Rachel's Ramblings

What NOT to do with your youth group

2009-09-09T18:40:00.000-07:00

The other day I got into a joke conversation about activities NOT to do with a group of youth. Being the creative person that I am, I had a grand time thinking up activities that should probably stay away from the next youth group event or Wednesday night meeting. Here's just a sample of what NOT to do. Props to the various people who helped in the brainstorming.

#1 Commandeer a boat, give pirate names to everyone and start terrorizing the high seas.
#2 Dodgeball with rocks
#3 "the truth about your menstruation" co-ed series
#4 Hot chocolate mix snorting and creamer shots
#5 Farting contests near any open flame.
#6 Playing games with road kill... let's just add anything with roadkill to this one.
#7 Milk guzzling contests
#8 Spin the Bottle
#9 Taking the group to Hooters
#10 Hot sauce chugging contests in a casino

Quote of The Week

2009-08-20T17:50:00.000-07:00

"Son, if you really want something in this life, you have to work for it. Now quiet! They're about to announce the lottery numbers." - Homer Simpson

Says something about our society doesn't it?

A Rap through the Bible

2009-08-13T15:20:00.001-07:00

With today being the last day of my class Teaching the Bible to Youth and Adults, our professor Duffy Robbins decided to rap the books of the Bible for us. Unfortunately we were only able to get from Esther on, but It's still pretty stinkin' hilarious. Now if only my other Fuller professors would teach this way.

a shout out to my classmate Todd for capturing this on video!

An Important Lesson From a Burning Bush

2009-08-12T12:06:00.001-07:00

For those of you who don't know, I'm in the second week of a two week class called Teaching the Bible to Youth and Adults. It's been an amazing class and wish it could be a five week or even better a ten week class. Anyways, One of the assignments was to create a Bible lesson and present it to the class.

Today one of my classmates was teaching on Moses and the burning bush (Exodus 3:11-13). Though I've heard this story taught many times, something popped out at me today. Maybe it was because I felt invested playing the burning bush (just another excuse to use the words "I'm hott) in the enactment of the story, or maybe the two cups of coffee I had this morning.

But, in verse 11, Moses asks God one important question "Who am I that you should choose me to do this?" (that's a paraphrase of course). But instead of saying "well Moses, because of your beard, your outstanding leadership skills, and your ability to talk to burning bushes", God answered in a very surprising way "I will be with you". That's it!

This compelled me, maybe because I've been thinking a lot about why I'm called to Youth Ministry and the fact that I have to start looking for a full-time job soon. To see Moses question his gifts and abilities, for Moses to question where he was in life is so very human. We second guess ourselves (I can't even count the number of times I've done this during this last week), we question our abilities and what where doing. We believe that we must have all the skills and be as good as the other guy (or gal) in what we do. But instead of God comforting us with words, he just asks that we follow him and we let him lead in what we are doing.

I believe that when we follow Jesus in our lives, even though we might be second guessing ourselves, God will from time to time give us the encouragement and confidence we need to continue on (though those words might be few and far between). Thanks Mo for reminding me that we are human and will ask the question "why me?". I'm sure glad I follow a God who says, "Don't worry about why, just follow me."

Amazing Inventions: Flannelgraphs

2009-08-08T18:50:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you, but when I was a kid the main way to teach a Bible story was to pull out the flannelgraph. For those of you who have no clue what I'm talking about, here's a definition:

Flannelgraph (sometimes called a flannel board) is a storytelling system that uses a board covered with fabric, usually resting on an easel. The flannel board is usually painted to depict a background scene appropriate to the story being told. Paper cutouts of characters and objects in the story are then placed on the board, and moved around, as the story unfolds. These cutouts are backed, either with flannel, or with some other substance that adheres lightly to the flannel background, such as coarse sandpaper. Thanks Wikipedia!

I don't know how many Bible stories I have learned by use of a flannelgraph, but I can tell I still have images in my head of flannel Jesus turning water into wine.

But now with all the high tech media that's out there, the days of the flannelgraph are gone. Well, at least that's what I thought until the other day when lo, and behold I was shown a video of animated flannel characters telling Bible stories. I was so excited to know that the Bible teaching method of my childhood hasen't completely died, but instead given a 21st century upgrade.

Exegeteing and Resting in the Spirit!

