like an unforseen kiss.

Currently Listening To: O How He Loves Us by David Crowder

Excited for: a new episode of Top Chef. I think I'm shifting my allegiance to Kevin instead of Jen. For Project Runway, I think I'm going with Althea.

A few summers ago, I worked at a church in Texas. Every year, the students there go on a missions trip to Mexico. They do some construction work and help with an outreach for kids in the community. Each year, in preparation for this trip, they design their own t-shirts.

My absolute favorite shirt they did, pretty much my most favorite t-shirt of all time, bore this slogan:

We make Speedy Gonzales look like Regular Gonzales.

It's been a few years since I worked there and it still makes me happy. I still smile, or snicker, every time I think of the quote. I need to add it to my quotes page on Facebook. Or paint it above my door. Or something.

Tangent: My other favorite quote from Texas came from a girl who said, "My cousin is having a baby. Her husband wanted to name the baby Derek Wayne but she said no because that's how everybody in East Texas says Dairy Queen." Tangent complete.

This week, I'm trying to adapt the brilliant Speedy Gonzales quote to my life. In addition to ripping apart the only scene in The It that truly reeks of suck*, I'm working on something new. My friend Jimmy, man of wifeandman, jokingly called the new project Thing: The It. That made me laugh. Not guffaw laugh, but like a heh-heh-heh kind of laugh. So this week I've been editing It and writing Thing.** And that's pretty much all I've been doing. I hang out with my dog. Then I write. (And while I write, usually the dog sleeps beside me. She's the coolest critique partner ever :) That's why the blog is kind of quiet this week. I just assume you don't really want to read about the finer details of the psychosis that consumes me when I write.

But I do have a few pieces of information I wish to divulge:

I could be a gold medalist in corn maze.

On Friday, Sarah and I are having our Annual Fall Fiesta of Awesome. There are three things that occur on this day:

1. We go to the corn maze and walk around making click-click-click noises like the aliens in the movie Signs.

2. We watch Hocus Pocus. "A black river! Tis firm!"

3. We eat.

This year, Sarah's husband Joey is participating. Joey has a slightly more natural inclination toward problem solving than we do ... so we might get through the maze even faster than we did last year. Sursly, if corn mazing was an Olympic Sport, Sarah and I could medal. We were out in record time last year. Both mazes. At night! So that experience should lead to a couple of funny stories for Monday. If it doesn't, I'll make something up.

I hit repeat everytime this song comes on.

I was listening to David Crowder while I drove home a few nights ago. It was an incredible night to start: this big gauzy cloud had swallowed the moon. I had the window down, because the air smelled like burning leaves. I was holding a cup of coffee so I wouldn't get cold. Then the song "O How He Loves Us" came on the izzlePod and I kind of lost myself in the moment. I bet I hit repeat fiften times:

And heaven meets earth in an unforseen kiss

and my heart turns violently inside of my chest

I don't have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way ...

I am obsessed with Joshua James.

Well. Not him exactly, but his music. I don't know much about him, but I know his music is gorgeous. Thing is the first project I've done inspired very heavily by other pieces of art. Namely, a short story written by Flannery O'Connor, a song by Jeffrey Foucalt, and a tree made of glass. The music I've been listening to as I write Thing has been very melancholy. Music is helping me feel my way through the scenes and emotions in this project in a big way. This is one of the songs I've been listening to. It's very sad, but in the most perfect way.

I am a chronic dork.

It is impossible to develop street cred when the following situation occurs: A few days ago, I pulled up to the red light, music blaring from my speakers, windows down. The guy beside me was doing the same thing. Except the guy beside me was driving a sparkly silver Mercedes and listening to rap music. I was driving a dinged up Honda Civic and listening to Aladdin and Jasmine sing "A Whole New World." I bet he listens to Disney songs when nobody else is around.

I loved reading your comments on the "yellow notebooks" post.

Hearing about all the sweet memories you have (or had) of your grandparents made me teary. This is definitely a beautiful bitersweet time of year for memories like that. Thank you so much for letting me read yours. If you haven't read the last post's comments, I encourage you to do so. Just make sure you have an ample supply of Kleenex when you do ...

And finally, I am so very ready for the wild rumpus to begin!

I promise a slightly more interesting blog post in the future :) What's on your mind this week? Do you have any secrets for conquering a corn maze?

* There are several weak parts, but there is one scene driving me bonkers. I'm taking the whole thing apart today and piecing it back together.

** And thinking of other obscure pronouns to use for projects. Why call it by its working title, or even just say "My WIP" when I can confuse the daylights out of you?