Stuff from August, 2003
This is the archive of tumbledry happenings that occurred on August, 2003.
This is the archive of tumbledry happenings that occurred on August, 2003.
On the First of June, 2001, someone special sent this to me:
A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared.
He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole.Then it seemed to stop making any progress.
It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could, and it could go no further.So the man decided to help the butterfly.
He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily.
But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings.The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time.
Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings.
It never was able to fly.What the man, in his kindness and haste, did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were God’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.
Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives.
If God allowed us to go through our lives without any obstacles, it would cripple us.
We would not be as strong as what we could have been.We could never fly!
I asked for Strength………
And God gave me Difficulties to make me strong.I asked for Wisdom………
And God gave me Problems to solve.I asked for Prosperity………
And God gave me Brain and Brawn to work.I asked for Courage………
And God gave me Danger to overcome.I asked for Love………
And God gave me Troubled people to help.I asked for Favors………
And God gave me Opportunities.I received nothing I wanted……..
I received everything I needed!May your path be bright and full of light everywhere you go.
And, I pray your feet will never stumble out of God’s plan.
May the desires of your heart come true,And may you experience Peace in everything you do.
May Goodness, Kindness, and Mercy come your way.
And, may you gain Wisdom and grow in the Lord everyday.
“You know Steve” I said, as we sat waiting to leave, “It’s sorta like this: you study for the test, you take the book home and sit down with it and pour over it, taking notes and committing the information you need to memory. Then you get plenty of sleep, eat a good breakfast, and then show up for the test, ready to succeed; but they burn the test in front of you and then tell you that you got an F.”
Jul 28 [TumbleDry] - Front Page Feedback 1k
Jul 28 [TumbleDry] - Front Page Feedback 1k
Jul 28 asdf 4k
Jul 28 gateway 27k
Jul 28 (none) 25k
Jul 28 Requested Dell Quote(s) #114662620 90k
Jul 28 Requested Dell Quote(s) #114662688 88k
Jul 28 Requested Dell Quote(s) #114668908 89k
Jul 29 Requested Dell Quote(s) #114752093 90k
Jul 29 Rquested Dell Quote(s) #114754263 (TAKE OFF 9… 99k
Jul 29 gateway 26k
Jul 29 gateway 27k
Jul 29 gateway 10k
Jul 30 Gateway 9k
Jul 30 [TumbleDry] - Front Page Feedback 1k
Jul 31 [TumbleDry] - Front Page Feedback 1k
Jul 31 [TumbleDry] - Front Page Feedback 1k
Aug 1 [TumbleDry] - Front Page Feedback 1k
Aug 1 [TumbleDry] - Front Page Feedback 1k
Aug 2 [TumbleDry] - Front Page Feedback 1k
Aug 2 [TumbleDry] - Front Page Feedback 1k
You know, at last I’ve learned true kindness from people. It has been absolutely wonderful to see people who were acquaintances step up and show genuine compassion, caring, and kindness to me - it has truly been the greatest surprise that I have experienced in a long time. I mean literally everyone I have met in these past couple of years that I have talked to recently has shown me their kind, genuine, thoughtful, helpful side and the realization of those qualities in other people has helped me become more optimistic about humans in general. People really do care, they really do want to help, and when you are a genuine person towards everyone else, they will respond in kind with time.
I have so many song lyrics that could describe right now. Problem is, you wouldn’t hear the music that goes with them, that supports them, that gives them the poetic shape that words to music have. It’s like this song I wrote, you read it and it sounds like bad poetry, but you put it to music and it sounds like … bad song writing. No, just kidding, I like that song a lot and you definitely notice an intangible asset that music supplies to poetic phrases. That’s what I have been picking out in every song I have listened to. I think the way we experience music is filtered through our current feelings, our current thoughts, our recent actions. Music filters and channels life. That’s why hi-fi is important; who wants their life filtered through crap equipment? No, I’m kidding, the beauty is the equipment doesn’t matter too much; but it can lessen the distraction of music reproduction and help us skip to the soul-refinement we all seek (in one way or another) through listening to music.
You know, you think you come up with something original for a website name. And considering the services offered, I am pretty confident nobody else runs a blog/online resource journal named tumbledry.org. Regardless of that fact, I am rather disappointed to say a game called “Tumble Dry” was invented already. Read the full story here. An excerpt reveals some true stupidity:
Continuing the tradition of me recording what I do during summer days and then clamming up whenever I get busy, I will share what I did today (see, because it’s a summer day). I helped clean the garage, which involed intense wood reorganization. This was followed closely by a trip to Cafe Latte on Grand Avenue. They have excellent deserts with a most bodacious atmosphere and food quality. While bodacious is not the most descriptive adjective, I am assuming you can infer the words “clean, friendly, high quality” from that vague vernacular. After Cafe Latte, I returned home to mow the lawn. It’s funny how meditative mowing can be. I mean, I thought about everything while I was mowing; from the movie the previous night, to nights years in the past, to old memories of watering the lawn, to yesterday, to singing, to thinking ahead to this evening. I think lawn mowing is necessary because it causes us to slow down our thoughts; we can’t multi-task while we are mowing. We are forced to let our minds wander into vast halls of introspective thinking and this is where everyone’s rejuvenation and creativity stem from. The meditative process of mowing causes us to reexamine and reinvent ourselves because we come to understand the well-spring of ourselves that exists within ourselves. I am not being sarcastic here; mowing really could give way to a philosophy of being.
