Yesterday was a pretty cool work day. Mike, one of our engineers, and I had an opportunity to attend a Norfolk Tides baseball game and shoot some footage for a special that my supervisor is working on. The Tides lost the game 6-5, but it was really neat to see a nice minor-league game, and be able to roam wherever we wanted, shooting footage of anything and everything. The Tides have an interesting array of former Major Leaguers on their team, such as Edgardo Alfonzo, Jose Offerman, Michael Tucker and others.

The only thing we really had to deal with was the extreme heat. This, according to the Virginian-Pilot:

90: Game time temperature. 97: Heat index at game time. 120: Temperature in the fifth inning on a thermometer in Section 121. 9,053: Thursday’s attendance.

Note that we were in the front row of Section 116. We sweated the entire game, and my entire forehead is so burnt that it looks like I could easily peel all the skin off. I think it should get better over the weekend.

Anyhoo, I haven’t heard from any Lakeside folks for a few days. I hope Vacation Bible School is going well for them. I know they’re busy but it’s kinda surprising I have not heard anything from anyone. Hope you guys are okay out there.

Myself, I’ve not been up to much, just staying at home, working out a ton, eating meals at the chow hall now and trying to save as much money as possible. Yes, I said working out. I’ve run three miles per day and need three more today to reach 15 for the week. Add to that the fact that I’ve been lifting weights three times a week, eating more salad and fruits, cut out caffeinated drinks and am drinking more water…I’m guaranteed to shed more than a few pounds over the coming months. I don’t want to be too skinny again but I do need to regain some sort of strong physical shape. What a better time to start than now, especially with me leaving the Air Force???

Anyway, I’m out. Got a news story to cover that just came up.

All you football freaks at Lakeside Church, this is for you. If you’ve ever wanted to get involved in fantasy football with folks from church but they came up with every excuse in the book to not play, consider this your lucky year.

I’m starting a fantasy football league for Lakeside folks, and no one is exempt. The only requirement is a working knowledge of football.

So here’s the proposition. I will start a league for free through Yahoo and function as the commissioner. I will accept nine other players for a total of ten people in the league (including two sub-commissioners). I’m going to require a $20 entry fee from all participants — the winner of the league will get $125, second place will get $50, and third place $25. Everyone else gets a pat on the back and a holy kiss as talked about in 1 Thessalonians 5:26.

We will need a place to congregate and hold a live draft at a time and place that we will all choose together. Other league details, such as scoring rules, etc. will be detailed by the three commissioners.

First nine people to respond favorably will have a spot reserved. Here we go.

She’s the only girl I’ll ever love
And I’d do anything not to give her up
If I could only stop the world
When she’s standing by my side
See, I’m having the time of my life
Yes, I’m having the time of my life…

–Mark Schultz, “Time Of My Life”

That just about sums up how I felt during my entire visit to see Aftan. It was the best thing in the world I’ve ever felt, just being able to be with her, and it was even better that it was our first time really spending quality time with each other in four years. We hadn’t even seen each other since high school but had still been able to forge a relationship over telephone, the Internet, and snail mail…and all of that while I was in Iraq, no less. So suffice it to say that my visit exceeded all expectations. Sure it was a bit awkward for the first couple hours, but any nervousness was alleviated that night as I kissed her for the first time.

Heck, it was the first time I’d ever kissed a girl in my life. I have no problem in saying that, because I think it would be worthless to kiss a girl you’re not sure about, or to kiss with completely wrong intentions. I always prayed to God that my first girlfriend would become my wife, and lo and behold, he brought Aftan into my life. My prayer hasn’t been answered yet, but you can bet on it that a seed for the future has definitely been planted (and by saying that, I don’t mean she’s pregnant).

