Happy New Year

I've got a resolution, but I started a few weeks ago. Here's another. By the end of this new year, I want to be enrolled in a college of God's choosing. HAHA!

Here's a resolution for you. If you read my blogs, leave a comment. Otherwise, I assume that no one reads them, and they start to get less user-friendly. Kudos to Katie who comments most times she reads.

Shout-out to D. Andrew and Katie who both had rockin' parties for New Years.

Results of Reading Wrong

Here was my problem weeks ago, when God and I ran into trouble. Yes, it takes me this long to figure these things out.

"Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed." -Proverbs 15:22

"for waging war you need guidance, and for victory many advisers." -Proverbs 24:6

Waging war = large undertaking. My particular undertaking, as I recall, was my college and major. When I looked at that verse, I saw that to have victory, I needed many advisers, so, like I tend to do when I get/think I get a word from God, I ran with it. I got myself a bunch of advice from all different kinds of people, and guess what happened? First, I questioned my path. Alright. Second, I questioned my intelligence. Bad. Lastly, I questioned (to God) whether or not I could do what God wanted me to do. Worse.

See, I skipped over the first part of the verse, "you need guidance." That "guidance" isn't a multitude of counselors. It's also not, as is beat into me over and over again, a prophecy. "Guidance" comes from God, and those whom God is speaking through. Friends who God speaks through a lot won't ALWAYS have God's plan for you in mind. Even if they do, THEY aren't YOU. It's YOUR life, so listen to God on it. It sounds simple, but for me, it was profound.

Once you get the "guidance" and put together what Proverbs 15:22 calls your "plan", THEN you're ready for your advisers and counselors. 'Cause that is where they'll be able to help you the most. In the DETAILS. The big picture, the plan, the overhead, is for God to give to you. And for you to seek Him for.

Can you tell I'm back in my Word?

Searching

I'm searching for the inspiration which used to drive me onwards.

Straws

I got this straw-enhancing kit for a Christmas present. What can I use it for besides mixing alcoholic beverages?

Dah Mexican Can Dance!

I haven't blogged because of these pop-ups. They come in hordes, then vacate after about a minute.

Another reason is because I've been gone. To Andrews, West Texas. This year, I was patient enough to learn the story of Papa Bill's birth. It was also one of those precious few times in the year that I spend the night with my brothers. I've made an observation. They haven't changed in the way they pick on the other siblings to get what they want. All I could think of the whole time was that their humor was still so foolish and childish, while I, for one, have worked on mine enough to make fun of them trying to be funny at someone else's expense, rather than in a smarter way.

Then I got sick. Being bedridden for 24 hours is not all it's cracked up to be. I won't go into the details of what was coming out of me, but, suffice it to say...

Last night, Saturday night, after coming all the way back from West Texas, I went with Katie, Michelle, and Emily to Emily's brother-in-law's Mexican restaurant (the spelling of restaurant threw everyone into confusion that night). We got to this restaurant, which lay within the domain of Dallas, and were soon entertained with some Mexican dancing. The first few songs were fun enough, but what I expected to be a 20-30 minute show ended up being a two-hour one. I wish that they'd had a place for us to dance. I'm almost always willing to dance, even if I'm sick. Anyway, 'twas a magical and lengthy evening, and I most assuredly slept in till 2:00 PM this afternoon, since I had no meetings or anything to get to at church.

My Troubles Are Going To Have Troubles With Me

"Then I started back home
To the Valley of Vung.
I know I'll have troubles
I'll, maybe, get stung.
I'll always have troubles.
I'll, maybe, get bit
By that Green-Headed Quail
On the place where I sit.

"But I've bought a big bat.
I'm all ready, you see.
Now my troubles are going
To have troubles with me!"- I Had Trouble In Getting to Solla Sollew, Dr. Seuss

The whole story, the main character is trying to get to a land where there are no troubles, or at least very few. He spends ages and ages risking his life trying to get there, and when he finally arrives, he finds that the "very few" problems mentioned about this safe haven included the key to get in not fitting.

He hears about another place where there are no problems, but instead of trying for this easy way, he goes back to face his problems, and this time armed with a bat and an attitude.

I love it, 'cause it so ties in with Christianity. We have all these problems around us and think "OH GOD, DELIVER ME!". We take God as an instant ticket to easy street, when He has the tools sitting there for us to use.

We need to get TICKED at the crap the devil tries to throw at us, and all the junk in our lives, and go in there with our "bats" (or better yet, our Sword of the Spirit) and beat the crap out of what has wormed its way into our lives. We have a full suit of armor, and all the devil has are "fiery darts", which we can easily quench. GO ON THE OFFENSIVE WITH YOUR CHRISTIANITY! Don't say, "It's a shame that she/he's getting back into sin." Tell them, "HEY! What happened to that man/woman of God I saw before? What happened to the DIFFERENCE I could see in you and in the people around you, because of what you were doing?"

