To Be One With Nature

"Now I see the secret of the making of the best persons,
It is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth."
-Walt Whitman "Song of the Open Road"

In my heart of hearts, I long for the solace and peace that only the mountain ranges can offer. There is no better feeling than cooking after hiking through a forest for 10 miles. Nothing is more rewarding than finding rare wildflowers, seeing a deer drink from a creek, or having butterflies grace your presence. These type of feelings can only be brought forth from nature.

I enjoy the peace and stillness. It's an odd feeling, really: the idea that only an hour drive away, thousands of people are doing mindless, numbing work, stressing themselves into their deathbed while I get to relax in God's full creation.

Soon the treetops will become golden brown. When this happens, my soul will be called into the pure forest and relax. I miss it alluring landscapes, the camaraderie when with friends, and it's fresh air feeling.

"Tropical Storm"

"Tropical Storm" Hannah chugged through the Greater Richmond area today, peeing gratuitous amounts of rain and not much else. I was quite disappointed actually. I have always enjoyed the nostalgia of a good hurricane coming through town, knocking down power lines, trees, and flooding the streets.

Here, I got a rattled window and tons of water...It was boring. I don't like the death tolls that come with a real hurricane, but the anticipation gave me the feeling that it was going to be a nice sized storm coming along.
Here's why:

I went to Kroger, having found out about this storm, to buy water and some canned food just in case. The store was rampant with carts filled with water bottles, tuna cans, and crying children. Not to mention a long waiting line to boot. It reminded me of a castle getting ready to be sieged or a scene that got cut out of "Armageddon". I have never understood how some people can get so panicked. After a half hour of waiting in line to buy my stuff, there was follow through by Hannah.

Wtf, storm...seriously!

Hope

It's hard for me to realise that in almost a year I will have already:

1) Gone to see an Arsenal game.
2) Get married.
3) Graduated from Ungrad.
4) and go to a Grad school.

It's hard to think that in less than a year I have no clue where I'll be. However life is good,
and God will take care of everything... I have hope in what he will do for me!

Which leads me to the word of the day for today!

Hope (ˈhōp): A confident expectation

So really whenever you hope something will happen, you really expect it to come to fruition! Pretty neat huh?


I'm sitting in the apartment's makeshift pub with the roommates. The room is pretty well decked out. I'm representing my team/nationality, and the guys are slowly trickling in Colt's paraphernalia. I hope that this apartment brings happiness to all of us. It seems like we all get along like brothers. In fact, one of my favorite moments of my college career was praying before the start of classes with Adam. It's great having people who care about your life and well-being. I'm rambling though.

My hope for my life is that Liz and I continue to have fun, even when we are completely toothless and Great- Grandparents. It's so cool to have a person that continually knows how you are feeling before you even speak. She is a constant reminder to me of God's innocence, grace, and tenderness. We are such goofballs!

Life as it is Today

Walt Whitman said in "Song of Myself": "I believe that a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars". I totally agree with him. Think about it: God is so meticulous in his inner-workings that a leaf of grass is just as important as the stars. Everything has its role, and everything is perfect in its own way.

I am taking an independent study on Whitman with my undergrad mentor, so I felt compelled to write about him for a sec. I have to write a huge seminar paper that will be used also for my Grad School applications. I am juggling with his ideas on Faith: both of God and of Democracy. It should be interesting.

On the home front, my roommates and I get along really well. It's quite hilarious having a door on my wall that I share with Matt though. It reminds me of Peter in Office Space and his neighbor. Whenever we want to say something, we knock on this shared door and yell. I get a kick out of the little guy. Adam, well Adam is Adam. He recently found out that I don't like male on male contact. I'm not against gays, however I am nervous on male-male hugs. Adam isn't gay either, he just finds it funny that I cringe when he tries to rub my back or whatnot.

Liz and I just had our Engagement party in the OBX. It was a blast, and we are so blessed. It was so cool to see our families inter-mingling without any problems. God has truly blessed our future union, and this is proof. Liz was so gorgeous in her black dress; which is kinda odd because in a year she'll be wearing a white one! There's so much to do in that realm that I try to play it off as if we have so much time, but it's starting to feel as if more time may be needed. Thank God that Liz's mom, Susan is helping so much with planning and arrangements. Not only is she a great mother-in-law, but is quite a phenomenal secretary as well!

