I have several naruto t-shirts that I only wear on special occasions or when i want people to remember I was there.  They are just obscure enough for people to notice and remember but not attracting so much attention as to be obnoxious.  Naruto is totally awesome and that helps with how cool they are.  Tuesday is going to be a naruto shirt day.  I have been teaching myself guitar over the last couple weeks and it is for the soul purpose of learning a handful of worship songs at bible study.  There is a particular girl that goes too that I wouldn't mind impressing either.  She is awesome.  She is like mildly hippie and I love that.  Her big thing to share with the group last week was that she found and bought a 100% organic dress from a discount store so it only cost her like 3 bucks too.  That made her week great.  Trying to learn guitar by yourself is hard but I want to get decent at it.  The last thing I tried to get good at that I had never done was building models.  Model anything.  Planes, trains, cars, I tried to get good at it all and failed miserably.  The only ones I finished were the trains I got from this website, click here to visit.  They were really easy to put together and looked great when they were finished.  Those were the first ones I did that made me feel like I could be really good at it.  Wish me luck in my debut live performance on Tuesday!

Campaigners last night was awesome.  Four weeks ago there were only 8 people there, last week there were 20 and this week there were 29! Ridiculous.  God is just pouring out on a whole other level that I've never felt before.  There is this really cool girl who came last night and brought a few of her friends and told us that she loved it afterwards.  She had these really sweet looking sunglasses on and I asked her about them.  She said they were iwood sunglasses and she got them online.  They were made of 100% recycled materials.  I'm excited to see how she responds as we tell her more and more about Christ.  There were just a ton of people down in that basement.  I'm so glad the Johnson's finally opened up there home and are letting us meet there every week now.  I just hope they keep letting us now.  One of the guys, Nate, was messing around on their rocking chair and one of the dowel pins popped out and the chair started to collapse. I think I put it back together but its definitly not "good as new."  The guys loved that I showed a clip from Braveheart for the teaching too.  It broke a few stereotypes of the kinds of DVD's christians watch and stuff like that.  They were probably thinking more along the lines of something like this.  It was a great night and I can't wait till next week and see all those guys again. 

I had to go shopping for a while with my mom the other day.  It wasn't too bad.  She always ends up guilting me into it then promises to make it worth my while if I go with her.  This time she really did make it worth my while.  While she looked for a new baggallini bag for herself, I went walking around Target.  I found an awesome journal that would be awesome to have.  My journal is almost out and I'm going to need a new one soon.  It felt like suede sort of but kind of furry.  She ended up getting it for me.  It was only 8 bucks I think and it will last me a good 8 months once I start using it.  I think it was just her way of justifying buying herself the baggallini bag.  Then we went and looked at halloween costumes for awhile.  I hate the costume stores because they make it too easy.  I like putting my costume together.  I'm currently working on a killer Joker halloween costume.  I've found a purple suit at the discount clothes place and my dad has this old green silky vest that is perfect.  It will be a proud day.  The last place we went was the ticket master booth downtown.  My mom got my sister tickets to see the Lion King for her birthday.  I told her she could have found much cheaper discount broadway tickets online at this website but she hates technology and wants the instant gratification of having the tickets in her hand.  It wasn't as painful of a day as I had previously anticipated.  Especially with the new journal in hand.  Next time I need something small I don't want to pay for, it may be worth putting in a few hours with Mom to get it. 

