yuck

Things have been crazy at school. As soon as the new students stepped on campus the internet went down. It has been down for five days now, every now and then we get a couple mins of the internet working properly so hopefully i make it through this post before it goes down. The internet failure is the reason I have not been able to post lately.

Last weekend I had to help lead freshmen orientation. I led a small group and helped organize games and activities and blah blah blah. It was better than orientations of years past i thought. Some of the new students are pretty cool.

Classes started tuesday. I know i'm going to have to write lots of papers for my four psychology classes: personality theory, marriage & family, human sexuality, and abnormal psychology. Plus i'm taking two bible classes. So things are and will be busy.

Focus (student led worship service) went very well last night, better than i expected actually. I'm working with new leaders this year so that has been a small challenge but it seems to be working out just fine.

Looking forward to Labor day weekend. Seeing family that i didnt get to see all summer.

Where am I/should be?

I find myself with a dilemma I face quite often. It seems that every time I go to a new place/transition/move I'm always wishing I was where I just was. There have been times I've come to school and inside I wished I was still at home. The reverse has been true as well, wishing I was still at school. When I went to Texas, I wished I was still at home for 3-4 weeks. And now that I'm back at school I desparately want to be back down in Texas.

I cannot figure out if this is a good thing or not. On one hand, my desire to be wherever I just was shows that I've done a good job building relationships and have established deep bonds. On the other hand, my wishing to be somewhere else causes me to miss out on what is going on right here in front of me.

I think this feeling is somewhat natural, but at the same time I do not want to miss out on the opportunities that are right in front of my face. Honestly, I do not want to be at school right now. My mind is still in Texas, I miss the church, my co-workers, and the Selinger's and I've only spent six days at home in the past three months. School is the last place I want to be. But I have responsibility here...

Finishing up...

I have a day and a half left in Texas. It's been great and I'm sad to go but I suppose that is how life goes...

Lately I have been utterly in awe of the Olympics. I knew I would be this way. Four years ago I got sucked into the games in Athens so I knew it would happen again. Of course, Michael Phelps is a beast. That has well been established. The women's all-around was great to watch as well. The girl who won lives pretty close to where I have been living all summer. All in all it's been pretty cool to see what's going on and see the talent these athletes have.

In other news, Landon flew down to Texas last night. He's come down to spend a couple days in Texas with me and then we are driving back to Illinois on Sunday. Today we went to Hurricane Harbor with two girls and had a blast. Early morning rain and afternoon clouds kept the large crowd away. The longest we waited for a ride was ten minutes. Landon and I are in talks about how we can build our own water park in Illinois, let us know if you want to be involved, especially as a financial backer. After we got back from the water park Aubree and Maddie (the girls from the family that I have gotten to know real well) came over. We baked cookies, watched the Olympics and just had some fun enjoying one of the few nights we have left.

Tomorrow Landon and I are going to the Rangers-Rays game after church. A staff member hooked us up with tickets behind 3rd base dugout for free so that is exciting! I will be able to scratch Tampa Bay off my list (see earlier post). That is all for now, I'm tired from all the swimming today...

Baseball Wish List

I want to see every team play at least once. Not necessarily each stadium, but each team. The remaining American League teams:

Boston

Minnesota

Toronto

NL:

San Diego

Washington

Stadiums I want to see: *Top 5

*Boston

Baltimore

Detroit

LA Angels

*Yankees

Arizona

*Wrigley

Colorado

*Houston

Dodger Stadium

Milwaukee

*San Francisco

Top 5 Stadiums I have seen:

Pittsburgh

Cincinnati

St. Louis

Cleveland

Texas

*Kansas City Honorable Mention

Yankees

I got to see the Yankees play tonight! Children's pastor asked me at 3:00pm if I wanted to go to a 7:05pm game and I definitely said yes. I'm not a big Yanks fan or anything but seeing them play live has always been a desire of mine. Jeter went 2-4, AROD went 0-4, and Giambi hit a HR. Their lineup is just so stacked. I've always admired Jeter, especially being a former middle infielder myself. He is just so classy, really glad I got to see him play. They beat the Rangers 5-3. Erin Andrews was in attendance covering the game for ESPN, so that's always exciting.

In other baseball news...Cards got a huge win tonight over the Dodgers as we continue to try to climb our way towards the top of the NL Central and Wildcard.

Jon McLaughlin...wow.

One of the other interns is crazy about Jon McLaughlin. He is a musician from Indiana and he doesn't have a huge following but she loves him. She's been talking about his concert for quite some time and tonight she dragged four of us along. Honestly, I was just going to hang out and see the House of Blues in Dallas and just going to enjoy dinner and good company. Turns out this guy is incredible! In all seriousness he plays the keyboard/piano better than anyone I have ever seen in my life. Cool lyrics as well. I enjoyed his style of music and loved watching them on stage. I hear that he is a Christian and they sell his CDs in some Christian bookstores. Overall it was a great night and I thoroughly suggest you check him out if you don't know about him already.

Songs to check out:

-Industry
-Human
-Perfect

I couldn't get the youtube video to load but here it is... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPDkcVsbY7I

He'll be in St. Louis Aug 10, Sunday night if you have nothing to do go check him out.

VBS is over!!!

It was a fun week. Now it is finally over and I can rest...wait, I speak twice this weekend at church. Monday is a day off. Last night we played a really gross game where we poured junk all over MS students' heads. It was awesome!