Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Winter Weather, Sports and the Creation of the Universe

     Snow. Sleet. Ice. Weather. Classes. Basketball. Studying. Jeopardy. Super Bowl XLVIII. Bible study. The Olympics. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Creation debate.

     That's pretty much every single topic that's been/is being discussed on campus and on social media sites over the last couple days.

     The Super Bowl...uh, wasn't. It was, actually, pretty much like most of the high school football games I covered for the paper. And it didn't even snow! I didn't really care, but I was leaning slightly towards Seattle. But that much was....well, at 43-8, it tied the largest margin of victory ever. (The Cowboys beat the Bills 52-17 in Super Bowl XXVII.) There weren't any good commercials, and the only one that stands out was the TurboTax Prom ad because it was so creepy.  And I watched it alone in my dorm room, eating dry Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Rice Krispy treats and peanut butter from the jar, because that's all the food I had. Animal Planet's Puppy Bowl X was lots better; adorable puppies and kittens playing and napping and looking cute while editing splices together all the best shots and writing turns it into a brilliant mockumentary of a football broadcast. The snow(we got between 3-5 inches) kept me indoors all day; as that was way too cold to walk to church, and the roads were horrendous, so I didn't want to risk Grandpa or Robbie getting in trouble because of the ice while driving across town to watch the game with them.
     So I watched most of the first quarter, then practiced my lines for the SWAT skits with Bubba Jacob, came back just as the third quarter was starting and semi-watched the rest of the way. After that it was time to run over Justin and Ja Li Si's one-shot skit for the Monday night meeting, and then it was time to try to get to sleep.

     Five of the eleven students in Latin II showed up, so it was a light day; we discussed such important topics as the Super Bowl and Finding Nemo. Speech was canceled because of the awful road and sidewalk conditions, so that was kind of good. Studying in the afternoon, then an early dinner before going over to the BCM. Daniel P., Ricardo and James Hoover have all been wanting me to start helping out the worship team from time to time, so I missed SWAT practice last night because of running over the music. Elizabeth said it went pretty well, though. After worship practice was over me and TJ galloped downstairs to greet our SWAT teammates.
     Then it was back upstairs for a few more takes of Justin's skit before the meeting started. The skit went well, and the music went all right, I guess. Never had played with a full band before, that took a bit to get used to.
      Off to the dorm to drop off Abby Lee and change into basketball-playing clothes, then Zach and I headed to First Baptist's gym in his orange Camaro for basketball practice. We had eight guys show up this time, so that went pretty well, just enough to be able to sub when needed and tentatively get used to playing with each other. And the recruiting effort to CCF helped, as Connor, Greg, Steven F. and a couple other guys came out to help us practice.

     I wake up panicked today just after 8, having a class at 9:30, check my school email and find out it was canceled, which was good. There was black ice everywhere around campus; probably just about anyplace in this area. Elizabeth's car found a patch on the turnpike Sunday and wound up mowing down an exit sign. So I spent most of the morning studying for Friday's tests in Latin and speech, then got some lunch and met up with Zach in Flo's for a look at Ephesians 3. More studying after that, Jeopardy-watching, called Mom. Caleb's foster-puppysitting for Mrs. Jackson, sounds like he's enjoying that, and the pictures are so puppyishly adorable. Rags is busy giving all those (disgusted huff) dogs extremely dirty looks.

     Listened attentively to the Bill Nye-Ken Ham debate online, before it disappears from the archives I'm going to need to watch the entire thing. Worldview debates are much easier to pay attention to and follow than political debates, made me wonder what it was like back in the 1800's when debating various subjects was a frequent pastime. Must have been interesting. Anyway, Ken ham did a great job of trying to keep the focus on the Gospel and the underlying bedrock foundation that all the questions would be shot off from. (It was especially interesting, as the fall semester's BCM Monday night messages were a series by Ken Ham on this topic, and also, because Bill Nye is....you know, Bill Nye. The Science Guy.) And Ken Ham is Ken Ham, so....it was really good, definitely planning on watching it again if I can.

     The reason I wasn't able to pay sole attention to the debate was because there was a new episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on tonight, so I watched the debate before and after the show, and in the commercial breaks during the episode. Anyway, it was spectacular, like always, had several extremely clever scenes of banter, a Stan Lee cameo(!!!), and plot twists that leave you literally gasping you're so drawn into the plot. AND I SO WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT!!!!!!!!! And I won't find out for another month, probably to avoid competition from the Olympics. That's probably a really smart move by the ABC execs, but as a viewer it's frustrating.

     As I was starting college, I mentioned how the Olympics were a good time to reflect on life, examine what's happened since the last time they were held. I asked several hypothetical questions, wondering what the future would be like by the time they came next. Really meant the 2016 Rio Summer Games, but may as well give as good answers I can to them now for the 2014 Sochi Winter Games. The answers: 1 - My job right now is a student. 2 - Well....that's hard to know how to answer. If a 4.0 GPA through three semesters is a barometer, then yeah, I guess so. 3 - Pretty much the same now as it was then; just take life one day at a time, try to encourage others when possible and work hard at what I'm able to. 4 - Nope. 5 - Definitely not. 6 - Minime. (That's Latin for "By no means!") 7 - Not yet. (Jeopardy-style answers there, click the link for the questions and a look back eighteen months.)
     During the Vancouver Olympics, one night on a pizza run Mom came back with an Australian Shepherd/border collie mix puppy we soon named Skeet, Sport really seemed to like him. He soon grew like a weed and assumed second-in-command position from Sunny. We'd just been back in Beggs for five months once the rebuilding was finished, about a month later we finally got a new oven. I was finishing my sophomore year of high school, it was a year away from Youth Tour, Liesel the bipolar psycho cat had disappeared two months earlier.
     I'm not sure how much I'll get to watch this year, but I'm gonna try to tune in as often as I can. The Winter Olympics aren't quite as interesting, usually; because of not having much experience with skiable snow and good ice, but it's always something to see. Speedskating(that looks so wrong...), hockey, snowboarding, bobsledding...tons of cool stuff. (With sarcastic definitions found here.)

     Cody and his wife are parents now; their son was born yesterday afternoon. Which is awesome. And I'm used to the fact that people I grew up with are getting married now, I guess; with Alton/JB and Kyle/Mariah over the last year, but it still kind of makes you do a double-take sometimes.

     Facebook had its tenth anniversary today; kind of makes you wonder what ideas you or friends or classmates might have that could be something a decade from now.

     Depending on the road conditions tomorrow, I may get my braces off Thursday.  And then there's those tests on Friday.

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