Places I've been in the weeks I've been here

Lexington ER
Lexington Orthopedics
The Pizza Man
Italian Pie (I think that's what it's called) - twice
Lizard's Thicket - twice
Fazoli's
Sonic
Liberty Grill (and Tavern) - twice
The SC State Fair
All Medical Scooter Repair
Delta's baggage office in Charlotte
Columbia Metropolitan Airport
I've seen the Statehouse and USC
The Vista district
O'Charley's (twice I think)
Cici's

I'm not sure what else, but that's at least a start...
The only place I wish they had down here is Steak and Shake...otherwise they have almost everything else...

Three Days Down...I don't even know how many to go...

So...here's a re-cap of the first week of seminary (well, the first week since I've left the familiar - or at least, most of it - and come into a whole new culture):

Saturday - Left Marion...not sure how I was gonna manage a 12 hour car trip with the cast (for those who don't know, I had surgery #2 of a 3 part series (part 1 last summer, part 2 now, part 3 to come over Christmas break) the first Monday of August), said goodbye to the fam. dogs, wasn't entirely sure I was supposed to do this, and yeah...that kinda took over the day for a while. Ended up stopping in Jonesville, NC...got this interesting kinda pizza they must only have certain places (it's like chicken alfredo on pizza).

Sunday - Made it the rest of the way here after stopping at my mom's friends' house to look at their gently-used furniture they're giving me (which is nice) - we're getting it tomorrow - and then came the rest of the way to Columbia. Went out to eat eventually, and then the marathon of room set-up began (well, my dad left first, then the marathon started).

Monday - Went to Big Lots and a bunch of other places finding furniture and other stuff to "fill" the apartment...met a couple people, got a little mini-refresher tour of parts we didn't necessarily see at Seminary Days...

Tuesday - Orientation - longggggg day (started at 8:15, ended well after 7:00) but it was nice to see some familiar faces (some people from 2007 Seminary Days, some from '08)

Wednesday- Intro to Bible and Jr. Worship Practicum were pretty good - went to Cici's to eat (and then did more shopping at Staples and Goodwill)

Thursday - No classes, but we had a seminar, read some for Intro to Bible, and then went to the most "high-church" Eucharist I've ever seen at a seminary (and I'm not kidding) where they installed three new faculty members - the president preached, it was an interesting take on the "Take up your cross and be my disciple" motif.

Today - only had one class (Intro to Bible) and learned about the geography of the Holy Land...

More to come, I'm sure, but as you can see, the academic mode hasn't started...yet...but I'm sure between Monday and Tuesday it will (Monday - Pastoral Care and Church History; Tuesday - The same plus Greek).

When college started...

When college started (only 4 years ago):

With thanks to CNN, here's some of the headlines that were popular in 2004:
May 18, 2004 - Gas prices peek above $2.00 a gallon and this story sounds like it could be written this year: http://money.cnn.com/2004/05/18/pf/autos/gas_prices/index.htm

Facebook was just starting to hit the scene...and at that time, it was only open to big universities (not high schoolers, not many colleges, and certainly not the general public)

Myspace - again, just starting to take off

Blogs (like this one) also were not as popular as they are now

We were debating gay marriage in California (and still are)

The 2004 election was a referendum on Iraq (and this one still is)

There's probably more...

When I grew up...and "training wheels on clerics"

I officially feel old when I can say that, but honestly, when I grew up (and I'm not talking about the stone age, I'm talking about middle/high school, which it's been 10 years since that journey started, believe it or not), there was no:
Facebook (Thanksgiving break at Butler)
Myspace (freshman year at Butler)
Internet was dial-up (yes, dial-up was the norm then)
I honestly (I'm not lying here) didn't have a regular email address NOR an AIM account until freshman year of HS
iPods (portable CD players were "in" then)
Cassettes were still frequently used
DVDs hadn't been created quite yet

So I guess my point is technology can be good and it can also be scary, depends how you use it.

