My Schedule, Stress, Stupidity, and Surprise

I picked up my work schedule today after school, and next week looks horrible for me. Thursday, tomorrow, the last day of this work week, marks the start of a long week. I work 3:15-9 tomorrow, 3:15-10 Friday, 7-4 (truck shift) Sunday, 1-10 Monday, and 9-4 Wednesday. I requested off New Years Eve and New Years Day, so I better not get stuck trying to find someone who can work so I can make it to the NYE party.

Thank you, Northwestern College, for causing the most stressful twenty minutes of my recent life. Trust me, this wasn't an easy feat, but you succeeded quite well. How? Well, the notice that you hadn't yet received one of my recommendations for the Peale Scholarship was a good start (no worries, Janet, it was the other one). Of course, the nice guy filling in in the admissions office who just so happened to steal my name was very generous in letting me sort it out with my teacher so that the recommendation would be faxed to them this morning. Still, all you'll be getting is the written portion with a little notice that says the form was sent to you and it's the post office's fault you never received it. So take that, NWC!

On that note, more stress. I have two big research papers due Friday, and I'm just about halfway done with one of them (the less important one). This stress ties in with my stupidity, meaning I fell into some hardcore procrastination yet again recently. Thankfully, I have a nifty little stress poker chip from the lovely Kelly Castle that always helps relieve some stress (it's also lucky in poker tournaments).

Then, the surprise. I don't think I've ever mentioned in my blog how amazing Mariah is, and I probably should more often. She had asked me a while back if I wanted to go with her family to a Wild game this Saturday. We would've been in a gameday suite, which would've been tighter than a noose in The Crucible. Something came about where that wasn't going to happen, so she told me she had a surprise for me. Now, she and I will be going to the game on January 3, hanging out behind the penalty box. Have I mentioned lately how amazing my girlfriend is? I never have the resources to come up with any good gifts or surprises for her, so I'll have to think of something very clever to return the favor.

My nightime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, fever, best sleep I ever got with a cold...medicine

Oh how I wish I had liquid Nyquil right now. I would love to be able to sleep, but this cough is keeping me up. Thankfully I have some homework to kill some time.

Council was a good time tonight. The pre-meeting meeting for youth reps was really just randomness, but it proved that we've got things fairly well in order.

Speaking of TEC, I showed up to school on Monday to a flurry of angry voices. Everyone was pretty upset at me for giving up One Act this year to serve at TEC. One of my good friends tried to give me a "You don't understand! We don't have enough guys!" speech, and I couldn't bring myself to give her my "You don't understand. I have priorities" speech. So I decided instead to ask her if she wanted me to apologize for putting service for God above One Act on my priorities. She said yes, and I told her, "That's too bad." There were two comments about my decision that kind of bothered me. The first one was meant to be sarcastic, but I just couldn't take it that way; "Aaron, is this thing just a cult that's taken over your mind so much that you won't even be in One Act?" The other one came from someone I have a lot of respect for, but they really shocked me when they said, "Oh, he just lives for TEC." I wish the potential Candidates from my school wouldn't be in One Act this year. Sometimes I feel like nobody I hang out with from school understands that it was this ministry that took all the masks I used to wear and tore them to shreds, burned them with that fire of Christ that was put inside of me.

I'm sick. I don't know what else to say. I wish I knew how to explain all this to them, but I know it won't happen. Yes, they're Christians, but I don't see many of them who have open enough minds to understand how important it is for me to go back and serve Christ at TEC just like I try to do in my everyday life.

Mi película español

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking how much you enjoy fine foreign films with subtitles; I, too, am a fan of Pan's Labyrinth. If you want to see one of the best Spanish videos ever, I know exactly where you should look (if you have Facebook, that is, and most of you reading this on Blogger do [all of you reading this on Facebook do]).

This video gives you the best features money can buy. It has movie/TV spoofs, a wicked fighting sequenc with some of the greatest moves you'll ever see, a low-speed chase, an upset Spanish teacher, and an ending that you'll never see coming.

Please, for your own sake, watch and enjoy the 2006 Spanish Video of the Year, and the theatrical feature I am the most proud to associate myself with:

Part 1
http://hs.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=21321326360

Part 2
http://hs.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=21338741360

If you can catch either of the two cameo appearances by TECcies (both Candidates at 59 and working 70 [not including me]) feel free to point them out. There's also a ninja who may be a Candidate at 70, but we're all still working on her.

Edit: There is yet another TEC cameo in the video that I forgot about. It is a Candidate from 62 that has not worked since they went through. All three of this person's siblings have worked a TEC at some point.

My Quick, Uninteresting Thoughts

Just for the record, Scrubs did not air a new episode on Thanksgiving day, and I was truly disheartened. Moving on...

Speaking of Thanksgiving, I thought mine would be slightly awkward. My friend Bethany (who is officially labeled my "best friend born on April 16, 1990 at 7:17 pm") and her family invited me to spend Thanksgiving at their house. This was because my mom and her boyfriend went up to my grandparents' house, and I stayed home due to working on Wednesday and Friday. I ended up eating a great meal at Bethany's, and it wasn't too awkward except for when her brother decided to randomly leave; he came back with his computer because there had been a debate over the appropriate way to pass food around the table, and he was looking up the correct way. It also got a little awkward when a debate on abortion started, and Bethany's brother-in-law asked me my opinion. I nonchalantly said I was pro-life, and he said, "Kind of a tough decision though, huh?" My response: "Um...no...pretty easy decision."

