This is one of my favorite pictures that I have ever taken of Mark. I just thought that I would post it because it is sweet and awesome and I like Mark.

Today is our 10 monthiversary. :) That makes me happy.

Unexplored Territory: Earth

I feel this crazy need to get out of the country and do something awesome. DBU makes this need worse, because nearly everybody here has gone to some amazing, far-off place to do great things for God. I know people who have gone/ are going to places like China, Peru, South Africa, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Japan, etc. I have to admit that I am thoroughly envious of them all. Not only do they get to go experience another culture, which is sweet, they also get to share God while doing so.

I want that. I want to say that I went somewhere and did something for a better reason than just a vacation. I want to make a difference. I know that this can be accomplished here in Dallas, in Texas, in America, but something inside of me makes me want to dash off to some exotic locale, share the love of Jesus and just have a fantastic time while doing so. I don't feel led to be a career missionary...I feel like God wants me to help immigrants here in America, but I do feel like he wants me to get a little first hand knowledge before I do so.

In the fall, there is a mission trip to South Korea. I know, that sounds sooo cool. I really want to go. I mean, it is such an opportunity that I just don't want to miss. And if I do miss it, I will just want to take advantage of the next chance I have that much more. I definitely have to go somewhere and do something awesome for God while I am still in college. There isn't really a better time.

//UPDATE: I am so going on this trip.//

Making use of the kitchen

Mark recently moved into the townhomes here on campus, which are fully equipped with a stove, fridge, pantry, dishwasher, etc. Simply put, they have kitchens. Because it is summer and the oh, so wonderful dining hall is closed, and because eating out costs way way way too much, we have begun the quest to learn how to survive with limited restaurant interference.

Neither one of us is a spectacular cook, mind you, so our culinary journeys are somewhat limited. The first thing we made was a well-known staple-spaghetti. It tasted great, minus the fact that our noodles stuck together quite nicely. The next attempt at satisfying our hunger was, again spaghetti. This time, the noodles didn't stick quite as badly, due to the fact that we added a little cooking oil. Next time, I suspect that we'll be adding a little more.

On our third try, we popped in a frozen pizza for lunch. MMMMM....it was great. :) After that, we decided to go all out. We made a nice dinner of chicken, sweet corn and red potatoes. It was very good, but everything was frozen before we heated it back up...I mean made it from scratch.

Last night we made a pizza with a great crust from Mama Mary (try it!). I also whipped up an amazing and easy summertime fruit salad of my own recipe. It takes blueberries, strawberries and peaches in whatever quantity you like combined with Cool Whip. This is by no means a healthy fruit salad, thanks to the Cool Whip, but it is downright tasty. The pizza was amazing as well, exponentially more so than its frozen cousin. We will soon be seeing a repeat performance of the pizza as the crust came in a two pack.

Next on our list? Tacos...with whatever side we scrounge up. Following that, hamburger helper with green beans, corn and rolls. I'll be making the fruit salad again, much to my delight.

Soon, I think, we'll be ready to make really nice meals, all for a fraction of the cost of our previous lifestyle of "Where would you like to go for lunch?" Don't get me wrong, though, Quizno's, Panda Express, Chick-fil-A and Taco Bueno haven't lost our business...they will just be seeing us less frequently. Super Target, on the other hand, will get to know us well.

If anyone has some delicious meal ideas, they should totally tell me because I am not really used to this meal planning thing.

Close (okay, pretty far away) encounters of the skunk kind

The skunk I saw looked sorta like this, but this isn't him.



Today's major highlight came right before lunch. Looking out the windows in our office, I could see a skunk running across the hill below. We're on the third floor, so we have a pretty good view. There are some stairs leading to the townhomes (where Mark lives) and I saw him (the skunk, not Mark), running across the stairs.

