Politics 101

i have a couple of questions/comments:

1) how do these people exist?

2) why do these people have the right to vote?

3) this is why actors use a southern accent to denote the stupidity of a character in a movie

FYI

Regent College Retreat 2k8

alright, well its almost the weekend and i havent even written about the previous weekend which was the regent college retreat.  it was the good times.  even the 2.5 hour standstill wait that we had at the border.  oh, our retreat was in some camp in washington state.  

so, when i registered for the retreat, they assigned me a car (since i didnt have a car and opted not to walk there).  so i was placed in a car of all girls.  goody yay, GIRLZ NITE!!!!111one

i climb in with julie, heather and christa.  it was going to be awesome.  i knew these girls but i didnt know them very well.  by the end of the trip, we knew each other very well.  christa actually liked me and then hated me, and then i gave her some chocolate and now shes my friend again.  (but she still gives me the stink eye)

like i said 3 paragraphs prior, we had to wait in the border-crossing line for 2.5 hours.  it was ridiculous so we HAD to make it fun.  the way i made it fun was to go into the duty free shop and buy chocolates (which i used later as a swiss/american peace offering)

while i was in this huge duty free shop, i was really tempted to go up to the counter (they had a counter by the way....they were selling coffee and gelato) and say, "there isnt any duty in this chocolate gelato is there???"

but i "grew up" and didnt.  so i opted to settle for going into the bathroom and having a conversation with myself in the mirror for 6-7 minutes.  oh, and strangers dont like it when you say, "hey dad" to them.

as i walk out of the duty free shop, i see the rest of the girls out of the car and grinning.  ohhh great, i must have missed something funny.  so i get there and they told me that some of my possessions "may" be missing...

awesome.  i have to look like a jackass while searching for my belonging in this huge line of cars.  so i head one way...and not a minute passes before i hear an old couple yelling out of their oldsmobile to go the other.  awesome, at least someone is on my side!

i find my hoodie and i think im done.  but nay.  my passport is missing.  honestly, who hides someone's passport while we are about to cross the border.  but it was close to the car bc they were scared someone might steal it...they wanted to keep an eye out.  more like 6 girly eyes.

adventure 1 over?

i guess thats an adventure.

so we begin the second adventure.  which was to play dutch blitz on the trunk of the car.  now i didnt know what this card game was but it was awesome.  a lot of fun.  and when we had to move forward, someone would climb in the car and slowly move ahead while the rest of us would keep playing and walking at the same time.  everyone else were pissed because they werent having as much fun as us.  we rule.

oh, the reason christa hated me was because she was at first denied at the border bc she was swiss and she was walking.  ok well, julie and her decided that since she would probably have to go inside to get her fingerprints and picture taken, then it would be faster if she went ahead and did all that jazz.   well, this is what they encountered:

Pissed Off Officer: "where are you from"

Christa: "switzerland, you know, the harmless neutral country"

POO: "where are you walking to?"

C: "uhhh america"

POO: "where exactly!"

C: "well, im with a car but i thought it would be faster to walk because to see if i had to fill out anything since im neither canadian nor american"

POO: "you cant do that, you have to go away.  you have to go back to your car and once you and your car come, all 4 of your have to come inside for questioning!"

sooo christa hated me because im american and refused her into my country.  a couple minutes after posing for pictures of 'me kicking christa out of america' i gave her some chocolate and asked if she liked me again.  she was unsure.

ARRIVAL!

we finally get to the camp and its dark.  it took forever for us to get there. stupid border.

so my plan was to share a tent with my friend andy.  but i had no idea where he was and he had no idea if i was even going to show up that night.  but we finally found each other and i climbed in the tent.  we had nice pillow talk for a bit and then went to sleep.  he fell asleep really fast and almost immediately started snoring.  i was in trouble.

lets just say, i didnt get much sleep.

i also wake up to a puddle of water beside me.

the retreat was SO AWESOME regardless if it sprinkled the whole time.  all the chapel services and activities were so fun.  it was really great that we all could come and hang out and get to know each other better.

saturday night was probably the most fun of the trip.

we did some ceilidh dancing which is traditional scottish dancing.  IT WAS SO AWESOME and i was super sweaty...well everyone was super sweaty.  yeah i definitely want to do that again, at some hip club.  just walk in while everyone is trying to booty dance and just bust out some ceilidh dancing skillz with some friends.  WE WOULD RULE THE NIGHT.

after the dancing was THE TALENT SHOW WHATEVER!!!

the talent show was totally premium.  there were acts of actual talent but for the most part it was just meant to be funny.  the host, joe, was awesome.  the whole time he spoke, it was like stand up.  his material was great but maybe a little much for kids.....and yes there were kids there.  my favorite quote was from a professor who go up and said:

"joe, you are really funny, my favorite part of your monologue is the 10-12 questions that my little boys are asking me that i wont be able to answer for another 5 years!"

i was actually recruited to join in a group talent gig.  it was really fun.

this is how it went:

the first video is of matt and his heartfelt poem that he wrote when he was in high school.  high school was pretty rough on him.  im in the second video...the second video is part 2 and is a response to matts poem.  our part was kind of an artistic interpretation of matts poem... im the guy with the black pants, white jacket and hat.

yeah, we rule.  im professional now.  millions of dollars.

the best compliment was from my new costa rican friend eduardo.  i asked him how we did and he grabbed my shoulder, looked intently in my eyes and said, "you are going to make it my friend"

after the retreat, we piled in the car and headed home.  the wait to get into canada was like 20 minutes.  it was awesome.  canadians were way cooler and less paranoid.  

all in all, it was an AWESOME trip.  i got to know so many people well, it is so great to have such a tight community in an academic setting.

