Goodbye

The semester is over...this blog will most likely die off with it. Farewell to you, my classmates and professor...many of which I will never encounter again. God's blessings on your endeavors.

The Wonders of NyQuil

Earlier this week I came down with a cold. It sucked...big deal, I know. The worst part was not being able to get a good nights sleep after feeling miserable all day. Then I found my new best friends...the 'Quils...first names Day and Ny...they are so dependable. They always made me feel better. I made myself laugh though because I came to think of DayQuil as some type of energy formula. I thought, if I take DayQuil at night will it help me stay up late and get some work done? Likewise, I came to see NyQuil as some type of poison apple that as soon as I consumed it I would pass out. I made sure to have my contacts out, my pajamas on, and fully reclined before taking a dose. One night I took some NyQuil while sitting at my computer and I swear it made my legs fall asleep. I quickly scrambled up to my bed before the medicine took hold of my entire body. I don't think I understand how it works....but however it works, I'm likin' it.

-Carson

Done with School--Time to Work

"She's like a ticking clock."--Jason Bateman (Juno)

I have absolutely no plans for the future. Graduation is drawing ever nearer, and I have ... well (will have) a piece of paper that states my degree. Rest assured, I'm looking for work, but nothing ... and I mean nothing has given me any success. Scared Shitless is what it should say, but I haven't got time for that. Never do.

In fact, the scared part of me has never been allowed out. It settles next to the stressed, nervous, anxious and panicked. My Dad has been the cause of that. It's not bad; in fact, if he hadn't have been there pushing me, I would've fallen and not made it as far as I am today.
We talked about a week ago, where he "panicked for" me. Somebody has to do it, right?

Oh, I'm plenty worried, but I also have the assurance that God will be there for me. I'm not trying to be "churchy," but on the whole knowing that He has my back helps.

-Becca

The 'good ol' days'

So last week Concordia's Wind Ensemble had a concert. And it was very good. They even played the Pirates of the Caribbean theme... which was very well done. But it brought me back to the thoughts I have about 'the good ol' days' and how people wish they would come back.
Why do we make pirates of the days of old seem so cool? Honestly, I would never want to be one. To be on a ship for months without end. And then to have lice and fleas. Of course, depending on how long one was out at sea, scurvey would probably affect you. And then you have to have these dangerous fights, where if you get shot in the leg, it's likely it will get infected with gangrene and have to be cut off - without anesthesia, only a bullet to bite on and a little whiskey to pull you through.
And what about the pirates we have now? We're not applauding their actions because they're pirates, trying to bring back the good times of pillaging on the high seas. In fact, we worry for the hostages and their families. That's the exact same thing that people felt back when. So why would anyone want to say, "I'd love to be a pirate" ?
And then there's people who say they'd love to have lived in the 18th or 19th century. Sure, it would be nice to go to those fancy balls. But would that really be worth the likelihood of dying of cholera or scarlet fever or smallpox? Or, for women, the high probability of dying during childbirth? How about if you got sick, even with just a short-term flu? You would get a nice session of bloodletting with leeches. And personally, as a female, I would hate that all I could do is sit around and sew, gossip, and wear a corset that is rearranging the organs in my abdomen and not allowing me to breathe.
I'm sure there were interesting things in the past. But you could never make me live there. I'm sure the future might be better, too, and people from the future will not understand how we lived the way we do. But I prefer now, the 21st century. Not everything is perfect, but it's better than before. I'll just read about the past, enjoy the present, and take in the future day by day.
~Jessica

Birthday

As you go through another year of life, do your really gain any more experience or knowledge based on age alone?

As I turn 20, will I experience some monumental event that will make me more mature or wise?

Can our age determine our youth or our wisdom?

It makes me wonder if age really is "nothing but a number." Maybe we should count age on experiences rather than by years.

---Austin B.

Sister

I never have had a sister, and honestly never wanted one. With three older brothers I must have liked being the only girl. Even when I wanted a younger sibling, I always wanted it to be a boy. I'm not sure I understood (-stand) the sister-sister bond. Brother-brother I get from watching mine interact, and sister-brother I know even more intimately. But sister-sister I am only aquainted with. I think, however, and this may be too bold of me, that I am beginning to understand it more through my own relationships with my friends. I have friends close enough that I never worry about losing the relationship, even when fighting and arguing. Even when I want to hit them for being so irritating, I love them. Sisters may think I'm off the mark. Maybe being sisters is completely different. I wouldn't know.

