Sunday, September 13
That morning one of the churches in town was doing a community service day, so I decided to pitch in. When I walked out of my dorm building, I realized it was raining...I probably should have gone back in to get a jacket, but I didn't. My group was picking up trash around the town for two hours. It was fun...I even found 60 cents worth of coins! Thankfully it wasn't raining very hard at all, just an off and on drizzle. My feet got really really wet though, and I didn't have anything to change in to.
After we got back to the church we had the church service (they had been hoping to have it and a picnic at the park, but didn't because of the rain). I really enjoyed the pastor's message and I may end up attending that church. I haven't really decided yet. Afterwards, we had a potluck.
I took a nap that afternon because I had gotten up early. When I got on Facebook after my nap, I saw that Nathan was on...so I asked if he had time to try out the web cameras Dad had bought, so we did! We had kind of tried it a couple times before I left, but it didn't work right. It did this time though! So I had my first web cam "call" home :D It was nice to be able to "see" everyone again, including Bluebonnet! I'm pretty sure the little guy recognized my voice (which he doesn't seem to do over the phone), because he got REALLY excited. Sadly, I had to get off after about 30 minutes to go to dinner :(
Monday, September 14
I don't think I was overly smart that day.....I had kind of had a scratchy throat when I went to bed Sun. night, and I still had it all day Monday. I think I was kind of coming down with something from having sat in wet clothes (especially my socks/shoes) for two hours in an air-conditioned building Sun. morning. I decided to go running anyways (mistake #1), but only went a short distance.
Had classes and such...tried to drink lots of water. That afternoon there was a blood drive on campus, so I decided to go donate blood (mistake #2!). I didn't have a fever or anything. I had donated last September and been just fine, so I figured it would go fine this time too...not. Just as the nurse came over to unhook me, I just about passed out. So they lay me down and put me feet up and all that...I felt better after a little while so they sat me up, but then I felt like I was losing it again, so they put me back down. The nurse said I was really pale, so they gave me something to eat and drink and all. It took about 20 minutes after I finished before they would let me leave...and I still felt a little lightheaded.
That night we had our "Women of Walker" night. A JBU alum who now lives and works in India came and talked to us. It was really neat to hear her story. She ended up marrying a man in India and now has a daughter. They work with orphans and have 8-10 staying with them at any one time. Later that evening we all got to meet our Passion group (small Bible studies on campus), so I was really excited about that! A couple of the girls I kind of know from the Dallas area, and one of the girls is in my Gateway class, so I think it will be a great group!
Tuesday, September 15
Had my first homework freak-out that day........in the morning I started typing up my notes from Saturday about the block for the essay that was due on Friday. Then, when we got to class (English Comp.), the teacher spent several minutes talking about what a tough grader he is and how we have to take time to revise and we'd better not wait until the day before it's due to write it and so on so forth....so I freaked out. Got back from class and spent most of the evening (from 4-11) writing the essay. I didn't get much of my other homework for the day done because of that...but at least I finished up the rough draft for the essay and that made me feel much better!
I still kind of had a scratchy throat for part of the day, but by the evening it was gone and I was pretty sure that I had escaped without getting completely sick.
Wednesday, September 16
I tried to go running that morning....but it did NOT work. Between being kind of sick and giving blood on Monday, I just didn't have enough energy! I went one mile, but was feeling like I was just going to go to sleep running...so decided to quit!
Classes went well. For Mass Media we started watching some of the first silent movies...it was pretty funny to see what they would pay to watch - movies of people jumping into the ocean, of people crossing a street in New York, etc. For News Writing, we wrote our first story in class and I really enjoyed it. Writing news stories seems kind of easy...you have all your facts and parts of the story on a sheet of paper and you just reorganize it to tell the story...I got an A on that assignment, but the professor was going around looking over our shoulder suggesting changes we should make...so it seems a little bit like cheating...but not really.
[Well, now I need to head for class.......I have my first test this morning. Thankfully it is my first class (Mass Media and Culture) so I can get it over with. The teacher has basically told us exactly what's going to be on the test about five times, so I feel decently good about it. My family is headed to see me...I am SO excited to see them!!!!!!!!!]
Friday, September 25, 2009
Thursday, September 17, 2009
catching up! (or trying to)
Sorry I haven't posted in a while...but today I had my homework done by about 1:00! I had English class this afternoon, and since then I've just been enjoying some free time! :D I'll try to keep from getting too long winded here.....
Friday, September 11
I definitely had a long day......
Had a GREAT run that morning, three miles in 29:43!!!
At 10:00 I went to a special class where we talked about our strengths. All the freshman here are required to take a strength finder test (very similar to a personality test). We had taken it before we went and the class was kind of explaining it...so it was interesting to hear more about that.
During my Honors Orientation class, the professor took us to State Line Road, the border between Arkansas and Oklahoma. We were supposed to interview people to find out more about Oklahoma. I saw a sign for a Farmer's Market, so my group headed down the road...but it was too far away...and a lot of the stores were empty...so we only ended up talking to one guy, who didn't think there was any real difference between OK and AR!
I worked that evening, but don't remember anything in particular about it...I think it was my first time to work in the dish room though.... :P College students are so messy and wasteful sometimes :P
Saturday, September 12
I was able to get up in a good time and over to the Honor's Center to do my laundry by 7:30! And I was still there until 10:30 waiting for my loads to get done.....ugh! I was able to get some various stuff done in the meantime though, so that was good.
When I got back to my room, Kaley (my room mate) and her friend were about to go downtown to do some shopping, so I went with them. I needed to go downtown in order to start working on an assignment that is due tomorrow (don't worry, I have finished it!!!! :D), and I was thinking I would have to ride my bike. But I was able to catch a ride with them instead. So I spent the next two hours describing all the buildings on one city block!!!! It was definitely a very interesting block...and I like how it worked out for my paper too :D
I finished just before one, but Kaley had already gone back to campus (she offered to take me back, but I wasn't quite ready to go yet). I wanted to get back for lunch by 1:30, so I walked the 1.25 miles really fast, and hurried up the 100 stairs on campus and reached the cafeteria by 1:10, quite pleased with myself........only to find out what I had forgotten...that the caf closes at 1:00 on Saturday :( The California Cafe (here on campus) wasn't even open...so I got some crackers from a vending machine and ate that and an apple I had in my room for lunch.