Fun in the Kitchen

alright, ill give a little update on my premium cooking skillz!  by the end of the term, ill probably be the best cook in the world.  ive found out one thing...i like soup.  and i like adding canned vegetables to soup.  doesnt matter what kind of soup or veggies because it will ALWAYS taste delicious and give you powers.  powers of excellent eye sight and listening skills while watching a movie and/or tv show and/or a picture of the BZL shower time.  well, you really dont need listening skills for the last one but the energy used for listening can easily be transfered to the eyes...FOR MAXIMUM GAZING!

so for your view pleasure, i give you a couple of he meals ive had:

what we see here is none other than chicken noodle soup, a staple in every sick childs life.  oh wait! what do we have here??? what are those little yellow balls of ultimate flavor??? CORN!! oh no he didnt!!

yes i did folks.  i added half of a can of corn to my soup, turning a regular meal into a culinary masterpiece.  and to add to the savory meal, ive added whole wheat bread.  and my date for the evening is the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy.  great meal, great flick, great times.

round 2.  very similar but instead of chicken noodle soup, we have tomato soup.  and of course, i added the other half of the can of corn.  i mean, it was only logical that i used that...if i waited another day or so, they would probably go bad.  BUT NAY! it was delicious.  for extra flavor and texture, ive added saltines and a diet soda.  the peanuts in the background were not a part of this meal but rather another experiment that im working on.  

to enjoy this meal, ive put on Mr. Show with david cross and bob odenkirk.  you know how people say that certain wines enhance the meal?  well, i believe that movies/tv shows enhance the meal A MILLION TIMES MORE!!!

i will say that preparation for this meal did come with some ill fated  consequences.  while reaching for the bottle of diet coke, the top of it hit the side tray of the refrigerator off and  8 eggs flew into the air and landed at my feet.  surprisingly none of them broke!

of course they all broke, what are you? an idiot?  you should really be ashamed of yourself.

sick tatty:

so i was on the bus with branden and there was a guy sitting beside me that looked like a GQ model.  he was fit and wore black slacks, black shoes, a turquoise button down shirt with a black tie.  ladies, he looked premium.  however, he started talking.  to me, to be exact.  

hepper: "hey bro, whats your tatty say?"

i was first very displeased with his choice of the word "tatty".  now, as you can see, his name was hepper.  but he was neither a heifer nor a leper. 

me: "it says 'redeemer'...do you have any tattoos of your own?"

hepper: "yeah, i have 'bro' tattooed on my foot"

now i respond with "haha thats awesome" in a very "inside voice" manner but in head i was screaming, "YESSSS!! OH YEEEESSSSS!!!!!! CHAD YES!!! COME ON!!!!"

the three of us talked the rest of the ride about school and what we were studying.  i also found out that 3rd year hepper is pledging the beta house.  the beta house is the frat house that is right beside regent college on campus.  so pretty much i have an "in" with beta and now i can party hard with the brothers.

as for school, it is going well but there is SO MUCH READING.  even though i dont have classes monday or fridays, i still have to come to school to go to the library.  along with reading, my hebrew homework takes me FOREVER! but it is really cool and i am really enjoying the courses im taking.  the stuff im learning and the conversations im having with my new friends are really amazing.

i also saw the new coen brothers film, burn after reading, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

so this weekend is the regent college retreat.  we are going somewhere in washington state...im not really sure what campground but we are staying there the weekend to have fun.  there was a choice to camp out for sleep in the cabin.  i am going to be camping with andy.  it is going to be totally awesome and we are going to make smores and scare other people at night.  

there is also going to be a talent show saturday night and just as a heads up, i may or may not have been recruited for a dance routine...

Donkey has a new nickname

so after classes thursday, eva told me about a "get together" that was occurring friday night at a coffee shop called wired monk.  apparently there was a live band there and good times to be had.  since that trumped my nothing plans, i of course accepted her invitation.  

friday night came around and i hopped on a bus to go to this wired monk place.  i arrive at 8:15 or so and walk in to see like 10 or so fellow first year regent students sitting around like 3 joining tables with a variety of beverages.  coffee, beer, and ian from england was drinking what looked to me like a big glass full of snow.  he exclaimed the the shaved ice drink was mint flavored.  i really wished this happened:

ian - "oh, yes ill have a large of the shaved ice, please"

clerk - "ok, well what flavor do you want? we have peach, strawberry, grape, orange..."

