Rain is fallin on my window pane..

Actually, it's not anymore. But seeing as it rained here in Lynchburg for well over a day and a half, I assumed it was fitting.

Life is interesting. The paths you think you're going to take are often never the ones we end up taking. Idealism doesn't seem to be in God's dictionary.

I have found a whole new love for poker. Online and in real life. I think honestly online poker is easier because you don't have the crutch of judging people's body language and you can be completely objective. It's a nice luxury to have, so you don't get in the habit of banking on certain people messing with their cards (or people like me who like to lay both their cards face down and never look at them more than once when they're hardcore bluffing and keep checking them when they have a great hand). There's some kind of magic about strategy, percentages, and most of all luck in one giant gambling sandwich. Especially when you beat 4 of your best friends in a $2 buy in round and win some money. That's pretty much the pickle on this giant gambling sandwich.

Also... I think I have become quite aware that the chances of me ever finding a cute girl anywhere near my age that likes me and is exactly what I want (not that I really even know what that is anymore). It's kind of hard after you're done with high school and then done with residential college work (whether by graduating or not taking traditional classes anymore) to socialize with large groups of people you've never met. I suppose church does the trick, but I find that I end up (yes, even going to a church with 10,000+ in attendance every Sunday) seeing the same people over and over. It's quite a shame. I think moreover, the problem is not that there are no facets in which to mingle, but that people are not very outgoing. People often find those one or two friends they really like, usually end up marrying one of them and never mingle with people outside their comfort zone. WE NEED TO CHANGE THIS NOW OK?

That's why people are so flat. When you meet a truly static person, what stands out about them? It has to be that they only listen to one type of music, always eat red or white meat. They're never adventurous and normally pretty reserved and introverted, right? I can almost hear you saying "Sweet dancing jehosephat no." So why don't we try to be more stretched people? Try and be a little round instead of flat (no that's not a fat joke). Try listening to things you would never have listened to normally. Go dancing if you have two left feet, go camping if you hate the outdoors, go to the museum if you hate the city, go to a football game and scream your head off if you like quiet environments.

Take your social compass and find that true north. Then put the compass down, turn around, and start walking.

-Drew.

Today is brought to you by the number 3.

For the number of people today that almost involved me in a traffic accident.

#1 being a freshman that was backing up out of a space and looking right and not left...
#2 being a junior (but he was from new york, so infinitely worse of a driver than any freshman save a freshman from new york) who was not looking AT ALL when he was backing up
#3 a vapid looking woman who decided even though it was dark and she could probably hear a car at 30mph and see headlights coming around the blind turn 10 feet to her left, she was going to step off a curb and not look at all (and she was on the phone, which does not make her less aware but funny when she screams as I almost explode her body into bones and blood).

My tires are probably a little more worn down now than they were yesterday...


But anywho, this all to say that Liberty University (the world's most EXCIIITING university) is back in session. With all the hooplah that comes along with it (most of it being pretty fabulous), it brings along thousands of the worst drivers in the world (seeing as we have many international students, I can make this lofty hyperbole).

I'm not saying if you attend Liberty University you're a bad driver. I'm not even saying that if you attend Liberty University you're going to hit somebody or get in an accident of some kind. However, there is something vaguely deja vu enducing about kids whose choice path of icnreasing other people's prayer lives is with their automobiles. The funny thing is, the incoming freshman are just as worse drivers by the end of the year as they are at the beginning, which stumps the old notion that the "I can't drive to keep my salvation" syndrome was from a direct influence of Pastor Jerry Falwell Sr, whom on many occasions ran people over with his car, pedestrian and drivers alike.

All I'm saying is that with all the "Not I, but Christ", "Don't let the car fool you, my treasure is in heaven", "What Would Jesus Drive?" bumper stickers, and easily identifiable parking decals and other Alumni or University Promotional stickers, decals, window flags, etcetera out there... why don't we actually drive the drive instead of just sticking a piece of paper on our cars and hoping somebody comes to Jesus by that Christian with the Thomas Road Baptist Church decal on their car that cut them off in traffic?

And I apologize to the person that girl was talking to on the phone when I almost hit her... I'm sure her scream didn't feel too pleasant in your ear. You should tell her if she's going to be stepping off curbs blindly to just call you later if she's going to be screaming. How frightfully rude. Hope you weren't in the middle of a sentence.

Drew.

expREEss yourseeelf....

Sometimes i hear people use the phrase "music is the expression of our soul" and I agree with that to an extent. I would also agree that knitting is an expression of our soul... and uni-cycling is an expression of our soul...

Charles Wright said it wright... err, right.....

He said it correctly (ah, that's better), "Express yourself!" Do it! G Mack's remix of this song says "Shine your light! Your light is bright! And sometimes you leave your light on... well turn it up!" If you express yourself through doing backflips on pogo-sticks, well then you just pogo-flip all day long. You should probably teach me. I want to be a pogo-flipper.

I think more importantly than expression yourself is not expressing what's not yourself (double negative alert). I can't sing like Isaac Hayes (RIP) but I sure can play the guitar. Sometimes I like playing the blues, sometimes I like playing classical, sometimes I just like jamming out with the electric cranked up. Some people express themselves through country music. I am not one of those people. Express yourself.

More over, expressing yourself is kind of important when it comes to relationships. Have you ever seen two people talking (we'll call them Bob and Hezekiah, but we'll call him Hez.) and Hez says to Bob,
"I don't like no parfait." and Bob would say,
"You don't like parfait either? That stuff's gross."
"Holler dog, down with the parfait."
Only to see Dave say to Bob later,
"Dude! I could go for some parfait right now..." and for some reason to which Bob would reply,
"I could go for a whole mess of parfait, I love that junk."

WHAT?

This is when you get psychologists going "Well, maybe he has a multiple personality disorder, or maybe he just likes some parfait, or maybe a new rare Seasonal Parfait Disorder! A-ha!"

Maybe he's just a liar? And a fake? I'm rather still interested whether or not he really likes parfait or not...

Relationships are a whole lot healthier when you express yourself. And that's what this life is about. Not just you... that's kind of selfish of me isn't it? I mean relationships. Relationships are key, John Donne said it best, "No Man is an island" (this was before women's suffrage, we can update it to say human)

Thrive on those relationships, build them up, help people be themselves, and as Charles Wright said,

Express yourself!