Making up for Lost Time

Lol, so much for keeping everyone up to date with my life this year by starting a blog! I'm tempted to go back and try to tell you about everything that has happened throughout the year so far, but that would turn out terribly. Some things will come up as I go I guess.

Everyone reading this knows that Mirlandra got Ulcerative Colitis near a little ways into the school year. I am not going to delve into that too much, because you guys already know the minor details that I would be willing to share on here. Please keep praying for her. Never give up. God's desire is to heal her. Our persistence is necessary. Keep on knocking, for love's sake.

I have been playing the violin again. I brought Mirlandra's back with me at Thanksgiving I think and have been practicing on and off since then. I originally learned how to play when I was three and a half from my mother and then when I was four I started taking lessons from Janet Troop (sp?). The timing gets vague after that for me, but I stopped lessons sometime before high-school but continued to play in orchestra for a year in high-school. Then I pretty much quit playing even though I was just starting to develop a love for it. So it has taken me about four years to miss it enough to make all that practicing worth-while again. I hope to keep improving this skill for the rest of my life. I am currently trying to learn how to improvise. I was taught classically with the Suzuki meathod. Improve was not part of my training, so it has been interesting.

Today, I am bringing Mirlandra's violin to outreach. I help lead outreach in one of the retirement centers in Redding called Sierra Oaks every Thursday afternoon. Funny how all these places seem to use Oaks in their name. Anyway, it will be the first time I have brought my violin to play, so we will see how that goes. I tried to bring it in before Christmas to play some Christmas music for them, but I injured the tendons in my arms the day before and was unable to play.

I have also been becoming closely acquainted with Ebay, half.com, and Amazon.com. I had accounts previously set up with each, but the first time I have seriously used them has been in December and January. In Dec, I bought Inside the Delta Force by Eric Haney. I furnished the seller with the wrong address by one digit. Thus, the mail carrier deemed it undeliverable and sent it back to the sender. Whoops!

I have had several very successful online deals though. I bought two brand new tape adapters that allow me to plug my ipod into my tape deck in my car for about three dollars a piece. They normally cost around fourteen dollars each.

I am planning to climb Mt. Shasta with a few other guys from school in April. I did not have gaiters (which keep snow out of your boots), crampons (give you traction on ice), or boots. So, I found a pair of brand new gaiters on ebay for about fifteen dollars. Normally they are thirty. They have arrived and I love them because they are red. I have wanted gaiters since I was about eleven. I found a pair of crampons for fifty dollars. My mom bought those for me for Christmas. They have not arrived yet but should be here any day. Finally, I found a pair of Altima combat boots perfectly in my size and brand new for $35. Normally they are $119 new. Altima makes boots for the US Army. I'm pretty sure I ended up with some boots that some army chap got issued but never used. Anyway, I love them more every time I wear them.

Recently Bill Johnson mentioned in class that he and Beni read Health Food by Kenneth Hagin almost every day that his travel schedule allowes. It hit me just right, so I decided to buy a copy and make it part of my lifestyle. It turns out to be a VERY expensive book though. The price range I found for it was between $50 and $270. So I thought I was pretty lucky when I found a used copy in good condition on half.com for under $25 including shipping. Well after I already paid, the seller wrote me to inform me she had already sold it on another website and she refunded my money. I did not know that was even possible! Well, I found another copy this time on Amazon for under $35 with shipping. I bought that, only to receive a notice a few hours later that the sale had been cancelled. Yup, so I don't know what to do about that. I am not up to shelling out $50-$60 for that book right now though, so I guess I will wait on it and hope that someone will actually follow through on their sale eventually.

Well, I am not sure that my excitement about learning how to find things I need cheaper online was really what you wanted to read about, but that's what you got. Love you guys!