Don't stand back. Stand up.

All of our lives are "too busy" and "too hard". Are you gonna let that control you or are you gonna take the authority that God has given you and set things straight? God never intended for your life to be too full for Him to be actively working in every inch of it.

End of Semester

The semester is over. How can I explain with words the events which have transpired? Here are some pictures from the school that I only have to work at for one more semester. Notice that it's EASY to get pictures of people asleep in class.

Paradigm Christmas Party

Ah, Finals week. It only comes twice a school-year, and even before it comes, you can smell the coffee and stress in the air.

I recently found that Hulu was featuring a tv show called The Legend of the Seeker which had a similar description to a book series called the Sword of Truth series that I read back in my book-reading days (when I had time for it). As I watched it, I found out that it was, in fact, based on the book series. I didn't know it was possible, but seeing that sword action and intense action inspired me to take up Tae Kwon Do stretches and workouts again. I've been very sore every day of the week, and I like it.

Anyway, on to tonight's news. Once a year, Paradigm hosts a Christmas party. This year's theme, "Western", was the crappiest theme so far. Fortunately, I like a challenge. For the last few weeks, basically since they announced the theme, I've been working on my costume. It paid off tonight, the $15 investment yielding a prize over ten times this cost, in the form of the new iPod Nano. Our small group also competed, and was the second-best, but, as we all know, junior highers are tough to coordinate. Still, they did awesome for how much practice they had.

And thanks, Bri, for the Moleskin. I've been needing it.

Bible Begone

I made this last night when I thought of a verse (I was supposed to be doing homework).
Sorry I haven't blogged lately. I left my Bible at school. That Bible is what inspires me to do most things. On the bright side, I was given a new Bible at school today. I got the highest grade in our Jesus class, so I won a study Bible. This thing is huge and full of little knowledge nuggets.

The Mock Trial

I made the prosecution look like a bunch of fools. First, we brought up witnesses to discredit all of the prosecution's witnesses. Then it was my turn. I played the part of the "modest Christian guy", who says phrases that others may mistake for swearing. For example, "Got dandruff! Some of it itches!" and "Got down, sat on a bench!". Then I whipped out the picture of my keyed car, and the prosecution had absolutely nothing to answer to this, except for wild accusations of Photoshopping, which were completely unfounded based on available evidence. I made fun of them the entire time I was up there by answering their questions. It was joyous.

Laughter

I don't like to post blogs that are just quotes, or lyrics from songs, or stupid crap like that, 'cause I think it's unoriginal to do so. However, I did find this quote from Dr. Seuss to be awesome, and to put into words some thoughts I've had in the past.

"Have you ever stopped to consider what has happened to your sense of humor? When you were a kid named Willy or Mary the one thing you did better than anything else was laugh....

A strange thing called conditioned laughter began to take its place...

[It depended on] financial conditions. Political conditions. Racial, religious and social conditions. You began to laugh at people your family feared or despised-- people they felt inferior to, or people they felt better than... You were supposed to guffaw when someone told a story which proved that Swedes are stupid, Scots are tight, Englishmen are stuffy and the Mexicans never wash. You discovered a new form of humor based on sex... Your capacity for healthy, silly, friendly laughter was smothered."- Dr. Seuss

Also, to give you guys an update, the mock trial has gone on with the prosecution's witnesses, but it looks like I'll finally be able to testify tomorrow. Problems with God-junk haven't been resolved yet (look back to previous blog). I have to show notes from my thesis research tomorrow. Let's hope that that goes well.

Conflict

My DAAAAAAAYYYYYYY! But really. So, started out my day with some Dual-Credit, which is always a blast (NOT). During this class, Newman told me that he wasn't sure where my camera is. FANTASTIC! Then came Physics with my blog's most talked-about teacher, Mr. Harber (*everyone in the room cheers*). He gave us a review which I politely informed him was impossible, and he told me to take a zero or drop the class if I needed to. Then Mrs. Horan and I had a talk, and Physics and Pre-Cal were put into order, but not before the mental toll had settled in.

Mrs. Horan also pulled me in after all that and talked to me about whether the whole medical thing was really up my ally. Math and science are my biggest struggles, and that is not doctor material. She told me to have an open mind, and reconsider things at the end of my freshman year. I hadn't questioned my intelligence in a long time, but I did today. Why can't I understand this crap if I'm gonna be doing it for the next eight years of my life?

After all this, I went to Chik Fil A, 'cause we all know that those lovable cows know how to bring mental, spiritual, and emotional healing to our beings. I was in the drive-thru, and the individual in front of me paid for my meal and gave the message, "Jesus loves you." Honestly, it shut up my questions. Most of the New Testament is built on that phrase. Surely it has a place in all this.

