Highlights

Remembering is good. What better way to remember than to read ones diary or journal, or possibly past blogs. The following is the "best of" from the blogs of first semester of first year.



"The rain and Sean's condition made us turn back, probably the way an alligator on the green of a Florida golf course would make some senior golfers go to the next hole and take a bogey."

"This past week, I've felt a bit like a cosine graph. Not the type of cosine graph that you translate up so that it initially seems more impressive, but more like a reciprocated sine graph, translated three to the right, flipped on the x-axis and then left to hang on the "y" to dry."

10) Lists of ten. Mmmmm, metric.

"Mmmm. Oh Nora, why couldn't you have been Canadian, five years younger and lived in the lower mainland? I bet, with 10 to 1 odds that I would be dating her. Whatever the case, she is none of those, so I'll just have to listen to her music in the mean time."

Youge (adv, n) (yoo-je) ("je" as in french for "I")
1)To describe to someone of a habitual interaction with ones environment
a) Little or no change in ones daily routine
"In the past week, I have been up to the youge."
b) To be stuck in a rut that is comfortable
"Seth, I've been worried about how much you have been playing Zelda. It seems to have become the youge for you."

Sunday was good. Church was good, including Josh Ng's picture of pirates and a jester saying "poo."

"I got my hair cut. I went from a rugged stallion with long flowing hair and a vicious beard that could make a girl faint from the pure sight of it, to a clean cut stereotypical guy who is between the ages of 13-30 in North America."

"Finals are next week, and I didn't really realize it. They "snuck up" on me metaphorically, which is funny, because finals are just going to be pieces of paper with ink on them in the form of questions. How can inky paper sneak up on you. I doubt that paper or ink has any will to say to itself, "I shall sneak up on this student. Oh, sweet glory, I shall sneak up indeed!" That is why I put "snuck up" in quotations and mentioned it as a metaphor. Ink and paper... no will. Oddly enough, a physical will for a person is usually written on paper with ink describing who gets what, so maybe ink and paper is a will in itself. Thus we can conclude that although ink and paper have no mindful will themselves, they can be a will for someone else, or more likely, another piece of paper with ink on it. So, maybe the finals that snuck up on me are not going on their own will, but instead on the will of other pieces of paper, possibly receipts or newspaper articles."

"I've discovered the glorious "world" which I left for four months this Christmas while trying to get Brian nice gear for his character. Since those two weeks I've been playing far too much, and it's been positively glorious and fulfilling. Would this account for the total lack of contact that I've had with my fellow human beings in my social circles (possibly and octagon)? I would like to think not."

When Life Throws You Pinapples

First, please note the fact that I honestly don't know when to use "affected" or "effected" in a sentence. Now observe Figure 1.

Please also note that "me" does not mean the reader, but instead the maker of the graph, that is to say, James. Back in middle school, ones decisions usually had little to no consequence for your future. In high school you start laying down the the flimsy foundation for what you will be doing after high school, but as long as you stay decently on top of your school work, your future is in no immediate danger. In grade 12 the pressure of answering the frequently asked annoying questions, "So what are you doing after high school/ what do you want to do next in life/ what will you be in the future" starts to build up, but usually once a school or job is chosen, the pressure subsides and dies down like the bubbles and foam of a boiling pot of spaghetti once the lid is removed. Oh, and for the future, instead of asking kids to map out the next 10+ years of their life by asking said above questions, ask them "what are your gifts, what do you enjoy doing." How many people, even in university, know what they're doing with their next two years even? Shoooot.

I had an opportunity to work in a lab this summer in Ontario. Turns out that I didn't get the job and now I'll be shipping my soft and luscious booty back to BC. Mixed feelings indeed, and possibly a kick in the junk to what I thought I had planned out for my future. After all, who always wants to be away from friends no matter where they go? Shoot indeed. Life decisions indeed.

To finish this off, check out this cover of the Outcast song "Hey Yeah." It's a good' un. Very soothing.

Snakes and Turbines

Quick quiz: What has four legs, two arms, and a head the size of a watermelon?
Answer: Florida.

As sure as y= x^2 is the shape of a parabola, I am writing this from Florida. The verdict thus far: pretty neato. The 22 hour drive down was less than interesting, including a fantastic 3 hours of traffic in Orlando just before we hit our resort. Shoot.

The weather upon arrival was sunny, but windy and probably about 10 degrees. This is warm if you came from the -20 of Ontario, but still not quite, "I'm going to bust out my shirt and shorts and still be warm" type of weather. Go figure eh? Shoot. Regardless of the wind, we're here and having a bitching time. The weather today was enough to burn us, and as many of our lobster friends (hahahahahahahaha) showed their faces (hahahaahhahaha) because their faces are red. See, that was funny because lobsters are red, and if you burn your skin it turns red. Clever, I know.

I dyed my hair here. It's very blonde. Why? I'm not sure. I'm pretty sure it doesn't look good. But it's blonde. Ryan and I dyed our hair very blonde. Ryan dyed his hair to day too. He dyed it blonde.

If you want to check out the live camera link of the pool that we're going to hang out at this week, click here.

Anyways, peace, and see you in a week. Or a few months. We'll figure it out.

Turkies.

*Note: I am neither proof reading or spell checking this entry. This internet costs money.

