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I really find it hard to think that it's actually November. This year has flown by. At the same time it has seemed like forever since I celebrated the coming of '06 with friends at home. Now I'm well into my first semester of my Junior year. I'm closer to done with college than not at this point. Part of my reason to write this is procrastination, so please excuse that.
My church on campus is currently undergoing some major overhaulin' in the model we use for ministry and it's been a very interesting thing for me. We've had lots of conversations and dialogue on the subject, and while I initially hated the idea of change, I am slowly warming up to it. I know it requires me to step up and actually follow a challenge to be involved instead of just doing what I'm 'supposed to.' I'm excited about the ideas and the changes. For those involved in the church that have no idea what I'm talking about...shoot me a line.
I've been looking at schedules for next semester and I'm pretty excited about the way things are gonna look class-wise.
I think this semester I've learned how far I am still from being what God's image for humanity is. I fall short on a lot and have a lot to learn. I've seen my communication with him change, and I've seen the way he's working in me change. He's not just a static God, but very fluid and always changing how he interacts with us so we can still experience him. I think something I need to work on is seeking interaction with him. Something I really desire is to be in communication with him, and that requires a two way street. That means me listening. In the spiritual disciplines class I'm in right now, the idea of using solitude and silence to open ourselves to God, and using them as even our 'default mode' can really help to open our hearts and minds to his words. So I guess that's something I really desire to work on.
Right now though...Whether I desire to work on it or not, I am gonna work on my ME 310 lab.
A mathematician, a physicist, and an engineer are trying to find the volume of a red bouncy ball. The mathematician measures the circumference, the physicist puts the ball in a beaker, and the engineer looks up the serial number in his red rubber ball handbook.
An engineer, a physicist, and a mathematician are stuck on a desert island. one day, a can of food washes up on the beach, and the three contrive to open it. the engineer says, "let's hammer the can open between these rocks." the physicist says, "that's pretty crude... let's use the force of gravity by dropping a rock on the can from that tall tree over there." the mathematician says, "i've got a much more elegant solution. first, assume the can is already open..."
This weekend I experienced 3 things I have never experienced before. Here are my thoughts on these events and how they affected my life...
Megachurch - I went to Willow Creek Community Church this weekend and it was intense. It was on a Saturday, so there were a few less people, but I still was in a building with so many folks that I didn't know what to do. I went in very critical of the megachurch concept, and I came out intrigued. I wanted to see what they would do and I realized that a lot falls on the congregation. These people get themselves involved in different ministries, and they really are into outreach and inviting friends to their very seeker friendly largegroup service. Is the building gaudy?...you bet your sweet cheeks it is. But that's what it's supposed to be. This is South Barrington, Illinois. This is a rich community and they are all about their jumbotrons and their orchestral worship bands. It's pretty sweet. This is the part of the capital 'C' Church that belongs in this part of the world. It would not make sense to people in other parts of the world, but I think it works great for the people there. They provided a lot of real, relevant thoughts, and put them out there in fun ways. These involved thought provoking powerpoint slides, an entertaining skit, and a sermont hat pointed right to Christ. I get the impression that in a seeker friendly service, the Gospel gets preached each week, and that's how it should be. I did leave the place curious as to how their smaller groups work and how in community people feel. It can be easy to get lost in a large group like that, but maybe tat makes it ok to just show up. I also am seeing an analogy between the megachurch idea and a large public university. I think it can be very easy to get lost and be a number and being there to check things out and get in, do your thing, and get out. But if you really want to, you can plug in, get involved, and really experience it to it's full.
Marathon - So just about 48000 people ran 26.2 miles yesterday and that totals to about 1.25 millions miles logged on runners shoes, just in that race. That's pretty intense. It was an incredible spectacle seeing people in a herd mentality. People were part of something. They were all doing this together. And it didn't matter who you were. There were world class runners, old men, recovering cancer patients, wheelchairs, and many more competing. But they all had the same goal of finishing that race. That's nuts, and I'm not gonna lie. I didn't like the idea. It seems retarded to just put that pain on your body. To go through that kind of stress seems ludicrous. On top of that, there are a few hundred thousand spectators and racers and that just isn't pleasant seeing that many people crammed into one place. As the race went on though, I began to see things. And that is the belonging as well as the human spirit. People ran longer distances than they'd ever run before because they were spurred on by other runners that wouldn't quit. They were pushed on by fans that cheered for them even though they didn't know their name. People want to love...people want to cheer. I saw that today. Runners with no personal supporters were cheered on, smiled at, and given water. When 'the wall' came, people were supported, having their backs patted by fellow runners. The last .2 miles showed some of the most amazing raw human moments I've seen in a while. I saw a father pick his daughter, probably about three years old, up out of the crowd, and she finished the race with her daddy. I saw couples holding hands finishing the race together. There were people limping, hobbling, and sprinting to the finish. There was a man who was letting out an intense scream that there was no doubt he was loving it and loving the competition, the drive, and the triumph. I am utterly astounded that these people loved this, but at the same point...it hits just the right string in my heart that I can hear the tune. I know what's going on, and I wanted to join in. I cheered in my head, I prayed for their safe finishes, and I smiled at their goofy outfits. I see my girlfriend (who finished in 4:32...well under her goal. CONGRATS!) in pain today and I know just a bit how that feels from my days as a high school athlete and realizing how good pain can feel. It makes you feel alive and gives you a hint of life to it's full.
Mencia - So I got back to Champaign from the marathon just in time to make it to the show that my roomates and I had bought tickets for so many months ago. We went to see Carlos Mencia in The Punisher Tour. It was an interesting spectacle to be sure. I had never seen a comedy show live, and to be honest, I wasn't incredibly excited about it. But I went, as I had spent the 30 dollars, and had never been to a comedy show, so why not see a popular and controversial comedian. I took my seat in anticipation of it being kind of short, full of witty jokes about race and things of that nature, but it showed up as so much more. It was something I wouldn't have gone to if I had known what it was going to be, but what the heck. It started off with silhouttes of girls dancing on the sides while videos from his tv show, The Mind of Mencia, played on a center screen. They Carlos (born Ned) had his brother come out and fire up the crowd telling us about a slew of basic race commentary jokes before a female comic came out complaining about the usual, "skinny bitches", men and their sex, and other things that would make a parent cringe. She was defintely meant to be an opening act. Then a comedian by the name of Jo Koy came out and wamed the crowd a bit more. He pulled his asian card out and made a slew of jokes on people having assumptions about asians. That struck hilarity with me, going to school on this campus and seeing a lot of the stereotypes he mentioned either confirmed or dealt with. Finally, the last act before Mencia was a dwarf, whose name I cannot recall. This guy was also hilarious. He spoke a bit of his childhood growing up with dwarfism as well as other jokes about being short and a few other thoughts. This all set the stage for the main act...Carlos Mencia. Mencia covered a lot in an hour and about forty-five minutes. He started off with his basic act of racial commentary and jokes and it slowly turned into 'white guilt.' White people feel guilty about things their race has done and feel like they can't loosen up due to fear of offending others. But what about the people that are offended and get violent? Interesting thought to me. Then he moved on to a social commentary in the form of talking about issues beyond race and even up to his upbringing. Finally, Mencia held and Q&A session where people could ask anything. He ended with breaking down how he builds an act. The show ended with him mooning the crowd and sitting on a girl's lap. It was an intense show with plenty of vulgarity and controversy. There were protesters outside and the show definitely brought up some interesting thoughts. I really think that Mencia is a guy that I would love to sit and eat a meal with and just talk about social issues. He sounds like he's got some interesting points, although his idea of God seems to be far different from mine and I'd love to hear what shapes his.
