20 Year Plan? What? I need one?!

So my roommate is doing a bunch of interviews for Colleges/Academic Programs etc. He's been asked some interesting questions, most of which involved him making up stuff that sounds smart because he didn't have a good answer, but that's life, eh? Anywas, the scariest question he got asked was this, “Twenty years in the future, what do you see yourself doing? Every five years how will you be one step closer to reaching that goal?” My first thought was literally, “that's not fair. I don't know.” But it got me thinking. Colleges like to get students who have goals. These are the ones that get into elite programs and are their top students who get that college's name out. The guys who sit around changing their major 3 times and then graduate after 6 years because they couldn't make up their mind are NOT the guys people want at a University.

Now, I'm not a “graduate after forever cuz I didn't get my act together” guy. I'm currently an English Writing Major Religious Studies Minor and even if that changes a bit I'll find a way to make it so that I don't graduate late. I'm graduating in 4 years, or I'm going to die trying. I'm also going to stick with the Honors Program even if its GPA requirements are not the easiest. I'm arrogant enough to believe I can do it. Brian, you are rubbing off on me, I think.

But... what will I do after that? 20 years from now I'll be 39, about 10 years younger than my parents, give or take. In other words, my kids, if I got married around the same time they did, which is reasonable, will be about 5-12 or something. My eldest would be like 11ish. So... I'm now a responsible adult with lots of important decisions to make about my family. Can't have my kids to grow up into half-starved heathen idiots, can I?

Well here's the complicated thing. Every time someone asks me, “What are you going to do with that degree,” I work it so they answer their own question. In other words, I'm not actually answering the question. In other words, I have no good answer. This isn't a “problem” per se, but its not a good thing. I need to get some solid plans down, I feel. If a college asks me, “Where do you see yourself” 20 years from now, I need to be able to say something besides, “I see myself married and … doing something cool.”

Do I have an answer? Well that’s a good question. First of all, I sorta do. I'm going to Graduate. I'm going to graduate in 4 years. Then I'm going to go do a DTS somewhere in Europe likely. A lot of DTS' are special DTS' now, Photo DTS, Arts DTS, Worship DTS. Do I want one of those? Well I love music, and I love worshiping God and such, obviously, but I'm no good with instruments, so a Worship/Music DTS is likely out. I can't sing either, before you ask. I wish I could, but I can't. So likely I'd just go do a Standard DTS. Oh, I might do a DTS in India... India or Germany seem the most likely locations. India might not be a good idea though, cuz a lot of people will know my Parents. But that might be a good thing, so who knows...

But after that... what? Work? YWAM? School? I wish I knew. I don't like the idea of working. It sounds... mundane. School might be nice, but I have a feeling I'll be pretty bored of school. YWAM could be cool, but its also a kinda scary thought. What would I DO in YWAM? What … skills do I have? I'll have an English Writing Degree. Great. I can write a paper. Great. … What now? That's what I get the feeling, its something I'll have to work out between me, God, and my Professors. We'll see how that goes.

School. I like School. I'll go back to school. Most of my family has a Master's Degree, if not higher. A lot of my friends are highly intelligent and will get PhDs at some time in the future; or at least as high of a degree as is needed in their line of work. Do I want a PhD? Haha. I can't say that now. I'm... open to the idea. It hit me, that if I really do end up pursuing Philosophy/Theology more than English Writing (not to say that I won't get an English Writing Degree. Philosophy is basically just writing papers, so why not get an English Writing Degree?!) I might end up getting a PhD in... something that involves sitting around thinking about stuff most people don't really care about but is actually of grave importanance. I've learned the pratical applications of Philosophy and I know Theology is useful, so I'd be willing to do it.

What about Work? It sounds... horrible. But I'd be up for it if it was the right thing to do for a time.

Anyways... that was a lot of well... nothing, but I guess it got some thoughts out. Bottom line: I need a 20 year plan. Suggestions?

Finally: Song of the Day



Quick note: This band is amazing and you should buy this album. It is one of the best purchases I have made in a while. The rest of the album is pretty awesome except maybe like 1-2 songs that are not very good.

