My College

Friday was amazing. Friday marked my official orientation into college life. Friday provided me with the ambition to not want to go to my last few days of high school next week. Friday was fantastic.

At orientation on Friday, my biggest surprise was the fact that I tested out of foreign language. 351 points were needed on the placement test, and I ended up with 355. Quite comforting knowing I don't need a foreign language in college. I might still take some Spanish, but I have four years to decide that.

Remember my post titled "My Jam Session"? Well, I was talking to a guy at orientation who was very into music. We got on the topic of bands we liked, and I mentioned Falling Up. He then asked if I had ever been to Club 3 Degrees because he went to see Falling Up there recently. Turns out we were at the same show (Falling Up, This Beautiful Republic, Spoken, Family Force 5) and opposite sides of the room. It's a small, small world.

I also settled my schedule for next year. Figure this out: Mariah ended up with 16.25 credits as a nursing student, and I have 17.5 for first semester. Lame. I will admit she has earlier classes/labs and they probably take up more time for less credits.  I'm pretty excited that my only class on Thursday during the first term is TPE and it doesn't start until 3:30 pm. And so, my schedule:

Term	Course	Days	Start	End
Full	Princ. of Financial Accounting	M-W-F	8:55 am	9:55 am
Full	Intro to Biblical Studies	M-W-F	11:50 am	12:50 pm
Full	Calc. for Mgmnt	M-W-F	1:10 pm	2:00 pm
Full	Theater Production Ensemble	-T-R-	3:30 pm	5:00 pm
1	Concepts of Phys. Fitness	M-W-F	10:40 am	11:40 am
1	Intro to Spreadsheets	-T---	9:25 am	10:55 am
2	Advanced Spreadsheets	-T---	9:25 am	10:55 am
2	Public Speaking	-T-R-	12:05 pm	1:35 pm

My Character

It was early this morning when I realized I would be having a bad day. Mariah's prom was tonight, and I was still struggling with a certain aspect of it when I left New Richland and randomly decided to stop in Mankato. I spent nearly nothing while I was there, which made me feel a little better because I'm broke.

The biggest pick-me-up of the morning was breakfast. Shayla had gone in to work an hour early, so she called and asked if I wanted to have breakfast with her. Of course, I accepted. Our waiter was having some issues, and we didn't like him much. After a quick stop at Scheel's and B&N, I went home.

I didn't want to go home. I knew I would be bored and frustrated, which turned out to be true. So, I decided to sleep for three hours before my academic banquet. Banquets are lame, and tonight's was no exception. The awkward moments during some of the award presentations were only partially entertaining, but Mark's was hilarious. Then, when it came to the scholarship I had won, I was able to feel a little better again. It wasn't because I won the scholarship but because of what the scholarship meant. It was a scholarship awarded on character instead of achievement. Personally, I would rather be awarded any day on my character as opposed to my achievements. Why would I want congratulations from someone for doing well when it was my character that led me to succeed in the first place?

Now I'm bored and frustrated again. It's because of the same prom issue. I wish I could talk to someone about it, but I know she'd kill me for it.

My Hiatus

It's been a little while. Well, a long while. Life has been absolutely hectic lately, and it's had its ups and downs.

  

Baseball has been here and there. We've had a couple really strong games, such as today when we played extremely well and beat St. James 12-2. We've also had horrible games; two of them included 9 errors, and one of those two tested our pitchers by needing four of them in the first inning alone. All in all, there's only been a couple of times when I've felt like quitting this year. Last year I almost always felt like walking away.

  

School is winding down, and that makes me very excited. Only a few more big events before my senior year is complete and I can move on to bigger and better things. College is screaming my name, and I am thrilled to be heading to Iowa to spend four years with some people I know quite well and others I have yet to meet. Exciting!

  

What have I got left before college?

Saturday - Prom

May 29 -- Last day of school

June 6 -- Grad party (you're all invited)

June 8 -- Graduation

June 24 - July 3 -- Spain

Not much else, but I'm sure things will come up.

My Skin

As of Friday, it is permanently changed. I ended up getting my tattoo on Friday in Owatonna. It's on the inside of my right forearm. I enjoy the insane sticking-out-ness of my veins in this picture.

After I was done, I took a little jaunt to go eat some food with Amy. We had a little bit of deep discussion and a little bit of random discussion. All in all, we found Ben's twin.

Then, I took another little jaunt to go on a walk with Mariah. It was good, and I think it was much needed. We talked almost the whole time, which we both decided makes the cold walks go faster.

After I got home, I started playing with the first picture I put in this post on Photoshop. It wasn't until after I got home from the leadership meeting today that I finished the textures. The coolest part was the fact that there was enough shading on my arm to make the gradient on the final product.

My Sense of Humor

This is simply hilarious, and I'm definitely dedicating it to Greg and Jennie in light of their recent announcement.

My Jam Session

I originally wrote this little diddy after I went to the Family Force 5, Falling Up, Spoken, and This Beautiful Republic show, which was utterly incredible. To see a few short videos, check them out at my YouTube page.

I wanted to write something about fellowship after the concert [on the 19th]...

Christian music concerts are amazing fellowship in my opinion. The first thing I think about is how all these Christians are getting together in one place whether they know each other or not. At big festivals like Sonshine and Lifelight it's crazy to think of the thousands of Christians in the same place at the same time.

