Why, hello!
I write to you now at the conclusion of what was probably my busiest week for schoolwork... ever. Well, actually, I've had equally crammed weeks in the past and I'm sure to have more, but it was just a little overwhelming, especially this close to the end of the semester. Oh yeah! That's right, this was the last week of classes!
That said, I apologize for the lack of adventure and intrigue in this week's entry, (I sure make a lot of apologies in these things...) but if you're still interested, read on...
Disclaimer: this entire paragraph is completely sarcastic...
So once again I refrained from interfering with weekend fun last weekend. There will be plenty of week days in my life, I figure, so I might as well make the most of my exciting weekends. Abstaining from productive activities on weekends has afforded me many wonderful opportunities since entering college. Save homework for Monday, that's my motto. And remember kids, abstinence is key.
Just joshing...
Ha, but even though I did, in fact, do work on the weekend, I still had a lot to do on Monday. And so it began.
Due for Tuesday, I had a self-evaluation report based on my speeches throughout the semester (that was fun to write...) and the final draft for that last Amish paper. So that occupied a lot of Monday. And I have a confession to make. Normally I am really diligent with editing my papers before I hand them in, but I did all of my editing on the computer this time, printed it off, stapled it, and handed it in without a thought. Well, as it turns out, somewhere along the way page 4 slipped out of the pile, causing me to unknowingly hand in 4 pages of a 5-page paper. Suffice it to say I was shocked, nervous, and a tad embarrassed when my professor told me. Thankfully, however, this story of a dumb mistake does have a happy ending. "I can still tell this is 'A' writing. Good work," was the comment next to the grade. There are good people in the world, after all...
Speaking of the Amish, we spent our last two weeks in classes discussing the Amish school shooting in Nickel Mines, Lancaster County, PA back in 2006. You might have heard about the tragedy on the news, and if you'd like to hear more from an expert... ahem.. just send me an email. Ha, but really, if you want a really interesting read about the tragedy and the ensuing (and immediate) forgiveness offered by the Amish, pick up Amish Grace. Good book, very fascinating subject, co-written by my very own professor, Dr. David Weaver-Zercher.
Well, how about I move on recounting the excitement. Wednesday morning consisted of a Spanish presentation and an Intro to Wellness final exam. Neither were really that hard, but both required a frustrating about of preparation. Lame. But they went well.
Wednesday night was a diamond in the rough. I worked for a while in the library on a project due for Friday (more on that later) and my Thursday morning Communications test, and then went to a concert committee meeting. We discussed upcoming shows, and there was even a little heated discussion concerning the pros and cons of bringing a worship concert to Messiah. Some people want to do it, other people think that is the responsibility of Student Ministries, other people think Concert Committee has a lot better resources to get a good worship concert, other people think we should use those resources to get a good artist into the school that could give the school an even better name in the community, and so on. Personally, I'd love to see a worship concert at Messiah. But we'll see.
I left the meeting early, got some work done in the Union (sort of) and then got ready for Wednesday night's B-sides. If I haven't mentioned this before, every Wednesday there is a free concert in the Student Union featuring some smaller local band on tour through the area. Sometimes the acts are nothing extraordinary, sometimes they are a little too extraordinary, and sometimes the artists are amazing! This week featured one of the latter. The band is called Farewell Flight; they're just a local band from the area, but they are actually doing really well for themselves. They've been featured in a bunch of music magazines and have a full-length album out already (which I hastily obtained). A friend of mine from the area (that I met through another friend here) came to the show with a bunch of his friends too, so I got to enjoy an awesome concert and make some new chums along the way!
Now, I bet you're on the edge of your seat dying to hear about Thursday. What will become of the ever-increasing workload? Will it culminate to such a great height, threatening to engulf poor Joshua in the rising tides of unrelenting pressure? Will he survive the crashing waves of academia as they pound upon his fragile mind? I'm sure you are begging for answers to all these questions and more, so read on, my faithful followers... 'followers' in a virtual sense, that is.
Thursday was primarily spent working on the biggest project in the history of projects. Yes, that's right, completing the task required loftier ambitions than those required for petty tasks like the Great Wall of China or the Pyramids. Basically, it was a 6-part portfolio for my Intro to Communications Seminar class. It was one of things that we (theoretically) work on throughout the semester, but ... well, some of the terribly irresponsible students in the class procrastinated to the last two days. Tsk, tsk.
I conducted two interviews, created a fully updated resume, did several self-assessment quizzes online, collected 'artifacts' from the last couple years to include, wrote conclusion and introduction sections, and, of course, wrote dozens of 1-2 page reflection papers. Ha, I'm starting to get pretty good at throwing down random 2-page personal reactions in 10 minutes flat.
I'm getting sick of talking about all this homework, but I will say that I also wrote my written COMM final on Thursday and realized during the exam that I had over-studied. What a beautiful realization.
I dropped off that portfolio on Friday afternoon and felt an immediate bounce in my step. With my renewed vigour, I walked back to my room only to be evacuated immediately due to some smoking light bulb in the basement. Oh well. It happens. Then, like a true American, I joined a game of football on a nearby field with some friends.. and a bunch of older (bigger) guys. It was really fun, but let's just say that tackle football really stresses your body in ways that swimming laps does not. I'm still sore...
A quick shower and some dinner later, we were ready for Christmas Tradition. What is this Christmas Tradition, you ask? Well, it is quite simply the big Christmas Formal dance, held at the Hershey Lodge. Yeah, it's a big deal. It was a fun night, lots of pictures and laughter and dancing and smiles and pictures and dancing and fun. Had I not been aching from head-to-toe already, I might have lasted a little longer on the dance floor...
After the dance, we did what all hungry people do at 1 AM: we went to a diner. There's nothing like breakfast in the morning -- very early morning. Saturday, for me, was spent sleeping and enjoying some well-deserved relaxation. I also dragged my worn and weary body to the arts building and ended up playing around on a piano for two hours. So that was fun.. and a very satisfying release.
I had a rockin' good time at the Swim Team Christmas party last night. After the gift exchange, I ended up with a new drag suit for practice (aka. a pair of women's underwear... hardy har har..). This morning I went to CLA with my friend Dave. He's got a car and a nice hat. What else can I say? Ha, he's a really great guy.. and I've eaten breakfast almost every day this semester. Church was pretty good. The children's choir was singing (all 300 of them), so that was a delightfully joyful little Christmas treat!
Now I'm going to study a little Spanish for my final on Wednesday. Whoever said I don't work ahead was .. wrong. I don't have any exams tomorrow (thank goodness!), but I have Psych on Tuesday and Spanish on Wednesday. Then I leave Thursday morning for the Great White North. I know it's only been three weeks since I was at home, but I just can't wait to be back and see friends I haven't seen since the summer. And then it's Christmas!
Speaking of Christmas, I don't know when I'll update this again. If it's not before Christmas, Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a Good Night!
Oodles of Toodles!
Josh
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Sunday, December 7, 2008
FaLaLaLaLa... LaLaLaLA!
Hi.
I'm sorry I haven't updated in two weeks. No, really, it's actually been bugging me a lot -- sort of a subconscious nagging to feed the starving masses the information they need. I can tell you that a lot has been going on the last two weeks, but doing so also causes a pang of guilt for leaving you in the dark. I shudder to think of all my faithful readers that have turned to other sources of college confessions in my negligence...
Anyways, I should get down to business. Here it goes:
Well, for those of you who did not know, I went home last week from Nov. 26 to Nov. 29. You might be wondering why I made no mention of such a significant event... Well, the plan was to surprise Katrina, so keeping it a secret was a natural part of that plan. And it was awesome! Haha... I'd never seen anyone so utterly speechless before! So if you want more details on that, feel free to send me a note or give me a ring or something.
So it was also Sam's 13th birthday when I got home, so it was great to be able to celebrate that with the family and help him design his new (my old) room to exact specifications. It was a very nice three-ish days at home with the family and the Katrina, and it also helped me find a simpler way home. I'm going with a friend to Buffalo and then taking a bus from there to Toronto. Much cheaper too... So, yeah. It was a very nice little break. I loved being home, but I was also very excited to go back. Perfect situation, if you ask me.
So a week ago today, I made it back to campus after another long day of travel. I had nothing due on Monday, so I figured I would take it easy over the break and save the schoolwork for school. The only problem with that plan was that I had a speech to present and an essay to hand in.. both on Tuesday. So, around 5 hours on Monday were spent in the library.. and a lot of last-minute revisions were made Tuesday morning, but it all worked out quite nicely in the end. I delivered a 13 minute persuasive speech (only 5 minutes too long...) on eugenics that went really well. It's easy to deliver a good speech, I feel, when you are talking about something you really care about... and it definitely helps when your audience is on the same page as you. The speech was basically all about designer babies and the future of human genetics, including modern genetic tests and some schocking statistics (namely, that 86% of couples that discover their infant has down syndrome choose to abort). Even though the topic is a tad frightening and admittedly depressing, it was cool to be able to simultaneously educate and persuade my class on a really serious issue.
Then there was that paper. Oh boy... this was a fun one (and I'm not being sarcastic at all). We had to compare two movies featuring the Amish for their educational and factual credibility, writing as informally as we liked. And informal is what I like. We were comparing the Harrison Ford action-thriller Witness to a much lower-budget documentary called Devil's Playground. I argued in favour of the Ford flick, and if you want a copy of the paper (before it gets published.. ahem.. ) then just let me know.
In case you were wondering, I try and jot down notes throughout the week so I can return to them later when I sit here scratching my head trying to remember what on earth I've been doing. So my notes tell me (in all CAPS) to mention DECK THE HALLS. Every year at the beginning of December, there is a campus-wide decoration competition for the best Christmas decor. The men of Witmer 3B (aka. Sparta) rose to the challenge and created A Spartan Christmas experience. We had shepherds, angels (I was one of these), a Mary, a Joseph, a baby Jesus, Spartans, narrators, etc. People entered and were led through the Christmas story with a little twist. Anyways, after a lot of work the hall looked really sweet and was full of shirtless men wearing bedsheets. We did probably 10 performances to get all the people lined up through the hall and.... WE WON THE BEST HALL FOR THE FRESHMEN MEN! Someday soon we'll get a pizza party, and it will be the happiest, merriest, most festive Christmas party ever!
The next night Messiah's SAB (Student Activities Board) hosted a Christmas party in the Student Union. We donned ugly Christmas sweaters as we decorated cookies and ornaments, took pictures with Santa, and listened to special guest Rosie Thomas (you haven't heard of her.. but she's amazing). So that was a very fun night.
As usual, just fill in all the gaps up there with lots of swimming and school stuff.
I am writing late on Sunday night at the end of an awesome weekend. So you'd like to hear about it, EH? (yes i still say "eh"). Well, Friday afternoon Austin, Isaac, Lauren, Jess, Elise and I hopped into Lauren's van and set sail for New York City! We stayed at Lauren's house about 45 minutes outside the city in New Jersey.. but really all we did there was sleep. After a brief bite, we boarded a bus bound for the big ... apple (nuts, I ran out of alliterations). Basically, it was amazing! We just wandered around, soaking in the sights and sounds like the inexperienced college kids we are. A few hundred photographs later, we made it to the "big tree" at Rockefeller Center... and continued to gawk and giggle. As expected, the city was absolutely jam-packed. But, in a sense, that almost made it more exciting just to be part of all the excitement like that. We also went ice-skating at Bryant Park, stopping at the Charmin' Restrooms along the way (a stop I would definitely recommend to any NYC tourist) ... you'll have to see for yourself.
So NYC was awesome! Man... I don't think I've ever seen so many people (and open stores) at midnight! We got on a bus back to New Jersey and, or course, felt very hungry. So we went to some renowned 24-hour diner and had pancakes and Canadian bacon (yeyeah!) at 2 in the morning. Then we slept for a long time, ate some more, and left to make it back for the Men's Ensemble dress rehearsal. Oh, and later on we watched Burn After Reading (aka. the WORST movie ever). It was a movie about nothing that made zero sense and was just really depressing. ha.. how's that for a movie critique? Then we went out to downtown Harrisburg basically because we had a car to take us there. We parked and wandered around, warmed up in hotel lobbies and bought junk food. Good fun.
Today I was basically out all day. We left for St. Lawrence Cathedral in Harrisburg right after lunch, rehearsed, waited around, performed, got back to school, ate, sat around, went to the chapel, warmed up, performed, and finished. The performances, if you're wondering, went really well! The one on campus was especially fun and now we're singing at chapel on Thursday.
Annndd then I went back to the room, changed, and 'creeked' Isaac because his birthday was on Saturday. He put up a fight, let me tell you. I guess something about the fact that it's only 15 degrees (or - 10 Celsius) outside made him a little hesitant to jump in the creek. But we got him!
And now I am sitting here writing, watching the clock creep dangerously close to midnight. The problem with midnight on a Sunday, you see, is that I must drag my weary body from my bed into the pool at 5:30 AM on Mondays.
Now, I'm sure you all just breathed a heavy sigh of sympathy, and I appreciate that. But worry not about my well-being... because I am being quite well, thank you very much. I hope you can see through my objective story-telling just how much fun I'm having. I really feel so blessed every day to be here and to be surrounded by all the people I've been getting to know. It's soo great and I'm really thankful for everyone back home who still cares about me. And I'm assuming if you are reading this that you thought about me at some point as you clicked your way to my page, so I just want to thank you for all of your support and prayers. They mean a lot and they've helped in more ways than you know.
ATTN: Mom, don't read this:
Alright, I'm gonna go adjust the time stamp so it looks like I'm not up as late as I really am... I'm so clever...
Okay, all, thanks for reading. I hope your thirst for information has been quenched. Aunt Ingrid, I'm sure you had a miserable Monday morning last week, so I'm here once again to help!
Love love love love,
Josh
P.S. Guess who's out of time to edit again!?
