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StrangeCreation
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Country: United States
Gender: Male
Interests: sports, billiards, hiking, movies, poetry, mentoring, learning (not to be confused with classes), prose, reading... and many more. I'm pretty much self-entertaining.
Expertise: Actually, since movie trivia isn't really a skill, I'm kind of a jack-of-all-trades; master of none. I've been decent at a lot of things.... I've just never been genius. It's still a great life.
Occupation: Student
Message: message me
Website: visit my website
Member Since:
12/16/2003
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| Last night, Chantelle and I turned on the TV to wind down. There's a new show called FlashForward on ABC, and it looks like it's going to be the next LOST. I mean that literally, since it worked about the same way... find it by accident, stare blankly at screen thinking "so what is this about?" This is followed by the settling of pieces, the even deeper confusion of "How does that work?" Suddenly, this giddy little part of my brain is clapping and shrieking "PUZZLE!", and just like that, I can't wait to see what happens next. Shoot! I was fine a minute ago, and now I'm going to have to make myself not watch it.
In case you want to be sucked in, here's the story: Roughly present day, the Blackout occurs. Essentially, everyone in the world passes out for 137 seconds. During this time, they dream about their life as it will be, collectively confirmed, 6 months later (April 2010). When they wake up, chaos ensues. Honestly, from the production level, this is the closest I've seen to what a Revelation-style event would look like. Car wrecks, planes falling from the sky, people's lives are transformed in a blink. From there, it's all about answering the questions (who/what caused it; will it happen again; are the futures real; and what happens if you dreamt nothing). Possibly the most intriguing thing for me is that they say they will follow a real timeline, so the Spring episodes will answer once and for all what they were seeing. I'm not sure how that will affect the longevity of the show, but it definitely gives me hope that this won't turn into LOST, where the creators promised everything would be explained, but now it's so weird that I don't care.
In any event, it's exciting, because most TV is too formulaic to truly be surprising. We currently watch 2 shows regularly, more because we know to expect something we enjoy. I knew the killer 5 minutes into the last CSI episode. But this is exciting because of the unknown. Now if I can only convince myself to follow it online, rather than actually watching
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| So, as I suspected: neither I nor my personal data is a sexual predator. Thankfully, it only took 2 days to find someone who could verify things conclusively. As I said before, the first day was spent repeatedly being told, "Oh, that's a false flag. That's not you." When asked how to get conclusive documentation of said innocence, the rapid response was, "Oh, we can't do that."
Finally, late on the second day, I was directed to the right department in the Indiana state law enforcement divsion. They looked up my personal info, and said no one matching my full name, social, or DOB had an arrest card in the state. This was followed soon by a call from the Indiana SLED sex crimes divison, who had found the record of my new favorite felon, and explained that it was a flag generated simply by having the same last name and first three letters of my first name. Said felon also compounded things by never registering, as he was supposed to. So instead of a picture for people to look at and sigh in relief, we have the incrimminating description. But it did spark an investigation to track him down, so that's good.
Fortunately, our prospective landlord seems to really love us at this point. I guess you get extra points when you go from suspected predator to proven relatively nice man. We went ahead and signed the lease, because he's had other prospects, so now we're waiting again. Telly has an interview Wednesday for the apartment manager position at Winthrop. While it grates a tad to still not know, there really is no bad scenario. Either we get free housing/tuition at Winthrop and pay a small fee ($350) for breaking the lease, or we move in slightly later to a very reasonable apartment/landlord who is prorating our rent for the portion of the month we don't live there.
An interesting curiosity coming out of my days as a criminal, I had a great deal of time to consider justice and mercy while we waited. The short version is this: I may not be guilty this time. But I have been guilty of plenty in my own life. And the guilt of those things really is disgusting. Considering how much more disgusted and enraged God is than I am, it is truly amazing that instead of treating me like a spider in a Garfield comic strip (splat), all that rage was poured out on his own Son. And beyond making me righteous when I wasn't, He has gone over and above by giving me rightful justice, when he really would not be obligated to do so (I can't exactly complain about not having my record cleared when I get to go to heaven). Really, quite amazing!
