01.05.06
Posted in Moving on... at 8:28 pm by Lawrie
Apparently spring decided to arrive while I was gone. Oh yes, I was gone last week. I was in upstate New York volunteering at a ski week camp for high school students. The week was full of good people, good talks, and good times. Youth ministry is great in that rewarding yet exhausting way (as most good things seem to be). But now it’s back to work for Lawrie.
I never really make New Year’s resolutions, mostly because they never last. A year is a long time, and much happens to distract even the most determined resolver between January 1 and December 31. On the other hand, I hope that I’m not exactly the same at the end of 2006 as I am now. The point of growing up is to, well, grow up. I hope that at the end of the year, I can truthfully say that I am wiser, more disciplined, more loving, more faithful, etc (no matter how small the improvement is). I don’t want to get stuck. I have the feeling that if I’m not careful, my life will soon become an unending cycle of waking up, going to work, going home, eating dinner,
watching TV, going to bed, waking up, etc. With church on Sunday.
So, all that being said, here are some of my goals for this year:
- Read through the entire Bible
- Work out at least 3 times a week
- Try out something new once a month
- Take cooking classes
- Read at least 2 books a month (suggestions are welcome)
Here’s to growing up, and the hope that keeps us going.
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12.09.05
Posted in Fun Stuff at 7:45 pm by Lawrie
What’s better than animated bunnies re-enacting great movies in thirty seconds?
Nothing, of course. Check it out.
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12.05.05
Posted in Movies, Family at 10:27 pm by Lawrie
When my family gets together, one of the things we always do is watch a movie or two. Last weekend, when we were all together for Thanksgiving, we watched The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (the old school BBC made-for-TV version). It had an evil witch, good kids (although Lucy needed braces), bad special effects (green screen, anyone?), and …interesting beaver costumes (although how would you do talking beavers if you were doing it for a television production in the 80s?). Aslan looked pretty good, until he started talking without really moving his mouth. While watching it, I was reminded of the feeling of adventure I always get when I read the books. I always wish my life could be like that. One minute, I’m going about my business, and the next I find myself in a world full of magic. Instant adventure, right? You go, you meet Aslan (or some other creature), you get a quest to fulfill. Granted, the adventures aren’t easy. Maybe if you’re actually living them, instead of just reading about them, you can’t wait to get back to normal, everyday life, where things like evil witches and goblins aren’t trying to kill you. I still wonder though…How would I act if I were in Lucy’s place, or even Edmund’s? How do you find adventure in a cubicle?
We also watched The Polar Express. It was a lot better than I thought it would be. I didn’t see it last year when it came out because I wasn’t sure how they could’ve made a whole movie out of that book. I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. And the animation wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be (especially in the character’s faces). After we watched it, my two sisters and I stayed in the TV room while the rest of the family dispersed. My niece came back in to say goodnight to us before going to bed. As she hugged each of us, she whispered, “Do you believe in Santa Claus?” “Yes,” I said, when she got to me. “Good.”
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11.24.05
Posted in Uncategorized at 11:20 am by Lawrie
After being duly chastised by both Evelyn and Micah while I was in Boston last weekend (which was tons of fun, as expected 
), I am returning to my blog, just in time for Thanksgiving. My goal is to update it at least once a week. We’ll see how this goes.
Since I’ve been home, I’ve discovered I really like baking. For dessert today, I made my first ever cheesecake, using Ghirardelli chocolate. I’ll put up a picture when I get a chance.
Two items for the "You Know You’re Living in the South When…" department:
- You see an opossum the size of a small dog on your porch.
- There is a raffle for a riding lawn tractor at the local grocery store.
Okay, I guess that’s it for now. Short but sweet, right?
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09.07.05
Posted in Moving on... at 6:49 pm by Lawrie
- The bugs. We’ve got quite a few of ‘em down here. I remembered finding the occasional silverfish in the bathtub, but I’d forgotten about the waterbugs (they look like cockroaches). I found one in my bathroom a week or so ago. Fortunately it’s the only one I’ve seen so far.
- How much I hate mosquitoes, and how much they love me. Several mosquitoes have made their way into the house recently. I seem to be the only one in our family that they like. I’ve gotten about 17 bug bites in the past few days. I hate them.
- The noise. Instead of hearing huge trucks rumbling down the street or the SafeRide vans backing up outside my window, I now hear nothing. Well, nothing but cicadas and crickets. It’s quite a soothing sound, I think.
- The weather. Fall starts here when the temperature drops below 70 degrees. I don’t remember what fall is like here anymore, although I do remember never being able to shop for school clothes here because they don’t put the sweaters out in the stores until October.
