weekend in review...plus...the future!

I have yet another new Examiner.com article to share with you guys: Awaken 2010.

I had a great weekend. Friday night I went to eat with friends Clay & Whitney Taylor and Andy Stevens at a very good Mexican place in Southaven. We had a good time chatting about the goings-on of the day, and later looked at the new home Clay and Whitney closed on and are soon to move in to. After that, Clay, Andy, and I watched Iron Man 2. And I loved it. Robert Downey Jr. is so funny and effortless as Tony Stark. Amazing movie.

Saturday I rode with Clay to Tupelo where we hung out with his family and went to a great little restaurant called Comer's. They had amazing catfish! Afterward we went to the Davis Event Center in Fulton to see Awaken 2010 (which you can read my review of at the link above). Clay's dad and sister performed in one of the local church bands, and we got to go backstage for a bit after they finished. It was cool to see some of these bands just being normal people...and even though I was standing next to Shane Barnard (of Shane and Shane), I didn't get to talk to him. I'd probably have to thank him for writing great songs that I play almost weekly...but I didn't get a chance. Still, we got to talk with a local rap group Notus who were very cool. I'm going to try and interview them for an upcoming article.

Which made me think...I need business cards. I want to be a writer, and it would give me a little credibility, I think.

Also, my mom gave me a good idea the other day. She said I should start working on a book. I would love to, and I think I have the perfect subject. More on that later.

In other news, I was accepted to Blue Mountain College on Friday! I am very excited. There was doubt I'd get in, since my last semester at Ole Miss (back in 2004) I pretty much squandered. But I'm excited to give it another shot!

In the meantime I will continue updating and blogging and writing and living life knowing that good things are on the horizon. Thanks for reading, chaps.

friday ramblings

I've posted another article on Examiner.com called "Fixing Christianity" (click that link there, partner). I have to say, I'm loving writing there...my only concern is that I'm starting out too deep. I want to incorporate some humor as well. Don't wanna bore everybody.

I'm pretty excited for this weekend, I'm going to see Shane & Shane tomorrow night in Tupelo (hey! I could write about that!) and tonight I'll be grilling out with my good buddy Clay.

I am still job hunting, so if any of you know of any good part time jobs, let me know. I'm still planning to start school in the fall, also. I have little things here and there that are keeping me busy but I'd like something that I know will pay my rent!

Well I need to get off here, I have dishes that aren't washing themselves. Man that would be amazing if they could...

new venture

I applied to write for Examiner.com last week, and as of yesterday, they accepted me! I'm the Tupelo Christian Living Examiner. Of course I don't live in Tupelo, but I'm not too far away.

The long & short of it is that I won't be neglecting this blog, but I'll instead be linking a lot to my new site as I write new articles. I used an old blog post I had originally posted here for my first article, just changed up a bit.

To see my article, click here. Please comment & subscribe! Thanks friends.

tuesday revelations: can you burden God?

I applied to Blue Mountain College last month and they needed my immunization records. I took them over this morning after a night of what some would call insomnia. I seriously could not sleep last night...I've been sort of down & out/sickly with a cold which has led to a couple days of sleeping in. That's not really a good thing though. I'm sort of like a zombie at the moment (which reminds me, read my last post on my top 5 books! You'll see why that mental correlation happened).

Anyway, I made the trip to Blue Mountain and along the way had a real heart-to-heart with God. I have a lot going on at the moment, what with no job and trying to get into school again after 6 years. I felt somewhat better but still I had the notion that my life was going to the pits and nothing could change that fact. I felt like I was burdening God with my prayers and that I didn't deserve healing like I'd asked for.

After I finished up at Blue Mountain, I headed home. In a twist that I can only chalk up to sleep deprivation/divine intervention, I took a wrong turn and ended up doubling my drive back to my apartment. I surfed stations on my Sirius radio trying to pass the time, all the while still feeling downtrodden. As I turned to The Message, the Christian radio station, I heard a couple songs that started turning my mood around.

