Ahhh, the beautiful North East...of Iowa.

Abe and I are leaving in a little while to spend some time with my parents in Guttenberg, IA. We are really looking forward to playing with Lucy and taking a much needed respite from the city. Much of my time will be spent studying, however; as I will be taking the GRE in just under 1 week. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Oh, and by the way, I'm loving this weather :). (I just wanted to say something that I could put a ":)" behind. I've recently come to the conclusion that I don't use enough ":)'s" or even ";)'s". So from now on, you will see more ":)'s" or ";)'s" from me. On second thought, ":)'s" and ";)'s" take far too long to type. I'll just use the traditional method of ending my sentences with a ".".)

Who said it?

"The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point, however, is to change it."

Name the accidental theologian behind those words. I dare you.

A brief conversation.

Oh man, tonight was awesome! David Bazan was phenomenal. It was quaint, it felt like a family gathering. Abbey and I had a great time. He played all of her favorites and some of mine. It was everthing I could have imagined. And as the show closed and people were gathering to talk, it happened....

(while shaking the man's hand)
brandon: "I just wanted to say thank you. Thanks for everything."
david: "Oh, you're welcome. Thanks for coming out tonight."

BACKSTORY:
In the last few years, I have had an awakening, of sorts (if you didn't know, ask me about it some time). David Bazan's music has been instrumental in arousing my soul and intellect to the stark realities of the world in which we live, for better and worse. I owed him a "thank-you." Mission accomplished.

*brandon

Jealous???

Go Cubs!

As I write this I can hardly believe that it is actually me having these thoughts. I went to my very first Chicago Cubs game today. They played the LA Dodgers and......WON! I went with the Residence Life team, we had our "staff meeting" at the Cubs game today. It was a really good time. I think I may actually be a fan? Which would be wierd for me as I have never, ever cared an ounce about any sport in my life. I got to eat peanuts and sing "Take me out to the Ballgame". Good times.

*abbey

We're all in this together...thought I would let you know

Well, here's where we stand with the old kidney stones. I went into the pee doctor (More mature people call them Urologists, and believe me there were plenty of more mature people in the waiting room. I think I was the youngest in the room by 40-50 years) on Tuesday. Apparently I have 1 small stone remaining in my left kidney. CaT scans layer images in a way that the one stone appeared as "a number." So that's really good news. I think the worst is behind us. The doctor has me drinking a gallon of water a day, but the rest of my life is back to normal. Thanks for your prayers and moral support through it all.

Dang.

I recieved a call this evening, on my cellular telephone, from the urologist's office. It seems that my celebration of victory was a little premature and abhorringly short-lived. Apparently I have a "number" of additional stones in my left kidney as well as two "obstructed" stones between my right kidney and bladder. The worst part is that I'm not even sure of what that all means. But I take solace, in regards to my ineptitude, in the simple fact that the nurse that relayed the information hadn't the slightest grasp at the specifics and universality of her statements either.

Believe me, I asked her to repeat herself a number of times, that I might gain an inkling of the breadth of her words. And though the news was grievous, it was delivered in relative haste. It went something like this:

"Good evening Mr. Mick, your body has, for some unknown reason, decided to initiate a self-destruct mode. Pain, pain, and more pain is unavoidable. Morphine will be necessary, but will only breach the surface of your PAIN. You will want to die. And this could all happen at any moment. We'll see you Tuesday morning and talk about it a little more, have a great holiday weekend"

And that was that. She had no further answers to my pesky questions. She hung up. My life, my sanity are unsure. But she was tired of my questions. I guess we'll find out Tuesday. Have a great holiday weekend.

Kidney Stone Incident of '06....resolved!

(the two small, black dots are my kidney stones. i'm so glad they are in this cup and not in me.)

Well after a long, hard battle with two of my toughest, smallest opponents.....I emerge the victor. A little bedraggled. A little battered. But I, Sir Brandon of Chi-town, a bruised reed I did not break, have vanquished my foes. That is, if by vanquish I mean that I finally peed them into a strainer...because that's what I did. I've been told, a staggering amount of times over the past 4 days, that passing kidney stones is much like giving birth. To that I lift my glass to those worthy warriors we call "moms". Holy crap was this an ordeal. If that's what childbirth is like, I'm sure glad my curse is to work the earth. I feel as proud as a champion of battle, I have won. But there is also a tinge of remorse, for the battle is over. Okay who am I kidding, there's no remorse. I'm so happy that those bloody stones are out of my body. Huzzah!