You can be a winner at the game of Life!

Well, I probably owe you guys an update. Life has been a little full, which is really really good for me. The less time I have to sit and watch the West Wing, the better I tend to feel. I don't know if writing unhappiness/discontent/longing on that piece of paper at New Year's church as the thing I had to let die before I could actually be who God wants me to be helped, but I've been better. It wasn't immediate, though; I do still have the mopes in me from time to time.

So, since then, I've been to see The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe at the Logan Square Theater with my roommate Paige, randomly on a weeknight. Before we went, I had nachos with Paige and a friend of two of my brothers, Jonathan. We walked to the theater and it was surprisingly like The Glen, the cheapo movie theater in the town where I grew up. We used to pay for our movies with quarters from the washer and dryer at my parents' apartment building because movies were only a dollar and a half. Then, on the weekend, I went over to Daniel's friend's house on Friday night and we watched Lawrence of Arabia and ate middle eastern food. I contributed a 12-pack of water for the desert epic. On Saturday night, I went to dinner and a play at Steppenwolf with my friend Dan, who reads the same things I do, wonder of wonders. I went to the same church that I'd been to before on Sunday, then met with the pastor on Monday evening for dinner, getting very confused on the busses that I had to take to get there, which meant I got on and off at lot. In my very good conversation with the pastor, his candor about the growing pains of this church made me comfortable enough to commit to attending for a little while, even if, to quote Don Miller, it's a little like going to church at the Gap. Tuesday, I met with the pastor again and the music minister to talk about the state of music at the church, my involvement in it and about a zillion other things. Last night I went out to see my mom and my dog and to do a little laundry. Tonight, I met my best friend from high school and her beautiful 3-week-old baby for very good dinner. She was great. She just handed him over to me and didn't need him back except to feed him. Just what I needed. It was nice to see her, too. We have a long history. Somewhere in there, I decided that I'm giving up trying to get over to the Curves to exercie while it's still cold. But the trade-off for that is that I had to sign up for a yoga class. That starts at the beginning of February and I'm very excited.

So, making sure that I leave work after I've worked my eight hours to make room for a life is finally paying off. I've been out every night this week and that feels quite good. I am having a life to put into that time.