I'm doing pretty bad on updating my blog on a regular basis. but i know not many people read it, so it's ok i guess. but maybe the reason not many people read it is because I don't update on a regular basis.

So today is New Years Eve which means it is the last day of 2008. This past year was pretty good and this next year, 2009, will definately be one to be remembered. well, i might want to forget it depending on what happens. I would be much less apprehensive about this upcoming year if i just knew what i was going to be doing after i graduate. that's right, i'll be graduating from college in the year of 2009. I remember in 2005 I didn't even think I would be college come 2007 but yet here I am just trying my best to get into law school.

One thing that is popular is to make lists pertaining to the past year and for the upcoming year. I've mentioned before that i usually set goals for myself for the upcoming semester/year, so we'll list that off in the coming weeks. But about 2008, i'll make a list.

2008 was interesting. What sticks out most in my mind is my push to get into law school, mainly because i'm still working on that. I studied for the LSAT for a good 4 months or more. I had a good summer that was pretty much just like the semester. i did summer school, i excercised a lot, but i did a lot of studying. the spring semester was good, i made some good friends, i become really involved in church, and I made some good grades. so now onto the list:

What I've taken away from 2008:
1)A passion for triathalons: I love competition, i think it is the adrenaline rush, but even more i like to be active and push myself. I'll probably never win a race but that is ok, i enjoy it.
2)The desire to go to law school: I think that I have always wanted to do this, but now that i know what i really want to do, I'm more excited about school and wanting to do well than ever
3)Family: I've always loved my family, dont get me wrong, but it seems that this year more than ever I've seen how much they love me and want to see me succeed.
4)Friends: I've always felt that I've had a good set of friends, but this year they have really helped me out, from studying for stats and history to helping me get home when i needed a ride. Friendship is something to always be cherrished and making new friends is always an exciting thing to do.
5)Determination: Being determined should not be underestimated. When you set your mind to sights on accomplishing something, it can be done, and your'll enjoy it even more because you know why you are doing it. For instance, I couldnt stand my history class this past semester, but i knew i had to take it because of the end result of graduating college. As my dad always said, sometimes you have to do things you dont enjoy to get where you want to go.
6)Making sure I'm open to possibilities: Even as write this one imparticular, i'm thinking to my self that i should keep my options open. Pertaining to my future that is. I took a class this semester that was ridiculous. It was the one where the students had to teach. The best part of the class was the friends I made and the opportunity to volunteer. The volunteering was great and the friends I made was even better. In the beginning of the semester I was like, "maybe i should drop this class" but then i reminded myself that 1)i needed this class to graduate, and 2)who knows, maybe it wont be that bad. Well, the class its self was a drag, but what I brought away from it was great. working in groups taught me a lot, even though i do that all the time, it was a totally different aspect in this class. and the creating the mindset of not putting a negative conotation on something before i really get into it.

I'm sure there are some more things that I can list off, but I'm going to move on.

2008 brought some major changes to our country and I'm not going to beat around the bush, I'm worried about our countries future. These bailouts are a bad idea. They are just delaying the inevitable. Yes, many companies would fail, people would loose jobs and even their homes, times would be tough, we, the country and its people, the government and its economy need to learn a lesson. If you can't afford something, don't buy and for goodness sake dont take out a loan that you can't afford to buy that something that you can't afford. If you can't afford to buy that candy bar, don't put it on your credit card. Just don't have a credit card, because you don't need one to have "credit". Messing with the free market is not going to fix anything, it'll fix its self. The weak will fall to the way side and the economy will be stronger for it.

Just like mother nature, "survival of the fittest". I believe in global warming, but not Al Gore's global warming. And, Al Gore did not discover global warming so i dont know why he won that award...

Man kind may have affected the environment to some extent, but for goodness sakes, one country changing how they opporate will not fix things, the world collectively will need to change. now i try my best not to waste electricity and I ride my bike more often, but in my list of reason for riding my bike more often, saving the environment falls at the end. i recycle, i try not to waste water, and i definately dont litter. But like i said, saving the environment is not necessarily at the top of the list for why i do these things. maybe for the recycling though. but really guys, people talk about "oh, the poor polar bears, their dying away" well, i'm sorry, but would we have tried to save the dinosaurs? think about it, we increase the polar bear population and then other populations start dying off:
whales:(i saw a film of a polar bear killing a whale. it was pretty cool, but aren't we also tyring to save the whales? it seems counter productive.)seal lions,platapusses, otters, penguins,fish: All of these environmentalist want to protect, but they are also things that polar bears eat on a regular basis, so... once again, it's counter productive.
Humans: that's right, the same people that work to save the polar bears will also meet their demise by the polar bears.

If God did not want the earth to be getting warmer, he wouldn't be letting it get warmer. Just like if He did not want the earth to be flooded back in Noah's day, it wouldn't have been. Trying to fix the environment is like tyring to fix the free markt, it won't work. I keep seeing these commercials saying "for $16 a month, we can save the polar bears." well how? are going to ship ice up there. are we going to refrigerate the arctic?

All this organic junk, please. We're making use of the resources we have. By givin animals steriods and fertalizing plants, we're being more productive with less.

Some of this may have been a little satiric. but really, i'm being honest. God did not say that the world would end by a metorite hitting earth or the sun exploding so I have no reason to believe other wise. There is all this talk about the world ending in 2012, but if anything, that is when Jesus is coming, not the world emploding.

I guess i got a little off topic there. i'm anxious to see what 2009 will bring. Change, yes, but hopefully nothing ridiculous. Political and economic change, but also personal change. I'm just planning on working hard and staying focused. That will be the best thing possible i think. Hard work and determination will get you where you want to go. I hope to grow in my walk with the lord and to continue on the path that he has laid out for me.

I hope everyone has a happy New Year. Be safe, don't get hit with any fire works.

-piece

i havent posted in quite sometime and there may be a few reasons for that. one is the hectic time of finals which went pretty well this semester. i have one class where i want to say that the reason i did not do as well in there as i would hope is because i'm not a girl, but i shouldnt say that. it's probably because i didn't study as much as i should have, but at times you couldnt help but notice his prejudice... anyways, i made an A- in there, so that's still good, i just wish the school had not implemented the minus grades. but i did better in a couple of my classes than i had expected to do.

i got in town late in the afternoon on friday and on saturday we went to check out a house that my brother and his wife are thinking about buying in nashville. it's a really nice house so i hope they can get it. while we were theremy roommate from knoxville called me and i had received a letter from oklahoma university's law school. so i had him open it up and read it to me and... i did not get in. at first i didnt care, i mean, i dont really wanna go all the way out to oklahoma anyways. but as the day/night went on it wore on me and i really began to feel the stigma. i mean, why didn't they want me... what if nobody wants me...

what exactly is my backup plan...

i think i may make myself sick worrying about all this.

so i need to start this break off right. i think i'm going to wake up and go for a run in the morning and then i'm going to go visit Ann in franklin for a little bit and then head back home. i went to my cousins house today for her birthday, it was pretty fun. like usual we went outside and shot some skeet and pistols. i didn't wear ear plugs and now my ears are ringing like crazy. i still wanna go to the olympics in trap shooting but i need to be practing quite a bit more if i'm going to be able to do that. and when i say quite a bit more i mean a lot more.

so next semester is my last semester of college and i can't believe it is almost over already. i feel as if i have missed out on a few things but at the same time, when i look back on it, i feel as if i have accomplished quite a bit. school has been a challenge and the rowing team has been a great adventure, but i do regret not spending more time at church and not building closer friendships with more people. but i can't look back on school now and say "what if", i need to look to the future and say "what next". as much as i am apprehensive about the next semester and what is to come after it, i'm just as excited about next semester and what is to come after it. there's a lot to take into consideration.

