WOOT

So I realize I have kind of neglected this very young, budding blog but.

January is kind of boring.

DON'T GET ME WRONG! My J-term class was interesting as all-get-out. I loved exploring modern culture and the effects of gender blur and the constructs of language and how it constricts and enables us BUT.

I was kind of boring, otherwise.

To anyone who reads this blog though, I am planning an awesome new installment of WHAT I DO OUTSIDE OF COLLEGE!
Hopefully, this J-term break is going to be freaking awesome.

So look out.

Until then, well. You have this, somewhat short, curt post.

GET OFF YOUR COMPUTER AND ENJOY LIFE!!

(hypocrisy thy name is Sam)

What I Do Out of College

So, most people make a [[COLLEGE!!]] album on Facebook their freshmen year of college, which is cool, no lie it's legit, but for me a lot of my life I like to spend outside of school. I definitely don't believe college or high school can be the only best years of your life and sometimes I think it's really easy to get wrapped up in all this academia before you realize that there's a bigger and fuller world out there where people don't even go to college or school or stay in their houses for years with their parents or live with everyone in their family and yada yada yada. 

 

I hope I don't sound like I'm standing on a soap box here. I don't mean that, just that I like life outside of school. 

So, I thought I'd start some snippets of what I do when I'm not sitting around studying/partying/being uber cool... Stereotypical college stuff ya know? ;)

P.s. I take creeper photos. I love candid shots. Because I'm weird.

I chill with my grandparents/creep on my grandpa. Yep, sour cream and onion chex mix. Didn't even know it existed.

Admire the candleholder I bought for my grandparents that they still actually keep around. I got this for my grandma for Mother's Day. I felt like it pretty much summed up what her and my grandpa accomplished in our family.

Creep on my aunt. She's hilarious and lets me mosh her. Yeah. We mosh pit.  She's  a pretty and sassy lady.

Assume the position in my grandparents kitchen. We chill here all the time. This is grandma's natural pose

Play canasta, which actually isn't normal for me. But playing cards is. This is my grandma's favorite game and she almost made me stay until midnight to keep playing. Had to put my foot down though, I'm responsible and all.

Finally get scolded about my ripped up boot that I should "Take back ASAP!"... Hahahaha. Oh, well.

Nbd.

Ok, go.

I have wonderful cousins. To be a little more honest than anyone reading this blog probably wants me to be, they are probably the reason I didn't look to my brothers and try to follow in their footsteps because I was always looking up to my older cousins. My extended family has a strangely strong connection and understanding of unconditional love, no matter how long its been since we've seen each other, or how many new people come into our lives. My cousin Renae, who now lives in Oregon with her husband and three children will always come first for me. Same with Deedre who lives in Michigan, or Daniel in Minneapolis.

So anyway, my extended family had a huge impact, is my point. Especially when it came to my faith.

In the past couple of years, three of my cousins have participated in a program called YWAM (Youth With A Mission). Kind of like hard core Christian Peace Corps haha, from what I can gleam of it. Before my cousin Cerrita (who now lives as a director of a base down in Panama City, Panama) went, both of us had been really having trouble staying close to God. She went to YWAM and her life changed. She started to really believe in the power of prayer, and the miracles God can provide us with. And I just was not there. For the last four years that she and I have been talking about all these changes, and she's just reached a place I've consistently found impossible to be at, even more thought I'd never have the chance to get to. But we stay close and I talk with her as much as I can through skype.

So, college hadn't exactly made anything much much better with my whole relationship with God. One of my best friends though, had actually had a great semester at her college and she is feeling especially close to the Lord. She attended the SALT conference which was held here in Sioux Falls the first week of January. One of the nights, I tagged along (for free, whats up) to one of their worship services, and of course because I absolutely love this girl who invited me along.

Safe to say, though, I was a little weirded out.

