A Weekend for Visits

This weekend wasn’t intended to be a weekend completely spent at home, but it was a very good weekend. I got to spend time with the family from Pittsburgh which was awesome. Jim is leaving for the Air Force in 2 weeks, so I am pretty much trying to hang out with him as much as possible. Saturday afternoon I also got the chance to meet Sarabeth's grandparents, who affectionately wish to be known as "Gran and Gramps". Fine by me, they're really nice people. They gave me some danish to bring back to school, unfortunately it made a detour to my house never to return. We played some wicked games of Quibble, which is like a combination of rummy and scrabble. I think I'm still preferential to scrabble actully, but I took 2nd once, and then 1st, so apparently I have a knack for it.

There’s my crazy Uncle Mike. Also my Brother and Pittsburgh family. Then Sunday night Sarabeth and I hung out and watched some movie who’s title escapes me at the moment. Then we watched part of Young Frankenstein and basically stayed up till like 5. Good times for the night owls.

The License

This is a much requested blog, so I hope that you all enjoy this.

It was a nice warm October morning, and I was driving illegally. I was on the way to get my license renewed. Immediately after I arrived at the license bureau, I was thoroughly bored with the people and surroundings I was presented with. It was at this time I decided to make my day a little better and possibly increase my chances of being ticketed in the future. Therefore I did this.

The lady's words were, "Uhhh..are you sure?" "I like to smile big" was my reply.

When she handed me the license, she tried not to laugh and failed.

A Weekend To Rule Them All

So I decided to clean the room due to the entrance of the grand futon in my life. This included vacuuming of the wonderful carpet. I always knew that the cleaning equipment in Findley hall was less than standard but I didn’t know that it went to this point. Just look..at the vacuum. This is what happened when I first thrust it forwards, the end just broke off and flew ahead of the vacuum. I then stood there in absolute astonishment of this college and the pitiful age and level of craftsman ship put into the repair of this cleaning utensil.

This past weekend was incredible, I got to hang out with so many old friends, not to mention the ever-wonderful Sarabeth. Thursday night Chris, Regina, Sarabeth and I went to see Flight Plan, which I completely recommend that everyone see. It was very suspenseful and was accompanied by a very well thought out plot and all star acting. After this we went to Findley hall where we picked up Diana, Becky, Tim and Kevin. We then played some wicked Scattergories, which is a game I refuse to play henceforth. My brain just doesn’t work that way. After that we drove over to Drew’s apartment for Wicked followed by a 2AM showing of Elf. Friday was composed of sleep, catching a ride home, a quick talk with the parents and off to Jim’s going away party. We carved a many pumpkins. Sarabeth and I did the best one in my opinion, a very tricky spider.

After this we went to an incredible bonfire with Faith, Luke, Hannah, Chad, Allyson, Billy and Julie. We hung out and had a few drinks, had the cops called on us for being obnoxiously loud and slept under the stars. After I drove Sarabeth back, I
slept in the van at Luke’s property and then had an amazing breakfast of smoked bacon, scrambled eggs and Coca-Cola. Then after an amazing lunch with Chad at the On-Tap, Luke and I worked on the BNYC video for a good solid 3 hours and got the entire intro and second scene closed away. After that Sarabeth and Wes came over to Luke’s house and we watched GATTACA. Afterwards, Sarabeth drove us back to BW. It was an incredible weekend and I hope there are many like it to come.



Luke made the quote of the weekend. This is what we were looking at when he said it: "I'm going to get a cup so I can have some ginger ale."

Done Indeed

Let me tell you...I am just about done with this week. Thank the good Lord there is no class tomorrow because I'm not sure that I would survive. I knew that the conservatory life was pretty difficult and blows this life out of the water as far as difficulty goes. I've got to say there is definite light at the end of the tunnel, I'm really looking forward to the weekend. Movies, games, lunches, parties, video editing and battleday? Heck, sounds like a weekend to me.

Obtaining Ranks

Fall Retreat was absolutely awesome people. The worship and fellowship was just incredible. Not only that but getting away was just what I needed; to have some time to myself that I could escape and get alone with God in the wilderness (Camp Carl is definitely in the middle of nowhere, so that part was covered head to toe).

So bored were we at about 1am that we climbed into the rafters of Camp Carl’s dining facility. As most of you know, there are major benefits of rising through societies’ age ranks, such as the ability to drive and make decisions independent from the consultation of the parentals. Some not so intelligent abilities are to drink yourself retarded or smoke. However it is these years of life that define the difference between youth camps and college students with an empty weekend. You see, when you gain age people trust you not to do the stuff you’re not supposed to be doing, which therefore opens the grand window of opportunity to do exactly that.