Just an Update

So much work! I feel like I'm buried in papers today, I have 4 classes which have been assigned papers, and one class where about 50% of the midterm was short answer/essay questions. I'm glad I'm an English Writing Major, because otherwise I'd probably just about die.

Despite the papers, I'm having a good school year. Busy, but I like it that way. Working on continuing to do good in school. I feel like I still have a good shot at a 4.0. I know I can get a an A in my COSC class, I should manage an A in Honors and in RELS class, not to mention my Rhet and Comp class. That leaves just my ENGW class, which is still in some doubt; that will be my hardest class this year, but that's good! My teacher is amazing, I spent 40 minutes talking to her today about my last paper and why I didn't do so good and my next paper and what I need to do in it to do better. I feel she was very encouraging and helped me understand exactly what I need to do and why I am here to become a better writer.

Of course, this doesn't help because, while I love writing and I know I need to become a better writer, I'm not really interested in Writing as a career. I'm interested in Thinking as a career. A year ago I considered Law School, and its still an option, but its not nearly as much of an option as I thought it was. I'm not going to take any pre-law classes. I'm not going directly to Grad school. I'm going to graduate from college and run off to Europe for a while and do stuff with my Parent's organization; be a volunteer and get some training in Theology and … whatever else I decide to do.

Anyways... I need to get to bed. Its late and I have homework tomorrow. Luckily, Tomorrow is THURSDAY! Which means 1 class, and then, FRIDAY! Friday means... four classes, ugh, plus RELS homework. But at least I get a weekend...

Song of the Day? My brother's latest composition: Nusrat's Shattered Mirror

A Dream I Had

Strangest dream I had last nigh. Me and this other person... it might not have even been me, it was the protagonist. We were in a boat in an underground river/sewer system that had long been forgotten on a dangerous quest. It was like a kinda sci-fi setting, maybe cyberpunk. Our boat had some sort of machine that kept having problems (involving cement of all things) every time I/the protagonist went to sleep. The machine, I felt like, was a water pump.

The story finally ended when we came to this strange series of like computers. If you think about it this entire thing could have been really scary if it was a movie and not a dream, a movie that didn't have to make sense, but was just really creepy; like the beginning of a strange off-beat indie horror/sci-fi/fantasy flick. It wasn't so much computers as it was a bunch of OLD computers and calculators all on and beeping/flashing and such. Creepy, yes? Imagine a dark long, narrowish tunnel with two people in a strange boat suddenly coming to a dead end filled with flashing, archaic computers.

The dream ended with a modern computer and a cellphone appearing, and the cellphone started to ring and it turned out to be MY cellphone telling me its time to wake up (I'm glad it did, because my roommate didn't get up at all today, he didn't show up in class today).

Just thought I'd share that with you. Nothing really important. I thought the picture my dream painted was really, really interesting.

3 Thoughts I wanted to Share

A few random thoughts for you guys

First of all, I felt something really interesting when reading about the protests in Bahrain. These protests that are going on in North Africa/the Middle East, they are not a random occurrence, they are not a strange twist of luck. There is a reason that people are rising up now. Obviously, I can't confirm anything, but many of these nations are Islamic and have a fundamentally flawed set of laws (Islam) at their root. These governments are oppressive by nature, many are monarchies or dictatorships that appeal to a oppressive system of governance (Islam), and people are just sick of that. I can't do anything but look at pictures and videos and read articles in the news, but I want to say that I think God is moving in the Middle East in a way that maybe no one has expected before.

