Your last chance

Something that came to me in Sunday School this past Sunday:

You know how people will say to you, "Live as if it were your last year or your last week or your last day. What would you do differently?" Usually, pastors and the like will mention how you need to be soul-winning because this very well might be your last bit of time, you never know when Jesus will come back. So, people will tell you, "Live as if it were your last."

This is a pity. It shouldn't take such an extreme hypothetical idea to charge people into living for God and into living well. We each need to be truly thankful for the life we've been given and the recourse's we have at our disposal. There are so many opportunities, and if the only thing that wakes us up to this is someone waving the thoughts of "your last day" in our faces, we are lazy bums who should give our lives to someone else who wouldn't waste it. "The last chance" isn't the only day worth living. Jump at a chance.

The day of Christmas

Well, the previous four blog posts were ones that were previously posted on Xanga in the month of December. I have more readers on Xanga and that's why I post there first. Not like it's any necessary information and now like I need to explain myself, but there. There's an explanataion.



My dad is thinking about starting a blog. :) He asks me the other evening, "How do you know if people read your blog?" I told him what I knew and he comes up with what he would write about: "Dave is great." I tried to dissuade him from this by telling him that people didn't need to read that because they already knew.



I had some ideas running around in my head for some kind of object lesson.

I had gotten Mom and Taylor some awesome Christmas presents, breautiful real butterfly wing earrings. (http://my-bugs.com/EA/Butterfly+Earring.html) I was so excited to give them to Mom and Taylor, but they had to wait until Christmas, of course. Both of them would not let up and kept telling me, "Well, you could give them to me now..."
"No, you have to wait until Christmas."

There was this one particular time yesterday when Taylor said this to me, and I thought, is this what God feels like when we ask for things over and over, but it's just not time for the gift to be given? Is this what God feels like when I tell Him over and over, "I really, really, really want to be done with school and all its homework right now" or "You know, God, I really, really, really want to get married." I think that He is excited to give that gift to me one day, but it's just not Christmas yet. The waiting will be worth it and I will be glad that I had waited.

Straight No Chaser's The 12 Days of Christmas... in 2008!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28GUU1YbP_E

I haven't done my "Semester in review" post! Well, here it is.

Lessee... Where to start? Well, duh, at the beginning, what I mean is that there seems to be so much and it all blurs together so I really can't see the beginning very clearly.

Well, I can see the beginning of a year without being close to Nathan and Devon. I have survived, by the way. The beginning of my broadcasting career. Yes, I want to call it a "career." The beginning of rehearsals for our oratorio, Elijah. The beginning of long , important, hard conversations with myself, with my friends, with God. The beginning of, oh I don't know. This style is stupid. I'm switching to my usual format:

- Movies for the first time (all the way through): Braveheart, Hoosiers, Awakenings, Dave in Real Life, Amazing Grace. You know, I really didn't watch that many movies this semester.- This really isn't working for me. How about this, I will instead give a summary recap:

Life: This semester was rough, but in a good way. Issues and ideas were brought to light and I was able to wrestle with lots of things. I had good friends who got me through tons. Tons. I discovered Sufjan Stevens and I bought the music from the mermaid and the pirate Clorox commercials. They make me very happy. I'm still in love with Nathan Schmidt and I don't see that changing. Ah, I love him. My relationships with my other guts pals deepened beautifully this semester. It has been good.

Bryan: I got all A's and one B (Fine Arts). I loved my classes and I am proud of lots of the work that I did. I want to intern with a radio now, after my experience with broadcasting. I will have a new roommate next semester when I move to Huston Base. I used the grill a lot and worked on perfecting my omelette. It's not close to perfect yet.

Health: I didn't really get sick. I didn't eat very healthily during finals week, though.

Music: Dr. Wilhoit is the bomb. I get to take instrumental conducting with him next semester! I got an A in his History of Church Music! He likes me, too, which was one of my goals. Hooray! Another hooray: I'm going to be in Spring Chorale! I think that Molly was more excited than I was, but I was very happy to make the cut. I'm looking forward to hanging out with everyone and to sharing a room with Emily White.

