Gmail labs. Oh man.

I was just exploring the gmail settings.  I ran into the gmail labs thing.  So cool.  I have four inboxes on one page now.  That way I can have a normal inbox, an inbox for emails I have labeled as coming from friends and family, an inbox for starred emails, and more inboxes for whatever I want.  Oh dang.  I recommend checking it out if you have gmail and haven't looked into it already.  Also, archiving is pretty useful, I think.  And you can play the Snake game by pressing & if you have keyboard shortcuts enabled.  And you can do stuff directly with google search, google docs, previews of flickr and picasa pictures.  And other things.  Anthony probably already knows about all this and more.  Anthony impresses me.

Something's happening to me

First, I have to say that I'm enjoying reading everyone's blogs.  Personally, I like it a lot.  Definitely more than Facebook.  I don't even miss that thing.  I don't want to say I recommend unplugging from it, but...

Okay, so something's happening to me and I don't understand it yet.  But with all these nostalgic thoughts floating around this evening, I guess this fits right in.  At least, in the sense that I will be journaling a lot of the current stuffs and then someday I will also look back and read them.  And understand better.  And see growth or at least change.

I am learning a lot from Mervin.  It's not that he's teaching me.  Or that he knows something that I don't.  Or that he has read more or anything like that.  I don't think.  I think it's more like I'm just gaining more perspective from him.  His way, the Peruvian way in many instances, is different than Christoffer's way.  Talking with Mervin is leading me to ideas that had never occurred to me before.  Not original ideas.  Used ones, to be sure.  But new to me.

There's a lot about this SDA, Christian, stewardship, godliness, sacrifice, missionary, disciple, trust-in-Jesus thing that has never been a part of my consideration.  Or understanding.  Or view.  Or something.  I think that I'm lacking so very much.  It's not like that's news to me.  But I think I'm starting to see some specific lacks.  Some specific differences where I could decide to change.  Improve?  I don't know.  But I think by the end of my time here I could be a person with more concrete, and much different, ideas about how to be human on this earth, in the context of a great controversy and second coming and death-for-my-sins-on-the-cross.

I'm tempted to copy and paste this into a Word document and not press Publish Post.  But I've done that too often recently.  I guess I will decide not to feel dumb about pressing that button tonight even though this seems irrelevant to anyone but myself.  I just hope that I can continue to understand.  And not grow weary of it.

Chris, why is this important?  Why do you want to post this?  You're not coming to any conclusions.  You're not expressing anything of novelty.  You're not saying anything that is very applicable in a tangible way to someone who might read this.  You've disabled comments.  You're not sure you'd want to get feedback anyway.  As if there was anything to respond to in this post.  And that's my point.  But later, later what will you think of these words that you are typing?  How will you feel?  Embarrassed?  Ridiculously stupid or immature?  Impressed?  Excited?  Discouraged?  It's almost 7:30 p.m.  Lima, Peru.  Waiting for Mervin.  Not sure what your thoughts are.  The words understand, express, idea, thought... they're getting overused.  What's happening to me?  Nothing big.  I'm hungry though.  I know that.  I wonder, if anyone reads this, would they tell me?   This part feels so fun and sly.  Where's Sherlock!?

I've been clenching my jaw and scrunching up my forehead a lot these days.  A few times a day I'll notice and try to relax, but a few moments later I'll realize that that only lasted a few of those few moments.

I wish I was more creative.  InDesign kills me.  My "designs" look like straight up blocky crap from a 70-year-old secretary using Word.  No offense to that person.

I eat bread and sugar here.  It's pretty good.

I wish I could walk around the city.  It looks so very interesting.  Especially if I could walk around with someone from the United States that I knew and enjoyed.  The next best thing that I have found is to not do anything.  Just kidding.  That's not the next best thing at all, but I haven't had any other options.

I am trying to email and blog too much.

But at least I've gradually been making my way through Sherlock Holmes.

I'm excited about teaching English.  It's a rewarding field because it is challenging, every day is different but still the same, and most of all, one is exposed to many cultures, traditions, languages, and especially instant gratification.  If this teaching stuff goes well, I might just have to look into it.  I could live in other countries, start schools, and pretty much not have to learn anything except what I learned when I was two.

Classic meets modern

Ben "Wonderful" Schnell introduced me to the free iPod Kindle app.  He also introduced me to the free classics one can download off of wherever I've been downloading them from.  Oh dang, I gave it away.  I've been downloading downright loads of classics and scheming about when to read them.  So far, good times have been right before bed and during our daily taxi rides.  I've rather been enjoy Sherlock Holmes at present.

For the past couple weeks, a thought has recurred in my mind momentarily several times.  It is that I ought to be listening to more Spanish music.  But I don't think I've listened to a single one since that thought has impressed itself nicely into my subconscious.

I do like listening to Sigur Ros though.  And apparently Gabriel began enjoying their melodies as well.  I was happy and proud.  I've also been enjoying Jeremy Larson as of late.  It's nice to put in my ears as I go to sleep.  I've also let Greg Laswell sing to me.  And that sounds really weird and gay.  I don't usually put music on as I go to bed.  I used to when I was younger, but stopped when I started to think it may be a sub-ideal way to drift into unconsciousness.  Also, it affected my songs' play counts (of which I am quite particular) so as to show them increasing when I had not, in fact, really listened to them.  I like to have a more precise number for play count so that I know more exactly how often I have listened to one song compared to another.

