Diablo 3 (Tale 3 of 4) Part 5

Pride welled up inside me as I started to laugh at how powerful I had become. Gathering my magic for the missile, Diablo started to move again. Recovered from the time manipulation and the electricity, Diablo pushed off the ground and flew at me. My missile was not at full power yet, but I had to do what I could so I let it go. It hit Diablo in the left arm and spun him off target, sending him soaring by me, but knocking me off balance in the process. I jumped up ready to teleport away when a rock collided with my head, causing everything to go black. I didn’t expect to wake up from this, and so I let my level 42 wizard body fall to the rocky earth unconscious.

Diablo 3 (Tale 3 of 4) Part 4

I stood there gathering manna and stamina, while I drank a health potion. The beast walked to within 10 feet of me and then started running at me with a burst of flame from his mouth. I barely dove to the right before he had split me in two with his sword; this was going to be a difficult fight. The monster was too fast, so I employed my time manipulation skills and slowed down time itself. The monster turned, now slowed by magic, and rushed once more. I shot lightning from my body and engulfed the creature. The creature’s nerves froze and he fell in front of me, paralyzed for only a few precious seconds. I was about to hurl a missile into this creature’s still body, when I saw that he had slash marks along his back, and insect bite marks on his neck and face. Realization hit me hard, this was Diablo the Lord of hell and I had brought him to the ground...

Diablo 3 (Tale 3 of 4) Part 3

The horde tried to approach and take the ledge that I now defended, but I was too powerful. I unleashed disintegrating bursts into the ranks, ripping and tearing through their almost countless numbers. Slowly the demonic army made their way up to the ledge and began to surround me. I needed to do something drastic to win this battle and in a second of inspiration I found what I needed to do. Summoning what magic I had left, I unleashed a missile towards the caverns ceiling. As it struck the rock a rumbling sound overtook the enclosure. Rocks from the ceiling began to fall all around, killing what was left of my enemies. I managed to dodge around the falling debris by teleporting to the protection of a larger rock that had fallen, creating a shelter. After the noise died down, I slowly came out to see the damage I had caused. My victory was complete, but I still needed to get out of this cave. I looked up and noticed that there was a hole in the rock that reached to the surface. This would be the best way out, so I decided to teleport to the edge of the hole and climb out. As I was judging the distance I would need to cover I heard a noise behind me and spun around to see a fiery creature walking towards me, crushing and burning rocks as he came. I stood still, composing myself and getting ready for another fight...

Athletics and Joel: An Autobiography

Athletics has always been a great joy for Joel. He has always enjoyed running and competing with others. From the field to the rink, Joel plays sports of all types. Although Joel has not played on a large amount of organized teams, he does like to get together with friends and have a scrimmage from time to time. The organized teams Joel has played on have been, soccer teams from when he was in grades one and two, along with a hockey team in grade 3. As Joel grew older he started into many different kinds of sports through his Jr. high in Kola MB. Joel played on the volleyball, basketball, soccer, and badminton teams, along with running track, playing recess sports and becoming enrolled in life guard training. In most of the sports through Jr. high there was not a large growing period. Joel and his team would practice a certain sport for a month, play some games against other schools, and then move on to the next sport. Joel would not say those were organized teams that competed for anything extremely special other than school pride.
As Joel moved up from Jr. high to high school, he took on football, which he enjoyed a great deal. Joel seemed to excel at this sport from the beginning, getting placed on defense for his quick feet and tackling abilities. Joel was not the toughest, or the biggest guy on the field, but he gave his full effort to the game and had many good times. Joel's team, the Virden Golden Bears, never became number one while he played, but they were never last either. One of the most memorable times in Joel's football career was being able to play in the Blue Bomber's Canad Inns stadium. It was cold and rainy that day, with a team that had them beat in skill, but they had a fun game anyway. After Joel's grade 12 year he could not play football with the Golden Bears anymore, but he would not stop playing the game for fun. Spending half the year not playing sports, Joel became restless and decided to join the spring high school soccer team. Honing his soccer skills, Joel grew in his abilities, although it was not enough to win more than one game with his team mates. Joel's high school soccer career ended, but his sports legacy lives on.

Diablo 3 (Tale 3 of 4) Part 2

Unfortunately I did not make it to the opening before it exploded in front of me, crumbling into a pile that I could not get by. I started to turn around to face the massive group of hell spawn with a growing anger that focused my power. I stood on a ledge overlooking the cavern, staying here would give me good advantage over the swelling horde. I decided to attack before they could move closer and gain valuable ground. I raised my arms and cast lighting out from my fingers. The lighting struck one foe and jumped to multiple foes for maximum damage. At this the horde came screaming forward, voices as one that shook the chamber. It had begun.

Diablo 3 (Tale 3 of 4) Part 1

The campfire dimly lit the surrounding area of the woods where I was staying the night. I had just run away from my tribe for attacking the great mage. I am set on learning all forms of magic, those accepted by the other wizards and those that are not. I woke up early and set off to an underground cave that was said to have books and manuscripts on ancient magical knowledge. As I took my first few steps into the cave I heard a noise a short ways off. I started down the main passage slowly and warily, making sure to keep my light high and my back to the wall. I came to a small side passage where I heard the noise coming from with more clarity. I started down the narrow corridor and found myself in the middle of a larger cavern. As soon as I entered I knew it was a mistake to come here, I doused the torch that I carried and tried to get back into the small tunnel I had just come from. The reason for this hurried attempt to escape came from the hundreds of disfigured creatures that stood in the center of the cavern; silently staring at the opening I had just come from.

