A Ranger's Blog

Coming Home

2010-08-14T18:49:00.002-05:00

Hey guys,

I'm leaving in the morning for Port-au-Prince. There is about a 10 hour drive ahead of us provided nothing goes wrong.

Then on Monday afternoon I fly out of Port back to the States. Please pray for traveling safety both on the drive and on the flight.

Thanks for keeping up with my blog during my time in Haiti. I hope you enjoyed the blog posts!

I will probably post some pictures of my time here when I get back home. The internet here is not conducive to that.

Thanks again for reading and for the prayers!

- Elessar

08.12.2010 - Thursday

2010-08-12T15:57:00.004-05:00

Warning: This is a lengthy post with little to do with "what I did" since my last post. It has more to do with the ramblings of my mind. Don't say you weren't warned. . . .

****

Well, I went from writing in my journal every night to going several days between writing. Well, at least I kept it up for a few weeks. Better then nothing.

Truelove's came over on Saturday. We had cashew chicken, just like I said in my last entry. It was good, just as expected. :)They stayed for about 2 hours and then headed home. We had some unexpected visitors come around 4:00 or 4:30 that afternoon. They were doing a VBS I think. . . can't remember where though. They were just coming back from the beach at Mole and thought they would swing by. I think there was some problem with their computer working with their printer or something and they wanted to get a driver downloaded for it. Anyways, we showed them the hospital and talked with them for a while. There were some people from Texas and some people from Mississippi and a bunch of Haitians. I'm afraid I don't know much more then that. Lol

Sunday provided another unexpected surprise. Hmmm. . . is there such a thing as an “expected surprise”? Just a thought. Anyways, there were a couple of white people in church and one of them preached. I finally got to hear a sermon I understood. It was a fine sermon, for an American church. Unfortunately a lot of what he said would have been difficult to understand to a Haitian. I think his translator did a fairly good job of making it understandable. We visited with the whites after church in the church courtyard. They are from Florida. They asked a lot about what we were doing, how our work was going, etc. I'm noticing I'm saying “we”, as if this work here was part of my own calling. I've really done nothing to speak of here, besides just help out, so I don't think I can say “we” in any proper sense. At the same time, however, this is where God called me this summer, so in a sense it IS my work. But really I'm just sharing temporarily in the work that God has called Steve and Faith to. I guess this would be a good time to interject some discussion on the state of the church as it is and how Americans perceive it.

Invariably, when there are visitors here or when Steve and Faith are back in the States visiting, someone will ask the missionary's favorite question. “How many converts do you have?” There are several problems with that question. The first and most obvious is “how do you know when someone is converted?” A conversion is solely between an individual and God. To ask a human being to judge how many people he thinks have truly come to know Christ is at best as silly question and at worst an idiotic one. When the heart of man is deceitfully wicked, it's hard enough to judge your own heart. Asking one to judge the heart of others is simply inane. The question becomes all the more problematic when one considers the ministry that Steve and Faith have. The hospital here provides health care, and free health care when an individual cannot pay. The hospital is a very large part of their work here. If they were to share the Gospel with each individual that came into the hospital, they would assuredly receive large amounts of converts. And while some of those converts might truly believe, a vast majority would be simply trying to please the doctor/missionary/white man. “Oh, you think I should convert? Of course I'll convert!” The problem does not end there either. Each one that “converted” at the missionary's request would feel assured that they were in fact Christians. After all, the missionary said so and was pleased with their decision. But if that conversion does nothing to change the heart or the life of an individual, how can we call that a true conversion (judging, fallibly, based on what Scripture says should happen upon an individual receiving the Spirit of Christ)? And if it is not a true conversion, and yet these people are positive they have been saved because the missionary said so, then is not the missionary to fault for giving that false hope? There can be nothing worse then to wrongly convince someone that they have received Christ and in so doing condemn them to hell.

So that is the first and perhaps worst problem with asking the inane question “how many converts do you have?” at least in Haiti. The second issue that comes up is the fact that nearly everyone in Haiti knows the Gospel. Sure, the exact theology is likely not quite straight, but the basic facts of the Gospel are really quite simple. You are a sinner; God can't stand sinners in His presence; He loved us enough to sacrifice His son that through Christ's blood we might be sanctified; all one has to do is accept that sacrifice and Christ's lordship in their lives. Unlike America, where you might find people on any street corner that have never heard the Gospel, Haiti is (at least according to the missionaries I'm with) largely evangelized. The churches here (of which there are many) constantly evangelize. There is no need for the white man to come and share the Gospel, as the Gospel has already been shared. What remains for the missionary to do is what Christ calls us to do in the Great Commission. “Go ye therefore and teach all nations. . .” That word “teach” there literally means to enroll as a scholar, or to disciple people. Steve and Faith are here, not to “preach” the Gospel – that has already been done – but to set an example of what the Christian life should look like, to encourage their fellow believers, and to disciple people as best they can. “Converts” are not what God is looking for. He is not looking for numbers, he is looking for heart change and people that seek Him with a passion, bringing glory to His name. Steve and Faith could instantly gain hundreds of converts were they to ask each person coming into their hospital if they would like to receive Christ.

So, the question of “how many converts” is an incorrect one. Better to ask “are you seeing heart changes in the hearts of the people you are working with?” “Is the lifestyle of the average Haitian you see everyday becoming more and more a reflection of Christ?” Those are the better questions to ask, because those are questions that can be better answered. Those are the questions that reflect the work and the calling of many missionaries. Those are the questions concerning what God is interested in.

Okay, off my soap box for now. I'm sure I will return to that at some point.

I wanted to write a bit about what God's done in my life during my time here. I'm half way through my last week in Haiti. I'm leaving for Port-Au-Prince on Sunday and will fly out on Monday. I was thinking about being back home and trying to answer all the questions people would have. I know a question that my parents will want answered is “what did God show you?” or something to that affect. I thought it might be good to start pulling all my scattered thoughts and impressions from God together and writing them down. So. . . here goes.

First and foremost, I think that God has revealed a lot of pride and arrogance in my life to me. I know that is a cliché answer, and one I have used many times, but it seems that I have a lot of pride and arrogance. :p Let me detail what I mean. I've discovered that the world does in fact not revolve around me. Yes, I know. . . shocking. I was fooled for a long time too, so don't feel bad if you thought the same thing. ;) In all seriousness, though, it feel that once again God has shown me His greatness and my insignificance. As an American, I tend to place a lot of emphasis on patriotism, what I can do for God, what glorious things God is going to have me do, and I take for granted all the little blessings He bestows on me. What I am beginning to discover is that God seems to have His own plans and I seem to rather get in the way of them in my pride. I think that Chambers says it rather well, so I'll quote him.

There is so much said today about our decisions for Christ, our determination to be Christians, our decisions for this and that, but in the New Testament it is the aspect of God's compelling that is brought out. “Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you.” We are not taken up into conscious agreement with God's purpose, we are taken up into God's purpose without any consciousness at all. We have no conception of what God is aiming at, and as we go on it gets more and more vague. God's aim looks like missing the mark because we are too short-sighted to see what He is aiming at. At the beginning of the Christian life we have our own ideas as to what God's purpose is - “I am meant to go here or there,” “God has called me to do this special work”; and we go and do the thing, and still the big compelling of God remains. The work we do is of no account, it is so much scaffolding compared with the big compelling of God. “He took unto Him the twelve,” He takes us all the time. There is more then we have got at as yet. - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, August 3: The Big Compelling of God.

My proud mind struggles to grasp the concept that perhaps God isn't so concerned with what I do so much as He is concerned with how I do it. It's not the amount of converts I have, the amount of money I raise to give to the poor, or the amount of time I spend in His Word that concerns God. It is simply my devotion to Him. It is, quite frankly, the “broken and contrite heart” that God loves because He is then free to mold it to His higher purpose. One has to be careful not to be vain in imagining that purpose to be glorious and magnificent. Saints are often called to do the dirtiest, most mundane, unforgiving, terrible, and unrewarding jobs imaginable. But that should not concern us, because God has compelled us to do such a thing, and we should be quite satisfied in knowing that we are in the center of His will. During my time here, I've had time to contemplate the work that the Leach's are doing here. To many churches, mission boards, etc., they've done little more then keep a hospital running. They have no converts to speak of, no glorious numbers to report; they are simply doing what God has compelled them to do. Regardless of how things turn out, whether they appear good or evil, I must always follow my God.

Then there is the issue of forgiveness, friendship, and love. I'm afraid I've rather failed at this in some aspects of my life back home, and God is trying to use (and I seem rather resistant) a young fellow here by the name of Isaiah (ez-aye-ee) to point that out. :p Again, let me quote from Chambers before I talk about it.

The refusal to be disillusioned is the cause of much of the suffering in human life. It works in this way – if we love a human being and do not love God, we demand of him every perfection and every rectitude, and when we do not get it we become cruel and vindictive; we are demanding of a human being that which he or she cannot give. There is only one Being Who can satisfy the last aching abyss of the human heart, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Why our Lord is apparently so severe regarding every human relationship is because He knows that every relationship not based loyalty to Himself will end in disaster. Our Lord trusted no man, yet He was never suspicious, never bitter. Our Lord's confidence in God and in what His grace could do for any man, was so perfect that He despaired of no one. If our trust is placed in human beings, we shall end in despairing of everyone. - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, July 30: The Discipline of Disillusionment.

God has been quite persistent in pointing out that I demand far too much out of the people I know while loving them far too little. Well, in all honestly, I love them out of the goodness and depth of my heart, which is so pitifully small that I might as well not love them at all. This little Haitian fellow, a lad of perhaps twelve years, quickly developed into the most annoying brat I've ever met. . . if I was to demand of him every perfection and every rectitude. The thing that first got me thinking about who Isaiah really represented was the quote by C.S. Lewis in The Weight of Glory. “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations--these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit--immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.” To realize that each human you come in contact with is a immortal is quite beyond the comprehension of my poor little brain. Isaiah, in human eyes, is a needy, annoying, self-centered, egotistic, whining, and complaining child. Okay. . . that might not be totally fair. He has his good moments. Give me a while and I'll think of one. Ah, he generally has a smile on his face, is quite eager to please (often to get what he wants though. :p). . . yeah, I'll have to work on that more. But the point is, Isaiah is an not a mortal creature. He will be either an immortal horror or an everlasting splendor. I must admit that this boggles my mind while at the same time opening up an entirely different view of who he is. I must first remember that he is a fallen creature, prone to faults, to error, to sin, to selfishness. . . just like myself. Then I must remember that Christ died for all the world . . . for him, just as He did for me. “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Who is my neighbor? Perhaps a better question would be “who is not my neighbor?”

Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. - Matthew 5:43-48.

Gotta love how Christ throws in the last kicker there. It's not “so try harder to love the chaps around you”, it's “so straighten up and be perfect”. I looked up that word “perfect”, thinking perhaps that it didn't actually mean “perfect” and that I would be off the hook. No such luck. “Perfect (teleiov): complete (in various applications of labor, growth, mental and moral character, etc.)”. So, regardless of how one treats me, I am to love that person. Seems like a despairing task to take on, seeing as how I'm a fallen creature myself.

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. - James 1:2-5.

So perfectness comes from being tried. “When through fiery trials / thy pathway shall lie / My grace all sufficient / shall be thy supply / the flames shall not hurt thee / I only design / thy dross to consume / and thy gold to refine.” God is ever seeking to refine us, to perfect us, to draw us closer to Him, closer to the center of His will, closer to companionship and perfectness in Him. Once again, I defer to Chambers.

Many of us are all right in the main, but there are some domains in which we are slovenly. It is not a question of sin, but of the remnants of the carnal life which are apt to make us slovenly.Ultimately God will let nothing escape, every detail is under His scrutiny. In numberless ways God will bring us back to the same point over and over again. He never tires of bringing us to the one point until we learn the lesson, because He is producing the finished product. God is trying to impress upon us the one thing that is not entirely right. “Now, says the Spirit, through St. James,“let your endurance be a finished product.” Watch the slipshod bits - “Oh, that will have to do for now.” Whatever it is, God will point it out with persistence until we are entirely His. - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, July 31: Til You Are Entirely His.

I apologize if my thoughts are a bit scattered. I've written quite a bit tonight – more then I usually do. Perhaps I should pick up again tomorrow.

Anyways, I suppose that second point that I am trying to get at is God is showing me that I ought to love a good many people that I do not. How that love is played out is another matter entirely, and one which I am sure God will see fit to pound into my head in the not-so-distant future. God give me grace, patience, and wisdom.

08.07.2010 - Saturday

2010-08-07T11:14:00.000-05:00

Thursday night was pizza night, as always. We normally have coke with our pizza, but I elected to have something else. When Grace and I went to Madame Kamouest's house to get coke, I switched out two cokes for something called Fruit Champagne. It's got an interesting taste which I strangely like. No one else that I'm staying with likes it at all, and I've even been mocked for liking it. :-D This means one important thing. No one else will touch my drink! Yes, yes, I know I'm devious. Well, the fact remains that I like it more then coke, so there ya go. I've never been a big fan of coke, although I'll definitely drink it, especially on these hot days when anything cold and carbonated tastes good.

We watched A Beautiful Mind Thursday night. There are a few things in the movie that are iffy (as far as sexual innuendo goes), but there is very little language that I remember and a wonderful story. It's basically about a fellow that has a incredibly bright mind. . . too bright. I think one of my favorite ideas in the movie is the dedication that he and his wife show one another. I cried at the end. :j

I worked most of the day Friday in one of the medical supply depots with Grace and Betsy. Inventory and organizing the meds was the name of the game. Of course, organization is something I love, so although it was ridiculously hot and dusty in the depot, I enjoyed myself rather more then I would have doing anything else. After we finished in the depot in the afternoon, I came back up to the house and played four games of basketball with some of the Haitian boys and Grace. That was fun, although my ankle still isn't quite better and there is one young chap that makes me want to scream sometimes. :p

We watched about half of The Two Towers last night before we all got a bit too tired to stay awake. I'm hoping to get all the way through The Return of the King before I leave for the States. Hard to believe that I'm about to enter my last week here. Got to finish studying for my American History CLEP test and finish organizing the library. And that's in addition to whatever else needs to be done here before the trip into Port-Au-Prince occurs. Hopefully it won't get TOO stressful till right before we leave. Lol

The Truelove's are coming over here shortly for lunch. We are having cashew chicken. :-D sings yummy yummy yummy I've got love in my tummy. . .

I think that about covers everything. Maybe I'll write more later tonight. Hope my ankle starts feeling better soon. I even wrapped it with vet-wrap before I played ball yesterday.

08.05.2010 - Thursday

2010-08-05T17:46:00.000-05:00

Well, I guess I decided to take a break from journaling.

I'm not sure I remember much of the weekend. I know that a team building a church out by George and Carol Ann Truelove's place came by here on their way to the beach and visited with us for a while. It was led by Doug Fritz, a College of the Ozarks alumni and a Sedalia, MO, resident. Small world. I wonder if the T-s know him. A nephew of Faith's was also on the team. He hadn't told the Leach's he was coming because he wanted to surprise them. I guess he accomplished that. :)

I believe I was fairly grumpy on Saturday evening, so I went and laid down about 6:30 in the evening, skipping a movie (part of the John Adams' series) and dessert. I didn't fall asleep until 8:00 or so and woke up feeling somewhat better around 6:30.

I have been studying/meditating/puzzling through/memorizing/writing on Romans 8. Romans is one of my favorite books of the Bible, due largely in part to the intellectual writing that it contains. The end of Romans 8 is one of my favorite passages in the Bible. “Nay, in all these things we are more then conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, or height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” So far I've filled 2.25 sheets of paper front and back with my thoughts and meanderings on chapter 8, and I'm only in verse 17. I should have roughly 5 sheets of paper completely filled by the time I'm done if I keep it up. Sadly, it's been a rather long time since I've really studied the Bible. I find myself drawn to it, though.

One thing that I was never too awfully interested in was history. . . until this trip. I am studying American History for the CLEP test, and am finding it absolutely fascinating. Steve is an excellent resource to turn to if I have a question that needs answering. If he doesn't have the answer off the top of his head, he can usually find a book that contains some reference to my question. I have made it through the American Revolution and through the presidencies of Washington and Adams into the presidency of Thomas Jefferson. As I go through this CLEP book, I am making slides in powerpoint so that I might be more easily able to study the important things. I'm not sure that I will ever actually go back through the slides in any in depth manner, but actually making them requires a good deal of involvement and understanding of the text. I basically summarize sections of the text in my own words, and doing so means that I'm given the passage more then a cursory glance.

Basically, all this week has been nearly the same. I study History in the morning and for several hours of the afternoon. Sometime during the day I'll spend a while working on organizing the library/office. That's pretty much the gist of what I've been doing. :) Went to Madame Kamouest’s house yesterday on the 4-wheeler with Grace to get coke for pizza night (which is tonight). I finally drove the 4-wheeler, which was pretty fun. :) Played basketball last night and finally met my match on the courts. Everybody I've played with so far has apparently not had much experience playing ball, although they all understand the concept and the rules quite well. With my height, I've been able to either intimidate or dominate when playing. Can't do much against someone that can hold the ball in his hand higher then you can jump. :) Well, yesterday a fellow came over that nobody had ever seen. He was fairly well built (meaning his arms were twice the size of mine) and he knew how to play. I don't really know how to play, I just have a height advantage that I use as much as I can. I could easily out jump this fellow, but he knew how to shoot above my jumps and how to control the ball very well. While he was cocky in his ability to play ball, and rightly so, he was also very gracious and apologized profusely for any foul or silly mistake he made. He was also the first Haitian I've seen that enforced double dribbling and traveling rules, even to his own detriment. Basically, even though he was cocky and showy in his game, he was also a good sportsman. I enjoyed playing with him.

I did hurt myself somewhat while playing ball though. My ankle wasn't hurting anymore so I thought I'd play on it. It started to hurt again about half way through my last game. Also, at one point I jumped to slap a ball away from the good ballplayer and managed to slip as I came down. I landed on my side and scraped up my thigh and calf pretty bad. Guess that's the cost of having a good time. :)

Tuesday night, we watched the last installment of the John Adams' series. It's okay, and having been studying that time period, it is interesting. Not quite enough action for me though. :) Speaking of action, Monday night we found a tarantula in the bathtub and one in the kitchen. With their leg span factored in, they were about 4-5 inches across. Pretty awesome and thoroughly disgusting. We killed both. Last night, sitting on the porch on the van bench, Betsy discovered that she had two tarantulas on her – one on her leg and the other on her shoulder. Seeing her go into hysterics was quite humorous, although I know if the same thing was to happen to me I would do the same thing. They were about 3 inches across each.

Okay, I should probably start studying. I just wanted to get caught up before it went longer then a week between journal entries and I started forgetting things. Oh! Speaking of forgetting stuff. . . The night sky right now is pretty cool. About a week ago, Mars and Saturn were the closest they would be in the night sky for the year of 2010. They appeared to be about an inch apart, if that somehow makes sense. Mars and Saturn are right next to each other, and then several inches below them is the very bright planet Venus. About the time those planets are setting, Jupiter rises from the opposite direction. Mars, Saturn, and Venus are in the west and Jupiter rises in the east. Okay, now I'm done. :)

Catching up and Gran Torino.

2010-07-31T11:54:00.000-05:00

Well, I journal-failed. I pretty much haven't really journaled in a few days, since the last time was yesterday morning attempting to describe the day before. Lol

Basically, I've not felt good the last few days. Just had a headache and a bit of a stomachache. Perhaps I'm not drinking enough fluids. I'd love for it to be something as simple as that. I'm feeling better now then I have been, but I still have a headache. Add to that the fact that yesterday morning I sprained my ankle falling off the back porch while bringing breakfast to one of Steve's workers, and I'm pretty much a mess. Ankle is feeling a bit better now, but still sore and tender to walk on. I basically wake up feeling “eh”, and then get better during the day, peaking around 7:00PM at night and rapidly going downhill. So right about now, I'm not feeling too dandy.

I finished all the computers today. I did a total of 9 over the past week or so. I have a 10-page report detailing all the changes I made to each computer on my computer and on Faith's computer. Sometime before I leave, we'll go over the report and see if she wants me to change anything and make sure she understands it all. I also have a spreadsheet on both of our computers that details each computer, the serial and product numbers, who the computer is 'registered' to, and anti-Virus info. That's basically been my work the last week or so. I've enjoyed it, and gotten quite a bit faster with each computer as I've gone along. Switching between three different operating systems is a bit confusing at times though, I will say.

Watched Gran Torino last night. Interesting movie. A LOT of language, in an attempt to accurately depict gangs. And in the end, Clint Eastwood (the hero of the movie) sacrifices his life to save his friends, doing so in a rather Christ-like manner. For all the good of the movie and its accurate depictions of real life, however, I am not too sure about it. I did not feel particularly edified by it, and I don't know if I would have felt comfortable watching it with Jesus sitting next to me. I guess it's something along the lines of “how much bad do you put up with to find the good?” I realize that Jesus hung out with former prostitutes, tax collectors, and sinners. He was at once in the world and at once not of it. If, in our lives, we are called to minister to what might be termed unsavory characters, then so be it. In fact, I would almost guarantee that most people that are Christians will find that ministering to the lost and delving into the dark, ugly, nastiness of this fallen world is quite necessary to fulfill the Great Commission's requirement of making disciples. But there is a difference, to me, of doing what is quite necessary in making disciples and watching a movie for mere entertainment purposes. Other reasons for watching it might be made, but I truly cannot think of any at this moment. It is one thing to hear language and see filthy things because of where Christ has called me and what He has told me to do. It is quite another to subject myself willingly to hearing that same language and violence in a film meant for entertainment. Even if that film, at the end, has a good message. Does the end justify the means?

I'm not much of a movie person, I guess. They generally don't leave me feeling very edified. Now, there are some movies which I enjoy watching for entertainment, and I don't believe that God means us to be stuck up prunes who never crack a smile. How to Train a Dragon was a fun film, as was Race to Witch Mountain. Lord of the Rings is an incredible story, and movies like Sergeant York are quite edifying. Why can we not have quality entertainment and good messages without all the junk? Now, I realize some messages would be difficult to get across without portraying the ugly nastiness that is this fallen world . . . and to that predicament, I have no answer.

I would like to point out that I don't think movies are inherently bad nor that people who watch movies with language/violence/etc in them are sinning. That, I think, is a choice that has to be made between that person and God, made as God directs and the Spirit convicts. I do, however, think that to fill your mind with entertainment without thinking about it is a horrible idea. There is a message to every article of media, and to not think through that message and be careful you are not being influenced by the world unknowingly is a rather poor testimony to Christ. Paul says that because we are not under the Law (Mosaic) of the Old Testament but rather under Grace, there is now no condemnation and we are free to choose that which we will. He also warns us that since we have that choice, it'd be a decent idea to not abuse it and to do those things which would honor God and love our fellowman.

Okay, off that tirade. Everybody watched a couple of episodes of MASH tonight except me. Viewing that movie left me with a non-desire for movies and entertainment for tonight, anyways.

Had a lovely talk with Steve this morning. It started to POUR rain around 3:30 this morning and didn't stop till 5:30. It was amazing. I got up around 5:30 and read my Bible and prayed for a bit. 6:30 or so, Steve and I started talking. We talked about Old Testament history, Early Church history, and other questions that I had from reading and thinking about Romans 8. I finished that conversation feeling quite encouraged. :)

Okay, I'm about to drop, and I've written a decent amount tonight. Time to go take a shower and hit the sack. At least I get to sleep in tomorrow. Yay for Saturday's!

07.27.2010 - Tuesday

2010-07-28T11:44:00.002-05:00

This day has so far been just like yesterday. Worked on computers this morning, finishing up another laptop by 2:00. Then went back up to the house and worked on American History until the girls decided they wanted to go down and check their emails and facebooks. I'm down at the clinic with them right now, doing the same. So yeah, pretty much a flat-line day so far. No plans for tonight either.

*****
The end.

Oh, and apparently I got a day behind in my journal. I had the correct "day of the week", but not the correct number. I was calling Tuesday the "26th" in my journal, and had been incorrect for a week I guess. Apparently I corrected that mistake when I copied and pasted into the blog, cause I don't see any problems with my posts.

07.26.2010 - Monday

2010-07-27T09:41:00.000-05:00

Apparently I forgot to journal yesterday.

Church was. . . incomprehensible once again. Something about me not being able to speak or hear Creole very well. I think he started out in Romans 8, so I decided to read it for myself and do some thought-writing on it. I got through 3 verses in the time he finished his sermon. I take a long time to think about stuff, apparently. *thinks deep thoughts*

Went down and facebooked/blogged/emailed in the early afternoon. Played some cards with Grace and Betsy after I got back up to the house. And now to the fun part of the day. . .

Steve let Grace, Betsy, and I take the four-wheeler up to some Haitian place that I can’t spell. haha. There is a lovely view up there. We parked the four wheeler at a church and then took a 10 minute walk up to the top of the hill/mountain. From there, you can see a couple miles of coast and several miles of coastal plains and low hills. Very pretty, and even more so as the sun starts to set. We stayed until the sun dipped below one of the larger mountains and then returned back to our vehicle.

When we got to the church and jumped off the 4-wheeler, we were instantly surrounded by several little kids who decided they were going to be our best buddies and walk us up the hill and stay there the whole time with us. There were maybe 6-8 young girls around 7-11 years old (my best guess, anyways. Lol) and a young fellow who mainly sat off the side and watched. Grace and Betsy (who know far more Creole then I do) spent some time singing songs with them (like Father Abraham and Head 'n' Shoulders, Knees and Toes). I finally decided to have some fun myself and started giving the girls rides on my shoulders and back. At one point, I had a girl on my back and a girl in each arm. I think they enjoyed it, or at least thought I was funny. Oh, and I did handstands for them too, and attempted to yodel. . . it came out more like a loud, high, and warbling scream. That rather frightened one of the girls. She jumped several feet into the air. :-D

After we got back to the house, we ate a late dinner and then listened to a Matt Chandler sermon that I had with me called Forgetting and Striving. It's a fairly good sermon, I think. :) I've listened to it several times, and always brought something new away. I wish we had time to go through his series on the Cross of Christ. It's absolutely phenomenal. Maybe I can convince them to listen to a couple of sermons every week for the next three weeks. At least the first one in the series, since I think that one is incredible.

7:00PM

The rest of last night was a bit different. I had a lot of lower back pain for some reason, and the pain was shooting down my leg into my big toe on my right foot. I know that sounds weird, but it happens to me. Has for years. I can remember being 10 years old and going down in the middle of the night to my parents room crying because my toe hurt so much. I think that was more from growing pains, whereas this was from tight muscles and vertebrae problems.

