The past week and a half (or whatever) has been heck of hectic. I haven't gotten more than 8 hours of sleep in any one night, and a couple times quite a bit less. It has generally been a period with relatively little free-time and always something that you have to do. On the other hand, it has been pretty awesome. For some reason, every Orientation Week that I do seems to be showered with grace, and this past "week" was no different.
The coordinators' retreat was really great. It was one of the best weekends that I've had in a while, and blossomed into quite a cool week. It was great to meet all of the coordinators from the various households and to discover what God was doing in and through them. It is so easy sometimes to get tunnel-vision in that regard and forget that God moves outside of your own little life. So it was great to meet new people, and to hang out with Liz and Susanna. The talks were, for the most part, quite good and inspirational.
The "OT" training week itself was a little bit boring. Hanging out with people was definitely the highlight seeing as the talks were /very/ plentiful and often got a little repetitious. Still some good stuff though, and definitely some fun lunchtimes/dinners/late-night Walmart runs.The new freshmen on wing are really solid. I was somewhat disappointed not to get a small-group this year, but have been hanging out with Thomas' small-group enough to make up for not having one. I was afraid that they might be the kind of kids who just stay inside their rooms and make you come tell them "Look, hang out with us! Come eat with us!" but they really aren't. Of course, it helps that we are often pretty loud and in the hallway, but hey: that is our charism. So yeah, these kids have a lot of potential.
Friday night, Claire and I stayed up until 3:30AM smorking a cigar and having a much-needed "so, what have you been up to in the past year" conversation. It is always good to hear how God is working in someone else's life, and to get their take on your own current experiences. I dunno. It was really enjoyable, and I think that's all I'll say about that.
Today was no less action-packed than the rest of the week. A very enjoyable brunch was eaten, after which Reez and I hung out in Trinity for a bit. She wanted to play a board-game so we rounded up 6 people for a game of Clue (which is an awesome game). It turned out to be the shortest Clue game ever, clocking it at probably 15-20 minutes, but it was very fun. After that, I went to the "Dinner for 12 Strangers" with Thomasino's small-group. There were three small-groups (a little over 30 people) there, so it was kind of packed, but it was fun. Justice Gibson and Katie Patton were both there from the Marian group, so I was not the only kid to tag along. Plus: I got to show off my double-jointed shoulders in the "get to know you" part of it. After that, Thomas and I were going to watch 28 Days Later with Cory (a kid from his small-group), who had never seen it, but I guess he disappeared off to the Ice Cream Social. So we raided DVDan's movie collection and found one that Thomas assured me I should see: Dog Soldiers. It is a thriller about this small group of soldiers being hunted by a pack of werewolves. It was pretty darn good, and not just "for a horror B-movie". Some pretty creative problems and solutions, which is pretty much the core of any horror/thriller movie. After that we dashed off to the last showing of the Orientation Week play (called "Supressed Desires"). It was a very funny comedy about Freudian psychoanalysis. Quite good. Now, I am tired, and totally ready for bed.This has been a very interesting past couple weeks, internally. I don't know. God seems to be leading me in some interesting directions, and I have great hopes for this new semester. The strangest part about it being that I am more at peace now than I have been in a long time, certainly in comparable situations. Or at least, I am most of the time. The past half-week or so has reminded me of how much our past still affects us, even when we think we've left it behind. This semester has almost more potential than any other to be /really/ tough, but I pray that my irrational fears prove insignificant in God's plan and that any struggles that He sees fit to give me may be opportunities for great grace. I can barely keep my eyes open.
"But you're leaving me here on the defense... [to give up now doesn't make much sense]"
-L
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