It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

We have been pretty busy the last couple of days wrapping up the training. Yesterday we had to create several things, one being a litany using the Social Principles of the United Methodist Church. It came out really nicely and I might post it on here before too long. Last night I went to my first poetry slam and my July roommate, Harris, won first place in it. It was really cool...I might look into doing poetry sometime.

For now I'll settle for reciting one of the few poems I have memorized. This is called "Samson Agonistes" and is written by Ogden Nash.

I check the bath before I sit,
And I'm always moved to wonderment,
That what chills the finger not a bit,
Is so frigid upon the fundament.

Moving on...

Throughout the month we (the US-2's) have been receiving gifts of agape from various people's churches and United Methodist Women groups throughout the U.S. Many of the gifts have been from US-2's home churches. First Presbyterian of Pulaski has represented and supported all of the US-2s in an amazing fashion sending leather bound Bibles, phone cards, and many kind notes and cards. We had been receiving one or two small cards a day.

However, when we were doing our closing worship this morning someone came around and loaded our beds with Agape that had been sent to individuals instead of the group. When I walked in it was like Christmas...I had several packages and a lot of cards. It was awesome! Here is a picture.



Obviously the computer wasn't agape but everything else is just what we were given today. I could have done a better job of spreading everything out but it was awesome! Thanks to everyone who sent something if I don't get a chance to thank you personally.

Concert in the Park...suckers...

So I promised a post on this...

Last night a group of us went to Central Park to hear a Damien Rice (whom I like) and Fiona Apple (who scares me) concert. The thing is, tickets to this concert were $50 dollars. But, being the smart people we are we went to a grassy knoll (read woodchip filled area) right behind the fence that separated the sheep from the goats...the goats being the morons who paid $50 to get in the fence and the sheep being us beautiful creatures who laid in the grassy knoll (read woodchip filled area) and laughed at the people who wasted their money.

I have pictures for proof.

The sheep :





The goats (morons) :



Clearly I could have thrown a rock and hit them...but I didn't want to make them feel worse...


This is how many people were in the sheep section before it got dark (several people got there after dark - no photo evidence provided).



This taught me that I will never buy a ticket to an outdoor concert again. I will simply get my lawn chair, cooler and some food and thank those suckers who are paying the money so I can enjoy the music for free...

So, I know I've posted since the weekend but I need to update you all on what's been going on since then. I'm afraid this may be more boring than you are used to so brace yourselves...

Saturday I hung out with Brandon, Dr. Gregory and Patrick and it was loads of fun. We entered the lottery for 25 dollar tickets to The Drowsy Chaperone and I won! Too bad I am using up all of my lottery karma on stupid stuff so when i finally play the real lottery I'll just end up losing money.

Since I was the only one who won Patrick and I saw the show since Brandon and Dr. G will have many more opportunities to see it than will we. It was hilarious - by far the best show I've ever seen...out of the 5, so you can take that with a salt grain or garlic clove or whatever the saying is.

That night Brandon, Patrick and I - along with US-2's Valerie and Tyler - went to a Haunted Restaturant. It was quite possibly the lamest thing I've done...ever. They had "ghosts" coming around talking to us and asking us questions. Lame.

When the weekend was over it was back to work with training sessions and things of that nature. We have had a free night or two so I went with some peeps to a choir performance last night and was talked into (at the last minute) to going to a concert tonight. I will give a full post to this later so get excited!!!

Anyways...that has been the last few days in my life. I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did.

(now that last sentence was the lamest thing I've done)

I am going to be an artist!

So...I promised a post about the MoMA...here goes...

I really did thoroughly enjoy going to the Museum of Modern Art; however, there were some pieces of "art" that left me a little perplexed. Some of the pieces of "art" didn't seem like art at all. Take this picture for example...



Now compare this work of "art" to what I just did in 7 seconds...



Why did the guy/gal who painted this get paid millions (maybe) of dollars for their painting and I get nothing? This blue "painting" is not a work of art. One of my friends said that she felt bad for house painters who do the same thing but millions of times more than that and don't get their "paintings" in museums.

