Well I haven't sat down and wrote a blog in a while, so here I go.
I have been pretty busy doing college stuff so that would be my excuse for not writing a blog, along with my lack of inspiration for something to write about. Well, now I have something to write about.
In case you haven't heard, I didn't make the basketball team for Fox. I figure I should post that somewhere, even though it happened a few weeks ago. Basically I have still been working out and shooting hoops, although the volume of shots I am taken has decreased just due to being busy. I figure I can try out again with a much better chance to make the team next year if I want, but we'll see what happens. Anyway, life goes on and I've been having a pretty darn good time at college. That is my little update, now onto what has been concerning me.
Mega-churches. Are. not. evil. Seriously people, why do large churches always get this negative wrap? Yeah there are ones that water down the message, but there are also lots of small churches that do the same thing. The large ones are just big enough to get bashed. Yes you will not immediately become a part of a community in a large church, but if you make any sort of effort you can easily get to know some people. Sometimes I enjoy blending into the crowd with a just a few people. Anyway, my point is you need to be careful no matter what church you go to and check out what they are preaching so that you don't get screwed up.
Exhibit A. Fox. Holy cow people need to read their Bibles more. I have a debate in Ethics on Wednesday to question the statement "Christians should welcome homosexuals into the church because it is okay that God made them that way." This is up for debate???!!! There are legitimately people in my class who support this statement??!! If you didn't know, the Bible is pretty clear that homosexuality is WRONG. It is also pretty clear God didn't make people that way. Check Lev 20:13, 18:22, 1 Cor 6:9-10, Romans 1:26-27, and just the story of Sodom and Gomorrah in general. Umm yeah, I understand that the Bible isn't all literal(I'm not about to gouge out my eyes after looking at something sinful), but this is not one of those issues that should be up for debate. Ever. And here I am, the guy that must be screwed up after going to a mega-church his whole life...
How have people at a Christian school, who have taken classes on the Bible, become so confused about what is clearly laid out in the Bible? It bothers me.
Oh, and if you are like wow he just hates homosexuals, and that makes you think I am some sort of bigot, I already covered my thoughts on this in an earlier blog. If you forgot, my conclusion was that we are to love people, not their actions. Homosexuals are welcome in church just as all sinners are welcome in church, but that doesn't change that the goal of becoming like Christ, which means that we must try to put off sin as much as possible.
Well, not my favorite topic to cover tonight, but whatever I don't feel like writing any more. Your thoughts are appreciated.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Just thinking about some stuff
"It is my experience that those who have no vices have very few virtues"-Abraham Lincoln
I'm pondering this thought at the moment. I'm not totally sure what I think about it. I suppose I have and have had vices from which my virtues have risen. Well, from which I have learned virtues, you know what I mean. It made sense along with the topic of broken people being more likely to be saved than people who are doing just fine. I don't know, the quote intrigues me, think about it.
Am I alone in not understanding tattoos? I mean, I know a lot of parents, like mine, don't like them, but it seems like most people think they are pretty cool. Whatever, I will start with my critique. Note, this is MY reasoning for not getting a tattoo, if you want one, I don't care. Go for it. Hence, the pain of a tattoo is not really a factor in my reasoning. First off, random pictures and designs are stupid. If a tattoo is just because it looks good, not because it has personal significance, I have my doubts about it being a good decision. I feel like this would inevitably lead to "why the heck did I get this stupid design on my arm?!" Just kind of pointless, no point in saying more.
Secondly, if I were to get a tattoo of personal significane, like a Bible verse or something, I will eventually stop seeing it. Using 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 as an example, at first I would be like "Oh it's a nice daily reminder of God's grace in my weakness, cool." But after a while I would just look at my skin the same way as if there was no tattoo. "Oh, my abs look nice today." Ha, but really, I can sort of give a personal example from my birthmark. As a kid, it was kind of a big deal to me, I always saw it. Now I just look in the mirror or lie in bed and don't even see it. I'd like a significant reminder every once in a while, not a daily reminder that's meaning fades over time. Those are my main reasons for not getting tattoo, notice again I didn't mention some people's reason like how they look unprofessional when you want to have a classy job.
I finished Fame Is Infamy. I don't feel like looking into it more now though, I just wanted to tell you I finished.
I have previously mentioned how I write blogs and then end up having to learn from myself. Yeah, I think its one of God's ways to make me humble, because it happens far too often to be coincidence. So of course, last week I wrote a blog about being angry, trying not to get mad at people and keeping my anger from sin. Then I met someone very hard to deal with that I had to spend several hours with... Basically, I would say something or do something that would then be insulted. Not like in my face insulted, but like the person was just self absorbed and just didn't notice what they were saying. Needless to say, my annoyance was out the roof. But through it I think I learned what I can do in certain situations next time they happen. I can improve, I will improve.
It is so easy for me to lose focus on my goal: to become more like Christ daily. Our search is basically to become little Christs, but when do I ever try to act that out in daily life? I just go about my daily business, so consumed in self improvement at certain aspects, rather than in focusing them towards Christ. I'm not exactly sure how this looks, I will think more about it and pray, but I am a bit too tired to delve into it right now. So that's all for tonight.
I'm pondering this thought at the moment. I'm not totally sure what I think about it. I suppose I have and have had vices from which my virtues have risen. Well, from which I have learned virtues, you know what I mean. It made sense along with the topic of broken people being more likely to be saved than people who are doing just fine. I don't know, the quote intrigues me, think about it.
Am I alone in not understanding tattoos? I mean, I know a lot of parents, like mine, don't like them, but it seems like most people think they are pretty cool. Whatever, I will start with my critique. Note, this is MY reasoning for not getting a tattoo, if you want one, I don't care. Go for it. Hence, the pain of a tattoo is not really a factor in my reasoning. First off, random pictures and designs are stupid. If a tattoo is just because it looks good, not because it has personal significance, I have my doubts about it being a good decision. I feel like this would inevitably lead to "why the heck did I get this stupid design on my arm?!" Just kind of pointless, no point in saying more.
Secondly, if I were to get a tattoo of personal significane, like a Bible verse or something, I will eventually stop seeing it. Using 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 as an example, at first I would be like "Oh it's a nice daily reminder of God's grace in my weakness, cool." But after a while I would just look at my skin the same way as if there was no tattoo. "Oh, my abs look nice today." Ha, but really, I can sort of give a personal example from my birthmark. As a kid, it was kind of a big deal to me, I always saw it. Now I just look in the mirror or lie in bed and don't even see it. I'd like a significant reminder every once in a while, not a daily reminder that's meaning fades over time. Those are my main reasons for not getting tattoo, notice again I didn't mention some people's reason like how they look unprofessional when you want to have a classy job.
I finished Fame Is Infamy. I don't feel like looking into it more now though, I just wanted to tell you I finished.
I have previously mentioned how I write blogs and then end up having to learn from myself. Yeah, I think its one of God's ways to make me humble, because it happens far too often to be coincidence. So of course, last week I wrote a blog about being angry, trying not to get mad at people and keeping my anger from sin. Then I met someone very hard to deal with that I had to spend several hours with... Basically, I would say something or do something that would then be insulted. Not like in my face insulted, but like the person was just self absorbed and just didn't notice what they were saying. Needless to say, my annoyance was out the roof. But through it I think I learned what I can do in certain situations next time they happen. I can improve, I will improve.
It is so easy for me to lose focus on my goal: to become more like Christ daily. Our search is basically to become little Christs, but when do I ever try to act that out in daily life? I just go about my daily business, so consumed in self improvement at certain aspects, rather than in focusing them towards Christ. I'm not exactly sure how this looks, I will think more about it and pray, but I am a bit too tired to delve into it right now. So that's all for tonight.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Do Not Let the Sun Go Down
Well, I held up to my word. I released some music for you peoples. I laid down the vocals and guitar this weekend in Sam's dorm studio deal, and then he mixed it. I think it came out great, so check it out: http://youtu.be/iJVB4cSqSXo
No seriously.
Paste the link in and listen to the song.
Oh, I haven't done a church update in a while. I am pretty settled on Solid Rock. It's about a half an hour away, but the pastor is really good, the music is incredible, the Sunday meeting is a large congregation, but they stress mission minded small groups, or house churches, which we could easily form out of some people at Fox. So that has been pretty awesome, and I'm excited to get more involved.
They say that you don't really know a person til you have seen them at all emotions. I would tend to agree, but I would say you really get to know people when they are angry. Face it, there are not many people who aren't reasonably nice in a normal situation. No one is going to cuss you out when talking about the weather. This is common knowledge, but filters come off when people are angry, and you are given a clear glimpse at their real personality. What are they getting angry at? To whom is their anger pointed? Are they mad at themselves for a lack of perfection, angry at a heresy against Christianity, or did someone just do something they didn't like so they turned to constant insults? These all say very different things about people and I think it is important to consider the implications of others' anger, and your own anger.
Dang it, I was going in a different direction with these points. I was going to warn in depth about associating with people who are defined by anger. Which I still think is a good idea, but the more I tried to think of examples, the more I realized I had examples of when I was angry like that. My anger tends to be more passive agressive than others, who will get angry in your face, but I still use anger for unrighteous reasons. Yet I still think that I am someone worth associating with, so what is up with that? I guess the real root is the word defined. When I am angry, I need to get out my frustration so I can calm down. Once I have had time to sort out my frustration, usually through some sort of rant, I can move on. Or write a blog...
I'm not actually sure what I think about this anger of mine, because I often learn things through my sorting, but it would be nice if I could keep myself to contemplation instead of turning my anger to sin. Oh snap that just reminded me of the Bible verse that says in your anger do not sin(Eph 4:26), which brings me to the point that you can be angry without sinning, it is what you do with that anger that makes it a sin.
I love it when I start writing and I end up coming up with things I hadn't considered beforehand. So I guess my goal would be to decrease how much my anger turns to sin. Thank God it is by grace I am saved.
That is all for tonight.
No seriously.
Paste the link in and listen to the song.
Oh, I haven't done a church update in a while. I am pretty settled on Solid Rock. It's about a half an hour away, but the pastor is really good, the music is incredible, the Sunday meeting is a large congregation, but they stress mission minded small groups, or house churches, which we could easily form out of some people at Fox. So that has been pretty awesome, and I'm excited to get more involved.
They say that you don't really know a person til you have seen them at all emotions. I would tend to agree, but I would say you really get to know people when they are angry. Face it, there are not many people who aren't reasonably nice in a normal situation. No one is going to cuss you out when talking about the weather. This is common knowledge, but filters come off when people are angry, and you are given a clear glimpse at their real personality. What are they getting angry at? To whom is their anger pointed? Are they mad at themselves for a lack of perfection, angry at a heresy against Christianity, or did someone just do something they didn't like so they turned to constant insults? These all say very different things about people and I think it is important to consider the implications of others' anger, and your own anger.
Dang it, I was going in a different direction with these points. I was going to warn in depth about associating with people who are defined by anger. Which I still think is a good idea, but the more I tried to think of examples, the more I realized I had examples of when I was angry like that. My anger tends to be more passive agressive than others, who will get angry in your face, but I still use anger for unrighteous reasons. Yet I still think that I am someone worth associating with, so what is up with that? I guess the real root is the word defined. When I am angry, I need to get out my frustration so I can calm down. Once I have had time to sort out my frustration, usually through some sort of rant, I can move on. Or write a blog...
I'm not actually sure what I think about this anger of mine, because I often learn things through my sorting, but it would be nice if I could keep myself to contemplation instead of turning my anger to sin. Oh snap that just reminded me of the Bible verse that says in your anger do not sin(Eph 4:26), which brings me to the point that you can be angry without sinning, it is what you do with that anger that makes it a sin.
I love it when I start writing and I end up coming up with things I hadn't considered beforehand. So I guess my goal would be to decrease how much my anger turns to sin. Thank God it is by grace I am saved.
That is all for tonight.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Elitists
Alright here goes another blog.
I have been working on some music stuff recently. I wrote two songs in the past week or so, including a whole one yesterday. A whole song in a day. Like all the lyrics and progressions, which takes more time than you might think to get stuff right. I will probably right a riff and a solo to go with it, but that is just to improve it, it isn't really necessary. Anyway, I would like to continue writing music at a nice pace, but it might have to wait til next weekend due to my schedule. Hopefully I can get some music out for you people sometime soon as well.
The more I experience people's egos, the less I want one. The whole concept of trying to be cool is really starting to get on my nerves. What I mean is trying to be cool for the sake of being "elite" is ridiculous. By all means, pursue your dreams, try to be an elite athlete, an elite musicians, whatever, but do it because you love what you do, not to be better than someone or to be recognized. A C.S. Lewis reference from Screwtape Letters comes to mind. It's the idea that Satan cannot create any joy, he can just pervert what good God has created. So the good that God created by giving people gifts and talents for building the kingdom and as acts of worship, gets perverted into an elitist search for recognition and fame.
Now let me be clear, recognition and fame in themselves aren't bad things. It is when achieving or maintaining these things leads to tearing others down that it becomes wrong. And stupid. I understand not liking people, being annoyed by people, or just being sort of indifferent to people. I mean, I just don't always get along with people due to interests, mannerisms, whatever. BUT, there is a difference between that and tearing others down. One is just people being different so you choose to not always associate with them, the other is treating people as less than you, often because they are different.
And what does it lead to? What does your ego get you? What does recognition get you?
"I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind." Ecclesiates 1:14
It's vanity.
One last note on this. If any guy had the right to an ego, he would have to be the picture of manliness, right? So who is the manliest man ever? Oh yeah, Jesus... think about it. Or watch Mark Driscoll's sermon Marriage and Men. I don't remember if he covers fame but he covers acting like a man for sure.
Well, I might have written more, but I should probably go to bed. That's all folks.
I have been working on some music stuff recently. I wrote two songs in the past week or so, including a whole one yesterday. A whole song in a day. Like all the lyrics and progressions, which takes more time than you might think to get stuff right. I will probably right a riff and a solo to go with it, but that is just to improve it, it isn't really necessary. Anyway, I would like to continue writing music at a nice pace, but it might have to wait til next weekend due to my schedule. Hopefully I can get some music out for you people sometime soon as well.
The more I experience people's egos, the less I want one. The whole concept of trying to be cool is really starting to get on my nerves. What I mean is trying to be cool for the sake of being "elite" is ridiculous. By all means, pursue your dreams, try to be an elite athlete, an elite musicians, whatever, but do it because you love what you do, not to be better than someone or to be recognized. A C.S. Lewis reference from Screwtape Letters comes to mind. It's the idea that Satan cannot create any joy, he can just pervert what good God has created. So the good that God created by giving people gifts and talents for building the kingdom and as acts of worship, gets perverted into an elitist search for recognition and fame.
Now let me be clear, recognition and fame in themselves aren't bad things. It is when achieving or maintaining these things leads to tearing others down that it becomes wrong. And stupid. I understand not liking people, being annoyed by people, or just being sort of indifferent to people. I mean, I just don't always get along with people due to interests, mannerisms, whatever. BUT, there is a difference between that and tearing others down. One is just people being different so you choose to not always associate with them, the other is treating people as less than you, often because they are different.
And what does it lead to? What does your ego get you? What does recognition get you?
"I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind." Ecclesiates 1:14
It's vanity.
One last note on this. If any guy had the right to an ego, he would have to be the picture of manliness, right? So who is the manliest man ever? Oh yeah, Jesus... think about it. Or watch Mark Driscoll's sermon Marriage and Men. I don't remember if he covers fame but he covers acting like a man for sure.
Well, I might have written more, but I should probably go to bed. That's all folks.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Tell Me What Can You Claim?
Talent is useless without righteousness.
You are not better than anyone else. Nor are you worse.
Character= influence.
Just a few quick lines from Fame is Infamy. It is a very unconventiona book, since it is composed of short stories, parables, poems, and some lists of truths and lies. Basically all of these things are challenging what the reader, me in this case, believes about purpose or fame. Some of it is pretty funny and/or entertaining, but there are definitely a lot of serious questions and thoughts.
All of the quotes above definitely apply to me. There are some things from the quotes that I can apply to my life, and there are things I see in other people that I most certainly don't want to copy. I have talked a bit before about people's egos, and how it bothers me when people are just flat out amazed with themselves. Let me be clear, I enjoy audacious joking, pretending that I am freakin awesome. And I do like myself, I have a healthy confidence, but I definitely don't have the ego that I joke about. So it really gets on my nerves when people legitimately believe that they are just that cool. It is even worse when they have talent, but lack righteousness. When they have talent, but think they are better than others and treat people like it too. These people have no influence because they have no character. It all ties together.
So those are my thoughts on other people. I will admit that these are things that I need to watch in myself though. As much as I think I have a healthy level of confidence, I have to make sure to keep it in check so that confidence doesn't get misdirected into pride. For example, I like to be a well rounded person, trying to be at least decently versed in academics, athletics, music, religious ideas. So while I am not by any means amazing at any of those factors, I am fine at all of them, so I can get pretty pleased with myself for the whole picture. Which in itself is not bad i believe, as long as I am still working to improve, realizing I am not perfect. The problem comes if and when I start to think this accumulation of moderate talents makes me better than someone else. I would never act on a thought like that, openly acting like I am better than someone, but I may have a thought just out of the blue like "I cant think of anything that they are better than me at," or maybe they just don't look like someone interesting to me. I wouldn't be openly mean or arrogant to them, but I may not talk to them, or keep conversation to a minimum. It is a selfish attitude that says that they can't offer me anything, so I won't bother with them. I think it sounds like a far more severe situation on this blog than what I usually deal with, but it is something that I need to watch out for and pray about.
Even with moderate talents, I need to use them in a righteous manner.
I think I have even referenced this song before, but the song Beggars by Thrice is such a good song for this subject. A few quotes from that song:
As you lie in your bed, does the thought haunt your head that you're really, rather small?
All you big shots that swagger and stride with conceit, did you devise how your frame would be formed?
Can you hear what’s been said?
Can you see now that everything’s grace after all?
If there’s one thing I know in this life: we are beggars all.
Wow that blog turned out really serious. Oh well, I hope you still enjoyed it.
