what's The Point?

College graduation: one year later

2010-04-07T10:59:00.000-07:00

Commencement 2010 is just over a month away at PLNU, and it feels strange that I will be attending it as an alum. Until last year, I always attended in anticipation of someday being there myself. And then last year, there I was, shaking Bobby B's hand myself. It was the beginning of a new chapter in life for me.

Shaking hands with Mr. President

Since then, I have moved twice, had two different jobs, and still haven't figured out exactly where my life is headed. A lot has happened in the last year. I recently took part in an incredible mission trip to northern Uganda where a group of American doctors and professionals provided medical care, clean water wells, and food for the people there, many of them victims of Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army.

Helping take blood pressure and temperature in Gulu, Uganda

Most of my time since graduation has been spent in Ocean Beach, a lively community right next to Point Loma. My roommate works at PLNU and I am on campus frequently for events and to see friends. Amidst all that has happened in the last year, I can say without a doubt that I still feel a part of the PLNU community. When I drive onto campus, I still see familiar, smiling faces and sense God's presence as much as ever. With everything that has changed around me, it's nice to have a "constant" like PLNU (shout out to all the LOST fans out there!)

The day that I graduated, I didn't know how it would feel to return to campus once students were back, once classes had started again, when for the first time that I could remember, I wasn't a student in one of them. I thought I might feel like I didn't quite belong, like Preview Days or something - like I was just a visitor. But instead, it felt a lot like going to visit home when I was away at college. Like even though I don't live in this place anymore, whenever I visit it, I still feel at home. That's exactly how it felt, and it still does.

A lot has happened in a year. College flew by, but the year after has felt like a few weeks. Some friends have moved away, others have stayed, others are about to make that choice when they graduate in a month. Many of them have gotten engaged or married (ring by spring!!). But whatever happens in the next year, it's nice to know that PLNU will always be a place I can call home.

With the junior/senior roommates: Chip, Calen, James, and myself

Check out the archive below for blogs I wrote during my senior year at Loma!

Jobs for college grads

2009-05-06T11:56:00.000-07:00

"College teaches you everything except how to get a job"

I've heard this expression or something similar a lot lately, and I think it's true. It would be great if it wasn't - if just having a college degree was all grads needed to land the jobs of their dreams. Alas, it's just not true. PLNU does have a Career Services center that will give you some pointers, and your professors might even help you make some job connections. But especially during an economic recession like what's going on right now, I find myself wishing that I could have taken a class this semester on how to actually find a job with what you're studying!

Well, I graduate in ten days and I still haven't found a job. But I'm staying positive. I'm sending out applications and networking, trying to do everything I can without totally neglecting my final projects for all of my classes. Here are some of the top resources I've found:

-Indeed.com: Monster and CareerBuilder haven't been very helpful to me, but Indeed is kind of like the Dogpile of job search engines, if you remember Dogpile from like eight years ago before Google took over.

-Career Realism: Great advice for job seekers

-Entry Level Careers on Examiner.com: Heather Huhman has some great advice for new and upcoming grads.

Even if I can't find the ideal job in the next couple weeks, I've got some great backup ideas.

-Become a pirate: They're all over the news lately. I would totally do it Robin Hood style - only stealing from the rich and giving to the poor.

-Starbucks barista: I could work with all the other college grads who couldn't find jobs in their field of study!

-PLNU Grad school: When in doubt, go to grad school, right?

-Join the circus: I hear they're short on fire breathers right now.

or, last but certainly not least... a fire-breathing pirate!!

Please check out the awesome video of the week on the topic of finding a job.

End of the year madness

2009-04-21T14:23:00.000-07:00

The end of the semester is near, and that means a couple things. First, it means all those big projects that you may or may not have put off until the last minute are suddenly all due at the same time. Second, it means that there are more end-of-the-year events than the number of free ice cream scoops Ben & Jerry's is giving away today.

Together, these two can be a lethal combination. How am I supposed to get all of my final projects done when I'm at PLNU Padres game night or the Student Ministries year-end party? Here are just a few of the events I have to juggle in the coming weeks:

-A Beatles tribute event with my apartment building
-PLNU Senior Dessert
-My friend's senior music recital
-Departmental senior brunch
-My friend's senior art show and reception
-A school musical starring a bunch of my friends
-Approximately five end of the year concerts by my friends' bands
-A senior reception with PLNU President Brower
-According to Facebook, birthdays for 64 of my friends (and myself!)

And this is just the beginning.

Time for some deep breaths. On an unrelated note, if anyone has invented a way to be two places at one time, let me know!

In closing, here are a couple pictures from my Easter break for your viewing pleasure. I'm playing an intense game of bocce ball with my sister, brother in law, and parents.

Easter break

2009-04-09T09:57:00.000-07:00

It's Thursday afternoon and Easter break has officially begun! I'm staring out at the water on a beautiful sunny day. 78 degrees and not a cloud in the sky! But I'm not sitting in my apartment staring at the ocean. Nope, I'm home in Oklahoma looking out at the lake next to my house. According to my go-to source for weather forecasts, it's actually cloudy and getting ready to rain in San Diego! So for once, the weather is nicer at my home than at school. Pretty rare I must say!