I did some homework, then headed to the caf for my four hour shift...they had me vaccuum the whole thing again, but this time it took me 1 hour and 15 minutes rather than 2 hours and 30 minutes! :D I worked at the salad bar during dinner...there wasn't much for us to do, so I ended up cutting honey dew melons for an hour. I think I did about 10 of them. As a result, I got a pretty bad blister right on the inside of my right index finger's middle joint. It hurt almost like a bruise on Monday, so I went to the school nurse and she gave me some interesting little squares of a gel type stuff that soothes the skin by giving it moisture to absorb...or something like that. It's fine now.
[I wrote all that yesterday........now I need to head for class.....At least I got caught up on a couple days! This evening I am leaving for Breakaway, a student weekend retreat for any JBU students. I think it will be a lot of fun! I won't get back till late Saturday night though....I will update again as soon as I can.]
Friday, September 11
I definitely had a long day......
Had a GREAT run that morning, three miles in 29:43!!!
At 10:00 I went to a special class where we talked about our strengths. All the freshman here are required to take a strength finder test (very similar to a personality test). We had taken it before we went and the class was kind of explaining it...so it was interesting to hear more about that.
During my Honors Orientation class, the professor took us to State Line Road, the border between Arkansas and Oklahoma. We were supposed to interview people to find out more about Oklahoma. I saw a sign for a Farmer's Market, so my group headed down the road...but it was too far away...and a lot of the stores were empty...so we only ended up talking to one guy, who didn't think there was any real difference between OK and AR!
I worked that evening, but don't remember anything in particular about it...I think it was my first time to work in the dish room though.... :P College students are so messy and wasteful sometimes :P
Saturday, September 12
I was able to get up in a good time and over to the Honor's Center to do my laundry by 7:30! And I was still there until 10:30 waiting for my loads to get done.....ugh! I was able to get some various stuff done in the meantime though, so that was good.
When I got back to my room, Kaley (my room mate) and her friend were about to go downtown to do some shopping, so I went with them. I needed to go downtown in order to start working on an assignment that is due tomorrow (don't worry, I have finished it!!!! :D), and I was thinking I would have to ride my bike. But I was able to catch a ride with them instead. So I spent the next two hours describing all the buildings on one city block!!!! It was definitely a very interesting block...and I like how it worked out for my paper too :D
I finished just before one, but Kaley had already gone back to campus (she offered to take me back, but I wasn't quite ready to go yet). I wanted to get back for lunch by 1:30, so I walked the 1.25 miles really fast, and hurried up the 100 stairs on campus and reached the cafeteria by 1:10, quite pleased with myself........only to find out what I had forgotten...that the caf closes at 1:00 on Saturday :( The California Cafe (here on campus) wasn't even open...so I got some crackers from a vending machine and ate that and an apple I had in my room for lunch.
I did some homework, then headed to the caf for my four hour shift...they had me vaccuum the whole thing again, but this time it took me 1 hour and 15 minutes rather than 2 hours and 30 minutes! :D I worked at the salad bar during dinner...there wasn't much for us to do, so I ended up cutting honey dew melons for an hour. I think I did about 10 of them. As a result, I got a pretty bad blister right on the inside of my right index finger's middle joint. It hurt almost like a bruise on Monday, so I went to the school nurse and she gave me some interesting little squares of a gel type stuff that soothes the skin by giving it moisture to absorb...or something like that. It's fine now.
[I wrote all that yesterday........now I need to head for class.....At least I got caught up on a couple days! This evening I am leaving for Breakaway, a student weekend retreat for any JBU students. I think it will be a lot of fun! I won't get back till late Saturday night though....I will update again as soon as I can.]
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Three busy days....
Tuesday, September 8
Thought I had to watch a video before MMC class on Wednesday...turns out I didn't, but at least I got it done that way. Entitled Empire of the Air, the two hour video outlined the history of radio especially in light of the lives of three of its main promoters. Right after I watched that was chapel.
This week was Spiritual Emphasis Week here, which meant we had an extra chapel Wednesday morning and the same speaker Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Her name is Margaret Fineberg, and she is a really good speaker. This week she talked about hearing God's voice. I enjoyed listening to what she had to say....now it's just the application part.......
The rest of the day was basically homework and my English Comp class. We didn't really get into any serious discussions that day. Lots of reading that afternoon/evening since I had spent most of my morning watching the video.
In the evening I had three back to back meetings for various CAUSE ministries...One is a Nature Society, which I think will be really fun! The other two were a community service group and a group to provide leaders for CEF Good News Clubs. I don't know which ones I'll really be active in...we'll just see how it all goes.
Wednesday, September 9
It rained off and on ALL day....definitely annoying and somewhat depressing. I ran in the morning. Three miles again, but in a MUCH better time! (30:10!!!!!) Because of the special chapel, all my classes were pushed an hour later than they normally are. So instead of finishing at four, I finished at five....I'm definitely glad that's not the case everyday!
My News Writing 1 professor returned the letters to the editor we had written. He didn't really really grade them...he just wanted to get a feeling for where we were at with our writing. He said mine was "pretty well written" even though he didn't agree with what I said.
After class I had 30 minutes before the BBQ back at the honors center. Sadly, I could basically only eat before I had to head to the cafeteria to work :P Working was a lot more fun this time though, for several reasons: 1) there were a lot of other student workers there too; 2) I was only working for two hours instead of five! 3) I was doing a great variety of things rather than spending most of the time on one job. One of the things I had to do was go get new ice cream tubs from the freezer room. This freezer room was FIFTEEN DEGREES!!!!!!!!!! I had to find four kinds of ice cream amidst dozens of tubs...all while trying not to touch the metal rack...I found and retrieved three without too much trouble, but the last one was back behind some others and really really hard to get out...it wasn't really as bad as I'm making it sound, but I was definitely ready to get OUT of there! When I came out into the warm steamy kitchen, my glasses clouded up really bad. I just took them off until they warmed up...next time I'm tempted to leave them outside the freezer room or something.......
I went with Shannon (my Ogroup leader) to the dodgeball tournament championship. Her boyfriend was on one of the teams, and his team won! :D That was fun....but I should have thought about doing homework before I went to see that....I wasn't late with anything, but it would have been better if I had worked on it some last night. I was tired though and didn't want to think about doing homework.