This wasn't the only thing that isn't art in the museum. There is a canvas that has been sliced in the middle that is called "art." There is a rope suspended from the ceiling to the floor called "art." There is a blank canvas...a BLANK canvas in the museum called "art." This is all crazy. I think I have a new calling in life...

Story Time!

Once upon a time a boy was walking to a restaurant with his friends. This boy was in the middle of the group of friends, several in front of him, several behind him, and one beside him. As they walk along a stranger cuts into the group. The boy and his friends don't think much about the stranger and continue their various conversations. While the group is walking, talking, and having a good time, the stranger starts acting strange. The stranger bends over and touches things on the grounds, mumbles unintelligibly, and claps for long periods of time. The boy and his friends look at each other in wonderment but carry on with their conversations, realizing that they are in the big city.

One of the conversations that is taking place near the boy is about dogs. One of the boy's friends mentions that some people treat dogs as dogs and others treat dogs as people. The boy has a question about this statement so he offers "what does it really mean to treat a dog as a dog?" Just at this moment the stranger turns around and says "wow man, that is deep." The boy tries not to make eye contact; his friend who was walking next to him drops off the face of the earth and joins the group walking behind the boy. The stranger persists "no man, I mean, I like to joke around and stuff because I have to but what you just said was some deep stuff." The boy tries humor and says "Yeah...I'm a philosopher." The stranger doesn't get it and continues to talk to the boy. The boy feels very awkward and wants to get out of the situation by any means necessary. The boy realizes he isn't a strong runner. The boy must listen to the stranger.

One of the boy's friends comes to the rescue by asking him a question. The stranger drops back. The group of friends who were behind the boy drop back farther as to not have an encounter with the stranger. They see the stranger spit at a woman crossing the street. The boy walks fast not looking back. The boy and his group of frinds arrive at the restaurant. The stranger is still amongst the boy and his friends. One of the boy's friends allows the lady in the restaurant to sit first; the stranger instead goes to the restroom. The boy and his friends are seated looking at the menus. the boy happens to glance up and see the stranger at the hostess stand. He's perplexed. He then witnesses the stranger start pulling things off of the hostess stand and throwing them on the floor. The stranger wipes a table of it's glassware, breaking everything, and then knocks a tray full of things that a waitress carries on the ground. Then the stranger runs out the door, chased by two waiters.

The boy ponders the situation that just took place...then he laughs and remembers that he is in the big city...

The End

true story by the way...

Seasons of Love

Seasons of Love - one of the best songs from Rent - has been stuck in my head since I went to see the Broadway show last night. Why oh why can I not get it out of my head? It's torture; not only for me but for all of my US-2 classmates who constantly have to listen to me sing it.

Anyways...NYC is a lot of fun. Like I've said, we have been staying busy but there has been a lot of free time. We've been to Central Park, Times Square (multiple x's), a Broadway show, every freakin restaurant in the Village, MoMA, and other places too. MoMA will probably get it's own post in the next few days.

I'm excited about this weekend because I get to hang out with some familiar faces from Martin Methodist...Brandon Baker, Dr. Jack Gregory, and Patrick Bryan. Hopefully we will get to have some fun times. It's gonna be good to hang out with all of them before I have to move out of country, er, to Salt Lake.

New York Observations

I have been living in Greenwich Village on the lower West Side for two weeks now training to be a US-2. Prior to my coming to New York many people warned me of things that I would see in the Village. For the most part, I didn't think anything of it as I am open-minded and don't mind seeing things that go against the norms of society - at least in the South. However, even I wasn't ready to see something that blew my mind on the first day that I arrived while walking down Bleecker Street to lunch.

This is an act that I had never witnessed before and something that I don't think I will ever get used to. (I still double take everytime I see it).

The act is...Dog's taking craps on the sidewalks...



Now I know that this dog is not on the sidewalk, but the internet has failed me and I don't think people would appreciate it if I take pictures of their dog's relieving themselves...

The worst part about this horrific act is the vulnerability, embarassment, and pure fear that you see in the dog's eyes as they pass. Having a dog in the city is opening a dog up to riddicule.