today I AM happy

this weekend has been truly great. I will even venture to say that this weekend was so great that I feel good about going to work tomorrow without the usual Sunday night dreading.
This blog has done me some good. I made a pact to myself to write everyday if I could and I have kept my pact. I feel more in control of my life now too. This weekend I got fed up with sitting at home doing not much of anything and I decided to do something about it (partly thanks to Tom for yelling at me for sitting in front of my computer all the time).
So guess what, I picked up the phone and called some people. And guess what, I actually went out to do something Saturday night. And this was after a productive time honing my music. I met with two of my friends who introduced me to a third hilariously funny guy who I hope to get to know better and we just played cards, talked about stuff, and ate salsa and chips. And it was great!
Then today church went well. Really well! For the first time I felt like I really got through to not just some, but all of my students in my small group. It went so well I amazed myself.
Then I went out to lunch with a married couple who are friends of mine and I laughed harder then I have in a long time. Then I spent a good 3 or 4 hours in the bookstore and ended up buying two new books. yes, I treated myself. And when I walked out it was snowing! Needless to say I got really excited by that.
So I say all that to say this. Good friendships take work. For the past year, I haven't been developing relationships like I have wanted to and I am still not, but now I feel like Im more in control of what happens, for whatever reason.
I have to ponder this more, but dont think this is the end of the subject. Also, stop back Tuesday night for my election commentary. You are sure to love it! ;-)

It makes sense...

"I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day."
-- E.B. White

"Today I add to the world by creating alongside my Creator." - J.Day

The Internet is a Brute Beast

Well I have been wanting to write this thing I wrote awhile back on here for you guys, but something else newsworthy came up and I will talk about it first. Osama is alive and well. He released his first tape in a year and he basically said he was responsible for the 9/11 attacks. Its interesting stuff and I will say no more right now, but grab a chance to read it on one of the news sites. Its interesting that it came out just before an election. More later...
So here is my my internet haiku...
The internet is a brute beast. Crude in all its ways. Its authority is not taken from an institution like a book. Rather, it takes its authority by force. The internet is the street. Its chaotic, but at the same time wonderful. It teaches lessons no book could ever teach and it revels in its freedom. It is many things, but the one thing it is, is you...

open ended-questions

Dont forget to ask open-ended questions is part of what Im learning this week. Also, be reflective peoples answers to show you are listening to them and show empathy. lastly, clarify needs. these steps work in many situations. presenting solutions to problems. Check this out...
young lady hasn't met the right guy yet. I could be that guy. I seek out her problem (she is cute and single), I present myself as the solution (put myself in a light that she will like) I ask open ended questions to see if I can satisfy her needs and wants. I reflect things she says and I am empathetic with her concerns. And I clarify her needs and show her how I can satisfy them. Then I reaffirm her decision to go on a date with me and thank her for making such a wise decision.
Sales training is great!!! lol.

curiosity slowing

So when it comes to high blood pressure driving in Denver is one of the few things that does it for me. I was listening to the radio two days ago and I heard the term "curiosity slowing" refering to people gawking and rubber-necking and something like a broken down car or police lights. Oh, I just hate it but it seems inevitable. People just can't resist looking at the pretty lights. Cant we get some kind of training program for people?
Another thing is how people slow down when they are going up a hill. Dont you know that to maintain your speed you need to press down the gas a little more? Geez, can I teach this class or what?
Lastly, but certainly not lastly, is a term Ive decided to coin called "clothslining". Its when two cars are side by side going the same speed so you cant pass them causing a big lineup behind them. Would somebody get a clue already? My gosh...
Now I gotta go take some yoga courses to bring my blood pressue back into check...

corporate rules!

