DStilled

Would you like tacos with that?

I still love sleep and I’m still at Mac Grill bar on Tuesdays (come see me!) but today we will discuss something else. Changing our appearance or enhancing things about our bodies. Science and medicine in the 20th century came a long way to a point of solid integrity in the eyes of almost everyone. But should preference alter what we were originally given? Should people color their hair? Should people get braces? Should people get tattoos or piercings? Should people who simply want a stronger lifestyle be allowed to use Prozac? Should people receive treatment for a terminal illness? Should people wear glasses or hearing aids? Should people go to the doctor for the flu? At what point do we say, “God made me this way and I am going to rejoice in it.” I just got contacts and I was wrestling with this for a long time. At what point are we over-medicated, over-aided, and over-analyzed? If God gave me a birth mark making a patch of my hair grey, am I morally obligated to not color it? If God gave me horrible, weak, and crooked teeth, am I morally obligated not to use braces? I want to hear your thoughts and stories.

I went on Thursday the 27th to get an eye exam for contacts. I’m going through a bunch of changes in my life and I figured it was good timing for this. The place I went was really great and the people made my visit wonderful. They now have this digital camera that can take a picture of your retina so no dilation is needed. It turns out that I have a small mole on one of my retinas! I was glad to hear that the prescription in my glasses from 2 years ago is still the same. They then put me in a room and said, “Alright, now put them in.” 20 minutes later I had put them in, taken them out, and put them back in. It was agonizing. But today I put them in first try on each eye.

At work last night I had them in and one of the Hispanic buddies asked where my “lentes” (glasses) were. I didn’t know the word for contact, so I used the word, “contactos.” He understood. The guy behind me then pointed out that I said “con tacos.” So I apparently didn’t wear glasses anymore, I used “with tacos.”

Later last night I was running around and without thinking about it, I rubbed my eyes. My right one suddenly felt really weird and everything blurred. I knew I hadn’t rubbed the contact out since when I moved my eye, it hurt. So about an hour and a half later when I left Mac, I looked and sure enough in the side of my eye socket was the contact folded in half. Somewhere between me rubbing and taking the contact out, I ripped it and had to get a new one today.

Today Sam had some tickets to the Rolex Three Day Event at the Ky Horsepark and took me, Mary Audrey, and Katie (MAP’s Georgetown friend). Because of horses and Rolex, SAM! told us to dress up a lot. So we rolled up in our suits and prom dresses only to find that there were about 20,000 other people there all dressed for the fair - because that’s what it really was: a horse fair. It started to drizzle and we got bored being out of place so we took our overdressed selves to Mac Grill for some good food. After that, I helped Sam out with his flat tire and went to work myself. If you are still reading this I know you are true friend and deserve to know this: when I arrived at Mac, one of the managers pulled me over and asked if I could help him do something. I then proceeded to put my name on the plaque in the store underneath “Employee of the Month.” For April of 2006, I received a wonderful gift.

Wine and Dreams

It’s 3pm on Wed right now and I just woke up. Sleeping is something I love doing not simply for the physical benefits of warmth, comfort, peace, and rejuvenation; but also for the psychological ones of warmth, comfort, pe…well you get the idea. However, the last couple of nights I’ve been having a series of dreams that link together like a grand epic movie. The plot, albeit science fiction, I think would make for a very compelling and excellent motion picture. That was the main reason why I slept for 13 hours last night; I wanted to finish the story! But I didn’t. I was really getting into the characters and settings and then I just couldn’t sleep anymore. Perhaps it will finish tonight.

Last night was my first bartending night by alone in the bar. I couldn’t have picked a slower night to do it, which I suppose was good. I practiced my pours, read recipes, and cleaned. Oh did I clean! I probably spent over a third of my time there cleaning. But it was my own little self contained world. I’ll keep it up for a few more weeks and if I don’t like it then I’ll get out.

Some of you may be wondering, “Daniel, I really thought you were a good Christian boy and completely against alcohol. I thought you didn’t drink and having a job that focuses on selling alcohol would be some form of cognitive dissonance. What’s up?” Well, you’re right: I am a good Christian boy who DOESN’T DRINK AT ALL. Yet I serve alcohol all the time as a server so there’s really no difference. I don’t get people drunk nor is Macaroni Grill a place that people go to get drunk. I just wanted a change of pace and to advance a little in the Mac Grill world and bartending was the next step. I’ve still never had a drink (tongue tasted yes and it’s generally disgusting) and don’t plan on it any time soon. Alcohol has never been a temptation to me and I’m very grateful for that. If you have any other questions about my situation, please click on the Comments section and let me know.

PICTURES ARE NOW UP IN THE KENTUCKY GALLERY!!

Lex to Virginians

UPDATE! What were you doing when the clock turned 1:02:03 (am) 4/5/06? I was jumping up and down in numeric joy listening to Pavarotti sing Nessun Dorma. And BTW the pic is the Virginians at Keeneland.

Last weekend I visited UVa and this past weekend UVa visited me. Mark Smith, my old youth minister and dear friend, came up from Guatemala to tell people in the states about his ministry down there. Ministry that I was fortunate to be a part of for a couple of months last summer.

Then on Thursday the 23rd I left early setting off to my alma mater. I stayed at Aaron’s townhouse for the week and spent my entire time there hanging out and running errands. I picked up my diploma, closed my bank account, retrieved my blender and desk, played sports, and chilled A LOT! It was quite cool to be a UVa and have nothing really to do. I was able to spend time with nearly everyone at least for a “Hey, what’s up?”

I drove back Sunday, worked a couple of days in a row, and then began preparing for the Virginians (Jason, Anastasia, Heather, and Jonathan) to come to me. It was a fantastic weekend and I packed it out for showing all that Lexington has to offer. If we had had one more day then we could have done some more cool things but there just wasn’t time. I’ll get the pictures up from the zoo and UVa whatnot shortly. Here was the itinerary:

Friday 9:30 – steak and shake (Anastasia to EKU)
11 –more house time
1 – sleep

Saturday 8:30 – breakfast
9:30 – Joseph Beth
10:00 – Frisbee golf at Shillito
12 – eat lunch at home/family
1 – Tour and Basketball at IBC (get Anastasia)
2:30 – drive out to Castle, Keeneland, Horse park
5 – Downtown, Rupp, Victorian Square, Thoroughbred & Triangle parks, Charlie Brown’s
8 – Bowling at Southland
10 – house time/cookies
1 – sleep

Sunday 10 – Southland Church
12 – Cheddar’s
2 – pack up and go home