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| Well have you been counting? if you have you'll realize its been 146 days since my last xanga post... weird huh? i guess xanga was one of those fads that sounded exciting to me for about 15 minutes until i got over it and went back to what i was doing before xanga. so my purpose for this random May 14 post is to give a toast. well who am i toasting? i'm toasting the person who made it a major priority in my life to go out on wednesday nights and toast to another successful week of STINT. i'm toasting to someone who came into my life as an unknown mysterious kid and now stands as one of my best friends and is closer than a brother to me. thats right, i'm toasting the best roommate to ever grace my humble presence, Billy Van Elk (thats capital V capital E).
I guess i'm really amazed at how much this kid... well, this man has affected my life. i can't say i liked him from the start, i can't say i liked him every hour of every day. we had a good amount of healthy conflict between us. one day i threw a little yogurt at him (you know the ones your mom packed in your lunch) and it exploded all over his shirt. i think he was mad at me for that. he wasn't always very good at flushing the toilet after using it (which meant presents for me). i think he even got a certain joy out of making fun of my random music taste which sometimes includes a bit of country. so i would say that we weren't completely compatible. but something happened this year, something changed. i thank God that he taught us something that no one will ever take away... he taught us how to not only get along but how to learn to love each other.
i guess there was the true beginning of our friendship... that faithful month of vacation where we didn't have to be friends if we didn't want to but we chose to. there's a specific night (with specific pictures) of 3 guys (me, billy and cam) who felt like 3 best friends hangin at the pub watchin football on the tele in tropical paradise. i loved that night and the many others like it. i loved being there with my best friend billy. i loved how this kid i probably would've never hung out with in college was the same kid i couldn't get enough of when i had the choice to go my own way.
then comes after thailand, back to real life... surely we would go back to the normal married couple attitude we'd so easily pulled off for the 5 months previous. strangely something had changed, we still chose to hang out with each other. we started doing wednesday bar nights (best idea ever), we started connecting on deep issues like girls, sports and God... (what else is there? ), we would even hang out at home. it was really great. billy and i were becoming true friends.
it wasn't until last week that i really learned how much i care for billy and how much of an affect he has had on my life. its sad to say i didn't realize it until i had to see him face the toughest situation he has and probably will ever face. but when it came i surprised myself. when i saw him weeping uncontrollably over the passing of someone so close to him i couldn't stop myself from weeping uncontrollably with him. i've never had a friend this close to me! i've never experienced the feeling of loss of someone i don't know so intensely through someone i do know. i guess it all sums up to this... love. i love billy. i know its weird for me to confess it on xanga (its happened before) but i love billy van elk. he has obviously become more than a coworker, more than a roommate, more than a teammate, more than a friend, more than a best friend even... i really don't know how to describe it. i was talking with christine the other night and trying to figure all this out. i've had close friends face similar tough situations and i've never felt such a loss for them. so what does that say about billy? i know that he is like a brother to me and a best friend... i guess i'll just call him a bfrother.
(for this part you have to picture a chill bar with couches, candles and probably a pole dancer)
so i'd like to raise a toast to my beloved bfrother Billy Van Elk. a toast to a kid who came into my life as someone i would've walked away from if i had a choice, and left my life as someone i couldn't bear to see go. a kid who now is quickly growing into a man with some big shoes to fill. and to a man who will be an incredible part of everyones lives he comes in contact with, just like his father was. billy i love you and miss you, i can't wait to see you in a few weeks.
CHEERS!
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| It's been awhile... its hard to say if people read this, but i think
they do so i'll keep you all updated. so i like jazz... and i don't
think its the jazz i like about jazz. granted i like the horn riffs,
hot rhythms and sick basslines, but seriously there's something else i
like about it. that something is the atmosphere. so i was talking to my
friend the other day and we were discussing how much we like lamps to
light a room. no flourescent, no overhead lights, mostly lamps. but its
not the lamps i like, its the light. jazz... floor lamps... they both
add to the atmosphere.
so what the heck am i talking about? ya i don't know either. but
seriously who doesn't like atmosphere? panera bread? ya it has great
atmosphere. caribou coffee? definately better than starbucks in my
opinion. a nice restaurant with a live pianist? i'm definately about
the atmosphere. so my point is, don't forget about the atmosphere. you
may go to panera everyday and love it, but would you love it if there
weren't fireplaces, trendy light fixtures and comfy chairs? i probably
wouldn't either.