I have a lot of essay-like work to do these days. My research paper for challenge government is due before Christmas break (otherwise it's worth a B- at best), we're working on a cause/effect paper for American lit, and I still have to peg out my "essay" for the Peale Scholarship.

On the American lit side of things, my teacher knows me all too well. We're working on a short story unit, and the group she put me in was assigned to read a selection from Night by Elie Wiesel. I love that book, and I'm actually already prepared to give our presentation next week (and we haven't even started working on it).

What it all boils down to is this: I learned how to make a collared shirt out of a dollar bill.

Back to homework....

My Lost Week

I feel this blog is appropriately titled for a couple of reasons. The first being that most of you probably haven't heard from me since last Sunday. The second reason is because the whole week was kind of a blur for me. I'll go day by day, just to waste both my time and yours.

Monday
I didn't have to work, but we had our first dress rehearsal for the play. It went fairly well, but the show still wasn't what we wanted it to be. Not much else happened that I can think of.

Tuesday
This was the day of our matinee performance for the 5th and 6th graders. Much like our dress rehearsal, it went fairly well. Afterwards, we had a question and answer session with the kids, and they liked asking about how people had died in the play. They asked how Simon Stimson (the town drunk) died, and we all finally realized that it says in the show that he hung himself in his attic. Crazy stuff. I didn't have to work on Tuesday either! That gave me a chance to go on a "date" with my good friend Bethany. Where did we go? Why, to the NRHEG (it's one word) choir concert of course! It was very good, and I decided the girls definitely carry their choir. Mariah had been trying to get Mr. Rud to let them do "Seasons of Love" ever since she started high school, and he finally let it happen. There was, of course, the stipulation that she had to sing it. She sounded great singing soprano (she's an alto), and Bethany and I succeeded in embarrassing her with a tactic I learned from my brother. At my musical last year, Cody showed up in a suit, and I didn't want to claim him. So Bethany and I dressed up hardcore for the choir concert, and Mariah laughed and shook her head at us when she saw us.

Wednesday
One of my favorite days of the school year! It was time to give blood, and I was very excited. Word on the street is my time was just over 6 minutes this time, which is the longest I've taken in 3 times giving blood. I kind of just left the class I was in (during a test) when the runners came to get me for my appointment, and my teacher thought I had gone to the bathroom. He was making a girl wait until I got back before she could go, and it wasn't until the last few minutes of class that someone mentioned that I went to give blood. We had our last run-through of the play before our first show, and it was still quite choppy, but at least I didn't have to work. I also decided to start learning some Hebrew, which is fairly exciting. I wanted to learn a little now so I have a grasp on it when I go off to college and take it as a foreign langauge.

Thursday
The big night. Our opening night for the play. It went fairly smoothly with one a few missed lines, but the most disheartening part was when we saw our choir director putting up the side walls to block off about half the seats in the auditorium. That meant there wouldn't be many people at the show. It didn't seem like everyone understood it when they were shaking our hands afterwards either. Oh well. At least I got to see amazing people like Kati, Amy, Ruby, and Mariah.

Friday
The second (and thankfully last) night of our show went a little better, but we're all glad to be done with it. The main problem wasn't the play itself ("Our Town" is a great play), but it was the fact that we cut out so many little peripheral things that made the play what it was. All in all, I'm just ready for One-Act, and hopefully we don't have the same issues with casting that a lot of us felt we had for the fall show.

Saturday
My first day back at work. It was a pretty good shift, and not too terribly busy. Not much else to say about the day that I can think of.

Sunday
Oh my goodness was work perfect! There were 4 people scheduled instead of 3 for some reason, so after I learned how to clean the bathrooms (which is super easy and not pain-staking at all) I was able to go home! Instead of a 2-9 shift, I worked until 6. I hung out at Tommy's for a while before heading back to Blue Earth. I ended up talking to Bethany and Jen for a while at Bethany's house, then Jen left so I talked to Bethany and Ashley. Eventually I went into Amanda's room to see the disturbing poster over her bed, and she screamed at us for going in there when she was downstairs. That's when I left.

I haven't done any homework yet this weekend, so I should work on that. Goodnight!

My Fruit

Last night was full of a lot of driving, and very little sleep. I went down to NWC with my mom and Mariah to see a play. It's a play I wasn't too sure of, seeing as I disliked both the book and the movie. My brother had done the sound design for The Grapes of Wrath, which was adapted by Frank Galati (I have to admit the writing was very good for the play).

I was utterly impressed with the show. I loved it, and I wish I could see it again. I'm a little sad I couldn't make it to other things I had as choices for the night, but it was good seeing my brother and hearing his great work for the show. Plus, I remembered reading Tracey's blog about her labor scene, and while she was giving birth during the storm I had to hold back some laughter.

We didn't get back to Frost until just after 1:00 in the morning, and I had to work at 9. It took me a while to get out of bed because this cold of mine is getting horrible, but I was only 15 minutes late to work. I made up for by staying until 5:15, so I got the whole 8 hours in.