Thursday, September 10
This morning was kind of rough...it may have been partly due to a "hangover" from yesterday's cloudiness. I feel much better now. My RA Steffi is great...she could tell I wasn't really having a good day, so we ate lunch together and talked it over...basically it just registered in my brain today that my grandpa has cancer now....after my grandma died of it in July...and I was feeling helpless and not understanding why this was happening. I just needed someone to talk to about it. Before I did it was really weighing on my mind and I couldn't concentrate.
Classes and homework filled up the rest of the day...this evening we had a "hall dinner" but I could only stay for the first few minutes because then I had my first Worship Ministries Ensemble. It went ok...I don't really know what I'm doing yet though...it's a different style than I'm used to. Always before I have just read music when I play, but this time all I had was a chord chart...the teacher was very understanding that I was really new to all this. So hopefully it will get better...I just tried to do my best playing along by ear. She said I was doing great, but I don't think I really did all that well.
I finished up my homework for tomorrow...sometime tomorrow I need to start on my first real turn-in essay. It isn't due for at least another week, but I still want to get it going now. I work again tomorrow night...then Saturday will be a nice quite day off!!!!!
Thought I had to watch a video before MMC class on Wednesday...turns out I didn't, but at least I got it done that way. Entitled Empire of the Air, the two hour video outlined the history of radio especially in light of the lives of three of its main promoters. Right after I watched that was chapel.
This week was Spiritual Emphasis Week here, which meant we had an extra chapel Wednesday morning and the same speaker Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Her name is Margaret Fineberg, and she is a really good speaker. This week she talked about hearing God's voice. I enjoyed listening to what she had to say....now it's just the application part.......
The rest of the day was basically homework and my English Comp class. We didn't really get into any serious discussions that day. Lots of reading that afternoon/evening since I had spent most of my morning watching the video.
In the evening I had three back to back meetings for various CAUSE ministries...One is a Nature Society, which I think will be really fun! The other two were a community service group and a group to provide leaders for CEF Good News Clubs. I don't know which ones I'll really be active in...we'll just see how it all goes.
Wednesday, September 9
It rained off and on ALL day....definitely annoying and somewhat depressing. I ran in the morning. Three miles again, but in a MUCH better time! (30:10!!!!!) Because of the special chapel, all my classes were pushed an hour later than they normally are. So instead of finishing at four, I finished at five....I'm definitely glad that's not the case everyday!
My News Writing 1 professor returned the letters to the editor we had written. He didn't really really grade them...he just wanted to get a feeling for where we were at with our writing. He said mine was "pretty well written" even though he didn't agree with what I said.
After class I had 30 minutes before the BBQ back at the honors center. Sadly, I could basically only eat before I had to head to the cafeteria to work :P Working was a lot more fun this time though, for several reasons: 1) there were a lot of other student workers there too; 2) I was only working for two hours instead of five! 3) I was doing a great variety of things rather than spending most of the time on one job. One of the things I had to do was go get new ice cream tubs from the freezer room. This freezer room was FIFTEEN DEGREES!!!!!!!!!! I had to find four kinds of ice cream amidst dozens of tubs...all while trying not to touch the metal rack...I found and retrieved three without too much trouble, but the last one was back behind some others and really really hard to get out...it wasn't really as bad as I'm making it sound, but I was definitely ready to get OUT of there! When I came out into the warm steamy kitchen, my glasses clouded up really bad. I just took them off until they warmed up...next time I'm tempted to leave them outside the freezer room or something.......
I went with Shannon (my Ogroup leader) to the dodgeball tournament championship. Her boyfriend was on one of the teams, and his team won! :D That was fun....but I should have thought about doing homework before I went to see that....I wasn't late with anything, but it would have been better if I had worked on it some last night. I was tired though and didn't want to think about doing homework.
Thursday, September 10
This morning was kind of rough...it may have been partly due to a "hangover" from yesterday's cloudiness. I feel much better now. My RA Steffi is great...she could tell I wasn't really having a good day, so we ate lunch together and talked it over...basically it just registered in my brain today that my grandpa has cancer now....after my grandma died of it in July...and I was feeling helpless and not understanding why this was happening. I just needed someone to talk to about it. Before I did it was really weighing on my mind and I couldn't concentrate.
Classes and homework filled up the rest of the day...this evening we had a "hall dinner" but I could only stay for the first few minutes because then I had my first Worship Ministries Ensemble. It went ok...I don't really know what I'm doing yet though...it's a different style than I'm used to. Always before I have just read music when I play, but this time all I had was a chord chart...the teacher was very understanding that I was really new to all this. So hopefully it will get better...I just tried to do my best playing along by ear. She said I was doing great, but I don't think I really did all that well.
I finished up my homework for tomorrow...sometime tomorrow I need to start on my first real turn-in essay. It isn't due for at least another week, but I still want to get it going now. I work again tomorrow night...then Saturday will be a nice quite day off!!!!!
Monday, September 7, 2009
Labor Day - a quiet day here
I ended up staying up till midnight last night (mostly on my computer, but I did get some homework done too...Kaley and I also played a game of Phase 10!!!), so I "slept in" until 8:45 this morning. Ate breakfast right away because I was thinking the cafeteria closed at 9 (actually it closed at 9:30), then sat around and talked with some friends who had stayed here. I came back to my room and worked some on reading from the textbook for News Writing 1, then went running at about 11:30.
Had a pretty bad run...I went three miles, which is a new distance record for me (I can eat the chocolate bar a friend gave me at my going away party now!), but I had a much slower time than I wanted (32:15). I had a sore muscle on one leg (I guess from walking so much yesterday), my knee on my other leg was kind of bothering me (from my bicycle accident a year and a half ago or so), and then I got a stitch in my side at the beginning of the last mile that would not go away.......but I made it through all three miles.
I was thinking about going up to my room to take a shower, but I decided to go eat lunch first. After lunch I called Nathan for a little while, then showered. Finished the reading for NW, wrote my "reaction paper" to the video we had seen on Friday in MMC, and did some other stuff too.
After supper my RA, Steffi, got back from her trip home for Labor Day....lots of other girls on the hall are getting back too. It's nice to not be "alone" anymore!!!!! I also did some reading for the HO class....so now I have finished all the homework that I was supposed to do today that I am able to do today (the library is closed so I can't get the DVD I'm supposed to watch, and one of my teachers hasn't posted an article that we are supposed to read yet......)
