Excuse my manners if I make a scene...

So I have an awesome girlfriend. She got me a Wii, Dodger tickets, and Disney's Robin Hood DVD for my birthday. She's also a schemer because she was working behind my back with my family and friends to get me the Wii and games. I was really excited and surprised. The Dodger game was fun as well, and she looks good in Dodger Blue!

After my B-day I was thinking about how blessed I am for her, my family, and friends. It was so good to see so many old friends together just talking and hanging out (and having a bit of Goldschlogger) hehe, and my Dad makes the best chicken nuggets. There's just something about people getting together and sharing life that really hits me. I love sharing stories and experiences, and having a good laugh. God is good...

This bandwagon's full please catch another...

So it's been half a year since I've blogged. I believe this is the longest gap I've had in my blogging career. It's not that I haven't thought about blogging, but I've just been lazy. So I've been back in-country from Vietnam for 2 weeks now. It was a fun experience, and I really enjoyed hanging out with my buddy Tyler. The Vietnamese people are an interesting bunch. They were quite enamored with my belly. I'm not a communist, but I'm pretty sure I could become Prime Minister of Vietnam running solely on the platform of my stomach. If I was in a political debate I would answer each question by simply pointing at my belly or maybe I would lift my shirt up just enough to expose the belly. I know I'd win in a landslide.
The food was great, and the beer was good too, and cheap!!! It was hard not knowing the language, and many times I felt like an outsider. It gave me perspective about how foreigners feel in the U.S., and more specifically how international students feel in my dorm. Nevertheless, I had a good time, and I got to see a lot of places. I also got upgraded to business class on 2 of my flights home, which is quite possibly the closest thing to heaven. In fact, heaven may actually be an eternal flight in business class. Oh I hope it's true...

If the world is ending, I'm throwing the party...

So this is the new year...

No resolutions to be made, just reflection. I think we should all resolute that the beginning of January should not be the only time we vow to change, but that is not a resolution. Our change should be as constant as our reflection, as we tug and toil to become somebody else, somebody we read about it or see before us, and we desire to develop their characteristics. They inspire change, and we are inspired by that. They make us think, and we like to think about that. They lead by action, but we sit still thinking about acting, and wondering where our inspiration went. But it's still there, it never left. It was in us the whole time, but we kept it locked up, hoping for someone or some thing to come and set it free. It's at this point we realize that it is a constant never-ending struggle. A battle between desire and complacency. To be what we always wanted to be, to do what we always wanted to do, to go where we always wanted to go. Inspired? Yes. Take action? No...

Sometimes we take chances, sometimes we take pills...

So, it's been a while since I last blogged, almost 5 months I suppose, but I'm back in action. My time at APU has been good. Things seem to move a lot faster here, and the school is so much bigger then what I'm used to, but I feel like I've learned a lot in my short time here. It's still funny to me that I work here having gone to CBU, but it's great to be home in California and closer to my family. I finally started my Masters program and I'm excited to be back in school although it's still weird to be writing papers and reading for class etc etc. I miss my friends in Phoenix, and it was great to see them a few weeks ago. It was nice to just go and chill and be relaxed when I was out there, and to catch up with everybody. Most recently God has blessed me by bringing a wonderful girl into my life. She is amazing, and it's been so good to spend time with her and get to know her heart. God's timing is impeccable. He knows when we need things, and I'm definitely happy He saw that I needed her :) I'm excited for the dorm to close and for Christmas to be upon us, although I'm still sickened by the amount of stupid crap that gets manufactured every Christmas, I'm anxious to relax. That's kind of a weird idea, to be anxious about relaxing, but that's what I am. I plan to hang out with my girl, my friends, bar-b-q, sleep in, and watch a lot of movies. Oh and play a butt-load of Guitar Hero, yeah, a butt-load. How much is that you ask? For some of you that's a lot, and for others not so much, but still, it's a load...

Rob a jewelry store and tell'em make me a grill...

