good ole tim.

Isn't it crazy how some people can write SO well? I am not one of them. Fortunately, there is so much out there for me to get a hold of. I love to read. I am amazed at how so many can pour out their words so beautifully and really get their thoughts onto paper. Though I love to journal, and ya know blog, my thoughts just tend to get jumbled in my head and I cannot get a really good grasp on them to write them down. I used to not like fiction books very much because I would finish and remember that none of that really happened. I would get so caught up in the story, just wishing that it had really happened somewhere, sometime. After I read The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, my view changed. I realized that story telling can reveal the truth. His fiction is different in that it is hard to tell when something actually happened in the story, and when he is just making it up. I love so many quotes from this book, and so many of his quotes in general. He is one of those writers...the writers of the books that may be easy to read, but are hard to write. If you have not read this book, you should seriously consider it. His books are unconventional; the best kind of books in my opinion.

Just some of Tim O'Brien's thoughts...I like 'em.

"I want you to feel what I felt. I want you to know why story-truth is truer sometimes than happening-truth. That's what fiction is for. It's for getting at the truth when the truth isn't sufficient for the truth."

"And in the end, of course, a true war story is never about war. It's about sunlight. It's about the special way that dawn spreads out on a river when you know you must cross the river and march into the mountains and do things you are afraid to do. It's about love and memory. It's about sorrow. It's about sisters who never write back and people who never listen."

"Forty-three years old, and the war occurred half a lifetime ago, and yet the remembering makes it now. And sometimes remembering will lead to a story, which makes it forever. That's what stories are for. Stories are for joining the past to the future. Stories are for those late hours in the night when you can't remember how you got from where you were to where you are. Stories are for eternity, when memory is erased, when there is nothing to remember except the story."

"A good piece of fiction, in my view, does not offer solutions. Good stories deal with our moral struggles, our uncertainties, our dreams, our blunders, our contradictions, our endless quest for understanding. Good stories do not resolve the mysteries of the human spirit but rather describe and expand up on those mysteries."

h-town.

I realized that too much has happened lately (GO BEARS) for me not to blog about it. So if you do not want to hear about my life, I would stop reading (all 3 of you) baha. March Madness is a wonderful time. This is the time I can do nothing but watch TV and not get judged for it. The tournament has been crazy this year...Kansas? Anyways, after a win over Sam Houston State (barely) a few of my roomies and me went to houston for the rodeo! Friday afternoon, Kam, Laur, Kath (they sound cooler in abbrevs) and I hit the road! Too bad it ended up with me driving while the rest read their books about fairies...wait excuse me, kath reads normal books. The other two do not; but that's besides the point. When we were almost there, they were asleep. Guess they were not interested in me showing them my dentist office, where I went to middle school and other REALLY important things that I thought they should know. We finally made it home to momma. She had grapes waiting for us...she knows us well! We got ready and ate some yummy tacos then headed to reliant stadium. We looked around at the exhibits, the petting zoo and then got to the actual rodeo in time to see bull riding. We decided that Kathryn needs to marry a cowboy. She thinks she needs a Seth Cohen...we disagree. I am pretty sure we know what we are talking about. Lauren got pumped for the mutton bustin. If you are not familiar with this, you let your 5 year old ride a sheep until they fall off. Having a baby soon? Make sure and get them into this field...because what parent wouldn't want their child to participate in this? Eli Young finally came on. They were wonderfully entertaining! The drummer is one sexy piece. I pretty much spent the entire night trying to get a good photo of him...Kath was more successful than me. Here are some pics from our adventure!

BBFLs duh.

Kam being awk.

chris>eli

regretting our decision to eat fried oreos, fried cookiedough, and more things that become awkward when fried.
We came back saturday in time to see Baylor beat Old Dominion! After this we got ready and headed to pledge dance as the Jetsons. The family took over the dance floor and danced the night away.

Kam's costume was a hit; as well as a good prop for the dance floor. We wont lie that we liked the attention she brought us.

jane...HIS WIFE! (just doing my thing). Only TRUE Jetsons fans would understand this. Well that's all!

c.s. lewis

"Relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done..."
-a letter "To Mrs. L."

"God is not proud...He will have us even though we have shown that we prefer everything else to Him."
-The Problem of Pain

"If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world."
-Mere Christianity

"We are born helpless. As soon as we are fully conscious we discover loneliness..."
-Transposition and Other addresses

"It was when I was happiest that I longed most...The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing...to find the place where all the beauty came from."
-Till We Have Faces