Christmas and Other Joys

Hello Reader!

I should be doing school. At this very moment, this PRECISE moment, I should be working diligently on some outrageous Precalculus test or summarizing a work of literature we are supposed to have been reading.

Hehe... But no, here I am, sitting at the computer, wasting my time away writing an informative blog post while drinking cooled peppermint tea (the best of all flavors, might I add!). Outdoors, the sky is downcast, but fortunately, this does NOT bring my spirits down, would you like to know why? If not, I'm sorry, I'm about to tell you anyway. :)

Reason #1 - Today's date is December 30th, which means that it is past the 21st of December, which means that every single day since the 21st, it has been getting brighter and brighter outside by 2 minutes. No, there will not be a noticeable difference in the amount of sunlight we see until around mid-March, but nevertheless, just the thought that the days are getting brighter, makes me feel brighter.

Reason #2 - Today's date is December 30th, which means that TOMORROW is December 31st, which means that the New Year is upon us! AH! We are about to say adieu to the year 2010, and step into a new decade! How exciting (for me at least. *ahem*)!

Reason #3 - Even when the sun's not shining, I still have friends, family, and my Heavenly Father to help me realize the importance of appreciating each and every day.

Gloomy day, you have no power here, go "gloom" somewhere else. Be gone with you... Before someone drops a house on you too!

Haha, too much peppermint tea? I think so.

A long time ago, waaaaaaaaay back on the 17th of December, our family had a White Elephant party. Many tummies were filled and much fun was had by all. In my opinion, I've never been part of such a hectic (in a good way) white elephant gift exchange before. As the game progressed, the room became louder and louder as gifts were stolen and unwrapped. Thankfully, I had a high number (if you've ever played White Elephant, the high numbers are good, the low numbers mean a lousy gift for you), so I ended up with a pretty awesome, DUCK-TAPE WALLET. Trust me when I say, there were some pretty dumb gifts. Spray chalk, a talking pig-radio, and light up socks were some of the worst. All in all though, a very enjoyable night.

Christmas was wonderful this year! I love spending quality time with my family. Not to mention all the glorious food. A splendid day to say the least.

This passing Monday (the 27th), I had my Eagle Scout Board of Review. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the requirements to achieve the rank of Eagle, the Life Scout (rank just before Eagle) must appear before a Board of between 3-5 people who will evaluate the scout's accomplishments and ability to answer specific, detailed questions to the best of his ability. It is the final hoop a Life Scout must jump through in order to achieve the rank of Eagle.

I got to APCO 20 minutes before I was supposed to have my meeting. Dressed in FULL uniform and prepared to be interrogated/drilled/questioned about my scouting experience and the leadership I'd demonstrated.

Friends of mine have had their Eagle Boards last between an hour, to an hour and a half. This being known, I was a little (okay, VERY) intimidated by the prospect of spending over an hour, in a small board room, being questioned by 5 people.

Being at APCO 20 minutes early was a bit of a mistake though... You see, the board members need to meet half an hour prior to the meeting, to go over the questions they ask, etc. This cannot take place until all of the board members arrive. The final board member did not arrive until 7:00 (which was when my meeting was supposed to take place). So I essentially waited an hour before my meeting actually started...

Finally, they called me in. Heart pounding hard, I made my way down the long hallway and entered the tiny board room. The five members welcomed me in a motioned for me to take a seat.

From that point forward, they asked me an array of questions pertaining to the things I've learned, how I've applied them to my life, how I've demonstrated leadership within the Troop, etc... It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be! Honestly, the 55 minutes I spent being evaluated, were just like a long conversation with 5 other people. Sure, it was one of the most grueling and crucial hours of my life, but to be honest, I sort of had fun with it.

They asked me to leave the room for a minute so they could make their final decision. When I left, I couldn't help but smile, because I knew I'd done a fabulous job. I strongly felt that I answered each of the questions most adequately.

After 5 minutes of waiting they called me back in. The moment I walked back into the tiny room each of them shook my hand and congratulated me for passing. Again, I could help but beam.