ian - "flavor?  ohhh no, none for me thank you.  'cold' will be my flavor thank you very much"

clerk - "oook, thatll be a million dollar"

ian - "yum yum yum i looooove snow flavored shaved ice"

so while im searching for an empty chair to join the group, i notice one that is right in front of the band.  no one was sitting in it but there was something hanging off the back.  i asked the guy standing near it if it was his and he said he wasnt sitting in it and that he could move the thingy.  awesome, i scored a chair.  before i could walk away, he said, "hey do you know anything about PAs?"  i looked at him and said, "sorta" so for the next 15 minutes, i was hooking up everything.  all the mics, sound checking them, adding effects to certain mics, etc etc.  i loved it because it took me back to working v21 productions.  it was fun and easy since there werent many things to mic.

the first act was this solo guy who sang and played the acoustic.  he was this black guy with short hair but with two 7 inch dreads in the back, forming duo-rat tails.  it was awesome.  he was really good and scat like none other.

the second act was a 2 person band.  the front man sang and played an array of instruments.  steel guitars and a banjo.  the drummer was awesome.  they played like a blues, rock, mix. i dont know.  their myspace page says: Blues/ Ambient/ Big Beat soooo pretty much they ruled

i sat between ghita and donkey (mike) and so i talked to them the most.  it was awesome that we all could hang out outside school and that we are finally past the "where are you from", "what classes are you taking", "why did you choose regent", "aaaand whats your name again" questions and can actually move on to normal conversations.  

ghita is from saskatchewan and claims that a hoodie is called a "bunny hug"...i just told her that the reason its called that, is because where shes from is because they are still making apparel from wild animals and they just happened to make the hoodie entirely out of rabbits.  its good that we are past introductions and have moved onto clowning each other.  

so while mike was in the bathroom, someone asked to be reminded of his name (a reoccurring pattern for everyone) and someone said mike but i quickly corrected them and said his name was donkey.  they asked why and i explained that his last name is yonkers. so:

yonkers to donkers to donkey.  its just a logical progression.  come on!  its like:

caleb - kalib - karib - karibbean

so anna asked if i should just take the next step and call him 'ass'.  while everyone was laughing, mike came back and asked what was so funny.  someone pointed at me and said "oh he was making fun of you"....mike thought they said ian so looked to ian wanting an explanation.  ian quickly pointed blame to me and i laughed and pointed it back to ian.  but i finally took ownership of the insult (privilege in my book) so i grabbed his shoulder and looked intently in his eyes and said, "mike, your new name is asshole"

everyone laughed because i took it another step by adding hole to his recently upgraded name, ass.  he laughed and so i explained the progression from donkey to ass and finally to asshole.  

he accepted this name and told us that he was going to get his professors to call him that.  haha YES!  

prof - "mike?....is mike yonkers present?"

mike - "oh yes, but i prefer to be called 'asshole', sir"

we will have to see how well this works.  

side note:

im really excited about my 2 new pairs of shoes:

mad madison III and therapeutic tam tam

Graduate School Week 1 - Day 3, little asia

day 3:

thursday.  i get to school at 7:45am to start my final day of the week.  hebrew starts at 8am and so i get in there and sit next to donkey.  pete comes in later and sits next to me.  so after completing the hebrew homework for that day with superb understanding of the material and memorizing how to say and write all the consonants, im feeling pretty good about this so called hebrew language.  

side note:  speaking of hebrew.  back in NC, i had to go to some megachurch because my boss had to meet with one of there administrative persons, whatever, regardless of the reason, i found myself wandering around this ridiculously large campus.  i walked around and saw every room....several rooms were ornately decorated and filled with musical instruments.  so after a couple hours of walking around in the walled up city, i had to stop into their coffee shop to replenish my energy.  this coffee shop (inside their main entrance way/cafeteria/art gallery/enormous room thats in the front of the building) looked very similar to starbucks.  even the logo was very similar.  now, i asked them if this was a starbucks and they said that starbucks lets them rename it or something, im not really sure if they knew what they were talking about.  i look at the logo and instead of the starbucks mermaid lady thing? there was jesus with the crown of thorns.  now, the way they drew him, it looked similar (art-wise) to the lady.  and instead of "starbucks" they wrote "he brews".  wow.

ok back to school.  so i was thinking i was doing well but then the lesson for the day was vowels.  well the vowels in hebrew are just dots and small symbols that go mainly under the consonants.  goody.  now, in english, we have a,e,i,o,u but as we know, those letters have different sounds with certain words.  but we just keep the a the a.  in hebrew, theres a different name of the vowel for each sound made.  i havent looked at my hebrew notes yet, so its going to take me some time to memorize all that crap.  

the class got out at 9:30 and i didnt have class again till 2:30.  so that huge break consisted of:

hanging out

reading

hanging out

eating

hanging out

good times.

lunch was good.  pete, eugene, donkey and i were going to eat together.  males only!  we wanted to try something new....so pete suggested the downstairs of the shops beside the school.  i didnt know anything about this "downstairs" he spoke of but being the zany daredevil that i am, i said "sure, whatever, ill do anything, watch out daughters of man!"