First person commonplace event

As I made my way to the back door of the kitchen I looked into the sky and knew that this was going to be a good day. I entered the kitchen at 10:00 am, the same time I go to the kitchen everyday. As I met each person I said a, "Good morning, " which they returned as I made my way to the fridge. I found the food that was prepared by the workers on Sunday and took it out to prepare it. I saw Susan and said my usual, "Good morning," which she returned as she always does. It has never been hard to be nice to Susan, even if she is second in command. She does a good job at overseeing, and making sure that everything runs smoothly. I turned back to my job of cooking the prepared food for lunch and decided not to snag a piece of desert that one of my co-workers was bringing out to the dessert counter. I prepped the food until 12:00 when people started to come in for lunch. I continued to prepare the food as it disappeared from the stations and was devoured by the hungry masses of college, seminary and staff members. From where I worked I did not see very many people, but every once in a while I would catch a wave from a student or staff member that saw me from the serving station.
After we were done with serving lunch, the kitchen staff grabbed a meal for themselves. We all congregated between two tables and had some small talk as we ate our meal. When we are finished with our meal, we set to work cleaning up around our stations. For me it is in the back, where I clean the counters and wash the pots and pans that I used while cooking. Finishing up the dishes that I had, I cleaned myself up a bit and then went for my break. For the short while of break that I have, I play a game of pool and have a cup of coffee. I make sure I am ready for work again by 1:30. This is when we prepare the materials needed for the next day’s meals. I am in charge of making sure that the food is ready to go for the next two days. This means cutting the vegetables, marinating certain ingredients, and thawing the meats that are used in upcoming dishes. I get that done and start to work on supper. Right before supper I get everyone to his or her station and make sure everything is in its place. After the supper line dies down, I get to work on cleaning up what we don’t need anymore. By that time supper is done and we can serve ourselves the meal. We then get another break before we clean up for the evening. When I finish sweeping I am able to head back to dorm for the night. I knew it was going to be a good day.

Diablo 3 (Tale 2 of 4) Part 2

...At the same moment I saw a grin on each of the beast’s faces, this caused me to hesitate and check my surroundings. I soon realized that the room we were in, though enclosed, was getting brighter. A large fiery hand appeared from the pit and started to pull itself up, showing its self to be Diablo himself. Knowing that fire would not hurt him, I went for a different approach. Summoning a bear, a wolf, and a group of skeletons to my aid we attacked. We surrounded Diablo as best we could and sent our attacks at alternating times. This seemed to work for a short while when all of a sudden the demons that I had forgotten about attacked and killed my bear and one of my skeletons. Without a right flank Diablo turned to the remainder of my force and wiped them out one by one, until I had only a skeleton left. He picked the skeleton up hurled it at me, making me duck. The remaining demons grabbed me and tried to pin me down, but I was able to throw them off into the abyss. As the last one slipped into the gorge and started to scream as he fell, I summoned thousands of locusts to distract and attack Diablo. As they were wearing him down, I made my way to his back and with all my strength, hit him continuously with my staff and dagger. Diablo let out a wail and then swept me of my feet with his thick black tail. Flinging me around to bat the locust away first and then throwing me down the shaft to certain doom. I had left my mark on the king of demons, which was more than I could say for the last poor soul who tried. I heard it was the barbarian, who was only a level 20 at the time. I am only a level 35 witch doctor; I could have done so much more if I had just waited. I hope that what I have done will be enough for the last two heroes to finish him off for good. For now I sense my fall has come to an end and the rocks rush up to meet me.

Diablo 3 (Tale 2 of 4) Part 1

As I wandered through the Torajan jungles of my homeland Teganze, I came across an ancient temple. I had seen this temple many times and paid no attention to it at first glance. As I moved closer however, I noticed that there was a faint light coming from inside. I gripped my staff a little tighter as I entered the temple, trying not to keep my eyes directly on the light. As I got within 20 yards of the light I saw that it was a fire, to small for a camp fire, but just large enough to be seen from outside. I sensed danger, so I lifted my staff and unleashed a fire ball at the wall. It lit up the room revealing multitudes of fanged and horned demons. Seeing that their ambush was ruined, they rushed me. I let out a yell and rushed forward meeting them head on, swinging my staff and crushing multiple foes. In between dodging an enemies attack and delivering a killing blow to yet another enemy, I gathered a burst of magic in my staff and released a stunning spell that stopped the enemy for 10 yards in all directions. I quickly set to work destroying those who were stunned before they could defend themselves again. Launching fire balls into the masses that could still move to slow down the onrushing horde. Soon they were almost all gone, fallen to my superior skills in battle. I saw a group of them try to run away and gave chase, darting through collapsed hallways and crumbling doorways, I cornered them at the back of the temple. A massive hole carved to send sacrifices to hell lay behind them, and covering the only escape through a narrow doorway was me. I raised my staff and ignited a fireball, aiming it at the center demon.... (To be Continued)

Diablo 3 is coming soon (Tale 1 of 4)