2009-03-17T00:14:00.000-07:00

I am in the middle of exegeteing Galatians 5:16-14 for school. For those of you people who are wondering what in the world “exegeteing” is, let me give you a definition courtesy of my Mac’s wonderful dictionary function.

ex e gete |ˈeksəˌjēt|
noun
an expounder or textual interpreter, esp. of scripture.

verb [ trans. ]
expound or interpret (a text, esp. scripture) : I am able to exegete the scriptures in ways that make sense.

ORIGIN mid 18th cent.: from Greek exēgētēs, from exēgeisthai ‘interpret.’ (for you Greek geeks out there!)

So as you can see, it is nothing perverted or some awful disease, but going verse-by-verse trying to interpret what the author is saying. The verses I’m looking at are Paul’s passage on the “works of the flesh” and “fruit of the Spirit”. It’s been interesting working with various different sources and digging in to what it mean’s to “live by the Spirit”.

The theme of living by and resting in the Spirit is something I’ve been learning this quarter. I don’t know if it’s because of the extremely rough quarter in the fall, or if God’s prepping me for something, but all of my classes have in one way or another touched on the subject and before I knew all this, the passage a chose for this exegetical project of mine, low and behold is about living by the Spirit. So, I think God’s been trying to teach me something.

In Galatians 5 Paul is explaining to the Galatians as to how they no longer need to strictly observe the Law or Torah as they once had to, but instead they have been set free because of Christ’s death and resurrection. In verses 16-24, Paul is warning the Galatians that Just because of the freedom they have in Christ doesn’t mean they can do anything that they want. We can’t give in to what Paul calls “the works of the flesh”, but urges them to live by the Spirit, which produces fruit.

Now, I would like to point out that it is not the FRUITS of the Spirit, but FRUIT (singular). This does not mean, that we might be given love, or joy, or peace, but that it’s a one package deal. When we live life in the Spirit, it’s an inside-out transformation that takes place allowing us to enjoy the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control the Spirit brings us. What an amazing though. It is through the Spirit we can experience these things.

May you all, my friends, live by and take time to REST in the Spirit.

A Theological Lesson From The Killers

2009-02-27T00:17:00.000-08:00

I was listening to the new Killers album this past week and while listening to the song "Human" a theological lesson came about.

The Chorus of the song says:

"Are we human? or are we dancers?
My signs are vital, my hands are cold
and I'm on my knees looking for the answers.
Are we human? Or are we dancers?"

Are we human or are we dancers? This one line sparked a theological discussion that continues to float through my mind.

Are we human? In our lives, do we choose to take matters into our own hands, which we as humans we love to do? Do we try to solve our own problems? Do we see life in a narcissistic light where all we can think about is me, me, me?

Are we dancers? On the dance floor, there is always a leader and always a follower. Do we allow God to initiate in our dance of life? Do we allow God to take our hand and lead us where he wants us to go? Do we trust God to lead us in our every day lives?

It's amazing how one line can just change ones thought so quickly. It is so easy to want to take matters into our own hands. We want to solve our problems, we want what is pleasurable for ourselves. As human beings we are very self-centered. But when one becomes a follower of Jesus Christ, we place our ABSOLUTE trust in God. Anyone can believe that there is a God, but do you TRUST God with your life? Can you allow him to lead your life instead of giving into our human desires of self-gratification?

As human beings we are not perfect, and we are guarantee to fail multiple times in our life. It is guaranteed that we will try to take the lead in the dance of life and toes will get stepped on. But the great part of the story is, when we mess up, when we stumble and mess up on the dance floor, God once again reaches out his hand and says "my I have this dance".

What a beautiful picture! Every time I hear this song now, I stop and ask myself the question am I human? or am I a dancer?

Twenty-Five Days of Christmas Movies Part 1

2008-11-30T17:49:00.001-08:00

I don't know about you, but I love Christmas Movies. I love them so much I watch them year round. I decided to make an easy 25 day's of Christmas movies calendar in order to avoid doing homework. While of course we all have our favorites, here are my picks for the Twenty-Five days 'till Christmas.

December 1st: Miracle on 34th Street-- You can pick which ever version you'd like (I prefer the original) But whether your a Natalie Wood or a Mara Wilson Fan, this is a great movie to start off the holiday season with.