The most powerful song I heard was Amy Grant's new single, "Better Than A Hallelujah". In this song, she sings about how sometimes the cries of the hurting and broken are like beautiful melodies in God's ears. Well, just listen for yourself.



The song really touched me and in a very real way, I felt release. I have faith that my God is bigger than my current plight and will deliver me in one way or another. I just have to trust and believe...and know that He is never burdened with my life.

top 5 favorite books

As a professed nerd, it's no big surprise that I like to read. If you do, then I have some books you may want to check out. If you don't, check them out anyway (Literally! At a library!). Bad library humor aside, here are my top five favorite books (in no particular order as to not show favoritism to any potential authors who may stumble upon my site after Googling themselves).

The Shores of Space by Richard Matheson

As a kid, I was engrossed in nerdiness. I read comic books, loved Star Wars, and Weezer's Blue Album was the first CD I ever bought. Not to mention I wore big glasses and loved the library. One summer when I was about 12 years old, my local library had a book sale and I snagged this classic for $1.00. A collection of short stories from sci-fi legend Richard Matheson (writer of I Am Legend, Requiem for a Dream, and many Twilight Zone episodes), it had stories about all kinds of things that interested me. A robot boxing league that a human tries to enter. A little girl who is sucked into a time portal in her couch. A woman and man dealing with a pregnancy neither can explain. Yes, heavy stuff for a 12 year old, but over time I read and re-read this book until it became one of my favorite literary pieces.

The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks

This is a more recent discovery for me. I was in Oxford's Off-Square Books store and found this helpful guide lying in a $4.00 bin. I thought it looked interesting...and boy is it ever. Brooks writes as if a zombie apocalypse is reasonable and almost makes me want to get ready for the inevitable. From the humble beginnings of the "disease" to selecting your weapons and strategy of making necessary kills, zombies had better think again before trying to invade.

Steinbeck by John Steinbeck

(I couldn't find the cover, but here's his handsome mug)

As a lover of the English language as well as the subject, no author captured my interest in my early college days like Steinbeck. Of course "The Grapes of Wrath" is epic, but my early favorite was "The Pearl", a story of loss & redemption that I'm sure most of you have read in one fashion or another. I found a huge (I mean huge) compilation of his most famous books at a bookstore a few years ago that has been as enjoyable to read as it is uncomfortable to hold. I need to get it on Kindle.

Stuff Christians Like by Jonathan Acuff

Matthew Paul Turner's book The Christian Culture Survival Guide was the first funny Christian book I'd ever read, but I'm saving it for another post. More recently, Jon Acuff's foray into the ink & paper world has caused many belly laughs for this guy. If you're a Christian who isn't afraid to laugh at your own ridiculousness, you need this book. Acuff references the sometimes Pharisitical lines we draw in our culture with humor and a dash of repentance on all of our behalf. I laugh every time I say "just" in prayers to God...which I think is a good thing.

Snake 'n Bacon's Cartoon Cabaret by Michael Kupperman

This book is more of a graphic compilation of short stories, and has some of the most strange and hilarious comic strips with awesome characters like: Underpants-On-His-Head-Man; the Mannister (a man who transforms into a bannister!); Two-Fisted Poe ("quoth the raven...LIGHTS OUT!"); and finally, Snake 'n Bacon...who are of course a snake and a piece of bacon. I found this book at a small bookstore about ten years ago and I read it every few months. I love Kupperman's style of drawing, and his humor is definitely a required taste but oh so very funny.

I urge you to tell me of your favorite books in the comments section and please, no Twilight references.

Good day!

the next step

Recently I was released from work, and have decided to go to school. But I also need money. So what have I done? Until a couple days ago, all I did was grow a beard and sit around in a pseudo-depressed mode. But I've since come out of that funk and have a few ideas brewing.

A fellow unemployed friend came to me about an online business that we'll soon be breaking ground on, so be on the lookout for that. Also, I'm continuing music and have a few dates lined up over the next couple months (and if you need someone to play for any sort of event, please contact me). I've also gone the old fashioned route of applying for jobs, but nothing's panned out at the moment.

And if all else fails, then at least there's selling my possessions on eBay.

God bless,

Adam