I must be making enough money to make Ted Turner turn green

Welcome welcome to the blog where everything is made up and nothing matters. Okay, I jest; everything is not made up and I like to think that at least some of this matters. I hope to keep up on this a little more than I did in January on break. I think what had made it so hard to keep up was the massive amount of words I poured into each one, which frankly, left me quite exhausted. I welcome you to pop a pack of Buttery Kettle Corn in the microwave and slip on your Easter Bunny slippers because this is sure to be a fun ride.

I want to give everyone an update, firstly, on my job situation both here and in Grove City. Unfortunately, both announcements are on about equal excitement levels, so I’ll go in alphabetical order. At Grove City next year, I will be working in the Curriculum Library, a very convoluted way of saying “The Education Library” at GCC. Yeah, how about that! And if you thought that was as crazy exciting as Barbaro breaking his leg at the start of the Preakness today, try this on for size. This summer, I’m working at the same old Pretzel Gourmet #133 in the Nittany Mall! Hooray! Now everyone can put on their Camelbacks and hike on out to that cozy little craphole in-between State College and Bellefonte and take advantage of me and my petite pretzel products. To those of you who know how painfully long I’ve worked at the PG, you probably think that I’ve officially lost everything or that I must be making enough money to make Ted Turner turn green, but alas, I’m a nostalgic guy who just loves cranking out pretzels to overweight State Collegians. So come visit me (unless you’re a stalker, then I work in the Kitchen & Bath section in Lowe’s Home Improvement on Vairo Boulevard. Yep)

Break of one day

I only spent about ten minutes writing what I did above before I was interrupted by some extreme fun with my good friends Nick & Kam. I feel like the ampersand (&) was appropriate because they really are like the other famous ampersands: Abbott & Costello, Kobe & Shaq, Ben & Jen (whoops), Will & Grace, Peanut Butter & Jelly. Yeah, they’re that tight. I had my first day of work today under a completely new staff. I only met one person today, my new manager Marie. Marie is quite a character, and I say that in the most complimentary way I can. She has a really deep, gruff voice (I assume from years of smoking) but she does not have one mean bone in her body. She and I spent the day getting to know each other, but she did most of the talking. She’s enthusiastic about what she’s doing at the PG, which is certainly hard to come by at the establishment, so I’m excited (or as excited as can be expected) to work behind the old counter again this summer.

Break of two days

I really just need to post these every day as I do them, but then I fear that no one would read them if they didn’t match up to my usual standard, whatever that might be. There is a lot of stuff that I could talk about, but I will dismiss most of it that I deem unnecessary. For example, I could talk about going to Nacho Night with friends and how nice it was, but then everything I do starts to become newsworthy, when in reality, it is not. I want this to be a place where I can write what I want to write about without feeling obligated to write only about things that happen to me. I might want to tackle some tough issues at some point, and for that, I need to be beyond Nacho Nights and get-togethers. If something extravagant happens, then you’ll know about it; otherwise, just assume that I do indeed have a social life and I fill my time wisely. (I think that paragraph was just more for me. Erase it from your memory if you desire)

A Year at Grove City: A Review

Something I do want to talk about is my first full year at Grove City. A lot of people before I left told me that I would come back a changed person. Despite hearing this, I couldn’t fathom how much a place could change me. I was right; the place didn’t change me. Sure, being away from home and anything familiar was a different experience, but to say that it changed me as a person would be a lie. Nay, it was not the place, but the people. I apologize if this sounds cliché, but of the entire college experience, the people were what changed me the most. God blessed me with the most wonderful group of friends I could ask for. Living on a freshman hall is something I will never experience again! No one beforehand even hinted to the fact that above all the schoolwork and activities college has to offer freshman year, living on a hall with 37 guys for the first time of your life would be what would shape you the most. My RA’s, John and Andrew (Mom and Dad, respectively), truly were my parents away from home. Through the good and the bad of the year, their door was always open and it was amazing just being able to walk in and have a serious conversation about life and God no matter what the hour. They set the tone for our hall. Their mission was to unite our hall as a team, and they were mighty successful. We did everything as a hall, from meals to competitions to pranks to singing to girls from the inner quad, we were a team. Bible study every week gave us all the opportunity to see into the lives of each guy. Those testimonies were precious, every single one of them. Watching those guys tell us how God has touched their lives was one of the most amazing experiences this year.

