Directions: Once you’ve been tagged, you have to write a note with 16 random things, shortcomings, facts, habits or goals about you. At the end choose 16 people to be tagged, listing their names and why you chose them. You have to tag the person who tagged you.
lists on the walls of my room. I have 40+ bumper stickers on my van. I have a corkboard that I keep meticulously unorganized.
2. Despite this, I am a minimalist. I routinely sell, give away, and donate things that I no longer need. I get anxious if I can’t fit everything I own into my van; it means I am too attached to one place and need to minimize. At this point, I am a little over my desired quantity of stuff: the desk and the couch are liabilities in my quest to take up as little space as possible.
3. The couch is as old as I am. It is about as comfortable to sit on as I am. Regardless, I am deeply attached to it. When you don’t have many things, you are free to form deep emotional attachments to the things you do have. I go a mile deep and an inch wide when it comes to loving things.
4. This distance analogy transfers over to my love of people. I don’t do well with acquaintances. I would much rather have a small number of deep relationships than a large number of friends to party with on the weekends. In fact, it often makes me uncomfortable to know a person for a long period of time in an acquaintance way. If I’ve been friends with you for this long, and we haven’t gotten to know each other in a meaningful way, I am weirded out. Either you are stopping us from being deeper friends like I desire, or I am failing at being a good friend to you. Neither of these are appetizing to me.
5. This is not to say I don’t like parties. Dance parties (formal dancing and techno/rave dancing), birthday parties, random parties, any kind of party. The only kind of parties I don’t like are political parties.
6. I have a firm belief that a man should keep as much of what he earns as possible. I have a similarly firm stance that a man’s conscience, not his government, should tell him what is morally right. The government exists for the stabilization and continuance of the country’s infrastructure; anything beyond paving roads and keeping order (prosecuting murderers, thieves and all others who infringe on others’ rights with their actions) is out of line with the federal government’s reason for existence.
7. I will soon be on those very roads with a new car. It does sadden me that I may be sending the Stephen Carradini Memorial Art Museum and Traveling Exhibit to the great parking lot in the sky, but I’ve been driving the Milk Carton for almost four years now. The Old Lady is a ’94 Aerostar van; she needs her rest. I’m being merciful. In addition to granting the TL Bandvan a much-deserved rest, I need a new car for the internship I have next semester.
8. I will be commuting forty minutes four times a week next semester to work as a part-time copy editor at Tate Publishing in Mustang, OK. I will edit Christian fiction and non-fiction by first-time authors for publication. As this is something I may do full-time at the end of my undergraduate career, this is a very good move.
9. I’m excited about being at a Christian book publishing house because it gives me a foothold in “the industry.” My current dream is to write books of essays (think Blue Like Jazz, Traveling Mercies, Nooma videos, or Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten) that deal with religion, politics, entertainment and their intersections.
10. I am compiling my first book of essays next semester as my Honors Research project. This kills three birds with one stone: I get to graduate with honors in December ’09, I get three more hours out of the way, and I emerge with an edited book ready to be sent off to potential publishers. God willing, I could be published before I even leave college. I hope and pray for that, but I do not expect it.
11. My take on expectations: God gave us desires, and commands us to ask for them in Philippians 4:6-7.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
So pray about anything and everything, big and small; all that you want and wish for and hope for. But know this: God delights in giving us the desires that we will use for his glory. As Christians grow to be like Christ, their desires grow to be more and more like Christ’s. As Christ’s goal was the Father’s glory, our goal becomes the Father’s glory. But God’s glory is not an abstract concept; it is the work of reconciliation that God has entrusted to us. The work of reconciliation is not an abstract concept either; it’s how we use our skills and talents to bring people to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. So pray about the things you want, but know that God wants to use those things for his glory. Recognizing that God grants requests for things that he can use to his glory often changes my prayers (and my expectations on those prayers).
12. I pray a lot. If I say that I am praying for you, know that I really truly am. I am not just saying the nice Christian thing.
13. I hold in disdain this model of the “perfect Christian.” There is no such thing. Self-righteous living doesn’t fool me and it certainly doesn’t fool those who don’t know Jesus Christ. It’s much easier to be a part of people’s lives when you don’t have this self-imposed pressure to be perfect. I accidentally said an offensive word during the middle of a speech I was giving to the Econ club last week. They laughed; I was mortified. But I just kept rolling with my speech; I had to. I apologized twice and moved on to the next point. I think we should deal with this life in this manner much more often.
14. The speech was called “Economics and the Music Industry.” I got to give it because I run IndependentClauses.com, an online independent music magazine. I started it because I loved music and I was poor. Both of these things are the same as they were six years ago when I started the ‘zine, although my music interests have changed from primarily pop-punk to predominantly alt-folk. The IC is just restarting after a six-month hiatus. That story is too long to tell here.
15. I love telling stories. My deep love of stories comes from being read to as an infant, toddler and child. I view life as a story; I view bad situations as merely a good story in the making (“when this is all over, this story is going to be awesome!” “yeah, but we might not make it to the ‘when this is all over’ part!”); and there’s nothing that absorbs me more than a good story.
16. Stories have to be interesting; if life is a story, it has to be interesting too. I have a book called “2,001 Things to Do Before You Die,” and it’s my goal to get as many of them done as possible. I love new experiences and reminiscing on old experiences. If you want a sure-fire way to get me excited, suggest that we do something I’ve never done before. It will pull me out of any slump. And I love new things because it reminds me of the unendingly interesting nature of life. That nature reminds me of this: I love life.
Andrew Stephens – because it would be interesting to see what you write.
Anthony Plopper – because I like you.
Brian Burns – because you are in my phone as aaawesomeness.
Carli Lewis – point 5.
Chris Krycho – because he is influential in the existence of points 11 and 12.
Janelle Breeding – cause you’re in half of these, and agree with most of the other ones.
Jason Flack – you’re in here a lot.
Jordan Howard – there’s an x in point 16.
Kasey Carradini – influential in my existence.
Katie Mayes – because you tried to teach me to blow a bubble to fulfill part of point 16. Props.
Laura Bartlett – because you will probably do it, and you and I share point 4.
Matt McCarter – points 1,2, and 3 (sorry bout the uncomfortable couch).
Melody Hollifield – point 11.
Nathan Lauderdale – point 12.
Sarah Mitchell – point 13 is agreed upon.
Shinae Smith – points 13, 15 and 16, amongst the others.
