Post-Quiz Breather

Okay, so the big chunk of the week has passed; the first round of speeches is over in Public Communication, and I've survived my first two quizzes.

The history test went great; it was all stuff I knew, and if I did anything wrong, I may have put too much into the short written answers (I squeezed out three paragraphs on the Epic of Gilgamesh when we were probably only supposed to do one), but I made sure my writing wasn't too tiny to read.

The math test was a little higher-stress, but I'm feeling confident. There are a couple of reasons...

1) Professor Johnson is a believer in the "Gentleman's C" and will give half-credit for effort and trying to work, even if all that goes down is a plea for help. I did manage to get something down on every question.

2) I know for a fact that I got several answers right, so I know that I did better than the polite grading.

3) The questions were weighted, and the ones that really gave me grief were small potatoes, compared to the ones that came more easily.

4) The simple way to feel good about a test... I took all the time available to make sure I thought everything through and did my best.

So I'm pretty sure things went really well. Woohoo.

Okay, I'm going to go down to the gym this afternoon, and then I have a quiet evening. I'll post again soon.

So Much for "Tomorrow or Shortly After"

Okay, tomorrow, it'll be two weeks since I posted to my blog, so I'm going to start off by apologizing. I'm sorry I haven't gotten anything up!! I'll try to get things covered here and get into a regular posting schedule.

To SarahChloe77: Thanks for commenting on my blog, and it was good to meet you now that I've been back to Poplar Heights. I liked your comment on the music, too... I think I'd agree that Five Iron rocks the llama.

To shannonkish: Thanks for the comment. Thanks also for the invitation! I would love to visit the Vineyard, as soon as I can get a ride there (since I don't have a car). I looked at the VCF website, and I'd be really interested in going there for a service. Thanks very much.

Okay, so for the update on my life...

Over the first weekend since I've posted (again, I'm sorry), I visited Christ Community Church with Landon. I enjoyed the way they handled the hymns for worship music, and I thought the Sunday School after the service was really good. It was also a small fellowship, which I like. (On a nearly irrelevant note, the sanctuary was also decorated in a sort of Irish manner, with Celtic crosses and knots in the stained glass windows, Celtic fonts in the wall hangings, and lots of green, which I thought was kind of cool.) There was a bit, though, that seemed a little bit overly liturgical. I have nothing against having a pre-written prayer in a service, but when the appropriate response is printed in the bulletin for the congregation to repeat in unison ten times, it strikes me as not being genuine and rubs me the wrong way.

Classes have continued to go well. I got some of my short essays for Written Comp back with good marks on them, so I'm happy. This week, we had another freshman seminar for CLU, this time on a Monday morning, in which one of the speakers discussed "Learning in War-time" from Lewis' The Weight of Glory. It was really interesting, though really long. I still love history, and after my last Algebra class, I ran into the professor, who told me he thought I'd do well on the coming test, which was a nice shot of confidence. We've picked essays for Interdisciplinary Studies now, and I delivered my first short informative speech in the last session of Public Communication (I went with a personal experience speech and spoke on preparing for short-term missions, since we just had GO Week), which I think went really well.

Speaking of GO Week, I put my application for GO Trips in the first day they were available. I was asked to indicate my top 4 choices, so my top choice is Romania (personal evangelism with the Roma in Braila over spring break), but I may end up going to Egypt, Thailand, or Turkey over the winter term instead. The second week of October, preparations kick off, so I should know where I'm going by then.

Last week's LIFE group was pretty uneventful; the plan was for our group to play Tag at Wal-Mart, but since several members couldn't make it, we instead had a little party/discussion group in the pavillion between the Hurt and Watters complexes. Andy got his stereo and told us all to get a CD so we could play a favorite song. I grabbed Five Iron Frenzy's "The End Is Near" and played "On Distant Shores," which everybody else in the group liked, too. Oddly enough, the next day, Dr. Malone decided to end Written Comp by playing a Five Iron Frenzy song to the class. I'm still not sure exactly why he did (I think he just liked the song, and had the excuse to play it, since he had played something off an Andrew Peterson CD to illustrate a point he was trying to make earlier in the class), but I enjoyed it.

