In a Nutshell

Well folks, things have been looking up since my last blog.
- I finished my paper for biological oceanography that was worth 30% and it ended up being 20 pages long! Crazy!
-I have finished all the rest of my homework for this semester so all I have to do is study for my finals.
-I also only have 1 lab left, on Wendesday, and I am done my labs for the year. It will be the last semester that I take 5 classes and 4 labs EVER so I am glad to be done that. I will have 5 classes in the fall but I won't need 4 labs. Thank goodness.
-I received an email from Bamfield giving me more information about the course and what to bring for the summer. It has gotten me really excited.
- Today I took a pleasure craft boating test to get my operator's lisence for Bamfield and passed. It's one of those tests like for first aid and H2S where they pretty much lay the answers out for you so it's pretty hard to fail it.
- I went to physio on Wednesday. She tested my strength and my bad knee is almost the same strength as my good knee. It's so awesome! That's what all my weightlifting has been doing. She did some tests and found that my IT band on my good knee was way tighter than my bad one. Apparently all of the limping and compensating I have been doing on my good knee has caused some protonation of my femur, tightened my IT band and caused pain in some tendons. It's nothing major. The bottom line is that I need to keep icing and STRETCH. I normally don't stretch a lot but already I have noticed a difference. I also started wearing a different pair of shoes for everyday wear and have felt a lot better too.

So those are just some highlights of the last week! This weekend has been awesome too. -Yesterday I watched NCAA basketball all day.
-Today I did a bit of homework and then at 3 went and watched Team Canada Women's Team play a team from up north here in Victoria. It was awesome. It's been awhile since I was at a live hockey game. It was awesome to see Team Canada too. I haven't ever watched women's hockey before so it was cool. I remember in middle school when Hayley Wickenheiser came to our school and talked to us because she was a friend of Miss Foster. LOL. That was a long time ago.

Anyhow then I watched more bball this afternoon. Tomorrow at 1 I am going to get a deep muscle massage! I am so pumped. The last time that I had one done I could barely move after because I was so relaxed. I am hoping that it might loosen up some of my muscles and help my knee a bit.

My exams are fairly spread out again this semester. I write on the 8th, 12, 15, 21, and 23. Then it's home for May!! It seems like it has been forever since I was at home. Well I don't know who knows this and who doesn't or if I have written about it on here before, but Brianne is coming to Victoria to live with me in the fall semester. I cannot even begin to explain how excited I am for that. There are so many things that we can do and it will be so much better cooking for 2 people than for 1. I always have a ton of leftovers. I can't wait and I know that Brianne is equally excited!

Next weekend I am heading to the mainland to see Leia and catch up with my CBC friends. I haven't been there since January so it's high time I went. It will be good to get off this island for a bit and take it easy. I have been really relaxed this weekend, but I can't wait to see some friends and hang out.

There you have it. A sort of brief update on my life. I always have so much to say but tonight I'm making it snappy. Later days!!

The not so pretty side of my life

Happy Easter everyone! He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!

Well that's all and good, but today I am not feeling as thankful and grateful as I should be. Lately I have been posting some blogs that have been pretty positive and full of thanksgiving and love and gratitude for all that life is and what God has given me. I can't say what has caused this change of heart because I don't know what it is myself. Actually I do, it's the devil. I have heard that when we are so spiritually high, that is the time of spiritual attack by Satan because he just hates it so much.

Ugh. I am just so frustrated. First off, I wish I was with my family for Easter. I don't care about the meal or eggs or anything I just want to be home sitting with my family at church, at the table, and just sharing in love. Secondly, I have this massive paper worth 30% of my mark due on Friday and more than one time in the past 2 weeks I have lost some of my data or graphs on my computer. They just vanished. So I have to start again and redo it. Good thing it isn't everything because if it was I would just quit and not do it at all.