Two weekends ago in San Diego, however, the weather was amazing. I would know, because I was outside all day Saturday! All the PLNU Student Ministries leaders took a trip to the San Diego Zoo, which is still awesome. We even got our own private tour! Our guide has worked at the zoo for over 25 years, so she knew what she was talking about. She took us in a back entrance that the zookeepers use to get a REALLY close look at the elephants, and we also got to pet a camel! Check out the pictures below. After the zoo we all went to Buca Di Beppo downtown for an amazing family-style dinner. I might have wandered over to the TVs near the bar to catch the final minute of the Villanova-Pittsburgh Elite Eight game, which was awesome too.

Here are some pictures from the day:

No zoom feature needed! We were that close

On our private tour!

Petting the camel

Green is the New Black

2009-03-24T14:17:00.000-07:00

PLNU is known for being an environmentally conscious campus. We've been a top school in the RecycleMania program for several years, even winning in some categories against hundreds of other colleges around the country. A couple of years ago, solar panels were installed on the top of many of the buildings around campus. We even have waterless urinals in the guys' bathrooms!

For the girls reading this who never get to see them,
this is what a waterless urinal looks like!

All of these programs were started by school administration. That shouldn't be surprising - that's how it is at most schools around the U.S. But this year the students have decided to get involved. Part of Loma's ASB includes Student Congress, where students have made changes to open dorm hours and even raised funds for a new volleyball court on campus. But this year, Student Congress proposed the Green Fund. Along with our ASB elections this year, students also voted to pass a fund that would add $5 to each student's bill per semester to go toward our sustainability program.

This is a pretty rare things, and it didn't go unnoticed. There was even an article written about the initiative in the San Diego Daily Transcript. And just this past week, Student Congress put into effect a process that will eventually remove all of the plastic trays from our cafeteria. Sound unimportant? It's going to save Loma 375 gallons of water per day! Plus, it has been proven to cut down on the amount of food wasted.

I was a member of Student Congress last semester, and I have to say it's pretty cool that we have students at our school who care about these issues, not just faculty and staff. If these programs sound interesting to you, find out more here at the school's sustainability webpage.

My last spring break ever?!

2009-03-10T13:14:00.000-07:00

It's Tuesday afternoon at 1:15. Normally I would be walking to my 1:30 PR Writing class right now, but it's spring break! So I'm doing a little bit of relaxing, a little bit of reading, and trying to be somewhat productive. I'm feeling a little bittersweet because this will probably be my last spring break ever. So I should be hitting the slopes, sailing the seas, or driving across the country, right? Nope. I'm graduating in two months, so this week I'm picking up some extra hours at work and conducting three informational interviews. Especially in tough economic times, it's important to be proactive in my job search!

But of course this doesn't mean I can't have any fun over the break! For one, my job is giving campus tours, which is a blast. I get to soak in the sunlight and walk all around our beautiful campus! (See: Exhibit A)

Exhibit A: The view from my apartment balcony

I've also been hanging out with my roommate and buddy Calen a lot this week. We're both pretty busy so it's been great to have a little more free time in the last few days. Calen interns for a local radio station and got free tickets to a concert at the House of Blues a couple nights ago. And on Friday, we randomly decided to pose as SDSU students and attend the basketball team's last regular-season game at the Cox Arena. We sat in the student section and learned all of their cheers. It was a blast! (Disclaimer: There was a certain "unfriendly" cheer that was yelled often, during which Calen and I would awkwardly pretend we were on our cell phones or stuff a handful of nachos in our mouths) :)

Here's a picture of the arena during the game:

Hope you all have a great week!

Birthday week

2009-02-24T09:34:00.000-08:00

We're in the middle of birthday week in my apartment. James' birthday was last Wednesday, Calen's is today, and Chip's is tomorrow! Crazy. Needless to say, we have a lot of sweets in our apartment right now...

To celebrate Calen's birthday, this morning three of us woke up at 6:30 and drove to the International House of Pancakes in Point Loma to celebrate Free Pancake Day!

I also learned this morning that apparently, IHOP adopted KFC's strategy and is now only known by its acronym. I wonder if the next generation will be confused not knowing this, and mistake the restaurant for a potato sack race company? (Sorry about that one.)

Here are Calen and Kasey making creamer towers while waiting on our pancakes (apparently other human beings do this too). You might conclude that they're acting this way because it's 7:00 a.m., but I assure you, they are this immature all the time.

Finally, here is my free short stack. It was delicious.

New look

2009-02-15T00:53:00.001-08:00

For any first-time visitors, welcome to my blog. To everyone else, you probably notice something different. I decided to change the look of my blog, hopefully for the better. Be sure to leave a comment letting me know what you think. In keeping with the new look, I've also decided to make shorter, more frequent posts to keep you all happy. Thus, you can check in here for 2-3 minutes (or more if you watch the YouTube video of the week, with its new location directly below my post) before moving on to whatever other sites you happen to frequent.

However, I know my blog can be very fascinating. So fascinating, in fact, that you may forget there are other great websites out there on the World Wide Web. So to help you out, here are, according to Firefox, my five most visited websites:

1. Google - As if I didn't visit this site enough for searches, Google Maps, Google News, and more, PLNU switched its mail to Gmail, meaning I'm here even more than I used to be.