OK, that was my weekend. Enough is enough.
I saw this on the front page of Youtube, and I thought it rocked my flippin' mind. So check it out. It's very insightful.
Oh, ps: I got a B+ on Quantum Physics. This is the best I've done on a physics course at the U, and it is the hardest of the courses in many opinions. That is a very exciting point for me and I am so glad for that.
Oh, go buy the Ore-Ida curly fries...they rock
So why are sports so important? And not to just me, don't kid yourself. I heard the collective cheer as the Bears sealed their victory tonight. I heard collective yells and howls when the White Sox won the World Series. I could feel the entire building get electric with an Albert Pujols bomb and then completely deflate when they Cardinals are eliminated. I get giddy when Green Bay wins, I loved seeing the Cubs in the playoffs, and don't worry, I got caught up in Illini basketball madness.
So again...why? We spend hours analyzing, griping, nitpicking, telling coaches how to coach, players how to play, and even fans how to cheer. Why do we care? Now, I understand not EVERYBODY cares, but let's look at this a bit deeper...I think we inherently want to be winners. "DUH ALAN!!" you might say to yourself. But more importantly, I think we want to know we're on the winning team. When we see others on the winning team, and we're not on it, it crushes us. When we're rejoicing with others, it feels so amazing. When our team loses, it feels like we're being attacked as individuals. Somehow, if somebody doesn't like our team, secretly they don't like a part of us. Sports are a rallying cry for a community. People feel like a part of it and they feel like their territory, their heritage has been properly defended. So when every Bears fan is cheering up a storm and Brett Favre and the Packers have lost another close one, I feel crushed while they feel more like a close knit community than ever before. I actually lose control sometimes and just become a raving lunatic because I feel as if all is lost. I sit and stew in that for a while and then realize that I'm gonna be ok. I want to be a part of a winner, and I know that I am.
Now let's make the jump...
People want to be winners. We inherently know, not in sports, but in life, no matter how long it takes, and how many lives in this world evil claims, good will prevail. We want to believe this...we have to believe this to go on. The current sports world and all my gripes are jut a microcosim. I just want to be a winner. And I know without a shadow of a doubt...I am on the winning team. I know that God will prevail over the devil. I've seen it. And here Satan is putting a Bears winning season in my face. He's telling me I'm no good, that I can't do it...that other people can. (I know this might seem like a stretch, but these were my thoughts as I lifted weights this evening) Somehow I just can't win. But that just pushes me more. It makes me want to try harder as a Packers, Cubs, Illini, whatever fan. It makes me want to put more into this even though I will continuously see pathetic fruit. And even if I see victory, I know that it won't last. It will drop back into nothingness and the pathetic cycle continues. So what I must do is drop out of this cycle. Drop out of the sports world. This doens't mean I won't enjoy sports, but I must let it be sports, and let me be me.
Let's all work on trying to find our winning team. Whatever it takes, find it. Find the team that won't let you down, no matter what. I find such comfort in that concept. Now I challenge you, if this doesn't make sense, that's fine. It comes from my worldview. This is how I best relate to and see things. Just know that Christ came to win the battle for us. We are in the fight and it will be hard, but we have already won (as strange as that sounds). So, find a way that Christ does relate to you. Find the analogy that makes sense to your head and your heart. It may take something so simple to help you realize it that you will be amazed. For me today, it was riding home from IMPE. I rode by a guy in a Brian Urlacher jersey that yelled out, for whatever reason, "O'Doyle Rules!" That's when I knew I was on the winning team. O'Doyle gets what's comin' to him and Satan gets his as well.
Wow, I shouldn't have started this post. Right as I start to write about how I'm excited to see the parity of the NFL in action as the Cardinals are beating the Bears by 20 points, there is a fumble and the Bears defense scores a touchdown and now Zona is only winning by 13. I'm not here to rub it in to Bears fans, as I know they could (and have) wallop the Packers. The point is that the NFL is a league of parity and it really masters the cliche "Any Given Sunday." Now we'll see how the fourth quarter of this game goes. Go Cards!
Now, what else...
I'm done with Quantum Mechanics!!!! I just had my final tonight and I am excited. I only have 7 more weeks of physics for the rest of my life. I won't lie, it's been very interesting. I've learned a ton of stuff, from the useless, to the very practical. I really have enjoyed it overall, despite the lack of quality when it comes to some instruction. My last physics course is a second half of the semester class in thermodynamics.
Matt Leinart could become one of the best QBs in NFL history if his first few games are any indication of quality and longevity. He is just as polished as a rookie could be it seems. On top of that, Vince Young hasn't looked too bad himself, meaning we could be looking at a new generation of QB legend from this last NFL draft.
I'll tell you whats...St. John's Chapel here at the UofI has been utterly amazing this year. Father Tom has put together a phenominal mass at 5PM on Sundays, and I would encourage all people, Catholic, protestant, Jewish, athiest, etc to check it out. It is one of the most faith filled Catholic churches I have ever seen and for Catholics, it is on the cutting edge of the way God is moving in our world. SOOOOO, check it out.
I'm gonna be in the Chicago area this weekend for the Chicago Marathon. It should be a good time. I gotsta support tha lady, and we is just gonna relax on Saturday before she willfully kills herself on Sunday at the race. Then we get to come back and hear tons of jokes about race from Carlos Mencia. (play on words...YES) It should be interesting, and I'm not sure how I'll feel coming out of it.
Oh, Google owns me...I use pretty much everything of theirs and without them, I would be struggling. They run my email, my desktop, my blogging, my photo hosting, my online documents, and soooo much more. Congrats to them, and here's to hoping they don't take over the WHOLE world.
So Alan understands his sports world is going down the crapper and that's cool :) The Floppin' Illini lost their second home game by a game winning field goal in a row. This time to Ohio University. Awesome...Just pathetic, my bad. On top of that, Illinois had a top basketballrecruit renig on his agreement with us to come play here. Instead Eric Gordon will be playing his college basketball at Indiana University one state over from us. There are lots of things that irk me about this, like Gordon's verbal commit to play for Illinois and then his being recruited by the Indiana HC after the fact. Then the Gordon family didn't really tell us they were looking elsewhere, they just jumped ship and left us with a gaping hole we coud've been recruiting for if we knew he wasn't coming. At least the Packers don't play this week. They can't lose!!!
