Mesh does Doom 3!

Alrighty, I stumbled across this quite some time ago and it's worth mentioning to you. Basically these two British guys Mack and Mesh have released videos of Mesh playing scary video games. He gets so immersed in the experience that he FLIPS OUT at spooky moments. It's great!

The best videos ones (in my opinion) are from the Doom 3 collection

If you've got a few minutes to waste some day and feel like laughing at someone, give these a try ;)

Break is almost over. Already!

It's been really good though - I made it through all the travel (as mentioned last post). It was kinda funny because some fellow travellers joined me for spending a night in Seattle airport. Two Canadian chics that didn't know each other and some guy from Hawaii. We'll probably never see or hear from each other again, but it was one of those random cool travel stories!

I had a great time with Michelle in and around Moberly - the picture above is taken near Lion's Park which was all frozen over. Most of the time, we stayed around the house and enjoyed not waking up for classes every morning. Christmas was a lot of fun with the Key family. Spending time with Michelle late at night sitting on the couch just talking and enjoying the mellow Christmas tree lights...

Anyways, now I'm back home in good old Atlanta hanging out with family and friends. So that's the news. Because I'm right in the middle of the holidays, I'll get three with one post:
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!
HAPPY NEW YEARS, MY FRIENDS!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY RENEE! (my sister)

And so begins the marathon journey... Yes I'm leaving Walla Walla in about 2 hours with 2 ladies I don't really know. Hopefully I'll survive the 5 hour car ride :P

Next, I plan to loiter around SeaTac airport for about ... 18ish hours. I hope I don't get kicked out or persecuted there, but on the upside it would make for a great blog story.

Then, I fly from Seattle to Charlotte, wait a while and then fly Charlotte to Atlanta. There, I will rendezvous with family and friends and recoup for a few hours.

Thennn, I fly from Atlanta to Kansas City where I will meet up with Michelle!

It's a lot of travel - I hope I don't looked like a chewed up piece of meat by the time I make it to Kansas City...

I'M NOT DEAD YET!

Crikey - I knew if I fell behind at all, it would pile up. I'm referring to both homework and blogging. Fortunately, it never became a problem with homework... I'll try to get back into the blogging routine with this summary of my life in recent times.

Thanksgiving break was really special with Michelle around and we had a great time. Not to say that we actually DID all that much (weather wasn't too pretty, nothing really to do, and too little time anyway), but it was still great! We actually worked with 4 other friends of mine here to make a tasty Thanksgiving meal - quite a fun event and I don't fear my own cooking as much as I used to.

Let me cover a few of the highlights from my Thanksgiving holiday:

A free small fridge (obtained while moving furniture for some locals)
Pasting a tree outside with a moldy pumpkin pie...
Breaking a few dorm rules with Michelle (shhhhh, nobody knows)
Watching movies with Michelle
NOT doing any homework
Vast amounts of food - huge free meals once or twice a day from various sources
Michelle
Pocky and Skittles

Of course, all the fun and enjoyment meant that since break ended, I've been heaps busy doing school-related homework. Lots of studying for tests, lots of homework, some group project stuff, writing papers, etc etc. It's been intense, but I'm hanging in there. I've got finals over the next 3 days and then I'll be OUTA here for a short Christmas break.

Outside of school... Rockclimbing has been great - I would like to pick up my own gear eventually, but for now cheap rentals are the norm. It is a great stress reliever! Ran in a 5k here and managed to come in 3rd place with a decent time (considering the weather and my lack of training).

The weather has been really cold - really really cold lately. I'm sick with a nasty sore throat and I'm hoping to banish it with some excessive sleep. I'm just glad I did extra homework earlier so I can afford to be sick and unproductive for a few days.

The BOXER run was great! It is an unofficial tradition here - basically lots of guys get together in their boxers and run around campus for a while. The highlight involves assembling in the ladies dorm courtyard and singing Christmas carols for a few minutes. That might sound crazy - considering it is VERY COLD at night here and actually it was crazy. But that's part of what made it so fun. The ladies took their "revenge" with a BIKINI run the next evening... This event was followed the next evening by the Midnight Breakfast which involved massive amounts of sugary breakfast food distributed (for free) to the masses of hungry college students. A good social event, but WAY TOO CROWDED.