On the other hand, the mock trial began today. Tyler testified, but we didn't get past him, so I'll be testifying tomorrow. It's gonna be fun.

Prepping For Mock Trial

I stayed home from school today, to avoid getting sick (it can happen when you stay up way too late and stress out). It was a good choice. I'm getting caught up in a lot of things. Anyway, our mocks trial was moved to tomorrow. Since I'm pretty sure that none of the prosecution reads my blogs, here's one piece of evidence in our favor.
The story is that Tyler keyed my car, but I hadn't pressed charges. I'm thinking that they'll try to deny his actions, but that's when my attorneys will whip out this picture. On the downside, I don't think we'll have time to put together our video evidence. But rest assured, we had it all planned out and ready.

I was thinking with God the other day, and a certain thought came to mind. People always want miracles to happen. But it's all for God's glory, right? The way I was thinking is this: God isn't particular about whether the miracle is done on its own, through someone, or even a sort of pre-miracle. Like, when you swerve on the road, and your brakes happen to catch, as opposed to the breaks not catching, and you whamming into a tree, breaking several parts of your back and neck, then a bunch of people coming together and laying hands on it, and all of a sudden it comes into rightness, and everyone praises God for it. The miracle was when you didn't have to go through all that crap, and you didn't have car and hospital bills to pay for the trouble. It's all for His glory. Make sense?

Mrs. Newman was taking pictures of our small group with my camera, and she accidentally took it with her back to her house, so I'll get it back tomorrow. It has pictures of our small group in action. We have fun. It was a good discussion yesterday. I didn't have to get stern and serious, 'cause the guys weren't acting up at all. We talked about how doing little nice things for people could make a big difference (Mark 4:something, about a mustard seed growing without the sower knowing).

Trish's Birthday

Once a year, Trish has an event which she is powerless to stop from happening, unless she were to end her life, but this is not likely at all. Today marked the nineteen-year anniversary of her birth. She did not want pictures taken this night, which was good, because I temporarily lost my camera anyway. We first went to Firewheel (where I picked up the book I'm supposed to have read and have notes on by Thursday, and it's LONG), then, after some shopping (and Emily and I writing letters to Santa at Macy's), we drove to Applebees. Cassia and Spiffy (her boyfriend, who was loads of fun) were to follow me from Firewheel. I got lost the last time I drove back from Firewheel. It's fun to get lost, but not as a group ordeal.

We made it there with minimal trouble, and Trish got to have a birthday song sung to her by the Applebees guys/women (a first for Trish). Then we headed over to Pastor Nick's house, where we watched Elf and drank hot chocolate/coffee (mixed, not separate). I drove Bri home, and, upon her inquiry about what I should have done today, I told her my troubles. It took the car ride to skim over it all. Of course, it's past one A.M. and I had that coffee earlier, so I'm still wired.

I found these lense-less glasses in my car today. Should I keep wearing them?

Costumes & Mock Trials

Preparations for the Paradigm Christmas party have begun. I love making costumes (rather, impressing people with the grandness of my costumes). Let's hope that my costume is good enough to represent a bunch of middle schoolers.

Big news in school. Our Government class, which typically has nothing terribly interesting going on (our most talkative and fun class, despite Caleob sitting to my left), is having a mock trial. The class last year had one too (I spelled "too" as "two" the first time), but this year, we have a lot of outgoing overachievers involved, and a bigger class. I am the defendant who is being accused of shutting down Tyler's kidneys during a fight. Unlike last year's class, we plan to bring in photographic/video evidence against the prosecution. This shows promise.

Baby Got Back

That's right, I got my camera back. Of course, it didn't come back with its case or memory card, but luckily, I had a spare card, so it's functional. Now, hopefully, I'll be able to capture all the things I've been wanting to capture lately. Like pictures of myself.

Paradigm seemed to be kinda low-tone last night. I felt out of it. I still kinda feel out of it, but I'll probably feel into it tonight, 'cause it's the annual Childrens Church workers party. A good part of why I keep working there is because of this party. The first year I went, I won a $25 gift card. The year after, I got free movie tickets. Last year, I got a $5 Starbucks card and a few goodies. It's also catered by Carino's, which is Italian, my favorite.

Here are a few more pictures I took today:

My priority wall, so I won't get stressed when I think of all the things I have to do.

Some people in Poetry have fancy driveways.

Alexandra was trying to get a ride from me, but I was reluctant, so I drove away.

My car friend. I haven't named him yet. Any name suggestions?

