Yesterday, my extended gang of hoodlum friends and I climbed up Mt. Si.

Only 45 minutes from Seattle and open even during parts of winter, it’s a great hiking location making it a local favorite for Puget Sound habitants. I’ve been going up every year since 2005 and I truly enjoy this mountain hike. You can see Bellevue from the top and, on really clear days, Seattle.

 

I had a rare Friday off of work and there was no way that I was going to waste it at home! Thus! A trip outdoors was in order! The weather was a lot warmer and more pleasant than I had hoped it to be and we were able to gather together a lot more of my dear companions that I had thought possible.

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Thursday night the most atrocious of events occurred: The Penguin was kidnapped!

Even now it’s still hard for me to talk about. The mere thought of him alone in the hands of some penguin-crazed kidnapper is distressing. Oh, my poor Napoleon~

Last Thursday was our end of the year party for quiz. As The Penguin loves the quizzers to no small measure, he decided to accompany me. Little did we know what sort of evil designs laid in store for an innocent penguin.

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A commonplace life, we say and we sigh,
But why should we sigh as we say?
The commonplace sun and the commonplace sky
Makes up the commonplace day.
The moon and the stars are commonplace things,
And the flower that blooms and the bird that sings;
But dark were the world and sad our lot,
If the flowers failed and the sun shone not.
And God who studies each separate soul
Out of the commonplace lives makes His beautiful whole.
—Anonymous

Found over at Boundless article The Beauty of a Commonplace Life

Yesterday was my dear friend Aralor’s 18th birthday.

This day marked the formal launch of his journey as a man. I say ‘formal’ as really, he’s been on that journey for quite a while now. He’s been pressing on towards the prize laid in front of him and I’m looking forward to the many things he will accomplish.

Chasing after his dream of working in the film industry, he’s almost done with his degree in video production. Already he’s been releasing short commercials for various projects. Soon he’ll be out making a name for himself. Mm… I think he may actually be making the full transition from the education phase to the ‘real life’ phase before myself.

Additionally, during his college career, he also concurrently participated in Teen Bible Quiz. Despite the many demands on his time and energy, he stuck with his last year of quizzing. Having done that myself, I know how hard it truly is and I am extremely proud of him. Not only for the benefit for himself but also because of the impact he’s had on the younger quizzers.

Besides all that, he’s an awesome, awesome young man and I am very proud to call him my friend.

Here’s to Aralor! No longer a child but a Man! May whatever he puts his hand to find success!

My sister made my day.

I came home from church, tired and weary, and plopped myself down in my chair to finish up some homework and what do I find?

Taped on my wall just above my laptop is a mini poster that my sister made for me. I don’t know yet why I received this random act of thoughtfulness but it still is awesome and very surprising.

And very, very much appreciated.

I don’t have a line of prospects that can give some kind of peace
There is nothing left to cling to that can bring me sweet release

My distress has subsided considerably but still there lingers remnants of it. Dozens of thoughts and concerns plagued my mind as I tried to wrestle through them and sort them all out. I still have yet to get them all into order. It’s not like I’m dealing with just one issue but rather with a convoluted mess of issues. I feel like I’m waging war on all fronts.

I’m at a sort of crossroads and can hear the future calling out to me. I know that something needs to be done but I can’t ascertain as to what that something is.

That’s not quite true. I know some of what needs to be done. I just need start living it. I no longer have the fear of drowning. No, my problem is now the breathing.

But the thoughts that still haunt me leave me in doubt and confusion. I feel a great weight upon me as I reach out to explain why this is. Where do I go from here? I am paralyzed by my indecision. I know the end result that I wish to achieve but not so much how to get there. Or if I can even get there.

I suspect most of my worries will soon evaporate proving themselves to be not worth the time of day. I know I shouldn’t worry about the future. The present has enough worries of its own. But… The future and present are intertwined in such a way that it is inevitable that thinking of one should bring up the other.

As I was rushing out the door this morning, I lost my keys. Somehow from my desk to the front door, I had managed to misplace the keys. I was already late as is and losing my keys was not something I had time for. But then again when is it ever the time?

I searched in futility for the keys. I enlisted my siblings’ help in the search but that availed to nothing. I nearly drove myself mad retracing my steps trying to remember where I could’ve misplaced them. In the end I had to call up Neemund and have him come pick me up.

We were late for the midterm. Something that I had chided Neemund about the night before as I suspected that he would be late. No… I was the reason for our lateness. What a fool I am.

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