Now, its September and we are pretty much half way into the Fall already.  I essentially have 3 jobs, am taking one of the two French classes I need to graduate, and am dating a girl!  What the crap?!  Its insane!  I feel like like its a total god thing, being blessed with jobs that fit my wierd schedule.  I’m also living at home, which may sound terrible…and it is sometime, but its also amazingly cheap (and by cheap I mean free).

So I’m working at my church for our afterschool program.  During the day I do all the accounting, record keeping, etc and then during the afternoons I actually work with the kids and teach the 4th graders and older.  On Mondays and Tuesdays I slip away for a while and go to classes.

Every night work ends at 6, then I head home take a quick shower and wolf down whatever I can find to eat and then head over to the campaign office.  I am volunteering on the Chris Bell campaign for Texas Senate.  I am not getting paid, but the frequency and amount of hours I am putting in there makes it a part time job in my mind.  Its a really cool deal and I feel like I am finally getting plugged into the group and they see me as credible and someone who they can count on.

Then there is the girlfriend.  I dont know where to start, and thats not saying anything bad about her at all!  Haha, but if you know anything about me then you know that I have been single throughout all of college and this is quite a drastic change.  Its like an identity crisis everyonce in a while.  Haha, sometimes I get really freaked out because I remember that Im in a relationship and dating someone.  Its so different!  But pretty dang nice…

As if all this wasnt enough, then Hurricane Ike rolled through Houson last week.  Right before the storm wrecked shop, I decided to come down with Strep Throat which required me going to an ER, getting checked up while wearing a Hospital Gown, and etc etc because all the doctor offices were closed.  Houston/No Electricity/No AC must be what hell is like.  (Well…in Hell you will probably have to eat non-stop those Blazing Wings we tried at Buffalo Wild Wings the other night)  But nevertheless, it was horrible.  We actually got our power back after 2 days, but over a week later now we still do not have internet or cable.

Now you must understand, we are the lucky ones.  Houston is partially incapacitated right now.  Over 1 million people still dont have power.  And even more without cable and internet.  HISD is still closed down, and will open a few select schools this Tuesday.  But I bet we wont be at 50% until next week or later.   I still have videos checked out at Hollywood Video that I cant return because they havent opened back up yet.  And I cant imagine how many other businesses are on ice right now.

As for my situation….well lets just say tomorrow will be INSANE!  Since I do the accounting for our afterschool program, and last week we didnt meet at all….I will be doing refunds all this week.  And its not just a flat refund I am sure.  We have different pricing options depending on how much you pay and according discounts.  You can pay day-to-day, montly, or seasonally.  So the refunds will vary…a headache to say the least.  THEN, on top of all that, since alot of HISD will not be open this week but workplaces will open back up we will be offering fullday care.  So that will require new pricing, discounts as needed with refunds from last week.  An accounting nightmare…and our system is a mess on top of it all.

Awesome huh?!  Lol…whatever, there are only so many hours in the day.  I will do my best but at 6 I will be clocking out foo.  This crap is not worth stressing over or losing any more hair…ya, what the crap right?  I go to get my haircut the other day, and the lady points out the start of my receeding hair line.  Real cool…then I tell the girlfriend, and she laughs at me…wow.  Awesome?  Haha…whatever, I wont ever let it get out of control with the combover or any of that crap.  Ill shave the sucker before it comes to that.

Oh well…thats life.  I am really hoping Chris Bell gets elected to office.  Itll be a nice shakeup in Austin.  And with the crap the Republicans just pulled in filling a ghost Dem candidate, I think enough people will rally around him to ensure a win without a run off.  But all that is a story for later.  The campaign is getting real interested, espically as all the yard signs we have been putting out are now gone because of IKE.  Eh, oh well.  I’ll update aobut the campaign later.

Peace.

Ever since I haven’t been able to run long distances on it and I used to really enjoy running.  Now when I run, I feel the consequences for about a week .  Even the treadmill is a bit too much for my knee.

So imagine my surprise when I discovered the ‘Elliptical’ last week!  It was like a gift from God…although I feel like I’m losing my man card every once in a while when I use it.  Nevertheless, its amazing and it doesn’t put too much stress on my knee.

Thus, Ive been doing my cardio on this machine everyday and its just incredible.  Today, I tried to stretch my limits and uped the resistance and did it for an hour and a half.  It was a good workout.  Kept my heartrate where I wanted it and just got some good exercise time.