i hope everyone is doing well

piece

i'm sorry i havent posted on here in forever. maybe after i get back from the gym. but i'm still alive in case you were wondering.

piece

so once again i have waited a long time to update. i'm sorry.

i'm sitting in a coffee shop that is pretty much on campus. sometimes it's a good place to study, sometimes it's not. it's been pretty good today. i have my moms laptop right now cause my desktop computer was acting funny, but then i pretty much broke my moms comp earlier this week. but thanks to the good people at OIT, UTs tech support, they got it working for me in a matter of minutes.

i've been a real slacker lately. i need to limit myself to certain activities, but that is just no fun. i think i probably just bit off more than i can chew. I have agreed to start an after school program for next semester at the school that i have been volunteering at. pray for that to go well if you will.

this semester is almost over and i feel that my grades are slacking but i have no one to blame but myself. as i've said before, your responsible for your own success. in saying that, rememebr, equal opportunity, but not equal outcome (when it comes to the constitution).

i just worked on a law school essay and it probably is not that great but i need to proofread it and what not. i would like to send that out tomorrow. we'll see. i have a 12 page paper to write that is due next thursday that i really need to be working on. i dont know that i cant say in a 4-6 page paper that i can say in a 12 page paper. it's just going to be all sources. especially since he requires 8 sources. but this guy, our teacher, has been requiring us to read wikipedia pages for class, so i'm thinking that anything is fair game. i should just make my own wikipedia page and site that... haha.

i guess i'll be home for thanksgiving. i'm looking forward to it but then pretty much right when we come back we start finals. ugh. but my final schedule is really good. good as in they tests are spread out and not on the same day.

is anyone else overwhelmed that this is our senior year?

piece

tonight is a big night. in the morning there will be a new president and a lot of new congressmen. i hope it all works out in the end. If people have not learned from past mistakes yet, i hope they do soon.

i drove home to vote today and then came back. I love my country that much. But then again i feel bad for saying that because i did not join the military, but you can serve your country in many different ways other than fighting.

I am very dissapointed in myself. i made a c on a test that i took today. i hope i dont make a c in that class. i will be so mad. or a c-, i just now thought of that. how horrible would a c- be. ugh.

i need to be extremely productive these last few weeks. study study study.

in other news, i mailed off my application for UT's law school. pretty exciting. but i have a lot more applications to mail off. it's a long road.

oh ya, we also won a very big race this past weekend. it's the second largest race of the season. and we got our medals handed to us by olympic rowers. pretty awesome. as of yet i do not have pictures to post of it, but i will soon.

i hope ya'll are doing well. i need to study for a test now...

piece

i'm sorry i post so spuratically.

fall break was good. going home was much needed. but i got pretty sick right after i got back from fall break. so last week was not to productive for me.

speaking of being productive i have a test tomorrow that has a take home portion to it that i have to finish before hand. i've been working pretty solid this afternoon but i haven't been too productive. i thought that i would have more done by now. i'm almost done, i have like two paragraphs left to write basically and then i just have to study for the test tomorrow. it's pretty mentally taxing though.

i just typed out this long paragraph that i deleted. sorry. to cut it short, i had been saying that i had given up on dating until i found that special someone because i couldn't afford to waste my time while i'm trying to make it places in the world. well, thats all out the window now cause i found her.

and speaking of making it places in the world, the pastor at church this past weekend was talking about building up treasures here on earth but what about eternity. you know what i'm talking about. well, it really struck me cause he framed it a different way than normal. i'm not wanting to be a lawyer because of the money. but all this we have on earth is meaningless. we need to be preparing for the future, as in after this life.

i might of said that the wrong way but you know what i mean.

piece

i'm finally done with the LSAT. i hope i did well. if not something else will work out and i'll move on and be ok.

i get to start blogging for the UT page tomorrow. at least i'm supposed to be able to. i think i'm going to have to change how i type, they probably will not want me to type in all lowercase. and they said proofreading is a must, which i dont do on here.

i've been lazy all day, but after not having to study for that test all day i haven't known what to do with my self. i did go to a dinner party at my friends tonight, it was pretty fun. she made indian food. it was very good. i needed to study for my test that i have tuesday, and i may still do that later. but i was thinking about cutting my hair, but that takes like an hour. i might just wait till i go home.

speaking about going home, fall break is next week. i'm very excited about only having a three day week. it'll be cool. nice and relaxing. i havent been home since 4th of july, so i'm excited. i need to work on my applications over the break.

i'm worried about the future of the country. i'm not an economist by any means, and political science doesnt tell you why you should bail out the financial system, but i can ration through why they should help out the financial system, but i also very much see why we shouldnt help them out.

you hear alot of talk about why "deregulation" is bad, but the regulation that is supposedly needed to save the system got us into all this. the lenders were regulated to make this bad loans in an effort to put more individuals in houses.

thats neither here nor there though. i'm worried about the future of the country because no matter who is elected in a month things will not get much better. i know it is difficult for most, but individuals need to research their decisions more before they make a choice about who they want to lead them. not just for president but for congress. it frustrates me, but, as i told a friend of mine that was berating me about if i was a democrat or a republican i replied:

i dont define my political views by parties. it should be based off what is important to you. so i cant tell you that who you are voting for is wrong as long you are basing that on something that is important to you. No one can tell you what you believe to be the important deciding factor for yourself is right or wrong because it is what you personally believe.

for those that read this already know where i stand i think.

but times will be rocky for a while, but the good thing about the american system is that it is able to with stand changes and the american people will eventually wise up and set the country back on track. we just need to look at history and learn from it, because we're repeating it right now. (the depression was cause by people buying too much on credit and then when those debts got called, they couldnt be paid. the average american today had 15,000 dollars in credit card debt. ridiculous)

i hope this was not too gloom and doom.

piece

this is going to be super short.

today we had the "orientation" for the blogging for the university. this will be awesome. as i think now. that starts next week. or atleast they are putting the blogs up on the school website starting next week, so i'll probably hold off to write my first one till monday.

i'm so stressed right now, but i know that there isn't much reason to be. if i just dive into my work i can get it all done. but i think i'm going to do my quite time before i start my work. i have not been as regular about doing one as i used to, so i need to get back into that. i used to do it every morning but now that i have class at 8 everyday i dont wake up early enough, but thats no excuse. i should either wake up earlier or make time for at another point in the day.

the LSAT is this saturday. please pray for me.

i cant wait till it is over though so i can get back into a routine.

i get to go tutor tomorrow. it should be alot of fun. i enjoyed it last time. they are going to give me more hours starting next week. they wanted to give me more starting this week but i told them that i had too much to do.

i got my political science test back today and i made an 88, which in all sense of the grade, thats pretty darn good, but i have a higher standard than that, so i was bumbed when i saw that i had made a B, or a B+ rather. But then i thought about it and realized that in all actuality i had not studied for it that much, so it was my own fault.

anyways, i have too much to do. whenever they get the blog site up and going i'll let ya'll know what the site is. actually, i could probably get it now.
http://blogs.utk.edu/patrick/index.shtml

there it is.

i gotta get going.

piece

Dear Patrick,

CONGRATULATIONS on being chosen as one of UT’s newest bloggers! We are super excited to have you are joining the team and know you will do a GREAT job for us.

Leigh and I will be in touch with you soon regarding training. Training only takes about 30 minutes and we will help you get set up on Blogger. We will also cover the general do’s and don’ts as part of training.

