Monday, September 26, 2011

Family & Alumni Weekend

This past weekend was family and alumni weekend. It was kicked off with a festival on Lower Bourke field with student organizations providing games and small fundraisers, food, cotton candy, snow cones, and blow-up obstacle courses. There was also three athletic events: men's and women's soccer and women's volleyball. The weekend doubled as the kick-off for homecoming week. The introduction of homecoming court was made at halftime of the men's soccer game. Honored, I was one of the nominees. Finally, I got to sport my vest that I got from Belize again.My family was unfortunately not able to make it out this weekend just with all of the busyness going on back at home with younger siblings sports events going on all weekend. I made the most of it, rather the least of it. I took Friday night to relax as the next few weekends have been filled up already with tons of plans. I stayed in on Friday and watched a movie. As the weekend continued on, I went down to the Plaza Art Fair for a couple of hours. There were some really awesome works of art down there. My favorite was a collection of running gears. I have always wished that I was more artistically talented, but that's simply not one of my gifts.

The next few weeks are pretty full. My first interfraternity Bible study is coming up on Wednesday. I'm really looking forward to it as I have been planning for it since last semester. I'm also meeting with Campus Ministry to begin planning a men's retreat for the spring semester.

Don't just survive. Thrive.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

The Present is a Gift

I am so incredibly blessed. The past two weekends have been just what I have needed. On Friday evening I had some friends over to the house. Originally, we were going to have a fire in the backyard, but the weather didn't cooperate so we moved the party inside. It's interesting how what you're doing is not nearly as important as the people with whom you do it. All present: Nate Olson, David Skelton, Josh Hollis, Frank Kane, Colleen Smyth, Anna Stroop, Maddie Burkemper, and Wils. We didn't do anything special, we just sat in the living room and talked and played a board game, but it was simply perfect.

The next morning, the girls and I went to the Farmers' Market just outside of downtown. It was a really awesome atmosphere down there. I saw God in so many ways there this weekend. Very clearly in the girls, but a couple of observations I made really made an impact. First, I saw a brother and sister interacting with each other. The older brother was probably about 8, and the younger sister about 3 or 4. It was so awesome to watch the older brother taking care of his younger sister. He was holding the umbrella over her head when it started raining and had his arm around her. The second impact observation was seeing an older couple walking around the market. With the inexcusable behavior of men in our country today who don't take responsibility for their actions and don't remain committed to their promises, it is so incredibly refreshing every time I see a couple who has been together for many many years - not to mention, the wife was not in great physical health and the husband was taking care of her in her frail state. Doesn't get much better than that.

Well, two weekends in a row now of having great opportunities of simply being present with those I am around have provided a great remedy for my feeling of detachment from Kansas City and from college and my friends here. I have been thinking too far into my future about what is going to happen after I graduate and that had been preventing me from enjoying the present moment.

Don't just survive. Thrive.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Toga, Hopkins, Karaoke, Chalk...and a new business?

This was my fourth and final Toga party of my college years at Rockhurst. It was so much fun! So many memories. I stayed out afterward and had some awesome conversations with great people over at my friends' house. While I don't regret staying up and talking with people until 6am, running a 5k starting at 10am wasn't a great way to treat my body. I did run it in 22:30 though so I feel pretty good about that. To the winners: 18 minutes, Wow! Way to go!

Last night I went out with a group of friends to the Westport Flea Market to do karaoke. It was awesome! It started out being just me and my friend Nate for the first 45 minutes, but then people started coming in waves and there was a solid showing of Rockhurst people. That was the first time I ever done karaoke there...it won't be the last. What a night!

I came home to a pleasant surprise from my night out on the town. I had received a text message earlier in the evening that said, "Hope you had a great night...Be sure to use your front door tonight ya old geezer." What? I was obviously very confused. But then it all came together when Nate and I walked up the steps of our walkway and saw the sidewalk decked out with chalk. Jordan Siebenmorgen and Colleen Smyth asked Nate and I to go to the date party for their sorority. It was really cool because it brought back memories of my high school days because I asked a couple of girls to dances using chalk on their driveways. Pretty effective. 100% success rate, no big deal.And finally, in the past year I have baked up a loaf of my mom's banana bread for a few of my neighbors. They have been asking for more ever since. My neighbor Judy gave me $20 for a single loaf yesterday. Now, if something indeed does come from this, I certainly will not be charging $20/loaf; however, I wouldn't mind having a little side job income while satisfying people with the best banana bread that will ever touch your taste buds. Just ask them!

Monday, September 5, 2011

Nature's Call...Don't Worry, It's Not What You Think

I went on a camping trip over Labor Day weekend that was organized by a young adult Catholic group in Kansas City. The event is called, "Nature's Call." For me, it was really refreshing because usually when I have gotten together with large groups in that type of weekend setting, there's a lot of talks and personal reflection and "let's get really close this weekend and pretend we're going to keep in touch after we leave." This was nothing like that. It was organized, but unstructured fun all weekend long. We just hung out together - going swimming in the lake, playing lawn games, cards, there was an Iron Chef competition, a greased watermelon game in the lake and a live band at the marina.

Now, contrary to the point I made at the beginning about meeting people and then pretending that we're going to keep in touch, I met a handful of people that I really would like to keep in touch with. One guy, Kiran, who I met there (he ended up staying in my tent because he didn't have one) works at an Indian Cuisine restaurant in Overland Park called, "Chilli n Spice." He invited me to come to the restaurant sometime. And we're friends on Facebook now which makes the friendship official (sarcastic).

So the main point that I would like to make clear through this entry (which also relates to my experience this entire summer at Camp Wojtyla) is that living a Christian lifestyle often has this misconception of only being a list of "Dos and Don'ts" and you're condemned if you don't follow the rules; the real truth of the Christian life being that having a right relationship with God and others and living life to the full is actually FUN!!!