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2007.02.08

I feel absolutely drained today. The marathon starts at seven this morning with the alarm clock pulsing through my ears to which the snooze button provides relief for a good twenty minutes, after which I realize that I actually do need to go to school. I make an attempt for a quick shower, skipping the conditioner this time around. A quick brushing of the teeth, shrug on some clothes and I'm out the door by 7:55a. Luckily for me, the college is almost literally right next door.

Have you ever seen that movie where someone is chasing a bad guy or a sweet sudden love interest and the pursuit leads the pursuer into some crowded area, say a train station or a busy metropolis with people pouring down the sidewalks? Finding a parking space at AVC is similar to that during most times of the day. However, at 8:00a, it's not quite as difficult. I find a spot close to the building of my first class, check my face in the mirror to make sure nothing is sticking out of my nose, double check that the car is locked, and briskly make my way to ART102 - History of Art, Renaissance to Modern.

As I enter the classroom, everyone's eyes turn to me to acknowledge my tardiness. Their eyes shift back to Rae Agahari's face to see her response. She smiles at me and quite loudly says, "You name is Cy? Right?!" I respond in the affirmative. She takes her eyes off of me as she checks off my name on her attendance sheet. I take my seat. For the next hour and twenty minutes, my attention is captured by this middle aged Indonesian woman with a distinct accent who has such passion for art and history and even more so when combined together.

She explains to us that by the end of this semester we will have gained the skill to be able to analyze artwork and be able to explain why we feel how we feel about the piece; what works and what does not. She makes a point to say that if anything, it will help us to impress our dates with our vast knowledge of art. For the men especially, it'll show we're are softer than meets the eye. We have an air of sophistication and refinement. I chuckle at her statement and raise my hand. I share with the class that earlier on in my teenage life, I took a girl on a date to the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. Unfortunately for me and probably her as well, it turned out to be the most memorable date in a notorious kind of way. Neither she nor I understood any of the art despite our best efforts. It did well to shut us up for the rest of the drive home since we had absolutely nothing to talk about and I ended up falling asleep on her for a good fifteen minutes. I wasn't the one driving obviously. The class laughs at my (and her) misfortune and Rae says that indeed this will be a great class for me.

After she dismisses us, I head straight for my next subject; ECON102-Micro Economics. It's 9:30a and our teacher Ron Halcrow is late. After only an hour and a half of being on campus, I can feel my body shutting down. Before I can think to get something in my stomach, Ron comes through the door and starts lecturing about basic algebraic equations. I'm a master at basic algebra and am quickly put to sleep. I'm roused several times in between discussions of Price and Quantity in comparison to the X and Y axes, but stay unconscious for the next forty or so minutes when he lets the class out twenty minutes early. I use this opportunity to actually place my head on the desk and attempt to get some quick Zs, but to no avail. I figure if I can't actually sleep, I'll try my best to stay awake. I leave the classroom and head out to the vending machines in the lobby of the building. I grab a packet of strawberry PopTarts and a bottle of water and head back to class.

Back in the classroom, Ron is back for my next hour and a half bout with economics; ECON101-Macro Economics. Mr. Halcrow is an interesting man. He chuckles after almost every other phrase as if he is saying something either deeply profound or incredibly witty. Through most of his chuckles he interjects his signature murmuring of "Okay?" It's odd and a bit distracting for me, since I do focus a lot on people's speech habits. However, after a couple of months it will not be an issue. Last semester, Mr. Taback, my biology teacher, really irked me with his constant squinting in the first couple weeks of classes. After that, I didn't really notice it anymore, although he did continue to squint a lot as if some stinging sweat was continually creeping into his eyes. Due to my quick sugar rush, I'm able to stay awake and involved in Halcrow's Economics Part Deux. By 12:20p, I am done with economics for the day.

