:: sweettalk ::

:: Monday, May 19, 2003 ::

God, I offer myself to Thee to build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self that I may better do Thy Will. Take away my difficulties that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy Power, Thy Love, and Thy Way of Life. May I do Thy Will always.

Oh, that You would bless me indeed and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would always be with me, and that You would keep me from evil.

Thank You for keeping me sober today. Amen.

A new world is not made simply by trying to forget the old. A new world is made with a new spirit, with new values. Our world may have begun that way, but today it is caricatural. Our world is a world of things.... What we dread most, in the face of the impending débâcle, is that we shall be obliged to give up our gewgaws, our gadgets, all the little comforts that have made us so uncomfortable.... We are not peaceful souls; we are smug, timid, queasy and quakey. -- Henry Miller, The Air-Conditioned Nightmare

Yesterday was beautiful; however, I did very little all day. I finished cleaning all the rust and stains out of the kitchen sink, but mostly I read, slept, and looked up things on the Internet.

After answering the question on Blaise's blog, I saw how much my interests remain in the study of human behavior, and I decided to begin taking steps toward returning to school. After much searching, I found what seems the appropriate first step for me -- the Certificate in the Quantitative Analysis of Social and Economic Data at the University of Texas at Dallas.

The certificate requires fifteen hours in courses including Descriptive and Inferential Statistics for the Social Sciences, Advanced Regression Analysis, Econometrics, Structural Equation Modeling, and Introduction to Geographic Information Systems. If I earn the certificate, then I could apply the credits toward a Master of Arts in Applied Sociology. I took the first of two steps by sending a check to SMU to request two copies of my transcript.

In the evening, I did get off my butt and prepared the soil and planted the parsley and nasturtium seeds in the garden in my side yard. The mint seeds should arrive today. I quickly showered and drove up to Lambda to chair the eight o'clock AA meeting where my friend Tom W told his story. I found it very interesting and learned many things about him that I never knew. Like me, he was still drunk in his story with less than twenty minutes to go.

Afterwards, we went down to Crossroads Market for coffee, and I took the second step by asking Tom if he would write one of the recommendation letters required for the UTD application. Tom has his master's degree in counseling and is currently working on his dissertation for a PhD in sociology. He agreed and said he'd be honored to write it.

I came home and logged on to gay.com and found Jean-Paul from Atlanta in the POZ room. He does speak French, so he's a triple winner! He told me that he thinks he may have already found a garage apartment in which to live when he moves to Dallas in July, and it sounds like it's somewhere in my neighborhood around Turtle Creek. Moreover, he's going to try to fly in tomorrow evening to check it out.

I'm very excited to meet him, but I wish I had spent more time this weekend cleaning up my house for him and my Rebellion Dogs study group who are coming over Wednesday evening. I guess it will be a late night tonight for Kyledog.

:: Kyle 6:41 AM 0 comments
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