INTRODUCING....Katie!!

Katie started blogging on 23 June 06. Her first REAL post was on the 26th. If you like reading about just about anything, check out her blog! Leave note to say hi, or whatever you like, really. I think most of you already know Katie, so without further ado:

http://woodlilly.blogspot.com

Welcome to blogging, Katie :).

He stared out the window, into the foggy night. The curtains were half drawn, but he still watched through the small opening, and waited. Waited for that moment of truth, when all of the puzzle pieces would reveal themselves as a thing of beauty. A spot of light appeared on the horizon, growing larger each second, until, with a roar, the car passed by, the light fading into the distance. He sighed. Reaching out to his left, he picked up the picture that meant so much to him, the picture that held all of the security of the past. It was a moment in his history, ten years ago, he was six years old then. He smiled as he looked at that picture. It was a family picture, brothers and sisters all there, the parents smiling in that ever so boring way at the unseen camera. The siblins, lined up, nice and proper. And there he was, lips in, tongue out, fingers behind his brother's head. It had meant nothing then, and it was precisely that point which gave it so much meaning. Free to mean nothing. Free to do nothing. Free to be nothing. Now, his siblings were gone. College, university, marriage, had taken them from the home. And there he was, sitting there, in front of that window. When was he going to mean something? Do something? Be someone? Would he? Could he? Should he? Another car flew past, heading towards some destination he would never know. What if that person died, in that car? Would he go to hell? Shouldn't he have flagged down that car, just in case? That person might suffer forever, because he didn't stop him. A person dies every second. At most, half of them have come to a personal faith in Jesus. A person goes to hell every two seconds. Because he wasn't there with them, talking with them, showing love for them. It was late. He closed the curtain.

This is a quick note to let you all know that I probably will not be posting very much over the next week. Don't worry, I'm not leaving, just I need to concentrate on getting this...thing ;)...finished.

All my old comments are back! You know what that means...all our old discussions(which about none of you(except Tala and Lysha) participated in) are back! Go check out this furious one about baptism, covering two posts and a total of 94 comments!

http://keithbrink.blogspot.com/2004_12_01_keithbrink_archive.html

I'm very happy about this. This has been an awesome day :). Thanks to all of you who made it that way :). (I'm thinking, off hand, of Katie, AndreaB, KathleenL, Brittni, Lysha, Phil, my Oma, Lara, Vic, my parents, and primarily God, of course).

Heh...reading all the comments on my last post made me realize how much things have changed over the years. I read over them, and half the people there I don't even know who they are. Most of them, I barely talk to. I didn't even talk to them then, really. But yet, look at these comments:

"Calling Mr. Keith!! Calling Mr. Keith! Where are you? Hasn't been here for a MONTH?? Wow that's strange. I wonder where he went to... maybe he's managing his real-time interface coprocessor island. But how??? Will it never be explained?" - Alena(who is that? Anyone know?)

" Ha ha! That was really funny! I like your blog!" -Danika(again, anyone know this person?)

"but nobody else likes your blog if you don't actually post." -Shimmer. Do you remember those long conversations we used to have over MSN? We were both determined to speak in person, but then when we had the opportunity, we never did. Unfortunate...

" I don't care if you post about something else, just post!" -Kaffeine(at least I know her :)). By the way, this was on my second last post in 2005(my last was on the 22nd of April :S).

Thank all of you back then for the encouragement you gave, even though I refused to blog *-). I realize it was rather rude of me to abandon an entire community of friends. Well, the past is the past, now it's time to go forward :).

" he's sick or something phil says. it's funny though, he'll post, and than disapear off the face of the planet!" -Lysha. Heh, thanks Lysha. You've always been around, though I have to say we're on better terms now than we used to be :).

Gah...these comments make me realize how much I've grown over the past year, and how much I still probably have to grow. It's slightly embarrassing, sometimes, to read what I've said or done. At least most of the time I was alright :). *sigh* I was such an unfaithful blogger back then. I'm glad that none of you hold that against me :).