That brings up the idea that everyone in attendance isn't a Christian. Still, they are there supporting musicians that play to glorify the Lord, whether they look at it from that aspect or not.

Kelly [Castle] sent me a text after the show that really sums all of this up [and needs no explanation]. She mentioned Family Force 5, but I'm leaving the spot blank because it applies to any Christian artist. It said:

"So, are you pumped to rock with __________ in Heaven someday?"

It makes me smile because that is such an exciting thought.

On that note, I forgot to blog about "Terror Texts" also. I'll simply say it was an interesting show. I think by reading the Scripture involved beforehand I was able to create my own images in my head, so the images on stage didn't appeal much to me. Although, the set design was fantastic and the costume/make-up really set the tone because of how goth/emo they were. It really showed how our internal darkness becomes physically apparent and changes how people see us. The biggest thing for me was the music. It varied in genre and was sometimes a little strange, but a couple of the songs were really deep. The best was probably "Devastate Me," which was very grunge and was pretty much a song where God is saying, "Hey, those times when you do things to better yourself and hurt everyone around you are the times when I'm devastated. Still, I love you, and I want you to simply give up the selfishness so you can stand up and fight with your fellow Christians." (This song came after the Joshua 7:2-26 story). Altogether, I think it was a show worth going to. Very interesting.

My Bliss-filled Blog

I had almost forgotten I even had a blog, but then I read Greg's latest post and remembered. Yes, it's been nearly a month since a few of you have heard from me, but alas, I have been quite busy. Work and school are still on my case all the time, but this weekend moving into next week will be splendid.

As for work, I only have to work 15 hours between two days, thanks to the following events:

Tomorrow night I will be traveling down to NWC to see a production titled Terror Texts. You can check out the website for the details, but basically it was adapted from the Bible and directed by professor Barker and depicts six Old Testament stories (2 Kings 6:24-7:20, 2 Kings 2:23-25, 2 Samuel 6:1-23, Judges 3:12-30, Joshua 7:2-26, and Judges 19-21) that tell horrifying stories. Barker's quite as to why he chose these stories is excellent (read it on the site).

Then comes Tuesday night. A fairly good sized group of us will all be meeting up to catch the Family Force 5 Heart Support Tour show at Club 3 Degrees. I'm pumped. FF5 is absolutely amazing live, and it should be an excellent time. My friend Jonathan from school will be coming, and I think he'll enjoy the presence of some TEC folks.

With that, I have officially posted another blog. I'll do what I can to update you on both of these events. I'm sure the show will be worth it for you all to take a nice long trip to go see it next weekend, and if you're not busy Tuesday night we'd love to see you all at the show.

Edit: It's just after 1:00 a.m., and there are still people out trying to fix the water main that broke at about 7:00. Slightly funny.

My Excitementworryexcitementstressexcitementconfusionexcitement

I got three pieces of mail today, all from Northwestern. The first was a postcard saying they would be at my school this Friday and would like to talk to me. I emailed the girl in admissions to let her know I wouldn't be around. The other two pieces of mail were both letters. Somehow I opened them in the correct order, but how is beyond me (I think it was because the first one didn't have my middle name and the second one did).

One of them was another theater scholarship application. Now, I'm very interested in being a part of the theater program down there, but I don't think I'll apply for the scholarship. On the other hand, I am thinking about attending the theater preview days. If I don't go down for those, I may still go down to see "Terror Texts," which sounds very interesting. (Check it out here and if you would be interested in going [probably the 16th] let me know.)

The second letter is the reason for the title of this blog. It started like this:

Dear Aaron:

Congratulations! You have been selected as a Norman Vincent
Peale Scholarship semi-finalist.

I'm thrilled, and somewhat shocked. There was all that confusion and stress with my one recommendation that I almost wanted to tell them not to worry about my application. Now, on February 26, I will be having an interview and a writing competition on campus. Although they say the writing will involve a wide enough range of topics to complete the single task from my own experiences, I'm defintely already freaking out about it. Even worse will be the interview. I'm horrible with interviews because I still haven't gotten rid of all my shyness. Still, as Mariah reminded me, it's all in His plan and it'll all be fine, but don't be surprised if my blog asks for a prayer or two when the time comes closer.

And on that note, I'll be doing my homework now. I slept for a while already, so I'm refreshed and ready to read some Hassler.

Random Fact of the Day: The longest distance record of projectile vomiting is 27 feet. Outstanding.

My Vast Knowledge

Our first Knowledge Bowl meet of the season was yesterday, and I was pleasantly surprised with our results. We ended up with only two teams competing, and both performed strongly in the written round, one receiving 49 out of 60 points and the other, 45. Both teams remained within the top 3 rooms throughout the meet (our #1 team was actually in room 1 for the entire meet). The questions in the oral rounds were more government-related in this meet than any time last year, which was great seeing as 4/5 of my team for the meet is in challenge government right now. In the end, my team placed 6th, just 2.5 points behind a 5th place medal. The other team placed 2nd, just 5 points behind the winner (Loyola). I still think the Fairmont meet is always rigged due to the fact that their teams always either a) win, or b) do eerily well. At yesterdays meet, all three of Fairmont's teams placed in the top 5 (3rd-5th, to be exact). Creepy, no?

Next meet:
Blue Earth Area Blizzard Invitational
(hosted in Mankato)
February 8

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.