Like Sands Through the Hourglass...

I have to say I'm pretty proud of myself. But I owe that feeling to some friends of mine. Gone are the days (or nights) when Ryan Adair does nothing but sit in front of the TV and desperately try to find something worth watching...many times not finding anything worth watching but watching it anyway. My friend Leigh was the first to nudge me in this direction. She watches very little TV and has one in a back room of her house only when she gets the fever to rent a movie. Talking with my friend Joe while we were in Las Vegas , he told me they no longer own a TV. Most recently, while talking to my new friend Heidi, she told me she watches very little TV because it's a waste of time. She will watch The Today Show and the news and I think that's all. I started thinking more and more about this and decided they make a good point. TV is a huge waste of time.

Now don't get me wrong. I'm not about to toss my TVs (yes...that's plural) out the window and never watch anything again. Have mercy, I couldn't survive without my nightly routine of watching Seinfeld at 10 PM and the beginning of The Tonight Show before drifting off to sleep. Also, football season is just around the corner and I will have to cheer my Auburn Tigers and Pittsburgh Steelers to victory while watching their televised games. There are also a couple of sitcoms I enjoy watching as well as Survivor and American Idol . With that said, I can brag about severely reducing the amount of time I spend watching TV.

No longer do I come home for lunch just in time to watch Days of Our Lives at 12:30 on days I don't play basketball. On my trip back from Camp Wiregrass (see previous post) with Emily, Loren, and Leigh, a discussion of Romans was started and I realized I didn't know enough about the book to actively engage in the conversation. I was pretty embarrassed but enjoyed their discussion. Therefore, I am now studying my bible at lunch instead of watching a soap opera. Sounds like an easy choice, huh? Well, it can be pretty hard when you have watched this particular soap opera most of your life and allow it to be able to pull your strings just enough to keep you watching to see what will happen next. That's why I'm so proud of myself.

Thanks Joe, Leigh, Heidi, Loren, and Emily. This just proves that if you hang around with the right kind of people, your life can be positively influenced. Now maybe I can do the same for somebody else.

A Trip Down Memory Lane, Part 1

I know, it's been a while since I have posted. All of my time has been spent trying to catch up on all of Supa Supreme's posts on her blog site. Now I'm ready to begin posting again.

I took an interesting trip last Sunday. I received a call from my friend Emily Sunday afternoon asking if I wanted to ride down to the booming metropolis of Enterprise, AL with her and a couple of others to visit Camp Wiregrass . Her brother was serving as the director that week and her sister, Ginger, was the nurse. I was in a funky mood that day and knew that a trip with Emily, Leigh, and Loren would definitely cheer me up. So I climbed into the van with them and headed down south.

I had not stepped foot on the grass of Camp Wiregrass for 23 years. I spent several weeks during my youthful summers at Wiregrass and the memories began to flood as I returned. The singing was kind of dry that evening at chapel and the kids didn't seem to really be into the time of worship. However, I realized that I was the exact same way when I was their age sitting on those benches. To be honest, my main reasons for going to camp were to make new friends and meet some pretty girls as opposed to growing closer to God. I now realize that the counselors had more of the spiritual purpose in mind and that's why they were there to lead and counsel. I remember having counselors such as Ross Mitchell, Matt Elliott , and Joy (McFarlin) Boreland when I was a camper. It's so weird seeing who they are now and realizing they were not that much older than I was at that time...but I sure did look up to them (not that I don't look up to them now).

Sitting in chapel that Sunday night, I saw the exact spot on the side wall where I passed out on skit night. It was the last night of camp and I was the star of our skit (at least in my own eyes). My parents were there and I was ready to put on a show. I was feeling a little sick right before I went on stage, even to the point of having to squat down and hold my stomach in a hot sweat. I completely forgot about it during the skit. We pulled it off without a hitch and received deafening laughter at the end. I went around and sat on the wall to watch the other skits and began to feel a little dizzy. The next thing I know, I'm lying on the ground and hear people calling my name but I can't see anyone. I very slowly regain my vision and they rush me to the hospital in Enterprise. Evidently, I had hit my head pretty hard b/c my pupils were dilated. The doctor recommended I be transported to Montgomery. I never had a chance to go back to camp to say my goodbyes. And this was the one year when I went to the banquet with the girl that I had my eyes on the entire week. Jamie Thomas was awesome and I didn't even get a chance to hug her, much less steal a sweet kiss to end the week. Anyway, that's life.

We left between 8:30 and 9:00 and headed home. It was a nice trip down memory lane. It was also an enjoyable time with some good friends. I feel blessed to have gone on this trip. Thanks for the "invite", Emily. Another trip down memory lane will take place next weekend at my 20 year high school reunion. Wow...I'm starting to get depressed so I'll sign off. I'll let you know how the reunion goes.