If you have any questions in the mean time, please don’t hesitate to contact either Leigh or myself. We are excited about all you have to offer our prospective students, their families and all others interested in real student life at UT and in the Knoxville community!

Sincerely,

Cyndi and Leigh


Cyndi Sweet

Assistant Director



I'm one step closer to being a syndicated writer. lol

this last week and half has been crazy. my moral is dropping i have to say. but getting this email was a big boost. i really want to make a trip home. i'm looking forward to fall break. i took another LSAT practice test on friday and i improved more. so that was good.

i have a big test tomorrow, plus i would like to study more LSAT stuff. we'll see how it goes.

-piece

I'm going to make this quick, but these things never are for me. haha.

i just left practice and now i'm at the library. i have to ride my bike back in the dark tonight, but that wont be too bad i suppose. practice was ok, but i didnt get a good workout cause i was coxing (steering).

i had that meeting today with the ladies that are in charge of the Tennessee Blogger thing. It was pretty cool. They wanted me to tell about myself and what not, at first i didnt know what to say, i wasnt in a real talkitive mood this afternoon. but once things got going i had them laughing and real intrigued at times. i think i got them hooked. but if not, oh well. they said i had the option to be paid, but I said why bother since i would be paid by the hour. that would make out to something like .75 cents a blog. haha. they said i would know by friday if i was picked or not.

class is going ok, but i'm a little worried about all the work i have to do. the LSAT, school, tests, i have to mentor for a class.

you tell me, do you find it unreasonable that we have to mentor 14 hours outside of class time. on top of a class that already takes up more time than any of my other classes. dont get me wrong, i want to go to the elementary schools and work, but it's just so much to do. oh well. i'll get it done.

ok, i really need to do some work now. i hope everyone is doing well.

piece

today is an important day, no matter how you think about it. I do not think enough emphasis is put on what happened 7 years ago today. i personally believe we should see those images on a daily basis. so much has changed from then till now and it's not over yet. nor will it ever be.

i have to make this quick cause i have a lot to do in the next couple of hours before class.

some exciting news real quick. apparently UT has a blog website, they sent out an email to all the students for them to put entries in and then they would choose some to have a face to face interview with and then they would choose one. so here is the email i got back:

"Patrick,

Thank you for taking the time to enter the Tennessee Blogger contest, and to enter it with such singular style and verbal grace.

First, the good news—you’ve made it to the next round of consideration for the coveted position of New Tennessee Blogger!

And now the sobering reality—before we can make our final decisions, we need to interview each of our finalists. Technicalities, technicalities.

We’d like to conduct our interviews between September 15-18 (that’s Monday-Thursday of next week). Please respond to this email as soon as possible to let us know when you have “free” time during that four day period, and we will begin the scheduling dance.

Talk to you soon,

Leigh Shoemaker and Cyndi Sweet "

I wrote my entry really fast and wasn't really thinking of what i was writing, so i didnt think i would get a chance. who knows, they may not of had that many entries. lol. oh well, it'll be fun.

school is hectic right now. i'm still studying for the LSAT and what not, and i had a test this morning and a test tomorrow morning. it never ends. and a few more tests between now and the LSAT. i kinda feel like i don't have time for school. just the LSAT. haha.

hope everyone is doing well.

piece

this will be short because i need to go read.

first of all, i'm trying to ween myself off of coffee. it's not a question of need so much as it is a want. a mental type thing.

i have alot going on right now, but i'm really encouraged now about the LSAT. i skipped out on a bike race that i really wanted to do this weekend because i just felt like i had too much going on and really needed to do some studying. well we had a practice LSAT and my score went up 8 points from the last time we took one. we still have a month until the actual test, so i'm going to study as much as i can, no matter what.

the thing is, lately i go home and i'm just so tired. i like pass out. i dont know if i'm actually just tired or if it is more of a mental thing. i hope i'm not getting sick. lately i'm worried about all the sunburns i get... i mean, i'm out in the sun quite a bit.

i just picked up a little flier here in the library about documentaries and post discussions here in the library about the media and the elections. one night is for the free range contests that the campus puts on every year and we get to see all those and then discuss them. different poli sci teachers lead the discussions each night. looking back on it, i kinda wish i had done the free range thing. even though i dont really have an interest in that sort of thing. or atleast i havent before. but i like the topic. so, it could have been fun. the good thing is, the school puts on these free range competitions alot, so maybe next time.

well i gotta go do some work. i hope i can be productive today/this week/up until the LSAT. there is so much that goes into law school other than just the LSAT. i have to write two personal statements that i have no idea what to write about. one of them is, what makes me want to be a lawyer, well i dont know. i just want to. i'm so indifferent about osme things. but the pastor at church made a good point yesterday:

God isn't indifferent about things, so we shouldnt be either. and by that he meant that you shouldn't be indifferent about people being gay or people lying or stealing or cheating or breaking the law. you get the drift. it's like what amy was saying one time, it's black and white, not gray. gray is indifferent and God doesn't see the gray.

ok, i gotta go read.

piece

IT'S FRIDAY! thank goodness.

so this morning i rode my bike to class since it wasn't raining. i was running a little late, but thats ok. i actually made good time on the bike, i just left the house late. well i like to park my bike outside the rec center, (my bicycle that is. i'm still trying to talk my parents into the idea of a motorcycle), but the rec center is a ways from the rest of my classes. well, i look at my phone after i chain up my bike, and i have five minutes till class starts, but a good 10 minute walk to get there. well about a minute into the walk my friend texted me to infor me of a pop quiz we were having in class today. so i took off running. i was sweating so much by the time i got to class. i'm not forsure if you are familiar with UT's campus, but it's up hill both ways to class. well the quiz wasnt until the end of class. so it wouldnt have mattered if i was a few minutes late. oh well. it was funny. and nice of her to make sure i was coming to class.

well thats my anectodote for today. i'll finish the post with another story later.

so not having cable is a good excuse for not watching the DNC. but then again, we bought one of the digital tuner boxes. basically it's a set of the rabit ear antennas that also pics up HD channels. we realized the other night if we had just gotten that thing in the first place instead of waiting on comcast, which we are still doing, we could of watched the olympics. i can't even explain to you the range of emotions that i felt when we realized that.

well, i was about to say i wish the DNC was a replay of the 1968 DNC, then i would watch it, but in reality, i dont wish that. that was a hard time in American history. I have watched a little bit of it, but it kinda makes me sick to my stomach. Next weeks convention will probably make me sick as well. just not quite as much.

so the first full week of my senior year is over. it went fairly well. had two quizes. they went ok. rowing practice started back up, that went ok as well. except for the rain. just like last year at the beginning of the season, i'm having doubts as to whether or not i want to continue to row. i was telling my friend samantha the other day, who is also on the team. that if i decided not to row no matter the reason, i wouldnt have any hard feelings about the time and money spent on the rowing team. rowing was there for me in a tough time in my life an has provided many good friends and memories. but i'm pretty sure i'm going to stick with it. we'll see. the reason i would not row is because so many people come and go every year, that alot of my close friends are not on there anymore. which is ok, but the new guys on there are kinda.... well, pricks. sorry to say that.

one of my classes is ridiculous. i cant remember if i told ya'll about this or not. the teacher doesnt even teach. the students do the teaching. i dont understand. no one understands. but the class is required. the part that i am excited about is the service learning opportunity. we can either write a ridiculous research paper which requires us going to a government agency and interviewing everyone in the department and talking about their problems, or we can go to the local schools here in knoxville and mentor kids. basically just hang out with them. the principles of the school came to our class the other day and described it all to us. it's very exciting. our teacher wants us to do this instead of the paper. you can tell when he describes the paper to us. haha.

the principles said "if you here of anyone that has a gun or weapon, let us know immeadiately". that kinda let us know the real situation. i dont know if you heard, but there was a shooting last week at one of the knoxville high schools. apparently it's common.

i'm going to give you an exceprt from my teachers email. this will let you know how the class is. somewhat...