Surprisingly, only 5 in every 100 scouts achieve the rank of Eagle. The statistics shrink to 2% as the number of scouts increases. I am very pleased that I stuck with this for the past three years... Now I can proudly say, I AM AN EAGLE SCOUT. :D

Haha, the past few days have been spent lounging around the house, enjoying the time off from school. Two days ago we had Ferg and his sister over for the day. We played cards, listened to music, watched videos, and visited for the longest time.

Yesterday, Justin, Nathan, Rebekah, Mom, and myself all ventured to Grand Rapids to visit some childhood friends of hours. We had a solid four hours of time before one of the guys had to go to work. Around 4:00 we left to get home because Justin and I had a party to go to at 7:00.

Miranda V. is a friend of Justin and I's. We all took American History at co-ops last year which is where we met. The party Juss and I attended was in celebration of Miranda's 16th birthday. The both of us chilled with mutual friends, snacked on crackers and sandwiches, and did some dancing.

Believe it or not, this was the first time I'd ever been to a party where there was contemporary dance. Wow, that's such a weird thing to admit to! It was fun... But very different from the dancing I'm used to. Let's just say after last night I have a better appreciate for Waltz, Swing, Celtic, etc.Anyway, the party ended at about 11:00, at which point Justin and I were picked up by mom and headed home.

Tomorrow is going to be fantastic! I cannot wait for the New Year... In the way of New Year's Resolutions, I really don't have one... If I did, it would most likely be the same as last year: Be an encouragement to everyone. Also, trying to be non-judgmental of others.

Thanks for reading! I hope you all have an awesome NEW YEAR! Blessing!

~Jacob

A New Experience

True statement: A little determination, combined with patience and a multitude of exhaustion, equals fulfillment and a strong sense of inner accomplishment.

The above statement being made with a tiring (yet fulfilling!) weekend at Youth Haven Ranch in mind.

Hello Reader,

I am currently in the process of recovering from one of the most tiring weekends of my life (as already previously stated). First, let's go back exactly one week, to Wednesday the 1st of December.

On Wednesday last, I barely got a wink of sleep. My thoughts were consumed with the daunting list of various tasks I needed to complete before the week's end! These thoughts kept me up until 2:00 A.M. Wednesday morning, leaving me with five hours in which I tossed, turned, and worried about the day ahead.

The first thing that popped to mind, was my Brit. Lit. Analysis. This particular Analysis had been postponed by my wonderful educator (Mrs. Vincent), over the Thanksgiving holiday. Regrettably, it was now due this upcoming Tuesday (which happened to be yesterday). Because I would be gone from Friday until Sunday, that left me two days to write up this bothersome paper. I'd been putting off writing up the 3-5 page Analysis for four weeks (I guess you could say I'm the "Master Procrastinator"...) and I wasn't exactly looking forward to writing it up over a two day period... Nevertheless, it needed to be done.

Here's were the complication arose. The second that popped to mind, was my Eagle Scout Rank Application, which was due that very day.

HOLYPURPLEFLYINGCOCKERSPAINIALSBATMAN! Was my immediate reaction... If I didn't have ALL of my paperwork typed up, filled out, signed off, etc., by December 1st, I couldn't be an Eagle Scout by this year. I had no other choice except to hold off on writing my Analysis one more day.

From morning until late afternoon, I worked on finishing up my Application and Workbook. When finally finished at 4:15, my mom drove me over to the Scout office to turn in my paperwork. Might I note that my paperwork totaled 25 pages? You heard me correctly, in order for one to become an Eagle Scout, the final step is to write up a lengthy amount of paperwork. Anyways, mom and I dropped off the paperwork just in the knick of time. When had only 10 spare minutes before the office was set to close. Talk about cutting it close!

This only meant one thing, I needed to write up my entire Literary Analysis on Thursday. *Sighs* another full day at the computer working on dreadful paperwork.

Undoubtedly, Thursday last was one of the longest days of my life. Pumping out 5 more pages of paperwork was no easy task.

Thursday came and went (AMEN).