NCIS dilemma...dillema...??

I've been watching a lot of crime shows lately and have noticed a pattern. I'd tell you but I don't want to ruin crime shows for you. I think I'm a junkie. And I really need sleep. I've watched two discs of NCIS in the past like... I don't remember, I started some time this afternoon. I've been netflixing them since I only own the first season and now I'm mid-season four. Ziva just fell in love with this dude with radiation poisoning who was dying but the episode ended and it didn't say if he died or not. Now I've got to put in the next disc. I seriously have issues.
I can't decide who's my favorite chick. I mean clearly out of the guys it's gotta be Dinozzo. He's hysterical. A bit obnoxious at times but his constant movie references I find charming. Plus he has no real competition. I guess Gibbs is awesome so maybe he has a chance but he's always like building a boat in his basement and like he quit and now he's back and he's started a new boat. I'm really confused on how he got rid of the one he was building last season before he "retired." Like how do you get something that big out of your basement? Sadly McGee has no chance. He kinda weirds me out a little.
So here' the dillema. Pretty sure I didn't spell that right. I really like Kate cause Kate was awesome and I own season one so I'm a little bias but Ziva is also seriously kickass. I have problems choosing who's my favorite and Abby is wicked awesome as well. Plus Pauley Perrette is a very cool singer. But each of them are seriously awesome in their own ways. Abby is just like completely out there with all the tattoos and the black, Kate had her sarcasm and quick wit and then Ziva is Mossad and can kick anyone's ass she wants to. Plus she speaks like 8 languages and her version of American idioms are much better than ours. "American idioms drive me up the hall."
I think I really need sleep. Clearly being half asleep will not help me in this dillema. dilemma? dilemme? none of those look right and I'm too lazy too check. or to tired. Okay, i'm out. Hope you guys are having a fun weekend! -CK

Rainy Weather

I love rain... sometime in my life I would like to live in Washington state... Going days without sun would be ok, people say I'm crazy for this. Don't get me wrong, I love nice, sunny days, once in awhile...

On My Mind At The Moment

Seven more days of classes and then finals. This school year has gone by so fast, and so much has happened in that time. A lot of good and a lot of bad has taken place. For the most part, I'm glad to leave my junior year behind me, though. Anything to do with college these last couple semesters has just amounted to a lot of stress and little to see for it. What kept me going was improv, the one acts I directed, and good friends. Oh, and living off campus made it a lot easier, too.

The only stress factors I have now are getting through my classes, doing well on my finals, and finding a summer job. That last part has been a chore for me ever since I got back from Spring Break. I've submitted eight applications. Out of that, one place gave me an interview [but didn't give me the job] and another told me today to call back in a couple weeks. If push comes to shove, I may be forced to spend the summer with my parents so I can work in Kansas City [if I can even find work there]. As much as I'd enjoy being with friends there for four months, I don't think I can survive my parents that long. It'll be my last desperate option if I don't find work here.

Speaking of Kansas City, I'm not sure when I'll be stopping by for a visit next. The most likely time would seem to be around the weekend of Memorial Day, but you never know when I might find the time and/or occasion to make it down there...

..and to back track to the subject of the One Acts, I just posted the video of the One Act I wrote and directed for this past weekend: The Interview. If you missed out on seeing it, or just want to see it again, its at the bottom of this blog entry.

Oh, and one thing I am completely excited for is moving from my apartment to a house Dustin and I are renting for the next year. Dad is loaning me his truck in a week so I can move my stuff [furniture doesn't fit so well in a Corolla]. It'll be busy and hectic, but I'll enjoy it.

Anyways, that's about all I have to say. The end.

