choice

i believe in choice more than i believe in anything else. ANYTHING. it isn't the society around us that creates who we are...it is the society we choose to put around us that creates who we are. we choose whether to turn on FOX NEWS or CNN or none at all. We choose the people we hang out with, we choose our roommates, we choose whether or not to drink that extra shot of tequila. we choose to have sex with that girl or not, or at least we choose to put ourselves in a position to have sex with them. you choose the books you read, you choose the shows you watch.

so that creates a scary idea. you choose who you become.

and the traveling stops...boo...

--MANHATTAN to WICHITA

--WICHITA to DALLAS

--DALLAS to LINCOLN, KS

--LINCOLN, KS to MANHATTAN

--MANHATTAN to WICHITA

--WICHITA to MANHATTAN

I think my summer traveling has ended. Manhattan, I choose you. (for one more year)

goals and gravitas...

goal number 1: everyday i want to walk into a gas station and purchase a USA Today or some other newspaper magazine along with an Arizona Green Tea. the main reason for this is to establish a morning tradition so that i'm not waking up 15 minutes before i'm supposed to be at work. also, i think i'll enjoy reading the newspaper everyday. plus, Arizona Green Tea is good.

goal number 2: fearlessness. i'd like to have a little more gallant, and a little less worried about what others think. i wanted to say gravitas because i thought it meant ballsiness. but apparently it means seriousness or sobriety. i'm officially changing the meaning of gravitas to mean ballsiness.

goal number 3: don't let this guy turn me into an agnostic. i don't think he is, but he claims a lot of stuff. including telling me that he's allowing LOST to determine his theological basis. (my friend is in your hands damon lindelof....dont' fail me)

goal number 4: stop making goals and to do lists and not accomplishing them.

goal number 5: make my own food. invite you, and you, and you, and you and all of you over to eat it.

"so how was your summer?" "(insert rehearsed answer here)"

summer is over and you know what that means...internet access once again!! i will once again be back onto the blogger/twitter/facebook scene. expect writings to come out daily.

--marion this is for you: i want to start writing a book. i have the ideas but i don't have the inspiration or motivation. can you help me?

--there's something noble about working a 40 hour week doing manual labor. problem is...nobility is not enough for me to do it for the rest of my life. not a chance...

--lake this weekend. reunion of the pact crew. you bet!

--i'm going to be getting the question, "how was your summer?" so i thought i'd give the long version here:

my summer was a mixture of lousy and terrible with a few shimmers of goodness in between. i spent the summer in wichita living with my parents which SUCKED. don't get me wrong i love the family, but it led to having multiple conversations with mom and dad about what i want to do with my life. a scary topic...and one to be discussed later. i could have been in alaska this summer...i regret not going.

sucky summer things:
1) poison ivy...on my manparts,
2) poison ivy a month later all over my legs,
3) a breakout of a common childhood disease that caused me to miss work for a week...aka shingles...
4) burned this shit out of my hand on my last day of mowing work,
5) i mowed most of the summer,
6) being at home somehow slows my ability to get things done,
7) i'm only a little closer to figuring out what career i want to do.

awesome summer things:
1) multiple lake weekends,
2) a lot of tedder/jacob/dunham/crandall time,
3) feeling productive again once i made it to the farm,
4) cousins wedding,
5) met some new and very cool people (missy, molly, saturday night college group),
6) became reaquainted with my bicycle,
7) learned to appreciate coffee shops.

conclusion...i haven't decided if my summer was good or not. so final answer to "how was your summer, Kevin?" answer: "it was alright."

so live your life...

Recent Obsessions:

1. Twitter - at first it seems pointless. but slowly it catches up with you. and eventually you find yourself lost in the twitterness of life. my favorite twitterer is Christopher Walken (but he seems to get kicked off a lot, making me think it's not actually him).

2. Royals Baseball - I do love the game. But it has become an obsession because of Ben Cook and some of the other baseball guys. They will almost have me convinced that the Royals are REALLY good this year, but then i snap back to reality and realize that Mike Aviles is our middle infielder. Let's be honest. The royals are simply not that great. I want them to be...but they just aren't.

3. Fantasy Baseball - Who knew I would ever care that Daisuke pitched 1 inning and let 5 earned runs crossing the plate leaving me with a 45.00 ERA and in last in almost EVERY pitching category. I never thought I would care...but I do. I really, really do.

4. This one may be cheezy. But I am absolutely loving the people that I hang out with this semester. This year is starting to rank as one of my best in college. So here's to you, Josh Tedder, Zach Anderson, Josh Woodard, the Settlers crew, the Pact Girls, the O-House, the baseball guys, the blogspot buddies, facebook faithful, and twitter tweeters. You have made this semester great.

more blogger, less facebook notes...

so i'm reading Harry Potter. and i love it. BUT there are a few things I don't like:

1-Qudditch is an illogical sport. catching the snitch ends the game, but there's not reason to catch it if you are behind by more points than the snitch is worth...

2-Harry is actually an annoying character. he cares way to much what other people think and gets mad at stupid stuff...

3-Any character that wont believe the truth because they just don't want to believe it makes me really mad. Fudge, Umbridge, you ruin the book for me...

OK, I've read through book 5 and started 6 today. I don't care if you make fun of me, the books are good...

Another Paradox, Less Harmony

Part of me wants to go to Africa. Live in a hut that I build myself and raise a family. I would get away from all of the industrialization, commercialization, and Christianization. I would simply live off of a land and work hard at doing it.

Another part of me wants to stay in America and become something amazing. Live a life that influences others and changes my community for the better. Become influential in order to effect positive change on those around me. But doing this would mean I would have to stay in the culture that I'm growing more frustrated with.

I can't seem to find a medium that fits. Maybe I'm not supposed to...