Food For Thought

What in the world is going on?

I dont even know.

"Blow, blow, thou winter wind, Thou art not so unkind As man's ingratitude: Thy tooth is not so keen, Because thou art not seen, Although thy breath be rude. Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly: Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly."

Shakespeare

To experience a bittersweet longing for the past is without a doubt sobering.* The world, or specifically, my world, has changed more in the last year than I could have ever predicted. I have become closer to some people and severed ties with others. Relationships (romantic and otherwise) have crumbled while others have either repaired or flourished. My home is no longer in Cordova, and I will never live with my parents ever again, save that they become incapacitated in their old age. My time at MS State was but a moment, even though at the time it seemed like I would never escape. Daily causing mischief with David is something I will miss, as well as teaching my friends in Sanderson Studio B. These are the only two things I miss about that place. I would not go back there for my life, and I feel an overwhelming potential exists where I am now. Nothing could convince me this is not where I belong. Freuds theory of repression sustains an uncanny consistency, as I have trouble remembering unhappy experiences over the last year. Tomorrow is the beginning of a new era, I can meet new people, do new things, and adventure places undiscovered. I will miss old things, but they are just that. Old things.

Collecting these thoughts made me think about what I will have accomplished in the next year. Will my accomplishments have eternal implications? Will I be a servant, and decrease? Will I be fruitful with my money and my resources? Will I be the friend that I want people to be to me? This is yet to be seen. Perhaps my reflection a year from now will be recorded here as well.

"Give me a place to stand, and I will move the earth."


*Is it okay to begin a sentence with an infinitive? Comment on that one.

Holy crap.

So its 2 am and I am eating:
-Banana Nut Crunch Cereal
-A banana
-Apple Juice
-Honey buns

Its a fruit frenzy!!

...except for the honeybuns they are from the sugar phylum

I found my soldier girl

Today was an interesting day, for a few reasons.

First of all its always interesting waking up in my new home, regardless of what is going on. There is always something absolutely bizarre happening here.

I went to kickboxing today and discovered a lot of aggression I had built up, perhaps this is my new fix. I suppose it will replace the heroine.

Stephen Gordon played tonight at Huffmans deli and that was a lot of fun. I saw many people I havent seen in a long time and got to speak to them for awhile. Stephen played an excellent show.

The highlight, however, was sitting down and talking to Lindsey and Leah at Matts house. I havent sat down and had a conversation with them in months, and it was a great thing to stumble upon on this wednesday evening. Matts leg is screwed, tomorrow we're cooking him breakfast.

This year I realized a lot of things, some more valuable than others, and some just worthless trivia. One of the more interesting things ive discovered is a newfound encouragement in regard to the opposite sex. Stick with me, this isn't emo garbage. Say I find a girl who is one in a million. Few are like this girl, as she is an exceptional wonder and can pluck heart strings at a simple glance. Or perhaps she smiles and warms an entire room, whatever the case, she is one in a million. Well, there are roughly six billion people living on the earth, and lets say for the sake of numbers half are women. So if there are 3 billion girls in the world, and this girl is one in a million, there are THREE THOUSAND out there that are also one in a million. Not so special anymore.

This is the result of a long commute, as I now live in midtown. I have a lot more time to think while driving.

Life is wonderful. I have never been happier.

Merry Christmas

Heres a brief synopsis of the last 18 days.

1. Finished Finals
2. Gathered my things and left State
3. Drove straight to my new home and moved in
4. Stayed up til 3 am everyday
5. Threw a party
5. Got sick and need sleep.

I see much potential.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
"For your sake we face death all day long;
We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:35-39

That is some very powerful love. I think if I could witness anything from the Old Testament, it would be the wall of Jericho falling down. A love that deep complimented by that much power is absolutely incredible.

Wow. How embarassing/frustrating.

Tonight had so much potential too.

Thats enough of that.

The All American Rejects would tell me to move along, I bet.

Good advice.

giraffes hate me

Guess who snuck into the zoo and tried to pet a giraffe?

I did.

If God was on the radio
i know he'd say to thee,
love is spiders on the edge,
and we're hanging by a thread,
connected to the other end of this
twisted frequency i've spun,
but i don't care,
i'd be happy
if you'd share
your web with me.

Just got back from a Judo competition.

Guess what?

I won. First Place.

I need a new challenge.

Spring = Fighting in the Hilton

Yay.

Well it worked out, I'll be living in midtown next semester, as well as the next four years.

We're throwing a christmas party so all yall gotta come.

Its about time things started to look up. Man.









In self defense i wont sleep a wink
to prevent dreaming of you

I just watched Gone in 60 Seconds.