Coming into my third quip is the idea in my mind that God puts trials and struggles in our path to a) either make us a better person, grow in Him and persevere through the trial or b) He is telling us that this isn't the way to go and He is closing that door. Well I know that it's not b because He isn't telling me not to do my assignment, so it has to be a. However I have been attributing all these trials to Him trying to grow something in me when really it could be Satan tempting me to quit, or keep away from people, or whatever he is trying to make me do. I have gotten mad at God lately for bringing these things into my life instead of acknowledging that the devil is pulling me down and all I have to do is reach out to God for help. I say this because it's what's in my mind yet I don't believe it in my heart. So this brings me to my third and biggest complaint of all: my knee.

People say that God has a lesson to teach me out of not being able to do anything because of pain, but I don't believe it. I have been injured like this for 4 years. I haven't been able to enjoy activities like tennis, running, even walking down the street without pain. (Not all of the 4 years were like this, but most times were). At first I thought it was patience. Which I know it still is because I am not a patient person. Then I thought that there was something more important in God's will for me to do, yet nothing has come up. I feel completely like Job except I am giving up. I can't take it anymore. I can't even sit at my computer like this without throbbing pain in BOTH my knees. My good knee has been hurting so much because I have been compensating when my IT band hurt, so that's why they both hurt.

And you all say "Stop going to the gym. Stop working out. REST. Take it easy." Well you know what, it kills me not to be able to do that. I love the gym. It is the only hobby that I have here. It is a stress reliever and it makes me feel good about myself. Part of it is because I want to look good. I'll admit it. I am vain. It's not just looks though. My confidence soars when I feel comfortable in my clothes or when I can lift more weights than the guys. LOL. So No I will not stop going to the gym. I know my limits and I do not cross them. If something doesn't feel right, I stop. So it's not like I go crazy on it and then complain about the pain. Lately it has been most painful when I am sitting. Bending my legs different ways to be comfortable hurts.

I don't know what else to do. I am going to physio on Wednesday for some sweet relief which will only last like less than a day, but it's better than nothing. So yeah I guess I am just really bitter about the way my knee is making my life turn out. And Yes it does govern my life. Try doing your daily things being careful that you don't turn the wrong way so you don't hyperextend your knee. Try sitting trying to do homework while your knees throb away. Try icing your knees for hours until you can't feel your legs anymore. It ain't pretty and I am just so sick of it.

And I have looked for so many things that will help. Cartilage injections, gelatin stuff, glucosamine-chondritin, more surgeries. I don't know what is really working or what the answer to all this is. I guess at the present time there is nothing short of amputation to heal my pain. As I sit here bawling my eyes out instead of rejoicing on this Easter Sunday the only thing that brings any comfort is that Jesus suffered more. Who am I to complain about physical pain while Jesus who bore ALL of our sins was overwhelmed to the point of sorrow? He suffered so much because of all of my sin. His grace is incredible. I don't deserve to have a Father that wipes every tear from my face, whose heart breaks for mine and who comforts me. Yet I have a Father like that and so I guess I am thankful today.

Hug The Elderly Today!

Greetings,

There have been a couple of things that I wanted to talk about on here, but today the best topic of them all came up. Old people are so wise. I kind of thought that after what I have been dealing with this year and other things in the past such as my knee and deciding schools I thought that I knew a whole heck of a lot about life and that I had lived through a lot of different things. I have with 3 surgeries, giving up a sport that I love, having my two grandpas die in the same summer, going through university, living on my own, and on and on. I just thought that I knew everything too. Obviously I don't though. And it was made even more evident to me today. This one lady Joyce that I visit with lays in bed all day and sleeps most of the time because she is too frail and old to get up and do things. She is somewhat confused, or as nurses like to say "pleasantly confused", but a joy to talk to. Today we talked about school and she could not stop saying how much she loved school and how mad she was when she had to stop going. I was like Wow. How much do I take going to school for granted?! Sure I love learning things, but physically being at school, writing papers, and taking exams is not something I always enjoy. Joyce said that she loved it all, no matter how hard it was. I look at her and think of who she used to be when she was young. Now she lays in bed, not really learning anything, just waiting until her time on earth is finished. It is such a blessing to me to hear words like that that awaken my perception of how much God has blessed me. I hope to finish out this year with a bang, no stress, and to the best of my ability. There will be a day when I wished I was back in it and so today I am just going to be thankful for all the learning that I get to do.