we go downstairs and it opens up into "little asia".  well, i named it little asia.

it was like a mall food market but there were only asian food counters.  it was awesome.  my lunch was $3.99 and i was full. YES CHEAP! eugene got this dessert thing....it was like a red bean smoothie thing with coconut or something, and it was hot (temperature wise, not jonas hot)

he thought it was pretty tasty, so i tried some.  it was weird, not bad? but i didnt want a second bite.  

after lunch, we continued our "hanging out".  talking about theology or arrested development and stupid stories of our past.  so half of the people that overheard us, probably thought that we were sexy scholars.  and the other half thought we were sexy morons.  it pretty much was no question that we were sexy.

class was awesome, there was a guest professor to give the lecture.  the lecture was pretty dense and got a lot of people thinking hard.

ok speaking of hard....im sitting in a coffee shop right now called grounds for coffee.  i came here to indulge myself in a delicious cinnamon roll.  it ruled.  anyways, this guy just came in and if regent had a prom, he would be my date FOR SURE.  his shirt (blouse) looks like something our of the renaissance period.  a sexy burgundy long sleeve shirt that flowed in the wind.  there was a cut on his shirt from the neck to his chest and this was laced with a brown leather string. and you know what else flowed in the wind?  his pony tail.  although he had male pattern baldness, he still wanted to live on the wild side.  his blouse was tucked in to some jean shorts, not just any jean shorts, but cut offs that would make a normal nevernude blush.  awesome.

hey! class was over! DAY 3 (final day) COMPLETE!

the rest of the day consisted of me hanging out with myself, watching mr show episodes, eating and writing day 1 and day 2 of grad school adventures in the blog that you are reading at this very moment.

Graduate School Week 1 - Day 2, what time is it?

day 2:

well, this is what should have happened...

wake up with enough time to enjoy oatmeal and make it to school for my 9:30-12:30 old testament class.  enjoy peers in an academic setting.  diligently take notes on the exhilarating lecture.  get out of class to have a nutritious lunch with fellow graduate students.  exchange kind stories and encouraging words over lunch.  then have the rest of the day to study and or socialize.  

in reality, this is what happened...

mmm yaawwwnnn, what time is it? oh no! 1:30pm! I FAILED MISERABLY FOR THE SECOND TIME!  MY PHONE WAS ON SILENT!!  youre right martha, i need to get a real alarm clock....one that is not my stupid silent phone. 

ohhh man, i cant believe it!  oh well, its the first week and the OT class is a huge lecture.  im sure i didnt miss much.  plus pete emailed me the notes that he took.  YAY GOOOODY!  anyways, i get to campus to do a little hebrew homework.  while there, i hang out with fellow students and one asks me if im going to the CTC movie night that evening at 6:30.  the purpose of this movie night was to be a way for students to watch a movie and pick out the theology in the film.  sounded right up my alley so i opted to go.  of course, thanking them for reminding me of the time.  

the movie night ended up lasting about 2 hours but it was AWESOME.  the first meeting was more or less a intro lecture on what the movie night was going to be about.  the speaker was a film maker/professor of theology in film at regent...he talked about the art in film making and how a lot of film makers want to paint a picture within a picture.  creating themes that can be found personal to the viewer.  he also talks about finding the theology in movies that didnt have overtly "christian" images.  he said that movies with more subtle parables and seemingly unrelated messages were often the most influential and effective.  the film maker creating art in the secular sense, using images and themes that all humanity can relate to, can tell a story thats inside a larger story.  he spoke fast and i didnt take notes so im missing a lot of his interesting points.  (no test or anything)

at the end of the class he wanted to talk about the basics of dissecting a scene to find the deeper meaning of what the film maker is trying to express.  he played a scene from citizen kane....which is apparently the best movie ever made.  he said that it wasnt necessarily the most entertaining movie but it was the best made.  he played the scene all the way through without saying anything.  it was an interesting scene, the scene where kanes mom is basically signing guardianship over to this banker.  the dad sorta refuses a bit, the mom is firm in her decision, and the kid (kane) is kinda pissed but goes anyways.

then he replays it and pauses on every important part to discuss what is going on.  he paused it like every other second.  and it was so cool how when you really dissect it, the film maker is A GENIUS.  all the tricks to create a message......camera angles, camera movements, actors movements, camera focus, actors positions in the world around them, sounds..both volume of actors voices and background music, edits, costumes....literally everything!  it was so rad and it took the scene to a whole new level.  a couple cool techniques about the scene was:

1) there was one edit to another camera angle where the mom was the prominent figure in the shot and the dad and banker were in the background.  and the way the camera was angled, made it seem like the dad and banker were the little angel and little demon on the moms shoulders...having opposing views and the mom has to choose.  and it was perfect for the context of the scene.  

2) costume choices.  between the kid and the banker...it was almost exactly the same as in charles dickens' oliver twist.  the professor explained that at the time of the movie, people really connected with such an image (sort of reminded nostalgia) and sparked a deeper emotion in the viewer who was familiar with oliver twist.  also there is a part where the costume choice for the mother was very similar to the way the virgin mary always looks in traditional art.  it was really cool.

