Take that Myspace!

My good friend Sara once told me about facebook and how great it is. You can find friends from high school, she said. I don't want to find friends from high school, I said. Boy, was I wrong. As an impulsive move I signed up for a facebook account and now I'm giddy with excitement. I started to see photos of friends from all over the place, some who I thought had disappeared forever. I'm most excited to find my friend Chris, whom I last talked to right before he got shipped off to Iraq. Following our MidWest pilgrimage, this facebook thing has been an opportunity to connect with people again. I know it's cheesy, because the horrible student speaker at my brother's graduation said something like, "and we all said the f-word at least seven times a day...by f-work i mean facebook! gosh!" but i'd like to thanks my friend sara for getting me to eventually sign up.

In other news, Jon's family is in town for the weekend. It's really good to see them and hang out. I had to work this morning so I'm still hiding out at the house until I meet up with all seven of them later this afternoon.

In unrelated news, when jon and i were in Illinois at this enormous outlet mall we found parappa the rappa 2. since then i've been singing bits of the level songs in my head. and i'm thinking about tim's story and how he was rapping awful.

Home Again

Jon and I rolled out of our wisconsin bed at a dim 5am this morning. It was time to head home. I don't really want to get to my reflections so I'll say this and then post some photos. I think this happened after our first MidWest pilgrimage last summer, and definitely when I walked around our townhome-like apartment today I realized how big it is. We decided the ceilings must be higher than in my parents' house because I feel short now. And I feel like we have tons of room. Now for the photos:

The Ideal Finals Week

In fourth grade we did a smell experiment in class. My mom was there helping and there were different scents sealed in glass tubes. We would smell them and then identify the smells. I'm sure we were learning some noble things, but one of the scents scarred my memory of smell. I can't remember what the smell was, but whenever it come wafting into my nostril I'm instantly revolted. That one very minor incident of scent has been imprinted in my mind.

The concept of finals week has earned similar treatment in my mind. My freshman year at Drake I must have had this magical finals week experience because at the end of every semester since I get giddy at the thought of finals. Part of it is pure nerd, I enjoy taking tests. In my mind I envision the professor announcing a challenge and it is my duty to prove my superior skill. You never know how much you've crammed into your brain until you actually have to reproduce it on the paper. I like being the first done. I'm coming to the point where I don't necessarily even care how I do.

More than the joy of tests (hint of sarcasm because I don't always enjoy them) is this image I have in my mind of what finals week looks like. You definitely watch a lot of movies. And just hang out because there's no work due next week. Once you are done, you are done and can relax. The funny part is, I don't think I've ever had my ideal finals week since the first archetypal one. I realized that people are really busy, really stressed and then they leave to go home. In seminary I had the hard reality of have class during finals week without a dead day in sight. I've had many a finals week that simply sucked. Yet, I still look forward to them.

This week I've got three tests and one presentation and now I'm halfway through. When the curtain falls on my presentation of the gnesio-lutherans and the philippists, I will be done. And then Jon and I are escaping Portland for the promised land of the MidWest. I hope you've bought your tickets and reserved your spot for our MidWest Pilgrimage 2007. See you soon.