What Matters to Me

In recent months I’ve taken up grad school and stepped away from the blog. My life is still interesting, I swear, but I just haven’t had much time to reflect. I got in my first real car accident on Saturday, and it made me slow down for a second and just relax for a moment. I went back and read through some of my posts over the last year and was impressed with the online journal of my life that I had created. This reflection has once again motivated me to continue my efforts in maintaining this blog.

So what is there to talk about? My life does revolve around a weekly cycle of routines. Monday through Wednesday I focus on grad school. I’m supposed to be committing about 20 hours a week to this endeavor, and it’s limited to these three days. In the past this time was used volunteering with Community Hope and attending some sort of church group. I hate having to spend all this time on school, but what are you going to do? Friday is either high school football night, or watch a movie and go to bed at 9 o’clock night; “date night” as Stephanie knows it. Saturday is my Sabbath and is dedicated to watching Michigan football with my old roommate from college. This typically involves the nervous consumption of beer, as our team has become very exhilarating to watch. Sunday’s typically involve a walk to Morning Times where I call my various family members along the way, followed by a few hours surfing the web when I should be studying, and then a trip to the grocery store to buy food for the week. And there’s my week. Oh, except for Thursday…raise your hand if you noticed that I left out Thursday.

A night that used to be dedicated to NBC’s spectacular comedy lineup is now known to me as dinner night. Stephanie and I decided a while back that Monday’s in Moore Square handing out sandwiches and hanging out, just didn’t have a place in our busy lives. We wanted to focus on maintaining the relationships of the friends we already had, rather than shooting the shit with whoever happened to be in the park. After I got back from my summer hiatus, some of the guys down at the homeless shelter wanted to catch up, so Stephanie and I hosted them for dinner at my place. We had such a good time that Stephanie suggested that this become our new weekly ritual….and it did.

So every Thursday around 6:30, either Stephanie or I drive down to the South Wilmington homeless shelter and sign out Michael, Clint, and T. I write down “Visio Dei Church Community” as my organization for whatever that’s worth. Whoever is not picking up the boys is usually preparing a wild dinner. When I say wild, I mean wild…at least by my standards. It started with Stephanie preparing some pretty incredible meals, and then I felt the need to participate. It’s turned into an exciting experimental experience every Thursday as we’ve created some of the most fantastic and fun meals I've ever eaten. We’ve done “Whities” (a sloppy Joe version of a White Castle), make your own Calzone, Fondue night, inside-out burgers, Boston Coolers (a Michigan favorite), roasted smoares, and these are just the meals I’ve played a hand in helping with (Stephanie has done some much better cooking than I). My roommate Joanna usually eats with us and is in charge of experimenting with another wild creation this week. Stephanie’s brother is the only other regular, but some of my other friends like @thesamed and @billkcummings make guest appearances.

The meals have been fabulous, but the highlight of Thursday night is the post dinner Corn Hole competition. Usually around the time the rest of my friends are watching The Office, I am dominating the Corn Hole sidewalk in front of my house with my partner, T. There have been some epic battles the last few weeks that I won’t bore you with, but I will let you know that it has been legendary…and T and I always win.

In the details here, I’ve forgotten to mention my friend Ricky. We do not need to pick him up at the shelter as he has just recently moved off of the streets and into a rental house. Last week he called me to let me know that he couldn’t come to dinner as he was in the middle of painting the inside of his house. I said, “That’s a shame man, we’re having inside out burgers this week.”

“What’s that?” he asked.

“It’s a hamburger with cheese and bacon on the inside, topped with cheese…and bacon-“

“-when can you pick me up?”

At the end of the night, I drive the boys back to the homeless shelter. They typically complain about having to stay there and how they spend all week looking forward to Thursday. I never tell them this, but the truth is, so do I.

blog journaling

I've tried to focus my blog on my thoughts on humanity, but sometimes you just have to write about what's going on in your life. Seems a little narcasistic, but why not.

Tuesday was one of the best nights I've had in recent memory. After work I got my first haircut since getting my head shaved back in September. I found a gay hairdresser at a unisex salon who does a great job. It's not the man spa I grew fond of back in Michigan, but the guy certainly knows hair. After the trim I went to the gym before heading out to watch the Canes game with my friend Sam Ed. Right as I was about to walk in the bar, my friend Ricky called and asked if I could pick him up at the homeless shelter. 15 minutes later I was watching the game Hi-5 with two of my closest friends.

The game was phenominal. I had to leave part way through the 2nd period to give a friend a ride home from work. At this time I also went to pick up my new scooter that I had checked out the night before and agreed to buy. I was able to complete these two tasks in time to return to the bar right as the 3rd period was beginning.

Now if game 4 was the best game I have ever scene in person, game 7 somehow managed to outdo it. The Canes trailed 3-2 for almost the entire period. Cam Ward stood on his head as the Canes left him out to dry time and time again. Somehow the Devils failed to score the put away goal. With about 2 minutes left in the game, I thought it was over and I asked the waitress for our check. With under 90 seconds to go, the Devils failed to clear the puck from their zone once again, and Gleason made the play of the season, diving across the blue line to keep the puck in the zone and then passing it along from his knees. The near clear put the Devils out of position as Pitkanen zinged a pass for a Jokinen one timer that tied the game with about 1:20 to go. The bar went nuts. The waitress came up with our checks, but I sent her away and called for another PBR. She quickly got me the beer, but before I could hardly take a sip, Eric Staal found the 7 hole on Brodeur for the game winner. It was amaizing! No team had ever been trailing a game 7 in the last 5 minutes and gone on to win. No team had ever scored a game 7 winning goal in the last minute of the game. Nothing like this had ever happenned before, and it just had happened against one of the greatest goaltenders of all time.

After things settled down, I showed off my new Tomos scooter to Sam and Ricky. After I got my car home, and Ricky home, Stephanie stopped by for a brief visit. I surprised her with my new wheels. The bike is boda boda quality and we took it out for a tandum spin around Oakwood. We had a blast and it totally reminded us of riding around in Uganda on very similar bikes. It was the perfect end to a perfect night.

Hockey, bars, beer, bikes, and girls. I just hope this means my life hasn't become completely superficial.

In the Independent

So it looks like News From Our Shoes is ready for prime time. At least they've gotten themselves a featured article in The Independent Weekly. "Hyperbole perhaps," as Bob Geary would put it, that two men living in a homeless shelter could appear to be successful, but these guys continue to amaze me. Ricky and Michael have beaten many of the problems homeless people face because they have found something to pursue. To go out on a bender would ruin it all for them, and it doesn't even tempt them because they are both striving for something more.

Congratulations Ricky and Michael!

Ricky at Pullen

This past Sunday, Ricky was asked to speak at Pullen Baptist Church. Turns out he is a phenomenal public speaker. I still prefer the Ricky who hangs out on the street corner smoking Newports, but church Ricky looked quite comfortable up there on the pulpit. He had the congregation fully engaged and tearing up. Could there be a future in public speaking for this homeless man? We'll have to wait and see. Here is the 5 minute video and two local news sources that wrote about the speech:

News From Our Shoes

The Independent Weekly