The Life of the Nickness

So as I sit waiting for my clothes to wash, and knowing I only have 2.5 hours before I need to leave for work, I thought that this would be a great time to get online and check out my usual sites. And then I realized that I have memberships to ALOT of sites! So I'm listing them here for your viewing pleasure.

My Livejournal (this one is obvious, but I like listing it first anyway)

My Myspace (Many of my friends use this. I am still a fan of livejournal, but I got a myspace cause it looked cool)

My Facebook (this is fairly new; I forgot all about having a nova email addy until about a week ago)

My LoveHappens (I think it's cool. No dissing it)

My All Poetry (You all have seen this one before, still, yay for the list!)

And finally, last but not least, I give you my HotorNot:

“But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.”

Oh, come, Oh, come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

Oh, come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan's tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save
And give them victory o'er the grave.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

Oh, come, Thou Dayspring from on high,
And cheer us by Thy drawing nigh;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death's dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

Oh, come, Thou Key of David, come
And open wide our heavenly home:
Make safe the way that leads on high
And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

Ok, so I tried something new this year: I didn't make a list at all! That way I would be surprised by everything I got, and not disappointed by something I didn't get. And I made out like a bandit! Ok, enough blathering. On to the list!

From Friends:
A card from Stef
A card from Abby
A rubber bracelet from
The Inspector General from
A bunch of 'Don't Die' balloons from
A packet of salt from Women's CORE

From Family:
A christmas ornament and $20 from Grandma
$50 from Abuela
A t-shirt that says “I let my mind wander and it never returned” from
A 25 piece electric razor set from
A check for an undetermined amount of money from Jonathan
A Talking Homer Simpson wall Clock from
A gift card for $200 to Men's Warehouse from Mom/Dad/Santa
A sweater(a clark family tradition) from Mom/Dad/Santa
Socks(another clark family tradition) from Mom/Dad/Santa
An issue of Total Film magazine from Mom/Dad/Santa
A one year renewal of Men's Health from Mom/Dad/Santa
A 2006 Smallville wall calender from Mom/Dad/Santa
House on DVD from Mom/Dad/Santa
An Official NFL Vikings Jacket from Mom/Dad/Santa

Well, that should do it for this entry. So far it's been an awesome day. I can't wait to see what happens next!

Recently I haven't really felt like posting all that much. I'm not really sure why. It seems as though my LJ updates come in phases–for a month or two I'll post several times a week, and then it will drop off to one or two times a month. Sad. I don't just write in my LJ for you guys, I do it for myself as well–I can't count the number of times I've actually gone through re-read my entire LJ. And it's a good read, if I do say so myself. Feel like tackling the project? You'll want to start here.

On another brief but way cool note, has returned to Manassas after a several month trip to LA where she was feeding hurricane Katrina victims. If anyone is interested in reading more Sinfest, I've posted a mini story in the comments section of her “Home Sweet Home” post.

Today is my day off of work. As of now, I have but 2 official things to do: Take a look at apartments near MAG at 1pm with my mom, and lead Men's Core group tonight at 7:30pm. Justin is gone with Abby to listen/watch the Trans Siberian Orchestra at the MCI center, so he's left the CORE group to me this week. Hehehe, lets see if theres anything left of it once I'm done! He suggested just making it a chill night, which I am so very tempted to do,(especially since the women's core is just having a chill night) but at the same time I really want to lead a Bible study and look at Simple Prayer. Maybe I'll just call Laura and see if we can combine them… hehehehe.

I'm gonna go for now. There is laundry to do and a room to clean.

I got lost in DC last night. As scary as it was for me (I hate being by myself and getting lost in a place I've never been before) at least now I know how to get back to Manassas from like, 10 different places in DC. And the rush of energy I felt when actually not being lost….totally cool.

