In The Middle of Action

"It was a murder.. so the couple were.. swingers."
Talking about a show.. that's obviously "gross, weird..." and something else. Anyway, this is the most active environment I've ever updated my journal in, but that's okay. We'll see if there's a difference.

Today was my birthday party on my mom's birthday, which made me feel low all day and in the most honest of ways. She's off on her way to Bend, however, so you shouldn't feel too bad for me. Or her. But it's usually the jerk or you-know-what-hole that you should typically feel sorry for. The victim's got enough on his or her side.

I love randomly hopping into conversation, especially when it comes off as smooth input. It's a delicate art, but you know, it can be done. Like just now. I could use a pat on the back.

At the Burks house, television conversation on my left and Connect Four on my right. I just finished catching up with my old youth leader, Ben Christensen, who is now running his own youth group all on his own. It's full of fourteen regular attendees and is home to an entirely different culture. It sounds like a really cool group, though, from what he says and it's nice to hear the stories of how they are able to open up to him. It's impressive how he can adapt to another role, by the sounds of it: successfully, but also very little surprise. An expected adaptation from a very capable man, one of the best at youth ministry I've ever known. Come to think of it, he's played a pretty pivotal spot in my growth in faith. The one who taught me that youth group could me fun, that it was as much a time to laugh and make fun of one another as it was to learn and grow as disciples. I know I would not have been close to where I'm at without the impact of his ever resounding laughs and timely jokes. A golden sense of humor paired with a beautiful mind, an excellent leader and an altogether "swaggerific" (remember?) man.

Maybe I should leave it at that.

After a quick rundown of the day:
- Woke up around 9
- Got ready, hung out with Sarah for a while, got ready, and drove up towards Beaverton
- Ate at Burgerville.. stole and made ordinary balloons birthday balloons!
- Picked up groceries and party gear
- Eventually picked up Allie from school
- Picked up Bobby from work
- Headed home
- Chilled and played baseball
- Headed towards the party.. timewise
- Partied
- Sung Dead or Alive with Bobby Burks.. now that's beyond partying
- Wasted some time on Halo
- Chilled with Ben
- Started to Journal
- Finished the journal