it only works if you talk back.

So, I figured since I have the power of the Internet at my fingertips, that it wouldn’t hurt to share some of the prayer requests that I have:

• For my parents’ house to sell quickly, and at a good price.
• For my mom to find a good place for herself.
• For my parents’ separation to go smoothly and amicably.
• For Mike as he’s going through chemotherapy and radiation.
• For the rest of their household as they’re dealing with the stress of cancer.
• For me to get the job I’m crossing my fingers for (or something better) in the near future.

That’s all I can think of right now…

This summer has been hectic. I thought that it wouldn’t be too bad, but it’s been busy. Work has been pretty consistent in taking up most of my time, and my decision to take an online course over the summer has turned into one of my biggest and most persistent frustrations.

All of this and I don’t even get to leave the province. My vacation this summer was a long weekend in Canmore, which was really good, but nothing compared to the road trips of summers past. A lot of it has to do with money (I need it), but there have been a lot of other things keeping me busy.

On top of all of this, I have to think about my mother and helping her with the sale of some stuff. Thinking about where I will park my vehicle when they finally sell the house, thinking about the other things I’ll need to store…

So much going on… I can’t wait for school to start, if only to make my schedule more consistent.

I forgot my extended syllabus at home for Luke-Acts today… that means that I’m pretty lost in terms of what is being said. Greek grammar and sentence structure is lost on me at this point. Next year, maybe not so much.

Monday/Wednesday/Fridays are not the best school days… Counseling is pretty much my least favorite class this semester, I then have a useless spare, followed by Luke-Acts where I can’t really follow anything. The only class which is pretty decent is Pastoral Life Issues, and that’s just a bunch of guest speakers coming in…

Someone asked me today “what’s new?” I said “not much.” That’s not really true. There’s a lot that is new, mainly a new relationship that puts a smile on my face everyday. Sure, a lot is the same: school, work, other things. But a lot has changed in the last few weeks: I’ve been changing my eating habits even more, going grocery shopping more frequently, and cooking up a storm. That’s new for me. I’ve struggled in this last week to get to the gym 3 times, but because my eating habits have changed I’ve actually still lost weight. I’m down almost 10lbs since my first “Fitness Assessment and Body Composition Analysis” and I’m not scared to go do another one, which I need to schedule soon.

March is a jerk, and I have a major project due almost every week, and sometimes even 2 in one week. Right now I’m working on my New Testament Theology paper, which is about the theology of the temple in Paul and Revelation. It’s been a fascinating study and there is so much to say that I hope to do some justice to it in 10-12 pages. I am so deeply indebted to the work of G. K. Beale that I just want to give him a big hug. Once I get this paper done (4:30pm Thursday at the latest) a fairly big load is lifted off, until I start again on a Pastoral Life project, then Counseling… It just keeps going and going.

I’m taking a class at St. Stephen’s College at the U of A this semester called “Just Sex”: Integrating Sexuality and Spirituality. It’s been pretty good in terms of challenging me in my understanding of how they integrate and getting some great conversation going in 3 hour chunks every week. One of the unfortunate things is that there are only 3 people in the class… yesterday I was the only one who showed up… class was cancelled. While I certainly had a lot of work to do on other things, and I was ok with it being cancelled, I felt bad for the professor. This is a class that is barely surviving, it wouldn’t even have run if there had been only 3 people registered from the beginning… I hope that more people show interest in this course, as it has been fantastic for important discussion, exploration, reflection, and self-discovery.

I cannot wait for this semester to end. I always look forward to working with bugs/reptiles in May and June. I’m not so sure what July and August will hold though, and beyond that into next year… I won’t be in as many classes next year, and I’m planning on doing a course online this summer to further lessen that course load for my fall semester. Hopefully I can get a job in July (or maybe as early as May) that I can maintain through the school year. While I’m sure I could return to Starbucks, it’s not the environment I want… especially not a drive-thru store.