Clogged Pipes

God has definitely been on the mind. I'm still working on figuring out some things. In our prayer team meeting today, Megan Wood said she had a vision. In it, our prayer team was in a circle in the gym, praying it up, and gradually a bunch of the rest of the school joined in. Funny thing about it was, she said that she only saw (with recognition) two people: Hannah Horton and I. Everyone was drawn to Hannah's passion, and, as for me, people were drawn to me just being real. It was nice to hear.

I also went to the dentist today, on account of my swelling. Ever heard of a submandibular duct? (Sub=under, mandible=lower jaw) Mine was clogged. In fact, it was clogged enough to make my face swell up like it did. So all that crap about an "abscessed tooth" or "a chip off of a wisdom tooth" was crazy talk. Does that crap belong in a believer anyway?

Good Monday To You, Sir

I'm feeling incredible right now. Here's what happened, a'ight? I was asking God the other day what on earth to do about my One. I kept hearing the song from Jason Upton's cd where he sings, "And they'll know we are Christians by our love." I was like, "But God, they already know that I'm a Christian. I've already informed them of this," but the song kept coming back to me.

So today, I woke up to my alarm (there's a wonder in itself) and went to Starbucks to get some AIDS coffee (5 cents goes to AIDS kids). I got one for me and one for my One, and also a bag of Flaming Hot Cheatos. I left the coffee in my One's locker, the Cheatos in Sydney's locker, and wrote notes about Paradigm on each of them. I also texted Jordan and informed him about how good the day will be if he gives it and any discouragement that comes with it to God, and he was excited too. My One and Sydney were both overjoyed to get gifts out of the blue. My One texted me later that she'll go to Paradigm after school gets out.

Galations 5:6b, "The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love."

Throughout the day, I felt a lot like I did last year. I'm pretty dern excited.

The God Side of Things

This break, I got a lot done. One thing was relaxing. I'm exceptionally talented in this area when I have the time. Twelve hours of sleeping can be normal, and it lead to dreams of punching demons one night. Anyway, I also figured out why I've been stressed, and it's ever so simple. I've been so frustrated with school and having so much hanging over my head that I had stopped giving it to God, telling myself that these little things are too immediate of problems to give them to God. I need to take care of them real quickly, and give the rest to God. That isn't how God works.

After talking to Trish (for two hours starting at around two in the morning) about how much I wanted to be able to live like I lived last year (doing God-stuff every second), but with enough balance that I'm not crapping up His temple (my body), I decided to ask God about it. Smart, right? So, here's the gist of what I felt He was telling me. He agreed that I've got a lot to take care of, school-wise, before the end of the year. I'm supposed to spend this time working on school junk and also trying to figure out (partially through seeking guidance from a few wise people) how exactly to go about doing things for God without being a workaholic. What Cameron had said to me back when he pointed out that I needed to stop, was that I didn't have enough input for the amount that I was pouring out. My Word time, Paradigm, and Prototype are on a completely different level right now from what they were last year, so maybe my input is large enough for me to get things done? Your thoughts?

Thanksgiving

Internet has been out and I have a bag of other excuses for not blogging.

First off, Thanksgiving was plenty of fun. I got to hang out with my brothers (Preston--older, and Chas--oldest), who taught me a lil' about the internet and its capabilities. Chas helped to grill up the ol' turkey. I also got to play with Turtle, Chas's lil' wiener dog. And his Xbox 360, but I'd rather not talk about when I become a geek. The Newmans were also there, and that was pretty neutral. On the downside, my face started swelling up that wonderful Thanksgiving Day.
We still don't know the cause of the swelling, but I'm told that swelling usually doesn't happen just for kicks. I am still swollen in my mouth, but it's not noticeable (unless you make out with me).

(Sorry about the bad quality of the pictures. They were taken from my dad's phone. I'm getting my good camera back tomorrow.)

R-r-r-r-r-r-rANDOM!

I went to CFNI today. Biggest news was me talking to Zach Shey for like two hours. It was the first time we've ever connected. Good stuff.

You're supposed to fill it out with sixteen random things about yourself. It's from Facebook.

1. I like to use good grammar.
2. I used to collect business cards so I could act like I was looking through them when I was bored in line or some such thing. But then I got a cell phone and everything changed.
3. I'm the life of the party if dancing is involved. Ask anyone whose party I've been to.
4. I avoided music almost entirely until my pre-teen years.
5. My shoes add around an inch to my height.
6. I'm half-African American. Don't diss my AA peeps.
7. I hate onions.
8. I tend to smell good. Have you noticed?
9. My pencil-sharpener is a green happy face on a spring. Impressed?
10. I think that God wants us to have superpowers for Him.
11. I like our new president-elect. His dad was born in Kenya, too. Finally! Someone to represent my minority.
12. I follow and devise theories about The Office, Lost, and Heroes.
13. I was raised on The Simpsons like a child is raised on goat's milk.
14. I pay close attention to expiration dates. If it's expired, I ain't ingestin' it.
15. I can scratch any part of my back. No limitations.
16. I'm a fan of giving foot massages (only women, though, 'cause they tend to clean their feet more often).

