SURPRISE!

Busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy bee.

It's actually quite absurd. Never before have I been going, constantly, for days, weeks, months. A to-do list that is requires daily pursuit but seems to grow as the days go on. Don't get me wrong, I'm having the time of my life BUT the amount of "stuff" that needs to get done, the petty things, the social things, the school things, the career things, the identity things, the fun things, the annoying things, the required things, the overwhelming things, the underwhelming things, the friendly things, the THINGS. SO MANY THINGS. So many good things, so many necessary things.

Intentionality has become an essential part of my life. Historically, I have had the problem of overcommitting, saying "yes" to to many things. In the last few months, I have been intentional with how I spend my time and YES it has not always worked out as planned. For instance, social media often presents a fantastic way NOT to use your time wisely. This has been an area of struggle for me, so I took note and sought to eliminate the time wasted. I have to be intentional in friendships. If I let it, my schoolwork/funwork/filmwork could EASILY take up ALL my time. I have a deep passion for these artistic mediums and I could pretty quickly become a recluse. BUT, people drive me. Relationships drive me. And you know what the problem is? THERE'S SO MANY GREAT PEOPLE. How does one effectively maintain and grow friendships? Intentionality. In order for a relationship to work, there MUST be intentionality in the mix; spending time, having fun, chattin, livin life, all of the above. If I became a video-monk and festered in front of the computer, all my relationships would fall apart. It's simple. So, that said, balancing schoolwork with funwork with friendwork is no easy task. I've had a hard time with it.

And then, it's ironic, this blog. This blog is a perfect example of a "waste" of time. This blog is not helping my schooling, not furthering my career opportunities, and is encouraging the sit-in-front-of-the-computer side of me. What's funny too is that half the time, I talk about "how much work I have to do" or how "I'm SO overwhelmed with stuff," but yet I have time to "waste" writing these "useless, meaningless" words on some website. With every blog post, I seriously consider stopping. What is the point of this thing? Once a week, Wednesdays, I write about "stuff." Anything. I write on this blog about this blog. What's the point? But here's the thing, and here's what's ironic about the whole deal: this blog has proved itself COMPLETELY worth it TIME & TIME AGAIN. Looking back on old blog posts not only triggers beautiful, fantastic, priceless memories, but also serves as a record of my journey through personhood. Embedded within these lines are thoughts, actions, and ideas about how to live this bizarre thing called life. This public journal, which in and of itself is terrifying, is documenting the life of this crazy dude named Morgan Lott.

Game on.


Know what else is funny? This is a stream of consciousness blog. Nothing's planned, nothing's thought out ahead of time. I start writing and what happens happens. I genuinely was just going to write "Busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy bee." and THAT'S IT. And then, so typically, the words begin flowing and all of a sudden a deep, philosophical blog post is written about the very idea that this blog is a waste of time and I should be spending my time elsewhere. The irony is overbearing. This also needs to be said: WORRY is AWFUL. I am blessed to avoid worry in most situations, you know why? I'm confident God's got it all in His hands. I'm on a track, not to success, not to popularity, not to riches, I'm on a track to strengthen and grow God's kingdom through my work, relationships, family, and everything in between. I trust that this STRAIGHT ABSURDITY OF A LIFE is a training ground, preparing me for what is to come. God's got BIG plans for ALL of us. Worry kills any hope of recognizing those plans.

If you read this far, I commend you. You have just peered into one of the deeper entries of this here blog. REALTALK.



In other news, just yesterday Mr. Barack Obama was reelected to serve a second term as President of the United States of America. I revisited my blog post after t

Have a great day today. Get outside and go for a walk. Any distance. Could be 10 meters. But here's the catch: during your first step, appreciate your ability to walk.



And to those of you who CANNOT walk, get outside anyway. Fresh air is enough rejuvenate any slowing soul. During your time outside, appreciate your ability to even be outside.

Sum(mer) it up

The summer has officially ended.  Come Monday, I head back to Biola University to complete my 3rd semester of college.  I feel like I just left that place.  I feel like I just packed up my belongings, unpacked them into my home, and now I have to repack them again.  What's funny, is I feel like I have not been there in a long long time.  I feel like I've been away a while.  I have.

Come Monday, the summer is going to feel like it never existed.  It's a like a vacation.  You leave your house and when you return to your house, life goes on uninterrupted, unstilted, like your vacation never happened.  I feel like, come Monday, I am going to arrive at school, conversate with my Biola friends and feel like last school year is continuing perfectly uninterrupted.

