3 posts from August 2008

So when I usually post a blog, I have had a thought or an idea of which to write about, which I just checked the question of the day and none of those sounded interesting, but I still feel the urge to blog. I guess I will update my life and then see where I am. I have successfully completed my second week of grad school, and I can say it has been a great experience and I will learn a lot, but I am already tired of school/living alone in Statesboro. I have made some friends, even joined an intramural softball team which I am excited about, but after going to Florence, AL to see one of my best friends married, I know that I really miss the friends at Freed and my girlfriend, Lauren (so much). I just got a new job at the library, (where I am at now because I still dont have internet in my apartment, though that will change tomorrow!!!). I think I will be getting about 20 hours a week, so that will be really great. I still have not gotten laid off/released at Gray's Bookstore, I have been told that I am making the cut that reduces the temporary people to five, but they are only probably going to be keeping 2 people, so there is still only a 40% chance that I am going to continue working there, which would just help out a little more. It wont kill me to get laid off from there. I enjoyed it a lot and hopefully I will enjoy working in the library just as much. My mom is going to be coming down for Labor Day weekend. I am hoping we might go to Savannah/the beach if the weather is nice and we feel up to it. It will be her first time seeing my apartment, so I hope she likes what I have done to the place. I think that is about it right now, maybe I will think of something profound to post soon, but who knows. I have been real busy, so busy that I fell asleep on the couch Monday night while watching Wayne's World...

Here are some pros and cons that I have found out since I have moved to Statesboro:

Pro: Walmart is 5 minutes away.
This is a good pro to start off with, but only someone who has been at Freed will understand. Now, I can just run to Walmart without having to plan out the rest of my day and invite people to go with me. The 15-minute trek to south Jackson will not be missed, though the good times with friends there will.

Con: Finding a job.
This was the first con that I have found, even before I moved down here. I really think that if I can find a full time job here, then I can find a job pretty much anywhere. I thought having a college degree would help separate me from the college kids, but it really doesn’t do that much (at least I haven’t seen it do anything for me yet). There are just not that many jobs here in Statesboro.

Pro: There is a football team.
I am excited about being able to go to football games on Saturdays! I found out as well that students get into the game free, so hopefully I will be able to catch a few GSU games this semester. Another bonus is that three guys that I went to high school will play for Georgia Southern, with two of them starting (Josh Barker – OG, and Lee Chapple – QB).

Con: The weather is SO hot.
South Georgia is so stinkin’ hot. It is like an average of 7-8 degrees hotter than in Winder/Atlanta. I walk out of my apartment and I start sweating. It may be a positive though in the winter, if it isn’t as cold.

Pro: I get to cook/live on my own.
Even though my kitchen is pretty small, it still is my own kitchen. I have already cooked salsa chicken in my crock-pot (excellent, ask me the recipe if you are interested, it is REALLY easy) as well as Tilapia. The oven is really small, but that sucker gets really hot and cooks your food in like ½ the time it normally would take. Living on my own is cool. I get to do whatever I want, whenever I want, which is nice.

Con: I am lonely.
I moved down here to Statesboro knowing only one other person. I know a few more now, but most are just associated with work. I hang out with two people, both girls, and though they are nice and fun, they aren’t the close friends that I had while at Freed. If you asked me the thing that I miss most about being at Freed, it would definitely be the people. I call some of them up on the phone, but it isn’t the same. My prayer to God is that I can find some good, Christian friends down here (especially some males) that I can hang out with.

Pro: I am/will do a lot of reading.
The past couple of years, I haven’t been able to read because I have just been busy with school, hanging out with people, and having an Xbox in my apartment or down the hall. With my ancient N64 and no cable/internet (see the next con), I have been able and will have a lot of time to just read. So far, I have read 1 ½ books, with another book that will be started as soon as I finish the one that I am working on now. Last night I just sat down and read a 230 page book because there was nothing else to do. I love reading, so I am glad that I will be able to read a lot of books that I have been wanting to read for a long time; and with the GSU library very big and very nice as well as the Statesboro city library, I will have plenty of books to read.

Con: I have to be grown up/pay bills/decide where to spend my money.
I have learned fast that money doesn’t grow on trees, but if it does and I do not know about it, please let me know where asap so I can pay my bills. Being grown up means that you have many bills that you are now responsible, rather than mommy or daddy. I have to pay for rent, water, power, and hopefully soon internet. I have debated whether or not to get cable with my internet, and though I would love to just chill at home on a Saturday afternoon this fall and watch college football, it may just not be worth spending that money. After all, I do have to eat, lol.

Pro: I can walk around my apartment naked if I want to.
If any of the guys that I live with ever read this, they would say it doesn’t matter if I am living by myself or not, that I am going to walk around naked anyways. Ok, maybe they are right, but I still consider it a pro that I can walk around naked if I want and nobody will see/say anything/care. (note: for the record, I do not walk around naked very much, but I don’t have all my clothes on most of the time, lol)

Con: On-campus parking absolutely stinks.
Yes, it stinks because I am a cheap-o that doesn’t want to pay money for a parking permit, but still. There are like two free parking lots that are like 2 miles away from the building to park at, not cool. The upside I guess is that I will be doing a good bit of walking and if anybody has a bike that they are not using and wants to donate it to the Michael Young Foundation, I will be more than happy to take it off your hands.