FRIDAY, I woke up on a cheerful note, knowing that the past two days of vigorous work were about to pay off. In a few hours I'd be at HPA rehearsal, and directly from rehearsal, I'd be headed off with Isaac to go to Youth Haven.

Fast forward through HPA. When Isaac and I got to YHR, we unloaded our gear from the back of their vehicle and placed it under a pavilion. One thing I quickly noticed about the Ranch, was that every building had its own peculiar name. The dining hall is called, "The Deer Lodge", the gym is called, the "Chicken Coop" (maybe you get the idea now... Hahaha). Upon entering the dining hall (*Cough* "Deer Lodge"), I paid a Ranch employer named Rick the $50 fee, and met up with my group. MY group consisted of seven other people, Colleen H., Katherine L., Stephanie E., Melanie D., Adam D., Chris W., and Greg W.. Melanie and I were the only two from our group that had never volunteered at YHR before, and I'm pretty sure I was the only one in our group who didn't know for sure what to expect.

From the dining hall, the 8 of us ventured over to the gym (*Cough* the "Chicken Coop"). There, we played different sorts of games, interacting with the kids for the first time. Okay, really quick, for those of you who aren't familiar with Youth Haven Ranch, its essentially a ranch for underprivileged kids between the ages of 9 and 12 to come and spend a weekend (or week, in the summer) in a safe, fun environment where they're free to play games, have fun, and learn about Jesus.

After the games, Rick split us all up into "Teams." Now, for those of you who have ever been to Camp Barakel, a "Team" is the equivalent to a "Tribe." Within a Team are between 8 and 10 kids, a Team Leader, an L.I.T., and a Volunteer (at least, that's how it worked for this particular weekend). I was assigned to a group with 6 kids, a Team Leader named Paul, and an L.I.T named Josh.

To describe the entire weekend in detail seems impossible to me now... I thought that along the way I would be taking mental note of everything important that happened, but now I realize that to type all of it up would be... Overwhelming. There is such a large list of things I could write about, that I simply do not know where to begin. I suppose it would be best to expand on the highlights.

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As you can tell, I started this blog post a while back. In the past few weeks I have been busy as ever... I very much desired to complete this post a while ago, detailing my adventures at YHR, but to be completely honest, I can only recall bits and pieces from that weekend. Indeed, the paragraph last I appeared to have an endless list of things to discuss, but as of now, I am having a challenging time remembering parts of my time there. *_*

Summary: I love spending time with kids. Kids in general are pretty downright hilarious. What I find heartbreaking, is the fact that the kids I went to serve, came from underprivileged homes. Going into the weekend at YHR, not having volunteered before, I really did not know what to expect. What troubled me most was that I wasn't sure how I should treat the kids. How strict was I supposed to be? How lenient was I supposed to be?

Thankfully, my questions were answered as the weekend progressed. Some of the kids were well behaved, while others needed extra attention in order to keep them out of trouble. Fortunately, volunteering wasn't nearly as challenging as I'd built it up to be in my head to be. With a little determination, I was able to encourage the kids in a variety of ways.

In my time spent with the kids, I learned to appreciate what I, myself, had. These kids helped me put my world back into perspective and realize that each day should be treasured. I have it so good here at home, and these kids might not have it the same. Disheartening, but true.

I'm thinking I'd like to be a counselor this summer... We shall see.

It has taken me roughly three weeks to finish this post! Oh my, that is NOT cool. The most over-used excuse in my library of excuses is "I got busy." Also disheartening, but equally true. Life lately has been a whirlwind of busy, busy, busy, busyness... Thankfully, I am now on break, but that does not mean the busyness of life has gotten any LESS-busy (and for the sake of overusing the word "busy" in one paragraph, let's use it a few more times, shall we?).

BUSY, BUSY, BUSY, BUSY!

This has officially become rambling, and I SHOULD stop. Will I? No.

Recent events include:

An amazingly wonderful senior and alumni HPA Lansing breakfast the other day.

An equally amazing white elephant party my family held later that day.