Here's the thing: I don't want it to feel that way.  This summer has been arguably the best summer of my life, either because I haven't had anything exciting happen in all my summers, or because the 2010 summer was just that good.  I would argue for the latter.  Seriously, Hume Lake is one unique place.  Even though I have been going up there for my entire life, every single experience, something new comes about, something different arises, a learning opportunity presents itself.  This summer, I wasn't only up there for one week, I was up there for 11 and a half.  That's overwhelming in itself.  I honestly can not believe so much experiences can be packed into such a short time, but, ironically, so many memories were made that I can not pinpoint any specific one, which definitely sounds weird.  Let me explain: if you said "hey, what was one cool thing that happened in the last week of camp?" I would stammer and say "Uhh, let me think, umm....   I honestly don't know, I can't think of any one thing because there are too many cool things that STRAIGHT UP WENT DOWN!"  Here is where I would pause, I would think.  I may be the only one who is like this, but if I sat down and really thought about all the things that happened this summer, I probably could come up with a pretty good list.  However, right now, I'm putting myself on the spot, and can't really put my entire summer experience into a few words.

 We'll see how it goes.


A few posts ago (http://emliv.blogspot.com/2010/07/honest.htm - July 23), I talked about relationships and, well, I'll just let you read it again:

I've noticed Hume fuels a sense of sped up, hyper speed relationships.  Relationships are built incredibly fast at the beginning of the summer.  All of a sudden, "good" friends are made.  By the end of the summer, all these "good" friends of yours who you feel like you've known "forever" have really only been your friends for 3 months or so.  Maybe it's just me, I'm sorry I have have stuck "you" into this situation.  All I know is this: I fall into what I just described.  I honestly feel like I have already developed a number of solid relationships with the staff up here at Hume Lake.  Here's what I don't know: am I deceiving myself?  I have solid friendships that I've had with people for five plus years, how in the world can I describe a friendship I've made in less than 3 months with the same word (solid) as these "veteran" relationships?  I don't have a clue, and I don't have an answer.  Maybe it's fine.  Maybe these relationships really are solid, maybe they're not.  Either way, I know this: I like a lot the people up here and plan on keeping in touch.  We'll see what happens. 

This paragraph is still true.  Now that summer is over, I honestly feel like I have established a number of relationships that I will be continuing, possibly "forever" or whatever that word means.  Hume would not have been the same without the people I met, conversed with, and said goodbye to.  First of all, my department.  The Hume Lake media team was the PERFECT crew to work with.  Every individual I directly worked with was just that, an individual.  Everybody brought new, original ideas to the table and we all built off each other like a phat bigger-or-better scavenger hunt.  Not only did we work well together, we had a good time together and became friends, imagine that?  It was straight up an absolutely awesome working with the summer staffers and the full timers.  It was pleasure working with each and every one of you, especially all of you who read this.  Seriously, I'll never forget the REAL Hume Lake Yacht Club.

Now, there are many other people who I'd like to mention, but we'll see how that goes.  My roommates were straight up legit.  Even though we were only all awake at the same time in the room probably five times, it was super good time.  They were good guys and I'm glad I could put my stuff in the same room as them and we could be completely knocked out without acknowledging each other every night of the summer.  Those guys are pro.

Now, I greatly appreciate every single person I had a conversation with.  I don't care if it was one sentence or enough to fill a novel.  I seriously am so grateful that everybody I talked with took the time, whether short or long, to talk with me.  I enjoyed every second of it.  I know it sounds simple, but I don't want to overlook it.  If these people didn't exist, I would not have talked to a solitary person the entire summer, so saying this reigns importance.

And then I'd like to thank the people I had meaningful conversation with.  Meaningful conversation is so great, whether swapping jokes, talking about Christianity, or simply being overwhelmed by the massive amount of stars in the sky.  You know who you are.  Seriously.  I enjoyed sharing stories, I enjoyed sharing our lives.  I'm going to be honest right now, I don't know what to write right now.  I'm having a hard time putting my thoughts into text for you to read.  There is just too much...   Let's just put it this way, I hope I have more conversations with the people I had conversations with.


I believe that pretty much covers everybody.  I guess I could throw this in there: I am extremely appreciative to all the people I did not talk to.  All those people worked just as hard or harder than I did, they all had jobs to perform, and based upon the success of the summer, they all did their job.  I can't start thinking about the amount of responsibility every one person individually has.  It's incredible.