So that was my quiet day at JBU!
Had a pretty bad run...I went three miles, which is a new distance record for me (I can eat the chocolate bar a friend gave me at my going away party now!), but I had a much slower time than I wanted (32:15). I had a sore muscle on one leg (I guess from walking so much yesterday), my knee on my other leg was kind of bothering me (from my bicycle accident a year and a half ago or so), and then I got a stitch in my side at the beginning of the last mile that would not go away.......but I made it through all three miles.
I was thinking about going up to my room to take a shower, but I decided to go eat lunch first. After lunch I called Nathan for a little while, then showered. Finished the reading for NW, wrote my "reaction paper" to the video we had seen on Friday in MMC, and did some other stuff too.
After supper my RA, Steffi, got back from her trip home for Labor Day....lots of other girls on the hall are getting back too. It's nice to not be "alone" anymore!!!!! I also did some reading for the HO class....so now I have finished all the homework that I was supposed to do today that I am able to do today (the library is closed so I can't get the DVD I'm supposed to watch, and one of my teachers hasn't posted an article that we are supposed to read yet......)
So that was my quiet day at JBU!
Sunday, September 6, 2009
the other half of last week...
Thursday, September 3
I did the tie-dye on the back of one of my free JBU athletics T-shirts...here's the front:
Afterwards I went with my suite mates and a bunch of other folks to play wallyball (again!). We played for about three hours I think....until 11 pm...I probably shouldn't have stayed up that late, but it sure was fun! And I did have all my homework done! :D
a small bat!!!!!!!!!! He was hanging there, sound asleep, right at my eye level! He looks bigger in this picture than he really was...he was only about two inches long. I actually went to see if he was still there this morning, and he was...so it's pretty weird. He had moved a little bit though.
Anyways, my classes went pretty well. MMC was fun because we watched a video about the history of print media. With OTS we started talking about Genesis...interesting timing in light of my English class discussion... One of the guys who is in the same OTS and the same English class as I am asked the OTS professor about Genesis 1 at the end of class, and the professor said we would talk about it next time....so I will be very very interested to see what he says. Ate lunch and called Dad during my break since I didn't have any homework I needed to do for Monday. We had a pretty good discussion in Honors' Orientation about learning and how to encourage deeper learning rather than just surface learning to spit back out on a test for a grade. News Writing was my last class before the long weekend...we had a spelling "test" of sorts...thankfully it won't actually affect our class grade. The professor had put 50 words on the sheet of paper, some of which were spelled right and some of which were wrong......mostly it was confusing words...the difference between an s and a c, or between having a double l/f/m/s/etc or a single one. We were supposed to change the ones that were wrong to the correct spelling and leave the ones alone that were ok. I got 32 of the 50 correct....and a lot of the ones that I messed up on I had an inkling about, but I ran out of time. No one in the class got over 40 right...the professor said he would actually give a cash prize if anyone did.
Once I finished with classes I went to my room and got ready for the freshman honors picnic!!! We were supposed to go camping for the night, but rain was forecasted and so we just went for the evening. We left JBU about 5:00 and drove the 8 miles or so to Natural Falls State Park. It was very very VERY pretty!
After supper a BUNCH of us played the "signs" game...we all sat in a circle and each person came up with a sign for themselves, then showed everyone else (mine was a "butterfly"). One person had to stand in the middle, close their eyes, and count for 10 seconds. While they had their eyes closed, the "sign" was being passed by one person doing their own sign, then someone else's. That person then did their own sign to except it, then another person's to pass it again. Once the person in the middle opened their eyes, they tried to guess who had the sign...so the big trick was to try to pass the sign to someone behind the back of the person in the middle...and to keep track of where the sign was without giving away its location! An interesting game....kind of challenging too, but it was fun.
We also sang some praise and worship songs at the picnic pavilion before heading back to campus. I wish we had done it around the campfire, but it was a very very small campfire and we probably had about 50 people there, so that wouldn't have been practical. We were back at JBU by 8:30. Then I went with my room and suite mates to watch a movie ("The Emperor's New Groove") here on campus...it's definitely a comedy and a cartoon...the funniest part is that even though it is supposedly set way back in time, they keep making references to modern times.
Once we got back, I finished hanging up pictures on my closet door!!!! Then we were all on our laptops in our room doing Facebook...I put up some new pictures and stuff and stayed up too late (midnight!)
Saturday, September 5
So I slept in until 8:30 the next morning, then went to the honors' center on my bike to do laundry. It's nearly half a mile from my dorm to the center, but it's worth it because it is FREE! Once I finished, I ate lunch, then got online for a while. I went to work at the Cafeteria for the first time at 3:00. I thought I was doing a four hour shift, but since it was late in their work week and my first time, I did a five hour shift instead. I vaccuumed the whole dining room (which I estimate might be about the same square footage as my house!!!!), which took about two and a half hours....then I helped at the salad bar during the dinner hour, then all the workers ate, and then we spent the next hour or so cleaning up. I was really really tired by the time I finished. Talked to Dad and Mom awhile, then chatted with a couple friends on facebook, then to bed!
Sunday, September 6
This morning I got up in plenty of time, ate breakfast, then went to Sunday School at Siloam Springs Bible Church. The teacher is actually a professor here at JBU (of math!). He was just filling in for a couple weeks, so he's doing a two part series on Jude. Today he mostly focused on the Old Testament allusions in Jude...it's amazing how many there are in such a little book!
I liked the sermon a little better today. His emphasis seemed a little more on the Scripture and not so much on the topic, so that was good. Afterwards, the man who drives the shuttle van for JBU students and his wife took the four of us who rode with them out to lunch. We went to a Chinese buffet that was really good!
Once I got back and changed clothes, I called Nathan to hear all about his weekend. He had been at the national CAP conference where he officially received his promotion to full colonel! He also served as an aide to the CAP national commander! While I was talking with him I went on a walk....we talked and I walked for an hour and a half :D I walked about 3.75 miles in that time...it was fun. While I was doing so I saw a robin all spread out on a little hill of hay sunning himself, AND what I think was a badger or woodchuck or something along those lines.....life is never boring here!