Today as I ran through the fields of Tristram, I came to what I was looking for. Diablo's gate stood open before me and all hell was streaming out of it. With a mighty war cry I stormed the teaming hordes that flowed from it like a rushing river that had just broken the dam that so recently held it. As I met the first hell beast I grabbed it by the paw that was intent on taking off my head. Twisting it and throwing it into the others to make a path deeper into the horde. As I passed the first wave into the mess of bodies, I drew my battle axe and tore through the fourth and fifth ranks. As the enemy pressed in tighter and tighter, I couldn't hold my ground with only my axe. I turned to my magic and pounded the ground with a mighty roar, sending my enemies flying through the air only to be thrown back to earth in a jumbled heap where I quickly and easily dispatched them. After countless hours of fighting back the hordes from hell, I met Diablo himself. Adrenaline rushing from the battle that I had just finished, I rushed him, battle axe raised for a death stroke. As the axe came down Diablo thrust his fiery sword through my chest, destroying my light leather armor and internal organs. I fell into a pile on the soft grassy earth. I should have known, I was only a level 20 barbarian, how could I have defeated the Lord of Hell. Now Sanctuary would fall to the evil one, with no one to stop him the earth would be twisted and destroyed. Maybe one of the other three heroes could defeat him in time, but for now I fill find peace in death. Farewell.

Exam's and comedy

Today there were probably only two highlights of my day. You have probably guessed by the title and what I have written so far, that I am going to tell you, in more detail then you would probably like, about these events. First off was my Intro to the bible exam, this is the second of three exams in that course. The first one was alright, although I did not get as many marks on it as I thought I would. This exam seemed to be easier, though time will tell. It was all multiple choice and the questions were on a timed slide show. It would cycle through one question every thirty seconds, which for most questions was enough, but for some it was not enough time to read, understand and answer the question. The second highlight was the improv session that the prov theater group put on. It was the students who were the actors so it was not professionally done, but it was pretty good. There were many students involved with acting so we did not see the same people act all the time. This gave us a variety, which was good to see since it let us see many different skill sets. It has made me want to watch whose line is it anyway for more laughs and comedy goodness.

Alone for a week

Today is the first of many days that I am alone in my dorm room. I have been left alone by my room mate, who has gone off to Florida for soccer nationals for the NCCAA league. This is great for the Prov community as a whole and is a great accomplishment for the team. It is a wonderful thing that they are able to go all the way to Florida to participate in this accomplishment and it is nice for me to have a room to myself. I have been by myself for only half a day and I am able to run things the way I like them. I will have to adjust to life when he gets back, but I will worry about that when it gets here. For now I am going to enjoy blasting my music and lazing around by myself. Don't get me wrong I think my room mate is great and we have been friends for a long time, it is just nice to have things to myself for awhile. I am thinking that by the time he does get back, it will be refreshing to have him in the room again. It is going to be a special week, and I am looking forward to having the dorm all to myself.

My Friend Courtney

In the past few minutes I have remembered to do my blog. This is a good thing, but then I thought to myself, what should I write about? This is not a good thing, so I asked my friend Courtney what to write about. She says I should write about her many characteristics, such as: humor, grammar skills, or as she puts it, her encouraging-ness. These are all possible topics, all with certain benefits as well as drawbacks. The topic that most defines Courtney in my eyes is her sarcasm. Through the many many years of knowing Courtney, I have come to understand her sarcasm very well. Her sarcasm could very well be put into the category of humor, but it is indeed such a diverse topic on its own. I find that it is usually pitted against me, which I can take and usually find funny. At other times it is so random that I am able to make fun of her back and I get a good laugh. I am very grateful to have a friend that I am able to make fun of who is able to take it, and at the same time dish it back. It makes for a very entertaining time.

O bit

Dominick Dunne
Born Oct 29th, 1925
Died Aug 26th, 2009

In the life of Dominick Dunne there was little that was not done. Dunne went into WW 2 during his senior year of school, not only surviving but showing valor through many battles. Dunne was awarded the Bronze Star for his bravery in battle by saving two injured soldiers from the advancing Germans. After coming home from the war, Dunne went to school for a bit, and then entered the television business. Beginning with a floor manager position on The Howdy Doody Show, Dunne launched his career. Some time after, he married the beautiful Ellen Beatriz Griffin, and had a baby son. Dunne started rising in the television industry, gaining rank in 20th Century Fox and holding a vice presidency at Four Star Pictures. Through his connections, Dunne was able to socialize with many stars of the day. This also got him into heavy alcohol use, along with drugs. This had a strong negative effect on his family, and his wife filed for divorce. Dunne slowly fell from his throne in Hollywood, finally finding a place in Oregon where he began to write. Gaining success in writing, Dunne directed his focus completely to it. A few years later, Dunne received a message explaining that his daughter was in a comma. Soon afterwords she passed on, directing Dunne into reporting on murder trials. Having a great connection with people in his relationships gave Dunne great success. This success however, could not cure him of bladder cancer that had been diagnosed to him less than a year earlier. Loved by many, known by multitudes, Dominick Dunne regrettably passed away on August the 26th 2009. He will be greatly missed.