Many other things have happened, but I'm too far behind to give them a full description. Good Amnesty International meetings, a goodbye/Christmas party for Jannette with crepes, a children's Christmas party, and so many more things.

And I miss Michelle!

I'm not dead yet... I feel happppyyyyyy!

Yes I do - Thanksgiving break is finally here (and actually is going by far too quickly). So here's some of the latest and greatest news:

I got a huge load of homework to finish and haven't done much yet. My engineering final project is to work in a group to design temporary housing for earthquake victims in Pakistan. That's awsome because it's actually relevant and practical - of course it will take a lot of time and research, but at least I can see the purpose.

Grades are all looking perky, but finances are less than stellar - fortunately I did pick up a few hours of work moving furniture, so I don't feel like a total bum. I also got a free fridge out of it!

The picture (see more here: Walla Walla Photos ) is from one of my long runs through Walla Walla. I often get up too late for church on the weekend and go running instead - in some ways I think it's actually better for me. Anyways, there are some truly beautiful spots around here!

Most interesting of all (to me at least), MICHELLE IS ON HER WAY :D She left yesterday afternoon and should be here in about... 5 hours, 16 minutes, and 23 seconds. Hehe um yeah. The next few days will be great!

Speaking of travel, I talked to SHARONA for many hours (3ish is the norm now I think) one evening recently. Talking about life in general, but also about travel plans for Australia this June/July. Can't wait for it! Shaz and I are contemplating some interesting travel plans...

And speaking of more travel, Bon, Katrina, and Kelly Schulz will are be visiting the U.S. soon! Dunno how much I'll get to see of them yet - but at least there's a chance!

I dedicate this post to Ben Anderson - my great Kiwi friend, former roomy, and fellow programmer... My reason? Well, Ben is probably the only person who will read this that will fully appreciate it and understand it ;)

Let me set the scene. This past Wednesday morning I went to my Assembly Programming class as usual. The lecturer (Curtis Nelson) informed all of us that he had finally nailed down our class project, told us what it was, recommended working in a group, and gave us the due date: Dec 9. Because the project was so unusual and likely to be very large, he jokingly mentioned that he would give double credit if it was done by the next day. Someone in class had a sense of humour and asked by what time tomorrow. Nelson was a bit startled by that question and quickly explained that he didn't intend or want anyone to finish by the next day - it would be unhealthy - and so... 6am.

Michael Roth and I were smiling and after class, decided we would give it a try. We didn't know each other very well, but we were both competent at least. Immediately after my last class of the day (2pm), we met in my room and began. We spent several hours planning, identifying potential tough problems, and developed are general architecture. From then on, it was a lot of careful thinking and a LOT of typing. After a marathon 12 solid hours (minus a half hour for dinner), we completed the 1700 line program - and even made it classy and stylish. We were both rather exhausted, but it was an exhilarating experience! We submitted the finished program over e-mail at 2am and submitted a hard copy (28 pages long) later that morning.

Nelson's brief 4 word reply e-mail:
"You animals! Good job." - ahhhh the satisfaction...

The whole thing reminded me so much of working on assignments with Ben - laughing at absurd ways to accomplish something, catching each other with a "wait, that won't work because of blah ... but what if we approached it like this...?", adding amusing comments for our own enjoyment... Yeah it was very familiar and I had the odd feeling that I was back working on some project with Ben.

For the one or two people who actually wonder what the assignment was, here's a semi-technical description: The goal was basically to make a de-compiler. The assembly program finds the copy of itself stored in program memory, reads each address, decodes the machine language and prints the corresponding assembly instruction to the SPIM console. The end result (more or less) is that you print out a copy of what you wrote...

And yes, I know I'm crazy.

Thursday night, one particular event stood out - a concert! A FREE concert! A GREAT free concert!

I found out about a free concert by two groups I'd never heard of last minute at tea with some friends. I caught Sarah online with instant messenger and convinced her to take a break from studying calculus long enough to go check out this concert... The venue was packed with several hundred college students - enthusiastic college students! The opening act was put on by an indie group who's lead singer happens to be Casey Luport (an American I met back at Avondale) - good music!

