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!?