It's a Sunday afternoon, everyone besides Marci and me are working, but here I am. I got my one inspection done, and have been instructed to clean house for company tonight. There will be a trickle of kids through here, who are on their way home from B's littlest cousin's wedding in Kansas today. But still, here I am, at the computer. So far, I have started a load of laundry.

I did go to church this morning. I have discovered a very interesting group, one that, given my background, I can see how very much i have changed to be able to enjoy. It is comprised of about fifty people, and set up every Sunday morning in the Dillon movie theater. The thing that appeals to me is the utter absence of pressure. There is no uncomfortable meet-and-greet session, where for five minutes one is subjected to the mandatory, perfunctory hanshake, a glad-to-see-you without the curtesy of a name, not that a name would be remembered without any of the mnemonic aids of how should I remember you, are you from here, what do you do, etc. No need to explain just why this is your first time, no need to dress up, other than possibly a sweater instead of the usual grungy sweatshirt. No basket passed for an offering, accompanied by soaring, warm-fuzzy music and hawk-eyed deacons, just a small box in the back. No fusty, robed choir, swaying and warbling, one or two voices wailing far louder than the rest. So far, no pressure to join. Not that I am against such organised tradition, I just don't seem to be able to get terribly excited about it. In the movie theater, the music is loud and contemporary, the same songs that we listen to on the radio, delivered with the instructions to stand for it, or sit, or sing along, or not. Or whatever. In Kansas, it would all be too odd and unstructured, it would not go over so well. But in Summit County, it fits. I don't know whether to be concerned over the fact that I am acclimatizing, or not. I have never lived somewhere where there is less of an accepted standard. In lifestyles, fashion styles, vehicles, religion and spirituality, I have never experienced such a complete lack of comparison between each other. Locals wonder aloud why on earth the paper though that getting a Polo Ralph Lauren factory outlet store was front page news. Seriously, who cares? Forget Izod, if you're gonna spend that kinda money, there's no way you're gonna afford the important stuff, like knee surgery and beer.

I found myself snowboarding solo the other night, and as is often the case, fell into time with another single, and we ended up riding together the rest of the evening, until we closed down the lift at nine o'clock. He was a few years older than me, uses the bus as his only transportation, lives with slobby roommates. Mostly typical for Summit County, except that he was much better at the whole communicating thing than the usual monosyllabic grunt that accomompanies the usual jamming of the earbuds a little deeper into the ears, as is the case with most of the kids one meets on the lifts. We talked, and talked, and talked, between straightline runs, rudely showering slower skiiers and riders with washes of snow as we flew past, challenging each other to jumps, riding goofy-footed, and just outright speed. At some point, after our butts and knees were competely numb from sitting on the snow, we got onto God, and religion. His view of it all was typical of a lot of people I know up here. "I believe in a higher power, I believe the Bible is a story book written to illustrate a point, I believe that organised religion is necessary because people have to believe something and it keeps us humans halfway civilised. I just want to live my life, and not have to worry about it all. I suppose that means I'm going to hell, except that I don't believe in hell, or heaven, so that's kind of circular reasoning. My parents are Southern Baptists, when I cuss around them they tell me I'm making Jesus sad, which would concern me if i thought he was real. Maybe someday, I'll get on a different track, but right now, I'm just hangin loose..."

Lets face it, anyone with that mentality is not going to be at all attracted to stained glass and choir robes. The only touch of God they are going to get is on a one-on-one, personal level. I am sort of anti-project, I do not view friendship and acquaintances as any more of an opportunity than they want to make of them, I am not trying to nudge everyone I meet into full-blown Christianity, but if I have any credibility with them, maybe they'll give it a passing thought, and that's all I ask.