I am like a pawn in this world; small and easily defeated.

Can you see me taking the picture inside the eye?

Philips Arena (try to find the hidden word) 

We went to a basketball game. the Hawks vs. the Bulls (82-107, Bulls won) 

Left to Right: Me, Mark, Valerie, Travis, and Ryan 

A bad day to exercise

Travis' dad came to visit over the weekend. He's a cool guy. This morning I went for a run with him. I want to start exercising and he wanted someone to go with him. So I went. I did well, considering I haven't ran regularly in over eight years. Dave ended up going on ahead of me. He's been running for like 25 years, so he can keep going and going. But I had to do the walk-run at times. I went about 3 miles total. But not all of it was running. I was glad that I just got out there and did it. If I get into a habit of it, which I hope I do, I will get alot better. Anyway, it was the coldest day in Atlanta so far. I think it was in the 20's. Yeah, of all the days to go for a jog.

Look what I made! Yeah, we have no TV. 

Have you seen this guy? For more info visit www.jonhehir.com 

And I thought only dogs played dead!! 

I hope I lose this bet

So, I'm helping coach the basketball team in our neighborhood. It's hard to imagine. I know. But miracles happen I guess. And the team made a bet with Ryan and I. They said that if we go undefeated that Ryan would have to wear spandex and a pink tu-tu and I would have to dye my hair pink. It's just so crazy that I like the idea. I almost hope I lose this bet and we do go undefeated. Oh yeah, so far so good, too. We played today and we won. The score was 31 to 10. We won by 21 points. Let's hope we keep it up.

Medical Report

I went to the doctor today...twice. The first place I went to told me I had no insurance. Yeah, so I left there and kept reminding myself, "That's why you never go to the doctor, Dwayne! Because they suck!". Anyway, I went home and tried to find my insurance information. I wanted to "reach out and choke, I mean touch, somebody". But I couldn't find it. Bob Yam Muffin' Clubbin' Sun at the Beach!! But rather than lose my cool I decided to go to another place. I had been there before and they don't need to take insurance. You know why...because they care for people and their problems and not their freaking money. So I was looked at and the doctor told me that I had inflamation in my rotator cup and tennis elbow, all in my left arm. I was given remedies and helpful hints on how to fix the problem. Now I know what the problem is and I know how it can be taken care of. So, it turned out ok. But I still don't like dealing with all the crap. Here's a formula. If, Greedy Doctors = Crap, and Crap = Stink. Therefore, Greedy Doctors = Stink. *But if Doctors = Not Greedy but Caring, and Not Greedy but Caring = Awesome People. Therefore, Doctors = Awesome People

* Revised at the request of future awesome-doctor-not greedy but caring-Ashley.

Dwaynish

Did you hear the one about the two priests and a mule?
you'd get a kick out of it!!

Need I say more!? 

Mmmm...Cheese Balls! 

 

Sunday Brunch

For the past two weeks our pastor, in Atlanta, has preached on healthy eating. After all, the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, right? The topic made sense but one thing our team questioned was if it was appropriate for Sunday service. Nevertheless, it's the pastor's call. It's not up to us to change his choice of topics. We just need to be as loving and accepting as possible.

This morning pastor prepared a dish in front of the church. It fealt like that cooking show with Emeril in it. Pastor even said, "Bam". After the...sermon we all got a taste of what the pastor made. It was actuallypretty good. He put ramen, spam, squash, celery, chicken boulion powder, and onions together to make a healthy meal. There was also wheat tortila chips and spinach-guakamoly dip. We didn't get to have much of either dish. So, needless to say, we all went home from church thinking about food. And you know how pastor mentions it once and you're hungry. Well, our pastor talked about it the whole time. So, we were hungry...That reminds me, I haven't eaten anything yet, except a few cyooks.

These are some of the children at the after school program where I tutor 

This is our home in Atlanta. We live on the second floor. 

Myself, Travis, and Crystal at Jake's 

The empty triple-shot expresso cup 

Java, Java, Java, Java...

So, I'm reeaaly wired right now. I'm shaking. It's only midnight, but I think I'll be up for a few more hours or all night. It was raining today in Atlanta, like all day. After my service sites I was stuck indoors with my team for the rest of the night. We decided we needed to get out. After much deliberation we made our way to Jake's. It's like this ice-cream slash coffee house. For those of you who are familiar with Professor Java's, it's like that but they serve uber ice-cream too. So, we all got ice-cream. I had my favorite, Diesel Fuel. It's chocolate ice-cream, cinnamon, and chocolate covered expresso beans. I got a double scoop, which is pretty much a pint of ice-cream. Anyway, that got me pretty hyper, but not much. After the uber-cream, for whatever reason, we decided to all get a triple shot of expresso. Holy Freakin' Caffiene High!! Yeah, so that's why I'm wired. We were bored...We got caffinated. I had my first shot of expresso a month or so ago when we went to Starbucks for a fundraiser and they had free Holiday drinks. It was nothing like tonight, though. Tonight was crazy. After the expresso binge we went to the pool-hall across town. It was fun. I did good considering I had the shakes.