2. Twitter - I've recently developed a fascination with this site. If you check it out, take some time to really figure out all its uses - they're not all immediately evident. Note to self: blog about this soon...

3. Facebook - Yep, no surprise there.

4. ESPN.com - Gotta have my sports.

5. CNN.com - Keeping up with the latest news. CNN seems to have good coverage of both stories that are important and stories that interest me, and does a great job handling breaking news.

And with that, I'll leave you with a couple recent photos of fun things I've done in the past week. This past Saturday I drove to Big Bear with my roommate James and we snowboarded at Snow Summit. It was awesome.

Taking the lift to the top

Then, on Tuesday night, James and I hopped on I-5 and drove to L.A. to see the Oklahoma City Thunder (my team...don't make fun!) play the Lakers (his team) at the Staples Center. It was awesome, and my team almost won!

Lakers 105, Thunder 98. Heartbreaker.

The top ten things Point Loma won't tell you!

2009-02-07T01:52:00.001-08:00

A couple months ago, I wrote a couple of blogs titled, "Why Didn't Anyone Tell Me That?!?" The transition from high school to college can be challenging at times. Not realizing you could have dropped that class you were failing during your first semester doesn't make things any easier. That was one of my tips to new students; don't make a habit of it, but if you have one particular class that's just killing you and your GPA, it's good to know you have that option.

The other piece of advice I offered was that all freshmen should sit down at the end of their first semester and plan out their classes for the next 3 1/2 years. I didn't do this until the middle of my sophomore year, and it's been a huge help. If I'd done it earlier, it would have helped even more.

These two suggestions are only two of many things I wish I would have known coming into college. Over the past couple of weeks, I've asked a few of my friends to help my compile a list of ten things we wish we would have known when we started college. These aren't necessarily things that PLNU tries to hide from incoming students (the blog title was mostly just to get your attention). But your admissions counselor, tour guide, and New Student Orientation can't tell you everything you'll need to know to be ready for college.

My friends and I have learned some of these things the hard way. Hopefully, after reading this blog, you won't have to.

1. For most majors, internships are more important than your GPA.

This isn't always the case, especially if you plan on going to grad school. But if you want to get a job straight out of college, most employers will value your work and internship experience far more than your GPA. Of course, slacking off in your classes is never smart and could actually make it hard to get that first internship. But schools sometimes overemphasize GPA and don't mention nearly enough the importance of real-world experience. Keep this in mind, and find a healthy balance between the two. You shouldn't disregard your GPA in favor of the great internship you have, and likewise it's important to be reliable at your internship even when you have three tests in one week.

2. There is no possible way you can read everything for every class and still have a social life.

Again, this is about finding a balance. You shouldn't play video games five hours a night or spend every day at Ocean Beach, but you also need to get your nose out of your books. It's great to be a dedicated student, but killing yourself to finish every page of reading for every class is often unreasonable. Learn the art of skimming the sections that seem less important. Get out and have some fun, even during a busy week. It will help keep things in balance and keep your mind fresh.

3. If you have an academic scholarship and your GPA falls under the requirement, no matter what, you will lose your scholarship forever.

In an ideal world, you might get a second chance if your GPA is 3.3 and it needs to be a 3.4 to keep your scholarship. But just like any college, PLNU has to make money so it can pay its professors and provide a quality college atmosphere for its students. Consequently, it has a very strict policy regarding academic scholarships. I have a friend who needed to maintain a 3.4 to keep her scholarship. At the end of one semester, her GPA was (no joke) 3.39. She lost her scholarship. Unfair? It seems like it. I had a similar experience. But if PLNU makes an exception for her or me, then it has to make an exception for other people, too. Make sure you know what GPA you need to maintain to keep your scholarship, and do what it takes to keep it above the requirement.

4. A college degree does not guarantee a great job after graduation.

Bummer. There was a time when it was pretty easy for anyone with a bachelor's degree to find a job out of college. But especially with today's struggling economy, this is in no way guaranteed. PLNU is holding a three-part workshop about transitioning from college to career (see picture) and this is one thing Charlie Howard, PLNU's Career Services director, is careful to emphasize. College students have to market themselves. Internships and networking are two of the best ways to do this.

A recent career services event

5. You don’t have to buy all your textbooks at the PLNU bookstore.

Okay, this is a hot topic of debate. I had a lot of friends mention this one, so here's how I feel about it. Sometimes the PLNU bookstore has a lot of used textbooks for your classes. Usually the prices for used books in the PLNU bookstore are comparable to what you'll find online. But sometimes, especially when new editions come out, the bookstore won't have any used textbooks for some of your classes. In this case, I buy these books online. You can go into the bookstore and look at the ISBN numbers on the books that you need, then search for them online (I recommend Dealoz.com). But a lot of the time the PLNU bookstore has all the books I need at pretty good prices. In this case, I just buy them there. Why pay shipping online and have to wait a week or more to get them in the mail? But keep in mind, if you can find a used version of a book online that's only available new in the bookstore, you can save a lot...sometimes as much as $50.

6. There are hidden buildings on campus.

That's all I'm telling you.