Another thing I have begun to realize is why I like biology so much. Sure they pound the evolution crap into your head, but I know better. We study the most obscure animals in extreme habitats with crazy adaptations. There is no way that they should be living, yet they do. Everyday I am amazed at God's creativity. His creativity is one of my favorite things about Him. He made all these animals from scratch. He designed their intricate biological systems for breathing, walking, reproducing from nowhere. He just thought of it. And I think, how can you be in biology without realizing this? There is no way a chance explosion could bring things so unique and wonderful into being like this. It was all perfectly planned. The coolest part is that He didn't even really make them, He just spoke and they were there. Words are what made this planet gorgeous!!!!

Anyway, back to the old folks home, I also visit Manny and Jean. Jean is also pleasantly confused and so we just usually chat. Manny is completely with it and she just loves when I come to visit. We usually play games like Kings in the Corner or Crib and unfortunately I usually lose. Haha. And I don't just let her win either. She is GOOD! Today though we just talked and she was happy to do that. They are so lonely there. Everyday they don't even want to get out of bed because there is nothing to do and no reason to live. But when they know that someone is coming to visit, they get excited and they know that they have a reason to exist. I am so grateful that I can be a part of it. It just makes my day to see them happy and laughing about the littlest things. I have much to learn from them. They are like children in that they look at people with pure curiousity, no judgement whatsoever. They would give anything to be outside on a nice day just to take in nature. They treasure the simplest of toys or trinkets because they know the love that went into picking it out for them. Thank God for the elderly!

Who hacked my bike lock?

Hello all!

I think that this week has brought some excitement in small ways that has overturned my schedule. I usually have every minute of everday planned out. Having situations pop up has taught me to be more spontaneous and has also helped me grow up. Anyhow, yesterday I went to ride my bike home from school and someone had locked their bike to the rack and to my bike. I was mad at first but let it go and just walked home. Today I was really hoping it wasn't still on there. And to my delight, it wasn't. However when I went to go unlock it, I broke my key off in the lock. So I phoned Campus Security who came and cut it off. It was a speedy process but inconvienient nonetheless.

Yesterday also brought excitement with the arrival of my fathead. For those of you who don't know what that is you can check it out on www.fathead.com. There are some good sales right now for players that have just got picked up by other teams. So I went and bought Julius Jones formerly from the Cowboys for 10 bucks, regular 100. I was pumped. So it came yesterday and I put it up right away. I love it although last night when I woke up in the middle of the night, I forgot and got freaked out that this lifesize football player decal was staring at me. Ha. So here it is in my room.


I guess not that much happened but it seemed like a lot. School is gradually winding down. I still have a ton of work to do, but I only have 2 labs left for each class which is so awesome. My labs just take up too much of my time. It's safe to say that I won't be having 4 labs and 5 classes EVER again. It was a huge mistake this semester, yet somehow I am managing to pull off some decent grades (apart from chemistry).

This weekend brings paper writing, research, paper writing and well more paper writing. Should be fun times. I hope to get out to go to the ocean or hang out with Jess a bit. She is super busy right now too, so it's hard to arrange a good time.

Other than those little tidbits, nothing is excitingly new with me.
Life is good. Love is better. God is the best. Later days!

Far Left Liberalists vs. Me

Hello all!