I'm sorry I haven't updated in two weeks. No, really, it's actually been bugging me a lot -- sort of a subconscious nagging to feed the starving masses the information they need. I can tell you that a lot has been going on the last two weeks, but doing so also causes a pang of guilt for leaving you in the dark. I shudder to think of all my faithful readers that have turned to other sources of college confessions in my negligence...
Anyways, I should get down to business. Here it goes:
Well, for those of you who did not know, I went home last week from Nov. 26 to Nov. 29. You might be wondering why I made no mention of such a significant event... Well, the plan was to surprise Katrina, so keeping it a secret was a natural part of that plan. And it was awesome! Haha... I'd never seen anyone so utterly speechless before! So if you want more details on that, feel free to send me a note or give me a ring or something.
So it was also Sam's 13th birthday when I got home, so it was great to be able to celebrate that with the family and help him design his new (my old) room to exact specifications. It was a very nice three-ish days at home with the family and the Katrina, and it also helped me find a simpler way home. I'm going with a friend to Buffalo and then taking a bus from there to Toronto. Much cheaper too... So, yeah. It was a very nice little break. I loved being home, but I was also very excited to go back. Perfect situation, if you ask me.
So a week ago today, I made it back to campus after another long day of travel. I had nothing due on Monday, so I figured I would take it easy over the break and save the schoolwork for school. The only problem with that plan was that I had a speech to present and an essay to hand in.. both on Tuesday. So, around 5 hours on Monday were spent in the library.. and a lot of last-minute revisions were made Tuesday morning, but it all worked out quite nicely in the end. I delivered a 13 minute persuasive speech (only 5 minutes too long...) on eugenics that went really well. It's easy to deliver a good speech, I feel, when you are talking about something you really care about... and it definitely helps when your audience is on the same page as you. The speech was basically all about designer babies and the future of human genetics, including modern genetic tests and some schocking statistics (namely, that 86% of couples that discover their infant has down syndrome choose to abort). Even though the topic is a tad frightening and admittedly depressing, it was cool to be able to simultaneously educate and persuade my class on a really serious issue.
Then there was that paper. Oh boy... this was a fun one (and I'm not being sarcastic at all). We had to compare two movies featuring the Amish for their educational and factual credibility, writing as informally as we liked. And informal is what I like. We were comparing the Harrison Ford action-thriller Witness to a much lower-budget documentary called Devil's Playground. I argued in favour of the Ford flick, and if you want a copy of the paper (before it gets published.. ahem.. ) then just let me know.
In case you were wondering, I try and jot down notes throughout the week so I can return to them later when I sit here scratching my head trying to remember what on earth I've been doing. So my notes tell me (in all CAPS) to mention DECK THE HALLS. Every year at the beginning of December, there is a campus-wide decoration competition for the best Christmas decor. The men of Witmer 3B (aka. Sparta) rose to the challenge and created A Spartan Christmas experience. We had shepherds, angels (I was one of these), a Mary, a Joseph, a baby Jesus, Spartans, narrators, etc. People entered and were led through the Christmas story with a little twist. Anyways, after a lot of work the hall looked really sweet and was full of shirtless men wearing bedsheets. We did probably 10 performances to get all the people lined up through the hall and.... WE WON THE BEST HALL FOR THE FRESHMEN MEN! Someday soon we'll get a pizza party, and it will be the happiest, merriest, most festive Christmas party ever!
The next night Messiah's SAB (Student Activities Board) hosted a Christmas party in the Student Union. We donned ugly Christmas sweaters as we decorated cookies and ornaments, took pictures with Santa, and listened to special guest Rosie Thomas (you haven't heard of her.. but she's amazing). So that was a very fun night.
As usual, just fill in all the gaps up there with lots of swimming and school stuff.
I am writing late on Sunday night at the end of an awesome weekend. So you'd like to hear about it, EH? (yes i still say "eh"). Well, Friday afternoon Austin, Isaac, Lauren, Jess, Elise and I hopped into Lauren's van and set sail for New York City! We stayed at Lauren's house about 45 minutes outside the city in New Jersey.. but really all we did there was sleep. After a brief bite, we boarded a bus bound for the big ... apple (nuts, I ran out of alliterations). Basically, it was amazing! We just wandered around, soaking in the sights and sounds like the inexperienced college kids we are. A few hundred photographs later, we made it to the "big tree" at Rockefeller Center... and continued to gawk and giggle. As expected, the city was absolutely jam-packed. But, in a sense, that almost made it more exciting just to be part of all the excitement like that. We also went ice-skating at Bryant Park, stopping at the Charmin' Restrooms along the way (a stop I would definitely recommend to any NYC tourist) ... you'll have to see for yourself.
So NYC was awesome! Man... I don't think I've ever seen so many people (and open stores) at midnight! We got on a bus back to New Jersey and, or course, felt very hungry. So we went to some renowned 24-hour diner and had pancakes and Canadian bacon (yeyeah!) at 2 in the morning. Then we slept for a long time, ate some more, and left to make it back for the Men's Ensemble dress rehearsal. Oh, and later on we watched Burn After Reading (aka. the WORST movie ever). It was a movie about nothing that made zero sense and was just really depressing. ha.. how's that for a movie critique? Then we went out to downtown Harrisburg basically because we had a car to take us there. We parked and wandered around, warmed up in hotel lobbies and bought junk food. Good fun.
Today I was basically out all day. We left for St. Lawrence Cathedral in Harrisburg right after lunch, rehearsed, waited around, performed, got back to school, ate, sat around, went to the chapel, warmed up, performed, and finished. The performances, if you're wondering, went really well! The one on campus was especially fun and now we're singing at chapel on Thursday.
Annndd then I went back to the room, changed, and 'creeked' Isaac because his birthday was on Saturday. He put up a fight, let me tell you. I guess something about the fact that it's only 15 degrees (or - 10 Celsius) outside made him a little hesitant to jump in the creek. But we got him!
And now I am sitting here writing, watching the clock creep dangerously close to midnight. The problem with midnight on a Sunday, you see, is that I must drag my weary body from my bed into the pool at 5:30 AM on Mondays.
Now, I'm sure you all just breathed a heavy sigh of sympathy, and I appreciate that. But worry not about my well-being... because I am being quite well, thank you very much. I hope you can see through my objective story-telling just how much fun I'm having. I really feel so blessed every day to be here and to be surrounded by all the people I've been getting to know. It's soo great and I'm really thankful for everyone back home who still cares about me. And I'm assuming if you are reading this that you thought about me at some point as you clicked your way to my page, so I just want to thank you for all of your support and prayers. They mean a lot and they've helped in more ways than you know.
ATTN: Mom, don't read this:
Alright, I'm gonna go adjust the time stamp so it looks like I'm not up as late as I really am... I'm so clever...
Okay, all, thanks for reading. I hope your thirst for information has been quenched. Aunt Ingrid, I'm sure you had a miserable Monday morning last week, so I'm here once again to help!
Love love love love,
Josh
P.S. Guess who's out of time to edit again!?
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Now or Never
In the wise words of the great bard of our times, Mr. Troy Bolton:
This is the last chance to make our mark
History will know who we are!
This is the last game so make it count, it's
Now or Never
Well said, Mr. Bolton, well said. I have no real reason to have included that above, except perhaps as a tribute to the greatest High School Musical movie I have ever seen. Yes, I'll admit it -- I am a fan of High School Musical. I liked the songs in the first one, loved the songs in the second, and as one critic named Emily Boden raved, was "blown away" by the third. Take a winning formula of ridiculously catchy songs, a romance for the record-books, and a perfect world in suburban Albuquerque where high school kids party with their parents, give it $30 million and you've got a box office hit! So that is my take on the new HSM, which I am sure you were all greatly anticipating.
Back to reality, this week was a good one. I was very busy with homework and lots of other things, but that just makes this little entry more interesting for all of you! How about we go in chronological order this time? And for the sake of some practice, I'm going to use a little Spanish.
Lunes - Thus began the busyness. I had a major Psychology project due on Friday that was supposed to be based on an interview with someone who "works with people." You'd assume that everybody works with people, but we were supposed to find someone who could provide further insight into some of our course material. I interviewed my admissions counsellor, Cindy Blount. It went really well and I learned a lot about her and different psychological concepts. She has basically spent her entire life travelling the world, so she had a lot of valuable things to say. Later that night I went to an honors credit movie thingy. We watched Bonnie & Clyde. The title of the series is "Films that Changed America," and this one is definitely worth the label. The story was just really well done, and the characters and acting were excellent. You could just tell how ahead of its time it was they way that the violence was portrayed. To audiences in the 60s it was a major controversy, but to our polluted vision the fake blood almost looked silly. I give it two thumbs up. The last Monday highlight was throwing Zach (fellow swimmer) in the frigid waters of the creek for some birthday well-wishes.
Martes - Chapel had a gospel theme. Although any authentic gospel choir would probably laugh, the attempt was well-done and very entertaining. We watched the Harrison Ford movie, Witness, in Amish seminar that afternoon. It's a movie about Harrison Ford being himself as a hardened, brave, smart-mouth cop who goes undercover to protect an Amish boy from some sort of villain, seducing Amish women and causing all sorts of trouble along the way. We analyzed it for its portrayal of the Amish, which was not at all convincing. I spent the rest of the night at Men's Ensemble (Christmas performance in two weeks!), an audition for tonight's coffeehouse, and lots of homework in the library.
Miercoles - Starting to feel the pressure of imminent due dates fast approaching, I decided to get my priorities straight. I spent the day in classes and working, all in order to prepare for the week's main event -- High School Musical Tres! It was three guys (myself, Austin, Isaac) with one girl (Lauren). I wouldn't let that slight gender imbalance deter me from my goal, however, and as embarrassed as I felt asking the girl at the counter for a ticket to HSM, it was totally worth it.
Jueves - In short, I finished an Amish essay, handed it in, listened to the HSM 3 soundtrack, worked on a big Spanish assignment, wrote a 8 page report on the aforementioned interview, and had a wonderful phone-date with my wonderful ladyfriend.
Viernes - one word: SNOW! It wasn't a lot, mind you, but it was enough to get the whole campus bouncing in their seats. It was Friday, my work was all handed in and behind me, the weekend was ahead, the snow was on the ground, and everyone was happy. I had a nice long talk with Momma and Papa -- always a pleasure -- and watched Messiah Women's Basketball destroy Eastern University. Then I went to sleep, because on Saturday...
Sabado - Swim meet! To be totally honest, sometimes I am not all that enthused going into these events, but this one was actually a lot of fun. It was a really nice pool and I felt really good. I broke some more personal records, including down to a 57.5 in the 100 free, which, for me, is a big deal. I don't know if I've mentioned this about our meets before, but our team is determined to make a good impression at all our meets, and what better way to to do that than to pray before and after each meet. The school we were facing has a particularly obnoxious (and vulgar) cheer when they enter the pool, so instead of staring at them and being intimidated like they expected us to, we made a circle and all took a knee in prayer. And then after the meet we invited them (if they were willing) to join us as we prayed for each other and our future meets. We do that with every school, and it's just really fun to be on a team that has that sort of focus.
Domingo - All I've done today is church and the blog, so I'll tell you about church. It was amazing again. The emphasis of the service was on healing. And as I mentioned last week, my expectations were for some classic charismatic preaching and a call for heavenly healing on everything from paralysis to cancer. Once again, I was pleasantly surprised. The service had an extended time of worship, and then a panel discussion on the stage with just a few members of the congregation. They talked for a little bit about a few joyous and miraculous healings they had witnessed and then moved on to spend the majority of the time talking about a painful reality -- when people of faith are not healed. It's all great when God comes down and miraculously heals people with all sorts of ailments, but I really appreciated how they emphasized the fact that sometimes God just doesn't answer those prayers for healing. It doesn't mean the sick lack faith or have lost favour in God's eyes, it just proves we'll never understand how God works. Some real-life testimonies of church members with chronic illnesses really sent the message home. It was somber, but it was still a celebration of faith through the hard times.
And that is that. For the sake of reducing redundancy, I've deliberately omitted all mention of daily classes and swimming practices. But don't you worry, they are always there to absorb any free time that might emerge in a day.
Now I'm off to a sound-check for the coffeehouse tonight. I'm doing a song called "Save" by The Rocket Summer. Should be fun!
Love you all,
Josh
p.s. once again, I'm out of time to edit...
This is the last chance to make our mark
History will know who we are!
This is the last game so make it count, it's
Now or Never
Well said, Mr. Bolton, well said. I have no real reason to have included that above, except perhaps as a tribute to the greatest High School Musical movie I have ever seen. Yes, I'll admit it -- I am a fan of High School Musical. I liked the songs in the first one, loved the songs in the second, and as one critic named Emily Boden raved, was "blown away" by the third. Take a winning formula of ridiculously catchy songs, a romance for the record-books, and a perfect world in suburban Albuquerque where high school kids party with their parents, give it $30 million and you've got a box office hit! So that is my take on the new HSM, which I am sure you were all greatly anticipating.
Back to reality, this week was a good one. I was very busy with homework and lots of other things, but that just makes this little entry more interesting for all of you! How about we go in chronological order this time? And for the sake of some practice, I'm going to use a little Spanish.
Lunes - Thus began the busyness. I had a major Psychology project due on Friday that was supposed to be based on an interview with someone who "works with people." You'd assume that everybody works with people, but we were supposed to find someone who could provide further insight into some of our course material. I interviewed my admissions counsellor, Cindy Blount. It went really well and I learned a lot about her and different psychological concepts. She has basically spent her entire life travelling the world, so she had a lot of valuable things to say. Later that night I went to an honors credit movie thingy. We watched Bonnie & Clyde. The title of the series is "Films that Changed America," and this one is definitely worth the label. The story was just really well done, and the characters and acting were excellent. You could just tell how ahead of its time it was they way that the violence was portrayed. To audiences in the 60s it was a major controversy, but to our polluted vision the fake blood almost looked silly. I give it two thumbs up. The last Monday highlight was throwing Zach (fellow swimmer) in the frigid waters of the creek for some birthday well-wishes.