After work there was a run-through of the play before our dress rehearsal tomorrow. I'm still a little skeptical about the show, but tonight made me a little more confident. It'll all come down to remembering lines.

As for the title of this post, I kind of got to thinking tonight about The Grapes of Wrath. I instantly thought of Galatians 5:22 (Fruit of the Spirit). There wasn't anything too specific or deep that I was thinking about; just that I feel like all of the things listed in that verse are things people hold near and dear in relationships. Coincidence? Not likely. Godincidence? Definitely.

I want to include the Director's Statement from the play last night because it's really good. It's kind of long, but well worth it.


"Three provocative statements to consider as we enter together into tonight's production:

1. Christ-figures appear in various forms of literature. Writers as diverse as C.S. Lewis (Chronicles of Narnia), Ernest Hemingway (The Old Man in the Sea), Bernard Malumud (The Natural), and John Steinbeck (The Grapes of Wrath) imbue their protagonists with Christ-like qualities, often leading us to see familiar aspects of the Gospel story with fresh eyes. In his apologetic writing, Lewis argues that the appearance and reappearance of Christ-figures in myth and literature testifies to the inherent truth of the Gospel in our daily lives; Christ keeps showing up, often where we least expect. This said, we must acknowledge a key difference between Christ-figures and Christ. Jesus was not literally a Lion, an old fisherman, a baseball player, or a fallen-away Pentecostal preacher from Oklahoma. The fact that these characters exhibit some of Christ's defining characteristics only serves to remind us of the essence of the Gospel story and how we are all, at our core, image-bearers.

2. As a culture, we do a poor job of ministering to our social and economic outcasts. This production forces us to remember this sad fact, and begs the question "Who are the 'Okies' of today and how are we serving them?"

3. Our American expressions of Christianity reveal annoying tendencies that emphasize the indiviual over the corporate. Sometimes we allow our individualistic culture to define the Gospel exclusively as a "personal relationship with Jesus Christ." This stops short of an equallyl pressing biblical call to live in community, ceaselessly serving the "least of these" our brothers and sisters. This seperation is false. Christ's directive to the apostle Peter's individualistic affirmation that he loved Jesus was to direct him to feed and care for community (John 21:15). As stewards of the creation, God calls us to live and sustain our individual faith through community. At its best, The Grapes of Wrath reveals to us our corporate body and our social responsibility."

-- Robert Hubbard

My Detention and My Freedom

Today marked a milestone in my twelve years of school thus far. I had my first ever detention this morning because I've been tardy a few times this year. It was the biggest waste of twenty minutes ever, and I'm pretty sure I deserve some compensation for the 3 minutes extra I stayed (accidentally).

Play practice was a total bomb again tonight, and I'm not sure how well the show is going to turn out next week. Word of advice: don't go to it.

Then, the Council meeting. The meeting was great and all, but the real fun was had afterwards. Everyone was hanging out in the parking lot for a while, but then most people left. We could've all been warm in the church had Janet not taken us all out there. The last four in the parking lot were Sarah, Janet, Julianna, and myself. We hung out for a while, and Julianna and I went on a short rampage. It ended in me yelling, "JJ! Get behind the tree!" Hilarious nearly-dive-move on her part.

Then, we couldn't get in through the main doors back into the warmth of the church, so Julianna had the bright idea to use the pastor's door on the side. We decided she fits into Council really well already since breaking into a church through an unlocked side door is totally a great influence. As we hung out, we told Facebook stories and had a real-life poke war. We stood by the stairs waiting for Ben, Bob, and Gary to finish their "closed-door" meeting, and pennies started falling from everywhere. We realized they couldn't be being dropped from a higher level, and eventually I tried peeking around to the stairs going down to catch the scoundrels in the act. After the next penny, Julianna said, "Thanks for the pennies!" and I charged down the stairs. Ben and I screamed at each other. Good times.

When I came back up, one of the best quotes of the night occurred.
Julianna: "And you down there, Mister..."
Me: "Rambo? MacGyver?"
Julianna: "Clint Eastwood." (She also continued on to say she saw him in Bruce Almighty recently.)

The Fab 4, as we became well known as, were the last ones to leave the parking lot. This was shortly after seeing the "whale eye" on Bob's sunroof. So much fun. There will be a picture at some point.


Quick note on the second part of my title (if you haven't caught on). I've been having a really stressful month and a half, and until next Friday I think it's just going to stay stressful (and maybe for a little longer until I get my Peale Scholarship stuff done). I feel like my life is one big detention for now, and tonight was a total freedom from that. No words can explain how I feel when I have just random times hanging out with good friends. Not a care in the world, and no chains of school, work, etc. holding me down. I wish life was so carefree.

My Mind

Feel like each section of your brain is being pulled in a different direction all at the same time? I know what you mean. That's exactly what's going on right now. Mostly it's because I have so much junk to get done before the end of the quarter on Thursday (since I don't take finals on Friday). An art project and two late assignments, challenge gov't terms (32 of them) and studying up on a current events quiz, studying for an AP bio test on membrane structure (still need to read the chapter) and do two late assignments, and fix the devos that I wrote so there's one available for the reunion on Sunday.