I just finished reading "Blue Like Jazz". I hadn't read it before because I didn't want to follow the crowd into reading a book that people were saying was that good. You know me, I don't conform. Anyhow I read it and it was so good. I find it odd though how we can want change in our lives so badly after we read a book like that yet the Bible doesn't do the same thing for us. Are we just reading the Word because we have to or are we reading it to learn what stirs the heart of God? I for one get a lot out of reading books like Blue Like Jazz in which they discuss biblical ideas and uses verses from the Word, however it isn't the Bible. I can this as much as I want that I will read the Bible with purpose to find meaning and to ask questions, however I know that I need to take a step to actually do it. I pray that I will find joy and excitement in reading the Bible and come to it everyday in expectation of something amazing.

I liked this book because it brought in a lot of cultural crazes and ideas into this idea of Christian spirituality. I didn't agree with lots of things that he was saying, which excited me because I used to be someone that just took what anyone said and adopted it as my ideas. Now I really think about it before I chose to adopt or refuse that idea. Three major things stand out to me from reading this book.

1. The love of self. Man, I am so addicted to myself it's crazy. No one wants to admit this and so it's hard for me to do this but it's true. I want the best for my life and at times I struggle with meeting others needs without having a hidden agenda of my own. I pull myself away from people for fear of them seeing my imperfections. Being friends with someone of letting someone close to use involves humility on our part. I am so proud. If I could have anything in my life I would ask for humility and a loving heart for others. On the other hand, I need to love myself as my neighbor. I am extremely hard on myself and put myself down a lot. I would never be this negative to someone else. I heard once that when we are happy with ourselves, and love and accept ourselves, we will be able to love and accept others deeper. I think this is true because I compare myself to everyone all the time and in doing so put them down (in my thoughts) to make myself feel better. If I would get over this and love myself, my body, my talents for what God has given me, then I will be more open and loving towards others.

2. Love of others. I am so judgemental toward other people's lives, opinions, looks, etc. Once again it pains me to admit this. Confession is not only good for the heart, it's good for the soul and is the first step to humility. Why can't I accept people for who they are? Why do I think that everyone needs to share my values and ideas and then we would get along? What I need to do is to smile, listen, ask God to help me to love them as He does because I certainly can't do this on my own.

3. Tolerance. This sort of ties in with number 2. I struggle with tolerance as well. I am really conservative in my views which may cause people to view me as pious or proud or better than anyone else. I have strong values and I stick to them. However I need to be accepting of other people. I don't need to love what they do, but I need to love who they are. They are people too. They were created by God for Him and it hurts Him to see one of His own family put down another. Homosexuals, environmentalists, feminists, druggies. They all need my love and acceptance. I have no idea how I am going to show them this but I know that it starts with me. My attitudes toward them and how I view them through my eyes. I need to view them and everyone through the eyes of Jesus with compassion, love, and grace. That is what He wants and I want to glorify Him by doing this.

Warning now that this could be a very long blog. All of these thoughts have been running through my head for sometime now and I just didn't have the time to post them or know how to word it all. I am not super good with words so I hope that this all makes sense and I am not just using Sunday School talk. I want to show you what is on my heart and how it is affecting me.

So I picked up the Martlett today which is our school newspaper. Usually it is pretty dirty and smutty but I thought that I would give it a chance this week. Turns out it was still the same. Now I have been complaining about BC for quite some time and how I can't wait to leave. Much of it has to do with the far left liberal views of this campus, city and province. This is not me. I don't share their values at all. This is where my tolerance needs to come in and I am working on it, trust me, I am working on it. Anyhow I thought that I would just show you some of the headings of the paper so you can catch my drift on this.

"Anti-abortion posters 'manipulative'" - posters saying "is this the face of the enemy" and a picture of a child on the poster were posted in the SUB by "accident" and were then taken down. Apparently, the some people on the student's council say that this makes people feel uncomfortable and they have nominated some abortion doctor for the Order of Canada. I don't know what that is but it's wrong. The Students union also supports the decrimialization of cannabis hemp.

