fiveweeksofcollege.

i'm a boy, i'm a christian, i'm a freshman in college, and these three factors provide the basis for most of my opinions and perspectives.

i only started looking forward to college once the final weeks of summer rolled in. toward the beginning of august, i suddenly felt like i was in this limbo state between where i had been and where i needed to be. it was extremely unsettling and i felt an intense need for change. i needed something drastic to change the course of my daily living, and college was just the thing.

well, sort of. i have this reoccurring thought at the end of each day, that college is so different from high school--and yet so much the same. it's truly incredible how much things change, yet how closely they resemble their past. bowling for soup has a song called "high school never ends," which is true to an extent. i loved high school until the bell rang on the final day, but for those of you who are sick of the high school lull, know that it gets better.

college is an overdose of freedom. to exemplify the factor that has affected me the most, my computer says it is 2:44 am. i have not fallen prey to the college party life that has already consumed so many freshmen, but i continue to fill my schedule with various activities--anything and everything that doesn't involve a solid night of sleep. in consequence, much of my free time is spent napping throughout the day. someday i'll get it figured out. someday when i decide that sleep should no longer be my lowest priority. not enough hours in a day, not enough days in a lifetime. that's the mindset that keeps me going, keeps me from intentionally wasting these precious moments.

normally, i use way too many smileys in my text--almost intervention worthy. i'm as happy as a clam right now, but i feel like the fact that it's 2:53 AM on a friday morning takes away from my dependence on emoticons. but, since this seems way too serious already, here's one for the road. :]

it's now saturday afternoon: different day, same post. i went to my high school's football game last night.  football is cool, but the marching band is where it's at. perhaps i'm slightly biased though: 99.9% of my friends and stories from high school came from the four years i spent in marching band. i loved marching band with a burning passion for the music, the marching, the performance, and the people. it was stressful, but it was nearly always eustress. we were a 120 piece family that had so many common interests and just as many differences, and we fused it all together to reach a central goal. i was certain that the end of marching band would be the end of my purpose, but i was wrong. last night, i got to watch the people i know and love pour their hearts out on the field--and i didn't feel left out. i felt just as much a part of the production as i had before, knowing that my senior class left a legacy on the band, knowing that they were having the time of their lives. it was an incredible feeling that left me with this solid closure. i miss you all, and you guys freakin rocked it last night. :]

college is equally as diverse as marching band as far as the people go. however, we're not all reaching for the same goal. nor does everyone have a passion for teamwork: the determination of teens to be independent is ruining our country, but i'll save that rant for another post. :b i've met people from every background that you could think of, from the catholic school girl, to the ninth year art major, to the guy from cameroon. i'd like to point out the last of the three, because i feel that he should have auditioned for being the most interesting man in the world.

i journal every night on a second floor balcony (i'll put pictures up in the fisheye chronicles soon) without fail. same chair, too. on august 28th at 11:58 pm, this tall black guy walks out of the upperclassmen dorms, complaining to himself about how bored he is. i acknowledged his presence, and he came and sat across from me on the couch. i listened to him ramble about how he had emailed his professors for more homework, but they couldn't find any for him to do. after a good twenty minutes or so, he noticed my bible on the table next to me. over the course of three hours, he asked me a number of questions about who i am, what i believe, that sort of thing. however, after--or during-- i finished my answer, he would jump in and talk about himself. here's what i found out from that conversation:

"he's 22 years old. he's from cameroon. he's a double major in physics and electrical engineering. he's an actor. he's a movie and tv show producer. he's an airplane pilot. he was homeless upon moving to arizona last week. he went to the channel 12 floor of the cronk building and told them he had an idea for a tv show. he says hi to every woman that walks by."

quoted from my journal entry from that night. i've run into him four or five more times since, and each time we chat for a couple of hours about our lives, personalities, beliefs, desires, dreams, etc. i live for "coincidences" like this.

dang, that turned out to be a lot longer than i had planned. >,< but give me a break, i had to catch up on the last five weeks of my life! i hope you enjoyed this ramble, and look forward to new posts, pictures, etc. at least every two weeks. until then, i hope you have a wonderful rest of your day, and for you college kids, i hope you get some sleep! :D

oh, and if you have any questions, comments, concerns, or things you'd like me to address in another post, drop a comment below and i'll get to you asap!

[ecclesiastes 3:11]