Stacking Up

So I finished paying for this month for school. I'll hopefully be getting some financial aid soon too.

The semester looks like it's going to be a tough one. I have five classes and three of them are kind of like project classes. Here's my schedule.

Monday, Wednesday and Friday:

9:00- Understanding New Testament
10:00- chapel
11:00- Writing for Media
2:00- Multi-Camera TV Production

Tuesday, Thursday:

9-10:45-- Interactive Media I

12:45-2:00-- Western Classics


I'm a little worried about the work load. I know for most people five classes is not a lot, but I've been taking four classes a semester for three years and I've been used to working and going to school, so the dynamic has changed. But the other thing is that I have three media classes which are all project classes. I'll tell you a little bit about them.

Writing for media sounds a little hard, but I think I'll enjoy it. We have assignments like writing a 30 second commercial, writing a documentary, and writing a short script (I think thirty pages...) So it sounds fun, but also involved. I'm excited and worried. There's also a bunch of reading for the first couple of weeks.

Multi-Cam is a class where we basically put on a television show every week. We take turns running different jobs such as director, camera opp, and actually I'm not sure of all the rest... It's going to be fun but involved... The first few weeks also have a lot of reading. I'm excited but I'll have to budget my time.

Interactive Media is a media class that focuses on making computer projects and presentations. It's kind of the business side of media. We'll be doing projects with Power Point, Photo Shop, Acrobat and Dream weaver and doing presentations, shows and creating an 8-page website. I'm excited to learn all this stuff, but it's half learn in class, half teach yourself. It's going to be busy, and involved... Probably lots of work. I'm excited to learn all of this, but nervous it will contribute to an already heavy workload. He told us we read a lot in the first few weeks about dreamweaver.

On top of all of those there's also Western Classics in which we will read about eight books, but some or the Iliad which is an epic poem, and also a couple of plays. I think I can manage it all if I spend a lot of time reading everyday. I also have to make time to spend time with people while I'm at college because I feel that's very important. I'll do my best to balance everything. I don't feel that I will be lazy this semester, but I just may get overwhelmed. The good thing is that most of my classes are done by around 3 in the afternoon, so I have the afternoons open. I just have to make sure I don't get to bed too far passed mid-night so that I can be fully charged for each day.

I'm excited for this semester! I'm going to learn a lot and hopefully get more of an idea of what I want to do for a living. And I'll be experienced enough to start getting some freelance jobs and start paying for some things. I just gotta stick close to God and know that he'll get me through it all and then I don't need to worry.

Here are those pictures of my dorm I couldn't upload before.
This is my corner of the room--my work space, if you will. I like it. It's a little crowded because I still have to clean up and organize a bit, but I like it. And yes, those are cheez-its you see.

That's my new macbook pro, and my bed is the one on the bottom with the Sonic sheets! I really like my room :)
My hall is really awesome too! We have our first koinania tonight so I'm a little nervous, but I love the guys on my hall so it's gunna be beauty. In all of this, may God be glorified.

Sitting in a Dorm Room

I'm starving right now, and I'm really frustrated with my dad right now... But that doesn't matter right now.

I'm sitting in my newly set up dorm room, waiting for dinner at the caf so I don't have to pay any extra for food. My roommate Chachi just got here last night and so I was finally able to work with him on setting up our room. I've been living out of my duffle bags for a week because I've been waiting for my roommate to get here. I really like the set up we have now. Unfortunately my school network hates me and is not allowing me to upload photos. Maybe I'll be able to in the future when I go to a starbucks or something.

This past weekend I went on a retreat with all of the SLA's on campus. We are part of a ministry at school called "In Reach" so we had an In Reach retreat with all of the SLA's and SLC's. It was a really nice time; I go to really get to know a bunch of the other SLA's (there are about 40 of us) and the retreat was a really great way to escape from everything and rest and have quiet time with God. I felt really close to Him on the retreat. We also had some really funny, awesome times that I'll never forget. I can't wait to see how God works this semester and year after all He's done in our group already!

