Home

It feels so good to have a permanent place to live. I'm going to be staying at my friend Bryson's apartment for the summer. I was crashing at my old apt and my friend James' place for almost a week. I feel like I can breathe a lot easier now. Not having your own place can be stressful.

The Cause

I want to find a cause to fight for. I've been thinking recently and I've come to the conclusion that I want to have an occupation where I'm making a difference in the world and in individual people's lives. I'm just not sure what that is going to look like. What cause do I want to fight for? There are so many to choose from. One of my favorite quotes is from a man named Gil Bailie. One of my favorite authors John Eldredge used this quote in his famous book Wild at Heart. Baile says, "Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive". I can see why John would dig that quote. I want to find something that makes me feel completely alive. I want to put my whole heart into something and try to change things for the better.

Summer

It's almost here! I want to do a lot of things this summer. I still have school and work but there is so much more I plan on doing. I want to learn how do play the piano. Everybody and their mother plays the guitar but I want to try something different. I plan on looking on ebay soon for a somewhat inexpensive keyboard. I also want to learn how to drive a stick shift. It's a skill that could come in handy one of these days. I want to use a decent amount of my time reading some of the many books that I want to check out. I've recently gotten into working out so I plan on continuing to do that as well.

The Books I Read

I like to read books about peoples lives. How did this person deal with the circumstances that they were born into? What were their dreams? How did they try to achieve them? What obstacles were in their way and how did they overcome them? How did they learn from their failures? I haven't really lived too much during my 21 years. I've done some pretty cool things and seen some beautiful places but there is so much more that I want to see and do. Hopefully the journey is just beggining. I find it interesting reading about what people do with their lives. I'm in the midst of two autobiographical books right now which detail two very different lives:

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

Randy Pausch has pancreatic cancer and only has a few months to live. He was a professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburg and gave his "last lecture" detailing what he learned in life and how he fulfilled his dreams. He is trying to make the most of his time left on earth by spending time with his family and by just enjoying life. He was recently named one of the 100 Most Influential People by Time Magazine. Video of his last lecture can be found on the internet if you want to check it out.

Tweak by Nic Sheff

Nic Sheff messed up his life by getting into drugs. He was from the Bay Area and then went to college out in Massachusetts. He starts doing crystal meth and soon becomes an addict. I'm at the part of the book where him and a friend start dealing the stuff.

Both of these men had similar chances to do whatever they wanted with their lives. One became a college professor who specialized in virtual reality systems while the other messed up his life significantly at an early age by getting into drugs. I find it interesting to see what people do with their time here on earth.

The End of the Semester

I have one more day of class on Friday and then finals next week. I'm so looking forward to being done with this semester. To know that I never have to take math, science, english or history again is a good feeling. It's all communications from here on out. Whether I'm going to like that is a different story. I've only taken one communications class which was during my freshman year. I didn't really like it way too much but it wasn't horrible. Finals week is usually no fun, but after my last final on Friday I'm going fishing and camping with some friends which should be cool. I'm definitely not the best fisherman in the world though. I haven't caught a fish in about 10 years. It's not that I haven't gone fishing since then but when I go I just don't get catch any when I go. It's kind of embarassing seing little kids fishing alongside of you pulling in fish while you haven't even gotten a bite.