Waffles make a good late-night snack. That's what I found out last night. Actually, waffles are good any time. (Leslie Knope would agree wholeheartedly.) They aren't quite so good when you burn them by mistake, though. Anyway, yes, it was a reference to the Taylor Swift song, since it's my birthday.
We spent the morning going around to garage sales around Tulsa; Trevor found a bunch of action figures and Nerf guns, and Mom found some towels, which were needed. Also, some very nice copies of Jules Verne, Daniel Defoe and Alexander Dumas.
Lots of "happy birthday" posts on Facebook, and Dylan sent a text and Scotty called. Rags and I watched some Parks and Rec.
Then we went bowling in Glenpool tonight; we were all terrible. But it was fun. There was also some skeeball, and I beat Courtney at that.
Got a book of Jeopardy puzzles, a Randy Travis greatest-hits CD, Thor: The Dark World DVD, and an Avengers Monopoly, which we had to test out. It was very different than normal Monopoly, but fun. Amy LOVED setting up the candles on the cake and all the other birthday things.
It was a nice day.
Friday, May 29, 2015
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
What's Been Happening
In the middle of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird for the millionth time. The goats have been kind of sick. Caleb's puppies are VERY fuzzy and cute. Courtney's been babysitting a lot. FLEAS and FLIES and COCKROACHES EVERYWHERE...it's annoying. Caleb and Trevor have been playing LEGO Star Wars and LEGO Indiana Jones pretty often.
Also, I think it's rained all but two days of May so far. Nano's house is slowly but steadily getting cleaned out. Grandpa started radiation for his cancer today, so hopefully that'll get the last of it.
Also, I think it's rained all but two days of May so far. Nano's house is slowly but steadily getting cleaned out. Grandpa started radiation for his cancer today, so hopefully that'll get the last of it.
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
Junior Year Recap
Another school year has ended. Finally.
So, let's look at how I thought it would go: My fall class schedule would've featured photography taught by Cassie, Crisis Comm taught Dr. Eversole, Newspaper Production, something else I forgot, and Susan would've been in my government class. Life would pretty much center around the BCM; Susan and I would've led SWAT together, I would've kept on playing in the worship band, the gang would get together for Flapjack Fridays with the Lunch Bunch, there'd be the basketball tournament in fall and volleyball tournament in spring. The Pancake Feed finals week. Velocity on Thursday nights, Impact on Mondays. Hanging out doing homework in the office. Naps on the softest couches on campus. Occasional coffee runs late at night when there's a lot of people's minds. Parks and Rec reruns and crying together when the show ended. Complaining about the terrible season the Thunder dragged us through. Meals would be shared, simple pleasures like watching rain and Disney singalongs would've been enjoyed, lots of shared prayer, and we'd be there for each other when they needed it. Even (especially?) because that would have involved a lot of sarcasm and insults thrown around lightly on a daily basis.
That scenario was basically what happened. Except I was watching from afar, connected by Twitter and Facebook. But despite Deb's cancer and Justin's health problems, insanely difficult courses and goodness knows what else, they got through and things were kept running smoothly.
As far as classwork goes; I'd probably be on track to graduate next May. I'd also likely be the editor of The Northeastern right now; it was pretty much one of those things that was known around the Media Studies department that I was one of the top candidates to replace Meredith once she moved on.
I would've lived in the dump that is Ross, dealing with the well-documented Arctic temperatures, weekly wasp invasions, and weird smells and loud noises. It was terrible, and filled with freaks(and stoners. And drunks. But most drunks were in Logan.) But there were friends suffering as well, so mutual complaints made things tolerable. The caf would still be extremely depressing, but there's The Underground and Flo's to compensate. The campus library would still be creepy and unpleasant.
There'd be the library to run down to occasionally when there was time, and weekly expeditions to Morgan's for cookies. And Boomerang for those times when I needed greasy food, the pleasant atmosphere of old people having conversations, and writers' inspiration in equal measure. The Galdamezes to visit once in a while, Grace Baptist to attend on Sundays it was hiking weather. Grandpa and Robbie, too. And Harry and Louise.
But I didn't stick around Northeastern State and the land of the RiverHawks; because the family needed me at the house. There was a lot going on. I finished my gen eds through Tulsa Community College in about three months. Got to read stuff I wanted to when I could, which included Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, some of Cynthia Rylant's short stories, Stephen King's On Writing, William Goldman's Adventures in the Screen Trade, Laura Hillenbrand's Unbroken, and others.
Movies seen for the first time wee The Quick and the Dead, His Girl Friday, The Karate Kid, An Affair to Remember, Sleepless in Seattle, The Breakfast Club, Guardians of the Galaxy, Serenity, Romancing the Stone, Days of Thunder and Top Gun.
Rewatched Space Jam, all five Air Bud movies, Captain America, the Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, It's a Wonderful Life, While You Were Sleeping, The Big Green, the Iron Man trilogy, The Avengers, The Incredible Hulk, The Fox and the Hound, The Aristocats, Searching for Bobby Fischer, the Toy Story trilogy and Thor. Those are all the movies I can remember from fall. Caleb and Courtney got me hooked on the awesomeness that is Phineas and Ferb, and then of course we all rewatched the first season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. together, along with MacGyver. I also finished Firefly and the first season of Friday Night Lights.
As far as classes went - Word was almost Comp I- or nutrition-level awful, government was depressing, saddening and boring, but extremely easy; biology was tough and mostly irrelevant, with a few cool concepts(genetics!); and Photoshop was interesting, challenging and rewarding.
Got to know Banjo the red heeler, and Rags loved me not being at college.
Nano died, which was sad for us. But good on her end; with heaven awaiting. And she was more than ready to go.
In January I headed to Claremore and Rogers State; Hillcat territory. It was....difficult. I seriously thought I wouldn't pass most of my courses.
This led to long nights of staying up late writing essays or posts like this. Also, late nights of running from smoke alarms or blazing through Agent Carter, season two of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., or most of Daredevil. (I really like superheroes; okay?!) And I tracked the best quotes of season one from Agents for two reasons: A, it's written so well, and B, it was a good exercise to study dialogue pacing. As a way to stay slightly-connected to BCM folks, I blazed through all seven seasons of Parks and Recreation in six weeks. Stephen, Elizabeth, Daniel P.and Bucky love that show. Mom watched through season six in two weeks in fall, and she loved it, too. So I figured why not jump on the bandwagon? Even if it was pretty late. So I rewound after that was accomplished to recap the best quotes from the first season of Parks, too, for the same reasons listed above. Also, I really needed some comedy to de-stress, and characters to care about, even if they were fictional. Besides, there was so much textbook-reading that after a while I just couldn't deal with more letters on a page; they felt like they were just swirling around in a tornado and I didn't feel like taking the tornado apart to understand what the words said. Also, it was a good way to study camera placement and shooting technique, of which I needed all I could find in order to finish Advanced Broadcasting. The eight-week NSU run-on-instinct crash-course introduction to video production last spring really didn't prepare me very well at all for the RSU version. And having three weeks to learn an entirely new software right before classes started didn't help much, either. (The acceptable-quality-enough-to-share projects: Day in the Life of a College Student, Parks-style; Between the Sidelines; my favorite, and a short film resulting from a collision by two strange ideas; and Hillcat Spirit; a documentary-type deal on cheerleading which needed a lot better planning than I was able to do.) The instructor did a good job; it's just I lacked the experience to meet his expectations.
Besides the ABP trouble, Media Law was nearly impossible to figure out most of the time, and the instructor would be good to know; but had a tendency to ramble a lot during lectures. And he was extremely disorganized. But he was the guy over the theater department, so...that kinda explains it. The professor for Interpersonal Communication seemed like a blend of Mrs. Boyer and Trish personality-wise, and her tests seemed designed to be unsolvable puzzles. Most of that class consisted of taking notes and not falling asleep(back-to-back classes without a lunch break is a bad idea). And I learned in that course that I can write a paper from 12-4 a.m.on the due date and still get an 89. Not at all recommended, but...anyway, that class seemed to fall into the "rather pointless" category. Creative Writing was a good course. Dr. Mackie's teaching style reminded me of Dr. Faulds or Prof. Semrow; clear directions, high expectations, and help if you ask for it.
