simpson!!

simpson! lets do it!

Oh Mr. Rogers...

"I believe that appreciation is a holy thing, that when we look for what's best in the person we happen to be with at the moment, we're doing what God does; so in appreciating our neighbor, we're participating in something truly sacred."

“Love isn’t a state of perfect caring. It is an active noun like struggle. To love someone is to strive to accept that person exactly the way he or she is, right here and now.”

“In the external scheme of things, shining moments are as brief as the twinkle of an eye, yet such twinkling’s are what eternity is made of – moments when we human beings can say "I love you," "I’m proud of you," "I forgive you," "I’m grateful for you.” That’s what eternity is made of: invisible, imperishable good stuff."

“People have said, "don’t cry" to other people for years and years, and all it has ever meant is, “I’m too uncomfortable when you show your feelings. Don’t cry." I’d rather have them say, “Go ahead and cry. I’m here to be with you."

“When you love a person, we accept him or her exactly as is: the lovely with the unlovely, the strong along with the fearful, the true mixed in with the facade, and of course, the only way we can do it is accepting ourselves that way.”

"Confronting our feelings and giving them appropriate expression always takes strength, not weakness. It takes strength to acknowledge our anger, and sometimes more strength yet to curb the aggressive urges anger may bring and to channel them into nonviolent outlets. It takes strength to face our sadness and to grieve and to let our grief and our anger flow in tears when they need to. It takes strength to talk about our feelings and to reach out for help and comfort when we need it."

“I hope you’re proud of yourself for the times you said “yes,” when all it meant was extra work for you and was seemingly helpful to someone else."

"When I say it's you I like, I'm talking about that part of you that knows that life is far more than anything you can ever see or hear or touch. That deep part of you that allows you to stand for those things without which humankind cannot survive. Love that conquers hate, peace that rises triumphant over war, and justice that proves more powerful than greed."

---

There are so many more! But I'll save those for another day.

I think I'm done.

I'm retiring from fish. It has been made evident today that I would not make a very good father... at least to a fish.

So Clive, you were wonderful. We had some really good times. I will respect your wishes and remember you as my one and only fish.

Just an update on Clive Staples...

He's definitely dead. Rexosaurus is taking advantage of this moment and has decided to eat him.

Okedoke........ now you know.

C.S. Lewis is brain dead.

He won't eat, he won't speak, and won't swim straight.

I've poisoned him... And he will never recover fully... :( I'm devastated.

My Truman Show

I saw The Truman Show when I was 11 years old. I loved the movie, and it quickly got to my head. The more I thought about it, the more I began believing that I too was being followed by thousands of tiny cameras capturing every detail and moment of my life!

The clues were everywhere.

I would have just finished my sandwich on a Saturday afternoon, then five minutes later receive a call from my "friend" Stephan asking me how my lunch was and if I wanted to come over. What?! How could he know I was eating lunch just moments earlier?

When returning home from school, my mother would tell me that I needed to finish my math homework before I could hang out with Kyle down the street. WHHAT??! How did she know I had math homework!? THE CAMERAS!

Of course I didn't want the world to be disappointed with my life, so I began talking to the mirror in the morning, doing dances on my way to the kitchen, and telling funny jokes to the dog. Luckily, that idea slowly wore off, and I returned to a normal childhood soon after. Now, I'm not gonna lie, this thought still enters my head every so often. Though I don't do a weird dance on the way to the caf or talk to the mirror, I do wonder what people would think about my life if I had my own "Truman Show."

They would be bored. Really, really bored. And here's why.

I can't stop smiling. I can't stop thinking about this girl. So if you were going to tune into The Bryan Show, you'd have to be OK watching hour after hour of a boy sitting in his room, who can't wait for the next time he gets to see her... And I'm totally OK with that.

I know this girl...

... and I like to have breakfast with her. We eat eggs. Sometimes we eat them scrambled, sometimes we eat them chunky. It depends on the day.

We're on a date right now.

This was a good week.

Really.

If I learned anything at all today...

... it's that I need to be more conscious about what I wear...

The dark red sweater looks much better on this dog than it does on me.

