Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Relaxing and "Better Know a VRCC'er"


The picture above is of a sign hanging in the great room of the vacation home that Jennifer and I rented over Spring Break. I tried with all of my might to live by the rules of this household (relax, relax, relax), but found it more difficult than you would imagine. Even in the midst of this peaceful time, I found myself counting the moments to the next thing on the schedule, mourning how much there was left to do before our time in paradise expired.
I've re-experienced this problem as of late. The last two nights I've slept horribly, waking up every couple of hours just long enough to confirm that I still have some time to sleep, anxious that my time was slipping away from me.
So, I guess my question is, what do you do to really relax? How do you avoid this dread in the midst of your peaceful moments that those peaceful moments are inescapably fleeting?
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On a completely different note, I thought it would be interesting to try and get to know each other better. Many of us have been friends for years, but how well do we really know one another? So, I wanted everyone to post one thing that almost no one knows about you. I'll go first.
I have two siblings, an older sister and a younger brother. As with everything about me, though, there is a story. My brother is actually my cousin. Before the inbreeding jokes start, let me explain. My brother Steven is the son of my mother's brother and his now ex-wife. When Steven was five years old, his parents divorced, but both realized that they would be unable to care for Steven on their own. Therefore, my parents adopted him. I am ten months older than he is, which led to a great deal of confusion for those who grew up around us, especially since Steven kept his last name. So we are the twin brothers who look nothing alike and have different last names.
That's enough sharing from me. Now, it's your turn.

3 comments:

january embers said...

Relaxing...

In the words of (I think) a cartoon character, "Read a book!" I read a whole novel during Spring Break. Mere text cannot adequately convey the glee with which that statement is uttered. I haven't had the time to read a whole book in such a long time. For me, reading whiles away hours without a thought as to how much time is passing by.


Better Know a VRCC'er...

Who would have thought that Stephen Colbert could inspire so much in the blogosphere: Wikipedia locking its page on elephants, online stories of "truthiness" being Webster's word of the year and yet not included in Webster's printing, and now this.

Something none of you know about me.... Road trip to California in college? That I loved the Smurfs and never really thought about why Smurfette was the only girl? No, I think I will delve into matters spiritual. I got baptized because I was jealous. Horrible, isn't it?

One of my best friends and I started a Bible study together in the fall of 1986. It was going well, and we were learning a lot together and had talked about baptism. I kind of thought we would go up together. Christmas break came and I went to see family. When I got back, I saw in the bulletin that my friend had been baptized while I was gone! I was angry - both at her for stealing the thunder of us being baptized together and going first and also at myself, because I knew it was a stupid thing to get angry about. But the very next Sunday, there I was, going up to the front. I really don't remember if I was still mad by then. I don't think I was. I think I was still jealous that she was younger and had made the commitment before me.

Thank heavens for grace! Twenty years later, and it's OK! :)

Kelly said...

Fun!

I relax every night before I go to sleep by reading. From Tuesday-Thursday, it's usually that week's copy of Newsweek, then the rest of the week it's another magazine or book I'm reading (currently To Kill a Mockingbird and April's issue of BabyTalk).

For longer bits of relaxation, it's vacation. I love to travel and am glad that I'm the type of person to really be able to relax and unwind on vacation.

I'm cracking up at "Better Know a VRCCer." Wade & I are big fans of The Colbert Report and love that segment.

This is diffult because I'm pretty much an open book. I think most people know most things about me.
Hmmmmm.....I might have to give a few, but they might already be well-known?

* I didn't grow up going to church at all, but had a very significant spiritual transformation my freshman year of high school.

* I don't know how to cook much at all.

* I graduated from college with an overall 3.0 GPA, but I had one semester with a 1.8 GPA! (I blame the boyfriend at the time---not Wade.)

Eric Swayne said...

In no particular order:

* I HATE green beans. Can't stand 'em, I don't care how well you cook them or what you season them with. I haven't liked them since I was a baby, and nothing's changed.
* My favorite candy is Grape Jelly-Belly™ jellybeans. Close second after that is original Skittles and dark chocolate.
* I've recently switched to drinking DIET Dr. Pepper. Mostly.
* I can admit that Gilmore Girls, while not a show I watch, is pretty good. It's got some snappy dialog.
* I've been asthmatic since age 3. I've been in the hospital for it 5 times, one of those included a stint in the ICU.
* Guaranteed way to get me mad: Give me a problem that I can't solve that I really really think I can.
* I've got a theory that my wife believes is utterly stupid. I think that every day, you see a cow. Whether in the field, as a cartoon, or just staring at a Chick-Fil-A billboard. Thank God my dear wife still loves me.
* I originally wanted our nursery designed by Monster House.
* Creating web pages really isn't that hard. It's working with the people that want something on the pages that's hard.
* While I love John Coltrane, I generally don't like his work from his Avant-Garde Jazz era.
* I think we should have an all-church NBA Finals watching party.