We are looking into getting some kind of animal as a pet for our house.  The problem with that is that we ar all moderately irresponsible college guys who can barely take care of ourselves.  So to put the life of an animal into our hands sounds obsurd to most.  My idea is to get a fish aquarium and use that as our test pet.  If we can't take care of a fish, we can't take care of a dog.  And no one would be out alot of money or be really hurt if a fish died, unlike a dog.  However, I am rarely the voice of reason and so my opinion is rarely taken seriously.  Our house just isn't safe for an animal.  There is stuff everywhere that he could choke on.  For example, Chris left his Prince Caspian action figures all over the floor down stairs last night.  I walked in late and it was dark and stepped on one of them and it hurt.  The dog could choke and die on one of those things.  They are jus small enough where he could try to swallow it but there is no way a dog could swallow it all the way.  Its just got bad news written all over it.  A fish however, would not swallow an action figure because it is stuck in his aquarium.  I remember one time my dog at my parents house ate 3 new compacts of my mom's favorite makeup.  She orders it special online here, because none of the stores around here sell it and she buys it in bulk because it takes forever to get here.  I don't remember seeing my mom that angry in a long time.  That kind of stuff will happen if we get a dog.  It will be something that tears up apart as a house.  Right now I am against a dog but I'm not completely blocking out the idea. 

Campaigners last night was awesome.  It was the biggest one we've had in about a year at just 11 kids.  We haven't hit double digits in forever and it was very encouraging.  The kids who we have been trying to hardest after finally came around for the first time.  So it was an interesting mix of kid because the ones who usually come aren't exactly "cool" by high school standards and the new ones are.  Jake, one of the ones who comes all the time, is into anime and odd cartoons no one else knows about.  He actually wore one of those Naruto headbands to campaigners yesterday.  Matt and Farris, the two new guys, didn't really pay much attention to Jake but that's ok, it was their first time.  We told some funny stories and played a few games.  We have it at Katherine Johnson's house and she has a big old dog.  We all kind of played with him for awhile.  Katherine's parents are loaded so the dog had his own designer dog furniture that was labeled with his name "Shadow" on it.  But he was a cool dog.  The rest of the night was me teaching and them talking about Jesus and what he offers us and stuff like that.  I used the movie "Stranger than Fiction" to teach about living life to the fullest.  Then we all went to UDF where we got sundaes because UDF is having a ice cream special right now.  Celina happened to grabbed some fun stuff that she had in the back of her car and we had a little party inside UDF on Clough.  It was a lot of fun and I can't wait to see what happens next week!

I think it would really fun to get a bunch of my friends to all go to the Renaissance Festival together.  We are a group of people who love doing weird things and it seems like we are really good at making something really fun.  Even if it seems really lame.  I remember going to the renaissance festival when I was in 6th grade I think with a class field trip.  It was alot of fun.  I haven't been since then and that was 8 years ago.  I think it was fun enough for people of all ages to really enjoy.  The only bad part was that I got fried on my forhead and face.  My mom has always been very over protective so anytime I was going to be out in the sun for a prolonged amount of time she would oil me up with a bunch of spf 30 or 50 or the highest they sell sun screen.  Well on this class trip we were outside all day, my mom didn't come, nothing to guard me from the sun, and I got a nasty burn on my face and forhead.  I couldn't really sleep it was so bad.  Right when you walk in to the festival there are several  neon atm signs pointing the way to an atm.  I remember thinking that was not very renaissance but you gotta do what you gotta do to make money.  There were also a couple other things that didn't seem to line up completely.  For example, I saw a couple guys walking around in men's pirate costumes.  Now I'm not a history buff but that doesn't seem to run together.  Also the fact that this was supposed to be like at a castle and there is no water any where around.  They didn't look to much out of place because they were in costume and so were so many other people.  If I'm wrong and pirates fit into the renaissance, that would be great.  I hope I can get a group of people to go with me and have a good time.  Its more fun than you can shake a turkey leg at. 

