Gainesville trip: Day 4

I spent most of the morning sleeping and watching TV. Then, I went to lunch with a couple friends at the Chicken Kitchen and went over to see their new place where they will be living this fall. It’s a pretty nice place, but it reminded me that, for some reason, architecture here in Gainesville is really strange. There was one place in the living room where the previous owners had cut a hole in the carpet in the middle of the floor, so they could run a phone wire up to an end table or something. I guess they were pretty certain they’d never move that end table.

Frisbee golf

Then, we went and played a round of frisbee golf at the old course. My best score there when I was playing a few times a week was 3 over par. I shot a 13 yesterday. Most of that was just general rustiness–I hadn’t played in about 9 months or so–and some bad luck–if there was a tree, even if I made a good throw, I found it. Anyway, it was fun and we all had a good time.

Newberry Backyard BBQ

This place has some of the best baby back ribs I’ve ever had and I’d been looking forward to going there since I started planning this vacation. Of course, they didn’t disappoint and I had a great time with about 7 of my friends. I hope I can make a trip out there every time I visit Gainesville.

Kill Bill Vol. 2

Even better than the first. I don’t want to do an all-out review or analysis, but I’ll say that I’m seriously impressed with Trenton ability to mix various genres of film from different eras into a seamless, solid movie. Also, Uma was spectacular and I was very surprised by her performance. I could see that she took direction very well and that she was a great fit for the role. I can’t wait to see the DVD with special features and “making of…” kinda’ stuff.

Funnier ’cause we were tired

As we were all startin’ to go to bed about 4 am, I was walking through the kitchen when the phone started ringing. I looked at the caller ID and saw that it was one of the other guys in the house calling in on his cell phone. I decided not to answer, but my roommate did and this is what he heard at the other end of the line: “Hey. What’re you doin’?” Then, the same guy called about five other people around the city and did the same thing. That delayed our getting to sleep by about an hour because we were just laughing too hard to realize we were tired.

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Gainesville trip: Day 3

Yesterday’s support appointment went well and I’m not officially on three peoples’ MDPs (I think that’s right and I think it’s “Ministry Development Plan”; it’s a TLA–Three Letter Acronym). I’m excited to be giving to Crusade beginning in July and I think it’s awesome that I can help out three staff people.

Basketball… again

I played some more basketball yesterday and I’m really feelin’ it today. I think I ran seven games in two days. That’s not outrageous except I haven’t played that much basketball in that little time since some time last year. I’m pretty sore, but it’s good to be in good enough shape that I can at least run the games. I hope to play at least once more before the week’s out.

Gators Dockside

Last night was all-you-can-eat (AYCE) wings at Dockside, so about six of us went over there to try and break ‘em. Between us, we probably ate over 200 wings, but I can’t say that I contributed too much. I think I only had 20 or so because I’m just not used to eating that much grub in one sitting. At least it wasn’t AYCE pasta or pizza or something; I’m pretty sure I’d feel awful today. It was only wings and they were grilled, not breaded or fried, so I’m good to go for some more eatin’ today.

Kill Bill: Vol. 1

Man, what a strange movie. Of course, if I felt any differently after watching a QT creation, I’d have to check my senses. The guy just knows how to create interesting, strange violent stuff. It’s bizarre how he maintains an irony of violence without believable gore. I mean, there’re people gettin’ limbs lopped off and whatnot, but it looks so fake it’s hardly even so disturbing as odd. I’m not talking about being desensitized, I’m talking about recognizing what parts of the film QT wants the view to feel are real.

Anyway, I think we’re going to see Vol. 2 some time this week, so I wanted to make sure I’d seen the first part, first. Now, I’m off to lunch with some friends, so I’ll have to pause for a bit.

