Tripz

I come to you again, still on winter break. 6 weeks. It's been long. I return to school tomorrow to begin the next semester of my college career and if I've learned anything from the last five, this one is going to be a rockin', surprise-filled, wild ride. There's no telling what kind of stuff will go down, the possibilities are endless. So for this reason, I'm excited to see what this semester will bring, amidst the changes, differences, and comfortability of last semester.

One of these changes is what you see above, a new car. Last semester, for the first time in college, a car went from being a "it would be nice to have, but I don't really need it" to a "woah, I'm tired of asking to borrow other people's cars." One of the primary goals of this winter break was to find a car and this 1995 VW Jetta did the trick. Let's hope it lasts a lifetime. I'm rooting for it.

Here's comes the weekend. Before our semester break started, I determined I wanted to head up the hill to Hume Lake at some point to visit one of the greatest spots on this planet. As the break continued and work was piling up, I quickly realized a trip could only happen near the end of the break, so I picked the weekend of January 20th to pack my bags and roadtrip it to Hume. The weekend of January 20th was this last weekend. So I have this new car, a car that I haven't yet driven 100 miles, and I'm going to trek across California, up a mountain, and into the snow. Talk about the ultimate test! I'll say it right now, it (name pending) performed like a champ. So I arrive at Hume Lake Christian Camps and feel like no time at all has passed. The drive, the atmosphere, the smells, the people were all so familiar, so close to home. I see this dude Mike Strand, a dude I haven't seen in 2 years, a dude I haven't seen walk since June of 2010, and it's like one day has passed. One of the first things we do is take a "Day in the Office" picture. Here it is:

Now, during the summer of 2010, Mr. Mike Strand started doing this "Day in the Office" series. It's pretty self-explanatory, but it pretty accurately described the nonsensical absurdity of our media office.  Here's the link to the facebook album (if you're FB friends with Mike): http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.428868824616.187989.508454616&type=3

And if not, I've included a few of my favorites below:

We had some fun.

So, snap back to the weekend of January 20th. After a fun reunion with the media peeps including, but not limited to, Mr. Karley Mase, Mr. Nathan Pearsey, Mr. Isaac Svensson, and Ms. Sarah Tuch, I found out that many a folk were going to be volunteering this weekend for winter camp because the Joshua class was heading to the Dominican Republic (I think?). Because of this, the Hume staff for the weekend included all sorts of different people, including, but not limited to, old friends Mr. Jonathan Blesse, Boomerang, Boone, Ms. Sierra Falco, Mr. Tony Farao, Ms. Bethany Fox, Mr. Michael Ottenad, Mr. Jonathan Parfitt, Mr. Johnathan Tompkins, Mr. Paul Quinn, Ms. Cheryl Velichko, Ms. Cheyenne Wedel, and Wagon Master Shep,

and new friends Mr. David Anderberg, Mr. Cameron Cadiz, sisters Ms. Sarah Goad and Ms. Chelsea Goad (who I found out some CRAZY, WILD, UNBELIEVABLE connections with), Mr. Kevin Griffith, Mr. Dan Mitchell, Ms. Bekah Newlin, Mr. Abe Saleh, and Mr. Jordan Sonerholm.      

Let's just call it a big ol' reunion.

Here's the summary:

Firefly  //  Contractors  //  testing paintball guns  //  shooting "stuff"  //  cleaning "stuff"  //  rain, lots and lots of rain  //  OK Chalet  //  rock wall  //  mechanical bull  //  getting JACKED on the mechanical bull  //  turning the mechanical bull into a bounce-house/obstacle/jungle-gym/tag-course  //  Contractors flood  //  waking up stupid sore and stupid tired  // snow, lots and lots of snow  //  recreation chapel  //  blast of a conversation with the Goad sisters  //  visit/get asked lots of questions/handed forms/become overwhelmed (and no, I did not take a nap) at the Snowboard Shack with Mr. Michael Ottenad  //  visit/watch/blizzard/freeze at the Screamer with Ms. Sierra Falco and Ms. Bekah Newlin  //  untangle, retangle, untangle Screamer rope  // defrost  //  learn paintball guns are incredibly complicated to fix  //  watch/film/experience Boxsled Blitz  //  cram six people into discarded sled and do our own blitz  //  test tube run  //  defrost  //  rock wall race  //  losing rock wall race  //  burning forearms  //  Mr. Paul Quinn's house  // ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS GAME of Redneck Life  //  Earl Bob (possible car name?)  //  divorced  //  11 kids - Jebidiah Joe, Cooter, 8 Darryl's, and a girl named Dale Jr.  //  18 teeth left  //  wipe/chip six inches of snow off my car  //  load up car  //  snap some photos  //  grub  //  sadly say goodbyes  //  begin the journey down the icy hill without chains  //  home

Amidst all this is the following: wet socks, cold hands, sniffling nose, biggest jacket I e'er wore, lots of laughter, lots of stories, and lots of memories.  Some of these experiences have been captured:


These experiences were captured by Ms. Sierra Falco and her camera:

Here's the wrap up video Mr. Isaac Svensson crafted:

Hume 2012 - Winter Camp Week 3 Wrap Up from Hume Lake on Vimeo.

And here's some pictures taken by yours truly:

All that to say, the weekend of January 20th was incredible and a great way to end the 6 week period we Biolan's know as semester break.  It was great seeing a folks I haven't seen for a LONG time, it was great seeing folks I haven't seen for a decent amount of time, and it was great seeing folks I haven't seen in as little as a few days. Hume Lake is quite the place, impossible to explain. There's just something about it. I was talking with my sister, Ms. Melanie Lott, about Hume and we came to the conclusion that it simply messes with your mind. It's another world up there and it honestly isn't that close to reality.  Crazy weekends, like the weekend of January 20th, happen and then are gone *POOF* like a surreal dream, 'cept it wasn't surreal, it was realreal.  Don't get me started if you spend a summer there.... Oof. You want proof? Check this blog post out: http://emliv.blogspot.com/2010/08/summer-it-up.html.

Hume Lake's one of a kind and's got a special place in my heart and the heart of thousands.






So that was break. You got two blog posts, kinda summing up the break, kinda not really. It's that time again where I debate about continuing this whole Wednesday thing, continuing this blog that has been running for three years. It's a new semester and anything goes. We'll see what happens and right now, it's looking good.

It's been a great break and I want to thank everybody who made it what it was.



And finally,

I've got a video for you. This video has been cruising the web for about a week and it has captured the hearts of millions. LET'S OPEN UP THIS PIT.



She's got quite the career ahead of her. Maybe she'll end up in a band like our friends iwrestledabearonce:
















That's it, friends. That's the blog post for the end of January. Can't believe it's the end of January. Before long, it'll be the end of May, then the end of August, and then the end of January again.  It's going to fly and what's CRAZY is how much stuff is going to be crammed in these 365 days. So many good experiences, so many bad experiences, so many learning experiences, so many life experiences.

Buckle up because it's going to be a wild ride. Throw you're hands up too because it's going to be a blast.