You are not better than anyone else. Nor are you worse.
Character= influence.
Just a few quick lines from Fame is Infamy. It is a very unconventiona book, since it is composed of short stories, parables, poems, and some lists of truths and lies. Basically all of these things are challenging what the reader, me in this case, believes about purpose or fame. Some of it is pretty funny and/or entertaining, but there are definitely a lot of serious questions and thoughts.
All of the quotes above definitely apply to me. There are some things from the quotes that I can apply to my life, and there are things I see in other people that I most certainly don't want to copy. I have talked a bit before about people's egos, and how it bothers me when people are just flat out amazed with themselves. Let me be clear, I enjoy audacious joking, pretending that I am freakin awesome. And I do like myself, I have a healthy confidence, but I definitely don't have the ego that I joke about. So it really gets on my nerves when people legitimately believe that they are just that cool. It is even worse when they have talent, but lack righteousness. When they have talent, but think they are better than others and treat people like it too. These people have no influence because they have no character. It all ties together.
So those are my thoughts on other people. I will admit that these are things that I need to watch in myself though. As much as I think I have a healthy level of confidence, I have to make sure to keep it in check so that confidence doesn't get misdirected into pride. For example, I like to be a well rounded person, trying to be at least decently versed in academics, athletics, music, religious ideas. So while I am not by any means amazing at any of those factors, I am fine at all of them, so I can get pretty pleased with myself for the whole picture. Which in itself is not bad i believe, as long as I am still working to improve, realizing I am not perfect. The problem comes if and when I start to think this accumulation of moderate talents makes me better than someone else. I would never act on a thought like that, openly acting like I am better than someone, but I may have a thought just out of the blue like "I cant think of anything that they are better than me at," or maybe they just don't look like someone interesting to me. I wouldn't be openly mean or arrogant to them, but I may not talk to them, or keep conversation to a minimum. It is a selfish attitude that says that they can't offer me anything, so I won't bother with them. I think it sounds like a far more severe situation on this blog than what I usually deal with, but it is something that I need to watch out for and pray about.
Even with moderate talents, I need to use them in a righteous manner.
I think I have even referenced this song before, but the song Beggars by Thrice is such a good song for this subject. A few quotes from that song:
As you lie in your bed, does the thought haunt your head that you're really, rather small?
All you big shots that swagger and stride with conceit, did you devise how your frame would be formed?
Can you hear what’s been said?
Can you see now that everything’s grace after all?
If there’s one thing I know in this life: we are beggars all.
Wow that blog turned out really serious. Oh well, I hope you still enjoyed it.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Concert-ing it up
Alright another week down.
Its amazing how quickly I have adjusted to being like, 'yeah whatever I've been here for a while, it's just life as normal.' Also, I don't feel disconnected from my bros really, like we still talk or at least text frequently. I know it has only been two weeks, but you know what I mean.
The drive to Portland is not bad at all from here. It took me like 40 minutes each way to get to the concert last night, which was like inner city ish. So I can easily make it to some more concerts, although I would like someone to go with for blindside next week. We will see. I am thinking when Mars Hill starts up their Portland branch in January I will have to go there at least once. I just saw a video of the place they bought and it looks sweet. It's in an...interesting neighborhood though.
So I went by myself to the Brian "Head" Welch, Project 86, Spoken, The Wedding, and I Am Empire concert. Unlike probably all of you reading, I had actually heard of all of those bands, though I am really only a fan of Welch and Proj. The place it was at was pretty cool, but the tour date wasnt set til a few weeks ago, so the show didnt get as much publicity as it could have. Hence, there was almost no one there for the first two bands. Maybe 50 people in all, with about 12 to fifteen up in front by the stage. Now I am not much of a moshing guy, usually far too chill for that kind of thing, but I kind of got pulled into it this time because i was standing by the stage, and the lead singer from the wedding decided to hop down from the stage and walk around the floor to get people pumped up. Well, in a series of events, he ended up dumping his water bottle out on me. Then the small group up front spent the next 3 or so songs moshing with the lead singer. It was a pretty unique experience, and also pretty much awesome. After the Wedding finished, he even gave me a free t shirt for letting him dump water on me, so I won't complain about a free shirt.
Project 86 can put on a show. Well, Andrew Schwab can put on a show, because I think Steven Dail is gone and Randy was sick, so the Proj that I know only had Schwab left. A bunch of guys yelling along to the wondrous music, and then breaking into moshing is pretty entertaining. Brian Welch was also fun to watch, but he isn't quite as crazy as Proj in terms of excitement and just the general pace of the performance. Welch was very similar to when I saw them in the Tri, but I dont really remember the bass and drum solos. Those were crazy.
Oh well, enough about the concert. I bought Andrew Schwab's newest book, Fame is Infamy, at the show, and I can already tell I am going to enjoy it. Basically it is about looking for what our purpose is, and seeing how weird it is that our culture tells us that purpose and success is found in recognition and fame. Or at least that is a good portion of it. Redefining how we look at purpose. And it is all written in a very readable way, so I am looking forward to this book.
Little update, didnt really get anywhere in the church search today. I went to Grace Baptist and a guy that speaks apparently like once a month or something was speaking, and he was super boring. But the guy I heard last time is the guy that usually preaches. I am leaning towards not Southside because I think it is important, at least at this point in my life, to have people my age at my church. You know, people to relate to. Prayer for direction is still always appreciated.
That is enough for tonight.
Its amazing how quickly I have adjusted to being like, 'yeah whatever I've been here for a while, it's just life as normal.' Also, I don't feel disconnected from my bros really, like we still talk or at least text frequently. I know it has only been two weeks, but you know what I mean.
The drive to Portland is not bad at all from here. It took me like 40 minutes each way to get to the concert last night, which was like inner city ish. So I can easily make it to some more concerts, although I would like someone to go with for blindside next week. We will see. I am thinking when Mars Hill starts up their Portland branch in January I will have to go there at least once. I just saw a video of the place they bought and it looks sweet. It's in an...interesting neighborhood though.
So I went by myself to the Brian "Head" Welch, Project 86, Spoken, The Wedding, and I Am Empire concert. Unlike probably all of you reading, I had actually heard of all of those bands, though I am really only a fan of Welch and Proj. The place it was at was pretty cool, but the tour date wasnt set til a few weeks ago, so the show didnt get as much publicity as it could have. Hence, there was almost no one there for the first two bands. Maybe 50 people in all, with about 12 to fifteen up in front by the stage. Now I am not much of a moshing guy, usually far too chill for that kind of thing, but I kind of got pulled into it this time because i was standing by the stage, and the lead singer from the wedding decided to hop down from the stage and walk around the floor to get people pumped up. Well, in a series of events, he ended up dumping his water bottle out on me. Then the small group up front spent the next 3 or so songs moshing with the lead singer. It was a pretty unique experience, and also pretty much awesome. After the Wedding finished, he even gave me a free t shirt for letting him dump water on me, so I won't complain about a free shirt.
Project 86 can put on a show. Well, Andrew Schwab can put on a show, because I think Steven Dail is gone and Randy was sick, so the Proj that I know only had Schwab left. A bunch of guys yelling along to the wondrous music, and then breaking into moshing is pretty entertaining. Brian Welch was also fun to watch, but he isn't quite as crazy as Proj in terms of excitement and just the general pace of the performance. Welch was very similar to when I saw them in the Tri, but I dont really remember the bass and drum solos. Those were crazy.
Oh well, enough about the concert. I bought Andrew Schwab's newest book, Fame is Infamy, at the show, and I can already tell I am going to enjoy it. Basically it is about looking for what our purpose is, and seeing how weird it is that our culture tells us that purpose and success is found in recognition and fame. Or at least that is a good portion of it. Redefining how we look at purpose. And it is all written in a very readable way, so I am looking forward to this book.
Little update, didnt really get anywhere in the church search today. I went to Grace Baptist and a guy that speaks apparently like once a month or something was speaking, and he was super boring. But the guy I heard last time is the guy that usually preaches. I am leaning towards not Southside because I think it is important, at least at this point in my life, to have people my age at my church. You know, people to relate to. Prayer for direction is still always appreciated.
That is enough for tonight.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Praise and Church Decisions
Okay first week of college is down, it was pretty good, and I have some thoughts to share. First off, I don't understand why my classes havent been giving me homework. I am no going to complain, but I know the classes I have are generally pretty strong on homework. But what ends up happening when I have no work is I end up bored because everyone else does have work. It's a vicious cycle.
I think it has been really cool to see people's faith around here. Obviously they make you go to chapel some, but what is really striking is the spontaneous or optional events. I'll give two examples. First was the last night of Orientation, there was a campus worship session that a lot of people went to, and what hit me was how genuine the student worship was. It wasn't like at a Liberty chapel where there are like 20 people singing and 80 just standing there. This was like 500 people genuinely praising God, which was amazing to see. The second example, which actually happened tonight, was an informal worship session in my dorms lounge. Even though the event was posted about 2 hours prior, we ended up with 20 to 30 people from the dorm worshipping for about an hour. Very cool to experience.
Basketball is still going, and I just love playing. It is so intense, you have to be on your toes all the time and I love it. It is so exciting to go all out, and play good competition. Most of the guys are pretty encouraging, telling me to take my shots and stuff like that. Like I've said, I absolutely love the concept of improving and working hard, so if I get burned or make a mistake in the game, obviously I'm not very pleased, but I can look at it as something to learn from.
Weights have been going too, hopefully I can put in a little more time for them this week, I feel like I cut a workout or two a bit short last week. I kind of want the coach to assign workout partners already so I can have someone to spot me on bench.
I'm enjoying meeting a bunch of new people, but sometimes I like don't hear peoples names, so I find myself listening for people to address them so that I can get it. Oh well, a lot of the people are pretty chill, even if some of the groups have different dynamics than I am used to.
Lastly for tonight, I went to Southside this week. It was a minuscule church. There were like 30, 40 people there max. The pastor was cool, if I went there I could get into music immediately, and some of the other people were really nice and inviting too. Like I went to lunch with the pastors family and another guy. It was really relaxed, but it raises some questions in my mind for choosing churches. They were so inviting, I feel like I should go back, but it just might not be the right fit, because there really werent many college age people there at all, and the pastor wasn't quite as good as Grace Baptist. So I really need some prayer for making the right decision on a church. Maybe there is another church to try, but I don't think that is what God is telling me. I keep thinking about a few things. One is C.S. Lewis in Screwtape Letters where Lewis talks about not being a connoisseur of churches, which I am not doing, but after that he says that God sticks us in places where we might not like every aspect of the church, but we are there for a reason to grow us and others. Then there is a combination of a guy that spoke at new Vintage and Mark Driscoll. The guy from New Vintage said something like God puts us where he wants us(same as Lewis) and Driscoll made a comment about how God places people around us to grow us and form relationships with us. Sometimes we just aren't looking for it. All the thoughts are similar, but they very much tie in to choosing a home church, so any prayer is welcome.
I think it has been really cool to see people's faith around here. Obviously they make you go to chapel some, but what is really striking is the spontaneous or optional events. I'll give two examples. First was the last night of Orientation, there was a campus worship session that a lot of people went to, and what hit me was how genuine the student worship was. It wasn't like at a Liberty chapel where there are like 20 people singing and 80 just standing there. This was like 500 people genuinely praising God, which was amazing to see. The second example, which actually happened tonight, was an informal worship session in my dorms lounge. Even though the event was posted about 2 hours prior, we ended up with 20 to 30 people from the dorm worshipping for about an hour. Very cool to experience.
Basketball is still going, and I just love playing. It is so intense, you have to be on your toes all the time and I love it. It is so exciting to go all out, and play good competition. Most of the guys are pretty encouraging, telling me to take my shots and stuff like that. Like I've said, I absolutely love the concept of improving and working hard, so if I get burned or make a mistake in the game, obviously I'm not very pleased, but I can look at it as something to learn from.
Weights have been going too, hopefully I can put in a little more time for them this week, I feel like I cut a workout or two a bit short last week. I kind of want the coach to assign workout partners already so I can have someone to spot me on bench.
I'm enjoying meeting a bunch of new people, but sometimes I like don't hear peoples names, so I find myself listening for people to address them so that I can get it. Oh well, a lot of the people are pretty chill, even if some of the groups have different dynamics than I am used to.
Lastly for tonight, I went to Southside this week. It was a minuscule church. There were like 30, 40 people there max. The pastor was cool, if I went there I could get into music immediately, and some of the other people were really nice and inviting too. Like I went to lunch with the pastors family and another guy. It was really relaxed, but it raises some questions in my mind for choosing churches. They were so inviting, I feel like I should go back, but it just might not be the right fit, because there really werent many college age people there at all, and the pastor wasn't quite as good as Grace Baptist. So I really need some prayer for making the right decision on a church. Maybe there is another church to try, but I don't think that is what God is telling me. I keep thinking about a few things. One is C.S. Lewis in Screwtape Letters where Lewis talks about not being a connoisseur of churches, which I am not doing, but after that he says that God sticks us in places where we might not like every aspect of the church, but we are there for a reason to grow us and others. Then there is a combination of a guy that spoke at new Vintage and Mark Driscoll. The guy from New Vintage said something like God puts us where he wants us(same as Lewis) and Driscoll made a comment about how God places people around us to grow us and form relationships with us. Sometimes we just aren't looking for it. All the thoughts are similar, but they very much tie in to choosing a home church, so any prayer is welcome.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Here We Go
Well I made it to college. I figure I should write a post before my classes start to give me homework and stuff. I have my doubts about how many blogs I will be writing in the next few weeks.
So update, I am now in Newberg, OR, at George Fox University. If you didn't know. Roommate is working out well, and my dorm floor is cool and stuff. Nothing too terribly exciting. My classes seem good but they will be pretty challenging. Again, not very exciting.
Okay I'll talk about bball. I think it is going to be pretty darn hard to make it on the team. This year that is. A lot of the guys are just a lot older than me, it makes a difference. Oh well, that doesn't mean I won't try as hard as I can, and heck, maybe I can squeeze onto the team if I continue to improve a lot. Basically, I am going into every day right now with an attitude to work as hard as I can and learn as much as I can. I need to work on some aspects of my game to get them college ready. Whether I make the team or not, I am confident that I will improve drastically over the next 6 weeks. If I make it, cool. If not, I have another year to train and i am quite confident that I would easily make it then. I am excited for some high quality competition.
Classes. Dang it I have to talk about immigration in English and of course I have to in English. And since it is Oregon, I have just a slightly different opinion than a lot of people around here... For those of you who don't understand, let me put it another way. In general, I support Arizona's new laws about immigration. I am willing to have my mind changed if you think there is something inhumane about it that you can convince me of, but I am a fan of protecting borders.
I went to a church called Grace Baptist on Sunday, and I have mixed feelings. On one hand, I like to wear t shirts and stuff to church, while this church seemed slightly more formal. Also, the music was kind of old fashioned, even lacking an electric guitar. There were two acoustics, and they were very strong on piano. On the other hand, the preacher was pretty awesome. I didn't really have any questions about whether I agreed with the Baptist denomination, but if I did, he basically cleared it all up in this sermon. It featured the gospel clearly laid out(something I like in sermons), said liberal philosophies like universalism, homosexuality, and sex before marriage were wrong, among other things. So basically he gives the word straight. And he is pretty funny and charismatic to go along with it. So yeah, I might go to another church next sunday, but I will definitely keep Grace Baptist in consideration for a home church.
Okay, that is good for today
So update, I am now in Newberg, OR, at George Fox University. If you didn't know. Roommate is working out well, and my dorm floor is cool and stuff. Nothing too terribly exciting. My classes seem good but they will be pretty challenging. Again, not very exciting.
Okay I'll talk about bball. I think it is going to be pretty darn hard to make it on the team. This year that is. A lot of the guys are just a lot older than me, it makes a difference. Oh well, that doesn't mean I won't try as hard as I can, and heck, maybe I can squeeze onto the team if I continue to improve a lot. Basically, I am going into every day right now with an attitude to work as hard as I can and learn as much as I can. I need to work on some aspects of my game to get them college ready. Whether I make the team or not, I am confident that I will improve drastically over the next 6 weeks. If I make it, cool. If not, I have another year to train and i am quite confident that I would easily make it then. I am excited for some high quality competition.
Classes. Dang it I have to talk about immigration in English and of course I have to in English. And since it is Oregon, I have just a slightly different opinion than a lot of people around here... For those of you who don't understand, let me put it another way. In general, I support Arizona's new laws about immigration. I am willing to have my mind changed if you think there is something inhumane about it that you can convince me of, but I am a fan of protecting borders.
I went to a church called Grace Baptist on Sunday, and I have mixed feelings. On one hand, I like to wear t shirts and stuff to church, while this church seemed slightly more formal. Also, the music was kind of old fashioned, even lacking an electric guitar. There were two acoustics, and they were very strong on piano. On the other hand, the preacher was pretty awesome. I didn't really have any questions about whether I agreed with the Baptist denomination, but if I did, he basically cleared it all up in this sermon. It featured the gospel clearly laid out(something I like in sermons), said liberal philosophies like universalism, homosexuality, and sex before marriage were wrong, among other things. So basically he gives the word straight. And he is pretty funny and charismatic to go along with it. So yeah, I might go to another church next sunday, but I will definitely keep Grace Baptist in consideration for a home church.
Okay, that is good for today
Sunday, August 14, 2011
People and Art
My thoughts are kind of all over the place right now, and I'm trying to decide what of it I want to write down and what is better off left alone. We will see as I start writing.
First off, I spent a good portion of time with friends this weekend, at a couple houses and what not. People start heading out for college now, so it was the last time I would see some of those people for a while.
One of the places I went for a few minutes(literally) was Ambers house for a bonfire. I was there for only a few minutes for several reasons.1. I had something else to do that was more my style, and 2. I really didn't know that many people. Let me explain the second point, obviously I knew like Bryan and Amber and Natalie, and obviously all of those people are cool, but I wasn't talking to any of them very much. But you're like, Aaron, or more likely, Ron, why not just meet some people that you don't know. If this was last year, I may try to meet a few people, but when I am about to leave for college, why bother meeting someone that a.will be heading to a different college and that b.I will probably never see again. I don't see the point in wasting both my time and their time. Unless a stranger is going to the same college or maybe somewhere near me, I really don't care what college they are going to or what their major is. However, that seems to be the number 1 conversation starter nowadays. That may sound pessimistic, or you may just not like my point of view, but I would rather chill with good friends in my last week than people I've never met.