Then came the truly great stuff! The group An Dóchas (Gaelic for “The Hope”) played an amazing couple hours of beautiful high energy Irish music. They used a wide variety of instruments, vocals, and styles, but what really added to the experience was the dancers! They were an amazing group (Haran Irish Dancers) and the crowd REALLY got into the mood. In fact, the whole place felt like a pub some of the time with all the energy, clapping, and stomping! Really amazing performance - one of the best concerts I've ever witnessed! (and for all you folks back home, they are coming to Atlanta this December...)

I was an idiot for not bringing my camera... But what an experience! A perfect break from the routine of homework.

Go check 'em out here: An Dóchas - highly recommended folks! You can even download a few songs from their site to get a taste of what I'm talking about...

Yeah..... Well last weekend I went to the notorious BARN PARTY which was quite interesting. Mainly interesting due to the costuming. You are currently looking at the Q-Tip girls and as far as the guys. Well I don't know if they are babies or oldies. Either way, they had fun with it!

I joined forces with Pajama Man (Kent) and became his sidekick Lounge Boy - just chilling in my robe, snacking on popcorn, and watching all the costumes. The event was ok, but nothing amazing. Lots of people and rather shallow (in my opinion). At least there were a lot of creative costumes.

Anyways, what WAS cool (but doesn't making for intriguing pictures) was the Amnesty International meeting at Greg Dodd's house last Friday night. I think I've found another Daniel Reynaud (my semi-idol history lecturer from Avondale). We talked a lot about recent events around the world and the state of human rights in various countries - really enlightening!

In other recent events, had a lot of fun with Intro to Engineering class on Thursday. We got into small groups for some design competition... It was really the first hands on class we've had and it almost felt like playing :) Our small group actually beat all 6 of the others for our newspaper tower which was nice.

Also got the opportunity to attend an engineering colloquium about steam catapults for launching jet fighters from aircraft carriers - and dealing with the problem of stopping the huge force used to accelerate the plans... Good stuff!

No luck finding my mobile phone, but I DID buy a "real" phone for my dorm room so I can now receive calls... Now it's Friday night again and I'm ready to relax for a while. I don't have to worry about Chemistry, Calculus, Engineering, Assembly Programming, or anything else for at least one day! Enjoy the weekend everyone!

The Dark Sucker Theory:

For years, it has been believed that electric bulbs emit light, but recent information has proved otherwise. Electric bulbs don't emit light; they suck dark. Thus, we call these bulbs Dark Suckers. The Dark Sucker Theory and the existence of dark suckers prove that dark has mass and is heavier than light.

First, the basis of the Dark Sucker Theory is that electric bulbs suck dark. For example, take the Dark Sucker in the room you are in. There is much less dark right next to it than there is elsewhere. The larger the Dark Sucker, the greater its capacity to suck dark. Dark Suckers in the parking lot have a much greater capacity to suck dark than the ones in this room.

So with all things, Dark Suckers don't last forever. Once they are full of dark, they can no longer suck. This is proven by the dark spot on a full Dark Sucker.

A candle is a primitive Dark Sucker. A new candle has a white wick. You can see that after the first use, the wick turns black, representing all the dark that has been sucked into it. If you put a pencil next to the wick of an operating candle, it will turn black. This is because it got in the way of the dark flowing into the candle. One of the disadvantages of these primitive Dark Suckers is their limited range.

There are also portable Dark Suckers. In these, the bulbs can't handle all the dark by themselves and must be aided by a Dark Storage Unit. When the Dark Storage Unit is full, it must be either emptied or replaced before the portable Dark Sucker can operate again.

Dark has mass. When dark goes into a Dark Sucker, friction from the mass generates heat. Thus, it is not wise to touch an operating Dark Sucker. Candles present a special problem as the mass must travel into a solid wick instead of through clear glass. This generates a great amount of heat and therefore it's not wise to touch an operating candle.

Also, dark is heavier than light. If you were to swim just below the surface of the lake, you would see a lot of light. If you were to slowly swim deeper and deeper, you would notice it getting darker and darker. When you get really deep, you would be in total darkness. This is because the heavier dark sinks to the bottom of the lake and the lighter light floats at the top. The is why it is called light.

