Currently Listening Who We Are By Lifehouse For the First Time see related

First Semester

So my dad was right about college: you have more time and less time than you've ever had in your life, or ever will again. School and everything else are integrated together so that I'm always doing homework but manage to find time to do the most random things. Case in point: last night we had a "Pin the Feature on the Person" party in the basement of Lane (one of the classroom buildings) where we played Pin the Tail on the Donkey but with different people around campus. We pinned the Man Hug on the Taylor, the Big Mouth on the Deborah, and (best of all) the Asian on the Matt Stone (who is already Asian).

Other semester highlights include:

• the Fall Break trip to Chicago with 16 other people to see Wicked...and I won front row tickets!
• the Hillsdale Chargers having an 8-3 season and breaking all kinds of records (they typically stink)
• Tuesday Tea at Waterman Residence
• random late night talks in Matt, Taylor, and Josiah's rooms about all manner of things
• joining a brand new church that actually meets on campus, the Hillsdale Orthodox Presbyterian Church
• filming a music video of Taylor singing Enrique Iglesias's "Hero", which is one of the funniest things I have ever seen in my life...quite possibly the best weekend I've had since I've come up here
• getting to see a lecture by Walter Williams, one of the only columnists I read with regularity
• going to see The Marriage of Figaro with the Honour's Program and sitting next to Prof. Siegel at dinner
• finding out that I actually can dance, and joining the swing club on campus
• accountability with Andrew and David, two other SovGrace guys not afraid to speak the truth
• Thursday Bible Study of the Sermon on the Mount with the one and only Dan Burfiend
• making friends with some of the coolest people on the face of the earth
• being challenged in my doctrinal beliefs by Catholics, Lutherans, and others who really know their stuff...beware Covenant Life, I'm bringing home some tough questions

So life is good. Even so, I can't wait to get home and see all my old friends (not to mention being done with all my classes for a month).

I've been posting pics on my Facebook, but even if you don't have Facebook, you can still see the albums through these links. Enjoy!

Posted August 21
Posted August 28
Posted September 2
Posted September 11
Posted September 20
Posted October 4
Posted October 14 (includes pics of room)
Posted October 27 (Chicago pics)
Posted October 28 (more Chicago pics)
Posted November 18

Currently Listening Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing By Keith Urban Stupid Boy see related

College!

Well, I guess it's been long enough, and I need to make an update now that I'm actually out of the house and AT COLLEGE!

Let me just say this right off the bat: I'm having a BLAST! I love the people, the classes, and campus life in general. Let me expound on each of those:

The people: I got a head start in meeting people for two reasons: 1) I already knew my roommate, three other guys in my dorm, and three other girls scattered around campus. 2) I went on the HonoUr's Retreat (yes, we insist on the U), which allowed me to get to know people in a much smaller context: only 120 people instead of 1200. I met a lot of cool people like Alex, who is apparently my twin; Gwendoline, who has the world's coolest name and who speaks Czech, French, Spanish, and a little Slovak; Hannah, who is definitely Lydia's twin; Sean, president of the Cartwheel Club; Zach, the campus liberal who is going to teach me how to lift; Allen Z, the junior who wishes he was a freshman; Ryan, who always laughs before the joke; Liz, who is trying to find a "non-nerdy" guy on campus (we told her to give up now); and many more.

We've had a great time hanging out on campus now, and bringing others into our little groups (we're not cliquish..yet). We've watched a lot of movies (partial list: The Prestige, Singin' in the Rain, Good Will Hunting, The Princess Bride, The Complete Works of Shakespeare Abridged), broken into the music building to play the Steinway (clarification: it was actually legal, it just felt like we were breaking in), played water polo (I'm out of shape--'nuff said), stayed up until 1 to watch an eclipse that actually happened the next day at 4:30...you get the idea.