When I got done working out, I head out to my car and skipped weights because I had some studying for a French midterm to work on.  So imagine my surprise when I get to my car and notice that the bumper has been scraped up by some friendly neighborhood character.  I look at my windshield and find….oh wait, there wasn’t anything.  Not an, ‘Im sorry’ or ‘Here’s my number’ or even ‘Frack…my bad’

That’s just messed up.  Freaking leave a note.  You did something wrong, grow up and face the consequences.  Now you’ve screwed up again and committed a ‘Hit and Run’.  Real cool bud, real cool….I hate parking lots.

Well, I got home and just forgot about it.  And then randomly thought about it again and so I decided to blog about it.  (I guess that’s how these blog things are supposed to work???)  I didn’t know what to  name this post…I was thinking like Dave’s Righteous Anger…or Crappy Insurance Increase Probably…and then it hit me.

It wasn’t a accident that completely wrecked my car, in fact its even kinda hard to notice.  It was a sucker punch.  A straightup, cheap, dirty, and messed up kind of shot without any elegance or style.  Just a freaking suckerpunch…

Next time total my car please?  Then Ill at least get some insurance money for it…or have the maturity to fess up to it.

And by the way…my new fav is  ‘Suite No 2 – Courante‘  Get in the CHOPER, NOW!!  IM A DETECTIVE YOU IDIOT!

Im sitting on my couch while doing some homework and surfing the net, then it hits me.  Out of nowhere from the outfield, a blissful equilibrium filled me that has been quite opposite my life lately.  And do you know what it was?

Love.

And do you know who?

The Cello.

I stumbled upon Yo-Yo Ma (famous cellist), and not just ONE song but rather a free playlist of 106 SONGS that I found on imeem.com You could say that I was a ‘Happy Man’ or even a Happy Bonem’, but that would be a profound understatement.

I really cannot remember the last time I had a feeling like the one I experienced tonight.  It was just so beautiful.  It reminded me of looking at the stars out in the country when you can actually see the entire sky, watching a big fireworks show or being in love with a lady friend (haha).

If you know anything about me, I love music.  I’ll listen to just about anything that’s truly music; so no really twangy country, no bad rap, and no hardcore thrashing metal.  And I have a secret love for classical music, something I really try to keep to myself most of the time.  (I like to think when Ive got that career going for me that me and the wifey will go every once in a while to the orchestra and enjoy.)

Anyways, I not gonna lie, I think Jesus listens to this dude pretty often.  I dare might say even more than Michael W. Smith?  (don’t strike me down please….).  I’m still figuring out 1) which songs I like the best and 2) and how Im going to pay for all these songs on iTunes!

Anyways, it made my day.  It is just one of those little reminders like creation all around us that God kinda knew what he was doing when he created everything and that he did it with absolute perfection and the definition of beauty.  Dont you just wonder how good its gonna be in Heaven when stuff like this happens to you or hits you?

(Right now my fav is- Suite No. 1 in G major.  Go listen to it!!!  NOW!!! ITS NOT A TUMOR!!!)

]]> http://davebonem.wordpress.com/2008/07/24/in-love/feed/ 0 davebonem http://davebonem.wordpress.com/2008/07/16/a-good-fright/ http://davebonem.wordpress.com/2008/07/16/a-good-fright/#comments Wed, 16 Jul 2008 14:07:13 +0000 davebonem http://davebonem.wordpress.com/?p=25 ]]> Well today I woke up late.  All I could think was, “Crap!…I cant miss these stinking summer school classes!”

So I go into the next room to hurry and get ready.  I go to turn on the lights and it wont turn on.  I thought, “Dangit.  I pulled that stringy last night, and I have to pull it again to turn on the lights…I’ll probably bruise my shins 2-3 times before I make it over there in the dark….great”

I get over to the fan light and it wont turn on.  I think to myself, ‘Wierd…’  I go to another room and try to turn on those lights and strangely they won’t turn on either.  I dont think much of it because I’m so late to class that I just try to get ready in the dark.

Then it hits me why the lights wont turn on and why I overslept, “Frack…my electricity has been shutoff.”  Its just one of those things you risk when you’re bumming someone’s apartment!  So then I start thinking, ‘Wow…this is going to seriously suck.  I just went to the store yesterday and have about 90 dollars of groceries in my fridge that will go bad.  I wont be able to use my computer, tv, or even cook in my apartment.’