Typical Tuesday

A typical Tuesday, not much going on, classes and meals were the order of the day. The highlights are few and far between, little things that brighten the day even slightly are welcome. Things like a funny joke, a stimulating conversation, or an interesting video or headline that catches the eye. Through the course of my day I found these things small blessings from a boring day. I could always do work, which seems to always be looming in front of me with no end in sight, but I need a break every once in awhile. I am planning however, to get some of this ever present work done tonight, putting aside some of my more enjoyed activities for some space in my schedule on another date. I hope to get done my set amount of work for today quickly so that I may move on to other activities that are more enjoyable, and have a greater amount of amusement quality.

Halloween weekend was a blast!

This weekend was Halloween and it was an amazing time. I was able to see some of my friends from home, which was great and we got to hang out all weekend. On Friday I was able to hang out with one friend in particular who I have missed a great deal. We got to tour around Prov and then head to a hotel where we hung out and played some games. I was treated out to supper and was able to watch a movie with her. We then met up with some of my other friends at Bubble tea in Winnipeg. After some bubble tea we hung out and jumped on a friend's trampoline while I drank some juice. It is difficult to drink juice while you jump on a trampoline in the dark. On Saturday we hung out at my friend in Niverville's house, watched a movie and then came to Prov to tour it once again with everyone on the way to Steinbach. In Steinbach we ate and shopped for costumes for trick or treating. Trick or treating was a blast, and in the end we got a few plastic bags full. Sunday was the day for goodbyes, which really sucked, but had to happen. I can't wait for another weekend like it, I hope one comes soon.

TGIF

Today after classes I get to see my friends, I am so excited. First I get to hang out with one of my friends at a hotel, I just wish there was a swimming pool. Next we are going to meet up with a group of friends, hang out a bit, and then head to Niverville to finish off the night. On Saturday I have no idea what we are doing, except that we are going trick or treating in the evening. I don't even have a costume but I can always rock out as myself. Anyway, this weekend is looking like the best weekend since thanksgiving and I can't wait to get out of here. Today has been pretty much waking up and heading off to my class, eating, and now waiting for my next, and final class. I am hoping I don't have to concentrate to hard in my next class because I am going to be pretty preoccupied and anxious about the weekend.

Just another day

Today was one of those days where I felt good doing nothing. There are times where doing nothing feels terrible and you know you didn't accomplish anything. Today I didn't feel that. Sure I could have been active, which I do need to do more. But I have gotten most of my work done and I am getting ready for a great weekend. I am planning on heading to Niverville and staying overnight at a friends house. We are then going trick or treating on Saturday and hanging out on Sunday also. What makes it that much more special is my hometown friends are coming out to spend the weekend too. Right now I am sitting in my room blogging, and eating junk food. I was playing video games, but I got fed up with the mission I had to do and decided to take a break. I will probably go back to it after I have done a skirmish or two, but right now I am content with sitting here and relaxing.

Biologists can be smart, but they can also be stupid

Today was my writing for the media class, double block. The first part was just notes and small discussions, which is not that interesting, but the second half of the class picked up a bit. When we got back after our 20 min break we got split up into small groups to look at different news articles for nut grafs. Nut grafs are paragraphs near the beginning of an article that crystallize the meaning of the article. As me and my partner were going through an article on a woman getting killed by coyotes, we came across this line, "coyotes, which are normally up to 50 pounds, are usually very shy, though they can be bold." This statement was made by a biologist who is retired. You would think that a retired biologist would be able to put a better sentence together, or at least have a solid statement in his sentence. Biologists are normally educated, so they are usually smart, although they can be stupid.

"Gold stars do not grow on trees"

My triple class day went particularly well today. Other than the unavoidably early first class, I was able to have a rather good school day experience. For intro to communications and media we watched a video clip. It was not the most entertaining thing ever, but it was a nice class none the less. For second class I did pretty much nothing, but it wasn't a typical boring class. I brought some hot chocolate into the class along with some chocolate, which kept me occupied for a little bit while the teacher did her thing. I also worked on a drawing in my notepad. After a humorous lunch, I went to dorm where I got some time to just chill. This was followed by my last class, television. Now this class started out normally and got pretty crazy near the end. We were talking about hypertextuality, when Dr. Greco used a Wikipedia analogy. I did not think this was fitting and so I asked about it. The debate got heated (not really) and when Johanna offered an alternative, talk about gold stars started flying. Now you must know that me and Johanna are tied for gold stars and, "Gold stars do not grow on trees," so you can imagine the struggle that took place. In the end I don't even know what happened, all I know is that I didn't get a gold star. That pretty much ended anything noteworthy in my day, till next time.

Extended weekend

Today was a pretty good day, I almost forgot to write something today because it seemed so much like the weekend. I got up this morning, knowing I had to go to class at 11:10 am. After laying in bed for awhile after the alarm goes my room mate sits up and looks at his phone. He looks over at me and says, "I just got a text, there is no class today." I am shocked and I ask again to make sure I heard right. I did hear right and now I am very excited. What better way to show my excitement than to go to bed right? That is exactly what I did, I laid my head back down and slept for a few more hours. It was delightful. I then got up and went to lunch, where I had some cereal. After coming back to dorm I played some computer games and then played some halo. I am now writing this blog and have realized that I need to get to work on some other papers so I am going to head off and do that.

