Too blessed

- Paid trip to Washington DC
- Paid hotel
- Per diem for food
- Hanging out with State Department folks, military brass, and the US Ambassador to Guyana (who formerly served in Iraq)
- Learning more about Iraq
- Hanging out with grandma, aunts, and cousin
- Hanging out with Alicia
- Hanging out with other friends

The District Sleeps Alone Tonight

What time did I wake up again? Finished packing, went to airport, got there an hour before departure, met up with Burkeen, Sisk, & Lenhausen and went through security.

Flight ended up getting delayed an hour/90 minutes due to storms in the Midwest. Landing in DC is kind of a hairy experience! All the banking, the fast approach to the airport, the bumpy landing, etc.

Took a while to get around Arlington and do stuff - see where we had to go, pick up some boots for someone whose bag got sent to San Francisco by mistake, ate dinner at Chevy's at Ballston Mall.

Just saw Johnny Lin, Jonny Hui, and Diana Chen! Left hotel around 9ish. Taking the Metro is kind of convenient, not sure how pricey the fares were though. It was a cool intersection of my military and civilian life, since Lenhausen and Roelofs went as well.

Will probably detail this more later, just wanted to write it down so I don't forget.

Inflight wifi - we must be living in the 21st century!

haha, I'd be so bored without it - it's a two hour flight or so and I slept through part of it, but awake now!

Photography

My friend Dan Clampitt - we used to eat pizza together and play video games back when I lived at House Taiwan, and eventually he got me to swing by a recruiter's office to see what the Army had to offer.

I think I've always had an interest in photography, even if I never seriously pursued it.

I actually lost my dad's nice film camera at the Auto Show several years ago (still need to find a suitable replacement), and lots of film pictures taken at church events with disposable or really cheap film cameras.



I guess I let my interest fade in college - everyone else has a point and shoot these days so everything used to be documented, and I spent all of my money on other things. Now that we're done, everyone's gone, time is starting to fly, and everything in the past is starting to meld together into a single stream. I'd like to be able to visually document things myself to help me remember, in addition to blogging and Google Calendar.

Photography's also a pretty fun hobby - it's a good use of a time when I'm bored, and it's a useful skill to have, as for future career... eh one step at a time, I think it will be helpful downrange. If only lenses weren't so expensive...

Balance

I really don't like posting my most private thoughts online but I think if there's been one predominant theme in my life that I grapple with, it's finding balance in everything. I mean, I'm up this late writing down my thoughts right?

I want to be productive, but I also need to relax. I want to hang out with all my good friends, but I need time alone to decompress. I enjoy being Ann Arbor, but I anticipate leaving the US for my deployment. Overall, what I think I struggle with most is trying to find the balance between allowing God's will in my life versus my attempts to meet Him. Where is the line? Perhaps I'm aware, but am simply too stubborn to realize it.

I try to have a positive outlook and joyful attitude in everything I do, one reason being that life is much more interesting and enjoyable that way, and the alternative is quite bitter and dreadful. That is, if God hasn't ordained a higher purpose to our communal existence here on Earth, then it's really a horrible waste of time. There's a quote by C.S. Lewis that I find striking - "It's hardly complimentary to God that we should choose Him as an alternative to Hell: yet even this He accepts."

If there is a point to existence, then let us be glad in it, even in our struggles! Even if God is simply testing our character, at least there's purpose. The fact that God has numbered the hairs on our head and the days of our lives, however long or short, should be a comfort. I must admit that I haven't always seen things this way, and it's not easy for me to do, but I gotta try.