Lock and Load

what does it mean to be educated?

2007-10-14T19:57:00.000-07:00

i take a class at mlc called Intro to Fine Arts. the class is all about the history of music, art architecture from the dark ages on. we learn about significant people who contributed, trends, movements; pretty much what you'd expect in a class called "intro to fine arts." what bothers me most about the class is that we really dont learn anything.

i'll be the first to admit that i'm a crappy student. actually thats not true. my problem is i'm a chaotic person who just kinda chucks things in general location when done with them. i never know what i'm supposed to do for a class and when i do know, i get all perfectionistic and put it off cuz i know that i won't do it well enough anyways. i wonder how many people know that about me? pretty irrelevant except that unlike alot of people i try to participate in class. i hate not answering questions or not contributing to discussions. usually i have so much to say or just want to have my voice heard. i like interacting with people better than with my notes. i hate reading my own notes, i dont know how to write notes and even more i dont know how to study notes from a class. i usually just wrote notes in class because they were a good way of getting more out of the class and keeping me focused.

this relates to intro to fine arts because honestly the structure of the class sucks for someone like me. we sit there and listen to prof potratz talk about motets and madrigals and mary magdalene always being a certain color in paintings from a certain century and i sit there. i dont write things down cuz thats just as pointless as all this. i dont get to interact. i sit like a puppy and wait for the clock to hit 12:05 so i can book it out of there.

the first test i bet a girl i'd beat her on the test. joanna is a girl. i work at an afterschool daycare program. boys misbehave and go crazy, girls are sweet and innocently go crazy. a broad generalization yes, but in general girls do better at behaving and learning in a school/classroom setting then boys. attribute it to being feminine or something. so what im getting at is i didnt stand a chance. girl got a 100% jason got a D and cheered. attribute it to study habits.

in this class we sit there listen to seemingly random fact about church music or paintings and take the test with a million multiple choice questions. after the test i dont think many people knew much more than we started. i know alot about brett favre. ive read practically every article about him. watched almost every single game hes ever played. and random facts i pretty much got him covered. i dont know brett favre. you get to know people by interacting with them. for whatever reasons, i learn subjects the same way. so sitting there in a class learning random facts and forgetting them the moment i put them down on the test doesnt work for me. i just forget them a little too soon i guess. but i love learning things for the point of discussing them, learning them as a story to be told. just something for me to think about if i'm ever gonna be a teacher i guess.

write me letters

2006-06-04T07:41:00.000-07:00

camp address

Jason Schleef
W9944 Buttercup Ave.
Wautoma, WI 54982

the trifecta

2006-05-17T19:42:00.000-07:00

since my last update i really learned one of those things that i suppose every teenager my age learns with personal experience: prom is overrated. of course i should have learned this last year but since i didnt have a date last year i figured having a date would make it what everyone and by everyone i mean girls and stupid tv shows say it is. of course its not. its just another dance. and just like any other dance, what makes going to it worthwhile is not the crappy rap music or fellowship without room for the holy spirit but finally enjoying the company of friends and those closest to you. so hopefully i dont sound bitter because i am in no way bitter, im simply more experienced at the whole prom thing since i went to three this year.

First prom: kettle's

Location: phister in milwaukee
The Phister was a fabulous place to have prom. The building was beautiful and the food was delicious. only problem was that its location in downtown milwaukee made the school go anal and forced people to be driven there by professional transportation.

Transportation: yellow school bus
my friend justin Scherbarth's dad drives a school bus so for a reasonable fee he took a good group of kids down to prom. Bus was clean, driver was hillarious.

Dance: Leah wasnt feeling very well and was really tired since she had school that day and had to get up at 5 in the morning. This meant we sat and she simply rested on my shoulder for most of the dance. Sometimes its your job as the guy to be a pillow, this was one of those days and i think we made the best of it.

Post prom: me and leah watched the disney version of robin hood at my house which was actually alot of fun. The she had to go home because her handbell choir had state the next day.

Second Prom: Wisco's

Location: Four points Sheridan
The place was not quite as fancy as kettles but was very nice none the less. major bonus for serving us as many dinner mints as we wanted. again dinner was served here and again we had a good meal.

Transportation: small limo
the limo only held 6 people but was alot of fun nonetheless. the rest of the people were all wisco kids which is ironic because they were all in wisco's show choir with the name Wisco Kids

Dance: Yeah, this one was pretty much a mass orgy. completely different than fvl or kettle in that everyone was as kettle called it "pelvic grinding" it was hillarious to watch. overall this one was a fun time.

Post prom: once me and leah got to her house and passed all the seemingly sold out cheap hotels me and leah watched a movie and then had a heart to heart talk about the future of our relationship because ill be gone all summer at camp and then we go to colleges in different states. it was hard but something that needed to be done.

Third Prom: FVL's

Location: it was at some country club with lots of pine trees and a big staircase.

Transport: not much beats shinnick's car with sherry jones shinnick and dan

dance: there was very little need to dance with such great company and the loss of freebird

post prom: i lost my virginity...... to smoking. that was fun. first party was slow but the people were great and root beer was a plenty. then we went to midgets which rocked. i love that kid.

ok so i started this post a while back and i never finished it until today. i got more stuff to write but here is my prom saga.

my happy 50th

2006-05-02T14:01:00.000-07:00

post that is. and indeed it is time for one. i have been somewhat addicted to myspace lately. if your not my friend, you should really look me up cuz im not sure if were really friends unless myspace says so. today was an odd one. i was supposed to get braces today. that was supposed to take about 2 hours or so but just to be on the safe side..... i got a preplan for the whole day of school. of course when i got there i sat in the chair and watched scooby doo for a lil bit. it was the scooby doo where the kids are actually kids and i caught the tail end so i didnt really understand what was goin on. but they caught the bad guy, and i was happy. then the orthadontist talked to me and asked, "so your going to be gone all summer?" me: "yes" him: "and your going to go to college in minnesota?" me:"yes, i told you all this last time." him: "well then i cant give you braces, youll have to transfer somewhere else." so i wont have braces this summer. sorry for the false alarm.
eventually i got home and called my mom to tell her the news. she was cool with it, but then she made me go to school. which meant i had to waste a perfectly good preplan. i did get to give blood though. i love cookies.

freedom

2006-04-12T18:50:00.000-07:00

i put in my 2 weeks at mcdonalds today. that felt good. if i ever get another job like that i really need to do a better job of getting them my schedule ahead of time. other than that i learned how to make every single mcdonalds sandwich, the special sauce on a big mac is really just thousand island dressing, half price on the dollar menu is the shizzle (im gonna miss that) and finally how a kitchen without isa is like a person without a soul. ill have the month of may pretty much freed up then. i thought that was best, its my last month at home, living with my parents like i always have been so i figured id spend it with some more free time. plus i was sick of it. i cant wait for camp and college, even though now i have something back home that im really gonna miss. oh well, life goes on.
Ephesians 2:4-5 But because of his great love for us God who is rich in mercy made us alive in Christ, even when we were dead in transgressions-it is by grace you have been saved.

braces AND a girlfriend

2006-04-04T14:01:00.000-07:00

wow, if you want to read me being emo scroll down to that last post. that was crazy, but i miss camp, but i guess i was there, even if not in bodily form. anyways so in case all you guys are wonderin whats up with my life well yeah those top two things pretty much sum it up. i just got back from the orthodontist and im getting braces on the 25th prolly, i gotta check some scheduling and such to see if it all works but yeah, thats the plan. i got into the whole orthodontist thing late so yeah, i get braces this summer and college instead of earlier. oh well, ill have straight teeth. and on a better note, me and the beautiful leah younk are now dating. so yeah, schleef has a girlfriend. anyways in case your wondering how that all went down. i guess it goes like this. i met her when i was hangin out with leah schlect at wsma and we talked and it was cool. i saw her again at wisco's musical when i went with igl and aaron to see it (she had the lead). so i talked to her a little more and then we set up a date at applebees and that went really well and we had another one where we just went to her house and played video games and watched the movie, "from hell" so yeah, i got a girlfriend who likes violent movies and video games. this rocks. she is so cool. she goes to wisco, loves jesus, doesnt want to have sex till marriage, went to camp as a camper and loved it. shes a good kid. shes also korean if that matters to any of you and wels which should. (i didnt know we had any koreans either.) its still pretty new and im excited. in the words of adam igl,
peace out brotha

wishing i was at camp

2006-04-01T08:57:00.001-08:00

so i was supposed to go to the teen retreat this weekend. obviously im not there and heres why. i took a creative writing class as an extra english credit this semester so i already had all the credits i needed to graduate. the class was tough so instead of trying hard on it i pretty much blew it off. so natually i ended up with an f on my quarter report card. my parents looked at this and said that i was grounded and couldnt go to camp. this bothered me most of all cuz all my other grades were As and Bs except for an incomplete in my mandatory english class world lit. but that was just because i had been sick and needed to make up a quiz. i made that up and that should be up to either a b plus or a minus depending on how the quiz went. so i just talked to my mom about visiting friend whose grandma just died even though im grounded. she said no and yelled at me for this quite a bit about how i dont care about anything except myself. her reasoning for this is that her and my dad work very hard for me to go to kettle and then i just blow it off which means i dont care about them. they know this cuz they see a report card with 8 letters on it and one of those is a study hall so its really only 7. i know she was just blowing off steam because she was very angry about the F but it really showed me how little me and my mom understand each other. i know she doesnt really think that all i care about is myself and i know that she loves me. she thinks i would show my love for her by doing well in school but i dont understand that at all. doesnt doing well in school only benefit me? maybe i just need to grow up a little. actually its not a maybe and i need to grow up a lot. doing well in school as well as everything else is prolly a good start. since starting to write this she says i can go see my friend if i clean my room and get some homework done, i guess taking some time to cool off helped us both out. time to get to work.

fallacies on the internet

2006-03-17T13:02:00.000-08:00

i had a day off of of school and naturally i celebrated it by watching college basketball and surfing the net. emily k happened to be online and home for spring break so i talked to her about both of our chances at marrying jake larsh. i think i convinced her that she has an infinestiminable amount more shot than i got seeing as i know that jake larsh is not gay and i am a man. also i am not gay so i have no physical attraction to jake larsh and i will not marry either a man or a woman i have no physical attraction toward. but thats not really what this post is about.

i was playing games on the website, addictinggames.com and found a game entitled "chuck norris ninja attack" naturally i was intrigued and found that the game offered the simulation of being chuck norris and fighting and endless hoard of ninjas falling from the sky. the game had many strong points that provided for an accurate simulation. first of all chuck norris could both punch and kick the ninjas to death. however he could not punch and kick at the same time, but ill talk about that later. the game provided an ample use of chuck norris's ability to pull the heart out of a ninja and eat it. furthermore if you jumped on a fallen ninja's head, his brain would fly out. you could then kick the brain at other ninjas to stall them before chuck kicked karate out of them. needless to say this part of the game worked excellently and was very realistic. brains are soft so even one kicked by chuck norris would only stall an incoming ninja. however this stall would make it easier for chuck norris to jump over the ninja's head and roundhouse kick him in the back of the face. however the game also did have its weak points. the first part of the simulation that you would probly notice is that it is seriously lacking in a third dimension. no explantion was given for chuck norris's (or the ninja's for that matter) ability to move more than side to side. next chuck norris aparently lacks the abilty to turn around. fortunately his ability to walk backward just as fast as he walks forward greatly makes the ability to turn around irrelevent. i also thought it odd that chuck norris only used either one had or one foot. on further reflection though i have decided that this was done to provide a greater challenge for chuck norris and a less one sided simulation. another flaw of the game that i noticed was that one time i jumped into the air, kicked a ninja, ripped his heart out, ate it, and kicked two more ninjas before i landed to the ground. only one of the last two ninjas died. chuck norris's kicks always kill. finally the game's greatest flaw is the chuck norris died after only killing 186 ninjas. chuck norris could never be killed by a hoard of ninjas. how much more inaccurate is the tiny number of 186. now it is important to note that unlike many of my contemperaries, i don not believe chuck norris to be immortal in a real sense. he could die but not from a hoard of ninjas. the fact is that if ninja's were going to kill chuck norris, it would take more ninja's than the entire earth's population, much less the number of fully certified ninjas throughout the world. so chuck norris is only immortal in a logical sense. overall that was the game's greatest flaw but it effectively captured the feeling of being chuck norris killing an endless stream of ninjas falling from the sky and under that context i liked it and give it my full reccemondation.

matthew werner has posted

2006-03-16T14:41:00.000-08:00

the drought is no more, something incredibly 'blogworthy' has taken place. go read matt werners blog.

