Vacation '09 and My Little Sabbatical

Tomorrow morning I will be leaving my house. Wow, that was such an epic story. I guess I should tell you where I'm going. Tomorrow morning, my family along with my friend and my brother's friend are flying down to Florida to get onto a boat to take a cruise to the Bahamas.

Don't get all excited just yet because you have to understand that this is my 3rd cruise. As much as I like spending time with my family and I like going on vacation, I just sometimes wish we could go somewhere other than on a cruise. I'd like to go to Arizona or Colorado or California. Just somewhere different. Oh well, once again headed to Florida.

I'm not complaining. It will be a lot warmer than Michigan has been lately. Who knew I'd have to travel south for summer? And hey at least I get to have a friend with me. The last time we went on a cruise back in 2007, my brother got to bring a friend, but I had no one to hang out with, so I found myself reading a lot and walking around alone or with my parents. I'm glad I get to bring a friend. She is uber excited about this trip and has been since April. Not a bad thing. She has never done this before. I'm spoiled and sometimes being spoiled isn't what every child wants. But hey, I'm really not complaining here.

I'm just letting you know that I'm going to be gone from Sunday to Thursday. I'm mad that I will be missing church tomorrow. I'm also upset about missing my favorite tv shows this week, but hey that's what the internet is for. I can watch those online later.

I have also decided to take a little sabbatical from my blog for about two weeks. You won't hear anything out of me until August 1st. I just feel like I've been typing up a storm these last couple of weeks. I've had a lot of good ideas, but I'm now gonna let my readers catch up.

But on my vacation, I'm taking a notebook along with my Bible and if an idea strikes me, I'm gonna write it down, so I can report back to you in August.

This sabbatical won't be hard until I get back from my trip since there's not free internet on the ship and I'm not taking my laptop. But I think I need a break from typing and you might want to catch up on reading if you feel like it. I was actually surprised at how many blogs (posts) I've put out this month in these last couple of weeks.

Anyways, I hope you have a nice break from me and my crazy writing. I'll tell you all about my trip on the 1st of August. See you then!

Change is inevitable

I think I have finally come to terms with the change I'm going through right now. Actually I more so know that I haven't come to terms with it, but today I saw something different in myself.

You may not realize it, but I changed my URL for my blogger website. Then I decided it was time to change my Twitter name, so I did that. I haven't really had an issue getting used to it. I was gonna change my layout for my blog, but then I decided it was too much.

So I haven't exactly come to terms with change, but it's inevitable. It's gonna happen whether we like it or not.

I guess if it didn't happen, we'd still be the same people we were years ago. It's like growing. Growing is changing and growing is inevitable. We just have to learn to deal with it. I'm slowing learning how to deal with it.

Sweet Dreams

I'm a dreamer. I always have been really. I dream of the future all the time. I dream of what my future plans are. I have thought about my wedding day before. With who? That's a great question.

I'm not just a dreamer in the whole American dream sense. I dream a lot in my sleep. I have a very active imagination.

Last night my dream had something to do with catching frogs and they were some big bull frogs or something. I think I was trying to catch them with my neighbors.

I wake up in REM a lot in case you were wondering. REM is Rapid Eye Movement. It is the deepest part of sleep and I think if I remember correctly, it's where you spend most of the night. You may not remember your dreams, but believe me you're dreaming.

I know this might sound weird, but I keep a dream journal. I used to write all my dreams in it. Not so much anymore. Just certain ones that strike me. I used to write all dreams because I was doing an experiment. At the time, I started that journal, my now old youth pastors were moving, so I was having a lot of dreams about them and didn't exactly understand why. So I started that experiment.

As the days wore on and I slowly recovered from losing them due to a move, I stopped having so many dreams about them.

This summer, I've had a ton of dreams about school. Some have been college related. Others or most others I should say have been about high school. About the last day of school in particular.

The other day, my dad and I were talking about me being tired all the time. He suggested that maybe I'm not getting enough of my REM sleep. Possible. I'm thinking a lot of the time I'm waking up in REM sleep. Waking up in REM sleep isn't good. You may be able to remember your dream better, but you'll be more tired because it's the deepest part of the sleep cycle. Did you know that most dreams last only 5 minutes? Yeah, I wish some of my happiest dreams would last longer than they do.

There was one day this week that I actually did get enough sleep. I got 7 hours, but my body told me to get up early, so I did. It was for no particular reason. I just did. The rest of the week, I've been exhausted though.

