love

lately, i've been thinking a lot about the following:

love is patient and kind;

love does not envy or boast;

it is not arrogant or rude.

it does not insist on its own way;

it is not irritable or resentful;

it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

love bears all things,

believes all things,

hopes all things,

endures all things.

it's amazing how difficult these simple words are to follow. my relationship with melissa tries me and tests me and stretches me.

but listen: "bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." all things. geez.

that's a bit of a stretch for this divorce-happy culture. it seems like people get divorced these days over all things. undivided loyalty is pretty hard to find.

so i haven't been writing in a while. i really should. i have a lot more time now that it's the summer. well, sort of. i'm doing a lot of things, as usual.

but hey, this blog has been around for almost a year. that's pretty spiffy.

miss you all.

peace,
sam
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Help Stevie!

Borrowed from Molly Hedrick:

Steve Hedrick (aka Riverman) is a 21 year-old musician from Orlando. At various moments you will find him playing guitar, piano, percussion, accordion!, bango, violin, or the harmonica. He writes all his own music and sings. He describes his music as "neo-folk-rock with a Beach Boys twist."

Steve works at Starbucks in his off-time. Recently, Starbucks had a contest to find untapped talent from within their ranks, and gave their employees the chance to submit original music. Out of 800 submissions, Steve's song, "Light of the Moon" was one of 15 who made it on the CD, "Off the Clock"(available at locations nationwide).
We now have the opportunity to vote on the 15 finalists to decide who will be the Grand Prize Winner. Let's make it happen! Here's how:

Go to Hear Music. At the bottom of the screen, there is a picture of "Off the Clock." Click on it. At the bottom of the screen, you will see some brightly colored dots. Click on the one that says, "Listen and Vote." The list of the contestants will come up. Steve is listed under the name 'Riverman.' All you need is a valid e-mail address. If you could each take 2-3 minutes and enter any addresses you could think of, we could really help Steve. Those 2-3 minutes could mean a big opportunity for him. Thank you!

Molly (The Proud Little Sister)

Stevie is a really, really good friend of mine. Please, please, PLEASE vote for him!! He is amazingly talented -- one of the greatest musicians I know in my age group. He deserves this so much. It could easily be his big break.

So, click here and help him out!

Peace,
Sam
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StumbleUpon

Holy cow, I'm addicted to StumbleUpon, a Firefox extension that allows you to surf the web by category.

Wow.

Check it out.
Click to read the rest.

on finishing perks

today i finished reading the perks of being a wallflower. melissa gave it to me. i wouldn't have thought that i would like it if you told me about it ahead of time, but for some reason i did. i really felt like i could relate to it. and it gave me a little insight into myself.

the thing is that my personality is very similar to charlie's, especially when i was in high school. quiet, introspective, insightful. but what strikes me is that charlie found outlets for what he felt through drugs or sex or drinking. of course, the point is that he just went along with everything, not really knowing whether he enjoyed those things or not. but still. it makes me think. i relate to charlie so well in feeling like there is something wrong with me, or in feeling like things are slipping away or spinning out of control. but i when was in high school, i suppressed most of those feelings and spun into my own imaginary world. fantasies of lsd, not lsd itself. and only a select few knew of my crippling depression until it started to seep out my senior year. but i can't help but wonder if part of the seriousness of my depression in high school was because i felt trapped. i felt like i had to bottle everything in. i wasn't allowed to go to parties or whatever. and girls didn't like me. unlike charlie, i didn't have girls ask me on dates. instead, i had to live vicariously through my friends' acid trips and their first forays into relationships and sex.

i don't know. i just think it's interesting. i just wonder how that has affected me.

peace,
sam
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blue like...

Well, once again it's been ages. I guess between school and wedding planning, I have a lot on my plate. But I'd really like to get back into blogging. That is, if anyone is still reading this thing.

I spent spring break at the Palmer Home for Children. It was a good experience: raking, cutting down trees, clearing brush, roofing, and spending time with some pretty cool kids. I'm sure I'll have more thoughts on the trip another time, but right now I'm still taking it in and chewing on it.

That's what happened last year with our trip to Waveland to help out folks through Lagniappe Church, the latest project of Jean Larroux. The guy is a stud, hands down. But when I was on the trip, I didn't really feel like I was getting anything out of it. A year later, though, and I can see what an influential trip it was for me.