Martes - Chapel had a gospel theme. Although any authentic gospel choir would probably laugh, the attempt was well-done and very entertaining. We watched the Harrison Ford movie, Witness, in Amish seminar that afternoon. It's a movie about Harrison Ford being himself as a hardened, brave, smart-mouth cop who goes undercover to protect an Amish boy from some sort of villain, seducing Amish women and causing all sorts of trouble along the way. We analyzed it for its portrayal of the Amish, which was not at all convincing. I spent the rest of the night at Men's Ensemble (Christmas performance in two weeks!), an audition for tonight's coffeehouse, and lots of homework in the library.
Miercoles - Starting to feel the pressure of imminent due dates fast approaching, I decided to get my priorities straight. I spent the day in classes and working, all in order to prepare for the week's main event -- High School Musical Tres! It was three guys (myself, Austin, Isaac) with one girl (Lauren). I wouldn't let that slight gender imbalance deter me from my goal, however, and as embarrassed as I felt asking the girl at the counter for a ticket to HSM, it was totally worth it.
Jueves - In short, I finished an Amish essay, handed it in, listened to the HSM 3 soundtrack, worked on a big Spanish assignment, wrote a 8 page report on the aforementioned interview, and had a wonderful phone-date with my wonderful ladyfriend.
Viernes - one word: SNOW! It wasn't a lot, mind you, but it was enough to get the whole campus bouncing in their seats. It was Friday, my work was all handed in and behind me, the weekend was ahead, the snow was on the ground, and everyone was happy. I had a nice long talk with Momma and Papa -- always a pleasure -- and watched Messiah Women's Basketball destroy Eastern University. Then I went to sleep, because on Saturday...
Sabado - Swim meet! To be totally honest, sometimes I am not all that enthused going into these events, but this one was actually a lot of fun. It was a really nice pool and I felt really good. I broke some more personal records, including down to a 57.5 in the 100 free, which, for me, is a big deal. I don't know if I've mentioned this about our meets before, but our team is determined to make a good impression at all our meets, and what better way to to do that than to pray before and after each meet. The school we were facing has a particularly obnoxious (and vulgar) cheer when they enter the pool, so instead of staring at them and being intimidated like they expected us to, we made a circle and all took a knee in prayer. And then after the meet we invited them (if they were willing) to join us as we prayed for each other and our future meets. We do that with every school, and it's just really fun to be on a team that has that sort of focus.
Domingo - All I've done today is church and the blog, so I'll tell you about church. It was amazing again. The emphasis of the service was on healing. And as I mentioned last week, my expectations were for some classic charismatic preaching and a call for heavenly healing on everything from paralysis to cancer. Once again, I was pleasantly surprised. The service had an extended time of worship, and then a panel discussion on the stage with just a few members of the congregation. They talked for a little bit about a few joyous and miraculous healings they had witnessed and then moved on to spend the majority of the time talking about a painful reality -- when people of faith are not healed. It's all great when God comes down and miraculously heals people with all sorts of ailments, but I really appreciated how they emphasized the fact that sometimes God just doesn't answer those prayers for healing. It doesn't mean the sick lack faith or have lost favour in God's eyes, it just proves we'll never understand how God works. Some real-life testimonies of church members with chronic illnesses really sent the message home. It was somber, but it was still a celebration of faith through the hard times.
And that is that. For the sake of reducing redundancy, I've deliberately omitted all mention of daily classes and swimming practices. But don't you worry, they are always there to absorb any free time that might emerge in a day.
Now I'm off to a sound-check for the coffeehouse tonight. I'm doing a song called "Save" by The Rocket Summer. Should be fun!
Love you all,
Josh
p.s. once again, I'm out of time to edit...
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Reaction
Buenas Dias!
(that's Spanish -- the language I am still working hard on learning...espanol es muy dificil.)
I think this time I am going to begin with the most recent events and work my way backwards through time. That said, I hope you will forgive the diminishing factual integrity as the blog goes on... in other words, I have a hard time remembering all that's gone on in a week, but I'll try my best to keep you all in the loop.
I'll start with this morning. Church, as usual, was excellent, but probably better than ever. I really like this pastor (Wayde Wilson is his name). The focus of the service was on the Holy Spirit, and though I feel as if I have heard many-a-sermon on the Holy Spirit, this one was probably the most enlightening. I was really eager to hear what he had to say, seeing as this church (Christian Life Assembly) essentially has its roots in the Pentacostal denomination. I half-expected a passionate and emotional appeal to all of us to burst from our pews and fill the sanctuary with cries of praise in a hundred unknown tongues. His focus for the message, however, was a Biblical look at the gifts of the Spirit.
Acknowledging that gifts of healing, prophecy, and tongues are controversial subjects, he said up front that anyone who reads 1 Corinthians 12 cannot accept gifts of knowledge or faith as valid and reject tongues and prophesying -- they are all listed together. That said, however, he spent much of the sermon focusing on the importance of discernment, including instances where he has had to awkwardly confront people to say they are not really hearing from God so much as themselves. He also spent a while stressing the importance of what Paul claims to be "orderly worship" in 1 Corinthians 14. Speaking in tongues is a gift, the Bible says, that should only be used to instruct or encourage the Church.
Anyways, I could go on for a while talking about all of that, but I will say that when he closed the service with an opportunity for all of us to just call out on our own to have the Spirit fill us, I felt a much clearer understanding of what we were really asking for -- not to be filled so we could become the resident religious radical on campus that people could seek out to find healing, but to be simply open to the Lord working through us in any and every way, whether that be a momentary glimpse of holy wisdom, or an encouraging word from the Spirit to a friend.
Alright, now I think I will juggle time a little here and jump back to Friday and let the tape roll forward. I had a big Psychology test on Friday that I think I did pretty well on, but we'll see. Weekends are peculiar around here. Come Friday, the place is alive with excitement and energy as people are all around making plans and just taking it easy, but come Friday night, the busy-bodies and chatty Cathy's are all gone. Normally there are a lot of people around still, but the crowds seem somewhat elusive. Usually, that's fine by me; there's just that much more for my friends and I to busy ourselves with. This weekend, however, a bunch of my closer friends all left on Friday for home or tournaments (including Austin). But that wasn't really a big deal, except my entire floor went camping on Friday night, but I couldn't go. So that forced me to call up some acquaintances and make them... better acquaintances.
The reason I couldn't go camping was because of our much-anticipated swim meet on Saturday. I slept 10 hours (happy, mom?) on Friday night to be well rested for our meet against Elizabethtown. Long story short, it was a fun day, everybody swam really well even though the pool was pretty crummy, and we came out on top!! That's right, first win in Messiah Swimming history, brought to you by our little inaugural, motley crew of a team. Go Messiah! (Oh and that reminds me, visit www.gomessiah.com for results.) I cut 5 seconds on my 200 freestyle and 1.5 seconds on my 100 freestyle!
Saturday night I returned to campus ready to party. A bunch of guys on the floor, however, had left for the new James Bond movie, so I called up one of my friends (Brian) to see what he was up to and guess where he was going? James Bond! Thinking quickly, I snagged a seat in the car and had a great night with Brian, his girlfriend, and my other friend Chris. We got pretty lost and ended up at WalMart at 1 AM, but I'm always up for a good adventure! The movie, if you haven't seen it, was only decent in my books. It was James Bond, so obviously it was entertaining, but I just thought the plot was sort of weak.
Hmm.. where to next? How about just an overall summary of Monday through Thursday... sound good? Overall, this week was pretty uneventful. Lots of swimming, a pretty decent amount of work, a decent amount of sleep, copious amounts of food to supplement all the swimming, and... hmm.. let's see. OH! I got one.
Monday night I went to an alternate chapel Honors Congress event thingamajig with Dr. Christine Rosen. Who is she, you might be wondering? Well, basically she is just this really smart lady who writes a lot of books and does a lot of speaking about one of the most controversial (and yet largely ignored) issues in modern society -- eugenics. Eugenics, and I can thank my English teacher, Mr. Collins, for my knowledge of this, is the study of improving human genes. The discussion covered everything from 'designer babies' to abortion. I left that talk fearful of the future of our society, but glad that I was equipped with new knowledge.
For those who might be wondering what all the kafuffle is about, pretty much all I can say is that almost all doctors now expect that if a fetus tests positive for any genetic disorder (i.e. Tay-Sachs, Downs), the mother will abort it for the "sake of society." It has gotten to the point, however, where we can test for genetic 'defects' in a baby that might lead to them developing colon cancer in their late 50s. Should the mother be held responsible for bringing a person into the world that could potentially suffer later in life, or should we just kill any infant that could ever suffer or not fully contribute to society? Those are the terrible questions people are asking these days. And there are other issues that seem much more trivial, but are problematic on other levels. For instance, a woman wanting a child can now go to any sperm bank and practically 'design her baby' -- gender, eye colour, physical attributes -- and the methods are getting more accurate every year.
So, enough of all this depressing stuff. I am very excited for Thanksgiving Break. Work has been picking up a lot and it just feels like the break will be very much deserved. BUT, it's been good times as usual. I'm excited for another week. I have a big Psych. assignment due that is based on an interview I have to conduct, a persuasive speech to prepare for Communications (about eugenics), and a paper due for my Amish seminar. We have another meet coming up this Saturday, and even though I don't think we'll be as successful as a team, I'm looking forward to shaving some more time off my personal records.
So I think that's all for now. I guess this has been a little more brief than my previous entries, but I've got a bunch to do this afternoon. The Men's Swim Team meets every Sunday night for devotions and it's my turn to share my testimony. So that'll be fun. I'm also growing a massive beard. Well.. it's not really massive, but I do think it's longer than it's ever been. Why? No-Shave-November, that's why.
Alright, once again I love you all. Feel free to contact me if you want any additional info or just want to talk!
J.m.B
p.s. I think you'll find a few errors in this one, Mom.
(that's Spanish -- the language I am still working hard on learning...espanol es muy dificil.)
I think this time I am going to begin with the most recent events and work my way backwards through time. That said, I hope you will forgive the diminishing factual integrity as the blog goes on... in other words, I have a hard time remembering all that's gone on in a week, but I'll try my best to keep you all in the loop.
I'll start with this morning. Church, as usual, was excellent, but probably better than ever. I really like this pastor (Wayde Wilson is his name). The focus of the service was on the Holy Spirit, and though I feel as if I have heard many-a-sermon on the Holy Spirit, this one was probably the most enlightening. I was really eager to hear what he had to say, seeing as this church (Christian Life Assembly) essentially has its roots in the Pentacostal denomination. I half-expected a passionate and emotional appeal to all of us to burst from our pews and fill the sanctuary with cries of praise in a hundred unknown tongues. His focus for the message, however, was a Biblical look at the gifts of the Spirit.
Acknowledging that gifts of healing, prophecy, and tongues are controversial subjects, he said up front that anyone who reads 1 Corinthians 12 cannot accept gifts of knowledge or faith as valid and reject tongues and prophesying -- they are all listed together. That said, however, he spent much of the sermon focusing on the importance of discernment, including instances where he has had to awkwardly confront people to say they are not really hearing from God so much as themselves. He also spent a while stressing the importance of what Paul claims to be "orderly worship" in 1 Corinthians 14. Speaking in tongues is a gift, the Bible says, that should only be used to instruct or encourage the Church.
Anyways, I could go on for a while talking about all of that, but I will say that when he closed the service with an opportunity for all of us to just call out on our own to have the Spirit fill us, I felt a much clearer understanding of what we were really asking for -- not to be filled so we could become the resident religious radical on campus that people could seek out to find healing, but to be simply open to the Lord working through us in any and every way, whether that be a momentary glimpse of holy wisdom, or an encouraging word from the Spirit to a friend.
Alright, now I think I will juggle time a little here and jump back to Friday and let the tape roll forward. I had a big Psychology test on Friday that I think I did pretty well on, but we'll see. Weekends are peculiar around here. Come Friday, the place is alive with excitement and energy as people are all around making plans and just taking it easy, but come Friday night, the busy-bodies and chatty Cathy's are all gone. Normally there are a lot of people around still, but the crowds seem somewhat elusive. Usually, that's fine by me; there's just that much more for my friends and I to busy ourselves with. This weekend, however, a bunch of my closer friends all left on Friday for home or tournaments (including Austin). But that wasn't really a big deal, except my entire floor went camping on Friday night, but I couldn't go. So that forced me to call up some acquaintances and make them... better acquaintances.
The reason I couldn't go camping was because of our much-anticipated swim meet on Saturday. I slept 10 hours (happy, mom?) on Friday night to be well rested for our meet against Elizabethtown. Long story short, it was a fun day, everybody swam really well even though the pool was pretty crummy, and we came out on top!! That's right, first win in Messiah Swimming history, brought to you by our little inaugural, motley crew of a team. Go Messiah! (Oh and that reminds me, visit www.gomessiah.com for results.) I cut 5 seconds on my 200 freestyle and 1.5 seconds on my 100 freestyle!
Saturday night I returned to campus ready to party. A bunch of guys on the floor, however, had left for the new James Bond movie, so I called up one of my friends (Brian) to see what he was up to and guess where he was going? James Bond! Thinking quickly, I snagged a seat in the car and had a great night with Brian, his girlfriend, and my other friend Chris. We got pretty lost and ended up at WalMart at 1 AM, but I'm always up for a good adventure! The movie, if you haven't seen it, was only decent in my books. It was James Bond, so obviously it was entertaining, but I just thought the plot was sort of weak.
Hmm.. where to next? How about just an overall summary of Monday through Thursday... sound good? Overall, this week was pretty uneventful. Lots of swimming, a pretty decent amount of work, a decent amount of sleep, copious amounts of food to supplement all the swimming, and... hmm.. let's see. OH! I got one.