I went to New Vintage this week instead of Bethel, since I wanted to see those peoples before I left. I did enjoy seeing them and will definitely miss that youth group this year, they're good folks...
I was talking to Victor today about how people make comments about art being dead. He brought it up I believe, but the main point of the conversation was this: Yeah their are a lot of uncreative artists right now that aren't doing original stuff, but those type of people have always been around, people just don't remember them after a while. Art isn't dead, or even close to it, I just think awareness of different aspects of art come up in every generation. For example, take rock music in the late 70s and 80s, where a lot of bands would just bust a guitar solo every song til the point where a lot of them just started sounding manufactured. Today, Rock music has too few solos, in my opinion, and the common themes are the gravely voice and verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus-chorus. Again those are just my opinions, you can disagree if you want.
That's all for tonight, and it came out alright if I do say so myself.
First off, I spent a good portion of time with friends this weekend, at a couple houses and what not. People start heading out for college now, so it was the last time I would see some of those people for a while.
One of the places I went for a few minutes(literally) was Ambers house for a bonfire. I was there for only a few minutes for several reasons.1. I had something else to do that was more my style, and 2. I really didn't know that many people. Let me explain the second point, obviously I knew like Bryan and Amber and Natalie, and obviously all of those people are cool, but I wasn't talking to any of them very much. But you're like, Aaron, or more likely, Ron, why not just meet some people that you don't know. If this was last year, I may try to meet a few people, but when I am about to leave for college, why bother meeting someone that a.will be heading to a different college and that b.I will probably never see again. I don't see the point in wasting both my time and their time. Unless a stranger is going to the same college or maybe somewhere near me, I really don't care what college they are going to or what their major is. However, that seems to be the number 1 conversation starter nowadays. That may sound pessimistic, or you may just not like my point of view, but I would rather chill with good friends in my last week than people I've never met.
I went to New Vintage this week instead of Bethel, since I wanted to see those peoples before I left. I did enjoy seeing them and will definitely miss that youth group this year, they're good folks...
I was talking to Victor today about how people make comments about art being dead. He brought it up I believe, but the main point of the conversation was this: Yeah their are a lot of uncreative artists right now that aren't doing original stuff, but those type of people have always been around, people just don't remember them after a while. Art isn't dead, or even close to it, I just think awareness of different aspects of art come up in every generation. For example, take rock music in the late 70s and 80s, where a lot of bands would just bust a guitar solo every song til the point where a lot of them just started sounding manufactured. Today, Rock music has too few solos, in my opinion, and the common themes are the gravely voice and verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus-chorus. Again those are just my opinions, you can disagree if you want.
That's all for tonight, and it came out alright if I do say so myself.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Routine
First off, people start leaving for college in the next few days. I leave in about 2 weeks, and it's sort of freaking me out. Not like I'm scared, or worried, it is just weird. I am not a worried person at all, so I'm pretty chill about it all, but I got a pretty good thing going here and now I'm leaving it behind. I will be stepping out of my comfort zone, like numerous preachers have told me in the past year or so, and I always thought about college, now here it comes.
This might clear my thoughts up for people. I like going on vacations and stuff, I am fine with traveling and what not, but I really like the daily grind. I like having a routine. Heck, I have a routine for the shots I take practicing bball.(25 swished form shots, 5 swish baseline jumpers, 5 elbow turnaround jumpers, etc). I'm not worried about breaking the routine, but I like the routine. So that is what I want at college. I would almost rather just skip orientation stuff so I can get into having a new daily schedule. Note:groove is probably a better word for what I want, routine makes it sound like I label my underwear by the days of the week or something crazy like that.
So if you haven't seen, the Cars came out with a new CD after 24 years. I only know this because of the Colbert Report, I am not a Cars fan by any means. But I got to thinking, why don't more bands keep making music? I understand keeping a bands legacy, so people could go solo or go under a different name, but really, music isn't like other careers where you are supposed to stop once you get the money to retire or whatever. It's art. Don't you make art basically till you can't anymore? I have my doubts about old musicians completely running out of material... it doesn't work like that. I mean, if you made it big, you don't even have to tour anymore, you can just release the album. This seems strange to me.
I am trying to work on a bit of piano, just so that I can play a little bit. You know the bit, I'd like to be acceptable at it. It's just not enough to be the guy who plays the guitar and sings, I'd like to be a more well rounded musician. I think it is funny how that has changed for me overtime. I played piano for two years when I was little then I was like I want to play guitar, piano sucks. In different language of course, I was like 10. Now I do love guitar, and still think it is cooler than piano, but piano is pretty sweet in its own right. (I would throw drums in there, but what little boy doesn't want to play drums. You can hit them hard and they make loud noises.)
Eh, I'll keep the blog shorter for today, so that's all.
This might clear my thoughts up for people. I like going on vacations and stuff, I am fine with traveling and what not, but I really like the daily grind. I like having a routine. Heck, I have a routine for the shots I take practicing bball.(25 swished form shots, 5 swish baseline jumpers, 5 elbow turnaround jumpers, etc). I'm not worried about breaking the routine, but I like the routine. So that is what I want at college. I would almost rather just skip orientation stuff so I can get into having a new daily schedule. Note:groove is probably a better word for what I want, routine makes it sound like I label my underwear by the days of the week or something crazy like that.
So if you haven't seen, the Cars came out with a new CD after 24 years. I only know this because of the Colbert Report, I am not a Cars fan by any means. But I got to thinking, why don't more bands keep making music? I understand keeping a bands legacy, so people could go solo or go under a different name, but really, music isn't like other careers where you are supposed to stop once you get the money to retire or whatever. It's art. Don't you make art basically till you can't anymore? I have my doubts about old musicians completely running out of material... it doesn't work like that. I mean, if you made it big, you don't even have to tour anymore, you can just release the album. This seems strange to me.
I am trying to work on a bit of piano, just so that I can play a little bit. You know the bit, I'd like to be acceptable at it. It's just not enough to be the guy who plays the guitar and sings, I'd like to be a more well rounded musician. I think it is funny how that has changed for me overtime. I played piano for two years when I was little then I was like I want to play guitar, piano sucks. In different language of course, I was like 10. Now I do love guitar, and still think it is cooler than piano, but piano is pretty sweet in its own right. (I would throw drums in there, but what little boy doesn't want to play drums. You can hit them hard and they make loud noises.)
Eh, I'll keep the blog shorter for today, so that's all.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Current music
A couple quick things. You know, it's okay to watch my Youtube videos or listen to my purevolume music, Accolades, more than once. I wouldn't be angry.
Also, again, I would not be angry if people commented on my blogs a bit more. I figure someone thinks something about some subject that I write about...
Onto some more interesting things, maybe. If you didn't know, my family has never had cable tv. I have always just had the basic fox, cbs, nbc, pbs, abc setup. The month that I am set to leave for college my family decides to get Dish. I am trying to decide if they are trying to fill the whole that will open when I depart for Fox, or if they just wanted to watch the new season of Jersey Shore. Don't get me started on what I think about the people on that show making millions.
On other notes, I have been playing guitar some more recently. I don't especially like the style of a lot of the songs I write, they just seem kind of plain, so I am trying to get a little different sound going. I haven't tried writing many lyrics to this stuff yet, so we will see what comes of it.
As much as I feel like I should put some more original music out there, I got an idea for another cover today. I haven't run it by many people yet, and it would definitely employ victors talents, but I think the end result would be appreciated. Mostly by 2010 Liberty basketball players... So you might have to wait and see what that will be as well.
Oh and I want to play some more drums. I have had like 3 drum lessons, so I suck, but I just want to work on it some. I'd like to get acceptable at it. Not even good, just acceptable, so I could have some fun and maybe lay down a track or two in the future if needed. Very few of you have any idea how dumb it is to just look through drum tracks on Garage Band to find something that is "sort of close" to what you want.
I should probably start reading some more. I have been listening to some good stuff, but I have a good list of books I would like to get to reading, and at this pace I will never read them. Maybe I should wake up earlier or something, because I cannot read very late at night or I just end up going to sleep.
Eh, I'll just get back to the music theme for a bit. I am sick of the music at the club. Like more so than usual. Dang you Victor for bringing up rock music dying, I already knew that the pop-ish music they play at the club was dead musically, but I suddenly became more cognizant of it. Why would you write a song that doesn't mean anything?? No one cares that you are always "up in the club," or that you grabbed someone sexy and told them hey. That's what "someone sexy" was at the club for anyway. So it really wasn't an accomplishment, so why write about it?? If the whole point of your song is to write about a daily event, or to tell people how cool you are, don't write the song. Lyrics are supposed to be an art, like poetry or something, so use pictures, something of deep meaning to you, emotions, I don't care if it's about a girl or politics, but let the song be creative, lyrically and instrumentally, and let it mean something to you. I don't understand why that is so hard.
Also, again, I would not be angry if people commented on my blogs a bit more. I figure someone thinks something about some subject that I write about...
Onto some more interesting things, maybe. If you didn't know, my family has never had cable tv. I have always just had the basic fox, cbs, nbc, pbs, abc setup. The month that I am set to leave for college my family decides to get Dish. I am trying to decide if they are trying to fill the whole that will open when I depart for Fox, or if they just wanted to watch the new season of Jersey Shore. Don't get me started on what I think about the people on that show making millions.
On other notes, I have been playing guitar some more recently. I don't especially like the style of a lot of the songs I write, they just seem kind of plain, so I am trying to get a little different sound going. I haven't tried writing many lyrics to this stuff yet, so we will see what comes of it.
As much as I feel like I should put some more original music out there, I got an idea for another cover today. I haven't run it by many people yet, and it would definitely employ victors talents, but I think the end result would be appreciated. Mostly by 2010 Liberty basketball players... So you might have to wait and see what that will be as well.
Oh and I want to play some more drums. I have had like 3 drum lessons, so I suck, but I just want to work on it some. I'd like to get acceptable at it. Not even good, just acceptable, so I could have some fun and maybe lay down a track or two in the future if needed. Very few of you have any idea how dumb it is to just look through drum tracks on Garage Band to find something that is "sort of close" to what you want.
I should probably start reading some more. I have been listening to some good stuff, but I have a good list of books I would like to get to reading, and at this pace I will never read them. Maybe I should wake up earlier or something, because I cannot read very late at night or I just end up going to sleep.
Eh, I'll just get back to the music theme for a bit. I am sick of the music at the club. Like more so than usual. Dang you Victor for bringing up rock music dying, I already knew that the pop-ish music they play at the club was dead musically, but I suddenly became more cognizant of it. Why would you write a song that doesn't mean anything?? No one cares that you are always "up in the club," or that you grabbed someone sexy and told them hey. That's what "someone sexy" was at the club for anyway. So it really wasn't an accomplishment, so why write about it?? If the whole point of your song is to write about a daily event, or to tell people how cool you are, don't write the song. Lyrics are supposed to be an art, like poetry or something, so use pictures, something of deep meaning to you, emotions, I don't care if it's about a girl or politics, but let the song be creative, lyrically and instrumentally, and let it mean something to you. I don't understand why that is so hard.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Cracked Screens, Churches, and Careers
As many of you read earlier today, my iphone passed away. It was found without a working bottom half of the touch screen at around 10:30 last night. This had happened once before, but last time it was after being dropped. Taking off the screen and putting it back on did not work this time though. For those of you who don't know, I got that phone with an already cracked screen for $10. And it lasted 2 years. Oh yeah. But it's okay because I got a 3Gs, now, instead of just a 3G.
So if you didn't know, it's very hard to judge if a church is gooding by looking at their website. I have run into this problem when looking for churches in Newberg. You can tell if they are super old, and if they have some beliefs you don't like, but other than that, most churches have pretty similar beliefs and sometimes you can't even tell if they preach on certain topics. So you really have to visit to figure out if you like it. Some people in the college group are talking about commuting to Portland or other places like 30 min away, but I would prefer to stay closer to campus, so that if I wanted I could be involved in the church community. It is very hard to be an involved member if you live 40 min away from your church.
I reached 170 one day this week on the scale. I would be celebrating but I'd like to see it more consistent at 170 instead of steady at 168 or so. Anyway working out and basketball have been good, but I could go for being a bit less tired some days. Like right now I am debating whether or not I want to do noon hoops tomorrow. Sometimes I just like to get my shots up, since that is a better way to work on individual skills. But I also know I need to work on my team game, moving without the ball and getting people involved.
So I was thinking about careers some this week. This was started by reading Katie's most recent blog, about wanting to be a sports broadcaster. While I think this would be a good fit for her, I got to thinking about my career. Because I know Katie wanted to be a teacher, which I also thought was a good job for her. That got me thinking, like if I wasn't going to be an optometrist what would I be? Don't get me wrong, I really like Optometry, it's what I want to do, but I am very cognizant of the fact that God often changes our plans, so I like to keep an open mind about it. I thought about some parts of my life I enjoy, like basketball and working out, music, and religious stuff. What I have realized when watching trainers at physical therapy appointments and going to bball practice this whole year without playing, is that you can spend hours and hours at the gym without getting any exercise. I really don't like that. I might be okay with that at some point, but I feel like it would be better to keep the gym as a place of fun and relaxation(mentally) rather than have it be work. I would like to do music stuff for a career, but I am not a musical genius, and there is too much risk financially, since I would like to have a family that I could support financially. Also listening to artists that I consider more mature, like Thrice, Blindside, and Brian Welch, they often talk about how hard it is to be away from your family that much. I thought about religious stuff, and I am not feeling it. I like listening to sermons and getting stuff out of them, looking at the verses that were talked about, but I could never preach. I like to learn and have knowledge, that way I can be ready to respond when the right time comes for me to share with people about Christ or about other issues, but it's just not a career option. I'm not even like "God, I will not do that," I just don't see it as my calling. That is probably an obvious statement to those of you that know me. So until God changes my mind, Optometry it is.
So if you didn't know, it's very hard to judge if a church is gooding by looking at their website. I have run into this problem when looking for churches in Newberg. You can tell if they are super old, and if they have some beliefs you don't like, but other than that, most churches have pretty similar beliefs and sometimes you can't even tell if they preach on certain topics. So you really have to visit to figure out if you like it. Some people in the college group are talking about commuting to Portland or other places like 30 min away, but I would prefer to stay closer to campus, so that if I wanted I could be involved in the church community. It is very hard to be an involved member if you live 40 min away from your church.
I reached 170 one day this week on the scale. I would be celebrating but I'd like to see it more consistent at 170 instead of steady at 168 or so. Anyway working out and basketball have been good, but I could go for being a bit less tired some days. Like right now I am debating whether or not I want to do noon hoops tomorrow. Sometimes I just like to get my shots up, since that is a better way to work on individual skills. But I also know I need to work on my team game, moving without the ball and getting people involved.
So I was thinking about careers some this week. This was started by reading Katie's most recent blog, about wanting to be a sports broadcaster. While I think this would be a good fit for her, I got to thinking about my career. Because I know Katie wanted to be a teacher, which I also thought was a good job for her. That got me thinking, like if I wasn't going to be an optometrist what would I be? Don't get me wrong, I really like Optometry, it's what I want to do, but I am very cognizant of the fact that God often changes our plans, so I like to keep an open mind about it. I thought about some parts of my life I enjoy, like basketball and working out, music, and religious stuff. What I have realized when watching trainers at physical therapy appointments and going to bball practice this whole year without playing, is that you can spend hours and hours at the gym without getting any exercise. I really don't like that. I might be okay with that at some point, but I feel like it would be better to keep the gym as a place of fun and relaxation(mentally) rather than have it be work. I would like to do music stuff for a career, but I am not a musical genius, and there is too much risk financially, since I would like to have a family that I could support financially. Also listening to artists that I consider more mature, like Thrice, Blindside, and Brian Welch, they often talk about how hard it is to be away from your family that much. I thought about religious stuff, and I am not feeling it. I like listening to sermons and getting stuff out of them, looking at the verses that were talked about, but I could never preach. I like to learn and have knowledge, that way I can be ready to respond when the right time comes for me to share with people about Christ or about other issues, but it's just not a career option. I'm not even like "God, I will not do that," I just don't see it as my calling. That is probably an obvious statement to those of you that know me. So until God changes my mind, Optometry it is.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Listening to voices, and David compared to us
Time for another blog post. I have decided to use that tumblr account that I made as a place to compile my music. Not much is really new right now from what I have posted on purevolume and youtube, but I will probably post some different stuff on there sometime. Here's the url if you want to check it out: http://aaronsalzano.tumblr.com/
In other music news, I said I was going to write a song after last blog, and I totally did. It is not my best work or anything like that, but I might record it sometime.
I wonder if famous artists have trouble listening to their own music. I know I do. Obviously I know that I am not the best, so there will be little mistakes here and there, and that is sort of hard to listen to. And I often hear things I could have done differently that would have made the song better, and that's also kind of hard to hear. But it's not even that stuff. It is just weird, I don't know how to describe it. Like it's sort of eerie or something to hear your own work, and it feels kind of dumb to listen to my own stuff just for fun. I mean, I can play it, or I can listen to people who are way better than me, so what is the point of just hearing my stuff? Whatever, it's just something I've thought about a bit.
Have you ever read the whole story of David in 1 and 2 Samuel. I'm right in the middle of 2 Samuel right now, and it is a lot more brutal than you get told as a kid. Like I am pretty sure that I didn't know until a few months ago that when David was running from Saul he eventually ended up working for a Philistine king, and David was almost involved in a battle against the Israelites, except the Philistine commanders didn't trust that he would stay on their side so they kicked him out. What kind of actions are those for someone who is anointed to be a future king? Then when he is King we all know the story of Bathsheba, where he sleeps with her and then gets her husband, Uriah, a totally loyal commander, killed. This man is a man after God's own heart?
Yeah.