December 2nd: The Family Stone-- Who doesn't like dysfunctional families who comes together at Christmas.

December 3rd: Meet Me in St. Louis-- While you might not think this is a Christmas movie, the most important part and most famous song take place during the christmas season. Most people have know clue that "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" comes from this movie. So join Judy Garland for one of my favorite movies of all time.

December 4th: The Nightmare Before Christmas-- I don't know what it is about this movie, but it's so much fun.

December 5th: The Bishops Wife-- Cary Grant plays Dudley a guardian angel. Also if you aren't in the mood for another old movie, You can always get the remake The Preachers Wife with Denzel Washington and Whitney Houston.

December 6th: Christmas With the Kranks--You gotta' love Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis in this movie. Yes the premise of the movie is very stupid, but it's got a great cast.

December 7th: Ernst Saves Christmas-- need I say more except It's so stupid it's funny!

December 8th: A Charlie Brown Christmas-- I've always wanted a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree! Don't worry about renting it, you can watch it on ABC. You can catch it on December 8th at 8/7c or on December 16th.

December 9th: Scrooged-- Got to love Bill Murrey!

December 10th: The Santa Clause-- This movie makes me laugh every time I watch it. Yes, they have made 2 others but The first one in my opinion is best. Thank you Tim Allen!

December 11th: Love Actually-- Even though I watch this one year round, it's a great reminder that Love is all around us. And you got to love Hugh Grant dancing scene.

December 12th: The Polar Express-- I thought this was a very fun movie that is perfect for the holiday season.

Well, that brings us part way in Rachel's Twenty-Five Days of Christmas Movies. I'll post part two as soon as things die down a bit. Happy Movie Watching.

Wow, It's been awhile!

2008-06-08T17:12:00.001-07:00

When randomly stumbling across my link to my blog, I didn't realized how long it has been since I've last posted something. So, by popular demand from my McSister, who is the only person I know who reads this blog, I've decided to give an update.

Lets see here. Finishing up my spring quarter this next week (I think that is why I was randomly checking the link to my blog, I was procrastinating from studying for a final and writing a 16 page exegetical paper on The Golden Calf. I do have to say that while school is extremely interesting, I'm exhausted! Something about going to school and working 20 hours a week that just takes every last ounce of energy from you. For those of you who are interested about what I've been taking, here is a summery of the classes I have been blessed to take

Fall 2007

New Testament 2 (Acts to Revelation)-- just a basic Bible class which discussed Acts-through revelation.

Theology and Culture-- Presented various areas of culture past and present and what the church can learn from it.

Foundations of Youth Ministry-- This was a crash course in Youth Ministry. Absolutely fascinating but a lot of information.

Spring 2008

New Testament 1 (Gospels)-- An overview class of the Gospels. I absolutely loved this class and it was great because we were talking about the death and resurrection of Christ right before Easter which gave it so much more meaning.

Discipleship in a Secular Society-- This class was basically asking the question what is the have we and more importantly, what should we as Christians be doing in a world full of oppression, marginalization and a society which is becoming (if not already reached ) post-christian status.

Leadership in youth ministry-- Basically, how to lead people and set up a Youth ministry to run it effectively.

Spring 2008

Pentateuch (the first 5 books of the OT)-- We've been studying Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy and what these books are all about. While I once found Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy completely boring, I now have a new appreciation for them because these laws given show a covenant between the Israelites and God and how even when the Israelites screwed up and breaking the covenant, God showed his mercy upon them and gave them another chance.

Intro to Family Ministry-- We've been looking at what exactly is a family, how the church has gone about doing Family Ministry and what Family ministry should look like. I have really been enjoying this class and it has challenged my thinking about ministry and what should be happening.

Well For those of you who were completely bored with that little ditty, I'm sorry. Anyways, as for me. My roommate moved back to Texas in February and since then I have been living by myself (which I don't mind one bit), going to school and working 20 hours a week at an Anglican Church a few towns over (I'm their admin). Other then that Life have been pretty low key.

As for this summer, I have the honor of taking more classes and upping my work load to 28 hours a week, so no rest for me. I do get to take an Individualized Distance learning class though which basically means that all I have to do is read 1200 pages and write 2 page essays on questions given to us. I think that is do able!

Well, I have to get ready to go to a study group so I'll wrap up here. I will try to do better at updating this blog, but I'll just say that I've always been bad at keeping people updated.