The Interview

-Josh

"The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas"

I went to rent a few movies Friday afternoon, must've just been as the schools were dismissing for the day. This boy came in, he was probably 10? just guessing, I'm not very good at that - but he was young! And he asked for a movie, but I couldn't hear the title of it. The owner/worker at the rental place really questioned him renting this particular movie, asking him if he knew what the movie was about. She continued on saying it's a very graphic movie and that it is intense, especially for a boy his age. He just told her he was intrigued by "this stuff."All the while, I'm wondering what the heck this kid is trying to rent. He leaves and I go on my search for a good movie. A few minutes later, this guy - I'm assuming it was his Dad - came in looking for him. The little boy had told this man to meet him at the video store so they could go home. The video owner/worker tells this man the same thing she tells the boy. By this time, my curiosity has gotten the best of me and after the man leaves I ask her what movie he rented - "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas." Made me curious that I wanted to see it, but it was rented so I couldn't, probably for the best... but the owner gave me a synopsis of the movie... I'm not going to spoil it for those of you who may enjoy this type of movie, but it's one that would give me nightmares. With this movie being about WW II and the concentration camps, the owner/worker was floored by this boy being "interested" in this stuff, almost to the point of being concerned about this boy when he becomes an adult. My guess is they're learning it in school... I remember when I was probably about his age I loved to read information on Anne Frank's family... This post really doesn't have much point other then that I think it's amazing how much a student can get intrigued to go rent a movie on a Friday night about what he's probably studying in school... granted the movie is probably horrid, it's still learning. And if it wasn't school that intrigued him in this stuff... then I wonder what it was...

History

What's so great about History?

I'm not sure. But I like it.

There's something about learning about the past that interests me.

Maybe it's because I find it as a way to learn from past experiences.
Maybe it's because I like living vicariously through it.
Maybe it's because I wish I could jump back in the past.
Maybe this is an essay.

I don't know.

---Austin B.

It Is [Nearly] Finished

I can hardly believe it: the One Acts are over and we're left with two weeks of classes and then finals. The semester has gone by so fast. I'm not really complaining, though. The highlight of it was directing two One Acts, and now that I'm through with that, I'm ready for the end to be here. I want to just move from the apartment to the house and have a job secured for the next several months [as of this post, Old Chicago has not called me back]. However, I still have some obstacles to get over before May comes around. Several tests, unfinished projects, and preparing for the final IMPROVables show of the year will keep me busy until finals week.

-Josh

Stress

Lately I 've been so stressed that I'm rendered immobile. I've been sitting here for hours with a blank page in front of my face, thinking that I need to write something. I can't though, can write nothing meaningful or eye-catching. They're just words ... words that look/sound and--for all senses and purposes--are terrible. There's nothing more for it, but to take the process up again tomorrow ... more accurately, later today.

I'm extremely displeased when stressed. Somehow it has an effect on everything in my life. I can't function properly, feel as if I need to cry every time a hat is dropped. Do you know how many hats are dropped per second? Me neither.

I'm done. Done with making a small dent in my seemingly mountainous pile of crap. Oh, and I've deadline too! Graduation is in days. I have no job, a limited number of prospects, a mother who's breathing down my neck ... thank God for friends who understand that this isn't as easy as one feels it should be.

Becca

Leaving me

In just a week's time I will no longer technically be known as the president. Big deal, right? I'll be ok moving on, letting go of responsibility, no problem! If only it were that simple.

Over the past few years I have been this person, identified by many because of this role. Now I leave this role behind and as I do, I feel a part of me is being left also. I feel like an idiot blogging about this because not everyone may understand. Do you get it? Do you know what it feels like to have put so much of yourself into something that it becomes an extension of who you are? It thrives when you give it attention and energy.

Three years ago someone walked up to me and told me to run for office... looking back, that decission was life-changing. I gave so much, but feel like I could have given more. This regret is not healthy for me. I should focus on what I did do and helped accomplish, but that regret, that nagging feeling is there pointing it's crooked finger at me telling me I should have done more things, given more of myself. If I would have done this would there be any of ME left? I will need me in the future, because when I leave here I can't leave all of me behind.

RW

The sounds I'll never hear again...

Sometimes, I hear sounds and I wonder if I will ever hear them again...

Before I get into that though, I want to say this: I am only 21 years old, but I sometimes feel much older. Sometimes kids that are only 4 years younger than me stare at me like I am crazy because I talk about a time when we didn't have the Internet at my house. When I recall a time when our cell phone was the size of a real phone. When I laugh at the idea of buying tapes for music. It is simply mind boggling to me to think about how quickly things change today. It makes me wonder what will be different in a few years.