Right now I'm waiting for the semester to start up. We start classes tomorrow and I still have a bunch of stuff to figure out for school financially and stuff. Not fun, but hopefully after this week I'll have everything figured out.

Now I have to go, but I'll update again soon to explain how classes are going.

Good Tired

I'll tell ya, this week is craZy. With a capital Z!

I got to school (Asbury University) on Saturday night after a 12 hour drive. At the end of the drive I experienced some of the craziest weather I've ever seen! I'll describe it for you.

Picture a two lane highway with traffic lights every 500 yards. Now picture vans and SUVs and red lights blinking brighter and dimmer as breaks are applied. Add in some pouring rain. It's about 8:30, but it shouldn't be dark yet normally. The sky above and to your left is dark. Angry, gnarled storm clouds stretch out before you as far as you can see ahead, behind and to your left. Suddenly, you drive past some of the taller buildings on your right and now there is a bright orange sun glaring at you, the sphere peaking below the clouds as orange as sunkist. It looks like something out of a Spider-Man comic book. You want to look at it, or at least glance at the orange sky to your right, but every time you do you get a green sun spot over your vision.

Looking back at the road ahead of you a slash of lightning comes blistering through the sky, cutting it in 15 jagged directions in a second. Still, it's the longest lasting lightning you've ever seen, and the entire sky lights up. More lightning comes, and more still. Another jagged line shoots down to the ground and multiple spider webs of lightning come shooting out in several horizontal patterns from cloud to cloud. Lightning strikes again, and this time the never ending line comes right down in front of you and strikes a street lamp not 20 yards ahead of you. The entire grid dies and the lights go out. The sun is still shining brightly to your right, a bright orange ball hanging below the thunderclouds.

Glancing to your left to see if there's more lightning you spot something in the dark mass of clouds. Coming all the way down from the sky to the ground, from a point somewhere too high up to see in the clouds, comes a giant arch of a rainbow. With the backdrop of black and gray clouds the thing looks out of place, but beautiful, and adds even more to the entire scene in such a strange way.

That was how I ended my trip to school.

Here at school I've been training since Monday morning to be Spiritual Life Assistant (SLA) for Johnson Second East, the Wolf Pack, hall. I've been meeting with all of the other SLA's in training on campus and we've been seeking Christ to make sure we are in the right place to bring our halls together and inspire unity in Christ, and unity for the whole school. I'm pretty excited about this year and all that is to come. I'm making some new friends and getting to see some old ones that I've missed greatly. I'm also sad to note that some old friends are not coming back, but in this game of life I don't have time to stop and dwell on the casualties, only time to look to the future and plan for the upcoming battle. The battles will be great, but my LORD is greater still.

Some of the verses and passages we've been focusing on as we go deeper with the LORD and prepare our hearts for spiritual leadership are John Chapters 14-17, Philippians 2:1-3, Hebrews 13:7, Matthew 6:33, 1 Peter 2:9-12, and many others that I may think of later and post on here sometime.

I am being simultaneously encouraged and discouraged. I am encouraged by the new friends I am making and the obvious message I am getting from Jesus that He wants me here and I'm where I am supposed to be. I'm also encouraged by the moving of the Holy Spirit among us, and the things He is already teaching us.
I am discouraged by trying to figure out how to pay for this year of school. I am worried by my inability to figure things out in this area. I'm having trouble communicating with my Dad and getting him to help me figure out how to pay. I am also discouraged by some new temptations that the devil is throwing at me and his obvious assault on my person. I am discouraged too, by a lack of self-confidence and a feeling of worthlessness. I find myself putting myself down a lot lately and not thinking I'm adequate for anything. And this is not in a healthy way.

My LORD is greater than all, but I am at the foot of a large mountain right now and I'm not sure how to start climbing it. I am holding on to hope.

Onerie Crackerbagel

Well today was a crazy day, let me tell ya.