So my internet has been turned off because the school changed providers, so I'm using the wonderful free wi-fi at Coffee Plantation. The countdown for me to move back Cali is less then 2 weeks away, which is exciting and weird. I'm excited to move back home to Cali, but at the same time it's weird to go back on a permanent basis because for the last 3 years I've felt like a tourist in my home state. My new job at APU is both exciting and scary just because it's like starting over again. I know I will be stretched and it will further develop me as a man of God and as a professional, but I guess that's why it scares me. As much as I want to get out of AZ it's become familiar and I know what to expect, but in a couple months I will be in charge of over 140 freshmen guys, what was I thinking? But I know this is where God wants me, and the opportunity to mentor and build into guys is what God has created me to do, so how can that be bad right? I'm also going to purchase a beach cruiser and ride around because for the first time in my life I won't be living in the ghetto :)

Death creeps like the breeze, but have no fear, watch me inhale...

So here are some humorous happenings the last couple weeks (these are not made up):

I was at the store not too long ago, and as I was pushing my poorly aligned cart up an isle there was a cute girl coming towards me. As we made eye contact I gave a friendly smile, and as she smiled back I then realized she was missing her top four teeth. I was quite shocked by this sight and suddenly just looked down at the floor because I didn't know what do. I mean what do you do? And how does she not have her top four teeth??? She didn't look like trailer trash or a hockey player. I know she saw my reaction, well I didn't see her reaction to my reaction but I could just feel the akwardness.

Last week I was at a Student Life conference in Minnesota and I was in the bathroom of the main auditorium, when another man came in. We both gave the acknowledging head nod to each as we passed and I went and washed my hands. As I was doing this he suddenly began to drum the beat to Queen's "We Will Rock You" while he peed. 2 beats on the urinal and 1 on the side of the bathroom stall. He did this a few times, and being a little weirded out I just began singing the song. After a couple choruses he was done, and I realized that I had been washing my hands for quite a while. He turned around and I said "I love Queen" and he replied in a southern accent, "Whenever I get a song in my head I just have to drum it. My kids always tell me I do it wrong." Then I responded with, "Sounded pretty good to me." Word!

Finally, many of you know my history with birds. The infamous m-80 assassination of a seagull in Rocky Pointe still follows me. Well, today I was playing golf with a few buddies, including my accomplice in the seagull killing, and on my very first shot I hit a low line drive with my driver into a group of pigeons nestled on the front fringe of the fairway. As the ball soared towards them it nailed one, but that didn't stop the ball, which luckily for me rolled quite far. The guys were like "Did you just hit a bird? I can't believe that". Sure enough we could see one flopping around, but then suddenly it stopped moving, so I wasn't sure if I had killed it or just knocked it unconscious. As we walked up to the bird it started flopping around with it's head laying on the ground. I thought I had broken it's neck and was going to have to kill it, but thankfully it jumped up and started limping around, and I realized I had just broken it's wing. Then the bird hobbled around like it was drunk, and finally walked over to a tree. So now I've killed a seagull and crippled a pigeon. Hooray...

I set my clocks early cuz I know i'm always late..

So based on the number of comments on my previous post I have to either bash the midwest or Christian pop-culture to get people to leave any.:)
Anywhoo, my time at GCU has come to an end. I officially still work here until May 31st, but for the most part I'm done, which is exciting and weird at the same time. Exciting because of the anticipation of what's ahead, but weird because I'm leaving a place that I've called home for the last 3 years. I'm unusually content about all of this, and in this state of uncertainty, life is really good, which is all God because I really should be going crazy. In another weird twist, the notion of possibly returning to Cal Baptist to work as an RD has presented itself. I have mixed feelings about this, but I'm very open and interested in the possibility, not to mention it gets me back home to California, which I dearly miss. But the best part about all this is that I have this weird peace about it all, and that's such a great feeling. I guess I should give this stuff to God more often huh?