Tally Ho into the Great Unknown

It is time for a brief update on everything.

- I highly enjoyed my visit with Ben at the beginning of August. I don't follow or really know anything about soccer, but watching the Seattle Sounders major league soccer team beat the team from L.A. with David Beckham was a ton of fun (David Beckham was on the L.A. team that lost, that is). I now have a better understanding of why soccer is so widely enjoyed around the world: the fans create the excitement. Never before have I so consistently paid attention to what was going on at a live sporting event, and the only time I have ever felt that same level of audience energy was years and years ago when my father and I would go watch the UW Huskies play football.

- I am moving back to El Reño at the end of August. The past few weeks have been spent figuring out how to fit all the essentials in my car.

- Which brings me to the point that I will be sad to leave Ellensburg, as I seem to have finally established a group of friends here that extends beyond Chris D. Oh well. Friends do not equal jobs, in the case of Ellensburg.

- Jelly (my dog, for those who may not know) is doing great, although she now demands that I carry her outside when my roommate's dog is roaming around loose downstairs. I can see why: he always seems to corner her and in general act dominant and annoying. I'm betting this is partly the result of my roommate's (irresponsible) decision to let the dog keep his balls.

- I finished 1st out of about 40 people at a Magic tournament in Yakima the week before last. I will miss playing Magic when I get back to Reno. Ideally I will be too busy working at a job to miss it too much.

- The air is finally not smelling like smoke all the time here after that giant fire that occurred in the area. Apparently the fire started and consumed homes right smack in the middle of the area where I used to deliver newspapers. Glad I wasn't working that job anymore when that happened! Actually, I'm glad I'm not working that job anymore even when nothing happens.

- Oh yeah, and of course all the Master's degree stuff is done. I'm just waiting now for them to mail me my bound thesis and post my degree. Hopefully at some point in the near future I will have time to attempt to get my thesis published somewhere, but for now with trying to find a job it is near the bottom of my current priorities.

- Ellensburg and graduate school have certainly included varied experiences, ranging from extreme highs to extreme lows and everything in between. Although I certainly have some regrets, I do not regret coming to Ellensburg and CWU, and (overall) enjoyed my time here.

- I watched the movie version of Donald Miller's "Blue Like Jazz" and enjoyed it greatly. Sort of. It almost hurt too much in seeing myself in his story, only, you know, I did all the messing up that lead me down my road to misery and shame, not my family (which is not to say that Donald Miller did not lead himself down that road, but more to say that he seemed to have precipitating factors which could potentially "excuse" him for it a bit). God continues to be inescapable for me. I just need to learn how to handle that in a way that doesn't involve my usual Step 1 of "give up".

- Sorry to end that on kind of a negative note, I'm really not doing bad or anything, my mood throughout this post has been in line with each portion: "Yeah! That was fun! Anticipation! I'll miss them. Doesn't seem too smoky today. Haha that newspaper job was not fun! Woohoo! My Master's degree is done! Oh I saw that 'Blue Like Jazz' movie. It was good. Man. Now I remember why it was good. Good reminder, I guess."

can't wait to see everyone in Reno.