God worked on me last night. . . I'm really not sure what He was working on, I just know I got a bit humbled and cried for a while. I don't mind not knowing though, so long as I know He's working and I'm letting Him. :j

Today was a decent day, except for the lower back pain I still have. Worked all till about 3:00 on the computers down at the hospital. I think I have three laptops, half a netbook, and a desktop back up left to do. I should take it slow or I'll run out of work! :) I'm sure they'll find something more for me to do though. After I finished one of the netbooks and realized that all the other computers were in use, I came back up to the house and studied for my American History CLEP test for a while. Got through the early colonization period with my flashcards that I'm making. Tomorrow I will probably start on the Colonial Period.

After I finished studying, I laid down and took a nice nap before getting up to play basketball. It doesn't take too long when Grace, Betsy, and I go out to play for a bunch of Haitian kids to come out of the wood works. I played a game with two other Haitian teenagers. It was the two of them versus me, and I ended up winning. I think the Haitian young people that we play with think I play college basketball back in the States. They were insisting to Grace that I must. It's not that I'm very good, cause I'm not, it's just that I'm taller then all of them by a good bit and so can out jump and out rebound all of them. Match me against someone my height and I'm sunk. Lol

Here in a little bit we are going to watch the second disc of the Fellowship of the Ring. Looking forward to that. Then hopefully a decent night's sleep. **crosses fingers**

07.24.2010 - Saturday

2010-07-25T14:11:00.000-05:00

Wow. I think the days are starting to roll by faster or something. Or maybe it's just that I'm at the end of a week, and the weeks roll by quicker for me. Monday marks the half-way point of my being in Haiti. It will be three weeks that I've been here. After tomorrow's church service, I only have two more to sit through. That makes it sound like I don't enjoy the services. Hmm. . . I do and I don't. Sitting in the hard wooden pew for a couple of hours and listening to a lot of stuff I can't understand is a bit trying at times. On the other hand, just knowing that Christ is being preached and being able to sit and study my Bible for over an hour is nice.

Weekends are nice, since we really don't 'do' anything. Not normal things, anyways. Weekdays (LOL I'm listening to this donkey that's outside and who is braying like Chuck Norris is after him. Quite hilarious, and quite loud) are more structured and orderly as far as what happens, when it happens, etc. Weekends are just kind of free for all days, where breakfast could be served quite late and dinner eaten early. In fact, that's generally what happens.

I spent about 6 hours today at the clinic working on computer maintenance. It's slow going, since I'm working primarily with Windows Vista right now, and I know nothing about that. Each computer is also different as far as what comes already installed on it and what it might need. I figure since I'm here that I might as well do thorough work on all of them, so I'm taking my time. Two laptops are complete after nearly 10 hours of work and two more are about half way. The two I'm working on right now are the desktop and one of the netbooks. I'd like to reinstall Windows XP on the net book, but it doesn't have a recovery partition or a CD as far as I know. Besides the fact that I don't have an external drive to use anyways. I suppose I'll ask Faith about the CD tomorrow and use the CD/DVD drive from the desktop if I need to. The net books are both refurbished, and I'm thinking perhaps they didn't come with CD's. Guess I'll find out tomorrow. :)

Watched the first disc of The Fellowship of the Ring tonight. Good movie. It's been a good solid year since I've seen them, as my brother took them (since he owns them) when he moved out-of-state to go to school. I remember now why I love those movies so much! They are just phenomenal. I played quite a bit of a massively multiplayer online role playing game (mmorpg) Lord of the Rings Online the past 6 months, and it was really super cool to be able to imagine where the hobbits were as they moved through the Shire and to Bree-town. I can remember standing on Weathertop in-game and looking out over the landscape. Imagining Strider and the Hobbits running through that area was easy. Then when Arwen (Glorfindel in the books) takes Frodo from the Wild (which I think is in the Lone-lands or in the Trollshaws. . . ) to Rivendell, and crosses the Brunien River at the Fords of Brunien, I could easily imagine that place. Anyways, having played the game and recently read some of the book, it made the movie definitely come to life for me.

After we got through the second disc, Steve checked the battery power and discovered that is was on 11% or something. We'll watch the second disc tomorrow night probably, since we've finished the Truth Project.

Okay, time to shower and get to bed somewhat early tonight. Oh! I trimmed by beard by a substantial amount tonight. It was about an inch long, and it's now about a ¼ inch. I still need to trim up around the edges, but I'll do that after my shower. Steve was gracious enough to lend me his trimmer. It only had once length setting, or I would have kept my beard a bit longer, but I can't complain. It feels better then the bushiness it was before. I have a cowlick below my jawline on the right side, and sometimes it looks rather annoying. :p

07.23.2010 - Friday

2010-07-24T12:25:00.001-05:00

Went down to the clinic again this morning before breakfast. I have kind of gotten into a habit of doing so. I enjoy checking my email and facebook and just having some quiet time to start the day. I will say that I probably won't do that tomorrow morning though, as I'm ready for a day of not getting up quite as early.

After breakfast, Faith asked me if I could do maintainance on every computer that the Leach's or the Hospital owns. She basically wants me to do a spreadsheet containing information such as make, model, OS, product number, serial number, and Trend Anti-Virus information of each computer. Then she also wants me to make sure Trend is up to date, the computers are defragged, and that there are not unnecessary things running on it. It's kind of a challenge for me. :) I did two laptops today, recording the initial boot up speed, how many processes were running on start up, and what sort of maintainence I did on them. There are three computers I also will back up to an external drive. I'm keeping a Word document that details everything I am doing to each computer (and an explanation if needed) so that after I am gone, it will be (hopefully) fairly easy to see if I did something that needs reversing. On one laptop, I decreased boot up time from over two minutes to exactly one minute. It's amazing what a little work can do. :-D

That's basically all I did all day. Tomorrow I'll go back and keep working on them. They'll be all super fast and awesome after I get done with them! I hope. . .

We were going to watch The Fellowship of the Ring tonight, but it rained for quite a while today, and the projector takes a lot of power to run. We decided to watch a romantic comedy called Blast From The Past. . . it was...interesting. I fear I'm being corrupted by these movie hungry missionaries. :p I will say that the movie did an excellent job of promoting the old ideas of chivalry, manners, proper behavior, etc. It was quite nice.

I need to borrow Steve's facial hair trimmer at some point, because my beard is growing a bit long. It would be nice to get it trimmed up and looking a bit better.

Read the story Beauty and the Beast tonight out loud to the family. It was from The Book of Virtues. I like story-telling, although I know I need to work a lot on annunciation and slowing stuff down.

I am enduring my second round of poison oak. I seem to attract it. I'm using a topical cream to treat the itchiness and calm it down a bit. It's helping some, although at times it still itches like crazy. Scratching it is bad though, since the oil spreads easily if you break the surface of the rash.

I tried blogging today, but it was giving me fits yet again. The problem I'd been having was that when I copied and pasted from my journal, it would either give me a META problem or the text would be the same color as the background of the blog. The META problem I took care of by copying and pasting to a Google Doc and then copying and pasting it from there to the blog. The background problem I took care of my putting up a new template with a different background color. But now the text color is a problem again. Oh well. I'll work on that more tomorrow while I'm waiting for a laptop to finish running a test or something.

Speaking of tests, I took one of my three American History (pre-1877) CLEP practice exams. I haven't studied much except up to the time of the American Revolution. I got 45/120 right, which equals approximately 51 on the CLEP score, or barely passing. Hopefully with some more studying, I can bring that up a bit.

07.22.2010 - Thursday

2010-07-24T12:23:00.000-05:00

I'm pretty tired, so I think this will be short. The Wilson's left today, and the house feels rather empty now. Having half as many people around the dinner table seemed rather weird. I didn't do a whole lot today. No clinic work at all, although I did go down for about 20 minutes to check my facebook and email with my iPod. I did study for the American History (Pre-1877) CLEP test though. That will be my focus now. I'm hoping to take that when I get back from Haiti.

So yeah, other then that, not a lot when on today. Played basketball tonight with Grace and Betsy and some Haitian boys. Grace got proposed to (not an unusual thing around here. Lol). We had baked ravioli (yummmmm) and left over pizza for dinner. We were going to watch a movie tonight, but decided to wait till tomorrow. There was a bit of a lightening storm going on outside, so all of us ended up going and sitting on the porch (on the van bench that serves as the outdoor patio couch, haha) and talking for well over an hour. That was a blast. :)

It's been raining here a LOT for the time of year it is. Steve is loving it. It rained almost all last night and a some tonight too. I think it's done for tonight though.

I didn't sleep very good last night, for some rather annoying reason. I woke up after about 3 hours of sleep and never really got much continuous sleep after that. Every 45 minutes or so I would wake up. Finally just got up around 5:30. Which means I'm tired now. So. . .off to bed I go.

07.21.2010 - Wednesday

2010-07-24T12:01:00.006-05:00

Sitting down to write tonight, I find my mind strangely blank on what happened today. :p

I sat in on consultations with Scott again today, for the last time. Tomorrow, the Wilson's leave at 11:00 in the morning. They have a 2:00 flight out of Mole. Nothing too exciting happened today. Fellow came in that had a catheter. . . had a HIV+ patient, but that's not too unusual.

***********
11:45PM

It's raining, lightening, and thundering outside right now. There is a nice, cool breeze flowing through the window. In short, it's awesome. :) The Leach's are expressing amazement at the fact that it has been raining so much, as we are at the very end of the rainy season, and there is generally not this much rain. I love it, except for the mud. :p

After consultations were finished in the afternoon, Grace, Betsy, and I went back up to the house and watched The Epitome of Hyperbole by Brian Regan. Great comedian. :) After we watched the whole thing, we also listened to four audio clips of him that I had on my iPod that weren't on the show we watched. I think most people enjoyed him. :)

We had the Catholic Sisters over for dinner today. Woohoo for pizza and coke!! :-D And then peanut butter and . . . I can't remember the other type of cookie that was made. . . but we had those for dessert. :)

After the sisters left, a few of us started discussing stories that we grew up with, and I found that many stories I remembered came from a book called The Book of Virtues. The Leach's and the Wilson's both seemed to know some of the stories also. We found the book in the Leach's library and I read two stories out of it outloud. By the time I made it through the first one, St. George and the Dragon, the entirety of both families had gathered in the dining room/living room and were listening. After that tale, I also read How Much Land Does a Man Need?, which I was shocked to discover was written by Leo Tolstoy. We will definitely have to read more out of that book before I leave. :-D

Mafia, Hearts, and Dutch Blitz filled out the rest of the night, and now I think it's time for bed. Good night, all! :-D

07.20.2010 - Tuesday

2010-07-24T11:57:00.002-05:00

Today is my birthday. My golden birthday, in fact. Twenty years of age on the twentieth of the month. And here I am in a foreign country. “Where you lead me, I will follow. No turning back, no turning back.”

Decent day. Went down and emailed/facebooked, attempted to blog in the morning before breakfast. When I got back up to the house, everyone was just sitting down at the table to eat. After prayer, they sang me Happy Birthday and I opened a card from them. Very awesome, signed by each one with a little note. It was pretty cool. :)

Scott and I saw several patients this morning, although nothing too fascinating. When we got down to the clinic in the morning, we moved some beds around in the OR so we could move the sonogram machine down there. Denise was doing her consultations in that room, and today is OB day. After Scott and I finished up with the few non-OB patients, we went in to Denise's room and watched the ultrasounds and dopplers being down. Grace was translating for Denise. They were basically just trying to determine age of the baby, as almost all of the women were there for the first time (for the pregnancy). Some were 37 weeks along, and it was their first visit.

Denise did full ultrasounds on the first four of her patients to get comfortable with the machine, and then decided to do just the consultations and dopplers. If the age was uncertain, she would do ultrasounds. By the time she'd done those first four, however, word had spread that one could see one's baby via the picture machine. Each patient after that requested an ultrasound.

I learned how use the doppler to get the baby's heart rate, and did that on a few patients. One mother was having twins and didn't know it. Till today, that is. Via the ultrasound, Denise found a second baby alive and well. The mother looked pretty happy. :) Also developed a couple more x-ray films, although I did one upside down. Lol

Watched Defiance (with Daniel Craig) tonight. Based on a true story during WWII. It's pretty violent, got a bit of language, and some sexual innuendo, but beyond that, it was a decent movie. I think I liked it, which was surprising. It was a bit thought-provoking.

Okay, it's late. I'm really just journaling so I will stay awake while my iPod charges enough to get through the night. I think it's done enough now. :)

07.19.2010 - Monday

2010-07-20T15:20:00.001-05:00

Oh Monday. Why must you come so often! You could at least take a day off once a month and do us all a favor!

All things considered, though, it wasn't that bad of a day. I went down to the clinic before breakfast and did some emailing and attempted to get a blog post up. That didn't work out so well, and I tried a couple more times during the course of the day without luck. Hopefully tomorrow morning I'll be able to get a post up.

First order of business clinic-wise was the new laptop the clinic just got. For some reason, the screen was not turning on upon boot-up. Faith hooked it up to an external CRT monitor and I attempted to look up some answers to the problem. Before I started, however, I tried cold-booting the computer and putting it in sleep mode. Nothing made the screen turn on. I didn't see any easy fixes online, and I was kind of at my wits end. I'd seen some vague references to removing the battery or making sure the RAM was seated well, so I decided I would try both of those on a gamble just to see if they would help. I removed the battery and then removed and replaced both RAM sticks. Upon rebooting the computer, the screen worked fine. YAY! :)

After that, I helped Scott as he took one final look at the young lady with the abscess under her arm. The wound was looking wonderful, and he taped it up one last time before releasing her. Then it was on to general consultations the rest of the day. Nothing too terribly exciting, I'm afraid.

Leftovers for dinner, Joe, Grace, and I washed up the dishes. Went down and emailed for just a bit. The inverter was pretty low on juice, so I didn't stay on long. I basically just downloaded all my mail, then turned off the power. Grace and Betsy came along and asked me to run to the bakery with them so they wouldn't have to walk in the dark. I obliged them and then went back to the clinic and wrote a couple of emails. Before I went back up to the house, I turned the power back on and sent them. Tomorrow, I'll probably go down before breakfast again and write some more emails and try to get that silly blog post up.

I found that quote from C.S. Lewis today. “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations--these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit--immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.” That. . . that is a fascinating quote. Definitely going up on my Facebook status tomorrow. I believe the quote is from Lewis' book, The Weight of Glory.

I also picked Scott's brain for Air Force/medical info. Found out that I would only owe the Air Force 4 years of service, not 4 active and 4 inactive like I previously thought. Also, my residency (which would include my general surgery licsensing), would be included in the 4 years I spend with the Air Force. Upon completion of medical school, I'd automatically be a Captain, and often about half way through the time commitment, you receive a promotion as the Air Force tries to entice you to stay on. Scott finished up as a Major. Sounds pretty good to me! :) I should check on pay rates for those ranks. Also, I need to ask Scott if you are paid full wages while attending medical school (I imagine you are) and what/how internships factor into the whole thing. I think that internships are part of the residency, but I'm not totally sure.

07.18.2010 - Sunday

2010-07-20T15:15:00.002-05:00

You'll notice that I changed the background to the blog. I did that because when I copied and pasted journal entries, they were not showing up properly. Changing the background appears to have fixed the problem. :-D

Also, I've posted several times in a row. I'm basically just doing a blog entry per day of my journal. Make sure you read them all! :-D

******** *****

Apparently I was too tired yesterday to journal. We went to the beach and spent several hours there. It was fairly fun, expect for the always annoying sand and icky salty feeling after swimming. Grace, Betsy, and I snorkeled for a while, looking at the coral about 100 yards off the shore. That was fun, although after an hour my ankles started to get rather tired. Steve got us fish from the restaurant on the beach. Two fish, 10 banan-pase, and 8 bucks. It fed all of us there at the beach: Scott, Denise, Chalice, Mikayla, Joseph, Steve, Grace, Betsy, and myself. Faith stayed home to watch the preemies and to cook us dinner – enchiladas!

I don't remember much of what happened after dinner last night, so I'm just guessing I was a little tired.

I finished the Tom Clancy novel that I was reading today. I immediately started in on a book by Gavin Menzies called 1421: The Year China Discovered America. It is, so far, a fascinating book. It details how many of the maps that Europeans had when they started charting the world had items on them that were not yet discovered by them. Gavin is laying out a fairly clear history (as much of one as there can be, since much of Chinese History was destroyed by a Chinese Dynasty) of the late 1300s and the early 1400s, and the empire that Zhu Dhi built for himself. Gavin claims that the Chinese charted the entire world, basically, and first discovered America. It's a mind boggling and thought provoking book that requires one to completely leave behind the commonly accepted history of the West.

Steve got two calls this morning right before church that requested an ambulance pick up for a woman in hard labor. Grace, Denise, and I headed down to the hospital so that we could help/observe with one of the births while another doctor (Felix) did the other. Steve was only able to find one of the women, and brought her to the hospital before heading off to church where the rest of the group already was. After realizing that only one women was going to be at the hospital and making sure Dr. Felix was there to handle it, Grace, Denise, and I went on to church ourselves. Apparently the message this morning was a bit . . . non-cohesive. I wouldn't know, of course. I was reading 2 Chronicles 6, where Solomon prays for God to kind of be centralized in the temple they were building, and that every time someone humbled themselves and prayed at/towards the temple, that God would hear. God answers him in chapter 7 with the familiar, “If my people, called by My name, humble themselves and pray . . . “. I found It interesting that no where did God say they had to pray towards the temple, be at the temple, or really do anything with the temple. That was, of course, on a cursory glance. I shall continue looking at and studying the passage.

Watched the last session of the Truth Project tonight: Community. One thing stuck out to me quite strongly. It was something that C.S. Lewis said. “You have never met a mere mortal. Every human is a soul either horribly monstrous or eternally splendid.” That is not quite the wording. . . I shall have to look that up tomorrow when I have internet. Anyways, the idea that I have never met a mere mortal, that every person I have come in contact with is an eternal soul is just earth-shattering. How often do I treat people like scum? How often do I ignore the needy, the outcast, the ones that don't fit my ideas of acceptable? And yet God says that His heart is with the needy, the poor, the outcast, and is against the proud, the afflictors, etc. How convicting. :p Another thing that was interesting? God is humble. Try that one on for size.

I think I'm falling in love with this Sibelius symphony. Symphony No 2. It's pretty tight. Tomorrow marks 2 weeks that I have been in Haiti. It partially feels like it's been every bit of two weeks if not longer, and partially that it's not been that long at all. I'm wondering how the next four weeks will be. Only one more day of being a teenager too. . .

07.16.2010 - Friday

2010-07-20T15:03:00.000-05:00

This morning, Scott and Denise attempted a fluid tap of the young female that had a edemedous stomach. They drained about 200 ml from the bottom right quadrant of the abdomen, but unfortunately it only drained from a very local region, not the whole abdomen. There really isn't a whole lot more we can do, sadly.

After that procedure, Scott and I unpacked and packed the young female who had the abscess under her armpit. He stuck a Q-tip in the wound after unpacking it, and it came out coated with pure, red blood. This is good. :) Scott repacked the wound with gauze and told her to come back Monday so we could look at it again. Then it was consultations again the whole day until 2:00.

This evening we had movie night. We watched Invictus, a story about Nelson Mandella and the South Afrrican emancipation. It starred Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman. I'm not a huge fan of feel-good sports movies, and this one was no exception. There were a few good lessons, such as forgiveness of anything and everything your friends or enemies throw at you and racial equality, but beyond that, I did not really think the movie worth much. Of course, that forgiveness only comes from one place in the real world: Jesus Christ. So on that thought, the movie was a very excellent one. But beyond that, it really had no other redeeming qualities, although nothing was really “bad” per se. I'm just not a huge movie person at all. I guess I'm of the opinion that if a movie doesn't have a lot of good, biblical qualities, or has some strong allegories, then I'd just as soon not fill my mind with it. That is, of course, just my opinion. I generally don't condemn people who see lots of movies, although I will say that many people I know that watch a lot of movies would be much better off studying the Word of God instead. But I have my faults too, and I too do many things when I should be studying His Word instead.

I've felt a bit grouchy all day, which doesn't make me happy. I'm almost picking fights and getting irritated at people who have counter ideas. Unfortunately, those ideas often make perfect sense, which only compounds my irritation. Add to that the fact that I apparently got poison oak on my arms, and I'm not a happy camper. Oh well. Guess I'll take a shower and head to bed.

07.15.2010 - Thursday

2010-07-20T14:53:00.001-05:00

Wow, long day. Got up early this morning to go down to the clinic with Scott so he could do some internet work before the day got going. I got out my phone and set my alarm so I could be ready to go at 7:00. Unfortunately, I forgot that I hadn't used my phone since I left New York, and so it was still on ETZ, an hour ahead of Haiti. This meant that when I set my alarm for 6:30, I really set it for 5:30. I didn't realize that til I was up and dressed and looked at my iPod, which said it was 5:45. Fail. I laid back down for about an hour before getting up again.

After breakfast, Faith, Grace, Scott, Denise, and I went down to the clinic. First order of the day was sonography. Since no one here knows how to use the sonogram, Scott and Denise experimented with it for a while. When they felt somewhat comfortable as to the workings of it, they brought in the first patient. Young female, maybe 25 years old? She looked basically like she was 10 months pregnant with a 12 pound baby. But. . . she wasn't pregnant. There is a ton of fluid in her abdominal cavity and upper thorax. Sonography didn't show much to the inexperienced eye, although Scott and Denise thought it might have been something with the liver, given that there was so much fluid. Lab tests showed no problems with the liver, however. Tomorrow there will be a fluid tap attempt made to drain some of the fluid off. Hopefully that will ease her pain and make it easier to diagnose her condition.

Second patient was an older man, 65 years old, who also had slight swelling. Again, nothing conclusive was discovered through the sonogram. Scott later did a consultation with the man and found out that he was a heavy drinker until last year. That fact, combined with the liver and kidney results that came back rather poor from the lab tests, led Scott to believe that the swelling might be due to liver degeneration.
After the sonographies, I stayed with Scott and Grace and listened in on consultations on 8 or 10 people. Oh, I forgot to mention that Scott also lanced an abscess on a older teenage female. It was under her armpit, likely caused by a sebaceous gland getting clogged. It was...yummy. :p Unfortunately with abscesses, it is very hard to numb it because of how deep it goes and how the abscess is formed. I think she was in a significant amount of pain. The rest of the day passed in relative peace with Scott and Grace and we stopped around 3:30 when we ran out of patients. I stayed in the office for another hour or so checking email, then decided to work on the sonogram. Earlier in the day, Scott had expressed a desire to see if we could connect the sonogram to a computer in order to at least take pictures if not do a video feed to a radiologist or tech in the States. I worked on trying to get that set up for about an hour with no luck. The sonogram machine was really intended only to have an output to a larger screen, not to connect to a computer. The only thing I found online regarding connecting to a computer was the ability (with software) to download hi-resolution pictures to the computer. The software likely came with the unit when it was new, but who knows where that stuff is now.

We have 8 visitors not including the Wilson family. They are just staying the night. A fellow named Chuck has a ministry called Truth Ministries and he brings teams short term (often just a few days) to Haiti. They stayed last night at the Trueloves and staying tonight with us. Tomorrow, Steve will bring them down to Mole so they can fly out. That makes for a rather full house, and of course tonight would be my night for dish duty. Joe and I did the dishes (I found out he is 13, not 12) and Grace was kind enough to help out drying and putting them away. Doing dishes for 18 people is not a easy chore. :p We had pizza and coke tonight, which was soooo good. Yummy!!

***************

After dinner and dishes, Scott and I went down to the clinic so he could do a bit more computer work. Also took one of the couples that are here as guests so they could send an email or something too. I slept, jounaled, emailed, facebooked, and played boggle on my iPod. Quite a productive evening. :-D

The Wilson kids, Grace, Betsy, and I played Dutch Blitz again tonight. The Wilson kids are getting better at the game and hopefully will provide much competition.

Mmm...guess I should take a shower and head for bed.

An Experiment

2010-07-15T16:19:00.003-05:00

So I'm rather tempted to just copy and paste my journal into a blog post. Since I journal every night, this would make blogging considerably easier, as I would not have to dedicate the time to coming down to the clinic and typing up a blog post. So...here goes. ;)

07.13.2010 - Tuesday

9:20PM

Steve and I put up fence on the west side of the compound today. In the morning, we got everything together and stretched out the chain-link, making sure it was long enough. Then Steve welded one end, and attached a board/metal tongue to the far end, attaching it to the truck winch and pulling it mostly tight. By then, it was time for lunch. After lunch, we continued working on the fence, getting it stretched as much as possible and then arc-welding it to the re-bar coming out of the concrete wall.

Once we got the fence up and welded at both ends, we called it good and packed up the welding tools. At some point, Steve will pour a couple of concrete posts along the fence and weld the fence to it there too. Steve then had me use a pick and break up an area of ground that was used to mix concrete and still had a layer of the material hardened on the ground. I have not used a pick in a long time, and I got worn out quite quickly. Steve and I contemplated on the practicality and usefulness of being short compared to the aesthetic-ness of being tall.

Around 3:15, Faith asked me if I could go down and look at one of their net books (an HP mini) that wasn't connecting to the internet. I worked on it for about an hour before the internet appeared to fail altogether. I will have to work on it again tomorrow, after the hospital people get done with it. Basically, MSN was installed and then un-installed along with Norton Anti-Virus. Windows Support indicated that there is often something called “SYMTDI” that needs to be deleted from the registry before the internet will work. I could not locate that file, and so am attempting to look for other things that are wrong. So far, the only thing I can see is that the DHCP Client and WZC don't automatically start upon Windows start-up. . . but even when I turn them to automatic and turn them on, it still won't connect. But at that point the internet started to get flaky. I will go back tomorrow and finish up on them. If I have time, that is, because the Wilson's are coming tomorrow, and I don't know if I will have time to actually get anything done.

We played Poker tonight. I decided to go all in on a two pair jack high, and actually won the pot! I finished with 240, and Faith was in second (she folded on the last hand) with 168. I was pretty excited and giggly for a while after that. Lol

07.14.2010 - Wednesday

7:50 PM

Today was a pretty decent day. :) In the morning, after breakfast and getting dressed, I went down to the clinic and worked a bit more on the HP Mini. It's weird. Sometimes I'll boot it up and the DHCP client won't start automatically and so the computer won't connect to the internet. Upon starting the Client manually, the Mini connected to the network and everything was fine. . . except for the fact that Internet Explorer would not open about 70% of the time. The DHCP Client started automatically about half the time, and some of those times IE would open too. I'm really not sure what else to do with it now. If it was my computer, I'd probably do a repair reinstall and see if that helped anything. But it is not my computer, and since it's refurbished, I don't even know if it has the root directory that contains the reinstall or repair files, so . . .