Short and Sweet

My blogs have been a bit long lately. The End

"A Trip" to the Movies

Last night was pretty wild. It was my first day off since I got back to ATL. I went out with some friends to see "Napolean Dynamite". As soon as I stepped outside and saw the car I knew it was going to be an adventure. There were already three people in the car and the three of us weren't in it yet. But still, we made it work. With four of us in the back seat. Hipbone-to-hipbone. The $1 cinema was about 30-40 minutes away. Except, it was rush hour. We moved along at a snails pace and the discomfort grew. We decided after awhile to get off the highway and find a sideroad that ran parrallel to the highway. So out same the map. Imagine four people hardly able to move or breath trying to unfold a huge map. Yeah, it was painful. We realized that there were no parallel roads. So we got back on the highway. Eventually we found our exit and traffic was at a normal pace. The problem now was that we found our way to the wrong cinema. We pondered seeing another movie at this place. But I guess the lure of the car drew us back in. Off we went, looking for another cinema another half hour away. We realized we had missed the first showing. We concluded we had to find the cinema, memorize it's location, get dinner and then go back to catch the movie. Another problem arose...we had directions, but they were for the other cinema...the wrong cinema. Now it was up to us to blaze a trail and hope we get there. We ended up lost and asking for directions like seven different times in seven different gas stations. Of course, each time we asked we got sent in the direction we came. And the last place we tried no one freaking lived around there. Not even the guy who worked at the gas station knew where he was. It was like some sick joke or something. Well, we ended up finding good directions. We were about to make a u-turn because we thought we passed the cinema. As we made the turn we saw the entrance to the cinema. We were there and didn't even realize it. So we got to see the movie. It was three hours later and the movie started already. But it was good to get out of the car.

Good Times

Last night was fun. We had a city-wide, which is when all the teams come together for food, worship, teaching, and fellowship. I got alot out of it. There was grilled cheese (or toasted cheese for those who are wierd) and tomato soup. It may seem odd to be able to get alot out of food. However, I had a "good food day" because I've been thinking about not eating so much. And yesturday was the day I started not eating so much. I felt good about that.

Anyway, The worship was good, too. I usually have a hard time entering into city-wide worship time. Not because it' different music; it's all what I know. Last night I just let go of my thoughts and worshiped like I wanted to; I worshiped God with all I had.

The teaching was good b/c it brought up questions I've been thinking about. I got to ask Leroy about them and he reassured me about some things. I felt like I was free to serve and there weren't any doubts about what I was doing anymore.

The fellowship was awesome for me last night. We played basketball games. One of them I think is called "knockout". You all stand in a single file line and make free throws. If you miss you have to get the ball and make a shot before the person behind you sinks their free throw. I was the winner for a round. It was intense and I had so much fun. It was exciting to see Molly win one for the girls and beat all the guys. Everyone was hootin' and hollerin'.

After that we went to our house and a dozen or so of us played mafia. We always play like five to seven games because everyone here is really into it. It usually turns into a fast paced action pacted game. One time I had to make the final choice. I was the angel. I kept saving myself so I wouldn't die. It was down to Zac, the energy pacted great mafia player that he is, and Julia, the looks really innocent but you can never tell player that she is. One of them was mafia and it was up to me to find out who. If I made the wrong choice mafia would win, or I could make the right choice and the citizens would win. It was really intense. Zac was pleading a good case. And Julia looks very innocent all the time. So I couldn't tell if it was Zac or Julia. I decided to second Zac and picked him as the mafia. Julia siad, "Wait. Are you (talking to me) mafia, too?" Julia thought I was accusing her of being the mafia. But I wasn't. Then Zac said that she was trying to play me and Zac as the mafia and was only trying to "look" innocent. I realized that it was impossible for there to be two mafia left in the game and still be playing. That made me conclude that Juli'a really wasn't the mafia b/c she couldn't decide if Zac and I were both mafia. Why would she be pondering, "who's the mafia?", if she was the mafia. She couldn't be. I stuck with my decision and picked Zac as the mafia. It turned out that he was mafia and the citizens won. I had to hand it to Zac. The whole game he had me convinced that he was a good guy. In fact, earlier I helped vote off Travis, who was actually a citizen, because I believed Zac's accusations that he was mafia.

I went home (Albany, New York) for Christmas and New year's. It was a good time. I got to spend time with my family, see friends, and spend some time with a close friend of mine. It's interesting, though. We haven't had the chance to get to know each other that much. And to top things off, I'm back in South Atlanta and Kelly's going to South Africa in about a week.

Something cool happened during our time together. The last night before I left for Atlanta I decided to share with her that I was interested in her, future relationship type interested. She shared that she had thought about it, too. I believe we both agreed that we're interested. However, because of our situation (both of us being apart doing ministry) we decided it would be best to get to know each other more while we are apart. I really look forward to getting to know her. She's a great friend of mine. The rest is up to God. He knows my heart.