Gordo

We've had a lot of snow lately. Let me explain.

Oceans. There's oceans. In these oceans there is water. Water that is basic. This basic water evapourates. This evapourated water condencese in the atomesphere. This condesenced air in the atomesphere under cooler conditions will cause the condensed water to take a solid form when falling towards the earth. This solid form is white. This white condensed water lands on the earth and sticks. The earth becomes white with solid condensed water. Lots of solid water on the earth causes school to be closed.

I usually have three labs a week. Labs are good, but sometimes they can take up a lot of time, seeing that they are three hour blocks schedualed in, you guessed it, your schedual.

Look at this. Thanks Danielle.

So I have a lot of labs. It snowed, and school was cancelled. Out of my three labs this week, two have been cancelled. I feel like a real university student. I'm not in school all the time. Kind of like an english major. Oh, snap.

Freaking sweet snow storm though. I'm going to overexagerate by saying we had 5 feet of snow. Some of the snow drifts were that deep. It was cool. That is all.

Why?

Ever since my first math textbook in grade three, I've been hooked on the things of science and logic. I still remember reading through that text book, learning how to do square roots long before we were ever taught in class. Actually, now that I come to think of it, I don't think we ever got that far in that grade. It's truly amazing how even at a young age we have our likes and dislikes, quite often very well formed and developed.

So, thinking back to my childhood and looking at where I'm going now, it all aligns like a glorious y = mx +b format. Regardless of how old I am (x) or what I'm taking in school (y), it seems that "m" and "b" remain constant, that is to say, that the choices I have made in the past and the ones I'm still making today seem to line up. Yes, a certain pride wells up in me with this fact, but at the same time that pride must be put into a saline solution so that all it's watery substance can, by means of osmosis, leak out, causing my pride to shrink. This hypertonic solution I would like to think of as the realization of God's faithfulness, an ongoing force that at times seems invisible, yet has a significant influence on how I go about my life.

Controversy time: Predestination.
Was I predestined to be at Redeemer studying sciences, to make the friends I have made and to act the way I do? Ephesians 1:4-6 states, "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with his pleasure and will - to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves."

Now you might be saying, "Hey James, God predestined us for salvation, but he doesn't predestine the things we do or our careers." Alright, I hear you there, but I hope you still agree that the choices we make are quite often the gentle nudging of a caring father, as well as our own choice. Ah, the mysteries of free choice mixed with the disputed predestination.

Whatever the case, I pretty much just want to say that I'm a biology student and that I've been waist deep in the sciences ever since I was a kid. Just as a little tag-offer, look at these cool videos. Notice that one movie is just one cell, while the other is trillions. Simply fantastic.

Wise Investors

There's some things, as small and seemingly unimportant, that I feel I need to complete before I can even think about doing other work.

A few of these things might include beating two level 9 computers on Smash Bros. with DK, or possibly even writing a blog. I wonder the psychology behind this. It just might bug me.

I have been doing absolutely fantastic lately. The occasional volleyball practice, mixed in with being able to do Gram stains blindfolded and being able to fully appreciate the rising sun on the way to an 8 a.m. class in -20 weather sometimes just gets me in awe. Now, I don't want to sound like one of those people who thinks that everything is amazing and wonderful and that if you don't think kitties are the coolest and cutest things in the world then you don't love God. Rather I think I just want to sound like I'm doing well, because, well, I'm doing well.

The guitar has picked up a bit as of late. Playing Damien Rice songs along with some 'Round Here' by ye ol' Counting Crows has been the highlight of late. And for the record, 'Round Here' is meant to sound incredible high and whiney, as if you were whining about something. It is truly inspiring to hear a full grown man whine. Glory.

I have three midterms the week after reading break. Feel sorry for me, because I'm looking for sympathy.

As many of you know, I have fantastic lats. I don't try to hide this by any stretch, but please don't stare. That's just plain rude.

Heroes of Azeroth

I've always enjoyed Elton John's music. I once had his "Best Of" album on my iPod, and now that it's gone, I kind of miss it. It's interesting how the Elt-man himself was the method of how I met some people here at ‘Deems. 'Twas September, and low and behold, everyone and everything was new to me. How do you meet new people? Why, by singing EJ tunes into your microphone out of your computer speakers, that's how.

These upcoming weeks shall be brutal. Not only because it seems like I have less and less time, but also because Florida is coming up and the preparation for it will also tax into my limited reserve of minutes. Ah, the life of a student that wishes to do everything.

Side note: Words such as due and do, or sale and sail are fun to think about. Especially the phrase, "On sale." On sale? You've got to be kidding me.

Through discussion, I've realized that it's right for me to be a science major. When one thinks what a science major should look like and how they should act, I hope I fit the stereotype. Scratch that, I feel I do fit the stereotype. Also, I feel that I'm one RPG or card game away from being a computer science major.

Side note #2: Geeks are cool.
Above sentence rephrased based on this blog: James is cool.

Time is always on my mind. Sometimes my day feels like a recipe where I measure out the appropriate amount of time for each activity I have planned, always trying to start with a healthy base of 8 hours of sleep. From there I can add 30 minutes of video games, 2 hours of reading, and mix it in with 30 minutes of d’activity physique. Quite often I find I run out of certain ingredients, but on a whole I think my days quite tasty. Tasty indeed.

Earthshock.