Perhaps a Slight Change

I just saw that the program Reason was running on my computer. I sure didn't start it up. Evidence of ghosts? Or that people have stopped asking my permission to use my computer? Hmmm....

There was an epidemic spreading through my friends in the form of a disease. I feel like the epidemic has since been seized, but for a while there, I thought we had the next plague on our hands. This disease was staph infection. OH MY.

I'm here to clear something up. There are whispers that this epidemic started with me. I'm only going to say this once. It did not start with me. I am not a crook. Yes, I scraped my knee at water wars and bled a little bit, but I did not contract the infection until almost TWO WEEKS after that event. In fact, I was one of the last people to get it. So I was not the origin of everyone's discomfort. Ahh, it feels so good to finally publicly say that.

For your enjoyment, I have some incredibly disgusting pictures of the infection and bandage while they were really bad.

Ok so on a different note, I believe God is asking me to give something up that will be difficult to do. It's video games. I'm not sure if I can do it. They're so fun. This is the second big thing that he has asked/helped me give up. If I can do it. So I guess if you're reading this pray for me.

I kinda feel like God is clearing out a lot of junk in my attic to make room for something. I hope when he shows me what that is I will be ready for it, and that I'll accept it. Because my initial reaction is to avoid anything that throws off my routine. I hate that about myself. But I feel like my foundations are being shaken, and a lot of the bad things about me are gonna crumble and fall off eventually, and what's left (God and me, the way he intended me to be) will finally shine.

Also, I'm considering changing my major. (!!) Perhaps. That would be crazy and stupid. More on that later.

Welcome Back, Slugger.

First of all,

I'd like to apologize to all of you for not writing anything all summer. I know you were just begging to hear about what's been going on in my life, and how my bonsai tree is doing.

Ok, so I don't have a bonsai tree.

But I thought that now might be a good time to start up again because a lot of things have changed recently and I actually have something interesting to write about. For starters, I'll let you guys in on how my summer went.

Past

AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS SUMMER, oh gosh I hit caps lock! At the beginning of this summer, I moved into the ranch. If any of you don't know what that is, it's a house that has contained guys from Icthus since 1987. Icthus is the christian organization I'm involved with on campus. Basically the ranch is a house where the people living inside love with their hospitality. Anyone is welcome to just come and take a load off at anytime, and the guys living there are usually pretty involved with Icthus. Instead of explaining to you what my summer consisted of, I'm just gonna spit random words at you in no order and hope you get what I'm trying to say.

Work

Float trip

D&D

Joel

Movies

Dexter

Sasha:

Present

This is where we get to the good stuff. Currently, I'm doing really well. It might be because I've been put into a leadership position in a christian organization, but recently God has just knocked down the doors I put up and marched right in. My passion for Him is just exploding right now, and is growing exponentially. That passion might what's be attributing to my newfound sense of responsibility and generally more positive outlook on life...or perhaps the responsibility is stemming from the desire to survive this new workload.

Let me tell you about what my schedule is like this fall. I'm a ranch boy, which means I have to set up and take down every thursday at club, and clean my house every friday for FNP. I'm also a bible study leader on tuesday nights, and we have a bible study leader's meeting every Monday night. Also, I'm going to school full time, working 28 hours a week, and trying to have a social life which is divided into the categories of friends and family. My only free nights are Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays--sort of.

Honestly, that's ok, because I don't necessarily like who I am when I have a lot of time to myself. Just pray for me if you think about it so I don't get swallowed up and buried by my busy schedule.

What I'm looking forward to

As mentioned in the last post, I am going to explain what I'm looking forward to every once in a while and explain why.

HALO 3: ODST

So, this might turn people that don't play video games off, but for those of you that play Halo, you know how exciting this is. There is an expansion pack coming out for one of the best designed games ever made, Halo 3, where you play as a member of an elite team of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers instead of the master chief. What this means is that instead of depending on the fact that you are playing as a super-human who can do anything like in Halo 3, you are playing as a character who must rely more on team-based strategy and high tech gear and weaponry to defeat the enemy. Should add a dynamic twist to the feeling of a Halo game.

Plus, the new mode Firefight promises to add hours of addicting gameplay. In this mode, you fight wave after wave of enemies in an arena, similar to gametypes like Nazi Zombies in Call of Duty or Horde mode in Gears of War 2. What makes Firefight interesting is that randomly skulls will turn on (skulls being gameplay modifiers which make the game harder. For example enemies become tougher or throw tons of grenades) and with skulls come score multipliers. So, it's more difficult, but you're scoring way more points. I know this went right over some of your heads, but for those of us that know what I'm talking about, it sounds really fun. Right? Right?

BIBLE STUDY

Bible study this semester is gonna rule. Tuesday nights, 8:45, in the PSU. We're going through the book of Romans this semester. Basically, Romans is all of the gospels condensed, retold, and expanded upon by Paul. Paul...now that guy was brave. He wrote this letter to the biggest empire in the world at that time, and he doesn't exactly tiptoe around the issues either.

So besides what book we're focusing on, its just going to be awesome. I'm leading a group with Drew Lauderdale and Aaron Hadlow if that says anything. But seriously, all the groups have such a unique blend of people...I don't even know what to say. Its gonna be great. We as leaders are really committing to know our stuff each week, because there are some pretty intense things said in Romans. Should make for some good conversations and a lot of spiritual growth. So come on down to Icthus Bible Study and discuss with your buds.

