A Concerned Letter

Dear Emperor Palpatine:

Let me begin by saying that I am a huge fan. Really, I love your work. You are an inspiration to aspiring villains everywhere. I feel, however, that you have forgotten just how influential your fame is. Obviously, this is not your primary concern (crushing the resistance of a rebellious galaxy is no small task, I’m sure), but you cannot deny that it is high time you accepted that you, as a role model to impressionable young villains-to-be, need to be much more responsible with your decisions. Doubtless you have already heard about the critiques of the Conservative Villain Movement, which names you the #1 Worst Role Model in the Galaxy.

Where Have I Been?

Not writing, that's for darn sure.

BUT I have spent some time doing other things, like creating awesome Youtube videos and worrying about paying for college tuition.

Yeah, that.

Basically, could everybody just pray, please? Money sucks. I don't like it much. Also, depending on how long it takes me to pay this off, I might not be able to get any kind of class schedule. And I'll still be screwed.

So. Yeah. Pray.

I promise, I'll actually update one of these days.

Living with Oneself

I hate the way I act sometimes often.

Or, if not the way I act, then certainly the way I think. The things I think are loathsome. I am very fortunate in that I have good grounding, so that awful thoughts remain only awful thoughts; but keeping awful thoughts unspoken doesn't make them any less contemptible. And I have so many contemptible thoughts that sometimes they ooze out of my ears.

What I'm talking about is pride, folks. I got it, and I got it bad.

The Fair Ones

The Fair Ones

There was a man who fell in love.

They called him fool, who saw him love

The fair ones of the Bright Above.

Gray and Scarlet Fall

Pretentious title much? Yes. Yes it is.

I feel that an update is long overdue; the last time that I wrote anything about what's happening out here (which was the original purpose of this blog) was almost a month ago. So then! Here we go.

The Greater Prince

Absalom looked out over the table. The feast would be magnificent; he had outdone himself. It was only proper that it be grand; the sons of his father would eat here. Princes ought not dine on dirt. The blood of a proud king would be here tonight.

Retrospect

It's amazing how things look from different perspectives.

Hype! Publicity! Popcorn!

So exactly one (1) of my followers (gosh, that's a wonderful term for this, ain't it? Should I start calling you disciples?) knows this, but I managed to snag some face time on another person's blog. She does a feature called "Make It Up Monday," and I had a free Monday, so I made stuff up. 'Cuz...well that's kinda what I do.

I Guess It's Time for an Update

Anyone know what you missed during the commercial break?

That's right! I'm a grown-up now!

As of yet it still feels like being Not A Grown-Up, except that now I'm registered for the draft and I have more bottles of root beer (thanks Mom and Dad!).

Classes go well. Pro Writing is still my peerless favorite (surprise, surprise) but others are pretty enjoyable. Sleep has become my best friend, and life goes well.

Really, that's the only thing that can be said. Life goes well.

I Swore I Wouldn't Start With An Apology

And I won't. I have no need to apologize to anyone for not blogging because dang it, I have better things to do. Like sleep.

College: Week 1 has passed me by and it's officially Labor Day in the state of Indiana as of this writing. All that I can say is that college life is...fantastic.

The people here are amazing. Every free moment we have is devoted to fellowship--whether it be hanging out at lunch or playing Halo or running around with a Frisbee or jamming with a guitar--and even though I miss home, I am now absolutely certain: I do not, and cannot, regret coming here.

The Greatest Game Ever Played

"Make some room," I said, and fell onto the couch beside Anna. The room buzzed with anticipation, while still being deadly silent except for the fluttering of our hearts. The air itself was charged, electric.

This would be our last game for a while. The weekend would be over after tonight, and classes would start. No one would have time for this: Gerig Hall's greatest pastime. Mafia.

Arrival!

My first impression of Indiana was of color.