2006-03-13T15:43:00.000-08:00

so i hung out with aaron, joe z, callie, leah, igl and joe's family on friday night. fun stuff. joe's family are pretty much the nicest people ive ever met. his dad loves classic rock. they made us pizza's and offered us as much dew as we wanted. this totally brought me back to the days of stayin at their house for daycamp and nights of battling evil around the galaxy with joe on starwars battlefront. that was the life. i also had a talk (on the phone) with a kristin wollenzien who even though i cant spell her name, is a fun chick. we had some good talks about jr staff back in the day, hangin out, watchin family fest performers. shed be cool to work with on staff. anyways reflections was pretty good. i stole the question from matthew, but its one of my favorites. afterwards Leah said, "wow i really needed that" which made me think of how fortunate ive been to hang out with camp kids so much that reflections has become a regular occurence. speaking of which were goin down to wisco for band wsma. everyone should say hi to us and give us hugs. i keep forgetting when it is but ill tell ya later, or aaron will. or maybe youll just see me in the hallways with my band clothes on, carrying a tuba and ill play you a polka.

i had my forensics meet. i qualified for state. i almost wish it was a big deal, but ive done it 4 years in a row and everyone on the forensics team qualified. i talked about intelligent design and something else that i didnt remember. i do remember that i almost had to go up for a third round even the rules say i dont have to if i get two scores of 20 or higher. i got 25 and 23 respectively. i ended up just sitting in the cafeteria for a while. the meet was juneau high school. that place needs to be closed. the best part was definetly being invited to be in grafton high schools forensics picture for their yearbook. what an honor. bassically i had been hangin out with some of those kids and they had their picture so i just kinda stood in there with them. they took 2 without me and then invited me and nate lisko in for the third. fun stuff.

saturday night my church hosted a karaoke dance for jesus cares. that was fun. they had a dvd slide goin and had some pictures of the jesus cares at camp phillip. i was workin concessions when one of them went up to me and started tellin me about this girl he danced with, kissed and wanted to marry. this girl was none other than little freshman meagan woldt. of course the guy eventually met her sister and began dancing with both of them and by the end he said he liked amanda better, but he definetly had to think about it.

me and aaron weightlifted for disc golf. crazy. i hope it helps, we just did basic stuff, except aaron refuses to squat cuz last time he tore his groin. i gotta find a regimen more specific to muscles you use in disc golf. something to procrastinate on.

its so cool to have a friend who ends every conversation with the phrase, "ill pray for you tonight" or always something like that. ive been thinking alot about how powerful prayer is and how amazing it is that i can go to the creator of the world and ask him to do the littlest things, or the biggest things, to help those around me. and how more amazing is it that they would do the same for me. i dont think we always give prayer as much focus as we should. oh sure we pray before meals and in church alot, but i always had the attitude that God's plan is gonna happen with or without my prayers. this may be true in a logical sense, but is in no way backed by scripture. luke 18: 1-8 tells this amazing parable about a woman who kept going to this deadbeat judge for justice. now the judge didnt care about her but since she was so annoying he granted her request. how much more amazing is it that we can pray to God who actually cares for us? we should pray all the more because we know with certainty that our prayers will be answered.

1 Thessalonians 16-24 Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
Do not put out the Spirit's fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.
May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.

why i am not a democrat

2006-02-28T19:55:00.000-08:00

with advent of two of my favortie democrats getting the oppourtunity of life time-spending a summer with me, working at camp phillip-i decided that i should post some thoughts as to why i am not a democrat. ill also note that im avoiding the topic of terrorism and national security, maybe ill write about that later but now i want to focus on 2 other things: abortion and economics

abortion has been in the news alot primarily because of the bush supreme court appointees which lead to a domino effect. amazing how 2 non elected officials have so much power to decide what the law of the land is not simply how to interrpret the laws. the most fascinating has prolly been a law past in one of the dakotas completely banning aborting, except to save the mother but including rape and incest. i think this is awesome but has been underreported since no one cares about the state of south dakota and not many people in the press believe it is legit. i dont know if it is or not but its definetly progress. the article i read focused more on the pro-choice reaction to women who felt bad about their abortion this really fascinates me because i cant even imagine how a woman would feel after killing her baby. a college student i work with at mcdonalds is a single mom and her name is steph. one girl at work asked steph about being a single mom and being pregnant. steph completely shocked the chick and said that she loved being pregnant and loved being a mom. i could tell this not only by what she said but because her expression completely changed when she talked about it, and she said the words, "one day youll know what i mean." i guess the point im trying to make is that i dont know how a woman could deny that abortion is murder. i mean that fetal tissue could just have easily been me and here i am, werent we all once fetal tissue? furthermore the article noted that most abortion clinics supported both post abortion counseling and parental notification even when many on the pro-choice lobbying groups dont. the clinics want healthy patients and counseling and involved parents can both help. the pro-choice lobbying groups see these as chinks in the armor of abortion legallity. focusing on how women feel after abortion or the process on how to get it are important, because they point to the fact that abortion is the ending of a human life, and that causes the guilt a woman would feel after an abortion. what parent would want their child to experience that kind of guilt? what society can allow people to murder the unborn much less the guilt women experience?

now i understand that being a democrat does not always mean that you support a women's right to an abortion. but the democratic party is the "prochoice" party at the very least. it is highly incluenced by pro choice lobbying groups and if john kerry had been elected john roberts and sam alito would not be on the highest court in the land and abortion would still be legal in south dakota. i could never vote democrat because i know that as minimal as the election is, im voting for the party that supports abortion, and i cannot and will not do that.

the matter of economics is far more complicated but ill explain it as best i can. i support the republicans because the party supports tax cuts that cut everyone's taxes, not just the poor or middle class but heaven forbid, the rich too. taxes represent government intrusion on earnings. now they are necessary and inevitable but i want as little of them as possible, for everyone. when people have more money, they spend more money and the spending of money is the trade that our economy is built upon. the more we tax, the more we stifle people's willingness to work and make money. the more we stifle people's incomes, the more we stifle the economy. this is especially true for the rich, who can sometimes keep more money by taking a lower salary to stay in a lower tax bracket. this person gets more money, but not as much as he could and the government loses money that it could have gotten. what did bush do when he got elected? he lowered taxes. pretty simple and the economy has benefitted. the democrats opposed the tax cuts because they thought the government could not afford it. but despite deficits we have more tax income now, with tax cuts, than we did with higher tax cuts. the cuts stimulated growth, and growth also means more money for the government. tax cuts, for everyone, are good.

ill write more on this later, especially free trade, but right now im gonna go to bed.

so this is whats its like to get what youve always wanted

2006-02-24T22:19:00.000-08:00

i had my interview with matthew today. my dad and i drove up together, cuz he didnt want me to go all by myself. i thought this was really unnecessary but it was nice to have someone to talk to on the trip. i really miss the camp phillip sky. more than driving past the abbey or seeing Isa's house, those stars really brought be back to summer. i should have looked at those more. the interview was not as bad ad i expected, of course i was expecting the worst. after an hour and a half, or so, of me pouring out my soul as to how i would react in certain situations with kids, respect the rules that i disagreed with and how much Jesus loves me and the power of that love, matthew told me he was hiring me and asked for my t-shirt size to seal deal. I asked matthew bown to hug me. and then, to make the best day ever even better, he told me he was also hiring tyler shinnick and gave shinnick the phone call right then in there. sarah jones and olsen were getting interviewed after me. i didnt tell them i got hired but i dont think the look on my face could have meant anything else.

my dad drove me home so i just sat and thought for a while and heres some of what i came up with:

matthew never once corrected my grammer

taco johns is pretty good but not really anything different from taco bell

does the fact that im hired mean that i cant date any of the jr staff girls anymore? i dont know, but if it does i have to say, "sorry girls, i never wanted to break your hearts but as much as i hate to make you unhappy, its a small price to pay for a job ive wanted since i was five"

i cant wait for summer

i love Jesus

road trip!!!

2006-02-13T19:33:00.000-08:00

im sure many of you read all the stuff about me and aaron's trip up to appleton/green bay to go see the state cheer comptetion. well as much as aaron is a hick he is not from northern wisconsin, as funny as that accent is, so i figure a complete tale of our journey should be told. after school on friday i worked at mcdonald's from 4:30-8. so i worked my shift, things were kinda slow, we got one of our grills repared which will make my job a little easier. not that i really focused on any of this, all i could think of was drivin up north. around 7:30 or so aaron showed up at the store and which was good cuz my boss let me go a little early. of course i got lucky in getting to go in the first place because i was originally supposed to work 8 1/2 hours on saturday. i split the shift up and got different people to work it all except for the last hour. which bassically meant we'd be driving home on saturday in a mad dash to get to mcdonalds so i could work one hour on a saturday night and prolly serve like 6 people. pointless and stupid but inevitable. before we left we made sure to get supper so we naturally ordered 6 double cheese burgers for like 3.20. by far the best part about working at mcdonalds is getting a 50% discount. "i can turn the dollar menu into the 50 cent menu." so eventually we drove off into the darkness, two guys, 6 double cheeseburgers and dreams of an amazing road trip for me and dreams of chelsea and chloe sievert by aaron. (both which i suppose would encompass an amazing road trip)

eventually we met shinnick at fvl around 10:15 we would have been there sooner but we missed a road and wound up in mackville. eventually realized we were not going the right direction and found a parking lot to turn around in. Of course for some reason to aaron this was not a normal parking lot, but he swore he had been there before and the place looked very familiar. here we are in the middle of mackville (unfortunately we found it amy-less) and this kid is like, "yeah i think i went to a wedding and we were at this parking lot" crazy. well we turned around and found fvl. the school is huge and very nice. unfortunately by that time most of the people had left the polka dance thing that was goin on so we didnt see many of the camp kids we were hoping for but still saw shinnick, alex vandenberg and a kid i tripped down to a styx concert with, named josh zuberbier. shinnick had his leg brace on him, its hard to see such an active kid be hobbled like that. we drove over to shinnick's house to crash and hang out. so naturally we had to stop at a grocery store to pick up some dew and then we headed over to blockbuster to get a movie (team america, very funny very naughty, my advice for you all: dont watch it, you are too young) we also called bethany to see what she was doing and found out she had to take the act tommorrow, that sucks. luckily we planned a lunch at jimmy johns and preached a little bit to her about her role. of course this pretty much meant aaron saying that as a woman she is a sandwich make and then he quoted his one of his favorite passages, "you wicked and lazy servant" bethany didnt think this to be true so aaron gave the phone to me and i immeidietly asked her, "whats this i hear about you hating Jesus?" yeah we are bad and yeah we are a little offensive but dont take it too seriously because you not married to any of us and it just makes us laugh.

this of course got me to think not just of the woman's role in marriage but also what hopefully will one day be my role as a husband. the bible is not very specific but does say "husbands love your wives as Christ loves the church" im pretty sure the bible is using the word church here in reference to the invisible church so each and every blood bought child of God. so in true lutheran talk, what does this mean? this means that i gotta love my wife as much as Jesus loves her. Jesus lived a perfect life for her, never messed up once, never sinned, never lusted, he was perfect for her. and living a pefect life for her was only one step in the plan, because it was required of him, he died for her willingly. he took her place that instead of her being ridiculed, murdered, flogged, beaten, smacked, crucified and being abandoned by God, so it was Jesus who in love took the punishment that she deserved. He did this so she would not have to feel an ounce of pain or sadness but instead receive a home in heaven and eternal joy. im supposed to love my wife that much. im supposed to live a perfect life for her, be there for her and listen to her as faithfully as Christ listens to our prayers and love her so much that i would die for her. thats the kind of husband God wants me to be and thats the husband ill try to be. of course i gotta find the lucky girl first.

as i mentioned before the movie was very funny but i would have enjoyed the movie more if i wasnt so tired and hadnt fallen asleep and woke up around 5 am to hear aaron and shinnick talking about why as christians we do good works. of course i jumped right in and started quoting in first john where it says that we do good works out of love, not out of fear that if we dont do good works we wont be saved, . this completely shocked them of course and i was really glad that i had at least contributed something to that night's reflection topic. of course to say that our reflections generally have a topic is kind of misleading usually we just talk about whatever the spirit leads us. and like usual, we lacked a formal ending, everyone just fell asleep.

we woke up around nine i think. zuberbier had left after the movie and vandenberg couldnt come with us to the cheer thing so me aaron and shinnick just hung out at his house until around noon when we drove over to jimmy john's for lunch with bethany. bethany's test went late so we just sat in jj's for a while. i had never been to one before and the first thing i noticed was how cool the place is. the music was pure classic rock like rush, skynard and metallica. the food was fast, funny signs were all over the place and the staff had awesome tshirts. so me, loving tshirts, naturally asked if they sold them. i talked to one of the kids on the sandwich line and said they did but didnt know how much they cost and wasnt sure how to sell them. he asked the manager and the shirts were only 5 bucks. of course i bought one. eventually bethany came, she was a little down after pouring her brains out on the act, i think aaron had the best line about it on the phone earlier. "why do you need to take the act, youre going to mlc arent you?..........oh, yeah you should take it then." the act is important, unless you go to mlc, then its something you have to do that is just there without any purpose, like a required orientation. actually i take that back, orientation serves a purpose, its more like a study hall. we had fun with her, but i think we convinced her to never date a kid from camp phillip. sorry guys :(

eventually we treked off to green bay. the traffic sucked. and green bay city planners must have met at a local bar, not that there is anything wrong with that, they just shouldnt have gotten as drunk as they did. the city is pointless. for example right next to lambeau field, the resch center and the brown county arena there are restraunts, houses and a marsh. there is not a parking garage. i dont care who you are, or what you feel about wetlands, having a marsh next to lambeau field but not a parking complex is freaking ridiculous. not only did we get caught in a standstill traffic but then we spent 45 minutes looking for a free parking spot. we could have pulled into a restraunt and paid ten bucks for parking but that would have been ridiculous. once we found parking we got to the arena, paid the three dollars to get in, only to find out that fvl and kettle had already performed and we had driven all the way to green bay only to miss what we came for. (of course that is crap, as much as we wanted to see the cheerleaders, perform, we see them every day, while hanging out with people like shinnick, vandenberg and bethany and the rest of the fvl camp kids is more than enough to warrant a road trip. the cheer competition was icing but not the cake.) of course we missed our teams perform so the trip up to green bay was pretty pointless. we did get to say hi to some people and show them that we support them and care but its hard to show that when you tell them that you missed their state performance. There was that and honestly, i found it really boring. as cool as the cheer leaders are, i really felt like i didnt belong there. so after walking around the arena for about half an hour and reminding aaron of the 11th commandment we left. good news though, KETTLE WON!!!!