And I think to how it relates to my life, and Christians in general. I do not think I could be called a man after God's own heart. That would be called a life goal. I would love for that to be my legacy, but I am pretty sure David is the only own who gets called that haha. David went from defeating the Philistines with Goliath, to working for them, to defeating them again. Thinking back, there are a few things that I used to think, "I'll never do that," and sure enough I ended up doing it. It's the same thing as David's deal with the Philistines, just on a personal level. I look forward to reconquering those aspects in my life, as David did with his problems. What did he do when he made a mistake? He repented. And repenting isn't a simple "Oh, I'm sorry." It's a change of heart and mind. So I thank the Lord for David, because he shows how you can be a godly man despite making mistakes.
I keep listening to different sermons and clips, and I do enjoy how each pastor has their own style, and yet they are all on the same team(obviously I am referring solid preachers, not like Joel Osteen or Rob Bell or anyone really controversial Biblically). Like Pastor Dave uses life stories and he likes puns, groupings using alliteration, meaning the first letter is the same(heck he is like a physics major or something, organization runs in his blood), and he uses tons of verse references for each point he makes. Matt Molt uses more life stories than Dave, and that seems to be where a lot of his jokes come from, and I feel like he uses one passage a lot more than Pastor Dave does. Like he backs it up with other scriptures, but it's not like 25 more references like Dave. Molt also focuses a lot on spiritual gifts. Driscoll is much more in your face with his points, like he will yell. However a lot of people think that is all he does, and it's just not true. He is very often quiet, and whether he is quiet or loud, you can always tell that he is very sincere.
I could mention others, but I got my point across, and I don't want to look like a connoisseur of churches and pastors like C.S. Lewis talks about in Screwtape Letters. Just sampling different churches without having a home is not good, and I don't want to look like I am promoting that. I'm all for the idea that God places us in churches for a reason, and we don't have to like the sermon every week for it to be God's place for us.
In other music news, I said I was going to write a song after last blog, and I totally did. It is not my best work or anything like that, but I might record it sometime.
I wonder if famous artists have trouble listening to their own music. I know I do. Obviously I know that I am not the best, so there will be little mistakes here and there, and that is sort of hard to listen to. And I often hear things I could have done differently that would have made the song better, and that's also kind of hard to hear. But it's not even that stuff. It is just weird, I don't know how to describe it. Like it's sort of eerie or something to hear your own work, and it feels kind of dumb to listen to my own stuff just for fun. I mean, I can play it, or I can listen to people who are way better than me, so what is the point of just hearing my stuff? Whatever, it's just something I've thought about a bit.
Have you ever read the whole story of David in 1 and 2 Samuel. I'm right in the middle of 2 Samuel right now, and it is a lot more brutal than you get told as a kid. Like I am pretty sure that I didn't know until a few months ago that when David was running from Saul he eventually ended up working for a Philistine king, and David was almost involved in a battle against the Israelites, except the Philistine commanders didn't trust that he would stay on their side so they kicked him out. What kind of actions are those for someone who is anointed to be a future king? Then when he is King we all know the story of Bathsheba, where he sleeps with her and then gets her husband, Uriah, a totally loyal commander, killed. This man is a man after God's own heart?
Yeah.
And I think to how it relates to my life, and Christians in general. I do not think I could be called a man after God's own heart. That would be called a life goal. I would love for that to be my legacy, but I am pretty sure David is the only own who gets called that haha. David went from defeating the Philistines with Goliath, to working for them, to defeating them again. Thinking back, there are a few things that I used to think, "I'll never do that," and sure enough I ended up doing it. It's the same thing as David's deal with the Philistines, just on a personal level. I look forward to reconquering those aspects in my life, as David did with his problems. What did he do when he made a mistake? He repented. And repenting isn't a simple "Oh, I'm sorry." It's a change of heart and mind. So I thank the Lord for David, because he shows how you can be a godly man despite making mistakes.
I keep listening to different sermons and clips, and I do enjoy how each pastor has their own style, and yet they are all on the same team(obviously I am referring solid preachers, not like Joel Osteen or Rob Bell or anyone really controversial Biblically). Like Pastor Dave uses life stories and he likes puns, groupings using alliteration, meaning the first letter is the same(heck he is like a physics major or something, organization runs in his blood), and he uses tons of verse references for each point he makes. Matt Molt uses more life stories than Dave, and that seems to be where a lot of his jokes come from, and I feel like he uses one passage a lot more than Pastor Dave does. Like he backs it up with other scriptures, but it's not like 25 more references like Dave. Molt also focuses a lot on spiritual gifts. Driscoll is much more in your face with his points, like he will yell. However a lot of people think that is all he does, and it's just not true. He is very often quiet, and whether he is quiet or loud, you can always tell that he is very sincere.
I could mention others, but I got my point across, and I don't want to look like a connoisseur of churches and pastors like C.S. Lewis talks about in Screwtape Letters. Just sampling different churches without having a home is not good, and I don't want to look like I am promoting that. I'm all for the idea that God places us in churches for a reason, and we don't have to like the sermon every week for it to be God's place for us.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
"I just like to read." Have you watched TV?! It's WAAYY better!
Hmmm let's see, I did some cool stuff this week. I job shadowed at Dr. McCartneys(I don't think that is how it's spelled), but anyway, he is an optometrist. Some of the tools that he uses are pretty sweet, I am not going to lie. And I don't mean the classic "1 or 2, again 1 or 2." They have tools that do everything from charting the surface of your eye to taking pictures and showing you how different prescriptions in different frames will look on you. It was pretty cool.
I've really been having fun with basketball this past week. And it's not even that my shot has been on, I mean that doesn't hurt, but it's more than that. I don't know, it's just been really fun. I've been pushing myself to get better, and I realize that I can only get better from here on out as long as I stay healthy.
I still have some rust to clear off in my team play, but I need to get back to that point our whole team was at my junior year. That point where making a good pass was almost as satisfying as scoring. That is what made us so successful that year, and it really is much nicer to play with people like that. Right now I still want to score more than I want to make that one more pass, so I need to work on that.
It is starting to hit me that I will be leaving the Tri in a month. It feels really weird. My whole life has been in the tri so it will be interesting to move onto a new chapter of my life.
And I have too much reading to do in that time. I haven't read Lewis in a while, which I should get back to. But I also have to read that book Enrique's Journey for Fox, that I am pretty sure I am supposed to have read by the time I get there. Honestly I am having trouble bringing myself to it because 1. It looks like a terrible book. It's about an illegal immigrant kid who travels on a train to America to go find his mother, who left like 10 years prior. There is really no draw for me. 2. I have trouble seeing any consequences for not reading it. Some topics will be brought up in a pass/fail class for first year orientation? Mine is about God in Science, I have my doubts about immigration issues coming up. They might also be talked about in some random groups that I don't get graded for? If you haven't met me, I'm pretty good at staying quiet when I have to. I know this seems like a rebellious attitude, but come on, can you blame me for wanting to read something that can actually have an impact on my life, like a C.S. Lewis spiritual work. Also, I have been told that I should read some Spurgeon too, so I would like to do that sometime. I like to read stuff that is more useful on a day to day basis in my life.
Oh and I saw The Prestige this week for the first and second time. Christopher Nolan is ridiculous, I am stoked for Dark Knight Rises. I also watched Captain America, which was actually pretty solid. But I find it funny that Dark Knight Rises is just Batman and it will make more money next summer than Captain America, Iron Man, The Hulk, and Thor in the Avengers.
On another note, I think it is time for me to write some more music. I have written one song this summer, and honestly if I focus, I can usually bust out a song. I just need a guitar riff and a topic, and I think I have a fitting topic...
So that will be all for tonight.
I've really been having fun with basketball this past week. And it's not even that my shot has been on, I mean that doesn't hurt, but it's more than that. I don't know, it's just been really fun. I've been pushing myself to get better, and I realize that I can only get better from here on out as long as I stay healthy.
I still have some rust to clear off in my team play, but I need to get back to that point our whole team was at my junior year. That point where making a good pass was almost as satisfying as scoring. That is what made us so successful that year, and it really is much nicer to play with people like that. Right now I still want to score more than I want to make that one more pass, so I need to work on that.
It is starting to hit me that I will be leaving the Tri in a month. It feels really weird. My whole life has been in the tri so it will be interesting to move onto a new chapter of my life.
And I have too much reading to do in that time. I haven't read Lewis in a while, which I should get back to. But I also have to read that book Enrique's Journey for Fox, that I am pretty sure I am supposed to have read by the time I get there. Honestly I am having trouble bringing myself to it because 1. It looks like a terrible book. It's about an illegal immigrant kid who travels on a train to America to go find his mother, who left like 10 years prior. There is really no draw for me. 2. I have trouble seeing any consequences for not reading it. Some topics will be brought up in a pass/fail class for first year orientation? Mine is about God in Science, I have my doubts about immigration issues coming up. They might also be talked about in some random groups that I don't get graded for? If you haven't met me, I'm pretty good at staying quiet when I have to. I know this seems like a rebellious attitude, but come on, can you blame me for wanting to read something that can actually have an impact on my life, like a C.S. Lewis spiritual work. Also, I have been told that I should read some Spurgeon too, so I would like to do that sometime. I like to read stuff that is more useful on a day to day basis in my life.
Oh and I saw The Prestige this week for the first and second time. Christopher Nolan is ridiculous, I am stoked for Dark Knight Rises. I also watched Captain America, which was actually pretty solid. But I find it funny that Dark Knight Rises is just Batman and it will make more money next summer than Captain America, Iron Man, The Hulk, and Thor in the Avengers.
On another note, I think it is time for me to write some more music. I have written one song this summer, and honestly if I focus, I can usually bust out a song. I just need a guitar riff and a topic, and I think I have a fitting topic...
So that will be all for tonight.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Music and Responsibility
Alright a quick shameless promotion to start this blog off. I have posted several new songs on my purevolume. Yes, they are both covers, but you should still listen to them. They can be found here: http://www.purevolume.com/Accolades70796
Victor and I collaborated on Busy Little Beehive by Neon Horse. We knocked that thing out in like 2 hours, which was nice.
Not in Nottingham was just me performing. I re-watched the cartoon Robin Hood like a year ago and have just wanted to cover that song since then. So no, I did not get the idea from Mumford and Sons. For all I care, they got the idea from me. I saw their version on Youtube after I had started recording this song. It's okay though, because I had a different take on the song than they did.
Meanwhile, Thice and Mutemath have new albums coming out this fall that I am stoked for. It is kind of weird for me at this point because I see release dates and I think "I'll be at George Fox then." It just feels weird to me, not to make that run to Hastings for a new CD, I'll have to find a new music store. (I like buying the physical copy of CD's, I like the looking at the artwork, and I guess just having something tangible to hold.)
After watching those Youtube clips of Driscoll, I decided to watch his most watched sermon "Marriage and Men." I mean, I heard about it and it's a subject that I think about a lot, how to be a good man and prepare for marriage. So heck, I figured I'd listen to. It was really good I thought, and raised some very important points, some things I think I am good at, others I need some work on. But I can see why people might not like it, because it is a sermon geared towards guys, so it is like a coach getting in your ear at times. That harshness is something that can be good and definitely needed at times, but it can also be taken the wrong way. Anyway, I don't want to critique anything and honestly I think it's a bit odd that I brought up Driscoll two blogs in a row. What I really want to say is a point that he made that I love. I have often thought about marriage being the image of Jesus and the church, but somehow I hadn't thought about this before. Driscoll points out that as leaders of the household, men need to take responsibility for their families mistakes. It may not be their fault, but they should take responsibility. A recent image is Dirk taking responsibility for the Mavs wins and losses. But we are shown the most extreme example by Jesus on the cross. Our sins are our fault, not His. Yet he took responsibility, bearing our sins and dying on the cross for us. That is being a man. I don't know why I had never thought about it from that angle, but I like it.
Man, I only have like 35 days or something til I leave for college. I need to continue to spend some time with my friends, and maybe hang out with a few more. I'm looking forward to whatever God has planned for me this year.
That is good for tonight
Victor and I collaborated on Busy Little Beehive by Neon Horse. We knocked that thing out in like 2 hours, which was nice.
Not in Nottingham was just me performing. I re-watched the cartoon Robin Hood like a year ago and have just wanted to cover that song since then. So no, I did not get the idea from Mumford and Sons. For all I care, they got the idea from me. I saw their version on Youtube after I had started recording this song. It's okay though, because I had a different take on the song than they did.
Meanwhile, Thice and Mutemath have new albums coming out this fall that I am stoked for. It is kind of weird for me at this point because I see release dates and I think "I'll be at George Fox then." It just feels weird to me, not to make that run to Hastings for a new CD, I'll have to find a new music store. (I like buying the physical copy of CD's, I like the looking at the artwork, and I guess just having something tangible to hold.)
After watching those Youtube clips of Driscoll, I decided to watch his most watched sermon "Marriage and Men." I mean, I heard about it and it's a subject that I think about a lot, how to be a good man and prepare for marriage. So heck, I figured I'd listen to. It was really good I thought, and raised some very important points, some things I think I am good at, others I need some work on. But I can see why people might not like it, because it is a sermon geared towards guys, so it is like a coach getting in your ear at times. That harshness is something that can be good and definitely needed at times, but it can also be taken the wrong way. Anyway, I don't want to critique anything and honestly I think it's a bit odd that I brought up Driscoll two blogs in a row. What I really want to say is a point that he made that I love. I have often thought about marriage being the image of Jesus and the church, but somehow I hadn't thought about this before. Driscoll points out that as leaders of the household, men need to take responsibility for their families mistakes. It may not be their fault, but they should take responsibility. A recent image is Dirk taking responsibility for the Mavs wins and losses. But we are shown the most extreme example by Jesus on the cross. Our sins are our fault, not His. Yet he took responsibility, bearing our sins and dying on the cross for us. That is being a man. I don't know why I had never thought about it from that angle, but I like it.
Man, I only have like 35 days or something til I leave for college. I need to continue to spend some time with my friends, and maybe hang out with a few more. I'm looking forward to whatever God has planned for me this year.
That is good for tonight
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Acceptance
So uhh this week has been pretty solid. I ended up playing a lot of bball, most of the time with pretty good competition, but I need a few days break now since I played 5 days straight of games, so I'm pretty tired. Anyway, there are a few obvious things I need to work on, like finishing at the basket in traffic. Wow, not good. Well, on the positive side, I'm getting to the basket. I think I played pretty well most of the week, but today I played noon hoops and just sucked. I mean, sucked. I was a bit blown away, and then I realized that I wasn't playing with my regular confidence, my swag if you will. I realized that I was trying to look like I was good because I was playing with people I don't normally play with, so I wanted to impress. It hit me just how stupid that was. So as soon as I decided I would just play my game, without worrying about others, I started to do a lot better. Mind you, not great, it was just not a good day, but I picked it up quite a bit.
So I came home kind of disappointed in myself for looking stupid, and I read Andrew Schwab's new blog and watched Talladega Nights. Weird combo in the day, I know. They both had to do with the same thing though. Sort of. In Talladega Nights, Ricky Bobby has been racing to win so that others will like him, and he ends up learning that he needs to race because it is what he loves. He needs to race for him. Schwab's blog talked about how if we accept ourselves, that God has given us the abilities we have and has us right where he wants us, that we can be a lot more confident and content. So that was pretty cool to have that stuff apply right away. I am not saying that I play to impress all the time or anything, but it has happened before and it just leads to bad basketball, so it is something I am trying to work on.
So I have been watching some YouTube clips about spiritual stuff. Mostly Mark Driscoll right now for some reason. I don't agree with all of his beliefs, but overall he is pretty solid. Now I don't know if you are aware of this, but people on Youtube make some really dumb comments. Shocking, I know. I usually don't read many comments but on some spiritual vids people have nice little debates and stuff. It can be nice to see people's points of view, but it can be maddening sometimes. Oh another shocker, Driscoll has a few haters. People will accuse him on these videos of having a pigeonholed view of Christianity, because he calls for strong young men to step up and lead the next generation. People don't realize that they are pigeonholing him because they are only watching a 5 min clip and don't really look into what Driscoll preaches. People accuse the guy of not preaching the whole gospel, when he pretty much talked about it in the video. Even if he carefully explains something simple, like why "The Shack" is wrong, people get super mad about how he just likes to tear down other people in the church and how wrong that is. I won't even get into my opinion on "The Shack." I know that was a long rant for a guy that is definitely not perfect, and I'm not perfect, and no one commenting on these videos is perfect, but this subject raises several important points.
1. I can't say it enough, know what you believe and why you believe it. Ignorance is most certainly not bliss when you are trying to argue.
2. Look into what other people believing before you try to tear them apart. You may not like their style, but you might actually agree with what they said if you looked at more than one snippet. (especially if that bit is an absolutely horrible bit about Mars Hill on nightline. Just bad reporting.)
3. This goes back to point 1 again, but look up what you hear in the Bible, or at least make sure that the speaker is backing up what he says with what the Bible says(and then you should still make sure he is in context). Like if you like listening to Joel Osteen and Rob Bell a lot, and both guys have a lot of influence and do say a lot of good stuff, but if you listen to them and read their books and you don't have any red flags raised, you should probably spend some more time in the Word. (Ex. unlike what Bell's book Velvet Elvis says, we do need the virgin birth of Christ. Or an easier one, homosexuality is wrong.)
Alright that is enough for tonight. Please do not take me as attacking anyone, I just wanted to bring up some points I have been thinking about.
One more thing, please feel free to leave comments every once in a while, or text or talk to me about what I said in the blog if you have questions. It makes me happy.
So I came home kind of disappointed in myself for looking stupid, and I read Andrew Schwab's new blog and watched Talladega Nights. Weird combo in the day, I know. They both had to do with the same thing though. Sort of. In Talladega Nights, Ricky Bobby has been racing to win so that others will like him, and he ends up learning that he needs to race because it is what he loves. He needs to race for him. Schwab's blog talked about how if we accept ourselves, that God has given us the abilities we have and has us right where he wants us, that we can be a lot more confident and content. So that was pretty cool to have that stuff apply right away. I am not saying that I play to impress all the time or anything, but it has happened before and it just leads to bad basketball, so it is something I am trying to work on.
