WHOA!! I went on a date!!

with my mom of course. . . and on Saturday night I have one scheduled with my sister. Let's just say the romance is flourishing in my life. Weird.

So me and my mom went to see "Finding Neverland". Sigh. people should make more good movies like this one. It just rang with hope and triumph over sadness without needing to lie about what's true and awful in the world, cause I mean stuff is truly awful sometimes but who cares? Believe in good. It's just as true as the awfulness. And so inspired by the movie, my mom and I invented a game of cards which was awesome and I beat the tar out of her. Of course I made up the rules so that I would win. . . haha I'm kidding, I'm serious.

So I went shopping with my sister and my dad today. It was great fun except when they were ragging me about asking out this girl who sold me some boots and they just kept making jokes about how to pick up women and stupid stuff I didn't like. . . But I did get some awesome boots. . . and some day I'll get a woman to go with them.

soooo go check out my Guatemala pictures!! I promise I'll post some stuff about it soon. adios

This is a little panoramic taste of the beauty that surrounded us in Guatemala. We spent one of our last days at Atitlan and it's safe to say it's one of the most beautiful things any of us had ever seen

Highway Robbery!

So as always, my car is broken. I brought it into the shop on Wednesday to have the transmission checked out as a few helpful people had encouraged me that it was probably that I needed a new transmission filter. So the place I brought my car is this random little shop that I have a deal with (coupla oil changes and other discounts and free stuff for like $60 they were selling in Hendrix.) And so I'm thinking that I'm gonna build a relationship with these guys UNTIL THIS HAPPENS:

This morning I got a call that said that I didn't need a new transmission filter BUT that they had gone to the service of checking out the real problem and found out it was two speed sensors (one on the transmission and one on the rear differential.) The new total cost would be $290!!!! WHOA I thought this sounds a little bit ridiculous. . . I'm gonna go sleuthing. SO I check online and find out that the rear dif costs $35 and anyone can replace it in about 20 minutes. WHOA! and I can't find as much information about the transmission speed sensor so I decided to call the dealer. He's working on an official quote for all the work, but the transmission speed sensor only costs $19 and he predicts that all the labor will prbably be $82 so both parts and labor would cost about $140. THAT'S $150 less at a DEALER (normally known for their high prices. . . which $82 is but still at least it's guaranteed and way less than 290!!!)

So I called back my friendly service station and try to come to an understanding with them. They explain to me that we only have a discrepancy in the cost of the transmission speed sensor which they list as $40. . . BUT that means they're charging me like $210 for labor! and online I found out that the parts don't take long to fix at all even for just joe-schmoe car guy. ARGH. I asked the man to explain the $210 for labor and he said it was 2 hours of diagnostic work to figure out what the problem was. . . ARE YOU KIDDING ME? If I had the brains beforehand, I would have checked online and figured out the problem for myself in less than 15 minutes. sigh sigh sigh.

So in all honesty, how do I deal with this and keep Christ in mind? How do you love someone who's trying to rip you off, but also discourage them from trying to rip people off? I dunno. . . but I would like my car to work again.

Blogspot gives you a cool web address. . .

I think I might have the weirdest form of OCD ever. . . I'm a perfectionist about the weirdest things and for some reason I always hated xanga's web addresses. Yeah, that's weird but I didn't like that it put xanga first. see http://pre-loved.blogspot.com, man that just has a good ring to it!

And so since hundreds of people have been asking me what on earth pre-loved is about, I guess I'll submit to the masses and explain the idea. It's a fantastic Leonard Sweet concept that I stole cause I like it (which is about 99/100 of his concepts). Here goes, the word "pre-loved" is a growing Australian term for used cars. The car isn't used. . . it has just been pre-loved. So basically I can't remember exactly what Sweet says but here are the two ideas I like about the word.

1) Used cars are generall awful. . . no matter what they look like on the outside they almost definitely have a dozen broken things inside and another dozen about to break. This is a picture of us before Christ; pretty and freshly washed for the lot where we sell ourselves, but broken inside.

2.) Taking a slight twist on the word and using it to mean that God loved us before we knew who He was or had ever considered accepting His redemption. God pre-loved us! That's good news my friends.

whoa I can post audio now!!

Exam silliness

So, I wouldn't say I'm frustrated with all the students here. . . but I'm close and with most of them. I mean all this stressing and worry about exams can't be worth it. YOUR LIFE ISN'T ABOUT OR BECAUSE YOU ARE A STUDENT. I think I don't like when people say "God has called you to be a student" because they then allow a wasted of life of wastedness and sign God's name to it and I don't like that and I won't do it.

Waste yourself for God through school sometimes, but don't waste yourself for school and then add "it's all for God."