It's crazy. Life is crazy.

I also need to remember to ask for a whole week of work off so I can make it to all the rehearsals leading up to the opening night of our play. I'm really hoping my boss allows it seeing as we have three new people working there who could fill those days. My concern is that she won't let me do it, even though she never has the schedule ready that soon so it shouldn't be too much trouble.

I'm just confused. I don't know where to start, but I know I have to start now. Goodnight!

My Fellowship

I think the concept of fellowship was stressed really well at this last TEC, and I just feel like sharing a story that stresses it some more.

It was Saturday night of the TEC weekend, and I was kind of struggling with a few minor details and such. I think I was saying goodnight to Amy and she realized I was a little out of it, so she asked if I wanted to sit somewhere for a minute. We sat at the head table in the conference room for at least a good 20 minutes (probably longer) and I just kind of let things go for the first time. That small timeframe (along the the random sufficiently awkward moments during the weekend) really helped our friendship strengthen. She's a good kid.

It felt really odd being the person who's venting, and I couldn't figure out why until after the weekend was over. Normally, I honestly don't have any problems to talk to people about. I love listening when people need an open mind, but I never really look to other people for advice because nothing really comes up in my life that makes me need to.

On that note, more fellowship. I virtually didn't sleep at all Saturday night. In fact, you might as well say I was awake from 1:30 Saturday afternoon until 8:45 last night. So after working from 7 am to 4 pm on Sunday, I was uber tired. Thing is, Amy and I had planned to get together in Kato and just chat. I drove through Vernon Center and thought about calling her to tell her I couldn't make it because I was very close to dozing off, but I started reciting Scripture to keep me awake.

We eventually decided where to eat (Jimmy John's is always a good choice), and had a good time talking about random things; everything came up in conversation from the fun signs on the walls to who we "knew" (she lies about it) at the restaurant.

I made it home without dozing off at all, but I did send a fun text about falling asleep. I was out like a light by 8:45, and ended up getting 11 hours of sleep before school this morning. Let's just say I didn't need any 2nd hour naps today. Plus, work was really good today.

My Yesterday

** (Quick note: in light of the final season of Scrubs beginning this last Thursday, all of my blog titles during said season [and maybe beyond depending on how well I can continue it] will begin with the word "My")

Friday, October 26. A regular day, like most others. I went to school knowing I had to work from 2-10, and the only strange thing that happened at school was that it was the first day this week I didn't fall asleep in any class. Kind of a good feeling. Made me enjoy the day a little more. That is until I went to work and started to change into my work clothes in the bathroom. My work pants were nowhere to be found. Turns out they fell out of my bag due to my rush in the morning because I was running late. My boss let me go home and get them, and when I walked past my kitchen I noticed the mail on the counter.

I checked the mail, and there was a letter for my mom from Northwestern College. Any other day I probably would've opened it because it would pertain to me anyway, but I was hurrying to get back to work. I flipped through the rest of the pile, and there was a letter for me. From who? Northwestern College. I opened it on my way to my room to get my pants, and it was exactly what I hoped. An acceptance letter. Yes, I was thrilled because I hadn't gotten a chance to apply anywhere else yet, and NWC is my top choice, but there's more to this letter. The first part of the second paragraph reads:

"You are to be commended on your fine academic record and have been named a Presidential Scholar. Your scholarship award is $7,600.00 annually. To renew the scholarship you must maintain a 2.75 cumulative grade point average in your freshman year and a 3.00 cumulative grade point average thereafter."

What does this mean? Well, it means my room/board and meal plan is totally covered by this scholarship (and then some). Another way to look at it is 1/3 of my actual tuition is covered by it.

There's more to this story. I also got a call from a lady at the school who was congratulating me on my acceptance. One thing she mentioned was the fact that I also qualified for the Peale Scholarship. This scholarship is huge, and I'm really nervous about it. How can I not be nervous about something that could earn me $12,000 annually (Yes, that equals $48,000 over four years)? "Criteria for the Peale Scholar candidates included a ranking within the top 15 percent of their high school class or a minimum 3.5 grade point average, and a minimum ACT score of 26." This isn't too much of a problem for me, but what follows the application is. This year, 146 applied, and there were 71 finalists representing 12 states. As a finalist, one is required to visit the campus for interviews and a writing competition. And all eight of this year's winners "include student council officers, community volunteers, students who have earned honors in speech and music competitions, and all-conference athletes." I'm maybe 1 out of those 4 things. It scares me to even apply for this, but I know I have to give it a shot. I'll definitely be asking for prayers from you all when the time gets closer because my nerves will be all over the place.

Northwestern College

Orange City, Iowa

My new home?

TEC 69

"Oh my goodness gracious!" Those were the first words I texted Hannah on Thursday when I woke up and realized the TEC weekend was just hours away. It wasn't until I was ready to type this blog tonight that I realized those were also the first words in my prayer of thanks last night after I got home from TEC.

This TEC weekend was more than I ever could've imagined. I'm going to attempt a Top 10 list, but it won't even come close to doing justice to the weekend.

