Update!

Wow, it has been months since I’ve updated. So, here are some pictures of what I’ve been up to:

did the river clean up with Rand and Jordan

Went to Eric Morales’ house for a “photo shoot”

grew a mustache

Went back to Michigan for Christmas

Fed the cows, plowed the driveway, put wood in the fire

Went ice fishing

came back to San Marcos, and hung out with Lindsey

Now I’m back in San Marcos, and the weather is great, classes have started for my last semester at Texas State, and I couldn’t be happier!

Blessed

I feel incredibly blessed right now. Here I sit in my office, grading papers and suddenly a band starts playing worship music in the huge classroom right in front of me. It’s the Chi Alpha group on campus. I am so thankful I live in a country where this is legal. Say what you will about the people handing out tiny bibles in the quad and people with prayer tables…but you might get your hands chopped off for doing that in other places around world.

Autumn in Texas

It’s still summer. Other than it getting about 10 degrees cooler at night recently, this time of year feels like a Michigan heat wave. Some (and when I say “some” I mean “very few”) leaves are actually turning a nice dark shade of brown and falling, but for the most part, they’re still green.

Now’s also the time people actually enjoy being outside with the low humidity and sunny days. I like it a lot.

For lack of something better

Here’s a running list of some phrases I don’t particularly care for:

• cool beans (except in conjunction with Hot Rod)
• good times
• rocks my socks off (or any variation)
• good stuff
• alrighty then (except whilst watching Ace Ventura)
• rock on
• Score!
• Uber ________ (fill in the blank)
• I know…right?

And a list of phrases I particularly do like:

• easy japaneesy

CRICKETS!!

This is the time of year when crickets are born…and they take over Texas. I remember last year I couldn’t even get to my apartment door without stepping on at least 103 and they would be falling from above and jumping off the brick walls onto my person. They’re babies right now, but soon they will be mamas and papas. Big fat mamas and papas.

First day of Autumn

First of all, I decided to always call it autumn instead of fall

Second of all, it was like 90 degrees today

Third of all, I rediscovered my love for Vampire Weekend

Why

do Texans think everyone in Michigan loves bowling??

“Feels good minglin’ with these laid back country folk, don’t it Har?”

I spent the day in Bandera, TX today – population: 957. I was the “sound guy” for my old roommate Jon who played some country music with his cousin.

As a “sound guy,” you really need to be a strong individual. It takes brute emotional, intellectual and physical strength to be exact. I can’t articulate just how much strength you need, but let’s just put it this way: it takes about the strength one would put forth if one were putting one-fourth of the world’s stockpile of pudding in the fourth-largest pudding container on the 4th of July. I don’t like to toot my own horn, but…

I saw many new and interesting things, including more cowboy hats in one place in my life, more bras in one place in my life, and I watched in delight as a man poured oatmeal out all over the dance floor. It was honky-tonk-elation. Now I leave you with some other pics of the day.

First sightings of Ike

Yeah, it’s pretty far from San Marcos, but clouds are rolling in from the southeast…and from the looks of the cloud radars, they’re from Ike.

We’ll get a lot of its leftovers this weekend! It’s crazy to see all the tweets from reporters on the scene and the videos so far. Dave Lahae evacuated Houston this morning and is spending the weekend here while his apartment gets flooded…crazy…

I feel like being a minimalist for the rest of my life

I’ve been going to a lot of amazing houses lately…and as cool as they are, I just can’t stop thinking about how lavishly I live here in the U.S., how much I waste, how much I don’t need, and how much I don’t even notice it. I am so used to having a roof over my head and driving my car and keeping the temperature at 75 degrees and being able to eat anytime and not knowing any other way.

Just living in the richest nation in the world makes me beyond rich compared to most people. I live in luxury, and sometimes I really can’t stand it. God doesn’t want us to be rich in money or things (He doesn’t necessarily want us to be poor either), but He does want us to be rich in Him. It’s just so hard to live detached from material possessions in this life because we use them all the time…maybe I’ll just go live in the woods…