I'm going to say screw introductions because I can't think of one to possibly map out everything I have to say.  If I can take away titles, then gosh darn it I can leave out an introduction.

Today me, Laura, Rob, Paloma (and later Brian), went on a trip that I planned (though in terms of the execution and real-time planning that took place, the credit is definitely not mine alone).  We all went to the Field Museum and explored Chicago in general, ending the day with a trip to Myopic bookstore, which I had never had the chance of discovering til today.  Details can be spared, as describing the awesomeness will accomplish little if anyone reading has been to the museum already.  What was unique was that I actually was able to plan something.  To get my friends together, find an activity, schedule departures, arrivals, transportation, etc. etc.  and it turned out to be quite the adventure for us all.  It was nothing really that big, more an amalgamation of little pebbles of adventure and exploration-of Chicago, of ancient culture, and of ourselves as friends.  

As many know, I have a problem with comparing myself with just about everything that moves (and not really even limited to that), so I will describe what happened today in such familiar terms, but then I want to go back and readjust how I approach this matter without a standard "comparison."  Today, I finally felt like I was on an equal level with my friends Rob and Laura.  For many of the many years that I've known them, I felt inferior, like a burden in many cases even though I know just how capable of carrying their friends these two individuals are, like I was in some way under them or weaker than them or something worse than them just because I generally have a tendency to my emotions and letting them get out of my own control, because I break down easily when this happens, because I have an issue with a lifetime of guilt that keeps popping up in my life in new manifestations of old behaviors that I never dealt the final blow in the first place of trying to solve such issues.  I felt like, at least for today and I'm hoping and working towards sustaining this state of mind and behavior, I was no longer inferior, but more on an eye-to-eye level with them where I could contribute valuably to the issues they were having today.  Even the fact that there was a point where they did get into an argument, though by no means of the typical nature, this made me realize just how human we all are, and just how not alone I am with my friends.  My friends have never looked down on me, at least that I can recall in my fairly accurate long-term memory, but today I have changed the way that I control myself to think about how I "stack up" in relation to them.  I no longer choose to think that I am a waste of their time in any way, but that I simply just have my own different set of resources to offer, and even then, life and friendship is not about what I have to offer to people.  I could have by arms, legs, and all recognition blown off by a pineapple grenade and I could still be their friend as long as I was still Daniel.  I now know how to value myself for who I am, not what I can do.  Humans measure other humans in terms of performance, efficiency, strength, ability, etc. etc., but there was a reason that God decided to choose His name as represented to all humanity as "I AM."  God does not need to demonstrate His omnipotence or omniscience to still retain His powerful and secure identity as our loving Father and as such be able to love us unconditionally.  Unconditional love can only happen when one person loves another person for who they are when they say "I am..." not "I do... I can..."