The Novel was disappointing. I liked the books I was familiar with; Sense and Sensibility(Jane Austen), The Great Gatsby(F. Scott Fitzgerald) and The Sun Also Rises(Ernest Hemingway), and hated everything else(The Awakening, Kate Chopin; A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce; The Stranger, Albert Camus; Go Tell It On the Mountain, James Baldwin; Sula, Toni Morrison; The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera; and Blankets, Craig Thompson). I read all of those at least three times each. Middle-of-the-road were The Hunger Games(Suzanne Collins) and The Book Thief(Markus Zusak), which were read as potential profile subjects for an essay. Marvels(Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross), which I did do the profile over, The Hundred and One Dalmatians(Dodie Smith), To Kill a Mockingbird(Harper Lee) and Fahrenheit 451(Ray Bradbury), all of which I read to get the nasty required taste out of my mouth, were all very good. The professor leaned towards being a feminist(which was annoying) who stressed philosophical questions like "Do we need religion in our modern world?" or "Why should one way or finding meaning in life take precedence over another?" She was also a very firm advocate of relativism. Thus, all my papers and tests, which had a tendency to stray into defenses of concrete moral truth, made her a little mad and so she'd take away points for that reason.
The string of A's bit the dust; with two A's in Creative Writing and Interpersonal Communication, two B's in Media Law and The Novel, and a C in Advanced Broadcasting. So my grades weren't the best. But I tried to give everything I had to each project....it's just that the energy-fuel was heavily rationed.
I'm fairly convinced that there are demons on the NSU campus. But there are definitely angels stationed there as well. It's uncomfortable sometimes; knowingly being aware of the spiritual warfare going on. At RSU, there wasn't any of that. Spiritually it was just a vacuum of nothingness. There weren't really any churches nearby to go to, and the RSU BCM was a colossal disappointment, like CCF but Eversomuch Moreso, to quote Robert McCloskey's Centerburg Tales. Most of the time, the only prayer I could muster was "Lord, thanks for getting me through today. Do it again tomorrow."
Now, as has become kind of an annual segment of these types of posts, music that either stuck in my head often or seemed to fit the school year. (See those for high school graduation, freshman year, and sophomore year.) This year that "Often Stuck" category includes "How Firm a Foundation", "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid(why?), Delirious' Deeper, the "Friends" theme song, Mr. Mister's "Kyrie", Carrie Underwood's "Temporary Home" and Little Texas' What Might Have Been". There was also Steven Curtis Chapman's "Burn the Ships", "God is God", "Heaven in the Real World", "The Great Adventure" and "Magnificent Obsession". Brad Paisley's "Everybody's Here" and "Those Crazy Christians", in particular. He's got a ton of great material, a wonderful storyteller. Also some Relient K; "Be My Escape", "College Kids", "For the Moments I Feel Faint", "Forward Motion", "Hello McFly", "Over Thinking", "Pressing On" and "Trademark", specifically. The songs of Miranda Lambert's I speciallly remember are "Desperation" and "Love is Looking for You", but there's a ton more than I like of hers. Nothing in particular of Keith Urban's stands out, but I love his music. And Avril Lavigne's "Everybody Hurts", "I'm With You", "Mobile" and "Tomorrow". She's another great storyteller, of the Keith Urban/Taylor Swift "This is the situation; and this is as honest as I can write about how it's affecting me" type. Mouse Rat's "5,000 Candles in the Wind", "Catch Your Dream" and "The Pit", of course.
At different times and in their own ways, Amanda, Ash, Daniel, Elizabeth, Jessica, Jon and Stephen were there to help by providing prayer, news, or simply listening and talking. Good to talk with Dylan sometimes, too. And from GBC, there were Steven and Jamie, Scotty, Mr. and Mrs. Dugas and the Steeleys. It was very helpful to get a ride to/from church from the DeSpains, very thankful for that.
The apartment was nice; it was good to have a microwave. But there were too many mirrors; six reflective surfaces in three rooms is way too many. And the window wouldn't ever open. So when you're cooped up indoors doing homework for hours on end, not even the smell of outside...it's small things like that which stick out. Never having visitors, I never really cleaned very much, which was irritating, but when the RA's would drop by to do monthly inspections they always marveled at how this was the cleanest apartment they'd ever seen. The second day I said out loud to myself, "This would be better if there was a cat to share it with," and that was pretty much the way it worked the whole time. Much better than a prison cell, but maybe more alien.
I don't think there's a college anywhere that I would mesh well at. There's just something about them that I seem to be violently allergic to. But another year is done, so a few months away is good, I guess.
So, let's look at how I thought it would go: My fall class schedule would've featured photography taught by Cassie, Crisis Comm taught Dr. Eversole, Newspaper Production, something else I forgot, and Susan would've been in my government class. Life would pretty much center around the BCM; Susan and I would've led SWAT together, I would've kept on playing in the worship band, the gang would get together for Flapjack Fridays with the Lunch Bunch, there'd be the basketball tournament in fall and volleyball tournament in spring. The Pancake Feed finals week. Velocity on Thursday nights, Impact on Mondays. Hanging out doing homework in the office. Naps on the softest couches on campus. Occasional coffee runs late at night when there's a lot of people's minds. Parks and Rec reruns and crying together when the show ended. Complaining about the terrible season the Thunder dragged us through. Meals would be shared, simple pleasures like watching rain and Disney singalongs would've been enjoyed, lots of shared prayer, and we'd be there for each other when they needed it. Even (especially?) because that would have involved a lot of sarcasm and insults thrown around lightly on a daily basis.
That scenario was basically what happened. Except I was watching from afar, connected by Twitter and Facebook. But despite Deb's cancer and Justin's health problems, insanely difficult courses and goodness knows what else, they got through and things were kept running smoothly.
As far as classwork goes; I'd probably be on track to graduate next May. I'd also likely be the editor of The Northeastern right now; it was pretty much one of those things that was known around the Media Studies department that I was one of the top candidates to replace Meredith once she moved on.
I would've lived in the dump that is Ross, dealing with the well-documented Arctic temperatures, weekly wasp invasions, and weird smells and loud noises. It was terrible, and filled with freaks(and stoners. And drunks. But most drunks were in Logan.) But there were friends suffering as well, so mutual complaints made things tolerable. The caf would still be extremely depressing, but there's The Underground and Flo's to compensate. The campus library would still be creepy and unpleasant.
There'd be the library to run down to occasionally when there was time, and weekly expeditions to Morgan's for cookies. And Boomerang for those times when I needed greasy food, the pleasant atmosphere of old people having conversations, and writers' inspiration in equal measure. The Galdamezes to visit once in a while, Grace Baptist to attend on Sundays it was hiking weather. Grandpa and Robbie, too. And Harry and Louise.
But I didn't stick around Northeastern State and the land of the RiverHawks; because the family needed me at the house. There was a lot going on. I finished my gen eds through Tulsa Community College in about three months. Got to read stuff I wanted to when I could, which included Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, some of Cynthia Rylant's short stories, Stephen King's On Writing, William Goldman's Adventures in the Screen Trade, Laura Hillenbrand's Unbroken, and others.
Movies seen for the first time wee The Quick and the Dead, His Girl Friday, The Karate Kid, An Affair to Remember, Sleepless in Seattle, The Breakfast Club, Guardians of the Galaxy, Serenity, Romancing the Stone, Days of Thunder and Top Gun.
Rewatched Space Jam, all five Air Bud movies, Captain America, the Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, It's a Wonderful Life, While You Were Sleeping, The Big Green, the Iron Man trilogy, The Avengers, The Incredible Hulk, The Fox and the Hound, The Aristocats, Searching for Bobby Fischer, the Toy Story trilogy and Thor. Those are all the movies I can remember from fall. Caleb and Courtney got me hooked on the awesomeness that is Phineas and Ferb, and then of course we all rewatched the first season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. together, along with MacGyver. I also finished Firefly and the first season of Friday Night Lights.
As far as classes went - Word was almost Comp I- or nutrition-level awful, government was depressing, saddening and boring, but extremely easy; biology was tough and mostly irrelevant, with a few cool concepts(genetics!); and Photoshop was interesting, challenging and rewarding.
Got to know Banjo the red heeler, and Rags loved me not being at college.
Nano died, which was sad for us. But good on her end; with heaven awaiting. And she was more than ready to go.
