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
Sunday, October 26, 2008
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
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