Weird Stuff

I know that I think of some weird stuff a lot. And I usually think out loud. I will often times make a comment and in return get a, "whats wrong with you?" or "are you serious?" The other day I was sitting in my room hanging out with some guys, thinking about saliva for some reason. I wondered why we dont have a problem swallowing our own saliva when its in our mouths, but if we spit it out, say in a cup or something, we cringe at the thought of putting it back in our mouths. I mean, its the same saliva. Its not like its been too contaminated in the air. And of course, I said my thought to the group. I got some funny looks for that one.

Then I was walking back from studying tonight, and it was freezing cold outside. It was so cold I could clearly see my breath. And......I had to fart. But I hesitated because Im always unsure if when its cold enough to see your breath........if you can also see a fart. Unfortunately I was alone in my thinking on this one, I had no one to share my thoughts with then, and ultimately, no one to resolve my dilemma. I still dont know the answer to that one though. I guess thats just one of lifes mysteries.

Sin Management

I have been thinking about this one for a while, just havent quite figured out all of the points I want to get across, but Ill give it my best shot. Its about sin management, as you can guess, and its the way we deal with our sins, how we manage them, in order to keep us pure. I feel that a good portion of Christians are living the sin managing lifestyle. Im not saying that its not good to shoot for a pure lifestyle, I just feel that most people are doing it for the wrong reasons. They are in it for themselves. They are only doing it to better themselves, but dont look past that and see how it affects others, or more importantly, God. Havent we already been saved from our sins anyways? The work has already been done for us. Why do they keep putting so much effort in controlling their sin "for God" when He has already taken care of that?

Its so much easier to not do something bad than it is to do something good, isnt it?

I think we should worry less about ourselves and how pure we seem, and shift our concerns to others. Worry about Charles and Heather and how we can help them, instead of how we look while we are talking to them. "But what if someone I know sees me?" Big whoop. What if God sees you? What would His reaction be? Delighted, Im sure.

I think this guy states it better:

"A focus on sin and its dynamics plays nicely into the enemies hands. We don't concern ourselves with the impact of the gospel on the world; we gather in tidy fortresses to ensure that we are a pure people. Instead of asking how our sin, and self-centered behavior, affects others, our primary concern is our own salvation and purity. We become self centered in an effort to live the gospel of the kingdom, which is meant to get us beyond ourselves in giving our lives for the world.

"In the kingdom of God it is not so. Rather, we seek first His kingdom and justice.. and let Him worry about the rest. Salvation is already ours.. the Father DELIGHTS to give us the kingdom. Let's concern ourselves with His concerns.. the hurting and lost outside the walls."

I think that God would be more delighted in us for doing something good rather than us not doing something bad.

Actually this has reminded me of some scripture: Matthew 25:14-30 (The Message)

14-18"It's also like a man going off on an extended trip. He called his servants together and delegated responsibilities. To one he gave five thousand dollars, to another two thousand, to a third one thousand, depending on their abilities. Then he left. Right off, the first servant went to work and doubled his master's investment. The second did the same. But the man with the single thousand dug a hole and carefully buried his master's money.
19-21"After a long absence, the master of those three servants came back and settled up with them. The one given five thousand dollars showed him how he had doubled his investment. His master commended him: 'Good work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.'
22-23"The servant with the two thousand showed how he also had doubled his master's investment. His master commended him: 'Good work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.'
24-25"The servant given one thousand said, 'Master, I know you have high standards and hate careless ways, that you demand the best and make no allowances for error. I was afraid I might disappoint you, so I found a good hiding place and secured your money. Here it is, safe and sound down to the last cent.'
26-27"The master was furious. 'That's a terrible way to live! It's criminal to live cautiously like that! If you knew I was after the best, why did you do less than the least? The least you could have done would have been to invest the sum with the bankers, where at least I would have gotten a little interest.
28-30"'Take the thousand and give it to the one who risked the most. And get rid of this "play-it-safe" who won't go out on a limb. Throw him out into utter darkness.'



Long post, I know, but I think you get the point now.

Charles

So today I went to Walmart to buy some trinkets (CO2 cartridges, deodorant, and a box of cereal, you know, the usual) and as I was entering the parking lot, I once again saw a homeless person standing there with a sign. Once I saw him I again thought to myself how I could approach and get to know this person. So as I was leaving, I drove up to him, parked my car, got out and introduced myself. His name is Charles. This man was a little different from Heather in a sense that he looked like he was going to die any minute. I was in shock at the bad condition he was in. He was on oxygen, coughing and hacking, shivering, and just looked like death. Now I know that he could be putting on a show, and thats a shame if he is, but I really felt like I needed to do something to help. So as I was talking to him I told him that in exchange for a high five, I would give him $20 to help out a little. So he gave my a sweet high five, I gave him some money, then left. I also told him I would keep him in my prayers, I think you should too.

