Tonight I had a pre-gathering for the RMS Middle School Youth Gathering at St. Luke's Lutheran Church here in the Northeast Heights.

The meeting was great, and we got everything done that we set out to do. The banners the youth created were better then I could have even thought, and if I had been thinking with half my brain, I should have taken photos. Maybe at the gathering I will track down our banners and photo them, but anyway, I get off track easy.

Tonight as we finished cleaning up and were all leave I walking out side to see one of the parents there with what I can only describe as a very confused but also very shocked look on her face. She was holding some keys and talking about her car.

At first I thought that she got locked out of her car, or that her car would not start, or something. But then I came to realize very fast that her car had gotten STOLEN. Now, its not like her car was parked on the street or any place that someone would not think that she was in this church, but it was stolen from the church parking lot.

Now this really pisses me off for any number of reasons, but stealing a car from a church parking lot, that’s really got to piss the big guy off, right? I mean, out of all the cars in the whole NE Heights area, why her car in the church parking lot. I mean, its not like she was even driving a good car. It was an old Jeep Grand Cherokee with issues. I mean, as if not stealing this woman’s only car was bad enough, the topping to all of this was about 2 months back, someone broke into her car, and stole her stereo! Well, yesterday she got around to replacing it. I mean, is that some shit or what!

The few of us that were left waited with her until the cop's came to take her statement, and until her father could come pick her up and her daughter up. I feel so sorry for them, I mean, that could have very easily been my car (well, my fathers car since that is what I am driving right now) as she was parked right next to me. I mean to think he could have tried any one of our cars, only to have luck with hers. I mean just that makes me feel violated, let alone what she must be feeling right now.

When we were waiting the cops to show up, we were all joking with each other, cus well, it was better then dealing with what had just happened. During this time, she told us about replacing the stereo and how she now wishes she had not sold her other car. Also, she told us how she thought about car pooling from Cross of Hope, but since they lived so close to St. Luke, she just drove and how she now wishes she had just car pooled.

When the cop pulled up (and I must say this was record time for APD for a non-emergency) he got out his car and said to the whole group "There sure are a lot of smiling people considering someone's car just got stolen", to which we all laughed and I think we all said something to the fact of "Well, its better then crying and hell, we did that already" LOL.

Now this begs the questions, Why does bad things happen to good people?. I have asked my self this question over and over again tonight. Not only because of this, but other stuff too. I mean, people who deal with so much in life, why is it that these people have to deal with this. I mean really if some rich guys BMW gets stolen is it really that bad for him? He probably has other cars, and even still his insurance will buy another car just like it for him. It’s just a car. But for this woman, this car is now she gets around in life. Let’s face it, Albuquerque does not have the best mass-transit system, and it’s not anything anyone can really use to get around with for the most part. Also, this was there only car, and it was not the worse car in the world, but surely not the best! So, why must a single mother get her only car stolen, when some rich guy still has his car?

I am not saying that rich people are the only ones that should have there cars stolen. In a perfect world, no ones cars or other items would get stolen, but yet, we do not live in a perfect world. We live in a world that is laced with crime and other problems. Just this afternoon I was joking with Pastor Erik about my prediction for the future, which was "I give society 10 more years before it just implodes on its self", and some days I think I just might be right.

I know this should not surprise me, or shock me, but for some reason it does. Maybe it’s all the time I spend at churches, with nothing like this happening, or maybe I just thought people had more respect for churches. But I am not only surprised & shocked, but appalled at the person who did this. So, now a really great and wonderful evening as been turned into a pile of dog shit by one stupid person!

So, I am back from the camping trip this weekend.

I got some great photos of nature and of cliff jumping. I have them downloaded to my computer, and when I find time (ya right), I will get them uploaded, and posted here. I know I still have to do the Mexico pics also, so maybe I will just do it one evening, and be done with it.

As for the trip it's self, it was mad fun. I got up there around 3:30pm, after a shit for Friday (see below for why). When I got there, Kristin, John, and Erin were there. So, we all chilled for a bit, and had fun. The weather was a little bad, but it passed. It rained but it felt great. I fixed dinner, which was great. We had chicken breasts and corn, and it tasted great.

So, somewhere around 7:30 to 8:30, Ray, and his two girls showed up. Not long after, Al and the COJ group showed up. So, we made a campfire, and talked into the night. It was nice to be away from the city and be up there. We went to bed somewhere around 11pm, and man I forgot how much it can cool off in the Mountains. I ended up sleeping in my car, cus of the number of tents and all that.

Saturday, we got up, fixed breakfast, and went over to the Jemez Falls. Walked and Hiked around there for most of the morning. Went back to camp and fixed lunch and rested a little. After lunch, most of us drove about 3 to 5 miles down the road whale some of the group rode bikes down to the same place. From there, we hiked in about 2 miles, to this place where you can do cliff jumping.

For you non adventure people (much like me), cliff jumping, is jumping off a cliff in to a body of water. A few of our group did jump, and I have some great photos and video of that. I did not jump. It's not that I have a fear of heights or water. I just hate falling. Plus, having to walk 2 miles back was not high on my list also.

So, after the cliff jumping, we went back to camp, and just kicked back for a little bit. Then just as we started to fix dinner, God got pissed or something. lol. A massive storm settled over us, and we had some lightning that hit less then a mile from us. But that too passed, and dinner was great. We built another camp fire, and ate dinner and talked and just had fun. It was great. Our fire also burned hot, really hot. We had flames that were blue in color, which is a sign of something burning hot. So after having to put the fire out twice (cus it was so hot, it rehit its flash point), we hit the sack. Again like the night before it was cold, but made for great sleeping.

So, Sunday morning, we got up, had breakfast and packed up camp. So, Kristin, John, and I took off around 11:30 or there about. We stopped off and got some fry bread and oven bread from the Jemez. Once we got back in town, we stopped off and had lunch before heading off on our own ways. I went to my parents house since it was less then a mile from were we had lunch. I dropped off most of the stuff that I had barrowed. I then went to church, and dropped off some of the other crap. Then finally I went to my place and unloaded my car.

Then after I unloaded my crap, I rested a little, cleaned off my flip flops as they had a bunch of dirt and other crap on them, and took off to the office to do the weekend backups. Then I took off to my parent’s house, and had dinner with them. Now I am back here, just chilling watching TV.

So, now on to my Friday. I swear this Friday was really just a Monday trying to be a Friday. It was the Friday from hell. It started by me getting me getting a call from our alarm company at 6am, that the alarm on our building had gone off and the police were dispatched. So, I run to my office, and make sure everything is ok, and deal with that. Then I run back home around 7am, and shower, and head back to my office. Other things were just going on, and stuff was just being a pain in the ass. I had to finish something’s, and that took much longer then I thought. So, did not leave my office until noon, which is one hour later then I thought. Then I went to buy ice, and head to my house.

I started to load stuff up, when I pulled a very stupid trick. I hit my head hard on the tailgate thing on my Volvo wagon. I hit it so hard, I drew a small amount of blood and it hurt to no end. Also I was running massively late, and I hate that. So then Kathy called, and asked me to pick some stuff up at church. So, just as I was getting to church, Kathy called again and she needed something I had to buy. Which, it's not that I had to buy it, but that I was becoming more and more late.

So I get all my shit, and leave town. I get out almost 2 hours later then I wanted, but after that, the day was all good. So, that was my trip, and now I am thinking about bed.