24 hr Super-Duper WalMarts and other joys

Hungry, and worried we'd be eating Cheez-its for dinner, Lori and I trolled the Ohio River Valley for someplace that was still open for a late late dinner. We'd just returned to town from our trip to PA for a movie. Which was pretty cool. We had about a 45 minute drive through beautiful countryside to Washington, PA because the Hollywood Somthin' Somthin' Theatre was the only one still showing Transformers.

Anyway, we drove toward the mall hoping something was open. We found an A&W next to the WalMart. Now where I come from, WalMarts close at 10:00 so that option never occurred to me. But then we witnessed the strangest oddity...a man walking into the WalMart with a strange sense of confidence. He did not pause at the door searching for the hours of operation sign...no he did not! With head held high he went at the automatic doors as though he knew...deep in his soul knew they would open.

After witnessing such audacious confidence we approached the door (with no such certainty) and saw no sign telling us to turn around. Then with caution, we walked through the doors and, standing there, as though he wasn't going home anytime soon, stood our WalMart greeter and cart bequeath-er. Lori, asked a simple question...why I hadn't thought to ask I don't know. "are you open 24 hrs?"

The answer was simple...and yet so life altering.

"yep...and this is the best time to shop because everything is real fresh"

Fresh? How can cleaning supplies/clothes/storage bins be "fresh?"

Two more steps and I was able to behold a large grocery store sharing space with my 24 hr. crack-house for shopping addicts.

Life is good.

Moving Misery

I'm so overwhelmed right now. I haven't finished packing. I've got little bits of crap all over the place that have no category and therefore no "official" box. I suppose I could make a "bits of crap" box. But it looks so messy around here and I have many many trips to the garbage can which is 4 floors down. Ugh!!

I'm outta here....

...as soon as I run a thousand errands; pack more; go out to dinner with Ginge tonight; pack more; get a massage; pack more; do laundry; pack more; do more laundry; and pack.

I'm so tired and stressed, but also excited. I can't wait to settle into a new place in a new town and go to school. I know this sounds silly but I can't wait to write a paper and learn Elementary Spanish. I've got a bit of a head start in Spanish with all I learned on Sesame Street. (yay!)

I worked my last shift last night and I thought for sure I'd be sad. I wasn't. It did feel weird that my name wasn't on this week's schedule and I did have a bit of frustration when I realized I'd lost all my seniority. But I'm sooo over it.

I was on my way home with Lori and mentioned that I was experiencing a little bit of sadness about He- Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. He and I had some very comfortable and friendly banter at the beginning of the shift and then at the end of it he just left. He might help me load the UHaul but I'm not putting money on it. He's very good at making promises.

Ok enough about that.

I'm looking forward to the road trip with Lori. We have both our iPods and we're ready. Everybody please pray that we can drive the UHaul with my car behind it without getting ourselves killed.

Thank you all for your love and support. I'll miss you LOTS!!

Where ah stay

(i got my titles back)

This is the house I'll be living in when I get to Ohio. I will inhabit the second floor as well as the finished attic. I'm a little giddy about having that attic space. It's a little Virginia Wolf "room of her own" wherein I will spend hours writing and driving myself insane.

I will send photos of the inside when I get there and I will show progress reports as I make the place my own.

I have to say, as much as I'm freaked out about moving out of state all by my lonesome, I am getting a bit excited as well.

Who doesn't love a clean slate?

Life: shakin' it up!

I've listened to enough motivational speakers in the last six years to know one thing: When life becomes unacceptable...change it. I could probably list all the catchy phrases they use to make ordinary men and women face their fear and do the extraordinary. Things like, "If it's going to be, it's up to me!!!" But I had to dig through some cobwebs to get that one. Trust me...there are millions more.

Life doesn't just happen the way you want it to. I've seen people let life hit them as it goes by and frankly they're not so happy. I'm tired of whining about my life. I never wanted to be a whiner and I found that I'd become one...a great BIG one at that.

So I've decided to make a change...a great BIG one. Most of you know it all already but I will be leaving the Chicago area for the first time in my life and moving to Ohio. I will be attending the Franciscan University of Steubenville as a non-traditional under-graduate student of journalism.

And even more exciting...I will most likely be spending the spring semester abroad at the university's campus in Gaming Austria

The hills are alive, kids. The hills are f'ing alive!

Note to self...

...when traveling with anyone else, there is drama. (and that's all I have to say about that)

These are my travel companions. From left to right we have Craig (Jim's resident friend), Tim (friend of Jim's from Park Ridge) and Jim (himself)

Beauty can push through destruction.

We did climb around a big ass lava flow. This photo is of a Lehua bush. I tried to capture this shot to show how, in the middle of an enormous desolate lava field, this bush pushed its way through the lava and is blooming. Smack in the middle of a wasteland, life goes on. Very poetic if you ask me.

More photos

Aloha kids!

I've got more photos for y'all.
Yesterday we went to Volcanoes National Park and saw some amazing stuff. We hiked a good way to get to these petragliphs.

Craig said he thought the ancient Hawaiians needed to go to art class. Frankly, there's a lot of things the ancient Hawaiians did that were very Blair Witchy to me...piles of rocks all over the place...rickety twig structures with piles of rocks on them...very creepy.

I thought the petragliphs were pretty cool but by the end of the hike I was sunburned and exhausted. By the time we got to the end of the road, where we would, then, have to hike another 4.5 miles over lava rock to see the actual lava flowing, we were all like, "Screw you guys...we're going home." So I didn't get to see the glowing lava hitting the ocean. Oh well...next trip.

I'm a budding film-maker!

