For the first time since 8th grade I've been watching tv regularly- one show, mondays at 8pm. Adventure Time. Amazing. The most creativity in television in a long time. And hilarious. And animated. The main character will go out of his way to make sure he seizes upon every single opportunity he has for an "adventure". It usually involves "bad guys" and new invented words for 'awesome'.
As the semester wraps up, i've been presented with several opportunities for adventure. There's three in particular that have been "big decisions" for me.
One is whether or not to sacrifice the first week of summer vacation, when i could be relaxing and preparing for sl8, for the intervarsity retreat going on up at saranac lake.
Increasing the bracket is the summer internship i got offered for which would be a full time job all summer long. Again, i've been struggling with the notion of all my time this summer disappearing. Not really a fan.
Lastly would be where I'm going to college for the rest of my degree.
And the conclusion I think i've come to on all three fronts is for adventure.
I keep thinking back to the only book i finished reading in 2009. Go read it. Its worth it. Fact is, i really really like being comfortable. It takes work for me to go do something different and unknown.
So i'm going to the IV trip, even though i didn't really want to. I'm taking the summer internship even though i still don't really want to. And i'm thinking about transferring to unh.
The way i'm feeling about it is that RPI was last year's adventure. I didn't really want to go to RPI. I was set to go to unh and stay home. But most of the reason i decided to come here was that I could, and it would be a waste to not walk through a door that swings open on its own. I've been here for 2 semesters. I've gotten comfortable. I'm not sure how i feel about that. RPI is a system that's easy to learn. School is easy, you just have to figure out the motions. But i feel like i've accomplished nothing here. I have nothing to show for my 2 semesters in nerdopolis. And i don't know if that's pushing me to leave quicker or calling me to stay. Either way, life is an adventure and its a complete shame to not make the absolute most of it and chase what God is throwing at us.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Thursday, May 6, 2010
On Wonder
Yesterday in between classes i stopped for a few minutes to watch a dump truck empty out some dumpsters.
I was watching from a second floor balcony and got to watch the truck crush the trash inside. Very cool. As an engineering student and as someone who has always been fascinated with big machines, i got a kick outta it.
There's a lot of money, work, and planning that goes into designing and building something that we think of as trivial. Everyone's seen a garbage truck. But they really are impressive bits of engineering. Teams and teams of people worked on that truck, from the fluids guys that designed the hydrolics to the automotive engineers that got drivable.
I can appreciate that. Money, work, effort, and it pays off in real ways.
As I was leaving and walking going to my next class, a squirrel scurried by, looking for food. Squirrels are also everywhere, just like garbage trucks. We've all seen them. Students at RPI are quite familiar with their personalities and the way they act. I don't know anyone around here who hasn't stopped to watch a squirrel at some point.
They are also quite fascinating.
They're small. They're also much, much more complicated than a garbage truck.
I feel like, yeah engineering is vitally important to humanity and all that jazz. But when i look at the results of the very best that humanity has done, it is simply not comparable to what God has already put before us. I also read an excellent line from Perry Noble yesterday: "Disney created a mouse…GOD created the Grand Canyon…HE HAS THE TRUMP CARD!"
That totally sums up everything i was thinking then and there.
Unrelated: Last night i listened through what might be my favorite album of all time. I don't know why, but after all the worship music i've listened to, that one still feels very close to me. It could be because its the first hillsong album i owned. Or because of the memories of learning the songs on it after youth convention that year. Or because its one of the few albums that i've sat down with my bass, and played along from start to finish. Or maybe its just very good worship music to begin with. Its good stuff. Left me feeling nostalgic and warm-fuzzy for the future at the same time.
Also, in wonder of the ridiculous thing we live in called life. What an insane, unimaginable concept.
I was watching from a second floor balcony and got to watch the truck crush the trash inside. Very cool. As an engineering student and as someone who has always been fascinated with big machines, i got a kick outta it.
There's a lot of money, work, and planning that goes into designing and building something that we think of as trivial. Everyone's seen a garbage truck. But they really are impressive bits of engineering. Teams and teams of people worked on that truck, from the fluids guys that designed the hydrolics to the automotive engineers that got drivable.
I can appreciate that. Money, work, effort, and it pays off in real ways.
As I was leaving and walking going to my next class, a squirrel scurried by, looking for food. Squirrels are also everywhere, just like garbage trucks. We've all seen them. Students at RPI are quite familiar with their personalities and the way they act. I don't know anyone around here who hasn't stopped to watch a squirrel at some point.
They are also quite fascinating.
They're small. They're also much, much more complicated than a garbage truck.
I feel like, yeah engineering is vitally important to humanity and all that jazz. But when i look at the results of the very best that humanity has done, it is simply not comparable to what God has already put before us. I also read an excellent line from Perry Noble yesterday: "Disney created a mouse…GOD created the Grand Canyon…HE HAS THE TRUMP CARD!"
That totally sums up everything i was thinking then and there.
Unrelated: Last night i listened through what might be my favorite album of all time. I don't know why, but after all the worship music i've listened to, that one still feels very close to me. It could be because its the first hillsong album i owned. Or because of the memories of learning the songs on it after youth convention that year. Or because its one of the few albums that i've sat down with my bass, and played along from start to finish. Or maybe its just very good worship music to begin with. Its good stuff. Left me feeling nostalgic and warm-fuzzy for the future at the same time.
Also, in wonder of the ridiculous thing we live in called life. What an insane, unimaginable concept.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Action-y
Last wednesday was a pretty different day. It marked the end of a work-intensive few days, and i found myself suddenly without anything important to do. So as I was eating lunch in Commons I ate with some other RCA kids and we got to talking. A certain person kept asking probing questions about me. Not really useful questions. But then again, maybe there are no useful questions. I feel like every question I answered was more frustrating because sometimes, you can't learn much about a person by asking them very specific questions.
Oddly enough, I ate dinner later that day in a different dining hall with a different few RCA friends. Completely different story. We started talking about Bible translations. We cracked out a laptop and started reading the awesomeness of the Message:Remix. I then ended up forcing them to watch videos from church services. I was really excited. I love showing people how much more awesome church can be than what they are used to.
I think the two people I was with for dinner gleaned a lot more about me during the shorter time I had with them than the group I ate lunch with. They saw what I was interested in, what I spend my time doing, where my heart is. And they didn't ask me any questions.
Analytical people bother me. RPI is full of analytical people for some reason. It stresses me out. Why can't we just appreciate what we're a part of without tearing it apart, analyzing it, and graduating with an engineering degree? Ick.
Oddly enough, I ate dinner later that day in a different dining hall with a different few RCA friends. Completely different story. We started talking about Bible translations. We cracked out a laptop and started reading the awesomeness of the Message:Remix. I then ended up forcing them to watch videos from church services. I was really excited. I love showing people how much more awesome church can be than what they are used to.
I think the two people I was with for dinner gleaned a lot more about me during the shorter time I had with them than the group I ate lunch with. They saw what I was interested in, what I spend my time doing, where my heart is. And they didn't ask me any questions.
Analytical people bother me. RPI is full of analytical people for some reason. It stresses me out. Why can't we just appreciate what we're a part of without tearing it apart, analyzing it, and graduating with an engineering degree? Ick.
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