More than just a music festival

So orientation day went well. Got all my college stuff together and set up my schedule for the fall. It looks like I will basically get all my heavy work load done on Monday and Tuesday, with one small class on Friday, and then have almost the rest of the week to study and what not. It should be nice. The orientation day was a lot simpler than I thought it would be. We basically just went into a class room, chose what courses we wanted, and then registered online. Then we got our ID photos, and that was it. Pretty sweet.
But until then, the more exciting thing coming up right now is soulfest! Four days away now, and I'm getting pumped. We have more than ten dudes coming up to tent in our backyard this year. And that usually is an event of its own. Gonna be a quieter year this year at Soulfest, music-wise. But honestly, that's not the only reason I go.
There are tons of stuff to buy. Clothes, food, cd's, books, and lots of other stuff. Plus, it a great excuse to just spend a week with your friends and take a vacation from work. :p
But, the best thing at Soulfest for me is the atmosphere. It is amazing, just being with so many fellow believers and worshiping God with them, it is really encouraging. I have never left Soulfest feeling disappointed at all. Uplifting is putting is lightly. I find it sorta recharges me during the rest of the year. Boosting me in Christ, so to speak. And after Soulfest is done, and I'm not surrounded by all those believers anymore, and I go back to my day to day stuff. I really see how unclean the world is, and how I can sorta seep back into a filthier version of myself. Soulfest, is so encouraging and uplifting, it changes you, I think. It is like a tiny chunk of Heaven, where people are gathered and praising His name in unison. And once you leave that tiny chunk of Heaven, you're like 'Dang, this is what I have to go back to? This is how I live my life?' And I find that every year, even if it's only a slight change in me, I try to get better than the previous year, and be more and more Christ-like to the world. And really, that's what God commands of us. To not follow in the crude and dirty paths the world makes, but to be a light for Christ to them. And I think Soulfest, for me anyway, helps me get closer to that calling.
So, needless to say, I am rather pumped for Soulfest as usual. Can't wait. Peace out. :D

Reviewing the Hellgrammite/Dobsonfly and other random news

About a month and a half ago, I was given a real interesting insect to add to my collection. It's called a Hellgrammite. It is the weirdest thing you've ever seen. Seriously, it looks like it shouldn't be from this planet. Its long and centipede-like, but it only has 6 legs, like your regular insect. Because it's aquatic, it has fins down the lower half of it's body. Not to mention some pretty nasty jaws on the front of it.
Apparently, it is the nymph-stage of an insect known as the DobsonFly. Which has wings and even larger mandibles(The mandibles are not actually used to hunt or eat, just there to look nice and pretty for all those lady Dobsonflies. :p) The Dobsonfly lives for around only 7 days. But the Hellgrammite can live for a lot longer.
There's really nothing else thats super interesting about 'em. Besides thier alien-like qualities. Just another reason why bugs are sweet. Working on getting a full grown Dobsonfly to go with my Hellgrammite hopefully. Would look real great in my collection.

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In other news, The Dark Knight did not disappoint at all. Heath Ledger did an amazing job at portraying the Joker(My favorite batman villain.) from the old DC Comic material. Kudos to him. The only thing I noticed is that was not included in the movie, was the Joker's Hench-chic, Harley Quinn, who was a regular in the old shows. Other than that, it was dead on. Awesome movie.

Also, Orientation Day for college is coming up this Friday. Keeping that in prayer. Speaking of which, The new X-files movie is coming out that day too. Sweetness! Totally forgot. I even get to work that day! Yay! :p Oh yeah, it's gonna be a busy day.

...8 days till Soulfest \m/

Lately

Well, Sunday I played some football with my friends. Then, on Monday, I worked 6-4 non-stop in the produce department. After I got out, I thought it would be a cool idea to walk around Laconia all night. Then, I went back to work again 6-4 today, produce again.
Now, I was already pretty achy from the football game Monday morning. But did I think, 'Gee Dave, that game really wiped ya out on Sunday, maybe you should take it easy at work today and have a relaxing night indoors later?' Oh no I didn't. Here I am, Tuesday evening, regretting some of it to some extent. My poor arms and legs are screaming at me to simply not move, and I am feeling rather sleepy. Plus, I am broke till Thursday, but hey thats okay. I have tomorrow off anyways. I can rest up.
In other news, college stuff is moving along. I go to orientation day on the 25th and figure out my classes and all that important stuff. Possibly looking into taking a couple CLEP exams to knock off a couple courses, hopefully. Also, my bug collection is starting to build up. Getting a lot of beetles and wasps for it. I have to have like at least 50 insect family names memorized by the end of the summer. And that ain't easy. So far, I have around...eh..ten. Gotta start cranking on that too.
Looking at getting a car here at some point. Preferably not a Hummer, or something like that. Nothing thats way to large or unnecessary. Ugh. Praying that I can get one cheap, and low on gas of course. Something that gets me from point A, to point B. Otherwise, just taking it one day at a time, working, making some moolah, bumming around, praying lots, bumming on the pc, pinning bugs, oh yeah, fun stuff.

Words of Wilford

Wilford Brimley has made it into several tv commercials that you might have seen while flipping through the channels. All of these commercials are advertising Liberty Medicare and how they can help you with different medical problems, such as diabetes. But you may have noticed that he pronounces the word, diabetes, in a weird way. Instead of sounding like 'diabeeteees,' he says 'diabeetisss.' And we all know that is very very wrong.
So, on the 4rth of July, a couple of my friends(Don't ask why) decided to Youtube 'Wilford Brimley,' and got this fun little dance video of our old friend dancing to techno and boldly pronouncing diabetes in his bizarre fashion. Enjoy.

The author of our lives

As impossible as it can seem sometimes, I'm finding a lot of growth in myself and with God from giving praise to Him when I feel like nothing could be worse in my life. It has really been amazing. As weird as it seems, thanking God for your cruddy times in life is honestly one of the best things you can do.
We grow from the trials and tests that God puts us through. God never gives us a temptation that is beyond us, and he commands us to give Him praise and thanksgiving for everything, including the downright ugly times. Even when we are far from our best, and we would rather become angry and accuse God of the things he puts us through, we need to stop and realize that this is all under His control and He has allowed such things to happen to us. I'm finding it rather hard on some days, and easier on others. But, I'm learning day by day, that the most important thing to do, is just give everything over to Him and let Him work his perfect plan in our lives.
If we had it our way, and life was exactly the way we wanted it, and we never had cruddy times, we tend to think it would be perfect. But I see that it is exactly the opposite. If we could have life the way we wanted it, would it really be a good life? Out of God's will? God allows things, that may not seem grand at all, to happen in our lives. To test us, help us grow in Him, and for his perfect plan. There is no other path that would be better for our lives, we are already getting the best there is. Kinda cool if ya think about it. We are getting the best thing God could ever give us, and we're living it everyday.