Since then I have been on my computer and had dinner! We don't have The Gathering tonight because it's a holiday weekend. I have some reading I should probably do for Tuesday...I meant to do it Friday, but I ran errands instead; I meant to do it Saturday, but I worked on my computer instead...so I think I'd better do it today!
Chapel that morning was very good. We had communion (they do it once a month at chapel on campus), so there wasn't really a speaker. The chaplain, Mr. Reed (who is actually a childhood friend of one of my mom's cousins!) did talk a little bit about why we have chapel in the middle of the day rather than first thing in the morning...to remind us that Jesus is to be ther center of all that we do. I definitely agree with him...it's hard sometimes because chapel makes me really feel closely connected to Christ or something, but then when I leave and go eat lunch and go about my day, I almost lose that feeling. It's kind of weird...and I definitely wish it didn't happen. Always remembering that Christ is to be at the center of my life....meditating on His Word throughout the day....praying without ceasing...I know these are the things I should be doing to have a deeper relationship with Him, to keep that chapel feeling of worship all the time, but it's difficult..... So please be praying for me!
English Composition that afternoon was a very interesting class.....we were discussing the Genesis Creation story, somewhat in comparison to the Koran's mentions of creation and the Native American creation stories. But we were mainly talking about Genesis. I don't remember if I already said this on here...but our textbook has lots of different articles/selections from western thinkers on various important topics. The editors wrote an introductory essay for each section, and that is what got our discussion going to start with. Gaps in the Genesis geneologies, where did Cain get his wife, the beginning of Genesis is poetry, God may have added His image to some common ancestor between us and a monkey (basically theistic evolution), we don't know how long the days in Genesis are, etc. etc. all came up, which I honestly found VERY annoying....... What about the crazy idea of accepting God's Word as authoritative and true from the very first verse????? I definitely added my two cents worth, several times! I always tried to hear the other people out first though, and I tried to be nice about giving the explanations upholding the Bible. So on Tuesday we will be adding Paley's argument for design and some of Darwin's writing to the mix, and the discussion should be just as interesting, if not even more so. If you don't mind praying that I would behave myself decently towards these, my brothers and sisters in Christ, that would probably be a really good idea.........
I'm not sure what I did between class and dinner...after dinner I went to the cathedral for a short meeting with the teacher and other members of the Worship Ministries Ensemble. We just went over what the expectations and schedule are for the semester. I was glad it was short that night, because I wanted to get to Walker's Float or Dye!
The Float or Dye was a dorm activity that we had out on the Quad. It consisted of enjoying rootbeer floats and tie-dying shirts! I kind of like how mine turned out. The design part was great, but I should have left it in the dye a lot longer, because the colors aren't very dark :/
I did the tie-dye on the back of one of my free JBU athletics T-shirts...here's the front: Afterwards I went with my suite mates and a bunch of other folks to play wallyball (again!). We played for about three hours I think....until 11 pm...I probably shouldn't have stayed up that late, but it sure was fun! And I did have all my homework done! :DFriday, September 4
I got up early....at 6am! (You'll see why in a bit....) Went running at the inside track, 2.8 miles in 27:42. I stayed under my 10 minute mile pace the whole time!!!!!!!!! So it was GREAT! :D Took a quick shower and ate breakfast, then met up with Shannon (my O-group leader) at 8:30 so that she could take me to run some errands. I finally opened up a bank account here in town (I've been needing to do that ever since I got here!), then we went looking for a thrift store so that I could get some black pants to wear to work (I am doing workstudy in the cafeteria this year...more on that later...). The first two we found didn't open until 10, and she had to be at her workstudy job by then...we went into the Dollar General and I bought a pair of black exercise pants just in case I couldn't find anything else. We asked about a thrift store, and the lady told us about the Manna Store. It's a really nice thrift store that had evidently just moved to a new location. So we went there and I found two pair of terrific black slacks that fit me really well! They were marked at $3 each, but one pair was half price!!! So that was really nice! :D
On my way to classes I stopped by the cafeteria to pick up my sack lunch since it was Friday and I was going to spend my hour break down at the honor's center. As I was going into the building where my first class was, I saw something weird on the wall...it almost looked like a little turtle! On closer examination it turned out not to be a turtle, but rather.......
a small bat!!!!!!!!!! He was hanging there, sound asleep, right at my eye level! He looks bigger in this picture than he really was...he was only about two inches long. I actually went to see if he was still there this morning, and he was...so it's pretty weird. He had moved a little bit though.Anyways, my classes went pretty well. MMC was fun because we watched a video about the history of print media. With OTS we started talking about Genesis...interesting timing in light of my English class discussion... One of the guys who is in the same OTS and the same English class as I am asked the OTS professor about Genesis 1 at the end of class, and the professor said we would talk about it next time....so I will be very very interested to see what he says. Ate lunch and called Dad during my break since I didn't have any homework I needed to do for Monday. We had a pretty good discussion in Honors' Orientation about learning and how to encourage deeper learning rather than just surface learning to spit back out on a test for a grade. News Writing was my last class before the long weekend...we had a spelling "test" of sorts...thankfully it won't actually affect our class grade. The professor had put 50 words on the sheet of paper, some of which were spelled right and some of which were wrong......mostly it was confusing words...the difference between an s and a c, or between having a double l/f/m/s/etc or a single one. We were supposed to change the ones that were wrong to the correct spelling and leave the ones alone that were ok. I got 32 of the 50 correct....and a lot of the ones that I messed up on I had an inkling about, but I ran out of time. No one in the class got over 40 right...the professor said he would actually give a cash prize if anyone did.
Once I finished with classes I went to my room and got ready for the freshman honors picnic!!! We were supposed to go camping for the night, but rain was forecasted and so we just went for the evening. We left JBU about 5:00 and drove the 8 miles or so to Natural Falls State Park. It was very very VERY pretty!
