Tuckered Men 55+ Only

I will never understand why people want to pick up potential dates on bathroom stalls.

Hello, how are things? I am fine.

I haven't written anything in a while, so here goes:

Saturday I went to Disney World with my brother for Night of Joy. The mighty Further Seems Forever played and they were fantastic as always. I didn't get back until 3 AM.

Sunday, I pretty much slept all day. I didn't do a lot.

On Monday, I helped my Dad around the house for about three hours. I was tired.

I am currently looking for employment in Melbourne. If you know of anything, let me know.

That is it for now, more to come later.

Mild-Life Crisis

Pictures like these still bring me to tears. Man, I love reunions (nod to NewsCom for it).

What is love? Love... it's such a funny thing. Johnny Cash said it was, "a burning flame." I often thought of it as a game. But, the Bible doesn't need to come up with a clever rhyme to answer the query. 1st Corinthians answers astoundingly by proclaiming that God is love.

I like that. I need that. I want that.

I wonder how one distinguishes the difference between love and like (or lust)? Sex and sacrifice. Friendship and marriage. All the elements are intertwined and cannot be separated simply for self-seeking pleasures.

It's pictures like this that keep me up wondering late at night.

It's Getting Better All The Time

It has to be, it can't get worse. Well, yes it can. I suppose that worse could be a lot of different options of consequence. But for me, I am alive. Life hurts less these days. Anyway, the main reason I am writing is to ask those of you who pray to pray for my Mom. She broke her wrist last week and now she has to have surgery on it to put a plate in to keep the bones from shifting so they set properly. Thanks, I appreciate it.

"You Need To Learn To Slow Down"

That's what the state trooper said to me today as he walked away from my car. Oh yeah, he sure did give me a ticket. Why? I was clocked on radar doing 92 mph in a posted speed limit of 70 mph (on I-10 East). My ticket is $205.50. I can't be mad because it's my fault. It's just not one of the brighter things I've done. It's my first ticket in 4 years. Just where the last of my money needs to go.

In other news, I will continue to update everyone on my current situation. Without much notice to anyone, even my parents, I came to my parents house today. It's strange to be here. Just seven days ago I left my home, only be gone for a few days. These will be the longest few days of my life.

If you wish to contact me via postal mail, here is the info. If you want my phone number here, email me and ask for it. Since it's my parents line, I don't want to give it out on the net.

Jeff Watkins
4515 White Road
Melbourne, FL 32934

(Ed Note About Blog: Not that I started, but on To Whom, I will relinquish from discussing any of the mishaps or tragedies post-Hurricane Katrina from now on. It hurts too much for me. People are free to discuss, have/share opinions, tell others they are wrong/right, etc. This is your constitutional right. But the thing I am so tired of is people who have never lived in New Orleans, or even visited it for that matter, having opinions of the city. The kind of opinions where they conclude in a pretty post about what should or should not happen and who is or is not to blame. The issues submerged [pun intended] are so multi-faceted that it is not a problem that can be solved so quickly and effortlessly. Also, to those who concern themselves with the poverty of the city now, please? If anyone cared, why wasn't anything being done about it years ago. I realize my statements have holes and aren't solid arguments, but that's not what I'm doing here. I'm just sharing my frustration of hearing the uninformed, inform me, of what my life was like. This isn't directed at anybody in particular. I am just tired. I can see all the sides and I can relate to all the people.)

I am a volunteer.

I am a looter.

I am white by skin.

I am treated as a minority in that city.

I left because I had a way out.

But my heart and mind stayed. It's not the same, but it's more unbearable than you can imagine, unless you were there.

I am a person who cares.

I am a person who is angry and fed up.

I can be compassionate.

I can be a bastard.

I was safe.

I wasn't safe. Even though I didn't see the horrors in real life, I still can't get the images out of my head just the same.

I have so much.

I still lost a lot.

I don't deserve anything.

But because of grace, I have life.

"I had a good cry last night."

To quote my old friend Chase (at least I think he titled a post that once). I am still doing good here in Dothan, Alabama. I'm catching up with friends and trying to remain optimistic about everything. The realization is hitting me more and more that I have nothing left, as far as material positions. I do realize that "things" aren't important and can be replaced, but you try losing everything except for what you took with you haphazardly--it will make you think a lot. And that's about all I have been doing the past few days.

I've talked to some friends from New Orleans and that is an answered pray and a huge sigh of relief. I'm still waiting to hear from some other people. Blaize, my roommate in the sunken Hamilton # 209, went back to the surrounding area today to do relief work. Pray for him please. I am praying about what I need to do. I know my parents want me home and I sort of want that too.