Im in a Puddle

I was flipping through some of my older posts just now, and I came across The Puddles of Life. Im really glad I wrote this one down because I seem to be in a puddle these days. It seems that lately, nearly every day, something more goes awry. This week, I havent been feeling very well. I went to work out tonight and nearly threw up, and apparently I lost about 5lbs this week, from what, Im not sure, just being sickly I guess. And that just adds to list of crap that has already happened lately. Im not sure when I entered this puddle, but rereading that post raised my spirits a little. I just need to trudge through this puddle and search for dry land. Im trying to keep my head up, but Im sure theres still some rough waters ahead.

Elections are finally over!

Im pretty disappointed that elections are over, Im really gonna miss all of those campaign commercials! Yeah right. Im pretty pleased with the turn out, I pretty much expected Obama to win, but wouldnt have been torn if McCain won. Obviously, I voted for Obama. Of course, if you know me, I dont like things to stay the same. Im addicted to change, remember.

Im really surprised at the reactions of people after the elections. I got on Facebook because I knew that people would have some things to say, but everyone just went nuts! It was like a war. People saying things like "the world is gonna be run into the ground", "heres to the new socialist republic", and my favorite "F*** Obama....Christian nation my a**, America is full of ignorant people." I left a comment to that guy, I was pretty upset about this comment, I probably shouldnt have but I said, "....and youre an ignorant Christian." As a Christian, I was offended by this comment. How you can be so judgemental to me? I really wish I hadnt made the comment though, because I now realize that I was also being judgemental.

But anyways, we'll see how Obama does with this whole President thing. Im pretty excited to see some things change, but hopefully he does it responsibly and with our best interests in mind.

Eventful Night

So tonight was interesting and full of a variety of emotions. It started a couple of hours before chapter, maybe around 6 or 7pm. My friend Cam, a brother in the house, came up to me and told me that our Housing Director was coming to the house tonight to inform four of us that we are being evicted from the fraternity. This was a little upsetting, but I wasnt going to make a big deal about it since I didnt have all of the facts, and since I was proven innocent by the brothers, I figured I wouldnt be getting evicted also. So after chapter (thats our house meeting every Monday where we do fraternity business), we had a little discussion with Ty, the house director. He came straight out and said that all four of us were getting evicted next semester. Like I said earlier, I was proven innocent by the chapter, so had no punishments according to the brothers due to the fact that it wasnt my alcohol that was found in our room. But, since I knew it was in the room, the housing corporation decided to evict me, which is separate from the fraternity. I was just a tad upset about this, and told Ty what I thought. The whole thing was sketchy to begin with, it seemed like they were targeting certain people, mainly the people I pledged with. So I told him how shady everthing seemed, told him we deserved a second chance, and told him that because of this about a quarter of the house might be quitting.

So after our conversation, I was walking upstairs to my room when about three or four guys stopped me and asked about our conversation. I explained, and they were also upset with the decision. So they gathered as many guys as they could, and headed to the kitchen to have a huge discussion with Ty. This was pretty amazing. There were about 25 or 30 guys in there defending us four, we all told Ty how we disapproved of him, the corporation, and the Board of Trustees, telling him that they are more concerned with punishing us than helping us, which in turn is hurting the house. This whole conversation went on for a couple of hours, just Ty against all of us. It was pretty amazing how everyone came together to give him our opinions, and we were really blunt about it, telling him that his decisions and leadership skills are disgusting. We have had problems with this guy in the past, hes really unethical and unprofessional, but this was the breaking point. We eventually told him we wanted to get rid of him as housing director, that he wasnt helping the house at all, only ruining it. Im still not sure if I am still getting evicted though, either way it doesnt bother me, I had half of the brothers tell me I could stay in their room next semester. Shoot, I wouldnt have to pay rent that way.

So after that, Im sitting in my room talking to some guys about the events of the night when I hear some yelling and running coming from the staircase. Earlier in the day, some guys on the first floor had set up a fort in their hallway made of mattresses and challenged the second and third floor to a battle. This was the battle, and it was freakin awesome! We started out using brooms and frebreeze or axe spray as our ammo. The guys on the second floor (my floor) would charge and all of this smelly stuff would just cloud up the whole hallway. I was using a stick of deodorant as my defense, wiping it on anyone near me. Then I got my airhorn as a defense. And, eventually, someone got the idea to use the fire extinguisher, which, looking back, was a horrible idea. That thing left the biggest mess, white powder was everywhere, I mean, everywhere! Then everyone was on the verge of throwing up because of the white cloud of dust filling the air. We all ran outside and were coughing and spitting trying to get the taste out of our mouths. The dust cloud even made its way up to the third floor. We eventually settled down just before 1am. Im not sure who cleaned up the mess, but it was huge. Someone even threw a pumpkin. Yes, I know, we are wild and irresponsible, but we had so much fun!

