Semester Post: Fall 2014

Here I am, sitting in the Arizona Room on the 2nd Floor of the Student Union. I haven't posted a blog on here since this Spring, and I can't even remember the last time I worked on a draft--I could certainly look that up, but I can't be bothered. I figure I might as well take a swing at making a post on here.

When I first started this blog, it was with the intention of having stuff to blog about and having people respond to it in some form. And I guess I tend to feel a little grumpy over having not much of the former and... Well, I was going to post some more paragraphs about this, but I don't feel like doing that anymore.

"Alright, so what's happened since you last posted, Larry?"
Okay...

• Spring semester wasn't too bad. Could've been better grade-wise, but I'm also getting to the point where I just want to be an actual contributing member to society instead of a poor college student who can't help but feel like a glorified leech. (I'm sure I have a draft post on here where I tried to talk about it, but this bullet point more or less sums it up.)
• I've brought this up before on my Facebook, and a lot of my friends already know this, but my uncle Billy Wright (brother-in-law to my mother) died. In the spring of this year, it was discovered that he had cancer--it was concentrated around his liver and pancreas, but eventually spread to other areas of his body. Now, I remember the sort of condition my grandfather was in when he was in his late 70's and 80's--Billy was, as far as I could tell, in better shape as he was. The last time I saw my uncle, the cancer had debilitated him to such a point to where he lost a lot of weight, could barely walk around, was probably not completely aware of what was going on (or at least getting to that point), and was certainly feeling miserable. I'm just glad that he was able to die in his sleep.
• I was elected President of the UofA Chapter of InterVarsity. Or, in other words, no one else wanted that position, and myself and another friend were the only two that didn't even bother to put their name in for leadership that the higher-ups in the chapter felt had potential (for me, I've had some administrative training in the chapter, I guess, and I might have a bit of a leg-up with regards to Student Government). And it looks like the position of Treasurer might've been absorbed into mine, mostly because I ended up with the checkbook (later than I wanted, but that's life). And I really wish I knew who to blame properly over some of this administrative idiocy--I'm still not technically the Chapter President, and I have to wait for that to get cleared up (I've been waiting since the end of the semester, but only properly knew about it somewhere in early July)!
• We had a decent showing during New Student Outreach--or at least for the parts I participated in. I'll only know for sure as the semester gets going, but overall growth seems healthy. Tonight is the first Small Group of the semester, and I am excited! And hungry. No, seriously, I've barely had any lunch, but I don't want to have to spend anything right now!
• And I can't be bothered to post my schedule on here, unless you want to know. 

Chapter Camp/Catalina Island Trip #2: #ICanHasFaith?

Before I begin, I just decided to look over my last blog post about this subject (here, for my trip in 2013) just to see what all I said about it. Honestly, while there is content in that post, it's really a whole bunch of nothing/not all of it is on-topic. To summarise what all happened, members of different InterVarsity Chapters from the Southwest (more specifically, Arizona [University of Arizona, Arizona State University, and maybe Northern Arizona University], New Mexico [New Mexico State University and New Mexico Tech... I think], and a couple of colleges/universities from California) all came to Campus By the Sea in order to study the Bible. In my case, some members of my chapter that had never gone to Chapter Camp before, for different reasons, were studying the first half of the Book of Mark in a manuscript form. That basically means that we were all given the Book of Mark in loose-leaf form, broken down by page and line number (there's no Mark Chapter 2, Verse 3, for example, but Page 12, Lines 16-20), with us studying each portion during different sessions, coming up with questions for them, and doing our best to answer them through what we've just read beforehand in the manuscript and in the Old Testament (and through the aid of Bible Dictionaries and such, if need be). We were not intended to use our preconceived notions of the Bible to answer them, but try to go at it from a more-or-less fresh start. Of course, we all more or less knew what all would happen, but it was more of a way to prevent any "Oh, our church teaches it this way..."/"Oh, I've always been taught that such-and-such meant..." kind of deals. Now, that's not to say that's all of what we did--we had plenty of breaks to keep from going too crazy; were free to play, hike around, and enjoy ourselves when time allotted (and even go on a trip to the nearby town of Avalon); and we were encouraged to have constructive fun with our sessions.

