Did I go to Hell??...No just Pensacola

Just a picture of me and my friend Megan...I think it's cute.

Anyway this past Thursday I began the 9 hour drive to Pensacola Florida to work a Regional Flag Football Tournament. YEA I thought as I drove. The weather is going to be in the high 70's, I'll have some time to go to the beach, and I'm going to get to drink with some good friends that I dont get to see that often. Where did all my optimism go? Well first off I burnt a ton of CD's to make my drive solo a little easier. But, they didnt work. I almost ran out of gas in Alabama some where with no one around and no cell phone signal...great. Then, just as I pulling off the interstate onto my exit in Pensacola I hear a noise coming from my car. It almost sounds as though I blew a tire. So I immediately pull over on the side of the exit ramp and check the tires...good to go. So I start going again...and the noise is just horrible so I stop about 100 yards further on a state route highway. I get on my hands and knees and look under my car thinking i might be dragging something...that's when the cops pull up. He wants me to drive it up about another 200 yards to the shell station. I tell him he can drive it so that maybe he can hear the noise and tell me what it is. He's got nothing. Shocker...So they leave me at the shell station all by my lonesome. Way to protect and serve boys. My friend Ruckman comes to my rescue. He happens to think it is something with the transmission...well this is SUPER! But, nothing is open so my car sits at the gas station. In the morning we have it towed (for 60 bucks) to the Ford dealer. Well as I am waiting for the Ford people to look at my car we decide to go to the beach. It was sooo nice out...this was prolly the only highlight of the trip. They did not get to look at my car until the end of the day on saturday and it turned out to be something with the brake hardware so it only cost me 125 dollars. All in all not too bad. I was expecting a TON more money. On saturday the weather mysteriously turned freezing at like 1 in the afternoon...what happened to the 70's? I was absolutely freezing. I woke up on Saturday feeling like i swallowed razor blades, but only on one side. Tonsilitis everyone was telling me...sweet. Then Saturday night I ate about a whole pizza that had been sitting out for like 13 hours. You better believe that I was vomiting in the morning. About 5 times I believe...does that constitute food poisoning? Now the best part. I'm driving home and about 60 miles from home going 80 miles an hour when a raccoon the size of a bear jumps out in front of me. Of course I demolish said BEAR. Getting to the point...my fog lamp is hanging from my car.

Was I in Hell?? No just good ole p'cola!

Religion vs Counseling

Let me just prefaces this post by saying that these are my views, opinions, and biases. I accept all points of view, so please accept mine :)

As you may or may not know, I am in school to become a counselor. And, as you may or may not know, I am not the biggest supporter of religion. I often have discussions with my older sister about religion and her's and my beliefs. It has always been fairly difficult for me to explain to her exactly WHY I do not follow a god. The only things that I am able to tell her (or anyone) are:

1. I am my own god (Nikki loves that one).
2. My actions/choices create my destiny...no one else's.
3. Accountability in life is one of the best virtues.
4. I cannot blame or ask forgiveness for anything I have done on/from anyone else - or a god for that matter.
5. The major problem with christianity is the notion of forgiveness from God. A statutory rapist who is also a strict catholic may be granted forgiveness from a priest and feel better about the situation. But, guess who is not okay...that 5 year old boy.
6. Whether or not you believe in creationism or evolution they both take some level of belief as neither are absolutes.

Speaking of number 5, that is where my recent counseling educational background comes into this discussion. People need counseling. People also need to believe in something. For most that something is some sort of religion. The following passage is from one of my text books:

"Both religion and counseling help people ponder questions of 'Who am I?' and "What is the meaning of my life?' At their best, both counseling and religion are able to foster healing through an exploration of self by learning to accept oneself; by giving to others; by forgiving others and oneself; by admitting hurts and resentments; by dealing with guilt; and by learning to let go of self-destructive patterns of thinking, feeling and acting...However there are religious leaders who have reacted negatively to counseling as a secular force, and psychotherapists who have reacted negatively to religion describing it as a defense mechanism or as a form of denial."

After reading this paragraph I felt a little closer to describing my non-beliefs in a higher power. I never really thought of counseling as a contrasting view point to religion (you know like science or being agnostic or aetheist), but maybe that is the church that I belong to...the Church of Counseling. I mean I do often see religion as a defense mechanism and as a form of denial. But does that mean that I wont be able to counsel devout christians?

I believe in the power of people. I believe that I have achieved all things outlined above without counseling or religion. The bottom line is people need help being the best person that they can be. And whether that comes with believing in God, believing in counseling, or believing in both...it's a win/win situation when one can honestly say that they ARE a good person.

6.5 months...or HALLOWEEN!

So October 31st was not only Halloween it was also T'rone L'bone's 6 and a half month birthday. I had class so I was not able to take him trick-o-treating, but he did have a tricerotop costume that was just precious. As you see in the picture, he did not like it as much as I did. But, I had fun with it while he let me :) I bought 4 bags of reese's cups to hand out thinking I would need all of them since I live in a house now that is in a poor area. Well my roommate decided to not be home during trick-o-treat (I had class) because he didnt want to deal with the mini-thugs not in costume by himself. Thats great now I have 4 big bags of candy...but dont worry the case of beer that was on the front porch sure is gone.

Anywho there is my halloween story. The first picture is of T'rone when he was 10 weeks old. The second one is when he was three months old. The third one is 6 months old. The fourth one is us crying when the cardinals won...and the fifth one is the scary tricerotop:)