Monday night I went to an alternate chapel Honors Congress event thingamajig with Dr. Christine Rosen. Who is she, you might be wondering? Well, basically she is just this really smart lady who writes a lot of books and does a lot of speaking about one of the most controversial (and yet largely ignored) issues in modern society -- eugenics. Eugenics, and I can thank my English teacher, Mr. Collins, for my knowledge of this, is the study of improving human genes. The discussion covered everything from 'designer babies' to abortion. I left that talk fearful of the future of our society, but glad that I was equipped with new knowledge.
For those who might be wondering what all the kafuffle is about, pretty much all I can say is that almost all doctors now expect that if a fetus tests positive for any genetic disorder (i.e. Tay-Sachs, Downs), the mother will abort it for the "sake of society." It has gotten to the point, however, where we can test for genetic 'defects' in a baby that might lead to them developing colon cancer in their late 50s. Should the mother be held responsible for bringing a person into the world that could potentially suffer later in life, or should we just kill any infant that could ever suffer or not fully contribute to society? Those are the terrible questions people are asking these days. And there are other issues that seem much more trivial, but are problematic on other levels. For instance, a woman wanting a child can now go to any sperm bank and practically 'design her baby' -- gender, eye colour, physical attributes -- and the methods are getting more accurate every year.
So, enough of all this depressing stuff. I am very excited for Thanksgiving Break. Work has been picking up a lot and it just feels like the break will be very much deserved. BUT, it's been good times as usual. I'm excited for another week. I have a big Psych. assignment due that is based on an interview I have to conduct, a persuasive speech to prepare for Communications (about eugenics), and a paper due for my Amish seminar. We have another meet coming up this Saturday, and even though I don't think we'll be as successful as a team, I'm looking forward to shaving some more time off my personal records.
So I think that's all for now. I guess this has been a little more brief than my previous entries, but I've got a bunch to do this afternoon. The Men's Swim Team meets every Sunday night for devotions and it's my turn to share my testimony. So that'll be fun. I'm also growing a massive beard. Well.. it's not really massive, but I do think it's longer than it's ever been. Why? No-Shave-November, that's why.
Alright, once again I love you all. Feel free to contact me if you want any additional info or just want to talk!
J.m.B
p.s. I think you'll find a few errors in this one, Mom.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Chaos
Dear World,
What a week. It was busy, productive, eventful, exciting, and, of course, fun. What could have caused such a plethora of experiences, you might ask? Well, let me tell you.
There was a lot going on around here this week with the election and different convention-type things (including the Missions Awareness Emphasis this week), so that made things really exciting. Monday was greeaatt. It was actually the perfect way to start off the week. I went to Spanish, finished early and wandered around the mission organizations area. There were some really interesting things there, but it is sort of hard to plan missions trips when you're in college. But Messiah has a lot of really great opportunities for missions through the school for people interested (myself included). Anyways, from there I went to check my mail, and was thrilled to find a wonderful package from Katrina, including a package of encouragement cards from people at church. If you are one of the people that wrote me a card, thank you soo much. It was really moving to realize that so many people are still thinking about me and praying for me back home.
Continuing with Monday, I visited the annual Career Expo that afternoon. They basically just fill one of the gyms with booths from all sorts of employers (big and small) and graduate schools from all over. It's an excellent opportunity for juniors and seniors, but I figured I would check it out anyway. Nothing leapt out at me. From there I headed to my advising session for Spring semester. I had a few ideas of courses I wanted to take, and my advisor basically just said they were good choices. I have to wait a while before I'm allowed to register, so if I can get into what I want, I'm basically just going to take more General Education courses.
Tuesday? hmm.. Tuesday was an exciting day, alright. Election Day in America, for one, but also the day of my job interview! I went to classes, filled out the application form, and then headed over to the main office building (which I've never really explored) for my interview. They call the building Old Main, and rightly so. It's nice inside, but also very old. Up on the third floor, you can actually feel the floor drooping to one side as your walking down the hall. Oh well. If that building is as old as the school, it will be 100 years old in a few months.
Anyways. The interview went smashingly! It was long -- almost an hour -- but I felt really confident, and the lady was really nice. We talked about her, we talked about me, we talked about the Student Impact Fund, we talked about Messiah in general, we talked about things that could go wrong during a call, we talked about how I handle stress and rejection, we talked about how nice it is to be paid $10/hr, and finally she told me I could start as soon as possible! That was actually really nice of her, because the min. number of hours Phonathon callers have to work in a week is 10, but she said I could start with however many hours I could fit into my schedule; if that was 0 until the Spring, she said that's fine too. So that was really exciting! I had just been offered a position on the spot with the highest paying student job on campus!
From there, it was too late to go to swimming, so I headed up to the church just off campus and cast my ballot for the ill-fated Republicans. Oh well. They tried their best. A lot of people around here were pretty upset when Obama won (and a lot were really excited). Whatever. He seems like a nice enough guy, and there's no point getting all upset about it now. Haha, but it was funny how a bunch of my friends were saying to me, "We're moving to Canada." I then informed them that if they are really trying to flee raised taxes, universal health care, pro-gay marriage, and pro-abortion legislation, they might want to look elsewhere.
Wednesday was a long, work-filled day. I had four classes, a presentation on anxiety disorders in Psychology (that actually went really well), and two big assignments due for Thursday. Not very much happened that day aside from a lot of work. Oh, but it was mine and Katrina's big one-year, nine months! Woohoo! Ha.. but I spent probably over three hours preparing for a five minute speech on Wednesday. I could have (and should have) picked a topic much smaller than 100 years of musical history, but hey, it was very informative and I learned a lot in the process of preparing it. I worked until 12:00 that night, and then woke up five hours later for swim practice.
Exhausted, I delivered my speech in Comm (and it went really well), ate, and then ran back to the room. I also had a 1000 word book review due for 1:20. So lots of reading and 995 words later, I clicked "print" at 1:10 and ran to class. But I was really happy with the final product (and it was only the editing that I finished before class, Mom, don't worry. I'm not slipping into procrastinating ways just yet...). After class, I came back, played guitar for a little, and then took a solid three hour nap. Oh man, it was nice. Other Thursday highlights included: late dinner, a really great Powerhouse (thursday night worship service), and watching a scary movie with Austin before bed (BAD idea).
Friday was nice as well. We had two really interesting visitors to our Psych. class. Tying in with our chapter on Psychological disorders, one of these guys had schitzophrenia, and the other had been abused as a child and had bad hallucinations and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. They were both really articulate and extremely interesting to hear. So that was really neat. Then I enjoyed a nice, relaxing afternoon, went to dinner down the street at my Professor's house (the Amish seminar one). Then I ran back to campus and helped out with ticket swiping for the big Conor Oberst concert. Woohoo! Long story short, it was an incredible show with really energetic performances and TONS of people. We sold around 1300 tickets, and probably 1000 of them were kids from off-campus. What a night!
Yesterday, I had a nice, light Sat. morning swimming practice, then off to a service project at a local nature reservation with the team. That was definitely a great bonding experience that really made me glad I'm on the swim team. I might have to drag myself to practice sometimes, but there are a ton of bonuses to being on the team too. Austin's dad was here yesterday so later last night we threw a surprise B-day party for him... he loved it. Basically, my dinner yesterday consisted of two slices of ice cream cake, some pecan pie, brownies, and some oatmeal cookies to round out the meal. Then we all went to the regional soccer championship game, and, of course, Messiah Men won 7-0. NCAA here we come!
I was really tired last night, and even though I really wanted to go to church, I ended up sleeping in until 11:30. Oh well, it was much needed rest. I've got team bible study later tonight and I'm really looking forward to that.
Yup. So that is that. As you can see, a LOT happened this week, and I didn't even include all the alternate chapels and various other things I got to do this week. This has taken almost an hour and a half to write, so I should get on to studying for my Spanish test tomorrow. You are all very important to me, and if you want to know anything else, or you just want to contact me personally, I'd love to hear from you.
Love you all,
Josh
p.s. I didn't get a chance to read over this again, so please pardon the blaring errors.
What a week. It was busy, productive, eventful, exciting, and, of course, fun. What could have caused such a plethora of experiences, you might ask? Well, let me tell you.
There was a lot going on around here this week with the election and different convention-type things (including the Missions Awareness Emphasis this week), so that made things really exciting. Monday was greeaatt. It was actually the perfect way to start off the week. I went to Spanish, finished early and wandered around the mission organizations area. There were some really interesting things there, but it is sort of hard to plan missions trips when you're in college. But Messiah has a lot of really great opportunities for missions through the school for people interested (myself included). Anyways, from there I went to check my mail, and was thrilled to find a wonderful package from Katrina, including a package of encouragement cards from people at church. If you are one of the people that wrote me a card, thank you soo much. It was really moving to realize that so many people are still thinking about me and praying for me back home.
Continuing with Monday, I visited the annual Career Expo that afternoon. They basically just fill one of the gyms with booths from all sorts of employers (big and small) and graduate schools from all over. It's an excellent opportunity for juniors and seniors, but I figured I would check it out anyway. Nothing leapt out at me. From there I headed to my advising session for Spring semester. I had a few ideas of courses I wanted to take, and my advisor basically just said they were good choices. I have to wait a while before I'm allowed to register, so if I can get into what I want, I'm basically just going to take more General Education courses.
Tuesday? hmm.. Tuesday was an exciting day, alright. Election Day in America, for one, but also the day of my job interview! I went to classes, filled out the application form, and then headed over to the main office building (which I've never really explored) for my interview. They call the building Old Main, and rightly so. It's nice inside, but also very old. Up on the third floor, you can actually feel the floor drooping to one side as your walking down the hall. Oh well. If that building is as old as the school, it will be 100 years old in a few months.
Anyways. The interview went smashingly! It was long -- almost an hour -- but I felt really confident, and the lady was really nice. We talked about her, we talked about me, we talked about the Student Impact Fund, we talked about Messiah in general, we talked about things that could go wrong during a call, we talked about how I handle stress and rejection, we talked about how nice it is to be paid $10/hr, and finally she told me I could start as soon as possible! That was actually really nice of her, because the min. number of hours Phonathon callers have to work in a week is 10, but she said I could start with however many hours I could fit into my schedule; if that was 0 until the Spring, she said that's fine too. So that was really exciting! I had just been offered a position on the spot with the highest paying student job on campus!
From there, it was too late to go to swimming, so I headed up to the church just off campus and cast my ballot for the ill-fated Republicans. Oh well. They tried their best. A lot of people around here were pretty upset when Obama won (and a lot were really excited). Whatever. He seems like a nice enough guy, and there's no point getting all upset about it now. Haha, but it was funny how a bunch of my friends were saying to me, "We're moving to Canada." I then informed them that if they are really trying to flee raised taxes, universal health care, pro-gay marriage, and pro-abortion legislation, they might want to look elsewhere.
Wednesday was a long, work-filled day. I had four classes, a presentation on anxiety disorders in Psychology (that actually went really well), and two big assignments due for Thursday. Not very much happened that day aside from a lot of work. Oh, but it was mine and Katrina's big one-year, nine months! Woohoo! Ha.. but I spent probably over three hours preparing for a five minute speech on Wednesday. I could have (and should have) picked a topic much smaller than 100 years of musical history, but hey, it was very informative and I learned a lot in the process of preparing it. I worked until 12:00 that night, and then woke up five hours later for swim practice.
Exhausted, I delivered my speech in Comm (and it went really well), ate, and then ran back to the room. I also had a 1000 word book review due for 1:20. So lots of reading and 995 words later, I clicked "print" at 1:10 and ran to class. But I was really happy with the final product (and it was only the editing that I finished before class, Mom, don't worry. I'm not slipping into procrastinating ways just yet...). After class, I came back, played guitar for a little, and then took a solid three hour nap. Oh man, it was nice. Other Thursday highlights included: late dinner, a really great Powerhouse (thursday night worship service), and watching a scary movie with Austin before bed (BAD idea).
Friday was nice as well. We had two really interesting visitors to our Psych. class. Tying in with our chapter on Psychological disorders, one of these guys had schitzophrenia, and the other had been abused as a child and had bad hallucinations and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. They were both really articulate and extremely interesting to hear. So that was really neat. Then I enjoyed a nice, relaxing afternoon, went to dinner down the street at my Professor's house (the Amish seminar one). Then I ran back to campus and helped out with ticket swiping for the big Conor Oberst concert. Woohoo! Long story short, it was an incredible show with really energetic performances and TONS of people. We sold around 1300 tickets, and probably 1000 of them were kids from off-campus. What a night!
Yesterday, I had a nice, light Sat. morning swimming practice, then off to a service project at a local nature reservation with the team. That was definitely a great bonding experience that really made me glad I'm on the swim team. I might have to drag myself to practice sometimes, but there are a ton of bonuses to being on the team too. Austin's dad was here yesterday so later last night we threw a surprise B-day party for him... he loved it. Basically, my dinner yesterday consisted of two slices of ice cream cake, some pecan pie, brownies, and some oatmeal cookies to round out the meal. Then we all went to the regional soccer championship game, and, of course, Messiah Men won 7-0. NCAA here we come!
I was really tired last night, and even though I really wanted to go to church, I ended up sleeping in until 11:30. Oh well, it was much needed rest. I've got team bible study later tonight and I'm really looking forward to that.
Yup. So that is that. As you can see, a LOT happened this week, and I didn't even include all the alternate chapels and various other things I got to do this week. This has taken almost an hour and a half to write, so I should get on to studying for my Spanish test tomorrow. You are all very important to me, and if you want to know anything else, or you just want to contact me personally, I'd love to hear from you.
Love you all,
Josh
p.s. I didn't get a chance to read over this again, so please pardon the blaring errors.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
It won't be long
Hola!