***************

9:15PM

About 10:30, I stopped working on the net books and came back up to the house to get ready to go with Steve. We were going to pick up the Wilson family from Mole St. Nicholas. They were being flown in by MAF to the airstrip down there. We left at 11:00 and got down to the airstrip around 12:30 or so. Since the flight was not expected to come in until around 1:30, we went to the end of the airstrip and a little past it to the ocean. There was an incredible gale coming in off the water, and the waves were all white-capped. It was pretty awesome. Hard to hear someone talk though. After we stood there for a bit, we went back up to the airstrip to wait for the plane. Steve and I talked for a while about Catholicism and the problems and non-problems with it. I hadn't thought about it, but the early church, from the 4^th century onwards, was basically Catholic. There was no other 'Church' of the time. If you came to Christ from the 4^th century at least until the Eastern Orthodox Church was established, you very likely came to Him within the Catholic church. That was something I'd never thought about before. We also discussed (on the drive down, really) whether God is in control of the world, how we define Evil when perhaps to God it is Good, defining 'control' and 'allowance', etc. It was an interesting conversation that leaves me somehow eager to return to the States and discuss it again with Mrs. H. We've had some good conversations, and I would be interested in again pursuing the debate.

Plane got in on/around time, and we got the Wilson family loaded up. There are two girls and one boy in the family. Chalice is 16, Mikayla is 14, and Joe is. . . 12? I think. Mr and Mrs Wilson are both doctors. Mrs Wilson and her two daughters rode up front with Steve and Joe and Scott rode on the top of the truck while I rode on the bumper. After 45 minutes or so, Scott came down on the bumper with me and Joe moved inside the back of the truck. Scott and I talked for quite a while, discussing everything from our Testimonies to my appendectomy.

Tomorrow I am hoping to work with Scott in the clinic. We'll see how that goes.

A little while after we got back from Mole, I went down to the clinic to get my net book that I'd left down there and to check and return emails. After a while Scott and Steve came down. Steve gave Scott a tour of the clinic. The Wilsons have been here before, but Scott wanted a refresher on where things were. After the tour, Scott came and sat down in the office with me to work on the computer for a bit. We spent a fair amount of time there before a storm moved in and Scott lost the signal on his internet. Grace came down about that time with a couple of unbrellas for us. Turned out we didn't need them, as the rain let up enough for us to walk back to the house in relative peace.

The Wilsons brought a basketball, and we ended up playing some for a while. It rained after we'd been out there for half an hour, and while the rest of the young people kept playing with the ball, I stepped under a covered porch, as I don't much like rain and wetness. :p People apparently got their fair share of rain, and when the storm had passed over, everyone came inside. Spoons, Mafia, and Dutch Blitz was played until 8:30 or so, at which point the Wilsons went to their house (the Byer's old house) and to take showers and hit the sack. I'm meeting Scott at 7:00 tomorrow to go down to the clinic so he can work on his computer a bit more before the morning rush starts. Speaking of which, I should go to bed . . .

***********************************

So there you go! There is a taste of both my journal and a couple of days in the life of yours truly! Let me know if this is an okay blogging style, or if you would prefer something else. :)

- Josiah

A quick Update.

2010-07-10T15:09:00.003-05:00

This is the first chance I've really had to post on my blog since I've gotten to Bombardopolis in NW Haiti. First things first...it's humid. A shower every night is not just a suggestion, it's a must if you want to feel anywhere close to clean.

Wednesday we left Port-Au-Prince for the 10 hour trip to Bombard. I spent about 3.5 hours in the back of the truck and the rest of the time crammed in the cab with 3 other people. Awesome trip, with things they call "roads" that would hardly pass for anything in the States.

The whole trip from Port to Bombard was done along the coast line, and most of it was dry and barren. Once we got to Bombard, however, it was a lot nicer and greener, primarily because of the elevation. We are up on a mountain, and it makes a huge difference.

Thursday and Friday were spent unloading medical supplies and re-stocking the clinic shelves with them. That was a bit hot, since the stock room is about 11 feet by 5 feet including the shelves that run around the perimeter of the room. It has no ventilation except for the door, and there were three of us in there. Friday afternoon I went with Steve to Beine-de-heine (an hours trip each way) to return home a woman and some of her friends/family from the hospital where she'd been brought two nights before to give birth. The brakes on the ambulance pretty much failed on the way there, so that was exciting. At some point, I think Steve and I are going to bleed the brakes. He is pretty sure that it was just the constant riding of the brakes as we went downhill that caused the brake fluid to not recirculate and get overheated, changing the composition of the fluid and making it ineffective. Hopefully just bleeding them and replacing the old fluid with new fluid will help. :)

I woke up this morning at 4:15, as I have every morning I've been here for some reason. This morning, however, I woke up to a recorded church service being played on some speakers quite loudly from some distance away. I recognized one of the songs "He Loves Me". Unfortunately, upon being woken up, I learned that I had a migraine, I think from tension in my neck. I basically couldn't move, and even then it hurt. I took some tension headache Excedrin and laid back down. I didn't go back to sleep until after breakfast, and even then did not sleep long. I finally got an awesome neck rub, and that relieved enough pressure on my neck that I was able to sleep for a few hours. My neck has been hurting the whole day, although not nearly as bad as it was this morning. I've taken 2 more Excedrin and a total of 1200 mg of Ibuprofen today just to keep the pain down. As long as I don't lean over, I don't black out or have too much pain. :j Hopefully I will feel better soon. Planning on moving to a new bed tonight though, since the one I was sleeping on is really really soft, and I don't think my back liked that. The new bed is quite a bit harder.

As I laid down mid-morning, I put in my earbuds and listened to a sermon by Matt Chandler entitled "The Art of Remembrance". Totally awesome sermon, and a must-listen to. Here is the link to download it if you are interested: http://denton.thevillagechurch.net/sermons?kw=Art+of+Remembrance&type=sermons&match=all.

We are taking care of two preemies right now. They were born yesterday, and are sooo cute! I held one of them for a while today, and it stopped crying immediately. :-D

Okay, now to try to respond to some emails before it's time for my birthday dinner! We are having homemade ravioli, italian creme cake (without the coconut), coke, popcorn, and watching a movie, Spartacus! :) Hopefully it will be a fun night.

Much love,
Josiah

Port-au-Prince, Haiti

2010-07-05T16:22:00.005-05:00

Bonjou!

I am currently sitting on my bed in the guest house in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, testing out the internet connection that I should have for a couple of days while I am still in Port.

I made it here safely, obviously, and have not died of heatstroke, although I must say I feel that I am languishing on my deathbed from the humidity. It's a bit...warm. It's relatively okay when the breeze is blowing though, which is a majority of the time so far.

I have had an excellent time so far, having gone on a bit of a walk with the missionaries I'm staying with and having quite a nice chat with Steve (one of the missionaries) about several topics, including: the settling of this island by the Spanish and then the eventual take over by the French, the slave population and uprising here compared to what North America's slave population was like, Old Testament prophecies, CLEP tests, and the difference between America's rebellion and Haiti's slave rebellion. Hmm...run on sentence, I think. :)

All that to say, I'm enjoying myself so far, and am looking forward to dinner! :)

Pictures seem to be taking a very long time to upload, and I cannot even see forward progress...so I'm not sure if I'll be able to post or not..

- Josiah

Blog Headers....

2010-07-01T16:40:00.002-05:00

So, if you've been paying any attention at all to my blog, you might have seen that my blog header changes periodically...like twice an hour when I'm working on it. I'm trying to fix up my blog to make it both aesthetically pleasing and quick to load. I took off two embedded videos and two embedded scrolling lyrics to speed up the page load time, which I believed helped significantly.

If you are viewing this, and have an opinion on either the aesthetic-ness or load time of this blog, please let me know! :)

- Strider

Should God be taken seriously?

2010-06-28T23:03:00.003-05:00

A friend of mine had a quote from Epicurus on his facebook status. I thought I would reproduce the quote and my thoughts on it here for you guys to read. Enjoy!

Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him god?
~ Epicurus

The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance." - 2 Peter 3:9

God is able, but not willing...but that does not make him malevolent, simply merciful.

So...the obvious question would be: How can God exist when all this evil stuff in the world keeps persisting?

Wrong question. Ask again. How come God hasn't let you (or me) feel the wrath of sin? What you thought last night deserves a first class flight to hell where God doesn't dwell.

Some people say that God isn't real because they don't see how a good God could exist or allow all this evil stuff in the world. If God is real, then He should stop all this evil because He's all powerful, right?

What is evil, though? It's anything that is against God, it's anything that's morally bad or wrong. It's murder, rape, stealing, lying, cheating. But if we want God to stop evil, do we want Him to stop all of it or just a little bit of it? If He stops us from doing evil things, what about lying, or what about our evil thoughts? Where do you stop? The murder level? the lying level? Or the thinking level? If we want Him to stop evil, we have to be consistent. We can't just pick and choose. That means you and I should be eliminated, right? Because we think evil stuff. If that's true, then we should be eliminated! But thanks be to God that Jesus stepped in to save us from our sins! Christ died for all evilness!

God is Able, but not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Evil exists only because of His mercy. Don't take that for granted.

(some thoughts and sentences taken from "Truth" by Lecrae)

Peeling (warning: gross)

2010-05-27T09:04:00.003-05:00

I have a secret for all of you guys. I hope you can keep it! I got a sunburn on Saturday/Sunday because I've been working on cleaning out the gutters on the garage and house and installing gutter guard. Quite the project, let me tell you. Anyways, my sisters have this weird thing about dead skin. They LOVE to peel if off of me...or anyone, for that matter. The delight in seeing if they can get great big sheets of sunburned skin to peel off. It's somewhat disturbing to me, and so I am trying not to have them find out that I am currently peeling. But I also have this urge to find out if any of them read my blog....sooooo: I'm posting this as a bit of a test. I know if they read this, they'll be in my room in two shakes of a tulip tree in the wind. If they don't, I just might get away with a sunburn and no peeling sisters this time! :-D

Note: I don't really mind all the much if my sisters peel my shoulders, as it hurts my neck if I try to stare at my shoulders and peel away dead skin for any extended period of time.

Okay, I guess that's enough for now. :-D

Ugh...got to keep up with this thing!

2010-05-18T22:54:00.004-05:00

Wellll....I can't decide if I really want to pick this back up or not. I think I shall, if only to get people to read this again before I ... well, I shouldn't get ahead of myself.

I'm going to Haiti this summer, from July 5th to August 16th, to help out in a medical clinic in the NW region. It's run by a missionary family that we know. I'm really looking forward to going, and I hope it will be both a spiritually enlightening and mentally and physically strengthening trip. Before I leave, I plan to post on something called G90X, which is similar to the body workout program called P90X...except better, in my humble opinion. Stayed tuned to hear more about that! :-D (<--- that's an incentive to get you to come back and read more. ;) ).

Last semester went well, as I finished with all A's in my classes. This Spring semester I took General Chemistry 2, Chemistry Lab, Hero and Quest, Human Genetics, and Introduction to Society. Genetics was quite involved, as I spent many hours in the lab sexing, typing, and counting fruit flies. Oh the joy, the happiness, the...anguish of sitting for hours (total) at a lab bench with your eyes glued to a microscope and the probe in your hand separating flies by sex and mutant characteristics. Anyways, that's done now, thank God! Intro to Society was laaaammmeee... as are most of the soft science general education classes. Easy A though. :-D Hero and Quest was different then any other class I've been in. Our professor told us the first day of class that he was not a teacher so much as he was a fellow colleague of ours wanting to help us on our journey in life. His goal in the class was to have non-consensus seeking arguments put forth and argued upon from our moral standpoints. Definitely an interesting class, especially when you have fairly fundamental Christians like myself arguing with liberal feminists.

This next semester, I have Anatomy, Physics, Communication, and a music history class. I've decided (at least until I get told I can't or something else comes up) that I'm gonna try to get a music minor at school. I have the 'time' (as far as credit hours go) to do so, and I figure I might as well try for another minor rather then taking meaningless classes. So we'll see how that goes. :-D

I also got an iPod Touch a few weeks ago. Definitely loving that. There's a website, http://www.freeappaday.com, that offers one application (normally non-free) per day for free. Sometimes the apps are cool and totally worth getting a checking out, and sometimes they are incredibly stupid. But, to each their own, and I know I've enjoyed some of the puzzle-type games that have been offered in the past.

Anyways, I think that's enough for now! Please check back soon, as I hope to keep this blog somewhat up-to-date pending my trip to Haiti. I'd like to have this blog serve as a medium to show/tell my experiences in Haiti.

So long for now!
~Strider

Do I dare?

2009-10-27T20:09:00.003-05:00

*slowly ventures back into the world of blogging*

wow...not much going on, eh?

So...I'm in school...dropped university symphony to take the honors section of my Concepts in the Biomedical Sciences course. I think it's been worth it. The class involves freshman research, and is the only class at MSU to do that, and MSU is one of only three universities to do freshman research. So...basically for the last ten weeks I've been isolating, amplifying, cloning, and inserting a gene from Tetrahymena thermophila, - a pond organism - into E. coli cells. This will allow research to be done on this gene, which is a homolog to the Sirtuin 2 gene in homo sapiens, which regulates ...something with cell life longevity, and gene transcription silencing or something. Still working on that part. :p Anyways, different projects can then be done on the Ttherm gene to figure out what it does, and to make relevant generalizations to the Sirtuin2 gene in humans. It's actually related to cancer research, believe it or not.

As of now, I have A's in all of my classes. In fact, I have set the curve for both exams in psychology, and I have a 115% average in that class. Praise my God. :) BMS and Chemistry are both bordering on the "A" line, and my religions class (don't take religion at a state school, btw), is 94%, I think.

So...there's a quick update..enjoy!

The Interminable Wait

2009-08-04T20:36:00.003-05:00

H.O.L.Y. C.O.W. Talk about taking a while between blog posts. :p Aunt Kady, this post is for you! ;)

Okay, so I ended up purchasing the Asus EEE PC 1005ha netbook. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220551 I also purchased a Samsung external CD/DVD player with USB power since no netbooks come with an internal media drive. After about a week of having it, I went ahead and upgraded to 2gb of memory from the stock 1gb. Total, the netbook/accessories have cost $465. Mom and dad paid for about half of that for my birthday/graduation gift. It's a pretty sweet little thing, and it runs most of the games I own. Unfortunately, the native screen resolution is 1024x600 (widescreen), and most games don't look too good in that resolution. I have an 17in CRT monitor at home that I use as my external monitor. It's not the best looking monitor, so I hope to upgrade come Christmas time with a 20" LCD flat panel monitor, saving room on my desk and making the screen look a TON better. As far as system capabilities go, I can run my chat client, watch a Hulu.com video and browse the internet all at the same time. Occasionally the Hulu.com video will run a bit choppy, but if I pause it and let it buffer, it's okay again. Just watching the Hulu.com video, it never has problems.

Okay, enough about that...

I am in NY right now. Over the weekend my family helped my brother move up to Buffalo, NY so he can attend the school there in hopes of obtaining his Ph.D. in chemistry. After getting him settled, my parents, two younger sisters, and I crossed the state and came to Long Island, where my grandparents live. *waves hi to grandparents* We are spending about a week here before heading back to Missouri.

And on to school..
I have no idea what the last thing I said about school was. I received a $500 scholarship from the Medical Explorers group I am in at the hospital towards my school fees, plus I received a $500 scholarship from Southwest Home Education Ministries for use towards the same end. I went through the Student Orientation, Advisement, and Registration program at school (freshman orientation), and have registered for all my classes for the fall. I am taking Concepts of Biomedical Sciences, General Chemistry 1 for the science major, Introduction to Psychology, Literature and World of the Old Testament (honors), University Symphony, and Introduction to University Life (honors) for a total of 16 credits. To be technical, provided I do not drop a class this semester, I will be a Sophomore at the end of this fall semester, with 30 credits to my name.

And for the future...
I am contemplating a mission trip to Haiti next summer. I have yet to actually talk to the missionaries my family knows down there about that, but my parents and I are praying about it. I'll probably email the missionaries when I get back home from NY, if not while here. I'll keep you updated on this item, and we'll see if it goes anywhere. I was challenged to go on another missions trip by a friend...it struck me as odd that even though I consider "missions" to be a large part of my calling by Christ, I've only been on two missions trips in my whole life. To be fair, I DO consider doing music and preaching at the local mission to be "missions" work, but I feel called to foreign missions...anyways, I felt very strongly that I should again pursue some overseas missions work. So...we'll see what happens. :)

Okay, that's enough for now. Sorry again for the lengthy wait between posts.
Laterz,
Siah

Scholarships and PC's

2009-05-24T13:03:00.003-05:00

OH! One thing I forgot to mention....I was selected to be the recipient of this years Medical Explorer Senior Scholarship. It's a $500 award, deposited into your student account at whatever institution you are planning on attending. It's awarded based on academic achievement, community service, and evidence of leadership. I was pretty stoked about getting that one. So I've got another $1000 in my student account at MSU in addition to my scholarships...I'll probably either save it for a couple of years and buy a really nice MacBook, or use it on food when I'm practically living at school.

Oh, speaking of MacBooks and computers...I'm debating between getting a Netbook (mini-laptop) or a real Laptop (like as a replacement desktop) or a Netbook and a Desktop...or other various combinations of those 3 items...

A netbook would be very handy for school. It weighs an average of 3 lbs, and is about 10-11 inches diagonally. It's excellent for word processing, email, and internet. It's media processing ability is below-par. Hard drive size is around 120-160 GB. Average cost of a decent netbook, outfitted, is $450.

A Desktop is great for at home use. It allows for games, hi-speed internet, word processing, and a myriad of other things, such as media work. It's the fastest option in processing power, and will have the largest hard drive (600-800 GB). Average cost, $750.

A Laptop would most likely be used as a desktop replacement. It would be powerful enough to play games and work with media, but also portable enough to take to school. It would be about 9 lbs, and measure anywhere from 15-18 inches diagonally. It's not quite as fast as the desktop, but still is decent, and will have a medium sized hard drive (320gb). It runs about $1000-1200 on average.

Then of course, through all of this, is the eager waiting for the new Windows 7 OS to come out...it runs with half the processing power that Vista requires, and from talk from Beta users, runs better with the un-finished Beta then Vista does fully updated.

Finals, and WHAT is Research, Pt. 1

2009-05-24T12:16:00.003-05:00

To Ms. Laura....I'll eventually get around to answering your question that you asked regarding "research" on my last post.

Finals are over. I got a B in Calculus 1 and an A in English Composition 2. I was rather excited about both. Going into my english final, I had only recieved 3/5 papers back from the teacher. So I only knew that I had an 82.5% average for my papers. I really wasn't sure what my grades were in the class, because he wouldn't tell us a lot about how attendance and in-class work affected our grades...but apparently I did good enough, cause I got an A. Calculus 1 I was also very excited about. I had to get a 69% on the final to get a B, which I apparently got....I wish you could see the final, and see what score you really made, etc....

My senior recital is coming up rather quickly. Very scary, actually... 6 days. I have a total of 7 solos and 2 duets...solos have to be memorized...I can ...get through all but two of the solos by memory...but only 2 fairly decently. I'll make it, I know..it's just nervewracking. My hands were swollen so bad on Tuesday. I couldn't hardly grip anything or make a fist with either hand. It wasn't too hot. lol But they are better now, and I'm back to practicing and staring at my music for a few hours a day.

Okay...now...MY view of Research....
I saw "research" as....mm...an exploring of a topic, and then writing my conclusion about that topic. So, in the case of home schooling which I wrote about (and I believe I have posted on my other blog), I wrote my conclusion, based on a question that I asked at the beginning to get me jumpstarted. My question was "Is home schooling effective?" I looked at the history of homeschooling, the legality of homeschooling, the cirriculum available to homeschoolers, the academic acheievements of homeschoolers compared to their public school counterparts, the success of graduates after high school, and the satisfaction of homeschooled graduates and their parents after homeschooling. I came to the conclusion that "Yes, home schooling is a generally effective method of schooling, and has higher average academic achievement rating then other methods of home schooling." This view I expressed in my paper, not really including other viewpoints or bringing any "other sides of the arguement" into play. This was mainly because there WASN'T a lot of good evidence against home schooling. It was mostly people calling it "child abuse" and ranting about how "homeschoolers aren't socialized, won't know how to function in the real world, etc"....actual evidence (usually done scientifically, or using psychological studies, see Dr. Brian Ray, etc) goes directly against these claims. So in my paper, which is essentially my conclusion of the research I've done, I ignored these false claims, and only used evidence which actually had something to back it up.

I'll get to the "school" version of research in my next post....

Piano Papers...

2009-04-30T20:06:00.004-05:00

I have a piano recital tomorrow. And for once, I actually made it TWICE through my song at my piano lesson today (by memory)...this is unheard of. Usually I memorize my song at the recital itself. They have this little piano upstairs.............

I'm playing The Easy Winners, by Scott Joplin. It's pretty cool, although playing 5+ minute rag wears on your arms.

The Evangel University Garage Sale "starts" tomorrow. By "starts," I mean that the helpers involved with the garage sale start to clean out the dorms and sort different items. It's an event that lasts till Tuesday evening. Then on Wednesday, the sale REALLY starts. The nice thing about working and helping out is that if you see something you want while items are being placed out in the gym area, you can grab it and set it aside, purchasing it on Tuesday...so you basically get first pick on stuff. I can only help on Saturday, since I have a large amount of school to do in the next two weeks.

Speaking of school....I have two english papers (one of which is for the final) and two calc tests (one of which is the final) to do within the next 2 weeks. Oh. Boy.

Oh, and I got a grade back on my Research Paper...an 85%...not so good. I mean, It's okay, but still not what I wanted. I had NO grammatical or syntax errors, only an apparently total mis-understanding of what "research" is...*sighs*...

SHEM recap, and the next week in preview..

2009-04-26T11:50:00.003-05:00

The SHEM convention is over. A rumor I heard from a board member said that there were between 1350 and 1500 attendees at the convention. Those numbers are up slightly from last year. The convention this year did not seem to be nearly as busy and packed, at least at the registration table...

Friday night, I "graduated." Sort of. Mom and Da handed me my diploma, but it was unsigned. My Da stated that before they would sign it, I had to "finish my school, including American Government and Spanish 2." So technically, I'm not graduated. And I have no excuse to skip on those classes either. ;)

Saturday at the convention was fairly boring for me. I got reassigned to the back loading dock of the convention hall. There were some parking issues that I had to make sure didn't occur. I spent over 10 hours back there, mostly by myself. The take-home calc quiz got worked on quite a bit. O- lent me his laptop, so I was able to goof around on that for awhile too...Basically the day was slow, until about 5:00. Then the vendors on the lower floor started to pack up, and pull their vehicles around to the back loading dock. I ended up being the loading dock "manager," directing traffic and assisting with loading and parking. That was fun! Not extremely labor intensive, but mentally nervewracking a few times.

My next english paper is due on Thursday, and I have a Calc test on Tuesday. My paper is nearly done, except for re-writing the first paragraph, and doing some editing. I'm fairly well studied for my Calc test too....this week should be fairly easy. EXCEPT for the fact that my mom's sister and her husband are coming for a few days this week. AND I have a piano recital this weekend. AND the annual college garage sale that my family always helps at is this weekend. I sense tiredness coming on. :)

Laterz...

My life, as you know it.

2009-04-21T18:16:00.004-05:00

Hmm....apparently it's been a while since I've blogged! Per request from a few friends, I will resume blogging, at least for this post...

My life begins right after the last post ended....and continues to this day. I shall attempt to fill you in on the large details...

No major repurcussions occured as a result of my accident. I still get pretty sore from time to time, and I am just starting to be able to rebuild my strength. But other then that, I'm okay.

The insurance company ended up giving us $3500 for the totalled vehicle. We bought a 2000 Buick Century with that money.

Other then that, my life has been filled with school and applying for various scholarships, etc. I did not recieve Drury's or Missouri State's Highest Academic scholarship. I had to interview for both of those, and neither school selected me. I do, however, get all my tuition paid for at MSU, and the Bright Flight Scholarship, which equals $2000 a year, until next fall, when it will be $2500 a year.

I recently found out that I had missed the deadline to join the Honors College at MSU. I sent them an email requesting an extension, and they granted it. So my Honors College Acceptance letter is in the mail, on the way to MSU.

I just found out today that I am one of two recipients for the SouthWest Home Education Ministry Scholarship, given by the Community Foundation of the Ozarks. The award is worth $500, and is deposited into the student account of the University you attend. So..that'll pay for some meals and books and what not. I'm pretty happy about that one. I really didn't expect to get it. Praise the Lord!!! :)

2nd Tuesday in May I'll find out if I was awarded the Medical Explorers Scholarship. Only one of those is awarded per year, and it's also worth $500. I would absolutely love to get both of those scholarships. :) One down, one to go. :) If I get it, it will be good news in the midst of finals week.

Yes, finals week is approaching. I have 2 and a half weeks before finals week. I believe as of 3 weeks from tomorrow, that I will be done with this semester. I have a graduation this Friday, at the SHEM convention. I am also planning a Senior Recital, to take place at the end of May. That will really be my "graduation, it's all done and over - finally" celebration.

So...english papers seem to be my problem this semester. I procrastinate FAR too long, then I slap something together that I don't have time for, and I get bad grades. B and C so far this semester, in fact. I turned in my research paper last week, which is worth double any other paper. I hope that it goes better then my past papers. :)

Of course, SHEM is up and coming. I am volunteering as a page yet again, with my two younger sisters. I love the work. It puts me around people, yet still gives me the opportunity to move around and not be stifled. Plus, as one of the older young men involved with volunteering, I have a lot of responsibility generally placed on me, something I greatly enjoy. Well, for limited amounts of time, anyway. And in novel places and with novel things.

Well, I think I have just about written down all I can for now. Look for another blog post in a "country" month! (ie, 2-4 "real" months).

Auto Accident

2009-02-10T15:46:00.002-06:00

I’m going to use the street names from the town that the accident occurred in. Kansas Expressway is a two-lane divided highway. It town, it has numerous stoplights, and functions as a large road. Atlantic Ave. is a minor road that intersects Kansas Exp.

