Saturday night, I took Emily out to P.F. Chang's for her birthday. We took a cab there. The restaraunt has a wonderful atmosphere but I think the food is overated and overpriced. I was uptight about the whole thing and I couldn't hide it.

After church on Sunday, Emily suggested that we go to breakfast. I told her that I couldn't handle breakfast this week. We went back to her place and she cooked pancakes for breakfast. After breakfast, we went to Starbucks. I got my cup of coffee and bought her a juice. We sat outside and talked. I tried to read the paper. We then went to Barns and Noble and picked out a whole bunch of books that we were going to suggest to read together. We must have went through forty books before choosing "The Seven Levels of Change" by Rolf Smith.

We then went to Potbelly's. She said she was hungry. She only had $10.00. So while she was in line she asked me if I wanted something, and I asked if it was her treat. We'll she couldnt' afford sandwiches for both of us and I had still some money left, so we went dutch.

While we were eating, I asked her what her view on the guy paying for the date. And she said she expected the guy to pay. I asked if she expected it all the time. She said no. I then asked what percentage... 50%, 75%, 90%, 99%? She couldn't answer that question. She did expect the guy to pay in the beginning. However, we've been dating for close to four months? Is that fair that I always pay? I'm curious to to get some feedback from the women who read my blog what your expectaions are after several months of dating on the guy footing the bill.

Another week has gone by. I pretty much had a great week. I practiced almost everyday, I was focused at work, I didn't work extra hours, and Friday evening, I passed out flyers for my business downtown.

I ran into an old girlfriend that I used to date 5 years ago. Time does fly. Time does another thing that I experienced yesterday. Two people can be so very close at a ponit in time and fell like strangers in another. At one point talking to her it became arkward because I realized we were intimate and crazy about each other and her she was telling me about a guy she dated that was 60 years old.

My boss had a meeting with me on Friday. I thought I was getting fired, so I tape recorded our conversation. That is my paranoia that kick into extreme gear.

Emily and I are still seeing each other. We're doing a lot of talking over the phone. For the last three weeks, she's been gone out of town or busy.

I registered for summer school. I'll be taking English Comp 102. I'm excited about that. It's going to be a tight schedule that I have.

Well the weekend is almost over. I didn't go to church like I wanted to. I spent the day cleaning up, working on my community, networking, thinking, practicing piano and I just got back from doing laundry.

I figured out from practicing piano and working on my social community, networking and researching the formula for success and wealth. It was with such clarity that I can't wait to apply it to the three businesses I'm involved with.

Time and energy is an important factor in the formula for success. I didn't jog this weekend even though I had the time. I didn't take my vitamins even though I had the time. I didn't go to work on Saturday even though I had the time. So what did I fill that time up with? Other projects. I put the time I would have been jogging into resting. I put time into creating my social community and networking with like-minded indivuals where I would have normally put into working extra into the job. So places I took away from will suffer as a consequence and the time invested in the new projects will prosper. See, last weekend, I put a lot of energy into working where I seen the benefits (my sales go up) but my practicing, housekeeping and other areas had suffered (laundry, grocery shopping and just being prepared for the week). The conclusion, I have to create balance with all my goals.

Speaking of goals. Goals are another factor in the formula for success. It's Sunday.. What do I want to accomplish this week;  Personally, spiritually, in my career, in my hobbies (playing piano, writing), in my part-time business? If I don't sit down and write them out, I will go into this week wondering like a unguided missle. What about my relationship with Emily? What is it that I want to accomplish? The law of attracation still works.

This weekend, I was going to spend Saturday at work. I wasn't really into working though. My boss at work has a chip on his shoulder and it comes off whenever I deal with him. I thought, "Why go to work when they don't even appreciate what you do now?" Along with that, they were going to be working with on the computers and I didn't know if it would be working. And lastly, it was chilly yesterday. Are we in May or March?

I spent most of the day working on my own social network. I tried to work on a banner and just got frustrated and took the short route and used a website to create it within 30 minutes. I'm not ready to take on graphic design now.

I've got a lot to do today. Emily's coming back from being out of town. I've got laundry, shopping, cleaning, and I have to find a church to got to this morning. I'm not really wanting to go to church because I want to spend some time just being alone right now. I have to remind myself that I'm not doing this for E but for myself. A lesson that's taking me a long time to understand. Perhaps when I get back, I'll write about the experience.