Finally, we must prove that dark is faster than light. If you were to stand in a lit room in front of a closed, dark closet, and slowly opened the closet door, you would see the light slowly enter the closet. But since dark is so fast, you would not be able to see the dark leave the closet.

Next time you see an electric bulb, remember that it is a Dark Sucker.

This theory (from what I can tell) came from H. J. Robinson back in 1996... Somehow it just seems to fit with my blog theme.

Sigh... The weekend has disappeared so fast. I don't have a whole lot of great and wonderful things to talk about about, but I'm trying to maintain at least one post per week.

Midterms - lots of them. One on Thursday, two on Friday, and one tomorrow. Fun stuff and actually not too bad or stressful. The good side of midterms is that there is relatively little homework to do.

Mail - got a package with goodies (popcorn, tea, hot chocolate, etc) from home! And sent off a package to somebody special for her birthday (which starts in about an hour).

Mobile - I lost my mobile phone Thursday night and I fear the worst. I think it may be somewhere in the great outdoors under a pile of leaves or something. Honestly can't think of how I lost it, but maybe something will work out - maybe someone will find it. Sad...

Parties! Went to a Halloween party the other night at Brook's house, met some new people, ate junk food, and just enjoyed not doing the midterm cramming and calculus homework I was supposed to be doing. Tonight was the "Barn Party" for all the college students and it was... ok. The costumes were fairly impressive, there was free snack food, but in general it just felt like a lot of random people shuffling around. It felt shallow.

That's about it I guess. Hard to believe I'm already half way through the quarter... Anyways, this week gets a 7.3 out of 11. Not too shabby! Too tired to add a picture right now, but I hope to add one soon. Miss all my friends - Daniel, Kristin, Sharona, Jason, Barrie, Phil, Jenkey, Kel, Jeff, all you fine friends, and particularly a special girl named Michelle... Thinking of all of you!

Well, the excrement has impacted the rotary oscillation device... This week has been packed with various assignments and I've lacked the time/energy to post new and interesting material (exactly as I feared when I contemplated starting this blog). However, I am not complaining - this week has been quite good actually!

SO! Last weekend was great - I caught a last minute excursion to the nearby hiking area with some engineering students: Jay, Sarah, Chris. We hiked straight up the side of one of the hills which proved much more challenging than I expected. Great weather, great view, great exercise and thus a potentially bland Saturday was saved! (Coincidentally, I went again THIS weekend and climbed with Chris, Christa, and Kent - awsome 4 hour hike!) Pictures of both hikes can be found here: Hike Photos

On to the other big news of last weekend - I've been officially assigned a roommate! The details behind it are not very interesting, but the point is that Zane Bischoff - sophomore nursing student is now rooming with me. Big props to him for finding an awesome room (305) for us here in the Meske dormitory. It is "technically" a single room, but basically it is two rooms linked together like some hotel rooms. This means we have a room for beds that is separate from the room with desks. Therefore (hmm, I'm slipping into calculus vocabulary now...) one of us can study without ruining the sleep of the other... AND it has carpet, mobile reception, and wireless internet reception! AND people secretly (and no so secretly) envy us...

I upgraded our room even more this week by purchasing a hefty 7' comfy couch for our study area - for the low low price of $50. (thanks to Grandma for funding some dorm furnishings!) It's comfy, relatively clean, and smell-free!

Class of the ... fortnight: Assembly Programming - learning about Two's Compliment, MIPS instruction set, and using the PCSpim simulator! (besides, Nelson is just a very entertaining lecturer).

Random quote of the moment: "Create in me a clean heart, O God" Psalm 51:10

Saturday night I enjoyed long conversations with Jodi and Kristin about travel and global issues - a significant part of that was sparked by the film "Born into Brothels" which we watched late that night. It is an Acadamy Award winning documentary about a group of children in the red light district of Calcutta, India. I would recommend watching it sometime if you have the opportunity.

Just the night before, I had begun a blog entry bemoaning my large load of homework over this past week... After watching a young prostitute's daughter (Kochi or Puja - I think?) basically say "Sometimes I wonder what I could become if I could get an education...", I quickly realized that I should be thankful for all the homework I get. And it really wasn't so much the things the kids said. It was the message they conveyed in their eyes.