at this point i was starting to worry about that one hour of work i had. after discussing it with my amigos i called mcdonalds and asked if i could have the hour off. the manager, amber is about 26 and shes strict but cool about it. bassically she said the store had been dead all day so i could have that one hour off, but if it got busy she, "would kick my butt" and to this i naturally responded, "thanks amber, ill even bend over." of course this completely freed us up to stay at shinnick's another night. go to a huge girl's basketball game against hortonville and then a dance afterward.

we originally planned to play in the pep band before the game but after the group met together, a few of the senior band members pretty much said, we cant go out there, we would suck. so we didnt. the game was incredibly played by both sides and i have never seen a crowd that excited about a girl's basketball game. both sides of the bleachers were full and they even brought in smaller bleachers. the closest thing kettle has was the guys game against slinger. as great as the game was, the officiating was even worse and that definetly played a role in the final outcome. after just a game of sloppy calls and hearing a few sermons by shinnick the score was tied with about 30 seconds left. hortonville had the ball and kinda stalled. an fvl girl was playing the ball tight, something that had seemingly been ok, and got called a foul for it. the girl made the two free throws on a bad call. then fvl had the ball and got fouled with aboug 10 seconds left she was fouled and went to the line on a one and one. she missed the free throw, and fvl lost the game. the officiating made me mad, what happend next pissed me off. the hortonville fans had a small drumline which acutually sounded cool and really worked up there side. after the game, the drumline lead the hortonville side on to the court and literally lead a march back and forth on the fvl gym. it was so aarogant. i was standing very close and even had one guy from hortonville bump into me. they had no right to do that, it still pisses me off.

anyways they had a dance after the game. the dance was fun, the music sucked, like any school dance but they did play stairway to heaven and come sail away so it was pretty good. the thing that distracted me most from having fun, was some drama going on with a couple i knew. it wasnt pretty and i felt bad for both of them.

we went to sleep without a whole lot of discussion or event, everyone was tired. the next morning we went to shinnick's church, mount olive. the church is huge and very nice. we even watched sportscenter and drank dew when a really good teen bible study ended early. after church me and aaron said goodbye to shinnick and headed home. instead of going home though i ended up staying the night at dan brunner's house. that was fun but not incredibly eventful beyond watching some movies and playing halo. good times.

in the end i guess going up north was pointless because we missed the cheer comptetion, our reason for going up north in the first place. but we had fun anyway because even though things didnt go as planned, the plan was pointless because our focus on the trip was the people and they made the trip worthwhile. thanks guys.

busy week

2006-02-01T13:51:00.000-08:00

i mailed in my staff application this morning. i wanted to make sure that i at least mailed it by the first and i did that. Granted i slept on the recliner in my living room from about 12:30-5am and finished off the last question and a half that i was having trouble staying awake through. I could have gotten it done sooner but i went to the girls baskteball game with aaron schulz. we won in double overtime but i totally missed the state of the union. disapointing. anyways me and aaron were ourselves. which means we talked about sandwiches and i came up with a good phrase that ill tell you if your lucky. we also rewrote the lyrics to a song in the order of what we tried to do with highway during the retreat. the best thing that happend though was that a freshman girl who i worked with during soccer specialty camp the last 2 summers called me her role model. it really made me glad that i could be a positive influence and have fun. im definetly pumped about this summer, even if i dont get hired i am going to volunteer and still try to be a role model to those kids. oh the final talley on how much i wrote on the application can be summed up by saying that i have never written more for anything in my life. but i feel confident with everything except for maybe the stuff i wrote this morning, because i was kinda tired.

A sad thing about getting up early to write was that i ended up being late for morning bible study. aaron had devo and brought a bunch of random stuff and had people find bible passages that relate. i only made it for the very last one which nate lisko had, a darth vader action figure, which he naturally compared to God being our father. amazing how some people can think early in the morning. i really did miss not being there for most of it. morning bible study has really become the best part of kettle. the teachers are even starting to take notice. for example mr schlomer approached me and ali about leading the school chapel pretty much however we wanted as long as it related to the theme of contentment. after much procratination me and ali met in the computer lab and hammered down a script for our skit while aaron was in charge of the sermon. the skit consisted of me having a horrible day. which included me getting an f- on a paper, getting completely rejected by ali after asking her out to mcdonalds because i could get my employee discount. she responed by telling me she had to wash her hair and then called me a "McLoser." finally i was turned in by dean hughes as kml's infamous "poopmeister." throughout i had a horrible attitude. then aaron did his sermon. that kid is amazing. totally connected different parts of the Bible and told the story of contentment. good stuff. then we ran through the skit again with me having a good attitude. pretty much the best chapel ever.

on monday i had to give a speech which i didnt bother rehearsing or writing because i had study hall the hour before. what i should have remembered was to wear dress clothes. fortunately scott hegman loaned me his band pants and dress shoes and landon loned me a pink button up shirt. i looked good except the pants would not stay up. i had to go to mrs herring to get some safety pins and pin the pants to the belt which i wore on the inside of the pants. worked well enough for me. naturally i did all this during the study hall so i only had time to use shinnick's bernstein quote and write my main points down. i gave the speach and spoke very well. i did have one awkwardly worded scentence and stopped to think for about a second which wouldnt have been bad except i kind of raised my eyebrows and completely changed my eye contact as i was concentrating. my forensics experience paid off and i ended up with an A on the speech.

Finally id like to close this post by stating how cool sarah thurs is. she always comes to morning bible study and participates and is just a fun girl to be around. the best thing though is that when she heard me and aaron making sandwich comments she wasnt at all offended and instead decided to make us each triple decker ham and swiss sandwiches. they were awesome. what a cool kid. i think she proved that the way to a man's heart is through a his stomach. speaking of stomack i gotta go make people's sandwiches at mcdonalds. i got 5 hours this week. i think i need a new job.
see ya later kids
jason schleef

how much can you talk without having a point?

2006-01-26T19:00:00.000-08:00

hmm blake updated, i think i will. so alot has happened since i last did that post below this one and some that happend before that could be told, if i can remember it all as i go. my mind first went back to that crazy night when me and aaron schulz called all these girls and told them to make us sandwiches at three in the morning. good times. the best one was by far the one to chrissy olsen which started, "Chrissy if your not busy killing babys you should come over to Schleef's house and make us sandwiches." a close second was a call to aaron's ex-girlfriend which aaron stated as, "Trista i know we broke up 6 months ago, but that doesnt mean you can schluff off on your duties. i want a sandwich hear by 3:15......" yeah we kinda just continued on. good thing Aaron schulz knows how to have fun. of course if this offends you i would ask you to not take what i say about stuff like this so seriously because im not taking it seriously and if that doesnt help maybe you would feel better if i told you we did feel a little guilty. of course i didnt feel as guilty as aaron who told a girl she could kick him in the balls after he left a rather insulting message. yeah no one answered the phone so we just left messages. i suppose that was for the best. speaking of aaron schulz me and him are working on a sign language so we can tell each other what were thinking without talking. usually it just makes me laugh though. maybe some day ill teach it to you. it really is brilliant. other than that school has been tough, especially creative writing where the basic class is to get an assignment, proofread each others work and then work. not a whole lot of teaching but its good to get back into writing. i was reading some of the stuff i wrote for that class from before and i just thought, wow what am i doing? i think im ok on here but then on here i dont worry too much about runon scentences, spelling, or sticking to my thesis. or even about starting new paragraphs. i do have to worry about these for my camp application though. im not done yet but i sent out three for people to proofread. my religion teacher mr bartlelt, ali german and aaron schulz. what i got done is quite a bit 11 pages on 1.5 spacing. double spaced it was 15. im debating wether or not to send it in double spaced or 1.5. i guess ill leave it up to you guys if you comment then vote for either one and then ill count it all up do what you guys say. i had forensics practice today. like usual i got 5 questions to pick from, they all revolved around the news so one was about what the us should do about the enviroment. two were about natural disasters and one i dont remember and the one i eventually picked was "what changes need to be in the education system." i picked i saw a thing on abc about it that made alot of sense and it was by far the most applicable to myself. so like all the other practices i took a notecard and went to the library and a notecard and started researching. i have a half hour to research before i give the speach so i checked out newsweek which just did a big thing about how boys are falling behind in school. i used a little of that but used alot more of abc's 20/20 website which just had a special called stupid in america. the basic thesis of the special was that America needs to open up the schools to competition and the teachers union is too powerful. both of these things i agree with. i learned alot in reasearching about how belgium south korea and the czech republic have systems similar to this and clean our clock in standarized tests. plus in oakland a principal made his school a charter school so he wouldnt have to deal with the teachers union and in four years turned the school from one of the worst to one of the best with less money than before. i also talked about how if schools competed the possibilities were almost limitless. for example one school mentioned in the report gave the teachers cell phones. that had to be on until 8 oclock. these were so students could call the teachers if they had any questions. brilliant but something no teachers union would allow. i didnt talk to much about the teachers union which my coach mr deibert said was good. he was also part of the teachers union when he taught public school before he came to kettle. he said they did some good things and some bad things but he said that alot of people who criticize it dont know what they were talking about. which is prolly true but no one can doubt that the teachers union is too powerful. the best example that i can give was from the abc report that showed a map that was prolly 7 pages long about all the steps that must be taken before firing a teacher. this even counted for teachers who had made sexual advances on students in writing. stupid and dangerous and sickening. overall the speach went very well, mr d said i was very organized but for a little bit i lost my focus and started talking about how harvard was better than a community college which actually supported my point. part of this was because i lost my notecard while researching and instead of admitting i lost it and getting another one, i just went without it. but i knew this topic pretty well so i got lucky. i really did like my closing statement which went back to my thesis of how the money for education should go to the parents who then pick the school, rather than the money just going straight to the school. "parents of the kids should decide where their kid and that kid's education money goes because the system is educating the kids and not about schools." i suppose it doesnt make alot sense because the money would go to a school anyway but after a good speach i had to think of something emotional and i liked it. i bought a laptop this week. nothing extravagant. abts's neighbor couldnt pay their cable bill and needed 80 bucks so i stepped in for the rescue. its a 1999 ibm thinkpad and works very well for what i need it to do which is pretty much a portable word processor. and play a little music. of course we did talk today about putting oregon trail on there. that would be so much fun, i havent played that game in years. tomorrow we play luther prep. im so excited. ive telling everyone all week that we should start a chant of, "save the wels, close luther prep." itll get them back for their stupid chant of "lets play football" after we beat them earlier in the season. i think me aaron should make t-shirts. just take white t shirts and write "save the wels" on the front and "close luther prep" on the back. of course i owe this idea to an lps graduate who has no affinity for it whatsover. of couse this man is elliot kazprack. he wanted to make it into a bumper sticker. we actually talked about what the synod should do with prep in my religion class. mr bartelt threw out that bassically the kids who dont go to mlc should have to pay back the synod for the funding they got. this makes sense but i honestly think that they should combine lakeside and prep on the prep campus and have an area lutheran high school with optional boarding for kids from around the country. of course this would make the whole prep thing lose some of its luster but the truth is that prep doesnt do a whole lot more to prepare kids for the ministry than any other area lutheran high school. the school does offer Greek and thats about it. but constrast that with going to a school where everyone is supposed to go to mlc and you end up with such a weird result with the half that actually do go there which jake basses called "the liberated luther prep kids" plus you get a much more diverse student body than one where everyone wants to be a teacher or a pastor. i guess i am glad i decided against going there way back when i was an eighth grader or maybe im just partial cuz the only people ive really talked to about it who go to the school are the kaz kids.

i think im done
schleef

the things ive come to fear the most

2006-01-16T20:19:00.000-08:00

its serious writing time. not for this blog of course but for camp phillip. im down to my last 2 weeks or so to finish my staff application. the thing still petrifies me and i know that if writing the thing bugs me this much the interview (God/Matthew willing) will be even worse. ive been coming to camp every single summer of my life. ive prolly forgotten more staff members than ill ever get to really know. and yet im doing something every single one of them had to do. the counselor i really looked up to as a camper the ones that i had so much fun with. the people that i was always excited to meet. they all filled out an application much like this. were they scared? did they look at questions like "describe a method of discipline that you would use with a child" and think of all things that could go wrong with disciplining a kid. that he could ignore you or it could fail. or how to discipline such as timeouts or sitting in a corner or pushups. or what the heck did this kid do that i have to discipline. or did they think of the positive effect discipline can have as a child. how necessary discipline is and how that is when camper and staff can bond the most. and how unfullfilling having a perfect cabin would be.

i was just talking to my friend Jill last night for a while about how and why we both will be at mlc next year to be teachers. the thing that i really thought of and took home was that i dont want a be teacher for the perfect kids. the kids that get everything done. the kids that never miss reces. the kids that shudder at not doing extra credit. as much as i love those kids i know that they can teach much what theyll learn from me to themselves. and as much as i will love and them and help them as much as i can they are not the ones i am going to have the greatest effect on. escpecially at the age i want to teach, 7th and 8th grade, there are going to be kids who wont do there homework. who hate me. who hate their parents. who are falling from God. who really need a mentor. i guess when it comes down to it i pray to God that i can help not only the good kids but the bad kids too. that when i discipline a camper i dont just make him behave for a little while but that he understands why i had to punish him and that he knows his motivation for a life of love. i really fear that i wont get that oppourtunity. that im not gonna be at camp this summer and that its not part of God's plan and that i wont get to make a difference in that kids life.

late for my own funeral, as usual

2006-01-06T12:11:00.000-08:00

if anyone knows the song thats from you would really impress me. first order of buisness: GO TO THE JUNIOR STAFF CHRISTMAS PARTY ON THE 14TH!!!! i think you can all handle that one. and if you need a place to stay you can crash at my house. and even if you cant go to the party you crash at my house anyway. or even just come over cuz itd be cool like that. pray for shinnick about that leg of his. i gave my first practice speech for forensics. im in extemp so the most it can be is 7 min 30 sec. naturally i talked for 8 20. oh well thats why its practice. i just gotta be a little more pithy.

