Life

Well, that’s that. I was officially release from Jury Duty today. I feel cheated. What promised to be a great adventure turned out to be rather tedious. I wish I could tell you some great story of how I decided the fate of another human being, but alas I cannot. I can tell you that watching 5 hrs of movies on an iPod Nano can give you a serious crick in the neck.

My favorite quote from Jury Duty:

( in response to his name being called for placement on a Jury panel ) “Hang’em high!”

Waited for 3 hours for the judge to notify us that the defendant had taken the plea bargain of 1 year jail time. Which means that, although I sat in the jurors box, I wasn’t actually involved in a court case. Maybe tomorrow will be more court time and less waiting. But just in case I’m putting the original Die Hard trilogy on my iPod.

• “Stand in line.”
• “Sign here.”
• “Sit anywhere you like.”
• “Mr. Kuert, you need to be in the line for L-Z”, “but Kuert starts with…yes ma’am.”
• “Stand on the bricks.”
• “Be back at 3.”
• “Don’t stand on the bricks.”
• “Sorry for the wait…wait here.”
• “Quiet please.”
• “Wait here.”
• “Take a seat.”
• “All rise. You may be seated. Stand and raise your right hand. Please be seated.”
• “Be back at 9. If you’re late, you’ll be arrested and fined.”

My house, which faired better than my neighbors, was without electricity for seven and a half days. I probably would have gone crazy, but I grew up in a country that had frequent water and power outages, so I was accustom to such inconveniences.

I’ve been reading a about many parts of Zimbabwe, Somalia, Sudan, and other countries where my most inconvenient day would be considered a blessing. It seems to me that I should be more grateful for the comforts I have. I’m not saying that I don’t enjoy the benefits of my electrically convenience life, but I feel a little perspective is in order.

The last week was a fresh reminder, a small taste of what life is like for many around the world. I do not regret the experience. Rather, I find myself pondering if I need to endure such hardships more often.

Of the nearly 300,000 people who lost power, there are still several thousand without electricity almost 9 days later.

That’s right, I, Adam Kuert, being of seemingly sound mind and body, received the letter ‘F’ on my 8th grade physical education skills test.  The reason? A genetic inability to touch my toes.  Oh, the shame I brought to my family.  The idea that my chances of attending university had been slighted by an inelastic predisposition of certain major muscle groups, namely the hamstrings, was quite devastating to the simplistic ideals of a 14yr old.

Well, tonight, after a brief workout…I attempted the unattainable task once more…only this time I was met with momentary success: a brief glimpse into the limber lives of the exceedingly extensible elite.

To those by whose wisdom was inscribe such a stigma upon the life of a child, I say, “I did it. So there.”

To those who may yet carry such a burden, I give this sage advise: “I was accepted to a major university that had similar skills testing with completely different standards, from which I received a symbolic degree that had little to do with getting my sweet new job, so don’t stress”.

Peace

I think Facebook is the most depressing thing to happen to the world.

Everyone who uses Facebook will be familiar with the concept of Facebook friends, which I will call faciends in this entry (Feel free to use faciends openly in you day to day conversations). I have 97 faciends. I know, I know, some of you have 698 (Pradeepan), but bare with me. Of the 97 reported faciends of Adam, about 20 are still in my life outside of the Facebook world. Faciends represent about 1 in 7 (just a guess) of the people that I have been friends with in my life (Side note: that means that Pradeepan currently has more faciends than I have had friends). That means for every faciend I see in my list there are 6 friends I do not.

Don’t be misled…I love using Facebook to keep up with as many friends as possible, but do I really need that kind of daily reminder? How hard should we fight to maintain forgotten relationships? How hard should we fight to develop new ones? How many “close” friends make being “close” impossible? How few friends make someone feel lonely?

But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight, “Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night.”  (My roommate and I have a unique decritive Christmas spirit).

Well, It’s about that time again. “Update your xanga site,” the voices say with wrinkles upon their brows. So I shall converse about thusandsuch, suchandforth, and forthandthus (I know, I know…but they should be real words).

So I just got back from CS/PFO-SOM. A kid’s camp for missionary kids with the worlds most acronymriaded (also not a word) title in the world . For the first three weeks I had a tribe of six 7/8-year-olds. For the last two weeks I coordinate the 4/5th grade program. This was my fifth year at the camp and I loved every minute of it.

Today was a very nostalgic day. I meandered my way through old photos and contemplated the passing of time and relationships. I came across a current picture of a good friend I haven’t spoken to in 10 years. I had no idea he’s married now and has a kid. We were such good friends back in the day. It makes me wonder which of my good fiends today will end up as distant memories 10 years from now despite my best intentions. I think about those I left without closure or even a proper goodbye. The tears I suppressed in an effort to appear controlled cost me more than I planned. I’m not depressed…just really nostalgic. Tomorrow morning I won’t remember exactly what I’m feeling right now or why, life will go on, and memories will fade, but xanga will last forever!

Well, due to overwhelming anti-Microsoft sentiment, I have decided to return to the world of xanga and blogging. Ok, not really, but since I just got back from Kenya on Monday and I can’t sleep in past 7,  I got up and decided to respond to emails. I ran out of emails to respond to so started blogging. So don’t thank me, thank jetlag.

As we speak, I am attempting to cook oatmeal in a rice-cooker. I will let you know the results when I finish with this blog.

So I went to Africa; Kenya to be exact. I went on safari with my Dad for two days and worked at a missions conference for 5 days. I don’t think words will do justice my experience so here is a small assortment of pics:

One of the many flights.  This one is Kenya Airways from Nairobi to Mombasa with Mount Kilimanjaro in the background:

The view from my room in Mombasa:

A storm cloud roles in over Maasai Mara creating one of my favorite smells:

My dad and I on safari:

We watched this lioness hunt a warthog for about an hour.  Poor stupid Pumba:

The kids I worked with at the conference.  I took about 50 lbs of american junk food, CDs and toys:

A fairwell skit for one of the missionaries that I’ve known and loved my whole life:

Back in Nairobi with some of my Kenyan friends:

The oatmeal was messy, but perfectly cooked.  Oh, the marvels of modern technology.

I downloaded the new MSN Istant Messanger BETA which has a blogging feature built-in.  So, I’ve started using it instead of xanga.  You can download the BETA here: http://messenger.msn.com/beta/ or you can go directly to my blog: http://spaces.msn.com/members/washamoto/