6:45AM

I am driving a 1997 Buick LeSabre, heading Southbound on Kansas Expressway, right lane. I have a green light as I approach the intersection of Kansas and Atlantic. Several cars on the Northbound side of Kansas Expressway are in the left-hand turning lane. They have a green light on yield. Four cars turn in front of me. I am far enough away from the intersection that it is not a problem, and I only slow slightly as a precaution.

6:46AM

I enter the intersection of Kansas and Atlantic, driving 40 mph, and realize with a shock that a 5th car has decided to turn from the left-hand turning lane of Northbound Kansas Expressway onto Atlantic. I am already in the intersection as the driver in a 1990 Ford Ranger XLT attempts to barrel in front of me. I have only 10 feet in which to make any decision. I cannot remember if the left lane beside me is empty or not, so I choose to slam the brakes and stay in my lane. My brakes lock up, and I impact the passenger side of the pick-up truck, directly behind the cab. At impact, I throw one hand up to block the air bag as it deploys. My car imbeds itself in the side of the truck, and both spin together towards the right. My southbound vehicle is now pointing almost west, and his west bound truck is pointing north, northeast. Not knowing if the dust/smoke in the air is from the airbags or from the engine smoking, I unlock the door, and shove it open. The engine is appears to be smoking slightly, so I run around both vehicles to the driver’s door of the truck. The driver is okay, and he exits his truck. I ask him if he has a cell phone with which to call 911. He replies in the affirmative, and calls 911 immediately. Another truck pulls up alongside of the wreck, and the driver rolls down the window. He tells me “As long as the both of you are okay, I can’t stay, cause I have to get to work. I saw the accident happen though, and if you need a witness to prove that it was his fault, you can contact me at this number.” He hands me a piece of paper with his name and number on it. I thank him, and he drives off.

6:48AM

I return to my vehicle to search for my cell-phone, which appears to have been lost. I find it. As I’m standing outside my vehicle, trying to sort it all out, a good friend of the family’s drives by, and sees me standing there. He pulls over, and instructs me on what information to get from the other driver, and helps me to get my belongings from the vehicle.

Long story short: The other driver was ticketed (I’m not sure the exact citation). My car was towed to the lot, with damages as follows: Both front airbags deployed, hood crumpled in two on itself, front right end of vehicle smashed in, and anti-freeze fluid leaking. His car was drivable, with damages as follows: Side of truck smashed in nearly 1.5 feet. Passenger door dented.

Other bits and pieces of description:

A bird (slightly smaller then a robin, tan, with black specks) lay dead outside my drivers door. It was unmangled, unsmashed, and there was no blood.

A man in scrubs from St. John's stopped and asked if we were okay. After assuring him we were both okay, he left. He was wearing tan scrubs and a dark blue jacket.

My car is worth 2000-2300 bucks, according to Kelly's Blue Book.

Ah...Inaugurations...brain dead.

2009-01-19T21:37:00.002-06:00

Okay...breathe in, breathe out...you got something done...it's okay...just rest now....

*sighs* Welcome back, readers. I'm still trying to comfort my fried brain...why it's breathing, I don't know..but...okay whatever...blog post!!

I haven't applied for Graduation yet...I'm working on my recital; I've picked some pieces out...I haven't applied to Camp David yet...I finished my apps for DU and MSU, I finished compiling my portfolio for DU and MSU (I still have a wee bit left with that, but nothing too hard or time-consuming),...

I did my spanish!! And went to the Dentist...I wrote the essay for MSU...I did my 5 pages (front and back of college lined paper) of calc homework...

and not on my list, but completed...chores. :) and piano practice..and blogging!! And I worked today...well...this morning, anyway...

Sorry...my brain is still trying to recuperate...I'm not really all here...hence the ellipsi..

Oh, my choir teacher is gonna try to find me a song that I can voice at my senior recital, since I love to sing..

And ...today marked the last full day of President Bush's 8 year term. God help us now. I'm not the biggest fan of Bush. I think he made mistakes. But...he IS human. And whether he did the best thing, at least he DID something. He did what he thought was right. History will be his judge, but I at least will honor him for his commitment to doing what he thought was best...he certainly wasn't trying to run a popularity contest.

We'll see how Obama handles. I sincerely wish him the best of luck in his first term. He's gonna need it. I hope...well, my first wish would be that he actually has some sense in him and rules moderately. I'm not sure that'll happen...so if it doesn't, then I hope he rules so rottenly that people will not re-elect him. What I REALLY don't want is for him to rule just moderately enough that he gets re-elected to a 2nd term. I really don't want to have him as my Commander-in-Chief if I join the military in 4.5 years.

okay...laters...everybody watch the election, even if you hate Obama. It's historical..it counts for school credit. :)

It's okay, my sweet brain. You will recover...

Stress...

2009-01-13T20:36:00.003-06:00

YAY!!! This is my 100th blog post, if you are interested. I'm happy. :)

So school started on Monday for me. My first day in Calc 1, and we had to take a quiz. Basically a review of what we should know already, but what we would most definitly know by the end of the semester...Luckily it wasn't graded, cause...well...I got 1.5 out of 7 correct..

Woohoo!! I had my first english class yesterday..it looks to be a decent class...our first quiz is on Thursday...we have to list the first name of every other student in the class...that should be exciting...

Okay, so I'm a wee bit stressed...I have to plan my senior recital...apply for graduation through SHEM, apply to Camp David, finish apps for DU and MSU, finish portfolio for DU and MSU, do 4 spanish lessons, go to the dentist...write an essay for MSU....oh...and somewhere in there, I have to do school homework...

all that has to be in the next week, so I must needs beg off of writing more, and go to work.
laters..

Lewis, Tolkien, and School

2009-01-11T14:39:00.002-06:00

Bah humbug. The Christmas season was delayed me from posting. So...until I get back in the swing of a schedule, here are some quotes from two of my favorite authors, CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien.

LEWIS:
Don't use words too big for the subject. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.

Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.

A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell.

Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.

God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.

Humans are amphibians - half spirit and half animal. As spirits they belong to the eternal world, but as animals they inhabit time.

I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.

If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be without meaning.

If we cut up beasts simply because they cannot prevent us and because we are backing our own side in the struggle for existence, it is only logical to cut up imbeciles, criminals, enemies, or capitalists for the same reasons.

If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.

Let's pray that the human race never escapes from Earth to spread its iniquity elsewhere.

Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see.

The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of 60 minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.

The safest road to hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.

There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, "All right, then, have it your way."

Thirty was so strange for me. I've really had to come to terms with the fact that I am now a walking and talking adult.

What we call Man's power over Nature turns out to be a power exercised by some men over other men with Nature as its instrument.

You don't have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body.

TOLKIEN
Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.

I am told that I talk in shorthand and then smudge it.

It's the job that's never started takes longest to finish.

I warn you, if you bore me, I shall take my revenge.

There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something. You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after.

What do you mean? Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good on this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?

Fair speech may hide a foul heart.

Some who have read the book, or at any rate have reviewed it, have found it boring, absurd, or contemptible; and I have no cause to complain, since I have similar opinions of their works, or of the kinds of writing that they evidently prefer.

"What has it got to do with the story? Where is this place? Why emus? And what is the thing in the foreground with pink bulbs?" ~On a cover painting for The Hobbit that depicted a hill, two emus, and a Christmas tree.

"I begin to feel that I am shut up in a madhouse." ~On hearing that the artist of the aforementioned painting had not read The Hobbit

"Charge 'em and they scatter!" ~On driving a car among other vehicles

Hope you enjoyed some of these!!

I start school tomorrow. I'm still going part time at home, part time at the college I was at last semester. This semester I'm taking 8 credits at college. A five credit Calculus 1 course and a 3 credit English Composition Course...woohoo. Calc 1 is 4 days a week, 75 minutes/lecture period. Ick.

A's, Calc, Good Teachers, Headsets swelling

2008-12-27T16:18:00.003-06:00

Okay...so...I haven't posted in a while. Not anything deep, anyway.

I got my grades back from ENG 101 and Trigometry. I recieved A's in both classes. So Praise the Lord on that!!!!

Next semester I am taking Calculus 1 and ENG Comp 102. It's a little awkward in higher math classes like Trig, Pre-Calc, and Calc, cause I am a highschool student taking 4th and sometimes 5th semester math classes. So like all my fellow students in Trig were 3rd semester. My Math partner was 29 years old...the age range is so big in a community college though.

My teachers were just absolutely wonderful!! I hope next semesters' teachers are just as good. From what my sister says (who got her LPN degree at the same college), the teachers at this college are the best...too bad I'm transferring out next semester...

Christmas was great...we stayed at home and lounged around all day for once. I got a bluetooth headset for my cell phone as a gift. It's pretty sweet. :)

I've not been feeling too swell for the past week or so. Well, I'm sure it's been longer then that, but I just have this short term memory loss problem, so I wouldn't remember. :p

ttfn,
Siah

Something to read...although it's not magnifique.

2008-12-16T22:29:00.003-06:00

Somehow school caught up to me, and slapped me in the face...

This is finals week. I took my english final this morning. If my grading skills are accurate...I should have to only get a 65% or higher to get an A in the class. I'm half way confident that I did better then that.

Trig finals are on Thursday. Then I'll be done with this semester!!

Here are some goofy things, since I don't feel like writing seriously.

If life gives you lemons, make grape juice. Then stand by and laugh as the world watches and wonders how you did it.

A Women's heart should be so lost in God that a man has to seek Him in order to find it.

Barack Obama sounds so much like: Iraq Will Bomb Ya.

Opera: When a guy gets stabbed in the back, and instead of bleeding, he sings.

Caution, water on road during rain.

I'm not random, you just can't think as fast as me.

These are all from things I found on Facebook. The second to the last one was a signpost.

Anyways...

Shopping Freaks and Thanksgiving Break...

2008-12-01T11:25:00.004-06:00

I hope all of my readers had a most enjoyable Thanksgiving and found much for which to be thankful. On a side note, one of my pet peeves is people calling "Thanksgiving Day" "Turkey Day." ARGH. But I digress...I'm feeling wordy and important today...not sure why, but I'll hang loose and roll with it. Shaka shaka..

I've just posted for the first real time on my In Deus Ego Fides blog. Feel free to check it out. Be forwarned, it's a lengthy post, seeing as how it's one of my english papers. But I think it's a rather easy read, and it flows decently. You shouldn't have too much trouble understanding it.

I played frisbee on Friday for the first time since my accident. Actually, I did a little bit more then that. I hadn't had much physical activity since the accident. I was trying to hurry up and heal. Well, I was feeling pretty good. I had been for several days. So on Black Friday...I gave myself a workout.

First off, I went shopping. For those of you who don't know, I enjoy shopping. Anyways, I needed a winter coat, having not had one for 2 years since I was growing too much. But I've stopped growing now, and so was eager to get an actual heavy jacket instead of putting on 42 layers every morning. I had my eye on a coat at Macy's...But JC Penny's opened first, so I decided to look through their coats first. Arriving at 4:20AM, I found shoppers already coming out with their purchases. Freaks. Just kidding...Penny's opened at 4AM, and I'm sure many of those people had been standing in line for a good long while. Anyways, I couldn't find a jacket that I liked AND could afford, so I left Penny's and headed to Macy's...about a 1.5 minute drive, since they are in the same mall complex...speaking of complexes, I thought only girls' had those, but apparently Malls and Apartments have them too...

Got to Macy's 15 minutes before it opened...Stood in line...Freezing...now I'm a freak....The store was giving out free packets of Craisins and Cranberry energy drinks..that was quite enjoyable...I knew exactly what coat I was looking for, so I was able to find it quickly. After trying on a couple of different sizes, I paid and left. I got a $280 jacket for $50, which I thought was quite the deal.

On a side note: I heard it said that on Black Friday, females shop like men. You aren't Christmas shopping, you are Christmas getting. You know before you walk into that store exactly what you are wanting, having picked everything out the night before in the shopping ads...your main goal is to get into that store, find the item(s) you are looking for, pay, and get out as quickly as possible. Just like a guy shops. Welcome to a Man's Life. Freaks.

Anyways...back to my overwhelming day. After shopping, I headed out to one of my friend's house...we played some basketball in the morning, and then went to shoot skeet...still not a good idea cause of my accident, but I did it nonetheless...After shooting, we played frisbee for 3 hours at our normal place. Then our whole group went for dinner at friend's house...we played capture-the-flag in the dark...By the time I got home and went to bed, I'd been up for 20 hours straight with only 4 hours of sleep the night before. Plus I had done a lot more physical activity then I had for the previous two weeks put together...needless to say, I don't feel quite as good as I would like...

My apologies to anyone who dislikes the word "freak"...I mean it in the nicest way possible, and it was the only word I could come up with the really got what I meant across...if anyone has a nicer word, suggest away...

Okay...back to getting all my college applications finished up and a rough draft thrown together for tomorrow's English Class...boohoo, I'll miss you, Thanksgiving Break!!!

Christianity? vs. Intolerance?

2008-11-25T22:12:00.003-06:00

I'm going to post a rather long piece tonight. Most of you know that I am a Christian. My life goal is to spread the Gospel of Christ to whomever I come in contact with. I prefer to establish some sort of relationship with the person before sharing that Gospel.

One of my friends, who reads this blog, wrote what I thought to be an interesting piece on Christianity, Atheism, Worldviews, and Intolerance. I will post it here, then post my reply, then her reply to my reply. Everything is verbatim, with the slight exception of some sensitive material which she asked me not to post, and is reproduced with her explicit permission.

_____________________________________________________________________

A friend sent this to me. Watch it, then I'd like to say a few words. I welcome your thoughts and opinions. But please, hear me out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piuoGb-Nhfw&feature=related.

I received an amusing anecdote this evening. The plot was obvious and I knew the punchline, but I laughed nonetheless. My gut reaction was 'What was the professor's name? The student's name? Sorry, but this is only a witnessing tool, not a true event.' But that's all right, a thing like this doesn't have to be true, it doesn't even have to be just a witnessing tool.

The video says it's intended to make you think. It did make me think. Think about how people don't stand up against views they feel are wrong. Which inevitably lead to me thinking about why a person feels their view is the “right” view. And about people who feel their view is the ONLY “right” view.

Stubborn judging of right and wrong is what creates tragic malice between men. It manifests in prejudice, hate crimes and wars. It's bigger than religion and non-religion, it is everything man can have an opinion about. Race, sexuality, creed, philosophy, which was the better Enterprise captain on Star Trek. It is an inability to imagine the Other, an inflexibility of the heart and mind. It is easy to cling to what you know, to shout it until you believe it, but that won't enhance your heart. What is infinitely harder, and truly character building is to sacrifice just one of your views; even for a moment, to imagine the other side of an argument.

Seemingly Irrelevant Example:
I love Picard, I would follow him to the edge of the time and space. But there are merits to Kirk, though it's hard to imagine what they are most days, and harder to begin admit them. But there are merits, and it's that small gesture of trying that makes the difference. To prove this example isn't the shot in the foot it feels like.... Kirk was a better independent thinker than Picard. Picard let his crew do a lot of the problem solving, but Kirk would come up with a tenacious plan on his own and go at it gung-ho. Resisting the urge to delete that last line.... this doesn't mean I'm a traitor, just...accepting...Picard likes open mindedness!..... okay, I can live with this. Moving on.

Weak people, like the professor, feel vindicated and "right" and faithful, because they were loudest. (I would argue the professor's atheism is equally a faith because he must convince himself of his views and beliefs just as diligently as someone who worships a god. But the intollerance of this particular video is a discussion for a later time.) Whereas people like the student who take a quiet, but sure stand are the most convincing and most touching. Insecure people shout. Strong people act.

Sadly, the student in the story botched that profound and rare moment of quiet faith by becoming the professor. By pushing Jesus on his fellow students just as the professor had pushed Atheism on them.

So, no one in the story grew for the events that happened. No one tried to imagine the other side of the argument. The twenty years worth of students were too cowardly to go against what is being shouted at them. The professor didn't learn, because when faced with opposition he ran instead of being open to growth. And the stubborn student learned nothing because he became the professor. Sad yes, but remember, it's a witnessing tool. You aren't supposed to notice the hypocrisy. The good news is we can learn from these fictional character's mistakes and do our best to grow.

I want to thank the person that sent me this video, and all the other witnessing e-mails she has sent me in the past. It has sparked many a wonderful evening of thought for me. There is so much more to read in them than Jesus or Satan. Faithful and Unfaithful. Right and Wrong.

So to wrap up, you now have three options, though really there are only two.
1 - Pretend you never read this.
2 - Shout at me.
3 - Or Think.

Next time you feel inclined to fall back on shouting to prove your point, try your hardest to imagine the other point of view. It doesn't make you weak or unfaithful, it makes you thoughtful and wise.

-------------------------INTERLUDE, FOLLOWED BY MY RESPONSE-----------------------
Good post...

I totally agree with some of what you have said. For all the times I have talked to you and sat text to you, I have never once "witnessed" to you. I have only tried to live my life different then the lives you may see at other places. Whether or not I have succeeded only God knows.

I do try my best to imagine the other person's view when talking to them about matters of this sort. My post on the Bhuddist fellow I talked to would exemplify this the best....It is hard, but I think necessary. When you come across as being rude and arrogant, it turns people off. Most definitely it does. I know, cause it's happened to me. I always try my best to be humble...but in the midst of all that...I happen to be absolutely positively sure that I know the Truth. Some people say you can't know Truth. Truth is relative. But I beg to differ. In Science, how does one reason through arguments to come to a theory, law, etc?

He looks at what he sees, and he finds the best explanation or answer for it.

So....I look at my life. I look at Creation. I look at what God has done for me, personally, in my life. I look at what God has done for others. Then I look at what "no god" has not done. That is, I look for evidence that there is no God. I look for things that show God isn't. I try to answer all of Life's problems in light of no eternity.

My conclusion? I see Creation, and it screams a Designer. I see my Life, and it shouts out that there is a Master Planner. I see the World, its pains, suffering, and evil...and I still see a God who Loves Mankind, who wants to give them every possible chance to come to Him...I don't see how any problem in the world, like pain, suffering, evil, etc...could be answered without God. So...having decided there is a God...I must decide whether to be for or against Him.

Personally, I don't like the thought of going up against the Creator of the Universe singlehandedly. That would be like trying to defeat the Borg by yourself. It ain't gonna happen. Then I look at the lovingkindness of this God, and realize all that He's done for me, including the sending of His Son to die for all my faults so that I can spend an eternity in Heaven with Him. I decide that if God loves me that much, then the least I can do is Love Him back...and if He has given His life for me, then the least I can do is give my life to Him...

Having decided this wonderful news is true, I long to tell it with the World. I long to shout out what an Amazing God I serve. I try not to be inconsiderate of other people's views when I do this. I realize they may not be appreciative of my thoughts. But I cannot help but share them. The Greatest thing in the world has happened to me...the only thing my overwhelmed heart can do is scream from the mountain top that GOD LOVES ME! and that GOD LOVES YOU.

Now, once I get off the mountain top, I won't scream in your face. But I'll try to live my life as a service to God, telling others of His awesome power, majesty, love, forgiveness and mercy....which is why I'm typing this now. :)

--------------------------INTERLUDE, THEN HER RESPONSE-------------------------------
Very true, you have never once witnessed to me, which I appreciate beyond words. Your behavior speaks of your good character and faith. I greaty respect a person who ponders their faith and lives by it.

I hear you on wanting to share your faith and opinions. We wouldn't be human if we didn't. Heck, I wouldn't have written this note if I didn't want to share my thoughts. I love what you say about arrogance turning people off. That's exactly right, and if a person is turned off they're certainly not going to listen to you, and in all likelihood they're going to turn a deaf ear on a similar message in the future.

I feel the best way to handle yourself when conveying your message is with a "love your neighbor" attitude. It's when people lose that respect that all hope is lost. One of the worst things someone could do would be to criticize everything I do, slander me and my beliefs, and then tell me they said it because they Love me. That wasn't love, to call that love is to blaspheme love.

My biggest issue isn't with what people believe. It's the differences that make us strong. But it's intolerance of letting that person believe. And it breaks my heart.

I think looking at the video and only focusing on the Christian vs. Atheist side of it, while important, is too small and too polarized for a philosophical discussion.

-----------------------THAT IS THE END OF THE RESPONSES.--------------------------

Any feedback and responses to our discussion is welcomed.

School

2008-11-18T18:48:00.002-06:00

So..one of the basic trig functions...is SINE...
Sine:
Latin: bay, gap, inlet, fold in clothing. This is actually a mistranslation of a misunderstood word that was mistranslated of a Greek word through Arabic...which is supposed to means 1/2 of the chord of half of the angle.
And if that's not enough, the english word "sign" is pronounced the same as "sine"...when dealing with sines, signs are important...

Prof: It’s abbreviated, but perhaps I should say ‘abrieved’
Me: How do you spell that?
Math Partner: Carefully
Prof: With an A.

My professor was drawing a unit circle (for those who don’t know what that is, just imagine a circle with crosshairs) on the board. I thought he had done a rather splendid job of free-hand sketching, so I spoke up.
Me: Beautiful!!
Prof: Thank you...but what about the unit circle?
We all started busting out laughing...and my math partner’s like "well, that was awkward."

So, I’ve got a math test next Tuesday..and a english paper due next Tuesday as well...woohoo...
I just realized that I’ve only got a total of 7 lecture periods left before the finals...and supposedly, in those 7 periods, we will:

1). Review for, and take Chapter 4 test for Trig
2). Learn and study Chapter 5 of Trig
3). Review for, and take Chapter 5 Test for Trig
4). Review for comprehensive trig final
5). Finish paper 5 for english.
6). Write papers 6 and 7 for english

Yeah, no problem. Anyday..or any of the next few HECTIC weeks...

New blog...read before forming hasty opinions.

2008-11-12T20:35:00.004-06:00

I started a new blog. Yes, I am quite aware that I don't keep up with my first one. That is beside the point.

BUT!! I wanted some place to

1). Post about political news and such..

2). Post about some of my english writing.

I'm trying to keep my original specifically for the mundane day to day events that shape my life. I don't want to bore my readers with a bunch of political junk that they really have no interest in reading. ALTHOUGH...you probably should be interested, since it will be mostly important things on which I will talk.

anyway...here's the new blog address. Feel free to stop back and read occasionally!! http://indeusegofides.blogspot.com/

Post-impression update

2008-11-12T13:34:00.003-06:00

Here's an update on my condition.

I'm functioning mostly normal today.

So I went to my massage therapist yesterday. She said I most likely have whiplash, causing an inflammation of my neck, of course, and possibly damaged cranial nerves. There are 12 cranial nerves in the head, that attach to the spine. They help control the 5 senses. If those nerves get damaged, or if the muscle is swollen and pushing on them, it can give the 5 senses some trouble. Hence my eye problems. Since I hit Nienna with the side of my head/ear, I possibly could have knocked around some of the inner ear structure, causing imbalance and dizziness...Other then that, the only other thing wrong is the multiple bruised ribs, and a possibly dislocated rib... =)

I'm still pretty sore and my neck hurts quite a bit. I lost the headache after the massage, but this morning I woke up with it again. All in all, I feel better, and looser, but definitely not quite up to speed. I was really kind of disappointed at the timing of this incident. I have not worked out for about a month now. I got kind of sick for a week and a half, and got a little behind on school. I was slowly regaining health and getting caught up on school, trying to get back to a point where I had the time and energy to work out again. I was ALMOST there...I was planning on starting my weight-lifting routine at school on Tuesday. But weightlifting while you have whiplash just isn't the best idea, in my humble opinion. So...I'm back to...maybe getting ahead of school...and getting lots of rest? Hope so. :)

Up a creek with a frisbee and a dislocated rib...

2008-11-10T18:26:00.003-06:00

Prof: "If you find yourslef up a creek without a calculator, and feel compelled to rebuild civilization from scratch, of course the first thing you'd do is to figure out exact values of sine and cosine of 15, 30, 45, 60, and 75 degree angles."

Prof: "You should never roll a cannon on stage unless you intend to fire it."

Prof: "that's good enough for a word problem, which is of course the purpose of life."

Prof: "This is an enormous amount of something. But this is an enormouslier amount of something else."

So...I was playing frisbee yesterday...and ran into one of my blog readers. Literally. I ran into her. Or it was the other way around...one of the two. Regardless of that, she left an impression on me that I won't soon forget. I bascially have a mild concussion. I've got a constant headache, my eyes hurt and won't focus super well, my whole left side is sore, the left side of my neck is swollen and tight...other than that, I'm no worse for the wear.

She, on the other hand...had to go the chiropractor and found out her neck, back, and rib were out of place...and she's got a headache...and a bunch of other stuff wrong with her...if she wants to, she's welcome to bemoan her injuries in the comment section.

I'm writing an argument paper on Global Warming: Or the Lack thereof for my english class...fun topic..but I don't really like writing...

Concealing legally, underage.

2008-10-27T19:46:00.002-05:00

I've just deteremined, by looking at Missouri's Concealed Carry Firearm Laws, that I can legally carry and conceal a BB/Pellet pistol at any age, and without a permit. Also, I can carry in any Government building, church, airport, national park, etc, unless said location prohibits "weapons". And, depending on the code they specify, I may still be legally allowed to carry.

Why? Cause Missouri's laws apply specifically to "Firearms".

What is a Firearm, you ask? And how does it differ from this BB Pistol I'm talking about?

According to Missouri Revised Statues, Chapter 571 Weapons Offenses Section 571.010 (August 28, 2008), specifically Section 571.010 (8): "'Firearm', any weapon that is designed or adapted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive;"

and Section 571.010 (15) :"'Projectile weapon', any bow, crossbow, pellet gun, slingshot or other weapon that is not a firearm, which is capable of expelling a projectile that could inflict serious physical injury or death by striking or piercing a person;"

Now, see MRS Chapter 571 WO Section 571.107 for a listing of where you may not carry a FIREARM. The Section gives absolutely no mention to "weapons" or "projectiles" or "projectile weapons". Hence I can only assume that a BB or Pellet Pistol is completely legal.

According to Missouri's Law, I cannot conceal and carry a handgun until I am 23. BUT!!
Missouri law requires a person be 23 years old to obtain a Missouri Concealed Carry Endorsement. Missouri also recognizes CCW endorsements from other states. If a Missouri resident opts to obtain a Utah or Florida OOS (out of state) endorsement those states issue at 21 years of age, and Missouri recognizes those endorsements.