Grandma coming into town for a visit (whilst showering us with thoughtful Christmas gifts [comforters, ornaments, pocket knives, electric toothbrushes, etc])

BTA and the Asian brothers stopping over for a visit.

A lunar eclipse which is set to take place tomorrow morning at 3:30 A.M. (first one in 372 years ya know).

ALSO, I recently started a second blog page where I'm showcasing my poetic works. I've only posted once so far, and will continue to do so over the weeks to come, but I just wanted to make you aware if you weren't already. Here is the link: http://mellmeds.blogspot.com/

I'm hoping to receive feedback on my works as I post them. If I fail to receive a substantial amount of feedback, I shall be forced to delete the blog page... The whole reason I created it in the first place is so I might receive criticism (positive or negative). I would encourage you to read my posts from the very beginning! It gives a fine statement for why I am posting what I am posting.

For those of you who read this all the way through (Hahaha, Ferg), thanks! Sorry if I bored you with my ramblings. The next post will be better! I promise!

Thank you for reading!

~Jacob

Here Comes the Sun

Hello Reader,

The title for this post is affectionately named after a popular song written by the world renown band, "The Beatles."
I currently reside in the picturesque state of Tennessee. My family and I came to visit my Grandparents over the Thanksgiving Holiday. This morning, my dad let Justin and I sleep in until 9:30 A.M. (10:30 A.M. Michigan time). This was a bit of a blessing, considering it is unnatural for my dad to wake us up later then 8:00 A.M.. For some reason, when the shades were lifted, and the bright, blinding sunlight came pouring into the room, my initial thoughts were not,

"Gah! I've been temporarily blinded!" *Turns over* *Pulls pillow over head*

Surprisingly, the first thing that popped into my head was the lyrics to the popular, above titled song. "Here comes the sun, (do do do do), here comes the sun, and I say, It's alright." If I'd been in Michigan when the sunlight took me by surprise, my thoughts might have shifted towards school, paperwork, applications, and other unhealthy things of that nature. Fortunately, the sunlight took me by surprise whilst awakening in the glorious state of Tennessee, so, my thoughts immediately shifted towards miles of scenic landscape, venturing all around with my family, 30+ degrees of warmer weather, and other symbols of positivity I associate with Tennessee.

Hahaha, anyway! A rather lengthy introduction regarding my morning... Perhaps I should have titled this post, "Waking Up in Tennessee." Alas, belated creativity, no remorse have I.

Today's date is Saturday, November 27th, 2010. It's been (yet again) too long since I've updated. The largest things of importance took place on Monday last.

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Hahaha, regrettably, I was unable to complete this blog update this passing Saturday. Instead, my family and I spent the afternoon browsing around stores in Bowlingreen, Kentucky, searching for possible gift ideas (I find it 10X more reasonable to go shopping two days after Thanksgiving instead of on the Friday they call, "Black"). Later in the afternoon, Justin, Nathan, and myself took some spontaneous pictures of ourselves doing silly things (jumping, sitting, standing, hanging upside-down, climbing trees like monkeys, etc.). I shan't post the pictures up on blogger (reason being it takes too long...).

Sunday morning we left for home at 4:30 A.M. (FAR too early in the morning for any reasonable person to be up...). The drive took 8 hours, respectively. When we got home I was eager to spend my next few hours unpacking and getting ready for Mr. Cole's Sunday Night Dancing. My hopes were soon dashed by my mother's bittersweet affirmation that we would be going to purchase our Christmas Tree. Yes, I adore walking through our neighbor's Christmas Tree Farm, but I've walked it 1,000+ times. True, it is tradition to purchase the Christmas Tree the day after Thanksgiving (give or take a day), but at the same time, I knew that in going to get the tree, I would be forfeiting an hour or so of my time, thus leaving me with only 45 minutes to get ready for the party (and believe me, I was ready to take a shower... Waking up at 4:00 to be out by 4:30 and spending 8 hours in an overheated vehicle... I needed to feel clean).