I don't feel that I have anything further to say on the matter at present.  Go read something worthwhile.  Dang it, I'm still writing for readers.

FYI

Interested in reading my complaints from Peru?  Curious about the woes of my new life?  Want to hear about how awful my job is?  Care to lament with me about the inflictions I am now suffering?*

Well, you can read about it at christofferslife.blogspot.com.






*Be warned, it may not be that bad at all.  Yet...

My Precious

I think my cat has slowly been warming up to me.  She's been more-or-less more friendly than usual these past couple days, and has let me pet her a little, even.  She hissed at me the other day, but I was provoking her, so it was understandable.  Too bad I'm leaving soon.  Otherwise we might've been friends.  Alas, she will soon have to flee from others' footsteps.  Such tragedy.

I feel a little like a hobbit.  The normal hobbits, not the Bilbos and Frodos.  I like the comfort of home and fresh air and familiar food.  I don't really want any adventure if adventure means going away and having to wear formal clothes all day, speak Spanish all day, and not really ever be alone [probably].  Too bad I'm not a character in a book.  Then I'd be at the author's whim.  In real life, I'm at my own whim.  But not really.  Otherwise, I'd be more like a hobbit.  But taller, and with more weapons.  And not as much hair on my feet.  Sometimes I wish I'd grown up in a much-too-large house where it rained all the time.  Sometimes not.  Sometimes I wish both.

Kite Runner

I read The Kite Runner a couple weeks ago.  It was a good story.  I got the movie from the library a few days ago.  But I didn't finish it.  I liked the images I had in my head already better than the ones on screen.  That's never happened before.

I flew a Hannah Montana kite from the dollar store with my brother on Sabbath.  It was super windy here in Berrien Springs for a couple days.  We had a good time.  We even made the string longer with some blue yarn.  The kite couldn't hold up all the weight though or something, so we had fun for a while and eventually went inside.  I guess that's a dumb thing to say.  Obviously we'll stop sometime and go inside.  Anyway, it was fun.  I like my brother a lot.  And flying kites is somehow really fun, too.

The Clarion and Pancakes in Sandusky

I drove home on Wednesday.  Well, that's when I started.  Things in Maine wrapped up quickly and I was on my way around noon.  I drove for six hours straight before stopping for supper.  That's the longest non-stop stretch for me so far.  Then I drove until midnight, with a stop for gas somewhere in their.  Mom called and asked if I would call back and let them know where I was staying for the night.  I told her I'd be stopping in Jamestown, New York, but I sneakily avoided mentioning the hotel.

When I got there, I pulled into the parking lot of the Hampton Inn.  When I parked, my headlights shown on a couple guys enjoying a smoke in the woods.  They were wearing nice clothes, but they'd seen me.  I didn't want witnesses.  After a moment, I pulled out and headed across the street to the Clarion Hotel parking lot.  I parked in the back and peed behind a big trailer truck that was parked across like ten parking spaces.  Then I grabbed my pillow and jackets from the trunk and got comfortable in the front seat of my luxurious, spacious, and somehow affordable Elantra.  Five hours of decent sleep and then I even got a free breakfast in the morning from the bag in my back seat.

When I called Mom at 6, she asked if maybe we could meet up later for breakfast.  My parents were driving down to Maryland.  It turns out we were passing each other right around Sandusky, Ohio, a little coastal city that has a Cracker Barrel just a few miles from the highway.  We met for pancakes.  My dad ordered Wild Maine Blueberry pancakes.  I did, too.  Because I had just ben in Wild Maine and wanted to see what their blueberries tasted like.  I think their taste gets lost somewhere between Wild Maine and Sandusky, Ohio.  Cracker Barrel seemed to cover that up by making sure to include plenty of oil in their pancakes.  I didn't even finish them, and that's saying something, if you know what I mean.

When Mom asked which hotel I eventually stayed at and how it was, I told her I stayed at a Clarion and it was... nice.  Free, I said.  Free??  She was confused.  I slept in the parking lot, I said.  She laughed.  Better to ask forgiveness than permission, in some cases.  Or however that saying goes.  I was driving mostly on non-toll roads back, too, so I figured I'd be saving at least $50 of my parents money since they had offered to pay for the hotel and probably would've paid for the tolls too if I'd asked.  They figured it was more like $80.  Great.  Even better.  I think some people take me as someone who is afraid to enjoy things if I have to pay for them.  That's okay.  It's not my fault that we don't all understand everything.  Plus, sometimes it's true.  But I just have to say this:  I paid $2.49 for some lemon-drops and candy sticks (?) for my brother, sister, and I to enjoy when I got home.  And, Mom and Dad and other critics, I didn't sleep too bad either and would've relished the hotel's comfort under other circumstances.  Okay, that's all.

Except, Mom's hashbrowns were really greasy too.  I'm just glad we didn't order anything fried.

I got home Thursday at 2:15.  My brother and sister and I enjoyed our candy while watching a movie from the library called Riverworld.  What a joke.  The movie, that is.  But we knew it would be, don't worry.

And that's the story of Clarion and Pancakes in Sandusky.



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Also, could you please check this out.  It may be my life's purpose to own one of these shops.