10 - Music
Our music team was so incredible! I thoroughly enjoyed being in the Conference Room with all of them. Greg is always a blast to work with, Amy and I grew closer as friends, Dan's jokes are great, Paul is just plain fun, Sara is a big bundle of joy, and Emmalee is simply amazing. Having the last two members of the team stand at Closing made me chuckle. On another musical note (no pun intended, but it is a good one), the songs used for talks were great!

9 - New friends
It was so fun working with all these people I had never met before. I made a lot of new friends on team, and I can't even explain how much expanding my Christian community means to me. The most random ways I made friends during the weekend all involved the Candidates. I first talked to Jasmine while sitting at the pool, Calven has the same name as my dad with the exception of one letter, Lindsay sat across from me at Agape and we shared food, Julianna and I met Friday after knowing who each other was for a long time, and there were so many other random things.

8 - Old friends
There were also quite a few friends working this team who I had already known quite well. They're some of my favorite people in the world, and I can't find any words to describe how incredible it is to work with them time and time again. I became even closer with Amy (as I mentioned), and I feel like our friendship isn't nearly as sufficiently awkward as it used to be. The experiences that we all shared, whether first-hand or through talking about them, were absolutely fascinating.

7 - Conference Room
Wow (insert W-mouth-W here)! These Candidates, ATL's, and YTL's were so amazing! It was great being able to observe more than having to teach. So many of them already had faith background and just needed a good revival. It seemed like a lot of those had that revival, and I'm just praying they continue to burn for Christ!

6 - Talent Show
It was so awesome to see the variety of talent at this weekend. The talent show is always a big highlight for me, and this one didn't change that fact at all. The range of acts from the old school (ATL's with "Sister Act", Milk and Cereal, Dueling Banjos) to the new ("Taylor the Latte Boy", Frolicking 101, Brandon's song) was just awesome. Plus, how cute was it that Jennie and Greg shared a pair of pen lights that they put up their noses. Bob only made it awkward by saying her lights were used ones from Greg. I want to give a special thanks to Joey again for his dance that he said was inspired by John 1:4-5; I honestly could see the flame coming and going during the dance, and it was just awesome.

5 - Tim's Wheat
The most anticipated Wheat of the weekend turned out to be the first thing I pulled out of the bag and the last thing I looked at. It was a book of bedtime stories that he went all out on putting together. It's bound and everything. It starts with a couple of familiar stories (Tim mistaken as a girl, the Valleyscare story) and moves on to some of his letters, stories, and essays from without his school years. I'm so impressed by it. I keep reading it over and over.

4 - God's mysterious works
God really worked two amazing wonders on Saturday. One of them involved fully speaking through Ben to help a fellow team member just completely let go of everything they were struggling with at the time. Another was all about Joey and Erika, two of the greatest leaders I have ever known. God just gave them a total revival of strength on Saturday morning, and their team became so much stronger because of it (quick side note: Wheat team was so prayerful! The pray-up for Talk 9 was so incredible!). There were other times God worked in mysterious ways, but those were the two most prominent ones that I felt I had to mention. Praise God for his amazing ways of working in us and through us.

3 - My mom
Cody went through TEC 50 in January 2003, and I don't think it took long after that before he asked my mom to work the first time. After I went through TEC 59 in April 2005, the topic of her working still occasionally came up. I think the past year has just been hard for my mom ever since she was diagnosed with breast cancer last June. Maybe it was the experience of fighting this cancer that made her decide it was time to work a TEC, but no matter what her inspiration was I'm so glad she finally did. I was happy to have her in the Conference Room, and I hope she works again not only during one of my final 3 weekends, but also after I've graduated.

2 - Hannah
Oh my goodness gracious! Hannah Bartell is so amazing! When I found out she had accepted, I was absolutely thrilled. She was the only person bowling with us one night in Mankato who didn't know who the Rector would be, so she earned the nickname Captain Oblivious. I still think she's somewhat oblivious to how much it meant to me to lead this weekend with her. I won't talk about that too muh since I still have to write her Wheat (oops), but I will say that I don't think I could've worked this well with any other person in the world. Council really did pick an amazing Rectora who was totally on fire for Christ from the start.

1 - Catch a Fire
John 1:4-5 "In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it." I feel like this theme was perfect for this weekend. No matter how big of a fire the Candidates (and even team) caught this weekend, I still think everyone caught at least a little spark. What they do with it is totally up to them, but like Hannah said in Talk 9, that light can't be hidden. There's no way to completely shut off that light. I just want to thank God once again for giving us (in Joey's words) "a fire that no water can extinguish."


And now, the National Day of Silence for Pro-Life. It'll be tough, but it's totally a day dedicated to God's undying love for every soul, whether they're born yet or not.

Weekenders

It's here. It's gone. Let's recap.

Saturday was the big day. It was the 2nd annual trip to Valleyscare for a select group. Last year this group included Janet, Nate, Laura, Mariah, and myself, and this year was the same minus Janet. We had a coupon for some discounted tickets, and we were in line to buy them when I saw this lady pointing at me. It kind of worried me, especially when the guy she was with started walking toward us. Turns out it was actually karma on our side. He was offering us four free admission tickets, and we saw it as a "give and you shall receive" sign seeing as we gave away an extra ticket last year. Oddly enough, we never saw him while we were in the park.

