A poem from "Now We Are Six" and a list of Childrens Books

A Thought

If I were John and John was me
I'd be six and he'd be three
If John was me and I was John
I shouldn't have these trousers on

-A.A. Milne

Good books intended for children are simply the best. I hope my children read these:

The Chronicles of Narnia
Little House on the Prarie
Blueberries for Sal
Madaline
Homer Price
Whinnie the Pooh
Now We Are Six
The Hobbit
Tintin

The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out To Get Us- Sufjan

A Letter to Summer

Dear Summer,

We are separated by a great span of time. Math tests, many cups of coffee, and unwritten songs concerning your brother spring stand between us. Do not despair. I love and care about you the most. Please do not misunderstand me for I do enjoy my time here on the Mountain. For I do like it here, here with winter. But dearest, you have been on my mind. Just yesterday I picked up "Tom Sawyer" which I hope you will remember we read together last year. I started thinking about your coffee shops and your picnics and your friends that live with you. Your bare feet, your frisbee, your giddy songs, your bonfires, your family, your walks around town, your books, your simple foods, your movies in the park, your buzzing city.

I can barely stand this time in between.

Yours,
Stephen

P.s. I will listen to "15 step" every day that we are apart.

Nothing frees the writers hand...

.... like a large amount of Grecian Homework. How the words do fly when there are better more constructive things to be doing. But what good will this homework do me? I will not look back fifty years from now and say to myself in a crackly withered voice, " My, my, my, I think I will look back at my old Greek homework from college." However, It is possible that I will look back at that silly little blog I used to write. And it enjoy it.

Sigh. Putting off learning the Perfect Active Particle of luo will negatively affect my grade.

Hear ye!: Spring and Summer approacheth. Verily, I say unto ye listen to thy favored music pertaining to the coming seasons. Verily, I say unto ye I chooseth "No one's Gonna Love You" by the Band of Horses.

Why I like Coffee

As I first typed the title to this blogpost, I immediately thought about my high-school days. This is not because I wrote essays about coffee, or even because I enjoy sentences including the word "why" without a question mark at the end. It is because of Oration day. Everyone student at Dayspring Christian Academy had to write their own oration defending topics ranging from "Providence of God through History" to "Insects are Scary: Here is Why." (2nd Time!) My favorite orations were preformed by the 1st-4th graders. They were always some variation on the theme "God is also Jesus." The oration was just a bunch of facts smooshed into a three point outline but golly did those children make me chuckle.

Now... to coffee!

The following piece of information is not easy for me to admit: I started drinking coffee because my friends drank coffee. And by "my friends" i mean, of course, Peter. I saw him start his coffee journey and envied him. He was so intensely awesome for enjoying that chalk tasting drink. The following is a conversation that i am making up but probably happened. I will call it "How I started drinking coffee"

Myself- "Man, that Peter sure likes that coffee."

A friend we will call Archibold- "I know. He even drinks it black. Without cream and sugar. And he likes it!"

Me- Well yeah.

Archibold- "Wow. He is so cool. Don't you wish you were as cool as him?"

I- "What do you mean?... I drink coffee black."

Archibold-Oh yeah? Prove it.

It was then and there that I drank my first cup of black coffee. It tasted like garbage but I managed to consume it with a straight face. Archie left looking rather impressed and I like I was going to vomit.

Then I started actually liking coffee. It took time but after a while I thought to myself, "Well whatdya know, I think i am enjoying this." Fast forward to modern day right now, and you will see my drinking about three cups a day. It started out as a ploy to be as cool a Peter... and though thats part of it, I now cannot go a day without that mug of caffeinated goodness. Think twice before you start.

Amsterdam by Coldplay or your favorite coffee song.

Dancing. Always Dancing. Actually, Sometimes Dancing.

