This is my first blog as a 30 year old. I've just spent the last hour and a half updating this site (which we hadn't touched since January) so this is going to be a short entry. Still, I thought it was important to update the world on my new status as a 30 year old. :-)

Being 30 is awesome! For some reason, it gives me a sense of confidence that I've never felt before. Whenever I pause and think, "I can't do that" I think, "What am I saying? I'm 30 years old now! Of COURSE I can do that!"

Being 30 now has also prompted me to start trying out things for myself. It's kind of a Maggie Carpenter in "Runaway Bride" thing. Do I like actually like Eggs Benedict or am I saying that because that's how most people like their eggs? OK, that's a bad example since I've never had my eggs that way. I can tell you for certain now, though, that I DO like the Beatles and I DO like the Bridget Jones movies. The rest of my list will have to come later, because I'm sick of staring at this computer screen.

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September 11, 2006

It's five years since the terrorists hit the World Trade Center today, but that's not why I'm writing. It was a horrible thing to happen, don't get me wrong... but the media will do a more than adequate job of covering that day, I am sure.

What I have to write about is this phone call I got today. Here's how it went:

Phone rings.

Me: Hello?

Timid voice on the other end: Hello. This is HeatherandAlex.com. Why do you hate me?

Me: Now that's just silly. Why would you say such a thing?

Timid voice: You never visit me. You never post stuff on me. You hate me.

Me: I don't hate you. I've been busy. I have a life.

Timid voice, now acknowledged as my website: You make me sad.

Me: Don't be sad. I'll post something on there. I'll do it right now.

Website: Your mother raised you wrong, that's what it is.

Me: My mom's nice. Leave her alone. I'm sure she visits you all the time.

Long, uncomfortable pause. Then...

Website: You promise?

Me: Totally. Don't call me here anymore, by the way.

Website: But this is the only number you h---

I hang up.

Now that I have that out of the way... I kept a dive journal for a couple months, and that pretty much at up all my contributive energy. I have that completed now, just looking for a time to go diving.

The hammer dulcimer thing, I've revitalized too. I made some good progress on it... I got the patterns of the thing down, did a lot of scales and such... now I've even learned a couple songs on it. None of that stuff was really what I got into it for in the first place, though, so I finally got the book I've been really needing... one that teaches the style of Rich Mullins. Once I learn that, it's probably all I'll play. I heard "Creed" the other day, and it stirred me so deeply, I couldn't help but hunger to get back into that.

...and then last Saturday night, I went to our local cool music venue/ coffee shop, Upbeat Cafe, where I got to see the Psalters for the second time. (The first, of course, being Ichthus.) If that doesn't make you wish you could play music, nothing will. Long story short, I'm gonna start getting pretty crazy serious about the music thing, and I'll probably start a myspace page soon just for that. I've learned "Sandstorm" (a techno song... did I already mention that?) on it, so that'll probably be my first recording and post, soon as I get it recorded. Soon as I figure out a way to do that cleanly. :)

I've been hearing some cool bands lately. That greatest of all music purveyors, Zach Braff (J.D. from "Scrubs") has put out another cool movie with an equally cool soundtrack, and he's got one of my new favorites on there. Joshua Radin is his name, and he's top of my list right now. Check him out if you like acoustic indie stuff.

I would say that's about it, but I don't know really what else to talk in depth about... I committed to six months on a praise team at church that's FULL of some super-talented people... I sing, mostly. Heather and I have gone to West Virginia a couple times in the last couple months, for a lot of card playing and so forth with her folks... small group is going really well, although we're into a book right now that nobody really likes. That's the highlights, I suppose.

Alex made the decision in June 2006 to become a scuba diver, and is working on documenting the journey in a special blog. Click here to read it.

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