2007 was a big year. At least, I think it was. *thinks* Yes. Yes it was. Don't ask me to iterate why. I can't recall the specifics. I'm bad at that.

Reading Jennifer's blog made me want to write something. Because she put my blog on her links list (yay!) and I don't want to be the blog on the link list that hasn't been updated in forever. :)

I can't remember exactly what I was doing early this year. I don't recall it being all that important. I do remember Jon leaving for Dallas in early February, and driving through the worst ice storm in years. Warren and Athena got married that same weekend and I spent 35 hours driving in 3 days.

2007 was the first year I have lived alone. My whole life. I discovered, after a brief few months that I didn't like it. But I adjusted and am pretty happy with things.

I bought the last of the necessary equipment for my professional photography, put up a Professional Photo Site advertising my work, and after one false start, started advertising on the Knot. Ads should be up today. We'll see how that goes. I've been talking and planning and working on getting this started for years, and it looks like things may finally take off.

I get out more. I had to. For several months, I hardly left my apartment, and though I enjoyed catching up on years worth of lost TV :), I was a little depressed. But I have great friends, who I found I had to make some effort to keep in touch with.

I discovered that I don't like living without the internet. I spent 6 months without it, from Nov 2006 - Mar 2007. I found it cut me off from people I care about. I know people (mostly techy snobs (i love you guys)) say that Facebook is evil, but truth told, it prevents my family and friends from retreating into their little holes.

Because, I come from a family of Introverts (mostly all of us, to one degree or another), and many many of my best friends are introverts. Without the internet, we don't speak to each other. Much. ;)

I've discovered that more than Facebook, I really really like Twitter. Best app ever. Honest. When my Grandma died this Fall, half my extended family got hooked up. It was the best way to keep track of a dozen or more families, and keep them updated about her and the funeral arrangements. And now that most of them are on, I hear and know about whats going on with them in ways I simply never would have otherwise. And, they are talking more to each other.

The naysayers seriously underestimate the damage distance can have on relationships. Twitter makes me feel close to people I consider important, when they live halfway across the country.

I traveled some this year. Not overseas, but I did go to Louisville to see Tamara (had so much fun) and went down to South Carolina to see the Bergeys and meet Drew for the first time. I had really missed the Bergeys. For a couple I've only met three times in person, the Bergeys are some of my very best friends. The first two times I met them (Jenn's graduation, then Daniel for the first time and Jenn for the second time at their wedding) was hectic and busy. But this time, I got them all to myself, had time to relax, talk and just enjoy company. I consider it the highlight of my year. :)

Well. I've spoken long. I did more, but these are the really important things. At least, the important things to me. 

2007 was a big year. At least, I think it was. *thinks* Yes. Yes it was. Don't ask me to iterate why. I can't recall the specifics. I'm bad at that.

Reading Jennifer's blog made me want to write something. Because she put my blog on her links list (yay!) and I don't want to be the blog on the link list that hasn't been updated in forever. :)

I can't remember exactly what I was doing early this year. I don't recall it being all that important. I do remember Jon leaving for Dallas in early February, and driving through the worst ice storm in years. Warren and Athena got married that same weekend and I spent 35 hours driving in 3 days.

2007 was the first year I have lived alone. My whole life. I discovered, after a brief few months that I didn't like it. But I adjusted and am pretty happy with things.

I bought the last of the necessary equipment for my professional photography, put up a Professional Photo Site advertising my work, and after one false start, started advertising on the Knot. Ads should be up today. We'll see how that goes. I've been talking and planning and working on getting this started for years, and it looks like things may finally take off.

I get out more. I had to. For several months, I hardly left my apartment, and though I enjoyed catching up on years worth of lost TV :), I was a little depressed. But I have great friends, who I found I had to make some effort to keep in touch with.

I discovered that I don't like living without the internet. I spent 6 months without it, from Nov 2006 - Mar 2007. I found it cut me off from people I care about. I know people (mostly techy snobs (i love you guys)) say that Facebook is evil, but truth told, it prevents my family and friends from retreating into their little holes.

Because, I come from a family of Introverts (mostly all of us, to one degree or another), and many many of my best friends are introverts. Without the internet, we don't speak to each other. Much. ;)

I've discovered that more than Facebook, I really really like Twitter. Best app ever. Honest. When my Grandma died this Fall, half my extended family got hooked up. It was the best way to keep track of a dozen or more families, and keep them updated about her and the funeral arrangements. And now that most of them are on, I hear and know about whats going on with them in ways I simply never would have otherwise. And, they are talking more to each other.

The naysayers seriously underestimate the damage distance can have on relationships. Twitter makes me feel close to people I consider important, when they live halfway across the country.

I traveled some this year. Not overseas, but I did go to Louisville to see Tamara (had so much fun) and went down to South Carolina to see the Bergeys and meet Drew for the first time. I had really missed the Bergeys. For a couple I've only met three times in person, the Bergeys are some of my very best friends. The first two times I met them (Jenn's graduation, then Daniel for the first time and Jenn for the second time at their wedding) was hectic and busy. But this time, I got them all to myself, had time to relax, talk and just enjoy company. I consider it the highlight of my year. :)

Well. I've spoken long. I did more, but these are the really important things. At least, the important things to me. 

 

 

 

YouTube - young preacher and his slip of the tongue
hehe. hehehe. hehehehehehehehe.... poor guy. ;) 

YouTube - young preacher and his slip of the tongue
hehe. hehehe. hehehehehehehehe.... poor guy. ;) 

 

 

I'm writing free form here. I have no idea what I want to say. I know only that the need to say something is more urgent than my natural desire to remain unheard. There is a kind of mood, a certain melancholy, brought on by anxiety and hints of disappointment. It settles like a thick blanket over your heart, which beats slowly, almost sluggishly in your chest. Times like these come and go. A time to question. It isn't a moment wholly disliked. There is a part of you that finds value in the mental state, motivation to create, and insight into a rich world of substance and emotion.

Phrases float in and out of your mind. Rage against the machine, you view the world philosophically, can I, will I, am I? Eventually your heart settles on certain facts. Not expressed in concrete forms such as words, but the Idea of Him. That's enough most times. Just the thought of Him, His being there. In this world, questions, conclusions, battles, victories and defeats are played out in brief moments, with emotions that move and beat against each other like waves in an ocean, not violently, connected, testing the lines, pulling, pushing, praying, resting.

Moments like this breed discontent, cravings for release from pressure, solitude, company, companionable silence. Worlds of art, like the soft glow of candles, flicker and flame, breathing, growing, pulsing, fading. In the end, you take a deep breath, and the outside world asserts itself. Your mark is what is left behind, the output of a drifting mind, a free form stream of language, like liquid, languishing on the page.