Oh yea, and the #1 and #2 teams in the country in football are Ohio State and Michigan. Both are in the Big 10, making it even harder for teh Illini to get anything going. Garr.
On another note, God and I are in a funny spot right now. There's a lot of stuff I'm trying to figure out and I just need a lot of thinking and prayer to happen. I hope things will start to make sense, but I will be patient. And I know that there are definite answers if I ask.
Silly Packers. We were in the red zone looking to score and win the game and we fumble with 20 some seconds left to go. GARRRR. And meanwhile, the Bears aren't just winning...they're putting together on of the most convincing first halves of an NFL season...EVER. The NFL is upside down, and I don't see it changing any time soon. I am glad for the Bears fans...I mean, they haven't had much to cheer about for...ever, but I just wanna be competative. It also seems that the Bears manage to continue to catch breaks. Even when they were bad, they caught them. The Pack doesn't seem to catch them. Silly sports. I guess I can focus on other stuff though, since the world of competition isn't exactly brightening my life up right now.
This is a BIT late, but here is the conclusion to the family trip from the summer of '06.
Friday August 4 – Awaking early-ish, my family had the hassle of dealing with the forgotten birth certificate. My mother very coolly and calmly called the Bureau of Whatever The Heck It Is That Let’s You Know If You Need A Passport and found out we were fine with my sister’s expired passport. My dad was constantly chomping at the bit, so we went and ate a meal for the first time as a family in the form of breakfast. We ate in the restaurant at our hotel. After that, we had volunteered to help Kathy with some stuff for her rehearsal dinner, so my dad and I left for her house and we grabbed all off the gear while mom and Emily helped carry things up to Mary Kaye and Tim’s room. Emily then went to a ‘bachelor party’, my mom helped tie bows for the wedding and my dad and I napped. He got a haircut and I chatted it up with Jennee. Then we got ourselves ready for the rehearsal dinner and I had to shave my beard off because my trimmers wouldn’t work. Low and behold they worked after I threw them against the wall ;) So after everybody had a miserable attitude about getting to the rehearsal dinner location (especially myself), things calmed down when I realized I was making a big deal out of nothing. So the rehearsal dinner was a buffet with some great food and great company. My family sat with a friend of Hubert’s from Yale and her mother and daughter. Her daughter seemed to have an affinity for Patrick (my little cousin) and they hung out together. A few toasts were given, including a montage of songs with alterations from ‘you’ to ‘Hu’ and a moving toast from Kathy’s brother, Tim. After Tim’s toast and blessing, Patrick, with the faith of a child, said, “That was awesome daddy!” After the dinner, we got to view a gorgeous sight as you could see the reflection of the sunset off of the Seattle skyline and the moon behind that. There was a small reception in Mary Kaye and Tim’s suite after we got back to the hotel, but I didn’t end up getting to it. It sounded like the adults had a good time though.
Saturday August 5 – The big wedding day is today. My mother is off to get her hair done and my sister, dad, and I had to get ready for the choir rehearsal. So in preparation for that, we walked down to Puget Sound and got to see the beauty of the water and eat at a small breakfast place on one of the piers. Then we stopped at another customary Starbucks stop for some coffee beverages and wireless internet. Finally I got the wireless to work by finagling a way to get it for free…completely legally, I swear. Then we returned to the hotel to get showered and prettied up for the wedding. After getting ready ahead of schedule, something we failed to do the previous day, we trekked over to the church. We were there EARLY…WOW! So we had our practice and watched the Blue Angels flying overhead. At one point a sonic boom rocked the entire church and scared the children there. Then came the wedding, in which the union of Kathy and Hubert was made. It was excellent. The readings were splendidly chosen and I was told the music was good. It was just a wonderful setup and you couldn’t help but be overjoyed for Kathy and Hu. So the requisite pleasantries came after the wedding, including pictures, cleanup, and rounding up the family. We then proceeded to drive to the reception area, which was a restaurant along a wharf next to a swanky restaurant. The parking lot we parked in had no shortage of Porsches, Jaguars, and even a Bentley. The reception was also very posh and had a cocktail hour, appetizers, and a most amazing dinner. The food was tasty, the company was splendid, and the dancing afterwards was wild. The newlyweds left disposable cameras on every table so that those in attendance could take pictures of the events themselves and give the couple a different perspective on the festivities. So the adults danced to tunes from before I was born and the younguns goofed off outside. It was a grand time! After the reception, we were the last people to leave, in typical my mom fashion. We went right to our hotel and effectively crashed after a long day.
Sunday August 6 – Then morning came and we had to go up to the Mooney’s suite for Mass. The ceremony was performed quick and painlessly, and we then went down to the patio of the hotel for a wonderful breakfast buffet. It was quite tasty. After gorging ourselves, we packed up our bags, and spent some time with the rest of the extended family. After finally being shooed out of the room and saying goodbye to everyone multiple times, it was on to Canada. So I took up the wheel of our Buick and we headed towards the great north. But first we stopped off at Archie McPhee’s, which is a small trinket store in Seattle that isn’t worth much of a stop but is fun. They had such things as Pope action figures, candy cigarettes, and even a radiation protective suit. Then we went to the locks and dam and checked out the salmon run. This wonderfully interesting ladder made for the fish was put there for their upstream journey when the dam was put into the river. You can watch thousands of fish making their journey inland to lay their eggs. They slowly make their way up the man made rapids, and at one point you can view their journey through glass in an underground room adjacent to the ladder. Then the journey north was officially underway. I drove us, and in fact, even up to this point, no one had driven the car but me. We drove up to customs and as we got closer, my dad got more and more freaked by my loud music and my potentially offensive lyrics, as if the Canadians wouldn’t let us in. We were asked about 4 questions and then we were in. There we got to experience the wonders of the kilometer. The speed in km/h, I felt like I was flying down the road as I did 110, which is more like 68 mph, but it still felt awesome. We arrived in Vancouver proper and then went to Burnaby to visit Uncle Dave and Aunt Nancy. There we arrived early and we got a chance to visit and regale them with tales of our journey out. Dave fixed us a wonderful dinner of salmon, corn, and potatoes, and we shared conversation. I passed out pretty early and the rest of the family followed, slowly but surely.
Monday August 7 – We awoke to the experience of BC Day. It is just an excuse to have a holiday in British Columbia in August, but it was a wonderful day outside. An amazing breakfast of blueberry pancakes was served. After filling ourselves with that, we left their house and trekked over to Stanley Park, a massive setup put together by the Province of BC. We walked along the seawall, which just meant a wonderful walk right along the ocean. It was very pretty. We got to see gulls, boats, and even starfish. There were many people enjoying their holiday, biking, swimming, and sunbathing. After a good walk that challenged my mother, we went to eat. MMMMM food! We ate at an Asian restaurant and it was very tasty. Then we walked back through some beautiful flower gardens and a house just amazingly landscaped. That concluded our time at Stanley Park. Then we drove back to Dave and Nancy’s with Nancy supplying some directions back for me. My dad and David took a bit longer to get back as they had to stop off in Chinatown to get some food for dinner. Back at the house there was plenty of time to chill. My mom napped and my sister and I watched the Wallace and Grommet movie. It was hilarious. There was much conversing and visiting as dinner was fixed for the night. This time it was steak and potatoes and a glorious salad. Dave is fine cook. We had for dessert, as the previous night, a tiramisu cake. It was very tasty. We moved ourselves indoors and got to show some pictures of Arches National Park and then all went to bed.