On a somewhat unrelated note, I finally read Blue Like Jazz. I gotta say, I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, I did enjoy his candor, and I particularly liked his thoughts on loving people who aren't like us. On the other hand, I thought his version of Christianity seemed pretty watered down. The biggest flaw was that it seemed like his feelings pretty much determined everything he did. Rather than really seeking for the meaning of Scripture, he just sort of wandered around, letting the Bible influence him just as much as a TV show or a poem. That seems like a somewhat flaky version of Christianity, in my opinion. I think intellectual rigor needs to be a prominent part of Christianity, especially a devotion to attempting to understand the Bible on its own terms.

And it's entirely possible. I went to see a lecture by N.T. Wright, the formidable scholar, eloquent speaker, and Bishop of Durham. He spoke on "Paul's Jewish Gospel for a Gentile World," an extremely engaging and accessible lecture regarding the distinctive Jewish qualities of Paul's message. Partway through, he shifted gears and discussed "Paul's Gospel for a Post-Modern, Post-Secular, Neo-Imperialist World," an extremely relevant discussion of how to proclaim Christ as Messiah in the 21st century. He did it with charm, insight, feeling, and sound reasoning. I guess it can be done.

The other thing that bothered me about Blue Like Jazz, aside from the fact that it sounded like it was written by a seventeen year-old kid, is that Miller seems almost entirely ignorant of Christian history. His tone makes it sound like he has discovered some revolutionary version of Christianity. His whole account of his spiritual journey really doesn't differ much from Augustine, Wesley, Ignatius, or even Nathan Cole, a farmer who converted after hearing a sermon by Whitefield. I just feel like Miller could use a little perspective. American Christianity is by no means representative of all of Christianity. It's only a small facet of hundreds of years and hundreds of cultures. And each has had its flaws.

That's all for now. I'm tired. But I'm really going to try to write on this thing again. I'm now reading The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Life at the Bottom. You know, in addition to writing a ton of papers and reading a ton of books about Jesus and the Hindu goddess Sitala.

Peace,
Sam
Click to read the rest.

More Merton

The wise man has struggled to find You in his wisdom, and he has failed. The just man has striven to grasp You in his own justice, and he has gone astray.

But the sinner, suddenly struck by the lightning of mercy that ought to have been justice, falls down in adoration of Your holiness: for he had seen what kings desired to see and never saw, what prophets foretold and never gazed upon, what the men of ancient times grew weary of expecting when they died. He has seen that Your love is so infinitely good that it cannot be the object of a human bargain. True, there are two testaments, two bargains. But both of them are only promises that You would freely give us what we could never deserve: that You would manifest Your holiness to us by showing us Your mercy and Your liberality and Your infinite freedom.

- Thomas Merton, No Man is an Island
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what do you expect?

Melissa and I just watched a couple of hours of To Catch a Predator, a series of Dateline special investigations about so-called "child predators." Feel free to check out the site and watch some videos. Ultimately, though, I believe this series is doing more harm than good.

Here's how it works:

1. Random guy starts talking to police decoy online.
2. Decoy pretends to be a 13 year old girl (or boy) and starts talking about sex.
3. Random guy starts to enjoy the fantasy, starts saying stupid things.
4. Decoy gets guy to agree to meet.
5. Random guy, in a moment of sheer stupidity, agrees to meet.
6. Random guy goes to decoy house.
7. Guy gets busted by Dateline and then the cops.
8. Guy's life is essentially ruined.

In 90% of the cases, I'd say the guys were in a moment of stupidity. I doubt any of them would have really done anything with a child. They were scared out of their minds when they got caught, not like the smug serial killers or rapists who say they'd do it again. One of the men was a doctor who was probably just having a mid-life crisis. Now he has probably lost his medical license. Just reading stories of child molesters shows you the kind of people who really do the molesting. Most of the time, they are pretty deranged and a lot more clever than to fall into the trap of a sting. A lot of them also prefer sex with minors (shudder), whereas most of these men were just playing around with a fantasy - like playing with fire. Yes, it's a sick fantasy, but the internet is a pretty sick place.

Most of these men were completely normal. They weren't smarmy, shady creeps. They were normal guys. Guess what? They had sexual addictions. And guess what else? Odds are that the cops arresting these guys have a sexual addiction as well.

According to one site, there were 27.5 million U.S. visitors to adult-oriented pornographic Web sites in January 2002, of which about 72% of visitors were men and 28% women.

