5 down, 3 to go

Seeing that it's been three months since I've posted, I feel compelled to put something up here. So yeah...the whole keeping this blog up-to-date over the semester has been a roaring success. And next semester promises to be even bigger. Yes, that's right: there might even be two posts then! Contain your enthusiasm now, I'm not finished. Hold the celebrations until after the post is complete.

So I finished my fith semester here at Tech on the 14th. Hard to believe that it went so quickly. Hopefully I did decently in all my classes, I won't know for sure until final grades are posted. In at least one of my courses I had an A, so that is reassuring. I definitely enjoyed my classes this semester...for the most part very interesting. We'll see how next semester goes. I'll probably have less freedom in choice, seeing as how the number of semesters I have remaining at Tech has hopefully dwindled to 3.

Speaking of "5 down, 3 to go", my dad has a story that he tells me every time I mention how quickly time seems to be passing. I think he might forget that he's told it to me before, I don't know. But anyway, he talks about remembering distinctly finishing his last exam fall of his freshman year and thinking "One down, seven to go." In almost no time at all (at least according to the story), he was walking out of his final exam fall of his senior year and thinking "Seven down, one to go". Of course, he might be rubbing off on me, as I think I've shared that story five or six times since Thanksgiving as I've thought back on where the semester went. Isn't it funny how we experience time? I wish I could experience time the way I will when I'm middle-aged and then in old-age, just to compare to what it feels like now. I imagine it will only get faster, but still...I wonder.

Well, it's now 0200 and I've had around 7 hours of sleep in the past 63. I'm hitting the sack

I suck at updating

I admit it. I'm terrible at updating. And to be honest, I don't have a lot of energy to put all this into a coherent, whole post. So what you'll be getting today is a conglomeration of posts, a meta-post, if you will. A multitude of small posts that together should hopefully give you an idea of how I'm doing. And if that doesn't work, then at least I should have satiated your desire to read something. :)

So I'm in my fourth week of classes. So far, so good. Things are getting a bit busy, but I'm still hanging in. A lot of the classes seem pretty easy, as long as I expend a modicrum of effort to get assignments in and the like. We'll see. :) So far my favorite class is Intro to Russian, which is a blast. Great professor, lots of fun. I can also read in Cyrillic now, though I get confused when going from reading a word in cursive to reading it in print. Apparently everyone in Russia writes in cursive, which also takes a bit of getting used to, as I never write in cursive. It doesn't help that Cyrillic letters in cursive look for the most part nothing like their print counterparts. But that just adds to the fun.

The Hokies are now 2-0 going into their third game. Let me tell you, after that opener at N.C. State, we needed that 45-0 romp over Duke. I about died when Brandon Pace (our field goal kicker) missed that kick late in the 4th quarter. For those that might not know, our only ACC loss last year was to N.C. State at home, during which Pace missed two fields goals, including one as time expired that cost us the game. So it was with visions of last year dancing in my head that I watched the kick, the miss, the hitting the kicker penalty, and the final drive. Let me tell, quite a nervous game. But that's alright, the final outcome was as it should have been. And now our first home game is on Saturday. Excellent. :)

So I'm leading a bible study again this yaer. But unlike last year, this time I'm leading it by myself. I'm pretty excited about that. So far, I've only had one guy showing up faithfully, though a few others have expressed interest. I guess we'll find out tonight, when I have another meeting. I'd definitely appreciate prayers for me, that I would faithfully follow where the Spirit leads and rely on God to take care of growth, rather than trying to force growth on my guys through my own effort. And for my guys, pray that God would use our times together to sharpen each other. Thanks.

Speaking of Bible study, this year the Nav's are going through a workbook entitled "Experiencing the Attributes of God". To be honest, I'm not certain if I really like it yet. I think maybe it has potential, and the subject is something that I'd like to explore more, but I'm not certain this book is the best way to go through it. I'll update on that (hah!) more when I know more what it's like.

Well, I've got some school work (not to mention house work...definitely a downside of living in an apartment) that I need to be about. So I hope you've enjoyed this. And if you haven't, well....I'll post another one eventually. Honest. There's always email, you know. Or letters, though I'm even worse at writing letters than I am at blogging. So pick your poison. But take care.

And so begins another semester

Wow, so much to talk about. And at the same time, I have a couple hundred pages to read by tomorrow. To add insult to injury, that's not even all my books, because I couldn't afford all of them right now. What a racket text book publishers have going for them...

But a bit of context for the above rant: I'm down in blacksburg now. Classes started yesterday. So far, everything's going well, but then I've only had a couple days for things to go otherwise. :) Looks like about half of my classes will be time-consuming, and the other half will be time-consuming and tough. Ah, the joys of a CS major.

