Kenya Represent

I am going to Africa. I mean come on! What more do I need to say. I have to keep telling myself that it is real though because I don't think it will set in till I am on the plane over the Atlantic. I mean I can't even put into words how I feel (all the ways I feel) about this trip and opportunity. Right now I am in the library trying to write a paper so I don't have the time to go into a full description of my trip. But I will do so soon because I feel like I haven't done anything like that to anyone yet.

Africa...Me....This summer...Enough said (for now)

-j.

Ambitions

so i read an article today that has drastically changed my career goals. I now plan to be Major League Baseball's Commissioner for one calender year. The commishes pay is commensurate (new word i learned) to that of the games top paid players, meaning good ol' Bud is making bank. $18 million dollars to be exact. So that is my ambition.

That is all.

-j.

Super Bowl

Well as some of you might know the NFL had a small game tonight that they like to call the Super Bowl. (*fact of the day: Americans eat more food today, Super Bowl Sunday, than on any other day out of the year besides Thanksgiving; Thats pretty big time!) Though much of the hype typically surrounds the unveiling of new commercials. The latter seems to me to be a complete let down compared to previous years. Luckily the game lived up to the name. It really was a great game with good defense, big plays and late game heroics. What more could you ask for right? Aside from game things were pretty hit or miss. The National Anthem was very very good and it was really cool to see Jennifer Hudson in her first appearance since the tragic deaths of mother, brother and son. Her rendition (aka recording) was very good. The halftime show was so-so. I'm a big fan of The Boss but and was excited to hear him perform. Unfortunately he only had like 12 minutes to play or something and didnt chose the best song list in my opinion. And then there were the commercials....

Like i said overall it was a weak class this year but here's a list of a few of my favorites:

• Pepsi commercial- Bob Dylan and Will.i.am had a pretty cool commercial playing on the whole "Pepsi" generation theme intertwined with our current generation. I'm always down for some Dylan.
• Bud light- The first Bud Light commercial in the meeting room when they are talking about decreasing the budget or what not and the dude gets thrown out of the window. Pretty funny stuff.
• Doritos-This is probably the commercial that made me laugh the most of the night. The guy has a snow globe and acts like its a magic 8-ball thing and throws it through the vending machine for "Free Doritos" and then his friends tries to get a promotion by chucking it at his boss's junk. Hilarious.
• Budweiser- What more does Bud have to do than put dalmations and clydesdales in a commercial. Always a win.
• e-trade baby- Much like Budweiser, e*trade always has great commercials. They hit the jackpot with the little baby (better hope he doesnt grow up). This year they added a little friend for him (notice the diversity) and that was funny. The golfclub one at the end was funny as well.
• NBC Thursdays- The LMAO NBC commercial was the only one of the bunch that was good. The rest just got old and needed to get cut. But this was awfully funny to me.
• Coke Bug Commercial- Coke has sweet commercials. End of story.
• GE- Their "green" commercials (OZ, capture the wind) are nice to see and definately probably not meaningful at all but they were nicely made.

Welp folks thats my review of the Super Bowl....Can't wait to see the Chiefs in it next year.

-j

Joy in the Presence of Others

So tonight I was reminded of one of the greatest gifts God provides us, and that is joy. In the truest sense of the word. It is amazing how in the most unlikely of times and after the most stressful of situations, God brings joy. And between school getting in full swing, plans for Kenya starting and my increasingly failing effort to find a job, joy just wasnt happening. But God is great and he always knows how to use impeccable timing. I had alread been looking forward to Ichtus all week, as I hadnt made it to it yet this semester. And it did not disappoint. There is just an indescribable energy (as John said tonight, a power) about taking part in a community of God like that. As soon as I walk in I am just overtaken with joy and hope and a sense of calm. It really is indescribable which means there probably isnt a point in trying haha but I just really felt the urge to share this. And added on to the joy of being apart of an incredible community of people who share a love of God and a true sense of faith and purpose, getting to know my team that I will be sharing 8-10 weeks of my summer with has been awesome. I am getting more excited by the day and truly feel like this experience could be life changing and something that stays with me forever. In addition to my summer team another group has really been tickling my fancy lately and that is my life group. Again this comes back to joy in the presence of others. Between our Sunday night get togethers, the trip to St. George, dinner at Little Apple Brewery, and Wednesday lunch it has been a week full of community in the true form that God intended for it. I'm really excited for what the rest of the semester has in store and am encouraged/hopeful that some great things will come out of all this.

p.s. I hadn't blogged for awhile so it all sort of just came out just now. I'll try not to make it so incredibly long ha.

First Day

Well today was the first day of semester. i can honestly say that i was actually sort of looking forward to it. my classes went well and i think that my history class is going to be interesting and possibly even fun. but im a nerd for that kind of stuff.

American Idol Recap and Observations:

• the new judge can sing better than a pretty girl in a bikini. nice work.
• the new judge has some tude....i like it.
• Favorites so far: AZ- Stevie (girl named after Stevie Nix) and Scott (blind guy who seemed like a real cool dude); KC- [*forgot names for this one] girl from Wamego (gotta pull for the "hometown" girl), teacher whose wife died, and the woman at the very end who had three little kids.

Ichthus starts up again tonight and i am very excited about that. I definately feel that i will be leaning heavily on my faith and the positive energy of ichthus and the people associated with it a lot these coming months. I am also excited to start up going to life group again. It was something that i slacked on late in the semester but not out of a decrease in desire. I just had a lot of things get real crazy towards the end there and am super anxious to start up again.

Back in the Hatt

Well suprisingly enough my return to Manhattan has been quite productive so far. I guess I got my beginning of a new semester "jolt" of diligence. Just to prove my productivity I will add that not only have I turned in to applications, but I have taken down all the christmas decorations, almost finished the book I've been reading (A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier), but also made three trips to the rec. Dang I'm awesome. I also vacuumed which is something I just don't do. All of this kinda got me thinking about things to come and this semester in particular. I guess because I'm hoping I continue to get stuff done haha. But here's a short list of things I am excited for:

1. American Idol new season (always good)
2. House on Monday nights
3. Going to Ichthus again
4. my classes in general
5. preparing for my trip to Africa
6. actually going to Africa
7. K-State beating KU (home or away, no preference)
8. Royals Spring Training (watch out for the Royals offense this year!)

New Years brings New Things

Welp I came back to Manhattan today and I couldn't have waited any longer I dont think. Most definately it was time to get back and away from the whole home scene. I'm looking forward to having these next few days to just relax and get settled again while having some peace and quiet. Alone time can be good sometimes and perhaps that is just what the doctor ordered.

Obviously its the New Years and that means everybody has there resolutions to get fitter, eat better, blah blah haha. Personally I am not into that whole thing that much I guess. But i decided to come up with a few things anyways. They are as follows:

1. Blog more (hence what I'm doing)
2. Read more (other than crappy school stuff, but i also should do that more)
3. Learn more names in my classes (i am horrible at names)
   3b. Meet as many new peeps in my classes as possible
4. Get a freaking job!
5. Have more fun this semester
6. Go with the flow

Ok so those are the basic pretty boring resolutions that are typical and most likely won't come to fruition (oops).