Yes today is national talk like a pirate day but who cares really?  Pirates are cool, dont get me wrong.  But Cowboys are just awesome.  Wild west, gun slinging, riding into the sunset cowboys.  I cowboy could take a pirate in any fight.  I'm also just not a huge boat person but I do love to ride horses.  There should be a national be a cowboy day.  Everyone gets on their rodeo gear and goes all day like they are a cowboy in the west.  Anyone whereing some a tshirt like this would be shunned for the day on cowboy day.  And no it wouldn't be like gay cowboy the way it is half to time now.  It'd be like Clint Eastwood cowboy, not taking and crap from nobody.  Ladies could get into it too.  My sister is a bit of a hippie and she made this completely organic dress that she thinks is awesome.  However it definitly looks like something from the 1800's.  What a perfect opportunity to wear it! National be a cowboy day is right around the corner.  For all I know, there may be one already. If there is, then I don't know about it and not enough people do.  We should make it October 30.  The day before halloween because I'm almost always a cowboy for halloween anyway.  October 30th is national be a cowboy day.  Spread the word!

We officially got one of the two open spots in our house filled on Sunday.  He is one of the guys who went through Younglife and Amelia high school and we all have been friends with him for awhile now.  His name is Matt, he's a freshman at NKU.  He is in the nursing program that's pretty big at NKU so he brought his clothes then a ton of nursing uniforms.  He's got scrubs of all colors and designs.  I guarantee I wear scrubs pants to school someday on accident or on purpose because all my pants are dirty.  He also knows all that first aid stuff and other injurty type stuff really well. So we got like a roommate and a giant awesome first aid manual all in one person.  Another great thing about Matt, slightly more selfish, his parents are loooooaaaded.  They have atleast one other house I know of way out west somewhere.  Matt gave me the website to it to look at it.  This is the place they got it from.  They told Matt that if he could get out there, he could take people there whenever he wanted.  It is very far away but totally worth it if we do it once a year and stay for a week or more.  So that is awesome.  However, as awesome as Matt is, he has this weird thing for Curious George.  When he moved in, he brought with him more than his fair share of Curious George plush toys.  That is just weird and a little odd.  Yes, I agree, a 18 year old guy should not have curious george stuffed animals.  But Matt does and it is something we are going to have to just live with. He is worth it.  I can't wait to find out what else Matt has that is weird.  You never really have any idea what a person is like till you live with them. 

Gen Ed classes are what make people not want to go to college.  My general education classes suck.  I have to take one into to business class even though I'm a physical education major and its just stupid.  The 100 level general classes are barely on a high school level of dificulty.  The business class you can tell is filled with non-business major students.  They had a speaker come in talking about a sports facility business plan and I think only me and two other students were awake by the end of it.  The guy tried to make it fun and exciting but there is only so far you can motivate a group of students just trying to satisfy a requirement.  There is one kid who never even gave the guy a chance.  I'm not sure why this kid even comes sometimes.  He came in wearing shoes like this, black trench coat, some sceamo band tshirt and with a look of pure disgust at the world.  He has to only be in college because someone is making him of there is some other extrinsic reward waiting for him because the love of learning is not is driving factor.  Once the class was over I met two of my friends for lunch.  One just got some japanese sencha tea because she wasn't feeling well.  We all shared our frustrations with our classes for awhile then moved on to the next one.  I feel like gen ed's should be taken care of in high school.  That is where you get your general education then college is just focused on the career path you choose.  But I don't make those decisions, and I think those places are just called trade and technical schools.  O well, back to class. . .

I really like giving good birthday gifts.  The one that they will tell their friends and relatives about.  I hate shopping for one for my parents.  My mom's birthday is just around the corner and I have no idea what to get her.  My sister told me about this nvey eco stuff my mom apparently likes.  If all else fails that can be my last resort.  I don't like getting my mom makeup and girly stuff.  Its just weird.  And I would have to probably get lost in the makeup department looking for it and look like an idiot then get some lady to help me and she would confse me and so on.  Its my fall back plan.  I remember giving my mom one of my barney toys when I was little because it was her birthday and I wanted to give her something special.  I knew that the barney toy was special to me so I gave it to her.  But about 15mins after she opened it I wanted it back and started crying so she gave me it back.  She was touched at the sincerity of my gift though.  This year is going to be tough.  I was thinking running clothes, like that dry fit stuff because she runs all the time but that stuff can get really expensive too and I'm working on a limited budget.  I could always give her one of the toys I still have as a joke.  If she opened it up and saw one of those things she would just die laughing. Maybe I'll do that then give her a real present.  That way I get the gag gift and the real gift response on one birthday.  Sounds like a plan.