Tuesday August 8 – This morning, Dave and Nancy had to return to work, and this also signaled our moving on. We drove ourselves across the great expanses of British Columbia and Alberta. That day was filled with many kilometers. The majority of these were on Canada’s main highway, 1, although we did end up taking the bypass of 1 on highway 5. We stopped at a gas station and what did I notice but Nickelback being played and Jones Soda being sold. Wow that place was Canadian. My sister and I switched off the driving duties on this day. We stopped at a restaurant in the middle of nowhere along their major highway. We drove through Glacier National Park in Canada and saw some phenomenal peaks that rivaled anything in the Colorado Rockies. Then we kept on driving until we stopped in Golden, BC. There we stayed the night at a Travelodge. We ate at a curry restaurant and then the parents chilled in the hot tub that night while Emily and I watched an old movie called Wargames and I got to enjoy the free wireless internet they offered us.
Wednesday August 9 – This day consisted of a lot of mountain driving. We left our Travelodge room at about 9 am and started driving towards Banff National Park. The drive there was gorgeous and consisted of a short trip through Yoho National Park. We saw a couple female bighorn sheep on our way into the park. We purchased our park pass when we got to Banff and realized that the thing we needed to do for the day was drive up and down the Icefields Highway. This road stretches a very significant part of Alberta and goes all the way up to Jasper National Park. Along our way, we saw a few glaciers before stopping at a mountain lodge put there in the 1950’s right by Lake Bow. This glorious crystal blue lake was the sight of our luncheon meal for the day. My parents and I all had miniscule portions as we ordered from the grill menu and my sister had a very generous amount of whatever she wanted from the buffet. Then we drove some more. This massive road afforded plenty of scenic overlook stops along the way and we got a chance to really view the Canadian Rockies in their entire splendor. We arrived at a massive glacier sitting right next to the road and checked out the visitor’s center there and got to see some of the science and history behind the most impressive national park. The icefield that the glacier extends out from is as large in area as about a third of DeWitt County. We then drove further north all the way up to Mount Edith before we decided we wanted to go south to Lake Louise before sundown. As my sister drove us down south, the cloudy skies that we’d had all day cleared just a bit for the sun to play some beautiful shadows off of the mountaintop. So we stopped at the Fairmont Chateau at Lake Louise to look at the way too expensive hotel. The view was splendid, despite the cloudy, drizzly day. The hotel itself is a massive structure made to be incredibly elegant. So my dad checked on prices for a night and found it to be far cheaper than the online reservations had quoted. So we bunked down there for the night, but by the time we got everything sorted out, we had no time to go to any of the multiple restaurants in the complex. So we went and ate at their little deli where everything is overpriced. After a hard day of driving, the food tasted quite good and we went to sleep soon after.
Thursday August 10 – We awoke at the hotel looking a massive day of driving in the face. First we had to enjoy some of our time in the lap of luxury. So we got ourselves all cleaned up for the day and we ate at their breakfast buffet. It had a bit of everything and anything. The selections included pickled herring, salmon, sausage, bacon, omelets, yogurt, fruit, granola, and even deep fried pineapples. It was a time for gorging, as this would be our meal for the day. Then my mom went and worked out for a while at their gym as the rest of the family packed up and walked around. Then we met up with my mom, who was buying postcards…as usual. My sister desperately wanted a Canadian souvenir, so the two of us went and we looked for a sweatshirt or something for her and we were successful. Then it was time to drive. I drove us out of there well past Calgary and into the small farm communities of Alberta, Canada. Then my mom picked up the driving. Next thing we knew, we could smell the United States air as we were feet from Montana as we checked in at the US Customs gate. The entry was not nearly as difficult as my dad had suspected and we were able to pass after having our passports scanned and a short series of questions was asked. Back in the US, where the speed limits are higher and the land more desolate, we pounded down across Montana, the tall way, which is still quite long. I picked up the driving again from my mom and we were toying with the idea of meeting with Ryan Beasley in Butte, Montana. In Helena, we stopped and I made a few phone calls. Finally, after a few missed opportunities, I got a hold of Ryan and we were able to work out driving to his place. So I drove us to Butte, and we got to hang out with Ryan and meet his daughter, April Julie Beasley. There we ogled the baby girl and talked for about an hour before we had to move along towards Yellowstone National Park. So I drove us as far as Bozeman, Montana that night. There we bunked down in the Lewis & Clark Motel because we couldn’t find lodging at any other place in town. This was due to not only being close to Yellowstone and it being a night before a Friday in August, but also unbeknownst to us, people were starting to travel home from a massive motorcycle convention in Sturgis, SD.