"God Bless Camp Phillip"

2006-01-04T12:26:00.000-08:00

God bless Camp Phillip
Land that I love
Stand beside her
and guide her
through the night
with the light
from above
from the lake front
to the abbey
to the booger
filled with weeds
God bless Camp Phillip
My home sweet home
God bless camp phillip
my home sweet home

the lion the witch and the wardrobe and mcdonalds (and amy felton)

2005-12-10T14:52:00.000-08:00

amy felton
1. your the quietest cheerleader ive ever met.
2. song: dance dance by fall out boy movie: bring it on
3. smores
4. this time.
5. it was that freshman orientation thing and we had to shave each other.
6. green
7. when you were little what pet did you dream of having?

i saw the lion the witch and wardrobe movie and dont worry im not gonna give away any spoilers, the book did that already. first and foremost the movie was absolutly amazing. not spot on from the book which i love but nonetheless an amazing translation and motion picture. the movie opens up a little before the movie during a german air raid on the penvesie's home town. it works great in the plot and sets the stage for the kids initial aversion to fighting a war. the story is very tight with what i remember from the book and the battle scense are amazing. definetly everyone should go see this movie. also liam neeson does a great job as the voice of aslan but lucy steals the show with every expression on her face.

i have just completed my first week at mcdonalds. yes its smelly, yes its gross and yes camp phillip is definetly more sanitary but ill still eat at mcdonalds, but only when i have to pay half price otherwise working there and putting together peoples sandwhiches in 30 seconds has really turned me off to eating there. triple thick milkshakes still rock though. the biggest disappoint my have is that i dont get to deal with the customers. i put the sandwhiches together but i wish i could greet them say hello and those immortal words,"would you like fries with that?" yeah im a loser but thats what i pictured when i applied. oh well. it is pretty good and some of my coworkers are pretty cool and some of them arent, just like i expected. the plan is to quit before summer and work at camp. i can work there that long.

"you made a way for moses" by twothirtyeight
It's two o clock now,
I'm tired and I should be off to bed.
Monday flew by, where were you?
In my heart and not my head
Turn on the TV or the radio
But there's nothing for me there
Maybe if I saught you or I thought of you
Then I wouldn't feel this way.
Jesus you made a way for Moses
Can you make a way for me now?
Jesus you made a way for Moses
Don't you remember when I was younger
What you use to say
What you love and cherish deeply
Will turn and kill you someday
Although I'm dying like a marter
It's to my flesh and not to you
But I've come to seek forgiveness
A thing that only you can do
Jesus you made a way for Moses
Can you make one for me now?
Jesus you made a way for Moses
Can you make one for me now?
Jesus you made a way for Moses....
Made a way
Made a way
Made a way

ali's blog is back and i love the ataris

2005-12-08T17:16:00.000-08:00

ali german
1. you never cease to amaze me with how much you bring to kettle.
2. song: heavenly road movie: hello dolly
3. quiznos
4. why are we going toward madison
5. at camp you had a sweatshirt that said german in the back and i thought, "wow, this girl must really like germany"
6. baby blue
7. whats the best thing about going to kettle?

amy moldenhauer
1. your my favorite little cripple
2. song: pressing on movie: rescuers down under
3. culvers
4. he ripped the dollar bill in two!!!!!
5. david introduced me to you during my cit year at trainning camp and i was just like wow, i didnt know david had a sister.
6. dark blue
7. what do you want to do when you grow up?

a couple of amazing ataris songs
"So Long Astoria"
It was the first snow of the season
i can almost see you breathin
in the middle of that empty street
Sometimes i still see that lonesome bedroom
playin my guitar
and singing songs of hope for a better future
life is only as good as the memories we make
and i'm taking back what belongs to me
polaroids of classrooms unattended
these relics of remembrance are just like shipwrecks
only theyre gone faster than the smell after it rains
last night while everyone was sleepin
i drove through my old neighborhood
and resurrected memories from ashes
we said that we would never fit in
we were really just like them
does rebellion ever make a difference
life is only as good as the memories we make
and im taking back what belongs to me
polaroids of classrooms unattended
these relics of remembrance
are just like shipwrecks
only theyre gone faster than the smell after it rains
So long astoria i found a map to buried treasure
and even if we come home empty handed
well still have our stories
of battle scars, pirate ships and wounded hearts,
broken bones, and all the best of friendships
and when this hourglasshas filtered out its final grain of sand
i raise my glass to the memories we had
this is my wish
this is my wish
im takin them back
im takin them all back

"I wont spend another night alone"
A star up in the sky goes slowly passing by,
The lights below...they spell out your name.
You're comfort on my mind and you're with me all the time.
And lots of feelings that I can't explain.
I won't spend another night alone. [x2]
Out of every girl I meet, no other can compete
I'd ditch 'em all for a night with you.
I know you don't believe you mean this much to me
But I promise you that you do.
If I had one wish this is what it would be...
I'd ask you to spend all your time here with me,
And we'd be together forever.
We'd buy a small house in south central L.A.
Raise lots of kids then we'd both join a gang
Just as long as we're together.
The things you make me wanna do
I'd rob a quik-e-mart for you
I'd go to the pound and let all the cats go free
Just as long as you'd be with me.
I won't spend another night alone. [x2]

"San Dimas HS football rules"
Last night I had a dream that we went to Disneyland,
Went on all the rides, didn't have to wait in line.
I drove you to your house where we stared up at the stars
I listened to your heartbeat as I held you in my arms.
We hung out at the rainbow where we drank til' half past two.
Nothing could go wrong anytime that I'm with you.
Like crashing a hotel room or leading up to that first kiss
Or searching for a high school that you know doesn't exist...
These are the things that make me free
I feel like I'm stuck in "stand by me"
This night was too good to be true.
Today I woke up alone wishing you were here with me,
I wanted us to be something that we'd probably never be.
Today you called me up and said you'd see me at our show,
But now I'm stuck debating if I even wanna go.
Whitney, don't you understand that what I say is true?
I just want you to know I have a major crush on you.
I'd drive you to Las Vegas and do the things you wanna do
I'd even have Wayne Newton dedicate a song to you.
I only wish that this could be
Just dump your boyfriend and go out with me
I swear I'd treat you like a queen.

everyone else missed their chance (not really just comment)

2005-12-01T11:25:00.000-08:00

1.Reply with your name and I will write something random about you.
2. I will then tell you what song/movie reminds me of you.
3. I will pick a food that reminds me of you.
4. I will say something that only makes sense to you and me.
5. I will tell you my first memory of you.
6. I will tell you what color you remind me of.
7. I'll then ask you something that I've always wondered about you.
8. If I do this for you, you must post this on your blog.

Shinnick
1. I hope you baptize my children
2. Song Stairway to Heaven Movie Wayne's World
3. Juice Bars
4. There was way too much fornication on that styx trip.
5. We were standing in the dinning hall during our week together and it hadnt started yet and their was this beast of a man (you) standing there not really doing anything. naturally i was like "hey, you want a dew?" and you were like "yeah" and weve been friends ever since.
6. red
7. whats your shoe size

Jared
1. You can sleep through anything, even 3 guys knocking over a stack of 60 cans of dew at 2:30 in the morning and then screaming, "happy daylight savings time"
2. Song Where the Highway Ends by Hidden in Plain View Movie Aladdin
3. Ballz energy drink
4. Good Game
5. You sang a song with beth during my cit trainning week. other than that i was up cuz my little brother had peewee and you told me about your ballz energy drink. not really what i was expecting but it was funny.
6. red
7. whats one thing i could do to improve mlc.

Bethany
1. ive never heard you sing and play piano before
2. Song if all the rain drops were lemon drops and gum drops Movie little mermaid
3. corn on the cob
4. sorry bethany but nothing comes to mind, i feel dumb cuz i know theres something i just cant think of one
5. prolly during cit trainning week. i remeber you being there and you always hung out with other fvl girls.
6. Gold
7. how did you find out about camp

this is gonna be alot of work

2005-11-27T12:23:00.000-08:00

if you want me to do that question thing that chrissy did, leave a comment. anyone hear anything about the the christmas party? i asked my mom about the new years retreat and she said that i needed focus on working cuz i had been spending way too much time at camp. i took it as a compliment. and yeah ill be there i just gotta make sure i dont get scheduled those days. oh and in case any of you dont know what im talking about, i start working at the mcdonald's in jackson on tuesday. i dont exactly know what think about it yet. i guess i just gotta pay for college. see ya later

a sad day

2005-11-25T14:45:00.000-08:00

after thanksgiving i was thankful for many things such as my savior my family my friends and mountain dew. however one thing or actually one person that i took for granted was the loveable actor pat morita who became famous as mr miyagi in the karate kid. yeah i know the guy was kind of goofball but thats exactly why i liked him. not only did he do karate kid but also was in a movie with another hero who went to soon, reggie white, in reggie's prayer. so to those who watched pat morita during a life of acting and even those who have just heard about him now it is a sad day.

in return to chrissy

2005-11-21T23:53:00.000-08:00

1. i cant picture you playing sports and keeping your focus without laughing at something.
2. movie: legally blonde. song: crocodile song.
3. those cinnamon stuffed pork chop things that we had at camp and were really gross, not that your gross but i think that was the only day we didnt steal your food.
4. who would buy those shoes
5. the first one that comes to my mind was during 2nd year trainning week and borck was talking about how you are a nazi and i thought it was funny. then you had a really dumb blonde moment and i sarcastically said, "and people wonder why the nazis lost the war" i dont think ive ever stopped making fun of you since
6. blonde
7. do you ever get sick of being in so much stuff

aaron schulz as a blog and you should read it

2005-11-18T19:23:00.000-08:00

check out my good friend, disc golf buddy and star wars enthusiat's blog at http://waterisreallygood.blogspot.com/ i could get links but i dont know how and even if i did know i prolly wouldnt because having to use other people's links makes read there blogs on the way, which is kinda cool. anyways chekc aaron schulz's blog.

my thoughts on neapolitan ice cream

2005-11-16T14:39:00.000-08:00

so i was up at 11 last night and i really wanted some ice cream. i opened the freezer only to find not an ordinary ice cream like rocky road, vanillia or chocolate chip, but neapolitan. i looked at it and saw that it was just strawberry chocolate and vanilla thrown together. what the heck!? this made no sense i mean those things are all good individually but you cant just randomly throw stuff together and expect it to taste good can you. the only exception i can think to that is juice where there all just sugar and fruit so it doesnt really matter. but even that has its limits as orange juice and apple juice do not go together at all. i had little hope that this neapolitan ice cream would end my ice cream fix but it being all that was available i took a bowlful and sat down on the couch. i dipped my spoon into the creamy mass and to my surprise i found the texture to be near perfect and the taste well........weird i mean in general it was just vanilla chocolate and strawberry but the way they were all thrown together kinda clashed in my mouth. now granted depending on the amounts this clash changed from a smooth jazz chord to complete disharmony. overall i guess i did like the ice cream. the only thing i have to work on is how much is too much of each of the flavors and i have yet to just stir it all together and eat it. well now i have something to do today. in case you were wondering what i was talking about this is what wikipedia has to say about neapolitian ice cream:

Neapolitan is a kind of ice cream, or more precisely, of ice cream packaging. The box (or tub, bar, etc.) is divided into three flavors, usually strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla. Other combinations are possible, such as banana/vanilla/chocolate or caramel/vanilla/chocolate). Neapolitan is listed as the third or fifth favorite ice cream flavor in the United States. Neil Armstrong ate some in space in July 1969.
Neapolitan ice cream is so called because it is a variant on spumoni, a three-flavoured (usually cherry, chocolate, and pistachio) ice cream originally made in Naples. Spumoni was introduced to the United States in the 1890s. [1]
It is often misread as Napolean ice cream.

