Place preferred title here. I figure I should not have to catch your attention with a snazzy title.

Well I think it's about time I change the music. Don't you think. I think. I have noticed that my appreciation for the songs I have posted are declining. I have made an interesting observation in looking at pictures of friends that have been in Europe. In addition to person experience, I have noticed that slowly but surely the fad of the mullet is working its way back into society. You know, Business in the front, party int he back. Yeah.Oh dear.

I do not plan on participating in the fun anytime soon.

If you are a frequent reader of my blog, you will notice that there are a few more links to the side--------------------->
stuffchrsitanslike is a blog written by a Christian who makes observations about the church and the ironies of Christian behavior. And the other is a blog that I found by searching "popular blogs" in my google search bar. "thehomelessguy" is just what you might expect...a homeless guy. His plug for the blog is as follows, "I am chronically homeless, having experienced several episodes of homelessness since the age of 21 - spending about half my adult life on the streets. On this blog I write about my experiences, and my opinions and knowledge of homeless life." (I do not take responsibility for any content in my links that you might find offensive.)

Some other observation I have been making recently may only apply to those who understand the phenomenon that is facebook. There were a couple times this past semester, my last semester(hmm), that I almost deleted my facebook. It tends to be time consuming, and there is a twitch in my conscience that tells me how facebook is typically misused. Or maybe it is being used as intended by the creators, but are those intentions that christ followers should be participating. I am speaking of our definition of gossip and slander. Maybe it is also important to consider how God views voyeurism. Some might suggest that God is the ultimate voyeur, but don't you think he is allowed to. There is nothing private about our lives when it comes to God. Although the story of the garden of Eden comes to mind when God calls out to Adam, "Where are you? What have you done?" Don't you think he already knows. Interesting approach.

But back to facebook. The issue for me is that I know how I use facebook. I cannot suggest that I know how others use facebook, but I would like to think that I am not the only one who scans through pictures and the status of "friends" just to get a peek of what interesting things are going on. It reminds me of the neighbor that some of you might have, that stereotypical old lady that sits in her front window and knits while keeping a watchful eye on the neighbor hood to see what her neighbors are up to and imagine what is going on in each house and juicy details of what could be happening. Oh my, the jones' are getting a new refrigerator today. I wonder why? And who knows where the imagination may lead. Is it possible that facebook has become our modern day device to be that nosy neighbor? And what a convenience that you can slide through all parts of the website undetected.

There is one more thing about facebook that puzzles me. There is the issue of "friends". I put this in quotations earlier as well, but for a reason. Think about your definition of friends and now think about of the 500 friends you have(on average) are persons that you see on a weekly basis. Furthermore, when you see them is it a comfortable ineraction? When they pop up on facebook chat, how eager are you to chatter and lol your way into a completely non-audible conversation?

Yesterday I went to Costco for lunch, and while waiting in line I saw a guy in some stained painters clothes with long hair and some scruff on the face. It was not until I paid closer attention that I realized that it was a guy I went to high school with. he was only in the grade above me. So I knew who he was and I guarantee he would recognize me as well. We were in track and field together for a couple years and he had previously dated a friend that I had grown up with. There were certainly enough connections that if we made eye contact that we would acknowledge the other with a head nod. But any sort of conversation would be fairly worthless. What would there be to talk about? "Uhhhh, so remember that one time in high school? It was like 6 years ago.(while thinking that I have not talked to the guy at all in the that 6 years) How many "friends" fall in to a similar category, but we continue to keep as friends because it is a least interesting to see what they are doing with there lives? Is it any of our business? And shouldn't we really be concerned about how much time we are taking/wasting to be in the loop on facebook? I have found myself spending longer sessions on facebook than the amount of time it has taken me to think through and write this post.

Well, just a few things to think about. I think I will go check and see if there are any new pictures on facebook to click through. Wait, one more thought. What about the other side of the relationship? Why do we post pictures and update our status? I think it is a burning desire that every one of us has to be accepted, known and to be given attention. OOOO, someone just commented on my status and the pictures I posted yesterday! Gotta go!