A week just does not seem complete without another blog entry. Thus begins another attempt at extracting a few special gems from a whirlwind of a routine...
Presently, my mind is occupied with a few significant thoughts/concerns. Tomorrow, I have my first-ever appointment with my academic advisor. I will enter the 15-30 minute meeting with a truckload of questions, and hope to depart with a substantially lighter load. Her job is to advise my course selection for the spring and hopefully help me map out my path for the next four years. There are two problems, however. One: I'm supposed to arrive with a list of courses I want to take in the spring. Two: I have no idea what courses I want to (or should) take in the spring. But I'm sure these advisors are used to helpless freshmen knocking on their doors, so I really hope she's ready for me. I have thought a lot about it, though, and here are a few courses I really want to take (whether these are the best choices right now, I will soon find out):
- American History to 1865 (this ought to cure my ignorance)
- Spanish 102 (while it's still fresh..)
- Problem Solving with Computers (get my math credit... and finally learn how to use Excel)
- Mass Media and Society (which one is to blame?)
- Created and Called for Community (a required course for all spring-semester freshmen)
- Problems in Philosophy (... still not sure about this one)
So I'm looking forward to figuring all of that out; it'll be nice to have some direction and start to plan how I'm going to do the whole study abroad thing. I also have a job interview on Tuesday afternoon. Yes, that's right, a job interview. Apparently I was recommended by someone, because I received an email from the lady who coordinates Annual Giving asking if I'd be interested in working for the Phonathon. Essentially, it's a telemarketing job, but everyone I've heard from says that it's one of the best jobs around campus. The pay starts at minimum wage but goes up each semester, and there are lots of bonuses for callers who do well. Basically, I'd be working ten-hours a week calling alum around the country asking them for updated information or important news and then asking if they could sponsor the Student Impact Fund (a fund that aids in scholarships and study abroad programs for students). To many of you, such an occupation might not sound too glamorous, but when you see most of the other jobs for students around here... let's just say I'm pretty excited. The plan is that I'll start in February (at the end of the swimming season).
Speaking of swimming, Messiah College hosted its first ever swim meet (against Gettysburg College) on Saturday. Over 200 people showed up to watch and cheer us on as we made history... and got utterly defeated in the process. Ha.. but it was fine. I, along with a lot of other people, beat personal records, and pretty much everybody that swam got to set some sort of school record. After that, we all went over to the Men's Soccer game against Elizabethtown. Some sort of bizarre school tradition dictates that everybody throw marshmallows whenever anything exciting happens. So after dodging sticky balls of sugar as Messiah defeated E-town 3-0, we went to a concert at the Union and heard this band from Maine that was actually really good! Check out The Wrecking if you're interested.
So that was Saturday. What about the rest of the week, you might be wondering? Umm.. well I watched a few too many scary movies, went out for dinner with Lauren's dad and the 'gang', swam a lot, did a bunch of homework, and planned some course stuff. I'm looking forward to two cancelled classes this week (back-to-back, no less), my two forementioned meetings, and Friday night. Only, the problem with Friday night is that I have a serious conflict between my obligations to the Concert Committee and the Conor Oberst concert on Friday and the swim team and our fourth meet at the same time. I'd rather help out with the concert .. and we do have 8 meets throughout the season... but I don't know. I'll let you know how this turns out.
Right now, I need to get on with some work. I also have a Men's Swimming devotional with the team later tonight. And I should probably start exercising some self-control with all this candy floating around everywhere. Thanks again for all your prayers. There is a lot to plan for right now with the Spring Semester and J-Term approaching.
Love you all and all my lovin',
Josh
p.s. I apologize for grammar errors, and thanks to those who help me spot them.
A week just does not seem complete without another blog entry. Thus begins another attempt at extracting a few special gems from a whirlwind of a routine...
Presently, my mind is occupied with a few significant thoughts/concerns. Tomorrow, I have my first-ever appointment with my academic advisor. I will enter the 15-30 minute meeting with a truckload of questions, and hope to depart with a substantially lighter load. Her job is to advise my course selection for the spring and hopefully help me map out my path for the next four years. There are two problems, however. One: I'm supposed to arrive with a list of courses I want to take in the spring. Two: I have no idea what courses I want to (or should) take in the spring. But I'm sure these advisors are used to helpless freshmen knocking on their doors, so I really hope she's ready for me. I have thought a lot about it, though, and here are a few courses I really want to take (whether these are the best choices right now, I will soon find out):
- American History to 1865 (this ought to cure my ignorance)
- Spanish 102 (while it's still fresh..)
- Problem Solving with Computers (get my math credit... and finally learn how to use Excel)
- Mass Media and Society (which one is to blame?)
- Created and Called for Community (a required course for all spring-semester freshmen)
- Problems in Philosophy (... still not sure about this one)
So I'm looking forward to figuring all of that out; it'll be nice to have some direction and start to plan how I'm going to do the whole study abroad thing. I also have a job interview on Tuesday afternoon. Yes, that's right, a job interview. Apparently I was recommended by someone, because I received an email from the lady who coordinates Annual Giving asking if I'd be interested in working for the Phonathon. Essentially, it's a telemarketing job, but everyone I've heard from says that it's one of the best jobs around campus. The pay starts at minimum wage but goes up each semester, and there are lots of bonuses for callers who do well. Basically, I'd be working ten-hours a week calling alum around the country asking them for updated information or important news and then asking if they could sponsor the Student Impact Fund (a fund that aids in scholarships and study abroad programs for students). To many of you, such an occupation might not sound too glamorous, but when you see most of the other jobs for students around here... let's just say I'm pretty excited. The plan is that I'll start in February (at the end of the swimming season).
Speaking of swimming, Messiah College hosted its first ever swim meet (against Gettysburg College) on Saturday. Over 200 people showed up to watch and cheer us on as we made history... and got utterly defeated in the process. Ha.. but it was fine. I, along with a lot of other people, beat personal records, and pretty much everybody that swam got to set some sort of school record. After that, we all went over to the Men's Soccer game against Elizabethtown. Some sort of bizarre school tradition dictates that everybody throw marshmallows whenever anything exciting happens. So after dodging sticky balls of sugar as Messiah defeated E-town 3-0, we went to a concert at the Union and heard this band from Maine that was actually really good! Check out The Wrecking if you're interested.
So that was Saturday. What about the rest of the week, you might be wondering? Umm.. well I watched a few too many scary movies, went out for dinner with Lauren's dad and the 'gang', swam a lot, did a bunch of homework, and planned some course stuff. I'm looking forward to two cancelled classes this week (back-to-back, no less), my two forementioned meetings, and Friday night. Only, the problem with Friday night is that I have a serious conflict between my obligations to the Concert Committee and the Conor Oberst concert on Friday and the swim team and our fourth meet at the same time. I'd rather help out with the concert .. and we do have 8 meets throughout the season... but I don't know. I'll let you know how this turns out.
Right now, I need to get on with some work. I also have a Men's Swimming devotional with the team later tonight. And I should probably start exercising some self-control with all this candy floating around everywhere. Thanks again for all your prayers. There is a lot to plan for right now with the Spring Semester and J-Term approaching.
Love you all and all my lovin',
Josh
p.s. I apologize for grammar errors, and thanks to those who help me spot them.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
You Are My Sunshine
hello all,
First off, the weather today is mighty fine. About 64 degrees (er... 17 Celsius) and sunny. The leaves are rustling in the cool Autumn breeze, Fall Fest is in full swing down at the student union, and I am in my room... sort of doing homework, mostly writing in this blog. I seem to have designated Sunday afternoon as my "write to friends, call home, update blog" time. However, there is always a small sting of homesickness that accompanies such times, so I apologize in advance if any of my writing is subtly melancholic. :]
Hmmm.. one thing I would like to say is that it is very difficult to put pictures up here, so if you have a facebook and can access my profile, please feel free to browse the gallery. However, if you do not, and you would like to see some pictures, please just send me an email and I can easily send some your way. (joshboden@rogers.com)
So I went to Philadelphia for the first time on Friday! In the evening, after classes and everything, a group of friends and I hopped in my friend's car (Chris) and drove two hours to downtown Philly to see that Copeland concert I mentioned before. It. Was. Amazing. ahah I was really shocked when we got there because the venue was literally a church basement. Just a big room with about 400 people and one of the greatest bands of all time. Their performance was one of the best I've ever seen, and the opening acts were excellent as well. It was a late night, but totally worth it.
Speaking of Philly, there's this little contest called the "world .. series" or something like that. Anyways, it's kind of a big deal and I must admit that I am, for the first time in recent years, actually getting pretty excited rooting for a team. To cheer for the Rays would be suicide, so I've joined this entire state in the charge: Go Phillies!! There was a Philadelphia Eagles game on after lunch, the Pittsburg Steelers game is on right now, and then the 4th World Series game starts in a few hours. Let me just say that the sports craze around here is a little contagious.
Classes are going really well. My workload has been very manageable recently. I had a few papers due this week, but just short ones. Also a couple tests, but they all went really well. Oh and I delivered an informative speech on Thursday morning about being Canadian. Basically, I took it upon myself to disillusion my peers in Communications class on the myths surrounding Canada. Ha ha it was a blast to deliver, and the class seemed to like it a lot too. One guy said, "You should be a Communications major or something." Well, seeing as I am a Communications major, I found that pretty affirming.
I played in the last of the first-year chapels on Thursday morning, as well. Now I'm just another member of the worship community, so it might be a while before I get to play again, but that's alright. I can wait.
In the meantime, I've been trying really hard to prioritize things. I am not unbearably busy, but there are lots of things (mainly keeping in touch with people back home) that can get neglected. So I'm determined to do that and also to work harder at doing regular and in-depth devotions. I'm going to join a small group on Monday nights and try to find a time in the week to join an outreach project. There are tons going on, so the onus is on me to find something that works.
I have a swim meet on Tuesday and another one on the weekend. So those will be fun, but truth be told, I've pretty much decided that this will be my only year on the swim team. While the exercise and visible improvement is a definite bonus, I can't help but feel like there are lots of other things I could be doing with more time .. maybe things that are more signficant. BUT, I'm not sure because being on an NCAA college sports team is pretty awesome.
Last thing: I really want to see High School Musical 3 this week. .. just had to get that out.
Alright, well, I've been at this for a while. Once again, thanks for reading. Please feel free to send me mail (electronic or not). I love you all. And those of you who are praying for me, thank you soo much. I would love to hear what is new with you, so please post comments or send me emails.
Thanks for everything,
Josh
First off, the weather today is mighty fine. About 64 degrees (er... 17 Celsius) and sunny. The leaves are rustling in the cool Autumn breeze, Fall Fest is in full swing down at the student union, and I am in my room... sort of doing homework, mostly writing in this blog. I seem to have designated Sunday afternoon as my "write to friends, call home, update blog" time. However, there is always a small sting of homesickness that accompanies such times, so I apologize in advance if any of my writing is subtly melancholic. :]
Hmmm.. one thing I would like to say is that it is very difficult to put pictures up here, so if you have a facebook and can access my profile, please feel free to browse the gallery. However, if you do not, and you would like to see some pictures, please just send me an email and I can easily send some your way. (joshboden@rogers.com)
So I went to Philadelphia for the first time on Friday! In the evening, after classes and everything, a group of friends and I hopped in my friend's car (Chris) and drove two hours to downtown Philly to see that Copeland concert I mentioned before. It. Was. Amazing. ahah I was really shocked when we got there because the venue was literally a church basement. Just a big room with about 400 people and one of the greatest bands of all time. Their performance was one of the best I've ever seen, and the opening acts were excellent as well. It was a late night, but totally worth it.
Speaking of Philly, there's this little contest called the "world .. series" or something like that. Anyways, it's kind of a big deal and I must admit that I am, for the first time in recent years, actually getting pretty excited rooting for a team. To cheer for the Rays would be suicide, so I've joined this entire state in the charge: Go Phillies!! There was a Philadelphia Eagles game on after lunch, the Pittsburg Steelers game is on right now, and then the 4th World Series game starts in a few hours. Let me just say that the sports craze around here is a little contagious.
Classes are going really well. My workload has been very manageable recently. I had a few papers due this week, but just short ones. Also a couple tests, but they all went really well. Oh and I delivered an informative speech on Thursday morning about being Canadian. Basically, I took it upon myself to disillusion my peers in Communications class on the myths surrounding Canada. Ha ha it was a blast to deliver, and the class seemed to like it a lot too. One guy said, "You should be a Communications major or something." Well, seeing as I am a Communications major, I found that pretty affirming.
I played in the last of the first-year chapels on Thursday morning, as well. Now I'm just another member of the worship community, so it might be a while before I get to play again, but that's alright. I can wait.
In the meantime, I've been trying really hard to prioritize things. I am not unbearably busy, but there are lots of things (mainly keeping in touch with people back home) that can get neglected. So I'm determined to do that and also to work harder at doing regular and in-depth devotions. I'm going to join a small group on Monday nights and try to find a time in the week to join an outreach project. There are tons going on, so the onus is on me to find something that works.
I have a swim meet on Tuesday and another one on the weekend. So those will be fun, but truth be told, I've pretty much decided that this will be my only year on the swim team. While the exercise and visible improvement is a definite bonus, I can't help but feel like there are lots of other things I could be doing with more time .. maybe things that are more signficant. BUT, I'm not sure because being on an NCAA college sports team is pretty awesome.
Last thing: I really want to see High School Musical 3 this week. .. just had to get that out.
Alright, well, I've been at this for a while. Once again, thanks for reading. Please feel free to send me mail (electronic or not). I love you all. And those of you who are praying for me, thank you soo much. I would love to hear what is new with you, so please post comments or send me emails.
Thanks for everything,
Josh
Sunday, October 19, 2008
What Do I Know?