In Denver, I thought I knew of color; I knew the blue of the mountains and the blue of the sky, the white of winter and the green of pines. The first thing I learned at college was that I hadn't even encountered color yet. For Colorado is naturally mountain-scape, and its people imitate it in their architecture: grandiose spires of silver steel that blot out the sky. Quite by accident, Denver is a gray place.

The Illusion of Permanence

I'll admit it; that's definitely the most pretentious blog title I've ever used. I blame it on stress because--oh look!--it's time to move out. Time to move on, and say goodbye, and let go.

I've never done anything on this scale before. I've "left home" several times before--for retreats, and missions trips, and all manner of other things. The longest I've ever gone without setting foot in my home is about two weeks.

This one looks to be a little longer.

I Kinda, Sorta, In A Way...

...salsa danced tonight.

Officially, it's the first and only time in my life that I've voluntarily and cognitively participated in any kind of dance, ever. To the few who witnessed this extraordinarily rare event: congratulations. More people can swear to seeing Bigfoot than can swear to seeing me dance. You're practically a new species. Decide on some nice Latin words, and you can have your very own secret society.

Blood on the Velvet

The last man on earth heard a knock at the door.

Tap, tap, tap.

His head jerked toward it, his eyes twitched to narrow slits and his thin, pale hands tightened on the knife in his lap.

Here already? Night hadn't yet lifted; there was yet a lurid moonlit gleam spilling through the splintered glass of the window.

Tap, tap, tap.

And the Claws of the Beast Stretched Out...

And that poor, stupid, almost-college student was ripped to shreds.

Under nine days [8 days, 5 hours, 57 minutes and 30 seconds as of this writing] are left to me before I leave for Indiana. It's really looking more terrifying at this point. Two of my friends have had their going-away parties. This Sunday I'll attend my last church service in Colorado for three months (at least). Everyone else that's leaving the state is leaving, this very week; I'll be the very last one to go.

Whew. It's really happening, folks. I'm really going to college, and I'm really gonna be in Indiana.

Ready to Be Gone; Not Ready to Leave

College dorm life is now 16 days away. I've been wondering what it'll be like. Right now I keep drifting back to "terrifying," "impossible," and also "necessary."

I'm not ready yet, of course. Is it any surprise that whenever I try to prepare, I search for something else to do? Anything. Nothing in me wants to leave. I just want to stay here, and skip college. Why not? I'll just live in my parents house, forever and ever, earning money at Chick-fil-A until I make enough to rule the world, or at least buy a house. And it would certainly make life easier socially; I'd be able to stay with my friends, and stop forcing myself to check my advances when I want to chase a relationship. What would it be like to just forget it all and stay here?

Addicted

It's official. I'm addicted to Snake.

You've played that game, right? Long blue tail eating small red cubes and getting progressively longer? A friend rediscovered it on Facebook...and I saw him rediscover it...and I've been playing nightly since then.

At the moment my score stands at 480: this means that, in a single session, my snake consumed 48 small red boxes, and had grown to three or four times that many in size.

The worst part? Kyle has me beat by seven blocks. Everyone knows what that means: I'm going to be up until 5 a.m., or until I manage to beat that score (whichever comes first). Then Kyle will answer in kind, and on and on it goes. I'm much too competitive, I've decided.

Greetings and Felicitations

Welcome.

I've decided to write a blog--but I suspect you've figured that already, you erudite little scholar, you. A large part of the reason for this sucker's existence is, well, I'm going to college, and people (my mom) will want to know what's happening in life. Also, I quite like writing, so this will be a convenient pastime while I'm wasting my life, you know, being a college student.

I must warn you; this is my first time controlling a blog that is entirely my own. I've had some experience with writing a day-to-day log, but that was only a two-week thing and anyway, I was writing about people who are much more interesting than I am doing things much more exciting than what I do. So this idea of a blog devoted wholly to my own thoughts is a new thing to me: we're going to have to learn all of this together--you learning how to read me, me learning how to write to you.

Call it a symbiotic evolution.