So I have been watching some YouTube clips about spiritual stuff. Mostly Mark Driscoll right now for some reason. I don't agree with all of his beliefs, but overall he is pretty solid. Now I don't know if you are aware of this, but people on Youtube make some really dumb comments. Shocking, I know. I usually don't read many comments but on some spiritual vids people have nice little debates and stuff. It can be nice to see people's points of view, but it can be maddening sometimes. Oh another shocker, Driscoll has a few haters. People will accuse him on these videos of having a pigeonholed view of Christianity, because he calls for strong young men to step up and lead the next generation. People don't realize that they are pigeonholing him because they are only watching a 5 min clip and don't really look into what Driscoll preaches. People accuse the guy of not preaching the whole gospel, when he pretty much talked about it in the video. Even if he carefully explains something simple, like why "The Shack" is wrong, people get super mad about how he just likes to tear down other people in the church and how wrong that is. I won't even get into my opinion on "The Shack." I know that was a long rant for a guy that is definitely not perfect, and I'm not perfect, and no one commenting on these videos is perfect, but this subject raises several important points.
1. I can't say it enough, know what you believe and why you believe it. Ignorance is most certainly not bliss when you are trying to argue.
2. Look into what other people believing before you try to tear them apart. You may not like their style, but you might actually agree with what they said if you looked at more than one snippet. (especially if that bit is an absolutely horrible bit about Mars Hill on nightline. Just bad reporting.)
3. This goes back to point 1 again, but look up what you hear in the Bible, or at least make sure that the speaker is backing up what he says with what the Bible says(and then you should still make sure he is in context). Like if you like listening to Joel Osteen and Rob Bell a lot, and both guys have a lot of influence and do say a lot of good stuff, but if you listen to them and read their books and you don't have any red flags raised, you should probably spend some more time in the Word. (Ex. unlike what Bell's book Velvet Elvis says, we do need the virgin birth of Christ. Or an easier one, homosexuality is wrong.)
Alright that is enough for tonight. Please do not take me as attacking anyone, I just wanted to bring up some points I have been thinking about.
One more thing, please feel free to leave comments every once in a while, or text or talk to me about what I said in the blog if you have questions. It makes me happy.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Haven't had a blog about trials in a while...
Alright I don't think I have too much to say tonight, but that's okay.
I have been playing a little more basketball to go along with my regular drills, and it is going pretty good. I am getting some game back, and I definitely see some improvement from my work. This week is 7 and a half months post op so that is when I planned on increasing real competition, like running full court and stuff, but now that it is here I don't know where to play at. I suppose I could try noon hoops once, but I don't know if I will because it turns into rat ball real quick. Hmm I don't know what to do.
I found out my roommate and dorm arrangements for Fox next year. Actually I found that out last week but I didnt put it in my last blog post. I havent talked to the guy yet, mostly because I can't find him on facebook and I don't feel like sending an email from the school address. I mean, who sends emails? Aren't those just for colleges to send you informations that you dont care about? Anyway, I didn't get the dorm that I asked for, but I'm hoping there is a good reason for that. I will probably never know.
I really liked the sermon today at Bethel about Hezekiah, and the challenges in his life. Pastor Dave made quite a few remarks to young men(and women) about jumping in and doing stuff. He also pointed out that it doesn't get easier as you get older in your spiritual walk, in fact it gets harder. I've kind of thought about challenges in my life, you know, what God might have for me. I've been thinking about my knee injuries, and the differences between what I learned through the first and second ones. I think it has been pretty clear if you read my blogs what I learned through the second one, but it took me so long to realize that a knee injury really isn't that big of a challenge. It sucks because I like basketball, but really, no one died, no ones eternal life was at stake(not that I ever have control of that in any situation). Heck, unless you were greatly impacted by my deep, philosophical writings(which, I guess I could see...Definitely not being sarcastic), I am probably the only one who gained much of anything spiritually. Basically what I am saying through that drawn out bit is that I am wondering what challenge God is going to throw my way. I will be honest that I have asked God that I get a different challenge than another physical injury, rehab is just a pain, but I know that I should be careful what I wish for and will accept whatever path He has laid out for me. "Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him." Not gonna lie, I'm gonna get that crown of life.
I have been playing a little more basketball to go along with my regular drills, and it is going pretty good. I am getting some game back, and I definitely see some improvement from my work. This week is 7 and a half months post op so that is when I planned on increasing real competition, like running full court and stuff, but now that it is here I don't know where to play at. I suppose I could try noon hoops once, but I don't know if I will because it turns into rat ball real quick. Hmm I don't know what to do.
I found out my roommate and dorm arrangements for Fox next year. Actually I found that out last week but I didnt put it in my last blog post. I havent talked to the guy yet, mostly because I can't find him on facebook and I don't feel like sending an email from the school address. I mean, who sends emails? Aren't those just for colleges to send you informations that you dont care about? Anyway, I didn't get the dorm that I asked for, but I'm hoping there is a good reason for that. I will probably never know.
I really liked the sermon today at Bethel about Hezekiah, and the challenges in his life. Pastor Dave made quite a few remarks to young men(and women) about jumping in and doing stuff. He also pointed out that it doesn't get easier as you get older in your spiritual walk, in fact it gets harder. I've kind of thought about challenges in my life, you know, what God might have for me. I've been thinking about my knee injuries, and the differences between what I learned through the first and second ones. I think it has been pretty clear if you read my blogs what I learned through the second one, but it took me so long to realize that a knee injury really isn't that big of a challenge. It sucks because I like basketball, but really, no one died, no ones eternal life was at stake(not that I ever have control of that in any situation). Heck, unless you were greatly impacted by my deep, philosophical writings(which, I guess I could see...Definitely not being sarcastic), I am probably the only one who gained much of anything spiritually. Basically what I am saying through that drawn out bit is that I am wondering what challenge God is going to throw my way. I will be honest that I have asked God that I get a different challenge than another physical injury, rehab is just a pain, but I know that I should be careful what I wish for and will accept whatever path He has laid out for me. "Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him." Not gonna lie, I'm gonna get that crown of life.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
A good amount of Lewis with a bit of daily events
Alright back to writing. The Voice ended, and Javier won as predicted. Dia did get second though which was cool. 4th of July was cool to just chill with a few bros, play badminton, shoot hoops, eat, and have fireworks in the backyard. In basketball my shot has been a bit off, and I actually got pretty angry yesterday, which is really stupid. I mean, I play basketball because I love it, I enjoy playing, so shouldn't I be happy when I am playing no matter if I am a little bit off or pretty on? I mean, if I am incredibly off, I might shoot a bit under 40 percent from 3 in my drills, which if you don't know, Kobe would kill to get that kind of 3 point percentage for a season.
Okay, I have had a good deal of stuff going on in my life recently, so that is a good enough catch up on daily experiences.
Travis and I talked to Harmony about Mormonism and Christianity, and I know both of these people will probably read this, but the whole situation is kind of tough. My friendship with her is a big deal to me, she is a wonderful person, and I enjoy hanging out with her, but it is an important issue that I believe needed to be addressed. All I am saying by this is that I would love your prayers for wisdom and clarity on both sides, and that our friendship wouldn't be damaged.
So I finished Mere Christianity, and I have a few thoughts on the last chapter. As usual, C.S. Lewis made some great points about, well, Christianity. He started talking about how, if we are all supposed to be little of versions of Christ, wouldn't that make the world kind of boring since we would all be the same? He used a somewhat flawed metaphor to prove a point, that I really like. He used the illustration of salt. If you gave a man just plain salt and had him taste it, he would think it was too strong and would just kill the taste of whatever you put it on. When in actuality, salt (in the right quantities, its a flawed metaphor but bear with me) brings out the flavor in other foods. Christ is like that. When we don't let Him control us, most of our decisions are based on physical desires so we really don't have as much personality as we think. Lewis said "It is when I turn to Christ, when I give myself up to His Personality, that I first begin to have a real personality of my own." Think about it.
And since I am done with Mere Christianity and now moving onto Miracles, I want to say something I enjoy about Lewis. Obviously everyone loves his imagery, you can see it throughout Chronicles of Narnia and he is constantly illustrating religious points with images we can more easily understand, but what I also like is how he uses tons of logic in his arguments. It isn't just "Jesus loves me, and he loves you too, so let's say our God is great." He backs up his beliefs with sound logic, looking at points from several worldviews and walking you through why something is true. The first chapter of Mere Christianity made the case for God simply existing, starting by providing an argument that we have a natural sense of right and wrong. The beginning of Miracles looks at the Naturalist and Supernaturalist viewpoints. I don't know if that is something that you enjoy, but I think it is pretty darn cool.
Well, that is good for me tonight.
Okay, I have had a good deal of stuff going on in my life recently, so that is a good enough catch up on daily experiences.
Travis and I talked to Harmony about Mormonism and Christianity, and I know both of these people will probably read this, but the whole situation is kind of tough. My friendship with her is a big deal to me, she is a wonderful person, and I enjoy hanging out with her, but it is an important issue that I believe needed to be addressed. All I am saying by this is that I would love your prayers for wisdom and clarity on both sides, and that our friendship wouldn't be damaged.
So I finished Mere Christianity, and I have a few thoughts on the last chapter. As usual, C.S. Lewis made some great points about, well, Christianity. He started talking about how, if we are all supposed to be little of versions of Christ, wouldn't that make the world kind of boring since we would all be the same? He used a somewhat flawed metaphor to prove a point, that I really like. He used the illustration of salt. If you gave a man just plain salt and had him taste it, he would think it was too strong and would just kill the taste of whatever you put it on. When in actuality, salt (in the right quantities, its a flawed metaphor but bear with me) brings out the flavor in other foods. Christ is like that. When we don't let Him control us, most of our decisions are based on physical desires so we really don't have as much personality as we think. Lewis said "It is when I turn to Christ, when I give myself up to His Personality, that I first begin to have a real personality of my own." Think about it.
And since I am done with Mere Christianity and now moving onto Miracles, I want to say something I enjoy about Lewis. Obviously everyone loves his imagery, you can see it throughout Chronicles of Narnia and he is constantly illustrating religious points with images we can more easily understand, but what I also like is how he uses tons of logic in his arguments. It isn't just "Jesus loves me, and he loves you too, so let's say our God is great." He backs up his beliefs with sound logic, looking at points from several worldviews and walking you through why something is true. The first chapter of Mere Christianity made the case for God simply existing, starting by providing an argument that we have a natural sense of right and wrong. The beginning of Miracles looks at the Naturalist and Supernaturalist viewpoints. I don't know if that is something that you enjoy, but I think it is pretty darn cool.
Well, that is good for me tonight.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Sand will cover them
Incubus' new album comes out in 2 weeks, and I am now pretty excited for it. I liked Adolescents the first time I heard it, and yeah, it is pretty awesome, but I didn't like Promises, Promises the first time I heard it. But dang it, it is pretty darn catchy, and it is growing on me. Also, in the music realm, Mutemath's new album comes out October 4, so I am very excited for that.
The Voice ends tomorrow, and Javier is going to win. And Dia needs to learn to record because I love her live performances and then the studio version is less than spectacular. I do not understand.
I am really tired of spending money on movies, so no, I do not plan on going to Transformers 3. I don't have to see it to know it will be retarded, just like the first ones. Yeah I said it. Michael Bay is the new George Lucas, without being creative enough to make his own world. Basically, he is good at visual effects but should leave the writing to professionals. I only watched the second one in theaters because it was my friends bday or something like that, and after the movie, I told him that I had been waiting for the Bionicle Movie 2 for a long time. The third one will be the same way, except it doesn't have Megan Fox, so there is really no reason to watch it. I hope you al enjoyed that unnecessary rant that started from me seeing a lot of movies recently.
I am in another music writing mood, but it is almost midnight, and I feel unproductive when I wake up at noon. We shall see what I decide on doing.
It really bothers me when people make sports their lives. That might sound weird coming from me, since I play basketball and work out for like 3 to 4 hours a day, but let me explain. I know people whose emotions ride on how they are doing in their sport. When I tore my ACL again, I heard about this runner who got hurt and got like super depressed, I think had to go to therapy and stuff to deal with it. Like I can understand being sad about injuries, and losing big games and stuff, but after a bit of time, you should move on. Don't get me wrong, I love basketball, and I will go all out on that court, but if I have a bad day, it is not going to ruin my mood for the rest of my day. The day that my performance in basketball defines my overall mood in a day, it's time to quit. Like Luke 12:34 says, 'For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.' So I'd rather not put my hope and treasure in a game, that I have seen several times, is not going to last forever. I think that is what God wants. He wants you to have fun, and be passionate, and enjoy basketball or whatever your hobby is while it lasts, but keep your eyes on what you are working for in the end. I hope that made sense to you, I think that is enough for tonight.
Oh and the blog title comes from the song Of Dust and Nations by Thrice, so yeah you can listen to that if you want to know why I used that title
The Voice ends tomorrow, and Javier is going to win. And Dia needs to learn to record because I love her live performances and then the studio version is less than spectacular. I do not understand.
I am really tired of spending money on movies, so no, I do not plan on going to Transformers 3. I don't have to see it to know it will be retarded, just like the first ones. Yeah I said it. Michael Bay is the new George Lucas, without being creative enough to make his own world. Basically, he is good at visual effects but should leave the writing to professionals. I only watched the second one in theaters because it was my friends bday or something like that, and after the movie, I told him that I had been waiting for the Bionicle Movie 2 for a long time. The third one will be the same way, except it doesn't have Megan Fox, so there is really no reason to watch it. I hope you al enjoyed that unnecessary rant that started from me seeing a lot of movies recently.
I am in another music writing mood, but it is almost midnight, and I feel unproductive when I wake up at noon. We shall see what I decide on doing.
It really bothers me when people make sports their lives. That might sound weird coming from me, since I play basketball and work out for like 3 to 4 hours a day, but let me explain. I know people whose emotions ride on how they are doing in their sport. When I tore my ACL again, I heard about this runner who got hurt and got like super depressed, I think had to go to therapy and stuff to deal with it. Like I can understand being sad about injuries, and losing big games and stuff, but after a bit of time, you should move on. Don't get me wrong, I love basketball, and I will go all out on that court, but if I have a bad day, it is not going to ruin my mood for the rest of my day. The day that my performance in basketball defines my overall mood in a day, it's time to quit. Like Luke 12:34 says, 'For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.' So I'd rather not put my hope and treasure in a game, that I have seen several times, is not going to last forever. I think that is what God wants. He wants you to have fun, and be passionate, and enjoy basketball or whatever your hobby is while it lasts, but keep your eyes on what you are working for in the end. I hope that made sense to you, I think that is enough for tonight.
Oh and the blog title comes from the song Of Dust and Nations by Thrice, so yeah you can listen to that if you want to know why I used that title
Thursday, June 23, 2011
NBA Draft, Music, whatever
Okay, so my posts seem to be spreading out between when I post, but whatever I figure once or twice a week is plenty. No need telling yall everything about every day.
Today was the NBA Draft, and Kyrie Irving went number 1 to the Cavs. I don't like the Cavs, but honestly, the more I watch from Kyrie, the more I like the guy. Last year I was kind of mad because Kyrie was taking all the spotlight from Seth Curry before the season, and then he ended being ridiculously good, even if it was just for a few games. So I watched his highlights and his games in the tournament and I like how he plays, kind of like Chris Paul, which happens to be one of my favorite players, and one of his. So I liked his game, and the last few days I have watched some interviews, and he started talking about his foot injury, and said something to the effect that God puts struggles like that in our lives to grow through and get stronger. Then in another interview he was like yeah I like music a lot, I play baritone, and the last few years I have started singing. This paragraph might seem kind of weird to you, but basically I am saying kyrie is my boy.
In other draft day news, Warriors picked up Klay Thompson like I wanted, so I am thinking the Monta trade is coming soon. Blazers also picked up Nolan Smith, another of my Duke faves. And blazers picked up Jon Diebler, one of my favorite shooters. However they got rid of Rudy and Andre, both of whom I will miss.
Okay, we will get to me. My inside game has picked up quickly, as has my passing. Well, they aren't where I want, but they are where I left off at least. I played some 3 on 3 with some Liberty kids, and it was far too easy. A bunch of people were gone, Jake was hurt. I only want to play if it is good competition, otherwise I am not getting much better. I could take it if it was 5 on 5 at Liberty so I at least had to try some, but 3 on 3, or 3 on 4, or 3 on 4.5(hurt Jake standing there) playing halfcourt just isn't much fun. It gets boring.
I finally got to doing some music stuff. I wrote one song, which is pretty cool in my opinion, and I came up with a sweet riff/solo that I will probably make into a song soon enough. Whenever I go into play, I start off just doing guitar stuff, maybe try out a few different things for making a solo, and then I end up playing a song or something, so I end up singing and playing, and then at the end I get to a song I can't play, so I just sing a few songs. This happens quite often. For instance, I started listening to Seattle by The Classic Crime, and started out just playing along a bit, figuring it out, and I ended up just singing through the song. Whatever, it is all fun.
I kind of want to hang out with some more people. Like I hang out with Victor, Bryan, and Travis a lot, which is tight, but I could use a few more people thrown in there every once in a while, just to keep in touch so I don't just watch a movie every night.
If you can't tell, I have a really hard life right now, I mean, between working out and playing music, it's a wonder I have time to enjoy anything in life... Well that's all for today
Today was the NBA Draft, and Kyrie Irving went number 1 to the Cavs. I don't like the Cavs, but honestly, the more I watch from Kyrie, the more I like the guy. Last year I was kind of mad because Kyrie was taking all the spotlight from Seth Curry before the season, and then he ended being ridiculously good, even if it was just for a few games. So I watched his highlights and his games in the tournament and I like how he plays, kind of like Chris Paul, which happens to be one of my favorite players, and one of his. So I liked his game, and the last few days I have watched some interviews, and he started talking about his foot injury, and said something to the effect that God puts struggles like that in our lives to grow through and get stronger. Then in another interview he was like yeah I like music a lot, I play baritone, and the last few years I have started singing. This paragraph might seem kind of weird to you, but basically I am saying kyrie is my boy.
