A pic a Tuesday keeps the doctor away

Today I'm gonna give out something extra special because it's also my birthday: TWO PICTURES!!! Yes, you heard right, Two pics on Picture Tuesday. It has never happened before, but I'm feeling generous


This is me and the girlfriend at 80's skate night.



And this one, well, I guess bikers aren't very well thought of in this town.

Who you gonna call? Me.

I love being an RA. It has been two weeks now and it really is a lot of fun. The one thing that I wasn't expecting was the intensity. It's really not a hard job, nor is it unpleasant. I really do enjoy hanging out with my guys and serving them. The thing is, it's a 24-7 job. Even when I sleep, I'm still an RA. I was taking a very nice nap on Wednesday, very peaceful and relaxing, when one of my guys came in to the room to ask me a question. I had been up 'till two the night before and had gotten only 5 or 6 hours of sleep. I just wanted to rest. I did not want to be answering questions about if he had to attend the mandatory hall meeting. But I had to and I had to do it pleasantly and with a good attitude. God has really given me strength to support my guys so far, I could not do it without him. But I cannot take a break on campus. I have to leave to be off duty. Because as soon as I think that I might be alone and free of responsibility, someone finds me.

Before the I give the wrong idea, I need to say that I love being an RA. It really is more than a job to me, it's a lifestyle. I love interacting with the guys and helping them out and being their friend. It's not always easy but I wouldn't trade where I'm at for the world.

Any fool can do this job

Yay for long weekends. Sorry for my lack of posting, but at least it's Tuesday and that means a new pic. Enjoy.

Y-M-C-A

I just got some more pics of 80's skate night. If you have a weak stomache, avoid the rest of this post, it could get ugly.

Left: The Village People reunited

Below: I'm the leather enthusiast. Take a look at my pants. I found those bad boys at Goodwill for $4. They are women's size 11 just in case you want to buy me something for Christmas...

Meet the Parks

My roommates this year are pretty awesome guys. Yup, the twins are back. Jon and Stephen Parks, brothers at large. Haha. They aren't really twins and they aren't really related. They both happened to share a room together last year with Matty and I. Since we were brothers with the same last name, we figured that Jon and Stephen have the same last name so they should be brothers too. They don't look even remotely alike.

Jon is quiet and thoughtful. He is a Bible study leader again this year and I know he will be a great influence on the guys in the hall. Some people think that he is shy. Nope. When he gets around people he is comfortable with, he's a little crazy.

Stephen is the exact opposite. He is extremely outgoing and can often be quite outrageous. But he is a great guy also and definitely keeps life interesting. When he gets around people he is comfortable with, he usually settles down a little and can be very philosophical and deep.

It's a pretty good combo for a room. We have the extremes and me, the middle man. It makes for an interesting college experience.

Is anyone else a little confused?

I love comments. They are probably my favorite thing about blogging. Here's another that really just made me laugh. If you don't understand the slang, vanilla basically means unexciting or conventional.

Dude!!!!!.
you title your blog "BE RADICAL"
After reading your article, I say this with great respect[ i really do]
you give and ENTIRELY new meaning to the word VANILLA ..
good luck.

Thank you for that. Usually when people call me boring, they do it with such little respect. I appreciate your honesty.

[Sigh] I have been over this before, and I'm sure it will come up again, the blog is titled "Be Radical" not because I'm some crazy, partying maniac. Be radical is my call to action to live a lifestyle radically different from the rest of society. Be radical is my desire for my life to not be all about me, for pride and self-centeredness to not be characteristics of who I am. Be radical is my way of saying I love without prejudice or condition, I have been given a second chance at life and I'm not going to waste it.

So, in order to avoid further confusion, I have decided to change the tagline of the blog: "Be Radical: not your ordinary vanilla." (Not really, but the tagline will be changing within the next day or two) Keep the comments coming...

Macho, macho man

Welcome Week is in full swing here at Grand Canyon. Every night of this week we have had an event to get people out of their rooms and meet new friends. Last night was 80's Skate Night. Basically, everyone goes down to Goodwill or Savers and buys the ugliest clothes they can find and wears them while skating in a circle for two hours. It's a lot of fun.

So the four of us guy RA's and two of our friends decided to dress up as the Village People. Yes, they started off in the 70's but they did release some songs in the 80's, so they were fair game. It was pretty scary how it all worked out. Each of us fit our characters pretty perfectly. I'm proud to admit that I was chosen to be the "leather enthusiast". All of our costumes combined cost somewhere between 150 and 175 dollars (I personally spent $25 on my outfit). But we won the prize for best overall dressed so we each got $25 to Harkins Theatres. So it all worked out in the end. I only have one pic right now of last night, but if you check back a little later tonight I should have some more up in this post.