It doesn’t seem like this, just since I’ve had many breaks from blogging, but I started that xanga (link–darkshadowfor, doesn’t work at harding) in the beginning of 2005.  Since then I have been quite the photo-taking, web designing nerd.  I have been taking lots of pictures, and have been growing in life, slowly but surely.  I always laugh at some of the stuff I did back then, how I was even more naive then than I am now, how I said ridiculous things sometimes (quite often, even) without having a clue, and so on.  Some things have changed in my life, but a lot has stayed the same.

took this from the archive

This is what one of the walls in my room back home used to look like.  I like this picture especially because it indicates how my life has changed so much in terms of relationships.  Most of these people I never see or keep in contact with anymore.  Life just moved on, and I didn’t take the time to bring them with me.

Nostalgia is some weird stuff.  I plan on bringing back some of those old pictures and talking about what I miss about those days on xanga in later entries, but for now, I’ll just leave you with this video.  It means a lot to me, but probably won’t mean much to you.

• Abe (my cousin), me, and some others on a roadtrip to the beach.  I probably just remember the good–but this to me brings back the purity, the joy, the simplicity, and the newness of life.  That was probably one of the first times I heard Stacy’s Mom, and I remember liking it back then…  ;-)

~ Jon

P.S. I’m leaving for Indiana tomorrow on a mission trip, so won’t be updating the blog for a week.  Don’t freak out too much.  :)  If you’re looking for something to do–check out this awesome sermon: The Outrageous Love of God, which I’ll probably write about later.  It’s great.