Nonsense, Drivel, and Balderdash

Yesterday I talked to a friend that I hadn't seen since high school. I had not spoken to her for years, and it was interesting to see how our lives had changed since then. We spoke about old friends and caught up on what everyone was doing... it was nice. Funny how you can look at your life and think about how things turn out. Who would have thought, three years ago, that we would all be where we are today. Little decisions impact the rest of your life. I think of things that could (but not necessarily should) have been said, and I try to imagine what would have come from that. There have been times that keeping my mouth shut (which was a rare thing) probably saved me from a completely different life. There are so many things that we toy with doing, and we don't realize all of the possible repercussions. Not all consequences are bad though... Things that we we could have said to someone that would have totally changed the manner of our relationship; friendships that could have ...

Yes, I have been back at Gordon for a week now, but it seems like much longer. I cannot believe that I was in Spain only a week ago. It seems like much more time has gone by since then. This week my dad came up to visit, which I didnt expect. He told me on thursday that he had seen a cheap flight for 150 dollars or something and so he jumped on it. We went to see a movie, which is what we have always done together, on saturday. The movie is called "Big Fish." It is directed by Tim Burton, which automatically assures you that it will be a bit different. Visually speaking it was not as imaginative or bizarre as many of his previous pictures, but it was still different. For those of you who are not Burton fans, I urge you to give it a try. It is not dark like most of his other stuff (Edward Scissorhands, Nightmare before Christmas, Bettlejuice...). In fact it is a bittersweet, feel good, kind of film. However, it is weird and cool. It was well put together. It was good. See it. ...

Today I was sitting in Philosophy class and two questions were raised: "What are the differences between a real and an imaginary dollar bill? And which would you rather have?" Many things were said to the first question: "One is made up of matter," "One has actual value" "One has unchangeable attributes"...bla bla bla. Everyone loved the real dollar bill. However, when the second question was raised, my first thought was: "I would rather the imaginary bill, because no one can take it away." It only struck me how weird of a thought it was when everyone answered that they wanted the REAL dollar bill, because of its physical value. When my first thought is that I want the intangible bill... what does that say about me? Any takers? Any amateur shrinks want to take a gander at that?

Well, this blog has been acting strange for a while now, and I have been to tired to fix it, but today I got around to it... hopefully it loads now, and if we are lucky we can even use the comments. It is bitter cold up here in New England. Wicked cold, as they say in Boston. I dont think I have ever felt frigid temperatures like those we are experiencing now. It is -20 degrees here, which is cold enough as it is, but the wind chill is -42 tonight. That means that skin freezes and suffes frostbite after 10 minutes of exposure. According to the weather map, that is colder than most places in Alaska at this moment. Bitter cold which fosters bitter people, locked in their dorms; cabin fever is soon to hit.

I am in the middle of reading "The History of the Jews," a book whose title is fairly self explanatory. It covers the chronological history of the Jews, from ancient times until today. So far I have plowed through about 300 pages, meaning that I have reached the 1600's. The book is pretty fascinating. I had not really been aware of the whole Messianic culture and belief system and where it came from. It also delves into the growth of the Kahabbalistic mystical movement, of which I knew only bits and pieces. I had never really thought that Jews had had false messiahs come along, but it turns out that they had a couple really big ones that we never hear about. The book covers everything from Jewish culture, to theology, politics, commerce and of course the ever present persecution. As a Christian I have to cringe when I read this book. Of all of the pain that the Jewish people have suffered during the past 1500 years, Christians are responsible for most of it. Even the earl...

No, it actually isnt raining. It is nice. Sunny. Clear skies, not even freezing. I hope you New Englanders are jealous. Time has flown here in spain. A whirlwind of meetings, parties and friends. After a week of christmas cousins, I was left to meet up with all my spanish friends. I have met up with a couple but not nearly all. I saw many of my old ECA (high school) acquaintances and friends at Chris' birthday party. His party went all night long, with different types of "entertainment." People talked and hung out for a while, watched a movie and had a little unplugged concert by Bluemilk and the Autumn Lovelies. Blue Milk sucked quite a bit... they should leave acoustic stuff behind....the Lovelies rock my world though. Seriously, their brand of unapologetically sellout pop rock is awesome. I gotta start a fan club. Then again, I think they tried to make the crowd a little more receptive with the booze that was available before the show.... haha. For new years eve I had ...