For this trip (March 15-21), things were more or less the same. I knew what to expect--the trip to Tucson to the camp, the general routine of the time there, how we'd be studying... The first relevant change was that, now, I would be studying with InterVarsity members from other campuses (the previous Mark 1 students now numbered 4, for different reasons, and that seemed the situation for the New Mexico students). Secondly, going in, there was initially one thing already weighing on my mind.

The hashtag #ICanHasFaith derives from an exercise we all did (sort of a way for us to get to know one another)--using a piece of coloured construction paper, cut-outs from various magazines, and our own imagination, we made a picture of the two sides of ourselves: what people usually see in us at first glance, and who we really are. For me, "First Glance" was mostly A Face In the Crowd, and me twisting a phrase from the movie "Men In Black"--"Anonymity is his name; silence, his native tongue"; almost fittingly enough, no one else picked up on the reference. The other side, aside from tidbits about myself that I could find/had the presence of mind to just write on it was that hashtag (I would've gone for a LOLCats parody of I Can Has Cheezburger, but I found no picture of a cat and my drawing skills aren't that great, so I went for the next best thing). During the Small Group before Ash Wednesday, the members of our Small Group were given the task of giving something up for Lent. I chose Doubt; I don't know how well that's been going, but it's good as a reminder not to be so skeptical. The Thursday before, God put on my heart something that's been plaguing me since before I moved to Arizona (I had to have been around 8 at least). From the moment I understood the basics of Christianity, aside from a period between the ages of 17 and 20, I've always been a Christian, in the sense that I believed in God, that Jesus Christ died for the sins of the world, and all of the other basic tenets of the faith. The problem was the idea of faith. Even at that age, I wasn't always satisfied with just believing. There had to be something solid behind it that I could perceive. Things were/seemed manageable until the age of 17. By that point, what remained of my relationship with God became so distant I was trusting more in philosophies that made more sense to me that I was molding into my own personal faith than what the Bible was saying. Thankfully, things between God and I were patched and my relationship with him is stronger than it was before, but my willingness to give areas of my life up to Him is still not where it should be. As a symbolic act, we all placed a nickel in a cup, reminiscent of the poor widow who gave up her two coins (basically, all she had to give) for the Temple renovation/upkeep. As with the coin, there was another side to it: faith that this symbolic act both had real actual power behind it and that wasn't for nothing. That I wasn't just tossing it into the cup with the hope that things will change, only for the same issue to be cropping up next year.

Plans for a New Interstate

During the spring semester of this year, after learning about the organisation known as Imagine Greater Tucson, I decided I wanted to join as a volunteer. Admittedly, I haven't done a whole lot--practically nothing, really--though I still want to get involved when I can, out of interest in what they want to do, experience I could gain from it, and possible networking.

(More information: 1--azstarnet.com, 2--YouTube Link)

Last week, I went to an event that was discussing the CANAMEX Trade Corridor (see below map) and its' relevance to Tucson.



(Above image was found here)

Although the map indicates that CANAMEX will go through Tucson, the discussion I went to last week implied that, while it may be the most likely route, it comes down to us to decide whether or not we want it.