trick or retreat

2005-11-08T05:26:00.000-08:00

id much rather take retreat, which is where i was this past weekend. it totally rocked, check out shinnicks blog about it cuz its a much better recount than i could give. before the retreat though me and aaron schulz took advantage of the volleyball teams state run to go disc golfing. we went to fondulac and then to oshkosh. both courses were very impressive with a wide variety of terrain and obstacles, especially oshkosh. i still need to work on my form for my drive as it has been pretty inconsisitent but on the other hand i threw my sidewinder very well. to my greatest surprise my putting has really become one of the things i can depend on when i play. back at camp this summer id throw my whole bag at ten footer and maybe make 2. now i seem to get it the first time at least 9 times otta ten. anyways aaron lost 2 discs due to water hazards and neither of us could find them. he even lost his champion sidewinder which cost like 17 bucks. eventually we got to camp early and helped winterize camp. bassically this meant reorganizing the shed and hauling up the new canoes from the waterfront. and also watching them fall off the back of toot's truck. eventually we (me aaron elliot and toots) set up this whole rope rigging set up to hold them on which kinda worked. we only lost one which actuually worked out good cuz other wise i think they all would have fallen off. we set them all up and rode over to the comfort station area. put up picnic tables for winter. i never realized how much work goes on during the whole year just to prepare for the summer. eventually the retreat started and check tylers blog for that cuz im too lazy to write about it.

the light of things hoped for

2005-11-02T20:52:00.000-08:00

graduation seems so far away and yet college seems so close. i dont know why that is, but i do have a guess. today the mlc recruiter, professor mayer, came to kettle. i had a meeting with her during eighth hour study hall. i got there a little early so she was still in meeting with the person scheduled ahead of me, and they seemed like they had alot to talk about (ill give you a hint at who it was: she was the first person to get accepted) so instead of talking to the college recruiter i got to chill out with mr zeamer. he seemed really glad that i was going to mlc and told me that ill make a great teacher some day. i dont know if i can put into words how that kind of encouragement from people i respect just fills me up with a sense of readiness. i know im gonna go through so much school and schoolwork and homework and teachers. i know theres gonna be a few teachers that i dont like and maybe even teachers that dont like me. i know that no matter how cool mlc is or how many friends i have up there, at some point im gonna break down and wonder why am doing this. the truth is i dont really like school, i dont like doing daily work and other stuff day after day week after week for the only purpose of bettering myself. so why bother, why not just skip it and start working right away? because i know that i can use all ill learn to teach some kids about the world around them and more importanly, to be closer to their savior. those kids are the light of things hoped for.

i love mbs

2005-10-20T12:25:00.000-07:00

for the second post in a row i get to write about new thing at kettle: Bible study. the second installment of morning bible study was definetly another success. but the story since then starts yesterday. when ali and i, got to go make an announcement in front of chapel about morning bible study. the announcement wasnt the best speaking either of us have ever done, as we both heard from people, but we got the message out. so this morning, when i got to school at 6:50 (bs starts at 7:15) and started to prepare my devotion. with my trusty jawdroppers book in hand i looked through the list of stories and found one called welcome to pinkville. this story focuses on how peer pressure changes us and how it causes us to lose our focus. bassically a guy moves to a town where everyone only wears pink. in the end he starts wearing just pink to fit in and loses his dream job. as you prolly guessed the story is about peer pressure and how it can cause us to change. the book also included 2 bible references that applied with the story: the part of the bible where Jesus talks about us as salt and then hebrews 12:1-3 which states how we need to fix our eyes on Jesus and not on the things of this world. i was totally set.
eventually aaron and ali showed up with doughnuts drink and cups and we started to set up. more and more people started coming, beyond the usual camp crowd of aisbet, corrine, and sarah thurs as well as me aaron and ali but people i never would have expected. eventually we had 17 people there!!! fortunately we had enough supplies and even better, we had to combine 3 tables. the librarian mrs ehlke didnt even mind us having food in there. the best thing about it was that everyone who was there, wanted to be there and because of that people really focused on the devotion and the bible passages. and the discussion was definetly better than i expected. even though alot of people were shy to participate, they still listened intently. eventually we went beyond the topic of peer pressure and discussed why we get desensitized to the bible and how it can lose its effect. one thing that we really accomplished with the bible study was that we didnt really have any objectives. in alot of bible study materials they have a set conclusion your supposed to find at the end. we didnt have that it all, we just stayed focused on what people cared about and what the bible had to say about that and i think people got more out of the discussion that way. this bible study exceeded my expectations in every way i could have predicted.

from tom to bs the acronyms are really pilling up

2005-10-13T21:42:00.000-07:00

hey everybody, i hope its good to read my posts again and if its not well.....ok. im proud to report that wednsday marked the first ever morning bible study at kettle. i really want to thank ali german on this one, i dont think i ever would have been involved with something this amazing if it wasnt for her. i know kettle wasnt as cool as she hoped it would be but her coming has made kettle cooler than i ever thought it could be. we started planning this during the summer and it turned out amazing. i got to school at 6:45 and eventually around 7 or so met up with aaron schulz and ali who brought doughnuts for breakfast. we set up shop in the library and eventually had me ali, aaron, corrine meshke, sarah thurs and amber drenski who just happened to be at school that morning. we started with welcoming everybody and eating food and then i read the short story, "when the fitness movement came to town" by steven james. actually i thought the story got a little long winded but redeemed itself with such lines like, finally friends whatever is healthy, whatever is nuitritious, whatever is homogenized whatever is low in saturated fat, brothers devour such things. check the book jawdroppers out its actually by steve huhn (james is his pen name) who was the program director at camp before jay (just in case all you camp newbies didnt know that one). the story was actually about how people take the faith and how it can be lost over time. i felt this really applied to the morning bible study because were all excited about it now, but its something that could easily be lost in the shuffle as other activites and school take up more of our time and energy. so we discussed how we can make sure bible study doesnt die, how we can get more people to come and what topics we can discuss. the only thing i think were really sure right now is that no matter what were gonna do IT IS NOT GONNA BE CHRISTLIGHT or as like to write it Christlite: bad taste and spiritually unfullfilling. whatever happens though i am not going to let morning bible study fail.

bs isnt all i have to write about today. today was my first day of the taste of ministry program at kml. this program allows kml seniors to go hang out with teachers at schools and pastors for 2 days and just as the program says, get a taste of the ministry. i absolutely loved it. i got to go to crown of life, which is extremely small so i had to help with grades 5-8. when i got there mr cohoon and i talked for a little bit. and then he gave me a stack of papers to correct. that was tough but its part of the job. and very funny when half the kids spell which witch and then i couldnt tell between a c or a d. man that brought be back to the days when if i didnt know the answer id wright my letters so they could pass as 2 different ones. boy i thought i was clever.i got to lead a devotion on the importance of God's word and eventually taught math and geography. my math class had all of 2 kids but that allowed me to really work with them on the subject. plus they both pretty much knew it all anyways. the best thing about the whole day was seeing one of my old campers. we reminicesed about female drivers steak and spicy nachos for a while (chrissy knows about the last two). and then saw another girl from camp that i remembered eric simmons having a crush on. rh humor never dies. in the end i came home completely confident that i want to be a teacher. even after one day i already love those kids and the idea that i could work everyday to bring kids like them closer in faith is whats gonna pull me through the doldrums of high school just as much as camp will, because i know that my purpose for working at camp and as a teacher must be the same. its for the kids.

Predestination Essay

2005-10-06T16:53:00.000-07:00

As the universe dawned into existence the Divine Creator saw into a future filled with human tragedy, rebellion and sin. In this future he saw each and every individual who would ever live. He saw them not as one might see a stranger in the crowd or even as a casual meeting but rather he saw every moment of every person’s life. Even understanding every thought, emotion and answering every prayer in his own way. God saw that none of us would deserve his love. That each of us sin every day and deserve an eternity without his everlasting love and only one of the justice we deserve. Yet God loved us too much to let us rot in our own cesspool of destruction. As the Bible says in Ephesians chapter 2: “But because of his great love for us God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dean in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.” We have grace from God so we need not fear his wrath or punishment for our sins.
God knew for the beginning of time those would experience his wonderful gift of forgiveness. In fact God chose who would be with him in heaven. Ephesians 1:4-6 “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the one he loves.” God not only knew who would receive his salvation, he chose them. From this one might try to logically conclude that because God chose those who would receive grace he must have also chosen those who would receive justice. Yet this thought may seem to make sense to the logical mind, one must realize that the human mind cannot possibly fathom the inner workings of God. God taught a similar lesson to Job: Job 38:2-3 “Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you and you will answer me.” We can be sure that God did not choose people to go to hell because no where does the Bible say this. On this matter the Bible only tells that God chose us and sent his Son to save us.
God did not predestine us for any reason other than his love and grace. There is nothing we can do to work toward God’s grace or earn the Lord’s love. Paul explains this in 1 Corinthians 15:10 “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” One important thing to notice about this passage is that it explains our motivation for doing good works. Paul does not tell us to work hard for God’s grace. Rather, Paul tells us that what motivates good works is God’s grace flowing through us. After all, the creator and lord over the entire universe willingly sacrificed his own son that we could be saved. How can such love not flow through us in our every action? God chose us to be his not for our works, not for our choices, not even for our good looks but simply and purely because of his love.

my top five

2005-10-02T19:39:00.000-07:00

everbody else's list was wrong so........
1. Jesus
2. George W. Bush
3. Tyler Shinnick
4. Chris Farley
5. Keith Hackbarth

random story

2005-09-21T15:27:00.000-07:00

once upon a time in a little village outside a bigger village outside a city which was on the outskirts of the upper peninsula sat a yupper. this yupper was a generous man having set aside from his own wages 27 cents to help feed the poor, 45 cents to help orphans and a whopping dollar to buy himself bubble gum. he sat chewing his newly purchused treasure like a cow and throughly enjoyed himself. but as he chewed the gum grew stickier and stickier until his mouth was completely shut. soon our friend discovered that it was not bubble gum that he purchased but rather bubblegum flavored cement (sold at any decent convenient store or respectable hardware store for you cement enthusists, it comes highly reccomended, even including a money back gaurantee). of course our upper friend now read the package of the cement and decided that A he was thoroughly dissatisfied B he should get his money back and C he needed to blow his nose. He immeidietly ran back to the convient store which had offered him the gum and ran directly to the manager and said,"gygygygymmmm!!!!! hd!!!!!!!." the manager gave him a dirtly look and thought that maybe this man was some kind of immigrant that spoke a language not requiring and movement of the mouth. he had minored in anthropology and had heard of such things. naturally he responded by saying, "el no comprendo" just in case the strange man also spoke spanish. this only succeeded in making the yupper angrier and he started to humm savagely. the manager then got annoyed and realized that maybe the humming man could not open his mouth. This amused the manager so he opened his mouth wide to rub in the fact that he could while our friend could not . the manager lived happily ever after and had many more cheap laughs at other's misfortune. the yupper got a sinus infection.

dillema

2005-09-15T20:06:00.000-07:00

one of these days im gonna figure out what im doing for the joint weekend of the mlc trip and the camp retreat. how could this happen 2 years in a row? i remember going to the retreat last year telling myself that i would go on the mlc trip this year with it being my senior year ie the year before college. but now i really really really want to be at camp. i thought my experiences of last weekend would have curbed this some as i was there helping out in the kitchen with the rest of the bar and doing crazy stuff like disc golfing, watching tyler uproot whole trees, and talk about Jesus. but ever since i got back i have much more of a "need to be at camp feeling" not nearly as bad as when i was home during the summer but its definetly there. college, though, seems less important now i have fewer questions about college. i know 2 of my roomates and possess a much greater certainty in my goal to serve God as a teacher. im much less concerned now in how im going to be treated by the faculty or how amazing the grounds look or how i cant step on the luther seal. these things just pale in comparison to the fact that in order to serve my Lord as a teacher, mlc is something i need to do.

as for right now, im not really sure what im gonna do. i know for certain that im going to go to school at mlc and i also know for certain that i want to work at camp phillip this summer. for this weekend camp seems to be calling me, or maybe its just the memories of last year watching jake bases try to order a pizza with elliots phone. i guess i just dont know.

ill pray about it and for all yall out there. the best thing though is that whatever happens im gonna have a rockin weekend. i guess if anybody has any suggestions or anything, well thats what a comment is for.

childlike me

2005-09-08T22:36:00.000-07:00

why as kids do we long to grow up? seriously. i know theres alot of awesome things and priveleges that go with being an 18 year old senior but with those come responsibilities, pressures and doubts. like college for example. ive pretty much decided where i want to go and what i want to do and Lord willing ill help hundreds of kids become closer to God. but with the certainty of that i know i will never be a stunt pilot, a rock star, or my greatest childhood ambition, an astronaut. Ive had to trade dreams for reality. i also miss possesing a child's innocence. granted im not sure if i ever was an innocent child but i remember facing far less temptation. i could go to school and not feel urges of rebellion or lust but every day of school seemed exciting and fun, even if i hated homework. as ive become older, school has grown more monotonous and tiring. for example i come home from school ready to sleep, while my 8 year old brother comes home to build space ships out of legos and play soccer with his friends. that also comes down to energy. kids just seem to have so much. i remember when i was little i used to wake up at sunrise and run through everyone's bedroom yelling "its morning its morning" and pull back the curtains to let the sun shine. pretty crazy but its true.

finally i miss having the faith of a child. Christ tells us that we need to have a childlike faith completely trusting without doubt. when nathan was younger and terrefied of water. we would go to a swimming pool and he would jump into your arms, despite how scared he was. his eyes would close tight and he'd cling as hard as he could but he trusted you completely to be there for him. so too should i trust God completely, and yet somedays i dont. But even then, God is still there for me no matter what, and no matter how far i turn from him.

so how can i be a child again? unfortunatelly, that is impossible. im never going to be 5 years old again no matter how much i wish i was and throughout the rest of my life im going to possess sinful thoughts, desires and sin in ways that would never cross the mind of child. as we grow into a larger world of adults, our sins grow with us. but what can i do to keep whats left of a child inside of me. the only way i can think of, is to keep the best things of childhood close to my heart. to always look at the world in a sense of wonderment and awe, to be energetic and laugh, even when i dont want to because energy and laughter compound onto themselves. temptation is much harder to bring back to childhood. im not the same person i was in kindergarten or third grade or preschool. i should not be, but i still need to trust in God as completely as those do to help me avoid temptation and stay on Christ's path set before me. i can never be a child again but that doesnt mean ill ever growup.

this thing

2005-09-07T15:28:00.000-07:00

List five of your idiosyncrasies and then tag five friends to do the same.