no I dont mean to say corporations are bomb-diggety, I mean corporations have a lot of rules. It was kinda funny what happened today, but I held my chuckle inside. So I have this weeklong class on sales and customer service and most of it seems like such a waste of time. Ha, well to me my job in general seems like a big waste of time, but I see it as a way to provide service so I can get service. Thats the way the world goes round.
Anyhow, we were reading this section on proper dress, and one of the last rules was that employees should never roll their sleeves up because its "unprofessional". I dont know about you but I do it all the time just because of have this thing about not having anything around my wrists. Those of you that know me, know I hate wearing watches and you will never see me wearing one.
So Im thinking how dumb these rules are and I notice that our trainer is non-chalantly rolling her sleeves back down!!! It was all I could do to not laugh. Most of my classmates had their nose in the book reading the rules along with her but I saw it. haha! Oh yes, I love corporate. Dont you?

one thing leads to...

wow, this weekend has been just wonderful. I got to hang in the mountains with all the jr. high kiddos friday night and play s0me awesome Capture the Flag. And I got to talk to Lisa and Tim who I havent talked to in awhile. Lisa is the now x-teacher I mentioned in my previous post. I also met a guy named Rob too who is pretty good at guitar and is on the worship team at his church. Hopefully we will be jamming sometime soon.
Ron came in this weekend too. He is biking in Moab, visiting his friends here, and has a meeting in Apsen to promote his ski jump. I hope that goes through because Ill get to work with him if it does and I think that would be so cool.
Lastly, I had lunch with Emma and we talked about whats going on in our lives. She is headed to Hungary next year for a year or two to do missions work. Im excited for her. And Ill miss her just like I miss everyone else who leaves, but I guess Im part of that crowd too. The only thing in life that is constant is change...

Sure..., Unsure

Its a rare moment where we can be 100% sure of ourselves. We often question our abilities and if we don't we tend to be delusional. I seem to be the least sure of all people, but talking to people I find out that I'm more likely just the most honest.
Its funny that Im thinking of going into teaching and I just talked to a teacher last night that just quit teaching for good it seems. She is 26 and a lot like me. She still is wondering what she wants to be when she grows up although she has some good ideas. Anyhow, she told me she quit because she just couldn't be happy in an environment where she felt restricted from doing her best possible job trying to teach these kids something. I very much sympathized with her.
So do I do as I always do and let the negative things make me back away from my projected course or do I take them with a grain of salt and make the most of what I think could be a great career for me?
Or do I just go get a job fixing things no one else knows how to fix and make something like $50 an hour. Ha. We shall see...

I can't wash windows

Ha, well I'm just not very good at it. Now I know why people say, "I don't do windows" I can;t be good at everything. Heck, if you are good at one thing thats a great start!
But really, this email isn;t about windows, its about love. Yes love, or finding it at least. So this is my public confession. I just signed up for this online dating service. It costed me $19.99 for a month of access. Go figure. For the most part, I think its a waste of money. But Ill let you know how it goes. Curiosity got the best of me this time. *sigh*
Anyhow, Im headed up to the mountains tomorrow to have some fun. God, I love my get-aways. ;-)

I can never catch up

It seems like everytime Im finally getting somewhere I find that Im really no further ahead then I was anytime before. Am I messing things up or do I just need a new perspective in life? Don't let anyone say life doesn't require anything out of you cause it does. Its requires a lot actually. It requires love, sacrifice, work, etc. It doesn't require your happiness or joy. Those are things you can get out of life. It's give and take, and its all your own decision.
So my quarter life crisis is almost over I think. Hopefully Ill be getting into a groove I really enjoy soon. I was in one of those grooves once or twice in my life.specifically when I was a senior in college. Ah, I was in my glory then. No car, poor as all hell, but I loved it. I walked or rode with friends where I needed to go and everything just seemed to work out great. Ah, well I must go eat some dinner with my good friend Tom so I bid you adieu.

What a crazy day!

