November 30th, 2007
Joy to the world. It’s another Friday night. Two weeks from right now, I will be landing back home for Christmas Break. I can’t wait to sleep in my own room again… which sadly has nothing in it but an empty dresser, an empty closet, and a bare desk. Mom and dad, it’s still like that, right? Anyways, I thought that it was a pretty low-key week, but it looks quite eventful now that I look back.
I told you that I had a wake up call in New York. I was so sore from some workouts. It made me realize that I should start eating better and working out more. Also, a good friend and former coach from back home reminded me how working out can enhance studying. So, I have been eating much better this entire week. Instead of the usual cinnamon rolls or sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit, or doughnuts, I’m now going with oatmeal, cold cereal, granola, and yogurt for breakfast. On a side note, I’ve had a strange addiction to yogurt ever since I got here. It’s weird. In general, my new lifestyle is going well. I started talking with my Bible Study group as well about this and we realized that we are all in the same boat. None of us have been working out as much as we planned. So, we are having a gym day as a group. We are making it into a type of decathlon with competitions. The winner is the first person to get out of bed the next morning. Just kidding, but maybe it should be.
For InterVarasity, we had a theater group come in and present a skit. It portrayed a church’s reaction to homosexuals. We had a deep discussion about homosexuals and Christians and their relationships. There seemed to be a lot of stereotypes and it was good to talk about it. However, my friend and I held beliefs that seemed to be in the minority. So, we are planning to meet with someone next week to discuss InterVarsity and it’s stance on homosexuality and its relationship with homosexuals. This is a very divisive topic sometimes and I don’t want to delve too deep in this blog, but I just want to show that we are open to discussion here on we are not unaware of what is happening in the world. We talk through things and try our best to see where everyone is coming from.
My friend Alex gave our Bible Study leader, Eric, a haircut
For fun on Thursday, I went to see our women’s basketball game. Our team isn’t that great, but we won handily. I probably wouldn’t have gone, but I get points for going and those points can earn you awesome prizes. It was worth it to see the halftime performance. I saw the Richmond Swingers. They were a group of young jump ropers from the area. They could do saw really amazing things and I was quite impressed.
The Richmond Swingers performing
On my way back from the game, I saw an event that looked interesting. It was Arabian Night. They had a Mediterranean band, good food, Henna tattoos, and plenty of information about the different countries. There are plenty of these events going on and they are all well planned and intriguing. Just tonight, I was invited by the Multicultural Student Union to come and enjoy tons of international cuisine. I had baklava, wontons, sushi, lamb meatballs, and so much more. It was awesome. There is never a lacking of on-campus events. And even less of a dearth regarding the food at these events. I need to be careful of that, I guess. I would have stayed longer at the Arabian Night, but the Packer game was about to start.
Arabian Night
Food from the MSU Holiday Dinner. It was really good.
The Packers played the Cowboys and I was not going to miss it. It was supposed to be such a good game. Even though we lost and Brett Favre was injured, I’m still encouraged by the game. The main story from the game was my own injuries. I have a favorite dip I make with Velveeta cheese and a can of chili. It’s really good. When I was making it, however, I didn’t have a can opener. I had to use my pocket knife and I ended up splicing my finger three times between the knife and the sharp edges of the can. The dip was still tasty, regardless.
Other events to mention from this week include the weekly Student Government meeting, meeting with my adviser for Class Cabinet in order to plan next semester’s events, my participation in a psychology experiment on memory (I did it for the $8), my rapt attention to and analysis of the YouTube Republican debate, and a meeting with my academic adviser regarding next semester and my life.
Academically, I have been luckier than most. I have one paper due and finals. That is all. I am working on catching up in my classes and am proud of what I have gotten done. It is mainly the result of me locking myself in the library without a computer. That way, I get a lot more work done. I finally got my CORE midterm back and am both frustrated and happy. Economics and Spanish are going better than I could have hoped. And there is also Public Policy. We are currently discussing global warming and I actually stayed caught up for all of the readings. It was the first book in a while that I have not skipped anything. I didn’t know much about global warming before I came here, but that is changed. The book we read was overwhelmingly one-sided, but the information was still helpful.
That’s been my week. It’s Friday night, so you know what that means. Yep, I just came back from playing Catchphrase with my friends. Fun times. I’ve got a lot of events this weekend and a really important game for Spiders football. I’ll let you know how everything turns out.
Playing Catchphrase with my friends
Countdown until Home: 14 days
Countdown until Christmas: 25 days
Thought to Ponder: Do stairs go up or down?
Quote of the Week: “I thought Europe was a country… Is France a country?… Hungary! That’s a country?” –Kelly Pickler on “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader”
Shout Outs: Ken Corbett