7. It’s okay to come into college undeclared or uncertain about your major.
Most students know this, but I know some people feel like they need to have their path mapped out before they move into their dorms. Well just so you know, the majority of college students change their major at least once. You may think you won't, but odds are you will, and that's okay. PLNU is a liberal arts college for a reason. You get to take classes in a lot of different areas and get a better feel for your interests. Don't worry if you haven't figured out exactly what you want to do with your life when you start college (I'm graduating this May and I still don't know!).

8. Your professors want to talk to you!

A great thing about Point Loma is that the professors really care about their students. I have had professors who have eaten meals with me in the Caf. I even had one who invited my class over to his house for dinner and dessert. I have developed a close friendship with one of my journalism professors, who is also my advisor, and he has helped me with some tough decisions over the last three years. He's also written me letters of recommendation and spoken positively about me to other professors and potential employers. These people care about their students, and they can be a great resource for guidance as well as an advocate for their best students. Take advantage of that.

9. Your dorm room is usually not a good place to study.

Dorms are a lot of fun, especially freshman year when the guys or girls on your hall will become some of your closest friends. But at any school, Point Loma included, things can get pretty loud on the hall. There's always something going on, and it's extremely easy to get distracted from your homework. Most dorms have study lounges that are quieter, and the third floor of the campus library has a no talking policy. There are several other quieter places to study on campus, as well as some great study spots off campus (grab a ride with an upperclassman). Take advantage of these and you'll save yourself that time where you should have been working in your room, but instead you watched a four-hour marathon of House on TV.

10. Your experience at Loma is what you make it.

There are tons of great things to do at PLNU, but you have to take some initiative. The beach won't come to you. You won't get that on-campus job without putting yourself out there and lining up an interview. Your experience at Loma will be as good or as bad as you allow it to be. Sure, your friend may end up with the best roommate ever while you have to share your room with Creed from The Office.

Still, you can complain about the roommate you got stuck with, or find other cool people to hang out with and try not to spend too much time in your room. If you put yourself out there and take advantage of what the school has to offer, you'll have a great college experience. If you sit in your room and play video games by yourself, you probably won't. So get out there!

Blog playlist: U2, Fiction Family, OneRepublic, Greg Laswell, Jason Mraz, The Bravery, Audioslave, Cold War Kids, Citizen Cope

P.S. - check out the YouTube video of the week. That is totally me in the blue hoodie in the still frame before you press play.

The Acrobatics of a College Student

2009-01-25T20:40:00.000-08:00

There are a few things that are pretty much universally true for every college student:
-Our sleep schedules are totally out of whack
-We eat a lot of pizza
-You never know what kind of adventures the next week (or day) will bring

For the average person, life is pretty predictable from week to week. Go to work, come home, eat dinner, maybe watch some TV and spend time with the kids, then hit the sack. Recycle and repeat. In college, things are totally different. It's actually a good thing that we have classes at the same time each week, because this is the most stable thing most college students have in their lives. One minute we're sitting on the couch watching LOST, the next we're piled in the car driving to Fiji Yogurt, the next we're back at the dorm playing Catchphrase.

Life can be crazy from time to time, but there's rarely a dull moment! In this blog, I'll tell you about three of the random things that happen to be going on in my life right now.

First, the Academy Awards are coming up on February 22. A couple of friends threw out the idea of seeing all five movies nominated for "Best Picture" before the awards. So far, I have two down, three to go.

“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” - saw this a couple weeks ago in the theatres. It's a really unique and inspiring movie. I've heard people complain it was too long, but I didn't check my watch once during the movie.

“Frost/Nixon” - I'm really looking forward to this one.

“Milk” - I've heard there are some great performances in this one.

“The Reader” - Not so sure about this one...

“Slumdog Millionaire” - Amazing movie. I've seen it twice.

Second, today I had the awesome opportunity to check out the Chinese Acrobats. I went with a group of guys and girls from Flex, and everyone I talked to was blown away. I don't even know how to describe what I saw - some acts I would never have thought the human body capable of performing. (Check out a short clip from a different performance in this week's YouTube Video of the Week.)

One of the many cool acts during the Chinese Acrobats

Finally, this next week is Renewal Week at PLNU. It's one of my favorite weeks of every semester when a special emphasis is placed on taking time out from our crazy college schedules and putting more emphasis on God. Each semester during this week, we have a special speaker during chapel for the entire week, and this semester I'm thrilled to have a former pastor of mine named Scott Daniels coming to speak from Pasadena First Nazarene near L.A.

Scotty D., as I never have called him until this moment

Of course, there's a whole lot more going on right now, but you'll have to wait until next time for more! Okay, one extra piece of trivia for you: my playlist while writing this blog has included The Raconteurs, The Blue Van, The Ting Tings, Jon Foreman, M.I.A., and...Taylor Swift. Yes, I am not afraid to admit I listened to the song "Love Story" while writing this paragraph.

The Last Semester

2009-01-12T14:56:00.000-08:00

It feels very strange to write this blog as an 8th- and final-semester college student. In a few short months, I'll walk across the stage of the Greek Amphitheater at PLNU and shake Bobby B's hand. I don't know if I'm ready to graduate, but regardless of whether or not I'm ready, in mid-May I'll be out of college and onto life in the real world.

