New blog everyone!  http://www.mohan37.com  b/c...I needed something new :)

we'll see what becomes of this space.  something awesome, perhaps?

ciao!

Hey guys.  Time for another update.  I'm not sure when I wrote last, but since then, wedding plans have been coming further along.  Pastora and I took some engagement photos, if you can call us, my tripod, and the wind an "engagement photo shoot" :)  Still, they came out pretty good, especially for something we decided to do pretty quickly.

Freddie held the first of what will probably be many garage sales at my place in Illinois last week and, although I've yet to see the results, I can feel the clutter being reduced and progress pushing forward. 

My friends from Maryland came and visited me in Detroit last week.  I enlisted them to help me finally get a proper matress and boxspring; we went to Sam's, where I got a killer deal.  We spent longer tying the two pieces to my roof than shopping (and eating samples) and driving home. 

Free samples are a brilliant thing.

One of my buddies is a devout Catholic, so I went to mass with him on Sunday, rather than ditching him to go to my own church.  It was an interesting experience.  That, coupled with some intense conversations the night before with out third, unreligious friend, contrubuted to some good theoligical exchanges.  I thought I had a good grasp on Catholicism, but I learned much more in talking with my friend and visiting Mass. 

Speaking of church, Nite Light at Real Church was great last night. Pastor Chilly wrapped up a series focusing on sin and, while I'd missed the two middle segments out of 4, the final message was powerful for me.  I've felt stuck for awhile, like I wasn't making progress where I wanted to, and he said something that really stuck with me.  He said that people walk around with really stupid sins all their lives, and it sets them back and leaves them open for more sin.

I took that to mean sin that's easy to fix.  The stuff that's, in a way, even more shameful to continue in, b/c it would only take a few simple actions to eliminate.

For me, I decided that it was about paying for the music I listen to.  I mean, it's no secret that I love music, and that I'm always listening to new stuff, and that I hold some bands and CDs quite dear.  The unfortunate truth is that a lot of the music I have...I've never paid for.  I'll admit right up front that I don't really feel convicted about it.  I don't feel guilty about not paying for most of the music i have.

I could justify all day, and I generally do when confronted with the truth.  The point is, whether I feel guilty or not, whether I feel convicted or not, I know it's wrong, and it's easy to fix.  I'm not broke.  I just need to get onto Amazon, ebay, iTunes, whatever, and buy the music I keep.  And I need to delete the music I don't keep.  I don't feel compelled to do it out of guilt, but it's sin, and it's easy to fix, and God kind of revealed that to me last night. 

I don't have to be convicted to do the right thing.  I don't feel guilty when I don't brush my teeth - i just know it's good for me, so I do it. 

So, I shall finally rejoin the ranks of paying customers.  Of course, don't expect to see me in line at Walmart or Best Buy with stack of CDs.  I still believe that the RIAA have hurt artists and music in general more than my downloading ever could.  No worries there...the convictions I do have aren't going anywhere. 

But there's an incredibly strong used-CD market, and labels will sell CDs independently for much cheaper than retail outlets.  And Im already a strong purchaser of  vinyl (I recently spent $60 on records by Postal Service, the Pixies, Silversun Pickups, and a fantastic find in a new copy of American Beauty by the Dead).  So, there's a way to do this right, without betraying the things I feel strongly about.

Anyway, that came out longer than I meant it to.  What about you?  Do you same some no-brainer sins in your life?  Things that are easy to fix, even if you don't really feel convicted about them?  There are plenty of gray-area things out there, but there are also some pretty black-and-white things that we could be focusing on. 

ok bye!

Wedding plans are coming along.  I think we've got the invites and the envelopes being printed, so they'll be available soon.  I need to elicit addresses though.  Pastora gave me a list of the people I said I wanted to invite, and I need to email them.  I need to do that asap. At least the website is mostly up.  when it's done, i'll put the address on here.  it doesn't take too much imagination to guess it though.

i've been sick the last few days. monday was really bad - i actually stayed home from work.  i never do that kind of thing, but i'm all growed up now, and that's the adult thing to do.  I get 10 sick-days a year apparently. 

i read about the innocent being accused by the guilty today in my devotional.  i wonder how often i switch to the guilty side in order to avoid being accused.  troubling though.

lots of troubling thoughts lately.  sometimes i don't want to be all growed up.  but i'm not getting any younger.

the guys at work laugh b/c i'm 27 and they know i have lot left to do, but from my end, i feel like there's a lot to do even now.  i can't imagine 40, 59, even  60 more years of things to do.

ok i gotta get to work.  this has been a major problem lately.  i'm not a good steward of my time.  but i don't have time to write about that write not.  heh.

I read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil recently.  I want to go visit Savannah now.  Apparently everyone who reads the book wants to.  good book.  good deal.

Oh man...i just wrote a long post...but...I've been upset a lot lately and those aren't the posts to keep.

Hope everyone is doing well.  I miss...well...everyone pretty much.

This counts as a post, for the record.  I claim it to be so.

I was reading about a new band in Rolling Stone called Chester French that sounded pretty cool, so I went to look them up on Amazon, but they didn't come up.  The first entry that did come up was for another band that was featured in the same section of the magazine.  And the band under that, another band from the magazine.  I guess people had been searching for that whole section of bands together, b/c i noticed that they all actually come up under the "related searches."  Made me laugh.

I need to stop comparing my photos with those of professional photographers.  It always makes me depressed!