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| Got your attention now, huh??!! The latest in our string of crazy happenings.... I have been flagged as a potential sexual predator in Indiana, or at least my personal info has been. We filled out the application for the apartment with the excellent lease terms, but his reports turned up some major problems. For one, there were some false credit accounts under my name. And much more exciting, as of April 15th, some of my personal info (name, DOB, or SSN) was charged with child molesting somewhere in Indiana.
Before you ask a silly question, just stop! No, I have never been to Indiana, much less committed a disgusting crime there. As for my personal information, I can vouch for their whereabouts on the date in questions. My personal information was with me, as like all red-blooded, responsible yet frustrated Americans, we worked over our tax forms.
The truth, according to the Winthrop division of the State Police, is that these background checks flag anything close to the information entered rather than the exact info (oh goody!). The guy's name is actual Joni Moore, but unfortunately, the physical description reads white male, 5'8", dark hair, green eyes; 180 lbs. (that part I wish were true). So, it's just close enough for the landlord, who has kids, to be rather freaked out. And here's the fun catch: apparently, when you are completely innocent and everyone knows you are completely innocent, they can't figure out how to officially DECLARE you innocent! I spent much of the day traveling and calling between various law enforcement agencies, all of whom are telling me it's a false flag, but none of whom can prove it. Apparently, no one I have talked to knows how to interface with Indiana directly... though they can certify my spotless record in South Carolina. I finally got the phone numbers for some agencies in Indiana, only to find out they're puzzled too. The lady at the Indiana Sexual Offenders Registry said I am not in their system, but neither is the other guy, because the charges are so recent. Too bad. It would have been so nice and easy to pull up his picture and show him (felon) alongside me (not felon).
The craziest thing is none of this is fraudulent, it seems. The credit report info came from someone incorrectly altering a guy's social so that it matched mine and tied our accounts together, and this background stuff is because somewhere there is a guy with similar information.According to her, it's the landlord's responsibility to run all this down, so we'll see what happens. I really, never thought I'd say this, but if you have connections, please come fingerprint me and run me through the national crime database. After all, there's no way they'll make Jimmy Hoffa stick. My personal info and I would appreciate the exoneration.
All that said, it is nice to hear all these law enforcement professionals tell me this is nuts too. And my wife has been wonderful in recognizing that we will look back and laugh our heads off at this someday.... but that is not today. Most importantly, I follow a God who is both just and merciful. A huge comfort for me while I wait, and that's really all there is to this. And I hope He will comfort the family in Indiana... far worse has happened to them. And assuming he is guilty, I hope Joni gets impressed with God's justice and mercy before it's too late to make a difference.
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| My brother from RTS has me repeating frequently the reminder that God is never late. But He often shows up at the last possible moment to our thinking. Well, this summer has been teaching us this in spades.
God has kept us in a pattern of abject dependence: hard, but very gratifying. We have so little that we know except His presence with us. And it has been amazing to see all the ways that God has been providing for us even when nothing has gone according to "the plan." These blessings have been widely varied and often unexpected, but God has met our needs and many wants at every step.
Some of them have been huge. The opportunity for Chantelle to continue as an RA was a major blessing. We got rent, utilities, phone, cable; etc. for the whole summer for about $600. Another giant blessing has been that an old coworker has been contracting me for PC support jobs, and he pays so well, that despite a limited number of hours, the pay has covered gas expenses for our travels to weddings, interviews, and such (no small feat considering we've spent $100 in the last 2 weeks alone) plus the bill for my summer Greek.
