Congratulations are in Order

So on Thursday morning (12-18) at about quarter after 4 in the morning our family welcomed a new face into our lives. Lucas Adriel (sp?) Teal was about 6 lbs 15 oz (?) and about 20 inches long when he arrived. He is the first son of my older brother Dave (to those of you who don't know me) and his wife Leta.

I am only now posting about it because I am lazy and I fugured, "Why bother, the only people who read my blog know already anyway." But then I though that it might be nice to tell about it just in case anybody new stumbles upon my blog (sorry bout that), I'd want them to know too, right?

So congratulations to Dave and Leta for their new baby boy! I still haven't seen him, but hopefully I will be able to make a trip to see him real soon.

Schools End

Tonight, and as a matter of fact, right at this moment, I am at school and awaiting the commencement of my last class of the semester. Am I glad it's soon to be over? I think so, I need a break from it all. In another month maybe I'll be ready to go back. Until then, I plan on... working... writing stuff... watching movies that I have not had time to watch... cleaning my room... and so on. I hope I did good on everything!

My US History teacher also gave me a B+ (he said I could have had an A, but I knew I didn't quite deserve one... so did he) and he also gave me a 20 year old video camera. The kind where you put an entire VHS tape inside it and stuff. For that I am grateful... even though it's not top notch, it will do for now.

That's about all for now.

An Attempt to Keep the Story Alive

I laid my head back down on the hospital be I was in and tried to concentrate. "What was it? What just happened to me?"

It was a scary thing not being able to remember something you had just experienced. It was kind of like being blind. Then I caught a glimpse of it. Was that really it? Was... no, that couldn't be. That's too weird, nobody would believe that... I wasn't even sure if I believed it. "Let's see," I thought to myself, "I was at the base... I was eating dinner with my comrades... No! I don't believe it!"

I groaned loudly, partly out of frustration and partly out of fear. The man from before, who I had assumed was a doctor of some sort, came rushing back into the room. He stood by my right arm and bent over and asked, "Are you remembering anything?"

I looked up at him and asked, "Where is everyone else?"

The man's answer put me back into a shock: "They're... they're all gone. Your the only one left alive, that's why we need to know what happened."

My head began reeling from the answer he gave me. "They... you... you wo-" I couldn't finish cause I couldn't get my thoughts organized. Finally I managed to get a sentence out, "I don't believe it!" I told him.

"What don't you believe? That your the only one alive? Or is there something else you don't believe?"

I Shut my eyes hard and braced myself, "Both." I responded, "I don't believe both... either." I corrected myself. "I-I-I need to..."

"I understand." said the doctor.


BLAH BLAH BLAH! That's all it is!

Another Beginning Never to be Finished

My head was spinning. I could no longer tell what was happening around me. The chaos was just too much for my mind to take in. Everything went dark.

I woke up in a white room, surrounded by men in coats rushing to and fro above me. I was laying on my back on a white mattress with an IV in my arm. "What happened?" I wondered to myself. The time was unknown to me and I had no idea how long I had been unconscious. One of the men noticed I was awake and rushed to my side.

"Sir," he began, "can you tell me what happened?"

I looked up at him slowly, my eyes blinded by the lights above me. I said nothing, I just stared. I still was trying to make sense of it all. I didn't even know where I was, how was I to know what happened?

"Sir, can you hear me?" the man continued. "If you can hear me, blink your eyes."

I tried to understand what he was talking about, but it was hard. I finally managed to blink my eyes twice. The man repeated his first question, "Sir, can you tell me what happened?"

Another man came to his side and looked intently at my face. He must have seen the confusion in my eyes because he told the first man to let me rest and ask me again later to see if I was more aware of what was happening. Both men left and I was left to wonder what they were talking about. "Why couldn't I remember anything? Why were they so interested anyway? Where was I?" My thought echoed deep within me, and I hoped, or did I fear that I should remember them soon.

jhdf

Next week I will be done with school for the semester... yay?

Probably No Good

This is probably a bunch of nonsense... but I wrote it in 10 minutes last night.

My mind is bleeding from the overwhelming senses / how can it be I am left so defenseless?/ These thoughts that invade me with all the wrong timing / this pain that pervades and infects and is binding / slowly begin to succumb to the feeling / of being so lonely at times so revealing / Numbed to the insults and lies that surround me / my every effort to love it is drowning.

Climbing up mountains but falling back down / all of the while never leaving the ground / Reaching up high / but being pulled lower / my fate it does seem is to be ever poorer /
My eyesight gone bad with my mind in a blur / Why can’t I seem to get out of this slur / of rejection and feeling that there’s nothing left / but to just sit and wonder if worse will come next.

I try to continue I’m met with defeat / why must this life be so filled with my grief /
Cornered at last and with nowhere to turn / I gaze heavenward and my heart starts to yearn / Why for so long did I not even see / what I was looking for was right in front of me / At last hope was grasped and life was renewed / and my soul was no longer twisted or skewed.

It still needs a few revisions....

Love and Marriage

It seems to be that my Sociology class on Monday nights is never lacking in lively discussions. Last night, the discussion revolved mostly around the topic of the family. Issues ranged from Polygamy to "hitting" children. The discussion I found the most... interesting was on love and marriage. The claim was that in societies where love is the main reason behind marriages, the divorce rate is higher. In societies with arranged marriages, the divorce rate is considerably lower.

I will now take a minute to say that this post may be a little edgy... meaning for more mature... how do I say this? Not for little people! There we go.

While my professor did acknowledge the fact that in most societies with arranged marriages, divorce is illegal, he still seemed to press the idea that maybe marriage because of love was the big issue behind the higher divorce rates. Also presented was the idea that marriage for love was a relatively new concept (I disagree, but I didn't say why).

But could there be another reason the divorce rate is so high that is going unnoticed?

Here is my take on the situation; what are we falling in love with as a society? I once heard a lively discussion on a local radio station about how stupid it was to wait until after marriage to... yeah, that. The DJ's likened it to buying a car before taking it for a test drive. I was completely dumbfounded! So this is what the popular ideas of the day are??

OK, so on the more obvious side, people are not cars, I want to stress this point. This analogy - which is evidently more widespread than I imagined - is completely bogus. You get to know a car by taking it for a test drive. You get to know people by spending time with them.

My thoughts were much more organized last night. :/

So, what are we falling in love with in this society, the "test drive"? I think so. That is why the divorce rate is so high; people fall in love with the "test drive" and they don't know who they are marrying. After marriage, the high wears off and then the realization sets in: "Oh boy, I married a jerk!"
"Well if you had waited, and instead taken the time to get to know the person, maybe you would have known that before you got married, eh?"

Wow, so when the Bible instructs us to wait until after marriage to have sex, it's not just being old fashioned, it's being logical! Now there's a new concept! (sarcasm)
Actually, the reasons for this instruction are many, and all of them are logical.

Now is this the sole reason for divorces? No, of course not. But if people would just realize the benefits of waiting, it is my firm belief that the divorce rate (no matter which one you look at) will plummet. Or maybe I'm just being old fashioned and legalistic.

I had some other points to make, but I have to leave now.