In other draft day news, Warriors picked up Klay Thompson like I wanted, so I am thinking the Monta trade is coming soon. Blazers also picked up Nolan Smith, another of my Duke faves. And blazers picked up Jon Diebler, one of my favorite shooters. However they got rid of Rudy and Andre, both of whom I will miss.
Okay, we will get to me. My inside game has picked up quickly, as has my passing. Well, they aren't where I want, but they are where I left off at least. I played some 3 on 3 with some Liberty kids, and it was far too easy. A bunch of people were gone, Jake was hurt. I only want to play if it is good competition, otherwise I am not getting much better. I could take it if it was 5 on 5 at Liberty so I at least had to try some, but 3 on 3, or 3 on 4, or 3 on 4.5(hurt Jake standing there) playing halfcourt just isn't much fun. It gets boring.
I finally got to doing some music stuff. I wrote one song, which is pretty cool in my opinion, and I came up with a sweet riff/solo that I will probably make into a song soon enough. Whenever I go into play, I start off just doing guitar stuff, maybe try out a few different things for making a solo, and then I end up playing a song or something, so I end up singing and playing, and then at the end I get to a song I can't play, so I just sing a few songs. This happens quite often. For instance, I started listening to Seattle by The Classic Crime, and started out just playing along a bit, figuring it out, and I ended up just singing through the song. Whatever, it is all fun.
I kind of want to hang out with some more people. Like I hang out with Victor, Bryan, and Travis a lot, which is tight, but I could use a few more people thrown in there every once in a while, just to keep in touch so I don't just watch a movie every night.
If you can't tell, I have a really hard life right now, I mean, between working out and playing music, it's a wonder I have time to enjoy anything in life... Well that's all for today
Friday, June 17, 2011
Alright Let's go
First off, I did end up seeing x-men first class. It was like all x-men movies, honestly pretty stupid but pretty dang entertaining. I always end up talking about the mutations, like what I would do with them, or just if they are dumb or cool. Like the girl Angel in first class, what a stupid power. Why even have her on the bad guys side, she is not going to doing anything worthwhile. See what I mean. Oh well, I have to have some kind of nerdy thing to say every blog or two.
On that note, Javier is going to win the Voice. I hate it, because his voice is technically way better than everyone else's, but he is like the classic American Idol style with way too many runs, which doesn't make for good records. I want someone who sounds original to win, someone I would actually consider purchasing music from with their record deal. Alright, call me a dork, but I think I am done with movie and Reality TV comments for the day.
Alright, basketball. I have a lot to work on before I head to college. I need to have qualities that stand out on the court, and I can't afford to blend into just the average of players. I am pretty happy with my shot, the jump under it will come with my leg workouts. So will quickness on my drives. My ballhandling is pretty good. My defense needs improvement, something that will need to be worked on in the next few months, as I am just getting to the point where I can work on it. I also need to work on passing, but it is hard to do passing drills on your own. My inside shots need dramatic improvement. I cannot finish, and I know it is because I haven't been able to drive for 8 months, but it definitely needs refined. So yeah I have a nice big agenda, and of course I cannot afford to be content with any skill that I have, so I just need to focus on improving every day at something. Good luck? I'll work for it.(Coconut head would be proud of me haha)
So I went to George Fox this week for an event called Genesis, which is basically just registration and a few orientation things. Honestly, it was pretty boring. Lots of lecture sessions, whether it was about financial aid and work study programs, student life on campus, or residential life(yes residential life was different than student life). Anyway, I thought one of the lectures was cool, because the teacher was stoked out of his mind, but other than that, a lot of stuff I had learned before at events and online. Oh well, the point is I got all registered for classes next year, which was good.
One more thing, I may have said this before, but I don't like the little icebreaker games people play in groups. I'm not going to make friends with people playing "I have never" in a group of 20. You want to be my friend, let's hang out, play basketball or something, some fun activity or just chilling is fine, but let's not play goofy games. Maybe that is just me, but I don't really find a lot of joy in playing little icebreakers. I am just getting to the point where I want to go to college and settle in, do my thing. I am ready to be done with events and stuff. Let's get down to business.
That is good for now
On that note, Javier is going to win the Voice. I hate it, because his voice is technically way better than everyone else's, but he is like the classic American Idol style with way too many runs, which doesn't make for good records. I want someone who sounds original to win, someone I would actually consider purchasing music from with their record deal. Alright, call me a dork, but I think I am done with movie and Reality TV comments for the day.
Alright, basketball. I have a lot to work on before I head to college. I need to have qualities that stand out on the court, and I can't afford to blend into just the average of players. I am pretty happy with my shot, the jump under it will come with my leg workouts. So will quickness on my drives. My ballhandling is pretty good. My defense needs improvement, something that will need to be worked on in the next few months, as I am just getting to the point where I can work on it. I also need to work on passing, but it is hard to do passing drills on your own. My inside shots need dramatic improvement. I cannot finish, and I know it is because I haven't been able to drive for 8 months, but it definitely needs refined. So yeah I have a nice big agenda, and of course I cannot afford to be content with any skill that I have, so I just need to focus on improving every day at something. Good luck? I'll work for it.(Coconut head would be proud of me haha)
So I went to George Fox this week for an event called Genesis, which is basically just registration and a few orientation things. Honestly, it was pretty boring. Lots of lecture sessions, whether it was about financial aid and work study programs, student life on campus, or residential life(yes residential life was different than student life). Anyway, I thought one of the lectures was cool, because the teacher was stoked out of his mind, but other than that, a lot of stuff I had learned before at events and online. Oh well, the point is I got all registered for classes next year, which was good.
One more thing, I may have said this before, but I don't like the little icebreaker games people play in groups. I'm not going to make friends with people playing "I have never" in a group of 20. You want to be my friend, let's hang out, play basketball or something, some fun activity or just chilling is fine, but let's not play goofy games. Maybe that is just me, but I don't really find a lot of joy in playing little icebreakers. I am just getting to the point where I want to go to college and settle in, do my thing. I am ready to be done with events and stuff. Let's get down to business.
That is good for now
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Concert and Christianity
Alright, ha ha! Okay!
Mavs won the finals. Lebron melted down. Dirk was ridiculous. Jason Terry is one cocky guy for saying he gives God the glory. I am not sure how I feel about any of that.
Other than that, my days have been pretty cool. My last post was on Thursday so since then, hmmm, I watched X-Men 3 with Victor. He wanted to check some facts from First Class, and I need to go see First Class pretty soon. Hopefully this week, so you can tell me if you are going or something.
I went to Seattle yesterday and came back today. I went with everyone but Ben from my family, my sister's friend Kayla, and Christian. We went and saw Emery, Oh Sleeper, Hawkboy, Monsters Scare You, and A Hope Not Forgotten(or something like that). The bands, Monsters and Hope, were the classic scream for the verse and have a whiny singer for the chorus, which people who know me know that is probably my favorite style... Okay that style bugs me, and it didn't help that Hope had a singer that had to consistently try to hit notes a step or two out of his range. To be fair though, it was kind of fun to watch because at least the screamers were good and the crowd was super excited.
On the ride up I made some joke about not wanting to see Hawkboy(seriously who wants to see a band with a name like hawkboy), and then my sister told me she read they were former members of As Cities Burn(which was a tight band). I confirmed this, and got pretty excited to see them. Then they got on stage with just a vocalist/guitarist and a drummer. A line up after my own heart following top notch bands like the White Stripes and Black Keys. And yeah, Hawkboy was pretty sweet, obviously not as cool as the two bands last sentence, but still a nice experience.
I mentioned the crowd. The crowd went crazy for Oh Sleeper and Emery, but it started with Oh Sleeper. I'm sure it isnt uncommon, but it's the first time I've seen the lead screamer get crowd surfed while still screaming lyrics. It was intense, and that guy's screaming was impressive.
Emery, oh Emery. I do love watching them in concert, but they were not the same without Devin. Still very professional, and I liked the quick acoustic session, and the new guy Andy was good, but Devin may have been my favorite member in Emery. His vocals drove I'm Only a Man, which I have already stated my opinions on. Although their guitarist is pretty cool too, I mean, who can hate on a guy doing two string tapping in concert? All in all though, quite the intense show.
Then I had New Vintage today which was good, although I was pretty tired from the drive and lack of sleep last night. Oh well, Austin gave a good message, and even used my favorite verse, 1 Corinthians 12:9-10.
Now that summer is started, I'm finishing up Mere Christianity. I took a small break at the end of the year. I read the chapter today called "Is Christianity Hard or Easy?" Man, there are some great points in there. Really, you should probably just read it, that would be cooler than me just telling you about it, because I probably won't make any sense if you haven't read it. Anyway, I liked how C.S. Lewis separated simple morality and being a good person from what Christianity is about. When people try to be moral, or good, they simply try to add stuff to their natural self, hoping that in the end with all these morals the natural self will be able to do what it wants. It is still a self centered viewpoint, and with that viewpoint we will just end up exhausted. We either have to give up being good or just end up horribly discouraged and no fun. Whereas in Christianity, it is easier, and harder than that. Because Christianity just says hey let's kill the natural self, and replace it with Christ. Christ doesn't want your money, your success, He just wants You. All of it. So it is harder to give up all of yourself, but in the end, you will be fullfilled. And fullfilled is easier than failure. I don't know if that made any sense, just something to think about.
That's all for tonight.
Mavs won the finals. Lebron melted down. Dirk was ridiculous. Jason Terry is one cocky guy for saying he gives God the glory. I am not sure how I feel about any of that.
Other than that, my days have been pretty cool. My last post was on Thursday so since then, hmmm, I watched X-Men 3 with Victor. He wanted to check some facts from First Class, and I need to go see First Class pretty soon. Hopefully this week, so you can tell me if you are going or something.
I went to Seattle yesterday and came back today. I went with everyone but Ben from my family, my sister's friend Kayla, and Christian. We went and saw Emery, Oh Sleeper, Hawkboy, Monsters Scare You, and A Hope Not Forgotten(or something like that). The bands, Monsters and Hope, were the classic scream for the verse and have a whiny singer for the chorus, which people who know me know that is probably my favorite style... Okay that style bugs me, and it didn't help that Hope had a singer that had to consistently try to hit notes a step or two out of his range. To be fair though, it was kind of fun to watch because at least the screamers were good and the crowd was super excited.
On the ride up I made some joke about not wanting to see Hawkboy(seriously who wants to see a band with a name like hawkboy), and then my sister told me she read they were former members of As Cities Burn(which was a tight band). I confirmed this, and got pretty excited to see them. Then they got on stage with just a vocalist/guitarist and a drummer. A line up after my own heart following top notch bands like the White Stripes and Black Keys. And yeah, Hawkboy was pretty sweet, obviously not as cool as the two bands last sentence, but still a nice experience.
I mentioned the crowd. The crowd went crazy for Oh Sleeper and Emery, but it started with Oh Sleeper. I'm sure it isnt uncommon, but it's the first time I've seen the lead screamer get crowd surfed while still screaming lyrics. It was intense, and that guy's screaming was impressive.
Emery, oh Emery. I do love watching them in concert, but they were not the same without Devin. Still very professional, and I liked the quick acoustic session, and the new guy Andy was good, but Devin may have been my favorite member in Emery. His vocals drove I'm Only a Man, which I have already stated my opinions on. Although their guitarist is pretty cool too, I mean, who can hate on a guy doing two string tapping in concert? All in all though, quite the intense show.
Then I had New Vintage today which was good, although I was pretty tired from the drive and lack of sleep last night. Oh well, Austin gave a good message, and even used my favorite verse, 1 Corinthians 12:9-10.
Now that summer is started, I'm finishing up Mere Christianity. I took a small break at the end of the year. I read the chapter today called "Is Christianity Hard or Easy?" Man, there are some great points in there. Really, you should probably just read it, that would be cooler than me just telling you about it, because I probably won't make any sense if you haven't read it. Anyway, I liked how C.S. Lewis separated simple morality and being a good person from what Christianity is about. When people try to be moral, or good, they simply try to add stuff to their natural self, hoping that in the end with all these morals the natural self will be able to do what it wants. It is still a self centered viewpoint, and with that viewpoint we will just end up exhausted. We either have to give up being good or just end up horribly discouraged and no fun. Whereas in Christianity, it is easier, and harder than that. Because Christianity just says hey let's kill the natural self, and replace it with Christ. Christ doesn't want your money, your success, He just wants You. All of it. So it is harder to give up all of yourself, but in the end, you will be fullfilled. And fullfilled is easier than failure. I don't know if that made any sense, just something to think about.
That's all for tonight.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Grad part 2? Not really, but I don't have a better name for this
So yeah, part 2 or whatever you want to call it. Oh wait I am not supposed to watch sequels...
Yeah I went to like 8 grad parties or something like that, so not a whole bunch. I mean, Miss Thompson made sure I knew she was going to 8 in one day. But anyway, I liked mine a lot, mostly because I just went to play volleyball for a while and then had a few good conversations. I am not going to be weird and tell you all about the parties I went to, I don't want to.
However, I am kind of itching to do some music stuff, but I am just not getting around to it. Lame, I know. I think I need to wake up a few hours earlier, like 9 or 10 am, so I can do some stuff before I go to the club. I have several reasons for wanting to get back to music 1. It's fun, 2. I haven't done much except learn a few songs recently, and I want to write some, and 3. I get really excited after watching other people perform, namely on the Voice.
Hate all you want, but I like that show. Actually, I like most of that show. Christina Aguilera is an embarrassment to entertainers everywhere. I cringe when she speaks, because it is almost always some crap about how her team is so good(Which if you watch the show, her team is a bunch of Christina wannabees, and easily the weakest team), or it is some insult to Adam or Blake that doesn't make sense. Oh and she messed up the national anthem, and I will not get over that, ever. Well that is my rant on Christina, back to my point, some of those singers, are so tight. This guy Jared did Kings of Leon 'Use Somebody' and it was basically perfect for him. Then this girl Dia sung Heartless by Kanye(a song I hate), but she like totally revised it, and it gave me shivers it was so good. Not gonna lie. Alright I'm done talking about reality tv shows, I'd like to keep as much masculinity as possible.
I took a jump up to 168 on the scale, leaving me two pounds short of my goal, with like 5 months to go til basketball. I am also itching to get back into full fledged games, just one more month. My basketball skills are doing pretty good, except I need to work out a few kinks in my 3 pointer. It mostly just stuff about being set before I shoot and landing with control. But hey, my range was like 26 feet today, so that was pretty awesome. Hopefully that keeps up.
Oh I forgot about grad presents. I need to send out some thank you cards, but really all I want to say on this subject is that I am one of very few kids who could get a C.S. Lewis Complete Signature Classics Collection and be genuinely happy about it. I guess I have some reading to do.
Umm yeah. My life has been pretty full of mostly fun stuff, but I don't know, I really don't want to tell you all about my day. That would probably bore me, so I know it would bore you.
Yeah I went to like 8 grad parties or something like that, so not a whole bunch. I mean, Miss Thompson made sure I knew she was going to 8 in one day. But anyway, I liked mine a lot, mostly because I just went to play volleyball for a while and then had a few good conversations. I am not going to be weird and tell you all about the parties I went to, I don't want to.
However, I am kind of itching to do some music stuff, but I am just not getting around to it. Lame, I know. I think I need to wake up a few hours earlier, like 9 or 10 am, so I can do some stuff before I go to the club. I have several reasons for wanting to get back to music 1. It's fun, 2. I haven't done much except learn a few songs recently, and I want to write some, and 3. I get really excited after watching other people perform, namely on the Voice.
Hate all you want, but I like that show. Actually, I like most of that show. Christina Aguilera is an embarrassment to entertainers everywhere. I cringe when she speaks, because it is almost always some crap about how her team is so good(Which if you watch the show, her team is a bunch of Christina wannabees, and easily the weakest team), or it is some insult to Adam or Blake that doesn't make sense. Oh and she messed up the national anthem, and I will not get over that, ever. Well that is my rant on Christina, back to my point, some of those singers, are so tight. This guy Jared did Kings of Leon 'Use Somebody' and it was basically perfect for him. Then this girl Dia sung Heartless by Kanye(a song I hate), but she like totally revised it, and it gave me shivers it was so good. Not gonna lie. Alright I'm done talking about reality tv shows, I'd like to keep as much masculinity as possible.
I took a jump up to 168 on the scale, leaving me two pounds short of my goal, with like 5 months to go til basketball. I am also itching to get back into full fledged games, just one more month. My basketball skills are doing pretty good, except I need to work out a few kinks in my 3 pointer. It mostly just stuff about being set before I shoot and landing with control. But hey, my range was like 26 feet today, so that was pretty awesome. Hopefully that keeps up.
Oh I forgot about grad presents. I need to send out some thank you cards, but really all I want to say on this subject is that I am one of very few kids who could get a C.S. Lewis Complete Signature Classics Collection and be genuinely happy about it. I guess I have some reading to do.
Umm yeah. My life has been pretty full of mostly fun stuff, but I don't know, I really don't want to tell you all about my day. That would probably bore me, so I know it would bore you.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Graduation
Well it has been a while since I have posted, and I have been super busy so I guess I have plenty to write about.
First up, basketball. I have been cleared by the doctor to pretty much do what I want. I don't have any more appointments, and I am done with physical therapy. However, I have a strength, agility, jump program that I will run through, and I will work on cutting and stuff til about mid July, at which point I will start playing basketball again. I feel really good, my quickness is coming back and stuff. My hops arent quite back yet, and my confidence in my knee needs some building, but that will come in the next month and a half.
Also in basketball, I made it to my 15000 shot goal! I also did 20.25 hours of ballhandling. I am very happy about this, but now it is time for a new goal. I don't know what to do. I could go til mid July, or I could just go til I leave for college. Ill figure it out.
