It’s Officially Matt Day!

Happy Matt Day!  As you may know (or may not), Matt Day was originally the day each year that I give my Christmas gifts to my friends and family.  From there it went on as a joke with my family that December 23 was Matt Day. Later, we started having little board game parties the day before. Now each year the tradition is that on Matt Eve we have a big party and hang out really late and play board games and just have a great time, and then the next day on Matt Day I go and give my gifts to everyone on my list. And that ladies and gentlemen is how the holiday that you all love had its beginnings.

This year a couple of the traditions have been broken. (And by a couple, I mean all.) Well postponed, Matt Day does not get broken.  And next year, it will be back on its rightful days.  This year there was no Matt Eve party due to the Way’s PJs and Staches party falling on Matt Eve. And due to unforeseen expenses, the Matt Day gift giving will occur after Christmas. So, whether you’re expecting a gift or not, don’t think that just because I don’t show up with a gift in hand for you today that you’ve been left out. I love to purchase things for people, so if i consider you a close friend chances are you’ll be getting a Christmas/Matt Day gift around the first of the year.  Matt Day is not dead, don’t let the haters fool you.

Help Me With My Project!

Working on a project. If you would like to help me out please EMAIL your response to projects@mattetress.com Please include your name in the subject line.

What Id like to know is:
1. The city you currently live in.
2. The names of your 5 closest friends and your favorite thing(s) about each.
3. What you would change about your friends (if anything).
And 4. Your favorite color.

It may seem random, but there is a purpose behind it. And don't worry all answers will remain confidential, so feel free to speak freely!

Ready, Fellas?

Alright guys, whether you're ready for it or not, No Shave November is knocking at the door.  The question is, are you man enough to open it?

I'll be honest with you, I don't know that I am.  I'm a little apprehensive about the idea of an entire month without shaving.  I mean, I can hardly let it go a week without losing my mind, and I'll admit I've had a few second thoughts.  However, I've already committed to it, and I've already broken too many commitments lately to break this one. Am I right?  

The concept is pretty simple, but in case it's not self-explanatory: during the month of November, you dont shave.  That means no trimming, no shaping, no form of facial hair removal whatsoever. Sounds fun, huh? I guess we'll see.

So, who's in this with me? And what should we do as far as documenting our progress?

What's a Guy to Do?

Good news! I made it through day one without saying no to anything. Granted, I didn't have anything to say no to. Still, I'll call that a success for today. :)

I have big plans for tomorrow. (I'm cleaning my room, feel free to rescue me at any time.) Tomorrow I'm going through all of my 7 tons of crap and getting rid of all of the clothes I don't wear, and stuff I don't use or want. It's going to be a LOT of stuff and will probably take a while, let's see if I'm still alive come Thursday. The thing is, I don't really know what to do with all of it.


So should I:
A. Throw it away
B. Have a yard sale
C. Donate it to a charity
or D. Something else (what?)

Also, If you have any tips for making this easier/more fun, please help a brother out!

And My Answer Is...

It has recently come to my attention that I am extremely boring. And not only am I painfully boring, but I'm getting worse as the months go by. After contemplating the cause of my dullness, I came to the conclusion that it all comes down to one word. . . No.

I say no to just about everything. It's like the only word I know. Well, in my head I have a pretty good reason to say no usually but really they're just excuses. I can't play that with them because this person is better than me, I will not play if I can't win. I'm not going there with them because I won't know anyone other than So&so. I don't know if I'll like that movie. Blah, blah, blah. Give me a break!

So I've got a little project. For the next few weeks whatever people ask me to do I'm going to say Yes. Well, as long as it doesn't go against my religious or moral convictions. If you ask me to do something and I try to say no, remind me that I can't. Wow, I just realized that this sounds a lot like the plot to the movie Yes Man, but I definitely did not think about that movie when deciding to challenge myself with this. Anyway, this could be fun. Come on and challenge me guys, and teach me how to say yes.

Hmm...

I know what you're thinking: "Oh great, here's Matt to complain again and waste another 10 minutes of my life." Haha, it's not like that this time. I got all of that out in my post from last week (if you missed that one it's below, though I don't know I'd recommend reading it). This one will be a little less depressing, I promise.