Check These Out!

These are some HILARIOUS videos I found. Today at church, we watched the second video, I was laughing SOO hard! Enjoy!

Random Thoughts and Events

You know how movies have dramatic music in the background of each scene, and there are different types of music for each type of scene. During tense moments, theres the dramatic, high beat music. During love scenes or moments of happiness, there are the soothing violins and flutes and whatnot. During sad parts, the music makes you feel emotional.

Wouldnt it be cool if our lives had that music playing? Im sitting here in my room, just got up from a nap, and there is this music playing somewhere, Ive been hearing for like the last half hour. I looked all around to see if it was from the speakers, from a computer, from the house, but couldnt find the source. Its really faint, but it sounds beautiful. I thought for a moment that I might be going crazy (even more so than I already am). But I think I found the source, Im not 100% sure, but I think its the Purdue band, they are practicing down the road, I can hear some drums every now and then. But the music Im hearing sounds way too love storyish for a school band to play. But that got me thinking about having music to the events of our lives. I think that would be awesome, it would add to the emotion, but probably get annoying after a while.

My week hasnt gotten any better. Just as I predicted, it got worse. I might be getting evicted from ATO now. Its not because of the rent issue though. A couple weeks ago, while we were on fall break, some guys on the Board of Trustees decided to do room checks for alcohol. There was some beer in our fridge left over from tailgating with my roommates parents, and they found it. There were quite a few others that got caught too. We were sent to J-board (judicial board), which decides punishments for breaking the rules, and I was found innocent due to the fact that it wasnt my alcohol or refridgerator. But this week, I recieved an email that said that I still might be getting evicted because of the incident, although I was found innocent. It doesnt make sense, and its kind of a harsh punishment for my first house offense. But I dont really care if I get evicted, I will probably just turn in my pin (quit the fraternity), and find an apartment, it costs too much to live in a fraternity anyways. There are quite a few guys that are fed up with the drama around the house and are considering quitting also. Im actually going to look at a house off campus with some guys this weekend for next year. So, we'll see what happens with this.

But for now, Im just gonna listen to my lifes background music.

Bad Day

I am having a bad day so far. First of all, I couldnt sleep last night, I woke up at about 4am because my bladder was gonna explode, and when I got back from the bathroom, I could not fall back asleep. I layed there for about two hours. My mind was just going crazy, I kept thinking about EVERYTHING. Then I got up this morning in just a blah mood. Lunch was blah also.

I went to my ceramics class, my only class of the day, hoping to brighten my spirits. The one girl that is in my class that I sorta had a crush on, well I asked her to be my date for a party we are throwing this saturday. I think her and her boyfriend split, but really it doesnt matter. This party on saturday is sort of like a high school dance type thing with food, dancing, hayride, but theres alcohol there, but you need to take a date. So I asked her a couple of days ago with no response, then asked again today and she said she couldnt go. I didnt get an excuse, but I dont really care what it was, she probably just didnt have enough time to make one up. She is the third girl to turn me down for this party. That didnt help my already bad mood. Then, we had homework due for this class, some sketches of an absract object based on a poem or song. So I did the sketches based on the poem I wrote, but didnt bring the poem to class. Needless to say, I got chewed out, and she didnt believe me that I actually wrote a poem, she thought I was making that up. On top of that, we are working on a hand made from clay, it has to be as realistic as possible, and I spent about an hour on just the thumb today. I got it attached, was in a bad mood for how difficult this hand had been to build, and...........it fell off the stand. The thumb broke, the hand became deformed, I had a few choice words, nearly grabbed the whole thing and threw it against the wall, but decided not to.

So that has been my crappy day so far. I just wanted to walk out in front of a car on my way back from class. Actually, the whole week has been kind of a rollercoaster. Im ready for it to be over. Except, it will only get worse since I have to be bartender for our Halloween party on Friday. So for the rest of the day, I might drive to Rochester to put some money in my account, I still havent paid rent for this semester. But once I do, I will once again be flat broke. Fun time is over.

Today is Alive

Yesterday is dead
It occurred at midnight last night
Should we mourn its death?
Should we keep it in our memory
Going over its events
Either painful or joyful
Living in the past?
Or should we move on?

What about tomorrow?
Tomorrow is unseen
Like a being that doesnt exist.
Tomorrow has no thought
No feeling, no purpose
It doesnt mean anything.
Tomorrow is subjective.

Should we embrace this day
As its moments unfolds?
Never again will we experience
The feeling of this instant.
Have we forgotten
The worthlessness of yesterday and tomorrow?
Today is objective
Today we feel
We think, we have purpose
Today is Alive.