So I've been meaning to write for a few days now, I just haven't had a whole lot to say. But I guess I kind of do now. Life's good, right now. It's been stressful, don't get me wrong, I've sort of reached this place where I am a little bit tired all the time and I don't really realize how tired I am anymore, I just... well, am. The classes that are going to be easy and the classes that are going to be hard have made themselves clear. So far the easiest class I have is my Intro to the Bible class, because all the teacher does is give us all the information we'll need to pass the exam, which I don't really mind, because I am doing more indepth study of the book he gave us, which is a really really cool overview of the bible – very helpful for someone who wants to teach people about God, eh?. I got all the questions right on my first intro to the bible exam, so I'm pretty effing happy about that – but I mean with a bible teacher like Mr. Dixon Kinser, how could I possibly do badly :).
My other classes are really good, but I am not doing nearly as good in them. Spanish... I think for Spanish I just have to learn ALL the words, it's not too hard, I am good at remembering the spelling for words, so that helps, but it's just a lot of new information to keep straight, but in general it's going really well – I had my first Spanish exam today, I think I did alright, I know I could have done better (like known every single answer to every single question, like my intro to the bible course, heh), but I know I will get a decent grade, and I know exactly what I need to study more in depth... conjugation (not to be confused with copulation, click to find out what I'm talking about... don't worry, it's just animaniacs), besides that, I think I did well on it.
Statistics is going to destroy me, in fact I almost gave up on it yesterday because I was just sooo effing frustrated with it, but I think if I just studying my ass off I'll be okay, at least for now. I don't think I'll get an A in the class, but I think I will hopefully get upper C or B, we'll see.
My writing class is actually really cool, my teacher is such an interesting guy, just the other day he was telling us about his time in the army, and how he was the guy with "his finger on the button, it wasn't actually a button... but it was a toggle switch, two in fact", haha. His job, apparently, was the guy who in the event of a major war pushed the button to blow up enemy troops.... oh, yeah, get this, he was in the army during the Cold War, which is ridiculous. Anyhoo, the class will build up in difficulty, so that's good.
I miss teaching kids about God, the only outlet I have is the on campus group called Capture, which I am trying REALLY hard to stay out of a leadership role, just because I know that I will start trying to change it to what I'm familiar with, and I know that I have to let that go, so I'm just showing up and being there, and talking to people. Eventually I'll get involved with music and that'll be good, because, honestly I need some sort of musical outlet and I like using my gifts for that instead of self promotion.
I wrote this song the other day, which is the first song that I've started writing on a while, and... I don't know, I think I'm getting really stuck in this acoustic, folk, indie... rut, and that it's bad, but I don't know, I'm just not sure if I want to get categorized in the way, or maybe it's more that I don't want to get categorized, but I will, because music stems from other music, and it would be nearly impossible to come up with a completely new sound, especially if you listen to as much music as I do. I wrote two songs at the beginning of the year and after a whole lot of work and time (I like to call the process cooking off the fat) I am pretty satisfied with what has come from those two little diddies. I recorded them over the summer with this little recorder that my parents have, and I really do think both of them are really good (I am cocky, I know... but I am not just saying that they are good, I really think they are). I'll hopefully get around to creating a virb.com site for my music pretty soon, just so I have it out there.
All in all, I am enjoying life thoroughly. Chicago's amazing, things are great. I miss people, mostly. Oh! and Portland Brew.... I want to taste the sweet taste of Portland Brew coffee real bad :)
Well this post is long enough as it is. I will bid you all fairwell for now,
peace.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Friday, September 7, 2007
:-D
There is nothing quite as satisfying as knowing that you have finished a week’s work and can take even the smallest amount of rest. So, here I am, enjoying the fact that there is a beautiful water front 100 yards from my dorm. I am done with my second week of classes, I am worn out, and I am ready for even the time I get between now and tomorrow to rest and enjoy some of the people I have come to call my friends. I love it here. I mean, obviously it’s going to get colder, and it’s going to snow, and all the grass and plants are going to get covered up... but I think, even when the landscape isn’t picturesque I am going to love it here. There’s just.... there’s something in the air, I guess, it’s almost a magical quality.
Have you ever done something that was so perfect that when you look back on it you wonder why it wasn’t in your life before the moment you found it? That’s pretty much how I feel all the time. Sure, I’m worn out, sure, I’m exhausted beyond belief right now, and up until I took a nap earlier I was having a horrible but day, but even in the midst of being completely worn to the bone this place is still right, and I can feel it. I don’t mean “feel” like “oh, I think I feel something” I mean feel like when you touch a rock, you know it’s there, you know it’s true, not because you have proven the rock is there by touching it, but because – there’s no other way to say it – you just know.
The friends I have found here are great, I am only just beginning to really get farther than just normal stuff, but I think some of these people will stick it out with me until the end of college – or at least I’d like to think that. I’ve already had people ask me to buy them alcohol – my room mate include – I have flat out told them no, which, for the most part, they have all been cool with, if they want it bad enough they’ll get fake IDs which is what they were gonna do before I they knew I was 21 anyway. I haven’t had a sip of alcohol since I got here, not because I haven’t wanted a beer, but just because I don’t want to encourage underage drinking and until earlier this week I hadn’t found anybody who was over 21. Thankfully I met some guys at the on campus Non-Denominational ministry that are over 21 which was a HUGE relief to meet some people my age. They invited me to hang out, watch football, and drink beer, I’ll take them up on it eventually, but I can’t this Sunday because I’m helping Allison move into her apartment (god freaking damn I am sooooo excited).