After supper a BUNCH of us played the "signs" game...we all sat in a circle and each person came up with a sign for themselves, then showed everyone else (mine was a "butterfly"). One person had to stand in the middle, close their eyes, and count for 10 seconds. While they had their eyes closed, the "sign" was being passed by one person doing their own sign, then someone else's. That person then did their own sign to except it, then another person's to pass it again. Once the person in the middle opened their eyes, they tried to guess who had the sign...so the big trick was to try to pass the sign to someone behind the back of the person in the middle...and to keep track of where the sign was without giving away its location! An interesting game....kind of challenging too, but it was fun.We also sang some praise and worship songs at the picnic pavilion before heading back to campus. I wish we had done it around the campfire, but it was a very very small campfire and we probably had about 50 people there, so that wouldn't have been practical. We were back at JBU by 8:30. Then I went with my room and suite mates to watch a movie ("The Emperor's New Groove") here on campus...it's definitely a comedy and a cartoon...the funniest part is that even though it is supposedly set way back in time, they keep making references to modern times.
Once we got back, I finished hanging up pictures on my closet door!!!! Then we were all on our laptops in our room doing Facebook...I put up some new pictures and stuff and stayed up too late (midnight!)
Saturday, September 5
So I slept in until 8:30 the next morning, then went to the honors' center on my bike to do laundry. It's nearly half a mile from my dorm to the center, but it's worth it because it is FREE! Once I finished, I ate lunch, then got online for a while. I went to work at the Cafeteria for the first time at 3:00. I thought I was doing a four hour shift, but since it was late in their work week and my first time, I did a five hour shift instead. I vaccuumed the whole dining room (which I estimate might be about the same square footage as my house!!!!), which took about two and a half hours....then I helped at the salad bar during the dinner hour, then all the workers ate, and then we spent the next hour or so cleaning up. I was really really tired by the time I finished. Talked to Dad and Mom awhile, then chatted with a couple friends on facebook, then to bed!
Sunday, September 6
This morning I got up in plenty of time, ate breakfast, then went to Sunday School at Siloam Springs Bible Church. The teacher is actually a professor here at JBU (of math!). He was just filling in for a couple weeks, so he's doing a two part series on Jude. Today he mostly focused on the Old Testament allusions in Jude...it's amazing how many there are in such a little book!
I liked the sermon a little better today. His emphasis seemed a little more on the Scripture and not so much on the topic, so that was good. Afterwards, the man who drives the shuttle van for JBU students and his wife took the four of us who rode with them out to lunch. We went to a Chinese buffet that was really good!
Once I got back and changed clothes, I called Nathan to hear all about his weekend. He had been at the national CAP conference where he officially received his promotion to full colonel! He also served as an aide to the CAP national commander! While I was talking with him I went on a walk....we talked and I walked for an hour and a half :D I walked about 3.75 miles in that time...it was fun. While I was doing so I saw a robin all spread out on a little hill of hay sunning himself, AND what I think was a badger or woodchuck or something along those lines.....life is never boring here!
Since then I have been on my computer and had dinner! We don't have The Gathering tonight because it's a holiday weekend. I have some reading I should probably do for Tuesday...I meant to do it Friday, but I ran errands instead; I meant to do it Saturday, but I worked on my computer instead...so I think I'd better do it today!
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
The first half of this week........
[I started this Wednesday evening in the computer lab but am finishing it up this morning]
Sunday, August 30
Sunday morning I did go to Siloam Springs Bible Church...it actually made me the most homesick I have been since getting here. I and a couple other guys rode in the van that they had come to JBU to pick up students, but I sat by myself in the service. Seeing all the little kids made me want to give them a big hug...which would make more sense if I had little siblings, but I don't.
I liked the service all right...I really can't say that I liked the preacher though, which is a pretty big part of why I would go to church. Basically, he was even more topical and less expository than the one at Fellowship from last week. There just really isn't any place quite like CBC...that's for sure!
Afterward they had a potluck lunch. I was feeling kind of lonely (even though several people in the church were trying to make me feel included) but then I saw a girl who goes to JBU who I kind of know because she is also from the Dallas area. So I sat at a table with about eight other JBU freshman. Looking back on it, I wish I had sat with some other people from the church...but at that moment I wanted the comfort of something that was at least a little bit familiar....... As a side note, it is amazing how many students here have international experience! At our table of eight, two were MKs! (not including me)
I don't remember right now what I did Sunday afternoon...I am in the computer lab because my laptop wasn't connecting to the internet right...I'll have to come back and fill this in later.
[Fill in time! Sunday afternoon I spent a WHILE writing one of the three 1000 word essays for a scholarship I am going to be entering. Then I was just in my room wondering what to do next and feeling a little bummed out. Then our suite mates came over and asked Kaley and I if we wanted to play WallyBall. I was like YES!!!! So we went and played for two hours or so :D. I wasn't very good, but it sure was fun!
Then I went to dinner and ended up sitting with three other girls I kind of know, and after we finished eating we just sat there and talked for an hour and a half!!! :D Then I went and saw their rooms, they came and saw mine, and I was feeling in a much better mood!
At 9 we had The Gathering (the on campus, student led Sunday night service). I really enjoyed the speaker. (They always have a student speaker at the Gathering) He talked about Lazarus and how Jesus didn't fulfill Martha and Mary's expectations....He loved Lazarus, but He was acting in a way which brought glory to God, the application being that we shouldn't expect God to do things just how we think He should do them, but that we should know that He has it all planned out.
Afterward we had what they call CAUSE and Effect. JBU has lots of different ministries for students to participate in, which are called CAUSE ministries (don't ask me what it stands for...I don't remember!) Anyways, at C&E each ministry has a table and people who are interested come and sign up. I think I put my name down for four or five...but that doesn't mean I am going to be doing them all this semester...I know I'm not, but this way I will be put on their email lists to get more information. So this week I am attending meetings for some of the ones I signed up for.]
Monday, August 31
Monday = start of classes again! I went running Monday morning, and was VERY happy with myself for adding an extra lap (a tenth of a mile) and only adding one second of time to my run last Friday! Classes went pretty well. OTS was about historical context. The professor talked about various aspects in which we should note differences between our own times and the times of the Bible. We had our first quiz in the Gateway class, and I got four out of five questions right (and the one I missed I was strongly debating with myself...but obviously not well enough).
I'm going to have to finish this later...I have a meeting at nine and I can't really remember what happened when! So long for now!
[Thursday morning continuation]
On Monday I mostly had classes and did homework...I wrote the three paragraph "writing sample" for my English class...it was supposed to be on a good book that we had read, so I did it about Lewis' That Hideous Strength. I also wrote a "Letter to the Editor" about the health care reform government option for my first News Writing 1 assignment. I will be very interested to see what my professor says about that......... My MMC professor said yesterday that she will never grade us based on our opinion, but my journalism professor hasn't said that....
