You Can Take My Breath Away

My body seems to have amnesia from when I used to run Cross Country (the greatest sport of all time) back in the day. I ran three miles around the campus, circling it like a hawk searching for...an oxygen tank! It was rough, I'm not going to lie. My joints ached like the rusty Tin Man, and my solar plexis burned like the Red Flame.

It was good though becasue I have been locked up in a cage in front of a computer all summer. I haven't been able to climb every mountain, ford every stream, and paint with all the colors of the wind like I usually do in the summer. I probably pounded down a few too many sodas too, but that's a whole 'nother problem. I am hoping to get back in shape by running every Tuesday and Thursday and lift every MWF. Then I can be as rockin' as Stu...it will be a good thing.

Back to Class

So after a nice weekend of visiting Dustin (who is an awesome dude if you didn't know), I am back here sitting in class. Intro to theater...wow. This class is bad. I'm the kind of person that expects a class to be bad almost all the time, plus I'm not a huge fan of theater either. It also doesn't help when it sounds like your intructor is contantly out of breath. You begin to wonder when she's going to just pass out mid sentence.

But my class schedule is pretty nice this semester. I pretty much get to sleep in every day, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays I am hoping to be able to help out with Sonshine Clubs. I am really excited about that because I know Jessica is having trouble finding enough volunteers which is really sad considering the awesome opportunity we have in the Springfield schools. If you do want to help you can contact her through the info on the page linked above.

I hope you have a big trunk...

Because I found my bike! I saw it outside the ENS (Enginnering, Nursing, and Science) building today on my way to my first class. I could have waited for the person who now "owned" it (who will not be named), or I could get to class on time and have my bike too. Soon after recovering it, I registered it in my name and will soon own a very nice lock. Bike theives beware...it also has a webcam attached.

Along with this joyous discovery, I have also learned that my class and chapel schedule will be quite a casual one this year...despite having a class at 6:30 on tuesday and thursday. Two words...sleeping in...

Long Walks on Main Street

So living off campus in Cedarville is a different animal. We're actual "townies" now and have finally experienced the town as it really is outside of the University "bubble".

So living of campus means supplying our own food first and foremost. The interesting thing is that every time we walk down to the little grocery store set in a gas station, we get stopped by the coppers. Every time! This last time, making a total of three stops (plus two while driving), was the most ridiculous. As we are walking back once again, we are as jovial as always, and we wave to a few cars passing by at this late hour. It's about 11:30pm and all the sudden a cop car pulls up behind us and starts asking us what we're doing. I reply casually as I'm still walking that we just stopped to get some groceries, and that we're headed back to our house. He then angrily tells us to stop walking when he's talking to us, and begins questioning us as to why we're flipping off cars passing by.

Well, much to our supprise, apparently one of the late night passer-bys mistook our friendly wave for an osbscene gesture and narked on us to the cops. Which is funny and ridiculous at the same time. I really wish the Cedarville Police had something better to do than stop late night grocery shoppers.

To the Muffler Gods

Once again, another of my vehicles has managed to wedge loose the large hunk of metal known as a catalytic converter (not to be confused with the Cadillac Converters). I really don't get how this is possible. How hard it is to make a two inch thick pipe that doesn't fall to pieces...HOW HARD IS THAT! If I ever owned a car company I would have to put a life time warranty on those babies because no person should ever have to struggle with those things!

So after taking the converter off my old car...adding two more adapters (bringing the total to 6 adapters)...and making a metal coathanger sacrifice to the muffler gods, I honestly believe that I won't lose this one. I guess only time will tell...but this is the last straw...I'll burn this building down if I have to move my desk again...

Door 222B

Airports are cool and full of foreigners. That's where I am at this lovely hour waiting to pick up Derek's (like the Derek featured in my Whole New World post) girlfriend Karen in Columbus. Her flight is way late...oh wait...there she is! She's finally here after being over an hour late but she had fun apparently so yeah...

Neil the Great has a blog again...very exited am I...

But Phil is here on this adventure with me so that, of course, makes it way cool. And since this blog post is really going nowhere...and neither is the shiny baggage claim carousel...and there is only a hallway behind door 222B...and we are within striking range of flight 1720...and Phil's Milky Way Mocha is poisoned...and we have a long drive back...and......(Nathan trails off into the deep deep depth of his own thoughts wondering why...how...and WHAT IS THAT BEEPING NOISE!!!)

To Branson in and Back Again

After staying in Lowell for a few days, we decided to head off to Branson, MO. I've been there once before, and definitely not what I remember. Now it just seems like a place that might have been fun 10 years ago.

I mean it is different, and there's a lot of crazy stuff going on, but it's mostly just a bunch of..."Hey, look at me, I'm juggling cats! Wouldn't you like to come to my amazing show!?" I can see wanting to go back if I wanted to learn how to overly whiten teeth for all the superstars' billboards, or a lesson on market oversaturation. Maybe worth checking out once in your life...but I mean, anything is fun when you're hanging out with Aaron...so if you can grab him for your trip...

Free WiFi

Oh yeah, free WiFi at even the cheapest of one night stand hotels. I have to say, even as my family makes fun of me as I type this, I need the internet. I just like the feeling of knowing all the wildest imaginations of my mind are constantly at reach...and still all my sister can think about is MySpace (as he shudders at the thought of unsolicited music playing on his speakers and impossible to read text scrolling across his screen).

So the reason we are having this one night stand is because we are on the way to Arkasas to see my bro. It should be a fun 5 days not doing the things I normally do at home as much as possible. So please pray for me...that I might refrain from those things...