1. My mom doesnt let me drink mountain dew.

2. I have every camp phillip staff t shirt for the last 5 years.

3. I think the most comfortable clothing is pajama pants that i cut into shorts.

4. I have owned 2 guitars but i can only play one song.

5. The first words i ever said to tyler shinnick were, "hey, you want a dew?"

werner
shinnick
ali
blake
becca

dennis you were missed (dennis deyoung that is)

2005-09-05T18:23:00.000-07:00

this weekend rocked. tyler shinnick picked me up on sunday to go to a styx concert in elkhorn and to stay at some girl's house that ive never even met before. he arrived at 11 or so with a van full people that i had heard stories about like midget and zuberbier and their girlfriends. i was greeted by the site of tylers pants being covered by some very patriotic boxers. zuberbier also sat in his boxers. i had chosen briefs for the occasion and decided to spare the van of the site of my tighty whities. these guys are traveling geniuses and had brought a cooler full of mountain dew, and by full were talkin like 40 some cans as well as ice and food like licorice, chips, brownies, cookies and some amazing scooby doo fruit snaks. the trip can be pretty much summarized in dew, farts, burps, pda, and classic rock. we took the senic route which passed such scenic places as the dick bong recreation area (actually the state's largest managed prarie) and an intersection between bushnell and shag bark lane, of course we stopped to take pictures of both.

eventually we did get to where we were going laura lundgrun's house, sorry i dont know how to spell it yet. Laura and her mom were totally awesome and fed us lots of food and were totally nice. so nice that me and laura are now life long friends. so then we went to the styx concert a few hours early and after some deal with a line we took our spots on the left but still front row. after standing for a while some security guard told us about this jewish rule that you needed to have a chair to wait in the front of the stage. seriously the fact that we had gotten to the fair 4 hours before the concert started and the fact that we had waited in line and ran to get our spot before others meant nothing because we didnt have a chair to sit on. this rule was gayer than elton john singing about teletubbies with theresa heinz kerry and rosie odonell at the democratic national convention. and as tyler shinnick put it,"if i wanted a bunch of gay rules to follow id be at school, not a friggin rock concert." defeated, we retreated to the grandstandsand and waited for the show to begin. eventually the show started and once again styx rocked the house. unfortunately dennis deyoung is no longer in the band and they have replaced him with some chipmunk named lawrence. lawrence actually isnt that bad but compared to dennis deyoung is not a comparison. the only problem i had with the show was that it was short, especially compared to the one i went to last summer in jefferson, possibly cuz of people sitting down and just an audience that lacked an energy. but at the end of the day, i saw one of my favorite rock bands of all time and got to see tommy shaw and james young, those guys rock.

eventually we did get back to tyler's van and tried to drive to some place to eat. if you asked me if we sped at this time i honestly couldnt tell you. the lights on tyler's dashboard refused to turn on so we just followed laura because she knew what she was doing (we hoped) and listened to styx and drunk mountain dew. we got to a family restraunt that served 24 hours and had supper. laura pretty much paid for everyone. did i mention were now lifelong friends? that night we watched wayne's world, good movie, stunk up the basement, played a game using names of the human anatomy, and eventually got some sleep.

this trip was amazing. i met some of the coolest kids ever and i am on confident that i will see them again soon and also in heaven. tyler and i talked about the first time we ever talked to each other. we were in the dining hall and i said to him, "hey, you want a dew?" not ever joking. finally i saw styx, one amazing rock band. i am so thankful that those guys took the time to pick me up, i definetly owe them all alot.

the big application

2005-08-26T18:08:00.000-07:00

today i picked up an application that will pretty much change my life depending on if it goes well or if it goes to, well i dont really wanna think about that. this application has nothing to do with an after school job, which i need, or a summer camp in wautoma. its my application to Martin Luther College and can be gotten easliy from the mlc website. granted the admissions standards (yes there are some) are not high but even so, the possibilty of rejection does exist. in looking at it, much of what the application says is quite basic. it mentions the courses needed for acceptance and asks me to name such things as where i went to high school, grade school, my act score, my marital status and other such random data that colleges are interested in. unlike other colleges though, its asks if i attend a wels church and if i inted on serving in the wisconsin evangelical lutheran synod, which Lord willing one day i will. After the questions i myself have to answer questions that i find much more intimidating appear. i need a reccomendation from my advisor or principle and from my pastor. the reccomendation form is included on the application so i know that someone from kettle (scary thought, it could be mr deibert) is going to rate my academic motivation, christian conduct, emotional stability, dependability, repution among peers and faculty, fitness for ministry, and so much more. my pastor will also talk about my emotional stability and aptitude for teaching as well as other things but this doesnt concern me as much because the person i am at church is not nearly as sinful as the me that attends kettle moraine lutheran high school. for this i am not proud but it is a fact. finally sending in this application will cost me 25 dollars.

money, money, everywhere, but not a drop to drink

2005-08-07T12:21:00.000-07:00

the other day i went looking for a job. it was actually a worthwile experience and the guy at cousin's subs seemed very cool and excited to give me an application. of course i havent even looked at the application since i brought it home but ill fill it out eventually. looking for a job got me thinking about money. what is money? money is so many things. it is the carrot hanging just out of the donkey's reach. the donkey's name is american society. money is also a grand illusion that holds our society together. when you get a dollar bill of any value what use does it have? seriously what makes money worth what it is? it is worth what the united states government as well as the rest of the world's nation's and banks decide. the value is constantly changing based on how the world views the stability of America. if america looks stable people around the world will be more interested in having American currency and value will stay up. however if America looks like a third world nation filled with corruption, hunger, violence and instability nobody will want american dollars, causing their value to drop. however the amount of Dollars that are out there is whatever the united states wants. bassically. so why doesnt the government make everyone a millionaire? because if everyone had a million dollars all of the sudden everyone could buy whatever they wanted. seriously. and why is that so bad? because then companies wouldnt be able to make enough goods to supply this huge demand, in turn they would raise their prices until people found a balance. this would all lead to huge raises in prices by every company and we would get hyper inflation. there would be so much money available that it would be worthless. well couldnt we make the money more valuable? not really. prices can go up or down but the opposite of inflation is not deflation, its actually recession. where people dont spend their money so the lack of money being interchanged leads to products not being sold and people losing their jobs. when people lose their jobs and have no money no one can buy anything and we fall into a depression. inflation leads to the same path because as money loses its value and prices skyrocket people still cant afford goods and the end result is the same. thats why the government in the form of the Federal Reserve trys to keep a balance of the money in circulation with what is too little and what is too much. think about that next time you go to wal mart.

what else can i say about money? i read an amazing quote in a book by frank herbert called god emperor of dune: "money is the tool to freedom but the pursuit of money is slavery." if you want to be go into a restraunt and order a fifty dollar plate of clam and snail be my guest. you just have to have the money to afford it. you arent free to take whatever you want from society. you have to get a job and work. but in work you can be a slave. why do some people work 50, 60, 70 hour weeks in neglect of their family? for money i suppose but also for the status and the freedom that comes with that money. in that comes America's strength and weakness. if you work hard and do things the right way youll turn out financially ok. exceptions wil be made but those are the exceptions. however with that causes greed. people know that through work or other means than can make money and fulfill their hearts desire. they can lose sight of what they already have and put needs of other family members or friends on the backburner. finally, as the bible tells us, "the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil." money in and of itself isnt bad, it pretty much holds our society together, allowing us to be rewarded for work done and use that reward to pay for our needs. dont love money. the love of money will make you a slave more so than almost anything in this world.

God bless you all everyone and always do your work for Him.

before i go though
hey evan, i think your cool. i never thought of the silly rabbit as a bloodsucking beurocrat. thanks for your enlightening viewpoint. some comercials can be fun though. i remember loving the budweiser frogs and lizard as well as the mountain dew comericial that used bohemian raphsody. what are arby's specail deals right now?

hey evan

2005-08-01T23:40:00.000-07:00

hey evan whats up? i was watching tv today, mainly commercials, and i watched one of those trix comercials and i wanted to ask you if you thought there was a deeper meaning behind the phrase,"silly rabbit trix are for kids"?

Reporting from Camp

2005-07-28T23:52:00.000-07:00

hey everybody out there. im at camp right now in case my title didnt make that point obvious. i have decided that being an adult volunteer is one of the funnest things ever. i was up til 12:30 last night because i have no curfew, while the rest of the staff does. then jake-a-roo (larsh) woke me up at 4:20 to help with the sysco order. so instead of doing something worthwile, like sleeping, jake and i decided to work for the rest of the morning to get all our stuff done. we finished up breakfast pretty fast, paper plates i love you. afterward Jake and i both discovered the other loved tea. we made 2 pots during the morning and went over to clean the comfort station while taking our own karaft (insulated pitcher) (also my new word of the day) filled with over sugarfied tea. i love tea. we cleaned bathrooms swept floors etc. rocked out. then when we were done and everything was clean we took showers while the whole comfort station was locked. jake wouldt even let ian in. then we realized we missed lunch so we drove back over to the dining hall and found some left over lazanga that was like week old and illeagle to serve campers. naturally we took it to the abbey and found it delicious. we watched family guy for about an hour and then played jakes 100 dollar board game, star wars epic duels. whats even funnier is that he got the game the site, gameboardgeeks.com of which he is now a member. awesome. i love that game. you get your little star wars figurines role your dice and pick up/play cards that u can use to attack or defend. good stuff. definetly a worthy investment for people that can spare 100 dollars. people not like me. the mike showed up and hes already addicted so we played 3 at once for a while and its even more fun. amazing. then i was still really tired and we skipped the staff meeting. oh well. i wasnt all that concerned, i had my lazagna, my entertainment, and my tea. the game today was fun. we chased campers if we wore black and some people i think the junior staff wore red and were caught by the campers. i started out black and chased campers. then me and nick sell (josies little bro) traded t shirts and i got caught mainly because staffwas dominating and they needed some help. plus when you got caught you had to leave and go hang out by the dining hall. something i can live with. then i for some reason had more energy and i was fine. campfire was pretty good. evan and carissa were in it. those 2 plus me were all in yesterdays. i was ron the toad and got to lead the song. plus carissa had this little red wagon evan and i totally destroyed. granted it was cardboard but we still destroyed it. we also sang you cant ride in my little red wagon. tonight im still at the abbey. its a few staff's night off. staff night off is nowhere near as fun as jr staff night off. and its 11 43 i got up 4 20 after3 some hours of sleep then sometime after midnight im gonna help elliot and karen fix crafts cuz the crafts lady volunteer messed up. why am i doing this. because karen gave mea jolly good cola. also because im an incredibly nice guy but mainly cuz of the cola. ive really gotten to know the staff better since ive been up here. alot of cool people but you also see the not so cool sides of them. their people andfor people they are incredible. i still want to be one. a staff member. not just a person. so far ive been up at camp for every single week since trainning except for a half week that borck was at. im gonnamiss the next 2 weeks. that sucks i wanna quit the kettle musical to just chill in the kitchen for the rest of the summer. the musical is gonna rock but i dont wanna go home even if its just for 2 weeks and then i come up for jesus cares. i love camp. this is when the post gets all sappy cuz its 11 50 and imvery very tired. that means im done.
i love you all, God's blessings.
jason schleef

Something other than camp

2005-07-16T18:11:00.000-07:00

I havent written many posts and of those the grand majority have had a common theme of "camp posts." considering ive been there practically the entire summer i suppose that would pretty much be all i have to write about. But something else has been in the back of my mind, behind thoughts of "opium for the soul" and salt staff applications. (for those of you wondering i will record a sumarry of my adventures in wautoma later) here goes.........

Next school year ill be a senior. This year will hopefully be the best and maybe, just maybe ill be a little more loveable and a little bit less of a loser but either way ill still be me. though i think im gonna wear more plaid this year. My schedule looks exactly like this:

Semester 1
1. Government
2. Concert Choir
3. Religion 12 (Bartelt)
4. Pre-Calc
5. Foods 1
6. Symphonic Band
7. Earth Science
8. Study Hall

Semester 2 (This is where it starts to suck)
1. Cold War
2. Concert Choir
3. Religion 12
4. Pre-Calc
5. Speach
6. Band
7. Creative Writing (hafferman)
8. World Lit.