3)  there was a shot of the scene where you could see the ceiling and this was the first time you could see the ceiling in a movie.  (or one of the firsts)  the professor said that this was very innovative because where were the mics?? well apparently the ceiling was made of fabric (even though it looked like wood) and the mics were right above the fabric.  sweet PIES!

im excited about this part of CTC.  its optional but ill probably be there every time.

well thats pretty much it for day 2.  since this is kind of a short post, i can talk about the new friends that i have made....

pete - finding nemo, tons of energy, solid dude but i will forever clown him on his hollister zany one-liner t-shirt

eugene - mr vancouver, wants to reshape the asian church, solid bro

paul - down with music sceeeenne, push mosh lets go! wwwwheres the circle piiiiat

branden - super smart, a lot of biblical background, somehow a first year and already in exegesis, rooms with jason

jason - super smart, a lot of biblical background too, loves philosophy, just turned 29 so we went out to PARTAYYYY, rooms with branden

mike - i call him donkey, super cool, rock climbs, loves arrested development and wet hot american summer, YES

makana - ultimate frisbee dude, hawaiian, loved my airbrushed 'graham' shirt

josh - australian who always wheres jean shorts, hilarious (but hes the only person in the world that is allowed to wear jean shorts) 

andy - dans roommate, they lives really close to me, we share very similar tv/movie taste, we already watched ren and stimpy together

dan - karibbean was right....he IS dreamy

luke - i have a feeling me and him are going to have some amazing conversations, hes also a rugby player who is smaller than me

iain - scottish dude who laughed really hard when i told him i was going to open a restaurant chain called flanagans funtimes....'ello sire, here are your potatoes and a punch in the face! he also wants to massage my body

susie - iain's wife who hates that he wants to massage my body

sam - super chill dude

ian - english dude who has some fuuuuuutbol skills

nerida - 33 year old australian babe dog who will have a MDiv at the end of the year....we are getting married (she doesnt know it yet)

eva - lives with like 8 other girls in "the nunnery"....div school humor hardy har har

kathy - COFFEE LADY!! regent student who works at the coffee shop.  shes rad

ghita - looks young but apparently has already finished med school and just took a break from her residency to come study jesus for a year.  has one more year left in her residency? shes cool AND in my tutorial

and MILLIONS MORE!

YAY FRIENDS! 

Graduate School Week 1 - Day 1, whatever, im over it!

for my first term in graduate school, i have chosen to take 9 hours rather than 12.  they actually encourage first year students to do this so they can gradually get into things.  also they said i was "a little slow".   now, they could have meant physically, as in, the girth of my body moving through the air creates, what scientists call, a wind impermeability.  wind impermeability is basically the extreme of wind resistance except instead of just a sensation of the air hitting the body, the wind actually forces the subject (my neck) to move in a slow motion fashion.  so whenever i have to turn my head to face the professor when he calls my name, the bulk of my neck catches the air like an open sail and it takes me a good bit of time to actually look the professor in the eye.  

OR they could have meant mentally.  but no one will ever know.  anyways, the courses i am taking are:

intro to the old testament

christian thought and culture 1

intro to hebrew

my class schedule rules the world too.  i am only in class tuesday, wednesday, thursday.  i rule, you suck. i win. 

tuesday: 

i get to school around 7:30am....to hang/read my pirate book before classes start.  i sit down to sip my extremely, unnecessarily burning starbucks coffee and open my bag to grab my book when pete sits down.  alright, sweet, ill just hang with him before class starts.  pete, or annyong, is the finding nemo bookbag guy that i mentioned before.  we love southern food.  i come to find out that pete is in every class of mine.  pete is non-stop...full of energy and loves to socialize/goof around.  im going to have to resist myself from recreating the infamous 6th grade contest between brandon and myself.  this certain contest began by brandon and myself seeing who could be sent to the principles office the most in one day.  by the end of the day, the score was neck in neck with 7 each.  pretty good.  UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE! stupid brandon gets sent ONE LAST TIME making his total score: 8.  he was the victor.  

but im an adult now so i wont be doing that.  (please mom, dont send me any worry filled emails)

we sat down in intro to hebrew and couple minutes before 8.  the first bit of the class was the generic roll call and instead of "here", the student must say something interesting about themselves.  i wasnt sure what to say soooo ill be the guy with one kneecap.  BUT WHATS THIS!? another graham in the class? our battle to the death will occur at 3:30pm at the swing set.

hebrew was cool and even though ive only been out of school for less than a year, it felt weird being in class again.  its really exciting starting a language from no prior knowledge.  when i learned (and then later forgot) spanish, theres always a couple things i knew and at least the alphabet is pretty much the same.  we had an assignment for thursday from the book and we had to memorize (verbally and in writing) all the consonants.

alef

bet

gimel

dalet

he

waw

zayin

het

tet

yod

kaf

lamed

mem

nun

samek

ayin

pe

tsade

qof

resh

sin

shin

taw

whatever, im over it!