Speaking of Andrew Peterson, he's playing a concert at Bubba's Bagels on Friday. I've been a fan of his since he opened for Caedmon's Call at the Spring Thing, and I just bought his CD when I was getting my textbooks. I got a ticket today, so that'll be fun.

I'm staying involved in the Cardinal & Cream. I was the only freshman who came to Production Night last week, so I got an assignment (on student retention rates, for the News section) for the second issue while I was there, which I turned in today, since I just got the necessary statistic from the dean of students. The first issue made its debut last Thursday, with an article written by a freshman on the front page of every section (including mine on the job market for students in Life & Style). Thankfully, those articles turned out well. I should have stayed later, though... reading the paper, it seems the copy editors needed some help. Of course, there are always problems to be worked out with the first issue, so this second one should be better. I'll be at production night again.

I was also called today with an assignment for the third issue! I'll be writing for Life & Style again, on student sleep habits and insomnia.

I've been occupied recently with review-studying. I have two tests tomorrow, one in history and one in algebra. Though I think I'll do pretty well, I could use all the help I can get in math (pray for me around 1:40!), and Brett wanted to get together with me and another one of his friends to compare history notes. I've also just been a sounding-board for a friend of mine (who shall remain nameless in the event that roommates stumble upon this blog) to vent about one of his roommates, so I've spent a good amount of time in the last few days walking and commiserating with him. He's actually a lot of fun to talk to, even when he just needs to blow off steam.

This weekend, I went white-water rafting on the Ocoee River, which is out to the east of Chattanooga (I was actually in a different time zone for the better part of the weekend). There was a group of 21, which divided into several rafts (only four or five were on a raft). Three of the four guys in our room (Jonathan, Derek, and I) went, and we all had a good time. We went over a Class 5 rapid in a stretch of river that was actually used for kayaking in the Atlanta Olympics. The guide in my raft, too, was up for a lot of adventure, so he tried a few things the other guides wouldn't. (For example, you're not supposed to go through both the swirling "holes" of the Class 5 until someone else has gotten ashore nearby to have a rope ready to pull people out in the event of an accident... and we went through both of them even though he was they guy with the rope who had to get there first. We also went down one rapid spinning, and even managed to dump everyone except the guide out of the boat just for the sake of saying we surfed one of the shallows.) That was a GREAT trip.

I've finally seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail! A group of us had a movie-watching party after the girls made some homemade pizza. That was a lot of fun.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend the Scholarship Banquet with President Bush the Elder. Apparently, there were a limited number of tickets available to students and they went REALLY fast, so I wasn't able to get one. I do know, however, that the university raised a record amount of money, so that's good.

Okay, is anything else coming up? The first weekend of October is Family Weekend -- and Mom and Mimi are coming!! I'm excited to see them, especially since Mimi missed out on seeing Union when I moved in.

I think that's it for playing catch-up. If I think of anything else, I'll post it... in less time than this post took, I promise.

Mom's Advice = Good Advice

On the advice of my mom, after she read my blog earlier today, I have just been to Target to buy some cold medicine.

Before that, I was in a seminar for the CLU class that all freshmen were required to attend. It was interesting, led by the author of a book we're using for the class. He spoke on vocation, and the fact that a vocation is not just a career but a divine calling to a certain area of work. (The word vocation, by the way, comes from the Latin vocatus, which, as I recall, expresses a state of "having been called.") He was a very good public speaker, and his book is interesting.

That's about it for today. My LIFE group is meeting to go to Bubba's Bagels in an hour, so perhaps I'll post more after that. If not, then something will come along tomorrow or shortly after, I'm sure.

The book for CLU:
Serious Times
By James Emery White
Click here for more, from Amazon.Com

Wait a Minute...

At the very last second (almost literally), I got a call, saying there's no newspaper meeting today after all. So now I'm back in my room, trying to write a response to a reading selection we had from Machiavelli, on the morals of The Prince.

So if you want to know how the meeting went... it didn't. :-)

It's still a good day.

Quick Post

I think I may be coming down with the early stages of a cold...