In January I headed to Claremore and Rogers State; Hillcat territory. It was....difficult. I seriously thought I wouldn't pass most of my courses.
This led to long nights of staying up late writing essays or posts like this. Also, late nights of running from smoke alarms or blazing through Agent Carter, season two of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., or most of Daredevil. (I really like superheroes; okay?!) And I tracked the best quotes of season one from Agents for two reasons: A, it's written so well, and B, it was a good exercise to study dialogue pacing. As a way to stay slightly-connected to BCM folks, I blazed through all seven seasons of Parks and Recreation in six weeks. Stephen, Elizabeth, Daniel P.and Bucky love that show. Mom watched through season six in two weeks in fall, and she loved it, too. So I figured why not jump on the bandwagon? Even if it was pretty late. So I rewound after that was accomplished to recap the best quotes from the first season of Parks, too, for the same reasons listed above. Also, I really needed some comedy to de-stress, and characters to care about, even if they were fictional. Besides, there was so much textbook-reading that after a while I just couldn't deal with more letters on a page; they felt like they were just swirling around in a tornado and I didn't feel like taking the tornado apart to understand what the words said. Also, it was a good way to study camera placement and shooting technique, of which I needed all I could find in order to finish Advanced Broadcasting. The eight-week NSU run-on-instinct crash-course introduction to video production last spring really didn't prepare me very well at all for the RSU version. And having three weeks to learn an entirely new software right before classes started didn't help much, either. (The acceptable-quality-enough-to-share projects: Day in the Life of a College Student, Parks-style; Between the Sidelines; my favorite, and a short film resulting from a collision by two strange ideas; and Hillcat Spirit; a documentary-type deal on cheerleading which needed a lot better planning than I was able to do.) The instructor did a good job; it's just I lacked the experience to meet his expectations.
Besides the ABP trouble, Media Law was nearly impossible to figure out most of the time, and the instructor would be good to know; but had a tendency to ramble a lot during lectures. And he was extremely disorganized. But he was the guy over the theater department, so...that kinda explains it. The professor for Interpersonal Communication seemed like a blend of Mrs. Boyer and Trish personality-wise, and her tests seemed designed to be unsolvable puzzles. Most of that class consisted of taking notes and not falling asleep(back-to-back classes without a lunch break is a bad idea). And I learned in that course that I can write a paper from 12-4 a.m.on the due date and still get an 89. Not at all recommended, but...anyway, that class seemed to fall into the "rather pointless" category. Creative Writing was a good course. Dr. Mackie's teaching style reminded me of Dr. Faulds or Prof. Semrow; clear directions, high expectations, and help if you ask for it.
The Novel was disappointing. I liked the books I was familiar with; Sense and Sensibility(Jane Austen), The Great Gatsby(F. Scott Fitzgerald) and The Sun Also Rises(Ernest Hemingway), and hated everything else(The Awakening, Kate Chopin; A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce; The Stranger, Albert Camus; Go Tell It On the Mountain, James Baldwin; Sula, Toni Morrison; The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera; and Blankets, Craig Thompson). I read all of those at least three times each. Middle-of-the-road were The Hunger Games(Suzanne Collins) and The Book Thief(Markus Zusak), which were read as potential profile subjects for an essay. Marvels(Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross), which I did do the profile over, The Hundred and One Dalmatians(Dodie Smith), To Kill a Mockingbird(Harper Lee) and Fahrenheit 451(Ray Bradbury), all of which I read to get the nasty required taste out of my mouth, were all very good. The professor leaned towards being a feminist(which was annoying) who stressed philosophical questions like "Do we need religion in our modern world?" or "Why should one way or finding meaning in life take precedence over another?" She was also a very firm advocate of relativism. Thus, all my papers and tests, which had a tendency to stray into defenses of concrete moral truth, made her a little mad and so she'd take away points for that reason.
The string of A's bit the dust; with two A's in Creative Writing and Interpersonal Communication, two B's in Media Law and The Novel, and a C in Advanced Broadcasting. So my grades weren't the best. But I tried to give everything I had to each project....it's just that the energy-fuel was heavily rationed.
I'm fairly convinced that there are demons on the NSU campus. But there are definitely angels stationed there as well. It's uncomfortable sometimes; knowingly being aware of the spiritual warfare going on. At RSU, there wasn't any of that. Spiritually it was just a vacuum of nothingness. There weren't really any churches nearby to go to, and the RSU BCM was a colossal disappointment, like CCF but Eversomuch Moreso, to quote Robert McCloskey's Centerburg Tales. Most of the time, the only prayer I could muster was "Lord, thanks for getting me through today. Do it again tomorrow."
Now, as has become kind of an annual segment of these types of posts, music that either stuck in my head often or seemed to fit the school year. (See those for high school graduation, freshman year, and sophomore year.) This year that "Often Stuck" category includes "How Firm a Foundation", "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid(why?), Delirious' Deeper, the "Friends" theme song, Mr. Mister's "Kyrie", Carrie Underwood's "Temporary Home" and Little Texas' What Might Have Been". There was also Steven Curtis Chapman's "Burn the Ships", "God is God", "Heaven in the Real World", "The Great Adventure" and "Magnificent Obsession". Brad Paisley's "Everybody's Here" and "Those Crazy Christians", in particular. He's got a ton of great material, a wonderful storyteller. Also some Relient K; "Be My Escape", "College Kids", "For the Moments I Feel Faint", "Forward Motion", "Hello McFly", "Over Thinking", "Pressing On" and "Trademark", specifically. The songs of Miranda Lambert's I speciallly remember are "Desperation" and "Love is Looking for You", but there's a ton more than I like of hers. Nothing in particular of Keith Urban's stands out, but I love his music. And Avril Lavigne's "Everybody Hurts", "I'm With You", "Mobile" and "Tomorrow". She's another great storyteller, of the Keith Urban/Taylor Swift "This is the situation; and this is as honest as I can write about how it's affecting me" type. Mouse Rat's "5,000 Candles in the Wind", "Catch Your Dream" and "The Pit", of course.
At different times and in their own ways, Amanda, Ash, Daniel, Elizabeth, Jessica, Jon and Stephen were there to help by providing prayer, news, or simply listening and talking. Good to talk with Dylan sometimes, too. And from GBC, there were Steven and Jamie, Scotty, Mr. and Mrs. Dugas and the Steeleys. It was very helpful to get a ride to/from church from the DeSpains, very thankful for that.
The apartment was nice; it was good to have a microwave. But there were too many mirrors; six reflective surfaces in three rooms is way too many. And the window wouldn't ever open. So when you're cooped up indoors doing homework for hours on end, not even the smell of outside...it's small things like that which stick out. Never having visitors, I never really cleaned very much, which was irritating, but when the RA's would drop by to do monthly inspections they always marveled at how this was the cleanest apartment they'd ever seen. The second day I said out loud to myself, "This would be better if there was a cat to share it with," and that was pretty much the way it worked the whole time. Much better than a prison cell, but maybe more alien.
I don't think there's a college anywhere that I would mesh well at. There's just something about them that I seem to be violently allergic to. But another year is done, so a few months away is good, I guess.
Thursday, May 14, 2015
Thursday's Thoughts
In nonfiction reading, I forgot to mention in yesterday's post, I'm in the middle of When Your World Falls Apart, by David Jeremiah. It's pretty good. Lots of in-depth study of the Psalms, which you have a tendency to skip over(I do, at least).
And also raced through Caught Up in a Story, by Sarah Clarkson. That's about the need to bring up children by story, which isn't exactly that well written but still has a lot of good ideas. Trinnica let Mom borrow her copy a couple weeks ago, and she loved it and thought I would, too. They visited the Grahams yesterday, and Mrs. Graham loved the book and thought Mom would, too, so she bought an extra copy to give to her.
Started one of Lucy Maud Montgomery's last books, too, it's titled Jane of Lantern Hill. It's not one of her best so far, but it got better by the end. Kind of like The Blue Castle.
"If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster/And treat those two impostors just the same..." Rudyard Kipling's "If" repeated itself many times over the last couple months, so it's fitting that that line would pretty much sum up my grades this semester. That's kind of the attitude I've pretty much always had towards college, it just stood out more than usual this time.
My Pandora station is tuned to a collection of 50's/60's rock and Motown music right now, which is kinda interesting. I have a wide variety of musical tastes...