My first thought was "AWESOME!!!" I've never seen a skunk in the wild before that wasn't dead, so I was pretty excited. After all, they are pretty cool looking. Some people even have descented ones as pets. :)

Anyway, according to my mother, if you see a skunk during the daytime out and about, he may have rabies. This makes sense because they are nocturnal. So, being the concerned citizen I am, I thought that someone should do something about this potentially dangerous, although cute, critter. Meagan suggested that I call security, which I did. The conversation went pretty much like this:

ME:Hi, I just wanted to let you know that there is a skunk behind the LC...we think he might have rabies since he's out during the daytime.

SECURITY: Ok, thanks for letting us know.

It was brief, but I think it got the job done. Hopefully the skunk gets captured if he has rabies. Some would say hopefully he gets captured anyway, but I kind of liked him. He definitely made the day more interesting. Maybe I'll see him again someday, but I doubt it. He's probably long gone on his way to Kentucky by now.

After I called security, I was pretty excited. I mean, how often do you see a wild animal threatening an entire college campus and then get to call it in?? Not too often, really. So, in my happy state I proudly proclaimed that I was going to write a blog about this. This blog is (obviously) the result.

update...to be updated (ironically) later

here is a brief update of what has been going on in my world.

school has ended, courtney went home, i got a job, moved to spence, and started my job. meanwhile, mark is in illinois.

there you go...more later!

Pride and Prejudice

Right now I'm watching Pride and Prejudice. This is one of my favorite movies because of the complexity of the characters of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. If you have not yet seen this movie, I highly recommend it.

I just finished watching the scene where Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth argue, and I have to say that this scene really makes the movie work. There is so much tension between the two of them that you can feel it. There is of course his love for her, as well as her dislike of him. The fact that the scene takes place in a thunderstorm with the rain pounding down in the background only adds to the deliciousness of it all. The scene is even more enveloping if you have seen the movie or read the book (also quite excellent) before. Then, you know the truth behind everything.

There is so much passion in this movie, which by itself is wonderful, but the fact that it is all disguised and kept under restraint with the exception of a few scenes is superb.

This movie simultaneously makes me wish I had a sister to share life with and completely happy that I do not. Thankfully, brothers are far less of a strain.

The film, like the book, is also full of witty remarks, which I love. The best movie visually is nothing, in my opinion, without a strong dialogue.

I know this post was quite scatterbrained, but this movie produces a lot of thoughts. :)

Completion and Reflection or, Conflection

As this school year comes to an end, I look back and wonder how on earth the time has passed so quickly. Seriously, there is absolutely no logical explanation for why school is almost over when it was just last month that we were starting the semester. Know what I mean?

I've learned a few things this past school year, no doubt about it. Not the school-type things, at least not for the purposes of this post, although I did learn quite a bit (some recent additions being the subjunctive tense in Spanish, what a worldview is, the fact that Paul wrote 13 books of the Bible and that John Quincy Adams was perhaps the most moral president we have ever had).

For your general enjoyment, here is, in no particular order, a list of things that I have learned this year:

1. It is harder than you think to stay in touch with friends from high school.

2. Sometimes people you've only known for eight months become your family away from your family.

3. Living with someone else takes adjusting. You have to learn how to come together in just the right way so that you are both happy. When it happens, you are grateful, when it doesn't, your life becomes awkward.

4. Sometimes the best plans are the ones that change when you least want them to.

5. You know that you have someone special when he drives around a parking lot for 30 minutes waiting for a parking spot just so you can go to a museum.

6. There is nothing like a good movie watched late at night when you should be asleep to encourage bonding between roommates.

7. You know when you spend a lot of time with people when you start sounding like them.

8. Become friends with international students if you want to meet some of the nicest people on campus.

9. Family is really important and every moment you can spend with them should be highly valued.

10. There is no time like the present to be forced into considering the future.

11. Grades are not everything. If you mess up, so what? Get on with it and do better next time.

12. No matter what happens, no matter how busy you are, there is always time for walking around the pond and taking random dance breaks.