I uninstalled the crappy pop-up blockers that didn't help. I can right-click tabs again, but still have pop-up trouble.

Celebration Station

Today, I saw the fruit of all my efforts and planning come together. To get a group of five junior highers to come together takes skill, time, and money. I had none of these, so my "Guys Day Out" ended up consisting of Brett, Clayton (who I picked up myself), and I. After getting lost for half an hour trying to find Clayton's house (it's a castle, by the way), we made our way to Celebration Station. It was wondrous.

First off, the parking lot was as empty as my wallet. It was easy to park right at the front. Next, the place had Brett sitting in it. Uncanny? Anyway, Clayton lit up when he saw the arcade, and we spent big bucks there, followed by some big bucks spent on putt-putt golf. We went fishing with our clubs and managed to get a few extra clubs and balls, so we had extra chances to win on that 18th hole, but to no avail! Since pizza was overpriced, we decided to forgo a meal there and went to Chik Fil A instead.

Thanks for coming, Brett. Our small groups should come together like this more often.

Oh, I also had 19 pop-ups waiting for me when I got home.

I tried to steal Brett's pictures, but they didn't work. http://theautobiographyofbrettm.blogspot.com/

Quality Education

Quality. My main concern when applying for college is a quality education. This sounds like a typical thing, but here's the deal. Daniel Lewis, basically my adopted brother, is taking college Physics and Chemistry. He has all kinds of questions and things about both subjects. He likes to think a little bit and make his own theories. He has pitched several theories to his teachers, and they typically talk a lot without giving a real answer.

I do not want to end up in a college like that. I want quality. I wanna be able to question things and to have my questions answered. What if Daniel had somehow stumbled upon a huge scientific discovery? What if I stumble upon a huge scientific discovery? If no professors can recognize it as what it is, it could fade away and remain undiscovered.

I don't plan on being smart enough to discover something huge. But I know that God has bigger plans for me than I could ever make on my own. I wanna be around people who could recognize something new, or be able to correct me on the subject.

This is why I so question many Christian colleges. It is why I am so inclined towards Boston University.

Word time + Sleep = Happier London

He needs his quiet time though.

I'm gonna try to add more later.

Pop-Ups And God On The Brain

I was watching Heroes online, and my internet was being crappy, so the video was choppy. I'm an American, and don't approve of this, so I Googled for a website that would play it better. I found such a website, but it had the "?" that my computer uses to tell me whether a website is good or bad. I now have pop-ups. They mostly use internet explorer, which I hate anyway, but when I clicked to delete it, it resurrected itself. Creepy, huh? It's been too long since I've had computer problems.

I got a detention today. They had a locker check and apparently empty water bottles are prohibited. I'll be taking all of my finals this year.

My One frustrates me. I wish I could know if she's joking about Christianity or if she's anywhere near serious.

I have research to do over break. Mr. Beaumont loaned me like six books on Alexander Pope, who I'm doing my poet research paper on, and he expects it to be way hard. I also have to read Dr. Seuss biographies and make notecards on his stuff.

I don't like to look to the past all the time, but today I was thinking about those men of God, well-known pastors and evangelists, who have God on the brain at all times. Their focus is totally on God, and He makes it into every part of their lives. I got pretty dern close to living that way last year. I wanna be like that again, except without doing harm to my body.

I sound frustrated as of late, don't I?

Visions

In the Paradigm service tonight, Lance talked for a lil' bit about visions and things that God has spoken to you, and if you've been following after them. My mind brought back the vision I had a few months before going to Kenya. I saw myself praying for someone, then feeling a shift underneath the clothing, like bones moving into place, and my eyes widened in surprise. In response to this, I had prayed for hands of healing while in Kenya, but did not see this fulfilled, though I had believed that it would be. This put God and I on bad terms for awhile, but I came to terms and dropped it. One thing new I noticed tonight was that my eyes widened when I felt the change. That means that I was aware of the change.

Maybe it could be translated in a different way. I dunno.

OTHER NEWS

I was texting with Katie the other day about what she had been doing at JBU, and she said at one point, "You're gonna love it here." I replied with, "You're sounding like I'm gonna be going there for sure."

The funny thing was, my spirit was open to the idea of JBU. BU has been my focus, but now JBU is not off-limits. It makes me wonder...(AND ASK GOD FOR ANSWERS!!!)

Needs More Joints

I talked to Mr. Harber today, explained my point of view on the whole detention there, heard his side, and he ended up being quite open to having the permanent repercussions of my detention (having to take finals) repealed.

