My weekend

Friday evening, I picked up a certain individual from the airport. Together we headed to our friends, the Dekkers, and enjoyed a brief time reuniting with several friends and family. The next morning I joined them for breakfast and then the certain individual and I went to a local chocolate shop, "The Chocolate Cafe" to check it out and sip on some excellent hot chocolate. We were going to visit more chocolate shops in town, but our conversation led us back to my house to check out some camping gear. As it was Saturday, I do what I do most Saturdays and lost most of my energy. We sat down to watch The Lord of the Rings, which, by now, you can totally zone out on if you've watched it as much as I have. Then, we made a brief visit again at the Dekker's before we went to Bexley Monks for dinner. I took a lucky wrong turn after dinner and we landed in Franklin Park Conservatory where we walked and I ended up climbing a tree.
The following morning we met up at church and, deciding to be social, we joined the gang for lunch and a couple of games of Apples to Apples. We sat down to watch an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and a chat with Jessie and Karl before I drove this certain individual back to the airport.
By all accounts, this should have been just a regular reunion, or a "get together" if you will, but it wasn't. From the several times this person has visited, this has been the most magical by far. It has been 5 years or more since I've felt this connected with someone. I'm giddy and I think I've fallen deep into a pit of infatuation.

Camping: A life long desire

Today, I went into Clintonville Outfitters to pick up a few airline friendly containers and I left with a whole lot more. As always. I've been officially in love with with the outdoors since I first left the hospital in my mother's arms 23 years ago. My dad and I would occasionally go camping. More than once, I pretty much forced him to camp out with me in the backyard. But, just about 4 years ago, Dad and I made a pact. Every year right after the Memorial Day weekend, he and I would go somewhere new and exciting to camp for a few days. With each trip we have to do something new and adventurous to increase the sheer pleasure of living outdoors. The first year we went to Tar Hollow State Park hiked an incredible 10 miles! We were useless the rest of the day. The following year we went to Turkey Run State Park and kayaking 16 miles (and finished before anyone else). I got 2nd degree burns on my shins from neglecting to put sunscreen on them. Our latest adventure took us to Maryland. We hiked the length of the state on the Appalachian Trail. It was about 28 miles in total. After that, our 10 mile hike back in the day looks like child's play. We have made this into a life long tradition, so much so that any job I take that will not allow me to take off those days are not going to keep me long.

While I walked through this little outfitters, I was overwhelmed with desire to travel. I do not want to be stuck at home anymore! I want to get out there and experience life and nature and God! That is where I'm supposed to be.

I came home with a book and three small containers, each of which are 1 oz too big to go in a carry on.

Money

So, right now, I'm in debt. At my age, this isn't a surprise. I have student loans, a car loan and two medical bills. Why am I blogging about? It's totally on my mind. Money for me has been this evil device that some minion of Satan (aka, the man) has used against me so my mobility and my opportunites are both limited. But, now, I'm fighting back. The man should have known he can't keep me down for long. I'm doing the whole Total Money Makeover, and even though I utterly despise money and budgets and all that would limit creativity and free living, I'm sticking it to the greedy minion and putting him in his place, which is totally off my bank account. I have one more payment on my smallest bill and then it's on to the next one. Soon, I'll hit the big whopper of a bill, the student loan, and I will be free from the bondage the establishment puts us in. If you are a bank, a credit card company, or the government, you had better watch out. I'm on to you.

My very first blog post

I've been trying to start up a blog for quite some time now, and I think this might be the time it actually happens. It is January, so I think I just chose my new year's resolution.