Thankful!

2007-10-29T22:12:00.000-07:00

While procrastinating studying for my New Testament midterm tomorrow, I all of a sudden realized I haven't blogged in awhile. 9 days to be exact! So here I am procrastinating and doing some contemplative thinking.

On Mondays, I have my Foundations of Youth Ministry Class with Chap Clark (a pretty well known name in the youth ministry world). Today during the three hours of lecture, an interesting point came up that started to make me think. Chap began to talk about how adolescents need at least 5 Christian adults (other then their parents) who are know their name,pray for them, care for them and have regular contact with them long term. After hearing this, I asked myself the question, who were the five adults that where there for me? I came up with a lot longer list then I expected. To just jot down a few names of people who impacted me as a teenager (most of you won't know these names anyway so it's more for my own sake)
1. Vivian Edmond- the older lady at church who just knew how to love young people
2. Rick Tozer- who always had an encouraging word
3. Dean and Mindy Anderson- Dean was my youth pastor who was always watching out for me, His wife Mindy did the same
4. Julie Dwyer- definitely showed me love
5. Mrs. Myers- My High School Sewing teacher who truly did care for me
6. Mr. Tarr- One of the best math teachers I ever had who truly cared about his students and was constantly praying for us.
7. Mr. Miles- Again, a teacher who loved his students and in a lot of ways now that I think of it, reminders me of Chap Clark (the professor who introduced this idea to me)
8. My Grandma- Who was always praying for me and loving me no matter what I did.

I'm sure I can keep going on and on with my list, but for the sake of time, I won't.

I'm so grateful for all these people and those unnoticed who were praying for me and loving me in during adolescents. I know most if not all these people won't be reading this, but I still want to say thank you! Thank you for your love, support and showing me the love of Christ in what you said and did, and continue to do.

Many of these people probably have no idea how much they have impacted me just by taking time to talk, listen, pray and love me. Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! To those of you who were loving, praying and caring for me during these years and I just didn't know it, Thank You! You were my safety net while I crossed the unstable tight rope of adolescents and I'm glad to say I safely made it across!

Reading, Papers, Reading and oh, did I mention Reading?

2007-10-20T01:07:00.000-07:00

We'll that pretty much sums up my life! So exciting I know! I feel I have read more pages in this last month then I have in the past 4 years! The subject matter though is interesting and I have already learned so much! Other then studying, I had the opportunity to have dinner in old town with my friend Kendra (we worked at Mt. Hermon together my last summer), had a j0b interview with Starbucks (haven't heard back yet), Had my first So. Cal mall experience (pretty much it's a typical mall) and I am continuing to meet new people and create new friends.

Last week, I had the opportunity to take a walking tour of various sites in Pasadena for one of my classes. It was lead by the professor and all I can say is that I felt like I saw more of the city in those short 2 hours then I have the entire month and a half I've been here! Here are just some of the sights we saw...

Just to let you know, these aren't my pictures seeing how my camera isn't working!

Here is the Fuller Campus, I know not a pretty picture but there are some pretty parts, but then there are some buildings that just say "I'm UGLY"!!!!! Fuller is slowly working on it though!

Here we have a statue of Jackie and Mack Robinson! If you walk around the heads, you'll find different things engraved that were once apart of their life. It's actually kind of a freaky because the heads always look like they are staring at you!

Here is City Hall! It is seriously such a beautiful building especially at night.

Interesting fact:The width of the street pictures was determined by how many soldiers abreast would march in a military parade!

Here is 1st Baptist Church of Pasadena. It's a beautiful looking church, but so big and not very inviting! We'll especially when compared to the church across the street.

Here is All Saints Episcopal Church. While the doors are closed in the picture, this is the only church in Pasadena with open doors. They open their doors from 7 am to 8:30 pm every day and have created an place for people to pray and seek God.

We'll I hope you've enjoyed my abbreviated tour of a small portion of Pasadena! Takes me back to my college days of being a campus tour guide!

Just some random thoughts!

2007-10-07T00:07:00.000-07:00

While looking at my blog I saw that It's been awhile since I last wrote an entry! I'm now ready to catch all of you readers up on the Life of Rachel...