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Mid May
I survived a particularly trying finals week. It wasn't without problems - the week before featured frantic typing and trying to mold coherent well-argued thoughts until 3 a.m., and finals week was more of that. Media Law on Monday went better than expected, I think I did okay in there. Creative Writing was frustrating at times, but it definitely forced me out of my comfort zone and made me experiment with new things. (See the writing blog, "You Keep Using That Word", for some of what I've worked on so far this year.) It was a good class that I enjoyed. The Novel's final I survived; essay finals are tough.
The computer I was working on in the graphics lab froze last Tuesday sometime, only waking up at 2:15 Wednesday afternoon. The final presentation of our Advanced Broadcasting final projects started at 2:30. Mr. Williams gave me time to finish, so my video was done by around 7 that night. But still, I really hate Macs.
The final for Interpersonal Comm was basically impossible, but it's over.
Also, early last last week I finished all seven seasons of Parks and Recreation, and started the first quote collection for that. The season two finale of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was unbelievable. It got picked up for a third season in fall, and Agent Carter was renewed for a second year. American Idol will be ending after next season, but it was definitely time. Still, it's really hard to imagine American television without it...it's become that much a fixture of pop culture. We went and saw Age of Ultron when it came out, and then again Friday night. It's somewhere in the middle of the MCU pack, I think...but again, it's really early to judge.
Reread through Agatha Christie's Peril at End House yesterday; it's not one of her best. Also read this really interesting novel set in Minnesota and North Dakota in the winter of 1962-63, it's called Peace Like a River, written by Leif Enger. And about a month ago checked out The Hundred and One Dalmatians, by Dodie Smith, from the RSU library, so that was good to read over for the fifth-ish time.
Caleb turned 14 on Monday, and that went well. Sarsaparilla the Nubian had a doeling, the other goats are due just about anytime. Rags is very glad I'm home.
The computer I was working on in the graphics lab froze last Tuesday sometime, only waking up at 2:15 Wednesday afternoon. The final presentation of our Advanced Broadcasting final projects started at 2:30. Mr. Williams gave me time to finish, so my video was done by around 7 that night. But still, I really hate Macs.
The final for Interpersonal Comm was basically impossible, but it's over.
Also, early last last week I finished all seven seasons of Parks and Recreation, and started the first quote collection for that. The season two finale of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was unbelievable. It got picked up for a third season in fall, and Agent Carter was renewed for a second year. American Idol will be ending after next season, but it was definitely time. Still, it's really hard to imagine American television without it...it's become that much a fixture of pop culture. We went and saw Age of Ultron when it came out, and then again Friday night. It's somewhere in the middle of the MCU pack, I think...but again, it's really early to judge.
Reread through Agatha Christie's Peril at End House yesterday; it's not one of her best. Also read this really interesting novel set in Minnesota and North Dakota in the winter of 1962-63, it's called Peace Like a River, written by Leif Enger. And about a month ago checked out The Hundred and One Dalmatians, by Dodie Smith, from the RSU library, so that was good to read over for the fifth-ish time.
Caleb turned 14 on Monday, and that went well. Sarsaparilla the Nubian had a doeling, the other goats are due just about anytime. Rags is very glad I'm home.
Thursday, May 7, 2015
Parks and Rec Quotes - Season One
Like the listing of terrific Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. quotes from season one, only this time the show is Parks and Recreation.
Episode One: "Pilot".
"This is where the rubber of government meets the road! Of...actual human beings." - Leslie on her way into the public forum.
"These people are members of a community, that CARE about about where they live. So...what I hear when I...where I'm being yelled at, is people...caring...loudly...at me." - Leslie.
"Hi? Um, I'm Ann Perkins, I'm a nurse, and frankly, I don't really care for politics..." (Applause from other townspeople.)
"Tom and I work really well together. We're both outsiders. I'm a woman, and he's...well, I think he's a Libyan." - Leslie. "I'm from Bennettsville, South Carolina, and I'm what you might call a 'redneck'."
"Committees are the lifeblood of our democratic system. That's really good! Write that down." - Leslie. "Let's see....umm...'Committees cover our democracy with blood.'" - Tom.
"That Parks lady is coming over in a little bit, and we're gonna go take a look at the pit. I think it's probably just a photo op for her - I don't think anyone in government actually cares about..." - Ann.
"At least you fell in, too; that's pretty awesome." - Andy to Leslie.
"I don't know....she's a little doofy, but she's sweet." - Ann, about Leslie.
"I've been quite open about this around the office. I don't want the Parks Department to build any parks, because I believe that all government is a waste of taxpayer money." - Ron.
"She's insatiable...she's like a little dog with a chew toy!" - Ron. (And he would know about persistent females...)
"Leslie is...unique. Government work can wear you down. I would say that I lost my optimism about it in...two months. Leslie's kept hers for six years." - Mark.
"....Wow." - Ann frowning at one of the hideous City Hall murals. "That is..horrifying."
"You know what? America is awesome. It's so full of hope. And small towns. And big cities. And real people, and delicious beverages and hot guys." - Leslie. (She's drunk.)
Episode Two: "Canvassing".
"Well, one of the funner things we do in Pawnee is the annual Easter Egg hunt. It was Tom's job to hide the eggs this year, and I've got to say, he did a remarkable job. I've been hunting for twenty-five minutes and I still haven't found a single egg. And I'm an adult!" - Leslie. "Oh, yeahh...I forgot to do that..."
"Wow...this is really thorough." - Ann on first meeting one of Leslie's binders.
(Tom runs away from the canvassers.) "He runs weird." - April. "He really does." - Mark.
"That's a good idea. But I'm just not sure." - Old Man. "About which part?" - Ann. "Turning the pit into a park." "That's kind of the whole thing."
"'Wouldn't you rather have a park than a storage facility for hazardous waste?'" Ann reads Leslie's survey. "That seems iffy." "No, don't worry about it; I made it all up." "Yeah, that's what I mean..."
"Do you have a nurse's costume?" - Leslie asks Ann. "You mean, like, scrubs?" "Yeah! Put those on!" (They walk into Ann's house, where Mark and April are playing "Rock Band" with Andy.)
"Why do I want to build this park so bad?" Leslie monologues. "Maybe because a pit filled with garbage isn't the best we can do in America. You know, in Russia they could pretend that pit was a park. Bring their kids down there...'Hey, Vlad, look at these rocks! We can pretend they're potatoes. Nicolai, do you want to swim in the dirt?' But not here, okay? Cause we're a nation of dreamers."
"Are you sweating through your suit?" - Ron asks Leslie. "I doubt it. It's a very breathable fab - Huh. Look at that. I am."
"Now, there were a lot of people that I spoke to who are passionately in support of this park. None of them were able to make it this evening, unfortunately...but...they totally exist." - Leslie at a public forum.
"Uh...it is not going well at all. It's going very poorly. Like, you're crashing and burning-" - Ron. "Democracy is happening. People are talking. And at least they're not apathetic, right?" - Leslie. "You are right about that. They are deeply negative."
"You know, normally, I do not agree with Leslie on anything. But she's right, this book is awesome." - Tom holds up a copy of The Phantom Tollbooth.
Episode Three: "The Reporter".
"Okay, now, see, here's a good example of a plant you can't eat. See all the spikes? So, two things: One, it's poisonous, and two, it would hurt." - Jerry.
"The press is a weapon! And you can use it to either kill people, or feed people." - Leslie.
"Hi, I'm looking for Leslie Knope?" - Shauna. (April just stares at her.) "Okay."
"What are you doing?!" - Tom asks. "Kicking Ron's butt at Scrabble. Just played 'lexicons' for a billion points." - April. "Oh, come on....'lateral'? 'Communal'? 'Zonal'? You dropped a Z in there?!" (She shrugs and walks away.)
"...But that stuff was off the record." - Mark, talking about his comments to Shauna about the park. "Did you say it was off the record?" - Ann. "Do you have to say it was off the record?"
"Ron, it wasn't me. April got into my computer and played a couple words....I don't even know what lexicons are! I thought that was a type of luxury automobile." - Tom. "I knew that couldn't have been you. You don't have the vocabulary."
"I like Tom. He's always late, he's not a team player, he shows zero initiative, he's never one to go that extra mile. Tom is exactly what I'm looking for in a government employee." - Ron.
