I first woke up this morning at 7:30 (that’s when I had set my first alarm), but none of my family was awake, so, after grabbing my cat and bringing him to my bed, I went back to sleep for another half-hour or so; my cat was still lying next to me when I woke up, and he was still there when we left for church as well. I love my cat.
We left for church around 8:45 or so (we needed to be there early since I was singing), stopping for donuts on the way out. We always stop at the same donut store, and, as I was told, the lady who runs the store has been asking where I’ve been. So, when I walked in today, she said, “You come home!” It was amusing. I got a cinnamon twist (cinnamon rocks) and a small bottle of Sunny D (which also rocks).
When we got to the church, the singing went well. It was a little rough because guys’ voices aren’t meant to sing before 11 in the morning (at least, mine isn’t), but I did a decent job of it, and the people in my grandparents’ Sunday school class were just glad that I was there to sing for them (it was my third time to do so). After singing, I went back to the normal service I go to with my brother, where they were still singing worship music, including God-themed Christmas songs, which was great. I LOVE singing Christmas music, and the God-centered ones are the best. Brother Jimmy had a really good message today about Joseph and how important he was, though he was an “invisible man” (the title of the message), and how we should strive to be the kind of man he was: a man who followed God’s orders without question, a man who was able to be trusted by God.
After service, I met up with my Sunday school class and my good friend James. We sat and talked for a while before we started Bible study, which, honestly, I wish I hadn’t stayed for. Forgive me for saying this, but our Sunday school teacher is a terrible teacher; you can tell that he really has a passion for God and for His word, which I respect a lot, but he’s just no good at teaching it, and I feel bad for him. I think that the college Sunday school class would have a higher attendance rate if we had a better teacher. Who knows? Maybe this guy will improve with time. I sure hope so.
I ate at Chili’s with my parents and grandparents for lunch after church (YUM…QUESO <3) and got the usual, and fun times were had by all. When we had finished, we all went home, and I fell asleep on the way back; I was pretty tired. Upon arriving at home, I went to my room, flopped down on my bed, and took a four hour nap. It was a good one. During this time, my parents were out Christmas shopping, and, once I woke up, Seth called and asked me to come over to hang out and watch a movie, which I happily agreed to. I picked up some McDonald’s (including a caramel mocha) on the way over. We watched the results for Survivor (a thoroughly stupid show that I don’t usually watch) and played a little Star Wars Battlefront II (he creamed me) before Andrew (yes, my roommate) showed up, when we decided to watch a Muppet Christmas Carol. Surprisingly enough, I don’t believe I had seen it before. I think it was good, but it would have been better without the songs. I thought that all of the non-singing parts of the film were fantastic, and Michael Caine as Scrooge was perfect; he’s an incredible actor.
I left his house a little after midnight, bringing me to the position I am now: lying on my bed watching TV while typing my daily blog post. I started with Family Guy (big surprise there; did you notice that yesterday was the only day, I think, I didn’t mention Family Guy at all?), and now I’m watching Avatar. I love this movie. Lame, I know, but I can’t help it; yes, I realize that it’s just Pocahontas in space, and that the script and acting suck, but it’s just a good movie with a good message, and it’s awesome to look at. I really like it. Also, it has great music by James Horner, which is a plus. Here’s one of the best songs off the soundtrack; it’s just a feel-good kinda song:
Jake’s First Flight
Tomorrow’s plans are in the open; there’s a chance I may eat lunch with Andrew and our friend Arielle, who graduated two years ahead of us (but we’re really close to her), at Chili’s once again, as is tradition, but, other than that, I’m not sure I have any other plans outside of what my mom may have me do at home.
Speaking of future plans, there’s a concert that is touring around the country that stops in Lubbock (for some reason) at the end of February, and MercyMe is one of the main groups performing; I’m pretty sure I’m gonna get tickets and go, unless something comes up that I can’t avoid, like the A&M Quidditch tournament that’s either at the end of February or start of March. I’m actually really excited for it; I don’t go to concerts often, and the only ones I HAVE been to were either free (which I don’t count) or were groups that were popular in the 1970s (Three Dog Night and the Eagles, both of which were excellent). Hopefully I get to go.
Anyway, I’m off to bed. It’s a bit late. Goodnight, everyone.
Chad
P.S. Here’s another one of my favorite songs from a film score – How to Train Your Dragon by John Powell:
I am officially done with my first semester of college, and I am finally home for longer than only four days. Praise God.