I am sitting in MY room here in Madrid, Spain. It is a beautiful day. The skies are clear and the temperature is cool, but not cold. The cold comes later in the day, and at night. It is a welcome change from the constant frigidity of the northeast. I was looking forward to coming back to Madrid for Christmas, but I forgot how beautiful it was. The sun goes down, but everyone is still going to and fro; the streets are alive with people. Eager, and somewhat desperate, shoppers bounce from store to store. The masses of bundled families circulate around the downtown section of the city eating, drinking, and being merry. Churros are dipped in mugs of thick chocolate, as people down their strong spanish coffee. Unlike the US, in spain Christmas day is still a religious holiday; since presents are given out on epiphany (Jan 6). There are few santas around, and wise men are more common. This is the Christmas I like. No plastic "frosty the snowmen" on front lawns, no empty songs about...

Yes my friends, I am still here. Despite what my recent amount of posting has shown; I am alive and kicking. What am I kicking? The dog of course. But that is beyond the point. Christmas day has come and gone here in sunny spain. My cousins were here for a week and that was a great privilege. They used to live in Spain 8 years ago, before they moved to the USA. It was the first time that they had been back to the motherland and it was fun to see them enjoy the fine pleasures of this beautiful country. There were 3 of them: Andrew, who is 24 and is a bon a fide artist. Caroline, who is 21 and is studying psychology at the University of Santa Cruz (or somewhere in california). And Bethany, who is 18 and is doing something with her life. It was marvelous to have them all here. We were also blessed to have my friend Kenny's family over for a couple of days. They are full of energy and kept the house lively. I have not seen a family that likes to play games as much as them. I think they...

Well, it is 8:30 in the morning. I have been up for two hours now. I got up early to study for international relations, my final is at 10:30. I got a really bad grade on the midterm, so I am hoping that I will do better now. I got a B on my paper, which is good in that class. After this final exam I will be done with all my tests and classes for this semester. This evening I have an "RA time" before we all leave to go home tomorrow. I have gotten to know my staff pretty well during the last couple of months. There are still people that I relate more to, or whose personality matches mine; but on a whole, I dont have any complaints about my staff. At the start of the year I sort of dreaded RA meetings, but now I enjoy them. I am really looking forward to going home tomorrow. I will try to get "bumped" if the flight is overbooked. They give you a little cash and put you up in a hotel, it isn't a bad deal. I am ready to get home, but if they offer enough moolah, the...

It is 12:20 at night. Upstairs people are serving themselves pancakes, taking a break from studying for finals. Further upstairs, a girl lost a part of herself tonight. Her brother died. I do not know her well, but I do know her. She is a nice girl. She is pretty and has a great sense of humor. She has a lot of friends. However; tonight, she probably feels like she has nothing at all. Yet, I suppose I should not presume to know how she feels. I know how I feel though. My heart feels heavy. I would cry if I could, but the tears never come. My eyes have moistened up several times, but I have never cried. I wish I could. To lose someone so close... my heart reaches out to her. Right now, only my heart does so. What does one say to someone who has lost somthing so valuable? Words seem empty, and letters mundane. A cold hug from a stranger is the last thing someone needs. So I sit here in my room, trying to shed some tears... for her.

I just figured out how to show pictures on my blog. Here is a picture of me with my fro. That is for all of you that are wondering what the heck I look like now. This should be cool. I will try to get a hold of some pictures of the campus under snow.

Right when you think you are starting to fit in, and feel at home, something happens to remind you that you are and always will be an outsider. I was going through my friends' blogs; reading what they had written. Then I thought to myself, "I wonder if there are any other MK's (missionary kids) from spain that have blogs?" So I embarked on a search to find out. I think I DID find one kid, that I didn't know, but for the most part my search came up with no good results. So I tried to find blogs by MK's in other places. I dont know why I did it, but I did. I found a couple, but it was pretty ridiculous, cause I had never met them and I did not know what they were talking about. However I read this post by a girl who goes by the name of " Mary Margarine " and she said something that caught my eye: (there's something about a whole bunch of MK's together that just can't be duplicated. It's like we understand each other without saying a wor...