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First time out in a while…

I played Ultimate Frisbee this afternoon/evening. I can’t remember for sure, but I’m fairl certain it’s been at least five months since I last played. Ultimate is a sport that I’ve been pretty much the same at since I first started playing my freshman year. I haven’t really improved much (maybe a little with throwing, but not much aside from that), but I don’t play much either. I used to play all the time, and I really enjoyed it, but the group I played with began to grow and the whole experience seemed to be getting less and less fun as people’s attitudes seemed to deteriorate into a sort of competitive rudeness. Anyway, I had a great time today and it was nice to see that I still have the touch.

Lots of eating lots of food

We (Chris, his girlfriend and I) are going out to dinner tonight. I’ve sort of lost track of how many ridiculously huge meals I’ve had in the past few days and I’m starting to feel sort of sluggish. I can’t wait until I’m settled in back in Gainesville and I can start eating well again. Until then, and since I’m on my company’s tab, I’ll continue eating large portions of expensive, un-nutritious food.

Looks like it’s time for din-din!

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Minor change, major difference

Today, I spent some time revamping the song I wrote yesterday. Turns out I actually really like the song now that I’ve changed the style. Basically, I changed the guitar chord voicing to a more open style, allowing the guitar to ring a bit more and compliment the melody I’d chosen. I really like the sound and now I’m just having a little trouble synching the vocals and guitar lick. I’ll probably polish it up this week and record it once I’m home in a couple weeks.

Reading and the Macaroni Grill

Those were the highlights of the day. I read a little more of Body for Life–in fact, I’m basically done with it–and caught some sun while I was at it. The Macaroni Grill was nice, but the server didn’t write his name upside-down on the table. What a let down. Oh, and his name was Julio, so all I could think of was “…me and Julio, down by the school yard…” and that got old after a bit. Apparently, the turned water has found its way into everything including the soda fountains and ice tea makers in some local restaurants. The Dr. Pepper wasn’t really up to par tonight… I’m sure, however, that the caffeine content was super and that means I’ll be spending a few hours playing tag with my pillows before I nod off to sleep tonight. Oh, and note to self: Mama’s trio is an excellent entree at the Grill, especially for the money.

Yoink!

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Co-op time at OTB, DAL

Several of my friends work at On The Border in Gainesville. They call it “OTB”–you know, typical workplace slang. Anyway, all the co-ops went to OTB for lunch today, and it was paid for by Raytheon (note the use of passive voice there… oops). We spent most of our time harassing the server and trying to get her to ring up the bill for twice as much as we spent. We thought it’d be a funny gag to pull on the co-op coordinator. But, alas, she wouldn’t do it, so we had to settle for constantly requesting napkins and demanding refills on still-half-full drinks. We couldn’t seem to rattle her.

Anyway, because it was free, I ate far more than I should have–Quesadillas for my appetizer, Three Sauce Chicken Burrito for my entree, the standard Sizzlin’ Apple Crunch (or whatever OTB calls their version of it) for dessert. Oh, and Dr. Pepper to drink. Lots of Dr. Pepper to drink; six, seven, maybe eight glasses. Needless to say, I’m wired and it’s a good thing I’m about to go out and see my friends who are getting in town in about twenty minutes. At least I’ll be able to goof off and burn some energy before I have my nightly staring contest with the ceiling over my bed.

Check, check… one… two… Check

I finally bought the missing link in my guitar setup today: a microphone. It’s a Shure Beta 58a. It is pretty highly recommended, supposedly produces high quality live and recorded signals, and is very durable. I’ll have to list my entire setup later… Not that anyone really cares aside from me, but it’ll be good for me to catalogue (I think that word is too big for my setup, but it’s the first one that came to mind) my stuff, so I know just what I have.

Until then… Ah ah, hush that fuss. Everybody move to the back of the bus…

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Well, still not much happening…

Things’ve been pretty even-keel for the past several days. Nothing outrageous has happened and, since my most recent little bowling accident, I’ve not done anything completely stupid, so I don’t have any funny stories to tell. I did spend most of the afternoon and evening with a good friend from Project: we watched Shallow Hal, got some grub at a local joint and just sat around talking for a few hours. All in all, it was a very productive, satisfying evening.