The woman who began filming the documentary realizes how hopeless their futures are unless she can help them into boarding school. She connects with them by teaching them photography and giving them their own cameras to document the life around them. The children's pictures have become famous since then - shown in art galleries and are even featured on Amnesty International's new calander.

The point of all this is that once again I see how bad the world is in some areas of the world and how just a little bit of action can make a huge difference to people. Go check it out here: http://kids-with-cameras.org/home/ This along with what I'm learning from Amnesty International continues to impress upon me the importance of making a difference somehow. NOW!

Brandon the PIG (that's for the one and only Kelly Schulz)

SO!! On to the obviously interesting event of the weekend: the Mudbowl! Here at WWC there is an annual event which involves tackle football in a giant field that has been flooded in advance. The result is massive amounts of mud and lots of fun :)

I wasn't intending to play, but when I got down to watch the game and take photos, I got suckered in. I played defense on the wing for South team and the game was excellent - tied 7-7 until the last 2 seconds. We had the ball near their goal at the 4th down, but North team intercepted an endzone pass and ran it back all the way for a touchdown! Great game and a good excuse to get covered in mud... Apparently I'll even get a t-shirt for free tomorrow just for participating! (check out more interesting photos of the event here: Mudbowl photos )

Now for the less obvious but even cooler news: KRISTIN VISITED!!! She came Friday night and left sometime Sunday morning which was obviously too short, but it was great! We spent many hours at Jodi's house (a mutual friend of ours) - just talking about all sorts of things (politics, avondale, the future, the past..) The funny thing is that all three of us (and even Jodi's flatmate) are all in long distance relationships, so it was nice to commiserate for a while ;) It was great to talk with great friends and it had been waaaay too long since I'd seen Kristin...

CRAP, I just realized that we never had the Milo that Kristin brought! (For the less informed, Milo is not a dog - it is an Australian drink powder similar to hot coco without as much sugar).

Anyways, the weekend has been great! I got to spend time chatting, webcamming, and talking with Michelle and I even finished a little bit of homework.

The Top Ten Reasons For Procrastinating:
1.










(seen on a t-shirt today)

<>WhooHA! I have survived week 1 of college... The amount of homework is rather surprising I must say, but I'm staying ahead of the game so far. Except calculus. Calculus is the giant wave building behind me as I swim hard for the end of the quarter. Nobody really knows yet if the wave will drown me first or not...

In an effort to stay sane, however, I've been getting involved in NON-homework related activities. An example would be Amnesty International! More will be said on this subject later, but we had our first meeting (over tea, cheese, and crackers) and I'm downright excited about it! I am officially the Administrative VP of the club here, but I have yet to determine exactly what that means. In any case, I'm ready for it!

Another example would be Salvador. This is a fairly well known band in Christian circles - a bunch of Hispanic guys from Texas with great music! I was loving the trumpet and bass guitar particularly. The atmosphere was great - a strong sense of cultural diversity. Half the songs were in English and half in Spanish. I was enjoying the music next to my friend Riki (from Jamaica), a huge group of Hispanics, and many other cultures!

Last example: Lake Jubilie (see picture at top). I am part of the biology club here at WWC (stop laughing - I joined because it is apparently the most active club around for field trips and stuff). Saturday afternoon, they had a trip out to Jubilie Lake in Oregon. I won't get TOO detailed into all that happened, but the important parts are:
-It was raining at college.
-It was 60F at college, so I wore sweatpants and a light cotton shirt.
-On the way to the lake, we (Donny, Stephanie, and myself) drove through snow/sleet.
-It was 36F at the lake (up in the MOUNTAINS - something I didn't realize before).
-It was raining at the lake.
All of this led to a VERY cold afternoon, but on the whole quite enjoyable. The scenery was great, I got to meet some new and old friends, and there WAS a fire (along with hotdogs and smores). I even paddled out on a canoe for a while :)

I love trance and techno music - particularly trance. Many people don't understand it and so here is an abbreviated explanation of why I enjoy this particular style.

1. Crisp and clean. Like the contours on a brand new Porsche, or the lines and curves of famous bridges. The precision of the music is artistic - and yet it doesn't come across as sterile or emotionless.

