AI

I found my guy for AI this year...

Chris Sligh - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_hRQCbK0FE

to keep in touch or let it go...

I've acquired quite a few friends over the years... or maybe acquaintances... sometimes they float from one category to another depending on the weather. During the days of pre-internet I always would always pride myself on being a good pen pal. I would even sign up for those programs in magazines where they would try to match you up with people and I would get mad if they wouldn't write me back. I went to camp wo-me-to every summer from 1990-2000 and met a bunch of people and always became irritated if someone quit writing... or maybe never wrote at all. I lived in maryland for 18 years until college became a new obstacle for keeping in touch. Every one vowed to keep in touch... I was determined to hang on to my friends but I think my list of friends from home grew shorter as I found new friends in college. Most people I only really talked to when I was home for breaks or maybe the occasional IM... people try to keep their best friend and/or their boy/girlfriend from high school and it doesn't really work... well I guess it could... but it didn't for me. Even the friends I kept, the friendship was different by the time I finished college.

Over the past three and a half years since I graduated from college I've dealt with the concept of leaving friends and deciding who to keep in touch with... or if I left a friendship on bad terms do I attempt reconciliation and then do we keep in touch? There's a quote about friends coming into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. I used to hate it... why in the world would you plan to have a friend for only a period of time. I thought everyone should keep in touch. I was horrible at letting anyone go.

So now here I am with "friends" all over north america and there's a part of me that is tired of trying to keep in touch with everyone. I'm thankful that things like myspace came around to give us a way to do it without much effort. But... we feel like we're doing a good job of keeping in touch by wishing everyone merry christmas or leaving a happy birthday comment when myspace reminds us it's their birthday. We don't even have to remember our friends' birthdays anymore. We don't need a high school reunion to see who's married or popping out kids or gaining weight. Are we really keeping in touch though? I think it's all well and good as long as both parties view the "friendship" the same.

Beyond the myspace world... how do you figure out who to keep in touch with? It's impossible to keep in touch with everyone... I accept that... but do you have to have been friends for a certain number of years... or do you have to live in the same state... or do you have to have the same relationship status to have something in common... or do you just wait to see who calls... or wait to see who calls you back? Most of the time I don't think we make the decisions consciously... but we're making them whether we realize it or not. I think I realize it even more every time I move...

I'm not sure if I'm really asking for answers as much as I am trying to figure out what's real... should I feel guilty if I don't call everyone back? should I make extra efforts to keep in touch with certain people?

okay the babble is overwhelming... thinking too much... see what a day off does to me...

tentative methco soccer schedule for alumni

So I'm not sure how to get in touch with everyone, but Tony asked me to send this out and I feel like myspace is a decent start. If you get this, pass the information along to any other alumni so everyone can reserve the date...

March 31st - There are two fields... Alumni and the current MU team have to be in the top two of their group to play each other. Or perhaps we'll schedule a separate game off to the side if we have to... They're supposed to be 25 min games until the playoffs which are 30 (yes I realize tony's math is a little off but just go with it...)

Field 1
9-9:25am MU v. Mt. Olive1
9:35-10am UNC1 v. NCSU1
10:10-10:35am Mt. Olive1 v. NCSU1
10:45-11:10am MU v. UNC1
11:20-11:55am Mt. Olive1 v. UNC1
12:10-12:35pm MU v. NCSU1

Field 2
9-9:25 am UNC2 v. NCSU2
9:35-10 am MC Alum v. Mt. Olive2
10:10-10:35am MC Alum v. UNC2
10:45-11:10am Mt. Olive2 v. NCSU2
11:20-11:55am MC Alum v. NCSU2
12:10-12:35pm Mt. Olive2 v. UNC2

Lunch break

1:45-2:15pm 4th v. 4th (Field 1) 3rd v. 3rd (Field 2)
2:30-3pm 1A v. 2B (Field 1) 1B v. 2A (Field 2)
3:15-3:45pm Final (Field 1) 3rd Place (Field 2)

mcdonalds, gatorade and baths are now permitted

so my family grew up with my brother, sisters, nephews and I all going to the same pediatrician... He was from Iran originally and had some rather different philosophies regarding raising children... Some doctors might even agree with them... and one theory might not be as random as when you combine all of his views into one man. We could probably all tell you a story or two about the time he carved the sun burn blisters off of my lips or made Kelsie jump up and down to see if she had asthma... He told my parents we shouldn't eat at mcdonalds, drink gatorade, or take baths. I felt like doctor's visits always took forever because he wanted to know about our entire family and then tell us about all of his other patients' drama. In sixth grade I had a sore throat but didn't want to go to the doctor so by the time my parents found out and made me... I had to go to the hospital because they thought my tonsils would explode... needless to say I didn't enjoy visiting our doctor...

But on Sunday my mom told me he passed away... he was 81... (sidenote... should doctors be able to practice at 81 years of age?) I'm sad that he's gone... but I think he lived a good life... I can appreciate his passion for medicine... particularly after reading his obituary... so here's to dr. mehrizi

Dr. Ali Mehrizi's obituary - http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/obituaries/bal-md.ob.mehrizi16jan16,0,7517396.story?coll=bal-news-obituaries

things I learned in 2006...

A year ago I wrote a list of things I learned during 2005. Some were funny, some were a little sad and some just introspective. Everyone always talks about how time is relative... people are always using the line about it feels like it was just yesterday, but then it feels like it was a lifetime ago. We can't get away from it. So when I rack my brain... and my heart... about what I learned this past year, some of them are the same that I said I learned a year ago... and some of them are new lessons... but maybe if I keep writing them, I'll eventually apply them.

Utilizing the public library for free books and movies is essential when living at home in the cornfields.

If God opens the door... or the window... walk through it in faith.

If a guy calls your dad a geezer, it's probably not going to work out.

Friendship is worthwhile despite the obstacles... whether it be distance or timing or expectations.

I may not be as hard to read as I try to be sometimes.

I could have used one of Evanescence's new songs over the past six years.

Kirby Puckett is missed even if he spelled his name wrong.

People can agree to disagree... leaving the past in the past and building on today.

I can accept death... even young death... even if I'll never understand the reasons or have answers to the hundreds of questions.

Eating dinner with an ex-boyfriend's family and his girlfriend could prove to be awkward.

They speak English in Canada... okay I knew that one already but I thought I'd be a stereotypical ignorant American.

Despite the negative press, there are some awesome kids in this country... I say kids but I mean all of the 11-18 year olds I hung out with this summer. Adults always talk about how you can get more out of a leadership position than the ones you're leading that it can become cliche... but I needed this summer a lot... and I learned so much from every person I met at Ridgecrest and Glorieta.

I can't do everything or be everything to everyone.

I still say stupid things that come off the wrong way when I'm trying to be funny, but it's not.

Look beneath the surface of a guy who seems like he's perfect. He's not.

While a lot of the complaints about MethCo are the same as they were when I first went there six years ago... working there isn't the same.

You can't keep in touch with everyone.

Waiting can be okay... some things are better after a good wait.

I need my family.

and once again... I still have a lot to learn...

* completely off topic... but I read about an essay Sharon Cohn wrote about women and children who are trafficked each year. She wrote about a girl named Simla... and she says "Simla's story is not unique, except that, of course it is. It is unique to Simla. She has plans and dreams just like you and I... Not only is each victim the one, but we likewise can be the one. The one called, the one listening, the one willing, the one sent to bring freedom and justice to innocent ones who are suffering. Being overwhelmed by the numbers is an indulgence the oppressed can ill afford." to read more "the one" - http://www.ijm.org/NETCOMMUNITY/Page.aspx?&pid=270&srcid