(Above image was found here)
As the caption above states, part of the reason for Interstate 11 is to alleviate congestion on the highways--Interstate 19 is already 20% commercial traffic, and is proposed to increase to 50%. Considering that this is connects to the Nogales Port of Entry (which, apparently, is pretty narrow), which leads into Northern Mexico (all of Sonora, including the capital Hermosillo and the beach town of Puerto Peñasco, southwest of Sonoyta)... Well, this is going to be part of the solution of quite a few possible problems down the road. Whether or not the actual extension will be at all the same as the proposed version, one thing is true: this extension will more than likely affect Tucson, and the hope is that it will not be for the worse. Ideally, we can capitalise on our status as a port city (think more along the lines of trains and airports), along with trade from Canada and Mexico (factoring in the deep-water port in Guaymas, Sonora--apparently, the ports in Los Angeles are at full capacity, so the port being located where it is will benefit from trade from both Asia and Europe, especially once the Panama Canal widening project is completed), in order to strengthen Tucson's economy. While we probably don't want to become the next Phoenix--no offense to our neighbour to the north--growth is inevitable; either we manage it responsibly or it manages us.

Escuela de Verano, Verano Grupo Pequeño, y Mi ex-hermanastro que Abandonó la Escuela Secundaria

Como usted puede o no puede tener en cuenta, de todas las materias escolares básicas por ahí, matemáticas suele ser mi peor. Por lo tanto, estoy en una clase de álgebra en la escuela. Oficialmente, está catalogado como "Algebra de Colegio con el análisis de datos", pero incluso para mí no es tan difícil - no es la clase más fácil que he tomado, pero estoy seguro de que voy a pasar. Quiero decir, son cosas que he aprendido antes (aunque me falta el actualización), así que no es como que estoy teniendo que trabajar con nuevos conceptos. Y. una vez que haya terminado (y obtener la transcripción), por fin voy a ser catalogado como un Sénior! Cualquier clase de matemáticas me quedo de aquí en adelante (porque, en realidad, nunca termina ...) probablemente será Estadísticas y tal.

Otra de las cosas que estoy haciendo para el verano es el Verano Grupo Pequeño con InterVarsity. Estamos estudiando el libro de Eclesiastés, y para aquellos que no tienen ni idea de lo que se trata todo esto ... Básicamente, el rey Salomón está pasando por una crisis de mediana edad. En vez de querer un Ferrari y/o chicas sexys (quiero decir, estamos hablando de por lo menos uno de los chicos más ricos de la región de la época - ya lo tiene), es la meditación de la vida. Al principio él está sonando muy emotivo sobre todo - todo tiene sentido, todo a cambio de nada, etc, y luego nos damos cuenta que hay más a él. Como hemos estudiado, los principales puntos que hemos encontrado son:

• No actuar egoísta porque no se puede llevar con usted
• Las cosas que haces aquí abajo puedes ser arruinado por sus herederos
• Trabajar sólo por ese sueldo no vale la pena - usted debe trabajar para lo que te va a encantar.

Acabamos de terminar el capítulo 5, de 14, y, teniendo en cuenta que nunca he leído esa parte de la Biblia, me alegro de estar haciendo esto. 

