other, stories

So I leave Diomede something like a month ago, maybe three and a half weeks, and between then and now there was so much. Lots of great things, like flying and big old boats. There were downers, too, but thankfully there were a lot more ups then downs. For now I’m happy. Well no ‘happy’ isn’t the right word, it’s more like content or glad, to be back on the island. It’s beautiful here.

So there is this pizza place in Nome. Well, to put it better: the pizza place in Nome. And the wall decorations are these giant 5′ pizzas, cut out of plywood and handpainted in any way: pepperoni, combo, veggie, et cetera. On one wall there is the ‘current’ pizza, and all are welcome to Sharpie their names, thoughts, and drawings. When the current pizza is full it is placed somewhere else in the restaurant. And the other day in Nome, while I was enjoying my pizza and beverage, I saw what was the best* thing of this whirlwind three and a half weeks. It was written on the ’97 pizza, if I remember correctly.

IMG_0097

*Just in case you don’t know, Nome not only was a gold rush town back in the day, it is still a major center for gold mining–and more specifically, many of the people who live in Nome during the summer are one-man or two-man gold mining operations. They work incredibly hard, like the old miners of the tales, and they make a lot of money.

other

1. I’ve never once regretted having gone backpacking
2. Short stories
3. Poverty — ignorant and prideful people both the poor and the rich — poverty-making suppressionĀ and abuse of people groups
4. Supermacro help and supermicro help…everything else doesn’t work
5. 1977 Yamaha 250 two-smokers are really, really really fun and loud
6. Teaching (supermicro)
7. Taking beautiful pictures with a digital camera loses it’s charm
8. Catch-22
9. Alaskan bush pilots
10. Alaskan bush pilot
11. The ocean
12. Pike Place Market mini-doughnuts
13. Native America
14. Lost times and lost people that live on in tales and stories
15. The Beatitudes
16. Mayan numbers (I can do zero to five hundred, yo)
17. Queen Charlotte Islands
18. Murtle Lake, BC
19. Princess Luisa Inlet
20. Bicycle mechanic
21. Motorcycle mechanic
22. Whiskey and tobacco
23. Stout
24. Origins of Christianity
25. Galois Theory
26. Rag chewing
27. Indoor soccer goalkeeping
28. The motorcycle wave

ideas

I love stories–I love to tell them, to hear them, to think about them. Huge bonus points for stories told around a campfire or while having beers with good friends. That’s the majority of what goes up here on my blog, stories.

To me, storytelling is a pure and unique thing. It’s an act, but really it’s not acting at all; all stories are always stretched, but yet somehow within nearly every story is more truth than a old veteran mathematician can shake a stick at.

This isn’t storytelling though, this is a personal note; there won’t be a “this may or may not be” statements at the end.

A few quick and relevant facts:
-I believe in god; to label myself, “christian” fits best. Important note: Jesus wasn’t a Christian! Oh snap.
-If my faith was just a little bit less puny, I could tell a tree to walk and it would. I could probably levitate, too. Yeah-huh, levitate. But my faith is really, really really small, so I can’t do that stuff–but I think that’s ok for now.
-Jesus is important regardless of what one thinks of what he said. He changed the entire world for all foreseeable time in less time than Obama will have for his first term.

Note 1
Why the do we Christians always pray for bad things to not happen? From all I’ve seen and known, we predominately pray for bad things to not happen. Sure, we pray for good things, for safe travels and…wait…that’s actually praying for a bad thing to not happen. How about for financial stability–oh nevermind, that too. Dear god in heaven above, I pray that you would help my marriage continue strong and health–oh yup, there it is again. What about cancer? We always pray for cancer to be cured. Same thing again…but who am I to look at a man in the middle of life’s journey and tell him it’s silly to pray that his wife doesn’t die this weekend? I’m confused.

What’s a good thing to pray for then? What’s an honest and good thing to talk to god about?

Where’s my treasure, and where’s yours?

That’s what I’m going to pray for, for now.

Note #2 coming shortly.