One thing I’ll take with me forever is the memory of the incredible catch. Picture this: The weather was cold, wet, dark and worst of all the grass was impossibly slippery. And yet the Ultimate Frisbee enthusiasts were outfitted and ready to engage in battle despite the dismal playing conditions. None of us had foreseen the need for cleats, and even if we had brought them we probably would have done without due to the number of people playing barefoot. I will never be on the same team as Adam Anderson, (a leader on the Campus Crusade staff, and no he wasn’t posing in this picture, I took it without warning) because he is too good. I will never become a better player by being on his team. His arsenal of throws (apart from seeming never-ending in quantity) has unmatched accuracy. I swear he could hit someone in the chest from the other end of a football field. So the pitch was extremely far into the end zone, way beyond anyone’s reach. It was the line drive of tosses and seemed to float for eternity. From the second it was in the air, Adam was on his horse. I’ve never seen a catch so far into the end zone. When the Frisbee was about 2 feet from the ground and had been in the air about 15 seconds (which is a long time for a Frisbee), Adam’s body became parallel to the slippery ground on which he was previously flying down, dove headfirst at the disc and after about a 10 foot slide came up with it. Needless to say the outcries ranged from, “We are witnessing greatness here people”, to “This guy needs to get inside more”, to “Go home Adam”. Most of the negative (jokingly negative mind you) happened to escape my mouth because he wasn’t on my team and any of you that know me understand that my passion for winning is almost a strong as my passion for not losing.

No matter how upset I get for getting beat, I am always gracious. (waiting for laughter) But fear not, the day got better when the rain forced us to stay inside. It might sound bad but Phil the incredible sound man turns out to have more coordination than any of us thought, in that he was a professional swing dance instructor for 10 years. How do you like that?? He taught us a couple turns and let us loose. Not being one to brag but Sarabeth and I definitely tore it up and had fun doing it.

How was my weekend everyone asks? In a word: awesome. Looking forward I can only assume that next year will be even better.

I'll start the NPA, Night People's Association

This is proof that I absolutely need to get to bed earlier. Can I help it that I'm an absolute night owl? Robby said he liked to stay up late, but I'm not sure he understood what a true night person is like. The likes of Chris and Kevin run about the same night life schedule as I. The word for tomorrow morning is coffee. I think AIM takes down and maintains their servers around this time because half the people on my buddy list suddenly signed off. Then another bunch signed off, then I was kicked. It just goes to show you, bad things happen late at night. I'm getting excited for Campus Crusade's fall retreat, I hope to have many a story for you guys when i get back. To quote the Truman Show, In case I don't seeya, good afternoon good evening and goodnight.

Nap of the Century

Today I took what I consider to be the best nap in my life. I feel like Joey from Friends, “That was a great nap.” First of all I went to sleep about 12:15 P.M. last night, which gave me about six and a half hours sleep until my alarm clock went off. I got up around 7:00 and headed over to the union for some early morning prayer with some comrades from Campus Crusade. After we had gotten coffee in us and felt mentally stable enough to talk to God, we prayed for a bit and then went to get breakfast. (Blogging sidebar-Have you ever had the breakfast sandwiches when they’re FRESH?! They’re actually tasty! They break apart in your mouth instead of having to tear them apart!) Sorry about that, I just get so excited because I ate them all last year and they NEVER tasted like that. So about 8:15 A.M. I returned to my dorm where I got in my bed for little nap, accompanied by one of my favorite napping groups; Iron & Wine. It was after this 1 hour and 15 minute nap that I’ve felt the best I’ve felt any morning this year. I was ready for the day! I think a large part of it had to do with the fact that I was already up and going. You know that stage of trying to wake up and you just can’t get with it? The one where about 30 minutes after waking up, you are still thinking to yourself, “I want nothing more than to close my eyes and sleep”? It was at that exact moment when I laid down in my bed. I highly recommend this technique, as it was one of the most relaxing moments of my year. If you want a reason to get up, try Tuesday mornings at 7:00 AM we have prayer right by the candy counter or somewhere in that lobby of the union. It’s really an incredible time and (if you don't have class) the afterwards naps are lets just say, awesome.

A 5am blog post? This oughta be good.

It’s 5:48 A.M. and everyone is asleep. Only morons are up this late; especially morons that have 8am classes. [Looks around stupidly] Let me tell you though, God has a crazy way of coming through in the clinch. One thing I’ve been working on is my patience. So often I just can’t see God working and it frustrates me. I am here to tell you that we are all stupid humans. Yes, that includes George W. Bush and it includes every politician on the face of the planet. I don’t know about you all but I like the fact that George can’t speak very well in public. Everyone laughs at him when he stutters, even though I think he’s a very proficient speaker. He’s a man who speaks from his heart and it comes through in his presentations.

Joe’s 5am poems (no backspacing allowed)

Staring into mirrors that never end

I think of the messages I could never send

When the truth is you already knew

Exactly what I wanted to do

Why do we want what we can’t get?

If what we get is for the good

The good is for the best

Use it or lose it

Stupid stupid rain

It will not stop so it seems

But I wish it would