B) I’m an award-winning procrastinator. While I can carry my weight when it comes to physical labor and science projects, I’m most widely recognized for my ability to put off writing-related tasks**. If you ever find yourself awake at 4 a.m. on Sunday night with a six page Philosophy paper due in 5 hours, DO NOT stumble upon www.CheapPapers.com. Don’t do it – just don’t. Trust me. It’s expensive.
C) I could not for the life of me think of a good first blog topic. At first, I wanted to have something deep and spiritual. You know… insightful. But I don’t want to bore you away from my blog forever. So then I thought “well, maybe I’ll just do a random post to get the first one off my chest.” Examples of a random post that actually crossed my mind include ‘my thoughts on a favorite movie and how it relates to the Gospel’ (don’t worry – probably coming soon), or ‘my thoughts on a favorite cigar, and it probably doesn’t relate to the Gospel’ (worry – probably coming soon).
D) Actually beginning this blog serves as just another memo that The World Race – that My 2011 – is real. It’s hard to explain, because of course I know what I’ve signed up for. But to actually realize it can be an exciting or scary feeling***.
** Without fail, every time a writing assignment is due that I had put off, I think back to the episode of Doug called ‘Doug’s Lost Weekend’. The episode follows the weekend that Doug and Skeeter get a new video game called Super Pretendo Spacemunks (It was ’92, so I assume for Super Nintendo) and play non-stop until Sunday night. As you might have guessed, Doug has a massive writing assignment due on the importance of silt. Much to his chagrin, the only words Doug has on his paper are ‘Silt is’. The episode concludes with Doug writing the paper. Not the most thrilling end, I admit. But hey, the episode was no more than ten minutes long, and I still remember it. That’s the genius of that show. So understated, yet so insightful and entertaining. There will always be a place in my heart for Patti Mayonnaise. And the Beats. And Porkchop. Moving on.
***I think there will continue to be little ‘memos’ like this that make me take a step back and say “Wow – Am I really going to do this? This time next year, I haven’t seen my family or friends for 9 months and will be living somewhere in the African plains.” Matthew 6:25…Matthew 6:25…Matthew 6:25….Repeat x50. The first memo was about a month ago, when I had to give an early goodbye to a dear friend. Hopefully by the time I’m off the plane in Haiti, this trip will be real enough. We’ll see. Until then, Matthew 6:25…Matthew 6:25!