So my day starts out with me stalling and unable to start my car in the middle of Monaco on my way to work. Yep fun. Luckily, a good samaritan came and helped me push it off the road. So then I got my car towed to the Ford dealership next to where I work. (its great to work right next to a garage) The chick towing me was this 37 year old hot mom who actually owns this towing company. So we got to talking about all kinds of stuff and I asked her if she needed any drivers and she said yes. So I might be towing cars on Saturday real soon. Hey, extra cash and when I need to go to school its a pretty flexible job.
So I get to work and not much was going on today, but I had to go to this customer service class which was pretty lame but entertaining. haha. I did learn one thing though. I can be a pretty hard-nosed intellectual snob when anyone is trying to teach me something new. Yep, thats about all I learned in that class. ;-)
Anyhow, so it turns out my car just had a bad battery terminal cable connector. Its a 2 dollar part, thank God. So my car is back running just fine now. And I also went to a business dinner tonight. Hey, food on the company is the way to go. The city manager handed out awards. She is a riot. I love her cause shes crazy. A lot of goof balls work for Hertz. Its a pretty mixed crowd.
And you know what, I cant really complain about my job. Its a great job for anyone who wants it, but I always have this need to move on and it isnt exactly what I want to really get into so I dont feel like I should stay there too long lest the money get the best of me. More on that later I guess.

So there issss HOPE

Hope dangles on a string, like slow spinning redemption... -Dashboard Confessionals "Vindicated" hey, people out there have the same goals as me. nothing like hanging out with the right group of people who are headed in the same direction as you on this journey we call life. it gives me hope and joy to know that together we can accomplish our dreams and no matter what those sorry souls say who haven't reached their dreams I know that we can reach them despite what people say. wow, what a run-on sentence... Can't nobody get me down. hey, a double negative... keep going. keep hope. keep strong. incomplete sentences galore and nobody can tell me otherwise.
off to eat my Homestyle Bakes Chili and Cornbread. mmm mmm good! try them sometime. ;-) and next time you see a rose, stop and breath in its frangrance for me cause I dont got the time to stop. peace out!

mediocrity at its best

what an oxymoron. i was just thinking about how I live a mediocre life right now. For me mediocrity is living in a routine that is not very favorable day in and day out. I need freshness, I need flav. I want to be outstanding and not just good. I want to be spectacular and not craptacular. I want to meet new fascinating people, and be new and fascinating myself. Of course, just how fascinating can someone be if you have known them your whole life?
I admire and respect most of my friends but fascinating is not a word I would use to describe them. Well, at least not on a normal basis.
I guess I just don't like waiting. Good things are coming, and Im headed toward good things, but right now just doesn't feel right at all.
I just got done talking to a friend who is a fellow "hopeless romantic" and we both agreed that our one hope is that we can find someone as crazy about us as we are about them. I'm not losing hope. If someone can't be as crazy about me as I can be about them, or vice versa, I try not to let it bother me and I move on. Try being the key word in that sentence. *sigh* no use wishing things could be different. Maybe the person I am crazy about will come to be crazy about me too, and maybe Ill learn to be crazy about this person who is crazy about me. As much as I like this person who doesnt like me in the same way I wish I could like the person who likes me a lot and I just don't. Hey, its easier to try and change myself then someone else, right?
So I guess I want to say not to be afraid to love unrequited, but dont be a fool either.

time does fly

i just went to my friend melissa's surprise b-day party last night. We had a blast and scared the crap out of her as she walked in the door. lol. It was funny. as i sit here today I realize just how fast time flies by and if you have a moment to reflect you also see how everything seems so fleeting. nothing lasts long. carpe diem!
if you have not much to look forward to then life becomes a wasteland of opportunity lost. and the longer I live the more I realize that most things have no intrinsic meaning in and of themselves except what meaning we assign them. i also know that memories can lie to us and we can use them to serve us now for better or for worse. choose this day to have them serve for the better.

