Back For a Second Round

Well, I survived. I made it through my first semester as a full time college student, and now I'm back. I am definitely excited about the new opportunities of this semester. In fact, it's really really nice to be starting the semester with an identity. When I first showed up, I was either "Jacqueline's brother" or "the 16 year old." Now, I actually have a name and a few friends, which is quite beneficial. 

This semester is going to be different though. I have 18 hours of classes, which is the same as last semester except they are all on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Then since I don't have any Tuesday-Thursday classes, I should hopefully be getting a job soon. So, my class schedule for this semester is as follows:

MWF 8:00-8:55 AM - Basic English Composition

MWF 9:00-9:55 AM - U.S History (Second Semester....I didn't fail)

MWF 1o:00-10:45 AM- Chapel

MWF 11:00-11:55 AM - New Testament Survey: Gospels and Acts

MWF 12:00-12:55 PM - Evangelism and Discipleship

MW 1:30-3:00 PM - College Choir (The official choir of FWBBC that travels to different churches to perform and brainwash influence high school students to attend FWBBC)

M 7:00-8:30 PM - Choral Union (The group that sings at Christmas on Richland and performs the Spring Musical - Which happens to be "The Sound of Music" this year)

W 3:00 - 4:00 PM - Chapel Choir (The choir that focuses on the basics of choral singing and performs in chapel once a month)

F ????????????? - College Algebra (This class changed days and times so the time on my schedule isn't right and I really have no idea what time it is)

That's my schedule....add a 6-10 campus job and a Tues-Thurs part time job, and I'm gonna be pretty busy. I am excited, though. I have a really good feeling about this semester and I'm looking forward to the challenge. Sadly enough I still don't have a class that actually applies to my major. 

Failure Isn't Always A Bad Thing

So Luke has been trying lately to get 100 comments on a single blog post. Then on the last day of 2008, he accomplished that goal (Congrats, by the way) and even passed it, going all the way to 117. I have to say, though, it brought up some interesting questions for me. Probably the biggest one I have is, "Is it really a significant accomplishment if your readers know what you're doing?" I've started paying attention to the number of comments I get and trying to push the conversations on further and further. My problem though, is that most of my friends don't actually read my blog. Reading a blog post takes time. However, something that can be read quickly (or not at all) seems to be the perfect thing to coax comments on. In fact, over the course of a couple days, I got 64 comments on my facebook status that simply read "Caleb is trying to be optimistic about this year.....but I'm not entirely sure what that means." The only person that I told about the extreme numbers was Luke, and he added 3 of those comments. Even if you take out those and my replies to those comments, it was well over 50. I also have pushed the comments on a picture of the college choir to 80 comments. The difference there is that I mentioned shooting for 100 and some of the posts are obviously left only for the sake of the numbers. SO my conclusion to all of this is -- The number 100 is not a goal to strive for. The goal should be to communicate. Then if you want numbers, count them based on how many unsolicited comments you get. If you post a goal and the comments stop shortly after that goal, the comments were probably only added because of the goal. 

Let's face it; we like to meet our goals. I know I do, anyway. But if every goal we set can be met, then we're most likely not achieving our potential. I think we should set goals sometimes that we don't necessarily expect to be able to meet. Then if we succeed, that's great! And if we don't, it's okay. You never find out how much you can accomplish until you push yourself to your limits and beyond. 

Or that's the way I see it anyway. What do you think?

Now Wait Just One Second!

Now, I'm just as excited about new year's as the next guy, but I really don't see why we celebrate it as a holiday. Okay, so maybe that's not true. I am probably not as excited as most people. But, for those of you that were counting down the seconds until New Year's Day, you're just going to have to count one more second. It looks like because of the earth's rotation, the experts have decided to add a second to 2008. Go figure.

12 Days of Christmas

Have you ever wondered what in the world the 12 days of Christmas have to do with Christmas? My aunt sent me an interesting email that explains what exactly the song means.

 

From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics. It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church. Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality which the children could remember.

 -The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.

 -Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.

 -Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.

 -The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.

 -The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.

 -The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.

 -Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit--Prophesy, Serving, Teaching,  Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy.

 -The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.

 -Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit--Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness,  Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self Control.

 -The ten lords a-leaping were the ten commandments.

 -The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.

 -The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles' Creed.

 So there you go....the 12 days of Christmas

Merry (Twelve Days of) Christmas Everyone  

Tag....I'm it

So, I am confused....I was tagged by Tabetha to do one of those list [insert number here] things about yourself things, but I really have no idea if I'm supposed to do 5 or 7 things. So I guess we'll....who's we? me and the ants in my pocket? I'll just start and see how far I get before it becomes difficult to think of something. Now, whether there's a list of 2 or 5,781, you'll at least know why. I'll try to make it at least a little bit interesting anyway.