At the moment, Pre-Cal is becoming an enjoyable class. I already know everything we're learning right now (STUPID TRIGONOMETRY!) so I mostly sit and draw. And since I have the policy of not saying one word without being specifically called on, there's no chance of getting in trouble. I like drawing. Although, to be honest, since I feel unable to draw a normal body, I tend to draw a torso with limbs and head floating separately. They still convey whatever I'm saying, but I think I may need to throw in some ligaments.

I'll post more tonight if a revelation hits me.

Shut Yourself

My teacher, Mr. Harber, came back from his voyage to the Virgin Islands. In Pre-Cal, I tried a new strategy. I had tried many to get through the class without Mr. H getting mad at me, but to no avail. Today, I was silent as the grave. I kept on writing down and underlining "DON'T TALK" to myself, and other similar phrases, plus drawings of someone banging their head with a hammer while drinking from a can of Unhappiness. It was my most successful class with him. I even managed to tolerate him talking about the detention and how we should have better attitudes. A friend of mine, who had never gotten in trouble in that class before, was asking questions about the subject, and he got upset at her for the first time. Why, you may ask? Because I wasn't participating, so he had to get mad at someone who was. Anyway, I'm enjoying the fact that I can possibly get through the class if I don't say anything. Needless to say, I had to make things right with his place of authority and with God on my way home.

In other news, we have a tentative booking on our senior trip cruise. It's April 4-9 with Carnival. You should come.

Clean And Delve

I like serving a God who LOVES giving clean slates. I've been horrible with my Bible reading for the past month, and, to quote my father who's quoting from someone else, "It takes four weeks to make a habit," (at least, I think it was around a month). So I thought, OH CRAP, I've made a habit out of being inconsistent with my Bible reading. Now it's gonna be WAY harder to get back into the groove. But then I realized something grand. When I fess up to God about how crappy I've been and ask for His forgiveness, this "habit" can be gone in a jiffy. I'm the only one holding it there (plus the words of my father, if I choose to accept them).

Oh, and one more thing! I was talking to God about reading, and telling Him that I can get by with reading like every other day during the week, and still have enough Word in me to pour out to my small group, so why would I need to get into a healthier habit? Then God was like, "But is that gonna be able to carry you through college?" and I was like, hole, He's right. I've gotta be delving, not just skimming, if I'm gonna make a difference where I'm going.

Time To Dance

I have a friend, Jake Davis, who always helps to release a more outgoing side of me. I am highly regarded by their family, and I think they're a blast, so it was good to have him come over today for Priscilla's Sweet Sixteen Birthday Party. First off, my room became a meeting place (NOT NORMAL), and Jake and I loaded up on supplies, such as African and Thai drums and horns of various sorts, and we went out to greet people.

When a good amount of people had arrived, we started a dance circle on the porch. Every time I'm with Jake, we end up dancing, and we pick up moves from each other. I whipped out my puppet move (I look similar to a marionette), he showed off some Russian dancing, which is terribly hard to pull off. The music turned off for a lil' bit while they changed songs, and I yelled to them, "Please don't stop the, please don't stop the, please don't stop the music!" (That's quoting from a song, for those of you who didn't catch on.)

Shout-out to D. Andrew who showed off his dance moves for much of it!

There was later a marshmellow fight that involved two broken chairs, but these did not interest me nearly as much as the dance-off.

Friday Blog

I talked to Mr. Beaumont about my senior thesis yesterday, and it went rather well. I told him that I hadn't been taking notes, just taking in what I read, and that was my only problem. It was funny to see him laugh so much at Dr. Seuss's WWII drawings. He understood all the jokes that I didn't.

I've also been doing a lil' bit of drawing. But I'll share about that once there's something to share about.

I slept yesterday. A lot. And my Word time has been scanty. These are reasons for a lack of a Friday blog.

Even The Teensiest Thing

Alyssa Kay (a friend I met during The Core) called me up from Virginia today. This is the first time we talked since one of the CFNI Campus Days where we both shouted each others' names and then she had to go to work. Our conversation went at a million miles a minute (I missed that too) and I mentioned how my relationship with God controls everything, even my acne. She started to talk about how God should be a part of every aspect, even what we wear in the morning, 'cause what if you decide to wear purple one day and someone says, "I love that shade of purple," and the conversation ends up heading towards God? God wants to have all of us. What you give Him decides what He can work through directly. If we give everything to God, we even give the trifling things. 'Cause to Him, they aren't trifling. They're important tools for His kingdom.

Inconceivable? With God, All Things Are Possible.

