The Joys of Summer

I have recently realized that I have a serious problem; I have no idea how to relax. It is just not in my nature to not be accomplishing something. Today has been driving me mad. I woke up and decided to practice my omelet-making. Then I went about cleaning up my apartment. At some point I realized that I need to be a bit more active and that pushups, though great for my triceps, don't really do much for my biceps, so I went to Academy to buy a couple dumbbells. After thoroughly wearing myself out by watching the news while pumping iron, I did my laundry in UP's enormous and beautiful laundry facilities.

Then I realized... I have nothing to do, and nobody to do it with. Now that I'm finally living in my own place, I have a huge desire to play the host; to cook for and entertain people. There's simply nobody interested though... After calling everybody I know, I realized that I was in fact completely alone. I guess I have become somewhat socially dependent over the past few years, even though I suppose I'm socially inept at times. I panic at the thought of having absolutely nobody to talk to or do anything with. I can handle boring activities and even doing nothing, if I have somebody to do it with, but the thought of being bored alone... That terrifies me.

I played my guitar and read a book for an hour or two, but it was still driving me insane that I wasn't actually doing anything. At the moment, absolutely all of my social interests lie in some other town. Every single person I have called within the past couple days is in another town, or they're working, or with their girlfriend...

Haha, I am now sitting on Jeff McCain's bed in the Sig Shack, just to be within a hundred feet of a person I can communicate with. At the moment Jim Kizer is the only other person here, and he's just playing World Of Warcraft, so it's not really much better. Why do I feel this immense... emptiness? Actually, putting it in that language really helps me. I think it's good to have a reminder that there are always going to be times when there won't be people and activities around to fulfill me, and I should be seeking my fulfillment elsewhere. Of course, I can say that all day long, but actually attaining it... That's something entirely different. I've been seeking happiness and fulfillment a bunch of places recently and forgetting that it all ultimately comes from God. It's time I relax and get to know him.

Finally Settled?

Friday I left work early and started moving into my apartment (UP 316). It was nice moving into a place that's entirely mine. I have my own bedroom and bathroom, and until my roommate gets here, my own kitchen and living room. Tyler (my roommate) left pretty much everything he owns in his room, so rather than having to buy a ton of dishes and kitchen supplies, I have access to everything I need. 'Tis great.

Friday night I was feeling fairly lonely and was quite daunted by the enormous pile of stuff I had to figure out a way to organize, so I called my mom and convinced her to drive out. She showed up mid-Saturday and we began the process of bringing method to the madness that I had created. It was so awesome to have her there helping me. I have no idea how long it would have taken me to accomplish all we got done in a day and a half. It was also amazing to have her to buy the things I needed and help me stock my completely empty fridge. Under her guidance, I also cooked a couple meals. I'm sure I'll call her every time I cook something from now on, but I feel like I have a hand hold in the kitchen now.

I'm kinda sad that my mom has to leave me now. I'm at work now, but she's still in my apartment organizing stuff for me. It's been so awesome having her here. She saved my life. I hate to see her go, but alas, it's time I grow up and get used to living alone. It's a different sensation, moving into a place with no roommates or family. It's cool, but I'm not sure I like it so much. Nah, I love it. I'm pumped.

Finally back

So I'm finally back to Abilene. It was great to get back home and see friends for a few days, and I wish I could have had longer at home, but I was eager to get here as well. This has been an emotionally draining summer and I'm tired of saying goodbye to people, so now it's good to be at my final destination. I suppose from here on out I'll be eagerly counting down the days until school.

I have a fairly confusing housing situation here. I arrived at the house I'm staying in with 5 other guys and walked in to find only 1 person lounging about. I looked around for where I was to sleep and realized that I didn't have a bed here. Supposedly we're going to get a mattress in the next few days for me to use, but I'm actually thinking about moving into my apartment early. I don't really want to deal with the rowdy, late night, no AC atmosphere here for $200 a month when I could more easily settle into my own place and get settled for the year. I'm going to go talk to the housing people tomorrow about the idea.

