Probability?

Before I dig in, I want to explain my terminology. I am using want and desire interchangeably. For this purpose, and for any purpose really, them mean the same thing. Want is an easier word to grasp than desire for most people. Desire is a stronger version of want. When we want, or desire, something we normally take advantage of the resources we have to get that thing or whatever. So as you read keep this concept in mind.

When I find a rare baseball card I am very excited. We were in Baltimore for my cousins wedding this summer and we were going to be a little bit early so my family decided to stop at a strip mall. In this strip mall there was a card/collectible store. Me being me, went in to see what was there. I saw the single most beautiful baseball card in my life that day. It was a Ty Cobb 1908 Tobacco card. There are only 9 of them left in the world and most of them are not in full pieces. This one was. It was $1700. I wanted that card SOO bad because I wanted to be a part of something rare.

Today, I was sitting in my math class and we were going over different formulas (I got them today) and my professor asked how many possible answers there were for that formula. My class unanimously said there were two or three possible answers. We were wrong. There were an infinite amount of answers. Just the same as on a number line. The amount of numbers between seemingly the smallest number - 0 and 1 - are infinite. That amazed me.

According to the International Database - U.S. Census Bureau, the population of the world is 6,719,816,902. And we are one of those 6.7 billion people. Wow! We are 1 in 6.7 billion. That is just living people. That does not include the billions of people that have lived before us. And not one of looks(ed) exactly alike or have the exact same story. However, we seem to look at life as if the probability of us being in that situation is 1 to 1. We are guaranteed to be in that situation. A selfish life. We look at life as if there is nothing abnormal about where we are. The more I have examined this, I have found that there are an infinite number of decisions, variables, and circumstances that have determined where we are today. Our circumstances are not probable in any way. But, are they something to desire, good or bad?

What about Nehemiah? Nehemiah was appointed the royal cup-bearer to King Artaxerxes I. He was doing very well. He had everything going for him and all of these things led him to take advantage of his improbable circumstances. His high ranking with the King allowed him to be able to go and rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. Despite all of the opposition to the project, He completed his task in record time with the help of the Lord.

Look at David and Goliath for a minute. David, who was small, young, and definitely not a warrior, asked Saul - the king - if he could go fight Goliath. King Saul replied "There is no way you can fight this Philistine and possibly win! You're only a boy, and he's been a man of was since his youth." (1 Samuel 17:32). For whatever reason, Saul decided to let him fight Goliath. All the cards were stacked against David in this case. There were infinite reasons as to why David should not win this battle. However, he took advantage of the improbable circumstances he was in. He did the best he could and came out on top. Against all odds.

People, in general, are selfish with the time and circumstances we have. We take them for granted. We want to feel bad for ourselves. We want to wallow in self pity when things do not go our way. Or, we want to praise ourselves when we do something awesome. But, could we not use those circumstances, good and bad, praise and pity, to do and say awesome things about the One we serve? So are we taking advantage of the infinite opportunities and circumstances around us to live out our relationship with Jesus?

Math = Satan

I was in precalculus today. Mistake number 1. My mind does not function with numbers. (no pun intended for those who know what I am talking about). While I was trying to pay attention, I came up with a song, or rather a cheer. It goes a little like this

I hate precal yes I do!
I hate precal how bout you?

This brilliant song has been running through my mind since I got out of class.

Now here is the reason I hate precal. Not only did I have it last semester and barely pass but I got stuck in it again. In college. This time its HARDER. My teacher gave me notes today that looked like this

"xeAnBiff xeA or xeB"

If ANYONE knows what that means, please comment explaining this because I am thoroughly confuzzled. And yes I do have HW on it. I dont even know what that means much less know how to use it. Anyway, I have to go study now, maybe take a few greek lessons online to try to figure this out.

Homesick

So the other night I was missing home really, really bad. Trevor had left the room and I was sitting here at my computer desperately looking for someone to talk to. Grace was on Skype so I started talking to her for a while. At one point about 10:15 I got no answer from GK in the middle of a conversation so I just thought her internet was down. I sent her a text message to find out what was going on, only to find out that she was with Jenny learning about haunted buildings at Carolina. By this point, I was completely missing home. I did not want to be here at all I just wanted to be home with everyone I already knew. I felt like dirt. I turned the lights out and laid down in my bed and began thinking of all the memories from back home. I remembered hanging out at the Beavers with Grace eating Popsicles. I remembered all of the good times when Jenny and Grace and Laura would show up at Monkeez Brew to keep me company. I remembered watching teenage mutant ninja turtles with Matt. All of these things made me miss home even more. I was in my own little pity party. I wanted nothing but to pout and complain to someone. Those feelings of loneliness had set in once again. I laid in bed and went to sleep. Woke up the next morning and everything was great.