My nose keeps getting stopped up and my sinuses are awfully clogged. I may even be a little hoarse. (Somebody earlier commented that it's a good thing laughter is the best medicince, because I didn't seem like I felt as good as usual...) I'm not tired or anything, though, so I'm still doing well, and things are going pretty well, too. It just makes me think of Sarah McMenomy's word of caution, saying that before too long, "you WILL get sick and want your mom."

I do miss you, Mom, and I love you, but I'm fine for now. :-)

Algebra was cancelled today (the professor had a doctor's appointment he couldn't cancel), and both history and speech class went really well.

I really don't have a lot of time to write. I'm off to a newspaper meeting in Jennings Hall. I'll post something later.

Reprise

Okay, I'll put in another post for the evening.

After dinner, I went back to Poplar Heights Baptist for the Wednesday night college ministry service. I really enjoyed it. It was mostly about the praise and worship; they had a pastor there, but he mostly just made a quick speech telling students that they need to join churches and putting in a good word for Poplar Heights. Apparently, they have several different things planned for Wednesday nights, from actual services with messages and service projects to concerts and game nights, but they all have praise and worship planned. I really like that aspect of it.

Good corporate worship is going to be a big part of my finding a church. There are elements of Christian thinking and some Bible study involved in lots of aspects of classes here, and student Bible studies and many other such things. Besides that, while I'm sure not everyone fits the category, there are so many good Christian people here that one would actually have to work hard to forsake the assembling of the saints together, as we are told not to do in Hebrews. So one of the biggest criteria for me in finding a church is going to be good corporate worship.

As I've had to clarify many times after saying the wrong thing, I'm not talking about a particular style of worship music, but the attitude that goes into the selection of songs or the attitude of those leading the worship. I've criticized church songs in the past, not because it was too upbeat to be a hymn or too slow to be a contemporary praise song, but because it distracted from the whole point of worship, which is to glorify God. A lot of times, you'll get a song that praises the act of coming to church, which is all well and good as a nice happy song, or you'll get a song about some deep spiritual message that should be applied to living, which is great and makes for some very good contemporary Christian songs on the radio. In either case, though, it's not worship. C.S. Lewis once wrote that one would not even notice the perfect worship service, because all the focus would be on God.

Have you ever been in a worship service and experienced that strange phenomenon of hearing the worship music balance? I know, that phrase alone doesn't make much sense... Have you ever been completely sure that the whole of the sound was something much better than the sum of its parts? Granted, there could be a few really talented musicians in a crowd, but you also get people like me, who can't sing at all, or even the completely tone-deaf, and somehow, it all works out to a nice sound. It's as if the worship - honest, God-centered worship - triggers a sort of automatic harmony in the group. Actually, that really may be the case, since, after all, we - and our voices - were made to praise God.

The college ministry had that sound tonight.

I love it here.

All the Things I've Seen

First, a comment to Anonymous: Yes, I saw the ducks. On the roof patio, there's a building made up to look like a house but, as I was told, is really just a storage space, and on the other side is a large cage called the "duck palace," which had a male mallard and four females inside, as well as a stone duck fountain that spit water out its beak. Everything else was duck-themed, too. It was nice up there, too. You could see the ballpark, which was lit up, even though nobody was there.

I haven't seen much television since I've been out here, since I haven't been able to reset my TV to the proper channels (my remote is now on its way here from home), so I've only seen a few things, down in the commons. I've been able to catch part of several movies, but the broadcast TV is usually only watched by the RAs on duty, who let other students come back to their area and watch with them.

I've really only seen two things... the first was President Bush's speech at the Republican National Convention. And while he certainly won't go down in history as an eloquent president, he did well in this instance. I particularly appreciated the joke he made about his own poor English skills ("I knew I had a problem when Schwarzenegger started correcting me.")

I find it rather interesting that so many people (not just in the liberal side, but even a few more conservative folks) are just so profoundly anti-Bush... No, he's not the greatest president, and given another candidate with conservative values (or even a candidate who's a better politician that John Kerry... if it were a Bush/Edwards race, it would actually be a hard decision), then Bush couldn't count on my vote. After all, I would like to have a president who's more responsible with government money - yay for fiscal conservatives! - and someone who knows the proper use of language - yay for pronouncing it "nuclear"! - but I don't necessarily see why so many people think he's an incompetent moron who needs to be voted out of office as soon as possible. Isn't there even the slightest chance he could be better than the alternative?