We found an old box in the back of a closet at my grandma's house.  It had all kinds of fun stuff in it, and some weird stuff too.  There were some really old baseball cards, some really old gum, a photo album, old toys, all kinds of stuff.  It seemed just to be a box of miscillaneous stuff from then they first moved in the 1960's.  There were a small polished wooden box that had 3 military rings from my grandpa in it.  He was in Korea in the navy and I guess he got these when he got out of the military.  They were really cool looking, they kind of looked like class rings or championship rings you would see a college team get.  There was also a bunch of little wooden peices of varying shapes.  I'm not sure what these were for but my dad tried to explain some game you could play with them but I didn't really pay close attention.  We took the box home and looked through the photo album.  It had pictures of my grandpa as a boy all the way through my dad being born.  That is always fun to look at.  The leather dog collar from my dad's dog growing up was in there too.  I think my dad burned the dog's name into it himself when he was a boy.  I'm goin to keep it and use it when I get a dog.  Its really nice and has "Ace" sloppily branded onto it.  Sounds like a keeper. 

Also known as the first day of school, it is the death of the freedom of summer.  And most kids act as if it is a funeral, including myself.  Yesterday marked the first day of my second year of college.  I don't feel like I should be already in my second year of college. Two more and I'm done! That is just weird.  Its still so far away in my head.  I keep trying to think of successful career paths that I can take now so I don't have to finish school.  The leader so far is pirate.  Not like a mean pirate from present time like in the new Rambo movie, but a jolly old caribbean pirate who sailed the seas and stole from the rich.  Like in Hook of Pirates of the Caribbean.  That would be awesome.  The best thing would just be dressing like this every day.  Few people look cooler, if any.  I wonder if those guys ever got really sun burnt.  I know I'd get fried if I was out on the water that long.  Maybe thats why they wore all those clothes and the big hats. Other than the fact that they look cool, they were perfect uv protection clothing.  Clever Mr. Pirate, Clever.  My dad just got this new mcklein's briefcase that looks like something a pirate would carry if they were a business man.  It has very intricate stitching and the inside has a skull and cross bones on the lining.  It is awesome.  He loves it.  Maybe he's a pirate. . .  maybe.  I will find out and get back to you! 

We are heading into the last part of of summer now.  It is sad but exciting to start a new year of school.  I am excited to get college going again.  I'm thinking about trying to shake things up this year.  Maybe dress a little crazy, wear something people will remember me for.  Maybe something like this to my biology class.  My mom loves back to school time.  She always buys us all kinds of stuff to make it easier.  She bought me some organic clothes because she knows that certain types of fibers give me rashes.  Which is awesome of her, but she didn't have to point it out infront of everyone I knew at when I had some people over the other day.  Embarassing but par for the course with my mom.  She always gets me some sort of toy that I would have loved when I was little too just because it is her way to keep me little.  She got me a take along thomas toy and she thought it was awesome.  I play it up like it is the best thing I've ever gotten just to make her happy.  She's funny.  She knows I don't actually like the little kids toys but she just always does it as a joke/make her self feel better about having a kid in college.  I know this year will go great.  I'm really excited to see where I go from here!
 