"The beginning of the semester is always chaotic. You don’t know what you’re doing; you’ve never had any class like this previously, Things are disorganized; we’re all getting different information. No one is happy about paying $38. People are stuck in nether land in adding the class. When they add they cannot get on Blackboard immediately. Memos, memos, memos; reflections, reflections, reflections; what’s the difference? What are the readings and Where are the readings located? What are the mentoring options?"

i just thought this was funny. especially from a 70 year old man. we had to do a project in class. who could stack sugar cubes the highest/quickest in the class. my group came in third after like 6 rounds. one of the rounds we all had to have out eyes shut. pretty crazy.

anyways. you probably dont wanna know about all this. i'll finish with another story.

so it finally stopped raining sometime yesterday so when i had to go back over to campus i was going to ride my bike. well i was moving along pretty well, which was probably too fast for the greenway which has alot of people on it. well the section that breaks off to go to campus curves around and... goes up hill, like most things on campus. well i didnt slow down and i was doing like 20 mph. since it cruved upwards, my peddle hit the ground and my bike did a 180 and just about ripped the back tire off. the tire went flat of course, but i'm just glad i didnt go flying down the side of the hill. that would of been bad. but i picked up my bike and started walking the rest of the way to campus. i had to get to a metting. luckily all that was wrong with my bike was a flat tire. an easy fix.

i'm hoping to do a bike race in atlanta next weekend. it's a 24 hour relay race. should be a fun time.

hope ya'll are doing well

piece

due to the lack of internet/tv at my new house here in knoxville, i did not know that it was going to rain today for the first time in about a month. though we do need it so that the earth can be replenished, i'm not happy about it. i rode my bike to school today, which i have been doing for the past... 4 weeks. but then it started raining after my class started. so, oh well. i think God is just telling me to get some work done here in the library. especially since i have the internet to be able to do it. most all of my work is on the computer. i could care less about the tv, except for the fact that it is election season and i'm missing all that stuff. but alot of it is the same 'ol same 'ol. they dont say much new, especially one of the canidates.

i read some good articles, though be it they might be a little bit biased, they were written by a Harvard professor who is African American. so atleast it isn't biased based on race. i'll have to post the links when i find them again. but he was saying how we shouldn't have this thought process of, "lets be more like the europeans". did you know in european countries, with their all great "socialized health care" that everyone else wants, it takes on average 6 weeks, at the quickest, to get a damaged ACL fixed. thats a pretty common injury here. here in the states your fixed up and back home in less than a week.

even as it is, your insurance rates go up when they find out your doing certain things that are more risky. say you have a motorcycle, your health insurance increases. so, this is just me talking but i feel it makes sense, the government may not allow you to do certain activities because they do not want to pay the extra cost when you get injured. which could lead to mandatory health programs to reduce obesity/heart disease. it's a gurantee that you will not be able to do certain things with your health if this system ever does get put into place. such as you could only get one or two x-rays a year. a female probably couldn't get a mamogram on a regular basis which is pretty important.

the change that is coming needs to be thought through before it is enacted.

anyways. thats my rant which was probably uncalled for.

piece

well i made it home alive, somehow. from the two day hiking trip that is. we almost got eaten by a bear two different times and saw a third. pretty crazy. and we hitch hiked again.

i'll write more later, but i need to go study now.

hope ya'll are doing well.

piece

so i finally moved out of my apartment and into a new place this past weekend/week. it's pretty cool. the internet is getting installed on sunday. i'm at the library now, and the main reason i came to the library is so that i didnt have to be at the house by myself. call me a wuss, but the neighborhood is kinda scary. i mean, i usually try to find the good in everyone, cause it really is there. but sometimes, you gotta stay on your toes you know. my roommate went home for the night, thats why i'm by myself. oh ya, and we think the a/c is broken, cause it is HOT in the house. haha.

and i dont feel well. ugh.

oh ya, and i made and A in my public budgeting class. according to my teacehr, i barely made and A, but hey, if you win you win. so now i just have a final to do tomorrow.

piece

once again i have reached one of those epic cross roads in life, a new chapter if you will. I have come to recoginize, and I guess I have known this all along, that these cross roads are not few and far between. What may be few and far between are the different sections that come along with the book that is your life. such as going to college is a different section and each year is a new chapter.

I'm moving out of my apartmet this weekend. It was a really hard decision. You may recall that i was wanting to move out at the beginning of this school year. I couldn't stand the guys with whom I was living with, but now that we are getting along, it was a difficult decision to move, but then again, it was a difficult decision to resign my lease, so looking back on it now, moving probably is the best thing.

I'm moving in with a friend of mine, my neighbor actually, and I am a little nervous about it, but not too much. His parents are buying a house up here and we're going to share it. The rent will be much cheaper and we will have quite a bit of extra space. It was built in 1930, so needless to say, it has quite a bit of character. The whole neighborhood does actually if you know what I mean.

I had to cancel my lease on saturday and I was very distraught over what to do, but I went ahead and canceled it. I couldn't help but think how much I didn't enjoy living here last year, but Sunday I was still really distraught over my decision. Church was great though, at the college service we had a guest speaker, his name is Henry Clay, who had been a missionary in Argentina for like 15 years. He was awesome. His lesson was on unbelief and how to overcome it. It reminded me to believe in God no matter what. He taught out of the book of Numbers chapters 13-14 when moses was leading the Israelites through the desert and Moses sent 12 men ahead to check out the promised land. The land flowing with "milk and honey", sounds sticky doesn't it? haha

I left church after the college service because I needed to come home and work on some LSAT stuff for my LSAT class that I have every sunday. As I was driving down Kingston pike, which is more or less the main road in Knoxville, I passed the Unitarian church. This part of Kingston Pike which is closest to campus has something like 15 churches on it, ranging from Baptist to Scientology, more or less something for everyone. Well there were like 20 police cars and 2 fire trucks and an ambulance pulling up as i drove by, I knew something bad had to have happened. Later that day i found out that a man not affiliated with the church just walked in and opened fire. It's horrible. I didn't know what the Unitarians believed, so i looked it up, but regardless of whether or not I agree with their beliefs, this is a senseless tragedy.

I'm having trouble lately getting myself to do my homework. I'm ready for summer school to be over. I think moving into a new place is going to do me well, it'll be a much needed change, I just hope that it does not mess me up grade wise for getting my school work done. I really do not have a problem at all staying at the library all night doing my work. I actually prefer that way. I have less distractions and I know that I am there for a purpose.

