My Own Little World

Today, I’m ashamed that someone was proud of me. Felicia and I had just seen Black Panther (which I’ll talk about in another post) and were walking out of the theater toward my car. During the movie, it began to snow a lot, so afterwards I had to brush the snow off of my car. Next to me, a woman who had just came from the same showing as us was doing the same thing I was doing. We struck up a conversation about how some kids in her family had never seen snow because they were from Florida and when they visited here it had never snowed for them, how she had a friend from Africa who marveled at snow when she saw it for the first time, and how one of the first presents my dad ever got my mom was a brush for her car. I also offered to help her brush her car off, but she said she was fine and didn’t need the help – which I knew would be her answer because she seemed like she had a good handle on what she was doing. Felicia (my girlfriend, for those of you who don’t know) said she ...

A little over a week ago, I finished my sophomore year at Olivet Nazarene University. To be honest, that statement really doesn't mean much (and those of you at Olivet who aren't in a science major can back me up there). A lot of my time so far has been focused on adjusting to life away from home, finding new friends, and figuring out what to actually pursue in my four-year program there. Difficult schoolwork? Not so much. The toughest part of classes this semester has been waking up for my 8 AM class three days a week. So, what's happened? Did I hit a sophomore slump in any areas? Not really. This has actually been one of the best years of my life. Between a lot of excellent classes, making some new friends, and finding romance, it's been really incredible. I have no complaints and very few regrets going into the summer. Here's some notes about stuff going on: My grades ended up pretty good, even in the classes I hated. The best thing about this semester...

Hey all. It's been a while since I've talked about my life, so here I am with just some tidbits: For spring break, I went home, watched over two seasons of The Office  and lots and lots of movies. I also recorded some music with my good friend Sarah Simmons that will be released later this year, so stay tuned for that. On the whole, though, spring break was a much-needed period of rest and relaxation after a hectic semester to date.  As far as Lifesong (my traveling worship band) is concerned, we have had a very busy schedule. Pretty much every weekend is spent with that bunch of hooligans leading worship at either churches or youth retreats. It's been a ton of fun this year, but it is extremely tiring, especially on weekends when we have retreats. I wouldn't trade the experience for almost anything, though, and that keeps me going from week to week.  Felicia's great. And awesome. That is all.  School itself is fine. I have some classes that I really enjoy an...

Note: the following was mostly written in August before I returned to school for the fall semester. I will catch you guys up on how my college life has been going so far this year in a future post.  As I'm writing this, I'm sitting on my porch in Champaign on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, watching the dogs and sipping a glass of water while I listen to this amazing Indie Goes Epic playlist on Google Play. I'm also counting down the days until I go back to Bourbonnais. You see, as much as I loved summer in high school, in college things are completely different. In high school, you stay in the same place and can see the same friends while just taking a break from classes. Life goes on with you at home, and you don't miss a beat with your social life. You just don't have to go to school for a few months. It's awesome. College is a completely different ballgame, especially if you go away to school. All those friends that you've become so close with du...

So, this morning I got an email that looked a little something like this... I then also got an email that looked like this... Then I questioned my existence and got really, really mad. You do not cancel school and then blame a student for hacking into the system and sending a fake email to the entire student body. Let's face reality, people: if students actually knew how to send email from faculty accounts, this would happen way more often. Here's the moral of the story: either don't send an email until you know for sure or just let classes be cancelled. Own up to your mistake and don't blame it on your own students. I'm pissed. And I've got a right to be.

Well, one more week has passed on the Olivet campus here in Bourbonnais, Illinois, and I have a few more observations about college life. This week, I'm going to give some tips about staying in touch with home while also being heavily involved in campus life: Whatever you do, stay in touch with your family.  No, you don't have to call them everyday, even if they'd like you to. However, even if you only call once a week, they'll appreciate it a ton. Besides, it can be nice to see how things are going at home. Make sure you set aside time to call home, and respond to any texts you get. Don't shun your family. And especially... Don't let the first thing that tells them how you're doing be your blog.  Oops. Didn't do a great job here. Sorry Mom.  Keep in touch with at least a few good friends from high school.  I haven't done a great job of this yet, mostly because there's an asterisk to this one: don't get stuck with doing so. If you spen...

One week ago today, I moved onto the campus of Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Illinois. In light of this recent change in my life, I'm going to start posting five observations about life on a college campus every week. That being said, here's my top five things I've noticed about college life in my first week here: Dining halls/block parties/etc. are not for introverts...or ambiverts. I'm not a strict introvert, but I really don't like large group events all that much. Large crowds of people I don't know intimidate me. There's a lot of those on a college campus, especially in the first couple weeks of school, so be prepared to be pushed out of your comfort zone if you're at all like me. That being said... Get to know your floor and force yourself to hang out with them. This is a big way to help fix the issue of #1. I've found a lot of cool guys on my dorm floor who like to have fun. It also gives you someone to eat lunch or dinner w...