Okay now senior trip. I still don't know what to think. I had some good times, and some bad times. I suppose the good outweighed the bad. I mean, I would have had more sleep, and worked less hours a day, and just not gone to the dream center at all, and not gone to Hangover 2, thus making it awkward between the kids and chaperones at times throughout the rest of the trip. Other than that, work actually wasn't too bad, I had some good times in it, most of the time the chaperones were fine, the saddleback worship was sweet, and I thoroughly enjoyed the rest of sunday with guitar center, that hike over L.A., and working out. Yeah, kind of a mixed review.
Now for graduation itself. I was so stoked out of my mind for graduation, I cried both nights before, during graduation, and that night because I couldnt believe I was finally graduating!!...Yeah okay, I guess that last sentence was a bit of an exaggeration. I really didnt care. It is finally starting to sink in that I will be leaving for college soon, but getting done with high school? Big whoop. I knew it was coming, it was never a question if I would graduate and when, and I was hardly involved at school this whole year. Oh and I am a super excited person naturally. So all in all, I was pretty even keel the whole time. It is cool to be done, I am stoked for college, and I was so sick of liberty at the end, so yeah it is good to be out.
I will most likely write more about graduation parties and stuff later, but I actually have to go now
First up, basketball. I have been cleared by the doctor to pretty much do what I want. I don't have any more appointments, and I am done with physical therapy. However, I have a strength, agility, jump program that I will run through, and I will work on cutting and stuff til about mid July, at which point I will start playing basketball again. I feel really good, my quickness is coming back and stuff. My hops arent quite back yet, and my confidence in my knee needs some building, but that will come in the next month and a half.
Also in basketball, I made it to my 15000 shot goal! I also did 20.25 hours of ballhandling. I am very happy about this, but now it is time for a new goal. I don't know what to do. I could go til mid July, or I could just go til I leave for college. Ill figure it out.
Okay now senior trip. I still don't know what to think. I had some good times, and some bad times. I suppose the good outweighed the bad. I mean, I would have had more sleep, and worked less hours a day, and just not gone to the dream center at all, and not gone to Hangover 2, thus making it awkward between the kids and chaperones at times throughout the rest of the trip. Other than that, work actually wasn't too bad, I had some good times in it, most of the time the chaperones were fine, the saddleback worship was sweet, and I thoroughly enjoyed the rest of sunday with guitar center, that hike over L.A., and working out. Yeah, kind of a mixed review.
Now for graduation itself. I was so stoked out of my mind for graduation, I cried both nights before, during graduation, and that night because I couldnt believe I was finally graduating!!...Yeah okay, I guess that last sentence was a bit of an exaggeration. I really didnt care. It is finally starting to sink in that I will be leaving for college soon, but getting done with high school? Big whoop. I knew it was coming, it was never a question if I would graduate and when, and I was hardly involved at school this whole year. Oh and I am a super excited person naturally. So all in all, I was pretty even keel the whole time. It is cool to be done, I am stoked for college, and I was so sick of liberty at the end, so yeah it is good to be out.
I will most likely write more about graduation parties and stuff later, but I actually have to go now
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Basketball, School is Ending, whatever
What is up yall? Yeah I like typing things that I would kill myself for saying.
I am currently 1350 shots off of my 15000 made shots by graduation. I don't know if I will make it, since I only have like 4 or 5 more days to shoot. I hope to muster a few shots over the senior trip, but I am not counting on any. I am also at 19.5 hrs of ballhandling, but I don't really have a goal for that. I think 20 hours sounds pretty good, but I will go over that. This is set from Presidents day, by the way. I don't tell you that to brag, but I think I told you guys I was setting a goal for myself, and I wanted to give an update. It is not the goals that I originally wanted, but the point is not necessarily to reach the goals, its to challenge myself to get better. So I have accomplished that I believe.
This week was interesting at the club, because all of the good ballers seem to be coming back from college. I kind of want to play them. But I did not expect to see Matt Bouldin there. For those of you who don't know(and shame on you for not knowing), Matt Bouldin played for Gonzaga for 4 years, and now plays in the D-League. Or at least that is where he finished this year. So basically, he is a stud at basketball. So I was minding my business, doing my ab workout, when I saw him, and I was like is that Matt Bouldin?? Sure enough. He is huge, for sure an elite athlete. However, I feel like I was one of the only people who knew who he was. I was the only person I saw who went up and talked to him(asked why he was in Richland). So I was sitting there like freaking out, and no one else seemed to care. I mean, I remember in 8th grade, when Mitson was trying to get me to shoot on the side of my head, I was not going to have any bit of that, and my dad was like, look at Gonzaga's new freshman, Matt Bouldin, who shoots the ball over his eye, just like you are supposed to. So yeah, I knew who he was, but maybe 2 of the 20 something people in the gym even seemed to take notice of the 6'5" GUARD shooting around. Maybe I am the only one who watches college basketball. And wow that turned into a long paragraph.
So this was my last week of high school. Yeah. It was good I suppose. And senioritis is in full swing, because I am so done with high school. I have some homework to do tomorrow and the next day, labs and a paper for IS Bible, and I have to study for my Physics final. So I will do some of it tomorrow, some of it on Monday on my way to Spokane for my 6 month knee check up. Then on Tuesday I will take my final, go to Liberty to turn in my labs and the paper, say goodbye to the first graders, and that will be it. Wednesday I leave for L.A. on the senior trip, then I have a few days of graduation practice and that's it. That is really weird, but it is time. Sometimes there are things like that, where you say yeah I liked this, but it is just time for it to end and move on.
I don't think that friendships should be like that though. Yeah some people are just not good to be around, so that friendship should end, and some just fade away, like there wasn't much in common and you just had similar friends, but a lot just evolve overtime. It bugs to see friendships that have just come to bitter ends, and I had to see a bit of that this week. It just sucks. It makes you feel kind of sick, even if it doesn't directly involve you.
I think that is all for tonight, I don't have a ton to say.
I am currently 1350 shots off of my 15000 made shots by graduation. I don't know if I will make it, since I only have like 4 or 5 more days to shoot. I hope to muster a few shots over the senior trip, but I am not counting on any. I am also at 19.5 hrs of ballhandling, but I don't really have a goal for that. I think 20 hours sounds pretty good, but I will go over that. This is set from Presidents day, by the way. I don't tell you that to brag, but I think I told you guys I was setting a goal for myself, and I wanted to give an update. It is not the goals that I originally wanted, but the point is not necessarily to reach the goals, its to challenge myself to get better. So I have accomplished that I believe.
This week was interesting at the club, because all of the good ballers seem to be coming back from college. I kind of want to play them. But I did not expect to see Matt Bouldin there. For those of you who don't know(and shame on you for not knowing), Matt Bouldin played for Gonzaga for 4 years, and now plays in the D-League. Or at least that is where he finished this year. So basically, he is a stud at basketball. So I was minding my business, doing my ab workout, when I saw him, and I was like is that Matt Bouldin?? Sure enough. He is huge, for sure an elite athlete. However, I feel like I was one of the only people who knew who he was. I was the only person I saw who went up and talked to him(asked why he was in Richland). So I was sitting there like freaking out, and no one else seemed to care. I mean, I remember in 8th grade, when Mitson was trying to get me to shoot on the side of my head, I was not going to have any bit of that, and my dad was like, look at Gonzaga's new freshman, Matt Bouldin, who shoots the ball over his eye, just like you are supposed to. So yeah, I knew who he was, but maybe 2 of the 20 something people in the gym even seemed to take notice of the 6'5" GUARD shooting around. Maybe I am the only one who watches college basketball. And wow that turned into a long paragraph.
So this was my last week of high school. Yeah. It was good I suppose. And senioritis is in full swing, because I am so done with high school. I have some homework to do tomorrow and the next day, labs and a paper for IS Bible, and I have to study for my Physics final. So I will do some of it tomorrow, some of it on Monday on my way to Spokane for my 6 month knee check up. Then on Tuesday I will take my final, go to Liberty to turn in my labs and the paper, say goodbye to the first graders, and that will be it. Wednesday I leave for L.A. on the senior trip, then I have a few days of graduation practice and that's it. That is really weird, but it is time. Sometimes there are things like that, where you say yeah I liked this, but it is just time for it to end and move on.
I don't think that friendships should be like that though. Yeah some people are just not good to be around, so that friendship should end, and some just fade away, like there wasn't much in common and you just had similar friends, but a lot just evolve overtime. It bugs to see friendships that have just come to bitter ends, and I had to see a bit of that this week. It just sucks. It makes you feel kind of sick, even if it doesn't directly involve you.
I think that is all for tonight, I don't have a ton to say.
Monday, May 16, 2011
God Put A Smile Upon Your Face
Well its been a week since my last post, which still makes me one of the more consistent bloggers.
So I think some stuff happened this week. yeah maybe.
Prom was pretty sweet I won't lie. Solid, solid event to end high school dances. Even if that storm was crazy and made us miss a limo stop and have to move dinner indoors. Amanda was a great date, the event was fine, even if we do basically the same thing each prom, and the dance was the best dance of the ones that I have been to. All in all, a pretty sweet night. Oh and white tuxes are legit.
I am trying to remember what else even happened this week. I have spent a lot of this week pretty stoked spiritually. I have heard quite a few good sermons this week, so that was awesome. I've gotten a lot of stuff to think and pray about, and I really like learning, you know, putting some stuff in the ol' toolbelt, to use a nice cliche. Mmm I just get excited thinking about it, and I wonder what God is going to do with it.
So New Vintage yesterday was cool, I have a few things to say about it. First off, I played guitar there for the first time, and we had a great time in worship, which was great. A bunch of people complemented me, which I thought was odd because I personally think I did horrible, but okay. Leo did a good job leading.
Secondly, we had a guest speaker who gave a great word. It was about Elisha, leaving his field, his farming, behind, in order to follow Elijah and do God's work. The point was, there was nothing wrong with Elisha's life before, he was a farmer, but out of nowhere, God gave him the opportunity to step out and do something impacting. The point was even though your life might be good, don't overlook what God's doing, He might have something different planned for you, so don't be afraid to step out of comfort zone, your field per say, and follow him. (Obviously led by God leave your field, don't do something just to do something). So we were challenged with that at the end in a short term way, how are we going to step out and make summer of 2011 different than others, but all I could think was that I'm getting ready after summer to step almost totally out of my comfort zone and go to college where I know next to no one. Basketball is a comfort zone for me, but I'm stepping out of that to try and play at the next level. I mean, when was the last time I wasn't guaranteed a spot on a team? High school I already knew what team I'd be on every year, knew my teammates, knew the coach. Then I have been thinking, where am I going to go to church? I don't know, but I know I should get plugged in quickly. So yeah, I will be getting out of my field next year for sure.
I also would like to get into more guitar playing soon. Hopefully this summer. I guess i just like to see constant improvement in what I do. Heck, I will go on this tangent from the odd start to this paragraph. I like seeing tangible improvements in my activities. Obviously not when I am chilling with friends, that would be weird to mark improvement in relationships(can you say stalker). But other than hanging out with friends and watching tv some, everything else I do involves improvement. I work out and eat a certain way to keep myself in improving shape, I practice basketball, I do Biblical/spiritual reading/watching in order to improve my knowledge and relationship with Christ, and I sing and play guitar to improve at music. I like all of those things, but I could not be satisfied with staying the same at any of them(at least for a long while in bball and fitness). I suppose that is a good thing.
So I think some stuff happened this week. yeah maybe.
Prom was pretty sweet I won't lie. Solid, solid event to end high school dances. Even if that storm was crazy and made us miss a limo stop and have to move dinner indoors. Amanda was a great date, the event was fine, even if we do basically the same thing each prom, and the dance was the best dance of the ones that I have been to. All in all, a pretty sweet night. Oh and white tuxes are legit.
I am trying to remember what else even happened this week. I have spent a lot of this week pretty stoked spiritually. I have heard quite a few good sermons this week, so that was awesome. I've gotten a lot of stuff to think and pray about, and I really like learning, you know, putting some stuff in the ol' toolbelt, to use a nice cliche. Mmm I just get excited thinking about it, and I wonder what God is going to do with it.
So New Vintage yesterday was cool, I have a few things to say about it. First off, I played guitar there for the first time, and we had a great time in worship, which was great. A bunch of people complemented me, which I thought was odd because I personally think I did horrible, but okay. Leo did a good job leading.
Secondly, we had a guest speaker who gave a great word. It was about Elisha, leaving his field, his farming, behind, in order to follow Elijah and do God's work. The point was, there was nothing wrong with Elisha's life before, he was a farmer, but out of nowhere, God gave him the opportunity to step out and do something impacting. The point was even though your life might be good, don't overlook what God's doing, He might have something different planned for you, so don't be afraid to step out of comfort zone, your field per say, and follow him. (Obviously led by God leave your field, don't do something just to do something). So we were challenged with that at the end in a short term way, how are we going to step out and make summer of 2011 different than others, but all I could think was that I'm getting ready after summer to step almost totally out of my comfort zone and go to college where I know next to no one. Basketball is a comfort zone for me, but I'm stepping out of that to try and play at the next level. I mean, when was the last time I wasn't guaranteed a spot on a team? High school I already knew what team I'd be on every year, knew my teammates, knew the coach. Then I have been thinking, where am I going to go to church? I don't know, but I know I should get plugged in quickly. So yeah, I will be getting out of my field next year for sure.
I also would like to get into more guitar playing soon. Hopefully this summer. I guess i just like to see constant improvement in what I do. Heck, I will go on this tangent from the odd start to this paragraph. I like seeing tangible improvements in my activities. Obviously not when I am chilling with friends, that would be weird to mark improvement in relationships(can you say stalker). But other than hanging out with friends and watching tv some, everything else I do involves improvement. I work out and eat a certain way to keep myself in improving shape, I practice basketball, I do Biblical/spiritual reading/watching in order to improve my knowledge and relationship with Christ, and I sing and play guitar to improve at music. I like all of those things, but I could not be satisfied with staying the same at any of them(at least for a long while in bball and fitness). I suppose that is a good thing.
Monday, May 9, 2011
School, Girls, yes there is a comma between those two words
BBQ. Boring, but done. Car wash, slightly maddening, but done. I only have one more work day til I am done with Liberty serving. Oh and the dream center in L.A. for our senior trip, but other than that, I am done.
Ummm I have ten days of high school left. That is weird, but I am more than ready to be done. Senior year has turned out to be incredibly easy. Then next year I will have to work, a lot, but I am okay with that. I just want to start doing school that I actually want to do. Like I chose the classes. I know I have a bit before I get through required classes, but it is still nice to have some options.
Today was Senior Skip day. It was pretty legit, I won't lie. I don't know what everyone else thought, but I enjoyed it. We started last night by watching Green Hornet at Hannahs house, and then today we played a bunch of wiffle ball and volleyball, had lunch, had frappuccinos, you know, good stuff like that. I would like to do some more outdoor activities like that this summer.
However, I am excited to get back to the club tomorrow and get back to my regular diet. I ate so much crap this weekend I cant take anymore. I am at the point where I just want all of it out of my system so I can feel...clean or something. I don't want to go out to eat for another few weeks, even though I think I am going to Mongolian on Friday, at least that is semi healthy. Or at least can be. I hate that you can make virtually the same thing at home as you can get at a restaurant, except what you made at home will be way better for you because it doesnt have tons of extra grease and stuff. I want to work out.
Do you ever think about what type of person you want to marry? Not who, but what type of person? (What type of woman in my case, but hey I'll keep my questions gender neutral so as to include all readers.) I know I do, but I can never totally figure it out, which I suppose is a good thing at this point in my life. Like all I can figure out is strong Christian, more outgoing than me, reasonably intelligent, and preferably values athletics/exercise, since I value it so much I feel like it is somewhat important. Nice and vague requirements that describe a multitude of girls, yet I only want one for my life. My parents taught me at a young age that I need to "marry up," not in wealth or looks, but marry someone who will challenge me to grow closer to God every day. So that is most important for sure. I'm really not sure why I said all of that, but whatever, it's pretty important to me.
I know this was a short blog, but I will not lie, I am quite tuckered out after a long few days. Biggest Loser and The Voice are on tomorrow, I just thought you might want to know that.
Ummm I have ten days of high school left. That is weird, but I am more than ready to be done. Senior year has turned out to be incredibly easy. Then next year I will have to work, a lot, but I am okay with that. I just want to start doing school that I actually want to do. Like I chose the classes. I know I have a bit before I get through required classes, but it is still nice to have some options.
Today was Senior Skip day. It was pretty legit, I won't lie. I don't know what everyone else thought, but I enjoyed it. We started last night by watching Green Hornet at Hannahs house, and then today we played a bunch of wiffle ball and volleyball, had lunch, had frappuccinos, you know, good stuff like that. I would like to do some more outdoor activities like that this summer.
However, I am excited to get back to the club tomorrow and get back to my regular diet. I ate so much crap this weekend I cant take anymore. I am at the point where I just want all of it out of my system so I can feel...clean or something. I don't want to go out to eat for another few weeks, even though I think I am going to Mongolian on Friday, at least that is semi healthy. Or at least can be. I hate that you can make virtually the same thing at home as you can get at a restaurant, except what you made at home will be way better for you because it doesnt have tons of extra grease and stuff. I want to work out.
Do you ever think about what type of person you want to marry? Not who, but what type of person? (What type of woman in my case, but hey I'll keep my questions gender neutral so as to include all readers.) I know I do, but I can never totally figure it out, which I suppose is a good thing at this point in my life. Like all I can figure out is strong Christian, more outgoing than me, reasonably intelligent, and preferably values athletics/exercise, since I value it so much I feel like it is somewhat important. Nice and vague requirements that describe a multitude of girls, yet I only want one for my life. My parents taught me at a young age that I need to "marry up," not in wealth or looks, but marry someone who will challenge me to grow closer to God every day. So that is most important for sure. I'm really not sure why I said all of that, but whatever, it's pretty important to me.