Yeah, three lit classes in one semester. i have time to tackle those later though. What im really excited about right now though is having religion with mr. bartelt. he seems like such a different kind of guy compared with pastor moldenhauer and ive heard alot of good stuff about him. other than classes though and also more important are the morning bible studies that the amazing Ali German has pushed. Im blown away with how much she wants this to succede and im definetly more confident of its success than at any point when i heard the idea. Despite my confidence i really have no idea of how its gonna work out. will we go about it like a church bible study and if so what materials will we be using. i think has to be allowing the study to be very open and allow those who want to lead a chance to do so. Other than the actual carrying out we also have to consider the location. I know the cafeteria is perfect except for the fact that teachers walk through there all the time to enter the school. not only would that be distracting but how would we handle a teacher if they tried to join us or tell us off. i dont see the latter as a problem but teachers for better or for worse will definetly be very interested. to be honest the teachers make me the most nervous. The people who want to come to bible study will come and hopefully they'll be there for the right reasons, no matter what though if anyone wants to come they will most definetly be welcome. however what if teachers try to either monitor, control, participate or simply watch. any of these could cause problems and theirs so much now that i dont know about. ill post on this later because success could do alot for those seeking spiritual growth and also make open christianity more prevelent throughout the school. despite my worries about classes or bible study i know God will turn everything out for the best

keep me in your prayers. ill be in west allis for day came this week and somehow next week im goin back up to camp to work in the kitchen. if someone out there could give me a ride id give you a hug and write you mail. (if you think this is bribary your absolutely right)
God Bless you All

Camp Phillip........ Opium for the Soul

2005-06-22T20:31:00.000-07:00

I’m finally back from Camp Phillip. I got a few bonus days with the peewees and had my last pudgy pie for at least the next week. This post though, isn’t so much about my fun times at Camp Phillip as much as my way of describing how much camp has meant to me in my life and how it can change a person to fully seek God in every facet of life. Here goes....

A number of you have heard my idea that Camp Phillip is very similar to opium for the soul. I’ve mentioned this several times but im not sure if i have ever explained this idea to its completion. Camp Phillip is opium for the soul because the place seemingly gives those who attend a spiritual high. The spiritual high comes from the combination of bible studies, spiritual songs, campfires and perhaps most of all from the openness everyone has with their faith. Whenever I've come to camp I couldn’t help but grow closer to God and feel more comfortable with being a sinner who needed God at every moment to not skrew up. This may sound like a depressing way to live ones life, but it works in the exactly opposite way. As human beings we need God, we need his grace, his love and his guiding light. For whatever reason it seems easier to fully rely on and trust in God at Camp Phillip. However once a person stands back watches as God takes the place as the strongest force in that person's life, the joy of God's grace flowing through every pore can not fail to change that person for the better. After experiencing such complete love how can a person not want to feel that way again. As much as we want to when people leave camp, the stresses of the world bring us back down to "reality" and we long for the feeling of grace that took hold of us at camp. Even though one may not feel the same way at home that person will remember God’s grace and look to the Lord for peace and not the fleeting desires of this world. I’m not saying a Christian is more saved at camp than one who is speeding down the road after too much to drink. In both situations the believer needs the grace of God. Yet God's grace seems so much more evident at camp. The spiritual "high" that a person can experience at Camp Phillip can only change a person for the better. Once a person feels this love God gives us how can one not try again to become closer to God. So almost like an addict returning to a drug should a Christian return to God's love. Camp Phillip does a better job than any place I have ever been of showing just how much God loves me. Because of this, camp has led me closer to God there and to also seek his love at home. In that sense Camp Phillip has turned me to addict of God's love. Before camp I admit my faith was just something I put through the motions but now it is something to live for. Camp Phillip is “opium for the soul for two reasons: The place can give the believer a spiritual high of feeling the surrounding grace of God and also because after a person feels this spiritual “high” that person will seek God throughout their life. Camp Phillip hasn’t affected everyone this way but I can most definitely say that this is how it changed me. I can only thank God for his grace and for Camp Phillip.

Roads are dumb

2005-05-29T13:30:00.000-07:00

dum dum dada da dum dum dada da dum dum dada da da dum dum dum (more on that later)

Hello everyone (the rest of this is all going to be one paragraph and more unproofread than usual and prolly even less senseible), i stand at the dawn of summer and in front of me is a wall. The wall has a name, exams. I hate exams, i cant sit and think for that long without well doing something. anyways yesterday was evan's concert at the docks. i think its important to note that like everything else in the watertown, johnson creek, lakeside area, has nothing to do with actual water. It was actually an unloading station for semis which worked really well for the event. Ali picked me up around for despite my horrible directions, which seemed to foreshadow are many detours. we were trying to make it up to the docks by 5 thirty. we might have made it sooner but we missed a road and wound up in sussex. i had to call ali's dad who fortunately is the god of the road and also very nice. he exlpained what we were to do and i actually understood it. we turned around, found our road, and all was safe in the world of ali's grand am. We also listened to the totally old-school "rooted...." cassette tape. the first one camp ever released. man that brought back memories. you dont seem to sing songs like tychicus anymore. i had forgotten how much rap, or at least attempted rap, was on the cd. good stuff. eventually we got to the docks at 5:45 and got to see evan's band play. i was impessed by there skills, i couldnt really understand the words but the guitars and drums were solid. afterwards evan kinda ignored us, of course we gave him a silver pine cone. he threw the pine cone in an ash tray, curses. anyways he was totally oblivious of everything. he then had to drive home to take his drums back. so me, chrissy, ali and adam igl (the camp people that showed up) played dum dum dada on the grass. i love camp. after that we walked around a bit, learned about flowers from chrissy and finally our conquering drummer appeared looking almost awake. oh well we were all happy to see him. then we took about ten minutes figuring out where to go eat, the conversation went like this us: evan were do you want eat? evan: i dont care. us: how about culvers? evan: guys i dont really care. us: evan its your birthday present too. finally after ten minutes of that we went to a diner called the pine cone, very fitting. chrissy almost drove off a cliff, twice. the pine cone was pretty good, except we spent 5 minutes trying to get ketchup out of this full bottle. that hole time chrissy was telling me to push on the 57 because it "works better". the she tried. it didnt work better. then i just used the other bottle. then we decided to go to evan's house. bork wasnt answering his phone so me and evan chose to go over to house cuz we missed the little guy. of course then we couldnt find his house and ended up talking to this very old, but fortunately very nice lady in a house that looked like bork's but on a completely different street as bork's. finally we found it 410 sandburn, or something like that. no one was home, so we drove back to evans and listend to some excellent ska on the way home. good stuff. at evan's we fought over a stress ball and i played bass guitar. or at least tried. it was fun. oh i forgot an amazing conversation between evan and chrissy, while we were all in chrissy's van, it was something like this: chrissy: why dont you have any streetlights? evan: oh, definetly. Chrissy: why is it so dark? EVan: its called night. good stuff. while at evans house someone said women love the A chord, if this is true thats some handy information--i can play the a chord. then ali and i had to go. we left on the highway going westward. we drove for a while having a pretty deep discussion until we got about 9 miles from madison. at that point we realized we were supposed to go east so we turned around after another talk with ali's dad. then we talked some more about how guys are dumb, and the differences between guys and girls. just to point this out i think guys and girls are equally inept at understanding each other and because of that dumb so dont be offended. or be offended and ill find you even dumber. (see i figure i threaten people who would be offended so they wont be offended out of fear of my threats that would just offend them more, i win.) later we talked about her amazingly awesome to have some sort of student bible study in the morning. thatd be an amazing way to open the day and we could even have breakfast together. anyways we finally got to my after taking about 1 hours more time than we should have. oh well it was a good time. camp is so close i can smell the juice bars. i went to the minute maid web site and found them there but didnt find a way to order boxes of them off the site. my quest will continue. see ya later every one and God's blessings. your buddy, jason schleef

Memory

2005-05-23T21:11:00.000-07:00

I felt like blogging tonightLife is crazy, so is Dan Brunner. Last weekend we had our daycamp training weekend which seemed like just an excuse to get a free weekend at camp. I was a little disappointed that only 3 other junior staff members were up there but me dan aaron schulz and alicia hart all had a good time. At when we first got there it worked out pretty good. We hung out in the dining people with the actual daycamp people from congregations then it was pt talking about the billions of Christian recourses that he uses and i must admit i was amazed at his dedication to teaching kids the love of Christ. The night wore on and then everyone pretty much went to bed except for the junior staff members who had the whole camp to themselves. we started out watching a movie on dan's laptop but that was kinda boring. Aaron and i amused ourselves with things to swordfight with for a while (i killed him). then the woods called our name and we made the trek with just cell phones to light the path. good times. We finally got to bed around 12:30 or so. beth told us midnight so were weren’t too far past curfew. The weekend started out well.

The next day we got to breakfast and said hi to Isa, always a highlight, unfortunately we didn’t get any juice bars. we hung out some more and worked with puppets, snacks and a heat gun that cut though Styrofoam like butter. i liked that heat gun. and beth and sy did a song from Moulin rouge as puppets and had it down pat, especially as two puppets of old geezer men. of the non junior staff people up there it was alot of middle aged women and pastors and about 4 teenagers. 3 of the teenagers stayed in the same cabin as me aaron and dan and two were quiet and normal, the other, well........was an interesting fellow and said alot of things about himself that i really didnt need to hear. anyways i think all of them were hicks which made for some good conversation and they were all interesting, nice guys. later on saturday a day with perfect weather and almost no wind, i finally got to go disc golfing and played the best round of my life. tom aaron dan the two normal non junior staff teens i think their names were mark and nick started on the first whole which always bothers me. i i hit a tree but got a lucky bounce and was able to get a good approach and nail down a par. after that i could do no wrong. i birdied hole 2, and just felt the disc come off my hand perfectly. by the end of the day i finished with some insane score of either 6 or 7 under (not even joking) and also got my first eagle on whole 5. (later when i got to write my name on the board i accidentally wrote it differently from everyone else but oh well its my eagle) that was amazing i dont think ive ever been nearly as satisfied with my play on the disc golf course as that. (of course the next day i was lucky to pull out par so i still got alot of work to do.)

disc golf wasnt the only thing that held my interest that weekend. their was also this girl about my age who looked like a really cool person that i wanted to get to know but i think by then the only thing i had done was eat the snacks with her. later after campfire dan, who had also been eyeing this girl, Jill, went up to her and literally asked her, "do you have a phone?" she gave him kinda a blank look and dan was like, "what im trying to say is do you have phone service where you live?" dan is awesome any other guy would have just said hi and started normal conversation. dan made himslef well, memorable. though it was funny when jill's mom mentioned that jill had a boyfriend named jeff and you could just see dan's face just deflate. though i admit mine did a little bit but i was even happier when i found out she wanted to go to MLC. Actually this conversation started an amazing chain of events. we talked to jill and the people she was with for a while and she agreed to go play poker with us. we never ended up playing poker. we set up the table under the clouds where the stars should have been and just ended up just chilling, and listening to music on dan's computer. that guy has quite a library of songs. and also listened to aaron schulz talk to his girlfriend which was funny. one of the things he said to her, "theirs two people who love you in this world, your mom and jason schleef." i know this sounds kinda cruel but aaron is actually an incredibly loyal guy and wouldnt even give any girls a hug. eventaully we talked for a while and found out we had alot in common, jill even liked acdc and the theater. eventually we decied to head down to the lake chill out there. so me dan jill aaron and mark started the trek down. on the way there dan had to run around and try to scare us, but at least we had a flashlight this time. eventually we got down to the lake and we all sat on the pier and just looked up at the night sky and talked about life, God, peer pressure and watched fish in the water by shining the light on them. It was one of those amazing camp phillip moments where someone youve only known for days instantly becomes one of your best friends. we prolly would have stayed down there longer but at about 3:30 or so it started to rain. lucky we did run because by about 4:15 it was pouring. the only thing i really regret about the night was that dan had to work at 7 that same morning and had drive home without even getting in a nap. i remember praying for him to be safe and fortunately God was with him cuz he had a couple close calls but managed to get home fine. mark went to be so aaron jill and me just chilled for a little while longer but by then i was almost falling asleep and we all needed to get to bed.

the next morning everyone was totally wiped out but we still managed to only be 10 minutes late for breakfast. aaron and i got in 2 more rounds of disc golf and now im even more looking forward to camp. which is now 19 days away i believe. also evan’s thing should rock and ill definetly go if i can get a ride.

school is almost over for the summer. We’re gonna be seniors?
May the grace of Christ bless you all of your days
jason schleef

d-day, skim milk and oz

2005-05-19T19:00:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone one out there who reads this. Today was pretty busy and just as well as any to blog about. In first hour history we watched the beach scene in Saving Private Ryan. This movie always reminds me of how much I need to thank those who fought for this nation we call America. That movie still puts chills down my spine and even though it wasn’t a typical way to open a school day it made me put my life and the struggles into perspective. Then in second hour econ with Mr Walz (an amazing teacher who specializes in sarcasm) we had a great discussion about fat content in milk. Mr. Walz loves whole milk and talked about how one time he had accidentally used whole milk on his golden grams and how amazing it was. Just the memory put him in a better mood. Of course others thought that skim milk was better but I thought that was gross. Have you ever eaten skim milk with cereal, there’s so much water and so little milk that parts are actually grey. Plus it practically tastes like water. Skim milk is gross. Besides talking about different varieties of milk he also gave us some life advice. The best of which consisted of two points. One, keep close to your Lord and work your tail off and you’ll be successful. The other: if you don’t love your job, your not getting paid enough. Both of these are very true. In the world we live if we stay close to Christ and work hard what can stop us from succeeding? And also that you should only do a job that you love doing because money doesn’t seem so great after you get used to your salary and what you can and can’t afford, but having a job that you love motivates you to come and work hard and work for Christ every day on the job.