Choir Tour

This is a link to a bunch of videos from our choir tour in the Netherlands. Any of the videos with a mass of bluish shirts is from tour. Enjoy!

www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=903CA27F34334347

Quick Update

Right now it is almost 12am here in Gouda. we are staying with host families and the family that I am staying is letting me use their computer to write this. We have only been here for a couple days and things are flying by. we had a full day of touring and traveling around amsterdam yesterday, and today we had 2 concerts in 2 cities.(Gouda and Dordrecht) Both went very well, but I am tired from how packed our days have been and it is not going to slow down. Tomorrow we go on to Delft, which is where the famous "Delft Blue" is made.

I am going to head to bed, but just one more thing. the first place we visited yesterday was the largest international flower auction in the world. it is quite the operation. There are millions of flower on tons of carts that are all in the most massive wherehouse I have ever been in. Mom, you would have loved it. More flowers than you can imagine. I would post pictures but that requires me to save them to the computer and it is not mine. But I cannot read the Dutch to save it in the first place either.

Weltrusten...(goodnight)

"Profound, enticing title followed by thoughtful , concerning and then hopeful blog post."

That's the way all blog posts are supposed to go...

Right?

No.

I am drowning in expectations, and it all has to do with Dordt. Grrrr. This post will fall into the category of venting, frustration, complainging and "everything kinda sucks and won't get better until it's all over".

I am not done with exams, I have a 10 page, 4 page, 2 page (x4) and a 1 page(in spanish) paper(s) due in the next day. I have a list of people that I am avoiding because they are somehow related to reminding me of the pile of things to accomplish, when my own thoughts cannot think about anything else anyway. I have yet to start packing. Then I am torn each night when I have friends ask if I want to hang out, go get dinner and some drinks or whatever, and then have to regretfully decline because of the work I am barried in. But then of course I go work on the papers and the studying and cannot help but mourn that fact that I want to be with my friends so badly.

I will ALWAYS value people over work! But survival instinct is preventing me from committing scholastic suicide. Talk about the most bittersweet week of my life thus far.

When conversations tend to end in
"so when will I see you gain?"
"I don't know" (thinking maybe never)
When it takes 30-40 minutes to fall asleep because the brain cannot be distracted from the list of responsibilities long enough to recharge.
When the goal of exams is to just finish and never mind the point of learning and retaining what has been learned because I value/ enjoy the material.
When my school comes to me with a promisary note to fill out so they can ring out my bank account for the next 10 years and make sure I don't flee the country/debt.(almost make me feel like a fugitive)
When the list of responsibilities and expectaions has precident on the sabbath and everything is crammed into one last week of "you better hope you can get it all done, or you fail the last four years of life"

I tend to thing..."something is wrong here. This is not the way it's supposed to be. How can we/ do we justify this? This is so wrong. This is not serving the purpose of our goals."

And I will leave it there. No resolve, no solution and suspended from a relaxed ending.

Choir is still so good.

Note: if you do not want to listen to the music playing on my blog you can scroll down to the bottom and press pause. Silence is good too.

Susan Boyle is a new hero of mine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

I don't know what to say besides the fact that I watched this video 3 times in a row and I teared up and got goose bumps every time.

"When life has killed a dream I dream."

Hugs: the wonder drug

This is something I posted about a year ago while I was in the Netherlands. I got it from a friend who was given this by her grandmother who is the orginal author.

Have you ever wondered how effective hugs are?
You rarely give a hug that is not appreciated, or receive one that does not make your day a little brighter.
Can you think of any medication that has such pleasant side effects?

Hugs are good for you. They're not fattening and they don't cause cancer or give you cavitiies. They're
all-natural, contain no perservatives, artificial sweeteners or other chemical additives.

Hugs are cholesterol-free and contain 100% of the recommended daily allowance of hope and happiness. They are a completely renewable source of energy and they're available without a prescription.
Hugs don't require any special instructions. They don't need batteries, tune ups or x-rays.
They're non-taxable fully returnable and energy efficient.
They can be safely used in all kinds of weather: as a matter of fact, they work especially well during cold or rainy days. They are particaulrly effective in treating everyday probablems like stress, worry, anger, frustration, sadness or sorrow, and even the occasional nightmare. The best thing about hugs is you can use them without special training or prior experience. But a word of caution for those of you trying it for the first time. You should never wait until tomorrow to hug someone who needs it today. Once you realize how good it feels, you'll want to do it all over again tomorrow! Yes.... hugs are extremely addictive!