New Kid on the Bench

Thanks to a wonderful high school social studies department I have learned to care more about politics and different issues. So here I am reporting on current events. If you hadn't heard yet, as I just did, Samuel Alito was confirmed to the Supreme Court today 58-42 in the Senate.
He was a rather controversial candidate since he was replace swing-voter Sandra Day O'Conner and has been noted as opposing Roe v. Wade personally, if not professionally. I'm looking forward to seeing what this newly filled (don't forget Roberts who was confirmed as Cheif Justice last year) Supreme Court will do.

I love this kid!!!

I found this great post the other day on Jackson Bohlender's blog Behold a new thing is coming . Jackson and his Dad, Randy, have some excellent blogs. Randy actually spoke at my Summer Teen Internship 2 years ago at the I.H.O.P (prayer, not pancakes) . Anyway, one of his sons, Jackson, made this amazing post. This is what most I.H.O.P kids are like, wise beyond their years but also a lot of fun. Here is a excerpt:

"The more I think about it, the more I realize how fortunate I am to be young.

Why? Well, first of all, some people just tend to not take me seriously because I'm 12 years old. However annoying at times, this has more pros that cons...

No matter how bold I am, no matter how professionally I dress, no matter what I say, there will always be someone in the crowd who tunes me out because I'm an irritating 12 year old.

My days as cute and cuddly are numbered, though, and soon I'll either have to stay cute and cuddly for my entire life or start being aggressive and irritating. In just 30 days, I'll be a teenager, and after 8 years of teen life, I'll be 21. An adult. A full-sized stinking adult. And even then there are going to be people of the previous generation who think I'm inexperienced and won't listen to me way I see it, until I'm about 35 (old enough to become a US president), I have no voice in the corporate world.

This is kind of sad, because not including the Millenial Kingdom, half of my life will be gone and if I'm not careful, I'll have lost my message.

This is why we must not worry about being "mature", but about being heard, or at least Holy, because it is out of fellowship with God that true maturity blossoms.

Wow. I just wrote what was on my mind and my heart and when I looked at it, I realized that it's really poetic."

Amen to that.

Why I heart Thursday nights

The Office

I think it's one of the greatest shows on t.v. right now. This show is done in mock-u-mentary style. It has no laugh track, slightly shakey camera work, and people that you could actually work with. I know, I know, it was on BBC first and the BBC original is supposedly more funny. Despite that, I thoroughly enjoy The Office.

This show is everything I dread about an office, except for all the. A bad boss, annoying co-workers, and hating your job. one of the reasons I like it so much is probably because of the painfully awkward happenings. There is so much tension between the characters, awkward pauses, and general weirdness that it almost makes you uncomfortable. Thankfully you are in your living room or, in my case, my dorm lobby and can easily press the 'pilot eject' button on your couch.

If this sounds interesting or you just want to check it out The Office is on tonight 8:30 (central).

By the way, if you actually do work in an office and hate your job as well as your co-workers then you should probably just not watch the show...or get a new job.

First day of second semester

I made it back to school, enrolled, and bought my books and today was my first day of class. I wasn't really looking forward to getting back into the school routine for a number of different and/or confusing reasons, however my first day wasn't too bad.

First of all, my first class of the day started at 10:40. Not too shabby. It was intro to Christian education, or as many like to call it due to the abbreviation on our class schedules, intro to Christ. James Cole, the happenin' new prof and assistant Chaplin, is the ringleader for our class. I wasn't sure what this class would be like at all. I figured that it would be boring since it is an 'intro' class. I'm really looking forward to it now. We do a good amount of reading, have a lot of discussions, and group projects. The group projects are mostly teaching Bible study/ Book study lessons. I have a feeling like it will be fun, especially because of the people in it. A lot of my friends are in it so if it ever gets even close to boring we can entertain each other.

I had choir. Dr. Cecil Reiny (sp?) directed today! It's going to be really neat working with him. Most of our choir was sick though, so we didn't sound that great.

My last class of the day was Color and Design. I'm excited to start working on projects and developing our portfolios. I think it could be fun. Plus Megan Baker, my supercool senior friend, is in the class with me to keep me sane!

Looks like this semester might not be as painful as imagined.

I hope.

and another thing about London...

I missed the whale!
Enough said.










(for those who don't know the whale swam up the river thames in London and stayed there for a few days).

My time in London

I've fully recovered from jetlag and am back at school gearing up for second semester, which starts tomorrow.
What can I tell you about my trip to London.

Well first of all it's amazing. Almost everything has some sort of long history or is associated with someone. London feels much more friendly than New York. I do love New York, but it feels so big. In London the buildings are a lot shorter, so you can actually see the sky. It just has a lot of character.