Into the second semester, certain groups of people became closer, whether through fraternities (Omicron Xi!! Another fantastic group of solid Christian guys who have challenged me) or natural gravitation, but we were all still hallmates. I made some amazing friends and had some even more amazing conversations. I miss the conversations. I will miss those conversations the most. I won’t miss those specific conversations exactly, but the brand of conversation; the kind of conversation that forces you to dig deep down within yourself to put together a whimsical argument to which others are so eager to listen. Mindless conversation has it’s time for sure, but when it becomes habitually mindless, you have to question the relationship.

Beyond the hall, I met some amazing women of faith. Outside my family, I have seen very few women of mature faith in my life, or at least I haven’t been in regular contact with any. Before college, I hadn’t really thought about what the girls would be like at Grove City. I probably had the notion most people outside the college have: pastor kids who would rather eat worms than hold hands with a guy. Grove City girls go above and beyond that stereotype. As much as I loved living with men of faith at GCC, I gained some of my most valuable lessons from seeing and interacting with women of faith. They taught me that the purpose of seeking interaction with humans of the female gender does not have to be seeking a romantic relationship. Of most (if not all) of my past female friends, I have felt pressure at some point to take the step beyond friendship. I usually haven’t acted upon it, but there has always been a stupid thought in the back of my head that says, “She’s a girl, and you’re a guy, what’re you waiting for?” Guess what? You really can be friends with a girl. There doesn’t have to be that pressure. The pressure only exists because you let it. I think I always had in the back of my mind the idea that if I was friends with a girl and I was spending so much time with a girl, that I should expect some sort of relationship beyond friendship. What a crazy thought! If you stop expecting, you’ll stop feeling pressured and end up making crazy decisions. The key word here is expect; I’m not saying that one shouldn’t ever seek out romantic relationships (even with friends), but when friendship turns into an obligation to stress over relationship possibilities, it gets messy. I can’t say that I learned this the hard way, but rather the easy way. Outside the relationship revelations, the girls I’ve come to know and love dearly at GCC really have been amazing friends by the fullest extent of the definition (“A person whom one knows, likes, and trusts”) and I cannot thank them enough for their encouragement and inspiration. Now I hope my statements above haven’t officially been dubbed my philosophy of relationship-seeking, because it is not and is not meant to be something overanalyzed. It is, however, something I found worthwhile discussing.

Finally, the people behind the classes: the profs. Of all my classes, my Foundation of Education sequence was by far the most challenging in that it forced me to truly think about my philosophy of schools, education, people, and life. Dr. Edwards did a fantastic job at making us think about what we were reading and being able to come up with arguments to support our beliefs. True education is and will forever be between a soul and a soul, no matter how many computers you try to throw at it. It is my duty as a teacher to become a text-person for my students and lead them to live responsible lives. I could talk about education for hours on end (ask Erica), something I couldn’t have done intelligibly had it not been for Dr. Edwards and his class. The other professors were fantastic as well (Dr. Thompson really got me to like three-hour Calculus tests), and the challenging experience really made for a worthwhile year.

College was a spiritual roller coaster. It was wild in that I had so many experiences I had never had before. Who knew there were worship songs other than hymns?! Who knew that sharing the Gospel to inner-city delinquent children would give me a rush unlike any other? Who knew the true power of prayer? Who knew so many people so willing to talk about God spontaneously without it feeling awkward? God took me by surprise this year. He really challenged me to hang onto my seat and follow him. What a wild trip it has been; I can't wait to see how he uses me this summer!

There’s the college report. I would write more, but it’s 2:00 am and I need to sleep. Tune in soon for more updates. Until then, sucks to your assmar!