Grace, Jenny, Matt, and countless other people have made huge contributions to the way I have prioritized my life. Some things I have taken others I haven't. God has blessed me with these people to help prepare me and help me along the way. They are the ones I go to first when I am struggling with whatever it may be. I cannot express enough thanks to these people because I would not be able to make it through without remembering all the Godly advice I have received from each of them. They absolutely mean the world to me.

Grace made me write this blog and I had to have three key words in there. Along with an underlying theme.

This is for Grace. 6/28/05
Hey Alphabet!
Wow.. it seems like it's been forever since I first met you! So many memories! It's hard to believe it's only been about a year or so.. Thank you for always being there to make me smile.. You've taught me so many lessons without even knowing it! But then again... you are pretty clueless.. just kidding...
I cannot tell you how true every bit of this is for me as well. Only now its been about 5 years. GK you are the best friend a person could ever ask for.

Romania!!!

So yesterday I had my first day of classes. It was pretty fun. I got out of most of them early. It was quite nice. It is so much fun being able to meet and talk to new people. I was in my last class of the day, Composition 1, and there just happens to be a girl from - you guessed it - Romania. I did not get a chance to talk to her because she needed to talk to my professor after class but I really hope that she can teach me Romanian. I am SUPER excited about that. I found a group of guys that play ultimate everyday at 4. Rain or shine. So no one try to get in touch with me between 4 and 5. Just kidding. There was an alumni that came back and played yesterday. He is AWESOME. He taught me a lot about the game of frisbee and said I am improving by the point. Anyway, I went up to the post office and got my first letter. It was from Grace. I just about leaped through the ceiling I was so happy! I cannot tell you all how much I miss her. Yes I hear the "awwwwww how sweet" coming my way but its the truth. I miss her like crazy.

I went to dinner which was pretty not exciting. I got back to my dorm and read the card and talked to GK. Johnny came by, he's my RA, and invited me to go play some volleyball. Since I already smelled like I had been thrown in a dumpster, mixed in dog poo, and took a bath in skunk spray, I said sure let me go sweat a little more. It was a blast but I found out very quickly that I am not good at volleyball. I am actually quite terrible. But that is ok, I had fun anyway. I had a meeting about our lip sync contest and we are going to kick some butt. I cannot disclose any information at the time being that my mission is top secret to ensure maximum butt kickage. On my way back Trevor asked if I wanted to go play some melon ball. It is a very fun game with a combination of tennis and volleyball.

This morning (Thursday) I had my Old Testament class at 8. I didnt think it would be too bad because that is what time school usually started. I was wrong. Terribly wrong. I rolled out of bed 15 minutes before I was supposed to be at class. What a way to start off. My hair was a mess so I just put on a hat because there were a lot of people who wore hats in class. Once again, a mistake. I was the only one with a hat on. Dr. Womcak went on a tangent about how men are not supposed wear hats in the presence of women or indoors. I felt like a MORON. But after we took our pretest, class was over and I went up and apologized to him. He was fine with it for today because I did not know. I really enjoy that class.

Precal on the other hand, well I just plan on shooting myself in the toe. I get the easy stuff and I was more involved in class today than I have any other math class. But seriously, over 100 problems for homework. Yea you can forget that crap. That just makes me hate math even more!

Thats about all for right now!

Domination

Today was very interesting. It was much more laid back and it was great to have a day like this before classes start tomorrow at 9 for me.

We had our class voting for president and senators at 9 this morning which was really boring and a waste of my time but I went anyway because it was required. It took about an hour to get through everyone and once it was over, I went to the post office. This next part made my day. I got a package from a good friend back home. It was addressed to Dr. Kevin Kassakatis. This will be my last post about college. Due to the fact that I am now a doctor, I have decided to drop out. Mom, I know I just freaked you out and I am laughing really hard right now. But no seriously, I am not dropping out of school.

I went and ate lunch and then chilled out in my dorm until my buddy JP informed me that there was some Ultimate being played on the quad. I scurried just as fast as I could to the quad. Once I got there, we were one player short of having four on four. So James calls up this girl and due to the fact that it was shirts vs. skins she was on my team. Skins. Just kidding. I was on shirts. But anyway, it was JP, Hillary, and I on a team. We straight up dominated. We won 7-0 it was way to easy. So, I decided to go join a game with the upperclassmen on the intramural field at 8. They are WAY better. It was a ton more fun and a huge challenge. Apparently the upperclassmen took notice of me because they stuck the cross country star on me. Needless to say, I did not catch more than three more frisbees. I was sucking wind like crazy but it was SUPER fun!

Now I am back, I am probably going to go get a shower because I stink really bad. But I am really ready to start classes tomorrow.

Ultimate!