- My closet. When we moved into this house (something like 10 years ago), I got the room with a closet full of shelves (I think the room had been an office) because I didn’t so much care about clothes or where I put them. I much preferred books, puzzles, and computer games, which happened to fit in the shelves very nicely (can you tell I’ve always been a nerd?). My mom and I have been going through the junk that’s in my closet so that I’ll have a place to put things. And now I actually need my closet for clothes (gasp). It should be interesting figuring out where everything will go.
In other, unrelated news, the Job Search has officially begun. Sort of. I had a phone interview last week (which doesn’t seem to have paid off in a real interview yet, but it’s something, right?), and today I applied for the first job since I’ve been home. We’ll see if that Computer Science degree is worth something after all.
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08.31.05
Posted in Pictures, Family at 12:05 am by Lawrie
So I’ve been home for about a week and a half now, and I guess I should’ve posted something by now. Plus Evelyn put up a super cool post about her work retreat, so now I feel like I’m behind or something. I have a few things that I might post about later, but for now, it’s picture time!
First, a cute kid picture. This is my niece and nephew. I’m not quite sure what my nephew is doing…
I spent the last two days at the beach where my sister now lives. We stayed at the inn where she works. Here was the view from our balcony.
The walkway to the beach.
Ahhh…the beach.
Okay, that’s probably enough pictures for now. Hopefully I’ll get around to posting something of substance soon.
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08.11.05
Posted in Moving on... at 2:30 pm by Lawrie
…Too many to go. Boxes, that is. In five days, I will be moving back home, so the dreaded packing has begun. Packing is possibly my least favorite thing to do (followed closely by unpacking). I wish I could just wake up in my room at home with all my stuff instead of having to deal with all this packing and shipping business.
The fact that I’m leaving is slowly becoming more real to me. Today, I emailed a lot of official-type people saying that I was leaving. I even called my church here to let them know. I am not a college student anymore. I mean, I haven’t been one all summer. But I was still in Boston, still living in my dorm, still working at school, still seeing some of my favorite people in the world every day. (Of course, when I get home, I’ll still see some of my favorite people every day. They will just be a different set. I just wish that I could find all of my favorite people in one place.) I could almost pretend that I was still a student. When I get home, I will have to get a real job. One that doesn’t end after three months. I’ll have to worry about things like insurance and rent and fixing the air conditioner (when I get around to finding my own place).
I am excited to be moving back, though. After seven years of living in a dorm (no, it didn’t take me that long to get through college…I went to boarding school), I’m ready to be living in my own space. With more than one room. And a kitchen. I have all these plans for things I’d like to do when I get home. I just hope that I actually do some of them. I’m pretty good at making plans for myself, but I’m not so good at following them through.
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07.29.05
Posted in Music at 1:05 pm by Lawrie
As an introductory post, I decided to list the next ten songs that play on random from my playlist and what they remind me of. So here goes.
1. Must Get Out, Maroon 5 - Working at IBM last summer. I bought this cd last summer and listened to it many times while I was at work. It also reminds me of Sarah, one of the other interns, because she loaned me the cd before I bought it.
2. Momentum, TobyMac - My youth group leader from high school. He introduced me to TobyMac’s solo cd (one of my all-time favorites). We called him “Outback Byron” because he liked to wear one of these hats. And his name was Byron. We even made up a song about him.
3. Gotta Get Through This, Daniel Beddingfield - Evelyn (one of the cool people). We independently became obsessed with this song at the same time for like a week a few years ago. Or something like that.
4. More Than Fine, Switchfoot - Micah. He’s been very good at broadening my horizons in Christian music. Because of him, Switchfoot, Relient K, and Grits have made it into my library.
5. Questioning the Notion, Daily Planet - Will. He suggested this song for Cross Products last semester. I’m still not sure what I think about it.
6. I’m Not Cool, Scott Krippayne (as performed by the Cross Products) - Brian and the Cross Products. I guess that’s obvious. Brian’s introduction to this song is classic. Such a great nerdy song.
7. Where is Micah?, Five Iron Frenzy - Micah again. Also Jessica, because she thought they were saying, “Where is my guy?” I guess that could work, too.
8. Harder to Breathe, Maroon 5 - LaVerdes, the little grocery store in the student center. Honestly. I think I was in LaVerdes the first time I actually paid attention to this song and realized I liked it. Go figure.
9. Should I Tell Them, Shaun Groves - Daniel. This whole cd reminds me of Daniel, partly because he used to play it in his room all the time and partly because he gave it to me.
10. Chop Suey, System of a Down (as performed by UPenn’s Off the Beat) - Evelyn. It’s kind of a strange song, but the arrangement is really good. Evelyn got onto an a cappella kick recently, which means I’ve gotten to listen to lots of good, interesting a cappella music.
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