Friday August 11 – On Friday, our goal was to hit Yellowstone National Park in a whirlwind tour. This was wonderfully started by us getting a late waking. We were starting to really be pooped. The night before had consisted of tons of driving and little sleep. So of course, I decided to stubbornly pick up the wheel to drive us around the park after driving late into the night before. So we came into the park from the Northwest Gate and got to follow the Yellowstone River in. It is a pretty site, but not nearly as pretty as RMNP. Anyway, we arrived first off at the Terraces. The unique thing about Yellowstone is that it sits right over a volcanic hotspot and has a lot of thermal activity in it because of this. So there are many strange rock formations, hot springs, geysers, and the like. These terraces are unique in the respect that it’s just steps of pools filled with water that has eroded them away. However, this particular year, or time of year, they ended up being completely dry. However, the sulfur smell that we would get accustomed to because of the geothermal activity was there. So then we drove some more until we finally reached the Norris Geyser Basin. There is a massive collection of geysers and hot springs in this basin. They all seem to have some bubbling or spitting of water or steam at any given moment. A few are dry, but many still have the ability to blow. We saw a few doing their thing and it was very interesting to be a part of. After that walk around the basin, we continued to walk along towards the Grand Prismatic. This is the largest spring in the area at about 200 feet across and steaming the whole time. It’s a very cool sight. The colors in it are utterly gorgeous and seem to be something unnatural. After that short jaunt, it was on to the thing that all tourists do. We were on our way to Old Faithful. Old Faithful is a geyser that runs on a very regular schedule and always manages to impress with its massive plume of steam and water. When we got there, we arrived, in our typical fashion, just after it had gone off. So we had to wait until the next ‘show’, about an hour later. So we checked out the Visitor’s Center, watched a film on geysers, got some water, shopped, and sat around for a good while waiting for the plume to come forth. When it did, there were thousands of people lined up at benches watching the show unfold. A few minute later, the 4000-8000 gallons of water that the geyser shot up had all come down and the wondrous show was over with. So we continued around the park taking the massive loop around the south end and seeing Is Lake, a lake that flows into the Missouri and the Snake rivers. This means that the lake is right on the continental divide and that was pretty cool. After this, the road slowly came towards meeting up with Yellowstone Lake. This massive body of water followed the road and just treated us with all its beauty. Continuing our drive, we all of a sudden stumbled upon a Bison. After thinking we had been incredibly treated by the viewing of our buffalo friend, we kept on keeping on. Little did we know that we would see a FEW more. As we continued on, we recognized a lot of motorcycles and the pieces of the puzzle were starting to fit together for the Sturgis convention. As we drove on, we saw two more bison standing on the road and thought it was a great sight, until we saw a small Asian woman riding her bike up the hill towards them. I hope she didn’t get gored. Then we ran into some stopped traffic due to herds of bison. By my account, we saw a few hundred of them. It was pretty spectacular seeing them. We continued along around the east part of the park with plains all around, the Yellowstone River snaking by, and a few hotspots shooting steam along the sides of the road. However, our goal was clearly in sight. Our intention was to see the waterfalls of the Yellowstone River. There was drove to Artist’s Point and took a short walk to see the glory that is the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. There we saw beautifully carved rocks and the massive Lower Falls of the Yellowstone far below us. This amazing display was only highlighted by the evening lighting conditions. After stopping there, we continued on to an overlook of the Upper Falls of the Yellowstone. There we saw a massive volume of water dropping right below us. Finally it was time to exit the park. We knew that the East Gate was closed because of construction, so we were forced to leave through the Northeast. After quickly buying a poster of the Lower Falls, I drove us out of the park over a mountain road with no guardrail and a feeling of excitement. We were then passing through the plains of the northeast part of the park and it was getting dark. Traffic was once again stopped and we were once again in the midst of hundreds of bison. This was even more intense as they were all around us, crossing the road, and with the windows down and the music off, you could hear them all making their call. It was just an incredible experience akin to something in Jurassic Park. Finally, we arrived in Cooke City, Montana outside of the park where I convinced my dad to allow us to snatch up the last available lodging seemingly in the small village. Then my dad and I put the women and children to bed and went looking for dinner. We found it through four microwave chimichangas from a local bar called Hoosiers. That night, our eventful day was capped by my using the wireless internet supplied by the hotel to find out some sad news. My roommate’s mother had finally succumbed to her cancer and we decided that we really needed to pound on to try to get home for the visitation.
Saturday August 12 – As we woke up from the Soda Butte Lodge, we all got showered up, my dad and I both went walking around town in the daylight separately and finally we rode on. Cooke City is an odd town, in the sense that the only exits from the place are roads into Wyoming. So this small town of 100 year round residents in southern Montana must be accessed through a completely different state. We started on Beartooth Pass, but ended up taking the Chief Joseph Highway to Cody, Wyoming. Cody is the self proclaimed Rodeo Capital of the World. There we caught the splendor of breakfast and then after I drove in the morning, I realized how pooped I was from the previous two days of driving. I left it to my mother to get us quite a far way across Wyoming. Then we continued on, after a fuel stop, towards the South Dakota border. We saw motorcycles all along the way and as we got closer, the concentration greatened. My sister took us towards Mount Rushmore. There we got to see an impressive American icon. We watched a short film and took the requisite family photo and then drove on towards Rapid City, SD. We ate dinner and at this point it was already almost dark out. My sister however, she took up the driving, and hauled us the majority of the way across South Dakota. She drove us through the dark, chasing a storm going west to east just a bit slower than us. We ended up catching the storm and stopping for gas trying to get lodging in Mitchell. When we realized how ridiculous it would be to get a place to stay the night there, we rolled on towards Sioux Falls. There is Sioux Falls, we were catching the residual bikers leaving Sturgis and heading home after an intense week of motorcycling. We were able to stay at a Best Western after having left Cooke City 17 hours earlier.
Sunday August 13 – We awoke at the Best Western late and already our chances of making back for the visitation were diminished. So we went to Mass at the Our Lady of Guadalupe church, much to my chagrin. But it ended up being very worth it and a good experience. The service was very traditional and a few things threw me for a complete loop, including taking communion at the communion rail and everybody saying some chant at the end of the service in unison. Then we commenced some more of our pound down and drive day. After leaving the Best Western, Emily took us quite a ways into Iowa and we were only one state from home. I switched off with her after a stop for gas and I ended up being extremely tired after only a couple hours of driving. My mom then took on the task of driving and continued us across the Illinois border. We got back to Clinton and the sight of the town was a beautiful one to our eyes. We then proceeded in our grimy travel clothes right up to the Lutheran church and were able to make the visitation. That was quite the blessing and I'm very thankful for it.
We are young. Very young. Our team has a lot of experience to get and a lot of things to learn. Although, that definitely isn't an excuse for the 34-32 loss to Indiana today. The Illini were winning for the majority of the game before giving up a game winning drive for a field goal. Let me list the problems I have with this game.
1) We ran a prevent defense on the last Indiana drive when we were doing a great job stopping them before without running the prevent. I'm just not a fan. Prevent works better when the opponent has to get a touchdown, not a field goal.
2) Our play calling was sporadic. Sometimes it was phenominal. We had great things going. We were taking risks, we were tossing the ball around, and we were having fun. But when the game came down to a critical juncture, we clammed up. We ran a passive offense, we didn't try anything exciting, and it was just coaching to not lose, not coaching to win. Now, I understand playing differently towards the end of a game, but I still disagree changing your game strategy to a riskless offense and a passive defense, especially when putting pressure on their quarterback worked.
3) MOST VISIBLY, we went for a two point conversion after a touchdown in the first quarter, missed it, and went for two again to try to make up the points. We didn't convert that, and we ended up losing by two...TO INDIANA!!! I question that playcall. We have run some risky plays at good points in the game, but that was not a time to go balls out on something crazy.
4) Our special teams suck. EB Halsey needs to not be returning kicks. Either he lets them go over his head, or he fields them and fumbles. I just can't take his lack of play making ability. There are other special team questions I have too, but I just gotta keep hoping...for later
GARRRR, frustrating day...frustrating. It's so hard to not make a big deal out of this. The only concern I have is making sure we learn from this and don't make the same mistakes.
EDIT: I was just on Illiniboard.com and I decided I need to make something clear. I'm not calling for Ron Zook's head on a plate, I'm not saying this loss is his gault, the players fault, or our O-coordinater's fault. It was a combination of everybody. I really belive that this team can be competative next year. These are mistakes that can change. There was a post on IB that said bad coaching is bad coaching and it's not going to change. That's just not true. If you make a mistake in your career, you get a chance to learn from it. So, I will trust that given another offseason, this team can be in prime shape for a bowl. That's not to say I've given up on this season either. We can still beat Ohio, Northwestern, and maybe even Purdue. I like how everybody praises Zook for winning at MSU last week and now he's a no talent bum this week...our fans our fickle.
