Goldfish: "Just because I have a three-second memory, they don't think I'll mind eating the same fish flakes ... Oh boy! Fish flakes!"

Ok, so we're trying to name our album. Naming stuff has often been a challenge for AHQ. The most extreme example of that was when we were trying to find a name for the group. This was a long, frustrating, and seemingly fruitless process. We actually compiled a long list of "possibilities," and to show you the absurdity of it all, here are some of them. Remember, these are possible names for the group.

The Young Man's Quartet. Got a nice ring to it, don't you think? Very catchy and original.

The Harmony Quartet. Good...but just missing something.

All Star Quartet. We're a very humble group of young men.

The King's Singers. That's good, but it reminds me of something else.

The Master's Minstrels. The good thing about this one is that it's alliterative. Alliterative is always good.

Jasper Wall. Sort of like Gold City.

The Jasperians. Notice the subtle reference to heaven.

The Beulah Boys. This is a little less subtle.

Tom Boys.

The Four Squares. This one is accurately descriptive.

The Pitchpipes.

The Jasper Pitchpipes. Notice how it cleverly combines the thought of heaven and a cappella.

Have Faith in God Quartet. Doesn't that one just roll off the tongue?

Straight and Narrow Way Quartet. This one too.

A Cappella Arrows. Our motto: "Our music cuts straight to the heart."

Heaven's Rays. Perhaps a reference to an early song we sang, Send a Ray of Love.

Astute A Cappella.

Awesome A Cappella. Like I said, we're humble.

A Cappella Separation of Church and State. Staying true to our Mennonite roots.

A Cappella Valley Harvesters. Reference to our thriving Grass Seed industry.

A Cappella Conservative Mennonite Singers. This one would leave no doubt about where we stand.

A Cappella Harmony Boys. Close...


See, we had plenty of creative power, but it wasn't channelled right or something. Now you can see our difficulty in trying to name our album.

Well, camp starts this evening. Our speaker is a man named Ray Shaum and our theme is Abiding In Christ. I'm really looking forward to it all. Weather's supposed to be nice, we've got lots of people coming, it's a beautiful thing. There's this book that goes along with the theme called Abiding In Christ by Andrew Murray. If the talks are anything like the book, it'll be challenging. I'm being challenged to practice God's presence continuously, to be in unbroken fellowship with him.

Last night I was going to jog home. It's what we call "the back way," an old farm path that winds with the creek on one side and fields on the other. I wasn't running for very long when I got a side ache, so I slowed to a walk. Then I discovered how wonderful everything was. The moon was out, though partly obscured by clouds. It gave the earth an almost surreal ambience. It was beautiful, a slight wind, the creek rushing and gurgling along. Silence.

The only scary part was when stuff would rustle in the brush. Never know, I've seen skunks around.

“Oh boy,” the man said gloomily, “doing the right thing is so frustrating sometimes.”

“What do you mean?” said the other man.

“I mean that when the right thing requires effort it would be easy to just throw in the towel and say ‘who cares?’ Especially when it’s something that you’d never get caught in anyway.”

“I see. Your innate sense of right and wrong must not be strong enough,” the second man replied with a tone of moralistic superiority.

“But if it’s a stupid law…” the first man said, his voice trailing off.

“I know what you mean. I once got a ticket for striking off into the underbrush in a state park. The Ranger said I had to ‘stay on the trail.’ What a joke.”

“Man, you got gypped. Sorry.”

At this point the conversation is over, because both men are steaming at their government.


Ok, so I was a little frustrated with copyright law. I feel better now, I think I’m going to have seven songs or so that we can sing at camp, completely legally! And I don’t have to pay for them. It’s a blessing.

“Counting coup” was a practice of the Native Americans, which consisted of simply touching your enemy in battle. It showed your bravery, much more so than killing him. I’d never heard of this in my whole life, but in span of one day I ran across it twice.

I accidentally called 911 the other day at work. We have this really old phone, and the ‘1’ sticks. You have to press it really hard and sometimes it’ll do a double take. So my dad’s cell number starts 915, so I’ve done this more than once. I’m always scared that they’ll be able to tell where the call is from or something.

Last night, we got our first “Oregon rain” in months, and it was strangely comforting. Something about that first heavy drizzle just makes me feel good. Sort of like how a familiar bed feels when you’ve been away for a long time.

Two things I love. Our Youth Group, and when a conversation turns to important things, God things. They both warm my heart. Aren’t I sentimental.

My emotions have settled down a little bit. I’m usually sort of even-keeled.

We have a Bible Memory Camp for the children in our church every year and this evening they had a part in the service telling about it. They went to the coast this year and Arlen, one of our pastors and one of the Camp “Counselors,” spoke about going out with some of the campers into the ocean. He was concerned about safety so he had them walk out—together—holding hands. When the waves pounded at them and one lost their footing a little bit, they had their neighbors to help hold them up. There was much security offered in this united effort. And then he likened it to our lives as believers, how that Satan’s attacks are like incessant waves pounding at our souls, and really, without each other we could easily fall and then what would we do? Oh, we need each other.

I do not recommend Citrus Altoids.

I worked the early shift last week and Friday morning I woke up feeling like I hadn’t since I was a sleep-deprived student during Spring Term. It’s amazing how quickly you forget that feeling. It’s different than just being tired and not wanting to get up, it’s like a bone weariness, like you have got so much too little sleep but you have to get up anyway. Was it that night that I couldn’t sleep so I just turned my lamp on and read for a while? Yeah, that helped refresh me, sure.

One of my favorite punctuational (I made this word up) constructs—I made this term up—is the dash. It’s sort of like a parenthetical statement except more emphatic, and it lends more importance to the words. So...I have no idea. I'm wery tired.

Kon, you da man.

I’m sort of emotional today, I almost started crying this afternoon after church talking with Kon. But it’s good. I love our church, especially Sunday School class and the youth. It’s like, so refreshing to go and be sort of recharged and injected with a fresh taste of perspective and support. It’s especially noticeable after a hard week.

We’re having a Youth Bible Study at our house tomorrow. I don’t know what it’s going to be on yet. Oh yeah, and our Youth Camp is at the end of this week and it looks like it might be the biggest one that I’ve ever been a part of. Larry said that he’s got eight or nine out-of-staters. Should be fun.

Ok, here’s one of the most completely bizarre things that you’ve ever heard. Flashmobs. They’re organized on the internet, and they direct people to a certain place at a certain time to do a certain thing. So maybe at 8:13 p.m. on Friday at Macy’s in Manhatten, 180 people converge on the men’s casual clothing clerk and all say together “Long live the king.” Then they leave. So strange.