Tomorrow I start work at 8, but I don't really know exactly what I'm doing. I asked Dean Barnard where I should go for my first day, and he told me to just spend the rest of this week in my SA office working on whatever I need to do to get situated for the rest of the summer. I guess I'll get started on some of the projects I've been putting off. It is now time for my summer to end. It's a shame... I don't feel like it's begun yet...

Oxford Day 27

Regretfully, I awoke today at around 11 am in my Oxford bed with no plans for the day. I suppose it wasn’t the end of the world. It was great to sleep in. It’s also nice to have a bit of money left in my pocket at the end of the trip. It would have cost a fortune to go anywhere. Unfortunately, the only way to know whether it would have been worth it was to go. Ah well, I got a good rest.

Last night some of us threw in for a bunch of meat and stuff and had a wonderful barbeque. I had some amazing chicken and one of the best meat and stuff and had a wonderful barbeque. I had some amazing chicken and one of the best steaks I’ve had in months. It was quite ideal, sitting outside in the perfect weather eating amazing food, playing guitar, and chilling.

Today consisted of nothing but eating, writing a paper, playing guitar, and board games and movies with friends. People were trickling in throughout the day from their wonderful excursions throughout Europe and making me jealous. Tomorrow is our last real day of classish stuff. We will go to watch two of our groups present their findings to Oxford Analytica. Then I think the schedule is open until our final celebration on Wednesday night. Then we’ll be getting up early Thursday to go to London to fly home. Yay!

Ok, I think this may be my last mandatory journal, so I guess I should include some sort of observation about the culture. Let me see… Ok, I have gotten the impression during my stay that the English are much more friendly and accepting than Americans. All of the conversations I have had with the locals have been extremely warm and open. I feel that if I was to go door to door just looking for conversation that I would get invited in for tea about half the time. I love it. Oddly enough though, service in restaurants and stores seems to be the exact opposite. People are very short with you and not very helpful at all. Employees are likely to let you know about it if you inconvenience them in any way. I think it is odd how large the gap is between their social and work lives. I think it’s really great though. When they’re off work, they’re really off and don’t give it a thought. They lose their intense schedule drive and are relaxed and friendly. Great people.

I have really been here a long time. Earlier today some people were talking about their memories from earlier on the trip. They really seemed like a very long time ago to me. It’s amazing that we only have a few days left. I remember thinking how incredibly long I still had left a few weeks ago. Wow, time flies like crazy. Too bad I only get 4 days at home before I have to head to Abilene. Hopefully I’ll get to see everyone during that time.

Bath

Ok, so it’s not Ireland or Scotland or Wales, but Bath is a pretty neat place. We got to the train station in the morning to look up prices for the other three places. It would have cost us at least two hundred bucks to make it to Ireland and about the same for Scotland. I only would have cost a hundred to go to Wales, but we didn’t even know what to do there, so we decided to just take a day trip to Bath. It was worth it.

Bath, by the way, is a very old place where, when the Romans expanded across that part of England, they found a miraculous hot spring. Seeing that it was a holy place, they decided to build a temple to their water gods and whatnot and to build a really awesome spa to channel the power of the spring. Probably around the second century they build the enormous complex which stands beneath a very large portion of the surrounding city with the enormous bath complex at the epicenter. It is absolutely amazing to know that there is an entire city under the existing city in all directions. All of the old temple and city still remains unexcavated about 15 feet below ground.

I am really starting to gain quite an appreciation for old remnants of past societies. After having gone to a bunch of WWII sites a week or two ago I realized just how destructive the elements are for structures that people create. It is amazing to see enormous steel and cement structures that were built to withstand intense bombings but have been annihilated over the past 60 years by the elements. The wind and rain and ocean have completely changed the landscape around the old battle sites over the past 60 years. To think that anything at all exists of the Roman cities after two thousand years is amazing. It is also pretty amazing that an entire city has been built on top of a Roman city. I’m not even sure how that sort of trend starts. The spring and bath wasn’t even discovered until the mid-19^th century. How did people not look at the river coming out from under their city and wonder where it came from? I would certainly be curious.

It was neat though to be walking around this ancient bath realizing that during Jesus’ life there were people standing exactly where I was, wondering how this mysterious hot water came to be.

I think a lot more happened yesterday, but I’ve filled a page, so that’s sufficient.