Press Your Luck

so one of my new favorite commercials of all time is the new sprite commercial where the guys are sitting next to the basketball court and then they jump and the court is a pool, but the court at the same time...i probably explained it terribly, but it is a really cool commercial and the song that goes with it is pretty good too [see video below post]...so today i undertook the task of moving everything in my room, cleaning it and going through everything. i think i did a pretty good job today, considering that i have all the stuff from my room plus all the stuff i brought back with me from college. that and the fact that i go through everything that i touch, and at around midnight tonight i went into my side closet/attic and started going through all that stuff as well. thats where i am right now, i just went through all of that stuff, and though i am going to throw away a bunch of stuff, the memories of the stuff that i really enjoyed growing up just hit me. everybody talks with me about what i am going to do now, and how i have to grow up and get a job and be an adult, but until i really started looking at this stuff, it didnt really hit me. where did the years go where i could just hang out at home and play with my toys? i have to worry about providing for myself if i dont get into grad school. i have loans to pay off, and i dont know what i am going to do with my life. i know God has me in his hands, but its so crazy to think that 10 years ago, i was about to graduate from the 5th grade. i didnt have a care in the world. just to look back at some of the things that meant a lot to me, the stuff and the trinkets, not even to think about all of the people and events that have made me who i am today, and it just blows my mind about humanity. im falling away from being young, im falling into adulthood, and i wish i was falling the other way.

Fight On

So I probably should have been in bed a good while ago, but I was waiting for laundry and wasting my life playing the xbox. Late at night I usually do my thinking, more just processing things in my exhaustion. My song on my profile is "Fight On" by The Black Suits. My friends Shane and Kyle were the main people in the band. Shane died this past spring break while on a mission trip in the Dominican Republic. I just started thinking about him, all of the things he has missed since hes been gone, and it makes me so sad. I am a week and a day from graduating from Freed-Hardeman and ending the chapter of the last three of years of my life. Who knew I would be where I am today. I am so blessed. I take so much for granted. I was less than 100 miles from the Dominican when he died, swept out to sea by the waves. We were in Puerto Rico on a mission trip of our own. We didnt go into the water that day because it was too rough. Im crying now, not because I feel guilt or the other emotions that can be detrimental to oneself, but I cry because I miss my good friend. I got to write the lead story in the Bell Tower (student newspaper I am editor of at FHU). His girlfriend, best friend, and even his dad called and told me how much they appreciated it. It meant so much to me. I have never lost anybody close to me before. It stinks for sure. I wont ever forget him. I just have to do what I need to do so that I can hang out with him again one day, for eternity. It puts everything in perspective, especially at almost 3am. I still havent heard if I have gotten my graduate assistantship at UGA, much less if I am even accepted. The dreams that I have for my future seem so stupid and mundane. I have an awesome girl now who means the world to me. I have an opportunity to do some long term mission work. I want to have a career and a family, but at the same time, I could pass on tomorrow. Life is just but a vapor. I dont know if I should feel guilty for thinking about the future and want to be here for it. I guess all I can do is just fight on..

Now, show us your dream job.

So I must confess that my dream job was just working for ESPN, which I interned there this summer, so a part of this "dream job" has become a reality. My dream though has always been to be a Sportscenter anchor, or host a show on ESPN radio.

Sportscenter

The Herd with Colin Cowherd

Show us a photo of somewhere you want to go.

St. Augustine, Florida.

[i almost went to school there at Flagler College]

St. Augustine, FL

Flagler College

St. Augustine, FL

Show us a photograph that makes you remember.

Us With Explosions

How are you spending New Year's Eve?

10:00am - Family Picture @ Sear's Photo Studio in Athens, GA

1:00 pm - Hanging out with Steven & Anna Winters in Atlanta, GA

7:00 pm - Ashton Long's Wedding at North Atlanta Church of Christ

10:30pm - IHOP at Mall of GA

So we have the yearly family portrait. I picked out all of the clothes because I am fashionable like that. Hanging out with some friends that graduated from FHU a couple of years ago.  The live like 5 min from The Varsity, maybe I can convince them to go there with me again for lunch. Then I have the interesting part of my day. A girl from high school is getting married, which I guess that in and of itself isn't that interesting. What will be interesting is that it will be the first time a large number of us that graduated together will be congregating again. Who knows what will be happening. I get to drop that I am graduating a year early. I am sure that might spark some interest. It should be fun. Then the yearly tradition. We [my family and my best friend Robert's family] always go out for breakfast on New Year's Eve. I wont be there for the fun and games before we go eat, (and neither is Robert) but I am going to meet them at IHOP for the good stuff. So it should be a fun, crazy last day of 2007!

