book review vol. eleven: Twentysomething
Remember my two cool friends who started their own t-shirt co.? One of those sweet girls, upon hearing me express my feelings about my current life situation, recommended and later loaned me this book, for which I am thankful indeed.
Twentysomething: Surviving and Thriving in the Real World by Margaret Feinberg.
As I was reading through this book I really appreciated how Feinberg put into words a lot of the things that have been going through my head the past year or so. Some of the issues addressed I’ve since come to terms with, others I haven’t yet, and others still I never wrestled with in the first place. She offered nothing profound, but because she wrote this book at the tail end of her twenteysomething years, the issues were still fresh on her mind and she was able to clearly express them. However, after presenting various issues that any given twentysomething deals with (adjusting to work-life, looking for community, desiring marriage or being married, paying bills) I was mostly unimpressed with how she then failed to teach on them, firmly backing her opinions with the Word.
Don’t get me wrong, there were Word references and a lot of things she said were pretty fruitful, but I finished the book thinking, “There needs to be an awesome book about this very topic, and this is not it.” Still though, I think this is a valuable book to read soon after graduating from college because if nothing else, it solidifies in the mind of the reader that it is entirely okay for you to be thinking the things you think. You aren’t alone in this new stage of life. Lots of other people are going through it too.
So all in all, not a bad book, and until I find a better one, this’ll be my recommendation to all the new graduates who come to me seeking wisdom… all zero of them. Thanks Nat-town for the loan. Much appreciated.
all things cool
Meet my two cool friends, Kim and Natalie (affectionately known as Kimmy and Nat-town, respectively). As if you weren’t already sure that they were cool based on the picture, let me share, in no particular order, a few reasons why they are cool:
- They love Father
- They have cool shoes
- They have cool hats
- They have each other
- They have cool pictures of themselves such as the one above
- They are short
And as of just hours ago, they are cool for a new reason: Vagabond Clothes.
That’s right. My two cool friends have started their own clothing line in hopes that people may accept the invitation to become as cool as they are. You too could own the very cool shirts seen on my friends’ backs. Go ahead, click the link. Look around the site. You might see some familiar faces…
Speaking of cool, it goes without saying that whoever took the picture above probably personifies cool. Well he does. Ladies and gentlemen, Andrew Shepherd, my third cool friend, and the latest addition to my links.
uncanny
As anyone who has either talked to me or read my blog in the past ten months knows well, living in Dallas has been no walk in the park for me. Going from lots of good things (pre-Dallas) to lots of, well, different things, has been tricky to put it mildly. Something that has been very constant in my life this past year is the people pictured above. The up to, but not exceeding, 6 hours of Scrubs that is on TV daily. I’ve found solace in a television show.
I know, those of you who know pre-Dallas D.O. may be shocked to hear that the guy who took pride in not having a television in his house on Luther now adores a sitcom. Well it’s true. Spending a minimum of an hour a day, every day, with people (even if they’re fictional) will force you to grow closer to them all the time. I count JD and Turk as my friends. I’ve had a crush on Elliot that I’ve since gotten over. I love Carla’s nuggets of wisdom. These fake people have caused me to laugh countless times and cry more times than I care to admit. Seriously, this show turns me in to an emotional high school girl. They make me long for the tight-knit community that I had back in the Station. They make me think about Josh Langston and how he could be JD. These thirty minutes journeys birth all kinds of thoughts in my balding head.
I’ve heard it said that the reason people love television shows so much is they long to have a community like the one their favorite TV characters experience. I never disagreed with the idea, but now I know it as entirely true. At least for me and I imagine for a lot of other twentysomethings out there who come home from their full-time jobs to a humanless apartment with a television set waiting there on them. I’m not without community (thank Father!) but a lot of the people who make up my community do lack one important quality: physical presence. Well that being the case, I’m thankful for Turk, JD, Elliot and Carla. I’m also extremely thankful that my real-life roomate and close friend Mikey enjoys their company as well.
book review vol. ten: Into the Wild
This book is somewhat of a classic, especially among those Americans who love the outdoors. I’d heard about it back in college from some climber friends, and I recently borrowed a copy from a friend who had to read it back in high school.
