What's good? (temporary space-filler)

Man. Mad lots of happenings what did come up throughout this week. Lots to be thankful for, and quite a bit that I probably ought to ponder before letting it out to air dry. Highlights (i.e. list of potential blog posts, musings, and just a general sketch of an update for yall):

1) My estimated salary this summer is far higher than I had thought it might be - nearly 2 to 2.5 times what I had originally estimated, in fact (This seems rather obnoxious and self-congratulatory, but does it help if I say that, yes, as tempting as it is to be self-aggrandizing, I have been forced to realize that this is ultimately - and immediately - attributable to God, and to be used for Him?). What does this mean about me? How am I going to respond responsibly - especially considering that I am the dude who has never had more than a few hundred to his name?

2) A short piece I wrote up about my experiences in Beijing/北京 and about the Olympics/奥运会 might wind up - in print and online - in the New York Times (i.e. the stringer said yes and asked for a bio, now I just wait to see if/when it pops up).

3) The items I ordered from Lions Den's massive moving sale got to my parents' house! Commemorative drop with pictures to follow.

4) Donations for my ministry internship hit 72%, with about 3 weeks left to go before my deadline. Go providence.

5) A friend just mentioned to me - and it gave me pause for thought - that, upon perusing my blog and hearing/seeing what I've been up to, he got the impression that (1) I get around the world a good deal (I'd like to think so, in any case), but (2) I never seem to be in the role of a tourist; something to the effect that I always seem to have a reason for where I go and what I do. This made me think: for one, purposefulness is a pretty great feeling. And second, upon further reflection, I realized that I have a fairly deep dislike of playing the role of tourist. The idea of passively partaking in something that, by definition, I am not a part of, has never really interested me: I've been overseas six times in the last four years, not to mention several trips around the States, but never once as a pure tourist. In fact, I can't recall any single incident of my hearing of some place or country and subsequently thinking "hey, other people have enjoyed it; so I ought to go. Perhaps I might, as well". This might be interesting to further explore: a philosophy of travel/tourism.