Think about this but don't overdo the mental effort. These things take time to sink in... a quote from my philosophy textbook.

"Happiness is much more abstract and elusive than peanut butter."

Man, I am sure glad that they teach me these things for only $300+ a credit hour. I would be so lost.

Just finished the second week of the semester at LeTourneau. It has been really good being back. I miss lots of people that have graduated but it has been very good times with the people here.

I'm taking 18 hours:
Europe, 1789-1914 (interesting stuff... and Kubricht is teaching)

Intro to Fine Arts (stop laughing! Watson is the man)

Poetical Books (I think I really like Dr. Hummel. Sometimes it's just hard to spot him behind his gigantic GPA beat-down stick.)

Book of Acts (insert Dutch joke here. Actually Dr. Hood is cool)

Survey of American Literature I (We watched the Disney Pocahontas in class. Think about that. Actually I'm really glad to have taken another Dr. Coppinger class)

Intro to Philosophy (probably my least favorite class, not because of the material, but because this type of class should be the type of thing you do on a sunny hilltop with a band of good friends, not in the arctic sterility of Heath-Hardwick Hall in the company of 30+ caffeinated freshmen. Sometimes silence really *is* the best option when it clears you of retarded side considerations.)

I'm not working for the university this semester, which is hurting my bank account, but it is very freeing to be able to concentrate only on other stuff.

Pebble unfortunately could not come back this semester, so I'm the undisputed Overlord of the Power Suite. We have numerous names; none of us have girlfriends so we tacked on the name of the Eligible Suite.

On the upside, both of my minions (read: roomies) have cars, which, in classic Overlord style, I have dubbed my chariots. One of them, the Chariot of Destruction, is a '97 Chrysler Concord, but the other...

Well, last night I saw it for the first time and cried out, "What?! My Chariot of War is a stationwagon?!" Ah well, we must make do with what we have.

I lined up all my major semester assignments on Google Calendar and now anytime I want to be depressed I can open it to survey the coming destruction.

Several musical pursuits have also opened up for the semester. I'm working up some material for the next AcoustiCafe, not the least of which will be accompanying Fjord on his lead vocal debut with a very quality song.

Karen and I are also planning to try out again for the Fall Fest talent show with the act that got turned down last year. We shall prevail over the nay-sayers!

And there's a few more projects that I'm not actually at liberty to say. One of them involves *dance*. Yes, quiver in fear.

these can be amusing...

Your Superhero Profile

Your Superhero Name is The Star Prime Your Superpower is Mathematics Your Weakness is Philosophizing Your Weapon is Your Rusty Bazooka Your Mode of Transportation is Sleigh

Random picture of Loch Lomond:



I made it back to LeTourneau very smoothly. The flights were on time and Granny was there to pick me up for an early arrival in Houston.

We drove up to her house, grabbed my stuff and deposited it in my room. There were only a very few people in the dorm, but I ran around for about an hour saying hi to people.

The rest of the night consisted of the random, yet progressively building series of events that make me love evenings at LETU so much.

I sat down to play the 41 piano. Fjord heard me and walked in and we started talking. Then Spork walked in and we sat there for a good half hour in the so-called "make-out closet" until we collectively agreed to go to Whataburger.

So we drove down and ordered our burgers. We noticed, in addition to the normal Whataburger late-night crowd, there was a number of stranded bus passengers.

Their bus had tried to pull in to Whataburger, but the bus became stuck in the rut between the road and parking lot. The front and back ends had scraped too hard on the road and the wheels were unable to contact the ground hard enough to move the bus.

We finished our burgers and as we were walking out to the car, a huge purple tow truck pulled up. "Hey, this could be fun," we thought so we sat down and watched the tow truck pull it out.

The next day, IMPACT retreat immediately started. Today I have carpet to put down, generally putting all my stuff away. I hope to start on academic business in earnest this week.

OK, so I should probably update this thing before I leave.



There's a taste of some new Flickr-age.

The weather has been phenomenally good since we came to Scotland. The locals call it a bit of a heat wave, but I seriously doubt the temperature has gone over 90 degrees Fahrenheit since we arrived. Glorious sunny days that don't make you sweaty and hot.