We had a good time riding rides and such, and we definitely made Mariah go first through the CarnEvil attraction because she's afraid of clowns. While we were in line for The Asylum, I heard Nate look out say, "Is that Joel?" When I turned around and looked my first thought was, "TIM!" (sorry Joel). Tim, Joel, their significant others, and a couple of people I didn't know where at Valleyscare that day too, and we ended up chatting with them a while later. Tim even took our group picture (last year Steve Jacobson did it for us, so I think we always have to find someone we know to do it). Oddly enough, I knew someone who was in line for The Asylum at the same time as us too. He's a kid whose locker is just two away from mine at school.

It was a great time, and I definitely think this is going to be a continued tradition. And for anyone who plans on going to Valleyfair either later this month or next season, be sure to ride Renegade. It had a 52 mph constant speed, and it's such a rush. If you can help it, ride it at night when you can hardly see the track. It's amazing!


Sunday marked the final team meeting for TEC 69. We lost a Support member, so that was the first stress of the day, but I know God will work that all out. I'm just so excited about the weekend being this Thursday already. I know there's some last-minute things that are very important to get done (can you say "commissioning"?), but it'll be fine. It's harder for me to get things done for school right now than it is to get things done for TEC.

Laptop

So this post marks my first official post from my shiny new laptop, which I love. It's a lot of fun to play with, and the first night I had it I realized at about 1 a.m. that I still had an essay to write. Go me for playing with Vista for so long.

I'm not the biggest fan of Vista, but at the same time I like a lot of the random little features. The best features so far aren't actually Vista related, but they involve Office 2007. There are so many ways I can save time in my English classes that it's not even funny.

Team meeting #2 went really well, and I'm pretty pumped for the weekend. Amen.

Amazing....simply amazing....

This post is a day late, but only due to the fact that I fell asleep after I got home from the meeting.

I have to say, I am thrilled with how things went at the first meeting. God definitely put this team together quite well (by the looks of it so far), and I especially felt that Hannah and I were meant to lead together. The two talks were both awesome. Kelly never ceases to amaze me, and I'm so proud of Emily for being so strong. Tim wouldn't be too thrilled with the choice of songs for the first two talks, but he won't be there so his opinion is belittled.

[Adam, this is the part I was talking about. It ends with the quotes.] When Hannah and I introduced the theme, she ended up going on a little rant about it and she got so emotional and into it that the whole time I was just thinking, "Wow, this verse and this theme are perfect." She and I had a good time team-hunting when they all broke off into rooms to have some team time before the first talk. It ended up with a dance lesson where I tried to teach her the dance to "Crank That" (woot for Soulja Boy).

The most amazing experience involving this TEC happened to me tonight. I came home after work to pick up my checkbook and go back to Blue Earth to get gas (it went down 7 cents today). On the way back, I stopped at Tommy's to help him with some music he was putting on his computer. In the two miles from his house to mine, I decided to kind of pray about the weekend and recite the verse again. Just as I finished saying "but the darkness has not understood it," I saw a bright light at the top of my windshield. When I looked up, I saw the biggest, brightest, shooting star I've ever seen. Talk about prophetic! It was just beautiful with it's light blue tint, and I had to call Hannah and tell her about it. God works in mysterious ways, but I love them.


TEC 69 theme: On Fire for Christ
Verse: John 1:4-5 "In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it."

"Well in my mind we can conquer the world..."

It's been a crazy few days since I blogged last. Wanna hear it? Listen closely...

Thursday was quite the day. I had a pretty good day in school, and decided to play a round of disc golf before Tommy was done with school and we played our round for the day. Turns out the wind on the 6th didn't like me very much. It took my older driver into the trees, and it was never found; I'm still not sure if it made it into the river or not. After Tommy, Dalton (who randomly showed up to play), and I were done, I went home to shower and head off for Albert Lea. Mariah and I decided have a birthday dinner, walk around the lake, and she really wanted to feed the ducks. We had Chinese (we've been planning on having Chinese together since we met), fed a few ducks, and we were about 3/4 around the lake when I realized my wallet was missing. We turned around and walked the long way back looking in a few places for it, and it (like my disc) was never found. That is until I got a phone call at 11:00 that night from the ALPD. My wallet was turned in with no money in it. There went 40 bucks....

On Friday, school was pretty lenient. For example, we spent about 20 minutes in AP Bio talking about carbohydrates and the last hour or so talking about fun parasites. Work was good Friday night, even with the rush at the end of my shift from the football game being over. We beat our biggest rival (Fairmont) 42-14 to keep the little brown jug. There's an article about our team on the Trib's website somewhere.

Saturday was a great day, starting with the fact that it was Mariah's birthday. I drove over to AL in the morning to pick up my wallet, which wasn't too exciting. As soon as I got home, Mariah and I left for NWC. We hung around down there for a good 4 hours or so before Cody had some free time, but it was really good to see Anna. And Carl too. We ate at Hemingway's with my brother (their food's great) and then went to pick up our tickets at the box office. After a 45-minute wait outside the theater doors, we went in and found some fairly good seats. RUSH (student-led, student-produced, student-everything dance concert) was really good. Mariah and I both laughed hardcore at Matt Reiter dancing in it, mostly because he seemed so serious and such. After it was over, we drove back to my house, and Mariah left early this morning.