I've been slowing trying to email those of you not in Blacksburg. Emphesis on slow, but don't worry, I will eventually write to you. I've also been asking for mailing addresses, because I have photos from the last couple nights I was in Heidelberg. So if you want prints, I need to get your information so I can send them to you. All in all, I'm very pleased with how they came out. Hopefully you will be too. :)

But like I said, I have around 200 pages of text to read for tomorrow, so I need to get down to that. Rest assured, though, I have a lot of stuff to write about. I just don't want to be like Jason and work on the same post for three days before I publish it. So little by little of the next couple days I'm going to be publishing much more.

No time for a real post

This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang, but a whimper

- Excerpt from The Hollow Men, T.S. Eliot, 1925

+20 points for me. I heartily recommend reading some Eliot; dark and heavy, but very good.

Post on Ocracoke coming when I get a chance. Now it's off to bed, because I head to Blacksburg early in the morning.

Edit: If you're curious about the poem, the complete text can be found at http://www.cs.umbc.edu/~evans/hollow.html

Not with a bang, but a whimper...

Ten points to the first person who can tell me the original author of the above line without looking it up. Double points if you can name the work it's in. No cheating, now. You're on your honor.

Anyway, I'm back in the U.S., safe and sound. The title doesn't really have much to do with the my day, except maybe that none of the planes I rode in ended in a bang. Though they didn't really end in a whimper either. Oh well, it's been a long day. I hate flights going west across the Atlantic.

I go down to Ocracoke Island in the Outer Banks of North Carolina tomorrow. Unless things have drastically changed, I don't expect to have internet access while I'm down there. So no hearing from me until later in the week. I know you're all heartbroken, but I'm sure you'll survive.

One final note: post times are now in EDT, not CET.

PS - Just wanted to share that in barely seven weeks, I managed to forget about sales tax. Stupid sales tax!

End of the Heidelberg Chapter of my Summer

It's 0130 as I sit down to write this. In six hours I'll leave my house in Leimen to travel to Frankfurt, where I'll catch a plane to Philadelphia. God willing, 9 hrs after that I'll be in the United States of America. I'm finished packing; my suitcase it loaded, my guitar is sitting by the front door. The only thing left to put into my backpack is the laptop I'm typing on. The only thing left for me to do is try to sum up my time in Heidelberg.

This summer hasn't gone nearly the way I had imagined. I came over with the memory of last year's wasted summer fresh in my mind and a firm resolve to make the most of this one. I lined up a number of projects: I was going to take lots of photos, paint some scenes, and brew my own beer. The only one of the above that I even made a little headway on was the photography bit, and technical difficulties snagged that project up pretty well. But all that is alright, because I just had the most productive summer I've ever had. God's plan for my summer included something much more important than pursuing some vain hobbies. He sent me to minister and serve youth in my community, and along the way brought brothers and sisters into my life that he used to grow me and love me.

As far as growth goes, God showed me some of what He's capable and willing to do through me. He also showed areas of rebellion in my life. While it's not fun to discover flaws in yourself, I'm still encouraged by seeing it. I know He'll not leave me alone until He's finished His work in me, and now I have recent examples of just how powerfully He desires to move in my life.

Becoming friends with so many of you has been an honor and something of a surprise. I let my defenses down without even consciously realizing it, and grew closer than I was expecting to the people here. So saying goodbye to Heidelberg and the people in it, especially for quite possibly the last time, hurts. It hurts much more than it has for years. But even that is for God's glory, though, because I hadn't realized that I'd even I'd put back walls around my heart until they were breached. I don't want to go through life holding people at arms length to avoid pain when we part. So I'm going to very consciously try to keep my defenses down and make the most out of the opportunities for relationships I'm given, no matter the cost. And heck, at least I feel something that way, which is much better than the emotional numbness that so often characterizes my condition.

I would have loved to spend more time with the people here, both those I recently met and those I've known for a while. But this is all the time God gave me. So here I say goodbye to those of you I leave behind. Thank you all for your companionship; I've treasured the role you have played in my life this summer. Despite all the demands that day to day living imposes on my time and focus, I'm going to try to stay in touch with as many of you as I can. But if we don't keep in close contact, it's not because I don't love you; I love you all dearly. I'll see you all someday, either sooner or later. Until then,

For His glory,
Matt

Someone want to tell me what it means to respond to God's love? Because I don't know what it looks like, and so far I haven't been having much luck figuring it out.

In other news, I board a plane in 35 hours.