Welcome Back
Hey everybody I know it's been a while since I've blogged; so, to my die-hard blogger fans (which is only my mom, I love you mom) I apologize for leaving you in waiting! The good news is I have a lot to tell you, including my crazy Christmas break, the start of the spring semester, and the Mardi Gras break. So, let's no waste another minute and get this blog party started!
Ok so my Christmas break was just as crazy as my Thanksgiving break, it included 3 weeks of travel over thousands of miles, and only 4 days off to see my family (but thankfully I didn't have to ride greyhound this time); but, i really can't complain that much, because I did get to visit Hawaii! So right after finals, the team loaded up the bus and headed for a 5 day, 2 game road trip to Denton, Texas to play UNT, and to Atlanta, Georgia to play Gerogia Tech. We lost both games, one by 24 and the other by 40 points; so, after those embarrassing loses I ended a good few days at home. As soon as we got back to Shreveport from Atlanta (at 3am) my teammate Jerrable Bonham and I loaded up his car and headed for Dallas (Jerrald lives in Plano). Over the next 4 days I enjoyed the traditional Christmas celebrations with family and friends, but after that it was right back to work. My mom drove me back to Shreveport on Dec 27, and the next day we were leaving for Hawaii, the bad news is, I had left my backpack with my wallet, photo ID's and my keys, back in my room in Texas; needless to say, the panic was on! I didn't know how I was going to get on the plane to Hawaii without a photo ID, and I couldn't get into my dormroom to sleep that night without my keys. Well, thanks to the great people in our DPS department, I received a new school ID that afternoon; someone took time out of their Christmas holidays to come and make me a new ID and for that I was greatly thankful. That night I slept on a couch in our locker room. The next day our connecting flight landed in Dallas, so my mom drove to the airport to drop off my backpack (once again, I love you mom). After that we had a 8 hour plane ride from Dallas to Hawaii, where I threw-up twice from all the turbulance (gross, I know).
We spent 5 days in Hawaii and only played one game. And, although we lost our only game, we did get a few days off to enjoy the sights and experience what Hawaii had to offer. Some of the players tried to surf while other just enjoyed the Pacific ocean (watching 6'8 guys fall off surfboards is hialrious!). On our last day, we got to climb to the top of the volcano and then visit a Navy Destoryer ship, a very enjoyable, team building experience (I hope to have pictures from Hawaii up on my next blog). So, while you were freezing in the cold weather during your Christmas break, I was catching some sun and a few waves in the Pacific ocean; it ok, you can be jealous. Then we caught the red-eye out of Hawaii on New Years eve; yes, I was on a plane when the ball dropped and 2008 arrived.
The team spent the next 9 days at home, in Shreveport, preparing for our next game against Oral Roberts, the #1 team in our conference. We ended up losing the game in overtime, another tough loss. We ended our holiday break on a 5 game road trip that took us to Oakland, Michigan and Fort Wayne, Indiana. We lost both games and ended our holiday season at 0-6 over the break.
Now let's talk about this new semester. I am taking 17 hours, and my classes include Christian Theology, Apocalypse, The Johannine Tradition (an independent study of the Gospel of John and the Epistles of John in the Bible), Visual Culture, and Physical Geology; and a whole lot of reading a writing!!! So far classes have been going well, but I have 3 papers due next week (a 5 pager, a 8 pager and a 3 pager); I'll let you know how classes are going after I finish those.
To start our semester, the basketball team broke its 6 game losing streak, with much needed wins over Western Illinois and IUPUI, but since then we've lost 4 straight (2 close ones on the road to Southern Utah and UMKC, at Oral Roberts, and then last night at home to IPFW). But we are looking to get back on track tomorrow night (Saturday, February 9th) with a win against Oakland. So if your around and want to see a great basketball game, come to the Gold Dome at 5pm!
Now let's talk movies (I know you've been waiting for this)! Since the break I've seen quite a few movies for the first time in theaters, and some that I've gone and rewatched on DVD. In the theaters, I've seen National Treasure: Book of Secrets, Juno, and Cloverfield. National Treasure was a decent movie, and is worth seeing at least once, but is not near as good as the first one. The movie has a thick plot, like the first, but seems to drag and run a little to long at the end. Also, if you've seen the first National Treasure movie, you will remember the lovable character of Riley, whose lines were witty and hilarious; well in this movie, Riley makes a comment every five seconds, and while some are funny, overall he just becomes annoying, losing the comedic affect he had in the first film. I thought Juno was a very good film and everyone should see that movie. It was hilarious dry humor, mixed into an original creative storyline; I'm not big on Academy Awards, but I believe that this should win best actress and best original screenplay. Cloverfield was a terrible movie and I would not advise anyone to go see it. The whole movie is filmed with a hand-held camera style (like the Blair Witch Project) and it tends to make the viewer sea-sick. Beyond that, the plot was lacking; if you take a hand-held camera and 5 of your best friends and put them in downtown New York during a monster attack, you would have the same movie.
I did see Gangs of New York for the first time since it was in theaters, over the break, and it immediately jumped to number 10 on my top 100 movie list, if you haven't seen this movie go rent it and watch it, director Martin Scorsese is a genius, and Leonardo DiCaprio and Daniel Day Lewis do phenomenal acting jobs!
I recieved Taxi Driver (1973, Robert DeNiro), Blade Runner (1984, Harrison Ford), and Fallen (1998, Denzel Washington) on DVD for Christmas and can't wait to find time to watch those for the first time. I also bought The Family Man (2002, Nicholas Cage), Training Day (2002, Denzel Washington), The Shawshank Redemption (1994, Morgan Freeman) and Good Will Hunting (1997, Matt Damon & Robin Williams); all great movies which I advise everyone to see at least once.
Finally, I would like to end by asking everyone who reads this to pray for the family of Matthew Campbell. Matthew was the 15 year old son of one of our employees here on campus, who passed away last Sunday morning. Matthew was a great kid, and God has taken him home to a great place; so, just pray that God will be with his family as they go through this tough time.