They were talking about speaking in tongues and baptizing like 3 different times and as much as I tried to get into it I really couldn't. Not a shocker for me though, I've never really had an "aha" moment or anything like that at these things. After the service, we went up to one of the hotel rooms and her small group met and people shared what they wanted. I sat quietly. I am pretty awesome at sitting quietly. Then, the small group leader, my friend, and a couple of other girls came up and asked if they could pray for me. My friend had given me a heads up so it wasn't completely out of the blue but still, open prayer, especially hands on each other prayer, not my forte. But, I said sure.

It started out with some blanket kind of prayer, like thanking Him that I could come and all that. Then some of the other girls started to pray and they started to pray for things that I had never told them about. I really met all of those girls that night, and had barely talked to any one of them for more than five minutes, but the things they started praying about, specifically to and for me, were amazing. Definitely things they could not have known about, and could not have been applied to any random person.

Afterwards, I asked Alyssa (yep, best friend, no big) if she had told them anything about me, and she promised she hadn't. This last week I've been thinking a lot about it, and trying to explain it in any other way than the whole "God told them what to pray" thing. And, so far... I haven't exactly been able to.

Luckily, I got to talk about this with Cerrita and well, basically she said "I told you so." In a lot nicer way of course, because she's my older, much kinder cousin (and I'm her favorite cousin). But, for the first time in my whole entire life I feel like this whole relationship with God thing is actually possible. I still haven't felt it, and I'm not sure when it'll be clear enough for me to just trust in but, I am definitely more excited to try than I ever have been.

One of the ways I've always felt closer to God is worship music (yeah, that really cheesy contemporary kind). I sang this song at my cousin's wedding this past fall, and the more I practiced it, the more I really liked it, even though it's simple and blah blah blah.

Anyway.

This could be a great time to start looking up.

Party Rock

When I was in high school, I wasn't really a party person. Usually, I drove others around, or had movie nights at my place. On occasion, quite possibly we would happen to go out into the town and wreak amazing amounts of havoc (in other words, messing up stuff at Wal Mart). This was all until my senior year, which was really the first time I ever did any "partying".

Last night I went to the second college party I've ever been to here at Augie and I've found something out: I am not really a party person. Like, I'm just terrible at being at parties. I'd much rather just go to coffee or sit around the dorm and play cards, or not watch a movie and make conversation.

I really love getting to know and meeting new people. The parties I've been to just really don't seem to be an environment conducive for particularly getting to know someone. So I mean, I guess I should be asking myself why I still attend these things, or partake in other activities like them, and I really don't know. Maybe half of the reason is because the people who I know that do attend them I care about, and enjoy being around. Maybe it's because I expect to be proven wrong every time. But either way, I don't think I'll be doing much of that anymore, though, I would be a much cooler kid if I did.

But if anyone would like to have some coffee and maybe watch The Lion King... I'm around!

Knowledge is Power

I definitely did not write anything over the holidays. Know why?

Me neither.

But, I've come back to Augie now for J-term and I have this whole big room to myself now that my roommate decided to move over to the other hall. Definitely a little sad, there's a whole half (haha) of this room that's completely bare! But, I've dressed up the bed and will just have to start hosting more and more shin-digs here.

Anyway the one thing I wish I would've done while I was home is taken more pictures! Especially since I had gotten a new camera for Christmas. But, the thing with my pictures, is that they're usually weird, very candid, and almost never include me in them. Want an example?

These are a couple of bridges up in Minneapolis. Me and a friend were driving around much too late at night looking at lights, and of course I took the second picture without thinking about rolling the window down.

I was hoping to go around one day and take photos of my hometown, but, I definitely forgot and ran out of time to do that.

But, I did capture one important thing at home...

Haha, I might've taken this just when I got the camera but still! My dog is awesome. His name is Max, he's 8 years old, and I've had him since he was a pup. The first night he came home with us I stayed up with him all night and slept by his kennel. He's probably the kindest, sweetest and most chill dog you will ever meet. He is so good with little kids. Anyway, I love my dog.

While break is alright, and I'll miss Max like crazy, it's nice to be back in Sioux Falls. EVEN THOUGH SOUTH DAKOTA DECIDES IT DOESN'T WANT ANY SNOW!
I'm a little upset about that.

But I guess I'll deal.