We did just about anything and everything over the seventeen days I was there. We drove to Astoria, Tacoma, Seattle, Corvallis, Beacon Rock, and just about everywhere in between. We went to a baseball game and a soccer game, we barbecued, we hiked, went out to eat, played board games, visited friends, drove aimlessly, took photos of scenery, walked on the beach and much more. We even argued, got mad at each other, threw tantrums like everyone in a relationship does at one time or another, but in little or no time we reconciled. We fell in love and we weren’t ashamed to admit it to each other.

Our time together was great! If I could have one wish right now, it’s that I could rewind all the way to July 5 and do everything again. July 5-21 were the happiest days of my life…so far. I say that because if those days were great, it’s going to be so much better when I actually live there.

There’s a large gap in between now and when I get to move to the Northwest though. 118 more days of “real life” here in Newport News separates Aftan and I. Right now we’re both sad and miss each other terribly, and time’s the only thing that can help that. But thank God for technology that allows us to communicate instantaneously. If I had to rely on snail mail I’d go insane.

So it was an awesome vacation. We had the best time ever, and it felt horrible to have to leave Aftan so quickly yesterday morning. I’m still not over the fact that I was with her just 48 hours ago, and I wish I could just drive to her house and tuck her into bed again and kiss her forehead. But I can’t, and the only thing that I can do is call her, tell her I love her and wish her sweet dreams, and pray for the Lord to calm my emotions and help me realize that my future with Aftan is so much better than the seventeen days we just shared.

It’s gonna be so great when we see each other again. And it’s not just going to last eighteen days.

Now if that’s not motivation to get through the next 118 days, I don’t know what is.

We didn’t really do much, and that was perfectly okay with me. We basically sat around and playerd board games, talked, had a nice dinner with lasagna and rolls, and oh…we went down to the Columbia County Fair.

At the fair, Aftan showed me what she used to do — show small animals at the fair for her 4-H club. We walked among all the exhibits of cattle, sheep, pigs, small birds, etc. It was cool…they even had photography and art exhibits, and what county fair would be complete without pies and other fine baked goods.

Speaking of baked goods, the Warren Grange had a booth where they made fried bread, for only $3. Aftan and I ordered one with one half cinnamon sugar and the other half strawberry jam. It was similar to an elephant ear but only better. I’m gonna do whatever I can to eat fried bread for every meal from today on out.

Anyhoo, the fair was cool, my birthday was really relaxing, and today’s my last day here. Sad.

Gotta run and make it worthwhile!

Today was a great day…we drove a couple hours to go down to Corvallis and check out Aftan’s school, Oregon State University, and meet a couple of her friends, Leslie and Dave. Great people, really down to earth, seemed like good folks to be around. Plus they’re Afty’s friends so that is a huge bonus too. Also met Dr. Tom Savage, one of the profs in the animal science department (Aftan is majoring in something that will allow her to be a chicken farmer), and amazingly he remembered everything Aftan had told him about me — me being in the Air Force, having just come back from Iraq a couple months ago, etc. Amazing.

Anyhoo, we took some fun photos at the football field. Check those out in the PhotoCenter.

After we horsed around at Reser Stadium and toured a bunch of buildings on the OSU campus, we drove up to Washington Square Mall in Beaverton. There I bought — no, BUILT — Aftan a teddy bear at the Build-A-Bear Workshop. It’s a frowzy little fellow with an OSU Beavers T-shirt on, thus we named him Brian the BeaverBear. I’ll show you a photo of him tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, since it is technically 1:12 AM, Pacific Standard Time, July 19, 2006….tomorrow just happens to be my birthday. To find out how old I’m gonna be, just take a look at this photo and see what yard line I’m standing on. (Ugh, I can’t believe I stepped foot onto the enemy’s football field just to take a few crazy photos with my girlfriend…) For my birthday, we’re gonna do a bunch of COOL stuff. I’ll update you on that later today. But for now, be good and God bless, and keep the comments and emails coming if you’re alive out there. Ciao, achtung, auf wiedersehen, arrivederci, goodbye for now.