Episode Four: "Boys' Club".
"So, I asked April to create a social media Internet profile for the Sullivan Street pit." - Leslie. "Hey, look! The pit already has six friends!" - Ann.
(Looking at Mark's profile.) "Maybe...those are his relatives." Leslie. "Yeah, maybe fake boobs run in his family." - Ann.
"Natalie....IT"S YOUR SISTER. PICK ME UP, or I'm GONNA DRAW ALL OVER YOUR JEANS." - April. (She's drawing on the jeans with a marker while talking.)
"Doing an experiment to see what'll get me drunker...Drinking wine, or not drinking wine. Right now, drinking wine is winning." - April.
"Leslie has never broken a rule in her life, to the point where it's annoying. If you want to slap her on the wrist, go right ahead. If you want to do anything more serious, you're gonna have to go through me." - Ron at a deposition.
Episode Five: "The Banquet".
"This wooded area is the spot of the murder, actually, of Nathaniel Bixby Mark, he was a pioneer who was killed by a tribe of Wamapoke Indians after he traded them a baby for what is now Indianapolis. They cut his face off. Then they made it into a dreamcatcher. And they made his legs into rain sticks. And that was the great thing about Indians, back then; they used every part of the pioneer." - Leslie.
(Leslie had gone to Ron's favorite barber shop for a haircut; April looks aghast.) "Hello...sir."
"Wow." (Tom is stunned by Leslie's haircut, as is everyone else.) "I mean, Ann, you look stunning; but Leslie...wow."
(Leslie introduces Ann to her mother Marlene; Marlene gets the wrong idea, like everyone else, on seeing Leslie's terrible haircut. Ann is flustered beyond belief.) "Yeah. Yeah, right. Leslie and I are just friends. I have a boyfriend. He's a man."
"If there was a Tellison Award for hooking up with trashy chicks, you would have several of those awards!" - Tom to Mark. (The Tellison Award is kind of a lifetime achievement deal given to the slimiest members of the Pawnee government. Marlene has been the most recent nominee, thus the banquet of the disastrous haircut.)
Episode Six: "Rock Show".
(Andy gets his casts removed from both legs, Tom and Leslie are with him and Ann celebrating the event.) "Wow...it's like a sweaty pinata." - Tom. "Hey, my iPod!" - Ann.
"What kind of music does your band play?" - Mark. "I don't like to define it, but it's like Matchbox Twenty meets The Fray." - Andy. "So....rock." - Tom. "Well, again, I don't really like to define it..." "I totally get what you mean." - April.
"There used to be this huge speed bump in the middle of town, and nobody was doing anything about it. So I did something about it, and it got lowered two inches. Apparently my level of influence in the local government can literally be measured." - Mark.
"Andy wrote this new song about what happened to him, it's called 'The Pit'. It's one of those rare songs that rocks really hard and also informs about a small public works project." - Ann.
"The band has had a few different names over the years. We started, we were Teddy Bear Suicide, but then we changed it to Mouse Rat, then we were God Hates Figs, the Department of Homeland Obscurity, Flames for Flames, Muscle Confusion, Nothing Rhymes With Orange, then Everything Rhymes With Orange, Punch-Face Champions, Rad Wagon, Puppy Pendulum, Possum Pendulum, Penis Pendulum, Hand-Rail Suicide, Angel Snack, Just the Tip, Fourskin, Threeskin, uh...Jet Black Pope, we went back to Mouse Rat, and now we are Scarecrow Boat." - Andy. (The best part; he adlibbed like two hundred names when filming this scene.)
"Apparently tonight I'm the Parks Department's seventh wheel." - Mark.
(Mark and Leslie are drunk and throwing beer bottles into the pit. Well, Mark is. Leslie's trying and failing miserably.) "Unbelievable You missed the entire pit. Which is huge, by the way!" - Mark.
Episode One: "Pilot".
"This is where the rubber of government meets the road! Of...actual human beings." - Leslie on her way into the public forum.
"These people are members of a community, that CARE about about where they live. So...what I hear when I...where I'm being yelled at, is people...caring...loudly...at me." - Leslie.
"Hi? Um, I'm Ann Perkins, I'm a nurse, and frankly, I don't really care for politics..." (Applause from other townspeople.)
"Tom and I work really well together. We're both outsiders. I'm a woman, and he's...well, I think he's a Libyan." - Leslie. "I'm from Bennettsville, South Carolina, and I'm what you might call a 'redneck'."
"Committees are the lifeblood of our democratic system. That's really good! Write that down." - Leslie. "Let's see....umm...'Committees cover our democracy with blood.'" - Tom.
"That Parks lady is coming over in a little bit, and we're gonna go take a look at the pit. I think it's probably just a photo op for her - I don't think anyone in government actually cares about..." - Ann.
"At least you fell in, too; that's pretty awesome." - Andy to Leslie.
"I don't know....she's a little doofy, but she's sweet." - Ann, about Leslie.
"I've been quite open about this around the office. I don't want the Parks Department to build any parks, because I believe that all government is a waste of taxpayer money." - Ron.
"She's insatiable...she's like a little dog with a chew toy!" - Ron. (And he would know about persistent females...)
"Leslie is...unique. Government work can wear you down. I would say that I lost my optimism about it in...two months. Leslie's kept hers for six years." - Mark.
"....Wow." - Ann frowning at one of the hideous City Hall murals. "That is..horrifying."
"You know what? America is awesome. It's so full of hope. And small towns. And big cities. And real people, and delicious beverages and hot guys." - Leslie. (She's drunk.)
Episode Two: "Canvassing".
"Well, one of the funner things we do in Pawnee is the annual Easter Egg hunt. It was Tom's job to hide the eggs this year, and I've got to say, he did a remarkable job. I've been hunting for twenty-five minutes and I still haven't found a single egg. And I'm an adult!" - Leslie. "Oh, yeahh...I forgot to do that..."
"Wow...this is really thorough." - Ann on first meeting one of Leslie's binders.
(Tom runs away from the canvassers.) "He runs weird." - April. "He really does." - Mark.
"That's a good idea. But I'm just not sure." - Old Man. "About which part?" - Ann. "Turning the pit into a park." "That's kind of the whole thing."
"'Wouldn't you rather have a park than a storage facility for hazardous waste?'" Ann reads Leslie's survey. "That seems iffy." "No, don't worry about it; I made it all up." "Yeah, that's what I mean..."
"Do you have a nurse's costume?" - Leslie asks Ann. "You mean, like, scrubs?" "Yeah! Put those on!" (They walk into Ann's house, where Mark and April are playing "Rock Band" with Andy.)
"Why do I want to build this park so bad?" Leslie monologues. "Maybe because a pit filled with garbage isn't the best we can do in America. You know, in Russia they could pretend that pit was a park. Bring their kids down there...'Hey, Vlad, look at these rocks! We can pretend they're potatoes. Nicolai, do you want to swim in the dirt?' But not here, okay? Cause we're a nation of dreamers."
"Are you sweating through your suit?" - Ron asks Leslie. "I doubt it. It's a very breathable fab - Huh. Look at that. I am."
"Now, there were a lot of people that I spoke to who are passionately in support of this park. None of them were able to make it this evening, unfortunately...but...they totally exist." - Leslie at a public forum.
"Uh...it is not going well at all. It's going very poorly. Like, you're crashing and burning-" - Ron. "Democracy is happening. People are talking. And at least they're not apathetic, right?" - Leslie. "You are right about that. They are deeply negative."
"You know, normally, I do not agree with Leslie on anything. But she's right, this book is awesome." - Tom holds up a copy of The Phantom Tollbooth.
Episode Three: "The Reporter".
"Okay, now, see, here's a good example of a plant you can't eat. See all the spikes? So, two things: One, it's poisonous, and two, it would hurt." - Jerry.
"The press is a weapon! And you can use it to either kill people, or feed people." - Leslie.
"Hi, I'm looking for Leslie Knope?" - Shauna. (April just stares at her.) "Okay."
"What are you doing?!" - Tom asks. "Kicking Ron's butt at Scrabble. Just played 'lexicons' for a billion points." - April. "Oh, come on....'lateral'? 'Communal'? 'Zonal'? You dropped a Z in there?!" (She shrugs and walks away.)