On my way to work the other day (if you'd like to know how I feel about my job, refer to last weeks post), I was thinking about how the way I think and the way I act don't always match up. I don't know if that makes sense or not, and it doesn't really convey my meaning. I'm not sure exactly how to explain it. It's kind of like I like one thing but will usually choose to do the opposite. I'll give some examples:

• I like to buy things for my friends or pay for them different places, but have a hard time accepting gifts or similar gestures.
• I HATE when people don't return calls/texts, but find myself forgetting to return them.
  
• I like it when people touch me, but generally I won't touch people.
  
• I love it when people show up unannounced/uninvited to my house, but would never go to anyone's house without being directly asked to come over. I won't even call and attempt to get an invite.
  
• I like to text / talk on the phone with my friends throughout the day, but generally won't initiate the call/text bc I don't want to interrupt anything or annoy anyone.
• I like it when people invite me to do things with them, but rarely invite people to do things. I don't like people to tell me they're busy.
• I hate feeling out of the loop, but don't always fill people in on what's going on.
• I like it when people open up to me, but I don't open up to people. I have to be really close to someone to talk to them, and even then it's difficult.

I don't know if those are really what I mean either, but I'm having a hard time putting the thought into words. So.... yeah. Anyone else have any traits that don't really match up, or can sympathize with any of those? If so post it in the comments.

In other news, I'm currently radioactive. I had another test run this morning where they injected me with a radioactive chemical and made me lie on a table under this machine for around 3 hours to see if my gallbladder is functioning properly. The doctor told me to flush the toilet twice anytime I pee in the next 48 hours. The test came back normal. So they still don't know what's wrong with me. I was told "If your pain persists come back and we'll do some more testing to see if we can't figure this out." Encouraging, eh?

Also, I'd like to move out into an apartment or something, but don't really want to live alone and I don't want to live with just anyone either. Anyone cool want to be my roommate? (I think I'll probably post this on facebook too, so ppl will actually see it.)

That's all I've got for right now. Well, I could probably go on but I'll stop. Besides, I have a couple of ideas floating around in my head for an actually decent post. We'll see if I have time to ever write one again. Goodnight, and don't forget to comment!

I'm Begging You To Be My Escape

This post is going to be more or less just for venting, since I really don't know where else I can do so. I don't know if my blogs are still being imported to Facebook or not, if I see that it does get imported I'll probably delete it. Or edit the privacy settings so that only a select few can see it, at the very least. I know... What's the point of writing a blog if you don't want people to read it? Well, if you've taken the time to actually visit my blog, then by all means please read it. I just don't want random people with nothing better to do than sit on Facebook to read it. With that said, let the complaining begin...

Actually, I don't even know where to begin. Isn't that wonderful. Guess I'll just throw it all out there. Who cares really...

I've just been feeling so stinking trapped lately. And lonely. Trapped and lonely, ha. I really have no reason to be feeling either, but that doesn't change the fact that I do.
I dont know, I feel like I'm trapped in a job that I don't like. Thing is it's not a bad job. Pays good, good benefits, pretty easy. I just don't like the fact that I sit at a desk and talk on the phone all day. I don't like the fact that it limits my opportunities to do things for the Lord. And I don't like the fact that it doesn't allow me to spend much time with my friends.
Which kinda leads me to the next thing. I don't really hang out with my friends anyway, so why should I worry about my job not allowing me to?

I really have absolutely no reason to feel lonely, I have a great group of friends. and honestly I know they mean well and I know that any one of them would do anything for me (or I hope so anyway). Maybe I'm needy, maybe I'm dealing with another bout of depression, who knows. I just feel as though I'm the only one who really puts forth an effort in all of my relationships with my friends right now. It seems like Im the only one who texts or calls or who says "hey, lets do this" or "hey, lets hang out." And really its always been that way I guess. Probably always will. Let's face it, I'm kinda boring to be around. I don't really do much besides sit there. But I don't know what else to do, I need someone to teach me how to be an interesting friend I guess.

I must sound pretty pathetic right now, but I dont really care. Just being honest, but Im not gonna write anything else there's too much and I dont want to go into specifics with the entire world. Not like anyone will read it anyway. And if you are reading it, Im not sure but I might want to talk to you. Not many people would read this much absolute crap without being a pretty good friend, so call me. I'm losing it.

