odds and ends

i apologize for the sporadic posting of late, but between work, school, interviews at divinity schools and getting ready for missionary candidate school next week... something has to give.

i leave for denver sunday and will be there all week. super psyched. when i return, i should have a much better sense of whether i'm cut out to be a missionary and whether benin is my next home. exciting, eh?

the only slightly entertaining occurrence this week was a potentially awkward situation at church. my brother thought it was pretty ridiculous, so i'll share the story... realizing all parties involved will figure out i blogged about them after the fact... and i'm trusting they'll be okay with that.

so, you know, there's the guy i dated this summer that was party to my earlier trip to the hospital. we'll call him mike. and there's the guy i went on that blindish date with that almost got mugged. we'll call him bob. mike and i are still best buddies because we're weird like that. bob and i still hang out because we're cool like that.

my church did this great class wednesday night on freud vs. c.s. lewis on sex and happiness. my pastor is a fun teacher, and mike and i had planned in advance to go to the class. my friend carolyn (the match maker) was also going to meet us at the class and mentioned it to bob. i seconded her invite. i loooove inviting people to church. based on my average invitation acceptance rate, i didn't actually expect bob to go, especially on short notice. the invitation was sincere, though, as always. indeed, bob said he couldn't go. but carolyn called as i was heading out the door to meet mike to say that actually, yes, bob would be there. soooo. mike, meet bob. bob, meet mike. not that big of a deal since both peeps are so chill, but sitting in between the two while my pastor talked about sex was not exactly my idea of the most comfortable situation.

and that's my story.

sad steelers

these steelers fans are sad. loss of game and loss of colly. :(

adventures in atl

two things about atl:
1. transportation sucks
2. people are lovely

so my flight landed at 7pm last night and i took the marta into town, flagged a cab, and asked the guy to take me to clifton apartments. "at emory?" yeah. great conversation... super friendly guy. talked all about benin and learned a lot. but once we got to emory he looks at me for some direction. uh, you're the cab driver that lives here and knows where to go, right? wrong. luckily some super friendly freshmen said they could point me in the right direction and give me a map! yay! oh, silly frosh. unintentionally misleading. they eagerly take me back to the dorm, hand me a map and highlight the path i should take. so efficient. i get to my supposed destination only to find that they've sent me to clifton tower, which is not apartments... it's the student health center. shoot. i recall learning at an early age that when you're lost it's best to stay put. so i called my friend and host graham (who was busy playing/coaching in a very important softball game, hence my need for a cab in the first place) and left a message saying "i'm on a bench outside the public health building... come find me when the game is over." luckily it was a nice night. kinda well lit. safe enough. i came home and crashed.

next morning (this morning) graham dropped me off at candler (by the way i'm in atlanta looking at divinity schools, forgot to mention that) at 6:45 on his way to work at the hospital. my appointment was at 8:15. did i mention i was tired? but actually it was cool watching the sun come up and i felt pretty good about life over all.

great visit. great class. love the school.

part 2 was a visit at columbia theological seminary, which is only 5 miles from candler. no biggie. i take the emory shuttle to the bus station and call a cab. after about 15 minutes (at least i got some sun) i called columbia to say i was waiting for a cab, and didn't think it would show. what is it with cabs in atl?!?! a sweet little lady in the admissions office came and picked me up (like i said, lovely people) and i had yet another great visit.

luckily, the guy in columbia's development office is a wlu grad (and thus a gentleman, of course) and offered to drive me home after my interview... so no travel woes there.

and now i'm ready for a nap. and some time to actually catch up with my dear friend.

come to atl. enjoy the people. avoid the cabs.

ps emily saliers' (of indigo girls) dad taught my class this morning, and opened it in prayer. how cool is that?

top secret update

i realize there is a risk in posting this, but i'm trusting none of you will call my boss and give him the news. after all, it's not really news yet. just potential news.

i've applied for 3 jobs in benin (hence the previous post where i failed to mention that benin is next to nigeria too... not just togo). one position would be training adults on job search skills, one would be training village women on health and hygiene, and one would be training students on HIV/AIDS. the latter two are my faves because i love working with women and students.

so i had my phone interview yesterday, which amounted to a very cool, comfortable and exciting conversation. i think we all felt good about it. i have been tentatively invited to candidate school in denver in two weeks (pending my references) and that too is very cool. not only will i get to see my friend mollie (holla!), but i'll also get to meet people that are passionate about the same things i love, and i know i will learn a lot about myself and this particular ministry. what's been truly amazing is all the support from friends, family, school, work (the few peeps that know), my church... the list goes on. it's hard not to get too excited and put the cart before the horse. in my head i'm already packing.

but there is a down side to all this... and that's leaving my friends behind. granted, that's a long ways off and may not even happen. but i at least wanted to let you all know that i do think about how hard that would be.

so that's the scoop! (hope that answers your comment, michael).

benin or bust?

benin west africa is a small country (42,710 sq miles) on the coast next to togo. it has a population of 7,400,000 people who speak french (officially), fon, yoruba and other languages. religions practiced include animism and voodoo (50%), christianity (30%) and islam (20%). check out this house... it's like a castle hut. sign me up.

birthday bro

it's a little belated... but i didn't blog on labor day, and yesterday i was clearly preoccupied. i did sing on monday, though. this def deserves a posting since my littlest bro is now 20... holy crap!

happy birthday little bro!
happy birthday hermanito!
happy birthday mr. pierce!!!!
happy birthday toooo yooouuuu!!!!

drama

sometimes i think my life is more dramatic than the average joe (or jane), to the point where i often ask myself if perhaps i'm creating my own drama. but usually it's out of my control. i'll take responsibility for some, but not all. this weekend was highly dramatic, and not on account of my own doing.

so i went on a blind-ish date friday night. my good friend (and her MOM) set it up, so i felt pretty safe... though this was the first blind-ish date i'd ever been on. now, before you go jumping to conclusions, let me just go ahead and say that the drama is neither a product of the guy. in fact, the guy is pretty darn cool. and let me also say that i'm safe, so no worries there. here's how it went down...

blind-date-bob and i were hanging out sunday night in his neighborhood, not far from my neighborhood. we'd been listening to live irish tunes and enjoying the local color. totally chill, totally normal evening. it was late, so bob walked me to my car. i then drove him back to his house, with the top down (convertible) because the weather was perfect. we were sitting in my car in front of his house when some random dude walked up and looked at us both. bob acknowledged his presence and then we looked at each other like, 'what's that guy's deal?' the guy then walked to the back of my car, called someone on his cell, described my car (including my plates!) and hung up the phone. strange, yes. THEN the guy walked to the passenger side of the car, reached over the window (remember, the top is down) and starts punching bob in the face!!! WHAT?! i started screaming and was too stunned to do anything for about 5 seconds, then realized my car was in drive, pressed the accelerator and drove off. my-heart-was-racing. bob was fine... the guy really didn't have a good angle trying to punch from over the car. still, i was scared. (am scared). we circled the block, i dropped bob off, got home safely, etc.

in hindsight, clearly i should have called the cops. no worries, i'm reporting it tonight when i get home. another lesson learned, don't drive around b'more with the top down at night. i think i'll feel better after talking to the po-po, but in the mean time i am quite shaken.