A ghost town full of life

Tuesday was the last day of finals at Grand Canyon. A lot of people had finished up earlier, but there were still a few stragglers taking tests yesterday. But now that finals are over, the dorms have emptied out, save for a few lonely souls. It feels a lot like a ghost town. You can see evidence of people once being here, but they just aren't around any more. It's kinda sad. But it's also pretty cool.

Last night, after SALT, the ten or twelve of us who remained, decided to play hide and go seek. It was close to 11:30 and open hall had ended about an hour and a half earlier. But since three of us were RA's, we decided it would be okay. Mostly it was a game of scaring people as they walked down the pitch black hallway, but it was still a lot of fun. Afterwards we all went and hung out in the lobby and played board games for a while. After a few sleepy heads went to bed, a couple of girls decided they needed ice cream, so Big John and I went to QT with them as their bodyguards.

The whole point of that story is to setup this - when weird circumstances happen, walls come down and people get closer. The dorms were empty, and those of us who were left definitely felt lonely and almost left out. We had to stay behind a little while longer while we envied those who got to go home early. I got to hang out with a couple of people that I don't normally spend time with last night, and it was fun. We became a group with loneliness as our common bond. And it was enough. In some sense, I think each of us would have rather been at home, spending Christmas with out family. But I know that I wouldn't have given up that time for anything. There were some new friendships formed last night and some old ones made stronger because we were all alone together. And it was a good thing.

They say old friends take a long time to grow. I figure that in a couple of years I will be needing some old friends to rely on and so I guess now is a good time to start making some new ones. You never know when they will come in handy.

Honey, did you remember to take out the kids? Oh, and have you seen Nemo?

I just realized that it has been a whole week since I last posted. I am so sorry. Finals definitely brought out the worst in me. I just checked out from my daily responsibilities, like posting. But now that finals are over, I will be back to being regular, just like an old man on prunes. Once a day. To kick things off, here is a special DOUBLE PICTURE TUESDAY!!! Yes, I know, I'm too good to you people.




Have a very merry Tuesday. I will see you tomorrow.

Better late than never

Sorry about the wait, it has been a long day. But as promised, a picture has arrived for picture Tuesday.


I hope you all enjoy the rest of your Tuesday. I will have an amazing post tomorrow. One that will knock your socks off. In the mean time, watch out for over-protective grandmas. (If either of my grandmas read this, I'm not talking about you.)

Finally, the definition of Ben

Here's a fun little thought that I have been pondering: what defines me? If I asked myself who I am, what would I say? I would describe my fiance, for example as an artist. It is not what she does but it is who Jamie is. She cannot help but be an artist. It defines the way she thinks and acts. We had a discussion about this a couple of nights ago. She was worried that about what would happen to her if she decided to not paint for a living. But we came to the conclusion that even if she didn't paint for a job, she would still be an artist because that is an essential part of her.

But who am I? What part of me is left behind when you take away all the things that I do. I have an idea, but I'm not sure I really like it. Some things that describe me by what I do would be I'm an RA, I'm a Bible study leader, or I teach swing. When you take away those things that I do, what seems to be left behind are two options. In each of those roles is the obvious, I lead. But I don't really like that. I don't mind rising to the occasion, but in the long run, I would rather fade into the background and have a nice quiet life of anonymity. On the other hand, it would seem that serving connects the three. Each one of those requires that I serve those I lead, often putting in long and thankless hours to make things go smoothly. Is that who I am?

It seems that the options open to me are head of state or humble servant of the people. Could it be both? Could who I am be some crazy marriage of the two? I don't know. Maybe I'm on the completely wrong track with this. But as I self-evaluate, this seems to be what I see. Meh. Well I suppose the power hungry, maniacal dictator life can't be all bad. I guess we'll see.

Watch out for the flying squeegee

I officially have two weeks left in the semester. Because of my position as an RA, I have to stick around until the 22nd of December. It really sounds worse than it is though, the last day of finals is the 2oth or 21st, so I'm not sticking around aimlessly without any residents to take care of.

So, you are probably wondering what today's post will focus on. Me too. I have no idea. I have a ton of homework hanging over my head right now and I am having troubles concentrating on doing any writing of any kind. I also have a test in chemistry tomorrow. So, rather than try to come up with something meaningful or clever, I will end here with a thoughtful saying. Um...well...er...hmmm.... okay, never mind. I don't know any thoughtful sayings. So, have a great day, and I will hopefully finish everything up today and will have something much better for tomorrow.

Tuesday, we're glad you have arrived

I wish my pillow came with this warning. Meh. At least it's Tuesday. Enjoy it before they run out.

One more thing, this is officially the 101st post on this site. That's a lot of writing. I never thought I would get carried away like this and keep going after summer. Oh well, I love to write and this gives me an outlet for my creativity. Or something like that. Have a great day.

Football and apology

I am terribly sorry for being such a slacker with the posts. I know I vowed to never miss a day again and then I went and skipped posting on both Thursday and Friday. Well that's it. No more. I am resolved to never make a vow again. I know that's not quite what you were expecting, but if I vow to never vow again, then I can skip posting whenever I want and still feel like I am keeping my vow. Confused, good. Then I accept your appology and I think it would be good for all of us if we just moved on and forgot the whole business.

I went to Cali this weekend to play a little football. We played in a tournament against 10 other different Christian universities from California. We took third place in the tournament, which is pretty good for us since we have never been before. It was a lot of fun, but I was a little disappointed because I didn't get as much playing time as I would have liked. But I did get to hang out with the guys and get to know some of them better, so it was a good trip and I'm glad I went.

Have a great Monday and cheer up, tomorrow is Tuesday and you know what that means: PICTURES! Wahoo. Yay for Tuesday.