And this part is 3 weeks overdue...
In the nature of my favorite character on a show I won't name (if you get the ref, more power to you :-)) - "Picture it...finals week, last quarter of college"

One of my friends I work with (and occasionally have lunch with and stuff) comes back to my desk and was visibly upset...and the issue was because her mom screwed up her FAFSA last year (as a freshman) and fixed it this year, she got a lot less financial aid (which included work-study, which was how she was working this year) for this coming year, to where she may not even have been able to come back (since federal loans aren't that high for sophomores). To save the whole story, I think it was the work of a being beyond either of us that got her to where she was okay again...the strange part is...but I hope this changes...she hasn't ever gone to church because a) she has to work because her parents won't support her and b) her family was never a church-going type...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82-84EKIaqE

How Privileged Are You?

From What Privileges Do You Have?, based on an exercise about class and privilege developed by Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University. If you participate in this blog game, they ask that you PLEASE acknowledge their copyright. Bold the true statements.
1. Father went to college.
2. Father finished college.
3. Mother went to college.
4. Mother finished college.
5. Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor.
6. Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers.
7. Had more than 50 books in your childhood home. Encyclopedia Britanica put the total over 50.
8. Had more than 500 books in your childhood home.
9. Were read children’s books by a parent.
10. Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18.
11. Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18.
12. The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively.
Depends if you count me as a white midwestern male or like the Roloffs in LPBW.
13. Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18.
14. Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs.
15. Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs.
16. Went to a private high school.
17. Went to summer camp. Confirmation camp if it counts
18. Had a private tutor before you turned
19. Family vacations involved staying at hotels.
20. Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18.
21. Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them.
22. There was original art in your house when you were a child .
23. You and your family lived in a single-family house.
24. Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home.
25. You had your own room as a child.
26. You had a phone in your room before you turned 18.
27. Participated in a SAT/ACT prep course - if you count the computer programs
28. Had your own TV in your room in high school.
29. Owned a mutual fund or IRA in high school or college - it was joint ownership.
30. Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16.
31. Went on a cruise with your family.
32. Went on more than one cruise with your family.
33. Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up - if you count the ones in D.C. and science centers in Cleveland and other places.
34. You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family.

How'd we get here?

Imagine for a minute you're in a different place...or at least, a very different time. You're in someone's house eating dinner, ready to go to work tomorrow doing whatever you may need to do (whether that's around the house or at your job, depending on if you work the next day).

Yesterday, you were at a funeral...a funeral of a person you respected very much, who was full of promise, taken much too soon, taken, before the world could fully experience their potential. You helped seal the grave, you were one of the last ones to leave the cemetery, but you had to, because you had somewhere to be later that night. You couldn't stay in that moment as long as you may have liked.

So tonight, you've eaten and you're wishing you had done something more to the grave - marked it, or something, so it doesn't feel so cold and plain and just part of the "scenery" - you want people to know who this person was, so you at least want to mark the grave somehow. But it's dark, and you can't really see very well (the route is poorly lit, if the lights even work at all). So you go home and do other things, promising yourself you'll go there the next morning.

It's been at least 36 hours since the funeral and as you leave to go to the cemetery, you're not entirely sure what you'll see when you get there, because in your mourning two days ago, you're not entirely sure what it looked like. But you still want to mark it somehow, taking along things to remember the person by.

So when you finally get there, which was hard, because you weren't sure exactly where it was, you're still confused, in fact, now more confused. The gravesite looks fresh, like no one had ever been buried there. Is your mind playing tricks on you?

Convinced you're "losing it", you get back in the car, and go find someone else who knew the person well...you want them to see if you're losing it or there really is something strange going on here. Well, you actually end up bringing two people back, and they want to be the first to call you insane or see if what you saw is really true, so they race. But in some twist, the second person gets to the grave first (the first one stopped short).

They're not entirely sure what to make of it either, but they have to get back to work before the boss gets mad.

So here you are, sitting there, wondering what in the world is going on, when someone from the cemetery comes up to you and you want to see if he sees it. Only, there's something a little strange about this. You've never been to this cemetery before this week, yet he knows your name. And you're like, what is going on, when you realize, the resurrection you had been hearing about for several weeks, months, even years, has finally come true - this cemetery is no longer a place to mourn the dead, but celebrate that they're alive, eternally, and he's here to prove it!

Different perspective on Easter, isn't it?