Did you catch that? 27.5 million Americans in 2002. And that's five years ago, folks. According to US News and World Report, the pornography industry takes in more than $8 billion a year (I've seen higher figures elsewhere), which is more than rock and country music, and more than all Broadway productions, theater, ballet, jazz and classical music combined.

So here's the problem. What on earth is randomly throwing in prison a bunch of normal guys going to accomplish? A 2002 study determined that Hollywood currently releases 11,000 adult movies per year – more than 20 times the mainstream movie production. You get the idea. You can find more of these shocking statistics here (at a site which is a particular favorite of mine). I'm betting that given enough prompting and begging and goading, a lot of men in this country would succumb to the temptation of illegal sex. If you don't believe me, go read up on sex tourism.

Maybe we should start working on the root of the problem. You know, like the fact that there was a Victoria's Secret ad on the Dateline web site when I was working on this post (see screenshot). My point is precisely the title of this post: what do you expect? In a country where the revenues of the porn industry are more than those of the NFL, NBA, and MLB combined, is it any wonder when women have become degraded so much that children are being sought after as the next "sexual high"?

Don't get me wrong. I'm not defending any of these men. What they did (or intended to do) was wrong, and with Proverbs I ask: "Can a man take fire to his chest and expect not to be burned?" I am saying, though, that simply generating criminals through baiting ordinary sex addicts and then throwing them in jail isn't going to solve anything. How can we only condemn the illegal aspects of these cases without condemning first the widespread problem of infidelity through porn?

That's enough for tonight.

Peace,
Sam
Click to read the rest.

another

(begin stream of poetic consciousness)

a morning of slick winter coats
pushes and pulls and
destroys whatever
distant thoughts of driving
or flying
i once knew.
it is
a drop of spring rain
a sunset
a grain of sand
that permits me to sing
that permits me to run
past jade hills
and towering brick sarcophagi.
but there are black eyes
and black skin
and black steel
ominous tongues of metal
double-barrelled death
gripped by tiny hands
tiny teeth clenched
falsely masked by ferocity.
counterfeits.
frauds.
it is they
it is they
who cause me to cry.
who cause me to scream.
it is for them
that i clench my teeth.
that i tighten my fist.
it is for them
that i will fight.
that i will live.
i will turn these tears
to flight
and i will sing
until morning.

(end)

peace,
sam
Click to read the rest.

short

sorry it's been so long. i've been busy changing my life and starting a new semester. i'll have more later, but i just streamed this little guy:

what are we coming to?
breathing in smoke
breathing in stars
sleeping in flames
twisted
turning
revolving around
burning cinders
of complacency
i am a slit wrist
i am a shooting star
i am a smoldering wick

peace,
sam
Click to read the rest.

emily

so basically, i've recently been given the pleasure of being introduced to one of my all-time favorite songs. it's called "emily" by joanna newsom. the lyrics are beautiful. here they are:

the meadowlark and the chim-choo-ree and the sparrow
set to the sky in a flying spree, for the sport over the pharaoh
a little while later the Pharisees dragged comb through the meadow
do you remember what they called up to you and me, in our window?

there is a rusty light on the pines tonight
sun pouring wine, lord, or marrow
down into the bones of the birches
and the spires of the churches
jutting out from the shadows
the yoke, and the axe, and the old smokestacks and the bale and the barrow
and everything sloped like it was dragged from a rope
in the mouth of the south below

we've seen those mountains kneeling, felten and grey
we thought our very hearts would up and melt away
from that snow in the nighttime
just going
and going
and the stirring of wind chimes
in the morning
in the morning
helps me find my way back in
from the place where I have been

and, Emily - I saw you last night by the river
I dreamed you were skipping little stones across the surface of the water
frowning at the angle where they were lost, and slipped under forever,
in a mud-cloud, mica-spangled, like the sky'd been breathing on a mirror

anyhow - I sat by your side, by the water
you taught me the names of the stars overhead that I wrote down in my ledger
tho all I knew of the rote universe were those pleiades loosed in december
I promised you I‘d set them to verse so I'd always remember

that the meteorite is a source of the light
and the meteor's just what we see
and the meteoroid is a stone that's devoid of the fire that propelled it to thee

and the meteorite's just what causes the light
and the meteor's how it's perceived
and the meteoroid's a bone thrown from the void that lies quiet in offering to thee