Now, it probably won’t appear as such when I update (because this clock is off by one hour), but this is the last hour of the 8th of August. Never in my strangest dreams would I have thought this day would be the way it has been. I had looked forward for a long time to a final anniversary before the beginning of college. That is, obviously, not what happened. My night out with friends was a great time, however, and I sincerely believe that we all enjoyed our time at the Mall, Caribou, and Ryan’s.
How many times have you felt that spark between you and someone else? You see them, they see you, the two of you undeniably connect.
Then the best part comes.
You think to yourself, “Wow, we could grow this spark from an isolated flash to a tiny flame on a dry leaf to a towering bonfire of passionate love.” Suddenly, you snap back to the moment you left only a minute ago; you are just sitting there looking at someone you call a friend. Girls have been known to do this but guys do as well. Men have imaginations, too. They will extrapolate far into the future, perhaps not as readily as the typical female (forgive my misguided observation of humans, it may be completely wrong, but I’m just a guy saying what I’m thinking), but nevertheless they will feel that little spark and look ahead to the bonfire.
You know, I forgot to mention how fun the car trip to the Mall of America was with Matthew, Steve, Peter, Katherine, Tommy, and Ryan. It was one of the best road trips I have taken yet. That’s rather sad, considering the length of the trip was very short; but either way Peter did say it reminded him of the trips he took with his family … in a good way.
This is the history of my package(s) moving around the country. They’ll be here mega soon; thankfully because I’ve told everyone an their sister’s brother that this thing is coming today.
Service Type: GROUND
Weight: 48.00 Lbs
Well, last night we celebrated Ryan’s birthday (I think I mentioned that) but before-hand I hung out with Mr. MW - we had an awesome time at archery; I never knew he was into that sort of activity. Unfortunately, I missed the target completely once and nearly lost the arrow. We were searching for some time until I learned something … see, I brought out the arrow into the field and saying, half jokingly, “see these things attract one another” but it’s true - it really works! So, I guess that’s a pretty useless piece of trivia.
Definitely accomplisehed some goals today; reading Invisible Man went quite well. As an added bonus, I got 4+ hours of sun while reading - isn’t summer life wonderful? I must admit, though, I got all dressed up this evening and had nowhere to go for sometime. I had stuff planned, but things tend to get started later in the evening. Eventually, though, all the lines got worked out and we all ended up at Steve’s watching Star Wars (the very first movie, which is excellent) and drinking lemonade. Oh, and those Cinamon Toast Crunch things - WOW. You just can’t beat sugary breakfast cereal. I also would like to point out that reading a book by any lake is very relaxing. The sunset was beautiful.
Drive in last night! American Wedding was only partially viewed by me, so I’m not really prepared or willing to pass judgment on the quality of that movie. The franchise is a basic format, as is the gross-out comedy they utilize. The actors, however, carry it all off quite well. Bad Boys II - now that had some gratuitous violence packaged in the “buddy-cop” format. Once again, it was pulled off well and the mammoth budget on which the movie was produced helped the special effects a lot. In the days of moves like The Matrix, it takes a lot to impress people with effects. I left before the third movie started and people helped me get out of the place - man it’s hard at night to navigate out. But I did discover that you can leave your radio tuned to the station and pick up the movie dialog for about 2 miles out of the Drive-In. It sure is a strange feeling to only hear and not see; I suppose it’s like being on the phone. Anyways, I think an excellent idea would be broadcasting movies on XM Radio. Or, if that idea didn’t fly, movie soundtracks. Like the music from Cider House Rules by Rachel Portman. I highly recommend that soundtrack - I need to buy it here.
Subtlety, tact, humor, poise, sincerity, wit, intelligence, perception, grace, style, confidence, affability, strength, maturity, immaturity, kindness, decency, morality, creativity, dependability, reality.
There were these beached whales, and people were helping to save them. The problem is, the whales get upset (you would too if you were beached) and they’re stomachs get upset. The fix for these upset stomachs is really cool.
Everybody at Peter’s was unbelievably mellow last night. We have been this way lately because we are all looking at this big looming “college” and wondering what’s going to happen. We were so ready to end high school and true, that feels like it was a long time ago now. But, we are all looking at one another and asking “are we ready for this?” We get a different answer from one another each time. Slowly but surely, we see our friends leave and go off to what amounts to a new life. It’s definitely a strange time in our lives; like everybody is leaving this land to start a new life. Everything feels bigger and more important than ever before. We are losing so much and gaining so much. The best and the worst has come out in everybody. Friendships are being broken, cemented, and formed much to quickly for anybody to keep track of. So, it’s the stress of all of these changes that makes us so mellow. I think we’re all going to make it.