I've come to think that the reason sentiment against him is so strong is that he outlived the expectations those people had. They expected him to behave like a moron and cook his own goose, killing his own chances of a second term. However, he's proven that he may not be a GREAT president, but he is halfway competent in the office, so those that hated him from the outset have to increase their volume in proclaiming how stupid he is... or at least, how stupid he was supposed to be. That's just not a very good argument.

Okay, political speculation over. Back to television...

The only other thing I've been able to watch is "The Amazing Race," which has something of a following here. (The director of my residence complex actually knows one of the contestants - Brandon, the big-haired model guy - after working with him at a summer camp. "He's a nice guy, but a pansy," apparently.)

There are quite a few people who say that if they were to be on TV, they'd be on the Amazing Race, and they just need to find a partner. So if any of you are reading this... I'd do it, too.

Anyway, that's about it for today. Classes were good, and I stopped by the Student Activities Council poster sale earlier and bought some movie posters for my room. Pictures of my room will be coming soon.

Off to dinner!

Surprising Turns of Events

Okay, so the surprise which our LIFE Group was promised turned out to be a gathering of a couple of groups for a cook-out party. Once we were there, we were asked to sign our names to a waiver, stating that the leaders were not responsible in the event of injury during "this activity." The activity turned out to be a slip-and-slide made up of a hose, a hundred-foot-or-so tarp, and a few big bottles of dish soap. We had watermelon-carrying relays up and down. It was a lot of fun.

I also went to Memphis this evening with a group going there for dinner. After we had burgers, we went up to the rooftop of the Peabody Hotel (12 stories) just to look around Memphis. That was a good time, too.

Freshman curfew is going back into effect, so I am once again confined to my dorm. Our RA, however, doen't mind it if we're out on the stairwell. (I enjoy being out after dark, though it makes me miss walking my dog.)

Right now, though, I'm back in my room, listening to an old Five Iron Frenzy CD and checking to make sure I have all my homework for tomorrow done (I do). Things are good here.

I love college.

And Now For Something Completely Different...

Pictures from the Cardinal & Cream retreat have been posted on The Tyler Whetstone Photo Project. As soon as I can get style sheets to work with my pictures, I'll be doing some resizing to get thumbnails online, but for now, there's a text index to the pictures.

Images of my roommates and friends are still classified "coming soon," since I haven't had my camera out with me every day. I'll have them soon, though.

Weekend Update Revisited

NOTE: Thanks, Ian, for posting the comment. Enjoy your last semester at the Honor Academy!!

Okay, now that I have a full week of residence life under my belt, I’m feeling very collegiate-y, to borrow a term from my mom. I’m getting into the swing of things – or, at least, it seems that I am. Things are still a little bit laid-back, since it’s a holiday weekend, but I’ve been to at least one session of every class, and I’m pretty sure I’ll survive.

I went to church this morning with Andy, my LIFE Group leader. (I don’t think “LIFE Group” contains an acronym, I just have yet to see that phrase use lowercase letters for the first word.) The service was good, though the pastor was a clock-watcher (I suppose, though, that he had to be, since they had to prepare for a Spanish-language service an hour after he finished). Besides that, it’s been a nice quiet day to finish up laundry and math homework, call home, read a newspaper, and drop in on the endings of movies in the Commons.

The classes I hadn’t attended as of the last posting seem to be going well. I have a fun professor for speech class, in particular. A good part of history will be ground I covered in high school, but we have a really interesting text on “Makers of the Western Tradition,” and I just love history, so I should be good there. Algebra may not be a lot of fun, but the professor is a nice guy, and, so long as I have a little time to do the work, I should be able to do it.

The first LIFE Group meeting was fun, involving a lot of “getting to know you” activities. We’ve planned something else for tomorrow, though our leaders won’t tell us what it is.

In the meeting, Andy actually considered telling us. The conversation was highly frustrating for those of us with no idea what was being discussed…

Andy: “Well, now that we’ve brought it up, we should probably tell them what it is. We can’t just bring it up and then not tell them about it.”

Bethany: “Yeah, I guess so.”

Andy: “Do you want to tell them what it is, B?”