We went to a lot of awesome places: Westminster Abbey, St. Pauls, The Tate (and Tate Modern), The British Museum, The National Gallery, Stratford-upon-Avon, Salisbury, Bath, and Oxford. We also saw three shows. I saw The Producers, Great Expectations (at the Royal Shakespeare Company), and The Woman in White ( The new Andrew-Lloyd Weber musical).
We also rode the tube a lot. That's one of my favorite things about big cities, public transportation.

Overall one of my favorite things was learning so much. It was great to have a whole class before going but also learning so much when I was there. I've never felt so educated about a place I've been.

Other highlights:
Tea
Food
The people
Hostels
Getting to know other people from my college either for the first time or better
Hanging out with Dr.Gannon and his wife. He is retiring after this year and I was honored to get to know him and travel with him even if it was just for a short time.

And now for some pictures!


This dragon tells you when you are entering/leaving London proper

The Changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace



St. Pauls


Me in front of the stereotypical London pay phone booth.

The Church where Shakespeare is buried

Shakespeare's birthplace

Stonehenge

One of my favorite pictures from Stratford

London

Tomorrow I get on a plane and travel out of the country for the first time (I don't count Canada) and land in London! I am going with my intertwine art class. I'll be gone from the 10th to the 18th. We get to go to all the places that are associated with London (Westminster Abbey ,The Globe Theatre, Buckingham Palace, etc.) plus a lot of museums. I still don't feel like it's real. I know that I have to pack today. I know that I'm spending most of my day in the air. I know I'm going to be in London and yet it seems so unrealistic. I do have some travel anxieties though. I'm worried about what exactly to take, how to handle my money, staying in hostles, and other general travel fears. I'm not really afraid of being mugged though. I made it in New York without being mugged so that's got to mean something.

I'm going to be exhausted, not just when I get back, pretty much right away. I realized this morning that when my plane gets in at 7 in the morning in London that it will be 1 am 'Sam time'. I really wish I hadn't figured that out. That could make me quite cranky. Once we get there we pretty much don't stop. Are days and nights are packed with activities. I think I will function on adrenaline. That sounds like fun.

Anyway. I should start getting organized so I can pack.

Pray for our group as we travel for safety and health (and sanity).

I'll post pictures when I get over jetlag.

I heart MST3K!

"Whaaaa?", is what you might be asking yourself right now. Good question. For those of you who are really nerdy you know what MST3K is... or you are one of my many friends who have been forced to watch it. What is stands for is Mystery Science Theatre 3000. What it is is one of the best t.v. shows ever created (at least for nerds like me).

So whats the premise?:

An average guy is shot into space on the 'Satallite of Love' by his evil boss. He fashions some Robot friends out of the parts of the ship that control it (thus preventing him from ever being able to fly back to earth) named Cambot, Gypsy, Tom Servo, and Crow (pictured below with Mike). Depending on the episode, Mike or Joel are forced by their evil boss to watch the worst possible science fiction movies ever created and/or flung together. To maintain their sanity Mike (or Joel) and his robot friends add their own sound effects, music, and dialogue as you watch the movie with them. Sound weird--no doubt. Really funny anyway-- yes.

I myself own several of the DVD's (Hellcats, The Brain that Wouldn't Die) and 3 box sets (seasons 4,6,8).

Therefore...

I heart MST3K!

The Rest of Christmas Break

Again, long time no post. I was busy, honestly.

Christmas consisted of hanging out at my grandma's christmas eve and going to a movie w/ my parents christmas day. We saw Fun with Dick and Jane. It was pretty good. I think you have to be in the mood for it to enjoy it though. My parents and I also drove up to Kansas City (Where my sister and her family live) to have christmas there. It was really fun. We decided this year not to buy a lot of presents in exchange for cash. Sounds good to me. I spent one third of it (On mystery science theatre dvd's and conference apparrel) and put the other 2/3's into my savings. I figured at some point it might be nice to have some money.

From the 28th-31st I was hanging out with Jesus and 10,000 other people at the One Thing conference. I had been to the '03 conference, where I was introduced to the IHOP (and basically Jesus for real), and decided to make great effort to make it back this year.

Highlights were Misty Edwards and her team, Shelly Hundley (she messes me up everytime I hear her speak) seminars, Dwayne Roberts (one of my favorite bald guys w/ artsy glasses from the IHOP), Praying with and for other people, hanging out in the prayer room, and having my heart tenderized through the word. To check out the One Thing conference or the IHOP follow the links: http://www.onethingglobal.com
http://www.ihop.org

I didn't get to see a lot of my friends during the break which is a bummer. But I had some quality time with my best friend Ellen. Turns out we're going through a lot of the same things (a.k.a. life question freak-outs) right now. It was great to have someone who knows how I feel.

P.S.

More Later...I Nabbed the cool photo from Randy Bohlender's (IHOP Staff) blog called Stuff I Think