We bought the tree and were out of there in good time, which surprised me a tad (perhaps it could be because they were all out of the Frasier Furs... ?). Justin and I both got ready and left the house on our way over to Austin's. When we got there, Austin drove us, along with two friends, over to Flying J's to pick up the rest of our group. Jackie, Christine, and Olivia joined our epic car-pool. Once in and on the road, I popped a CD into the stereo and turned up the volume to an acceptable level.

Side note: Monday last I purchased an album titled, "Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys." This album made me very happy. Recently having become a MCR fan, I was very excited for the new album to come out. Since I've purchased Danger Days, it has become my new favorite album.

So we drove along at a steady 110 MPH (KIDDING) listening to Danger Days all the while. Surprisingly enough, we ended up listening to the full album a second time because of a unanimous vote! Happy day.

The barn where this month's Sunday Night Dancing was held, was ENORMOUS. None of us had ever been to the Lucas' barn before... There was a heated room with leather furniture and tables set around for snacking, and a chilly, garage-like room with cars, a balcony, a rock wall, and mounds of hay, which is where we did our dancing. Of course, the evening was stupendous. I always end up meeting new people when I attend. Whether it be someone who's close friends with the Groots, or someone from another HPA location, I never know who's going to show up! Of course, it is great fun to dance with people you know, but I also find it enjoyable to dance with someone I'm not necessarily acquainted with. Justin on the other hand was drowsy for a majority of the evening! Poor kid... :P

Justin and I got home at around 11:30, at which point, we went directly to bed. Monday was an extremely long day... Filled with homework, applications, workbooks, phone calls, and many other unpleasant activities...

Which leads me to today (well... Yesterday, I've been writing for a while).

Tuesday was just as long as Monday, if not longer. TW and Scouting currently absorb 75% of my life (yikes, those statistics are staggering!). In all honestly, I'd like to hit the hay this very moment, but I feel the need to write a post with sincerity and sufficiency.

Most of Tuesday was spent at the TeenWorks building, directly proceeded by a scouting meeting. When I got home tonight, I finished filling out my Eagle Scout Application... It's taken me TWO WHOLE DAYS to finish it. Crazy.

Tomorrow (*sighs* today), I'll be writing a 3-5 page literary analysis pertaining to the British novel, Doctor Faustus. For the past 4 weeks this paper has been in the back of my mind, causing me much annoyance and frustration, but tomorrow, I'm going to get it over with. Indeed, I shall be signing about 3+ hours of my life away to an analysis. Truthfully, I've probably wasted more time worrying about having to write the paper then I will writing it... What a scary thought.

On a positive note, this weekend I will be attending Youth Haven as volunteer for the first time! I've been very excited about this for the past few weeks, so I'm hoping it goes well! I wonder what new things God will teach me through this experience... I'll have to write a blog post specifically about this weekend.

Until then, may you be blessed with long days, sunny skies, and the bluest of blueberries.

Hahaha, 1.) I need sleep, 2.) Rest assured that I'll never attempt to sign off with an insightful adieu (bluest of blueberries, who says that... ?!).

Thank you for reading,

~Jacob

Another Awkward Moment

So here I am... At a memorial for my friend's grandfather... And... This thing happens.

Back it up.

BTA (Ben the Asian) W., is a pretty laid back, cool kid. Many of his family members are the same. A number of Ben's cousins attended the memorial in honor of their late grandfather, one of which (whom we'll call Mandy) was very nice, and pretty.

Towards the end of the lunch portion of the memorial, there was a child with down-syndrome who looked about fourteen or fifteen who approached all of us. This is how the conversation went,

*Points at Justin* ~ Boy

"DANCE." ~ Boy

*Justin does a goofy dance* ~ Justin

*Points at Jacob (Me)* ~ Jacob

"DANCE." ~ Boy

*Does goofy dance* ~ Justin

*Points at Ben* ~ Boy

"DANCE." ~ Boy

*Does a goofy dance* ~ Ben

*Takes Mandy by the arm* ~ Boy

"Dance with him!" *Points at Ben* ~ Boy

Ben and Mandy begin awkwardly dancing in the middle of the room.