Shallow Hal was pretty entertaining, although it feeds on inaccurate stereotypes and is very degrading to women in general. There were some funny parts and, as usual, Joe Black was his wacky, weird self, “George Costanza” (I don’t know his real name) was irrational and ridiculous, and Gwyneth Paltrow lit up the screen. I guess it was a good commentary on how superficial people can be, but the irony was that the whole movie preyed on the very stereotypes from which it seemed to be trying to save its audience. Maybe they meant to do that…

The local joint mentioned earlier is called The Big Easy, not to be mistaken with the movie or the Cajun food chain, called Big Easy Cajun. It’s good food–big sandwiches and an endless supply of Dr. Pepper on tap–and a nice environment for just chilling and killin’ time. My buddy and I sat at our usual table by the window where he has a view and I get to see the window’s frame and a few parked cars. I don’t mind it, though, because there’re less distractions for me and I can focus on the conversation. We both don’t mind speaking our minds, so that leads to very informative, challenging conversation, rather than the kind of conversation that people have when both parties are afraid to offend the other or dispute anything they might say. It’s refreshing to be able to be genuine and honest.

After the dinner and Shallow Hal watching, my buddy and I sat around and chatted, mostly about different Biblical issues–What is ‘reformed’?, What do you think about those who say, ‘You’re not ready for a dating relationship until you’re approaching Holiness and totally right with the Lord.‘?–and just what’s been going on with us over the summer. We talked about heading back to school as fifth year guys and what we’re looking forward to and dreading. We spent a good amount of time talking about basketball–I talking more than he–and how I regret not playing in high school. He played in high school, so I guess maybe I lived vicariously for a few moments as he talked about his role on the team and whatnot.

I also bought a new CD yesterday–The Dave Matthews Band’s Busted Stuff. I guess that probably seems ordinary for most, but for me it’s extraordinary. That was the first album I’d bought in almost four years, thanks to the internet and my shallow wallet. I’m a big music recommender, so I usually download music, give it a listen and then share the music with friends, via recommendation. I may not have bought many albums, but I’ve been cause for many people buying many albums. Welcome to Josh rationalizes internet music piracy. Thanks for coming.

Anyway, it’s a great album; very organic and musical as opposed to their previous album, Everyday, which, in my opinion, was one of the most awful albums ever recorded. Busted Stuff is refreshing and is good quality music. All five band members are ever-present on the album, some laying down more than one track (Dave plays multiple guitar tracks on several songs) and it’s good to hear The Band exploring music themselves rather than bringing in guest artists to fill the voids. Anyway, that’s what’s in my CD player right now and it’ll probably be there for a while.

My guitar is calling me (it’s voice is audible only to my ears and says things like, “You’ve been neglecting me!” and “You just don’t love me anymore!”) and so I must go. As all other relationships, mine with my guitar requires time, which I haven’t been investing lately. “It’s me, not you…”, I say.

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I’m a big fan of Breyers products. Right now, I’m enjoying a new flavor called Banana Fudge Chunk–Banana ice cream with fudge swirls and soft fudge chunks. Wow, this is good stuff. I’m a huge fan of banana anything and this stuff is really hitting the spot. I’ve said many a time that there are just some things that I won’t skimp on, and one of those things is ice cream. I can spot artificial flavoring and freezer-burn at a thousand yards, at night, with no special vision technology. I also really enjoy yogurt, but I’ve spoiled myself by only buying Breyers Fruit on the Bottom yogurt cups. I’m too lazy to mix my own and that stuff is about as close as one can get with ready-to-eat-with-real-fruit-inside yogurt. Anyway, I figure that’s a little peak into my personality–I can’t stand fake ice cream.