Second of all, Homosexuality. The homosexual lifestyle is wrong, regardless of what DNA/Science says about it being “determined at birth” or whatever. Alcoholism is hereditary (somewhat), its also a sin/bad, yes? I love homosexuals, God does too. Jesus forgave the prostitute the pharisees wanted to stone. Jesus loved the woman at the well who was sleeping around a LOT even by today's lax standards (well... its more accurate to say that everyone today would know she was easy, whether or not people would like her or hate her for it is of course another matter). Jesuse didn't agree with their lifestyles, he told the Prostitute to “Sin no more” but he didn't kill her, he didn't condemn her. Homosexuals are hurting people, and to think for a moment that any of them have more problems that me or anyone I know is the greatest lie I've heard in a while. I'm no worse, I'd dare to say, but I'm no better either. Mainstream media and Mainstream thought seems to find my position untenable. How can you love a homosexual yet still condemn their lifestyle? I'm not sure why the idea is so radical. Drug addicts are loved, but people hate their lifestyle, for instance (no I'm not saying Homosexuality is akin to an addiction, I don't what exactly goes into making a person a homosexual. I don't care). Finally, there is simply no good secular answer to Homosexuality. Only a society with a firm foundation in Biblical values (and given the way in which homosexuality has been dealt with in various societies, it seems that none exist, to my knowledge, at least) will succeed in reconciling the “issue” of homosexuality.

Finally, the Trinity. I came across a really amazing thought on Monday. The trinity is this weird thing because it really doesn’t make a lot of sense if we think of it from a human perspective. Why not 1 god? Why not 3? Why the whole messy 3-in-1 stuff? One of the students in my class really didn’t' like the Trinity, and I felt for a time that it was also kind silly, but then I realized something (or God spoke to me, whatever you want to say, it was probably a combination of both). There are 3 divine beings that exist, but they are incomplete when separate. They are linked in a way that is beyond human understanding, they operate as one, but they are distinct. They cannot be separated, and if they were, they would be come less divine, somehow. I don't claim to understand much, but I know there is a Trinity, and I'm glad I can say that with some authority.

Thank you for your time. Now I need to go get Pizza before the Cafeteria shuts down. I also have 3 papers to write before I got to bed and Midterms begin so soon. I think College has this strange perverse pleasure in destroying your social life 3 weeks into school, it pretends you're allowed to have one, then takes it all away.

Oh, and because its fun to do I'm going to try and start doing what one of my friends do, Song of the Day (SOTD). Basically, I'll post a random song I listened to today that I really like. So here is the first one:

EU III

Well here we go, I'm finally gonna blog about Europa Univeralis III (EUIII), a game I bought a while ago and have played a decent bit since then. I still don't think I've played enough to really get the full picture, but the game is so freaking huge I'm not sure if that's entirely possible.

EUIII is a game much in the vein of the Civilization or Total War series of games, except rather different. Like both of these games, you rule are placed in charge of a real-life nation and given little to no firm objectives except “rule the world.” Unlike both, its real time, but with an emphasis on empire management. Battles are more like Civilization, taking into account stats like your general's ranks and your soldiers morale and ability to complete certain kinds of attacks. Unlike Civilization it uses a real-world map for its basis and starts at around 1399, playing up until 1821 when the game ends.

However, unlike Total War, the scope of this game is huge, bigger than even Empire Total War, which only had North America, Europe and the Middle East/South Asia covered. This game literally has the entire world, maybe not Australia, but that's about it (honestly I haven't checked to see if Australia is on the map, I bet it is). Because of its open ended nature you can chose to pretty much do anything. You can play as Japan and launch a full-scale invasion of China by the year 1420. Or you can play as the Golden Horde and finish what the Mongols never really managed to do: conquer Europe. Or you can play Castille (a Spanish nation) and attempt to do what I have found myself doing: a combination of defeating the muslim and African nations south of me as well as conquering the New World.

I started in 1399 and began with a conquest of Granada, with nothing else to do and my alliances with the other Iberian nations too strong to risk war, I proceeded to conquer much of Northern African and eventually send my troops down into Western Africa where I am currently involved in conquering Mali, I believe, Mali or Ghana. In the meantime I've sent out a few colonists to some Islands near the New World and I sent a 6000 man force to battle the Aztecs when I realized my ally Portugal has already conquered about half of what became the United States in “real” history.