Things werent looking to good. 

Now yesterday, the internet I was bumming just completly went out.  It was a good scare….no internet!?!  That means no email!  That means no more of this new addictive facebook chat thingy!  That means no random sufing of the internet to pass the time during this awful phase of my life called, ‘Summer school at Baylor!’  Ahhhhhhhh!!  But later that day, the friendly free internet came back to life and now I must say, ‘Thank you unidentifed neighboors.’ 

With that scare similar to the electricity scare, it triggered the internet scare memory and got me to thinking.  Maybe I should see if any of the other internets were working because if they arent, maybe that means that all our power is out and now just my own.

Sure enough, that was the case!  Things are turning up!  And I wont miss French class today either, I’ll just head in at the break point thats halfway in and explain to my teacher, shes really nice.

I still need to write about the cruise and explain this bumming people’s apartment and internet at some point!  But its coming, I promise!  And do you know how hard it is to get ready completly in the dark and find your keys that you always misplace?!  It isnt that easy!

Going to Mississippi this year was one of the coolest mission trips that I have ever been on.  We went down there to continue the rebuilding efforts since a lot of the area is still devastated from Katrina.  I played bass for the choir performances, helped out in the kitchen, and was a quasi-chaperone/adult.  I’m still in that weird spot of not truly being full-fledged adult.  I’m sure Ill feel a lot more ‘adulty’ in a few months when I have my own place and am completely living off my own income.  

As for ‘helping out in the kitchen’…well that’s an understatement.  Helping out in the kitchen meant feeding a small army and then some more.  To be fair to the kitchen crew, I did oversleep my morning shift once or twice…my bad guys.  To give you an idea of what the kitchen conditions were like, well… there were rat droppings everywhere throughout the pantry and kitchen.  Meaning….there were RATS EVERYWHERE! 

This then led us to conclude that we couldn’t use any of their food and we couldn’t store anything overnight that the rats could get into.  This created some logistical problems especially since we were feeding our group and all the groups staying at the encampment totaling over 180 people!  The first day at Sam’s we spent over $1000 on food and that was only for that day and we had another crew at Wal-Mart getting even more food!  We truly were feeding a small army!   To make things even crazier, the kitchen/dining facility was completely outdoors with only screen nets to keep the bugs out.  And the stoves were industrial sized with huge open flames making the kitchen hot as crap!  All this to say, kitchen duty was pretty intense.

Now, let me try to create a mental image of what our living conditions were like (not that I am complaining….it was quite an entertaining experience).  We were staying where a church had once been located but after Katrina the only thing that was left from the church was the steeple which had washed up several miles.  Now the church meets in a temporary building and the rest of their property accommodates living quarters for groups that come in to rebuild homes.   All these buildings have a temporary feel to them although they have permanent qualities.  They look like a in-the-field army buildings and have the white bubbly exterior that is made of some sort of fabric shell. 

The bathrooms were located in the same type of buildings but with stalls and showers.  But here is the best part; at all the sinks there were big signs that read ‘DON’T DRINK THE WATER’.  My personal favorite was the signs that had little pictures of skulls and crossbones.  The story behind the water was that when Katrina happened, contaminated water entered the groundwater and contaminated all water in the surrounding area.  So we couldn’t drink the water but you better believe that we brushed our teeth with it and showered in it….awesome huh?  Haha, the absolute best part was that we couldn’t flush our toilet paper down the toilets!  Apparently it would clog up the septic system or something so instead of flushing it, we threw our used TP in trashcans….ewwww.  I personally never had to empty them out but I can imagine how entertaining that experience must have been!

As for the work we did….well there was a lot.  I floated around between different crews and various projects.  I spent one day working with the concrete crew which unloaded over 480 bags of concrete (which is close to 20 tons!) and used them to support the slits that elevated the house we were working on.  What’s even more incredible is that our crew was mainly a bunch of middle school boys carrying around these 80 pound bags!  We also moved around a bunch of dirt to even out a lady’s yard where her old house had been and had sunken the according ground.  Now these jobs don’t sound that bad especially with the proper equipment heavy machinery, but we were doing all these jobs by hand or with hand tools!  It was really cool to see the end results, realize how much we accomplished, especially at a fraction of the normal cost!

