Thursday, September 20, 2007

The time has come once again...

Man, it's that time of year again. When I start pulling out my hair wondering how I'm supposed to prioritize everything that's on my plate, and still get enough sleep. Well, I don't really have problems getting the sleep. That's usually high on my priority list. Haha. But the rest definitely causes me some mental stress, wondering what I should be getting done.

Anyway, Fall is almost here. Which means, it's "Crazy Busy Season" again. The new volunteers arrive next week, and there are event's for them, my school events, other people's events (which I really do want to support, but usually I can't), weekly events, meetings, etc. Plus in all the doing that's going on, I should also be building and maintaining relationships. This all takes an amazing amount of time!

So I kinda get stressed thinking about it sometimes. So the only way to keep moving forward is to stop thinking about it, and actually doing it. This is always a challenge for me.

One thing that I really regret, is the lack of communication with America. But it's really really hard for me. Everything here is screaming at me, demanding my immediate attention. I feel torn between two worlds sometimes. And the louder, more immediate one usually wins. But then I feel terrible for the people who want me from America to still have meaningful relationships with them. I really do want to do that. But I think in the last 5 months, I've only really talked to my mother, and Marlo. I have friends who are going through some really hard times, two with small children, my brother and his family, and I haven't been talking to any of them. I really do want to spend time with everyone, even if it is over e-mail or phone or whatever. But that's the one thing I don't have. Grrr... The downsides of having a job. Haha.

Anyway. That's my random rant of the day. Things are actually going quite well. I just get overwhelmed easily when I think of how much I'm supposed to be doing. My lazy nature rebels against being this busy! LOL. That and I like to complain. Haha.

Anyway, exciting news in my ministry. I'm finally, after two years, managing to connect the band with my church. There is going to be a BBQ this Sunday at my church (it's an annual event). This time, the band will be given a chance to play at the BBQ! How exciting is that?
Please pray for this. It's great for them to meet Japanese Christians and see that Christianity is not just an American religion. Please pray for the church members to be open and welcoming and that good relationships can be started. I'm really excited about this chance.

Ok, I think that's everything for today. I need to see if my laundry is finished, and get ready for work now. I love you, even if I can't see you.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Poking my head in...

So, I've been having a nagging feeling lately that I should try to update my blog more often. But it's hard.

I guess I shouldn't complain. I really do like reading other people's blogs, and I like it when they update often, even if it's nothing big, so I suppose I should do the same.

Anyway, here are some pictures I took this summer. These are actually all right in the heart of Tokyo. Can you imagine? Haha. It's actually a pretty big park near a major train station. I got in trouble for stopping to take so many pictures (it made us late), but I still think it was worth it. So enjoy the fruit of my labors.


Moving on to other topics. Thinks are going well here. There haven't been a lot of big things happening lately, but it's been more of a time of maintenance. But man, I'm terrible at maint! But it's good at teaching me things like, well, yeah, maint! Haha.

The exciting thing lately has been the noticeable growth in my relationships. Maybe I'm just getting better at doing them, or more likely, God has been watering them and they are starting to grow. Now the problem for me becomes, I have so many relationships! Who are my priorities? How much should I be putting into these relationships? Where are the lines? I'm close to the point of being overwhelmed with people, things and responsibilities that demand my time and attention. It's not there yet, so please pray for that for me. It's easy for me to step back and look at the big picture and get really overwhelmed. Then I just kinda shut down and stop everything. Not a good thing. So I want to learn more about staying stable.

My computer is on the fritz lately. I'm not sure how much longer it will last. I'm hoping to get one more year out of it, but I'm not sure if that will happen or not. I've decided this week that I need to move all of my important files to a safe place, just in case it does crash on me. I don't know what I would do without my computer. I'd probably go a bit insane before learning how to deal with life again. Haha. But I realized how much time I do spend in front of my computer, and it's a little scary.

So yeah, nothing big and exciting right now. Just getting back into the flow of things. Of course sometime this week, I really need to get my visa renewed. I wonder how stressful that will be? Hopefully it doesn't take too much time and I can do it tomorrow before work.

Do you ever feel like your life is filled with meaningless business that gets in the way of actually living? Sometimes I think that, but then, inevitably, I get too busy to dwell on it. But then again, I'm not half as busy as most people I know, so I really shouldn't complain. I guess I just have low tolerance for business. :-)

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Secondhand Lions

So today was my day off. It was a nice chance to just relax and not do much. I've been tired a lot lately, so I took it kinda slow today.

I did have to reset my C drive on my computer. It's getting old, and I was having some problems with it. So I reformatted the C Drive. We'll see if that helps. But it'll take me a little while to get things back to the way I like them.

Then I decided to watch a movie that my parents just sent me. It's called Secondhand Lions. It's a good movie, and I recommend it to you. I actually watched it twice. I watched it once, then I watched the directors commentary.

I'm actually becoming a big fan of watching the commentaries. Usually I don't have enough time to watch both the movie and the commentary in one sitting, but I did today. It really puts everything into a new perspective when you can understand the thought that goes behind it.

I guess that explains a lot about me. I had someone ask me why I ask "why" so much. But to me, the reasons why you think something, or why you do something changes the meaning of what I see.

Watching this movie the first time, I never noticed that it was filmed in Texas, and set in Texas. It's just normal for me. Then listening to the commentary, I could see how much of that I take for granted. I appreciated it so much more then.

Also, living in Japan, and watching a movie from Texas about themes like becoming a man and courage and believing in things, really put some light on some of the cultural clashes I have sometimes without even knowing it.

I'm sure I'll forget all these profound thoughts by tomorrow, and I'll probably never be able to really articulate them well. But, I was definitely very impressed by this movie.

It also helps me to remember, that no longer how long I stay in Japan, there will always be Texan in me. It's always where I came from and learned how to view life. Just like no matter how well Japanese people speak English, they will always have Japan in them. I want to learn more about Japan and understand how they look at the world. Right now, I just know that it's different than the way I look at it. I want to see what they see, and understand why they do that. The more I learn about Japan, the more I learn about myself and my own culture.

It's fascinating how these things work.

Anyway, sorry this is really random, but I really wanted to write them down.