once that class ended, we went upstairs to hang out until 11.  the first chapel of the year was at 11.  it was to be the good times.  AND it was.  the chapel was PACKED with everyone and we prayed, worshiped, and the prez gave another entertaining talk about the year to come.  then there were announcements.  they are all run by the students so they were loaded with hilarious pictures and jokes.  it was a lot of fun.  i had one concern with chapel though.....since it was packed, i was sitting at the side, behind the band.  although the band consisted on just a piano, guitar, and violin...my concern was with the violin, or rather the violinists mic.  i was dangerously close to that stupid microphone.  so while we were singing, all i could think about was, "oh crap, i hope that mic isnt picking any of my voice up, please dont pick up my voice, ohhhhh pretty pretty pretty pretty please plleeeeeaaaase, im not martha, i dont have a perfect voice, oh martha! martha! martha!"

apparently i sound like a 5 year old little girl when i plead to myself in my mind.  pete on the other hand was BELTING out his voice, unafraid of any sort of mic consequence.  he had a nice voice though....i credit his soft teeth.

tuesdays are chapel and after chapel, community groups.  community groups will meet after chapel to hang out.  groups.  community.  groups forming community with one another.  that starts next week....i dont know what group im in but ill make sure that its EFF TEE DOUBLE YOU!

1:30 rolls around and its time for christian thought and culture.  this is a large lecture that is held in the chapel and is taught by an exuberant australian.  he rules.  that class rules.  its going to be very interesting to see how peoples background or traditional presumptions will be shaken up in the beginning of the course, learn to grow from the course and start to latch onto different theological ideas concerning culture, and finally, at the end of the course, BRAWLING WITH MEDIEVAL WEAPONS ON WHOS RIGHT!!!

just kidding? (the question mark adds a bit of mystery and suspense, wink wink)

"doc, hows my health?"

"youre going to die?"

it works for SO MANY THINGS!

"holy goo, whats that smell?"

"i have diarrhea?"

"do you?"

"youre going to die?"

anywho, that is one thing that i really love about regent.  all the professors have very different backgrounds and theological standpoints....there are some that straight disagree on a lot of things, but regardless of their differences, they are all still best friends and love one another.  (love in a godly way....not the way karibbean loves oasis)

after CTC1 (thats what the proz, like myself, call christian thought and culture), i had my CTC tutorial.  the tutorials meet once a week and are smaller groups to discuss the lecture.  most people know what tutorials are....and if you dont, then get your head out of your ass and start livin'!  TUTORIALS ARE THE NEXT BIG THING!!! 

i was lucky enough to have mine right after the lecture so that the material from the lecture was frrrrresh on my mind.  eugene (mr. vancouver) was cloooowwwned hard because he was assigned a tutorial that meets at 830 in the morning...on a day that was supposed to be his day off.  PWNED! soooo SOOOOOooorrrryyyyyy! (darius, i need an audio track for that!")

by the way, for those who dont know the meanings of some of the vocabulary used in this blog, please contact darius fresh for a free lesson in the new American language.  welcome to the Bro-Zone Lair.  mom, that was a joke, please do not call my friend darius at work.  he is a scientist.

that was also a joke, please do not email me explaining that you were not going to, in fact, call darius.

as for the tutorial.  it was fun. 12 people, i think.  great number if you ask me.  since it was the first tutorial.....the main objectives were introductions.  we paired off and learned about one another only to tell the class about our new friend.  my partner was orlando.  he told me his nickname was sonny, and that was the first thing he told me.  he is from the philippines and moved to vancouver with his wife 3 months ago.  he is vegetarian and loves sweet and sour tofu.  he was excited to tell the class that my favorite food was a bojangles chicken filet biscuit.  this immediately prompted  a debate between me and a certain laddy in the class.  

"oh...you like bojangles more than chic-fil-a? ewww"

"what the hell did you just say to me?"

there were now 11 people in my tutorial and i felt bloated.

tutorial ended at 4:30.

i head home and stop into the dairy queen to reward myself with a blizzard for completing the first day of school without throwing up or eating anyo...uhhh, getting kicked out.  i order a medium blizzard with extra reese's.  the kid behind the counter insisted that if i add coffee flavor, then it would be totally premium.  i was feeling adventurous so i accepted his offer.  (i paid for that damn offer)  it. was. delicious.  i feel sorry for those who have a lactose intolerant "issue" because they will never feel joy like the joy i felt when i devoured the queen's dairy delicacy. 

DAY 1 COMPLETE!!!