SGA: This year's Junior class SGA has almost too much fun in their meetings, thanks to Sweeny, Joseph Maughon, and me. Meznar gets pulled into it, too, sometimes. Despite the many distractions and rabbit trails, we've been making progress on Junior/Senior and we've had very successful class events. They've all been very clever:
1) Junior Melting Pot - welcome back to school, come and mix again and meet transfers as you enjoy chocolate fondue!
2) Junior Fiesta Party! - (Yes, that is "party party" for those of you who don't speak Spanish) 4 homemade pinatas! Chips and queso dip! Make up slogans for our class t-shirts! (We did get a lot of submissions.) Tabasco drinking contest! Junior community!
3) July in Christmas Party - Tropical themed Christmas party complete with an island with a palm tree, pineapple upsidedown cupcakes, Christmas music on steel drums, gingerbread houses to decorate, fun games, and chill time away from finals.
I'm so proud of us.
Senate is doing well, too. I am on the committee that will soon be presenting the proposal to lift weekend curfew. Yikes. You can pray for me. And the Student Life Council and the President's cabinet who will be making the decisions. I've had opportunities to fix problems on campus and I've gotten a lot of practice with interacting with grown ups.
Everything else: I don't know how much there is. So I'm going to finish now.This is a lame post. In my defense, I was bored at the computer and I thought to myself, well, I haven't blogged in a while, so I came here, even though I didn't have anything to write about. Now, Taylor has gone out of the den so I can go dust in there.

Well, for one thing, my computer (still unnamed) and internet haven't been working together really well lately. I'm only a bit worried. I don't think I ever named my piano. I've tried to help Taylor name her cello, but she doesn't see the need. One time, after being introduced to the name Cleatus by the newspaper, I discovered the need to name something Cleatus McFairton. Well, I don't have any kids to name and no pets, either. My stuffed animals are already named and most everything else, too. So I made up an imaginary Jack Russell terrier so that I would have something to call Cleatus McFairton. This was last year. Ah, I enjoy that about me. I'm so weird. I don't see why Taylor always feels like she has to tell me so, because I already know. To quote Millie Jones, "I know I'm nerdy. I embrace it!" And, as I try very hard to remind people whenever I get the chance, we're all nerdy in some way. Not a single person in the world fits perfectly into the model of cool that we've set for ourselves. Sickening, isn't it? With the media's help, we've cast an unattainable ideal that we might strive towards for our entire lives, only to certainly fail. Certainly fail. Aint no way you or I could be like that. Who would want to be like that? Think of how much I would have to go shopping to be able to look like that. Ick, no thank you. Think of how often you would have to go to consultants about your hair and your skin and your wardrobe. That would get really expensive. And think about the pressure to be eco-friendly, too. It's such a big deal now. Yikes. Just check out mysteryfabric.com. Yeah, it's really hip to be green right now. Ah, and did you know that I'm bringing back the word "groovy?" I am. I don't know if anyone else is going to start using it, but they know that I do and it makes me happy. Again. But don't worry. I'm not a snob. I sometimes have to shove aside prejudices about accents, but I'm all right, really. And even that isn't all that bad. Maybe? Is it, Nathan? You would know. And you would say yes. Dang it. Well, it doesn't have to be that bad. Honest. I was about to, but I realize that I don't have to try to argue my point. Really, who would I be arguing against, eh? (I use that a lot, too. "Eh." It's so fun.)You know what, I'm just going to go to bed. My eyes want to sleep. My brain tells me that I have 3 papers to write: a play report, a 7-page research paper about the differences between male and female communication, and a 15-20 page paper about me and my personal plan for leadership development. And 3 exams. And a Christmas party in there somewhere. And Sarah Baker coming on Tuesday. And packing for home. And moving to Huston Base. And sleep and eating and friends and probably some family, too. Ah, me. I'd better get my rest and take my vitamins.
Good night, all. Sweet dreams and all that.
As Joseph Maughon would say, "Ttyl."

One Reason Why I Love My Family (and why they're the best)

Because last night, when we were at Stone Mountain watching the special Christmas Laser Show, at the very end, they (justly) chose the finale to be Linus and Lucy. Dad, Mom, and I immediately started "dancing." It was great. Too bad Taylor doesn't realize that it's cool yet, because she just walked away. Ah well.