Thinking Differently

Haha. So I have become the quintessential college student, finally. I am typing this on my computer while in class!!

This momentous occasion requires some history, which I shall give to you now. (My previous class included alot of history, so I am in an historical mood.) Anyway, before I went to Papua New Guinea in 2004 I bought an Apple iBook. This faithful computer made it all the way through the third world and back again, until mysteriously it started voraciously eating hard drives. Don’t ask me why, I don’t know.

So anyway, being cleverly maliciously honest, I sold the iBook for $400 to a friend (I did inform him of the hard drive problem.) Within a week of his receiving the computer, he got it working so that it did not eat hard drives. Well, up until a week ago he used said iBook quite happily. Until, that is, Apple released the snazz pizzazz of the MacBook, and he bought one. Thus, he no longer needed my iBook. Upon which time, he sent it back to me.

Furthermore, a refurbished Airport Extreme card netted me wireless internet connect capacity, and I am up an running.

Which is how I am in class, typing this entry.

But its ok, don’t get all moralistic on me. This is a really really really lame computer class that gets me 3 math credits, only, without the math. So I usually spend my time checking email and hanging out online.

So, I am happy.
Peace.

I feel like a warrior, who, having repeatedly pulled the trigger on his weapon, does so one more time, only to hear the sickening empty click that signifies an empty chamber, and a spent magazine.

(I speak of course of shooting pictures, the gun is simply a metaphor.)

I have seen several scenes during my time here at Messiah, so beautiful in fact that I wish I had had my camera around to capture them. I need to get into the habit of always having it with me, fully loaded with fresh batteries so that I can shoot at the drop of a hat.

As time has gone by, I have missed many such photo opportunities, and am faced with a dilemma of sorts. Every picture I take is eternally meaningless. What then is the value of my taking pictures? If I were to take every picture I see, I think the world’s books could scarce contain them, and even were it possible, who would spare the time to look at them? And even should they?

I like taking pictures for its own joys. The thrill of seeing something previously unseen, and capturing it digitally. Then, being able to put it on my iMac, and seeing it in full resolution. It makes me happy all by itself. But is that enough? Is this a worthy thing to even spend time on?

Or should I, as I often think, simply enjoy the vistas as I walk by, allow them to be imprinted upon the canvas of my mind, and simply go my way, enriched in my having seen them, and content to let the images roam free uncaptured?

I know not, but this thought occupies my gray matter for now.

Hmm.

The quintessential outcry of the great golden philosopher Threepio echoes down the halls of time to be uttered past the grim and clenched lips of one lone pupil struggling to master a leviathan of slippery and rebellious nature: Hebrew. That is, the leviathan is Hebrew, and I the intrepid struggler.

It is being more difficult than I expected to learn the ancient Biblical language, simply because it entails more memorization than I first anticipated, and I am beginning to understand that memorization is a complicated thing for me to do.

Anyway, I am doing very well in my other subjects, being challenged and inspired, and stimulated in ways not thought possible.

And, not to worry, I of course have still made time for rest and relaxation. Over the weekend past I was able to see Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World’s End, and it was very very good. I am impressed with how the Pirates movies were able to expand scope and depth of the Pirate world, while still keeping to the singular theme of the stories, while exploring the richness of each of the many characters. It was humorous, visually stunning, and quite entertaining.

Also of note, there is a pool table in the common lounge of my girlfriend’s room, and so I am hoping to spend some time relearning the game and perfecting my technique.

College is way more fun, and more work, than I originally thought, but I am loving every minute of it.

Peace, Ya’ll.

A storm has come, and passed. Many things were new, and are now to become the sum of my life in the days to swiftly come now.

My first two days of class went very well. My roommate is started to get moved in, and I am slowly getting to know him.

I have The Teaching Profession in the morning on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This class will teach me to be a teacher. Thursdays we don’t actually have regular class, but will meet in October and early November on those days to visit local schools, and observe teachers there. Tuesdays are lecture days.

I have a First Year Seminar in the afternoon on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This is a class to help new students get acclimated, and discuss literature, and learn to write Messiah’s way. I was put in a class at the last minute. 15 girls fresh from high school are my classmates, and my teacher is a woman with a single year of marriage to her most recent accomplisment. It promises to be a fun class that focuses on International Women Writers. Hence the women.

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I will start the morning with School and Society, a class that will educate potential teachers on the past, present, and future of teaching in America.

After that I have a Problem Solving with Computers class which will teach me to use Windows Explorer, Excel, and teach me to make a web page. It counts for 3 of my 6 obligatory math credits. It is as lame as it sounds, but this is one less math course I must take.

Next is Introduction to English Studies which will be my launching platform into the English major. This course will prove to be tantalizing, challenging, and extremely enjoyable. The teacher, topics, and methods of the class are simply incredible. It is like a banquet of rich foods, and the taste keeps getting better. Though it will certainly keep me on my toes.

Lastly is Biblical Hebrew, which will fulfill my language credit. This class is so different from all the rest, and is such a change of thought, it is a real relaxant for my brain. Not that the class is a breeze, but that is stimulates in very different ways. Plus, the teacher is hilarious.

The two teaching classes and Hebrew I get to take with the evanescent Hannah, and this makes those times even more enjoyable.

I am running now too. Hannah is getting me to exercise and be healthy. And, wonders never cease, I am starting to enjoy it. The wonder of a woman.

God is being so good to me, and I am having the time of my life. Got a job with the tech team here, and have a great community of International Students to hang with.

~Shalom Peace~

the StormRider

I am all moved in to my dorm, Miller, room 107. It is not large, but not small either. Decent sized, in a nice way. It is comfortable, and plenty of space for what I need. At least right now. My supposed, but currently non-existent, roommate may change things somewhat. I hope not. I am actually praying that he gets lost, and I don’t have to have a roommate.

Classes start on Tuesday. Tomorrow I get to go shopping with Cousin Julie, after a picnic lunch with Hannah. Monday I meet with my Academic advisor. Tuesday it all starts.

Tuesday. That day of days. Intrepid. Bold. Monday is down, a drag, the low after a weekend high. Tuesday picks up again. The week renewed, reforged, retried. The slump of Monday becomes the rise of Tuesday that flourishes as the crest of Wednesday, and the crescendo of runaway Thursday into climax Friday. But it starts with Tuesday. Tuesday. It sits humbly, unnoticed in the week of days. Mild mannered it seems. But like awkward Clark Kent, it soon soars into magnificent Superman!

Hmm. Well, at any rate, classes start Tuesday, and I am excited to begin.

my new address:

Philip Joel Martin
Messiah College
Campus Box 5119
One College Ave
Grantham, PA 17027

my new phone #:

717-796-4221