Well, I think I will get off here and do some work. Hope everyone had a great day.

piece

i have a midterm tomorrow and a paper due friday. so i've been at the library alot lately cause i like studying there.

i was pretty tired tonight for somereason. it could of been mental. sometimes i think i talk myself into believing that i'm tired. but i had just come from bible study and where we had pigged out on donuts. anyways.

i walked into the starbucks to get a regular coffee. i usually dont like starbucks, but i do applaud them for figuring out a way to charge twice as much for coffee than other people do, and still people flock to them. but it's in the library and it was open so i went there.

anyways.

there were two asian people in front of me. a guy and a girl that were college age. they bought their drinks and then they guy asked the lady working the cash register if they could trade the quarters that he had for the state quarters that starbucks had. he explained that they were from china and wanted to get the quarters that represent each state to take back with them. and i thought it was so cool that the guy and girl working at starbucks went through alot of trouble to find all the state quarters that they had. it just made me feel good about America. how they were willing to take up time and effort to do this. something so simple, like a normal quarter to us, means alot to someone else.

you at the top of the page there is the "next blog" tab. well i was clicking that one day and i came across a blog of a family that has a son, xander, so i believe has downe syndrome. the most recent story had a picture of thier son who is probably onlye 3 or 4 years old sitting in a special stroller. they explained that their insurance would not pay for a new special stroller for their son, which was quite expensive, but someone else who had been reading their blog that they did not know other than through internet sent them the special stroller that they needed because their son had grown out of it. the only thing the couple asked for in return for the stroller was that when xander could no longer use it, that they passed it on to someone else in need of it.

that was really touching as well. you hear of stories like this quite often, but i find it unique and exciting each time.

well i need to keep studying third world countries for my midterm tomorrow. i really enjoy my major, but it does not have much use outside the realm of academia. but i really hope to go to law school, so that will be useful. i want to do pro-bono stuff. pro-bono lawyers do work for those that can not afford a lawyer. this is a requirement to do during law school, so that is what i am most excited about doing during law school.

ok, gotta go now.

piece

i'm sorry for that last one guys, i was in a bad mood that day. i was really stressed.

but i feel better about things right now. i need to remember that i like to work under pressure, and that God has everything under control. i still have alot of work to do, but i can get quite a bit done this weekend.

so we went to see the Batman movie last night... it was amazing. by far the best movie i've seen in a while. i wish i hadn't eaten all that popcorn and coke during the movie, but it was tasty.

i'm watching the tour de france right now and some guy just crashed and broke his bike in half. ridiculous. i hope he is ok.

alot of my friends that are not in summer school are saying things like, "i wish i was back in school" and i'm like, "i wish i wasnt in school right now." but i think if i was not in summer school i would be saying the same thing they are. i just hope the couple of weeks i have off will let me cool down so i dont get burned out this next semester. i think it'll be alright though. i'm not really worried.

i hate when i wanna get work done. i'm motivated to do it. but i cant seem to make myself do it. i just wish i could figure out how to harness my motivation and turn it into action. any suggestions?

i guess i dont have much to say right now. i need to get going. i might post later.

hope everyone has a good day

piece

man guys, well, really girls cause i dont think any guys read this. haha. but if there was a time i needed prayer, it's right now. i just have so much stuff to do, and not alot of time to do it. but i guess, when i think about it, i do have alot of time to get it all done. i'm headed to the library here soon to work a little.

i guess i'm just stressing about nothing essentially.

But then again i want to do well in my classes. as well as making others happy, but i need to look out for myslef right, so that means i have to cancel my plans for this weekend, which will make some other people unhappy, but it's not really that big of a deal. it's just a camping trip. oh well. but thats adding to the stress too.

anyways.

did you see the cover of the new yorker today. its all over the news. it made me laugh. haha.

oh ya, to add to the problem of all this homework, i have to find a place to live in two weeks. i may have to live on my own, but that sucks cause i dont want to do that. it's not my favorite thing to do. oh

i'm just being negative today. i'm sorry.

i need to head to the library.

all this will work out in the end. it'll just be better when i get it behind me. or some of it done with.

hope everyone had a good day.

piece

i'm sorry i didnt post sooner. i found out my LSAT score last thursday. so a week ago today. i was not supposed to get it until monday, but alas they surprised me, and it was not what i was hoping for, so... i wasn't to thrilled to talk about it with people. hence the lateness of this post. but hey, the lightbulb wasnt invented in a day, neither was the telephone. you have to keep trying. so i'm going to take an LSAT Kaplan course and study hard and hopefully make a much better score.

you gotta keep your head up and remember that things will work out in the end. hardwork pays off in the end.

i was thinking today during my poli sci class that just started this week. it's everyday, which isn't bad, but it's right in the middle of the day, so... it's kinda at an awkward time for me. anyways. i'm really glad i picked the major i did, even though it doesn't have much use outside the realm of academia. but i'm concentrating in Public Administration, which has some use if i get my masters in it.

the class is a comparitive nations course and we're focusing on developing countries. so we were talking about industrialization and the things that go along with it, such as education and the things you learn at school other than the ABC's and what not. such as sharing and interacting with people that are different than you. so my teacher says:

"Ya, sharing is a good thing to learn, but some people would say it is bad, i mean, commies (communist) share."

i thought it was funny today.

it rained today. we needed it pretty badly.

i was supposed to do a triathalon this weekend, but i'm not going to. i really wanted to. and to be honest, i'm kinda sad that i'm not doing it. it was an olympic trials triathalon, the last one before the olympic selection. and not that i had ANY chance of doing well, i wanted to do it. but i know that i'm not in good enough shape to do well at all. or to feel comfortable doing it at all. and the way my classes fall for the rest of the summer and the LSAT class schedule is, i probably will not be able to do any more triathalons for a while.

i was talking to my brother today on the way to class, he called to tell me that he and my sister-and-law are going to come visit me this weekend. but i told him that i want him and my other brother to do a triathalon with me next year. so that gives both of them a year to get into shape. my oldest brother, not the one that called me, really needs to excercise. it's important for your health. so i figured that if i could go ahead and get one of them talked into it, it would be easier to talk the other into it. so i think it'll be awesome. kind of a bonding experience.

but excercising is only half of it. i was reading in a magazine today about hearth health, and that just because your fit and work out does not mean that you are immune from heart dissease. eating healthy is a big issue. and i look over this alot. that just cause i live an acitve life style i can eat whatever i want, but i cant, just like i'm not immune to sin.

sometimes i think that i can do whatever i want and it's ok cause God will forgive me, but thats not right. i still need to be on my guard and make sure that i'm living an upright lifestyle you know. it's never ok to smear the line sometimes.

it's black and white, no shades of gray.

i digress.

i have alot of work to do for my classes here in the next like... 3 or 4 weeks. i really need to be working on it. i was planning on going camping next weekend, but unfortunately i might have to break those plans, which would not be cool. but i gotta do what i gotta do.

this too was long, and probably not that interesting. sorry.

hope everyone is doing great.

piece

(this is long, i'm sorry)

so i havent posted on here in a while and i started to type last night, and i'm just now getting back around to it.

i was sitting around with my roommates late last night and we decided that i'm pretty lazy. lazy as in i dont really do much. they didnt say it, they were just laughing at my revelation of how i dont really do much. last week flew by though, it didn't really seem like i didnt do much. but i didn't have much to show for it. i like to be productive. i enjoy studying and learning new things, it is just getting the motivation to sit down and do it.

here are the big things i did last week. lets see. over the weekend i went to atlanta with the church group. man, that seems forever ago. then i went home for my dads b-day. came back and went to class monday night. worked a couple of times. lets skip to thursday, we, as in ryan and i, rode our bicycles to seveirville. which is outside of gatlinburg. thats about a 60 mile trip... what were we thinking... friday i went golfing with some friends, really fun. then the weekend, didnt do much. went to church sunday morning,(i almost overslept), then went and saw wall-e. thats it. i did some reading for class so that i could do a presentation. but i did that at the last minute.

that was a boring paragraph, but i guess my life is too. the golf game wasn't boring though. i think i'm the next jack nicholas.

but i've decided i've gotta get going again with life. as in studying and excercising. these past couple of weeks i haven't really been living the life of a triathalete, which i enjoy doing. but i went on a very enjoyable run yesterday. i really wanna help my family get in shape. my parents saw me do the triathalon in tullahoma and my dad was like, man, i could do that. so i think i'm going to try and talk my parents into doing a relay team for it next year. maybe get my brothers involved. that would be fun.

anyways.

i decided last week that i'm going to start playing the trombone again. i really miss it. it'll be a while before i get good at it, but i enjoy it. and i also decided that i'm going to read the book Uncle Tom's Cabin. it's an important book in American history. so, i'm going to pick that up this week.

the big news: the LSAT scores come out next week. monday actually. less than 6 days from now. cause they get e-mailed out at 10 A.M. or maybe it was P.M., we'll see. but if ya'll could pray for that.

