Wow, I'm a slacker...

But I survived 06/06/06! That counts for something, right? Right?

I mean, what does the American public care if the number was really 616 and referred to the Emperor Nero? Who cares that we've already had... what, two hundred days labeled as 06/06/06 (June 6, 1006, 1106, 1206, etc.)? It's the mark of the beeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaasssssssst!

And no, I've never seen The Omen. Don't much care to.

Anyway, I feel I must apologize to my faithful reader(s?). I have not updated in over two months!? Geez. My intention, with the site revamp last year, was to post something new here each week, or every other week at the least. Obviously, it isn't happening that way. It kind of feels like I have nothing to report for long stretches, and then everything hits me all at once and I have no time to do an update. I do all of this site by hand, using TextEdit to punch in HTML, and that takes up a good deal of time. None of that new-fangled FrontPage or DreamWeaver here, no sir! Why, back in my day, we had to use MODEMS! At 9,900 bps! And it was only blue text on a black screen! Yes, sir -- those were websites!

Actually, I'm just too cheap to buy an editor.

Although, then again... I'm demonstrating one of my propensities right now: stalling. I tend to stall and put things off a lot, especially lately. The depression had been doing a lot better lately -- a lot better! -- but I still have my down days. When I get down, I have no desire to do anything, and so I just end up stalling.

But no longer! I am doing an update right now, dammit!

So, what's been going on since I last updated...

Well, as far as the car goes, still no clear decision on the name. I still like "Sequoia;" my mom still calls it "Cubit." It's still a ton of fun to drive, and I've gotten pretty good at the whole "driving stick" thing. Mileage is reasonable, although not what the estimates said. Oh, and here's the most amazing thing: I've had the car for five months, and still haven't had to get the oil changed! Yeah, the dealer told me I only have to change it every 5,000 miles; I didn't believe it, so I checked. Believe it or not, the manual says 6 months or 5,000 miles. So I'm due for my first service stop at the end of the month, even though I've only gone about 1,600 miles!

General life update: I've decided against grad school. Nothing at all against IC or the academic world (hell, I loved college, and I'd love to go back!), but I feel like I've learned all I want to in that department. I've opted to take flight lessons. Went out and got the FAA medical certificate and enrolled at the East Hill Flying Club, so I'm officially a "student pilot!" I have a logbook and everything! Somehow, the logbook is the most exciting part -- it made me feel like this is for real like no other part of the materials has. Flight computer? Plotter? Aeronautical chart of New York State? Naw, just gimme the logbook!

I'm a nut, I know.

But anyway, training has been fun, but slow. I'm only able to go up when the weather conditions are good enough, and if you know Ithaca's weather this spring, you know why I've only got around 5 hours of flight time. I had a lesson scheduled for this morning, actually, but -- you guessed it -- it was cancelled. Weather forecasts calling for a 600-foot ceiling? Yeah, there's barely even enough room to get off the runway in that mess.

But that's been great fun. I'm enjoying every minute I get to fly, and getting upset whenever I have to have a lesson cancelled. Oddly enough, in music school, I never really complained when a class was cancelled... :-p I will miss performing, though. Last I heard, there was a former grad student at IC who wanted to start up a summer trombone choir, so I said, "sign me up!" Haven't heard anything back yet, so I hope things will work out for that. Until then, I'll have to be patient.

Work has been... work. The usual, crazy, up-and-down grind. I have, however, decided not to do the youth ministry again next year. I'm burned out. I've kind of lost my way, in a sense. The kids are great -- when they come -- so it's not them at all. My boss has been supportive. I just am out of ideas, and I dread each Sunday, because it means another day spent preparing and working to bring together another good meeting or discussion or something. Plus, Gibson, who's been the ideasmith half of this operation, is leaving, so I'd be on my own. I'm really not confident or prepared to deal with that, especially with my current state of burnout. It's just time to move on.

Incidentally, Gibson's leaving because she graduated college! She's actually having her graduation party today, back in Indiana, so wish her a happy graduation when you get the chance!

Oh... hey, I've got a chance to now, don't I? Wow. Groovy. Well, here goes:

Hey, Gibson -- I'm proud of you. You put up with a lot of crap from that school and the people around you, myself included, and you've still made it through. You're a very strong person and you've shown me a lot of determination. So enjoy your party today, all right? You've earned it!

Okay, moment over. Back to my life now. It is my journal, after all...

Unfortunately, leaving the youth ministry means finding a new apartment. The youth ministry paid me by way of providing housing for me, free of charge. No rent, no utilities. That should mean that I have some money saved up, but keep in mind that I just recently bought a new car and dropped over a thousand dollars on flight school, so I'm a bit nervous about finding affordable housing.