Two day blog

I woke up this morning and I went to my first class, which is Spiritual Formations. In this class, as I was sitting there, I remembered that I did not do a blog for yesterday. I had a sudden rush of panic, what should I do, how can I make this better? I figured that I would do a 200 word blog today and if that didn't work I would not sweat it. So this is going to be my 200 word blog to make up for yesterday and cover today. This week has not been a very fun week. Sure there have been some good times, good laughs and fun activities. But I have been stressing about some of the work I have to do and not really enjoying things as much as I could be. This weekend I plan to go into Winnipeg and do a little unwinding, spend some time with friends and not worry about assignments that are due in the next week or so. Moving past the half way point in the school year also raises questions on final projects. Topics should be thought up and ideas brewing, if not already, soon. I have only gotten a start on about half of my papers, and that is not a physical start that is simply a mental thinking over of things, but you have to start somewhere. I will probably start more research or prep work for my upcoming papers soon, but I don't want to think about that right now.

To sleep or not to sleep?

Today was my Wednesday double block. It always seems like such a long class to have, especially in the morning, but every time I have gotten back to my room, I find my roommate still asleep. I find this humorous, but I am also slightly envious of the rest my roommate is getting. I feel like I have gotten so much done and yet I do love my sleep. I find that is how most mornings go when I wake up earlier than 8:30. I feel tired for the first few minutes and then I wake up in the morning air. If I slow down and stay still for too long however; I regain all the tiredness I did not get rid of while I slept. This makes me almost fall asleep in classes and while reading textbooks. It seems to flee quite quickly as soon as I start doing some thing that is of any interest to me, or requires me to actually interact with; example: homework, computer, sports activities.

Just another day + a midterm

Today was my second mid term exam, it was for Intro to Communications and Media. I did not study very hard and I think my work on the exam reflected that. I find it difficult to study for that class, but understand that I need to try a bit harder. Next I went back to dorm and sleep for awhile. After my nap I read one of my textbooks and went for lunch. I met with my group for our advertisement after lunch and we went over our plans. We have decided on an idea, but I will not blog about it right now. The suspense must be at its maximum before I do that. For my third class we watched different clips of television shows, which was enlightening and funny. Who knew those two things could go together so well in a college classroom.

Mid term exams this week

Back to blogging again today, start of a new work week and beginning of mid term exams week. For me I only have one exam that I know of this week. I had my intro to the bible exam last week as you might recall from previous blogs and now I only have one left apparently. It is really nice but I am not sure what I have to do in the other classes that do not have a final project instead of exams for major assignments. I have gotten ahead in some areas of my classes and in other classes I have not even started on final projects or assignments. I feel like I am going to be swamped at the end of the semester but I am sure I am just being paranoid. It seems so easy to gain stress and so hard to strip it off. Why do we as human beings accept so much pressure when we have such a mighty God? I usually have to push myself to remember and ask for God's help and deliverance in stressful times, but when I do I find amazing peace. It is quite spectacular how it works when you trust in God's providence.

Theaters are a jip

Today is my triple class day, which sucks, but it is also Friday, which rocks. I had to go to my Spiritual Formations class this morning and hand in the first big paper I have had to do. It was an easy class and I went back to my room and watched whose line is it anyway. In my second class, which is television, we got to watch another episode of Max Headroom. Today's episode was possibly the best Max Headroom episode yet, it actually had some humor that got the class to laugh out loud, which is a step up for that show. In the second half of the class we discussed the difference between cinema, and television. We found out that there is a difference between the video being projected onto a screen and the video being directly projected into your eyes. We then determined that theaters rip you off when you have to pay for your video because you are watching a reflection and not the actual video. If you would like to join our petition please comment on this blog, thank you.

Exam today

Today was kind of a slow day, there was stuff to do, but I wasn't very rushed in doing it. I woke up around 11:10 and worked on my Spiritual Memoir paper. This took me until lunch where I ate and played a few games of pool with Arjun. I ended up losing most of them and then came back to the dorm to study for Intro to the bible. It was a nice study period, I laid on my bed and went over my notes with music quietly playing. I ended up dozing off once or twice, but I thought I took in quite a bit. I went to the exam confident that I knew most of my stuff, which felt good. I wrote the exam and thought that I did do quite well, I do not know my exact mark yet but I will probably blog about it when I get it back. After the exam I went to supper and finally back to dorm, it was not an exciting day but it wasn't terrible. I felt pretty content after I finished my exam and knew I had less than a page to write on my paper that is due tomorrow. Speaking of that paper I should get to it.

Wednesday the 14th

This is for Wednesday the 14th, I know I am a bit late but I got side tracked. This one is going to be thought up quick so that it will be as close to the 14th as possible. The 14th has been so crowded, I have been doing stuff pretty much non stop. Not everything was necessary, but it's nice to slow down a bit and not do work 24/7. I have an exam on the 15th that I have been studying for and a paper due for my spiritual formations class on Friday. I am pretty sure that the exam won't be to terrible, but there are some things that I need to understand more. I also think that I can get this paper done with time to spare, although I am procrastinating quite a bit. This blog has also been set aside, mostly due to the fact that as soon as I came back from my class, I fell asleep and woke up in the afternoon. Okay that is it for Wednesday the 14th, I'll be back soon to update you on my Thursday the 15th.

Thanksgiving is over

Yesterday I got dropped back at Prov, it was a terrible realization that I would not be able to have another holiday till Christmas. Getting dropped off and left here once again was not a pleasant experience, made worse by getting up this morning and going off to a morning class. Already I am feeling slightly homesick, which I am sure will pass but is not fun to deal with right now. The work is also not a fun thing, having to get back to assignments and papers, knowing that exams are coming is not a very fun thought when you get back from a good weekend. From Friday to Monday I was hanging with friends, eating great food, playing some halo 3 campaign, and having a great time. I am sad to see it end and I can't wait to do it again, but I am also looking forward to the times and experiences I will be having right here at prov.