"Now dance with him!" *Points at me* ~ Boy

"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, that's okay... We really don't..." ~ Me

*Mandy patronizingly pats Jacob (me) on back*

"DANCE WITH ME!" ~ Boy

*Begins awkwardly dancing with boy in the middle of the room while everyone stares* ~ Jacob

*Out of the silence* "Another awkward moment" ~ Luke

Ben, Mandy, Justin, Luke, and Nathan all got a good laugh out of it. I however was sorta/kinda embarrassed by the awkward situation.

Anyway, that was just something that took place recently that I thought you might find interesting.

Hello Reader!

Tomorrow morning I shall be attending the orthodontist. I know what many of you are thinking, "Jacob, didn't you have braces when you were like, 10... ?" The answer is yes, BUT, now that mom has taken a job, we can afford to have my teeth fixed, yet again.

Short story: When I was 10, I had crooked teeth. At the time, we could only afford to have me go through phase #1 of the braces stage, which some of you know, means having the braces for about six months, and then wearing a retainer/mouthpiece/appliance for a year or two. WELL, I lost my retainer a few months after I had my braces removed, which was very unfortunate because we couldn't afford another one. SO, my bottom teeth were left askew, which I have had to live with for the past seven years. FINALLY, there is the possibility that my teeth could be fixed. Yes, this does mean going through the whole process of braces in my later teen years, but who cares?! I'd rather has straight pearly whites than slightly askew pearly whites. NOT THAT THERE IS ANYTHING WRONG WITH HAVING SLIGHTLY CROOKED TEETH, I'd just rather have mine fixed. :)

So that's what's happening tomorrow! Along with mounds and mounds of delightful homework...

On Tuesday is the yearly TW Thanksgiving feast! I should be VERY excited for this, but I'm only PRETTY excited for it. For the past three years in High School, I've had the study hall directly after lunch, and anyone who's ever attended TW for a year knows that that study hall after lunch picks up all the extra deserts. This year, that's not me. Bugga. :(

But life goes on.

I CANNOT believe it's only been two weeks since Mr. Cole's "Sunday Night Dancing." It's two more weeks away, and I already can't wait. I had such an amazing time last month, that I want to attend as many as I can in the months to come.

Anyway, I need to be up early tomorrow, so I'm gonna hit the hay. :)

Thanks for reading!

~Jacob

Venting

Dear Reader,

The purpose of this post is to perform a common ritual in written form, otherwise known as "VENTING" (others may refer to it as "Dumping"). There are many reasons for which one may feel the need to vent:

1.) Anger

2.) Frustration

3.) Aggravation

4.) Emotional letdown

5.) Sadness

6.) ALL OF THE ABOVE!

Michael and Kevin LOST on "The Amazing Race" tonight. I have no words (WELL, obviously I do, but in relation to their losing, I'm at a loss for words). It seemed as though they had it, all until the very end.

Ferg and I have faithfully been watching the show since it aired seven weeks ago, now, I'm not sure I'll be tuning in for the remainder of the season considering our favorite YouTube comedian duo has now been eliminated off the show.

*ANGERFRUSTRATIONAGGRAVATIONEMOTIONALLETDOWNSADNESS*!

There's goes the one, guaranteed, solid hour of television I watch during the week.

I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do now that they've lost... I probably won't shave for a while, or eat... Or sleep. I'll probably become obsessed with homework, knowing that that is the most beneficial outlet... I'll start updating this blog every single day, because I'll have extra time on my hands...

Maybe I'll stop paying attention to what I put on in the morning... My socks will mismatch... Nix that, maybe I'll pay attention to what color socks I put on. One thing's for certain, my general hygiene will begin to slacken... I might end up getting my first cavity.

All this will result in my sinking into a emotionally depressive state... Michael and Kevin being eliminated off "The Amazing Race" is sending me into an irrevocable downward spiral into emotional instability. Just watch. I'll go emo.

Hahaha, okay, maybe I'm not THAT upset... But I am rather discouraged that they lost!

Well, off to do some government homework. Oh, the joys of life.

Thanks for reading!

~Jacob