Yesterday I planned all day with my friends Stephen and Mitch (two of my best friends in the whole world) to go to Pennsylvania to visit good ol' David. We were planning to meet up around 5:30 after Mitch got off work. Stephen and Mitch were planning on coming to my house and then we would all three drive to Cabala's in PA to meet David and get some Taco Bell afterwards.

Now, since this was such an epic undertaking of friend escapades (definition: an act or incident involving excitement, daring, or adventure), under normal circumstances I would have been dancing on the walls like a yellow monkey with a sugar fetish. But since I got a macbook pro and Ipod touch the other day, I was actually enjoying messing around on those while I was waiting for Mitch and Stephen to come over. I also had some chores to do. I took the siblings to a piano lesson in the morning, and then got a spanish driving manual for Angie so she can get a drivers license. So the day actually went by pretty quickly! See that? I can be positive!

Well, 5:30 came and went and Stephen and Mitch still weren't at my house. It was right around 5, I think, that Stephen texted me saying that Mitch only just left. So they didn't actually get to my house until around 6 or so. But it wasn't too bad. We hung out getting drinks and a few last minute things for a little bit, and then we were on the road for an hour and a half drive to the center of PA.

Now the conversations on the way made the trip go by pretty quickly. What's a car ride to old friends except and excellent time to retell inside jokes, debate pointless things, and tell stories. On the way to Cabela's we talked about memorizing the Great Lakes. Mitch said a good way was to say "Super Man Helps Every One" for each of the lake names. Stephen thought he could come up with a better one, or perhaps was just joking. I wasn't even sure what they were talking about at the time. I was just trying to keep the car in the lane while I laughed hysterically at the whole thing. Stephen started saying, "Or you could just remember them by saying--Oneriorie Michigander, or michigander-erie-orie-huroner" It was something like that. Mitch started joining in with him and it just started becoming ridiculous very quickly.
After that, Stephen was talking about going to Cabela's and looking at the guns. He said he'd go to the guys at the counter (we didn't know that the guns would be on racks out in the open) and say, "Hey, um yes, I'd like to see a couple of guns-- all of them please." Or something like that. He talked about guns a lot. Apparently he's rather obsessed with them. I didn't even know that.

I can't remember all we talked about, but we saw some interesting sights on the way over as well. We saw a man driving a limo with slicked back gray hair and a thin mustache, and he was smoking a cigarette and he was surrounded by a cloud of smoke. I didn't get a good look at him. I was driving, remember? We also saw someone who Mitch said looked like some celebrity or something. I forget who it was...But it wasn't really them. Anyway, it was an eventful car ride.

When we finally got to Cabela's we had to wait for David a little bit because he wasn't there yet. Stephen was positive he'd seen a statue of a bear outside of Cabela's from the highway on one of his long drives. Because of that, he wanted to sort out an inner psychological identification he has with bears and projecting himself as bears and fighting himself as a bear or something. It was really just another inside joke. You probably had to be there. Anyway, we started exploring the perimeter of the building, trying to find this bear statue, and we soon came to three conclusions.
1) Cabela's is huge and looks sort of like a college campus on the side (at least, a community college or a NJ college).
2) We saw a rabbit that we decided was probably the smartest rabbit in the world. He was hiding out at a hunting and guns supplier. He probably figured if he lived here, all the hunters would go out into the forests and hunt the other animals, but none of them would ever come here to hunt this rabbit. He probably even scopes out all the new models of weapons and traps so he knows what they look like and how to avoid them.
3) The bear statues were not at this Cabela's. We got all around the building, and all we found was a magazine insert and some animal droppings that Stephen stepped in with his flip-flops.

We went into the store and started looking at all the dead animals stood up on display, and then we got a call from David saying he was here. He came in and met us at the mountain at the center of the building, and there were hugs all around! We spent a few more minutes there and then decided we all didn't want to be there anymore. I had to try to find some venison jerkey for a friend though, so Mitch and I went off to try to find some, searching in vain, and David and Stephen went and played with the guns.