Back in the day

When I was a kid, we had to walk uphill both ways in a foot of snow to get to school.

Have your parents ever said that to you? My dad jokes about it all the time.

My Aunt Ann is going to a class reunion this weekend. Actually I think it might have been tonight. I met her friend from high school on Thursday. Then yesterday, I had to take her friend somewhere because she's from out of state.

I really enjoyed the conversation. We talked about what the town used to look like. She and my aunt grew up together hanging out and babysitting my mom (she's the youngest in her family).

I just wanted to say that you can learn a lot about history from those that have gone before you, so always listen to the older ones. They've got some cool stories.

Share the Cross

What you see here is two of my crosses that I like to wear. The one on the left is my newer one and the one on the right is my old one. The reason I got the new one was that the old one broke. I had been through a lot with my old one and I really missed it when it broke. At least it broke a few weeks before Christmas, so I got a new one for Christmas.

These crosses are very symbolic. They come with a little tiny book that tells what they symbolize. They are made from nails, which symbolize the ones used to nail Jesus to the cross. There is wire wrapped around the nails, which symbolizes the crown of thorns placed on His head. The cord which goes around your neck symbolizes what they beat Jesus with.

I get comments about this necklace occasionally. Yesterday I got a comment and usually you gotta know that when I get a comment on my necklace, I say thank you. I have to wonder though, why don't I share the story that goes with this cross?

Ok when I say what I'm about to say, don't worry about me. I feel kinda annoyed with myself at the fact that I don't say the story or talk about what the cross symbolizes. I think that's what we should be doing.

We're supposed to be sharing the Word of God with everyone. We're supposed to be sharing the Good News with everyone.

I think I'm almost afraid to share what my cross symbolizes sometimes. But we're not supposed to be afraid. Don't be afraid of what others might think about you for what you believe in. Jesus told the disciples that people would hate them because of Him.

I think next time someone comments on my cross, I'm gonna try tell them what it symbolizes.

The Pope and Harry Potter

I was thinking about something last night before I went to bed. It just intensified this morning when they talked about it on the radio I was listening to online.

I guess a few years ago, the Pope didn't agree with Harry Potter at all. It makes sense why he wouldn't agree with it. He's a clergyman and Harry Potter has a lot of magic and spells in it. I guess supposedly the spells they use in the books and movies are real spells that Wiccans use. I've heard that somewhere.

I found out this morning that the Pope now doesn't have a problem with Harry Potter. He realizes that Harry Potter shows a lot of good and evil. Like a lot of movies, Harry Potter has the good side and the bad side.

It's much like Star Wars or Chronicles of Narnia or Lord of the Rings. One thing I don't get is why everyone will read or watch Lord of the Rings, which has magic and a whole of that of weird things in it, but they won't read or watch Harry Potter, which has the same thing.

Shortly after the release of the last book, I remember the author, JK Rowling, saying that her books are meant to be seen religiously. That's a subject I know that can be argued. As I sat watching the movie in the theater last night, I was reminded of her saying that.

There's the good side and the bad side. The light side and the dark side. The good and the evil. The good guys and the bad guys. The superheroes and the villains.

I think what the Pope was getting at was that it's ok to read this series or watch the movies because it teaches concepts of good and evil.

One last thought I have and it's a funny one, so go ahead and laugh at it. Join the dark side; we have cookies. Haha. :)

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Book #6. Movie #6. I know a lot of people disagree with Harry Potter particularly Christians. But I also know a lot of people who love Harry Potter and some of them are Christians.

The Bible tells us not to have anything to do with witchcraft and things of that sort. There's no such thing as magic. I know that. I'm one of a million Harry Potter fans. I have all the books and I've read all them. I've seen all the movies that have come out thus far. Tonight I saw the 6th movie.

You know when I first started reading the books, I never thought they would actually start making movies to it. I never thought I would get to the day when I would actually see the 6th movie. It's not the last movie, but it's the second to last.

Let this be a lesson to you all, the movies are never as good as the book. This movie tonight lasted for roughly 2 hours. It was a good movie and had a ton of funny parts in it, but it seemed to skip a lot. I haven't read the book in a few years, so I don't really remember what happens, but I was skimming it over last night and found a lot of stuff different. All in all, I like reading the books better. You can have a lot more imagination reading than watching a movie.