Orientation - Part 2

day 2 -

day 2 started early because i wanted to bike to school. and i wanted to arrive there early to read (cool down and allow me to stop sweating like a fat pig). after i stop sweating, and more people are coming in, i join a "social" circle. we talk and hang for a bit before day 2 of orientation started. now, before i shipped off to grad school, my dad gave me a big talk about being and adult and "looking the part" and being responsible. while i greatly appreciate his talk, and mostly agree with what he was saying.....but my version of a young adult is going to look a little different than the adult that he has in mind. he is just going to have to live with the fact that im not going to look like his idea but rather look like mine.

so im going in expecting everyone to take everything seriously and "look the part". then comes pete chung (my new annyong, since danny isnt in vancouver). he sits down, and reveals his finding nemo backpack. yes. thank you. now i dont feel stupid for wearing my airbrushed "Graham" shirt from the state fair.....with grease stains from the deep fried twinkies and oreos i ate.

orientation was all the same, for the most part......of previous students, faculty, and professors talking about regent and life at regent. it was all helpful and funny. the breaks and lunches were where everyone could talk and hang out. this was my favorite part because i could actually start making friends. REPLACING all the LOSERS in north carolina.

pete, eugene, and i talked for the most part of lunch. pete went to uva so the whole time we would talk about southern food (sweet tea, bbq, bojangles, etc) and our mouths would water and we would just get so excited. eugene, being from vancouver, would just laugh, make fun of us and say, "no wonder why all americans are fat and unhealthy!" i weigh 4000 pounds.

once orientation was over, i went to get my U-pass. i stayed in LINE with bessie (another regent student) for such a long time. bessie is super nice. she works at the hospital across the street and schedules her work so she can come take 1 class. i finally get it and we walk out with pete and eugene. (they came just to hang out with us in line)

well usually, we would just depart and join up again the next day, but no, not today. there was a BBQ planned at the beach! GOODY! FREE FOOD! i weigh 4000 pounds

thanks to mr. vancouver (eugene), the native of vancouver, we take the "scenic" route to the destination. its always cool to be fashionably late. almost everyone from orientation and even all the previous students helping out with orientation were there to hang out and have the good times. josh, an australian second year, asked anyone if they wanted to play some aussie rules football. i of course said yes because im zany and always willing to try anything new. so zany.

there werent enough people to actually play a game so we did the australian version of "dudes throwing the football back and forth on the beach". we just kicked this graham version of a football back and forth. everything was going peachy until one kick went long and while a guy was looking up in the air to catch it, ran right into 3 bikes that here leaned up against a bench. he claims he was fine but im sure it hurt. half of us were yelling at him to warn him of his painful destiny. the other half kept silent.....probably thinking, "i wonder how this is going to end up.."

the BBQ was delicious. thick burgers between a foccocia bread. i ate 13.

its really neat how everyone is so friendly and willing to just talk and become friends. i just remember my freshman year orientation at undergrad being so quiet and lame. no one wanted to talk to no one. this time, its the opposite. everyone is becoming friends....cracking jokes....and even nicknames already.

well maybe just me and one of the previous students who was helping out with the orientation. nerida was from australia and was a third year Mdiv student. she said she was going to call me grizza. i laughed and told her that i was going to come up with a really good nickname for her. i decided to think of a nickname that i knew would piss her off. with her name being nerida, i assumed that she always has the frustrating time to explain that her name isnt "meredith" but rather nerida.  so of course, i ask if i could call her "meredith".  she looked at me and said she hears that all the time and she will punch me if i call her that.  so, there ya have it.  meredith will be her name! TILL SHE DIES!!!! or unless she kills me first.

so as the BBQ is winding down, i get word of people meeting up at a pub later.  i of course want to hang instead of sit alone at my apartment.  Dentry's is its name and it is actually super close to my apartment.  about in the middle between my apartment and school.  i bike to the pub and walk in, expecting only a handful of people....well pretty much everyone was there.  we FILLED the bar.  it was awesome.  everyone was drinking except for me because the bartender said it was a liability to have a drunk walrus running loose in the bar...but when i told him i was straight edge and he just looked at me in awe as if hes never seen a walrus talk.

the group of people around me were: eva, josh, mike, and makana.  makana was from hawaii and looks like the skinny version of this guy.  after the whole "where are you from" and other painfully basic (but necessary) questions, we moved on to movies and tv.  mainly arrested development (THANK GOD THAT I HAVE FOUND ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT FANS HERE), wet hot american summer, upright citizens brigade, south park, shawn of the dead, and hot fuzz.  i was super relieved when other "adult, serious, grad school" students were into stupid crude humor like myself.  GOODY YAY DIARRHEA!!

another cool thing that happened was that i met karibbean's friend dan.  apparently they would get hot and heavy at camp year after year.  so it was cool to meet him.....we frenched HARD for a couple seconds in honor of karibbean.  makana and dan told me about ultimate frisbee games that happen tuesdays and fridays.  i told them i would join and eat the disc.

day 3-

day 3 was SOOOOO INTERESTING.  i set my alarm on my phone but of course i forget to take it off silent.  so with a silent alarm, the wake up was doomed.  and because my blinds on my windows look like thick mats, there was no light coming in to wake me up.  i wake up (finally) and take a look at my phone.  1:30 pm.  awesome.  well, you missed day 3.  

orientation conclusion:

awesome.  5 stars. (out of 5?) it was so great meeting HUMAN BEINGS!  its really neat to think that everyone is coming from so many different backgrounds, so many different countries, and have so many different personalities but all arrived at regent college with very similar reasons.  so before anyone opened his or her mouth, there was already a sense of community.  we were all together as one.  another thing that was really cool and new to me was adding prayer and worship to an academic setting.  it was ok to acknowledge a sense of things sacred with studying theology.....nothing was forced to be 'just' objective.  ive always had a problem praying with small groups or praying aloud for the people around me because sometimes i feel awkward or uncomfortable but for some reason that issue just vanished when about 5 of us (nearly strangers) were praying for each other about fears, issues or anything that may concern the new stage of life we were entering.  it was really great.  i guess meeting new friends wasnt so bad either, especially after a month of near solitude.