I could give you a summary of the book, but it cannot be put any better than Krakauer himself said it:
In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Jonhson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter…
One thing that quickly appealed to me as I learned more about Chris McCandless was the fact that he lived out his convictions, and he had plenty of them to be sure. He was, as many college graduates are, extremely opinionated. The difference between him and his peers was that he acted out on what he believed, a decision that ultimately cost him his life.
Also interesting to me as I read the book were the similarities I see in myself and McCandless. Noticing those similarities (the specifics of which I’ll spare you) caused me to think not so much about how I long to go travel and find myself and live off the land (not sure I’d fare too well), but more about how fascinating it is to me that youth tend to be so idealistic and passionate while older people tend to be much more subdued and tolerant of things they may not like. I realize that between college and retirement there are a series of events that will drastically change ones perspective, but I hate to think that someday I will no longer be passionate about things in which I place so much value now.
At any rate, Chris McCandless was never given much of an opportunity to have his perspective on life change, at least not in the way of which I just spoke. He learned from everything around him, and his actions always seemed to put him in situations that strenthened his passionate, idealistic tendencies. It would be interesting to know, had McCandless survived the Alaskan bush, how he would view the world today, 15 years later. Of course, had he survived, we would know nothing of his post-college story, thus, learning how he viewed life wouldn’t be that facsinating.
Anyway, great book, extremely well researched and well written. Exciting, thought-provoking… I recommend it.
2 for 5… a haiku
Two packs for five bucksA treat of a price for treats
I believe I will
olives part 3?
I think this is the third installment of my “olives” series, but I wasn’t entirely sure, hence the question mark. While I’m prefacing the post, just a reminder, I’ve now entered in to code-mode in my blogging, and you should too. That way I won’t get kicked out of China any time soon after I get there.
Right around the time I was refreshed in College Station, I had also made my mind up that I would no longer be going to the club I’d been going to. You recall, the one that I made mention of in olives part one and all the club’s minions came out to post comments on the blog they’d never previously read? You know? You good on what club is? LHBC is one if you’re still confused. Good? Great.
Also around that time Father had put a small handful of people in my life in very random and essentially non-eventful ways, and each of these humans were pointing me to the same place: Highland Park Presb Club. Well this was an easy club for me to reject right off the bat simply because of it’s location. I’m not a big fan of HP. Haven’t been ever since high school when I competed against their gymnastics team and realized that their men’s coach was a jerk.
Nevertheless, I bit the bullet and visited. While listening to the announcement portion of the meeting, I learned that they had a 40 Hour Haying event coming up. (Oh, not sure about “haying?”… change the “h” to a “pr”… and that was your last hint). I figured that any club that was willing to let their visionary young people set up a tent in the front yard of a HP neighborhood was okay with me. I went ahead and signed up for a time slot for the tent. I showed up and suffice it to say, I had a good time hanging out with Father. He’s a good Dad, and He likes it when we hang out with him. The tent pictured above is the tent of which I’m speaking, in case you were curious.
So say all that to say, I now find myself regularly attending and getting involved in a club at which I never in my life thought I’d be. Not a big HP fan, and not a big denom…tion fan, but that’s where Father’s lead me. He is, quite certainly, one of the weirdest dudes I know. But He’s good, and He’s got good plans for us, so even when he tells us to do weird stuff (or at least what we think at the time to be weird), if He’s telling us to do it, we can trust He knows what He’s doing… because He does.
go for it
Go ahead and read Heather’s latest semi-long post and join in the conversation. For most of my readers, this is a very relevant conversation that we need to be having (that sounds real emergent… sorry). If you feel worried about joining the comment-conversation, don’t, because you certainly won’t be the first random person to post comments on the Hendrick’s blog. So join in! Learn. Rejoice.
Ninja Warrior!!
I really really hope to have an opportunity to participate in this competition when I’m over in Asia. If I don’t get to do it over there, then I want to build the course in my backyard upon returning. The video you just watched/are fixing to watch is round 2 of 4 rounds. If you’d like to watch a 9 minute video of the only human to ever complete all four rounds, click here.
Aren’t you non-cable people feeling jealous right now? Well good. You probably shouldn’t be.