Back in the Saddle again...kind of

Well, I'm back in Lawrence now. Have been since Monday, but just haven't gotten around to blogging yet.
I left Hutchinson after church on the 12th, and after Maggie's (my newest guitar) worship team debut, and drove 4 hours to Ames, Iowa, where I have family. They weren't actually there, but I was able to use their house to sleep in, which was very nice. They actually had a plaster tree built into the side of the wall. (see picture)
yeah. Don't really know what the point of that was.
Anyways...after a night there, I drove the remaining 4 hours to Lawrence. Driving for the most part went okay...it just got really tiring really fast. I had my iPod hooked up to an FM transmitter so I could listen to it on my stereo. The only big cities I had to drive through were Des Moines and KC, and both weren't too bad. Lawrence traffic was, and is, by far the worst. Most major roads are four lane, and a huge percentage of the drivers are college students.
Which, by stereotype, aren't exactly the best drivers (I'm only guilty sometimes).
Classes started on Thursday, but I've only had one. The two others I have scheduled are discussion sections for lectures I haven't had yet. The one I did have was Child Psych, which looks very interesting.
Other than that one class (busy, I know), I've been running errands, buying cables to get various electronics in the room working, eating at Sonic again (for the first time in a long time today! Yummmm!), and seeing old buddies. I'm actually going to "The Bourne Ultimatum" again tonight with some of them. Wooohoo!
The room's pretty nice. I'm on the sixth floor in something called the Jayhawker Towers now, or just the Towers. They used to be private apartments, but the university bought them a while back and now they're university-operated apartments. We have a very small kitchen, and a pretty good-sized living room. I like it.
My window I'm right next to right now is a little creepy...There's four Towers (A-D), and they all face a central courtyard. My window faces the courtyard, and therefore looks into a buncha other rooms, too. That's why they have blinds.
Well....that's about it for the Lawrence news. Be sure to check back for more excitement!







PHOTO BONUS:

The New Hairstyle!

My Summer (sans 3M and pre KU)

Well, since the last post was a feature on where most of my summer has been taking place, here's what I'm doing when I'm not at 3M. Only a few more days up in the FWOM* until I go back to Lawrence!

On the weekends, I've been hanging out with my friend Jeremy a bunch. We usually just watch movies and talk (or rather, he talks and I listen) and take the occasional road trip (we went to St. Cloud so I could help him buy a camera. Since I'm like a camera expert or something). We've been friends since halfway through 9th grade, or the beginning of 10th grade...but that's besides the point. We've been friends for a long time.

During the week, I usually meet with my pastor Dan Moose (yes, funny name I know). We're going through the book of Nehemiah so I can begin to grow as a spiritual leader. I'm really excited about what I've learned, and I know that God will present multiple opportunities to test it out. Nehemiah was the governor of Judah right after the Jews got out of exile, and he took it upon himself to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

I'm also a part of the Joshua Team next year at KU which is a leadership training thingymabob for Navs. I'm pumped to see what God has planned.

I've also made a new friend! Zach Meyer is the new youth leader at our church who also works at HTI, or as he calls it, "The Company." He's [age], and a lot of fun to hang around with. Not to mention he actually gets and laughs at most of my jokes. I think there's probably 4 or 5 people in the world who do that. My sister and dad just look at me funny most of the time. Shoutout to Mom for thinking I'm funny!

I am now the proud owner of my fourth guitar! I bought an acoustic-electric Martin DCX1E about a month ago, and it rocks! I keep it next to my bed just in case inspiration strikes suddenly, which it often does. I've been playing a lot of bluesy-jazz-make-it-up-as-I-go stuff, as well as some Damien Rice.

When I went to St. Cloud with Jeremy, I also bought a new external flash for my Olympus E-330. I got drafted to take photos at a friend's wedding this fall, so I figured I might as well be all fancy and whatnot.

I've seen a few good flicks this summer as well. "The Bourne Ultimatum" was absolutely incredible. It was better than the first two, crisp, gritty, and full of fight scences and car chases that made you go "Ooooo! That had to hurt!" Plus, it has the ominous-sounding line "Activate the asset."

Creeeepy.

I also saw the third Shrek movie (snore, with a few funny parts thrown in) and the third Pirates movie, "At World's End." I thought it was a good ending to the series (although they did leave it open for more...oh Disney), with a lot of great action and hilarious Captain Jack moments.

Overall, this summer was a lot of fun, despite the work that sucked my life up. I'll miss everyone back in Hutch this school year, especially my awesome family.

I love you guys! Thanks for being a great family to come home to.

*Frozen Wastelands Of Minnesota. Applies 9-10 months out of the year.

The Story of The Temp, Mr. Guy Who Talks Like Dan Akroyd, Mr. Oops, and Mr. Mumbles

Well....this isn't really going to be an actual STORY. Sorry. Those are just the people that I've spent a majority of the summer with at 3M. Since I haven't written in the ol' blog lately, I thought I'd liven things up a bit with a different kind of post.

If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm The Temp. I'm one of 4 in my area of 3M (HPT Converting for those 2.5 of you who speak 3Mese), and we basically get the shaft while on our short stays here. Oh well. We do need money, right? Anyways, I'm going to be done being The Temp on the 10th, which means (hopefully) eight more days of work, counting this one. Whew.

Now on to the other characters. Mr. Guy Who Talks Like Dan Akroyd (let's call him Mr. Gwtlda) is somehow the self-appointed leader of the bunch. And seriously, he sounds almost exactly like Dan Akroyd in The Blues Brothers.
"You want I should clean the dead bugs off your windshield?"
Yup.

Mr. Oops is the nicest of the bunch. He has a daughter that just graduated, and he works really hard, but sometimes he just makes mistakes that make ya wonder where his mind was. Mr. Gwtlda gets very angry at Mr. Oops sometimes.

Mr. Mumbles is my favorite to work with. He doesn't get all pissy like Mr. Gwtlda, and he doesn't make big mistakes like Mr. Oops. He's been here for something like 17 years, knows exactly what he's doing, and is pleasant to talk to when he isn't being a creepy old pervert (Mr. Mumbles and Mr. Gwtlda share this affinty). The only problem is that about 50% of the time, I have no clue what the heck he's saying. Oh well. He thinks he's funny.

And there you have it. Of course, we have many supporting characters, like Creepy Old Ladies 1-7, Mrs. Extremely Loud Cackle, Sarge the Supervisor, and the list continues. I will definitely (read=not definitely) miss it here.
The money has been good, and will be good, considering I'll be driving in Lawrence this school year, and gas tends to cost money.
Unless you've got extra arms and legs to give to the employees at Holiday. I don't know if they actually take them, though.
Might be something to try later...*strokes chin*