I love sledding!

Especially if it's indoors.




Bad decision.

I feel like such a nerd sometimes.

So to counter it, I try and act really cool. I think really hard about what I'll say before I say it, I make sure I'm standing up straight while still trying to look casual, maybe throw in a funny quip if I can ... but all of that just makes me look even nerdier. I guess that's just me.

New years resolution:
Continue to be a nerd, without all the hard work.

I went ice skating the other day...

... and I forgot how difficult it is. I also forgot that in order for the ice to be icy, it has to be cold outside.

It was freezing. I mean really, really cold. But nonetheless I had a ton of fun celebrating James' birthday with everyone. Now to prove to you that I had fun, here is a blurry picture of me... having fun.

sing song shwing shwong

We had a lively discussion in my room this morning about the song How He Loves Us, half of those in attendance were not fond of it while the other half favored it. So I hit up Google for some lyrics, typed in "He is jealous for me" and was surprised at what I discovered. I encourage you all to do the same.

I'm singing Eric a lullabye.

Tonight I'll be singing him The Trapeze Swinger by Iron and Wine. So far he seems to love it because, well... he's asleep. Such a soothing chord progression. If you'd like to play along, simply capo 2 and play C, G, and F5 in 4/4 time at about 68 bpm.

Enough of the guitar playing and on to some blogging! I was sitting here going through my Itunes and I thought about tonight when Travis asked us what music we're listening to lately. For some reason I awkwardly said "Damien Rice... uh, he's cool and stuff." Now that I think of it, I haven't listened to Damien Rice in months. So why in the world did I say that? I do not have an answer for you, all I know is that it was a silly artist to announce to everyone. So I went onto Itunes to do some research! I clicked on the "Top 25 Most Played" thing and realized I am crazy for Jon Foreman. My entire 25 songs are practically all Jon Foreman tracks, and the most played track is.. (drumroll please)... (come on.. seriously, drumroll)... Your Love is Strong. This song is so good. I've always wished I could write songs and sing words that I could call my own, but I'm slowly realizing if I can't do it now, it's probably not going to happen. Luckily there are people like Jon that know how to write what I'm trying to say. Here's just a snippet of the song.

Heavenly Father, you always amaze me
Let your kingdom come in my world and in my life
You give me the food I need to live through the day
And forgive me as I forgive the people that wronged me
Lead me far from temptation
Deliver me from the evil one

So why do I worry?
Why do I freak out?
God knows what I need
You know what I need
Your love is strong

Next time somebody asks me what I'm listening to lately, I am SO gonna be ready.

I've been kind of spoiled recently.

Since creating my blog on a log I have received a fun and quirky comment on all of my entries. This brought great joy to my life, added a skip to my step, and had my blogging confidence blasting through the roof! But the comments have come to a halt... I've struggled with this reality for some time now, fighting back the tears (and nightmares) each and every night. How could this happen to me?? I now know why.

I need to pay it forward.

I vow from now on, I will be the best blog buddy ever. Any blog that one of my followers blogs, I guarantee I'll be there with an uplifting compliment and a winky smiley face, pronto. You guys can count on me!

You can add videos?! No way!

And because I know this, I will add a video of my sister and cousin about 24 years ago.

It always makes me smile.

You can never have too many gummy bears...

... as long as you have enough Dulcolax. Unfortunately, I'm all out.

It is going to be a very long night.

I'm out of mints...

I had this thing of mints, and I'm totally out. I knew I should have eaten them in a slower fashion.

As I reflect on all the times I was chewing a wintergreen mint, I realize that I was not eating these mints to freshen my breath. I was eating my icebreakers because I was frightfully hungry. In the future, I will reserve my mints for bad breath moments, instead of as a casual snack...

A thought...

"If heaven is anything like narnia, it's gonna be freaking awesome!" - Matthew Lopez

"The dream is ended: this is the morning."

And as He spoke He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.

Shag carpet is my best friend...

I am excited for my first blog. Here I go.

I'm on this shag carpet, and I have a confession to make. Shag carpet is not my best friend. It hurts my elbows. I'm angry.

Thanks for reading.