I've decided to apply to Global University and work towards a BA in Pastoral Ministries. I'm very excited. And since it's an actual school, and not a 'program' designed to get me to be credentialed, the credits that I earned at North Central University and Valley Forge Christian College should transfer. Key word=should. I won't find out how many transfer until I actually apply. I'm planning on doing that tomorrow since it's a my day and I know there's going to be many phone calls to make.

Ahhh I still have laundry to do before I have to be at work by 2pm!

–I've almost finished with my Christmas shopping. I have 3 more friends to buy things for(at least I know what I'm getting them) and then I need to start on my actual(read: blood related) family. That shouldn't be too hard. Then I need to do my research into Bethany's birthday present. (yes Bethany, theres research involved!) Luckily for me, it's going to be fairly fun/interesting research (at least for me) so I won't have to worry about it dragging on forever and ever like my 10th grade research on censorship did.

–At the moment I'm listening to “Wait For me: The Best From Rebecca St. James” It's a pretty cool album. All my favorite RSJ songs on one CD, which now lives on my iPod. Ahhh, the joys of technology. I remember the very first time I had ever heard of her–we were using one of her songs in a human video for Firepower. That was like… practically 7-8 years ago. Time sure flies, doesn't it? I'm definitely someone who loves to stroll down memory lane and see the sites every now again. It's hard to believe I graduated high school almost 6 years ago. Sigh. It's been an interesting 6 years. Heck, it's been an interesting year! But thats another journal entry.

–Justin and I are focusing the Men's CORE group on Prayer. In doing so, I've been hit with the big revelation(ok, so maybe not that big) that I don't pray nearly enough. If prayer is simply communication with God, why don't we(and I mean 'we' as a general collective of Christians) pray more? I know I can spend hours and hours talking on the phone, on the internet, or reading the latest John Piper book, but when it comes to prayer I can't even barely get an hour in? And an hour is streching it. Majorly streching it. More like 5-10 minutes, if I'm lucky or feeling spiritual. Something I brought up to the group last week: relationships are judged by the amont of time you spend with someone. The more time you spend with someone, the more you know them, and the closer you become. So how close are we to God? Do any of us really have a real relationship with him? You can't have a relationship with someone who you never spend time with. And reading the Bible isn't enough. I mean, imagine reading the same letter from a friend every single day, but never talking to them. How close would you say that relationship is? Probably not very close. And yet I think that is what we as Christians do, and we fool ourselves into thinking that we're close to God, and yet at the end God is going to say is “Depart from me, I never knew you”
And I think it affects our witnessing too. The people that we truely know, it's easy to talk about them. I could talk so easily to a stranger about my mom or my sister or my brother, because I regularly spend time with them and have a 'deep' relationship with them. But ask me to talk to that same stranger about Jesus and I freeze. Why? I don't think it cam simply be explained away as 'witnessing jitters'. I know many people for whom talking about Jesus is the easiest thing to them. And do you know why? Because they are in relationship with Him! Because they talk to Him! Personally, I'm really glad Justin and I decided to tackle this topic. You can't teach something to someone without first knowing it, and how can I help lead a men's group on the importance of prayer if I'm not praying? I do not want to be a hypocrite. Our Savior and the God of the universe has opened his door and desires to commune with us–how dare I slam that door in his face and then turn around and tell the world that He means everything to me! Yes, I will pray more. And I will do it gladly–because I know that there is nothing greater than spending time with Him.

–Larry and Bob are coming to my store on Saturday–it's going to be a busy day. I'm scheduled to get off at 4pm, which is good because it allows me to get to Mosaic pre-service prayer, but I think I'm going to show up really early in the morning. I don't have to be there until 9, but I think if I come in at 6am or 7am I can get ALOT of work done and put the 'finishing touches' on any issues way before we open.

–Tonight is House/Boston legal night. After that I'll probably go kareoke-ing(how in the world do you spell that word?!?) cause it's Erin's last week on the east coast before she goes back to TX. Who knows.. I might just sing a few songs (LOL, yeah right!)