1. I graduated high school at 15 and waited a year before starting college, thus making me a 16 year old freshman lovingly known as "the kid". However, contrary to popular belief, I am not a genius. I was just very motivated and had little to do besides schoolwork.
2. I have a heart condition called "Insignificate Mitro Regurditation." Don't bother trying to google it, though. It won't bring up any results. That is the name that my doctor wrote down for it when I was diagnosed, but every other description of my condition I have found calls it "Mitral Regurgitation." Either way, it's not serious. It's a common teen thing that basically means that my body grew faster than my heart and sometimes it can't keep up. For instance, if I'm lying on the couch, and I hop up, the blood sometimes doesn't reach my head fast enough and everything fades to black for a few seconds. I have only fully fainted once.
3. I climb. If it can be climbed, I will climb it. I don't know why, I just enjoy it. One thing that is great about climbing up to a perch high up somewhere is that there is a great view, and one of my other favorite things about it is being able to get away from everything. There are not many people that follow you up.....
4. I had 3 sets of teeth on my bottom jaw. After I lost my baby teeth, I started losing what we thought were my permanent teeth. In fact 2 of my front teeth came in behind my other teeth kinda like a shark. Needless to say, the dentist removed the extras so it wouldn't mess up my mouth......I don't know what good it did though. I still had to have braces. 
5. I am very musical. I love to sing, play guitar, and just listen to music. I have a knack for learning music quickly. I sing in the FWBBC Choir, and have won several awards at our national convention

I think I will have to stop there. I really have no idea why you would need to know this stuff, but then again, who really knows why we do anything? I guess if nothing else this got me to actually post a blog. 

Now....to choose my victims...... *suspenseful music*

In hindsight, it would've been good to comment on the blogs I read. Mainly because I can't tag any of those people because they have no idea who I am....

1. Jacob
2. Derek
3. Paul
4. Jon-marc
5. Rebekah

Now....would someone who actually reads this please enlighten me? Am I supposed to comment these people to let them know they were tagged? I'm almost positive they don't all read this....

Count Your Blessings

I have not had the best week so far, and I'm only two days into it. I may not be the wisest person you've ever met, but I have learned one thing: when nothing seems to go your way, count your blessings. I am reminded of the old hymn that says "Count your blessings; name them one by one. Count your blessings; see what God has done." It's a lot harder to be upset about things going wrong when you're being thankful for the many things that go right. So, I thought I'd just take a few minutes to do that. This is my submission to Luke's group writing project.

I am thankful for:

1. My salvation
2. A family that loves me.
3. Friends that are there for me no matter what.
4. My church
5. This country and the freedom we have been blessed with
6. The opportunity for an education / my school
7. All of the small things I sometimes take for granted (warm bed, food, etc.)

Obviously there are many many many more things that I could add, but for the sake of keeping it short and sweet, I'll stop there.

Rigged Election!

I think most would agree with me that the election for the President of the United States is an important event. The President holds a lot of power that could be very useful or very dangerous depending on who holds it. As most of my readers probably know, I did not vote -- not because I didn't deem it important, or because I thought my vote would not count. I did not vote because I can't. I am sixteen years old, so I am not allowed to vote for anything.

The question that I have is, simply, "Why?" Why shouldn't a 16 year old be allowed to vote? Why do we have an age limit at all? I am in college, but it is assumed that since I am young, I am also ignorant. You don't think I'm stupid because you seem to believe that in two years I will know enough to vote, but I would like to point out that there are adults that don't even know what they are voting for. I heard some statistics the other day from a survey of teens at a concert with questions like "How many senators are there?" and "Who is the Speaker of the House?" Not all that surprisingly, most teens failed miserably. However, another study was done of adults (around the age of 40 if I remember correctly) and they did only marginally better. So why does our culture assume that adults automatically know more? Along with those statistics was an article, and the main purpose was to say that if you are ignorant of the issues, you shouldn't vote.

Well, criticizing the system is useless if no solution is offered. So if you can't decide who can vote based on age, gender, or race, how do you decide who can vote? My answer is in the form of another question. Would it be too ridiculous to require a test on the issues and the candidates positions? Sure, it might be inconvenient, and politicians have that ability to dodge the issues sometimes, but it would get people involved. If you don't know what you're voting on, you can't vote. Period. People would be required to know the candidates, so candidates would be required to make themselves known. Then, as far as inconvenience goes, would you rather have to take an hour or less out of 4 years (35,064 hours), or have a president that you completely disagree with because a bunch of ignorant people voted just because they always vote Democrat, or always vote Republican?