The storm has come and gone, and left the landscape painted white. The trees are coated with thick ice, and the once red roofs are now covered with a thick layer of waxen, frigid dust. What was green a week ago, now shines silver under the moonlight. The ghostly wind that once beat against my walls, has left the world looking alien and foreign. Smooth sculptures of alabaster litter doorsteps, roofs and streets. Curls and waves on the drifting snow, reminding me of a burtonesque movie set. Winter has shown us its full power, reminding us to stay humble. Now, the unyielding storm has moved on to crush another unsuspecting town. The sun is shining, making me squint when I look over the immaculate landscape of ice and snow. It shines down apon our frosted world, warming our hearts; while our noses still freeze with the unwelcoming winter wind. It started snowing at 11 PM on friday. It stopped snowing last night around 8 PM. We have gotten over two feet of snow in most places, and it reache...

Today one of the people that I admired most has left this world, and gone to be with God. His name was John Garlock, and he was one of the people that has had a great impact on my life. Looking back on my life, and the times and ways that he crossed it, I can see that I would not be who I am today, if it were not for John. He has been, and always will be one of my favorite speakers. An expert in cross-cultural communications, he taught at Christ for the Nations bible school, in Dallas TX. He was one of my parents instructors when they went were preparing for missions. My first recollection of John is me sitting in the back of our old Ford Sierra station wagon, traveling on a journey up from the south of Spain. We were listening to some annoying children's tapes, when my parents decided that it was time to listen to something better. They put in a preaching tape, and I was disgusted. They asked me to give it a chance and I did. I must have been no older than eight, but I was enchant...

I was walking around campus and I thought, "I am going to watch a movie." After all, it is the only thing to do when you have at least a foot of snow on the ground and are in the middle of a snow storm. So, as my ears and nose started to go numb, I tried to decide what kind of movie I was in the mood for. I didn't feel like a comedy, or an action flick. I wanted something with more emotional depth, but did not feel like a drama. Then it hit me. I want something that doesn't exist. I wanted a movie about love. You are probably thinking, there are many movies about love. Yes. But they are all for women. Now, before you crucify me for being sexist or insinsetive, hear me out. All romance movies are geared towards women. The title "chick flick" is not ill-named. I would bet money on the fact that when a movie labeled as "romance" is in the theater, 80% of the people that see it are women. The 20% of guys that go to those movies are dragged there by the...

I remember reading about these in junior high somewhere: they are called prince rupert drops , and are a kind of glass formation. Really interesting stuff. They contributed to the creation of the tempered glass we know today.

Do you ever get that feeling in the middle of the night, where you are possessed by an emotion so strong, that you cannot help but to try to express yourself? It is almost one in the morning, and I am sitting at my computer. The dim glow of the screen bathes me in its pale light, as my feelings try to form themselves into thoughts. My emotions sit chained inside me. Then suddenly, as if hearing their master's call, they rise up expectantly. The tension rises and I can feel them watching my every move, waiting for the moment when they can be free. That moment does not come. My emotions tug at their chain, like a guard-dog in a junkyard, hoping that their bondage will suddenly give, and they will break free. I sit and watch them from across the way. I gaze sadly at them, knowing that they long to fly. Then the unexpected happens. The chain snaps and the mighty beast is free. Inside me, it races from my heart to my mind. It is a blur of motion; a whirlwind of passion, lifting the dust...

Heh, heh, if a lot of swearing doesnt offend you, then you will probably think that this cartoon is pretty funny, otherwise, you will be offended. They swear a lot, but I think it is pretty funny.

I am mad dazed and confused. I just got out of choir practice... the dress rehearsal fo our big Christmas Gala this weekend. It was a four hour long rehearsal. I want to die. So now, I am sitting in my chair... with Led Zeppelin blasting... trying to relax for a bit...

Well, it has finally happened. I am here, and outside of my window there is snow. Not much, just an inch or so, but it doesn't look like it is going anywhere. It is -9 degrees celcius... and it isn't so strange considering that we are in december. However, yesterday it was about 18 or so degrees outside. Nice and warm, I was in a long sleeved T-shirt. Not now... well, I only have to put up with it for a couple of weeks... It seems that I have incited the Blogg revolution. I started a blogger account this summer, and now about 8 people have started one. The only person that I think had a blog before me is Chris, and I DID start one last summer, but it sucked. I had been planning on starting one again for a while now. Daniel might have had one before me too... I'm not sure. But they are on live journal, and it is a little different. I am really looking forward to going home for Christmas. I am excited to get back, but I am not homesick really. So that is good. I have 2 more ...