I was up VERY late last night since I slept so much yesterday; I originally wasn’t gonna say, but here it is: 5:30. I just wasn’t tired, and, when I DID lay down to sleep, it still didn’t happen immediately. I woke up first at 9:30 and saw Andrew out the door for his chemistry final, then proceeded to sleep another hour and a half before waking up (fully awake and refreshed, I might add; not tired at all). At that point, I finished packing up all of my stuff for the trip home, since I had already packed my band stuff and all of my video game stuff last night before I went to bed. I used my big suitcases this time instead of my duffel bag since I’m staying for much longer this time. After packing, Andrew showed up and started working on a couple of papers he had due today and I continued with making sure my side of the room was clean and that the dishes were done.
Then, at 1:20, I left for Holden Hall where my history final exam was being given at 1:30 and beasted that. It wasn’t too difficult at all; just a LOT of writing. All of our assignments in that class this semester were writing assignments, whether they were book analyses or essay exams. Today’s exam ended up taking four pages (front only) of handwriting. FOUR PAGES IN AN HOUR. But, other than that, it wasn’t bad at all.
After history, I went back up to the room and then left to go get my car at the parking garage, stopping by the music building first to get my concert horn so I can practice audition music for next semester just a bit over the break. Then I stopped by our residence hall and started carrying our stuff down and loading it up. Once we had all of our stuff loaded, we first went to Varsity bookstore nearby so that Andrew could return a textbook he had rented this semester and so that I could take care of some other business. Afterward, we made our way out, stopping only for gas and snacks/drinks (I’ve had sour gummy worms, a Vanilla Starbucks Doubleshot, and a bottle of green tea every trip so far; gotta keep it a tradition!). We finally hit the road at around 5:30.
The ride went very smoothly. The highway was a lot less crowded than I initially expected it to be, probably because people left yesterday or earlier today than we had. Who knows? We made good time to Abilene, where we always stop for dinner, and we got Subway for dinner…again. Ha, I LOVE Subway. Got the usual, of course. It didn’t take us too long to finish eating, so we got back on the road pretty soon (I don’t remember what time specifically). On the ride home, Andrew slept during most of the first stretch to Abilene, with me chilling to my Christmas music, but after we ate we listened to the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows audiobook by Jim Dale (I highly recommend it), since Andrew hasn’t read the whole thing before. We listened to four chapters.
We didn’t stop anymore until we got to Andrew’s house back home, and, after unloading his stuff, I headed to my house. My mom was already in bed, but she woke up long enough for me to talk to her a bit and hug/kiss her goodnight. I brought all my stuff inside, put the Tech ornament I had bought on the tree, and we all got ready for bed…of course, I had to type my daily blog first! May I mention that our house looks great? I love our Christmas lights every year, and just WAIT until you see our living room…here’s a couple of outside pictures, but I’ll wait until tomorrow’s post to show you the living room:
I started typing this post whilst watching some Family Guy (typical), but I turned the channel to Phineas and Ferb once that ended; have you ever watched Phineas and Ferb?! If you haven’t, you are most definitely missing out. I’m not even kidding. Turn to Disney Channel whenever it’s on and check it out. It’s SO creative and super funny. I don’t wanna give too much away for those who haven’t seen it, but trust me, please…watch it, for your own good.
Tomorrow, I plan on going to visit my old high school; well, at least the choir class since the head band director isn’t there this week. I also may go to see the play that the theatre department is doing, A Christmas Story. I didn’t get to see Arsenic and Old Lace when they put it on, so I really want to go tomorrow. There’s some friends who I haven’t seen in a long while who I’m looking forward to seeing again.
Has anyone seen the Disney Christmas Carol movie with Jim Carrey? I haven’t seen it yet, but it was directed by my favorite movie director, Robert Zemeckis, who also directed Back to the Future (my favorite movie), Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Cast Away, Polar Express, etc. He’s also remaking the old Beatles movie Yellow Submarine in CGI: I hope that turns out well.
Going back to Back to the Future, Telltale Games announced the official launch date of the new Back to the Future video game today: December 22. I’m SO excited. It looks like they’ve done a really good job with it; at least, I HOPE it’s good, since previous attempts at Back to the Future games failed miserably…
I’m pretty much out of things to say. I tried to keep going, but I’m done. Ha, goodnight, everyone. Safe travels if you haven’t made it home yet, and everyone have a great Christmas!
Chad
P.S. – My cat is awesome and I missed him a lot. I got him when I was only nine nears old and when he was nine weeks old: Now, he’s nine years old and I’m nearly nineteen. My, how time flies! I love this cat so much. Meet Noel (named in light of the holiday for which I received him: Christmas, of course!)! I first got him on December 26, 2001.
A Day in the Life 