If you skipped all that, this pretty much sums it up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQtnPOfId0Y&ob=av3n

Who Needs Sleep?

I know a lot of you have been waiting on the next question in my Q&A series as well as my opinion on the first question, and I really am gonna try to get that up soon. I've been really busy with work and everything lately, and just haven't had time to type that up. However, I had an interesting thought today about sleep and just wanted to do a quick post about it.

Last night, Micah and I pulled an all-nighter by the fire at the dude ranch (Canaan and Kendall tried to do it with us, but they didn't quite make it), and while it was a lot of fun, it surprised me at how hard it was. After being up for about 30 hours I couldn't take it any more and had to crash for about 5 hours. I spoke with Micah about 30 minutes ago, and he was still going which puts him at around 36 or 37 hours.

I was just thinking about how much of an effect sleep has on a persons mind. The longest I've gone without sleep is 96 hours during an experiment in college (which was NOT fun, by the way), and for probably the last 10 hours or so of it I was absolutely out of my mind (hallucinations, delusions, you name it...). Even on our ride back from the dude ranch early this morning it was obvious that the lack of sleep was affecting the way our minds worked, I mean most of our conversations were absolutely ridiculous (but awesome) from free coffee to swimming deep at low altitudes. Anyway, if you have been awake for an extended period of time I don't recommend getting in a car. It's torture.

I wonder what it would be like if we didn't have to sleep, and it was just optional. I think I would love that. I mean, I like to sleep just fine. But if we didn't have to sleep there would be so much more time to do fun stuff.

What's the longest you have ever gone without sleep, and why did you do it? Did anything crazy happen as a result of your sleep deprivation? I want to hear some good stories about staying awake for a long time, or maybe just sleep in general that would be good too (sleepwalking, strange dreams, talking in your sleep).

Q&A Time! No. 1

I have a couple of things that I've really formed some pretty strong opinions about lately and I've been wondering what other people think about these things. So, what I want to do, and I hope everyone will participate, is post questions in a poll type format and everyone can give me their answers (either just the letter, or you can explain your answer as much as you'd like). Once a reasonable amount of time has elapsed, I'll share my opinion on the matter. Sounds fun, huh?

Alright, question number 1. Here we go.

Joe and Mark are Christian fellows with nothing to do on a Friday night. Mark, being the curious guy that he is, suggests that they get some beer and try it out. They go and get the beer, and proceed to get drunk. My question to you is: at what point did their curiosity become sin?
A. When they bought the beer.
B. When they took the first sip.
C. When they became drunk.
D. It wont unless they become alcoholics.
E. It wasn't a sin.
or F. Some other time

What do you think?

Taking Out The Trash

It's way past my bedtime, so forgive me if I ramble. And I guess I should go ahead and put my usual disclaimer here that this post may be edited or removed in the morning after I've had time to go back over it. That being said lets get down to business...

I had a great holiday weekend, and I hope everyone else had one as awesome as mine was. Saturday I had my first smore by the campfire (which are apparently sometimes called "bond" fires), and I also learned all about the proper way to make them. Throughout the weekend, we went on several boat rides to which Bridgett compared to the Titanic. Thank God we didn't hit any icebergs, I was terribly nervous about that. On Sunday afternoon, Micah and I proved to the world that we definitely peel peaches better than everyone else. And later that day, I figured out that Green Zone is a great movie to watch if you need to catch up on some sleep you lost the night before.

Anyway, the main reason I'm writing this blog is because I had a sort of eye-opening experience this weekend. Well, I don't know that "eye-opening" is exactly the right word. That would imply that I didn't know that it was going on at all... This was more like me coming to terms with reality, so I guess it was more of a "coming to terms" experience. I've always been the type of person to prefer having a few close friends than a ton of friends who aren't really friends at all. Then for me to really let someone in and to open up to them takes a whole lot more trust from me. I can only have one, maybe two of these people at a time, and when they let you down (because that's what humans do) or completely turn their back on you it sucks, I mean it really hurts. That's what has happened, one of my closest friends and I kind of had a difference of opinions on some important issues, and I've been pretending that everything is just fine and our relationship is the same as always, blah blah blah. I was sitting around talking to another of my closer friends this weekend and we had a nice deep conversation and I kinda opened up a little and shared some stuff with him. And through our conversation I really began to sort of come to terms with the reality of the situation and deal with some of the trash still remaining on my end. I can't really go into much detail for the sake of protecting the identities of those involved and the nature of the situation.