I worked from 1-9 today, and it was a smooth shift. It started off with a little cleaning in preparation for Kwik Clean, which is coming up soon. I have to clean the outside of the store and the pumps tomorrow and Tuesday. Tomorrow is also play practice and homecoming coronation, which I'm an escort for. Boo to that part.

Adulthood

No, being 18 isn't all it's cracked up to be, although I had a very good day. School was quite entertaining, and somehow embarrassing pictures of me from the Youth Rep meeting about New Years (aka the Secret Santa meeting) showed up all over the halls. My locker somehow ended up wrapped in cheesy wrapping paper. Many people wished me happy birthday. I don't put much stock in birthday celebration, but it all made me happy. Even Jen's random "things I found in the clearance aisle" bag was great.

Work was really good, too. I got my $20 from KT, and I caught a lot of grief from my coworkers and boss. It was a fun shift tonight, and it went by really fast. A couple of coworkers brought in a mini cake for me and sang "Happy Birthday." After I was done, I washed the writing off of my car windows and went back in the store for some gum. I decided to take advantage of my legal gambling age and buy two crossword scratch-offs. The first was a failure, and the second was worth $3.

Hannah and I think we have our theme ready (at least verse and basic theme; not so much t-shirts, Conference Room, and actual name for the theme). I'm pumped about the fact that we have 10 Candidates, but it just means we have to work even harded to hit the limit. My hope for every TEC is that there are at least 30-35, and I'll be honest in saying I'll be happy with that number for this TEC, although a full one would blow my mind.

Now, time for my to be an "adult" and finish my Challenge Gov. essay on whether the Constitution is majoritarian or pluralist....maybe....if I get around to it....

Meet My Manual Manuel....

It's been over a week. Stuff's happened. Let's boogie....

Work is a wreck. Ever since a lady walked out last week, the schedule has been chaos. I work on my birthday (this Wednesday), but at least KT will give me $20 just for being a year older. The benefits at this job are fun.

School is a wreck. All my classes are going well and all, but I'm a little behind on my art homework. I just don't have the time to sit down and draw like we're expected to. On the other hand, our teacher showed us a cool site from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts where you can create your own art gallery of works that you like. I have a couple of Yves Tanguy paintings (his shading is wicked accurate), a few Jerome Liebling photos (woot Minnesota), and a really cool photo by Paul Strand, along with a few other random works.

The TEC 69 leadership meeting was today. It was grand. Beforehand, I met up with Hannah and Joey at Subway for some lunch. Hannah and I talked about the verse and theme somewhat, and we're finalizing it this week. I finally met the infamous Joel, who will be serving on Support. We decided to keep our friendship strictly digital (which reminds me I owe you [hug]). I also learned that my good friend Tim managed to sneak his way onto team as an ATL. I'm happy he'll be there, but Lecy and I better see some bedtime stories in our Wheat bags. We also decided we would be on the lookout for Tim each night before we go off to sleep, especially on Thursday when the Candidates aren't around.

I'm very excited for this upcoming TEC. At our Pizza Ranch party after the meeting, Hannah said she had "butterflies in [her] hands," and I can't seem to get mine out of my stomach. Our leadership is amazing, and I'm just praying that we can get a boatload of Candidates. That's all I want for my birthday.

After that, I went to Kelly's to hang out with her and Janet. I surprised Kelly with two giant coloring books, and we surprised Janet with a grilled PB&J dinner. We planned on some mac 'n cheese to go with it, but there wasn't any at the house. Kelly surprised me with a great birthday cake, which i have more of in my fridge. Our coloring party was quite entertaining, and scanning through Kelly's iTunes was great fun.

Only two weeks of school, work, and randomness until the FIRST TEAM MEETING!

Come hither! I speak of wisdom and frolicking!

The first week of school has been (it really hurts me to say this) absolutely great! My schedule isn't too difficult, I have fun teachers, and it looks like our foreign exchange students might not turn out like a lot of the last ones have (i.e. stupid alcoholic jocks). My schedule is as follows:

8:25 am - 9:50 am -- Art Foundations
This class isn't all that difficult, but it's boring. The people in the class are all very quiet, and I'm not a big fan of the student teacher from MSU that we have the whole semester. I'm waiting for the day when Mrs. Wells flips out on her for some reason. So far, I haven't really done what we're supposed to do. I guess that means I should do the two homework drawings that are due Monday.

9:58 am - 11:23 am -- Challenge Government
I love this class! No, the book's format and contents aren't exciting in any way shape or form, but we have hilarious conversations in there, and Mr. Bartscher loves to be a part of them. Our greatest one (which I mentioned in my last post) was about what we would do if we went back to being in a "state of Nature" and were given sixty seconds to do whatever we wanted; no rules whatsoever. My friend Tim asked, "If I smoked a big bag of pot during that sixty seconds, and I was still high afterwards, would I get in trouble?" The best response was from Mr. Bartscher himself when he said, "If you were high enough after the sixty seconds, you wouldn't care if you got in trouble." Good times, and a constantly reoccurring joke with Tim.