Hello World,
I write to you today at the conclusion of another wonderful week. Returning on Monday, I re-entered this familiar time-warp called college. Fall break feels like it was ages ago, and although I do miss it, I've enjoyed getting back into things here.
The week was relatively uneventful.. and I say 'relatively' because even an uneventful week around here is still filled with quite a plethora of events. There was lots of swimming and fun and work and fun and a few meetings and practices. Hmm.. maybe I'll just go through day-to-day activities. Monday was the day I finally got back to campus. I retold my story many times, and I'm already looking forward to the day I can tell my children about 'that time I was stranded in New York City alone.' haha.
Tuesday was terrific. I woke up early and hopped in a van headed to Lancaster County, PA. I sat in the passenger's seat and talked to my professor the whole time, which was pretty cool. He's the head of the Biblical and Religious Studies department, so I feel like I've got in with a Messiah big-shot now. Anyways, we visited an older man at his farm where his sons (all 6 of them) work the fields and he runs a window-well business. It was actually really cool to be talking to this people who, for us, have only been 'textbook objects' for a while. It was also really cool to see how, even though they don't use electricity, the Amish are incredibly technologically advanced. This man uses hydraulics and air-pressure to control a bunch of high-tech tools that make really high-quality products. We also visited a produce auction and a family that prepared lunch for us. The woman and her children then sang a few songs for us and answered some questions. She said something interesting after we all sang 'Amazing Grace' together about how we'd all be singing together like that in heaven -- people from all backgrounds united in praising God. That sort of surprised me because you'd think a group as 'radically conservative' as the Amish would never expect to find the post-modern, iPod-carrying evangelicals with them for eternity. But that just goes to show how humble and non-judgmental they actually are. Oh and the food was amazing.
Wednesday was wonderful. It's my busy class day, with four classes all spread out. And, seeing as it was my first full day of classes since the Tuesday a week earlier, I felt like there was a lot to catch up on. But catch up I did. I swam that afternoon, right after classes until six. Then I ate dinner, then I went back to the room to study for a make-up Communications quiz I had missed. Then I went to my friend's room and ate pie and pizza (in that order). Then went to a girls' rec-soccer game to cheer. It was fun. Then I went back to the room and basically went to bed by 10. Woohoo sleep!
Thursday was thrilling. 5:30 AM practice. Comm make-up test. Comm class right after. We're doing informative speeches in that class right now, and mine is this upcoming Thursday. I am going to inform my tragically ignorant class about what I assumed I know more about than any of them -- Canada. ha so I'm actually really looking forward to that speech. It'll be fun to write and fun to deliver. Umm.. so then I had lunch and then class again -- my Amish seminar. It was interesting. I handed in a (VERY rough) draft of a paper. Had a nice, relaxing afternoon swimming-free. Listened to a brand new Copeland CD. Copeland is a band and the CD is amazing. Dinner. Men's Ensemble practice. Back to room to do homework. Off to a meeting at 9 for Concert Committee, during which we discussed upcoming dates and what bands the school could get in for concerts. Then I went on a nice date with my lovely girlfriend ... over the phone, of course, but no less wonderful.
Friday was .. frightening..ly great! Homecoming weekend had begun. Classes were great. Afternoon was nice. I played guitar for a little bit and slept through the first bit of practice.. my bad. Homecoming dance was Friday night.. and although I didn't really want to go at first because a lot of my friends weren't going and I sort of wanted to go to bed early before my Saturday swim meet, I changed my mind last minute. And, boy, am I glad I did! Homecoming was a blast. There were still a lot of people there I knew, and thankfully not very many couples, so it was fun just all hanging out as a group. Probably the highlight was when Avril Lavigne's 'Girlfriend' came on, and the whole place sang every single word and went nuts, giving me a true sense of Canadian pride. Finally, around 11:30, I dragged my sore legs away from the dance and back to bed.
Saturday was stupendous. First Messiah College swim meet ever! It was just the Men's team, so it was really fun traveling as a group and getting to know the guys better. Truth be told, we didn't do very well, but it was just really exciting to be there at 'the start of something new' .. ahem. I swam some pretty tough races, but I made it through and felt better than I ever have at a swim meet. I broke 25 seconds for my 50m-freestyle, which is like 3 seconds better than anything last year. So even if we didn't win and I am still 4 seconds from a winning time, that was really exciting for me.
Right after we came back, I went to a jazz concert put on by Messiah's jazz band. It. Was. Phenomenal. Actually one of the best big-band jazz performances I have ever seen. There were a few soloists that were outstanding, but it was just the band as a whole and how tight they all were during really complicated songs that blew me away. Score 1 for my sense of Messiah pride. After that, I went to the Homecoming coffeehouse in the Union and just spent a long time chatting with people before heading off to bed.
This morning we went to CLA again, and I really liked it .. again. BUT I also really need to get work done. I've been at this for an hour, believe it or not.. with some distractions. Right now I'm also really excited because I just bought tickets for a Copeland concert in Philadelphia this Friday. My friend is getting his van for the weekend, so a bunch of us are driving down to Philly on Friday night to go to the concert. Whether that causes you to feel any sort of excitement or not, I am sooooooooooo excited. But more on that later.
Thanks again for reading. The detail might have been a little excessive, but I figured it would satisfy anybody with questions like 'so what do you actually do? So there you have it. I'm gonna try and get some pictures from Homecoming up. Oh and if there's anything else you want to know from this blog (details about various things) send me an email or leave a comment and I would be happy to oblige.
Love love love,
Josh
I write to you today at the conclusion of another wonderful week. Returning on Monday, I re-entered this familiar time-warp called college. Fall break feels like it was ages ago, and although I do miss it, I've enjoyed getting back into things here.
The week was relatively uneventful.. and I say 'relatively' because even an uneventful week around here is still filled with quite a plethora of events. There was lots of swimming and fun and work and fun and a few meetings and practices. Hmm.. maybe I'll just go through day-to-day activities. Monday was the day I finally got back to campus. I retold my story many times, and I'm already looking forward to the day I can tell my children about 'that time I was stranded in New York City alone.' haha.
Tuesday was terrific. I woke up early and hopped in a van headed to Lancaster County, PA. I sat in the passenger's seat and talked to my professor the whole time, which was pretty cool. He's the head of the Biblical and Religious Studies department, so I feel like I've got in with a Messiah big-shot now. Anyways, we visited an older man at his farm where his sons (all 6 of them) work the fields and he runs a window-well business. It was actually really cool to be talking to this people who, for us, have only been 'textbook objects' for a while. It was also really cool to see how, even though they don't use electricity, the Amish are incredibly technologically advanced. This man uses hydraulics and air-pressure to control a bunch of high-tech tools that make really high-quality products. We also visited a produce auction and a family that prepared lunch for us. The woman and her children then sang a few songs for us and answered some questions. She said something interesting after we all sang 'Amazing Grace' together about how we'd all be singing together like that in heaven -- people from all backgrounds united in praising God. That sort of surprised me because you'd think a group as 'radically conservative' as the Amish would never expect to find the post-modern, iPod-carrying evangelicals with them for eternity. But that just goes to show how humble and non-judgmental they actually are. Oh and the food was amazing.
Wednesday was wonderful. It's my busy class day, with four classes all spread out. And, seeing as it was my first full day of classes since the Tuesday a week earlier, I felt like there was a lot to catch up on. But catch up I did. I swam that afternoon, right after classes until six. Then I ate dinner, then I went back to the room to study for a make-up Communications quiz I had missed. Then I went to my friend's room and ate pie and pizza (in that order). Then went to a girls' rec-soccer game to cheer. It was fun. Then I went back to the room and basically went to bed by 10. Woohoo sleep!
Thursday was thrilling. 5:30 AM practice. Comm make-up test. Comm class right after. We're doing informative speeches in that class right now, and mine is this upcoming Thursday. I am going to inform my tragically ignorant class about what I assumed I know more about than any of them -- Canada. ha so I'm actually really looking forward to that speech. It'll be fun to write and fun to deliver. Umm.. so then I had lunch and then class again -- my Amish seminar. It was interesting. I handed in a (VERY rough) draft of a paper. Had a nice, relaxing afternoon swimming-free. Listened to a brand new Copeland CD. Copeland is a band and the CD is amazing. Dinner. Men's Ensemble practice. Back to room to do homework. Off to a meeting at 9 for Concert Committee, during which we discussed upcoming dates and what bands the school could get in for concerts. Then I went on a nice date with my lovely girlfriend ... over the phone, of course, but no less wonderful.
Friday was .. frightening..ly great! Homecoming weekend had begun. Classes were great. Afternoon was nice. I played guitar for a little bit and slept through the first bit of practice.. my bad. Homecoming dance was Friday night.. and although I didn't really want to go at first because a lot of my friends weren't going and I sort of wanted to go to bed early before my Saturday swim meet, I changed my mind last minute. And, boy, am I glad I did! Homecoming was a blast. There were still a lot of people there I knew, and thankfully not very many couples, so it was fun just all hanging out as a group. Probably the highlight was when Avril Lavigne's 'Girlfriend' came on, and the whole place sang every single word and went nuts, giving me a true sense of Canadian pride. Finally, around 11:30, I dragged my sore legs away from the dance and back to bed.
Saturday was stupendous. First Messiah College swim meet ever! It was just the Men's team, so it was really fun traveling as a group and getting to know the guys better. Truth be told, we didn't do very well, but it was just really exciting to be there at 'the start of something new' .. ahem. I swam some pretty tough races, but I made it through and felt better than I ever have at a swim meet. I broke 25 seconds for my 50m-freestyle, which is like 3 seconds better than anything last year. So even if we didn't win and I am still 4 seconds from a winning time, that was really exciting for me.
Right after we came back, I went to a jazz concert put on by Messiah's jazz band. It. Was. Phenomenal. Actually one of the best big-band jazz performances I have ever seen. There were a few soloists that were outstanding, but it was just the band as a whole and how tight they all were during really complicated songs that blew me away. Score 1 for my sense of Messiah pride. After that, I went to the Homecoming coffeehouse in the Union and just spent a long time chatting with people before heading off to bed.
This morning we went to CLA again, and I really liked it .. again. BUT I also really need to get work done. I've been at this for an hour, believe it or not.. with some distractions. Right now I'm also really excited because I just bought tickets for a Copeland concert in Philadelphia this Friday. My friend is getting his van for the weekend, so a bunch of us are driving down to Philly on Friday night to go to the concert. Whether that causes you to feel any sort of excitement or not, I am sooooooooooo excited. But more on that later.
Thanks again for reading. The detail might have been a little excessive, but I figured it would satisfy anybody with questions like 'so what do you actually do? So there you have it. I'm gonna try and get some pictures from Homecoming up. Oh and if there's anything else you want to know from this blog (details about various things) send me an email or leave a comment and I would be happy to oblige.
Love love love,
Josh
Monday, October 13, 2008
Where is Home?
I just spent a wonderful weekend at home. And after two days of stressful travel I am finally home again. It's funny, actually, how people around here already refer to Messiah as 'home'. But I suppose it also makes sense. I, however, do not feel like I can really label either place as being home right now (after all, can someone have more than one home?) Hmmm.. i suppose this is sort of a trivial concern. The way I see it, I prefer to always find myself at home.
Anyways, three days at my Canadian home were wonderful this past weekend! I got to spend lots of time catching up with the famjam.. and many wonderful hours spent with Katrina. It was really nice to come home, and actually while I was there it almost felt like I had never left. BUT, leave again I did, and sad again I am. (i just felt like talking like Yoda..) However, even though when I left this time I knew it would be longer 'til I returned, I felt much more confident going into it.
I was really excited to get back to campus and having experience with all the long-distance relationships (not only with Katrina, but also with friends and family) helped me out a lot. Canadian thanksgiving with the family was excellent, I got to go to York for a day with Katrina, spent an evening with the family downtown, and had some good food with Emily and Sam. I felt really busy, and didn't even get to do everything I wanted, but it was a good 'first-attempt' at making the most of my visits home. Right now, I have a lot of work to catch up on, and I'm missing Katrina... BUT there are other matters to discuss:
SO, the plan for returning to Messiah was to catch a bus to Buffalo, then to Binghamton, NY, then to Harrisburg. Well, of course things did not go quite as planned. Actually, forget the 'quite' part. Things got totally screwed up. My first bus broke down outside Niagara Falls, so it was an hour and a half almost before we got another one. By the time I got to Buffalo, I hopped on a later bus that was going to New York City with instructions from the driver to get off in Binghamton. So I did. However, when I inquired about a bus to Harrisburg, the guy at the desk merely shook his head with a sad smile on his face (not exactly what you want to see when you are already confused and way behind schedule).
From there my only option was apparently to wait the night in Binghamton (the dumpiest city ever) or get on the next bus to New York City and go from there to Harrisburg. So, like thousands before me, I set off to test my luck in the Big Apple. Upon arrival, I was told that the next bus to Harrisburg did not leave until 3:15 am (who goes to Harrisburg at 3 in the morning!?). So that was when I did what all hopeless adventurers do: I called my mom. And thank God I did. Right before my cell-phone battery died, and with some incredible help from the home front, I got a room for the night (with a king-size bed and a view of the Empire State Building). Then I grabbed some food and went to bed, waking up at 8:30 to find the bus terminal I had been at the night before and look for a bus to Harrisburg. Well, I found one and made it back around 2:30 this afternoon. Yup, that's right. I left Toronto at 6:30 AM on Sunday and arrived on campus at 3:00 PM on Monday. Goooood times.
It's amazing the kind of wild (and stressful) adventures you can sum up in just a few sentences. Ha ha.. amidst all the anxiety of these past two days, however, I was thinking about how that night I spent alone in New York City will be a good story for years (and for my blog.) Grandpa Boden, if you are reading this, thank you SO much for that NYC trip this past summer. I would have been lost out of my mind if I hadn't been to the city before. And for all of you who have prayed for me at any point, it definitely helped last night!
