Hello _____,

I'm so happy to be rid of that nasty yahoo personals message editor that removes all my paragraph breaks. My writing is already fairly stream-of-conscious; then, with it being one huge paragraph, it's got to get a bit daunting.

So are you giving up on the yahoo personals thing, or are you, uh, coming off the market? I hope it is not the latter, as I have begun to think it may just be worth the drive to come down and meet you some day soon. Hmmm....

In bed by 10 on New Years Eve... and not one bit ashamed, eh? I like a woman who is not afraid to be lame when she feels like it. I know, I know - it's a back-handed compliment at best, but you can't deny it was pretty lame ;) I think you made the right the choice, though. New Years really isn't all it's cracked up to be, especially when you're single and have at least some self-respect.

The worst time I ever had on New Years was in... (the screen blurs and dissolves in waves as we fade out and fade back in to signify a flash back to 3 years ago) Las Vegas. It was the eve of the new millennium. The biggest party in the Pacific Time Zone was going on all around me. Drunken fools were packed like stinking sardines all along the Vegas Strip. I was one of the fortunate ones - tall enough to see over the crowd and brace myself for each wave of bodies that came crashing against our little group of friends, who were trying to find a safe harbor to ring in the New Year. The less fortunate folks, those without my higher vantage point, were bounced around mercilessly, never knowing when the next crush would come. It was pure misery, which at times almost turned to panic when the pressure of the crowd grew beyond our control and swept us away with the throng. The thought crossed each of our minds that if we stumbled, we could easily be trampled to death.

Finally, mercifully, we found a little eddy from the tide of human bodies. From there we had a good view of the Mirage's big screen that was showed it was less than a half an hour from THE YEAR 2000! So our attitudes began to rise. There were many sites to see that buoyed our spirits - like the many drunken girls lifting their shirts, which soon helped us forget that one of our own had gone missing - lost in the sea of revelers. Then began the amusing spectacle of intoxicated idiots full of beer induced bravado climbing on anything they could find.

One talented fellow managed to climb all the way out to the traffic light hanging over the boulevard. In his ingenious attempt at destroying the light, he managed to bring himself crashing down with it. He was caught by the crowd and thus relatively unharmed.

But as the minutes drew nearer to midnight, and as the excitement brewed higher and higher, one man's alcohol aggravated audacity led him to attempt an acrobatic feat that he would not live to regret. You may have, in fact, already heard about the young man who after shimmying up a lamppost and swinging around as he played to the crowd’s cheers, grabbed for a better grip and clenched a high voltage power line.

We witnessed it from only 50 feet away. A small shower of sparks, his body hanging lifelessly for one long moment, and then the street lamp went out as he fell in a heap to the cold, hard, concrete. He didn't make it to the year 2000. It was now just two minutes to the new millennium.

The shock that took his life passed a current through all of us there that had witnessed it. Suddenly the count down just wasn't that important anymore.

Soon after, it was time to head to head back to our hotel. Finding a cab was impossible so we walked the 3 or 4 miles back, me in the most uncomfortable of shoes.

(Fade back to the present)

I'm sorry about that. It just kind of wrote itself, and I didn't intend to make it so dark at the end - especially after it started so silly. But I guess it was pretty silly - in a surreal, black comedy kind-of-a-way. I hope it wasn't too much of a bummer for you to read.

Now to more pleasant things... like the answers to your questions.

#1 What makes me an active Christian? Actually, not as much as I would like write now. Before I moved, I was very "active" with my Church in LA. I volunteered with the High School Youth group, doing a number of different things. I led a weekly small group Bible study for freshman guys - we didn't get that much Bible studying in, but I like to think that they got some good out of it. I also went to the High School Sunday morning worship service almost every week (I really enjoyed the praise singing and I found their service more enlightening than "Big Church"). Other duties included going on mission trips to Mexico and Youth Outreach trips skiing in Colorado, as well as a couple weekend-retreats each year.

Now though, I'm looking for a place to plug myself into. I've started going to a Presbyterian Church here in Dubuque, but I'm not great at introducing myself and all that.

But as far as describing myself as "an active Christian", what I mean is that my faith is not just that I believe in Christ, but that I act according to my belief. I want my actions to demonstrate that I am a Christian. Do you understand my meaning?

#2 My musical abilities. I guess I would say I play the guitar for me first, and then anyone that cares to listen is welcome to enjoy. I'm not really much of a performer - I just enjoy playing. It is the same with my singing. I like to think that I sound good, but it's hard to tell the difference between the voice and melody in my head and what's coming out of my mouth. I've been told I have a good voice (even "great", but I think they were probably just flattering me), but when I really listen to it, its never as good as I want it to be. As for my actual "ability", I am able to carry a tune, I can play songs around the campfire, but I can't take requests, well at least not many. Every once in a while I'll find chords to a new song and learn it. But it takes me awhile. And there are only a few I can play from memory. Actually, here's my set list: Wish You Were Here, Redemption Song, Land Slide, Knocking on Heavens Door, Peaceful Easy Feeling, a song by the Indigo Girls, and one or two Jimmy Buffet songs. There a couple more contemporary ones that I would need a cheat-sheet on, and couple more classics that I need music for too, but that's my set. Oh yeah, and I can bust out the Star Spangled Banner real nice on the electric with heavy distortion. And then there's my soulful rendition of "The Man of Constant Sorrow" (from the movie "O' Brother Where Art Though" fame).

Well, I think its time to end this book. What do you think? And what do you think about me coming down some Saturday afternoon for a casual little get together of sorts? We could meet in some neutral, highly populated place that would leave you an easy escape route if your found me the slight bit spooky or just plain boring. We could leave the plans open so as to leave the possibilities endless, of course that would mean our creativity may be put to the test if we should decide to go do "something fun" together. But we should definitely start in some noncommittal, nondescript, anonymous place for something as trivial as coffee and a conversation (except I don't really drink coffee). Is there a Barnes & Noble over there? My boss gave me a BN gift card and I could buy a book or two there. And then you could judge me by my purchase…

All right. I'm going off again and I said I was ending this. So tell me, what do you think?

-Andy