Today, I played basketball with seven of my buddies and we had a pretty good time, but I learned something about myself that I really liked. At first, we played on a court that already had a few guys on it, so we were forced to pick four of our guys to take on their four. We selected four guys by shooting free throws “first four to make it” style. I was one of the first four, so three other guys and I took on the guys who had the court. We lost–we didn’t get demolished, but we never really had a chance either. Then the rest of the guys with me (the other four) played the guys that had the court. They lost–barely. After that second game, we all decided to move to a different court because we wanted to play against each other and not just sit around waiting to play a bunch of guys none of us knew. On the way to the new court, one my friends–who was on the team with the second group of our guys–said that he was surprised that his team almost beat the guys that had the court because “the best ball players were on the first team”. Well, I didn’t agree with him and I didn’t like the sound of that, but I decided to let it go. …until I was designated as a captain for picking teams on the new court. I gave the other captain first pick and then proceeded to pick as many of the guys from the second team (from the previous court) as I could. I got three of ‘em. I was out to prove a point, and I think I ultimately did.

I wanted to show that my friend was wrong: the guys on the first team (from the first court) were not the best ball players out there. They may have been quicker or had more jumping ability, but they weren’t necessarily the better ball players. I decided to demonstrate this by picking those guys from the second team and beating the guys from the first team. And it almost worked, too. We lost pretty badly the first game–11-6 or something like that. But, we almost took ‘em the second game. In fact, we were tied at 10-10, but then we gave up two buckets in a row and lost 12-10. Or at least we lost as far as final score was concerned. As far as I was concerned, I had proven my point: The guys from the first team weren’t necessarily the better ball players. I honestly felt we outplayed those other guys in that last game, and I think they knew it too. I think the best part was that everyone knew what I was up to and I could tell that some of the guys appreciated it and some of them didn’t–probably because they had to swallow a little pride by the time it was over.

I have a feeling that didn’t make much sense, but at least I can have a reminder of today’s game from time to time.

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Aren’t weekends supposed to be for relaxing? If so, then why on earth do I have two homework assignments due on Monday? Normally, it wouldn’t be so bad, but tomorrow I’m going to spend the day with my family in Jacksonville (which I’ll thoroughly enjoy and I’m looking forward to) and that means one less day to work on my homework assignments. Anyway, I’m hoping for five hours of sleep tonight, so I need to hit the hay (what does that expression mean anyway?).

On a side note, Fat Week was a bit more of a success than I had hoped: not only do I feel disgusting this week, but I had a terrific time trying not to flop down on the floor and moan in the middle of Friday-night-basketball tonight. I haven’t been that dehydrated in quite some time.

My apologies to those who may have wasted valuable minutes of their life reading this nonsense.

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Fat Week Recap:

Day 1: Breakfast�bowl of cereal, banana, cinnamon-raisin bagel with lots of cinnamon cream cheese. Lunch�three double-cheeseburgers, crispy chicken sandwich (McDonald�s). Dinner�Arby�s roast beef sandwich combo., with curly fries.

Day 2: Breakfast�eggs, bacon, toast, grapes, whole milk. Lunch�Subway melt on white, extra honey mustard. Dinner�Fried chicken, mashed potoatoes, corn and some super bread. For dessert, peach cobbler a la mode.

Day 3: Breakfast�Can�t remember because it was so stinkin� early in the morning. Lunch�two hamburgers, two hotdogs, some fries and some salad. Dinner�Spaghetti and salad. For dessert, lots of brownies.

Day 4: Breakfast�pancakes, sausage, grapes, whole milk. Lunch�The Dillard House: all you care to eat home cookin�, mash potatoes, meatloaf, turkey, fried pork chops, green beans, collard greens, strawberries and cream, egg plant squash, creamed corn, roasted and smoked chicken, and a lot more stuff that I just can�t remember. Strawberry cobbler a la mode for dessert. Dinner�slept through it.

