Road Trip on the Left

This is probably the last time I'll speak of Ireland before I leave. Mainly because I know you're probably starting not to care, and because I'm just gonna be swamped with things to do until next thursday. We're getting around to finalizing the trip and the itinerary has some pretty sweet things for us! Some of the places we are visiting are the National Aquatic Center, Department of Sport, Culture and Tourism, Football Association of Ireland offices, Sport Institute of Northern Ireland, Irish Football Association, Tollymore Mountain center, lots of other foreign-sounding places, and we're gonna catch a few sporting events. I'm almost positive that my favorite part of the trip will be at the end when we visit and stay at the Donegal Adventure Center in Bundoran. We're staying there for the last 4 days and we're gonna surf, do the ropes course, take a tour of Yeats Country, and probably jump off some cliffs into the ocean. As freakin exciting as this all is, I'm kind of hating the fact that I have to drive on the left side of the road, the 6 hour flight, and it'll probably be 40 degrees the whole time. But who cares, it's Europe and it's going to be beautiful. And if I can drive in lots of Dublin tourist traffic in the rain and on the wrong side of the road, then shoot, I'm gonna go get my p.h.d because I'll have proven I can do anything.

Fact finale: the whole island is about the size of Indiana.

Music Monday

When I die I don't want to have to regret not doing things that are cool. So when I heard that the Black Eyed Peas were coming to town, I had to jump on board. Not only do I love a good jam, but I single handedly introduced the Peas to my college pals back in 05. Everyone judged me in Wal-Mart as I bought their album "Monkey Business." After several dorm room dance parties, today those same college pals are jealous because Will.I.Am didn't tell them to do a fist pump followed by a 2 hour dance party. And that's what it was folks. A straight up club mostly full of white people, except we all got our own chair and dancing space. I think it changed my life, and I'm far more into rap concerts than I ever thought I would be (and less frightened by them). Also, I didn't really get the whole obsession with Fergie until I saw her rock it out live. I'd say Fergalicious is a fitting term for a solo album.

Revisiting Rhett and Link Days...

A Valentine's list

If theres one thing I love in the world, it's TV. There's no better way to blog about Valentine's Day than with a simple yet fun list of top TV couples, based on my opinion of course. Before you get angry with me, keep in mind that I've only been alive for 23 years, so those "back in my day" classic couples just don't count for me. This is in no order, and readers feel free to comment on some of your faves because 10 just isn't enough. Reality rocks.

1. Dawson and Joey-Dawson's Creek
2. Ross and Rachel-Friends
3. Zach and Kelly-Saved by the Bell
4. Uncle Jesse and Aunt Becky-Full House
5. Spencer and Heidi-The Hills
6. Will and Grace-Will & Grace
7. Jim and Pam-The Office
8. Cory and Topanga-Boy Meets World
9. Luke and Lorelai-Gilmore Girls
10. Steve and Laura-Family Matters

A thought from my car

Somewhere along in my frustrations of the week, I've realized that I've gotten lazy. Not the kind of lazy where I sit at home watching tv instead of doing my homework or skipping class to sit out on my porch, but the kind where I'm just doing enough to get by. These days if I get a little stressed or overwhelmed, I act like my world is crashing down. I felt that way on Monday but when I went to bed I remember thinking I had a really crappy day, but why? Because I was a little stressed? Because my research class requires a little bit more of me than I'm willing to give? This won't apply to everyone, but I think that if we (especially college kids) get a little overwhelmed with school or work or social events, it's because we're lazy. We don't want to put forth the effort that whatever we're doing requires. But God says do things that aren't normal. Do things better and bigger than they would normally be done. Study a little bit more to get an A. Have coffee with the person that needs to talk to you even though your day is non-stop. I've been serving our youth ministry at MC for almost 3 years now and lately I've done just enough to get by. Just enough to cover our sunday school lesson if I even teach it anymore. I only read for class when I think my professor will ask me about it. Ok, I never have been/never will be an overacheiver, so I am in no way suggesting we all become one. But in my attempt to share my personal convictions with you, maybe we could all use a little dose of effort. These thoughts just didn't pop into my head because I've been feeling bad lately about something I didn't do. Nope, these thoughts come from driving down the road and thinking about how lazy Jesus was, which was not at all. He went to the cross so maybe I could study for that extra hour to pass a health quiz. If He were to preach to me about Passion I think it would slap me in the face. Having passion for something means putting everything you have towards it and making it EPIC and giving a crap. I want that for EVERYTHING that I do. I don't think passion is limited. A lot of us Christians (me) have big plans of changing the world but we don't want to get out of bed and go to work in the morning. We don't want to study and be good at our careers because it takes too much of our time. We need a precious 9 hours of sleep instead of hanging out with someone that we could potentially influence. I'm ready to get rid of all that thinking. I want God's work ethic.