While it feels like such a long time ago when I attended NSO and went on my first date night at Loma (see pictures below!), when I look at my college experience as a whole, it's really flown by. I know everyone says this, but college will fly by so fast. It really is crucial to take advantage of every opportunity you have to create friendships, further your knowledge, and prepare yourself for life after college, whatever that may look like for you.

Calen and me at NSO 2005

Hendricks 2nd North (H2N) date night, Fall 2005

As I start my last semester here at Loma, the sun is shining and it's an unbelievable 79 degrees outside on January 12. It feels incredible, and I have been so fortunate to spend my four years here at Point Loma. It's a little scary as graduation approaches, but there are several things that I'm taking advantage of as this time of transition approaches. First, I'm meeting with a counselor from our Wellness Center to just talk over my thoughts and feelings about graduating. Second, I'm taking a Strengths class offered at the church on campus. Third, I'm going to be asking a lot of advice from some of the professors I've grown close to over the last four years (as well as my parents!).

I'll probably do more, too, but this is where I'm starting. PLNU offers some great resources to help its students in the two big transitions we experience, both at the beginning and at the end. I don't have everything figured out by any means, but I'm not stressing about it, either. It's been such a great experience here, and I think this last semester is going to be one of the best! I'll keep you updated with all the cool stuff I've got going on along the way!

The Best of Times, the Worst of Times

2008-12-14T20:33:00.001-08:00

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

The words of Charles Dickens are especially appropriate for a college student this time of year. On the one hand, the Christmas spirit is in the air. Lights are on every corner. There are celebrations, musicals, and special events every night of the week. On the other hand, the end of the semester is approaching. Term papers, group projects, and final exams all come together in the last two weeks of the semester, causing college students across the country to pull their hair out in frustration.

It's really a terrible scenario, because there are cool things going on every night, but there's always something big due the following morning. It would seem either you end up missing out on all the fun of the Christmas season, or your grades suffer. I've tried to find a decent balance between the two, but I'll admit, it's not easy. I've been able to take a few breaks from my studies, though, and venture out of my apartment into the real world.

My roommate had two amazing solos in Messiah, which is such a cool musical if you've never seen it. It's even better if you know people who are singing. I also got to see Calen in the One Acts performances. This is a combination of three short plays (one act each, hence the name) that take place altogether. It's a lot of fun, and everyone involved did an incredible job.

I'm also thrilled to say that I was able to stop by my favorite spot in San Diego during the holidays. There's a street about 5 minutes from the school (Garrison St.) where all the houses go nutzo decorating for Christmas. It's absolutely incredible. I got to stop by and take it all in, and fortunately for all of you, I took pictures. We also have a balcony Christmas light decorating contest in the Flex apartments on campus. Our apartment (and by that, I mean I) decided that we should compete. Here's how it turned out:

Finally, here are the pictures from Garrison Street. Merry Christmas!!

A lesson through the fog

2008-12-01T15:22:00.000-08:00

This past week, I was able to fly back to Oklahoma City and celebrated Thanksgiving with my family. It was great to be home for the first time since summer. I don't often admit it, but I really do enjoy being in Oklahoma. My parents and I drove up to Tulsa on Thursday to celebrate Thanksgiving with my sister and brother-in-law, and we had an absolutely delicious meal (I helped with the mashed potatoes and pie!).

I also had the chance to catch our new NBA team, the Thunder, play a game in OKC. We lost on a last-second shot, which was a bummer, but it was still an awesome experience. I also saw Bond again...for the third time.

I flew back to San Diego last night...or at least I was supposed to. My flight went through Denver and was supposed to leave Denver at 9:30 local time and arrive in SD at 11:00. First, the flight was delayed an hour and a half. But this wasn't so bad as I managed to get some homework done and grab a bite to eat. What was bad is that our plane ended up being diverted to LAX in Los Angeles because of an insane amount of fog that rolled in from the coast yesterday.

This gives you some idea of what it was like, only way worse, and the fog rolled all the way up past L.A. But LAX isn't in the middle of downtown and has longer runways, so apparently it was safer to land there (I heard someone else from PLNU got diverted to Phoenix, so I guess I don't have much room to complain).

So we landed in L.A. and got loaded on buses to drive us down to the San Diego airport.

We arrived in San Diego at about 3:30 a.m. I didn't sleep a wink on the bus, so I was pretty exhausted. I ended up running into a girl who also goes to PLNU and was on my flight, so at least I had someone to talk to on the long ride back. When we arrived at the airport, I called one of my roommates to come pick us up. This is the great thing about having cool roommates: they will do things like come pick you up in the crazy fog at 4 a.m. on a school night.

Thanks, James, and I owe you one big time.

As a final note, here are a few pictures from our homecoming basketball game last week, which is always an awesome time.

Getting ready to paint up before the game with Dane

James, me, and Jon during a timeout

James, me, and Mike after the game (Mike is from Trevecca, the team we played and BEAT. Not sure why he's wearing that ugly shirt)

Nikki and me

Break-ins and Bond premieres

2008-11-17T16:10:00.000-08:00

Friday night was a wild night.

My roommate and RA, Calen, decided we should get some guys from our Flex building to go see the new Bond movie Quantum of Solace. So we got five of us together and went to the 9:15 showing on Friday. But naturally, as with any college event, you can't just go to the movies. You have to make it an adventure. So we dressed up (four of us, at least) in tuxes for the evening.