The moral from this story really was to be thankful for what you have.  Water, a home, people to help you out in a time of need, and a God who has blessed us with all these things and so much more.  It was also amazing to work with all the youth as their size didn’t come close to the size of their hearts. 

We also had an amazing experience at a homeless shelter in Mobile, Alabama.  It was called something like the ‘Waterfront Rescue Mission’ and it was one of the most incredible Christian outreach programs I had ever seen or even heard of.  Im not sure exactly how it worked but basically you had to be a member of their program to receive most benefits from the shelter.  As a result you had guys coming off the street from some of the worst of worst situations, committing their life to Christ, turning away from sin, and starting over again by God graces and in complete recognition of it.  On top of that, once you completed the program you actually moved to Florida to their second location and part of the program. 

It was sort of a special night for them because some of their guys were graduating and moving on to the second part of their program, we were serving everyone a nice dinner, and putting on our choir performance for them.  Some of the guys from Florida actually were there too making the occasion even more of a big deal for all the men at the shelter.  Our very first song had the majority of the audience singing with us, and many standing up and cheering.  (FYI no other performance had audience participation even half like that night)  The invitation was absolutely amazing as well.  Many of the guys came down with tears in their eyes, and even more came down and just poured out their hearts.  We played the invitation song about 3 times, and the third time the choir started singing along with the audience and tt was truly movie perfect (and honestly, it was one of those things that can only be attributed to God’s workings).  At the end of the program we were all talking and sharing stories, and the conversations with the men at the shelter was just incredible and intentional.  My experience at our mission shelters has felt me wondering people’s sincerity and how much good is actually be done but there was no such doubt at this mission. 

More to come later about the cruise, Waco and summer school!!!  (and I havent edited this yet so forgive me for all the mistakes!)

Sorry blog peoples.  I haven’t been keeping up with my responsibilities to the online world.  I’ve been away on a mission to Mississippi to continue the rebuilding efforts of Katrina that are still going on, a Cruise that took me to Jamaica, the Caymans and Cozumel, and just yesterday I packed up all my things moved up to Waco to start summer school.  As of this moment, I am at the stage in life called ’couch bumming’.  Awesome eh?  I don’t really know how I feel about it, mainly a collection of mixed feelings.   Well I don’t know how much I’m going to write tonight so expect a lot more to come soon!

All that to say, Im totally stoked to go down there and help out!  Ive been on many mission trips before and weve always done sports camps, VBS camps and etc.  This year for a first time we are building houses.  My dad was never a real handy kinda guy so I never really learned it at home.  But ever since I was the ‘projects guy’ at Pine Cove for two summers I fell in love with the manly-man stuff.  All those power tools, big nails, and dangerous things…well as Tim the Toolman would say ‘Awwh awwh awwh awwh’.  Haha.

After a week long mission trip of building and playing bass for the Youth Groups’ musical at night, then the family is going on a cruise!  Ive never been on one before and Im totally stoked!  We are going to Jamica and some other places.  Its going to be quite the experience with the whole extended family going!  A total of 17 of us!  CRAZY!!!  If anyone has tips on what I should bring Ive got my iPod, my computer (but no internet) and a book or two.  But Im a complete noob so let me know if Im missing anything!

Pray for me everyone!  Pray that our mission trip is amazing and we are able to bless some people.  Pray that something we say, something we do, or something we try reaches out to someone and leads them closer if not straight to Christ.  Pray for our safety and energy to continue throughout the week.  Thanks everyone and talk to yall in like 2 weeks!  (no cell phones on the cruise because of international rates and you can try to get me on the mission trip but im gonna have limited oppurtunies to use it)

But Im pretty much just a dork and freaked out for no reason.  It was awesome.  I forgot how much fun it was working with the kids.  I dont know if it is just our group that we have at the daycamp or if its true for all kids in general.  But when you are hanging out with them, listening to what they are saying and actually give them a momement of your time, then you see that twinkle in their eye.  You pretty much become the coolest person in the world to them and their best friend at the same time too.  It makes you wonder sometimes if they just dont get that attention or love at home and its just sad to think about. 

But at the same time it allows you to hope alittle.  It allows you to hope that maybe something you say or do will help them later down the road.  It allows you to see some happiness and joy.  And maybe they will spread that joy to others and maybe you yourself with be infected with it.  It also allows you to see what is important in life.  Other peoples lifes.  How do you measure your life?  The things you have?  The money you have?  The car you have?  What about the good you do?  Or the people how influence and touch?  Call me a sucker…but you know its true.

