when erica left this morning, she left the 4+ loads of laundry as my responsibility. when i protested, saying that i had no idea which of her clothes went in the dryer and which did not, her only response was, "i trust you."

biiiiiiiig mistake, woman.

let's hope she remembers those three deadly words of permission when i mess things up.

on a different note, i forgot to mention that i went to waffle house last weekend. i went for dinner on friday night with dan, and then again that night at 2AM with jamin and wes. i don't really recommend going to a waffle house twice within 10 hours.

i was disappointed. this waffle house is no waffle house. it is brand new and sparkling clean, and all the workers are all under thirty. and the people who cook the food are either women or young skinny men, never the silent, scary, overweight men you tend to see in the midwest. and, get this: there were people there! families, even! not a bunch of lonely truckers! that was probably the most baffling; since when do people want to eat at waffle house?

we'll give it ten years or so. by then, the lights in the sign will be burnt out, it will be dirtier and greasier, and the under thirty employees will have aged considerably, and their voices will pick up a mysterious accent that sounds southern but you're really not sure, and the cooks will have gained fifty or more pounds from eating their free waffles and syrup every night, and no one will want to eat there anymore, and then everything will be back to normal, and it will feel good to eat at waffle house again.

guess what?

the police cited the other driver for running a red light. turns out there was a witness who spoke up after all, and they said i was in the intersection on yellow and they came through on red. so it wasn't my fault.

so now i have to call the other insurance company and see how much they're going to cough up to reimburse me for big red. i'm expecting at least 5 figures.

and with that, my summer, and life, have vanished.

on monday afternoon, after two interviews, broughal middle school called and offered me the job.

"when can i let you know by?"
"uhhh....like 5 minutes ago. but i can give you another 2 hours if you need it."

so i took the 2 hours, and then i took the job.

and then i laid on the couch and listened to sufjan's 13-14-15 combo from michigan with tears in my eyes hoping to calm myself down somehow.

7th grade math. starting next tuesday.

my stomach is in a permanent knot, and i haven't had time to breathe.

see you next june.

RIP Big Red, 1991 - 2005.



Big Red, 14 (which is pretty old in car years), of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, died August 10th around 3:40 PM after being broadsided by a Jeep Cherokee, which also died on impact. He was owned by T.P. Shorb and driven by N.P. Shorb. Little is known about Big Red's early years, except that his owner took fairly good care of him, with the exception of his exterior paint job. Big Red rested at Automotive Special Services in Quakertown, until he was adopted by Shorb in the summer of 2002. From there, he went on to drive over 30,000 miles more, finally ending his career at 205,237. A one-time resident of both Upland, Indiana and Coopersburg, Pennsylvania, he faithfully served his owner, making several trips to and from the midwest with very few problems. Big Red is best known for his appearance in "Big Red: The Road to 200,000," after completing the 200,000 mile mark, which, although being rejected by area film festivals, has become a successful cult classic, even moreso upon his death. Survivors: Driver, N Shorb, and driver's wife, E Shorb. Services: Big Red was quickly put to rest at Whitehall Salvage something or other, pictured below, where his courageous and persevering spirit will live on as his strong parts will be recycled and reused in many new areas. The driver was given $75 in exchange, which, remember, is pretty much $75 of pure profit, but hardly puts a dent in the towing costs. Contributions: In lieu of flowers, please send a lot of money to his driver, N Shorb.




yes, i was in a pretty bad accident on wednesday. as you can see, big red is done, but i am very ok besides a very fat lip, a very sore hand, and the usual soreness in the neck and back. thankfully no one was riding with me, because, as you can see, things would not have turned out so well. no word yet on whose fault it was, but it was most likely mine. accidents are very ugly things that can really shake up your life for a while. and that's about all i have to say at this point.

as promised, here are some pictures from the illinois listening party.

here is everyone that showed up: austin, dressed as john deere. kyle, dressed as miles davis. stan, dressed as a chicago blackhawk hockey player. wes, dressed as john wayne gacy dressed as a clown. me, dressed as abraham lincoln. roshelle, dressed as raggedy ann. john, dressed as ernest hemingway. and erica, dressed as olympic figure skater and childhood idol, dorthy hammill, which is probably spelled wrong.


here is wes, showing you the illinois food that we ate: creamed corn and chicago deep dish pizza.