So now that does cover everybody.  This summer has been mind-boggling.  Straight up krill.  Seriously.  It went down in the history books.  In fact, open up the most popular 2011 history book that all the public school are buying and on page 433, there is a blurb on Hume Lake Summer 2010.  Not even kidding.
 




So, in all that, I am excited for the coming school year.  I believe it will be a good one.  In fact, I'll say this, I'm PUMPED!!

So good day, people of the internet. Have a great rest of your day, whether it's noon, 5 pm, 11 pm, or 2 in the morning. Utilize your time.

Honest.

It's really late.  I'm waiting for my video to export so I can compress it then drop it where it needs to be dropped.  What happens is this: there is a lot of time spent waiting for the export and compression.  Therefore, this is being written.  All that said, however, if this seems disjointed or confusing, I sincerely apologize: it's late and I haven't really written anything of substance (this may or not be an exception) all summer.  We'll see how it goes.

It's almost week 8 of camp.  That means there have been 7 weeks before this next one.  Really?  Are you sure?  It sure doesn't feel like it.  It doesn't feel like it at all.  I'm not sure what week 8 is supposed to feel like, but if you asked me at the beginning of the summer "What do you think week 8 will feel like?" I can 98% guarantee you I would not have guessed the emotion I will experience this coming Sunday.  In other words, time's flyin' and it's continuing to flap its wings.  We are full fledged coming to the end of summer.

So, is this a good or a bad thing?  I don't really know.  I'm really enjoying it.  Hume Lake is a wonderful place.  The atmosphere is great, the people are great, the campers are great, the job is great, the opportunities are great, the growing is great, the conversations are great, the list continues.  But do I want to pull a Groundhog Day and live in the summer of 2010 forever?  Absolutely not.  I hope that doesn't sound harsh because I certainly don't intend it to be.  By the end, it will definitely be time to move on and experience new things and who knows, maybe I'll end up back here next summer.  It's all part of life, a part that requires a flap of a wing, a change.  So obviously, when this summer ends, I will be heading back to Biola University where I will be spending my Sophomore year of college.  The summer was a detour on the schooling freeway.  Interesting concept.

Here's something: this past week, my department, Media, took our department photos.  The Hume Lake Yacht Club nicely allowed us to "pretend" we "were" the actual club, so we went out, dressed our best, and took this wonderful group shot.  Here it is for your viewing pleasure:

It's pretty small.  I believe if you click on it, you can enlarge it a bit.  This last little bit also coincides and perhaps explains the picture of Mr. Brandon Forbes, Mr. Michael Strand, and myself that led off this post.


I'm trying to think of other things to write.  Here we go: people are so stinkin' interesting.  I know I talk about this decently often but it's abundantly true.  Check this out: I've noticed Hume fuels a sense of sped up, hyper speed relationships.  Relationships are built incredibly fast at the beginning of the summer.  All of a sudden, "good" friends are made.  By the end of the summer, all these "good" friends of yours who you feel like you've known "forever" have really only been your friends for 3 months or so.  Maybe it's just me, I'm sorry I have have stuck "you" into this situation.  All I know is this: I fall into what I just described.  I honestly feel like I have already developed a number of solid relationships with the staff up here at Hume Lake.  Here's what I don't know: am I deceiving myself?  I have solid friendships that I've had with people for five plus years, how in the world can I describe a friendship I've made in less than 3 months with the same word (solid) as these "veteran" relationships?  I don't have a clue, and I don't have an answer.  Maybe it's fine.  Maybe these relationships really are solid, maybe they're not.  Either way, I know this: I like a lot the people up here and plan on keeping in touch.  We'll see what happens. 

Let me make one thing clear for you, the reader.  If you didn't know, this blog is written in a stream of conscious meaning I write whatever comes to my mind.  I don't put much thought beforehand of what I'm going to write.  So on top of being very tired at the moment, I am rambling on about different things that may or may not make sense.  Think of it like a conversation.  It's often hard to predict how a conversation will evolve and where it will be going next.  It's often hard to predict how this blog will evolve and where it will be going next.


I still have a very large amount of time.  For some reason my video is exporting very slowly so I will definitely be here a while.  I guess this is where this blog is not like a human-to-human conversation.  I sit by myself, I have to keep talking, I have to keep this conversation going.  What to talk about, I don't know.  I don't have many ideas.