So now Im alittle fired up and lets just get some things straight.  Im a goofball, I like laughing and chances are I will laugh at my own jokes to make sure you laugh.  Im a dork.  I like sci-fi, Battlestar Galactica, and Ill cut you if you make fun of my show.  Im an idealist, a romantic, and I just like hoping for better things.  Now all this to say…Im pretty democratic too and its not that I dont like Republicans, I really just dont care for republican polcies.  Now…I know this may stir up some of yall but hear me out.  Has anyone heard about this report published by the Senate Intelligence Committee?  Ive been made fun of plenty of times because I buy into the liberal arguements, I dont like Bush, and I think the War is a crock but how can you make fun of this.  There will always be endless arguements as to why people beleive what they beleive BUT how can you say that the SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE comprised of 15 UNITED STATES SENATORS is just wrong?  I may be mistaken, and I may even be arrogant myself for beleving this but I dont see how anyone can just throw this information out the window and not be completly arrogant or foolish themselves.  I mean what more concrete facts do you need?  And if you dont have them how can you argue against these?

Ok…changing the subject, so they announced all the new specs to the iPhone today.  Shoot dang.  How awesome is it?!  Only $200!!!  Push email?!  GPS nav?!  And all those amazing aps and the fact that you are sporting the hottest thing out there!  Call me a sellout which I probably will be, but I thinking Im gonna get one!  Now if it had been for 500 or 600 like the orginal price I would have been like cool, but I would have had reservations.  But that aint the case!  And I let yall know how awesome it is when I get it and yall can drool over it….

I like being hopeful.  Call it foolish, but if you cant live for the hope of tomorrow being a better day, what kind of life is that?  Lets start with the upcoming election, I think everyone wants to see a change.  Republicans and Democrats.  We all want a better next four years.  But everyone take a breathe and lets break down the problems one at a time.  Like Obama’s VP pick.  Its really not that big deal.  In the words of John Stewart, “You dont really have to do anything.  All you have to do is pick who you’re going to shoot in the face!”

Last thing:  check out this song when you get a chance (its a youtube video).  It basically inspires me to jump into a burning building, save 50 women/children/babies, kill about 100 badguys using only my barehands, liberate an enslaved population of destitute people, scream ‘Freeeeeedom!’ when the drums come in hard, and become President to lead our country into a great new era of hopeful and change (all while winning over the beautiful and amazingly intellecutally and spirtually deep babe).  Haha…just check it out, listen to it, and tell me it doesnt inspire you the same way.

If I was ever a novelist or simple writer, Im afriad I would only get about 10 pages into my work!  I would just keep editing and revising the pages time and time again just like every time I try to write one of these posts!  I geuss you could even call me a noob when it comes to this blogging shenanigans.

So heres whats new.  I definately failed French.  So this summer I am going to be in Waco taking French 2 again.  On top of that, to graudate I still have to take French 3 & 4 which I will be taking in the Spring and Fall.  This puts graduation back to next May….can I get a collective stick it to the man?

To make things even more awesome, I am paying for all of this.  The summer school, the fall and spring classes and everything.  I knew this day would be coming soon but I didnt realize it would happen while I was still in school.  I think that I even have to start paying off my normal college loans this fall since I wont be a full time student despite me still being in school.

Thus, I need a job!  I would love to get a job in D.C. but I dont think I could do that while taking classes on the side.  I hope for a paid internship with a group that a friend has been working for, but who knows.  The other leading job would be working in Austin again.  I had a pretty good experience working for the Texas legislature two years ago, and I think I could probably get a decent job working there again.  Unfortunately, the session doesnt start until Janruary meaning that I probably couldnt get a job until late fall and Senator Janek has retired xing out any job possibilites there.

Those are the ideal jobs, but I have to make some dollas and so I cant limit myself to just Austin and D.C.   Honestly though, I am viewing it as a win-win situation because if I dont get a politcal job I could probably get another job or 2 that would pay significantly more.  Who knows!

Its not the end of the world, its just going to be a hard year.  I wish things had been different but they are what they are.  On the flipside, LOST was pretty dang good tonite.  And so was HOUSE the other night.   I just wish that money didnt make the world go round.  Eh…I just want to make enough to squeek by.  Much more and it starts screwing with your life, principals and who you are.