Don't get me wrong, I still love this friend. I'm really concerned for him, and will continue to pray for him. But he's moved on for now, and I can't waste my energy holding onto the pieces that are left. When he gets everything figured out and wants to fix our friendship that's fine, but I know that when you lose a close friend God raises up someone to take their place. It just feels a lot better to have accepted the facts.

Anyway, Its really late and I have to get up for work in like 5 hours, so I guess I'll leave it at this or I may add to it tomorrow. Then again the whole thing may get deleted tomorrow, we'll see. Goodnight.

Of Camping and Haunted...Police Cars?

This weekend was awesome, no lie. Most of our college and career group from the church went camping this weekend, and some of us went in search of a haunted asylum last night and almost got arrested in the process. Just thought I'd share a list of things I learned/discovered or just fun things that happened this weekend and a list of quotes from this weekend for your enjoyment. :)

(In no particular order):

1. I need to hang out with these people more often. They're awesome and most of them have been under-appreciated.
2. The highway steamroller may be fun, but it demands respect. If you don't respect it, it will beat the crap out of you.
3. Micah is the mallow master.
4. We saved a bicycler's life.
5. We had creepy camp neighbors.
6. Hot rocks.
7. Air mattresses are where it's at.
8. Isaiah loves some Dunkin Donuts.
9. I want to try to learn golf.
10. Pigs make good dogs.
11. You can hide wieners anywhere: haystacks, sleeping bags, shoes, doesn't matter.
12. Micah is not only the mallow master, but also a master in the art of tent-heating.
13. Amanda G. tried to fall into the fire.
    

Quotes:

"I don't have an Isaiah, and I don't have YOU!" -Old lady at the gate of Oak Mountain State Park

"Wiener on a haystack."

"Get some." -Isaiah

"Some random wiener from Matt's sleeping bag hit me in the chest" -Jordan

(After getting our licenses ran by the cops) "Yes! I'm clean as a whistle." -Micah
Zip zip... Oh you girls are changing in here?! I was just trying to act like a perv not be one! -Russell

(To men setting up several giant telescopes) "Um.. What's a star party?" -Amanda G.

"Typical (insert name here)." -the Micah

-"That's big for 20 dollars."
-"That's what everyone says."

"That fork in the road threw me for a fork!" -Jordan

More to be added later... There were a lot of good ones and I can't remember them all, plus I'm short on time.

Anyone have anything to add?

I'm Back! (And Possibly Crazy)

It has been quite a while since my last post--five months to be exact--and despite emails and Facebook messages from a couple of you, I just haven’t made time to do it. So, I’m back! Feel free to give me a bit of a nudge if its going on five months before you hear from me again, but I don’t plan on staying away for so long again. Oh yeah, I really enjoyed the secrets that some of you emailed to me too. Who would have guessed that some of you are either poultry bowl champions, jealous organ non-donors, or that you play sudoku while you poop? Not me.

Anyway, I’d like to share with you guys a little bit of a problem that has been affecting me and my relationship status for quite a few years now. Who knows, maybe one of you will have some advice for me. I call it a problem because I’m honestly not quite sure how to classify it. You see, since about the tenth grade or so, I can be completely infatuated with a girl and just as soon as she shows any sign of requital… boom-- I lose all interest. This has happened with quite a few girls (though there has been an exception or two), and I really don’t want it to continue to happen. I really don’t want to stay single my entire life. I guess it's like a fear of commitment or relationships or something. It’s like I get this feeling kind of like I’m about to freak out or have a panic attack or something, and then I just don’t want to have anything to do with that girl any more, at least until she no longer shows signs of interest in me. I can kind of feel the choking, panicked feeling right now, just thinking about it. I mean I am kind of interested in a girl right now, and although she hasn’t shown any strong signs of requital yet (and they practically have to spell it out for me to get it, I am the world’s absolute worst at reading people) I’m typing this and feeling a little of that feeling at just the thought, and that’s not good.

So, any advice? Or am I just crazy beyond repair? Feel free to comment or email.