My young friend Caitlin (who I have a funny story about, which I will tell in a second) has quickly fallen into starting HUGE amounts of drama, mostly regarding every single boy liking her (except Carl, he’s the only one that doesn’t). Caitlin is one of those people who I just connect with really easily, it’s funny cause the first time we met was at orientation, and there was just something special about it, I don’t mean like romantically, I just mean that there was a significance to it that I can’t quite put my finger on. Oh, right, so Caitlin, and how we met. She and I went to the same orientation, and if I remember correctly, I had seen her once or twice before I actually introduced myself to her. Anyhoo, so the second day that we’re there for orientation they had this thing called the org fair, which stands for “Organization Fair” which is where all the organizations come together and try to convince you to join their organization – the whole concept makes me really uncomfortable. So we both had to go get our IDs like right on top of when the Org Fair was, so we didn’t really get to check out any of the organizations and were both headed back over to the org fair when got stopped at the street that runs right down the middle of campus. So it was just the two of us sitting there waiting for the walk sign to come up, and – after talking to her recently about it – we both had thought that it would probably be a good idea to introduce ourselves to the other, but didn’t actually do it, so the walk sign came up, and we crossed and walked what felt like an awkward eternity to Halas (our sports and recreation center) – it was actually more like a block. It got even better when we they told us that the Org Fair had closed down and we realized that we would have to make that same walk in that awkward silence that only an introduction can break. So I introduced myself which was – as she puts it – “probably one of the best decisions ever.” I like to believe that it’s a good sign that our friendship was originally created in awkwardness, because my only other friendship that was forged in that much awkwardness is with my best friend, Matthew, so I’m hoping this friendship takes that particular turn as far as depth.
Class is hard for me to adjust to, but I definitely love it, but it’s a lot to take in, and there’s so much that I have to change to make it work. I have lived so long outside of an academic setting it’s painful to change one’s life so drastically.
Oh yeah, here’s something that excites me: Roger’s Park (the part of town where Loyola is located) is the most diverse sector in the entire United States. Yup, that’s right. It’s awesome.
I hope you are all doing well, I love and miss you, I should be coming home on the 6th of October for fall break.... so I’ll see you soon hopefully.
peace.
Have you ever done something that was so perfect that when you look back on it you wonder why it wasn’t in your life before the moment you found it? That’s pretty much how I feel all the time. Sure, I’m worn out, sure, I’m exhausted beyond belief right now, and up until I took a nap earlier I was having a horrible but day, but even in the midst of being completely worn to the bone this place is still right, and I can feel it. I don’t mean “feel” like “oh, I think I feel something” I mean feel like when you touch a rock, you know it’s there, you know it’s true, not because you have proven the rock is there by touching it, but because – there’s no other way to say it – you just know.
The friends I have found here are great, I am only just beginning to really get farther than just normal stuff, but I think some of these people will stick it out with me until the end of college – or at least I’d like to think that. I’ve already had people ask me to buy them alcohol – my room mate include – I have flat out told them no, which, for the most part, they have all been cool with, if they want it bad enough they’ll get fake IDs which is what they were gonna do before I they knew I was 21 anyway. I haven’t had a sip of alcohol since I got here, not because I haven’t wanted a beer, but just because I don’t want to encourage underage drinking and until earlier this week I hadn’t found anybody who was over 21. Thankfully I met some guys at the on campus Non-Denominational ministry that are over 21 which was a HUGE relief to meet some people my age. They invited me to hang out, watch football, and drink beer, I’ll take them up on it eventually, but I can’t this Sunday because I’m helping Allison move into her apartment (god freaking damn I am sooooo excited).
My young friend Caitlin (who I have a funny story about, which I will tell in a second) has quickly fallen into starting HUGE amounts of drama, mostly regarding every single boy liking her (except Carl, he’s the only one that doesn’t). Caitlin is one of those people who I just connect with really easily, it’s funny cause the first time we met was at orientation, and there was just something special about it, I don’t mean like romantically, I just mean that there was a significance to it that I can’t quite put my finger on. Oh, right, so Caitlin, and how we met. She and I went to the same orientation, and if I remember correctly, I had seen her once or twice before I actually introduced myself to her. Anyhoo, so the second day that we’re there for orientation they had this thing called the org fair, which stands for “Organization Fair” which is where all the organizations come together and try to convince you to join their organization – the whole concept makes me really uncomfortable. So we both had to go get our IDs like right on top of when the Org Fair was, so we didn’t really get to check out any of the organizations and were both headed back over to the org fair when got stopped at the street that runs right down the middle of campus. So it was just the two of us sitting there waiting for the walk sign to come up, and – after talking to her recently about it – we both had thought that it would probably be a good idea to introduce ourselves to the other, but didn’t actually do it, so the walk sign came up, and we crossed and walked what felt like an awkward eternity to Halas (our sports and recreation center) – it was actually more like a block. It got even better when we they told us that the Org Fair had closed down and we realized that we would have to make that same walk in that awkward silence that only an introduction can break. So I introduced myself which was – as she puts it – “probably one of the best decisions ever.” I like to believe that it’s a good sign that our friendship was originally created in awkwardness, because my only other friendship that was forged in that much awkwardness is with my best friend, Matthew, so I’m hoping this friendship takes that particular turn as far as depth.
Class is hard for me to adjust to, but I definitely love it, but it’s a lot to take in, and there’s so much that I have to change to make it work. I have lived so long outside of an academic setting it’s painful to change one’s life so drastically.
Oh yeah, here’s something that excites me: Roger’s Park (the part of town where Loyola is located) is the most diverse sector in the entire United States. Yup, that’s right. It’s awesome.
I hope you are all doing well, I love and miss you, I should be coming home on the 6th of October for fall break.... so I’ll see you soon hopefully.
peace.
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