So..that leaves me with multiple years before I can own, carry, and conceal a firearm. Bummer. I guess I'll have to opt for a BB/Pellet Pistol...looking at those...I've got some sweet options.

http://pellet-guns.net/berettapx4stormreconbyberetta.aspx
http://pellet-guns.net/gamopt-80tacticalbygamo.aspx
http://pellet-guns.net/colt1911nickelbycolt.aspx
http://pellet-guns.net/beretta92fsnickelblackgripsbyberetta.aspx
http://pellet-guns.net/berettaxx-tremebyberetta.aspx

I'm liking it.

More in my price range though..
http://pellet-guns.net/berettaeliteiibyberetta.aspx
http://pellet-guns.net/smithandwessonmandpblackbysmithandwesson.aspx
http://pellet-guns.net/crosmanc11tacticalbycrosman.aspx

though after reading some reviews, these guns are better...
http://pellet-guns.net/daisypowerline617xbydaisy.aspx
http://pellet-guns.net/crosmant4optsbycrosman.aspx

and I think this is what I'd get...best for the money I want to spend.
http://pellet-guns.net/crosman1088blackbycrosman.aspx
Or possibly this one..
http://pellet-guns.net/crosman357wbycrosman.aspx

so..yeah. Either of those last two would work. Thanks for sticking with me as I puzzled through the guns...and if you question WHY I'd carry? I personally know someone who was assaulted in a Wal-mart parking lot in the town I live in...he was injured pretty severely. This summer, in a town less then an hour away from my home, 3 people were killed in a church service. Stuff happens, folks. And I'll do whatever it takes to defend my home, property, friends and family. "If all the good guys carried guns, there'd be no hostage situations"...and if you are thinking about all these people in a shoot out equaling lots of deaths? Read "More Guns, Less Crime" by John Lott Jr...

See ya!

Quite Easily Done Sprained Ankle Socialist English Class

2008-10-21T21:09:00.003-05:00

Today in Trig, we started learning how to prove and verify trig identities...takes a lot of thought, but I'm getting it. One thing that they used to do in the olden days when they finished a proof like we are doing was to end it with the letters "Q.E.D." Q.E.D. is an abbreviation of the Latin phrase "quod erat demonstrandum" which means literally, "that which was to be demonstrated". The phrase is written in its abbreviated form at the end of a mathematical proof or philosophical arguement, to signify that the last statement deduced was the one to be demonstrated, so the proof is complete.

Prof: "It also means 'see, I told you so'..or the letters Q.E.D. stand for 'quite easily done'.."

I was hoping to get the scores back from my latest trig test that I took on Thursday today. But...alas...no scores...oh well..maybe Thursday or next Tuesday..

So...today we were supposed to have a rough draft done for our 4th English Paper. I spent a good deal of time yesterday getting in finished. I walked into class this morning, the teacher asks how many people have their rough draft done. I WAS THE ONLY ONE. So...she promptly POSTPONES the rough draft due date until Thursday. WHAT IN TARNATION does that do for the class? They didn't get the stupid paper done. They should be penalized. Instead they get more time to do the paper, when they had ample time to do the rough draft. It's not even like the actual paper was due. Some of my classmates hadn't even started working on the papers!! Our teacher has scheduled extra time into the semester in case we need more time to finish a paper. That SHOULD be for the actual paper, not a rough draft that you haven't even started. So...While I did my work like I was supposed to, everybody else slacked off. The rest of my class mates use the privilege of that extra time slot, while I suffer, cause I would have used that extra time on a difficult paper later in the semester. I'm not too happy. Oh well, such is life.

Besides that, what does that let the students think? Oh, I can put this stuff off, (whether work or school), cause it doesn't really matter that I actually get it done.

I sprained my ankle yesterday...just some basketball practice in my driveway..and I was done...and I went to kick the ball into the bushes were it "goes"...and I rolled my ankle over the top of it...it was a trick spin kick...should've known better. :p....so now I'm icing it...and it's braced..and I had to forego a lot of my weightlifting today....cause I do a lot with my feet..

A private Math Quoter..

2008-10-16T09:14:00.003-05:00

Prof: "Notice there's some repitition here. Notice there's some repitition here."

Prof: "Youbetcha!!!!....that's how you spell/say affirmative."

Prof: "The Earth is FLAT!...locally."

Prof: (while drawing a "right-triangle" with the right angle on the left) "Maybe it's a left-triangle since I drew it over here."

I've been taking actual notes in class now, so not as many great quotes as normal. I've got a test in Trig today..in about 45 minutes actually.

Sorry I haven't posted in a while..been a little busy. :p

I can't wait though for Saturday though!! I'm pumped about the Symphony Concert..and then I got myself and some friends invited to a private Symphony party...;)

Laters...(btw, Maddie..this post is for you. ;)
Si

Steve and Jenny's Wedding!

2008-10-04T21:09:00.006-05:00

Steve and Jenny's wedding was today!! Congrats, you two. Jenny looked absolutely stunning, and her hair was breathtaking. Not literally, of course, becuase I'm still breathing..but it looked gorgeous.

Here are some pics...

Like I said...gorgeous hair. And pretty dress, for that matter.

I'm attempting to re-write my English paper now. I wrote a summary on Lance Morrow's "It's Time to Ban Handguns" (TIME 1981) for my last paper. Now I'm doing an analyzation of it. What made it hard was the fact that I have no idea HOW to write an analyzation of an essay. Our rough draft was due on Thursday...so we all brought it in to class...our teacher spent the whole time explaining how to write this kind of paper. Then near the end of class, she asked how many people thought they'd probably have to re-write their paper...everybody raised their hand. I'm not the only one having problems. :p

So...re-writing I am. Gotta keep my grades up. :)

The Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill

2008-09-24T15:24:00.004-05:00

So I thought I'd post some quotes from one of my favorite historical figures, Sir Winston Churchill.

"A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject."

"Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb."

"From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put."

"He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire."

"History will be kind to me for I intend to write it."

"However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results."

"It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried."

"It's not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what's required."

"Personally I'm always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught."

Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm."

There are a terrible lot of lies going around the world, and the worst of it is half of them are true."

When I am abroad, I always make it a rule never to criticize or attack the government of my own country. I make up for lost time when I come home."

"I am prepared to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter."

"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."

"The power of man has grown in every sphere, except over himself."

"I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals."

"There is nothing more exhilarating than to be shot at without result."

I gather, young man, that you wish to be a Member of Parliament. The first lesson that you must learn is, when I call for statistics about the rate of infant mortality, what I want is proof that fewer babies died when I was Prime Minister than when anyone else was Prime Minister. That is a political statistic."

"Golf is a game whose aim is to hit a very small ball into a even smaller hole, with weapons singularly ill- designed for the purpose."

"Statistics are like a drunk with a lampost: used more for support than illumination."

"A politician needs the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn't happen."

So there you go...some of my favorites...I've still got this stinking migraine, so I'm not gonna post anymore..except to ask you to comment on my blog background...what do you think of it? And ask you to vote on my poll regarding Politics to the right of the blog...thanks!

Laters..

Time Traveling Summaries of Handgunning Professors.

2008-09-23T20:16:00.002-05:00

More random quotes from my Trig Teacher...

Prof: "I've been told that I write with an accent" (after doing a weird dealy-do with one of his letters...kind of hard to explain, but..)

Prof: "We are getting perilously close to the end of the unit. And as always, at the end of a unit, we have a celebration, also known as a test." (Yah...oh boy!)

Prof: "Let's say I ask you to choose your favorite integer that's at least 20 digits long...Yes, I know that's a nearly impossible request since there are so many wonderful digit combinations."

Prof: "I'm easily side-tracked. I'm always running off on wild tangents...or cotangents."

Prof: "Euclid made a HUGE tactical error when he allowed himself to be born so many centuries early." (For those of you who don't know, Euclid was a mathmatician, lived ca. 300BC, and did a lot of work with proving math formulas and such. In fact, one of his books, "The Elements", is number two on the all-time best selling list, distantly behind the Bible. It has been in continous print since he wrote it, and parts of it are still used today in highschool geometry textbooks.)

Prof: "Croton was on the Ball of the Foot of the Boot of Italy."

In class today, we "time traveled" to several different places, learning about mathematicians like Euclid, Thales of Miletus, Pythagorus, etc...It was actually pretty interesting. I like his approach to teaching, which essentially consists of a lot of stories and history of where mathematical principles came from rather then just an attempt at a rote explanation and memorization of formulas. I like it.

I've got a "blooming" migraine, so I'm gonna stop typing now. Oh, and I turned in another English paper today...it was a summary on the article "It's Time to Ban Handguns" by Lance Morrow, TIME magazine, April 1981. Kind of interesting. I had no idea how to write a summary...so we'll see what happens with that paper...

Another Bluetooth Sermon

2008-09-21T17:24:00.004-05:00

Well...I got a new phone, a new wallet, a new driver's license, a new bank account...kind of a new everything. :p

The phone is a Samsung MyShot...it cost 9 bucks with the contract, and I'm pretty happy with it so far. I did some crazy things to get some ringtones on it...Let me preface this by saying that my mom and my sister have the same phone as I do.

For my ringtone, it wasn't too bad. I took a song that I like by Matthew West, called The Motions. I downloaded an audio editing program from off the internet, and used it to edit the song to a 30 second clip of the best-for-a-ringtone sort. Basically the chorus, when he sings it the loudest. So, I get that finished, I put it on my jumpdrive and give it to my bro. He sticks it on his Mp3 Player, which has bluetooth capability.

(Something I forgot to mention, the Samsung MyShot has open Bluetooth. That means that not only can you use the bluetooth technology to connect your phone to a headset, but you can also connect to other bluetooth capable devices, and do file transfers between them.)

So now the ringtone audio clip is on my bro's mp3 player...he then connects the phone and the mp3 player using the bluetooth wireless, and transfers the song from his player to my phone. Now I have it on my phone, and can use it as a ringtone...That's not the craziest thing either.

For my mom and sister...they had songs that they had heard on YouTube that they liked, and wanted as ringtones...That took a little more time.. I found a program online that would convert YouTube videos to any other downloadable format. So I could convert a video to AVI, MP3, MP4, OGG, etc...I took the video, converted it to an MP3 format (essentially stripping the audio from the video, and just using the audio), and then did the same thing I did with the Matthew West song...So now we all have custom ringtones on our phones. :)

Playing Frisbee today...We had some Morman's come over and approach our moms, who were sitting off to the side watching us play. Sam and I immediately ran over when we saw them coming, and talked to them for 30-45 minutes, using our WVA training. Interestingly enough, the two questions they never answered were also the ones upon which their faith was based.
1). Why do we need the Book of Mormon (as opposed to only the Bible)?
2). What makes Joseph Smith so special? (i.e...Mohammed allegedly received visions from Allah...how do we know he wasn't right? Why should we believe a man claiming to recieve visions?)

They skirted both of the questions.

Apparently, when the Apostles and Jesus died, the Christian Church died also...well..it started to fragment, and no one had true Authority like Jesus, or His 12 Disciples. So for hundreds of years, the Church grew farther and farther apart, splitting into many many denominations, and ending up with the thousands of different beliefs and churches that we have today. And apparently, since we have so many different churches, and don't really know which one is the right one, God decided that Mr. Smith needed not to go to Washington, but to go grab some gold tablets, and reveal Another Testament of Jesus Christ to the World (as if the first one wasn't good enough?). (Btw, that paragraph was an summary of what the Mormon Elders told us, not what I believe).

Well, unfortunately...I believe in the Bible that it says that whoever Believes in his Heart, and confesses with his mouth that Jesus is Lord will be saved. You don't have to go believe in a certain method of baptism. You don't have to dress in a suit and tie. You don't have to tithe 11.5% of your net income. There are no rules, no regulations, save that you Confess and Believe. You see, when you base a religion on Morals, or principles that MUST be followed in order to achieve this end, the Salvation of our Souls, eventually someone will get there, and achieve everything. And then you have nothing left save the Pride and Glory of having achieved something great. And that kind of destroys the Faith. The whole basis of our Faith is founded on the fact that Man CANNOT redeem himself, and that he needs a higher power to help him. But God's gift is Free, we can do nothing to earn it. He's offered it to all, and all we need to is accept it, but we cannot earn it. We cannot make God owe us something. He owns everything. It is foolishness and folly to believe that we could ever do something that would either make God give us Salvation, or do something good enough to earn it.

It's a GIFT people. Take it or leave it. But when you take it, don't worry your head about "how should I baptize", "Is it okay to clap and dance in church" or "What REALLY happens to the bread and the wine when it's blessed"...concentrate your thoughts, emotions, feelings, and passion on HIM. Serve HIM. Be ye Holy, as He is Holy.

More later...I'm sermoned out. :p

Good Grades Stolen Weighs Heavily on Phone, Wallet

2008-09-16T12:02:00.003-05:00

So...I got a 92% on my first English paper...so I'm tickled about that...

But...I put all my stuff in the locker room at school and went to work out. I spent about 1.25 hours in the weight room, and then came back to the locker room to change...I finished getting dressed, and went to put my phone and wallet in my pockets, and..couldn't find them. I cleaned out the locker, went through all my clothes, went through my backpack...still nothing. So I did it again. And again...

The people at the security office were really nice. I filed a complaint with the school, gave all my info, etc...Then I called the police, and filed a report with them. I called my dad, and he got my phone deactivated. I'm supposed to call the Credit Agencies or whatever, and file a fraud report, so my identity can't get stolen and all...but for some reason the automated machines tell me that they can't put out an alert with the info I've provided...whatever...

So...yeah. That made me 25 minutes late to Math class...The teacher was very understanding, luckily...I think he likes me, knows I work hard, and am always at class on time, and have never skipped...so.....and I got a 100% on the Trig test...so that was sweet....

But even the good grades don't exactly pick up the slack for the disappointment and frustration at losing my phone and wallet...

Laters,,

Strider

Graphs of 6 Question Surgeries

2008-09-11T20:57:00.002-05:00

My trig teacher, for the first two weeks of class, always wore navy colored khakis, and a white dress shirt...Tuesday, he came in wearing his navy khakis, and a white dress shirt with STRIPES!

Me: Umm...you shirt has stripes on it...that's really gonna mess with my mind today.

Prof: Well, I don't like to think of them as "stripes"..I prefer to think of them as graphs of parallel lines.

Gotta love my trig teacher..
Okay, so he's telling us about the test (this is Tuesday that he's talking on) we have on Thursday (that's earlier today)...we reviewed for the test during the entire lecture period...and he gave us like 50-60 problems to work out...and told us that we'd have the entire 75 minute class period to work on the test come Thursday....

So I spent hours upon hours studying for this test...I did all the problems he reccomended we do to study for the test, I made flashcards to memorize formulas, etc...I get to class today, he hands us a single sheet of paper with 6 questions on it, and...that was the test. I turned and looked at my classmate, and in total shock said, "THIS is it? I studied for 7 hours for THIS? ...I overstudied"...so, yah, 6 questions, worth a total of 100 points...and I was done in 30 minutes, after quadruple-checking the questions for stupid errors...and...hopefully I made none...I wouldn't mind keeping a perfect score in the class...that'd be pretty tight..

Saw a surgery today...can't tell you a thing about it..but it wasn't too bad...:p

Choir and Orchestra start tomorrow..then the Symphony on Saturday!!!!!!!!!!!

Laters..

Prelude in C Sharp Minor

2008-09-08T10:37:00.002-05:00

okay, so check out the last song in my playlist. It's Sergei Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C Sharp Minor. It's a little slow at the beginning, though really pretty...but about 2/3 of the way through, it picks up the pace a little bit..it's only 3:48 seconds long, so take the time to listen to the whole thing.

This is the song that I'm playing as a duet with my Piano Teacher in our fall recital...it's...intense. And a little bit difficult...I'm really looking forward to being able to bang it out...it's totally my kind of song.

A Perfect Sextetian Day Care of Frisbee Theory

2008-09-06T20:54:00.003-05:00

So, I got a 100% on my first trig quiz. Yipee!!

I played at a wedding this evening with a string sextet. 4 Violins, a Viola (me) and a Cello. Now, really, the instruments didn't play themselves, and I'm not a viola. But those were the instruments used by bipedal humanoids in this wedding. It was an outdoor wedding, and it just about got rained out. It was raining only an hour and a half before the wedding started. But, the rain stopped, the clouds stayed in the sky, and the wedding proceeded. We each got 30 buckaroos, which...really isn't a whole lot compared to what we could make if we played at weddings regurlarly. A String Quartet could charge $800-$1000 for an hour to an hour and a half of music. But hey, I'll take the $30...it's spending money, anyway.

So next week, Orchestra starts full time. I'm pretty stoked. I've got 2 hours of choir, 2 hours of Orchestra, at least one private student, I'm one of the Security Team members, and I'm hoping to be able to teach a theory class. I told the main theory teacher that I didn't want to, but as I think about it more and more, I really can't see myself going the whole year without teaching someone something. I just have to impart the knowledge that God and others have given to me. So...hopefully I can do that..

So, I found out on Tuesday that my English Teacher takes her kid to Day Care in the same building that Orchestra's in, and on the same day. She came by and said hi on Friday...she's not as bad as I first thought...though she does have some quirks and what not...

I'm pretty tired...but stoked (yes, I just used the same word twice in the same blog post..tsk on me) about Frisbee tomorrow! It's been a while since we played, and I can't wait to play again.

Evacuation for a Migraine-Ridden Student

2008-08-31T19:41:00.003-05:00

So...no church today for me. As much as I don't really care for our church, I still do like to GO to church...but, this morning, I woke up with a miserable migraine. So...no church, and I slept till 2:30 PM, so that was nice.

And tomorrow is Labor Day, so no live school...I need to catch up a little bit on some school, but it's nice to have a day to just catch up...

Hmm...Gustav is doing some pretty sweet movements out in the Gulf...poor New Orleans. Maybe my dad and I'll go back down to Gulfport and help with cleanup stuff again like we did when Katrina went through..That'd be fun...except the only time we can go is during Christmas break, since I'm in college now...

okay, I just wanted to post again, but I don't really have anything important to say...not that I normally do, but I don't have anything FUN to say..there we go..

laters.

Sandy Chamber Orientational Birthdays.

2008-08-29T21:27:00.002-05:00

Yahoo!! I made it into the Chamber Choir!! It really wasn't so bad, and the try-out song we had to sing I had memorized, so...

Next Friday is the Orientation Day for the New Orchestra Year. That's pretty exciting, even though it will bring a lot of changes.

Hmmm...I just realized I'm really tired, sweaty, and sandy. I just got back from playing Volleyball with my college Sunday School class...decent fun, but I'd much rather play frisbee, personally. Anyway, I think this post won't be too long, since I want to go take a shower, and go to bed at a decent hour. It won't happen, but at least I can wish it.

Oh, before I forget, Happy Birthday to one of my good friends, Haylee!! Have a wonderful day tomorrow!

mmm...I've really got nothing else to say, so I'm signing out...ciao.

The Pythagoreans are attacking with Dagmor!!!

2008-08-28T22:40:00.003-05:00

Okay, so we won't dwell on my English class, because I pretty muchly don't like it or the teacher, to be honest. Instead...more trig!!!!

Prof: (in describing undefined cotangent terms) "So, the cotangent is out to lunch. That's the technical term for it."

Prof: (after getting sidetracked on a story) "My mind wandered off and rudely left the rest of me behind."

Prof: (while working problems in the text, and deciding to do more then the text asked for) "Let's be trigonometric over-acheievers!"

Prof: (in dismissing the class) "Have a trigonometrical weekend!"

It's funny. The prof gets to class either right on the dot of 10:00, when the class starts, or, like today, he comes in at 10:01. I wasn't exactly expecting a tardy teacher. But oh well. :p

So, today, we were learning about Pythagorean Identities (I won't write them out here, cause I don't want to seem too smart), and he's telling us about the "club" based around a fellow named Pythagoreus Assini (or something to that effect. I'll look it up later and tell you his real name). He was a Greek dude who lived back in the 400 B.C. time period. Real smart, had a bunch of followers. Basically, everybody in his club was very well versed in Music, Math, Science, and Religion. Not much is known about their religious beliefs. Their Science is equally sketchy. Their Music and Math, however, are still with us today.

Math, you know about. The whole Pythagorean Theorem that EVERYBODY learns forwards and backwards in highschool? a(squared) + b(squared) = c(squared). Yah, you know it. Well, that's based on a lot of Pythagoreus's work.

Now, Music. The Pythagoreans developed many of the mathematical functions for describing musical harmonics. Stretch a string tight, and pluck it. It vibrates at x hz. Now grab it exactly in the middle, and pluck either half. Now it vibrates at 2x hz. This is (musically speaking) an octave higher then the full length of the string.

Prof: "So, if y = C, then y/2 = the C an octave above. From C to shining C!!"

You can cut it into any integral fraction (preferably smaller numbers), and a mathematical function will describe it. Well, part of the reason why in one octave we have 12 possible notes (like on a piano), is related to the mathematical functions developed and described by the Pythagoreans.

Prof: "You know what I think of when I hear "Pythagoreans"? Villans on a really stupid Star Trek Episode. You know, like 'Captain, I've never seen anything like it! The Pythagoreans are attacking!'"

Okay, so there's my trig class today, in condensed form. Cliff's Notes, maybe. :p

Choir auditions are tomorrow!! I'm psyched!

Okay, so you know someone is a Lord of the Rings enthusiast when you can ask them "what is Dagmor", and they promptly respond "Beren's Sword"...now...can anyone tell me what "Dagmor" means? In Westernesse, or course.
Or when you ask who said "Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens", and they quickly respond "Gimli!!"

Menger's Principle of Subjective Cellphone Posting

2008-08-27T15:22:00.003-05:00

Okay, I know this is a little different, and for those of you out there who don't appreciate the "differences" I bring to the table, there's still time to get out of you browser window.

You still with me? Okay. Now, you are probably wondering what this "different thing" is...some smart people might have already figured it out, but I'm gonna assume that since you are reading my blog, you don't fit in that category. Yes, I just dissed on all my readers. Forgive me.

It's not really all that exciting. But here's what it is..

I posted twice in less then 18 hours.

That's it. That's the different thing I did. Spectacular, wasn't it? And totally not what you were expecting. But you do have to admit, it IS different.

So, exactly a week ago today, I got a cellphone. Unfortunately, the joy at getting a new phone was greatly diminished by a jerk of a sales rep. The fellow basically trashed our phones, calling them "obsolete pieces of junk" and calling us "idiots". If I talk about that guy anymore, I'll lose my salvation. Actually, that's a whole other discussion right there, and one I'd prefer not to go into. Theologians have been discussing that for quite a long time, and I don't see that I could add any insight into the debate. "Losing my salvation" of course, merely means that I would get extremely mad, irate, and think mean horrible thoughts about the jerk, thereby sinning...

Anyway, I'm doing an Economics class in school...and I just learned about Menger's Principle of Subjective Value. Basically it states that "Value is subjective to the person, and changes for each person." So essentially, for any one thing, there can be up to, and exceeding 6 billion different values placed upon that thing. One, and at least one, for each person. Ever heard the saying "One man's trash is another's treasure"?
Apparently our special sales rep hadn't. We LOVE the phones we have...they get great reception, good battery life, etc...we don't text, Facebook, email, or do anything but CALL people from our phones. So why in the world would we want a 200 dollar smart phone? The phones we use, while perhaps seeming obsolete to other people, serve our puposes quite nicely, and cost under $40, with no contract.
To quote my Economics text: "People dislike Menger's Principle of Subjective Value because it is unsettling to think that their way of valuing goods and services is not THE way."

Okay, back to studying. :)

a Rocking Trig Prof

2008-08-26T22:45:00.002-05:00

Okay, so I really like my Trig teacher...he's pretty cool...I spent half the class time just writing down his random comments in the margin of my notebook...

Prof: 8 down, infinity to go..

Prof: I'm easily startled. After all, I do write on walls for a living. Well, that's not all I do. I also point at the walls I write on. (speaking of the white board)

Prof: This is the technical manuever known as "the ol' switcharoo"

Prof: "complicated" and "interesting" are just two words synonymous with each other.

Prof: "It turns out that"..."Those are the 4 dangerous words in Math...Big Green Monsters can hide behind those words."

Prof: In case you were wondering, that button on your calculator does NOT mean "iniquity" or "crime". SIN is merely an abbreviation for SINE, a trigonometric function. It's not a sin to hit the button.

yah, so there's some of my prof's famous sayings...they are, of course, much better in real life, but..

So, today...I went to a concert at EU to kick off the new school year. They start tomorrow morning...I'm not going to school there, but I have a really close friend who is...and so 5 of us went to the concert...I set a new record...I stayed for SEVEN WHOLE SECONDS into the first song before I got up and walked out...
1). it was really loud, and I can't stand loud noises being made for no particular reason.
2). It reminded me EXACTLY of a Led Zepplin concert..
3). The Lead Singer introduced the first song as a song he had written about his fiancee, call "your smile" -- I don't know, but personally, at a Christian college, I wouldn't be playing just secular songs on the night before school starts...just seems to set things off on the wrong foot for new students..
4). I live by these two mottos.
a). What Would Jesus Do?
b). Would I feel comfortable with the situation I'm involved in if Jesus was right next to me?
In answer to those questions...
a). I can just see Jesus being introduced as a "man of God, who loves to Rock!!"...yah, not. I'm not sure, but I just can't see Him standing on stage, encouraging all the people in the audience to press in as close as possible to the stage, while loud music is blasted in their ears, and then listen to Him sing about some girl's smile.
b). Personally, I can't sit through something like that. I'm not comfortable with watching what looks like to me to be a LZ concert, and not feel....convicted by it.

I understand that people have different point of views. One of my best friends walked out with me. My other 3 best friends stayed, and loved the concert. I don't have a grudge against them at all. They understand where I'm coming from, and I understand where they are coming from. Well, mostly, anyway. :p...

Universalist Bhuddaism

2008-08-22T22:31:00.003-05:00

Okay, okay!! Sorry! I'm posting already....

Okay...so since my last post...I've turned 18 years young. Yipee!! But, you know what? It doesn't really feel a whole ton different then 17. But..oh well.

I'm soooo tired. I've been away from home for 14 hours today. Our first day of Orchestra was today, so I was there from 8:30 till 4:30...then I had to go to a Wedding Rehearsal, where I'm playing in a string quartet. After the Rehearsal, we had a Rehearsal Dinner in the most exclusive restuarant in town. So...that was pretty cool. Especially since I didn't have to pay a penny. :) So, I just got home about 15 minutes ago, and it's 10:40 now. So pretty muchly, I'm bushed...