Vacation ideas are hard to come by for a college student.  It has to be very cheap.  That is the one non-negotiable of a vacation for a college student.  I really think that it doesn't matter where you go as long as you have a handful of your closest best friends with you.  I think the next place I'm going to look into is Colorado.  A friend of mine recently got back from there and she loved it.  The reason this seems even remotely do able is because my uncle actually owns some Colorado mountain real estate.  He has a big condo up on the side of a mountain that is right now a ski slope so you can walk outside and go down the hill.  He said I could use it for free whenever I wanted so I want to take him up on that.  If we take a bus out there, or get enough people to where splitting gas money wouldn't be too bad, then transportation would be really cheap too.  That makes the trip so far, really cheap and I like it.  A quick run to the store for a bunch of bread, peanut butter, and jelly and you have food for the time your there.  There is a coffee shop my uncle told me about that everytime he wears his nurse scrubs in there, they give him a free coffee.  He also said he has plenty of extra scubs in his condo so feel free to take advantage of the free coffee scrubs.  That is awesome.  The only thing we can't do is touch my uncles toys.  He has a very expensive collection of trains and other old toys like that that are very special to him.  If we touch them, we would die.  I'm trying to get ateast 4 of my friends to go in on this with me but so far its a no go.  Wish me luck! 

We are not sure what to do for John's bachelor party.  I want it to be ridiculous and hilarious.  One thought that chris had would be to make curious george themed.  John has always had this odd obsession with Curious george.  He is a junior in college but still has curious george folders and school supplies. I think he would love a curious george party.  We also talked about having it in the western/cowboy theme and then just playing paintball from there.  Chris actually has some bull riding equipment we could use to deck everybody out in hardcore western stuff and deorate the place in it too.  So we could always have that as a safety fall back.  Then there is what to get John for the party because its nothing too big but it still has to be something he would love.  There are some many things he would use daily and would love to not worry about buying them.  He's big into weird and exotic drinks and teas so maybe we will all just get him a bunch of that weird crap like that.  Either way, it will be awesome.  Sending another one of our own into battle.  I think the next one to make the leap will be Ty and he has been in a relationship the shortest.  Weird but everyone agrees. 

There was a lady who came in to work yesterday that creeped me out.  Let me just paint you a picture first.  She was probably about 8 month pregnant.  That part was the most normal about her.  She wore a big trench coat kind of thing (middle of the summer) and her hair was very poorly dyed.  The t-shirt she had a huge happy bunny smiling at you with just the word "HI" across the chest and revealed a good 5 inch portion of her pregnant belly.  She was not happy either.  She claimed that she booked a party to have Hannah Montana party favors for her son's  birthday party.  We are a pirate themed laser tag place, we never have told anyone that we could get them Hannah Montana party favors.  And for her Son's party.  The boy didn't care at all and if he did there might be an issue.  She continued on for awhile about how she's not paying, she wants what she ordered, and this place is crap etc.  We finally just gave her 5 or 6 free game coupons and she was satisfied.  It was scary and weird and I hope she never comes in again while I'm there. 

I am currently interested in getting a dog.  I had two dogs when I was a kid and neither worked out well.  The first, Spooky, was a great dog.  He was fairly disciplined and I loved him.  My mom loved him too.  She even bought some spa dog shampoo for him for when we gave him a bath.  My sister was only 4 or 5 when we had him and one day she pulled his tail, he snapped at her and my parents freaked out.  We got rid of him, gave him to some guy that my dad worked with.  the second dog we got was a psycho jack russel terrier.  He sprinted around the yard all day.  He jumped, peed on everything, and never stopped yapping.  That dog lasted a couple years and then my parents had enough and we had to give him away too.   One of my roommates, Zack, has a similair story with dogs so we are both motivated to get a good dog and take care of it right.  His dog that he still has at his parents house recently chewed up one of his sister's Hannah Montana purses.  That dog is on its last straw too with that family .  Zack told me he doesn't care what they do with the dog.  He has this big toy collection of all kinds of rare toys and collectibles that the dog has hit a couple times so he wouldn't mind if the dog went away.  He put alot of time and effort into collecting that stuff and the dog made all that time a waste to him.  I can't wait to get a house of my own and a family and a dog then.  That's when I will be able to really train and produce the dog I've wanted.  Till then, patience is what I need and a dog is what I seek.