Bethany: “It’s… a surprise.”

We have been told miniscule details, such as that we’re meeting between the residence complexes at noon, and we’re supposed to wear swimsuits. There’s a rumor going around that some of the LIFE Groups are going canoeing, which would be fun, but I have no idea exactly what our leaders might have in mind.

I got my first article turned in to the Cardinal and Cream, on the job market for Union students in Jackson. I talked to Student Employment for a quick bit of advice for students looking for on-campus jobs, as well Career Services for information of the general job market in Jackson and the resources they provide for students looking for jobs. I also talked to a junior who’s held a job in the nearby mall for over a year, getting her perspective on finding and keeping a good job. I think it turned out really well; my section editor has it right now.

Okay, so that’s about it from the realm of general updates. I’ll post again soon.

After-FOCUS-Weekend Update

Okay, first of all, I have to apologize for not posting an update sooner. I was having trouble getting my computer connected to the university network. I had everything set up, but when I tried hooking up the hardware, my Windows updated my driver from a newer copy that must have come in with the automatic updates, and my preferences were reset. Thanks, Dad, for getting me to check that again.

I also wanted to post a note of thanks for the welcome to Jackson in my comments section. Thank you, Meredith Matheney. :-) It looks so far like it’ll be wonderful.

Now on to some updates on what I’ve been doing…

It’s been a week now since I moved into the dorm, and things are still looking good. Since I bought a Lysol plug-in air freshener today, it actually smells good, too. I’m enjoying my time with my roommates, which is good, because everybody around here is still up at 11:00 when Freshman Curfew goes into effect. Actually, the curfew hasn’t been a very big deal, since it probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to be in by 11 most nights anyway. Beyond that, our Resident Advisor, Josh, includes our staircase as part of the room, so we can be talking outside without trouble.

The Cardinal & Cream retreat was great. We spent two nights in a large cabin in a state park near here, getting to know each other (there were 33 of us there), setting goals for the year, and getting a jump on the first issue. We were introduced to the teachers involved in the paper, and got to hear about students’ summer internships. (There were also a few rousing games of Trivial Pursuit and Uno thrown in for good measure, and a cheesy initiation involving our waiting for two hours to be led to one of the oldest pranks in the book.)

After the retreat was FOCUS weekend, the orientation for new students. That went really well, especially because the FOCUS group leaders were all good, and mine in particular was a lot of fun. We had sessions on residence life with upperclassmen, campus services with the dean of students, campus tours, and several meet-and-greet parties (including pizza on the lawn between the dorms, loud music and sodas after dark at the fountain, and one ice cream party at the president’s house). By the time classes started today, everybody felt pretty well adjusted, at least among those who sat by me.

I’ve seen a lot of people I know from the Scholars’ Weekend and the Spring Thing, also. Landon, my student host, is now an RA across the street, which is kind of a scary thought, but he seems to be doing a good job. Bob, who also stayed in the room over the Scholars’ Weekend, is downstairs and across the street, and his twin brother is here, too.

We signed up yesterday for LIFE groups, groups of freshmen led by upperclassmen for Bible study and other various and random fun things throughout the year. I ended up in a group with someone I know from the newspaper retreat, who stopped by here earlier tonight to tell me about the first meeting. I’m excited for that to start, so tomorrow evening should be fun.

Classes got off to a good start today; I’m even on top of my homework, and ready to turn in a short paper on Friday. I had Written Comp, Christian Life at Union, and Honors class today; tomorrow will be History, Algebra, and Oral Communication. I’m really going to enjoy all the classes I had today. I’ll have to put some effort into Algebra, just because it’s math, but I do love everything else, so, hopefully, I’ll be fine.

The newspaper staff got together tonight to do some more coordinating of stories (as it was put on my Voicemail, “We’re going to eat stuff, and organize stuff, and do… stuff…”). I’ve been claimed for the first issue by the Life & Style section.

Anyway, that’s the major news. I should be getting to bed, since I have to get up in the morning for a hike over to Jennings Hall. I’ll be posting again soon, and the Photo Project will get an update pretty soon with pictures from the retreat. I’ll also try to stick up pictures of people so you can know who I mean when people pop up in these accounts.

I love college.