Awake. Ready to fly. Awesome.

Tonight (not again) is my last evening in Florida. I think we’re heading downtown to do the big city Orlando thing. Today… McAlister’s Deli (which, in addition to the amazing bread bowl of country potato soup, has these hysterical table tent print pieces featuring football players chasing a sandwhich. You have to see it for yourself. It’s poster worthy) and music in the form of the new Cake album, a legal copy of Sleeping At Last, and the Mraz live deal, which comes correct with DVD as well. Too great live. Just too good.

I fly out at 7:45 in the AM tomorrow. Who books flights that early? I do.

I do.

WOOHOO. Vacation is awesome. I don’t think i’ve been this clear-headed in years. Thank God for some time thinking and praying and journaling. More of the same today. Driving… shopping… people-watching. I bought a new Bible finally. The New Testament fell out this morning… so I figured it might be time to retire it. I’ve used that Bible ever since I knew God… sad times. Now I have to find everything again.

Lots of the booking of the shows this week. I’ll post details and dates soon.

Some good things happened today: I finally saw Garden State. Drive somewhere to see it soon. For serious. I had a Steak and Shake milkshake. I walked around a crappy mall without much on my mind. I drove around Orlando with lots on my mind. I went to church tonight. I journaled more than I have in a year. I missed my friends. I got some great emails. I wore flip flops.

All the world was right.

Here’s a little vacation tip for all you world travelers. Under no circumstances should you attempt to rent a car in Orlando if your driver’s license has expired… in JUNE. I’m an idiot. Apparently one of those things you don’t think to check.

And by “you don’t” I actually mean “Joshua doesn’t.”

So… the Catalyst Leadership Conference? Lackluster this year. Disappointing… last year was so good, and quite life-changing in a number of ways for me… and it’s not like I haven’t learned a few things this year… but… just not that well done, to be honest.

BUT… time with friends has been amazing. Salina led worship this morning with the band. That girl does my heart good, and it was so great to see her being able to sing with them. Summer and Christyn… I just don’t see them enough. But we catch up fast. I’ve been helping out at the Relevant Magazine booth… selling subscriptions and getting to know Kyle and Jesse.

I’m still on vacation. You’re still not. But I like you all anyway.

I’m on vacation and you’re not.

Make me a promise. Promise to watch the whole thing. (Link via Mike Cina.)

Oh yeah, almost forgot… I stumbled onto linkchecker the other day (which is sort of like a guh-hetto version of Stereotypography.) And while it is, in fact, useful for your average designer morning browsing experience, it is ohmydang ugly. I half-started a pretty version of the same idea, the Casey booyah!ed me with Feed Me Please this afternoon. Same idea… better aesthetics.

I think that between the two of us, we may test the limits of how we can shamlessly misuse Blogger.

If I were a bee, i’d be a busy bee. And I would be uber-talented at alliteration. Lots of new work:

* Some new desktops for your downloading pleasure. Statuesque (1280×1024), Skull-ish (1280×1024), Fall Flight (1024×768), and Reindeer (1024×768).

* A high school yearbook ad (yeah, read that again) for our student ministry Fuse. I think i’m going to try screening some posters in a few colors fairly soon. Anybody want one?

* Worship guides for the current message series we’re in called Revolution. Apparently it scored me some possible freelance work with a marketing firm in Greenville. I suppose things like that were inevitable with 3000+ people coming to church every Sunday… but that doesn’t mean i’ll get use to it anytime soon. Nonetheless, thank you, Giver of good gifts.

Also, anybody out there know anything about sewing machines? I’m looking to buy one. (Yes, for serious. And i’m heterosexual too… amazing, huh?) It will be for normal stitching and embroidery stuff. Thoughts?

So, dotcomrade Cameron and his band have a couple of mp3′s over at Pure Volume, a site which was designed by another dotcomrade, Ryan. The internet is a strange and wonderful place full of people.

Props to the almighty thadwiddle herself, Miss Casey Pelot for the pretty sunset picture. She’s a champ. And a slightly altered desktop wallpaper of said photo is on the way soon.

A few more things… Spider-Man reviews all 96 Crayola crayons. Word Count is a fun way to see which words in the english language get the most play. (As expected, “the” has mad game. Typical.) Why are American commercials not this awesome? And finally, who doesn’t love satirical Olympic fonts? For free no less.

I’ll post some recently completed print work tomorrow. (Promises, promsies.)

I’m sitting outside the dorms at Anderson College. It’s a beautiful day (don’t let it slip away.) Church was what’s for sweetness this morning. Mcd straight laid the gospel smack down this morning filling in. Good times. (Grab the mp3 of Revolution 1 if you want a listen.)

I slept for 2 hours last night. No reason… just couldn’t sleep. Which is ok considering that i’m about to nap… and i’m going on vacation in four days. I should probably buy my plane tickets, no? Can’t wait… leadership conference in Atl, time with friends, then on to Orlando to see Summer and the Relevant crew, as well as the Hydragraphik boys. Restful traveling and hanging out… too good to be true.

There’s been a variety of awesomeness lately. Work has been wonderful… I have a few projects i’ll post at some point this week that i’m super proud of. It’s like i’ve been falling in love with my job and being creative and making art all over again. I’m not sure what the catalyst for this is… but i’ll take it and say “thank you, Giver of Good Gifts.” I’ve never had a big vacation coming and not been burned out… I actually have so many ideas right now that i’m having a difficult time knowing I have to wait to do them. What a beautiful predicament. As I learn some more web stuff (mainly Flash animation and coding) and get www.yourcreativitydollarsatwork.com laid out… I get more excited. And the next project after that, learning to screen-print so that I can do some nice, unique one-off shirts and other items… I get more and more excited about that. Graphic design is fun… but sometimes the instant gratification of it makes me miss having to do things hands on. Screening and sewing and scavenging thrifts stores for the JustRight™ items… that feels so appealing right now. (And making a few bucks doing it won’t ruffle my feathers any.)

I’ll leave you with these thoughts. I watched To End All Wars last night… which is one of the best films i’ve ever seen, an amazing portrayal of human frailty, depravity, and forgiveness… and the only thing to make me cry since my college girlfriend dropped me like third period french. Which was probably four years ago. Watch this film. (Speaking of which, let’s test out the power of the internet and inter-connected relationships. Her name is Karen Rademeyer, I owe her $120 for a fire lane parking ticket I got at FSU in her car, I’d like to pay her back, and i’d like to know how she’s doing. 1, 2, 3, go.) And speaking of “the love thing” I had this fleeting thought yesterday while spending some time with the family, particularly my awesome grandmother and grandfather… I want my wife to know these people. These people are amazing… and I exist because they are who they are… I want my wife to be a part of this family. Sappy? Yes. Overtly emotional for me? Most likely. True and heartfelt? Most definitely.

And you people say I have walls.