Wow...taking an online quiz(love those things), and the question here is "You trust reason more than feelings." (Yes or No). That's a really difficult one, because while I place a lot of faith in my reason, I also act off of instinct or my intuition. And it's not that I don't trust my feelings, per se. I mean, if my mind is telling me that I'm sad, I very much trust that I'm sad. What is sadness besides feelings? Now, I don't trust that I should be sad, so, it's a difficult thing. Or maybe, I do trust it, because if I am sad, then there's probably some reason for it, if nothing other than over-reacting hormones or whatever it is. But if that is the case, then that doesn't mean I shouldn't be sad, right? It just means I shouldn't turn emo over it. Not that I should turn emo in any case, but I think you get that. Anyways, continuing on with the quiz...

Bleah, stupid questions. They should have a neutral possibility, rather than forcing you to choose. For example: " You feel more comfortable sticking to conventional ways." Umm, sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. It depends on the situation.

Well, this is me: "Playful and fun-loving, the Performer' primary social interest lies in stimulating those around them, arousing their senses and their pleasureful emotions-charming them, in a sense, to cast off their concerns and "lighten up." Representing about ten per cent of the general population, Performers radiate warmth and optimism, and are able to lift others' spirits with their contagious laughter and their irrepressible joy of living."

What do you think?

He he, I think this could be used to describe some of my friends :):

"SPs sometimes think and talk in more of a spider-web approach. Several of my ESFP friends jump from thought to thought in mid-sentence, touching here or there in a manner that's almost incoherent to the listener, but will eventually cover the waterfront by skipping on impulse from one piece of information to another. It's really quite fascinating."

I love it when people do that. Yeah, I really do.

Anyways, follow these two links that apparently describe me:

http://typelogic.com/esfp.html
http://keirsey.com/personality/spef.html

Oh, and if you want to take the test, it's here:

http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes1.htm

If you decide to take the test, post what your result was!

Everyone, listen, and take this to heart: When you're referring to yourself and another person, it goes "Person and I". Not "Person and me", or, "me and person". For example, this is wrong:

So Tim and me went to the game yesterday...

This is wrong:

So me and Tim went to the game yesterday...

This is correct:

So Tim and I went to the game yesterday...

Use this rule in text and in speech. Don't forget! Also, "it's" is a contraction of "it is", not the possessive form of a neuter object.

So, I went to a party today, an rather unexpected party actually, and I unexpectedly saw Janelle! He he, yeah, I know you're all jealous now :). Even though we didn't play musical chairs, which I was rather excited about...More coming later, even though all of you won't be reading this until later is earlier.

My brother, Phil, graduated today\yesterday. He is now offically finished with school, though unofficialy not so much. Strangely enough, this feels like more of a turning point than did, say, your 18th birthday. Now, you're going to be moving on, maybe not immediately, but the time is close now, close enough to warrant this post. As I stated on your card, it's been a long sixteen years. I've known you my entire life, and I am the better off for it. Maybe sometimes, I haven't realized that, but you have given me an example to follow. In some things, of course, I don't agree with you, but your insightful comments have shown me truths that I would have otherwise ignored or missed altogether. You have taught me what it is to love, what it is that makes up me, and how to respect someone a lot bigger than me. You have shown me dedication, bravery, creativity, humour, and open-mindedness towards things that I haven't experienced(though, I have to say, I'm probably better off without the eggplant). You've given me new taste in music(to think I used to like country!), bruises, and a lot of helpful advice\criticism. Many of the things you've said to me will carry me through a difficult time, or will make me realize something I would not have realized otherwise. We are different, you an I, it is true. I think those differences can be summed up in the following conversation, while "playing" with LEGO(or was it Construx?), so many years ago:

Me: "Alright, I made a plane, let's play!"