Today I find out what the rest of the year holds for me in academia via the school's website. I will let you know what my plans are and how to reach me.

Well I have been up for a long time and need to sleep. Today I find out what I do for the rest of the year and I have lunch with Ricky. And it might even feel normal at some points. Seems to pan out for me.

Here's a picture of my blessed neighborhood. If you scroll all the way to the right and look for a long line of train tracks, you will see NOBTS. It runs parallel to the tracks. The seminary is on what appears to be the north side, but in actuality is east. It's mostly underwater, but I can see the roof of my dorm so I still have my hopes up that I can get some crap from within.



Post Script: If you can manage to see the pool next to the gym, my dorm is the one next to that on the right side of the pool and gym.

The Exception

There's not a lot I can say right now. I was glad that I didn't have classes on campus this week (now not until next Tuesday, if even then). But man, I'm seeing pictures from New Orleans and I would give back my week of freedom just to have dry land there. 80% of the city is underwater. God providentially and sovereignly watched out for me and my school, but I can't help but feel like a victim for everyone else. I am lucky, but they aren't. That's a gut-nulling feeling. I want to cry because so many people have lost everything. And it's not just material goods; it's life, liberty, hope, love, friends, etc. I wanted to post some pictures I found, but that's not really important. (You've probably seen the same ones.) Also, I have some friends who had to stay in the city and I can't get in touch with them. It's all so overwhelming and all I can do is pray. I encourage everyone to look at the TV and pray. Don't ignore this--it's not surreal--it's real life. It felt like fantasy to me early today, too. Except, that I actually live there and it happened to me. I am blessed and I am so thankful for that. But I am the exception.

Bringing You Into the Loop

Bringing You into the Loop

You are so out of it.

A breakdown:
1. I worked at Opryland and hated it.
2. I called out twice and on the third day called the hotline to quit.
3. The next day I called Gini at Books-A-Million and we decided that I would start the next Tuesday.
4. That night I recieved a message from Mike at the Great Escape asking me to call and schedule an interview.
5. I called the next morning and scheduled an interview for earlier the same day that I would start at Books-A-Million.
6. On Saturday Donna interviewed at JC Penny's and snagged a position in women's retail. I'm proud of her.
7. This afternoon I called the Great Escape and was informed that I got the job.

Pause for excitement

8. For a multitude of reasons I will not be able to work out a notice. Now I just have to figure out how to tell the bookstore.

Reasons this is cooler:
1. I don't have to wear an apron.
2. I don't have to wear a name tag.
3. I don't have to wear a collared shirt.
4. In addition to khakis I also have the option of jeans or shorts.

Yes, there are advantages besides clothing-related ones.

5. It's always been a dream of mine to work in a record store and this is "the mid-south's leading record store and comic shop".
6. The management is admittedly and obviously lax.
7. With traffic it only takes 16 minutes to get there. Compare that to at least 45 minutes to B-A-M.
8. This will be a cute little addition to my resume.
9. If I never get hassled about not selling enough discount cards it will be too soon.
10. Because the store is cleaned in the mornings I'll never have to stay late for that.
11. Employee discount!!!
12. The "office chatter" won't be nearly as uninteresting.
13. This is a mom-n-pop operation, they have five stores but no endless chain of higher ups.
14. This is the first job I've ever interviewed for that not only did I believe I could do but that I truly believe the job was made for me.
15. I hate muzak, I prefer actual music.

Contraflow A Go-Go













While the crescent City sits in loom of the destruction that is Hurricane Katrina, I drove to my former homestead (actually Dothan, Alabama) to run from the doom. I'll be staying with my Aunt Kim and Uncle Rob. Class is cancelled until Thursday, so I'll be here for a few days. Let's hear it for epistemology and Baptist heritage! That's all I'll be reading for these upcoming days.

Not Lucky

I don't believe in luck. However, it would appear that God has blessed me, again. If you recall, I killed the a/c jack on my old laptop, which was a hand-me-down from my Dad. I pushed in the plug from the a/c jack into the laptop. Sucked. I finally sent it home to Dad to see if our neighbor could fix it. Apparently, he could not. What does my Dad do? He goes out and buys me a brand new one. I am treated way too good. For all you hacks, this proves my street cred:




Compaq Presario M2000
AMD Moblie Sempron Processor 2800 and 256 L2 Cache (1.6 GHz)
15" XGA TFT Bright View Display Screen
40 GB Hard Drive
256 MB DDR SDRAM
54g 802.11b/g WLAN
DVD/CD-RW combo drive
6-Cell Lithium-Ion battery
Microsoft Windows XP Home Service Pack 2

I am blessed.