11:23 am - 11:56 am -- Lunch
The only thing I have to say about this is that it's open campus for juniors and seniors. Good times.

11:59 am - 1:21 pm -- AP Biology
Although it's yet another college class in my schedule, Mr. Armstrong (or Doc, as we call him) doesn't like to give us busy work. Plus, he really doesn't care about any kind of work on Fridays. He's an awesome guy and loves to joke around, so it's easy to get along with him and make fun of what we're learning about. He already told us not to even bother taking the AP Bio test for college credit because we probably won't get through enough during the semester to get anyone a 3 on the test.

1:21 pm - 8:25 am -- Released Study Hall
I can pack up my books and be in my car heading for home by 1:23 every single day. I love it. It really makes my whole schedule feel like a day of college classes. On Thursdays I even get done with my whole day before Cody even starts his down at NWC. I have another released study hall during first hour, fourth quarter. What's the advantage? I don't need to wake up until 8:45 or so for a whole nine weeks. Fantastic.

And so, there's my current life. I only work about 2 or 3 weekdays each week, and I'll only be putting in 20 or so hours a week during the school year. So far, so good. Being a senior is strange, and it even felt weird writing "Grade 12" for the first time in AP Bio on Tuesday.

Leaves falling on Rocky ground....

There's a wicked awesome lightning storm going on right now, and the rain is just about to start (I can feel it in my old bones). Flood advisories are for squares.

I'm saving my "first day of school" blog so it can be a "first week of school" blog instead. The release is set for roughly 11:30 pm on Friday, Sept. 7 (word on the street is that it'll be formatted somewhat like Shayla's school post). I will say today's pot conversation in Challenge Government was the greatest thing ever, and it will definitely be the reoccurring joke this semester.

Now, onto tonight's real post.


I want to start off by saying how much I love Kelly Castle. She is definitely my favorite Rocky of all time (Rocky I-V don't even come close). Somehow I came up with that nickname for her, and hers for me is Pond. And so, she told me this short story tonight on MSN:

"You know those little Dove chocolates and how the wrappers say weird 'inspiring' things? Well, someone gave me one today, and the wrapper said, 'Look at the reflections of leaves on your favorite pond.' And I thought of you because you are by far my favorite Pond. So I'm going to have to stick some leaves on you sometime and look at their reflection because it will be inspiring."

I decided to blog about this because it totally tied in to some things I've been thinking about involving the upcoming TEC, let alone my life as a whole.

Fall is by far my favorite season, and I've been working on getting rid of some bad habits (i.e. procrastination) and worries (e.g. TEC complications) at the start of this fall. When Rocky (still talking about Kelly here) told me that story, I thought of how metaphorical that Dove wrapper was. My worries and habits are my leaves, and if I'm ever struggling to work through them I have many places to look for help. I don't know why I have to keep realizing this over and over (especially since this was what my last talk was about), but this summer wasn't much of a summer full of community and bonding for me. My procrastination is somewhat better thanks to a really nice first quarter schedule (more on that tomorrow). Then, after a Facebook wall post from Hannah today, I realized I have a great Rectora right beside me in that conference room, and where one of us lacks, the other will surely pick up the slack. I'm very excited to work with Hannah, Sarah, and Bill (who apparently has a personality that will click with mine), and the team list looks great. My mom is working in the conference room, too, and I'm confident having some seasoned veterans (ex: Janet) there with her will calm any fears she has and help her do well as a first-time ATL. I'll miss Tim, but a book of bedtime stories in my Wheat bag on Sunday will definitely help ease that pain. I'm also excited to work with Cooper for the first time ever!

I'm going to do my best to ask for help when I start raking these leaves up, and I know exactly who to call first.........Ghostbusters........or you crazy TEC folks......


To extend this post a little bit, I'm going to say that this torrential downpour (yes, it has officially come to that) reminds me of the chorus to a fantastic song by Melee called "Rhythm of Rain."

Oh you can find a way
Through the rain, the rhythm of the rain.
Songs from your past will play
Through the rain, the rhythm of the rain.


P.S. Hooray for parentheses tonight!

It's been a summer....

There you have it. Summer has officially come to an end. When the tone sounds at 8:25 tomorrow morning, I will be starting my senior year of high school. Yeah, it's a little exciting because it means I'll soon be moving on to bigger and better things, but at the same it doesn't feel like it's time to be at school. Plus, my high school is going to pot as soon as my class leaves. We've been the smartest, most involved class that BEA has seen in quite a while, and I kind of feel bad for the future. But not really. I'll be gone by then.

My final day of summer was well-spent with a couple great kids. Brice was home for the weekend, and neither Tommy nor I had to work, so we decided to play some disc golf. It was really hot out, but we made it through a couple rounds (with a KT break in between). Afterwards, we played Guitar Hero and NCAA Football '07 at Brice's house. He needed to get some homework done, and I had to get up early for school, so we ended it all about 9:00. It was a good last day of summer.

Tommorrow, after my "last first day of high school" (as Amy put it), I'll be playing some more disc golf. I don't work until Wednesday, and then I only work Friday, Saturday and Monday (that is until the week after next, which I don't have a schedule for yet).

Goodnight everyone! I'll try to post something about the first day!

P.S. It pains me to tag this as "School"....