So, now that both my home trip and trip home have come to an end, I am at the start of another busy week at Messiah. There will be a lot on my mind these next few days, but there is a LOT to do in the meantime. Here's a little glimpse at what will most likely happen before I get a chance to update the blog:
- field trip to Lancaster County to visit some nice Amishfolk tomorrow
- lots of homework, including writing a paper, a test, and a speech.
- Homecoming weekend (dance on Friday night, game on Saturday.. festivities throughout)
- First swim meet (yikes!!) on Saturday afternoon
And I'm sure there will be more. And speaking of swimming, I just got my 'gear' for the season (cap, warm-up track suit, new speedo, AND a massive winter parka that says MESSIAH SWIMMING on the back). So that's fun. I guess i should start going to practices then.. haha.
Okay, I need to get on with some of this work.
If you read all of this, I love you very much.
If you only skimmed it, I love you much.
Josh
Anyways, three days at my Canadian home were wonderful this past weekend! I got to spend lots of time catching up with the famjam.. and many wonderful hours spent with Katrina. It was really nice to come home, and actually while I was there it almost felt like I had never left. BUT, leave again I did, and sad again I am. (i just felt like talking like Yoda..) However, even though when I left this time I knew it would be longer 'til I returned, I felt much more confident going into it.
I was really excited to get back to campus and having experience with all the long-distance relationships (not only with Katrina, but also with friends and family) helped me out a lot. Canadian thanksgiving with the family was excellent, I got to go to York for a day with Katrina, spent an evening with the family downtown, and had some good food with Emily and Sam. I felt really busy, and didn't even get to do everything I wanted, but it was a good 'first-attempt' at making the most of my visits home. Right now, I have a lot of work to catch up on, and I'm missing Katrina... BUT there are other matters to discuss:
SO, the plan for returning to Messiah was to catch a bus to Buffalo, then to Binghamton, NY, then to Harrisburg. Well, of course things did not go quite as planned. Actually, forget the 'quite' part. Things got totally screwed up. My first bus broke down outside Niagara Falls, so it was an hour and a half almost before we got another one. By the time I got to Buffalo, I hopped on a later bus that was going to New York City with instructions from the driver to get off in Binghamton. So I did. However, when I inquired about a bus to Harrisburg, the guy at the desk merely shook his head with a sad smile on his face (not exactly what you want to see when you are already confused and way behind schedule).
From there my only option was apparently to wait the night in Binghamton (the dumpiest city ever) or get on the next bus to New York City and go from there to Harrisburg. So, like thousands before me, I set off to test my luck in the Big Apple. Upon arrival, I was told that the next bus to Harrisburg did not leave until 3:15 am (who goes to Harrisburg at 3 in the morning!?). So that was when I did what all hopeless adventurers do: I called my mom. And thank God I did. Right before my cell-phone battery died, and with some incredible help from the home front, I got a room for the night (with a king-size bed and a view of the Empire State Building). Then I grabbed some food and went to bed, waking up at 8:30 to find the bus terminal I had been at the night before and look for a bus to Harrisburg. Well, I found one and made it back around 2:30 this afternoon. Yup, that's right. I left Toronto at 6:30 AM on Sunday and arrived on campus at 3:00 PM on Monday. Goooood times.
It's amazing the kind of wild (and stressful) adventures you can sum up in just a few sentences. Ha ha.. amidst all the anxiety of these past two days, however, I was thinking about how that night I spent alone in New York City will be a good story for years (and for my blog.) Grandpa Boden, if you are reading this, thank you SO much for that NYC trip this past summer. I would have been lost out of my mind if I hadn't been to the city before. And for all of you who have prayed for me at any point, it definitely helped last night!
So, now that both my home trip and trip home have come to an end, I am at the start of another busy week at Messiah. There will be a lot on my mind these next few days, but there is a LOT to do in the meantime. Here's a little glimpse at what will most likely happen before I get a chance to update the blog:
- field trip to Lancaster County to visit some nice Amishfolk tomorrow
- lots of homework, including writing a paper, a test, and a speech.
- Homecoming weekend (dance on Friday night, game on Saturday.. festivities throughout)
- First swim meet (yikes!!) on Saturday afternoon
And I'm sure there will be more. And speaking of swimming, I just got my 'gear' for the season (cap, warm-up track suit, new speedo, AND a massive winter parka that says MESSIAH SWIMMING on the back). So that's fun. I guess i should start going to practices then.. haha.
Okay, I need to get on with some of this work.
If you read all of this, I love you very much.
If you only skimmed it, I love you much.
Josh
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
The distance is what you make it..
Just in case you were wondering, most of my blog titles are lines from songs...
To put it simply, I've been having a blast. Whoever invented this whole college thing deserves some major props... Friends are great, classes are (fairly) easy right now, weather is beautiful, stomachs are full, music is playing. Yup. Goood times.
A group of us spent this past weekend at my friend's sister's house in Frederick, Maryland. (The friend is Lauren and the sister's name is Jess.) It was sooo fun. On top of all the fun and frollicking, probably what made it the best was just the fact that it was a weekend OFF-campus. I mean, Messiah is pretty and everything, but the change of scenery was very welcomed. We sat around and relaxed a bunch (watching T.V., playing ridiculous games, throwing frisbees, watching movies, playing Nintendo 64) and ate A TONNE... literally. It was soo nice to get homecooked meals and desserts and eat beyond our heart's content.
Here are some pictures:
(Just so you know, the group consisted of me, Austin, our friend Isaac, and Lauren, Jess, Elise, and Cierra)
So there you go.. if you can access my facebook account, there you will find more pictures along with videos... including an impromptu song about jenga.
Currently I am just sitting at my computer, but as soon as I finish, I am going to run off to swim practice (last one this week, and we have our first meet next saturday!!), and then I'm off to Lottie for a quick bite, back to the room to change, heading to Men's Ensemble from 7-8, and then a group of us (probably the same group) are going out for dinner somewhere.. sort of as a final celebration before our long separation (.. nice rhyme). Because tomorrow marks the start of FALL BREAK!!
That's right, folks. Tomorrow I will meet my lovely family here on campus, give them a tour of my life these days, and then we are heading back North where I will frantically make the most of my only three days at home from August to December. I hope to see as many people as I can, but I still need to have a talk with that guy who invented college... some longer breaks would be nice.
Alright, maybe I should pack or something...
All My Lovin'
Josh
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Rain... rain... rain
There's a storm off in the distance. It's raining really hard outside my room window. I'm just working on some homework listening to the pitter-patter of rain and the sound of a practicing trumpet-player on the floor below me. It's very nice.
Now I am off to a private hors d'oeuvres reception with FOX News Political Analyst Fred Barnes (shnazzy, i know). But it should be pretty cool, as long as he doesn't ask me any questions about my political views...
haha, so there's a little update on the little things of life here at Messiah. It's raining really hard now, and I have to walk to the library. Jeepers.
Toodles!
Now I am off to a private hors d'oeuvres reception with FOX News Political Analyst Fred Barnes (shnazzy, i know). But it should be pretty cool, as long as he doesn't ask me any questions about my political views...
haha, so there's a little update on the little things of life here at Messiah. It's raining really hard now, and I have to walk to the library. Jeepers.
Toodles!
Sunday, September 28, 2008
31 Days Later
I guess this is turning into a weekly thing...
Once again, here I am on a quiet Sunday afternoon trying to summarize an entire week at college. Only today is different. Today marks exactly one month since that fateful day our parents got back into their cars and drove away. So much has happened; so much has changed. In thirty-one days, I've made more acquaintances than you could shake a stick at, my body has survived almost 100 assaults from Hurricane Lottie (Lottie being the cafeteria), I've rock-climbed, played at one chapel and lead one bonfire worship night, redecorated my room many times, done laundry (three times, mom and dad!), eaten WAY too much, slept the perfect amount (..mom.), gone to many classes and stayed awake in all of them, missed my family, aced a Spanish test, listened to hours of music, spent hours trying to keep in touch with friends and family, received a few significant packages in the mail (including cookies, magazines, letters, shirts, and music), watched many movies, swum hundreds upon hundreds of lengths, played not-enough guitar, gone to church 5 times (thrice to the same one), played at one coffeehouse, explained to hundreds of people why I came from Canada (and sometimes where Canada is), left campus 4 times, gone shopping twice, missed Katrina many times, and made friendships that I know will last for years.
I feel as if I've lived a lifetime these past thirty-one days. It's almost as if I could just go home now and spend years recalling "those good-ol' college days." But I would never. For every awesome experience I've already had, there are so many more to come. I've started to consider my plans for the next few years, actually... which will probably include at least one semester in Philadelphia (maybe two), and one in Australia. And then there are other amazing opportunities awaiting me with music, concerts, worship, student activities, friends, trips, and even schoolwork. So even though it is tough at times to be so far from home with so many strangers, there is so much to thank God for and so much to look forward to. I've been blessed with so many great friendships and opportunities here, and even more comforting, I know I have many loved ones at home who love me all the same even when I am not around.
This past weekend Messiah College hosted what they call "Family Weekend." So, as the name suggests, dorms and buildings everywhere were full of smiling parents and curious children. As my family does not actually live in the same country as me (.. that's a weird thought..) they couldn't make it. But I got to hang out with some of my friends' families which was a blast. haha and when we went out to dinner my roommate, Austine, surprised me by telling the waiters of Texas Roadhouse that it was my birthday. So they came around singing, hoisted me onto a saddle and got the whole restaurant to yell "Yee-haw!" I just awkwardly played along..
And then this morning we all went to the same church as we have the past two weeks; our church-shopping endeavours didn't really last very long. I really like this church Christian Life Assembly, though, so it's nice to wake up every Sunday knowing that you'll be going to a vibrant church with genuine worship and passionate speaking. And any of you that can appreciate a rousing chorus from a massive choir would love this church. Boy, can their band play and singers sing!
Anyways, I think that's all I have to say for now. Other than a couple short fits of feeling sorry for myself (missing home and Katrina), things have been amazing. Oh, actually, on Monday Austin found out he has mono. So that was sort of depressing for him and startling for me. We've been really careful and he's been doing really well, but if you get a chance to pray for him (and for me too..) that would be much appreciated. Oh and swim team practices start up in full swing at 5:45 AM tomorrow morning, so that will be a tiny-bit of an energy-drain. But fear not, my faithful readers, I will not forget you! I will try to post again sometime this week (with pictures).
Okay, I need to go eat. Love you all!
-- josh
p.s. I'M COMING HOME IN A WEEK AND A HALF!!
Once again, here I am on a quiet Sunday afternoon trying to summarize an entire week at college. Only today is different. Today marks exactly one month since that fateful day our parents got back into their cars and drove away. So much has happened; so much has changed. In thirty-one days, I've made more acquaintances than you could shake a stick at, my body has survived almost 100 assaults from Hurricane Lottie (Lottie being the cafeteria), I've rock-climbed, played at one chapel and lead one bonfire worship night, redecorated my room many times, done laundry (three times, mom and dad!), eaten WAY too much, slept the perfect amount (..mom.), gone to many classes and stayed awake in all of them, missed my family, aced a Spanish test, listened to hours of music, spent hours trying to keep in touch with friends and family, received a few significant packages in the mail (including cookies, magazines, letters, shirts, and music), watched many movies, swum hundreds upon hundreds of lengths, played not-enough guitar, gone to church 5 times (thrice to the same one), played at one coffeehouse, explained to hundreds of people why I came from Canada (and sometimes where Canada is), left campus 4 times, gone shopping twice, missed Katrina many times, and made friendships that I know will last for years.
I feel as if I've lived a lifetime these past thirty-one days. It's almost as if I could just go home now and spend years recalling "those good-ol' college days." But I would never. For every awesome experience I've already had, there are so many more to come. I've started to consider my plans for the next few years, actually... which will probably include at least one semester in Philadelphia (maybe two), and one in Australia. And then there are other amazing opportunities awaiting me with music, concerts, worship, student activities, friends, trips, and even schoolwork. So even though it is tough at times to be so far from home with so many strangers, there is so much to thank God for and so much to look forward to. I've been blessed with so many great friendships and opportunities here, and even more comforting, I know I have many loved ones at home who love me all the same even when I am not around.
This past weekend Messiah College hosted what they call "Family Weekend." So, as the name suggests, dorms and buildings everywhere were full of smiling parents and curious children. As my family does not actually live in the same country as me (.. that's a weird thought..) they couldn't make it. But I got to hang out with some of my friends' families which was a blast. haha and when we went out to dinner my roommate, Austine, surprised me by telling the waiters of Texas Roadhouse that it was my birthday. So they came around singing, hoisted me onto a saddle and got the whole restaurant to yell "Yee-haw!" I just awkwardly played along..
And then this morning we all went to the same church as we have the past two weeks; our church-shopping endeavours didn't really last very long. I really like this church Christian Life Assembly, though, so it's nice to wake up every Sunday knowing that you'll be going to a vibrant church with genuine worship and passionate speaking. And any of you that can appreciate a rousing chorus from a massive choir would love this church. Boy, can their band play and singers sing!
Anyways, I think that's all I have to say for now. Other than a couple short fits of feeling sorry for myself (missing home and Katrina), things have been amazing. Oh, actually, on Monday Austin found out he has mono. So that was sort of depressing for him and startling for me. We've been really careful and he's been doing really well, but if you get a chance to pray for him (and for me too..) that would be much appreciated. Oh and swim team practices start up in full swing at 5:45 AM tomorrow morning, so that will be a tiny-bit of an energy-drain. But fear not, my faithful readers, I will not forget you! I will try to post again sometime this week (with pictures).
Okay, I need to go eat. Love you all!
-- josh
p.s. I'M COMING HOME IN A WEEK AND A HALF!!
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Thanks to You.. I Still Remember .. My Favourite Book ..
Hola!