Some people

People never cease to amaze me. I love people, I do. I really do. Of course, recently I've seen people change or maybe not change but just show a different side of them. I know a person who who is in love with a guy who doesn't love her back, and will wait for him if she can. I know a person who my first impression of him was that he was a mean jerk, but now he seems like a really caring individual. Sure, he made some mistakes, but don't we all?
I met this girl the other day who is following her own Muse. She went down a path she thought she would like, but ended up not liking and is now on a new path. Ok, so I was taken with her. She was so cool. She earned her undergrad in business ed. and taught in Venezuela for a year and now she is at DU studying psychology. She was my type of boarder girl, but I didn't ask her out cause it's just not professional to ask customers out at work. lol. Now I wish I would have anyhow, oh well.
Now I go to enjoy the first fire we have had since last winter, and soon to bed. I bid you adieu.

How stupid can online tests be???

What weird misc. thing are you? Kitty Loaf You are a strange, sick individual. You're probably one of those ADD kids who has Ritalin hallucinations. This cat/bread thing is one fantasy you re-visit frequently.

Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

Here is some good advice

Dont work alot. Specifically, dont work at a job with a low salary that requires you to work like 60+ hours a week. Its just insane. I work around 50 and it sucks. More importantly, don't worry about work too much. So what if you mess up, it can be fixed. Rarely is something not fixable. And if you work for a large corporation they can absorb the damages as if it was nothing.
Just work at something you really love. You've heard it a million times, but save yourself the heartache and the headache and just head down that road now instead of later. I think thats most peoples mistake is that they know that they need to do what they love, but they procrastinate and put it off till later and they wake up 30 years later with a lousy pension and hardly any savings and can do nothing more then sit home all day and watch Bob Barker and Oprah, cause they never developed any passions, hobbies, and didnt plan to have any money to do what they really want or any plan at all to do it. That isnt going to be me.
off to write and read some more...

How to do it?

Once you decide to do something, actually doing it becomes the task at hand. You move from something purely strategical to something almost purely logistical. Not my strong point. I guess I know what I need to do, but I now have to decide how to do it. Go to school part-time or full-time? Work full-time, part-time, or not at all? If I work, what will be the best job to do so I can easily go to school and still pay the bills? Hey, its tough when you have to do it all yourself. I truly admire and respect those who work and go to school at the same time. I once met a single mom who was working fulltime and going to school fulltime. We had a good half hour conversation and needless to say I was impressed with her. So how can I have any excuses? I just need to figure things out and not give up before I get started. So it goes...

Planes, Trains, & Automobiles

You never realize how much you rely on your car until it breaks down or won't start. I was up at camp this weekend which is about an hour out of Denver and my car wouldn't start. Luckily, I got it started eventually but that was after a round-trip back to Denver and back. But it was all worth the hassle just to be at camp this weekend. Hopefully, my car will start like normal in the morning so I can get to my beloved work. I think it needs new starter but we shall see about that tomorrow. Ah, the pleasures of working right next to the Ford garage. ;-)
So about planes. I get to start working at the private airport later this week. Tomorrow I hear Bush and Michael Jordan are flying in. How nice. It is soo much fun to be able to drive cars out into the tarmac. We rent to many business people who hop right off their planes and right into their cars to go wherever they go. Its kinda cool actually and Ive been meeting a lot of great people there. Sadly, that won't be my permanent post. But it does remind me how much I want to fly. Yep, still having some little nagging regrets about not going into the military to fly but so be it. If I really wanted to do it I could probably be training come January or Febuary. Its a thought, but not a realistic one, at least not to me at this time. I met a girl who is like 16 at camp this weekend who wants to fly helos in the military. She reminds me of me. Crazy huh. I wished her all the luck in the world.
And about trains, we should ride them more often...

This is Jeremy Day and I approve this message...

Geez, its everywhere isnt it. Americas favorite new cliche. Anyhow, here's the message... My job is making me miss out on some of the most important things in my life. I've missed youth group for the first time in a long time this week. Ah, its sucks. No, not my job really, just what it forces me to do. Can I have my cake and eat it too? I'm hoping I can. You know, they say if you love what you do it doesn't seem like work at all and you can come home at the end of the day not feeling all that tired. Tom wanted me to go out tonight, but I got to be in bed by like 10pm so I can get up at 6am. Its killer. And I get home by like 6:30pm. So that leaves me 3.5 hours to do everything I need to do at night and 1.5 hours is usually needed for cooking, then eating, then getting ready for the next day leaving me 2 hours of free time to really relax. It sure doesnt leave much socializing time. Tom went by himself and I feel bad, but thats life, or is it? Guess Im done for tonight but I got some stuff to say about planes, trains, and automobiles. More later...