Good night and good luck folks.
So basically this video lays down some very important principles of urination. Women, take heed as this gives an insight into the struggles that men deal with every day. It's a hard life...
So I have all sorts of thoughts brewing in my head right now. So let me hope I get them all out quickly before they disappear.
First clump:
This may seem obvious to some, but I just see things working well when you aren't trying to force things that aren't just gonna happen. This isn't always the case, but with some things, I see it to be true. For example, a woman desires to be pursued, but not by creepos. She wants the guy that is willing to lay a lot down for her and desires to lay it down. So even if a guy lays down something for her, but doesn't desire it, it can end in badness. For example, if a guy is just forcing something because he feels he has to, it can be bad, but what if he doesn't even realize he's doing it? You know when you get compliments that strie you because you didn't even think about that you were doing the thing or that it was a big deal? That's what I'm talking about. I love when I can do things for people that I don't realize I'm doing. So that seems a slight bit scatterbrained, but it also seems good, at least in my head.
Clump two:
WARNING: SPOILER FOR THE MOVIE, "THE LAST KISS"
Wow, never have I wrestled with a movie so much during it and enjoyed it come the end. It is in my opinion a very heart wrenching film that makes me sad. It makes people out as victims, victimizers, cheaters, charlatains, and immature people that can't get their act together. One review I saw for the film suggested that it was nothing more than a film glorifying teen angst. I see where they come from, but I see more. So what horrible crap goes down?
The main character has a girlfriend of 3 years that he gets pregnant, and then fools around on.
She then hates him forever and sees her perfect situation fall apart.
The college girl ten years his junior that he cheats with seems to be a girl searching for something that will fix her and make her feel whole and desirable again even at the expense of pain for others.
A friend of the lead is sleeping with every girl that will sleep with him and he lives this cycle and fears the idea of commitment more than all things.
A girl he hooks up with is a freak by all standards of the word, but she still desires to have him meet her parents because she likes him.
Another friend of the lead is held up by his old relationship with an ex-girlfriend and can't get past her. He wants to get out of everything he's in and try something new. On top of the struggle from that, his dad dies during the film
The last of the four main male characters is married with a child, and he can't handle his wife and her snappiness because of the stress with the child and he up and leaves her because it's easier to run.
The main character's girlfriend's mother is having a marriage crisis feeling undesired and she leaves him. She had been unfaithful years ago and he hadn't found out on top of that.
In a scene early in the movie, the four main men and a friend of their's are watching two strippers. There is also nudity is other parts of the movie and people drop more F-bombs than we dropped regular bombs on Berlin.
So I ask myself, why would I like this movie. Horrendous stuff happens, people are hurt, and the situations just aren't pretty. On top of that, it's a perfect breeding ground for making a man stumble physically. Well thankfully, I managed to get my eyes off the screen for te scenes that weren't exactly helpful to me and my thoughts. But at the core of this movie, I see pain and brokeness. Now, that can be called teen angst and it can be said that these people need to grow up. Well they are grown up, they just have a wound that cuts deep into them. They can't pinpoint it, and obviously the movie doesn't pinpoint it either, but it's there. These people have all been hurt somehow. You want to dislike some of the characters (especially that slutty college girl), but they all seem to have stuff, baggage, that makes them act the way they do. They are embracing their emotions and they are getting burnt by them. It hurts and they don't know how to deal, so it always ends in escape. Whether that escape is sleep, alcohol, or anything else, it just has to numb the pain. My heart ached watching this movie as the people faught through their different situations.
Then the movie tries to make itself have a happy ending. It tries to mend the different situations. The people try to fix their problems. Some of it is done well, some of it isn't, but I do see people seeking redemption, seeking something that will help them deal...something that isn't necessarily numbing. So the married man goes home to his wife and says that he won't live with her, but he'll take care of the kid. The man who loses his father goes on a road trip searching for something with his friend afraid of commitment. The parents get back together and want to work through their issues. The main character then goes and sleeps with the college girl because it's passionate, it's wild, and it's something he's not scared of. He THEN realizes the mistake he knew he was making, even though he knew where it was going from the beginning. He apologizes to his girlfriend and he tells her the truth, as ugly as it is, and then he must chase her and she must forgive him. The movie ends in a powerful scene with the lead sitting on the porch of his girlfriend's home waiting for days for her to let him in and talk. So it ends with him being let in. Bandages are all in place. People have fixed their stuff, and it's all good for now. But I still felt like I wanted to hurt for everything. Nothing was completely fixed, but they wanted to try. (NOTE, at this point I feel like I have thoughts to get out, but I'm rambling to put them together. Please be patient) It just appears to me to be a movie that doesn't even mean to spur these thoughts to me, but I see a movie that shows how messed up we are, tries every solution, thinks it lands on a good one, but there is still crap to deal with. So, basically I'm saying, the human state is messed up. It hurts, it sucks, but thanks be to God that there is something that will help us through it. It won't take away the pain, or make things easy, but it will help. An analogy from the Fall Retreat: When you touch the burner on the stove when it's hot, you pull your hand away. Yet the way to take away the pain would be to numb the wound. We would stick our hand on the stove and let the nerves be killed so we couldn't feel a thing. Instead we rip our hand off and deal with the pain in the best way possible and let it hurt us. The pain is an indicator of the wound itself. Maybe we should use the pain to find the injury and then work towards healing the injury.
One more thought....JUUUUUUUIIIIIIICCCCEEEEE!
A win for Illinois football. Not just a win, but a road win. Not just a road win, but a Division 1A win. Not just a D1-A win, but a Big Ten win. How incredible. The first since my freshman year!
Comment back and finish this for me folks! I-L-L
But I can't think of anything. Instead, I'll just say hi.
School is going well. Next week will be a doozie. I've got 3 exams and two lab reports due. YAY!...not.
I've realized this year, I'm a bit more efficient with my time, although not perfect to be sure. As of right now, I'm looking up jokes online, and preparing to jump right into my fluids homework. So when I get into that, and get it done, I will be done with my work for the week. Then I need to start into next week so I can get a head start.
Other thought. The Illini Life Fall Retreat was incredible. The speaker talked about the basic tenants of Jesus and how our identity comes from God, not from our actions or activities. That struck a chord as well as just being able to catch on to what gets us up/down in our lives and using our emotions, actions, and intellect as cues for how we really feel in a situation. The Game was also a success. We play a timed version of the game that was innovated years ago. I have been able to tweak it the last couple of years and be in charge of administrating it, and it's been a blast. People really had fun playing it and sliding around in the mud and such. Now, I think I will work on fluids work...Good day alls.
This stab at the recent Mac campaign is great in the sole fact that it totally adds Linux, the OS that nerds love, to the mix.
Also, an extreme nerd joke for you.
WHY DO PROGRAMMERS ALWAYS CONFUSE HALLOWEEN AND CHRISTMAS?