Others have been much less dramatic, but no less delightful or appreciated. The time during the summer has given us an opportunity to spend time with several newly married or almost married friends. With the likelihood of our remaining in Rock Hill, this seems a base to much deeper relationship. We've also taken the opportunity to more involved at our church in Rock Hill. We helped out with VBS, which helped us get to know more people and be actively serving in what God is doing there. And we got to see God bring in several kids from non-churched homes or those from newly arrived families looking for a church home. Sweet! And our newest simple pleasure has been through Amazon. Chantelle noticed that past students (especially foreign students heading back to their home countries) abandon books when they leave. So, we've gone through the list and found about 15 that are selling reasonably on Amazon. Several have already sold giving us an extra cushion over the summer.
Finally, we have the really confusing blessings. The main on that's hit us recently is over housing. After spending several weeks researching and viewing housing opportunities, we had found only one really good option, with a couple of other decent options. So we were all set to apply, and low and behold, we now have two sudden entrants. We just had a viewing with a nice little 2 bedroom. The amenities aren't as nice as the other place we like, but the rent is cheaper, the parking is better, and the lease terms are fantastic. The owner will let us get someone to sublease the space if Chantelle found a job, and if we had to break the lease, it would only cost us the security deposit ($350). For the coupe de grace, we just found out that the Apartment Manager in Roddey is resigning. This position works like a killer grad assistantship, with free housing, free tuition for her to continue grad school, and a meal plan of her choice. So, it seems hard for us to pass up applying. However, the apartment manager has not formally resigned, so the job isn't formally available yet, and we need to start moving 2 weeks from Saturday. We weren't really looking to ADD new options at this point.
So future life continues to be unknown to us, but there are plenty of signposts that God is working. It reminds me of the illustration of a turtle on a fence post. If you find one, the only thing you know for sure, is he didn't get there by himself. And neither have we. | | |
| Ok, so on to Part 2, and I'll try to be more brief about some of the changes in married life.
Organization- Yes, yes, if you know me, you know that's a foreign if not four-letter word to me. Organization to me is simple: it means what seems simplest at the time... not always translating to real efficiency. Chantelle has very detailed organizational skills that are highly efficient, but they follow rules that exist largely in her mind and are therefore highly mysterious. Why does the folder not go with the other folders? I don't know. Still, it's very positive. I'm getting more organized and productive especially around the house. I worry it's more self-preservation than good character. I work harder to clean and such because Chantelle hasn't been able to as much and the mess will drive her to distraction. It also teaches humility as the reforming slob, now has to deal with the frustration of his former sins.... Honey, can you please leave the dishes in the general area of the sink?
Emotions- No, no, I'm not talking about the mysteries of the temperament of my bride. It's mine that are driving me crazy more often. I thought I generally had a solid grasp on my temper, but suddenly I've got all these new triggers. I'm even tempered, generally, but suddenly I find myself wanting to hit a girl. That's bad! Fortunately, it wasn't Chantelle, but her former advisor, who seemed... difficult. Additionally, my temper flares up because though I understand how my emotions work, my other part is still getting the hang of it. So you try and explain what happens normally in you, and find you're back at square one. What took me 30 years to understand, I now have to start relearning in a way I can explain. FUN!
Rest- As Chantelle said so delicately, I snore. The truth is, I roar softly. Chantelle, being as sweet-spirited as she is, has developed a gentle system of stopping it... she elbows me until I quit. So how twisted is it that now I sleep better in the same bed being jabbed periodically than when apart? Additionally, our ideas of relaxing are very different. Going out is part of external life to me... home is end game, the finish line. For her, home is a staging area, of sorts. It's the launch pad for getting out into life. So I'm learning, that when it's busy or tiring, that often means it's time to go somewhere.... very counter-intuitive for me. And then there's the home improvement aspect of rest and responsibility. I had the mistaken idea that home improvement was something you did so that you could stop and not have to do it anymore. Chantelle comes from a family for whom it is a hobby... which I found delightful. So much talent, so much creativity, so much energy, so much future assistance.... oh yeah, so much to do already. But it's good too, because I have an even more profound respect for her creativity. How can she see something totally different about that wall than all the others? She's teaching me to be more willing to invest in what I would have otherwise tended to think of as empty trappings. | | |
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