A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, Don Miller
This is the guy who wrote Blue Like Jazz, the book that changed everyone's life, etc etc. I didn't want to like it because I knew it would be the new "it" book. But, I did like it. It's very "meta" going from thought to thought, but it's solid in what it communicates - our lives are telling a story, so what kind of story do we want it to be? Our lives communicate something - so what do you want to communicate? I was really inspired to live a better story and I cried throughout the last few chapters. I also recommend it if you are a writer - good insights.

Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself , Melody Beattie
I have co-dependent people in my life and read this book to gain insight. It was...okay. It describes codependency and controlling behavior, but it lost my interest in ramblings pages about stuff I can't remember. Not that I'm perfect, but maybe it's more for people who are currently trying to control others, rather than someone like me who is trying to be controlled.

Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, Barack Obama
Our President is a good writer and has lived an interesting life! He wrote this before he was elected to the Senate, before he was internationally known. I really enjoyed this book, learning about his life growing up as a biracial kid, constantly going between two worlds, how we dealt with an absentee father, etc. Glenn Beck and others want to call Obama a racist, but after reading this book you'll realize he is clearly not a racist. It was insightful and made me respect our President even more so.

Know It All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World, AJ Jacobs
I am fascinated with learning, so this book appealed to me. AJ Jacobs read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica and this book is about what he learned while reading it. Funny in parts, good book for those interested in EVERYTHING like I am.

Books read this month: 4
Books read this year: 46

This is my friend Elizabeth. Our bond is that we are both recovering fundamentalists. She's more liberal than I am, but I love the slogan and shirt she created: "Evangelicals can be liberal, too."



When people stopped talking to me when I casually suggested God was not male or female, when I had to endure a youth pastor preaching against "the feminists and homosexuals" to fourteen year old urban youth, when I was frustrated when ministers told me to "stop thinking and just let God..." she was the person I talked to, one of the only people who understood.

Yes, I have the honor and privilege of saying I was there! In person! I got to see u2 live at the Rose Bowl with 90,000 other friends.

First of all, I have to clarify that I am sick. By Sunday night what I thought was just a sore throat turned into the flu. So, I am ashamed to admit, I didn't have the energy to stand for most of the concert. I just wasn't physically able. I had to rest and then was able to stand and dance for a song and then had to sit back down. It's a shame because the Rose Bowl crowd was SO INTO the show. A pleasant difference from the indifferent Giant's stadium crowd.

But, even though I was overwhelmed with sickness, by sitting and closing my eyes, I had a different, more intimate experience. I noticed things in the songs that I hadn't paid attention to before. I know this sounds cliche, but I had a spiritual experience. And I even cried!

Technically, the show was great because it was imperfect. Bono sang off beat a few times or with a different melody. Musically, the band sounds perfect, so it was a great reminder that this was indeed a LIVE show, not prerecorded vocals.

I arrived back home late last night, after a whirlwind weekend of traveling to the west coast and back. I'm still sick, but so thankful to have experienced history. I love my life.

You can even watch the show for yourself here:



u2 is playing in Philadelphia next July and I'm thinking of getting a general admission ticket and camping out at the venue the night before to be closer to the stage. Anyone want to go with me? :)

These thoughts are too long to tweet, so I'm elaborating here.

1. I used to exercise every day. But, for the last two months I haven't at all. There was a time when I couldn't imagine not exercising - it was that much a part of my life. But, vacation and busyness and lazyness have made me feel like I'm starting from scratch. Even though for a solid 8 months I hit the gym every day and built up my stamina, now when I go back, I'll be starting from the beginning. Ugh.

I want to be healthy, so I'm going back, but it's been harder than I imagined.

2. My sleep schedule is messed up. I'm acting like a college freshman, staying up until 2am or 3am and sleeping until 10am. Then I'm in a rush to get to work, while if I had a better sleep schedule I would have PLENTY of time to go to the gym and be on time for work. The weird thing is, I'm tired by midnight, but for some reason I won't let myself sleep. I called it "sleeprexia" the other night when I stayed up until 5am.

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I am so different from my blogging self in 2003 because as I write these things, I almost cringe because of how personal they are. And yet, they're pretty general. While I think I'll always blog in some form, I've definitely closed the door on blogging personal issues. I guess that's what they call maturity. Eight years of blogging and finally....I get it!

It's Sunday night and I'm sad the weekend is over. It goes by too quickly. Not enough time. I got to spend time with people and be social, which is good for me, but I'm sad because I didn't have time to tackle a couple of personal projects I'm working on.

My work schedule is flexible during the morning hours, which means I do have a lot of time to work on these projects. However, when working on a project, I have to focus 100% of my attention on it. It's really difficult for me to work on something a couple of hours and just LEAVE IT and come back to it a few days later. I prefer to work until it's complete. But, this isn't always great, because some projects could require 16 - 20 hours of work.

So, during the week, I prefer to not do any personal projects. Even though I technically have the time, I wait for the weekend and spend the week focusing on work stuff (which could take 24 hours of every day if I allowed it). But, then the weekend hits and there are commitments and errands and then I don't always have time to be creative.

However, I recently wrote a short story and wrote it over the course of a week. This is brand new to me and it was difficult to stop writing and finish it in one sitting. But, I was surprised to find that it was GOOD for me to write and stop and then go back. I had clarity and had fresh perspective. The story was better because I took my time.

I guess instant gratification isn't always the best in the creative process. Sometimes you don't need to stop when you're "in the zone," but sometimes your art is better for it.