Okay, Maddie, here's my college situation. I'm dual enrolling at a local community college this fall. I've got two classes. English 101 (Comp) and Trigonometry. My English teacher is okay...I think it'll be a decent class. My trig teacher is...eccentric. Maddie, you'll love this...he names his calculators. His one that he uses for class is "Huey"...cause it's a Hewlett\Packard. His Texas Instruments calculator's name is "Tex"...Anyway's, he's pretty fun. I think that will be a pretty decent class too. Okay...so there's that....

Oh, and here's a story about a couple people I talked to about Religion...

The conversation, as follows, is as near to verbatim as I can recall. Some things are already a little fuzzy in my head, but to my best recollection, all thoughts and ideas are communicated properly.

Chad (just a random person I engaged in conversation) goes to a Free Will Baptist Church...so after we talked about the differences between Calvanism and Armenianism, I asked if he considered himself a Christian...

Chad: yes.
Me: What makes someone a Christian?
Chad: Belief.
Me: Belief? A Muslim Believes...is a Muslim a Christian?
Chad: uhhh..no.
Me: So what makes someone a Christian?
Chad: Belief in God.
Me: Ohhhh...gotcha..so a Muslim IS a Christian...cause they believe in God...
Chad: oh. hmmm...I'm not really sure...

At this point, the Bhuddist fellow sitting on the other side of me joins in the conversation...(I didn't even know he was there, much less listening, much less Bhuddist)...

Bhudda: Oh, it's just a belief in Religion. I'm a religious person. Most people are...See, I follow Bhudda, therefore I'm saved. You follow God...so you're saved. It doesn't matter who you believe in, just as long as you don't go to Hell...It's more like..following an Ideal. Everybody follows the Ideal thats right for them, ya know? And so everybody is going to Heaven, right?

Me: ummm...possibly. But what if you are wrong? What if you live your life believing this Ideal, and you find out when you die that you totally followed the wrong Ideal, and that you are doomed to live at eternity apart from God, in Hell? Okay, now...it's not my job to say "I'm right, you're wrong, I'm going to Heaven, and you're going to Hell"...that's Gods job...but I CAN make you think about what you believe, why you believe it, and if your belief really is logical, or if there is something really quite wrong about it. So, what if you are wrong?

Bhudda: Well, then..I'd say it's a good ride, and I did the best I could. Man, you are a philosopher, through and through!! I present my idea, and you tear it to shreds, make me think about what I believe, and then sit there laughing quietly to yourself while I attempt to piece together what's left of my argument and religion. You are amazing!!! I love it!!!

Me: ...so, a good ride, huh?

At this point, Bhudda's girlfriend (or a girl, anyway), came back, and so he catches her up a little on the conversation we just had...Meanwhile, I go back to Chad...

Me: So, Chad...do you memorize Scripture?

Chad: ummm..a little, but not as much as I should, probably.

(at this point, Chad has an appointment he has to go to...which is really legit. Before we ever started talking about God, he mentioned that he had to be somewhere about this time)

Chad: *looks at watch*...oh hey, dude. I've got to run. It was great talking with you.

Me: So...think about what I've said a little, why don't you? Find out what Christianity is, and then you can really claim to be a Christian.

Chad: Yah, I will. Thanks a bunch for talking with me, dude. I appreciate it. See you around?

Me: No problem, man. Yah, I'll be seeing you.

(Bhudda comes back on-scene, getting ready to leave)

Bhudda: Hey, man, are you a freshman?

Me: Yah, I am, how about you?

Bhudda: Me too!! Dude, I've so gotta talk to you again, you make me think so much!!! So..maybe we can talk again another day?

Me: Definitely man. Anytime you got time.

I did leave out a few parts of the conversation, as related to career choices, and classes that were being taken...I included all I could remember about the actual Religion/God/Hell/Heaven etc part...

CyberKnife blisters.

2008-07-17T22:56:00.003-05:00

I had a rotation today at the hospital. I got to see the new CyberKnife in action. It's basically a big machine that uses radio waves to take out cancerous tissue in the body. Pretty cool. The hospital employs two full time phyicists and 2-3 neurosurgeons to plan the procedure. It's pretty cool...
Anyway, I basically got a tour of the hospital..which I prolly could have given myself...but we did get to see the CyberKnife...

I was working yesterday, and managed to get a few blisters while pulling wires through some pipe. So my left hand is pretty sore, and my index finger has a patch of skin that....well, I take that back...my index finger no longer has the patch of skin there...it hurts. a lot. I had to skip my viola lesson today cause I couldn't really play.

Grace, this post is for you, since you check my blog so often.

Ventilator for a random person. 4x a day.

2008-07-16T21:31:00.002-05:00

Oh, right. Posting. That wonderful writing exercise which I consistently forget. At least I'm consistent, though.

What is going on in my life? Good question. I'm just working most days with my dad.

I just gave a presentation at our local hospital last week on the subject of Genetic Engineering. The group I'm in, Medical Explorers, was having an Open Forum on the topic, and I facilitated it. That was a blast! The only thing was that I had to study my brains out so I knew the topic well enough to explain the basics of the topic, and to be able to keep the discussion moving along. I spent a good 20 hours over 4 days studying the topic.

It's late. Actually, it's only 10 PM, but that's besides the point. I've not been getting much sleep lately, and I'm being kicked off the computer.

I do have one thing to say. It's been on my mind for some time, and I just need to vent.
During the school year, I go to a college sunday school class. It's great, I love it. During the summer, when all the college peeps are gone, I go to my parent's SS class, normally. I've gone a few times to the Senior High SS class this summer though. I'd never gone, and I wanted to see what it was like. Oh. My. Word. Did you know that the new SS classes are designed for teenagers to hang out and talk for 50 minutes, and to maybe get one partially spiritual point, if they weren't talking during the 3 minutes it was presented in? Yah. That's the Senior High SS class. The teacher (a college aged fellow), begins by asking for prayer requests. This stage generally takes about 6 minutes. After all the prayer requests have been given, the teacher asks if anyone wants to pray. After sitting in silence for 30 seconds, I generally raise my hand, after giving others the opportunity. It's not that I don't like to pray, but since I pray every single time I'm in the class, I want others to have the chance.

After a short prayer, the teacher sits and talks about nonsense for like 34 minutes. He just asks people how their week went, and if they have any cool stories. If you want, you can listen to him, and whoever is telling their story. But if it's a boring story, then by all means carry on a pleasant conversation with your neighbour regarding Maroon 5's newest song, or the baseball scores from the last 4 weeks. After all, it's just some boring story. Sometime in the last 10 minutes, the teacher will open up his Bible, find a passage, and start talking about it. If you care to listen to his 3 minute presentation on How you shouldn't date non-Christians, then by all means, listen. But if it doesn't really interest you, then I'm sure your neighbour would be glad to oblige you by talking about what kind of clothes Ann Taylor sells, or how there's a sale at JC Pennys. After hearing the same point pounded at you for 3 minutes, then you are free to discuss whatever you like for the remaining 7 minutes till class is dismissed.

I'm sorry, but isn't SS supposed to be a place where you LEARN? Where spiritual truths are TAUGHT, and then discussed, so that everyone gets it, and is able to apply it in their lives for the next week, and least, if not forever? since when is SS a social gathering place?
Okay. I've vented. Hope you got something out of it. I'm just glad I got it out. I write so much better then I talk.

For the anonymous commenter, who tells me it's time to post again..here you go.
For the random person who randomly checks my blog for no apparent reason....here you go.
For the first time reader, who likes randomness...here you go.
For the person that checks my blog 4 times a day (you know who you are)....I'm NOT posting that many times a day. Get over it.

Apathetic Food

2008-06-22T13:38:00.002-05:00

Hmmm...once again, apathy strikes. I haven't posted once this month. Oh well. I'll fix that now, I guess.

I'm in New York right now. On Long Island. My mom's family is from the New England area. Family Vacation!! For nearly 3 weeks. YEHAW!! The best part is...food. All over the place. We go anywhere, anytime, and if there are relatives around...there is food.

We are about to leave (again) to go to yet another relative's house for yet another barbecue...but that's okay, cause...I like FOOD!! :)

Later...and I WILL post more later. I promise. I just won't say when. :)

Mini Metro Monsters

2008-05-29T22:22:00.003-05:00

Worldview is only 3 days away!! I'm *so* excited. I'm dying to go. I've been looking forward to this for nearly 10 months.
I was required to read two books for WVA. The Deadliest Monster by J.F. Baldwin, and a book on Servant Leadership, by Randy Sims. Both were really good books. I really liked the Baldwin book especially. It was very well written, used tons of easy to understand logic, and was fun to read. It's basically an introduction to Worldviews. It talks about the stories of two monsters. Frankenstein and Jekkyl & Hyde.

The basic overview of Frankenstein is that he was created "innocent" and "pure", inherently good, with a desire to improve his life, and other's lives. When he eventually becomes "evil" he blames it on the fact that Society corrupted him. He tried to be good, and others shunned him (for various reasons).

The overview of Jekkyl and Hyde: Man cannot save himself. He cannot be "good" no matter how hard he tries. He will always have some part of him that is bad that he cannot overcome on his own. Realizing this is the key to helping him overcome his bad self.

Every single person in the world holds one of these two views.

1). Man is inherently good, can save himself, and needs no higher power.
OR
2). Man is inherently evil, can do nothing to save himself, and needs a higher power to save him from ultimate destruction.

As a Christian, I hold to the 2nd worldview. Non-Christians, even religious ones, adhere to the 1st.

The thing that really stuck out to me in the Frankenstein story was the fact that Society corrupted him. Okay, think of it this way. Man is inherently good. Society is composed of Individuals (who, keep in mind, are inherently good). When a man/monster/ attempts to do good, Society (which is composed of inherently good individuals) shuns him. As a result, this man/monster is "corrupted" and turns "evil" and "bad". As a result of SOCIETY. Which is, as you well know, composed of GOOD humans. How do Good people end up corrupting a Good person?? You put two goods together, and you should NOT get EVIL. Something's not right here, folks. Makes you think, doesn't it. Now, since I'm not very smart, and logic has never been my strong point, I'm sure someone will be glad to point out any mistakes I've made.

So anyway, looking forward to WVA...

And to playing Frisbee tomorrow!! I'm psyched!! I got some new UnderArmour, thanks to Kathy, Rachel, and Colin giving me gift certificates for various reasons. So I can't wait to try that out.

And...I'm trying to get over this cold thing that has decided to settle into my lungs and immediately develop a mini metropolis.

I just finished my Physics class for the year. I got a 99% average in that...and I've got 2 more sections and a test to go in Pre-Calc and I'll be done with that. And with School!!
I went to a New Student Orientation at the local community college on Wednesday. Boring. Didn't really learn a thing. We talked to a lady in Student Services afterwards, and she answered all the questions that I had. So, I'm going there this fall, and taking two classes. After I get done with the Fall and Spring Semesters, I'll transfer out to one of two colleges here in town. One's a private University, and the other's a State University. I'd rather go to the Private one. :)

Beam me up, Scotty!!

2008-05-11T22:05:00.002-05:00

Okay, so I'm learning about light and LASER's in my physics class. My teacher mentioned something about slowing light down to...no speed at all. That's right. Einstein said that light couldn't go faster then 186 282 miles/second. He never said anything about slowing it down though. Of course, it's common knowledge that light passing through glass, water, or other substances will slow down, but Physicists at Havard have now discovered a way to STOP light. And then start it again, with the original speed and intensity. Check this site out.

My Grandma (dad's mom) died this last Tuesday. She was 91 years old. She really was the Matriarch of our whole extended family. Married 66 years to her husband (who passed away last November), she lived a very full life, and is now in Heaven with my Grandpa. I could go on, but I think that this is really the only good tribute to Grandma. Words seem to not be able to convey her spirit.

Prince Caspian comes out on Friday. I can't wait. I'm going Sunday...that's a whole WEEK away. AAHH!! I hope the soundtrack is good. I already want it. :)

The Symphony had their last concert last night. The played a lot of old musicals and pops music. Elvis even came and sang. The concert was called "A Trip down Memory Road." It was a tour of Route 66 and some of the famous places that lie along that road. It was really good...as always. I got invited by the director's wife to a party at an exclusive restuarant after the symphony. Sadly, I had already arranged to go to Steak and Shake with my friends. Oh well. There's always next time.

Back to the study of good ol' Light Amplification of Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Yehaw.

Laters.
J

Mistake!!

2008-05-05T21:52:00.004-05:00

I apologize...a few posts back, I made mention of the fact that Luke was one of Jesus' Original Twelve Disciples...that's not the case. In my eagerness to indemnify my role as the psuedo-persona of Luke, I jumped the gun. For those of you I led astray, I'm sorry. For those who were paying no attention, and didn't see what I wrote, shame on you. For those who were paying attention, and didn't bring the fact to life, what's your problem??

Thanks to O for pointing out the problem.

Teenage Mutant...humanoid.

2008-05-05T21:25:00.002-05:00

Ach...I'm tired. Always have been. Always will be. I guess I'll learn to live with it. What can I say? I'm a teenager. It's my perrogative to stay up late. Except I break the trend there, cause on a normal school week, I'm up by 6:00, sometimes by 5:00...I suppose I could go to bed earlier...but what would be the fun in that??

I've had two people in the past week ask me the same sort of question. "Why is life so hard sometimes?" My answer, generically:

First, if life was a breeze, how boring would that be?? The thing that makes our lives exciting (beyond the fact that we live to serve our Creator God, and honor Him with everything we do) is the ups and downs of everyday things. The stuggles (fill in your struggles), the fun times (fill in the fun times you've had recently), the heartaches (losing loved ones, or whatever else you can think of that would fit here....like knowing me :D), the joy of serving others, the love we feel in our hearts towards our friends. All of these things make life what it is.

The key is to be content whatever happens, knowing that Christ will give you the strength to press on. Look at what Paul has to say:

Philippians 4:11-1311 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Second, Seek to please God. To do that you must have faith.

Hebrews 11:6 - But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

I think it was John Wesley* that once said something like this: "If I know that tomorrow will be a long day, and will cause me much anxiety and stress, then I purpose in my heart to rise one hour earlier, to thus spend more time with my Dear Saviour, who gives me the strength to get through the day." Wesley had the right idea. Sure, getting up an hour earlier cuts off an hour of time when you could be sleeping. I mean, if tomorrows a long day, then you go to bed earlier and sleep as long as you can, right?? But sleep wasn't the important thing to Wesley. Yeah, you need sleep, but when it comes to the end of a day, and you are tired, even with sleep, it's gonna be God that keeps you going with a right heart attitude, not your tired, angry self.So, to wrap up, whatever you do, do it to God.
Paul:
Colossians 3:23, 24
23 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;
24 Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.

*I'm really not sure who said this..if any one knows for sure, let me know. And remember, it's an paraphrase of the actual quote.

Okay, now that I've got my preaching in, I'll move on to other things. I wouldn't want my readers to be bored. =)

So..the reason I'm tired...well, this weekend has been a little hectic. On Friday, the orchestra had a performance. We got to play on stage where the city Symphony plays. That was cool. We were playing for an all-town high school orchestra competition. It really wasn't competing against any one else, just against ourselves. Remember what I've said about Federation?? Lots of stress, really important? Let's just say that this performance far exceeded the importance part. This was the biggest performance of our year. It wasn't really stressed as that until the day of, and then everybody found out that this was a really important performance. We did really good. There were 3 judges. The highest score possible was a 1 (that = an A, and a 2 = a B...and so on). Out of the 3 judges, two gave us 1's, and the other gave us a 2+. So we did pretty good.

On Saturday, we worked at a college garage sale. Basically once this specific college here in town gets out for the summer, they go through all the dorms, clean them out, and sell all the clothing, books, and things of that sort that they find in the dorms. Last year, over $11,000 was brought in. And they really don't charge a lot for the stuff. I got some really nice name brand sweaters with the tags still on them for $2 each. The thing is, they bring this stuff by the truck load into the rec center where the sale is gonna be, and dump it on the ground. Books, makeup, purses, jeans and coats all in the pile...Then all of it has to be sorted. Clothes by size, shoes by size and pairs, books by genre and type, etc...I leave that to the ladies. I sorted books for several hours, just cause I like to organize things, but mainly I went to the dorms and helped haul stuff away.

Saturday evening, my two younger sisters and I went to Arts Fest. It's a...you guessed it!! A Festival of ARTS!! Yeah. Anyway, 3 or 4 of the younger orchestras and 2 of the choirs played and sang at one of the performance areas. After we played, we went out to eat at Braums, then came back downtown to hear the city Symphony perform their annual Symphony Under the Stars pop concert. It's a free concert, and really is a blast...but this year, it was really cold once the sun went down.

Today, Monday, I did the exact same thing as I did on Saturday. Except I stayed there all day, instead of just most of the day. And tomorrow, we go back to finish up. Wednesday, the sale opens to the public. If you live close to town, and you know where "town" is, let me know, and I'll get you directions so you can go to the sale.

Okay, I'm typed out, and I want to go to bed. I'm sure you are quite tired of my random ramblings by now. I don't blame you. Until next time, Khuda hafiz.

J

ACT your age, you Graduate.

2008-04-28T13:49:00.003-05:00

I got my ACT scores back this last Wednesday. I received a 32 out of a possible 36. I was happy. Elated. Pysched. Exuberant. Shocked. Dumbfounded. Praising the Lord.

The 32 means I'm ranked in the top 1% of students in the State and in the US who took the ACT in April. It also means I can most likely get another $2000 per year if I go to MSU or DU. Plus I'm now eligible for the highest academic scholarship at MSU, which includes room/board/all tuition paid and access to the a special Library and entrance into the Honors Society. But...they only give 40 of those scholarships out per year. I'm actually really hoping to be accepted into Drury. I'd rather go there than MSU. We'll see. I'm going to apply to both schools. In case I don't get the full ride at DU, then I can go to MSU and get all my tuition paid for even if I don't get the Presidential Scholarship (the highest award).

Oh, I'm exhausted. This last weekend was the SHEM Convention. SHEM stands for Southwest Home Education Ministry. Basically, people from all around the country come to sell their respective cirriculums and talk to new homeschoolers about different ways to teach their children. There are speakers that teach on different things, from Creation Vs. Evolution, to the meaning of Classical Education, how to help/teach children with learning disabilities. There was nearly 100 vendors that came to sell and promote their homeschooling tools. The convention started Thursday evening, and went until Saturday evening. To allow the convention to run smoothly, there had to be volunteers, of course. And I love to help at stuff like this, so I volunteered. I knew what it would be like, since I had helped last year.

All Thursday afternoon, vendors came and unloaded vans, trucks, and trailers. And guess who was there to help them unload and set up their booths?? The Pages, those special people that have a heart for service. I'm not boasting here. Yes, I'm one of those people, but I have a deep sense of respect and appreciation for all the other pages and volunteers who made the convention possible. It's not a one or two person job. It takes many, many people to make something like that happen.

Friday evening, after the vendor hall had closed, SHEM hosted its annual homeschool Graduation. 12 young people graduated, including one of my best friends, Sam. The Play His Praises Homeschool Orchestra and the Sing His Praises Homeschool Choir both participated in the graduation. The Orchestra played Pomp and Cirumstance for the graduates as they walked in, and played Fanfare and Frippery No. 2 as they walked out. The Choir sang It Is Well right before the Speaker addressed the audience, and sang a benidiction/prayer/the seven-fold-amen right after the parents had finished giving their young adults their congratulations.

That's a really cool part of the Graduation. You get to hear the parents of each of the graduates come and talk about their child for a couple of minutes. Charging their graduate to keep following the Lord, and to continue in the way they were trained. Often, the parents would read scripture, or relate some time in the graduate's life were they reached an important milestone in their faith.

All that to say, I'm bushed now. I kind of wished I'd had a pedometer while I was at the convention. I would have really liked to know how far I walked. It was several miles, I know. I've never had such sore legs. Oh well. I'll get over it.

Focus, Dude!!

2008-04-17T21:00:00.000-05:00

My extended family just left. We had a really fun time while they were here, but I hope it doesn't kill me in the next few weeks as I try to make up school that I've missed while they were here.

We went to the Dixie Stampede, Bass Pro Shops (the obvious stop for any out-of-towners from the East Coast), and went out to the S-'s to shoot the .22. They had never shot a gun before (at least the kids hadn't), so that was a new experience for them. I thought it would have been really funny to let them shoot the .22 and tell them that's about how much kick an average gun has. Then give them a 12-gauge shotgun and let them shoot that. And video how far backwards they fall. :)

I took my cousin Max to the Knight's track meet. I figured that'd be the only chance to introduce him to some of my friends. Poor thing, having to meet of all them. I think he survived, though.

I didn't get as much time this week to be in the Bible as I would have liked. I struggle with some things, and if I don't focus on God, then I very quickly get down and depressed. I hate it when that happens, and I end up getting angry at other people too. But hey, at least I realize I am acting like the way I am, and I know what the problem is, and how to fix it. The Devil's sly as anything, and he'll take any opportunity to snatch your heart, thoughts, and mind away from God. And trust me, it doesn't take very long for me to get irritated when I'm not focusing on God.

Nothin' can wash away my sin
Nothin' can wash away my sin
Nothin' can wash away my sin
Nothin' Nothin'
Nothin' but the blood of Jesus

Nothin' can make the devil run
Nothin' can make the devil run
Nothin' can make the devil run
Nothin' Nothin'
Nothin' but the blood of Jesus

Nothin' can bring me peace with God
Nothin' can bring me peace with God
Nothin' can bring me peace with God
Nothin' Nothin'
Nothin' but the blood of Jesus

Nothin' can lead me to your throne
Nothin' can lead me to your throne
Nothin' can lead me to your throne
Nothin' Nothin'
Nothin' but the blood of Jesus

Nothin' can make your people one
Nothin' can make your people one
Nothin' can make your people one
Nothin' Nothin'
Nothin' but the blood of Jesus
~ Chris Rice

Birthdays are Symphonic, and the evil Demon, Stress, is not.

2008-04-09T08:10:00.004-05:00

This past week, two of my best friends had their birthdays. Happy Birthday, Josh and Owen!! You're one year closer to Jesus!! :) Oh, and I think this Thursday is Holly's Birthday. Happy Birthday to you too...I can't remember if you read my blog or not, but I think some of your sibs do. And if they don't, they need to. :0

Last year, so of my friends went to a Leadership Camp, called Worldview Academy. It's a camp where you can establish what you believe, based on what the Bible says, and learn about other worldviews. Once you've ascertained what you believe, and you've learned about what other people believe, and the potential problems with their worldviews, then they send you out in teams to talk to people on the college campus that you are living on. You take what you've learned in lectures, and try to get people to really think about what they believe, and why they believe it. All too often, people believe something only because they've been raised that way. And once they are forced to start thinking about why they believe it, questions quickly come to their mind. So this camp is to make sure you aren't a "christian with a biblical worldview" just because you've been raised that way, but to make sure that your faith is really YOUR faith, and not just what your parents have taught to you for years. The nice thing is that the staff there don't just say, "this is what's right and true, believe it or you are wrong." They show you what the Bible says about important issues, and leave it up to you and what you've learned from your parents to come to grips with what you believe.
Now, everything I've just written above is what I've heard about the camp, either through the website, through promo vids from the staff, or from my friends that have gone. So if anything is not accurately portrayed, it's my fault, cause I probably misunderstood something. Once I get back from Worldview, I'll be able to present a much clearer picture of what WVA is about. Anyway, the camp is the first week in June, in Warrensburg. I'm pretty excited about it.

I went to the Symphony Concert this past Saturday with a bunch of my friends. The guest artist was amazing!! His name is David Kim. He is the Concert Master of the Philidelphia Orchestra. He played Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto, and oh my word, he was incredible. I would pay a lot of money to hear him again in concert.
The Violin Concerto was three movements long. Now, if you've ever been to the Symphony, you know that you aren't supposed to applaud between movements of a song. Well, after the first movement of the aforementioned concerto, when Kim had really had a chance to show off his skills (which are sweet), Ron (the conductor) ended the movement with a flourish, and turned around. Well, he usually does that only at the end of an entire piece. So everybody started clapping, and ended up giving Kim a standing ovation. Quite possibly, Ron might have meant for that to happen, since the first movement was so good. But the problem was, that the audience proceeded to clap after every movement after that. So they clapped after the 2nd movement of the Tchaikovsky, and then after every movement of the Brahm's 4th Symphony. It aggravated me to NO END. At one point, I thought the audience had been cured, and there was about 5 seconds of silence in between movements of the Brahm's. But then, just as I turned to my friend in silent approval of the...silence, people started clapping again. AARRRGGGHH!! :) oh well.

I've got a test in every subject this week. Plus I have the ACT this Saturday. And I've got family from Connecticut coming on Saturday evening. Stress cometh quickly. I must go back to fending the evil demon off. Farewell, and prayers are appreciated. Later.

Ahhh...Catch up, quick!!

2008-04-02T10:47:00.004-05:00

My word. It's been forever since I posted. Sorry.

I think it's funny, though. I get 70-80 hits on my site every week, even when I don't post.

In case you haven't noticed, I got a new play list. It will automatically play the songs when you load up this page. It doesn't have as many songs as my previous player (which I still have on the page) did, but you can see and select any song at any point in time on this new player. Most of the songs are Christian genre, of course, but I do have a couple that aren't. The first two are by a couple of artists I found while searching for music on project playlist. I liked them, so I added them. :) And I happen to really like Josh Groban's voice, so I added a couple of his. Hymn to Red October is from the movie, Hunt for Red October, starring Sean Connery and Alec Baldwin. An excellent movie that I highly reccomend. The only caution is the language, which really isn't too prevalent.

Okay, on to other things. Unfortunately, I received a 4 in my piano solos. So that means I have 44/45 points I need for my 3rd gold cup in piano. *sobs* But, hey, I like performing, so it'll give me the wonderful opportunity to memorize a full length concerto and perform it next year. Yipee. :/

Our church had a Easter Production that I was involved in. I played the part of one of Jesus' twelve Disciples. Only Peter, James, John, and Judas were actually named, and had speaking or definite action parts, so I don't know which disciple I was supposed to represent. I decided I'd be Luke, who was a doctor, since I also want to be a doctor.

We had two performances, one on Saturday evening before Easter, and one on Easter morning. Our Saturday evening performance had about 250ish people there, which is quite a good turn out, I thought. Sunday morning had 700ish people, so again, not too shabby.

Hilary, I don't know why you sometimes faint when you are nervous and your knees lock. I just know that it happens, and that I didn't want it to happen to me. :) I'll look it up when I have a little more time, and post the answer.