For dinner, almost all the freshman on my hall and our RA (Resident Assistant) Steffi went to the cafeteria and ate together. That was fun. After doing some reading for English, I went and played WallyBall again! And I did better that time! :D
Tuesday, September 1
Well, I found out Tuesday morning that I hadn't done all my reading for English...the professor had just put the first page number on the syllabus, but he wanted us to read the whole sections! So.....I had some catch up work to do Tuesday, which got me behind and I didn't finish my homework for the day until 10:45 that night :(
Chapel that morning was really good. Rod Reed, the college chaplain, talked about John 17, and how the focus of the passage is not really on Jesus sending us out or loving us. Rather, it is about how the Father loves Jesus, and how He is really just passing that love on to us. Mr. Reed said it should be like a pivot relationship...we should receive love from God, then turn and pass it on to others. We have to receive it before we can pass it on.
During lunch I sat with three girls from my MMC/NW1 classes. Afterward is when I had to spend the extra time I hadn't planned on for English. I really like the book we are using for English. It is called "Ideas in Conflict: Writing about the Great Issues of Civilization." Basically, the editors have chosen several really important issues (Faith & Inquiry; Male & Female; Divine Goodness & the Problem of Evil, etc.) and provided pertinent passages from famous/influential philosophers on several sides of each issue. In a sense, it's almost like a World View book :D So at least it's very interesting reading...not boring at all! I don't agree with the editors though.........(they have an essay to start off each section and to introduce each passage).
Once I finished that I started reading the next chapter for my MMC class. I was too tired though, so I set my phone alarm and just put my head down on my desk and rested for a little while.....my first college "nap" ;-) Oh, by the way, I won second place in the Freshman Summer Reading Program Essay Contest here at JBU!!! Which means I got a $50 gift card to the bookstore! YAY!!! :D I also did make it onto the Worship Ministries Ensemble, so that's exciting too!
English class went pretty well...we were talking about how to analyze reading and also how to develop crediblity as an author. After class I finished up all my reading for Wednesday.
Wednesday, September 2
When I got up Wednesday morning and went to the reading room, I was surprised at how dark it was....all the other mornings at around 7 the sun has already cleared the horizon and it is pretty light! Then I figured out it was because it was really overcast...not long after that it started raining. So it was cold, wet, and cloudy all morning. I was glad to be running on the inside track that morning! My farthest distance yet - 2.7 miles, and I actually came in under my goal of ten minute-miles! So I was very happy with my run once again :D
Had a peach smoothie from the little restaurant on campus that was delicious! I actually wore pants and a sweatshirt because it was cold outside...
Classes went okay. I find OTS fascinating...my professor is definitely an interesting guy. His style is funny...I'm tempted to take an audio recording of him sometime because of how he talks...and it's not funny in a bad way at all. I enjoy it a lot. It's just unique!
Brooke, the RD (Resident Director) for Walker had asked if we could have lunch together...so we did. It was fun talking with her. We sat over by the windows and as we were finishing a beautiful Gold Finch flew over and landed in the tree outside the window :D They are all still in their summer plummage, so they're just gorgeous!
Next I had my Gateway class...we had our second quiz (this one was about Mere Christianity Book 1) and I got them all right! We also signed up for the group projects...each group is going to present one of the seven chronicles to the rest of the class. I signed up for Prince Caspian because Voyage of the Dawn Treader was already full. :( I think it will be very interesting...we'll see how it goes. My group's presentation is due Novemeber 4th. BTW...my professor is doing them in the "wrong" order....grr...
Last class of the day was News Writing...he had us do a news quiz and I did not do well on it....it's my own fault because I tried waiting until the last minute to read the papers in the library and I ran out of time. I had tried several times on Tuesday, but they were all checked out every time I tried...then I finally got them Thursday morning, but I had to go to class before I finished them all. (We have to read the front page of three different papers: the AR state paper, the county paper, and the Siloam Springs paper...we may either have a quiz on Wednesday [in which case we have to read Sunday-Tuesday] or we may have one Friday [in which case we read Wednesday and Thursday]). So next time I will NOT try to read the papers all at once!
Yesterday evening I did the readings for today's English class...I also posted for my HO class about the article we had read. By 8:30 I was really tired...I had a meeting at 9 to go to for one of the CAUSE meetings, but after that I basically headed straight to bed. Got to bed by about 10 and woke up at seven, still tired :(
Now I need to get started on my homework for tomorrow...I'm glad we have Monday off...it will be nice to have a tiny break.
Sunday, August 30
Sunday morning I did go to Siloam Springs Bible Church...it actually made me the most homesick I have been since getting here. I and a couple other guys rode in the van that they had come to JBU to pick up students, but I sat by myself in the service. Seeing all the little kids made me want to give them a big hug...which would make more sense if I had little siblings, but I don't.
I liked the service all right...I really can't say that I liked the preacher though, which is a pretty big part of why I would go to church. Basically, he was even more topical and less expository than the one at Fellowship from last week. There just really isn't any place quite like CBC...that's for sure!
Afterward they had a potluck lunch. I was feeling kind of lonely (even though several people in the church were trying to make me feel included) but then I saw a girl who goes to JBU who I kind of know because she is also from the Dallas area. So I sat at a table with about eight other JBU freshman. Looking back on it, I wish I had sat with some other people from the church...but at that moment I wanted the comfort of something that was at least a little bit familiar....... As a side note, it is amazing how many students here have international experience! At our table of eight, two were MKs! (not including me)
I don't remember right now what I did Sunday afternoon...I am in the computer lab because my laptop wasn't connecting to the internet right...I'll have to come back and fill this in later.
[Fill in time! Sunday afternoon I spent a WHILE writing one of the three 1000 word essays for a scholarship I am going to be entering. Then I was just in my room wondering what to do next and feeling a little bummed out. Then our suite mates came over and asked Kaley and I if we wanted to play WallyBall. I was like YES!!!! So we went and played for two hours or so :D. I wasn't very good, but it sure was fun!
Then I went to dinner and ended up sitting with three other girls I kind of know, and after we finished eating we just sat there and talked for an hour and a half!!! :D Then I went and saw their rooms, they came and saw mine, and I was feeling in a much better mood!