This guy was interviewed on NPR about his book. Sounds pretty general? Let me fill you in. Lance Morrow wrote a book with an intriguing concept entitled Evil: An Investigation. This book outlines the huge topic of evil and its history.
I’m sick and tired of these inane and meaningless conversations that I’ve had with people. No, a specific conversation does not come to mind. But sometimes you begin this chat with an acquaintance and discover it is absolutely pointless and you are talking about nothing. You are just blithely exchanging clever turns of phrase that mean nothing but roll off the young adult tongue with a certain panache only the immature can muster. What’s the point in having a conversation like that? To show off one’s knowledge of the current vernacular? Well, it may be to get to know that person better and then proceed to conversations on a more meaningful level; but I am a believer in talking about something the two of you feel something about. That’s where gossip can come in; as an avenue to common ground. But I don’t mean gossip; I just value having that superficial conversations about something, anything but not nothing, good God not nothing.
Steve and them went to the Twins game to witness our victory! Go Twins! Matthew sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” using his best operatic abilities. From what I hear, it was a riot. Lots of wave action as well.
But I wasn’t even there, why am I talking about it?
Tonight we visited Target and Borders and Caribou and had a most rousing time. I returned my graduation gift for a gift-card (side note; why don’t we get cash anymore?) and confirmed my suspicions that the new eastmountainsouth cd is actually magnificent. My list of CD’s to buy/get now is four cd’s long gasp
I was talking to Adam and we concluded (as I had already decided, but confirmed with him) that you don’t need a good reason to break up with somebody. You just have to do it politely. Adam’s an awesome kid; I wished him luck in college and that may be the last time I see him for years.
Well, Matthew has confirmed the Whitacre Effect on day two of the experiment. It has been, in fact, proved that listening to Eric Whitacre whilst falling asleep causes the subject to fall into a deep, long, and restful sleep.
An unfortunate side effect is the inability to wake up at the time you need to. Therefore, doses of Eric Whitacre should only be used in a situation where the time at which you wake up is not important. However, when you do have the chance to listen to his music and knock yourself out for the night, you will emerge from your slumber quite rested and refreshed.
The following documents my workout schedule for myself. I weigh 135 pounds, my 170% is benching 230 pounds, which is slightly under my one rep max on bench. Why am I sharing this? It’s certainly not an ego trip, this is just a convenient place to record this all. If you aren’t interested, (I know I wouldn’t be) then don’t read. Either way, I guess the world can see what my workout schedule is:
We’re right in the middle of the pre-freshman-year-in-college exodus. It is so very strange to see everyone leaving. The summer was long enough, and we are ready to go, but leaving has a strange sense of finality to it. I should re-cap yesterday as has been my habit lately:
Me, Steve, and Matthew have gone many places together lately. We get along very well and enjoy one another’s company. It’s funny how the routine works; I talk to Matthew earlier in the day, call Steve around dinner time, call Steve again in about a half hour, and then we all go do something. Actually, that routine is over now, I think, with the possible exception of this evening. Anyways, we went to John’s BBQ last night and had a good time. Talked with some people, ate some very good burgers, saw the new skate park, and left some emails and phone numbers. I walked up to the Royal’s football field and looked out across it for about 10 minutes, remembering. Those Friday night football games were so much fun - I miss that cool fall air, the rowdy people, and going places afterwards. I marched on that field, had track meets (way back in the day) on that field, and witnessed many-a-game there. I’ll miss those times so much. I’ll miss the people more. Moving on; we left the BBQ and drove on over to Caribou for the meeting of Those Who are Left in Woobbury©. Unfortunately, Steve locked his keys in his car. We tried everything to get that dang door open. The window was down about an inch and a half and it was so frusterating dangling things into the car, trying to hook the lock lever. Eventually, a policeman came by and we borrowed a long metal pole car opener device to open the door. Congratulations to Ben Matthews for getting the thing open.
I just love this Haiku poem about computers:
With searching comes loss
and the presence of absence:
“My Novel” not found.
I’ll remember that when Word crashes during some term paper in the future.
A good friend will bail you out when you get arrested. A best friend will be sitting next to you saying, “dude that was freakin awesome!”
MLG[edit]: oh my god
MLG[edit]: i just got to the bed bath and beyond website
MLG[edit]: and i tried to look up my account
MLG[edit]: and it sent me to bridal registry instead
MLG[edit]: and it says that i am getting married to susan mentges on august 25
MLG[edit]: thats so weird
I right clicked and hit “disconnect.” It asked me if I was sure I wanted to disconnect. I clicked “yes.”
But I wasn’t sure.