One of my best friend's sister, Rachel, got married this past Saturday to another one of my best friend's brother, Colin. Yeah. Get those families all intermarried, and make it confusing, why don't ya. :) If you want to see pictures, go to my sister's blog. But here's a picture on my blog, just so you can see who it was and what they look like. Jessi's got like 8 pics on her blog, I think.

This Saturday the Symphony performs...I can't wait. It's been too long since the last performance. Like, a whole month.

We have family coming down from Connecticut in 10 days. I don't know if they read my blog or not, so I won't say anything else about them. They are a wonderful family, have 3 great kids, and have never come down to visit us. Hehe...we'll show 'em what it's like around here. Show 'em how real hillbillies live. Van bench on the front porch and all.

Okay, back to school. Post later. :)

Happy Anniversary

2008-03-07T21:47:00.003-06:00

So I missed my 1st anniversary of my entry into the blogging world. Oh well. I've been blogging since the 5th of March, 2007...time goes by quick. I think I've posted once every 6 days on average...I'll have to try and increase that this next year.

I performed my choir solo today...I didn't think I did too well, but apparently I did, cause the judge came up to our choir right after we finished, and told our choir director that I had "stolen the show"...I guess that's a good thing. :)

But, I must say, God should get the glory in this case, cause even with my head and sniffles, I was able to sing all my parts, where previously I hadn't been able sing them very well. Praise the Lord. I was soooo incredibly nervous. The only thing I could think about was "don't lock your knees...cause you'll pass out and fall over in a millisecond if you do." So I just be-bopped to the song and really got into it. :-)

So now all I've got to finish out with music is my piano solos tomorrow...that I still don't have memorized...so, instead of blogging, I bid you farewell. Until another time.

The Ultimate Viewpoint

2008-03-06T22:18:00.005-06:00

Our world is very interesting. Take for example, a person. We will call this person MaryAnn. From person A's perspective, MaryAnn is a ultra-conservative, elitist, shy kind of a person that is rather socially awkward. From person B's perspective, MaryAnn is neither elitist or shy, definitely not socially awkward, and by no means ultra conservative.

But both people could be telling the truth. Let us assume that both are correct. All the things mentioned DO apply to MaryAnn in every way. They also DO NOT apply to her in any way. Go figure.

"It depends on the situation," you might say. Well, perhaps, but it could also depend on the point of view of the one viewing.

So we've discovered that depending on what sticky situation a viewer is in, the view will change. Interesting....meaning that while short skinny people would call you fat and tall, Tall skinny people would call you short and fat...and while some may say I play the piano well, when looked at from the viewpoint of Chopin's abilities, I am a lowly beginner. So we also see that one does not have to adopt the view from their own sticky situation, but can also adopt the view of an entirely different persona, even one which is not even alive.

Also, if viewpoints depend on the situation, then are inherent character traits and vices really non-exsistent?? Since viewed from one way, they exist, and viewed from another, seem to disappear, then perhaps evil and good do not exist.

Ah, but we must factor in the Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Omnicient, God. Relativity finds it's stable base in the all-knowing viewpoint of the One who can be in every sticky situation and adopt all viewpoints at all times. So while the world viewed from our any human eye could potentially be classed as neither good nor evil, with no absolutely correct viewpoint, we discover that one must attempt to adopt the viewpoint of God, a nearly impossible feat, since one cannot know everything, see everything, and be everywhere at once.

But of course, this God knows that, and has provided a textbook outlining His viewpoint, providing a stable base from which to relate the rest of the world to. Even human eyes, viewing the world from this God-given text, will start to see the world through God's eyes, and will begin to change their own viewpoint to match that of this God. When viewed from an eternal perspective, their own sticky situation becomes negligable, and one can focus on what really matters.

The Cross of Christ.

Federation

2008-03-06T20:43:00.003-06:00

2 days till doomsday. But if I survive, then...um...I'll be a doomsday survivor, I guess. Okay, so it's not really doomsday, but about this time every year, it feels like it. There's this fine arts competetion called Federation. In general, you perform some type of fine art in front of a judge, and he judges you according to the guidelines set down for your specific art. In my case, I'm playing the piano this year. I have two songs that I've been memorizing over the last couple months. I'll play those in front of the judge, and he'll score me on rote memorization, dynamics, rythm, etc...I'm competing against myself, trying to do the best I can. You get a score from 1-5, 5 being the best. After you accumulate 15 points, you earn a gold cup. The quickest time frame you can do this in is 3 years, if you got a score of 5, 3 years in a row. Each 15 points accumulated earns you another gold cup, each one succesively bigger than the one before. This is my ninth competition, and in each previous event, I've received a 5. So if I get a five on Saturday, then I'll have a total of 45 points, a record of 9 perfect years, and my 3rd gold cup. Plus I could stop doing this competition and relieve a lot of stress out of my life. :)

I'm playing Maple Leaf Rag, by Scott Joplin, and Epilouge, by Stephen Heller. Epilouge has over 1600 notes. I counted all of them. It's not a long song, it just is quick-paced, and gets intense in some parts. It's definitely my kind song. Lots of dynamic changes, and a beautiful range of notes. It'll sound really good on the grand piano at the competition. I've been wanting to play it for my senior recital since I heard it 4 or 5 years ago at a piano recital. I can still remember how it sounded.

Once I get past this week...things will get so much less stressful. I can't wait. Okay, I'm bushed, or I'd write something a little more spiritual. But right now, I'm afraid I'd say something completely opposite of what I mean, so I'll refrain from typing any longer.

Ice, Ice, go away, don't come again another day.

2008-03-03T21:15:00.002-06:00

Back from vacation, and feeling blah. I think I stayed up too late and ate too much junk while away from home. I got my school eked out today, but just barely. My stomach's felt bloated all day long, so it makes it hard to concentrate.

Hearing the rain last night makes me long for spring and summer to come. I love the sound of rain. But alas, it's all icy and snowy now. Ah well...I live in the Ozarks, what do I expect?

Jessi made some wonderful clam chowder tonight...even though it didn't sit well on my stomach, it still tasted pretty good going down.

I was asked to play the part of one of Jesus' disciples in our church's Easter Production. How very lucky I am...I've been Jesus' father, and now I'm about to be one of His famed disciples. The first practice was this last Saturday, but since I was in Branson, I had to miss it. Only 3 weeks of practice left, and I've still got no idea what I'm doing. :P

The Legacy

2008-03-02T14:20:00.002-06:00

So I'm sitting on a couch in a luxury vacation house just north of Branson. It's located on a 850 acre ranch that some friends of my family own. The house is called the Legacy. Normally it's rented out to groups or families on vacation. It's got a fully equipped kitchen, pool table, foos ball, a bunch of bedrooms, a 6-person hot tub, a big screen TV, and it's in the country. Check it out here, and here. Anyway, our friends called us and said they didn't have anyone coming to stay in it this weekend, and told us we could come down and use it for free if we wanted to. Right after orchestra ended on Friday evening, my family and Owen drove down here. We stayed up and played pool for hours.

Then Saturday evening, we went to the Symphony concert. They played Handel's Water Music Suite No. 2 and Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Some of the most famous pieces of music ever written, Handel's Messiah exempted. They had a 200 voice choir singing with them. The choir was composed of several different area colleges, and they were amazing.

After the concert we picked Grace up from C of O. She spent Saturday night here at the Legacy with us. In fact, as I write this, she's sitting across the room from me reading something...hi Grace! *waves*

We'll go back home sometime this afternoon. Mom and Dad will come back down here for a couple more days to celebrate their 20-something anniversary.

So I'm in this homeschooled High School Choir. We have a competition coming up this next Friday. One of the songs we are singing is a rather upbeat Gospel song called He Never Failed M Yet. There is 3 solos in it. We were told to be ready to try out for 2 of the solos this last Friday. I tried out for the first one with several others and royally bombed it. So I asked if I could try out for the 2nd one too. Our choir director said yes, and so I tried out for that one too....turns out no one else was going to try out for the 2nd one, and so I got the part by default. :P

Appointment

2008-02-04T17:54:00.000-06:00

Okay...I'm on pain pills, so if I make any mistakes, blame it on that.

I've had what felt like a very severe earache for the last 4 or 5 days. I had pain from my ear all the way down the jaw line to the chin. It was making my teeth hurt, and was really giving me a lot of problems, plus I was killing my liver by taking 12-16 ibufrofen a day, instead of the recommended 6/day. They weren't even taking the edge off the pain. I even took a Hydrocodone, and that didn't help either. Last night, my first molar on the lower right jaw started hurting a lot. Today, I went into to see the dentist, and found out that my tooth has an infection, and I have to have a root canal. Not fun. So right now I'm taking penecillin, for the infection, and Tramadol for the pain. Actually, the tramadol doesn't help the pain, it just makes me not care about it. So tomorrow at 2:15, I have a root canal scheduled. I can't wait for this to stop hurting. I cried so hard today. And I can't eat solid foods, cause I can't even begin to chew. blah...prayer would be most welcome. I'll post again after my operation.

laters..

To move or not to move...alas, the deed already is done.

2008-01-20T07:12:00.000-06:00

Yesterday my friends, the S-'s, started to move into their new house that they are building. So I went out there to help them move. Of course, I made sure to arrive just in time to eat lunch. When lunch was done, we went out to their old house to get a load of furniture and clothing. We took a 20 ft. flat bed trailer, a 10 ft. enclosed trailer, a heavy duty truck, 2 suburbans, a Geo Metro, and a minivan. We filled every single spot available in those vehicles and trailers. After spending a couple or 3 hours there, we finally finished loading stuff up, and took off for their new house. It was completely dark by the time we got there, and I failed to mention earlier that the temperature never got about 25 (F) the entire day...so when the sun dropped below the horizon, the temperature hovered around 17-18 degrees, plus any time the wind blew at all, the windchill was around 0 degrees. Back to the completely dark...With no lights to help us see the uneven terrain, we finally got all the vehicles unloaded. I had on so many articles of clothing, I must have looked like an eskimo. But...I was warm. By the time we had finished unloading, I had broken a sweat, and was rapidly shedding layers of clothing. That's the nice thing about layering....and one good reason to do so...you can take off, or put on whatever you need to in order to stay comfortable.
We ate dinner, and then set around chatting for a while. I played a song that I composed on the piano that we had brought over...it's going to be titled "The Love Birds." I hope to be able to flesh it out a little more, write a string accompaniment part, plus 2 vocal parts, and then record it as a wedding gift for two friends of mine (Rachel and Colin) whom I hold in the deepest respect and admiration for the way that they have conducted their relationship. I don't know if I will be able to complete the song in time for their wedding, but I really hope to be able to. We'll see what happens...anyway, I played the song on the piano...and went upstairs and talked some more. It was getting kind of late by this point, so I started my van, so it would warm up before I left, since I didn't want to freeze driving home. Everybody else left just before I did, because I went downstairs and made myself a cup of coffee, so I wouldn't fall asleep. Then, so as not to stress my relationship, and not over-use the S-'s hospitality, I left. Now, as I write this on the day after, my arms are sore...I wish I could have totaled the amount of weight that my arms carried yesterday. The amount probably wouldn't be as great as I would expect or hope it to be, but I'm sure it would still be quite a lot.

Time to get ready to go to church!! More later...maybe. =)

Much of Him

2008-01-17T12:30:00.000-06:00

I've not been feeling well for the last few days. My neck had been really hurting badly, and that didn't help my attitude at all. I think I was kind of depressed. I'm not exactly sure why. I think it's just Satan's attack on my life. Seems like every time I attempt to stay really close to God, I fall away even farther. Suddenly, everything becomes harder. I guess that's a good sign that I'm doing the right thing. If Satan doesn't want me to do it, and does everything in his power to hamper me, then it's probably the best thing to keep doing.
And so I plod along, trying to stay close to God, realizing that I keep trying to do it from my own power, and starting over again.

Don't get me wrong. I wouldn't trade this life for just almost anything. The only thing I might trade it for is the same essential life that I have now, just without all the stupid mistakes that I've made in the past, and I wish I could have never done. I may feel depressed every once in a while, when I again discover that I CAN'T do it on my own, and then for a while, my pride gets the best of me, before I finally turn again to my Saviour, and start afresh. That's the wonderful thing about my Saviour. No matter how many times you mess up, make mistakes, or are just plain stupid, God is still there, waiting to forgive you, and to forget your sins.
I couldn't decide whether to post the words to East to West, or Much of You...since the lyrics to East to West are scrolling to the right of this post anyway, I've decided on Much of You.

How could I stand here and watch the sun rise
Follow the mountains where they touch the sky
Ponder the vastness and the depths of the sea
And think for a moment the point of it all was to make much of me
Cause I'm just a whisper and You are the thunder and

I want to make much of You, Jesus
I want to make much of Your love
I want to live today to give You the praise
That You alone are so worthy of
I want to make much of Your mercy
I want to make much of Your cross
I give You my life
Take it and let it be used
To make much of You

And how can I kneel here
And think of the cross
The thorns and the whip and the nails and the spear
The infinite cost
To purchase my pardon
And bear all my shame
To think I have anything worth boasting in except for Your name
Cause I am a sinner
And You are the Savior

I want to make much of You, Jesus
I want to make much of Your love
I want to live today to give You the praise
That You alone are so worthy of
I want to make much of Your mercy
I want to make much of Your cross
I give You my life
Take it and let it be used

To make much of You

This is Your love, oh God
Not to make much of me
But to send Your own son
So that we could make much of You

For all eternity

I want to make much of You Jesus
I want to make much of Your love
I want to live today to give You the praise
That You alone are so worthy of
I want to make much of Your mercy
I want to make much of Your cross
I give You my life
Take it and let it be used
To make much of You

I want to make much of You
Much of You Jesus

~ Steven Curtis Chapman

Back from Christmas Break.

2008-01-07T21:45:00.000-06:00

Okay....back from Christmas break, and onto a semi-normal school schedule. Christmas pretty much awesome, just like always. And the break was soooo good. I finally got caught up with my physics. I had been pretty behind since Grandpa died. I was able to get totally caught up 2 days before school started again this January. But as long as I'm caught up, it's all good.

I've done a couple more Medical Explorers rotations since I last posted. I know I watched at least one surgery. Actually the end of one and the beginning of another. They were both Hernia Surgeries. Not very exciting to watch, but the Surgery Team made it worth it cause they were so fun. One of the guys asked me "do you want to sew the skin up?" Yeah, I would have loved to, but imagine the law suits, not to mention not knowing how to do it, and having to get all steralized and all.

I have a Medical Explorer's Business Meeting tomorrow night, so I'll get to sign up for more rotations and stuff.

My knees have been bothering me for awhile. Yesterday I went and played frisbee with some friends, and my knees hurt sooo bad this morning. I had even iced them last night. Nothing helped. We'd been considering taking me to our doctor so we could get an MRI scheduled. The doc said that I have loose knee caps, and possibly torn cartiledge. We're scheduling an MRI so I can find out what all is wrong.

Rules For Africa:
1. Everything in Africa bites. Even the plants. If it doesn't bite, it stings.
2. If you stay still long enough, something will come eat you.
3. Never try to outrun anything in Africa. You'll lose. Even Jesse Owens would lose.
4. Know how to shoot and have your rifle sighted in. The Swahili word for hunters who don't do this translates to "Lion poop" for a reason.
5. If you kill any game within an hour of twilight, you will be walking back to camp, covered in tasty blood all the predators can smell -- alone.

Christmas...sort of.

2007-12-22T13:36:00.000-06:00

So...I don't think I ever mentioned that I got my license. Dad's paying for the insurance, and I am doing all the filing for the business, not quite a fair trade, since filing takes a long time, but it's a job I can do at home, and at any time, so it's easier then going out to a jobsite and having to work there.

My church had their Christmas play on the 15th and the 16th. I think it went okay...I believe we had 2 people saved, so all the time and effort we put into it was well worth it.

Here's a picture of my "wife" and me. That's Molly Buesking, who played Mary. I had no idea she was making that face, or I would have burst out laughing, and not had that nice, kind, and caring smile on my face. Molly's brother, Sam, is peeking out from behind us...with his eyes closed. :)

We went to Silver Dollar City on Thursday with a bunch of friends. That was a fun time. We even saw SDC's version of Charles Dicken's "A Christmas Carol." It wasn't half bad. Grace will probably get mad if I don't mention something about her...so...We invited Grace L. to come with us to SDC. She, like always, is a blast to hang out with. There, I've mentioned her. :)And if that's not enough, I've even included a picture of her. :)

I went to see National Treasure: Book of Secrets tonight with the rest of the family. It was okay, but nothing as good as the first National Treasure. It had a couple of objectionable scenes. Really, though, you could tell the whole plot from the beginning of the movie, and even though there was some good action-scenes, it was almost a boring movie. Broken up a few times, or course, by Riley's hilarious interjections. That's really the whole reason I went to see the movie, was to see him and listen/watch him do his lines. All in all, I wouldn't reccommend the movie as one to see.

Christmas time is coming!! Yeah!! A time to celebrate the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Why December 25 was chosen for the day to celebrate Christ's birth, I have no idea. Especially as this day is supposedly the day of Yuletide, which is/was a pagan holiday. No matter...Whatever day was chosen is fine for me, just as long as there is a set day. I only wish that Christmas wasn't as commercialized. It seems like every corporation, big and small, is out to make Christmas a time to make more money. They don't focus on the real reason for the season. We have Santa Claus coming to visit us, instead of the baby Jesus. We get, get, get...or for the businesses...make, make, make...money. Follow the wealth, right?? Greed, wealth, power...

911 ER Surgery Pasta

2007-12-04T22:35:00.000-06:00

Thieves respect property. They merely wish the property to become their property that they may more perfectly respect it. - G.K. Chesterton

These are supposedly real 911 calls. I don't know if they really are or not, but they are kind of funny.

Dispatcher : 9-1-1 What is your emergency?

Caller: I heard what sounded like gunshots coming from the brown house on the corner.

Dispatcher: Do you have an address?

Caller: No, I have on a blouse and slacks, why?

-----------------------------------------------

Dispatcher: 9-1-1 What is your emergency?

Caller : Someone broke into my house and took a bite out of my ham and cheese sandwich .

Dispatcher : Excuse me?

Caller : I made a ham and cheese sandwich and left it on the kitchen table and when I came back from the bathroom, someone had taken a bite out of it.

Dispatcher : Was anything else taken?

Caller : No, but this has happened to me before and I'm sick and tired of it!

-----------------------------------------------

Dispatcher: 9-1-1 What is the nature of your emergency?

Caller: I'm trying to reach nine eleven but my phone doesn't have an eleven on it.
Dispatcher: This is nine eleven.

Caller: I thought you just said it was nine-one-one.

Dispatcher: Yes, ma'am nine-one-one and nine-eleven are the same thing.

Caller: Honey, I may be old, but I'm not stupid.

-----------------------------------------------

Dispatcher: 9-1-1 What's the nature of your emergency?
Caller: My wife is pregnant and her contractions are only two minutes apart.

Dispatcher: Is this her first child?

Caller: No, you idiot! This is her husband!

----------------------------------------------

And the winner is..........

Dispatcher: 9-1-1

Caller: Yeah, I'm having trouble breathing. I'm all out of breath. Darn....I think I'm going to pass out.

Dispatcher: Sir, where are you calling from?

Caller: I'm at a pay phone. North and Foster.

Dispatcher: ! Sir, an ambulance is on the way. Are you an asthmatic?

Caller: No.

Dispatcher: What were you doing before you started having trouble breathing?

Caller: Running from the Police

_______________________-----------------------------________________________

Okay...

I had a surgical rotation tonight. I had 2 hours of surgery, and two hours of ER. Surgery was pretty good. They had someone who had gotten his face busted up in a farm accident. They had to do a facial fracture repair. They wired the jaw shut, and then peeled the skin on the cheek bone away so they could fix the zygomatic arch (the arch of bone that extends along the front and side of the skull beneath the eye), which was kind of in pieces. It was fun to watch, and the doc and the anesthesiologist did a good job of explaining things to me.

ER was boring...they had a slow night, so it's understandable. I ended up going with the guy I was shadowing to get food for some of the other employees. So I didn't get a whole lot of gruesome stuff. Oh well...more next time.

Surgery and Symphony

2007-11-17T22:08:00.000-06:00

"So what makes you want to be a Colon Surgeon?" This was the question asked of me by the lead surgeon in the operating room in the hospital. I was standing not 3 feet away, watching as he reached into the hole in the patient's abdomen, pulled out a couple of feet of the colon, and let it slip through his fingers back into the abdomen. I chuckled nervously, and said, "well, I haven't decided if I want to specialize in any specific type of surgery yet."

This was my introduction into Surgery. My 3rd rotational night as a MedEx started out in the Operation Room with a good friend that I used to go to church with, Michelle. We watched the surgeon perform a colonectomy and a gallbladder removal. The colon had cancer in it, and so they removed about 1 and 1/2 feet. So the person had a hard time walking after that, cause they only had half of a foot left. And no right. Can you imagine walking with only half of your left foot, and no right?? Except that's not exactly what happened. What I meant to say was that a foot and a half of the colon was removed. I didn't know that colons had feet, but I guess they do. After all, I watched them being removed. As for the gallbladder, the removal was unexpected. Let me rephrase that. They meant to remove it, but they didn't know they were going to remove until after the surgery started. I'll let the surgeon's wisdom explain.
Lead Surgeon: "Is that the gallbladder?? Hmmm.....it's now the largest organ in the body."
Back-up Surgeon: "Excuse me, but the skin is the body's largest organ."
LS: "Ha. Notice I said 'largest organ in the body', not of the body. Anyway, that's not a good thing, that the gallbladder's that large...Let's take it out." *turns to Michelle and me* "We weren't planning on doing this originally, but it'll save problems for the patient later if we take it out now."
I'm like, 'okay, whatever you think is best, cause I sure don't know what you know.'
After spending two hours in the OR, I took a two hour rotation in Neuro-Intermediate, where I had my first rotation. I met this really neat guy. He was telling me all these stories about when he was in the Navy. He was so incredibly funny. Example:
Nurse Aide: George*, this is Josiah. He's a Medical Explorer, following me around tonight."
George: Well, good to meet you."
Nurse Aide: *speaking to me, but still facing George* "He's a truck driver."
George: *to me* "You're a truck driver??? You sure don't look like a truck driver."

Or how about when I first met him.
Nurse Aide: *before we enter room* "This next guy is hilarious. He's always making funny comments or taking something that anyone would normally know what you meant, and acting like it means something different."
*entering room*
George: "Where you been?? I've been waiting my whole life for you to come. I always knew you were the one for me."
Nurse Aide: *turns to me* "See what I mean?"

I went to the Symphony performance tonight. They had an amazing cellist. Just phenomonal. Incredible emotion. Wonderful control. And Jewish to boot.
Need I say more?? Oh yeah. You should have been there. It was amazinging, phenomonal, incredible, emotional, wonderful, controlled...wait, I've already said most of that. We'll just stick with the "you should have been there" part.

*Patient's name changed so as to not violate HIPAA laws.

Grandpa dying...and other various updates on things that I haven't posted about for a while, or just random items I wanted to throw in, just to make y

2007-11-06T20:11:00.000-06:00

our day, since you checked my blog again...so faithfully.

"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”-C.S.Lewis.

What an awesome quote!!! I totally love it.

Well...my dad's dad is slowly dying. He had been in a nursing home for numerous reasons. He had a massive heart attack on Friday morning, and was admitted to the hospital immediately. Tuesday, they found out he had double pneumonia, and kidney failure.

We went up to visit both grandma (who's also in the nursing home up there) and grandpa on Sunday. As far as I know, Grandpa is a Christian. Of course, that is only really known between him and God. I kind of think that it would be best if Grandpa died pretty soon. No more suffering for him. And most of the family is either already there, or coming in this weekend. We'll just see what happens. I'll try to update the blog if we find anything else out. (i.e. major changes in his condition).

I worked at the S-'s new house on Monday and Tuesday. I was working with J, L, S, J, J, and W. Plus two sheetrockers. We sheetrocked almost the entire upstairs walls and ceilings. I am sooo sore. I am totally not used to working with sheetrock up over my head. In fact, I'm not used to working with sheetrock at all. :) I had a massage today, so that made up for a little bit of the soreness.

Last Thursday, I had my 2nd clinical rotation. I was on the Post-Surgical ICU ward. Okay, so last time, when I approached the nurses station to find out what I was doing, the stuck me with a nurse for the 2 hours that I was there. This time, in the ICU, they told me to do whatever I wanted. Just walk around, visit all the rooms, talk to whoever I felt like talking to, etc...So I did. I helped with a bed turning, and helped clean a room out. And I watched/helped with a lung suctioning. I almost passed out at that one. The fellow doing the lung suctioning was a student at a local college. He was being supervised by a respiratory therapist. Anyway, he was up the nose and going down the back of the throat with this tube, suctioning the whole time. Then all of the sudden the junk he was suctioning up changed colors, and the RP in charge said, "I think you're in the esophagus." Yeah...the room started to get a little warm feeling at this point. I'm holding down this poor old lady's hands so she wouldn't grab at the tube going down her throat. She was coughing and gagging. So the student tries again..."nope, still in the esophagus. Pull it out a little until you can feel that you're in the back of the throat. Twist the tube around if you can't tell." Here's where my vision starts to tunnel. It would have been just fine if I was the one doing the operation, but to sit and just watch while feeling this old lady struggle under my hands was almost too much. After the guy got done, I went out into the hallway, and took a few deep breathes. The awful feeling went away pretty quickly, but I'm glad I didn't have to watch multiple lung suctions in a row.

Next week I have 2 rotations on the same day. One is watching a surgery, and the other is the same as my first, Neuro Nursing. So hopefully my feet and back won't give out. Then I've got a piano recital the next day. I'm playing a piece by Chopin, called Nocturne. The actual song itself isn't too difficult, it's just getting the style and accidentals right. And all the stinking trills. Actually, the trills make it easier, cause if you mess up, then you can trill or chromatic up or down to the right note. :)

We had our family picture taken a couple of weeks ago. Here's a couple of the results.

Don't we look grand?? Or at least like a hundred dollars?

And here's the good-looking bunch of boys. Except for....well, I won't write that. Just use whatever your imagination brings to mind. :) And here's me...trying to look smart. Notice the light bulb above my head is not lit. In fact, it almost looks burnt out. :)

And finally, here's a picture of some clouds that my sister took.