As much as I enjoy writing, it seems as if I have to pare it down to the weekends only. There is nothing to write about when you are working 13 hours a day.

Friday is Emily's birthday. She'll be out of town but I bought her a pair of gold earrings from Macy's. I felt like an idiot because I thought they were too small. As well as not knowing if she liked the long ones that dangle, if she like silver. Well, I will give her her gift tomorrow.

I thought I would blog about something different. Today, I found a church of my own. I've been reading a book that Emily let me borrow called "Boundaries in Dating." Last week, I read a chapter dealing with the man from a woman's perspective. It talked about how a woman should be concerned that the man they choose to date should be strong spiritually. The man should have their own relationship with GOD, independently from the spiritual woman. I had to question myself and my wanting to go to church with Emily. Was I doing this to strenghen the relationship with her or my relationship with GOD? If she wasn't in my life, would be in church? The answer was no. So I said that I needed to go to a church on my own. I wanted to discover or develop my spirtual relationship independent of her. And so I did this weekend.

Saturday, I bought my own bible. That was the start. Now, as of 10:30 pm last night, I didn't know where I was going. I woke up this morning around 7:30 am and by 9:00 am, I had a few ideas of where I was going to go. I ended up getting on a bus and getting off just a few stops. I noticed two young girls putting up banner signs for a Sunday's worship service to the Hyde Park Vineyard Chruch held in at my old high school, Kenwood Academy. I hurried off the bus to try and catch the two girls to ask a few questions about the church. They told me that service was going to be held at 10:00 am. I was about 50 minutes early. I headed to Starbucks to grab some coffee and a lemon loaf to fill in the time and get my caffeine fix for the day.

The Service.

Before I was seated in the auditorium, I was greeted by the host and asked to fill out a connection card. The young woman offered me either a coffee mug or a cd of their music. I choose the CD. I asked if she had any information regardign the church and she offered to answer my question since she didn't have any. "What is a vineyard church?", I asked. She gave me what I would learn latter is the church's mission to make world changers (code word for disciples).

As I sat down, four musicians were on stage getting ready to perform. They were all dressed in jeans and tee shirts. The drummer throughout the whole peformance chewed gum. At first, I thought this was what the service was going to be like (I should have read the brouchure that my host gave to me). The songs and songwriting turned out to be very good.  Matt and Beth Redmen were the songwriters noted on the screen that was postioned left of the stage for us to sing along to the lyrics.

Communion.

When it was time for communion, the church put a basket of crackers and grape juice in little sample-size containers for the attendees to get themselves at the front of the stage.

The Message.

Rand Tucker delivered the message. A thin man in his early thirties who delivered a quite understandable message about one of the parables in Matthew 13:47.  Rand seemed to know a lot about that time as he explained that the lake which Jesus was telling this parable had 24 different types of fish. The fishermen had to seperate the good ones from the bad ones as some of them were not edible.

During the service Rand also explained how the church started in Hyde Park as a group of 12 college students that got together on Monday nights for bible study.

Conclusion

I really enjoyed the music performed, the songwriting and the lesson. I feel the delivery was a bit lacked for me. This church seems to be a good fit for those that are in their 20's and 30's. Even though, there were some amoung the 100 people who attended that were older than me, they were only a handful.

Next week, I plan on attending another church and writing about it.

Now, it's time for me to see Emily. We plan on having breakfast and I plan on taking some pictures. That will be my Sunday afternoon and evening.

Wow, it's been a long time since I sat down and blogged. My laptop had to go into the hospital for about a week and I was without connection to the computer world for almost 3 weeks. Well, I'm back, feeling out my new keyboard pad, with a new motherboard, new cd rom drive and some minor cosmetic repairs. Thank goodness I bought an extended 3 year warranty. This job would have cost $700.00 with labor.

A lot has been happening in three weeks. I've been working my tail off at work. Spending close to 13 hours a day at the job. My goal is to be number 1 in May rankings. What does that mean? An average of 6 catagories among my peers.

Emily and I are still going strong. We celebrated our 3 month anniversary last Sunday. She has completely changed my life. I am not the man I was 3 months ago. I'm so concerned with my health now. I'm taking vitamins and herbs everyday, I jog every morning, I practice piano every morning and I feel great.