That's all for now, but until next time, stay classy San Diego.

(dictated but not read)

What I'm looking forward to

I've decided that I'm going to try to update my blog every other day just because that was my plan from the beginning anyway. Plus I think it's really fun. Why don't I do this more often? Rhetorical.

So I'm going to begin with a little thing I like to call "what I'm looking forward to," a feature where I just tell you about some things I'm looking forward to, explain why, and tell you why you should look forward to them as well.

Before we move on, I would like to point out that my brother just asked me this question: "Michael, doth you do gay kids?"

Let's roll...

The Sims 3

The Sims 3 is the third major release in the celebrated "The Sims" franchise, and promises to be on a much grander scale.

If any of you have ever played any of the Sims games, you know how fun they can be. It is basically a people simulator, but with a little less realism and a little more fun factor. You can design what your sims look like along with their houses, raise a family, move up in their careers, or let them drown in the pool.

The second installment included a fully 3D camera, a new goal system, and loads of new content. But you were still confined to taking care of the mundane tasks like showering, making food, and pooping, and also could only play one house at a time in the town.

The Sims 3 stands out because, as their developer says, "they have moved past peeing." The Sims now take care of their own mundane grooming and eating tasks so you can move to focusing more on the fun aspects of the game. Like now, you can fully customize your sims, including how fat they are and clothing designs and patterns. Plus the dynamic personality system is a sure fire way to take customization to a whole new level.

What really excites me is that you can now leave your house and stroll (or drive) down the street to the town and interact with everyone else, seamlessly without loading screens. This is such a big deal. It's always been so annoying to call a cab and go downtown and wait and wait in the loading screen. As a whole, I'm so excited. It comes out June 4.

It's All Crazy! It's All False! It's All a Dream! It's Alright by Mewithoutyou

If anyone has listened to mewithoutyou, you know how different they are. They are a band that redefines what a "popular band" should sound like. For mewithoutyou, it's all about passion. Vocalist Aaron Weiss's lyrics are the backbone of the band, and his delivery keeps fans raving and coming back for more. The way he conveys his words to the audience seem to be the only way those words should ever be said, and it is absolutely beautiful. Sometimes they are sung, other times they are yelled, and even sometimes they are simply spoken.

For this 4th major album from the band, they went in a different direction than previous albums, not necessarily sticking to their Tooth&Nail psuedo-hardcore genre, but to more of an almost folk music celebration. The album hits stores and online retailers May 19th, and you can preview a couple of the new album's songs on their myspace.

That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis

This is the third book in the Space Trilogy by author C.S. Lewis. Written two decades before man ever reached space, C.S. Lewis has a brilliant and imaginative depiction of space travel. The story follows Dr. Ransom, a philologist at a university who in the first book, Out of the Silent Planet, is captured and taken to Mars against his will by former colleagues. He soon discovers other beings that have been created by God and learns their language, Old Solar, which is the language spoken by all other rational beings in space, (or "Deep Heaven") and soon learns that humans were not the first (or last) beings created by God and that Earth is the only planet that has ever sinned against God, which is why none of us speak Old Solar. In the second book, Perelandra, Ransom is sent to Venus to stop its version of our Eve from giving into temptation, and eventually helps her and Adam rise to perfection. He learns at the end of this story of the rest of the universe's "angels" plan to rescue earth with the help from God.

I can imagine that that is what this third book is about, but I can never be sure. Apparently, it is supposed to be extremely philosophical, and that excites me beyond belief because that is where the author shines. Also, don't worry if you still want to read these books, for I haven't spoiled anything because C.S. Lewis' writing style is incomparable in its beauty, and totally worth reading. This book comes out in 1946.

3Oh3: an inspiring group of dudes

Hey guys. It's been awhile, but as some of you know, i've been going through some serious stuff in my personal life and didn't want to post something else until I had the right mind.

I'm always listening to new music, and my listening path has taken a surprising turn recently. I've been listening to a lot of popular music as of late. Like pop and hip-hop and Kelly Clarkson for example. I don't know why. Maybe it's because it is really easy to listen to while doing other things. Most of those songs have a dope beat to step to, plus they usually have lots of bass, and I'm a sucker for bass. It is also partly because of my friends Cole and Ferranto, and a particular ride back to Missouri from Arkansas.

What I'm getting at is that there is this one group: 3oh!3, who are kind of an inspiration to me. Here's why: about a year ago, my friend Paul showed me a music video by the duo back before they really got famous, and it was just them making ridiculous hip-hop songs and having fun with people from their hometown of Boulder, Colorado. Now they are legit fo sho, with a decked-out possy, radio time nationwide, features on MTV, professional grade music videos, and over 50 million plays on myspace for their single, "Don't Trust Me." It just inspires a little hope that two guys who bust out funny hip-hop songs on their synthesizers can make it big. It kinda seems like they are living the dream to me.

Here's my first Blog Guy

I've always wanted to just blog somewhere. At first I thought myspace might be a good outlet, but this is perfect. I always have tons of thoughts bouncing around in my head, and it'll be nice to just write them down and let other people read them.

As for right now, I'm just really sleepy. I have just been thinking about what I will write about most on here, and I think this will be a nice place to review things. Like music or movies or perhaps video games or even food.

I can see this taking up a lot of my time, but I've decided to take it easy with all those video games, so maybe I'll have more time.

Check out the songs in my sidebar.