Across..

I almost had another relationship-themed post Tuesday night....I'm kind of glad I didn't. I don't remember what I was going to say in it now, so both the daily posting and the theme streak is finally broken...for now.

It has been a strange, strange week. I'm not really even too sure how, but I feel like I'm making progress without results with fund raising. I'm scheduling meetings, making calls, doing all the right stuff...but there just hasn't been much in the way of results. That's not as discouraging as I could let it be, I think.

I'm definitely coming to a weird point in life though...I'm just very in-between things. I've got to get funded, that's for sure...but I've also got to start making money...hopefully the two don't clash...that would be helped by getting funded, at least enough, to have some kind of an income to stay afloat while I continue to work on the funding. We'll just see what happens I guess....

And I really need a car...I'm not sure how that's going to happen, but it's very much up to God. There's not a lot I can do to get one til, well, I'm making some kind of money. All of my money, right now, comes from randomly occurring sales on Amazon. It's actually kind of amazing I've stayed financially afloat, when I think about it...but that's the sovereignty of God for you. I'm definitely blessed to live at home with minimal living expenses right now...but I also know this cannot continue endlessly.

My brother was recently hired at Wal Mart to be one of the cart-collecting guys. Ever since, he's endlessly said things about how he "has a real job, doesn't beg for money, and actually does something." It gets annoying, especially because he couldn't do any single part of my job, like, at all. It's led to some arguments...and I know I've got to learn to not respond with so much ire...but it's hard.

I intentionally watched Soccer on t.v. for the first time ever yesterday. It wasn't too bad. There's a lot I don't know about, but I would like to be able to engage in that a bit more...it's got to be the world's most popular sport for a reason, right? I'm sure it won't ever overtake basketball or American Football for me, but even so, I want to enjoy it more than I can right now. That's definitely because the U.S. has a, in comparison, poor league that just about never gets any real coverage. Sure, they'll tell you the same story from NFL training camp 15 times in a 60 minute sports center...but the only time you hear about soccer is when it's an international competition and the U.S. is involved or when something ends up in top plays. Just a quick rundown of scores would be nice....seriously. Summer sports wouldn't be nearly as bad if they replaced all of the ramping-up for American Football season with coverage of sports that were actually taking place.... You still only ever hear about grand slams in Tennis, for instance...even though that's a very popular sport that is almost always going on during the summer. Of course, you can find whatever you want on the internet...but there's a definitely way that ESPN's selection of things to cover on Sports Center and subsequent programming sets the sport-discourse in the United States.

I wonder if there will ever be any significance for me in the fact that the Qinghai province looks like a rabbit.

It's really weird, actually, how rabbits have constantly intersected my life.

I don't think I'm going to talk about that at length.

I decided to start reading the books of Ezra...I started yesterday. I always kind of forget what it's about...then realize the content is a lot less interesting than the subject...mostly because there are so many names. That happens in Nehemiah too....that's one of my favorite books in the Bible (thanks to it appearing ALL of the time in my life, kind of like rabbits), but I always forget about the longs lists of things when I get down to reading it. It's definitely worth a read...but I'm, unfortunately, always disappointed with the act of reading. That being said, past the reading itself, in the thinking about what's actually going on (and the same is true of Ezra) there is much to be gleaned....much beauty, much glory...and many names. Names of people that existed, people that matter...but names that make reading a bit..rocky. And I don't skip the lists...I never do..I can never bring myself to.

After I finish Ezra, I'm going to read through (and try to without giggling the whole time), the Song of Solomon. It really is a beautiful book...and I know there's a lot of greatness there too...it's glorious that it exists, but sometimes unfortunate that it gets pigeon-holed as "the sex book" so often...I admit I'm guilty of that.

So I'm just going to keep on walking....as boldly as I can...into the next thing.
-Zack

"Patience is a priceless lesson; oh won't you learn it with me"
-Mae