GREs are around the corner. I have to take the English subject test as well as the normal one. Any suggestions?

Also London is around the corner...any cool places there we should go see?

Nonetheless, I feel grateful that so much is happening and God is giving me a stress-free outlook on it all. I wouldn't be able to do half the things I am doing if I didn't have Him. I pray that He blesses you this way as well.

Until next time! Cheers!

Word of the day: paradoxical (per-ə-ˈdäk-si-kəl): of the nature of a paradox
One of my Lit profs used this today, and I thought it was made up. Well at least now I know I can use it as well!

We Hold These Truths...

I love how beautiful DC can be during any time of the year. I took my new roomie (Adam) and his brother to see our nation's capital. On top of the grueling drive/ride of having to use the bathroom 3/4ths of the way there and not wanting to stop, I feel that it was a great success. Not only did they see the coolest memorials, but we were also to see something that I have never been able to see (the lines have always been too long): The Declaration of Independence, The United States Constitution, The Bill of Rights, and (believe it or not) an original copy of the Magna Carta (circa 1275! Has to be the oldest document chilling in America right now!).
I love our founding documents. It may seem weird to say this, but I felt an over surging sense of patriotism when I was waiting in line. When I saw them my eyes welled with tears. It is so odd to think that these three American documents shaped so much of the modern world, (and you could barely read em!). I was just extremely excited to see the famous signatures, mainly John Hancock. For those of you who don't know, after signing the Declaration in large print he is quoted in saying "There, King George should be able to this". It really was the only legible part of the document.
I've never seen "National Treasure", and to be quite honest I don't ever want to. It is Nicolas Cage trying to be better that Indiana Jones. He fails. Anyways, all I heard from kid's mouths was this stupid movie while we were waiting in line. This is a bit disconcerting that these kids are more motivated to see the documents because of a movie and not what they learned from History class. Maybe it is just the teacher in me popping out. I''ll never know I guess.

God has truly blessed this country. And even though we have our faults, I will forever be proud to call myself an American.

DC was fun though, and I hope my newly founded friends had as much of a time as I did.

"The Tree of Liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots." -Thomas Jefferson, 1787

No Need For Up-front!

Check this out...

I'm glad that Arsene Wenger believes that the squad is fully replenished with the front. That's great. But what about the midfield? Sure we have Cesc Fabregas still, but we did lose the likes of two other great players...Hleb to Barcelona and Flamini to Ac Milan. Let's not forget the late Gilberto Silva to Greece and Rosicky has been hit hardcore with his injury.

Let's hope that the midfield is training hard with its new, young talent.

You Must Be Rich to Serve...Apparently

What does it mean to have justice?

In my "Redefining Tragedies" class we discussed this very same topic. After King Lear, everything seems to be muddled. First of all, the main problem with the idea of "justice" is that most people think that Justice is a kissing-cousin of law.

How can this be so? Law is created to have some form of justice in corporeal form. Unfortunately for justice, lawyers use the law not as a way to enact justice, but to actually avoid it. Face it, even our government is doing it. Just because the president is commander-in-chief does not mean he can obliterate a body of people and not be accountable. "Oh, it's ok Ryan. God will judge the wicked." Really? I believe God will give these people a form of punishment, but it isn't going to stop me from asking questions.

I hate how it feels that only rich people can get into the federal governing body. The Constitution was set up so that once you served your country on a given term, you go home and go back to daily lives. Not this "career politician" bullcrap. There was never meant to be a long term member of congress. The question to follow this is why?

These politicians become best buds and form a circle. This group becomes the true ruling body, finding people that share their same views and giving them the money and handshakes needed to put them in a seat of power.

This is extremely cynical. I understand this. However, what this system does is then stop people like me from running as a Senator, per se. I haven't the money, nor the experience. Who cares? The system is made up so that anyone can run and be elected. It is the elite that have jaded people to think that you have to have a background in politics to run the scene. If anything, that has made the system more corrupt. It brings the question, are you really representing the voice of the people that voted for you? Do you even care about the common man?

Obviously, not. For, if you did, you would try to change the system.

Make us more egalitarian America!