Then in third hour I heard the typical trig jargon that goes over my head by leaps and bounds. Band was fun, were playing the lion king and I get to totally rock out on my tuba. Then I had chicken cordon blue and mashed potatoes. Then I talked to matt Kurtz who runs the concession stand and who loves classic rock about as much as anyone. I had loaned him the record player that I bought at the garage sale and I guess its alot older than I expected. I guess it only plays 78 rpm which is just for polka stuff and the needles don’t work with regular record players. This kinda bites but oh well, I like to polka. The rest of the day was kind of a blur as I studied my lines for oz callbacks.I went into the tryouts pretty nervous. I had only been brought back for one role, Uncle Henry, and wasn’t to sure if I could get it cuz there were a number of people that do an awesome job. Eventually I got to do my lines as Uncle Henry twice and tried to make them as different as possible. The first time I tried doing him as a subtle village idiot while the other was kinda detective/lawyer. Both went off ok but village idiot felt alot more natural. Then Ali German went up as like 5 different roles and could prolly do the whole play by herself if we only had more of her. Then the director asked me to do the lines of some professor guy who was supposed to act like a used car salesman (another role that came naturally to me) and I felt I did a much better job on him than the professor. and even if I don’t make it I can always hope to get the role that I’ve really always wanted: one of the flying monkeys.

see ya later, and ill be thinking of you all while im at camp (especially chrissy)
jason schleef
ps 24 DAYS TIL TRAINNING we should start planning a massive party!!!

The Beauty of Rummage Sales

2005-05-15T18:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a beautiful day, the Jackson rummage sale. If you are unfamiliar with this awesome holiday, it takes place in Jackson and everyone in the small town who sets up a rummage sale puts it up that day, my church allows people to set there stuff up in the church parking lot and also offers people food, the gospel and restrooms. I don’t remember getting up, but I know I was at my church a half hour later working the evangelism booth with Sara Cvickle (I cant spell her last name) and giving away bracelets, mini Frisbees and a smorgasbord of other great stuff. During this day I also found time to get some excellent deals on some pretty wicked-sweet stuff.

Hackey-sack-50 cents: it has an alien on it and its missing some beads but it works pretty well, pretty sweet gift from Sara (later her I bought her a duck phone which quacks instead of ringing and she loved it) unfortunately my hackey sack skills are not nearly as quality as the hackey sack.

Mug made bassically of a pirates head-75 cents: my pastor bought this for me cuz he knew how awesome I thought it was and also because he’s one of the coolest people I’ve ever met. It’s very cool as at the moment it gives my room a seaman's feel to it and also holds my penci. Also has a stylish eyepatch.

Model kendo stick with holder- 1 dollar: kendo sticks are the wooden practice swords that samurai would train with. It’s not really good for sword fighting because it’s only about the size of a dagger but looks cool in my room and I like it.

Dare t-shirt-50 cents: it’s pretty much your basic dare shirt but it fits like a glove and tells people not to do drugs or violence. Which is an important message and made even better because it comes on a quality item of clothing.

A brass bike horn-1 dollar: I probably could have waited and got it for 50 cents but it makes the classic bike horn sound and looks really old. I couldn’t not buy it.

An antique record player-10 dollars: 10 dollars is a lot to spend at a rummage sale for one thing, but I really couldn’t pass on this even though its power cord needs to be replaced and I’m not even sure if it works. Also I don’t have any records but I think it plays 710s and some other sizes too. I’m sure Bork, Shinnick and others will be able to make use of it and appreciate the fact that I bought it. The thing also came with 4 needles and seems to be in good shape.

A Brass Jewish Menorah-2 dollars: This is definitely the diamond in the rough of the day. It is slightly dented but other than that only has minor patches where the paint is discolored. The thing is very heavy for its size which is over a foot off the ground and has all seven candle slots. I just need a yammukka and I could totally pass as a Jew. Seriously, how many other 17 year old WELS Lutherans have a Menorah in their rooms. The thing also makes an excellent chair for my Spongebob Squarepants plush toy.

Knowing that all this stuff will probably end up in my own rummage sale many years from now-priceless.

Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey

2005-05-15T15:09:00.000-07:00

It takes a big man to cry, but it takes a bigger man to laugh at that man.

Why does the color blue mean rasberry flavoring? (the random question on my profile)

2005-05-14T21:56:00.000-07:00

Blue has become synonymous with raspberry because so many other flavors had taken up the color red (strawberries, watermelon, etc.) raspberry needed to be a different color so I could stand on its own. Also people would become confused if so many flavors were red. Candy is for enjoyment, not confusion. Furthermore blue raspberry just flows off the tongue. People can put the word blue in front of raspberry without the word sounding forced. Though some may argue that this is because people have simply been able to get used to the idea of blue raspberry, I contend that the fact that people have been able to get used to the name proves that the name works. Finally, blueberries aren’t that popular for flavored candies. After that, what else is blue? Water,.... antifreeze,... neither of which would make good candy. Unless sucking on antifreeze is a passion of yours and if that is the case I have a question for you. How do you sleep at night without dying? All things considered blue raspberry makes perfect sense in the world of flavored foods.

The Sharp Cut of Guilt

2005-05-13T20:09:00.000-07:00

We live in a society seemingly without an external standard. People can pretty much do whatever they want and yeah there are laws and such but even those aren’t exactly enforced. Also groups of people encourage the idea by saying people have their rights and it’s wrong to stop them from doing what they want. For example a case in maybe Florida but I’m not sure took place where a young lady of about 16 or 17 sued her parents because they refused to let her leave the house to go have sex with some schlunko in his 30s. a group called the American civil liberties union or ACLU defended the girl saying that it was her right to go to this pervert and that the parents were denying her rights by stopping her from going. I use this situation to demonstrate just how far our nation has come in its refusal to acknowledge right from wrong. Oh and the girl won. What does this have to do with cutting? As our society pushes itself more toward a world without right or wrong people tend to shift more to the wrong, just look at Sodom and Gomorrah and Hollywood. All places without laws and standards and all suffered from indecency and God destroyed the first 2 with fire. Basically what I’m getting at so far is that in this world without standard, people still have to deal with their consciences. Even though everyone around them may say that the sins they do are perfectly ok, that person will still feel guilt that comes with sin. Paul tells us in the bible that it is a sin to go against your conscience. it is also a sin to coax someone into going against their conscience. What our nation is left with, especially teens, is lots and lots of guilt. Guilt doesn’t go away like a sickness; it can only be stopped through the loving grace of Christ. Jesus forgives us completely and even though we sin, he loves us just the same. The love of Christ knows no bounds. After experiencing this kind of love and seeing the mark it leaves in our hearts and the hole it fills in our soul how could anyone not live for Christ. This person would not avoid sin because of fear or guilt but because of love. But what happens without the love of Christ, where does that guilt lead. Eventually it can lead to things like depression and cutting.

I think cutting is one of the worst thing a person can do to themselves. First and most obviously that person is hurting the body God gave them. Our bodies are temples of the Lord and this is serious abuse. What may be even worse though is that cutting starts a vicious and repetitious cycle. People feel so guilty about something or just down in general to a point at or near depression. This horrible feeling manifests itself where a person will cut themselves to watch it bleed and maybe their guilt and depression will go away with the blood while it trickles down their arm. However once done does the person feel proud about cutting themselves? No, the blood stops flowing scars remain. The person knows how destructive the behavior is and guilt increases. Cutters are not people to be shunned or looked down upon. They, more than perhaps any other, need our friendship and our prayers. A good friend of mine, who does not attend my school, admitted to me that she used to cut herself and she had a number of scars which she was terrified that people would notice. Yet this friend showed perhaps more strength than anyone I’ve ever met and gave a speech to her English class about how horrible cutting is. To close her speech she faced up to her fears and told her class that she knew exactly how horrible cutting is because she had done it to herself.

We live in a society that gives people an infinite amount of opportunities to sin without external consequences. Yet internal consequences can be even worse. They can lead people to depression, cutting and other horrible self destructive behavior. Granted guilt is not the only reason people cut, it is a major reason. Because cutters often feel trapped, they need help more than most. Friends, parents, and others need to be understanding to their problem and not punish them but work with them. How can you punish someone for punishing themselves? Finally only the love of Christ has the power to change people's hearts. Christ loves and forgives us unconditionally and the worst thing we as sinners can do I avoid him and his love. Cutting is horrible, but a cutter is a redeemed child of God and needs love, support and prayers more than any.

my first and hopefully not my last

2005-05-12T22:26:00.000-07:00

wow i never thought id be the type of person to write a blog, but here i am writing one at 12:27 am and wishing i could type a little faster and 28 words per minute. i prolly never would have joined this blogging thing but my good camp friend evan, wrote his blog site on his msn name and had the most amazing picture of the frostiest frosted minni wheat ever. After seeing this little peice of heaven i was inspired to comment about it and needed an account. Thus here i type, a blogger. So now i hve the question as to what to type about, with all the freedom at my disposal i think ill have to break it off into categories. these categories will prolly range from what my day was like to my thoughts on the US's economic policies and how taxes should be lower and flatter than a bottle of pepsi clear. I hope your as excited as i am.

I go to kettle moraine lutheran high school in jackson, wisconsin which by is pretty small, both of them. and i try to get along with the other 4oo some kids in my school as well as i can and also have some fun. today i brought a 24 oz can of arizona iced tea to hisotry class. i highly reccomend arizon iced tea as it is cheap enough to be purchased at aldis and taste wonderful and of course the best thing, comes in a 24 oz can which is twice as much as in your typical soda can. hopefully in the future ill realize my dream of becoming a licensed distributor of it because then i could buy even cheaper at wholesale and then after that drink as much as i wanted and sell it to people for cheap and compete directly against my schools concession stand and win with quality, price and service with a smile. My first hour teacher mr. zeamer, one of my role models, i hope some day i can bring such a positive attidude to a school as a teacher and just be such a genuinely nice guy. Mr. zeamer is also my neighbor and goes to my church, morning star lutheran. i think if jesus walked among us today, hed be alot like mr. zeamer. that being said i also have to admit that i absloutely love history and constantly find my self enjoyingly watching the history channel. but mr zeamer seemed to like that i had brought my tea and i think if i ever start selling the stuff he'd be my first customer. also the last time i brought 24 oz can of iced tea mr. granberg was also there and as i left i raised my tea to him and said hello. mr granberg is our new principal who just came this year and is a really nice guy. hes come across as very timid but he drives me home from sporting events sometimes and i know him pretty well, well enough to know that hes a pretty big rock fan and that makes me give him my undying respect. well i think thats all ill right about school for today because really after history first hour it kinda goes down hill from there even though im more awake in my other classes. i think school isnt so bad i just hate homework.

now to focus a little less on my self and arizona iced tea, i think i need to address america's situation with china. in the last two decades or so china has become probably the second most powerful country militarily and economically to the united states. this bugs me because china heavily persecutes christians and only sanctions state run churches that combine the teachings of mao ze dong with that of the bible. to be clear some reports have suggested that mao murdered more people than hitler and also enjoyed raping twelve year old girls. i hate mao and to try to mix his beliefs with those of our one true savior is not only desecration and blasphemy but also sends millions of people to hell because they never hear the true gospel of the mavrelous love christ showed and how we sinners (every person on earth) are forgiven, not for anything we did, but cause God loves us. but back to the present, china now has alot of power as most our cheap junk stuff that we buy at walmart comes from there, i think over 80 or 90 percent even. which is ok and even great cuz i love walmart and i hate how people bash it but ill save that for another blog. while china makes these goods in their sweat shops they pay their workers crap and force abortions through population conrol measures, more reasons to hate the chinese government. however china is also the worlds largest producer of steal coal and some other resources which is good cuz that keeps the price of coal and such down. now if only they would use their gasoline a little more efficietnly we could get prices down under 2 dollars a gallon. hower with china's growth they have just as much right to the oil as america does and they pay the same crappy price we do. obviouisly i could go for china a while so ill try to keep my last point as concise as possible. china also has this crappy policy of fixing the value of their currency so that it changes with the dollar. this means that their goods that come to america are automatically cheaper than they should be making it impossible for american companies to compete on a level playing field. theirs some measure floating around that would hike up tarrif rates to china cuz of their currency which is fair. usually i hate tarrifs but if they wanna play hardball were game. also we need to do more on how they rip off our patents. many products in china, especially computers are just copies of products that american companies had to spend money producing and chinese companies just copy it make a small change and sell it for less. thats illeagle but think it might be policially incorrect to enforce the law these days, just look at our immigration problem. finally as a solution we need to send more missionaries and also news reporters to china to first preach the gospel, and also show the world how horrible the government treats its people. hopefully the olympics of 2008 at beijing will bring the message out because of all the reporters in china for the games. and to battle them economically, american companies need to shape up and run more efficiently, we need to change our tax code to stop punishing success, support taiwan's independence and punish china for being a trading wiener. and china could start paying its workers and discover a new concept called human rights which it seems to have missed or simply ignored because its people have no rights. finally pray for the people of china, especially the believers there, they face persecution thats hard to imagine here in america and need the blessings of God and comfort that only being a christian can give.
please pray for the people of china, my grade point average, katy jahns, unbelievers, muslims, our armed forces, my brother who was in korea for a little while, America, camp phillip, your family, everyone else, and anything i missed.
God's blessings,
jason schleef