Smile big for everyone, even when you know what they've done

I return to the blogging world with peace of mind and thankful to all of you who commented on my last post. I always enjoy receiving and reading comments on my blog mainly because it lets me know who exactly reads my blog. It also is heartwarming to receive words of encouragement from my friends. Thanks again everybody, I love you all.

The past couple of weeks have been pretty amazing, with loads of fun, thinking, analyzing, studying, and laughing involved. My spring break trip was simply amazing. I never went into detail about it but I did get to do more than when I went last year. I got to drive quite a bit on the 401...quite an interesting experience indeed. I got my car stuck in mud, got to push a truck out of the mud, and was able to see and read a bit about important Canadian military history. Yes, much to my amazement there is such a thing in the history of Canada :)

I got to work out and play basketball with a bunch of Asians in the university. According to Kristen about 50%-60% of the students at Waterloo are of Asian descent. I didn't think Canada was home to that many Asian people...I thought the U.S. west coast was the homebase of Asian operations :) There were some spirited basketball games involved. It was surprising to see that much ball-hogging and lack of defense displayed by most of the players. It got me quite irritated and Kristen got to see how intense I become with basketball. She was sitting courtside watching the games and noticed that I became very serious. I have fun when I play but I also become very serious because basketball to me is almost like a religious experience to me. I like the game to be played the right way: move the ball around, make the extra pass, pick a good shot, play defense, rebound, box out...all the little things. The game becomes increasingly frustrating when it is not played efficiently. Oh well, that's enough for my sport rant.

After spending most of the week of March 13-17 in Canada, I made a bee line to one of the best Midwestern cities in history, Gurnee, Illinois. The drive was quite a somber one for many a reasons. I won't get into it but it was a long drive and I spent a lot of it thinking, talking to myself, calling my mom and grandma, and singing along to my music collection. I left early from Waterloo so that I could try and beat Chicago rush hour traffic and I did for the most part. Chicago has a ban on talking on the cell phone while driving and I was stuck staring at the Sears Tower for like 20 minutes talking with Jon. He proceeded to tell me, "don't worry, our cops are more worried about racial profiling than they are about drivers talking on their cell phones." :) Quite possibly one of the best lines he's ever said to me while carrying a conversation. I got to Jon's house at about 4 and we proceeded to chill, talk about my trip, and make plans about the incoming weekend and our eating plans.

I have this uncanny luck to visit the Milwaukee area when they have their game nights focusing on basketball, football, and volleyball. It's quite a blast and we then proceed to eat some late fast food at Taco Bell as the crowning achievement of the night. Jon had told me earlier that they had not had a good debate with Mrs. Diekmeier in quite a while. So of course I told Jon that I would take care of it and provided a good front for about 3 hours. I have to say though that the attack unleashed by Mrs. Diekmeier and Ruthie was vicious but I needed it and I held my own for as long as I could. I tip my hat to both of them :)

The Wisconsin Dells weekend was exactly what I hoped it would be: great messages, great people, friends, fellowship, sleepless nights, and late night food runs. It was the 3rd weekend in a row that I had seen my Milwaukee friends (it seems like I see them more than my own congregation) so that it always a great way to end the week. Desiree, Josh, and Ann described the weekend pretty well so I won't go into more detail about it. I will only urge you that if you see Mark Oliver to have him tell you the story behind the 2am Wendy's run. He is quite possibly the best storyteller in the Church, a great sense of humor and very detailed :)

I've started to realize more and more that I constantly have my mind working on fumes. I do too much thinking for my own good and that influences how my day and rest of the week go. It's good in a sense because remembering things helps me with my history classes. At the same time it doesn't do me any good to dwell on the mistakes of the past that bring guilt and leave a bad taste in my mouth. I was told that everytime I think about a specific past sin what it does is that it makes God remember instead of having him "forget as far as the east is from the west." That gives me something to think about or not think about...whatever the case may be. Let's see where I go from here...