Unfortunately the topic title seems somewhat oxymoronic, but in any case, I'm thankful for the many who have died to defend us. I don't agree with everything that has happened in history, but it humbles me to think that, personal agendas aside, people are willing to sacrifice themselves for people they don't even know, or crazier yet, the bad people. Anyways, just a random thought.

Just wanted to give you all a quick update. I'm spending summer in Ann Arbor, working part time at an incorporation business (almost full-time, but they can't afford to give me benefits yet - you know how that goes). I've really been enjoying my job, not because of what I do, but just the fresh attitude God gives me every morning when I walk in. I mean, let's face it, client services (i.e. phone answering) and paperwork filing isn't the flashiest thing. But somehow, through this daily grind, I feel content, satisfied, and that I'm learning so much about myself and people in general. When I started this back in February, at first I'd get upset when clients verbally abused me, but I find over time that my character has grown, and I don't harbor ill feelings or begrudge people who act unreasonably. I won't make excuses for anyone, but I believe there's a real reason why people act the way they do, and for some customers to have this spirit of aggression and childishness... I don't know, I think they need compassion, not aversion. So it's been a great opportunity to exercise patience and kindness to just hear them out - sometimes when a client goes on a tirade I just sit back and let them spend themselves, and then try to continue helping them. There have been a few times when my coworkers have hung up on people who have been just too much (we're allowed to, after it goes past a certain point), and I really feel that.

Anyways, work has been good - they might be using me for graphic design soon, to help our clients design company logos. That would be fun! So I'm teaching myself how to use Photoshop and producing some samples that I hope will open doors for opportunity.

It's really cool how applicable the skills I gained during school are even though I'm not doing anything engineering-related. There are a lot of transferable skills we learn in college that can be put to good use no matter where we are or end up. That's cool.

At this point I'll probably be in Ann Arbor for the foreseeable future, which is up to next school year.

Maybe more later. It'd be sweet to hear how you all have been doing!

awesome, Jerry!

Get Jack to email me back, I haven't heard anything from him yet.

People say that going to a foreign country to learn the language is the best way, but more than that, I feel like I've grown a lot more as a person than I got better at Japanese. Being able to live away from my family, to not be able to depend on them, really opened my eyes to what I was doing wrong before. I'm really glad for the experience, and I'm sure your experience right now is similar. Keep going strong!

I'd personally love to go to japan at some point in the near future. The reason would not be for the language or the freedom though, but more for the ability to train under theheadmaster of my martial art. I'm hoping to do this in the near future, but we'll see how this works out.

Cool, guys. Ben, how was your church golf outing?

It was great, dan, his dad and Gary VanKempen came with me, was a lot of fun...but we only came in second, thanks to Gary's awesome first 9 holes. Missed ya being there though, would have been a good time.