Participant Observation (2 days left)

As I woke up this morning at 8:00 AM, I thought to myself, shoot I have to go to class already. This thought lead me into the day. I think about it now and how my day went, and it really wasn’t that bad. In class we were greeted with Dr. Greco’s smiling face and watched some movie clips. Later in the class we were introduced to Participant Observation. This is when you write on what you have observed and participated in yourself. We had not done anything special in the day so far, so Dr. Greco released us onto the campus to report our participation and observation. This is what I observed.

I exited the classroom wondering what I could possibly observe as a walked down the carpeted hallway with classrooms passing me by. I wondered how I could come up with an interesting, and descriptive report as I turned left and took the 6 flights of stairs, ridden with advertisements, and notices to the bottom floor. There I took a look at the bistro, there was no one at the café tables that riddled the tiled floor outside the bookstore. I decided to try my luck at the mailboxes, where I too had a mailbox that had not been checked that day. I passed the bathrooms and dodged the pillar, turning the corner to look down the dungeon’s gray cement pathway. I quickly reached the room full of small cubbyholes that are our mailboxes. Still no one occupied this small room, where letters and packages from friends and family are delivered to cheer us up from our regular routines. While I was there I noticed that my mailbox, like the day before, was empty. This was not a surprise, but it did not make me feel good. This trail was cold, and so I retraced my steps and then found new ones that took me to the Student Life Center, more commonly referred to as the SLC. As I ambled towards the SLC, through the chilly October breeze, down on the sidewalk in front of me was white chalk writing. This particular writing was promoting Amber Allen for freshman representative. I had never met Amber, but the chalk writing did catch my eye, maybe I will vote Amber. When I stepped into the comfortably warm SLC at around 9:40, I noticed that this was not a very opportune time to be observing student life. There were very few people sitting around, mostly watching TV, but also playing a game of pool. I was drawn to the largest group of people who were on the couches watching sports highlights on Sports Center. After the initial highlight of hockey team Minnesota Wild beating the Anaheim Ducks: 4-3, football and baseball highlights followed from recent games. From all these highlights, the highlights that I liked the most were the football Hit Room clips. It turns out however the highlight of the night was Alex Semin of the Washington Capitals, who scored a goal where he juked out a defense man from the Philadelphia Flyers. As the amazing highlights came to a close, a classic television show opened for us to watch. The Price is Right was the show, and in the first round hearts were pumping quicker as the contestant beat the buzzer playing the game Bonkers by milliseconds. By this point time was running out for me to be away from class. I made my way back to the classroom in the now dreary weather that plagued the campus grounds. Feeling better when I got inside the building, I made it to class and ended my Participant Observation Report.

3 more days

Alright, the week is over half done for me, I am getting picked up and driven home on Thurs. It is going to be great, I even have slow days for the next two days. I am planning on getting some reading done and starting on writing up my spiritual memoirs for Spiritual Formations class. Today wasn't a terrible day, it consisted of getting up early and missing Supper but other than that it was alright. I had three classes which turned out fine, we even watched an optional Max Headroom episode today. It was kinda weird, but what Max Headroom episode isn't? The best part of my day was probably having a nap after first class, it was a nice time just to lay down and listen to music while I rested. I got nothing done and read a page of my textbook but I was rested for a large part of the day after i was done.

4 more days till Thanksgiving

The beginning of the week has come and I must continue my first hand account of blogging for the betterment of mankind. Well not really, I find my topics quite boring and need something to happen in my life that is blog worthy. Today was a day of sitting around and reading a book that is supposed to be read and reported on for Spiritual formations class. It has many things to think about and that is just what it made me do, think. I feel that I am an open minded person, but this book caught me slightly off guard with some of its opinions and thoughts. It could be the wording though, I didn't quite understand all of it, which I should probably work on. It did get me thinking of my beliefs, and how I need to be clear on what they are. On a totally different topic there is only 4 more days till I get to leave for thanksgiving break. I am so excited and I think I will do a countdown on my blog till I leave.

Today was my double block of Writing for the media class, where I was informed that we have to write a longer blog and use techniques that we learned from the textbook. The first one is launching, which means I have to think of a topic. This started as a seemingly difficult task because I did not just want to talk about what happened in my day and try to expand to get the right amount of words. So I asked my friend what I should write about, she had the idea that I should tell about my experience so far at Prov. This seemed like a good idea, I would do a large recap on my time here, but after some more thought, I decided not to tell about what I had done, but some key points of what I have learned through my time at Prov. I have been taught from many different sources, which is where the second point comes from. Reporting: this is where you get your resources that you use in your writing. So some of my research sources, as it were, are teachers, friends, the bible, quiet time with God, and miscellaneous events. I have now been thinking about putting everything together in an organized manner, which happens to be the next step of writing. Focusing is putting all the ideas and thoughts from your research and resources together so you can put it down in writing. I did not really know how to organize all my research because it is mostly in my head anyway, so I think I will skip to the writing part and pause, as I need to when things get unorganized. So on to the writing part. My time at Prov has been very interesting so far, I say interesting because it has not been great, considering the homework, but it definitely has not been bad. It would be more of a positive interesting. Through my various classes, mostly the bible courses, but others too, I have been learning a lot about God and how to connect with him in different ways. I have been able to see the bible in a different light, with new ways to read it. New and different ways to pray and seek God have also been shown to me. I have been introduced more into the act of physical and spiritual healing through the Holy Spirit. I am amazed and slightly overwhelmed by all the stuff I have had to process this far into the semester. I also realize that the semester isn’t even half over and Thanksgiving is looking really good right now. I think it is great that I am continuing to learn new and, for the most part, exciting things about God and his word that will help me teach others and connect with God on a deeper level.