(L to R) Blake, Sean, Nathan, Calen, and myself. Nathan was undercover.

I swear I was wearing a bow tie earlier (and not a clip-on - mine was the real deal) but it was seriously 87 degrees in the theatre so I had to take off a few layers. Fortunately, the movie was the shortest Bond film ever. Otherwise I might have been arrested for indecent exposure by the time the movie was over.

We watched the film (which we all agreed was a very good Bond movie, despite some critics saying otherwise), and got quite a few strange looks throughout the evening. As we were leaving, one guy asked us why we were wearing tuxes. We told him we had just come from a wedding, and we all really wanted to see High School Musical 3, but it was sold out. So we settled for Bond. I think he half believed us.

When we got back, Calen and I returned to our apartment to discover it had been broken into (lesson learned: always lock your doors). Apparently some girls who claim to be our friends thought it would be funny to ransack our apartment for no reason at all.

They claimed it was retaliation for us allegedly water ballooning them, but these are obviously baseless accusations, and they have no proof to back up their claims. But hey, I understand their need to have selfish fun at others' expense.

Check out the music video for the theme of Quantum, which I think is awesome, even though Jack White does kind of sound like a girl. And if you get the chance, go watch Quantum in the theatres and let me know what you think!

"I don't wanna read the book; I'll watch the movie"

2008-11-09T21:41:00.000-08:00

I don't know that I've really shared with you how much I truly love movies. I am a big fan of movies. If movies ran for president, I would totally make those creepy calls telling you why movie's opponent is a Muslim or a warmonger or whatever. I would be just like the crazy McCain woman.

For this reason, I was stoked to discover a few weeks ago that there would be a chapel called "Reel Stories." This chapel took place this past Friday, and showed clips from various films that pointed to death (including "No Country for Old Men"), descent (including "The Empire Strikes Back") and hope/resurrection (including one of my favorite movies, "Big Fish"). The great thing about this chapel was that it reminded us to be conscious observers of what we encounter in society. Just like we do when we read books in English class, we should look past the action on the screen and to what larger themes the movie is trying to say.

Our new chaplain, Mark Carter

On Saturday my roommates and I went to AMC Theatres at Fashion Valley Mall (which, random side note, now has an H&M store, which I'm really excited about). We went to see Pride and Glory starring Edward Norton and Colin Farrell. I tried to observe some of the larger themes of the movie - it dealt with commitment, trust, betrayal, hopelessness, and redemption. It really was more than a mindless action film, and I enjoyed it even more because I was looking for these themes. Then my roommates and I decided to make it a double feature affair, but alas the second movie we had wanted to see was sold out.

This Thursday, I am absolutely stoked to have gotten my hands on tickets for a screening for a new movie by Darren Aronofsky ("Requiem for a Dream") with a Q & A with the director afterward!! Aronofsky is known for films that have a strong message associated with them, and, as a fair warning, also well known for making movies that push the ratings system to the limit. But what he has to say is socially relevant and important, and to me that makes it worth it to look past the objectionable parts of the movie. It's a tough line to walk, though, and I would recommend using high discretion if you're considering watching Pride and Glory or any Aronofsky film.

It's exciting to me that PLNU is willing to step out of what might be the traditional idea of what chapel should look like, and offer chapels such as this one. I'm also excited about tomorrow's chapel, which will focus on Youth Homelessness and our response. I'm especially excited for this one as I happen to lead a homeless ministry on campus. If you have any questions about what kind of student ministries the campus has to offer, feel free to ask me, or just go here.

I will try to post a new blog again SOON (as in, within the next week). I know all of you are dying to know every awesome thing that goes on in my life at Loma, so I will make an effort to keep you better informed :) Until next time, please enjoy the sarcasm of Switchfoot's music video, and notice their awesome bowl cuts circa 1997.

Why didn't anyone tell me that?! Part 2

2008-10-26T18:21:00.000-07:00

When I left off last time, I promised my next post would include some more insight into things I wish I'd have known coming into PLNU. I think I'll include that at the end of today's post, so if you are really excited about that part, feel free to skip down.

This weekend has been exhausting, but really fun at the same time. On Thursday night, my roommate's band , Family Wagon, played a show at a place in Ocean Beach called Dream Street Lounge. It was a great time and the band got to play a longer set of about 45 minutes. Once again, I left my camera at home all weekend (it's been giving me problems so it's not really worth the effort of bringing along). But I did manage to snap some questionably legible shots with my iPhone. Here's one of the Dream Street show:

Friday night we had a bonfire for some of the guys and girls in our Flex Apartments. It took place down on Shelter Island. Ocean Beach and Shelter Island are both located less than 5 minutes away from campus, which is super convenient. Alas, iPhones do not yet include a flash, and it was pretty dark on Shelter, so no photo from this experience. But it looked something like this:
Saturday came early. I woke up at 7 in the a.m. to help my roommate fix some breakfast for my previously-mentioned friend Blake Nelson (see first blog) and the cast of his movie. Then at 8:15 I left with my Student Ministries group to City Heights for a project called Face Lift. We painted, planted, potted, and panted for about 5 hours. It was fulfilling, but incredibly exhausting. My work included shoveling concrete into a dumpster, digging holes and planting, and my personal favorite, digging out ridiculous things from the bamboo abyss. We literally spent almost two hours digging out mattresses, a shopping cart, and much more from a spider-covered bamboo forest. Apparently some homeless people had been living there some time ago. This task was much more challenging than I had anticipated, and also left me resembling a human Oreo. At the end of the day, everyone came together and all the groups were given awards for their hard work:

Then last night, we had a fall festival on campus called Samedi Gras. I didn't have the energy to go to most of it, but I came for the end, when Family Wagon played yet again (this time in masks!)

