NY or bust!

Sorry for being a slack ass. I usually only update this blog during the day, but I called in a sick day on Friday and Monday...Friday because I woke up with a headache and I had too much to prepare for the Flip Flop Fest that night, and Monday for my root canal. Let's start back on Thursday, shall we.

Thursday, Jenn, Nina and I decided to try out the Pig & Whistle for their Happy Hour. It was dead. I spoke briefly with the bartender who explained that it's always dead in the summer, but in the winter, it's standing room only! Looks like we picked the wrong season. Johnny D, Alex and Jana showed up as well, and we actually ended up having a pretty good time. We played some ping pong, drank some beer, and had $1.50 roast beef sandwiches with hot English mustard.

Friday night was the night the ypB Social Committee had been planning for a good month and a half...our First Ever Flip-Flop Fest! The weather decided not to cooperate with our plans, so we had to stay indoors the entire evening :( It all worked out in the end, though, because the Holiday Inn did such a good job of decorating our space that it would've been a shame to only use it for an hour. I set up a slide show of all the pics I have taken from the socials, and I think that went over really well. The food was great, conch fritters, coconut shrimp, beef saute, and crab cakes, and birthday cake for dessert. We had a DJ for the first hour and he did a great job, then a live band, Dub City Tribe, played for the rest of the night. They were great too! We did a limbo contest that everyone really got into, and had a prize give-away at the end. I think everyone had a blast and hopefully we generated some new membership. The pics below represent a teeny sample of the amount of pics I took in total that evening.

Saturday morning was the ypB beach clean-up. We actually had about 12 volunteers show up, including myself, so that wasn't half bad! We were given bags and hand grabber-thingies from Keep Brevard Beautiful so we didn't have to keep bending over all day. Panera also donated breakfast for us which was nice :) The day was hot and the trek was long, but all in all, we did our part and cleaned up the beach. I'm very proud of us!

Sunday I skipped church. I was up, but I just didn't feel like going. I think last week's attack on me really hit home. I didn't talk about it then because I really wasn't sure how I felt about it, but after some clear thinking, I'm ready to put forth my opinion. Last week, SUMC had a New Member Orientation Lunch. I thought I better go and see what this church is all about, what it takes to be a member, and what it actually means to be a Methodist. I pretty much got all my questions answered, I just didn't like what I had to hear. Something about what was explained to me just doesn't sit right...it sounds contradictory. I was told that being a Methodist means that you are constantly learning and growing everyday in your relationship with God...you are never fully enlightened and it is a constant process throughout your entire life. This really appeals to me, so I thought this was great. However, in order to be a member of the church, you have to take a vow that you believe in three things.
1) believe in the God
2) believe in the trinity, and that Jesus is the savior
3) believe that the Bible is the holy inspired word of God
Now, I don't know about you, but doesn't it seem odd to start off your spiritual journey looking for answers by stating that you unequivocally believe in something?! I don't know what I believe...that's why I'm going to church! I'm looking for answers that make sense to me, so that I can have that solid foundation from which to build from and grow. As of right now, I can't say that I believe that Jesus was anything more than a really great guy, and that the Bible is a really nice story. I mean, I write in this blog all the time, so it could be called "The Gospel According the Rene'" It's the world as I see it, almost certainty skewed or exaggerated in some way or another to make myself or my friends look better. There is no pure truth in writing, only versions. As I tried to explain this to the rest of the crowd at the luncheon, they didn't really get what I was saying, or they completely dismissed it in favor of their own testimony. I was bombarded with so many "I know how you feels" that my head was spinning. People kept saying "Rene', I was where you are now a year ago, I didn't believe that He died for me, but then one day I finally got it and I let Jesus into my heart." Um, hello? Did you not just hear what I said? I was questioning Jesus' divine powers altogether! I don't doubt that this man, Jesus,existed and was really kind and moral, and was crucified...but he was just a guy. They're starting with the belief that Jesus was divine, and trying to explain things from this point on, and it's like, um, hey, I'm still down here at square one!
So it looks like I cannot join this church, or any other Christian based church, until I am done researching everything and settle on a belief...seriously, this could take decades! Until then I will be a wanderer I guess?

That afternoon I went to the Running Zone to get some new shoes. The kid that took care of me was mildly helpful. I explained to him about my heel problem and he showed me a better way to lace my shoes so that I wouldn't get as much friction. Then he said I probably needed a wider width to alleviate my blister problem, so he brought out three pairs for me to try. The Saucony ones felt the best, and guess what, they were also the most expensive. $110 later, they were mine. That night I took them out for a run. Man, I almost forgot how much I enjoyed running. I didn't have any pain, or any blisters the entire 5K. I could actually concentrate on just running and not how much my feet hurt! What a concept, huh? I may try them again tonight at the gym to see if they pass day 2!
Hey running industry: What's the fascination with orange these days anyways!?

Monday morning was the dreaded root canal. I thought about taking a pic of me getting it done, but the thought of looking at my mouth all tooled-up kinda gave me the heebie-jeebies and would probably make me even more apprehensive about getting my next, inevitable root canal. It took about 1.5 hours, and was only painful because I had to keep my mouth agape the entire time. My jaw is very sore, and my tooth is tender, but that's about it. I have a temporary crown on for the next few weeks, which means I can only chew on the left side...I hate that. I only had to pay $220 for this visit, so I was pretty relieved that I didn't have to pay it all up front. While I was still numb I took advantage of my Dentist's proximity to the KSC Visitor Complex and went a picked up a Private Ham stuffed monkey for baby Nicholas (Jenn's new nephew), whom I will be meeting for the first time tomorrow! What a cutie, huh! Look at those eyelashes!

I do hope we are able to leave on time. Our flight to NY is leaving at 7am, and Tropical Storm Ernesto is on his way! I think we should be ok, but man, it would really suck if we got grounded at the airport. The reason we are leaving tomorrow is because Jenn needs to be there for her brother's rehearsal dinner on Thursday night, and in order for us to get a NS flight, it was either leave Wed morning, or Thursday afternoon, which would be too late. Good thing we chose Wed, because I think that give us the best shot. We will be gone until Sunday, so don't expect me to be blogging again until Labor Day!