No puedo recordar si he publicado nada aquí sobre mi familia ensamblada o si estoy confundiendo con algo que no me había fijado. - Dios sabe que tengo bastantes de ellos que nunca he publicado, algunos de los cuales están más allá de su fecha de relevancia. Por lo tanto, cuando digo "mi ex familia ensamblada", es porque mi padre se divorció de mi ex-madrastra año pasado. Pero yo estoy mencionando esto porque, el día del padre, decidí llamar a mi padre. Durante la conversación, mencionó que mi (ex) sobrinastro Leavi (el hijo de uno de mis hermanastras, Jessica) se trasladó a Atlanta con ella y su novio (También debo mencionar que Jessica está embarazada con el niño a su novio) para ir a la escuela secundaria allí con la esperanza de obtener una beca de baloncesto. No voy a pretender que los dos de nosotros realmente se llevan bien - la única razón por la que importa para él en un nivel más alto que una persona al azar que oigo hablar es de los lazos familiares residuales, y lo consideraré una buena señal si él siente lo mismo - pero aún así contar esto como una buena noticia. Mi (ex-) hermanastro Luke, por su parte, decidió abandonar la escuela secundaria, que ahora trabaja para McDonald. Por lo que he visto, él nunca le gustó la escuela. Por un lado, por lo menos él tiene un trabajo (que, no importa qué, es más de lo que puedo decir) y estoy seguro que tiene sus razones, aparte de que no le gustaba la escuela - tal vez su madre (mi ex-madrastra) y lo necesitaba el dinero. Por otro lado ... Siempre me he criado con la idea de que me iba a la secundaria, graduados, llegar a la universidad y conseguir por lo menos una maestría (y, en realidad, sólo conseguir una licenciatura, en esta economía, no será suficiente). Siempre he sido muy inteligente - mis calificaciones fueron siempre una especie de dudoso, sin embargo. Pero yo nunca he llegado al punto donde quería abandonar. Y voy a admitir que, aunque soy capaz de empatizar con otras personas, esa capacidad no es tan fuerte como lo es con los demás. Así que, como un descargo de responsabilidad, ya sé lo que voy a decir puede hacer que me suena como un pendejo, pero...
Sinceramente, tengo la tendencia a creer que alguien que abandonó la escuela secundaria, a menos que tengan una razón válida (problemas económicos, problemas de salud, que necesita para cuidar de un familiar, o la intimidación ha llegado a un punto crítico) y/o haga que su vida lo suficientemente juntos (fuente estable de ingresos, su propia casa, etc), es probablemente perezosos y/o incompetentes. Sí, la escuela secundaria no es fácil, pero no tiene la intención de ser fácil y tampoco lo es la pobreza y la falta de progreso en el trabajo. Y, a menos que usted es muy afortunado, no se puede ir demasiado lejos con sólo un diploma de escuela secundaria, y menos que eso es una mala idea. Si alguna vez decidieron formar una familia con ese alrededor de su cuello, no iba a funcionar muy bien. Por supuesto, si me entero más acerca de sus circunstancias, podría ser más comprensivo. Pero si Lucas realmente quiere hacer algo de sí mismo, teniendo algo más que un diploma de escuela secundaria es esencial.

Summer School, Summer Small Group, and My (ex-)Stepbrother the Dropout

As you may or may not be aware, of all of the core school subjects out there, math tends to be my weakness. As such, I'm in an Algebra class for school. Officially, it's listed as "College Algebra with Data Analysis", but even I have to call it not that hard--not quite an easy A, but I'm sure I'll pass. I mean, it's stuff I've learned before (although I need the refresher), so it's not like I'm having to work with new concepts. And. once I'm done (and get the transcript), I'll finally be listed as a Senior! Any math class I'll take from here on out (because, really, it never ends...) will probably be Statistics and such.

Another thing I'm doing for the summer is the Summer Small Group with InterVarsity. We're studying the Book of Ecclesiastes, and for those who have no idea what that's all about... Basically, King Solomon is going through a midlife crisis. Instead of wanting a sports car and/or hot chicks (I mean, we're talking at least one of the richest guys in the region of that time--he already has it), he's meditating on life. And at first he's sounding pretty emo about it all--everything's pointless, it's all for nothing, etc. And then we find out that there's more to it. As we've studied, the main points we've found were:

• Don't act selfish because you can't take it with you
• The stuff you do down here might get ruined by your inheritors
• Working just for that paycheck isn't worth it--work for what you'll love. 

We just finished Chapter 5 of 14, and, considering that I've never read that part of the Bible, I'm glad to be doing this.

