As i was considering the content of this blog, i was struck by the contrast between what i write here and what my littlest brother brent writes here, in his blog. i focus more on history of events, somehow self-deluded into thinking that i have throngs of adoring fans that want to know what fills the hours of my days. brent writes more about...i dunno. funny things, i guess. he somehow has the ability to take a seemingly innocuous event and turn it into pure comedy. the thing is, i just don't have the patience for that, as you, as a member of the throng, starving for a scrap of my life thrown from the table of my last month, can doubtless believe rather easily. i seem to have little patience even for a sterile, soul-less accounting of my days. but, like it or not, here it goes!

I flew back to the americas on or around the 15th of december. i flew standby, which is infinitely cheaper (and by infinitely i mean about 60%), and also infinitely more stressful. even the book i was pretending to read could not fully capture my attention as i watched the holders-of-tickets file past, and i silently willed them to be stricken with the pox, or the plague, or simply a "burning in the bosom" that this was not the flight for them. it didn't seem to work, as i was left in the boarding area with the other seat-jackals, willing to walk over a path of broken and bleeding bodies, capitalizing on the misfortune of others, doing whatever it would take to get that seat. and i did, albeit in cattle. but, a seat is a seat, and i promptly fell quite soundly asleep in it for the vast majority of the flight. the fact that i was in an exit row and had about 12 feet of legroom was an added bonus.

Hanging out in USA (ooh-sah) was...well, it was good to see old friends. this was the hardest i ever tried to hang out with people i knew from back in the day (sorry it didn't work out, xeryl). and, by and large, it was a positive experience. i'll admit, it got a little exhausting when i'd hang out with friend #1 at a coffee shop from 1-6, then meet friend #2 for supper at a bar and stay there till midnight. i felt a little like people expected me to be a comedian or something, entertaining them with my late-night radio-show voice, sharing my "taaaaales from the orient". hanging out with the fam was great, of course, except that many of them (doug and candice and cami...) weren't around for nearly long enough. but, i guess i'll take what i can get at this point. i got to see my niece, who is now 66% older than she was last time i hung out with her. i even got to see my finance-in-law for like...15 minutes. we were in the presence of each other for longer than that, but she was pretty much glued to the computer screen obsessing over what to register for at various places. i'm sorta surprised more girls don't get married just for the stuff. i mean, who has the strength to turn away from stainless steel icecream dishes, salad bowl sets, and veggie platters just cuz they aren't in "love"? i know i was inspired...

And then i came home. probably one of the biggest things i realized during my brief hiatus was how much i really love my life here. life's really frustrating when i'm up to my goatee in it, when every week has new frustrations, and i never feel like i'm getting any better at it, when i'm reminded by the kids that life is all about them, and whatever i was doing can stop because now the center of the universe has arrived, and deserves my attention (cynical? perhaps.) but when i leave, when i'm back in the parents' house, being told when i can or can't go meet friends because i have to use the family car, and other people need it for something they had planned last week, when i go to bed realizing that i have accomplished nothing today, i realize just how good i really have it here. when i got back, i was itching to get back to my life, my job, my office, my relationships. don't take it personally, family. i loved being with you. i loved eating meals and praying and talking and laughing. i loved putting up the Christmas lights, i loved the food (i especially loved that), i loved beating you up, i loved hiking with you, i even loved fighting with you, even though i was always right. but i definitely felt a lack of purpose, a lack of meaning to my life. i encourage all of you who don't have it to get on the ball and find it. personally, i think it's all about putting yourself in a position of Christian leadership, a position where you are building deep, personal relationships with people to whom you can teach and model Jesus. which is probably why i like being in youth ministry.

In other news, a little over a week ago i started dating a very awesome girl. she's been here teaching since before i came, and, to be honest, i've sorta had a thing for her for a while. and now that it's worked out, i feel like the most fortunate of men. it's fun when kids don't know that it's all official and they try and tease me about her- when i freely admit my feelings for her, their eyes get all big and they freak out and get all excited. then i break it to them gently that i actually don't need their help setting us up, seeing as how we're already dating, and they deflate slightly. i love that i get to mess with kids' brains as part of my job!

as post-scripts to my blogs, i'm hoping to get into the habit of posting humorous, interesting, awesome, or otherwise noteworth pictures. here's a fun one: