As much as I love working at home

Once upon a time I used to pen introspective thoughts late at night while my roommates were sleeping. Some people seem to miss those ponderings, and sometimes I do, too.

I think often those writings were born out of not knowing what to write, and just forcing myself to plunk something out. Lately (meaning the past several years) I’ve found other things to talk about on this blog and didn’t have the need to force it. Maybe something was lost in that.

So here goes…

Continue reading A Little Personal →

If you don’t read my other incredibly insightful blog, Real Magazine, shame on you. No, just kidding. It’s written for teens, so I don’t expect everyone to be into it (though I do post more pop culturey stuff over there).

Anyway, I wanted to point your attention to a ‘When I Was Your Age’ entry I wrote over there, Sixteen and Behind the Wheel. I’ve talked about this column before, it’s something I write for my youth group’s newsletter and it seems like a good fit for Real.

This post is all about the joys of driving for teens and includes some of my stupider moves in life. If you like the series, you can also check out my Christian T-shirt entry. I hope to keep adding them on a semi-regular basis.

It’s time for some porch blogging. I’d go for deck blogging, like Jordon Cooper, but it keeps spitting rain. Yesterday and today have been absolutely beautiful weather wise, and I’ve decided today was a worthwile Sabbath day.

Continue reading Sunday Afternoon Porch Blogging →

Lately I’ve been reading the works of Donald Miller. Well, two of them: Blue Like Jazz and Searching for God Knows What. I liked Blue Like Jazz a whole lot more, and I realized it’s because Miller told a lot more personal stories in that book.

Continue reading Tell Me a Story →

For some time now I’ve had recurring dreams about high school. It’s usually some sort of trauma-inducing scenario, like my old high school was remodeled and now I can’t find my classes and I get lost and end up in the wrong place. Utter embarrassment results every time.

Sometimes there are extra twists, like I lost my glasses and am slowly going blind, or I can’t remember my schedule, or I lost my homework or something. But it’s always high school.

High school for me was the epitome of social awkwardness. Nothing captures that feeling better than the short-lived TV series Freaks and Geeks. Yesterday my wife and I watched the first episode again, and the pain was palpable. The gym class awkwardness, the intimidation of older, bigger students, the outsider status.

Some people say high school is the best four years of your life. I think people who say that should be committed.

It’s amazing how my blogging comes in fits and spurts. I’ll post ten entries in three days, and then go three days with absolutely nothing. I’m not sure how you as a reader feel about that, but it’s a bit freeing as a writer to not have to care about that. That’s just the way it is. So there.

I’m feeling introspective this morning, so we’ll be doing a bit of rambling. I’ll just jump to the extended entry now since I doubt much of this will be very interesting.

Continue reading Reflective Saturday →

I haven’t done much pondering lately. I’ve been rather busy. Writing a novel, listening to U2, eating turkey, posting things like this. It’s been hard to just sit down and think.

Continue reading Brains on Overdrive →

Bad news comes in the form of unexpected communication. A phone call interupting the otherwise normal day. A letter with a strangely familiar return address. An e-mail from someone you haven’t heard from in a while.

It’s that long streak of silence that’s so worrisome. Then suddenly a burst of communication and you want to curl up and cry. Or sigh. Or hang your head and keep asking why. I knew it was coming, too. It was just a matter of time.

I wonder how long we’ll have to deal with it, how long we’ll have to go back and forth, from walking on egg shells, to getting comfortable again, to not hearing anything and then a sudden blow. The distance is getting farther, but the pain is no less. It’s not the same without her.

I know it will probably be like this forever. I’m not being pessimistic, just realistic. It may not always be as extreme, I pray it won’t, but it will always exist. Like an alcoholic, there will always be the danger of relapse. It’s the human condition.

It reminds me of a poem I wrote so long ago, when it was just beginning. A beautiful dandelion, so much potential, and your head’s getting popped. It cuts to the bone.

And all I can write are cryptic ramblings to a unexpecting public. Sorry folks, it’s not all quips and quotes.