Phil: "No, I want to build"(some fantastically large and disgustingly compilicated and time consuming building)" first!"

Me: "Phil, that'll take all day, common, I wanna play."

Phil: "Later, OK, I just want to finish this."

Me: *sigh*, "Fine, just hurry up, I'm bored."

(hours later)

Me: "Phil, are you done yet?"

Phil: "No, it didn't look how I wanted it, so I took it apart and started over."

Me: .......

Yeah. You still want to build, and I still want to play. I really hope that I can still play with you, once you've finished building. So, um, are you finished with your school yet, because I need a ride to my friend's party....

Ahh.....friends.

Don't you hate it when you get worried about something that you shouldn't be worried about? Especially when it's something obscure. You can't tell anyone, because no one would get it, but it still bugs you. Gah...

Ahh....I love jazz. It puts me in such a good, pleasant mood. As a small note for any future romantic interests: if you don't like jazz, then you'd better make me a cake to make up for that. You know, I've started this post three times now. The first time I left because my friend came over, the second time my browser crashed on me, the third time...wait, there wasn't a third time. W\e.

Why can't we all just be friends? No, I'm not talking about world peace or something like that. I'm talking about all those people who think that dating before you're ready to commit yourself to a serious relationship is a good idea. I mean, I understand that you have some emotional attachment to a specific person, because I have the same thing going on in me(it's rather annoying), but taking it farther than a friendship is pointless. First of all, you're taking a huge risk. If something goes wrong, if hearts are broken, you lose a friendship that otherwise could have been incredible. I don't understand what is so attractive about taking that risk. Is it an adventure for you? Exploring something new? Well, take my word for it, I've been there, and it was empty. Yeah, I never went the distance, I've never kissed, but I somehow doubt that a purely physical experience would lead to anything but sexual desires.

Maybe the attractive thing is the benefits that are enjoyed by a person in a relationship. They enjoy all the many perks of having a partner, like...um...let me think, what is there besides physical contact? Wow, I can't really think of anything. I mean, if you can't give anything of yourself but your body, what are you in a relationship for? Let me elaborate. In a perfect relationship, both parties are willing to give their entire life to the other. In an adolescent relationship both parties are willing to give...what? I really doubt that anyone reading this blog is willing to give anything more than a kiss, certainly they aren't going to give their life. I suppose that they give their "love", which is actually not love, since love(as my brother so insightfully pointed out) is a combination of emotion and reason, and entering a relationship with no intentions of even considering a lifetime commitment is certainly not reasonable. Now, here's the killer. Friendships can have that true love. No, not the same kind of love as between couples, but a friend's love. You like the person, you enjoy being around them, you have a good time with them, and you have positive emotion for them. At the same time, you give a commitment to the person, not on the same level as marriage, certainly, but as a true friend, you are loyal to them, through all those rough patches. When you ask them out before you're ready for marriage, you're effectively saying "You know, I know this is going to fall apart eventually, but I want to have you now, because I want gratification now." You remove that commitment that you had to them previously, because asking them out is only asking for pain, and that is not loyalty, that's selfishness. It's like going out and robbing a bank because you don't want to save up for that sweet new car, or dress, or chocolate bar, whatever strikes your fancy. Yeah, eventually you're going to end up in jail, and the new item will be damaged so that it's value is less than it was previously(would you buy a half-eaten chocolate bar?). Also, it's unlikely that you'll be able to admire that new car(be friends with?) for some time. Yeah, iron bars and grey walls don't look like new cars. Feel free to read as much as you want to into my analogy, I can think of a lot of lessons that could be drawn from it(post-relationship depression :P).

Well, I'm feeling much better now. If any of you out there are in a relationship, try not to feel too offended, or whatever you feel after reading it. I mean, I would encourage you to try and put the relationship back on a friendship level, but I know that's not practical. It's your call...

Yeah, that was my rant, if any of you reading this disagree with what I said, feel free to argue with me, I'll be reading my comments :).