Bad start good finish

Today was a pretty good day other than having homework on the mind through out the day. I would say other than that the worst part was not getting any breakfast when I had an 8:30 class. My alarm didn't go and I had 10 min to get to class by the time I woke up and looked at the clock. After first class was done I went to my room to do some reading, then went to second class. Had lunch, chilled for awhile, went back to dorm for more reading. Went to third class and picked groups for our television advertisement, I am now "the guy that sits next to Cody". I don't really mind being that guy, it was pretty funny and I think our group could do well. When my third and final class was done I went and hung out with my brother for awhile and then ate some supper. I have to say that the meals today have been very good, I usually eat to much and feel kinda bad after but its hard when there are so many choices. I will now sit in my dorm and chat while I think of homework that I could do till I go watch a movie later tonight.

Start of another week but it's alright

Wow today has been going on nonstop, I have been all over the place. Yet I still feel like I have done nothing today and I almost forgot to do this blog. I think today was a pretty good start to the week. On the weekend I got two of my papers done and a bunch of reading, so I came into the week with a bunch off my shoulders. Today I was able to sleep in and then take a shower before heading off to class. The class was intro to the bible, which I always find enlightening and it is also the only class of my day today. I went for lunch after that and came back to the dorm and watched a movie after doing some random stuff on my computer. I then chatted on msn and found out that we had an intramural football game. This took me till after 6:30 and Supper was over so I didn't get in for that. I decided to come back to dorm and ended up chatting on msn and then remembered that I needed to blog yet which kinda sucked cause I was trying to get away with not doing any work today. This hasn't taken me to long to do so I guess it is alright and now I am done so I will get back to chatting.

Classes done for the weekend and new season of Smallville today :)

Alright!! it's almost the weekend and I am officially done classes for the weekend. It is great not to have to go to class for the next few days but it also brings to mind all the homework and papers I have to write. With all the time I have on the weekend with not doing anything fun or exciting though I might make it work. There is always immersing myself in video games and movies, which help my social life nothing. Seriously though, I think that I need to get out a bit more, like take today for instance, I will most likely be getting up and getting out of my dorm to hang out in the Student Life Center. Granted it will be to watch the season premier of Smallville. I can't wait, I think it is going to be a great season, Lana is gone and Zod has come so bring on the super powers and lets see some insane battles. I kind of doubt it will work like that but there will be some amazing things happening, I just know it.

Woke up fine now I'm tired

This morning was great, I had some reading to do and when I got up at 9:30 I was ready to begin the day. I sat up in bed and felt rejuvenated for the day ahead. As the day wore on I still was doing fine, but as soon as it got to my first class of the day at 3:20 I got tired and could hardly keep my eyes open in class. It was so confusing to me, I had woke up with such vigor and now could hardly stay awake for a class that was an hour long. The thing that always makes me feel bad is that as soon as class is over, I get over it. I feel better and am ready for more activities. It happened this way today until I tried to read my textbooks for class tomorrow. I was great, collapsed in class and then I was fine again until more school work came and then I couldn't hold my eyelids open. School work just doesn't hold enough excitement to get the adrenaline pumping and keep the wear and tear of the day off. Who would have guessed. I also realize that this is most likely a first glimpse at what is to come for me throughout the semester.

Prayer and Halo do mix

Today was officially our day of prayer at Prov. There was prayer and worship throughout the night and a prayer walk in the morning. I stayed for an hour of the night prayer and enjoyed just sitting there praying while the other people sang. From there I went back to my room for some much anticipated sleep, but started reading instead and then fell asleep around 3:30. I finally regained consciousness around 12:30 and then fell asleep again till 1:10. When I woke up, I decided to read one of my books for class and then play some DS. I played till 4 and then went for communion, it was great to be a part of communion with the small turnout of Prov students and staff. After communion I went for supper and when supper was through I went to play the new game Halo 3: ODST. We started off with firefight, which pits you against waves of enemies that get harder and harder over time. It was amazing and I am still watching it go on as I write this blog.

lazed around in dorm, prayer tonight

Today was slightly unproductive, I had three classes, which is more than any other day except Friday but I have done almost no homework other than this blog. I almost forgot about this blog also, I have been lounging in my dorm for most of the day playing Pokemon, which I have gotten pretty far in considering I can't save it so I have to keep the DS on all the time. So tonight is the start of the Providence day of prayer and fasting. I have not really decided what I am going to fast so I might just fast food. I am thinking I will go for an hour tonight to the night prayer group thing, but I may end up staying longer than that. I think that this day of prayer will be a great thing to take part in and I expect for amazing things from God to happen when we are all gathered together as a community.