I just wrote about my quite time this morning, but i dont really know where i was going with that. but i wonder what it takes to have the faith the size of a mustard seed?

so summer has flown by, that means school is about to start up and then we'll graduate sometime soon. life goes by fast, and i like many people, am unsure of what will come, but one this forsure, God isn't unsure, i just wish i had a little bit clearer view of what's to come, i feel like i will come monday at 10.

for the first time in a long time the other day i used a wooden pencil and a pencil sharpener, that took me back a ways.

i'm really random. this is my thought process sometimes.

so i was watching the news the other day, and this girl that plays in the WNBA gets paid 2 million dollars to play on a russian basketball team, and they asked her to play on their olympic team, and she's going to do it. she's from colorado by the way. but she got passed up for the american olympic team. so alot of people are getting upset about her playing on the russian team. i was thinking. and she even said this. she has to make some money somehow. but also, this isnt the cold war error anymore. i'm willing to bet, if she was playing for say sweeden or norway or iceland, or anywhere but a communist country, people wouldn't care so much.

i remember when my aunt and uncle decided to adopt children from russia, my grandmother was freaking out, but she can remember back from when the U.S. was friends with russia to when we went to being sworn enemie up to today, when we're friends again. so some people here russia and they are like "we're going to war", but it's not like that. the olympics are about bringing people together. and hopefully the olympics can play a role in solving the dissputes that we have with china and other countries. and someone made a comment on the news the other day that i should of thought of, but i didnt. we're too economically tied with china to boycott the olympics. it would be a devastating blow to our economy and foreign relations for us to cause a fuss. remember, economic trade between countries leads to peaceful relations.

anyways. this is way too long. i'm going to work on some homework. we have a project in our summer class that is worth 50% of our grade. and then we only have 2 or three other grades. that presentation was one of them. but she told us last night that she forgot to give us our midterm. she forgot.... haha. so i think we're just going to have the final. a take home final. but she said since it's take home, she expects "excellence". you should of seen the expression on her face when she said that. it gave me chills. haha.

have a good day! it's beautiful outside.

piece

sorry i dont write on here on a regular basis.

so i took the LSAT. and it wasn't as bad as i thought it would be. but i still wish i had studied more for it. prepared more for it rather. what i really liked was sunday night when i went to bible study. i told everyone that i was going to take the LSAT on monday and everyone was encouraging me for the rest of the night. it was really cool. it was really encouraging for me. so i hope i did well. i think i probably prayed more about it than studied, which isnt necissarily a bad thing.

but i'm really excited about law school and what not, so i hope i did well.

my arm has really been hurting me today. i dont know what i did to it. i hope there isn't anything seriously wrong with it.

i'm going home this weekend. it's my dads birthday and we're going to the lake and what not. it'll be fun but i'm missing out on the chance to go to atlanta with the church and going hiking with some friends. i was going to go hiking on my own this week since i didnt have any obligations, but stuff like that is always more fun with someone else you know, so i didnt go. but thats ok.

i forgot to mention that the LSAT scores are mailed out july 7th, so i'm probably not going to get a good nights sleep until that day. and then, i still may not sleep that well. haha.

july 7th is the same day that my second session class starts. should be fun. that teacher is pretty cool.

i have another triathalon in like 4 weeks. i'm pretty excited about that. the last one was pretty awesome.

i'm not forsure i have much else to talk about. i've been pretty boring lately i guess.

i hope ya'll are doing well

piece

it's blowing up a thunderstorm right now, which is good cause man, we need the rain.

i'm also thinking that times are really bad when they start cutting majors here at school. i can understand cutting the dance program i guess. but when they have to cut the audiology and speech pathology department, you know it's bad. here at UT, and i'm sure it's like this at most all colleges, children from all over east tennessee come to campus to utililize this department for a minimal cost.

i was talking to one of the rowing coaches this afternoon and we figured that it's an attempt by the president to tug at the heart strings of the legislature (thats a term i learned in my budgeting class). it's a hard method to put to use, cause if your trying to bluff by offering to cut such a vital resource to save money, and then they dont back down and give you more money, you actually have to cut it. i hate to see this go. but then again, i would really hate to see my major dissapear. but money needs to be found somewhere. i just wonder about all those maintinence guys that i see sitting in their university vehicles in the back lots just... chillin. are they getting paid just to chill? maybe they are on thier lunch break? but they are also a vital source and i dont want to see anyone loose their job.

as you know, i like to set goals for myself. one of them is to make it into law school (fingers crossed and praying like crazy), but another one of mine, is to make it to the olympics. i know i'm not going in rowing, but i do love it. table tennis is definately out, and i did just do my first triathalon this week, but i'm not going in that,(even though i did love it). so iv'e decided that i'm going in trap shooting.

trap shooting is something that i really got involved in during high school, and it's something that i've always enjoyed. and i really think i can pull it off. i was looking at the scores of the members of the national team, and i can already shoot that pretty much. so, my goal is to make it to the 2016 olympics. hopefully i'll graduate law school in 2012, and then when i get a job i can afford to practice on a regular basis. just something else to shoot for.

less than a weak till the LSAT. thats definately a prayer request. and my grandmother as well.

i hope all of ya'll are doing well. stay cool in this hot weather.

and wear sunscreen. the sun'll get ya, (sun'll: a contraction of sun and will... lol).

piece

well i finally paid my rent, i had forgotten about it till last night. this is the second to last payment i have to make for this apartment that i'm in now. i still do not know where i'm going to live next year. hopefully a house, but we'll see. to me this is kinda like a new chapter in life. i guess you could say that the new chapter wouldnt start until after i graduate, but i think it changes at least every year, if not with every new challenge in life. but needless to say, this is a time of change for us right now. i'm about to graduate, ya'll are about to graduate (and i say that, cause only a couple of people read this, and i know ya'll are on the verge of that. haha). so this new chapter is like building up to a new climax in life.

there's another climax that is about to happen. even as i type this we are experiencing major history in the making. for the first time in over 200 years, an african american is about to recieve the nomination from the major party to run for the president of the united states. i feel like this is a spectacular event in u.s. history. how far we have come from slavery and the civil rights disputes from not so long ago.

i think the american public needs to realize that yes, we need a change in government, but we shouldnt vote for the canidate that is expressing "change", and hasnt really said what that change would be. but it is good look back in history and see what has and has not worked. we need to remember that the government does not necissarily know what is right for us, so we should allow a bigger government to taking industries over and nationalizing (socializing) them. it doesnt last.

i digress

the LSAT is june 16th. i think i'm going to put it off until the october test date. law schools really look at this when making a decision, and i think i'm fooling myself by saying i'm ready right now. i don't have a problem saying that i'm not ready, and that i just havent studied like i should have. i've put in some good work, but not good enough. and i know, like most things, if i just put my mind to it, i can do it. anyone can. and some things come easier to some people than to others. math isnt my fortey(spelling), but i can do this, i just need to put in the time.