13. Sometimes, you just have to eat in the cafeteria. Get used to it.

14. Power outages are fun while they last, but once they are over, it is back to reality.

15. Don't ever think that you know what is coming next...God's plans for your life are definitely not what you have in mind for yourself.

16. Developing a hobby or two is very important. You have to make time for yourself.

17. Having no money is a fact of life. When you get it, use it well.

18. There is nothing like an unexpected letter, note or email to brighten your day.

19. If you think it's windy now, wait until tomorrow.

20. Never go to Walmart on an empty stomach.

If you read all of that list, I have to admit that I'm impressed. I think this post may have been a little long, but hey, there is a lot of learning involved in this life of mine.

Walk the Line

Courtney is watching Walk the Line right now. I think it's a pretty good movie over all, but a little long. Like any good movie that has a romance even remotely implemented, there are some great lines.

Better than any of the lines, though, is the song "Ring of Fire." I love love love that song, and the music that accompanies it. Quite possibly my favorite song in the movie is "I Walk the Line." I may have forgotten about it at first, but upon further consideration, it replaces "Ring of Fire."

My cousin Courtney likes the song "Jackson," and if memory serves me correctly, she does a mean rendition of it. It's pretty awesome. :)


That's all for tonight. I just wanted to share those thoughts and encourage everyone to check out the movie.

Confession

Whenever I don't do as well as I wanted to on something I've written that I feel is pretty darn good, I feel horrible. Horrible. This feeling, for most people, is reserved for really traumatic events, events that stick with you through the entire day, and sometimes even longer. This is the way I feel when I get a paper back with something that declares my writing to be sub-par.

Many people would say that I am overreacting, and, if I were anyone else, if this were anything else, they would stand basking in the light of their correctness. However, for me, this response is not overreacting, but a completely rational, completely natural response.

When I write, I almost without exception pour myself into my work. Nearly every word is used with a purpose, every sentence and paragraph considered. Writing is my passion, and I feel that it is deserving of all the attention that I lavish upon it. This is the reason that when I get a grade or comment on writing that makes all my work for naught, I feel horrible.

This post is not so much a compliant about a grade that, in all fairness, I shouldn't be too broken up about, but is instead an explanation of why something so small as a grade can make me feel so awful. It may not make sense to anyone else, but to me, there can be no other way of life. I have to write, and it has to matter to me.

Not just penciled in

"Just in terms of allocation of time resources, religion is not very efficient. There's a lot more I could be doing on a Sunday morning."
- Bill Gates

When I saw this quote, several things crossed my mind. The first was that I have to agree with the fact that yes, there is a lot more that you can do with your time instead of go to church on a Sunday morning. You can walk your dog, check your email, read the paper or just sleep in. However, none of those things will serve you very well after you die. It's pretty important that you have a relationship with God...you know, there's this whole thing where if you're saved, you go to Heaven and if you don't, you don't. I think that receiving eternal salvation is more important than walking your dog, and that developing a relationship with the God who loves you is a bit more pressing than figuring out what 37 down is in the crossword puzzle.

The second thing that crossed my mind was the fact that God isn't supposed to be efficient. He was not trying to fit into our schedules, and he doesn't really care if he messes up your plans. He doesn't exist to fit into your plans, but rather, you exist to fit into his.

I'm not saying that I am always in church when I should be, or that there haven't been many Sundays when I've wished the entire time that I was in church that I was somewhere else. Because I haven't, and there have been. Nevertheless, I realize that on a Sunday morning, there is nowhere I should be but in church with other Christians, allowing God to see that he is more important than efficiency.

Not knowing the context of this quote, I'm going to have to say that it features a pretty bleak outlook on life in general. After all, when all you have to live for is keeping up with your schedule and crossing things off of your list, when your life goal is efficiency, your life, well, sucks.

I may not have a massive fortune, and people all over the world may not respect and revere me, but at least my life isn't so full of other things and times, meetings to attend and contracts to sign that I feel the need to always be efficient, even on a Sunday morning, even to the extent of blocking God out of my life because he didn't call my secretary for an appointment.