Monday, January 24, 2011

Doors, windows, and getting through them.

I hate clichés.  All of them.

"Whenever God closes a door, He always opens a window."

This one might be my least favorite.

Alright, I get the idea.  When opportunities don't work out, the world isn't over.  You aren't stuck in this limbo of a room that has four walls and no escape.  I would even go as far to say that, in the end, you will be happier with the outcome and the journey that occurs as a result of these 'failures.'

When you're walking along though, it isn't the end of the journey that you can see.  You see what's around you.  What's behind you.  But you can't see into the future...what you will feel like when this all over...what you look back and think about the circumstances...what you laugh about, cry about, regret.

Who's to say that you are supposed to forget about that door that you've been looking at for months?  What about all the work you did, all the heart you put in?  Can't you just mourn that for a while, instead of being told to go check out the nearest window?

We need definitions.

Door: any gateway marking an entrance or exit from one place or state to another.

Window: an opening in the wall of a building for the admission of air or light.

These two things do not even serve the same purpose.  A door provides entrance into a new place.  A window let's in some air, some light, and, on the worst of days, bugs.  Who wants that?

Lately, it seems as though doors have been closing right and left, and I've been told more times than I can count to go looking for a window.

The problem is that I'm trying to get to a new place.  I know what the view looks like from here. I've felt the breezes, and I've dealt with the bugs.  A window isn't serving any purpose for me.  I'm on the lookout for something a little bigger, a little better.

Cliché: a trite, stereotyped expression; a sentence or phrase, usually expressing a popular or common thought or idea that has lost originality, ingenuity, and impact by long overuse. 

I hate clichés, and, most importantly, who wants to crawl through a window anyway?


So, for now, I'm not okay with just looking for a window.  I'm holding out for a door.  I know that my God is not teasing me with light and air in the stead of an entrance.  


“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!" Matthew 7:7-11 


There's a door out there, and I'm going to keep searching until I find it.


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Tuesday, January 18, 2011

New Place Numero Uno

One of my resolutions was to visit new places.


This really is not as lofty as a goal as I'd originally intended, so let me specify.  It has to be somewhere completely new.  There are no qualifications for size or stature, just new and full of adventure.  Also, I want to do this more than just once every 3 months, but I wanted to make sure that I could accomplish it, and that parameter was necessary for success.

My first visit to a new place was ... drum roll ... Georgetown University.


This place is incredible.  I stepped on campus and was enveloped by the campus's beauty and prestige.  My liking for Georgetown has come from many places.  First, it's the oldest and largest International Relations school in the United States, making it perfect for the potential future of my education.  Secondly, we all know that I love D.C.  This university is located in one of the coolest areas of the city, appropriately known as, well, Georgetown.  



Third, I needed an NCAA team, as my roommate has recently been educating me about the world that is spectator sports.  Though they may not be national champions or, quite frankly, any good, for that matter, I have chosen the Georgetown Hoyas.  Hoya Saxa to that!


On a side note, some of the dorms are row-houses, which I love love love.  Sure I'll be a grad student if I attend, but can I please live in an on-campus row-house?  Please.

All in all, I loved Georgetown, and it was a great way to start my visiting of new places.  It was a solo visit, so the adventure aspect was a little lacking.  I walked around a little, tried to blend in not stand out, and, like any good visitor, bought a sweatshirt.

I'd love to be a Hoya some day, but until then, I'll relish in my status as a mere Bulldog and just keep adventuring.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

20 Years

It's weird that I can now begin - and I do mean begin - to say that things happened "twenty years ago."


The entirety of my life can be summed up in that one statement.  Oh, how things have changed.


Twenty years ago, I was laying in a blanket, probably asleep, drooling on myself, unable to hold my head up, unable to do anything really.  Now, I sit in a Panera Bread in Washington, D.C. - technically Arlington, VA -, writing a blog on my laptop, putting off my homework, awaiting text replies on my cell phone, and indulging in the glory that is a Starbucks latte and coffee cake.


What will the next twenty years hold? 
The end of my formal education.
Getting married?
Starting a family?
Beginning a career.
Lots of travel, including that which is international.
Gaining much needed wisdom and guidance from the Lord.
Developing into an adult something.
Exploring my calling.
Adventure.


You have five minutes to wallow in the delicious misery. 
Enjoy it, embrace it, discard ...and proceed.  - Elizabethown.



It's the start of a new decade.  Bring it..

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Musical Recap

I was in love with the place in my mind, in my mind.

The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out.

Words were never meant to be this half spoken.

I am folded, and unfolded, and unfolding.

I can see a lot of life in you.

Enjoy.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Cliche New Year Blog

2011 has begun, and I have gotten the privilege of spending all of it, so far, in my favorite city in America.  I have literally been doing nothing, so I've had lots of time to think about what I want the next year of my life to look like.  Now, I realize that what I want it to look like is not at all what it will be.  At the outset of 2010, I had no clue what was coming.  It was undoubtedly one of the best years of my life, one in which I changed and grew exponentially.

In 2010,
I finished my freshman year of college with one of the toughest semesters ever.
I got a dog and learned about taking responsibility for something other than myself. 
I changed a diaper for the first time.
As a result of the last two, I decided I don't know if I ever want to have a child.  
I met and spent the summer with the 20 most incredible people on the planet.
With them, I saw God work in ways that I couldn't imagine both in myself and in others.
I learned so much about relationships and what they mean for both people.  I'm still learning how to construct a healthy one.
I completed organic chemistry and decided that I wasn't meant to be a chemist at all.
I picked up political science and Spanish and determined a new career path.
I spent the semester having a blast with three of my best friends and roommates.
I learned so much from them about having a balanced life.  
I recognized that I should travel while I have the chance, and I've done it extensively throughout the north and southeast.
I ate oysters, hummus, kimchi and a host of other new foods.
I skipped classes, hung out with people over doing homework did a host of things I normally wouldn't do, and ultimately, enjoyed life for the first time.

It was an incredible year, and I know that 2011 will bring so much more.

I'm terrible at setting goals and sticking to them.  If I put them here, I'll have accountability.  Here's what I expect out of you, 2011.

I want to save $50 a month (note that I'm in college, so this is fairly significant).
I want to tithe $50 a month (see note above).
I want to find a mentor.
I want to read a book every 3 months and make at least one of these be in Spanish.
I want to set up spending spring semester of 2012 in a Hispanic country (I recognize that this is a goal really for 2012, but all of the set up will occur in 2011).
I want to run a half marathon and, at least, two 5-K's.
I want to take a trip to a new place every 3 months.
I want to blog at least twice a month.

Additionally, I desire to take initiative to gain the opportunities I desire, to learn from others as much as possible, to have lunch with people I don't normally hang out with, to learn to ask questions, to read and watch more news, and to try new foods.

Here's to you 2011.