my grandmother was put in the hospital the other day. she had some sort of heart failure. but being the trooper that she is, she's back home now, and doing well. but she has some "leaky valves" that lead to and from her heart. so if ya'll could continue to pray for her. but i think she's probably had this for a while, so i think she'll continue to do well.

i need to get a job

i have my first triathalon this weekend, i'm pretty excited about it. nervous as well. it'll be a test of mental and physical endurance. i'm ready for the challenge. just as my friend said, triathalons aren't impossible just tough, as well as the LSAT isn't impossible, just tough.

so i had another flat tire on my bike today. this makes like, number.... 15 or something like that. well i only have 3 old bike tubes, so when i go to the bike shop tomorrow i'm going to get another old one or two, and then try making a wallet out of them. they have some for sale on the internet. but i'm going to try and do better than what they have made.

ok, well i guess i should go study.

piece

so, i wrote a reply back to the random girl that replied to my last post, but for some reason it didnt stay. oh well, i'm not going to go on with it.

i went to church this morning and then bible study tonight. my mind was everywhere. but i made some new friends at bible study and saw some old ones. one of the guys at bible study is going to start his LSAT studying tomorrow. so we're going to study together. he said he wants to do four hours a day until the day of the test. sounds good to me. and i'll study outside of that too. so it's looking up. i've been praying about it alot cause law school is something that i really wanna do and the LSAT is the way to get there.

my parents are always real supportive of me. my mom told me to keep my chin up. it's funny, i just thought of it right, my mom is always the one, not my dad, to encourage me to be a man. i was reading in a devotional book that i was looking at buying yesterday, and it was talking about being a man. how as you grow up you learn not to take the easy way out, to over come the challenges. ya, thats not just something guys go through, i didnt read the whole thing, i'm sure there was more. haha. but it's true, i dont need to take the easy way out, and just cause one thing is getting in my way doesnt mean i should stop. it's obviously not impossible cause people do well on it all the time, i just need to put time in on it.

i'm pretty tired, i was thinking about making some coffee, but i did that earlier this week, and i didnt sleep at all that night. sucks.

well i oughta go do something productive

piece

so i came back to knoxville earlier than i wanted to cause i thought i would study for the LSAT better here, but i havent been able to. wendsday my mind was too active to concentrate. but i was able to get some reading done. today, thursday, nothing. it was a very unproductive day. no excercising, no studying. very bad. so tomorrow, cody and i are going rowing pretty early and then i'm headed to the library. so hopefully, it'll workout well. if not, then i may head back home.

on a more serious note, more tragic really, the california supreme court overturned a voter, did you read that, a popular vote, that banned gay marriage. what in the world. i dont see how thats legal, overturning a popular vote. but i guess it is. i'm just worried about the future of things you know. like, if i'm ever blessed enough to have kids, i want to raise them in an environment that isnt going to be so... crazy, you know? i know that the home environment means alot, but the school environment and media has alot to do with it too. and of course the laws that could potentially be passed. (i had a big political thing typed out, but i deleted it, it's not appropriate for on here. and ya'll know me, it's not what i like to talk about)

and, amy and chris' wedding was alot of fun. i was happy to see amy get married. i've known her all my life, so looking back on all the goodtimes we've had, it was cool. and the reception was fun. i got to see friends from high school that i havent seen in forever.

ok, i've gotta go to bed so i can function tomorrow. i still need to put on here how to read ya'lls posts. i'll do that tomorrow.

-piece

i'm addicted to checking my email. i cant help it. i guess i could be addicted to worse things.

i really enjoy my foreign policy class. i want to try and take another one.

i'm going to be in the boro for probably a week or two. so i'll be in the mtsu library studying for a while. it'll be a good change. i'm going to be studying for the LSAT. fun stuff. i'll be home like wendsday or thursday. i'm kinda glad. like i said, i need a change.

back to studying for finals though.

-piece

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1986249/posts

i gotta go proofread my foreign policy paper now. i should of gone to the writing center... i should of taken the initiative.

my roommate got this in an email, it's quite funny.

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so i was typing this and then i looked up something for my roommate and now i have to start all over again. but thats ok cause i didnt get too far. i'm cooking dinner for the team tonight so i dont have long to do my homework when i get done on here. but i wanted to write on here cause i always seem to have the urge to do my work when i get done on here. and i definately need to do a little homework. if all i do is make an outline for my papers, which is very important. call me crazy, but i was reading out of my harbrace handbook before i started typing this.

today was pretty good. kinda hectic. i went to pick up the truck from school so that we could pull the boats down to oak ridge this morning for the race this weekend, but the school had given away out truck for the weekend, even though we had requested it two weeks ago. pretty crazy. but we found a guy that would pull it for us, it was just a hectic ordeal. yesterday i started in on some of my work but i was just feeling sick, so i couldnt do that. but after i had some chicken noodle soup i perked up. i made it to sundown in the city last night it's a free outdoor concert that knoxville does every thursday during the summer. it was pretty awesome. galactica was there, i had never heard them before, but they were good. marc brusard is coming later in the summer. that'll be fun.

i got my stats test back the other day and i made a good grade. a B. i would mutch rather have an A of course, but for me, a B will be fine for a math class. but then again, i need to step it up in some of my other classes too. but i should be able to raise my GPA again this semester.

i cant wait till summer. i need a break. not really a break, just a change of pace. i really wanna come home. i may try to come home for a day over the study break, but gas is so so expensive that i dont think i will. i actually think i may be able to go to Philidelphia the first weekend after finals. i've always wanted to go. the national championship for rowing is up there. we're not participating, but i know some guys that are so i think i'm just going to jump in the car. splitting the gas eight ways wont be that bad. i'm hoping that we can race up there next year. we'll have to play that by ear though.

the paper i have to write is for foreign policy. i think everyone should take a foreign policy class. it would broaden your opinions. i kinda like the way our teacher assigned this book we had to read, and then again, i kinda dont. i feel like the book, "reluctant crusader" might of been a little biased, but at the same time, i feel like he, the author, was just stating alot of facts and history. but anyways, our teacher assigned and the first day of class he was like, "well, i havent read this book, i just picked one." and i feel by doing that he wasnt impressing his own ideas on us, which i like.

these past few days i've become a food addict. i cant help myself. i just eat way too much. it's not good for me. for anyone really.

we'll i've gotta go do some work. now i only have like 30 minutes to get a little bit of work done. we'll see.