First Rotation

2007-10-23T20:59:00.000-05:00

So I had my first clinical rotation tonight. I worked for 2 3/4 hours on the Neuro-Intermediate Nursing Floor. Basically it has patients with anything from head trauma, to stablizing from a neuro surgery, to any neuro related disease. That includes Cerebral Palsy and Mental Retardation.

When I first got to the hospital floor that I was going to, I went to the nursing station, and told the secretary-looking lady what I was there for. She turned around and told the charge nurse that I was there. She started asking me what kind of medical experience I had. Like if I was a certified nurse assistant, or a med tech, and so on. I'm like, "I don't know a thing, and I can't legally do very much at all." She says, "oh, okay. Well then..." *turns to the other nurses standing there* "who should he go with so he'll see something really good?" Unfortunately, there wasn't anything "good." Or maybe disgusting...but to me, that'd be really cool.

I shadowed two nurses. The shift change came about 45 minutes after I got there, so the first nurse I had been shadowing left, and I shadowed the nurse that took her place. Both the nurses were really nice. They both showed me what they were doing, and why. The first nurse explained what in tarnation those diagnosises meant, and why they were receiving what they were getting. Basically we just went from room to room (we had 6 rooms) and handed out meds, and answered questions, etc. I say we, but actually, the nurse did all that, and I just stood there and looked handsome. :) It's not that hard once you've had practice.

Okay, now that I've posted on my experience, here's some of the world's funniest one-liners.

1). Ninety-nine percent of lawyers give the rest a bad name.
2). Borrow money from a pessimist -- they don't expect it back.
3). Time is what keeps things from happening all at once.
4). Lottery: A tax on people who are bad at math.
5). I don't suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it.
6). Always go to other people’s funerals, or they won’t go to yours.
7). Few women admit their age; few men act it.
8). If we aren't supposed to eat animals, why are they made with meat?
9). No one is listening until you make a mistake.
10). Give me ambiguity or give me something else.
11). We have enough youth. How about a fountain of "Smart"?
12). He who laughs last thinks slowest.
13). Campers: Nature’s way of feeding mosquitoes.
14). Always remember that you are unique; just like everyone else.
15). Consciousness: That annoying time between naps.

my life, as I don't know it.

2007-10-20T13:45:00.001-05:00

Hmmm...it's been a while.

Well...I did it again. I am now laying on the couch in our den...unable to rise and walk normally. I have twisted my ankle again. In the same manner as I did before, though not nearly as bad. I was playing football, and came down hard on the side of my foot. My ankle bent...and it now hurts....really badly. I don't know if that is correct or not. Should I say "really badly", "really bad", "real badly", or "real bad"? I don't really care right now.

Anyway, I now have a goose egg on the side of my foot that looks vaguely familiar. I think I had one for about 6 or 7 weeks earlier this year. I can sort of walk on it, but I have to at least wear a brace, and it's slow going. I am also sick with some bug. I've got a pretty sweet headache, and chest congestion. Besides the fact that my leg pounds with every heartbeat.

But...I'm still saved, Jesus still loves me, and I love Him. So everything's good.

Tuesday I have my first Clinical Rotation in the Hospital. I am going to do Neuro-Intermediate Nursing...I'll let you know what it entails and how it went after I finish. Then on the 1st of November, I've got a rotation in Post-Surgical ICU, and 2 weeks after that, I've got a rotation in Surgery, and another in Neuro-Intermediate Nursing.

Yesterday I had to teach Guitar theory at orchestra. Liz is on "vacation" and so I became the teacher instead of Mr. Crowd Control. Have you ever tried teaching 13 boys (ages 8-11ish) and keeping them under control? And when you have no clue what you are teaching, since you have never had a guitar lesson in your life, and the only thing you know about it, you've taught yourself. That'd be me! Yeah. And btw, Pris, if you read this before Liz leaves, which I kind of doubt you will...tell her that she is supposed to get a candy bar this next week from one of her theory students. :)

Here's some more quotes for you LotR fanatics...or at least those of us who love to hear some of Tolkien's works again and again. These are from the book, this time. Just for you, Grace. :)

"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve." - Bilbo at his party

"Where is the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing? They have passed like rain on the mountain, like a wind in the meadow; The days have gone down in the West behind the hills into shadow."; - Theoden before battle at Helm's Deep

In rode the Lord of the Nazgûl. A great black shape against the fires beyond he loomed up, grown to a vast menace of despair. In rode the Lord of the Nazgûl, under the archway that no ememy ever yet had passed, and all fled before his face. All save one. There waiting, silent and still in the space before the Gate, sat Gandalf upon Shadowfax: Shadowfax who alone amoung the free horses of the earth endured the terror, unmoving, steadfast as a graven image in Rath Dínin. "You cannot enter here," said Gandalf, and the huge shadow halted. "Go back to the abyss prepared for you! Go back! Fall into the nothingness that awaits you and your master. Go!" The Black Rider flung back his hood, and behold! he had a kingly crown; and yet upon no head visible was it set. The red fires shone between it and the mantled shoulders vast and dark. From a mouth unseen there came a deadly laughter. "Old fool!' he said. 'Old fool! This is my hour. Do you not know death when you see it? Die now and curse in vain!" And with that he lifted high his sword and flames ran down the blade. Gandalf did not move. And in that very moment, away behind behind in some courtyard of the City, a cock crowed. Shrill and clear he crowed, recking nothing of wizardry or war, welcoming only the morning that in the sky far above the shadows of death was coming with the dawn. And as if in answer there came from far away another note. Horns, horns, horns. In dark Mindolluin's sides they dimly echoed. Great horns of the North wildly blowing. Rohan had come at last. - Gandalf confronts the Witch King

And two from the Movie.

Home is behind
The world ahead
and there are many paths to tread
Through shadow to the edge of night
until the stars are all alight
Mist and shadow
Cloud and shade
All shall fade
All shall... fade.
- Pippin sings to Denethor

can't you just hear Pip singing this haunting song?

"Spears shall be shaken, shields shall be splintered. It is a sword-day; a red day, ere the sun rises! Ride now! Ride now! Ride for ruin, and the world's ending! Forth Eorlingas!";
- Theoden to the Rohirrim, before battle at the Pelennor

Inspiration to end the world, eh?

Lord of the Rings

2007-10-04T22:28:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I must needs post on some favorite quotes from Lord of The Rings. Thank you to Mr. Tolkien for writing this so many years ago, so that I could post them on the internet. :)

“Sam: [Both are overcome by exhaustion] Do you remember the Shire, Mr. Frodo? It'll be spring soon. And the orchards will be in blossom. And the birds will be nesting in the hazel thicket. And they'll be sowing the summer barley in the lower fields... and eating the first of the strawberries with cream. Do you remember the taste of strawberries?

Frodo: No, Sam. I can't recall the taste of food... nor the sound of water... nor the touch of grass. I'm... naked in the dark, with nothing, no veil... between me... and the wheel of fire! I can see him... with my waking eyes!

Sam: Then let us be rid of it... once and for all! Come on, Mr. Frodo. I can't carry it for you... but I can carry you!”

How this could apply to our lives as Christians! Christ commands us to carry one another's burdens. See Galatians 6:2 "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." In this case, Sam could not carry Frodo's burden, and burden it was, but he did what he could. In this case, he carried Frodo himself.

Pippin: I feel like I'm back at the Green Dragon.

Merry: [through a mouthful of food] Mm. Green Dragon.

Pippin: A mug of ale in my hand, putting my feet up on a settle after a hard day's work.

Merry: Only, you've never done a hard day's work.

[They laugh; Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli ride up. Merry stands and gives an exaggerated bow]

Merry: Welcome, my lords, to Isengard!

Gimli: You young rascals! A merry hunt you've led us on, and now we find you... feasting and... and *smoking.*

Pippin: We are sitting on a field of victory enjoying a few well-earned comforts.

[Merry blows a smoke ring]

Pippin: The salted pork is particularly good.

Gimli: [eagerly] Salted pork?

Gandalf: [exasperated] Hobbits.

Merry: We're under orders from Treebeard, who has taken over management of Isengard.

Treebeard: [as they walk toward the tower] Hroom, young master Gandalf! I'm relieved that you've come. Wood and water, stock and stone I can master, but there's a wizard to manage here. Locked his tower.”

I love the part where Merry tells Pip that he's never done a hard day's work in his life. That'd be completely true for a Hobbit. And watching the actors doing this scene in the movie is totally cool.

No TB...Lots of Music...And Pastor's Day!

2007-10-01T12:53:00.000-05:00

I haven’t been exposed to TB! No Pris, that’s not you this time. It’s Tuberculosis. On Tuesday, I had the orientation meeting for Medical Explorers, and I had to get a TB Skin Test. They inject a little bit of the virus under your skin, and if you’ve ever been exposed to it, then your body will have antibodies still roaming around, so the spot where you got the injection will flare up a little bit. Sort of like a poison ivy rash, but just one bump. Well, anyway, I didn’t have it.
I went bike riding with Owen on Saturday. We went 22 miles on the trail. I hadn’t ridden but once in at least a year. I felt really sore afterwards. That night, the PHPHSO performed the Pre-Concert Performance at the Symphony. It was Liz and Joy’s last performance. It actually went fairly well. We had a fairly large crowd listening to us.
The actual Symphony performance was really good. The piano player they had as the guest artist was fairly good, but the piano wasn’t milked, and she got drowned out a lot, so you really couldn’t tell how good she really was. The second half of the performance was one of the 2 best ½ performances I’ve ever been to. They played some music written about the 1001 Tales of the Arabian Nights, by Rimsky-Korsakov. Wow.

One of the songs was totally cool. As soon as it started, I got a picture in my mind, then as the song went on, the picture grew into a tale, the last battle of a war that had gone on for many years. The "good" country was outnumbered in this last battle, yet they had to win, or all would be lost. As they arrayed for battle in a wooded area, trumpets sounded, and over a hill in front of their lines came a massive troop of enemy cavalry. (Here at this point I’ll call the "good" guys: Foodsnogites; and the "bad" guys: Santaites.) The Foodsnogites gave a great cheer to boost their morale as they prepared to withstand a charge. Then from the left came another trumpet sounding, and another troop of Santaite Cavalry came trotting down the hill. Morale in the Foodsnogite’s ranks fell, but they prepared themselves to face the enemy on their left flank and in the center. Again, a trumpet sounded, and a third troop came over a low rise on the Foodsnogite’s right flank. As the Santaites rushed down upon the Foodsnogites, a fourth trumpet sounded, this one a different tone. From behind the Foodsnogites came their reinforcements. Yet it was pitifully small. All day long the battle was fought, the country’s freedom and existence on the line. Against impossibly horrible odds, the Foodsnogites struggled valiantly. The sweat trickled down the tear and bloodstained faces.

As the day drew to a close, the Santaites gathered for one last charge against the Foodsnogites. The Foodsnogites knew that this was their last chance. They rallied together, their numbers piteously few. A peace came over them, and they knew that if they could withstand this charge, then the Santaites would be defeated, having lost too many men. The Santaites charged down upon the group of steadfast men, trying to ride them over. The first two rows of the Foodsnogites knelt with what spears remained pointed towards the Santaites. Behind them, the next two lines stood with whatever sharp weapons were left pointed out. What remaining Archers the Foodsnogites had alive stood behind the line firing the few arrows they had. The first wave of Santaite Cavalry crashed into the spears. The Foodsnogite’s General fell. The line wavered, then stood. Again and again, the Santaites tried to break through the wall of determined men, but in vain. At last, with the final vestiges of sunlight disappearing beneath the horizon, the remaining Santaites wheeled and galloped off the battlefield.

The Foodsnogites slowly relaxed and started to look around them at the carnage. As they walked through the forest, trying to find any survivors, but seeing only dead fellow soldiers lying on the ground, they started to weep. They realized the cost of victory was dear. At last they found the general, lying with an arrow in his chest, and his leg badly mangled and twisted beneath him. He tried to speak, but couldn’t find the breath. The men crowded round, trying to hear what he was saying. "We sure told ‘em, didn’t we?" Noticing the tears on the men’s faces, he spoke once more. "To cry is natural, but don’t let mourning become your life. You’ve won your country’s freedom, now what will you do with your Country?" His voice slipped off into a mumble, then he sighed and leaned back, closing his eyes and drawing his last breath. As the men buried their dead, they thought about what their General had said.
Very sad, but yet with a strange sense of wonderful Victory. They had preserved their nation, although at great cost to themselves.

Okay, I’ve got that out of my system now. We had some pretty cool lightening last night. I tried taking some pictures of it. Have you ever tried to take pictures of lightening with a slow digital camera? It’s really hard to do. But I got a couple of cool shots, with a little bit of lightening in them.

So, yesterday, the Mayor of S- declared Sunday, September 30, to be Billy H. B- Day. Billy is my pastor. He just recently stepped down from the senior pastor position at our church, and now holds the title: Pastor Emeritus. Yesterday was his Birthday, and also his 50-year anniversary for serving in the ministry. So we had a big shindig at our church. When Pastor came into the service (of course we made sure he got there late, so everyone else was already there, ready to cheer when he came in), the drummer played some sort of drum roll/cool intro beat, and then the brass section of our praise and worship team played "Hail to the Chief."

Did you know it used to be against the law in Kansas to serve Ice Cream on Cherry Pie?

My Decision

2007-09-27T12:10:00.000-05:00

I know this sounds weird, but I've decided that I'm not going to get my license. I know . . . you're shocked! But, it's the truth. I've shredded my permit and decided that I'm going to let my dad, mom, brother, and sister drive me everywhere I need to go (which, as all of you know, is a lot of places!!)

I work at the Hospital....well..sort of, and not quite yet. :)

2007-09-27T10:34:00.000-05:00

So I joined this group called Medical Explorers. It's for young people between the ages of 14-20 to explore the different areas of health care. Basically what you do is sign up for clinical rotations, only lasting 2 hours, in the hospital. You shadow someone (usually a nurse) around during that time. You can sign up for rotations in the ER, surgery, Burn Unit, ICU, Oncology...just about everything except for pediatrics and labor/delievery. Tuesday evening we had our orientation meeting. We have to be informed about all the HIPAA rules and all the different hospital ins and outs. We did "Gloving 101" where we learned how to put on and take off gloves properly. Thank God for Camp Barnabas. I knew how to do that really well, since I had to put on gloves about 3-4 times a day during term 9. We learned about all the different emergency situations, and what to do in those situations.
It was a 3 hour orientation. I hate sitting in a chair for that long. The cool thing about ME's is that once you frequent an area of the hospital enough, the people start to recognize you, and you start being able to do things. We are basically errand runners, but we don't get paid or anything. We'll have a business meeting the 2nd week in October, and we can sign up for rotations then. I've got scrubs, and at the business meeting, I'll get my official name badge and everything. I'm soooo excited! If you are interested in this program, tell me, and I'll give you more info.

Think....think...ow. That hurts.

2007-09-23T13:39:00.000-05:00

wow.

For the first time in a long time, I sat down at the computer, and could think of nothing to write about my fabulous and fantastically wonderful life as a follower of Jesus Christ. But that was just a momentary relapse, because as I write this, so many things are coming to mind that they may end up overpowering me, and then my mind will shut down again and I will have nothing to write about...again.

I go to the college sunday school class at my church. We normally have around 6-8 people in attendance per week. Today, there were 23 students in attendance, not including the teacher. Yeehaw! It's pretty cool to have that many in the class. Discussions are much more in depth. The only real problem with the class is that the new teacher we have...well, let's just say he's a Cubs Fan. And a lot of the class are Cub's Fans. And, well, let's just say that it doesn't set very well with me. Cause I'm a Cards Fan. So technically, the teacher and half the class, and I should be mortal enemies. But for the sake of unity in our classroom, I've decided to put up with them. The annoying thing is that my Cardinals have been eliminated, and the Cubs are in first place in their division.

Next week, we are having a special service and after church dinner for our recently retired pastor. We'll have special speakers and what not. I'm supposed to be one of the door greeters. I'm masquerading as this dashing young fellow with amazingly good looks and wonderful manners. Check out the totally sweet adjectives and adverbs I used in describing myself. Pretty cool, huh? I'm learning something in English, I guess. Anyway, back to the dashing young fellow, etc... Maybe I don't have to masquerade...maybe I'll just be myself, and still fufill all of the above characteristics of, well...me. I really like that..."of, well...", I like how it sounds, the definite pause in between the "of" and "well", then the emphasis on whatever I say next. Works really well, doesn't it?

I'm supposed to work tomorrow. Haha...work..yeah right. I've got to do school all day, then at 4:00ish, I'll go and work the early evening shift. Something like 4-10 or something. I'll make 35 an hour, so I won't complain, and I'll try to actually put forth a reasonable amount of effort. Since my dad'll probably read this, I'll say I will put forth all of my effort. :)

I went over to one of my friends house yesterday evening. We played 2 games of Ultimate Frisbee, and a game of capture the flag. Have I ever mentioned how much I like frisbee? I Love Ultimate Frisbee! There, I've mentioned it. :)

I've discovered that if I drink lots of water, I don't get sick as often, my acne clears up, and I don't hurt myself as much... so I'm drinking lots of it. I reckon it's worth it.

Christmas...in September.

2007-09-18T20:24:00.000-05:00

So this evening was our second practice for the Christmas play at my church. Tonight they were only working over lines and stuff for Mary, Cyrus (the innkeeper) and me, Joseph. My lines with Cyrus went really well. We got some kinks worked out, and some of the entrances and stuff just right. Then I had to do my two scenes with Mary. Well, it's kind of hard to describe on the computer just what it felt like to have to do all these interesting-sounding lines and stuff with Molly. It's kind of interesting. Especially since the way the play is worded, cause it doesn't sound at all like how Molly and I really talk. After we finished our practice up, the director asked Molly and me how we had felt it had gone. "Awkward," was my immediate reply. Everything else went fairly well, it just felt weird.

My new pet peeve: I hate arranged marriages, especially if it's just for a play. :)

Speaking of Arranged Marriages....aren't all marriages arranged? I mean, there's the church to rent, the Wedding Clothes to buy/rent, the cake and punch to buy, the invitations to get sent out...doesn't it sound kind of arranged to you? Or maybe you just call it organized. Like chickens. "They're Organized."

Apology, ACT, and...

2007-09-16T14:32:00.000-05:00

I apologize for not posting for 10 days. I've been pretty muchly consumed in school and sleep. I had the ACT yesterday (the 15th), and I stayed up till about 3:00 in the morning just about every school night studying for the test. Alas, it was all for nothing, because I don't think I did too well. I'm guessing my score to be a 25-27 ish. We'll see here in a couple of weeks.
Orchestra started this past week. Good stuff. I get to orchestra at 8:30-8:45, and don't leave until about 4:30. So it's a long day. I started choir too. I didn't really know what to expect. It was pretty neat...I think it'll be fun. I've got the lowest voice in the choir, but I don't know if that's good or bad, since I kind of like tenor better then bass. Not all the time, though, it really depends on the song. Our Choir Director's name is Krista S. (I guess that's how you spell her name :)>. She used to be the Choir Director for L-R High School. She was telling us a story about a blind guy named Devin who was in the choir at L-R. I thought the name sounded familiar, so I asked some questions after choir was over. Turns out that I took care of Devin's little bro while I was at Camp Barnabas. His bro's name was Noah. I was really tired this Friday from staying up late, and then from orchestra, so when I got home, I went to bed after eating a snack. I think I was in bed by 6:30, and didn't get up the next morning until 6:00. That felt really nice.
The ACT was really, really tough this time around. But I don't like thinking about it, so I won't.
Last night the Double A Team we have here in town were hosting a rival team for Game 4 of the Championship Series. It was a must win game for the our team. We lost. They were down 11-0 in the bottom of the 9th, and ended up getting 7 runs in. So it was an 11-7 game, which wasn't too bad. I went with Tim, Josh, Heather, Jessica, Rachel, Elizabeth, Andrew, Sam, Mr. S, Mr. B, Jake, and Joy. Fun times, and there were some good fireworks afterwards.

Downdate

2007-09-06T11:42:00.000-05:00

Okay, so my face doesn't look quite as bad as it did. My left eye ended swelling about 1/2 way shut on Friday morning, but other than that, nothing worse happened. I played Frisbee on Friday afternoon, and fell a couple times onto my wrist, which really hurt. But I managed to play okay, though definitely not with my full potential. I am trying to think of a joke I can throw in right here, something about my potential...I probably won't ever realize my full potential...or maybe I've already, climbed to, peaked, and am going down the other side of my potentiality hill.
This last Tuesday was the first practice for the Christmas play that our church is putting on. I am playing the part of Joseph, which shows how desperate my church is for good actors/dramatizers. Molly is playing Mary, which again shows my church's desperatism. Luckily, I only have like 5 or 6 speaking lines, and no singing or anything. I just have to sit in a barn/cave/whatever it was and look handsome, which I do fairly well anyway. :)
The play centers around a little girl named Maggie. The girl that plays the part is probably around 9 years old, but she plays the part sooooo well. Even at our first read through, she was anunciating and using voice inflection really well. She already had her lines for the first 6 (out of 11 total) scences memorized.
The ACT is coming up this next Saturday, the 15th. I am going to study this time, and try to get a high enough score so that I don't have to take it again. A 35 or 36 would be nice. :) This will be my 4th time to take it. Of course, the first time I took it, I'd had like almost no high school classes. And I was only 14. Each time I take it, I've usually added another year of high school to my knowledge and know-how.
Orchestra starts again this Friday. YEAH! There is a teacher's meeting today, so I'll find about who I am teaching, and what I am teaching. I know I'll teach theory, but how much, and to whom is the question.

Quick Question

2007-09-02T13:39:00.001-05:00

So, I'd really like to know. The person who uses InsightBroadBand out of Louisville, KY. Do I know you? It's okay if I don't, I was just wondering. I understand if you just really like my blog, and love the way I write.

Wasp Stings

2007-08-30T12:28:00.000-05:00

I've come to the realization that I don't really like wasps. I was trying to fish a bike out of some overgrown weeds when all of the sudden I felt a stinging sensation on my left hand. I thought it was a thorn, so I jerked my hand back. Then I froze. There were 10 wasp looking insects hovering around me. I looked at my hand. It had a big mark on the index finger. I froze even colder. I wasp landed on my nose. I braced myself to run. I reached up to swat the wasp, and it stung me on the inside of my left nostril. So now my nose and cheek are swollen up really badly, and my index finger doesn't bend. I took benadryl less then 5 minutes after the stinging occured. Here are some pics we took 2 hours after the stings.
So this is my left hand. I was stung on the index finger, about 3/4 of an inch after the finger comes out of the palm of the hand. Inbetween the first and second knuckles. Notice the shininess of the hand.
Here is a comparison of the two hands. Notice finger size difference.
I felt a little lopsided and really felt like I had a novacane shot in the cheek.
If I look drowsy, it's cause of the benadryl. When my neighbour saw it for the first time, when the swelling had gone down a little, she asked if I had taken up chewing baccy.

2007-08-25T10:41:00.000-05:00

Okay, I've got two videos down at the bottom of my blog that you should check out. The first one, called Teamwork, is a video that Leadership at Barnabas showed to us in one of our training sessions. It's pretty funny.

The second one, To be Known is to be Loved, is one that was shown to everybody at Barnabas during one of our evening wrap-up's/devotionals. It's about the woman at the well. There are a lot of words in a short amount of time, so you have to pay attention and concentrate. It was definitely better the second time I saw it. So anyway, take a look see at them and tell me what you think.

Pictures of camp....
This one is of my cabin (B1) during Term 8. I had siblings. Check one of my previous posts for info on that. Here we are waiting patiently for the cross to arrive at our cabin so we can pray over it.

This is my cabin in the middle of the cross-carry prayer. I'm on the left hand side of the pic.

Here are 2 of the boys from my cabin involved in the carry. On the left is Noah, and on the right is Tanner.

And last, but most certainly not least, is a picture of the cross at its station at IP. With a gorgeous view of the valley. Thanks to Alicia V. for all the photos. Josh, if you want to send me some pics, I'll look through them and maybe post some. More pics to come, if ya'll want to see them.

A Ranger's Blog

Coming Home

08.12.2010 - Thursday

08.07.2010 - Saturday

08.05.2010 - Thursday

Catching up and Gran Torino.

07.27.2010 - Tuesday

07.26.2010 - Monday

07.24.2010 - Saturday

07.23.2010 - Friday

07.22.2010 - Thursday

07.21.2010 - Wednesday

07.20.2010 - Tuesday

07.19.2010 - Monday

07.18.2010 - Sunday

07.16.2010 - Friday

07.15.2010 - Thursday

An Experiment

A quick Update.

Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Blog Headers....

Should God be taken seriously?

Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him god?~ Epicurus

Peeling (warning: gross)

Ugh...got to keep up with this thing!

Do I dare?

The Interminable Wait

Scholarships and PC's

Finals, and WHAT is Research, Pt. 1

Piano Papers...

SHEM recap, and the next week in preview..

My life, as you know it.

Auto Accident

Ah...Inaugurations...brain dead.

Stress...

Lewis, Tolkien, and School

A's, Calc, Good Teachers, Headsets swelling

Something to read...although it's not magnifique.

Shopping Freaks and Thanksgiving Break...

Christianity? vs. Intolerance?

School

New blog...read before forming hasty opinions.

Post-impression update

Up a creek with a frisbee and a dislocated rib...

Concealing legally, underage.

Quite Easily Done Sprained Ankle Socialist English Class

A private Math Quoter..

Steve and Jenny's Wedding!

The Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill

Time Traveling Summaries of Handgunning Professors.

Another Bluetooth Sermon

Good Grades Stolen Weighs Heavily on Phone, Wallet

Graphs of 6 Question Surgeries

Prelude in C Sharp Minor

A Perfect Sextetian Day Care of Frisbee Theory

Evacuation for a Migraine-Ridden Student

Sandy Chamber Orientational Birthdays.

The Pythagoreans are attacking with Dagmor!!!

Menger's Principle of Subjective Cellphone Posting

a Rocking Trig Prof

Universalist Bhuddaism

CyberKnife blisters.

Ventilator for a random person. 4x a day.

Apathetic Food

Mini Metro Monsters

Beam me up, Scotty!!

Mistake!!

Teenage Mutant...humanoid.

ACT your age, you Graduate.

Focus, Dude!!

Birthdays are Symphonic, and the evil Demon, Stress, is not.

Ahhh...Catch up, quick!!

Happy Anniversary

The Ultimate Viewpoint

Federation

Ice, Ice, go away, don't come again another day.

The Legacy

Appointment

To move or not to move...alas, the deed already is done.

Much of Him

Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him god?
~ Epicurus