The classes: So far most of my friends have really complained about how much homework they already have, but I must have really nice profs because my homework has been just about nil. Only two writing assignments, and neither of them for credit. Just a lot of reading and a few Latin problems (it's still 101 so it's really easy). All my profs are great: Smith gets so excited about Homer you think he's gonna have a heart attack right there in front of you, Hutchinson reminds me of Sasser in his stream-of-conciousness style of teacher where he says whatever pops into his head and yet makes so much sense, Siegel has a really dry wit but really knows what he's talking about, Krannawitter is a genius and knows the Constitution backward and forward, and Holleman is everything a choir director should be (although I still miss Mrs. Debreceney). Speaking of choir, we're singing Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass, which is already awesome, and I'm auditioning for the chamber choir, so pray for me. Freshmen almost never make it, but they're short on tenors, so I have a good shot.

Campus life: My roommate, Tom, and me are so similar it's kind of eerie, but that's the best kind of roommate. We both go to bed at the same time and wake up at the same time, we listen to the same music, we're both really laid back, and we just generally get along great. I live in Niedfeldt, which is known around campus as "Nerdfeldt", but we're really breaking out of that stereotype this year. As a matter of fact, we're having one of the freshman girls dorms over for dinner tonight (the common reaction: "Girls? At Niedfeldt?" My answer: Beware, this is not your mother's Niedfeldt). The meals are already getting old, but some of the best conversations happen around the cafeteria table, so I'm not complaining. Being out on my own feels different, but I'm having a good time with it.

So praise God, life is good. Just a few prayer requests to sign out: pray that I would find the church that God wants me in so that I could start getting involved, pray that I would work diligently, and pray that I would be a witness to my friends on campus.

Currently Listening Daughtry By Daughtry see related

Ronald Reagan

Well, life's been great: my surprise graduation/birthday/going away party was a smashing success, Summer Celebration was crazy, and I've had a good time hanging out with friends. But I don't really feel like blogging about it, so here are some great quotes that my grandma sent me from one of my historical heroes, Ronald Reagan:

Here's my strategy on the Cold War: We win, they lose.

The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help.

The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant: It's just that they know so much that isn't so.

Of the four wars in my lifetime none came about because the U.S. was too strong.

I have wondered at times about what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the U.S. Congress.

The taxpayer: That's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination.

Government is like a baby: An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.

The nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth is a government program.

I've laid down the law, though, to everyone from now on about anything that happens: no matter what time it is, wake me, even if it's in the middle of a Cabinet meeting.

It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first.

Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.

Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book.

No arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.

If we ever forget that we're one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.

Currently Watching Star Wars Trilogy (Widescreen Edition with Bonus Disc) By Carrie Fisher, Peter Mayhew, James Earl Jones, Harrison Ford see related

Star Wars!

I appear to have broken my curse: I had a party, and it didn't get out of control! And what a party! At 8 a.m. on Saturday morning, me, my brothers, Nick Malcolm, Anna Somerville, and Robby Sawyer started Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. At 11 p.m., the six of us (minus Robby, plus a bunch of others) ended Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. We managed to watch our way through all six Star Wars films over the day (about 13 hours total).

Beyond the original six, nobody showed up until the middle of II, and then people slowly trickled in until during IV when we had around twenty people jammed into my basement. Then people trickled out again until we finished with about ten people. Watching the progression was so much fun, especially the jump from the massive battle sequences and amazing lightsaber duels of III to the Death Star hallways and lightsaber taps of IV. We gave I and II a good heckling, which they richly deserve (Anakin: "But I--". Anna: "Was there a thought after that 'I'? I thought not." Robby: "Jake Lloyd almost singlehandedly managed to bring down the entire Star Wars franchise."). We had quite a good time laughing, and then enjoyed the other four (which was the reason we came in the first place).

So it was a great time, and I want to do some other marathons now. Lord of the Rings, Band of Brothers, Hornblower...come on guys, lets do a bunch of these this summer!

Also, I found this comment from Tim on my GTalk quite funny and oh-so-true: "when life is going well for you, your GTalk message says 'fun times...'; when life is going awry, you have a message beginning with 'God is good...'"

Currently Reading The Gift of Prophecy in the New Testament and Today By Wayne Grudem see related

New Attitude!

Packing up and getting ready to head down in a van with 9 other people to fellowship with thousands of people for five straight days and listen to some of the most amazing preachers of God's Word and just generally have a good time...Can life get any better?

Oh yeah, I finished high school yesterday. I guess it can