"...But that stuff was off the record." - Mark, talking about his comments to Shauna about the park. "Did you say it was off the record?" - Ann. "Do you have to say it was off the record?"
"Ron, it wasn't me. April got into my computer and played a couple words....I don't even know what lexicons are! I thought that was a type of luxury automobile." - Tom. "I knew that couldn't have been you. You don't have the vocabulary."
"I like Tom. He's always late, he's not a team player, he shows zero initiative, he's never one to go that extra mile. Tom is exactly what I'm looking for in a government employee." - Ron.
Episode Four: "Boys' Club".
"So, I asked April to create a social media Internet profile for the Sullivan Street pit." - Leslie. "Hey, look! The pit already has six friends!" - Ann.
(Looking at Mark's profile.) "Maybe...those are his relatives." Leslie. "Yeah, maybe fake boobs run in his family." - Ann.
"Natalie....IT"S YOUR SISTER. PICK ME UP, or I'm GONNA DRAW ALL OVER YOUR JEANS." - April. (She's drawing on the jeans with a marker while talking.)
"Doing an experiment to see what'll get me drunker...Drinking wine, or not drinking wine. Right now, drinking wine is winning." - April.
"Leslie has never broken a rule in her life, to the point where it's annoying. If you want to slap her on the wrist, go right ahead. If you want to do anything more serious, you're gonna have to go through me." - Ron at a deposition.
Episode Five: "The Banquet".
"This wooded area is the spot of the murder, actually, of Nathaniel Bixby Mark, he was a pioneer who was killed by a tribe of Wamapoke Indians after he traded them a baby for what is now Indianapolis. They cut his face off. Then they made it into a dreamcatcher. And they made his legs into rain sticks. And that was the great thing about Indians, back then; they used every part of the pioneer." - Leslie.
(Leslie had gone to Ron's favorite barber shop for a haircut; April looks aghast.) "Hello...sir."
"Wow." (Tom is stunned by Leslie's haircut, as is everyone else.) "I mean, Ann, you look stunning; but Leslie...wow."
(Leslie introduces Ann to her mother Marlene; Marlene gets the wrong idea, like everyone else, on seeing Leslie's terrible haircut. Ann is flustered beyond belief.) "Yeah. Yeah, right. Leslie and I are just friends. I have a boyfriend. He's a man."
"If there was a Tellison Award for hooking up with trashy chicks, you would have several of those awards!" - Tom to Mark. (The Tellison Award is kind of a lifetime achievement deal given to the slimiest members of the Pawnee government. Marlene has been the most recent nominee, thus the banquet of the disastrous haircut.)
Episode Six: "Rock Show".
(Andy gets his casts removed from both legs, Tom and Leslie are with him and Ann celebrating the event.) "Wow...it's like a sweaty pinata." - Tom. "Hey, my iPod!" - Ann.
"What kind of music does your band play?" - Mark. "I don't like to define it, but it's like Matchbox Twenty meets The Fray." - Andy. "So....rock." - Tom. "Well, again, I don't really like to define it..." "I totally get what you mean." - April.
"There used to be this huge speed bump in the middle of town, and nobody was doing anything about it. So I did something about it, and it got lowered two inches. Apparently my level of influence in the local government can literally be measured." - Mark.
"Andy wrote this new song about what happened to him, it's called 'The Pit'. It's one of those rare songs that rocks really hard and also informs about a small public works project." - Ann.
"The band has had a few different names over the years. We started, we were Teddy Bear Suicide, but then we changed it to Mouse Rat, then we were God Hates Figs, the Department of Homeland Obscurity, Flames for Flames, Muscle Confusion, Nothing Rhymes With Orange, then Everything Rhymes With Orange, Punch-Face Champions, Rad Wagon, Puppy Pendulum, Possum Pendulum, Penis Pendulum, Hand-Rail Suicide, Angel Snack, Just the Tip, Fourskin, Threeskin, uh...Jet Black Pope, we went back to Mouse Rat, and now we are Scarecrow Boat." - Andy. (The best part; he adlibbed like two hundred names when filming this scene.)
"Apparently tonight I'm the Parks Department's seventh wheel." - Mark.
(Mark and Leslie are drunk and throwing beer bottles into the pit. Well, Mark is. Leslie's trying and failing miserably.) "Unbelievable You missed the entire pit. Which is huge, by the way!" - Mark.
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
Ten-Day Verse Challenge
You don't see those status chain posts much on Facebook anymore. They're still more common than notes, but so it almost everything. Anyway, Mrs. Boyer tagged me a couple weeks ago to do the Ten-Day Verse Challenge, which was fairly simple: post a Scripture verse on Facebook every day for ten days, and tag a different person to keep the chain going each day. A subtle way of working Scripture into life, providing a chance to sprinkle salt into conversations. Which fits the way this sort of thing works in college.
Day One...
"So, then, just as you received Jesus Christ as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world, rather than on Christ." - Colossians 2:6-8.
Tagged was Courtney, and this is one that I'm reminded of often while school is going. It really wants to devour you and capture you.
Day Two...
"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of for me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have already taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal in order to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 3:12-14.
Tagged was Jon, and besides being a Relient K song, this passage goes hand-in-hand with the above passage in terms of day-to-day living.
Day Three...
"Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales, but rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise both for this life and for the life to come." - 1 Timothy 4:7-8.
Tagged was Bennett, and this is one that comes into mind often while I'm working out.
Day Four...
"Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, 'If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.'" - James 4:14-15.
Tagged was Daniel, and this was during that uncomfortable time period when setting up class schedules for next semester and second-guessing yourself about everything.
Day Five....
"Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body." - Ecclesiastes 12:12.
Tagged was Elizabeth, and this was a reference to it being the final wave of projects before finals.
Day Six...
"A man's steps are directed by the Lord; how then can anyone understand his own way?" - Proverbs 20:24.
Tagged was Dylan, and this goes with the uncertainty-about-the-future feeling.
Day Seven....
"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." - Joshua 1:9.
Tagged was James, and finals-time is very frightening and overwhelming.
Day Eight...
"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." - 2 Corinthians 4:18.
Tagged was Ryan Galdemez, and this is kind of hard to do.
Day Nine...
"Let the peace of Christ dwell in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your heart to God." - Colossians 3:15-16.
Tagged was Miss Kathy, because this is one of her favorite verses. And it's another good reminder of how we ought to live.
Day Ten...
"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven." - Ecclesiastes 3:1.
Tagged was Daniel P., and that pretty much covers everything, along with "Fear God and keep his commandments", Solomon...
Anyway, most of these were verses used to fight those hollow and deceptive philosophies over the past couple years.
Day One...
"So, then, just as you received Jesus Christ as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world, rather than on Christ." - Colossians 2:6-8.
Tagged was Courtney, and this is one that I'm reminded of often while school is going. It really wants to devour you and capture you.
Day Two...
"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of for me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have already taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal in order to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 3:12-14.
Tagged was Jon, and besides being a Relient K song, this passage goes hand-in-hand with the above passage in terms of day-to-day living.
Day Three...
"Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales, but rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise both for this life and for the life to come." - 1 Timothy 4:7-8.
Tagged was Bennett, and this is one that comes into mind often while I'm working out.
Day Four...
"Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, 'If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.'" - James 4:14-15.
Tagged was Daniel, and this was during that uncomfortable time period when setting up class schedules for next semester and second-guessing yourself about everything.
Day Five....
"Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body." - Ecclesiastes 12:12.
Tagged was Elizabeth, and this was a reference to it being the final wave of projects before finals.
Day Six...
"A man's steps are directed by the Lord; how then can anyone understand his own way?" - Proverbs 20:24.
Tagged was Dylan, and this goes with the uncertainty-about-the-future feeling.
Day Seven....
"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." - Joshua 1:9.
Tagged was James, and finals-time is very frightening and overwhelming.
Day Eight...
"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." - 2 Corinthians 4:18.
Tagged was Ryan Galdemez, and this is kind of hard to do.
Day Nine...
"Let the peace of Christ dwell in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your heart to God." - Colossians 3:15-16.
Tagged was Miss Kathy, because this is one of her favorite verses. And it's another good reminder of how we ought to live.
Day Ten...
"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven." - Ecclesiastes 3:1.
Tagged was Daniel P., and that pretty much covers everything, along with "Fear God and keep his commandments", Solomon...