I've been checking out Ithaca's classifieds, and the pator at my church has even brought in some that I'm not subscribed to, so I have some places to look. However, remember that bit about how I tend to stall? Yeah, stalling = bad when trying to find a home. I started out pretty strong -- checked out three places about a month or so ago. One was a basement in Van Etten (a goodly drive South of Ithaca) that wasn't going to work out for me (poor experience with basement apartments, and I had to duck in the bedroom!); two were places in Trumbull Corners, a little hamlet West of Ithaca. The first was a one-bedroom apartment carved out of an old farmhouse. Nice amount of space, and the price was great, but the kitchen was tiny and the bathroom fixtures were downright frightening. The other, however, was fantastic...

It's the entire second story of another old farmhouse. Great location, too... fairly major road, so it'd probably be pretty clear in the winter, but quiet and out of town. A massive nature preserve was practically in the backyard. The owner of the house lived downstairs with her two dogs and four cats or something, and there was a horse out back. I would have loved all the critters -- I miss having pets! The apartment was big, roomy, and bright, and the rent was more than reasonable (it even included utilities and cable!).

Then she found out I wouldn't need it until August, or July at the earliest. She told me to check back in in a week or so to see if she'd decided anything. So I did. Then I waited another couple weeks. And another. Finally, last night, she told me that she'd decided to rent it to some lady that she had a connection to. This is the part I can't quite figure out: she rented it to her for the rest of June, July, and August. That's it. I was looking to rent steadily for at least a year, possibly more, and she passed me over for someone who would rent it for TWO MONTHS?

I guess she needed the money right away or something. Anyway, I've resumed the search for an apartment, but in the back of my mind, I'm considering trying to find a temporary place to get me through August, so I can rent this other place once the other lady moves out. It would SO be worth it. But at any rate, hanging around waiting for some word about the place has really hung me up, and actually getting the news put me in a funk, so I've been stalling yet again. I recently got off my butt and started calling again, though. Yay, me!

Earlier today, I went to check out a place in Enfield, another little town west of Ithaca. The rent's reasonable, and it's small, but decent-looking. Everything's electric except the stove, which is gas. So, if I take the place, I'd switch out all the light bulbs for flourecents (they use less electricity) and get used to cold showers (electric water heaters can get really pricy). But I think I could manage there, if push comes to shove. Two bummers: I'd have to start buying trash tags again, and I'd have to start paying for laundry again.

I've gotten really spoiled in this place. No rent to pay, no utilities to pay (although I've tried to be a good tenant and keep the costs low), dumpster in the back, and laundry on site. Big, beautiful, bright apartment. Now, it's back to the land of smaller and pricier.

I've got a couple more places lined up to look at tomorrow: one on South Hill, not far from IC (another basement, which the ad didn't say -- I'm not looking forward to this one); one just off of route 13, headed toward Dryden; and one in Dryden (Northeast of Ithaca). They're all a little higher in price than I'd like to go, but here's hoping I find something really nice.

I actually talked to my old roomie Jesse last night... he saw my away message of "Moping around" and checked to see if I was okay (God bless you, Jesse!). He's getting married in August, and he and his bride-to-be are also looking for a place to live in the area. I told him I'd found a house for rent in Ithaca that's a three-bedroom with reasonable rent, and I'd love to live with them... as long as they can keep the newlywed "marital bliss" noise thing down. :-p

I'm actually going to be Jesse's best man at the wedding, and went down to visit with him last weekend. Our mutual friend, Matt Willis, came along with us for supper (speedies from Lupo's) and bowling (been a long time, and it was a lot of fun), and then I crashed at Jesse's place. We went to his church in the morning, because they had a guest musician come in -- he was decent, if you like the whole Michael W. Smith type of sound (no, it wasn't Smiddy himself). It was a nice change of pace from my regular church routine. Plus, I got a list of the groomsmen, so I can now annoy them with letters about a bachelor party! Mwahaha! Mine is an evil laugh!

Overall, a very fun trip. Although... Jesse and Matt's mom were talking about health insurance, and I realized I hadn't sent in my check for June, so my COBRA is now void... in other words, I have no health insurance any more. :-\ Oh, well, it was the only black spot on the whole weekend.

As for plans for the future... I have no idea. Right now, I've got to focus on the essentials: I need a place to live; I need to study for, schedule for, and pay for flight school; I need to get myself some health insurance; and I need to stay happy. I'm not a productive member of society if I'm not happy.