Music Monday

It's a little under a month before my trip and what better way to spend music monday than with U2. I wouldn't call myself their biggest fan, but I have a lot of respect for those dudes. When I told my Dad I was going to Ireland, his response was: "Maybe you'll meet Bono." They are the most popular band in Ireland even today and I would say the most popular band in the world. You could fight me on that, but I don't know who else would get such a title. The main type of music in Ireland currently is what it is everywhere else I would assume. Irish Rock is pretty big, but they probably enjoy a good dose of Lady GaGa just as much as the next guy. After doing a little research (googled it) I came across the top 5 biggest selling Irish acts of all time. Strangely, I've heard of all of them.

1. U2 170+ million albums sold
2. Enya 75+ million albums sold

3. Van Morrison 55+ million albums sold

4. The Cranberries 50+ million albums sold
5.The Corrs 43+ million albums sold

Colts vs. Katrina

Today is the official finale of the football season. I'm sad. However, I would like to take some time and vent out all of my feelings regarding annoying people who act like they care about football. I realize that football is not a big deal given the bigness of this world we live in. Like I said, I'm a realistic sports fan. And while I will be pulling for the Colts in the big game, the Saints actually have a better chance of winning. Why? Because they have the better team. The people who don't care anything about football will get all Go Saints on you for the most rediculous reasons. Hurricane Katrina is my favorite. Don't accuse me of not being a compassionate person or anything like that, I mean I don't support natural disasters. But don't be the Saints biggest fan because a hurricane hit 4 years ago and you feel sorry for them. They're recovering, and all the sin of Mardi Gras will resume this week with no worries. I really like the "underdog" reason. People, a team isnt given the title of "underdog" because 98% of America feels sorry for them. They're given that name because out of the two teams playing, they are less likely to win. And if you cared anything about sports and watched it, you would learn that the Colts are actually the underdog because the Saints are statistically the better team and have been all season. I don't want to bore you with this bitterness anymore. I'll just leave you with a big GO COLTS, featuring Peyton Manning (4-time league MVP) He's pretty good.

Music Monday

It has nice alliteration so why not. This first music monday will be spent talking about worship. And I realize I've talked about worship a thousand times in this space, but it's a really big deal to me and I love worshiping Jesus with some jams. I sat around with some pretty amazing girls last night and we talked about the ways that we get alone with God. I have to admit that the whole "being quiet" and just sitting still is hard for me. I almost always have my ipod in or I like playing my guitar when I'm having time with Him. As we talked about being alone with God, I kind of thought that "worship" is a great thing as far as talking to Him and just being still. There's nothing else going on, except a song that's playing with words that tell about how GREAT He is anyway. I know that worship can be focused on TOO much and that people get all weird about how its done, but the fact that we get to use the talent of playing instruments and our voices to praise Him really loudly, I think that's a lot of cool. Music is good. God is really good.

"That my heart may sing to you and not be silent; O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever." -Psalm 30:12