Orientation - Part 1

no, not sexual orientation.  but rather grad school orientation for the newbzzz like myself.  the orientation was a 3 day adventure that lasted 3 days.  3 days i spent in orientation, being "oriented" with the school for 3 days.  i really had no idea what to expect.  i was very curious if the rest of the new students would be talkative and make an effort to meet people.  also, i was very excited to see what kind of people i would be spending my grad school career with.  i arrive via bus (woke up too late to ride my bike.....well i could have made it in time but i didnt want to be super sweaty) around 8:15am at regent college.  in the front area, there are several tables, sofas, and chairs.  i sit down on the sofa next to paul.  well,  i didnt know his name but he was in the chair and i figured i would sit near him and spark up a conversation.  as more people joined, it ended up being 5 of us chatting it up as if we have known each other for quite some time.  people who have known each other for a while and have shitty memory on actual knowledge about each person.  so of course, it was just "where are you from" "what made you come out here" etc etc.  it was cool though.  

alright orientation was about to start so we had to run into the main auditorium room which was called the chapel.  class lectures and chapel services were held in this room....and of course, orientation as well.  regent college is known for its global diversity so to start off the 3 day adventure, they had a student to represent their country and carry in flags from all the countries that were represented in this years orientation.  it was truly amazing to see how many countries were represented.  its really cool that people all across the globe have come to gather in this one building in vancouver, bc.  

throughout the day, professors and faculty would talk about what regent is all about and all the history behind it.  if anyone knows me, they know i like to joke around.  so i was super relieved when the majority of the professors were not only geniuses but also could crack jokes here and there and have fun with the speeches they were giving.  this one australian professor was talking about how him and his wife came to christ and came to do ministry.  he explained that his wife used to "grow her own stuff" and then made a smoking gesture and how him and his wife joined this motorcycle ministry thing.  it was ridiculous.

another professor but on a lapel mic but also went up to the mic on the stand.  after being told by on of the faculty to just choose one, he stood there a while......looked at the mic as if he were trying to figure out some sort of master puzzle or pondering the meaning of life......and after thinking about it for some comical time, the exclaimed, "buuuut i like both!"

he was made to just use the lapel mic.  he was content with that, i guess.

the president of the college got up to speak and he was hilarious.  cracking jokes left and right and just having fun with it all.  he explained regents colorful and unique history (which im not going to try to fully repeat)  i will say two highlights:

1)  regent is a completely random name.  when they were trying to figure out a name, they wanted something neutral.  they purpose of the school was to have a grad school instead of a seminary even though originally it would be christian.  their idea was that seminary was for people who wanted to either teach or become a pastor but they wanted a school for people to learn and then take that knowledge for any sort of vacation.  they offer courses that arent offered anywhere else because they want to broaden the idea of christianity and how it relates to EVERYTHING.  for a long time they called themselves the "unseminary".  so they didnt want the name to pigeon-hole the school so they one of the founders said, "well hey, theres a real estate company called regent properties back where im from".  and there ya go.

2)  when regent college wanted to be affiliated with university of british columbia, the prez at UBC laughed in their face and wanted nothing to do with them.  but there was one unlikely group of people that made it there goal to help regent become affiliated.  the marxist.

day 1 was fun meeting a few people and talking with just about anyone.  before orientation i was worried that i was going to be the only one that likes to have fun and joke around.  by the end of the orientation, my worries were laid to rest because all the previous students that were helping with the orientation were just clowning each other the whole time.  it was just like raleigh.  good times.  

at the end of the first day, i went to get my picture taken for the regent directory so that everyone knows whos who.  wellllll, my eyes may have been looking into the sky instead of the camera.  but we will just have to see.  also, they made you fill out an information card for the directory.  all your basics..A/S/L..but they also asked for a quote.  i asked them what this meant and they said, "oh just do whatever you want there.....most people leave it blank".  well i had to do it.  

"all i want is some sweet tea and a bojangles chicken filet biscuit combo!"

oh by the way, martha... you remember fred? the guy has that basement suit that i almost got? well i met the guys who live under fred now.  it was funny.  they agreed that he was a little weird.

after orientation (day 1), i wanted to go get my UBC card and more importantly, the U-pass which allows me to ride any bus FOR FREE SUCKERS!  well i get to the UBC bookstore and there is a HUGE line to get he cards.  bogus.  i had to wait like 45 minutes to get my UBC id card and then the worker said that there was no time to wait in the other huge line to get my U-pass card.  stupid.  UBC is made up of 45% masa and dakota, 45% thien and danny, and 10% caleb

day 1 complete!