GOOD NEWS:
We are here at YoWAW.
My church Youth Group is also here.
My sister attends my church.
She, in conclusion, is here.
(We are going back)

GOOD NEWS WITH SLIGHTLY ANNOYING CONSEQUENCES:

a. There was a dancing party.
But- It made me a little bit sweaty.
b. I played a concert with Third Lobby.
But- "Calvin" was out of tune.
c. They have coffee here.
But- It is not very good

MEDIOCRE NEWS WITH LITTLE/NO CONSEQUENCES:

The biscuits here are not as bad as you think they would be at first glance.

SCARY NEWS WITH MEMORABLE CONSEQUENCES:

We had a snow adventure to get to YoWAW. This included almost getting stuck in many a snowy bank and naming our car Pamela. Splurge.

BAD NEWS

I miss my Covenant Pals.

Look back to good news look in the parenthesis .

NEWS:

Listen to a song about war.

"Mulch" (I don't like that word either)

As a worker of the grounds here at Covenant, I interact with mulch more than many of my friends. That being said, I do not know if the mulch and I as a whole are on good terms. Most days we are not. These are the cold rainy days where he stubbernly sticks to edge of the truck. Or the cold frozen days where he is asleep and will not wake up. Or on the blazing hot days where he is heavy and smells horrifically.

But I live for the cool, breezy, sunny days. It is then when we are close. I carry him to garden and he lays down without making a fuss. I am happy to be pals with this guy.



-Taxi Cab. VW.

Service

Chapel is interesting.

Sometimes exhaustion chooses this particular instance to creep up on me. There will be times when my eyes and mind start to close and suddenly my head snaps back. Usually my neighbors on either side snicker and giggle at this. It's understandable. I would do the same to them.

Sometimes my mind is on other things. School. Or not school. At any rate, it is hard to concentrate on anything plus the word of God.

Sometimes the chapel speaker is boring. After a hour long math class, the last thing i usually want to is engage with someone who is hard to understand.

But there are times when my eyes are opened. Today, I was wide-eyed. The speaker, Jon Wheat, was engaging but more importantly convicting. He spoke about the importance of being a servant in a self-centered world. He told me about the life of Jesus who came to serve. He ripped me apart and then led me to foot of the throne of grace. I thank God for the wide-eye times.

Learning How to Die- Jon Foreman

Despicable Cleaning Supplies

Every once and awhile, the medical gurus at Covenant decide it is a good idea to spray every touchable surface with chemicals. The purpose? To prevent sicknesses such as the swine flu, chicken pox, rat fever, mad cow disease, crow insanity, grass hopper awareness, and many others. I guess it is necessary. But that does not mean I have to like it! Whenever I open a door and then consume an apple, the taste of chemical grossness immediately overpowers my scenes. I have three choices at this point:

!. I can either throw the apple as far as I can and wash my mouth.
?. I can complain to the cleaning authorities.
@. I can choke the apple down and complain to the Internet.

#. I am still listening to Sigur Ros unhealthily but today I choose Franz Ferdinand- Take Me Out. Headbanging will occur in certain spots.

"The Begining of Sigur Ros" or "The End of The Horse and His Boy"

Glosoli. Hippipolla. Saeglopur. It is total gibberish to me (and sometimes everyone else in the world)but for this band it doesn't matter. It is beautiful stuff. Please check out the mumbling wonder called Sigur Ros. Also check out, courtesy of Miss Vanbiber, these first two mentioned songs on youtube. It is some of the most victorious and beautiful music videos you will ever see. I think this is the band I have been looking for.

In other equally exciting news, The Horse and His Boy has been conquered! For those who do not know, a few dedicated Narnia fans meet (almost) every school night at eleven to read the Chronicles. It is probably the most wonderful thing I can think of. Let me express my feelings in an equation:

Childhood Nostalgia+ Adventure Stories - The lack of seeing friends= Joy

Last night we concluded the tale and celebrated by taking a group picture.
I will provide a link once it surfaces on the interwebnet.com's. Three down, Four to go.

P.s. Music selection- Did you not check out Sigur Ros? Come on.