solitaire...

i could be reading 400 more pages on MLK tonight...or i could continue my current obsession with solitaire...on the average day - like today - i might mull over a few ideas while alternatingly-stacking cards in their proper red/black sequence...it is numbing...but i am convinced it helps strengthen my critical thinking skills...

suppose: un-solitaire phases in my academic career have been slothful...unimaginative...lacking in depth...grades produced were not bad...but they were not in the magic (+) category...

consider: current solitaire phase...productive...clear and concise...extremely interdisciplinarian...creative...grades are good...

i've been thinking... just as the end draws nigh it seems that i have finally gotten the hang of how to make all the academic requirements happen...or, it is just a by-product of my current solitaire phase...either way, i should have 1) kept a constant solitaire phase steady for the last three years... or 2) convinced myself that the end is always today so that my production rate looks like a solitaire phase...

really, it's complicated... i should get back to the civil rights movement...

it's up again...

after 5 days of an internet free existence, i basked in the baptism of another trek toward cyberspace entertainment today...there is one show that captured my intrigue before i came to this place back in the summer of 05...a group of surgeons were beginning their internship in a coastal city that holds the infamous needle...

even today i think of how this show unified my group of friends during our first year here in austin...every thursday we would gather around someone's television in anticipation of what would happen next in the world of medicine, love and relationships...chocolate chip cookies and milk - an actual MD on hand to verify the reality of certain injuries - laughter and time that somehow wove our friendships deeper...three years later we no longer gather to watch the show that brought us together...maybe we no longer need it...thursday nights around the television have morphed into something else...birthday celebrations - weddings - crown nights...time that is too precious to be preoccupied with other character's lives...our own lives are the subject of our gatherings now...

each time we meet it is as if a new episode is airing...episode 1 - mobile alabama is going to happen...episode 2 - summer camp and chaplain is a reality...episode 3 - louisville will have no idea what hit them come june...episode 4 - one year in edinbourough...episode 5 - denver has a nugget of goodness despite the wait...episode 6 - the one we leave in austin is held close to our hearts...episode 7 - parkland is perfect...episode 8 - the mountains of wyoming whisper to reveal the future...

it's funny how stories about relationships foster relationships...then as time passes our own relationships become the main story...it's monday...not many more episodes left...in the live music capital of the world...

39 days...

40 days marks prominent journeys...the wilderness...lent...pentacost...pregnancy (with the extended 40 weeks )...advent...seasons are often marked by the ever fixed 40...

we are one day down into the last days of the final season...vocational calls are being solidified, nerves are unraveling, and nostalgia is at an all time high...how we live through the last 39 days could be incredible...it could also be terrifying...

tonight i was reminded about the things i want to do in the last 40 days...the thanks i want to make sure i say...the forgiveness of things done and said that need to be dealt with...celebrations that are yet to come...hikes that need to be taken...songs that need to be written...prayers that need to be offered...conversations that have started on the picnic table that need to be ended on the picnic table...pound cake and hungarian wine communion once again in the pouring down rain...

never have i felt the need to truly LIVE the these last 39 days...live with me...and may these days be a season of life that we always remember and treasure...