2. Layers. (I don't know music terminology at all so please forgive me) A lot of music has themes, a chorus, and stuff like that - not bad. The great trance and techno tunes I enjoy tend to have dozens of layers of sound that are faded in, sped up, slowed down, amplified, etc. I can listen for particular parts of a song and pick up on new things almost every time - or I can let all of the layers of music blend into a single piece that takes me on a journey...

3. Volume. The electronic nature of the sounds means that they still sound amazingly crisp at high volume. Most music sounds better played loud, but trance in particular seems to work best cranked up... Besides - I love bass!

4. Remixes. I have heard dozens of remixes of single songs I know. Some of them are great, some of them are mediocre, but the cool part is that each one brings a new flavour to an old familiar favourite.

5. Mixes. The true art of techno and trance music comes in the mixing of various tunes into a cohesive "mix". It takes a sharp mind and good taste to calculate what tunes will go together best, which order is most effective, the optimum timing and speed of the transitions... And the best part is that it is often done live and improvised!

6. Vocals. Some trance has vocals and some doesn't - it makes for great variety!

7. Energy. The strong beat of trance (and especially techno) makes for high energy music - the bass beat provides a steady strong backbone to the music. It's great for waking up, for running, exercising, and yes even studying.

8. Calmness. Trance music makes for some of the best relaxation music I've ever encountered. The songs are long (5-7 minutes instead of pop music's 3-4), the vocals are usually simple, and it tends to flow. This is fantastic for taking a nap, studying, or just relaxing.

9. Parties. I admit I've never been to a club. BUT, I've seen many pictures and videos and you would be very hard pressed to find a genre of music with more impressive live performances. The lighting, energy, fog, lasers, etc are truly astounding.

Most people still probably won't "get it", but this music is powerful for me. If I was going for poetic and profound stuff, I'd say something like "it touches my SOUL"!

For those interested, I've got a number of techno/trance links on this blog - for internet radio, forums, downloads, etc.

Late Friday night...
I write this late on a Friday night, one day after arriving in the beautiful city of Seatle, WA. Unlike the rumors of rain, fog, clouds, and general BAD weather that I hear about, the place is simply amazing! The sky is clear, the air is clean and crisp, the temperature is just right, and the nature is beautiful. There seems to be a very refined lifestyle here (a bit north of Seatle) - fancy dining, dressing, cars, houses, etc... I wonder if part of that is a reflection of the natural scenery around here which just seems to demand respect.

Today was very relaxed - sleeping in, walking a beautiful young German Shepherd, and flipping through my Aunt's wedding album (one of the few things I truly missed while I was in Australia). It only got better from there... I enjoyed a nice evening dining at PF Changs with Aunt Brenda, Uncle Jorge, and Trung - and then went stargazing with a pair of their friends. Jen (the wife) actually works as a programmer for Google, which was a pleasant surprise - perhaps I have a future working for Google someday. Also, in the spirit of trying new things, I enjoyed a Long Island Iced Tea and a Sidecar - both rather tasty I must say. Now it is almost midnight and we are planning on leaving for college at 6:30 am. Sounds too much like getting up for work, but oh well ;) Thus the adventure begins on a very high note!

**The next day...
The drive out to Walla Walla College was relatively uneventful, but the scenery was astounding... at first. We went through mountain passes with peaks, enormous pines, lakes, rivers, etc for many miles and I was beginning to think that I had found paradise! WWC was looking like a VERY good move at this point. As time went by though, the scenery turned into rolling hills and eventually flat land filled with tan, dead-looking grass. I was getting very concerned as we approached the college. Fortunately, WWC seems to be an oasis in the middle of a northwestern desert. The campus is lovely!

After eating at a small shop on main street (with excellent sandwiches), we got my luggage into my new room and I said my farewells and thank-yous to Brenda and Jorge. I didn't really know what to do for the rest of the day, so I wandered and stumbled across a large gathering of freshman that were about to leave on a hike. Well BY JOVE that sounded like something worth doing! This turned out to be quite good - I snapped the picture above and met several people including a girl that was at Avondale the same time as me (but somehow we managed not to meet). I also spent some time interrogating a 4th year mechanical engineer about activities and the like around WWC. I've discovered that there is a huge amount of "stuff" to do at WWC and I believe this is probably because there is nothing to do anywhere else. Seriously. Rockclimbing sounds like a grand opportunity, student leadership opportunities, and even a WWC radio station by students... Things are looking good.