you came and lay a cold compress upon the mess I'm in
threw the window wide and cried; Amen! Amen! Amen!
the whole world - stopped - to hear you hollering
you looked down and saw now what was happening

the lines are fadin' in my kingdom
(tho I have never known the way to border 'em in)
so the muddy mouths of baboons and sows and the grouse and the horse and the hen
grope at the gate of the looming lake that was once a tidy pen
and the mail is late and the great estates are not lit from within
the talk in town's becoming downright sickening

in due time we will see the far butte lit by a flare
I've seen your bravery, and I will follow you there
and row through the nighttime
gone healthy
gone healthy all of a sudden
in search of the midwife
who could help me
who could help me
help me find my way back in
there are worries where I've been

say, say, say in the lee of the bay; don't be bothered
leave your troubles here where the tugboats shear the water from the water
(flanked by furrows, curling back, like a match held up to a newspaper)
Emily, they'll follow your lead by the letter
and I make this claim, and I'm not ashamed to say I know you better
what they've seen is just a beam of your sun that banishes winter

let us go! though we know it's a hopeless endeavor
the ties that bind, they are barbed and spined and hold us close forever
though there is nothing would help me come to grips with a sky that is gaping and yawning
there is a song I woke with on my lips as you sailed your great ship towards the morning

come on home, the poppies are all grown knee-deep by now
blossoms all have fallen, and the pollen ruins the plow
peonies nod in the breeze and while they wetly bow, with
hydrocephalitic listlessness ants mop up-a their brow

and everything with wings is restless, aimless, drunk and dour
the butterflies and birds collide at hot, ungodly hours
and my clay-colored motherlessness rangily reclines
- come on home, now! all my bones are dolorous with vines

Pa pointed out to me, for the hundredth time tonight
the way the ladle leads to a dirt-red bullet of light
squint skyward and listen -
loving him, we move within his borders:
just asterisms in the stars' set order

we could stand for a century
starin'
with our heads cocked
in the broad daylight at this thing
joy
landlocked
in bodies that don't keep
dumbstruck with the sweetness of being
till we don't be
told; take this
eat this

told; the meteorite is the source of the light
and the meteor's just what we see
and the meteoroid is a stone that's devoid of the fire that propelled it to thee

and the meteorite's just what causes the light
and the meteor's how it's perceived
and the meteoroid's a bone thrown from the void that lies quiet in offering to thee

peace,
sam
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from merton to hananasif

So this has been a really good day. It started with our last Thomas Merton group of the semester (complete with pancakes). It was so refreshing to talk and pray with Gerald, Charlie, and Tyler.

This excellent day ended with a spur of the moment gig. Well, the gig itself wasn't spur of the moment - it was a benefit show for Desire Street Ministries. The spur of the moment part was that my friend Lauren called me this afternoon to see if I wanted to play djembe with her (she plays violin) and Sydney (who sings and plays guitar). If I haven't mentioned these two yet (and their usual partner, Melissa, who was unable to make it), let me say once and for all that they are incredibly talented and tremendously inspiring. It was wonderful playing with them.

Let me tell you a little more about Sydney. She is one of those people who is a flame embodied. She lives life without fear, trusting in God and dreaming big. She's traveled all kinds of places. Recently, she did a study abroad program in Tanzania. While she was there, she discovered the Hananasif orphanage. Sydney has become really involved with this place (as has Melissa - pictured above), and she spoke a lot about tonight at the gig. It was really inspiring.

Consider some facts about Tanzania from the Hananasif web site:

• Tanzania is the fifth poorest country in the world.
• Dar-es-Salaam is the third largest city in east Africa.
• Only 56% of the population has access to clean water.
• The average annual income per capita is $140.
• There were more than one million AIDS orphans in Tanzania in the year 2000.
• USAID has calculated that in the year 2010 there will be approximately 1.8 million AIDS orphans in Tanzania, unless an effective and inexpensive form of treatment is developed by that time.

Hananasif is an orphanage, school, and outreach. It's really neat. Check out the web site and also this video that Melissa made.

