Hello. My name is Bob the Spider. Can I be your friend?

Over the course of the past four weeks I have discovered three things that could in fact speed the process of my death.

I sit at the local public library which, according to mapquest, is approximately 1.55 miles away from the college campus. Not a bad distance at all. In fact there are many cute little places within a five mile radius of my school. Boutiques, hair salons, thrift stores, bakeries, movie theaters, and about ten Starbucks.
With the absence of a motor vehicle, I am obliged to put my red bicycle to use. So far it has been a great experience. I feel like I get so much more exercise during the week, I don't have to pay for gas, and it helps the economy! What could be better, right? However, one thing that didn't occur to me before I moved away to college, was the very "hilly" terrain around the Seattle area. I'll tell you right now: if homework (death-causing agent #1) doesn't kill me by the time four years is up, then I could almost bet that the hills around here will. (death-causing agent #2)
Although I have yet to actually measure for certain, I have a feeling that the circumference of my calf muscles has increased by at least half an inch on each leg. I suppose I should look on the bright side: I never have a problem falling asleep at night.
If homework doesn't kill me, and if by some miracle my bike rides don't put my heart into an odd arrhythmia, then I'll be killed by spiders. (death-causing agent #3) The school bike rack is an arachnid breeding ground. Even if my bike has only been hooked up for four hours, when I return it is sure to be covered in spider webs. I have to carefully inspect my handle bars before each ride as I once found a very large friend that wanted to tag along with me. Maybe he wanted to be my friend. You never know - he could have been a good moral support.

The Life of a College Student - Morning Walks

For probably the first time in the past three weeks I actually went to sleep before midnight last night. I decided that instead of sleeping until I barely had enough time to get ready for my chemistry class, I would actually get up extra early to enjoy the morning.
I actually love morning time. If I would ever get to bed at a decent hour I would be a morning person. So I woke up before the sun - at 5:40am to be exact, and walked out of my dorm room and out into the world. First stop: Starbucks.

Since I knew I would be walking up extremely steep hills and my pulse would be increased almost to the point of hypertension, I decided to get a drink without caffeine. Enter Meagan's brilliant revelation: spiced caramel apple cider!! Yumm. The Starbucks which is just down the street has a patio outside with a fireplace, so I sat in the crisp morning air while watching the sunrise. It doesn't get much better.
At this point it was only seven o'clock, so I decided to walk down to the docks. It's not a long walk, but definitely a very tilted one. Once I emerged onto the hill there was a beautiful view of Lake Washington and the city of Seattle.







As I finally came down off the very vertically-inclined street, I arrived at the dock. Beatiful view. It's hard to see since the sun was behind me, but the sun was reflecting off the buildings in the distance causing them to look a lot more "white" than they usually do.




I even had the pleasure of watching a small plane land on the water right in front of me.





After spending a bit of time sitting out on the edge of the dock, I headed back. There is a small "public path" that leads through a mini rain-forest, and the sun was poking through. Lovely picture opportunities. I love early mornings!

I honestly don't know what I would do without laughter. If I didn't have the ability to laugh at myself I would be, well, very depressed. Ha. I am completely serious though. If I took myself seriously every time I did something idiotic I'd probably be dead by now.
But in addition to saving my life, laughter is also a vital part of my composition: joy to be specific. I already touched on this in an earlier post but I feel inclined to address it again, in another aspect.
How could I call myself a Christian and not be filled with joy? I understand that everyone has bad days and sometimes circumstances aren't all we desire. I have had days where honestly, I want to be grumpy. Something just gets to me and I take advantage of any excuse I can use to explain my discomfort. Someone asks me if I'm doing alright and I almost relish being able to say no and tell them why I am validated in my grumpiness. This doesn't happen to me often, but it occurs nonetheless. As I sit here and briefly meditate on my behavior on those days of self-imposed-misery, I am incredulous. Isn't this how two-year-olds act? Isn't it a younger child who often pouts when things don't go as desired? With all the children I have been exposed to during my life you'd think I would recognize bratty behavior in myself. You'd think.
Yet I am amazed at how many Christians I know who don't understand the joy that I usually have within me. Hang on a second, what is my testimony again? What has God done for me? How has He blessed me?
Oh. I see. And yet still there are days when I choose self-pity over joy. That makes perfect sense.
I feel like Eve. I let the world point out the one tree that I can't eat from, instead of the hundreds of others that I am free to enjoy. I let the one negative thing discolor the vast majority that is incredible. My perspective is distorted. I have equated joy with happiness, and that is a lethal mistake. I am loved by the King of the Ages and my best friend is the Creator. I can have joy in all that I do everyday, no matter what my circumstances dictate to me. So if anyone ever sees me choosing misery, please - hit me across the head or something and yell with the loving authority of God "Choose Joy!!"

First Bicycle Adventure!

I rode my bike down to Starbucks today.
I have walked down there several times, but decided I should make use of my only mode of transportation.
Brilliant plan compared to walking, right? Normally it would be.
But not on garbage day.

The sidewalks are a bit narrow as is, but when everyone sets out their huge garbage bins that take up 3/4 the width of the cement, biking is a bit difficult.
I arrived to my destination eventually, and enjoyed an ice-cold Vivanno drink. Yumm. As hard as I try to work on homework, there are always a few times when I just have to listen to the conversations going on around me. People watching/listening should be one of my hobbies. Ha.

At the table just to my left, a father and his young son were playing a game of checkers. They were obviously having lots of fun and seemed to be spending good quality time together. After about twenty minutes, an elderly woman that had been sitting in the corner got up to leave. She stopped at their table and commended the father for just having fun with his son. They seemed to be having such a good time. Not something you see all that often anymore.
I was rather taken aback as I thought about this. How long has it been since spending quality fun-time with one's children became abnormal? This makes me so sad, and yet it holds a fair amount of truth. The busyness of life has taken captive so many parents, and as a result they don't see any time to invest in their children this way. My hope when I have children is to make the time whether I have it or not. Good thing that's a ways away yet. I enjoy riding my bike down narrow sidewalks by myself at the moment. Navigating around garbage cans would be a little more difficult with a kiddie-trailer hooked on the back.

Matter, Energy, and Jesus

For being a Monday, today was amazing.
For being a school day, today was great.
Okay...Today was awesome.
And it's not over yet.

The day started with my chemistry class. It's not usually my favorite subject, but my awesome prof, Dr. Doo Jung Jin is a petite man with a love for science and a good if somewhat subtle sense of humor. His heart is definitely much bigger than his physical size. We discussed the other day how the universe is comprised of three things. We settled on the fact that the first two were matter and energy. When Prof Jin asked what the third was, a student in the back yelled out "Jesus!" The whole room got a good laugh out of that.

Needless to say I have absolutely been in love with my college campus. There is nothing quite like a school environment where classes start in prayer, the chapel is as meaningful and heart-felt as services at my beloved CCC back home, and I can walk up to upperclassmen and ask for prayer.
What can I say?
I've been blessed.