“Indy” or “And then it was time to sleep”

Wrapped up another whirlwind weekend. Visited Krista and Jeffro in Indiana; had good times.

On Friday, five of us from our small group went to Ft. Wayne to see Krista, a friend, small group member and former co-worker who got a new job and moved several months ago. It was the first time I’d been down there to visit, so it was fun to see the area she moved to and catch up. Same with Jeff. Hadn’t seen his stomping grounds in Indianapolis even though he’s been down there over two years.

So, on Friday at Krista’s, the gang stayed up late talking and playing games. Had a good breakfast in the morning and then headed to Indy to visit the traveling Lord of the Rings exhibit at the state museum. Cool stuff, though much of the information I was already familiar with since I’ve watched four of the six appendixes that are part of the extended edition DVDs.

TGIFs after the museum for a late lunch that turned into a dinner when it was all said and done. REAL slow service. Pretty annoying. Jeff and I headed to Circle Center mall with Amanda and Krista after that while Clark, Sherry and Mandi headed back to Jackson. That mall is pretty sweet. Jeff said it’s one of the most successful downtown restoration projects in the country. I guess a bunch of abandoned buildings were converted into the mall.

Walked around the mall for an hour or so, window shopping mostly. Then we headed to some chocolate store and got some cheesecake. REAL good. Got the some Bailey’s flavored chocolaty something-or-other. We reunited with Amanda’s brother-in-law and friends (who went to the museum and ate at TGIFs with us) and went to yet ANOTHER restaurant (Alcatraz) for even more food. Four of us ordered different appetizers and then shared them. Good stuff. Sat around and talked mostly. It was fun.

On Sunday, Jeff showed me around Indy some more after his roommate’s fiance made us omelets. Seems like a real nice city. Not too big, but certainly offers more stuff to do than Jackson. Picked up Qdoba and watched the Colts trounce the Titans. After than I spent 15 minutes breaking through the coating of ice on my car and started the trip home.

After all that, I’m left with a few lingering thoughts:

• I don’t particularly like the affect nice malls and shopping districts have on my desires and perception of what is important in life. I could feel myself being pulled the wrong direction. I feel sorry for those who are blinded to the influence and don’t have weapons to fight it with.
• Christian community is awfully, awfully important
• I wonder what it’s like to watch and root for a very successful football team every Sunday…