I think it’s…

This morning started out wonderfully. As I was pulling the shower door shut, my hand slipped and slammed into the metal frame. Normally that wouldn’t be too bad, but after a shower, the skin is a little bit more vulnerable, so I ended up with a cut on the knuckle of my right index finger. Doesn’t really hurt, but it’s troublesome since you can easily smear blood on everything the knuckle brushes against. Especially not helpful when packing clothes and loading a car. I resolved it with a band-aid. Mini band-aids are so useful for little things like this.

So traffic. Yes, the I-5 is terrible near the holidays. There’s a high influx of vehicles, which means a higher percentage of people who don’t know how to drive on the I-5.

A few pointers:

• The left lane is the fast lane. If you are going 60mph, I don’t mind sharing the lane, but please be aware of cars behind you and move over to the right so that faster cars can pass.
• And if you are in the left lane, please, please don’t maintain the same speed as the car to your right. Either accelerate and go faster or just slow down and merge to the right. Otherwise, top speed for everyone else behind you drops to whatever you’re driving at because nobody can get past the two of you, which then creates a ripple effect. Which, I have a feeling, contributes to the traffic all along the I-5.

It seemed as if every rest stop along the way was swarming with people. There was one I saw with a line of cars so long that they were parked backed up on the exit ramp leading to the rest stop. It was kind of ridiculous.

Really appreciated the new Google maps app. Near Los Banos, I ended up doing an extended detour on the local streets because the app indicated red for a pretty long stretch of the upcoming road. It saved me about a half hour and it was kind of fun speeding through the countryside. There were heavy rainclouds up in the sky, but the sun was still shining, so it was real pretty contrast and all the fields were green. I saw abandoned trains, run-down farmhouses, and sheep! I even went through a rough patch of road that kind of melded into the fields right next to it. Kind of exciting, but I was slightly worried I might blow a tire with how fast I was going over those muddy potholes.

The whole stretch I ran into traffic at various points, even when I made it down to Orange County. At least there were no visible car accidents that I passed. But I hate when there’s traffic for no reason.

Sometimes…I just don’t agree.

Found this definition on Wikipedia:

Conventional wisdom is the body of ideas or explanations generally accepted as true by the public or by experts in a field. Such ideas or explanations, though widely held, are unexamined.

I guess it bugs me when I feel that conventional wisdom isn’t taking into account the particulars or the specifics of a situation. I understand that conventional wisdom generally makes sense, but people can react to/approach/handle things differently. And maybe I just don’t like being bound by “convention,” especially convention that is unexamined.

When I put on my gloves, sometimes I like to think that they give me superhuman strength. That I could stop speeding trains with my bare hands, pound craters into the street (along with the ensuing shock wave), launch myself over obstacles with an inverted pushup.

 

I R still working…at home.

Busy bee, busy bee. Had deliverables to turn in which would’ve been easier to take care of at the office but came home earlier to be with mom. Brought laptop down to work, but was too far away from my own internet connection so lag and laptop screens are way too small. After half an hour of frustration and non-productivity, gave up and came back to my dual monitor setup in my room. Operation: Spending Time with the Mother = Fail.

Tap tap tapped until dinner with the Jeons. Was anxious about getting back to work since my boss needed the analysis tonight. Dinner – always delicious and fellowship felt too short even though I stayed for an hour. Came back to room and ran through the audits, fingers flying over the keypad, eyes darting all over the screens.

Now I’m done with that, but all wound up, and I still have another deliverable I’d like to get done tonight even though the NY partners don’t need it until the late morning, but that’s East Coast late morning.

I feel like blehhhh. Tense, jittery, tired. Eyes bleary. Not at all restful.

“The God of love, my Shepherd is,
Grace He doth give, me He doth feed;
O He is mine and I am His,
What else I lack? What else I need?

He brings me home, though oft I stray,
Restores my soul, His will to take;
I yet may fall, He guides the way,
On righteous path, for His name’s sake.”

Chinese Hymnal Supplement 134, stanza 3 & chorus

“Lord, I love You, willing to follow You,
To run the race, to be well-pleasing to You;
Make me faithful, closely joined to Your Spirit,
Until the end, fully victorious, forever loving You.

   Ever living Savior, my hope of glory,
   Enliven my spirit, sanctify my feelings;
   Make home in my heart, that I may be full of strength,
   To apprehend Your love with all the saints, expressing the fullness of our God.”

Music & Lyrics Here (YouTube Video)

Attended a memorial meeting in Davis today. For some reason, the heading on the program — “Loved by the Lord / Loved the Lord & the Church” — moved me profoundly.

And…paper towels are terrible for wiping up snot dribbles. But at least better than the back of one’s hands.

Needing to post in a forum to accumulate enough points to maintain my free web hosting is starting to become a pain. The action of posting in the forums becomes a brain drain and saps any inspiration I initially had. So today, even though I’m at  a negative fourteen or so in points, I decided to forgo the maintenance. I’m not exactly sure how negative I have to become before I lose the hosting service, but I’m sure I can make up the points at some later time.

Sometimes opening my spirit, which also entails the opening of my heart, touches on such raw feelings that it becomes embarrassing, especially when attempting to pray out from the depths of one’s being. Perhaps that’s why I find myself intentionally hardening my heart and closing off my being, resisting the call to enter into the Holy of Holies. But eventually, you have to get to your spirit, if not for your own sake, at least for the sake of others. Then it becomes hard to hold it back. Good things the brothers just continue on as if things were normal.

 

I just remembered what I really wanted to post last night.

The saints, when they are in spirit…wow.

…what depth of  experience and wisdom.

 

“When we have a surplus of life, we can minister from this supply to others” (Crystallization-Study Outlines—The Epistle of John, Msg. 11).

Yeah…about that surplus…….