Day 5: Breakfast�combined with lunch on the road. Lunch�Wendy�s Big Bacon Classic combo., with an extra Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger on the side. Dinner�Maui Teriyaki chicken bowl.

Day 6: Breakfast�bowl of Frosted Flakes and a banana. Lunch�King Size Snicker�s bar and some Ranch Doritos. Dinner�Bacon, cheese, chicken sandwich and fries. For dessert, Bryer�s Oreos and Mint ice cream.

Day 7: Breakfast�slept through it. Lunch�Chic Fil A 12-piece nugget meal, large size, took advantage for the free-refills option on my Dr. Pepper. Dinner�(Stonewood) 9 oz. Filet mignon, 6 oz. Center cut sirloin, garlic mashed potatoes, creamed spinach, sourdough bread. Two kinds of cake for dessert: chocolate and chocolate with real butter-cream icing.

Day 8: Breakfast�a few donut holes. Lunch�Bourbon Street Grill two-meats-and-a-side combo with sweet tea (one of the only places to get good sweet tea in Naples, apparently). Dinner�Papa John�s pizza and breadsticks. For dessert, one of the most awesome concoctions of whipped cream, angel food cake, kiwi, strawberries and lime anyone could�ve ever dreamt up.

Day 9: Breakfast�bowl of Frosted Mini-Wheats. Lunch�Sierra Chicken Sandwich and fries (Silver Spoon Caf�). Dinner�Turkey and bacon sub from Jimmy John�s. For dessert, a large cinnamon ice cream with apples and pie crust in a chocolate-dipped waffle-bowl from Cold Stone Creamery. And, for the final touch, buttered popcorn at the movies (I�m back in the �Sunday night is movie night� routine).

Some Thoughts: I seem to have forgotten a couple of the dinners I had at Camp Chattuga; hopefully, I’ll be reminded of them and be able to update this post later. I think this recap gives a pretty good idea of the purpose and philosophy driving Fat Week. Hopefully, I’ll have the discipline to eat well for the rest of the semester. Although I’ve had a good time eating junk for about 10 days now, I think I’m ready to eat decent food, at least for a while. My wallet will thank me, I’m sure.

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I’m pretty sure today was the first I ever went “out on a boat”. I have gone on a couple small cruises and a pontoon before, I’ve even been tubing before, but I don’t believe I ever went out on a boat and just rode around, chilling with my friends. That seems sort of strange to me considering I’m a whopping 22 now, but there’s a first time for everything, I guess. Anyway, it was a blast and I’m glad I went. I got to do a little tubing, a lot of talking and some sightseeing along the eastern coast of the Gulf of Mexico. This has definitely been one of my favorite birthdays so far, if for no other reason than the fact that the celebration wasn’t Josh-centered, it was fellowship-centered.

Fat Week is almost over. I haven’t mentioned anything about it yet, but I plan on doing a recap and an explanation once it’s over. Basically, its basic philosophy is this: I’m going to eat a lot of junk over Spring Break anyway, so why not eat as much junk as I can, so I’ll be tired of it and ready to settle into a legitimate eating routine once school starts back up. I’ll give an example to help clarify: On the way to Spring Fling, our caravan’s first stop was at a McDonald’s. When it came my turn to order, I asked the lady behind the counter if they had anything for ninety-nine cents right now. She said they had double-cheeseburgers and crispy chicken sandwiches. I asked if I could have three double-cheeseburgers, a crispy chicken sandwich and a medium drink, please. That was lunch on the first official day of Fat Week.

Well, between boating and eating all day, I’ve worked up quite a tiredness, so I’m going to crash on the queen size bed here in the guest bedroom at my vacation spot. I almost forgot to mention that I watched What’s Eating Gilbert Grape tonight. It was fair to poor and I don’t feel that there’s much more to say about it. Maybe before my next post, I will realize something significant or intriguing about it, but I’m not counting on it.

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