I am not ignorant. I may not know everything, but if I had the opportunity to make my voice heard by simply learning a few more things, I would. So if someone who is capable of voting is refused a vote, does that make the election rigged? I think as a citizen of the United States of America, I should have a voice. Is that too much to ask?

Trivia Matters

No, that is not supposed to say "Trivial Matters." That is exactly what it is supposed to say.
This post is about a website called FreeRice.com. It's a trivia game, but for every correct answer, sponsors donate 20 grains of rice to the UN World Food Program. I like trivia games, so I've played a little and won over 2500 grains of rice. In total, over 46 billion grains of rice have been donated. I think it's a pretty neat idea, so go ahead and stop by. You could feed a few hungry mouths, and you might even learn a few things. The categories include English Vocabulary, English grammer, countries on the map, world capitols, multiplication tables, and several different languages.

Have fun!!!

Pulling Hair By The Handfulls

Oh my goodness. I have been sooooo busy lately. I haven't really posted anything worth reading in forever. I have 17 credit hours of classes, and I'm working 10-15 hours a week, so I'm really busy. I am so behind in my reading it's insane. There's just so much!!! I also haven't practiced my guitar since my lesson Thursday which is not necessarily good, but I will have some time to get caught up with that before my next lesson. It's pretty cool how much this place causes you to think though. I've developed some interesting theories about a few things. I might have to tell you about one in a later post.
I was in a wedding this weekend, so I was running pretty much non-stop from the time I woke up Friday until classes were over Monday. It was worth it, though. I enjoyed the wedding and it was fun to get to spend time with one of my favorite families in the world. To all those crazy Gedeons out there, I love you!

320 Pictures

If you know anything about FWBBC, or the students, or the societies, then you need to go to 320Pictures.com and watch the videos from Rush night! There is some pretty hilarious stuff there, plus most of the videos that 320 Pictures have done to date. Only one of the society videos is there, because 320 Pictures only made the Bryan video, but it is pretty good. So you should watch them...because I said so.

What do you think?

[These forum posts have been removed until I can get permission to have them here....I will have to admit that I actually forgot to get permission. Thanks for the reminder Luke, and I will try to have them back pretty soon if I can.]

8 Minutes Late

Well, this is going to be my Sunday post even though it's technically Monday. If you have a problem with it then you can just let me know...and then get over it...because by then it will be too late. =)
The FWBBC Choir is singing a song in Latin for "Christmas on Richland." It's rather interesting singing in a language that you neither speak or understand. I will note, however, that it is challenging and I do love a good challenge. The song is "Gloria" by John Rutter. The song is on YouTube if you are curious, but it's in three pieces: The First, Second, and Third Movements. If you get a chance, you should listen to them. They are very interesting. I enjoy singing them even if I don't know everything I'm saying. One of the students is supposed to be bringing the translation tomorrow, so that will be interesting.

Random of the week...umm....I can't think of anything at the moment as I am near braindead, so I am going to go to sleep, and maybe I'll think of something by next week.

Short and Sweet

Well, this post is just here to say thanks to all of those that prayed. Keep praying, please. Also, as far as news, I am back in Olive Branch for the weekend. Bro. David and Mrs. Kendra are going to be here tomorrow!!! I'm excited. You couldn't tell, could you?
Upon request, the "Old Testament Survey: Law and History" blogs will be posted here. The first one should be up pretty soon, for those of you that are interested (a.k.a. Paul)
Well, I'm going to bed because I am pretty tired.

A Call To Prayer

This is a call to prayer. Stop what you're doing. This is dead serious. The campus of Free Will Baptist Bible College is under direct attack. This school year is only three weeks old and already there have been broken bones, strained muscles, heart failures, unexplained illnesses, and tonight a girl was found unconscious face down in the garden. There have been conflicts and attitudes already also.
God is working on this campus. This student body has so much potential to impact the world for Christ. One of the opening services during the first week was over four hours long. God is working and I believe that Satan is worried about what might happen, so he is trying to discourage in every way possible. I don't know of anything to do other than pray. We need your prayers. Please join me and the rest of the student body in praying for the school year.

Pray

1.) That all of those who were injured or sick will be healed
2.)That all of the tensions and attitudes will be righted
3.)That God would help the individuals overcome any personal struggles that they might have
4.)That there would be a revival among the student body and even the denomination as a whole
5.)That we would not be discouraged or distracted from the work God wants to do through us this year

I don't know what else to say. We need your prayers. The student body will be holding a prayer for the school year and all of the things that are going on tomorrow at 7 PM. Please join as we lift up our concerns and put everything into God's hands.