Since you last read my blog, I've save a puppy from death, graduated from seminary, met the man of my dreams and had three kids! So as you can see I've been very busy these last five days! For those of you who don't understand my sarcastic humor, I have some ocean front property in Iowa to sell you!

Ok, now for the serious update. Life has been treating me well! I been busy with reading, writing my first grad paper (it was a pretty easy assignment so to some it might not count as a paper, but I feel like counting it so there!), have had some very interesting class lectures and found out that my new testament professor looks (minus the white hair) and sounds like Donald Sutherlan (Mr. Bennett in the new pride and prejudice and Keefer's Dad). When asked about the resemblance, he tried to persuade us that Donald was his Uncle.

Yesterday we had a community potluck for the complex I live in. It was fun! Lots of good food to enjoy! I made my pasta salad, which I am very glad to say I finally got right this time (sooooooo excited). The evening ended up with us sitting around a fire pit singing and just having great conversation. I love the people in my complex.

Today, I finished writing my paper, met a friend for coffee and we ended up talking about youth ministry for 2 hours, had dinner with my roomie, watched Greys again, and then ended up reading a chapter in one of my books.

Over all it has been a pretty relaxing weekend, I wish I could have gotten more done, but oh well!

OK, I should go to bed so I can get up and do a lot of reading before going to church tomorrow night!

Reading, Bowling, board games, worship, reading and a movie!

2007-10-01T00:29:00.000-07:00

Well, that sums up my weekend!

If you haven't seen the movie "Once" do go see it. It's an Indy film that has an amazing soundtrack. I will warn you that it is technically a "musical" but it's not the sing and dance type of musicals I am known to enjoy. If you get a chance, do see it! It was beautifully done.

Went to Mosaic today (for those of you not familiar with Mosaic, it is the church Erwin McMannus teaches at and they have like 5 different campuses including one in Berkley now). It was a great experience, so different from what I'm use to but I really enjoyed it. They had a DJ spinning worship with another guy leading on keyboards and it was quite a fun experience. There announcements are pretty much all done by video which are funny and short and what I thought was fun was the offering baskets were paint cans. The teaching was great, they had a young lady who's involved in ministry there speak about caring for people. Planning on going back again but it was refreshing to see what they were doing there and in the community as well.

Lumber Jacks, Milking Cows and a Roof Top Party!

2007-09-29T09:46:00.000-07:00

Well that pretty much sums up my day yesterday! I went to the LA county fair with some people in my complex. It was great fun! We saw a lumber jack show, a cow milking demonstration, Chinese acrobats and Frisbee catching dogs! This fair was huge but the funny thing about about it was that there weren't displays of Grandma's home made pies or Uncle Fred's prize winning pigs. Instead you had an animal display area of all the farm animals that local farmers had donated to stay for the 3 week fair and a whole lot of people selling things. There were like 6 shopping pavilions full of stuff. Also at the LA county fair you could ice skate, sled, chop wood, take pottery lessons and have various other experiences. It was quite a fun day and I'm glad I went.

After getting back home, I quickly changed and went to a dance party put on by Fuller on top of the Pasadena Museum of California Art. The music was incredible (they had a faculty member spin for the evening) and the view was breath taking you could see City Hall which reminds me a lot of city hall in San Fransisco. Students at Fuller dub this event as "the event of the year" and I understand why. It was a lot of fun. Got to meet some new people and just have a night of fun.

Top (L to R): Danielle, Jessilyn, Jenny, Dayna, Lauren and Rachel Bottom (L to R): Adam and Jenelle

Afterwards, we went into Old Town Pasadena to meet up with some people at a pub called Barneys and spent the late hours of the evening enjoining a pint and having good conversation. The group was a mix of SOT (School of Theology) and SOP ( School of Psychology) students so it was fun to be hearing theological discussions amongst psychological ones. One it got out that I was a George Fox student, it was amazing how many people had questions for me either about the Friends traditions and beliefs or about the Psych program there. It seems that almost all the psych students applied there for grad school (which doesn't surprise me).

Overall it was a great Friday night! Today the plans are to go to a friends house for waffles this morning, spend some time cleaning and reading and I think a few of us were going to go see a movie. OK, well I should probably get started on the cleaning and reading part of my day!

I Survived My First week!