As the official planner for the senior trip, I have found several intriguing options. Road trip to South Padre was a good one, but we wouldn't get any school funding for it. A better idea, one that we didn't shoot for 'cause we figured it would be impossible, was a cruise. How could we afford a cruise, you may ask? Well, our school has a nasty habit of giving us a week off of school at times other than the traditional, "Spring Break." This has normally worked to our disadvantage. However, the last week in February or the week before Easter just might be the weeks for fun. The February date is iffy, but the Easter one shows promise. Student Council is willing to put in $100 to each senior for whatever trip we do (this is partly due to the work I started as president *takes a bow*). This still means that we need to raise over $200 each, but that's without negotiating prices for a large group. There is potential here. Smokin' hot potential.

Down A Level

I was at my locker today, and I saw Sydney at hers next to me, so I said, "Hey Sydney," to which she replied, "I was standing here five minutes ago and you didn't say a word!" I, rather than face the fact that I may very well have ignored her, asked, "Do you need a hug?" So we hugged and she said, "Woah, you went down to my level. That's way better." My hugs are normally coming from quite a height.

This is what earns the most respect from me when it comes to leadership. The best preachers that I know of always bring themselves down to a level of, "I'm only human; I'm right on your level." I once prayed with Jed at a leaders meeting when he was still asst. youth pastor, and when we prayed for each other, we were both going through the same thing. When Pastor Benny Perez spoke at YFN, he talked all about his insecurities regarding his unhealed body, while the bodies of everyone around him were getting healed.

If you want to gain respect, go down to the level of those you want respect from.

Sketching

The first thing that really got me thinking in artsy terms recently was when I was drugged up from wisdom teeth, and I was trying to think of what use I could put to this intoxicated state.

Last night, I was watching a documentary on Dr. Seuss (I'm doing my senior thesis on different aspects of his books). Apparently, like me, he was a crappy artist, 'cause he never ended up drawing what he intended to. He would try to draw a kangaroo, and it'd look crappy and nothing like one. This is one reason why he made up his own animals (it also helped with his rhyming quite a bit). I gave up on drawing quite early, thinking that I was simply untalented in that area. However, after looking at the way Dr. Seuss did things, I'm thinking that maybe it's not too late to try putting pencil to paper and drawing a few sketches.

Reminiscing

Cold, rainy days are good for reminiscing, right? As it happened, my dad was cleaning some stuff out, and he came across an old camera. He tossed it to me and I discovered some pictures of me back in my most awkward phase. In all my years, I avoided feeling out of place by thinking, for a time, that I'm a loner. My mom once told me that, like my oldest brother, I don't need friends to keep going, unlike some people. I let this define me for a time, and I soon found that loners have a hard time having close friends. Not because loners aren't likeable, but because loners isolate themselves, whether consciously or unconsciously. I've learned to be better at making friends, but I have a lil' subconscious worry wort in the back of my mind wondering whether I'll be making the close friends that I have desired.

Quality Time

In response to some advice, I'm gonna try doing some short daily blogs, then maybe a recap of the week like I've been doing (this part is for my own personal reference).

We were in a student leader meeting today, and, although the topic was failure, my mind drifted, 'cause I was alright on the subject. I started to think of what things are most memorable to me. See, my primary love language is Quality Time. This summer, I spent ten or fifteen minutes talking with Katie at a birthday party outside by a pool. This makes me think a lil' bit. The "Quality" in "Quality Time" makes a huge difference. Those ten or fifteen minutes meant more to me than many of the hours that we had hung out. The Time factor was filled by hours of study halls together, but they fade in comparison to the Quality.

Trust VS. Discouragement

Last Friday, I went to work at Canton, which was way more fun this time, 'cause there was work to be done (lifting furniture). It was also Halloween, and I had no costume besides three dots (I was gonna go as a 3-hole-punched London, like Jim in The Office). But there was a costume contest on The Mountain, so Zach Nickel insisted that I dress up. Never being one to turn down such opportunities, I stuck a feather duster in the back of my pants, drew whiskers on my face, and competed as a cat. Unfortunately, I lost to a hairy cross-dresser.

The next day, I went to the lady across from us and got an airbrush tattoo of "D Andrew" (for David Andrew Nemeth) on my chest.

It was a good birthday present for him, and his party that night was great. We watched Iron Man outside, and Trish, Bri, and I snuggled closely on the couch, for it was chilly outside, but this problem was solved when Mrs. Nemeth brought out hot chocolate for everyone. Incredible. That night, after the party, I came across the problem which I blogged about in my previous post. I was an hour and a half past the deadline for Early Decision to BU. I panicked and freaked out, too.
I went out to eat with Trish, Jordan, Hiro, and Pasha the next day, and Trish was in a more reserved mood, and, with me still being upset from the previous night's occurrences, so was I. This helped us to get along until I left for the Kenya meeting (which was just more fundraiser stuff). I went home after this to prep for small groups (God always tells me a whole bunch during that hour before small groups, so when I get there, I feel like changing what our planned discussion would be, but I have a partner, so that don't work). At small groups, we played human Foosball, which involves rolled-up newspapers. I'll take pictures of these things as soon as I get my camera back (Priscilla left it with a friend FOR WEEKS NOW). After all of this, I finally got to tell God how angry I was, and I let the sun go down on my anger towards Him (never, EVER smart to do) for letting me miss that deadline.