OCT 31 = DEC 25
ROFL!!
You ever just get overtaken with an extreme joy. Something that you can't explain. Something that wells up inside of you and makes you want to dance, shout and jump up to the clouds. I just had one of those moments. Music did it this time. Some stuff is so melodic and amazing that I can't handle just listening. I feel like I want to participate. It makes your feet stomp, it makes your heart pound and it just gets you stoked for life. Wow, it's amazing.
Other thoughts...
So now I'm on blogger beta. This means I can do fancy things that will allow me to kill more time. So what's up Alan you may be asking? Why are you blogging again? BECAUSE I WANT TO AND I WANT TO LET PEOPLE KNOW WHAT'S UP...JERKS!
Now that I got rid of all of the naysayers. Let's see...
So what up.
First off, I really must tell you all to take whatever measures you can to listen to a group called Mae. They have a myspace.com page. They have a purevolume.com page. They are amazing. Their cd, The Everglow, has blown me away and captured me for quite a while now. It's a cd of lyrics and music flowing together so beautifully that I can't imagine not being excited to not listen to it. It's has songs that hit on failure, love, grace, beauty, pain, and other things that buzzwords shouldn't be describing. I absolutely love it. So go buy it.
Now what else is going down.
So, yes, it is true. I still am alive. Yes, the truimphant return is upon us.
So why the title that I have placed upon this post?
Well, there are multiple reasons.
1) I haven't been on here in quite a while and I figured I'd let everybody know that I'm back and a bit different and you didn't get to observe those expressed on here.
2) In an attempt to deal with crap in my life, I've had to hit the reset button on things.
SOOOO, let's hit the serious stuff and then we can shoot the breeze.
Hitting the reset button has been big for me. Since school started, I've felt in a funk of some sort, and I've never been able to pinpoint it. I think it all stems from Satan, and basically that sucks. So I went through a lot of motions, kinda struggling. I've had to deal with feeling cut off from people, feeling useless, feeling unproductive, being unable to do things right, and basically completely questioning my worth to others as well as to myself and to an extent, God. So I went through my weeks, compliments meaning nothing and criticisms and mistakes cutting to my core. I couldn't pinpoint it and a lot of things went through my head. I still don't know what caused all of this other than the Great Deciever, but I tried to pinpoint it on my new responsibilities, my change in lifestyle (apartment, new girlfriend, etc.), and anything else I could think of. So I continued on my days, thinking people kept me around because it was polite or the right thing for them to do. I couldn't do my homework right, things I had been good at I was screwing up, my laundry cost more than I expected and no retailer would give a poor college student change for his cash without making a purchase, and the SNG anouncements weren't funny anymore. I felt like the pressures of the expectations from the world and myself were crushing in. So what did I do? I lashed out. I dropped f-bombs, I sulked, I got pissed, and finally I broke. I broke down crying playing touch football. I layed there on the grass, sweaty, teary eyed, and humble before God. I still didn't know what was going on. I cried out asking for help. AND oh boy did it come! I went to SNG that night with the pressure to be funny still on my shoulders, compliments from people still just rolling off, and the thought of a quote from Clinton baseball going through my head. "It takes 1000 atta baby's to erase 1 aww shit." (it's a quote guys...geeze) So I did anouncements, sat down, and heard God. He spoke so clearly to me through Wayne Wager that I knew our God was a living, breathing, amazing, personal, incomprehensible, and glorious being. God met me last night and hit my reset button. I prayed with Chris Ridgeway and we talked to God and I felt compliments striking clear because I knew God was validating my through this. I was ready for his hand to touch me. Amen, God is sooo good. I can just smile now, and sit in wonder! AMEN!
NOW, the rest of the reset button stuff
I really am enjoying this year so far. It's gonna be tough and there have been times I've wanted to give up on school....already. But I've gotten through so far, and it's been great. I have the awesome opportunities to hang with Jennee, my girlfriend for those not in the know, and it's been amazing. We've prayed, hung, and really gotten to enjoy eachother with God. I've gotten to hang with my roomies, watching sports, playing video games, and squirting people walking on the sidewalk below. I've gotten to meet some fun new people, and I had a grizzly beard going on for a while. I have my room pretty much organized and decorated finally. I have many posters up ranging from a "What to do when there are snakes on a plane" instruction guide, to a Cubs pennant from 1989, to Star Wars, to National Parks posters. My bed has storage underneath as it has been raised about a foot above the ground. In an apartment as small as ours, it's very important to maximize space and so I have gotten a rack of hanging shelves and it seems like my systems are working. So far this year I've been fairly faithful to working out and taking care of my body, although sometimes I think it doesn't seem that way. I've been eating lunches with different people as I have free time in the middle of my day and I've really just been enjoying life to an extent. Obviously that has been tainted by my feelings about myself, etc. But it's still been fun, and slightly a blur. There are some things to remedy, but all will be amazing and glorious come time, whenever that time will be.
1 Peter 5:10
Friday July 28 – Drove to
Saturday July 29 – Woke up and had breakfast at the Mooney’s. Mary Kaye made an awesome egg, sausage, and cheese thing. Then we got going at about 7:15. Stopped at Sinclair to get some gas and then it was on the road. Driving across highway 70 took us across
Sunday July 30 – We woke up and walked around a bit. I got a chance to do some bouldering on the rocks around Bible Point and we went to the top of it. Then we ‘cleaned up’ and went to church at Our Lady of the Mountains in Estes. After a sermon about how important the Eucharist is and how the priest there says mass too long, we went to the Mountain Shop. I saw Morgan Brown there and bought a Nalgene. Oh how I missed having one of those. Then we went and ate at Poppy’s. We chowed down on our specialty pizzas as well as gulped down tons of water and we were ready to go. We decided that we were going to do a hike in the afternoon. Twin Sisters was the hike. It is a 7.6 mile hike with a 2300 foot elevation gain. My dad was challenged. It threatened to thunderstorm and as we approached treeline, I had a caution about me making sure we were gonna be ok. My dad stopped short of the summit because he couldn’t go any more. I rushed up to where I could see over the top. I did not make it to the top because I was still worried about storms, but I still saw a most majestic view. We came down from the hike then and all told, it took about 6 hours. We came back into town, starving, and ate at a restaurant in town called 451’s. It was good stuff and great for our aching bodies. We went back to the Y, I looked for a few people, and then we hauled ourselves to our camping spot from the previous day.