Peace,
Sam
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Merton Again

Read a couple of days ago in a moment of extreme despair:

"How close God is to us when we come to recognize and to accept our abjection and to cast our care entirely upon Him! Against all human expectation He sustains us when we need to be sustained, helping us to do what seemed impossible. We learn to know about Him, now, not in the 'presence' that is found in abstract consideration - a presence in which we dress Him in our own finery - but in the emptiness of a hope that may come close to despair. For perfect hope is achieved on the brink of despair when, instead of falling over the edge, we find ourselves walking on the air. Hope is always just about to turn into despair, but never does so, for at the moment of supreme crisis God's power is suddenly made perfect in our infirmity. So we learn to expect His mercy most calmly when all is most dangerous, to seek Him quietly in the face of peril, certain that He cannot fail us though we may be upbraided by the just and rejected by those who claim to hold the evidence of His love." - Thomas Merton, No Man is an Island

Peace,
Sam
Click to read the rest.

Christmas Songs

So, we're back in Christmas music mode. Have you ever stopped to read the lyrics to some of our classic songs? A lot of them are really good. I've just sung them 10,000 times and often don't even realize what I'm singing. Take a look at some of them:

Various Parts of "O Come O Come Emmanuel"
O come, Thou Wisdom from on high,
Who orderest all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show,
And teach us in her ways to go.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them victory over the grave.

O come, Thou Day-spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.

O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.

O come, Desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind;
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease,
And be Thyself our King of Peace.

The Last Verse of "O Holy Night"
Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His Gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother
And in His Name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy Name!
Christ is the Lord! O praise His name forever!
His pow’r and glory evermore proclaim!
His pow’r and glory evermore proclaim!

This last one isn't exactly a classic, but I like it:

Relient K's "I Celebrate the Day"
With this Christmas wish is missed
The point I could convey
If only I could find the words to say to let you know
How much you've touched my life because
Here is where you're finding me
In the exact same place as New Years Eve
And from the lack of my persistency
We're less than half as close as I wanna be

And the first time that you opened your eyes
Did you realize that you would be my Savior?
And the first breath that left your lips
Did you know that it would change this world forever?

And so this Christmas I'll compare
The things I've felt in prior years
To what this midnight made so clear
That you have come to meet me here

To look back
And think that
This baby would one day save me
And the hope that
That you give
That you were born so I might really live
To look back
And think that
This baby would one day save me…

And the first time that you opened your eyes
Did you realize that you would be my Savior?
And the first breath that left your lips
Did you know that it would change this world forever?

And I
I celebrate the day
That you were born to die
So I could one day
Pray for you to save my life
Pray for you to save my life
Pray for you to save my life

Peace,
Sam
P.S. GO GATORS!
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my life's work.

In case you don't know, I have one overarching goal: to end sex trafficking. I don't know how yet, but I plan on dedicating my life to coming up with a social entrepreneurship-type solution to this problem:

"An estimated 2 million women and children are held in sexual servitude throughout the world, and between 800,000 and 900,000 are trafficked across international borders for the purposes of sexual exploitation each year."

Is that not ridiculous?

The issue is that it's a very complex problem. There's the specific woman or child, whoever is trafficking them, the local law enforcement, the government, and then the root of the problem: the demand. Somehow all of these factors need to be taken into account.

So I'm going to throw a bunch of web sites at you now for your perusal. Read them and join the revolution. I can't do it by myself.

Coalition Against Trafficking in Women
Captive Daughters
Progeny
Amnesty International: Human Trafficking
Stop Demand

If you only read one thing, read the Captive Diaries, the blog from Captive Daughters.

Stand up. A guy I really like once said, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few."

Peace,
Sam
Click to read the rest.

This American Life

Okay, if you haven't started listening to This American Life yet, now is the time. They've greatly improved their streaming audio and started offering a free weekly podcast. They've also decreased their archive prices to 95 cents an episode.

So, check it out and see why TAL is my all-time favorite radio show. Some of my favorite episodes: "Notes on Camp," "Testosterone," and "Pray." Just click on "Our Favorite Shows" and enjoy.

That is all.

Peace,
Sam
Click to read the rest.

the glory of God in the face of Christ

"For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." - 2 Corinthians 4:5-6

I love these verses. They're packed with goodness. First, I love the reminder that "what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord." I feel like most of the time I'm proclaiming myself, whether it's through blatant statements of selfishness or just through settle ways of gaining attention. The natural result of proclaiming Christ as Lord is, as Paul notes, to become a servant for the sake of Jesus. Humility, in a word. Second, I love the concept that God - the very God who said "Let there be light" - uses His creative power to illuminate our hearts. Finally, the way Paul describes this light is incredible. What is this light? It is knowledge. Knowledge of what? The glory of God. What is this glory and where can we find it? In the face of Jesus Christ. But wait, who is this Jesus? Well, according to Hebrews 1:3, Jesus "is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power." And, paradoxically, Jesus is also the sacrificial lamb. Indeed, "for our sake [God] made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Cor. 5:21).