As I make my way over to the center part of campus, I'm greeted by one of my former classmates from my Vocal Class. Kelly and I chat for a bit about what classes we're taking this semester, how our grades were last semester, and what our plans are after the semester; typical collegiate chit chat. Somewhere along the conversation, I let her know about the bibletalk groups I lead every Monday and Thursday. Then, somehow I find out that she's been going to church down in the valley every weekend because she hasn't found a church up in the Antelope Valley yet. She had just moved prior to the fall semester. We exchange phone numbers and I let her know that our church is always looking for more people to join the singing ministry. I also let her know that I lead the church's college ministry and would love for her to come out to things. We exchange pleasantries and go on our ways.

Ten minutes to bibletalk and I having a conversation with a complete stranger named Troy about his take on agnosticism. He doesn't think so much that there is no absolute way to know God or if there is a God, but rather has quite a distaste for organized religion, denouncing everything from Hinduism and Buddhism to Catholicism and Southern Baptist Christianity. He believes in taking the good of all of those things to help shape his own morals and beliefs, but because of each Church's flaws with odd traditions and inequality regarding women, he has no faith in the institution of religion. When he tells me that he does, however, believe in God, I ask him if he would like to join us for our bibletalk where we could talk more about it. He kindly declines.

I start bibletalk five minutes late because of my lengthy discussion with Troy. Everyone else who I am expecting to be at the group is there; Luke, Amanda, Hunter, and Mike. Victor is a new face that I introduce myself to amicably. We all sit down and I have everyone open their Bibles to Leviticus chapter 4. We discuss the Sin Offering of the Israelite nation and the imputation of sin from man to animal and the sacrifice that had to made for the atonement of sin. We then discuss Hebrews chapter 10 about Christ being the sacrifice in place of bulls, goats and lambs. We talk about him being the final sacrifice and atonement for sins for all of eternity and how, in today's society, we are applying that to our daily lives; whether or not we're taking the blessing of the freedom we have in Christ and using it for his further glory or if we're keeping it locked away in some secret place in our lives. As I'm leading the thoughts in today's bibletalk, I myself am convicted to follow through on being more expressive of what Christ has saved me from: Damnation. After the bibletalk, I talk separately with Victor about having a bible study on Monday at 10:00a.

Legitimately tired and hungry, I head to the cafeteria with Mike and Hunter. These days I haven't been caring too much about eating healthy, so I order the greasy chicken quesadilla and the even greasier cheese fries. Like a starving lion in the Savannas, I eat the two orders with much voracity. After the meal, the three of us drive back to my house to watch a couple video clips saved on my computer; A South Park episode about Cartman's hand being the next pop star, Jennifer Lopez and the first episode of Robot Chicken. We laugh for a bit and try to waste two hours browsing the internet.

3:30p comes around and it's time for me to go to my three hour Anthropology Class; ANTH102 - Introduction to Cultural Anthropology. I find a parking spot adequately close to the campus and make my way to the Anthropology room. As I enter, I count nine students other than myself. Small class. I sign in, take two handouts from the teacher; a 17-page syllabus and a 5-page guideline for writing the research paper. For the next hour, Beth Bridgers discusses the syllabus while I try, but fail, to stay awake. I should think about getting more than five hours of sleep on Wednesday nights. Luckily for me, she dismisses the class two hours early at 4:30p. Oddly enough, I snap to attention at the words and promptly make my way off campus, to my car, and back home.

Needing some time to relax before heading out to my church's men's group tonight, I browse around on facebook, check my email, read some blogs, and write this one. On the subject of reading some blogs, I stumbled across the blog of one of the guys I went to High School with, Kai Kaapro. He was a senior when I was a freshman, but we're somehow friends on facebook. His blog contains his journal entries from during his 70-day hike along the Appalachian Trail starting in Georgia and concluding in Maryland. It's a very good read. Kai is an extremely good writer and I found myself reading several of his entries at a time with no problem. Check it out at Into The Wild.

Well, it's now time for me to go pick up Lonnie, a guy from our high school ministry, and head out to the men's group. Hope some part of my day was interesting enough for you to read, although it was quite wordy. I'll work on that for next time. It has been a while, though, since I've posted. I guess this is the accumulation of all the writing that has been stored up in me and is bursting at the seams.

Cy