My dad is working with the Reformed Presbyterian church here in Airdrie, and Pastor Quigley kindly gave him the first few weeks off to do household business and do a bit of sightseeing.

My folks and I have been in Scotland for five weeks now, and have settled in quite nicely. More than ever, I have immensely enjoyed just hanging around the house doing nothing at all, eating whenever and sleeping late most mornings. Wouldn't want it forever, but this summer certainly isn't.



We stayed fairly busy the first couple of weeks, moving things, setting up beds and phone lines, and then going to see castles or something when we had to get out of the house. Airdrie itself isn't much to see, but it is ideally situated in the middle of Scotland.

Stirling Castle is lovely and just 40 minutes to our north. It's been restored to a Reformation-era style and overlooks the plain of Bannockburn where William Wallace scored his greatest victory against the English.

They have a monument in a garden there to a man in the 1500s who angered his compatriot and was unfortunately thrown out a second-story window to his death.

I tried watching Braveheart, since it is the quintessential William Wallace/Scotland type movie and wow, I was really not impressed. I don't know; something just struck me wrong. Probably a lot of it has to do with Mel Gibson's hair.

But also I thought it just dragged too slowly. I dig long movies when they're good, but this was too much.

A few weeks ago we also went to Loch Ness. It's a very long, thin and deep lake.

The Scots often snub the English, and proudly relate that the loch contains more volume of water than all the rivers and lakes of England. Of course, more water doesn't mean better, as far as I know, and the Scots could no more fill the lake than they could win a war against the English... OK, so that was harsh. ;)

Urquhart Castle is this really beautiful and old medieval castle right on the shore of Loch Ness and we walked all over it. It has this really interesting history and changed hands a number of times between the English, Scottish and some clans through several significant sieges. Sausages sizzling savorily in sunlight. In the summer.

Just last week, Candace, Amy, Ben and I took our own trip into Glasgow, which is a 30-minute train ride away. Traffic and parking in the city is terrible but it is easy to take a train almost anywhere in the city we need to go.

We hung out at Starbucks (our first in Scotland), walked around, looked at shops, ate, and generally flowed "with the wind." It's a fun city to walk about and doesn't completely swallow you like a bigger place.

Come to think of it, I still don't know my grades from Korea. Now there's a scary thought.


So I am definitely ready to be back in Texas for a while. I am taking 18 hours this fall and I am looking forward to each class in its own way. I still need overrides for three of those classes. :D

As for after grad, I have some options there but nothing firm yet.

I still cringe thinking about what a kid I was just three falls ago, and that process isn't over by any means. But I am thankful to LETU and all the people there that have taught me so much.

But we musn't end the post all mushy like, so I will now tell you the *real* subtitle of Lady In The Water, which I just watched.

"Adrien Brody with Dreadlocks: The Grass Dog Gets Owned By The Three Monkeys of Justice!"

If any of that seems unlikely, well then you just watch the movie!

A ham sandwich.

A Taco Bell Grilled Stuft Burrito.

Three meat casserole.

Cranberry juice.

Frito pie.

Good black coffee.

These things make me happy. :)

I'm still adjusting to US time. The flight back went smoothly. I didn't sleep much but the time went by quickly.

We're packing and such for the move. We'll be sharing a flat in Airdrie, a town of 40,000 not too far from Glasgow. My dad will be working with the Reformed Presbyterian church there.

And now I'm getting really tired which isn't good for making interesting posts, so I'll end with a photo.



It's Pohang, with a bunch of my Handong homies.

And today's random picture, comes from Festival time, Handong, just before midterms...



One more final before I'm done for the semester. It's American History and definitely what I'd consider to be my easiest final.

A week from today I fly out of Incheon. Korea's been good but I'd be lying to say I wasn't excited about the US/UK.

The weather has been warming up, but like other places I've lived, the weather rarely stays the same all day. It can be really hot in the morning and when a rain front moves in, you need a jacket for the evening.

The dorms don't have air conditioning, but on the plus side, the construction crew outside our building hasn't worked in the last few days, so we keep the windows open.

I made a Wal-Mart trip on Tuesday afternoon. I make microwave spaghetti... mmm.