Anyway, most of these were verses used to fight those hollow and deceptive philosophies over the past couple years.
Random "Parks and Rec"-Watching Thoughts
Kind of inspired by those random BuzzFeed posts that are live-tweeted. Because I got this idea in the middle of season two, about a third of the episodes aren't included.
April and Ann and Ron and Andy and Leslie are all awesome.
I feel sorry for Jerry. Everybody treats him so terribly.
Ben and Chris are also awesome.
Who names their dog "Shoelace", Sweetums people?!! Also, what happened to Nick Newport Jr, if he was the CEO, and then everywhere else Bobby is the heir?
I know the show is called Parks and Recreation, so it's about the Pawnee, Indiana, Parks Department, but we see Andy working a lot more than we see Ann working. And she's a nurse, so that basically means she has an inhuman schedule all the time. How does she have time to get involved with all of the gang's crazy antics?!
"BYE-BYE, LITTLE SEBASTIAN...."
Mark was a jerk. But I kinda liked him. And I really wish he wouldn't have disappeared.
Tom and his plans are exasperating.
I HATE JEAN-RALPHIO.
Why are all Pawnee journalists and librarians either inept, evil or both?
Things slow down a bit in season four.
Tom is mostly intolerable.
I would read Leslie's book on Groffle the Awful Waffle.
Chris can bike faster than an RV?!
I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY HATE JEAN-RALPHIO.
Bobby Newport is astonishingly stupid.
Sad Chris is really pathetic.
They changed the design of the end-credits halfway through the fifth season. That's weird.
There's no counting how many failed businesses Tom's tried. Most of them were atrocious. Rent-A-Swag was actually all right.
Councilman Dexhart has had something like seven scandals. That we KNOW of.
I totally love the idea of Ben's bachelor party. Board games are awesome.
JEAN-RALPHIO'S SISTER IS (slightly) WORSE THAN HE IS. Their dad is even worse.
Why are we calling Jerry "Larry" now?
Metal lawn chairs are fine in their place(the lawn), but they're also uncomfortable. Why does Leslie have them in her office?
Ben has been hired by and quit the accounting firm at leastfour five times.
Can we have a Jurassic Parks and Rec mashup? I have a VERY VERY LONG list of characters I'd like to see eaten by murderous horrifying dinosaurs....the entire Newport clan, Marcia and Marshall Langman the morality defenders, Joan Callamezzo, Brett and Harris the stoners of the Animal Control Department, Shauna Mulway-Tweep, the Douche, Jen Barkley, Brandi Maxxxx, Tammy Two, the Sapersteins, Councilmen Dexhart and Jamm, Eagleton Chad...
Perd Hapley somehow grows on you.
It's not overkill to wish death upon INTENSE EAGLETON CHAD, is it?
Andy as Johnny Karate is literally the best type of Andy ever. Which is really, really saying something.
Really going to need to keep track of great quotes from this show...after I'm done watching it through for the first time. Summer project.
Orin makes a pretty good Easter bunny...
Chris and Ann are leaving for Michigan....it's so sad. "BYE-BYE, LITTLE SEBASTIAN..."
It's pretty awesome that Ann and Leslie argue about Friday Night Lights, since they both were NBC shows.
Eagleton Ron is weird. But kinda cool....in an "Eagleton-is-sometimes-on-rare-occasions-acceptable" type of way. But he's mostly weird.
Ron and Leslie hating each other is truly terrible and horrible to watch.
My eyes teared up when Ron was explaining about being lonely after everybody else left the Parks Department. (This likely has something to do with it being finals week, and an especially stressful one, which followed an extremely stressful semester, which closed out a particularly terrible year of college. As proof of this, I have binge-watched every single episode, seven seasons' worth, of a TV show in six weeks.)
Yeah, Ben and Leslie....if Gryzzl has a squad of flying robots giving out presents...that's...not great. Although the stuffed pigs dressed as movie stars is really awesome... PERD HAPLEY! A TV court show? Gryzzl is EVIL....2017-Chad is slightly more tolerable. But not very much. Although Dr. Richard Nygard must be the world's greatest therapist...This is a lot of thoughts during one episode. (705)
Dennis Feinstein is also on the "Must Be Eaten By Jurassic Park Dinosaurs" list.
I'm not exactly sure how many personalized binders and scrapbooks Leslie's made and presented to people, but I think it's running somewhere near thirty-four. Although I did forget about the 103 friendship-celebration scrapbooks she made for Ann.
The guys trying to find April a job is great.
Chad's name isn't Chad, is it? Craig, I mean....which is still a really...well, I wouldn't name a character either one of those.
Really colorful decorated hard hats must be a Pawnee thing. Jerry/Larry/Terry/Garry... Ben is really into calizones...probably should have mentioned that earlier. Brett and Harris the Animal Control guys live in the City Hall basement in 2017...because of course they do. Councilman Milton is STILL alive?! And is the 2017 shoeshine guy the bass player from Mouse Rat? Also, how many names did Mouse Rat HAVE, anyway? (Note to self, track that next time through...along with binders and quotes and awkwardly-phrased compliments.) So now the Indiana Organization for Women has awarded Woman of the Year to two men: Ron Swanson and Ben Wyatt.
Perd Hapley makes a wonderful TV-show host. Garry's last name is misspelled in the "Johnny Karate Super Awesome Musical Explosion Show" opening credits. Also, the show was created, written, produced, directed, with music by, wardrobe, arts and crafts, set building, snacks, car rides, casting, make-up, ninja training, special effects, "time tailoring" and custodial services are all done by Andy Dwyer. Burt Macklin's middle name is "Tyranosaur". And the Reggie Wayne jersey that Andy got married in is hanging on the wall of the set. The Smithsonian mental institution? I'VE BEEN THERE! And the Giant Monster That's Sitting in a Chair That Represents All of America's Enemies! I would almost actually like to read the boring disclaimer nobody ever reads... This show feels like most NSU BCM SWAT practices... Ben is Professor Smartbrain, haha. "Barry" the Mailman...he actually makes a terrible mailman. From the clip, one of the "Try Something New" segments Leslie was part of was eating green olives. The Very Good Building Company commercial is brilliant. I love the sixteen dead seconds of silence. The Wamapoke Casino ad is equally brilliant. (I live in Oklahoma, so I've seen plenty of casino commercials since 2004.) The "This Is Your Life" segment was terrific. Paunch Burger commercial was great. Veroxxotle: for all your Mexican food, telecommunications and transportation needs. "An amazing train wreck" occurring weekly, in April's words....yes, this is SWAT all over. They played the actual credits over the end...this was definitely one of the greatest episodes of Parks ever. (710)
This show has its fair share of TMI moments....please be quiet and go away, Ethel. If we want to hear about Mayor Gunderson, we want to know what trouble his dog Rufus got into. Jean-Ralphio makes a good fake-action-movie-proposal-video villain. Mona-Lisa is so horrendous. Tom's proposal was great. The inauguration ceremony for Jerry was a little much...but it was good.
It's the finale...but there's so many great moments we're referencing. I'm pretty sure that's Greg Pikitus and Allison buying the Seattle house from Donna in 2023. Teach Yo Self Foundation! I love Andy and April's future. And one of the kids at Halloween 2022 is dressed as Star-Lord, so that's awesome. Also, Champion lives to be at least 13 years old, or roughly 91 in dog-years. Ben and Leslie give the best advice. Also, when Jack is born in 2025, Andy is 44 and April is 35. Goodbye, Sapersteins...you were really weird and I am glad that we never have to see either of you again. Even when he's a Congressman, Ben is still running the accounting for Tom's Bistro, that's great. And the rest of the advisory board is Ron and Donna, even better. But poor Tom...nothing ever seems to go his way. But he did marry Lucy. And then he wrote a best-selling book. Mayor Garry Gergich served for 31 years and over four terms until his death at age 100 in 2048. Also, somehow Brandi Maxxxx and Harris the Animal Control Guy become members of the city council. Didn't like either Bobby or Shauna, but they're happy together, so that's nice. In 2022 one of Ron's daughters goes to Stanford; and he bought controlling interest in the Lagavulin whiskey distillery. And then he gets an awesome job as national park supervisor. (Also, I think his park rangers were once members of the Swansons club.) Ben and Leslie make a great team. 2025 - THE WHOLE GANG IS BACK TOGETHER! INCLUDING CHRIS AND ANN!