Thank You

OT Survey Blog

The first blog post for my Old Testament Survey class was due today, so I was going to post it here as promised. However, it is not actually viewable to the public. So when my teacher said "blog", he really meant "discussion forum." For those of you who were looking forward to reading the posts, I am sorry for getting your hopes up. If you still want to read them, just let me know and I will copy and paste them here.

Have a nice day!

Ketchup

Well, like I said yesterday, I'm really really sorry about not posting in a while. I've been pretty busy with classes and whatnot. So Sunday's random fact that I forgot to post is that your ears never srop growing. Even when the rest of your body reaches full size, your ears keep on keepin on. I guess that's why older people tend to have big ears. It's amazing how well that fits in with the aging process. As you get older and your hearing grows dim, your ears are still getting bigger to catch more sound and make it easier to hear.

As you probably already know, it is September 11th, so don't forget to pray for our troops around the world, and remember the families of all of those people who lost their lives during the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Also, I think it's a great opportunity to say thank you to all of our police officers and fire fighters that work so hard to make this country safer to live in.

I would also like to say Happy Birthday to Jon-marc. He is turning 19! It's pretty crazy. He also happens to be getting married later this month. So congratulations!

Well, I have a job interview in just a few minutes so this will be all for today. You should leave a comment, so I will have a reason to come back and post again....just saying...

PS - The title is "Catch Up"....just in case you didn't catch that....

Wow

Yikes! I haven't posted in four days! For those of you that read this...or used to...I'm sorry. I haven't had a really reliable network to connect to, but I will try to post something tonight or tomorrow.

Fun Day

I awoke this morning to a phone call from Jon-marc. I was supposed to go shopping with him this morning, but I completely forgot. So I got ready and went to the mall to meet him and he wasn't there yet, so I waited. Then after a little while he called me to tell me that he was on the side of the road changing a flat tire. He said he didn't need help, so I thought I'd go to Chick Fil A to get some breakfast since I had ran out without eating. I put Chick Fil A in the GPS and told it to go to the nearest one. It was a few miles away, but I was hungry and I had plenty of time, so I went for it. I drove for about 10 or 15 minutes, and got to the address, but there was no Chick Fil A in sight. Being utterly devastated, I headed back to the mall. About halfway there, I got another phone call to tell me that he had changed the tire, and driven to a gas station to wash his hands, only to discover that his spare was leaking.
Since he was going to have to go buy a new tire, he told me not to wait on him, so I just went back to the college. I was here about 20 minutes and he called and said he was ready to meet me at the mall again, so I left. We shopped and I completely depleted what little money I had left in the bank, but all in all, it was a pretty good day.

Silence and Name Change

Interesting day...I got less than five hours of sleep, and strangely enough, I am not really tired. I don't have anything to do for the afternoon, but tonight is the block party. That will be fun.

Jacqueline was telling Thomas (her boyfriend) that he talks all the time, so he decided to stop communicating for the day. Then when he told me, I said I would be silent with him. As it turns out, he was actually not allowed to write or text either, but I only vowed silence, so I am still being quiet.

Isn't it great how people associate new people with other people? I am thinking of just changing my name to "Jacqueline's brother," or maybe "That sixteen year old." What do you think? Isn't name changing rather expensive? I'm broke...so maybe I'll just keep Caleb.

Events of Late

Well, sadly enough, it seems that I haven't really been posting very regularly lately. This is because for some reason when I moved away to college, I got a LOT busier. It seems that the schedule of reading over a dozen blogs and news sites and posting my own daily is a little much when added to 16 hours of coursework. I think I might try posting in the afternoon like I am today instead of at night, but I'm not really sure how well that will go either. I guess if it comes down to it, I might just have to switch to posting every couple days or once a week or something.

College is pretty exciting. I am really enjoying it. I am incredibly tired, but I love it! I'm struggling a little bit with remembering everybody's names, but I will learn them eventually. I was telling a guy named James today that people keep saying "Hi Caleb" and I say "Hi" back and then walk away wondering who in the world I just talked to and why they know my name.

I am in the Free Will Baptist College Choir! The tour schedule looks like it's still pretty open, so if you want us to visit our church you should fill out a request form. The choir is going to be really really good this year. There are more guys than there usually are, and we have a good bass section, so we are going to get to do some harder songs. We have only had two classes, and already it sounds amazing. I can't wait!

I did get to test out of the computer class that I had. I actually missed the test when it was scheduled, but the professor let me re-take it, and I passed. That was exciting. It's one less $90 book to buy. Speaking of which, I just remembered that I was supposed to go to the administration office to get that dropped from my schedule so I don't have to pay for it, so I guess this is it for today. I'm off to get that done before the office closes! Have a great day!