"Students should raise holy hell: Suzuki" David Suzuki came to the school and was talking about the environment and this new stupid Carbon tax. BC has adopted this carbon tax that will raise gas prices tremendously all for some environmental program. They want to decrease taxes on income and raise it for the C tax. However, I'm sure that they will both increase. They are mad that the federal government is not supporting this through the rest of the country.

"A $10,000 difference: Female UVic faculty earning less than male counterparts."
"Women in Canada not treated equally"
"Green Campus: What UVic is doing for a sustainable future"

Well there is more but I am not comfortable putting those words on this blog. Nor do I feel comfortable even talking about it. So there you have it. That is this liberal campus and I hate to say that I go here. However I think that almost every campus in Canada is becoming liberal, the new generation of people are getting uptight about stuff and starting to do stuff about it. I feel like I was born in the '40s or something because I am so conservative. But that is just who I am. I just hope that I can take a stand about what I value while still maintaining peace and and open mind about other people's opinions. A tough line to tow. But I will happily do it for the sake of Christ.

I hope that you have hung in here with me until now. If anyone has any feedback for me I would be happy to hear it. Your opinions, thoughts, other topics, whatever. Just send a comment on here or email me at lebron_2314@hotmail.com.
Thanks for listening to me vent and rant. Later days!!

Another Weekend Come and Gone

Greetings,

Well it's onto a new week. Only 51 days until I am done my last exam, so I have a ways to go but it should go fairly quickly like the first part of this semester has. This weekend my mom and dad and Leia were visiting me in Victoria. I had such a good time. It seemed way to long from Christmas until now, I missed my dad's sense of humor more than I knew too. Haha. Anyhow, we didn't do a lot of touristy things because it was the official "Tourist in your own town" weekend where there are tons of discounts to all the museums and tourist places. Instead we enjoyed the natural sights. We went beach combing where my dad was so excited that a crab that we found had clamped onto his pen. It's his "crab pen" from now on I guess. We walked around the inner harbor, went shopping, went to "Joseph and the Technicolor DreamCoat" play at one of the high schools, and just relaxed. The director of the play is the piano player at my church. He is one heck of a piano player, director, singer, etc. He is awesome. The play was so good and although it was all singing we all loved it, including my dad. We also went to "Vantage Point" at the theatre. It was really good. It was a lot better than I expected and even my mom really enjoyed it. We scarfed down the popcorn before the previews even came on, but it was good times.

No new updates on my life really. School is over halfway done, thank goodness. This has definitely been my toughest semester yet. I am waiting to hear back from Bamfield to see if I will be taking a class out there in the summer. The closer it gets and the more I think about it, the more excited I get. It will be a nice change to get out and away from this classroom format and do more hands on things.

Now a little rant about the NBA. I don't watch it that much but I did hear about Shaq getting traded to the Phoenix Suns. So I decided to watch a game last Sunday. The Suns lost by more than 30 points. Steve Nash didn't look like himself and I think that it's do to his lack of teammates able to catch his passes. I saw him do a behind the back no look pass and Shaq couldn't even catch it. He isn't agile enough to bend down and save a bad or low pass. He looks like a post and that is what he is. He is the last one to get down the floor and he hasn't seemed to make even a slight impact with the team. The Suns game plan was once to run and gun well they can kiss that away. I don't care that it has only been 3 games since he was traded, Shaq does not fit that team well. I guess I will have to stay tuned to it and see what becomes of this change. I don't have high hopes. It almost makes me not want to cheer for them anymore. I have never been a fan of Shaq and never will. I know that he is so tall and has to shoot down at the basket, but any man who shoots a basketball like that shouldn't be in the NBA. I don't care who you are.

That was sort of negative but those are just the thoughts that I have had about the whole thing. I miss the NFL too, my Sundays are so boring without it. Anyways I am hoping to get more creative with this thing so that it will be more entertaining to read. Later days!!!