After Mitch and I came back without any jerkey we joined David and Stephen in picking up guns and marveling at how awesome they were. Stephen wanted to make a gun library in his future house. I think this is a good idea.

After that we went to the crakerbagel for dinner. It wasn't as awesome as taco bell would have been, but the reuben sandwich I had was pretty good. The service could have been better, and we were all starving while we waited for a very long time for our food.

We went back to David's house after that and I discussed my college with Stephen, while David and Mitch drove home in David's car. When we got to the house we sat and talked for a bit, and then had a campfire. We soon had a hearty blaze, and went on to read some bad horror stories and ghost stories around the campfire while we made smores and burned sticks. The stories were awful, the chocolate was frozen, and the company was excellent.After the campfire and the pointless and embarrassingly crafted stories, we watched Jumanji and then went to bed.

If you've been paying attention, you'll probably notice that I haven't talked about today at all, but I'm just going to leave my introduction the way it is, because I'm lazy and it's funnier that way. If you want to hear about what happened today, you'll have to tune in next time!

"...and after you have done everything, to stand."

Were I a fellow with all the brights,
I would show you the sights from here to there,
All the stars light up the air,
The fare of which is right,
Though the rich don’t bite,
And the right just don’t seem to care.
But in this matter, little compares,
And the bright don’t try,
And the pyres don’t flare.
For in the clatter and the fright of all who bear such light
There is ne’er a fight that can stop the glare,
And though we try, the plight we share cannot stop the splatter
Of destroyed dreams that shatter while we despair.
The cold bite of death will tear our golden platter there.
But bear this fright, for in this matter, there is still something rare.
If we should fight through, we will see the ladder in the air,
And have but to climb with care, that we might see the better despite the clatter.

Final Days

Well, It's been a while, sports fans! For that I wish to apologize, but lately I haven't wanted to write much because I felt like I've been boring lately. Nonetheless, I must write something, so here goes!

Only about 13 days left till I go back to school! That's insane! I can't believe the summer is already almost over! *cliché, cliché, cliché, and so on, etc. I'm pretty ready to go back to school. I have a good semester of film classes lined up for the fall and I'm ready to delve into it with vigilance. I'm also ready to be living on my own again; well sort of.

I guess what I mean is, I'm ready to go back to college where I'm around people my age. My brothers always have people sleeping over our house who are very loud and they always have the Disney channel on, along with several video games all going at once, and I just want to go back to school where I'm working hard during the day, and hanging out with people at night.

But what have I been up to lately? Hmm...
Well last weekend was the first birthday for my twin cousins. They're probably going to change a lot by the time I see them again, because I don't know when that will be. That was an interesting event. Lots of people; and though it was about the twins, the entertainment and the fun was all for the adults. I was in the group of 4 young adults that hung out together because everyone else was either a lot older or a lot younger. And I'm not saying that to complain, because I had a lot of fun, but I wanted to point out the age demographic.

My Uncle's band played a lot of music during the event and that was really cool to see. They're very talented and it was cool to see them having fun doing that. My Uncle is really good at guitar.

That's my uncle on the left.

I hung out with my brother Daniel and his friends Derek and David most of the time. That ended up being a lot more fun than I would have guessed. I just don't hang out with them a lot so I didn't expect to have such a good time. We played volley ball with some of my cousins and my brothers Evan and Forrest, and that got us really hot because last weekend it was still in the 90s I think.

Later on we played three games of croquet and I ended up having a ton of fun playing that game. The ground was very uneven and unpredictable. The balls would go really far when you barely tapped them, and other times they would stop dead after giving them a stolid thwack. That just made it more fun though. I got really close to winning all three times, but we were all neck and neck at the end, and since we played that the ball was poison at the end, whoever didn't get knocked out was the winner. Needless to say, I got knocked out all three times, haha.

Well, since this is already really long, I'll save the other stuff I have to talk about for later. It's enough to say that I'm actually doing something, even though I'm not always writing on here, haha. Shocking isn't it? Bet you didn't think I had a life.