So I was surfing the web tonight and was looking up how my favorite football club (aka soccer) in Brasil was doing. So I found out that they are 5th right now and continued to surf around when I found something I really didnt believe was real. In addition to the World Cup (which I also found out Brasil is hosting in 2014), there is also such a thing called the Homeless World Cup. It started in 2003, and it takes place every year. This year's tournament (which last year had 48 countries represented) is in Copenhagen, Denmark this coming summer. Last year's tournament had 496 players participating, and there were over 1800 goals scored in more than 300 matches. I really think this might be the most ridiculous thing ever...here are the rules/eligibility, as they say on Ripley's, "Believe it or not..."

Player Eligibility:
-must be male or female and at least 16 years of age at the time of the tournament
-must have been homeless at some point after the previous year's World Cup
    OR
 make their main living income as a streetpaper vendor
    OR
 be asylum seekers (who have neither positive asylum status nor working permit)

Participants:
-3 players and 1 goalkeeper
-4 subs (rolling substitution allowed)

Tournament Details:
-3 points for win, 0 for loss
-If game is tied, then sudden-death penalty shootout (3 points for win, 1 point for loss)
-14 minute games
-Field is 20m x 14m

and they say "only in America"...

So tonight I watched A Beautiful Mind. It was one of the best movies that I have ever seen. Definitely one of my top 10 of all time. Just thought I would share that for the record. A must see if you have never seen it. It was one of the cleanest PG-13 movies that I have seen in a long time...no language, no sex.

I have been meaning to write in this thing a lot sooner than now, but I guess now is as good time as ever. So the semester for me is officially over. It has been a wild and crazy semester, definitely with its ups and downs, but it was a good one. It has really hit me hard to think that I only have one semester in college. One of my roommates is graduating I guess today seeing that its Friday already. It is just weird to think that its all going to have to come to a close. Graduation seemed so far away last year, I don't know what has made me think about it so much now. I have learned a lot this semester. Been disappointed a lot this semester. Drew closer to God this semester. Maybe got a little bit smarter this semester. Figured out who I am a little more this semester. I have discovered what I need and want to hold as important to myself - God, Family, Friends, and Experiences...in that order. I have been frustrated this semester. Girls do a good job of that. I have been frustrated with God, especially when I don't know what God knows what is best for me. I see so many situations and relationships with so much potential, and sometimes it frustrates me when what I want isn't necessarily what God knows I need. I guess that is where one's faith gets put to the test and where patience and trust is tested and made stronger. One semester left. Who knows what is going to happen. I have hopes and dreams, but an open mind is the only way to truly experience it fully. I still can't believe its almost over, but the crazy thing is that its only almost begun.

Quotes from A Beautiful Mind that really connected with me:
"I need to believe, that something extraordinary is possible." 

"Perhaps it is good to have a beautiful mind, but an even greater gift is to discover a beautiful heart."

"Imagine if you suddenly learned that the people, the places, the moments most important to you were not gone, not dead, but worse, had never been. What kind of hell would that be?"

"Nothing's ever for sure, John. That's the only sure thing I do know."

"I've gotten used to ignoring them and I think, as a result, they've kind of given up on me. I think that's what it's like with all our dreams and our nightmares,...we've got to keep feeding them for them to stay alive."

"You once said that God must be a painter because he gave us so many colors.
 I didn't think you were listening...
 I was listening."

So I didn't shave from between mid August until October 31. Here is what my beard was about 15 minutes before I shaved it, and here is what I am now. I am glad that I grew the beard out, but I definitely think that it was pretty nasty and that I probably wont grow one again for a good long time.

Bearded

. 

Bare