So that was my weekend! Now, as promised, a second bit of advice for those of you coming into PLNU:

If you're taking a class your first semester and you're doing very poorly, you can DROP the class.

Here's a little secret: there are some professors at this school who experienced students have learned to avoid. The honest truth is that 9 out of 10 professors at Loma are awesome, or at the very least show a deep care for their students. But there are a limited number of professors that people who have been at PLNU for a while tend to avoid. And since you're a freshman and you have no choice in the matter, guess what? There's a chance you might end up with one of these professors your first semester. I did.

I took a class with a professor who liked things done a particular way – in other words, she was really picky. If you were one second late to class, you were tardy, no exceptions, and the class was at 7:30. By the halfway point of the class I realized I wasn’t doing well, but I didn’t know at the time about my option to drop the class. So I received a poor grade that ended up costing me a scholarship :(

So please remember that this option is at your disposal. Use it only in an emergency situation, but if one does arise, don't hesitate to drop the class and take it again later with a different professor.

That's all for now! Hope you all have a spooktacular Halloween!

Why didn't anyone tell me that?! Part 1

2008-10-17T01:42:00.000-07:00

It's time for my first edition of a periodic blog I have decided to title, "Why didn't anyone tell me that?!" Every few weeks or so, I will post a blog about one or more topics I was pretty clueless about coming in as a freshman to PLNU. You'd be amazed that, for the incredible abundance of information you receive in the first four days here at school, there's still a lot of important stuff left out.

As you may or may not have heard, for your first semester here at Loma, your classes will be scheduled for you based on your major. I think the reasoning behind this is that the school probably knows better than you what you need to take your first semester. Considering you've never met with your college advisor, and you probably haven't planned out your classes for your four years of college just yet, this makes sense. Which brings me to my first point:

After your first semester, sit down and plan out your class schedule for the rest of your college career.

Most students do not do this. Some departments encourage or even require students to do this, but the majority do not. It's really important, though, for several reasons. First, even if you think you may change your major at some point, you need to save some "gen-ed" classes for later down the road. Trust me on this. Gen-ed classes are classes that every student must take regardless of his or her major. By planning out your schedule and spreading these classes out throughout your college career, you save yourself a lot of stress down the road. If you take all of your gen-eds right away, you will be stuck your junior and senior years taking all classes for your major. These classes are typically more difficult than your average gen-ed class, so it's good to take 2-3 gen eds along with 2-3 major classes per semester.

Also, if you leave a bunch of your major classes to the end, chances are you're going to get into serious trouble. Often, classes for your major will not be taught every semester (some of mine are only taught one out of every four semesters). It's vital to know when those classes will be offered, and you can find this out online or by talking to your advisor. If you don't plan things out carefully, you're likely to hit senior year and realize there's a class you needed to take the year before that isn't offered until after you are supposed to graduate. It's also important to note that since your major classes are offered more infrequently, if you try to take a bunch of them at a time, chances are they will overlap in the times they are offered, and you won't be able to take them all in the same semester. By mixing in gen-eds, you can take your 2-3 major classes per semester and fit in 2-3 gen-eds wherever you want.

You'll have to make some adjustments to your plan from time to time, but having a set schedule in place and knowing when classes will be offered is very important. Your advisor meets with a lot of students in a very short period of time, and he or she may not mention this idea to you, but you'll want to use it, and your advisor will be thankful and impressed when you do.

I will post part 2 of this series of tips in the next few days. But now, let me share a few highlights from the week. This week was a tough one for me as a sports fan, because I endured Oklahoma's harsh loss to Texas in the Red River Shootout this past Saturday. I then had to watch my NFL team, the Broncos, lose an embarrassing game to the Jaguars. So I spent much of the weekend looking like this:

However, on Sunday we also played an intramural softball game, and my team won! Our team name is the Hot Tamales and we improved our record to a respectable 3-2 on the season. I also saw my roommate's band play a great outdoor concert on Saturday night (shameless plug time: check out his band, Family Wagon, on Myspace!) Alas, I forgot to bring my camera to the concert, so I was equipped with only an iPhone. Family Wagon played later in the night and it was too dark to get any decent pictures, but I nabbed a passable shot of the opening act (again, keep in mind this was taken with a 2.0 megapixel iPhone camera).

This is Rheanna Downey (R), who is actually a really cool musician from just up the 5 (Interstate 5) in Encinitas. On her left is Nancy Reeves, a PLNU grad who also has a great voice.

