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.