And another thing, i just started reading Don Miller's book "Searching
for God Knows What". I'm really excited to start a new book. I feel
like i've been reading instructional manuals on my faith for the last
few months and its nice to read something real and relatable. So if
you've got some recommendations for good books i can read that you
think are just plain good... i'd love to hear your recommendations.
So if you don't hear from me until then, MERRY CHRISTMAS! I definately miss you all!
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| well hello there friend! just to keep the blog feel i'll tell you that
i've been in a weird mood and i don't know why... i think this year i'm
learning about emotions, maybe i shouldn't have ignored them for 21
years of my life. i guess there's no better time than now to learn!
but, lets talk about my bike:
EDIT: my name is billy,
and scotty would really appreciate it if you took a second and clicked
on this sweet picture of his bike. it weighs about 50 pounds and he
carried it up to our fifth floor apartment. then he spent an hour
making this picture totally sweet with captions and boxes. so be a
pal, click on it.
Features:
- Old man handle bars and seat. A classic touch to this wonderful bicycle.
- Neon green lock.
All the cool kids are securing their bikes with these neat colored locks.
- Grocery carrier. Perfect for carrying grocery bags, a spare bike pump, or hot babes.
- One speed gear.
Who needs 21 speeds when you can have just one? I don't like shifting anyway.
- High Performance kickstand.
This kickstand has two main features - First it converts this road warrior into a
stationary machine. Second it has a specially designed spring-loaded kickback that
allows for incredible jump starts.
- Yongjiu Brand.
With a brand name you can trust, you know that you are buying a quality piece
of equipment.
This incredible bike has a standing weight of 60lbs. It's perfect for
down-hill riding, and has enough style that you'll look good struggling
up the next hill. It also includes tires, pedals, Jet black finish and
costs nothing. Can you think of a better bike to own while living in an
asian country? I know I can't!
... now that you guys have learned about my sweet new bike, i hope
you're as excited as i am. other than that, christmas is in 17 days,
adam weber comes in 20 days and i can't wait to have a 3rd roommate for
a week. ok i really don't know where to go from here, but you have a
wonderful week!
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| One day i'm going to learn to format my xanga posts so that they look a
lot sweeter than they do now, but until then you will just have to
deal.
so do you ever have one of those days when you are totally ridiculously
outlandishly crazy? ya i had one of those today, it was a good time.
Not that i did anything stupid or abnormal, i just couldn't stop
jumping around all day. in class, in my apartment, walking down the
street, during our meeting... me and billy decided to sing christmas
songs in soprano to people as we walked down the street. not that
people don't already think we're crazy, but if for some reason they
didn't, now they do!
i got a new bike today, and when i say new i mean it was new 47 years
ago. it's cool though, i felt like an old man riding it down the street
and had a great time carrying all 60 pounds of it up 5 flights of
stairs. so i'm really excited because one day when its nice out i'm
going to go for a bike ride, and you can never go wrong going for a
bike ride.
ok i'm done for now, merry christmas everyone, its coming in 20 days!
(its hard not to be aware of these things when you're in a foreign land)
-SCE
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| SOOOOOO... i shouldn't be posting on xanga, but i'm don't feel like
writing a prayer letter yet so i guess i'll just write something here.
but whats the difference anyway? i guess a prayer letter is a bit more
formal, has some nice vision pictures, makes people want to give
money... usually you want to talk about how good things are going, and
how God is working here... but you also don't always talk about whats
going bad and how the people smell...
Well let me say, today was a pretty darn good day... granted i hated
getting up for class, but that was great! for what seems like a few
weeks i've been waking up an hour before my alarm and not being able to
fall back asleep. Today, i woke up to my alarm and wanted to throw it
across the room, so thats good. Class was super boring, but i really
thought about things and am excited with what God is teaching me. And
then this afternoon i met with my asian friend and we had fun talking
about random things and i got to go deep with him about issues in life
and spiritual things. And to top it off, i went to KFC with the girls
for dinner. Oh ya, then we found this store that has candy that is
really good. OH YA, and then i talked to my good friend kim for awhile
and it was really encouraging.
So to say the least, that would be a pretty crappy prayer letter to send home... but i think its a pretty good xanga.
So please send all donations to my company, staff account #0570947
And don't forget that God is working all over the world.
and lastly, does asparagus really affect the smell of your pee? just wondering...
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