The coolest thing about the concert was that it was a free show put on in downtown San Diego by a local church, and they had food donated from Wienerschnitzel and Starbucks that they gave away to some of the people who live on the streets nearby. So really the concert was only partly about the music, but also about unifying people of different backgrounds through common ground - who doesn't love a free concert and free food?

I always get a laugh out of this week's YouTube video, even though I kind of feel bad for the guy. This is one of my all-time favorite YouTube videos, so definitely check it out. I'll be back in a few short days with part 2 of my little series...hope you find it helpful!

Is it cold in here...or is it just me?

2008-10-03T15:52:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of great things about living on a college campus. I've lived on PLNU's campus all four years and have never wanted to leave. Here are three great reasons to live on campus:

1. Living near friends: When you live off-campus, you live with 2-4 roommates, and you may have a casual friendship with a couple neighbors. Living on campus, you live with 1-4 roommates, but you have 30 or 40 other guys or girls around you who become your "second roommates." When I lived in Hendricks Hall, our hall became almost like a fraternity. We did things together all the time, from date nights to Covenant group (Bible study) to going to the mall or the beach.

Hendricks Hall was good to me my first two years of college

2. You are more involved, guaranteed: When you live off campus, chances are a lot less likely that you're going to come back to campus for cool events like baseball games, Movie in the Greek, or Bobby B's (the school president's) Birthday Bash. Even off-campus events like Superhero Bowling are much more likely to draw your interest, as everyone on campus will be talking about the event and what awesome costumes everyone is going to wear, etc.

Two of my current roommates, Chip (left) and James (right) at Bobby B's Bash

My friend Nathan getting creative at Superhero Bowling

3. Lastly, the fact of the matter is that you're going to be spending a lot of time on campus either way. With classes, the library, meetings, chapel, and so much more happening on campus, you'll be here all the time either way. You'll also probably have a lot of down time in between things. Those hour and a half breaks are a lot easier when you can head back to your dorm instead of wandering around campus or driving back and forth from your house.

Also, parking is pretty crowded on this campus, and if you drive onto campus at 8:30 you're guaranteed to have to walk a long way to class. Better if you're in the dorms and you can just make a short walk or hop on the shuttle.

So these are some of the great things about living on campus. There are also admittedly one or two bad things about living on campus. One is trying to get to bed at a decent hour in an underclassman dorm (I love Hendricks, but I didn't get nearly enough sleep those two years). The other is the fact that if one person on campus gets a cold, it's almost guaranteed that 50 other people will catch that cold by the end of the week.

Last year I managed to pretty much avoid getting sick all year. This year, I got sick before October even hit. Runny nose, cough, sneezing, sore throat - pretty much every single ailment that's listed on the back of the Nyquil bottle - I've had them all this week.

Fortunately, we have an awesome Wellness Center on campus, and I went in yesterday. There's a nurse practitioner on duty, which is pretty much the same thing as a doctor (translation: she can give you drugs). So I got this prescription cough medicine called Cheratussin, which makes you roughly 10 times more drowsy than Nyquil. So basically I can stay awake during the day and be sick, or I can sleep/hallucinate 24/7. Tough choice.

I hope you enjoy the clip from Tina Fey on SNL impersonating Sarah Palin as much as I did (if you haven't seen Palin speak before, find an actual clip of her before watching- Tina's impersonation is classic). Until next time, I'll be sipping on Cheratussin and honing my Goldeneye skills (yep, that's right, our apartment has an N64).

The point of the Point is to point to the Point. Get it?

2008-09-27T00:03:00.001-07:00

I remember when I first started looking at attending PLNU four years ago. I visited the website and got several brochures in the mail, and one thing I remember is seeing these plays on words about "Getting to the Point." Sure, it's kind of cheesy, but as I was thinking about what to title the blog, I thought to myself, "well, what's the point of this blog?" And I think it's all about helping you to get to know what life is like at PLNU and in San Diego, from the perspective of students like myself - the point is to get you to know The Point.

So as hokey as it may sound, this is what I want to do with my blog. I want to show you about life at PLNU through my eyes and my experiences here. I think it's cool that we have 8 different student bloggers, because there are so many things happening on this campus that there's no way any of us could cover them all by ourselves.

I live in Flex Housing, which looks like this if you're looking down from Fermanian Business Center:The photo of me on the PLNU blogger site is the view from my balcony. Yes, not only can we watch sunsets from our balcony, we can even watch soccer and baseball games. I can also make sure the Tennis courts are open before I walk over to play, and can throw water balloons at cars as they drive by on the road below. Of course, I am a mature senior college student and would never dream of doing such childish and unlawful things.

So as a last note, you may have noticed the video of the week feature on the left. I'm really excited about this and will try to dig up some quality YouTube material for your viewing pleasure. The first video of the year is one I happen to be included in - Nazbo Rap II. My extremely talented friend, Blake Nelson, wrote and directed both of these music videos, and I was fortunate enough to be asked to participate. Check it out, because most of the footage is straight off the streets of Lomaland. (Note: Just in case it's not clear, the video is a parody! We are poking fun at some Nazarene stereotypes. Most people on campus, with the exception of that one really creepy guy I try to avoid, don't actually look and talk like this).

Thanks for checking out the blog. Drop a comment letting me know you stopped by, and be sure to include anything you especially want to know or want to see from the blog this year!