Prof. Duvernay, of Korean history fame, took a poll of the students asking who had the coolest presentation. Guess who won? The prize was this Korean language history book. So, I can't read it, but the professor said before giving it to me, "It has lots of pictures."

I handed in two finals this morning and immediately went back to bed. I knew I hadn't gotten enough sleep the night before, but now, after a 4 hour nap, I can't convince myself that it's still Thursday.

Can't think of much more randomness...

I can't stand the annoying arrangements on a lot of old big-band style songs, but I have really digged two songs recently... Dean Martin "Blue Moon" and Julie London "Cry Me A River." And yeah, they're both really sad...

Last Saturday night, there was a big fireworks display on the beach in Pohang. I wasn't initially planning on going, not knowing exactly where it was and having no one to go with, but John got me. We hopped on some random bikes and went pedaling for the beach. We soon realized we wouldn't make it, since we started too late, but we stopped on a mountain dug out for road construction and had a nice, private, cool long-distance view of the show.



Last night was Korea's first game in the World Cup (soccer, for the completely uninitiated, like me). To this day, I can't recall watching an entire soccer match through. The closest I came was one of the collegiate games at LETU, but even then, it was a newspaper assignment.

This first game was the biggest sports celebration I've ever seen. Americans just don't have the same passion for any sport, even football or baseball, that many other nationals have for soccer. These people would scream and shout and almost dance, when their team simply had the ball. When they made a score, it is unusual *not* to get a slap or hug from a screaming fan.

Handong provided their own pre-show and halftime show.





Admittedly, I have no strong emotional ties with soccer, or the performance of teams from Togo or South Korea. I do favor a degree of sportsmanship, in any game, along the lines of not laughing out loud when an opposing player slips, injures himself and rolls on the ground in agony.

For the Koreans I was with, it was more a matter of, well, nationalism I would call it. Korea is the best. Korea can't be stopped. Korea couldn't care if their team played a bunch of cripples because it's all about winning. We base our national pride on whether we can outplay a tiny African nation. Go Korea.

I'm a foreigner so how could I "get it."

Stryder wanted haircut pictures. Very well then.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present before and after...

Bookshelf madness

It's Monday.

Still handwriting the US Constitution. I'm on the 17th Amendment. Almost done.

No classes tomorrow. Memorial Day!

Rice cake presentation on Friday. You ever done a rice cake presentation? Hmm? Yeah, I thought so.

Shaved my head last night. I'm not quite bald, but not far from it. Prof. Schoenhoff led the psych class in a round of applause for my "bravery."

The wind and sun feel delicious on my head.

Mukolo got a new camcorder, and he also pulled out an old webcam.

We were bored.

One day shortly before spring break, I was randomly playing guitar on the front steps of the dorm and people stopped around to say hi and plan what they were doing for the break. It's the I-House boys...



I have plenty of homework (for one of my law classes, we are to handwrite the Constitution), but last night I went out and finally saw MI3. Now, I don't know why the critics hated it, but I was pretty impressed with the film. Definitely kept me on my toes and certainly enjoyed it more than MI1.

Before you go out for the night and see movies or whatever, you have to sign out of the dorm. They have room checks at 11 PM to make sure you aren't off being mischievous, I guess. So before I went to the theater, I signed out.

Name: (I scribble in my name here)

Room: (room number goes here)

Place: Cinema

Reason:

And here I pause. I could write the obvious, that I am going to the cinema, to, you know, watch a movie, but that seems too straightforward. So I thought of the most random thing I could...

flying with unicorns

Satisfied, I drop the pen and go to my movie.

I came back later that night, and lo and behold, on the sign-in sheet to mark my return, entered conspicuously into the top of the dorm computer system, is my name, telling me in 13 pt. Arial that I went to the cinema to fly with unicorns. Can't believe the RA girl actually typed it into the computer. Maybe she thought it was the name of the movie?

This morning I went with some other students to a local church. We read Bible stories and taught some basic English to about 200 kids. I read stories with kindergartners and then had a discussion time with fifth and sixth graders. I do my best, but I'm just not a little kiddies person.

There, finally fixed the layout. I also uploaded pictures of Seoul from spring break. There's no captions with them, but as always, the Flash slideshow is a dandy thing. I still need to write about Seoul but I'm too tired to do it tonight.

Buenas noches.