Monday July 31 – I woke up at sunrise abruptly because of bird in my ear. So I ran to a place where I could get a picture of the sun rising up over the mountains. It was glorious. Then I went to go change all my clothes including underwear. I was going to wear the same pair of shorts, but when I tried to step back in the leg hole, I stepped on the pocket my camera was in. CRUNCH went my LCD. I didn’t notice at the time, but I realized it soon later and I was ticked. Luckily I didn’t freak too much, but it did put a small damper on the day. So we went and I got to hang out with my Scrabbit campers/counselors for a bit in the morning. I got to see Jenna and Lindsey. It was great to catch up with the campers. They’ve gotten bigger and wilder it seems. I played around with them a bit, they remembered all sorts of fun things we did together and gullible was still written on the ceiling. I also went over to Bennett to see Lezlie and I ran into Melanie there as well as well as some people from ISU that I knew. I got to join them in song time and I belted my favorite camp song,
Tuesday August 1 – After a rocky night of sleep for me and a great night for him, we got awoke and broke camp. There was a massive bug there on the picnic table by our site that was dead. This thing was HUGE! So my dad picked it up so I could take a picture for scale purposes. After taking forever to shove that massive waste of space tarp into the trunk, we filled our tank in
Wednesday August 2 – We woke up and this particular campground had shower facilities. My dad and I showered for the first time after four days without showers. We left from
Thursday August 3 – We awoke ourselves at 5:30 in the morning in the Pacific Time Zone we were in. Then we decided to drive on and keep on driving on further than we needed to, as we drove first to
There is something almost sinful about being an American. There is so much done for the self. There is so much entertainment to recieve. Ok, that's enough of my introspective thought.
Basically, the reason I thought of that is the amount of sweet movies that will be gracing our movie screens in the future. Specifically, another Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie and Spiderman 3. Amazing stuff. Spiderman looks AMAZING, and it has the greatest villian of all time in it. It is Venom. Venom is the shaz. I can't wait for it.
Other thoughts....
Hog roast at the Braker's was great. It was great to see everybody. I can't wait to get back to school soon. Although, it's on the tail end of my family's trip to Seattle. It's very exciting. I am ready for a killer end to my summer. Once I return to campus, there will be much fun with much catching up and much goofing off. Oh yea, there could be learning too.
What else...I'm reading a book called Captivating. I've read the first two chapters. It is pretty sweet so far. It is interesting to see what John and Stasi Eldredge think of a woman's heart. Good stuff.
Yea, fun title, I know.
Anywho...I'm in Evansville, Indiana today and my family is working through the difficulty of deciding what to do with this plethora of stuff that my Grandparents left behind to us. It is a difficult thing as much sentimental value is ascribed to certain objects by one party and another just wishes to not be bothered about it anymore. It creates a lot of tension. Basically it ends up that I feel like I'm being asked to take stuff that I have no current need for. And I am trying to look to the future for some of the stuff and still don't see myself needing a ton of it. So on that note, I'm struggling with the commandment in Mosaic law, "Honor thy father and thy mother." What does that mean when you are 20 years old and you are legally able to be killed if you commit a crime severe enough and your parents can't protect you. You can go fight in a war and yet you must find a way to honor your parents. I've really seen it evolve. Before I left for college, it was still even a matter of 'do what they say', and that's honoring them. Now I see it as more complex and not surprisingly, more difficult. I have to weigh their opinions. I have to respect their opinions. I have to respect their age, their experiences, their knowledge, and their desire to watch out for me...Then I have to go make my own decision. It's very tough. Especially with me having been gone from home and in Colorado and at the U of I, I have learned to be very independent. So coming back, and respecting my parents has been a struggle at times. But I'm slowly learning what it means to honor them in a way that God would ask us. I'm also learning about the ever surpassing Grace of Christ...
When I hear that my sins are forgiven...when somebody says it to me, directly to me, not to a huge group of people, but to me, I can't help but have a smile frozen on my face. I mean, I know they are, but it's soooooo good to hear it vocalized. As you might be able to tell, I went to Reconciliation tonight and it was really good. Now my family is preparing for a night on the town to celebrate our roof's completion and I just couldn't be happier. My life is splendid, grand, glorious, even....scrumtrilescent. My family is great. My relationships are going phenominally. My God is all powerful.
Slight tangent in these random thoughts...which feel so good to write down and get in a form that I can somewhat organize. I LOVE music. It is darn near one of the purest forms of worship. It is a vocal, screaming, soaring, shouting expression of our LOVE FOR GOD! And it is such music to my ears and I pray even more that it is to his. But I've really decided that I love to worship with music and I just could do it foreverandever etc. (HAHA)
I'm going to go participate in an awesome week now in the form of an FCA camp and then a hog roast with my church. I'm very excited about the camp in such a way that is awesome:) I'm going to be helping with football during the day, and then talking about God at night. My excitement is ineffable.
I've also decided I have a pretty sweet vocabulary and I love fun big words. Help me to learn more by posting some if you'd like. It could be fun....
Another thought. I made napalm yesterday. It was awesome. I don't remember if I said anything about that before....but it was flippin' sweet. Dangerous, but sweet. I can't wait to do it again in a more controlled environment.
Yea, life is good. SOOOO at some point, just to shake things up, God is going to pull the rug out from under me. I'm excited about that, but it's also scary. I pray that it is a good thing and it doesn't just devastate me...whatev :) He's good and it's gonna be awesome
SOTD - 1 - one week left to work this summer.
Works bombs...They are a fantastic invention. And yet, they are so simple...1 part plastic bottle, many parts crumpled up pieces of tin foil, and one part The Works cleaning solution, and KABOOM!!! You fill the bottle with the foil pieces, and then pour works in...Close the lid and run. Let the pressure build up...it takes a minute or so, and then..BOOM! HA. It's fun. We made like 5 of them last night. It was most excellent. Much boomage and the like. Gotta love it.
More news...our roof is DONE!!! Booya. I also have installed a new toilet. I feel like I'm taking a good chunk out of my dad's Honeydo list. You know, "Honey, do this. Honey, do that." My mom shall be pleased somebody is taking care of stuff ;)
SOTD - 1.6 - The number of gallons our new toilet takes to flush.
Those of you that know what's going on in my life, Congratulations. Those of you that don't, I'm sorry I've been slacking. Basically, some important stuff is going down, and it's very exciting.
hmmmmm, Alan is being so cryptic. Well, there are clues dropped here and there that would lead one to know what is going on with Alan.
Great, he's being more cryptic. Well, I can tell you that things are going wonderfully. God is throwing things my way that I was NOT expecting this summer, but that have been really good. I've been slacking on some things, but other things have been good. Our roof is FINALLY almost done. We're slow, what can I say... My youth group has been better and better the last couple of weeks and I'm very excited about the people in it.
I just got back from spending a sweet weekend in the burbs where I got to hang out with peeps and twas a very good thing. Most exciting in fact. I got to stay at Mike's, Woz's, and I saw a few other people ;)...cryptic........
Well I suggest you go to the Illlini Life hogroast if you know what I'm talking about. I'll be seeing you there! I'll also be in Champaign in the week before the hogroast, and it will be a fun time. Catch you on a flipside of some sort!
SOTD - 71 - Yep, going 71 in a 65 gets you stopped at 3 in the morning while driving on the interstate. At least it only gets you a warning.
Why is that? I guess my life is fairly boring at this point...probably not. Anyway, first things first...
You are Spider-Man
| You are intelligent, witty, a bit geeky and have great power and responsibility.  |
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