I have posted a short video on YouTube. The search tag you use is "dancingtim" and the title of the clip is "Aloha Tim"

Spielberg watch out! Oh...another photo for you guys.




This is Turtle Bay Resort...we were trespassing. (heehee)

Aloha from Oahu!

So here I am in Hawaii. It's OK I guess.

Here's a photo of a boring sunrise. ZZZzzzz. I'm trying to be strong. It is hard to cope sometimes.

No but seriously...Hawaii is a different place than anywhere I've ever been. It's enchanting.

Don't be too jealous. I wish you were all here with me.

More photos to follow.

Aloha!

Well kids, I'm off to Hawaii! I have worked so much this weekend all I want to do is sleep but I have to pack and take my mom out for her mother's day/birthday lunch. I will try to blog from the islands but I don't know if I'll have internet access.

I have one quick Restaurant Etiquette entry:

• If you've waited two hours for a table on the busiest day of the year, please do YOURSELF a favor and order something other than fried shrimp.

Thank you and have a nice day.

Restaurant Etiquette Part II

• Don't bitch about prices. If you prefer to spend $9.99 on a bottle of wine, then stop at Osco on the way home and shut the hell up. I don't set the prices so either order the damn wine or get a glass of water.
• Please don't ask me for 3 samples of wine so you can get a free "glass" before you actually choose one to pay for.
• It is not my job to keep your soup warm while you're on the phone.
• Don't ask for a table for 10 when only 5 of you are staying to eat.
  

I swear some days I don't know how I do what I do.

My Mother is a Ham

Hey everyone. Go check out my nationally acclaimed mother. She just can't stay away from those cameras.

Just click to launch the video on the right side of the screen. There she'll be in all her glory.

Talk about a salesman!!

So, many of you know my friend Jim. He's a salesman. He could sell ice to an Eskimo. So at 12:30am Thursday morning I get a text message from him asking if I want to go to Hawaii in six weeks. My first reaction is like, "hahahaha...right." Then he throws in that he's springing for lodging and all I have to do is pay for air-fare.

So about 18 hrs. after that damn text message, he's using his credit card to book my flight. I won't have much free time till then as I must work work work. But I know I can swing it.

The thought has occurred to me that if I can come up with the money for this trip and still pay my monthly expenses, then there's no reason I don't have a savings account.

Where the hell is all my money going!?

eeek! I'm going to Hawaii!! YAY!!!

Things I wish they told me

Meegs has a great post on her blog about what kind of difference being a Christian should make in someone's life.

She begins by asking if, for example, she was accepted into the graduate program of her choice because she is a Christian who prayed. Did she pray properly? Is God a God of slot machines wherein you insert your nickel prayer and pull hoping for the three cherries to line up?

I can't tell you the number of youth rallies and conferences and retreat talks I've heard where the speaker gave some stirring testimony (that made us all cry) where God pulled all these strings and BAM!! "I got exactly what I wanted" and "isn't God fabulous!?"

The problem with that is, it doesn't explain why there have been no such strings pulled in my life. I'm not complaining, but as a young impressionable new believer, after hearing such talks, I expected my life to be filled with unexplainable, supernatural experiences that would bring constant joy and peace.

Frankly, that's all a load of crap but I'm fucking pissed off that at age 36 I'm still feeling kinda wounded that God doesn't love me enough to fill my life with miracles. I wish I had let go of some of that hope a little sooner. I don't want to be bitter but I tend to believe the best about people. And God. When a human disappoints me I can bounce back pretty nicely. But when I've been led to believe, in an emotionally charged environment (ie. rallies, conferences and retreats) that God is a God of miracles, I don't bounce back so easily when I don't see the fireworks I was promised.

If only some conference speaker would have warned me that life really really sucks sometimes and seems void of all things joyful, peaceful, and miraculous. And that God is in that...and that's the miracle.

And I've learned that God doesn't need to answer to me. And it's weird but I'm comforted by that.

Lately I've been feeling like I'm hanging on to the reins of life while my horse gallops out of control. Is it possible that God's got reins that override mine?

Shit, I hope so.

Someone remind me...

that when I sit at home all day and do nothing but "relax" I wind up feeling lethargic and depressed.

Thanks :)

I love my charming vintage apartment

My toilette just overflowed and all I did was pee and wipe twice. Yay me!!

Chinese New Year Resolution...and I'm even late for that!

I resolve to....

• not be manipulated.
• not allow my friends to treat me with disrespect simply because they're my friends.
• to love my enemies...even if they shake their empty cup at me.
• to love my life even if there are things that I hope for that don't seem possible.
• to be a agent of peace in the world...even when people have waited 40 minutes for a table and didn't sit down in time for the early bird special and they're mad at me about it.
• have healthy boundaries.
• love from a distance if I have to. (this might be a good time to start praying again.)
  

Brief Update with no detail

Well it's been a while, kids. Life is a challenge right now. Not just in one area but in every area. I'm at the point right now where I want to move up to the North Woods and live in Bud-n-Sue's little cabin in the woods and poop in a bucket for a month. (they shut off the water in winter)

Either that or get me some serious meds.

I will go into detail at another time but I will say this...

Those of you who have expressed concern were right...

you were fucking right.

I retract my statement

OK. I'm mentally challenged. It seems the lawns all around my neighborhood are still covered with snow. The offending, snow-less lawn is the five feet of grass outside my building. I don't know why there's no snow on it but it was so startling that I threw all the lawns in the Midwest into a sweeping generalization. Consider this my apology to all the lawns who have appropriate amounts of snow on them.

Here's another photo I liked from the bunch. Not for its unique perspective or it's stunning composition but for it's forlorn cuteness.

Look at the little tilting tree. Isn't it sweet?