My friends enjoy bringing up daily the fact that I am a recovering chronic liar and therefore really good at lying.

IV Spring Retreat '03

exploring shortcuts * cold walks * wet slides * new swings * feeling like a kid again * exciting talks about break * card games * junk food * short periods of productivity * crazy uno * singing happy birthday * relaxing * massive back massage therapy sessions * DJ BK and the limbo game * catch phrase * indoor volleyball * loss of feeling in fingers and nose * plastic matresses * cold rooms * hot sinks * sleep * worship * fellowship * FUN!

Addendum: Desta posted pics from the concert and IV retreat on his website. They start about halfway down the page (look for the pics of the guys nice & muddy)

Well after an exciting weekend with a "surprise" visit from Becca and a wonderful birthday celebration for Malinda, I was afraid life might slip back into normal. Not so my friends!

Monday was the induction banquet to Kappa Delta Pi, a national educational honorary.

Tuesday's IV was a really powerful testimony from one of the freshman guys here.

Wednesday was the Caedmon's Call/Jars of Clay concert, which was really cool. The best way to describe it is "an intimate coffee house experience shared with 2,000 of your closest friends".

Yesterday we had pre-registration online. So my classes are set for next fall: Asian Literature, Modern Christian Writers, Civ: Speculative Mind, Developmental Reading, Public Speaking, and Grammar/the History of English. Should be another busy semester! (As if I ever get a break!) Also, Mod. Chr. Writers is another Dr. Brown class, so that means another fun summer of reading for the fall.

The annual Modern Christian Writers conference is this week, so I'll be spending the afternoon going to various lectures on C.S. Lewis. And tonight it's movie and homework w/ friends. This weekend is the IV retreat, so I'm sure I'll have more stories to share before long. Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Wow, what a weekend! I will have to write all about it when I have lots of free time...like Technology class on Tues.

For now, some lyrical memories from this weekend via Everclear. After all, it has been a while since I've posted lyrics or poetry. And although most of the songs I post have some deep subconscious personal meaning (Matt, I blame my introspective over-analyzing on your influence), this one is actually just a cool song from a band w/ lots of good angry/depressing lyrics. Seriously folks, they're the best. (Ya, that was an obscure homestar runner reference).

Songs from an American Movie, Part 2
Sometimes I get to a point where
I don't give a damn about
anything...anymore
Sometimes I get to a point where
I feel numb and I just don't care
Sometimes I feel like I just
don't care
I sit in my car
and listen to the radio
I think about the past
and it seems so long ago
I know the pain
is slowly going to fade
This life is going to get better
(Things are going to be better)
I wait until
my ex-wife has gone away
I walk around the house
Getting lost inside the old day
I see a picture where
everybody's smiling...
I know...
I got to keep it on the inside
I want to get lost
from my life sometimes
Sit on the side
and watch the world go by
I want to get lost
and I don't know why
Sometimes I want to get lost
and I don't know why
(Sometimes I want to get lost
and dream for a while)
Waiting for my little girl
Waiting on the school bus
We're going to the movies
Yeah just the two of us
Sit inside the dark and dream
for awhile
Our life is going to get better
(Yeah it's going to be better)
I wake up weird
in the middle of the night
I walk the floor
until my mind gets right
I think about the past
and it makes me want to cry
I know...
I got to keep it on the inside
I want to get lost
from my life sometimes
Sit on the side
and watch the world go by
I want to get lost in the dark
and dream for awhile
Just sit inside a dark room
and dream for awhile
The only thing that ever makes
sense to me
Is the words to a song from
an American movie
The only thing that ever made
sense in my life
Is the sound of my
little girl laughing
Alive and happy in
the summertime
I am just like everyone I know
I am afraid of things that I
don't know
I am afraid of ever really
being alone
I want to find myself a brand
new heart
I want to find a girl
and make a brand new start
I want to find a girl and get lost
in the dark
The only thing that ever makes
sense to me
Is the words to a song from
an American movie
The only thing that ever made
sense in my life
Is the sound of my
little girl laughing
Through the window of a
summer night
I sit alone in the backyard
Wishing I could be inside
Just the sound of my
little girl laughing
Makes me happy just to be alive
Sometimes I am happy
just to be alive

String of emails between my dad and I today:

Hello. How's your Thursday going? Thought this might interest you.
Love,
dad
Pennsylvania Pittsburg Dee's 6-Pak & Hot Dogz Shop
1118 S. Beaddock Ave.
412-241-4666 Great food & Moxie (+ 800 brands of beer)

My Thursday is going swimmingly. Thanks for the interesting information. So glad to know that I'll be able to find a good variety of beer in the area! ;)
Erin

DOH! Forget the beer!
dad

Wow...what an eventful day yesterday in our room!

I found out that Communication for Educators (this class I'm in now with an insane amount of work) will no longer be required for English Education majors. I also realized that I'm 3 credits short of meeting the requirements for graduation. So I'm going to fit Journalism in there somewhere. And I talked to the chair of my dept. and he said that I would be able to count my current COMM class towards the 6 credits needed to be certified in English and Communication, which makes me much more marketable. Yeah, I know, that's all just a confusing jumble. But basically it means no slacking off senior year but good for when I'm finding jobs.

However even more eventful is the fact that my wonderful roommate is no longer a Molecular Biology major, but a Political Science major/French minor. It's a long and crazy story, which I'm sure she'll detail in her own webjournal of sorts, but all in all, it's been an exciting day.

Spring always puts me in an e.e. cummings mood, and since I haven't posted in a while (and have nothing exciting to say for myself)...

in Just-
spring when the world is mud-
luscious the little lame baloonman


whistles far and wee


and eddyandbill come
running from marbles and
piracies and it's
spring


when the world is puddle-wonderful


the queer
old baloonman whistles
far and wee
and bettyandisbel come dancing


from hop-scotch and jump-rope and


it's
spring
and
the
goat-footed


baloonMan whistles
far
and
wee

Another weekend come & gone. Emily has been in Michigan for a water polo tournament and I've decided that she's not allowed to go away anymore. Not only was it horribly dull and awfully quiet in here, but I lost all motivation to do work! Sorry Emily, but you just can't do this to my grades. Malinda has been sick for most of the weekend--hope you get better soon! Not many exciting things happening. It was wonderfully warm yesterday and when I got out of the Faculty Follies it was raining, which was super cool. Faculty Follies were, in general, a big disappointment. In general it wasn't that "hysterical" (as the posters promised), although there were some funny moments. Dr. Jenkins did his own version of Strong Bad Email. And aside from the fact that he gave Strong Bad a Scottish accent, it was pretty well done. Although I would like to clarify that the "Skippy" who wrote in was not my roommate or myself or our fish. Just one of those odd coincidences. So there were some good laughs, but when all was said and done it just left me with a $1 coupon for Victor Lee's in my hand and an inerasable mental picture of Mrs. Paxon with nothing but boxers and nylons on from the waist down. *shudders*

Well, there's hope for me yet. I'm only 51% Grover. For all of you who wondered how well you'd fit in the Bubble...here's the test.

A big thanks to my next door neighbor and kindred spirit Erin Kinnen for introducing me to a great website, In Passing. You all should really check it out.

That PA roadmap was the best investment I've made all year. What should've been a 4 hour trip home turned into 9 pointless hours of frustration!