Okay, so we can look at Jesus - the Son of God who upholds the universe and also died for our sins - to see and understand even just a bit of the glory of God. And it is this knowledge of the sacrificed Savior that shines in our hearts by the creative power of God.

How can we help but proclaim such an awesome truth?

I wanted to post the third verse of Charles Wesley's "Jesus, Lover of My Soul." I just discovered it; I don't think I've ever sang it:

Wilt Thou not regard my call? Wilt Thou not accept my prayer?
Lo! I sink, I faint, I fall—Lo! on Thee I cast my care;
Reach me out Thy gracious hand! While I of Thy strength receive,
Hoping against hope I stand, dying, and behold, I live.

Peace,
Sam
Click to read the rest.

Cleverness

(From the On-line Gainesville Sun: Oct 21)

A Few Lessons for Urban Meyer

Here are a few tricks that coach Urban Meyer could learn from the mysterious author of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences 5-year plan.

First, get rid of all defensive players. They are much less productive than the offensive players as far as the number of points scored is concerned. Just as the religion department is less productive than chemistry as far as the amount of external funding attracted is concerned.

Second, get rid of special teams, too. On a per capita basis, they are still less productive than the offense.

Third, if the media points out that your defense actually played better against Auburn than your offense, act as if you had not heard. Do not compare your defense to the defense of Southern California or Ohio State, compare the points scored by your offense to the points scored by your defense. Just as the excellent external reviews of the Mathematics and English departments are ignored by the CLAS 5-year plan. Just as the author of that plan compares the UF Math Department not to the Math Department of Michigan State or Texas, but to the Physics or Chemistry Department of UF.

Maybe if Meyer follows this advice, the ranking of the Gator football team will match those of UF as a whole.

Linda Sciacca,
Gainesville
Click to read the rest.

Nugget Absurdity

Alan and I just saw a commercial for Chick-Fil-A's Million Nugget Giveaway and just had quite a good laugh discussing the sheer magnitude of a million chicken nuggets. Consider:

- There are about 12 nuggets in a pack of chicken nuggets. We used the number 10.
- One million nuggets divided into 10 per pack equals 100,000 packs of chicken nuggets.
- That's 100,000 lunches.
- There are about 1000 days in 3 years.
- Thus, 100,000 lunches would take 300 years to eat.

300 years. Or, let's say you ate chicken nuggets for every meal of the day. It would still take 100 years to eat them all. Now, a person who eats chicken nuggets constantly couldn't live past the age of 60. Nor would they have started eating until they were at least 18 (the age of winning the contest). So, 20 years. That's five lifetimes.

Five lifetimes of chicken nuggets.

Okay, so Chick-Fil-A isn't actually giving away one million nuggets to one person. They're giving away 15,000 nugget trays. But it's still absolutely hilarious to think about the sheer magnitude of one million nuggets.

Oh, America. You and your gluttony.

Peace,
Sam
P.S. I promise I'll write about serious, profound issues regarding religion, America, and social work soon. Maybe.
Click to read the rest.

Sometimes you just need to rock out to Canadian music.

I need to go to bed, but I had to post something.

I just got back from seeing Broken Social Scene with JT & Co. in St. Pete. It was one of the most fun shows I have ever been to. The band took their time on every song and played wonderfully. Absolutely incredible. Indescribable. I danced my heart out and sung my lungs out, which is exactly what I needed in the middle of this stressful semester. They played "It's All Gonna Break" second to last, and I went nuts. It's a rare moment to hear one of your all-time favorite songs live. My love for that song is disproportionate to my love for the band's work as a whole. And here's the best part: after the show, I looked Brendon Canning (one of the guitarists and a founding member) right in the eyes and told him how much I love that song. He said that he hoped he did it justice. You did, Brendan. You did.

I feel ready to take on the world again. I really, really needed that.

Peace,
Sam
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something has gone terribly wrong

Okay, I don't know why, but I love Underoath. I don't normally like hard core. There's just something about them that I love.

I guess that's all I have to say.

Off to read and write and such...

Peace,
Sam
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