Here's something: the future of this blog.  What is going to happen?  I obviously haven't kept it up throughout the summer, I have not had the resources, nor the time to do so.  But hey, a ripe school year is just around the corner, am I going to go back to updating every Wednesday?  Am I even going to dress up on Wednesday's anymore?  I honestly don't know.  I will admit, I will hate to see it go.  It has been a part of my life for the last couple years and it has recorded a number of the best memories that I (and you if you choose to check out the archives) have experienced.  I really hope I keep it up.  I just feel like I'm lazy and don't really want to do it.  I get in these weird moods sometimes where I consider not doing something I really like doing and really should do and really should be disgusted in myself for thinking otherwise.  Maybe I'm just in one of those moods.  I don't know.  I'm pretty tired.



This is actually really strange.  I've never written a blog post like this, I almost feel obligated to keep writing because I am literally sitting here in the wee hours of the morning waiting.  I'm going to take a picture of myself right now so you can see a real time photograph:

So that's me.  Kinda strange.  Sorry.



I knew this was going to come up, it always does.  It kinda goes with what I was talking about earlier.  Recently, I have been absolutely astounded by the little things and it makes me marvel at God's creation.  The other day, I was sitting in the grass, or in the dirt, I don't quite remember, and I looked down and about 10 tiny tiny red bugs were crawling on my pants.  I literally sat awestruck.  These tiny tiny red bugs have function, they have a reason for being, they have a creator who designed them.  What?  It's incredible.  At Hume, there are a lot of trees.  A lot of a lot of trees.  Trees that are living and growing.  What?  You mean to tell me there are hundreds and hundreds of living massive chunks of who-knows-what that harness the sun's energy and utilize the moisture of the earth to survive the weather and the destruction of time?  Some of these trees have been here for thousands of years and still continue to grow.  Blows my mind. 

(This whole section is probably confusing.  Just know that I can't talk about things like this, I get worked up and sit amazed and dumbstruck, which is not necessarily a bad thing.) 

And then we get to humans, oh oh oh boy.  Not only do we all look different, have unique fingerprints, and have completely different personalities, backgrounds, and everything else that influences the way we present ourselves, but we have a mind and a thought process to basically think anything we want.  That just blows me away.  Some guy names Einstein could be thinking about what "E" equals while some brothers with the last name of Wright try to figure out how humans can fly through the air.  My perhaps favorite example (I wrote about this a while ago, maybe you remember) is, in fact, the airplane.  You mean to tell me some person, a human being, just like you and me, figured out how to get a phatty hunk of metal to fly through the air?  You mean to tell me that some person constructed an engine that requires fuel to run, has the ability to propel that hunk of metal through the air?  You mean to tell me that some person figured out the concept and uses of fuel and how it works scientifically?  You mean to tell me that some person figured out how to use natural resources to produce a surface suitable for writing on, a surface all of these "people" I mentioned before use constantly?  BLOWS MY MIND.  Somebody thought about roads.  Somebody thought "Hey, we should probably make a sign that says "stop" so people don't run into each other and to make it noticable, make it the color red and in an octogonal shape."  A person thought of that.  A person like you and me.

I honestly don't have clue why this concept blows my mind so much.  It probably doesn't blow your mind at all and that is WHY I LOVE IT!  We are all so different!  We all have our own tastes, our own likes, dislikes, pet peeves, preferences, anything and everything.  Incredible!




I am seriously incredibly tired.







I just spent a good 10-15 minutes reading old blog posts.  I guess you could it my journal?  I don't know.  People still write in journals and diaries and stuff right?  Mine's just online for people to see, which is weird in itself.  Anyway, I say this because it's super interesting seeing the progression of my life, even in just a few short years, through the means of text and media on a website.  Super interesting.  If you're at all interested, take a glimpse at my last couple of years.  That statement is kind of strange, I feel like I'm advertising myself which is very self-centered. 

I don't know.  It's really late, or very early.  In fact, it's past the "very early" stage, it's just "early."


The exporting and compressing is not quite finished, but I am finished with this blog post.  I hope some of it made sense.  I hope it was worth reading.  Honestly, if you made it this far, I'm impressed: you put up with my garbled, confusing excuse for a conversation.  I'm glad.




You should go outside soon and look at the sky.  Think about the sky for a while.  The sky is incredible.