lib
we went to steak-n-shake tonight to celebrate the arrival of noise (aka my nephews and niece) back into the house. i ate a very unhealthy meal, but oh well. it was good. was being the key word. now my stomach is in knots and i have gas like none other.
anyway, while we were waiting for our food to come, my younger nephew decided to do a mad lib. here it is:
A fat well-dressed lady with a giant action figure on her head came shaking into steak-n-shake. "hello, all you wonderful pigs, I'm here to present the award for the city's best punch buggy." she opened a boob, took out a person, and handed it to an ugly server. "here's your trophy. congratulations," she said, applauding and excitedly burping. then she went back outside, got in her cheeseburger and left.
you gotta love it.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
shhh
so i've got the house to myself for a few days while everybody else is out of town. it's amazing how quiet the house is when there aren't seven other people here.
Friday, May 25, 2007
hillary clinton's campaign song
i'm not planning on voting for hillary, but this is pretty creative on her part.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
brother bowe
i've written then deleted then written then deleted this post about a gazillion times now. i can't come up with a creative and interesting way to say what i want to say. so i'm just laying it on the table.
my friend has been forced to face tremendous tragedy lately in the brutal murder of his brother. when i talked to him yesterday i didn't know what to say. my condolences or i'm praying for you just didn't seem to cut it even though both statements are true.
what struck me most about him on the phone yesterday was that even in the midst of his evident pain, he still asked how i was doing. asked how my parents were doing. asked how my sister and her family were doing. maybe it was a way to deflect the underlying pain, but it doesn't matter to me. he's always putting others before himself.
he's an awesome guy and i'm proud to call him friend. his wife and my nephew are pretty cool too.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
jina langu ni mzungu
so it's a little after 1am and i have insomnia. so what do i do when i have insomnia? surf youtube. i ran across this jewel of a video of a mzungu speaking swahili just like a kenyan. the accent is there. the inflection is there. the tone is there. my swahili isn't nearly as good as his.
listen to the first 15 seconds or so and see for yourself. a.ma.zing.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
i'm an ass
i don't understand people who don't vote. now if you're in the hospital, or out of town or something like that, then i understand. but if you're in town and you just don't vote then you best not complain about politics in front of me.
we were talking about this at lunch today when a lady said, "i don't vote. it's all in God's hands anyway." i could feel my face getting red. i really wanted to say something but i kept my trap shut. it's in God's hands anyway!? are you kidding me!? while i agree that everything is in God's hands, there must come a point where free will enters the picture and we take responsibility. if you lay in your bed and watch tv all day long and do nothing to earn a living, then your power is going to be cut off. that's just a fact of life. God's not going to miraculously provide supernatural power to your tv because you're holy. no, you have to get out of bed each day and do something to earn some dough so you can pay the cable. the same principle goes with politics. if you don't agree with the current administration, or conversely you do agree with the current administration, then you should make your voice known. that's the beauty of democracy: we can speak and be heard.
by the way, if you know my family very well you'll know that they're all big fat elephants and i'm an ass.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
he thinks he plays for kentucky
Saturday, May 19, 2007
str(h)umming this song
the simplest of all love songs i want to sing to You so i'll let my words be few Jesus, i am so in love with You
the semester before my internship in durban, we had a practicum retreat at the top of signal mountain, tennessee. all of the students going on a practicum the following summer were there along with all of the pastoral ministry majors. it was a weekend of intimate worship and good 'ole christian fellowship. hallelujah, glory to the lamb.
one of the things i remember most about that weekend was this song. some of the practicum students and dr. moodley were sitting around on the couches in our pajamas when a member of my team picked up her guitar and slowly started strumming this song. it was the first time that all of the practicum students - whether we were going to south africa or india or brazil or wherever - really, and i mean really, prayed for each other.
and so i've been humming this song all day long.
You are God in heaven and here am i on earth so i'll let my words be few Jesus, i am so in love with You
i took this picture right at six years ago. its hard to believe that its been six years since i've been to africa.
way. too. long.
chill out me
sometimes i take things too personally.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
philly recap
so i just got back from my whole 24 hours in the city of brotherly love.
as soon as we pulled into the hotel parking lot, the floodgates of heaven opened up. rain. lightning. thunder. more rain. no tv because of the weather + no wireless internet = boring.
we didn't get to eat at tangerine. too foo-foo for us in jeans. instead we ate at continental martini bar. i had chilean sea bass taco's and coconut sorbet. yum.
while i was driving near philly's city hall, a taxi driver hooted his horn at me and said, "hey you, we use our headlights at night here." to which i responded, "thanks - we don't use headlights where i come from."
my meeting today wasn't nearly as stressful as i thought it was going to be. i always get worked up before a meeting when i really don't have anything to worry about.