The game is addicting. I played it for hours yesterday, finding it really entertaining. My war with Ghana got me involved with the rather powerful Malmaluks who rule the bits of Northern Africa I don't. At first, I hoped to ignore them until I had conquered Ghana … Or Mali or whoever they are... completely, but then I realized just how much of a threat they were and scrambled to hire enough soldiers just to hold my own lands, let alone conquer some of theirs! This was rather surprising for me since it was the first challenging war I faced since the beginning of the game. Essentially, I've been praying on poorer and less equipped nations, Castille is in a very good position to do this, and facing Malmaluks was something I expect, but it was really a good battle and forced me to declare an early peace with Ghana so I could actually have a chance of getting a decent deal out of the Malmaluks.

Anyways, I've played through just over 100 years now and still have 300 more to go. The Reformation is going on strong and a few of my provinces have been hit, I haven't decided if I want to actually change to Prodestanism just yet, mainly because it will likely involve my powerful neighbors claiming my throne and a bloody war in the Iberian Peninsula. It could probably end my favor, if I'm careful and I make sure to preemptively build up a huge army and claim several of their provinces quickly, but then I risk getting all of Europe involved in the War. The last thing I need is a French army or English navy hitting my borders.

And, mind you, these experiences come from the first 100 of what is basically a 400 year full-fledged playthrough as one of many, many, many nations. I could attempt to conquer India as one of the many princedoms that existed in 1399, or I could be silly and play as the Aztecs, anything could happen, and its a really well designed game.

Insane College Night

Yesterday was amazing. I woke up at like 7AM (after going to sleep at 1AM) with a text message: “Snow day. Classes are canceled.” I had 4 classes yesterday, so I'm very happy about this. So I sleep till 11AM, get some breakfast (coffee shop was closed. No Bagel... :( I had a hamburger at the Dinning Hall instead). Then I spend the rest of the afternoon playing video games and just messing around in general. At 7 I left for my Aunt's house where we had dinner and talked and stuff till about 10PM. I bought my ticket to see Times of Grace and War of Ages (plus two random bands that I don't care about) tonight and I'm really excited about this. For those of you that don't know Times of Grace is a side project featuring Adam D. and Jesse Leach of Killswitch Engage fame. In brief, Adam D. got together some music and decided to recruit former Killswitch vocalist Jesse Leach to help him out lyrically as well as provide some rocking vocals (since Adam doesn't think he has the strongest voice out there, which I'm not sure I agree with, but whatever, Jesse is a great musician). Their album, “Hymn of a Broken Man” is really, really freaking good. First of all, Adam D. is one of the best metal guitarists from the US I've heard. He's a metalcore guy, you can tell, but he's got a good style, a real music education (went to Berklee School of Music, so yeah, he's one of those “educated” musicians). Jesse, I like Jesse because as far as I know, he's a believer and you can tell in his lyrics. Alive or Just Breathing, the Killswitch album that he helped create, has some really strong lyrics. They are not outright Christian, much less obvious than say, Demon Hunter or Thousand Foot Krutch, but he's got Christian morals down and that's always refreshing when it seems most bands really fail in the “good lyrics” department. Anyways, so I'm gonna see Times of Grace and War of Ages tonight.

Last night though, oh it was awesome. I got back and I hung out in the lounge with the people that didn't go out partying, we watched Anchorman, which was one of those... hilarious movies. It wasn't really slapsticky or over the top either, it was just darn funny. Best character was probably Steve Carrell's, he just had some amazingly well delivered lines. All of the cameos were great as well, Jack Black had the greatest cameo ever. After that it was about 3:30 and we were about to watch Collateral when someone said, “hey, IHOP anybody?” And we were all like, “IHOP at 4AM? YES!” We went and had an early breakfast of pancakes and eggs, talked about Rednecks, Hicks and Hillbilies, then went back to the dorms hung out a bit and I went to sleep at 6AM. I was awake for about 18 hours straight. So much win.

Anyways, I think, after just over a semester, I'm starting to make some real good friends here. Its take a while, but I'm getting there.

Anyways... I'm going to do something else... like... start on my reading for Monday I guess. I'll write more later, maybe when I get the chance I'll actually write up about Europa Univeralis III.