You heard it here first!

So its over and done with. After long debate in my head over the years and a few things that have happened recently, many of which are seemingly prophetic, I will a teacher in two years time. Yes, you heard me right. After all this time I am going after something that I think will make me a happier working class individual.
Working at camp this summer and with my youth group recently has just renewed and solidified my love of working with kids in general and teenagers in particular. I can't imagine I'll be a high school teacher the rest of my life. I'm thinking I want to be a principal or superintendent and eventually be an Education professor, but we shall see. One step at a time. I know my words haven't counted for much when it comes to this stuff, but I'm pretty serious this time.
Anyhow, thats about all got to say about that. More on the job situation later...

V-P Debate & Blogging

So the VP debate kicked butt. Ok. Many of you won't like me for saying this, but I love Cheney. He is the coolest old guy I know. No kidding! One of the commentators, if that is what you call them, said Cheney sounded like George Foreman. For those that know their history he sounded like Dwight D. Eisenhower, one of my role models. One of the things that stood out most to me is that he said he has no further political aspirations. To me, this makes him my favorite candidate. I would gladly vote for him as president in 2008, but sadly I doubt he will run. It is a shame to be losing such a patriot & public servant to retirement, when the time comes of course. In my lifetime I have seen no better president or vice-president. Maybe Reagan comes close but I admire Cheney much more.
On the other side of things, Tom Brokaw did a little segment on blogging after the VP debate. It was kind of odd, but the explosion in blog sites is huge. Just look at our little community that is forming. ;-) We can thank this guy for our blog site, blogger.com. You should visit his blog and check some of it out. It's a good history in blogging and the internet community. Till next time...

Ah, the joys of work

So far my job has been primarily driving cars around all the day and picking up customers. It's kinda cool because I've been meeting a lot of people and having fun driving around. We have a branch at the "business community" airport. Its really cool to be there, and Ill be working there in a week or two. I got to drive a car out onto the tarmac. You know, its no big deal, but its just really cool. Im excited to work there because I get to meet and greet a lot of business customers.
Ah, why didnt I go into the military to fly...? Oh well, life has been good and I realize I would have missed alot if I did go into the military. But how much did I miss by not going into the military?! I will never know, buts its all about trading one thing for another. What kind of trades have you made in your life?

Do what u love!!!

Ah, I can't believe it. My friends put together a wedding video on an interactive DVD and I missed out on the action. Geez, I need to follow my passion and not work in a 50 hour a week job no matter how well it pays. I need a reason better then renting cars to get up at 6am. We shall see. Lucky I am a morning person...
so 2 hours later Im still talking politics with a friend... I love people who can get me going in a good conversation. Those are the people I love hanging out with. Oh, but my bed awaits and I must fill my stomach as well. Gosh, this body of mine how limiting... goodnight

got the song, where's the lyrics

What can I say? not enough going on in my life right now to write any great lyrics. I want to write about three more songs so I can have a full set to record and go on tour with. Yep, no more covers to fill space. Well, maybe I'll still do one or two.
But where are the lyrics? Do I really have no life material to write about? I don't think that's the case. Maybe I'm just being too hard on myself like most musicians/artists are. I guess we all know the musicians that write 10 songs about the same blasted thing and can still sell CD's!!! Can't say I blame them though. A few things go over really well all the time, in all formats.
Anyhow, one day soon we will have our own record label and recording studio, but until then its indie all the way. I just need a promoter/agent and a street team. Dreams to come true...

Got Luck?

Luck is kind of like surfing: You know that perfect wave is coming in, but you gotta be ready for it, and you gotta know how to ride it. You can't catch your wave standing on the shore.