we had to run through the detroit airport tonight. literally. we landed at 6:38 and our connecting flight was leaving at 7:08. we got to our gate just by the hair of our chiny-chin-chin.
hoorah.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
tangerine
i'll be in philly tomorrow and i'm hoping to eat at tangerine restaurant. nothing better than (north) african cuisine.
baba ghanoush, hummus, roasted peppers in a pita with sliced meat and cheese. dry-aged new york strip with african spiced butter and miti-crema potatoes.
yum. yum. yum.
you know something's not right when
you log into your reader (yes, i have conformed and now read blogs through google reader) and see that ragamuffin soul and travis johnson and sunburned have all blogged numerous times since my last blog. it kind of makes me feel like i'm a failure at blogging.
but oh well.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
turn around
during church this morning i kept thinking of this song that sistah jacobs sings:
God said He would turn it around God said He would turn it around what the devil meant for evil God will make it good turn around turn around turn around
Saturday, May 12, 2007
mail call
uncle pat sent me a book in the mail today and signed the inside.
i love pranks. cool stuff.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
lessons learned
i kept BOTH of my nephews AND my niece tonight. by myself. and we're all still alive.
i decided i'd be brave and take them out in public by myself. all three of them. i've got grande kahones. we ended up going to the mall and eating. well, they ate. i kind of forgot to eat. i was too worried about them throwing their food on somebody, or what i was going to do with the boys if emma catherine had to go potty, or them all breaking down into tears because they couldn't get new heely's. after eating, we went and had some dippin dots. do you know how flippin expensive dippin dots are!? lesson learned #1 - get one medium size container of dippin dots and let them share.
after the mall, we went to petsmart to get some food for our fish. they decided while we were there that they wanted a cat and a dog. yup. lesson learned #2 - don't take kids to a pet store and expect to only leave with fish food.
after the pet store, we went to meijer to get some water for the fish. we ended up with a cart full of things instead of just a gallon of distilled water. lesson learned #3 - don't take kids to a grocery store after giving them a ton of sugar. while the other customers in the store might enjoy the show, it's really not so great for the lone adult struggling to keep the kids from doing cartwheels down the aisles.
ahhhh... there's nothing like free birth control. of course, i'm not getting any now so i guess it's really not an issue.
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
b game
I sucked at media shout tonight. My timing was off. I kept hitting the wrong buttons. I put the scriptures in wrong.
this one to the right decided to join me for exercise today. we walked/jogged the neighborhood in sixteen minutes flat. but if you think you can beat a ten year old in a jump rope contest, you are wrong. dead wrong. the final score was 47-29.
you. cannot. win.
ever.
Monday, May 07, 2007
confession: sometimes i get tired of waiting
wait passionately for God, don't leave the path. He'll give you your place in the sun while you watch the wicked lose it.
ps. 37:34 the message
Sunday, May 06, 2007
my sunday (recap)
9am service was better than normal. i'm liking the first service more and more.
11am service was a riot. it was "hat sunday" so pastor asked everyone to come to church wearing a hat. i had two favorite hats: 1) an older gentleman wore a HUGE pink hat with feathers and hearts all over it. 2) one guy wore a pirate hat along with a pirate shirt and pirate boots. apparently he thought it was costume day, not hat day. this just goes to prove that we're a church for everybody - including pirates and transvestites.
our music pastor, his wife and my sister sang and it was off. the. hook.
we tried to go to one of our favorite restaurants for lunch, harpers, only to find that it is permanently closed. that was a bummer.
since we don't have sunday evening service, our church traveled to our state capital, frankfort, to bless another church. it was great to see our current pastor continue something that our former pastor started. a few years ago, the former pastor started taking our church to smaller churches on sunday evenings just to be an encouragement. it was really nice to see his vision (still) being carried out.
as soon as church was dismissed, we hauled tail to the truck so we could get back to louisville to see the finale of the best tv show in the history of the world. i was quite sad when a family member called me about five minutes later to let us know that the finale had just ended. grrrrrr... oh well. there's always next year.
Friday, May 04, 2007
ouch!!!
Thursday, May 03, 2007
he went down in a blaze of glory
phil was voted off last night. boo! when my middle nephew found out that phil wasn't going to be on the show anymore, he went upstairs and cried. and cried.
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
i'm (apparently) a porker
a lady i know called me over to her desk today to talk. she said, "clay, what's this tire around your stomach? i then punched her in the face with one hand while simultaneously shoving cheetos in my mouth with the other hand.
that's real talent.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
mad ukulele
one of the things that i bet you don't know about me is that i'm a mad ukulele player. ok, not really. but i can play a slammin version of he's got the whole world in His hands.
jake shimabukuro's ukulele talent is a.ma.zing. take 43 seconds out of your day and watch this.
