Blogger Strike Ends, Dozens Rejoice...

Okay, so maybe "dozens" is generous. Maybe only three people rejoice. But hey, there's rejoicing to be had, that's for certain.

Sorry for my lack of posts recently. Haven't exactly had the easiest few days, just with some personal stuff going on, so blogging has been far from my mind. I think that anything I would have written would likely have been cynical and dumb anyway, so really, you didn't miss much.

But I'm back now, and things are fine, thank you. Still not 100%, but hey, it's a process, right? I've just been hit by the stunning realization that I really have no plan in life for the immediate future, and I have a family to support. I mean, I realize that I'm here finishing off my degree for a reason, and that it's supposed to be helpful. But I can't help but feel like there's just something I'm missing, you know? And I don't want to go through life with that feeling. So we're just sort of working through that whole issue, and trying to figure out what reality is going to look like come April. Well, I guess it'll be May by the time we get back. Anyway, the bottom line is that I have no idea what I'm going to be when I grow up, and I think I grew up a while ago while I wasn't paying attention. Kind of missed the boat on that one.

Oh well, onwards and upwards, as they say. You can't stop the flow of time, as much as I've tried, so you just go with it. And you know that somewhere, God's got a plan for you, because you hear it all the time and you really do believe it. You just maybe wish that He'd get on with it. Not that I'm trying to be blasphemous or anything, I'm just impatient. Which is probably exactly the reason I'm in this situation. Oh well.

In other news, had a good weekend. Used Saturday as a mostly snoozing and recouperating day, along with finally being able to see my Canucks play on Hockey Night. Sunday was church in the morning, and then an afternoon of CFL, which was just what the doctor ordered. A nice time was had.

And Theo's okay, by the way. In my last post, he had just had a table land on his head, and we weren't sure what was going to come of it. But the next day there was no bruising, not even a mark. He's built Ford tough, that one. But that's how we grow 'em here in Alberta.

I've decided that, in my old age, I'm going to be a little bit more adventerous, at least in the foods that I choose to eat. Tough transition, I know; sorry. As per my thoughts in the first section, I've begun to realize that life doesn't slow down for you, and you've got to just take it by the horns and wrestle it to the ground (they've been advertising for the rodeo in Edmonton, if you couldn't tell by my choice of metaphor). Thus, I have decided to step out on a limb.

The first sign on this new phenomenon came last week in Red Deer, when I actually had a tomato on my hamburger. Holy cow! Stop the presses! I had a tomato! Okay, I realize this isn't earth-shattering news on the surface, but if you know me, you know how stalwart my opposition to the tomato has been. In my opinion, if you can't decide if you're a fruit or a veggie, you don't deserve my time. That might even apply for people, although we probably shouldn't press our luck down that metaphorical path.

And you know what? It was pretty good. That's right, I said it was pretty good. Not great--let's not go all hog-wild here. But it was good. Later in the week, I had tomato on my pizza. No wait, that was the week before. Anyway, the point is that I ate some tomatoes, regardless of timeline. Sheesh.

So then I decided to really go all out and eat olives. I had a paradoxical Greek lasagne the other day at the local Greek restaurant (which, as far as I can tell, is also an Italian restaurant, deli, and hamburger joint, but I digress). Apparently all you have to do to make something Greek is add Feta and olives. Ta da!

So this lasagne had olives in it. And I ate them. No, not all of them, but most of them. And they weren't terrible. They weren't great, but they weren't terrible. I might try them again. But cautiously.

The last culinary straw came a couple days ago when Steph decided to make a curry chicken dish for dinner. You see, my wife is actually an Asian person trapped in a white person's body. It's really sad. Anyway, she likes the Indian, Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese, and I'm sure many other Asian countries cuisine. But I don't. No, I'm a meat-and-potatoes, salt of the earth type of guy. Give me a steak and a baker any day. And don't skimp on the butter and sour cream. The more artery-clogging goodness, the better. Am I right?

But I decided to try it. And I liked it. It even had pineapple in it. That really completed the trifecta of foods I don't like: tomato, olives, pineapple. What's come over me? It must be the dry Alberta air.

Actuall, I'll tell you exactly what it is: I've decided that I don't want to be defined by what I don't eat. I don't want to be the guy who at a party has to say, "Hey, can you make sure that half of that pizza has no tomatoes?" Nor do I want to end up as the guy who piles up all the stuff he doesn't like on the side of his plate and discretely throws it away. I don't want to be the "no tomato" guy.

The point of all this is that I think that in life, we can really easily be defined by what we don't do instead of what we do. We can be known more for what we stand against than what we stand for. This is the sad trend in evangelical Christianity--we stand against this and that and the other thing, and yet nobody's really sure what we stand for. But that's something worth fighting for, even if tomatoes aren't.

I, for one, am not going to be defined by what I'm not.

Wow, first day back, and I get a sermon in there. Speaking of sermons, it's preaching day for me again tomorrow, so I'd better pack it in. Heck, I should have hit the sack an hour ago, but hey, I had some catching up to do. Anyway, thanks for coming by. Theo's blog got a major update tonight, so check it out as well when you're able.

See you tomorrow. As long as I don't stage a wildcat strike. Hey, has anybody seen my burn barrel?