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is the room now. Feast your eyes:
I need to clarify: the picture does not do the room justice at all. The desks are in a prime location now, my stereo has a place of prominence (on my desk), the T.V. can be seen easily from both of our beds, the fridge is out of the way yet accessible, we bought a lamp for $8.99 from Target, and the beds are ... well, they are 'one.' Perfect for watching a movie with company, slumber parties with the boys, and those chilly winter nights! Ha ha and perhaps best of all, we got a new roommate!
He's hiding under the tree. Don't worry, he's well taken care of, he's just a little bit self-conscious (his face looks sort of squished.. we assume he was in a bad fight in his childhood. Little rascal.)
Hmm.. so this has taken a long time to write. I need to move on with some other work that is substantially less significant to me, but also terribly necessary. Right now I am listening to a mix CD from my lovely girlfriend in another country. That's right, she sent me a package in the mail with pictures and stickers and a novel-letter and two CDs of music special to us! So yeah, if any of you are privileged enough to see her any time soon, please give her a big hug from me.
In closing, things are amazing here. It's great to feel valued as more than just a number or a name, and I'm starting to feel like I sort of matter. I've been really encouraged this week hearing talks about the Philadelphia Campus and Study Abroad opportunities available to us here. I'm spending a semester (maybe two) in Philly, and another semester (maybe two) abroad somewhere. Ha.. but I can't very easily spend four semesters away from main campus when I'm getting so involved here. hmm.. oh well. There are worse predicaments to face.
Once again, thanks for the support and prayers. Feel free to tell your friends about this little blog. I have no idea who reads this, so I would like to send a shout-out to my two most loyal readers: Mom and Dad. :)
Love love love love!
J.M.B.
Well, it's been an entire week since my last post. Time is starting to fly by.. finally. It still feels like I've been here for months, but at the same time, every week is over in a heartbeat. I think that is because I am starting to find myself getting pretty busy. I have swim team conditioning practices (hundreds of push-ups and thousands of lengths... roughly) every day for two hours. So that keeps me occupied.. and sore. Then there is Men's Ensemble, evening meetings for different clubs, lots of new friendships, and schoolwork. I also had the privilege of playing at a First-Year Chapel service this past Thursday morning! They threw together a little crew of First-Year students (freshman is no longer politically correct) including me on guitar and another girl on piano. We played a few hymns and a rousing anthem of "They'll know we are Christians by our love." Ha ha it was pretty nice to 'get my foot in the door,' so to speak.
Actually, something interesting did happen as a result of that. Right before the service, I got approached by the guy who heads up all the first-year activities. He told me that they are having a bonfire for all first-years on Sunday night with some worship. He then asked me to lead it. Well, suffice it to say that I was simultaneously thrilled and shocked. I mean, I was completely honoured .. er.. honored ... to have been asked, but shocked that I was asked. No one here has ever even heard me sing apart from one coffeehouse 3 weeks ago. But, regardless, I've picked some songs and practiced a little for a campfire worship service with potentially 500 people later this evening. If you read this before then, I'd appreciate some prayers!
In other news, there has been a major remodelling in Witmer B317. My roommate, Austin, and I spent hours yesterday cleaning and moving furniture. Frustrated with the lack of creativity in our default room set-up we went on an interior decorating rampage. We honestly tried every combination of furniture arrangements possible. Finally we settled on something that, quite inexplicably, just fit. Here's a picture of the room on the day we moved in:
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is the room now. Feast your eyes:Everybody, meet Leonidus the Betta fish:
He's hiding under the tree. Don't worry, he's well taken care of, he's just a little bit self-conscious (his face looks sort of squished.. we assume he was in a bad fight in his childhood. Little rascal.)
Hmm.. so this has taken a long time to write. I need to move on with some other work that is substantially less significant to me, but also terribly necessary. Right now I am listening to a mix CD from my lovely girlfriend in another country. That's right, she sent me a package in the mail with pictures and stickers and a novel-letter and two CDs of music special to us! So yeah, if any of you are privileged enough to see her any time soon, please give her a big hug from me.
In closing, things are amazing here. It's great to feel valued as more than just a number or a name, and I'm starting to feel like I sort of matter. I've been really encouraged this week hearing talks about the Philadelphia Campus and Study Abroad opportunities available to us here. I'm spending a semester (maybe two) in Philly, and another semester (maybe two) abroad somewhere. Ha.. but I can't very easily spend four semesters away from main campus when I'm getting so involved here. hmm.. oh well. There are worse predicaments to face.
Once again, thanks for the support and prayers. Feel free to tell your friends about this little blog. I have no idea who reads this, so I would like to send a shout-out to my two most loyal readers: Mom and Dad. :)
Love love love love!
J.M.B.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Writer's Blo...g
What you are reading right now took me quite a while to write... and I can't even guarantee that it will make sense. I'm struggling to figure out what one is supposed to write in a blog. On the one hand, I feel like I am simply writing to myself -- in an online journal of sorts. But, in reality, anything I divulge is published and potentially revealed to millions of casual internet browsers. Now, I am not saying that any more than perhaps 5 or 6 people will read this, but the point is I am going to have to find the fine balance between writing about personal matters and providing what you really want to know -- the finer details of college life. ... but there I go again talking to myself. I'm just gonna start writing for real now:
It is Sunday night. The end of an all-too-short weekend, which was in itself the end of an all-too-long week. But I shouldn't complain. My classes are really easy, the homework-load is relatively light (so far), and all around, things have been consistently improving every day since I got here. I've made some pretty solid friendships and my routine is ... well, actually it's not much of a routine at all. My daily schedule always has an appropriate mix of work and play... and sometimes even a little bit of sleep... sometimes.
A weekend at college:
This weekend was pretty fun. On Friday a few of us took our friend, Lauren, to the airport for a wedding in Texas on the weekend. And then we just sort of bummed around.. watched 74 episodes of Friends...and then Dumb and Dumber. Classic. Umm.. and then Sat. morning I slept in until roughly noon (a new 'skill' I've just acquired), and then a bunch of us went shopping at a nearby mall. I bought some nifty little things... but I don't mean 'little' in size, Dad. And I used a credit card for the first time. It was pretty ... exciting, I guess. Except when I had to sign and my signature looked like something a two-year-old would draw.. with a crayon.. in their mouth. Oh well. I'll work on it. And then Sat. night there was a concert on campus featuring a singer named Ingrid Michaelson. It was really good, actually! It was a sweet performance and it got me really excited about the fact that I have four years of concerts at Messiah to look forward to! For only five bucks each!! Anndd then I got to talk to Ty and Dan (at Brock right now) and then Katrina for a little bit.. and then I went to bed. And it was only 10:30 ... ish.
Church was really good on Sunday morning. We went to a mega-church of sorts (Christian Life Assembly in Camp Hill, PA). I was skeptical at first, expecting another seeker-sensitive service with fake smiles and a feel-good sermon. I was, however, pleasantly disappointed. The worship was (amazing with a massive choir, tight band, and orchestra) really sincere and the message was, of all things, highly critical of seeker-sensitive mega-churches. Go figure. Here are some quotes from the sermon, which was one part of a series called "the Big Serve":
"Serving is love in action"
"Christians seem to like services more than serving... We like to be fed more than we like to feed."
"Serving, for a genuine Christ-follower, is NOT an option."
"Christian belief that costs you nothing is worth nothing"
So that was that. A great service. Great church. I'll definitely go back.. but I'll keep shopping for now.
Anndd then the afternoon was sort of rough. I missed Katrina a lot. There were visiting boy/girlfriends everywhere. Lots of reunited couples on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. I smiled outside, seethed inside -- unfairly resenting the blissful lovers for no fault of their own. BUT I'm feeling better now. Anndd I will save the real gushy stuff for my own personal (and yet unfortunately neglected) journal.
Alright, I need to sleep now. And whatever the time stamp on this post is.. it must be wrong.
If you are reading this, I love you.
More on life later,
Josh
It is Sunday night. The end of an all-too-short weekend, which was in itself the end of an all-too-long week. But I shouldn't complain. My classes are really easy, the homework-load is relatively light (so far), and all around, things have been consistently improving every day since I got here. I've made some pretty solid friendships and my routine is ... well, actually it's not much of a routine at all. My daily schedule always has an appropriate mix of work and play... and sometimes even a little bit of sleep... sometimes.
A weekend at college:
This weekend was pretty fun. On Friday a few of us took our friend, Lauren, to the airport for a wedding in Texas on the weekend. And then we just sort of bummed around.. watched 74 episodes of Friends...and then Dumb and Dumber. Classic. Umm.. and then Sat. morning I slept in until roughly noon (a new 'skill' I've just acquired), and then a bunch of us went shopping at a nearby mall. I bought some nifty little things... but I don't mean 'little' in size, Dad. And I used a credit card for the first time. It was pretty ... exciting, I guess. Except when I had to sign and my signature looked like something a two-year-old would draw.. with a crayon.. in their mouth. Oh well. I'll work on it. And then Sat. night there was a concert on campus featuring a singer named Ingrid Michaelson. It was really good, actually! It was a sweet performance and it got me really excited about the fact that I have four years of concerts at Messiah to look forward to! For only five bucks each!! Anndd then I got to talk to Ty and Dan (at Brock right now) and then Katrina for a little bit.. and then I went to bed. And it was only 10:30 ... ish.
Church was really good on Sunday morning. We went to a mega-church of sorts (Christian Life Assembly in Camp Hill, PA). I was skeptical at first, expecting another seeker-sensitive service with fake smiles and a feel-good sermon. I was, however, pleasantly disappointed. The worship was (amazing with a massive choir, tight band, and orchestra) really sincere and the message was, of all things, highly critical of seeker-sensitive mega-churches. Go figure. Here are some quotes from the sermon, which was one part of a series called "the Big Serve":
"Serving is love in action"
"Christians seem to like services more than serving... We like to be fed more than we like to feed."
"Serving, for a genuine Christ-follower, is NOT an option."
"Christian belief that costs you nothing is worth nothing"
So that was that. A great service. Great church. I'll definitely go back.. but I'll keep shopping for now.
Anndd then the afternoon was sort of rough. I missed Katrina a lot. There were visiting boy/girlfriends everywhere. Lots of reunited couples on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. I smiled outside, seethed inside -- unfairly resenting the blissful lovers for no fault of their own. BUT I'm feeling better now. Anndd I will save the real gushy stuff for my own personal (and yet unfortunately neglected) journal.
Alright, I need to sleep now. And whatever the time stamp on this post is.. it must be wrong.
If you are reading this, I love you.
More on life later,
Josh
Friday, September 12, 2008
Here it Goes!
Well, I'm a college kid now and, being such, I have many adventures to be had and stories to be told. Life is a whirlwind right now -- full of new and exciting experiences as I am beginning what many have told me will be the best time of my life. New friends are amazing, professors are genuine and passionate, and the school is constantly throwing fun events and activities at us from every direction. The way I see it, if someone is not having the time of their life here at Messiah College, it's their own fault.
So, you might ask, what could possibly be the problem with being thrust into such an incredible new community? Well, quite simply, it is absence of the everything I've known before now: my closest friends since childhood, my house and room and toys (a.k.a. instruments), my old job, the familiarity of church and the awesome serving experiences there, my amazing family, my amazing girlfriend, the routine and pace of life at home, things I used to do and places I used to go, and even (strange, I know) Yorkland. I miss all of it. In the frenzy of life people call college, we are all forced to adjust to a new way of living. And, although this new way is tremendously fun and admittedly inevitable, there is still something in all of us that wants to go back to the way things were... or at least in me. But I know I'm here for a purpose, and I know God has amazing things in store over these next four years; I've already caught a glimpse of some of them. I'm so grateful to be here, and I'm so appreciative of everyone who helped me get here.
So in light of the ever-present danger of falling out of touch with everyone and everything, I've decided to expand my communicative efforts to reach the broadest audience possible with the most information possible. I've never done a blog before, but I'm pretty excited, actually. (Thanks Mom for the prompt!) I will try to update it as consistently as I can, and feel free to comment or just to send me an email if you have any questions about anything. Thanks, Katrina, for the catchy title. You are still the cheese to my macaroni.
Thanks for reading this. I love you alll! Oh, and although blogging is a predominantly one-sided mode of communication, I still want to hear from YOU! So send me emails, write me letters, send me food, send me money (just joshin'...), or, if you've been inspired, start your OWN blog! How 'bout that?
More on life later,
Josh
So, you might ask, what could possibly be the problem with being thrust into such an incredible new community? Well, quite simply, it is absence of the everything I've known before now: my closest friends since childhood, my house and room and toys (a.k.a. instruments), my old job, the familiarity of church and the awesome serving experiences there, my amazing family, my amazing girlfriend, the routine and pace of life at home, things I used to do and places I used to go, and even (strange, I know) Yorkland. I miss all of it. In the frenzy of life people call college, we are all forced to adjust to a new way of living. And, although this new way is tremendously fun and admittedly inevitable, there is still something in all of us that wants to go back to the way things were... or at least in me. But I know I'm here for a purpose, and I know God has amazing things in store over these next four years; I've already caught a glimpse of some of them. I'm so grateful to be here, and I'm so appreciative of everyone who helped me get here.
So in light of the ever-present danger of falling out of touch with everyone and everything, I've decided to expand my communicative efforts to reach the broadest audience possible with the most information possible. I've never done a blog before, but I'm pretty excited, actually. (Thanks Mom for the prompt!) I will try to update it as consistently as I can, and feel free to comment or just to send me an email if you have any questions about anything. Thanks, Katrina, for the catchy title. You are still the cheese to my macaroni.
Thanks for reading this. I love you alll! Oh, and although blogging is a predominantly one-sided mode of communication, I still want to hear from YOU! So send me emails, write me letters, send me food, send me money (just joshin'...), or, if you've been inspired, start your OWN blog! How 'bout that?
More on life later,
Josh
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