Speaking of driving… That’s something that I don’t know if I will or won’t next year. I need my car for May and June for my bug job, but depending on what I do over the rest of the summer, I may need to keep it around for the whole year. I’ve actually really enjoyed taking public transportation over the last 6 months or so. It certainly has it’s less glamorous moments but overall it has been good. I’m paying for a U-Pass anyways, so I might as well make use of it. It’s also really nice to not pay for insurance, gas, and maintenance. If I’m able to make it another year without using my dumb car over my last year of school, it might be worth it… It’s not that I don’t like driving, I just don’t like the cost :)

Speaking of money… I don’t have a lot of it in my account right now. In fact, I have barely enough to cover my MasterCard bill (which isn’t that big) this month. For the first time in my life I may not actually pay my entire MC bill off this month… at least not completely before the payment due date. I get paid a few days after it’s due, so it’ll probably be covered then. Everything will be gravy once May hits, but I’m scraping by right now… Though, to be fair, I could just call my investment person at IG and get her to transfer some $ into my checking account… It’s probably best to do that rather than incur some unnecessary interest. I should also do my taxes ASAP, I think I have a few $$ coming my way (not all that many though).

Well that’s probably enough useless info for you people…

It’s been a while since I’ve updated this thing… I’m still alive, doing things, but I’ve yet to update this.

First things first, I have been maintaining my commitment to World Health. I’ve been faithful at least 3 times per week, doing the routines that my trainer set out for me. I just started week 5 right now, and I’ll have another 2 weeks before I set up another fitness assesment & body composition analysis. I’m hoping that shows more progress than the scale, as I’ve only lost around 7lbs.

The weird thing is that I actually enjoy going. I wish I had less homework, especially over reading week, if that were the case I probably would have been there everyday…

Over mod-week I went to the PAOC Ministers’ Gathering in Banff. It was actually a lot more fun than I expected. The drive was kinda painful, but my time there was enjoyable. They had the wickedest pool area I’ve ever seen, complete with a eucalyptus steam bath. I was glad to show off my hot bod… Oh wait, nope, not yet…

One thing I am not looking forward to: March. March may very well be the month where I suffocate and die due to homework. I will try to stay on top of things, but I expect many late nights…

Speaking of homework… I should be doing that right now.

Later.

School can be stressful, that’s no surprise to anyone. Sometimes I am able to deal with the workload effectively in a manner which allows me to get a good amount of rest, and allowing time for other activities.

Sometimes. But not last night.

So I have had a busy week, small assignments due, meetings to attend, all leading up to yesterday. I knew yesterday was going to be a long day. I had planned to hit the gym a little earlier than usual, since I had a meeting at 8, but that plan was foiled by my alarm. Instead of getting up around 5:30, I slept until 7:30. This probably wasn’t a terrible idea considering I went to bed around midnight reading a book which I had to write a 7-8 page report on. I told myself I’d hit the gym tomorrow (which is now today). No big deal, went to school and about the rest of my day consisted of: a meeting about a video project, an extended chapel, a quick trip to A&W, a meeting with my pastor, choosing songs for Sunday worship, practicing songs for Sunday worship, catching up on emails, starting my paper, going to Vanguad on Ice 1am, returning home to complete my paper around 4am, and finally getting to bed around 4:20.

Needless to say I was tired when I had to get up for my 8am class and hand in my paper. My brain was not really operational until 10 or 11am.

Other than the lack of sleep, it’s been a pretty good day. It’s actually been a pretty good week. I’m also really glad that I did go to the gym today. Chest & back was what I worked… Worked them hard :)

Tonight I’m going to an Oil Kings game with my friend Aaron, to cheer on the Tri-City Americans. It should be fun; I’m going to wear my Carey Price jersey (he used to play for the Americans) and Aaron is going to bring his American flag. We’re going to be obnoxious.

While I don’t feel like I have all that much planned for this weekend, I will be fairly busy. Tomorrow I plan to go to the gym in the morning, spend the majority of my day reading “Jewish Backgrounds on the New Testament” (I have a 4-5 page paper on it due Friday), and I’m hosting Open Stage at The Carrot in the evening. Sunday I’m leading worship in the morning, I have a lunch meeting afterwards, and possibly plans in the evening.

I have 3 decently important assignments due on Friday (along with a couple easy things earlier in the week) I just need to make sure I keep on track this weekend and throughout the week, so I don’t have a repeat of last night.

At least I’ll try.