Pro (though could be seen as Con): The church in Statesboro, GA.
I don’t know all there is to know about the church here in Statesboro, I think I will learn a lot more on Sunday, but from talking to a couple of people, this is my take on it. The church is small, I would say around 60 on a Sunday morning, though I will find out for sure on Sunday. The preacher is a friend of Tommy Tidwell, so I know he shoots straight and from being in class with him on Wednesday night, he knows his Bible very well. I asked him after church how many college kids there are. He said last semester wasn’t a very good semester for college kids. He said that if 10 college kids on a Sunday, it was a really good Sunday. He said there had been more a couple of years ago, but a lot of that had to do with leadership and how those people had graduated. I see this situation as a positive for a few reasons: 1. I have an opportunity to serve, whether it is by song leading, preaching, praying, or just encouraging those there. 2. I know I have the ability to lead and that it seems there is a opportunity to lead, especially with the college kids. Going to a Christian university has given me ideas and resources to use to help lead in that aspect. 3. God’s plan for me has led me here to Statesboro. There is a purpose that I haven’t figured out yet for why I am down here, but no matter the situation, if I am positive and try to make the most of it, then the Lord will bless me and the people that I try to touch.

[if you are interested, you can check out pictures of my apartment on facebook]

Background story and then the most recent story.

So the night before I graduated from Freed-Hardeman University, Lauren and I went to see my aunt and my grandmother, who had arrived to see me graduate the next day. Their hotel was in Selmer, about 20 minutes away from Henderson, so we drove down and had dinner with them. We went to pizza hut, then went back to the hotel and talked for a while, then we went to walmart before we headed back. On our way back, about halfway to Henderson, we passed some cop cars that were in the median. I was not speeding, so I did not even think twice about them being there. So we keep on driving and we are like literally a minute from campus, getting into town, when this cop car turns on its lights and pulls me over. I am in shock because I was not speeding, and I didnt have a clue what I was getting pulled over for. Long story short because this isnt even the main story, but he said I had been swerving the whole way back and asked if I had been drinking (which I hadnt). He made me get out of the car and did a field sobriety test, consisting of looking in my eyes and made me follow his finger. Ridiculous to say the least that I would be driving under the influence, but it was a funny story to tell...

So last night, driving up to see Lauren in North Carolina, I tried stopping for church in Florence, SC. I got to the church I had found about 15 minutes early, only to discover that they met for mid-week Bible study on Tuesday nights instead of Wednesday nights, so I quickly scrambled to try and find another church. So I went on Google and looked for another church close to the interstate and found this address. I go down the road and get off at the exit and follow my directions. I end up in the most ghetto-y, project-place that you can picture, with my white pasty skin in the very distinct minority to all of the people around me. So I quickly realize that I must have either messed the address up or that there wasnt a church there. So I quickly left, noticing a police car in a grassy field/lot near the road. I saw the speed limit was 25 mph and I looked down and saw that I wasnt going much over, so I didnt worry about it. Well, I get back on the main road and what do you know, that cop car is behind me and he then turns his lights on and pulls me over. Walking up to my car, I can tell that he is a southern boy, especially because of the wad of tobacco that he has in his cheek. He asks for my license and registration, and tells me that i was going 35 mph in a 25 mph zone (which I didnt fight, but I dont think I was going that fast) and that when he ran my tag that it came up as expired (which it wasnt, I even have a new tag on it, so I dont know what that was about). He went back to his car for about 10 minutes, which already was putting me a good 15 minutes late if I could find another church. He came back and gave me a warning, which I was VERY thankful for, but then he had a statement/question that turned out to be the kicker. He said that the area where I had been had a lot of crime and narcotics, and he asked if I would object for him to search my person and my car. I had already explained to him that I was driving from Georgia to North Carolina to see my girlfriend who was about to leave the country and that I was stopping in Florence to go to church. I guess that calls for him to suspect me as a narcotics dealer. I didnt object, so I got out of the car and went to the back, where he spread me and searched my whole body, including the private parts. Let's just say I never thought I would ever be frisked for drugs on a highway. I really want to know if I look like a criminal. I also want to point out that if he would have given me a ticket, I totally would have screamed racial profiling. He had no reasonable reason to search my car, only that I was a white boy in a very, very, not white area. Needless to say, he didnt find anything and proceeded to ask if he could help me with any directions. By this time it was 7:30, which church was already half over and I didnt even know where else to try and find a church. So I missed church Wednesday night because of being frisked for narcotics. To tell you the truth, I dont even know what narcotics are/look like...

I left South Carolina in a somewhat state of shock, just wondering why policemen think that I am a druggie/druglord. I guess getting lost isnt a good enough excuse now-a-days.