 I just had a birthday and it was awesome but birthdays just get you thinking about the past.  It was fun to think about past birthdays for me and for others because of how much fun you have on them.  My friends and I were all sitting around and we got on the topic of weirdest gifts they had either given or received and the stories behind them.  It made for an entire evening of laughing and hilarious stories.  My roommate Chris at one point got a whole pack of assorted luxury soap for his 19th birthday from his Aunt Sue.  Apparently she worked for some fancy cosmetics company and there were the things they threw in with a purchase of $50 or more so she actually had a bunch of them in her car.  All signs point to Sue forgot Chris's birthday and just grabbed a pack of soap from her car.  But honestly, a pack of soap? Its turned out pretty good for me and the other guys who live with us because we get fancy soap for a couple months but not exactly what Chris was hoping for on his birthday.  Corey has a grandma who has pretty much lost it mentally.  She thinks she is 37 and she is actually 74 and lots of other things like that.  She is convinced that Corey is 6 years old and gets mad when anyone tries to tell her he is 20.  So she got him some barney toys for his last birthday and Corey had to act like they were exactly what he was hoping for.  Gifts can be exactly what we wanted or something completely off the wall but like they say, "its the thought that counts."

 Camp was pretty great simply because it is 6 days surrounded by mountains and completely secluded from the outside world.  The guys we took were a bit of a handful sometimes but they were fun.  One of the highlights of camp was the volleyball tournament.  You don't really win based on winning the games, you win based on stupid tricks you do or things the judges think is cool then they throw you poker chips and you put those in your bucket.  The cabin with most poker chips in their bucket wins.  A big part of this is the team uniforms.  This year we went as pirates.  We chose pirates because we got our hands on a bunch of this wholesale pirate stuff for really cheap from my friends dad.  We had eye patches, bandanas, plastic swords, moustaches, and hand hooks.  The pirate stuff went awesomely and I was very pleased with it.  We didn't win the tournament but I was told we were probably second or third.  Then again they might just tell that to every person who asks what place they came in.  One of the guys who came with me thought he was tough enough to go out everyday without any sun protection at all.  Not the smartest of the bunch.  He was fried by the 4th day and was sick throwing up that night.  He did not have a good camp experience because most of it was spent in the cabin avoiding sun light.  One thing that was really fun was that it was my birthday on the second to last day of camp.  A few of my friends bought me some stuff from the camp store.  I went in there to get something for my parents and sister and it took me forever.  They have everything in that little store from sweatshirts to chapstick.  I eventually got my dad a t shirt, my sister a water bottle, and my mom a bag that said Young Life on it.  They loved them. I can't wait for camp next year. 

 I am a Young Life leader in South East Cincinnati.  Every year we take kids to camp where we try to show them a little slice of heaven.  Everything is provided for them.  I firmly believe its about as close to heaven I have seen so far in my 19 years of life.  This will be the first time I get to go as a leader and I am pretty nervous.  But I know that I was trained by the best that God's spirit will work through me.  It is funny watching the different genders get ready for camp.  Most of the guys haven't even thought twice about packing stuff while the girls have been shopping for the last two weeks just to be ready.  Its funniest when the neo-hippie few of the girls go eco chic shopping and get all this all natural food and fiber rich, low sodium crud they swear by.  I get excited because they get all this food and then it all ends up tasting like cardboard and sending me to the bathroom for hours.  I also have to be incharge of getting costumes for the big volleyball tournament.  We are going to go as team 911 so I have a few paramedic and cop costumes and some doctors stuff.  My mom is a nurse so I took some of her cherokee scrubs for a couple of the kids too.  She probably wont be too happy when she figures that out but it's for the greater good so she will have to understand.  I hope and pray that things go smoothly and that I can have some sort of impact on the kids we take.  As long as I just remain composed and let God work everything has to go great.