At 9 we had The Gathering (the on campus, student led Sunday night service). I really enjoyed the speaker. (They always have a student speaker at the Gathering) He talked about Lazarus and how Jesus didn't fulfill Martha and Mary's expectations....He loved Lazarus, but He was acting in a way which brought glory to God, the application being that we shouldn't expect God to do things just how we think He should do them, but that we should know that He has it all planned out.
Afterward we had what they call CAUSE and Effect. JBU has lots of different ministries for students to participate in, which are called CAUSE ministries (don't ask me what it stands for...I don't remember!) Anyways, at C&E each ministry has a table and people who are interested come and sign up. I think I put my name down for four or five...but that doesn't mean I am going to be doing them all this semester...I know I'm not, but this way I will be put on their email lists to get more information. So this week I am attending meetings for some of the ones I signed up for.]
Monday, August 31
Monday = start of classes again! I went running Monday morning, and was VERY happy with myself for adding an extra lap (a tenth of a mile) and only adding one second of time to my run last Friday! Classes went pretty well. OTS was about historical context. The professor talked about various aspects in which we should note differences between our own times and the times of the Bible. We had our first quiz in the Gateway class, and I got four out of five questions right (and the one I missed I was strongly debating with myself...but obviously not well enough).
I'm going to have to finish this later...I have a meeting at nine and I can't really remember what happened when! So long for now!
[Thursday morning continuation]
On Monday I mostly had classes and did homework...I wrote the three paragraph "writing sample" for my English class...it was supposed to be on a good book that we had read, so I did it about Lewis' That Hideous Strength. I also wrote a "Letter to the Editor" about the health care reform government option for my first News Writing 1 assignment. I will be very interested to see what my professor says about that......... My MMC professor said yesterday that she will never grade us based on our opinion, but my journalism professor hasn't said that....
For dinner, almost all the freshman on my hall and our RA (Resident Assistant) Steffi went to the cafeteria and ate together. That was fun. After doing some reading for English, I went and played WallyBall again! And I did better that time! :D
Tuesday, September 1
Well, I found out Tuesday morning that I hadn't done all my reading for English...the professor had just put the first page number on the syllabus, but he wanted us to read the whole sections! So.....I had some catch up work to do Tuesday, which got me behind and I didn't finish my homework for the day until 10:45 that night :(
Chapel that morning was really good. Rod Reed, the college chaplain, talked about John 17, and how the focus of the passage is not really on Jesus sending us out or loving us. Rather, it is about how the Father loves Jesus, and how He is really just passing that love on to us. Mr. Reed said it should be like a pivot relationship...we should receive love from God, then turn and pass it on to others. We have to receive it before we can pass it on.
During lunch I sat with three girls from my MMC/NW1 classes. Afterward is when I had to spend the extra time I hadn't planned on for English. I really like the book we are using for English. It is called "Ideas in Conflict: Writing about the Great Issues of Civilization." Basically, the editors have chosen several really important issues (Faith & Inquiry; Male & Female; Divine Goodness & the Problem of Evil, etc.) and provided pertinent passages from famous/influential philosophers on several sides of each issue. In a sense, it's almost like a World View book :D So at least it's very interesting reading...not boring at all! I don't agree with the editors though.........(they have an essay to start off each section and to introduce each passage).
Once I finished that I started reading the next chapter for my MMC class. I was too tired though, so I set my phone alarm and just put my head down on my desk and rested for a little while.....my first college "nap" ;-) Oh, by the way, I won second place in the Freshman Summer Reading Program Essay Contest here at JBU!!! Which means I got a $50 gift card to the bookstore! YAY!!! :D I also did make it onto the Worship Ministries Ensemble, so that's exciting too!
English class went pretty well...we were talking about how to analyze reading and also how to develop crediblity as an author. After class I finished up all my reading for Wednesday.
Wednesday, September 2
When I got up Wednesday morning and went to the reading room, I was surprised at how dark it was....all the other mornings at around 7 the sun has already cleared the horizon and it is pretty light! Then I figured out it was because it was really overcast...not long after that it started raining. So it was cold, wet, and cloudy all morning. I was glad to be running on the inside track that morning! My farthest distance yet - 2.7 miles, and I actually came in under my goal of ten minute-miles! So I was very happy with my run once again :D
Had a peach smoothie from the little restaurant on campus that was delicious! I actually wore pants and a sweatshirt because it was cold outside...
Classes went okay. I find OTS fascinating...my professor is definitely an interesting guy. His style is funny...I'm tempted to take an audio recording of him sometime because of how he talks...and it's not funny in a bad way at all. I enjoy it a lot. It's just unique!
Brooke, the RD (Resident Director) for Walker had asked if we could have lunch together...so we did. It was fun talking with her. We sat over by the windows and as we were finishing a beautiful Gold Finch flew over and landed in the tree outside the window :D They are all still in their summer plummage, so they're just gorgeous!
Next I had my Gateway class...we had our second quiz (this one was about Mere Christianity Book 1) and I got them all right! We also signed up for the group projects...each group is going to present one of the seven chronicles to the rest of the class. I signed up for Prince Caspian because Voyage of the Dawn Treader was already full. :( I think it will be very interesting...we'll see how it goes. My group's presentation is due Novemeber 4th. BTW...my professor is doing them in the "wrong" order....grr...
Last class of the day was News Writing...he had us do a news quiz and I did not do well on it....it's my own fault because I tried waiting until the last minute to read the papers in the library and I ran out of time. I had tried several times on Tuesday, but they were all checked out every time I tried...then I finally got them Thursday morning, but I had to go to class before I finished them all. (We have to read the front page of three different papers: the AR state paper, the county paper, and the Siloam Springs paper...we may either have a quiz on Wednesday [in which case we have to read Sunday-Tuesday] or we may have one Friday [in which case we read Wednesday and Thursday]). So next time I will NOT try to read the papers all at once!
Yesterday evening I did the readings for today's English class...I also posted for my HO class about the article we had read. By 8:30 I was really tired...I had a meeting at 9 to go to for one of the CAUSE meetings, but after that I basically headed straight to bed. Got to bed by about 10 and woke up at seven, still tired :(
Now I need to get started on my homework for tomorrow...I'm glad we have Monday off...it will be nice to have a tiny break.
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