Day 17 part 1

Sorry I didn't blog yesterday, got caught up with life. The cars brake lights went out for some reason (mind you, every other light works in back, including the brake light on the hatch) but after replacing the brake lights, they still didn't work. That means money on auto repair which is always depressing.

Ang and I also spent a lot of time cleaning. She did a masterful job on the kitchen and guest bathroom. I did a mediocre job on the car and the garage. This morning, more cleaning. Hopefully it will be at a point where it's 'guest visitable' tonight.

I feel like I've fallen into a routine with the fast. Part of the routine is kind of strange though. It's not a craving for food so much as it's my mind thinking about food fairly constantly. I've taken to reading food blogs, I read a book called Julie/Julia that's all about one woman, in the year leading up to her 30th birthday, who decides to cook through Julia Childs' Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I started reading that one in the early days of the fast. I'm not sure what that says about me.

These are the books I'm working through, meditating on, at the moment...

I stumbled on Eugene Peterson's Eat this Book the other day while I was grabbing a copy of the Message. I haven't had a chance to dive into it yet, but I'm hoping that there's a lot I'll get out of it. I'm continuing to really enjoy working my through that translation.

I'm about mid-way through Morgan Spurlock's book. It's not that there's anything I don't know in his book. It's stuff that's been pretty well covered in a variety of places. That said, it's not bad reading on a fast. It certainly makes me want to continue the fast food sabbatical I started well before the fast after this fast ends. There's just so much good and nutritious food for people out there. Why rely on chemical injected franken-meat. Like I said, the book acts as an appetite suppressant.

I've mentioned Messy Spirituality earlier this week, but it is a pretty great book. It's mostly composed of stories from around Michael Yaconelli's church. Here's a selection of writings put out just after he died in 2003. I was first exposed to Yaconelli through the publication he used to write for, The Wittenburg Door (looking at The Door's website, I thought this was funny and pretty representative of The Door). My friend Lance used to read it, and he was maybe one of the biggest molding influences on me in Junior High School. Lance is the one that introduced me to alternative Christian music. The one that played bands like Adam Again, Daniel Amos, The 77s and The Choir for me... and introduced me to the Door.

I haven't started on The War of Art yet, but I added it to my reading list after Stu Maschwitz, one of the partners at special effects company The Orphanage, raved about it at his blog.

In 1999 I made the most difficult decision of my life: Quiting my dream job at Industrial Light & Magic to help two friends start a little company called The Orphanage. At the core of the DV Rebel code is the impetus to do what you love, against all odds. Whenever I need a kick in the Rebel pants, I read a bit of The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. A better book on the creative process you will not find. Warning: ProLost is not responsible if you quit your job after reading this book! Well, maybe a little.

Weight this morning was 230. Whoop de doo. I mean, I think it's great, but at this point, I'm mostly interested as some sort of scientific experiment.

If I get a chance a little later I'll try to run through my 2008 fitness goals. I've been thinking about them quite a bit the past few days.

More later.