Monday, I was angry all day, and God's favor left me. This showed itself with teachers. Mr. Harber gave me an unofficial detention, so I had to stay in during lunch. This punishment was given because while everyone else was making jokes in class (and joking around was the general mood), I made some little joke, and for some reason, Mr. Harber thinks of me as "the feather that breaks the camel's back". I told Newman about my discouragement and anger at God, and he said that he was frustrated too, what with being medically disqualified from going to the air force academy due to braces. However, I knew all day that the only way to fix this with God was to go and sit with Him, talk to Him a lil', then just listen. I demanded that He show me where He was going with all the discouragement. I fell asleep a lil' during this time, and I don't know whether I was asleep or not when God basically told me (kinda angrily), "How dare you make these demands! You cannot comprehend what I am doing, so just trust in me." It was a good quiet time.

Tuesday, I was totally aiming to go to EMP, but then I definitely didn't. Our prayer meeting was good. Jordan also had discouragement, plus some weariness, so we all prayed over that junk. Also, we're having a retreat in January, 'cause One Voice was so effective that it inspired the administration and the prayer team. So yeah, be looking out for that.

THE ELECTION! I, like everyone on myspace, have to state my political opinion, right? Obama is alright. Not only is he alright, but he's also the man that God put in charge, so he's actually the best possible choice for president at the moment, right? Plus, he represents the small but important minority of half-African Americans whose fathers were born in Kenya. We need more representation! Anyway, I'm glad that my Dreams will come true and that Change will happen everywhere and that I won't have to worry about college, car, or house payments because Obama is gonna fix it all. FIX IT. Oh, and we are all Obamans, citizens of Obamadon, the land of Obamanation. And black people are also Obamans. My political opinions matter!

Wednesday, I had some more discouragement. I only cry three or four times a year, for serious situations (or if I'm with my brothers, 'cause they're gifted in that area). I cried that day. Mr. Harber had assigned homework, and, after working some on the board, he suddenly decided to take it up as a quiz grade. I went to his desk and asked him if he could go over one more problem, 'cause I didn't understand it. He said to the class and I, "Everyone sit down," quite seriously, seemingly expecting immediate results. However, the assignment was still in my notebook, and I had yet to tear it out. So I began to ask him if I could tear it out and turn it in before going to my desk, but I could not complete the sentence before he said, "London, come with me. You're getting a real detention." He told Mrs. Rapacz to write down "Disrespect" for the reason. I cried for two reasons (as a man, I have to justify if I can). Number one: just one detention means that I will have to take my Finals at the end of the year, with no chance to cop out of them. Number two: I was not being disrespectful in the least, and felt that it was an unjust punishment. I could not talk to him afterwards, 'cause the voice of wisdom told me that I would end up being disrespectful to him, and I didn't wanna do that. On the way home, I kept myself from getting mad at God. I didn't wanna do that again.

Thursday, I felt a lil' better, 'cause Mr. Harber was on a sailing vacation in the Virgin Islands for a week, and we had subs. Honestly, I wish Mr. Barlow was our normal Physics teacher. I understood what he talked about. This is a new thing. Mrs. Townsend is always hilarious, and she is gonna be giving us Algebra II refreshers. I talked to my One after school about reading the Bible, 'cause (as I told her), it's God's Words for you. It's almost like cheating to hear from God, 'cause all you have to do is read. Following this, I went to Prototype, which was at Caleb's new apartment (a few apartments over from where Preston used to stay). We talked about our Romans stuff, and he told me about the difference between quiet time, Word time, and prayer time. They aren't all the same thing, apparently. Then I drove over to CFNI and hung out with those college kids, found out that some of them hated me talking about Obama, found out that Trish's TVO had accidentally been turned off so we had no Office, then went home.

Today (being Friday), I went to the computer lab and stole my yearbook pictures so I could have them on my computer, then went to the McBrides' house for a prayer team get-together. Apparently, Michelle is annoyed by me at every second. We don't get to hang out much, so maybe I tend to act extremely casual around her. Anyway, it was a good ol' time, and I went home from there and kicked back and relaxed a lil' bit. I've gotta work on my senior thesis tomorrow, 'cause Mr. Beaumont wants a working outline of it and evidence of research by next week, and I have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to show for it.