affectionately titled

Listening to: August Burns Red- Your Little Suburbia Is In Ruins the first time I heard the drumming on this song my jaw literally dropped to the floor (ask Jer!) The drumming alone sold this record to me, but the rest is fun too. Standard, but high quality metalcore. They ain't gonna break down no doors, but they sure are pummeling me!

What? It's October 1st... really, its been that long? Wow!

Well, uh, last weekend Rach came to Kingston and make me sick! Whatta girl! It was lotsa fun to see her though. I also appreciate that I will be going home in 5 days! A whole lot of work to do this week though before I can go home.

Recently I made purchase of a wonderful beard trimmer. That's right. A beard trimmer. That means it ain't going anywhere. The Beard trimmer is pretty swank though. Phillips Phillishave system... nine preset lengths that go from perma-stubble to a bushy two centimeters. Oh yeah. And it even has a vacuum function that successfully sucks up 95% of the hair, so almost no mess! I am way to excited about this.

Uh, not much else for now.

I am not safer than a bank

Listening to: Fear Before the March of Flames- Drowning the Old Hag Got into these guys after seeing them live with Underoath and The Chariot. They are pretty schizophrenic musically; each album changes and progresses in a healthy manner. The Always Open Mouth is easily their best both lyrically and musically, not to mention it has probably the best album design I have ever seen. Looking forward to lots more from these guys.

Well, it has been almost two full weeks since I arrived in Kingston, and I can safely say I have "settled in" whatever that means. It could mean that I am now used to cooking all my meals for myself... or that the opening of my morning is comfortably Jim and Joe instead of Mom... or that I am used to missing my closest friends and my fiancee... or perhaps it just feels like "home" now.

Living, for all intents and purposes, alone and as a bachelor is bittersweet. The excitement of the freedom is palpable, as is the feeling of being alone and somewhat insignificant. However I am finding a growing significance in my work. I am excited about teaching again... but more than that I can now see it as something worthy of my life's devotion. Shaping the next generation is a privilege that is important, humbling, subversive, and above all that something Godly, something that can impact souls as well as minds... and to think that I can do this with Shakespeare and World War II.

I have also become more thoughtful than I have been in a long time... I have much more time to think, and I have devoted more time into pursuing specifically God's will, be it a burden or a featherweight. But conviction seems to burden as a featherweight, but one that is always present, always demanding, always significant.... "I smell a change with horizons..."

To bring some levity, I am also sporting a rather rocking beard... as beards are quickly becoming something only the rocking attempt to possess. I enjoy it greatly, I definitely feel as though it holds some significance at the moment, a symbol of change, of moving on, of growing up perhaps? Wait, where's the levity? I think it looks bad ass. Bad. Ass.



Maybe that is all for now. Make your mamma proud.