I know this was a short blog, but I will not lie, I am quite tuckered out after a long few days. Biggest Loser and The Voice are on tomorrow, I just thought you might want to know that.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
The First Few Days
Have you ever noticed when you make a commitment, it always seems hardest within the next few days. Like not just starting a diet and oh I just have cravings or something(no I do not have experience with that, are you calling me fat?!), but like unusually difficult situations pop up? Here is my point, I wrote that blog about forgetting stuff and encouraging yourself, and then either the next day or the day after, I have a really good memory of days as you can tell, I ended up playing horse with Mark Wilson at the club. I'm well aware that I am an inferior basketball player in that match up, but really, I sucked. so bad. So after getting thrashed in 2 out of 3 games by Mark and Lamar with his stupid bank threes, I did fine the last game, I was so angry with myself because I was so off. And then I was angry because I was angry about a game of horse. I even did the count ten things I did right in my head just to make myself feel better, and it actually did help. I looked back and saw why I was off, because my feet were not good on my follow through, I was sort of leaning back on my shots, and not taking them at full speed. All reoccurring problems for me that always seem to get me off kilter. I am trying my best to forget my failure now and move on, I wasnt going to even tell you that story, but I thought it was a good example. It takes 20 something days to make a habit, so I have a while to go before I can make a more positive attitude a habit.
Tomorrow is the grandparents day cookout, saturday is the car wash, and I think next Sunday I will work at Dr. Fischers office. So yeah, you could say I'm about ready to graduate so I can stop doing stuff for Liberty. I realize it is my senior trip so I shouldnt be complaining, but come on I did my job by working a few times. That sounds terrible but I think it is just my final bit of frustration from Liberty and waiting to graduate. This just shows how poor our school is!!!(I realize that is Bryan's line).
I am supposed to find another song comparable to In Exile and Come All You Weary by the end of the year for chapel, and I have no idea what song I will use. Yeah there is a song or two by thrice I could use, but I really want to use a different artist. I am on the hunt.
I haven't done even close to the amount of recording that I wanted to do this year, I have somehow been busy even though I haven't had much schoolwork at all this year. Maybe I'll do some during the summer, but I still need to find a job. Man, do I have a hard life haha.
I am just a helpful guy this year for prom asks. I helped Vic, and yesterday I helped bryan ask Brittney. Yes he bought me a blizzard, yes it did need to be wiped a second time for a while before I got it, no Bryan, you can not have a dilly bar, but yes, yes I did by Mylanta Extra Strength Gas cherry flavored tablets. Maybe not my proudest moment, but whatever, it was definitely not weird for me to walk up to the register at Walgreens and buy medicine for gas... It worked out in the end though, because Oh Mylanta, brittney did end up saying yes. Surprise, they definitely weren't already going with each other...(yes I just used two ellipses in the same paragraph, so what?)
I'm so sick of complacency in my Christianity. I write these papers for Bible every week and each week I seem to find something like "Yeah let's be unified, or inviting to people, aware of what we believe and why, cognizant of our people surrounding us and how we are perceived, etc." Then it seems like every week nothing changes and it just bothers me. I can see myself gaining knowledge and stuff to affirm my beliefs I suppose, but my actions don't seem to show it, and it infuriates me. I feel like my attitude is right, my heart is on the money being hungry for God, but I just don't feel like I have accomplished anything. I want more.
Also, I made a tumblr for no reason. I don't even really know what it is, but whatever I guess I will figure it out. Even though from what I can tell it is a blogging thing, maybe I will just follow bands with it.
Tomorrow is the grandparents day cookout, saturday is the car wash, and I think next Sunday I will work at Dr. Fischers office. So yeah, you could say I'm about ready to graduate so I can stop doing stuff for Liberty. I realize it is my senior trip so I shouldnt be complaining, but come on I did my job by working a few times. That sounds terrible but I think it is just my final bit of frustration from Liberty and waiting to graduate. This just shows how poor our school is!!!(I realize that is Bryan's line).
I am supposed to find another song comparable to In Exile and Come All You Weary by the end of the year for chapel, and I have no idea what song I will use. Yeah there is a song or two by thrice I could use, but I really want to use a different artist. I am on the hunt.
I haven't done even close to the amount of recording that I wanted to do this year, I have somehow been busy even though I haven't had much schoolwork at all this year. Maybe I'll do some during the summer, but I still need to find a job. Man, do I have a hard life haha.
I am just a helpful guy this year for prom asks. I helped Vic, and yesterday I helped bryan ask Brittney. Yes he bought me a blizzard, yes it did need to be wiped a second time for a while before I got it, no Bryan, you can not have a dilly bar, but yes, yes I did by Mylanta Extra Strength Gas cherry flavored tablets. Maybe not my proudest moment, but whatever, it was definitely not weird for me to walk up to the register at Walgreens and buy medicine for gas... It worked out in the end though, because Oh Mylanta, brittney did end up saying yes. Surprise, they definitely weren't already going with each other...(yes I just used two ellipses in the same paragraph, so what?)
I'm so sick of complacency in my Christianity. I write these papers for Bible every week and each week I seem to find something like "Yeah let's be unified, or inviting to people, aware of what we believe and why, cognizant of our people surrounding us and how we are perceived, etc." Then it seems like every week nothing changes and it just bothers me. I can see myself gaining knowledge and stuff to affirm my beliefs I suppose, but my actions don't seem to show it, and it infuriates me. I feel like my attitude is right, my heart is on the money being hungry for God, but I just don't feel like I have accomplished anything. I want more.
Also, I made a tumblr for no reason. I don't even really know what it is, but whatever I guess I will figure it out. Even though from what I can tell it is a blogging thing, maybe I will just follow bands with it.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Confidence
"But still I know I can't say much because I know we are all the same. Oh yes, we all seek out to satisfy those thrills... Oh no there aint no rest for the wicked, until we close our eyes for good." Never thought you would learn a lesson from Cage the Elephant huh? I don't want to talk about this too much, but yes, I am going to talk about Osama Bin Laden. I'll be honest, I was a bit shocked at how happy people were that he died. It kind of disturbs me. Like obviously I am happy that he cannot wreak havoc anymore, but really, I am like 99.99999% sure that guy is going to hell. I wouldnt wish that on anyone. Yeah he was a horrible man, but so am I. I've never killed anyone, much less thousands, but anything less than perfect means you deserve hell. Without Christ we are dead inside, and despite what Princess Bride tells you, there is not a mostly dead and dead. That is enough of saying what people have already told you.
I finished the PGC videos, and the last video was on confidence. It was solid. I love the quote from some famous psychologist named william james "people tend to become what they think about themselves." So if you just focus on negative stuff, like say my shot being off, my shot will probably be off. That sounds so elementary but it is pretty hard after games not to focus on the shots that you miss. I know I focus on them more than I focus on made shots, and that is where this quote is helpful. Mark Twain said "the inability to forget is infinitely more devastating than the inability to remember." Michael Jordan allowed himself 15 min after games to focus on negative stuff, to learn from it, and then he said he never thought about it again. You are not going to have any confidence if you hate how you play, so one more quote is "It's okay to be your biggest critic, as long as you are also your biggest fan." So the lady in the PGC videos said she spent a whole offseason where when she was done with pickup games, she would write down ten positive things she did.
I am not going to do that, but I am focusing more on the positives I am doing during practice and trying to focus on what I love about the game. So say I'll have a nice move into quick jumper? I am pretty excited. This perspective seems to work, and the other day I felt solid joy when doing my drills, which made me realize that I don't care what anyone, coach or player, tells me about my game, whether I can play or not, I am going to keep playing because I just love playing basketball. If I can do something where I can feel real joy, almost a worship experience where I can say "God, this gift you have given me is awesome, and I love doing it," I think I will continue to do it. And, of course, I think of Scott Pilgrim when I say stuff like that. Ron earned the power of self respect!!(red flaming sword comes out of my chest hahaha.)
Okay so in more trivial news my knee is coming along, my bball has been coming along, and I am almost done with senior year. I am pretty stoked.
I asked Amanda to prom yesterday, with a lovely song written by yours truly, so I am excited for that too.
I think it is funny when people dont understand why I do what I do. Somewhat annoying sometimes but funny too. I'll explain. I don't talk all the time. Even if I am hanging out with people. People seem to like to talk more than me, and I don't really want to talk if I have nothing to talk about. I think about stuff a lot, but not everything I think about needs to be said. Or should be said. It doesn't mean I don't have fine social skills, it just means I like verses like Ecclesiastes 6:11 "The more the words, the less the meaning, and how does that profit anyone?"
Well that is enough words for tonight
I finished the PGC videos, and the last video was on confidence. It was solid. I love the quote from some famous psychologist named william james "people tend to become what they think about themselves." So if you just focus on negative stuff, like say my shot being off, my shot will probably be off. That sounds so elementary but it is pretty hard after games not to focus on the shots that you miss. I know I focus on them more than I focus on made shots, and that is where this quote is helpful. Mark Twain said "the inability to forget is infinitely more devastating than the inability to remember." Michael Jordan allowed himself 15 min after games to focus on negative stuff, to learn from it, and then he said he never thought about it again. You are not going to have any confidence if you hate how you play, so one more quote is "It's okay to be your biggest critic, as long as you are also your biggest fan." So the lady in the PGC videos said she spent a whole offseason where when she was done with pickup games, she would write down ten positive things she did.
I am not going to do that, but I am focusing more on the positives I am doing during practice and trying to focus on what I love about the game. So say I'll have a nice move into quick jumper? I am pretty excited. This perspective seems to work, and the other day I felt solid joy when doing my drills, which made me realize that I don't care what anyone, coach or player, tells me about my game, whether I can play or not, I am going to keep playing because I just love playing basketball. If I can do something where I can feel real joy, almost a worship experience where I can say "God, this gift you have given me is awesome, and I love doing it," I think I will continue to do it. And, of course, I think of Scott Pilgrim when I say stuff like that. Ron earned the power of self respect!!(red flaming sword comes out of my chest hahaha.)
Okay so in more trivial news my knee is coming along, my bball has been coming along, and I am almost done with senior year. I am pretty stoked.
I asked Amanda to prom yesterday, with a lovely song written by yours truly, so I am excited for that too.
I think it is funny when people dont understand why I do what I do. Somewhat annoying sometimes but funny too. I'll explain. I don't talk all the time. Even if I am hanging out with people. People seem to like to talk more than me, and I don't really want to talk if I have nothing to talk about. I think about stuff a lot, but not everything I think about needs to be said. Or should be said. It doesn't mean I don't have fine social skills, it just means I like verses like Ecclesiastes 6:11 "The more the words, the less the meaning, and how does that profit anyone?"
Well that is enough words for tonight
Sunday, April 24, 2011
I, dont want to bother with a name for this
I guess something cool happened sometime in history that makes this day kind of cool. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. That verse, John 15:13 amazes me, because I still marvel that Jesus would call me his friend. I know we are supposed to be like Jesus, but I cannot imagine being friends with someone who did that much wrong to me. I guess that is why there is no greater love.
You know those people that you see around, at the club or just social situations, and you think, "Oh crap, I hope they don't come and talk to me because I know I will not be able to get out of that conversation forever. They just talk and talk and talk and all I want to do is mind my business and lift." Okay that was pretty tailored to the club, but the point is, I think I was put into the world to cancel out at least one of those people. Possibly two. I am not much of a conversation starter and especially recently, if I start a conversation, it ends horribly. Not offensive at all, just freaking awkward. I get to that point where I am like "This conversation is not going in a good direction," so I end up cutting it off and just counting my losses of looking awkward instead of looking flat out dumb. I really hope this phase proves short because it is doing wonders for my social confidence. Oh well, I'm sure it'll work out fine.
In other news, I played at the auction yesterday. Some wonderful worship music, even though I screwed up like a million times on my guitar parts, I feel like it went okay. The all boys worship team. I got to sing Come All You Weary, which I will be playing at the all music chapel on Wednesday. So I guess it was like a practice run.
I am in one of those creative moods where I want to write and play guitar, but my sg needs restrung and I really dont want to set up my gear just to move it again Tuesday.
27 pts 13 rebounds 15 assists. Vintage Chris Paul. I wonder if I can buy that game because I have a strong desire to watch domination. Chris has moved into a tie for number 3 top player(if anyone remembers my top 10 player list) and would have number 3 claimed if not for b-roy putting the team on his back yesterday. I can't move him down in good conscience after a game like that.
I got this free video series from PGC of three instructional videos, so they are being sent to me every few days. I took about 3/4 page of notes on the first video about leadership and hustle, so that was an awesome reminder for my workouts, which have been solid recently. So I am excited for the other vids, and if you want to get these vids I can email you the link to sign up for them.
That is all for tonight
You know those people that you see around, at the club or just social situations, and you think, "Oh crap, I hope they don't come and talk to me because I know I will not be able to get out of that conversation forever. They just talk and talk and talk and all I want to do is mind my business and lift." Okay that was pretty tailored to the club, but the point is, I think I was put into the world to cancel out at least one of those people. Possibly two. I am not much of a conversation starter and especially recently, if I start a conversation, it ends horribly. Not offensive at all, just freaking awkward. I get to that point where I am like "This conversation is not going in a good direction," so I end up cutting it off and just counting my losses of looking awkward instead of looking flat out dumb. I really hope this phase proves short because it is doing wonders for my social confidence. Oh well, I'm sure it'll work out fine.
In other news, I played at the auction yesterday. Some wonderful worship music, even though I screwed up like a million times on my guitar parts, I feel like it went okay. The all boys worship team. I got to sing Come All You Weary, which I will be playing at the all music chapel on Wednesday. So I guess it was like a practice run.
I am in one of those creative moods where I want to write and play guitar, but my sg needs restrung and I really dont want to set up my gear just to move it again Tuesday.
27 pts 13 rebounds 15 assists. Vintage Chris Paul. I wonder if I can buy that game because I have a strong desire to watch domination. Chris has moved into a tie for number 3 top player(if anyone remembers my top 10 player list) and would have number 3 claimed if not for b-roy putting the team on his back yesterday. I can't move him down in good conscience after a game like that.
I got this free video series from PGC of three instructional videos, so they are being sent to me every few days. I took about 3/4 page of notes on the first video about leadership and hustle, so that was an awesome reminder for my workouts, which have been solid recently. So I am excited for the other vids, and if you want to get these vids I can email you the link to sign up for them.
That is all for tonight
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Future-y Stuff and of course, bball
I am basically exhausted. I will not lie. I'm sore, am dreading writing a paper for Bible, and will probably not go to chapel tomorrow in order to finish said paper and go work out. I don't have an intense desire to watch Santa Claus recite the entire book of Revelation...actually with his booming voice I would say Father Christmas is a more accurate nickname.
In other news, I am pretty much officially enrolled in George Fox, so that is pretty cool. I signed up for their Summer Orientation thing where I sign up for classes and stuff, and my deposit is already there since I had to "save my spot" for housing in like December. So that is cool.
I saw something at the club the other day that made me pretty happy. Actually I have seen it twice now. There is an apparently middle school kid that shoots around at the club a few times a week(which is impressive for middle school), and he is pretty good for a middle schooler. He is probably 6', has a good shot(a little odd but that is expected from a middle schooler), and moves well when he plays. Well, last few times I have seen him, he has brought, wait for it, two basketballs! I haven't seen him do ballhandling with them, but he shows up by himself, right when I am about to leave. I feel so cool to have someone copying me though. If he works on two ball dribbling and keeps improving, that kid is going to be a legit baller.
I am getting restless on the basketball court. My knee feels so good almost all the time, it just makes me want to play. I think this should be my last bit of talking myself up for the night, but I have gained 16 of the 21 lbs I wanted to gain by basketball season. I wanted to be 170 so I didnt get pushed around on the court, so now it is looking like I will beat that easily.
Does everyone feel the same way as I do? Like something big is bound to happen to you, you just have no idea what or when? Like, I don't know if everyone feels that, and then just ends up sort of disappointed 50 years down the road, or if I am just different like that. I think everyone feels like that, it's constantly in movies and stuff where people end up randomly having something happen to them, but is it just a fantasy for people or do they always feel that something like that might just happen whether they want it or not. I get hesitant saying I will do anything down the road, if someone told me in ten years that I would be in a band, an optometrist, a physical therapist, a basketball coach, heck I don't even know what else, I couldn't disregard any of that. Obviously I would say Optometrist is most likely, but really, who knows? Who would have called my life to this point, so who could call it in the next 18 years? Im guessing everyone thinks and feels like that, but it kind of bothers me sometimes, you know, that there is only one certainty in my life.(God, if you couldn't figure that out)
Well, thats all I got
In other news, I am pretty much officially enrolled in George Fox, so that is pretty cool. I signed up for their Summer Orientation thing where I sign up for classes and stuff, and my deposit is already there since I had to "save my spot" for housing in like December. So that is cool.
I saw something at the club the other day that made me pretty happy. Actually I have seen it twice now. There is an apparently middle school kid that shoots around at the club a few times a week(which is impressive for middle school), and he is pretty good for a middle schooler. He is probably 6', has a good shot(a little odd but that is expected from a middle schooler), and moves well when he plays. Well, last few times I have seen him, he has brought, wait for it, two basketballs! I haven't seen him do ballhandling with them, but he shows up by himself, right when I am about to leave. I feel so cool to have someone copying me though. If he works on two ball dribbling and keeps improving, that kid is going to be a legit baller.
I am getting restless on the basketball court. My knee feels so good almost all the time, it just makes me want to play. I think this should be my last bit of talking myself up for the night, but I have gained 16 of the 21 lbs I wanted to gain by basketball season. I wanted to be 170 so I didnt get pushed around on the court, so now it is looking like I will beat that easily.
Does everyone feel the same way as I do? Like something big is bound to happen to you, you just have no idea what or when? Like, I don't know if everyone feels that, and then just ends up sort of disappointed 50 years down the road, or if I am just different like that. I think everyone feels like that, it's constantly in movies and stuff where people end up randomly having something happen to them, but is it just a fantasy for people or do they always feel that something like that might just happen whether they want it or not. I get hesitant saying I will do anything down the road, if someone told me in ten years that I would be in a band, an optometrist, a physical therapist, a basketball coach, heck I don't even know what else, I couldn't disregard any of that. Obviously I would say Optometrist is most likely, but really, who knows? Who would have called my life to this point, so who could call it in the next 18 years? Im guessing everyone thinks and feels like that, but it kind of bothers me sometimes, you know, that there is only one certainty in my life.(God, if you couldn't figure that out)
Well, thats all I got
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