The Comet's Flame

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I am here at my grandparents’ house, and amazingly, they now have WiFi, so I can write on my blog!!

Last night, I attended a Thanksgiving Eve service at church. Several people got up and made small statements about the things that they are most thankful for. I really appreciated that, and I want to try to follow their example by at least mentioning some of the things that I am thankful for.

• Family — My dad and mom and brother and sisters are just the best! Now that I’m “on my own,” I realize more and more how much they mean to me, and I’m thankful for opportunities (like this Thanksgiving weekend) to spend time with them.
• Friends — I have been blessed with some very good friends. I am thankful for the encouragement that they have been to me, and I pray that I can be an equally positive influence in their lives.
• Music — I thank God for the gift of music! I am thankful for so many talented musicians, and opportunities to listen to them. I hope that I can continue to improve my own musical abilities and discover ways to glorify God with music.
• Engineering — I am discovering how cool engineering really is! I am thankful to God (and my parents) for directing me to a field of study that is a good fit for me.

What are some things that you are thankful for?

Okay, my experiment did not work so well.  I think my artistic vision goes beyond what I can actually achieve.  In other words, I am an extremely incompetent artist.

So I think I’ll stick with the good olde fashioned layout that I have currently.  Maybe I can figure out some slight modifications to make it more cool.

Sometimes I feel a bit useless.  Sometimes it seems that regardless of what I do or say, regardless of how hard I try or how much I accomplish or learn or give, my life doesn’t really mean anything to anybody.  Maybe that’s not true, I don’t know.  I guess ultimately I can’t really know (a few people have told me that I mean a lot to them, but as the saying goes, talk is cheap).

Fortunately, there is one thing I can know. My life is significant in God’s eyes.  I’ve been recently reminded of this by a David Crowder song…

You make everything glorious,
And I am Yours…
What does that make me?

That makes me smile.

Josiah and I discovered an old-timey typewriter this evening, and in approximately five minutes, we had composed a beautifully-formatted piece of prose which can function as a résumé, business letter, or Radiohead liner notes.

While looking through a notebook to find some blank paper, I found a comic that I made.  I think I made this last summer… I must have been really bored or something.

Hey everybody, check out my cool friend Mike’s cool new blog!

Today was a somewhat cold and dreary day.  Perfect weather for wearing sweaters (a good aspect of cold weather), but not perfect for doing anything outside (a not-so-good aspect of cold weather).  After getting home from church, I decided that the best thing to do would be to make some hot chocolate and watch Flash Gordon.  I found this to be a most enjoyable (though probably nonproductive) way to spend the afternoon on a cold day!

What do my readers enjoy doing on days like today?

Today was an absolutely beautiful day, so I decided to go do something outside (I went in to work last weekend, so I was able to take some time off this afternoon).  I went to Cedar Rock in Independence, Iowa and toured the amazing Frank Lloyd Wright house there (see the first 7 pictures).  It was built in the late 1940′s, but it looks very stylish and modern.  The sheer impracticality of the architecture (especially in a rural Iowa setting) makes me smile.  It’s very minimalist, but not at all utilitarian.  I like that.  I will probably check out some of Mr. Wright’s other works.

Then I headed up to McGregor, Iowa to visit Pike’s Peak State Park (see the last 5 pictures).  Most of the leaves had already fallen, so I didn’t get to see many fall colors, but it was still very pretty.  If you’ve never been to northeast Iowa, you definitely should go there sometime.  There are rolling hills, and quaint little farming towns… it almost has a New England feel.

A random person smiled at me today.  For no apparent reason.  It was a really genuine smile, and it felt like she was happy to see me even thought she didn’t know me.  That totally made my day.

But as I got to thinking about it, I started questioning why that meant so much to me.  I think that the sad truth is that random kindness is exceedingly rare.  What’s even sadder is that I rarely show that type of kindness.

I hope that I can become a person who brightens up people’s day with a friendly smile or a kind word.