2007-09-28T11:08:00.001-07:00

Well I did it! I survived my first week of Grad school! This is going to be an interesting 9 remaining weeks and if anything I've learned not to schedule two classes back to back especially when one is a 3 hour course. Today I'm suppose to be going to the Fair with some people which should be fun and then I need to spend some time reading otherwise I'm never going to finish.

Ok, enough about life...

Rachel's Thoughs on Grey's Anatomy:

Loved it! Loved it! Loved it! This is going to be a very different season for sure but I think it's going to be a fun one. I think Izzy's gone a little crazy saving a deer's life and it make you wonder why they gave her interns but Alex's gotee makes up for it! This will definetly be my destress hour (especially since I will have just gotten home from 5 straight hours of classes).

Reading... I remember now why I don't like it!

2007-09-26T23:31:00.000-07:00

So I decided it was time to tackle the large amounts of reading I have to do. I soon came to realize that in the next two weeks I have to ready 3 books, write a paper and two book reviews and that's not even counting the normal textbook reading. After reading most of the afternoon about The Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus I felt like my brain was going to explode!!! Then I sat down and started to read about Teenagers for another hour or so. Soooooooo much reading and when you're a slow reader it doesn't help! I wish all textbooks we're like Harry Potter books so you would be so interested in what is going to happen next that you can't put the book down.

Million $ Idea: Textbooks written in such a way that you can't put it down!

Can you guess what tomorrow brings? MORE READING... Yeah!

I'm just excited that The season premier of Grey's start's tomorrow!

Now in other news...

Rachel's thoughts on Private Practice:

Not my favorite! Personally I don't think it's going to make it unless they make it much more exciting. It seems so much more like a Soap then Grey's does. The Cute Doctor (I'll refer to him as McSexy), cute front desk dude and Kate Walsh are really the only things I think were good about the show. I'll give it another week or so and see how it does. I have a funny feeling that Addison will find her way back to Seattle very soon. That's my two cents!

Now the work begins!

2007-09-26T01:06:00.001-07:00

Well I have officially finished all the first classes of this quarter. Let me just say my Tuesday and Thursdays are going to be long!!! I have a class from 3-6 and another from 6:30-8:30 and there in the same classroom!!! So basically that 30 minute break in between will be good emailing/study time. My first class was a class called Theology and Culture it's a 5 week intensive course meaning after five weeks, I'll be done!!! The class is basically touching on today's culture and how it combines with theology. If you're shaking your head right now, don't worry most of the class was today too. The Prof. is from Scotland and basically told us that we really didn't have to read any of the required reading for the class, but just needed to be familiar with the themes in the books. So that means I'll be going to the bookstore tomorrow to return a $36 book I bought for the class and if I need the book, I'll check it out of the library. The great thing is that I don't have any classes tomorrow, so after the all seminary chapel and the free lunch there offering to celebrate Fuller's 60th Anniversary, I get to read, read and do some more reading for my two Thursday classes.

In other news, I applied for another job today. This one would be working for a church in there worship Arts department as an admin. it's only a 20 hr. a week job and they seem somewhat flexible with the hours. The only downside is that the church is about a 3o min. drive which means that in traffic it will take an hour to get there and back. I got an email today from the church saying that they were still taking applicants, so I'll be emailing her tomorrow with some questions about the position.

Ok, I should probably go to bed now since I do have to get up in the morning to make it to chapel by 10 am.

New Beginnings!

2007-09-25T00:36:00.000-07:00

Well, I've compleated my first class as a seminary student! It was a strange feeling being in a classroom again seeing how I haven't been a student for 4 years. So, I left early knowing I was going to need to find a parking spot and find the class room and did well with that. Then, as I was sitting in a class room starting to talk to a girl next to me, I had this sudden feeling that I was in the wrong room, but I still stayed. Moments later I over heard two people talking about the professor that was teaching the class and I found out I was in the wrong classroom. By this time it was just about 3 pm (when my class was to start) and I darted down the stairs, found a class list and ran to the right building on the other side of campus. When I got to the right building, I was trying to figure out how to get to the 3rd floor after several minutes of searching I finally found 1 sign that directed me to a small door (which I would have never recogized as a stairwell) and I ran up 3 flights of stairs. When I got to the room, the class had started and it was a pretty full room. I was looking around for a seat when the professor (Luckly, it was Chap Clark who's just a cool guy) said "there's several seats in the front row". So embarrising!