I can't even remember if I've posted anything on here about my Step-family or if I'm confusing it with one of the drafts--Lord knows I've got enough of them that I've never posted, some of which are past their relevancy date. So, when I call them my ex-stepfamily, it's because my dad divorced my ex-stepmother last year. But I'm mentioning this because, on Father's Day, I decided to call my dad. During the conversation, he mentioned that my (ex-) stepnephew Leavi (the son of one of my stepsisters, Jessica) moved to Atlanta with her and her boyfriend (not to mention that Jessica's pregnant with her boyfriends' kid) to go to high school there with hopes to get a basketball scholarship. I'm not going to pretend that Leavi and I are really close--about the only reason I care for him at a level higher than some random person I hear about is out of residual familial bonds, and I'll consider it a good sign if he feels the same--but I still count this as good news. My (ex-) stepbrother Luke, on the other hand, decided to drop out of High School and work for McDonald's. From what I've seen, he's never really liked school. On the one hand, at least he has a job (which, no matter what, is more than I can say) and I'm sure he has his reasons aside from not liking school--maybe his mother (my ex-stepmother) and him needed the money. On the other hand... I've always been raised with the idea that I'd go to High School, graduate, get to college and get at least a Master's Degree (and, really, just getting a Bachelor's Degree, in this economy, won't cut it). I've always been pretty smart--my grades were always sort of iffy, though. But I've never reached the point where I wanted to drop out. And I'll admit that, while I'm able to empathise with other people, that ability isn't as strong as it is with others. So, as a disclaimer, I know what I'm about to say might make me sound like a jerk, but...

I honestly have the tendency to believe that someone who's dropped out of High School, unless they've got a valid reason (economic issues, health issues, needing to take care of a family member, or bullying has reached a critical point) and/or have their life sufficiently together (stable source of income, their own home, etc), is probably lazy and/or incompetent. Yes, High School isn't easy, but it isn't meant to be easy and neither is poverty and lack of job advancement. And, unless you're really lucky, you can't go too far with just a High School Diploma--not having even that is a bad idea. If they ever decided to raise a family with that around their neck, it just wouldn't work too well. Of course, if I find out more about their circumstances,  I might be more sympathetic. But if Luke really wants to make something of himself, having something more than a High School Diploma is essential.

Porque era tan perezoso para escribir de vi viaje a las Islas Catalinas...

En primer lugar, para cualquier persona que pueda haber estado esperando que publicar algo acerca de mi viaje:
Sí, lo había planeado escribir eso. Sin embargo, debido a la pereza, siendo ocupado con la escuela, y otros factores que no puedo pensar, yo nunca lo publicó. Había conseguido incluso tomar 161 fotos durante esa época - no todos de calidad profesional, pero suficiente todavía - y que esperaba se aproveche de ellas antes de pensar "No vale la pena" (si así lo desea, sin embargo, voy a publicar un enlace a la carpeta donde está). En cualquier caso, era una maravilla poder salir de Tucson / escuela por una semana y en realidad tienen una vacaciones de primavera. No me malinterpreten, me encanta Tucson y realmente me gusta la escuela ... más o menos (ver más abajo para más información), pero yo estaba pasando una semana con básicamente todos mis amigos en la escuela en la isla bonita. De los amigos, de una manera llegué a conocer a mi grupo de estudio superior (estábamos estudiando el primer semestre del Evangelio de Marcos, por lo tanto, Marcos 1). (Yo estaba a punto de escribir algo más, pero probablemente voy a esperar hasta que esto pensé en escribir se vuelve más significativa o se aleja.)

Pero, ahora que he regresado de su viaje, he encontrado un nuevo problema: aunque me gusta la escuela y el mayor / menor estoy estudiando para, en cierto modo me parece que el viaje me dio el impulso para salir de la país por un tiempo para un viaje de misión. Antes de que me salvó por Dios, una de las cosas que me atrajo a Gracia a las Naciones fue la posibilidad de ayudar en una iglesia o dos en Hermosillo, México. Eso nunca ha pasado, aunque ahora he estado trabajando como voluntaria en el Centro de Alcance - que posiblemente se involucren más con la comunidad de refugiados si tengo el tiempo. Y luego está el factor de que muchos de mis amigos en InterVarsity han ido en estos viajes - principalmente a China. Michelle va a Kenia y Vi se va a China durante el verano, y Molly (la hermana menor de Vi, compañera de Marcos 1, y una amiga) que, hasta donde yo sé, se va a Vietnam el próximo verano. Debe tenerse en cuenta que la evangelización en China se llevó a cabo en su mayoría cerca de una de las universidades (por la vida de mí, no puedo recordar dónde) y no recuerdo que haya ninguna represión por parte del gobierno. La idea de ir a China no le sentó demasiado bien conmigo, sobre todo porque yo no hablo el idioma ... y, en definitiva, quiero ir a Europa!

