I used to call myself an aspiring writer. I have since dropped the aspiring part. Aspiring still describes my status as an author, but even today I am a writer. Writing is not my full-time job, but I like to write, so - stroke of genius! - why not write about my full-time job from time to time?

Today, let’s discuss lunch. I have a routine, more or less. Or a few routines. Tuesdays and Fridays, of course, are Market Days. As I have written previously, there is a little something I like to call the Trifecta, which involves two meat samosas, two chicken fajitas, and a number five smoothie which contains the remnants of many a deliciously mutilated fruit. That’s Tuesday and Friday. The other days of the week, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, are a little less nailed down, but generally involve either Speed’s Subs next door or Brisas del Caribe, the Dominican place a block away. Occasionally I’ll go for a Reuben at Isaac’s or even General Tso’s at Good Taste Chinese (the latter only when I am feeling up for amazingly tasty food that will then sit like a greasy brick in my stomach for the rest of the day).

All that to say that today was a Speed’s day. Small meatball sub, American cheese. $3.50 including tax. Jerry makes a wicked meatball sub, I should have you know. But even the best meatball sub, as you can imagine, is messy. And messy food is risky business.

Moments ago said risk backfired.

As I leaned forward at my desk to take a bite of the first half of the sub - slowly, savoring its goodness - one meatball, fearing for its life no doubt, slipped out the other side. It happened in slow motion and fast forward at the same time. First it landed on my lap, right where my untucked blue collared shirt meets my brown corduroy pants (as if it couldn’t choose one or the other!). Next it ricocheted off the arm of my chair, gunking it up, before landing smack dab on my navy blue zippered hooded sweatshirt lying on the carpeted floor beside me.

The upside, if there is one, is that a meatball sitting on a sweatshirt is still fair game, whereas a meatball on the floor is off limits.

In what has become a bit of a seasonal tradition, my 2007 autumn mix is now available for popular consumption. If you’d like to get your ears on “Can’t Stop The Seasons,” let me know. If we’re friends you could call me on the phone. And if you’re lucky I might throw in a special bonus mix which has been appropriately titled “Jesus Had Long Hair Too!: A Tribute to CCM (1980-1999).”

I’m heading up a book discussion blog kind of thing called Inside Out People in conjunction with Student Ministries at Calvary Church. Believing that we are changed on the inside and that this ought to show on the outside, we are seeking to reach outside the walls of the church building and into our community in practical ways. I invite you to join us for our first book discussion as we read Good News and Good Works by Ron Sider of Evangelicals for Social Action. It is our hope that beyond reading and discussing we will begin living inside out lives for the glory of God and the good of others.