here is the happy couple, the host and hostess for the evening, wishing you were there:

well, i'm at the parents' house, and i tried to upload the pictures, but it's taking much too long with their connection. so we'll wait some more.

this morning at work, i got out of my car and went to put my key for the barn that houses our equipment in my pocket, and it slipped out of my hands and down through a drainage grate. i knew then that it would be a long day. but i put my problem solving skills to work, the ones i taught to the rugrats last week, and i duct taped together two wooden dowels, put some duct tape sticky side out on one end, and reached down and stuck my key and all was well.

i got a little woozy from the heat and a lawnmower stopped working and i was miserable so i left early without telling anyone.

mark was just singing 'the b-i-b-l-e' with logan, and when it came time to shout "bible!," logan roared it in a voice that was a mix between rob zombie and a lion.

done.

i ran out of time as i knew i would. i must tell you about strong coffee, at least, but there is more than that, as well. soon, hopefully.

"do justice, love mercy, walk humbly." -micah 6:8

i am glad this verse does not tell us to love justice, but the fact that many christians are interpreting it as such is a sad one. it is this love of justice that turns us in to blood-thirsty avengers, putting arrogant bumper stickers on our cars and paying to "shoot bin-laden" with a paintball gun at the boardwalk. it is this love of justice that rejoices in the sight of the bloody heads of the enemies on the front page of our newspapers. and oh how we would have loved to see saul's head on the front page before he wandered on to the road to damascus, and we would have excitedly told our friends and celebrated, not knowing the paul we would have been losing. the love of justice degrades the value of human life, it denies the hope we have experienced in our own lives, it forgets the road to damascus. the love of justice is the opposite of walking humbly, for we are forgetting the justice that has been foregone in our own lives, the justice where, if we all received what we truly deserved there would be little good, hope, joy, life, love, and so on. justice always is, or should be, a somber event.

there is much to update you on and only a half hour in the library to do so. here we go.

a few weeks ago we had the illinois listening party and it was incredible. i brought pictures to post but these computers dont have usb ports so i cant. i'll tell you more about it when i am able to post the pictures.

everything, now! visited bethlehem last week. it turned out to be a mess because their transmission was dying and wes went into debt renting the place for them, but it was very good to see jared cheek and it was very good to hear new e,n! material.

i had my first interview a few weeks back. it would be best to say that it was a learning experience. no, it did not go so hot, and they were pretty harsh with me, but i was thankful for their honesty. it proved to be helpful. i didnt want that job anyway. i was offered a job in bolivia, which in some ways was an incredibly tempting offer, and in other ways was simply absurd. i was also offered a job (well, not really...offered a chance to "chat" about a job, which i'm fairly confident would have resulted in an offer) at the christian school that i went to through 8th grade. my 7th grade english teacher offered it to me which was weird. there is nothing that is appealing about that job besides the ability to say "i have a teaching job" and thus, i have passed it up as well. things are coming down to the wire now and some nights i'm concerned about it.

yes, the reality of adulthood is still looming and getting me down. but last night mike scales and kyle page came over for left-over-wedding-carrot cake. kyle has a little musical project called the combovers and we decided on a whim to record a song on my four-track. it was a gorgeous song and i got to play tamborine and shaker and ukulele and we were very pleased with the outcome. i was honored that he included me on the project and the whole thing relieved so much stress you would not believe. it was a gift from god, truly. it reconfirmed the idea that i desperately need to be playing music with someone on a regular basis.

i also played for him one of my hymns in progress and he really liked it which also excited me and gave me a reason to continue working on this project. and yes, you will all hear it, in good time. maybe. and mike scales asked me to play this version of immortal, invisible in church on a sunday morning, and perhaps i will.

the man next to me is looking at wrestling-news.com

the other night i was dreaming of meeting yoder and su in wheeling.

and the other night i cried because i miss, or know i am going to miss, college, or at least real conversations with good friends who understand.

i think that was the same night, actually.

there's a killer lineup at the independent theater coming up over the next four weeks, and it's going to be grrrreat! me and you and everyone we know, march of the penguins, that bill murray movie i'm forgetting the title of, and 5x2.

the eagles are in town and everyone's excited.

musikfest is also coming to town which will also be exciting.

august already? ugh.

and i think that's all for now. if i run out of time, remind me to write the story about my strong coffee.