Im going to go boost cars now.

Every time I feel fed up with everything here a letter arrives in the mail. Just when I think I'm going to burn down the campus, something shows up in my PO Box that makes my day and shows me friends are thinking of me. My mom and grandmother send me stuff occasionally that is absolutely wonderful to get. Leah Parker and Emily Duggan sent me mail within the last couple of weeks, making them even more awesome than they already were. Emily Hinson sent me two cds in the mail that I listen to all the time, one of which I usually fall asleep to. Sigur Ros new cd is basically a compilation of lullabys.

Thank you all, so much.

I am genuinely grateful. I hate it when I do something completely out of my way for someone and they dont even say thank you.

The next person that says "Oh so you do karate" or "So hows tae kwon do going?" is going to get curbed. I do not do either of those, as those are lame. It is not like either of them and people need to quit being stupid. No you are not relating to me by saying you used to take karate or have a black belt in tae kwon do. I do not care about your prepubescent martial arts experience and furthermore do not care about your green belt in it. I don't have a sensei and your Rex Kwon Do quotes are not funny. Fighting is not barbaric, and it is ignorant of you to think so. Grappling especially, as it takes a strong intuition of the opposing players move and an ability to immeditately recognize a successful sequence of counters to it. Saying "Oh you do karate" is like me going up to a runner and being like "Oh you must run the 100m dash!". People quit being stupid, just because its a martial art doesnt mean its karate. Others exist. I can think of at least a couple dozen off the top of my head.

The other day I was talking to a guy who was saying how his uncle is a brasilian jiu jitsu black belt. Now I find this especially amazing because that is very very rare. We have to fly in brasilians to teach us black belt technique. He goes on and on about where he has trained, who with, and all kinds of cool stuff about his uncle. Then he says "Oh wait, not Jiu Jitsu, tae kwon do." It was all I could do to not beat him to death right there.

So here it goes. I practice muay thai kicboxing, a style that incorporates elbow and knees with traditional kickboxing.
I take brasilian Jiu Jitsu, a martial art adapted from japanese Jiu Jitsu that employs arm locks, leg locks, chokes, etc.
I take Judo, which consists of series of throws that are used to take a person to the ground.

NONE OF THESE ARE KARATE I'LL KILL YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1!1!1!1one

"Redeeming love has been my theme
and shall be till the day I die"



God's providence and love is absolutely amazing

Well it looks like I'll be in Memphis next semester sharing an apartment with a one Mr. Austin Grisham. I'll be an international business major and I have yet to decide on a language. I'm considering Arabic or Spanish. Who knows?

So tonight I was compulsively downloading music and I managed to find Chris Martin covering a popular Christmas song, and it made my day. I felt a little out of place sitting in my dorm room blasting "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" in the middle of October, but I don't even care. It was probably one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard, and music that good transcends whatever season it is associated with.

See my lovesac is beneath my window and it makes for a perfect place to read. Currently I'm reading a secular rebuttal to the Da Vinci Code's philosophies. They are slightly skewed to say the least. Anyway, if I read for a long time I usually end up falling asleep, and this was the case today. Well my window is right next to a door that is used by my whole hall, and its quite disconcerting to wake up and realize that strangers walk past and watch me sleep.

My allergies have been giving me trouble since Monday night. I cannot breathe. This week I have often wondered if I would be better off without a nose. Total sneezes today - 31. My consecutive record was 13 a few years ago.

I desperately need a new pair of tehvas, I stepped on a rock today while wearing them and cut my foot. They are THAT worn down. I refuse to not wear sandals. Contract pneumonia if i must, but I will let my feet breathe the beautiful fall air they deserve.

Well I wasn't going to go home, but divine providence gave me a reason to. Turns out there is a Jiu Jitsu tournament that I am ordained to participate in. Wish me luck.

Perhaps this weekend the Rhodes kids, Andy and me can adventure through the catacombs into the Memphis Zoo. Apparently there is a hidden entrance underneath a church to the zoo. How cool is that? I'm bringing a Merekat back to State.

Existentialistic and apathetic thinking is so dangerous. God please help me to see things as you have created them and the meaning with them.



My heart knows the most wonderful song
I've given up hope that you'll ever sing along

A beautiful girl can make you dizzy,
Like you've been drinking jack and coke all morning.
She can make you feel high,
Full of the single greatest commodity known to man:
Promise. promise of a better day,
promise of a greater hope,
promise of a new tommorow.
This particular aura,
can be found in the gait of a beautiful girl.
In her smile, and in her soul.
In the way she makes every rotten little thing about life
seem like it's gonna be ok.

Taking Back Sunday

It isn't hard to make my day