After the hike, I stayed busy for the rest of the day - went to a concert with free haystacks (and met Tim, Eric, and Shane - friends from Union College), moved into my room for a while, and then played carnival games for a few hours at they gymnasium. It was one of those "freshmen-get-to-know-each-other" events and not too shabby. I managed to make out with Sprite and some candy bars - and all the fun of course. Now it is approaching midnight and I'm exhausted for some reason. OK, it's not really that surprising. But in afternoon I managed to get my room, unpack everything, and attend 3 great social events. Crikey! BRING IT ON!

Some people love the day and some love the night... The traditional view in religious literature, movies, etc has been that night (e.g. darkness/blackness) represents "evil" while lightness/whiteness represents "good". I happen to love the night, darkness, and blackness - and yet I don't really think of myself as evil. Why do I like the night? There are several good reasons...

The night is a time of peace. This explains the title of my blog "Nocturnal Serenity". After the sun goes down, life settles down as well. Animals go to sleep. Birds quiet down. People go to sleep. Traffic disappears (at least somewhat). The general buzz of life fades. For those who enjoy staying up and awake during these "dead" hours, there is a great peacefulness. The hurry of life disappears.

The lighting is awesome. Photographers would argue against me, but in my opinion, nighttime light is better. Looking at nature under the nighttime sky is truly majestic. Perhaps it is because the shape of the world around us becomes more apparent as the colours become less of a distraction. The shadows and outlines are strong, crisp, and beautiful. It is easier to see the "big picture" at night when the details (distracting by day) fade.

It is intimate. Perhaps this results from most people being asleep. Or maybe the darkness gives a sense of privacy. For whatever reason, the nighttime has always been a semi-magical time to enjoy time alone, time with God, and time with people. When you spend time with someone at night, you see less of what they look like and more of who they are...

The nighttime holds many great memories for me and I know many more will be had in the future... Here are just a few samples of some great nights in my past.

Sitting on a living room floor enjoying the company of Jason (another nightdweller). Sometimes watching bad sci-fi movies and sometimes discussing philosophy, ethics, etc. Never with an agenda but always with purpose and significance.

Sitting outside on the "hotplates" wearing a robe at Avondale college. Across from me sits Sharona and we share stories and advice with each other for hours.

Looking through a telescope at stars, constellations, and moon from behind Avondale's science building. Daniel Vokurka shares information and names with Daniel Iglesias, Sharona, and myself as we exam the moon in awe.

Walking barefoot completely alone for miles along a beautiful beach on the small Cumberland Island off the coast of Georgia. The warm summer air and the cool offshore breeze swirl around as I listen to trance music and ponder deep thoughts about God, the future, and life.

Peacefully sitting on church pew with Michelle for hours in an empty majestic sanctuary. Talking without talking. Appreciating someone who... understands.

Eating fresh caught fish over rice in an empty dorm with Rey and Daniel - laughing about stories from the past.

Sitting on the swing bridge at Avondale over the lovely Dora Creek with my two mates Dieter and Sharona for hours - watching the water, stars, and an adventurous possum.

Countless late nights sitting alone at my computer and enjoying quality time with someone through phone calls, chats, or e-mails for hours. Barrie... Bonita... Sharona... Michelle... Jason... and many more names come to mind.

Enjoying a bonfire at Russel Harder's house for my 21st birthday with many many close friends who wanted to celebrate with me.

Playing a variety of games with my Kiwi roomy Ben - and sometimes even studying or writing papers...

Enthusiastically practicing guitar with Richie downstairs while mum and dad sleep.

Standing in a cave on the coast of Australia, watching the waves crash against rocks and glow bright blue/green as the microscopic phosphorescent creatures lit up.

The list could literally go on for pages. I have so many great memories from nights in my past!! There is a time and a place for everything and it just so happens that a lot of the good times in my life have been at night. I believe I'll always love the night.