So today was about a million times better. I forced myself to go out and meet new people today. I found a bunch of guys that all like Ultimate Frisbee. We played out in the quad today around three. The frisbee here is intense, and I love it! We played to seven. We lost seven to six. But I did not really care. It was a great game. We were down four to one at one point and made a run to tie it at four before the other team scored twice and took the lead six to four. Me and my buddy JP were easily the only experienced players on my team and so we started to get serious and scored twice to tie it at six. INTENSE! JP made a great stop in the end zone to keep the other team from winning. He brought it up to the line and threw it to me. Me being the not clutch person that I am, dropped the frisbee and the other team ended up scoring the winning point. I can honestly say that I have not had that much fun in a long time. There was laughter and trash talk and most importantly sportsmanship. We did not care who won as long as we all had a good time. I really enjoyed myself. For those who know me well, you know that I do not like to lose and normally I would not have been very happy. I would have just walked off pretty angry. That was not the case this time. Something crazy had smacked me in the face. I realized that I am still me no matter who is around me. I like to have fun and so that is what I did.

Tonight after our "Thinkfast Game show" thing, I went out and threw the frisebee with some more people, we did not play Ultimate, but it was a great time to get to know some more people. I met a bunch of great guys and a girl from Roanoke, VA which was really neat. Trevor and Johnny came by around 9 and wanted to know if I wanted to go to Decker and watch Batman Begins with them and meet some new people. I definitely took up on that offer and met a bunch more awesome people.

I am learning that no matter where I am, I have to be myself. People are attracted to people that are genuine. If I am not genuine with them then how in the world will I ever connect with them? It is SO cool to see how God can change things in a heartbeat. I was expecting another day of nothing but meetings and sitting in my room on my computer. But no, I got up and met people. I had a GREAT time! I had the Ultimate time!

Dr. Bonner

Well I went to the campus wide church this morning. It was interesting. The service lasted about 45 minutes and it was rather mediocre. The speaker was our President Dr. Bonner. He is super smart but the stuff he talked about really did not seem to apply to anything. Maybe I will figure it out later but I don't know.

On a different, more serious note, I am quickly learning that I do not handle change well at all. I completely shut down. Nothing I want to do happens. I think to much. I am so worried about what people think its ridiculous. I am so desperate to be in a one on one situation that forces me to get to know people. I know I will not do it if I am not forced, which is totally weird. Normally, I would go up and talk to anyone. I guess that is only when I am with people I know really well. I am way out of my comfort zone and I really want to know people. Loneliness gets really old really fast.

That is about it for today. I know its short but I do not really have much more to say.

My room!

So I am sure you are all interested in how the move in process has gone down here at GW. Honestly, I have no complaints whatsoever. Actually, I just lied. I sat through meetings ALL day yesterday and was about to shoot myself. Other than that there were no complaints whatsoever. Naturally, I forgot some stuff at home like hangers, my tv and stand, a power strip, a chair, pretty much everything but my clothes and computer. (I'm smart I know). Thankfully my dad had to go back home for his paper route and he was able to bring all my stuff back today. It was VERY helpful. So, I finally got moved in and unpacked today. I love it here. My RA's are awesome. Trevor (my roommate) is SUPER excited that I am here. Yesterday when we were all checking in, I am told that he came up about every 15 minutes asking if I had checked in. So, I have a GREAT roommate. We get along really well.

The other RA, Johnny, is awesome as well. We watched Hot Rod in his room this evening. It is a HILARIOUS movie I might add. Another guy I met from my hall, Jesse, is very cool as well. So tonight around 9 the three of us made a walmart run. We had a grand time telling stories, jokes, just being guys. So, that is my first official college story. Now for some pictures of my room.

This is my refrigerator, microwave, a chair, part of the door, and Trevors closet.
Thats it. Boring picture I know.

These are our beds in case you couldn't tell. Trevor is up top. I'm down low.
It doesn't work so well for my head when waking up.

My dresser and gobs of food are on the far left. Trevor's stuff is in the middle.
It concludes with his microwave and fridge. Yes the picture is crooked. Sue me.

My desk is on the left. I have my nice little setup. The tv is in the middle for our enjoyment.
Trevor is not a picture person so he agreed to let me get him in action. He is on the right.

And for those of you who read this and play the game, I just got you.
I am going to punch you next time I see you. HAHAHA

I just got you all. I don't care what you say I am punching you when I get home. HAHAHA just kidding. So thats about all for the first few days of college life. There will be much more to come.

Romanian Mudsliding!

So this is a very not serious blog at all. In fact there is not even a point to this blog. I could keep rambling about how this blog has no point, but why would I ramble about something that has no point? I dont like to do that. This video came from the ever famous GRACE while we were in Romania when a few not-so-smart guys decided to be guys. I dont care what others thought, and I know the fellow guys involved in this act would say the same thing. It was a BLAST! Well apparently my computer does not like this video and is refusing to upload it which is super gay. So instead I will post some pictures of the after math of our destructive behavior.

This is us. Minus JJ, we all went and got really dirty!

This has to be the ultimate friends picture I have ever seen and these guys are AMAZING!