Para ser honesto, lo que mucho de esto se reduce a que, aunque estoy muy contento donde estoy ahora mismo, yo también estoy buscando algo nuevo. No creo que me puede llamar "estar cansado de la escuela", aunque sólo sea porque es un sentimiento con ganas de hacer algo nuevo en lugar de no hacer nada. Podría ser que estoy cansado de desempleo, pero lo que quiero hacer algo significativo. Si significa evangelizar / voluntario para ayudar a alguna iglesia en un país extranjero / lo que sea, siendo un pasante por alguna organización local relevante para mi trabajo principal, o remunerado ... Y cualquier cosa relacionada con el viaje de la misión tendrá que pasar el año que viene, porque tengo una clase más que tengo que terminar en el Pima College y luego he terminado con esa parte de la escuela! Y luego, por supuesto que voy para mi maestría ... sí, tomando un tiempo libre para recargar y renovar me podría hacer algo bueno.

Because I was too lazy to blog about the Catalina Island Trip...

First off, just to get it out of the way:
Yes, I had been planning to blog about that trip. Due to laziness, being busy with school, and other factors that I can't think of, that was never posted. I even managed to take quite a few pictures, and I planned to use that in there. Long story short, it was great to be able to get out of Tucson/school for a week and actually have a Spring Break. Don't get me wrong, I love Tucson and I don't actually mind school too much (see below for a disclaimer), but I was spending a week with some of my friends basically all of my friends on campus on this pretty island. Of those friends, I sort of got to know my Mark 1 group (studying the first half of the Gospel of Mark) better. (I was about to write something more, but I'll probably wait until this thing I thought about writing becomes more meaningful or drifts away.)

But now I've come back with something else: as much as I like school and the major/minor I'm studying for, I think the trip sort of gave me the urge to get out of the country for a while for a mission trip. Before I got saved, one of the things that drew me to Grace to the Nations was the possibility to help out at a church or two at Hermosillo, Mexico. That's never happened, though now I've been volunteering with the GO Center--I'll possibly get more involved with the refugee community if I have the time. And then there's the factor that several of my friends at InterVarsity have gone on such trips--mainly to China. Michelle is going to Kenya and Vi is going to China over the summer, and Molly (Vi's younger sister and fellow Mark 1 group member) who, as far as I can tell, will be going to Vietnam next summer. I should state for the record that evangelism in China was mostly done near one of the universities (for the life of me, I can't remember where) and I don't recall there being any crackdowns by the government. The idea of going to China didn't sit too well with me, primarily because I don't speak the language--I'll need to check to see how important that really is, although I have an issue with going to a different country where the locals don't speak English--it feels rude of me to expect that from them... to heck with it, I want to go to Europe!

To be honest, what a lot of this comes down to is that, while I'm pretty happy where I am right now, I'm also looking for something new. I don't think I can just call it "being tired with school", if only because it's a feeling wanting to do something new instead of doing nothing. It could be that I'm tired of unemployment, but I want to do something meaningful. If it means evangelising/volunteering to help some church in a foreign country/whatever, being an Intern for some local organisation relevant to my major, or gainful employment... And any mission stuff will have to happen next summer, because I've got one more class that I need to finish at Pima College and then I'm done with that part of school! And then of course I'm going for my Master's... yeah, taking some time off to recharge and refresh might do me some good.