I am sitting in the quiet office right now and in the next room I hear the shrill spinning of an electric pencil sharpener. It takes me back to a time when we only used hand crank pencil sharpeners. When there would be a whole line of 3-foot-tall 3rd graders standing in attention, waiting to use the little silver machine. The sound of grinding wood echoing through the classroom. Now everyone uses electric sharpeners. How long before mechanical pencils completely take over and there is no such thing as a No. 2 anymore? Then even electric models will be cast aside like over washed clothes and unloved Barbie dolls.

What else is becoming obsolete? What other noises do you NEVER hear anymore? The obnoxious dial up of the Internet? We hated that sound, but now, in its absence... do we feel the same? What about way a crank telephone clicks? Or a train sounds? Or even the way a car sounds? Yes, they even have cars that run silently. How long before that is the norm and the low rumble of an engine fades into the distance...?

Technology is so great. But what is it replacing...? Is there anything we will miss in 50 years and be too old to remember? Will turning up my hearing aid in 50 years even do me any good, or will I simply hear the silence of a perfectly tuned out world? I guess I'll just have to wait and see...

naught but this and that

These posts are becoming harder and harder to complete. I know part of it is the longing I have to be finished with this stage of my schooling, and part because I am growing more weary as the days slowly ebb by. I feel like I lack the will to complete such onerous and arduous tasks as the end of the semester holds.
About all that holds my interest for more than a few eye-blinks is reading. By losing myself in someone else's world the other tasks do not seem manageable, but something changes. Maybe it provides me with the break I need, maybe the story inspires me to trudge along, maybe the characters begin to rub off on me and I feel that I can go on. I don't know which it is. What I do know is that this post is at an end and 'A Clash of Kings' by George R. R. Martin is being picked up once again

Dustin

confusion and frustration

Yay for sleeping in! Saturday night church is awesome like that.
So the play is quickly approaching as is the end of the semester. I have kind of a slow week this week but then next week it will be crazy. Hopefully I'll work ahead this week, but I'm really doubting it.
I still have no idea what I want to do for a job this summer. Everyone keeps asking me but I don't have an answer. I dunno if I wanna stay in Geneva or Lincoln or Seward... I don't know what I want to do - maybe work in a library or I just don't know. I'm confused and I'm tired of people asking because it just makes me feel like a failure. I don't even know where to start. I'm ready for the semester to be over but then again I'm not.
That's all for today. -CK

The Final Count

This is it, we are down to the final count of the semester, and here's the thing...I am going to die.  I think it might be by suffocation of text books or possibly by multiple paper cuts.  I haven't decided yet which is worse yet, but due to the amount of work that I have to do at the moment I'm seriously thinking that option A would be better then having to do all the things that are currently stacking up on my desk.  

If I could have anything in the world right now, it would be that life would pause for just a few seconds so that I could take a breath, sit down, and not do anything if only just for awhile.  I would like to continue on, but as the stack of papers begin to teeter quite dangerously next to me, I think I might need to stop and move away. If I am not in class on Monday, you may correctly assume that I am dead and are cordially invited to my funeral.  Lunch provided

The End of Sticky Notes

I spent part of my Easter break downloading new applications for my computer. I went browsing online for various free downloads that I thought looked like fun. I found some free photo editing software, a program that allows you to create slideshows of pictures with music, and some video editing software. However, perhaps my favorite new download came from Google, of course. It's called the Google Desktop. It essentially is a sidebar present on the screen that allows you to add various applications to it for easy access at all times. You can get buttons that immediately direct you to a dictionary, email, news summaries, youtube, etc. I also have a repeating miniature slideshow of all my photos in this sidebar.

However, perhaps my favorite part of Google Desktop is a thing called scratch pad. It essentially is a to-do-list right there on my desktop. I pretty much have sticky notes all over my desk, but now that I have this new application I can just combine them all onto one. AND I don't have to worry about losing this one...unless my computer crashes. Now I realize there have been similar features on most computers for some time, but to be honest, nobody has ever taught me how to use them. Google Desktop makes it so easy. The only disadvantage is that my daunting to-do-list is continually staring me in the face whenever I use my computer. Maybe I'll actually get stuff done now. In fact, one of the notes on my list says "Post CNF Blog"...which I'm doing right now (never mind that it's a few days late).

-Carson