And now it's over...."You're 5,000 candles in the wind."
April and Ann and Ron and Andy and Leslie are all awesome.
I feel sorry for Jerry. Everybody treats him so terribly.
Ben and Chris are also awesome.
Who names their dog "Shoelace", Sweetums people?!! Also, what happened to Nick Newport Jr, if he was the CEO, and then everywhere else Bobby is the heir?
I know the show is called Parks and Recreation, so it's about the Pawnee, Indiana, Parks Department, but we see Andy working a lot more than we see Ann working. And she's a nurse, so that basically means she has an inhuman schedule all the time. How does she have time to get involved with all of the gang's crazy antics?!
"BYE-BYE, LITTLE SEBASTIAN...."
Mark was a jerk. But I kinda liked him. And I really wish he wouldn't have disappeared.
Tom and his plans are exasperating.
I HATE JEAN-RALPHIO.
Why are all Pawnee journalists and librarians either inept, evil or both?
Things slow down a bit in season four.
Tom is mostly intolerable.
I would read Leslie's book on Groffle the Awful Waffle.
Chris can bike faster than an RV?!
I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY HATE JEAN-RALPHIO.
Bobby Newport is astonishingly stupid.
Sad Chris is really pathetic.
They changed the design of the end-credits halfway through the fifth season. That's weird.
There's no counting how many failed businesses Tom's tried. Most of them were atrocious. Rent-A-Swag was actually all right.
Councilman Dexhart has had something like seven scandals. That we KNOW of.
I totally love the idea of Ben's bachelor party. Board games are awesome.
JEAN-RALPHIO'S SISTER IS (slightly) WORSE THAN HE IS. Their dad is even worse.
Why are we calling Jerry "Larry" now?
Metal lawn chairs are fine in their place(the lawn), but they're also uncomfortable. Why does Leslie have them in her office?
Ben has been hired by and quit the accounting firm at least
Can we have a Jurassic Parks and Rec mashup? I have a VERY VERY LONG list of characters I'd like to see eaten by murderous horrifying dinosaurs....the entire Newport clan, Marcia and Marshall Langman the morality defenders, Joan Callamezzo, Brett and Harris the stoners of the Animal Control Department, Shauna Mulway-Tweep, the Douche, Jen Barkley, Brandi Maxxxx, Tammy Two, the Sapersteins, Councilmen Dexhart and Jamm, Eagleton Chad...
Perd Hapley somehow grows on you.
It's not overkill to wish death upon INTENSE EAGLETON CHAD, is it?
Andy as Johnny Karate is literally the best type of Andy ever. Which is really, really saying something.
Really going to need to keep track of great quotes from this show...after I'm done watching it through for the first time. Summer project.
Orin makes a pretty good Easter bunny...
Chris and Ann are leaving for Michigan....it's so sad. "BYE-BYE, LITTLE SEBASTIAN..."
It's pretty awesome that Ann and Leslie argue about Friday Night Lights, since they both were NBC shows.
Eagleton Ron is weird. But kinda cool....in an "Eagleton-is-sometimes-on-rare-occasions-acceptable" type of way. But he's mostly weird.
Ron and Leslie hating each other is truly terrible and horrible to watch.
My eyes teared up when Ron was explaining about being lonely after everybody else left the Parks Department. (This likely has something to do with it being finals week, and an especially stressful one, which followed an extremely stressful semester, which closed out a particularly terrible year of college. As proof of this, I have binge-watched every single episode, seven seasons' worth, of a TV show in six weeks.)
Yeah, Ben and Leslie....if Gryzzl has a squad of flying robots giving out presents...that's...not great. Although the stuffed pigs dressed as movie stars is really awesome... PERD HAPLEY! A TV court show? Gryzzl is EVIL....2017-Chad is slightly more tolerable. But not very much. Although Dr. Richard Nygard must be the world's greatest therapist...This is a lot of thoughts during one episode. (705)
Dennis Feinstein is also on the "Must Be Eaten By Jurassic Park Dinosaurs" list.
I'm not exactly sure how many personalized binders and scrapbooks Leslie's made and presented to people, but I think it's running somewhere near thirty-four. Although I did forget about the 103 friendship-celebration scrapbooks she made for Ann.
The guys trying to find April a job is great.
Chad's name isn't Chad, is it? Craig, I mean....which is still a really...well, I wouldn't name a character either one of those.
Really colorful decorated hard hats must be a Pawnee thing. Jerry/Larry/Terry/Garry... Ben is really into calizones...probably should have mentioned that earlier. Brett and Harris the Animal Control guys live in the City Hall basement in 2017...because of course they do. Councilman Milton is STILL alive?! And is the 2017 shoeshine guy the bass player from Mouse Rat? Also, how many names did Mouse Rat HAVE, anyway? (Note to self, track that next time through...along with binders and quotes and awkwardly-phrased compliments.) So now the Indiana Organization for Women has awarded Woman of the Year to two men: Ron Swanson and Ben Wyatt.
Perd Hapley makes a wonderful TV-show host. Garry's last name is misspelled in the "Johnny Karate Super Awesome Musical Explosion Show" opening credits. Also, the show was created, written, produced, directed, with music by, wardrobe, arts and crafts, set building, snacks, car rides, casting, make-up, ninja training, special effects, "time tailoring" and custodial services are all done by Andy Dwyer. Burt Macklin's middle name is "Tyranosaur". And the Reggie Wayne jersey that Andy got married in is hanging on the wall of the set. The Smithsonian mental institution? I'VE BEEN THERE! And the Giant Monster That's Sitting in a Chair That Represents All of America's Enemies! I would almost actually like to read the boring disclaimer nobody ever reads... This show feels like most NSU BCM SWAT practices... Ben is Professor Smartbrain, haha. "Barry" the Mailman...he actually makes a terrible mailman. From the clip, one of the "Try Something New" segments Leslie was part of was eating green olives. The Very Good Building Company commercial is brilliant. I love the sixteen dead seconds of silence. The Wamapoke Casino ad is equally brilliant. (I live in Oklahoma, so I've seen plenty of casino commercials since 2004.) The "This Is Your Life" segment was terrific. Paunch Burger commercial was great. Veroxxotle: for all your Mexican food, telecommunications and transportation needs. "An amazing train wreck" occurring weekly, in April's words....yes, this is SWAT all over. They played the actual credits over the end...this was definitely one of the greatest episodes of Parks ever. (710)
This show has its fair share of TMI moments....please be quiet and go away, Ethel. If we want to hear about Mayor Gunderson, we want to know what trouble his dog Rufus got into. Jean-Ralphio makes a good fake-action-movie-proposal-video villain. Mona-Lisa is so horrendous. Tom's proposal was great. The inauguration ceremony for Jerry was a little much...but it was good.
It's the finale...but there's so many great moments we're referencing. I'm pretty sure that's Greg Pikitus and Allison buying the Seattle house from Donna in 2023. Teach Yo Self Foundation! I love Andy and April's future. And one of the kids at Halloween 2022 is dressed as Star-Lord, so that's awesome. Also, Champion lives to be at least 13 years old, or roughly 91 in dog-years. Ben and Leslie give the best advice. Also, when Jack is born in 2025, Andy is 44 and April is 35. Goodbye, Sapersteins...you were really weird and I am glad that we never have to see either of you again. Even when he's a Congressman, Ben is still running the accounting for Tom's Bistro, that's great. And the rest of the advisory board is Ron and Donna, even better. But poor Tom...nothing ever seems to go his way. But he did marry Lucy. And then he wrote a best-selling book. Mayor Garry Gergich served for 31 years and over four terms until his death at age 100 in 2048. Also, somehow Brandi Maxxxx and Harris the Animal Control Guy become members of the city council. Didn't like either Bobby or Shauna, but they're happy together, so that's nice. In 2022 one of Ron's daughters goes to Stanford; and he bought controlling interest in the Lagavulin whiskey distillery. And then he gets an awesome job as national park supervisor. (Also, I think his park rangers were once members of the Swansons club.) Ben and Leslie make a great team. 2025 - THE WHOLE GANG IS BACK TOGETHER! INCLUDING CHRIS AND ANN!
And now it's over...."You're 5,000 candles in the wind."
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