It will be an awsome class though. After class we went to McCormick and Schmitt's for Happy hour a cheese burger and fries for $2 when you buy a $3 drink. It was great there were about 12 of us or so just sitting around getting to know eachother and Chap was there also. Met a guy who once was an intern for Twin Lakes so it was fun chatting about SC.

Tomorrow I have two classes back to back so I have the privilage of sitting from 3 pm to 8:20 pm with only a 30 min. break in between and 1 10 minute break during the first class. We'll see how that goes!!!

I applied for a job the other day, they emailed me today with questions to answer and send back. They were basicly these senario questions about ordering paper and envelopes and such. I figured since my brain has been processing so much today, that I would wait till morning to figure it all out. The job is an Office Manager job with a local events company (they basically sell dicounted tickets to entertanment events online). The Pay is amazing for only 20 hours a week. The pay scale they advertised is $15 to $17 dollars an hour. So be praying, cause this job would be perfect Monday - Friday 10 to 2 pm. That leaves time for sleeping and studying and free weekends!

Now that I have internet access, be looking forward to hearing from me more often!!!

I's Is uh Gradimicate Stewdent!

2007-09-20T13:22:00.000-07:00

Well today is registration day! That's right, the day I get to register for classes! In about 30 minutes I officially become a student once again! I'm excited but my stomach has been in knots all morning. After talking to some current students, I feel confident that I will do well, it just the thought of being a student once again after a 4 year absence that is a little nerve wracking.

In other news, I applied for a job today, it's an office manager position (pretty much I'd be babysitting the front desk) for a entertainment ticket company. The pay is amazing for a part time job so we'll see what happens. I'm not going to get my hopes up (I've learned not to do that). Other then that, I should have a constant flow of Internet starting on Tuesday. Until then, I'll be using one of my neighbor's connections (no one seems to care though cause they understand that it takes awhile to get everything up and running). So soon, very soon, I'll be able to update more often and be a frequent visitor to Myspace and Facebook.

Other then that, I'm meeting new people left and right and am starting to adjust to So. Cal ways (mainly the driving). OK, well I should get going cause I'm going to have to find a parking space somewhere around campus.

A New Chapter Begins!

2007-09-12T10:34:00.000-07:00

Well, I made it! I am in Pasadena!

Living in a big city is going to take some getting use to, but I'm sure after awhile I'll get the hang of it. I think Pasadena is going to be a fun town. I got very excited when I saw a DSW (which looked much nicer then the one in San Jose), H&M (yes Alyssa they have an H&M here so even more of a reason for you to come and visit) and the swankeyest Target I've ever seen.

Unfortunatly, I have had a rough few days. Sunday night I found out that the sister of one of my small group girls died in a motorcycle accident. Bright and early monday morning I lost the key to the rental van, then I dented the rental van after getting a replacement key (thank goodness I bought the damage insurance). Then yesterday morning when I woke up my roommate told me she had to put her cat Moses (I called him Mo) down. Lauren (that's my roommate) and I had a great conversation about how we've been definetly been under attack since we've gotten here.

Looking on the bright side...

I've met some nice people here in my complex. Actually there is supposedly a George Fox Grad living in the building but he's out of town this week. It was very relaxing to eat dinner out in the courtyard with a glass of wine and good conversation with neighbors. Almost all the residents here are Fuller students and are very helpful when it comes to giving us advice.

While it will take some getting use to, I'm sure I'll fit into Pasadena just fine.

One Last Night in Santa Cruz

2007-09-08T22:38:00.000-07:00

Tonight is it! It's my last night in my apartment and my last night as a resident of Santa Cruz, California. While I'm excited about my new venture, I'm sad to leave my home town. Tonight was a night of good-byes. Good-bye to my wonderful friends, good-bye to my town, good-bye to my apartment and good-bye to my home. While, I'll come back to visit it won't be the same. Some fond memories of SC:

1. Walks along West Cliff and watching the surf come in.
2. Erick's Deli!!!!
3. The smell of Redwoods
4. Pacific Ave.
5. Marini's Taffy
6. Bonfires on the Beach
7. Stagnaroe's clam chowder
8. Mojitos at Bittersweet
9. Pizza My Heart
10. Bumper car nights at the boardwalk

While today was a day of good-byes tomorrow is a day of Hellos!