Freshman retreat was a blast

We got back from our freshman retreat yesterday, it was kind of a disappointment to come back and have to do work and assignments. At camp it was such a great weekend. We went canoeing, cliff jumping, night time swimming, had snacks, sang songs, hung out with friends, and went to chapel services. I was amazed at the one chapel where I was able to learn more about the Holy Spirit and hear more about Gods healing and provision. I love hearing about that sort of stuff and it gets me excited but I have never tried it, so at the end of the last chapel service I decided to go ask for prayer and pray for some other peoples healing. It was a great growing experience and I hope to learn even more through the continued prayer for my eyes. I have had glasses since I was around 4 and this weekend at camp I decided, "Why not me? Why can't God heal my eyes?" So I have been praying for my eyes and I am going to look for more people to help pray for the day of prayer that we have at Prov on Wednesday. I know God may not heal me immediately but I trust and know that he will give me something out of this experience and I believe it will be the healing of my eyes someday.

Laundry day

Today as I was thinking about the freshman retreat and what I all needed to bring. I realized that clothes would be a good choice and clean ones an even better choice. So I decided to take on the task of doing my laundry for the first time at Prov. I got everything together and went down there and split all my colors into two loads and one for my whites. Washing was easy and at this moment is all done. Drying was very easy also, although it takes a few cycles to get everything perfectly dry, I have started the dryer three separate times now for one load and I find that quite silly. Right now I have just had lunch and am going to another class at 2:00 so I thought I would read some textbook material and try to write some papers so that I would not have to scramble for Tuesday so I should get to that.

To lazy, to forgetful, to forgetful or did I say that already?

Today I didn't have classes till 3:20 so I slept in and forgot all about the blog. I only realized it when I was driving back to Prov from my desert social activity. So when I got back to dorm I went straight to my computer and started talking to people on msn. I soon realized once again that I had not done my blog and decided I should probably do that before anything else. Now I am here sending my message out to the few followers I have and any random person that decides to take 2 minutes out of their busy day and read a strangers blog. Thinking of that slight possibility I should probably make it worth their while to read this blog. I can't really think of much that would make this blog interesting to a stranger unless they like Star Wars or Halo. So I am sorry but I will just say that it was good to go hang out with some of the staff of Providence College and get to know some more freshmen while enjoying ice cream sundaes.

Blogging in class

Today I am just sitting in my writing for the media class, I have just interviewed Kyle Bergman and am going to write a paragraph about him. Don't worry everyone it's for class I'm not writing from my spare time about people I have met during the day. Today I plan to catch up on some of my reading and start my Devotional Classics assignment. I may also get some nap time in and go to convocation, which my teachers encourage me to go to. I am also looking forward to calling my parents and catching up with them today. Just a heads up for the weekend, I am going to the annual freshman retreat at Red Rock Bible camp which I hear is a very good time. I will probably be updating you after the weekend also but I am pretty excited and thought I would mention it. Also because I was running out of things to say and should get to work on my other paragraph.

Warning Textbooks are more boring than they appear. (is that possible?)

Today was a day of much reading. I had it all planned out on my computer how much I would read every day and which books and which chapters from those books but the load crept over from yesterday into today. Since I had a class in the morning I was not able to read up on anything before 9:45. When I did get a chance to read up on my work I got bored with the reading and fell asleep. It slowed down the reading a fair bit but it was nice to have a nap while I listened to my roommates music. After my second class was over right before lunch I decided to eat and head back to dorm to finish the reading which I am happy to say I have mostly completed. I have one more book that I had wanted to read today and one I have to read for tomorrow but I think they will be much easier reads and have slightly more interesting content. I also needed to keep up on my blog which has given me a little time to get away from reading for a bit and write something.

Weekends over back to work

Third day of posts and just heading into the week after a pretty good weekend. The weekend was spent catching up with friends from back home and hanging out with friends in Niverville. While in Niverville I attended church which helped a lot after feeling out of the loop with family and friends back home. For today however I will be doing a bunch of reading so that I don't have to do as much tomorrow and start on some of the work that goes along with that reading. I hope to be able to understand all the content that is supposed to go into the writing pieces but I guess the first few weeks are where I am supposed to learn about that a little more anyway. So to all my Professors, I will probably not get it right the first time, but I will have something written.

Day Two

Today is one of my busiest days, Fridays consist of Christian Spirituality 1: formations, Television, and Intro to communications and media. The work load so far is starting to look kinda scary and I haven't even been to all my classes. There is a lot of required reading which I can do but finding the time and determination to continue to do it will be a challenge. I am also looking forward to my Television class but I also expect it to be one of the harder classes and am not looking forward to the workload. I think I am going to start to crack down on my readings here soon so I will wrap this up. I would like to ask for prayer seeing as I have been in class 2 days and starting on my 3rd and already I am feeling overwhelmed, I am sure I will get through it but the feeling of stress is still there and I don't like that feeling.

First post, second day Sept 10, 09

Okay so today is the second day of classes and the first day I must post on my blog. So to recap, my name is Joel Martens and I have decided to study communications and media at Providence College. The first day was pretty good, although it could have been the fact that I only had a double block of one class and that was in the morning so I was free by lunch. Free may be a strong word. The class was writing for the media, and although a class devoted to writing sounds a little boring it can be interesting. I am sure I will be updating you about the course in my blog down the road.