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i am again finding it pretty hard to get started on my homework. i've had all morning to do my work, i havent started. i decided last night that i needed to start living my life with fervancey, perseverance, persistence, and some pation. it's jut not kicking in this morning.

i have a question for ya'll. how do i read ya'lls posts? like, instead of having to type in the web address. isn't there a way i can just click and see what you have written? i'm kinda confused. but maybe there isnt.

i guess i dont have much else to say right now. i need to work on my paper. but the sun is shining today, pretty awesome, but we needed all the rain we have gotten

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i'm finding it pretty hard to get started on my homework tonight. but i have bible study in like 45 minutes. but that still leaves me like 40 minutes to do homework cause the guys house is right around the corner. i just need to get my mind in gear. i was sitting in my first class today and i was finding it very hard to be there, though it was pretty interesting. i had a nightmare for the first time in a long time last night. it was quite freaky. and it was about what i've been learing about in my history class. makes me glad i live in a developed country, but then again, it could happen here too. you never know. anyways, i digress.

so, about two weeks of school left and then a week or two of finals and then we're done. we'll be seniors. it seems like yesterday i was going to my first college class hoping i could find it. where does time go. my grandmother tells me all the time that as you get older time goes by faster, and as i look back at past weeks, i see how much time i let slip by. but i feel like today i used my time wisely, for the most part. oh ya, so today i prepared for bible study cause i'm leading it tonight, and i didnt find out till yesterday that i was leading it. i looked some references up on the internet and it was a really good bible study for me. it's the last section of James, and it's about prayer. i know we talk about prayer alot, but it's really important to pray earnestly. so i liked what i learned today, i'm anxious to talk with the rest of the group about it tonight.

i cant wait till i'm done with my stats class, but it's been good for me. definately better than my other math classes, i just hope i dont make a C. i'm going to study hardcore for the final. i think i'll need to.

i have two papers due next week, i'm hoping to start writing them tomorrow. one is only 2-3 pages, it wont be bad at all. the other is supposed to be 5-6, it's the one i'm worried about. hopefully i'll get a B+ in that class. i wish i had studied harder for the quizes, then i could get an A. but i've been there every class. maybe he'll bump it up a little bit. but then again. who knows.

i was thinking about pulling an all nighter tonight, but there really isnt the need to. it was supposed to snow today, but it didnt.

do you notice my random thought process.

i cant wait till school is over, i would like to spend some time at home. i need to find a job for the summer though, and since i'm staying up here in knoxville, i need to start looking for one now. cause technically, i could probably start doing that now. but i need some ideas. i guy told me i could do landscaping with him this summer and make some good money, but i've done that so much in the past, i would kinda like to learn a new trade, so we'll see. i wouldnt mind learning to do masonary work. you know, laying bricks.

anyways, i should probably read before i have to head out.

hope everyone is doing good.

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today has been one of those days where i thought i might be more productive than i really have been. but thats ok. it's been relaxing. i've done some laundry, made some lunch,(which i wasnt really hungry for) and read a little bit in my book. but, i've also watched way too much tv.

i'm playing in a basketball tournement tomorrow afternoon. i'll probably miss practice, kinda sucks. but we'll see whats up. it should be fun. i also cut my own hair this morning. kinda scary. i messed up a little bit, but the good thing about hair is that it'll grow back pretty quick. i'll just wear a hat for the next few days. i just cant stand my hair being long.

megan and i broke up the other day. i really think it was for the best. she just doesnt have a good handle on things at times. but i want indulge in that.

i'm kinda tired right now. but i'm thinking i just need to do something active right now. my roommats and i and a couple of our friends went out last night. it was a good time. nothing too crazy. but we really got to see the true side of south knoxville, which is where our apartment is. as we call it on campus, "the other side of the river", for it's on the other side of the tennessee river from campus. it was pretty funny.

so it's for sure that my brother and his wife are moving to knoxville. i'm really excited about that. they told me before anyone else in the family. i've been itching to tell people for like three weeks. this is the brother lives in southern alabama, so we dont get to see them much, but here in a few weeks they'll be up here. i think i'm staying up here for the summer. go to summer school and what not. i put in an application to interview with the IRS for a summer internship. if ya'll could pray for that. i would really like to do something like that. but then again, if i go to summer school i could graduate when i'm supposed to, but thats just minor stuff. whats another summer.

i have two papers i have to write by week afer next. which means classes are done in like two weeks and then a week of finals. man, this is going by way to quick. i really need to get some things underway. like studying for the LSAT, man.

do you ever have the urge to really want to do well on something, but not do what it takes to make it happen. i kinda have that problem quite frequently. i think i'll go to the library here in the next few minutes. i'm still uploading photos to my facebook. i finally got that to work. i need to make sure i wear a hat though. haha. make sure no one sees my crazy hair. i need to go looking for an apartment for this summer/next year. i need to get ahold of jake and see what he wants to do. some friends of ours are renting a really cool house on the river not far from campus, or from where i live now. it's in a nice neighborhood, which is important. the past two days we've gotten alot of emails about people being mugged. students that is. it was really bad right after christmas break and then here the past couple of days there's been alot of reports about it. sucks. but i degress. the people, a husband and wife, that are renting that house are going to be moving over the summer and we'd love to rent that house. luckily the guy that owns it is a big rower here in knoxville and we know him. so hopefully we can get a good deal on it.

i bought an eric clapton CD yesterday, i love it.

i have some other stuff i wanna talk about, but i'll save it. till another time.

i dont even know if anyone reads this. but then again i just made it.

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I really shouldnt be writing on here right now, i have a stats test at 630 tonight that i absolutely need to study for, but i really had the urge to write. anyways.

so this morning after i worked out and came back and ate and then got ready in a hurry and ran to my car, i remembered i didnt read my bible and have my quite time like i had planned, but luckily my bible was in the car. so when i got to campus i went to the amphitheater out side HSS and sat in the sun. they had just mowed the grass in the wee hours of the morning (i should know, i was running across campus), which over the years of many long days mowing i've come to love. so i sat down and started reading and one of the passages i read was Jeramiah 17 and 18. The first little bit was really striking to me. all it said was how Jeramiah(i'm probably spelling that wrong) went to the potters house like God told him to and he was stadding there watching him form a pot on the wheel, but it became disfigured and the potter reformed it. This hit me really hard. I've just recently started having a quite time again and i know i really need to get back in the habit. but it really made me see how God forms my life. even when i mess up his plan, and i get off track, He'll reform me and keep working with me. On the way to campus i was praying about how it's coming crunch time and i wanna go to law school and just asking God if that's really what i need to do, and this passage just kind of told me that he'll show me the way. even though i've known that for the longest time, but still. sometimes it just hits you.

After i read about the Jerimiah and the potter, i read the parriable about the rich young man, and how after keeping the commandments, the next thing is to give away all your worldly goods and follow God. I feel like these went together very well. After you follow God with all your heart, he can really start to work with you then.

pretty touching.

then i started reading the paper. I'm the ultimate procrastinator. even though i know i have the prime opportunity to study since all my classes except one was cancled today, i'm still wasting time, kinda of. but i would of read the paper eventually today, might as well get it out of the way right?

anyways, one of the opinion articles in it was about how UT is like a miniture socialist country. but he had a disclaimer about how thats not totally right, but what he left out, which is why socialism, i.e. communism doesnt work, is that eventually people figure out that they dont have to contribute to the economy, or the system as a whole, to take advantage of it. But at UT, or any university, you have to. you have to pay in order to use the free medical center, the free library, the free rec center, the free computers, the free sidewalks. In reality it's not free, author acknowledged this, that you have to pay, and the fruits from that money that you don't use is made up for by the fruits that you do take advantage of, i.e. you may not use the computer lab where as you use the rec center and someone else my do the opposite. but in a true socialist environment, such as the former USSR, the workers eventually figure out that they can just kick back and not contribute, but still get the benefits of the programs. which is why the USSR collapsed, their economy couldnt keep up. they werent maintaining free trade, (the hated globalization, but without you wont have a market for your merchandise) but even if they were, half their workers were drinking reeping the benefits of others. They tried to put a ban on drinking, but we've seen from our own history that this just makes things worse. Violence and what not.

anyways, that went on too long. people just need to look at the facts at why this doesnt work. socialism that is. they also need to look at the facts about gun violence and the statistics of having a permit vs not having one. but there is alot of personal feelings behind all that. (that was in the paper too.)

i'm sorry, i'm normally not this political.

ok, time for statistics...

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