A Brief Look Over the Shoulder

So I have had an amazing year! It as felt like it has gone by at about lightspeed, yet I have so many things to be grateful for. I have had so many experiences that have caused me to stretch and grow. I have made so many new friendships that are amazing and are causing me to grow as a person. God has repeatedly throughout this year confirmed His path for me and is providing for that path. I have seen friends graduate and move on to greater things. I have had the opportunity grow along side so many others of you as are still working towards graduation day. I have seen you grow as students, as people, and as friends. What I think I am most grateful for this year is for the people God has put into my life. The covers everyone from my family to so many of you at Regent. You guys truly are a blessing.

Alright, for the photo(s) of the post, I think I am going to post a photo of….you! Well, many of you ;)

This is a final group photo of the 2007 RUC before the new members took office in December.

Haha...this is more like it! :D

Because of the nature of this group photo, I have uploaded the full resolution copy so you guys can save it. So just click on the photos to view them.

Time together and Christmas

When special days such as Christmas come along, many times there is a desire within me to do something "worthy" of the day. In many ways, this desire manifest in me wanting to do something that is traditional with the day. For example, if it is the Fourth of July, I want to go see fireworks. Because of this desire of mine, there have been many a holiday that I have felt something lacking when it turned out most of my family just wanted to sit around and relax. Though I can’t always figure out what we should do to make it "special", I feel the day has lacked something by the end of it.

Though I believe this feeling can be good and can be a catalyst for starting good traditions, I have also come to realize that it is more about being together than doing anything particular. Being 21 and about to graduate with my bachelors degree, my perspective is changing as I realize that time together with my family will come increasingly more precious. Maybe it is not any particular thing that needs to be done. Maybe Christmas day doesn’t need any particular thing that separates it from Christmas Eve or the day after Christmas. Maybe what’s important is that we just simply enjoy being together.

I hope that this Christmas day, this Christmas break, that you have enjoyed your time with your family and friends. I hope that you created moments that you will remember and simply enjoyed being with the people that you love and care for. Christ came so that we could know God’s love, so I find it fitting this Christmas to have spent it loving the people God has put in our lives.

Merry Christmas!!!

To add a bit of traditions, here is the pivotal scene from the Charlie Brown Christmas!

Merry Christmas from LSAC

YES!!!! I just got my score from my December LSAT test and I got the score I needed!!! I'm so excited!!

Panera Bread and snow

So I am currently sitting in a Panera Bread about to start doing more School work on my vacation. I sat in this store for over six hours yesterday and I probably will be here a few hours again. Despite the fact that I actually have to do the school work, I am very grateful that there was a Panera up here for me to do this at. I’m not quite sure what the rest of my family is going to do today without me, but at least by tomorrow I will be able to join them because I will be completely done with this work!

It’s funny to be at a ski resort near Christmas and there is practically no real snow anywhere! The weather is about 40F and clear. Haha…at least we have what appears to be man made snow on the runs!

Talking about the lack of snow...today's photo is from a winter when Virginia Beach actually got some snow!

I believe this was the winter of 04-05. It also happened to be just after I purchased my Nikon D70.

Vacation and Lights

It is amazing, for the first time in a while, my family is going on a “vacation”. We are going to the Massanutten Resort near Harrisonburg, VA. It should be a lot of fun. We are leaving right after church tomorrow, so I am busy working now on getting all of my work done beforehand. Reviewing their website, it appears that they do have Internet, but charge a fee. Hmmm, I may be making a visit to the Panera Bread in Harrisonburg to submit some last minute schoolwork instead.

Creative photography inspiration has been hitting me recently, so instead of pulling out one of my photos from the vault, here is a photo that’s still hot out of the oven!

This was taken using a 30 second exposure at f22. Essentially, I turned the air into a canvas for my paintbrush, which resembled a Maglight. To view more of these, visit my Creativity! album.

Thunderbird and Pancakes!!

So I really should be working on my research project, but I wanted to post quickly. So I have to say I am really loving Thunderbird! Since I am on a Mac, I do not have to deal with Outlook and I rather like Apple's default Mail application. But some time ago, I decided to set up my school email on Thunderbird. It worked fine, that was until recently when I found out it could do so much more. I now have it so that it put emails related to the branch into its own branch folder, class emails into its own folder etc... Now Apple's mail does this, but what Thunderbird also does is it reads RSS feeds and makes them show up in my mail like emails! So I now have many of my fellow bloggers set up this Thunderbird so I receive an "email" everytime some writes a new post...it so cool! (To be fair, Apple's Mail 3 in Leopard also does this...but I don't have that yet!)

Second, the Pancake Christmas party put on by Student Services with the help of RUC was amazing fun! Here are a few photos until I post the album.

Hanging out with friends!!

Playing Regent Jeopardy!!
And HMMMMMM.....Pancakes!!!

Political and Photography

Alright, so I have several things on my mind. First, I believe that I have decided to do some political analysis of the GOP candidates while on Christmas break. Up to this point, I have not written much on the topic, yet I do have some opinion of the candidates. I believe that rather than just point blank support one above the rest, I am going to give my pros and cons for each of the major candidates...so stay tuned!

Second, I miss photography!

Many of you are scratching your heads right now going, "What, for the last couple of days all I have seen in your hand is a camera!" That is true, yet when I mean, photography, I do not mean simply taking pictures. I mean the process of finding and capturing a view or aspect that reflects more of an artisan's paint brush rather than a scribe's pen. This desire within has been prompted by a new widget I installed that gives me a daily sample of some of the photos that can be found on flickr. I love composition and use of vivid colors! I love the attempt to capture the inherent beauty of God's creation in a sliver of time. It's simply amazing.

So with that, here is my photo of the post!

This was taken in the theater of the former Virginia Beach Pavilion shortly before it was tore down to make room for the new Convention Center. I have always found theaters great places for photographic creativity.

Want to know something?

So I am going to let you in on a little secret I have never told anyone...I really like seeing girls wear scarfs! Seriously! I know it may sound odd, but I find a very smartly dressed girl wearing a scarf very attractive! Who knows why this is...but I do.

Now that I have told you all that, here is a random photo from the vault of my personal photography taken over the years. I think I am going to start including a photo with each of my post to give you more reasons to come back!

This one is from over a year ago. I took it while siting on the beach of Kiptopeke State Park located on the eastern shore. The lights you see running along the horizon are from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. I love camping at Kiptopeke, it is one of the few places on the east coast where you can see a sunset on the beach.

Regent Christmas Ball!

The Ball was, well, a Ball! It was amazing fun and well attended. Here are a few photos from the event!

Me and the lovely Monique!

Me and the very politically optimistic looking Scott!

With the very charming Kellie and Alicia!

Me and the graceful Rebekah!

With the tremendous duo of Ethan and Garric!